Hi guys!

I know what you think, yet ANOTHER short one shot... yeah, but this one was for 494dwangel, and I'd promised it a while ago! So here it comes finally, with the promised kittens!

Ok, I'm not too sure how good it's going to be because... /Little ranting fit: I AM SO TIRED. I just moved to Japan, and although I'm very happy about it, it's still... originally 7 hours away from my country and I've been going through a massive jet lag thing that just won't STOP.
I also don't have much time to write, at least right now, but I'm doing my best, a little bit everyday, whenever I can afford not to sleep! The next one to come will be my next chapter for mix & Match I believe, and then I have quite a few more drabbles to write out because seriously... a 3-days travel gives you a lot of time for new fanfiction ideas.

Anyway, I hope this is not too crappy and that you guys will enjoy!

Love you all!

"Dean, come on, don't be stupid about this-"

"Sam. Yes, I'm fine. No, I'm not going to the hospital. And since I know you care- no, that shirt doesn't make you look fat." Dean replied easily then smirked at the bitchface he got in response. Alright, it was a kind of a forced smirk, since the cut on his stomach was pretty much killing him, but the smugness was one hundred percent genuine.

"You're a jerk. That's what you are."

Sam slammed the door to their motel room closed behind them, and neither of them were surprised to find Castiel sitting on one of the two beds in there, one kitten sleeping in his lap, two more climbing up his shirt.
He looked up to them calmly once they entered the room, but the very second his eyes landed on Dean, he frowned.

"Dean, what happened?"

Damn, so the guy had fallen, lost all his angel mojo and turned into a kitty nanny, but it still took him no more that a single look to have him all figured out.

And of course, at those words, Sam's' bitchface shone brighter than ever before.

"Dean got mauled by a crazy, manic vampire and he won't let me take a look." He replied too fast for Dean to interrupt, then shot him a dirty look. Dean just rolled his eyes, knowing far too well just what was coming for him.

Cas was staring at him, a stern look on his face that was rendered absolutely inefficient by the fact a kitten was currently climbing up his necktie.

"Dean. If you are wounded, then you must get treated." Castiel announced in a calm, rather caring voice, yet Dean could feel the faint threat thrown in there.

"Cas, no, look, I'm okay, I just-"

But rather than listening to his explanation, Castiel had already moved, he had stood and dived into his personal space and had his face mere centimeters from Dean's. Slowly, he lowered himself, centimeter by centimeter, and Dean had to swallow when he got past waist level. He stopped suddenly and Dean felt the strangest feeling pool in his stomach when Castiel put both hands on his hips, before gradually lifting his shirt. For a second, Dean almost forgot that they were standing in a motel room and Sam was there and the damn cats were there too and no, seriously he was pretty sure it was just him and Cas and Cas's warm hands pressing into his sides and his thumbs pulling at the hem of his shirt, grazing against the small trail of hair coming down from his navel, he was sure, really and his head was empty anyway and his breath was catching in his throat and really, really, he would have done something bad, something wrong and bad had the two idiots not just gasped like two startled maidens at whatever they saw under his shirt.

Damn, well there we go.

"Dean!" Both Sam and Cas shouted as one, looking outraged, pissed and worried altogether, and pretty much like they were going to rip his head off if he dared say anything to contradict them. He sighed and Sam bitchfaced (yeah, that was a verb now).

"Dean, care to explain?"

Dean was just going to walk away on that one, really, he was, but somehow Castiel's hands were still on him and holding him down there and well he might not have had that angel mojo of his anymore but he was still... pretty strong... Or maybe it was just a weird freaky aura thing or something. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Ok, so maybe I got cut by that werewolf that time."

"Dean... That was two weeks ago!" Sam exclaimed, but Dean was more worried about the fact that Cas wasn't saying anything, simply staring at him silently and quite honestly, now part of him was getting a little bit scared.

"Yeah, whatever... Anyway it might have taken a bit longer than usual to heal-"

"-you mean it got infected, Dean there's pus oozing out here and I'm pretty sure that color is-"

"-anyway. So, uh... It kind of... reopened today and that's why it hurt. It's nothing too bad though, gotta give it a few more days and I'll be as good as new." He declared with his trademark Winchester smile, but it fell flat as he winced when Castiel's hand brushed over the edge of his cut.

Ok, so maybe he was the kind of guy that refused to see any sort of doctor and waited and waited and waited until the very last minute, until it hurt SO BAD he was practically screaming for painkillers and they had to cut him open to get it all out of him. A bit of a drama queen. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud. In front of Sam.

"I will take care of it." Castiel declared suddenly, and Dean felt himself freeze and he probably went a little bit white in the face.

"Cas, its okay, I don't-"

"Sam," Cas turned towards him, properly ignoring Dean in the process. "Do not worry, I shall take care of Dean."

Sam was not sure how he should reply to that exactly -but well, the prospect of Cas taking care of his brother was a rather good one, definitely better than Dean just letting himself die, consumed by pus and random disgusting germs and... more pus. He put on a smile.

"Alright, Cas, you got it." He said, looking around the room as casually as he could, before spotting the tiny balls of fluff still climbing up the angel. "Oh, got any luck with the kittens?"

Castiel sighed at that, dismissing Dean's wound for a moment as he spared the little felines a short glance.

"Actually, not so far. I have failed to find them a new home in the neighborhood." He replied, looking a little bit disappointed in himself, and Sam just couldn't not... not.

"It's all good then, if you'll take care of Dean then I'll just go and see if I can find them a new home myself, you know?" He gathered his jacket and the keys to the motel room as he spoke, pretending not to notice the fact that Dean was sort of freaking out. Giving him the freaky eyes. "So I'll leave you guys now and see if I can't ask around in that diner we stopped at on the way here. Dean, you be good."

Oh God. Seriously? All of that because of the cats and one slightly fucked up cut?

The door slammed shut and Dean began a mental prayer. Stopped. Frowned.

"Dean. Lie down on your back." No 'please', oh dear. Well, Dean kind of liked that anyway.

How had they come to that?

First thing first, the little tigers.

A little bit after arriving in town, they'd found a litter of kittens waiting for them right under the Impala, huddled together against its tire. They had found the mother as well, but no need to mention she wasn't doing so well. She'd been run over by something -wasn't that usually dogs, Dean had wondered bitterly as they'd taken in her broken little body. When she died a couple hours later, Sam had insisted that they bury her, and they decided together not to burn her first.

Surprisingly, Dean had been the one to declare that they'd find a home for the cats, no matter what, before they finished this fucking vampire case and headed to the next town over.

Also, since this was supposed to be an easy case, it'd been decided that Cas would look for a house for the little rats (because their fur was rough as fuck, so rats it was) while Dean and Sam went to get themselves a piece of vampire ass. Figuratively speaking.

Really, it was supposed to be easy. And Cas... Well, Cas didn't have a single drop of angel mojo left. Cas had, fallen, was weakened, sad and miserable and just in no shape to fight anything at all. Sam had been worried. Dean had been dead scared. So they'd told him that it's be okay, that he could just play around with the kitties and find a little girl or something to take them in and just... not fight.
That was when Dean realized that Cas had truly become family, what with the whole 'being fucking cursed' thing and 'making everyone worry'.

Things hadn't got so bad in the end: Sam getting trapped, Dean getting lashed out at two or three times by one damn freaky vampire -nothing out of the job description.

But as he saw Cas lower himself over him -and swallowed very, very loudly, oh fuck was that too loud?- he knew the guy was pissed and he knew why and well yeah... Maybe, if all three of them had gone together, that wouldn't have happened.

As a way of apologizing for being a little bit of a jerk, Dean forced himself to relax under Cas's touch and closed his eyes.

Silence stretched out for a while, Castiel working quietly to pull off the bandages Dean hadn't taken off yet, looking the slightest bit tense, but then he went and stopped his hand right above Dean's crotch and started talking and Dean was so surprised he opened his eyes and he met Cas's and just, wow. Okay.

"If Sam cannot find a home for them, would it be alright to take the kittens along with us until we reach another town and look for one there?"

Dean had not expected what. What he had expected instead was to get a little pissy rant about carelessness, and going off to fight without him and a whole mess about the fact that he was still able despite the fact he was not an angel anymore.

Dean had expected all that, because he knew Cas would have been right to say those things.

Apart from that, what truly did shock Dean was that... Cas was asking him for permission. When had he ever done that? Not only did he want to know what Dean thought, he wanted his approval. Now that was weird, but... it kind of made sense. He was part of their thing now, their human thing and he was going to share the same place as them, the same car, the same home, he had to adopt the same ways. For some reason, that one, single thought made Dean's insides contract painfully. He bit his lips and noticed he'd been staring at Cas's face the whole time.

"Hey, Cas, you know... Now you're, uh... you're part of the family. Sammy and I, we both, we... we both want you in this thing, so yeah... What I meant to say is..." Oh god, he was struggling. "You do whatever you want, Cas. And yeah, I think it's a pretty good idea."

He hesitated a bit before turning apologetic.

" And Cas? I'm...sorry. I know it was a jerk move to ask you to stay behind and- ...you should have been there with us. Sorry about that."

Something passed through Castiel's eyes, Dean wasn't too sure why, and when he gently squeezed his hip in response, Dean suddenly remembered both of his hands were still on him. And well... that was actually pretty... nice.

"Thank you, Dean."

Those three little words that made everything a whole heck of a lot nicer, and that little smile that made him think that maybe... maybe Cas hadn't been looking all that hard for a home for the kittens in the first place.

But that was pretty ok, too.