Author's Notes: This story was inspired by a dream I had last night. It is freshly written, and unbeta-ed. All mistakes are mine.
Disclaimer: I do no own Supernatural, the concept of Destiel, or any of that, so.
Dean's Angel
The first time Dean saw Cas after the angels fell was a month after the fact. He and Kevin were spending their days researching everything they could in the bat cave library while Sam recuperated. It was slow going due to the rarity of their situation and the fact that their resident research specialist was bedridden.
It was high noon and Dean had been driving home from a quick, clean hunt Garth had sent him on. He was reluctant to leave his brother, but Sam's damn conscience had gotten in the way and convinced Dean that he'd be fine for a few days.
On a particularly empty stretch of flat Kansas road, Dean dialed Charlie, whom he had left in charge of Sam. After three rings she picked up.
"Hey, Charlie. How's Sammy doing?"
"There hasn't been much change. He keeps on claiming that he's fine. We've run out of your homemade chicken noodle soup, so you're going have to cook up a new batch when you return."
Domestic life in the bat cave suited Dean more than he would ever admit, and he secretly loved cooking for Sam and the rest. He had a flair for preparing complex dinners during that one year he spent with Lisa and Ben.
"Okay. I'm just a few hours away. The hunt went smoothly. Tell Sammy I should be back no later than tonight, depending on how traffic is when I pass the city."
"I'll pass along the message. See you tomorrow!" Dean had to hand it to Charlie: only she could retain her enthusiasm in light of their recent hardships.
"Is Kevin doing alright?"
"Yeah, he's—"
Dean didn't catch the rest of her sentence, because he suddenly saw a flash of tan on one side of the road. He skidded to a stop and saw that it was a person, a man. He grunted out a goodbye and hung up. Grateful the man had not been in the middle of the lane he was driving in, Dean jumped out of the Impala and jogged over to the guy, who was dressed in a long, tan coat and currently in the fetal position.
Feeling both wildly relieved and sick at the same time, Dean realized it was Cas. Castiel. Angel of the Lord. Dean's guardian angel, who hadn't responded to any of Dean's prayers (or anyone's, for that matter) since the angels fell.
Dean's eyes grew wide, his mind racing. "Cas! Cas, what are you doing? Where have you been for the last month? Do you know anything about the angels?"
If Cas was surprised to see Dean standing before him all of a sudden, he didn't show it. In fact, the only emotion evident on his face seemed to be pain, an almost-apathetic, mind-numbing pain that Dean was all-too-familiar with.
"He took it, Dean. Metatron took my Grace."
It only took four words for Dean to understand everything: why Cas hasn't responded, why he was curled up in the middle of the road, surely waiting for a truck to speed by and end his misery.
"Oh, Cas." Dean didn't need to say anything more; Cas could feel everything he was thinking just by the emotion poured into those two words.
Dean hauled Cas into the shotgun seat of the Impala, and took a swift U-turn to find the motel he had passed ten or so miles ago.
When they arrive, Dean reserved a room for them—two beds; no, we're not partners (although the thoughts that assumption brought up…)—and purchased a couple meals from the fast food joint next door.
They ate in a comfortable silence, Cas making sounds of satisfaction over his burger despite his depression. Surely he must have been malnourished. In fact, Cas' signature trench coat did look baggier on him than Dean remembered.
"Why don't we watch some TV?" Dean offered, looking for a distraction. He couldn't stand to see Cas so distraught.
Cas nodded wordlessly and followed Dean to where he was getting comfortable on the bed closer to the small TV. Cas climbed in next to Dean and curled up around him, resting his head on a pillow next to Dean's chest. It wasn't exactly what Dean had in mind, but he wasn't going to protest.
As he manned the remote in their channel-surfing adventure, Dean tried to ignore the tightness in his chest and the implications their positions held.
Cas stopped him on The Parent Trap. Figures Cas would choose a movie targeted to twelve-year-olds. But the look on Cas' face made Dean forget any and all reasons why he would veto the decision.
Cas was fascinated by the movie, eyes going wide when Dean explained that Lindsay Lohan did not, in fact, have a twin sister co-starring in the movie with her. For all he learned over the centuries watching over mankind, it was almost endearing to see Cas floored at a simple innovation in cinematography technology. Almost. Maybe if Dean had not just learned that Cas recently became human himself, it would have had a greater effect.
While Cas watched in rapture, Dean was only half paying attention. Absently playing with Cas' hair, Dean explained minor things throughout the movie and watched him as much as he could get away with without Cas catching on. Smiling every time Cas laughed, Dean actually enjoyed the Disney movie more than he expected.
Once the movie ended, Dean shut off the television and they stayed like that for a while, relishing in the other's company and the feeling of safety. It was Cas who broke the silence.
"What am I going to do, Dean?"
It was a short, simple question, but it almost broke Cas. Dean brought Cas closer so that his head was now resting on Dean's chest.
"We'll go back to the Men of Letters headquarters; we'll go home. Sam's still sick—we won't be doing much hunting for a while if we can avoid it. I can teach you anything you need to know about—humanity."
Dean almost didn't say the "h word". He was scared of dredging up any skeletons from Cas' metaphorical closet and make his best friend even more mentally and emotionally scarred. There was no use skirting around the issue, though, like it was damn Voldemort's name, so Dean forged on.
"I'll train you to become a hunter; it'll be your new home. You know that I will always be there for you, right? And so will Sam, and Kevin and Charlie. We're your family."
Cas nodded his approval of the idea. Snuggling closer to Dean, he whispered, "You are my family."
Nothing Dean could think of to say to that was adequate, so he just pressed a kiss to Cas' hair and let his angel fall asleep in his arms.
Even though he was no longer an angel of the Lord, Cas would always be Dean's angel.