Anna Sumter closed the door to her beat up Ford and locked it before opening the door to Harry's Diner, putting on her apron as she entered the kitchen. She greeted the cook before grabbing her pen and pad and went to the first table to grab their drink orders. Not that she didn't know them all by heart, the town was too small and it was too early for anyone to be at the Diner except for the Henson's, the newly-wed marathoner couple; Jimmy Smith the local carpenter; and Duncan Benson, the elementary school principal. But she still went to all of the tables pretending to write down their orders. The Henson's wanted water, Jimmy wanted the blackest and hottest coffee she could make, and Duncan wanted a Coke. If she lived anywhere the deep south she probably would have questioned why a man would be getting soda at five in the morning, but she was used to it by now. She turned away from the tables to grab the drinks before she heard a tired cough, as if to alert her of a presence. Two tables down from Duncan was a tall man in a trench coat, covered in blood and mud and God knows what else. Twenty three years she had been working at Harry's, and she had never seen anything like him. He was so tall but he seemed so meek and defeated. The tiny cough she had heard sounded like it came from the Thomas' five year old son, not a grown man. He looked so pathetic she couldn't help but overlook the fact he looked like he had just won a fight with a grizzly bear.
"How may I help you, Darling?" She asked as sweet as possible, she didn't want to frighten him. "Haven't seen you 'round these parts." He smiled shyly, pulling out a wad of cash from his coat and dumping it on the table. "I want as many cheeseburgers as this will buy me, please." He said, less of a statement and more of a question, his smile disappeared with a nervous look overtaking his face. The man seemed to not understand how money worked, he had forked over at least fifty dollars in cash. "Honey, you don't need to give me all that. How about you give me half and I'll feed you four cheeseburgers?" She knew she was giving him a huge deal, but she basically ran the place and she could do whatever she pleased. His smile returned as he thanked her, his blue eyes shining radiantly. Anna knew she was going to give that sweet man as much food as he wanted, just so she could see him smile again.
As the waitress turned into the kitchen, Castiel reached into his coat pocket and called Dean. He answered after the third ring, as he usually did, and sounded relieved just to hear Castiel was okay. He told him Dean he was at Harry's Diner in Leesburg, and Dean used Mapquest to figure out he was only a few hours away. He told Castiel to stay where he was and that he would be there as soon as possible to get him. Castiel hung up just as the waitress came to his table with a giant milkshake for him. "It's on the house, sweet thing." This time Castiel smiled even wider, and Anna swore it was the most angelic thing she had ever seen. Castiel slowly sipped his milkshake and ate his burgers, and even though he had let his entire family down it was really hard to not smile because the food was so incredibly good. I guess that's why they call it "Soul Food", Castiel thought to himself. He reminded himself to buy more when Team Free Will made future pit stops at the greasy but somehow warm and inviting diners.
The door opened, setting off the electronic bell noise. By now the restaurant was teeming with locals, and Castiel had to move to sit at the bar to allow the Thomas' to sit at the table. Castiel did not react to it, he had stopped turning around to see who the visitor was after the twentieth times he heard it. "Cas" he heard someone say softly. Castiel whipped around to see Dean right behind him, and he grabbed him forcefully, drawing him into the tightest hug he could. Without even thinking he began crying softly, his arms locked around Dean's waist and his head on Dean's chest. Dean in turn began rubbing his back with his left hand while protectively cradling his head with his right, his fingers in Castiel's hair, mumbling comforting things into his ear. Anna on the other side of the bar, catching Dean's eye and telling him not to worry about paying, everything was free. Dean's heart swelled at the showing of southern kindness. Castiel shifted and unwound his arms, sniffling a little bit and wiping his eyes. "Sorry, Dean" he said gruffly. Dean couldn't help but smile at his sweet little perfect baby angel, and lead Castiel out to the Impala where Sam was in the driver's seat. Dean put Castiel in the back and got in next to him. Sam peeled away from the dilapidated diner, and the three of them began to plan where they went to next. Castiel kept Dean's hand in a vice like grip, and Dean only became conscious of it when he tried to move his hand and realized he had lost all feeling in it.
They headed off towards New York, where Balthazar had called and asked to be picked up. He had no money but had landed near a strip club and managed to get seven numbers without actually paying anything. He did stress that while he did need to be rescued, it did not and better not be immediate.
A day's drive later, they were in upstate New York to find Balthazar. None of them had slept, and when they pulled into the daily diner the three men finished off two coffee pots all by themselves. Castiel looked even more wrecked than the other two, and continued to drink coffee every couple of hours. They picked up Balthazar, who took shot gun while Dean and Castiel continued to stay in the backseat. They headed back towards the Men of Letters' bunker in Kansas, which took just as long as the drive to New York. The constant coffee stops for Castiel got so bad that eventually Dean just stopped and bought two cases of Red bull and Monster. While it perked Castiel up considerably in the beginning, when the Monster was finished and he was working on Red bull it seemed more like it was keeping him alive. By the time they reached the Men of Letters' Castiel's eyes were drooping but his arms were shaking from the caffeine overdose his body was receiving. Dean got everyone inside before taking Castiel up to his bedroom. "Cas, buddy, you can't keep taking energy drinks and coffee. You'll kill yourself in the lamest way possible." Dean said, smirking. He undid the top sheet, ushering Castiel to get in.
Castiel shook his head vigorously back and forth. "No, Dean. I can't do this." Dean looked at Castiel weird. "Look man, I know I don't wash the sheets very often but still…" "It's not that, Dean. Your sheets look quite satisfactory." Castiel was shaking even more now, and Dean hugged him hard to try and get him to stop. "Cas, buddy, what's wrong?" "I'm afraid." Castiel said, his voice shaking enough to match his body. "Why?" Dean asked, half amused half worried. "It's an ephemeral darkness, where you're most vulnerable to attack." Dean hugged his angel as hard as he could. "Cas, don't worry. I'll watch over you. You can trust me." He said, lifting Castiel's head to look into his eyes. Castiel stopped shaking so nervously and allowed himself to be cleaned up and changed into a spare pair of Dean's clothes, before Dean tucked him into bed. He settled himself on a chair facing the bed on the opposite side of the room. "I'll be here when you wake up." Dean smiled just warm enough to erase Castiel's fears, the same smile he gave Sammy when he woke Dean up with nightmares as a child. "Dean?" Castiel said, questioningly. "Yeah?" "Would you lie with me?" Dean would usually have refused but Castiel was looking at him with the same scared eyes Sam would when their father hadn't been home in two weeks and he was scared.
Dean smiled nervously. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you need, buddy." Dean took off his jacket and shoes, deciding at the last minute that he might as well change into clothes he could sleep in since he would probably be stuck with Cas until he woke up the next morning. He slid into bed and stared straight at the ceiling, legs and arms pressed firmly against his body as straight as possible. "Dean?" the small voice from beside him asked. Castiel grabbed his shirt tightly and tried to snuggle himself as close as he could, trying to recreate the hug from Harry's. When he noticed Dean wasn't reciprocating, he looked at Dean with his deep blue eyes, trying to convince Dean through emotions clearly readable in his eyes. Dean rolled his eyes before sighing in resignation and rubbing Castiel's back with one hand while playing with his hair with his other. Within seconds Castiel's eyes closed and he smiled contently, and within minutes Dean could hear Castiel's breathe even out. Smiling just a little he nudged Castiel's head into the crook of his neck and closed his eyes.
Sam snorted in amusement from outside the door. God they were so gay.