A/N: So, it's been a while since I've been here. Been a while since I've written. But I've had this storyline in my head for a while now and I figured I'd share it. I hope you guys enjoy the ride with me.

The story is accompanied by a different song each chapter and will be specified in the A/N. For this chapter I chose "Realize" by Colby Caillat.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

~Take time to realize
That your warmth is
Crashing down on me~

Funny.. He never realized. Then again, he had been busy, the war going on in Heaven and all. But then again, was it really that surprising? In the end, he'd always come if the man called him, right? Even when called under different pretenses, he stayed. He could have left, gone back to fight his own war, each and every time. But he'd stayed.

"Cas?" Silence..
"Cas?!" Castiel shook his head lightly and made some kind of throaty sound. It seemed to pass as an answer, because Dean continued talking. "Come on, man.. I mean I know that you have your own thing going on up..." Dean fell silent for a second as if searching for a word. "Well.. Up there." He continued, while pointing his finger to the sky in a half-assed attempt to underline the meaning of 'up there'.
"But we really need your help man.." His eyes were pleading. Castiel raised an eyebrow in the trademark 'Castiel' kind of way, it made him seem confused, but he nodded anyway.
"Yes, I understand.. How can I help?" He replied.

~Take time to realize
That I am on your side
Didn't I, didn't I tell you?~

Castiel felt strange. He realized that the reason he kept coming back.. Heck, the reason he actually never really left to begin with, was Dean. The human he was ordered to pull from the depths of hell to fight a battle he was never meant to survive. The human he rebelled for, the human he betrayed his fellow angels for. The human he beat to a pulp when he was on his way to give in to Michael. At first, he honestly believed he did it because he was disappointed in him, felt betrayed. Maybe even felt a little bit like an idiot for rebelling for a human who, in the end, decided that he was giving up anyway.

But now, looking back, he realized, he did what he did because he was scared. He had been so scared of losing Dean. The man he'd give up everything for. The man he actually did give up everything for. He didn't want to get left behind to pick up the pieces, while he himself would never recover from the loss.

Castiel took a deep sigh while looking over the many books and papers lying on the table in front of him. Something about a pack of vampires that was leaving a trail of dead bodies in its wake. He couldn't focus, his mind kept wandering. He wasn't sure if the things he felt were even real. He was an angel for crying out loud. Reborn. He shook his head again as he tried to focus on the task at hand, figuring that somewhere along the way, the lines of being a human and being an angel had crossed. It wasn't important either way, this could never happen. It wasn't like he was just your everyday run-of-the-mill kind of guy anyway.

"Cas?" The sound of Dean's voice pulled him out of his train of thought, his eyes shifting to look at the man who he always had such a hard time looking away from.
"Dude.. What the hell is up with you, man? You've been out of it all day." Dean said, shaking his head at him and looking at him with questioning eyes.

~But I can't spell it out for you
No it's never gonna be that simple
No, I can't spell it out for you~

When they returned at 2 in the morning, vampire pack completely eradicated, Castiel stayed, God knows why. As Sam made his way into the motelroom next to Dean's they bid each other goodnight and Castiel followed Dean into his own room. He really needed to stop acting like some sort of lost puppy. He was an angel for crying out loud.

Dean's cheek was bruised and judging by his crabby demeanor, so was his ego.
"How the hell did you two let this guy sneak up on me man?!" Dean grumbled, whilse Castiel, without answering, went to the bathroom, grabbed a wash cloth and held it under the cool stream of the tap he turned on in the sink. He heard Dean 'bitching and moaning' (that was the term for it, right?) in the bedroom about how him and 'Sammy' "didn't have my back" and how "if you can't even trust your brother and your best friend to have your back, who could you trust?".
Castiel sighed and looked at Dean, who by now had sat down on the side of his bed, having just pulled off his shoes. Dean looked up at Castiel expectantly. "Well?!" He grumbled again. Castiel just shook his head and sat down next to the man (big baby) and pressed the cold cloth directly onto the bruise on his cheekbone.

"What the hell man?!" Dean cried out, while trying to get back up out of reflex, but being held down by the firm grip Castiel seemed to have on his shoulder.
"Quit acting like a baby, you need to put something cold on there or you're going to have one heck of a bruise." Castiel simply stated.
Dean looked at him in confusion. "Can't you just use your healing mojo and be done with it?" He asked and Castiel gave him a smug grin (the bastard). "You can stand to be taken down a peg, Dean. It's just a bruise."

As Castiel sat on the bed that stood on the opposite wall from Dean's, he watched Dean sleep, taking in every feature. He looked strangely peaceful when he slept. And no matter how much Castiel knew he had to go back to his own world, his own war, he kept telling himself "Just one more minute.."
If only the timing wouldn't be so off. If only it wasn't Dean. If only he himself, were human. Maybe then..

~If you just realize what I just realized
Then we'd be perfect for each other
And we'd never find another~