Castiel watches over the armies of heaven.
He also watches over the Winchesters.
Both require about the same amount of effort.
Yet somehow, Dean always acts bitterly towards him. What Dean doesn't realize, is that even when Castiel isn't around, he's constantly listening or watching the Winchesters' every move. Particularly Dean's. One could argue that old habits die hard - Dean was his charge for a very long time and an angel gets used to keeping an eye out on his charge - but anyone can see that it goes beyond that. It is because Castiel cares for Dean that he keeps such a vigilant eye on him.
Of course, none of that seems to matter to Dean. But what if the tables were turned?
Tonight, the tables were in reverse. In fact, they were in such a state of reverse that it was hard to even call them tables anymore. The tables might as well have been sofas or hammocks or nightstands.
And now, when these so-called "tables" are "turned", Dean isn't able to do a damned thing.
Castiel has run himself ragged between taming the chaos that is "heaven", and running errands for the Winchesters. He hasn't slept in…well, angels don't sleep. But they do need time to "catch a breath", so to say. And Castiel hasn't done that in quite awhile.
When he's at his weakest is when Raphael's army attacks. They corner him on all sides, and there's nothing he can do but try to withstand the pain and get the fuck out of there.
He squeezes his eyes shut and thinks of Dean.
And suddenly he's at Bobby's house in the middle of the night. It's dark - very dark - but that might be because he's laying face-down on the ground, blood pooling around him and staining his shabby excuse for a trench coat.
He'd always meant to buy a new wardrobe. It had been on his "to-do" list right after "defeat Raphael" and "try a pina colada" solely because Dean had told him to.
The pina colada idea he'd gotten on his own when he watched late-night cable that time he was waiting for Dean to do god-knows-what.
Anyway, here he is, lying in a pool of his own blood. He doesn't have much longer, and where is Dean? Dean Winchester, the man who takes him for granted. The man who wallows in self-pity. The man who exploits angels.
Where is he when Castiel needs him most?
In spite of all this, Castiel can't seem to hold anything but love for him.