Words: 2011 words

Warnings: None, just some good ol' fluff

Summary: Cas spends the night.

AN: I know, I know. It's been too long. Check out the AN at the end for more news about requests, 'Tip Jars', and the like.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Castiel, because if I did, things would be going a lot differently.

By My Side (Tonight)

She had spent most of the night tossing and turning in her bed. Her mind was swimming with thoughts for the previous couple of days and they wouldn't leave her alone.

Sam was acting as a vessel for an angel named Ezekiel - but wait, the angel's name isn't really Ezekiel - and he's currently missing in action at the moment.

Kevin is dead. Sam/Not-Ezekiel executed the young prophet for Metatron. The former Scribe of the Lord has shut down Heaven, causing all the angels to fall and forcing them to possess poor humans' bodies - and those were the celestial beings who survived their falls from grace.

Oh, and Castiel is now human after that douche-canoe Metatron took his grace in order to close shop.

She hadn't known about the whole 'human' thing until Cas turned up on the Bunker doorsteps this morning, hoping that he could stay here now that Sam/Not-Ezekiel was gone. Since that was the reason Dean gave for Cas not being able to stay.

Not to mention that Dean had known all of this and just now decided to tell her about it - other than Kevin dying. She was there to bury her good friend.

So I guess you could say that life was a living hell for her at the moment.

No matter how much she wanted to throttle Dean for lying to her by omission and avoiding her questions when Sam started to acting weird, she had other more pressing matters to attend to.

Cas was human.

This meant that he had to eat, sleep, and do other human things that he didn't have to do as an angel. Dean had tried to help their blue-eyed wonder, but he had to figure out the whole 'Sam/Not-Ezekiel' mess that he had gotten everyone into - it was a good thing Dean Winchester is pretty, because he's not too bright and tends to be too impulsive when it comes to things involving Sam Winchester.

And so Cas was delivered unto her to take care of.

Which was fine. She genuinely liked - okay, so maybe more than 'liked' - Cas and wanted to help him.

But it was hard.

His amazement of the rather mundane activities and things - along with his newfound uncertainty of everything - had almost killed her.

What really did it, though, was when he told her that he wasn't able to sleep for fear of the other angels - or even Meta-douche canoe himself - coming to get him. That had broken her heart.

She knew what it was like to fear the arrival of sleep. Whether it was the possibility of some monster coming to get her or a visit from the ghost of failures past, she knew it all too well. Castiel had helped her with some other those, actually.

That's why she told him that he could come to her if he needed anything at all. She meant it full heartedly, too.

And yet she was the one unable to fall into the realm of unconsciousness.

After much deliberation, she decided that the chances of Cas sleeping were slim to none as well. So she got out of her bed. She walked out of her room and across the hall to Castiel's room. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She waited in anticipation as she heard footsteps padding along the flooring and the door opening.

She looked up to Cas,. whose outward appearance - the wrinkled pants/shirtless combination and the tousled hair that she just wanted to run her fingers through - told her he had been asleep. Yet when she looked into his blue eyes, she found that they were too alive for him to have been sleeping. They must have been a lot like hers.

"What can I help you with?" He asked after saying her name. The way he said it made her want to jump his bones. But that had to be her fatigued mind thinking for her, right?

"I -uh- I," She stuttered, suddenly forgetting why she was in front of him in just a t shirt and a pair of cotton briefs when everyone in their time zone - including them - should be fast asleep. "I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I." The former angel conceded.

"I can see that." She said before she could stop herself. "What I meant to say was," She bit her lip, unsure how to continue. "If you'd like to join me in my room and we could try together - not together together, but separately together." Her voice rose an octave as she stopped herself from embarrassing herself any further, making her statement sound more like a question.

"You know what?" She said as she watched Cas's face morph into an expression of confusion, changing her mind and hoping that they could just forget that this conversation - this whole night - had ever happened. "I'll just go to my room and-"

"Wait," Cas interrupted her, effectively stopping her from turning around and leaving this embarrassing scene behind her.

She looked up at him, holding her breath as she waited for him to continue.

"I would like that." And then he said her name and it made her insides flip as if she was on a rollercoaster.

"Okie dokie, then." Oh God Almighty, why did she say that? "Let's do this thing." She did turn around this time and lead the way across the hallway to her room, surprised that the former angel actually followed her.

She opened the door to her room and walked in, Cas close behind. She closed the door after her blue-eyed wonder walking in and stood there for a minute, internally panicking.

I mean, she got him in her room, but now what what she going to do? Her mind was blank as she tried to think of her next step.

Then he said her name, forcing her to turn toward him. "I think that the conventional thing to do would be to join me under the numerous blankets and wait for unconsciousness to take over." Oh Lord, this man was going to be the death of her, she was sure of it.

But nonetheless, she joined him on her bed and slid under the warm comforter. He followed suit.

It was so awkward. They were both lying down on their backs, barely touching each other. She didn't want to startle him or anything, but this was getting out of control. They were adults for Christ's sake. They - well, she - should be capable of handling an impromptu sleepover, even if she had only ever dreamed of this situation with Cas.

After a few more minutes of this torture, she decided to turn over toward Cas. And she was surprised to see his eyes trained on her as she faced him.

"Hi." She whispered quietly, smiling at the rather sheepish look on the former angel's face.

"Hi." His gravel-like voice did things to her - very unplatonic things like making her want to kiss him and find out what things made him tremble while underneath her - and she felt her spine shiver. "Are you cold?" He asked, concern added into his voice.

"I'm fine, Cas-" But she was cut off when his arms wrapped themselves around her, pressing her against his bare chest She almost fainted, if she was going to be honest.

She remembered the last time the two were like this.

She had refused to sleep for a couple of days, choosing to endure a marathon of research that was probably unnecessary instead of falling asleep to a young girl in blonde pigtails screaming out for help.

Cas had watched over her then, pulling up a chair next to her bed and promising her that nothing would happen while he was there.

She had believed him and had fallen asleep to dreams that weren't plagued with screams or death.

But when she woke up he was gone and then acted like nothing had happened. Like he didn't just save her sanity - you know, no big deal or anything.

She didn't want him to leave her. Now or ever.

She felt him move and her grip around his tightened. "Stay the night, Castiel." She heard herself whispering into the former angel's neck. "Please."

"Of course." He spoke softly into her hairline, his arms around her tightening like hers had around him.

She hummed in approval into his neck, sliding her leg in between his to get into a more comfortable position. The fact that her whole body was pressed up against him was just a bonus.

Now all she needed was for him to kiss her and then it would be like all of her dreams and fantasies coming true.

He whispered her name in that voice again.

"Yeah?" She looked up at him, wondering what he wanted. She fought back a yawn.

"Thank you." He said simply.

"For what?" She asked, confused.

"For helping me."

"Anytime." She went up to kiss his cheek, unable to stop herself in her current state of mind.

But she missed.

And her mouth landed on his.

They both froze before Castiel kissed her back, prompting her to finish the job. It was kind of sloppy, but she thought that for a first kiss, it wasn't that bad. She enjoyed it at least.

But the two were cut short when a yawn escaped his lips. And like the unexplainable phenomenon, she followed suit, yawning back into the crook of his neck. She was unable to look at him, embarrassed about what she had just done.

"That was," Cas started, trying to come up with a word to describe what just happened. She held her breath in anticipation of what he was going to say. Was it bad? Terrible? Horrendous? Would he never want to do it again? Would this one kiss ruin him for all eternity, prompting him to join the seminary and into the priesthood, so he wouldn't have to do that ever again?

He surprised her by finishing. "Good."

"Really?" She asked. Did he really mean it?

"Yes." He confirmed. "It was something that I wouldn't mind repeating with you." She could hear the smile in his voice.

"I'm glad." She yawned again. It wasn't long before she gave into the pull of unconsciousness.

Castiel pulled her closer and finally fell asleep with his arms wrapped around her again, glad that he had followed Dean's advice regarding her.

AN: Woohoo! Another one done! Semester finals were this week, so I got today off and I've been writing since I got up. Hopefully I can write a couple more installments of 'Tip Jars' before Monday come around.

If you haven't heard. I've recently lost most of the requests that I've been working on - I had to get myself a new laptop since my old one crashed on me. I had some of the saved onto my google drive - so that's good - and I was able to retrieve some from my e-mail. But if you want, you can message me with whatever your request was - if you can remember - and I'll add it to my growing list of things.

Other than that, nothing much else to say. Comments, questions, concerns? Just message me via my 'Iris Message' (Tumblr), via my PM box or through the reviews (fanfiction) and I'll try to get to you! Have a good weekend and, as always...

Remember to Smile :)

~Becca