Sam is currently giving him bitchface #137.
Dean instantly knows that he's going to hate this one. It's not like he actually likes any other version of Sam's bitchface, especially if they're directed at him, but he can admit that sometimes they can be quite hilarious to look at.
Not so much this one.
This one clearly says that Dean is an overprotective, hovering mother-hen, and that his actions are so over the top, they don't even require a comment or an eye-roll anymore.
No, Sam just goes straight for bitchface #137 instead.
God, but it really pisses Dean off.
He throws a dark glare at his smug little brother, but Sam doesn't even blink at the murderous expression on his face. Huh, well that's just... not cool.
But, whatever.
Just to get back at Sam, he shoves him towards the backseat of the Impala and calls out to Cas, who is approaching the car with his head lowered, "Come on, you're riding shotgun today."
Cas' face lifts up at that and he smiles, even as Sam's bitchface intensifies, but Dean resolutely averts his gaze from both of them and gets into the car. He also tries not to think about the fluttery feeling in his belly at seeing Cas smile. Or the true reason why he wants Cas next to him right now. But the image of Cas, dangling from the grip of a vampire, almost choked to unconsciousness - or worse, death - won't leave his mind.
He subtly throws a glance at Cas, who seems fine by now as he climbs into the passenger seat, and clenches his jaw hard when he sees the dark red fingerprints littered across Cas' throat. It's only when Sam coughs overly loudly in the backseat, that Dean realises that he's just sitting there staring at Cas, who is gazing back at him with his oh-so-familiar confused head tilt.
Quickly, Dean starts the engine and turns on his music so loud that any conversation becomes completely impossible.
It only takes about forty minutes and they're back at the bunker and Dean heads straight to the bathroom, once his baby is parked safely in the garage. He's covered with grime and dirt and plenty of blood, and a shower sounds like the best thing ever right now.
It also gives him a bit of distance from Cas, who still looks far too vulnerable with his torn shirt and his bruises. It's probably best not to start another furious tirade at the moment, not when Sam is still watching him with that intense look of exasperation, that clearly says that he's overreacting. So he decides to take his time to calm down and try to push all that fury and fear deep down inside him again, which overwhelmed him just an hour ago, when they lost Cas in that huge abandoned factory where they suspected the vampire's nest.
Dean still doesn't know exactly how they were separated. One second Cas was right behind him and in the next he was just gone. Sam stayed composed and suggested they split up, which Dean agreed to. A few corridors further into the building, he found a trail of blood and followed it to a dimly lit room that reeked of metal, blood and death. He gripped his blade firmly and was about to peer into the room carefully, when he heard Cas' voice. Dean wasn't able to understand what he said, but he could hear the strain in that gruff voice, suggesting that Cas was in so much pain that the words were difficult to utter.
The next minutes were a blur.
Dean remembers kicking the door open, startling one of the three vampires scattered across the room, who was standing right next to the entrance. He didn't hesitate to take advantage of the vampire's distraction and raised his blade high, decapitating that son of a bitch on the spot with one brutally effective swing.
The second vampire was charging at him by then, but Dean was ready. He sidestepped the first attack and managed to deliver a deep cut to the vampire's left side. When the vampire swung at him in retaliation, Dean dropped into a crouch and used that opportunity to drive the blade up into its stomach. Blood spurted and ran down his arms, but he ignored it and twisted the blade deeper, before pulling it out, leaving the vampire hunched over and spilling blood all over him in the process. One more swish of the blade and the vampire's head was rolling across the floor, as Dean quickly got up again and looked for Cas.
At the other side of the room, Cas was trying weakly to push and claw at the hands of the last vampire, who held him in a tight grip around his neck and obviously tried to take a bite out of him.
Dean was at their side so fast, he didn't remember even taking those steps. The vampire dropped Cas to the ground when it noticed him coming closer and whirled around. Dean immediately tried aiming for its head, but it dodged and one cold hand closed itself over Dean's right wrist in a crushing grip. He grimaced, but held on to the blade, while ramming his left elbow against the vampire's nose. It only growled at that and delivered a painful blow to Dean's unprotected stomach.
He legs almost gave out at that and he sucked in a desperate breath, but he remained on his feet. The next blow however hit him across his left temple and this time he went down on his knees. Slightly dizzy now, he fumbled in the pockets of his jacket for the needle he knew was there, but that gave the vampire even more time to attack and Dean felt its other hand going around his own neck now, squeezing brutally hard and cutting off his air.
If Dean didn't know it any better, he would think that this sadistic son of a bitch had a fetish.
But there was no time to think about stuff like that, as he couldn't seem to reach the damn needle and the lack of air was really starting to become a problem. His grip on his blade loosened, even while his survival instincts kicked in and urged him to try harder to hold on. But it was a futile battle and a few seconds later it slipped from his numb fingers and clattered to the floor. The sound reached his ears, though it seemed muted by the sound of his own blood pounding in his veins.
Just when his vision was starting to blur, there was a rustle behind the vampire and in the next moment it let out a surprised grunt, followed by a pain-filled moan. Dean didn't see what was happening, but the grip around his throat lessened and he gulped in air desperately, even while he struggled to free himself completely.
There was another sound then, metal dragging across a rough surface, and Dean caught the movement out of the corner of his eye this time. Cas' hand. Picking up the blade Dean had dropped.
A second later, the vampire's head was cut clean off right in front of him and Dean pushed himself backwards in order to avoid having it land in his lap. He was successful in that regard, though he was still sprayed with another bout of blood across his face and his chest, which was – even after all the hunting and killing he'd done in the past – disgusting every freaking time it happened.
He coughed a few times, trying to clear his airways, while he looked up at Cas, who was staring down at him with worried blue eyes.
Dean was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Cas seemed to be worried about him, when just five minutes earlier Dean had found him almost strangled to death by that vampire, when Sam burst into the room, ready to attack.
When he took in the three decapitated bodies, he seemed to relax somewhat. "You guys okay?"
No. Just… no. Nothing was okay.
"Why the hell did you go off on your own?" he growled at Cas, completely ignoring Sam's question. There was anger building up inside him fast and he didn't really know where it came from, though his mind flashed back to a certain lake, followed by a glowing blue portal in the middle of a bloody wasteland, and the sight of that reaper lady leaning over Cas' beaten and bleeding body, ready for the killing strike.
His heart was still racing and he got to his feet shakily, while Cas looked at him startled. "I thought I heard something coming from this direction and I -"
"You thought it would be such an awesome idea to go looking on your own?" Dean interrupted harshly, stepping closer, right up in Cas' personal space. And yeah, pot, kettle. But this was important and he wanted to make it unmistakably clear that he wouldn't stand by and watch how Cas kept throwing himself so carelessly into such situations. "You should have told me, you should have given me a signal. Anything. You don't just run off alone!"
"I didn't think -"
"Damn right, you didn't!"
Sam was approaching them and raised his hands placatingly, obviously trying to be the voice of reason. "Hey, everything turned out alright. No one got seriously hurt, right?"
"That's not the point, Sammy!" Dean spat out, without averting his eyes from Cas' face. There was blood on his left cheek and even though Dean knew that it wasn't Cas' blood, but the vampire's, it didn't help in the slightest to calm him down.
"Dean, I wasn't trying to upset you," Cas said earnestly. "I was sure that I could handle it. Sam and you split up all the time when you're doing a job."
Rationally, Dean knew that Cas had a point. But rationality had no place in his thoughts at that moment. "You've only been hunting with us for two months, Cas. Sam and I, we know what we do and what we can handle on our own. You don't," he argued vehemently, while pointing an accusing finger at Cas for emphasis. "You're human now. You can get hurt. You can be killed so easily and you don't even seem to realise it or take it seriously. Do you have any idea what I..."
He trailed off there, not able to continue. His anger receded and made room for the aching agony he felt at the notion of thinking what if. "Never mind," he said gruffly, suddenly wanting nothing more than to leave this place. "Let's burn the bodies and get out of here."
Hearing no protests, he started walking back to the entrance of the room, intent on retrieving everything they would need from the Impala. But when he passed Sam on his way out, he noticed it.
Sam was giving him one of his patented bitchfaces.
Dean startled a little bit, because he couldn't understand what he had done to warrant that, and he also couldn't quite decipher what this one meant. "What?" he snapped annoyed.
"Oh, nothing," Sam replied with a grin that belied his words. He then threw a meaningful look to the back of the room, where Cas was already dragging the bodies across the floor, to put them in one spot.
Dean decided to ignore that look and also Sam's newest bitchface - must be around number 137, he thought to himself wryly - and walked out, definitely not thinking about what all of this meant.
Sometimes, Sam truly was a major pain-in-his-ass.
As he now lets the warm water run over his aching body and scrubs himself vigorously clean from all the disgusting things sticking to it, he starts humming some AC/DC songs and finally feels some of the tension of this day drain out of him.
When he steps out of the bathroom he feels so much better, except that his stomach rumbles loudly, reminding him that the last thing he ate was breakfast. It's almost ten p.m. now and Dean makes a beeline for the kitchen, not able to ignore the burning hunger any longer.
Sam is already seated at the small table in the kitchen when he gets there, munching on a salad and some bread. Dean rolls his eyes at him and sighs. "Seriously dude, you're like a hamster. Can't you eat something normal for once?"
Sam barely glances up and replies evenly, "This is perfectly normal and healthy."
Dean, sensing another bitchface coming his way, grunts non-committally and starts making himself some burgers. He waits a little bit longer until he's finished the first one and then asks innocently, while looking over his shoulder at his little brother, "You sure you don't want one?"
Sam only hesitates about three seconds, before he pushes his salad away and nods. "Okay, yeah. If you're already making some."
He's so obviously trying not to look too excited at the prospect of one of Dean's awesome burgers, that Dean can't help but grin. He freezes however, when Cas comes in, also looking freshly showered with his tousled and slightly damp hair, dressed in one of Dean's older shirts and jeans.
If Dean squints a bit, he can see a small droplet of water cascading down Cas' neck, right behind his left ear.
"Dean?" Sam's voice flitters through the sudden fog his thoughts became.
"Huh? What?" he stammers back.
And seriously, this needs to stop. Right now.
Except, Cas suddenly smiles brightly and Dean tries very hard not think anything chick-flicky, but goddamnit, it's like the sun coming out. There, he said it. Thought it. Whatever.
"You're making burgers! That's great. Can I have some?" Cas asks, while he sits down next to Sam, looking eagerly at the half-finished meal.
Yes. Of course, Cas can have some of his burgers. Dean will even feed them to him, if he wants that.
Which is the exact moment, where he brain finally starts catching up with what it's thinking and he jerks back around to the counter and busies himself with making more burgers, while trying to chalk those ridiculous thoughts up to the stress he was under the whole day.
Or rather his whole life.
And considering all the truly insane stuff that's happened to him in the past, a few crazy thoughts about his favourite ex-angel seem to be perfectly understandable.
At least, that's what Dean keeps telling himself while he finds himself watching Cas happily munching on his burger after he served them all, barely able to keep his eyes off him. For the first time in the past few hours, Dean feels like he can breathe again without difficulty.
Cas is here. In the bunker. Home.
And safe.
A/N: I plan to make a series of this, so hopefully there will be more soon :D