Daria stared at the computer screen, the pixels blurring into one large glare. Her detachment from her task must have been apparent, because Dean said, "Hey! Daria!" Jolting into a more upright position, she looked at the speaker.
"Sorry, Dean. I must have slipped off somewhere. Sorry." She adjusted herself in the hotel room's chair; the cushion was barely there and needed constant fluffing to be just a little bit comfortable. The constraints of desk and chair were the same as in any of the hotels she routinely stayed at, and she had learned some tricks to make the best of them. Some strands of her dark brown hair had fallen out of her disheveled ponytail. She pushed them away from her face, behind her ears.
Dean got up from the farthest twin bed, walking to the small desk where Daria was situated. "Even Sam is asleep," Dean commented, walking past where Sam had done just as he mentioned. Sam's large body visibly dwarfed the bed, even from under the covers. The sight made Daria grin approvingly.
"You should, too," Dean instructed, his voice deep from lack of sleep. Reaching over her shoulder, Dean shut the laptop screen, his figure shadowing her.
He was right, though. It was nearing three in the morning, and she would be of no use on a hunt if she was exhausted. They had already been out hunting the previous day, since dawn. The shifter—or what they assumed they were hunting—was being tricky. Daria had been scowering the local newspapers and any internet sources for details; she had found some useful information and written it down, but—as always—wanted to find more. "Of course…you're right, Dean." She conceded and sighed heavily. It turned into a yawn, which rubbed off on Dean. They chuckled at the coincidence before Daria said, "But you're one to talk. What have you been doing? You're still in your adventure ensemble." She smiled at his appearance, which was always nice to her. Dean was a well-built man, with softer features then the average hunter. By that time of morning, he should have already taken off his brown leather jacket and boots, but he was still wearing both.
He glanced down, raising his eyebrows, and pursing his lips slightly. "Eh, I was going to fix up in a minute." Then he looked at Daria, appraising her while she sat, waiting and properly, in the chair. "You should get ready first; we both need showers." She nodded. Hunting was dirty business. She knew what he would say next. "I'll set up the extra bed." He stepped back, allowing her room to get up. He had both arms to his sides, slightly out, as if waiting to make sure she would oblige.
"Thanks, Dean. I'll try to hurry for ya." Daria nodded and smiled before switching off the sole light illuminating the room, which was on the desk. The bright moon shone through the curtains, allowing enough light for her to navigate to the restroom door. As she shut the door, she could hear Dean already pulling out the cot. It reminded her of how when she first joined Sam and Dean—aka the Winchester brothers—she would stay in a separate room. Daria had first "joined" the brothers by force. They had been in her hometown investigating what they supposed to be a werewolf invasion. Lucky for her, or else she surely would have been killed. They had found her, barricaded in a room, fought off the monsters, and brought her to safety. That whole experience changed her life.
Like always, the Winchesters left after their job well done. But Daria could not go back to her normal life. Quite willingly, she left what she had. Her family had only been her father, who had been killed by the werewolves. She had a plentiful amount of friends, a caring neighborhood, the small house that was her father's, a steady job as a secretary, and was in her second year of community college. But none of that mattered after the werewolves. Being an analytic person, she evaluated her situation and determined that she would be happier if she were out helping people directly, especially if it meant saving lives. Practically immediately after the Winchesters departed, Daria began research to find them again. Eventually, she was able to guess where they would next appear based on what she figured was a ghost problem (while the Winchesters had been rescuing her, she had been extremely inquisitive as to their "job"). She dropped everything, leaving only a little notice so that no one would search for her, and began her quest.
Daria found the ghosts, encountered the Winchesters, helped fight…and basically stalked them until they accepted her. She was embarrassed about her situation, but overcame the bashfulness with determination. After asking to help them, providing cogent arguments as to how she could help, and then following them once they refused to accept, it seemed it would not work. But persistence paid off, and they allowed her to accompany them as long as she stayed out of harm's way. So that was how she began to stay in the same hotel. However, as it always is for hunters, life was dangerous. A wraith encounter that had managed to follow them back to the hotel proved that they should stay together if they were going to make it work at all.
So that was how Daria found herself in the same hotel room as Dean and Sam Winchester, about to use the shower.
Daria tugged at her oversized t-shirt, size large. She preferred male shirts because they were shapeless, and wanted to keep a professional approach to her work. In her mind, wearing anything tight would mean drawing attention to herself and she was always embarrassed with anything like that. Although she could handle herself quite confidently and outspokenly in most situations, if it had to do with her body, she would feel awkward. Or anyone else's body. If she had to be around people not wearing clothes, she preferred cadavers. At least with dead people she could view them scientifically.
Blowing air heavily through her plump lips, Daria cracked her neck and turned on the shower. As it heated up, she took off the rest of her work clothes. Not wearing the constraining jeans after hours was wonderful. After stripping, she stepped inside and let the flow of water wash away her stresses. The pounding and steam was so nice after working, and a complete relaxation washed over her. She began washing her hair while facing the water spout. Her thoughts flowed freely and with more clarity than when she had been on the laptop most recently.
Instead of pondering the case they were all working on, she was once again thinking about her travels with the boys. It was not just them that had changed her life. Obviously the monsters had been quite a jolt to her understanding of reality. But what was most jarring was the idea of demons and angels. Even more then that was the Winchester's complete interaction with those of such extreme power. Dean especially had a bond with the angels; his interactions with Castiel were amazing to her.
Daria's expression was muddled, somewhere between anticipation and confusion, but with some hint of happiness. Castiel was an anomaly to her, and she always felt so vulnerable around him. He was an angel, a powerful one at that. He had been around for many millennia. The mere idea of his knowledge and other-worldliness astonished her, but the way Dean and Sam treated him was even more of a surprise. They had their way of calling him things she would not dream of uttering…but she would not even call him by his nickname, Cas, in case he would not have deemed her worthy of such closeness. She would ask "Castiel" questions whenever she could, or whenever he looked like it would not bother him. When Daria had first begun her travels with the Winchesters, the boys had not mentioned Castiel at all to her…nor her to Castiel. When Castiel was finally needed, and called by Dean (angels may teleport if they are prayed to), Castiel had not seemed to approve of Daria. Just thinking about how he had seemed to glare at her made her blush while in the shower. Later, Dean explained that was how he normally looked, but she could not help but feel that was a specific glower intended for her. Since that moment, she had made it a point to gain his approval. Her friendliness and truthfulness to him and the Winchesters, combined with her respect for his angelic authority, appeared to have gained his approval. On one occasion, Castiel had appeared by her praying. Through their conversations that gradually became longer (from one word replies to actually carrying of a topic), Daria knew that Castiel had accepted her. She suspected that part of Castiel's initial distrust of her was jealousy; he would have wanted to accompany Dean and Sam and would be worried that they would prefer her over him. Over time, when it proved that she was not trying to distance them and they still liked Castiel, he might have even begun to see her as a friend. Or at least that was what Daria felt.
Thoughts of Castiel's stern face and always trench-coat wearing presence filled her mind. She stopped rubbing the bits of dirt off of her pale skin and let her forehead give a thump as it hit the wall underneath the shower head. "This is difficult," she reflected about the entire job, "and it's amazing how Dean and Sam do it…" She closed her eyes, covering the green that usually peered piercingly from her face. "Castiel, you help so much. I wish you were here."
As she finished her sentence, she straightened her back and began to turn around, back into the stream of water. But a slight fluttering noise made her stop half-way. Daria's eyes widened at the same time she gave a yelp of surprise. Castiel was standing on the other half of the shower, water hitting his shoes. His eyes were equally wide and surprised. They made eye contact for a split second before either had a chance to move. Daria hurriedly covered her front body and turned into the corner of the shower, her face already burning. Her eyes were closed tight and she kept thinking that it was all some weird, embarrassing dream. She heard Castiel clear his throat quickly and nervously before he said, "Sorry," very roughly. He exited the shower normally instead of just disappearing. He had been standing frigidly still, with his shoulders in the usual slumped position, and left by sliding the door open, stepping over the bathtub edge, and closing it again.
Everything happened in a few seconds, but Daria felt like it was an eternity. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but she felt like the moment would last forever or be remembered forever. Either way, she was horrified. Then she heard Dean and Sam's muffled voiced over the water and through the bathroom door. They sounded surprised and loud.
"Ah! Sorry!" Daria yelled as she hurriedly shut off the water. There were no longer any voices resounding from outside, but she heard the thumping of her heart in her ears. "Sorry! It's my fault, I'll explain in a minute! Ack!" Dean, Sam, and Castiel heard her slip and presumably recover. She exited promptly, wearing her pajama t-shirt that she had brought in and her dirty jeans.
There was a pause as all three boys looked at her and she purveyed them. The Winchesters were still in action poses, Dean holding his handgun and Sam with a knife. Castiel was just standing to the side, uncomplicated in his usual stance.
Daria raised her hands to her shoulders, palms facing outwards. "Okay, let me explain." She breathed in deeply. "You know how some people sing in the shower? I sometimes talk. You know how Castiel can hear praying and respond accordingly?" She looked searchingly at the boys' faces, which were beginning to morph from shock into withheld laughter. Sam, as usual, looked worried, but the inquisitive twist of his head gave away the bemused interest he felt with the topic. Dean, however, was forming and open-mouthed smirk, and was beginning to stand normally. His eyes darted to Castiel and he raised his eyebrows, to which Castiel just looked frightened before looking away. Daria continued, "Right, so, I was thinking about and talking about what we've been up to, and I guess I sort of addressed Castiel," her blush had been receding but it flared up with new intensity as her words progressed, "and mentioned how his help would be nice." Finishing, Daria looked down, ashamed.
What she perceived as awkward silence was broken by Dean laughing loudly. "You what?" She looked up as he laughed harder, shaking his head incredulously. His eyes twinkled at the hilarity of the issue. "I can't believe it! Cas, you reckless dog you!"
Cas visibly gulped before saying, "I didn't do it on purpose. I just responded as quickly as possible, but I didn't, erm, check thoroughly enough…"
That only made Dean laugh more. Same even broke into a smile, and let out the sort of grunting chuckle. He looked over at Daria understandingly and tried to portray his compassion for her situation, to which she timidly smiled.
"Uhm, Castiel, sir, if you wouldn't mind, I want to talk to you for a second?" Daria asked inquisitively, stepping away from the brothers and next to the far wall. Castiel, looked up, worriedly, but walked towards her.
Meanwhile, Dean and Sam had stepped closer together, in order to watch (from afar) the exchange between the other two. Bemused by the entire situation, Dean smirked as Daria began to talk in too hushed of tones for them to hear entirely well.
"I just uh, wanted to apologize for that. I didn't know it would summon you, Castiel." She looked up at his face while her hands nervously gripped the bottom of her shirt. Then a look of bashful fear made her widen her eyes as she asked, "You didn't…see anything, did you? I wouldn't want to put you through something like that."
Castiel kept his stern expression, keeping his head turned towards Daria. But his eyes moved to glance at Dean and Sam, as if seeking advice. When they did not respond adequately—Dean smiling with his tongue sticking out a little and Sam worriedly furrowing his eyebrows—Castiel looked back at Daria. "Erm, I uh…" he paused before managing to say, "No…."
Daria sighed heavily, visibly grateful. "I'm so glad; you wouldn't want to see something like me or anything. I'm so sorry." Her words came out quickly and with resolve. "I'll go ahead and finish cleaning myself up. I'm sorry for everything, Castiel." She turned abruptly and rushed back into the restroom, but with less anxiety from when she exited it.
Castiel continued standing from where she left. Dean approached his side, and looked at the door that was just closed. Castiel and Dean stared for a moment before Dean leaned in to say, "That was such your lying voice."
"I, er…yes."
"And was it awesome?" Dean smiled lasciviously and elbowed Castiel in the side, to which Castiel jumped slightly as he was moved out of his shock. "So, was it?"
Castiel looked down, then back up. "It was."
Satisfied, Dean went and sat on his bed and began taking off his shoes. Sam was sitting on his own bed, about to sleep again. That was plenty excitement for one day. But they would be sure to bring it up in the morning. Because that is what friends are for.