This is more like what I had in mind when I started the first chapter. I guess I just needed a little more time to get there. I hope you'll like it as well, because I really like this chapter a lot.

The next day Dean woke up feeling better than he had in days and well rested. The telephone still hadn't rung, which meant that Sam was still in a coma, but Dean felt a little more hopeful than before. Sammy would wake up eventually.

He got out of bed and looked around the room. He was once again alone, Cas had vanished the instant that Dean had started to wake up. It felt strange somehow to be alone now, after the angel had watched over him the entire night. But this wasn't important at the moment. He had to go check on Sam, that was what mattered right now.

He quickly showered and then drove to the hospital to visit his brother, sit beside his bed and talk to him. It was the same routine as the last few days, only today he felt less angry and less guilty, just hopeful. So he talked to Sam about whatever came to his mind, like everyday before, and eventually he also talked about Cas' visit last night.

He just had to talk about it, but who could he talk to, other than his brother? And even though he was sure that Sam couldn't really hear him, which was probably a good thing right now, it felt less weird talking to a comatose person than to himself.

When the nurses asked him to leave that day it was somehow easier to go. He was hoping that Cas would be back tonight. And that made him leave without the usual arguments. He picked up some food on the way back to the motel, he hadn't eaten all day, and went 'home' to be greeted by an empty room.

Dean was mildly disappointed by this, but of course Cas couldn't just sit around all day and wait for him to come back, just because Dean needed some company at the moment. The angel had enough problems of his own. Sighing Dean sat down to eat and turned on the TV, just flipping through the channels until he found a Dr. Sexy, MD rerun and watched that. He grabbed a beer to wash down the greasy fast food and tried to relax.

As soon as the show ended Dean got up to switch the TV off again and he heard a rush of wings. When he turned around Cas was standing there, right behind him, invading his personal space once more. Dean quickly took a step back and almost knocked the TV over in the process.

"Jesus, Cas!" he called out, startled by the angel. Cas ignored this and just stared at Dean with an unreadable expression.

"How is Sam?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Still the same."Dean answered sounding tired.

That was all the talking they did for that night. For the remainder of the evening they just sat in the room together sharing the beer that was still left in the fridge. This was enough for Dean. He didn't need to talk, he just needed company and Cas had somehow sensed that and gave him exactly that. Just company.

When Dean finally went to sleep, Cas stayed. For a while he just sat quietly in a corner of the room until Dean fell into an uneasy sleep. Only then did he get up from his chair and moved over to stand next to the bed and the sleeping Dean. Slowly he unfolded his wings and then spread them around the hunter, just like the night before. And as he pulled his wings as close around Dean as possible, he could feel him calming down and relaxing.

Cas watched Dean sleep peacefully and safe beneath the shield of his wings. To him his wings looked different than to Dean, because Dean of course couldn't see their true form, not even in is dreams. No, in his dreams Dean only saw a very small part of Cas' true wings. The rest, the part where the feathers came from, was an image his mind produced to be able to deal with the angel's amazing true appearance.

But Castiel himself didn't see any feathers when he looked at his wings, though he could understand that the pattern of light and energy, from which his wings were made, resembled feathers. To him it looked as if Dean was lying underneath an intricate curtain of bluish-white, yet warm, energy, which softly illuminated his sleeping form.

At the same time Dean was again dreaming of Cas' wings, seeing them drawn close around him like the night before. Again he was awed by the beauty and perfection of those wings. Those black feathers that covered the huge but elegant wings perfectly in several layers were softly backlit by a warm light. This gave Dean an inkling of what Cas' wings might truly look like.

Dean sat up to be able to take an even closer look at the wings. Close up he could better distinguish the single feathers, which were colored in different shades of black. Dean thought that that should be impossible. Black was black, wasn't it? But nevertheless, Cas' wings showed different shades of black, which gave them a slightly fluid appearance.

Dean was very tempted to touch the wings. He was curious to know what they would feel like. He slowly raised his hand and reached out towards them, but he stopped right before he touched the feathers. He wasn't sure if he should do this. He even wondered if Cas would feel it if he touched the wings, even though it was all a dream. But dreams could be disturbingly real, especially when angels were involved.

Dean hesitated, now wondering if maybe Castiel was not only watching him sleep but also watching him inside his dream, but this train of thought got very confusing very quickly and Dean just stopped thinking about that. Finally his curiosity won out and he carefully touched one finger to the wing in front of him. The sensation was strange and not what he had expected.

From the look of the wings he had expected them to feel cool and sleek. But instead they were unbelievably soft and smooth and nicely warm. At the same time it felt like a very small electric current was running through them and now into Dean's finger, making it tingle. Dean let his finger trail down the wing and then removed it. He very much wanted to run both his hands across those soft feathers, but that really seemed way to intimate and for the rest of the night he was content with simply looking at the wings and remembering what they felt like.

Castiel had very much felt Dean's small touch. It had felt like an electric shock going through the core of his being. Dean had been so close to touching his true self that it had been a completely unfamiliar, though pleasant feeling. With great effort the angel managed to hold still while Dean's finger moved across his wing. After the initial surprise he enjoyed Dean's touch and was almost disappointed, when Dean removed his finger again.

However, when he could sense the hunter beginning to wake in the morning, he disappeared quietly again, like the morning before. He enjoyed giving Dean this little comfort during the night and he also enjoyed Dean's fascination with his wings, which the hunter only showed in his dreams, when he felt unobserved. And for this reason he would not let Dean know he had felt the touch. Maybe Dean would become more bold in the future. Castiel wouldn't mind, but he'd have to be patient and give Dean time.

Should I take it further? What do you think? I think I should.