Dean wasn't sure what he found more surprising when he woke the next morning, the fact that Cas had stayed with him all night, or the fact that Dean, at some point during the night, had turned onto his side and snuggled up to the angel, throwing an arm over his middle and resting his head on Cas' shoulder.

Dean knew he should move.

He should jump away and do his best 'no homo' dance.

But Dean found he didn't want to move.

He had just had the best night's sleep he had had in...well, in years.

Not to mention, Cas seemed to be okay with their current position. His breathing was deep and even, and Dean could hear his heart beating calmly in his chest. If Dean hadn't known better, he would have said that Cas was asleep.

Surely if Cas had had a problem with this he wouldn't have let Dean snuggle up to him while he slept, and he definitely wouldn't have put his arm around Dean to make him more comfortable.

Dean decided that he felt more at peace than he had in ages and he didn't want to let Cas go.

In fact, Cas had panicked slightly some hours before when Dean had turned and grabbed him around the middle, snuggling closer.

He had looked at Dean in surprise and had seen that the hunter was still sound asleep. Dean had looked so peaceful, and Cas had thought he was sleeping better than he usually did, so Cas had decided not to wake him up.

Cas had gently moved his arm around Dean and the hunter had immediately snuggled in closer and had rested his head on the angel's shoulder.

Cas had found he quite liked this new arrangement.

He had felt the weight of Dean's arm across his stomach, the way the hunter was warm and relaxed, breathing calmly at his side.

It was miles better than just watching Dean sleep from across the room.

Cas had felt calmer than he had in ages and had closed his eyes, a slight smile playing on his face as he had once more slowed his breathing to match Dean's.

Cas jumped when Dean's alarm went off.

His eyes flew open as Dean reached across him to the bedside table and slapped the offending alarm off none too gently.

Dean froze for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision.

He dropped his head back down on Cas' shoulder, snuggled back into his side and said, "Mornin' Cas."

Cas was somewhat surprised.

He had assumed that Dean would be shocked and maybe even upset at the position he had assumed while sleeping. He had thought Dean might even be a little angry with Cas for letting him do it.

Cas was pleased that Dean didn't seem to be upset at where he found himself and instead had returned comfortably to his side.

"Good morning, Dean." Cas' voice had come out deeper than usual, which the angel told himself was just because he hadn't used it in several hours.

Dean should get up.

He didn't want to.

Here in this moment everything that he'd done, everything that Michael had done, seemed like a bad dream.

Maybe if Dean just stayed here, with Cas, forever he could pretend that all of it had never happened. He knew that if he left this moment, everything would come crashing down on him again, memories would resurface and he'd have to face them.

But he didn't right now.

Now, here, with his angel, he was safe.

He couldn't stay, though.

Dean knew that.

Sam had been running himself ragged, keeping their new band of hunters safe, looking for ways to stop Michael. Dean couldn't abandon his brother to do all the work alone, no matter how much he longed to hold his angel close and just tell the world to go to hell.

Dean finally rolled on to his back, away from Cas, sat up, and sighed. "I should get up. Go see how Sammy's doing."

When Dean moved away, Cas felt somehow bereaved without the warmth and comfort of Dean at his side.

For such a new sensation, he felt strangely lost without it.

He had known it wouldn't last, of course.

He and Dean couldn't have stayed like that forever, no matter how tempting that was.

Dean got up and started grabbing clean clothes.

Cas sat up and swung his legs off the side of the bed and started putting his shoes back on.