Chapter 9

"One night is not enough"

The sunlight slowly coming through the not fully drawn curtains woke Dean the next morning. Blinking against the light he opened his eyes and notices something heavy was resting on his chest. With a shock he realized that it was Cas' head, his hair all messy and the angel had his arms locked around Dean's upper body. Almost immediately the shock vanished, as Dean moved one hand to slowly stroke Cas' hair the feeling of how right this all felt took over once more.

Dean felt very confused too though, the state he was in. It slowly dazed on him that he was actually lying in the same bed as Castiel was, cuddling with him nonetheless. Yet it didn't take him long to get over this fact. He continued to fuddle with Castiel's hair as he quietly muttered to himself that this was all just the curse's doing, ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that began protesting. Dean had experiences very little of these peaceful moments lately, to be able to just lie here with no thought other than how much he enjoyed this.

It was not long after this that Castiel started to wake up too. Disoriented, he lifted his head and a look of confusion came over him.

"Good morning," Dean said, voice still hoarse from just waking up and sleeping as long as he had. Castiel blinked a few times as a response before it dawned on him he was laying on Dean's bare chest. Awkwardly he tried to move himself to a more dignified position. In the process he had placed his hand on a rather sensitive spot on Dean's chest and the hunter let out a soft gasp. Immediately Cas stopped moving, liking the sound that the other man had made a lot. He gave up on trying turning away and directed his eyes directly at Dean.

"Good morning Dean," Cas replied at length, leaning in as he spoke. Dean stretched out his hand and rested it on Cas' cheek as he urged him to come even closer. Castiel couldn't help but smile at Dean's urgency, completely taken by surprise at the hunter's display of affection.

There was very little distance between them now and Cas could actually count the freckles on Dean's nose when all of the sudden an unexpected voice sounded.

"I see you two are finally awake." Both Dean and Castiel turned around straight away and looked into the smirking face of Sam who was standing in the doorway.

"Sam? How long have you been standing there?" Dean asked demandingly.

"Like a minute ago, I came to see if you were ready for some breakfast bur you were …" Sam paused for a while, widening his grin. "Occupied," he concluded.

Castiel flushed a colour of red and looked down, fumbling with the bed sheets and noticed how his fingers were still intertwined with Dean's. Dean seemed to notice this now as well and quickly withdrew his hand. Dean now tried to leave the bed with as much dignity as he could, while looking at Sam like it was completely normal he had found his brother in bed touching Cas.

This failed miserably however, Dean was so focused on trying to act natural he forgot he was lying in a tangled mess of blankets, limbs and bed sheets and he lost his balance, falling off the bed with a loud crash.

As soon as Sam realized nothing but Dean's pride was actually harmed he began laughing.

"Just… get downstairs. Bobby and I have come up with a plan."

With a last glance at Dean on the floor and Cas eyeing Dean with a mix of concern and amusement Sam walked out the door, chuckling to himself the whole way downstairs.

"Are you alright Dean?" Castiel asked while he moved to the other side of the bed and hung his head over the edge to stare directly into Dean's green eyes. Dean closed his eyes for a while before grudgingly getting up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get to the kitchen." Cas nodded and slipped out of the bed, beginning to search for his trench coat. He found it on the chair but didn't put it on immediately. He was fumbling with the hem of Dean's t-shirt he was wearing. Suddenly he felt sad, as soon as he would trade Dean's shirt for his regular coat, the time he had allowed himself to spend carefree with Dean was definitely at an end. Already the atmosphere had changed so much from the moment Sam had entered the room. It was as if a switch had been turned in Dean's head as Cas could see the re-found resolute look on his face.

A furious feeling came over Cas, he wasn't precisely sure who he was angry at, himself or Dean, but he knew things couldn't go on like this. He was sick of the constant change in Dean's attitude towards him, all affectionate the one moment, completely indifferent the next. Curse or no curse, he was done with being treated like this.

Quickly he took off Dean's shirt and put on his normal coat. Without so much as looking at Dean once, knowing fully well what a single look of Dean could do to him, he walked out of the door. The urge to sink to his knees was almost instantaneous. The nigh that had passed had done nothing to make the curse any easier, the feeling was only worse. Feeling weary Cas closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, waiting for Dean to get dressed and trying not to think of Dean getting dressed.

The next thing he knew was someone snapping his eyes in front of him. Cas opened his eyes and met Dean's.

"You coming?" Dean asked, making sure his gaze didn't linger on Cas' face. Without waiting on a response Dean turned around and walked off. Quickly Castiel followed, making sure there was some distance between them but not so much that the pain of being away from each other would be too much.

When they had reached the kitchen, Dean and Cas sat down at the table next to each other, not paying much attention to anything around them. A sort of unspoken truce had been established between them. Being more than half a foot away from each other caused so much agony both didn't want to endure that, but they were not talkative about it either. So they continued to sit awkwardly at the kitchen table with blank looks on their faces, not hearing a word Sam and Bobby were saying.

They only started to pay attention when Bobby waved his hand in front of their faces.

"Earth to love birds. Could you maybe focus for a second? It is your lives we are trying to save here."

"Uhm, yes. What is the plan?" Dean asked, trying very hard to pay attention and not let the clouding mist in his head block out everything. Bobby waited to see if he got Cas' attention now as well before he continued.

"Sam and I figured out how to draw out the Bacche and kill it."

This did seem to interest Dean and Cas as both looked up eagerly.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go" Dean's mind was halfway in the car already, the expectation of finally being rid off the curse making him jump up from his chair. Sam exchanged a nervous look with Bobby, one that told Dean he was not going to like what Sam would say next.

"Yeah, the thing is…Since you are still affected by the spell you can't come. The Bacche will sense her magic and we need the element of surprise. Besides," he added when he saw the dark look on Dean's face "do you really think it is smart to meet the creature that wants to drink your blood?" Sam realized his brother would probably prefer an encounter with a murderous monster to a moment more of being uncomfortable with his angel, so he was thankful when Cas took his side.

"Your logic is sound, Sam. We shall stay here while you and Bobby go in search of the Bacche." Looking slightly embarrassed he added "Thank you. I would kill the witch myself, but it seems my powers are all quite useless."

"Don't mention it." Bobby replied hastily. "This will all be over soon."

All was silent in the kitchen for a moment, Cas was playing with the buttons of his coat, Dean was stubbornly not looking at anyone and Sam looked helplessly at Bobby.

It was the older hunter who broke the silence.

"Well, no use sitting here any longer. We have no idea how much time we still got left before the witch comes for you two. You boys take care now." Bobby tried to smile comfortingly, picked a bag up from the floor and opened the door. Sam looked one last time worryingly at his brother and Cas, who were trying very hard not to look at each other, and followed Bobby, closing the door behind him.


A/N

So sorry for not updating sooner, hopefully you guys are still interested in this story. I will definitely try to update sooner. If you could review this chapter, I would be very grateful. Also, all mistakes are my own. Unbeta'd.