Chapter Ten - Thoughts
Dean laughs thinking about something Cas said. Something blandly straight-forward that really shouldn't be funny, but it is, because it's him. It's the way he says it, the look on his face. There's something priceless about the bizarre way that Cas relates to the world. He's sort of fathomless, complicated but simple all at once. Dean spends more time than he'd care to admit thinking about their steadily increasing conversations. They're both stingy with their words by nature, which makes everything Cas says that much more important.
Dean shakes his head, smile on his face as he thinks about the way Cas argues simple things with even simpler logic. Dean likes to be adversary just to watch him tilt his head in rebuttal with some statement so perfectly Cas. And he feels a special electric warmth when he knows Cas has finally realized that Dean is screwing with him and merely levels him with a stormy look that could set anyone else's hair on edge. But Dean is immune somehow, because he feels that Cas isn't really mad.
At everyone else maybe, at his father definitely, but never at him. And Dean is addicted to that electric warmth of certainty, the miracle that somehow he's different than everyone else.
Dean is plucked from his own thoughts when he sees the blur of bright colors and the pulling away of minivans that signify the kids have been released from school. He looks out the window of the Impala to see little Sammy bounding toward the car, smiling and waving when he sees Dean's face. He waves back, reaching over to unlock the door. Sam shoves his overfilled backpack into the car and climbs in after it. Dean knows he should put the kid in the back seat, but it's only a few blocks. He doesn't have the heart to tell his little man to get out and get in the back. Not today. He chuckles as his little brother intentionally avoids his eyes, though smiling, because he knows, has been told over and over, he's not big enough yet for the front seat. Sam likes to pretend he's a bigger boy than he is, likes to act like he can take care of himself and do big boy things, gets defensive sometimes when Dean doesn't let him.
Today, Dean's going to let him get away with it. But just to be safe, he takes the residential streets home. The sun is gleaming orange through the trees and glass windows of the neighborhoods and Dean glances over to see his little brother playing with the sun and shadows on his hand. He feels happy.