Chapter 29
Dean
The following morning, Dean squinted his eyes open. His body was programmed to wake up at around six every day, so he guessed that was what time it was.
Despite everything that had happened with Cain and the Mark and Crowley, and all the drama with Cassie and Sam, he felt…peaceful.
That was the most satisfying bit of sleep he'd gotten in a long time.
Dean went to move his arm –
And found that his hand was caught by another.
He jolted fully awake and opened his eyes wide with a gasp, taking in his surroundings.
He was wrapped around Castiel's Torso like he was a body pillow, Dean's leg snuggly tucked between the two of his.
He blushed and looked up. "H-hi," Dean said sheepishly. Ugh God, when am I ever shy?
Cas smiled gently. "Good morning."
And then it all came rushing back. Dean being exhausted and damp from a shower, entering his room expecting to down a few beers and get a good night's sleep…only to find that Cas was there waiting for him.
Dean could still feel the ghost of Cas' hands all over his body, the heat and pleasure they'd exchanged the night before.
Groggily he sat up fully, breaking from Cas and covering his lower half with the bedsheet. "Did you stay the whole night?" he asked with surprise.
"I didn't have much of a choice," Cas said, his familiar, gravely voice a comfort in the dark of the morning. "You wouldn't let go of my hand."
Dean stretched and cleared his throat. "Sorry," he mumbled, crossing his arms over himself.
"You don't have to apologize. It was pleasant."
Dean found himself biting back a smile. Cas' blunt honesty was refreshing, sometimes.
Cas sighed, the sound etched with worry. "You talk in your sleep. You're quite fitful."
And other times it wasn't. Dean sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, there's a lot to be stressed about lately, but nothing I can't handle."
"Dean," Cas said, warning in his voice. "We still need to talk."
"If it's about the mark, I don't want to hear it. It's too early."
Cas took hold of Dean's arm, his grasp gentle but firm. "It's not what you think."
Dean was still too dazed to argue. "What is it?"
Castiel planted a soft kiss on Dean's lips, surprising him.
It didn't turn into a lascivious make out session, however. After a few soft presses, he pulled away and said, "I wanted to tell you that whatever comes with having this Mark…you're not going through it alone. We'll deal with the consequences together. I'm here for you."
Dean leaned his forehead against Cas' and sighed. He would never admit it, but that was the best set of words that he could've been told at the moment. Regardless, something still nagged at him. "As what?"
"How do you want me to be?" Cas said.
"Why is it up to me? What do you want?" Dean asked.
Cas wrapped his arms around Dean securely. "I want to protect you. I want you safe and happy. And I want us together, whether it's as friends, comrades…or…" he trailed off.
Dean stiffened. "I…I want to keep this…secret for now."
Cas laid his chin on top of Dean's head. "You're ashamed of me."
Dean flinched. "I'm ashamed of me."
"Because I'm a man?" Cas suggested. "I could occupy a different vessel if the gender of this one bothers you – "
" – Never," Dean said. "This body is yours, and I like it. Keep it." Seeing Cas as anything other than the trench-coat clad Angel with slight stubble and sky blue eyes he'd come to know and love would be unbearable.
"I'm glad you feel that way. I've grown quite attached to it." After a few seconds he laughed, realizing he'd accidentally made a pun.
Dean bit back a grin. "Wow. And Sam says my puns are bad." But he was laughing too.
Cas hugged Dean tight as they both laughed before letting go and getting up out of bed, still in nothing but his boxers and black socks. "You should probably get up. Sam and Cassandra are going to wonder where you are."
"You're gonna want to stick around," Dean grinned, leaping out of bed and throwing on a pair of old, faded jeans. "Today I get to ruffle our Angel's feathers a bit."
After Dean threw on a shirt, he walked to the shooting range to find that a space had been cleared.
It turned out that Sam and Cassie had already been training for a few hours. To make sure she wouldn't accidentally cut Sam, she had been given two wooden poles to practice with instead of knives, and she actually wasn't half bad.
With one weapon, Cassie was…
Well, she was awful.
But when you gave her two, she became an entirely different person. She was quick, agile, balanced, and although she got knocked on her ass a few times, she was almost a match for Sam.
He was already out of breath and had to sit down.
Cassie wiped her forehead and pushed back strands of hair that had fallen out of her pony tail. "I can't believe it," she said. "I've never been in a fight in my life."
Sam laughed weakly. "You must have been. Nobody fights like that on their first try." He drank from a water bottle and stood back up again.
Cassie blushed. "I think you're just going easy on me," she admitted.
"I am," he said, grinning, "but your reflexes are still lightning fast, even when you know I'm not trying to hurt you."
She placed the sticks down and leaned up to give him a kiss. "I want to be strong so I can protect you," she said.
Sam shook his head with a soft smile. "I thought it was the other way around. I'm supposed to protect you."
She crinkled her nose. "Is that because I'm the woman and you're the guy?" she crossed her arms.
He smirked and bit down on her bottom lip. "No, it's because I love you."
She giggled and stepped away, picking up the two sticks again and getting back into a battle stance. "I know," she said, quoting Han and Leia from Empire Strikes Back.
Sam smirked as he caught the reference, and immediately attacked her again, only to have it countered and her sticks smacked against Sam's forearms as he held them in front of himself in a defensive gesture.
"Good, but I was expecting that," he said.
Dean finally stepped out from behind the wall and walked in. "Hey Sweetheart, how's it going?"
Cassie grinned, momentarily letting her guard down to turn to Dean. "Hey! How'd you sleep?"
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Apparently really well. I can't remember the last time you slept in this late."
Dean froze. "Late? How late is it?"
"A little after twelve," Cassie said. She looked sweaty in her black tank top and jeans but her eyes were shining.
It was obvious she wanted to keep going.
Color rose to Dean's cheeks but he didn't respond to his brother's unspoken accusation. "Well, it's my turn." He stepped in front of Sam.
Sam immediately stiffened and scowled.
Dean could feel it from behind. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt her. You know that."
Sam didn't feel any less uncomfortable with this, but he sat back down to watch.
"Put the sticks down," Dean said, putting up his fists.
Cassie blinked, suddenly unsure of herself, but did as she was told.
"Come at me," he said.
But Cassie hadn't been prepared for this. "I – "
"–There might come a situation where you don't have any weapons on you. You still need to be able to win a fight with your bare hands."
She gaped. "Against you?"
Dean smirked. "I'm bigger than you but that doesn't mean anything, it just means you have to approach me differently. Bigger targets fall down harder, so your main objective is to somehow get me on the ground, where you can do some actual damage. Go ahead and try."
Cassie bit her lip in contemplation, her nervousness amping up a few notches. Despite that, she scanned Dean, trying to look for the right opening.
But Dean already lunged for her and got an arm around her waist. "You took too long. You're not gonna have that kinda time on a hunt," he said, flipping her onto her back.
"Oomph!" It didn't hurt but it made Cassie more motivated to try again. She got back up and went to land a punch at Dean –
But at the last second Dean pushed Sam in front of her. She gasped and immediately made an X around herself to pull back her fist so it wouldn't hit Sam.
Sam fell to his knees but stood back up, frowning at Dean "What the hell was – "
" – There is also almost a guarantee that you will be faced with a creature who knows your weaknesses. One of the biggies is obviously Sam, and they'll try to use that against you. Like a shifter, for example. If you came into contact with one and it made itself look like Sam, would you be able to hurt it?"
Shit. Cassie hadn't thought about that. Her natural instinct of course was to care for Sam. She healed him unconsciously because even in her sleep she was concerned for his health and well-being. His support and devotion was what had given her the strength to activate her angel blade and bust them out of Amarandos' Estate, and her love for him had guided almost all of her actions up to this point.
It would be an extremely hard habit to break.
"That's what I thought," Dean said. "Know that I don't say this to target you or push your buttons, I'm just sharing what I know from experience."
Cassie nodded. If she was going to go with them on hunts, she needed to be prepared for anything and everything.
Dean's teaching was ruthless and harsh but Cassie knew that all of it had logic behind it and none of it was unnecessary.
But within fifteen minutes she was completely spent and ready to collapse.
Dean smirked, putting his hands on his hips. "See? I didn't hurt her," he turned to look at Sam. "She's not bad, though. Twenty two year old me would get my ass kicked if it was fighting twenty two year old her."
"Damn right, it would," she said out of breath, laying on the floor.
Dean grinned. "Well, unlucky for you, I'm not in my early twenties. I am a well-seasoned warrior, so get your ass back up so I can knock it down again. I'm just getting warmed up."
