The house was even more quiet than usual. The only sound that Sam could hear was his own footsteps on the stone floor, every step echoed off the empty walls and bounced back to him and it was driving him crazy.

There was absolutely nothing to do. He had finished his assignments and read up on a few chapters that hadn't been taught yet, gone through most of the books in the library, made himself tea about a hundred times until he felt like a water balloon, he had even gone for a run. Twice.

Usually he would go hang out with Dean in the 'Dean Cave' or whatever his brother wanted to call that one room he turned into a man cave, but if he had to binge watch another rerun of the Twilight Zone, Star Trek or the X-Files, he would probably put a bullet in his head. Sam loved those marathons as much as anyone else, but 50 times in a row...is a bit too much.

Sam needed to get out of the house, it was late, but he needed to. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out, letting out a sigh of relief and thanking whatever god was watching over him.

"Hey bitch, up for a GoT marathon? I got the dip if ya got the chip!"

Thank god for Charlie he thought as he typed "Of course, be there in 10 with a bottle of pop"

"As long as you don't bring a salad"

Sam chuckled and stashed the phone in his pocket, heading towards Dean's man cave. He was going to ask Dean to borrow the car because if he just took it he was sure his brother would send a hit out for him, but Dean wasn't there. Okay, so next guess is his room.

Sam knocked and opened the door after getting no response. "Hey, I need the car for a-"

Dean was asleep, his head resting on his arms that were folded over his bed. The angel; Castiel, was sitting up, leaning against the headboard. One of his wings hung off on Dean's side and the other stretched across and took up the entire opposite side of the bed. Castiel's eyes were transfixed on Dean's face and his fingers idly stroked the honey almond colored hair near Dean's ear.

Sam stood awkwardly at the door momentarily forgetting what he had come into the room for in the first place. Ever since Castiel had arrived, this was the first time he was actually face to face with the angel, without Dean consciously present. He had never actually spoken to him before.

"Uh...I didn't know he was asleep, I'll just -"

"It's alright Sam, you can come in" Castiel looked up, his eyes were soft as he regarded Sam which eliminated some of the brunet's nervousness. He scratched the back of his head and turned to fully face Castiel "I'm sorry, it's just...kinda strange, y'know"

Sam looked at Dean as he said this, the latter was sleeping soundly for what was probably the first time in weeks. Castiel tilted his head in slight confusion.

"I just, have a lot of questions..."

"You can ask me anything, Sam. I am incapable of lying."

Sam moved slowly to sit at the foot of the bed, careful not to shake it too much so that Dean wouldn't wake up.

"He's been waking up with these...horrible cuts every morning. We couldn't figure out what it was and he wouldn't tell me about the dreams he was having...until you showed up."

Sam looked down at the cream bedsheets, he didn't want to accuse the angel but he really needed to know "Were you the one leaving them?"

Castiel stared at Sam with a serious expression "No" his eyes lowered to Dean and Sam saw nothing but honesty and adoration in them "I could never hurt your brother Sam. Never"

Sam sighed in relief. "Then, do you know why it's happening?"

Castiel thought for a moment "I don't...well, the one on his hip, that was my fault. An angel followed me when I ran, we got into a fight and..." he went silent. He didn't like talking about what he had to do in order to escape. It was a very sore topic.

"Why did you come here? Why here, of all the places you could run to, you came to this house, to his room..."

Castiel looked down "I...I don't know. I just wanted to escape, I needed to escape, to get away from there. Before I knew it, I opened my eyes and I was here. I didn't choose to...but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Sam sighed and got up. Castiel's gaze was focused on the wall behind Sam and didn't leave it for a few long moments. For a while they stay like that, frozen in silence, the only sound was Dean's soft breathing. Sam looked at Castiel and he knew the angel wasn't lying. Everything would be fine.

"Alright. Dean trusts you, I've never seen him trust someone so fast, but he does. So I trust you too. Just know that if you are lying, if you do hurt him, angel or not you'll have to deal with me."

Castiel nodded slowly. He didn't really feel phased by the threat because he knew that he would never and could never hurt Dean. "I'll take that into account"

"Good" Sam nodded, grabbing the car keys off the table and leaving the room.

Dean woke up to an ache in his neck and back. What did he expect really, if he slept hunched over his bed for half the day and a night?

Thankfully though, there was no stinging sensation and no new cuts anywhere on him for the first time in weeks.

As he tried to sit up, he felt a weight on his back and looked over to find a mass of black feathers resting there. That's right, Castiel was still here and apparently Dean had been using his wing as a blanket. A very soft, comfy blanket.

Dean slowly slid from under the wing, careful not to wake Castiel and stretched, moving towards the door and the smell of fresh bacon and pancakes. He tried to work out the kinks in his neck but when there was a loud crack, causing him to cry out in pain, he decided against it.

Sam looked up surprised as Dean entered the library "What the hell was that?"

"A bad idea"

Sam only shook his head and got up heading towards the kitchen "You want some breakfast?"

"Yeah, thanks," Dean said absently. He grabbed Sam's laptop as soon as the other man disappeared inside the kitchen.

Sam came back out with a plate and a cup of coffee when he spotted what Dean had. "Hey, What did I tell you about touching my computer?"

"Relax, I'm just browsing..." Dean mumbled, eyes fixated on something on the screen

"Just browsing my ass"

"Woah, Sammy, no thank you"

"Dean-!" Sam pushed the food unto the table and made a beeline for his brother. Dean grabbed the laptop and stood trying to keep it away from Sam. He had to keep at least a couple steps ahead of him so that Sam couldn't grab it out of his hands.

"Dean come on! Stop being a kid and give it back!"

"Pssh, make me"

Sam manage to grab unto Dean's shoulder and had him in a headlock, almost getting it out of Dean's hands when they heard shuffling coming up the stairs.

They both stopped and turned simultaneously to see Castiel limping up the few steps and slowly making his way through the small sitting area. His eyes glanced at everything around him with slight fascination - it was the first time he had seen so many books up close - before he noticed the two pair of eyes staring back at him.

"Hello..." he said in his deep gravelly voice. Dean blinked. Sam took the opportunity to rescue his laptop from Dean's grasp and gently put it down on the table before responding "Hey uh...are you sure you should be up and about?"

Castiel limped forward so he was now in the library and leaned on one of the nearby walls "Yes I'm...I'm getting better. I just needed to get out of bed..." He glanced over at Dean briefly but Sam didn't miss when their eyes locked for a split second and Castiel looked away.

Sam nodded in understanding and laughed softly as he turned to the kitchen again "Okay well, you want anything to eat?"

The question came out before he could stop it. It was just a natural question to ask. Then again, Castiel was not the most 'natural' thing in the bunker at the moment. How was he supposed to know if he ate or not?

"No, I don't need to eat" well that answered that question. At least he didn't have to go find some strange item for the angel to eat. "Thank you for your concern though, I appreciate it"

Sam simply smiled at the angel, sending a warning glance at Dean who still hadn't said a word since Castiel entered the room "Stay off my computer"

Dean rolled his eyes. 'Bossy'

Sam had left for an evening class, taking the Impala. It's not like Dean had anywhere to go anyway, but he had still suggested that maybe Sam could take one of the old cars he had fixed up in their very, very large garage area, maybe test it out for him. Sam had completely ignored his suggestion.

Castiel wondered around the library, fascinated by the vast collection of books on all sorts of topics. He hadn't really had the luxury of learning about earth while in heaven, he hadn't had the luxury of many things that interested him while there. His focus always had to be on his missions, his duty. A lot of good that did him.

Castiel sighed and ran his finger along the spine of a dark blue book. Dean felt another pang in his chest and looked up from the blueprints for a Continental Mark V engine he was working on. Castiel straightened himself and continued browsing as Dean's eyes followed him.

"So Cas, you gonna tell me what happened to you?"

Castiel turned to him slowly, his eyes clouded before he looked up into Dean's. He was met by the pure, intense concern masked by curiosity in his green eyes and he looked away. He had to look away. The thought of what he had done was too much, he had wished Dean had never asked, he didn't want Dean to know...to think less of him.

However, it was Dean. He knew he needed to tell him, even a little of what had happened. He deserved to know. "I was disobedient. When I tried to escape they followed and tried to kill me as punishment. I...I've been cast out, I have fallen"

Dean stared at the angel's back, his wings twitched ever so slightly, it was almost unnoticeable. Dean figured it was discomfort or anxiousness, but he needed to know. What could have been so horrible, it couldn't just be disobedience that warranted what Dean had seen that morning.

"What did you do?"

Castiel's head lowered "I...made a mistake"

His wings twitched again, more visibly this time as he turned towards Dean. His eyes shone with realization and awe "No...no that's not true. It was not a mistake. I do not believe that it was and I'll never regret it"

Castiel sighed "If only I could have convinced my brothers of that"

Dean blinked in surprise as those words processed "Wait...you're telling me that your brothers did this?"

Castiel sighed again "Yes...they had to, the archangel's, oldest of all my brothers and sisters are the only ones allowed to pass judgment and keep order and peace in father's absence"

"Father? You mean god?"

"Actually he's particular to the name Chuck"

Dean blinked again "Oh..." The momentary confusion passed and gave way to anger "Well where the hell was 'Chuck' when they were doing this to you? You are his kid, aren't you? How could he stand by and let that happen?"

Castiel flinched a bit at the unexpected anger in Dean's voice. He tried to move towards the table, towards Dean "Father was...not present, even if he was it is not...that simple..." He felt the room spin and lost his bearings. Dean was up, holding Castiel against his chest as he tried to regain his balance. "I thought you said you were getting better"

Castiel stayed against Dean's chest as he led them to the table and sat Castiel down. "I said that yes, but it seems the healing process is taking...longer than usual."

He fixed his wings so they weren't being squeezed by the back of the chair and winced when paint shot down his spine and spread in rivulets, dying out at his fingertips. "They...made sure I would be incapacitated for...quite a while"

"How could your own brothers do this to you? Just because-...they're supposed to be your family! Family sticks by you even when you do stupid things, they're supposed to be there for you...!"

"I deserved it"

"Bullshit"

"I betrayed them, Dean, I was disobedient and I knew the consequences. Even after I received fair warning I still..."

Dean shakes his head furiously "No. That's not how a family works. No matter what you did, it doesn't justify them trying to kill you. I've done some stupid things in the past, and so has Sam. You don't see us trying to kill each other"

Castiel smiled sadly "My siblings aren't...like that, like you"

Castiel sighed, his body felt heavy and his wings were as sore as his heart. Thoughts of home and his brothers did not help with his state at all. "You don't deserve any of this Cas"

"How would you know, Dean?"

"Cause I just know. You don't feel like a bad person and I'm usually spot on with these things"

"I've done horrible things"

"Doesn't matter to me"

Castiel looked at him, into his eyes, directly at his soul and he knew that Dean meant that. That knowledge alone made the pain dull and he exhaled through his nose, letting all those thoughts go, thoughts of home, thoughts of his sins and all that he's done wrong, he let it all go in that breath.

Dean didn't break the steady gaze he had fixated on Castiel's eyes. His hand moved towards the angel's face but a thought of 'what are you doing?' stops him and instead, he let his palm fall against Castiel's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

A surge of energy spreads from his touch. Dean doesn't notice but Castiel does. It permeated his entire being all at once and he closed his eyes, reaching up to lace his fingers through the ones on his shoulder, keeping them in place.

Sam doesn't say anything when he comes in, watching from the top of the stairs. All he can do is smile.