Disclaimer: Supernatural © Eric Kripke, The Holiday © Nancy Meyers
Author'sNote: Finally! Enter: Castiel! Here's where the fun begins.
Almost immediately Dean began to regret agreeing to leaving the country. He downed 3 more sleeping pills as he tried to knock himself out before the plane even took off. He was failing. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the giant mass of metal begin to speed up on the runway.
'Well, on the bright side, if I don't die from a plane crash, I'll accidentally OD on sleeping meds...'
He could feel his stomach drop with each jerk of the plane as it began to make its way up and over L.A. He briefly wondered how he must have looked to the other passengers and flight attendants, but it was quickly forgotten as he braced himself against his seat and the window, and took a sharp intake of breath.
He was definitely glad that he'd decided to fly first class. More room so he could stretch out. Plus, if the plane did crash, he wouldn't have to worry about trying to climb over everyone else to get to an exit.
About 15 minutes into the flight and he could finally feel the sleeping pills start to kick in. He reclined his seat back completely and propped his pillow up between his shoulder and the window.
As Dean drifted into a light sleep, he thought about what awaited him upon his arrival, and if the vacation was even a good idea at that point.
The flight itself hadn't been too eventful, other than the occasional freak out he had when one of the flight attendants would accidentally wake him up with their beverage carts. Needless to say, Dean hadn't gotten enough sleep, and the time difference didn't help with his jet lag. Not to mention he'd also dreamt about the fight with Lisa, and had woken up with a very sour attitude.
The moment he'd gotten into the town car he'd paid in advance to have pick him up, as well as giving the address of the small cottage to the driver, he slumped over across the back seats and was out cold during the entire ride over.
Or at least that's what he thought.
"Sir? Sir?"
The words woke him form his slumber and Dean sat upright a bit too fast, bumping his head on the side of the car in the process.
"Ow! Fuck!" He mumbled under his breath as he blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up.
"We're here, sir" The driver spoke again as he put the car in park.
Dean rubbed his eyes and then peered outside. His head thumped against the window as he looked out at the cemetery on the side of the road. It had to be some weird British joke, right?
"Uh, dude...where are we?" He groaned as he rolled down the window so he could get a better look.
"The cottage is just a little ways down this road, sir. But..you see, this is the only place I'll be able to turn back around." The driver explained as he looked back at Dean in the rearview mirror. "Is it alright if you walked the rest of the way?"
Dean pulled his best bitch face, he got it from Sam, as he eyed the man in the front seat. "Uh...No."
…
Dean watched as the black town car drove back in the direction they'd come from. He glared at his surroundings as if it would do anything to change his predicament. Sighing loudly, he made his way down the road, dragging his suitcase behind him as he went.
Thankfully he'd grabbed a second jacket. He could already feel his toes starting to grow colder by the second, and he'd do anything to keep atleast the top half of his body somewhat warm.
"Well better get a move on, Winchester. Just remember, there's a fireplace waiting for us." He told himself and started to pick up his pace.
About 15 minutes of walking later and he began to think that perhaps he'd been given the wrong address.
"That dick hole driver better not have taken me to the wrong place while I was asleep."
Thankfully a couple of locals happened to be walking down at that precise moment, about a quarter of a mile up. Dean was quick to flag them down.
"Uh, excuse me!" He called out to them and waved his arms about wildly. "But do you know where this cottage is? Is it down this road?" He pulled out the picture from the ad online and flashed it to them.
"Oh yeah, yeah, it's at the end of the road. Just keep going," The woman made exaggerated arm movements, "Like literally all the way down the road. Can't miss it." She said with a smile.
"Thanks!" Dean gave them a grin and tugged on his luggage some more. He waved them goodbye and started to pick up the pace once again. He really needed to pee, and he didn't want to get caught with his pants down on the side of some road in a foreign country. Plus, he was afraid the cold might freeze his stuff off.
Finally, what felt like hours, but had probably only been another 15 minutes, Dean finally rounded a corner and saw a familiar looking house.
"Please be it, please be it!" He chanted under his breath as he jogged the rest of the way up to the front gate. He wiped off the fresh snow that covered up the address and let out a giant breath. Relief washed over him when he realized he'd finally made it.
"Finally! Fireplace here I come!"
…
Though it'd been clear that it was going to be smaller than Dean's place, he was still somewhat surprised at how tiny the cottage was. He was even more surprised to find that there was an upstairs, well more so just the bedroom, but it still came as a surprise.
"I half expected I'd have to heat up the water downstairs to use as a shower..though the tub doesn't exactly look that accommodating either..." He noted as he looked about the room.
He'd just finished putting away his clothes, had gotten a bit distracted by the lacy underwear after having to remind himself that he'd traded places with women, and began pacing around the room.
"Oook...what now?" He began drumming his fingers against the bed frame. He squinted out the windows to get a better view of the area. He'd been in such a hurry to get in the little house that he never had a chance to take in his surroundings.
He'd never seen that much snow since he was a kid. Everywhere he looked he saw white. He ventured back downstairs to then get a better look around the front room.
The place itself was in good condition. It was obvious that it was an older house than some of the other ones he'd passed, but it was well taken care of. The front door opened up to the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right. Much to Dean's surprise, they were decent sized rooms compared to the view from the outside.
As he looked back to the front door he saw some scarves hanging next to it. A couple looked extra girly and fluffy, again he had to remind himself he was in a chick's house, and then there were a couple gender neutral ones next to it. He grabbed a dark green one and decided to wear it outside since he didn't have a scarf of his own.
He took one step outside, took a deep breath of fresh air, then turned back around and closed the door.
"Alright, enough of that. I could go for a drink." He didn't want to use up all of Anna's liquor, so he figured he'd drive into town. Dean's eyes darted about the house in search of the car keys. "Keys, keys...where do chicks in foreign countries put keys?"
After 5 minutes of opening kitchen drawers (though he never knew why he thought they'd be in there) as well as looking under the couch cushions and magazines, he finally found them hanging on a small hook on the kitchen wall.
He patted his jeans to make sure he had his wallet in his pocket, pulled the scarf he was still wearing a bit more snug around his neck, and made his way out where the small mini car was parked.
Dean couldn't help but groan at the sight of it. "God this is such a douche car to drive!" Getting over himself he walked to where the drivers seat should have been, then remembered that, oh wait! He was in England...where they drove on the wrong side of the road, as well as the car. "Oh..well isn't this just great."
He took a deep breath once he was inside of the car. "Ok...I can do this. Driving on the wrong side of the road? Piece of cake." He started it up and pulled around the house to get on the road.
Thankfully the car was an automatic since he wasn't sure he'd get used to shifting gears with his left hand.
He was doing alright as he made his way down the tiny back country road. No cars were headed in his direction, and he was starting to get used to being on what would be the passenger side of the car.
It wasn't until he hit one of the main roads, where it finally split into two lanes, that he started to freak out. He'd started out on the wrong side of the road when he had to remind himself that, 'oh fuck it's the left side of the road I need to be on!' He swerved over the line and straightened back out. Luckily no one else was out driving, and he hoped it would stay that way.
Of course fate was never on Dean's side as a giant truck came into view around the corner. Dean tensed and prayed to whatever God there was that he wouldn't die, "Please don't hit me, please don't hit me!" He chanted under his breath as they drew nearer to each other.
He heard a loud horn honk at him as he passed, and he wondered if they knew he was new to driving in the country.
He sighed as he realized he was in one piece. Maybe driving was a bad idea. He was considering going back when he turned another corner and saw the town up ahead.
"Well might as well finish the job now." He took a deep breath as he got closer.
He wasn't sure which way to go so decided to turn left once he made it to where most of the shops were, and in doing so almost took out a guy on a bicycle. He slammed on the breaks and veered to the left just in time.
"Oh fuck! Sorry!" He yelled, knowing full well that the guy couldn't hear him.
He let out a shaky breath as he decided to just park the car where he was. "Alright, so going to buy as much booze as possible. Enough to last the 2 weeks, then I'll never have to drive in to town again." He concluded as he finally opened the door to get out.
He shuffled into the first store he saw and immediately headed for the liquor aisle.
He meandered around for awhile, not wanting to have to drive off anytime soon, and decided to do a bit of 'grocery' shopping. And, of course, by Dean Winchester's definition of grocery shopping, it meant anything that could give you a heart attack upon too much consumption. Half the stuff he grabbed he didn't know what it was, but it was getting close to Christmas, and there was a sale on some weird looking Santa chocolate thing...so of course he was going to buy it.
Dean decided, after half a cart full of various food types, that he should probably head back. The woman that worked up front gave him a once over and smiled broadly as she started helping him with his items.
"Throwing a party, are we?" The old woman asked as she started to scan and bag everything.
"Yeah, something like that." Dean flashed her his infamous Winchester smile and winked. Even if he wasn't looking for any romance while on holiday, and the woman was old enough to be his grandmother, what could he say? Old habits died hard.
He payed for everything ,thanked the woman, and loaded everything into the car. Dean took a deep steadying breath before finally pulling out and turning around to head back down to his vacation home.
Dean hadn't realized exactly how cold it would get during a winter in England. He'd been so used to the hot L.A. weather, that he thought he would freeze to death by just going to the bathroom to take a leak.
He was wearing layer upon layer of clothing as he tried to keep what little body heat he had left. He borrowed a second scarf, and even located a few knit hats. A bit of plastic wrap and 2 pairs of socks later, and his feet were finally starting to warm up.
He'd cooked up some dinner, even though it wasn't much since he was no chef, and had made his way back up to the bedroom so he could snuggle up in the blankets while enjoy some grub and a bottle of beer. He turned on the t.v. as background noise while he dug in.
After 15 minutes he was already bored, and not to mention freezing again. He quickly clambered out of the squeaky bed, and stumbled down the stairs. He hit his head against one of the wooden support beams on the way down and cursed loudly.
"Ow, jesus fuck!" He clutched his head as he swore. He was quick to make his way over to the fireplace and start it up, though it took him a second to notice it had to be done by hand and didn't have an automatic switch like his back home.
"Damn, getting too used to the luxuries of an gas fireplace."
He sighed in satisfaction as he felt the heat slowly start to seep into his fingers. "Fuck it's cold here."
Dean stood for a good while, until he was sufficiently warmer, and clapped his hands together as he looked around the room again. He started to take in more of the details, noticing picture frames here and there of a young woman with bright red hair.
"Must be Anna." He said as he picked one of them up off of the shelf. "Probably an ex-boyfriend or something." He dually noted as he looked at the man in the picture with her. They both were playing in the snow, he gathered, since they both had patches of powdery white all over them, probably a snowball fight, and he could see in the background two snow angels on the ground. Both of them had huge grins on their faces.
Dean briefly wondered if he'd had taken time out to take Lisa someplace and have fun like that, then maybe things would have worked out differently.
He shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind and set the picture back down. He really didn't need a buzz kill like Lisa to ruin his time. He still had 2 weeks ahead of him, and he didn't want to ruin it with thoughts of how he'd fucked up. "I think another beer is in order." he declared to no one in particular.
He noticed a CD player out of the corner of his eye and the sides of his mouth tugged up into a huge grin. He ran back up to the bedroom and grabbed his CD case he remembered to bring with him and quickly put in Led Zeppelin. He grabbed his beer and started singing along.
All thoughts of Lisa were forgotten, if just for a moment, and Dean was able to lose himself in the music.
…
After a good hour of rocking out, Dean finally shut off the CD player and was reclining on the couch. It was completely dark outside, and the fire was starting to die down, but atleast the place was finally warm. He'd grabbed a book to try and read, and made it about 17 pages in before giving up.
"God this is ridiculous! Why do they have to be so long? Why can't books just get to the point for crying out loud...I'll let Sammy stick to the reading from now on." He said to himself as he tossed the book onto the coffee table.
Dean groaned when he realized how completely bored and alone he was. If he were back at his house he'd atleast be able to call up his brother and go to the bar or something. He could have been spending his time hitting on random chicks to try and forget about Lisa...though he knew deep down he probably would just end up getting himself drunk and have Sam be the one responsible for me.
He fiddled with his thumbs for a few before finally getting fed up altogether. He sighed forcefully and slapped his hand to his head, "What am I doing here?"
He went back up the stairs and took his suitcase out from under the bed. He was going to repack, go home, forget any of this ever happened, and dive straight back into his work.
Dean knew it was yet another rash decision. Deep down he knew he should stay and enjoy himself. But it was hard to have any sort of enjoyment when all he saw was how alone he was. He shoved the last of his clothes into the bag, zipped it up, and booked another flight back home on Anna's computer.
He turned off the lights, climbed into bed, and tried his best to fall asleep.
…
Dean wasn't sure if hours, or minutes had passed. But he'd never felt so anxious. He stared up at the ceiling, listening to the quiet ticking of the clock on the bedside table, when—
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
He bolted upright in bed as someone banged on the front door.
"What the hell?" He mumbled to himself as he flung his legs over the bed. The banging continued as he quickly ran down the stairs, turning the light on as he did so. He stopped in the middle of the stairs, staring at the front door. He could see a figure through the small window moving back and forth.
"Who is it?" Dean yelled out to the mystery person. He made no move to go answer the door.
"It's me. Hurry up and open the door, it's freezing out here." A gravelly voice answered him.
Dean rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right, who are you?" He repeated and walked the rest of the way down the stairs, stopping directly in front of said door. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Seriously, Anna, open the door or I'm gonna go to the bathroom all over your front porch!"
Dean hastily opened it and was met with the surprised look of the man he'd seen in the picture. He was shorter, with unruly bed head, and intense blue eyes that blinked rapidly trying to focus.
"Oh." The man spoke, swaying back and forth a bit, "You're not Anna." He stated simply as he leaned up against the side of the house for support, "Or if you are I am much more drunk than I anticipated." He pinched the bridge of his nose briefly as he tried again to focus on Dean, "You're not who I was expecting, my apologies." His voice sounded even more deep.
Dean raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, well, wasn't exactly expecting you either."
The blue eyed man gave him a brief once over before asking, "Either way, do you mind?" He pointed into the house past Dean, "I really do need to use the bathroom."
"Oh, right, uh, sure." Dean said quickly, not entirely sure if he should let him in or not. He figured it'd be best to let the man piss in the toilet than on Anna's front porch like he'd threatened, so he opened the door the rest of the way and stepped aside to make way for the man. "Come in."
"Thanks." Was the mumbled response he got. "I'm Castiel, by the way." He shook Dean's hand, "Anna's brother." Then he quickly made a dash for the bathroom located under the stairs.
"Oh." Dean responded and quickly shut the door behind him. "I didn't know she had a brother." He thought back to the picture he'd picked up, it made much more sense to have family photos than pictures of ex-boyfriends laying about one's house. "Well, uh, I'm Dean Winchester. I'm staying here." He said simply.
Castiel turned around with a puzzled look on his face, "Dean Winchester? That's a long first name." He shut himself into the bathroom, leaving Dean staring at the door perplexed.
"Right, uh, it ain't one word, dude." Dean responded and rubbed the back of his neck. It was already turning into more of a hectic night than he wanted to deal with.
Castiel called out from the bathroom, "Oh, um, I almost forgot to ask, Anna, where is she?"
Dean heard the toilet flush and the water start running in the sink. "She didn't tell you?" He asked, the door to the bathroom opened suddenly as Castiel stepped out, bumping into one of the lamps and almost knocking it over in the process.
He fumbled as he caught it in time, "Uh, no, not exactly. Had I known I wouldn't have come stumbling onto your doorstep, intoxicated." He half smiled as he made his way back over to where Dean was, propping himself up against the wall.
"Oh, right, well Anna's in L.A." Dean answered awkwardly. He shifted his weight onto his opposite foot and almost laughed at Castiel's expression as it scrunched together in utter confusion.
"That's not possible." The drunken man said, "Anna never goes anywhere, well atleast not outside of the country I mean." He took off the scarf around his neck and hung it up where Anna had placed her other one's. It was then that Dean figured he was probably wearing one of Castiel's by accident, so he moved a hand over his neck to try and hide the one he was currently wearing.
"Yeah well," Dean's eyebrows shot up, "We have that in common I guess. But here I am. Anyway, she listed this place on this one home exchange website thing. It was all kind of sudden, really."
Castiel tilted his head as he continued to listen to Dean's explanation.
"But, uh, yeah. I found it, so we switched houses for 2 weeks, and so I'm here while she's over in L.A. at my place." Dean finished and smiled at the continuous look of bewilderment on the other man's face. He wondered if it was always like that, or just because he was drunk.
After a brief silence that felt like had gone on forever, Castiel finally responded, "People do that?" He scratched his chin.
Dean chuckled, "Yeah, suppose so. I'm new to the whole thing too."
"Huh...well, she did try to call me last night but—" His eyes widened as it dawned on him, "Ooh...well now I feel like a jackass." He hit his head lightly against the wall. He turned back to Dean and started to stumble forward a bit.
Dean backed up as the man invaded his personal space, nearly bumping heads.
"Do you mind if I sit down? I feel like I'm about to fall over." They were so close that Dean could smell the alcohol on his breath as he spoke. Atleast he knew he wasn't lying about the drunk thing.
"Uh, yeah, yeah. Sure." Dean stepped out of the other man's way, just in time for him to trip over his feet and collapse onto the couch. Dean winced at the sight, the guy must've been completely smashed.
Castiel tried to steady himself upright and let out a slight groan. He blinked rapidly again, trying to get his vision to focus.
"Hey man, you alright?" Dean asked, looking at the state Castiel was in. He wouldn't admit it, but he was starting to get worried.
Castiel looked up at him and chuckled, "Yeah, I'm good." His voice seemed to drop a few octaves lower again, and it gave Dean chills as he listened. "Hey, uh, sorry about all this." He motioned to himself and back at the door, "I didn't mean to cause the intrusion."
"What? Oh, no, no it's fine!" Dean said and smiled.
"I don't look it right now, but I am Anna's respectable younger brother."
'Younger?' Dean thought to himself and continued to smile.
"I have the rare occasion to go down to the local pub and..well." Castiel motioned back to himself as way of explanation.
Dean couldn't help but laugh, "I know what you mean, man."
"Anyway, when that happens, Anna let's me stay the night here to make sure I'm not out driving and causing more havoc. Seems to happen more often these days." He finished, eyes squinting as though he was trying to make sure he covered everything. He looked up at Dean and smiled crookedly, "So how has your stay been so far? Up until all this mayhem?"
Dean scratched the back of his head and forced another smile, "Ah, right. It's been...it's been, good." He tried to look everywhere but into those blue eyes. He felt compelled to tell the truth whenever he stared into them, as though they'd know if he were lying. "Ok, no, it's been not so great. I'm leaving tomorrow at noon."
Castiel's brows furrowed, "Oh...when did you get here?"
Dean looked around the room for a clock, and finally noticed the time on the dvd player, "About 7ish hours ago." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Heh, well..we've given you quite a good impression, then, haven't we." The other man chuckled.
Dean felt the need to explain himself, "No, it's got nothing to do with that. I just...well, I've just been going through some stuff lately, and this was just something I decided spur of the moment. I honestly have never done anything like this. I don't even like planes!" He threw his arms in the air for emphasis. He sighed as he looked back into those blue eyes once again. "You want something to drink? Like, water or something? Maybe a beer?" He offered lamely.
Castiel slumped against the side of the couch and looked into the kitchen across the room, "I think there's a bottle of brandy in that top cabinet...if you'd like?" He flashed a lazy smile at Dean, his eyes half lidded.
Dean's stomach flip flopped as he looked at him, "Yeah, sure." He went in and grabbed them a couple of glasses, and brought the bottle out with him. He went around the coffee table to join Castiel on the couch.
He poured them both a glass and they sat there enjoying the silence. Dean figured it was due to the large amount of beer he'd consumed earlier in the evening, but just after a few sips later he was already starting to feel a buzz.
It was then that Castiel finally turned to Dean with a serious expression, "I hate to ask, but, would it be alright if I stayed here? Just for the night? I promise to be out of your way come morning."
"Oh, right, sure. Yeah it's no problem." Dean answered. He tore his eyes away quickly looking around the room, "Let me just..get a blanket." He stood up and started walking towards the stairs.
"There's a blanket and pillow in the cabinet over there, top shelf." Castiel pointed to the white entertainment center-like piece of furniture to the left of where Dean was. Castiel stood up to take his jacket off, "So, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is this 'stuff' you're going through that made you want to come all this way?"
Dean let his head slump forward and hit the top of the cabinet with a soft thud as he thought back on everything. He let out a breath before turning around, "Well..I just broke up with someone...yesterday." He ran a hand through his hair. "I dunno. I guess I wanted to get away from everything for awhile." He laughed, "I kinda was hoping that if I went away for the holidays, then I wouldn't feel so alone...but..." He trailed off when he realized what he was doing. Dean Winchester did not do chick flick moments! Why was he being so open with this guy? 'It's probably because he's drunk.' Dean reasoned with himself.
"But, now that you're here you feel more alone than you would have back home?" Castiel finished his sentence for him. "Yeah, I know the feeling." He gave Dean a reassuring smile.
"Heh, yeah. Shocker, right? Anyway, I'm sure you're glad you knocked on this door." He joked as he handed over the pillow and blanket to Castiel who just stood there staring at him.
"I am, actually, yeah."
Dean just looked at him blankly, did he really just hear him say that?
"Right, well, I should probably get to bed. Have a good night then, I guess." Dean said awkwardly and scratched his head.
"Mm, yeah, goodnight." Castiel replied and then leaned forward, placing a soft kiss to Dean's lips. He lingered for a moment before he realized what it was he was doing and jumped back, eyes wide. "Um..." He just stood there staring at Dean with a somewhat frightened expression.
It took a few seconds for Dean's brain to process what just happened. He wasn't sure if he was more surprised at the fact that he'd been kissed, by a guy for that matter, or that he hadn't pulled away. 'It's probably just the alcohol, man.' He kept telling himself.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm much more drunk than I thought. And I don't think the brandy on top of that has helped matters." Castiel sputtered out. He swayed forwards a bit and tried to steady himself once more, Dean reached out to help hold him in place.
"Dude, Cas, it's fine." Dean laughed it off, first time saying his name, and he didn't even notice he'd called him 'Cas' by accident. "Now sit before you fall on top of me."
"Right, uh...ok." Cas moved to take a seat back on the couch, but ended up tripping over his feet and falling backwards instead. He automatically grabbed onto the man in front of him to try and hold himself up, subsequently causing Dean to topple on top of him.
A quiet 'oof' from Cas, and a surprised yelp from Dean were the only things that came out of either of their mouths.