Castiel let out a small groan as he slowly began to regain consciousness, opening his eyes and becoming confused when all he saw was Dean's back.
"Dean... What... What's going on?" The Tiefling asked quietly, voice still thick from sleep.
"Cas? Oh, thank fuck!" The half-Orc exclaimed, he stopped walking and turned his head to confirm that his friend was indeed awake. "Are you okay, buddy?" He asked.
Castiel nodded, startling a little when Dean hiked him up, the Tiefling just now realising he was piggybacking on his friend.
"Can you walk on your own?" The elder Winchester asked, tightening his hold on Castiel slightly since he didn't want him to fall. When all he received in reply was a garbled mumble, he smiled slightly. "I'll take that as a no..." He added fondly, starting up his stride again since Sam hadn't noticed that Castiel had woken up.
"Hey! Sammy! Cas is-" Dean was cut off when the Tiefling groaned and curled up on Dean's back more than he already had. "Oops, sorry, Cas, guess you must have a bit of a headache, huh?" He apologised, dropping his voice to a whisper so as not to disturb Castiel further.
The latter nodded at his question and groaned again, "Dean, can I go back to sleep, please? I... I'm exhausted," he pleaded softly.
"Sure, Cas, we'll fill you in on what ya' missed when you're feeling more up to it," Dean replied, tightening his grip on the Tiefling again when his breath evened out, and he slipped back into deep sleep.
"So anyway, Sammy," Dean said, trotting up next to his brother while being careful not to jostle Castiel, "Cas woke up for a minute or two there, he was kind of out of it, but at least he's okay, far as I can tell at least."
Sam nodded wordlessly, expression flooding with relief, then smiled, amused at the fact that Castiel had started to drool on the place where his head had become pillowed on Dean's shoulder.
His brother noticed this, and glanced at the sleeping Tiefling, "son of a bitch!"
XXX
Charlie opened her eyes and yawned, stretching her arms above her head and looking around for the camp, becoming alarmed when she found that she and Bobby were in the living room of what looked like a small log cabin.
"What the Frodo Baggins?!" She exclaimed, shaking Bobby's shoulder, rolling her eyes when all he did was grumble angrily and swat at her hand.
"Ah, good, you're awake, I was starting to get bored," a cheerful voice sounded from behind her. She turned around quick as lightning on the heels of her boots and came face to face with Gabriel, letting out a small 'eep' noise when she recognised the now somewhat familiar figure.
"Nice to see you again, Charlie," Gabriel said, smirking and extending a hand for her to shake, when she didn't take it he rolled his eyes. "Relax, I mean you no harm, oh great queen of moons," he added, giving her a small bow, raising his head while still bent over and smirking at her again, whiskey coloured eyes glittering with amusement.
"Why are we here?" Charlie asked.
"Honestly? You guys were thriving a little too well, so I, being the genius that I am, shook things up a little." Gabriel's face screamed triumph at the moment, no doubt remembering whatever he had done in minute detail thanks to angelic memory.
"Where are the others?" Charlie added, deciding that, as long as the archangel was answering questions, she'd keep asking them.
"Back at your camp, I was kinda considering taking Cassie too, but I figured I'd given him enough shit for now already, so I just knocked him out for a day or two, the kid needs to get some sleep anyway."
"Okay... So what exactly is your plan here? Leave clues for the guys to follow to find Bobby and me, then, I don't know... Wait for Dean to swear at you for a solid four sentences, punch him in the face and then leave laughing?" Charlie's fears were beginning to ease up a little bit, she had loved the plot twist in the Supernatural books when it was revealed that The Trickster was an archangel in disguise, and she was beginning to see that Gabriel only harmed those that had committed some form of wrongdoing.
"Basically, yeah," the archangel answered with a shrug. "But for now, you want something to eat? I've got cheesecake if you want some," he tempted, waggling his eyebrows at the redhead.
"Dude, I would love some cheesecake," Charlie replied earnestly, following Gabriel into the cabin's kitchen.
XXX
Dean glanced over at Cas, still sleeping peacefully, and then turned back to the fire that was providing the only light in the small clearing where they were currently camped out. It'd been such an immense relief when Cas had woken up that first time, after being out for roughly a day and a half, that he hadn't thought about the consequences of the Tiefling falling asleep again. What if that was their one chance to get him to wake up properly and that was it? That because they hadn't he would just sleep forever?
"He's gonna be fine; you know that, right?" Sam said, seeming to read his mind.
"It's just... I'm worried, Sammy, that's all. I'm sure I'm just paranoid," Dean replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, though that did not seem to deter his moose of a brother, the perceptive son of a bitch.
"Wait, what are you doing? Sammy?"
Sam walked over to the dozing Tiefling and abruptly kicked him in the side, causing said Tiefling to startle and yelp at the sudden and unforeseen pain.
"Sam, what the fuck, What was that for?!" Dean exclaimed incredulously, staring -feeling guilty somehow even though Sam was the one who'd kicked him- at Cas as he rubbed his now sure to be aching side, looking at the Elf in front of him with undisguised betrayal in his eyes.
"Sam, why did you kick me? Did I somehow do something wrong while I was sleeping?" Cas asked, 'just like him,' Dean thought, 'taking the blame even if he had nothing to do with it.'
"No, just wanted to prove to Dean that you were gonna wake up again, sorry, man," Sam explained, his apology sounding sincere.
"You coulda' done it more gently, you dick! Sorry, Cas, if I had known he was gonna-"
"I-it's fine, Dean... I'm sure I needed to-" Cas let out a long yawn, blinking his eyes rapidly in an attempt to fend off the drowsiness that was trying to retake him. "-Wake up soon anyway," he finished, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms.
"No, Cas, go back to sleep, you need the rest. This time I'll make sure nobody kicks you again," Dean replied, glaring at his brother, who merely shrugged guiltily.
"But-"
"Cas, do not make me knock you out myself."
Cas nodded, accepting the fact that he wasn't winning this one, yawned again, and settled back into the pile of furs Dean had set him down on when they had made camp for the night.
Once Dean made sure that Cas was asleep again, he turned back to Sam, "dude, what the hell was that?!" He whisper-yelled.
Sam shrugged again, "was just convincing you that he was gonna wake up again, and besides, I didn't mean to kick him that hard."
"Judging by his reaction it seemed to be pretty painful," Dean pointed out, still scowling at his stupid brother.
"Look I didn't mean to, okay? And besides, at least now we know he's just really, really tired and not out cold for the rest of his life, right?"
Dean scowled, trust Sam to find the logic in kicking someone in the side while they were sleeping.
His brother seemed to read his mind once again and smiled triumphantly, picking up the stick he had set down before waking Cas and poking at the fire.
XXX
"So wait... You put them in one of those over-complicated Japanese game shows and hit Sam in the nuts with a ball?" Charlie asked, shoving a forkful of cheesecake into her mouth.
"Yup," Gabriel replied, popping the 'p' and smiling triumphantly.
"Nice," Charlie laughed, setting her plate down on the coffee table and looking over to where Bobby was still sound asleep. "So wait, he's gonna wake up soon, right?"
"He can wake up whenever he wants to, I think he just needs the extra sleep," Gabriel said with a shrug.
"Makes sense, I would need fourteen hours a night if I had to deal with the guys almost every day..."
XXX
"Cas? Cas, buddy, I need you to wake up for me, okay? Can you do that?"
Castiel cracked open one eye and was met with Dean's gently smiling face.
"Hey, bud," he said, ruffling Castiel's hair, "sorry to wake you, but you gotta eat something, I don't want you starving to death on us," he added, standing up from his previous crouching position and helping his friend to sit up. "There ya' go," he praised, ruffling the Tiefling's hair again and going over to the small stash of supplies to collect some food.
"H..." Castiel yawned, "how long have I been sleeping?"
"Doesn't matter, once you're done eating I'll let you go right back to dreamland, deal?" Dean dismissed, handing Castiel a small canteen full of water and some dried meat and berries. "Yeah, I know it ain't much, but Sammy an' I have no idea how to hunt wild animals, and your ass has been knocked out about ninety-six percent a' the time we've been camped out in this forest," he explained. Castiel nodded and gratefully took a sip of water, then began to eat the food Dean had given him.
"Wait a minute... Dean, Where are Bobby and Charlie?" Castiel asked, just noticing that he hadn't seen the redhead or the Winchesters' surrogate father either of the times he had woken up after his mysterious unconsciousness had set in.
"Uh, yeah, about that... We think. We think that. Gabrielmighta'taken'em Dean mumbled out the last part, but Castiel heard it, all the same, he would've sprung up from the furs he was lying on if not for Dean's hand on his chest.
"Easy, Cas. He did something to you too, and you need to take it easy, okay?" It was more of an order than a question, but that didn't stop Castiel from trying to get up again, only to be held down more forcefully by the half-Orc. "I'm serious. I wasn't joking before about knocking you out again myself if you didn't try and get back to sleep voluntarily. Sleep."
Castiel sighed, once again knowing he wasn't going to win this argument -plus he didn't exactly want to try testing Dean's patience at the moment, in his weakened and drained state- and closed his eyes, drifting off to the feeling of Dean running his fingers through his hair.
XXX
A/N: you got me... I'm a massive sucker for sleepy!Cas... Stone me, hang me, mock me if you will, but he is just such an adorable little bean, and I couldn't resist makin' 'im all sleepy an' cute to go along with that... Oh well. I'm gonna be writing a Christmas fic probably, with Destiel and Sabriel (because I hardcore-ship them too) which'll just be a giant holiday fluff piece self-indulgence big-ass ball of holiday mush. So yeah, look forward to that I guess... My DnD campaign currently (we stopped the last one btw, and I have a new character who is a gay fire genasi bard named Tristen) is going nowhere atm because it ties into the campaign of the other group in our club (if that makes any fucking sense) and they aren't as far along as we are so right now we're basically just playing guildhall home makeover... Anyway, see you soon, my lovelies!
-You all bloody well know who this is by now.