A/N: Ok….so this was MEANT to include all kinds of plot and to help further the story along but…yeah, Dean and Cas were having NONE of that. So this is what you wind up with. *sigh* Anyway, I'm going to ATTEMPT to make some headway on more storyline driven stuff later. In the meantime, please enjoy the random fruits of my brain. Thank you all once again for being patient while I try to work up chapters and also for all the kind feedback!
The tick of a clock mingled loudly with the deep sated breathing of Sam Winchester, filling the quiet of the small motel room the boys had settled in. The familiar swirl of white light that accompanied Castiel's wings bobbed up and down as he rose and fell with each breath, his small form curled up on the young hunter's chest. His luminous blue eyes were fixed on Sam's face as it contorted in the midst of occasional dreams as if he were some silent guardian warding off potential nightmares. If Sam's occasional snoring was any indication, Castiel was doing his job quite well too. Dean however lay wide awake in the other bed. He was still and silent as he watched the play of light across the stucco ceiling above him. For the past two nights he had enjoyed the comfort the angel's presence had given but tonight he had given up that privilege so that Sam could get a good night's sleep instead. The young man had put on a brave face and to anyone else Sam would have looked perfectly calm but Dean could see the telltale signs of stress weighing heavily on him once Crowley had left. The demon's warnings about Legion had spooked them both no matter what they had told him and it was fairly obvious to Dean that Sam was already fretting over the threat that he might harm someone he cared about.
It was painfully obvious how much comfort Sam gained while holding Cas and so Dean had mumbled an excuse about needing to sleep without feathers up his nose for one night, resolutely turning from the outstretched arms of the child when Sam moved to hand him over. It had been one of the harder things he'd had to do in quite some time. Sam had stretched out on his own bed, thrown a grateful look to Dean that said he knew the excuse was just that, and then spent a few minutes gently petting the infant's hair before sleep finally overtook him. As the first rays of dawn began to creep through the curtains, Dean found himself rolling over to watch the angel where he perched atop the younger hunter's chest. He had thought he'd been past the nightmares about his time in hell but he'd no sooner closed his eyes before the swell of horrifying images came boiling up to greet him. He'd only gotten about thirty minutes of actual rest before he'd woken lathed in sweat and shaking. He'd been halfway out of bed and on his way to reclaim Cas before he'd even realized it but he couldn't bring himself to snatch away the only comfort he could afford to Sam in that moment and had laid back down alone.
Dean's heavy thoughts ground to a halt as he realized that Cas had turned to look at him and the two lay for a few moments with their eyes locked. A thin smile tugged at the corner of his mouth but it faded quickly, replaced with the recent and increasingly familiar urge he'd been getting to hold the angel again. Sam had long since grown too big to hold, to big in so many ways to even need him anymore, and the complete dependence Castiel had on both of them had brought back a flood of memories Dean had almost completely forgotten. He knew it wouldn't last, that he couldn't go back to those days when he'd been a big brother whom Sam had followed with a puppy-like devotion, but he'd gleaned some small amount of comfort from being needed that way again. Castiel flicked his wings once and peered over the edge of Sam's chest as if trying to gauge whether he could make the climb to get over to Dean but he settled back down when he realized he couldn't make it on his own. He curled up on his stomach, his small feet tucking under his bottom and his hands curling into tiny fists under his chest. His wings glided easily against one another with a soft rustling sound as he shifted them to curl more easily around his shoulders. The dark shock of his hair contrasted against the bright eyes below it and Dean found himself staring at the precious bundle while an overwhelming anger began to simmer under the surface.
Crowley's words were echoing in his brain. Another angel. He wished he could say he didn't believe it, that no angel in their right mind would do this to one of their own kind but he knew better than that. Castiel had been one of the rare exceptions to the general rule that angels were universal dicks. He couldn't honestly put it past one of them to turn on the rest, after all there was precedence for doing so in the past, and he found himself wondering who it was this time. How many enemies had Gabriel and Castiel made during the apocalypse? Cas and Gabe had both died and been brought back but Cas had even been cut off from all of heaven for a while. He didn't figure heaven had exactly rolled out a welcome mat when the angel had returned home. Guilt tugged at Dean as he thought about what kind of chaos Castiel had returned to in the aftermath of it all. He hadn't much cared at the time, he'd been so angry with the angel for what he felt was an abandonment when he needed friends the most, and even after Cas had brought Sam back there had been a bitterness that accompanied the angel leaving again. He had wondered what it was about him that made it so easy for those he came to actually give a damn about to up and walk out on him. He had begrudgingly begun to actually see the angel as a friend while they were facing insurmountable odds against the Devil himself but once Cas had gotten his power back it was as if Dean had ceased to matter again. He'd been cast aside and the heavenly being hadn't even put in a single appearance after that fateful night.
The swirl of emotions shifted in Dean from one moment to the other but when he looked up at Cas again, he found his anger and bitterness at the angel faded. There was still a part of him bitterly shouting that the angel was simply going to up and disappear again once they put him back to normal but it was overshadowed as Dean watched the infant blink silently at him across the room. Sure, Cas might up and leave them again later but in that moment, he was still so small and helpless and Dean felt needed again. He cast a last mournful look in the angel's direction and then rolled over, determined to at least try to get a few hours of sleep before he had to drive again. Behind him he could hear the infant shift. "Den?" Dean closed his eyes and forced himself not to respond. He wasn't going to look or he knew he'd give in and take the angel back for the rest of the night and Sam needed the rest the infant could afford. He could hear a quiet huff that sounded so disappointed it nearly broke the hunter's heart. He hated turning away from Cas, especially since the angel depended on him so much but he consoled himself by clinging to the idea that Sam needed him right then too.
The rustle of cloth caught Dean's attention but he stayed with his back to the scene, determined not to encourage Cas into leaving Sam's side. The sound increased for a moment and then a heavy and sickening thud met his ears. Dean shot up out of the bed without a second thought and launched himself across to where Castiel lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, biting back cuss words the whole way. The hunter scooped the infant up and rushed him into the bathroom where he could get some light and check for injuries without waking Sam. He pressed his back against the wall and then dropped onto his butt on the floor, his knees coming up to cradle Castiel while his hands worked swiftly to check the infant over for any sign of bleeding or broken bones. "Shit, shit, shit. Cas, you ok? Please tell me you didn't break anything." The angel put up with the frantic check without complaint, his little face turned up to watch Dean's expression as it shifted from mild panic to concern to relief and he even let the hunter briskly check his wings, uttering nothing more than an uncomfortable grunt during the examination. Aside from a tiny red patch of carpet burn along one elbow the angel appeared to be in perfect health and Dean let out a sigh as his head thumped back against the tile. "Dude, what the hell were you thinking? You could have killed yourself. You have any idea what Sam would do to me if I let you get hurt? Or Bobby? God, Bobby'd freakin skin me," he whispered harshly. The older hunter had grown fond of the angel even if he wasn't really willing to admit it openly and Dean could well imagine the ass whipping he'd get if he let anything bad happen while Cas was still in that form.
Dean looked down at the angel again when he felt something slap erratically against his upper thigh. Castiel's left wing was flicking in what looked like a spasm and a twitch of discomfort played across his chubby face as he turned to peer curiously at it. He fluttered the appendage a few times and let out a thin unhappy noise when this didn't seem to rectify the issue. Dean reached out and gently pressed the angel against his chest so he could get a better look. "Easy, Cas. Lemme see," he murmured as soothingly as he could considering his heart was in his throat all of a sudden. He didn't want to think that the wing had been injured during the fall as he didn't even know where to begin on how to get the infant any kind of medical attention. He couldn't just walk him into a local ER and hope someone knew what to do with wings. He even entertained the idea that maybe a vet would be better equipped to deal with it but even that wasn't optimal. He couldn't exactly wrap Cas in blankets and tell the vet it was a really big cockatiel though he considered the option strongly. Dean's fingers closed over the wing as gently as he could manage and Castiel instantly stilled at the touch. His small form went rigid against the broad chest beneath him with obvious discomfort and his right wing curled out, spreading in a way that reminded Dean of the defensive display of an angry bird. He worked as quickly as he could, gently sweeping his fingers up over the fluffy curve of the upper wing and spreading the feathers to make sure it still had full movement. Castiel didn't make any noise in protest which concerned Dean a little but as he felt a tremble wrack its way across the infant's shoulders he knew the manhandling was definitely having an effect. It was a testament to the angel's trust in him as well as his own painstaking efforts to be as gentle as possible that Cas was letting him even do this exam without wrenching the wing away. The infant had every right to do so considering the rough treatment he'd suffered only a day ago but he waited with infinite patience as the hunter flexed the wing a few times.
Dean was about to end the angel's unhappiness by letting go when his finger brushed across a bur he hadn't noticed before. Cas let out a small grunt and turned his face away from the wing, burying it instead into Dean's shirt. The older man brushed his finger over the area again, wishing he didn't have to when the infant let out another unhappy noise, and again he felt the ridge that seemed so out of place among the rest of the silk smooth feathers. He turned the wing up as delicately as he could until he could see the issue. A single feather had become shuffled out of place and Dean let out a breath of relief that it wasn't something more serious. He gently tried to push the fragile thing back into its spot but doing so was easier said than done and by the time he managed to get it back where it belonged, Cas was squirming in his lap. Once it was over though the angel sighed in relief and gratefully folded the wing back down. Dean hefted his friend up, placed him back into his favorite spot, and gently rubbed his cheek against the thick tufts of hair. He felt bad for having to do that but it needed to be done and it was over now. It struck him how sensitive the angel's wings were and he wondered if that was the same for all of the heavenly host. As Castiel nuzzled up under his caretaker's jaw and relaxed, Dean found himself also relaxing and his fatigue from earlier crept back up on him. His head nodded once and he almost fell asleep right there on the floor but he blinked away the sleep and slid back to his feet. He had long since come to the conclusion that Cas was the only reason he was getting a good night's rest and he honestly didn't want to set the angel down again for fear that his earlier nightmares would come back and haunt him again but as he stepped out into the darkness of the room and heard the disquieted murmur of Sam tossing in his sleep, he knew his brother needed the angel as well.
Caught between his desire to sleep and his need to help his little brother, Dean shrugged and went for the only option he had readily available. He was sure Sam would probably be pretty pissed at him in the morning and he wasn't real happy with the situation himself but the only way both of them were going to get any rest that night was if they both had Cas nearby. Dean eased himself down onto the edge of Sam's bed and rolled his eyes. He never in a million years imagined this day would come but as Sam let out a strangled whine in his sleep, he knew he didn't really have a choice. Dean sighed resignedly and lay back onto the mattress. It was a small bed on the best of days and with Sam's large frame eating up most of it, Dean found himself clinging to the edge by the wall. Still, Sam settled down right away once he was close to the angel again and Dean was able to contort himself after a few minutes into a more comfortable position that didn't require him defying the laws of physics. Castiel stayed still and content throughout the whole circus-like rearranging that had to take place for both fully grown men to lay down on the tiny mattress. Dean growled something unintelligible as he tried to get comfy and shuddered at the thought that if fangirls like Becky ever heard about this, he could be assured of enough fiction to scar him mentally for the rest of his life. Despite that terrifying mental image, he eventually drifted off into sleep and this time the only nightmares he had included the dolphin-like squeals of Wincest slash fans.
Hehehe. Ok, to stave off the hate mail, allow me to say that I'm just PICKING on those of you who are Wincest slash fans. To each their own and if it makes you happy, then go for it. ;) I just couldn't resist throwing that in there considering that my brain forced me to stick them both in one bed.