It took a moment for Sam's brain to boot up and realize what Charlie was doing. He was immediately grateful when he saw the near apocalyptic look his brother was sporting. He lifted up the blanket and managed to pull himself away from his clingy bedmate. Charlie promptly took over the space he'd been in, pulling the covers back up and around herself and then draping them back over him, wrapping her arm around him as well.

Castiel looked completely perplexed by the new addition to the bed, and while Sam wrapped himself around the much smaller woman he allowed his hand to land on the angel now behind her.

"What's a girl gotta do to get some cuddles, angel?" Charlie said as she rearranged herself comfortably in Sam's arms. Sam even pulled at the angel a little to get the point across.

He hoped Castiel would catch on, and was relieved when the look of understanding crossed his face. He silently arranged himself on Charlie's other side, allowing Sam's long reach to wrap around them both. The look on the angel's face even sank back into the look of contentment it seemed to have whenever he was being held. Sam watched him cuddle up behind Charlie, letting his face sink into her hair and closing his eyes again. Sam was impressed, although he knew the angel wasn't acting.

Not that Sam was acting like he liked to cuddle. He loved it. At this particular moment, though, he was mostly cuddling the redhead in order to hopefully placate his brother. If he could show his brother he was just a cuddle whore, then his embrace with Castiel didn't have to mean anything untoward. And he was sure that Charlie was worming her way between them to prove to Dean that it didn't mean anything sexual at all. The angel was not pacifying anyone though. He just genuinely wanted to cuddle.

"Wow! You guys really know how to cuddle." The redhead between them seemed genuinely surprised by the thought.

"I'm a professional." Sam told her seriously.

"I can tell." Her voice held only amusement, and she nuzzled deeper into their embrace, as if she couldn't get enough.

Sam chanced a glance at his brother, still standing at the end of the bed. The look on his face hadn't changed as much as Sam would have liked. Although, Dean's expression changed drastically when the angel asked him a question.

"Dean, would you like to 'cuddle' with us?" The angel asked, emphasizing the word oddly, as if he had never used it before. He didn't even open his eyes as he added, "It is very comfortable."

Sam's eyes met Charlie's and they shared a look of astonishment. The angel might accomplish what neither of them had even dared to think about. Sam glanced at his brother again to gauge his reaction.

Dean's face showed only surprise now. The thought of joining the group on the bed had probably never even occurred to him. It would be the perfect excuse to put his arms around the angel, and Sam sincerely hoped that his brother would use it.

"Um, no thanks." Dean had a strain in his voice and Sam wondered if it was due to not allowing himself the opportunity, or that he was trying to make sure he didn't seem as pissed off as he had been only a few seconds before. "I think there are already enough people in that little love fest you have going on over there."

Sam's eyes met Charlie's again and they were both disappointed. Charlie's face turned calculating for a second before she spoke.

"Don't worry. We can make space for you." She said, as she started pushing Sam back and scooting in closer. If they all moved that direction, there would be space. Right behind Castiel.

"Yeah, don't bother. Some of us still have a case to work. And I am not missing breakfast to have a cuddle party." He huffed out an annoyed breath, and headed toward the door. " You guys have fun though." He didn't even slam the door on his way out.

Castiel had nullified his brother's fury in a way that Sam could never have even hoped to. One question had turned Dean from a monster on the verge of fratricide to the slightly irritated man that had neatly excused himself from the situation. Angels really could perform miracles.

At breakfast it was decided that both couples would attend the group of the day. They were all armed in some way, just in case anything happened. Not that they knew what they were dealing with, or if salt rounds would have any effect on the god. Or holy water, or the demon knife. Yeah, they weren't planning to lose a chance to test some of their best weapons out on the thing either.

The group was called 'conversation starters' and none of them had any hope that it wouldn't be awkward as hell. It was supposed to open a couple's dialogue, whatever that meant. They were not looking forward to it, but they all knew that the case was more important than their own discomfort and had resigned themselves to participating. They would just have to keep an eye out for any suspicious smoke, or whatever.

Both of the other couples their group had made friends with had decided to participate in this group. As soon as they entered, Dean plopped himself into the empty chair next to Matt and they began a long and serious discussion about the fruit bar that had been included with the breakfast buffet that morning. Mostly about how ridiculous it had been and how they hadn't had pancakes and french toast because the stupid fruit had been taking up too much space.

Sam rolled his eyes at the ridiculous conversation, and watched as Harry pulled Castiel into the empty seat next to him. For some reason Derek and Harry seemed to be completely fascinated by the angel. The dude barely talked, hardly smiled, and was grumpy as hell in the morning. The youngest Winchester did not see how he could have made friends with the other men so quickly, but they genuinely seemed to like him.

There were, conveniently, two empty seats between the hunter and the angel, and Sam and Charlie shared a grin as they sat. Now that they were aware that they were on the same side, they would hopefully get to use today's group to help their fight.

"Alright group! Let's get started." It looked like Marta was running the group again. "The purpose of today's group is to help open a dialogue between couples. We will discuss some of the questions in group, and then we will leave you a list of some of the more private things for you to do in your leisure." She pointed to a stack of papers on a table near the door. "Let's start with an easy one. Tell me what you all wanted to be when you grew up. This is one of those things that gets lost as you get older, unless you were able to pursue that career. I believe that it says a lot about a person when you find out what they wanted to be." She smiled at the group. "Let's start to my right and just go around the circle."

"I'm Derek. I wanted to be a race car driver when I grew up." Derek grinned at Harry's completely shocked expression. "All my father did when I was a kid was watch the races. I guess I thought it would make him proud or something." He shrugged.

Harry nodded and smiled at his husband before he took his turn. "I'm Harry, and I wanted to be a cop." He grinned at the group. "Turns out that I'm a bit too queer for the force. After about the third time they told me to be less flamboyant, they then asked me to leave the academy. Once I realized they wouldn't be able to accept me, I turned away and never looked back."

Well this exercise was actually a lot sadder than Sam had originally thought it would be. It sucks giving up on your dreams. Especially if you only had those dreams to make someone else proud of you.

Sam spared a glance at Castiel and could see blind fear in his eyes. No way had he had time to come up with something, it was too short notice. Shit shit shit. How the hell were they going to save him? And it was his turn.

"I'm Cas…"Sam cleared his throat before the angel could say his full name. "I never thought about growing up. I thought I would be the same forever." Sam jumped in quickly, hoping that it wouldn't seem too rude. He was just glad Castiel hadn't said anything too weird.

"I'm Sam, and I wanted to be a superhero. I was obsessed with justice and punishing evil. I wanted to help the world." He'd gotten the chance too, but it hadn't been the way he'd always dreamed. Somehow jumping into hell while you were possessed by Lucifer hadn't been in any of the comics.

"I'm Charlie, and I wanted to be a princess." She grinned and Sam's mood lightened considerably. "That is until I figured out I would have to marry a prince, and that just seemed boring." Sam suddenly remembered their trip to Moondor and had to hold back a snicker. She was already a queen, She didn't need to be a princess.

"Uh, I'm Dean." Dean always seemed so uncomfortable when it came to speaking to a group like this. "I wanted to be a fireman." He didn't elaborate, but their little group seemed to droop a little after the admission. Of course Dean had wanted to be a fireman. He had lost his mother to a fire at a very young age. Dean gestured quickly to the man beside him and remained silent in his seat while the rest of the group answered the question.

"What would your childhood self think of you now?" Marta asked the group, which was about the perfectly wrong direction to go in for their little group. Sam couldn't even stop the face he made at that question. He looked at Castiel to make sure he was going to be able to come up with an answer to that question. The angel nodded and waited for his turn.

"My younger self would be very disappointed in me." Sam did not like the way that sounded, but he remembered old stick-in-the-ass Castiel and had to admit that was probably true. "I was raised to believe certain things, and that rules were made to be obeyed. There was no straying from the pack, or so I was lead to believe. I now believe that I am on my true life's journey, but if my younger self could see me, he would not like the choices I have made. He wouldn't even understand the idea of having choices to make, really."

"Well, younger Cas was a bit of an idiot." Dean grinned at the angel as if he was trying to cheer him up.

"That he was." Castiel agreed he even sent a small smile back to the hunter. He gestured that Sam should take his turn.

"My younger self probably wouldn't understand the choices I have made that lead me here, either. He expected that we would be doing something completely different. He probably thought we would have a wife and kids by now. Things don't always work out the way you think they will when you're a kid, though." Sam smiled at Castiel as he said that, and then sent a grin to his brother. Yeah, his reasoning had more to do with the family business than any amount of gay love for the angel, but he was still in a role.

"My younger self would think I was totally awesome." Charlie added, unapologetically. "I am nowhere near where I thought I would be at this age, but I know my younger self would think where I am is still pretty cool. She had it pretty tough for a while, and she'd be happy to see me surrounded by family and friends." Charlie shrugged to indicate that she was done.

"My younger self would probably hate me." Dean said, and gave no indication that he had anything else to say.

"Don't be ridiculous, Dean. Your younger self would think that you are a total badass." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. He remembered what young Dean was like.

"Yeah, there are some things about me that he would like, but there are plenty of things about me that he would not like at all." Dean glared at him, and was probably trying to convey something about hell, or any of the times he had failed to save someone. Sam wasn't having any of that though.

"You are a good man, despite your faults. No one is perfect."

Dean huffed and turned his head, unwilling to agree, but also unwilling to go into details in the middle of the group.

"Have you two always been so defensive of each other?" Marta asked, seemingly intrigued by the new dynamic. She was probably only used to families that hated each other.

"Yes." Charlie and Castiel answered for them, causing the woman to raise her brows.

"As their partners, have you ever felt intimidated by this connection?" She asked them, not hiding her interest in the development.

"Not really." Charlie glanced in Castiel's direction before answering for them both. "To have Dean in my life I knew I would have accept Sam as well. And Sam is such a giant sweetheart it wasn't even a hardship." She grinned up at Sam as Castiel nodded in agreement on his other side. "I'm sure it's the same on the other side."

"Well, that is very strange." Marta said, not unkindly.

"I don't really think so." Charlie defended immediately. "They lost their mother when they were very young, and always only had each other to rely on. It's just like accepting your new mother-in-law into your life. Except Sam is way cooler than any mother-in-law I could have asked for."

Marta seemed to somewhat accept this answer and turned to some of the other couples, presumably to move the group along. Dean immediately leaned over Charlie to whisper-yell at Sam.

"What the hell was that? You're making us look like a bunch of weirdos. They do not need to know about our fucked up family dynamics."

Charlie cut him off before Sam could respond. "Everything I said was true you know. Anyone trying to worm their way into your life would have to accept Sam as part of the package. Just because you're closer to your brother than most people, that doesn't make you weird."

"Yeah, not weird at all. Just come move in with me and my little brother." He rolled his eyes at them all, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. Sam did not bother to mention that Castiel pretty much did live with them most of the time. Just because he had never used those exact words, didn't mean that his actions hadn't already said pretty much the same thing. He had already assigned one of the bunker's rooms for the angel to use whenever he was around. Dean had always been better with actions than words. He just didn't always seem to know what his actions actually translated to.

The group discussion seemed to be coming around to them again, and Sam had no idea what the new topic was. Castiel seemed to be following along, so Sam would just follow his lead.

"No." The angel said when it was his turn, and the hunter had no idea what to do with that.

"And why not?" Marta asked him, seemingly surprised by his answer.

"Love is an emotion that is developed over time and experience. The only emotions that might be activated by merely viewing something are lust or attraction. There might be eventual love associated with someone that is lusted over, but love does not develop instantaneously."

She was asking them about what they thought about love at first sight. At least, that's what Sam hoped she was asking about. Otherwise his answer might just make him look like a giant ass.

"When I was younger I used to believe. I guess too many Disney movies or something." The group chuckled a little at that, and Sam decided he was on the right track. "But now, I don't really believe that is possible. Love is not easy, and I don't believe you can experience it just by sight."

Dean and Charlie both answered no, for similar reasons. There didn't seem to be many hopeless romantics in the group, as there were only two out of the remaining members that said they believed. They were clearly not realists as they used reasoning that didn't make sense to anyone else in the group, including their own partners.

The entire group ended up being torture. It was awkward question after awkward question, and of course, there were no attacks. They had suffered through it for no reason. When they returned to Cas and Sam's room they were all exhausted, although it was mostly just emotionally.

Dean had taken the extra list they were given, and had been crumpling it for five minutes. It wasn't in dust form, but Dean had tried his best. He tossed it into the trash as soon as they entered the room. Castiel had seated himself at the bar and Dean claimed the other seat. The direction they were facing had Dean mostly behind the angel, and he dropped his head forward onto the back of Castiel's shoulder in a show of his fatigue.

Sam and Charlie grinned at the act, seeing it as a kind of proof that Dean could lean on the angel in his times of need. Castiel had a fond smile on his face until he met the gaze of the other two. He seemed startled by the pleased looks they were sporting.

"One more group." Dean said, not raising his head from it's place. "One more. And then this crazy week will be over. We better hope we get this thing figured out by then. I'm not paying for this torture again." He finally lifted his head, rubbing the spot on Castiel's back where he had been resting. "One more day, buddy." He clapped a hand to the angel's back as he stood. "Come on Charlie. I feel like I could sleep for a week."

Charlie hopped up and followed him to the door.

"Goodnight guys."

When the room was empty Sam was faced with a very contemplative look from the angel. He stayed silent, letting the angel work out whatever was going on in his head. He headed toward the bathroom to get ready for bed. Castiel seemed to be on the verge of starting a conversation, but Sam was so tired he decided he'd rather be in the bed when the angel finally figured out what he wanted to talk about.

When he returned to the room, Castiel was exactly where he had left him, still looking thoughtful. Sam stripped down and crawled between the sheets before distracting the angel. "Cas, why don't you hop into bed and we can talk about whatever is on your mind. Hit that light on the way."

The angel looked confused for a moment while staring at the light, but Sam was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Castiel switched the light off instead of actually hitting it. The angel removed most of his own clothes before crawling into the bed with him. The fact that he didn't immediately curl into Sam's side said he was not ready to sleep yet.

"What's bothering you?" He was usually more subtle than that, but he was so damn tired.

"I have been looking for those signs of attraction that Marta taught us about." And now Sam was awake.

"Oh yeah? Did you learn anything?" He sincerely hoped that the angel was finally catching all the hints that Dean was constantly throwing out.

"I think so, but I'm not sure. I wanted to ask you about it." Even Castiel's voice sounded insecure and it was a seriously weird state for the angel to be in.

"Alright…" Sam didn't know how much prying he was going to have to do to get the other man to tell him what was really on his mind.

"I have come under the impression that, perhaps, your brother might be attracted to me." Well that had to be the most insecure sentence he had ever heard from Castiel. Sam cheered internally while he tried to form a decent response.

"Yesterday, after the attack, he seemed particularly concerned about my well being." Castiel seemed to think that Sam's delayed response was cause to explain further.

"This morning at breakfast, he repeatedly touched my arm as we were talking. Before the group started, he leaned over my shoulder to tell me something that was not particularly private. Then this evening he leaned on me as if to hold himself up when he was tired."

Sam nodded along to all of those explanations. After that body language class he had also started to notice just how much his brother touched the angel. He had seen all of these examples, as well as a few Castiel had not mentioned. It might not actually be his place to tell the other man what his brother was feeling, though. He had no idea what to say to that.

"I'm sorry, Cas. I can't say anything here. It's not really me that you should be asking." He patted the other man on the shoulder that wasn't pressed into the mattress. "I think you should probably talk to Dean about this."

The angel actually looked a bit scared at the thought. "What if I am wrong? He will be angry at me."

"He won't be angry at you, Cas. He might act a little strange for a while, but he'll get over it." He didn't really want to give the other man false hope. There was no telling how Dean would react. They could only pray that the question might break down some of those walls he had built up over the years. "Do you think it might be worth the risk? Maybe you are reading the situation right. Then you guys might both get something you want out of it."

Castiel looked smaller than Sam had ever seen him, somehow. He nodded in understanding, and seemed to be scrutinizing the hunter's answer.

"You two are the only family I have left. I don't want to be ostracized."

Sam pulled the other man to his chest in a hug. "Don't worry. That will never happen. You are family now. You have a place in our home, and our hearts. Even if it doesn't turn out the way you want, it won't make you any less a part of our family."

The angel buried his head deeper into Sam's chest.

"You think I should talk to him." The voice was muffled, and sounded like a comment and not a question.

"I think you should talk to him." Sam responded. Internally he pleaded that Dean would not fuck up this opportunity.

As he let sleep take him, he wondered what life at the bunker would be like if things worked out for his brother and the angel. He hoped things wouldn't change too much. He liked the life they had carved out for themselves, after years of being without a home and with only each other to rely on. He could imagine that things would only get better from here on.