A steady pounding woke Cas the next morning, and for a while he just lay still, struggling against his headache. His mouth was dry, his tongue felt thick. A faint nausea was working it's way up from his stomach.

"Ugh." Cas groaned to himself and cracked open a single eyes to peek at the clock. "Shit." He had slept through his alarm and was now officially 'running late'. He shifted to stand, sliding out from under the blankets. He paused a moment when the cool motel air hit his skin- all of it. Cas glanced back to the bed and was somewhat unsurprised to see Balthazar asleep, seemingly just as naked as he. He shrugged and smiled as his memory of the previous night filtered through the pain in his head. Suddenly his all-over aching made more sense. He blearily trundled to his bag and took a pair of Asprin before making his woozy way to the shower.

One bracingly cold shower and several more Asprin later, Cas felt almost ready to face the day. Balthazar was in the shower when Cas left for the book signing. They said their goodbyes before hand, hugging tightly.

"We'll have to do this again." Balthazar had teased, making Cas blush, then laugh.

"It was fun." he agreed. With a final tight hug and a last wave, Balthazar went to the bathroom and Cas finished packing. By the time he was on the road, his headache was almost gone and he would stand without feeling nauseous.

Dean was systematically deleting each text Dam had sent him about their dad. Then he moved to the voicemails, lingering with growing guilt over the terror evident in his little brother's voice. When he was done, he had one voice mail left. It was the shortest one, where Sam merely whimpered and begged,

"Please, Dean. Please." He swore to himself that he would never delete it, would never let Sammy down like that again. He looked around him tiredly as he out his phone in his pocket. His mom had gone out to the store, Sammy tagging along to get out of the house. Last night had been rough on everyone. Mary had declined pressing charges against John, but was filing for both a divorce and a restraining order. John, while at the hospital, had said he would be filing battery charges against Dean, but after a long conversation with a lawyer, dropped it. All of which left Dean alone in his childhood home, knowing it wasn't where he belonged anymore. For a wild moment, he considered Calling Cas and telling him everything- the whole town would know soon- but he restrained himself. Cas was busy being Castiel Novak. He was unavailable and Dean would tell him all about it when he got back late Sunday. His phone buzzed from his pocket and he quickly whipped it out, hoping it would be- it was Eve. Again. Dean had been ignoring her calls and texts all day, but she just wouldn't stop. The only reason he hadn't turned his phone off completely was his family and as. He groaned and tossed the cell onto the coffee table, where it's buzzing was even more annoying.

"Leave me alone!" he moaned as he flopped sideways until he was sprawled on the couch. "Just leave me alone...

Dean stayed with his mom and Sammy all night, just as he had the previous night. He slept on the couch so he could hear it if the front door opened. In the morning, after breakfast, Dean gave Sammy a hug and kissed his mom on the cheek.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later!" he called over his shoulder as he made his way to the front door.

"Where are you going?" Mark asked him.

"Gotta go home," he replied before closing the door behind him. He didn't see Mary's face fall.

"I thought you were home." she murmured quietly.

Castiel Novak's book signing went off without a hitch. Many books were signed, several photos were made, and every fan left satisfied. When Cas finally left for the hotel, even Castiel Novak was tired. He slept the whole ride back.

The next morning, Cas found himself with nothing to do. He was in town until Sunday, but the convention didn't start until Friday- meaning he had another day all to himself. He flicked on his phone and was surprised to see a text from Dean from the night before the last.

9:07 'Cas.' Smirking, Cas texted back.

11:33 'Dean.' When no reply was forthcoming, Cas began to fret. Did Dean want to tell him to leave him alone? Had Dean replaced him with a new friend, or worse, with Eve?

11:42 'Hey, Cas. :)'

11:43 'How are you?'

11:59 'Need to talk to you when you get back in town.' Cas paled.

12:01 'Ok.' He debated with himself for a few minutes. 12:05 'Why?' Dean never answered. Cas told himself it was because lunch was over at school.

Late that night, Cas's phone rang, waking him up.

"'Lo?" he answered blearily.

"Hey, Cas." The blue eyed boy smiled, closing his eyes again.

"Hello, Dean."

"How's everything been going?" Cas stifled a yawn as he spoke.

"Good, but I'll be glad what it's over. It's exhausting, being around so many people all the time. How about you?" There was a long pause, then Dean sighed.

"I really need to talk to you when you get back, Cas." The author bit his lip.

"Why can't you talk to me now?"

"It's not something I want to talk about over the phone, you know?" Dean sighed again. "I miss you, man." He chuckled to himself. "The bed's too big, the house too quiet." Cas smiled softly.

"Miss you too, Dean."

"Okay. That's enough chick flick moment. Startin' to grow lady parts over here." The boy talked for hours, until they were both asleep, the line still open between them.

Not long afterwards, Cas woke up, not sure why. He sleepily picked his head up, blinking around the room- nothing out of the ordinary. He lay his head back down on the pillow- and on the phone. The line was still open, and Cas spared a moment to thank God he and Dean had unlimited mobile to mobile calls. But then he heard a whimper. He knew that sound.

"Dean." he whispered. "Wake up. You're having a nightmare." There was no sound from the other side of the phone for a moment- the Dean whined again. "Dean! Wake up!" Cas began yelling, hating that he was so far away. There was a gasp as Dean woke.

"Cas?" he muttered. The author would tell Dean was crying. "That you?"

"Yeah, Dean." The blue-eyed boy soothed. "It's me. You're okay."

"Cas..." Dean spoke softly. "It was awful."

"I know. I'm so sorry." There was pause while Dean gathered himself.

"I'm up for the day. You go on back to sleep." Cas knew Dean wanted to be left alone, so he agreed.

"Okay. Goodnight, Dean."

"'Night, Cas." But Cas didn't sleep. He waited in the dark until his alarm rang, not too long later.