Chapter 2: Château in Spain

Dean was on his back from his shower so he could finally crash when in the sharp light still emanating from the bathroom he noticed that something was off. Unlike other times Castiel crashed out into his regenerative beauty sleep, his head was moving slightly, the covers under him rumpled as if he had been trashing about. It made the hunter pause and tread his bare, tired feet into his friend's direction, "Cas?" He probed quietly. Not receiving any response made him move further forward while the sweat he thought to have seen glistening on the angel's brow made his hand reach out habitually to touch Castiel's forehead as if he would've been human. The temperature under his fingers seemed normal enough, Dean still wished he had taken his friend's suit coat off, not just the trench. He sighed, decided that was too late now, and made to step away, but then he heard Castiel moan and start to trash about again. "No, Cas, you've got to snap out of that," he whispered, his hand dropping back to squeeze the angel's shoulder.

Bleary blue eyes stared at him quick enough, but going by Castiel's shaking frame and his iron grip on Dean's arm as he was brought back from wherever his sleep altered state of consciousness took him, the angel was far-off from unaffected. "You're ok Cas," Dean tried to make him feel more comfortable, "you're with me. Here, on earth," he added, making sure Castiel in no way thought of purgatory no more.

Castiel eased his grip on Dean and he reeled forward, leaning on his elbow towards the side of the bed, body shaking, vision swimming, his soggy clothes sticking to his frame. The human lurched to catch the doubling up angel as it seemed like he might fall out of bed, not minding that Castiel looked as if he would throw up any time onto Dean's freshly clean, naked feet. "Cas. Cas, deep breaths," the hunter hung onto him, not surprised by the fierce bodily reaction to a presumably nightmare, he had experienced that himself often enough.

Slowly, the moan sounding noises that were supposed to be breaths turned into more controlled and deeper inhales and exhales as Castiel found his bearings and won the fight with his body for control. He sat up straight with his feet on the ground and pulled himself free of Dean's hold, "I feel a lot better now, thank you," he intonated evenly and took another deep breath with which he fixed his dishevelled appearance and dried his sweaty clothes.

"Cas, no. You shouldn't use your energy on that," Dean reproached, his hands intent on undoing the blue tie and pulling it off, "if you're too warm, for any reason, you should take some of your clothes off. How does that feel?" He unfastened the top button on Castiel's shirt as well for good measure.

"I'm not sure which would take more energy, moving and lifting my arms out of a coat or doing it mentally," the angel considered with a slight head tilt.

"If you're that tired, you definitely need to lie back down and sleep," Dean encouraged, manoeuvring Castiel back on the top of the bedcovers.

"Dean I..again, I'm not sure if fighting bodily reactions to nightmares would take more energy than just not sleeping at all," the angel contemplated, but had not resisted Dean's attempts to settle him into bed.

The hunter sighed, "no way you look that calm two minutes after a nightmare. It must take a lot of mojo so I doubt that on the long run not sleeping at all would turn out easier, you need to build your strength up. Maybe you should learn to deal with the bodily reactions the human way for a bit as well. Might not be as easy to do as taking your jacket off, but it might work."

"I could try that," Castiel nodded, "so what is the human way to deal with clawing knots in your stomach?" He placed his palm on the offending bit of his anatomy.

Dean's face turned from instructive to more concerned, "your stomach? Take this bottle of water, ok?" He grabbed one from the table, "a few mouthfuls should help settle that down. Always remember the measured breathing and concentrate on the logistics of the air going in and out to steer away from destructive thoughts and feelings. You can also rub it, like a massage you know, to make the muscles relax."

"I will do that. Thank you for your assistance in this matter Dean. I don't mean to keep you awake," Castiel raised the water bottle to his lips.

"Well, ok, but wake me up if you feel worse, alright?" The hunter padded towards his own bed.

"I hardly think that's necessary, but thank you for the offer." Castiel said sincerely.

"Just do it, Cas!" Dean grumbled, tired from their long day. He paused sitting on the edge on his bed, his covers half raised so he could slip under them, "do you really want me to worry about you and not get to sleep?"

"If that's what you want, then I will Dean," Castiel placated.

"Sure, whatever," Dean pulled the covers over his head, only half believing his friend.

Tbc