Author's Note:
Just a kinda goofy chapter to get back in the swing after holiday stuff and decent buffer before the next big stuff. Hope it's still fun for you guys, I'm pretty pleased with how it's been going so far :D Also I can't reply to everyone's reviews with PM's and stuff but I just wanted to say that I am so happy to have you all as readers. You've all been so respectful and sweet and I just wanted to say thanks for all your help, I couldn't have gotten through this holiday season as easily if it weren't for all of you :)
Dean opened his eyes and saw the light of day, he felt warm, comfortable, and extremely well rested. He smiled and stretched, the comfort of his new bed had really grown on him despite the few bad nights. He did notice however that there was an emptiness beside him. Dean sat upright abruptly and looked around, his eyes barely adjusting to suddenly being open. "Cas?" he asked groggily and heard a soft chirp nearby. Cas was sitting by the window, wings folded neatly behind him and a tired smile on his face.
"Morning," Dean sighed with relief and pulled himself out of the bed, "What're you doing up already-" he stopped when he watched how deeply Cas yawned. "You didn't sleep, did you?"
Cas hummed quietly and nuzzled him, "Dee,"
Dean exhaled heavily and hugged Cas, "You can't not sleep just because you don't want to give us nightmares." Castiel purred and buried his face against the crook of Dean's neck, his breathing had gotten light and Dean was pretty sure Cas was asleep. "I can't leave you by the window…" he mumbled and picked Cas up. There was a slight fuss from his feathered friend but Cas settled pretty quick; Dean carried him to the bed and wrapped him up in blankets. "I'm gonna check on the other guys, be right back Cas." He whispered and snuck out the door.
The halls had begun to look familiar to him, it was still strange but he was getting more comfortable with the place. It was starting to sink in that he really was living there.
Dean walked over to Sam's room first and knocked lightly as he opened the door, he wasn't quite prepared to see two people in the bed so he stared for a few seconds to make sure he was seeing straight. Sam was fully clothed but Dean could definitely see another person there, they were tucked under the blanket and cuddled up to Sam's chest. He couldn't see them from his position but he knew enough that he should probably leave.
The next stop was Jet's room and he found it empty as he opened the door; hell, the light was on and there were things all over the damn place. Dean bit lightly at the inside of his cheek as he tried to quell the growing worry. Jet was the one who sleep-walked, couldn't wake up from the night-terrors, and was taking the whole MacLeod's evil thing pretty hard. He was pretty high on Dean's 'worry-list.'
Dean checked the room out first, made sure that Jet wasn't in a spot he couldn't see. He took a deep breath and walked out when he found nothing, not a single trace.
"What's up, boy?" Bobby asked and scared the living hell out of him. Dean jumped and glared at his dad with minor irritation.
"Don't do that,"
Bobby grinned but managed to stifle a laugh, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya. Why so stressed?"
"I can't find Jet," Dean knew that without context it sounded pretty odd, "See, normally we have nightmares around Cas and Jet always seems to get it worse. Cas stayed up last night so nothing happened, but I just wanted to make sure everything was okay and I can't find him-"
"He's fine," Charlie yawned from her doorway, "Saw him with Sam last night."
"Yeah but-" Dean stopped as he remembered what he'd seen in Sam's room. "Nooo…" he trailed off as a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, he hurried back to Sam's door and peered inside again. They hadn't moved so he still couldn't see but this time Dean just waltzed right in. He snuck up to Sam's bedside and peered at them from another angle, he got his answer the second he spotted Jet's hand. Dean grinned wide and tried to keep himself quiet, it was kinda cute and he wanted to take a picture to remember it before waking them up.
As soon as his phone livened up and snapped a good shot, Dean jumped onto the bed with them with a loud, "Mornin' guys!"
Sam groaned immediately and tried to shove Dean off, "You asshole, go away."
Jet on the other hand woke up with a rush of adrenaline and climbed up Dean's torso, quickly pulling him around into a headlock. "You motherfucker," Jet growled and rolled them both off the bed, making sure to land on Dean.
Though it hurt Dean couldn't help but laugh through the pain, "You guys are really cute," he strained to say but Jet didn't let up.
"Thanks, I thought so." Jet snarled, before Dean could retaliate he heard a familiar flutter of wings and bare feet scampering on the floor.
"Deeeeeeee!" Cas cried and dove onto the two of them, it was entirely non-threatening but Cas knew exactly how to dislodge Jet's arms from around his neck.
Dean laughed as he managed to get free from Jet's hold but was now held prisoner underneath Castiel who yawned again and curled up on him. "Thanks Cas," he ruffled Cas' hair and dropped his head back to the floor.
"You're lucky," Jet smirked and knocked Dean's head lightly with his foot.
"So are you, apparently Sam's willing to go outside his league."
"Hey," Sam warned tiredly, "I hang out with you all the time Dean, it's nothing new."
"Ouch."
Jet laughed and rubbed at his eyes as Cas' yawn contagiously spread to him. "I slept really well; I didn't have any nightmares last night."
"Same," Sam furrowed his brow and looked down at Castiel who was once again snoozing faster than anyone they'd seen. "Did he just stop showing it to us?"
"No," Dean left his hand resting on Cas' head, slowly running through soft and messy hair, "Cas didn't sleep last night, as soon as I was out he spent the rest of the time doing his own thing."
"I bet he didn't want to give Charlie nightmares," Sam smiled up at the open doorway where Charlie and Bobby were looking in.
"Yeah well it still sucks," Dean muttered, he understood that Cas sleeping at a different time than them made sense. It would stop the dream sharing but he didn't want it to stop. Dean's reasons were entirely selfish, he wanted Cas to sleep next to him, he wanted to wake up with Cas curled up against him, and he wanted another chance to speak to Castiel in his dreams. He wanted all this, but he couldn't say it to the others. "Cas had to tire himself out so we wouldn't have a bad night…"
"Well I for one am fuckin' grateful," Jet stretched as he spoke, his words getting a little strained until he relaxed again with a sigh. "What time is it?"
"It's noon," Bobby said with a grin aimed at Jet and Sam.
"We all stayed up pretty late," Charlie added as an excuse, "Noon isn't that bad."
"I was up hours ago, got a good look at the place." Bobby glanced down the hall as he reminisced about his little excursion, "Even found that basement you guys were talking about." They looked at him worriedly and Bobby just frowned in return, almost more of a pout but Dean would never think of Bobby pouting. "I'm no foolhardy idiot; I think I can handle looking at some computers."
"Then you know there's some dangerous shit down there," Jet added casually, "Did you explore more than the first area or did you just read some files?"
"I just looked around, the monsters on the screens are pretty intense," Bobby paused and shrugged, "At least the ones that are alive, anyway."
"We've got a bit of body clean up to do…" Dean glanced down at his lap; he'd rather watch Cas sleep than do anything like that though. "Still not sure what to do about that."
Bobby scratched at his beard thoughtfully and nodded, "I might know a guy."
All the youth present stared at him for a few seconds before Jet whispered, "Awesome."
"Seriously?" Sam gawked, "You know someone who does body clean up?"
"I believe it," Dean shrugged it off though he was a little shocked too. Maybe Bobby's guy wasn't 'human body' clean up, but instead he would be okay with seeing the kind of shit their basement would offer.
"I ain't a criminal," Bobby retorted with a little bit of that old man grumpiness he'd been getting in the last few years, "But this guy can get the job done and not say a thing to any officials, he's not a big fan of 'em."
"I can relate," Charlie laughed and turned to walk back down the hall, "We might want to make sure it's safe down there before this guy shows up though."
"Good point," Sam agreed and looked down at Cas, "Think he's up for some basement stuff today?"
Dean pursed his lips and shook his head, "Not right now, he needs to sleep."
"I need to eat so he's got time," Jet headed for the door, knowing full well that he wasn't going to get alone time with Sam while Dean was present.
Dean looked up at his little brother with a grin that Sam just groaned at and rolled his eyes. "What?"
"You finally said yes,"
"We had a serious talk for once, it went well." Sam walked over to his closet, not wanting to look at Dean's stupid smirking face.
"What changed your mind?"
"I told you, a serious conversation happened and I decided to give it a chance."
"What was the conversation?" Dean had to be nosy, it was his little brother and best friend hooking up, how could he not?
Sam didn't appreciate it though; he sighed heavily and closed the closet door with a little more force than usual, except he still kept it quiet because Cas was asleep. "I'm not telling you."
"C'mon Sammy, you got so pissed every time he hit on you and now suddenly it's all cool? What happened?" Dean put on his big brother voice, the serious version, "I know Jet can be a smooth talker, I just want to make sure you didn't get suckered into something."
Sam was quiet for a few seconds, "He couldn't trick me, Dean. And I found out he wasn't just making fun of me, like I thought he was. That's why I'm going out with him now."
Dean nodded, "Well in that case I'm happy for you,"
"Thanks," Sam sat down on the bed, his clothes for the day dropped beside him. He looked at Dean seriously then and it made Dean question if he'd done something wrong.
"What?"
"I want to ask you something, but I'm not sure if I should."
"Why not?" Dean asked with a laugh, "I'm an open book, ask away, Sammy."
Sam curled his lower lip in and he nodded, "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but… have you been doing things with Cas?"
"Things?"
"You know… sexual things? Like-"
"Stop," Dean put his hand up quickly, "No Sam, I haven't been doing sexual things with Cas." He added irritably and frowned at his brother, "Why would you think that?"
"Well he's naked again for one thing, and his hair is a disaster…"
"Oh," Dean had completely forgotten, he was just kinda used to Cas being around he didn't make a habit of checking on his pants situation. "I gave him a bath yesterday and went to bed; I didn't put pants on him this morning because I thought he'd sleep for a while."
Sam nodded, he seemed relieved with that answer, "Okay, sorry I asked."
"I'm not a pervert Sam," Dean grumbled, "I want to keep Cas safe; sure I think he's cute and I'd like to meet him when he's fully there, but I wouldn't ever do 'things' with him until he could consent to it."
"So you would if he were able to convincingly agree to it?"
"Well… yeah," Dean shrugged and looked down at Cas again, his little angel hadn't moved at all. "I like him, and everything I learn about him sounds awesome other than the unfortunate stuff. I know a lot of people's opinions are rose tinted because he's been gone, but I honestly think Cas is a good guy. When he's back to his normal self I want to at least be friends with him, if he won't be mad at us something."
Sam raised an eyebrow at that, "Why would he be mad at us?"
"Well we're not always the most politically correct for one, and for another we're keeping him in this house, we haven't brought him to his brother, and Charlie had to hunt us down for her to get involved. I just get the feeling he could be mad about a lot of that shit if he really wanted to."
Sam laughed at him, completely honest laughter aimed right at him.
"What?" Dean asked defensively, "It makes sense!"
"Have you been paying attention to Cas? Or what Jet told you about your worrying? Cas adores you, he's not going to be mad at anything you did."
"We don't know that Sam," Dean muttered but he knew Sam was right; it was just that he couldn't believe anything could be purely a good thing. Cas had gone through hell but Dean didn't, he felt that saving Cas changed his life for the better and he was waiting for the downfall. Night terrors weren't enough of a negative to counter the amazingness that Castiel brought to Dean's world, he felt like something else had to happen for it to be real.
Good things don't happen to Winchesters with no consequences.
Sam hummed in a way Dean recognized, like he'd picked it up from Cas' behaviour. "I think that Cas is very much aware of what's happening, he just can't communicate it and sometimes his brain disconnects." He smiled as he thought about it and turned to look at Dean with one of the happiest expressions Dean had seen on him recently. "I'm certain he loves you, Dean."
Dean felt a flutter in his chest and was suddenly very aware of how Cas was sleeping on him; Cas trusted him to the point where he'd just sleep in Dean's presence. Creatures had attacked Cas for years, he was trained to fight, viciously tortured and left with only fragments of himself; that same person left himself vulnerable and felt safe sleeping next to someone he'd just met a few days before.
He couldn't shake that feeling in his chest, just the idea that Cas might love him…
"I know you're thinking about how he might not, and just because you can't hear it doesn't mean he isn't showing you." Sam had mind reading powers, Dean was sure of it.
Dean decided to relax, Sam could be right. "Yeah, maybe he does love me…"
"He'll tell you when he's able," Sam nudged Dean with his foot gently, "Or, you know, you'll say it first, whatever."
Dean felt his face heating up, "Alright, alright, I'm getting out of your room."
"Gotta get my teasing in now while I still can,"
"You're just worried I'm gonna bug you and Jet," Dean sassed him right back but Sam didn't seem affected.
"Say what you want, at least I'll be getting some soon."
"I don't want to think about it," Dean scooped Cas up and headed for the door, "Not listening anymore. See you downstairs Sam," he made sure to continue talking until he was away from Sam's room, a decent preventive measure to not hear any more about that possible scenario.
"Noooo Dee…" Castiel grumbled his displeasure in being moved so abruptly and hung onto Dean with a pretty tight grip. Dean wasn't sure what to do with Cas but he figured it'd be best to just stay at Cas' side until he was well rested again.