A car is pulling up to the apartment The clock in the kitchen loudly ticks. The room smells a bit of new plastic, lavender washing-powder and Dean's aftershave. Castiel's tormented wings hurt, making his back ache. One of the candles flickers, letting the shadows dance. The radiator in the bathroom hums. Cass' mouth is still dry, making it impossible to swallow. One of the pillows on Dean's bed is tilted to the side a bit, breaking the otherwise perfect symmetry. Cass is noticing all these things in the short second Dean needs to gobble up the wine, giving him a sincere look of joy and affection as answer to his statement, before closing his eyes. Then he coughs and time crawls onward at a normal pace again.
Dean still coughs and Cass is about to walk up to him to pat his back, when he hears a key turning in the lock of the front door. Dean now pounds his chest and declares: “Dammit, what the hell? This has to be the worst wine I ever had to drink. Where's my beer?” Just then Sam enters, cautiously asking: “Well? Did... did it work?” His brother turns to him confused and specifies: “Did what work? Look what the hell's going on? Where have you been? Where's Samantha? And why are we standing in my room with the drapes closed at five P.M. and candles on the table like I'm on a freaking date?”
Sam grabs Dean's shoulders, overjoyed, and shouts: “Thank God, you're back to normal! Oh Dean, you... you have no idea what happened?” “No, why? Why are we back home? What's...”, he turns and catches sight of Castiel, who looks like he's back at the edge of a nervous breakdown, leaning towards the abyss. Now Sam also sees him and deeply worried asks: “Wait, did something happen? What's wrong Cass?” “Yeah buddy, what's eating you?”, Dean adds concerned. The angel only manages to slowly shake his head at Sam, and turning to Dean, in a fainting voice, fighting back tears, pleads: “Don't... call out... for me. ...I ... I can't stand it... please?”
And with that he disappears. “Cass wait!”, the older Winchester cries out, but his friend is gone. Dean turns to his brother, utterly confused, and demands: “Would you please fill me in on what the hell is going on? What the fuck happened? Why is Cass so upset?” Sam looks his bro up and down and also takes a peek at the bed before relaxing and answering: “Well Dean, um, that Samantha was a really nasty witch! When we confronted her, she put a strong spell on you, and... Castiel and I had to go to great lengths to get you sane again. Cass more than me actually...”
“Huh, how so? He's our super weapon, but you're the researcher and warlock, so to speak. What could he do, that you couldn't?”, Dean interrupts. “Wha-Well he, uh... look this would take forever to explain.”, Sam awkwardly lies, “Just take it from me, he really took care of you, more than you can imagine, and he was under a lot of stress. I'm sure he just needs some time to recharge, before he'll come back. Um, you should start packing, I think we overstayed our welcome in this town for long enough... The bouncing checks and declined credit cards could catch up with us any day now!”
Sam doesn't really know how bad things might get, since Dean insisted on taking care of, and thus paying for, everything concerning the wedding. But it was always a good excuse for them to ditch a town without further explanation, and he hurries to get out of Dean's bedroom, and thus out of the situation, taking the wine with him, and leaving the older hunter to ponder over what he just witnessed. Instead of packing right away, he sits down and stares into the flame of the dancing candle, as if it could tell him, what he missed, and for how long. Heck, he doesn't even know that! Was it a day, a week? Or longer? He's about to get up and collect his dufflebags to throw his clothes and personal belongings into, when he sees something glitter on the carpet. He gets up, circles the table, crouches down and with a puzzled expression examines the object lying near the spot where Cass disappeared. It is a fancy silver ring. He picks it up and asks himself: 'How did this get in here? Did I have a date during this... time, who dropped her ring in my room, before or after we... well...'
Just then he hears Sam going through the kitchen and calling to him: “Hey Dean, wanna order something for dinner?” Not able to concentrate on both problems at one, Dean gets up, takes out his wallet and shoves the ring into an empty compartment without further examination, while absentmindedly answering: “Nah, wait up, I ain't got any money, I'll just cook some leftovers...” When he enters the kitchen, he doesn't notice his brother's open jaw. Sam is totally caught of guard, thinking his bro would have to notice that he just said something incredibly weird for himself, and he's even more staggered, when his lazy bum brother follows through on his promise and whips something up, like he did all these weeks for Cass. But since he really just throws together already cooked leftovers in a pan and covers them in cheese and ketchup, Sam decides, that this is just a coincidence, induced by his prior remark of their usual ill gotten game.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
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That night however, Dean can't find any sleep. He is lying in bed, fluffing the pillows, wrapping himself in the sheets, just to throw everything out again, unable to get comfortable. Suddenly he realizes, what's missing: Someone else. He is feeling lonely, yearning for a body next to him. He isn't horny, or thinking about sex at all, it's just... there should be someone there, holding him in his sleep. It's strange to him. As far as he knows, he's not had a steady relationship in years, so he doesn't understand where this idea is coming from. But he's sure that's what's missing. He can feel himself get sad and he doesn't like it.
And then he's thinking about Castiel, thinking that he could chip in, as he could just lay awake, watching over him like the guardian angel he was... “What the hell Dean? Where did that come from?”, he murmurs into the empty room. And deciding to take action he gets up and heads for the hall. At first he's unsure of where to go next, but slowly his train of thought adds another station to the rails and he thinks: 'Heck, there is only one other person here dummy, might as well try there!' So he walks towards his brother's bedroom and listens at the half open door. He's hearing some shuffling of fabric and thus quietly tries: “Sam? Are you awake?” The noise is suddenly still and he can see the dark shape in the bed changed, as if his bro is sitting up now. Then he hears him respond just as quietly: “Yeah, I'm still up Dean, what is it?” The older Winchester can feel himself blush when he realizes what he's about to say, but this was his brother, he already disturbed him, and has done so for far worse reasons in the past, so he just goes for it: “Can I sleep with you tonight?”
“WHAT???”, Sam screams, flashing his bedside lamp on, blinding Dean. “Hey, what the fuck Sam?”, he squints. “I could ask you the same!”, he shouts, and now Dean can see the panic on his face. Confused the older hunter explains: “Come on now, that's really unfair! I have no idea what happened to me, cuz you won't tell me a thing, and now you treat me like some vamp, coming for your soul! I'm just lonely, man!” Hearing this, the younger man reconsiders, pointing the lamp away from his brother, and in a normal tone continues: “Oh. Wait. You're what? That's...” “I know it's childish and I'm technically too old for this stuff, but I just miss having someone next to me. I guess this witch turned herself into my girlfriend and now I miss her and you didn't tell me to spare me the shame, but... I'm really lonely.”, Dean tells Sam. His brother seems touched, but still uneasy by the idea, so he adds: “Look, I just want to know there's someone there... if you let me bring my mattress I can sleep on the floor, and not bother you, okay? Hey, you know me, I'm terrible at staying awake once I'm settled. And you can kick me if I start snoring. What do you say?”
Sam, calm again, decides that that's too much thinking this late at night, so he scoots over, pulls back the blanket and simply yawns: “Nah, just get in, keep still, and shut up, I'm tired. I was only startled by the way you formed your request...” Dean is first surprised, but then takes the offer, scurries under the covers next to his bro as he kills the lights, and is about to lie down, when he realizes something: “Wait a minute!” Sam lights the lamp up again, asking: “Whut..?” “You screeched because I said I wanna sleep with you, and you thought... sleep with you? Dude, that's sick!”, he concludes, half hurt and half making fun. Sam just throws up his hands to parry: “Hey, sorry, I'm already half-asleep, and it's been a really long day and an even longer week!” Hearing this Dean quiets down, and they finally bid each other good night. When Dean wakes hours later from a noise, he finds his little brother cuddled up in his arms. 'Yeah sure, but I'm the weird one!', he chuckles, before pulling him into a closer embrace, drowsing off again.
When Sam wakes up the next morning to find Dean making breakfast, he can't let it slide again, and bewildered asks: “Say Dean, what's up? Why are you still making breakfast?” But his big bro gives him an uneasy look and wants to know: “What do you mean, do I still make breakfast? Don't I always?” “Well, you, uhm, you... yeah, I'm just surprised that you even do it on our last day here!”, Sam claims, wanting to dodge a conversation, and is simply content to still having a proper meal in the morning. He also bites his tongue, when Dean continues to do the dishes afterwards. And when Dean looks out the window, muttering. “I wonder if Cass is doing alright...”, he notices his big brother picking up and drying off the same plate three times, before replacing it in the cupboard, but says nothing. Later he finds Dean's bags, neatly packed in the back of the Impala, and when they split town, with no music on board, and Dean driving steady and below speed limit, he simply looks out the window and sends a prayer to heaven, thinking: 'Please be alright Cass! Dean's missing you already!'
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