West Coast

Hoagie

Cas stood up and gave Dean a quick kiss before following Jack out to the car.

Jack had another nightmare that night and stood at the end of their bed, fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves. Eventually he crept up to Cas's side of the bed. 'Cas,' he whispered, gently shaking his arm.

Cas woke with a start. 'Jack?' he mumbled.

'I had a bad dream.'

'Oh, do you want to climb up with us?'

'Okay.'

Jack hopped up and Cas shoved Dean over to make room.

'What are you doing?' Dean groaned.

'Move over, Jack's coming in.'

Dean rolled sleepily over and Jack squeezed in between them. 'Get comfy.'

Hoagie sighed at the end of the bed and Cas rolled his eyes.

'Come here,' Cas murmured, bending down to carefully lift Hoagie onto the bed. Fries jumped up not long after. 'Dean?'

'Mm?'

'I think we need a bigger bed,' Cas whispered, grateful that Grace and Little Gabe preferred to sleep on the couch.

'I'll get right on that.' Dean reached over to ruffle his hair, and left his hand resting on Cas's shoulder.

Every night that Jack stayed in the bed with them, they were also joined by Hoagie and Fries. Dean pretended to be grouchy about it, but he loved every moment of it.

Cas was always very careful with Hoagie, gently lowering him off the bed every morning.

Hoagie loved following Jack around, but he found it difficult to keep up. He still did his very best to alert Cas about his seizures, but was often too slow.

Cas kept a wary eye on him, worried about his increased need to sleep, his inability to climb stairs or furniture, his diminishing eyesight. He seemed content, unbothered by his advancing age, more than happy to sit in the sun with his eyes closed, listening to Jack and Fries playing, and sniffing at Little Gabe whenever the cat took a swipe at him.

Dean ignored it for the most part, just as unwilling as Hoagie to consider how old he was. He would say something like, 'He's fine, look he's watching butterflies,' or, 'He's just a little tired, let's get him up on the couch.'

Cas carefully fed him his medications, his own chart adorning the wall beside Cas and Dean's. One for arthritis, one for his kidneys, extra vitamins for everything else. He could feel his OCD flaring up, like an itch in his mind. His compulsion to check the light by the front door returned, worried as he was about Hoagie's eyesight, so he forced himself to stay awake later into the night and Jack thankfully never noticed.

Hoagie was nearby the first time Cas had a seizure in front of Jack.

They had already explained to him what it would be like, but he was scared nevertheless.

Fries was sitting beside Cas for comfort, but Hoagie climbed to his feet and trotted outside where Dean was working on the car. He growled to get Dean's attention.

'Hey, Hoagster,' Dean smiled affectionately. 'What's up?'

Hoagie huffed and turned around, glancing back to make sure Dean was following him, and went back inside.

Cas was still seizing on the living room floor and Jack was watching with wide eyes from the couch. Dean knelt beside Cas, rolling him onto his side and waited for it to stop. Once it was over, Dean beckoned Jack over.