Unexpectedly

Nightmares

I was woken up in the middle of the night by yelling. Cas. He was tossing and turning beside me, the sheets were tangled around him. His hair was plastered to his forehead and his shirt stuck to his chest. Feathers were scattered around the floor and the bed.
"Cas." I shook his shoulder. "Cas! Wake up!" "No, no, no. Please," he moaned. I shook his shoulder more. "Cas! It's a dream! Whatever it is, it's not real! Wake up!" "No. God, no!" He continued yelling. "Cas!" I yelled in his ear. Suddenly his eyes shot open and he bolted upright with a gasp. "Dean! Dean!" He fumbled for my hand. He was panting and covered in sweat. "Hey, hey, it's okay, it's fine." I reached to pull him into a hug. He buried his head in my shoulder.
Sam came rushing in. His long hair was everywhere. I keep telling him to cut it. "Is everything okay? I heard yelling." "Yeah, everything's fine," I said. "Cas just had a nightmare." His face was still buried in my shoulder. I could feel him shaking. "You sure?," he asked. "Yeah. Go back to bed." He lingered for a second then went back to his room.
     I wrapped my arms tighter around Cas and rubbed his back. "Shhh. It's okay. It's okay." We stayed like this until Cas stopped shaking. He sat back a bit and looked up at me. "You okay?" I asked. Cas nodded. "Yeah. I-I'm fine now. He avoided looking at me. "Do you need anything? Food? Water?" "I'm actually a little hungry." He looked down at his lap. "Okay. C'mon, we'll go down to the kitchen." I took his hand and pulled him off the bed. We walked down to the kitchen, still holding hands.
     "What do you want?" I asked. "We don't got a whole lot." "Um..." I let go of his hand and looked in the fridge. "How bout some ice cream? Got a little bit left." "Sure," Cas said. I got the ice cream out and a couple of spoons and bowls. I put it all on the table and dished out a huge bowl for Cas. I stuck a spoon in it and slid it across the table to him. He picked up the spoon and looked at the ice cream tentatively.
I laughed. "Go on, try it. It's really good," I said while getting a bowl for myself. Cas took a small bite and winced. "Is it good?" I asked, smiling. "It's...cold. Really cold." "Yeah, it's been in the fridge for a while." He took another bite. "But-but it's good. It's...sweet." I smiled at him as I started eating my own ice cream. "But be careful you don't eat it too fast, or you'll get a-" "Aarrgghhh!" Cas dropped his spoon into his bowl and held his head. "-brain freeze," I finished through my laughs. "Argh, Dean! Make it go away!" I almost fell out of my chair laughing. "It'll-It'll go away in a second." It took me a couple of minutes to stop laughing.
Cas glared at his ice cream. "Thanks, Cas," I said. "For-for what?" "That was the most I've laughed in as long as I can remember."

***

     After we finished our ice cream we went back to my room. I was still smiling about Cas's brain freeze incident.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked Cas as we got back into bed. He nodded. "Yes. Thank you." "No problem."
     We were quiet for a few minutes. I was laying on my back, staring at the ceiling and Cas was laying on his side, facing me with his wings spread out behind him.
     "You were being tortured," Cas said quietly. I turned to face him. "What?" "In my dream. They were torturing you." "Who's they? The same they that took you?" He nodded. "You-you were screaming. They were so full of pain. I-I kept yelling at them to stop. They-they wouldn't listen." Cas was in tears. I cupped his face with my hand. His jaw was rough with stubble.
      "Shhh. It's okay, Cas. It was only a dream. I'm right here. I'm fine." I pulled him into an awkward laying down hug. He hid his face in my shoulder again and bunched his arms against my chest. I moved one hand up to his head to smooth down his hair. It was sticking up in almost every direction. I kissed the top of his head. It didn't feel awkward, like it should have. It just felt...natural.
      We fell asleep almost at the exact same time, I think. Cas was still in my arms.