The Dream I Dreamed (A Dean Winchester Love Story)

Chapter 9: And Used

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Dean said as he sat down, not even bothering to look up from his sandwich.

"What, we're not allowed to be happy for you?" Sam asked. "C'mon, man, I hardly ever get to see you smile."

"It's true," Kevin piped up. "You're usually either pissed or depressed." Sam murmured his agreement.

Castiel nodded. "It pleases me to see you so cheerful." He said, but there was a strange tone in his voice.

Dean rolled his eyes but Hope could tell that he really was happy and having his family notice and care about that made him feel even better. "Whatever." He mumbled, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"So, how goes the research?" Hope asked. "What do we know about Abbadon?"

"That she's a Knight of Hell and nothing can kill her." Kevin replied.

"I could've told you that." Dean said.

Hope nodded. "Is there really nothing else?"

Sam shook his head. "Apparently it was too much trouble to write an instruction manual. We can't find anything. Here, take a book and start reading." He handed each of them a thick, dust-covered book.

Dean looked mournfully at his pie and shoved it aside. He sighed and began flipping through the pages, brushing dust off of the ancient paper.

******************

"Dean." Sam called from his seat at the table, not looking up from the book he was reading. Castiel and Kevin, who had woken up before the brothers, had already quit for the night, heading to bed, but Hope, Dean, and Sam were still going through the vast library of the Men of Letters, trying to find any useful piece of information that they could. "Dean." Sam called again, having gotten no answer.

"He's asleep." Hope replied for him. Sam looked up to find that Hope was right. The angel sat on the couch with Dean's head in her lap, a book resting open on his chest. Hope had lowered her own book to look at Sam. "What did you need?"

"I was just going to get him to check something in Dad's journal, but I can do it if you'll just hand it to me. It's on that table to your left."

"Sure." Hope picked up the old leather journal, eyeing it curiously, and handed it to Sam, trying not to wake Dean. She watched Sam flip through the handwritten pages, yawning and running a hand through his long brown hair.

Sam paused to read something and shook his head when his hazel eyes finished scanning the page. "Nothing. God, you'd think in a library this huge there would be some useful tidbit of information about the damn Knights of Hell!" he hissed in frustration.

Hope nodded. "Why don't you go to bed, Sam, start again tomorrow. Everyone else has. I'll keep looking. Maybe when you wake up there'll be something to go on."

"Okay." Sam sighed. "Want me to wake Dean, send him to his room?" he asked.

"Nah, let him sleep. I'll zap him to his bed if he gets in the way." She replied.

Sam chuckled. "Goodnight, Hope."

"Goodnight, Sam."

*******************

A few hours later Hope finished the book she had been reading. She had ended up sending Dean to his room a while earlier because dust kept falling from the pages onto his face, making him sneeze in his sleep. She stood, placing the finished book on the table, and decided to go check on Dean.

The angel started when she saw a dark figure sitting beside Dean's bed, but calmed when she realized who it was. "Cas?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

The former angel looked up at her, jumping slightly. "I couldn't sleep." He answered, glancing back at Dean's sleeping form. "I used to do this all the time when I was still an angel." Cas continued. "He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping." Hope came over and sat on the edge of Dean's bed, facing Castiel. Even in the darkness she could read his expression. "I'd watch over him and Sam all night, make sure they were safe." The former angel looked down at his hands. "I can't do that anymore. If something were to happen to them, if they got hurt, I couldn't..."

Hope reached out and took his hand in hers. "That's what I'm here for. I won't let anything happen to them, Castiel. I promise." She glanced at Dean, the expression in her eyes shifting. "I love them. I love him." The angel turned back to Cas, finding her own expression mirrored in his dark blue eyes. "You love him too, don't you? Dean differently than Sam." It was more of a statement than a question; the answer was written all over his face.

"Yes." Castiel replied. "I do." He looked at Hope. "But Dean loves you, and that okay. That's good. You...make him happy. That's all I need."

"He loves you too, you know." Hope said, squeezing Cas' hand. "The bond between you two, it's....profound. You saved him, Cas. Not just from he'll, from himself. Sam tries, but there's only so much he sees, only so much Dean lets him see. Couple or not, your souls are entwined." She broke into a wide grin. "And I love you, too." She said, ruffling his feathery black hair.

Cas smiled, a rare expression on his stoic face. "Thank you, Hope." He said softly. "I...needed to hear that."

"You're welcome. Now get some sleep."

"Okay." The former angel paused on his way out the door. "Goodnight, Hope."

Hope smiled. "Goodnight, Cas." She scooted up until she was sitting by Dean's head. The angel reached out and brushed hair off of Dean's forehead, enjoying the peaceful planes of his sleeping face. A small voice in her head was nagging at her, so she opened her mouth, not sure where the words were coming from even as she whispered them. "Angels are watching over you."