West Coast

Chapter Sixteen

'Breathe, Cas,' said Dean. 'Come on, you can do it.'

Cas felt a little better once Dean had arrived, and fought to gain control of himself. Even when he did, he didn't want to let go of Dean's shirt. He just rested his head against Dean's shoulder.

'What happened?' Dean asked gently.

Cas pulled away and sunk to the floor, sitting cross-legged.

Dean joined him, kneeling in front of him.

Cas sighed, running his face, then pulled Hoagie into his lap. 'It's all right,' he murmured. 'I think I just - I got myself a little worked up.'

'About what?'

Cas hesitated, then told Dean about what had happened on his walk, holding Hoagie close to his chest.

Anger flashed across Dean's face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

'I got scared,' Cas admitted.

'That's okay,' Dean told him. 'It's okay to be scared sometimes. Are you gonna keep going out?'

'I want to, but...'

Dean bit his lip, thinking about it. He snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. 'Why don't you go running instead?'

'What?'

'Yeah, if you're running, you'll be going too fast for anyone to stop you.'

'That could work.'

'Yeah, try it,' Dean grinned.

Cas nodded, and gave Hoagie another small squeeze.

'All right, then.' Dean got to his feet. 'Are you having a burrito, or what?'

Cas put Hoagie down, and stood up.

'Good,' Dean smiled.

Cas picked at his burrito until Dean gave him a concerned look. 'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'I'm not that hungry.' He pushed it away.

'All right, we'll save it for later.' Dean wrapped it up for him, and joined him on his side of the table. 'Why don't we just chill out for tonight?' He said. 'I'll make you some hot chocolate, and you can read me some of your book, what do you say?'

Cas nodded and squeezed Dean's hand. 'I'm sorry.'

'You haven't done anything wrong.'

'I shouldn't have let it get to me.'

'These things happen. Don't be so hard on yourself.' Dean smiled at him again. 'Go get your book, I'll make us drinks.'

Cas got himself settled on the couch with his book and Hoagie, and Dean when he returned. Cas couldn't remember much about the story so far, but Dean gently reminded him, and stroked his hair as they read on.

Eventually, all three of them fell asleep on the couch, Dean's hand still entangled in Cas's hair. Dean moved them both to the bed, and continued playing with Cas's hair until they both went back to sleep.

Dean took the morning off work, and disappeared off to the store for a few hours.

Cas decided not to go out in the village, promising himself that he would go the next day.

He was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee when Dean came back, clattering through the side door. Cas turned around and watched him pull several bags through the kitchen, then Sam came through with a long, thin box.

'Hello, Sam,' Cas smiled.

'Hey.'

Dean put the bags down in the dining room, and took the box from Sam. 'Got you some stuff,' he said to Cas. He took the vase off of the wooden chest, pulled the lid open, and motioned to Sam. 'Help me with these.' He began taking out the stacks of photo albums and handing them to Sam. 'Take them to the spare room, will you?'