It was close to 2:30 in the morning before the boys lay down in bed that night. It took them much longer to fall asleep than usual. They were all far too worried about the next day to even try relaxing.
Castiel was snuggled close to Dean who was spooning him. The hunter's strong arm was draped over the angel's body loosely.
Cas was simply lying there listening to Dean's slow soft breathing. He had finally fallen dozed at about ten past four. Though Castiel never slept he enjoyed lying next to Dean while he dreamed.
It never got boring; it never was annoying, only peaceful and calm. Sometimes he would drop himself into one of the hunter's dreams and watch. Other nights he would just enjoy the warmth of his body.
Tonight Dean was sleeping restlessly. He kept twitching every few seconds. The angel was worried. He closed his eyes and squeezed his way into his lover's subconscious mind.
When he opened his eyes again he was in the hunter's dream. He saw Dean surrounded by a horde of demons all alone. Cas flew over to him almost in slow motion before landing next to dream Dean. He turned to face the angel.
"Cas." He gasped out softly with a small smile spreading across his face.
The angel smiled back gently, placing his hand on Dean's arm.
In real life Castiel felt Dean's twitching stop all together. Dean hated being alone. It was one of his fears, being abandoned and all alone.
So as a team Dream Dean and Castiel fought off the demons together.
Suddenly, the dream shifted as they often do. They never stay the same for long.
The dream Dean was now sitting on top of a checkered blanket on the side of a lake. He was fishing. Lying next to the hunter there was a second fishing pole just waiting to be used.
Castiel had recently begun to notice that Dean would fish in his dreams if he was happy.
It was peaceful and calming by the lake. Bees buzzed aimlessly around them and little ants scuttled around the blanket in search of food. Castiel didn't think the hunter got to fish very much.
Dean looked towards Cas and motioned for him to come join him on the blanket.
The angel quickly obliged and picked up the second fishing pole.
Together they just sat quietly fishing. They never caught anything but it was still a very pleasant experience. At one point the hunter scooted closer to his angel and put his arm around his waist.
Dream contact always felt slightly different than real contact. There was a smoky sensation that came with human contact in dreams. It was a cool yet warm feeling but a little strange all together.
The hunter placed a soft smoky kiss on the angel's check before the dream shifted once again.
This one was a memory.
Memories often incorporate themselves into dreams. This particular memory was from the day Dean had finally asked Castiel out.
Dean had imagined a dream version of the angel now so real Cas made himself invisible. If Dean saw two of him then he could become confused and wake up. The hunter needed his sleep tonight.
"Cas......" Dream Dean muttered softly as dream Cas looked back at him in confusion.
"Are you alright Dean?"
"Yeah.... yeah.... I uhhh... just wanted to ask you something..." The dream hunter mumbled softly as he moved closer the dream angel.
"Okay? What do you need to ask?"
Dream Dean was less than an arms length away from the dream Cas now.
"Would you..... like to uhh.... maybe... go out with.... me?" The dream hunter stuttered his face flushed bright red.
"Absolutely Dean." Dream him replied with a small smile a blush also creeping up his neck.
The dream hunter wrapped his arms around the angel's waist firmly as the two dream figures lips met softly.
A small quiet array of fireworks shot off out of nowhere surprising the real Cas. They circled the whole room lighting it up with stunning gold and white glitters.
Sometimes memories in dreams could be altered or influenced by various feelings. Castiel was proud of how much this moment in time meant to his lover. Despite all the terrible, dark places in the hunters head, Dean's mind was just as pure and amazing as his soul.
As the dream slowly faded again into a different dream Castiel decided to step from Dean's mind all together.
The angel opened his eyes in real life and he stared into the room. Soft morning light flowed into the room now. Another thing about dreams.... they had no sense of time. Castiel looked at the clock it was almost seven fifteen. Sam would be waking up soon.
Normally Cas would flit out of the room before he woke up, but not today. Today he could stay as long as he wanted. Castiel smiled softly at the thought as he heard Sam begin to stir restlessly.
Moments later the youngest Winchester sat up and looked towards his brother. He jumped slightly when he saw Castiel already awake and staring intently at him.
Sam was a little unnerved under the angels gaze but he brushed the feeling away. He was going to have to get used to it now. Sam saw his brother's arm draped over the angel's waist. It was definitely different......
"Can you.... wake him up Cas?" Sam asked the angel awkwardly.
Cas nodded slightly before rolling over under Dean's arm as Sam got up and walked towards the bathroom.
The eldest Winchester stirred slightly as the angel moved under his arm.
"Dean....." Castiel whispered softly as he kissed the man's cheek.
His eyes opened instantly. The Winchesters had learned to become light sleepers over the years.
"What?.... What's wrong baby?" Dean asked in a sleepy, worried and extremely sexy voice. Even in his tired state of mind the hunter was always prepared for the worst. His hand had even slipped under the pillow probably to grip his gun softly.
"Nothing's wrong Dean it's time to get up!" The angel explained with a small smile.
This time he grasped the hunters face and pulled him in for a real kiss. Dean's sleepy lips moved with the angels. Cas ignored the hunter's morning breath. In fact he barely even noticed it.
"Aw! Gross! Uhm.... Alright guys..... Come on can this wait till later?" Sam exclaimed tiredly as he came out of the bathroom and walked in upon the intense make out session.
Dean raised his middle finger slowly to Sam behind Castiel's back, but the broke apart nonetheless.
"Very mature Dean...." Sam grumbled grabbing a change of clothes.
The eldest Winchesters cheeks were flushed slightly. He wasn't used to the thought of Sam knowing about him and Cas yet.
Dean threw the covers off of them rather unceremoniously and he tried to get up.
However, Cas grabbed Dean and pulled him back down making him gasp.
"Mine." Cas whispered possessively into Dean's short soft hair.
The hunter chuckled as he wiggled from the angels grasp. "Yours." He whispered back.
The angel refused to let the man go. "Son of a bitch Cas. We need to get ready!" The hunter said laughing louder now as Cas began tickling him.
"Aw! Mother Fucker! Stop-ah! Dude!" Dean was now squirming and writhing under the angel's quick fingers. "You dick!- Sto- Oh my God! -Fuck Cas!"
Sam poked his head out from the bathroom he was getting a little annoyed now. He saw Cas sitting on top of Dean and tickling him hard. Despite himself Sam couldn't help but snicker a little bit thinking of all the times he had woken up his brother like that. Dean was unbelievably ticklish. It was almost comical!
"Come on you guys! Be serious here!!" Sam yelled laughing as he went back into the bathroom.
Dean finally pushed Castiel off of him and quickly stood up.
"Well..... That's one way to wake me up." Dean gasped breathlessly.
Castiel smirked as he also stood up. He would have to keep in mind that Dean was super ticklish. The angel wondered where else he was ticklish..... That would be a rather fun experiment for another day.
The angel followed Dean into the kitchen as he poured himself a cup of black coffee. Castiel eyed Dean's cup curiously.
The hunter raised his eyebrows and asked "Do you want a cup of coffee?"
The angel grinned brightly. Humans drink this stuff all the time so it had to be good.
Dean set his cup down for a moment and reached for a new cup. "Just fair warning I drink my coffee black so it's kind of-"
Behind him he heard Castiel hiss softly. Dean turned around and saw Cas had decided to take Dean's cup and drank from it.
"-Bitter......" Dean said trailing off slowly.
"That's disgusting!" The angel growled setting the cup down and looking at it in anger.
"Do you want me to make you a sweeter cup?" Dean asked.
The angel nodded eagerly as they heard Sam screech "Don't use my damn creamer Dean!!"
Dean laughed evilly. Sam had recently tried buying flavored coffee creamer. Dean usually stayed away from it at all costs to avoid a major Sam meltdown. However, today he figured what the hell as he poured some of the milky substance into a cup of coffee for Cas.
Sam came barreling into the kitchen "DID YOU GIVE HIM SOME DEAN?!"
Castiel took a sip of the drink his eyes widened and he gasped out loud. "This is amazing Dean!"
"God Damn it Dean! Now he's going to drink all my damn creamer!" Sam growled angrily.
"I won't drink all of it Sam." Cas said taking another sip of the warm and now very sweet drink. "Just most of it!"
Sam gave both of them a deadly bitch face as Dean roared with laughter.
Due to Dean and Castiel's shenanigans it took them an hour and a half to get completely dressed and put all their supplies into the impala.
The boys rarely took showers before hunts anymore. They would just come home bloodied up and dirty a few hours later defeating the whole purpose of a shower.
"Okay Sam where do we need to go?" Dean asked as they all climbed into the Impala.
Sam pulled out his GPS and looked up the address. "Here." he said pointing to a spot on the GPS map.
Dean started up the Impala and the three headed off to save a bunch of random unfortunate strangers from a horrible, painful death.
With Dean driving, it only took them about ten minutes to get to their destination.
They decided to park out of sight near the main drag of the road. Since all the attacks took place in the busiest areas of the town it seemed like the most logical spot.
It was only nine in the morning and they had no idea when the attack was going to take place. They were going to have a very long and boring morning.
Currently the street was completely deserted. Not even a paper bag rustled in the gentle wind.
As the three watched the road Dean got that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach again. He knew the demon would show his face soon. Dean could feel it. He became more on edge and jittery the longer they waited. Something was seriously off about this hunt.
None of them said much while they waited. This was important; they needed to be serious right now. They weren't going to fuck around and then pay the price later by being the cause of someone else's death.
A few people had started trickling onto the roadway. They were wandering around heading to work, going shopping or simply going out for a jog. The actual street also became busy the longer they waited. Cars started to rumble lazily down the road. Occasionally they would honk at each other in annoyance.
Soon, Castiel informed them that none of people he could see were demons as far as he could tell. Not that they would just reveal themselves to the angel anymore. So they couldn't be sure of the angel was right or not.
Finally, around eleven thirty Dean spotted the demon. "There!" he whispered softly as he looked through his pair of binoculars.
"Where?" Sam asked quickly becoming more alert.
Dean was pointing at a stout man with a grey looking wig on and an old ugly striped jacket. He didn't stand out from the crowd to much but he certainly didn't blend in, especially when the man was hiding a loaded gun in his jacket pocket.
As the others looked at their suspect Dean swore he saw the man's eyes flash black momentarily.
"Move! It's him! Stop him!" Dean hissed as he fumbled for the door, grabbing his supply of weapons.
Castiel and Sam quickly followed behind Dean. They had all hidden their weapons well and rushed across the street. Somehow they avoided getting hit or honked at as they ran quickly in front of the moving cars. This was fortunate because the last thing they needed was attention focused on them.
Dean rushed up behind the man and grabbed him roughly by the shoulder. As Dean turned him around he for sure saw the black flash of his eyes this time.
"Winchester...." The demon hissed cruelly.
"Hello douchebag." Dean growled.
Behind him Sam opened the door to an old abandoned warehouse that was fortunately unlocked for some reason.
Dean dragged the demon into the warehouse with some help from Castiel as the possessed man struggled violently. Somehow nobody saw this attack going down. Sam slammed the door shut as the struggling group rushed in.
Dean quickly threw demon trapping handcuffs onto the demon's hands as Sam grabbed a can of spray paint and hurriedly drew out a devils trap.
The demons struggles were becoming harder and harder to contain, even with Castiel helping him.
As soon as Sam finished his trap they threw the demon into it.
He struggled against the restraints around his wrists and at the walls of his trap.
"Forget it man! You ain't getting out of that." Dean said harshly, trying to catch his breath again.
Castiel noticed that a whole other side of Dean was brought to life when was hunting. A more violent, wild, and all around scary side of Dean was unleashed from its cage.
The angel still loved all of Dean, but was unsure about some of his hunting methods sometimes.
The Winchesters were now drilling the demon for information. They were throwing holy water and salt at the stubborn prisoner.
"Why are you doing this?" Dean demanded.
"Go to hell!" The demon hissed.
"Been there done that." Dean growled back as an evil glint of fire shone in his eyes.
"Who's giving the orders?" Sam demanded throwing holy water at the demon.
The possessed man writhed and wailed as his skin bubbled. He fell to the ground raising his arms, trying to shield himself from more pain.
Suddenly the hair on the back of Dean's neck rose.
"Me. I'm giving the orders." A frighteningly familiar voice said behind them.
Sam, Dean, and Cas whirled around weapons at the ready.
"Hello boys." Crowley cooed evilly as he looked at the group with cold unforgiving eyes.
The King of Hell snapped his fingers and Sam and Dean were suddenly blasted backwards by an earth shattering explosion. The devils trap was destroyed freeing the demon. All their weapons shot out of their hands and went sailing across the room.
"Dean!" The angel screamed out in shock and worry for his partner.
The slightly dazed Dean looked over where Castiel was standing. He was now surrounded by at least 25 demons. Among the horde demons Dean saw that damn receptionist from the insane asylum. Dean was pissed. They had been set up by the fucking King of Hell. Again!
"Son of a Bitch!" Dean shouted trying to stand up off the ground but he was violently shoved against the wall by an invisible force. Seconds later Sam was also forced against the wall.
"Dean!" Castiel shouted trying to run over to the hunter.
However Castiel suddenly found himself rooted to the spot. Crowley snapped his fingers again and some sort of angel binding handcuffs appeared on his hands and feet rooting him to the spot.
"Cas!" Dean shouted back.
"Having a little love fest here are we?" Crowley asked with an amused look as he glanced between the hunter and the angel.
"The stories I've heard about you two. You naughty, naughty boys. The hunter and the angel... The holy host and the son damned by hell... Such a touching love story. Brings a tear to my eye." Crowley was smirking.
Then he turned to Sam and added "How does it feel to be the third wheel moose?"
Sam didn't say anything. He just gave one hell of a bitch face to the demon king.
"If you hurt either of them I WILL kill you Crowley, you evil son of a Bitch." Dean growled through his teeth.
"Relax Dean. I'm not gonna hurt your precious little family.... Yet." Crowley said eyes glinting as he cast Dean an evil smile.
Dean was pissed. He began struggling more violently against his invisible binds.
"However if they don't..... Cooperate, I might need to resort to more.. ah... violent means." Crowley said his eye narrowing in delight at how angry he was making the hunter.
"Fuck you Crowley." Dean spit out with a furious hiss.
"Dirty little mouth you got their Dean." Crowley said with an evil laugh. "And I know exactly where it has been. Remember the Impala?"
Sam whipped his head to look at Dean "Dude, in the car? Really?" His face looked kinda disgusted.
Dean rolled his eyes at his brother "Sam is this really the time for that?" That made the youngest Winchester shut up.
Then Dean looked back to Crowley. "You're a fucking douchebag Crowley. I'm going to kick your fucking ass. I promise I will be the one who kills you!" Dean growled menacingly.
"I'm shaking in my stockings." Crowley muttered sarcastically. The other demons in the room laughed menacingly.
The king of hell rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers making all the other demons disappear. The only people still left in the room were Sam, Dean, Cas and Crowley.
"They were a bit annoying don't you think?" Crowley asked absentmindedly.
"What the hell do you want Crowley?" Sam demanded.
Crowley sighed dramatically "I want your angel. Isn't it obvious?" The king of hell asked as he walked over to Cas. He placed his hand on his shoulder.
The hunter growled as the demons hand came into contact with his angel.
"A little over protective are we now? See.... darlin' I won't hurt him.... much." Crowley said sneering at the Winchesters.
Cas tried to say something but Crowley stopped him and said "Uh uh! The world is so much better with fewer words."
Then the demon snapped his fingers and a gag appeared in the angel's mouth.
"Cas!" Dean cried out. "You leave him the hell alone Crowley."
"So loud aren't you Dean? And so scared of losing everything you love. I remember using that one to my advantage while you visited me hell." The King of Hell said seeming to be deep in thought. "There were so many great ways we were able to get under your skirt you down there. What I would give to have you back. Sounds like a real party right Dean?"
"I swear I will-"
"Yes, yes, you'll find me and rip me apart shred by shred then shove my bloody head up my damn ass. Save your breath Dean I've heard the speech before." Crowley said interrupting the hunter.
"I was honesty a bit surprised that you two fell for this. The whole thing was just a set up to get you morons here with your angel. You can say I'm working on a little..... research project."
Both Winchesters stared open mouthed at the King of Hell.
"The killings were just to get us here?!" Sam demanded.
"More or less. It worked didn't it."
"What about the attacks from five years ago?" Dean pushed furiously.
"Oh those were real. Just a rogue demon attack. I just used that to help give you a pattern to follow." Crowley explained to the group with his eyes glinting evilly.
"You're an asshole Crowley." Sam spit angrily.
"I've heard." The King of Hell snapped giving Sam an irritated look.
"How are you hiding from angels Crowley?" Dean asked with a growl.
"Now I can't give away all my secrets now can I?" Crowley said to Dean with a smirk.
Then he added "Well I hate to end such a wonderful get together and tear apart suck a... lovely couple but I'm on a tight schedule. Believe it or not I have better things to do than talk to you two bloody morons." Then then he winked at Sam and Dean saying "Exit stage Crowley." with that the King of Hell simply vanished taking Dean's angel with him.
As the angel and demon disappeared Sam and Dean fell to the floor, finally released from the invisible force.
"GOD DAMN IT CROWLEY! GET YOUR MOTHER FUCKING DEMON ASS BACK HERE!!" Dean shouted to no one. He ran over to the spot where they had flown off. The hunter spun around and continued screaming.
Sam collected their weapons quickly and walked over to his distraught brother.
"Dean it's oka-"
"NO SAM! IT IS NOT OKAY! THAT DICK TOOK CAS!"
"Dean we'll find him I swear! I want to kill the fucker just as much as you, but standing here yelling at Crowley won't get Cas back!"
Dean looked like he wanted to argue more but he knew Sam was right.
They had a new task now. They had to save Dean's angel.
The hunter took his knife and gun from Sam. Then they headed back to the impala and drove back to the motel, a new sense of urgency floating in the air around them.