Chapter Text
“When the hope of morning starts to fade in me.” Castiel walks through the bunker singing.
“What?” Dean yells thinking that Castiel is talking to him.
“Nothing, Dean.” Castiel pauses his singing long enough to answer dean, them continues singing.
Sam’s lips turn upward into a small smile. It’s not often that he Dean and Cas get to be this at peace. Everyone is acting normal. Dean has been sleeping at night and drinking less, Castiel is finally back to normal, no lucifer in sight, and Sam… he’s doing the best that he can. He’s not tried anything stupid lately, so he counts that at fine.
Bobby took John and Mary on a trip to get them away from Castiel. Cas has been acting strange around John and Mary for the past few days, that’s why Bobby decided to get them away for a little while. For some reason Castiel won’t tell anyone why he’s acting strangely. Dean has gotten him to admit that something is bothering him, but not what. If Sam didn’t know better, he would think that his father, John Winchester, was being a little too friendly towards Cas. However, that is just a figment of his imagination, right? Surely John’s time in hell changed his from the vile creature that he was at times… right? John has Mary back, so he has no need to “compensate” for her being gone. Sam shudders at the dark memories of his father’s drunken rages, the times he would find Dean beaten senseless… or worse. The times when the two brothers wouldn’t be able to go to school because they had been beaten so mercilessly. Sam shakes his head trying to take his mind far away from that time. His father has changed, right? No matter how hard Sam tried, his mind keeps going back to the cuts and scars that his father left on him and his brother when they were mere children. It’s not fair, but nothing can change it now.
Sam rubs his eyes and closes the top down on his computer. It’s not late, but he has been studying non-stop for days trying to find out what could be wrong with Cas. At first, he thought it might be time for Cas to molt, but it’s the wrong time of year. Now, he has nothing to go on other than Castiel’s behavior. What the hell is wrong with their angel?
Getting up from the table, Sam stretches. He was sitting there for way to long.
“Hey, Sammy!” Dean calls from the living room.
“What?” Sam groans as he completes his stretch.
“Get your ass in here and see this.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Sam shakes his head and goes into the living room.
“What is it, Dean?” He rubs his eyes again.
“You look like hell, man. Did you not sleep?”
“I was going to, but I was trying to find out what is wrong with Cas.” Sam sits down to Dean. Castiel stops singing for a moment to hear what’s going on in the other room, he thinks that he heard his name.
“Yeah?” Dean doesn’t sound surprised.
“Yeah, what do you need?” Sam just want to get his over with and go to bed.
“I think I found a hunt.” Dean shrugs. Castiel resumes singing softly, still wondering why his name was mentioned in a conversation.
“A hunt?” Sam looks at Dean with tired eyes.
“Yeah, it looks easy, three days max.” Dean smirks.
“What is it?” Sam closes his eyes.
“Ghost.” Dean answers quickly.
“Why the rush?”
“It’s already killed a busload of people.” Dean acts like he’s pointing out the obvious. Castiel keeps listening from the other room, his singing has stopped entirely. He really wants to go on a hunt with Sam and Dean again. He hasn’t been alone with them on the road in a while, and he’s not in a hurry to be left here alone with John. Mary isn’t so bad, but John… Castiel doesn’t even dare go there. Bobby would be here to though, right?
“How?” Sam shakes his head.
“Long story, get your stuff.” Dean instructs. Castiel’s heart skips a beat, can he go to?
“Are we taking Cas?” Sam sighs in defeat.
“Yeah, that’s kind of the point in going.” Dean tells Sam quickly, but in a hushed tone. However, despite the quiet tone, Castiel still heard him.
Sam nods his head and goes to tell Castiel about the hunt, and to get his stuff. A smile spreads across Castiel’s face, he was getting away from here.
Dean sits quietly on the couch and listens to Sam tell Cas about the hunt. He smiles when he hears Castiel’s excited voice asking what he should bring. It’s not very often anymore that Castiel wants to go on hunts with them… but then… Mary, John, and Bobby are with them normally. This time it’s gonna be just the three of them like old times.
Dean’s smile fades as his mind wanders to Castiel’s behavior of late. Cas has been quieter than usual when Dad is in the room. Even Mom has pointed it out. Cas insists that he’s fine, but dammit I know that something is wrong. Ever since that night when I found his crying in the bathroom, I’ve known that something is wrong. He admitted that day that something was bothering him but wouldn’t tell me what. When I talked to everyone else about it, they, other than Sam who took it very seriously, said it was nothing, some bad memories about heaven or some shit like that. This has to be something more than that, this is Cas for god’s sake! He never, and I mean never, acts like this. Something has to have happened to make him act like this. I’ve seen him when he’s having bad memories before, and this is not it. I’ve seen him when he’s going through a crap-ton of shit and he has never acted like this. What the hell is going on with our angel?
Castiel is packing his bags and he realizes that they are going pretty far away. Will Dean ask the others to join them? Cas’s heart sinks at the thought of such a thing. Why can’t things go back to normal?
Sam is in his room lying on his bed, he already packed his bag. All he wants is to get some sleep, but it’s obviously not going to happen. Nothing ever goes the way he wants it to. Sure, operation stop lucifer was a go and it sure as hell worked… but why can’t he just get five fucking minutes of sleep?