Eager Wings (Destiel)

Chapter 24

Dean was getting worse. He could almost feel his mind stretching out to someone he didn't know. He kept on hunting to distract himself, but they didn't go well without sleep.

"This is almost as bad as when he still had his memory," Charlie said to Sam one day.

They had tried talking to Cas, but Cas kept saying he couldn't help Dean. Cas didn't come by as often as he used to too. He said he wasn't avoiding Sam and Charlie, but they thought otherwise. The good thing about all of what was happening was that Sam and Charlie spoke a lot.

They didn't always talk about the bad things. Sometimes Charlie would tell about the happy time she had in Oz. other times, Sam would tell the good things from his childhood. They became the friends they never had and never realized they needed.

They didn't ask Cas about Dean any more. Whenever Cas popped by, they had the usual conversations, sometimes Cas and Sam would go hunting and Charlie would stay with Dean.

Cas felt like he betrayed the brothers and Charlie, but he had no other choice. He had noticed the questions had stopped and offered to hunt with Sam when Dean couldn't. Sam happily took the offer. He wasn't angry any more, he knew when angels had something in mind, it didn't change that easily.

And besides, Cas was a good hunting partner. He didn't show himself off, he was just there when needed and let Sam do the usual work. Sometimes, when they had a long day, Sam would crash on a motel bed and the next morning, there was fresh breakfast.

Sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve all this, just because they had an angel as best friend, but Cas always assured him he was happy to help Sam. After all those years, they deserved to be treated some better, he said.

Dean was not happy when he heard Cas went hunting instead of Dean. He was moody the first time they were away, but after Charlie asked him to teach her how to cook, he had been somewhat happier and they had a good time. When Sam and Cas came back safe and well, he started to accept that as long as he couldn't sleep well, he shouldn't be hunting and after all, Cas was the one who could keep Sam the most safe of all.

With Dean, Charlie talked about so many different things than Sam. Of course, they were two different persons, but still. What she also didn't expect was Dean's soft side. She knew he did have his feelings, but what he told her was anything but what she expected. He told her what he remembered about their mom, about the good times with their dad, the happy times. The times he had felt they were a real family.

He also told her about the time when Sam was gone, after Lucifer had possessed him and threw him in the cage. How he had build a life with Lisa and Ben. Before he went on he swallowed, and then told her about the accident that happened and his decision to get them to safety.

"I told Sam that if he ever said a word about them, I would break his nose," he huffed out a laugh. "I don't even know why I'm bothering you with this all."

"It's okay, I don't mind listening to you," Charlie replied. It became a routine, cooking together almost every evening. One day, Dean was in his room, and Charlie decided to cook without his help. When he stumbled into the kitchen two hours later, he found an almost-done dinner and his smile was so proud, Charlie would always remember it.

While Dean and Charlie spent their time together and Sam was hunting small cases, Cas was often to be found in heaven. Besides doing his tasks as an angel of the Lord, he needed to sort out his thoughts. Where two years ago, he went to the heaven of the autistic man, it was now Dean's heaven that calmed him down the most.

Dean's heaven was simple; he had been there before, seeing Dean rake leaves. Dean's heaven was full of things like that... things normal people do. He watched Dean rake leaves, he watched Dean read a book that had for once nothing to do with any kind of creature they'd hunt.