Standing Together

Chapter 10

It's just as scary the second time. You'd think that eventually, one would get used to watching a bomb; one would know what to expect, and that would make it easier. But when he watches that explosion in the stands, he can feel his heart stop, just like it did the first time.

Castiel tries to speak, tries to move, tries to do anything, but he can't. He's frozen, helpless, just listening to the screams of the audience. He recognizes some of the faces there, the ones he couldn't forget and just had to hope they made it out safe. But then he sees...

"Dean?"

He stands right in front of the stage, yelling something up at him, but it gets lost in all the noise. Each time, it's gets a little louder, a little more urgent, until finally, he can make it out.

"Cas!" Dean yells, barely audible above the screams. "Cas!"

"Dean!"

Castiel runs to the edge of the stage, trying to reach him, but it's too late. The second bomb goes off, and —

"Cas, wake up!"

Castiel's eyes snap open, and he finds himself sitting in the passenger's seat of the impala, pulled off to the side of the road. Dean's not in the driver's seat, but instead stands next to him, outside the car with a concerned look on his face.

"Cas, hey, what's wrong?" Dean asks.

Castiel reaches over and wraps his arms around his fiancé, burying his face in his chest. Dean holds him tight, rubbing his back soothingly.

"You're okay," Dean coos. "It was just a dream. You're okay. You're gonna be okay."

Castiel sniffles, feeling a tear fall from his eye just to stain Dean's shirt. "I don't feel like it," he chokes out.

Dean lets out a long breath. "I know. I know you don't. But you will, okay? You're going to be fine. You're going to be better than fine. I promise. Okay?"

Castiel pulls away slowly and nods.

"I love you, Cas," Dean murmurs. He presses a kiss to the top of his fiancé's head, then swings around the car and back into the driver's seat. "Homeward bound."

~~

It's a very long ride back to Dean's house, but Castiel refuses to go back to sleep, because he doesn't want to suffer through another nightmare. Dean seems to want to object to that motion, if only because he wants some rest, but he ultimately decides to do what Castiel wants.

That seems to be the common theme from the last few hours. Whatever Castiel says goes. When Castiel flinched at the blasting music so Dean let him pick the volume — and Dean never lets anyone change the volume — Castiel turned it all the way off, and Dean didn't complain. When Dean asked if they could stop for burgers and Castiel told him he wasn't hungry, Dean drove right by that empty McDonald's parking lot. He's sure the only reason Dean told him the story of his father or their extremely gay wedding was because he wanted to go along with whatever Castiel wants. If he had been in his right mind, he'd probably appreciate it a lot more than he does now.

"How far away is your house?" Castiel asks after what feels like forever.

"We're literally driving from Louisiana to Massachusetts," Dean reminds him. "That's basically as far north and south as you can get, so... I don't know. Sixteen more hours?"

Castiel stares at him for a moment. "Sixteen hours?"

Dean nods. "Mm hmm."

"Are you going to be awake for sixteen more hours?" Castiel asks, a bit of skepticism in his voice.

"I hope so, or we're going to be in some serious trouble," Dean says.

Castiel sighs. "There's a motel over there. Let's stay the night."

Dean looks at him in disbelief. "You want to spend the night in a motel? You, one of the biggest celebrities of the 21st century?"

"When was the last time you slept?" Castiel asks.

"Uh..." Dean taps his fingers on the steering wheel as he counts. "I woke up at, like, six this morning — yesterday morning? — and it's right now, so just 26 hours ago. I'll be fine."

Castiel gapes at him. "You — what?" He shakes his head to himself, clearing that from his mind. "For both our sakes, will you please just go to that damn motel?"

Dean sighs. "Fine, fine."

Apparently they have perfect timing, because they're right there when Dean agrees to it, and with a simple extremely sharp turn, they're pulling into the Motel 6 parking lot. Dean's parking job is about as straight as he is, but at this point, neither of them really care.

Dean and Castiel head inside to find the lobby mostly empty, just a couple people scattered around. It's a strange sight, at least for Castiel, who's gotten so used to crowded 5-star hotels without a dull moment. Dean seems unphased by the near silence, just walking up to the front desk, and Castiel quickly follows him, keeping his head ducked. Just because there aren't a lot of people doesn't mean no one is going to recognize him.

According to the woman at the front desk, they've caught the motel at an unexpected downtime, and there are a couple rooms ready for them if they'd like — but only one bed, as if that's going to be a problem.

Dean takes the room key in one hand and Castiel's hand in the other and they take off to find their temporary home, which doesn't take long.

"You know," Dean says as he closes the door behind them, "we probably look really weird right now."

"Why?" Castiel asks, confused. It's a motel. Isn't it mean for weird people? Or is he just spoiled? It's probably the second one, honestly.

"We're checking in at ten in the morning with no bags and no reservation," Dean reminds him. "None of that screams 'normal day out.'" He kicks his shoes off carelessly. "But weird can be fun. C'mon." He gestures for Castiel to come over to him.

Castiel looks around the room with a frown. "It's so small. Is this the whole room?"

Dean rolls his eyes. "We're not being millionaires today, Cas. We're just your everyday ordinary second class citizen. Now c'mere, will you? Let's get some sleep."

Dean lies down on the bed, patting the spot next to him. Castiel reluctantly kicks his shoes off and crawls into bed with him, but he refuses to sleep. With sleep comes nightmares, and he doesn't want to deal with that right now — not when he'd have to worry about waking Dean up before he's fully rested so the boy doesn't crash the car on the way home. He'll just lie here for a few hours, safe in Dean's arms, until they hit the road again.