Hullo and welcome to another Destiel fic! I'm assuming by the title you can already guess a little about this one but I hope to make it a little different if I can, a little more emotionally vulnerable hopefully, but I do hope you enjoy:)
The sun had just set and the sky was darkening over the long stretch of country road the Chevy Impala was currently cruising down. Sam was driving, after Dean had claimed he needed a short nap. Dean seemed to need alot of those lately and it was worrying the younger Winchester. To top off the frequent napping, when they did stay in motels, Dean would suffer from what Sam could only assume were nightmares again. As sometimes Dean would jolt awake, be awake before Sam or as of recently, just not sleep at all, and go extended periods of time like that.
They had caught wind of a case in a small town in Iowa, and were still a days drive, much to Sam's dismay, who knew his brother would refuse to sleep until he was too worn and his body just gave into it. So, Sam decided he would just make excuses to drive as much as possible over the next day, giving Dean the opportunity to rest if at all possible.
Dark bags hollowed the underside of Dean's eyes as he sat, reading a book, helping Sam research for the case they were currently working. Dean was now on forty eight hours with no sleep except for a short nap here or there and was surviving solely on coffee, and from what Sam could tell, sheer willpower. Sam watched his brother for a moment, studying his features, the five o'clock shadow and overall tiredness that surrounded him, contemplating how to help, if he even could help with whatever was going on.
"Dean" Sam spoke up finally
"Yeah" Dean gruffed looking up from his place in his book
"When was the last time you slept?" Sam asked
"At some point last night" Dean answered with a shrug
"No, I mean like really slept Dean, without the nightmares" Sam stated, his tone a little more serious
"You noticed" Dean sighed, marking the page in his book and shutting it
"Its hard not to when you are drinking coffee likes it's water and still look moments from falling asleep" Sam nodded, also closing his book, to give his brother his attention
"Something triggered them Sam, I wish I knew what, but they are worse than I remember and I can't do anything to control them" Dean said, his vulnerability shaking him, but he guessed it had to do with his tiredness
"Have you tried getting a hold of Cas? Maybe he could help?" Sam asked, his eyes searching Dean's face for a reaction
"Cas is busy, I wouldn't want to bother him with this, I'm sure it will stop soon and then everything will be fine" Dean sagged visibly into his chair, looking like he wanted to follow Sam's line of thinking but couldn't
For the time being, Sam dropped the conversation, not wanting to push his brother anymore when Dean had already been emotionally vulnerable once. So the pair went back to researching, Sam looking up every so often when Dean would wake himself up after his eyes would slip shut briefly. By the end of that day, Dean alone had gone through two coffee pots in their motel room, and had eaten just enough to keep Sam's worrying at bay. Dean went through the motions of getting ready for bed, he showered, brushed his teeth, put on Pajamas, laid down, but refused to shut his eyes.
Sam was exiting the bathroom, ready to fall into his own bed when he noticed Dean staring at the ceiling. He wondered why his brother was so set on keeping the whole thing with Cas a secret, and why he was being so stubborn about not just calling the angel for help with the nightmares. It was like for every two steps forward Dean took, he would also take one back. Sam just sighed and shook his head, walking over to his side of the room and getting settled into his own bed. He just hoped tonight, his brother would get some form of rest.
