Finally

Chapter Two

(Dean's POV)

Giving up on sleep, Dean sat on the edge of his bed, lost in thought. Dammit man, Cas has been through hell and back, literally, and you had to go and yell at him . . . Didn't even say thank you . . . Anger issues . . . Why do you still help him? . . . He saved you . . . Why does he still help you? . . . You saved him . . . Where would you be without him? . . . Rotting in hell, probably. Thoughts poured through Dean's mind on an infinite loop; questions and answers flowed through him as if they were in perpetual motion. Memories floated to the surface as others sank back down, boiling and seething as he tried to push them back into the deep chasm where they belonged.

A vision of purgatory flashed before Dean's eyes; Cas pushing him through the portal while he himself stayed behind. Dean grimaced knowing that his mind had retaliated, his thoughts rather to be wrong and believe he was to blame for Cas staying behind, than knowing it was Cas who chose to leave him. Dean put his head in his hands, overcome by the force of the memories springing upon him. It pained him to relive the horrific events that caused terrible thing to happen. Worse was not being able to do anything about it. Dean sat there as if in a trance, watching the endless loop of locked away memories escape before his eyes.

Suddenly he was pulled out of the past and back into reality by the strident sound of an alarm behind him, signaling that the time was 8:00am. Reaching over, Dean smacked the clock in an attempt to silence the incessant noise, but to no avail. Groaning, he pushed himself off of the motel bed and walked over to the bedside table. Dean jabbed the button angrily and the noise ceased, the room echoing in silence once more. He turned around to see both Sam and Cas still sleeping peacefully; the horrid cacophony he put up with just moments before doing nothing to interrupt their sleep.

"I swear they are deaf," muttered Dean, as he reached over to grab pillows off his bed. Placing one in each hand he first swung the pillow in his left hand towards Sam, hitting him square in the back. Dean then threw the other pillow towards Cas's chair, grinning as he him in the head. "Rise and shine! We've got a big day ahead of us!"

Sam rolled over to sit on the edge of his bed. "Jerk."

"Bitch," replied Dean with a smirk.

"A- Assbutt," added Cas, in a failed attempt to stifle a yawn. He stood up and stretched.

"Assbutt? Really, Cas. That isn't even a word."

"I'm sorry, Dean," replied Cas, bitterly. He was upset that Dean made no reply to his statements earlier.

Dean frowned as he scrutinized Cas, his face softening as he saw the fallen angel look toward the ground in regret of what he said. They'd already argued once that morning, it's not something either of them wanted to do again. Cas's sorrowful expression relaxed; he had noticed the brown leather jacket in a heap on the ground in front of him. Dean watched Cas bend down to pick it up, his bright blue eyes then meeting Dean's as he straightened back up. Cas gave a subtle nod of thanks when handing over the jacket. Dean gave a weary smile in return, but it quickly disappeared for Cas had tilted his head and begun to frown.

"Dean, did you get any sleep?" asked Cas, concerned.