There are no words (to be spoken of this)

Chapter Four

And then one day, there he was.

No message, no announcement, nothing that would have suggested that this day would go any differently than the last few weeks.

Dean had just gotten ready for bed, throwing back his comforter and contemplating if he should send out a futile prayer again or if he'd just read the poem once more (because he apparently liked to torture himself) and try to go to sleep. And then he heard it, the quiet whooshing sound of wings behind him.

Dean swirled around.

And there he was.

"Cas."

The name nothing but a breath in the air between them.

"Hello, Dean."

He could barely suppress the shiver at those words.

"You..." You're here. You're back. You finally came back. You- You...

Dean was through the room and right in front of Cas' face before he even knew it.

"...fucking. Asshole!" He shoved the angel's shoulder, causing him to stumble back a step. "What the fuck were you thinking, taking off like that!?"

Cas looked startled for a second, but he gathered himself quickly, expertly hauling his expression back in to the calm mask of emotionlessness that Dean had learned to hate over the years.

"I told you I needed time."

"For three weeks? " The worry and frustration Dean had gathered over the time Cas had been gone, the fear that he wouldn't come back - all combined to infuriating anger now that the angel actually stood in front of him again. "And not a word? Not a single sign where you were, if you were okay, when you'd come h-" Home. "-back", Dean corrected himself. "If you'd come back, I-"

"Dean", Cas interrupted him, more softly than Dean could stand right now. "It was never in question if I'd come back."

"Maybe not for you!" It was out before Dean could think better of it.

Shit. Too much. Too vulnerable. Fuck it.

"But you must've known what it looked like to me, days just passing without a word, without a single message, Cas. And after what had happened-"

Too late did Dean realise that maybe that hadn't been the right thing to say. He could basically watch Cas' defences going up behind the blue of his eyes at the mention of why he had taken off in the first place, at the mention of that cursed letter that lay so innocently just a few feet away, still tucked under Dean's pillow.

"I'm sorry if my absence inconvenienced you."

Cas' voice was cold, his words like daggers to Dean's heart.

Dean stared in disbelief. He had to know- Surely, Cas had to know-

"Incon-" Dean broke off, shaking his head. Inconvenienced??

"Cas. I was worried sick, is what I was. Don't pretend like you didn't know. I prayed to you, every night-"

"I heard your prayers."

That was all? That was all Dean got for practically pouring his heart out while there hadn't been a single word from the angel in return?

"And?"

"And I appreciate your concern for my welfare, but there really was no need to worry."

Dean couldn't believe it. Was he fucking serious??