The Year of Redemption

Chapter 13: Dust In The Wind

Once Dean returned to the house, he stocked the fridge and set to work on the cabin. He put batteries in a portable radio, but the only station he could pick up was a country one. Dean shrugged and turned the volume up as he fixed the cabin's door and then inspected all the appliances in the house. The water pump was working fine, and the propane tank was still 25% full. All he had to do was light the water heater and the stove for them to work. He plugged in the washer and dryer and carried out some minor repairs, but got them both working well enough. He even did a load of his laundry and tried to remember the last time he'd worn completely clean clothes.

For 5 years of disuse, the cabin wasn't actually in that bad of shape. Dean made a list of everything he needed to fix, and he planned to spend the next few days just working on the house. It took his mind off of everything that had happened and gave him a much-needed distraction from his actual screwed-up life.

Darkness fell quickly, and Dean was still physically exhausted from the past few days. He laid down and closed his eyes, but couldn't sleep. Without something to occupy it, Dean's mind wandered, haunting him with memories and guilt. He almost got out of bed to do something active and distract himself when he heard a voice cut through the dark. "Hello, Dean."

It was just a whisper, but Dean still jumped, startled. "Jesus, Cas, you scared the shit out of me."

"The fearless hunter is scared of an angel in the dark. That's a new one to me." Castiel replied.

"Oh, shut up," Dean said, though he was a little surprised by the angel's sarcastic remark. Dean was rubbing off on him - probably too much.

They were both talking quietly, even though there was no one else around - just the darkness, and the silence of the woods. "Would you like me to leave?" Cas asked.

There was no reply for a good minute. Finally, Dean responded, "No... that's ok," adding, "Do you mind?"

"Of course not," came the angel's low voice. Castiel quietly moved over to the chair that was still beside the bed and sat down.

'Angels are watching over you,' Dean heard in his mind. His body relaxed into the sheets, and his mind calmed. He was peacefully asleep within minutes.

After that, Castiel would regularly visit Dean at night and just pull up a chair beside the bed. Dean never complained, so Cas kept coming, hoping to give the hunter some sort of momentary solace from his tormented life. It was easy to tell when the hunter was sleeping peacefully or having a nightmare, just by his breathing.

One night, Castiel showed up after Dean had fallen asleep. The hunter was breathing heavily, whimpering every now and then, and tossing and turning under the sheets. Cas knew it was a nightmare. He couldn't stand to watch Dean going through this kind of torment, and he didn't want to imagine what the hunter was seeing in his mind at that moment. Cas gently shook Dean's shoulder, and the hunter bolted upright, gasping. His eyes searched the room wildly, then rested on Cas's face. They softened a bit. Without a word, Dean sighed and sank back into the bed, sleeping tranquilly for the rest of the night.

On other nights, the angel would sit quietly in the dark beside the bed and wait until Dean fell asleep before he ventured back to Heaven.

Castiel's nightly visits made Dean feel safe and relaxed, a little less alone in the dead of night when all of his nightmares threatened to surface and mock him relentlessly. Dean didn't know why, and the two of them didn't talk about it at all afterwards, but they repeated the unspoken ritual almost every night.

Sometimes, Cas would talk to Dean when he thought the hunter was asleep. He told Dean what was happening in the war in Heaven. He told him about his brothers. He told him stories of loyalty and betrayal. It was easier to talk when Dean was unconscious. But most of the time, Cas just sat there silently and waited for the rise and fall of Dean's chest to become steady. Then he would slip out of the room and return to Heaven until the next night.