The Year of Redemption

Chapter 61: Universe

Dean woke up to something tickling his cheek. He immediately recognized the feel of Cas's lips. They moved down and encircled Dean's mouth.

The hunter reached out, but Cas wasn't in front of him. The angel let go and laughed slightly, then covered Dean's eyes with his hands. "Guess whom?" he asked.

"Santa Claus?" Dean joked. "Old McDonald? The pizza man? My secret angel lover?"

"What?" Cas asked after that last one.

Dean took Castiel's hands before he removed them from the hunter's eyes. "I mean you," he clarified. He pulled Cas back down until the angel's face was upside down in front of him. Dean leaned forwards and grabbed his lips again. "Come on, I'll get a fire started."

Cas sat on the couch and watched Dean start a fire in the hearth. "I'm glad you slept," he commented.

Dean glanced back at him. "Why is that?"

"Because you're not going to be doing much of that later tonight," the angel remarked coyly.

Dean looked over his shoulder again and smirked. "Cas, what have I done to that innocent little angel you used to be?"

"You've made him a hundred times better, and a hundred times happier."

"God, I could just take you right there on the couch," Dean remarked.

"I wouldn't stop you."

Dean stood up and walked over to the couch, putting a knee on either side of Cas and straddling him. "Presents first, baby," he whispered, touching his lips to Cas's.

The angel sighed. "Fine." He kissed Dean once more before the hunter stood up, then let out a small, almost inaudible whimper.

Dean gave him a strange amused look before turning and rummaging through some of the presents under the tree. He tossed one forcefully to Cas, and it hit the angel in the chest before he could catch it.

"Well your hearing may be great, but you could seriously work on your reflexes," Dean jeered, striding back over and plopping down beside Castiel. "Open it," he said excitedly, staring at the roll of wrapping paper in Cas's hands.

The angel thought Dean was going to start drooling because of how excited he was. "Ok, ok, calm down," Cas said. "I wonder what this is..." he commented sarcastically, squishing the soft cylindrical shape in his hands.

"Oh just shut up and rip." Dean rolled his eyes and rested one of his knees up on the couch, facing Cas as the angel started carefully undoing the ribbon that was tied at either end. Dean rolled his eyes again. "This is going to be a long night."

Finally, Cas extracted a large, rolled-up flannel blanket from the wrapping paper. He unrolled it and traced over the letters 'C-A-S' that were sewn in the middle of it. "Did you...?" he asked.

Dean nodded shyly. "To keep us warm if we decide to sleep out here again," he explained.

"I didn't know you could sew," Cas muttered, still tracing the letters.

"Me neither," Dean replied, laughing. "It's not very good, but..."

Cas grabbed Dean's hand suddenly and pulled him to his feet. He spread the blanket out on the ground in front of the fireplace and took Dean's hand again, pulling the hunter down on top of it. They sat cross-legged facing each other in the middle of it, Dean's palms resting in Castiel's on top of the angel's knees. "It's perfect," he decided.

They sat on the blanket as they exchanged and opened the rest of the presents. Cas got Dean a worry stone that he had hand-carved out of emerald. He placed it in Dean's hand and pressed the hunter's thumb into a small indent on its surface, then closed his hand around Dean's. "Concentrate, and channel your worries into the stone, then it disperses them back into the universe, into another time and place far away."