Last Hope (Supernatural fanfic)

Chapter Twenty

It was nearly dark and the first stars were beginning to glow faintly. Hope and Castiel were still in the quiet forest, but had moved position. Hope now had her head resting against Castiel's muscular chest, her silvery blonde hair splayed out wildly over his white shirt and tangled around his twisted blue tie. Castiel was laying on his back, wings wrapped around the both of them. The soft black feathers softly traced slow circles on Hope's shoulder. The dirty trenchcoat, usually inseperable from Castiel, was now being worn by Hope. Who, with hands tangled in the folds of the overly long sleeves, had her slender fingers intertwined with Castiel's. When Cas heard her breathing slow, and when he was certain she had fallen asleep, he wrapped her in the warm fabric of his trencoat. Picking her up gently was easy, Hope was still painfully skinny, and Castiel felt a strange tugging at his chest when he looked down at her in his arms. She looked so fragile and he was afraid this war would break her.

"I will not let them break you, Hope", he murmered.

Hope mumbled something in her sleep that sounded an awful lot like, "Castiel".

His usually serious expression turned to one of blinding happiness. Hope was DREAMING about HIM! He couldn't understand why that made him so happy, and for a moment he considered just taking a PEEK at her dream. Just one tiny little peek. But Hope wouldn't like it, he thought, she would find it weird and violating like Dean did. Castiel wanted Hope to like him, not find him weird so he took her back to the brothers. Where he wouldn't be tempted to even peek at Hope's dream.

When Castiel arrived back at the motel the brothers were nowhere to be found. Cas stood in the middle of the room for a while. Should he go find Dean? Should he call him? The enochian symbols carved in to the hunters ribs hid them from the angels, but also hid them from Cas himself. At last he decided to call Dean.

"Hello?", Dean answered the phone in a hushed gravelly voice.

"I am back at the motel with Hope", Cas replied, wondering what Dean was doing.

"Uh, awesome. Why are you calling me? I'm a little busy right now", Dean just sounded annoyed and Castiel was regretting the decision of calling him.

"Do you want my help?", he asked, trying to feel a little more useful, because right now he just felt like a babysitter.

"Nah... we're good. Sammy's got it covered. Gotta go, see ya". The phoneline went silent as Dean hung up. Something tugged sharply in Castiel's chest, but this time it HURT.

"I will just stay here then", Castiel said to the silent phone.

As he layed Hope down on the lumpy couch she looped her arms around Castiel's neck and latched on. Cas went to pull away, but her grip was pretty tight and his foot slipped on one of Deans socks that were sprawled haphazardly over the dirty carpet. He tumbled on the uncomfortable couch and Cas just couldn't be bothered to stand back up. Adjusting himself, and Hope, on the couch so he could sit somewhat comfortably Castiel settled in for a long wait. It would be hours until Dean and Sam got back, and Cas didn't really have anything else to do. As Castiel waited, his mind wondered and, he found himself thinking about Dean. He realised that Dean would sacrifice Hope in a heartbeat, if it would save Sam, and it made Cas feel sad realising Hope didn't have anyone who would sacrifice themself for her. She was alone and, though Castiel had his brothers, he thought he knew what it felt like. She needed someone, he thought, she had no family, her only two friends were hunters with an unhealthy relationship with danger and she was right in the middle of a war. I will be her Dean, Castiel decided, somebody who will try anything, do anything, go anywhere to keep her safe. Somebody she could rely on. Castiel wanted her to stay out of this whole mess, but Hope was already too involved, the best he could do was to keep her as far from the danger as possible and protect her with his life if it came to it. Every time Castiel looked into Hope's sparkling grey eyes, they shone with such blinding and pure goodness that he didn't believe for one second that the part her that was demon was evil at all.

The plain room was beginning to fill with light, the dark shadows retreating as the warm morning sunlight spilled through the half opened curtain. As the deep growl of the Impala signalled Sam and Dean's return, the angel made his choice.

"I, Castiel, Angel of the Lord, swear on everything good in this world to protect you, Hope. Even in the face of impossible odds, I will not abandon you, even when you feel lost and without hope, I will watch over you", Castiel whispered, before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss on Hope's forehead.