Brown Mountain Lights

Apologies, the Darkness, and Men Who Might Forgive Me

When I woke up I was starving and I had to pee, but Dean had turned into an octopus overnight and I couldn't figure out how to get loose. I tried moving his arm, kicking his leg away, but they always came back and gripped tighter.

Finally, I gave up and pushed an elbow into his gut. He jerked, but then tried to cuddle me closer. "Dean!" I said in exasperation. "Let go of me!"

"Uh-uh," he said, readjusting his grip on my waist.

"Dean, seriously, I have to go to the bathroom. Let go!" He groaned, but moved his arm and leg away and flopped over onto his back.

I managed to get out of the bed and into the bathroom with minimal staggering, which was good because Dean had gone back to sleep. When I got back into the bedroom, I stood by the side of the bed with my hands on my hips and sighed. I was really hungry, but I didn't want to wake Dean up.Can I get to the kitchen by myself? I decided I probably could, if I moved slowly and stayed near a wall at all times.

I made it to the kitchen eventually, although I had to stop and lean against a wall twice to let my head quit spinning. When I walked through the door, I saw Sam sitting at the table with an empty bowl and his laptop. "Morning, Sam," I said, shuffling towards the cabinet that used to hold the cereal. "Is the cereal still in here?"

He looked up and said, "Yeah, it is. We don't have your brand anymore, though."

I shrugged and opened the cabinet. "I didn't figure you would." I saw a box of granola, which was probably Sam's, and checked the protein content. It would work. "Sam, do you mind if..."

When I turned around, he was gone. He'd picked up his laptop, quietly put his bowl in the sink, and disappeared. I frowned. Okay, weird.

I decided against the granola and instead went with some sort of off-brand Raisin Bran, which I knew no one ate. Maybe Cas? Angels don't eat, do they? Anyway, it had the raisins and nut clusters plus the bran flakes, so with milk it would be okay for me to eat.

I managed to put together a bowl of cereal and was about halfway through it when I heard running footsteps coming down the hallway. I looked up, startled, as Dean burst through the doorway.

"Oh my God, you're still here," he panted. "I woke up and you were gone and I thought you'd left again and -"

I held up a hand. "Whoa! Didn't go anywhere! Not going anywhere! I was hungry, you were asleep, so I got up and made myself breakfast."

He looked at my bowl of cereal and frowned. "Are you sure that's okay? Is it gonna make you sick?"

I shrugged. "So far, so good. And it tastes amazing, for some reason. Much better than Raisin Bran has any right to taste."

Dean sat down next to me and picked up the box. "Huh. I think this is one of Cas' things, since he's decided he likes eating now. I know me and Sam don't eat it, and I kinda doubt Charlie does." Then it was like something clicked, and he turned and glared at me. "You walked all the way here? Then made yourself cereal? You could have – have passed out on the way and hit your head or something!"

I rolled my eyes. "But I didn't, did I? No. Instead, I'm sitting at the table, unharmed, eating cereal. Calm down, honey."

His face softened, and he pecked me on the cheek. "I missed you calling me 'honey.'" He got up and poured himself a bowl of cereal, then started eating it like he hadn't eaten in months.

I blushed and returned to my cereal, trying to eat slowly so as not to make myself sick. I finished the bowl without feeling nauseated, but decided it was probably best not to tax my stomach any more right now. I shoved the bowl away when it was empty, and Dean picked it up and took our dishes to the sink.