How (thanks to Gabriel) Dean and Castiel raised each other (and Sam)

Chapter 3- Nightmares and Lego

Chapter Three

The first time Castiel appeared before Dean outside of dreams, he hadn't intended it. He had been walking the boundaries of Dean's subconscious and claiming territory. It was a limited protection, but he was glad to offer it once he realized it was needed.

Walking into Dean's dreams was like diving under water. Castiel always felt the shock of a world unlike his own. The colors tended toward the supersaturated and there were things hiding on the periphery of every joyful moment. Dean never referenced them or so much as glanced over his shoulder, but the tight hunch of his shoulders made it clear he was aware of them.

"What are they?" He finally asked, one quiet midnight dream that set them beside a river.

"What are what?" Dean glanced up from where he was building an elaborate fort of sticks and rocks that would have collapsed under the rules of physics.

"The things in the dark."

"Oh." Dean shrugged. "Monsters. Just ignore them."

"Monsters." Castiel looked out into the dark of the trees and thought he spied a flash of yellow eyes.

"Don't be scared." Dean half-reassured, half-scoffed. "You're not alone or anything. And I know how to take care of them."

Dean mimed shooting into the dark and the yellow eyes darted off. He turned to Castiel with a smile. Castiel nodded in return, but he was not reassured. Too frequently Dean was alone in the wilds of his mind. What came for him then?

After that Castiel made a point of appearing in Dean's dreams on a more regular basis. Sometimes he did not have time to linger, but he could walk the edges and keep the things at bay. Dean's sleeping mind gave into his persuasions. Monsters did not dare challenge what belonged to him. Not when Dean had such faith in him.

There was nothing significant that night. Dean was dreaming of running down a paved street. He wasn't being chased just enjoying the raw animal joy of his body. Castiel was aware of him just as he might be aware of his own borrowed limbs. He tasted the goodness of the dream on his tongue.

When it dissolved around him, Castiel staggered and had to pull himself out of Dean's mind rapidly. He spread his senses, trying to determine what might have woken Dean. The boy had been sleeping on a saggy queen size bed in a room that smelled of cigarette smoke. Sam slept beside him, too delicate and small to really safely be out of a crib.

"It's ok, Sammy." Dean was murmuring, awake now and clinging a little to his brother.

Sam let out a soft whimper, plagued by some small nightmare. This was what had jarred Dean from sleep. Castiel relaxed his guard, letting his hand drop from the hilt of his sword.

"It is only a dream." He said.

"He's scared." Dean said stubbornly. Then the boy froze and turned to stare at him. "You."

"Hello, Dean." He could not remember choosing to manifest. The thought bothered him, tickled at the back of his brain.

"You're a dream." Dean said firmly, eyes narrowing.

"I am very real."

"Are you gonna kill us?"

"No." Castiel frowned as he had seen Dean frown, confusion the first emotion he had learned to mimic with human facial expressions. Dean was often confused though he did not like to show it. "I have told you before. I am here to guard you."

"Because you're an angel of the Lord." Dean snorted, his body turned carefully until it was a barrier between Castiel and Sam.

"Yes."

"You scare off the monsters."

Castiel hadn't thought Dean was aware of that. He wondered how the boy could tell.

"Yes." He said again. "They will not bother you."

"Can you make Sam's nightmares stop too?" As if on queue, Sam whimpered again and Dean turned to stroke a hand over Sam's forehead. "They make him cranky in the morning."

"I cannot be in both your minds at once."

"I don't mind having nightmares." Dean said immediately. "I can take 'em. Sammy can't."

"There is something I can do." Castiel decided. "Close your eyes."

It wasn't hard to draw them into the same dream. He let Dean's more familiar mind serve as host and Sam's went gently into it as if it already knew the way. The scenery resolved into some kind of frankenstiened treehouse, stretching through the broad branches of an impossibly large oak.

"Like this." Dean was demonstrating how to put two Legos together for Sam, building a little wall from the generous pile beside him.

"Dis." Sam repeated, taking a block from Dean's fingers and staring hard at them.

"What will you build?" Castiel asked, hanging back.

"Whatever we want. It's a dream, right?" Dean patted the wood boards next to him. "Sit."

Castiel sat, bending his legs as Dean did and taking the handful of plastic blocks that Dean handed to him.

"Hello, Sam." Castiel said gravely when bright eyes landed on his face.

"Cas." Sam said decidedly, then whacked one block against the floor with a laugh.

"He knows me." Castiel stared, taken by this small miracle.

"I told him about you." Dean shrugged and started on a second wall, interlocking it with the first. "He likes stories and dreams are like stories, right?"

"Dean." Sam said with sunny smile. "Daddy. Bobby. Cas."

"Show off." Dean laughed. "He's smart, huh?"

"Yes." Castiel interlocked two bricks and added them to Dean's wall. "He has a good teacher."

"Lego!" Sam crowed and threw a handful into the air.

As in the nature of dreams, the blocks didn't descend right away. They hung in the air like butterflies.

"Can we do this every night?" Dean asked, plucking blocks from the air with a laugh. "Can we, Cas?"

It appeared that being the angel of Dean Winchester, meant that he must also be the angel of Samuel Winchester. Dean would not allow it any other way.

"Every night that I can." He promised. After all, how much more trouble could a second charge be?