95. Chapter 95

Dean jerked awake from what should have been a sound sleep, visions of black eyes dancing in front of him. The rest of the nightmare faded quickly, but those black eyes stuck with him. His own eyes snapped open, desperately seeking something - anything - to take him away from it –

And then he saw his mobile.

It was off now, which wasn’t surprising given that the room was brightened by early morning light, but just the sight of it was immensely comforting because that mobile meant that he was somewhere safe. Even though it was off, the nine planets seemed to glow with their own light. Dean stared up at it until his breathing had calmed and the sharp panic was no longer lacing through him.

Only then did he feel around the blankets until he found his stuffed toys: he must have been thrashing during his sleep, because both his bee and his fox had ended up at the very bottom of his crib. Dean sat up and picked up both toys, gathering them against his chest. He tipped his head down and pressed his nose to his bee, savoring the slightly tingly feeling of his daddy’s grace.

"Dean?" Castiel's voice caught Dean’s attention, and he looked up guiltily in time to see Castiel pushing the covers back. The angel rolled out of the bed, looking about as bleary-eyed as any human who was woken up too early, and walked over to the crib. His hair was standing up on end, and in spite of his guilt Dean couldn’t help a little smile.

"Daddy has bed hair!" Dean said, giggling.

Castiel blinked at him, then lifted both hands to his head and seemed to realize what Dean meant. "Oh. Yes, I suppose," he said, sighing and smiling back. "Did you have a nightmare, honey?"

Dean's smile faded as he remembered the literal demons from his nightmare. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember any other details. But he knew there had been a lot of demons, and that he’d been alone, and that he hadn’t had any way of fighting. It had inspired a sort of panicked helplessness that Dean did not like. Tears welled up in his eyes and he bit his lip.

“Dean?” Castiel’s expression quickly changed to one of concern.

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” Dean whispered, gulping hard. It was the one downside to having his crib in Castiel’s room. He’d realized pretty quickly that the fourth side of the crib being up didn’t bother him nearly as much as he’d expected it to, especially not when he could look over and see his daddy. But that wasn’t fair to Castiel: he needed his rest since he was still giving Dean so much of his grace.

“Oh, baby.” Castiel quickly dropped the fourth side of the crib. Dean told himself not to be a baby, but it was like his body reacted on autopilot. His arms reached up for a hug, which Castiel gladly granted. His arms wrapped around Dean, comforting and strong, and scooped Dean, his bee, and his fox right up out of the crib. Dean threw an arm around his daddy's neck, feeling a little better just by proximity, and clutched his toys close with the other.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, feeling miserable. Logically he knew that Castiel would not be angry, but it wasn’t always easy to forget about how John Winchester would’ve reacted. Things like nightmares had no place in a hunter’s world as far as John was concerned.

“It’s okay. Dean, listen to me. You never have to feel bad for needing me. That’s why I’m here,” Castiel murmured, rubbing a hand up and down Dean’s back. “I’m not angry that you woke me up. Just the opposite. I’m so happy that I can here for you.” He pressed a kiss to the side of Dean’s head.

Dean relaxed a little, knowing that Castiel was telling him the truth, and whispered, “I dreamed about demons again.”

“I was afraid of that. Nothing can hurt you here. They can’t get to you,” Castiel told him, walking back over to the bed. As they went, Dean glanced out the window and saw that it was even earlier than he’d thought. The sun was just beginning to crest the horizon, but it was still largely dark outside.

Castiel sat down on the bed, carefully laying Dean down before he laid down too. It took them a moment to get comfortably settled, but eventually Castiel was laying on his back with Dean curled up against him. With the covers pulled up over both of them, and Dean snuggled in as close as he wanted to be, it was hard not to feel a lot better. Safer. Dean rested his head on Castiel’s shoulder and held his bee and his fox to his chest.

“I don’t like dreaming about them,” he confessed. He didn’t know if the dream had been about hell and the rack, or if it had been about the demons attacking Castiel and Gabriel, or if it had been about demons attacking Sam, Bobby, and Jody. All three options made his stomach twist with nausea.

Castiel sighed. "If I could destroy them all, I would."

"I know. It would be nice, but that's probably never gonna happen," Dean said sadly. It sucked, but he'd come to accept a long time ago that destroying every supernatural creature out there was a pipe dream. There were just too many of them. Even an archangel like Gabriel would be hard-pressed to take on every demon out there. The most they could hope for was that Crowley would keep his word and keep the demons under control.

"Sadly, it's not. There must always be balance in the world." Castiel ran his hand through Dean's hair. "But in the meantime, you can rest safely knowing that they will never touch you again."

"I know," Dean said, closing his eyes. He did know that, and he could even believe it now; it just wasn't always easy to convince his traumatized brain when it came to nightmares.

He drifted off again, but it felt like he wasn't asleep for very long before something landed on the bed hard enough to make Dean bounce. He came awake with a squeak of surprise and opened his eyes just in time to see Gabriel jump on the bed again. Castiel groaned and buried his face in Dean's hair - like that was going to be enough to make Gabriel go away – which, of course, just made Gabriel's grin grow wider. Dean couldn't help smiling too as Gabriel jumped for a third time.

"Come on, come on! It's Christmas Eve and we get to open up presents!" Gabriel said, falling to his knees dramatically. He started poking at Castiel. "Cassie, wake up! Cassie!"

"You're worse than a child, Gabriel," Castiel groaned. "Please go away. It's too early for this."

"It's not too early. It's 7am!" Gabriel said, winking at Dean. "I've been waiting for you to get up since 5am."

Castiel just groaned again and muttered something under his breath about impatient children, which made Dean giggle. Gabriel did act a lot like an overgrown kid sometimes and it was kind of funny to watch.

"Dean wants to get up, don't you?" Gabriel asked.

Dean pretended to think about it. "I don't know. I am very comfortable."

Gabriel looked horrified. "Kiddo! I thought i taught you better than that. There are presents to be opened!"

"I guess I could get up for presents," said Dean, trying to conceal how excited he was at the thought of opening up Christmas presents. In the wake of the nightmare, he'd forgotten all about Castiel's and Gabriel's decision to have an early Christmas for just the three of them. But now that he remembered, the thought of staying in bed had suddenly lost all appeal. He sat up, reaching his arms towards Gabriel.

"Yes! I knew you'd see it my way." Gabriel bounced off the bed and leaned down to scoop Dean up, twirling Dean around in a circle. Dean laughed.

“I have so many regrets right now,” Castiel said, and Dean looked over to see that Castiel had pulled the covers up over his head to hide from them. He pouted at the blankets, even though Castiel couldn’t see him.

“Daddy come on!” he said.

Castiel sighed. “Alright, alright. I’m coming. Both of you get out. I’ll be right behind you.”

“You’ve got ten minutes, or we’re coming back up,” Gabriel told the Castiel-shaped bump on the bed. Then he carried Dean out of the room.

“Think he’ll get up?” Dean asked.

“Probably. He won’t want me coming back,” Gabriel said with a distinctly evil smile. “Is it okay if I get you changed, Dean-o?”

Dean thought about that for a few seconds. Gabriel had only ever changed him a few times, back when Dean had been too out of it to really understand what was going on. Castiel was always the one who changed his diapers or got him dressed. But if he waited for Castiel, that meant he’d have to wait for however long it was for Castiel to get up and then wait through Castiel changing his diaper.

If he let Gabriel do it, then they could start opening presents as soon as Castiel got up. The downside, of course, was that he’d be letting Gabriel do it… but somehow that idea didn’t seem as daunting as it used to. This was his uncle. Gabriel might not have the same history with the Winchesters as Castiel, but he had more than proven himself during the last several months. Dean trusted his uncle almost as much as he trusted his daddy, and that was saying a lot.

“Okay,” he said quietly, not missing the look of surprise that crossed Gabriel’s face. He felt a little uncomfortable, but not to the point where he wanted to change his mind. He realized that he trusted Gabriel to take this seriously and not turn it into a joke or make dumb comments.

“Okay,” Gabriel echoed, turning into the nursery. It was a little strange to see the crib missing, but Gabriel walked right past it and put Dean down on the changing table.

Dean had progressed to the point where he could look at Castiel while his diaper was changed; it quickly occurred to him that he was not at that point with Gabriel. Without anything to cover his face, he settled for using his hands so that he didn’t have to watch. It was too embarrassing, even if Gabriel’s hands were quick and surprisingly confident and sure. Within seconds, Dean was cleaned up and securely clad in another diaper.

But because he wasn’t looking, Dean didn’t see Gabriel leaning down until it was too late. Lips pressed to his belly and blew a raspberry. Dean gasped at the tingly feeling, which made his skin feel ten times as sensitive, and quickly removed his hands from his face. Gabriel grinned up at him, expression full of mischief, and blew another. At the same time, he started to tickle Dean’s sides.

“Noooo!” Dean managed to get out before he dissolved into giggles. He started wiggling around, trying to escape, but Gabriel had a good grip on him. Dean squealed as his uncle blew several more raspberries on his bare belly, his chest having with laughter.

“I’m not gonna let you go! The tickle monster has you!” Gabriel said, eyes twinkling as his fingers danced over Dean’s sides. He somehow seemed to know exactly where Dean was most ticklish.

“Daddy! Daddy, help!” Dean cried out in between giggles, trying to swat at Gabriel’s hands.

Castiel quickly appeared in the doorway, his eyes widening when he saw what was happening. As Gabriel blew several more raspberries, Dean squealed and reached for him. Castiel smiled and quickly hurried to Dean’s aid, pulling him off the changing table and into Castiel’s arms. Dean panted for breath as he grabbed onto Castiel’s neck.

“Bad tickle monster!” he exclaimed. “Daddy, punish the monster!”

“There’s no monster here,” Gabriel said quickly, holding his hands up.

“Tickle monster!” Dean disagreed, pointing at him.

“I have to go by what the hunter says,” Castiel said. “Gabriel, get ready for your punishment.”

Gabriel let out a ‘meep’ and fled. Dean giggled as Castiel ran after him. They caught up with Gabriel in the living room, where Castiel held Gabriel down and let Dean tickle his uncle to his heart’s content. Dean didn’t stop until Gabriel begged for mercy, at which point he magnanimously stopped and collapsed, panting and happy, between his uncle and his daddy.

“Has the tickle monster learned his lesson?” Castiel asked.

“Yup,” Gabriel said quickly – but when Castiel wasn’t looking, he caught Dean’s eye and winked, mouthing, ‘Mission accomplished. He’s up’.

Dean grinned back. Mission accomplished, alright.