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Sam heard the humming sound, that deep, grinding noise that sounded so alarming and unnatural. It wasn’t a growl, nor a whine, not exactly. It was Castiel’s deep voice, spoken through closed lips, just air dragging across his vocal cords in his sleep. A whimper.
He sighed.
Another nightmare.
He forced his eyes to push open. He was clumsy when he was awoken from a hard asleep like this, but he managed to find Castiel’s chest beside him. He put a little pressure on Castiel’s ribcage, pressed weight onto it. For one thing, sometimes that was enough to comfort his angel by itself, and they could each go back to resting peacefully. For another, it prevented Castiel from jolting upright if he was startled awake during his dream, which was a terrible experience for them both. They were each quite strong and physical in nature, and each of them had to battle against their instincts to fight when frightened.
The whimpering increased in intensity.
“Cas?” Sam whispered. He cleared his throat. “Baby? It’s me. It’s Sam.”
“Sam?”
He saw the eyes flutter open in disorientation. “It’s me, man. Okay? Shh. Everything’s okay, baby.”
“No, no, it isn’t! Sam, you have to listen to me!”
He yawned and nodded. “Okay, babe. I’m listening. Just rest, okay?”
Castiel blinked several times, and shook his head. “You don’t understand. I’m not me! You can’t trust…I’m not…”
Sam cringed. Demon possession again. It was Castiel’s worst recurring nightmare, being possessed by demons. Of all the horrible things that had ever happened to the guy, Sam was always surprised that it was the one that always produced the worst panic. But he understood the terror of possession, like no other living person. “It’s you, Cas. It’s okay. I know it’s you.”
“How do you know? You’re not listening to me!”
He lifted his hand off his angel’s chest and put it gently through his sweaty hair instead. “It’s you, baby. Okay? You were just having another nightmare, Cas. You were asleep. It isn’t real.”
Castiel sighed heavily, and turned his back to his lover. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t need to sleep. You know that.”
Sam smiled at him softly, and leaned down to kiss the back of his head. “Yeah. Okay, angel. Just rest then.”
But Castiel was already snoring, and Sam gave a quiet laugh and curled in behind him, holding tight to protect his angel from any more threats, real or imagined.