Work Text:
Dean tosses Sam the keys to the Impala. He hops into the back of Baby, closes the door and sits there quietly. Sam and Cas look at each other in confusion, they stand outside of the Impala for a few minutes.
"Uh, I've never seen him act like that, I know this hunt didn't go as planned but..." Sam slightly trails off.
"I am unsure, Sam. Unless something else happened that we're unaware of." Cas states while raising an eyebrow.
"I dunno, let's just head back to the Bunker. We're not too far." Sam says as he starts walking towards the car door.
The entire ride back to the bunker was quiet. 20 minutes of silence really bugged Sam. During that time, Cas attempted to talk to Dean. But, to his surprise, Dean just stayed quiet as if he was dealing with something internally. This made Cas worry for the first time in a while, so he just had small conversations with Sam on their way home. Eventually, they get out of the car and head to the front door. Sam fumbles with the keys to unlock the bunker door and unlocks it in one motion. They walk in and put their jackets, phones, and other items down on the table in the library. Dean just walks past everyone without saying a word and heads to his room and closes the door.
"I'm going to go check on Dean." Cas says, walking in the same direction as Dean did.
"Okay, good luck trying to talk to him." Sam says as he heads to the kitchen to make something to eat.
Cas knocks on Dean's door. "May I come in?" Cas says politely, waiting for Dean's response.
"Yeah, sure Cas." Dean says quietly but loud enough that Cas could hear him.
As Cas opens the door, he finds Dean laying on his bed turned away from him. Cas sits down on the foot of the bed near him and gets comfortable.
"So, did anything else happen on that hunt that Sam and I are unaware of?" Cas questions.
Dean hesitates to reply and doesn't want to seem like a child. Dean sits up and faces Cas who is still sitting there watching him sweetly.
"It was a kid, Cas!" Dean replies, "And I couldn't.. I couldn't save her. It's been eating me up inside since that shapeshifer got her." Dean's voice breaks, and so does Cas's heart.
"It wasn't your fault, there was nothing any of us could have done."
Cas tries to convince him, but Dean refuses to believe it. Dean rises from the bed and paces around the room, ranting about the things he could've done to save her or the things he could've and would've done differently. Cas doesn't really know what to do, but he will find a way to make him feel better. Dean is trying his hardest to not cry, and it's showing. So, Cas gets up and stops him in his tracks, putting his hands on his shoulders.
"Dean. Relax. I can sense you're trying not to cry." Cas says in a low, soft voice. Making Dean want to cry even more.
Cas looks into Dean's eyes and smiles softly at him, he pulls Dean into a comforting hug and Dean can't hold it back anymore. Dean isn't the type to cry, he believes he has to be strong for his family and tells himself most of the time that crying is a sign of weakness. But today was different. He felt horrible for not being able to save a little girl from the monster that hurt her and her family. So, he cried. And he cried in Cas's arms until he was unable to choke out anymore sobs.
"It's okay to cry, Dean." Cas states while he rubs circles around Dean's back in an attempt to comfort him.
As they continue to hug, Dean finally starts to calm down and all Cas can hear is quiet sniffles from Dean as he rests his head in the crook of Cas's neck. Cas pulls himself back to meet face to face with Dean.
"Come, let's sit down." Cas takes Dean's hand in his and leads him over to the bed.
He sits down, resting back on a pillow and pats the bed, insisting Dean sit or lay down. Dean sits down awkwardly, feeling slightly embarrassed that he opened like a flower in front of Cas. Cas pulls him down into his lap and starts softly playing with Dean's hair. Dean is a little startled by the sudden pull, but after a while he finally relaxes and starts dozing off.
Cas watches him as he falls asleep in his lap, still playing with his hair. It was a long day and he felt like Dean needed this, and he felt right. He leans down and gives him a soft kiss on the temple of his head and continued to watch Dean overnight, making sure he had no nightmares and slept peacefully for a full 8 hours.