WARNINGS: This fic contains mentions of PTSD, some non-con scenes, and rape (though it is not an explicit scene).

A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to the sequel! If you have not read Summer in Cabin 7A, I suggest you do because this is NOT a stand-alone fic. If you have read SiC7A, welcome back! Hope you are all well and enjoying life. I know my characters aren't, but you'll find out about that below!

First of all, I'd like to thank you all for waiting patiently for this to come out and I hope you all enjoy it! I know I'm loving writing this and getting out all the background and extra stuff..

Alright so, if you didn't read the note chapter I just put up on SiC7A, then here's just a few notes. This fic is a LOT darker than it's prequel. Like a LOT. Not kidding. Dean gets pretty fucked up and everyone kinda goes crazy, BUT there will be a happy ending! Cause I can't stand leaving things with unhappy endings... Anyway, get ready for a thrill ride because this will rock your socks off. (oh! and there's mentions of Sabriel for all of you fans out there hehe)

Another note: in SiC7A, I had the beginning and end be Sam storytelling in camp. That takes place one year after the fiasco with the skinwalkers in that fic. There is no (well it's not planned at least) mention of Sam telling that story, but I'm implying that it's the next night and Sam is telling the other cuties this second part of the story. I might finish with that... but it doesn't start with that, so I'm sorry if you liked storyteller Sam.

Finally (after this I'll leave you alone, I swear), I'm hoping to update this every Monday, but I can't make any promises.. I only have three chapters written now... They're pretty damn long this time around, so I'm hoping that will make up for it. Any questions? Just ask.

Without further ado, please enjoy the first chapter of The Way of Change.

A/N: I lied (shhh). Warning for a sex scene in this. There's going to be a lot of those in this story, but you'll find out why later. There's a real reason. No really.

1.

"I wish school didn't start tomorrow."

"You've been saying that for the past two weeks, Dean."

"Yeah, but it's still true… Chicken on a motorcycle!"

"Nice one."

"I thought so."

"Alligator chasing a brachiosaurus."

"Is that one of those big dinosaurs?"

"They're dinosaurs with long necks that eat leaves off the tops of trees."

"So they're like the giraffes of the dinosaur world?"

"…I suppose…"

Dean laughed and sat up, stretching his neck. He glanced down beside him at Cas, who still had his head hanging off the edge of the roof and was staring at the clouds with a thoughtful expression. Dean's mouth curled into a smile and he leaned down on one elbow, resting his other hand on Cas' hip.

"Boys!" they suddenly heard Mary's voice call out. "Dinner!"

"Coming!" Dean shouted as a reply.

Cas sat up stiffly and rubbed at his neck. The sun was just starting to set and it threw yellow light onto his pale features as he looked to Dean. "Let's go," he said quietly. They climbed down from the roof and joined the rest of Dean's family, but not before Dean planted a kiss on Cas' mouth just outside the door. After dinner, Cas helped Mary with the dishes before Dean took him home in the Impala. It was that time of the evening that both boys hated the most.

In the few weeks after they had returned to Lawrence from camp, Dean and Cas had still spent most of their days together, doing everything from playing cards to checking out the local art museum. They never wanted their time to end, but each night it did. Zach still didn't know that they were dating, but Dean's parents had taken the news with hugs and enthusiasm, Cas quickly melting into the Winchester family.

That night, though, Dean took the long way to Cas' house and they stopped by the neighborhood park, stopping in the lot and listening to some old rock ballad that Dean was humming along to. Cas took Dean's hand into his as they sat in the quiet.

"Do you ever think about how things would have been different if… if they hadn't been there?" Dean didn't need to specify for Cas to know what he was talking about.

"All the time. We might have been put in different cabins and never have really met." Cas was playing with his boyfriend's fingers when he abruptly dropped his hands and sighed. "Things are so different now."

"Yeah," Dean said with a little chuckle. "Hey, at least we have each other." He put his recently freed hand on Cas' leg and tried to smile at him.

"Yes, we do," Cas replied with a gentle tilt of his lips. He lowered his head a moment later, though, and looked at his hands, which were fidgeting on his lap. "Dean…"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I want to tell you, but I don't want it to make you uncomfortable or anything like that." His cheeks were a little more colored than usual, and Dean could tell even in the dim lighting of the streetlights around the parking lot.

"Just say it, Cas."

"I… I think I love you."

Dean looked at him for a moment, but Cas was still staring at his lap. Reaching an arm across, Dean nudged his chin to get him to look at him. "I love you, too," Dean said with a smile, feeling relief at finally having said it out loud even though he'd known it for weeks. After everything that had happened to the over the summer, he'd figured it was useless to try and deny his feelings, he just hadn't wanted to push Cas so he'd waited for him to say something first.

Cas' face lit up and Dean leaned over to kiss him softly, slowly, and Cas took one of his hands again. They stayed like that for a long time until Dean figured he ought to get Cas home before Zach started to freak out. He did that sometimes when he didn't know where Cas was. They shared one final kiss before Cas got out of the Impala and Dean made sure he got inside just fine before heading back home.

Michael had him pinned to the bed by his hips while his hands were tied above his head. There was a malicious grin on Michael's lips which soon covered his in a hot kiss that was all teeth and tongues clashing together. He moaned at the pressure on his groin, wishing that Michael would move or do something because his hard-on was going to get real painful real soon unless Michael gave him some friction.

But Michael just laughed, and Dean woke up with a gasp and a strong pang of arousal.

He sighed and flopped around in the hopes of getting out of the tangle of his sheets, but it didn't seem to be working. He gave up after a moment and stared up broodingly at the ceiling. It was still dark in his room which meant that the sun hadn't even risen. Which meant it was going to be another sleepless night for Dean, something he'd been getting used to ever since he came back from camp.

From Michael.

The skinwalker had left deep imprints in Dean's mind and on his body. They were invisible to everyone else, but whenever Dean looked in the mirror all he saw were the places that Michael had marked on him, and where his hands had been. It gave Dean a violent, unpleasant shiver just thinking about it. And yet… there was something so horribly thrilling about it. And that sent a wave of dark excitement through him.

It probably didn't help that he hadn't done anything remotely sexual with Cas past making out since their return. He really needed to get laid, but it was hard to find time alone for the two of them. Next to impossible even. He needed it though. He needed to get lost in his boyfriend, the one he was in love with, the one who could make him forget about Michael and give him everything he'd ever want.

It scared him a little just how much he depended on Cas. He would wake up every night from another bad dream, and the next day when he saw Cas, he would forget all about it. It wouldn't matter that he'd gotten maybe two hours of sleep because Cas was there and Cas was what mattered most, not his nightmares, not anything. Days where he didn't see Cas were always dark and lonely.

Dean sighed, running a hand over his face and closing his eyes again, deciding it might be a good idea to at least attempt to sleep again, even if just a short while since he started his third year of high school in the morning. It would probably be a shitty thing to fall asleep in class on the first day. He sighed again, knowing it was bound to happen anyway, and turned over, staring at the wall instead of the ceiling. It was going to be another long night.

"Honey are you sure you want to go to school today? You look sick…" Mary's voice cut through the haze around Dean as he sat eating breakfast.

"I'm fine," he replied, somewhat irritably. He was getting really sick of these long, sleepless nights, and he missed having Cas beside him in the darkness. The morning just seemed to get worse as Sam took for-freaking-ever in the bathroom and they were behind schedule when Dean finally jumped behind the wheel of the Impala, only to have John come out and tell him he needed the car that day so he'd drop them off.

Sam was finally going to the high school, though, since he was starting eighth grade that year, and it was going to be a lot easier for them both to get to school in the mornings, something Dean was glad for. Even so, they were almost late on the first day and both boys had to run to their various homerooms.

Since they were in different years, Dean didn't see Cas at all until lunch, where they both sat with Sam, Brady and Jess, their little group once again together. Dean had never really had any friends in his previous years so there was no one to miss him as he sat with his newfound friends. He was happy though. They were a tight knit circle, brought together by summer camp and everything that had happened. Still, Dean's mood was foul from that morning and everyone noticed.

The only good news was when the bell rang for class and Cas pulled Dean a little to the side. "My dad is going to be late tonight. Want to come over?" he whispered to his boyfriend.

Dean smirked. It was all the answer Cas needed. The rest of the day passed quickly and uneventfully, as most first days are. Dean sent his brother home with a message for their mother that he was probably going to be late that night. Dean didn't really spend a lot of time at Cas' house, but he liked it.

Cas lived alone with his dad, Anna having moved out a few months back to live with her boyfriend, Zar, and even though Zach wasn't around a lot, Cas liked it sometimes. He spent a lot of his time at Dean's place after camp, and being alone again in the afternoons, he remembered what it was like to be lonely. Dean wanted to make sure he didn't feel that loneliness, though, and made it his goal to spend as much time as possible with Cas, even though they couldn't be together all the time. But Dean especially liked spending time with him at Cas' house.

It was a plain house, with mostly white walls and dark furniture, but it was homey. And quiet. For Dean, whose house was almost always filled with his mother or his brother or both during the day, he was a little jealous of Cas having such a space to himself. Cas' room was his favorite though.

There were bookshelves lining an entire wall covered in literally hundreds of titles, most of which Dean had never read or even heard of. Another wall was covered by a mural that Cas himself had done. It was a view of Holland, apparently, with rolling green hills, a field of brightly colored tulips and a huge windmill in the background. The clouds were grayish and looked like cotton candy in the brilliant blue sky. Every time Dean saw it he was amazed.

He lay on his side on Cas' bed to look at the wall and paint it into his memories as he tried to do every time he could. Cas rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a couple of papers, which he set on his desk and turned to look at Dean with a smile.

"Are you going to do any homework or anything?" Cas asked in an amused tone.

Dean just closed his eyes. "Eh, maybe later."

"Alright, well I'm going to do mine…"

"Fiiiiiine," Dean drawled. "In a minute." Cas laughed in reply and sat in his desk chair. And while Dean had every intention to keep to his word and get up to fill out all the papers that his teachers had passed out during class, he somehow fell into a surprisingly dreamless sleep.

When he woke up, Dean felt rested. He sat up, glanced around, realized where he was, and then flopped back down. Cas was still in his chair across the room, but he was turned to Dean with a pencil in his hand and a sketchpad on his lap.

"Dean. You picked a bad time to wake up," Cas said neutrally.

Dean sat up again in surprise. "Why? What's wrong?"

Cas sighed dramatically. "I was drawing you and you moved! You were in the perfect position, too. I just needed to get your head…" he trailed off when he realized that Dean was laughing quietly at him. "What?"

"If you want to draw me so bad, just tell me what I looked like," Dean replied with a smile. He tried to get back into the position he'd been in when he woke up, but Cas sighed and shook his head, standing.

"No, put your arm here…" Cas repositioned him and Dean watched through half-lidded eyes, really tempted to just grab him, but knowing Cas wanted to finish his picture first. "Stay just like that."

Dean gave him a grin and relaxed, watching Cas as he sat back down and picked up his pencil, a look of extreme concentration on his face. Cas bit his lip and glanced between Dean and the sketchpad before him. Normally, Dean might have felt a little uncomfortable under the scrutiny, but with Cas it was different. Everything was different with Cas.

"Done." Dean sat and stretched before going over to Cas to see the drawing. It was fantastic; Cas had captured every little detail of his person and surrounded him with features of the room in a more blurry, shaded fashion.

Dean smiled over Cas' shoulder at it for a few moments before gently taking it from him to place it on the desk. He took Cas' hand and pulled him up from the chair, leading him to the bed until the backs of his knees hit the edge and Dean fell backward, dragging Cas down with him. With a hand on the back of his neck, Dean brought Cas' mouth to his and kissed him slowly. Cas put his knee on the bed between Dean's leg to lean over him, hands on either side of his body, and returned the kiss heartily.

"How much time do we have?" Dean asked quietly against his boyfriend's lips.

Cas glanced at the alarm clock next to his bed. "Plenty." He grinned a wicked grin and gave a just as wicked kiss that prompted Dean to take his waist and flip him onto the bed and straddle his hips.

Dean didn't waste any time pulling off Cas' shirt and planting kisses along his neck. He was already getting hard at that point when Cas made a sound that should have been downright illegal. It was somewhere between a needy keen and a warning growl and it was sexy.

"Pants off. Now," Cas commanded, receiving a laugh from Dean. But he still complied and slid off the bed for a moment to pull Cas' off and strip out of his own shirt and jeans. Cas watched him with dark eyes and shifted up the bed so his back was against the headboard. It didn't take Dean very long to return to him and pick up where they left off, this time with both boys clad in just boxers.

"God, I've been needing this," Dean muttered, his lips moving across the skin below Cas' jaw. But Cas took his chin and forced him away to look in his eyes.

"Is this why you've been acting weird lately?" he asked seriously.

"What do you mean?" Dean retorted, though he knew exactly what Cas meant.

"You're jumpy and stressed and you look sick half the time, Dean. What's been happening?" Dean sighed and sat back but he didn't answer. "Dean," Cas added in a softer tone, "please tell me."

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I mean I can't!" Dean took a breath and tried to calm himself. "I will… just not now, okay?"

Cas looked at him for a long moment, but he eventually relented and nodded. "Okay." He laid a hand on Dean's cheek and leaned forward to kiss him again softly. "I worry about you."

"I know… just trust me on this." Dean's voice sounded tired and strained even to himself.

"I do trust you." Cas brushed his thumb across Dean's lips. "I love you, Dean."

Dean pulled him into another kiss and leaned their foreheads together as he said, "I love you, too, Cas."

Slowly, gently, Cas pushed his back down onto the bed with their mouths pressed together. Dean was strangely comforted by the body on top of him and the lips kissing his and the hands that were moving across his sides. If he was being honest with himself, it really wasn't that strange at all. It was what he'd been wanting and it felt great. It was exactly what he needed.

It wasn't about the sex, though that was admittedly great, but it was more about the comfort. It was the love that Cas showed with every kiss and every touch he gave to Dean. Every drag of skin on skin; every pull, every push, every moan that left their lips. It was everything.

It made him forget, at least for a little while. It made him forget everything.

And when he went to his own bed that night, he didn't have any nightmares. He didn't dream at all.