Hi everyone! This is my first supernatural fic, so please be kind!

I promise promise promise the humour and fun stuff comes after this first chapter, I just had to put this in there to set up the story.

CHAPTER 1:

Where Do We Go From Here?

When Castiel finally shows up at the Winchesters' new home base (aka, the bunker), he looks absolutely wrecked.

As soon as he opens the door to the barely-audible knocking coming from the other side, Dean can hardly believe he's looking at the same angel that he saw only a week before. Cas' skin is paler than normal (and he didn't think it could get much paler than it had been, but surprise-surprise), his breathing is abnormal, and his eyes are half drooping as he uses the door's frame to try to hold himself up. Not even the darkness of the night can hide the horrible, black bags under his eyes as he struggles to keep himself standing. He's not even dressed in his usual attire, sporting a new hoodie and jeans, both of which are covered in dirt, leaves and God only knows what else.

It takes Dean a couple of seconds for the initial shock of seeing his formerly-indestructible friend this way before he snaps out of it and immediately rushes to his side, lifting Cas' arm over his shoulder and helping him into the bunker. The two remain wordless as they navigate through the entrance and into what has become the bunker's living room. Dean carefully lowers Cas into a sitting position on the couch and slips his arm off of his shoulders, using a hand on Cas' chest to steady him as he flops to one side, head flopping onto the arm rest.

"Cas?" Dean starts, watching as Cas' eyes immediately start to close.

Cas doesn't even try to open his eyes as he grunts out an "Mm?"

Dean can see that his friend is absolutely exhausted, but he has to make sure he's not going to wake up tomorrow morning with an unconscious ex-angel on the couch. "Cas", he says again, softly shaking Cas' shoulder in an attempt to keep him awake. "Are you okay? I haven't heard from you since you called a few days ago when we were still in the hospital. Does anything hurt? How did you even get here?"

"Walked", Cas mumbles, his eyes still refusing to open for Dean. "Bussed, ran out of money… v'been walking for the past… 2 and a half days." It's strange for Dean to see his friend so tired, and his stomach twists in that way that's usually only reserved for worrying about Sam.

"Is anything bleeding or hurting?" he asks again as his eyes give him a quick onceover wherever he can see skin, trying to keep the panic in his voice to a minimum. "Just answer me and I'll let you sleep."

Cas opens his eyes a bit more at the change of tone in his voice and slowly looks in Dean's direction, although Dean can't be sure he's actually looking at him by how unfocused his eyes look. "I believe I am alright. But I have only managed to sleep once since we last spoke, and it was under a tree on the side of a road. The sticks on the ground were very pointy. It was not, in any way, enjoyable. May I please sleep on your couch now?"

Dean isn't entirely convinced that Cas is 100% fine, but he seems coherent enough and he looks as tired as he sounds. He reluctantly decides Cas should be fine by himself on the couch tonight, and that he can check him more thoroughly in the morning. He briefly entertains the idea of moving Cas to one of the many spare bedrooms within the bunker, but Cas' eyes are already closed again, his breathing has slowed, and he's clearly already asleep. He stands up and gently lifts Cas' legs onto the couch, stretching them out and moving Cas into a proper laying-down position. He grabs the blanket off of the back of the couch and drapes it over his friend's body, tucking it under his feet and pulling it all the way up to his chin.

He turns off the lamp on the table beside the couch, the sole remaining light source in the rather large room, and tip-toes down the hallway to his bedroom. He opens the door and slips inside, quietly closing it behind him and padding over to his bed. He sits on the edge of it as he begins to strip off his t-shirt and old, worn-out jeans, and leaves them in a small pile at the end of the bed. Clad in nothing but his boxer briefs and his socks, he slips under the sheets, lays his head on the pillow and stares at the ceiling.

There are a lot of conflicting emotions running ramped through his mind at the return of his used-to-be-maybe-still-is best friend. When he first got that phone call from him in the hospital, it was easy to cut straight to the point and make sure that Cas was okay, to let him know that whatever it is that he did can be put behind them as long as he comes back now in their time of need. But now that Cas is actually here with him at the bunker, he knows they will have to actually talk about things in length tomorrow once they are both awake.

Sam has only been home from the hospital for a couple of days, and although he is no longer at risk of dying, he is nowhere near being at full strength. He's only left his bed to use the bathroom since arriving back at the bunker, eating in bed when Dean brings him food and sleeping at all other times.

Which means that Dean will essentially be alone with Cas tomorrow. There is no getting out of the conversation that needs to happen between them. He thinks about the anger he felt when Cas left them at the church, the confusion at the sight of all the angels falling around them, knowing somehow that Cas had played a part in that. He thinks about the relief of hearing Cas' voice on the other line of that cell phone, assuring him that he is fine and that he did not intentionally hurt the angels, that he was tricked by someone he believed to be a friend. He thinks about what Castiel used to be, a powerful, soldier of Heaven, fighting alongside the brothers that make up Heaven's army. He thinks of what Cas has now become, a powerless human stuck in the middle of Kansas with nobody in the world on his side besides himself and Sam.

He wants to yell at Cas, make him feel bad for everything he's ever done to Dean, but more than that he finds that he wants to comfort him. He wants to make him understand that despite what's happened, despite the fact that his entire family has turned against him and is out for his head, he still has Dean and Sam. And in the end, that's what's important. They can work through this just like they've worked through so many other things.

If there's ever been a time when Dean needed an ally, a friend, now would be it, and he's willing to bet Castiel feels the same way right now. He's not willing to or going to let Cas walk out of his life over this, not again. And with that final realization in mind, Dean allows sleep to carry him off until morning.

Castiel wakes up in the morning with a slight crick in his neck, but overall feeling much better than he's felt in recent days since his transformation into a full-blown human. He recognizes that this is mostly due to the fact that he had the luxury of sleeping on a soft, warm surface last night, without having to worry about strangers robbing him, animals trying to eat him, or fallen angels finding him under his sleeping tree. But part of him can't help but argue that the bigger reason he feels so much better today is because of where he is.

Knowing that he is back at the familiar bunker, that his only two friends left in the world are here with him, somehow makes this entire situation much more bearable than it was when he was struggling on his own. Being here provides him with a sense of homeliness that he hasn't felt in Heaven for a long time, and he's happy to stay as long as they are willing to let him.

He's roused from his thoughts at the smell of food cooking on the stove, something he hasn't smelt for a very long time. He had been surviving off of vending machines over the past week as he travelled across the states trying to get to Kansas. The smells wafting through the air are enough to make him quietly moan at the thought of being able to sink his teeth into actual, hot food. The sudden and intense need for food is a relatively new experience for Castiel, but he recognizes hunger for what it is.

He slowly swings his sore and over-used legs over the edge of the couch, finding them to be tangled up in a blanket that Dean must have put over top of him last night. He can't help but feel grateful that Dean allowed him into the bunker for the night without any hesitation whatsoever, considering what's conspired between them recently.

He stands up and stretches out his limbs as far as he can before following the wonderful scents coming from across the hall. He enters the kitchen to find Dean standing at the counter, taking what appears to be bacon out of a pan and putting equal amounts of it onto two plates that already both have a couple of eggs each on them. He waits at the doorway in silence as he watches Dean pick up both plates and turn around, jumping a little at the sight of Castiel standing there.

"I see you still enjoy making people mess their pants by sneaking up on them, even with the lack of angel-mojo…" he says with Dean's classic brand of sarcasm, rolling his eyes as he brings the plates to the small, round table in the centre of the room. "Come sit and eat this. You look like you could use a hot meal… or ten."

Castiel watches as Dean casually sits down in front of one of the plates of food and begins shovelling eggs into his mouth. He looks up at him again, mouth still full as he chews, and gestures again for Cas to sit across from him with his fork. Cas gives him a small, polite smile and sits himself down at the table, thoroughly enjoying the smell of bacon once again before picking up a piece and taking his first bite.

He slowly chews the bacon, allowing the flavour to cover his tongue. He doesn't think he's ever tasted anything so good in his entire existence, and he accidentally lets a small moan fall out of his mouth as his eyes instinctively close in pleasure on their own.

A small laugh from the other side of the table makes him snap open his eyes to see Dean watching him, eyes sparkling with amusement. "I take it we like bacon?" he asks, not even trying to hide the smile spreading across his face.

Castiel can feel heat burning under his face and neck, something he's pretty certain results from what humans call "blushing". "I apologize. I haven't eaten anything that actually constitutes as food since becoming human. Although I have eaten quite a lot of what you call "Cheetos" over this past week."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Dean replies, a smile still pulling at his lips. "I'll take it as a compliment to my cooking." Castiel gives him another small smile in return and carries on eating his breakfast, savouring every bite. He doesn't think he'll be able to go back to vending machine food after experiencing bacon.

They carry on eating in silence for a few more minutes before Dean speaks again. "So, there are a few different bedrooms down the hallway that you can choose for yourself once we're done eating. I'm probably going to have to go get some bedding out of the storage once you decide on one, but the mattresses are all super comfortable. A lot better than that couch out there... Plus it'll give you a space that's all to yourself, no Winchesters getting in the way. Oh, and we're gonna' have to get you some new digs now too since you can't just snap your fingers for instant laundry service anymore."

The sheer casualness of Dean's voice as he talks fills Castiel with a certain kind of warmth that he only seems to feel on occasions that he spends time with Dean. He hadn't been sure if Dean was going to be willing to let him stay at the bunker for very long, but he's been led to believe in the past that a person having their own room is a sign of permanence in a residence.

"You are allowing me to stay?" he asks quietly, wanting to hear it for himself just in case he is misreading the situation.

Dean suddenly stops chewing and looks at him, his eyebrows pulling together as he gives him a very familiar "are you stupid?" look. He swallows what's left in his mouth and carefully sets down his fork, bringing his elbows up onto the table and resting his chin on top of the fist that his hands have made.

"Okay," he sighs, hands un-fisting and coming up to rub his face in exasperation. "We need to talk. I know that neither of us want to, but this needs to happen and it needs to happen now. Because if we're at a point where you'd even question whether or not I want you here, then we're worse off than I thought." His tone is firm, but Castiel can hear a small amount of hurt in his voice as he speaks. The thought of hurting Dean again is more than enough for him to get over his insecurities and dive into the conversation that neither of them wants to have.

"Very well," he nods, setting his fork down as well and mentally preparing himself with all the apologies, feelings and other things he's been wanting to express to Dean for a very, very long time.

It takes over 2 hours to hash everything out (which is a lot of talking for two people as emotionally constipated as Dean and Castiel), but Dean is confident that their talk has made the way for a relatively smooth transition in their relationship. He's listened to Cas' apologies, offered up a few of his own, and while it's not something that's just going to instantly go away because of a lengthy, girly talk, he's at least sure that Cas won't be taking off again anytime soon. He's also pretty certain now that Cas wants to be here as much as Dean needs him here, which helps calm his nerves a great deal. He doesn't think he can handle the idea of Cas out on his own after what he witnessed last night, and he isn't sure he'd be able to get over another abandonment on Cas' behalf. He intentionally left that bit out of their conversation, but part of him believes that Cas may have figured that much out on his own.

They're still sitting at the small kitchen table in front of their empty plates, both emotionally drained and evidently finished saying everything they wanted to for the time being. "Well," says Dean, finally standing up and reaching for Cas' plate before grabbing his own, "I think we've had about enough of this girl-talk to last us an entire year. How about we do up the dishes from breakfast and then make Sam something to eat? Dude still can't get out of bed for anything but a full bladder."

Castiel's eyes seem to sadden at that, but he nods in agreement and stands from the table, taking one of the plates from Dean and following him to the sink. Dean puts the sink stopper in one half of the double sink and starts to fill it with warm water, Cas standing beside him waiting for instruction the entire time.

"Alright, your first lesson in humanity: Clean up after yourself. Seriously. Because things will start to turn green and smell, and nobody wants to live in a massive, bio-hazardous bunker. Got that?" he asks, stern expression on his face as he points an accusing finger near Cas' face. Cas simply nods in understanding, his mouth forming a tight line on his face. "Good," says Dean, turning back towards the sink.

Cas watches as Dean fills the sink with the dishes he made making breakfast, as well as the dishes the two of them just ate off of. He turns off the water once it's full enough, and grabs the sponge that sits on the counter beside the sink. "This," he says, holding the sponge up to Cas's face, "is the dish-washing sponge. We don't use it to clean anything but the dishes because we have to eat off of these, and we don't want cleaning chemicals or anything getting onto our dishes." Cas nods again, taking in the information like the very sponge Dean holds in his hand.

"Okay," Dean continues, throwing the sponge into the sink full of water. "All you have to do is fill the sink with a splash of soap and warm water, add the dirty dishes, and scrub away all the food with the sponge. Sound easy enough?"

Castiel nods again, gently pushing Dean to the side to make room for himself to stand in front of the sink full of water. He puts his hands into the water and feels around for the sponge, taking it and a dirty plate out of the water once he finds them. He starts to gently scrub at the plate with the sponge, being extra careful to get every last bit of food off before smiling proudly to himself, apparently deciding it's clean enough and dropping it back into the sink full of dishwater.

"No, no, no, no. We don't put the dish back in the water once we've finished washing," Dean says, bumping elbows with Cas as he tries to fish the clean plate out of the water. Cas' smile falters and he stiffens at the realization that he's done something wrong. Dean finally finds what he's looking for and pulls it out before continuing. "What we do now is put the dish on the dish rack, that way the water falls off of it and it dries while you work on washing the other dishes. Once they've all been washed, we put the dry dishes away in the cupboards." He stops and walks over to quickly grab the tea towel hanging off of the oven handle before making his way back towards the sink. "However, since it's the two of us doing the dishes together, I can just dry them myself with the towel and put them away while you wash. Sound good?"

Castiel seems to relax a bit at that, and nods his head in agreement. "Sure, Dean. That sounds fine." He turns back to the sink and takes up the sponge again, cleaning the next dish and then passing it off to Dean so that he can dry it and put it away. Dean had been a bit worried that showing Cas how to do "human things" would require a lot of effort and patience on his part, but Cas seems to be getting the hang of things rather quickly and it no longer seems like something he needs to be concerned about.

They carry on like this in comfortable silence, Castiel washing and Dean drying. Every once in a while Cas looks up from his sink to look at Dean, searching out his approval in his washing abilities. Dean gives him an encouraging grin and continues drying the dishes, but not before noticing the small smile Castiel gives him in return.

Maybe they aren't 100% okay yet, but Dean is confident that they will get there, no matter how slowly it takes them.

That's Chapter 1, friends! Again this is just to get the story started. The second and following chapters will feature more of Cas' attempts at navigating the Human world and more Destiel.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated, thanks for reading!

-ArticulateFiction :)