Just for tonight
Mary Winchester had always liked the Novak family across the road.
They appeared to have everything yet they were very humble and nice people;
They were very wealthy.
The children were very respectful and you could see them mowing lawns or washing cars for neighbours.
But Mr and Mrs Novak liked to use their wealth on expensive holidays or weekend vacations away from the children.
Michael was the oldest and so was trusted to look after his younger siblings; Luc, Gabriel, Anna and Castiel.
Castiel was only four and was not being looked after by his older siblings well, he’d go for days without a bath and changing his clothes and would often be playing outside in the garden without any supervision.
Mary didn’t blame the older Novak children; they were typical teenagers who were more interested in their social lives than looking after their youngest brother. Instead she offered to take care of Castiel whenever Mr and Mrs Novak were away.
Castiel and Sam were in the same Kindergarten so it seemed like a good idea.
Mrs Novak insisted on paying Mary for her troubles, but of course Mary would have done it for free, she used the money to take Castiel and her boys on day trips whenever Castiel was over.
The days weren’t the problem, the nights were.
Castiel had never slept anywhere apart from home and he would usually climb into his parent’s bed, failing that, one of his sibling’s beds. It was his first time in his own bed and he had terrible nightmares. John put his foot down, saying that Castiel must learn to sleep alone and grow up.
So it continued, every time Castiel would stay over, Mary and Dean (being light sleepers) would wake up in the middle of the night to Castiel screaming for a member of his family.
Castiel looked terribly tired and was grumpy when he woke up, Dean liked Castiel and thought he was a great kid but hated it when he was grouchy with him so he stayed up one night, so he could go and calm Castiel down before he woke Mary up.
Sure enough, around 11pm Dean started to hear rustling in the spare bedroom, followed by someone crying. Dean crept out of his room and along the landing, pushing Castiel’s door open, Castiel was sleeping with his eyes scrunched and he was thrashing about, calling out for Gabriel.
“Hey, Castiel. Wake up, buddy.” Dean shook his shoulders.
Nothing.
“Cas, c’mon. It’s Dean.”
Castiel woke with a start and immediately started crying.
“Hey, c’mere. You’re okay.” Dean whispered and put an arm around the younger boy. “Let’s go to my room okay?”
Cas wasn’t talking and didn’t show any sign of moving anytime soon.
Dean thought how big Castiel was, he was pretty small for a four year old, a little smaller than Sammy and he could pick up Sammy no problem.
Dean let go of Cas and moved so his hand were under his arms, lifting the younger boy easily. Castiel rested on Dean and let himself be carried into Dean’s bedroom.
Dean kicked the door shut and grabbed his favourite Batman toy from his shelf and handed it to Cas as he set him down on his feet.
“Here, sleep in my bed for tonight.”
“Where will you sleep?” Cas sniffed and clasped the Batman.
“With you, Dummy.”
Cas nodded and climbed into Dean’s bed, Dean scrambled in beside him and covering them both, he could sleep without his Batman for one night. He was in the second grade now.
Mary woke up automatically at 2am, expecting to hear Cas shouting in his sleep but she heard nothing, concerned she got up to check on him and found his door open and no Cas. She rolled her eyes and looked in Sam’s room, expecting Sam to have let Cas sleep in his room but Cas wasn’t there.
She checked Dean’s room, ready to tell Cas that Dean wouldn’t like it if Cas was in there but she saw that Cas was asleep, holding Dean’s favourite toy and Dean was asleep beside him holding a different toy, almost like Dean had given him the toy.
Mary shrugged and went back to bed.
From then on Cas would always get into Dean’s bed, and if he didn’t, Dean would go and get him.
After a while Cas gave Dean’s Batman toy back and settled for holding Dean’s hand if he thought he was going to have a bad dream.
It was innocent; no one thought anything of it.
Dean was like a sweet older brother, he would do the same for Sam.
It wasn’t Cas’ fault he was scared of being alone