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Dean was vaguely roused from his dream by an odd warm breath close to his ear. Something soft brushed against his skin, tickling intensely.
The hunter gave a small giggle and squirmed. “Ca-as,” he mock-whined, smiling to himself.
No reply came. Dean opened his eyes.
The breathing had not come from Cas, the hunter noticed with a little disappointment. The angel was instead sat cross-legged at the end of his bead, head cocked to one side, and Dean realised he’d spoken out loud. He quickly averted his eyes from Cas’ gaze and turned his head to the side to see what had made the noise and was now nudging his ear.
A small golden Labrador puppy met Dean’s eyes with a soppy gaze and began licking his nose repeatedly.
“Cas?”
“Yes, Dean?”
“Why is there a small dog licking my face?”
“Isn’t she adorable?”
“She?”
“Roxy.”
Dean turned slowly back to Cas. “You named it?” he asked, not quite believing what he was hearing or seeing.
“Is it not customary to name pets?” The angel looked mildly confused at Dean’s comment.
“Well yeah,” Dean replied, gingerly lifting the pup and moving it away from him before sitting up. “But people keep pets. We’re not keeping... that.”
In that moment, the angel looked utterly crestfallen; his eyes widened as he looked directly at the hunter, his eyebrows creased up in the middle in that way that made Dean feel incredibly guilty and his bottom lip even began to tremble ever so slightly.
“Ugh,” Dean resigned. “Fine. We can keep... Roxy. But no more pets,” he added firmly with a pointed finger in the angel’s direction. “Kapish?”
Cas only smiled radiantly.
“Dean?”
Sam’s voice was muffled, coming from somewhere from the motel living room and reaching them through the bedroom door.
“Yeah?”
“What the hell is going on in here?”
“What? I’ve just woken up, I haven’t done anything."
“Well maybe you’d better come out here.”
Dean cast a suspicious look towards Cas, who shrugged in a way that made Dean feel like he’d had everything to do with it. The hunter sighed before dressing and opening the bedroom door. Cas followed carrying Roxy.
The scene that met them was chaos more than anything they had ever encountered.
Sam stood frozen in the front doorway staring disbelievingly at the assortment of small animals that were in the process of destroying the room. A scruffy cat lay stretched across two sofa cushions, bunnies thumped at one another across the table, a piglet dashed before them squealing its head off, hamsters sat nibbling the morning paper and in one corner a hedgehog was tentatively snuffling at a curious otter.
The biggest surprise by far, however, was the huge moose that stood boredly behind the now-smashed television, who let out an almighty ‘moo’.
“He’s for Sam,” Cas said, grinning as he stepped into the room and set Roxy down on the floor. She bounded up onto the sofa, scaring the life out of the poor cat.
Both Winchesters stared at the angel incredulously.
“Cas, what the hell?” they said in unison.
Cas didn’t seem to be able to comprehend their frustration at the situation. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I dunno, maybe that you’ve filled our motel with animals?” Sam offered, stepping in and closing the door so a stray hamster didn’t escape.
“Pets,” Cas corrected, patting the moose affectionately.
“Cas, I said no more pets,” Dean warned.
“No more?” Sam jumped in, suspicious. “We never had a pet, did we Dean?”
Dean stared at his feet. “He... he brought me a puppy when I woke up.”
Sam smirked and folded his arms. “And you said we could keep it?”
“Well... you like dogs, right?” Dean answered lamely, not wanting to mention how much he’d been swayed by Cas’ Adorable Face.
Sam laughed and shook his head. “Whatever. Look, we’ve gotta get these animals back to where they came from. Cas?” he asked, turning to the angel.
Cas looked forlorn. “But why?”
Sam joined him by the moose. Dean swore he saw a sad fondness cross his brother’s features at the thought of returning the animal. “We can’t look after them. Not when we’re on the road all the time.”
And then Cas took his opportunity to switch on the innocent sadness he’d used on Dean ten minutes earlier. The older brother watch as Sam fought not to look at the angel, knowing what would happen, but he couldn’t resist. As soon as he met his eyes—
“Fine!”