Trails To Happiness

A Call Home

Warning! Alcoholism
(Narrator POV)
Dean had gone for a walk after dinner the next day, right before the sun set in the town.

He knew that going out alone might not be the safest with the demon lurking around, but he was in public (around witnesses) and he needed some privacy from the men he was hunting with.

Dean was tired, stressed, and in desperate need of his husband's calming presence.

They hadn't found anything else in their research, but Dean had solved the handle problem on the branding iron. He broke into a local builder's workshop that had welding equipment, and then fashioned a hand-sized handle for the tool against demons.

With one problem solved and about forty-two others unsolved, Dean still found one key point of his stress.

John.

I know, shocking.

John had been drinking more and more each day the (so far week-long) hunt went on. While Dean knew that the man had never completely stopped, he had cut back at least a bit since the days he used to beat up Dean.

It wasn't like Dean wanted a relationship with the man (he still hated him), but he didn't want Adam to go through the same garbage that was Dean's life. That wasn't something he wanted his new little brother to have to endure, but there wasn't much that Dean could really do.

So, since he had no control over anything that was happening, Dean went for a walk.

He ended up in a park and sat on a bench that was slightly secluded, but had multiple people near it, in case a demon tried to make its move on him.

Dean pulled out his phone and called the one person he wished was there with him in his moment of need.

"Dean, what a surprise! You normally call later in the night." Castiel said happily, and Dean just leaned back and closed his eyes to savor it for a moment. "Dean?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"What's wrong?" Cas asked with a worried tone. He could always tell when something was up with his beloved.

"Nothing, angel. I just wanted to hear your voice." Dean tried to reassure. There was a brief pause and Dean knew that that meant Cas didn't buy his little fib.

"Dean Winchester-Singer, don't you dare lie to me. I know when something is wrong." Castiel said simply.

The hunter wasn't really sure if he should tell Cas what was going on. Sure, they told each other everything, but he didn't want to put his problems on the man when he had enough of his own.

"I'm a bit stressed, but I really did want to hear your voice." He compromised to give a bit of information.

"I know you did, Dean." Cas replied in a softer voice than before, flattered by the fact that his husband really did just want to hear his voice. Still, he continued on trying to see what was wrong. "Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

Cas already knew about most of what was going on during the hunting trip, but he could tell that something else was really eating at Dean. The green-eyed man wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Castiel or not.

"I don't know, honey."

"Dean..."

On one hand, he didn't want to burden his partner and cause him any extra stress. On the other hand, Dean didn't want to start filling their relationship with lies and secrets.

"I hate to call and tell you all my problems on the hunt when I'm sure you have plenty of things you rather be talking about." Dean decided to just explain his hesitance so Cas would worry less about what was bothering him.