The Trouble With Affection

The angel was expected to report back to heaven straightaway after he had made sure the child survived his first night on Earth. Instead, Castiel found himself too fascinated to leave. He watched as the baby yawned, his heavily-eyelashed peepers drooping of their own accord, his breathing evening out until he was fast asleep.

 

Castiel was enchanted, watching the baby sleep. It was a precious sight to behold, a creature so utterly innocent in the innocent state of dreaming.

 

He was fascinated by the dreams themselves, too. Whereras most newborns, as he had heard from genuine guardian angels, had no dreams but lights and shapes vaguely representing the faces of the infant's folks, and the place of birth, and other first sights. There was no detail, no deriving of emotion.

 

This baby, however, dreamed of, of all things, sweets. Candied plums iced in sugar frosting, lemon-yellow scoops of dripping frozen custard topped off with a shining cherry, and, the most vivid: a thick slice of steaming, crispy apple pie.

 

Dean Winchester was already in a league of his own, and he wasn't even a day old.

 

Castiel was struck by how brightly the infant's soul shone. It was brilliant, like a tiny star inside the boy's body. It was startlingly similar to looking at one of his brothers'. Castiel felt another of those smiles playing on the corners of his lips, so strange to him, so rare.

 

Dean whimpered and suckled in his sleep, and the angel soon realized he was hungry. It was really of no concern to him, he wouldn't starve, but Castiel found himself touching Mary's forehead anyway. She didn't know what had woken her, but she knew at once there was something the matter with her son, and only a few more seconds to understand the reason. She smiled and unbuttoned her pajama top.

 

Assured at last that his charge would be alright, Castiel went back to heaven.

 

This time it was his own reluctance that surprised him.

 

He flew back to heaven with the strange fancy that there were heavy rocks weighing down his wings.