dauntperplexity (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dauntperplexity) wrote2011-02-23 08:21 am
dauntperplexity) wrote2011-02-23 08:21 am
Fic: Moments of Lucidity
Title: Moments of Lucidity
Author: DauntPerplexity
Rating: PG 13
Genre: episode related, pre-slash, hurt/comfort
Characters and/or Pairing: Bobby, Sam, Dean/Castiel
Spoilers: Season 4, 6x03
Warnings: violence
Word Count: 4329
Summary: And being with Dean was one of the safest places he could be with while he recovered.
Author’s Note: The fic was written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
d_hearts_c Dean/Castiel Valentine’s Challenge for a prompt by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hugglewolf . Here is the prompt: Season 4, after Cas gets in a fight with demons he is hurt and delirious. He flies to Bobby's on impulse because Dean is there, cue lots of schmoopy comforting of the angel, and when he gets back on his feet, Dean just has to risk a kiss…
No matter how fast Castiel was, he wasn’t fast enough to step out of the way of the demon’s strike. He had no idea how everything went downhill so quickly.
He was fighting alongside Balthazar trying to protect a seal. They were frantic because the demons were getting closer to breaking sixty-six seals. The angels were spread too thin to be able to defend every possibility. As much as he hated thinking it, the angels were losing, and barring some miracle, it was only a matter of time before the sixty-sixth seal was broken.
“Castiel!” Balthazar yelled, trying to warn him from the oncoming strike.
They both knew it was too late.
The demon came at him holding a sword that looked like one of theirs. He hoped it wasn’t because it would not bode well for him. Castiel felt the blade the demon was holding pierce his chest, and felt it go through his back. He looked down and saw that the wound was placed on the exact opposite of where Dean stabbed him when they first met.
He looked up and saw the demon grinning at him with his eyes blackened. At that proximity, he put his palm on the demon’s forehead, exorcising it from the human. The human fell to he ground dead next to the altar at the front of the church.
“Castiel,” Balthazar said, making his way to his brother’s side after dispatching the last demon alive. “There are more on the way.”
“Balthazar. You need to call for back-up.”
“What are you going to do?”
Castiel put a hand on the blade and tried to pull it out, but felt a wave of pain flow through his body. He tried again and found that he was too weak. “I’ll stay and protect the seal.”
“You’re injured.”
“Balthazar.”
Balthazar stared at his brother’s chest. “Why aren’t you able to pull out the blade?” he said.
“Something is different about this weapon.”
“You need to get it out of your body.”
“I understand that, Balthazar.”
Balthazar’s hand went to the handle of the blade and he pulled it out quickly. He put his arm out to catch his brother’s body as it jack-knifed. He lifted up the blade, inspecting it. “This is covered in angel sigils,” he whispered. “I cannot heal this wound.”
“Then you are the only one who can go for help.”
“The seal is lost, Castiel.”
“No, it’s not,” he grunted out. He did not want to lose another seal. “If you can get our brothers here, we can save this seal from being broken.”
“I am not leaving you here to get ambushed.”
“Not even if it’s an order,” Castiel said with a grimace as he straightened himself out.
“Castiel, don’t,” Balthazar begged. He was never able to disobey an order from him. Sure Castiel was younger, but he was of higher rank. And he respected the angel, even if he didn’t agree with his reasons for fighting. “Please.”
“Get some backup. That’s an order.”
Balthazar felt his grace throb. He reached forward, putting a hand behind Castiel’s neck and pulling him forward. He placed a kiss on his brother’s forehead. “Stay alive,” he whispered.
Castiel pushed his brother away, turning so he didn’t have to face him. “Go now,” he said. “Before it’s too late.”
Castiel turned around after he heard the flap of his brother’s wings and he knew that he was alone. He reached behind him, wincing at the stretching the action did on his wound, and pulled out a feather. He held it in his hand and waited for it to turn into his sword.
With his keen hearing he heard the sound of the demons approaching. He held his sword up defensively, waiting for the demons to enter the church. The front doors blew open and standing in the doorway were at least seven demons.
“They left him alone,” the one at the head said. “And he’s hurt. Poor angel. I want his wings.”
The demons spread out and ran toward Castiel. His eyes darted around, looking for the closet threat. Three demons surrounded him, ready to pounce. They looked at each other, and a second later, began their charge.
He was ready to defend when he doubled over from the stab wound. He fell to his knee, waiting for the final blow. But it never came. Castiel looked up and saw that he was surrounded on all sides by his brothers.
Balthazar knelt down in front of him, taking his face in his hands “Castiel, get somewhere safe,” he said.
“I can’t leave.”
“Go now,” he growled. Castiel’s eyes met Balthazar’s and he knew that he would not be able to win a fight against his brother.
He closed his eyes and began to imagine where he could go that was away from danger. He hated that he had to abandon his brothers before the fight was over, but he knew that he would be more of a hindrance than help. Especially knowing his brothers would be more worried about him than protecting the actual seal.
He didn’t have many options to fly to. He thought about flying back to Heaven, but he was too weak and he knew that he wouldn’t make it that far. He thought about flying into the woods and just resting while he recovered, but he would be too vulnerable.
The final option was Dean. They were still on rocky ground because of his initial reluctance to help them with the Sam and Lilith situation. He knew that Dean was still dealing with a lot with recovering from Hell and stopping the Apocalypse. And the attack on him by Alastair.
But he needed to find somewhere safe. And being with Dean was one of the safest places he could be with while he recovered.
He focused his grace on pinpointing Dean’s location.
Dean was downstairs in the living room of Bobby’s house watching TV. Ever since he had risen from the grave, his sleeping schedule had been all kinds of wrong. That was if he was able to get some sleep at all.
He figured that with all of the extra hours that he was awake, he could use the time to do some research. In the quiet of the night, he was able to think and read without Sam or Bobby asking him if he found anything every ten minutes. But it was better than them asking him if he was all right.
He had been reading the same page for the past ten minutes. He didn’t understand a word of it. Especially since some of it was in a language that he couldn’t understand. It was probably something that Castiel could have helped him with.
He thought about calling him, but after the incident with Alastair, then Sam and Lilith, things were still tense between them. He flipped the page and hoped that there wasn’t anything important on the page he had just skipped over.
He took a sip from one of the three beers he had on the coffee table in between his stacks of books. He emptied it and reached for the second one but knocked it over instead when he heard the sound of a crash in the study.
He reached for his knife and gun that were on the table and slowly made his way to the source of the noise. The lights were off. He listened for a sound, but didn’t hear a thing.
He was about to head back to the couch, chalking it up to the fact that he hadn’t been sleeping and his mind was just playing tricks on him. Then he heard the sound of someone breathing. And it was labored. He raised his gun and knife, putting his guard up.
He hoped that whatever traps Bobby had set in the room were holding up. He switched on the light and was ready to shoot at what was in the room, but stopped.
“Dean?”
Dean was surprised to see the angel standing in the middle of Bobby’s study, hunched over the desk. “Cas?” he said, dropping his arms. He set his weapons down on the nearest surface and walked forward.
Castiel’s hand went up to his forehead. “Where am I?”
“You’re at Bobby’s,” he said slowly. “Are you okay?” he asked.
He looked around the room, taking in his setting. “How?”
“You flew, I’m guessing.”
“I shouldn’t be here.”
“Okay, so why…” his voice trailed off when he looked over Castiel’s body. “Are you freaking bleeding? Why are you bleeding?”
Castiel looked down his body, watching the blood slowly leak from the wound. “My vessel is wounded.”
“Are you?”
“Am I?”
“Okay. Cas.” Dean walked forward, putting a hand on Castiel’s back. He wanted to stand him up straight so he could see how bad he was hurt. “Cas, you’re on fire right now,” he said, feeling heat coming through three layers of clothes.
“I don’t—” He sounded like he was going to same something else, but he fell unconscious in Dean’s arms.
Dean knelt down, lowering the unconscious angel. “Cas, wake up,” he said patting the angel’s cheek. “Come on, Cas.” It did nothing to wake him up. He let out a long sigh. “I am not okay playing doctor to an angel. Wake up.” He shook the angel, but all that did was loll Castiel’s head toward his chest. “Damnit.”
He ripped open Castiel’s shirt, not caring that he tore off the buttons and made them fly everywhere. He lifted the shirt away from the wound, careful because of the dried blood. He rolled him over when he realized that the wound went all the way through. “What the hell did you get yourself into now?” he whispered, laying Castiel across his lap.
“Come on, let’s get you somewhere comfortable and I can see… I’m talking to myself.” He paused for a second. “Okay.” He slipped a hand under Castiel’s back and the other under his legs and picked him up.
He stood up and walked the both of them out of the study. He contemplated dropping Castiel off on the couch, but that wasn’t going to be enough space for him to work. And he knew that he would not be able to watch TV if the angel was sleeping. He brought him to his room, glad that he chose the downstairs room all those years ago.
He put Castiel on the bed, looking at the wound again to see if he reopened it. He didn’t, but the wound was still leaking a little blood. “What the hell?” he whispered, not sure where to start.
He decided that getting rid of his clothes was the easiest thing to do. He stopped for a moment, contemplating if he should pull Castiel’s clothes off or just cut them off. He stepped into the bathroom attached to his room and looked for a pair of scissor. He figured that since Castiel could mend his clothes, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Then again, he should have healed himself instantly.
Dean cut down the arms. For some reason, he wanted to apologize as he did. Because honestly, the clothes were just as much a part of the angel as the vessel.
He threw the scraps of clothes on the floor, wincing at how bad the wound actually looked now that he could see it. He knew that it would look a lot worse once he cleaned up the dried blood.
He needed to go to the kitchen to grab a rag or two. He had to leave Castiel alone for a moment.
He grabbed the clean rags and soaked one with water. He also grabbed a bottle of water. He opened the door back to his room and saw Castiel’s eyes were open. “Cas?” he asked.
“I need to help Balthazar,” he whispered.
Dean wasn’t sure if Castiel heard him the way that he was talking. “Who?”
“There was too many of them.”
“Cas.”
“Can’t let the church burn,” he continued.
“Cas,” he repeated trying to get the angel’s attention.
“I have to go.” He tried to sit up, but he wasn’t able to get far.
“No,” Dean said, dropping the water and rags. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Have to protect the seal.”
“You have to stop bleeding everywhere first,” Dean said.
Castiel let out a long and loud sigh. His eyes slid shut.
Dean watched as his chest rose and fell as he fell back asleep. He picked up the water bottle and rag again and took the chance to clean up Castiel’s wound. He rolled Castiel on to his side so that he would have an easier time cleaning both sides of the wound.
After years of dealing with wounds like that, he was able to clean and wrap both wounds in less than half an hour. He put a hand on the angel’s forehead and still felt some heat coming from it. He soaked the second rag with water and put it on his forehead and hoped it was enough to cool him down.
When he was done, he went to the bathroom and washed the blood from his hands. He looked at his watch and saw that an hour had passed.
He returned to Castiel’s bedside while the angel rested. It was the least that he could do since Castiel stayed at his bedside while he recovered in the hospital. He left his room and grabbed the book he was reading in the living room before this whole situation started.
A few hours passed and the sun was starting to come up. Castiel hadn’t moved from his position on the bed.
Dean thought that the angel wasn’t going to wake up any time soon, so he decided that it was time to get some food into his system. He stood up and was about to leave when he heard something had fallen in the room.
He looked to the bed and saw Castiel had knocked over the bottle that was on the nightstand.
The angel was gasping like someone was choking him. His back arched as he tried to pull some air into his lungs.
Dean was at Castiel’s side in an instant. “Cas, wake up,” he said.
Castiel swung an arm out, hitting Dean in the jaw. “I have to protect the seals.”
Dean rubbed his jaw, surprised that Castiel actually clocked him. The surprise wore off quickly. He knew that he had to calm Castiel down or he was going to end up hurting himself or someone. He was worried that the someone would be him. “It’s just a dream.”
Castiel’s eyes flew open. He looked right at Dean, but he wasn’t seeing him. “I won’t let anyone hurt him.”
“Who is him?” Dean asked. He was wondering who he would hurt that the angel would get that protective over.
“Dean. He is my charge,” he growled. “I won’t let them hurt him.”
“I thought that I was protected by all the angels.”
“Not after Uriel. I will smite down anyone and everyone who stands in my way of protecting him.”
“And Sam.”
“Only because it makes Dean happy.” Castiel looked up to the ceiling. He swallowed hard. “I have to go to him. Make sure he’s safe.”
“He is safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
Dean grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the bed. “Cas. Look at me. It’s me. Dean.”
“No.” He tried to pull his hands out of Castiel’s grip, but he was too weak. He writhed in the bed, but to no avail. “I won’t forgive myself if something happens to him. I have to go.”
“No. Nothing is happening to him. You’re not leaving.”
“You can’t keep me here.” His voice deepened.
“Cas. I will sit on you if I have to,” he threatened. But in all honesty, Castiel’s attitude was scaring him. It reminded him of the old Castiel. The Castiel from the second time their paths crossed. The one who said that he had the power to throw him back in Hell. It seemed like another lifetime ago.
“You are not strong enough to keep me here.”
Dean let go of Castiel. He stepped back and watched as Castiel tried to prove how strong he was. “Cas, you look like you can barely lift a feather.”
“I need to protect Dean.”
“He’s fine.” He rolled his eyes when he realized that he was talking in the third person about himself. “You, on the other hand, need to stop trying to get out of bed,” Dean said. He watched as Castiel tried to lift himself into a sitting position again. Dean pulled Castiel’s arms out from under him, putting Castiel back in a horizontal position. “Cas, stop.” He gently pressed down on Castiel’s shoulders.
“No,” Castiel growled, fighting out of the human’s grip.
“You are impossible,” Dean said. He moved his grip down to Castiel’s upper arms and held Castiel’s arms tighter.
But Castiel seemed to be getting stronger and Dean assumed that soon he would be strong enough to fight out of his hold.
Dean sighed and he knew what he had to do. He didn’t actually think that he would actually have to follow through with his threat. He climbed onto the bed and straddled Castiel’s thighs. He hoped that he wasn’t hurting the angel. He grabbed the angel’s wrists and pinned them onto the pillow on either side of his head.
“Jesus Christ, Cas. I’m trying to help you.”
“Dean?”
He looked over and saw Bobby and Sam standing in the doorway. He couldn’t even think of the words to describe the looks they had on their faces. “What?” he yelled.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he growled.
“Um…” Sam said.
“Boy, get off the angel,” Bobby replied.
“No,” he yelled. “Not until he stops trying to leave.”
“What is going on?” Sam asked.
“He’s injured. He keeps trying to fly away because he needs to protect Dean.”
“So you sit on him?”
When Sam said it, Dean realized how ridiculous his plan sounded. He left it to the fact that he hadn’t slept all night. “What else was I supposed to do?” he yelled.
“Move, idjit. You’re probably hurting him,” Bobby said, pushing Dean off of the angel. He sat down next to Castiel and ran a hand through the angel’s hair. “Castiel,” he whispered. “You need to focus.”
He turned his head to face the sound of the voice. His eyes were wet with tears. “I need to save, Dean.” He sounded like he was going to cry. “I can’t let him get hurt again.”
“Dean is fine,” Bobby said. “He’s right here. He’s safe. Look.”
He turned his head and saw Dean standing over Bobby’s shoulder. “Dean?”
“The one and only,” he replied moving to stand next to Bobby.
He looked around and saw that he wasn’t in the church anymore. He was in a room. His gaze went back to Dean. “How did I get here?”
“I am not having this conversation again. How are you feeling?”
He looked down his body and saw that he wasn’t wearing a shirt and there was a patch of gauze on his chest. “Was I wounded?”
“Yes, you were wounded.”
“The church,” Castiel said.
“What about it?”
“A seal. I was there before I was here.” Castiel swallowed, trying to get rid of his dried throat. “Why am I so weak?”
“Because you were stabbed.”
“Why aren’t you healing?” Bobby asked.
“There were sigils on the blade. I need to…” He tried to lift his hand to his eyes, needing to rub the tiredness from them, but he stopped when he felt a pain in his chest.
“What you need to do is sleep,” Bobby replied.
“I don’t need to sleep.”
“Fine,” Dean said. “You don’t need to sleep, but you can’t go flying around with a hole in you.” He didn’t want Castiel to leave while he was injured. He wondered why he was so concerned.
“I will heal in a day or so.”
“Then stay here until then.”
Castiel searched Dean’s eyes, wondering what was going on through the human’s head. But all he could find was concern. “I will stay,” he whispered.
“Good,” Dean said. He hoped nobody was able to see how worried and relieved he actually was. “Well, we have some books to read, you just close your eyes and sleep.”
He grabbed the book that had somehow fallen to the floor while he was fighting with Castiel. He pushed Bobby and Sam out of the room and shut the door behind him. He hoped that the angel did what he said.
Dean looked up when he felt someone else in the kitchen with him. He saw that it was Castiel, but he knew that it was the angel before then. He was in his clothes that were put back together and didn’t have a drop of blood on them. “You look better.”
Almost three days had passed since Castiel had shown up bloody and fallen unconscious. During that time, he slept in Dean’s bed, not that Dean used it much, and recovered. Apparently three days was enough to heal an angel.
“I feel better. Thank you,” he said with a nod.
“No problem.”
“I apologize if I—”
“Dude, you weren’t a burden,” Dean replied, knowing what Castiel was going to apologize for. “You were bleeding, had a stab wound that I could see through, had a fever, and you saying a bunch of crap that didn’t make sense.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“But again thank—”
“Would that wound have killed you?” Dean asked, interrupting the angel.
“I don’t—”
“I didn’t realize that you could get hurt that badly,” Dean said, not really caring to hear what Castiel’s response to his first question was because in his mind, the answer was yes.
“Dean.” Castiel tried to get the hunter’s attention.
He shut the book in front of him and for the first time, met Castiel’s gaze. “In my head, I thought that you guys were unbreakable, that nothing could kill you. But you show up here, bleeding. And it didn’t make sense.”
“I don’t—”
Dean stood up and walked to stand in front of the angel. “You should’ve been healed. Like after I stabbed you in the barn that night. You healed on sight. That freaked me out. But you not healing immediately. That freaked me out more.”
Castiel’s hand unconsciously went to where the wound was on his chest. “I was able to heal.”
Dean’s hands fell down to his sides and formed fists. “But if you didn’t. And you died.”
“That blade wasn’t able to kill me.”
“Not the point, Cas.”
Castiel sighed, a little impatient. “Then make it because I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You’re a friend. And you were hurt. And I was scared.” He paused, taking a moment to collect himself. “What is your responsibility in this whole thing, Cas?” Dean asked.
“I don’t…”
“Are you here to protect the seals?”
“Yes.”
“And nothing else?
“Dean, is there a correct answer to this question?”
“I’m not your priority, am I?” he said under his breath, hoping that Castiel wasn’t able to hear him.
“I said something, didn’t I?”
“You were hurt. You weren’t thinking straight. You were saying a lot.”
“Dean, I pulled you from Hell. If there is a way that I can keep you from pain, I will. I care about you.”
“But that doesn’t mean you get to get yourself killed trying to do so.”
If Dean were able to express his emotions better, he would have told Castiel that he cared about him. He would have told him that he was glad that Castiel was watching over him. He would say that he cared about him as much as he cared about his family, which was a surprise considering how long he’s know him. But Dean was allergic go chick flick moments.
“Your concern for me was understandable. Unnecessary, but—”
Dean surged forward and grabbed Castiel by his cheeks. He pulled him forward and pressed their lips together. He kissed the angel. He wasn’t sure, but he thought that Castiel responded to the kiss. After a few moments, he pulled away.
Maybe he was a lot better at expressing his feelings than he thought.
Castiel’s hand touched his lips. He could still feel where Dean’s lips touched his. He looked at the human who stood in front of him, smirking. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to,” Dean said.
“I feel like I need to.”
Dean sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “There is so much crap going on around me. But you’re here trying to protect me from all of it. And I care about you, even though you drive me up the wall with your you-ness. But I care about you. And the thought of you dying—”
“I won’t be dying anytime soon.”
“Good.”
“I need to go,” Castiel said softly, like he didn’t want to say those words. “I need to report to my garrison.”
“You do that.”
“Dean.”
“If you thank me one more time—“
“I know these words sound wasted, but try to be careful. You and your brother.”
“I’ll try,” Dean said with a nod.
“Good.” He turned around like he was preparing to leave.
“Cas,” Dean said, needing to say one more thing.
“Yes, Dean?” Castiel said, looking over his shoulder to the human.
“You too. Be careful, I mean.”
“I will try my best,” Castiel replied. He walked back over to Dean. He put a hand on his cheek and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He pulled away and slowly let out a breath. Without saying anything else, he disappeared from the room.
Dean hummed and went back to reading his book.
Author: DauntPerplexity
Rating: PG 13
Genre: episode related, pre-slash, hurt/comfort
Characters and/or Pairing: Bobby, Sam, Dean/Castiel
Spoilers: Season 4, 6x03
Warnings: violence
Word Count: 4329
Summary: And being with Dean was one of the safest places he could be with while he recovered.
Author’s Note: The fic was written for
d_hearts_c Dean/Castiel Valentine’s Challenge for a prompt by hugglewolf . Here is the prompt: Season 4, after Cas gets in a fight with demons he is hurt and delirious. He flies to Bobby's on impulse because Dean is there, cue lots of schmoopy comforting of the angel, and when he gets back on his feet, Dean just has to risk a kiss…No matter how fast Castiel was, he wasn’t fast enough to step out of the way of the demon’s strike. He had no idea how everything went downhill so quickly.
He was fighting alongside Balthazar trying to protect a seal. They were frantic because the demons were getting closer to breaking sixty-six seals. The angels were spread too thin to be able to defend every possibility. As much as he hated thinking it, the angels were losing, and barring some miracle, it was only a matter of time before the sixty-sixth seal was broken.
“Castiel!” Balthazar yelled, trying to warn him from the oncoming strike.
They both knew it was too late.
The demon came at him holding a sword that looked like one of theirs. He hoped it wasn’t because it would not bode well for him. Castiel felt the blade the demon was holding pierce his chest, and felt it go through his back. He looked down and saw that the wound was placed on the exact opposite of where Dean stabbed him when they first met.
He looked up and saw the demon grinning at him with his eyes blackened. At that proximity, he put his palm on the demon’s forehead, exorcising it from the human. The human fell to he ground dead next to the altar at the front of the church.
“Castiel,” Balthazar said, making his way to his brother’s side after dispatching the last demon alive. “There are more on the way.”
“Balthazar. You need to call for back-up.”
“What are you going to do?”
Castiel put a hand on the blade and tried to pull it out, but felt a wave of pain flow through his body. He tried again and found that he was too weak. “I’ll stay and protect the seal.”
“You’re injured.”
“Balthazar.”
Balthazar stared at his brother’s chest. “Why aren’t you able to pull out the blade?” he said.
“Something is different about this weapon.”
“You need to get it out of your body.”
“I understand that, Balthazar.”
Balthazar’s hand went to the handle of the blade and he pulled it out quickly. He put his arm out to catch his brother’s body as it jack-knifed. He lifted up the blade, inspecting it. “This is covered in angel sigils,” he whispered. “I cannot heal this wound.”
“Then you are the only one who can go for help.”
“The seal is lost, Castiel.”
“No, it’s not,” he grunted out. He did not want to lose another seal. “If you can get our brothers here, we can save this seal from being broken.”
“I am not leaving you here to get ambushed.”
“Not even if it’s an order,” Castiel said with a grimace as he straightened himself out.
“Castiel, don’t,” Balthazar begged. He was never able to disobey an order from him. Sure Castiel was younger, but he was of higher rank. And he respected the angel, even if he didn’t agree with his reasons for fighting. “Please.”
“Get some backup. That’s an order.”
Balthazar felt his grace throb. He reached forward, putting a hand behind Castiel’s neck and pulling him forward. He placed a kiss on his brother’s forehead. “Stay alive,” he whispered.
Castiel pushed his brother away, turning so he didn’t have to face him. “Go now,” he said. “Before it’s too late.”
Castiel turned around after he heard the flap of his brother’s wings and he knew that he was alone. He reached behind him, wincing at the stretching the action did on his wound, and pulled out a feather. He held it in his hand and waited for it to turn into his sword.
With his keen hearing he heard the sound of the demons approaching. He held his sword up defensively, waiting for the demons to enter the church. The front doors blew open and standing in the doorway were at least seven demons.
“They left him alone,” the one at the head said. “And he’s hurt. Poor angel. I want his wings.”
The demons spread out and ran toward Castiel. His eyes darted around, looking for the closet threat. Three demons surrounded him, ready to pounce. They looked at each other, and a second later, began their charge.
He was ready to defend when he doubled over from the stab wound. He fell to his knee, waiting for the final blow. But it never came. Castiel looked up and saw that he was surrounded on all sides by his brothers.
Balthazar knelt down in front of him, taking his face in his hands “Castiel, get somewhere safe,” he said.
“I can’t leave.”
“Go now,” he growled. Castiel’s eyes met Balthazar’s and he knew that he would not be able to win a fight against his brother.
He closed his eyes and began to imagine where he could go that was away from danger. He hated that he had to abandon his brothers before the fight was over, but he knew that he would be more of a hindrance than help. Especially knowing his brothers would be more worried about him than protecting the actual seal.
He didn’t have many options to fly to. He thought about flying back to Heaven, but he was too weak and he knew that he wouldn’t make it that far. He thought about flying into the woods and just resting while he recovered, but he would be too vulnerable.
The final option was Dean. They were still on rocky ground because of his initial reluctance to help them with the Sam and Lilith situation. He knew that Dean was still dealing with a lot with recovering from Hell and stopping the Apocalypse. And the attack on him by Alastair.
But he needed to find somewhere safe. And being with Dean was one of the safest places he could be with while he recovered.
He focused his grace on pinpointing Dean’s location.
LRLRLRLRLRLRLR
Dean was downstairs in the living room of Bobby’s house watching TV. Ever since he had risen from the grave, his sleeping schedule had been all kinds of wrong. That was if he was able to get some sleep at all.
He figured that with all of the extra hours that he was awake, he could use the time to do some research. In the quiet of the night, he was able to think and read without Sam or Bobby asking him if he found anything every ten minutes. But it was better than them asking him if he was all right.
He had been reading the same page for the past ten minutes. He didn’t understand a word of it. Especially since some of it was in a language that he couldn’t understand. It was probably something that Castiel could have helped him with.
He thought about calling him, but after the incident with Alastair, then Sam and Lilith, things were still tense between them. He flipped the page and hoped that there wasn’t anything important on the page he had just skipped over.
He took a sip from one of the three beers he had on the coffee table in between his stacks of books. He emptied it and reached for the second one but knocked it over instead when he heard the sound of a crash in the study.
He reached for his knife and gun that were on the table and slowly made his way to the source of the noise. The lights were off. He listened for a sound, but didn’t hear a thing.
He was about to head back to the couch, chalking it up to the fact that he hadn’t been sleeping and his mind was just playing tricks on him. Then he heard the sound of someone breathing. And it was labored. He raised his gun and knife, putting his guard up.
He hoped that whatever traps Bobby had set in the room were holding up. He switched on the light and was ready to shoot at what was in the room, but stopped.
“Dean?”
Dean was surprised to see the angel standing in the middle of Bobby’s study, hunched over the desk. “Cas?” he said, dropping his arms. He set his weapons down on the nearest surface and walked forward.
Castiel’s hand went up to his forehead. “Where am I?”
“You’re at Bobby’s,” he said slowly. “Are you okay?” he asked.
He looked around the room, taking in his setting. “How?”
“You flew, I’m guessing.”
“I shouldn’t be here.”
“Okay, so why…” his voice trailed off when he looked over Castiel’s body. “Are you freaking bleeding? Why are you bleeding?”
Castiel looked down his body, watching the blood slowly leak from the wound. “My vessel is wounded.”
“Are you?”
“Am I?”
“Okay. Cas.” Dean walked forward, putting a hand on Castiel’s back. He wanted to stand him up straight so he could see how bad he was hurt. “Cas, you’re on fire right now,” he said, feeling heat coming through three layers of clothes.
“I don’t—” He sounded like he was going to same something else, but he fell unconscious in Dean’s arms.
Dean knelt down, lowering the unconscious angel. “Cas, wake up,” he said patting the angel’s cheek. “Come on, Cas.” It did nothing to wake him up. He let out a long sigh. “I am not okay playing doctor to an angel. Wake up.” He shook the angel, but all that did was loll Castiel’s head toward his chest. “Damnit.”
He ripped open Castiel’s shirt, not caring that he tore off the buttons and made them fly everywhere. He lifted the shirt away from the wound, careful because of the dried blood. He rolled him over when he realized that the wound went all the way through. “What the hell did you get yourself into now?” he whispered, laying Castiel across his lap.
“Come on, let’s get you somewhere comfortable and I can see… I’m talking to myself.” He paused for a second. “Okay.” He slipped a hand under Castiel’s back and the other under his legs and picked him up.
He stood up and walked the both of them out of the study. He contemplated dropping Castiel off on the couch, but that wasn’t going to be enough space for him to work. And he knew that he would not be able to watch TV if the angel was sleeping. He brought him to his room, glad that he chose the downstairs room all those years ago.
He put Castiel on the bed, looking at the wound again to see if he reopened it. He didn’t, but the wound was still leaking a little blood. “What the hell?” he whispered, not sure where to start.
He decided that getting rid of his clothes was the easiest thing to do. He stopped for a moment, contemplating if he should pull Castiel’s clothes off or just cut them off. He stepped into the bathroom attached to his room and looked for a pair of scissor. He figured that since Castiel could mend his clothes, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Then again, he should have healed himself instantly.
Dean cut down the arms. For some reason, he wanted to apologize as he did. Because honestly, the clothes were just as much a part of the angel as the vessel.
He threw the scraps of clothes on the floor, wincing at how bad the wound actually looked now that he could see it. He knew that it would look a lot worse once he cleaned up the dried blood.
He needed to go to the kitchen to grab a rag or two. He had to leave Castiel alone for a moment.
He grabbed the clean rags and soaked one with water. He also grabbed a bottle of water. He opened the door back to his room and saw Castiel’s eyes were open. “Cas?” he asked.
“I need to help Balthazar,” he whispered.
Dean wasn’t sure if Castiel heard him the way that he was talking. “Who?”
“There was too many of them.”
“Cas.”
“Can’t let the church burn,” he continued.
“Cas,” he repeated trying to get the angel’s attention.
“I have to go.” He tried to sit up, but he wasn’t able to get far.
“No,” Dean said, dropping the water and rags. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Have to protect the seal.”
“You have to stop bleeding everywhere first,” Dean said.
Castiel let out a long and loud sigh. His eyes slid shut.
Dean watched as his chest rose and fell as he fell back asleep. He picked up the water bottle and rag again and took the chance to clean up Castiel’s wound. He rolled Castiel on to his side so that he would have an easier time cleaning both sides of the wound.
After years of dealing with wounds like that, he was able to clean and wrap both wounds in less than half an hour. He put a hand on the angel’s forehead and still felt some heat coming from it. He soaked the second rag with water and put it on his forehead and hoped it was enough to cool him down.
When he was done, he went to the bathroom and washed the blood from his hands. He looked at his watch and saw that an hour had passed.
He returned to Castiel’s bedside while the angel rested. It was the least that he could do since Castiel stayed at his bedside while he recovered in the hospital. He left his room and grabbed the book he was reading in the living room before this whole situation started.
A few hours passed and the sun was starting to come up. Castiel hadn’t moved from his position on the bed.
Dean thought that the angel wasn’t going to wake up any time soon, so he decided that it was time to get some food into his system. He stood up and was about to leave when he heard something had fallen in the room.
He looked to the bed and saw Castiel had knocked over the bottle that was on the nightstand.
The angel was gasping like someone was choking him. His back arched as he tried to pull some air into his lungs.
Dean was at Castiel’s side in an instant. “Cas, wake up,” he said.
Castiel swung an arm out, hitting Dean in the jaw. “I have to protect the seals.”
Dean rubbed his jaw, surprised that Castiel actually clocked him. The surprise wore off quickly. He knew that he had to calm Castiel down or he was going to end up hurting himself or someone. He was worried that the someone would be him. “It’s just a dream.”
Castiel’s eyes flew open. He looked right at Dean, but he wasn’t seeing him. “I won’t let anyone hurt him.”
“Who is him?” Dean asked. He was wondering who he would hurt that the angel would get that protective over.
“Dean. He is my charge,” he growled. “I won’t let them hurt him.”
“I thought that I was protected by all the angels.”
“Not after Uriel. I will smite down anyone and everyone who stands in my way of protecting him.”
“And Sam.”
“Only because it makes Dean happy.” Castiel looked up to the ceiling. He swallowed hard. “I have to go to him. Make sure he’s safe.”
“He is safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
Dean grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the bed. “Cas. Look at me. It’s me. Dean.”
“No.” He tried to pull his hands out of Castiel’s grip, but he was too weak. He writhed in the bed, but to no avail. “I won’t forgive myself if something happens to him. I have to go.”
“No. Nothing is happening to him. You’re not leaving.”
“You can’t keep me here.” His voice deepened.
“Cas. I will sit on you if I have to,” he threatened. But in all honesty, Castiel’s attitude was scaring him. It reminded him of the old Castiel. The Castiel from the second time their paths crossed. The one who said that he had the power to throw him back in Hell. It seemed like another lifetime ago.
“You are not strong enough to keep me here.”
Dean let go of Castiel. He stepped back and watched as Castiel tried to prove how strong he was. “Cas, you look like you can barely lift a feather.”
“I need to protect Dean.”
“He’s fine.” He rolled his eyes when he realized that he was talking in the third person about himself. “You, on the other hand, need to stop trying to get out of bed,” Dean said. He watched as Castiel tried to lift himself into a sitting position again. Dean pulled Castiel’s arms out from under him, putting Castiel back in a horizontal position. “Cas, stop.” He gently pressed down on Castiel’s shoulders.
“No,” Castiel growled, fighting out of the human’s grip.
“You are impossible,” Dean said. He moved his grip down to Castiel’s upper arms and held Castiel’s arms tighter.
But Castiel seemed to be getting stronger and Dean assumed that soon he would be strong enough to fight out of his hold.
Dean sighed and he knew what he had to do. He didn’t actually think that he would actually have to follow through with his threat. He climbed onto the bed and straddled Castiel’s thighs. He hoped that he wasn’t hurting the angel. He grabbed the angel’s wrists and pinned them onto the pillow on either side of his head.
“Jesus Christ, Cas. I’m trying to help you.”
“Dean?”
He looked over and saw Bobby and Sam standing in the doorway. He couldn’t even think of the words to describe the looks they had on their faces. “What?” he yelled.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he growled.
“Um…” Sam said.
“Boy, get off the angel,” Bobby replied.
“No,” he yelled. “Not until he stops trying to leave.”
“What is going on?” Sam asked.
“He’s injured. He keeps trying to fly away because he needs to protect Dean.”
“So you sit on him?”
When Sam said it, Dean realized how ridiculous his plan sounded. He left it to the fact that he hadn’t slept all night. “What else was I supposed to do?” he yelled.
“Move, idjit. You’re probably hurting him,” Bobby said, pushing Dean off of the angel. He sat down next to Castiel and ran a hand through the angel’s hair. “Castiel,” he whispered. “You need to focus.”
He turned his head to face the sound of the voice. His eyes were wet with tears. “I need to save, Dean.” He sounded like he was going to cry. “I can’t let him get hurt again.”
“Dean is fine,” Bobby said. “He’s right here. He’s safe. Look.”
He turned his head and saw Dean standing over Bobby’s shoulder. “Dean?”
“The one and only,” he replied moving to stand next to Bobby.
He looked around and saw that he wasn’t in the church anymore. He was in a room. His gaze went back to Dean. “How did I get here?”
“I am not having this conversation again. How are you feeling?”
He looked down his body and saw that he wasn’t wearing a shirt and there was a patch of gauze on his chest. “Was I wounded?”
“Yes, you were wounded.”
“The church,” Castiel said.
“What about it?”
“A seal. I was there before I was here.” Castiel swallowed, trying to get rid of his dried throat. “Why am I so weak?”
“Because you were stabbed.”
“Why aren’t you healing?” Bobby asked.
“There were sigils on the blade. I need to…” He tried to lift his hand to his eyes, needing to rub the tiredness from them, but he stopped when he felt a pain in his chest.
“What you need to do is sleep,” Bobby replied.
“I don’t need to sleep.”
“Fine,” Dean said. “You don’t need to sleep, but you can’t go flying around with a hole in you.” He didn’t want Castiel to leave while he was injured. He wondered why he was so concerned.
“I will heal in a day or so.”
“Then stay here until then.”
Castiel searched Dean’s eyes, wondering what was going on through the human’s head. But all he could find was concern. “I will stay,” he whispered.
“Good,” Dean said. He hoped nobody was able to see how worried and relieved he actually was. “Well, we have some books to read, you just close your eyes and sleep.”
He grabbed the book that had somehow fallen to the floor while he was fighting with Castiel. He pushed Bobby and Sam out of the room and shut the door behind him. He hoped that the angel did what he said.
LRLRLRLRLRLRLR
Dean looked up when he felt someone else in the kitchen with him. He saw that it was Castiel, but he knew that it was the angel before then. He was in his clothes that were put back together and didn’t have a drop of blood on them. “You look better.”
Almost three days had passed since Castiel had shown up bloody and fallen unconscious. During that time, he slept in Dean’s bed, not that Dean used it much, and recovered. Apparently three days was enough to heal an angel.
“I feel better. Thank you,” he said with a nod.
“No problem.”
“I apologize if I—”
“Dude, you weren’t a burden,” Dean replied, knowing what Castiel was going to apologize for. “You were bleeding, had a stab wound that I could see through, had a fever, and you saying a bunch of crap that didn’t make sense.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“But again thank—”
“Would that wound have killed you?” Dean asked, interrupting the angel.
“I don’t—”
“I didn’t realize that you could get hurt that badly,” Dean said, not really caring to hear what Castiel’s response to his first question was because in his mind, the answer was yes.
“Dean.” Castiel tried to get the hunter’s attention.
He shut the book in front of him and for the first time, met Castiel’s gaze. “In my head, I thought that you guys were unbreakable, that nothing could kill you. But you show up here, bleeding. And it didn’t make sense.”
“I don’t—”
Dean stood up and walked to stand in front of the angel. “You should’ve been healed. Like after I stabbed you in the barn that night. You healed on sight. That freaked me out. But you not healing immediately. That freaked me out more.”
Castiel’s hand unconsciously went to where the wound was on his chest. “I was able to heal.”
Dean’s hands fell down to his sides and formed fists. “But if you didn’t. And you died.”
“That blade wasn’t able to kill me.”
“Not the point, Cas.”
Castiel sighed, a little impatient. “Then make it because I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You’re a friend. And you were hurt. And I was scared.” He paused, taking a moment to collect himself. “What is your responsibility in this whole thing, Cas?” Dean asked.
“I don’t…”
“Are you here to protect the seals?”
“Yes.”
“And nothing else?
“Dean, is there a correct answer to this question?”
“I’m not your priority, am I?” he said under his breath, hoping that Castiel wasn’t able to hear him.
“I said something, didn’t I?”
“You were hurt. You weren’t thinking straight. You were saying a lot.”
“Dean, I pulled you from Hell. If there is a way that I can keep you from pain, I will. I care about you.”
“But that doesn’t mean you get to get yourself killed trying to do so.”
If Dean were able to express his emotions better, he would have told Castiel that he cared about him. He would have told him that he was glad that Castiel was watching over him. He would say that he cared about him as much as he cared about his family, which was a surprise considering how long he’s know him. But Dean was allergic go chick flick moments.
“Your concern for me was understandable. Unnecessary, but—”
Dean surged forward and grabbed Castiel by his cheeks. He pulled him forward and pressed their lips together. He kissed the angel. He wasn’t sure, but he thought that Castiel responded to the kiss. After a few moments, he pulled away.
Maybe he was a lot better at expressing his feelings than he thought.
Castiel’s hand touched his lips. He could still feel where Dean’s lips touched his. He looked at the human who stood in front of him, smirking. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to,” Dean said.
“I feel like I need to.”
Dean sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “There is so much crap going on around me. But you’re here trying to protect me from all of it. And I care about you, even though you drive me up the wall with your you-ness. But I care about you. And the thought of you dying—”
“I won’t be dying anytime soon.”
“Good.”
“I need to go,” Castiel said softly, like he didn’t want to say those words. “I need to report to my garrison.”
“You do that.”
“Dean.”
“If you thank me one more time—“
“I know these words sound wasted, but try to be careful. You and your brother.”
“I’ll try,” Dean said with a nod.
“Good.” He turned around like he was preparing to leave.
“Cas,” Dean said, needing to say one more thing.
“Yes, Dean?” Castiel said, looking over his shoulder to the human.
“You too. Be careful, I mean.”
“I will try my best,” Castiel replied. He walked back over to Dean. He put a hand on his cheek and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He pulled away and slowly let out a breath. Without saying anything else, he disappeared from the room.
Dean hummed and went back to reading his book.