Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: inspired by a gifset on tumblr, originally posted on my tumblr anon-number-two
Not All There
Meg beamed at the new nurse, watching him with interest. It wasn't often they got volunteers with this particular group of individuals. Hell, Lillith hadn't even hadn't been willing to stick around even when management had offered her double pay and damages. Nope, nobody lasted long on what had been jokingly dubbed the Supernatural ward. This guy wasn't exactly the most qualified guy on the list but he'd been willing to start quick and frankly, Luke was close to getting desperate for people to watch over this group.
"So." She asked, no longer able to hold back on his curiosity. "You met the wackos yet?"
"I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to call the patients, wackos. Something about respect and responsibility."
She shrugged, clearly unremorseful for the word she'd used. "So long as upper management doesn't hear you, you can call them near enough anything. Wingnuts, dingos, wackos. It's not like they're going to complain." She leant against the door, seemingly hugging it, still so fascinated by this new toy who'd arrived. "So, what do you know about these guys?"
The new nurse just shrugged. "Just the basics. All suffering from varying delusions of religious grandeur. Servants of God, fighters against evil, Angels."
"Exactly." As the new guy pulled on the rest of his new uniform she smirked before leading the way towards the ward's entrance. "Here I'll introduce you to the family.
Entering through the final security gate most of the patients turned to look at them although it seemed they were reacting more to the noise of the metal gate closing than anything as their attention quickly returned to whatever they'd just been doing.
"Come on, over here you'll see everything better." Dragging him so he was stood near one of the central pillars, where you could see the whole room. she faced him towards the main bay window where two young men were sat, speaking in hushed voices. One had fair hair while the other had darker, longer hair and even while they were both sitting it was clear he was the taller of the two. "Those are the Winchester boys. Sam is Mr tall, dark and handsome while Dean is the one who looks like he's just walked off a soap opera. Now they believe they fight the things that go bump in the night. They're noisy, rowdy what-nots who've attacked me and Crowley on more than one occasion. Be careful of them."
"Who's the scruffy guy?" the nurse indicated the man wearing a baseball cap not too far from the brothers watching them with keen suspicious eyes.
"That's Bobby. Lost himself a bit after his wife passed away. He's mostly harmless unless you get on the wrong side of him. Or if he thinks you're going to hurt the boys." She smirked watching the old guy as he scoffed at something the young men had said. "They look up to the old guy. Some sort of dependency relationship, probably unhealthy, but I don't get paid anywhere near enough to try and stop them doing it."
"What about that guy?" Turning, Meg saw the new guy was pointing towards the shorter, leaner dark-haired man who was sat in a chair on the other side of the room to the Winchesters. None of the other patients were near him either which seemed incredibly odd given that everyone else was clumped in groups.
"That's Jimmy." Meg's smile fell slightly as she watched him. "Poor guy. Thinks he's an angel." Shaking her head lightly she sighed. "Sometimes he'll have his moments of clarity and he's good at holding a conversation during those points but for the most part we can't really get through to him. Has violent periods and that's when we have to kick up the meds. It soon sorts him out."
"Did he have an argument with the others?"
She shrugged. "He usually keeps to himself. Sometimes Dean will call him over and he'll sit with them lot," she indicated the three by the window, "for anything from five minutes to a few days. Always ends up by himself though."
Slowly but surely she pointed out all the other patients of the Supernatural ward. John, father of the Winchesters, who refused acknowledge the existence of his boys, Sebastian, Anna and Richard who all also thought they were angels, Ellen and Jo who were convinced they'd died stopping hellhounds from killing their friends and Pamela who believed she could communicate with the dead.
Eventually he'd been shown everybody and it was almost time for his shift watching the 'inmates' and Meg brought him back to the nurses' station. "So," he asked her. "What are my duties?"
"Talk to them, find out where they are in their delusions. The main thing is keeping them calm, making sure they take their medicine, breaking up any fights that might be brewing. Things get out of hand call Alastair or Crowley from security. They'll take it from there. It's simple enough. Think you can handle it?"
The nurse smiled at her. "I'm sure I'll pick it up."
She winked at him before disappearing off to finish off the paper work that Luke had dumped on her and as she left, the nurse looked over the patients again seeing how all of them except for Bobby, the Winchesters and Jimmy fritzed and sparked, almost as though they weren't there. The illusion of their presence failing under continued scrutiny. Then the nurse's eyes came to rest on Jimmy, who seemed confused and lonely sat on his own, still staring wistfully at the same fragment of floor he'd been staring at since before they'd come in.
Walking over the nurse crouched down, lowering himself into the poor guy's eye line. Clearly he was in one of his delusional states, his legs drawn up into his seat, his eyes unfocused and lips moving with quiet mutterings. Still, the nurse reached out, cradling the young man's cheek gently.
"Castiel."
Almost instantly the man's eyes shot up and pinned the new nurse, further confusion creasing his forehead as he seemed to be debating whether the man before him was real or not. Still, the nurse remained, his thumb running along the man's cheekbone like a parent assessing their child.
"You're not supposed to know. That's why it's called free will."
As the look on "Jimmy's" face didn't change, the nurse sighed, moving his hand to pat the man gently on the shoulder, reminding himself that it would be over soon before pushing himself to his feet.
Once stood, he moved over to the window where the Winchesters sat, ignoring the intense stare he could feel boring into the back of his neck from the Angel.
As he approached, Sam seemed to notice him, reaching across the table and clicking his fingers in Dean's face before pointing at the nurse. The older Winchester turned to look up at him, the slight smile he had been wearing falling as he saw who was approaching.
"…Chuck?"
Chuck smiled as the man recognized him, knowing that the hunter was looking at everything around him as though it was strange because the prophet was breaking through the enforced delusion they'd all been placed in.
"Hey Dean."
"What the hell are you doing here, man?" he looked down at himself. "What the hell am I doing here?"
"Don't worry." Chuck smiled as he saw Sam starting to come out of it too before glancing back to see Castiel was stood staring in awe at what was happening with his friends. "I'm here to get you out."
