Part I
It has been three months since Sam had found Dean next to Cas' corpse. He had only seen the wing on his shoulder once.
Now Dean always made sure to cover it up. And he refused to talk about it. Everything was about the next hunt and drinking.
Sam had tried to talk to his brother about Cas, but of course he just shut down, made a witty remark about feelings and stupid talks and then left to get more booze.
Sam had nearly gotten used to this but he also missed Cas, after all he had been family, and he had no one to talk to.
It has been two months since Arathiel had arrived. Obviously someone in heaven wanted an angel with the Winchesters and had just sent some new one.
Sam knew that Dean had hoped that Cas would come back, just like he always did, because when did one of them die and stay dead, but with Arathiel's arrival even that hope was crushed. Dean had spent two days totally drunk, and then nearly two days with the nastiest hangover Sam had ever seen.
Arathiel reminded Sam of Cas in the beginning. He was all warrior and orders and stiff.
Dean couldn't even look at him. He never acknowledged the presence of the angel so all the talking was left to Sam.
Which didn't go well, because Arathiel wasn't one to talk. He nodded and shrugged and on good days he grumbled something but the only sentence Sam ever heard the angel say had been: "I'm Arathiel and I'm Castiels replacement."
He never made suggestions to a case, never talked about demons and never mentioned heaven. The only thing Arathiel occasionally does is heal wounds. Even if it is just a cut or a bruise he heals it.
At least with Sam.
Dean never lets the angel touch him.
Sam and Dean had a little talk about that earlier that week when a vampire had broken Dean's arm and a few ribs and he still refused the angel's help.
Arathiel just disappeared after Dean threw a bottle at him and Sam rushed to his side.
"Dean", he began. "Just let him heal you. He just wants to help and you could need that." Dean violently shook his head.
"He will not lay a finger on me", he hissed and clutched his hand to his shoulder.
Sam eyed him wearily and then it dawned on him. Cas' wing on his shoulder was a burn mark, an injury. If he let Arathiel heal the other wounds there was the possibility of that healing too.
Sam sighed and pushed his brother down on a chair. If Dean was not letting him get healed by angel mojo then he had to do something about the wounds.
While he bandaged Dean's wrist he was aware of the look his brother gave him.
"What?"
"No argument? No 'Come on, you have to let him heal you, blah blah blah'?"
Sam shrugged. "Guess not." Dean's eyes narrowed.
"Look", Sam finally said. "I get it. Cas meant a lot to you and the wing is all that is left." Dean had closed his eyes at the mention of Cas name. "Arathiel would probably heal that, too, and you don't want that. I get it."
Dean let go of the breath he was holding. He had feared that this would end in a feeling talk and he was so not ready for that. Probably never would.
"Thank you, Sammy."
His brother just shrugged and finished his work. "No problem."