He finally did it. It got too much for him, and he did it. Sam had given up, Cas had disappeared, and Dean was left all alone. He thought he was used to it but something snapped. The alcohol wasn't enough, he tried to drink away his sorrows every night but it just meant he felt even worse the next day.
A couple of months passed before Dean finally decided to give in. He sat himself in his motel room on the bed and shut the curtains, his hand tightly in a fist and a bottle of sleeping pills which he had needed every night in the other. The substance that had stopped him from tossing and turning at night would now stop him forever. He prayed to Cas one last time.
Waited.
Nothing.
And with that, the pills in his hand were replaced with an empty bottle. Before long, he was out.
Bright light consumed him and a feeling of serenity was all he knew as Dean's eyes slowly reopened. "Is this Heaven?", Dean thought to himself as he groaned internally, "Well it's a pretty crap paradise". Then a sharp pain shot into him. Not Heaven. A quiet beeping slowly grew in amplitude and the white light gradually came into shape, he was in a hospital room. He tried to lift himself but the pain shot through him again, faster and sharper than before so, he collapsed back onto the bed in resign.
"Try to relax, you'll only hurt yourself", a familiar voice gently cooed from the side of the bed.
Dean jumped slightly in surprise before swallowing it down, "Cas?", he whispered roughly, barely audibly.
The voice chuckled slightly, "Not even close".
Dean's head slowly rolled to the blurry figure to his left and squinted in confusion.
"Don't you remember me?... Oh, wait!", the voice chuckled again before Dean felt a hand on his head and his vision focused. With that, his eyes shot open wide.
"Gabriel?...", Dean asked in surprise, "But... But I thought you were dead...".
The angel rolled his eyes, "You're the last person I'd expect to be shocked at someone coming back from the dead, pretty rich", he said as he smiled warmly, "and anyway, I thought you were dead too for a while, evidently not", he continued as he reached a hand out to stoke Dean's forehead.
The hunter's eyebrows lowered as he moved away from the touch slowly, "Why are you here?... What do you want?".
Gabriel tilted his head and frowned slightly, "What? I'm not allowed to check on you?".
"Not unless you want something from me...".
"Well, I don't", he sighed out, "I just thought you could use someone being here when you woke up".
Dean was too tired and too resigned to question the archangel so simply looked to the ceiling. "Why am I alive?".
"Someone found you and called an ambulance, they were only just able to save you".
Dean let out an annoyed grumble as he shut his eyes and frowned, "They should have left me to die", he whispered, causing Gabriel to scowl, then sigh and stroke Dean's arm gently.
"You've had it rough, I know, trust me, and that's why you want it all to end, I would too... But I'm giving you a chance here, yeah? I can show you a better world, one worth living in... Will you let me do that?".
He stayed silent for a few seconds before nodding slowly but unsurely.
"Good", Gabriel said brightly with a smile as he stood up and pressed a kiss to Dean's forehead, "Sleep now", and with that there was a flutter of wings and one less angel in the room.
Dean then cursed under his breath at the angel and his empty offers, wondering what the hell he could be planning this time before he let the overwhelming drowsiness take over and he drifted off to sleep again.