DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me. They are the property of Eric Kripke and the CW. The incidents depicted in this story are COMPLETELY fictional.

A/N: So I have this massive, GIANT idea. I plotted most of this fic in one night and maybe some little details remain, but I just want to see how widely accepted this would be. I have the first chapter here, a smaller chapter, but I hope you enjoy it, and that it raises questions in your head.

Genre: Team Free Will AU (doctor!Cas mechanic!Dean pre-law!Sam), Angst, Drama, Romance, Fluff, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Schmoop, Brotherly Love, Slow Build Destiel, Sam-Cas friendship

Pairings:

· Dean/Castiel

· Charlie/Jo

· Sam/Ruby

· John/Mary (mentioned)

· Castiel/Meg (minor)

· Sam/Jess (past)

· Dean/Aaron Bass (minor)

· Bobby/Jody

· Amelia Novak/Castiel (past)

· Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Warnings: Minor character death, Terrorism, Violence, Rape/Non-con Elements, Depression, Amputation, Permanent Injury, Whumped boys, Emotional Manipulation, Drug Addiction, Substance Abuse, PTSD, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Medical Jargon

I have indicated all trigger warnings right now. If I feel like anything else should be added while I write the story, I'll add that and indicate its addition in the A/N.

This story will contain sensitive topics. Please read all those warnings and take them seriously. The rape will not be graphic.

I would like to thank my two amazing girls, SPNxBookworm/Sanjana and remy-areyousrs/Naila for literally sitting with me and plotting half this thing. Seriously, some of these things are ideas they gave me. This is their story too. Please check their pages, they are extremely talented!

1. End of Duty

Halloween Night, 2015

Houston, Texas

She can feel her life drain out of her. A smile rests on her lips as she meets eyes with the dark shadow before her. There is no pain; none, and for some reason, she is at peace. Maybe she didn't expect it all to end this way, but she knows she's got them. She's got them.

They will never even see it coming.

The stars twinkle bright and beautiful as she raises her eyes to them, letting the blackness at the edges of her vision take over. If there's one regret she has, it's her boys, and she wishes she could have brought them back together. But maybe this is the best way for them to reconcile. Maybe this is the failsafe for everything—her country, her job, her boys and her family. And everything that her life has stood for in the last few months.

She is at peace. She can die now.

Although she hopes they'll forgive her for the burden they're going to bear.

She just wants them to be all right.

~o~

Two days later

Stanford Health Care,

California

Dr Cas Novak is almost at the end of his shift when he hears the distant blaring of the ambulance sirens. He's at the door of the ER, been standing here for several minutes and all prepared. He throws away his empty coffee cup and takes a moment to snap on gloves before following the other residents out to receive the patients.

"Twenty-two-year-old white male," one of the EMTs had informed them as the ambulance left the accident spot, "unconscious, showing early signs of shock. He has fourth degree burns on the fingers of his right hand, second degree on his back. Tachypnoeic. It looks like ARDS. Oxygen sats are low. We're intubating and starting him on oxygen."

The other patient, though, was relatively stable. "Twenty-six-year-old white male. Conscious and oriented with mild smoke inhalation. Second degree burns on both forearms. We're starting him on oxygen on a partial rebreathing mask."

Fourth degree burns are ugly. Cas cringes at the thought of them, watching the ambulance pull to a halt. He and the others hurry forward as the doors open and the paramedics come out pushing a gurney with a soot-covered young man who's laid on his stomach. He's intubated and bagged with his right hand and back loosely bandaged. He's going to be taken to the burn centre as soon as he's stabilised, with a few preliminary tests to make sure he's not hurt elsewhere.

He has brown, floppy hair, his face mostly obscured by the instruments and the flurry of activity around him. Cas waits for the second stretcher with the older, less critical man who looks restless with a mask on his face. He's trying to get it off but the paramedic keeps stopping him, while the other tries to not let him sit up.

"I'll handle it from here," Cas tells them, the nurses by his side. The moment he's there, he has a hand on the patient's bare chest. "Please relax, Mr—"

"Dean Winchester," the paramedic provides. "The other victim is his brother, Sam."

Figures, Cas thinks. Meanwhile, Dean Winchester's green eyes lock with Cas's in a clear expression of "fuck you." Cas sighs. "Your brother will be fine. We're going to take care of you too."

Dean doesn't seem to care about himself, though, and Cas has to hold him down, fearing he might jump off the gurney to join his younger brother. When they do wheel Dean in, it's to a bed beside his brother's who's being started on IV fluids with the portable X-Ray machine waiting for him. He looks sickly, the ventilator hissing and puffing while he continues to remain unconscious. Anna, Cas's CR, gives him a tight little nod before moving over to draw the curtain separating the beds.

When Cas turns back Dean is sitting up and pulling off the mask.

"Mr Winchester—"

"S'mmy…"

The voice is harsh but heartbroken, full of worry, fear, and adoration and Cas's heart sinks down his chest—maybe even slides down all the way to his stomach. Garth, the nurse, starts to get Dean to lie down again.

"Your brother's gonna be okay, man," he says, turning his eyes to Cas. "You take a breather, all right?"

Dean looks like he wants to rebel, but his eyelids flutter, and Cas knows he's tired. He takes the IV catheter that Garth hands him and works on getting it into a vein on the back of Dean's mercifully undamaged palm. When he's got the lactated Ringer's going in he checks Dean's pulse again as Garth rolls in a cart with the dressing supplies.

"Have you been vaccinated for tetanus in the last four years?" Cas asks him and Dean shakes his head. Cas gets to work loading a small syringe, watching the clear fluid fill into the barrel. His hands are shaking, he notices, but he doesn't know why. This isn't the first time he's seen critical patients or their scared family members but…

This is somehow different.

Meanwhile there's shuffling from the bed and Dean reaches to get off his mask again. Garth moves ahead for him this time but before Dean can be stopped, he's speaking. "Doc," he manages between little pants, "are… they gonna… cut off his… fingers?"

Cas stops in the middle of getting rid of the air bubbles. Will Dean's brother get an amputation? Fourth degree burns. He doesn't like what he has to say. "I'm afraid so. Yes."

"He's–He's… W–Will he be… able to live… normally?"

"Most amputees are, usually. Mr—" Cas bites his cheek, "Dean, you should keep that mask on." He signals to Garth to get them a sedative. Dean's pulse and respiratory rate are rising and Cas doesn't want him any more anxious. He needs to calm down a lot and really fast.

"Take… care of… my brother," Dean tells him, persistently as he makes to sit up again. "He's–he's pre-law, you know, full-ride and all, and…" his eyes look suspiciously wet as Cas pushes him down gently, gloved hands back on his bare chest. From the corner of his eye he can see Dean's pulse pick up some more, going over to a hundred and twenty and he knows they're heading towards a disaster.

Cas pinches the flesh on Dean's upper arm and stabs the needle in. Dean barely flinches, eyes darting to the direction of his brother's bed, still obscured by the curtains. Cas guesses they're done with the X-Ray now and are probably prepping for Sam's transfer. He looks to Garth who hands him a syringe, muttering, "Versed."

"Dean," Cas speaks calmly, holding on to his patient's gaze for a third time. "Your brother is going to be transferred to the nearest burn centre where he'll get the best care possible. Right now, you need rest and to get your own wounds taken care of." He gets the needle off and opens one of the ports on the IV.

Dean seems to realise what it is when he eyes widen as he sits up. "No!"

"Please get your mask back on." Cas holds his IV steady, pushing the mouth of the syringe in and injecting.

"S…Sammy."

"He'll be okay."

Dean's body loosens, swaying drunkenly. Cas and Garth catch him, lower him back down and his eyelids flutter, green eyes fixing themselves on Cas's for one last time while he adjusts the mask. The gratefulness, anger and betrayal Cas sees there is new to him and he doesn't know if one person can convey so much through their eyes.

He doesn't stop thinking of those eyes when he gets home from his shift that night. He doesn't stop when the next day he hears that Dean's already checked himself out AMA and that he and his brother, Sam, had been victims to a fire at Sam's apartment with Sam's girlfriend Jessica not surviving her injuries. Cas doesn't stop thinking until Dean and his green eyes and his little brother all come back to mix with his life, and in a way he'll remember and love and hate to eternity.

Cas doesn't believe he can fall in love again and he doesn't know that Dean's here to change that about him. He doesn't believe he's seen goodness and humanity at its purest and he doesn't know that will change when he meets Sam.

He also doesn't know what a tangle and a mess he is going to fall into. Cas is yet to live the ugliest, worst times of his life and he will never see it coming.

He will never see anything coming.

Maybe he can blame himself for it, maybe he can't. Or maybe he can pray to be alive another minute, and then for a few more moments.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Special Agent Bobby Singer runs a hand over his hair as the doctor pulls the shroud off the body they brought in today. He looks at the empty eyes, the blond hair, and thinks of the heavy loss they've just suffered. Mary Winchester was one of their best.

He sighs. He's going to have to talk to Mary's sons about this.

A/N: Any feedback will be very appreciated! Let me know what you think. Thank you!