So I was just chilling, you know, watching Supernatural, and then this little idea popped into my head. "What if Cas had kept extracting the grace from Sam?" Then this WHOLE plot developed in my head and I was like, "HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP I NEED TO WRITE THIS!" This is definitely an AU for the episode First Born. Let's pretend Cas had gotten enough grace and they find Gadreel. Some dialogue is borrowed from the episode, but I tried to be as original as possible. If I owned Supernatural, Sam wouldn't be acting like such a jerk to Dean in the current episodes. This story is kind of an excuse to get the brothers to make up, face Gadreel and Metatron, and throw in some Hurt!Sam and Protective!Dean cuz that's how I roll.

Blood flowed freely from Sam's nose, and a small streak had even escaped his eye as well. He had grown too weary to scream any further.

Castiel looked down at his suffering friend. He then looked back at the unfinished peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Memories of being human flashed in his head.

He remembered hunger, he remembered pain, he remembered dying, and he remembered how to care. He cared about Kevin, he cared about Dean, and he cared about Sam. Sam was much more important than finding one loose-cannon angel.

"Cas," A weak voice brought Castiel back to the present. "Whatever… you're thinking… forget it." Sam spoke in long pauses trying to catch his breath. "We… have to find… Gadreel... If losing me is… is what it costs… fine."

"Sam, we can find Gadreel some other way. The damage that this is causing you-"

"Who cares?!" Sam tried to shout, but in his weakened state, it was more like an irritated whine. "Anything that… happens to… to me… you can fix."

Sam locked eyes with Castiel. Even full of tears, Sam's eyes had a fire roaring beneath them, screaming determination. "Keep… going." Sam pleaded.

The angel sighed and forced himself to push the needle further into Sam's neck. Sam groaned, but it soon turned into several pained gasps as Castiel continued to extract more grace.

Breathing became difficult and Sam forced himself not to instinctively rip out the needle. He gripped the sides of the chair as his muscles began to tense and spasm.

He was too tired to scream, causing several pained grunts to pass his mouth, and he finally fell unconscious.

"…Believe me, I've tried." Crowley continued. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Is the King of Hell seriously giving me a pep talk right now?" Dean thought. "Well since you don't have anyone else around, seeing as how you pushed them all away, it doesn't leave you with a lot of options does it? Oh shut up." His inner thoughts argued.

"Just worry about finding that damn blade, huh Crowley?" Dean hissed, angrier at his own mind than anything else.

"Aye-aye Captain. If you'll excuse me, I'll be scouring the depths of the ocean." Crowley raised his hand to snap his fingers.

"Hey, isn't the ocean-" Dean stopped as he heard the snap. "Made of salt water." He added to himself.

"Ha, good luck with that salt-water, Crowley. Hey it's better luck than you have." He reminded himself as he glanced down at Cain's souvenir. "Oh shut up."

His thoughts were soon interrupted as he heard his phone going off from his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the caller I.D. "Mood killer with wings." Dean chuckled at himself and flipped the phone open.

"Hey Cas. What's going on?"

"Dean, we've got him."

Castiel began to pull out the needle, finally deciding that there was enough grace.

"Hang on. This may pinch." He told a zoned out and bleeding Sam. Sam made nothing more than a small wince as the needle was pulled out of him neck. As soon as it was out, he started to stand.

He sat himself up and pushed up to his feet, but he was too exhausted to support his weight, and tumbled to the floor.

"Sam!" Castiel started to hurry towards him.

"Get… get the spell." He wheezed and it quickly turned into a coughing fit .He brought his hands up to his mouth, not surprised to feel blood rising in his throat and spilling out his lips.

Castiel ignored Sam's request and bent over him, and placed two fingers on Sam's forehead. Sam's bloody mouth went open in a silent scream. Once Cas removed his hand Sam instantly shot up, all previous wounds gone.

"Cas, what the hell was that?" Sam asked as he subconsciously reached for his neck.

"I've healed all your wounds." Castiel stated.

"I've noticed. And the grace?"

"Whatever was left of Gadreel is gone now. It is all inside here now." He said gesturing to the needle. "How are you feeling, Sam?"

"I'm fine. Are we gonna do this, or not?"

Castiel nodded. He headed over to the table where the bowl sat, waiting for one ingredient. Castiel poured the grace into the bowl, and they waited.

"Did it work?" Sam asked starting to get impatient.

"There." Castiel said, his monotonous voice showing the slightest hint of enthusiasm. "That must be where Gadreel is."

"Awesome, let's go after him." Sam exclaimed.

"Sam," Castiel interrupted Sam's attempts to leave. "We need to tell Dean."

Sam opened his mouth to protest, but he knew Dean was as determined to stop Gadreel as he was.

"Okay, but you gotta call him. He won't answer if he knows it's me."

Castiel nodded and reached inside his trench coat pocket. He stared at the mobile device in confusion until Sam finally did the dialing for him. Cas held the phone to his ear and waited.

"Hey Cas. What's going on?"

"Dean, we've got him."

Sorry if my Dean or Castiel seems a little out of character. I find Cas hard to write cuz of his unique way of speaking. I find Dean hard to write cuz he's supposed to be funny, which I of course am not. At least not the same way he is. If you guys know me, you know it won't be long before an update. I already have the story hand written, I just gotta type it out. I don't need them for sustenance or anything, but reviews make me happy! Even if no one reviews at all, I'm still finishing this story. It's like smeared all over my brain like the blood in the opening of an episode. Okay that was oddly graphic…