Tag ending for 13x19 Everyone is in the bunker together, there has I some kind of drama. Especially with Dean's other world injury acting up. Fluffy Whump! Hurt!Dean, PTSD!Gabriel, motherly!Rowena, Destiel and Sabriel of you squint feels.
After Cas was finished having a heart to heart with his brother, Gabriel, and getting him "settled in" he decided he should find Dean and make sure he wasn't drinking too much since all those punches to the head probably caused a concussion. He made his way to the library when he heard Sam and Dean talking, maybe perhaps even arguing.
Then Sam said. "...and if we die, we'll do that together too." When Sam started making his way towards the hallway where Cas was hiding, he made a failed attempt to look casual. Sam just stormed past him without saying a word. Before Cas could decide what he should do next he heard glass shattering from the library. Cas jogged in to find Dean's hand, a broken whiskey glass, and blood.
"Dean, what happened?" He quickly picked up the hunter's hands into his own and worked to get the glass off. It was obvious he shattered the glass in his fist.
"Nothing." Dean was obviously pissed.
"I'm sorry, but I heard what Sam said to you just now." Cas was still working on the tiny glass pieces when Dean suddenly pulled his hand back to himself and slumped down into the chair looking anywhere but towards Castiel's concerned look.
"Dean, please let me take care of that." He gestured to the blood dripping down to the floor from Dean's palm.
"No." Dean answered dully and reached for the whiskey bottle since his glass was no longer capable of holding liquid. Cas moved quickly and grabbed the bottle first. He swung it up and swallowed the whole thing. Totally unphased, he slammed it back on the table so hard it made Dean jump back a little.
"The correct answer is YES." Cas sounded like a teacher that needed a vacation. "Then you're going to stop acting like a child and tell me why you've been acting this way. You haven't been yourself and it's time for that to stop."
"I'm fine." Dean rolled his eyes.
"Wrong! Dammit, Dean. Just…" Cas took a deep breath and changed his tone to be more caring. "Just let me help you. Me. Let ME help you…. Please."
There was a long pause where the pair just stared at one another for awhile till Dean stood up fed up with the tention.
"Fine. If it'll make you feel better." He said gruffly. "But not here."
Dean started to walk towards the bar cart they kept in the library but Cas grabbed him by the upper arm and stopped him in his tracks. Cas' eyes closed and he healed Dean's hand, and any other internal injuries from his fight, before he could argue. Then Dean tried to pull loose towards the bar cart again.
"Dean Winchester, do not try my patience. Cas warned with a low voice.
"Okay okay, mom. Let's go."
"Where?"
"To the batcave." Dean said in his cheesy voice.
Sam was stomping down the hall when he heard a noise come from Gabriel's room. He busted in ready for anything but only found a tipped over lamp and Gabriel hiding, curled up on himself in the corner. Sam closed the door behind him and gingerly walked towards the broken angel.
"Gabriel, hey." He knelt to his level. "It's okay. C'mon you should be in bed." Gabriel jumped at his touch at first but allowed Sam to guide him back to the bed. Sam set the lamp right, the bulb didn't even break. Sam then sat himself in the chair that was still there from before. He stared at the walls covered in Enochian.
Gabriel spoke. "I'm scared, Sam."
"I can tell."
"You… You were tortured too… By my brothers. Weren't you?" Sam paused but nodded his head in reply. "That's such a shame. I miss the pre-tortured Sam."
"What did you just say?"
"You were more… You. Happy go lucky Sam where his only care in the world was patching up his broken brother and hitting the roads in Black Beauty. But my brothers beat that carefree Sam till there was hardly anything left."
"Hey!" Sam retorted.
"What? It's true! Sam Winchester is still stuck in the cage."
"I've been able to cope just fine! At least I never had PTSD over a freaking lamp falling over!" Sam was being uncharacteristically angry.
"It was dark! I didn't know what it was!"
They both sat slightly out of breath and then calmed so as to not yell anymore.
Gabriel broke silence first. "Your brother nagging on you too? Mine sure is."
"Yeah, sort of. What did Cas do?"
"Eh! He was all 'but you don't keep your promises' and 'our Father' and 'your duty as an Uncle' bla bla bla. It was very annoying, Sam. He has no faith in me anymore! You know, I used to be his hero. The guy that tucked him in at night and showed him how to fly along the oceans. I WAS his father for all intents and purposes. Now, he's expecting me to fail and warning me about the consequences before I've even had a chance to fail! Geez!"
"That's kinda what Dean did for me."
"What…the nagging?"
"No, no. He raised me. He was the one who put Band-Aids on my knees, made me dinner, tucked me in at night. He was… No, he IS my hero. And now he doesn't even care."
Gabriel argued unapologetically. "Woah, woah! I thought it was my turn to rant about my brother?" Sam just sat there looking down at his shoes. The sad moose just broke Gabriel's heart. "Alright, fine! We can talk about your brother first… Just don't cry. I heard moose tears are poisonous."
"Wanna beer?" Dean asked walking over to the mini fridge in the man cave.
"No...Yes." Cas changed his mind.
"Awesome!"
"Only if you start talking."
"Great! A drinking game!"
"Dean…" Cas sighed.
"Bad idea? Right. Yeah. Bad idea."
Cas sat down on the couch and waited for his beer. Dean came and sat at the other end handling the two chilled bottles masterfully.
Dean started. "What do you wanna know?"
"Well, I want you to discuss your feelings."
"Not gonna happen. Next?"
"I will coerce you physically if I must."
"Geez! Fine!" Dean took a long swig to think. "Sam, said some things."
"Okay… And?"
"They weren't nice." Dean looked at Cas to see if that was sufficient but Cas' blunt facial expression said it wasn't. "He doesn't like the way I'm doing things. And I'm the older one, what I say, goes." He checked again, still not enough. "And he doesn't…" Dean put his drink down to clutch at an ache in his right shoulder. "He doesn't like me protecting him anymore. I'm just trying to keep my little brother safe." He winced a little at the pain that was growing from the wound he received in the other world. "But that's my job, it's my only job… I'm nothing without it. I need to protect my brother and no one can stop me, not even him. And you know what? When it comes time to go through the rift again? I'm leaving him behind. We'll die together, my ass! I'm not letting him die on my watch, period! God!" Dean was noticeably in pain now.
"Dean, what's wrong?" Cas reached over with a strong arm to support Dean who was bending forward.
"What do you mean? I just told you like my whole thing! Was that not enough?!?" Dean was getting out of breath.
"No, I mean, yes, that was fantastic but you are not well."
"Oh. No. I'm fine. It's just where I got shot when I was over with Ketch. He patched me up, I'm all good."
"You were shot! You told Sam you were fine! You are not fine, all good! And telling me that is it so because of Ketch does NOT help!"
Then Dean started to fall forwards off the couch but Cas lunged to catch him in time. Dean's forehead was tucked against Cas' neck so that the angel could feel his rising temperature.
"Let me take your temperature." Cas held out a finger.
"I told you last time… Ain't. Gonna. Happen." Dean was gasping for air at this point and gripping his shoulder, digging in his fingertips. Without asking Cas yanked open his buttoned shirt with one hand and pulled the collar of the thin undershirt to reveal the throbbing wound. The veins that led away from the hole were pumping with something black. The sight made Cas' eyebrows knit together with worry.
"Dean, what is this?" Cas asked seriously.
"It's...ugh! The bullet was poisoned and Ketch tossed together some boy scout cream he concocted. It was a Men of Letters thing."
"The position poison or the cure?" Cas asked quickly trying to get a better look at it."
"Both."
"Wonderful." Cas' sass cut the air. "I cannot heal this."
Dean grunted and tried to focus on breathing. "What? Why not!?!"
"I don't know. But we need to find a solution quick. I believe it's getting worse."
"You think?!?" Dean's face was gathering sweat.
"I'm going to go get Sam and tell him to start searching for the antidote. Maybe Gabriel will know something. Maybe even Rowena."
Cas helped Dean back into the couch and laid him down across it. Not knowing what to do Cas paused for a moment awkwardly but when Dean shouted in pain again that jolted him to move quickly and go find Sam.
Not two steps into the hallway and Cas bumped into Rowena in his rush.
"Oh Lordy, what's the rush handsome? I thought I heard something." Rowena said in her regular pleasant way and a stylish flick of her wrist. She noticed Cas looked seriously concerned and she asked before he could answer her first question. "What's wrong, deary?"
"It's Dean, he was poisoned when he went through the rift. He needs a Men of Letters antidote. Please, can you see if there is anything you can do for him?"
Just as he finished explained Dean yelled from inside the room.
"I'll do what I can. Go get Sam." She replied quickly and dashed into the room.
Cas ran down the hall towards his room yelling out Sam's name. He was surprised when he was interested by Sam coming out of Gabriel's room. He only had time for one quick confused head tilt before he stammered out an explanation.
"I'll go start looking! Gabe, go help Cas bring him to the library." Sam barked without giving him a chance to argue.
When Cas came back into "bat cave" he saw Rowena was holding Dean's hand and Dean laying silently and unmoving.
"Dean? What happened?!?" He demanded.
"It's quite alright. I only put him to sleep. It'll help the toxin spread more slowly. Besides, he was in some awful agony. I can wake him at any point."
"Alright, fine. We need to move him. Gabriel help me." Cas was out of breath from running but seeing Dean like that was a sight that was hard swallow.
The two angels carried Dean's dead weight across their shoulders, holding onto Dean's arms around their necks. Once in the library, Rowena pushed off books and loose papers to make a space to lay him down. She chose one book to place under his head. Cas opened his shirt again, tearing it to reveal the wound.
Upon seeing how much it had worsened in just this short time Cas called out to the younger brother. "Sam, hurry!"
"Almost got it!" Sam called from an unseen isle.
"Gabriel, can you?" Cas begged.
The Archangel placed a hand onto Dean's moist brow and closed his eyes to focus. He was obviously struggling and he forcibly focused. "It's too dark in here. I can't see. I think...I think I can see parts but I can't determine the full composition of the poison. There's things I don't recognize." Gabriel was normally so jolly but when it was important he knew when to start adulting. "He has a terrible infection for starters. But I don't have enough juice to heal it."
"I couldn't either." Cas watched his brother's face intently.
"Okay! I got it!" Sam rushed to the table and he slammed the book down to display the correct page for the serum as well as the antidote. That was when Sam got a good look at his brother. He paused to take it all in. Dean lying there on the table, open chest wound pulsing with blackness, stomach showing his heavy labored breathing, two angels at his side both with worry colored across their faces, Dean's own face sprinkled with sweat and twisted up, one hand weakly grabbing at his own chest the other limp at his side palm up. Sam mumbled to himself. "God, no."
"Sam! He's burning up!" Cas yelled to snap him out of his trace.
"Right, sorry. I uh- Rowena come with me and help me find these ingredients! Cas find something to bring his temperature down like Aspirin and cold water! Gabriel, stay with Dean!"
Each answered and ran to their delegated duties from Sam.
Gabe refocused his efforts until Cas came back with a bottle of aspirin and a bowl of cold water and a cloth.
Cas carefully, without disturbing his brother, placed the medicine and a little water in Dean's mouth and closed his jaw, all the while whispering to Dean in a calm tone to swallow. It worked and then Cas took the cooled moist cloth and methodically dabbed it around Dean's face, neck and brow.
Gabriel, peeked one eye open to watch his little brother fawn over the human hunter and smiled before closing his eyes again. Gabriel's hand was solidly placed on the crown of Dean's head amongst his hair which allowed Cas the room to work.
"Cassie?" Gabriel said sweetly.
"Yes, brother." Cas was not amused.
"You know If you took a female vessel...I bet this boy would fall head over heels for you in two seconds flat."
Without skipping a beat Cas shared his answer. "I am well aware of Dean's sexual preferences."
At that Gabe lifted his hands and opened his eyes to stare at Cas with his dropped jaw. "Whaaa?!?"
"Gabriel, this is serious!" Cas scolded him.
"But! But! But! Yeah okay. We'll talk later mister."
Sam and Rowena came rushing back with a bowl and armfuls of ingredients. They both started adding things wildly yet expertly.
"Here! Here! It goes directly on it!" Sam brought the bowl over to Cas who liberally applied the white mash that resembled month old mashed potatoes. The black veins remained the same ugly darkness.
Sam spoke up. "It might take a minute. It doesn't say."
"Shall I wake him now?" Rowena asked. Cas looked at her unknowing what the correct answer was so she leaned in and whispered a few words into Dean's ear. After another moment of silence later, Dean took in a long breath through his nose before coughing. The fit was getting worse then black water started to come out of his mouth. They all reached out to roll him to his side to help. After that Dean started to open his eyes to the closest face to his.
"C-Cas? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Dean said weakly. Then he noticed everyone else near him around the table.
"Is it Thanksgiving or something?"
Sam sighed as Gabriel slapped him on the back. "Well! It's past my bedtime!" Gabe hollered. "You too moose!" He grabbed Sam by the arm and dragged him down the hall to his room.
"Is there always this much exercise in your neck of the woods?" Rowena turned to leave after giving Dean's cheek a little pinch. At that Cas and Dean were left alone. Dean still laid on the library table confused and Cas watched everyone leave with a content smile.
Dean had to get his attention. "Dude, Cas. What the hell?" He removed the cloth from his forehead.
"Hmm?" Cas was still in his happy place.
"It wasn't that bad was it? Did you really have to call the whole fire department?"
"Everyone came because the worry about you Dean, we all love you. I don't think you realize how much."
"C'mon."
"You were dying. We all rushed to help. Sam, Gabriel, even Rowena was running around frantically."
"No way."
"Yes. My brother, as low as he is in grace, was trying to heal you himself the whole time. He's probably exhausted."
"Really?" Dean's replied were slowly becoming more sincere.
"And, do I need to tell you how worried Sam was? He was terrified at the suddenness of it all. We truly thought we were losing you. It all happened so fast."
Cas turned from Dean and took a few steps away from the table.
"And you, Cas? How did you feel… When you thought I was dying?" Dean begged to know the answer. He sat himself up being careful of his newly treated wound. The angel had not yet turned around to answer. "Cas?"
Still facing away he replied in his gravelly voice. "I…" He paused to wipe a few unseen tears and clear his cracking voice. "I was very worried, Dean." He managed a very professional tone.
"Uh-huh. Shut-up, Cas." Dean grinned.
Soon enough after that the bunker fell silent except for the gentle purr of the warding systems and someone's snoring.