"What?"

Sam's eyes fluttered open to the backseat of the Impala, and Dean up front talking furiously into the phone with one hand while trying to navigate the road safely with the other.

Sam had once considered the very fact that his brother never crashed the car near proof of the existence of angels. In recent years though, Sam had come to the belief that those angels, especially certain blue-eyed, trenchcoat-wearing, creepy-stare-having angels, were more likely to cause the car to crash than to save it.

"Slow down! Where are you?" Dean snapped from the front seat. Sam made an effort to sit up, but sank back down to the seat as black spots swam in front of his vision.

"Wait you what?" Sam tried again, more slowly, and after a moment was able to pull himself into a sitting position. Dean glanced back at him through the mirror and startled a bit to see him sitting, then raised a hand in a slight wave towards the phone to let him know he couldn't talk at the moment.

Sam gave him a thumbs up and slumped back against the seat, making an effort to listen to what Dean was saying into the phone.

"What? Cas, slow down. Where are you?"

Cas? He'd managed to call Dean then. That was good at least.

"Okay, okay I'm coming!" He hung up the phone and the car swerved suddenly, throwing Sam back against the seat.

"You okay, Sammy?"

Sam braced himself back into a sitting position "Yeah I'm fine"

"Is that an actual fine or a-"

"I'm fine Dean. What's up with Cas?"

"Bastard got himself hit by a car"

Sam jumped "What?"

"He walked into the middle of the street and got himself hit by a car! Didn't even mention it at first either, just threw in halfway through the conversation 'and I believe the vehicle may have injured me'. The idiot!" Dean pushed harder on the accelerator and stared into the road as if Cas's stupidity was personally offensive to him.

"Is he okay? I mean is he gonna be alright? Is he still an angel?"

"He's alive at least, and not too badly injured from what I could tell. I don't know about the other thing. Probably not"

"How do you think he's gonna deal with that?"

"I don't know Sam! We're going to find him first"

Sam nodded, deciding that Dean had been distracted from the road long enough and leaned back into the seat. His eyes closed of their own accord, and after a moment he allowed himself to sink into sleep.

Sam was awakened by the car being pulled over and the door opening. Dean slammed the door behind him and got out. Sam managed to pull himself up to a sitting position again and looked out the window. Cas was seated on the curb, looking relatively unharmed, except for a bit of blood which was running from a gash on his head.

"How'd you get hit by a car anyway?"

"I was attempting to call you and I seem to have walked out into the street. It was moving very slowly, it seems to have simply knocking over"

"You said you were injured!"

"I'm bleeding."

"God damn it Cas, I thought I needed to take you to the hospital!"

"I never said that. I was perfectly calm"

"You're always perfectly calm Cas!"

"I'm sorry, Dean". Cas looked at the ground in a way that reminded Sam a bit of a kicked puppy. He wondered if perhaps the apology was for a bit more than his normal lack of emotional expression.

Dean shrugged. He glanced away from Cas with a look that Sam labeled his "no chick flick moments face", or more accurately (according to Sam at least) his emotionally constipated face.

Dean opened the door to the passenger seat and Cas got in, still looking at the ground. Dean walked around to the other side and started the car. They drove in silence for a couple of minutes, Cas continuing to stare out the window like he was a dog who'd just eaten Dean's shoes.

"You alright Cas?" Sam said from the back seat, earning him surprised looks from Cas who'd been looking out the window and his brother who Sam was fairly certain had been looking at Cas rather than the road.

"So..." Dean coughed "the angels"

Cas looked away from the road and into Dean's eyes. Great, Sam thought, they could all die in a car wreck while his brother had meaningful eye contact with an angel.

"My brothers... they all. They're not in heaven anymore"

"Cas-" Dean put a hand out, taking it off the steering will Sam had to notice, but the angel flinched away.

"I didn't... I never appreciated what it would be like to be fallen. I don't like it. I can't hear heaven in my head anymore, and my back is wrong where my wings should be. I'm trapped and I can't breathe and I'm cold and hungry and tired and weak! My head hurts and I can't heal and I don't know what to do, Dean. I can't-"

Dean moved forward, taking his eyes completely off the road and putting his hand onto the angel's shoulder. "It's going to be okay, alright Cas? It's just another apocalypse, huh? Nothing we haven't dealt with"

Sam snorted from the back seat, and Cas shook his head, seemingly annoyed at Dean's nonchalance, but with some of the shock gone from his eyes. Dean smiled, and, much to Sam's joy, returned his attention to the road. "Let's get some burgers, okay Cas?"

"Alright"

Sam snorted at how Dean had completely ignored him in that last sentence, "So while you and Cas get burgers, what exactly should I be doing?"

Dean turned around and rolled his eyes at Sam, "Shut up and sleep, bitch"

"Jerk"

Dean laughed, but looked away a moment later when Cas tapped his shoulder "Dean, perhaps you should pay more attention to the road"

Sam called up "For god's sake yes!"

"I am absolutely paying attention to the road!" Dean objected.

"No. Up until a minute ago you were having eyesex with an angel, and that is not the way I want to die"

"Fuck you Sam" and as if to prove his annoyance Dean yanked the steering wheel a bit to one side, slamming both Sam and Cas into the wall "Now I'm going to get burgers for me and everyone who doesn't have problems with my driving. So shut up"

Cas complied, and Sam who was already beginning to fall asleep did as well, simply because he didn't have the energy to come up with another retort. From the front seat he could hear Dean turn on the radio and attempt to start a conversation with Cas on the values of different types of music, which Sam was sure would be very amusing. He regretted that he was probably going to be asleep for it. Oh well, he was sure he'd get to hear it another time.

Assuming Dean didn't kill them all in a car wreck, of course.