Heat of the Moment
{Cas is sick. Gwen steps in to take care of him. But will Dean be ok with leaving his angel in the hands of someone else?}
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"Ugh, can it possibly get any hotter?" Sam griped, running a hand across his sweat-covered brow.
"The faster we find this son of a bitch, the sooner we can leave," Dean retorted, fanning a newspaper over himself.
Sam bent over the book before him, tugging at his collar. The windows of the small library were thrown open in hopes of catching a stray breeze, but the humidity refused to budge. Dean groaned, shifting back in his chair to tug one of the wheezing fans a bit closer. He sighed as the air hit him; it might still be warm but it was better than nothing. He paused, glancing up to where Castiel sat across from him, head in his hands as he stared down at his own book.
"You ok there, Cas?" he asked, shifting the fan towards him slightly.
Cas started, looking slightly dazed. "I believe I am feeling the heat more than usual."
Dean chuckled. "I hear ya. How 'bout it, Sammy? Any luck?"
Sam shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. "Not in this book. For such a small town, there sure are a lot of books to go through to find a single grave marker."
"Yeah well, apparently this is the place to be when you die."
Sam nodded in agreement. They had passed several small cemeteries on the way here, finding the correct one was proving to be harder than they thought.
"I give up," Dean huffed, getting slowly to his feet. "Come on, Sammy. Let's just get the rest to go and find somewhere with some AC."
Sam nodded, scooping the remaining books up and moving to the front desk.
"Alright, angel boy, let's get outta here," Dean insisted, nudging Castiel's shoulder. He rolled his head in his direction, nodding slowly. "You sure you're ok? You look kinda…"
"I am alright, thank you, Dean," Cas insisted, rising and moving towards the door.
Sam joined them at the car, carefully placing the stack of books in the backseat next to the now human angel. Dean rolled the windows down, relishing the wind as they drove through the small town in search of a diner. A small pizza shop caught his eye and he turned into the gravel lot, hissing as his baby bounced in a pothole.
"Lousy, unpaved…" he muttered, killing the engine and jumping out. "Shake a leg, Cas. This place closes in five hours!"
Castiel sighed, slowly moving from the car. His head seemed fuzzy, and the world was far too bright. The smell of grease and cheese hit him as they entered, instantly followed by the refreshing blast of an air conditioner.
"God, I missed this," Dean declared, sliding into a booth.
"Dean," Sam chided, cocking a brow when Cas made no reply to correct his obvious blasphemy.
"Hey there, what can I getcha tonight?" A middle aged lady bustled up beside them, removing a pen from her neat bun. "Our special tonight is an extra large with the works and a pitcher for just $15. Or do you need a moment to look things over?"
"We'll take that," Dean said, glancing at the lady's name tag, "Molly."
"Can I add on a small salad?" Sam quickly added. "And a water?"
"Sure thing, hun," she agreed, jotting it down. "Be right back with those drinks for ya."
She returned in record time, a young teen following behind her with a tray. She plunked down a pitcher and a stack of cups before turning to collect the waters. "Drink up, sweeties. It's a real scorcher out there today."
"You can say that again," Dean agreed, smiling at the young girl who blushed, quickly ducking her head behind the now empty tray.
"Oh don't mind her," Molly insisted as the girl hurried back to the kitchens. "That's Felicity, my eldest. I'm tryin' to train her up how to run the shop, but she's still so shy. Prefers spending time in a book, not watching this place."
Molly scooted a glass closer to Castiel, cocking her head to the side a bit. "You alright there, sug?"
Cas smiled up at her, accepting the drink. "I believe I am not used to this amount of warmth yet."
She chuckled, "Not from these parts, are ya? Well, drink up. Better to not get yourself dehydrated."
The bell over the door tinkled, and she excused herself to help the next table. Cas sighed, sipping at the cool drink. It wasn't much, but it seemed to help relieve some of the building pressure from his head.
"Any luck?" Dean asked Sam over the top of the book he had his nose pressed into.
"Not yet… Wait." Sam flipped the book around to show Dean a page. "Look here. Apparently there's an unmarked grave on this site that dates back to about the same time. What do you think? Think it's our guy?"
"Worth a look," Dean shrugged, rolling his head over towards Cas as he sighed. "Seriously, dude. You gonna make it?"
"I am not making anything, Dean," Castiel mumbled, placing his head in his hands.
"It's an expression," Sam explained. "But he's right. You seem kinda off."
"I am feeling… strange," he admitted.
"What's wrong?" Dean asked, leaning forward.
"There seems to be pressure, here," he answered, slowly searching for the correct words and pressed a hand to his right temple.
Dean nodded in understanding. "You've got a headache. We've got some meds in the kit if you want. Anything else?"
"I am unsure. I feel odd."
"You're probably just hot," Sam replied. "We were in that library all day. You just need to cool off some. Food'll probably help too."
Cas nodded, hoping he was correct. His body felt abnormally heavy and sounds were growing louder.
"Speaking of food," Dean exclaimed, looking up as the teenager arrived with their pizza. "This looks amazing."
She smiled, turning a shade of pink as she darted back to the counter to retrieve Sam's salad and a large pitcher of water. "Did.. did you need anything else?" she asked timidly.
"Everything looks perfect," Sam assured her, placing a napkin in his book and setting it aside.
"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, nearly spilling the water she was pouring. "Are you looking at the cemeteries here?"
Dean cocked a brow, turning his attention away from the food momentarily to listen.
"Yes, actually," Sam nodded. "We're trying to find an old relative of ours, but we've been having a hard time finding his plot in these books."
"Have you looked at East Dale Cemetery yet?" she asked casually, continuing when they looked puzzled. "Nobody's really heard of it. It's really old, like 1870's, I think. It's not in many of the books, since it's so little. We go out there sometimes; it's supposed to be haunted. There's this spot near the back that, if you stand by it at night, you can hear two soldiers fighting."
"Really?" Dean asked, kicking Sam under the table. "Where is this again?"
"East Dale, you um… you know where the school is?" she asked as Sam quickly jotted the information down on a napkin. "Well, you turn left, and there's an old you turn left again, there's this little gravel road. Most people drive past it not realizing it's there, but you go down that and at the very end is the entrance. It's kinda overgrown now though. I don't think anyone looks after it anymore."
"Felicity," Molly called, walking over to the next table, "don't forget the other guests, dear."
She blushed crimson, darting away.
"That's lucky!" Dean declared, snatching up a slice of pizza and cramming it into his mouth. Instantly his eyes rolled back. "Oh man, that's heaven. Sam, you gotta try this!"
Sam rolled his eyes, taking a slice. "Wow, that is really good. So, whatcha think? Head out after dinner and check out the place?"
Dean shook his head, jerking it towards where Cas sat, head once again in his hands, pizza barely touched. He lightly touched his shoulder. "Whatdaya say we get the rest of this to go and find a hotel for the night?"
Cas nodded, wincing as the movement sent a jolt of pain through his head. "That would be acceptable."
"Sammy, can you-" Dean began but Sam cut him off with a wave of his hand, rising to go pay.
"Done already?" Molly asked, moving to the register as Sam approached.
He raked a hand through his hair. "Actually… our friend-"
"Say no more, hun. I understand," she nodded, turning to fetch a box. "Lemme get that boxed up for you. This heat is just somethin' else. There ya go. All set."
"Thanks," he replied, taking out his wallet but she waved him away.
"Oh the house. You worry about your friend ok?"
He opened his mouth to protest, but she merely winked and walked away to help another table. Felicity waved as he moved towards the door.
"I hope you find it!" she called as he left.
"All yours," Dean declared, nodding towards the bathroom as he came up behind Sam. He plopped down on the bed, toweling his hair and leaned over towards the other bed, gently prodding Cas. "How ya holdin' up?"
Cas moved his arm slightly from where he had flung it over his eyes to peek out at him. He squinted, moaned, and turned over onto his side. "I believe I am feeling worse."
It had been good they left when they did. Cas seemed to deteriorate quickly once they had reached the hotel, quickly sinking into the closest bed and refusing to move. It had taken some coaxing, but Dean had finally gotten him to agree to at least take some medicine before letting him lie back down. All too familiar with migraines, they had kept the lights off and Dean had turned the AC unit as low as it could go in hopes of cooling Cas off further.
"You sure you don't wanna try to eat anything?"
"Please, do not mention food," Cas groaned into the pillow, arms tightening around his waist.
Dean carefully moved his fingers over his forehead, frowning when he felt how warm he was. He sighed, shifting back onto his bed and lying down. He dozed slightly, listening to the sound of the shower and trying to plan their next move. If Cas was really sick, that changed things. Taking him to a salt and burn was out of the question; there was just too much that could go wrong. And having someone stay behind to watch him wasn't any good either.
"Hey, how's he doing?"
Dean jumped as Sam suddenly came to stand over him. He'd been so wrapped up in thought he hadn't even heard the shower cut off. He nodded towards the door, and they stepped out into the humid night.
"This isn't just a migraine," Dean murmured, trying to keep his voice low. "He seems nauseous, and he's got a slight fever now too."
"Whatda think? Postpone the hunt?"
Dean shook his head. "No, we need to hurry up and do this before it gets any worse out there. But Cas…"
Sam thought for a moment before walking towards the impala and digging a map out. He fanned it out, searching for a moment before pulling out his phone.
"Hey, Einstein, I can't read minds," Dean griped. "Wanna fill me in?"
Sam rolled his eyes, leaning over to tap a spot on the map roughly an hour away. "How do you feel about Omaha?"
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{Hey guys, thanks so much for reading the first chapter. It's been so long since I've actually posted anything! I hope you like it so far and don't worry, I plan to have the next chapter up real soon. As for Gwen (my OC) I'll get her intro story up shortly as well. Sorry to go kinda backwards; the Muse is weird that way.}