After another routine hunting trip resulting in another dead demon, Sam and Dean were driving back to the bunker in the Impala. "Hey, Dean, you okay dude? You look like shit." Sam asked casually knowing his brother's temper. "I'm fine, Just want my bed…and a cold beer." Dean brushed him off. Sure his head was pounding and he was freezing. And yeah, he was feeling a little like he was going to puke up his guts, but he'd be damned if he told his little brother that. As far as Sam was concerned, Dean Winchester never got sick. Dean pulled the Impala into the bunker's garage. When he rose to get out of the car his vision swam. "Dean?" Sam wondered what was taking his brother so long to get out of the car. "Just fixing something on Baby's door. Be in in a minute, Sammy." Dean said gripping the seat to keep from falling over. He hoped he sounded convincing enough, the last thing Sam needed right now was to worry about him. "Okay. I'm going to shower, I smell like blood and sulfur." Once Dean heard the door shut Dean took a shaky, shallow breath. He stood up slowly but clutched the Impala. "Okay baby, I need you to help me." He got standing but when he went to walk he felt the ground coming out from under his feet. As he fell to the ground and succumbed to the darkness the name of his angel slipped his lips.
Castiel had been sitting in the library of the bunker when he heard Dean's voice calling his name in his head. A weak "Cas" came through. Cas immediately jumped up and blinked to where Dean was. "Dean? Dean!" He had looked around the garage until he saw the unconscious hunter lying on the ground. "Dean! Sam?" Cas called for the younger Winchester as he picked up his unconscious hunter. He took Dean to his bed just as Sam walked in. "What's going on Cas? What's wrong with Dean?" Sam jogged to the bed to help get Dean under the blankets. "Dean?" Cas whispered. At the sound of his name Dean's eyes opened. The world was spinning and he felt like he drank an entire liquor store, but without the fun drunkenness. "Cas? What the hell happened? Why is it so cold in here?" He was freezing. He tried to sit up only to realize just how weak he was. "Damn it, what kind of messed up hoodoo is this!" Cas noticed Dean was sweating a lot. He put a hand to his head and said "Your internal temperature has risen quite a lot." He gave his confused puppy eyes to Sam. "Looks like you got sick. I'll go get the thermometer. After finding he had a high fever Sam went to see what kind of first aid supplies they had. Meanwhile Cas stayed with Dean, who had now begun violently throwing up. Cas had given him a trash can and was now gently rubbing Dean's back. When Sam returned, he informed them that they had nothing for normal sickness but that if they wanted to go get stabbed they would be all set. Sam told them he would take the Impala and go get some stuff to help. "Don't change the station. Or hurt my bab…" He was stopped by more throwing up. "Got it." Sam said disgustedly while backing out of the room. Dean stopped throwing up eventually. He weakly lay against the pillows falling in and out of consciousness. When Cas tried to talk to him about how he was feeling, Dean answered incoherently. His answers were making less and less sense, even to Cas they were confusing. Cas took Dean's temperature again and saw that it had risen a few degrees. "Okay Dean, we need to lower your temperature." Cas stripped Dean of his sweat soaked shirt and started taking off his pants. "Cas, what are you…mmm…I've been thinking…too much thinking…my angel…yeah…I'm ok with it…" Dean continued to mumble on about vague sexual topics and his angel. Cas blushed as he removed Dean's pants to find a large erection. He removed the rest of Dean's clothing and then picked up the muscular man. He carried him into the bathroom and put him in the empty tub where he turned on the cold shower spray. Dean complained and tried to move but he was too weak to struggle against Cas who was holding him down. The tub filled and Cas shut off the water. Dean became more and more coherent. "Cas, I'm cold. Can't I just go to sleep. If I sleep this thing off I I can get back to hunting." He was very whiny when he was sick. "Let me see if you're feeling any cooler." He rested his hand against Dean's forehead. Dean leaned into Cas' hand and closed his eyes. "You are still quite hot, but you are cooler than you were." Cas reached for a towel. Dean wrapped the towel around Dean's torso and then lifted him up til they were standing. He wrapped an arm around Dean's shoulders to hold him up while he dried him. Then he wrapped the towel around Dean and lifted him up. He carried him to the bed and put him down gently. Cas grabbed some pajamas and brought them to Dean. "Dean, do you need help putting on your pajamas?" Cas asked. "I'd rather sleep without the clothes" He looked sheepish. Cas put the clothes away. Sam returned with medicine. "Hey, how're you feeling?" He asked. Dean sleepily replied "Like a piece of shit that got run over by a steam roller." Sam gave him the medicine and some water. After Dean swallowed the pills, he lay back in the bed. Sam started to leave with Cas in tow when Dean quietly said "Cas, could you stay? Please?" Cas looked at Sam who shrugged and walked off. "Okay, Dean." He pulled a chair up to the bed and Dean asked to turn on a movie. After only a few minutes Dean fell asleep. Cas finished watching the movie and was about to leave when Dean started mumbling and moaning in his sleep. He began thrashing around. "No…not…gonna torture…Sammy…no…Lucifer…my fault…" He was tossing and turning. Cas felt compelled to do something. He moved to the bed and put his hand on Dean's arm. It didn't do anything. Dean continued to toss and turn. Pushing aside the covers, Cas sat on the bed and lifted Dean's torso onto his lap where he ran his hands through Dean's hair. "Shh. It's okay Dean. You're fine. You've made it. You're out of hello. Sam is safe. Shh." Dean calmed down and curled into Cas, wrapping an arm around Cas' thigh. Cas was stuck but he didn't mind. He liked holding Dean. At some point Cas fell asleep. Sam went to check on his brother before he hit the hay and found the two snuggled up on the bed. Sam had felt that they had feelings for each other. He always joked about it with Dean. Maybe now they could profess their mutual adoration for each other and all that sexual tension would go away. Sam left the room to go to bed and dream of his own romantic future.
In the morning, Cas woke up first. His arms were entwined with Dean's. He looked at Dean's face. Such a beautiful face. Suddenly Dean's eyes flickered open. Deep green eyes stared into Cas' blue ones. "Cas" he said gruffly. "Good morning Dean. Feeling better?" Dean groaned. "I feel like shit. But better than last night. So…you…stayed with me…all night?" Dean asked bashfully, which was really out of character for him. "I did. You were sick. Dean…you dreamt of hell, and of Lucifer's possession of Sam. You know you did what was right. You did what had to be done. You have protected Sam incredibly. You know you are a good person right?" Cas' piercing blue eyes stared hard at Dean. Dean let his guard down "I try, Cas." Then it went right back up again. "So what's for breakfast?" Cas got up and went to the kitchen to fix up some food. Dean was feeling uncomfortable, partly because he was still not feeling 100%, but mostly he was feeling weird towards Cas. He was straight. Like really straight. He had sleep with so many women, so many. But Cas was something…amazing. And Dean was feeling weirdly attracted to him. He had an erection just thinking of Cas. "What the hell is going on around here." he muttered under his breath. He still found women attractive. Maybe he wasn't so straight? Cas came back with scrambled eggs. He put the plate on Dean's lap. They looked good, however immediately after taking a forkful, Dean was praying that they stayed down. They were absolutely disgusting. Cas was staring at Dean hopefully. Dean gave a half smile and gave Cas a thumbs up as he painfully swallowed. "So, Dean, last night you said some things about me when you were feverish." Cas was hinting towards something that Dean couldn't really remember. He remembered dreaming of cas running his hands over his chest…Oh! He said some of that out loud. "Cas. Cas I…I…" Dean didn't know what to say. Speechless, how very unlike him. Instead he pulled Cas to the bed and kissed him hard. "Oh, Dean I think I know what you mean. And yes I like you too, even though I'm not quite sure what these feelings are yet. Maybe we could explore them together." He kissed Dean back. And that was the morning that began their wonderful relationship.