This was a request from rabidteenagefangirl on Tumblr who wanted hurt human Jack. And I wrote this before the first episode of S14 premiered so there's no spoilers here :)
Mortal Vessel
A Supernatural Fanfic
Castiel sighed as he closed the book he had been looking through, running his hands over his face.
"Nothing?" Sam asked from across the table.
"Nothing useful," Castiel replied. He had never felt so helpless in his entire life. It had been several weeks now after Michael had taken Dean, and they had all been working non-stop to try and find some way to track him down, and, even more importantly, figure out how to get him out of Dean without having to kill them both. If Dean was even still alive.
But they weren't allowing themselves to think like that. Dean had to be alive still; Castiel would not accept another possibility.
Sam sighed as well, and shoved his chair back, standing up. "I'm gonna go grab some more coffee."
Before he could leave the library though, the bunker's door creaked open and staggering footsteps clattered down the stairs.
"Sam? Castiel?"
It was Mary. She, Jack and several of the other hunters from the apocalypse world had gone out to take down a vamp's nest a few towns over. Sam and Castiel had chosen to stay behind and follow up on a few leads they had discovered, though now it seemed like all of them had been a bust.
Castiel was on his feet in an instant, following Sam into the war room to see Mary staggering down the stairs with Jack's arm slung over her shoulders, blood staining his shirt.
"Jack!" Castiel cried and instantly rushed up the stairs to help Mary with the boy. He groaned as Castiel jostled him and the angel realized the blood was coming from a wound in his shoulder.
"What happened?" Sam demanded.
"It was an accident," Jack murmured before Mary hushed him gently.
"Let's get him to his room," Castiel cut in. Whatever had happened, Jack was badly hurt and he needed care before he collapsed.
Sam nodded and hurried ahead of them, grabbing towels to lay over Jack's bed to keep the blood from the sheets. Castiel and Mary helped him lay down and Castiel began to peel aside Jack's shirt and the makeshift bandages to see the wound.
"A bullet?" he asked, confused.
Mary sighed, running the back of her hand over her forehead. Castiel saw it had dried blood on it, probably from patching Jack up. "We caught some of the vampires away from their nest. They started making a run for it, and Jack dashed after them just as Frank tried to get a shot on one."
"Wait, Frank shot Jack?" Sam demanded, looking around as if the hunter would show up.
Mary shook her head. "It was an accident. Jack got into his line of fire."
Castiel wanted to feel angry at Frank too, but he did realize it had been an accident on the hunter's part. And, well, Jack had certainly gained a propensity for jumping into things since he had become human. All of them had tried to caution him but it always seemed like he was trying to prove something. It was a dangerous habit, that was quickly becoming more so.
"Jack," Castiel sighed. "We talked about working as a team with the other hunters."
"I know," Jack cried. "But I keep forgetting I don't have powers. That I'm not invincible anymore! It's a difficult thing to adjust to."
"I know, Jack, but you can't forget that! A bullet can kill you now. If this had been a few inches to the right Mary might have been bringing a corpse home to us!" Castiel snapped, his anger flaring, fed by his worry. Jack's eyes turned pained and he looked away from him, blinking swiftly. Mary stepped over and sat on the side of the bed, taking his hand.
"We need to get the bullet out," she said with no room for argument. "I'll stay with Jack while you get what we need."
Castiel gratefully left the room, Sam on his heels as they headed toward the infirmary. The angel glanced over at the younger Winchester, seeing a frown between his brows. "You think I was too harsh with him?" Castiel asked, feeling slightly guilty.
Sam exhaled slowly, and shrugged. "Jack does need to learn to be more careful. I mean, last week he nearly got his throat ripped out by that ghoul, and now this."
"And when we were fighting those demons and he rushed in too early and you almost got killed going after him," Castiel added, suppressing a shudder at that harrowing mission.
Sam pressed his lips together. "I also get it though. I remember when I quit drinking the demon blood, and how crappy I was at fighting demons after that until I readjusted."
"I know. And I have been exactly where Jack is," Castiel sighed. "It is very difficult to be mortal, and Jack was so much more powerful than I ever was. But I just want him to be okay. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to him, and yet keeping him from hunting would make him feel even more useless. I just don't know what the right thing to do here is."
Sam gave him a pained smile as he gathered gauze and a surgical kit, handing a metal bowl to Castiel. "Look, Cas, you're the closest thing to a dad that he has. He looks up to you and he will listen to you. Even if it takes a while for it to stick."
Castiel nodded gratefully and hurried back to Jack's room with Sam.
Mary had helped him out of his shirt and jacket and had started cleaning the blood away from the wound so they could see what they were doing. Jack was rigid with pain, and it hurt Castiel deep inside to know that it would only be getting worse soon. Jack looked sheepish as he and Sam came back, and the angel felt a pang that the boy still didn't seem to want to meet his eyes.
Mary stood from the bed, and dropped the bloody cloth she had been holding into the sink on one side of the room. "I can't tell how deep the bullet is, but there's no exit wound."
Castiel glanced towards Sam and the younger Winchester pressed his lips into a thin line. "I'll do it. Mom, Cas?" Sam nodded slightly to Jack and Castiel and Mary moved to the other side of the bed so Sam could work, and they would be there to help keep Jack calm.
"Okay, Jack, this is gonna hurt pretty bad," Sam told him as he started to disinfect the tools he would need with a lighter, Mary had poured a small cup of whisky and set it on the table so Sam could place the forceps in there to keep them disinfected.
Jack looked frightened as he glanced up at Sam almost pleadingly. "Does it have to come out?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It will just get infected in there and it won't heal properly."
Jack took a shuddering breath and gave a sharp nod. "Okay."
As an afterthought, Castiel undid his belt and slipped it from the loops. He folded it in half and handed it to Jack. "Here, bite this."
"Why?" Jack asked with a frown as he took the belt.
"It just helps with the pain," Mary told him gently, sitting on the side of the bed and rubbing his arm. "Gives you something to concentrate on."
Jack carefully set it between his teeth. Mary held his hand tightly, her other hand pressed against his good shoulder. Castiel hovered nearby, waiting to offer assistance where it was needed.
Sam glanced over at them and gave a nod. He took up the forceps and a swatch of gauze and bent toward Jack. "Okay, here we go."
Jack's whole body tensed as Sam eased the forceps into his wound. A surprised cry made it past the belt clenched between his teeth. He tried to twist away instinctively, and Mary and Castiel hurried to hold him still.
"Easy, easy," Sam murmured. "I know it hurts, but if you stay still, I'll be able to do it faster."
Jack inhaled deeply through his nose and Sam continued, searching for the bullet lodged in Jack's flesh. The boy let out a keening whimper that went straight to Castiel's heart. His heels dug into the mattress, and Castiel had to firmly press his legs flat against the bed, gripping right above his knee in what he hoped was a reassuring pressure. He instinctively reached out with his grace to touch Jack's but…Jack's grace wasn't there anymore. He could only offer physical comfort.
Sam did something that made Jack scream and jerk uncontrollably. Sam cursed and Castiel had to put most of his weight against Jack's legs. Mary was trying to shush him but it was doing little good. She glanced over her shoulder at Castiel helplessly. He pressed his lips together and motioned for her to switch positions with him. He sat on the side of the bed, leaned over, and took Jack's face between his hands, feeling wetness from the tears streaming from his eyes.
"Jack, it's okay," Castiel said softly. "Just calm down, take deep breaths."
Jack shook his head, choking on another sob. Castiel wiped some of the tears away with his thumbs. "You are very brave, and you're very strong," he said, and finally nodded for Sam to continue as he spoke, trying to keep Jack focused on him. "You'll get through this, I know you can."
Jack was shuddering, and he cried out again as Sam had to go deeper. Castiel put one hand on Jack's chest, pressing him back, but also rubbing soothing circles there.
"You need to breathe, Jack," he said. "In—out—in—out, okay?"
Finally Jack began to take shuddering breaths though his nose, deepening them. They hitched every time Sam was forced to make a move with the forceps, but Jack kept breathing and he seemed to calm a little.
"Good job," Castiel coaxed. "Keep it up, Jack."
"There we go," Sam said finally with a grunt. "I got it."
Jack suddenly screamed and arched his back as Sam pulled the bullet from his wound. Sam dropped the bloody bullet and the forceps into the glass of whisky and pressed a swatch of gauze to the wound to stop the bleeding as he settled one hand on Jack's head, stroking back the sweaty hair. "You did great, Jack, we're almost done."
Castiel took the belt from Jack's teeth as the boy laid there, limp and panting, his skin pale and slick with sweat. Mary got up and wet several clean cloths, handing one to Castiel. She began wiping sweat from Jack's torso as Castiel dabbed his face.
Sam picked up a bottle of alcohol and another towel. "Okay, this is gonna hurt, but it will only be a second." Castiel gripped Jack's hand as Sam poured the alcohol over the bullet wound and the boy cried out again. Castiel ran his hand through Jack's hair soothingly as Sam finished cleaning out the wound and began to patch it up.
"There we go, we're all done now," Sam assured him with a smile, finishing the bandaging.
Jack just lay there breathing, eyes mostly closed. Castiel squeezed his listless hand again before he made to stand up.
That was when Jack's eyes opened and his hand tightened his grip. "Don't leave," he whispered.
Mary stepped in. "I'll get whatever he needs, Cas, you stay here with him."
She and Sam cleaned up and got pain medicine for Jack as Castiel simply sat on the side of the bed, holding Jack's hand.
"I'm sorry I got hurt," Jack finally said, his voice so weak it was barely above a whisper. "I know this just gives you one more thing to worry about and—"
"Oh, Jack," Castiel said, and reached up with his other hand to cup the side of the boy's face again. "That's not why I was angry. I wasn't…I wasn't even angry so much as I was scared." He smiled softly. "I'm just worried that you'll get really hurt if you keep running into fights like this. And that can be dangerous to the people you're hunting with too."
Jack's eyes flicked to the side. "I know. I'm sorry."
Castiel soothed his thumb over Jack's knuckles. "I just want you to be more careful. You've been learning to fight, and you're doing good, but you have to remember that you're not the only one fighting. This isn't like it was in the apocalypse world when you were powerful. You're just like the other hunters now. You have to work with them. And we can't lose you, Jack. With Dean gone…" He swallowed the emotion down so he could continue. "We can't lose someone else we care about," he finished.
Jack's eyes turned wet and he sniffed, nodding. Castiel stroked his hair back again as Sam and Mary came back into the room.
Castiel helped him sit up a bit to take the pain pills and then he and Mary assisted in getting a hooded sweatshirt on Jack so he wouldn't get chilled, before they slipped his injured arm into a sling to help keep it still.
Sam smiled at him as he held out something small and shiny. "Here. Dean…" he faltered before he pressed on, "Dean would tell you to keep this."
Castiel saw it was the bullet. Jack frowned, confused.
"Why?"
Sam shrugged. "A badge of honor; a reminder that you survived."
Jack reached out his hand and Sam dropped the bullet into his palm. The boy studied it with a furrow between his brows. "It's so small. How did it hurt that much?"
"That's part of being human," Sam said and sat on the side of the bed, reaching out to gently squeeze Jack's knee. "Jack, look, you don't need to be so hard on yourself, it's gonna take you a while to get used to this. And you don't have to feel bad asking any of us for help either, you understand that, right?"
Jack sighed but nodded. "Yes, I understand. I just…I just want to help people again."
"And you will," Mary insisted. "You are. Just in a different way."
Jack nodded again, clutching the bullet in his hand. "You're right. And I will be more careful."
Castiel smiled and stood up finally. "You should probably rest. I'm sure you're tired."
Jack nodded, eyes already drooping again. Castiel pulled a blanket over top of him and Jack sighed.
They all made to leave, when Jack spoke behind them again.
"Thank you," he said.
"For what, Jack?" Sam asked.
"For being there. For being my family," Jack said softly and then seemed to fall asleep.
Sam, Castiel, and Mary shared a look of pride and love before they turned off the light and left the door ajar. Castiel was glad they had Jack as their family too.
Now all they needed was to get Dean back.