"Dean! Dean you're being crazy!" Bobby yelled, grabbing the younger hunters arm. He was trying to pull Dean from the water that Castiel had just walked into. "Dean, he's gone. He isn't Cas anymore. It's the Leviathans. He's gone." He continued, as Dean continued to pull from Bobby's grasp.
"Bobby, just…He's there." Dean pleaded to the older man, not caring if what he was doing was insane. The hunter just knew, as soon as he picked up that dirty trench coat his angel used to wear…he knew that Castiel was still in that water, waiting for Dean to save him. When Bobby didn't say anything, Dean spoke up again,
"Let me go. If there's nothing to be saved, so be it. But what if there is Bobby? What if that fucking angel's down there waiting for one of us to save him? He's saved all of us, so many times but you can't let me try to repay the favor one goddamn time. Bobby let me go." Bobby looked at the man until Sam walked up and put a hand on Bobby's arm. The eldest hunter looked at him, and Sam nodded. Finally, the hold on Dean's arm was released.
In seconds, Dean was taking off his own jacket and shoes. "Ten minutes. If I'm not back, leave." He didn't look at Bobby, but he looked at his brother. Sam sighed deeply, but nodded. He was the one who understood why Dean was doing something so insane, something so suicidal. Sam was the one who took notice to the little things with Cas and Dean; the long stares, the intense caring, the way Dean's not really himself whenever the angel wasn't by his side.
Dean took a breath, preparing himself for whatever he found in that water, "See you then." Bobby and Sam both nodded, and watched as another member of their family waded into that water.
Dean shuddered as he stepped into the water. It was beyond freezing and it made his breath hitch for a moment. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he kept walking deeper and deeper into the lake. The hunter would never admit it, but he was fucking petrified. What if all he found was a lifeless body? What if he didn't find anything at all, and Cas was gone; in every sense of the word. Dean quickly shook that thought from his head, remembering that the angel had to be alive, that he was alive down here.
When he was about neck deep, Dean took the largest breath he ever could and sunk under the water. He swam deep, harder and faster than he ever did before. It felt like hours of swimming until he finally saw what he was looking for. Dean didn't even pause, he just continued onto the body he saw before him. The body of Jimmy Novak; the body Castiel used as a vessel; the body the Leviathans were drained out of.
The hunter finally reached it, and paused only for a moment to stare at it. 'Cas..' he thought, taking the arm of the unmoving and breathing vessel. Dean was struggling, trying to lug the man up to the surface of the water with him. Somehow, thankfully, he managed to get above the water; the body with him.
"Sam! Bobby! A little help!" the man yelled, fighting to keep the man in his arms above water, in the slight chance he was still alive. Dean looked to the shore and saw his brother racing towards them, so he tried to swim forward and keep Jimmy Novak's body from falling back to the water. As soon as he reached his brother, he still kept hold of the man, "Just take a side. I can't let him go." Dean barely managed to spit out. Sam nodded, "Yeah."
It took around two minutes, but the brothers managed to get themselves and Jimmy's body to land and place him gently on the ground. Dean immediately started doing chest compressions and anything else he could think of to get the damn thing infront of him to breathe, to give any indication that his angel was still in there somewhere.
"Dean.." Bobby whispered, sadly.
"No! Goddammit, he's alive. Just give him a few minutes." Dean growled, continuing through the pain that was beginning to sear through his whole body. "Cas, I know you can fucking hear me. Get your damn feathery ass back here right now. You are not leaving us. You're not leaving me! You hear me, you good for nothing angel? Do you hear me? You aren't dying. If I'm still here, you're still here!" he all but cried, while fighting to get the body infront of him to show a sign of life. After a moment he stopped, tears slipping from his eyes, "Dammit, Cas…Please."
The hunter leaned on Jimmy Novak's body for support, as everything just drained from him. 'He's gone' was the only thing that was replaying through Dean's head and he couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand the thought that the insufferable angel he'd loved wasn't going to have snide comments, wasn't going to stand awkwardly close to him, that the angel wasn't going to be on the planet that Dean was on anymore. So Dean just closed his eyes, and let his world crash down around him.
"Dean." Sam murmured his voice a bit off.
"What." Dean demanded, not bothering to open his eyes.
"You might want to look on the person you're leaning on."
In a second, Dean was sitting up and looking at the angel infront of him. As soon as he was up, the body moved. Just a little, barely even noticeably, but it did.
"Dean, get up ya idjit. Give 'im some room." Bobby ordered, pulling up the boy by his soaking wet collar.
Within moments, the body was sitting up-coughing and sputtering water out. The next few moments were just utter silence, listening to the body cough out all the water it had ingested. The three hunters were waiting; was it Castiel or was it going to be Jimmy Novak? Finally, the man looked up and easily his eyes shifted onto the eldest Winchester.
"Dean."
Dean couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so relieved. He dropped back down to his knees and to Cas' side. "Cas." The hunter whispered, before wrapping the drenched and cold angel in his arms. The angel didn't tense, like Dean had expected. Instead, he awkwardly slipped his arms around the hunter he shared a profound bond with.
Dean let out a shuddered breath and gently he pressed his lips to the angels. He didn't care if it was unrighteous, or if Bobby and Sam were watching. He didn't care about anything in that moment except the fact that his angel was back. As they broke apart Cas murmured, "What was that?" Dean smirked, "I guess a thank you for not leaving me with these two."