.:Chapter 2:.


Morning never came fast enough for the pair. Cas had fallen asleep late that night, spending much of the night staring at the door in the hopes the other would return. Dean having fallen asleep in Baby parked out in the parking lot in a spot he had claimed as his own until he would no longer need to visit the hospital. With the sun already beating down on things so early in the morning it was going to be a good day. At least Dean thought it would, even if he had grown rather sore from sleeping in an uncomfortable position in the car. He just wasn't ok with the idea of leaving to sleep in his own bed with the thought of Cas being left alone in his room. Sleeping in the parking lot meant the two could be reunited for the day much faster. Besides, Dean had a surprise waiting for the other and he could nearly contain himself at the thought of it and the other boy's reaction.

The blonde entered the room with a gentle knock on the already opened door. Despite it being early in the morning Dean highly doubted the nurses even knew he was here at the moment. Hell, he really didn't care. He had some he needed to check on and no little nurse with a clipboard was going to stop him. Not now. Not ever. "Cas?" He asked quietly.

Still in the process of waking up, Cas had given a small yawn mixed with a throaty hum in response to his question. The boy gave a great big yawn before turning his head to face the other and instantly perked up when he saw him standing in the doorway. "D-Dean?" He muttered with a confused smile. He really hadn't expected the other to show so early in the morning like this.

Dean found himself sighing quietly in relief. At least the boy had remembered his name this time. This was a start. A slow start, but he would take it. Hell, he'd even take a "assbutt" right now, over his own name if that was all the other could remember. "Yea, it's me. How're you feeling? He asked as he gently sat himself on the edge of the bed and gently ran his hand through Castiel's messy hair. How badly he just wanted to hug the other tightly and beg for the other to remember him but he had to take things slow and he didn't know which was worse.

The boy gave a warm, yet still slightly tired, smile at the contact and found himself learning into it. "I feel better, actually. A little tired as I'm sure you can see."

The blonde nodded and quickly reached under his coat to pull out a stack of photos held together with a rubber band. He had gone through their albums, social medias, and phones to collect the best photos and most important photos and had them printed along with ones printed through out their time together. He gently handed them to the other. "These are some photos for you. They are photos our dates together. I thought… Maybe they could help you."

Castiel gently took the photos from the other, his hands hesitating slightly regardless of how badly he wanted to touch them. He gently undid the rubber band and had started to flip through them slowly, looking each and every photo over intently. "We looked so happy together…" He mumbled sadly when he stopped on a photo of the two grinning widely. The photos were upsetting him more then he thought they should. How could he forget so many fond memories of the two? How could he do that to the other?

"Heh. We were. Trust me." Dean said with a sightly forced out laugh before his expression had softened when he saw the look on the other's face. "You.. don't remember any of these, d-do you?"

"I don't think so, no. Not yet." He responded with a few tiny shakes of his head, his eyes brows pulling together. "Wait… I think maybe this one?" he asked as he stopped and hands Dean a photo of them together. The two on the Impala hood at night, Dean on Cas' chest and passed out and Cas holding the camera slightly crooked with a silly grin on his face.

"You- You do? What do you remember?" Dean's hope practically leapt out of chest at the hopes his angel would remember something. Dean soon found himself shaking in the short lived silence between the two as his excitement rose. For the current situation the two were found in, any remembrance meant everything to him.

"Was it a birthday or a date? It… It was something sort of important… Something special? You had gotten tired and after a long day had fallen asleep on me and I guess I stole the camera from you for a bit?" He explained, keeping his tone light like a question, ready to stop in he had gotten the memory wrong.

Dean didn't think his heart could break anymore then it did at the that moment. It hurt his soul deeply to have to tell his little angel he was wrong and what really happened in those photos. "This was right after the impala broke. The impala is my car… You loved it. And I was really tired after trying to to fix it so I fell asleep right there on your chest." He explained as he gently ran his hand over the slightly bent and scratched photo of the two.

"I… oh. I had thought it was a much happier memory considering the expression I was making. I'm sorry." Cas' tiny hopeful smile had faded somewhat as he looked back down to the stack of photos. Did his mind just try to make something up again to fill in the blanks? It had been doing that a lot it seemed. "Did we at least sleep in the back?" If he could get at least a fraction of this memory right he thought maybe he could feel better.

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. This is good!" He smiled, shuffling hurriedly to the next photo. It showed the both of them in a fancy restaurant, Dean's arm around Cas' shoulders and their other hands intertwined with each other while they stood well dressed. "What about this one?"

He hesitate to answer but took a shot in the dark once he felt comfortable enough to look up to the other. "We are both dressed so fancy… I assume a prom? The nurses did tell me we are around the age of attending that…" He tried.

"Yes! The prom! This is from the prom. You looked so handsome." Dean chuckled quietly, signing as he handed the photo back to the other for him to look over. "This is progress." Dean didn't have the words at how proud he was of the other right now. It was little progress, but any progress was progress in the right direction for him right now.

His happy hopeful smile retuned to his face as he quickly looked up from the photo to look up the other. "I remembered it correctly? We… We clean up really nice enough." He said with a soft smile up to the other before glancing back to the photo.

"Yes. You were right." Dean slung an arm around the boy's shoulders, careful of any of his injuries, and rested his head against Cas'. The simple action made him feel at home. Like the accident never happened. "I think you are doing well. Good job." Dean wanted to say so much more but was afraid of crossing boundaries at this point and possibly setting back any progress the two had made. He wasn't sure if that was possible, but hell he didn't want to risk it.

Cas had leaned back into the touch. It made him feel safe and loved and he didn't want to give it up. Not now. The contact between the two was the most comforting thing he could remember since waking up in the hospital alone. "Do you think, at this rate I can go home soon?" He asked, keeping his voice quiet as to not ruin whatever this moment was.


.: To be continued... :.