Title: Whatever It Takes [3/?]
Author: alakewood
Warnings: Spoilers for Jump the Shark and The Rapture.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1200+
Summary: Dean and Sam arrive at Bobby's where Dean learns exactly what Cas meant when he spoke of consequences.
Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing.
oxoxo
When Bobby returned to his house with Adam an hour and a half later, Dean and Sam were already inside waiting. Their heated yet quiet conversation halted as soon as they saw Adam. Dean stood and crossed the living room, awkwardly embracing his youngest brother. "You're okay."
Adam returned the hug just as awkwardly, watching Sam from over Dean's shoulder.
Dean pulled away just enough to hold Adam at arms-length to give him a good once-over. It was the kind of treatment Sam was accustomed to after particularly physical and dangerous hunts, the kind of treatment reserved for him, and he found himself feeling jealous of the most recent addition to his family. He cleared his throat. "Dean, he's fine."
Dean released Adam, noting the uncomfortable expression he wore, and sheepishly backed away. "Sorry."
"No, it's...fine," Adam said.
"I know there's a hell of a lot of stuff for you boys to catch up on, but it is awfully late and you've all had rather rough days. So let's just turn in and you can just have a good long chat in the morning." Bobby looked pointedly at Dean, the arch of his eyebrows hidden by the shadow from the bill of his cap.
"Yeah. Long day." Dean turned to Sam. "You wanna grab the bags from the car?"
Sam glanced at the three men in the living room, feeling like the odd one out. He rolled his eyes, sighing, "Whatever."
Adam watched Sam go, knowing his presence was responsible for the majority of the tension between his...brothers. "I think I'm gonna..." he trailed off, gesturing towards the stairs with a thumb.
Dean stared at him for a moment, still slightly awed by it all. "Yeah. Okay. Goodnight."
"Night. Thanks for earlier, Bobby."
"No problem, kid."
Dean watched Adam go, listened for the creak of the stairs as he ascended them, and turned to Bobby. "What happened earlier?"
"He wanted to know about his father, so I told him what I could," Bobby shrugged. "Kids got lots of questions, only met the man a handful of times."
"I know." Dean recalled the conversation he'd had with the ghoul masquerading as Adam, how, even in that 'handful of times,' John had managed to be a better father to Adam than he had ever been to Sam and Dean in twenty-plus years. He guessed that was the trade-off: Adam was safe and normal and fatherless while Sam and Dean were in constant danger in some of the furthest-from-normal circumstances, fighting evil side-by-side with their father. "Uh, so, hey. What happened with Cas?"
"I'm not...I'm not sure. He brought Adam back, then he disappeared."
"And you didn't talk at all?"
"We had a short conversation."
Sam entered the living room, letting his and Dean's bags slip off his shoulder onto the floor in front of the end table beside the couch. "What's going on?"
Dean didn't answer, just asked Bobby, "Conversation about what?"
"He said that they'd force him to go back- back to Heaven for what he did. That it was the..." he paused, trying to recall the exact words Castiel had used. "It was the 'ultimate display of disobedience.'"
Disobedience, Dean thought. That sounded like Cas. Never seemed to matter much what was right and wrong, just as long as orders were carried out. "So, he's...?"
"Gone, most likely. Way he made it sound, he's not coming back. Ever."
Dean was speechless. But Sam wasn't. "How are we supposed to stop Lilith? The apocalypse? Without Cas, how are we supposed to know if were going in the right direction with all this?"
"He said that Anna could still help and that you're on the right track." Bobby shook his head. "I still don't know how you could've asked him to do this."
"He didn't say what would happen – he just said there would be consequences."
"And you didn't think to ask him what they were?" Bobby tried his damnedest to keep his voice down.
"I didn't care! I just wanted..." He sighed. "I just wanted to save Adam."
"You damn Winchesters, never thinking things through. Completely reckless and going off half-cocked. Always needing to save somebody."
"You don't understand-"
"Like hell I don't understand, boy."
"That's not what I-"
"Look," Sam interjected, having been silent for much longer than he was usually capable, "it's been a really long day. Let's just call it a night, huh?" He glanced between his brother and Bobby.
Bobby's eyes softened, the creases at the corners of his eyes becoming slightly less pronounced, the stare he had trained on the eldest Winchester brother not nearly as hard. "All right. See you boys in the morning."
"Night, Bobby." Sam watched Bobby go then let his gaze return to Dean. "You want to check these for me?" He slid out of his jacket and held his heavily bandaged wrists out towards his brother.
"Yeah. Sure." He followed Sam out into the kitchen where the light was better and where a cache of first-aid supplies was stashed in one of the drawers under the counter. He was careful unwrapping the gauze from Sam's wounds, slowly cleaned around his hasty stitch job. Sam really should've been in a hospital with as much blood as he'd lost and how deep the wounds were, but he'd adamantly argued against it. Dean couldn't help but feel a little guilty – if he'd just accepted that Adam was dead and gone after Sam...But Sam was okay and Adam was alive and he couldn't find it in him to regret his decision. Even if Cas was gone. He glanced up at Sam, wondering why Sam hadn't been more vocal about the recent turn of events. "Let's hear it."
Sam dragged his eyes from his reflection in the window to Dean's face. "What? Hear what?"
"You've got nothing to say about what I did? No lecture?"
Sam shrugged. "No. What would it change anyway? Nothing."
Something about his brother seemed off, but Dean just chalked it up to the blood-loss and the ordeal he'd been through that night. So he dropped the subject and rebandaged Sam's wrists and they silently went to bed.
Sleep didn't come as easy for Dean as he had hoped – as tired as he was, physically and mentally, sleep eluded him. But he'd slipped into unconsciousness at some point and regained his awareness in the midst of a dream.
He was in sitting at the end of a wooden dock at the edge of a pond in a crappy cloth folding lawn chair, fishing – and that was how he knew he was dreaming even before Cas appeared at his side. He was surprised to see him, especially after what Bobby said. But his surprise was quickly surmounted by the tense urgency of Cas's words. It's not safe here. Someone could be listening. and Go now. Then he startled himself awake.
Across the room from him, Sam was asleep in the bed he'd slept in nearly every time they'd stayed at Bobby's since they were kids. He was torn – didn't want to wake Sam up for this little road trip and didn't want to not be there in the morning when Adam woke up. But he got out of bed and crossed over to Sam and nudged his brother awake. "Sam. Sammy, hey."
Sam groaned. "What? What is it?"
"Cas. He just...came to me in a dream. We gotta go."
