"You really can't get this down?" Dean asks as Cas grimaces at the half full cup of water Dean's trying to coax him into drinking.
"I'm still very nauseous," Cas says as he shakes his head, almost imperceptibly, and firmly presses his eyes closed. "It won't do the good you hope it will. Resting will help, though, I believe. You and Sam should go. Take care of the Tulpa."
"Cas," Dean protests, "you need something. Or this is just going to get worse."
"Dean, if he can't drink the water, he can't drink the water," Sam says. "Don't force it on him."
Dean sighs before his eyes rest on the currently abandoned bag of saline solution standing a foot from the bed.
"Got a better idea, actually," Dean says as he grips Cas' wrist. Sam quirks his eyes. "Just gonna fix his IV."
He checks Cas' hand for an open vein before he can second guess himself, sticks the needle in, and tapes it. When Cas tries to glare at him, an effect mostly lost under the glassy glaze of his fever, Dean growls, "Leave it in this time."
"Alright," Cas says, sounding faintly startled.
Sam stares in bewildered awe. "How do you know how to do that?"
"Was pretending to be a nursing student for a case once. Mostly learned setting these things is kind of a bitch," Dean says casually as he sets Cas' hand back down and pats it. "You good, Cas?"
"I...as good as I'm going to be," Cas says, his voice faint. "But I am not your priority, Dean. The longer this creature roams the building the more unstable the hospital will become. Go."
"He's got a point," Sam says. "Look, I'm not wild about it either, but getting the hospital back on track is probably the best thing we can do."
"Yeah, well," Dean mutters, "we don't even know how to do a damn thing about the Tulpa. Don't really think 'hey, kids, Medusa's not real' is going to cut it. And we don't even know for sure it is a friggin' Tulpa."
"It is speculation, at best," Cas says drowsily. "But if my understanding of Tulpa lore is correct, you can fight its manifestation as if it were the real monster."
"Yeah, but the belief in the monster has to grow for it to reach that point," Sam says. "We kind of want to stop it before it goes that far."
"Why?" Cas asks. "The creature is not killing its victims, merely paralyzing them. Death is more likely to come from their inaction than anything. Perhaps anonymity is what it wants."
"You sure you've even got a fever, Cas?" Dean asks teasingly as he puts his hand against Cas' still burning forehead.
"I...yes?" Cas says, opening his eyes to squint curiously at Dean. "You said yourself I was warm."
Dean smiles softly at him before ruffling his hair. "That you are."
"Oh," Cas says, as realization appears to dawn on him, "you wished to imply I should be...off my game?"
"Yeah, Cas," Dean says, despite his reflexive jolt against Cas' newfound use of idiom. "No one should be this on their game when they're sick. Not fair to the rest of us."
"Sorry?" Cas says. Dean snorts and ruffles his hair again before he catches Sam watching him with a bemused expression out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh don't stop on my account, Dean," Sam says. "Just pretend I'm not even here. Because I'm not."
With that, he ducks out of the room.
"I, uh, I should go with him," Dean stutters as Cas watches him curiously.
"That would be best," Cas says, though his conviction in what he's saying is a little lacking.
XXX
Dean barely makes it into the hallway before the hospital PA system is turned on, and a shaky, high voice informs them that:
"Due to the rapid and unexplained spread of a condition causing complete paralysis, this facility is under quarantine until further notice. More information will be provided when it is available. Roaming the halls is not advised. Please remain calm and remain where you are."
"Don't go causing panic or anything," Dean mutters into his hand as he watches a handful of worried looking individuals scurry either towards the nearest exit or back into their rooms.
"Well, at least we know it's not a Tulpa now," Sam says.
"We do?" Dean asks.
"Well, if it were a Tulpa they wouldn't think this was a disease," Sam says.
"Right. They would think it was Medusa," Dean scrubs at his face. "I'd say we need to hit the books, but don't know how we're going to get out of here now."
"You, uh, aren't," an unfamiliar woman's voice announces uncertainly. Before Dean even has a chance to turn around, something connects with the back of his head.
XXX
Dean doesn't know how much time has passed when he wakes up tied inexpertly to a desk, less than two feet from Sam. He's guessing, based on how easily he works his wrists free that whoever tied them up has never done it before.
He leans over Sam and shakes his shoulder. "Sammy, come on, let's get out of here before someone's got a chance to take Kidnapping and Hostages 101."
"Kidnapping and Hostages 101? Oh god, you're talking about me. I did kidnap you. And I paralyzed everyone. Oh god," It's the same voice from before, the voice from before something hard and heavy hit him. Dean looks up to see it belongs to a doctor in her late twenties looking wide eyed and hysterical. "It wasn't... it wasn't supposed to be like this. I was just...I was jealous of Patrick. Perfect Patrick getting my fellowship. And I think I sort of conjured a monster?"
"You wanted to get ahead at your job, so you opened a friggin spellbook?" Dean asks. "Great plan."
Sam, awake now, puts his hand up to Dean before turning to the woman. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Tabitha," she says as she dabs at her eyes.
"Tabitha, can you tell us what you did exactly? What makes you think you conjured something?" Sam asks.
"I work in the children's ward," she says. "And, uh, one of the kids that comes in for a treatment every couple of days, he tells the other kids stories, usually ones from Greek mythology. Medusa's been his favorite for a couple weeks. And, well, I just started thinking, what if I could freeze Patrick? Suspend him in time or something? Then I could have the fellowship. And I just kept thinking it. And I wasn't going to do anything, I swear. I didn't mean to do anything. But this...this is all my fault. It has to be. And then I heard you two talking about Medusa, and I don't know...I snapped."
She waves her hand over them. "I'm really sorry about this. The whole knocking you out and tying you to my desk thing. I just didn't know what to do. I know this doesn't really make up for it, at all, but we have pie in the break room, if that helps."
"Dean, I really don't think she conjured a monster. At least, not intentionally," Sam says. "I think something was feeding off her thoughts."
"Yeah, yeah," Dean says waving his hand impatiently. "What flavor is this pie?"
"Dean, focus," Sam says at the same time as Tabitha says, "Pumpkin."
"Think I can get a slice of that to go?" Dean says. "And, I'm very focused, Sam. I'm thinking cursed object?"
Sam nods in annoyed agreement as Dean's phone buzzes. He waves for Sam to head into the hall as he answers it. "You okay, Cas?"
"I could use some help getting back to my room and my bed," Cas says.
"You aren't in your room and your bed?" Dean asks. "Why the hell not?"
"The puzzle," Cas says. "I realized it was the puzzle."
"The puzzle?" Dean repeats skeptically. "What puzzle?"
"I wish you would have answered when I called you an hour ago," Cas says.
"Me and Sam, we sort of got kidnapped," Dean says. "Where are you, Cas?"
Cas doesn't answer and the sound of rhythmic breathing starts to fill the line. "Cas, don't you go falling asleep on me. Don't."
When he still doesn't get a response, he looks up at Sam. "Damn it. He fell asleep. I don't know where he is, and he fell asleep."
"Dean, hey, we'll find him," Sam says before warily putting his hand on Dean's shoulder. "I mean, how many places in the hospital have puzzles? And the only place he's probably been? The children's ward."
"The Parthenon puzzle," Tabitha gasps. "That couldn't be cursed? Could it?"
"I'm guessing it could," Sam says. "Let's go find out."
XXX
It is obvious, the moment they step into the hall, that whatever Cas had done to destroy the Parthenon puzzle, had worked. There are so many bewildered people being hugged in the hallway that it is difficult to navigate.
However, Tabitha, Sam, and Dean do ultimately manage to find Cas in the children's playroom slumped against the side of his wheelchair fast asleep, one hand dutifully clutched around his IV stand.
He stirs momentarily when Dean lifts him back onto his bed. "I did it? I 'ganked' the monster?"
"Yeah, Cas, you did. You did good," Dean says. "Now get some sleep. That's an order."