This is fanfiction, which basically means I don't own the characters, I just borrow them to play.

No copyright infringement intended, no money made and so on.

Usually Cas healing somebody happens fast and almost painless, but this time the angel is depleted of energy because Castiel is wounded himself.


Chapter 3

Dean relaxed into Cas' soothing efforts.

And as soon as he did the hard metal probes returned to his wounded body with new vengeance.

Slowly, one by one, the damaged areas were kneaded, things were put back into place, melted back together, massaged into each other, muscles were reattached to bones, blood vessels mended, tendons reordered - all by the brutal inside touch that was Castiel.

It fucking hurt.

Dean was aware he was panting heavily.

It felt as if it took ages.

There was more wetness on his face… and he was aware his body convulsed from the intense agony now and then.

Sometimes he heard Sam and Cas talking, but he was in too much pain to listen, he just didn't care.

Once more he hoped to black out and cursed the fact that for once he wanted to and it wasn't happening.

At one point he was sure Sam was holding him down.

Then suddenly, a warm rush went through his body and he gasped for air in surprise.

It felt odd, as if something had just hit an unknown pleasure center.

"Oh, God," he grunted, "Wha' did you jus' do?"

"I manipulated parts of your brain to start a hormone release - endorphins to be precise. Does it have a positive effect?"

"Wha-?"

"Dude, he jumpstarted your body's own opiate production," Sam said.

"It was your brother's idea," Castiel informed, as if unsure if it had been a good idea.

"Awesome," was all Dean managed to mumble, still confused by the odd mixture of pleasure and pain that were suddenly both present at the same time within him.

Cas seemed to feel encouraged by his reaction because a few seconds later another wave of - whatever it was called in nerd-dialect - washed over him.

After another moment of hesitation he exhaled loudly and relaxed into it.

… and with a pang of surprise he realized he had started drifting into a vaguely comfortable plane of existence - still with his life at threat, but better than before.

When the healing touch returned either it or his perception of it had changed. It was still painful, but now it was also like a stroking inside him, like tingling.

Like his insides moving on their own.

Now and then there were other moments, when everything felt frozen - an odd sensation to feel blood and organs not moving - he assumed it was when Castiel needed stillness for certain delicate details.

Finally, the angel seemed to have finished with the bones of his leg and returned to his torso and stomach.

What followed felt like the stroking of his inner organs, only then he realized how badly he had been hit - in detail.

When the pain intensified once more another gush of that happy thing was sent through his body.

Time slowed down, as did the touches. They seemed more careful now, or maybe he was he just better at handling them.

It was as if there was a soothing sensation on the heels of those touches, as if the fingers of energy now were releasing a tranquilizing agent.

With a pang of ludicrousness he wondered if it felt similar for pregnant woman when their baby kicked them.

"We can move him now," he heard Castiel's voice from a distance.

He wanted to yell at them not to, but knew they had to, and he knew that the angel wouldn't say things like this if he wasn't ready to be moved.

"Shit!"

Sam's curse was so urgent, Dean immediately opened his eyes.

Beside him, the angel was on his hands and knees, his head almost touching the ground.

Sam hurried to check Castiel over, it was obvious the man had worn himself out.

Only now Dean realized what this must have meant for the angel.

His powers were depleting fast and the process of refueling didn't really work, it took days for him to recover from everything that included his angel mojo nowadays.

Dazed, Dean watched Sam help the panting angel up and half dragged, half carried him over to the car in the distance.

It was further away than Dean had thought and it took a long time for them to reach it.

During the long minutes of silence Dean tried not to concentrate on how alone he suddenly felt in the darkness of the night.

Panic was rising and he cursed when he couldn't just hammer it down with his attitude.

Finally, when he feared he was seriously close to losing it, he heard the engine of the Impala start in the distance, the lights were switched on.

It was such a beautiful sight and it banished the sense of paralyzing fear with the warmth of home.

He stared at the grilled headlights that closed up to him and enjoyed the sound of the engine he knew better than any other sound in his life.

The car came to a stop square to him and Sam got out.

"I've got you."

Sam gently lifted him, touched him with care and the contrast to the pain was so intense it send a shock through his system.

He was weak.

Very very weak.

Shaking.

His trembling legs were of no use, he didn't even manage to bring them under him to aid the process.

Sam wrapped his long arms around his waist and heaved him into the backseat of the car.

Cas was already sitting there, buckled in. His head was leaned back and his eyes closed.

"Can you sit for a moment?" Sam asked, while he fetched something from the foot well.

It turned out to be a blanket.

Sam placed the folded thing half over Cas' lab and half next to his thigh.

"Lie down."

Dean frowned and wondered if that meant his brother expected him to lie in Cas' lab.

Not happening, he thought.

"Don't be such a girl," Sam teased.

Dean's mind was slow and while he was still thinking that this was actually girlish - to lie in an angel's lab - Sam took his shoulder and pushed him down.

He had no steam left to resist.

"Besides, Cas said he wanted you close by in case you need more help."

"He has no sense of appropriate human boundaries," Dean managed but realized his words were barely understandable.

"No, but he has a sense of the most efficient way to do things, no matter how inappropriate in terms of human idiocy," the angel mumbled without opening his eyes.

Dean groaned, that was even worse, the angel being awake for this.

Sam laughed and it took Dean a moment to understand Castiel might have just made a very subtle joke, tried a way of human humor.

When the car engine started Dean was glad they were finally getting out of there.

A moment later the Impala hit a chuckhole which made him wince.

It would be a very long trip home.

He felt more exhausted than he could remember he had ever before – or wanted to remember. He was sure there must've been moments that had been worse…

But sleep wouldn't come, the pain kept it away.

Sam was going slowly but the uneven ground was hard to cope with.

"How long till we reach the bunker?" Castiel asked in an exhausted voice.

"We 're not going to the bunker, we are going to the next hospital. You two need…"

"No," Dean protested, it came out not as loud as he wanted it to be, but he still made his point clear.

"I don't think this is necessary, Sam," the angel agreed a moment later.

"Seriously? He needs some heavy duty painkillers."

"Except painkillers and sleep he is well enough to last until I recover and heal the remaining injuries. He might need stitches, though, but I understand you can do those. Of course those could be treated in a hospital… but wouldn't the doctors wonder why his open fracture's bones where whole while his skin wasn't?... And why he has bruises all over his kidneys while…"

"All right. I got it," Sam agreed. "You're sure you feel up to doing the remainders later? This was heavy on you. I don't want you to hurt yourself helping him."

"I am very exhausted, but if you can manage his pain for one or two days while I recover, I will be able to do the rest."

"We recently restocked the bunker's infirmary, shouldn't be a problem," Sam said.

"Bunker!" Dean added to underline where he wanted to go.

"Shut up. You're in no condition to make decisions yourself!" Sam scolded. "We need to restock the pain killers in the car, I can't believe we've run out – we just… ehm… organized a whole package a few weeks ago."

After a moment of silence, Sam added, "It's three and a half hours to the bunker, then."

Dean just answered with an indignant grunt. But he relaxed about the prospect to go home instead of to a hospital.

"Thanks," he murmured, in a voice so low only the angel with his extra accurate senses could hear.

Ten minutes into the drive he flinched when he felt a cold hand come to rest on his forehead.

Why was Cas so cold?

Or was he hot?

He felt like shit and once more wished to be able to pass out.

How much had it taken from the angel to heal him?

Then he suddenly wondered if it was the right decision to allow the angel to extend himself in such a way.

Would Cas recover?

Castiel had recently adopted the Winchester manner of saying he was fine whenever asked, no matter how bad it was.

Before Dean could utter his doubts, something wrapped him tight, moving in on him.

He wasn't sure if it was an actual sensation or if he had finally fallen asleep and started to dream. He tried to jerk his eyes open to make sure he was still awake, but he couldn't.

The hand became heavier.

A moment later the molasses in his skull returned and they were so full of care and gentleness that he felt run over and just gave in.

For a brief moment he asked himself how much of all this was the grace Cas had taken to survive and how much of it was Cas' affection using it up.

His exhaustion was sucked off - removed from the surface of his being, like veil lifted or mental patina gone.

And then he was dragged into sleep by an irresistible force.

Out of reflex he fought it, but then realized it was exactly what he wanted and he allowed the darkness to take him.

:

Castiel fondly looked down at his charge, who had finally passed out - with a little help from a friend - but mainly because of blood loss and extensive pain.

The angel leaned back and made sure he wouldn't fall on Dean when he finally allowed his depleted grace to suck him into an exhausted sleep.

:


A/N:

This is now complete, but I am working on more.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Many thanks to all the wonderful people who have written a review for me. It made my day :) Thank you :)