I sincerely apologize for the sporadic updates... Angst portion of the fic. Also, Cas!whump and slightly hurt!Dean.


"Uh, dude?" Dean says, nudging his side. "Any reason they're looking at you like they want to eat you?"

Luke's gliding over, Meg at his side, and his croonies close behind them. They have to cross the entire field, so Cas has some time to think. Luke's got four guys with him, Meg not included, and Cas realizes one of them is Alastair, meanest and most sadistic son of a bitch Cas has ever met.

Fight or flight. Both options suck. He doesn't want to leave, but he also doesn't want Dean to get hurt because of him.

"Dean," Cas says, body tensing as Meg licks her lips lasciviously at him. "I really don't want to, but I have to go." He's hoping to escape in the crowd before Luke can find him.

Dean stands with him. "Why? What's wrong?"

Cas turns, and people around him are standing up, blocking his sight of Luke. The concert must be starting soon. Hopefully, he can get away and Dean can enjoy the show with someone else. Someone that isn't treated like a punching bag.

"Sorry. I have to go." Cas elbows his way through the crowd, some people glaring at him, and others giving him a dopey smile. "Excuse me. Pardon me." He may be being chased by his tormentors, but he won't forget his manners.

He finally gets out, and is ready to run away when he hears bone snapping. When he turns to the crowd, he sees bone isn't broken, but Dean's standing in front of a bloody-nosed Luke. Meg is growling at him, teeth bared, and Alastair's grin is stretched across his face.

"Hey Luke!" Cas shouts, and all their heads whip to look at him. "Looking for me? Bet I'm faster than you!" He's fully prepared to sprint away again, when Dean yells out and falls to the ground, hand clutching his stomach. Luke brings his knee up, and Dean lands on his back, his nose now bleeding, but at least he's conscious.

Cas waves his hands, and starts to back away, fully sprinting less than a second later as the group starts to catch up to him. He turns to the right on the street, and meets Alastair's chest at full speed, knocking them both down. He kicks, claws, tries everything to get the iron grip off his ribs.

He thinks Alastair will actually crush him to death when he lets up, allowing Cas to breathe in deep, but painful, gulps of air. Alastair has a hand on his wrist, and Cas will probably have a bruise there tomorrow.

Someone kneels down in front of him. "I don't want to fight you, Castiel," Luke says. "You have potential."

"Potential for what?" He asks, pain radiating across his chest and stomach.

Luke smiles. "You aren't part of your little religious camp, or whatever. You and that little red-head."

"Leave her alone," Cas immediately says, wanting Anna to stay safe.

Luke laughs. "I'm not going to hurt her, not like you. You're strong, Castiel. You have a bit of a fan club around here." Meg laughs from the background, but he hears another, deeper one as well.

"So what? Few fans want an autograph, so they almost kill me? Good plan." Cas coughs, and it rattles his ribs.

Luke tilts Cas' head up, turns it side to side, and squeezes his jaw before letting it drop. "Rebellious. That's what we need more of. You are truly amazing, Castiel." Luke whistles a little tune before backing away from Cas' face.

The last thing Cas sees before blacking out is a boot heading for his face.


He wakes up in pain. His face feels puffed up and is in shooting pain, but at the same time, numb. His ribs protest breathing, and his entire body feels like it was crushed under a stampede. Possibly an elephant stampede.

Cas hears someone walking around his room, so he opens his eyes.

Wait...

This isn't his room. This isn't his apartment. In fact, he's almost sure he's in heaven because white light is blinding him.

"Hello," he tries to say, but his throat is dry and can't get the words out. He coughs, and the pain in his body rockets through him. Cas groans.

"I got it, you big baby." The lights dim, and Cas can finally fully open his eyes.

Okay, that's definitely Dean. He's almost 60% sure. Mostly because he has to close his eyes again because he feels like he could sleep for another hundred years. And he's about to when a hand lands and shakes his shoulder. "Sorry, buddy. You gotta stay awake for a bit."

Cas blinks away the sleep, and Dean's there, smiling down at him. "Hello, Dean." Then he notices the already yellowing bruises under his eyes. "Your face..."

The skin over his nose is also broken, a butterfly bandage over the bridge. Dean smiles. "Not the first. Don't worry about it."

Cas glares. Before he can say a word, he hears, "I'm gunna kill that asshole!" And that's his beautiful friend Jo. The door bursts open, and Jo's eyes are red. In fact, her entire face is red. "I hope you heard that!"

Cas smiles. It's all he can really do. A nurse squeezes by the enraged blonde. "Hello, Castiel. My name's Diane." She walks to the end of his bed and flips through his chart. "So, no solid foods for a week. Your jaw is severely injured. It's not broken and it doesn't need any wire, but it's better to let it heal."

He doesn't like that very much, but he'll have to deal. The thought of protein shakes makes him shiver. The nurse gives him a small, sad smile, and continues. "You also have a broken nose, five fractured ribs, two broken ones, a broken right arm, and a concussion. You'll be staying in the hospital for the next few days so we can monitor your health."

Nodding, Cas sighs. He really doesn't want to sit in a hospital bed and watch daytime television for the next however-many days, but he'll cope.

Diane hooks the clipboard back onto his bed, and leaves, and Cas has to deal with Jo now. "Jo," he starts.

"I am literally going to kill you. I'm going to take a pillow and smother you in your sleep," Jo warns with a death glare. Cas shuts up. "If Dean didn't find you when he did, you'd be dead. You are lucky you got out the way you did... Jerk."

Cas glances at Dean, and sees him picking his nails, and not looking anywhere but down at his hands.

"Who did it?" Jo asks, tears threatening to spill over her cheeks. "Cas, tell me who did this, so help me God."

"I..." Cas scrunched his face as he thinks. "I think..."

"You really don't remember?" Dean asks, hands tapping against his hip, and Cas is completely focused on the beat he forgets about the question until Dean snaps his fingers and repeats it.

"Uh," Cas scratches his head with his good arm. Small flashes of last night (last night, right?) come back, and he partially remembers. "Luke, Meg, and Alastair. I remember them. And we were at the, uh, the concert, right?" Dean nods. "Okay, okay. Then, uh..."

"I punched Luke," Dean supplies.

"Right," Cas says slowly. A flash of red. A bright, menacing smile. "Naomi. She was there too." Dean furrows his eyebrows and opens his mouth.

Jo huffs and her hands fall to her waist, slapping against her legs, muting Dean for the moment. "That's it. We're going to the cops." She makes for the door when Cas calls out, "Jo! Wait!" She stops.

"I don't want to," he admits, scratching the part of his arm not covered by cast. "If I do, they'll come after me harder than before. I don't want you two hurt. Anna, either." Jo visibly flinches, and Cas knows he won. "Just, leave it. Okay?"

Jo mumbles out an, "okay," clearly not wanting to, and then Cas turns and finally gets to glare at Dean, finishing what he was going to say earlier. "Of course I'm going to worry. You weren't supposed to get hurt."

Jo shuffles awkwardly, and kisses Cas' forehead with the promise of coming by tomorrow with breakfast ("Breakfast shake," she corrects with a laugh). He waves goodbye. "Why did you do that?" He says as the door closes.

Dean chuckles, and sits back in his chair. "You're a fucking dick, you know that?"

Cas rolls his eyes. "Yes. Get to the point."

"Listen, forget what I just said. Doesn't matter right now. You said you saw Naomi. But I only saw her when she saw with Raphael."

He shrugs. "All I know is that she was there"

Dean sighs, and sits in a chair next to Cas' bed. He runs his hands through his hair, and covers his face. "God I really hate hospitals."

"Why?"

In response, Dean clears his throat. "My brother."

"Sam?" As Cas is saying this, Dean pulls out his phone, and shows Cas a picture of a young man, a little younger than Dean, and Dean. They're both young, Dean's probably sixteen, seventeen, and both are smiling.

"One if the few good pictures I have of him." Dean takes his phone back, and sighs looking at the picture. "God..."

Cas doesn't know the protocol here, so he stays silent.

"My brother is, was, whatever, a drug addict," and holy shit. Cas shifts on the bed, and winces when his injured skin moves. "High school was tough for him because he was the smallest in the school, and some junior named Ruby introduced him to the heavy stuff off the bat. Up until freshman year of college, he was a mess of rehab and relapses and I couldn't help him. I wasn't there for him."

Cas lets out a breath, and doesn't stop looking at Dean's now shaking hands. "So he was constantly in hospitals. Trying to get better?"

Dean just laughs, and stands up, stretching. Cas doesn't even look at the skin that showed when his shirt rode up his stomach. "See ya later, Cas."

"Dean?" Cas asks to Dean's back. "Dean, get back here."

He spins on his heel. "Why? So I can cry my feelings out to some stranger?" Ow. "I don't think so. Feel better. Bye." Double ow.

Cas hears the door close, not slammed shut like he thought it would be, and to numb the pain (both inside and out), Cas clicks the morphine button, ignoring the memories trying to slam their way through the foggy barrier, and sleeps.


Oh my god. This is- I'm so sorry. I don't even know where I'm going with this yet. Uh, review?