Summary: Tag to 4x01 - Sam and Cas' first meeting is anything but straight forward

Frantic tapping on his arm brought Dean back round. Flickering his eyes open, Sam was stood beside the bed.

'TV' He signed.

Dean turned to the TV set by the wall, the screen was white and crackling while squealing slightly. He quickly shoved the book off his lap before clambering across the bed and grabbing his shotgun, knowing exactly where he'd heard that noise before. Aim locked on the door, Dean's eyes were fixed and ready to fire.

"Gah..." Sam cried in distress behind him.

Dean turned in an instant.

Sam quickly discarded his hearing aids before clamping his hands over his ears.

"Sam?!" Dean's eyes widened, dropping the gun and crossing the short distance to his brother, placing his hand on Sam's shoulder. 'Sam? What wrong?' He signed, but his brother was preoccupied.

"Ahhhh!" Sam screamed, eyes scrunched together. A trickle of blood began to flow from his ears.

"Shit! Sam!" In a few seconds the high pitched squeal he had heard at the gas station erupted in the room causing Dean to mirror his little brother as the sound became more and more painful.

But how could Sam hear it?

Sam was sobbing now, dropping to his knees on the floor and falling down the rest of the way until he abruptly made contact with the carpet. His hands scratched at his ears as he cried out in agony.

"Sam, Sammy!" Dean struggled, kneeling down next to his brother. "Guh!" He moaned himself before hearing a crack from above them.

The mirror was beginning to shatter.

"Shit!" Grabbing Sam forcibly, Dean shoved him out the way just before the shards of glass rained down from the ceiling.

"Dean!" Screamed a voice that wasn't Sam's.

Looking up, it was Bobby.

Hands were soon grabbing hold of his arm.

"No, get Sam! Bobby, get Sam!" Dean shouted before looking down at his brother.

Sam was deathly still.

Dean's eyes widened. "Sammy!"

Bobby quickly scooped an arm under the youngest Winchester and took his unconscious weight before helping him outside. Sitting him down so that he was propped against the brick wall, Bobby then sprinted back inside and did the same with Dean, who was, thankfully for Bobby's back, still conscious.

"Should we really be doing this right now, I mean we only just got him vaguely vertical."

Sam was sat on the floor, back leaning against the wall.

Bobby shrugged. "Probably not."

"Here goes nothing then."

Nodding, Bobby began to chant. After ten minutes, nothing had happened.

"You sure you did that right?"

Bobby shot him a look.

"Sorry. Touchy, touchy, huh?"

The roof began to rattle above them.

"Wishful thinking but maybe that's just the wind."

Sam's eyes rose to look up at the ceiling having felt the vibrations of the rattle through the wall and floor.

Dean and Bobby grabbed their guns.

Suddenly, Sam began to scream, hands immediately flying to his ears.

"Sammy?" Dean dropped the gun and rushed over to the brother. "Sammy!" He looked to Bobby. "Why can't we hear it this time?"

Before he could answer, the lights began to explode above them as shattering glass rained down. As the doors of the barn swung open, Sam's cries of pain were drowned out by the wind.

A man entered through the doors.

Bobby immediately started firing on him as Dean grabbed for his own and began doing the same.

After their magazines emptied, the man was still standing.

The doors swung closed.

Sam's cries had stopped.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." The man answered.

Sam gasped, eyes wide.

Dean turned to him, panic in his expression. 'Sam what wrong?'

The man noticed the language being exchanged and turned his head to Sam.

"He can hear me."

Dean furrowed an eyebrow, turning to his brother for confirmation.

'I heard something'

'What he say?'

'Don't know just noise' Sam signed in reply. 'D'n, how hear him? I don't hear demons. How hear him?'

Dean's expression was that of pure rage as he got to his feet and grabbed the man forcibly by the collar.

"What are you doing to my brother?!" He shouted.

"Not a single thing, Dean." The man answered before shrugging out of Dean's grip and walking to Bobby. He slowly placed a finger to his forehead.

As contact was made, Bobby slumped to the floor.

"No!" Sam screamed, scrambling across the floor to him. "B'by! B'by!" He began to shake him.

Dean rushed over and immediately placed two fingers against Bobby's neck. He soon released a breath he didn't realise he was holding as he felt a steady beat against his fingers.

"Sam, Sam." He gently placed a hand to his brother's shoulder. 'Look me.' He signed.

Sam's eyes raised.

'Not dead. Not dead.'

Sam still looked freaked, eyes maintaining contact with Bobby's limp form on the floor.

'Stay here.' Dean offered his brother a reassuring smile before standing up and walking back over to the man once again. "I'm gonna' ask you again, who the fuck are you?" He asked sternly.

"Castiel."

Dean once again heard a whimper from a very confused Sam as he spoke.

"Okay then, what are you? And how can my brother hear you?"

"I'm an angel of the lord, and I believe that Sam can hear me because of this."

"There's no such thing as angels."

"Then how can your profoundly deaf brother hear the sound of my voice?" Castiel paused. "You see, Dean, this is your problem. You have no faith."

Lightening flashed through the barn creating a shadow on the far wall of a grand pair of wings.

Dean scoffed. "Some angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes."

"I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be..." Castiel turned to Sam. "...overwhelming, and so can my real voice. But I think you both know that."

"You mean the gas station and the motel. That was you talking?"

Castiel nodded.

"Buddy, next time, lower the volume." Dean too turned to check on Sam. "Or learn ASL."

"That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong." Castiel slowly walked towards Sam and knelt down in front of him.

'C-A-S-T-I-E-L' He fingerspelt.

Sam's eyes followed the signs.

'S-A-M'

Castiel nodded. 'I know.'

'You sign?'

'I speak every language on Earth, including A-S-L.'

Sam paused. 'What are you?'

'Angel of the Lord'

Sam's eyes widened. 'That why I hear you?'

Castiel nodded. 'Sorry for that. I just attempt to talk.'

Sam nodded. 'You saved D-E-A-N?'

'Yes.'

Sam smiled. 'Thank you.'

Castiel nodded before raising a hand and motioning towards Sam's ear. 'May I?'

'Sure.'

Castiel raised two fingers and gently touched Sam's ear. 'There. Pain should be gone now and the ringing.'

Sam put his fingers to his ear and immediately the blood was gone. 'So I hear you cause you angel?'

"Yes." Castiel spoke.

The weird sound of words made Sam's ears tingle. Not in an unpleasant, painful way anymore, but it was still quite strange.

"You shouldn't feel anymore pain when I speak now."

Sam followed Castiel's lips before nodding. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking up. 'What I hear, these what talking sound like?'

Castiel nodded.

"Say D'n."

"Dean."

Sam took in the deep sound of the pronunciation. It also lasted longer on the tongue then he'd previously realised. It was just wrong and he didn't like the sound.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Dean asked angrily, walking over. He turned to his brother. "I swear to god if you try to copy how my name is sounded out rather than speaking it your own way then I will refuse to acknowledge it that way until you say it properly, do you understand?"

"Yes." Sam nodded.

"Yes what?" That last question wasn't an authority thing, Dean just wanted to make sure Sam wouldn't attempt the alternate version.

"Yes, D'n."

Dean smiled. "I never want to hear it any other way."

Sam smiled too.

"And you, holy tax accountant, you still haven't explained what the fuck you want from us."

"From Sam, nothing, but you, you have a part to play."

"In what?"

"Everything."