Dean avoided the phone by his bedside, refusing to even acknowledge it. To do that, he'd have to call Charlie and give her some made up mumbo jumbo story, and that was the last thing he wanted, so he lay in his hospital bed watching television.
He was perfectly well aware of the set of focused blue eyes incessantly observing his every move, but he had actually grown accustomed to it at that point. He hardly even noticed Castiel. It was almost as if he was still invisible to him. Dean was purposefully shutting him out because of the situation surrounding Charlie. He felt sure that there was another option, but Castiel was just being a jerk about it.
There was a knock on the door, and Dean half expected it to be Charlie storming in and demanding answers. His mother had reluctantly gone home after his insisting that he was fine and that she needed real rest at the house. John had swung briefly by once since his first visit, and Sam was at school. Who else would it be? A nurse perhaps, or maybe a doctor. It could be Benny or Kevin. It could even be Jo, but something underneath Dean's skin made him fear it was Charlie.
"You should not keep your visitor waiting. It is rather rude." Castiel blurted out in his usual gruff monotone.
"Don't tell me what to do." Dean snapped back. He did not enjoy making it seem like he was listening to the angel, but he knew that whoever was at the door was there for a reason. "Come in." He rasped after a moment, his voice dry as he reached for a glass of water to remedy that.
There was a creak of the door, and very slowly and warily, Lisa crept in, her dark eyes not meeting Dean's out of either embarrassment or nervousness.
"Lisa?" Dean asked, remembering that she was the girl he had tried to save from the fire.
"Yes. The girl that I pulled out alongside you." Castiel supplied from his perch across the room that was invisible to the visiting girl.
Dean bit back his tongue from an instinct to throw an insult or a sarcastic comment at Castiel, but upon remembering that Lisa could not see or hear him, he decided it best not to.
"Hey Dean." She smiled sheepishly, her feet scuffing the cold, gray hospital floor. "I know you said not to thank you, but I… um… I really felt that I should." She hesitantly pulled out a bouquet of roses from behind her back where her arms had been previously tucked away.
"Lisa, you didn't have to do that…" Dean tried to assure her, feeling very awkward because her real hero was in the room silently watching her, and she would never know.
"I wanted to, Dean. You saved my life. It was the least I could do." She insisted, holding the flowers out to Dean.
"It was nothing. Really-" It was nothing. That was the truth. He had not actually managed to successfully get her out; Castiel had.
"Please just take them. You don't have to be so humble." Lisa did not cease to hold the flowers out to him. In fact, she edged them closer to him so that he could easily reach and grab them.
Dean took in a slightly larger than normal breath of defeat as he took the flowers and placed them on the nightstand where they could later get a vase. "Thank you, Lisa."
Liss gave him a warm smile. "Thank you, Dean." She moved in closer to his bed to look down at him with some kind of look of adoration or respect.
"Don't mention it." Dean meant that very literally, but he said it in such a nonchalant manner that Lisa did not even pick up on it.
The look in Lisa's eyes did not fade as she bent over Dean from his bedside to plant a chaste kiss on his lips.
Dean was shocked for a moment, but then he relaxed and pulled Lisa back in for another kiss with more bite to it than the last, but it was still relatively small.
Lisa pulled back with a grin. "See you around, Dean." She turned and left the room, leaving Dean with the ghostly feel of soft lips brushing against his own and the bouquet of roses.
Castiel was silent. He just stood with an unchanged expression in the same spot that he had been before the encounter. "The roses will need water." He instructed, but there was no force behind the words. He just seemed to be filling the silence.
"Yeah. They will." Dean half grinned, not really listening to Castiel. Half of him was excited about Lisa and the kiss they had just shared, but some other nagging part of him told him not to go down that road, that it was not for him.
Castiel had never been jealous before, so he could not really place the emotion, but that did not stop him from feeling it. A seething rage began to build up under his skin that he was forced to keep in simply because Dean could not know.
He had stuck with Dean for the entire day, but he had been very silent while doing so, most of the time refusing even to make eye contact.
It frustrated Dean to no end because the hospital room was often empty apart from himself and Castiel, so he had tried to strike up a few conversations, but Castiel would not answer at all or reply only with a few terse words.
"What's the matter with you?" Dean finally snapped towards the end of the day.
"I am a interdimensional wavelength of celestial intent. I have no matter." Castiel deadpanned with an underlying tone of resentment.
Dean groaned as he leaned his head backwards and closed his eyes in frustration. "I mean," He forced out. "Why are you so mad?"
"I assure you that I am not insane." Castiel spoke with the same agitated tone.
Dean exhaled loudly. "I mean," He growled out. "Why are you upset with me? You're looking like you haven't pooped for weeks, and you're talking to me like I've just run over your puppy."
"I do not underst-" Castiel began to object, but Dean cut him off with a sharp glare. "It would appear that you are upset with me." He bluntly observed.
"Thanks for that, captain obvious." Dean grumbled. "Of course I'm upset. You've been acting like an unhappy wife all day, and you won't even tell me why."
"I am not a human female, nor are we in wedlock. I do not understand why you would say that." Castiel's brow furrowed in confusion.
"You know what, never mind." Dean exasperatedly raised his hands in defeat. "Be mad at me. See if I care." He grumbled as he swung his feet out of his bed and towards the door.
Castiel rose to his feet to follow Dean, and Dean immediately spun around to face him. "No." Dean waved a finger at the angel. "I'm trying to storm out. You can't just follow me." He sighed as Castiel continued to trudge towards him.
"I have to protect you, Dean." Castiel neutrally stated.
"Yeah. Fine. Whatever." Dean grunted as he went out the door, trying to pretend that Castiel was not still following him.
Dean made his way to the cafeteria where he got a burger and a piece of pie. He sat down at a table alone that was distant from any people in case Cas tried to talk to him. He didn't need to be sent to a different kind of hospital.
He bit ravenously into his burger, savoring every bite of the dull meat that had been over processed, but not caring because he had not eaten for a while. His whole stay at the hospital had left him with scarce food options, so a burger tasted good in comparison to the slop they called macaroni and cheese or whatever they insisted it was. Dean looked up from his plate to see Castiel sitting directly across from him, just silently squinting almost angrily at him as he ate.
Dean cast his glance both ways to check for any surrounding people, but there were none, so he hushed his voice down to a quiet groan. "I told you not to watch me eat."
"We don't always get what we want." Castiel snapped right back like a parent would, voice full of self-imposed knowledge that made its presence known through snarkiness.
"Tell me about it." Dean rolled his eyes, returning his attention back to the burger and taking another large bite out of it.
"I would rather not. That's not information I wish to disclose." Castiel mechanically reported.
Dean snorted before taking a sip from his glass of water and laying it back on the table with a small slam of glass on the table top, the water bouncing around slightly in recoil. "Secretive." He sarcastically commented. "My favorite kind of thing." He grinned, knowing that the flirtation would fly right over Castiel's head.
Castiel only tilted his head in response, his eyes narrowing again as he squinted them at Dean as if trying to figure him out as if he were some sort of puzzle to be solved.
Dean rolled his eyes before turning his complete attention back to his meal and ignoring Castiel's curious gaze that pierced his comfort zone. He would deal with him later; right now, he had food, and that could solve any problem.
It was inevitable as many things are, but that did not make Dean fret the moment any less. Charlie came over with questions in mind, and Dean knew that she would not leave until she had answers because that was just who she was. He wished that he could give her answers; he yearned to put her curious mind to rest, but he knew better than to evoke Castiel more than he apparently already had.
Charlie entered the room with a semi serious smile that spoke for her determination. Her eyes glinted with a good natured mischief and curiosity that was a banal part of her nature.
"Hey, Charles." Dean smiled up at her, his eyes glinted over with a completely different expression of nervousness and regret.
Charlie stopped by his bedside and smiled down at him before her hands flew to her hip suddenly as if she only just then remembered why she was there. "You better tell me what's going on, Dean Winchester." She spoke in the most firm and serious voice she could manage, but even underneath all of that, her voice still sounded like the verbal equivalent of a smile.
Dean took in what he could only hope was a barely noticeable gulp. "Okay,little miss bossypants." He managed to sound generally sarcastic as he rolled his eyes.
"Well." She gestured with her arms for him to continue. "What's been going on with you?"
Dean pursed his lips in quick thought. He had thought of what he was going to say when she confronted him; he had just hoped it would be later. "I was wrong. Remember how I said a man pulled me from the fire?"
Charlie nodded her head eagerly, silently encouraging him to continue.
"I was remembering the man who picked me up when I was at the tree and carried me to the ambulance. My mind just kind of scrambled things up." Dean made the excuse sound believable. It had to be if Charlie was going to buy it.
Charlie looked skeptical, her eyebrows slightly narrowed and her mouth drawn into a tight line, but she nodded as she saw the logic in the statement. Of course, she still could tell there was more to it than that. "What about when you ran out of the room? And all that stuff about angels?"
Dean cleared his throat, his eyes briefly darting towards Cas who was silently watching, his eyes narrowed and observant. "I thought I saw him through the window. The painkillers were kind of messing with my brain. I thought the guy was an angel. How weird is that?" Dean forced a laugh.
"That's not weird." Charlie indignantly replied. "It's romantic!" There was a certain excited gleam in her eyes that made Dean certain that she was going to accept the answers. "Imagine that! Saved by angel, who appears to you when you need him most. That would be too perfect."
"Too perfect." Dean snorted, his gaze dragged back to the glaring angel in the corner of the room.
The angel returned his gaze, and he held it for as long as Dean would look, which would not be too long because he soon refocused on Charlie, and they talked for hours while Castiel glared them both down in silence.
Charlie stayed for a few hours, but as soon as she took off, Castiel moved out of his corner and towards the foot of Dean's bed, his expression unchanging.
Dean only quirked an eyebrow at his approach, but he said nothing.
"I apologize for making you lie to your friend. I would also like to apologize for my behavior today. I should not have-" Castiel began to apologize, but Dean waved it off with a dismissive hand.
"Whatever, man. It's all water under the bridge. Just shut up and let's watch some TV." Dean jerked his gaze towards the television to indicate it, and Castiel's gaze soon followed.
"That was awfully rude, Dean." He noted.
Dean chuckled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I know. Just sit down already."
Castiel eyed the foot of the bed warily, his blue eyes dripping with uncertainty. "Dean, I'm not sure if-" He was cut off as Dean shot him a small fake glare. Hesitantly, he sat down stiffly to watch the television.
Dean rolled his eyes, trying to discard the fact that he found that to be strangely adorable as he scooted forward in the bed until he was next to Castiel. "Here." He muttered as he put his hand on Castiel's back to ease it into a slightly slouching position, and taking Castiel's hands out of his lap to put them behind him in a resting position for him to lean on. Dean's breath came in unsteady rasps as he did so, only finding Cas to be more stunning the closer he was to him.
Castiel shot his gaze over to Dean as soon as he felt his hands on him, but strangely enough, he melted into the touch, deciding just to enjoy the moment while he had it.
"See? That wasn't so hard." Dean panted out, his eyes still locked on Castiel and his lips.
"But you're breathing seems to be becoming increasingly so." Castiel noted with a hint of curiosity and concern.
"Yeah…" Dean made no excuse. He simply pulled his gaze from Castiel and focused on the television to drown the thoughts of kissing the blue eyed angel.
Castiel accepted that as a dismissal, so he too redirected his attention towards the screen.
They were both still thinking about the moment, not even watching the television. Dean could not stop thinking about Castiel's lips, and Castiel could not stop thinking about how great Dean's hand felt in his own. He wished that he could do that again someday. If only it could happen.
