Author's Note: So this is taking longer than I had anticipated. Obviously. Since Sam and Dean have not even shown up yet. However, I do hope you enjoy. Leave a review if you'd like. Makes me happy to see them.
Jimmy snapped the last piece into the puzzle. See? It's so much easier when you just look at the big picture. Awkward silence resonated in his head as he felt Castiel judging him.
It is a more important skill to use in life. The kitten puzzle had been Cas' choice. He knew it wasn't anything deep, but it amused him that the former angel drifted towards the soft and gentle ones rather than the ones of the coliseum or Campbell's soup cans.
You're just being a sore loser because- The distinctive sound of slapping feet grew nearer, and with the grace of a land-locked manatee, Steve sat down.
Jimmy looked over, and Steve reared back like a startled kitten. "Oh-oh-oh! Oh? Oh. It's you, Jimmy. It's you. It's you. I was worried Mr. Angel would be here. He's got to be the meanest. The meaner-iest of the meanest sometimes."
No, he's mostly just painfully practical, with people skills about equal to those of a snail. Skidding his chair across the floor, Jimmy turned to face the blubbery man. "Do you need help with Sudoku?" Even at the lowest of levels, it was beyond Steve, so Jimmy filled in most of the numbers and left four or five blank for him to puzzle over all day…or for a few days. It was another one of those foolish routines that Jimmy was coming to appreciate. A routine meant it was something he was around for. Waking up. Singing. Sodoku. Discussing Colors with Tammy… I always believed life was precious, but I never realized how much simple things can matter. Not until I wasn't allowed them.
"Nope, nope, nope. No Sudoku. I was wondering if you'd ask God-no, Mr. Angel would ask God about this-" Steve began tugging off his shirt. He managed to get it over his head before Jimmy could stop him.
"What're- Steve? We gotta keep our clothes on. Clothes are super important-like really important there, buddy." Jimmy's complaints stopped as he saw the patch of skin where Steve's shoulder met his collar bone. "What on earth…"
"It's the monster. The one that's gonna get us all, yes, yes, yes, it is." Steve whimpered, and rocked in his chair as if he was about to begin to cry. "It wants me next, getting me ready to eat. Gonna eat me, Jimmy."
Instinctively, Jimmy leaned closer, and studied the discoloring on the flesh. Cas? He slipped back without complaint as the former angel took control and stiffened a moment, before frowning and squinting at the skin. Jimmy commented as they both looked at the moldy blue-ish mass that was infecting the shoulder area. It looks like rotting flesh. Why is his flesh rotting, is it gangrene? Okay, I-I can't look at this. Please turn your head or something…you know how I am with gore.
It is not gangrene. Castiel continued studying Steve, and then looked up at him. "How long have you had this?"
Steve's face paled, and he shoved his chair back. With surprising speed, he lurched from the chair, and clinging to his shirt, lumbered away. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, Mr. Angel!"
"Steve Allen Thompson, when did you receive that?" Castiel snarled at him, following him across the room.
Steve began to wail loudly, and shuffle as quickly as he could away. "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
Undeterred, Castiel followed him, and then passed him, standing in the hall and raising a hand to prevent him from going any further. "Halt."
"Don't hurt-don't hurt me, Mr. Angel. I didn't know you was here." Steve blurted out, snot running freely down his face along with his tears. "Don't hurt me, Mr. Angel." Steve's face contorted, and he shivered. His stricken appearance froze, wobbling on his feet, he suddenly pitched forward.
Castiel attempted to catch him, but the sheer weight of the man crushed him to the floor. Struggling under the quarter-ton man, he realized he wasn't going to be able to get free. "This is ridiculous." Managing to get an arm out, he checked for a pulse on the thick neck, only for his fingers to push through soft rotten flesh, fluids burst like water from a taunt balloon and splashed down his arm.
Is that-
I know how you feel about…gore. Perhaps you should try to ignore this.
What the crap just happened? Why is...he's dead isn't he?
Castiel tilted his head back, and saw a group of nurses and orderlies come running over. He wriggled, trying to assist them, pushing at the bloated corpse, and squirming free. Crouching, he tilted his head, ignoring the orderlies that were trying to check on Steve. "He is dead. And he's decomposing at a rapid rate…"
"Cas, honey, come away from there." Eliza gripped his arm and she tried to pull him away, a jolt of pain surprised him, distracting him from the now corpse for only a moment, before he craned to look at the body further. The blue was quickly blackening, and he could smell the flesh rotting. Eliza reached up and took hold of his face, Castiel struggled against the touch. She forced him to stand up a little to get to her height, and turned him so he couldn't see the body. "You don't need to see that." Her light brown eyes conveyed that there was no conversation to be had.
"I am capable of-" The former angel responded regardless of her hands cupping his cheeks, and he tried to turn to look at the body again.
"What did I just say?"
Castiel furrowed his brow, and gently removed her hands from his face.
He was right, this whole time. He was scared because there's something here. Did you-did you know, Cas?
"Something evil has come here, Eliza." He continued holding her fingers, and felt them tremble a little in his own. He tilted his head, and looked at her more intensely. She looked away, and he knew how to read that look, he had used it himself. Guilt.
No. Not Eliza. Please don't let Eliza be the monster.
Castiel leaned closer to her, and she looked up. He could hear the orderlies and nurses exclaiming and retching. He could smell rot and puss emanating from behind him, and knew that it was the scent of flesh left in a warm humid room for days, not minutes. Peering into her eyes, he nodded slowly. I do not believe she is. "I am dirty." He showed her the blackening filth running down his hand.
Eliza nodded back at him, and pulled away. "Come on. We'll get you showered off." She began waddling away, and Cas shot a look over his shoulder to see the remains continue to liquefy.
You never answered my earlier question, Cas. Did you know there was something supernatural happening here?
No. Castiel rubbed his arm where it still tinged with pain. Not at first. But quite quickly.
