When Castiel awoke he was lying in his bed, Dean was sitting in a chair next to him, watching TV.

"Dean…" Castiel croaked, his voice was weak and painful.

"Oh." Dean looked at him, registering his open eyes, "Sam! He's awake." Sam rushed into the room, looking startled then relieved at Castiel's consciousness.

"Cas! Man, we thought you had slipped into a coma or something, how do you feel?"

"Like shit." Cas responded, not bothering to lie to cover up the pain and fatigue he was experiencing. "Dean, what happened?" Dean acted like Castiel hadn't spoken, walking out of Cas's room in the direction of the kitchen.

"Sam?" Cas said, asking for an explanation of Dean's behavior. He sounded as though he were about to cry. Sam sighed and sat down in the chair that Dean had just left.

"We didn't notice you were gone right away, Cas. But when we did, Dean freaked out, he was going to go look for you, but right then the djinn attacked. We killed the djinn pretty quickly, but it took us forever to find you. It was only when we doubled back that we found the secret passage you had taken. By the time we found you, you were almost dead.

Dean's pissed off because you left us, you knew it was dangerous and yet you left anyway. It almost got you killed, Cas. Dean's barely spoken since we brought you back and it's been a week. He's really mad, man." Sam looked down, fiddling with his thumbs.

"Sam, I am sorry, I am so sorry. I never meant to worry you or Dean, I just wanted to prove that I could be useful to you guys, as a hunter."

"It's cool, man, I'm past it." Sam was almost out the door when he added, "If it makes you feel any better, Dean hasn't left your side to do anything but take a piss for a week."

"Sam?" Sam paused on his way to the door, "Thank you. For everything."

"Sure thing." Sam responded with a smile, closing the door behind him and leaving Cas with his own thoughts. A couple of minutes later, Dean returned carrying a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup and a tall glass of orange juice. He wordlessly placed them on the chair by Cas's bed and left without a word, ignoring Cas's calls for him to wait.

In a couple of days Cas is well enough to walk again, and he does so, adamantly refusing help from the Winchesters. Well, really it was just Sam because as soon as Cas seemed fully recovered, Dean started spending more and more time away from the bunker. Eventually he started leaving for hunts by himself, always telling Sam before he left,

"Look after him." As if he couldn't even bear to say Castiel's name.

Dean had been gone for a day now, off hunting a roogaroo somewhere in Colorado. Cas was looking for Sam throughout the bunker, and found him in Dean's room, drinking whiskey from a bottle, and staring at the television with eyes that were a little watery.

"Sam? What is upsetting you?" Castiel asked, concerned for his friend. Sam jumped when he saw Cas, wiping his eyes hastily on the back of his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What do you want, Cas?"

"No. You are not fine. What is upsetting you?" Sam gave in, and Cas thought, the wonderful thing about Sam is that he is much more willing to have discussions than Dean.

"When me and Dean were young Dad would leave us alone to go on hunts all the time. Barely any warning, no phone calls, just left us. And before he left every time, he would say to Dean, 'Look after Sam.' And it's just, I'm just…"

"You are afraid Dean is turning into your father."

"Yea… kind of." Sam admitted in a small voice.

"Sam." Castiel looked him straight in the eye, wanting the younger Winchester to know he was serious. "I promise you, I will not let you suffer for my mistakes. I will do whatever it takes to fix things with Dean. Even if it means I cannot stay with you any longer; I will not let myself come between you two."

So the next chapter is going to be the climax of the story, with curses and yelling! Yay! Comment with anything you want.