Chapter 8

Castiel narrowed his eyes dangerously as Jonah lifted his head calmly, a little too calm for his liking, and looked in his direction. No surprise was evident on the man's face as he looked at the angel, it was as if he was used to seeing supernatural creatures suddenly showing up out of nowhere and talking to him. But that couldn't be possible, could it?

"An angel of the Lord…" Jonah breathed in, a sick smile forming on his face as he looked at the angel as if he had not spoken,

"I knew one was bound to show up sooner or later-"

Before Jonah could say anything further, Cas was standing in front of him, a hand wrapping around his throat,

"If you know what's good for you, you'll not speak unless I give you permission to speak, is that understood?"

Jonah gasped for breath, shock appearing on his face but nodded his head in understanding just as Castiel released him but remained in his face, outrage written plainly on the angel's face.

"Good. Now, you know why I'm here, Jonah…if that's even your name." Cas growled in anger,

"You will be lucky if you get out of this alive, because nobody touches Sam Winchester and lives to regret it-"

"You know about Sam," Jonah interrupted, knowing this was the perfect opportunity to put his plan back into action. This angel of the Lord could help him, after all he was doing God's will,

"That's perfect-"

His head was suddenly snapped back as a punch unlike anything he had ever known before came in contact with his left cheek, sending him sprawling to the ground. Castiel watched the human fall to the floor, not caring in the least that this was not something he was supposed to do, and glared in outrage at Jonah,

"If you so much as look or touch Sam ever again, know this, I will not be the one that will be taking your life. His brother Dean will, and you should be afraid if he kills you."

"I thought angels were not supposed to threaten us," Jonah rose to his feet, placing a hand on his bruised cheek,

"That's not what God would want-"

"You're not a human," Castiel spit out,

"No human would do what you have done with a clean conscience, that much I do know. And you wouldn't know what God wants, Jonah. Just know this. You're being watched, and Sam is being guarded, so if I see you again, know that I won't be so nice to you."

"I thought you would say something like that," Jonah smiled,

"But I have to go through with this, God told me to do it, I'm doing His will. An angel of the Lord should know that." His smile widened as he stepped around Castiel and started to get back to work,

"But no matter what, I have my ways. I know what needs to be done, and it will be done."

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Ellen finished folding down the fold-away bed in Bobby's library and smoothed down the blanket before backing away as Dean moved to help his brother into it that night,

"Need any more help, boys?"

"I've got it from here, Ellen, thanks," Dean smiled weakly her way as their friend moved over towards Sam and ran her fingers through his dark hair.

"Sleep well, honey," With a final kiss to his forehead, the older hunter moved out of the room just as Bobby rolled his way in, his eyes never leaving the Winchesters as he watched them. Once again, as if his little brother weight nothing, Dean lifted him and the blanket that was still wrapped around his legs off the couch and to the bed.

"Dean, you gonna be okay down here?" Bobby's brow crinkled in concern for both of his boys,

"That couch isn't the most comfortable thing in this place…"

"I'm staying down here, Bobby," Dean replied without any thought. There was no question in his mind where he belonged while they were staying here, he wasn't leaving Sam's side and that was it,

"If I can handle those hard as a rock motel beds, I can handle your couch." He tried to make light of the situation, but Bobby could hear the pain his voice, it was clear as day,

"Besides, it's not as uncomfortable as you make it out to be."

"Dean," Sam whispered, speaking for the first time in the last few minutes as they prepared to turn in for the night,

"You can sleep upstairs-"

"Maybe I can, but I won't," Dean firmly interjected,

"You know as well as I do, that ain't happening, Sammy, not for a while."

Sam lowered his eyes away from his brother and Bobby and looked down at the floor, knowing arguing was useless,

"I know."

Dean took a seat on the bed next to his little brother and pulled the sheets and blankets up around his chest,

"You'll be fine tonight, but I'm still sleeping on that couch." With a final look at Bobby and nodded as head, silently telling him they needed privacy for what he was about to do, Dean turned back to Sam. He nodded down to his bandaged hands lying on his chest,

"You ready to get those changed, Sammy?"

Sam gulped, trying not to let his fear show on his face, but nodded. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. This was the first time since leaving the hospital they were going to attempt changing the bandages, each time a nurse at had done so in the last few weeks, it was while he was sleeping and was under a lot of pain medications,

"Just-Just get it over with, Dean…:"

Dean gently squeezed his brother's upper arm and reached down to grab the first aid kit from the floor, placing it on the bed in front of him before grabbing a glass of water and a prescribed bottle of painkillers off of the end table,

"Here, take these, Sammy." He twisted the lid off of the bottle and shook out two of the pills,

"I'll be as careful and quick as possible, but I don't want this to hurt you."

With a tearful nod, Sam allowed his brother to help him swallow the pills down and took one more sip of water,

"Okay."

"Okay," Dean repeated, gently taking Sam's left hand in his and carefully starting to undo the never-ending bandages. The doctors at the hospital had given him all the instructions on how to do this as quickly and carefully as possible, but he still cringed inwardly as Sam let out a pained hiss at just the mere touch of Dean's hands. The older Winchester quickly looked up at his brother and let himself cry inside at the few tears visible on Sam's face, his face scrunched up in pain as he bit his lower lip to keep from screaming out loud,

"You're doin' real good there, Sam."

Finally, the remainder of the last bandage came off in his hands and Dean let his eyes skim over the flesh of Sam's left hand, cringing visibly now as he saw the nail holes in his brother's wrist. He grabbed some alcohol wipes from the first aid kit and carefully wiped around Sam's hand, being careful of the swollen and red flesh staring up at him.

"Please, just hurry, Dean," Sam pleaded through clenched teeth, more tears trailing down his cheeks at the agony of not just the alcohol,

"Please…"

Dean quickly grabbed fresh bandages from the kit and gently rewrapped his brother's arm until it was snug but not too tight,

"How's that feel, Sammy? Not too tight?"

Let out a shaky breath, Sam nodded but kept his hazel eyes shut,

"'t's good…"

"I'm sorry, man," Dean whispered, wanting to give his brother time to catch his breath before doing his right hand,

"I know that must have killed like a bitch."

Sam nodded painfully and opened his eyes to meet his brother's,

"How bad is it?"

Dean shook his head stubbornly, refusing to show his brother the damage that was done to him,

"Not now, Sammy."

Sam nodded silently and let the silence fill the air for a few moments before lowering his eyes again,

"Is this how it's gonna be from now on? I can't have you babysitting me for the rest of my life, Dean…"

Dean sighed quietly and shook his head, his heart clenching in hatred towards Jonah all over again,

"If you think for one minute I'm going to leave you alone, you've got another thing coming, Sammy."

"And Jonah?"

"We'll deal with Jonah, Sam," Dean promised, his hatred towards the man who had dared touch his baby brother showing plainly in his voice,

"He will not get away with this."

"What if he already has?"

"He hasn't," Dean growled,

"I promise, Sam. I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch myself if it's the last thing I do."

"He's still human-"

"Doesn't matter," Dean interrupted,

"You know the drill, Sam, anybody touches you, they die. End of story."

Sam met his brother's eyes again and saw nothing but absolute resolve and determination, but also pain anger, on his face,

"He's probably on his way here right now, isn't he?"

"Don't think like that, Sammy," Dean lowered his voice some, not wanting his brother to think he was angry with him,

"This whole house is protected, Bobby and Ellen have seen to that, and although I'm angry as hell at Cas for letting this happen, he's on our side as well. Even if God isn't."

"What do we do then?" Sam murmured quietly, blinking back another round of tears,

"I mean…I'm pretty much useless, Dean…"

"You heal, Sammy," Dean pushed the first aid kit aside for the moment, making room to sit beside his brother and wrap his arm around him,

"That's all you need to worry about, and we'll do the rest."

Dean felt his brother nod his head against his arm and soon felt a warm wetness against his shoulder, his heart breaking as he knew that could only mean that Sam was crying again. With a soft sigh, he lowered his chin to rest on top of Sam's head and kissed it gently.

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TBC