Sorry it's taking me a while to get these chapters up but honestly they've been harder to write. Thanks so much for all the reviews though!

Chapter 9

"Who the hell are you?" Jo asked as she halted inside the frame of the door. The man moved his glance from Dean to her. There was nothing threatening in his demeanor but with Dean so weak and given the circumstances, she didn't want to take any chances. She glanced towards her bag where she'd thrown the knife earlier.

"I'm Castiel." He seemed to take her in for a moment before focusing his attention back to the unconscious Dean. "What happened?"

Dean's Castiel. Jo relaxed as she realized he wouldn't be a threat. "We uh… we found some demons who knew where Sam was and he was getting information from one of them and got ambushed by another with a knife. It was pretty deep but I managed to temporarily fix him up." She stopped and waited to see Castiel's response. After a few silent minutes, she walked closer to him. "Well, aren't you going to fix him? Use your angel mojo?"

"I have none. My powers have been limited due to… recent events."

"What? So he's going to have to fight the devil with half a shoulder?" Jo felt the stab of guilt for the hundredth time.

"No, he won't fight the devil, not yet. His role in the apocalypse is not absolute. We're still trying to find another way."

"So what do we do next?"

"Wait for the opportune moment to go after Sam, when the threat of the devil's presence will be less. Until then, he needs to rest. For now though, I must go."

"But you just got here? We need your help in this."

"I know but I won't be far this time. There is a demon in town I must see who could have pivotal information about the devil's plans. I'll be back in the morning. Don't act until then" And with that, he disappeared from the room.

It took a second for Jo to move. She'd been anxious to meet the angel but now she was disappointed with his inability to help Dean. She shook her head and moved towards her bag to grab some clothes. After she got dressed, she sat at the table and did some research, waiting for Dean to wake.

Around 2 AM, she heard movement from the bed and looked up from her laptop. She watched as he struggled himself up into a sitting position. He saw the glass and pills she'd put on the night stand an hour ago and he downed them quickly.

"It hurt?" she asked softly.

"The shoulder or the head?" he said as his sleepy eyes met hers.

"Both?"

"Yes to both then."

"I tried to patch you up the best I could with what I had but I couldn't do anything about the torn muscles. Castiel couldn't either."

"What? He was here?"

"Yeah, a few hours ago. Said he couldn't fix you cause he lost his angel powers."

"Figures. Did he say anything about Sam?" Dean moved so that he was resting up against the headboard. He tried to move some pillows around to act as support but was having trouble. Jo got up and helped him until he was resting upright. She sat down at the end of his bed before answering.

"He said we needed to wait until Lucifer wasn't there. Go in while the threat isn't too great. He didn't say anything about Sam though so he must still be alright."

"We need to do something soon. I can't just keep leaving him there Jo."

"When it's light, we can go do some recon. At least we'll know what we're up against."

"I don't think we can wait that long."

"We'll have to Dean. We need Castiel to help and you in better shape. Going in now unprepared, it's just going to get us both killed."

Dean didn't answer but she could tell he was in no way happy about it. The unknowing of what Sam was going through was killing him. He leaned his head back until he was facing the ceiling.

"Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you learn how to torture that demon like that? I've never seen anything like that before." He continued looking up at the ceiling. He knew sooner or later she'd ask that question. Back in the barn he'd hoped she'd listened to him and left him alone with the demon. He didn't want her to see the torture but she'd insisted on staying and he didn't have the time to argue. Once he'd started, he completely forgotten she was there until she pulled the other demon off of him.

"When I was in hell. The uh….the torture, it's something the demons in the pit prided themselves on and they would practice on each other. Being down there so long, I kind of picked it up."

"Did you ever….torture anyone?" She hoped the answer was no but after what she saw this afternoon, she wasn't so sure.

"No, never had to. Got out before that time," he lied. There was no way he was admitting the truth to her. He couldn't admit that big of a sin to her.

"It was bad wasn't it? Down there?" He sighed heavily, not wanting to relive it. He moved his eyes from the ceiling to the bedspread, avoiding eye contact with her. It'd been a year since he crawled out but he could still feel the chains every day, ripping through his body.

"Yeah. Every day was harder than the last. In the beginning, I had hope you know? Maybe Sam or Bobby could get me out somehow. But after awhile…the hope kind of leaves ya. You just slowly accept that that's it, you're trapped forever. I would have never thought this but waking up in that pine box six feet under was…amazing. It was scary as hell but I knew that I was alive and out of the pit."

Silence filled the room as Jo took it all in. She figured Dean had edited it some to keep her from the horrors he lived through and she was thankful for it. She'd wondered about his experience in hell because of the changes she saw in him but she'd been cautious about asking.

"I'm glad you're back." She knew it sounded corny but she needed him to know it. He gave her a hint of a smile.

"Me too. Despite all this shit that's going on, me too." Silence overtook the room while they both searched for something to say.

"We should probably get some sleep before Castiel gets back."

"Yeah, going into a house full of demons isn't going to work too well with a hangover." Dean moved forward on the bed and tried to lie down. Jo could tell the pills for the headache were doing nothing to help his shoulder. She got some pain pills from her bag and sat next to him.

"Here, take these. They'll help with the pain." He grabbed the pills and downed them with ease.

"Thanks, for everything."

"You're welcome." He closed his eyes and settled into the bed. He twisted his bruised body trying to find the best position that caused him the least amount of pain. As he fell asleep, he could feel the soft touch of her hands as she ran them slowly through his hair.