Sam and Cas stayed a little longer at the hospital, Sam doing some research on his tablet, while Cas was moping about his inability to heal Dean. He was sitting next to Dean's bed, staring at the cast with a look like the cast personally offended him. After a while, even Dean couldn't take it anymore and dropped his hurt diva act in favor of playing it down.
"Hey, it's not so bad," Dean said and pushed Cas playfully. "Bones 'll break, bones 'll heal. Just part of being human."
"Not a preferable part," Cas deadpanned.
John snorted and climbed out of bed. He was getting sick of laying around. Taking his IV with him, he started for the door. Sam looked up from his tablet.
"Hey Dad, were you're going?"
"Just out for coffee," John grumbled, "I'm getting sick of these walls."
Dean continued acting normal until John was out of earshot, before turning to Sam.
"Who's taking care of Crowley?" Dean asked aggressively.
"Kevin." Sam answered and sighed, getting ready for the shitstorm he was about to endure.
"Kevin? You left Crowley alone with Kevin?" Dean asked, incredulously. "Haven't you screwed Kevin enough already?"
"Who else could I have asked?" Sam returned the question.
"I don't know! Garth, maybe! Anyone else would be better!" Dean exclaimed.
"You know we have to be careful about the bunker," Sam explained, "The only other two people who already know about it are Charlie and Kevin. We all agreed not to drag Charlie any deeper into everything than she is already, that leaves Kevin."
Dean shifted from one ass cheek to the other, uncomfortably. "But Kevin, you gotta know that's just wrong. Crowley tortured the kid."
"And what should I have done? Not come here, after my brother and my dad jumped out of a friggin' window?"
"We're okay now, you can go back."
"Okay? Dean, right now I'm in a much better hunting condition than you are. I'm just coughing a little, and it's not even bloody anymore. You've got your arm busted. And Dad's also not at the top of his game!"
Sam stared at his brother for a minute, seeing the hard line of Dean's jaw that always was a tell. Dean knew Sam had a point, but just didn't like it. But the next moment, John came back, looking annoyed about the IV he was dragging along.
"Find anything?" he asked and went to sit next to Sam.
"Dad? You should stay in bed," Sam suggested carefully. John just snorted.
"Show me what you have."
Sam sighed, and showed John the few pointers he found, but nothing looked very promising.
Sam and Cas spent the rest of the day chasing after people who knew Sabrina Schneider. Sabrina seemed to be a good mother, loving, but there were also many rumors about her. All agreed that she was very poor, barely surviving with the little bit of income she had. Her landlord claimed she always had men up in her apartment for reasons, but a neighbor claimed she had given up on men completely. And then, there was also the thing about the black guy who reported the "accident", but was never identified.
After this long, tiresome and unsuccessful day, they ended up in the hospital again. Sam and Cas managed to sneak past the nurses, so they were able to sit with John and Dean way past visiting hours.
"We're still not sure what happened," Sam said, rubbing his hand tired over his face. "Nobody really knew her. This whole story is screwy in more ways than one."
"But you're relatively sure Sabrina is the ghost," John asked.
"Well... that's the theory right now."
John crossed his arms. "If she's the doer, we have to kill her. We don't find better proof, I'm gonna kill her anyway. We have to make sure she hurts no one else."
"The way it is now, I'm pretty sure we would create a ghost if we kill her." Sam argued, "She's not, exactly, at peace."
"We'll burn her body, obviously," John replied, "It seems we'd do her a favor anyway."
"We have to make sure it's really her," Dean insisted, "I'm all for ganking monsters, but I ain't killing a loony mom on a maybe!"
"Tomorrow we get discharged from the hospital," John said. "Two of us can go to the flat, while the other two watch the mom. If she seems out of it while we notice a presence, we know what's happening."
"That's a bad idea," Sam said, "I'm sure the doctors said you two need to take it easy for a few days. There's no way Dean can take on a powerful ghost or wrestle with a maniac psychic with a cast on his hand. And you're also not exactly up to your game."
"We could do something else," Dean suggested, "We had a case similar to this a while ago. The loony toons, remember? Sam, you said Cas took you into Fred's head and you managed to snap him out of it."
"Karl, the psychokinetic?" John inquired. Sam nodded in affirmation.
"I can't do that anymore, Dean." Cas protested.
"You don't have to. We're using the dream root!" Dean exclaimed, grinning pleased with himself for finding a solution. "Case solved, and we don't have to gank the whackjob mum."
The others considered it for a moment, before nodding consent.
Kevin stood over Crowley, his eyebrows drawn tightly together as he looked down at the King of hell.
"You don't deserve this," he said, raising his hand with Crowley's meal a little.
"Kevin! Kev..." Crowley begged, "It was never personal! I swear!"
"It sure was for me." Kevin spat.
"I'm a different man now," Crowley insisted, raising his hands theatrically "I am a man now!"
Kevin just snorted, before he slowly turned the bowl in his hand. Crowley's eyes followed the food, as it spilled over the edge of the bowl and landed in a puddle in front of his knees.
"If you're really a man," Kevin said, "then prove it. If you're really hungry, you won't care if your food is on the floor."
"Kevin," Crowley said, looking up with puppy-dog eyes, "you're better than this. You were always better than me and my demon army."
"I was," Kevin replied, "until you came and killed my mom!"
Crowley didn't reply to that. He hung his head down in shame.
For good measure, Kevin spat on the food on the floor once, before leaving Crowley to it.
Dean and John were released from the hospital the next day. Both were relieved to get out. There was something that hunters just didn't like about hospitals.
Dean, of course, aimed right for the drivers seat of the impala before remembering his cast and swearing under his breath. John took the keys and Dean walked around to flop into the shotgun seat.
"At least I'm walking this time," Dean grumbled, but he didn't seem very happy about his predicament.
Back at the motel, Sam said "There's only enough left for two cups. Who's going?"
"I am," John decided.
"No offence, Dad, but Dean and I've done this already. We should send someone who has experience with this." Sam replied.
"Dean and I are going," John said, "We have some sort of connection to her. We'll have a better chance to reach her than you do."
"He's right, Sam," Dean said, "you're just a random dude. Whatever it was, she saw something in dad and me."
"That also makes it more dangerous for you," Sam argued.
"Sam is right," Cas added, "For a human, entering the mind of a psychic is extremely dangerous. She will be able to affect you in ways that might not been undone. You could die, or worse."
"We have to do it," Dean insisted. Cas stared right at Dean.
"I don't think you understand," Cas said, his gravel voice solemn. "She identifies with you. It would even be possible that she overrides your own memories."
"I don't care if it's dangerous," John said. His voice was quieter and earnest as he continued speaking. "I don't want to kill this woman any more than any of you do. If we have a shot here, I'm going to take it."
The others were silent for a moment. Sam noticed concerned that Dean looked at his dad with nothing short of awe. Things like this were the reason for Dean's faith in the man.
"Fine, whatever" Sam sighed. Cas eyes snapped from one person to the next, concerned.
"If anyone enters her dream, it should be me," he continued to argue, "I have the highest chance of all of us to get through this."
"It's decided." John declared, not even bothering to argue with Cas. "Dean and I are going."
Dean looked over at Cas and gave a little, apologetic shrug. Cas just sighed in defeat as he looked back at Dean with worry.
Sam prepared the two cups of dreamroot tee. John and Dean sat down on their beds, and Cas continued to hover next to Dean, as if his proximity could somehow protect Dean in Sabrina's dream. Or so it seemed. Sam finally dropped the strands of Sabrina's hair in the two cups of tea. He gave one to John, who downed it immediately, before he turned to Dean. But before Dean even had the chance to do anything, Cas had shot up, snatched the cup out of Sam's hand and downed the whole thing.
"Cas!" Dean exclaimed, but Cas didn't hear him anymore. He collapsed right onto Dean, who barely managed to catch him. Dean took care to lay Cas onto the bed in a comfortable position, but it was awkward with the cast.
"Dad's gonna rip his throat out," Dean said.
Sam crossed his arms and wrinkled his forehead in concern. "We'll have to wait it out."
A/N
Sorry for the longer wait this time, folks. I was on a long larp last week, after that my head needed a few days to come back to the real world ;) I will have a lot of work in the next months, but I'll do my best to keep the schedule and update at least every second week. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/faved/followed the last chapter! I hope I didn't forget to reply to someone... larp preparations are always chaotic ;) Continue to be awesome, my dear readers! For Moondor! *cough... actually I was an elf... life is weird when your shadow suddenly doesn't sport long ears anymore...*