Castiel doesn't say a single word on the way back to the motel, just sits quietly in the backseat and stares at his hands as if they were some foreign object. Occasionally Dean sees him lift his eyes up in the rearview mirror, the black liner still staining his eyelids, the letter's P and R written across the bridge of his nose even when the rest is covered up. Dean tried to keep level headed, reminding himself that Castiel was currently bleeding all over his car and unless Rachmiel suddenly popped in they were going to be taking care of him for months, that Nikki had drugged him and they had no idea what was pumping through his veins. The sun was just beginning to rise when they pulled up from the motel and all three of them should have been exhausted but there was still so much to do.
"Come on Cas, I'll help you inside." Dean opened the car door and held his hands out for Castiel who ignored him and didn't move. "You can't walk on your own." Castiel still didn't move and Dean was forced to grab his shoulders and pull him from the car. It was a little awkward carrying a man Castiel's size bridal style and he wasn't making it any easier for Dean but eventually he managed to get him inside and on the bed. Sam stitched up the gash on Castiel's back, insisting that Dean would just fuck it up again, Castiel barely seemed to notice the prick of the needle instead picking at a loose string on the blanket and had fallen asleep half way through. They had no idea what to do with the wounds on his hands and feet, Sam mentioned that could cauterize the wounds but Dean flat our refused.
"Eli Eli lama sabachthani." Lucifer chuckled and Sam gave him a hard glare that he didn't bother hiding from Dean. "Oh come on, that was kinda funny."
"I'm going to bed." Sam spat ignoring the look Dean shot him, he twitched when Lucifer's laughter rang out and he cut Dean off before he could say anything. "We'll figure everything out in the morning."
Dean wanted to argue but Sam laid on the bed and turned his back to him signifying the end of the conversation. Exhaustion was tugging at him anyways so he pulled the lumpy chair closer and sat down, propped his feet up on Castiel's bed and decided to take Sam's advice.
Warm sunlight filtered across Dean's face slowly rousing him from sleep. His body ached from sleeping in the chair, his neck stiff and caused a sharp pain shot right through his skull. His eyes opened enough to see the empty bed in front of him, warm and inviting, and his sleepy mind weighed the choice of going back to sleep or moving to the soft bed. He had just settled on letting himself fall back asleep when a tiny alarm went off in his head, his eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet. The bed was empty, he'd been asleep only a few hours and Castiel was gone. He cursed and ran for the door not even bothering to wake Sam up, Cas had two holes in his feet he couldn't have gotten far. As it was though Dean didn't get far either because a few steps into his run his feet caught on something and he tumbled to the ground.
He hit his head hard enough that he saw stars and his brain instantly switched to hunter mode, grabbing his gun and spinning onto his back, aiming at whatever had tripped him. When he saw Castiel lying on the floor he wasn't sure if he wanted to sigh in relief or yell in frustration. "What the hell Cas?"
"Water." He mumbled staring up at the ceiling with wide unblinking eyes. Dean rose up to his knees and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Wanted water, then I fell." Castiel turned his head slightly to look at Dean then closed his eyes and sighed. "Tired."
"Here," Dean held a hand out to him "I'll help you back on the bed."
"No."
"What?"
"I am fine here."
"Your backs pretty messed up, you shouldn't be on it." Dean leaned down and tugged on Castiel's arm trying to force him up but his body was loose like a ragdoll and as soon as Dean let go he flopped back down to the ground. "Seriously?"
"I am fine here." And apparently he was since he didn't move for the rest of the day, even when Sam woke up and stepped on Castiel's hand walking over to Dean. They both tried to ignore that Castiel seemed to be subbing for a carpet all day, Dean cleaned the blood off the back seat and Sam called Bobby to fill him in. By the time lunch rolled around Dean had gotten tired of walking over Cas and sat down next to him, nudging his arm out of the way to make room.
"You wanna talk about why you're doing this?"
"Attention." Sam coughed from his bed.
"They'll fly away." Castiel yawned
"Huh?"
"My wings." Castiel's voice didn't waiver, he didn't seem upset only stating a fact.
"Uh, okay." Dean really did not want to talk about that, Dean did not do emotional conversations and he was sure the 'fall from grace' one would be awkward as hell. "And we're all totally fine with you doing…that. But you gotta eat something, I got you some shakes, figured you couldn't really chew with your…"
Dean got up and rifled through the paper bag and pulled out a vanilla slim fast, of course when he turned back around Castiel was still sprawled on the floor. He handed Sam the shake and pulled Castiel up by his shoulders, who promptly fell back as soon as Dean let go.
"Fuck, can you sit up for five freaking seconds." Dean forced him up again and Castiel remained as Dean put him. Dean grabbed the can out of Sam's hand and grunted "Thank you."
Sam could practically see Castiel counting to five in his head before he dropped right back down. Dean stood next to him, jaw clenched and a slim fast in hand, Sam had to bite back a laugh or risk become the target of Dean's anger.
"You really want to play this game Cas?" He doesn't answer only gives a slight nod of his head. And after Dean took a short nap to prepare for war the ten hour battle began, Castiel versus Dean. It started with Dean cleaning Castiel's wounds, at least the ones he could reach, with only a bottle of vodka and a rough dishcloth, scrubbing one of his feet so hard it started to bleed again. Castiel only response was to curl his toes slightly showing no other signs of pain so Dean huffed and moved onto his next tactic. He left and returned with a bag full of greasy burgers and spent ten minutes trying to lure Castiel with the food, a pointless plan as Castiel couldn't really chew solid food. Dean won a brief victory by forcing his AC/DC shirt on the smaller man; at least it would provide some protection from the scratchy carpet. Then Castiel stayed completely still through Dean pouring cold water on him, forcing room temperature Slim Fast down his throat and a number of other tactics that all barely Castiel to even blink. "This is getting old fast Cas."
"Indeed." Dean clicked his tongue, the gears in his head working over time to figure how to get Castiel to move. His eyes lit up when he finally had an 'ah-ha!' moment and nearly dove at his duffel bag, tossing clothes and weapons on the floor as he searched the bags contents. He pulled out a roll of duck tape and kneeled beside Castiel once again, he unrolled a strip across Castiel chest then tugged him up by his shirt. Dean began to wrap the silver tape around Castiel's torso, looping around seven or eight times before switching to the other side till there was an X of duck tape across his chest.
"There see? I fixed it, now you don't have to worry about your uh wings." Castiel slowly sat up, rolling his shoulders to test the strength of the tape and gently tugging his shirt to make sure it staid in place.
"Yes this is acceptable." He nodded. "I will be requiring one of the beds tonight, lying on the ground has made my back sore."
"Are you shitting me? I've been trying to get you off the ground since six a.m. now you want the bed? Give me one good reason why you should get the bed?" It was a joke of course, Cas was obviously getting the bed, especially after Dean saw the blood stain he'd left on the carpet. Castiel tilted his head to the side and his eyes narrowed, apparently he hadn't realized it was a joke at all.
"Because out of everyone in this room, I am the only one who has not had sex with a demon." Dean blinked down at Castiel then just walked into bathroom without saying a word, letting the accusation hang in the air. Dean leaned against the door and slunk to the ground, he really didn't have anything to say to that, he'd been to busy thinking of Cas to remember that fuck he'd had sex with a demon. And Sam was going to want to talk about it, if they ever met again Nikki was going to just rub it in his face and worse of all Cas knew. Knew that while Castiel was bleeding to death no less then fifty feet away Dean was in bed with the woman that nailed him to the ground. He wished he could say it couldn't get any worse but he knew it always did.
I'm not very happy with this chapter, it's kinda just filler, so I'm sorry if you think it's absolutely sucky. I just had to get Cas back to the motel before I could get to anything involving plot...Don't worry the next one will be better I promise!