(A/N)- And thus, the plot thickens! This is the eleventh chapter of the story of Cas and Lydia. (Lydia and Cas? I don't know which one I like better) Anyway, the awesome people who deserve lots of love for reviewing are Breean, xBlossom whit loves him, angeleyenc, Kali-WolfChilde and Truth-Between-the-Lies. Kali-WolfChilde deserves extra cookies because she pressed the Favorite Story and Favorite Author buttons, and so does Truth-Between-the-Lies for adding this to their favorites and putting be under an Author Alert. So, thanks. And this kind of goes out to everybody. It's totally up you, but if you want, send me a PM or a review naming one or two songs that remind you of Cas and Lydia. It could be the Beatles, Justin Bieber, Metallica, Tim McGraw, Eminem, nevershoutnever!-any and all kinds of music. I want to try to incorporate some of the songs into an upcoming chapter, and possibly use the rest for chapter titles. Why? I don't really know! I just thought it'd be a fun idea. And I'm going to make a list of all the songs that I use as chapters or in the actual story. Why, you ask? Again, because I'm bored and want to pretend that people actually care about what songs I use. So send me your songs and your reviews. And send Eric Kripke your love, because he owns. Not moi.
Cas was sitting on Lydia's couch, her head on his shoulder as she slept. She still didn't look peaceful and angelic, but she had fallen asleep with a smile on her face. Castiel was grateful for that-she looked beautiful when she smiled. He had thought before that humans were works of art. Everyone now, though, dulled compared to her. It was strange, having these human-like emotions, especially around Lydia. They felt extremely strange, but in a way, Cas liked them.
He reached out his hand and brushed away a stray piece of hair that had fallen into her mouth. She wasn't smiling anymore; she looked like she was uncomfortable and in pain. Cas feared what was coming. Neither of them knew much about what was going to happen when Lydia's body started going through the withdrawal from the heroin, but from what she had told him, it wasn't going to be pleasant. She had begged and pleaded with him to stay with her for at least a week, and at first he declined, knowing that Sam and Dean might need him at any moment. But once she started describing about what might happen, he refused to let her out of his sight. Sam and Dean could wait.
She had fallen asleep, thank God, without any of his help. His presence may have helped her, but he didn't need to use any of his angelic powers to make her sleep. They had talked for almost three hours, and now Lydia had been asleep for almost four hours. He willed her to stay asleep as long as possible, try to escape the pain and the anxiousness as long as possible. Lydia had told him that the withdrawal was going to be painful, and Cas hated the thought of her suffering like that for days on end. But he'd be there, right by her side.
Finally, she woke up. She lifted her head and smiled at him, still groggy. "Hi."
"Hello." Cas replied.
Lydia looked at the clock. "Jeez, how long was I out?"
"About three hours. It's only seven in the evening." Cas said. "Are you hungry? Do you want something?"
"Yeah, I am, actually," Lydia stood up. "You wanna go get something?"
"I do not think that is a good idea." Cas was uneasy.
Lydia rolled her eyes. "Cas, it's fine. It's only been…seven hours since my last dose. My cravings usually don't start until like ten hours."
"Are you sure?" Cas asked. Lydia nodded eagerly, wanting to get out of the house for a change. Cas sighed, and smiling, Lydia grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. They started walking to the nearest Burger King, fingers intertwined. Cas had never had somebody hold his hand before, but it felt completely natural, like they belonged there. They grabbed their burgers and started walking back, laughing and joking (well, mostly Lydia) the whole time. They made it back to the apartment in time to start watching Seinfeld reruns. Cas watched her the whole time, studying, waiting. He noticed that not even five minutes after she finished her food, Lydia's fingers started tapping nervously. Then she started fidgeting, biting her nails, looking at the clock, and eventually looking all over the room. And so it began.
"Cas…" Lydia looked at him nervously.
"Lydia, you need to breathe, okay? Just breathe."
Lydia nodded and starting taking deep breaths as she shut her eyes. The meditation seemed to work for a few minutes before she stared getting anxious again. "Cas, it's really bad."
"Here," Cas handed her his burger, but she just shook her head and pushed it away. "Lydia, you need to eat something…"
"Stop telling me what to do, God dammit!" Lydia snapped.
Cas was taken aback for a second before he remembered what she was going through. He had a feeling that he was going to be dealing with her mood swings a lot this week. "It's only a suggestion. If you don't want it, you can have something else…"
"I don't want any food." Lydia said through gritted teeth.
Cas wasn't defeated. "Lydia, this is going to be difficult for both of us, but I think if you just…"
"Oh my God, I'm going to throw up." Lydia ran out of the room and barely made it into the bathroom before Cas could hear everything go into the toilet. He rushed to her side and saw her hunched over the toilet. He had that helpless feeling, so he went over and held her hair behind her head. Instead of pushing him away again, Lydia didn't move and let him. Then again, it might've been because she was too busy retching into the toilet, but Cas just stayed where he was. When she was finished, Lydia sat back and leaned into Cas.
"This really sucks." Lydia moaned pitifully.
"I know." Cas grabbed her under her arms and dragged her to her feet. She fell against him until Cas was supporting almost all of her body weight.
"I've got you." Cas carried her to her bed and put her on the bed gently. He touched her face and was surprised when it was hot as could be. Lydia moaned painfully and pushed his had away.
"Can't you do your angel thing and knock me out?" Lydia was to the point of desperation. Cas noticed that her body was shaking with chills.
Cas sighed. "Lydia, I can't just keep putting you unconscious. Something might happen when you're sleeping…"
"I don't fucking care!" Lydia hissed, tears welling up in her eyes. "Give me some pain meds or a sleeping pill or something! Why don't you actually do something for once?"
Cas sighed, and raised his hand, pressing his fingers to Lydia's forehead. Her eyes immediately rolled to the back of her head and she was out like a light. Cas sat on the edge of her bed, watching her the whole time with a stony expression on his face. This was going to be a long seven days.
Things didn't get much better after that; in the following two days, things only got worse. Lydia was in pure hell, and Cas was in hell just watching her. Lydia was constantly throwing up, shaking violently, or begging Cas to put her to sleep. Cas had resisted using his powers on her as much as possible, but when he found that she really couldn't sleep without his help, he used his powers as often as needed. Dean and Sam hadn't called for his assistance, which Castiel couldn't have been happier about. They didn't know about Lydia, and he doubted he could think of a good enough excuse to fool them. He looked at Lydia's sleeping form. Her face was twisted in pain and her body was doubled over, curled into a little ball. He had tried to comfort her when he could, but she always pushed him away and cursed him out. Cas understood-she didn't mean anything she said, she was in so much pain and wasn't in her normal mindset- but he still wished there was more he could do to make it all go away. His healing powers were so weak and uncontrollable, and he didn't want to test them on Lydia unless it was absolutely necessary.
Cas was thinking all about this when Lydia woke up. She woke up with a start, like she didn't remember where she was, but grimaced from the pain that shot through her head. She moaned and fell back to where she was lying.
"How are you feeling?" Cas asked her gently.
"Awful."
"Do you want anything?"
Lydia curled up even tighter. "No."
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"I don't know!" Lydia's eyes spontaneously filled up with tears. "I'm sick as hell, I want to die, and I don't know what I want!"
Cas was stunned. Lydia had seemed angry at him the whole time, and now she was breaking down and crying. He slowly inched towards her, and once he got close enough, he touched her shoulder gently. He could see on her face that her skin was sensitive and just the slightest pressure hurt her, but he kept his hand there. Lydia, instead of recoiling at the touch, turned towards his hand and grabbed his arm, tugging on it. Cas, bewildered, let her drag him so he was lying on the bed next to her. Cas retracted slightly, still not used to contact with others and afraid of causing Lydia any more pain than she was already in. Lydia, whose eyes were closed, curled right up to him so her head was lying on his shoulder. Cas put his arms around her affectionately and watched her fall back asleep. She was able to fall asleep by herself for the first time since the withdrawal started.
But she only stayed asleep for a few minutes. Cas was startled when Lydia started shaking violently. She had chills constantly, but this was different. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she flailed around wildly. Cas, fast as lightly, pinned her arms down and looked down at her.
"Lydia, Lydia!" he called. "Lydia, you need to stay with me. Lydia..." Cas rambled, talking to her, trying desperately to get her seizure to stop. After a few seconds, it stopped, and Lydia completely fainted. "Lydia! You need to wake up! Lydia!" He slapped her cheeks lightly. "Come on, you can't fall asleep. You need to stay awake so I can make sure you're okay."
Lydia opened her eyes slightly, but they weren't focused anywhere. "Lydia, look at me." Cas called to her. Lydia's eyes wandered, but then saw Cas. Cas smiled the tiniest bit. "Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
"You had a seizure." Cas said slowly. Her eyes widened. "You need to talk to me. How do you feel?"
"I'm okay, besides everything else." Lydia was breathing heavily.
"Good," Cas nodded. "I think the worse is over. I Gaagled..."
"You mean Googled?"
"Yes. It said that things get better after the third day."
"Thank God for that." Lydia said sarcastically. Her face went pale again before she raced back into the bathroom and started vomiting again.
And things did get better after the third day. Lydia's body was showing signs of improvement at least. By the end of the week, she was a lot better. But the anxiousness and stress got even worse. Lydia was constantly snapping at Cas, not even realizing she was doing it. She'd scream and yell at him, then break down in tears, then she'd push him away. Cas did the only thing he could-he stayed with her the whole time and waited until Lydia felt better. He just hoped that would be soon. Dean and Sam had prayed for him a few times, and he had no idea how he was going to explain where he was.
"Cas, I really need a fix." Lydia told him for the 10th time that day.
"No you don't. You'll be okay." Cas told her for the 10th time that day.
Lydia groaned and laid her head on his shoulder. "I really hate this."
Cas, for the first time that week, kissed her forehead. "I know. But I'm proud of you."
"I'm only doing it for you, y'know," Lydia looked at him seriously. "And I could never do this on my own. You're like the only person that could get me through this."
And Lydia drifted off to sleep again, leaning against her angel. Maybe being saved isn't such a bad thing...
