A chair squeaks miserably across the floor. Voices. Lots of voices. Too many voices. Too much noise. I grumble unhappily and sink deeper into my blankets. Weak sunlight trickles in through the open blinds, bathing the room in a gentle glow I groggily try to escape from. Hushed words fill my ears. It was easy to ignore what was being said but it was proving more taxing to block out the noise altogether. A relieved, breathy sigh, frantic words spilling into each other, a deep, throaty chuckle, all echoing in my ears. It was too much.
I bolt upright, jarring my neck in the process. Cas is there in an instant, tender hands soothing the ache away with cool, careful fingers. "What`s going on here?" I mumble through a yawn, the words coming out garbled.
Cas removes his hand and places it in my own, squeezing lightly. I look up at him quizzically, confusion settling in the pit of my stomach. To my relief, he looks fine. The perfect vision of good health and invincible youth. There are no signs of his death battle with asshole big bro, Raphael. Not a speck of the bloody, torn mess that monster had made of him remained. Must be one of the benefits of angel power, I suppose. I hadn`t quite come to terms with all of that magical angel crap yet, but I was dealing.
"Dean, darling! Oh, thank goodness you`re alright!" A voice I hadn`t had the displeasure of hearing in months gushes out in one big, desperate breath.
For the first time since opening my eyes I tear my gaze away from Cas to examine the soulless hospital room. Just like with Cas, there room bore no evidence of the scuffle with his demented older brother. The space where his body had lay was squeaky clean and gleaming, scrubbed clean with industrial strength chemicals (or more likely angel mojo) and anything that had been disturbed during the fight had been put right again. God knows what he did with the body, burned it to ash and dumped it in the sea, hopefully. To the left of the bed sat three plastic chairs, all lined up neatly in a row. Cas occupied the one closest to me and I had a sneaky suspicion he hadn`t left my side all night. Not after what happened.
Dad really hadn't been lying when he said she was getting the first flight out here. I wish he had been. His leather jacket hung over the back of the second seat, occupied instead by a half drunken cup of ice cold coffee. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to be in the same room as her, but I resented the fact that he had left me here to deal with her alone. She sat there, black legs criss-crossed neatly over each other, pointed black toes pointing directly at me. She looked a mess. I don`t think I`ve ever seen her look less put together. Not even when dad left. This was a woman who corresponded her shoes with her fancy designer bags. Not a woman who wore a full face of smudged red lipstick and watery mascara. She still wasn`t done crying those crocodile tears of hers, but I refused to feel bad for her, refused to feel anything for that traitor.
My grip on Cas tightens. My face darkens, tongue sharpens. "Get out of here." My voice is sharp, clipped and to the point. No sense in beating around the bush.
"Dean, do you have any idea how worried I was about you when I heard what happened?! You nearly drowned!" Her voice breaks and she wipes the snot from her nose on a cheap tissue from her pocket. "You could have died. What happened? What on Earth were you thinking?"
What was I thinking?! What was I thinking? Did she seriously think that this was my fault? Or that I`d planned to do it? What was I fucking thinking? My boyfriend`s crazy family is trying to kill me and I don`t want to die. Please God, let me live. Maybe something along those lines.
Luckily before I can open my mouth and snap again, Cas beats me to it. "Dean was involved in a tragic accident, Mary. We were hanging out on the beach and decided to go for a swim, when a particularly rough wave knocked him off his feet," he explains smoothly, editing the story into something easier for her to understand.
"And who the hell are you?" Mary snaps at Cas, and I get ready to snap right on back.
"Cas is the one who saved Dean." The door swings open, revealing a very irate looking John Winchester pushing a very tired, but alive Kate in a wheelchair. Despite her exhaustion and the pain she must be in, she still finds the energy to offer me the brightest smile I`d ever seen her wear. "Without him jumping in after him and calling the emergency services, you might not have a son anymore." My jaw threatens to drop as Cas and I both listen to him, half in shock, half in awe as he praises Cas for his heroic actions. John strides past his ex-wife without so much as glancing at her, pushing Kate ahead of him and settles back down in his seat, angling it towards me and as far away from her as the small space allowed.
"I`m so relived you`re alright, honey," Kate tells me, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear. She turns to Cas, eyes dampening with tears, much to my horror. "Thank you, Castiel. We can`t thank you enough." She pats him on the cheek. "What a pair we are, eh, Dean?" she giggles, wincing slightly. "Looks like we both had an eventful day yesterday."
Mary watches like a venomous snake.
Dad and Kate don`t stay long, because she wants to check on her baby in the special care unit, but she reminds me a final time just how relieved she was that I`m safe. The second the door swings closed, Mary is on her feet and makes to busy herself by fluffing my pillows. "Don`t." I grab her hand, not roughly, but not kindly either, halting her efforts.
"Can we have a minute?" she asks, sweet as sugar in Cas` direction and it makes me sick. He turns to me and I nod grudgingly. This had to be done, things had to be said. The door swings shit behind him, the promise that he won't be long lingering in my ears.
"Dean, why are you acting like this? You can`t imagine how worried I was! I jumped on the first plane out, travelled all through the night, haven`t slept and-
"I didn`t ask you to do any of that! I didn't expect it from the woman who dumped me on a plane halfway round the fricking world!"
"Don`t exaggerate, Dean." She sniffs. "England is hardly halfway around the world. I didn't send you to Australia."
"You might as well have! Just admit it, you didn`t want me anymore."
she looks like she`s been possessed. Hair wild, eyes burning, teeth bared like fangs. "That is not true. I only did what was best for you."
"No," I said calmly, shaking my head. "You did what was best for you."
