"Sammy?" Dean holds his breath as he waits for his brothers reply. A feeling of dread creeps its way through the blonde as the silence goes on. A few seconds pass before he is opening his mouth to ask for Sam again, only to close it when he hears the younger man speak up from the other line.
"Dean?" Sam sounds perfectly fine, but it is not enough to calm the blonde.
"Sam?" he asks worriedly, "What's wrong?"
"What?" Sam asks quietly from the other side of the line, "Nothing's wrong. I was just-... How are you?"
Dean frowns slightly but sighs in relief. "I'm okay," he responds shortly, "Are you okay?" He couldn't help but be concerned about the fact that his brother had called him so randomly. Sam hasn't spoken to Dean in a few months. He only calls when either something is wrong, or it is a special occasion.
"Yeah Dean, I'm fine," he hears Sam laugh half-heartedly, "I just... thought I'd check in on you."
"What?" the blonde asks in slight disbelief. It was so strange to know that his brother had called only to catch up with him. Dean knows that it is impractical of him to not believe his younger brother, but he cannot help but be suspicious that there is an ulterior motive behind this conversation.
"Yeah, I just," Sam falters for a moment before continuing, "We haven't talked in a while and I wanted to know what you were up to." A bit of rustling can be heard over the line. "Is this a bad time?"
Dean looks at the angel beside him, seeming to consider if he needed anything else. It was a bad time. He didn't feel as though he could spend time talking to his brother while this celestial being was laying injured in his bed and eating ice-cream.
Castiel accidentally catches eye contact with Dean but he immediately looks down to the bowl in his hands, as if pretending that the frozen treat was the most interesting thing in the world. He felt bad for listening in on what the two brothers were talking about, but from the moment Dean uttered his brother's name into the phone, Castiel was worried for the younger man.
He knew how much Dean's brother meant to him. Ever since they were young, Dean made it his responsibility to care for his younger sibling, protecting him in any way that he could. This was one of the most remarkable things that the angel saw in Dean. His love for his younger brother was something that Castiel wished he could see in more humans. It was Dean's love for Sam that prompted Castiel to help look after the younger Winchester as well, even though it was not his responsibility. Now, not being able to keep an eye on the Sam was nerve racking to Castiel. If something happened to Sam, Dean would be crushed.
"It's not a bad time," Dean lies to his brother, staring at Castiel as he talks.
Castiel keeps his head down as he takes another bite of the cold dessert. The volume on Dean's phone was just loud enough so that Castiel could faintly hear what Sam was saying.
He listens to the two brothers talk on the phone for a while. They each ask how the other has been recently. Sam tells Dean that he has been having fun at school. He talks about having met some new friends and about how well he is doing in his classes. He says he has been busy studying for the past few days.
Dean stares at Castiel as he talks, no doubt trying to come up with a lie on the spot. He tells Sam that he has been working on a few of the cars from Bobby's old junkyard, that he has been taking parts to fix up the Impala. He says that he did some research for a hunt for one of Bobby's old friends, Rufus, and explained that besides that he has not had much to do up here in South Dakota.
Castiel keeps his head down as he listens to the conversation. He knows that by human standards it is rude to eavesdrop but he cannot bother to differentiate between being nosy and looking after the blonde like he has for the past twenty-nine years.
He can't help but realize how strange the conversation between the two brothers is. It seems as though they are both trying to hide something from the other. In Dean's case, the lie is obvious and comes in the form of Castiel himself and the burn on Dean's upper arm. But with Sam, Castiel cannot pinpoint what exactly is wrong, or what he could be untruthful about. He wonders if Dean has noticed his brother's strange behavior as well or if he is too absorbed in being able to hold a casual conversation with him.
"Hey Dean?" Sam asks suddenly after being relatively silent for a while.
Dean stops talking halfway through recounting the story of how he had been feeding Rufus information on Rawheads to help the hunter out down in Oklahoma. "Yeah, Sammy? " he asks quickly, "Is something wrong?"
"No," Sam responds quickly, "I just... I was wondering if I could come up and see you soon."
Dean is a bit taken aback by the request. It has been so long since either of them have talked to one another and now, seemingly out of nowhere, Sam was trying to reconnect with his older brother. "Is-..." Dean begins to ask before trailing off again. He takes a moment, then is finally able to ask, "Is there something wrong? Or a special occasion or something?" He glances at the angel momentarily, sitting back in his chair a little more.
"What?" Sam asks, "No. There's no special occasion... I just," he trails off before speaking again, "I just worry about you sometimes... Being up there by yourself and all."
Guilt is immediately washing over the blonde. He has been spending all of this time thinking that his brother wouldn't care if something awful were to happen to him. He had planned to take his own life, not nearly considering Sam as much as he should have.
He looks at Castiel a bit nervously. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Sam to know about the fallen angel, but he did want to see his little brother again. "Yeah, of course man," he says with a forced smile, "How soon are you wanting to come up?"
"I-" the younger sibling falters for a second, seeming to think something over quickly, "I've uh-... got some stuff I have to do for school next week... How about the week after that? Maybe I can stay for a couple of nights?"
At this point, Castiel is staring at Dean in curiosity. He has finished his ice-cream and the empty bowl rests in his lap.
"Yeah," Dean says in confirmation, staring back at the fallen angel, "Sound's great."
"Awesome. Great," Sam says, "I'll see you then... and I'll call once it gets closer to then, alright?"
"Yeah, alright Sammy," Dean agrees, looking over Castiel slowly. Then, as his eyes momentarily lock onto Castiel's bent wing he asks Sam quickly, "Hey wait, Sam?" he holds for a second, waiting for his brother to acknowledge him before continuing, "You... Wouldn't know how to fix a broken wing would you?"
He can hear Sam chuckle quietly on the other side of the line. "Like, a bird wing?" he asks, "Why would you need to know that?"
Dean frowns a bit, having to concoct an answer for the question. "I uh..." he stutters for a moment, "Just... There was a bird... I found it outside in the junkyard. It's got... I mean its wing is bent to the side really weird."
Sam is quiet for a moment, taking in what his brother was saying. He did think that it was a bit odd that Dean was trying to nurse a bird back to health. The older brother had never shown an interest in animals before now. "Dude, there isn't really much you can do for it," he tells his brother, "I mean, I guess you could put a wrap on it or something, but I mean it's probably best that you just take it outside and put it out of its misery."
At that, Castiel's eyes go wide and his uninjured wing flaps frantically.
"No," Dean says quickly, feeling a bit guilty for considering getting rid of the angel the other day. "No," he repeats, "I'm... Not going to be giving up on this bird."
The brunette visually relaxes, shoulders slumping and letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
"If you say so," Sam mutters, "I'm sure you could look up how to make a splint for it."
"Yeah, okay," Dean mulls it over, nodding a bit, "I'll do that. Thanks, Sam." His eyes lock onto the angel's and they stay like that for a while as the two brothers exchange goodbyes over the phone.
Thank you guys for reading! Leave me a comment pretty please, they only take a minute...
Also! If you guys want to draw fanart of this story I will love you forever. You can go on my tumblr, writingonprospit, and send me a link to wherever you post the fanart, or just submit it as an image. Even just a little doodle will literally make me the happiest person the world. (last time I saw fanart of one of my stories I cried.)
But yeah thanks for reading and I'm sorry this chapter was a bit slow.
Who's ready for Sam to visit?