~~ San Jose, Centro Internacional De Medicina ~~
Sam was probably the only reason Dean didn't end up in a Costa Rican prison that evening.
The helicopter had gotten permission to land right on the hospital's helipad, considering the injuries involved and the high profile individuals involved- turned out mentioning the name 'Novak' in any country got you catapulted up the totem pole fast enough to make your head spin. So by the time they landed, it was pandemonium.
He got pulled in one direction, despite trying desperately to convince them to let him stay with Castiel. They were steadfast, though, because that wound on his forehead that he'd been stubbornly ignoring evidently required four stitches to close. (He discovered this when the nurse was holding his head in both hands and the doctor was coming at him with a needle and thread. He was too distracted to summon up his two years of high school Spanish to try and understand the few words he knew.)
As soon as they were done, though, he was back in the hallways and asking any nurse who passed him where he could find Castiel. At first he got utterly stonewalled, every one of them saying the equivalent of 'the dude is a celebrity and if we so much as breathe his name we could get sued out of existence'. Eventually, he badgered them enough that the excuse turned into 'you're not his family, so go sit and spin on it, thank you very much'.
Which was where Sam saved him from prison time, because he was seriously considering body slamming this doctor into the wall if he heard the words 'not his family' again. Sam grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away, muttering something about not making a scene when there were already rumors about crazy dinosaur inflicted wounds going around.
Charlie was waiting in the same hallway outside of their surgery ward, because that was the closest they could narrow it down; one nurse had at least felt bad enough for them to let it slip that Castiel was in surgery. Charlie had also bummed some change off one of the nicer nurses and loaded Dean and Sam up with food and bottled water from the vending machines, and though Dean didn't really feel hungry, he knew he needed to eat and drink before he passed out. He was still running on adrenaline, and the crash was going to be bad enough without being dehydrated and half starved.
Gabriel was missing entirely. None of them had seen him since two very large men with Novak Industries badges met him at the helicopter and followed him away in a hurry.
So not only did Dean get to worry for hours, but he also got to deal with the seething anger at the fact that evidently Gabriel hadn't even stuck around to find out if his little brother was okay. If Sam were in Castiel's place, Dean couldn't imagine how torn up he would be; he certainly wouldn't be off somewhere else.
He wondered if Gabriel had even told the rest of their family what was going on. Castiel had other siblings; he'd at least mentioned a sister and two other brothers. Did they know yet? Had they known what Gabriel was doing down here? Did any of them even know Castiel was visiting?
Dean buried his face in his hands with a groan. If he didn't get some news soon, he was going to go absolutely insane.
He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Charlie giving him a reassuring smile. "It'll be alright. He didn't last that long out there just to give up now," she pointed out, and while it was little reassurance at the moment, he appreciated the effort. He gave her a weak smile in return, but she was looking past him now with a frown, and Dean followed her gaze to see one of the massive goons that had led Gabriel away from the plane standing in the doorway.
"Winchester?" the man said, and Dean slowly stood, already suspicious of this. The man approached and held out a piece of paper, a rather important looking form with a stamp on it, but the only words not in Spanish were his own name. Gabriel's and Castiel's names were on it, too.
He looked up at the guy for clarification, raising an eyebrow.
"Give that to the doctor here. It will give you all the permission you need to be privy to Mr. Novak's current condition," he said, already turning to leave. Dean grabbed him by the arm, only thinking a split second after that this guy looked like he ate babies for breakfast and killed soldiers for dinner, and grabbing him may not have been the best idea.
"Where's Gabriel?" he blurted out before he could lose his nerve. "That's his brother in there, and he sends you? What the hell?"
The man tugged his arm away firmly. "Gabriel sends his best wishes and his sincere regrets. Unfortunately, he has quite a situation on his hands regarding the security of the island, and it needs to be addressed immediately."
"No fucking shit," Dean snapped, and Sam tugged him back before he got himself into trouble for the second time that day. The man wasn't fazed; he turned and left before Dean could drill him any more.
"Fucking assholes!" Dean snapped, which probably wasn't the best thing for the haggard looking doctor to walk in on, but the second Dean saw him he was back on best behavior. Well, decent behavior. The doctor called for 'Novak', and before he was even done saying the name, Dean was shoving the paper at him insistently.
"I'm here for Cas. Castiel. How is he?" he asked, the words coming out in a rush as Charlie stepped up beside him. The doctor looked over the form and seemed satisfied, clipping it under the other pages on his clipboard before he started to speak in heavily accented English.
"The infection is…severe," the man said, pushing his glasses up on his nose, though they slipped right back down seconds later. "We removed the dead tissue and have started a heavy regiment of antibiotics and fluids to combat the dehydration, but he will need to remain in intensive care for the time being. We managed to salvage his leg, but the muscle damage will likely be permanent."
Dean didn't like the sound of any of that. He clenched his fists so tight that his nails bit painfully into his palms. "He'll make it though, right? He'll be okay?"
"I can't determine that just yet. The next 24 hours will be critical in deciding that," the doctor said, and Dean wanted to scream, wanted to shake the guy until he just talked straight to them. He didn't want any of this 'wait and see' bullshit, he wanted to know exactly what was going on here.
The doctor was already moving on from that, and even though Dean could tell he was trying to seem sympathetic, it definitely wasn't working. "One person can go in and see him. And since Mr. Novak's brother isn't here, that leaves only you who are approved to do so. I'm afraid the rest of you will have to wait here," the man continued, and Dean was already nodding, trying to rush him through the very expected words.
"Let us know how he is, okay?" Sam said, grabbing Dean's arm before he could walk away. "And if you're in there for more than four hours, I swear to God I'll find a way to drag you out and get some food in you. You need to eat more than vending machine crap."
"Okay, okay," Dean said, trying to manage a smile for Sam. "I'll be fine. You keep Charlie out of trouble and try to get in touch with someone back home."
"…What do I tell them?"
Dean paused. He hadn't thought of that. "Just…tell them the place lost power during the storm and we had to cut out early. We'll fill them in when we get home. We can't dump this on them over the phone."
Sam nodded, and Dean finally followed the doctor into the ward, the doctor using his ID card to buzz them both through. He pointed Dean toward room number 322 in the small, circular ward, every room within view of the nurses' station in the middle.
When he got to the doorway, he had to stop and clench his fists, taking in a sharp breath at the sight.
Castiel was nearly as pale as the white sheets he was laying on, and between the IV and all the sensors hooked up to him, it was a mess of cords draping off the sides of the bed. A clear mask covered his face, fogging up with each breath, and the steady beep of the heart monitor would have been irritating if it weren't so damn reassuring.
"Cas," he whispered, grabbing a chair from beside the wall and dragging it over to the bedside. He dropped down into it and took Castiel's hand in his own, careful to avoid the IV taped to the back of his hand.
It didn't seem real that just 24 hours ago Castiel had been healthy and unharmed, making small talk as the tour failed to produce dinosaurs to watch. That felt like weeks ago, not yesterday. And now he was second-guessing every single step he'd taken, whether they should have tried to walk back to the center instead of to the docks, whether they should have risked the cleanliness of the water and tried to clean out the wound sooner; so many ifs, and none of it able to make a difference now.
"I'm sorry, Cas," he said, and of course there was no response, just the continued beeping of the machine standing by the bed.
He couldn't keep running on adrenaline, though, and now that he was finally coming down from it, he couldn't keep his eyes open. He must have slept for a few hours, his head on the edge of the bed and his hand still gripping Castiel's lightly, before Sam woke him and shoved a sandwich and some water at him. Dean was pretty sure you weren't supposed to have food in here, and he wasn't sure how Sam convinced them to let him in, but he didn't question it. After checking to make sure Castiel was still alright, he devoured the sandwich in what had to be record time.
"One of Gabriel's people stopped by again. Gave me a number to call, said she can have a private jet ready to take us back to the States in twenty minutes."
"I'm not leavin' without Cas."
"Yeah, I figured. I told her that," Sam said with a soft laugh. "She said they're going to move him back to a hospital in the States as soon as he's stable. The press is starting to get wind that something big went down at the new Novak resort. It's only a matter of time before this whole thing breaks open, and none of us want to be here for that."
Dean nodded and looked back at Castiel, for the first time beginning to wonder just what was going to happen to them once word got out about the island. It was inevitable, really, and Dean didn't feel ready for it. The last thing he wanted was for some nosy reporter to be asking for the whole story on this.
Hell, there would probably be lawsuits and all kinds of craziness that he would want no part of.
"I'm gonna go stay with Charlie. Her mother is flying down to take her home, I don't want her to be sitting alone till then," Sam added after a few moments of silence, and Dean nodded.
"Yeah, go ahead. Not like I'm goin' anywhere," he pointed out, though the joke fell flat. Sam took another long look at Castiel before squeezing Dean's shoulder tightly.
"He'll be okay, Dean."
"Yeah…yeah, I know."
And then he was alone again, watching for any sign of life from Castiel, listening for any change in the now familiar sounds from the machines around him. It wasn't long before he dozed off again, though he'd been trying his hardest to stay awake this time.
When he woke up again, it was to someone squeezing his hand, just barely. He shifted and winced at the pain in his neck from sleeping in that awkward position, but it only took a few moments for him to realize what woke him, and then he was bolting upright so quickly that it made him dizzy.
Castiel was awake, his blue eyes a little dull, but definitely focused on Dean. Dean couldn't help but grin and let out a huge sigh of relief, scooting forward to the edge of his chair and holding Castiel's hand just that much tighter.
"Hey," he said, rubbing his thumb lightly across Castiel's knuckles. "About time you woke up. I was about to start worrying," he joked, earning a weak, barely-there smile from Castiel.
"Where are we…?" Castiel asked, his voice quiet and gritty; he was probably expecting the worst, expecting to be in some infirmary on the island still, raptors clawing at the door.
"Back on the mainland. We're safe, Cas," Dean said, and even though the writer was heavily drugged, Dean could still see lines of tension leave him when he heard that.
After all, the last time Castiel had been conscious, they'd been trying to evade a Spinosaurus in a Jeep.
"S'Jo…" Castiel started to ask, but he didn't even need to finish before Dean was nodding.
"Jo is fine. Sam and Gabriel and Charlie, too. All safe," he said, deciding that he would tell Castiel about the others later; about Meg and Bobby, and about Gabriel's prompt disappearing act. "The doctors saved your leg, you know, but you're gonna have one hell of an awesome scar to show off. Gonna have women falling all over you when you tell 'em a T-Rex tried to take a chunk out of you," he teased, and Castiel smiled again, though he already looked half asleep.
"Don't want them," he muttered, and Dean felt Castiel's hand squeeze his weakly.
"Right, because you owe me a date first, remember? I told you I was gonna drag you to the zoo, and I fuckin' meant it. You're gonna get back on your feet, and we're going to the god damn zoo to see some normal animals."
"No lizards," Castiel murmured, and Dean laughed. Yeah, Castiel was going to be just fine.
"No lizards. We'll steer clear of the herpetology section. Maybe spend extra time in the petting zoo. Haven't heard of llamas and goats getting murderous lately."
Castiel hummed a soft reply, but he was already drifting off, his eyes falling closed again. Dean leaned forward and brushed Castiel's hair back, and then stood up long enough to press a light kiss to his forehead.
"Don't worry, Cas. I'm here. I'm not leaving you."