The cool, wet cloth wasn't doing anything. Gabriel's face was so hot and dry that the water would disappear almost instantly, but Castiel kept trying. He also tried his best to ignore Sam and Dean arguing out in the hallway, but he wasn't very successful at that, either.
"Dean, his fever is at 104.5. That's not good. We need to take him to a hospital, now!"
"If this is being caused by something supernatural, they won't be able to do anything! Plus, what if he woke up and started talking about Hell to one of the people there? They'd think he was crazy!" Dean gestured pointlessly towards the halfway-closed bedroom door.
"He probably is!"
"I didn't bring you to the hospital when you had the Hell-crazies," Dean argued.
"I ended up there, anyway," Sam countered.
Dean sighed. "Sammy, this is Gabriel we're talking about. If we can get the fever down and get him to wake up, we can talk some sense into him."
"Dean, he doesn't need sense talked into him! He doesn't know what's real and what isn't. That's the problem."
"And if you remember, we have some experience with that sort of thing."
"Yeah, Dean, I remember. It's sort of hard to forget."
"And we figured it out."
"Uh, no, Cas fixed me, at the cost of his own sanity," Sam pointed out.
"Hey!" Cas called from the room. "Could you two please stop fighting and come in here and help me?" They glared at each other for another second before doing what Castiel asked. "We're not taking him to a hospital," Cas said firmly. "If I can't heal him, they won't be able to do anything either. He's safer here." Dean looked slightly triumphant, and Sam knew there was no point arguing anymore.
Suddenly, Gabriel started shivering violently, twisting from side to side. "Gabriel!" Cas cried. He tried to hold his brother down. "Gabriel, wake up!" Sam and Dean rushed up towards the bed, not sure if they could do anything to help. The ex-angel's face was tight with pain, his mouth open as if screaming, but no sound came out. His already pale skin turned pasty white as his temperature dropped severely and without warning.
"What the—" Dean managed, touching the now-freezing Gabriel's forehead. "How is that even possible?!" Gabriel stopped moving and went completely limp.
For a second, everyone looked relieved. Then: "He isn't breathing!" Sam shouted.
Dean swore, and felt the side of Gabriel's neck for a pulse. "His heart's still beating, though," Dean said, confused.
"Brother, listen to me," Castiel murmured softly, taking Gabriel's hand. "Breathe, please. I think you can hear me. Breathe." There was a terrible moment of stillness and silence, and then Gabriel inhaled with a gasp. He continued breathing shakily. "Good. It's alright, Gabriel. Everything's going to be alright," Cas kept whispering. Slowly, Gabriel's color and temperature returned to fairly normal levels.
"What the hell was that?" Dean said.
"I don't know," Cas answered. "But whatever he's dreaming about, I wouldn't imagine it to be very pleasant."
Just then, Gabriel awoke and sat up sharply with a startled cry. No one said anything; they let him get his bearings first. He blinked. "I'm still here, then," Gabriel stated. He looked at Castiel. "Hello, Cassie. Good morning."
"It isn't morning, Gabriel," Cas replied. "It's…" He looked over to Sam and Dean for help.
"Like four in the afternoon," Sam responded.
"Gabriel, what were you dreaming about?" Cas inquired.
Gabriel didn't respond, but glanced over at Sam and Dean meaningfully. Cas got the message. "Out, you two."
"What?" Dean protested. "It's our place!"
"Plus we've both been in Hell. It's not like we wouldn't understand," Sam added.
"Oh, never mind, it doesn't matter," Gabriel muttered. "I'm not entirely convinced that I was dreaming then and not now."
"Is there any way that we could help you figure it out?" Dean offered.
"No," Sam and Gabriel said at the same time.
"Sorry," Sam said when Gabriel looked at him, startled. "I didn't mean to interrupt, just…I've been there, and it's something that no one can help with."
Dean was looking at Sam strangely. "Sammy, I helped you, didn't I?"
"Um," Sam answered uncomfortably, "sort of. I mean, you pulled me back a couple of times. But I had to actually come to terms with the fact that I'll never be truly sure of what's real by myself."
"How did you?" Gabriel said. His voice was again as small as when he had told Cas that his grace was gone.
Sam hesitated. "I didn't? I don't know. I never really did, like there wasn't a moment where I thought, 'oh, this is all real'. I guess I just decided that even if I could wake up in Hell any time and this could never have happened, I wasn't going to let that affect any of the decisions I made. Does that make sense?"
"No," Dean said flatly.
"Yes," Gabriel contradicted. "But when did you start making sense?"
"A lot changed while you were away," Sam replied.
"I'm starting to see that, thanks."