Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

A New Experience

Castiel's coat came off slowly, awkward from extra care. Even that didn't keep the blood from smearing all over the sleeve. Rather a lot had already gotten onto the side and begun to dry, brownish spots that stood out against the khaki. Jane wondered what the formula was for getting blood stains out of clothing.

She pushed him into a chair by the sink. It was hard to read his expression, not that that was anything new. He didn't seem to be in much pain, except that his brows were knitted a little closer together than usual. He hadn't even made a sound while getting the jacket off. At least he looked more alert and less like he was about to keel over at any moment.

Jane rolled up Castiel's shirt sleeve for him while he looked intently somewhere near the ceiling. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought, thank goodness. The gash on his forearm was messy and ragged, but not very deep. She didn't think it would require stitches, and in any case there wasn't much skin around the wound left to sew together. The cut stretched from the top of his hand to the middle of his forearm, curving around to the inside slightly. It was still bleeding in places, but the half-dried blood covering his arm made it look worse.

"How's it feel?" she said, more to make conversation than anything else. The intense silences were starting to unnerve her.

"It hurts," Castiel said succinctly. There was something like wonder in his voice.

"You've never felt pain before?" Jane ventured.

"Not pain like humans feel," he said. "This is a new experience."

Jane shook her head in disbelief. She still couldn't get over it…. Not that she really wanted to get over it. This was a bizarre occurrence, after all. If this stuff started becoming normal in her world, then she should worry.

"Well, this is going to hurt a little more," she said, opening the plastic bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Castiel looked over interestedly.

"I've seen humans do this before. It never looked very pleasant."

Jane smiled grimly. She splashed the clear contents of the bottle onto a wash cloth. "Brace yourself," she said.

Castiel's eyes widened at the fresh pain, but he gave no other indication of his reaction to this "new experience".

Jane couldn't help chuckling. "Welcome to humanity, angle-boy. This stuff is daily routine for the rest of us. Well, probably not this, exactly. Most people don't have to be patched together after being attacked by—"

"Don't say his name," Castiel broke in suddenly. His was leaning his head against the wall behind him, eyes closed. Somehow, he still managed to look as serious as usual. "Not even here. Just talking about it can open doors we want to keep shut."

"Right." Jane didn't like to admit to herself how scared that comment made her. 36 hours ago she was living a perfectly normal, albeit slightly boring life. A plain Jane life, she used to say. Now things were happening she didn't have words for.

"What is it?" Castiel asked. He was looking at her now, those blue eyes intense and sincere. She had the unnerving feeling that he could see right through her.

"I was just thinking… how ironic it is. I can't even watch horror movies. And now I'm living in one." She tried to laugh, but it came out broken, like a sob.

He reached his uninjured arm to grasp her hand. He caught it unexpectedly, and Jane froze halfway to the sink.

"I'm sorry I brought you into this. You are an innocent, and I will make sure you are not harmed. I won't endanger you with my presence after this." He was so solemn, so earnest, his face clear and open but strange power in his voice. Jane immediately believed him, and she felt safe for the first time in twelve hours. It was a good feeling.

She gave a tiny smile, and he let her hand go. It was weird how calming his presence was, but Jane wasn't about to argue with that after the day she'd had. She rinsed the wash cloth in the sink and turned back to her patient, who was now back to examining the upper reaches of the walls.

Jane perched on the edge of the bathtub and began dabbing at the dried blood on Castiel's arm. It really wasn't too bad, altogether. It had already almost stopped bleeding, only a couple deep spots still oozing. It could have been much worse, she thought, and remembering what had inflicted it, she repressed a shudder.

"How're you holding up?" she asked after a few moments of her doctoring. Castiel looked like he was handling his new found pain, but she noticed that he was moving his lips silently and rapidly.

Castiel seemed to feel the question did not deserve a response. Or perhaps he didn't trust himself to speak. Still, Jane thought it would be a good idea to try to keep his mind on something else.

"So, how does this whole angel thing work? I mean, aren't you guys supposed to be spirits or whatever?"

"We are. But we sometimes find it necessary to inhabit a human body," he said.

"Well, that's… freaky. I didn't know angels could do that," Jane said, shifting in her seat.

"Generally, we don't. We have not have not walked the earth in millennia."

"So what are you doing here now?" Jane asked.

Castiel fixed her with a cold look. "That is dangerous information."

"Jeez, sorry." Jane tried to hide her rather hurt feelings. If he didn't trust her now, he wasn't likely to ever trust her. They sat in tense silence for a few moments.

"I saw what you did back there at the warehouse. What is that, like angel-ninjitsu?" Jane said, trying to patch up the broken silence.

"You could say that. I have… certain abilities beyond the scope of normal human powers, although I am limited in this form."

"Like you can get hurt," Jane said. This wound was testament enough to that.

"Yes. Although I'm not likely to die in this body, not by normal means at least. It will take some time for me to get used it though. Certain powers are dampened by flesh and bone, and I may not regain them so quickly." He examined his own uninjured hand, flexing it, feeling the blood and muscles.

Jane raised her eyebrows as she fished out a few butterfly bandages from the first-aid kit. There wasn't much she could do with them, considering how most of the skin around the wound was torn away, but she did her best with it. She finished the job with a thick padding of surgical gauze and tape.

"All in all, not too shabby for my first major foray into the medical field. Maybe I should consider a career in medicine," she remarked. "On second thought, my chemistry grades are in the toilet, and I have no desire to make the effort to remove them."

Castiel gave no indication he found this humorous, but Jane felt he was amused anyway.

She stood up and admired her work. "You're good to go, angel-man. You'll have a wicked looking scar, but that just adds to the intrigue."

Castiel stood. "Thank you, Jane," he said. He pressed her hand into his and grasped it tight. Jane was surprised at his warmth, but he looked so genuine she couldn't help but smile and shake her head, as if to say it was nothing. "And I won't trespass here any longer," he said with finality. He took his bloody coat from the door rack and stepped out of the bathroom.

Jane hesitated for just a moment. This was hands down the most dangerous man—angel—thing to ever walk into her life, and she ought to be salaaming him out the door. But she only hesitated for a moment.

"Wait, wait, wait. Where do you think you're going? Do you even have a place to stay? Or money? Where did you come from?"

"Some distance from here, I believe. My battle with the demon took me farther than I expected," he said, stopping in the hallway and turning around.

"So what were you planning to do, sleep in a church? Never mind, don't answer that. You have to stay here," Jane said, as if it was an inevitability.

"You don't need to look out for me." There he went again with that soul-searching look.

"Who says I'm doing it for you? Please remember that there's a crazy demon—" she whispered the word "—out there who probably wants me dead now, and up 'til yesterday I didn't even believe in them, so I sure as hell don't know how to fight one."

Castiel looked like he was considering. Whether he was considering her offer or how much he regretted ever involving a human was yet to be determined.

"All right. I'll stay here the night, for your protection. Although you'll be safer when I'm gone," he said finally. He looked like he was going against his better judgment. "This is only for the night, you understand. I have a job to do here. It's too important to be allowed to be slowed down."

"I get it, Cas. And hey, you can take the couch," Jane said happily.

"Generous. I think."