Dean sleeps beside Castiel in the panic room.
He quickly becomes accustom to the frigid air of the cellar and the warm touch of skin on skin, the blush of heat from the blankets, the puff of air from Castiel that blooms on the skin of his exposed shoulder. Sometimes Castiel's nose bumps Dean's as they face each other, a gentle nudge that almost seems intimate.
Dean wonders where the old Dean Winchester went…
XxX
Sam and Dean clean out the vampire nest in 3 hours.
And in those 3 hours, Hell raises its ugly head and tears at their reality when Castiel has a seizure.
Bobby watches him fall to the ground and convulse in the yard while the old hunter works on a car. Froth bubbles at the ex-angel's throat, and the black-haired man gargles and moans, muscles freezing and relaxing, freezing and relaxing, while teeth clench and grind and a bladder lets go.
Bobby makes sure to remove Castiel's tie before standing guard over the scene, wrist watch timing and ticking like a metal heartbeat against Bobby's racing pulse. The whole time, Castiel looks at Bobby, blue eyes wild with terror and pleading while he jerks and convulses on the ground, hair shining in the too-hot sun.
How do humans live like this? Bobby can almost hear him say.
The seizure lasts a minute and a half. Bobby checks Castiel's fever while the angel vomits bile on the dry grass ground.
He calls Dean while Cas lies down on the couch, cold cloth draped over his eyes in a feeble attempt to keep the fever down.
In the 15 minutes it takes for Sam and Dean to race over to Bobby's place, Bobby finds out through hacked medical files that Jimmy Novak was epileptic.
He sends Sam out to get medication, fake prescription in tow while Dean sits down and runs fumbling fingers through the ex-angel's hair shakily.
It occurs to Bobby very suddenly that Dean and Castiel, are an item.
XxX
Castiel falls into something of a routine while at Bobby's house. He wakes up, he eats, he pukes, he takes his epilepsy medication, barely keeps the pills down, goes for a walk, comes back, eats, pukes, naps 'til midnight, eats, pukes, and sleeps again.
There is barely anytime for talking.
Dean barely sees the guy anymore, unless he's asleep, because all the ex-angel (Dean always kicks himself for thinking it) does is sleep.
Dean is planning a slow day of giving the Impala a tune up she doesn't need, when Sam carries an unconscious Castiel in through the back door of Bobby's place, bumping the door open with his hip.
'He ripped his head open when he fell on some junk in the yard.'
Dean feels his heart tear in two at sight of all the blood.
'Dean,' Sam catches Dean's arm when his older brother heads for the door, 'Where are you going? He needs you.'
'I'm gonna go get his damn Grace back.' Dean barks, before the door clatters shut behind him.
XxX
Dean summons Gabriel in the barn where he first summoned Castiel.
Gabriel seems like the only one powerful enough to pull something like this off, and he seems to have the least of a vendetta for the family Winchester.
The Trickster arrives softly, behind Dean, who has his holy oil cocktail at the ready. The only thing that announces the archangel's arrival is the sparking of the overhead lights.
'You wanna put down the Bible Bomb, maybe?' Gabriel's smile is sinister and sly from where he leans against the barn door. Dean huffs and lowers his throwing stance.
'I heard about what old Zacky Wacky did to my younger brother.' Gabriel throws his hands into his pockets, 'Poor guy. Zachariah held his Grace up for example before he fed it to the other seraphs.'
'Zachariah pulled a Hannibal? Geez, and I thought I'd met some weirdos…'
The lights flicker, Gabriel's eyes narrow.
'Watch it human. That's my younger brother you're talking about.'
'Fix Cas.' The air stiffens. Dean's order floats on the air between them, A rising feeling is creeping into Dean's chest, something primal he hasn't felt for a very long time. Gabriel cocks his head to the side like a dog sniffing the air, and it's such a Cas move that Dean wants to curl up and beg forever for Gabriel to fix the angel.
Gabriel shakes his head angrily.
'Do it.' Dean growls.
'Watch your tone, hunter.'
Gabriel's eyes flash white, the room rumbles, sigils painted on the walls from so long ago disappear, fear rips through Dean's heart with the force of a stampeding bull, fear so crushing, heart twisting that he falls to the floor, his muscles lock, he throws his hands over his ears as Gabriel's vessel emits lion roars that echo like thunder through the barn. Pressure builds inside Dean's chest.
The shadows of wings unfold on the walls, watercolor stains of feathers that are there, just beyond his plain of vision. Gabriel's wings are bigger than Castiel's were.
Gabriel's face is a mixture of sadistic entertainment and rage.
'I am not your lackey. I am not your consultant. Your angel boyfriend broke the rules and now he has pay the price.'
'That doesn't mean killing him!' Dean yells at the archangel, stumbling to his feet.
'What it means is teaching him a lesson his Alter Boy ass won't forget.'
'All I'm asking you to do is lessen the damage. You're an archangel! You of all people should be able to do it!' Frustration begins burning inside the pit of Dean's stomach like jet fuel. He wants to beat the angel to a pulp, and Dean finds himself searching for any sign of sadness or nuance in the vessel's furrowed brow.
Dean begins looking for a human in behind the carefully whittled and carved mask of white light and black feathers.
Dean finds no humanity in places where usually it is tattooed.
Gabriel shifts and rolls his body like a feral animal's, impatience like a coiled spring in every stiff and careful movement.
'I can't give him back his Grace. And I am sure as sugar not going to put any angel parts back in him. He's fried, and he's going to fry more.' Gabriel starts playing with the cuff of his jacket while Dean is pacing, the shadow of his wings curl back in on themselves.
'When an angel falls, shockwaves rip through Heaven. And those transmit to Hell. And when you lose your Grace, the only thing keeping you… pure… Hell decides it's gonna ride you piggyback, catch my drift? You're talkin' to the wrong bird here.'
'So I need to talk to Crowley?'
Gabriel shrugs, and twists around the barn door, into the now falling rain. 'I'd start there!' He calls back from the night.
XxX
Dean doesn't see Cas on his way to the shower. The hunter, now starting to feel older than he is, got caught in the torrential downpour he thinks that Gabriel caused, and his body shivers involuntarily beneath his wet clothes.
Dean thinks that it's not very practical to keep Castiel in the panic room. There are too many stairs for him to fall down, to many levels between him and the kitchen, too many between him and where the others frequent.
But then again, nothing in Dean's life seems very practical anymore.
Dean realizes, as he tosses his T-shirt into the sink with a wet slosh, that angels are like moons.
Zachariah is waxing while Castiel wanes…