Chapter II

A/N: Thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews.

"Dean would never forgive me if I don't tell him!"

Sam closed his eyes and massaged his temples. He swore he could still feel the pins they had drilled into his skull. "I might kill you if you don't talk soon, so his forgiveness is going to be worthless at that point."

"But Dean..."

He winced, eyes still closed. "He wanted to go, and he's gone." His voice sounded more hurt and less pissed than he intended, but he hoped the angel didn't notice.

"Sam…"

Sam opened his eyes, trying his best puppy-dog look. "Cas, please."

"I thought your brother's presence comforted you when you got bad news."

Sam sighed frustrated. "Cas, this isn't the time for you to try to decipher human emotions. And even if you wanted to, there is nothing crueller and less comforting than telling someone something is wrong with them and then not telling them what it is."

"I don't mean to be cruel." Cas was full of honesty and Sam was going to answer but was cut off by Castiel's disappearance. "It will only take two seconds" the voice trailed after a body that was no longer visible.

True to his words, two seconds later Cas and Dean materialized in front of him.

"What the hell, Cas?" Dean pushed himself away from the angel's grab. "What are we doing here?" He looked around trying to determine where here was. "In Sam's bedroom?" His tone changed from anger to concern in a nano second. "Are you ok, Sam? You look like road kill."

Sam smirked. "So people keep on telling me today." he had taken his seconds alone to prop himself into a sitting position. He knew what- or who- was coming and hell if he was going take his brother laying down, regardless of how shitty he felt. "I'm fine."

"No, he is not." Castiel cut him off. Damn angel! He was still pissed at Dean and now by extension at the man who brought him there.

"What do you mean he is not?"

"Dean, calm down, I'm fine. Take a sit." He pointed at a chair.

Dean didn't even bother looking at him, his whole body towering over the angel. "Sammy, shut up. What do you mean he isn't?"

Sam rolled his eyes pointlessly and prepared himself to listen to the non blood related family member.

"Sorry for bringing you here so abruptly," Castiel apologized because Dean's menacing expression would have made most people apologize for being born. "Sam mentioned it was cruel to tell someone there was something wrong with them and then delaying providing the information as to what's the ailment. I didn't mean to be cruel, but I thought you might never forgive me if I didn't include you in this conversation right away."

Dean nodded with his 'that-is-a-duh-fact' face on. "You were right, but you're still cruel, cuz so far we know zilch."

Sam lay back down, dropping all pretense of feeling fine. He was pissed Dean, so pissed for so many reasons. He knew that seeing his baby brother laying in bed, sick and in pain was the ultimate form of torture… and he was so pissed. After all, Dean was the one that had left him sick and alone. "I thought you wanted to be on your own. I thought you were poison." His weakness leaked through in his tone.

"Sam, can we drop that argument until after Cas explains?" Dean's jaw tensed and his eyes darted from his brother to the angel and back to the bed. Sam's torture was working, of course it was.

"No! Sam tried to sit up "You decide…" but as soon as he lifted his head, stars danced in the room and overlapped each other until there was no room any more, only flashes of colors and then, blackness.

"Sam, SAM! Sammy!" He felt his brother shaking him, in a desperate, almost painful way. "Cas, what's wrong with him?"

"N'thng, I'm f'ne," he attempted, but his speech slurred, his eyes still closed, fearing the vertigo threatening him. "or w'ld if u stop sh'king" The shaking stopped immediately and he shifted, trying to prop himself up but a hand pushed him down.

"Stay down!"

"I'm fine," he sounded more like himself now.

"You just did a bad impersonation of a flying chicken, nobody here is clapping encore, so… stay down!"

"Allow me," Cas stepped in, removing Dean's pushy hand and replacing it with a glowing one. Dean moved away immediately giving room for the angel to work. "I am sorry Sam, I should have finished our healing earlier. You are in no shape to delay any session for even one minute."

Way to calm the spirits, Cas!

The miracle hands worked for over five minutes in complete silence. Every time Dean tried to say something, Cas - concentrating hard on his task- would hush him. Sam didn't even try talking, he just lay there, relaxing, allowing himself five minutes of peace and some relief.

"This is as much as I can do right now." Cas sounded apologetic. His hands shook as he moved them away and sweat covered his brow.

"It's ok, man." Sam sat up feeling much better. The dizziness and nausea that he hadn't even noticed before were gone, his head barely hurt, and he felt much stronger. "Don't worry, you said it yourself, it will take several healing sessions."

"It's not that." Cas shook his head and his body started swaying. He might have fallen if Dean wouldn't have ran to catch him.

"It's that bad?" Fear escaped Dean's controlled tone. He suddenly was pale and the lines on the corner of his eyes and around his mouth became as hard as rigor mortis.

"What?" Cas didn't understand the question, nor it's urgency. Sometimes it was hard reading Dean if you didn't know him as well as his brother did. Dean fought to articulate words, to make sense out of his fears when his whole body had turned into fight or fly mode and he couldn't do any of those. Yet, to any bystander, he would have looked exactly the same he did five minutes ago.

Sam swallowed. "Whatever is going on with me that you decided to spend so much energy in healing me that you can't even stand now. Dean, maybe you should help him sit down?" He gave Dean a purpose, because Dean worked better when on a mission, following a set course of action. He was not longer angry at his brother, at least not at the moment, he just felt sorry for him.

Cas shook his head again as Dean eased him on the chair. "It isn't staged healing any more Sam. It's just a containment measure. And I am not certain I have enough power to stop it from progressing." He shook his head again and covered his eyes. "I am almost certain that I can't." His voice almost broke.

Dean sat on the edge of the bed and Sam wondered if his legs were also failing him. As pissed as he was at Dean, he knew that everything and anything Dean did was always to keep him safe. As he constantly said, it was his job and it was above the world's needs, Sam's needs, or anything, or anyone. Dean defined himself through Sam's safety and as wrong as that was and as much pressure as that put on him, he wasn't going to be able to change that right this second. All he could do right now, was be strong for his brother.

Dean cleared his throat and his voice came out hoarse. "What do you mean, Cas?"

Sam sat as close to his brother as personal space would allow him to, a simple, reassuring gesture.

Cas exhaled, looked at Sam and tried to avoid Dean's eyes. "Human beings have their own grace, their own… "life force", if you want to call it. That is why we can heal you, because you still have grace, different, but close enough. It's what keeps you alive. When you get injured or sick, especially if it's something serious, you lose some of that human grace and then as you regain it, you get better. Do you understand?" He stopped and stared at Sam.

Dean closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ok, human grace, life force, we follow. Carry on." He said moving his hand in exaggerated circular motions.

"When I tried to heal him for the second time, I noticed that most of my grace was gone. Like I hadn't heal him at all. See, when an angel heals a human or occupies it as a vessel, it leaves a trace, part of his or her grace stays with the human. Thats why you felt like it was like a painkiller wearing off."

Sam's voice was gentle. "Because your grace inside me had faded?"

Castiel nodded. "It was fading, it continues to fade."

Dean ran his palm through his mouth. "What are you saying?"

"That human grace is leaking out of Sam, and somehow angelic grace is being drained even faster."

Now Dean ran both palms through his whole face and he exhaled loudly. "Again, what does that mean?"

Sam looked at Dean with eyes full of pity, even if his brother couldn't see him because he was looking forward. "That I am slowing dying." Cas nodded. "And no angel can save me."

"How long?" Dean asked and Castiel shrugged. Dean burned the angel with his eyes. "How long does he have, Cas?"

Cas' eyes were the vivid image of compassion. "If we have a continuous and rigorous healing schedule he should be able to live for some time, but his body is already so destroyed, there is no that much life force left."

Dean stood up and started pacing. "So let me see if I get this straight, something is siphoning human and angelic grace out of Sam? Who?"

"Why?" Asked Sam.

A/N: Thanks for reviewing and letting me know what you think.