Dean knew something was going to go wrong today…

He had felt it since he had woken up this morning. There was a sinking feeling in his gut that he couldn't get rid of. Needless to say he had kept a careful eye on Sam and checked in with Bobby. Everything seemed to be all right for now at least.

Sam had found a hunt for them; an unusually high amount of demon activity in some town in Colorado. They packed up and headed out as soon as possible. They arrived after an extremely boring eight hour drive. Sam suggested they grab some food before they started, and Dean's stomach couldn't agree more.

After they finished their well deserve meal, they got down to business. They interviewed the victims, found the clues, and tracked the mother f'ers to a…cave, in the side of a mountain.

"Dude what the hell?" Dean asked, confused.

"I don't know either." Sam answered.

"That's it I'm calling Cas for back up on this. I don't like this shit at all." Dean grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialed the angel. It rang three times before connecting to Cas' voicemail. Dean shook his head and commented, "Sam have you heard his voicemail?" Dean tried to leave a message, but was interrupted by Cas calling him back.

"Hey Cas-"

"Dean, do you need help?" Cas answered, slightly out of breath.

"Yeah actually, that's why I called. Sam and I are on a hunt, and things just aren't adding up. We could use some back up on this in case it goes south. We're in Montrose, Colorado, somewhere by a mountain and a big ass cave."

"I'll be there shortly." Cas hung up the phone, and Dean waited for him to show up. It was a few minutes later that Cas dropped in on them, looking slightly more rumpled than usual.

"What happened to you?" Dean asked, taking in the angel's rugged appearance.

"Angels caught my trail; I had to fight them off." Cas stated.

Dean looked Cas over for any sign of injury, and was relieved to find none. "You okay?"

"Yes, they were low ranking angels. I was lucky, had it been others…"

"Yeah I know." Dean swallowed at the thought of the angels finding his friend. He and Sam gave Cas the details of the case. He also concluded that the demon's behavior was out of the ordinary. The three of them proceeded to enter the caves. Each of them held a flashlight in their hands.

"You know this is probably a trap right?" Sam asked the group.

"Isn't it always?" Dean snarked.

The trio continued on through the caves, not knowing what lay before them. A sudden snarl cut through the darkness and Sam was thrown into the cave wall.

"Sammy!" Dean shouted and jumped into action. There were a lot of demons surrounding them. Dean jumped on the nearest ones and started slashing with Ruby's knife. Cas started striking out with his sword. Dean had taken down eight demons when he heard a cry of pain behind him.

Cas must be kicking some major ass. Dean thought as he killed, yet another demon.

Cas was, indeed, "kicking some major ass." He had taken out sixteen demons with his sword, and finished off his seventeenth. The fight seemed to be going their way, when the cave started to shake. Rocks started to fall from the top and Dean stopped fighting. He ran over to Sam and pulled him off the floor and onto his shoulder. "Come on Cas! The cave is about to collapse!" Dean shouted to the angel. They ran farther down into the cave, trying to escape the collapse. They hadn't made it far before everything broke loose.

Dean was thrown forward and hit the ground hard, letting go of Sam. When the dust settled, Dean pushed himself up on aching bones and looked for his brother. "Sammy!" He shouted his voice hoarse from all the dust in the cave. He found Sam slumped against the side of the cave, a cut above his eye. Dean knew head wounds weren't good, especially with the person unconscious. They needed to get out of there now.

"Cas!" Dean called. "Cas we need to get out of here. Sam's been hit on the head. I need to get out to look at him.

There was no reply from the angel, and Dean looked behind him. Thankfully, the collapse aloud bits of moonlight to stream through into the cave. He saw Cas leaning against the wall, staring up at the top of the cave. "Cas, come on! We've got to get out of here!"

The angel didn't move a muscle and Dean was getting frustrated. He forced himself up and started walking over to Cas.

"Cas what the hell is wrong with you?" Dean asked, annoyed at the angel. Dean saw Cas move his hand up inside his trench coat. When he pulled it back out, it was covered in…blood.

Oh God…

Dean ran to Cas and skidded to a stop beside him. He pushed all of the jackets out of the way and saw an ugly stab wound to his abdomen. "Come on man heal it up already." Dean panicked. "You're losing a lot of blood."

"I…can't." Cas gasped out.

"What do you mean you can't?" Dean demanded. Then his eyes caught it on Cas' other hand. There was a cut that went across his palm; a cut that he had gotten a week ago when he opened the beer. That's when it hit Dean.

Cas can't heal himself anymore.

Dean rushed into action just in time to catch Cas as his legs gave out. He lowered him to the floor and went his mind went over all the first aid training that had been drilled into his head when he was a kid. He shrugged out of his jacket, balled it up, and pushed it against the wound.

Cas hissed and tried to move away, but Dean grabbed his shoulder and held him still. "Cas you stay with me, now. You've got to stay awake."

"M'srry Dean." Cas mumbled. Dean pressed harder against the wound and Cas moaned in pain, now trying to push Dean away.

"Cas stop it! I've got to stop the bleeding." Dean scolded.

"It…hurts…" Cas gasped, and Dean swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Yeah I know buddy. I gotcha covered; I'm going to fix it, alright?" Dean squeezed Cas shoulder.

Dean grabbed the flask in his shirt pocket and unscrewed lid. He knew what he was about to do was going to cause his friend great pain, but he had no other choice. "Cas bear with me here…this is going to hurt." Dean took the flask and poured the alcohol over the wound.

"Ahh!" Cas cried in pain. He tried to grab at the wound, but Dean held him still. "Please…stop." Cas' voice chocked. Dean stopped once he believed the wound had been cleansed enough. He made Cas take a drink, before putting the flask back up. Dean started fumbling with his belt and managed to get it off.

"Cas I need you to lean forward a moment."

Dean helped him move forward, and Dean wrapped the belt around him. "Are you ready?" Dean asked Cas. Castiel nodded and Dean slid the belt together and pulled it tight.

Sam was awoken by the scream of pain that reached his ears. The first thing he was aware of was his head hurting like a bitch. He knew he probably had a concussion, but he tried to pull himself up to see where the screams were coming from.

"Dean? Dean, are you okay?" He called out desperately. He heard someone moving, and he felt someone grasp his shoulders and pull him into a sitting position. "Sam, you okay?"

"Yeah just a headache, but are you okay? I heard screams and-" Sam trailed off at the sight of blood coating his brother's hands. He searched everywhere for a wound, but didn't find one. Dean caught him staring at the blood.

"It's not mine." He whispered.

The realization hit Sam like a train. He found Cas sitting opposite him. The angel was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. Sam felt a sudden lump in his throat and eyed his brother.

"What happened?"

"Cas failed to mention to us that he can no longer heal himself." Dean snapped. Sam gasped and pushed himself off the ground, ignoring Dean's protests. He lumbered over to the angel, and fell to his knees beside him.

"Sam…" Cas's voice was hoarse and pained.

"Yeah it's me." Sam placed his mammoth hand over the makeshift bandage and pressed down, swallowing hard at the strangled moan that escaped his friend's throat. He couldn't see the full extent of the damage, but all of the blood told him it was bad.

"How bad is it?" Sam asked his older brother.

"It's…bad, Sammy. We have to get him out of here." Dean started looking around the caves for ways to get out.

"We need to take him to the hospital. This goes beyond our level of medical care." Sam said.

Cas' eyes widened, and he struggled to sit himself up more, making himself hiss. "I'm fine."

"Bullshit." Dean cursed, eyeing his friend.

"Dean…my healing powers may return eventually." Cas started.

"Yeah well eventually, you'll bleed to death." Dean snapped.

"I don't need human medical care."

"You could've fooled me. Give me one reason why I shouldn't drag your ass to the ER." Dean demanded.

"I'm not a human." Cas did have a point there. If they took him to the hospital, and he magically healed up while they were working on him, Dean was pretty sure shit would hit the fan. But right now Cas wasn't healing, and he was bleeding out. If he bled out then he could die…

"You may not be human, but you're hurt like one. Unless your mojo comes back before we can get out of his cave, you are going to the hospital."

Cas sputtered and Sam shook his head. He knew this side of Dean all too well. Dean had a habit of over worrying when someone he cares about is hurt; Cas was no exception.

Dean continued to look for a way out, while Sam kept pressure on the wound. They both knew that they had to get out of there fast. Too much of Cas' blood covered the ground, and the angel was becoming extremely pale. Sam reached out to check Castiel's pulse and cursed.

"Dean, he's going into shock!" Sam yelled. He grabbed the sides of Cas' face and patted it. "Cas you need to stay awake. You have to stay awake Cas." Sam pulled the angel closer to him. Castiel finally gave up the fight and passed out. He fell into Sam's shoulder, making the younger Winchester cry out in alarm. "Cas? Castiel? Oh God, Cas!"

Sam searched for Dean. His brother had managed to find a hole in the rock pile and was trying to dig a way out. "Sammy how is he?"

"He passed out Dean." Sam stated, sadly.

"I've almost got this." Dean growled, working harder to clear the rocks. He hoped that all of the demons were still buried or had left.

Once Dean had cleared a path through the rubble, he ran back over to his brother and friend. "Sam take your jacket off. The hole isn't big enough for us to carry him through. We are going to have to drag him out."

Sam nodded and took off his coat, spreading it out on the ground. Dean grabbed Cas and gently laid him on the jacket. The movement stirred Castiel awake and he moaned in pain. "What…what's going on?"

"We're getting you out of this hell hole." Dean said, and started to pull Cas out. Unfortunately, the path was filled with smaller, sharp rocks that Cas was drug over. "Sorry Cas." Dean apologized.

Cleared of the wreckage, Dean and Sam nodded to each other in silent agreement. Sam went to go get the Impala, while Dean picked Cas up.

The hunter put an arm under Cas' shoulder and the other under Cas' knees; he lifted the angel up.

"Ahh Dean!" Cas yelled out in pain.

"Easy Cas, I've got to get you to the car."

Sam pulled up with the Impala opened the back door for Dean. Dean laid Cas out on the back seat, and got in with him to keep pressure on the wound. "You're gonna be okay Cas." Dean tells him, more of an order than a statement.