They made the thirty minute drive to the hospital in fifteen minutes. Pulling into the emergency lane, Dean grabbed Cas and pulled him out of the car. He carried the wounded angel, bridal style, inside the hospital, while Sam followed behind.
"I need a doctor!" He yelled into the room. A flurry of nurses ran over to them in a panic.
"Get me a gurney!" A nurse yelled. A nurse helped Dean get Castiel onto a gurney. They started to roll Cas away, and Dean went to follow.
"I'm sorry sir you can't follow."
"But he-"
"We'll do everything we can to save him, but we need you to answer some questions."
Dean bit back a nervous laugh. Questions of course. Because Cas hadn't gotten stabbed and that usually required the police. Cas didn't have a last name, and ID, insurance, or anything. This was going to end badly. He watched as Cas was rolled through the ER doors and listened to talks of blood loss and wound size.
"What's his name?" The nurse asked him.
Thankfully Sam had thought this out before they arrived and answered for Dean. "Castiel Winchester."
The nurse raised her eyebrow, but said nothing. "What's your relationship to the patient?"
"He's our brother."
"We need to know what happened to your brother."
"We were mugged. They stole Cas' wallet and stabbed him. By the time we knew what was happening they attacked us." Dean answered. It was as close to the truth as possible.
"Do either of you need medical attention?"
"I'm fine, but my brother hit his head pretty bad." Dean said, at least Sam would get looked at.
"We'll send someone out to look at him. We have to contact the police, and they'll send someone over."
"Yeah okay."
The nurse patted Dean's arm and gave him a form to fill out. He and Sam sat in the plastic chairs, and sighed. The nurse came and gave Sam his own form to fill out and left them be.
Dean decided to call Bobby to get some paperwork for Cas. He dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed Bobby's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Bobby." Dean stopped and sighed. "You think you can make a couple of fake ID's and an insurance card?"
"Yeah sure, but why?"
"Me and Sam are at St. Martin's Hospital in Colorado."
"Balls! What happened? Are you okay? Is it Sam?" Bobby panicked.
"We're fine Bobby, but Cas isn't." Dean's voice cracked.
"Dammit, what happened?"
Dean recounted the events of today to Bobby. He felt himself start shaking as he told Bobby what happened. The older hunter muttered something along the lines of damn suicidal falling idgit angel.
"I'll be down there soon with the paperwork, Dean. You call me if anything happens, you hear?"
"Yeah I'll let you know Bobby."
Dean hung up, and ran his hand over his tired face. All of a sudden a doctor came through the ER doors. "Castiel Winchester."
Dean and Sam got up out of their chairs and walked over to the doctor. "Are you his next of kin?" The doctor asked.
"Yes he is our brother."
The doctor nodded and sighed. "Your brother sustained a rather severe stab wound to the abdomen. We managed to get him stable, but the knife punctured the stomach. We need your permission to operate to repair the damage."
Operate? Dean knew that a punctured stomach was a serious wound. Cas could possibly die from this.
Sam seemed to be reading his mind as he asked, "Doctor, what is his chance of surviving?"
The doctor sighed and looked down at his shoes. "If we can repair the damage to his stomach, your brother will have an increased chance of surviving this, but as of right now his chance of getting through this is sixty percent."
Dean felt his throat close up. His heart pounded within the confines of his chest, threatening to burst. The doctor stood waiting for the answer, and Dean knew that waiting around wasn't going to save Cas. "Do the surgery."
The doctor nodded and ran back through the door leaving Sam and Dean behind.
Dean has always hated hospitals. The overwhelming smell of sickness, the annoying clocks that tick away on the wall and the painful memories of ones that have been lost. He and Sam had been in the waiting room of St. Martin's Hospital for three hours, waiting for some information on Cas. Sam had been checked out by a doctor and had been cleared.
The doctor, wearing blood-covered scrubs, walked through the door. "Family of Castiel Winchester."
Sam and Dean shot up and ran over to the doctor. "Is he okay?"
"He's stable for now. We were able to repair the damage to his stomach, and he seems to be out of the woods for now. We have him on morphine and have inserted a nasogastric tube." The doctor said, smiling.
"Can we see him?" Dean asked, knowing that if he didn't see for himself that Cas was breathing he was going to go crazy.
The doctor looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Visiting hours are almost over, but I can allow you to see him for a few minutes. He's still under from the anesthesia, though, so he won't be able to talk."
"Yeah okay, just tell us where he is." Dean said, hurriedly.
"He's in room 74."
Dean left and Sam was left to give the doctor a thank you. They trailed down the halls until they found room 74. Dean paused at the door and hesitating opening it.
"What is it?" Sam frowned at him, eyeing his older brother carefully.
Dean sighed and muttered, "It's nothing." Dean pushed open the door.
Cas laid down on the rooms only bed. He was hooked up to all different kinds of machines: a heart monitor, a couple of IV's, some oxygen, and a tube sticking out of his nose. Dean stuttered for a minute at how different Cas looked in the white hospital gown instead of his trench coat.
"Damn." Sam whispered. Dean nodded in agreement and forced his shaking legs to move to the chair beside his friend's bed. The chair was plastic and creaked every time he moved, but Dean couldn't bring himself to care about it.
"Hey Cas." Dean started, looking for any signs of a response. "Listen I don't know if you can hear me or not, but they're going to kick us out of here pretty soon. We'll be at a motel not far away from here and we'll come back as soon as we can okay? They're going to get the cops involved in this, so the sooner you can wake up the better." Dean grabbed Cas' hand and squeezed it for a moment. "Get better, okay buddy."
A nurse came in and escorted them out of the room, much to their disliking. The cops were waiting for them in the lobby and they spilled some fake story out about them getting mugged in the mountains. They didn't remember exactly where it happened though, due to the entire traumatizing experience they had been through. The cops bought it and they dragged their asses over to the nearest motel.
Sam was on the phone with Bobby, the elder hunter saying he was on his way to him. He said he'd be there sometime in the morning with the insurance cards and other required information. Sam gave him a goodnight and promptly collapsed on one of the beds.
Dean laid in the other one, but found it hard to fall asleep. His mind kept drifting to the thought of Cas laid up in some hospital all alone. He knew there was nothing he could do about it, and knowing that about drove him insane. Cas wasn't supposed to be something the broke easy. He was a badass angel of the freaking lord that could take bullets and a knife without flinching.
The guilt in Dean's stomach churned as he knew the reason Cas was hurt was because of him. He was the reason Cas was cut off from Heaven and couldn't heal anymore. He just wished Cas had told him that beforehand. They could have avoided this whole mess. Eventually, sleep won Dean over and the man fell sound asleep.