There's only one more chapter left to go of this story!
The next time that Dean opened his eyes, he found himself flat on his back on the floor in the middle of the hospital room. His eyes slowly cracked open, wincing against the bright light over his head, before he saw two figures beside him. He suddenly bolted upright, gasping for breath and clutching at his chest, and tried to move away from the two men.
"Dean, stop, it's us!" Sam said loudly and grabbed his brother by the arm to hold him down from trying to stand up.
"Dean," a deep raspy voice to his right spoke and the hunter stilled instantly. "You are safe now. Please calm down and your mind will re adjust."
The elder Winchester stopped struggling to get away and leaned back against the bed that was behind him, still clutching at his chest and eyes filled with terrifying memories. He looked up at Sam and saw him holding the amulet which glowed slightly, letting him know that the spell had worked. Sam gave him a shaky smile and then left the room like Castiel had asked him to before Dean awoke.
Castiel was kneeling beside him and holding one of his hands, his blue eyes filled with concern. His coat was torn and bloody in places from the fight but there were no longer any scratches on the angel.
"What the hell happened, Cas?" Dean asked as he looked down at himself. He felt phantom pains from where the hellhounds had torn into him, but there was not a scratch on him. There was, however, blood on him in various places, soaking through his clothes and making him sticky.
The hunter suddenly found himself wrapped in the angels arms and pulled tightly against his chest. Castiel buried his face in Deans neck and let out a shuddering breath.
"I thought I'd lost you." the angel finally said, then lifted his head to meet wide green eyes. "If you'd waited a moment longer to come back…"
Dean slowly relaxed in the others arms and gave him a smile. "You are very persuasive."
Castiel chuckled and brought a hand up to cup his hunters cheek. "I am glad. You can be very stubborn, Dean."
"Damn straight." Deans smile turned into a grin as he threaded his fingers through the angels dark hair, pulling him closer so that their lips brushed when he spoke. "Now that I'm awake, why don't you show me how you persuaded me to come back, hm?"
Castiel let out a bit of a growl as he crushed their mouths together, wrapping his arms even tighter around Dean and pulling the other male right onto his lap. Their tongues fought for dominance and as usual Dean was stubborn, but Castiel was determined and soon Dean surrendered with a moan.
Dean was not a passive lover even if he did surrender to the angels kiss. He shifted on Castiels lap so that he was straddling him, then rocked their hips together, causing them both to moan into each others mouths. One of Castiels hands left Deans back to slide down to his ass, pulling him more firmly against him, then rocked up into him. Deans hands dropped down to Castiels shoulders and dug his fingers into him while his legs squeezed his thighs, pulling himself as tight as possible against his lap.
"F-fuck, Cas." Deans voice came out more air than sound and soon he whimpered when the smaller male caught his lower lip between his teeth. Just as Deans hands left the angels shoulders and moved down to the buttons on his shirt, Castiel grabbed them and forced him to stop. "Cas?"
"As much as I would enjoy taking you here," his voice was even deeper and Dean visibly shivered, causing the angel to smirk. "We are still in the middle of a job. No to mention we are sitting in the middle of a crime scene."
When Dean turned his head, he caught sight of the severed hand on the floor a few feet away. It was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over him and he let out a different kind of groan this time. He shifted to stand but Castiel held him for a moment longer to give him a chaste kiss.
"Do not worry, I fully intend on...persuading you thoroughly later." With another nip to the hunters lower lip, the angel let him go so he could get to his own feet.
Dean chuckled, his green eyes shining in amusement. "Oh, you better. I don't want to have to wait until I'm near death again for you to make a move."
"With how often that happens with you, I don't think you would be waiting too long." Castiel chuckled as Dean punched his shoulder in mock offense before he started laughing.
When Sam entered the room, his brother and Castiel were in each others space, giving each other looks that Sam didn't even have to put effort into figuring out what they meant. When Dean saw him come in, the elder Winchester took a step away from the angel and cleared his throat. Sam knew better than to question what was going on between them so he pretended that he hadn't seen it.
"I'm glad to see that you are no more screwed up than normal." Sam rolled his eyes as his brother flipped him the bird. "Now that you are awake, we need to figure out what to do with this." he held the amulet up for a moment before he put it into his inside pocket. "Any ideas?"
"I don't think that it would be a good idea for me to take it. It can be dangerous even in an angels hands."
"Hey, what about in Dads storage? If we can't kill the bastard, at least we can lock it into a box and hide it away." Dean turned to look down at Richard. A sheet had been pulled over him, but Dean had already seen what had happened. "Poor bastard."
"That may be the safest bet until we can figure out everything else. We still don't know where that other umbrella went." Sam was quiet for a moment, his eyes looking over his brother carefully. "Dean, what did you see?"
Dean froze in place before slowly turning to face his brother, his face grim. He thought about telling him nothing and to mind his own business, but he knew his brother would just keep pestering him about it. Castiel gave him a sympathetic look but kept silent. It was Deans story to tell.
"Eh, not much. I was here in the city but it looked like the Croatoan virus had destroyed it. Lucifer, Azazel and Alistair were there...with hellhounds. Throwing a hell of a party." He grinned at his own joke but the other two men were not amused. He met his brothers gaze and held it and his smile fade. "I also was apparently torturing you. So, you know, Hell?"
"Jesus, Dean." Sam said and took a step towards his brother but stopped when he held up a hand.
"I'm fine, Sammy. I know it wasn't real. Even if it felt real." One of Deans hands moved to his chest for a moment where the hellhounds had tore into him. "But whatever, it was just a nightmare and nothing to freak out about." He had no desire to go into further details about the nightmare or to talk about his feelings. He wanted to get out of this room and to finish up with the job as quickly as possible. "If there is nothing else we can do right now, we might as well head to the motel."
The rain had picked up to a heavy downpour sometime while Dean had been unconscious and the trio looked outside dreading getting wet. The hospital was busy again with the police and staff running around now that they were allowed back on the floor. When they got downstairs to head outside, they found nurse Betty standing by the door with her umbrella, chatting with one of the aides.
"I really hope this is the end of everything." Betty said with a sad smile when she saw the boys. The aide excused herself to get back to work. "I don't think I'll ever be able to forget this. And the children…" she wiped at her eyes.
"Yes, it's over." Sam said and gave her a bigger smile. "I promise."
Dean saw Castiel stiffen beside him and he looked at the angel with a raised brow. "Cas?"
"Excuse me, but where did you get that umbrella?"
Betty startled at the hard voice and looked down at the umbrella she held in her hand. It was clear but there were iridescent colors to it. If you continued to look at it, it looked as if the colors were moving. Nothing about it seemed unusual or supernatural at all. It looked like an ordinary umbrella you could find at most stores.
"It's actually Richards. With what happened, I know he can't use it so thought it would be okay to borrow it." her cheeks pinked in embarrassment. "I forgot mine at home."
As the angel continued to stare at the umbrella, Dean frowned, then his eyes went wide. It couldn't be…
"Cas, is that?" Sam asked, trailing off and unsure of what to do.
Castiel moved forward and touched his fingers to Betty's head, knocking her out. He caught her in his arms and then gently put her on the couch in the waiting area. Dean picked up the umbrella from the floor where it landed when Betty passed out and looked at it. It did not look like a magical item, but as soon as he touched it he could feel the power in it.
"Hey, is everything okay there?" One of the police officers called from the front desk.
"Yes, she's just feeling a bit light headed." Sam said quickly and smiled, hoping the officer wouldn't ask more questions, "She said she was going to rest a bit before she left."
Once they were in the clear, the three men put their heads closer together so they would not be overheard.
"She said that it was Richards, but I believe him when he said he did not know what was going on." Castiel said, still frowning. "I don't think that he was lying to me. He was too afraid to."
"So you're thinking that he didn't know what this actually was?" Dean opened up the umbrella and looked at it more closely but nothing was happening. Maybe there was some trick to making it work or he just didn't have the power for it. "What are the chances of a witch not recognizing a magical item when they touch it? Even I can feel the power in this thing."
"We'll never know for sure now that Richard is dead." Castiel took the umbrella from Dean and closed it back up. He smirked at the pout Dean gave him as his 'toy' was taken away. "Either way, I need to take this somewhere safe. It could still be dangerous in the wrong hands."
Sam nodded. "We'll go to our dads storage and take care of the amulet. It's still probably the safest thing to do for now."
I could have gone a few different ways with this ending but I thought they would be too obvious. So I decided to leave it slightly unsolved to keep everyone wondering. haha. Oh yes, the next chapter will earn it's rating, because Cas keeps his promises.