Driving home was borderline impossible as the sounds of the screams rang through his head, the pressing weight building in the pit of his stomach. He had to pull over. The roar of traffic surrounded Dean and his car but he barely noticed the car horns and the roar of engines. All he could hear was the screams from Cas's house. He tried so hard to believe it wasn't Cas. He slammed his fists against the steering wheel, feeling the bust of pain it created didn't help. How could he just leave Cas like that.
He needed to get off the shoulder of the road before someone stopped to check on him or called for help or something. The closest parking lot he could find was the cracking overgrown lot of an abandoned gas station. The windows had been boarded up for years now and no one wanted the property since there was another gas station not even half a mile down the road. The music was cranked up so loud Dean couldn't even hear himself. He only knew he was yelling from the familiar strain in his throat as he was used to after a shouting match with his dad.
He felt his chest tighten and his eyes open and shut rapidly, trying to keep back the tears he knew would be coming. He hated crying. He hated the way it screwed up his vision, the way it blurred the corners of his mind and just made him focus on the pain at hand. He could stop it though once it started. He couldn't go home now, not looking like a scared little boy lost in the supermarket.
He grabbed his phone out of his jeans pocket, dialing Cas's number from memory instead of just dialing the speed dial he had set. It started ringing and it sounded loud in his ears. It rang a second time and then a third. Dean felt a tightness in his chest as he struggled to take deep breathes. A fourth ring practically sent him into panic. Then a voice. The car was off and the radio volume dial was turned down so fast he swore it would break.
"Cas? Are you alright? What happened? Cas?" Dean was desperate for answers. Desperate to be told this wasn't his fault, whatever it was. He needed for Cas to be okay.
"Dean? Can you come pick me up?" The voice was quiet, as if he were whispering. Was he not supposed to be on the phone with him? Would he get him into more trouble? God, he couldn't even think straight.
"Cas just hold tight, I'll be there as fast as I can," with that he hung up, restarting the engine and leaning a little heavy on the gas so he could get to Castiel's house faster. He couldn't even imagine what he would find when he got there. He hoped Cas would be alright. He tried so hard to convince himself he was. It was just a fight. Cas was fine. He couldn't even convince himself.
When he got to Dad's house this time he didn't knock, he just reached for the door knob and walked in when he found it unlocked. He had seen and heard enough when he had been here earlier that he knew the general direction of upstairs. Quietly he climbed the wooden steps hoping there was no one upstairs to question why he was there. He seemed to be doing that a lot, hoping. He hoped Cas was okay. He hoped it was not Cas screaming. He hoped no one was around to hear his heavy footfalls on the creaking stairs. He was so tired of hoping, all he wanted was just to know for once.
Some pictures Cas had taken were taped on the outside of the door, marking the room he wanted to enter. The brass knob was so close but yet out of reach. He froze for a moment, mentally readying his mind for everything that could be behind that door. Slowly he build courage and turned the cold medal, pushing open the tall wooden door.
What was behind the door was everything Dean had hoped that it wouldn't be. He saw the curled figure of Cas in the far corner beside his desk. There was blood on the front of his shirt and it was forming the beginnings of a puddle on the wood floor where Cas sat curled up. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He froze in the door caught between knocking and rushing over to comfort the crumpled form of his best friend. he chose to knock, lightly his knuckle rapped on the door.
"Cas?" the sound came out a whisper, softer than he'd wanted it to be. Even with his brother he always seemed to be better at fighting than comforting. Keeping in feelings rather than expressing them. Probably a side effect of growing up with a shotgun in his hand, and a lack of the cushy shielded childhood most kids grew up with. His knock was answered by a small moan and the glint of blue eyes clouded with pain.
"Dean," blue eyes met green and Dean took it as an invitation to move inside, crouching next to the form in the corner, afraid to touch him for fear that he would hurt him.
"Where does it hurt," He fought to stay calm. he didn't want to make the situation any worse than it already was.
"Dean please," Cas cringed lightly as dean reached out, making him withdraw his hand. "No, just get me out of here,"
Dean wasn't sure what to do. He was afraid to pick Cas up but there seemed to be no other way to get him out. He gingerly put his arms under Cas's knees and around his back, trying to cause as little damage as he could. He saw that the blood on his shirt was dripping from his mouth. He must have been hit pretty hard in either the chest of mouth to cause it Dean speculated thinking through his own past experiences. He heard voices from behind him as he carried Cas to his car, trying so hard to ignore the moans of pain and the urge to set him down sooner than the front seat of his car. He honestly could not care less about the leather of the seats that he would probably be murdered for staining. He just needed to get Cas somewhere safe.
"Where do you go for medical care?" Dean pulled out of the driveway smoothly cringing along with his passenger with every bump in the road.
"Lets just go to your house," Cas said trying his best to look uninjured. Really he just looked like he was about to pass out. He shut his eyes not wanting to complain no matter how much Dean disapproved.
Dean breathed out a silent 'fine' turning down the street that led to his house to find that his dad had left, taken Bobby's truck to go on a hunting trip no doubt, he had started leaving the impala behind for Dean to use. Quite frankly I think it was the closest as Dean would get to an apology for always being gone or drunk. The cars driving around him honked at how slow he was going but he couldn't force himself to drive any faster, glad that the drive from Cas's house was as short as it was. Carefully he got out of the car, careful to keep it from bouncing at the lack of weight. The air was brisk and he wasn't quite sure if the shiver down his spine was from the chill or from looking at his beaten bloody best friend in the passenger seat of his car. He walked around the front of the dark car, opening the door slowly and picking up Cas with his arms around his back and under his knees. Careful to support him he slowly walked up the slope to his front door. He kicked the door waiting for Sam to come open it and let him in.
The silence got more and more unwanted with every moment that passed until the creak of the hinges sounded almost comforting. Sam froze when he saw what Dean held. stepping back to let him inside and scanning the area before shutting the door again.
"Dean what is going on?" Sam asked as Dean laid Cas on the cushions of their blanket covered couch.
"I was over seeing if he was okay and his asshole brother wouldn't let me in son I drove down the road and called him and went back, and he wouldn't tell me where he could get help, and I couldn't leave him," every word fell out like a weight off his chest. He was so glad that Cas was at least out of that hell hole, and was now asleep on his couch where he would stay until Dean figured out what to do.
When Cas woke up all he saw was Dean. He sat in a chair where at some point he had fallen asleep as well. Cas looked around approximating the time at around 7:30 since the sun was just going down. All the pain was becoming a dull hum but it was still there. He couldn't decide if he should wake Dean or leave him to sleep in the wooden dinner chair. Dean stirred before he could decide, opening his eyes and smiling at the awake Cas.
"How are you feeling?" Dean asked sitting up a little straighter, folding his hands in his lap.
"Better," He said sitting up with quite a bit of effort. "Probably a broken rib, that's the worst of it," He smiled like it was totally okay that he had been beaten to the point of broken ribs.
"I'll get you some clothes to change into, or maybe do you think you could get into the shower?" Dean asked trying to gauge Cas and his pain. Knowing the feeling of broken ribs he didn't want to push him, still unsure of any other injuries that he could just not be talking about.
"Clothes are great but could we maybe try a shower later?" Cas smiled and it this time it made Dean smile to.
"You can shower any time you feel up to it, as long as you promise me you'll stay here and let me take care of you at least for a while,"
"I promise" Cas said laying back down as Dean went to get him some clothes he could borrow.