….Sam?

"Sam!"

Sam jerked a little, blinking slowly as he woke up. His chest ached from being leaned over the metal railings on the side of the bed and his arm and wrist were sore from holding up his head. He shifted, groaning a little and rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand. Oshea was standing by the bed, her hand resting against his shoulder.

"Sam, you really should come to the hotel. You've been here for almost two weeks straight. Have you even eaten? You look terrible…"

"I'm fine," He said groggily, closing his eyes again and leaning his forehead against the heel of his hand. "Where's Ella?"

"She's here… she swung by the cafeteria. Getting some coffee… and such…" Oshea said with a frown.

The door opened, and Ella stepped into the room holding three cups of coffee. She handed Oshea one of them, and then sat down on the armrest of the chair Sam was sitting in, handing the coffee cup to him as she took a tiny sip of her own. Sam took the cup from her and drummed the tips of his fingers against the sides of the cup. He lifted it and took a slow sip of the liquid.

"Have you talked to Bobby?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he said for us to call him if anything changes."

Sam blinked slowly, his eyelids heavy. "Okay… thanks. I would have done it myself, but…" He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "There's no been any change in two weeks, Ella… I don't know what to do. I feel helpless… I can't… do anything… have you seen Cas? Or Joel? Maybe one of them can do something…"

"If they could have done anything, they would have done it by now," She said, shaking her head as she put a hand on his back. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted as Dean suddenly started making gasping noises, and the monitor next to his bed started beeping rapidly. Ella's eyes widened and she jumped from the chair. "I'll go get a doctor," She said, quickly leaving the room. A few moments later the room was filled with nurses, shooing Sam and Oshea out of the room.

Sam's eyes widened and the grogginess immediately left him. "Dean!" He struggled a little against the nurses, not wanting to leave. Finally, he stepped out of the room, but stood at the doorway, feeling his eyes burning as tears rose to them. "Come on, Dean… you can't do this to me." The lights in the hallway flickered as Joel and Castiel appeared in the hallway. Sam turned and looked at them.

"Joel… Cas, please… you have to do something!"

Castiel kept his eyes down. Joel glanced to him then sighed, looking up at Sam. "I… I can't interfere with how things are supposed to be…"

Ella frowned, wanting to argue, but she knew they were right. They couldn't always fix things, they couldn't always clean up after their messes. She stayed quiet, and stepped between Joel and Sam, knowing if she didn't, Joel would probably end up breaking Sam's fist with his face. "Sam, come on… they're… they're just as helpless as we are when it comes to this."

"No, they're not!" Sam said weakly, the fight having completely left him. "They're not. They could do something… Joel… you're an archangel now. You could fix this. Do you know what I would do? What lengths I would go to to save him? But I can't… I'm… I'm begging, Joel. Please… I can't lose my brother…"

Joel stiffened, his jaw tightening. "You act as if I have a choice."

"You do."

"Sam… you just have to have faith that what is supposed to happen will." He said quietly.

"He's right, Sam. I don't want anything to happen to Dean either… it kills me to see you like this," She sighed as she looked over at the closed door of Dean's room. "Joel… are you absolutely one hundred percent sure you can't do anything to help Dean?"

Joel sighed and looked up at the door, staring at it. Castiel glanced to him with a small frown. "Joel… you can't." Joel looked to Ella, frowning a little. As much as he tried to deny it, he could not help the feelings that he was developing for her. He just had a hard time saying no to her. Castiel turned toward him. "Joel." Joel took a step forward to the door.

Just as Joel started approaching the door, it swung open and the doctor stepped out. The other nurses that had been in the room left, disappearing down the hall.

"How is he? What's going on?" Ella asked as soon as she saw the doctor walk out of the room and out into the hall where they stood.

"We stabilized him… and he's doing quite well now. His vitals are good… we don't know how this happened, but we believe he will make a full recovery," The doctor said.

Sam's eyes widened and he glanced to Joel, who was smiling. He shook his head a little and Sam turned back to the doctor. "He… thank you." He whispered, nodding. "Thank you…" He said as the doctor left and walked back down the hall.

Joel smiled and looked to Sam. "You see? You should just have a little faith."

Sam gave a weak little laugh and shook his head. "Joel, I'm…. well.. I didn't…"

"I understand. You're only human after all," He said with a grin, patting his back. "Go on and be with your brother."

Sam nodded and stepped through the door into the room.

Ella watched Sam with a smile as he disappeared into the room. She looked up at Joel. "Thank you."

Joel furrowed his brows. "For what? I didn't do anything, Ella."

"You would have, that's what counts," She smiled a bit and turned from him, walking with Oshea into Dean's room.

Joel stared after Ella, watching her as she disappeared into the room. He sighed heavily and turned around, combing his fingers through his hair. Castiel stared at him, frowning. "Joel… these feelings that you are having… they are dangerous. Perhaps you should assign someone else to keep an eye on Ella."

"No, Castiel. I'm alright."

"You're not." Castiel said softly, shaking his head. "You know how this will end. If you try to pursue your feelings, you will be breaking a very important law. Guardian angels are not to form intimate relationships with their charges. You might be an archangel now, but you are still her guardian, you still have to follow the rules."

"There's no sense in telling me things I already know, Castiel." Joel glanced at him with a little frown. "I do not trust anyone else with Ella. Look what happened with Ezra… with Jael…" Castiel flinched slightly at the name, and Joel sighed. "I cannot risk something like that happening again. Next time we might be too late."

"What about Jude?" Castiel murmured. "We can trust him."

"I'll think about it." Joel murmured, staring through the window into Dean's room, watching Ella.

"Please, Joel. This will only end badly." He said quietly before he vanished.

Joel took in a deep breath and released it in a sigh, his breath creating a little circle of fog against the window before he, too, vanished.