YOU GUYS. I've already written 3 more chapters after this one, and I'm really excited about them, and it's REALLY HARD not to just post them all at once. But I know that if I do that, it'll take me forever to get another chapter up...so, I'll keep spacing them out. [: Enjoy this chapter...and thank you for reading! kisses all around for reviews. mwah.
Cas finds out two things on Saturday that he thinks he'd rather not have learned.
The first is that he's listed as Sam's primary emergency contact. He finds this out when some stranger at the hospital calls Cas at 7 AM and tells him that Sam Winchester was in a car accident and yes, he's okay, but sir, you should really come down here, do you know if he has a next of kin?
Cas once had to go back to his ex's house to pick up a bunch of his stuff after a nasty breakup in college. He suspects that might have been more awkward than having to go to Sam's apartment when he knows Dean will be there alone, but it's not by much. He pounds on the door, expecting its occupant to still be sleeping at 7:30, and instead he's greeted by a very awake and grumpy Dean holding a glass of whiskey in one hand and a bowl of Lucky Charms in the other.
Which is how Cas accidentally figures out thing number two: Dean is an alcoholic. Cas frowns a little at the glass of Jack and Dean quickly hides it behind the door.
"What do you want?" he asks roughly.
"Sam is in the hospital." Dean's face turns to absolute panic at the words, and if Cas wasn't trying to hate him so much he might want to, you know, comfort him or something. But he just repeats what the man on the phone told him while Dean rushes around the apartment, putting down the whiskey, grabbing his leather jacket, feeling in the pocket for his cigarettes, and then picking up another box on the way out the door. He heads straight for his own car – a big black land yacht of a thing – but Cas clears his throat and gestures to his car. "You don't both need to crash in one day," he grumbles. Dean doesn't look happy about it but goes with him.
Cas almost regrets preventing that particular drinking & driving incident as soon as they get on the road. Dean bounces his knee up and down nervously and keeps one hand in his pocket. He's glanced at Cas about seven times when he thinks Cas can't see before Cas finally snaps, "You can smoke in the car!" at him. Dean attempts to look annoyed at Cas for snapping, but when he rolls down the window and takes his first drag of the cigarette he looks enormously relieved. Cas sighs. Hospital or no, Sam so owes him for this.
Sam has a broken leg and lots of bruising. According to the overly chatty nurse (Becca? Becky?), it looked pretty nasty when he came in, but he's fixed up now and he'll be perfectly fine in time. Cas hangs back to let Dean go in to see Sam alone (because Dean's about to jump out of his skin standing outside the door) and goes to find the coffee machine. When he comes back with his sad excuse for coffee, Dean is hanging around outside Sam's room. He waves awkwardly to Cas. "Sam wants to see you," he mutters, and lets Cas pass.
"Hey, Cas!" Sam smiles broadly as he walks in and seems a little too happy for having been in a car crash just a few hours ago. Cas suspects it may be the painkillers.
"Hello, Sam," Cas says. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, I mean, actually not that bad," Sam says enthusiastically. Definitely the painkillers.
"What'd you get yourself into?" Cas asks as he sits down next to the angled bed.
Sam laughs softly and shrugs his shoulders. "Some guy ran a red light and broadsided me," he says tiredly. He snorts. "Hit my passenger side, though, so he's worse off than I am."
"Is it just your leg?" Cas asks.
Sam nods. "Yeah. So I can probably get back in the shop in a few days."
"Would you like me to tell Jess?"
Sam smiles dazedly up at Cas. "Yeah, could you?" he asks. "Dean doesn't know her."
"Sure," Cas says. He pauses. "Your brother was very concerned."
Sam looks down at his hands in his lap. "Yeah," he replies slowly, "I guess he kinda never got over thinking he has to take care of me." He yawns and rolls his head back up to smile at his friend sleepily. Cas smiles back at him and tells him he'll let him rest. He pats his shoulder gently as he leaves.
Dean is slumped in one of the waiting room chairs and staring at the door to Sam's room, but he glances away when Cas walks out. Cas sighs and plunks himself down in the chair beside Dean.
"Sam is sleeping," he tells him. He doesn't look at Dean, but he can feel him relaxing minutely next to him.
"Thanks," Dean says. He pauses. "For…being there. For Sam." Cas turns and looks at Dean curiously. Dean clears his throat a few times. "I mean. Because I wasn't. So it's nice. Um, nice to know that someone was."
Cas watches the side of Dean's face. "You're welcome," he says softly. He had been planning on asking about the Jack-Daniels-for-breakfast thing, but he finds that it feels good, actually being nice to Dean for once, and he finds that he kind of likes it.
And then Dean shoves himself up off of his chair. "No more chick-flick crap. I need a smoke."