He had been back in the apartment for all of five minutes before the Skype notification on Dean's laptop popped up and told him that Sam was calling. The only reason his laptop had even been turned on was because Dean was intending on doing some research and check the emails he'd been neglecting over the past week. It now looked like that wasn't about to happen. Dean accepted the call while the laptop balanced on the kitchen countertop.
"Holy crap." Sam said as soon as his face popped up on the screen. "Talk about a miracle, you're actually at home." He added with a loud laugh, a large grin spreading across his face.
"Very funny chuckles." Dean shot back. He wasn't going to tell Sam that one of the only reasons he was back at the apartment was because he was running out of clean shirts.
"So, Jo tells me that you're basically living at the hospital for the past week. What's up? I thought everything was ok with that heart patient of yours." Sam said.
"Nothing, it's just easier sometimes sleeping at the hospital. I'm there for rounds first so I can get on the good cases which will help once I'm taking my intern exam." Dean said as the microwave pinged loudly telling him that his dinner was ready. "And since when did you talk to Jo?" he asked while plating his food up.
"We swapped numbers when I stayed with you. She's pretty cool." Sam said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.
"What happened to the amazing Jessica?" Dean asked with a smirk.
"Nothing has happened to her, we went to the party together the other night and it was great. In fact it's going great…she's great. I was even thinking about asking her to meet mom and dad whenever they come to visit me. I think they would really like her."
"Wow, that's pretty big. You've never introduced mom and dad to a girl before."
"Yeah because mom would baby me and dad would judge the hell out of whoever it was. Jess…well I think Jess could handle it. Mom would probably love her and she's sharp enough to even give dad a run for his money." Sam gushed. Dean felt his chest swell with pride at the big dopey smile on Sam's face because it was damn obvious that he was crazy about this Jess girl. It was about time really.
"That's good man, Jo would eat you alive if you tried anything. You should have seen her pretty much body block this drunk guy in the ER the other night. Dude was twice the size of her and she took him without breaking a sweat. I think Adam was planning a proposal there and then." Dean said with a snort.
"It is possible to have a friend that's a girl Dean." Sam said with a heavy roll of his eyes. Why was it that everyone close to Dena felt the need to roll their eyes at him?
"Really?" Dean said with heavy sarcasm. "I never knew that."
"You're such a jerk, why do I even put up with you? Anyway it's possible for me to be Jo's friend and not want to get into her pants." Sam sounding pissy. "You did it with Bela."
"Yeah because she was a sarcastic bitch half the time who scared the shit out of me and I was too busy getting in someone else's pants to try anything with her." Dean said bluntly and Sam rolled his eyes yet again, no doubt at Dean's crassness.
"Gross Dean." Sam said as he shuddered. He was probably remembering the time he came to New Haven and walked in on Dean and Michael fooling around in the kitchen.
"You brought it up." Dean said shrugging shoulders as he picked up his dinner.
"What are you even eating?" Sam asked narrowing his eyes at the paper wrapped bundle in Dean's hand.
"A chicken burrito." Sam grimaced. "Shut up, it's incredible." Dean snapped in defence.
"You're gonna die before you hit thirty if you keep eating crappy take-out stuff." Said the lover of all things salad. Dean had once seen Sam eat a bag of chopped up lettuce without batting an eyelid. It was horrifying.
"It's not take-out, it's homemade so shut your face." The burrito was actually a left over from the night before when Cas had made a batch of them. To say they were the greatest thing Dean had ever tasted was an understatement. Cas had warned him that they might not have been that good ("I haven't made these since I lived in Boston with Balthazar so if you end up with food poisoning then I am sorry. Good thing we're both doctors" Cas had said while he was cooking, seasonings smeared across his apron and several kinds of peppers littering the countertop. At one point Cas even managed to get salsa sauce in his damn hair which to Dean's amusement. Dean had carried on laughing until Cas had crowded him against the refrigerator and pretty much kissed the laughs out of him.)
"Homemade food? I think I'm gonna die of shock." Sam said with a smirk. Dean flipped him off and carried on eating his amazing burrito. He wondered if he could convince Cas to make 'burrito and making out in the kitchen night' a weekly thing. "I just think you should calm down and actually spend a few nights away from the hospital before you burn out, remember how cranky dad used to get if he spent too much time at the hospital?" Sam added with a voice full of concern. "I mean…we were miserable when we had to spend days upon days there." That was true. When Sam was sick as a child they would spend days upon days stuck in the hospital while Sam had almost constant tests. It was a joy to be away from the hospital once Sam had recovered from certain surgeries.
The thing was that Dean was spending nights away from the hospital, he just wasn't spending them in his apartment. While Cas' apartment was smaller it had the added benefit of no roommate who could walk in on them having sex so Dean had been spending the nights when he wasn't at the hospital round at Cas'. The pair of them had fallen into an easy routine after just a week and Dean liked it. He liked cooking in Cas' kitchen with its high windows that let in the light and a notice boards covered in photos. He liked lying on the couch, TV turned down low while he and Cas both did charting or looked through patient cases. He liked dragging Cas to bed once it went after midnight and their eyesight had blurred from fatigue and he really liked he lack of roommate so they could be as loud as they wanted to in bed and no one would hear them. They had created their own little bubble in which it was just the two of them, they could be exactly who they wanted to be
Despite his wariness Dean knew deep down that he wanted to tell someone about all of this, he wanted to just babble about how he couldn't understand a word Cas said first thing in the morning because he would still be half asleep and how he needed several coffees before he was remotely friendly. Cas hated tea with milk but his cupboards where full of boxes containing herbals teas that his sister sent him. His favourite was an almond tea from Italy that he drank by the bucket load. Dean was slowly learning some of Cas' quirks, even the annoying albeit endearing ones like how he hummed when brushing his teeth, and he just wanted to tell someone about them dammit. Sam had complained that Dean never told him about Michael until he really had to but Sam could be a judgemental bitch sometimes and Dean having sex with his resident was something a lot of people would judge him for.
Still, Sam was his brother and Dean hoped that meant he was above judgement.
"I haven't always been at the hospital." Dean said carefully.
"Then where have you been?" Sam asked furrowing his brow. "Wait…this doesn't have anything to do with that message you sent me the other day that you never really explained."
"Yeah it kinda does." Dean braced himself and lowered the burrito, as amazing as it was this was a serious conversation and he couldn't be distracted by really good Mexican food made lovingly by his boyfriend. "I've been staying with Cas at his place." Dean said carefully.
"Cas? As in your resident Cas? The resident Jo jokes about you..." Sam trailed off and let out a frustrated groan as the most comical look of realisation came across Sam's face. "Oh shit Dean, you didn't did you?" he asked.
"I'm sort of seeing him." Dean admitted waiting for his brother to start yelling furiously at him.
"Sort of seeing him?" Sam said as his eyebrows shot upwards. "Dean he's your resident. I can't 'sort of see' your boss. The hospital will go shit crazy at you."
"Yeah I do know that, me and Cas have had this conversation a few times. We're not letting it affect us at the moment."
"You're not..." Sam muttered with a mocking laugh. "I'm guessing Jo doesn't know or she would have said something." He asked. So much for not being a judgemental little shit.
"No one knows about it apart from me, Cas and Michael...sort of."
"I swear this conversation is getting stranger and stranger. How does Michael know?"
"I called him to sort things out and I told him I'd met someone. He's happy for me."
"Despite the fact that he's your resident." Sam pointed out.
"Sam will you stop saying that?" Dean asked. "Don't make me say please or beg."
"Why, because you're pretending Cas isn't your boss?" Sam asked.
"If you don't stop being a bitch over this I'm hanging up. You were an ass over the whole Michael thing so I'm telling you about Cas, stop complaining."
"I'm just worried you're gonna get into trouble. You worked hard to get your job and you can't screw it up because you're with Cas."
"Yeah, that's what I said to Cas." Dean said. "I like him Sam, I like him a lot so we're working around the whole hospital thing."
"So you two are together? Like 'together' together?" Sam said seriously.
"Yeah…all jokes aside I need to know you're cool with this or I don't even know how I'll get my shit together enough to tell mom and dad."
"Dean…look I think you're being stupid for getting involved with your resident because, well he's your boss but I know you, you wouldn't get involved with anyone for more than a night without thinking about it. I liked Cas when I met him and if you're serious about it then who am I to try and talk you out of it?" Sam said seriously. Dean stopped and looked at his brother, he wasn't sure if Sam could see the look of sheer gratitude in his eyes over his crappy webcam but from the smile Sam gave him Dean knew his brother understood how much his meant to Dean. Dean was never open with his feelings, he never had been, and when he was in high school he never told Sam anything about his romantic life. It was the same when he was at college and in the end he only told his family about Michael because he was pretty sure he'd been in love with him. If he was telling Sam about Cas then it meant something and Sam knew this.
"Thanks Sam…" Dean said with a sigh of relief.
"Sam I'm ready to go in a minute!" a female voice from Sam's end called out. Dean raised an eyebrow while Sam blushed slightly.
"I'm guessing that voice belongs to Jess."
"Yeah, we're going to this campus pub by my apartment for some food. We've been in classes for most of the day and it was quicker for Jess to get ready here." Sam said. As Sam said this Dean saw a tall blonde in the background grabbing one of Sam's large Stanford sweaters. This had to be the incredible Jess.
"Oh say hi to your brother for me!" Jess said before hoping out of frame again.
"Jess says hi."
"I guessed as much. Say hi to her for me as well." Dean smirked. "I'll let you two lovebirds go and get food. Have fun."
"Thanks." Sam said. "Oh…you know I'm not being an ass about being worried that you're dating Cas right? I mean I'm glad you're happy but I just don't want you to get into shit for it."
"Yeah I know Sammy, it'll work out though." Dean said though that was more for his own benefit than Sam's. "I'll talk to you soon."
"Yeah…have a good night with your burrito." Sam said smirking before both he and Dean said their final goodbyes and hung up.
The next morning began with an alarm going off far too early, desperately needed coffee and Jo somehow managing to eat a bagel while still being half asleep while Dean drove them to the hospital. Dean clung onto his travel mug for dear life as he changed into his scrubs and prepared for rounds. He needed all the caffeine he could get.
His night had been one of restless sleep. After just a week he had grown used to sleeping next to someone once again, he had grown so used to that warmth that the other person radiated and the way that Cas' arms held onto him so tightly almost as if the man was terrified of waking up and seeing that Dean wasn't there. Sleeping alone in his own bed for the first time since he had started seeing Cas caused Dean to find almost impossible to drift off to sleep for several hours. He just knew the day was going to be one filled with endless cups of coffee.
As Jo pulled her hair into a ponytail she turned to look over at Dean. "Oh did Sam get a chance to talk to you last night?" she asked.
"Yeah…since when are you bitching about me to my brother?"
"It wasn't bitching, we just happened to talk about you spending a shit ton of time at this place. That was all."
"Ok…but yeah, I did get a chance to talk to him." Dean said while changing into his scrubs. "He was telling me about this girl he's kinda crazy about and how he wants our parents to meet her. He seems really happy."
"Good, he's not a bad kid." Jo said giving Dean a quick grin. "You still on Dr Douchebag's service?"
"Yeah, checking in on Krissy and his other patients." Dean said, too tired to even correct Jo on her calling Cas 'Dr Douchebag'. "I should probably get going, he'll kill me if I'm late."
"You're his favourite, he'd hardly hurt you." Sarah said and Dean didn't happen to miss the pointed look Charlie gave him, she was after the only one of his friends that knew about his feelings for Cas.
"Is it bad that I'm hoping there's a good trauma in today?" Adam asked between loud yawns. "Like a car accident or a train derailment or some shit like that?"
"Yes, that's awful." Sarah said wrinkling her nose. Charlie nodded her head in agreement. "We're supposed to be healers, not hope that people get hurt."
"I don't want anyone to die, I just want to watch a good surgery." Adam shot back and Sarah just rolled her eyes as she pulled on her pink OBGYN scrubs.
"I'm just saying that if someone comes in badly injured and then dies you're going to feel really bad about it." Sarah said pointedly before she picked up her things and sauntered out the locker room without another word. Jo snorted loudly at Adam's affronted expression which Dean had to admit was pretty damn funny.
The last stop on rounds that morning was none other than Krissy and Dean had sneaking suspicion Cas had planned this so Krissy got to have a lie in. The change in Krissy since her surgery the week before was incredible. She was no longer pale and tired looking, instead there was colour in her cheeks and she seemed to be in a good mood for once.
"Dr Model, Dr Hot Stuff. Good to see you." Krissy said cheerfully from her bed.
"I...I'm sorry?" Castiel asked looking at Krissy with a confused expression.
"Model." Dean clarified pointing to himself. "Hot Stuff." He added pointing at Cas. If he hadn't of been watching Cas' face closely he would have missed the small curve of a smile that flashed across his face in that moment.
"He was the one who gave you those nicknames, no prompting from me at all." Krissy said feigning innocence.
"That wouldn't surprise me at all." Cas said. "Dr Winchester is not at all modest." He added giving Krissy a conspiratorial smile. "Now how are you feeling?" he asked slipping into concerned doctor mode.
"Like a gorgeous doctor gave me a new heart." Krissy said with a bright grin.
"I'd say her meds are too high but this is how blunt she always is. She hasn't sworn yet though which is a miracle." Said the tall blonde who had been sat next to Krissy's bed, a chemistry book in hand.
"Oh, Dr Novak this is Claire. She's keeping the team in check for me while I'm stuck here as well as giving me all the homework I've been missing." Krissy said nodding at the tall blonde. "Claire, this is Dr Hot Stuff and you've already met Dr Model." She added giving Dean a wink.
"Hey there Claire." Dean said giving her a nod. He'd met the blonde a few days before and remembered her being one of the less noisy volleyball players as well as being Krissy's best friend. "How are the Hunters doing?"
"We're pretty damn good, we can't wait to get our fearless leader back in action though." Claire said. "It's great to finally meet you Dr Novak, Krissy hasn't stopped talking about since she was brought in." Claire added.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Claire." Cas said giving Claire a warm smile. Now if Cas had only been this nice to his interns Dean wouldn't have spent the best part of a month thinking the guy was a complete asshole. "Your friend should be able to go home soon, we're thinking in the next week or so, but playing volleyball is out of the question until Krissy is completely over the surgery." Cas said and Dean could see Krissy was about to complain bitterly so he jumped in.
"But before you pout too much-"
"Excuse me but I don't pout." Krissy said.
"Ok before you call us jerks or worse." Dean said with a smirk. Krissy could have a real mouth on her when she was in pain or tired. "Dr Novak and I have worked out an exercise plan for you so you're not rusty when you can play again. It's a mix of light cardio to ease the new heart into it and resistance training to strengthen your muscles. You can't go overboard with it though. If you try to do too much you'll end up right back here and Dr Novak will yell at you."
"I won't overdo it." Krissy said. "I won't I promise" she said when she saw Dean's disbelieving look.
"Don't worry, I'll keep her in line." Claire quipped as she gave Krissy a light nudge with her elbow. "She's too afraid of me to try anything." She added almost self-righteously. Krissy rolled her eyes but from the friendly smile she gave Claire it was clear that Krissy would do anything Claire said, even if it was about taking her recovery slowly. Dean was glad that Krissy had a strong support system around her, her parents rarely ever left the hospital and she had an entire volleyball team who would look after her at the drop of a hat.
Several hours and even more coffees later Dean caught up with Jo and Sarah by one of the nurses stations. It was the one by the good coffee machine so there was also a group of nurses or doctors taking their breaks there.
"You look like you could do with a week of sleep." Dean remarked when Jo nearly threw herself into a chair. Dean placed a cup of coffee on the table next to her in the hopes it would make Jo seem alive at the very least. If she fell asleep he'd probably have to shake a bag of M'n'M's in front of her or something along those lines.
"Yeah, helping to repair bones is exhausting." Jo grumbled. "You know, people are really stupid."
"You're just learning that now?" Sarah asked from where she was perched on the end of the desk. "We work in a hospital, half the job includes trying not to laugh at people who have fallen off walls." She added while adding several packets of sugar to her hot chocolate. Sarah was a lover of sugary things and constantly claimed they were the only thing to ever keep her in a good mood.
"Or skateboard into a wall, flip over in the air and smash into the sidewalk. The idiot broke his hip, leg and shoulder." Jo said darkly. She reached for her large cup of coffee and nearly drained the whole thing in front of everyone. "I mean the guy is kind of hot but he keeps calling me Nurse Blondie so I sort of want to stab a scalpel into his stupid broken body."
"Take it in your stride, Krissy calls me Dr Model." Dean said shrugging.
"At least you're being called 'doctor' and not 'nurse'. It says 'Joanna Beth Harvelle. MD." on my badge not 'Joanna Beth Harvelle. Ditzy Blonde Nurse." Jo snapped before draining the last of her coffee.
"Yeah but that's probably because they couldn't fit it all on the little tag." Dean said grinning. Jo flipped him off and threw her empty coffee cup at Dean. Sadly it missed and ending hitting the person walking up behind Dean.
This just so happened to be Cas.
"I know you resent me putting you on OBGYN but that's a bit dramatic Harvelle." Cas said. Jo looked on in horror while Dean and Sarah tried to stifle their laughter.
"Oh shit! Sorry Dr Novak, that wasn't meant to hit you." Jo said leaping up from her seat and giving Dean a hearty whack on the shoulder. "Stop laughing you asshole." Jo muttered as Dean continued to snort loudly.
"Sarah's laughing as well." Dean shot back defensively.
"Sarah is out of hitting distance." Jo retorted. Dean rolled his eyes and gave Cas an apologetic grin. They hadn't seen each other since the day before, Dean really hadn't been joking when it came to running out of clean shirts to wear to work. Then again he wouldn't have run out if Cas didn't keep stealing them on the grounds that they were comfy and 'smelt like Dean'. Once Jo and Sarah were out of hearing range, getting Jo more coffee most likely, Dean moved closer towards Cas.
"I spoke to my brother last night and…and well I told him 'bout us." Dean said once he made sure no one could hear him apart from Cas. Cas' eyebrows shot up in surprise and for a split second dean was filled with panic thinking that maybe he'd done something wrong by telling Sam until a grin spread across Cas' face.
"I didn't think you were going to tell him so soon but that's probably a good thing since my sister rang me last night from Italy and I might have mentioned you." Cas said, he even ducked his head which Dean would never admit to finding so endearing.
"Really?" Dean asked. "That's…that's pretty cool. That your sister knows I mean." He never had a good reputation with the sisters of people he dated. Michael's sister Naomi had hated him with every fibre of her being and had made no attempt to hide that fact. If Cas' sister hated him then Dean was going to be convinced that he was cursed.
"If we're out of here before midnight shall we go for a drink? I haven't seen anywhere that wasn't this hospital or my apartment for the better part of a week." Cas said giving Dean a knowing look.
"That's not entirely my fault." Dean said with a smirk. "Getting a drink sounds like a good idea to me."
"I feel like we'll need-" Cas was interrupted by his pager going off. Cas looked down at the screen and his skin went pale.
"What's wrong?" Dean asked instantly thought of Krissy.
"Urgent page to the ER, let's get moving everyone!" Castiel yelled. He took off in a run down the hallway with the interns hot on his heels. Instead of waiting for the elevator they ran down the staircase until they reached the ER. There was commotion everywhere as Dean surveyed the ER; it ranged from paramedics hurrying around to nurses frantically going from bed to bed. The sterile smell of the hospital that used to comfort Dean so much, after all he'd grown up with it, now felt unsettling and wrong. While the ER was normally busy and full of people this was different.
"Lafitte!" Cas called over the shouting and the towering form of Benny came into view. "Lafitte, what's going on?"
"A group of college kids were shot in downtown, somewhere near the pier according to the paramedic." Benny called back. "Get your interns into trauma gowns and have them follow me. The most serious one is a shot to the chest and he'll need surgery as soon as an OR becomes available."
"There are no operating rooms free?" Castiel questioned with a sick look. If this kid needed surgery and there were no operating rooms free then shit was going to hit the fan. "Shit, that's all we need." Castiel muttered looking practically green. Dean grabbed two trauma gowns and handed one to Cas. The worried look in Castel's eyes sent waves of fear through Dean but he knew both of them had to quash those worries for the sake of the patient. "Right, everyone needs to follow me into the trauma room, if you're told to stay out the way then you have to do so." Cas called out to the interns.
"Someone tell me exactly what happened." Lafitte said
"Andy Gallagher, eighteen year old freshman at the University of Chicago. He was out with his friends when he was shot by an unknown passer-by." One of the paramedics called out. Dean felt his stomach roll as he looked down at the sedated form of Andy Gallagher.
"Are you alright?" Jo asked. "You look like you're gonna hurl." She commented.
"Yeah…yeah it's just he's the same age as my brother and he's a freshman too, just like my brother." Dean said. "I mean who would shoot a freshman?"
"A sick bastard, that's who." Adam said bluntly. "We see a lot of this kind of thing down in trauma. It really sucks." He added with a sour expression on his face. From where he was pressed against the wall Dean looked over to Andy Gallagher and winced. Adam was right when he said that only a sick bastard would shoot an eighteen year old and it suddenly made Dean long to call Sam just to hear his brother's voice even if they had only spoken the night before.
"Lafitte!" Ruby called out hurrying into the room. "Operating Room Three is free, it's just been cleaned." Everyone in the room grew quiet as they turned to look over to Benny.
"You heard the girl, let's get moving people! Adam, Ruby you're coming into the OR with me. Anyone not working on the other traumas can watch from the gallery, if you don't have other patients to see to that is." Benny called as the room flurried into a manic sense of movement. All those not going directly into the operating room moved out the way with Jo making a face over Ruby's gleeful look at going into surgery.
"I'm being paged to Ortho, keep me updated on whatever happens in the surgery ok?" Jo asked. Dean nodded in reply and looked round for Charlie and Sarah.
"I'm getting snacks, want anything?" Charlie said looking from Sarah to Dean expectantly.
"You're getting snacks to watch the surgery?" Sarah asked.
"I didn't eat any lunch and I'm hungry, plus it's going to be a bag of chips not freshly buttered popcorn and cotton candy." Charlie countered. "Want anything?" she asked Dean. He shook his head, he hadn't long since grabbed a bag of chips himself.
"Nah, I'm good. Grab me a good seat will you?"
"So I'm an ass for wanting snacks but you're not for wanting to grab a good seat to watch the carnage?" Charlie asked.
"Charlie, I want a good seat so I can take notes." Dean countered. "Ok and watch some of the carnage but don't judge me."
"Oh believe me, I could find other stuff to judge you over." Charlie muttered before she walked off with Sarah to get snacks. Not even bothering to overthink about what Charlie meant by that Dean rolled his eyes at the two retreating figures. Hoping that Charlie did indeed get decent seats Dean hurried after Castiel and quickly stopped him before he went into the scrub room. His fingers wrapped around Cas' wrist and Dean could feel Cas' pulse pounding away. Castiel gazed back at Dean with a troubled stare and for the first time Dean could see that Cas was scared to go into surgery. Andy's injuries were severe and that meant the surgery was going to be a long and difficult one.
"Hey…I just wanted to make sure you're ok." Dean said.
"This is going to be hard but…but Lafitte and I will work out a plan once we're in there and can really assess the damage." Cas said glancing down to where Dean's fingers were wrapped around his wrist.
"I'll be in the gallery watching and waiting for you when you get out." Dean said. He had to stop himself from just kissing Cas when he gave Dean a grateful smile that would make even the coldest of people's heart swell.
Two hours into the surgery and Cas had managed to find and extract the bullet from Andy's chest but there was still a lot of bleeding. He was tempted to ignore it but Castiel constantly went on about how they should never ignore their pages. Glancing down at the screen his stomach plummeted when he saw Krissy's name appear up on the screen. Shit, this could not be happening.
"I have to go." Dean said hastily leaping out his chair. Charlie nearly dropped a whole cup of coffee down her scrub top front as Dean's elbow caught her arm and she glared up at him with a furious stare.
"What the hell? Where's the fire?" Charlie asked.
"I'm being paged for Krissy, I've gotta go." Dean said grabbing his stuff and taking off out the gallery before anyone could say a word. After anything he and Cas had done there was no way he was going to let something happen to Krissy. He sprinted to the paediatrics ward and nearly leapt into Krissy's room, gasping for breath when he hurried to Krissy's bed. "What happened?" Dean asked a concerned looking Claire.
"Idiot over here tried to overdo it on the 'light' exercise and now her chest really hurts. Please tell me she hasn't crapped out this new heart already." Claire said with a brittle tone while Krissy winced in her bed. Dean quickly started an exam while Claire hovered around looking frightened and on the verge of tears. As someone who had spent hours in a hospital room feeling scared Dean's heart went out to Claire but he didn't have time to reflect on his past, he needed to do his job and make sure that Krissy was ok.
"Are her parents here?" Dean asked glancing over at Claire who was now nervously biting away at her thumb nail. If she carried on like that then she would end up with half her thumb chewed off.
"Yeah, they're down in the cafeteria getting something to eat. Krissy thought she would start her exercise routine while they were gone and then this happened." Claire said. "The doctors told you to keep it light, they're attractive enough so you should actually listen to them. If you die I'm going to be so pissed off." Claire quipped towards Krissy before going back to chewing off her thumb.
"I'll…try really…hard." Krissy groaned out.
"Ok do you want the good news or the bad news?" Dean asked as he finished up the exam.
"Bring on the bad news Dr Model, I can take it like a pro." Krissy said. Dean rolled his eyes and Krissy snorted despite her pain. "Ok, what's the good news?"
"The good news is that you're ok, you just need to take it easy and the bad news is that I'm missing a really cool surgery right now."
"See, you're stopping Dr Model from looking at blood and guts." Claire said.
"Actually it was blood and the inside of a chest." Dean said smirking when he saw Krissy grimace. "You're going to be ok Krissy, just make sure you're taking your exercise routine lightly or you're not going to get out of here anytime soon."
"When is that going to be? I mean you and Dr Hot Stuff are good looking and all but I'm getting really tired of staring at these white walls. You would think that with all the dying people they would try to make hospitals more cheerful." Krissy quipped. She had a point there and Dean was sure he used to ask his dad the very same question when he was younger.
"You should be out of here in a few weeks as long as you don't overdo stuff. If you push yourself too hard you're gonna crash and I mean it."
"See, I told you so." Claire said almost smugly. "If you don't listen to me then listen to Dr Model, he went to medical school after all."
"I made it to most of my classes without a hangover as well." Dean quipped making both Claire and Krissy snort loudly. "I'll get Dr Novak to come in a check up on you later if he's out of surgery. I'm just gonna talk to your parents, do you think you can stay out of trouble for five minutes."
"I can try." Krissy said with a shrug. Dean fought the urge to roll his eyes at the girl before he went off in search of Krissy's parents. Dean had always felt some sort of camaraderie towards parents dealing with sick children. He had grown up with Mary and John constantly worrying over Sam's health so Dean knew the fear parents had when it came to their children. He hadn't spoken to Krissy's parents that often, that was normally Cas' area, but with Cas in surgery it fell to Dean to talk to Mr and Mrs Chambers.
Dean soon found them in the main cafeteria drinking coffee as though their lives depended on it. Both of Krissy's parents worked full time jobs and they weren't always able to spend time with Krissy at the hospital, which was probably why Krissy's teammates spent so much time with her instead, but both Mr and Mrs Chambers tried to spend as much time as they could with their daughter, only leaving her room if they needed it. By the tired looks on their faces they both needed caffeine desperately. It was Mrs Chambers who noticed Dean approaching and she instantly sat further up in her seat.
"Is everything ok with Krissy?" she asked almost knocking over her cup of coffee in the process.
"Yes, she's fine." Dean said hurriedly before Mrs Chambers ended up scalding herself. "She's just pushing herself too much, she needs to calm down or she's going to end up damaging her new heart. It's important that she sticks to the plan Dr Novak and I drew up for her." Dean explained. Mr Chambers nodded at Dean's words and even let out a small snort very much like Krissy's.
"Trying to get our daughter to slow down has been a constant battle of ours ever since she was young. She's always pushed herself in everything she does." Mr Chambers explained.
"She just needs to take it slow so she can fully recover, she's fine though. If you need anything please just page me or Dr Novak though." Dean said. He accepted the Chambers' thanks before making his way back to the OR to watch the rest of Castiel and Benny's surgery.
There was pandemonium when Dean returned to the gallery. Down in the OR the monitors were blaring loudly and every single person was rushing around manically. Even from where Dean was stood up in the gallery he could see that Adam's skin was tinged a violent green colour. Dean would have put money on Adam throwing up in any moment. Even Ruby looked on the verge of showing a genuine emotion that wasn't distain.
"God dammit!" Benny yelled throwing down his equipment onto the nearest tray. Next to him Cas hung his head and from past surgeries Dean knew that Cas was most likely praying.
"What the hell happened?" Dean asked looking at the other interns and residents. Charlie, just like Adam, looked as if she was going to throw up in any minute. "What happened?"
"They lost him. There was too much damage to his heart and in the end his organs started to fail. There was nothing Lafitte or Novak could do." Sarah said with a sad sigh. Shit. Dean sunk into the nearest chair and, like Cas, hung his head. It wasn't that rapidity of Andy's death that hit Dean, it was the young man's age. Andy was the same age as Sam with a girlfriend and his whole life ahead of him, now he was lying lifelessly on a surgical table. It didn't make sense at all.
"Oh hey, Andy's girlfriend is asking about him. She wanted to know if he was coming out of surgery soon." Jo said asked as she came into the gallery. "Fuck…what happened?" she asked upon seeing Charlie, Dean and Sarah's faces.
"They lost Andy, too much damage." Charlie said.
"Fuck…Adam is going to be a mess, remember what he said this morning about a trauma in the ER?" Jo said. "He's going to think that he's cursed or some shit like that." She added running her hand through her hair with fatigue. "Is it alright if he comes back to the apartment tonight? He's going to need a drink or something." Jo asked turning to Dean. Dean nodded, Adam wasn't the only one who needed a large drink after this. "Thanks…I…I better go and talk to Andy's girlfriend. Lafitte will come and talk to her too right?"
"Yeah…he'll probably scrub out in a minute." Dean said. There was a large chance that Benny was going to take this as hard as Cas had taken Mr Talbot's death. "I'll…I'll go and find him."
"Don't give Adam any shit if you see him." Jo said warningly.
"Like what?"
"Like don't say anything sarcastic or what you think is witty." Jo said looking at him knowingly. Dean just gave her a look to say he'd try before hurrying out the gallery in search for both Benny and Cas. He spent the next ten minutes walking down the hallways keeping an eye out both men but neither were anywhere to be found.
"Ruby!" Dean called once he spotted the familiar wave of dark hair. He couldn't blame her for staring at him with a sarcastic albeit bemused look once shed turned round. The only conversations Dean had with Ruby mainly involve him calling her a bitch or other mean but still true phrases.
"What do you want Dean?" Ruby probed raising her eyebrows almost expertly.
"I'm look for Benny, do you know where he is or how he's doing after the surgery?"
"How do you think he's doing you moron? An eighteen year old kid died on his table and now Dr Lafitte has got to go and tell Andy's girlfriend, who by the way has her own wound to the leg to worry about, that her boyfriend is dead. So he's pretty damn crappy at the moment." Dean felt his own eyebrows rise with sheer surprise at Ruby's outburst. "Don't look so shocked, I might be an ice cold bitch, or whatever it is that you call me, but I do understand when people are pissed off. Now if you're looking for him to try and butter him up over the whole 'solo surgery' gig then don't bother. The loss today will have hit him hard. The last thing he'd want is you telling him some harrowing story about how you were some street kid from the slums of Brooklyn who magically became a doctor with a scholarship to Yale."
"I'm from the Midwest."
"That's even worse." Ruby said with an unimpressed sounding sniff. "Look, just leave whatever agenda you have until later."
"Shockingly I don't have an agenda, I was just asking how Benny was because we're actually friends."
"Whatever." Ruby snapped while she pushed past Dean and made her way down the hallway. A stomp to her step as she went. Ok Ruby wasn't entirely to blame for acting like a snappy bitch, she was just concerned and slightly protective of her boss and Dean would be the exact same about Cas.
He finally found Benny down in the ER looking thoroughly exhausted.
"Hey Benny…Dr Novak and I were going to get a drink and I'm guessing you could do with one after that surgery." Dean said once Benny had finished up with what he was doing. "You don't have to come with us if you don't want to."
"After tellin' a girl who was shot in the leg that her boyfriend never made it outta surgery I need about ten drinks." Benny said with a heavy sigh. "This job is never easy but I swear on days like this I have to remind myself why I wanted to be a surgeon." Seeing Benny's downtrodden look was like a kick straight to the teeth. Benny's idea of getting ten drinks now seemed like a good one to say the very least.
Even though it was only mid-week the bar was full of people, several Dean knew or at least recognised from the hospital. It was only thanks to Cas' keen eye that they were able to find a free booth near the back of the bar. The three men worked their way through the tables and people to claim the booth before Dean glanced over towards the bar.
"I'll get the first round in." Dean said as he pulled his wallet out the pocket of his jeans. He shot Cas a warning glance before the other man could even start to protest which Benny clearly found hilarious judging by his deep laugh. Dean navigated his body past several groups of people, stopping to smile a few members of the hospital then leaning against the bar waiting to be served. It only took a few minutes before of the newer members of staff sauntered over to him with a bright smile. Dean had watched the same girl flirt outrageously with Adam only the week before. After a friendly greeting Dean ordered three pints of whatever draft beer was on tap and after paying carried them back to the table.
Cas and Benny were deep in discussion when Dean returned to the table and in slid effortlessly next to Cas. Despite Benny not knowing the nature of the relationship between Dean and Castiel it felt safe to be more open than they were at hospital. Dean trusted Benny in that sense and soon they were flitting from topic to topic, covering anything but the day's events.
Despite knowing Benny since he started at the hospital and drinking with him a few times Dean realised there wasn't a lot he knew of the trauma surgeon but that changed over the course of the evening. Benny spoke openly of his fiancé Andrea whom he clearly thought the world of from the soft way he spoke of her. He had grown up in Louisiana and studied medicine there before enlisting in the army as a field doctor. He served a tour in Iraq before moving to Chicago when he was offered the job as head of trauma.
It was after Benny was talking about some of his other trauma cases that Cas gave Dean's thigh a small squeeze. "I'll get us some more drinks." he said sliding out his seat and making his way towards the bar. Despite his best efforts Dean couldn't stop himself from glancing over his shoulder and look over to where Cas was stood. A small smile crept across Dean's face as he saw Cas' completely oblivious expression when the barmaid started flirting with him.
"Feel free to tell me to fuck off and mind my own business here but you and Novak..." Benny said and Dean whipped his head back round to Benny.
"You're a cool guy and all but I don't think I could get away with telling you to fuck off seeing as you're head of trauma." Dean said.
"Good 'cause I hate it when interns give me shit." Benny said with a chuckle. "But like I said, you can tell me to fuck off but you and Novak...there's somethin' going on between you two isn't there?" He asked
"I...yeah...yeah there is." Dean said as he nervously scratched at the back of his neck. "We're kind of seeing each other."
"Bout time he found someone." Benny said. Dean's eyebrows shot up in surprise and Benny chuckled gruffly. "I ain't here to judge you brother." Benny added holding up his hands in defence. "You two would work together. I'm ain't gonna give you shit just 'cause you're both guys."
"No, I get that you're cool with Cas and I being guys…what did you mean about it being time he found someone?" Dean questioned.
"It ain't gonna be news to you that Novak pretty much lives at that hospital. I was a third year resident when he was an intern but I still noticed he never spent time with his other interns. He keeps to himself most of the time so it's good he's got someone now."
"You're not gonna give me the whole 'he's your resident' bullshit?" Dean asked. "Isn't it kind of the biggest cliche for me to being seeing my resident?"
"Nah, you ain't gonna be the first intern to date his boss and you certainly ain't gonna be the last. It happens everywhere so why should I give you shit over it? You ain't with him for the surgery, it's kinda obvious you like the guy." Benny said shrugging his broad shoulders. "People will give you shit over it because people are asshole but why should you care? They ain't dating Cas you are, so just focus on that."
"That's pretty good advice right there."
"Yeah, it's been known to happen every now and then." Benny retorted with a wide grin just as Cas returned to the table with their drinks.
"What has been known to happen every now and then?" Cas asked as he placed the drinks on the table and slid back into the booth.
"Dean having a good idea, such as coming here to tonight. Not a bad way to butter me up Winchester. It's more successful than Ruby bribing me with French fries." Benny said. Dean rolled his eyes and couldn't even bother to point out he hadn't asked Benny to join him for a drink because of the solo surgery coming up.
Benny and Sam's acceptance of Dean's relationship with Castiel had surprised him. One of the reasons why he'd been so worried about people finding out was because of the reactions he expected from them. Instead of disapproval he'd been met with support and it kind of worried him, everything was going too well, it was disconcerting to say the very least.
After several drinks Benny decided to call it a night, claiming that he wouldn't be able to go into work the next day if he drank anymore. While Cas was oblivious to the pointed look Benny gave him Dean saw it straight away. While before it would have worried him but Benny's acceptance of Dean and Cas being together was incredibly reassuring. Both Dean and Cas bid Benny a good night before heading out to their own cars.
"Hey…do you mind if I just head back to my apartment tonight?" Dean asked when they stopped by his car.
"No, of course I don't mind. Is everything alright?" Castiel asked lacing his hand through Dean's. It was small touches like these that Dean had missed when he was single even if they were good at distracting Dean from his thought process.
"Yeah…yeah everything is fine but I want to talk to Jo about a few things and it's probably best to do it tonight, she has a shift in the ER tomorrow night. If I don't do it now I never will." Dean said squeezing Cas' hand. "Which reminds me, if you finish on time tomorrow do you want to come over to mine? My kitchen is seriously mourning the loss of my culinary skills."
"You're just worried that Jo has managed to destroy every single kitchen utensil you own." Cas said with a small chuckle. "I'll see you at the hospital for rounds in the morning." He added before pulling Dean into a quick but deep kiss. Part of Dean, the part with the terrible willpower, wanted to just say 'screw it' and go back to Cas' apartment but he knew he couldn't. The longer that Sam and Benny knew about him and Cas when Jo didn't meant the louder she would yell when she did find out. Dean had faced many things in his life; his brother's illness, bullies in school and the freaking MCATS to name a few but he found nothing more terrifying than when a woman yelled at him. He could probably blame his mother and Bela for part of that but Jo was worse than both of them put together.
The apartment was is near darkness when Dean got back and for a second Dean cursed to himself at the thought that Jo had gone to bed, ad he sort of hoped she was alone and not with Adam, until he heard the noise from the TV filtering from out the main room.
"Jo? Adam?"
"Fucking hell!" Jo lept nearly a foot in the air, chips spilling all over the couch. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked.
"Entering my own apartment." Dean said. "What are you doing? Did Adam go back to his?"
"TCM was having a classic monster and sci-fi movie marathon and I was catching the end of It! The Terror From Beyond Space." Jo said. "And you see that blanket covered lump?" she added nodding over to what was indeed a blanket covered lump. "Yeah that's Adam, dude cannot handle for than seven beers."
"Yeah I doubt most people can. There are chips all over the couch by the way."
"Yeah because some asshole walked up behind me in the dark!" Jo retorted. "And before you ask, because I know you will, I was watching it in the dark to create the right atmosphere."
"The right atmosphere?" Dean asked cocking an eyebrow as he nodded over at Adam.
"No, not that kind of atmosphere you horny moron, the right atmosphere for the film. Adam zoned out halfway through The Mummy, the original not the remake." Jo said. "I can't watch mummies eating people with the lights on."
"You're the moron. Clean the chips up before they leave stains on the couch, I'm going to bed." Dean said. There wasn't much point having this conversation with Jo when there was greasy chips on the couch and Jo herself was scared out her wits by terrible alien movies.
"Holy shit, your bed is being graced with your presence tonight?" Jo said clutching her hand to her chest sarcastically. "Did you get sick of the hospital beds or something?" she questioned.
"Yeah something like that." Dean said shrugging off his jacket.
"So, you wanna tell me why you've been sleeping at the hospital? You're not still mad at me are you?" Jo pressed sounding more hurt than angry. "I mean I know we joke about shit all the time but you're my friend, in fact you're probably the closest thing I have to a best friend here, and I freaking hate the thought that you're pissed off at me."
"Jo it's nothing you've done so don't get your panties in a bunch."
"Don't tell me what to do or not do with my panties Dean Winchester, I wanna know why you've been living at the hospital."
"I haven't"
"Yes you freaking well have! You've slept there every night for the past week."
"I really haven't." Dean said and he was pretty proud that he wasn't lying.
"Excuse me but I think I would know if you were here." Jo said folding her arms across her chest. "You snore like a hog and leave a trail of clothes wherever you go!"
"Says the girl who uses every single towel when she's showering."
"At least I use a towel and don't walk around ass naked."
"I did that once and it was because all the towels were dirty because you'd used them all."
"We've gone off track here." Jo said with a dramatic sigh.
"Hate to point it out but you started it." Dean pointed out.
"Ok fine, just tell me what's going on. Please." Jo said pleadingly. "You're never here anymore and I miss you."
"I honestly haven't been sleeping at the hospital." Dean said taking a deep breath. He watched for Jo's reaction and almost backed out of telling her the truth when he saw the frown settle on her face but he knew he owed both her and Cas the truth. "I've been staying at Cas' apartment." He finally said.
A look of utter confusion fought against the frown on Jo's face. Telling Sam had been daunting because he was Dean's brother, he was probably the most important person in Dean's life and what he thought mattered more than anything. Benny finding out had been daunting for a completely different reason, he was after all an important member of the hospital but neither of their opinions mattered in that moment as much as Jo's. She was Dean's friend and roommate, he cared about her a lot and if she turned against him over this then so would the other interns. He could survive with them hating him but only slightly.
"You've been..." Jo said breathily. "You've been banging our resident?"
"Yeah...yeah we're sort of together." Dean managed to finally get out. Jo continued to stare at him with a look of sheer confusion and for one terrible moment Dean was convinced that she was going to yell or throw something. He was all set to get ready to duck.
"You're finally admitting that you like him then?" Jo said and Dean blinked back in confusion. Seriously when was the woman going to start yelling at him? "It's about freaking time! I knew you couldn't carry on living in denial for that long. Your brother agrees with me by the way."
"Please stop gossiping about me to my brother of all people." Dean said with a groan. Maybe introducing Jo to Sam was one of his less genius plans.
"He has all the good dirt on you though which I can use for emotional blackmail in the future." Jo said smugly. "Look if you're waiting for me to get pissy at you for dating our resident then you'll be waiting a long time. You and Cas are a good team, Charlie's always going on about it whenever people bring up Krissy Chambers, and it was obvious from the start that you liked him even if you thought he was an asshole…well he's still an asshole but not so much anymore."
"I'm pretty confused as to why you Sam and Benny haven't given me shit for this…well Sam sort of did but he's still kind of supportive."
"I'm going to ignore the fact that you told Lafitte before you told me-"
"He kinda just guessed it." Dean interjected. Jo still looked pissy.
"It's kinda obvious. Look…people are gonna be pissed at you, people like Ruby who will think you're just doing it for the surgeries, but I've seen how you are with him and it's clear both of you sickeningly like each other so why should I give you shit for it? You're getting to scrub in on surgeries because you're good, not because you're seeing Novak."
"Was that a genuine compliment from Jo Harvelle?"
"Yeah but don't let it inflate your ego or anything, jerk." Jo said with a grin.
"So you're ok with it?"
"Yeah, I'm cool with it and everything…oh but if I ever walk in on the pair of you going at it then I'll be the one pushing you of the roof. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Now either go to bed or sit down and shut up, The Creature From the Black Lagoon is on next and there's no way I'm missing it." Jo said. It was just as Dean was about to reply when the phone in his pocket buzzed loudly. Cas' name light up on the screen and Dean couldn't help but smile.
Would it be a romantic cliché if I say that my bed feels very large with you not taking up all the space and covers?
Is that a long winded way of saying that you want me to come round? Dean replied.
It might be. You're a very smart man Dean.
Several people have told me that. I'll be right over.
"Arranging a booty call with Dr Douchebag?" Jo asked with a smirk.
"According to Krissy it's Dr Hot Stuff."
"What you call Novak in bed is something I don't wanna know about." Jo said with a shake of her head. "Seriously, either go and do stuff with Novak that I really don't wanna think about or stay and watch The Creature From the Black Lagoon with me."
"Yeah, as fun as that sounds I'm going over to Cas'…you're really ok with this?"
"I don't know…you're sure he's not taking advantage of you 'cause you're an intern?" Jo asked. That stopped Dean because no one had brought that up before, Dean had always been concerned that people would think he was sleeping with Cas for his advantage, not Cas'. "'Cause if he is then I want to be the one to kick his ass."
"He's not with me for his own advantage Jo, we actually like each other."
"Ok don't get mushy with me." Jo snorted. "Just…just don't get to scrub in on better surgeries than me ok?"
"I'll try not to." Dean replied with a snort of his own. "I'll see you at the hospital in the morning ok? If Adam is alive in the morning than tell him not to eat all the bagels." He added as he picked his jacket back up, making sure his car keys were safely in the pocket. Jo reply was another snort as she motioned for Dean to keep quiet as The Creature From the Black Lagoon started to play. As much as Dean loved watching cheesy films with Jo, and as much as he hated feeling 'romantically clichéd', he kind of missed sleeping next to Cas even it had only been for one night.
Fuck Dean thought as he walked to his car. I'm kind of crazy about Cas.