Author's Note: This chapter is a bit of a rollercoaster, so you have been warned.

Three weeks. Three weeks Dean had spent all of his free time right at Castiel's bedside, watching the frail boy's slack face intently for any trace of movement and consciousness. Three weeks Dean had barely said a word to anyone, too busy inflicting mental torture on himself for his own role in Castiel's mean condition. Three weeks everyone had spared him concerned, pitied glances when they thought he wasn't looking. Three weeks Dean stayed at that damnable hospital and hoped to God he'd see life in those bright blue eyes just one more time.

The death of his mother had left Dean numb, but Castiel's suicide attempt had brought all feeling back into him. Even breathing hurt now, every shallow inhale and exhale becoming harder than the last. Dean's eyes were permanently stained bloodshot from lack of sleep, but he couldn't find the time to care. His own health was trivial compared to everyone else's. Cas. John. Sam. Their health and happiness mattered. Dean's? Not anymore. Not after all the shit he'd done.

There had been so many faces he'd seen in the past few weeks. Once at the funeral, and now at the hospital. Jo. Charlie. Ash. Pamela Barnes. Garth. Fuck, even Mr. Shurely swung by Castiel's room and gave him a small, sad smile. But he supposed he spent most of the duration of these two weeks with the people that understood the pain he was going through as he gazed at the shattered boy lying motionless on that hospital bed.

He spent Mondays and Tuesdays with Meg and Balthazar, exchanging witty, half-hearted banter as they all sent sad glances at Cas when they thought the other two weren't looking. Hell, even they were beginning to become tolerable as the time passed.

Anna kept him company on Saturdays and Sundays, the two resting in peaceful silence as the redhead fretted over Cas—fluffing his pillow, tucking in his blankets, pressing a palm to his head to check for a fever. It filled Dean with so much pity when he saw what Anna was going through. After all, she'd known Castiel longer than any of them (excluding Crowley apparently, but she had a deeper relationship with Cas than him)—had cared about him when no one else would. She must have been the first that tried to save him—fought against Naomi and Michael for him, kept him company while everyone else never even knew he existed, made him smile when nothing else could...she must be going through hell, but at least she had Garth to cling to when the frustration and despair of this screwed up circumstance became too much to bear. It was actually pretty weird to see them together—beautiful, smart, graceful Anna with awkward, gangly, oddball Garth—but it was painfully obvious how much they completed each other. Honestly, Garth was the only one who could make Anna smile nowadays.

He spent Thursdays and Fridays with Gabriel, which was pretty strange and uncomfortable. Hell, they barely even looked at each other—both too invested in staring down at Cas with matching guilt mirroring in their sorrowful expressions to make a pitiful effort at small talk. Actually, the only time Gabriel had spoken more than one word to him was on the second Friday afternoon when Gabriel began absently weaving some sort of chip between his fingers and Dean became too curious to maintain the aching silence.

"What the hell is that?" Dean asked, causing Gabriel to stiffen and look up at him in surprise.

When Dean's question sunk in, the amber eyed boy smiled wryly and looked down at the chip, "It signifies a new chapter in my life or some shit. The people at AA made me take one. Fucking gay, right?"

"AA?" Dean repeated in shock.

Gabriel nodded, his forced smile dropping, "I quit drinkin'. Cas hated it, and I thought maybe..." 'If I quit, he would find enough strength to wake up,' his sentence did not need to be finished. Dean understood.

"I would always pick on him when I was hammered," Gabriel said with a bitter chuckle, the flashbacks that flickered across his golden eyes bringing a mixture of shame and horror on his face, "I don't know why. Probably because he was an easy target. Or because he would never fight back. Or hell, maybe because I wanted to make him hate me. He, uh..." He glanced over at Castiel, "He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of the shit we all put him through."

Dean sighed, "He cared about you, Gabe. A lot. When I met him in the hospital, he—he defended you. Said you were the only one in his family that he was sure he loved."

Gabriel laughed, brittle and humorless, "Well, isn't that fucked up? I mean, you of all people know I'm not the most lovable guy."

"That's true, you are a dick." Dean agreed with a shrug and a weak smile. This time when Gabriel laughed, it was less cold and insincere.

He spent Wednesdays with Crowley, the one person that Dean could have sworn didn't even had a heart just a few months earlier. But every time the boy stole a sideways glance at Cas while trying to appear bored and uninterested, Dean was able to see actual emotion flicker in his dark gaze. Though he couldn't say he liked the guy, Dean had to admit Crowley seemed to care for Castiel. Why or to what degree, Dean wasn't interested in finding out. Hell, as long as he didn't fuck Cas up even worse than Dean did, he couldn't care less what sort of quirky friendship they had somehow formed.

All in all, Dean was the only one who was strong enough to stay every day. He supposed the others were just too heartbroken to stare at Castiel like that, and Dean didn't blame them. His heart broke every time he glanced at him, too. But Dean couldn't let his own feelings get in the way of his duty to Cas.

Dean vowed that he was going to be there for the blue eyed boy. For better or for worse, for sickness and in health...you know, and all that other shit.

It was on the fourth Sunday when shit started to go down. Anna had called him and said she wasn't going to be able to make it to the hospital until six because she had an interview with some prestige university five hours outside of town, and Garth had already offered to drive her. She sounded so guilty when she explained that she had scheduled it before Cas tried to end his life again and there was no way of rescheduling it without losing any potential of the scholarship whatsoever. It was a funny thing really—how much guilt innocent people could feel over something they had no part in.

So he was left all alone in that hospital room for the day, and this should trouble Dean more than it did. But then he had to remind himself that he wasn't alone. He had Cas; he didn't need anyone else.

"Shit, I gotta take a piss," Dean murmured, rising from his seat and walking towards the door, "I'll be back, Cas. Don't have any fun without me." He tried to think of how Cas would respond to that but was at a loss. It felt like an eternity since he last heard the beautiful boy's voice. If he concentrated hard enough, he could hear the low, deep pitch ring in his head—

Dean halted when he heard the eerily familiar sound of heels clicking against the tiled floor. And that was when she rounded the corner and he finally caught sight of her.

"You," Dean snarled, overcome with so much rage and hatred that bled clearly into his voice, "What are you doing here?"

Naomi simply smiled at him, the sincerity in her voice as superficial as her sad expression, "I'm here to see my darling nephew, of course. The better question, Mr. Winchester, is what are you doing here? You're not family. Not a friend. In fact," She cocked her head, "I believe you and Cas weren't on the best of terms the last time he was seen conscious."

"I've been here every. Damn. Day." Dean pointed out tersely, not rising to the bait, "Where have you been, huh? Pouting because you've lost another one of your mindless drones?"

"It's true, I am at fault," She admitted with a sigh, her light and carefree tone contradicting her supposed guilt, "I didn't protect him from those who only wished to destory him." Dean locked his jaw and glared at her, but even the venom in his stare was not enough to dampen the light in her blue eyes.

"You're a riot, you know that?" Dean scoffed with an eye roll, "Pretending to care about him like that. Like you actually had a heart."

Her smile evaporated at his sour words, blue eyes narrowing at him, "I've always cared for Castiel. Even when he didn't deserve it."

"He never deserved the kind of sick, twisted care you subjected him to." Dean declared through gritted teeth, "And guess what, Naomi? I might be guilty of pushing him off the edge, but it was you who put him there in the first place."

"He's a victim of his own mind." Naomi told him stiffly, no emotion in her ever cold voice.

Dean just couldn't take it anymore and launched at her, pinning the bitch to the wall as he whispered quiet and harsh, "No, he's a victim of you. You just won't admit it or don't care."

Before Naomi could let out a call for help, Dean released her and took a step back, but his green eyes were still lit hot with fury, "If I see you anywhere near Cas when I get back, I'm going to cut your fucking tongue out. And that's only for starters." Leaving the older woman with an expression that mirrored a fish out of water, Dean stormed away to the restroom.

Unfortunately, Naomi wasn't there when he came back (he was actually kind of looking forward to going through with his threat). But another nurse was...

"Is something wrong?" Dean asked worriedly, rushing to Castiel's bedside.

The nurse just looked at him sadly, sorrow and pity in her concerned expression, "Are you his friend?"

"Boyfriend," Dean corrected before he winced and added, "Well, ex-boyfriend, I guess. But I still—you know I..." Even now—when Cas was literally on his deathbed, he couldn't say it. He was utterly despicable.

"You're Mary's son, aren't you?" She asked, causing Dean to clench his teeth but nod weakly.

"I'm so sorry," The nurse said, "Mary was a lovely woman. She used to babysit my son when I had to pull double shifts at the hospital to pay the rent."

"What's your name?"

"Kate," The nurse said with a smile, "Kate Milligan. I wanted to pay my respects at the funeral, but I don't think John would have appreciated my visit."

"My dad would've been too drunk to notice you." Dean assured her, his voice soft and empty.

"Oh sweetie..." Kate said, sympathy in her voice that Dean was just so sick and tired of hearing.

"Why are you here?" Dean demanded, "Is Cas okay?"

Kate sighed, her gaze flickering to the floor as she began quietly, "Castiel Milton has been utterly...unresponsive ever since he was admitted. We've flushed all the drugs out of his system, but I'm afraid we were too late. He must have been unconscious for hours before his sister found him. If we had maybe gotten there earlier, we could have saved him, but..."

"What are you trying to say?" Dean asked, her hesitant words holding no meaning in his mind.

"We've tried all we could," Kate said with a sigh, "We just consulted with his guardian and decided that it would be best if maybe it was time we gave him peace."

"Peace?" Dean repeated, the word bitter and acidic on his tongue, "What kind of peace?"

"Honey...we believe he's ready for the Lord to take him."

Dean couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't...quite understand what was happening at first. But then as reality finally seeped into his brain, he understood what she meant. God was taking Cas away from him. He was being unfair and taking that beautiful soul away from him. No.

In his haze of anger, Dean shoved the lunch cart by his side to the ground and threw one of the chairs across the room. He knew exactly who was to blame as he jerked his head upward and yelled loud enough so it would reach the high heavens, "NO, YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM! YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM! YOU'VE ALREADY TAKEN MY MOM FROM ME! YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM, TOO. PLEASE..." His voice softened, more wounded and pleading, "Not him, too."

"Calm down, or I'll have to get security." Kate warned, resting a hand on Dean's shuddering shoulder, "Now I'm sorry, but we have to obey to what Ms. Milton decided."

"You're taking orders from Naomi?" Dean snapped, "She doesn't care about him. She doesn't love him."

Kate sighed, "It doesn't matter. The guardian decides what to do in a situation like this, and Ms. Milton has chosen to stop the machines and let him go."

Dean shook his head violently in protest, his voice too weak and choked up to respond.

"You have until the rest of his family arrive to say your goodbye." Kate told him before she left too, closing the door behind her.

With a shaky sigh, Dean grasped Castiel's hand and squeezed it as hard as he could, saying in a rough, desperate voice, "Please, wake up. If not for yourself, do it for me." He swallowed hard, "You love me, don't you? Then prove it. Prove to me that you love me and wake up."

The boy didn't respond to his pleas.

"Cas, you fucking bastard, how could you do this to me?" Dean demanded in a harsh whisper, accusation in his trembling voice, "How could you be so damn selfish and leave me all alone like this? You're one of the only things in this world that keeps me breathing, and you just give up? C'mon, please just...make it right. Wake up, and I promise that I will never let you do this to yourself ever again."

Nothing. He was gone. Truly and utterly gone. And Dean couldn't do a damn thing about it.

In heart-wrenching defeat, Dean let himself mourn over the loss of a beautiful soul that had lit up his whole life. He leaned in and kissed Castiel on the forehead, letting his lips linger for a few seconds in a silent apology. He let Cas down. He would never forget that.

The only thing that made him jerk back was the sudden intake of breath that certainly wasn't his own. Shocked and confused, Dean immediately jerked back only to see the most cherished sight.

Two blue eyes stared up at him, weak and dim yet still burning as bright as the hot flame of hope that flared up in Dean's chest.

Dean's breath hitched, "Cas?"

Author's Note: Yes, this also ends with a cliffhanger, but at least it's a good cliffhanger, right? Also, I've decided to put an extra chapter in here, so there will be 27 chapters in this fic (including the epilogue; and yes, I'm making an epilogue that's set, like, a decade or so in the future).

You should review. Like seriously, every single one makes my day and motivates me to update faster.