Cameron is down.
Everything that was stopping me from letting her in before is right here. Evidence that it was a bad idea to welcome her. She's hurt. It's my fault.
I warned her.
I can see her on top of the floor, everything turned sideways. She faces me, crumpled on her side, her arms lying limply in front of her. She lies where she fell.
Her hair wafts out beneath her head, the gold strands pillowing her cheek, splaying in every direction. She's looking at me. Her big, green eyes ask me a million questions. She's scared. Really, really scared.
Her eyelids fall, shutting me out, and I realize with horror that she's suffering, that she's in pain.
Her hair waves lightly in front of her as she exhales, slow and quiet. Then she sits up, rising out of my sight.
I want to get up. I have to help her. The pain in my back snakes and writhes, binding me to gravity and the ground that is commanded by it.
Dean comes to my rescue, reaching out and grasping her by the shoulders and pulling her to her feet.
"No sudden movements." he says gently.
Cas bends down and pulls me up, and I cry out, feeling every muscle in my back convulse in protest.
I'll be fine. I rush to Cameron.
She blinks, her gaze drifting slowly, waveringly, from Dean to me.
"It'll take a minute, but I think you're okay." Dean says, his hand still on her elbow, steadying her. "Cas? Check her out?"
"Wait, what happened?" She mumbles.
She's hit her head. Nothing else is wrong. Metatron just knocked her down.
She's fine. She'll be okay. It's just a concussion. She's confused.
Cas bends in front of her, taking her face between his hands and peering inquisitively at into it.
His eyes widen. "Oh no."
My hope dies, extinguishes without a sound, without a breath.
"What is it?" Cameron whispers.
She shivers, her fingers splaying at her bare arms, trying to comfort herself, trying to urge some warmth into her bones. Her body sways like an autumn leaf.
"Cas, what did he do to her?" I plead.
"He...I don't know." Cas puts his hands to her head again. "He's removed something from her...I'm not sure what it is."
"How did he...remove something?" she asks.
"The same way he cut open Dean's chest without touching him, and injected a line of mild poison into Sam's spine from four feet away." Cas explains.
Alarm, alarm, big brother mode.
Dean rushes over to me, all concerns for Cameron leaving his face. He takes my good arm and wraps it over his shoulder, inviting me to lean on him. I let him support most of my weight, focusing on breathing.
Cameron nods slowly, still pondering Cas' diagnosis. "So...can you find out what he removed?"
"It will take a while, we basically have to do an inventory of all your systems, and by a process of elimination find out what its gone." Cas says.
He touches her shoulder gently, almost compassionately, and then turns to me. He reaches out, his hand pressing against my chest.
My shoulder and my back are whole again. It doesn't matter. Metatron's death, our victory over him, doesn't matter.
Nothing matters.