Chapter Five:
Cas sprinted out of his office. He crashed down the hallway to the elevator and jammed the button. Impatient, Cas slammed in the door that led to the stairwell and raced down the stairs, taking two at a time. He ran to the ground floor to the ICU. As soon as he entered the wing he spotted Dean who looked like he was about to rip out his own hair.
"Dean."
"Cas!" Dean threw himself at the doctor.
"What happened to Sam?" Cas asked hurriedly.
"I don't know. It started with a low-grade fever yesterday. And this morning it was really bad, 103 degrees, he was shaking and cold and he had sore, red patches on his hands and feet and I didn't know what to do."
"It's ok Dean, it's going to be ok. Let me go see what I can do."
Dean watched as Cas walked through a set of double doors.
Though it wasn't long until Castiel returned, it had seemed like hours to Dean. Castiel walked back through the same set of doors and waved Dean over.
The two men walked as Castiel explained the situation. "Sam is suffering from endocarditis. When we did the surgery the tissue in his heart became infected and that's what caused the fever, chills, and sores. We've hooked him up to an IV that will continually administer antibiotics for a few days. Once the treatment is over and his infection has gone he'll be good as new, hopefully for real this time, and you two can be done with this place."
Dean and Cas entered the room. "Hey, buddy" Dean caressed Sam's floppy hair, "how do you feel?"
"Sleepy." Sam answered.
Dean leaned over Sam and hugged him tightly, holding him close, as if that could protect Sam from anything bad happening ever again.
A few days later the brothers once again prepared to leave the hospital, once and for all this time. Both of them were ready to leave. Castiel stopped by once last time to say goodbye to Sam. The doctor and the patient embraced.
Cas and Dean shared one last smile as Dean packed up their things. Sam and Dean walked hand in hand out of the hospital with Cas beside them. Cas stopped at the main set of doors to watch Sam and Dean leave.
It hurt Dean's heart to leave Cas again. He had been there, he was so good to him and Sam even after Dean had turned him down. But he just didn't know how he could devote himself to someone. And wonderful Castiel didn't deserve only half of someone, he deserved complete devotion.
Sam interrupted Dean's thoughts, "I love Dr. Castiel."
Dean smiled at the sweet boy.
"Do you love Cas?"
The innocent question made Dean stop dead in his tracks. Yes. His heart screamed. Dean looked back and saw Castiel still standing and watching them. Dean knew. Dean knew that the hurt, the fear, the risk was all worth it, if it was for someone like Castiel. Someone he loved.
Dean ran back to Castiel as quickly as he could. Grabbing Cas' face in his hand when he reached the doors.
"Cas. I was wrong, so wrong. It's worth the risk, the hurt, everything. You are worth it, Castiel Novak."
Castiel beamed at Dean wrapping his arms around the man and they shared a chaste kiss.
Dean whispered into Cas' ear, his lips brushing the side of the doctor's face. "You healed it, Cas. You healed me. Because of you there is no longer a hole in my heart."
A/N: This chapter is kind of short, sorry, but it's all I needed to finish it up. This story turned out so much better than I imagined and I'm just so darn proud of it! I'm still horrible at endings, I think this ending was alright but I'd still LOVE feedback on it and on the whole story overall. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing!