October 12, 1996

Sam triumphantly held aloft his dead pheasant as he tramped across the field back toward Dean and Bobby. His proud grin lit up his whole face. It was their first pheasant of the season, and Sam's first ever. Dean shifted his shotgun to his shoulder and gave a supportive, "Woo!" as his brother made his way back.

He glanced up at Bobby who wore a tight smile on his face – more of a grimace than a smile. For the last several weeks, Dean and Sam had been excited to go on their first hunting trip. Bobby had made both boys take a hunters' safety course and taken them out to shoot at a range before he agreed to let them join him for pheasant season. But now that they were actually out hunting, Dean was spending more time watching Bobby than he was with having fun.

The last day or two, Bobby had seemed a little under the weather – mostly noticeable in his increased crankiness. But he'd promised to take the boys hunting this weekend, so hunting they went. It didn't seem to Dean like they'd been out that long, but Bobby looked worn out, with a fine sheen of sweat on his face.

Sam trotted up, grinning madly. "That was awesome! Can we eat it tonight?"

Dean glanced at Bobby before answering Sam. "Yeah, duh! Maybe we can do pheasant under glass – ooh la-la!" He delivered the last with a raised pinky and a snooty accent, then added, "You gotta clean it, though."

Dismay crossed Sam's face as he looked down at the dead bird, and Dean had to laugh.

"Them's the rules, Sammy – you kill it, you clean it! But I'll help you. Bobby can teach us both how, right Bobby?"

Bobby grunted and let his hand drop from where he'd been massaging his arm. "Sure. Gotta learn sometime," he answered, but he seemed awfully distracted.

The vague worry Dean had been feeling worsened. "Um, you know, maybe we should call it a day. Sam's got us some dinner already. I'm kinda tired, and it's hot." It wasn't. "How about we head on back to the truck?"

Sam looked puzzled for a second, but followed Dean's gaze to where Bobby was pulling his hat from his head and mopping his forehead with his sleeve. "Yeah, sounds good," Sam agreed, shooting an understanding look back to his brother.

"All right, fine. Let's get the hell home," Bobby grunted.

"Hey, can I drive?" Dean asked hopefully. "I need more practice driving stick."

Bobby carefully fished the keys from his pocket. He handed them to Dean, and the three of them began the hike back to the truck. Dean dawdled a bit, making sure they didn't move faster than Bobby seemed comfortable with.

They'd barely made it halfway back when Bobby stiffened and clutched his chest just under his left shoulder. "Shit," he gasped as he dropped to his knees.

"Bobby!" Sam cried, dropping both his pheasant and his shotgun and racing to Bobby's side just as he collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.

Dean got there just in time to help soften the landing. "Bobby, what is it? What's happening?"

Bobby's face was gray and screwed up in pain. His breath hissed in gasps between his teeth. "Think...I'm havin' a heart attack."

Oh, crap. Oh, crap! Dean had all of one second to freak out before Joshua appeared in a rush of air.

"Bobby!" The angel dropped to his knees beside the man, using Sam's shoulder as a handhold as he did so. "Bobby, talk to me!"

The only answer he got was a groan through a clenched jaw, so Joshua placed a gnarled hand to Bobby's bearded cheek and closed his eyes to focus.

This was the first time Dean had seen someone healed by anyone besides Castiel, and it was totally different. At least it felt different. When Cas had healed him and Sam, energy had hummed under Dean's skin, and he'd assumed that was just what healing felt like. But now he felt nothing but his own fear and worry.

Joshua frowned, concentrating hard, and his halo flickered weakly in the sunlight. A sweat broke over his forehead, and finally he sat back from Bobby with a shuddering gasp of air.

Bobby was no longer writhing in pain, but he didn't open his eyes either.

"Is he okay? Is he healed?" Dean asked frantically.

Still panting, Joshua shook his head. "He's out of immediate danger, but I couldn't- I-I need to get him to a hospital. I can't heal him completely."

Sam's eyes were huge as they flicked between Bobby's face and Joshua's. "Will you be able to fly him?"

Joshua nodded, but his expression left Dean doubtful. The angel seemed almost as weak as Bobby.

"I won't be able to bring you with us. Can you get back to Sioux Falls on your own?" Joshua asked.

"Yeah, go – get him to a doctor!" Dean answered. He had the keys and a moderate skill at driving the truck. He'd get them there.

"New Hope General," Joshua told them before gripping Bobby's shoulder and whisking them both away.

In the shocked silence that followed, Dean realized he was shaking. Not even a year and a half since Dad died, and now this. The thought of losing Bobby, too, left him sick with fear. He looked up and met Sam's frightened eyes, and that gave him the steel he needed to get to his feet.

"Come on, Sam. Let's go!"

Sam scooped up his prized pheasant and his shotgun. Dean grabbed both his and Bobby's guns, and the two of them took off at a lope across the field.

They were both sweating and sucking air by the time they finally made it to the truck. They secured the shotguns behind the bench seat and Sam tossed the bird to the floorboards at his feet as he scrambled in. Dean started the truck with a roar, and after grinding a few gears, they took off, bouncing down the dirt track toward the highway.

Fifteen dusty minutes later, they were on asphalt again and tearing down the road faster than Dean would normally dare – in an unfamiliar vehicle, at least. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and he clenched his jaw. It didn't seem like they'd driven this far on the way out, but the way back seemed endless.

Sam broke the silence when they were still a few miles out of town. "Why didn't Castiel come?"

Dean frowned. Any time Dean had been that freaked out in the past, Cas had appeared. Why not today? "I don't know. Maybe because we weren't the ones hurt? Or maybe he knew Joshua was there."

He gnawed on his lip. That must be it. The presence of an angel, even one Dean trusted, would certainly be enough to keep Cas from showing himself.

Sam made a non-committal noise, but nodded.

When they reached the outskirts of Sioux Falls, Dean stopped at home for two minutes to take in the shotguns and the pheasant. Who knew how long they'd be at the hospital, and he didn't want to come out later to find pheasant under windshield cooking on the floorboards. While Sam dumped the bird in the fridge in a bag, Dean grabbed the phone book to figure out where the hell New Hope General was.

At last, they reached the hospital and were directed to Bobby's room. Joshua was there with him, and it was a toss-up which of them looked worse. Dean hadn't really thought of Bobby as all that old before, but here in this room with all the equipment humming and beeping, he looked frail and weak. Dean's stomach lurched unpleasantly.

Bobby was sleeping, but Joshua rose as they came in. "You made it."

Sam wrapped his arms around the angel's middle and hugged him hard. "How is he?" he asked worriedly, releasing Joshua and inching up to the side of the bed to peer at Bobby.

"He'll be all right. They were able to get him stabilized. He'll be home and snapping at all of us soon enough," Joshua said softly. He smiled, but somehow it just made him look sad.

They all stood around uncomfortably for a while after that, watching Bobby sleep and staring at the machines as if they might tell them something new. Joshua dropped back into the chair at the head of the bed, looking exhausted. A nurse came by to switch out an IV bag, and shortly after, she brought in two plastic chairs for Dean and Sam to use.

"Joshua?" Sam's voice was so small it was nearly swallowed in the hospital hubbub.

"Hm?"

"Why couldn't you heal Bobby all the way? You're his angel."

Joshua sighed heavily, and Dean got the feeling he'd been expecting the question for a while now.

The angel reached out to wrap his fingers around Bobby's limp ones. "I'm not strong enough anymore. Bobby is the last of the Singer line," he answered.

"If you're not strong enough, then shouldn't you have raised a new angel?"

Joshua shook his head. "We draw energy from the humans to whom we are bound – for healing, for flight, even just to live. Bobby is the only remaining Singer, so when he dies, his angel will die, too. Without a continuing bloodline, it would be cruel of us to bring a fledgling here to live such a short life."

"That's why I couldn't feel it." The words popped out of Dean's mouth before he even realized he'd thought them.

"I'm sorry?" Joshua looked at him curiously.

Dean faltered. He'd been thinking about the strange humming energy he felt whenever Cas healed him or Sam, but he couldn't tell that to Joshua. "Uh...I, um, was remembering when I was little. I could feel it when Gabriel healed someone, but not when you healed Bobby."

"Ah, Gabriel." A gentle smile spread over Joshua's face. "Troublemaker, that one."

Dean blinked in surprise. "You know Gabriel?"

Joshua nodded, a faraway look in his eye. "Yes. Your father and Bobby had been friends for a long time, and when John brought your mother to meet him for the first time, Gabriel popped in to visit as well. I haven't seen him in quite some time, though. Not since your father banished him."

"You know about that?" Dean felt oddly ashamed, even though his father was the one who'd done it.

Joshua's expression turned thoughtful. "Of course," he replied, but he seemed distracted. "I hadn't considered..."

"What?" Sam piped up.

Shaking himself out of his musings, Joshua smiled sadly again. "Never mind. It's not important right now anyway."

Dean's curiosity was piqued, but he promptly forgot about it when a raspy voice came from the bed.

"What're you idjits yammering on about?"

Sam and Dean both crowded closer to the bed, and Joshua's smile turned genuine for the first time that day. "Robert Steven Singer, don't you ever do that to me again," the angel scolded.

Bobby scowled weakly and struggled to raise his head a few inches. "Are you holding my damn hand?"

Joshua chuckled and squeezed his fingers tighter. "Yes, I am. And I'll stop as soon as you can make me."

"Damn angel," Bobby grumbled. "Sometimes I think you forget I grew up a hell of a long time ago. I don't need mollycoddling."

Bobby continued complaining under his breath for a while before finally asking, "So is somebody gonna tell me what the hell happened?"

As Joshua gave Bobby a rundown of what the doctors had told him so far, Dean relaxed a little. Being told Bobby would be all right was one thing, but now that he was awake and bitching at them, he could finally believe it.