Breakdown

'What do you mean Crowley's infected?' Hannah yelled down the phone.

'It's a controlled experiment,' Cas tried to reassure her. 'He's in the quarantine bay. We're trying to develop antibodies.'

'Are you kidding me? That's insane!'

Cas sighed. 'I know,' he said quietly. 'But insane is all we have at this point. You'll take care of Jack while we're down here?'

Hannah was quiet for a moment. 'Yes, of course we will. Do you need supplies? We can send some down to you.'

'No, don't break the quarantine,' Cas said hastily. 'We have food and water.' Cas glanced at Crowley, who had not moved. 'There haven't been any cases where the patient made it more than twenty-four hours, so I don't want anyone down here for at least that amount of time.'

'All right,' said Hannah. 'I'll check in with you in the morning.'

'Thank you, Hannah.'

Cas hung up the phone, then sighed and returned to the glass. 'How are you feeling?' he asked through the intercom.

'The injection site itches,' Crowley said, his voice slightly crackled through the speaker. 'How are you doing?' Crowley turned his head, watching Cas lean heavily against the glass.

Cas shrugged. His knees were already trembling, weak as they were.

'Perhaps you should sit down?'

Cas nodded, but made sure the equipment was recording properly before taking a seat at the desk in front of the glass. Then he set the stream of data to run to the computers in the labs above, so there would be a record should anything go wrong. Once that was done, Cas settled in to observe. He monitored Crowley's vitals, and took manual measurements every hour. After the third hour Crowley began showing symptoms.

'The injection site really stings,' he said.

'It doesn't look very good either,' Cas noted, frowning at the spot that was now swollen and oozing. 'Are you sure you have enough iron?'

'Sure? Not in the slightest,' said Crowley with a nervous laugh. 'My calculations indicate that it should be.' Then the same arm tightened and strained against the restraint. 'Involuntary muscle spasms,' Crowley said, looking down at it with interest as the muscles relaxed again.

'Does it hurt?'

'About as much as a moderate cramp.'

'You're temperature's up a little, can you feel it?'

'Not yet.'

The hours passed and Crowley got worse. The spasms spread from his arm to the rest of his limbs until every few minutes he was flailing against the restraints.

'That's quite uncomfortable,' he joked after a particularly violent spasm in his arm. By now he was sweating, and his heart rate had shot up.

'How do you feel?' Cas prompted once again.

'Erm… I'm getting a headache, and my vision is blurry. I feel cold. Everything aches. I'm thirsty… You couldn't bring me some water, could you?'

'You know I can't come in there yet,' Cas reminded him.

Crowley let out a hollow laugh. 'Just testing you.' He shifted in an attempt to make himself more comfortable. 'How about you?'

'No change here,' Cas reassured him, but as the clock ticked, he knew that with nowhere to properly rest, that would soon change.

Crowley continued to worsen. He developed a searing fever that had Cas biting his fingernails for several hours. He was delirious and struggled to articulate his thoughts, but it died down shortly after midnight.

'Can you hear me, Crowley?' Cas asked, as he realised that Crowley's temperature had cooled.

'Loud and clear,' he said hoarsely.

Cas sighed in relief. 'How are you feeling? You don't want to bite me, or anything, do you?'

'That depends on the context,' Crowley joked weakly, and Cas chuckled.

'Nice to see your sense of humour isn't affected.'

Crowley laughed, though it came out as nothing more than a dusty and choked bark. 'No, I don't want to bite you,' he said. 'My joints feel like glass, my head hurts. I can't see much.'

Cas frowned. 'Look at me,' he said.

Crowley opened his eyes and lifted his head as best he could. The whites of his eyes had turned completely red.

'Subconjunctival hemorrhage,' Cas told him. 'The virus must be destroying your more delicate blood vessels.'

'I hope it's not permanent,' Crowley said.

'The blood vessels of the eye are easily healed,' Cas said, but grimaced. There was no guarantee he would live at all, let alone long enough for his eyes to heal.

'How long has it been?'

'Fourteen hours,' Cas told him.

Crowley squinted at him. 'You haven't moved.'

'No,' Cas agreed. Without any way to rest, the only thing he could think of to protect his remaining function was to move as little as possible. As it was, he couldn't feel his feet at all, and his legs were numb below the knee.

Crowley sighed, then sluggishly shifted on the bed. 'I think I can sleep,' he said.

Cas looked over the monitoring and nodded. 'I'll wake you up for vitals.'

It wasn't long until Crowley sunk into restless sleep. With nothing but the beeping of the monitors to keep him company, Cas too drifted in and out of an uncomfortable doze. Every hour on the hour, Cas buzzed the intercom to wake Crowley up and record his vitals. By hour twenty, however, Crowley seemed to be stabilising.

'Cas,' Crowley said tiredly. 'I think it's working.'

'Well, you're not a bloodthirsty monster yet,' Cas conceded, 'but we still have a few more hours.'

The last four hours were agonizing. Pins and needles danced up and down Cas's thighs and his hips were painfully stiff, but at last they hit the twenty-four hour mark.

'I'm still alive,' Crowley pointed out.

'You are,' said Cas.

'My head still bloody hurts. Can you let me up for a drink now? I need to refresh the iron transfusion as well.'

Cas glanced at the monitors and nodded. He tried to stand, but fell heavily against the desk.

'Are you all right?' Crowley asked, concern in his voice.

'Fine,' Cas gasped. He scrabbled at his tablet, reconnecting the few connections that still worked, and managed to return enough function to his legs to move. He shuffled over to the quarantine door, pulling on latex gloves and a face mask as he did so, and let himself into the room. He went over to Crowley and fumbled with the restraints on one of his wrists.

'I'll get the rest,' Crowley said kindly. 'Can you bring over the IV bag? And a bottle of water?'

Cas obliged while Crowley untied himself. He supervised while Crowley hooked himself up.

'Let me get you some bloods,' Crowley said.

'There won't be any antibodies yet,' Cas pointed out.

'No, but an active infectious sample will still be valuable. Stand back.'

Crowley took three small phials of blood from himself, and carefully placed them in a container for Cas.

'How are your eyes?' Cas asked.

'I can feel pressure. My vision seems to be clearing up somewhat. I'm not that kind of doctor, but I don't think the optic nerve is damaged.'

'So the ones that are turned can still see?'

'At a guess, I'd say so. Their field of vision would be very limited, but I think it would still be there.'

Cas took the samples, then left the quarantine bay. He stored the samples, then threw his gloves and mask into a biohazard incinerator.

From then on, he watched Crowley walking back and forth inside the quarantine bay, listening to him mutter his calculations over and over again.

Hannah called later in the day, and Cas struggled over to the phone.

'How's it going?' she asked anxiously.

'He's still alive,' Cas told her. 'The viral progression seems to have slowed.'

'That's really good to hear.'

'How's Jack?'

'He's all right. He's been crying a lot. I think he misses you.'

'I miss him too.'

'Don't worry, he's taken care of.'

'Thank you,'

Cas then went back to observing from his desk. It would be days before any antibodies developed, if any, but as he watched, Crowley's condition continued to improve.

'It seems as though the virus is quite short lived,' Crowley commented after two days, as he drew another blood sample for Cas. His vision had continued to clear, but the pain in his joints was slower to fade. 'No wonder it has to be so aggressive in the first few hours.'

Cas nodded, but saved his strength for transporting the sample. As quickly as Crowley recovered, Cas deteriorated. His arms trembled as he carried the container, and it took all of his concentration to keep his feet beneath him.

Crowley watched him, unable to hide the pity in his expression. 'I'm sorry it had to be you,' he said, as Cas sat back down. 'If I could have asked anyone else I would have.'

'I know,' Cas said, easing his legs into a position that allowed the most sensation. 'If this works, it's worth it.'

On the fourth day, Cas and Hannah agreed to allow some supplies to be brought down in the elevator. They loaded it up and sent it down, but Cas had said no to letting someone else come with it, so it was up to him to drag himself through the facility and carry the bottles of water and boxes of food to the quarantine bay. When he was done, however, he lowered himself to the floor and slept there, completely exhausted. He was deeply asleep for a good four hours until pain lanced up his spine and woke him. His neck was stiff, but everything else was empty of feeling. Cas was momentarily stuck in place, until Charlie's program on his tablet finally activated and reconnected him. He pushed himself up so he was sitting, and saw Crowley staring at him through the glass.

'I've been trying to wake you for ages,' Crowley said, fear clear in his eyes. 'I thought you'd died.'

Cas shook his head. 'Not yet,' he said weakly.

'You should test for antibodies.'

Cas looked up at him. 'It's too early,' he said.

'Do it anyway,' Crowley insisted. 'Just in case.'

Cas sighed. It was almost impossible to pull himself up from the floor, but he managed it and stumbled over to the quarantine.

Crowley hurriedly drew samples and handed them to Cas.

Cas hobbled to the machine, the strain making his hands shake, and loaded the phial into the machine before collapsing into a chair.

They both waited with bated breath as the machine whirred. The minutes crawled by, then the results were finally ready.

'Negative,' Cas murmured.

'Another day then,' said Crowley. 'There will be some tomorrow.'

Cas just allowed him the hope, as it was quickly running out for him.

They didn't speak much for the next day. Cas moved sparingly, though he couldn't have done much more if he'd wanted to.

'Come on, Cas, one more try,' Crowley said desperately, once again drawing blood from himself.

Cas didn't speak. When he tried to get up, his left leg collapsed beneath him. He smacked against the floor, briefly stunned.

'You're all right,' Crowley called to him. 'Get up, Castiel.'

But he couldn't. He crawled to the desk and tried to fix it on his tablet, but it didn't work. His leg was gone.

'Don't panic,' Crowley said, seeing what was happening. 'Just hop over here and get the sample.'

Cas gritted his teeth, using every ounce of strength he had left to drag himself, and the dead weight of his leg, over to Crowley and take the sample.

'You can do it,' said Crowley as Cas fumbled with the machine. 'Come on, Cas.'

Finally the machine began running, and Cas slumped over the desk, struggling to catch his breath.

He was done, he thought. He had nothing left in him, and cursed his fate that he would die painfully down here, in front of Crowley, and not drifting off in his own bed as he had planned.

For a while, all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing, and his heartbeat in his ears. Signs of life, he reassured himself.

Then he heard Crowley pounding on the glass.

'Wake up!' Crowley yelled. 'Cas, wake up!'

Cas lifted his head.

'The machine!'

Cas shakily took the results from the machine, then looked up at Crowley in disbelief. 'It's positive,' he said.

'Positive?' Crowley exclaimed. 'We have antibodies?'

'We have antibodies!'

Crowley ran his hands through his hair. 'Antibodies,' he whispered to himself.

'Now what?' Cas asked.

'Now, we use the antibodies to synthesise more. We'll need to test it and the iron flooding on some more subjects. Ones that are further gone than I was.'

'You want to bring one of those things here?' Cas asked, aghast.

'Well, obviously it would be in a more secure way than what we just did.'

'None of the staff here are equipped to deal with them,' Cas pointed out.

'Then I think we might need some help from our sailor friends.'

Cas scrubbed his face. 'I - I don't know, Crowley, I don't want to drag them into this. It would be so dangerous.'

'Isn't that what they sign up for when they join the military? Cas, we need them. You know we do.'

'I - all right,' Cas agreed.

Crowley nodded. 'Go decontaminate. I'll be all right here, you should get back upstairs and contact them.'

Cas sucked in several breaths. He didn't know if he had the strength.

'You can do it,' Crowley told him. 'You've still got one leg.'

'Okay,' Cas whispered. He placed his palms against the desk and prepared to rest his weight on them. His right thigh screamed as Cas pushed with all his might, swaying dangerously as he struggled to find balance. His dead leg twisted beneath him, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He hugged the wall as he made his way over to the phone to call Hannah.

'I'm coming back up,' he told her, his breath ragged. 'I'm decontaminating, please send the elevator down in about an hour.'

'Is that a good idea?' Hannah asked.

'Crowley's staying in quarantine, don't worry.'

'Okay. I'll send someone down to get you.'

Cas thought about arguing, but he knew he might not be able to make it all the way back on his own. 'All right, but they don't come any further than the offices.'

'Fine. We'll be ready.'

Cas hung up the phone, then began the daunting journey to decontamination. Getting undressed was an effort, wrangling his unwieldy leg whilst trying not to fall over, and clinging to the pipes to hold himself up while his functional leg left the floor.

Once decontamination was over, Cas was forced to rest. His leg was threatening to give out at any moment, so he lowered himself to the ground, with a sturdy pipe nearby to haul himself up again. He didn't allow himself long to rest, just enough that his leg could hold him up for the distance from decontamination to the other side of the quarantine bay.

Crowley watched him intently, occasionally offering words of encouragement, and Cas finally made it beyond the quarantine.

Anna and Kevin were waiting for him on the other side, and rushed to him the moment they saw him. He let them take his weight and walk him to the elevator.

'How's Crowley?' Anna asked as they were lifted away from the biohazard labs.

'He's pulling through,' Cas said tiredly.

'You should have come back up earlier,' Kevin admonished, shifting to allow Cas to lean on him more.

Cas just shrugged. He was rapidly losing energy and couldn't spare any to argue.

'Help me to comms,' he said to them when the elevator door opened on the main floor.

'Cas, you should lay down-' Anna began.

'Not yet,' Cas interrupted. 'It's important.'

'Okay.'

They walked him through the garden, and he breathed in the smell of earth and plant life for the first time in days. It cleared his head and kept him moving forward, despite his uncooperative limbs.

Hannah was ready for them in the comms room, and helped Cas into a chair. She pressed some buttons on the computer. 'Okay, broadcasting.'

Cas nodded and took a deep breath. 'Major Novak, Svalbard facility, for Commander Winchester, U.S.S Impala, come in.' He didn't expect an immediate response, but several minutes passed in silence, so he repeated himself. 'Major Novak, Svalbard facility, for Commander Winchester, U.S.S Impala, come in.' But there was still silence. Cas's chest tightened. What if they'd been overrun? What if something had happened? 'Major Novak, Svalbard facility, for Commander Winchester, U.S.S Impala, please respond.'

Then, at last, the response came through the speakers.

'We're reading you, Svalbard,' said Charlie's voice, and Cas let out a sigh of relief. 'The commander's on his way.'

Despite everything, Cas smiled, and his heart jumped to his throat. After all this time, he would finally hear Dean's voice again, and then perhaps he could rest.

He waited with bated breath, then:

'Impala receiving, this is Commander Winchester. You there, Svalbard?'

Cas couldn't speak for a moment. It was like music, washing over him and lighting up all the parts of him that could still feel. He cleared his throat.

'Yes. Hello, Dean.'

He heard Dean inhale sharply on the other end.

'Hey, Cas,' he said, and Cas could hear the smile in his voice. 'It's good to hear from you.'

'You too.' Cas shook his head, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. 'Dean - Commander - we found something, and we need your help.'

'Wait, seriously? You got something?' Dean said, elated. 'Of course we'll help, what do you need?'

Cas glanced up at Anna, Kevin and Hannah, who were all listening. 'I'll send you the reports,' Cas said evasively. 'Will - will you come?'

'You got it.'

Cas closed his eyes and forced back the emotion rising in his throat. 'All right, I'll get Charlie access to the files, and Crowley will explain everything when you get here.'

'Wait, Crowley? Why not you?'

The moment Cas was dreading had arrived. 'I - I don't think I'll be here,' he said, tearing up. 'My implants don't have much left to give.'

Dean was silent for a long moment. 'I'll be there in two weeks,' he said, a note of determination entering his voice.

'Dean, I don't think I can make it two weeks.'

'You can,' Dean said firmly. 'You can, and you will. That's an order, Major.'

Tears slid down Cas's cheeks. 'Yes, sir,' he murmured.

'We'll be there. You can count on it. Impala out.'

'Svalbard out.'

Cas wiped his cheeks, then turned back to Anna and Kevin. 'Can you please help me to my room?'

Anna and Kevin once again took him to the arms and helped him back to the elevator.

'Where's Jack?' Cas asked when they got to his room, and he saw that the crib was empty.

'He's with one of the medics,' Kevin told him. 'Do you want me to get him?'

Cas shook his head and sat awkwardly at his desk. 'I need to sleep. I'm not going to be much use to him right now.'

Kevin nodded. 'Call us if you need anything, okay?'

Anna and Kevin departed, leaving Cas alone to his laptop and his thoughts.

His energy was rapidly fading, so he quickly dumped his files into the open channel for Charlie to collect, then climbed into bed, fully dressed, and fell into deep slumber.

Welcome back! Thanks to Kathy for the review! See you next time :)