The Story of US

Chapter 16

Castiel had been found on a trail by joggers. Bloody, beaten and non-responsive. The police were no closer to figuring out what had happened than they were at the start. Castiel's brothers Michael and Gabriel were there, grilling nurses and barking orders at the police. Castiel may have thought that his brothers didn't care about him, but as Dean watched them he could see all the love there. Dean hung back and just listened to everyone around him. Meg hadn't let go of his hand since they had gotten there. At this point he was unsure which of them was holding the other together. Dean listened as he heard them talking about Castiel, broken rips, dislocated shoulder, broken jaw. They had him in surgery once they got him stable enough from the exposure to remove his spleen. Even his skull was cracked. Dean felt his stomach flip and then he was retching into a nearby trash can. Meg had followed him and was guarding him from any questions. " Meg who is with you? Can't you get him to be quiet or take him somewhere else? " Michael asked her. " This is Dean you jackass" was all she said. Dean had recovered and was turning to see both of Castiel's brothers looking at him. Meg was still planted between then when Gabriel walked over and leaned close to Dean

" They let me go back, do you want to see him?" Gabriel asked him in a hushed voice. " You too Meg" he added.

Dean just nodded at him and he and Meg followed Gabriel down the hallway. Castiel was in room 2308 and had two armed police officers standing outside his door. They nodded at Gabriel and let the three of them pass into the dark room.

There was a small lamp on in the corner of the room casting a faint light on the bed and the small, bandaged body laying in it. There were so many wires coming out of him. His face was swollen and bruised. Dean could see where they had put stitches in around his lips and eyebrows. Walking slowly over to Castiel's still body, he lightly gripped his hand.

" Why won't he wake up? What have the doctors said?" Dean asked.

Meg had moved to the opposite side of Castiel and was lightly touching his face, her own wet with tears.

" We know that he's stable and all his tests are coming back normal. He simply sleeps. They tell us to give him 48 hours and then we will talk other possible reasons. Right now, maybe he just needs some time." Gabriel told him, standing at the foot of his brothers bed.

" The police will have someone here at all times until he wakes up so that he can tell them who is responsible for this, I swear when we find out who did this..." Gabriel trailed off

" I'll kill the son of a bitch" Dean finished for him, unable to take his eyes off his sleeping boy.

Clearing his throat, Gabriel said " I hate to do this, but no one is supposed to be allowed in but family right now and while I have no problem with it, I know my dad and he will not feel the same way. I promise you I will get in touch if anything changes" He promised.

Meg had walked over to Gabriel and pulled him towards to door, trying to give Dean a moment alone with Castiel. Bending down to brush his lips against his swollen, hot skin, a single tear rolled down Deans cheek as he whispered

" Cas, if you can hear me, I love you more than my own life, please come back to me." With a final kiss, Dean all but ran out of the room, nodding to Gabriel in passing he kept a quick pace to the elevators. He couldn't breath. He had to get out of here.

Meg caught up with him and made their way to the car in silence. There was nothing to say. Sammy had left Baby in the parking lot for him and once inside, Dean felt the ground give way, the love of his life was in there, unrecognizable and hooked up to more machines than Dean had ever seen in his life and there was absolutely nothing that he could do about anything. He couldn't even stay with him and hold his hand. No longer trying to hold anything back, Dean broke down, sobbing so hard he didn't feel Meg push him to the side so she could drive. By the time they reached his apartment he was all cried out. No one said anything as he walked in and went straight to his room. He could hear Meg explaining what they knew so far to everyone.

Dean was laying in the dark, staring but not seeing. The only thing that he could produce in his mind was Castiel's beautiful face. Then his mind corrected the image and all he could see were bandages and monitors. At some point Meg came in and told him she would come back tomorrow. After waiting for any kind of response she gave up and left. Dean was aware of people coming in to try and get him to do something, anything, but he never moved. Sometime in the night he fell asleep only to wake up calling for Castiel and tangled in blankets. Unable to fall back asleep Dean quietly left the apartment and headed to the hospital. He had to be close to him, no matter whether he could see him or not.