The Last Goodbye

12

Sam was abruptly jolted from deep within a dream. Awareness flooded his sleeping mind, and he registered the angel violently shaking his shoulders. Sam blinked his heavy eyes into focus and grabbed Cas' forearms to release his hold on him.

The hunter snarled, "What....what the hell, Cas?"

Castiel released him and stepped back. He straightened his posture in an attempt to salvage his composure.

"Dean left, Sam. He is in danger."

Sam grit his teeth and swung his feet to the floor. How is this my life? He didn't address the angel until after he was dressed with an athletic bag packed with weapons slung over his shoulder. "Where did he go?" he finally asked.

Cas looked away from Sam's scrutiny, "I don't know."

Sam cocked his head, "Well, why did he leave, then?"

The angel looked to his feet, "I believe he is upset with me."

Sam couldn't help but roll his eyes. Jesus, they are dysfunctional. "How do you know he's in trouble? Did he call you?"

Castiel's arm reached into a pocket of his trench coat to retrieve a phone that he then placed into Sam's hand. "He left his phone," Sam pressed the unlock button and a picture of the impala lit up the screen. "He prayed to me... He was taken by angels, Sam," Cas fought nauseating warmth that filled his chest and he strained against his instinctual panic. He couldn't shake the fear he sensed from Dean in that fleeting prayer.

Sam noticed guilt consuming his friend. He raised a hand to the angel's shoulder and squeezed, "We'll find him, man."

Sam cringed as he climbed behind the steering wheel of Cas' gold eyesore of a car. He started the ignition and looked over to Cas, "Where's Elle?"

Cas relaxed awkwardly back into his seat in an effort to mask the tension that gripped him at the mention of her. "She left not long after Dean. Go south- I think I know where he was when they found him."

Sam followed Cas' directions, and they drove for 2 hours in near silence before Cas spoke.

"Look, Sam," Cas pointed ahead. Sam saw Baby pulled over on a dirt shoulder maybe a couple hundred yards ahead. He crawled to a stop behind his brother's visibly empty car. Both men crawled from their vehicle and cautiously inspected the impala. Sam sat in the driver's seat to remove the key from the beeping ignition.

"Do you know where they'd take him, Cas?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I think he's unconscious. He would be praying if he wasn't."

The hunter and angel silently sulked on the side of the rural Kansas highway for half an hour before they were interrupted. When Elle appeared in front of the impala, Sam slammed his knee into the steering wheel trying to jump up out of the car.

"I know where Dean is," she stated.