Fallen From Grace

Chapter Three: Human

The first thing Cas noticed when he had regained consciousness was he was warm, and on something comfortable. When he opened his eyes, he was blinded by the light of wherever he was and it had taken sometime for his eyes to adjust to the unfamiliar lighting.

When he was able to see properly, he looked around. This place was so familiar. Where was he? Why couldn't he remember where he was? He wracked his brain, trying to remember. Something, anything.

A knock disturbed the ex-angel from his thoughts. "Cas? You awake yet?" A voice called from the other side of the wooden door. It wasn't any voice though, it was Dean's voice. Everything came rushing back to him.

It had been late at night, nearly midnight. He had finally made it to the bunker, he was weak and hurting all over. He knocked, and Dean had answered the door. After that – everything had gone black.

"I gottcha buddy."

It was like a switch inside of his turned on. With all the memories that had flooded back, so had the pain. Everywhere hurt, but the place where the pain was most prominent was in his back, near his shoulder blade. He groaned. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't allow him to move.

The door opened and Dean walked in. "So you are awake, that's always a good sign." He said and walked over to the bed where Cas was lying. He was holding a tray, it looked like it held water and some food. Sam walked into the room a moment later, holding what seemed to look like a first aid kit.

Cas didn't say anything, he was too weak and too parched. His throat felt like sandpaper, he closed his eyes slowly.

"Try and get him to drink something, Dean." Is what was said, but to Cas, it sounded like he was underwater. There was a hand on the back of his head as something cool was pressed against his dry and cracked lips. A small trickle of water made its way down his throat. He slowly opened his eyes, seeing Sam standing at the end of the bed, it must be Dean helping him drink.

He suddenly found himself craving more of the cool liquid that seemed to satisfy what his body now needed. He heard a chuckle. "Easy there Cas, might choke if you drink too quickly."

He sighed silently and settled for the small sips of water that he was offered.

✞✞✞

Cas had ended up drinking three glasses of water and eaten about half a bowl of the soup that had been made. He was feeling much better, but there was still the pain that seemed to flow within his veins. He looked between Dean and Sam, Sam offering him a small smile. "Let's get you fixed up. I think first of all, you need a bath." He nodded slowly, something like that sounded nice right about now.

With the help of both brothers, Cas slowly stood up and on shaky legs walked out the room and into a bathroom that was right across the hall.

✞✞✞

Dean had offered to help Cas with the bath. The ex-angel was reluctant but when the hunter had promised Cas that it wouldn't mean anything. He had given in, on one condition, his underwear stayed on. Dean didn't seem to protest.

The warm water was soothing and he sighed contently as he eased into the bath. He looked down at the water. The clear liquid had quickly turned to a mixture of dirt and blood, it made Cas frown at the sight.

Cas was able to wash his arms, legs, stomach, neck and face. When the dirt and blood washed away a new cut or bruised was revealed. Too many to count. There was just one place Cas couldn't quite reach and that was his back. "Dean, I may need a little help." He said quietly. Also he wasn't as parched his voice was still croaky and it did hurt to talk. "Yeah, course." Came the reply and Dean grabbed the washcloth from Cas.

Dean had been careful, who knew what was under all the dirt and blood. Cas knew exactly what would be there, and he wasn't going to like it. He winced as the washcloth was scraped over one of the gashes.

He heard a gasp. "Cas, what the hell?"

His back was clean, but now what was left were gashes, both around twenty centimetres in length, on Cas's back near his shoulder places. They were deep, and around the edges was dried blood, a deep red in colour – almost black. In some places it seemed the two wounds had already become infected.

"I don't have my wings anymore." His reply was simple, and straight to the point. He tried his best to hide any emotion in his voice but there was a hint of sadness. "They were ripped out."

Cas refused to look up. The dirty water suddenly becoming more interesting than anything around him. Dean sighed.

"Ouch, that must have hurt like a bitch." Cas only nodded, no longer trusting his voice. "Come on, we'll finish cleaning you up then we can get Sammy to look at those wounds." Dean said and Cas heard him shuffling around.

He felt two hands massaging his scalp. It felt nice and Cas closed his eyes, relaxing slightly. But the pain around his body was still there – reminding him he was still injured.

✞✞✞

Once he was cleaned and dressed into a pair of clean underwear and sweatpants that were a little too big for him.

"We'll get you some new clothes soon."

He and Dean made their way back to the room where Cas had woken up. It was a short walk, only a few meters, but Cas was still weak. He leaned slightly on Dean for support as they walked. It had been a wonder Cas had managed to stay walking the whole time before he made it too the bunker.

✞✞✞

Once the wounds had been wrapped, Cas had fallen asleep again. He was still weak and needed as much sleep as possible – although the whole concept of sleeping was still strange to the ex-angel, as well as eating and drinking.

Cas had promised both brothers an explanation as to what was going on. But the two hunters had put two and two together. It was easy to see what was going on.

"He told me that his wings were ripped out."

"And he's eating, drinking and sleeping."

"The small cuts and bruises haven't healed yet. They'd usually be healed the minute they were inflicted."

"...Cas must be human..."