Supernatural One Shots

Fear of

Dr. Dean Winchester has been at the hospital for almost twenty-four hours.

He's sitting at the circulation desk eating from a bag of potato chips, wondering why he volunteered for the night shift when a nurse hands him a tablet. "Patient. Bed six." She walks away.

Dean groans. He continues to eat while he studies the chart.

Castiel Novak. Male. 38 years old. Fever of 105. High blood pressure. Low pulse ox. Complaints of fatigue, fever, nausea, persistent and productive cough. Brought in because of hallucinations brought on by the high fever.

And then, below all of that, in bold letters: Patient has a fear of hospitals. That would explain the high blood pressure and why this patient didn't see a doctor sooner.

Dean throws away his empty bag of chips and walks to bed six. In it sits a man who he assumes would be handsome if not for the sickly pallor. The tousled black hair and blue eyes are what really gets him. "Mr. Novak?" Dean asks.

Dean notes the man's tight grip on his blanket. He clears his throat. "Yes."

"I'm Dr. Winchester." Mr. Novak nods. His anxiety is so obvious that it probably didn't even need to be written in the chart. Because of this, Dean adds, "But you can call me Dean, if that makes you more comfortable."

"Call me Castiel, then." He smiles but in an uncomfortable way.

Dean smiles back. "So, Castiel, do you mind telling me what brought you in here today?"

Castiel's eyes dart across the room. "Um... I, uh..."

So Dean takes the initiative. "You've had a fever." Cas looks back at him and nods slowly. "High enough to cause hallucinations?" Cas nods. "Could you please elaborate on that for me?"

"My brothers knew I was sick. I've been sick for a week, almost two. They came to visit me and, um, well I don't know. I just woke up in the car on the way to the hospital."

Rather than asking more questions since that seems to be making Cas uncomfortable, Dean offers the information that require confirmation rather than answers. "So you've been having symptoms of a cold, correct? Fever, headache, coughing, some nausea, lack of appetite?" Castiel nods again. "Now the coughing – is that dry or wet?"

"Wet." Dean notices his fists tightening around the blankets again; it seems to happen each time he answers a question.

"Have you been coughing up mucus?" Castiel winces almost imperceptibly. "Sorry. Gross question." Dean smiles briefly, hopefully encouragingly.

"Yes, I have."

Dean sets the chart down. "Okay. I'll start my physical examination now." This time, Cas' whole body tenses. Dean recalls his sensitivity training in med school and the seminar they had a couple months back. "All I need to do is listen to your heart and lungs and look in your ears, nose, and throat." Telling a nervous patient what you're about to do before you do it is usually helpful. Making conversation is said to help as well so that's exactly what Dean does.

"So the brothers you mentioned, are they here?" He walks alongside the bed to the wall, picking up the otoscope.

"I sent them down to the gift shop or cafeteria or something. Gabriel was trying to make me feel better by joking about hot nurses, and Balthazar was just hovering."

"I'm just gonna look in your ear real quick." Dean puts the tip of the otoscope in Castiel's ear. "Balthazar. That's a strange name." No redness or other sign of infection. "Can you turn so I can look in the other ear?"