The Angel, The Hunter and The Nephilim (Destiel x Daughter)

21. Shock Waves

Another hour has gone by. Sam has gone home, Cas is still asleep after his exhausting wait, and Dean has spent the past hour talking to this Adam Milligan when a nurse comes out of a room and calls for Leah Winchester's family.
Dean gets up instantly and looks the nurse straight in the eyes. Adam gets up too, staring at Dean with a surprised look on his face.
"How... how is she?" Dean asks. The pressure is unbearable. He quietly thanks God that Cas is not awake right now.
The nurse gives him a comforting smile. "Her heart is beating steadily and her breathing is almost non-existent, almost being the key word. She's being warmed up and she's fighting. She's still unconscious and cold, but you can come in and see her now."
Dean palely turns to his new friend, a lone tear rolling down his cheek. "Do you mind looking over Cas while I go see my daughter?" he asks and slides the back of his hand across his cheek to wipe his face. "He needs his sleep right now. He's been up and strong for way too long."
"No problem," Adam says, "but did she say Winchester?" he asks, stopping Dean in his tracks as he's about to follow the nurse. He stops and turns around. "Yeah, she did, my daughter, Leah Winchester?"
"My father was a Winchester," Adam says.
"It's a somewhat common name," Dean adds, wondering where the stranger is going with this.
"Do you know of a John Winchester?" Adam asks, and Dean freezes and then frowns. "What about him?"
"That was my father's name."
Dean shakes his head to clear his mind. "I'm sorry, Adam, I just have to go see my daughter. I will be back soon, okay?" he asks, leaving his probable relative behind in the waiting room to look after his husband.

Dean's heart breaks all over again when he walks into the room and sees his little girl on a hospital bed, her arms wrapped around her own body protectively, her fingers blue as well as her lips. He shudders when he touches her shoulder and sits down by the bedside. A nurse is supervising the young Winchester and checking her vitals while tucking her closer into the warming blankets.
"Leah, honey," Dean mumbles softly. "My little girl, I'm so sorry I wasn't here. Please, you have to stop doing this. You have to stop putting yourself in danger. I know you're hurt and I know you're scared, but please don't do this. It's not only killing you, it's killing me and Cas too."
The nurse stops for a second and sends him a supporting look before going back to changing the heating blankets that are slowly getting Leah back to a normal body temperature. There's a jump in heart activity when she places a pad on Leah's shoulder and Dean's daughter's eyelids start fluttering, she's finally able to open her eyes.
But they're not Dean's jade green eyes like a field on a summer's day anymore. They're cold, dull, her irises a haunting light blue, Dean doesn't recognize her beautiful eyes anymore.
"Leah," he whispers and leans down, kissing her forehead lovingly. "It's gonna be okay, honey, it's going to be okay, I'm right here. You're safe now."
Her throat starts making strange noises, Dean assumes she's trying to speak, and she's breathing hard through her nose, fast. The heart rate goes up, and he realizes she's scared, scared for her life.
"Leah, shh, you're safe, you're right here in my arms and I'm not letting anyone force you to do anything you don't wanna do, okay? Whether it's locking you down in psych or having you stay another week at the hospital. I promise, when you feel better, we're gonna take you home. Okay?"
"No," she whimpers, her teeth gritted, her heart rate still growing. "No, no, no." Noisy squeaks. Dean strokes her hair again and again, thankful she can't fight back but afraid she's going to anyway, and getting hurt in the process.
"Shh," he keeps whispering. "Shh, nobody's gonna take you away. You have my promise, kiddo, I promise." He doesn't know what she's trying to say, but he knows she's panicking; maybe she just really wanted to die and she's angry and afraid because they stopped her, again, that she didn't succeed. Or maybe she doesn't recognize him at the moment, maybe she's seeing things.
"Is it possible that she doesn't recognize me or that she's hallucinating or something?" Dean asks the nurse and she stops for a moment, her head slightly tilted.
"It's possible, she was out for a long time, dressed minimally. I see that her eyes have changed color, they're gonna go back to their original color when she's at a normal temperature, I assume," she adds- "I'll have a doctor look at it later." She walks up to Leah and points her small flashlight into her eyes. The pupils stay the same size. The nurse sighs. "Leah, can you see me?" she asks softly.
"I can't see anything," Leah whispers, and it runs cold down Dean's back. What if his daughter will never be able to see anything ever again?
"It's okay, Leah," Dean says helplessly, "you'll be able to see again when you're feeling better, okay? Until then you might have to stay in the hospital, but that's a good thing. You're gonna get better, I promise," he whispers and kisses her hand which he holds really tight in his, the cold claw-like blue fingertips in his.
"Where's dad?" Leah asks. Dean finds the sound of her voice heartbreaking but it's better than not hearing her voice ever again.
"Do you want Cas? I'll go get him," Dean says and lets go of her hand to get up. She cries out when he lets go of her. "Don't go, daddy, I don't wanna be alone, I can't see anything, I'm so scared," she sobs, and Dean turns around and immediately sits back down with her.
"I'll go get your husband," the nurse says and she's suddenly left the room without the oldest Winchester even noticing.
"I know you can't see anything, Leah," Dean whispers softly through her sobs, and he holds her cold, weary body in his arms. "But I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere if you don't want me to. And whatever you think, whatever you believe - know that I am not going to leave you behind, not ever. Okay?"
"Am I ever gonna see again?" she asks weakly and Dean strokes her cheek carefully.
"Of course you are, the eyesight is gonna be back in a couple of days, I promise." He curses himself for making more promises he doesn't know for sure he's gonna be able to keep, but it seems like it calms a part of the shaking, blubbery, terrified mess that is his nephilim daughter.

Castiel stumbles into the room a minute later, his face raw from crying, his tears still not dry, his face concerned and old and gray-looking. Dean reaches his hand out for his husband and gestures him to sit down by their daughter's bedside. Cas reaches his hand out and strokes Leah's hair in a stiff motion. She jumps in surprise of the sudden affection of the new, quiet person on her bedside.
"It's okay, sweetheart, it's just Cas," Dean whispers and strokes her hand.
"Dad," Leah whispers and reaches a hand out to touch him, but she can't, she's still too frozen.
"Hey, you," Cas says, he's tired. He clears his voice.
"Whats wrong, dad?" Leah asks, and she tries to look in his direction, following his presence.
"What's wrong is that you disappeared again, on my watch while Dean was away, while he was trying to find you help. I'm sure he told you that you can't keep doing this, you can't keep running away when you're hurt or afraid. I've been so worried I thought I was going to die along with you." His voice raises a bit while he speaks.
"But I didn't die," she shakily whispers after a moment of silence.
"No, but you could have, you were very close to death, and you're still not out of danger," Cas exclaims. "What if you never get your eyesight back? What if you can never move the way you did before, not dance the way you did, not sing the way you did? These are the things you need to think about before you try to do something like this for attention!"
"Whoa, Cas, I think that's enough now," Dean protests and reaches out a hand above his daughter, trying to get Cas to settle down.
"And you," Cas says turning to his husband, his voice suddenly another's, "I've stood by you while you were hating yourself. For matters concerning your past, or concerning Leah from the minute she walked into our lives," he starts, and Dean hastily tries to shush him, afraid Leah is gonna figure out they have no idea where she came from, and he's shocked and afraid of his husband for this sudden snapping.
"I've held you both while you've been falling asleep, both broken, both messed up, I've lived through your crap day after day these past years. Always have you searched to each other, always have I been in the background. You know what? She's not my daughter," Cas says, and Dean flies out of his chair, his eyes widening to the point where the nurse, standing in the background and ready to call for security, is afraid they're gonna pop out of his skull.
"She was your daughter from the beginning, she was never mine. Has she ever looked at me like a dad?" he asks and gets up, and filling the silence is Leah's weakened, trembling voice, "yes, I have, you are my dad."
Cas shakes his head, and Dean is just standing there staring at him, overrun by shock that these words are coming from the man he married.
"I was never your dad. Dean is your dad. Your mom is another story - one daddy can tell," he says and goes for the door, where he stops. "Oh, and Leah is not a nephilim. I just told you and Sam she was so I could spend my life with you while protecting her. Your ten years are up. I'm out of here," he says and the door to the hospital room slams behind him. Leah can't see but she doesn't feel Cas' presence in the room anymore and she cries out for him, she screams his name. She can hear that Dean is still there by his rapid breathing, and she's wondering why he hasn't gone after him yet.
"Daddy, tell me he didn't leave," she sobs. "Dad, dad, please come back," she cries. The nurse is cowering in the corner of the room, shocked by the events, clutching the phone, she still hasn't been able to call security in case the situation worked itself out.
"Daddy," Leah's weak voice sounds out into the room. "You promised me you wouldn't leave me. Please don't go. Please. I'm so scared. I'm so scared," she sobs. Slowly, she feels a presence closer to the bed, a warm hand embracing hers, a light drop in the mattress and another hand lovingly stroking over her hair. Leah sniffles. "Please get dad back, please don't leave me like everyone else did," she whispers.
"He went after him," the nurse replies with a sad voice. Leah jumps and draws a shaky breath and disappears back into unconsciousness.