Revelations

Receptive

Dragging his brother out on a hunt was like trying to haul two heavy sacks of potatoes up the steps of the bunker. In short, Dean refused to comply with gaining satisfaction from anything else but his bed.

The bunker was dangerously empty. Sam wandered around as if he was in zombie land. And the simplest clank of the air conditioner set him in a tizzy.

He ate breakfast, lunch and dinner alone. Most times, he carried Dean's meals into his room and would find his brother knocked out on the bed, curled over a pillow protectively. And other times, the pounding sounds of Led Zeppelin were now replaced with soppy rock love ballads like 'Love Hurts' from Nazareth.

If Sam expressed to anyone that the depressed state his brother had been drowning in hadn't been tearing him apart, then that would be a blatant lie. So after the second week when Castiel didn't show up at the bunker to at least talk to Dean, Sam decided that he would really and truly, make a deal with an angel and not a demon. What could go wrong? He had nothing to lose. Heck, Castiel was his best friend. And calling him and faking an emergency was easy as ABC because in less than five minutes, the angel appeared in the bunker's library bearing a stick of pink and blue cotton candy.

"Yes," Cas pinched a bit of the fluff and sucked on it. "Hmm," his blue eyes fluttered close. "Apples. I love apples. Although one might say that it is the forbidden fruit."

"So get this," Sam decided to jump straight to the point, "I have a proposition. And it's kind of a deal. Nothing too dangerous. But hear me out..."

Castiel narrowed his eyes. "Angels don't make deals."

"I know, and...I get why you might say no, but this is a life or death situation here," Sam suddenly offered up a saddened look, "Cas, he isn't getting better. Dean's literally made his bedroom a prison cell. And he never comes out. Hasn't come out for over two weeks. He's in there all the time falling apart, doesn't eat. And I really think that nothing is going to make him better except you."

Castiel shook his head. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Stay in the bunker," Sam held up his hands, fearing that the angel would disappear after the suggestion. "look, you can sleep in your old room. I'll get Dean's laptop for you so you can watch all the Netflix you want. Besides, he's not using it anyway. And you can stay here just in case..." he stopped, swallowing hard.

"Just in case what, Sam?" Cas frowned.

Sam hated to voice his concerns. "Just in case Dean decides to do something stupid. He's been abusing the medicine cabinet. I had to clear it out a couple days ago but I'm not sure I frisked all the bottles away from him."

"Are you trying to tell me that Dean is so far gone, that he might kill himself?" Cas' voice broke as his eyes glistened with tears.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that he's rock bottom right now. And he's heading further down south."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Cas furrowed his brows, terribly upset and worried. "A text. A call."

"After the last meeting when you left, you kind of gave off the vibe that you needed your space and wanted nothing to do with him for a while," Sam provided with a shrug. "I thought that you should be able to make your own decision. But now, the way things are going, all he's got is you and me. And I can't do it alone because I'm not the one he's in love with. You are."

Sighing, Castiel allowed a few seconds to slip by. Within that time, he was really calculating the risks and consequences of what he had done by staying away. This shouldn't have escalated so far to a point of self-destruction. Never before had Dean showed signs of ultimately locking himself away to degrade. He fought. He pushed on. He found some way to rise up on his feet and join the hunt.