Title: Dark
Author: gilesbabe
Rating: PG
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Word Count: 1043
Spoilers: Season six - after The French Mistake.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Dean is hurt and there is no sign of Castiel
Authors Notes: I am attempting to jump start a HUGH writer’s block by doing some snapshots. The stories will all be part a one story arc. This is my first Supernatural story, please be kind.
Dark
Dean floated in the dark.
It was comfortable, soft, and he didn’t want to wake up, but there was this annoying beeping sound. He tried to ignore it, but it was getting louder. Why was the clock radio set for alarm instead of music, and why wasn’t Sam turning it off? He must have already gotten up and gone for breakfast. Dean frowned, looks like he was getting up whether he wanted to or not. He turned over and reached for the bed side table.
Or rather, he tried to turn over. He couldn’t move. His arms were tied to rails on the sides of the bed. Dean lifted his head and opened his eyes, but was met by darkness. He couldn’t open his eyes; there was a blindfold over them. He franticly pulled at his arms, trying to get them free. The beeping sound increased in tempo. Dean heard footsteps racing down a hallway.
There was a thump, the sound of a body hitting a wall, then Sam’s voice. “Dean, calm down. I’m here.” A large hand grabbed his right arm. “Stop, you’ll pull out your IV’s. Dean, it’s me, I’m here.”
Dean stopped struggling. “Sam, what’s going on? Where am I?” Dean panted and he could hear the beeping racing even faster. “What the hell is that noise? Can you turn it off?”
Sam’s hand moved up to Dean shoulder. “Dean, you are in the hospital, and, no I can’t turn the heart monitor off. The nurses would kick me out if I messed with the equipment.”
“Heart monitor? Sam, what the hell happened?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Dean stopped and concentrated. “Yelling at Cas for using us as a distraction so he could get the weapons.”
“You remember the damage to Bobby’s window?”
“Yeah.” He thought for a minute. “We put some of the plastic that Bobby uses in the winter across the window until it could be fixed.”
“Right, that’s what we did that night. Then the next morning we decided to go into town and get some plywood sheets and board it up.”
Dean shook his head. “I don’t remember anything past putting up the plastic and going to bed.”
“We took one of Bobby’s clunkers because you didn’t want to put the plywood in the back of the Impala. It needed gas, so we stopped at a convenience store. You told me to start filling it up and you went in to pay and get us some coffee.” Sam stopped.
“And?”
“And boom. I don’t know exactly what happened; I was getting ready to fill the tank so my back was to the store. It was only a few seconds after I turned around when there was an explosion. The store had one of those racks full of propane tanks that people buy for their grills. The police think that a propane tank was leaking and someone lit a lighter or a match. One of the tanks was in pieces, but thankfully none of the others blew.” Dean heard Sam swallow and take a deep breath.
“I turned around and you were laying there. At first I thought you were dead. It looked really bad. There was no warning, so you didn’t have time to try to protect your face. There was a lot of flying debris and it really cut you up.” Sam stopped again.
“How bad?”
“The doctor said that you would need surgery later. For the scaring.”
“Why the heart monitor?”
“It was touch and go for a while. You coded twice the first night.”
“The first night? How long have I been here?”
“Four days.”
For a moment Dean couldn’t breathe. “I’ve been out for four days? Why didn’t you call Cas?”
There was a long silence. “I tried. The second day, when Bobby got here, I went back out to the yard and called for him. I yelled until I was hoarse, but he never showed. I even went to the chapel here in the hospital and prayed for him. Bobby did too, but we didn’t get an answer.”
Dean shook his head. “No, Cas wouldn’t ignore something like this. I mean, he probably wouldn’t fix me while I’m in here cause it would raise too many questions, but he would pop in and let me know that he would take care of things when I got out.”
Sam hesitated again. “Dean, I’m not sure but for just a split second, when I first turned around, I thought I saw Cas bending over you. Then there was a flash, and he was gone. At the time I wasn’t sure, but later, after he didn’t answer, I .....” he trailed off.
“Sam, what are you saying?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to think the last few days. I don’t think the explosion was an accident. I think you were supposed to be hurt.”
Dean drew in a quick breath. “A trap for Cas.”
“I think so. Like you said, he wouldn’t stay away with you hurt like this. The only reason he hasn’t been here is because something is stopping him.”
There was another silence, then Dean said, “You’re not telling me everything. Give it to me straight, Sam. What else is wrong?”
“Like I said, there was a lot of flying debris. Both of your eyes were damaged. The doctors don’t know for sure, they needed to wait until you woke up to run the tests, but.....” his voice trailed off again.
Dean swallowed. “I’m blind.”
“They don’t know, but it seems likely. If not total blindness, at least diminished vision in both eyes.”
Dean heard the beeping sound speed up again, but the noise was fading, as was the sound of Sam yelling for the nurse. He was surrounded by muffling blackness, and he once again floated away into the dark.