After The Fall
Title: After The Fall
Author: familybizness
Summary: Eh, there's no plot, just a teeny little thing.
Rating: PG
The first good day in Hawaii is a Thursday. None of them notice how many of the best days are Thursdays. Dean and Christa were married on a Thursday. Jude was released from the hospital on a Thursday. They talk about Thursday like it’s a cute affectation he has. They all ignore the fact that Thursdays are the days that shape the best parts of their lives.
The sun is coming through the window, and the first thing he’s aware of isn’t the pain, it’s the warmth. He can hear the children laughing outside, and the sea birds complaining. For the first time since his accident, Castiel feels his family around him. It’s good. Safe.
Comfortable.
He stretches a little, experimentally. Fire immediately shoots through the muscles of his back to the tips of his wings, making him gasp. No moving yet. But as long as he holds himself still, it isn’t bad.
Maybe this is what healing feels like.
The door opens. “Hey, Angel.”
Sam’s voice is so soft. Has he been speaking this softly the whole time? “Hello, Sam.”
“Oh, you’re talking!” Sam crosses the room and kneels beside the bed, and Castiel closes his eyes as Sam presses a kiss to the top of his head. “Cas.”
“Mmm. I missed you.”
“Oh God, you sound so much better.”
“It feels better.”
“Can I look?” Sam’s fingers explore carefully down the back of Castiel’s neck.
“I...do you have to?”
“Someone should. I can get Dean or Christa if you’d rather.”
“No.” He’s shy, suddenly, even though his wings have been out for weeks and everyone’s gotten a look, even though Christa’s the one who helped him inside when she found him on the beach. Even though it was Dean who cleaned him up, stitched up the tears and picked out all the broken feathers while Castiel wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist like a tree trunk and tried not to scream.
“No?” Sam’s fingers are in his hair, scratching his scalp. It’s been so long since something felt good.
“Just you, please.”
Sam is so, so careful as he removes the bandages. He stops every few seconds and moves his hands to Castiel’s arms, neck, hips. “Okay?”
“Okay.” He can hear the stress in his voice. What did he sound like before, if this is so much better?
Sam blows a breath of cool air on his back. “Almost done.”
He feels the moment when the last of the bandages is lifted away. The air is colder and closer than it’s ever been. It feels like it’s right up against his bones.
“Oh…” Sam inhales sharply and sneezes twice in a row. His hand skitters against the small of Cas’s back.
“Are you okay?”
Sam sneezes again and curls forward with the force of it. He is so close to Castiel’s wings now.
“Sam? What’s wrong?”
There’s the softest touch, just between his shoulders. “Your feathers are growing back.”
“They are?”
Sam bends to kiss his shoulder and ends up sneezing and laughing and Castiel feels his breath moving through new feathers, and the sea birds sing.
Author: familybizness
Summary: Eh, there's no plot, just a teeny little thing.
Rating: PG
The first good day in Hawaii is a Thursday. None of them notice how many of the best days are Thursdays. Dean and Christa were married on a Thursday. Jude was released from the hospital on a Thursday. They talk about Thursday like it’s a cute affectation he has. They all ignore the fact that Thursdays are the days that shape the best parts of their lives.
The sun is coming through the window, and the first thing he’s aware of isn’t the pain, it’s the warmth. He can hear the children laughing outside, and the sea birds complaining. For the first time since his accident, Castiel feels his family around him. It’s good. Safe.
Comfortable.
He stretches a little, experimentally. Fire immediately shoots through the muscles of his back to the tips of his wings, making him gasp. No moving yet. But as long as he holds himself still, it isn’t bad.
Maybe this is what healing feels like.
The door opens. “Hey, Angel.”
Sam’s voice is so soft. Has he been speaking this softly the whole time? “Hello, Sam.”
“Oh, you’re talking!” Sam crosses the room and kneels beside the bed, and Castiel closes his eyes as Sam presses a kiss to the top of his head. “Cas.”
“Mmm. I missed you.”
“Oh God, you sound so much better.”
“It feels better.”
“Can I look?” Sam’s fingers explore carefully down the back of Castiel’s neck.
“I...do you have to?”
“Someone should. I can get Dean or Christa if you’d rather.”
“No.” He’s shy, suddenly, even though his wings have been out for weeks and everyone’s gotten a look, even though Christa’s the one who helped him inside when she found him on the beach. Even though it was Dean who cleaned him up, stitched up the tears and picked out all the broken feathers while Castiel wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist like a tree trunk and tried not to scream.
“No?” Sam’s fingers are in his hair, scratching his scalp. It’s been so long since something felt good.
“Just you, please.”
Sam is so, so careful as he removes the bandages. He stops every few seconds and moves his hands to Castiel’s arms, neck, hips. “Okay?”
“Okay.” He can hear the stress in his voice. What did he sound like before, if this is so much better?
Sam blows a breath of cool air on his back. “Almost done.”
He feels the moment when the last of the bandages is lifted away. The air is colder and closer than it’s ever been. It feels like it’s right up against his bones.
“Oh…” Sam inhales sharply and sneezes twice in a row. His hand skitters against the small of Cas’s back.
“Are you okay?”
Sam sneezes again and curls forward with the force of it. He is so close to Castiel’s wings now.
“Sam? What’s wrong?”
There’s the softest touch, just between his shoulders. “Your feathers are growing back.”
“They are?”
Sam bends to kiss his shoulder and ends up sneezing and laughing and Castiel feels his breath moving through new feathers, and the sea birds sing.