Angelic Big Bang, SPN, "Taking Ten Steps Home," Part 4/10
Title: Taking Ten Steps Home
Fandom: SPN
Genre: Romance/Angst/Character-centric
Characters/Pairings: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Crowley, Bobby Singer, Leviathans; Dean/Castiel
Word Count: 10,279
Rating: R for frottage in the back of the Impala
Spoilers: 7x01, 7x02
Notes: Breaks from canon after the first few minutes of 7x02.
Beta: skylar_matthews
Summary: Castiel swore he'd find a way to redeem himself to Dean. This is how the story goes.
Four:
“So, basically, we’re just gonna keep trying different shit until we figure out what the fuck kills these bastards?” Dean asks, limping into the room. He is on the phone with Bobby. “Great.”
Sam is unconscious on the couch, and Castiel sits on the very kitchen chair Sam had occupied not two weeks ago when Castiel was the one unconscious. Castiel thinks of the odd role reversal for a moment before Dean growls something unintelligible and hangs up on Bobby.
“What’s been tried already?” Castiel asks, vacating the chair.
Dean’s eyes are on Sam as he lists off the failures: “Fire, silver, stakes from a hell of a lot of kinds of trees, salt, iron, gold - pretty much everything we’re familiar with.”
“Phoenix ash?”
“We don’t have a way to get at that,” Dean grumbles. “An’ I don’t think that’ll work, either.”
“There has to be something,” Castiel says quietly, attempting to soothe. “Every living creature has some kind of weakness - angels are weak to angelic blades, most creatures to the Colt’s bullets, certain pagan gods and goddesses to things sacred to them. We just have to find what the Leviathans will fall to.”
Dean is still looking at Sam - it is clear that what is really bothering him is Sam’s current condition.
Castiel also worries for Sam, who has been unconscious for sixty hours from their last altercation with a Leviathan who had said that the Winchesters are on the top of their hit list. No one is surprised by that particular bit of information - Castiel supposes they’ve been lucky thus far that no previous enemy has gone straight for the Winchesters and made their deaths a prime goal.
Everyone was injured in that particular fight - Dean had sprained his ankle and his knee on the same leg, Bobby sported a long, deep gash along his right arm, and Castiel…
Castiel has discovered that his “mojo” is mostly depleted. He cannot heal anyone, and he cannot teleport more than himself for distances greater than a mile without becoming incredibly dizzy. He nearly lost a hand checking to see if he could exorcise one of the Leviathans, but to no effect. Dean has forbidden him from trying again even after he’s back at one hundred percent.
“He look like he’s gonna wake up anytime soon?” Dean asks, finally looking at Castiel.
“I don’t know. And you should sit down - all of this pacing through the house cannot be good for your leg.” Castiel gestures to the chair he has vacated.
Dean doesn’t seem inclined to sit, if the way his eyes dart from Castiel to the chair to Sam and back again is any indication. Castiel freezes, wondering if he’s managed to take a step backward from even this kind of tentative conversation.
Eventually, though, Dean limps into the kitchen and drags in another chair.
Castiel understands - Dean doesn’t have to ask him to stay. He sits back down, and Dean joins him, his eyes not moving from Sam’s face. Castiel feels another wash of shame. While this particular incident had not been directly his fault, Sam would likely have been awake by now if not for the fact that Castiel had meddled with his mind before.
They sit like that in silence for a long while, Dean so vulnerable as he watches Sam, and Castiel watching everything but Dean for once. Today, watching Dean feels like intruding on a private moment.
Eventually, Castiel stands up and makes his way into the kitchen. He isn’t hungry, but he knows that Dean must need something. So he works his way systematically through Bobby’s pantries as he looks for something he knows that Dean likes.
He finds a saran-wrapped piece of cherry pie in the refrigerator, and fights with the microwave for a minute before getting the pie warmed.
He brings it to Dean, who accepts it gratefully, looking up at Castiel with soft eyes. He doesn’t say anything, and Castiel sinks back down into his chair as they wait for Bobby’s return - or Sam’s awakening, whichever happens first.
The silence stretches on, but it takes on an ominous tone, like the calm before a storm. It is not Dean - Dean is calm, and seems only unhappy. It is something else, and the only thing that keeps Castiel from fidgeting is the fact that he does not want Dean to worry. So he waits, feeling something on the horizon but unable to do anything about it.
Soon, though, he smells smoke and senses them.
Hello, angel, they whisper, Angel-that-was, anyway.
Castiel tenses, and Dean notices. He must smell the smoke too, though he cannot hear the voices of the Leviathans. That is Castiel’s burden alone, they’ve discovered.
“Get Sam out of here, please,” Dean murmurs. “I know it’s gonna - just, please.”
“Not without you,” Castiel says automatically.
Dean shakes his head emphatically. “I can’t drag the both of you around until we find a safe spot. If we’re gonna lose Bobby’s house, I want you and Sammy as far away as possible.”
Castiel bites his lip and looks Dean straight in the eye. He doesn’t want to leave Dean here - there is no way he can get out alone.
But Dean is asking him to protect Sam, and that gesture of trust - he cannot deny the chance.
“Please don’t die,” he whispers, as the smoke starts coming up around them.
Dean nods. “Hey, betcha I’ve still got that get-out-of-death-free card,” he jokes, but he looks at Castiel with the eyes of a dying man. “Or frequent dier miles or something.”
“Promise me.” The words slip out before Castiel can stop them.
“I…yeah. I promise.” Dean’s expression strengthens, and Castiel turns to Sam, who is still unconscious.
He lifts him into his arms and concentrates on a point half a mile away, on the outskirts of town, deep in the woods. Somewhere to keep safe until he can get to a motel.
They make it, and Castiel collapses onto the ground. He forces himself to remain conscious, though he cannot move at all. His vessel is protesting the teleportation with every fiber it has, and he groans.
Finally, it is too much, and he blacks out.