I'm Here For You 4/9
Title: I'm Here For You
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Gabriel, Castiel
Spoilers: From 5x18 to 5x21
Summary: Tag to 5x18 "Point of No Return" - Gabriel devotes the week to visiting Castiel in the hospital.
"I am not that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me."
~ William Shakespeare
The next day, Gabriel returned to the hospital, albeit this time, it was as a means of seeking shelter.
Of course he was not hiding, and he most certainly had not just managed to escape with barely all his limbs and his dignity intact from a bunch of nymphs who got lucky and had the jump on him. And this was not a tactical retreat either, since he did not retreat from anybody, especially from an entire horde of naked female immortal deities with a huge enough Jacuzzi to accommodate a football stadium. No, this was sneaking out for a breather and waiting for the heat to die down; Gabriel would be back for them… eventually.
He was still dripping wet when he got to the hospital room, and puddles were already forming underneath him. He was breathing a little hard too, but that was because he just zapped here from Italy.
"You know, bro," Gabriel started, even though he doubted Castiel could hear him right now. "When this end-of-the-world shtick reaches its curtain call, I want you to keep in mind that Naiads get jealous real easily, and that you haven't seen a catfight 'til you see them whack each other silly." he laughed, plopping down at the foot of the bed. "They probably taught you in home-school that water's the most flexible element, right? So trust me when I tell you that those chicks redefined the word 'flexible'!"
Gabriel snickered satisfactorily as he wringed the water out of the corner of his jacket. He was told that the Naiads had some info he was interested in, but the Naiads had wanted a little something in return, something Gabriel was more than willing to oblige. Needless to say, he hardly got the scoop but as of the moment he really was not complaining with what he had received.
He needed to hang out with nymphs a bit more.
Right now, TV was looking like a good option while he chilled, and he doubted it had been used since he put it there, unless his dog figured out how to work the remote.
"Where is the little fella anyway?" Gabriel wondered.
He could always use his powers to locate it immediately, but where was the fun in that? Eventually, he found it next to Castiel, balancing on its hind legs and licking at his little brother's left cheek.
"Okay, as adorable as this is, I don't want Cas to accidentally swallow your slobber. When he's awake, you can do that as much as you want." said Gabriel.
When his dog gave him that puppy-eyed look and yapped, almost pleadingly, it caused Gabriel to have a second glance at Castiel, and that was when he noticed his fever-flushed complexion.
Gabriel was at his little brother's side in an instant and his dog slowly backed off. Castiel's expression was twisted into some semblance of pain or fear or both and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. His eyes were moving rapidly under their lids; he was mumbling under his breath as well, but his voice was so faint everything was coming out as an unintelligible half-dead whisper. Though, as far as Gabriel could tell, he was speaking in Enochian.
Gabriel then experimentally placed his hand on Castiel's forehead to feel his temperature and he blinked in surprise at how high it was. He felt Castiel lean slightly into his palm and release a helpless moan of what Gabriel guessed was relief, which made him realize that he was still very wet and cold. Little brother must be really bad off as to seek respite this much; so that was why the dog was licking his face.
Underneath his hand, Gabriel could also feel the occasional tremor running through Castiel's body, and how his breath would hitch every once in a while. Gabriel had the suspicion that this was a side-effect from (maybe) removing the breathing tube a bit too soon.
"Great, you try to get a guy to breathe on his own and he thanks you by coming down with a fever." mused Gabriel removing his hand.
Whether or not it was a reaction to the coolness being taken away from him, Castiel's brow pinched and he let out a cough.
"…s-s-stop… hurts… I-I don't…" Castiel shuddered out, sagging lower from where he was seated.
"Fever and nightmares," Gabriel huffed out. "Guess the chamomile on the pillow's not working."
His dog barked at him from the other end of the bed, and if Gabriel did not know any better, he would say that it was telling him to haul ass and get to work.
"Alright, alright," he groused, and if anyone asked if an archangel had ever followed the orders of a dog, he would deny it and quickly change the subject.
Gabriel snapped his fingers and a cool cloth dipped in holy water appeared on Castiel's forehead, startling him a bit before another moan escaped his dry lips and he visibly relaxed. And then thinking "Why the hell not," Gabriel also spiked Castiel's IV drip with a touch of holy water. Healing him with just a snap of his fingers, even for a little bit, still seemed risky, so Gabriel supposed that was as much as he could do for the fever at present.
That ought to take care of the fever.
Did he still need to take care of the nightmares? It was not like they were essentially connected to Castiel's health or anything anyway.
His dog barked at him again, louder this time.
There was no way the dog was reading his mind, right?
His dog barked three more times.
"Oh for the love of… Alright, I'm on it. Yeesh! I can't believe I'm actually listening to you." grumbled Gabriel.
Fine, he will fix the nightmares, but he was not going to use his powers, nor enforce that brotherly-hugging-sweetness crap again; once was enough to last him an entire millennia. Okay, so he did not really regret doing that yesterday, but he did have an image to maintain and he would rather not be considered a softy.
"… can't h-have them… I won't… betray…" Castiel swallowed, and his throat must be so dry because he flinched at the gesture.
Gabriel tapped his knee as he tried to think of a way to fix this. A couple of seconds later, he had his light bulb sparking up.
He poofed up a wing chair (no pun intended) beside the bed and sat down on it. "Come on, bro, give me a name of the bad guy in that noggin of yours." he said.
For a while, it looked like Castiel was just striving to get a decent intake of air. "… we can s-still… stop this… sister, b-brother… I implore…"
"A name, Castiel. Give me a name." Gabriel pressed on.
"… don't… no, enough… it's painful…"
"What, Cas? What's painful? Who's doing this to you? I know someone's there."
Castiel moaned and weakly turned his head away from Gabriel; his breaths were coming raspier and more erratically and Gabriel knew that he was reaching him.
Gabriel materialized at the opposite side of the bed and leaned so close to Castiel that he could feel the heat emanating from him.
"Who, brother? Who's hurting you?" he asked softly.
Castiel's face scrunched up in discomfort and he let out a shaky, quiet, "Z-Zachariah…."
Zachariah. The name ringed a bell. Oh yeah, Mr. Annoying McKiss-up; he remembered him now: he was the guy who tagged along the archangels like a desperate groupie, and he was sort of notorious for making fledglings cry.
Gabriel straightened up and brought the chair to the other side. He was not called the Messenger for nothing; if there was anything he could rely on, it was his words.
"Zachariah, huh?" he chuckled mirthlessly. "Well, he is a dickhead, I can tell you that. But he's a wuss, really - think little-girl-screaming-her-panties-off wuss."
Castiel was still breathing a bit too unevenly to Gabriel's ears, but it was steadying and he took that as a good sign.
"What, you don't believe me? Back in the day, he was insisting to Michael that he can do something about the dinosaurs overrunning the Earth, and by that, I meant Zach was jumping around like a total moron and practically peeing his pants just to get the approval. Michael got annoyed enough to send the little booger off, and I think Zach actually did pee himself right there and then. Anyhow, that was also Zach's first day on Earth, and his first time to actually see the ginormous lizards. And you know what happened next?"
Gabriel issued a dramatic pause, just to add a bit of effect.
"He got eaten by a Zupaysaurus." he said, sniggering. "Now, if he got eaten by a T-rex, I would've felt sorry for him. But do you know the size of a Zupaysaurus? It's like a freaking midget compared to a T-rex!"
He noticed that the lines of pain on his little brother's face had lessened, although the nightmares had yet to relinquish their hold.
Gabriel was only beginning.
He relayed Castiel of the time when he had played a trick on Zachariah, telling him to find a star that did not genuinely exist and Zachariah ended up lost for days.
He told him of the instance when Zachariah ran away like crazy when he disturbed a hippo-sized hornet's nest.
And of course, he had not forgotten about the time when Zachariah had been trying too hard to please Lucifer and ended up pissing him off so hard Lucifer sent Zachariah to another dimension where there were flying blob-like creatures that exploded goop if they got agitated, and boy were they agitated when Zachariah just suddenly popped into their breeding ground.
When Gabriel was finished, Castiel was sleeping peacefully, which was the first time Gabriel had seen him like this.
Before he left to pick things up in Italy, he realized that, after all his time being here, he had not even snapped himself dry.
TBC
Chapter 5
.
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Gabriel, Castiel
Spoilers: From 5x18 to 5x21
Summary: Tag to 5x18 "Point of No Return" - Gabriel devotes the week to visiting Castiel in the hospital.
"I am not that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me."
~ William Shakespeare
The next day, Gabriel returned to the hospital, albeit this time, it was as a means of seeking shelter.
Of course he was not hiding, and he most certainly had not just managed to escape with barely all his limbs and his dignity intact from a bunch of nymphs who got lucky and had the jump on him. And this was not a tactical retreat either, since he did not retreat from anybody, especially from an entire horde of naked female immortal deities with a huge enough Jacuzzi to accommodate a football stadium. No, this was sneaking out for a breather and waiting for the heat to die down; Gabriel would be back for them… eventually.
He was still dripping wet when he got to the hospital room, and puddles were already forming underneath him. He was breathing a little hard too, but that was because he just zapped here from Italy.
"You know, bro," Gabriel started, even though he doubted Castiel could hear him right now. "When this end-of-the-world shtick reaches its curtain call, I want you to keep in mind that Naiads get jealous real easily, and that you haven't seen a catfight 'til you see them whack each other silly." he laughed, plopping down at the foot of the bed. "They probably taught you in home-school that water's the most flexible element, right? So trust me when I tell you that those chicks redefined the word 'flexible'!"
Gabriel snickered satisfactorily as he wringed the water out of the corner of his jacket. He was told that the Naiads had some info he was interested in, but the Naiads had wanted a little something in return, something Gabriel was more than willing to oblige. Needless to say, he hardly got the scoop but as of the moment he really was not complaining with what he had received.
He needed to hang out with nymphs a bit more.
Right now, TV was looking like a good option while he chilled, and he doubted it had been used since he put it there, unless his dog figured out how to work the remote.
"Where is the little fella anyway?" Gabriel wondered.
He could always use his powers to locate it immediately, but where was the fun in that? Eventually, he found it next to Castiel, balancing on its hind legs and licking at his little brother's left cheek.
"Okay, as adorable as this is, I don't want Cas to accidentally swallow your slobber. When he's awake, you can do that as much as you want." said Gabriel.
When his dog gave him that puppy-eyed look and yapped, almost pleadingly, it caused Gabriel to have a second glance at Castiel, and that was when he noticed his fever-flushed complexion.
Gabriel was at his little brother's side in an instant and his dog slowly backed off. Castiel's expression was twisted into some semblance of pain or fear or both and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. His eyes were moving rapidly under their lids; he was mumbling under his breath as well, but his voice was so faint everything was coming out as an unintelligible half-dead whisper. Though, as far as Gabriel could tell, he was speaking in Enochian.
Gabriel then experimentally placed his hand on Castiel's forehead to feel his temperature and he blinked in surprise at how high it was. He felt Castiel lean slightly into his palm and release a helpless moan of what Gabriel guessed was relief, which made him realize that he was still very wet and cold. Little brother must be really bad off as to seek respite this much; so that was why the dog was licking his face.
Underneath his hand, Gabriel could also feel the occasional tremor running through Castiel's body, and how his breath would hitch every once in a while. Gabriel had the suspicion that this was a side-effect from (maybe) removing the breathing tube a bit too soon.
"Great, you try to get a guy to breathe on his own and he thanks you by coming down with a fever." mused Gabriel removing his hand.
Whether or not it was a reaction to the coolness being taken away from him, Castiel's brow pinched and he let out a cough.
"…s-s-stop… hurts… I-I don't…" Castiel shuddered out, sagging lower from where he was seated.
"Fever and nightmares," Gabriel huffed out. "Guess the chamomile on the pillow's not working."
His dog barked at him from the other end of the bed, and if Gabriel did not know any better, he would say that it was telling him to haul ass and get to work.
"Alright, alright," he groused, and if anyone asked if an archangel had ever followed the orders of a dog, he would deny it and quickly change the subject.
Gabriel snapped his fingers and a cool cloth dipped in holy water appeared on Castiel's forehead, startling him a bit before another moan escaped his dry lips and he visibly relaxed. And then thinking "Why the hell not," Gabriel also spiked Castiel's IV drip with a touch of holy water. Healing him with just a snap of his fingers, even for a little bit, still seemed risky, so Gabriel supposed that was as much as he could do for the fever at present.
That ought to take care of the fever.
Did he still need to take care of the nightmares? It was not like they were essentially connected to Castiel's health or anything anyway.
His dog barked at him again, louder this time.
There was no way the dog was reading his mind, right?
His dog barked three more times.
"Oh for the love of… Alright, I'm on it. Yeesh! I can't believe I'm actually listening to you." grumbled Gabriel.
Fine, he will fix the nightmares, but he was not going to use his powers, nor enforce that brotherly-hugging-sweetness crap again; once was enough to last him an entire millennia. Okay, so he did not really regret doing that yesterday, but he did have an image to maintain and he would rather not be considered a softy.
"… can't h-have them… I won't… betray…" Castiel swallowed, and his throat must be so dry because he flinched at the gesture.
Gabriel tapped his knee as he tried to think of a way to fix this. A couple of seconds later, he had his light bulb sparking up.
He poofed up a wing chair (no pun intended) beside the bed and sat down on it. "Come on, bro, give me a name of the bad guy in that noggin of yours." he said.
For a while, it looked like Castiel was just striving to get a decent intake of air. "… we can s-still… stop this… sister, b-brother… I implore…"
"A name, Castiel. Give me a name." Gabriel pressed on.
"… don't… no, enough… it's painful…"
"What, Cas? What's painful? Who's doing this to you? I know someone's there."
Castiel moaned and weakly turned his head away from Gabriel; his breaths were coming raspier and more erratically and Gabriel knew that he was reaching him.
Gabriel materialized at the opposite side of the bed and leaned so close to Castiel that he could feel the heat emanating from him.
"Who, brother? Who's hurting you?" he asked softly.
Castiel's face scrunched up in discomfort and he let out a shaky, quiet, "Z-Zachariah…."
Zachariah. The name ringed a bell. Oh yeah, Mr. Annoying McKiss-up; he remembered him now: he was the guy who tagged along the archangels like a desperate groupie, and he was sort of notorious for making fledglings cry.
Gabriel straightened up and brought the chair to the other side. He was not called the Messenger for nothing; if there was anything he could rely on, it was his words.
"Zachariah, huh?" he chuckled mirthlessly. "Well, he is a dickhead, I can tell you that. But he's a wuss, really - think little-girl-screaming-her-panties-off wuss."
Castiel was still breathing a bit too unevenly to Gabriel's ears, but it was steadying and he took that as a good sign.
"What, you don't believe me? Back in the day, he was insisting to Michael that he can do something about the dinosaurs overrunning the Earth, and by that, I meant Zach was jumping around like a total moron and practically peeing his pants just to get the approval. Michael got annoyed enough to send the little booger off, and I think Zach actually did pee himself right there and then. Anyhow, that was also Zach's first day on Earth, and his first time to actually see the ginormous lizards. And you know what happened next?"
Gabriel issued a dramatic pause, just to add a bit of effect.
"He got eaten by a Zupaysaurus." he said, sniggering. "Now, if he got eaten by a T-rex, I would've felt sorry for him. But do you know the size of a Zupaysaurus? It's like a freaking midget compared to a T-rex!"
He noticed that the lines of pain on his little brother's face had lessened, although the nightmares had yet to relinquish their hold.
Gabriel was only beginning.
He relayed Castiel of the time when he had played a trick on Zachariah, telling him to find a star that did not genuinely exist and Zachariah ended up lost for days.
He told him of the instance when Zachariah ran away like crazy when he disturbed a hippo-sized hornet's nest.
And of course, he had not forgotten about the time when Zachariah had been trying too hard to please Lucifer and ended up pissing him off so hard Lucifer sent Zachariah to another dimension where there were flying blob-like creatures that exploded goop if they got agitated, and boy were they agitated when Zachariah just suddenly popped into their breeding ground.
When Gabriel was finished, Castiel was sleeping peacefully, which was the first time Gabriel had seen him like this.
Before he left to pick things up in Italy, he realized that, after all his time being here, he had not even snapped himself dry.
TBC
Chapter 5
.