Work Text:
He groaned and opened his eyes. Hospital, private room at least, IVs, his body felt stiff and moving felt awkward. The nurse jumped in shock when he came in. “Hold on just a moment, sir, I’m going to fetch the doctor.”
He tried to ask for some water, his throat felt awful, but his voice was rusty and he couldn’t get anything out before the nurse was gone. It wasn’t a long wait for the doctor. “Hi there. I’m Dr. Cara Roberts, do you know your name?”
It took a couple tries, and his voice still sounded weak. “Victor Henriksen. Special Agent, FBI.”
The doctor smiled and nodded. “Good! How are you feeling?”
“Like someone dropped a building on me. Did anyone else make it out of the station?”
“No, I’m afraid not. You very nearly didn’t, either, but a couple of your FBI buddies found you and pulled you out. Do you have any idea what happened?”
He couldn’t tell the truth. “I don’t really remember much. I remember being at the station, getting paperwork done from my last job, and then waking up here.” Amnesia was only to be expected after something like that, right? Brain shutting down to protect itself from remembering things it couldn’t handle? Certainly sounded less worrying than “The queen of the demons blew the place to Hell.”
“That’s not surprising. Now, Mr. Henriksen, this may come as a shock, but you’ve been in a coma for several years. Today is May 10th, 2015.”
Victor laid back. Seven years. That was a long time to miss. “The FBI buddies who pulled me out… do you have a way of contacting them? Letting them know I’m alive?”
“I have a phone number. They know you’re alive. I’ll call and let them know you’re awake, but it may be a while before they can get here. FBI business, you know?”
“I know.” Could be a couple hours, but more likely days. Victor had his suspicions about the buddies.
Victor was not in the least surprised when the “FBI agents” who showed up were, in fact, nothing of the sort. “Hi, guys. Been a while. What’d I miss?”
“Oh man. So many long stories, Vic. Damn it’s good to see you.” Dean pulled up a chair beside the bed, while Sam chose to lean against the wall. “This’ll help you feel better about reporting us dead and letting us go: Sammy there saved the world. You missed the Apocalypse, man.”
“The Apocalypse. Four horsemen, Antichrist, Lucifer and Michael laying waste to the Earth?” Victor wanted to dismiss it as crazy, but… this was the Winchesters. They’d been right about everything else so far.
Dean smirked. “Well, they weren’t exactly horsemen, they had cars. Keeping up with the times, you know? Turns out Death’s a pretty cool guy. Famine, though, that dude was gross. And then, uh…”
“The Antichrist is a kid named Jesse Turner. Good kid. Made the right choice when the demons came to claim him and ran off to Australia or somewhere.” Sam smiled fondly at the memories.
“Raising Lucifer was what that bitch Lilith, the one who destroyed the station? That’s what she was after. Thanks to Sam, though, we were able to shove his ass back in the cage.”
“Dean deserves credit, too. I couldn’t have done it without him. And we need to introduce you to our friend Castiel.” Sam turned to Dean. “Remind me again why we didn’t get Cas over here to heal Victor up so we could have another ally during the Apocalypse?”
“We asked, he said he couldn’t." Dean stopped and furrowed his brow. "Now that you mention it, though, that was before he gave Heaven the middle finger. Should’ve asked again at some point. Give him a call, maybe he can fix him up the rest of the way?”
“Okay.” Sam stepped out into the hallway.
Dean ducked his head. “So, I still owe you that drink, but… not sure I can fulfill the implied promise. I, uh… I’m kind of seeing someone?”
“You were seeing someone then. I knew about that. Bonnie to your Clyde, remember?” Back in the day, Victor had believed that Sam was a good kid dragged into trouble by a brother who'd brainwashed him into thinking love was something different than what it should be. That fight against the demons, though... he'd seen the truth. These two really did love each other.
Dean snorted in amusement. “Yeah, well, uh, at the time I was kind of under a death sentence, had a few months until they dragged my soul off to Hell, figured it didn’t matter what I did. Sam and I always had an open relationship anyway, but it’s different now.”
“How’s it changed? Closed up?” Victor tried to contain the disappointment. He’d been looking forward to getting that drink with Dean, but seven years was a hell of a long time.
“That, and there’s another guy. The guy Sam’s talking to on the phone right now. He’s, uh…” Dean rubbed his neck. “He’s an angel.”
Victor raised an eyebrow. “You say that like you don’t think I’d believe it.”
Dean shrugged. “I’ve been ass-deep in angels and Heaven politics for the last seven years, there are still days I look around and go ‘angels, whaaaaaaaaaat?’”
Victor had to laugh. It hurt a little. “Well, I believe. Angels. Wow.”
Sam hung up. “Angels. Cas is on his way.”
“Good. He got the mojo for this?” Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. “He’s still testing his limits, but he thinks healing shouldn’t be a problem.”
Sam and Dean spent the next few hours hiding from nurses and catching Victor up on everything he’d missed. Old Victor would have believed maybe three words, and new Victor was struggling to believe even half, but he had faith.
Castiel snuck inside as it was starting to get really late. “Hello, Victor. I’m sorry I didn’t heal you before.”
“Dean’s explained. You couldn’t when they asked and given what they’ve been telling me about the rest of the time, can’t exactly blame any of you guys for not thinking of me.”
“Still, I’m sorry.” Castiel placed two fingers to Victor’s temple, and Victor felt a rush of warmth and then, all at once, much better. “You should be good. Do you want to stay here, or come with us?”
Victor didn't hesitate. “I want to be a hunter. Fight back against the supernatural stuff that’s out there that no one even knows about. From what Sam and Dean have told me, I think I can do a lot more good for the world that way.”
Castiel smiled. “Sam? Dean? Bunker?”
Sam and Dean exchanged a quick look. Sam smiled. “Yeah. Victor, just so you know what you’re getting into… people associated with us tend to have short life spans.”
“Including the three of you, from what you’ve been telling me." That was the hardest part to believe, how well acquainted these three were with death. And Death, for that matter. "I’ll take my chances, Sam.”
“Awesome. Okay. Dean, I’ll ride back with Cas, you take Viktor and get that beer you owe him?” Sam gave him a significant look.
Dean blinked. “What, like…”
“Yes, like." Dean looked flabbergasted, as Sam turned to Victor. "Victor, has Dean told you…”
“While you were calling Cas. This a one-time deal?” Dean had said the relationship was closed.
“No. Dean really likes you. Cas and I don’t mind.”
Dean still looked completely surprised. Victor wanted to make sure. “Cas?”
“I don’t mind. I trust Sam and Dean’s judgment that you’re a worthy addition.”
“Huh. Cool." Victor unhooked himself from the various machines. "Let's get out of here before they notice the drop."