Work Text:
Castiel is sitting quietly in the great room when his phone rings. It’s late and Sam is asleep. There's only one other person it could be. He slips his hand into his pocket and puts the phone to his ear, “Hello, Dean.”
“Yeah, hey, Cas.” He waits for more, but the phone is quiet.
“Dean…” Cas hesitates, he doesn’t know if the question might make Dean hang up, but he needs to know, “Are you alright?”
“Shit, no, Cas,” Dean’s voice sounds slower than usual and his short laugh is bitter. “What a stupid fucking question, man.”
“Do you need me to come to you?” Cas doesn’t think this is an emergency call, but Dean’s voice is making him edgy. He needs to help. He wants to fix Dean or maybe just embrace him the way Sam had embraced him earlier in the day. Or, he’s realizing, maybe not in quite the same way.
Dean’s voice, when he answers, is sharper, more focused, “You need to be taking care of Sammy. That’s what’s important now.”
“Then what do you need, Dean?” Castiel is confused. It is so much easier, now, hearing Dean’s voice, knowing he is safe, but what is Dean’s purpose in calling?
“I don’t know, man. I just...I just needed to know you guys were ok.”
“Your brother is better. Sam is tired, but healed. All trace of Gadreel is gone and….”
“Woah, woah there, slow down Dr. Sexy, what do you mean ‘all trace of Gadreel is gone’? I thought we knew that dickbox was gone?”
“Dean, did you just call me...Dr. Sexy? You do know that angelic healing is not like human medicine, don’t you?”
“It’s...I didn’t…” Cas hears a frustrated huff on the other end of the line, “That’s not the point, Cas, just answer the question.”
“As I was healing Sam, I could feel an angelic resonance in his body. We discovered a small portion of Gadreel’s grace was left behind. We tried to use it to track him, but we couldn’t extract enough to make the spell effective.”
Dean’s voice sounds subdued, “Extract?”
“Yes.”
“Cas, is Sammy really ok, you can tell me, man. I…I need to know.”
“Yes. I would never lie to you about that. Sam is strong. Stronger than you realize. He is suffering, as are you, but he is healthy. Sam is a fighter. He will be fine, with time. There is only one thing Sam needs right now that I can’t give him.”
The words hang in the air. Cas thinks Dean knows what he’s asking, but he says it aloud anyway, because if there is one thing being human taught him is not to underestimate how painfully and deeply you can misunderstand someone, “Come home. Sam needs you. I need you. We’re stronger together.”
Cas hears a long exhale against his ear. “Yeah. Yeah, alright, but, Cas, when I get back I have something to show you that you are not gonna like.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Sam and I will see you soon.” Cas hangs up the phone and silently prays to his absent father that Dean hasn’t done something irreparably stupid.