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“Cas! Who did this to you?” Sam yelled.
He didn’t know why he bothered to ask when he already knew the answer. It was just the first thing that came to mind when he saw what Dean had done, and saw the angel lying on the ground, bloody. The angel blade was sticking out of a book that lay next to Castiel. Sam picked it up, which made Castiel wince, and set it aside.
“Cas?”
The hunter propped up Castiel’s head to inspect the injuries, and was suddenly filled with anger.
“Why haven’t you healed yourself?”
“Still in shock,” The angel mumbled, “I thought he was going to kill me.”
“Stay here,” The hunter said, “I’ll help clean you up.”
“I can just heal…”
“You’ll still need to clean the blood off.”
“Okay.”
“Can you get up?”
“Think so.”
Sam helped the angel stand up
“Okay. Go…wait on the couch, I guess.”
…
Sam returned with a wet cloth to find the angel still unhealed.
“Cas, CAN you heal yourself?” The hunter asked.
“Of course,” The angel said, “I just…want you to…”
“There’s only so much I can do.”
“Then do it. Please. I want to be like a human…just for a short while.”
“Okay,” The hunter smiled, “Sure, Cas.”
“Thank you. Also, I think Dean broke my wrist.”
…
Sam carefully wiped the blood from Castiel’s face, then wrapped up the angel’s wrist.
“It’s okay,” The hunter whispered, “I’m sorry if this hurts.”
The hunter left to throw away the cloth only to return to find the angel hadn’t healed himself yet.
“Are you sure you can heal yourself, Cas?”
“Yes.”
Sam sighed heavily. “Then why haven’t you done it yet?”
“I want you to keep touching my face.”
The hunter laughed. “Cas, are you…trying to tell me something?”
The angel took a deep breath as he tried to think how to go about the issue. He likes Sam, but how does he go about telling Sam?
“Sam, may I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“What do you think of me?”
“What?”
“After everything that’s happened, after I hurt and betrayed you…What do you think of me?”
Sam touched the angel’s face gently.
“I always thought pretty highly of angels until I met them,” He started, making the angel look ashamed, “And then, you risked everything you had to save me and Dean. That’s admirable. You rescued me from Hell.”
“FAILED to rescue you from perdition.”
“You risked yourself to drag me out of the Cage,” Sam spoke, “By your own free will, you saved me.”
“I will never forgive myself for what I’ve done to you. Everything I’ve done…”
“You were trying to help,” The hunter spoke delicately while stroking Cas’s cheek, “Yes, you messed up, but we all did. Would you believe me if I said that I never gave up on you? Not for a second.”
The angel pulled away.
“Your loyalty knows no bounds, and I love that about you. But I don’t deserve your forgiveness, not for how I hurt you.”
Sam, filled with a sudden anger, grabbed the sides of Castiel’s face, forgetting completely about the angel’s injuries.
“You made up for that,” He said desperately, “You TOOK AWAY my insanity. You took on my burden when no one asked you to.”
“A burden that I gave you.”
“Cas, stop. It was so long ago, I barely even remember.”
The angel hesitantly reached for the hunter’s face. Sam wasn’t sure what was happening, but he was content.
“Look at me, Sam.”
The hunter gave the angel a puzzled look. Castiel pulled Sam’s head towards his, then, careful not to hurt his own bruises, touched his quivering lips against the hunter’s.
“I’m sorry,” Castiel said, “But my feelings about you are hard to put into words.”
Sam began to laugh from sheer happiness. The angel had healed, and was back to his cute smiling self.
“How about…I love you?” The hunter suggested.
“Yes,” Castiel agreed, “I love you, Sam.”