Chapter Text
“Married?” Sam asks, after he’s done choking on his food. “When?”
Jess laughed at him. “Cover your mouth Sam. Man, who raised you?”
“Guilty.” Dean said, grabbing another fry.
“That’s probably why his table manners are so poor.” Cas said to her. “We can only be thankful Claire does not share his similar qualities.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad.” Dean said, rolling his eyes.
“You eat like a garbage dump.”
“Well when you experience a lifetime of food insecurity, that usually does the trick.”
“Wait, back up.” Sam says, holiding his hand out. “When did you get married? How long have you been married? I don’t even know how you met.”
“Uh…kinda a long story.” Dean says.
“Well, we have time, so start talking.” Sam said, scowling at him. “I want to know.”
“I’m sure you do Sammy.” Dean says. “But sometimes we don’t get what we want.”
“Sam, calm down.” Jess says, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure Dean kept it to himself for a reason.”
Dean shrugged. “Well, it was mostly because I wasn’t sure Sam would hate crime me, but also because I really didn’t see it as his buisness.”
“How can it not be my buisness?” Sam said, annoyed with him. “I’m your brother.” Then he frowns again. “And hate crime you?”
“Yeah, except I hadn’t heard from you in years at that point, so how was I supposed to know your stance? I wasn’t exactly wanting to seek you out after you left.” Dean pointed out to him. “And if I’m being honest, Sam, if dad hadn’t gone missing, we probably never would have reconnected.”
That took the wind out of Sam’s sails. He looked crestfallen. “You mean you never would have told me?”
“Why would I?” Dean asked him. “I mean, you didn’t exactly leave any way of communication when you left.”
Dean knew Sam had changed his number, especially after that first month when he had tried to call and it had gone to the dial tone immediately. Then, when he got the message that the number had been disconnected, he had stopped calling. He knew when he wasn’t wanted, and Sam had made it clear where he stood.
“Does dad know?” Sam aksed. “About Claire…or your marriage?”
“If he did, do you think I would be looking for him?” Dean said dryly. “Obviously not. I guess we’re not married in the legal sense, since obviously we can’t, but married in the ‘I’m not going to be with anyone else ever again' sense.” Dean shrugged. “Also, because Cas would reign holy terror on anyone who tried.” He laughed at his own joke, and Cas rolled his eyes at Dean’s attempt at humor.
Cas took a fry from his plate and said, “I won’t confirm or deny that statement.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “Sure you won’t.”
“Well,” Jess said. “This certainly has been exciting.”
Sam sighed deeply. “That’s one word for it.”
“So, when are you telling Sam you went to Hell?” Cas says when they enter the room. “Because I don’t believe he is aware.”
“He isn’t.” Dean says, throwing the key on the dresser. “And to be honest? I don’t want him to be.”
“You should really tell him.” Cas says. “Hasn't past experience taught you that the truth always comes out?”
“Yeah, but I also have the ‘emotional range of a teaspoon’ according to Gabriel.” Dean points out. “So, you can’t expect much.”
“I suppose that’s true.” It’s quiet for a moment before Cas says, “I still think you should tell him.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not going to.” Dean says, glaring at Cas. “So stop trying to pressure me.”
Cas sighs and gives Dean a look. “I believe this is a case of the old adage of ‘an unstoppable force meets an immovable object’.”
Dean grins at Cas. “Which one am I?”
Cas gives him a flat look back. “Which one do you think?”
“Well, with that glare I’m going with ‘immovable object’.” Dean says to him. “But that’s just a guess.”
“Your incredible intelligence astounds me.”
“Alright calm down.” Dean sighed and flopped down on the bed. “Does he really need to know? I mean, you saw how bad it was when I got back, why bring back all the bad stuff.”
“I am aware of the nightmares, yes.” Cas says to him. “But I think it would be beneficial for you to release some of the burden by sharing your experience with your brother.”
“I talked about it with you, isn’t that enough?” Dean mutters.
“I was there, so you didn’t have to articulate.” Cas reminds him. “That is much different than having to work through your emotions.”
Dean gives him a look. “Have you met me?”
“Yes, which is why I’m suggesting this.”
“Yeah, well, you can take that suggestion and shove it where the sun don’t shine.”
“Iceland?”
“No.” Dean sighs and looks at him, getting up from the bed. “Now, I have to meet up with Sam and discuss our next move. Why don’t you and Jess go with Claire to find some snacks for the road.”
They were looking through the papers when all of a sudden, Sam’s phone rang. He picked it up reluctantly when he said, “Hello?”
“Sam?” Came the voice from the other end. “Is that you?”
“Dad?”
Dean dropped what he was doing and turned to Sam. “Is that Dad?” He asked, reaching for the phone.
Sam batted his hand away. “Yeah, it’s me. Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Can’t talk right now, but I need you to follow these coordinates. Something’s fishy there, and I want you to check it out.” John says, ignoring Sam’s question. "Can you do that for me?"
“Wait, you want us to go on some case? After you’ve been missing for months? Why won’t you just tell us where you are?” Sam says, scowling.
“I can’t. It’s not safe.” John says, before Dean grabs the phone from Sam.
“Dad it’s me.” Dean says. “Give me the coordinates, and I’ll take a look.”
“Good.” John says. He gives Dean the coordinates before saying, “You got a new number or something? Bobby said he called you a while back and it just said the line was disconnected. Was a bit hysterical a while back because you wouldn’t answer your phone. I only just remembered about that the other day and figured I would ask.”
“Yeah well, I was in an area that didn’t have good cell reception.” Dean muttered. The Pit wasn’t known for being able to make a good phone call after all.
John sighs, annoyed. “Well, let him know. I can’t have him blowing up my phone when I need to focus on something else.”
“Right.” Dean says stiffly. “We’ll get on that. Have a good search.”
The phone call dropped after that, presumably John had hung up.
Dean sighs and turns to Sam. “Right then, let’s get moving. We’re burning daylight.”
“You want to just go and do whatever he wants?” Sam said, crossing his arms. “Like a good little soldier?”
“Not really, no.” Dean says to him, ignoring Sam’s mocking tone. “But I don’t want to leave a case unopened.”
“We should be focusing on finding Dad.” Sam says to him, scowling. “Not on some case another hunter could do.”
“I think you need to reassess your priorities.” Dean points out. “We should be focusing on helping people. Not some half-cocked knee-jerk choice of trying to find dad.”
The door opened, interrupting Sam in whatever he was saying next. Jess walked in smiling with Claire and Cas trailing behind last.
“Dean, you better be careful or I’m going to steal your husband.” She says laughing. “I like him.”
Dean felt himself smile at that. “Yeah, he’s alright.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s why you ‘get sad’ when he leaves.” He reminds himself to have Cas stop doing air quotes around Claire, even if he does find it charming. He didn’t need any more sass from her. He gets enough as it is.
“I don’t ‘get sad’.” Dean says to her, air quotes and all. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“Oh right, sorry. I forgot you don’t mope.” Claire said, shaking her head in mock shame. “Grandpa Bobby said you mope more than a ‘teenage girl who got dumped the night before prom’ when he leaves, but what do I know, I’m just a kid.”
“Grandpa Bobby needs to keep his mouth shut.” Dean says to her. “Or I won’t bring you there anymore.”
“Yeah right, you like him to much to do that.” Claire giggled. “That’s why he’s ‘grandpa Bobby’.”
He picked her up and she shrieked in laughter. “I should have never taught you to be so sassy. This lack of respect you have for me isn’t great.”
Claire laughed. “Blame Jo. She’s the one who taught me.”
“Yeah, and next time I see her, we’re having a strong conversation.” he says, putting her back down. “Did you guys have a good time?” He asks Jess.
She gives him an amused look. “Yeah. What’s going on here? Sam looks constipated.”
“A minor disagreement.” He says.
“It’s not minor.” Sam says angrily. “He wants to abandon the search for our father.”
“I never said that.” Dean points out to him. “We have a job to do. We’ll find him eventually.”
Sam glared at him. “Yeah, and ‘eventually’ would be a hell of a lot faster if we didn’t go on a hunt, and instead found the area code of the number he called from.”
“Why don’t you two go on the trail to find your father, and Dean and I go to this case?” Cas says to them. “That way, everyone wins.”
“What a great idea!” Jess claps her hands together. “Sam, pack up, we’re heading back to California.” She laughed for a moment, and a thought crossed her mind. “I wonder if anyone ever moved into our old apartment.”
“Probably not. It was a pretty bad case of arson, they said.” Sam muttered. “Fine, we’ll meet up after.”
He was clearly unhappy about it, and it showed. Dean smiled at Cas. “I don’t know, your last case was pretty rough.”
“That was not my fault.”
Dean laughed at him and said, “Sure, that’s what they all say.”
Jess looked between them and said, “Right, we can meet up in a few days to share what we found, if anything.”
“Sounds good to me.” Dean said. “You have my number, call me when you’re finished.”
“Well then, Dean Winchester," Jess says, giving him a mock salute. "I will see you then.”
Dean winks at her. “I’ll be counting on it.”
“Where’s an angel when you need one.” Dean muttered. “Because I could definitely use a divine miracle right about now.”
The girl next to him sighs. “Me too.” She looked at him. “I’m sorry about this. At least that girl you were with was okay.”
“That’s my daughter.” Dean said, sighing deeply.“And yeah, I don’t know what I would do if they got her.”
“I saw you with her.” She said. “It seems like you really love her. I wish my Aunt and Uncle were like that.”
“Do they…” Dean asked, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to ask.
“They’ve never hit me, if that’s what you’re asking,” She shifted against the ropes tying her against the tree. “But I always felt unwanted. I know they never wanted custody of me. It’s nice seeing parents who love their kids.”
“Dean?” A person appeared out of the brush. He blinked for a few moments before adjusting his vision.
“Sam?” He said. “Where’s Jess?”
“By the Impala. Claire is inconsolable. Where's Castiel?” Sam asked him. It was clear he was annoyed with Cas’s disappearance act. That would make two of them.
“He…left.” Dean said. “Got taken.”
While it was technically true, Dean wasn’t sure how to explain Cas’s involuntary leave due to a summoning. Unlike Gabriel, Cas didn’t have much of a choice in whether or not he responded. He had been there one moment and gone the next. Dean was just glad they managed to get to Baby quick enough.
“I can’t believe he left you.” Sam grumbled. “Some husband he is.”
“Sam…” Dean said to him, giving him an annoyed look. “He didn’t have a choice .”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Sure.”
Dean looks at Sam. “How did you get here so fast?”
Sam gave him a sly smile. “I stole a car.”
“That’s my boy.”
The girl next to him shook her head. “You guys are so weird.”
As they watched the tree burn, Dean looked as Jess and Claire were talking with each other, and turns back to Sam. “You know, it’s crazy. A whole town willing to kill for an idea.”
Sam nodded. “I know.” He sighed. “Listen Dean, I want to say I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been the most pleasant person to deal with the past few months.”
“You won’t find me disagreeing with you.” Dean said, watching the fire. “You have been a pain in the ass the last few months.”
Sam laughed. “I know, I know. But after our trip to California, I kinda realized that I’ve been acting like a jerk.” He frowned and looked away. "Sometimes the perspectives of strangers really do help you work through your problems."
Dean laughed in agreement. “Yeah, you really have been. At least Jess is here to set you straight.”
“Yeah what would I do without you?” Sam says, turning to Jess and smiling.
“Crash and burn, obviously.” She said, giving him a small peck on the cheek. “So where’s the hubby?”
“He had to go, didn’t have a choice.” Dean said, as they trekked back to the car. “Important business.”
“Oh, that’s too bad, I liked him.” Jess said, shaking her head.
“If he and Dean weren’t so disgustingly in love, I’d be concerned you were trying to steal him for yourself.” Sam said.
“Maybe I am.” She winked. “But at least you don’t have to worry now.”
“Now we just have to find somewhere to crash for the night.” Dean said, rubbing his face tiredly. “I’m too tired to do anything else.”
“How can you be tired? You spent the entire day lying around.” Sam rolled his eyes.
“I was tied to a tree!” Dean huffs. “Give a man a break.”
Sam throws his head back and laughs. “Let’s get going, I'm very tired of this town.”
“So tell me, what exactly happened when we got separated?” Dean says to Claire as she lays down in bed.
She pulls the cover up to her neck and sighs. “He just disappeared. He apologized and said he had to go, that he didn’t have a choice. It was like something sucked him away.” She said quietly. “Like a vacuum!”
Hmm, Interesting, Dean thought as he watched her. She still seemed a bit shaken up. “You’re okay though?”
She snuggled into the covers. “I’m fine.” She still looked shaken. “But don’t leave me?”
Dean smiled softly at her. “I won’t. I’ll always be there for you. Even if one day I’m not there, you’ll still have me here.” He pointed to her heart.
“In my heart?” She asked confused. “How would you get there?”
He laughed. “It’s an expression. You’ll remember me regardless of where I am or what happened. But I will never willingly leave you Claire, know that. You’re my kid, I could never do that to you.”
“Thanks dad.” She said quietly, yawning loudly. “I’m tired.”
“Go to sleep then.” He said. “I’ll be here in the morning when you wake up.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
As she fell asleep, Dean sighed and looked up to the ceiling. Cas, if you’re out there, I could use you back here. Claire is pretty shaken up. Or even Gabriel, just one of you.
He waited for a moment.
The only thing that greeted him was silence.
“Well, Sam, looks like you’re leaving town without me.” Dean said, flipping through the channels. The sounds pf hospital machines were loud in the quiet room. “Man daytime television sucks.” With that, he let out a few coughs, and clutched his chest in pain.
“Dean, I’m not going to just let you die.” Sam said, rushing over to gibe him a glass of water. “And why is it just us here? Where is your husband? How can he be too busy to visit you when you’re dying?”
“I’m not sure that I like your tone there Sam.” Dean said, scowling. “And he’s in a no coverage zone. Couldn’t call him if I wanted to.”
Which was the case. Phone calls to both Gabriel and Cas had yielded no results, same with the infrequent prayers he had sent. It was eerily quiet, and that made him unsettled. Gabriel may not answer his prayers all the time, but Cas always did. No matter what, he at least checked in to let him know he acknowledged it. But it’s been radio silence the past few days, which made him worried that something had happened.
“Sam, I’m sure if Cas knew he would be here in a heartbeat.” Jess said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Try calling your dad to see if he has any ideas or leads to help. I’m waiting for my mom to get back to me.”
Sam grumbled, but ultimately obliged. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She looked deeply unhappy, and Dean watched as she wiped away some tears. Her ring glittered under the fluorescent lights, and it made him happy Sam at least had someone to help deal with the burden.
“I know Sam is a pain in the butt, but is he really that bad to deal with?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No, it’s just so unfair that this happened.” More tears fell down and she didn’t bother to wipe them this time. “I mean, I just met you and now you're going to die? Where’s the fairness in that? And Claire? Losing her parents twice now, it’s just so…” She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
“Unfair?” He finished, giving her a humorous look.
“Yeah,” She said, laughing quietly. “that.” She was quiet for a moment before saying, “Have you told Claire yet?”
“No.” He said to her. “And to be honest, I don’t want to. But I can’t keep it from her. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“Jess…I need to ask you a favor.” He shifts, wincing at all the tubes and things connected to him. Her teary eyes open wide as he asks her. “I need someone to take care of Claire when I’m gone. And you two have connected really well.”
“Dean…” She said. “We’re going to find something. You’re not going to die.”
“If I do, please promise you’ll take care of her. Whatever that means. Even if it’s just bringing her to Bobby’s. I just want her to have a good life, be taken care of when I’m gone.”
“Dean…” She says agin. “Of course I will. You don’t have to worry about Claire.”
He gives her a small smile before coughing, and Sam brings Claire into the room a moment after.
She has tears in her eyes. “Dad…” She runs up to him and gives him a hug. He pays the bed and she climbs up next to him. Sam and Jess are watching, but he doesn’t care. His primary focus is on Claire.
“Claire…it’s okay. Don't cry.” He says, brushing her hair behind her ear.
“You're not okay, are you?” She says through tears. “I hear them say you have a month left.”
“You know your Uncle Sam and Aunt Jess, they aren’t letting me go first without turning over every stone.” He says. “So save those tears for another day, okay?”
She sniffs, and hush him again, and leans in asking quietly. “Where’s Cas? Why can’t he heal you?”
“I don’t know.” He says to her. “But I know he would be here if he could.”
“Cas, I don’t know where you are, or what you’re doing, but I’m in trouble.” Dean says, as he leans against his car. He had checked himself out of the hospital, and was about to go back to the room, but first he needed to talk to Cas. “I’m dying. Got hit on a hunt. The hospital said I have about a month left, and that there’s nothing they can do. I just wanted you to know, in case you come back and I’m not here anymore.”
It’s quiet for a moment, before Dean continues. He hates getting into the emotional mushy-gushy stuff, but he figured that if anyone were allowed to be emotional, it would be him at this moment. “I don’t know where you are, or what you’re doing, but I just…wanted to talk to you. I need you here.”
He opens his eyes to see if Cas will appear, but it’s quiet. Nothing moves for a moment, before he lets out a deep sigh.
“Typical.”
He gets up off the car, and heads back to the hotel, leaving the car behind.
Somewhere, an angel screams.
“Dean, what are you doing here? You’re sick, you need to stay at the hospital.” Sam says, as he opens the door.
He shrugs, grabbing onto the wall for support. “Yeah, well, I’m not gonna die at a hospital where the nurses aren’t even hot.”
“Nice hoodie Dean.” Jess says, laughing. “It makes you look very cute.”
Dean scoffed. “I’m not cute, I’m handsome. Sexy, if you’re feeling bold.”’
Jess rolled her eyes and laughed again. “Sure you are.”
“Well, since you’re here, I have good news.” Sam says, as he flips through his notes. “I found a specialist willing to take on Dean’s case pro bono. An old friend of dads.”
Dean gave him a look. “And this isn’t some witch doctor that’ll take your voice as the price to pay for me getting my legs again?”
“No.” Sam says, shaking his head. “He’s legit.”
“Okay, then.” Dean says, “Lead the way then, college boy.”
“One thing.” Sam says to him. “I’m driving.”
“Sam, you said this was a specialist.” Dean says, as the pile out of the car. “This is a tent revival.”
“Well, I lied.” Sam said, helping Dean out of the car after he wobbled getting up. “And it is a specialist…just not a regular one. There’s been reports of him actually healing people.”
“Is that so?” Dean asked him. “You really think that’s a possibility.” It made him wonder if it was another rouge angel, or something else with healing powers.
“I do.” Sam said, angrily.
Jess interrupted before they can stay arguing, “We can’t just let you die, Dean.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He muttered. “I just don’t want to know what this is gonna cost.”
They go in and sit down, narrowly running into a blonde haired girl and her mother. The mother ushers her off and Dean pushed Claire to sit next to him.
The man starts his sermon as normal, discussing what he can do and why. “The good lord guides me, and let’s me see into people’s hearts.”
“Yeah,” Dean mutters to Jess, “and into their wallets.”
Jess rolls her eyes and lets out a quiet laugh. The pastor turns his head to him. “You think so, son?” He smiles, and it discomforts Dean. “Be careful speaking around blind men, we got real sharp ears.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Dean says dryly.
“What’s your name?” He asks.
“Dean.”
“Well then, Dean, why don’t you come up here.” He says, holding out one hand. “And let me heal you.”
The crowd whoops. Dean is about to protest, but he had three angry eyes looking at him. He knows he can’t depend on Cas or Gabriel, since they’re MIA and not answering his calls or prayers. And Cas would kill him if he saw him in Heaven any time soon.
“Fine.” He muttered. “Let’s get this charade over with.”
The crowd claps and whoops, and Dean sees Claire’s hopeful face. He can’t take another parent away from her, not again. He steps in to the stage, and the man lays a hand on his forehead. As the crowd prays with him, he feels a somewhat strange source of energy flow through him. Not unlike the feeling of Grace he knows when Cas heals him. As he is watching, a man in a suit appears, and lays his hand onto where the pastor had already laid his. As the blackness creeps in, Dean knows exactly how this man is healing people. He’s got a reaper, which can only be bad news. Especially if the reaper is bound. He hopes for Roy’s sake he isn’t the one who bound it.
The darkness overtakes him, and he feels himself faint to the floor.
…Only to wake up in a bedroom a while later.
His head is groggy and he holds it, groaning. He looks around to see Sam, Jess, and Claire all looking hopeful.
“Why are you guys so close to me?” He says, as he gets up. "Personal space, look into it." He does feel much better immediately. He can tell something was done to him. He sits up completely, and looks to the three of them.
They move away from him, but Claire jumps on the bed and hugs him. “You’re okay!”
“Yeah, kiddo, I am.” He says. “But I think we have bigger problems.”
“What now?” Sam says. “Whatever it is, it can wait. Let’s get a doctor’s opinion just be to be sure.”
As Dean goes to disregard that, Jess levels him with a glare. “You’re going. Even if I have to drag you there.”
“Fine.” He grumbles. “Let’s go.”
They all like into the car, and head to the doctor. The tests confirm what Dean feels.
She looked through everything and smiled. “Your heart looks good. Not that a man your age should be having heart problems. I do see a bit of scarring though, did you recently have issues?”
Dean nods. “Yeah, got electrocuted a while back, and they said I would only have so long.”
“Well, you’re a lucky man then. It’s almost as god as new. I would be careful though, to not aggravate it for the next few weeks to make sure you’re all set.” She looks at her clipboard again. “You know, there was another man with heart issues recently. My son was at the gym, and said that he heard a man collapsed on the treadmill. Like his heart just gave out. A very sad occurrence, I’ll say.”
Dean looked at her seriously. “Any chance we can talk to him?”
She shook her head. “No, sorry, he’s gone back to school already.”
Jess turned to her and asked, “Do you happen to know what gym this was?”
“I know what this is,” Dean said, after they got back to the hotel. “And we’re in a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah?” Sam asked him as they opened the door to his room. “What is that, a miracle?”
“It was no miracle.” Dean said, as he pulled out a book from their stacks. “It’s a reaper. When I passed out, before I completely went out, I saw a man in a suit, pressing his hands over Roy’s.”
"Don't you think I would have seen it then Dean? I've been seeing awful lot lately." Sam says, crossing his arms.
“Like the Grim Reaper?” Jess asked.
Dean shakes his head. “Not the Reaper, a reaper. I mean, there’s lore about them throughout so many different parts of the world. And not to mention, you can only see them when you're dying, or in this case, cheating death. Also, the guy today died the same time I was healed. ”
“4:17pm.” Jess nodded. “It makes sense, what else can give and take away life like that?”
“So what, you think that Roy isn’t a real healer?” Sam asked him. “That he’s controlling the reaper somehow?”
“I don’t think it’s Roy.” Dean says, as he sits down. “I think he had no idea what’s going on.”
“What about the weird woman?” Claire asked him, as she plopped down on the bed. “She might know.”
“What weird woman?” Jess asked her.
“The weird lady.” Claire says, sitting up. “She had a necklace that she was holding. Also, she was asking me questions about you guys.”
Dean felt his mental alarm bells ring off. “What questions?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Like if I wanted you to be healed, stuff like that.” She looked scared. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No Claire, of course not.” He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “But I need you to tell me exactly what she said to you.”
“Thanks for having me over.” He said, taking the tea cup Sue Ann had given him. “I’m still trying to make sense of it all.”
The wife, Sue Ann, smiled. “I know, isn’t Roy’s gift just amazing?”
“That’s one word for it.” He said, smiling at her. “I know my daughter is very thankful. It’s been so rough since her mom passed away, and I hated to leave her on her own.”
Sue Ann smiled. “Ah yes, we chatted for a moment before the service. She is very well-behaved.”
“She is.” He said to her. “I guess she takes after her mother in that way.” The sweet tea he had covered the taste of the bitter lies he was saying. Not that Sue Ann would know though.
He was quite good at acting, after all.
“It’s nice to meet a young girl who is very knowledgeable about religion." Sue Ann says, taking a cup of tea for herself. "You don’t see that too often.”
“Yeah, she’s always been especially interested in angels. I told her that her mother was angel watching over her after she passed.” With the way Amelia had treated Claire, he hoped she wasn't looking down at them, but rather looking up.
Sue Ann smiles again. “What a wonderful way to look at it.” After a moment, Roy walks in. “Sue Ann, do we have a visitor?”
“Yes, that nice young man you healed today.” She said. “He’s just here for a chat.”
“Wonderful.” He says. “What can I do you for son?”
“Just here to make sense of it all.” He says, gesturing to himself. “I mean, what you did was a miracle.”
“That it was.” He said, sitting down. He smiled at Sue Ann. “I owe it all to my wife.”
Dean raises his eyebrow. “That so?”
Roy nodded. “She prayed long and hard for me, and we were delivered. I mean, if I didn’t have these,” Roy slips his glasses off to show his eyes before putting them back. “no one would even know I can’t see.”
“So, how’d your healing abilities start?” Dean asked him. “Or were you born with them and they just manifested?”
“A while back, I had gotten diagnosed with cancer. Terminal. But Sue Ann and I prayed, and one morning, I had an aneurysm, and woke up stone cold blind. The doctors gave me one month. That was four months ago.”
“And that was when you were able to start healing?” Dean asked him. “Wow, what a gift.”
“It is.” He said, smiling. “But you’d didn’t come here to hear about my life story. So, tell me Dean, why did you come here?”
Dean sighed, and sat up straighter. “I wanted to know why.”
“Why what?”
“Why me? Out of everyone in the audience, why did you choose me?”
“Well, because the Lord guided me.” Roy said, smiling at Dean. “And when I looked into your heart, I knew you were the right person to choose.”
He was definitely curious as to what Roy saw. He knew Cas had always said his soul was the brightest and most beautiful he had ever seen, but he always figured Cas was just talking nonsense. “What did you see in my heart?”
Roy nodded and said, “A young man with an important purpose, a job to do. One that isn’t finished yet.”
Sue Ann walked into the room. “Well, Roy, it’s almost time for dinner, how about we see Dean out?”
Dean slapped his thigh before getting up. “You’re right, I’m sorry for taking up so much time.”
“It’s no trouble at all, Dean.” She smiled. “We’re glad you came to visit. I hope this gave you the closure you needed.” As she walked over and opened the door, she said, “Tell that daughter of yours to take care of herself. I don’t want to see you guys again any time soon.”
“Yeah, me either, as nice as you guys are.” He said, laughing.
She walked him out of the house, and they ran into two other people. Dean had never seen them before, but the mother glared at him like he had insulted her entire family.
She walked up closer. “Sue Ann, we’re here for Roy. Please.”
Sue Ann shook her head. “Layla, Mrs Rourke, Roy is resting.”
“Please, it’s been months.” She said, begging. “It’s our sixth time here.”
“Roy is well aware of Layla’s situation. And he will help as soon as the Lord allows.” Sue Ann said. “Have faith, Mrs Rourke.”
“That’s all we’ve been doing!” She said. “We’ve been going for months! If only Roy would stop choosing these random out of towners who don’t even believe!”
Layla put her hand on her mothers shoulder. “Mom, please.”
She whirled around to Dean, anger painting her face. “Why do you get to live more than my daughter?”
“What, so you’d rather my eight year old daughter be orphaned?” Dean said, glaring at her. “I can’t control who he chooses.” She looked shocked, and Dean scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I’m leaving, goodbye.”
He feels for her, he does. He can’t imagine what it’s like to watch your only child waste away and not be able to do anything about it. How heartbreaking and devastating it would be. But that doesn’t mean she gets to take it out on others.
He sighs, and walks away from the house, feeling worse than when he got there.
He looks at Sue Ann’s lifeless body on the ground. He feels bad for Roy, who will most assuredly pass away as well very soon.
“It just sucks.” He said, as they walk away. “Roy was innocent in all this, and he still gets the short end of the stick.”
“You said it yourself Dean, what’s dead should stay dead.” Sam says, as they walk back to the car. “He was already cheating death, and that never ends well.”
“Yeah.” Jess says, as they near the car. “He was a nice guy, but it’s the natural order of things, as bleak as that sounds.”
“I guess.” He says, starting up the car. “You good Claire?”
She gives him the ‘ok’ sign, and he starts the car up as they leave. They head back to the hotel room, and Dean sticks the key in.
“Well, let’s get going, we don’t want to be here for too much longer.” He says, opening the door.
There, in the middle, is Cas standing there. There’s blood leaking from his temple and down the side of his mouth. He’s leaning against the table, looking like he's one strong wind from being pushed over. Dean looks into Cas’s eyes, and rushes over to him. Cas blinks at him, almost like he's unable to process what he’s seeing.
Cas is only able to utter one word before he collapses onto the floor.
“Dean?”