Work Text:
Sammy always told Dean to watch what he ate and to eat healthier foods, including fruits and vegetables.
Dean never listened.
Which is how he ended up here, on the floor of the bunker, screaming in pain, grabbing at the lower right side of his abdomen.
It was just a normal day for the Winchesters at the bunker, looking for a case, just passing the time now that Dean is not a demon anymore.
Castiel is here too, doing only God knows what in the library or somewhere; Dean lost sight of him. Sam is cooking something that smells like actual crap in the kitchen, and Dean can smell it from the War Room.
So yeah, just a normal day.
Dean finishes making himself a burger before Sam takes over the kitchen to make whatever healthy monstrosity he's decided to create today, and now he's munching on it as he watches Scooby-Doo on his laptop, having the time of his life.
But then, as Shaggy and Scooby are running from the villain, Dean feels a sharp pain in his lower right abdomen, but it goes away, so Dean doesn't think about it and continues chowing down on his burger, watching his show.
When Dean gets up from his chair to toss his empty plate, he is overwhelmed by an agonizing pain that causes him to fall to the ground, dropping the plate, landing on his knees, and catching himself with his hands.
"Son of a bitch!" He screams in pain with a loud groan.
Loud footsteps immediately follow his shout, coming closer and closer to Dean.
"Dean, what–" Cas cuts himself off when he sees Dean's state, kneeling on the ground by his hunter. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"F-Fuck, I don't know. Just fix it, will ya, Angel? This hurts like a bitch."
Castiel nods, placing his pointer and middle finger on Dean's forehead, using his grace to heal Dean as he usually does, but it does nothing. When Cas pulls his hand away, Dean groans in pain again.
"Fuck! Baby, it still hurts!" Dean wails, placing his hand on his lower right abdomen, wincing, falling the rest of the way down, his hands giving out on holding himself up.
Cas panics, confused as to why it's not working.
"SAM!!!!" the angel shouts, panicked as Sam rushes into the room, hearing Castiel scream, noticing his brother curled up into a ball, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.
"DEAN?! What happened?" Sam asks as Dean whines into Cas's touch, the angel now pulling Dean's head into his lap.
"I-I don't know. I-I can't heal him," Castiel stutters, his hand shaking lightly, caressing Dean's forehead.
Dean groans, his eyes falling shut, soaking into Cas's touch, wishing this damn pain would go away.
"Where does it hurt, Dean? Is it all over?" Sam asks, going all nerdy, squatting closer to the ground.
Dean places his hand where the pain is on his abdomen, Sam immediately knowing what's going on.
"It's your appendix, Dean."
"I should be able to heal him, Sam. Why didn't it work?" Cas asks, panicked.
"It has to be surgically removed, Cas. Maybe an Angel's Grace can't do that," Sam guesses.
"Just fucking figure out how to make it stop!" Dean shouts with a groan.
Castiel looks at Dean sadly, wide-eyed. "I am sorry, beloved. I-I ca–can't heal you," he cries, tears falling from his sapphire eyes.
"It's—fuck—it's okay, baby. Just get me to a damn hospital or something. This is killing me..." He says honestly, whining slightly from the pain. "Metaphorically," he clarifies so he doesn't worry his angel any further.
"Sam, find the nearest hospital. I'm taking him to the car," Castiel says, in serious mode, moving to pick Dean up into a bridal carry.
Sam nods, pulling his phone out of his pocket to use Maps to find the closest hospital, which he discovers is just seven minutes down the road from the bunker.
Cas lays down in the back of the Impala with Dean, who moans in agony as Cas strokes his hair soothingly.
"Drive, Sam," Cas orders Sam, who nods and speeds out of the garage towards the hospital, looking back at the rearview mirror occasionally to check on Dean.
As soon as they step inside the hospital, Castiel carries Dean bridal style, Dean hiding his face in Castiel's neck as he cries in agony; Sam shouts for help until a nurse walks over to them.
"What can we help you with?" the nurse asks, her name tag reading Caren.
Sam frowns upon reading her name because what the fuck is that? Then he tells her everything, pointing to his big brother. "He has appendicitis. He needs help now."
Caren scrunches her eyebrows, looking at Cas and Dean. " Has it burst yet? How long have you been in pain?"
Sam looks at her in disbelief. "Ma'am, my brother can't even fucking stand up by himself. He needs help now!"
She sighs overdramatically. "Well, first you have to first fill out a form with your insurance information and a description of the pain."
Then, a doctor walks out, noticing Dean curled in Cas's arms. "What seems to be the problem here, gentlemen?"
Sam looks at the doctor, noticing he actually looks like he gives a shit about his brother, unlike this nurse caren seriously who names their kid that ???
"It's my brother, Doctor..." Sam starts to tell the doctor but doesn't catch his name.
The doctor smiles politely at Sam. "Norman Hope. What seems to be the problem?"
Sam is about to explain everything, but then Castiel cuts in, pure rage on his face, still holding Dean in his arms.
"My boyfriend is in incredible pain, and this bitch was telling us that we had to fill out forms! He is in pain! That should be enough!!" The Angel yells, infuriated.
The doctor immediately yells for a gurney for Dean, then looks down at Caren.
"That's your third strike this week, Caren. You're fired."
Caren's face turns red with rage, then, before she starts throwing a full-on tantrum, Norman has security escort her out, and that's when a gurney is pushed over to them for Dean.
Castiel carefully lays Dean down on it, caressing Dean's cheek with his palm. "You'll be alright, beloved. Sam and I aren't going anywhere."
Dean looks up at the angel with pure adoration in his teary eyes. "Thanks, baby."
Then Dean gets rolled away by two nurses, with Dr. Norman Hope following them, looking back at Sam and Cas.
"I will have a nurse talk to both of you once we get him settled."
Sam and Cas nod.
"Thank you," Sam says genuinely, making the doctor smile as he turns the corner, now looking back at Castiel, who is clearly still panicking. "Hey, Cas, he's going to be okay. He's getting the help that he needs. He's going to be just fine."
Cas takes a breath, unsure of what he's supposed to do now. "Are you sure?"
"I am positive," Sam says, patting the angel's back. "We just have to sit and wait."
"But we're supposed to do something, right?"
Sam chuckles. "Yeah, just wait and be here for Dean. That's all we're supposed to do, Cas."
Castiel seems hesitant at first but then sits with Sam in the waiting room, his knee bouncing impatiently, worried for his hunter.
But he can't do anything since he can't take Dean's pain away, and just waits.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They've been waiting for thirty-five minutes, and Cas has been getting more restless by the second, making Sam even more stressed.
He'll have some gray hairs by the end of this.
"How long is this supposed to take?" Castiel asks, worried, getting up from his chair and pacing back and forth in front of Sam. "It's been over half an hour. Dean could be dead, for all we know."
Sam sighs, grabbing Cas by the wrist, rising to his feet to stop him from pacing any more. "Cas, you have to relax. Everything is okay. Dean is fine."
"How do you know that?"
Sammy resists the urge to roll his eyes and goes for a calmer approach. "If something was wrong, they'd tell us. So just sit and wait, please. Dean wouldn't want you to worry like this."
Cas groans, sitting back down again next to Sam. "Fine."
Then a young nurse casually but urgently walks to them.
The nurse pulls down her mask, looking at them. "For Ted Zeppelin?"
Cas and Sam immediately know that she's talking about Dean.
Sam nods, pointing to himself then Castiel. "I'm his brother, and this is my brother-in-law. How is...Ted?"
"First, I want to assure you that Mr Zeppelin is alright, but it'll be another hour, I am afraid. His appendix did burst before we got to him."
Sam nods in understanding, offering her kind smile. "Okay, thank you, Miss."
"W-What does that mean?" Castiel cuts in, his brows furrowed in confusion and worry. "Is he going to be okay?"
The nurse sighs and looks at Castiel with an assuring smile. "Sir, your husband is just fine. It just means that the surgery will take a bit longer than normal. I just have to inform you because of protocol. I will let you both know when surgery is done, and you can visit him."
"Thank you, Miss," Sam says again, looking at Castiel with an annoyed expression.
She smiles at them, then walks off, heading back to Dean's room.
"I know you're worried, Cas. But everything is fine, okay? I think we need to take a walk and get some fresh air while we wait."
Castiel shakes his head, appalled by that idea. "No, what if something happens to Dean while we're gone, Sam?"
"Cas...ugh, whatever. I'm going to take a walk; call me if you hear anything."
Cas nods. "I will, Sam. Have a nice walk."
Sam flashes Cas an amused smile, heading outside to take a lap around the hospital to stretch his legs while they wait for news on Dean's condition.
Sam only hopes that Castiel can last another hour before he bursts into that hospital room and fucks up the surgery.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shortly after Sam comes back from his walk—he stopped by the coffee shop across the street and got a latte before coming back—the same nurse from earlier walks over to them with a smile, her mask around her neck, peeling her gloves off her hands.
"Surgery is done. He is currently resting, knocked out from the anesthesia, but he's going to be just fine. He'll just need to take the next 4 to 6 weeks pretty easy."
Yeah, more like two minutes if Cas has anything to say about it, Sam thinks to himself with a smile, looking up at the young nurse. "Thank you so much. Can we see him now? My brother-in-law is very anxious."
She chuckles. "Absolutely. He will need to stay with us overnight before we can discharge him, though. He's in room 168."
Sam nods. "Sounds good. Thanks again."
She smiles and walks off.
Castiel then jumps up from the chair he has been sitting in and then strides over to Dean's room without stopping or looking back.
Sam decides he's just going to wait here and fake the paperwork for Dean...Ted Zeppelin...and give Cas some time with Dean so he can finally calm his nerves.
When Castiel opens the door to room 168, he lets out a breath of relief when he sees his boyfriend resting on the hospital bed, his chest rising and falling with each breath, the heart monitor beeping steadily.
Cas walks over to the side of Dean's bed, observing every molecule of Dean's face to make sure he's okay.
Then Castiel hovers his hand over Dean's right abdomen to take a look at the area where Dean's appendix was, sensing the stitches there.
Castiel then places his hand on the place where Dean's appendix was, healing the spot and removing the stitches.
Dean's eyes blink awake a few seconds later, a soft, dopey smile spreading across his face as he looks up at the angel.
"Hey, baby," Dean greets, slightly slurring his words, definitely loopy from the anesthesia.
Cas smiles, cupping Dean's face in his hands. "Hello, beloved. How are you feeling?"
"Pretty freakin' fantastic," Dean replies with a chuckle, clearly a little out of it and high on the pain meds.
"You had me worried, Dean."
Dean reaches up and places his hand clumsily on Castiel's cheek. "I'm okay, Angel. I'm just glad that you're here."
Castiel takes hold of Dean's hand, leans down, and kisses Dean's forehead, the hunter humming contentedly, relaxing deeper into the bed.
"That felt nice."
Castiel chuckles. "Glad you liked it. Is there anything you need me to do?"
"Just stay with me, baby."
"Of course, Dean," Castiel says, sitting in the chair by Dean's bed, holding his hunter's hand as Dean falls back to sleep, Sam walking in a few minutes later.
"How is he?" Sam asks, seeing his sleeping brother in the hospital bed.
"He's fine. I healed his stitches," Cas said with a deadpan expression, his eyes not leaving Dean.
Sam chuckles—he knew Cas would do that. "I was just talking to the nurse, and he will be able to go home in a day or so."
Cas frowns. "But he's fine; I've healed him."
Sam snorts. "At least wait for the anesthesia to wear off before breaking him out."
The angel nods. "Fine. But I don't like it."
"You two deserve each other," Sam mumbles as he turns around and leaves the room. Now that he knows that Dean is going to be okay, he's ready to head back to the bunker. He also feels a headache coming on from having to deal with Castiel and his restlessness for the past hour and a half.
Castiel doesn't leave Dean's side once—sometimes there are great benefits to being an angel of the Lord, since he doesn't urinate, eat, or sleep—keeping his grip on his hunter's hand as Dean sleeps deeply and peacefully.
When Dean wakes again, he definitely seems more present than he was earlier; he smiles big and wide at Castiel.
"Hey, baby."
"Hello, Dean. How are you feeling?"
"A whole hell of a lot better," Dean says honestly, squeezing Cas's hand, sitting up in the bed, immediately noticing the lack of pain and soreness in his right abdomen.
Dean chuckles to himself when he realizes why; Cas used his angel mojo to heal Dean.
Dean then looks back over at his boyfriend and grins. "So when am I getting out of here?"
Castiel then doesn't waste a second to help Dean put on his normal clothes and get out of the hospital gown, and since they're on the first floor, they just climb out of the window, Dean moving a little stiffly at first, worrying Castiel.
"Are you alright?" the angel asks, placing a hand on Dean's back as they walk out of the parking lot of the hospital.
Dean nods with a grunt, stretching out his legs. "Yeah, just getting old, Angel."
Castiel is about to say something when Dean cuts him off. "Where the hell is Sam?"
"He left after he came to see you after the surgery, but you were passed out asleep."
Dean chuckles. "Yeah, I'm feeling pretty damn rested. How long was I out for?"
"Three hours, eleven minutes, and seventeen seconds," Cas responds without hesitation.
Dean wheezes out a laugh, walking closer to the angel and taking his hand. "I really love you, you know that?"
Castiel smiles. "Yes, Dean, I do, and I love you too."
Dean's gaze then moves down to Castiel's mouth, leaning in for a kiss, but then gets interrupted when there's a police car with its lights and siren on pulling into the parking lot, causing Dean to jump back.
"We should head back to the bunker," Dean says, a smirk spreading across his face. "And have some fun," he says as he wiggles his eyebrows.
"Dean, as much as I would love to do that, you just had surgery and need to rest."
Dean pouts. "Ugh, fine. But only if you snuggle with me," he says, pointing a finger at Cas.
Castiel smiles. "Anything for you, beloved."
THE END