Silence in the Forest

Chapter 5

When Sam, Dean, and Cas arrived at the Kearns residence, Fisher's car was already there. There were no lights on in the house.

"She's in the woods," Cas announced suddenly.

Dean hastily unlocked the trunk and began tossing weapons at Sam and Cas. They ran into the woods, shouting Casey's name.

They searched for a long while, yelling as loud as they could. Dean was starting to lose hope, growing more worried by the second. Where was she?

"Here! Over here! I'm here!"

ooOOoo

"Casey!" Dean's voice rang out through the forest.

Casey's eyes snapped open at the voice.

"HERE! OVER HERE! I'M HERE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Fisher kicked her again to try and silence her, but she just kept screaming.

No words could describe the relief she felt when she saw Sam, Dean, and Cas run into her field of view.

"Get away from my sister!" Dean yelled. He ran at Fisher and started to attack him.

Fisher matched his attacks almost exactly, causing Dean to doubt his abilities to take the guy out on his own. "Sam!"

"Get Casey out of here! Now!" Sam said to Cas before running off to help Dean.

Castiel immediately knelt next to Casey.

"Cas..." she mumbled.

"Don't speak," Cas said, his voice gentle yet full of uncontained fury at the man who had done this to the person he cared so much about. "Let's get you out of here..."

He picked her up bridal style, minding her hurt shoulder, and began walking back out of the woods.

"Howard and Fisher-" she started.

"Shh, it's alright, we already know. They are the ones responsible for the bodies in the woods. Sam and Dean will take care of them. Let's worry about you for now. What hurts?"

"Everything." She grabbed a fistful of Cas's white shirt, trying to cement herself in reality so she wouldn't slip into the dark one her mind was creating for her as they spoke.

"You got my message?"

"Of course I did. We left the minute I received it. Dean drove as fast as he could and broke a few traffic laws as well, if my memory serves me right. We were searching for you for quite a while."

"Thank you."

They were silent for a while after that, the only sound the crunching leaves under Cas's feet.

"I'm not teleporting to the Impala because it could hurt you more than you already have been," he said, answering her unspoken question.

"Oh."

"You need to stay awake. You have a minor concussion."

"How do you know?"

"I can sense it. You have a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, several bruised ribs, a black eye, and many scratches and bruises all over. Not to mention the exhaustion. You ran almost two full miles."

"Am I gonna be okay?"

"With proper medical care, you should make a full recovery."

"Oh, okay."

More silence.

"Cas?"

"Hmm?"

"Are we almost to the car?"

Casey was using the little strength she still had to keep from crying her eyes out in front of the angel. She was hoping to convince him to let her sit in the car on her own for a bit and he could stand outside. Then she could cry. She was already so embarrassed about what happened that night that she didn't want to add to said embarrassment by crying her eyes out.

Cas seemed to sense the meaning behind her question.

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about," he informed her. "None of this was your fault."

They were coming up on the Impala now; Casey could see it through the trees.

"It is perfectly normal to have feelings of fear about what has happened. Just because you feel fear does not mean you are weak."

Cas set Casey gently on the ground so he could open the car door and move some things to make enough room for her to sit comfortably.

He picked her up and put her in the back seat of the car, making sure she was comfortable, before going to close the door. He had read her thoughts and knew that she wanted to be alone in the car to cry. Before he could though, she grabbed the hem of his trench coat.

"Don't go away," she said in a small voice.

He slid in to sit next to her and closed the car door.

"Do you wish to talk about what happened?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I just want my brothers..." she said, choking back a sob.

Cas put an arm around her to try and provide some semblance of comfort. He could tell that she was going to try her hardest not to cry while he was there, but he would give her whatever comfort she would allow him to give.

They sat there for a little while in silence. Cas ended up shedding his trenchcoat at one point and giving it to Casey to help stop her shivering. She was curled into his side, waiting for her brothers to come back and rescue her from the demons threatening to overtake her mind.