Maybe (Destiel AU)

Chapter 14

Monday. I wondered if I had school. How old was I? Did I live in this state? This country?

Questions whirled through my mind as I drifted off to sleep. It was the middle of the day, but my eyelids were heavy and every bone in my body was sore. I just wanted this to go away. I wanted to wake up in a few hours and everything would be gone. It would all have been a dream.

I forced myself to believe that this was true, and finally fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

{Castiel's POV}

Anna wrapped her arm around me and pulled me into her shoulder, as her, me, and Sam sat on the small waiting room couch together.

"We should just go home, Cassie. Dr. Kelly says you need rest."

"I won't leave Dean," I replied shortly.

I saw Anna looking down at me out of the corner of my eye, but I kept my focus on the wall in front of me.

"Ok," She said, barely above a whisper.

The three of us continued to sit in silence for a while, until I saw the doctor come out of Dean's room. I stood up immediately.

"How is he?" I stared straight into the doctor's eyes.

"He's just fine," Dr. Kelly held his hands up in reassurance. He turned to Sam. "He should be able to go home in the next couple of days. But you have to promise to keep activities to a minimal. Ill write a note for the school, so don't worry about that."

Sam nodded and turned to me.

"Castiel, my dad's away on work for months at a time. I haven't been able to reach him yet. Can you...?" Sam motioned towards Dean's room awkwardly and looked down, clearly ashamed to be asking so much.

"Of course I'll stay with you two. Don't even worry about that." I put a comforting hand on the young boy's shoulder and felt him relax a little.

"Yes, it's best that Dean stays around familiar faces. It can help to speed us this... process." The doctor said, and looked down as if to say that he wasn't sure how much of a process there would be.

Maybe Dean wouldn't fully remember us. What would happen to him then? To me? I shook the thought away, trying not to think too hard about the future, and focus more on the present.

However, as I sat back down on the small, uncomfortable hospital couch, I felt a single tear slide down my cheek. I wiped it away an squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember what my brothers told me my mom used to say.

'How else would you know you've had happiness if you didn't get sad sometimes?'

I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to push any sad thoughts to the back of my mind.

I tried not to cry. So hard. To be strong. For Dean.

* * *

The next couple days were hell.

Anna dragged me home against my will and made me promise not to go to the hospital for over an hour a day.

I would go and visit Dean, keeping him company everyday for an hour exactly until the day that they finally released him. Thursday.

They kept him here for four days, and I knew that wasn't bad for a car accident victim.

Thursday afternoon, I waited impatiently by the front window for Dean to arrive at the house across the street.

I nearly tripped and fell on my ass trying to make it out the front door as I saw the yellow cab pull up.

I limped out into the street, mostly because my ribs still hadn't fully healed, just as the cab door was opening. Dean stepped out and stared at me blankly.

I swallowed and tried to ignore the feeling in my stomach. I missed the way he used to look at me.

He turned his gaze away and looked in the direction of his house. He studied everything, from the shingles to the tall blades of grass that desperately needed to be mowed. He picked up his bag that Sam had packed and brought to him at the hopital.

I sighed and followed reluctantly, knowing Dean couldn't care less whether I came in or not, but I knew Sam would be excited for his big brother's return.

My thoughts were answered by the front door of the small house bursting open, and Sam running out to meet us. He latched himself onto Dean in a tight embrace and refused to let go.

As I got closer, I could see the the smile on Dean's face. It was small, but visible. I felt a pang in my heart as I realized that that smile wasn't just out of happiness, but out of love. I knew that a bond like Sam and Dean's could never be broken. Not even by severe memory loss.

I smiled a little to myself, and continued walking up the front steps to the house, closely followed by Dean and his little brother.