Honey Apple Pie

Chapter Twenty-Three

'Are you sure you don't want me to stay?' Cas asked, watching him take a shaky sip of water.

Dean nodded, pulling the blankets back around himself. He managed a tremulous smile, but Cas wasn't convinced, so he put Dean's phone within arm's reach.

'Text me if you need anything. Anything,' he instructed, refilling Dean's water before finally leaving his apartment.

He was late getting to the bakery, and rattled around the kitchen trying to get things ready before opening. He quickly texted Alfie, Can you bring me a thermometer on your way in?

What kind? People or food? Alfie asked.

People.

He eventually managed to open, though a little late again, but his mind was on Dean, so much so that he forgot to decorate some of his cupcakes until Alfie arrived and pointed it out.

'What's going on?' Alfie asked, grabbing the new thermometer out of his pocket.

'Dean's sick,' Cas told him. 'I lost my thermometer. Can you hold on here a minute? I'll be right back.' He dashed out of the bakery and around the corner, back to his apartment.

He found Dean asleep, with all the blankets thrown off. He was pale, but covered in a sheen of sweat. Cas dithered in the doorway, loathe to wake Dean up when he'd had such a terrible night, but before he could decide what to do, Dean woke up on his own and curled up into a ball, hugging his stomach.

'How are you feeling?' Cas asked, crouching next to the bed.

Dean just groaned.

Cas opened the thermometer, carefully reading the instructions. 'I'm just gonna put this in your ear, all right? Try and hold still.'

Dean nodded and waited while Cas took his temperature.

'102,' Cas frowned. 'That's bad.'

Dean groaned again.

'Does it still hurt?' Cas asked.

Dean nodded.

'Dean, I think we have to go to the hospital.'

Dean shook his head.

'Come on, Dean, this could be serious. Don't make me call Sam.'

Dean tried to sit up, but couldn't. {I'm fine} he signed with shaking hands.

'Of course you're not.'

{I'm not going} He rolled over and threw up into the trash can that Cas had left for him, and Cas raised his eyebrows.

'All right, I'm calling Sam.' He dialled Sam's number and waited while it rang.

'Cas? What's up?'

'Sam, Dean's sick and I think he has to go to the hospital, but he won't listen to me.'

'What? How sick?'

'He has a really high fever, and he says his stomach and back hurt.'

'Hold on, let me put my friend on. She's a nurse.'

Cas put the phone on speaker and waited.

'So, what's going on?' a woman's voice asked. 'I'm Jess, by the way.'

'Jess, we were just trying to convince Dean to go to the hospital,' Cas explained to her.

'All right, what are his symptoms?'

Cas repeated what he had told Sam.

'Where on his back does it hurt?' Jess asked, a slightly worried tone replacing her previously amused one.