West Coast

Chapter One

'Yeah. Most everything is healed now, but we don't know the severity of any - any brain damage yet.'

Cas nodded and bit his lip. It was scabbed and dry. 'Brain damage,' he whispered to himself. He took a deep breath, then lowered his hand to look at them. 'All right, I understand. So, you're my doctor?'

Suddenly, they both looked upset, especially the spiky-haired one.

'W-what?'

'My doctor?'

'You mean, you don't remember me?'

'I- should I?'

The man let out a short, nervous laugh. 'Th- there's just nothing? No recognition at all?'

Cas shook his head, confused.

'Oh God.'

'What? What is it?' Cas said, the bleeping on his monitor rising with his heart rate.

'Dean, calm down, you're freaking him out,' the man with longer hair said. 'The doctor said this might happen.'

'What might happen?' Cas said, his heart rate rising even further.

The long-haired man put out a placating hand. 'Everything's fine-'

'How is this fine?' the spiky-haired man named Dean demanded.

'Dean, just relax, please. Just give me a chance to explain to the poor guy what's going on before you flip out, okay? Jeez.'

Dean leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, staring stubbornly at the door on the other side of the room.

'That's more like it. Okay, Cas, do you remember me?'

Cas gave him another look over, but shook his head.

'That's okay. Let's see then, I'm Sam, and this is my brother Dean. The doctor told us that when you woke up, you might experience some memory loss.'

'I see.'

Sam glanced at Dean, who didn't move. 'Man, how do I put this? Okay, uh, you and Dean are sort of-'

'We're married,' Dean said shortly.

'Oh,' Cas said, surprised. 'Oh.'

'Yeah, "oh".'

Sam elbowed him. 'Sorry, he's not mad at you, he's just sorta mad in general.'

Cas chewed on his lip more. 'We're married?' he said, his heart rate remaining high. 'But I don't know you.'

'It's okay, Cas, it'll be fine, but you gotta calm down.'

But Cas couldn't. His chest tightened, his breath came in short gasps, and all he could see was the hurt on Dean's face. All he could feel was a terrifying blankness when he tried to think back.

The machines went off again, and Sam and Dean argued with each other.

Some nurses burst into the room. One began examining his monitor, and the other came to his bedside and put a reassuring hand on his knee.

'Castiel, can you hear me?' she said gently, making direct eye contact.

Cas nodded.

'All right, Cas, it looks like you're having a panic attack. Have you had them before?'

He thought about it, but felt sick when he couldn't remember.

Dean answered for him. 'Yeah, he has,' he said. 'He used to have medication for it, but...'