The Last Spark

Chapter 9

- Dean, literally nothing bad happened. You started panicking without any particular reason. - Sam said, crossing his arms on his chest tiredly, - It's been only a couple of hours, just give Cas some spacetime.

Dean furrowed his brows and sighed, glancing at his younger brother in annoyance who seemed to be repeating the same thing over and over again.

- First of all: "spacetime"? Who says that? Who are you? Einstein? Secondly: I'm not panicking. I'm just, - he paused, clenching his left hand into a first and putting it into the right one. He was indeed panicking and had been for the whole day , but there was no way he was going to casually say it out loud.

Not then, not to Sam. At least not yet.

- I'm worried. - Dean chose the safest way, - Cas hasn't left his room today and.. He never greeted you or took a shower. God, he didn't even eat.

- Maybe he doesn't need to anymore. - Sam replied with an exhale. - That curse that he has. We still don't know anything about it. I tried to identify it, but those types of spells are super rare and complicated since angels weren't exactly often visitors on Earth. It has probably disappeared so give him at least a day to gather his strength.

- He was eating just yesterday, Sam! You know it can't disappear THAT fast. Yeah, he didn't eat a lot... Probably even too little, - he added quietly, - But he was still pretty much human if you ask me.

- Dean, even if he is still a human, you can't just force him to be around. As I said before, it's only been a couple of hours-

- Eight hours, Sam. Eight! Does not sound like "a couple" to me, - the man lowered his head to check his watch. The clock hands continued to treacherously point at 5:50 pm. Dean wished they were lying.

-It's been exactly eight hours since you got back and ten hours since I woke up. And all this time he didn't make at least the slightest bit of a noise. So yeah, I have every right to be worried.

Dean expected his brother to continue arguing but he just sat down on a chair and yawned, exhausted , covering his mouth with his hand. Sam looked like he got a bit older. It happens after every hunt they attend, doesn't matter if it's an easy one or not, they always come back looking slightly different. It might be a new wrinkle on the corner of their eyes, a tiny scar on the cheek or a callus on the index finger caused by a frequent trigger pulling. Doesn't matter. Every hunt leaves its trace on them both physically and mentally. This is just another price to pay.

This is a price Sam had to pay while Dean was having fun playing Monopoly.

- You better be going to bed, - the older brother said, tapping the younger one on the shoulder, - I'll figure it out myself.

- What? It's only six p.m. I'm a big boy, Dean, I can stay up late.

- I'm not saying you can't, - he replied, giving Sam a reassuring little smile, - I say you should. You drove for hours through a blizzard and got drunk with Garth yesterday. Which is very irrational by the way.

- Oh c'mon, like you haven't done that before. - Sam muttered.

- Sam, what are you? Four? If I did something it doesn't mean you need to run out and immediately repeat it. I thought you were old enough to understand that. - Dean replied with a sarcastic smirk.

- Whatever.

- All I'm saying: I would very much appreciate it if you walk to bed now and not make me carry your heavy ass there. Capiche?

Sam raised his eyes to look at Dean, trying to read his brother's face , doubt somewhere on his mind . He mentally begged Sam not to notice his sneaky glances toward Cas's room every other second, but seeing his lips confidentially curl into one of those smug smiles, Dean realized he got uncovered.