Catch A Flame

Chapter 6

The clock ticked on, Benny called Sam so Cas didn't have to. Sam and Jess showed up together. Slowly the team of truck 67 walked in the door. Rufus having arranged their replacements to come in early. Even the members from truck 33 came in and joined the waiting. Other people waiting looked at this sight with wonder. A gathering of firemen and women waiting to hear the news of the downed firefighter. Jess leaned against Sam, her eyes closed. Everyone was awake, eyes opened or not. Rufus leaned against the wall next to Benny. Meg and Tessa sat separately. Bobby, Jody, and Ellen had come in, Jo sitting by her mother. Charlie had her legs pulled up on the couch. The number of people waiting to hear about Dean Winchester was nearly clogging up the waiting room. Good thing it was practically void of anyone else by now. Nurses and doctors that walked by would pause to take in the sight before needing to get back to whatever they were doing beforehand.

The clock was loud. Ringing in all their ears with each tick, each pass of both hands. The weight had settled on all their shoulders. There were a lot of times where they'd have already known that their comrade would be okay. This just wasn't one of them. The waiting had the sticky texture of molasses and moved just as slow. Each footstep to walk past the room caused everyone to look up in hope for news. None would come, and they'd be subjected to more waiting. Hours felt like days. Even though the morning was dragging on, they all stayed. It was the need to know that chained most of them down. Dean Winchester had saved several lives the night before. One of them happened to be a firewoman from truck 33. They owed the man this respect. Even Nick was quiet as he tapped the arm of his seat, receiving a few glares for the action. All that attention shifted as the doctor cleared his throat.

"Is there a Castiel, or Sam here?" The doc looked around when no one moved. Sam set a hand on Cas's back.

"We're all here for the boy." Bobby grumbled. Jody set a hand on her husband's arm.

The poor man in the white coat gulped at all the eyes looking at him. He'd let this slide so far. "Dean Winchester is stable." The room seemed to let out a collective breath. Few even so far as to utter small whoops. "But he is far from being out of the woods." Any celebration was crushed with the handful of words.

"H-how is he?" Cas squeaked out.

The doc seemed to look at him with a sad gleam. "He's not breathing on his own. Dean had a seizure during surgery, and as I understand on the way here as well." Benny nodded slowly. "Mr.Winchester I wish I could say everything would be fine, but that would be unrealistic with all the complications that have risen. Concussion, collapsed lung, broken ribs. There were deep wounds on the side of his head, and signs of possible skull fracturing. The internal bleeding at the least is no longer a problem." The doc lowered his clipboard. "Would you like to see him?"

Cas rose without a second thought, leaving Sam with everyone else. The blank hallways were near dead silent aside from the pair's footsteps. "So have we passed the worst of it?" Cas's brows furrowed with growing worry.

"It's too early to tell. We'll get a better idea of that when he wakes up."

"When will that be?" Cas nearly cried when the doctor stopped and turned to him.

"No way to tell. Best case scenario, in a couple of days." He pulled open the door.

Immediately the breath left Cas. His feet were glued to the floor. So many machines were hooked up to Dean. A tube down his throat, one in his chest. Wires that seemed to tangle around his pale form. Bandages wrapped his limbs in cocoons. His shoulder, his legs, nearly one half of his face. A bag of blood hanging next to the IV, resupplying the firefighter's body of what it lost too much of.

"I'm taking my leave for the night. A nurse will be by to check on him within an hour. Between now and then... it's past visiting hours, but I would be none the wiser. Not too much excitement." With that the doctor turned his back, practically giving Castiel his consent to break several rules all in one night.

His blue eyes turned back to Dean as he walked in. Bold freckles splashed over his face. How Cas wished so badly for him to wake up now. To be able to look into those green eyes again. It nearly made him smile at the thought. Dean would bitch about a tube in his throat. He'd have a hay day with the one for the collapsed lung. The tears streamed down Cas's face as he laughed. Pulling a chair up, he took Dean's hand. If only he could be bitching now.

The other visits nearly took up that remaining hour as the heroes of truck 67, 33, and both ambulances made their way into Dean's room. Damn near each one of them left something for when Dean woke. Sam and Jess took up the large lounge chair on Dean's other side. Most of the men and women from Dean's firehouse stood outside the open door, not quite ready to leave their fallen brother.

"Alright gentlemen, ladies." Rufus looked at the men and women who answered to him. "Get on home. We all need sleep, and to leave the rest of Dean's family. Go on." Rufus waved them off. Reluctantly they all trailed down the hallway. Soon it was just the three of them. "This includes the two of you." Rufus gave a nod to those who sat around Dean. With this silent goodbye, he took his own leave.

Charlie and Benny looked at each other. Benny stepped over to the small table where everyone had left the trinkets, he set down a quarter. An age-old inside joke for him and Dean to laugh over when he wakes. He looked at Bobby and Jody, to Sam and Jess. Then those blue eyes met those of Dean's husband.

He took a breath to compose himself before forcing the smile. "This is Dean Winchester we're all teary-eyed for. Man's come back from things worse than this." Benny nodded unknowingly more for himself than anyone else in the room. The man paused in the door. His confidence melting into something more sorrow-filled. "But just know, whole firehouse has y'all in their thoughts." He tapped the wall before exiting.

This left just Charlie, Jo and Ellen had left shortly after the rest. She tenderly took out her wallet. There were folded pictures of her and Dean. The older brother she never had. She set them next to Benny's quarter. Her favorite was the one where Dean had his arm across her shoulder. With that big goofy grin of his. It had been before he met Cas, and before Charlie was able to introduce them properly.

"He's right you know." Her voice pierced the quiet. "Dean has been through a lot." She took hold of Castiel's free hand. "But he has you now." With that she went up to the unconscious man, kissing his forehead as he had done for her countless times. The only difference was she was careful of the bandaging and stitching around Dean's head. "Just wake up, please." She whispered.

With that, the five were left with Dean and a heartbroken hope that stained the air like smoke.