Chapter Text
One moment, Dean was standing at a bridge, arm around Sam. In the blink of an eye, he felt himself surfacing from the depths of a cloying darkness. His eyes fluttered open, and confused, he took in his current surroundings–a room with scuffed, cream-colored walls, a wall-mounted TV, and the faint smell of antiseptic. He swore he could still feel the rough wood of the bridge under his fingers. He could almost smell the crisp mountain air. For Jack’s sake, he could still hear “Carry On Wayward Son”.
Ok, that last one had an explanation. Sam was sitting in a nearby chair, tapping away on his phone, apparently listening to Kansas. Dean finally looked down at himself and was unsurprised to find he was in a hospital bed, hooked up to an alarming number of tubes and wires. He thought about dramatically groaning to get Sam’s attention but ended up hoarsely croaking, “Did it really take me dying for you to develop good taste in music?”
“Dean!” Sam yelped, shooting up from his chair. “You’re awake!” And oh crap, the kid looked teary-eyed. Dean suddenly remembered what he thought were going to be his last words, and now he was horrifically embarrassed. Couldn’t have put me out of my misery, huh? he silently asked any higher power that might be listening.
Sam was suddenly at Dean’s side, looking like he wanted to hug Dean, but couldn’t quite work out how. His arms fell listlessly to his sides and he fixed Dean with a serious look. “You really scared me, Dean. That was way too close,” he said quietly.
Dean pondered things for a moment. “Uh, Sam? What happened? I thought for sure I was a goner.”
“You almost were,” Sam exclaimed. “So get this–it was the boys we saved. One of them called 911 after we got them out. Almost right after you passed out, paramedics and firefighters showed up. They managed to saw through the rebar and get you to the hospital.”
“Did…did I actually die?”
“Nah, man, but a couple more minutes and it would have been too late. The rebar managed to miss your lungs and heart, but shredded your muscle. You lost about 2 pints of blood. It was fucking terrifying, not knowing if you’d ever wake up. They didn’t even take the rebar out until you were in surgery.”
“And uh, how long was I out?” Dean asked.
“More than a day.”
Sam fell quiet after that, the only sounds coming from the busy hallway outside Dean’s room. Dean was struggling to assimilate the information. He supposed the glimpse of Heaven he’d had was merely a dream, but unlike other dreams and nightmares he’d had in the past, it still felt viscerally real. None of the sensations he had experienced were fading.
“How do you feel?” Sam finally asked.
Dean palpated the area of his back where the rebar had punctured the skin. He felt sore, for sure, but fairly well considering he’d basically been skewered. “I’m fine. Let’s get out of here. I could use a shower and food.”
“Dean…”
“I’m fine, Sammy.”
“But Dean, you’re going to need physical therapy, and clearance from the doctor to even leave. You nearly died! You’re not just walking out of here.”
Dean sighed. “Have you forgotten that we have heroes’ luck? I’m a little sore but otherwise fine. Let’s get out of here before they figure out we can’t pay for any of this.”
Sam went through several iterations of his bitch face, but finally relented and helped remove the IV port and various other detritus. While Dean had been hooked up to a heart monitor and blood pressure cuff, Sam informed him that the nurses only checked them when they made their rounds. Dean ended up throwing on his bloody clothes and the two of them made a run for it.
Two hours, a shower for Dean, and a stop for breakfast later, the boys were finally on their way home to the bunker. Sam insisted upon driving, and Dean was so exhausted that he didn’t even bother to argue. Dean hunkered down in the passenger seat, expecting sleep to come easily.
It did not.
Instead, Dean found himself running through everything he had seen in Heaven over and over again. He remembered Bobby telling him that Cas had helped Jack reshape Heaven. He remembered feeling relief and happiness that Jack had busted Cas out of The Empty. He had contemplated praying to Cas immediately, but he’d been a bit strung out over being separated from Sam, and then Baby had appeared…so his dumb ass went driving. Driving. At any rate, once Sammy showed up, he was going to pray to Cas–because really, that’s the only way it would have actually been Heaven…but then he woke up.
Did this mean that Cas was still stuck in The Empty? He must be, because Dean had only been dreaming…right?