It was three days after Sam had visited Castiel with Dean that the older Winchester was greeted with a surprise when he walked into the hospital building. He had been walking down the hallway leading to Castiel's room when he ran into Ellen, a happy smile on her face.

"Hey Dean!" She said brightly, giving him a warm hug in greeting. Dean hugged back briefly before smiling at her, pulling back and surveying her happy mood.

"Hey, what's going on? You're in a good mood." Dean commented, glancing down the hallway towards Castiel's room. Maybe it would be a good day and Castiel was as happy as Ellen was.

"Gabriel is visiting Castiel! You should have seen his face when his younger brother walked in. I thought he was going to die of happiness." Ellen said, looking towards the room as well, her eyes softening. Dean let out a small laugh of surprise, grinning in happiness for the boy.

"Is it okay if I go see him then? Or should I wait until Gabriel gets done?" Dean asked, shuffling his feet and stuffing his hands in his jacket pocket. He wouldn't mind either answer. He was just glad that Castiel could finally have his brother visit him.

"I would wait if I were you. When I left, Gabriel was crying and begging Castiel to forgive him for not visiting more often." Ellen commented, sighed softly and rubbing her hand through her hair. "Of course, Castiel forgave him without a second thought."

"Well, Gabriel's his brother, and Cas understands why he done it, so of course he would forgive him." Dean said with a shrug, leaning against the wall. "Besides, it's Cas. He cares too much to not."

Ellen nodded, glancing down at her pager as it went off. "I have to go now, Dean. I'll check with you later." She said before hurrying off. Dean watched her go before heading over to Castiel's room, leaning beside the door and waiting for Gabriel to come out.

About five minutes into waiting, he saw Sam come around the corner, pausing when he saw Dean. Dean furrowed his eyebrows at his brother, confusion littering his gaze. "Sammy? What are you doing here?" He asked, tipping his head.

Sam paused, looking at Dean for a moment before he shook his head, smiling. "I brought Gabriel here. It took some fighting, but I finally got it." Sam said, leaning against the wall beside Dean and looking at the ceiling. "You got off work early today."

"Yeah, Rufus ran out of work for me to do for the day, so he let me go early." Dean replied, looking at his younger brother. "How did you convince Gabriel to visit? If I understand, he didn't want to come to visit his brother at all."

"I yelled at him a little bit. We argued for a minute. I won." Sam said, obviously giving the shorter version of the story. Dean nodded, glancing towards the door for a moment, listening for any sound coming from the other side.

"Did you finally crack him? You are pretty good at doing that." Dean commented, returning his gaze to his brother after he deemed the room quiet.

"Yeah." Sam admitted, giving a sheepish smile and looking at the ground. "I understand why he's avoiding Castiel. He's scared and upset that he can do nothing but watch his brother get sick. I can't say that I don't understand where he's coming from."

Dean stared at Sam for a minute, guilt washing over his chest. He pulled Sam into a one-armed hug, staring at the ground. "I'm sorry." Dean mumbled, sighing as he realized he had to look up at his younger brother.

"It's not your fault." Sam replied softly before they pulled apart. Dean smiled at his brother before turning his attention to the door beside them as it opened. Sam pushed off the wall, smiling as Gabriel came into view.

"How did it go?" Sam asked, pecking his boyfriend on the lips in greeting. Gabriel smiled up at him, his eyes red from crying but happiness sparkling in them.

"It went amazing. Thank you for getting me to come." Gabriel whispered, hugging Sam and burying his face in the boy's chest. Dean watched them, trying to hide the smile that was forming on his lips at how cute they were.

Dean decided to give them some privacy and slipped into Castiel's room, smiling brightly at the boy who watched him with shining eyes. He's never seen Castiel look that happy and couldn't imagine anything better. He made his way over, sitting in the seat beside the bed.

"I see Gabriel finally visited." Dean said, spreading his knees and leaning on them. Castiel nodded, his face slightly pink but otherwise healthy as he smiled his widest smile.

"All thanks to your brother. He promised to visit me everyday after school now." Castiel replied, his fingers fiddling in his lap. Dean grinned at the boy's happiness, his eyes wandering to the patches of hair missing from the boy's head, his smile faltering for just a minute.

"Well, I'll have to treat Sammy for that one." Dean said, forcing his smile back before Castiel could notice it missing. "Anyways, how are you feeling today?"

"Ah, I'm feeling okay. I'm a little bit sore." Castiel said, flexing his hand and looking down at it. Dean frowned and leaned forwards, sliding his hand in under Castiel's and turning it, looking at the skin. He slowly worked his thumb along the muscle, being extremely gentle.

"Is this helping at all?" Dean asked, a little bit of amusement in his voice when he realized he had no idea what he was doing. He just did what he automatically thought would help. It surprised him when Castiel nodded, the pink on his cheeks getting a bit darker.

"Yes, it's helping the pain a lot." Castiel mumbled, letting his eyes flutter shut for just a moment as Dean continued, the boy's skin both cold and warm under his touch. After only a moment, goosebumps began appearing on Castiel's skin, making him pause.

"Are you cold?" Dean asked, looking up at the heated face of the boy. Castiel opened his eyes, his eyes bright and full of emotion. It left Dean almost breathless, caught in those powerful orbs.

"No, I'm fine." Castiel breathed softly, watching Dean with a careful closeness. Dean swallowed thickly, his heart beginning to speed up in his chest as he slowly began running his finger along his hand again, not massaging anymore, rather than exploring the plains of the teen's hand.

It was silent except for an irregular beat that became slowly faster and faster. Dean found himself leaning forwards, urged on by the beat until it became fast enough that it caught his attention, making him furrow his eyebrows. He looked over, seeing the elevated heart rate of Castiel on the monitor before looking back at the boy, swallowing down his embarrassment when he realized what he almost had done.

"Do you need me to get Ellen?" Dean asked, letting go of Castiel's hand. The sick teen almost let out a whimper in response, his eyebrows creasing in distress. He reached out for Dean, a sadness in his eyes that caught Dean off guard.

"Don't leave." Castiel whispered, tipping his head slightly as he grabbed Dean's hand back, pulling it into his own. "I'm sorry. Just...don't leave me."

Dean frowned at the way the sadness began to be replaced with fear for Castiel. The boy always had a sad look, yes, but this was the first time he'd seen the fear. Dean knew he was afraid to be left alone, to be abandoned like he had been with Gabriel, and maybe that same fear is what pulled the both of them so close together.

"Don't worry, I won't" Dean promised.