Castiel continued to heal Dean, but he soon realized that the faster he was to fix him, the less time they would have together. He needed to heal him, but he wanted to stay with him forever.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea, Cas would live forever until the day someone killed him and Dean would grow old, eventually leading to his inevitable demise. There was no version in which Castiel could win.

But he didn't care about the facts, all he cared about was Dean. Cas loved him with every part of his celestial being. He didn't know how it would all work out, but he was willing to try everything he could to keep him.

As Cas doctored, he contemplated what he should do. There was one way they could be together forever, where Dean wouldn't age. A place they could be side by side without intervals of Dean being awake and away from Castiel.

But it was, to say the least, intrusive on Dean as a vessel.

"Dean?" Cas asked on one of their dates.

They laid in a field, Dean's head in his lap as Cas ran his finger's through Dean's hair. Both were engulfed in the smell of freshly cut grass, just enjoying each other's company.

"What's up, gorgeous?" Dean asked, not opening his eyes.

Castiel's voice was nervous, "If you... If there was, uh, a way-" Dean sat up to face him and Cas took a deep breath before starting over, "Do you love me? Forever?" Castiel asked seriously.

"Yeah, of course! What's wrong?" Dean had fear in his eyes; the "do you really love me" was usually bad.

"So if you had the chance, would you stay with me for eternity?" Castiel asked.

"You proposing to me, Trenchcoat?" Dean asked, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.

Cas' eyes widened in terror, "I was not trying to."

Dean chuckled, "Don't look so terrified. You're a figment of my imagination, it's gonna be hard for you to say something I don't like."

Castiel regained his composure, "Right. My apologies," he sighed.

Dean tilted his head upward and looked at the clouds with a thoughtful look, "And yeah, Cas. If I could, I'd spend all my time with you."

"Are you certain?"

"Yep," Dean laid back down and rested his head on Cas' stomach once more, "But," he sighed as he closed his eyes again, "I always wake up in the end."

Or maybe Dean didn't have to.

Cas knew it was selfish. Maybe he even felt slightly guilty, but he didn't care about the consequences. Castiel only cared that they could be together always.

He put Dean into a coma, imprisoned in his own mind.

That morning Dean didn't wake up. Sam peeked into Dean's room, "Get the hell up. It's noon and we're going out to lunch with the guys."

No response.

Sam pushed the door open a little wider, "Come on, wake up, lazy ass, so I can get you in the chair."

Still no movement from Dean. Not even a fidget.

He walked to the side of Dean's bed and lightly shook him, "Dean?" He took a step away, "I swear to god this isn't funny."

Dean didn't move. He hardly breathed.

Sam panicked.

"Dean! Wake up!" He vigorously shook his brother's limp body. He held his ear to Dean's chest, listening for some sort of life deep inside. He heard a heart beating, but Dean didn't stir.

Sam ran into Jody and Bobby's bedroom, "Dean isn't waking up! I think we need to take him to the hospital!"

Jody and Bobby shot up in their bed.

"He's breathing, but he isn't moving..." Sam said anxiously.

The two of them quickly changed as Sam put Dean into his wheelchair. They hurriedly strapped him into the truck and drove to the hospital. As they pulled into the emergency entrance, Sam stumbled out of the truck and sprinted to anyone who could help, yelling, "Someone help us! My brother needs help, now!"

A nurse heard his pleads and calmed him, "Okay, sir. We'll get you some help immediately."

She gestured for workers to follow Sam as he led them to the car. With them they brought out a gurney and carried Dean inside.

"I need you to tell us exactly what happened," the paramedic said.

"I... I don't know. I just came into his room to wake him up and he just wouldn't," Sam said tensely, "He was in an accident a few months ago and has been paralyzed from the neck down since, but he was completely fine after besides the paralysis."

They wheeled Dean through the sea of distressed people in the emergency room and towards the MRI wing.

Sam started to jog after them but the nurse stopped him, "I'm sorry, you can't go back with him just yet. We need to run a few tests."

Sam looked anxiously over her shoulder to watch Dean's gurney turn the corner. He sighed in defeat.

"Is there anything you didn't tell the paramedics that could help with diagnosis? Any recent traumas or irregular habits?" The nurse asked.

"Well he's been sleeping a lot more than usual-" Sam suddenly stopped talking.

Castiel.

This whole god damned thing was Castiel's fault.

Sam should have seen it coming. Dean was sleeping more and more. It was only a matter of time before he didn't wake up at all.

The nurse was still looking at him expectantly.

"That's about it," Sam said. She nodded and recorded it on a clipboard before walking off.

Sam slumped, defeated, into a chair next to Jody. With a sigh he ran his hand over his face in an attempt to calm down.

Jody put her arm around him and gave him a gentle squeeze in an exertion to comfort him, but Sam hardly noticed. All he could think was that it was his fault.

His fault.

It was all his fault.