A/N: This one is set somewhere between Season 5's The Song Remains the Same and My Bloody Valentine. Hope you all enjoy it even if this one is slashless and please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of it's wonderful characters.

Chapter 1

"Dean, Dean, Dean," Zachariah tutted as he paced in front of the captive hunter. Dean struggled slightly between the two angels that were holding his arms but he knew that it was more for show than anything. He didn't stand a chance against a single angel, let alone the three that were now in the ornate office that he had been zapped into a few moments ago. His only chance of escape was, once again, for Cas to pull through for him and Dean hadn't heard from his only angel friend in over a week.

"Dean," Zachariah said again with a sigh as he perched himself on the edge of a large mahogany desk. "You and your brother have been quite a handful these last few months, let me tell you."

Dean smiled and said, "Well, we aim to please."

The angel let out a humorless laugh as he stood again and shook his head. "No, no you really don't." He turned around and swept his arm out as he continued. "As it is, I had hoped to have Sam here since he is usually a good bargaining chip to use against you, but he managed to slip past us again." Zachariah glared at the two angels flanking Dean at that moment but then quickly reclaimed his calm demeanor as his false smile spread across his face again. "Oh well," he said with a shrug. "I do believe that there may be someone else that you might like to know the whereabouts of." And with a significant look at Dean, he snapped his fingers.

There was a flash in the room and suddenly a body materialized beside Zachariah and immediately crumpled to the floor with a thud. Dean stared in horror at the figure that was now curled in on itself at Zachariah's feet. All he could really make out was tan and red, but he knew who it was even without seeing any distinguishing features and being splattered in blood.

"Cas!" Dean yelled as he started to struggle with true intent against his captors to reach the injured angel's side. But he may as well have been struggling against two cement walls for all the good it did. "You son of a bitch!" he screamed at the head angel. "What the hell did you do to him?!"

Zachariah pressed his lips together in a vain attempt to disguise his grin. "Very little so far, relatively speaking, of course," he responded. "What happens now will be up to your answer, Dean."

"You worthless bastard," Dean growled at him. "He's your brother!"

"That is why this is so regrettable. But…" he reached down then and grabbed a hold of Cas' arm and hauled the unresponsive body from the floor.

Dean could see bloody wounds encircling Cas' wrists, indicating that he had been tied or chained for some time now. His clothes were nearly completely shredded and saturated with dried and fresh blood alike as well as covered in scorch marks. The tears in the clothes flapped apart when Zachariah pulled him up, showing Dean glimpses of the torn skin beneath in varying degrees of healing.

Castiel groaned in pain as his sunken eyes flickered blearily in his head. Zachariah had pulled him upright and Dean watched as his broken friend tried to get his feet under him but couldn't seem to make his knees stay straight. "…Orders are orders, are they not, Castiel?" he said as he gave the angel in his grip a rough shake.

He gasped in pain again as he finally managed to pry his eyes open and keep them there. Dean swallowed hard as he watched Cas' gaze flit about the room while he licked at his chapped and split lips before his gaze finally settle on the hunter. There was a moment where Dean watched the angel struggle to bring him into focus and then the look of profound sadness coated all of his features. "D'n," he croaked softly.

"Damn it, Cas," Dean said with a shake of his head. "Why the hell you let them do this to you?"

"Oh, there wasn't much choice in the matter," Zachariah replied as he raised his other hand and snapped his fingers. Two more angels suddenly appeared in the room and each grabbed one of Castiel's arms and kept him upright between them in much the same fashion as Dean's angels were holding him in place.

"What the hell is this?" Dean snapped back. "How can this be what angels are supposed to act? You don't get your way and you resort to torturing your own family!?"

Zachariah shook his head sadly and said, "Trust me; this is not what I would like to be doing. If it weren't for your stubbornness, Castiel would simply have been gently shown the error of his ways and placed on the correct path again. You, however, are the reason that we have had to resort to such methods, Dean."

"No," Cas said weakly but then was overcome with a coughing fit, curling in on himself as much as his captors would allow him. Dean winced at the wet rattling sound of the angel's gasps.

Dean watched a trickle of blood appear at the corner of Cas' mouth. After a moment of coughing, Cas cleared his throat again and said with a little more power, "No, Zachariah. With you there is no gentle correction. And this is not Dean's fault. He made a choice and it is our Father's will that we follow their choices!"

"Father's will," Zachariah practically spit as he turned around and paced back behind his desk. "Our Father's will is nothing but a myth. He left us to our own devises just as much as the humans. I don't even understand why we still have to even bother with consent these days as it is."

"Because only demons take without permission," Castiel responded sharply. "And last I checked we are not demons."

"I don't know, Cas," Dean said. "I'm sorry, but a few of your siblings have been making pretty good impressions of them lately." He looked over Castiel again and their eyes met. Cas lowered his as if in shame before he spoke softly again.

"Yes, I can see where you would think that, Dean."

"And what do I care what some lowly human and a corrupt and powerless abomination think about me and my methods?!" Zachariah suddenly snapped as he strode around the desk with purpose. He walked up to Dean and reached out, taking Dean's chin in his hand and forcing the hunter to look him in the eyes. "I will ask you one more time, Dean Winchester; will you accept your place as Michael's vessel?"

"Go to hell," Dean told him.

Zachariah's jaw tightened along with his grip, no doubt causing bruises on Dean's chin. But the hunter refused to show signs that he was in pain. "Alright then," The angel said after a second with a forced calm. He shook Dean's face from his grip and then turned around. "Well, there's not much I can do about you, Dean," he said as he walked over to Cas. He nodded at the angels holding him and then they suddenly forced Castiel to his knees and held him there.

"Get the hell away from him," Dean yelled.

"Why, Dean?" Zachariah said as he half turned and looked back at the hunter. "I don't see where this is any of your business. This is a family affair, after all." He turned back and walked around so that he was standing directly behind Castiel.

Dean looked at Castiel and saw the sudden fear flash through his friend's eyes. Dean had no idea what was about to happen, but he knew that whatever it was scared Castiel far more than anything that Dean had ever seen before.

Looking back up, Dean saw Zachariah take his jacket off and toss it onto the desk behind him before taking time to roll up his sleeves. "You see, Dean," he spoke as he worked. "Castiel here, well, he's been a rather bad angel lately and there was a time that disobedient angels would receive a… certain kind of punishment."

Suddenly Cas started to struggle where he was being held. "You wouldn't," he gasped. "Zachariah, you wouldn't dare…"

"Oh, I think you know that I would, Castiel," Zachariah replied with a sickening grin.

Dean just stared wide eyed as his weakened and horribly injured friend was now so suddenly scared that he was using every bit of what strength he had left to try and break free. But it was painfully obvious that he didn't stand a chance of doing so as the angels holding him barely even batted an eye at the attempts.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean yelled he also struggled from his hold to even less advancement.

Zachariah only grinned at Dean as he held a hand between Cas' shoulder blades and started to chant something. "No… Zachariah!" Cas screamed as he continued to struggle. "Please, don't do this, brother!"

Then there was a slight flash of light where Dean had to blink away spots from his eyes. When he could see clearly again, he gasped in surprise. There, to either side of Cas' body, were two large ashy grey wings with streaks of black running through them.

"You son of a bitch," Dean practically whispered as he finally received and inkling of what Zachariah was about to do. His throat had gone dry and he couldn't manage anything else from his lips as Castiel's fearful eyes looked up and held his gaze.

"I didn't need to materialize his wings to do this, really," Zachariah said. "I just thought that you may want to see exactly what was happening, Dean. I mean, this is such a rare occurrence as it is and you will be the first human to ever witness it."

"Zachariah," Cas said softly as he finally stopped struggling. "Do not do this… If you need to punish me, then fine. But don't force Dean to watch this."

"And why not, Castiel?" Zachariah asked innocently. "Don't you want the one that brought you to this position to see the consequences?"

Cas sighed and bowed his head, "Please, brother… this is a family matter. Do not involve him."

"He's doing this to get me to say yes, Cas!" Dean snapped. "It has nothing to do with your rebellion."

Castiel looked up at Dean again with a new flash of fear. It was as if this thought had not occurred to him until the hunter had said it and now there was whole new level of fear on his face; not for whatever was about to happen to him, but that Dean would try and stop it.

"Actually, it's a little of both," Zachariah said with a grin as he reached down and buried a hand in the feathers of Castiel's right wing.

Cas stiffened and closed his eyes. "Brother…" he muttered but that was all that he was able to get out before Zachariah suddenly clenched his fist and ripped his hand away.

Cas threw his head back and screamed. Dean's legs nearly gave out under him as both the very human cry of agony as well as the screeching of an angel's true voice slammed into him. The angel voice died away quickly but Dean was still forced to listen to the near sobs of Castiel's human voice as he rocked forward again, still suspended between the other two angels, and practically shook with pain.

There was a soft rustling sound of feathers in the room as his wings shook and trembled behind him and tried to fold inward but Zachariah held them in place.

"You bastard," Dean finally muttered through clenched teeth as he glared at the handful of feathers, tipped in blood, that Zachariah was calmly examining in his hand.

"Really, Castiel, I'm almost doing you a favor getting rid of these dirty feathers of yours," Zachariah said as he slowly opened his hand and allowed the feathers to drift downward to the floor just in front of Cas' face so that the angel could see them where he was kneeling. "Your time in the pit really did tarnish your once beautiful wings."

Dean gasped and looked up at Zachariah sharply. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Oh," Zachariah said as he calmly reached his hand back down to rest against Castiel's already battered wing. "I guess you wouldn't know as this is the first time you've actually seen angel wings. But these…" He ripped out another fistful of feathers and held them up for Dean to see as Cas screamed again. This time, his angel voice was far less powerful and it didn't hit Dean as hard but his knees still buckled slightly at the noise. "These feathers have been singed… tarnished by the flames and fumes of hell. Angel wings are supposed to be pure white and your friend here, prior to his little exploits during your rescue mission, had some of the most pristine wings among us."

Zachariah released his handful of feathers again and watched as they drifted to the floor. "Now look at them; as grimy and tainted as the pit itself."

"Yeah, if only your feathers reflect your personalities," Dean snapped. "Yours would be black a pitch!"

The angel looked at Dean and held his gaze as he viscously tore out another fist full of feathers. Cas didn't scream in Angel this time but the human sound of his pain nearly as debilitating.

"It's rather touching how you're still trying to spare Dean, Castiel," Zachariah said with a sick grin. "But I doubt you can keep back your true voice for very long."

"Hey, Zach," Dean said. When Zachariah looked at him Dean forced his dealiest glare and simply told him, "Drop dead."

Zachariah simply grinned back at him. Dean swallowed hard and tightened his jaw as he continued to hold Zachariah's gaze while the angle reached back down and yanked and ripped handful after handful of feathers from the abused Castiel.

Cas was shaking uncontrollably where he was being held as sobs of agony spilled from his lips. Dean was beginning to also tremble but with white hot fury rather than pain. Every time Zachariah reached down and pulled another clump of feathers free, Dean felt his temperature rise another degree. Mentally he was reminding himself how much he was going to relish it when he was finally able to end this dick.

"Brother," Dean heard Cas mutter between his sobs. "Brother, please…"

And the fire that was burning inside was suddenly snuffed out. "Brother?" he whispered.

But Cas had obviously heard him as he started to raise his trembling neck. He looked up at Dean with pain filled eyes. "You still call this piece of shit a brother, Cas?" Dean asked in disbelief.

Cas shook his head slightly before replying wearily. "Just because he hurts me, does not mean that he is no longer my brother."

Any heat Dean still had in his body was suddenly sucked away at Cas' words. Yes, of course that was true enough. How many times had he and Sam hurt each other? And they never denied their kinship. But this was different. This was pure, unadulterated torture. Sure, Dean would have liked to slap some sense into Sam on more than a few occasions with some of his more stupid decisions, but he would never try and tear his limbs off. He would never have someone else hold his brother down as he tore bits of his flesh from his body.

With that thought, Dean grew sick at the memories that came with that visual. He had torn flesh from bodies before. He knew how to do it and he could never even begin to contemplate doing that to Sam, no matter what he had done. Dean always knew that, if Sam had ever appeared at his rack, then would be the day he got back onto it. He had gone as dark as any denizen down there in those final ten years, but he would never have gone so far as to hurt his own brother like that.

"No, Cas, he's no brother to you," Dean practically growled. "Brothers do not do this sort of thing."

Cas looked up at Dean wearily again for a moment and then hung his head. "If only that were true for angels, Dean," he said softly.

"If you are this concerned, Dean," Zachariah said after a moment of silence. "You know what it would take to get me to stop."

"But you wouldn't, would you?" Dean yelled. "You're sick enough that you're taking pleasure from this! You're a god damned monster, Zach, and you don't even realize it!"

Zachariah frowned again as he brought a blood spattered hand to his face as he seemed to think something over. "You know, Dean," he said after a moment. "I do believe that you don't quite understand exactly how painful this is for an angel."

"Zachariah…" Castiel said with some measure of his normal commanding voice that Dean was more used to.

"Yes, I think perhaps you might benefit from this, Dean," Zachariah said, ignoring Castiel's comment. He snapped his fingers again and Dean felt a strange tingle on the hand print scar on his arm. A split second later, Zachariah ripped out another clump of feathers and Dean's body lit up with indescribable agony. He could hear himself screaming and felt his limbs jerk and wrench as the angels continued to hold him in place. He felt as if he was on fire and freezing all at once and the pain was as if all thirty years of his time under Alastair's knife were compressed into a single moment and forced onto him.

The pain washed through his entire body, blanking out his mind and thoughts and all sense of time and place for an untold period. When he finally became aware again, he found he was hanging limply in the angels' grasp, gasping for air and tasting the bitter tang of blood in the back of his throat from where he had bitten into his tongue. He was shaking and sobbing and tears were spilling from his eyes even though he didn't even remember having begun to cry.

"Zachariah!" Dean heard Castiel yell and was fairly certain that the angel had been yelling for a while now but he couldn't find it in himself to look up. "If you are going to punish me then do it, but this is not meant for him!"

Dean shuddered and then finally forced his head up. He blinked through his water filled eyes and saw that Cas was shaking again. But this time, it wasn't in pain, but with the same fury that had Dean shaking not that long ago. He looked stronger and more determined in that moment than Dean had seen from him since he had suddenly fallen into the room.

"Do you not wish for him to know what he has done to you, Castiel?" Zachariah asked innocently.

"Cas…" Dean whispered. He stopped and cleared his raw and cracked throat and tried again. He found his feet again and managed to return to a wobbly stand as he spoke. "Cas, I'm sorry, man. I didn't…"

"Dean, stop," Cas snapped. "This isn't your fault!"

"Oh, but it is," Zachariah said with a sigh. "And Dean is the only one that can stop this." And with that he reached out and pulled out more feathers. Dean was only moderately relieved that he didn't feel the pain this time but he felt sick beyond belief as Cas simply jerked in place and closed his eyes, refusing to scream at all this time.

It didn't matter because Dean knew. He was well aware now that what Zachariah was doing to Cas was worse than his entire stay in hell. This was beyond anything that a human could even begin to be able to endure and Cas had been heading closer and closer to human over the last few months. He couldn't allow this. He could stop it… He could doom the world, but he could stop Castiel's torment.

"Stop!" Dean screamed as he watched as another clump of feathers was pulled free. "Stop it, damn it!"

"Dean, no!" Cas cried, but if he was going to make an argument, he was cut off by a gasp of pain when more feathers were pulled out.

"You son of a bitch! I said STOP!" Dean bellowed.

Zachariah pulled one more single feather free and then held it up to his face. "So, you understand the stakes now, do you, Dean?" he asked as he twirled the feather between his fingers. "You see where your stubbornness has gotten your friend?" He nodded down at Castiel.

Dean's gaze flickered down but couldn't linger long on the look of anger that he saw from Castiel. Dean knew, even with as much pain and suffering the angel was going through, Cas would still never approve of Dean giving in. "Dean," Cas said with undisguised warning in his voice. "Do not do what you are thinking. It will only make everything meaningless."

Dean looked back at him. He stared at Cas and tried to will the angel to understand. "Cas… I can't let him do this to you. Not when it's my faul…"

"This is not your fault!" Castiel yelled back.

Zachariah heaved a long suffering sigh as he flicked the lone feather from his fingers and then suddenly held an angel blade in his hand. "This is getting quite old," he said as he gripped the torn and bloody right wing in one hand while bringing the edge of the blade to rest on top of it right where the wing met Castiel's back.

"You have until the count of ten, Dean, and then I take his wing off. And if you thought the removal of feathers was painful…" he let the threat hang in the air.

Dean looked down in sudden fear at Cas and saw that the angel was now meeting his gaze with a taut determinedness. "Do not say yes, Dean," Cas said firmly.

"One," Zachariah began to count.

"Cas…" Dean said, not sure what it was he should do. Save his friend, or save the world… Now he could almost understand the dilemma that his future self had gone through when he had sent Cas in on a suicide mission.

"Two…"

"Dean, please… Do not do it."

"Three…"

"You god damn, son of a bitch, mother f…."

"Four…"

Dean looked back at Cas and waited to hear him say not to say yes again. But he had closed his eyes and his lips were moving rapidly, though no sound was coming.

"Five…"

"There's not a shred of dignity in you, is there?" Dean asked Zachariah.

The angel tipped his head slightly and then shook it. "No, not a bit… Six."

"You bastard… this will kill him, won't it?"

Zachariah smiled as he said, "Yes, most likely. Though not quickly and, even if he does manage to survive, he'll wish that he didn't. The pain of a removed wing will never completely go away."

"You…"

"Seven…"

"Dean," Cas said softly.

Dean looked back and saw Castiel staring at him pointedly. Help is coming. Dean suddenly heard Cas' voice in his head. He blinked and nearly lost what very little cool he still had at this sudden new talent but managed to keep the surprise from his face.

"Eight… do not think that I won't do this, Dean," Zachariah said.

Dean, close your eyes.

"Cas…"

"Nine… are you sure you want to see this, Dean?"

Dean, now!

Dean slammed his eyes closed. "If that is the way you want this…" Zachariah said. "Te…" and then there was a blinding light on the other side of Dean's eyes. He heard the cries of the angels on either side of him as they suddenly let him go. He collapsed to the floor and was forced to clamp his hands over his ears as he was suddenly assaulted with the ear splitting screeches of angel voices. He had no idea what was happening. For all he knew, they were tearing Cas apart, piece by piece, and all he could do was cringe on the floor as he felt as if his brains were pouring out his ears.

It seemed to go on forever and then, just as suddenly as it all started, it stopped. Dean laid there, almost afraid to move or open his eyes for fear of what he would find. "Dean," a muffled voice reached him through his hands that were still gripping his ears tightly. A hand touched his shoulder gently and he slowly uncurled and brought his hands down. "Dean, Zachariah is gone. It is safe now," he heard Cas speak above him.

He pried his eyes open and looked up. "Cas?" he asked as he looked up and got his first close sight of the batter angel. He still looked just as awful as he had just a few moments ago but there was a new found energy nearly pouring out of him at that moment.

"Yes, Dean… I am… well…" he said and then looked up at something standing above and behind Dean.

"Thank you, brother," he said softly.

Dean sat up quickly then and turned around. There, standing over him with arms crossed and a grim expression was Gabriel. "Gabe?!" Dean gasped as he clambered to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Breaking up the most appalling display between my younger siblings," he said with barely contained rage in his voice.

"I thought you were all for me saying yes," Dean snapped. "What happened to, 'play your role'?"

"Tearing the wings off of my little brother is not in this script!" Gabriel yelled back. Dean could feel the righteous wrath pouring off of the archangel and he took a step back and raised his hands.

"Ok, ok," he said. "I get it… Zach went too far. I have to say, I'm glad that you're at least not so far off the reservation to see that."

"Look," Gabe said as he pointed a finger at Dean. "You may be one stubborn and selfish son of a bitch to keep dragging all this out, but that doesn't mean that Zachy boy has the right to do what he just did! I'd sooner jump on board your little, 'stop the apocalypse,' band wagon than see something like that again."

"Thank you again, Gabriel," Cas said softly from behind Dean.

He turned and looked at Castiel where he was still kneeling. The vision of his bloodied and bared wing flickered and then vanished from Dean's sight. Whatever reserves of energy the guy had had a moment ago seemed to have left him as he swayed in place. "Cas, you alright?" Dean asked worriedly as he turned around fully and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

He sighed and shook his head, "No… but I will be."

"You're going to have to take it easy for a while, Cassie," Gabriel said.

Dean looked back as Gabriel walked up to stand next to both of them. "And you won't be flying around for even longer."

Cas sighed again and nodded, "Yes, I had figured as much."

"Dean," Gabriel said, pulling the hunter's attention back to him. "Where is your brother?"

"If he did as he was supposed to…" Dean said as he rolled his eyes. "He should be at Bobby's by now."

Gabriel nodded and said, "As good of place as any," and then reached out and touched both Dean and Cas on the head before either could say anything else.

With a lurch, Dean suddenly found himself standing in the salvage yard just outside of Bobby's house. Cas was standing beside him but not for very long. The angel suddenly swayed sharply and began to topple over. Dean reached out and just managed to catch him before he bit the ground.

"Hey… Hey, Cas…" Dean panted and he steadied the angel. "I got you, Cas. Just stay with me, alright?" Cas blinked dazedly as he continued to sag in Dean's arms. Dean reached around the heavy angel and got a better hold on him, propping him up against his side. "Bobby!" Dean called out as he started to lead Cas up to the porch. "Bobby! You here!?" he called again as he reached the first step and was suddenly unsure if he was going to be able to get the fast wilting angel up it.

"Dean!?" Sam's voice suddenly came from inside just before the door burst open. "Dean, where the hell…" but he suddenly broke off as he caught sight the angel. "Castiel," he breathed in surprise. He froze for only a second before he launched back into action. "What the hell happened to him?" Sam snapped as he quickly descended the stairs and helped Dean to take some of Cas' weight.

"Zach caught up with him," Dean said grimly as he and his brother began to carry Cas between them inside.

"Sss'm," Cas slurred. "You a'righ?"

"Yeah, Cas, I'm fine," Sam quickly assured him. "But you've looked better. We're going to get you inside, alright?"

Castiel's head bobbed slightly and then his eyes rolled back and he became a complete dead weight between them. With a grunt of effort, the brothers managed to haul him inside.

"What in tarnation is going on around here!?" Bobby's voice greeted them.

"Bobby, looks like Cas is going to have to crash here for a while," Dean quickly explained as he and Sam brought the angel over to the couch.

"How'd he end up like that? Isn't he a damned angel? Shouldn't he have healed up by now!?" Bobby demanded as he rolled behind the trio

"It was Zach," Dean said as he and Sam struggled to get Cas arranged on the couch. He stepped back and looked down at the angel. His coat and shirt were slashed to ribbons with angry red lines were showing through the material where a blade had pierced flesh. But, Dean was fairly sure that the marks were already looking better now than they had when he had first seen Cas.

Dean sighed and shook his head, "Dude was probably used as Zach's pin cushion for at least a few days before I got nabbed. But that's not what I'm worried about."

Sam was kneeling beside the couch gently pushing some of the ruined material aside to examine the wounds. "Yeah, these don't look all that bad," he announced.

"He's healing," Dean said. "Slowly for him, sure, but he already looks a bit better now than before. But I think that it's what we can't see that's the problem."

"Can't see?" Sam asked as he looked up at Dean with a worried expression.

Dean let out a huff of air before he said, "Yeah, Zach tried to use Cas to get me to say yes. Made it so I could see his wings and then started pulling feathers out."

"Aw, hell," Dean heard Bobby mutter.

"He what?!" Sam exclaimed at the same time as he jumped back to his feet. "He… his feathers!?" he said as he waved a hand back at the unconscious Castiel.

Dean shuddered and sighed, "Yeah. And I can tell you, pulling out an angel's feathers is about the most painful thing there is."

Sam tilted his head and then asked, "How the hell would you know that?"

"Because the son of a bitch made me feel it too!" Dean yelled back as he stepped forward and shoved Sam aside. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a drink." He skirted around Bobby and went directly for the kitchen. He made no time in digging out a bottle of whiskey and a dirty glass.

Sam and Bobby exchanged a worried look before Sam turned back around and knelt beside the injured angel again. "Bobby, can you get me some water and towels? These don't look too bad, but I can't see where it'll hurt to get him cleaned up a bit."

"Yeah, I'll be right back," Bobby said with a sigh as he wheeled himself out of the room in search of the items.

Sam was gently removing Castiel's coats and fumbling with the buttons on the dress shirt while he listened to Dean gulp down several shots of whiskey. Bobby was just returning and Sam had revealed Cas' chest from the clothing when Dean decided to reappear. He hovered in the doorway to the living room with half filled glass in hand and watched as Sam took the water from Bobby and began to gently wash the angry red lines that covered the angel.

"With as fast as he's healing, I hate to think how much there was before you saw him," Sam muttered as he worked. Most of the cuts were no longer bleeding and a few disappeared completely as if Sam was able to wash them away with the water.

"Yeah," Dean said with a slight slur to his voice. "Still not healing like he usually does, though."

"Well there's gotta be some kind of limit to what he can take," Bobby scoffed. "He's been kicked out of the club. He told ya that he ain't got the same mojo as before. He's bound to take a little longer to heal up after that kind of abuse."

Dean let out a frustrated sigh before he turned around and left.

"Dean?" Sam called after him.

"Call me if he wakes up," Dean called back just before the screen door slammed shut behind him.