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Dean was bleeding.
To be more specific, he was bleeding out.
Once again, he’d gotten shot. In his good shoulder. And in his stomach.
And the werewolf he was hunting managed to scratch him up so bad he was bleeding from several other areas. And his head hurt, where he’d hit it against the wall mid-fight.
The werewolf had murdered five people - so, really, Deans lucky he’s not the sixth.
Yet, as he walked into their motel room - bloody, dirty, covered in bruises and haphazardly wrapped fabric - Cas looked pissed.
“You told me you would back off and call me if it got too bad.” He said, rushing to grab the scissors from their extensive first aid kit.
“I had it handled, I’m fine.” Dean protested, but he winced as he felt the bullet in his stomach move slightly.
“‘Had it handled’ my ass. You have two bullet wounds and a huge claw print from your neck to below your ribs. You probably need a blood transfusion.” Cas cut his shirt off of him and sat him down in one of the chairs at the tiny dining table before running to grab a bucket of clean water and a towel.
“I didn’t anticipate for him to have a gun! What werewolf carries around a pistol?” He argued, but it was a losing battle - and he knew he was wrong in the first place. He should’ve called Cas.
Upon returning from the bathroom, Cas unwrapped and wiped the blood from Deans shoulder - it was through and through, so all it needed was some stitches, a sling, and some rehab.
He cleaned the wound as best as he could before stitching it up as neatly as possible - but after several decades of hunting, Dean wasn’t very picky. A waterproof bandage on either side, and it was done.
The stomach one was a little tougher - since Dean had to lay down on the bed for it, and Cas basically had to play a game of Operation to pull the bullet out. It took longer, and Cas forced Dean to drink a whole bottle of water before he started - because they had a rule that, the second he passes out, 911 will be called.
After cleaning it out and stitching it back up, Cas placed a waterproof bandage over it, thinking ahead to getting the rest of the blood, dirt, and sweat off of him.
The scratches were next - starting with the huge one on his chest. Carefully, he wiped the dried blood off before deciding it was bad enough that it needed to be rinsed out, not just wiped.
Carefully, they moved to the bathroom - with Cas turning on the shower and helping Dean out of his remaining clothes, now that one of his arms was out of commission.
Luckily, the motel they picked was a pretty nice one - clean water, a handheld shower head, even the sheets seemed freshly washed.
Cas rinsed out all of Deans scratches and cuts - which had either already started to or had mostly finished scabbing over. Then, he had Dean sit down so he could wash his hair.
That part was, by far, Deans favorite part of Cas taking care of him after a hunt. He loved having Cas’s hands in his hair in any scenario, and the relief as he washed the sweat and blood out of his hair was so good he almost fell asleep.
But, maybe that was actually the blood loss talking.
When he finished rinsing the shampoo out of Deans hair, and he looked at all the scrapes he was covered in, Cas decided he was clean enough to go get them bandaged up.
Luckily, they had an overpacked first aid kit that had more than enough bandages to cover the ones that needed it.
After all of that, it was nearing midnight, and Cas was completely in charge of Dean on nights like these - where he comes home from a hunt, hurt.
As he grabbed a snack for Dean, Cas looked at him more closely, and he noticed the way Dean was moving was tinged with pain - so he grabbed him a dose of painkillers.
“You got shot twice, you hit your head, and you’re covered in scratches. Don’t try and argue with me on this.” He warned, handing over a bottle of water and the pills, watching Dean swallow them before handing him his snack and climbing into the bed next to him.
Cas wasn’t an angel anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help heal him after a hunt.
They’d gotten into the routine after Deans first solo hunt after Sam decided to go join Eileen - in which Cas didn’t catch up to him on the road until he was limping back into his motel room, a knife having slashed him in the left thigh so bad he almost didn’t finish the hunt.
Ever since then, Dean would go on hunts himself - and call Cas for backup if needed - and Cas would sit in their joint motel room, studying up on how to properly care for wounds.
At first, Cas had tried to ask him to stop - but Dean was stubborn. So, after a while, he just gave up.
And, usually, Dean wasn’t even that injured. For the most part, it was just shallow knife wounds and a few bruises. The werewolf was the worst so far - Cas was honestly concerned with how nonchalant Dean was.
But, the end of the day like this was both of their favorites. When Dean finished eating his snack, he always let Cas hold onto him that night, as he slept.
Ever since becoming human again, Cas’s nightmares were some of the worst Deans seen anyone have - and he had some pretty bad ones himself. But, the second Cas woke from one to find Dean - usually bandaged and bruised - in his arms, he was able to calm down.
Because Dean was safe there. And, Cas knew he was safe there too.
As they laid there that night - Cas trying to get comfortable without hurting Dean - their usual silence was broken.
“I hope you know I appreciate all this, Cas. Thanks for putting up with me.” He whispered, locking eyes with him and smiling slightly.
With one leg thrown over Deans - mostly uninjured - legs, Cas grabbed his hand and smiled back, “I love you. I’ll be here to do this until you decide you’re done.”
“Thank you.” Dean responded, closing his eyes to sleep - but as he fell asleep, he felt a kiss pressed to his cheek.
“I’ll be here when you wake up.” Cas told him, squeezing his hand just slightly.
After all the years of disappearing randomly and leaving in the middle of the night, Cas was glad he didn’t have to do that anymore. He enjoyed seeing Deans face as he woke up, and hearing his voice in the morning was one of Cas’s favorite parts of the day.
He really did love Dean Winchester.