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Thursday is Sam’s bathing day.
That’s Sam’s favorite — one on the very top of his list — and Castiel can see that from the moment they start to get ready.
There are no problems whatsoever to get Sam on board after his music listening moment — which, on a good day, takes some coaxing and on a bad one is an ordeal not to be taken lightly. On the contrary, Sam instantly twitches his head towards Castiel, his hands expanding to a grab, and presses against him when he takes the boy up against his own chest to get the transfer board properly under Sam’s rump.
Sam hums contentedly as they wheel together towards the bathroom. Castiel has slowly started to distinguish the minuscule differences between Sam’s hums: there is the contented one, the one Sam sports right now, but also the distressed hum Sam uses to calm himself. The latter usually connects with some kind of anguished, repetitive movement, but not always, and that makes it so hard to gauge sometimes.
Today, though, Sam has a good day, and it means it’s a good day for Castiel as well.
When they get to the bathroom, Castiel fetches Sam’s brush and one of his rubber ducks to give them to Sam for something to do while he finishes getting the bath ready. It will be a bubble bath, with the strawberry scented bubbles, naturally — thanks to Charlie who, according to Dean, showed Sam one Christmas that strawberry could be found in other products than the edible ones as well. He has made it almost ready earlier while Sam was listening to a musical story based on Bedrich Smetana’s Moldau. Now he only dips the thermometer into the water and lets the hot water fill the tub until it’s full enough and the degree is right.
"Let me give a finishing touch to your hair, Sam," he tells the boy as he sits down on a chair, leaning closer to be able to reach properly. "We don’t like that knot-opening show when your hair is all wet, do we?"
Sam closes his eyes with a hum. Castiel smiles as he takes his time to brush the thick hair, making sure, one by one, that all the knots are done with, efficiently but gently. Then he gathers all of it into a bun on top of Sam’s head and hides it under a shower cap. Washing Sam’s hair is something that’s solely Dean and Sam's thing, and Castiel is not unhappy about that.
Sam has a lift to help get him to the bathtub and out of there, and next Castiel arranges the fabric seat around Sam’s form. The lift is like an emptied sack of a bean bag chair that gets attached to the metal parts that do the actual act of lifting. Castiel had some problems at first to get used to it, him having used mostly the actual chair-shaped lifts, but it’s getting easier for him all the time.
There’s only one thing he has to do still, and that’s to figure out how to keep Sam entertained during the procedure. Ordinarily Sam finds the equipment lifting him fascinating, be it in Juniper Creek, his cab or at home, but in his bathing time all the fun is too close waiting for him to be able to concentrate on anything other than getting into the water as quickly as possible.
"Calm down, Sam," Castiel huffs finally when Sam has managed to tangle himself the third time the way he feels like strangling and has to squeal for Castiel to rescue him. "Patience, now. If we make this nicely together, we’ll be in there sooner than you may think."
He glances around and sees the rubber duck on a floor beside his own feet. "Have you ever told Mrs. Pumpkin how this lift works?"
That is the solution for now, and Castiel sighs inwards as Sam takes the duck from him without a hitch and starts to babble to it delightedly.
In the bath Sam is much easier, as he plays for some time in the water and soon calms down enough to fall into a doze. Castiel washes him gently, using a sponge glove with some lathered extra sensitive body soap, and rinses him under the shower, sheltering his eyes with his hands as he goes upwards.
A half-asleep, pliant Sam is surprisingly easy to get back into the lift. It’s only his neck that Castiel needs to take extra care of, and he straps the brace back as soon as Sam is back sitting in his chair.
Castiel has just wrapped Sam comfortably in fluffy towels and started to pat him dry, when his cell phone beeps on his pocket. He keeps it close any time for the case of any sudden needs or emergencies, but as he sees that Sam is all comfortable and still dozing, he decides to check the phone.
It’s Dean, on FaceTime. Castiel presses the video call on, smiling as the other man’s face emerges on his phone screen.
"Hello, Dean," he says.
The image cracks a little, and Dean moves his face further and back closer, frowning unsurely.
"Castiel?" He hollers. "You see me?"
Castiel chuckles. "Yes," he says. "And hear as well."
"’Kay. Just called to see what’s up."
"Everything’s good," Castiel tells willingly, knowing that he can give Dean exactly what he needs to hear. "We just took a bath with Sam. Would you like to see him?"
"Of course."
Castiel shifts the phone so that the camera is towards Sam, and he hears Dean’s gentle laugh from the speaker. "Poor guy," he says. "Have you given him a hard time?"
"No, never," Castiel defends. "Only some knob puzzles and one round of tactile Alias."
Dean chuckles. "Yeah, that figures," he says. "Sam always gets crazy when the hour glass is on the play."
"How about you?"
Dean shrugs. "The usual," he says. "Papers to sign, reports to finish, clients to please. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Okay."
"Hey, I won’t hold you any longer. I see you’re all fine there. Let’s not make Sam catch a cold."
Castiel nods. "Alright, I’ll take care of that. Don’t worry, we are doing good here. Just concentrate on your job."
Sam is snoring softly as Castiel wheels him towards the kitchen, all tucked in with several bathing towels and fresh clothes for Sam in a pile under the seat. He starts to make dinner, taking the vegetables out of the cabinets and fridge and starting to chop them into small pieces.
He knows that Sam's portion will be smoothed in a mixer at the end, but somehow it feels nice to him to take the younger brother's diet into account in this phase of making the food already.
When Sam blinks awake beside him with a wince and a massive yawn, Castiel turns to look him in the eyes, still soft after a sleep. It's sweet, and he smiles at Sam gently, reaching to rub at his arm on a whim.
"You know your brother loves you very much, Sam?" Castiel asks.
Sam coos, and Castiel chuckles lightly. "I know you do," he says. "You are one of the lucky, Sam."
And Castiel feels that, in a way, he’s that as well.