Dean was so alone. Sam was gone, locked in Hell, and Cas had gone to Heaven to try and put things in order. From what Dean knew, he would never see either one of them again. And the thought was killing him. When he would have breakfast in the morning with Lisa and Ben, when he went grocery shopping, when he sat down to dinner. They say time heals all wounds, but even time didn't want to touch his. Their absence was a constant ache that never went away.
But Dean saw them everywhere. That first month he would see a tall man with long hair, and he'd run toward him and turn him around only to crushed with disappointment. It wasn't his Sammy, just another stranger. When he was walking down a sidewalk and he saw a black haired man staring quizzically into a shop window, all he could think of was Cas, until the man turned toward him and demanded to know why Dean was staring. Not his Cas, not his Sammy. Ever again.
Just a little over a month of this and Dean had had enough. He no longer checked to see if it was really Sam or Cas. He just turned away, his jaw working as he just smiled when Ben would ask him what was wrong, or when Lisa gave him a look of concern.
So that night when he saw Cas and Sam both standing outside his house while he sat down to dinner, he just stared at the figures that couldn't possibly be there. He looked back down at his plate, smiled, made small talk with Lisa and Ben. He looked back up at figures, watching as one turned and walked away. And when he looked again they were gone.
Dean was so tired of seeing his family wherever he went. So tired of knowing he would never really see them again.
