PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.

Dean was unbelievably happy.

The Winchesters had given up hunting a few years ago to settle down, finally. Dean never thought it would be possible, and yet here he was sitting beside Castiel, his husband, at dinner with Sam and his girlfriend, Brenda. The group had eaten, and were talking when Mary came in. Mary was about three, and Dean and Cas' daughter.

"Daddy! Dada!" She squealed, running in the living room. Dean picked her up and swung her around, settling her in his arms.

"Mary, you should be in bed." Dean scolded, be he couldn't stay mad at his little girl. She crossed her arms and huffed angrily. She had a piece of paper tucked under her arm, which slightly confused Dean.

"Wanna see Unca Sam." She declared. Sam stood from the love seat and smiled at her.

"Hey Mary! How've you been?" Sam asked after moving her to his large embrace. She smiled and began to babble about a picture she drew him upstairs, and Mary handed it to him. It was stick with large sticks attached, and a big mess of brown and orange on the top of a circle above the sticks. Sam studied it carefully and looked at her in confusion. "What is it?"

"You, Unca Sam!" She said, and Dean and Cas laughed loudly.

"Mary Ellen Winchester, it is time for you to go to bed." Cas announced from the couch as he got up. He took her hand and walked up the stairs with her. "Say good night to Uncle Sam and Brenda."

"Night night! 'ove you!" She called out from the staircase. Sam and Brenda waved.

"Good night Mary!" They said in unison, and Cas disappeared up the stairs. Dean turned to Sam as the younger Winchester rose to give his brother a hug.

"It was great to see ya, Sammy. You two have got to come over more often." Dean demanded playfully. Brenda gave him a hug and smiled widely.

"I would, if the Samsquatch here would let me out of his sight for once." She said. Dean grinned. Brenda knew everything about them, the hunting, the angels falling, and especially everything with Sam in the past. Surprisingly, she had taken it all well. Not freaking out as Dean expected, therefore, Dean approved. But he also approved for other reasons. One being the fact that she made a bitching apple pie, another for being so good to Sam in the past two years they had been together. Brenda kissed Sam lightly and went outside to their car and Sam turned to Dean with a sheepish smile.

"Dean, gotta tell you something." Sam began, and Dean widened his eyes in false shock.

"You got her pregnant, didn't you!?" Dean asked loudly, and Sam scoffed and shoved him lightly.

"Course not, jerk. I...I wanted to tell you that...I'm going to ask Brenda to marry me." Sam admitted, blushing profusely. Dean catcalled and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Congrats, bro! I am so proud of you!" Dean told him sincerely. Sam wiped away a tear and sniffed.

"That means a lot to me, Dean. The last person I felt so strong about...was Jess. Its been so long, and I feel like it is finally time." Sam decided. Dean nodded in both agreement and approval. Dean was truly proud of his little brother, and he hoped that getting married would lead to a few nieces and nephews in the next couple years.

"I'm happy for you, man. I feel like she is the one for you. Good luck, and call me when she says yes." Dean teased. Sam smirked and patted his brother's shoulder before leaving with a small wave and the picture Mary drew him. Dean sighed and settled into the couch, taking one long sip from his beer from earlier, then taking it to the kitchen. Cas has been upstairs for awhile, wonder if Mary is giving him a hard time of going to bed. Dean smiled at the thought. He still couldn't believe his life was real.

Him and Cas settled down a few months after Cas became human, finally admitting that they DID love one another in a non-platonic way. About a month after they got married, the couple decided they wanted a child. Using a surrogate mother, they were able to have Mary with a combination of both Dean and Cas' traits. She had Dean's green eyes, and Castiel's dark hair, which curled down her back. Since then, they had moved from the Men of Letters bunker to houses in Lawrence. Dean and Sam had made their peace with the town, and it gave them relatively quick access to the bunker if they ever needed it. Though, in the past two and a half years, Team Free Will hadn't step foot in it.

Dean snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the clock. It was near eleven, which explained why Cas hadn't come back down. Mary wore him down today, they were home all day together, and he was most likely in bed. Dean went up stairs and immediately to Mary's room. She was curled up in her blanket with a smile smile in her sleep. Dean leaned down and smoothed her hair out her face and put a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Mary." Dean whispered in the dark. He stood up straight and went to his and Cas' room. The bathroom connected to their room had the door closed and there was the sound of running water. Hm, Cas musta had to piss. Dean shrugged to himself and threw himself on the large bed, sighing contently. He closed his eyes and moved his hands behind his head in a relaxing position.

Then, he felt something drop in the pit of his stomach as a drop of liquid fell on his face. He scrunched up his nose and wiped it away, opening his eyes to something he only saw in his worst nightmares.

It was Castiel.

Only his mouth was gaping open in a soundless scream, his left leg twisted at a sharp angle beneath him. His stomach was soaked with blood across his white t-shirt, and he looked at Dean with a blank stare, his once shining blues eyes now dulled by the cloud of death the settled over the room.

"CAS! NOOO!" Dean screamed as around his beloved husband burst into dense flames. The fire curled around the body pinned to the ceiling, slowly licking down the walls in greedy tendrils of heat. Dean vaulted off the bed and kept his eyes locked on Cas' lifeless eyes, praying to anything, even the only dick in Heaven, Metatron to please, please do something. Once it was clear nothing was going to help, Dean ran from the burning room and to Mary's room. "Mary! Mary! Get up! We need to go, now!" He called out, scooping her from her bed and running into the hall.

"Daddy! Daddy! I want Daddy!" She cried, calling out for Cas. Dean was in tears as he bolted down the stairs and out the door. He threw himself to the ground as the house exploded behind him, his husband burned to a crisp, most likely.

"CAS!" Dean yelled to no one, as Mary cried loudly, Dean holding her close to him, rocking her slowly. All Dean could think of was the fact that Castiel, his angel was gone. "Cas...babe, please. Don't be gone. You've come back before, just do this for me, and for Mary. Come back and tell me its okay, tell me you love me, so I can laugh and say I love you too. Please, don't do this to me." Dean pleaded to the twinkling stars.

"Daddy gone?" Mary asked after a very long time, looking to Dean with puffy red eyes and freckles spattered with tearstains. "I want Daddy, dada."

"I know baby girl, I want dada too." Dean sobbed, burying his face in Mary's chest. "I just want Cas to be here." He broke into a new group of racking sobs with his daughter still clutched to his chest.

And so, on November 2, 2018, thirty-five years to the hour of the date Mary Winchester died, Dean Winchester was affirmed in his near life long saying.

You can't escape the hunter's life. Not forever.