It was purely habit that Kerry's friends always ensconced themselves in the same seats in the bar, but never, in all the years she had been coming here, had she been so grateful that this was their perch of choice.

An hour ago, quite possibly the hottest guy she had ever seen in their fairly dull town had walked through the doors next to her, and taken the first seat he had come to at the bar - the seat that was only about 10 feet from her, with just one small table in between. This table, thankfully, was one that nobody sat at unless the bar was full, as people tended to get grumpy about the draft they felt every time the door opened, even in the height of Missouri summer. So, of course, this meant that her view of the object of her curiosity was flawless, and with the excellent hearing she had developed as a third grade teacher, she could listen in to what was happening around him too.

And things looked like they were just about to get interesting.

Most Fridays, Kerry found herself here with a couple of her colleagues. It wasn't, perhaps, the most salubrious bar in her mid-sized town, but another of her colleagues had a second job here as a bar tender on weekends, and when she had moved here four years ago, Kerry had been invited along to join their weekly visits. She went most weeks, although there were occasions when she just couldn't be bothered, and tonight had almost been one of those nights. Now, she was glad she had decided to jump in the shower and find her second wind.

The second the guy had come in, shucking off his leather jacket to reveal a green Henley as he approached the bar, she had blocked out the pleasant but familiar conversation she was getting from her friends, and focused instead on the man in front of her. She had no plans to approach him – flirting with guys in bars, or going home with them, was not her style, and besides, she had a date lined up for the next night – but that didn't mean she wasn't fascinated by him.

She wasn't shallow – it wasn't the man's looks that had caught her attention enough to hold it for so long. Instead, it was the dejection he clearly felt but was trying desperately to hide under the macho-bravado of his swagger. The tension in his back was obvious to Kerry, heightened further but the whiteness of his knuckles as he clutched his beer and drank it stiffly.

For the first half hour, she had glanced up every time movement caught her eye to see a girl trying to talk to him; a different one each time, and all of them let down firmly. But it wasn't until the ladies of the bar apparently had given up and the man had taken his phone out of his pocket with a sigh that she began to be sure that she knew what the problem was.

This man was having some relationship problems. Severe or not, she couldn't tell; but she could tell that whatever it was, was really bothering him, and if he hadn't been so in control of himself he could quite happily be drowning himself in shots of something (bourbon, by the looks of him) and rambling on to someone who would listen to his problems.

She watched as he swiped open the screen of his phone, typed something into it, then cleared the screen with his thumb and another sigh, this one reeking of his frustration. From this point her friends were completely forgotten and he had her full attention. She watched him order another drink and continue to sip his way steadily through his beers. She saw him flinch when his phone rang on the bar next to it, and let it ring out rather than dismissing the call. This happened at least three times, until the last time when he picked the phone up, tense as he stared at the screen and watched it ring. Clearly, to Kerry at least, this was someone different from the other calls. This one shook him badly – suggesting it was the person he had done wrong, or who had hurt him.

Now, an hour after he had first appeared, the door next to her opened once again. Every time this had happened, the man at the bar had sent a quick glance to the doors behind him, but quickly turned back to his drink. This time, Kerry watched as the man turned back to the bar and hung his head, while the tall man who had walked in marched up to him and pretty much slapped a hand onto his shoulder.

"What do you want, Sammy?" the man at the bar growled, sounding slightly defeated.

"Are you kidding me, Dean? What the hell do you think I want?"

Apparently, Sammy was pissed. Was he the one that Dean was having problems with? Something told her otherwise. There was more than this to come.

"I'm having a drink! Is that illegal now or something'?"

Sammy climbed onto the empty bar stool next to Dean, turning so that he was sitting side on and facing the other man directly. Neither of them spoke for a minute or so, Sammy just continuing to stare at Dean while he finished his beer. Kerry was starting to feel a tad voyeuristic, just watching the pair of them, but it wasn't nosiness that was moving her. There was something about the emotion radiating from this man that she needed to see fixed.

"Where's…" Dean trailed off.

"Cas? You expected Cas to come here?" Sammy scoffed, eyes widened in disbelief.

Ah, so she was write. This Cass (Cassie? Cassandra?) was what was causing Dean his current problem.

"No, Sam. Jesus! I just wanted to ask where he was."

He! Oh, a plot twist!

Sammy (Sam?) sighed and picked up the beer that had been placed in front of him by a very discrete member of the bar staff. "I don't know, man."

Dean's head turned to look at him sharply. "What do you mean, you don't know, Sam?"

"Hey, asshole, don't get snappy with me!" Sam snapped back. "If he's gone then it's your fault, not mine. I didn't do anything to him."

"I didn't-"

"Don't you dare try and tell me you did nothing to him, Dean! I was there, remember?"

"I didn't mean to…"

"That's a goddam lie, Dean, and you know it."

"What?" Dean spluttered, looking at the taller man with his eyes wide.

Sam sighed and swallowed the rest of his beer in one mouthful, evidently giving himself time to speak.

Kerry realised that she had leaned very slightly closer to them, desperate to know what had happened, and trying to work out why this Sam was so upset with whatever it was Dean had done.

"You need to get the fuck over yourself, Dean. You chose to do this, you chose to act on your feelings and tell him how you felt. If you couldn't handle this then you should have turned him down when he confessed his feelings for you, but you didn't. You told him you felt the same, which means that he is your responsibility now. His feelings, his happiness, are your responsibility. And you fucked up."

"Sam…" Dean's voice held a warning, but Sam ignored it.

"I'm not finished. You touch him all the time, Dean. You can't keep your hands off the guy, because you love him. Any fool can see that. You don't hide it from me, from any of our friends, and you have been happy. So what was different? What was different in that goddamn diner that you reacted like that when he touched you? What stupid fucking thought made you flinch like he had burned you, then look for the nearest waitress to flirt with?"

Kerry winced. Fuck. Had he cheated on his boyfriend?

"I never would have touched her, Sam. You know I wouldn't do that!"

"Does Cas? Does he know that you when you flirt it doesn't mean anything? He's watched you pick up women for years, Dean, none of them meaning anything to you, and often done in front of him when he was sitting right there. How was he to know that you weren't going to fall back into that stupid pattern?"

"He knows, Sam, ok? He knows how I feel about him."

Sam was gaping at him now.

"Dean, you threw him off like he'd hurt you by touching your hand. You glared at him like you wanted to kill him, then stalked off and started flirting with the first hot woman you saw!"

"He's knows I'm an asshole too, ok?" Dean growled. "If he would just talk to me, he'd know I was never going to touch her."

"She touched you," Sam said quietly. Kerry gasped in a breath and waited for Dean to work out the significance.

"What?"

"She touched you, Dean. She touched you, thirty seconds after you hissed at Cas for doing the same thing, and you smiled at her."

"I…oh," Dean slumped down in his seat, burying his face in his hands. "Shit."

"You know how sensitive he his, Dean."

"Of course I know!" Dean glared at Sam. "He's my boyfriend, alright? Mine. I know him better than anyone, of course I know how damned sensitive he is. I know how easily he gets hurt, and how often he doubts that I love him as much as I do. He also knows that I'm a stubborn asshole, and that I do stupid things, so he should know that he has to speak to me to sort this out!" Dean's frustration got clearer and clearer.

"He tried to call you before he left."

Dean sighed. "I know."

"If you know all that about him, Dean, I don't get. What the hell made you do that? I'm telling you, I don't ever want to see that look on his face again."

"That bad, huh?" Dean winced.

"The worst."

"Shit." Dean signalled for another drink. "It's so stupid, Sam. I can't believe I shoved him away like that, or that I went and spoke to that fucking waitress like that. What the hell was I thinking? He's gonna be so pissed at me."

He deserves to be, Kerry thought – at almost the same time that Sam said it.

"I know, alright? I know. I just… there was a guy in there, I saw him just at the same time Cas took hold of my hand, but I thought, for a second… he looked like…"

Sam's eyes widened in understanding of what Dean was trying to get to. "He looked like Dad?"

Ah, brothers. That explained the similar dress sense. And the similarly beautiful faces; wow.

"Yeah."

"But Dean…"

"I know, alright? I know how stupid that was, I know Dad's dead, I even know that even if it had been him it shouldn't matter! I wasn't prepared, ok? Jesus Christ, Sam, I am so proud of Cas. Of everything he's done, apart from the obvious errors in judgement, of being someone that he could love. If Dad was alive I would have told him by now, I promise you. I just…wasn't prepared for that moment."

"And the waitress?"

Dean thought for a moment and sighed. "Just my usual over-compensating macho bullshit."

Sam slapped him on the back and stood. "There's my stupid big brother! Motel?"

Dean shook his head. "I'm going to call Cas first, see if I can get him to come over here and talk."

"Ok. Just tell him everything you said to me, and you'll be fine, ok?"

"Yes, Sam."

"If you two aren't back to your disgustingly lovey-dovey selves by the morning I'm going to take some drastic measures."

"Bitch," Dean glared at his brother as he pulled out his phone.

"Good luck, Jerk."

With a final slap to the back, Sam was gone, and Kerry leaned back in her seat; she had her answers. Wow. This sounded like some epic love story shit, right here. Thinking about everything she'd heard, she realised that it all made her a little sad. She felt sad for Cas, for Dean a little too (even though he'd clearly been an asshole to this Cas guy), and also for herself. The way that Dean spoke about Cas was…awe-inspiring. She hoped to God that somewhere in her future was a guy who would love her the way that Dean clearly loved his boyfriend. To think that anyone could talk about her with the warmth that Dean spoke about Cas, with love dripping from every word, it made her feel warm inside, and she found herself smiling at the thought.

"Kerry, you back with us?"

Startled, she turned to look at her three friends, who were pulling on jackets or bags as they smiled at her.

"Sorry, guys," she smiled sheepishly.

"Someone catch your attention?" Megan asked, nodding over to where Dean sat at the bar.

"Oh! No, no. I mean he's hot, right?" Her friends nodded. "But no, I was just listening to his conversation with his brother. Romance troubles."

"The subject of your next book?"

Kerry tilted her head, smiling at Justin. "Maybe. Hadn't thought about it!"

Although now that Justin had made her think, it sounded like it could be an interesting project. She managed to hold in a snort at the thought of how Dean would react to having his personal life published in a novel, however small a following she had.

"You ready?"

Kerry waved her friends on. "You guys go. I've got my car, and I need to use the bathroom. I'll let you know when I get home." Standing, she hugged each of her friends and started gathering her purse and jacket as they left. A glance at Dean told her that he was talking intently and quietly into his phone, probably leaving a voicemail for Cas, if his body language was anything to go by. With a pang, she realised that she was going to miss the end of this story, and made her way to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, she re-entered the bar and made her way through it to head to the door. Automatically, she glanced at the bar, looking to wave goodbye to Jack who was still working a busy shift, but ostensibly to see if Dean was still there. He wasn't.

Damn! She really wanted to know how this was going to end. With a sigh, she pushed through the doors, thinking that maybe she would have to write a version of their story and make up an ending for herself.

With a groan, Kerry realised as she stepped outside that her car was at the far side of the parking lot. She glanced over to where she had parked, and realised that someone was standing near it. For a moment, she wasn't too sure what to think of this lone man standing, seemingly doing nothing, but then another figure moved at the far end of the lot, and she watched as another man stepped into the glow of the streetlight the first man was standing under, and she most definitely recognised that jacket.

Quickening her steps as she hoped they wouldn't disappear before she got some sort of resolution, she watched as Dean approached what could only be Cas, and stopped a step or two away from him. His hands were splayed out in a gesture of pleading, while Cas was staring at him, his hands possibly in the pockets of the long trench coat he was wearing. He wasn't moving as the other man spoke to him, and although he was facing her Kerry couldn't quite see his face. Something about him was telling her that he was just as hot as his boyfriend though.

Halfway across the lot, she watched as Dean took a small step forward, threading his hands through Cas' arms, which were still stuffed into his pockets, and lowered his head to bury his face in his boyfriend's neck. They stayed that was for a few moments, until Cas moved his hands to Dean's back and clutched at his jacket, his head falling to the other man's shoulder. Kerry felt an abrupt lump in her throat as she watched Dean lift his head, cradle Cas' face in both hands, and draw him in for what looked to be a very passionate kiss.

They were still joined at the lips as Kerry reached her car, parked right next to them. She winced slightly as she almost dropped her keys, the noise as she caught them unavoidable. Glancing over at the two men, she saw with dismay that she had interrupted their kiss, but soon realised that they were paying no attention to her. Instead, the two men were staring intently at each other, small grins on both of their beautiful faces (and boy God, she had been right about Cas!). She unlocked the car door as Dean pulled Cas towards him again, and grinned as she watched the slightly taller man pepper his boyfriend's face with loving kisses.

"I love you, baby," he was saying. "Don't ever forget that."

"I love you too, Dean." Cas whispered back as Kerry slid into her car.

She watched the two of them as she started the engine, pleased to see that they didn't flinch. The two were making out furiously again, arms tight around each other as if someone could come and pull them apart at any moment. Kerry smiled as she realised Dean was proving, rather successfully, to Cas that he didn't give a shit who saw them.

Still grinning as she drove out the parking lot, Kerry glanced one last time in her mirror to see if they were still there. Dean was reaching out to take Cas' hand, and the two of them slowly wandered away, presumably back to the motel that Sam had mentioned earlier.

Kerry's grin widened even further. Maybe there was a love out there like that for everyone, maybe not; but something told her that, in this instance, these two deserved everything they had found together, and she sent up a quick prayer to whoever was listening that someone would watch out for them, and make sure that they made it.