AN: Hello! Another story! Don't worry guys, I won't neglect Puzzles, this idea just hit me when I was watching 5x22 (Swan Song) again last night! It's one of the best episodes of SPN for me. The Impala is really something. Anyway, I heavily borrowed the dialogues, and now that I think of it, I don't think I placed any dialogues from me. I had to make it look like this is what will actually happen if there was already Destiel blossoming during the scenes. Also, this is a TWO-SHOT. I have another chapter to end this, and I'm working on it. However, I am putting this under the status Complete since this chapter can stand alone. And no, this won't be having a sad ending, I think so. I really can't promise, but I'll try.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural nor its 5x22 episode.

Pretense

Castiel was human. That was pretty much settled when he woke up in a hospital with a bug bite that itches no matter how he scratched it. The doctors said he suddenly appeared in a shrimping boat, and Dean pretty much predicted that Cas would be worried about upsetting the sailors and not himself. Human or not, Dean was just glad the angel was alive. So when Cas snored lightly on the back seat of the Impala, Sam and Dean shouldn't really be surprised.

"Aw, ain't he a little angel?" Dean gushed with his low voice. His eyes didn't hold any mirth though, just plain impassiveness that he usually puts up whenever he was placed in a predicament. And what a predicament they were in: Sammy finally saying yes to the devil.

Sam turned to his brother in confusion, and then twisted his body to look at the back. There, indeed, was Castiel, asleep.

"Angel's don't sleep." Sam replied in a quiet voice. And though Sam intended it to be as quiet as it can be, Cas still woke up, or at least, his mind did. His eyes were very much closed, but his other senses were already awake. He didn't want to feign sleeping, since his back sort of ached at the moment, but he felt that if he "wakes" up, he'll disrupt the moment the Winchester brothers were having. So he pretended.

Dean started with saying that Lucifer might actually know their plan with the horsemen rings since he told them after binding Death that Sam would eventually say yes to him in Detroit. Sam, being the optimistic giant he was, only hoped that the horsemen rings were under the books that the devil didn't know. This is where the conversation got a bit louder, and Castiel wondered a bit if, with the boys raised voices, would they get suspicious that he wasn't still waking up?

"This thing's go our way…and I triple lindy into that box… y-you know I'm not coming back."

Dean eyed his brother for a moment before replying, "Yeah, I'm aware."

"So you got to promise me something." Even if Cas had his eyes closed, he could imagine Dean brows raising at this. And if the Winchesters looked at him from the rearview mirror, they would notice that his brows are too.

"Okay, yeah, anything." Dean said, trying to keep an indifferent voice.

Sam inhaled deeply before dropping the bomb. "You got to promise not to try to bring me back." Perhaps it was because Dean thought the angel was sleeping that's why he didn't bother to step on the breaks and put the Impala to an abrupt halt.

"What?" Dean asked, shaking off the pretense as he raised his voice. "No, I didn't sign up for that."

"Dean—"

"Your hell is gonna make my tour look like Graceland. You want me to just sit by and do nothing?" Dean continued hotly.

Castiel lost track of their conversation at this point as he admires Dean's brotherly affections for Sam, and how far he can go to for his little brother. He wished his brothers in heaven were like that. Suddenly, he remembered that he had rebelled, and no brother or sister would ever welcome him back with open arms. He frowned.

So when he tried to listen again, Dean was asking Sam what he's supposed to do instead.

"You go find Lisa." Dean scoffs but Sam continues. "You pray to God she's dumb enough to take you in, and you… you have barbecues and go to football games..." Dean smiled mockingly. "…you go live some normal, apple-pie life, Dean."

Cas froze, his heart suddenly beating so fast that he was actually worried it would try to jump out of his chest. He didn't want to hear this. He kind of wished he just opened his eyes before this moment, and that Sam never got to say this to Dean. He knew it was selfish, and he knew Dean should have a chance to an "apple-pie" life as Sam said, but he wanted Dean. For himself. He knew that Sam was saying this because he didn't know about his and Dean's just-born relationship. He didn't know what happened in the ally after Cas had beaten the shit out of Dean. He didn't know about their rough, passionate kiss afterwards, and the intense copulation that followed which made Dean unconscious.

"Promise me!" Sam insisted. Dean gave Sam a hard, long look. He couldn't. It would be more trouble for Lisa and Ben if he goes intruding in their lives…and besides, he has Castiel. Cas. His angel, and just recently, his lover. But… if there was one thing imprinted on Dean's mind, it was that he would do anything for Sammy. For Sam who wouldn't even have a chance at this kind of life if he was indeed caged with Lucifer in the box.

Dean didn't reply, but Castiel understood the silence. He did. He just wondered why his chest was aching so much at that moment.

Castiel found himself in the Impala again. The only difference was that he was riding shotgun, next to Dean. No Sam. Also that he has his angelic powers back, an effect from his yet another resurrection by his Father. He sat rigidly and forced his eyes to stare ahead. He tried to think of other things but it all seemed to lead now to one question that Dean decided to voice out for him.

"What are you gonna do now?"

Cas considered answering Dean that he would like to stay by the hunter's side, but if the elder Winchester was intent on being with Lisa, just as he has silently promised Sam, then the angel had no place here on earth.

"Return to heaven, I suppose."

Dean's brows furrowed. "Heaven?"

"With Michael in the cage, I'm sure it's total anarchy up there." Castiel explained as if it was obvious. Where else would he go to? Heaven was his home.

"So what… you're the new sheriff in town?"

Castiel smiled a little at the thought of being the new "sheriff" in heaven. It was a pleasant idea, to bring back to order the chaos that his brothers and sisters brought upon. "I like that, yeah. I suppose I am."

"Wow…" Castiel turned to Dean, confused with his sarcastic tone. "God gives you a brand-new shiny set of wings, and suddenly you're his bitch again."

Cas shook his head. "I don't know what God wants. I don't know if he'll even return. It just seems like the right thing to do."

"Well if you do see him, you tell him I'm coming for him next."

Castiel studied Dean's face. "You're angry."

"That's an understatement."

"He helped." Dean scoffed at this. "Maybe even more than we realize."

"That's easy for you to say. He brought you back. But what about Sam?" Dean turned to him. "What about me, huh? Where's my grand prize?" Dean started to shout, and Cas really didn't want Dean shouting because it meant that the hunter was hurting. "All I got is my brother in a hole!"

Castiel wanted to touch him, tell him Dean still has him. But he also wanted to defend his Father.

"You got what you asked for Dean. No paradise. No hell. Just more of the same." His chest started to ache again at this point and he suddenly realized it was because he knew Dean would be going back to Lisa and not to him. Could this be the notorious "heart break" humans cry over?

"I mean it, Dean. What would you rather have? Peace…" with Lisa. No more hunting. Just the life Sam wanted for you. "…or freedom?" A choice with me.

Dean knew what Cas was asking. He knew the meaning behind the words. It wasn't just about his grand prize anymore, not when Castiel, in his own way, was pleading with him. He felt his heart beat triple and gripped the wheel tightly. He couldn't do this. He couldn't look at Cas who was staring at him with those pools of blue that never failed to mesmerize the eldest Winchester. If he looked, his last thread to Sam would be gone. And Dean didn't want that.

So when Dean, once more, didn't answer, Castiel knew, he just had to get out of there.

Dean stared at Cas' empty seat, finally realizing that the angel heard the whole conversation between him and Sam. He really couldn't blame Cas. He didn't even deny to himself that all he had in mind was to fulfill Sam's last wish. Cas wasn't even an option. His heart ached at that but he knew he'll manage, somehow. For Sam. For his little brother.

Resigning himself to his fate, he shook his head and turned his eyes once more on the road, ignoring the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Well, you really suck at goodbye's, you know that?"

Somewhere in the universe, someone frowned, and then shook His head. His son was right in saying he didn't know what He wanted, all right.