AN: Ok, so this is my first ever story of any kind, so please be nice, though constructive criticism is always welcome :) All mistakes are my own, hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, simply took them for a spin :)

Dean Winchester was 23 years old when he met the love of his life. He doesn't quite know how it happened, or what it was that made Dean look up suddenly in that corner of the library one day, look into those deep electric blue eyes, and just go Wow.

Things moved pretty fast from that moment; the two had their first date at Dean's favourite diner, eating burgers and pie, and revealing more about themselves to one another than they had to anyone else in the world. Castiel Novak was a latin professor, who worked at the school that Dean's brother Sam studied at. His family was very religious, and as large, as he had four brothers and a sister in addition to himself. The head of their family was a devout man, and so did not accept Cas, and what he called his 'sinful path', so Cas had moved out as quickly as possible, in the footsteps of his brother Gabriel, and followed closely by his sister Anna, or Anael, God this family had weird names. Dean soon came to learn that the religious children of the religious family had all been named after angels. Figures that Dean would drag down an angel of the freaking lord.

Castiel learned a lot about Dean that night as well. About how his mother had died when he was four years old and Sammy was just a baby, and how the horrible house fire had killed their mom. He learned that Sam was 19 and studying pre-Law at the university, and that the kid works his ass of so he can get scholarships and make it a little easier on the family, while Dean does his best to put his kid brother through college. He also learned that Dean's father had passed away a few years ago, drank himself to death apparently, and Dean was pretty broken up about it, because, even if they didn't have the most healthy relationship, he was still his dad, y'know?

Dean spent that night at Cas' house, and he swears, he has never really left.

Now, seven months later, Dean Winchester is a happily, if not completely legally, married man, living with his beautiful husband who should be back from the school any minute, and for whom he is cooking. Like actual, housewife cooking.

That was before. Before Dean heard the knock. Before he opened the door to the serious man in the uniform. Before he found his world come crashing down upon him.

"Dean Winchester?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your, umm, your partner Castiel Novak?"

"Yes." Dean did not like where this was going. He could feel the worry bubbling away in his mind, anticipating the worst and hoping that it didn't come.

"He has been shot."

It came.

Admittedly, it took a few moments for the news to sink in. Dean just stood there, vacant, waiting to wake up and feel Cas beside him. Safe. Home. His. But it never came. So he snapped himself out of it and let the adrenaline kick in. He grabbed his coat and followed, no, more like raced, the officer to the hospital. Once there, in true Winchester style, he barged his way through the many nurses and guards, demanding to see his Cas. He was in surgery.

So Dean waited.

It was 7pm on a friday afternoon when Dean received the news.

Now, at 11pm, Cas had finally come out of surgery. The doctors had said that the bullet had ripped through his skull and that he had a severe amount of frontal lobe damage. Dean, with his GED, did not understand what this meant, but he got that it was bad. Really bad.

Cas was in a coma. he wasn't waking up and it was scaring the shit out of Dean. But like the good husband he was, he sat there, beside Cas, day in, day out, waiting, hoping, heck even praying to some non-existent, lost cause, last resort superior being, for Cas to be ok. He would sit there all day, just talking to Cas. Sometimes he would talk about how Cas can't just die, because they have to spend their whole lives together, and that they hadn't even really started on that. Sometimes he would tell stories about when he and Sam were younger and they would play with little army men in the back seat of the Impala, and how one time, one of them got stuck in ash tray in the arm rest, and that that is why there is a green army man in the back of their car.

Sometimes he would lose it. He would just up and lose his shit and start yelling at Cas, screaming at his body to wake up and smell the fucking roses with him because that is what families do together and that he needed Cas more that he needed air, or a good steak, or a cold beer on a hot day. Because Cas was the one person in his life that made him feel at home. Cas was his home, and he had to be there. He just, he had to. And then Dean would just sit and sob. Cry and soak their joined hands with tears of longing, and loneliness, and fear. And all the doctors and the nurses tried to help him, they really, truly did. But in the end, he just sat in the chair, all alone, waiting for his love to come back and wake the fuck up so they could go home and be happy and everything would be fine again.

Then one day, the doctors came up to Dean and said something that shattered his heart, when he thought there was nothing left to shatter. They told him Cas would never get better. That if he ever woke up, he would die within the hour.

And Dean just stood.

Dean stood there. Wordless. Thoughtless. Blank.

Castiel will improve. I am sorry. We can keep him on life support if you wish. We can also wake him up so you can say your goodbyes. Mr. Winchester? Dean?

Dean registered that someone was talking to him. He just didn't know who. He didn't care who. He just knew it wasn't Cas. It would never be Cas.

Dean!

"hmm, yeah, sorry" Dean mumbled something about him needing to think about what to do next. Except that was a lie, and everyone knew it. Think, ha! that was the last thing Dean wanted to do! He wanted to wake up. He wanted to wake up and see Cas, to see his idiotic face, and those gorgeous blue eyes, and his mussed raven hair, and just let the world stop and live in the moment that they shared, because in those moments, only they existed, and there were no stupid teen muggers and no need for life support machines. just him and Cas. For one moment. Forever.

Dean thought about it though. he just kept going over and over in his mind, 'what would Cas want?' to 'screw Cas, he can't even be fucked show up for life' to 'I can't let him live like this' to 'I can't let him go like this' and then right back to 'what would Cas want?' over and over again until he swore he was slowly losing all other conscious thought.

Finally, after what could have been anything from two hours to two days, Dean Winchester came to a decision.

"Wake him up."

It was a Thursday afternoon in late spring when Dean Winchester met Castiel Novak.

It was a Thursday afternoon in midwinter when Castiel Novak was awoken to spend his final hour of life with Dean.

Dean waited patiently next to the bed until he saw the slight flutter of Cas' eyelids. "Dean?" his voice was raspy and dry, but still had that signature low rumble that erupted from deep within Castiel's throat. But there was no doubt in Dean's mind. The voice was weak. Cas was broken. And he couldn't be fixed.

"Hey there Cas" Dean smiled, but it was nothing more than a poor attempt to hide the pain in his voice. "How're you doing?"

"Dean." he paused. Dean was unsure of whether it was because he needed to think about his next sentence, or whether he needed to take a breath because talking was a struggle. Because Cas was dying. Because Cas was dead. "Dean, am I dying?"

Wow that struck a chord. "Nah, don't talk like that man" Dean smiled again, this time more for himself than for Cas, because he needed a force to hold back the tears, he couldn't, wouldn't, let Cas see him cry.

"Dean." This time the dean wasn't inquisitive. This time it was a 'come on Dean, we both know what's really going on here'. And that was what broke the imaginary self control Dean thought he had built up. And the flood gates opened.

Dean just sort of broke. He rested his head on their intertwined hands and sobbed like a freaking baby, and he wet the bed sheets and he mumbled, and he sobbed some more. It was all an array of "I'm so sorry Cas!" "I should've been there" "It should be me" "you're way too young to die!" which were all of course met with, "Its ok Dean, really" and "It's not your fault!" and "Don't you dare say that!" and "Dean Winchester, I am 6 fucking years older than you, would you stop treating me like a baby!"

Eventually Dean stopped crying enough for them to actually talk about what to do next. He climbed up onto the bed, and Cas said that his wishes were all written out in the will, and that Dean should give Sam and Jess his best and that if Gabriel was ever a dick to just clock him a couple times. And that he loved Dean. More than anything. More than the cold, crisp air. More than sitting on a park bench and watching the world go by. More than cheeseburgers and pie. Okay, maybe not more than that, but still. That comment cause Dean to momentarily forget where they were and slap him on the arm before sending a bitch face Cas' way that would rival the likes of Sam Winchester. It was nice to joke. To pretend everything was normal, and they were just laying in bed at home watching TV.

Cas started to slow down, and Dean knew it was almost time.

"Cas?" he said, as if afraid that at any moment Cas would just stop, which was a completely rational fear given the situation.

"mmhmm" Cas replied, talking was an unnecessary waste of the precious energy he had left.

"I love you" Dean said softly

"I love you too" Cas replied, because that was a sentence worth wasting energy upon.

"I'll see you real soon Cas" Dean stated.

"You will do no such thing!" Cas contested.

"Oh shut up" Dean replied, shrugging off the comment.

"No Dean, you have to promise me you won't do anything stupid when I'm gone" Cas was looking at Dean now, but Dean refused to meet his eyes.

"Ok" Dean said, only half meaning it.

"Dean" Cas insisted, causing Dean to look over at him, and immediately drown in his gaze.

"I promise" Dean said. And this time he really meant it.

They sat there for a while, just holding each other in silence, savouring every moment they had together. Until Cas turned to Dean and gave him a small smile. And Dean knew it was time.

He held Cas a little tighter, while he winced in the pain he felt as his heart gave out, and he slowly slipped away in Dean's arms. And Dean cried silently, clutching at the last moments he had with his love. Clutching at the whips of a slipping bond. And then it was gone.

The nurses came in and stared at the two of them, laying peacefully on the bed, as if sleeping.

Time of death; 12:04 am

Castiel Novak was dead, and Dean Winchester was alone once more.

AN: I may write an epilogue, would that be of interest? please Rate and Review :) thank you x

-Cockles and Candycanes