"You need to be more careful," Dean told Cas gruffly, as he pushed a needle through his skin and pulled the thread through behind it.

"Yes, Dean," Cas acquiesced, wincing as the needle was pushed through his skin again.

Dean paused. "You doin' okay, there?"

"I'm fine."

"You know I could—"

"I said I'm fine," Cas said through gritted teeth. He was the fool who hadn't been paying attention to his own well-being in the fight and so had ended up in harm's way. Even though he wasn't an angel any more, he still paid more attention to Dean than himself, often resulting in Dean risking his own life to save him from more fatal injuries. This time he'd been lucky. They'd both been lucky.

But Dean moved away, then a moment later he heard liquid sloshing before a bottle was pressed into his hand.

"Drink."

"No," Cas said. "You know I can't handle my liquor without my grace."

"Exactly. It'll take the edge off the pain. Just a couple of swigs, though."

Castiel took a mouthful and grimaced as it burned on the way down. It didn't do much to dull the pain, however - he needed more than his body could tolerate to do that - but he appreciated his husband's concern.

Dean's hand was steady as he stitched up the worst of Castiel's injuries, rubbing cream and sticking Band-Aids to his other, less severe, injuries. Every now and then the gold band on his finger would catch the light and he'd pause, wondering how they'd ended up here.

Everything had seemed so hopeless, with Cas riding shotgun in his own body and Amara turning the sky black every time she had a tantrum. But with a little Winchester luck and the help of an old friend, they got Cas back and banished the bitch back into whatever corner of nothingness God had imprisoned her.

There was also the added benefit that they'd locked Lucifer away with her. Although, on the downside, Cas lost the fractured remains of his grace when Lucifer was torn from his being.

"Dean?"

"Hmm?" Castiel's voice jolted Dean from his thoughts. "What?"

"I think that Band-Aid is quite stuck to my hand."

Dean looked down, where his thumb had been stroking across the Band-Aid on the back of Castiel's hand for several minutes. "Oh," he said, letting his hand go.

But Cas reached out and held both of Dean's in his own. "What were you thinking about?"

"How close we came to losing you." He swallowed. "How close I came to losing you."

Castiel kissed him softly. "You'll never lose me."

"Someday I will. You're human now, remember?"

"I have no doubts that, when the time comes, we will find the other in Heaven."

Dean smirked. "I'll tear the place apart looking for you."

"I'm sure my brothers and sisters wouldn't be stupid enough to try to separate us."

Dean scoffed. "The number of times they've tried to make you choose between them and us? I don't think they'll ever learn."

"Maybe not," Cas agreed, stroking the band of gold encircling Dean's finger. "But we'll find each other."

Dean grabbed Cas, then, holding him close. Just thinking, talking about losing Cas was enough to bring tears to his eyes these days. He wasn't foolish enough to think that Cas didn't know they were threatening to spill down his cheeks, but that still didn't mean he had to let him see.

In Dean's arms, Cas closed his eyes. Dean needed this, after a hunt; sought the reassurance that Cas was still there. "We did good today," he whispered into Dean's shirt.

"We did."

Eventually they parted, and Castiel stood. "I'm going to shower," he said. "Why don't you call Sam - let him know the job's done, and that we're okay? Then come join me."

Dean nodded. "Okay. Just don't use all the hot water before I get there."