"Is this really necessary?" Sam asked from the back seat of the impala.

"Absolutely," Dean growled from behind the wheel. "You lost front seat privileges when you forgot to tell me I had a date with a cherub in a trench coat."

"Angel," Sam smirked. "You had a date with an angel."

"Can it kid."

Sam and him were headed to Bobby's in Sioux Falls. Dean needed as much information on what was going on and since Chuck was M.I.A. and all Sam knew was a scrap of nothing, Bobby was the next best thing. Dean thought back to that night in Chicago after he'd been zapped back to the bar.

Dean was half slumped against the impala.

"Look Sam, you've had your fun but will you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Yeah sorry about that, turns out Chuck's got some pretty strict rules about who can know what and when."

"Well if it pleases your all knowing ass, I'd love an explanation."

"Remember Santa Fe when you and Dad were hunting that pack of all female werewolves?"

"Yeah, you were just a kid."

"Exactly. You and dad thought I was too young for that hunt so I stayed behind."

"Yeah so what?"

"Well, I was sitting alone in the hotel watching cartoons and I blink and there's a bearded guy sitting at the table in front of me. It was Chuck, Dean."

"How the hell is this the first time I'm hearing about this?"

"I just told you, until very recently, I wasn't allowed to tell you anything." Dean rolled his eyes. "Look, when Chuck first appeared, I immediately tried to attack him. But before I could grab the knife you keep under your pillow, he said my name and said he wasn't there to hurt me. Of course I thought that was a load of crap and threw it right at his chest. He removed it and he wasn't bleeding at all. It took a while but he told me who he was."

Dean gave him an incredulous look.

"Dude I know it sounds like a load of crap but he took my hand and I felt -"

"What, what'd he show you?"

"I felt at peace Dean. He's the real deal man." Sam paused remembering. "He told me that when you and I were older, we each would have a job to do. He told me that when he came to me again when we were adults, I would have to bring you to meet someone who would be very important to you. That my job was to make sure the two of you met. Over the years Chuck would check in on me in my dreams, make sure the two of us were happy."

Dean was shaking his head in disbelief.

"I know, it's nuts. But the two of you need each other. According to Chuck it's been laid out for a long time."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that in this world there are events that need to happen. Things that are set in time that can't change. The two of you meeting in that bar in Chicago was one of those events."

"B-but I sang karaoke!" Dean stuttered in disbelief. Sam laughed.

"That was a bonus. You're a great singer Dean, I just thought adding some dramatic flare to the situation would make it more interesting. After all, meeting your soul mate should be a big deal."

"That's it man, I need a beer," Dean looked back at the bar he had sung in. "And not from that bar."

Dean had spent days thinking about that conversation. Turns out Sam hadn't known much more than what he had elaborated on that night, so they both agreed to head to the one person who always seemed to know a little something about everything, Bobby.

As they pulled into Singer's Salvage Yard, Dean saw Bobby leaned over the hood of a mustang. As he heard the familiar approaching engine, he looked up.

"Boys," he grunted as a greeting. "What's this about?"

"What do you know about an angel named Castiel?"

Bobby sighed. "I'd been waiting for the day you'd ask me about him," he pointed to the door to the house. "In."

After the boys had told him everything they knew, Bobby looked at them thoughtfully. "You boys have the gist of it, but there's more. You," he said pointing to Sam, "ain't the only one Chuck's been paying a visiting to."

"What why didn't you-"

"Everything in its time, right?" Sam quieted.

Bobby crossed the room to one of his many overflowing bookshelves to retrieve a small leather bound notebook. "I was never allowed to learn more than what related to you boys, but when Chuck told me what you were gonna have to do, I took down everything he said." Bobby let out a gruff cough and began to read "The two that fight in heaven and on Earth for the good of all mortals, the two who put family above all others and are of purest heart, shall forge a bond of unparalleled love, and they shall be the human Dean Winchester and the angel Castiel. Together they will help maintain the Great Seal that will rid the land of its horrors and nightmares, for only through the combination of heaven and Earth, can balance be restored." Bobby looked up. "A bit flowery but," and shrugged.

"Come again?" Dean asked, mouth agape.

"Look, I didn't write it. The point is there's a war coming boys, and turns out you and your angel buddy are gonna finish it. By falling in love, apparently."

There was a slight shift in the air, like someone had just opened a window. Sam was looking behind Dean, his eyes widening. Dean reached for his gun and when he turned was almost nose to nose with the dark haired angel. They both took a step back.

"Hello Bobby, Sam. I don't believe we've met, my name-"

Sam crossed the room in huge bounds, "Castiel! Great to finally meet you!" Sam wrapped the angel in a huge hug that lifted him off his feet slightly. Once put back on the ground, Castiel seemed slightly overwhelmed by Sam's kindness. Dean glared at Sam, gun still in hand. "What? Not everyday you get to meet your brother's soulmate. And you can put that away." Dean reluctantly stowed his gun back into his waist. Castiel was flushing slightly.

"I'm so sorry to have interrupted, I can come back another time if-"

"No, no stay! It's time we all got to know each other a bit better." Dean wanted to smack the smirk off Sam's face.

"Alright. Only if you're sure," he looked at Dean. "I brought pie." He presented Dean with an entire cherry pie. The pie was still warm in its container when Castiel passed it to Dean. Their fingers barely touched as he handed it over, but there it was again, just like in San Francisco, that celestial warmth that spread through his entire hand and landed somewhere deep in his stomach. Dean coughed. "Thanks."

Castiel seemed to relax slightly. Time didn't seem to work the same around these two because after a few moments of watching each other, Sam cleared his throat. Dean shot him a look and headed to the kitchen counter to cut himself a slice.

"I couldn't help but over hear Bobby reading the prophesy aloud so I wanted to bring the version I was given." Dean inwardly realized that Cas had probably also over heard Bobby talking about the two of them falling in love. Great.

Cas reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a crumpled ancient piece of paper and sat down opposite Dean.

"Is that papyrus?" Sam asked, looking over Cas' shoulder.

"Yes, and it has an Enochian translation of the prophecy Bobby just read."

"Enochian?"

"Angel language," Bobby answered.

"Of course," Dean mumbled.

Cas pushed the paper across to Dean, this time carefully, so as to avoid skin contact. The markings were foreign to him. Cas waved a hand over the page and the letters shifted, showing a rough hand written scrawl of what Bobby had said, word for word.

"So how about the abridged version."

"Well the two of us and our bond is named, as well as the task set before us. You see, there is a certain faction of Heaven and the entirety of Hell that are currently massing a full scale attack on the Earth."

The bite of pie Dean was about to eat dropped from his fork.

"There have been signs," Cas continued. "Snow storms, droughts, and tornados, all within the past few weeks."

Bobby frowned. "My question is why the hell would demons and angels ever work together? What's their end game?"

"A select group of angels believe that humans are no longer worthy to be in possession of the Earth," Cas hardened. "They believe the Earth should belong to those who are worthy of the planet. The demons seem to agree. They forged a bond long ago and have been working to 'free the Earth from the vileness humanity has wreaked upon it.'"

"And you and I are somehow in charge of ending it? How?"

"The prophecy again provides the answer. The uniting of Heaven and Earth under the Great Seal."

"Yeah but what the hell is that? Some kind of big magical forcefield?"

"Well," Cas began blushing. Dean softened at the pink coloring the angel's cheeks. "The Earth will be saved by the greatest force that this universe possesses," Cas was now looking very intently on the wood grain of Bobby's kitchen table. "Love."

"I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to do better than that," Dean said, his hands shaking slightly under the table. He didn't want Sam or Bobby to see how jumpy he was feeling.

"The two of us Dean, we have to become one in the sight of God. We're meant to fall in love." The grip Dean had on his hands redoubled. "The energy that would come from the combination of a mortal and immortal's love is what The Great Seal relies on to stay in place. As I told you in San Francisco, the last one was two thousand years ago, when the mortal Mary and an angel fell in love."

"You're kidding me," Bobby sputtered. "Mary as in The Virgin Mary Mary?"

"Yes," Cas said, still not looking at Dean. "Their love was what helped bring forth the Son of God into this world. And now the two of us are meant to also be in love, just as they were."

It might of been that he hadn't eaten anything but the pie all day, or it might have been that he hadn't gotten a good nights sleep since before Chicago, but it was at that point that Dean Winchester passed out cold across Bobby's kitchen table.