Here it is, the final chapter, the one we've all been waiting for. It's quite a bit longer than the others, which is because I had so much fun writing it. It took me a little longer to finish. I had two different versions and couldn't decide which one worked better, so I did the only reasonable thing and chose the third version ;)
Anyway, I hope you like it and Happy Easter to y'all. This is my treat for you.
Castiel had just barely caught the words Dean had uttered when he had vanished. Cas had no idea what Dean had meant, but he knew exactly who he could ask about it. So, after he had left the Winchesters, he had sought out Balthazar and talked to him. Now, he knew what was up with Dean and why he'd been so upset.
He had never intended for the hunter to know his feelings, but thanks to Balthazar that was a moot point now. And apparently Dean was struggling with this revelation and needed to talk to him about it. It had just been bad timing that he had chosen the one day, on which Cas really couldn't spare any time to just talk.
But now that he knew what was going on, Cas felt bad about how things had panned out between them. He decided to make it up to Dean and surprise him at Bobby's the next day with something special.
Meanwhile Sam and Dean had arrived at Bobby's, where Dean had spent most of the evening drinking and Sam and Bobby had unsuccessfully tried to get him to talk to them about what was wrong.
Finally Dean had had enough. "There's nothing wrong with me, alright. Now just stop asking your freakin' questions, you're really getting on my nerves." He had grabbed his half-empty beer bottle and gone upstairs to be alone and away from Sam's and Bobby's scrutiny.
He had finished his beer and later a few more as well, because he couldn't sleep otherwise. He needed to forget that encounter with Cas and the only way he knew how, was to drown the memories in alcohol. And it also helped with the confusion. Dean still didn't know what he felt towards Cas and about what had happened earlier, so he just decided to ignore it and bury all those thoughts somewhere deep inside his mind and hope they wouldn't surface again anytime soon.
The next morning he woke up late and with a pounding headache. The sunlight was way too bright in his room and, except for making him feel sick this morning, the alcohol from last night hadn't done anything. It hadn't helped with his inner turmoil at all. He turned around and put the pillow over his head, but he couldn't fall asleep again and finally he gave up and rolled out of bed, groaning as his body protested.
After taking a shower he felt reasonably human again and strong enough to face the day. As he went downstairs he noticed that the house was very quiet. He had expected to find Sam and Bobby in the kitchen, but the house seemed to be empty. On the kitchen table he found a note which told him that Sam and Bobby had already eaten and had gone into town to help with the Easter celebrations and the local egg hunt for the kids. Dean suspected they were trying to avoid him while he was grumpy and hung over. He felt a bit guilty for his behavior, because Bobby had invited them, because he had wanted to spend this holiday with the people that were almost family to him.
Dean looked around the kitchen and found some leftover coffee, which was still hot. He drained one cup at once and then started a second one more slowly. The coffee helped chase away the headache and the remnants of the hangover. He was just starting to look for food, when suddenly he was distracted by the soft sound of wings behind him.
Dean had totally not expected this and it startled him for more than one reason and he hit his head on the open door of the cabinet he'd just been searching.
"Ouch." he yelled, turning around to face the angel and holding his head, which was now hurting again. "Cas, what are you doing here? I thought you were too busy for these visits." The anger he had felt the day before was right back and he couldn't look at Cas directly and lowered his eyes to the floor.
"I came to apologize to you, Dean. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday." Cas said sincerely.
This made Dean look up again. He had not expected an apology. For a long moment the angel and the hunter just stood there and stared at each other.
"Apology accepted. And I'm sorry, too." Dean finally said and Castiel nodded. Then he reached out and touched Dean's forehead. Dean jerked away, but he wasn't fast enough. He hated just being zapped somewhere by the angel, but that wasn't what Castiel had intended anyway. When the angel lowered his hand, Dean's headache from the hangover and from hitting his head was completely gone.
"Thanks, man." he said, feeling entirely normal again. He resumed his hunt for food and returned to the cabinet he'd been looking through, when Cas had appeared. But now he saw something in there that hadn't been there before, Dean was absolutely sure of that. Now, there was an Easter egg sitting on top of the stack of plates in the cabinet.
Dean took the brightly colored egg out of the cabinet and stared at it, wondering where it had come from and if maybe he was still drunk and seeing things.
Castiel noticed Dean's confusion. "Is it not customary for humans to hunt for colored eggs on Easter Sunday?" he asked innocently.
"This was you? You put the egg there?" Dean asked, having a hard time believing that.
"Yes, it was me. I thought you would enjoy this. I wanted to do something nice to make up for not answering your prayers on Friday." Castiel explained. "Do you not like it?"
Dean didn't know what to say. He felt like laughing, but Castiel looked sad already only thinking about Dean not liking his surprise, that he kept his amusement in check.
"I actually don't remember ever having been on an egg hunt as a kid. Dad was always too busy hunting monsters to hide eggs for Sam and me." Dean admitted and started opening the doors to the other cabinets, looking for more hidden Easter eggs. It was actually a lot of fun and when he turned around to look at Cas he could tell that the angel was enjoying this as much as Dean was. Finally Dean had found all the eggs and they added up to a decent sized pile on the kitchen table.
"Wow, I had no idea how much fun this could be. This was an awesome surprise, Cas." Dean smiled, counting his eggs.
"Good." Cas answered and then hesitated before he continued to speak. "This wasn't the only reason why I'm here. I talked to Balthazar. About what he said to you."
'The one in the dirty trench coat, who's in love with you.' Dean slowly put down the eggs he'd been sorting. Balthazar's words were right back in his mind. He was pretty sure that that was what Cas was referring to.
"How…?" Even though this was what Dean had wanted to talk to Cas about in the first place he hadn't expected the angel to broach the subject, because Cas shouldn't know that Balthazar had said anything at all.
"I heard what you said yesterday when I was leaving." Cas explained and then stopped talking and turned his head away from Dean.
"Oh." Dean said, dumbfounded. "And…is it true?" he carefully asked after a moment of silence. This was probably going to be one hell of a chick-flick moment, but he didn't really care too much. He needed to know.
"Balthazar should not have said that to you. It wasn't his place." Cas said instead of answering Dean's question and still looking away from the hunter.
"No, it wasn't his place. It was yours." Dean agreed, and, when the angel still refused to look at him, he abandoned his Easter eggs and got up to stand in front of Cas. He lightly laid his hand on Castiel's upper arm. "Cas, is it true?" he asked again and finally the angel turned his head again, so Dean could see his deep blue eyes, which were shining with dread.
"Yes, it is true." Cas admitted in a firm voice. He hadn't planned to ever tell Dean, hadn't wanted to have to face his rejection, but Balthazar had taken that choice away from him and it was no use denying the truth anymore.
"I don't expect you to ever reciprocate the feeling. I wouldn't have told you, but…" he didn't get to finish this sentence, because Dean had stepped even closer, disregarding his usually so precious personal space, and put his other hand under Cas' chin.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Dean whispered, staring into Cas' eyes, wondering what the hell he was doing here, but unable to stop. Slowly he leaned forward a little more until his lips just barely brushed Cas' lips. "I would be entirely not sure about that." he repeated with a smile.
Cas looked at him in astonishment and was about to say something, but Dean laid a finger across his lips, to prevent the angel from talking. "I heard something. I think Sam and Bobby are back. We'd better go upstairs."
Cas was confused by this, because he hadn't heard or felt anyone arriving at the house. But he didn't question Dean's motive for wanting to go upstairs and just zapped them into Dean's bedroom.
"Dean, what…?" he started, trying to find out what was going on here. He didn't understand the situation at all and felt slightly lost, with no clue as to what to do next. But he didn't have to worry about that, because Dean knew exactly what to do.
He pressed his lips on Castiel's again and this time it was much more than before. This time he really kissed his angel and his angel kissed him back eagerly after a short moment of surprise. Dean had felt a little insecure earlier in the kitchen, but that was entirely over now. And as his tongue slipped between Cas' lips and explored the angel's mouth he completely forgot that he hadn't had anything to eat yet.
Nothing else mattered anymore right now, except that he felt happier, than he had ever felt, right now and that he wanted to hear more of the small pleasure sounds Cas was making while they kissed. And that he wanted to feel the angel's hands everywhere on his skin. He loosened Cas' tie so far, that he could slip it over his head and then started to slowly unbutton the angel's shirt, following the trail of newly exposed skin with his tongue. When the shirt was completely unbuttoned he straightened again to quickly take off his own t-shirt. Then they kissed again, long and passionately, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of tongue against tongue and skin on skin.
While Dean and Cas were busy taking off the rest of their clothes and slowly and carefully exploring each others' bodies, Sam and Bobby came back from town. Sam discovered the forgotten Easter eggs on the kitchen table and smiled knowingly. When he went upstairs later he could hear suspicious moans and more sounds of pleasure coming from Dean's room. He was pretty sure he knew who was inside with his brother and that Dean's bad mood of the last few days would now be over.
