Half an hour later the three boys were browsing the isles at a petstore, Charlie bouncing excitedly in the cart at every new thing they put in there. She went insane for the toy ball, rope and a squeaky furry bloob Cas picked out. They grabbed a bag of puppy food, a case of the wet stuff ("The website says we should do both at first!" Dean insisted), puppy pads, a bed, and more toys than they could count, they made their way to the register.
The lady at the register cooed over Charlie and Dean couldn't help the strange sense of pride he had, it was strange, how attached to the wriggling mess of fur he had become already. Perhaps it was because they had named her Charlie, or maybe because she was a gift from Cas in his awkward attempt to make Dean feel better... which had worked, admittedly. He didn't know, all he knew was the furball was now his family, and it made his heart happy to hear other people exclaim about how absolutely adorable she was.
Cas had picked a good one, he thought as he rested his hand absently on his lovers back. Sam rolled his eyes and Dean gave him a narrowed look that said "oh shut up." and Sam couldn't help but grin.
Sam had been the first to know something was up with Dean when he started having feelings for the angel, and it had been Sam that pushed him into admitting how he was feeling. Dean knew without doubt that Sam had no issues with him coming out, or the fact that suddenly Cas had moved into his room. The angel didn't exactly take up much space, and he was frequently zapping himself around the countryside in attempt to find Lucifer. He had only taken a short sabbatical in order to check in on Dean, and as he put it "if he had to spend one more moment with that insufferable demon he was going to smite him."
Dean hadn't complained about the angel's return, as hard ass as he had been to Sam lately, his heart was aching, and having Cas near him could only help that. They had spent the first twenty four hours of his return locked away in their room, Dean alternating between crying, yelling, and making love to Cas. And Cas endured, patiently loving Dean no matter where his roller-coaster of emotions took him. At the end of it, Dean had truly accepted what had happened in a way he hadn't allowed himself to yet. He groaned, knowing he still owed Sam a genuine apology for being an absolute ass to him in that time.
"Your total is $432.23" Came the cashier's voice interrupting his thoughts.
Dean gaped at her, staring at the expensive stack of puppy gear they had gotten. Sam rolled his eyes at his brother and slid one of their many credit cards to the woman.
They gathered their belongings, Dean scooping up Charlie, and headed out to the Impala. Dean put her in the back with his little brother and groaned as she immediately peed all over his leather seat.
"No! No, no, no! Not on my leather!" He exclaimed as he grabbed her and tried to set her on the ground. Too late, she was already done, and wagging her tail excitedly at all the commotion.
Cas was staring wide eyed, glancing between the puddle on the seat and Dean, and Sam looked like he was waiting for Dean to explode. He breathed deeply for several moments, glaring at the adorable puppy at his feet. "Dammit, Charlie." He said with narrowed eyes, grabbing some napkins from his glove box and mopping up the mess.
Sam smiled sheepishly. "We'll potty train her, Dean. She'll learn." Sam assured her.
Dean was glad they had picked up a book on raising puppies.
He had a feeling he was going to need all the help he could get.