Dean stopped just once, and only because Cas was too much of a girl to pee in a bottle. Of course, Dean wouldn't even have suggested it if he were driving Baby, but since he was stuck with the pretentious silver piece of crap, he really couldn't give a rat's ass.
Despite the lack of sleep, Dean was feeling happy. They had stopped at a hotel to take a quick shower, and Dean had caught a glimpse of Cas's naked torso before he quickly closed the bathroom door behind him to hide his flaming cheeks. He had also noticed that he was now completely back to normal, down to the multiple scars adorning his body. He wore a long sleeve shirt to hide Cas's hand print burned on his shoulder, not wanting to explain that. He was going to have to explain enough with his sudden change in appearance to Sam, and didn't want to add Angels and Demons to that concoction.
"Which one is Sammy's dorm again?" Dean asked Cas as the shorter man looked up Sam's address on his phone.
"B217," Cas said. "Two doors down."
Dean swallowed a lump in his throat, suddenly as nervous as the first time he had visited Sam's dorm room to convince him to join him and look for Dad. He ignored the worried look Cas sent him, squared his shoulders, purposely walked towards the door marked 217, and knocked loudly three times.
"Coming!" A chirp voice called, and the door opened to reveal a pretty girl with long blonde hair dressed in simple blue jeans and pink tee. "Can I help-oof!"
Dean knocked the breath out of her as he enveloped her in a tight hug. Jess! Sammy's girlfriend was alive! The girl that made his brother's face split into the brightest smile Dean had seen in his face since they were little and Dean gave him the last bowl of Lucky Charms. She was alive, and breathing, and-oh, struggling.
Dean quickly sat her down and loosened his hold, but didn't let go. "Jess! Damn, it's good to see you!"
"Dean?" she asked hesitantly. "Um, what are you doing here?"
"What do you mean? Sam said there was going to be a party," Dean grinned, taking a step back. Jess wrapped her arms around herself and stood awkwardly, the door open between them.
"Dean?"
Dean looked up and met eyes with Sam. His hair was as long as Dean remembered, and he was wearing a loose pair of sweat pants and a baggy sweater with the university's logo on the front. He looked younger than Dean remembered, but that was probably because in this world, he wasn't forced to grow up a hunter.
"Hiya, Sammy," Dean grinned. "Didn't expect to see me here, did you?"
"No," Sam answered bluntly, crossing his arms in front of him. "What are you doing here?"
"Damn, what's with the hostility?" Dean said, trying to joke his way around them. It clearly wasn't working. "Look, it's your engagement party. I'm not going to miss that."
"You cut your hair," Sam finally said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"What? Oh, yeah," Dean said, running a hand through his short hair. "There's only room in this family for one girl, Samantha. Lost the weight, too. Damn, how many pies did I eat a day, huh?"
Sam didn't answer, his eyes still eying him warily.
"Um, hi , Sam," Cas said after an awkward minute of silence. Sam's eyes moved to the shorter man, and a soft smile graced his face for the first time since they've arrived.
"Hello, Cas. What are you doing here?" Dean noticed with annoyance that the question was asked with honest curiuosity instead of hostility.
"Well, you did invite me to your party," Cas shrugged.
"But I thought you had that family reunion to go to," Sam frowned.
Dean felt Cas tense up beside him, and he turned to gasp at him. "Family reunion? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't think it was important," Cas shrugged, but he wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Not important? Not important? It's a family reunion, Cas, of course it's important!" Dean yelled. "I mean, your family are a bunch of flying dickheads, but still. Well, Gabriel isn't that bad, the guy has a good sense of humor, and Balthazar isn't too annoying, but Raphael? Michael? Anna, the fucking bitch who tried to-." Dean stopped himself, realizing he was saying too much. Cas's eyebrows were doing the same thing as before, where they climbed up to his hairline, and Dean had to admit it was kind of cute, though not as cute as when he tilted his head to the side in confusion-Get a grip, Winchester! You're about to blow your cover!
"I wasn't aware that you had met my siblings," Cas said, surprise layering his voice. "Though I don't understand what you have against Anna. She is a sweet girl."
"Sweet my ass," Dean fumed, remembering clearly how the red-head had tried to kill his mother. "Look, if you want, you can catch a plane back home. I don't have any cash on me, but I can give you like a raise or a bonus, or whatever it is that you get in crap jobs."
"That's okay, Dean," Cas said, smiling softly. "Actually, Gabriel was invited to Sam's engagement party as well, and he is the only one in the family I enjoy spending time with. Surprisingly enough, you are correct: my family are a bunch of dickheads."
Dean grinned. "And? Where is he?"
"In South Dakota, as are all the other guests," Sam piped in. "Seeing as the party is in Sioux Falls."
"You're having the party at Bobby's house?" Dean asked, surprised.
"Bobby offered," Sam nodded. "Besides, Bobby's is close to everyone, including Jess's parents. We were actually packing for the trip. The plane leaves in eight hours."
Dean groaned to himself, but gave Cas a bright smile. "I guess we need to buy plane tickets."
"Dean," Sam said sternly, moving up to place a long arm around Jess's petite shoulders. "You don't have to go to the party if you don't want to. You don't have to prove anything."
"I'm not trying to prove anything, Sammy," Dean said, trying to keep his voice light. "This is what family does."
"This isn't what our family does," Sam snapped. "And since when do you call me Sammy?"
"Since always," Dean shrugged. He rubbed the back of his neck as nervousness nested in his belly. He knew the only way to get to Sam-if he was anything like his Sam-when he was being this stubborn, was to show a sickly amount of feelings. He glanced at Cas, who nodded minutely, and then at Sam, who was staring at him suspiciously. That expression, so familiar and foreign to Dean, was what finally pushed him.
"Look, Sammy, just...trust me, okay? I know I've done a bunch of stupid stuff, but I just...I wanna do this, okay? I want to fix this. I have to fix this. We're brothers, for God's sake! I've been given a second chance to do this right, and I'm not about to waste it. You're going to marry Jess and grow old and have a bunch of long-haired little nerds that are going to be just a bit cute because you married the hottest chick in college and because you have that kicked puppy look that for some reason girls dig. So put on some real clothes and take me and Cas to lunch so we can catch up and start being the brothers we are supposed to be."
Sam stared at him, mouth slightly agape. He turned to Jess, who shrugged uselessly, then turned back to Dean, a hesitant smile on his face.
"A-alright," he said, nodding awkwardly. "I..um...just give me like five minutes. Um, you wanna come in?"
"Thanks," Dean grinned, stepping in.
"I'll get you something to drink. You want a beer, Cas?" Jess asked over her shoulder as she walked towards the small make-shift kitchen in the room.
"No, thank you."
"Dean?"
"Nah."
Cas sat down on the worn couch against the wall, but Dean walked around the room, glancing at the framed photographs. There were a lot of people Dean didn't recognize in them, most of them of Sam and Jess with their friends, but there were a couple of Mary and John. There was even a Christmas picture where all four of them stood in front of a chimney with matching ugly green sweaters. Dean picked up the frame, smiling softly. Sam was about ten in that picture, still the scrawny little kid that was terrified of clowns. Dean was fourteen, and in the picture he was glaring off to the side, clearly hating the whole experience. John had a hand on his shoulder, probably keeping him from running off, and Mary had her arms wrapped around Sam's shoulders, a soft smile on her lips.
"Hey, Sammy?" Dean called.
"Yeah?" Sam asked, poking his head out of his room, struggling to put on a shirt.
"Did Dad happen to drive a '67 Chevy Impala?" Dean asked.
"Nope," Sam said, returning to his room. Dean heard a soft thump, a loud crash, and a hushed 'ow!' "I'm okay!" Sam called.
"What did he drive, then?" Dean asked.
"A van. Don't you remember the story? Mom made him promise to buy it when they were younger?"
"Hmm. Right," Dean murmured. Of course. Angels didn't exist in this world. So they had never sent him back in time, and he never convinced John to buy the Impala. This world was all kinds of fucked up.
His eyes fell on a bunch of papers stacked on the coffee table. The first one look like a newspaper clipping, and by the looks of it, it was quite old. Curious, Dean leafed through the papers, frowning when he realized they were all stories about disappearances in an Illinois highway. The disappearances went as far back as ten years, so the authorities had already ruled out their first suspect, a man that had died two years after the first disappearance.
'"Those are dead cases," Sam's voice suddenly said, surprising Dean. "We're supposed to be studying them and trying to figure out who the culprit was. I have no idea yet, man."
Dean set the clippings back on the table and turned to Sam with what he hoped was a bright smile. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You are the smart one in the family."
"Thanks," Sam grinned, though something flashed in his eyes too quickly for Dean to recognize. "So where are we eating?"
"I've never visited California. What's a good restaurant?" Cas asked.
"Well, I want pie," Dean shrugged. "You'll probably swallow like seven burgers, and Sammy here likes to munch on rabbit food. Why don't you pick, Jess? Unless you're a health freak, like Sam over here."
"Salads are good for you, Dean," Sam said, and gave him a bitch face.
Dean grinned.
"What about we go to Berny's?" Jess asked. "Berny's is this really nice restaurant down the street. And they have cake."
"Cake is not pie," Dean rolled his eyes. "God, you and Sam are really meant to be, you know. Whatever, we're wasting daylight. Let's go." He led the way outside, trying really hard to keep the clippings away from his mind. The case sounded too much like a vengeful spirit for his liking. He had thought this world didn't have the supernatural, but maybe he was wrong. After all, he had only researched demonic omens like the ones back home. Of course, this world clearly wasn't going through the apocalypse, and Sam and Dean hadn't grown up to be hunters-wait, Sam and Dean weren't hunters. Why did he care if a vengeful spirit was attacking some town in Illinois? If there were ghosts, then there were probably other hunters as well. It wasn't his responsibility to protect these people. This wasn't his world. His only problem now was Sam. Dean new his brother too well to think Sam had forgiven him that easily. It was going to take hard work, and he didn't know how much time he had before his Sam dragged him back to his dimension.
"Are you okay, Dean?" Cas asked him quietly as Jess and Sam talked loudly about wedding decorations.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine, Cas," Dean smiled, flashing the not-angel a quick smile. He wasn't about to be honest with the man. He was strangely familiar to his angel (he's not your angel, Dean! Dude, stop pining!) but he still wasn't Castiel. Sometimes, Dean caught pieces of Jimmy in him, like when he raised his eyebrows in confusion, or the way his voice wasn't as deep as he remembered. Unfortunately, he still had that disconcerting way of looking at him, like he could see his every thought and memory.
Cas frowned, but before he could probe, Sam called back to him."Hey Dean! What do you think is better? Lavander and eggshell white or ivory and silver?"
Dean took the interruption like a lifeline and turned to his younger brother. "Dude, could you be any more gay? Wait, don't answer that."
Sam gave him another of his famous bitch faces and Dean grinned in reply, the vengeful spirit long forgotten.
