Yes, you heard me right last time. A chapter of just Dean and Cas. I can only say that I'm sorry it's fairly short. Try to enjoy the destiel goodness anyway.

Dean put his hand carefully on his angel's hair, beginning to run his hand through it. And yes, Cas would always be his angel no matter who did what to him. All that mattered was that Cas was here, and that Dean was sitting next to him, touching him, and he wasn't going to let him go.

"It's ok, Cas, we'll work through it," Dean said. He heard Kevin grunt and leave the room, but again he didn't care. He wouldn't care if he was blown up on the jumbo screen at a baseball game. He had begun to wonder if Cas was really dead this time.

"Castiel," he heard Henry begin and Dean wanted to hiss at him and lock Cas away from everyone else, but he let it stand. Cas turned his face-full of emotions to Henry and Dean wasn't all that surprised to hear an intake of breath at his expression. No one was really used to seeing Cas display emotion like this. "Does that mean you are human now?" Dean hadn't wanted to ask, didn't really want to hear the answer, but he knew. The way Cas's entire body collapsed like someone had dropped a brick house on him was painful to watch. He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the tears start to fall. He wanted to take Cas into his arms and never let go. He heard a couple sets of feet leave the room.

"Cas," he said, carefully phrasing it the way Cas always said his name like a benediction. Cas finally looked up at him, their eyes meeting. Well, Cas might be human, but he still had eyes that lit up like a thousand galaxies. It was more than just seeing Jimmy's eyes, there was still that deep way of looking that was so distinctly Cas locked up in that deep blueness. "It doesn't matter. We'll fix it. You're home now." It was something he had always tried to make Cas understand, something that he never seemed to comprehend. That his home was always with Dean. He was suddenly painfully aware of his mother and grandfather standing in the doorway looking at him.

He glanced over his shoulder for just a moment, deciding if he cared what his mom thought about Cas. His mind responded with an overwhelming 'yes, of course you care!' but his mouth didn't listen. His traditional final thought of 'fuck it' before making any decisions ran along his brain and he was leaning in, finally meeting Cas's lips with his own.

The lips, those perfect lips, were even more chapped than usual, but Dean didn't let himself notice. The kiss wasn't nearly long enough, but he wouldn't push Cas when he was feeling the way he was. With the will-power of a thousand men, Dean broke away. He felt Cas try to drag him back in with his lips and Dean almost smiled. He leaned his forehead against Cas's, just glad to be breathing the same hot air. He finally heard the sounds of the last of his family leaving the room, closing the door behind them, and Dean let out a deep sigh of relief. Cas was breathing hard right back at him, eyes seeking Dean's own like they were the only things keeping him from exploding.

Dean leaned in again, capturing Cas's mouth for too quick a moment. "Where have you been, Cas?"

"Walking," Cas said. Dean started at his voice. He had not spoken much since arriving and the broken sound of his words felt like stab wounds.

"From where?" Dean asked. "Why didn't you call?"

"I woke up," Cas swallowed shakily, "in Colorado. The day Metatron stole my grace and used it to make the angels fall. As far as calling," Cas pulled away from Dean slightly and Dean made a complaining noise at the loss of contact. Cas reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the remnants of a phone. "I think I landed on the phone."

Dean laughed humorlessly, taking the hand that held the phone in his own. "That sounds like Winchester luck." Cas sniffed in response. "You didn't remember my number?"

"I couldn't afford to ask," Cas said, looking more regretful than before. "Other angels will be after me now. I could only work on moving forward, on getting back to you."

"You did, you made it," Dean said. They were quiet for another moment, just letting themselves feel the presence of the other without communicating to fuck it all up. But eventually Cas had to ask.

"Dean," he began. "Who were the women in the room?" Dean let himself laugh a bit for real this time.

"Well, the red-head was Charlie," he said. "I think I told you about her."

"Yes," Cas said. "You said she was a queen."

"And she won't let you forget it," Dean said, smiling slightly. "The other woman was, well, my mom." Cas's eyebrows drew together quickly and his eyes widened as he sat back to look at Dean head on. Dean let out a breath. "Yeah, I know. Seems unlikely."

"That you mother returned to life suddenly after 30 years? Yes, that seems much more than unlikely," Cas said. Dean realized his voice was wary, not confused.

"We did every test we could think of on her, Cas," he said. "It's her. She came back." Cas considered Dean carefully, then leaned forward to put a soft hand on Dean's check, rubbing his thumb along the stubble there.

"You are happy," he said.

"Well, yeah," Dean murmured, leaning into Cas's touch. "My mom came back. Sammy woke up. You know he was sick? I guess you didn't. But he's better now. And you came back. I have all of the people I care about together. I'm happy." Cas's eyes wrinkled up sadly.

"You have your family," he said. He went to remove his hand from Dean's cheek but was prevented.

"That includes you, Cas," Dean said, holing Cas's hand against his own face firmly. "You are my family. And family works to fix things together, ok?" Cas nodded still looking down. Dean reached forward with both hands to tilt Cas's face upwards and he laid another kiss on Cas's lips. "Ok?"" He was more insistent this time.

"Yes, ok," Cas said.

"Good," Dean said. He considered Cas's dirty state for a moment. "Do you want food? And you really need to take a shower." Cas glared at him.

"I've been walking to find you for nearly three weeks and you are going to complain about me being dirty?" he asked. Dean smirked.

"You don't smell great, Cas," he said. Cas opened his mouth, presumably to say something less than complimentary to Dean when a loud grumble sounded. Cas's eyes pinched together in pain and he looked down at his stomach. "Food, then," Dean said seriously. His eyes hardened. He stood up to go to the kitchen.

"Don't leave me," Cas whispered, almost like he didn't want Dean to hear at all. Dean's shoulders released and he moved back to the bed, running his hand through Cas's hair because he just couldn't seem to get enough of that.

"Then come with me, grumbles," Dean smiled tightly. He held his hands out carefully as Cas moved to stand, like a beam of light in the wrong direction would send Cas tumbling over. When it didn't, he moved over and linked hands with Cas, telling himself it was to lend support but really he just wanted the contact. And, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he really liked holding Cas's hand.

They moved together down the hall and into the kitchen, only releasing hands when it came time for Dean to butter the toast he had made for Cas. No one interrupted them as Cas slowly took his first bite and then finished both slices with a ravenous fury. Dean watched him concern.

"How much have you been able to eat, Cas?" Dean asked, rubbing Cas's back between his shoulder blades the way he had always liked. Cas swallowed his mouthful of food and used a napkin to carefully wipe his face like he hadn't just eaten toast with the manners of a toddler raised by wolves.

"What I could find," Cas said, not looking at Dean. "Sometimes people would give me a small amount of money and I would purchase something from a gas station." Dean felt his heart clench at the thought of Cas marching across country, faint from lack of food. The image conjured up the same level of pain Dean usually associated with being shot. He stood up to make more toast, at the very least.

"No, Dean, it's fine," Cas's hand on his arm stopped him. "I just want to sleep." Dean looked down.

"Ok," he said. "Any chance I can get you to shower first?" he looked up with a small smile and Cas returned it with a roll of his shoulders that Dean knew was his equivalent of eye-rolling.

They went back to the room hand in hand again. Dean pulled off his shirt once they were back inside and threw it into a pile, quickly followed by his pants so he stood there in nothing but his boxers. Cas looked him up and down and Dean laughed at him.

"You're leering," he chuckled. "It wouldn't come across as quite as creepy if you were wearing less clothing." The humor that had come into Cas's eyes for a moment disappeared just as quickly. His hands went down to dress shirt reluctantly and he started popping buttons. Dean saw the reason for his reluctance fairly quickly. He was too thin, first of all, his skin clinging to his bones in a horrible way that it hadn't before. But he also had a partly healed gash across his left side, right above his hip. It wasn't deep, and it didn't look infected, but it didn't look like it felt good. At all. Dean moved forward and almost touched the wound but stopped at the last second, reaching up to put his hand on Cas's chest instead.

"You are home now," Dean said, mainly to reassure himself. He pulled Cas's shirt off cautiously and tossed it in the direction of the garbage can, missing by a couple of feet. Cas's pants followed. Dean pressed a delicate kiss to the corner of Cas's mouth and moved them both towards the bed. He moved his mouth across Cas's chin, feeling the rasp of hair that hadn't been shaved in a while scratching his lips.

"You need to shave," Dean laughed into his skin.

"Thank you for pointing that out," Cas said. Dean laughed at his dry tone and carefully pulled Cas down onto the soft memory-foam mattress next to him. He sucked a deep kiss into Cas's neck, marking him the way he could now. Cas groaned and Dean pulled himself back. Cas's eyes were full of regret.

"Dean," he started. "I…"

"You're tired," Dean finished. He sighed outwards loudly. "I know. I'm sorry." He pressed another few kisses to Cas's neck, and back up onto his mouth before he finally made himself pull away again.

"I'm glad I'm home," Cas whispered, letting his eyes flutter closed. Dean turned him over skillfully so he could wrap an arm around the man, pulling him close. He breathed in Cas's scent with relish.

"I'm glad you're home too," Dean whispered hotly into the nape of Cas's neck and he fell asleep quickly, basking in the warmth of a person he had been too long without.

AAAAnd now back to your regularly scheduled Winchester-family content. Don't worry, I'm busy writing another destiel-heavy chapter right now, so this isn't your last look. Let me know if you appreciated the chapter, though, if you feel you must do so.