Author's note: The last chapter. Enjoy!

One glance was enough to see that Sam ran towards Dean; Bobby kneeled down by Cas' side. He didn't have any hope that something could be done, but he couldn't let him lie there.

He touched him, expecting him to be as cold as he'd been after sending the souls back to Purgatory, but he was still warm.

He told himself it was ridiculous to hope, but reached out to take his pulse anyway.

A small flutter under his fingertips, weak enough that at first he believed it to be the beating of his own heart.

"He's got a pulse" he breathed at the same time that Sam screamed "He's alive!" and he repeated himself.

Sam was drawn between caring for his brother and his friend, and Bobby quickly said, "I'll take him to a room. Do the tests".

Sam nodded and was already opening a bag by the time Bobby reached the door.

In truth, he had a far more selfish reason not to be there.

He didn't want it to have been for nothing. He didn't want to see the sparks when Sam cut his arm; he didn't want to know that Dean was still a demon.

Not when Cas could still die for it. His pulse hadn't strengthened, and he was barely breathing.

He didn't know what to do. He could easily treat a human, but angels? Was that even Cas? Maybe his Grace had taken him with him and this was his vessel. But wasn't the guy dead? He could have sworn one of the boys had said something like this...

He stayed for a few minutes and soon felt sure that his pulse was getting stronger. He left him reluctantly, but he had to see how Sam was doing.

He found him half-laughing, half-crying, untying his brother.

Hating himself for saying it as the words left his mouth, he asked, "Is this a good idea?"

"He didn't react, Bobby. No spark or something like that. And there was no reaction to salt either".

It was dubious that he knew what he was doing and explaining, and he blindly tore at the restraints. Bobby helped him and they carried Dean to his room. When Sam saw his brother laid out on his bed, he had to turn away, and Bobby realized it must look like the day Dean died.

Nothing could get the younger Winchester to leave his brother's side. Bobby didn't even try; the last time he had left Dean alone he had disappeared.

"Look after Cas" was all he said, and Bobby left to do just that. He had left the angel alone for too long already. What if he...

But Cas was breathing evenly, and his heartbeat seemed to grow stronger every second. All Bobby and Sam could do was wait.

And wait they did. Through the whole night, never closing their eyes, Bobby the only one to occasionally leave his place to inquire after Dean or urge Sam to take some nourishment which he always declined.

At sunrise, Cas' eyelids fluttered. He thought he would open his eyes, but he didn't, and Bobby was beginning to think that he had imagined the motion, when suddenly he was looking into the bright blue eyes he knew so well.

"Bobby?" he inquired quietly, confused.

"Yeah, kid, it's me" he said, immediately reaching out to check Cas' pulse, and to his relief finding it normal.

"Dean?"

He trembled as he pronounced the name, and Bobby gently brushed his hair out of his face, like he had often done for Sam and Dean when they had been children.

"He's unconscious" he told him, "but we think it worked."

Cas immediately tried to sit up, and Bobby's pleas wouldn't have prevented him from doing so if he hadn't been too weak.

"Rest" he ordered, "I'll get you some water."

Before he did that, though, he hastened to Dean's room.

He looked like he was sleeping now, and Sam was mustering him with hope.

"Cas is awake" Bobby said quickly. "Weak, but okay".

"That's good" Sam smiled. "Do you think..." he trailed off, his eyes returning to his brother.

Bobby patted his shoulder.

"He'll wake up soon". He wanted to believe it. And Cas waking up had to be a good sign.

The angel was trying to sit up when he entered, and he gave him a bottle of water and scolded him into lying down again.

"There's nothing you can do".

"No" Cas replied softly. "There's nothing".

It was said with such conviction that Bobby asked, "Cas, what's going on? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're still here – but how?"

"My essence is gone."

"You're here – "

"I mean my Grace."

"But didn't you say – "

"Everything that made me angelic is gone" Cas explained.

"So you're human?"

He nodded.

Bobby hesitated. Sam had told him what he needed to know, but by no means everything – they hadn't had the time.

"Like you were when your Grace was ripped from you?"

Cas shook his head.

"I couldn't steal another Grace now. My body wouldn't hold it".

My body. No more vessel. How human he sounded.

"And you're alright?"

"I'm not going to die" Cas replied carefully, and Bobby pulled him into a hug spontaneously.

He pulled back and asked, when he saw that he could sit up on his own, "Do you want to go see Dean?"

Cas all but fell off the bed before Bobby could react. He had to support him to Dean's door, but Cas didn't seem to be worse for the journey, and he knew that nothing could keep him from seeing his boy.

"Cas!" Sam exclaimed and hugged him; Cas hugged back, then staggered to Dean's bed and sat down on the chair Sam had previously occupied.

Bobby motioned towards Sam and, though reluctant to leave, Cas' presence was enough to allow his absence for a few minutes.

Bobby quickly explained everything.

"I guess we'll have two new residents at the bunker". Sam smiled weakly. "The last time..."

He stopped himself.

"Dean'll be happy that he's here when he wakes up" he continued, and Bobby noted how much force he put on the "when". He didn't contradict him. Dean had to wake up.

He didn't, that day.

Nor on the next.

For three days, he was asleep. They would have watched over him in shifts if not every one of them had been eager to be with him as much as possible. Sam only left the room when absolutely necessary, and Cas at times seemed as oblivious to the need for food and drink as he had been when he'd been an angel.

On the few occasions Bobby could persuade him into the kitchen, he spoke of nothing but Dean. The situation of Heaven, Hell – it was nothing in comparison. Bobby had never been much for praying, not even for Cas, but he prayed now.

Please let Dean wake up. These two idjits need each other.

On the end of the third day, Dean opened his eyes.

They were all in the room; Sam noticed it first; and with a shot he jumped up and ran to his brother's side. For a moment, he was blocking the view, but Bobby stepped aside and saw that his eyes were green.

His first word was enough to make Bobby sure.

"Sammy?" he croaked.

He would never have pronounced his brother's name like that if he were still a demon. Dean was back.

He hadn't seen him or Cas yet, Sam launching himself at him preventing him from noticing them; but when Sam finally pulled back, tears in his eyes, he said, "Someone's here".

"Cas?"

He sounded hopeful, and the old hunter saw the joyful expression of the former angel. He smiled.

"Yeah" Sam said, "and someone else". He stepped aside, and Dean saw Bobby.

His eyes widened.

"Bobby?"

"Good to see you" he said, stepping towards the bed.

Dean tried to sit up, but was too exhausted, and Sam quickly assured him that Bobby was really Bobby.

Then his eyes turned to Cas.

"Hey".

"Hello, Dean".

He laughed, then coughed.

"I feel like I have been asleep for –"

And then he remembered. Bobby had hoped, against all experience he had hoped, that Dean wouldn't remember, that he would be spared from memories that would only bring guilt. But of course it wasn't to be.

"I was – " he was in obvious pain, and Bobby touched his shoulder.

"It wasn't you".

"But I – "

"It wasn't you" he repeated. It was clear that Dean didn't believe him, but he calmed down, at least for the moment.

It would be a long road. There could be no doubt of that. Dean felt responsible for everything at the best of times, and Bobby didn't even want to begin to think about things he might have done when he had been a demon.

"Dean" Cas said, taking his hand. "It's going to be okay".

They looked into each other's eyes, and Bobby suddenly had the feeling that he was intruding on a private moment.

Sam obviously felt the same, excusing himself to get Dean something to drink and eat, and he followed him.

Sam stopped in the corridor.

"He's back" he whispered, "He's back".

Bobby nodded, and Sam started to cry. Teary-eyed himself, he drew him into a hug.

When they returned with the food, Dean looked comfortable, and Cas was staring at him like always.

Later, they left Sam and Dean alone. The brothers had to talk, and talk alone, like they had done so many times when they needed to clear the air, and Bobby, knowing there were many more days to come, was glad to wait a little longer for his time with Dean.

As he was looking through the cupboards, he heard Cas call "Bobby!"

He all but ran into the living room and found Cas with a note in his hand.

He showed it to him wordlessly.

Just because Heaven is closed doesn't mean I can't get in.
G.

"Is that –" Bobby began, but Cas interrupted him.

"Gabriel, most likely."

"Why would an archangel resurrect me?"

"You made Sam call me, didn't you?" he inquired.

"He called you before."

"With the right words, I mean" Cas continued.

Bobby shrugged.

"We needed you" Cas added, "Sometimes it is as simple as that".

Before they could get even more emotional than the already were, Bobby pulled him into the kitchen, determined to show him the ropes of being human.

Hours later, long after the sun had gone down, Sam exited Dean's room and went into the living room where Bobby and Cas were reading.

"He's asking for you" he said, and Bobby stood up immediately.

Dean was sitting up in bed, and he smiled when Bobby came in, although there were shadows behind his eyes. An amulet Bobby knew well was hanging around his neck; the older Winchester had told him that he'd thrown it away, but here it was. Sam must have kept it.

"Thank you" Dean said immediately.

"Just did what I had to, and really, without Gabriel, I wouldn't have been able to do it".

"Gabriel?"

"According to Cas, he brought me back".

"Will have to think about the whole hating him forever because he killed me hundreds of times thing" Dean mumbled.

"How are you, boy?" Bobby asked, sitting down on the bed.

"I'm alive. And human. So I guess I'm good."

"That wasn't my question".

"I know" Dean replied, not catching his eyes.

"It wasn't you" Bobby said once again, "and we're gonna tell you until you believe it".

A smile told him that Dean didn't think that probable.

"Don't worry, I'll drill it into that skull of yours. After all – " he hesitated, though only for a moment, "What's a father for?"

Dean hugged him, and Bobby ignored his tears as well as his own. They talked for hours, Dean insisting that he wasn't tired.

Bobby could see it all, everything that lay before them; Dean getting healthy, learning to come to terms with having been a demon; Crowley was out there; Cas was human.

There were so many struggles ahead.

But, as he looked into his boy's eyes, he decided he was ready for every single one of them.

Author's note: Tell me what you thought, please.

I hope you liked it, and have a wonderful day.