Author's Note:

If this next chapter confuses you when it comes to who's speaking, there's an explanation at the end of the chapter (but it also gives a small spoiler so check at your own risk XP)

For the first time in about two years, Cas felt well rested when a bright light poured over his face. He'd slept like a baby that night; relaxed, happy, and without any nightmares. If Castiel had to choose a night he'd like to repeat over and over again for the rest of eternity, last night would have been the one. Amidst his silent musings and revelling in the sensations of his recent actions, his eyes slowly opened until his sight caught the room in front of them.

He opened his eyes the rest of the way in a flash and sat wildly upright. The room he sat in suddenly felt very cold, it was empty except for the single, dirty bed he'd been laying in. He looked at the empty space next to him where Dean was supposed to be. When had he let go? He swore he wasn't going to lose this one, when did he let go!

Tears filled his eyes, "Dean?" He whimpered as his hand shakily felt the cold sheets next to him. Slowly he retracted his arms to himself and hugged his knees. Tears continued to spill over and run down his cheeks as he let out loud wails and screams in anguish. The only word Cas could speak clearly was 'Dean.'

He stayed like that for about thirty minutes before climbing out of his self misery enough to stand up. His clothes were on him again, something he hadn't noticed when he woke up. Cas took several heavy steps over to a window to stare out at a decimated street. To his surprise the streets were intact, everything looked bright and people walked around like Cas had seen them doing when he first arrived in 2011. His eyes widened when it dawned on him, he was still in 2011, just not where he went to sleep.

Excitement rushed through him as he dashed to the door. Before he could reach it, however, a figure appeared in front of him. Instincts from living in an apocalyptic world took over as he took several nimble steps backward. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the new arrival, fully expecting to see Lucifer staring at him through Sam's eyes. Once again he was surprised to see a long, light brown trench coat on a dark haired male standing before him.

A sigh of relief escaped his lungs as he relaxed, "It's just you." He said with a smile, "How's heaven?"

"Why are you here?" Castiel's, the angel's, voice growled out at him, stern blue eyes fixated on him.

"Whoa, whoa I'm not trying to mess anything up, alright? Lucifer sent me here." Cas waved his hands defensively, hoping to calm his much more powerful self. Considering nothing happened the way he knew it, he had no idea how this Castiel had turned out or what he believed. Far as Cas knew, Castiel hated the Winchesters and preferred destruction over salvation.

"You do not belong here." Castiel seemed to be set off by the 'Lucifer sent me' line, his presence filled the room almost instantly and his voice struck Cas' eardrums more clearly than it had just seconds earlier. "Leave, now."

Cas couldn't help the grin that crossed his features, he let out a nervous laugh, "Wish I could just 'leave,'" he mimicked Castiel's tone with that last word, nodding his head to the side as he spoke it. "Problem is I was thrown here and I can't exactly crawl back the way I came, I'm mortal."

Castiel's face twisted for a moment, his head tilting slightly. The man standing before him was a version of himself, of that he could be certain. However this was a man, not an angel.

Cas watched the confusion in Castiel's eyes and shook his head. He allowed the angel a moment to think about the situation; in the meantime he would do the same. Dean's face was permanently etched into his mind, his smile, his eyes, and his body. Cas could even hear his laugh if he listened for it, which he did now. With his eyes closed he saw Dean's face, rugged and handsome, but something was different... Or was it familiar? Then he recognized it, the Dean he saw was his Dean, the one he'd fallen for the first time. Cas swallowed hard as he opened his eyes again, that hitch in his throat had returned, with a vengeance this time.

He shook his head trying to remove the image but it wouldn't go, like Dean's ghost was pissed with him, like he had cheated on him or something. He did it with Dean from a different time but it was still Dean, that didn't count as cheating, did it? On that note, did it even matter if it counted as cheating or not? Dean had betrayed him big time, sent him to his death along with the others. Why did it matter if he had sex with someone else? They weren't even together when Dean died anyway, why did this bother him so much? Because you still love him, even if he would rather have you dead.

Cas hugged himself, disguising it as having itchy arms in case Castiel was looking. It was obvious what had to be done here, but how would he explain it to Dean? For that matter, would he even be able to convince himself that it was okay to see Dean? He figured he'd give it a whirl.

"Listen," Cas relaxed again and casually walked up to Castiel, "If you have questions you can ask our favourite brothers, okay? I explained it to them already." Hoping that at this moment all Castiel wanted to do was make sense of the situation, not just fix it. If all Castiel wanted was to remedy the whole thing he'd easily be able to kill Cas on the spot, that would fix everything right away.

Castiel had turned his head to follow Cas' movements, contemplating the suggestion briefly. He gave a short nod and a soft grunt before placing his finger tips on Cas' forehead. Having been away from angelic transportation for a while, aside from being tossed by Lucifer a couple days earlier, Cas felt very queasy when the two arrived in the Winchester's motel room. Dean had been up early that morning, freaking out about Cas leaving them without even so much as a good bye.

Sam sat watching his brother continue a downward spiral, Dean had been on the verge of tears for two hours now and there was nothing Sam could say that would help. He wanted to, even though the activities last night were not appreciated at all. He scratched his head before coming up with something to say, "Listen Dean," Sam started, "He was dropped off here by Lucifer, maybe he was taken back."

Dean paused for a second and turned to look at Sam. He had nothing to say to that, it seemed to be the worst possibly scenario. Considering how bad it would be if Cas just walked out on them, on him, Dean would get the brunt of that pain. However, if Cas was dragged away from him then Cas would definitely be hurting more, and that was something Dean couldn't stand. If he had to choose, he'd rather be the one to get hurt.

A tired sigh escaped his lungs as he sat down on his bed, "Yeah... I'd rather not think about that." Dean dropped his face into his hands, holding back the strong urges to start bawling.

A familiar fluttering sound caught both Winchester's by surprise. Looking up, they saw Castiel, two of him, standing in front of them. Cas' knees shook a little but didn't buckle, he took a moment to steady himself before looking at Dean. "Hey." He said simply and raised a hand to greet him.

Dean's face lit up instantly, "Cas!" He leapt to his feet and darted across the room. He wrapped his arms around Cas and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Cas smiled and nuzzled his stubbled face against Dean's, "Been a while." He joked, pulling away once he'd gotten enough snuggling. "I thought I was back in 2014 but then he showed up," Cas motioned toward Castiel who looked very unimpressed with the whole situation.

Dean frowned and looked at Castiel, "Did you do that?"

"Yes. He does not belong here, Dean." Castiel looked over at Cas for a moment before returning his gaze to Dean's now aggravated expression.

Shaking his head, Cas turned Dean's to face him. Dean was shocked to see what looked like peace had settled into the blue orbs staring back at him, "He's right, Dean." Cas smiled again and laughed a little, "I don't know how to live as a regular human, just one that's struggling to survive in a dying world."

"That's every human, Cas." Dean interjected but Cas placed a finger on his lips, like he'd done last night.

"No, not the way I've witnessed it." The smile never faded but tears started to well up, though they didn't over flow. "Seeing you like this again, Dean... It was the last miracle I hoped for. The suffering Lucifer intended didn't happen, seeing you again didn't hurt me at all. It's going to sting when I leave, but I'll treasure this for the rest of my life, no matter how short." He stroked Dean's face, "And don't be mad at him," He motioned toward Castiel, "He's only doing what he has to."

Dean's eyes burned but he didn't let any tears fall, he was a stronger man than that. "No Cas, I'm not letting you go back there."

"You don't have a choice, Dean. My being here screws up the order."

Castiel looked at Dean as well, "Considering all that has happened, Death will not be merciful again." He didn't want to be the bad guy, especially to Dean, but that damned Winchester never followed the rules set up for mankind. God help him if Dean asks him to go against any other laws.

Dean, ignoring Castiel, stared at Cas, "The order? Is that it? That's what your concern is!"

Cas shook his head, "Calm down, okay? That's not my priority here I just... I'm looking for the right words."

"Right words to what?" Dean sounded hurt, and he had a right to be.

"Dean I..." Cas struggled to speak, his hands were sweaty as he withdrew them to himself. "I can't stay here with you."

"Why not! Aside from the obvious Death thing." His eyes scanned Cas' face for some kind of an answer which is exactly where it was forming. Dean saw what it was before Cas had to speak, "It hurts too much, doesn't it?" His voice was softer now, more understanding than moments before.

Cas nodded, losing his fight to hold back tears, "I see you, I see him. You're not the same but you are and I can't... I can't leave him there." His voice cracked as he spoke, his eyes pleading now.

Dean stared for a moment, he wanted to refuse Cas, he wanted to keep Cas there, keep him safe. But there wasn't anything he could do that would accomplish any of it, so he had to nod his head. "I'll let you go freely on one condition," He said with a stubborn look in his eyes.

Cas' head tilted slightly, before he even knew what he was doing. "What do you mean?"

"You can't leave until we find a way for you to beat Lucifer."

"Dean, that's impossible. The rings are on Dean's body and that's with Lucifer." Cas shook his head, "It... just isn't possible." His voice trailed off as he averted his eyes from Dean's.

Castiel looked at the two of them, then over to Sam. Both men stood on the outside of this exchange without anything to say that would help or hinder either argument. Sam's eyes lit up for a moment, an idea had popped into his head. "What if Cas," He paused for a moment, "Well uh... Angel-Cas, sent this Cas back to his time, but not his 'present' time?"

Three heads turned to face Sam and he couldn't ignore the fact that they all had the same expression that added up to one thought; 'What the hell?'

"Okay," Sam said again, "Cas was sent here by Lucifer after Dean died, that's his present. What if we sent him a few days back from that? Dean would be alive with the rings; Lucifer wouldn't see it coming because it's been so long since that idea would have been relevant. He probably thinks, since you guys never figured it out, you wouldn't ever figure it out so he'll be totally oblivious to it."

Dean frowned, "Would that even work?"

Cas nodded, "Yeah, actually." He smiled again, his eyes almost sparkling. "We could disguise it as Dean's plan to use the colt, but surprise Lucifer with the rings instead. I can figure out the other details from there." All three looked over at Castiel for a yes or no on this one.

When he didn't answer right away, Dean felt somewhat relieved, hoping it would be a no. He really didn't want Cas to leave. However, Dean's expression betrayed his thoughts and Castiel saw right through him. An anger he'd never felt before burned in him; he wanted nothing more than to get rid of his other self. Before he let this rage consume him though, Castiel stopped to try and understand it.

Dean and the others stared at the contemplative expression on the angel's face before Dean finally decided to ask, "What's up Cas?"

Castiel shook his head, "I... I want him out of here. Right now."

Cas laughed, "He's jealous, Dean."

Dean's face took a moment to decide what it wanted to portray before settling on confusion, "Jealous of what?"

His brother's question made Sam smack himself in the forehead. "You, Dean. He's jealous of you and Cas."

Dean looked surprise, which caused Sam to run his hand down his face slowly in agitation. Dean turned his gaze on Castiel, "Seriously?"

The angel looked shocked for a moment too, but then everything fell into place and he shamelessly nodded his head. It made sense to him, why should he hide it?

Dean was even more surprised that Castiel admitted to it so freely. Before he could discuss it further, Cas spoke up. "You guys can sort through that later." He looked at Dean, smiling again, he hugged him. Nuzzling his face into Dean's chest, Cas mumbled a heartfelt "I'm sorry." Pulling back again he looked into Dean's face and, for the last time between them, blue met hazel. "Thanks for everything."

Dean couldn't fight it anymore and tears fell, everything was happening too fast for him to fully grasp his feelings on it but he responded anyway, "Goodbye, Cas." He leaned over and kissed the smaller man, "Good luck."

Cas nodded and looked at Sam, "Good to see you again,"

Sam smiled, "Go and kick my ass, alright?"

"You got it." Giving Sam a thumbs up, Cas turned to face Castiel, "Let's get this over with."

Castiel touching Cas' forehead is all it took to take him away from Dean. He slid his hand down his face to wipe the tears away; he couldn't help the snivelling and sobs that escaped him. Sam watched Dean for a while; the way his brother was acting he was certain that hyperventilating couldn't be too far behind.

Author's Note:

To explain the confusion between who's talking, when I write 'Cas' I mean Future Cas (aside from the obvious references like when Sam calls Angel Castiel Cas), and when I say 'Castiel' I mean our cutie angel, mojo and all.

Also, please send me a message on some ideas on how you'd like this thing to end (happy or sad) or anything else. I'd love to get some opinions on this, just so I don't disappoint XD