When Cas finally saw Dean's face again, he couldn't stop a bright grin from spreading across his own. He crossed the distance between them in a spontaneous sprint, crashing into Dean's welcoming arms and huffing a laugh from the older man. "Hi, baby," he said, fondly ruffling Cas' hair before leaning down for a kiss.

Cas pressed into it, into the warm length of Dean's body, bringing his hands up to tightly clutch at his tawny hair. "Hi," he answered softly, grinning up at him. Cas smiled and claimed another, slower kiss. "Do you wanna sit down for a little while?"

Dean's own smile was small and sad as he nodded. Then, Cas took both his hands in a gentle grip and led him over to the row of little blue chairs sitting against the wall. However, instead of taking one for himself he simply settled in Dean's lap.

Dean let out a tiny little chuckle and kissed the top of his head. "What've you been up to?"

"Waiting for you to call, until my brother pointed out to me what a stubborn bastard I was being," replied Cas with a shrug.

Dean's face fell. "I'm sorry-"

Cas brought a finger up to Dean's lips to silence him, and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm here now. Let's talk."

With a shaky sigh, Dean nodded, and Cas removed his finger in favour of gently cupping the side of his face in his hand. "Dean, did you feel guilty for spending the night with me?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Dean," said Cas softly, a kind, patient look shining in his blue eyes. "On some level, I believe you did."

Dean let out a helpless whimper and buried his face in the boy's shoulder. "I-God, I don't know." Dean sighed, leaning on his shoulder and twining their fingers. "I've-I've been taking care of all of them all my life. I don't know, I just...always felt like I should. I don't even know if they needed me, really. Like...like my brother Sam. I know he doesn't need me, never did. He wanted out of Kansas so he got himself a scholarship and a degree and a goal, and all this time I thought I needed to take care of him." Dean scoffed.

Cas listened with a slow nod.

"But I do know my mom needs me now. Until she can let go of my dad. But...I don't know how long that'll take." He looked up at Cas with a pleading expression. "I...I just don't know, Cas."

"I know you don't. But...Dean, you don't have to put your life on hold. I get that you want to watch over her, take care of her, but I really don't think she's asking you to pause like this."

"...I know. I didn't realize it until I found you, but it's true." Dean fixed him with a heavy, serious gaze. "Cas, you make me want things for myself I've never given much thought to before. You make me want to let go of my family, to let them be and have them let me be. Does that make any sense?"

Cas nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, it makes sense." He gave Dean's cheek a soft, sweet kiss. "You make me want a lot of things, too. But we'll just have to start out nice and slow."

Dean smiled back and pressed a kiss to his feather-soft dark hair. "I want to start my life, I know I want to start my life. But...what do I do with that, you know?"

"Right now? You stay with your mother for as long as you think you should," Castiel replied, squeezing the other man's ensnared fingers. "And...I'll wait."

Dean ardently shook his head. "No, Cas. That's not what I want for you. You shouldn't have to wait at all." Though he was touched by the idea that Cas could want him that much, he could never ask that of him. "I want to be...good for you," he whispered with a kiss to Cas' temple. "I want to devote as much time as possible to you."

"Dean," Cas chuckled. "It's okay, I promise. We'll be okay for as long as we both want to work on this. All I ask is that you don't forget to call next time, deal?"

Somehow Dean's smile softened even more as he hugged Cas tightly to his chest, peppering the top of his head with kisses. Passersby regarded their very public affection either with happy little smiles of their own or scowls, but all went unnoticed as they held each other, only pulling apart after Dean whispered against Cas' hair, "Do you wanna meet her?"

Dean opened the door to Mary's room slowly and quietly, his free hand loosely grasping Cas'. "Mom?" he asked gently, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that her eyes were open and she was smiling warmly at him.

"Hey, baby. Come here." She extended both arms to her, including the one bandaged up to the elbow. The sight made him frown slightly.

Cas slowly entered the room with a sheepish smile and hung back so that Dean blocked Mary's view of him. He made an adorable sight, in Dean's opinion, all shy and flustered like that when Dean knew how much of a brat he could be, as well as how he became such an unstoppable force of nature in bed.

He cleared his throat as he leaned down to kiss Mary's forehead. She promptly wrapped her arms round his neck and Cas couldn't help the tears starting to well in his eyes. He couldn't help thinking of his own mother, how she always hugged him and kissed him on the cheek every chance she got, even though her affection used to leave him blushing and embarrassed. He couldn't imagine longing for something more than he longed for those touches now, except perhaps for his Belle.

Dean gently pulled away and turned back to him, snapping Cas out of his reverie. "C'mere."

Blushing, Cas approached the bed, still smiling shyly at the beautiful blonde woman it held, wearing sparkling blue eyes but Dean's unmistakable smile.

"Mama, this is Cas. He's my boyfriend." Dean mentally patted himself on the back for saying it so calmly, albeit softly.

Mary's eyes widened but her smile never wavered. "It's very nice to meet you, Cas. You gonna make an honest man out of my son?"

Castiel chuckled and closed the remaining distance between them so he could gently shake her soft hand. "I'm doing my best, ma'am."

"Good." She gave his hand a light squeeze before turning back to Dean. "Honey, can we go home yet?"

"I think so," Dean replied. "I think I'll go check with the doc real quick first."

"Honestly, I don't know why they wanted to keep me here at all. I'm perfectly fine."

Dean's face hardened, just barely, but enough for Cas to notice. He gave a short nod before exiting the room, leaving Mary and Cas alone.

Cas took a seat next to the bed. "So, any embarrassing childhood stories I should know about?"
"Hundreds," Mary answered with a broad grin. "

When Dean returned to the little room it was to the sound of unbridled laughter, his mother's head thrown back and Cas' covered in his hands as their bodies shook with their apparent glee. "What?" Dean demanded. Somehow, he was sure whatever they were laughing about was at his expense.

Cas looked up at him, wiping away tears with the back of his hand. "Um, the tiny Dean running around the neighbourhood stark naked to escape bath time story?"

Dean's eyes widened in horror as Mary added, "Dean, honey, this boy is delightful! We just have to kidnap him!"

Well, as terrified and humiliated as he was, he wasn't going to argue with that reasoning.