AN: Here is the epilogue! I know it's short, but it's all there's left to say. Except, I'm also going to be posting a one-shot later this month from Cas' POV (thanks to Rose for the suggestion!) about his thoughts and feelings during some of the events of this story. It will be separate from this fic, so keep an eye out!
Four years later.
Gabriel Milton stares at the piece of paper in his hands. He's not sure how Sam Winchester got his new address, because he's sure didn't tell anyone what it was before he moved to New York. Nevertheless, the letter is here, and it is obviously meant for him.
Gabriel Milton,
You are cordially invited to attend the wedding of Samuel Winchester and Jessica Moore.
There's a save-the-date refrigerator magnet underneath those words— a few months from now— and some details on how to RSVP.
Gabriel crumples up the paper and throws it in the trash.
He hasn't seen Sam Winchester in four years, and he certainly doesn't want to see him now, getting married. He's perfectly content to ignore those few months of his life and pretend they never happened.
Gabe's moved on, got a nice girlfriend and a new job after he got fired from the last one. He doesn't need memories of Sam, which will inevitably bring memories of Dean, and then— Cas.
Cas.
Speaking of Cas, and letters, there's another piece of paper sitting in Gabriel's desk drawer. He hasn't looked at it in four years, and by this point (while he's never forgotten it), he has been happy to ignore it. He doesn't want to recall the memories, the regret, the guilt that this piece of paper holds in its meager content.
Four years ago, Dean Winchester asked him if Castiel had left a note. Gabriel had said no.
He lied.
It's addressed to Dean, which makes it worse. Cas was dying, and he couldn't even bother to address it to the only brother that still cared about him. It's only five words. Two sentences. Gabe would have told Dean what it said, but the loss would have just hurt so much more. He planned on keeping it a secret until he died himself. Dean never needed to know, and so Gabe was never going to tell him.
It's almost disappointing, in Gabriel's opinion, that it's so short. No declaration of love in Cas' final moments, not even a goodbye. Just a miserably inadequate and unhelpful handful of words that had burned themselves into Gabriel's brain, determined never to let go.
Gabriel wonders, briefly, if he should go to the wedding. He'd get to see Sam again, but he doesn't know if that would be a good thing or not. He would be able to see how Dean's been coping. Gabriel doubts that it would be much better than his own despondent situation.
In the end, he decides against it. Even if it didn't hurt Sam or Dean to see him again, it would certainly hurt Gabe to see them. He leaves the invitation and the magnet in the trash can, and leaves his desk drawer locked.
The past is behind him, and no matter how fervently it tries to come back to haunt him, Gabriel is determined to leave it that way.
Dean,
I'm sorry.
I'm just tired.
Cas.