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The exit portal was a small wormhole leading between Earth and Purgatory. It was, as he found out, an unstable wormhole, and during transit, he felt being pulled in every which way, intensely hot, then cold. It was like falling in a blue whirlpool of light, or more accurately, a blender. Then there was a bright light and he felt himself stumble forward with Dean and Adam beside him.

As soon as he grabbed onto Adam's hand and the portal closed, he felt elation. They had done it, they had crossed Hell and Purgatory to save Adam. Not only had they succeeded, they were mostly whole and unscathed. There was a bright light and he felt himself stumble forward with Dean and Adam beside him. What hit him first was the cold and though the air was chilled, it smelled like a forest. A living breathing forest under the winter sun. A curious sensation swelled inside him, it was like lightness that made him want to laugh. Looking over at Dean, he saw his goofy smile come across his face causing him to mirror him. He realized the sensation was elation of victory. Yes, his body ached and he suddenly felt hungry, but he was alive and what's more, they accomplished their mission.

Looking over at Adam, he saw the young man take stock of the area. He and Dean literally went to hell and saved him. It dawned on him that every time he has gone to hell, it was to free one of the brothers. The thought made him chuckle. He supposed this is what it feels like to do something right andhave it succeed. He didn't notice Dean sauntering over and embracing him in a deep kiss.

"Ugh…you guys can cut that out now." Adam said with mild amusement after a while.

Stepping back, he felt slightly dizzy from the loss of nearness and warmth Dean gave and mumbled something incoherent at Adam. Dean pulled out his phone and turned it on. He went to check on Adam who just told him he was fine.

"We were gone for three days, it's only January 15th." Dean announced as he held the phone to his ear. Three days, subtracting at least a day and half for purgatory, he figured he and Dean spent almost a year down in Hell. It didn't feel like it, but then, Hell is in a lot of flux, so it may have actually been considerably less. After Dean was done talking to Charlie, he started leading them to the road which was some distance from the portal.

It was a couple of hours but Charlie was there waiting for them in a comfortable looking SUV. Per her usual custom, she hugged them all, even Adam, who was surprised to find a fiery redhead hugging him fiercely. Climbing into the car, she drove for some time as they told her of the journey across the Hell. He and Dean left out some parts, like how the swamp almost got them and how he acted like a whore in Lust.

In her turn, she told them that nothing much happened while they were gone. Everyone was good, just worried about their well-being. She had already let everyone know they were alive and told them they were waiting for them. Dean told her to take another route though, so they can resurrect Benny.

"As in the vampire who saved both you and Sam? The one who is a good cook and has a Cajun accent? You found him too?"

"It was unexpected, but we kinda hoped we would and now we got him back too. It's going to be hard to find a place for him to fit in, and we'll need to find access to a blood supply." Dean replied.

"You know the answer is simple. Do what vampires did in Underworld,which is, own a blood bank. We just set him up and bingo, free food supply and he's doing something good." Charlie suggested.

Dean thought form moment, "how about we wait and ask him? It's a good idea though." He heard his stomach rumble, as did Dean who arched his eyebrow, "hungry Cas?" Then Dean's stomach growled, and he retorted, "I am not sure, are you hungry Dean?" Charlie shook her head and drove on to where Dean buried Benny.

They snacked on energy bars Charlie stowed away in her car. They only had two shovels so Cas and him began the digging. Charlie was already making calls to find a blood supply so Benny can eat. Adam was browsing on her tablet, catching up on how the world didn't end. It took them a while, but they got down to the body, which wasn't too decomposed and deposited his soul back in.

"Hey there brotha, see we made it topside." Benny said after he had reconstituted himself.

"It was a wild ride again, but yeah." he replied. "There's lots that has happened since you were last here." Cas picked up the shovels and headed to put them back in the trunk.

"You close them gates?" Benny asked as they walked over to the car.

"No, I would've lost Sam if we completed the trials." He tried to think where to start off about all the changes that have happened in his life since Benny went back to Purgatory. The angels coming down, then back up, Crowley, Sam fixing Heaven, the Thule...there as a lot of ground to cover. Smiling, they both climbed into the car and together, they drove for a while before stopping at a hotel to rest and eat. He felt bad for Benny, who had to suffer watching them eat, but he said not to worry, he'll go hunting when they go to sleep. It almost seemed that all the hunger and tiredness was backlogged in their bodies, and they all woke up late. While they were asleep, Charlie was stealthy enough to get their clothes and clean them before they woke up. He was surprised at that, but as soon as he showered and laid down, he was out.

There was a different vibe in the air to him now, like something had changed when he woke up. And for once, it was a good change. He realized that he had accomplished what began so long ago. He had killed the Yellow-Eyed Demon, stopped the Devil, killed Dick and saved his brothers. Sam had also done so much and was now a dad. There was no family left to rescue, not big bad trying to end the world, he was, for one, no longer obligated to save his family or planet.

And then there was Cas, who was sleeping quietly next to him still. Adam was in the other bed, also out still. Seeing the neat pile of folded clothes on the dresser, he smiled at how Charlie was really like a sister by now. He couldn't wait to get back home, see his brother and nephew. There was one thing he should do though, and there was only really one person who could talk with about it.

He quietly got up and changed his clothes and stealthily left the room. He found him outside near the Impala. "Geez, you didn't stay outside all night did you?"

"Games scarce, it took a while to find something worth eating. Though that Charlie, brotha, she's a whole lot of interesting." Benny replied. "She has this thought that I run a blood bank, skim off the top when I get hungry. Not half bad idea."

"Yeah, it is. We can make it happen to, we got ourselves a secret society of angels, ex-demons, prophets and hunters."

"That's a tight outfight you got there Dean, and congratulations on being an uncle. Though, you think Sam is ok me being back?"

"Yeah, he knows. He's cool now. You only have to sacrifice yourself to win his trust." he joked. He placed a hand on Benny's shoulder so he can look him in the eye. "Listen man, lot of stuff, most of it shitty, has happened. But…I wanted you to know…I'm with Cas. Don't want to spook you with this…uh, thing he and I have."

The vampire looked at him with a fond expression with a hint of a smile. "This thing you have, is it like, we're rolling in the hay together kinda thing?"

He blushed, "yeah…"

"Brotha, you don't go looking for a 'friend' in Purgatory, you look for your kin. I may be an old Southern boy, but I ain't no bigot or blind. You killed everything in your path to find your angel Dean. I could see how happy you were to find him, how broke up you were when he didn't make it through."

"Well, he wanted to stay behind…and, that hurt. Then he pulled more crap with the tablets and caused the angels to fall. You should've seen it, it was one of the most beautiful and horrible things I'd ever seen. When they fell…I thought I lost him for good. Again. Then he turned up, half dead and well…he was human. We just, I dunno how to describe it, it just kinda happened."

"Uh-huh, well, you two look cozy enough. He followed you through hell and then some. So why do you look worried?"

He didn't even realized that he was putting on a worried face on. Well, he was worried, cause this next part was going to be hard. "Well, when Sam went up to fix Heaven, he wanted me to marry Cas. I mean, I was…am going to…but, aw hell, I dunno! I'm not good at any of this crap."

Benny crossed his arms, "what are you trying to say Dean? You getting cold feet?""

"No! I want…I want to do it, but I don't know how. All my other relationships crashed and burned, and…well the idea of marriage, what does it mean? Seriously? It's not like I'm going love him more if we tie the knot. Hell, he doesn't even understand the concept of it!"

"So…you haven't even proposed yet?"

"Uh…no, no I haven't. Look, I just wanted your take on it, I know Sam would like me too, so does everyone else…but, I need an honest opinion." He looked at Benny. "This is a whole new thing for me man, and that I want to do it with a dude still freaks me the hell out."

"Brotha, you know what you gotta do already, don't matter what I or anyone else say." He gave Dean his charming smile, "do it your own way, keep it simple. Then you take it one day at a time. That's how Andrea and I did it…one day at a time."

He let that sink in. One day at a time. Do it on his terms. "You're saying I should do it because I want to, not because I should or promised isn't it? And buck tradition, and do it our way?"

"Right on Dean."

"Ok…I think I got it." He looked at Benny with a small smile, "man, I missed you. I promise we'll make it work this time."

Benny shifted uncomfortably, "can't guarantee the future, but I'll try. Maybe the third time is the charm?"

He shrugged, "I've died so many times I lost count." He looked at his watch, "better get back inside and wake the kids and get on the road. And Benny?" The bearded man looked at him with a soft face, "thanks."

"Not a bother, none at all."

When they arrived back home at the bunker, Sam nearly squeezed him and Dean to death. Adam gave Sam a more guarded handshake that Sam pulled into a hug anyway. Benny gave handshake to Sam, who took it in the spirit it was offered and invited him into the bunker. After giving the newest additions a tour of the bunker and settling them into their rooms, Sam took Adam to go shopping to 'bond'. Linda and Kevin took Benny to a place where he can find a supply of blood. Sam left Robbie in the care of Dean, who was more than happy to play with is nephew even though he could tell Dean was tired.

With Dean preoccupied, he pulled Charlie aside to go over an idea he wanted to discuss. She was the most suitable person to talk this over with, given her penchant for having a good time. Granted, her idea of a good time was peculiar, even to him, but she was a trusted confidant and knowledgeable.

Once they were in a spot alone, he asked, "Charlie, I need your help."

She looked at him concerned, "what you need with sweetie?"

He looked down at the floor, "I want to throw Dean a party…for his birthday…and for his success in retrieving Adam. It's in a couple of weeks. And I need your help in doing so." Why he felt embarrassed for asking, he did not know why. He attributed it to his lack of knowledge about such human customs, especially one placed on the day of their birth. Which, truth be told, he still did not understand as there was no way that they could remember the birth itself. He looked back up at Charlie, to gauge her reaction.

"Awww, that's so sweet of you, of course I'll help! Like you needed to ask!" She had her, as Dean called it, 'bubbly happy face' on. "First thing you gotta know about throwing a party, is what kind of party you want to have. A theme party, or a surprise party…or the more than likely let's get shit faced kind of party? Then you plan you around that."

Dean did not like surprises, he would be liable to shoot them both before and after the surprise. Any party would devolve into a drinkfest, so a theme party would probably be the best route. Charlie interrupted his thoughts though.

"If you want my opinion though, Dean and Sam aren't big on the whole party thing. They never grew up with that kind of thing, but I know what he wants from a party though."

He tilted his head, "what would that be?"

She smiled, "intimacy Cas. That's the feeling he craves for but never allowed himself. The familial intimacy of having your friends and family with you. So, if you want to have a party for Dean, then I say, keep it simple. And homemade. Cheesy I know, but it's what I would want if I had a life like theirs."

"So…keep it simple?" he asked, unsure he understood what she was saying.

"Yup, I mean, a Hobbit theme party would be great, but the first thing you have to remember is you're throwing a party for him not for us. Otherwise it gets all Bridesmaids."

"I don't understand that reference, but I believe I understand what you're saying. Something personal in essence, something he never had when he as child." He was already beginning to think on what to do. "I will still require your assistance, and possibly Sam's as well."

After Sam came back with Adam, he happily returned Robbie to him. All he was doing was sleeping on his chest and he was dozing off as well. Then Benny came back with a mini-fridge followed by Kevin carrying a large cooler. Figuring they must have found a source of blood for him, he let them be.

He was going over what Benny told him earlier in the day, about keeping it simple. Everything in his life though as been anything but though. Always on the road, going from case to case, then trying to stop the end of the world, fixing heaven and well, a bunch of crap. There wasn't time to do things nice and slow. Now there was, or at least he hoped there was. Yeah, he promised Sam he would marry Cas, but that was only because he never knew if he would ever see Sam again. Then there was the Thule thing and, happily, Robbie.

So he had time. Time to think, really think on what he wanted to do. Hunt of course, but it can't do that forever, he didn't want to die fighting some low life monster. There was something to live for, to keep on living for now, and that was Cas, his brothers and little Robbie. Still, that thought of getting married to Cas was always bugging him, haunting him.

He knows where they first meet, how Cas saw what he was doing…what he had done. When he called upon him the first time, he stabbed him in the heart, getting nothing but an unimpressed face. During Sam's sneaking off to drink Ruby, he began to confide in Cas, trusting him even though the other angels were dicks. If he had pick a major turning point, it was when Cas asked him, against his will, to have him torture Alastair. It was then he began to, hesitantly, trust him. And Cas himself, full on rebelled and lost everything…because he trusted Dean.

Through the years, it's always been an up and down relationship with them. Still, the betrayal by working with Crowley hurt him the most. Then losing him to the leviathans, he didn't know how much he cared for the nerdy angel until he wasn't around. It wasn't until the fall though, when he became human did he realize his love for Cas was more than just as brothers in arms, but love love. Still wasn't on board with the whole gay rainbow flying thing, but he loved Cas. Man had fought and died numerous times…for him. Always for him.

How do you repay that? How do you repay the unyielding love of a man who has literally done everything, lost everything for you? Compared to that, a band of metal and piece of paper is pathetic, weak and nearly insulting. However, those things are just symbols…symbols of a promise to love him always, not matter what. A symbol of their bond, unbreakable. And it was a symbol he would be proud to wear.

He sighed as he crawled into bed with Cas. The time was coming soon for him to do this, before anything else shitty happens in their lives. Coming to terms with his decision, he finally smiled. Not because he was going to go through with this, but because, deep in his heart, this was the path to happiness.