Terrably sorry it took me so long to update.

Dean wrapped his hands around the ceramic mug of coffee that was placed in front of him. He brought the cup to his mouth, taking a sip of the bitter, warm liquid. It was scalding, but still a welcome change from the biting cold of winter that surrounded the town now. He looked up to meet the eyes of his server was the coffee made its way to his stomach. The drink burned the lining of his stomach and not from its heat.

"How's the coffee?" Ellen asked. "I made it just the way you like."

Dean took another gulp from his mug, this time rolling the drink mix around in his mouth trying to pick out the taste of the whiskey Ellen no doubt put in it. "It great Ellen, a little strong though."

"Well you gotta have something to keep you warm out there. Just don't tell your daddy I'm givin' it to ya'. Last thing I need is John Winchester on my ass."

Ellen patted Dean on the shoulder before leaving to attend to other patrons in her bar. It was snowy Wednesday in the middle of winter so the bar was occupied by only a hand few of other patrons. Most of them were men looking for refuge from the cold and a drink. That was exactly what Dean was doing as well. It was snowing, which made hunting difficulty to impossible and it was too cold to simply stay home while Sammy was at school and his father working. So now here he sat at the Roadhouse, their town's only tavern, enjoying his whiskey and coffee concoction as well as his view of Jo.

She sat behind the bar high top looking intently at the glass in her hand she was cleaning. She raised her damp cleaning rag to circle the inside of the glass, wiping all the nasty bits and last drops of alcohol out. She moved the rag to the glasses rim, wiping away lip prints and then to the outer surface cleansing it of finger prints. Squinting in the dim light as she inspected the glass one last time and, satisfied with her work, put it on the counter. She reached for the next glass in line, repeating the process.

Dean had always liked Jo a bit more than a friendly way. He liked the way her dirty blond hair framed her face and how her lips always wore a smile without her knowing. He liked how her arms and hands were slender but still strong and the way her body molded to her when they hugged. He liked the fact that her almond eyes were always wide and her eyebrows raised like the world kept surprising her. But now all of that attraction seemed to have vanished. Jo wore her hair in a high pony tail making her face look harsh with her eyes intent on the glass she was cleaning. Her mouth was puckered and her eyebrows furrowed; in this moment she had lost all her young charm she used to hold over Dean.

In one large gulp Dean downed what was left of his drink, wincing as the alcohol burned his stomach again. He carefully counted out the money he owed for the drink and put next to his mug. He grabbed his father's leather jacket from the back of his chair and slung it over his shoulders, making his way towards the door. A bell chimed over head as he opened it to leave, he glanced over his shoulders a final time before leaving. Ellen was stoking the fire, coaxing it into accepting the log she had just put on the burn. Jo sat, still behind the bar, cleaning. She offered up as small smile, seeing Dean look at her. A smile, Dean did not return.

...

The frigid weather cut through Dean's layered clothing like a knife. He had zipped up his jacket all the way so it covered the bottom of his chin and he had his gloved hands in his pockets. He could feel the slight wetness of melting snowing seeping through his wool cap and into his hair along with his shins rubbing against the damp fabric of his trouser. Dean's only saving grace about trudging through knee deep snow in the middle of the forest was that there was no wind. He wondered without a specific destination in mind; not worried about getting lost because he was leaving quite a trail in snow. He only knew that he needed to find Castiel.

"Dean," A voice called from a tree.

Dean scanned the trees near where the voice had come from. He easily picked out Gabriel's bronze wings glazed lightly with snow. "H-hey," Dean's teeth chattered making speech difficult. "I was lo-looking for-r Cas."

Gabriel began climbing down through the trees branches. It was difficult for the angels to fly when it was snowy, so they most just stuck to walking. "He's with the others. I can take you to them. I was just getting Anna pinecones; recently she's been craving them."

Dean nodded, his jaw chattering too hard for him to speak. Gabriel acted as an ice breaker, walking ahead of Dean and breaking the snow bank to make walking easier. Gabriel followed a faint impression in the snow from what must have been his earlier walk rout. One of the things Dean found most impressive about angels was how resilient they were to the weather. Like right now it was below freezing and Gabriel was walking around nothing more than his normal pair of shredded pants. He wasn't shivering like Dean either, he just simply wasn't cold.

It wasn't a long walk back to the rest of the group. They had moved their home camp from the small clearing to a shallow cave for the winter. Past the mouth of the cave Dean could see a small fire going inside, the smoke trickling out and getting lost in the whiteness of the sky. From the fire light Dean could also make out Michael and Lucifer sitting together as well as Cas poking at the fire with a stick. Anna had run out of the cave towards the reproaching duo, the ends of her long black coat dragging across the snow.

"Gabriel," She cried, stopping a few feet short of him. "Did you get them?"

Gabriel held out a small bag. Anna took it reaching in and pulling of a small pinecone and happily biting into it using her molars. She moaned in pleasure at the pinecone's taste. Dean gagged a bit; he was never one for raw pinecones. Anna heard him and looked over towards him a little bewildered. Dean had to let out a smile before Anna's memory clicked into place.

"Sam," She cried running over to hug him. Dean had to rotate slightly to the side to avoid her swollen belly.

"Close, I'm Dean," Dean huffed out through Anna's suffocation embrace. Anna had become very forgetful lately; Michael guessed it was because of her hormones acting up.

Anna pulled away to study his face. Her eyes filled with realization again as her mouth formed into a soft Oh. Dean chuckled at Anna's behavior as Gabriel led Anna back to the cave, giving her another pinecone. Dean stood and watched as Anna walked through the snow with her one hand on her pregnant belly and the other held by Gabriel. The coat Gabriel made her wear dragged over the snow drifts like it was attempting to smooth out her foot prints. But Dean followed her trail, destroying the coat's effort. Anna and Gabriel ducked into the low entrance to the cave, seating themselves on the stone ground. Dean hung a hand on the lip of the cave, hunching over so he could just peer in.

"Hey, Cas can I talk to you for a moment?" Dean asked, the cold seemed so insignificant now compared to the nervous energy coiled up in his stomach.

Cas scrambled to stand up, "Yes, of course." Dean led Cas a few yards away from the cave, just out of ear shot of the others.

"I just wanted to say that I choose…" he licked his lips immediately regretting it, as the dry air chapped his lips further, "I choose you. I want you, Castiel."

Cas's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Dean suddenly had the crashing realization that maybe Cas didn't want him. Maybe he didn't even like Dean like that at all. Maybe what Dean had mistaken for flirtatious attitude was really just something angels did with close friends. Dean took a step back, horrified that must have just destroyed his most treasured friendship.

Then Castiel did something unexpected. He lunched forward wrapping his arms around Dean and pulling his close. Dean tensed up, feeling Castiel's heat radiated through his jacket from Cas's body held impossibly close to his. Cas caught Dean's gaze, his blue eyes wild. Cas leaned in, closing the small gap between their two faces and planted his lips softly on Dean's.

"I choose you, Dean Winchester."

I really did not want this to be a Destiel fanfic, yet here we are.