Dean paced the cramped motel room as quietly as possible, picking up the odds and ends that had inexplicably migrated to strange back corners. Sam was asleep, but Dean needed to be busy. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now and besides, their stuff needed to be packed anyway.
He jumped at the loud rap at the door. Dean's shoulders fell. It was late, John had probably forgotten his key. As he swung it open, however, he was shocked to see Cas standing worriedly in the doorway. Cas opened his mouth to speak, but Dean, without thinking, pulled him into a hug. It was tight and fierce, Dean trying to convey without words how much he'd miss Cas. After a few seconds, he let go, blushing. He'd only ever hugged Sammy like that. As Dean looked up, he spotted Gabe over Castiel's shoulder, making him blush even harder. "I thought you wouldn't come, man," Dean muttered hoarsely.
"I always come when you call," Cas replied softly.
There was a long pause, they didn't need to say anything, then Gabe cleared his throat loudly. "You gonna tell him, or should I?" he asked, nudging Castiel's shoulder.
Cas nodded. "Get your bags together, Dean," he said, "We're leaving."
"I know, man," Dean said sadly, hanging his head, "I should have told you we were skipping town earlier..." he paused, "I just didn't know how."
To Dean's amazement, Cas grinned. "No. It's not that you're leaving, it's that we're leaving. Me and you. Sam, too."
Dean squinted, confused. Meanwhile Sam, who'd been awakened by the noise, meandered sleepily to the doorway and slipped his hand into Dean's.
Gabe stepped past Cas into the room. "I'm going to become Castiel's legal guardian," he said. He bent over to Sam, asking quietly where his bags were. Sam pointed, smiling blearily at Gabe, who he recognized.
"So...you're leaving too?" Dean asked, feeling slightly better. At least Cas would be free of Michael and his awful siblings. Gabe seemed pretty cool.
"We're taking you with us!" Cas exclaimed, unable to contain his happiness.
"...What? How?"
"Only if you want," Gabe interrupted, walking back to the boys, Sam on his shoulders and his bag in his hand. "Your father, John, has been on the run for a while, but he's in trouble, legal trouble, for many things. Including his care of you. We've got a lawyer, our sister Anna, working to pin him down for everything, which would mean you two would end up in foster care...unless you have a guardian," he finished with a sly grin.
Dean, stunned, was silent as he tried to comprehend it all. John, in trouble? Taken away? Foster care? Guardians? "But...I don't know if we have..." he stammered, worried.
"Anna's already working on it, but if you wanted...I could be your guardian, too," Gabe said.
Glancing at Cas for affirmation, Dean couldn't help but gape. "Does that mean Cas and I would be...related?" He wrinkled his nose, trying to comprehend it.
Gabe laughed. "No. You'd just be under my care until your 18th birthday. The two of you would be more like roommates," he said with a wink.
"You don't have to come, if you don't want," Cas said softly.
"Are you kidding?" Dean shouted, a grin splitting his face, "I'd love to!" He glanced up at Sam, gesturing for Gabe to put him down. Upon doing so, Dean bent down to be at Sam's eye level. "Do you understand what this means?" he asked, quietly.
"We get to live with Cas and Gabe and not Dad," Sam murmured.
"Would you like that?" As badly as Dean wanted to go, he wouldn't leave without Sam.
Sam smiled and nodded. Dean smiled too, "We're in."
"We've already had Anna confront your father at the bar. He's going into the station as we speak, meaning if you want to come," Gabe pointed to his car, "You can."
Castiel couldn't get the grin off his face as he helped Dean put his bags into the trunk. Gabe helped ease Sam into the backseat, Dean entered on the other side. Cas followed.
"What are we doing?" Dean asked Cas as they drove down the dark interstate. He still couldn't get over the shock of it all: leaving Dad, staying with Cas...
"We're tearing down the ending they had planned for us," Cas murmured, sleepily, "Replacing it with a future that we can write." He laid his head softly on Dean's shoulder. "You mind?" he asked in a whisper so quiet it could have easily been mistaken for a huff of breath.
"Course," Dean replied softly, leaning his head onto Cas', "you're family."
"Family," Cas murmured, a smile curving his lips as he fell asleep.
Dean sighed contentedly at the feel of the word. Family. It was a word full of hope and endless possibilities. And with Sam curled into him on one side, Cas on the other, and the feel of tires on the open road, Dean finally felt like he was home.
