Once again: I don't own SPNL.

CHAPTER 21 "35 Weeks"

Cas began searching relentlessy for the perfect house. Under the pretenses of hunting with Sam, the two had been visiting different places. Sam agreed that Cas did need to find a place soon, and wanted to help him as best he could. In Castiel's opinion, he was not helping very much at the moment.

"It's too big." Sam commented as they inspected the large house from the outside. "Dean isn't going to know what to do with all this space. It's too much."

Castiel sighed. "That's what you said about the last two houses."

Sam patted Cas' shoulder, turning his back on the house. "Bigger isn't always better, Cas. You two just need something that you're going to feel comfortable in."

Cas cocked his head. "I thought that to humans, the bigger and more expensive it is, the better."

"Maybe to dicks, yeah. But Dean doesn't care about how big something is."

"He does care when we have sex." Cas said absently, still looking at the house. "He always comments of how big my-"

"Uh, Cas...little too much info." Sam interrupted quickly, watching the angel. To be completely honest, he did not want to hear anything about Cas and Dean's sex life.

Suddenly realizing what he said, the angel flushed. "Let's try a different house." he said quickly and touched two fingers to Sam's forehead to zap them away.

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The house made Castiel feel warm inside. It felt like he was made whole, although he never realized that he was incomplete before. As soon as he laid eyes on the house, he knew it was the one, just as he knew Dean was the one when they first met.

For the past week and a half, Sam and Cas had been looking at housing for sale in between hunting trips. There was no need for a real estate agent to escort them through the houses; Cas simply transported them inside. Every house they had visited had something wrong with it. Sam had shot down some of them, but there was a few that Cas didn't care for, either.

They had been trying to stay as close to South Dakota as possible. Castiel though that Dean would like to visit Bobby, and if they ever needed help, the older hunter would be there.

That sounded like a good idea in Cas' mind, but they kept getting further and further away from Siox Falls. Right now they were in Kansas, on the Northeastern border in Leavenworth. Oddly it was not too far from Lawrence, the Winchester boy's childhood home.

Cas studied Sam, who was looking around with a critical eye as they surveyed the house.

The house was a one-story ranch style. It had three bedrooms {the previous owners had remodeled the garage into an extra bedroom} and one bathroom. There was a dark attic, with the wooden roof beams exposed and cobwebs connecting them together, and a creepy basement.

For some weird reason, basements always gave Sam chills down his spine. This one was no different. The floor was concrete and the boiler made strange noises that sounded like something that they would hunt. Sam resisted the urge to pull out a gun and shoot it.

The main floor was very nice. They took another walk through the house. The living room had large bay windows, looking out onto the street. The street didn't have much traffic, and the neighborhood seemed decent enough.

Two of the bedrooms were right next door to each other; the other one was on the opposite side of the house. There was new plush carpet in all three of them.

"This is a very nice room, but neither of us can cook." Cas observed, running his hand over the smooth marble island in the kitchen.

"I'm sure you can learn," Sam said with amusement. The thought of the angel trying to flip an egg in a frying pan made him want to burst out laughing, but he controlled himself.

They moved on to the sitting room. It was rectangular shaped, and there were french doors on one of the long ends, leading to the backyard.

"You can put a couch right here," Sam pointed. "It would get the sun in the afternoons."

Cas nodded, imaging Dean lounging in the sunshine.

"Do you want to see outside?" Sam asked, unlocking the french doors that opened to the backyard.

The yard could use some work. There were ugly bushes along the perimeter of the broken down wooden fence. The lawn was terrible; it was pretty much just weeds. The patio was alright, and there was a small shed that looked to be in good condition. Overall, it was a fairly sized backyard with lots of potential.

"I think Dean will like it." Cas said hopefully, glancing at Sam. He wanted to hear the same thing from the hunter.

Sam paused a minute for dramatic effect before smiling. "I think it's perfect."

Cas' face split into the widest grin that Sam had ever seen him wear. The house felt perfect to him; he knew his brother would love it. It wasn't huge but it was cozy. Sam hoped they wouldn't need a house any bigger then this. He didn't know how exactly the heat cycles worked, but hopefully they wouldn't end up with more then one kid. Sam didn't think Dean could handle more then one. If he ever bought a house, one like this would definitely top the list.

"Cas..how exactly are you going to pay for this?" Sam asked, the thought popping up in his mind. Unless the angel had a bank account somewhere that he didn't know about...because Dean could certainly not afford it.

Cas gave a sly smile. "Don't worry about that. I can take care of it. The real estate agent will think that he sold the house in full. He will even have the signed papers, and a check."

Sam raised his eyebrows, impressed. "So you're going to steal a house?"

"Not steal. I think of it as Dean's reward for saving the lives of so many people, and destroying evil creatures that plague humanity."

"So stealing."

Cas shrugged. "If that's how you want to word it."

Laughing, Sam gave Castiel a push. "Dude, you're stealing a house."

The angel looked up at the house, drinking it in. Again he felt warm flutters in his chest. Heaven had always been his home..but he felt like this would become his new home. There was a new life waiting foe him and his mate, and it would start right here.

"When are you going to tell him?" Sam asked, following Cas' gaze up to the house.

"When it's perfect. I will set everything up so it's all ready..if Dean is not impressed he can change everything around."

Sam snorted. "I'm not even going to ask where you're going to get all the furnishings."

"That is probably a wise decision." Cas nodded, agreeing with the hunter. "Hopefully it will not take me too long..but at least there will be a place for us to go even if I haven't finished setting the house up."

"You doing a good job, Cas. Taking care of Dean like this. I think he appreciates it even more then you know." Sam said seriously.

His brother was not an emotional person, but Sam had seen Dean exhibiting more emotion in these last months with Cas then he ever had in their whole life together. Dean loved the damn angel more then Cas realized. Cas had not been there to see how hard it was for Dean, for the both of them, to constantly move around. To find someone that you had a connection with, only to be dragged away to the next town for the next hunt.

Castiel meant stability to Dean, even if the relationship changed every single aspect of his life. There was not doubt in his mind that Dean would hunt again, sooner or later, because once a hunter always a hunter. But Dean would know that there was always a home to come back to, and a family.

The Winchesters now had a real home.