Emma had intended to wear the same long black dress she'd worn on the hunt for her date with Cas, but she eventually decided against it. Cas was an angel, she didn't need fancy clothes to impress him, and that dress was way, way too fancy. And while she wouldn't admit this to herself, in the back of her mind she knew that the dress still had Dean's scent imprinted on it, it still smelled like leather and whiskey, and wearing it would just revive the feeling of Dean's hand on her bare back. And this night was all about giving Cas a chance and pushing Dean out of her head. She settled for black jeans and a nice white blouse. It wasn't much, but she still looked more like a girl than she did in her hunting gear.

She went out of her room and was about to head for the library, where Cas waited for her, but as she walked down the hallway, she heard a deep voice behind her.

"Emma."

She stopped, but she didn't turn around. She knew who it was. She recognized his voice, his smell, the way his aura shifted the air.

"Dean," she replied in a strangled breath.

She cleared her voice and turned on her heels. But while his voice tickled something inside her that she wanted to put to sleep, seeing him there, in his plaid shirt, hands shoved in his pockets, his beard beginning to grow, his hair ruffled, green eyes staring into hers, that sight shattered her.

"You're beautiful," he murmured, and Emma told herself he couldn't have chosen a worse timing to throw that at her. It was also too little too late.

"Thanks," she replied. "I should go. Cas is waiting for me."

Dean gulped and scratched the back of his neck. He knew about their date and scolded himself every time he began to feel bad about it. He was the one who'd advised Emma to go and he had to be happy for Cas despite his feelings for her. But he couldn't really bring himself to do that. So instead, he just sucked it up and settled for trying to fix things with Emma. When she turned around and wanted to leave, he found the guts to catch her elbow. He felt her flinch a little at his touch but decided it was wiser not to read into that.

"Em," he told her, and she turned around to face him, biting her lip, his hand still on her arm. "I just wanted to, y'know, apologize for—"

"Don't," Emma cut him off, closing her eyes. "Don't apologize. Don't say anything. Just don't, okay? Let's forget about it. Cas is waiting for me, for crying out loud."

Dean nodded, dropping her gaze. He couldn't forget about it. Could she? He'd always wonder, he'd always go over it again and again and he'd always wish that, last night, he'd just had a few more seconds to finish what he had started. But yeah. Cas was waiting for her.

"Yeah, okay," he whispered, and tightened his grip on her arm. "We good?"

Emma sighed. How was she supposed to answer that? Was there a right and a wrong answer? She was too confused to be having this conversation right now. So she looked down at Dean's hand on her arm and placed her hand over it. For a second, Dean's face lit up with hope. As long as things were okay between them, it didn't matter that she was going out with his best friend or that they'd screwed up one of the most beautiful five minutes of his entire existence. If they were okay, he could take it. But Emma didn't rest her hand there. She took his gently in hers and removed it, slowly dropping it and avoiding his gaze.

"I don't know," she answered him and left him there, alone, in the hallways, while she went to meet Cas.

Emma tried to get a hold of herself as she made her way to the library, where Cas was waiting for her. But as she walked in and caught sight of him, her eyes widened a little. The man standing in front of her wasn't an angel wearing a shady trench coat, he was a handsome, dressed up to the nines, clear blue-eyed man, wearing a suit and an anxious look on his normally serene face.

"Oh, Cas," Emma gasped as she took him in and she chuckled a little.

Cas shrugged and Emma could see the tension in his shoulders.

"I hope this is okay," he told her. "I wasn't sure what the proper dress code for such occasions was. I assumed it called for formal dressing."

Emma smiled and went to stand in front of him, arranging the collar of his suit. She saw him gulp a little.

"Well, Cas, you know what they say about people who assume."

The angel frowned and tilted his head a little, like he always did when he didn't understand something. It was utterly adorable, Emma thought, and it would've been so easy to fall for this innocent, selfless, kind soul. It should've been easy. And she hated herself for every beat her heart didn't skip for him.

"No," Cas admitted. "I don't know."

Emma threw her head back laughing at his cluelessness and dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand.

"Never mind," she told him, still smiling, reaching for his trench coat that was lying thrown on the back rest of a chair. "But point is, Cas, you don't need to dress a certain way. You don't have to worry about making a good impression on me. You've already won me over."

She shot a bright smile in his direction and threw the trench coat over his shoulders, helping him out his arms through the long sleeves.

"I-I have?" he asked her, still frowning.

"Of course," she reassured him. "You're charm lies in who you are. And I'm pretty fond of who you are."

Cas blinked for a few seconds before returning her a small, genuine smile that finally made Emma's heart beat a tiny bit faster. 'Atta girl, she told herself. That's the spirit.

"Now," she suggested. "Shall we?"

They walked out of the bunker and headed to Cas' car. Emma wanted to climb into the driver's seat, but Cas stopped her, since he didn't want her to know where he was taking her. Castiel and date surprises. Who would've thought?

They rode in silence for a few minutes and Emma was once again taken aback by how simple it was to just be around Cas. There was a serenity in the air between them that made her breathe with more ease than she ever thought she'd be able to.

With the corner of her eye, she saw him studying her closely. She blushed a little, but then she understood what he was doing.

"Castiel," she joked. "Are you trying to read my aura?"

She noticed that the tips of his ears had turned a little pink, but he didn't answer. That was the day she'd seen it all, Emma thought. She'd seen an angel blush.

"Cas," she whined a little, chuckling. "You can't do that. That's cheating. You don't cheat on dates."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, troubled. "This is a new experience for me. I wanted to make sure you feel comfortable and I wanted to observe how you feel in order to act in conformity with your needs."

Emma laughed whole-heartedly at his fancy talk. It was all so sci-fi for him, this dating thing, it was almost cute.

"It's okay, Cas," she told him. "I'm fine. That's the whole point of dating. Learning to be in sync with another person. How to set a common pace. It's not fair if you already know the other person's pace."

He watched her thoughtfully for a few seconds and then he nodded. After a few minutes of more silence, Emma decided to voice the question that was nudging the back of her mind.

"Cas, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he answered.

"Why did you ask me out?"

He frowned a little. "I don't understand the implications of your question."

Emma fought a smile, trying to keep a straight face if she wanted a serious conversation on this matter.

"I mean," she tried to explain herself. "You've been alive for thousands of years. You've been a warrior angel, a human, a rogue angel and you've lived on earth for what, 6 or 7 years now? And you're the kindest person I've ever known. How come after so much time, you've settled for asking out, such a human thing to do, a mere mortal girl?"

Cas was still frowning when he turned slightly to her.

"Are you asking me why, in thousands of years of existence, I've now fallen for you?"

Emma tried to keep her eyes from widening and her jaw from falling. Castiel had just admitted he was falling for her. And for an angel to use such a strong word as 'falling', considering the implications it held for them, it made the whole thing just a whole lot more intense.

"I guess—I guess I am," she muttered eventually.

"Emma, you are anything but a mere mortal girl. And I've had a very long and tiresome existence. Dull, even."

He sighed, and Emma found herself more mesmerized than ever by his presence.

"You know, there've only been two humans who made me question the perfection of the celestial life and the unquestionable laws of Heaven in comparison to the complexity of the human being. The first one was Dean, the righteous man."

She saw such pride in his eyes when he spoke of Dean, that Emma admired the friendship that was bonding those two. Cas was an example of loyalty.

"The second one was you," he continued, and Emma stopped breathing. "I admired Dean's humanity. It was what first made me rebel against my home. But you were the one human that made me see and love the beauty of the small things that came with being human. A smile. A laughter. The brightness of your eyes. In thousands of years of existing and six years of admiring humanity, you were the first human who made me feel like I was alive. You don't look at me like I'm a celestial being fighting for you."

Emma was struggling for words, for just a handful of words to fully capture every feeling that was tingling inside of her. But before she could open her mouth, she noticed that the car had stopped. Huh, she thought. That was pretty fast. It meant they weren't very far from the bunker.

"We're here," Cas announced, and they got out of the car.

Emma gasped as she took in the view. It looked like it had been ripped out of a painting and the colors and details had been splashed across a meadow. There was a lake circled by imposing trees, their leafy treetops reigning high, owning the horizon. The half-moon was reflected in the clear water of the lake, along with millions of stars mirroring themselves as millions of dots on the water surface. The night sky was so clear they could see the outline of every star, bathing in its stardust. The silence was deafening, and Emma was slowly drowning in it like she was underwater and she was struggling for a last breath, filling her lungs and suffocating her. But she loved it. She loved it so much. It was dark and quiet and the stars shared secrets and her eyes captured them and held them under the locket of her emerald-green irises.

She looked at Cas, and she saw that he was watching her, his blue eyes matching the shade of the lake. She saw that their moonlit shadow spread in front of them, as if sheltering them into this moment. She wondered if this was what flying felt like.

"Do you like it?" Cas broke the silence.

Emma choked a little with tears, but fought them back and shot Cas a smile.

"If I like it? Cas, I love it. I never thought I'd ever be given the chance to see something so beautiful. This feels like nothing could possibly be wrong with the world. Too bad I know better."

Cas turned to her.

"There's nothing wrong with the world," he told her. "It's just been stained by some wrong circumstances throughout its history."

Emma chuckled. "That's a nice way to put it."

She saw his eyes scan the skyline and it occurred to her that all of these stars that mesmerized her to such extent that it made her want to cease being a body and be just a soul instead, to mold with them, they meant something entirely different to Cas. It meant family.

"Was it hard, Cas?" she dared to ask him. "Watching the angels fall? I know you guys have that family feud going on, but was it hard to watch your brothers and sisters be cast out Heaven?"

Cas sighed. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I can't perceive emotions the same way you do. At least not when it comes to other angels. I guess it made me sad, if I were to translate it into human emotions. It was a powerful process and a painful transition for me, being thrown out of my own home. It wasn't easy to see my brothers and sisters undergo the same transition."

"What do you mean, at least not when it comes to other angels?" Emma questioned, deciding not to intrude over his feelings and to respect his privacy. "Is it different with humans?"

Cas smiled an awkward smile and had the audacity to take her hand. Electricity shot through Emma's arm when his fingers grazed hers, her breath catching in her throat.

"It is indeed," he told her, watching their intertwined fingers. "When it comes to my attachment towards a human, every feeling is enhanced. Highlighted. Endlessly more intense."

Emma tried to return his smile. But this was wrong. So wrong. It wasn't supposed to be this way. She really wanted to make this work, she owed it to Cas. She wanted that electricity to set her heart on fire and awake her senses. Cas was an angel. Cas was a good guy. Cas cared so much about her.

Then how come ever since she'd arrived here, and now as he held her hand, she couldn't stop picturing Dean?

She wanted him to be here. She wanted his shadow to dance along hers over the moonlit lake water. She wanted his touch to electrify her skin. She wanted to watch the reflection of the stars in his eyes. She wanted him to hold her and sing "Moon Dance" to her one more time. She wanted another moon dance with him here, now.

But she was here with Cas. And she wanted so badly to be with Dean. Dammit, was this wrong.

"Oh my God, Cas, I'm sorry, I can't," she took her hand out of his and turned her back on him, breathing heavily, her hands over her face.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated. "I really wanted this to work out, because I really care about you. But I can't. It's not fair."

Cas was silent for a few minutes, and she was hunting for something else to say. To explain herself. His eyes were unreadable. Those instants before she spoke, Emma could swear her lungs constricted so badly to make room for the pieces of her heart shattering in her chest after having hurt the only person in her life who knew how to be entirely selflessly good.

"I was hoping I'd be wrong," he told her eventually, fixating his eyes on hers, the crystal blue in them shining with resignation.

"What?" Emma mumbled.

"This is about Dean."

Her eyes widened and her hands that were shaking heavily just seconds ago, were now frozen into place, her heart felt now like it was made of hard wax.

"What?" she repeated dumbly.

"I've seen it," Cas confessed, his eyes never leaving hers. "I noticed. Your auras mingle into each other when the other one is around. I've never seen anything quite like it. But I was hoping I had misinterpreted it. But I wasn't wrong. You're in love with Dean."

Emma laughed humorlessly. "I'm not in love with him."

"Yes," Cas cut her off gently. "You are."

Emma paced back and forth, repeating 'I'm sorry' like those little words held any power whatsoever to make it any better. She wasn't in love with Dean. They had some chemistry and there was definitely some electricity working between the two of them, but she wasn't in love with him. Was she?

"Cas, I'm sorry," she still repeated, turning to face him this time and locking his gaze. "I really am. This wasn't right to you."

"Emma—"

"No, please. I want to say this. You said you've lived a dull existence so far. And I wanted so badly, Cas, to be that person who makes it all worth it. But I can't. I can't take thousands of years of existence and just shed light over them with the power of love, Cas. I know you think otherwise, but I'm human. I'm human and this is beyond me."

She took a minute to catch her breath, and he didn't talk. He let her pour her heart out without interfering.

"You've still got an eternity left ahead of you, Cas," she continued, whispering. "It's not fair on my behalf to deprive you of that right, of having someone to provide you an eternity alongside of her. And I can't, Cas. I'm still human. And you're an angel. Not the asshole of the Lord kind, but the kind that my mother used to tell me about when I was a kid, the kind that I grew up thinking they watched over me. And you deserve nothing less than the best."

They stood in silence, a few tears sheltered under Emma's lashes, Cas looking at her with a sad, troubled look on his face. Emma wanted to beg him to speak. She wanted to know he'd be okay, she wanted him to tell her that he understood and that she hadn't just shattered his grounds.

"That was a nice speech," he said eventually, with the smallest of smiles playing over his lips. "And thank you. These were the nicest words I've ever been told. But you're still in love with Dean."

Emma pursed her lips and dropped his gaze. This was a topic she wasn't ready to talk about. She wanted to push it deeply into her mind, shove it under fifty feet of denial until it was heavy enough to crumbled over her, suffocating her, forcing herself to deal with it. Because the alternative was worse. She'd have rather dealt with suppressed feelings than deal with the outcome of the hurricane she and Dean would've left behind if they were to face those feelings. She didn't trust her heart enough to get over that.

"I don't know," she mumbled. "I really don't know."

And then Cas did something that threw her a little off track. He smiled. Not that sad smile he had worn since he'd figured her out. Probably the most genuine smile she'd ever seen on his face. She checked out his aura to see that it was beginning to shine so bright she couldn't ignore it even if she wanted to.

"It's okay," he told her. "I can't say I could have foreseen such thing. But you and Dean are indeed a pleasant surprise. I sort of expected Dean to turn to Melody or you to turn to Sam. But I see now that it was rather obvious things would turn out this way. The person Dean loved the most in this world for his entire life was Sam. Once you showed up, it was only natural that he'd fall for you."

Emma closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, overwhelmed.

"Let's not talk about that," she begged. "I really don't want to think about it."

Cas frowned, and Emma was glad that things were going back on track and that she hadn't broken his pure, innocent angel heart.

"Why not?"

Emma bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. "Because tomorrow we're going to war."

They got home a couple of hours later. Cas wished her good night and Emma told him again how grateful she was that they'd settled things between them. Cas assured her he understood and that he was okay. Emma hoped he meant that.

She was headed to her room when she walked by the library. She caught sight of a small movement and turned her head. Dean was standing there, wearing sweatpants and a tight T-shirt that embraced his toned torso in ways that made her breath catch in her throat. He looked at her with wide eyes, his lips slightly parted, clearly not expecting her.

"Hey," he whispered in his deep, husky voice that stopped Emma's heart every time she heard it. "How was, uh, your date?"

Emma looked at him for a few seconds. She took him in. She really took him in. His eyes, his ruffled hair, his calloused hands, his full lips she's been so close to kissing, his strong arms she'd been into just a couple of nights ago, his unshaved cheeks, the mark of Cain, the strong chest she felt his heart beating against when they were dancing. This was Dean. Dean Winchester. The man she'd fallen in love with. The words felt weird flowing through her head at first. But even weirder, they made perfect sense.

Dean looked at her intensely, still waiting for an answer. But she couldn't do this. This might have been the last time she saw him. If this were to be her last night on earth, she wanted to remember him like this. She wanted to go down with this feeling tickling her chest. So she walked away, to her room, leaving him behind. Tonight, and maybe for good.

Yeah, she figured it out, but she's too dumb to act on it. Well, well. How'd you like this one? Hope you enjoyed it!

Anyway, it has been brought to my attention that the link to my Tumblr didn't work the last time, so here, I hope this one works: .com ( .com, just in case). You can go there and check out the gifs and the photoshopped images I posted there. I promise they're pretty cool.

Lots of love, xoxo.

P.S. oh my God, guys! I just hit 10k views this weekend! I can't possibly tell you, once again, how happy you guys make me and how flattered I am for everyone that clicks this story! Love you!