Hi guys. Sorry of the long wait for an update, life just got really busy. Just like to thank those of you who have recently starting following this story, i hope you like it and as always please read and review. Anyway here's the next chapter.

Enjoy,

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, if only I did.

That night Dean lay on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. It had been good when he returned, they had all sat around talking and laughing, like a real family that was happy and safe with no cares in the world. But it had just been an illusion. He knew, just as everyone else did that this family had an expiration date that was fast approaching, the difference was they all seemed to be able to cope with it whereas he was barely able to hang on. How was he going to keep going when they had gone? He may have only just meet Rose but she was his little sister, and he had started to feel that relationship, and now he was sitting back watching her die, letting her do his job while he agreed to do hers after she had gone.

Then there was Gabriel, a douche bag, dick with wings...who had given up his life to help them stop the apocalypse, even if he didn't really die, an angel who had protected his sister because his brother had asked him too. And that brought Deans thought to the place he had been trying to shield away from, and now lying in the dark of the night he couldn't hide anymore. He was going to miss Cas. Wow that was the understatement of the century. How was he supposed to continue with his life knowing that his best friend had gone? It wasn't like the times he believed him to be dead, the first time he had only just rebelled for them and he hadn't really known the angel, not like he did now. The second time he was in too much shock from the loss of his brother and the fact that he had survived to think about what he had lost before Cas returned. But now he knew it was going to happen, and Cas wasn't dying this time he was leaving him, for good. Yes he knew logically in his mind that Cas was doing what needed to be done but ever since he pulled him from hell Cas was there when he needed him and now he was abandoning him, just as everyone else in his life had done and it hurt. More than he thought it possible to. He was his family, his brother and his best friend. And there in the dark with no one to witness him Dean could emit the truth to himself, he loved him. He could emit this now because he was leaving, not that it would change anything if he wasn't. Dean could never say it out loud it was hard enough to think it to himself. He closed his eyes as the images assaulted him, Cas choosing him over heaven, Cas at the brothel looking so innocent and scared, Cas beating him in an alley with a look of righteous fury on his face, Cas in the future doing drugs and orgies completely disillusioned by him, Cas sitting on a bench telling him he had doubts, and so many more. When he had first met the angel he had thought he was an emotionless dick but he knew better now, he'd seen the changes in him and watching Castiel become more than just a solider of heaven he had fallen in love. Why did all the people he loved leave him? And with this thought Dean fell into an uneasy sleep, the tracks from the tears he had shed into the dark drying on his cheeks.

Castiel was standing outside the house looking up at the stars thinking about the revelations he had had earlier in the day when he felt his brother land beside him.

"What you doing out here little bro?" Gabriel asked softly into the night.

"Thinking." Was Castiel's one word response.

"Okay… what ya thinking about?"

"Gabriel." Castiel said turning to look at his brother before continuing. "Are you in love with Rose?"

Gabriel didn't respond immediately, he stared off into the night thinking about the question seriously, knowing that their father did not make them with the capacity to understand emotions like humans and therefore needing to be sure that what he was feeling was indeed love. Castiel watched his brother, he knew if anyone could help him understand the feelings he was having then it would be him.

"Yes" Gabriel finally replied returning his eyes to Castiel before he asks "Why?"

"I have always believed that angels could not feel human emotions, but I have feelings that I do not understand though I am coming to the belief that they maybe love." Castiel responded with a frown on his face as he looked towards the ground as if it had personally offended him.

"Love isn't just a human emotion Cassie, Dad gave it to all his creations." Gabriel said, then continued with a smirk on his face. "Now these feelings you believe to be love, who are they for?"

"Dean." Castiel replied as if it was obvious, which to be honest it really was.

"Well glad you finally figured that out little bro, took you long enough. But be that as it may what you going to do about it?"

"What can I do? Dean does not feel the same way about me, and even if he did when Rose completes the trials I will be leaving so it makes no difference. I am just glad that I can now understand this emotion and I have had the chance to experience it."

"Wow, that's scary." Gabriel said with a shake of his head.

"What is?" Castiel asked with a tilt of his head.

"The way you have just accepted the fate that you'll never be together." Gabriel replied with a serious expression on his face.

"Have you not done the same brother?" Castiel asked confused by Gabriel.

"No way, once we get to heaven I'm searching out Rose and going to spend the rest of eternity with her. Dad only said we had to return to heaven, not that we had to actually do any angel shit when we got there." Gabriel stated emphatically.

"You always will go your own road Gabriel." Castiel replied with a smile on his face.

"Oh come on. You can't tell me that you are going to go back to blindly following the rules when we get up there are you?"

"I don't honestly know what I shall do when we return Gabriel, I haven't truly given it much thought."

"Yeah well maybe you should." And with that Gabriel flew off into the night.