Dean awoke with a gasp, clutching to an arm that he soon realized was Sam's.
"Oh, thank god." Sam said, breathless and relieved at the same time. Dean tried to focus his vision as it was still blurry, and his heart was throbbing in his chest.
"What happened?" he asked as he tried to remember the course of events. His memory was foggy, all he could remember was his mother speaking to him.
"You passed out." Sam said, trying to steady Dean as his brother tried to stand up. "Easy."
"It is done." Castiel told him, and Dean could finally see the burnt scorch marks on the walls and feeling a sudden calmness coming over him.
"What?" Sam asked "So we're safe, that's it?"
"Not exactly." Dean answered, as Castiel gave him a knowing look. Dean gave him a nod back. "I figured it out, in my passed-out state."
"Figured out what?" Bobby asked, and Dean smiled as he took Micah from his arms and into his own.
"The locks." Dean said "They had nothing to do with Micah, or they did, but it was about me."
Sam and Bobby just looked completely confused about this information, Dean kissed the top of Micah's head, figuring he should try to elaborate.
"You remember before all this started, I told you that the bond between me and Micah was fading?" Dean said "I thought it was because he was getting older and didn't need me anymore."
Sam nodded "We both did, but that wasn't it?"
Dean shook his head and looked over at Castiel "It was because he was starting to understand, wasn't it?" and the angel nodded at him.
Dean started bouncing Micah around then and the little boy giggled "You're a clever little guy, aren't you?"
"Dean, I don't understand." Sam stated, and he seemed so worried that all Dean wanted to do was tell him everything would be okay, but he couldn't do that.
"I was the one shutting him out, remember?" Dean asked "I felt so guilty that he was feeling what I was feeling, so without knowing it I gradually started shutting him out, and it weakened our bond."
Castiel nodded "I didn't know for sure, all I was told was that opening these locks would lead to our victory."
Dean nodded "It's okay, buddy, I needed to figure this one out on my own."
"Hold up, so what was the deal with these locks again?" Bobby asked.
"Micah is good, he is like the definition of good." Dean said "He's the product of love and overcoming obstacles and all that stuff."
"So?"
"The only thing standing in his way was me, these trials didn't affect Micah at all, it only made us, well mostly me, remember and coming to terms with everything leading up to his birth." Dean said "I didn't want to deal with it, I shut him out."
"So that was why this whole thing was so emotional for us?" Sam asked and Dean nodded.
"We are the key part of what he is." Dean tried to explain, even though it was a lot more difficult than he thought it would be "One day he'll be able to do all of this on his own, but right now he needed me and I wasn't there." He said sadly, hugging Micah closer.
"They all saw their window of opportunity when your bond was weakened." Castiel stated "That's why the demons, witches… all of them chose to attack now, the kind of light powers Micah has, they can sense it, it scared them."
"That was why Micah kept teleporting himself into our bed, why he healed me, he was trying to make us understand." Dean said a little proudly.
Sam smiled "Good boy."
"Too bad his dads are such dumbasses or we could have gotten out of this whole mess." Bobby said under his breath and Dean frowned at him.
"When Dean agreed to try and work on the things that had bothered him, they all knew they needed to act fast, before your bond could be restored." Castiel said. "Eventually you would have figured it out for yourselves, but under the circumstances we didn't have time, the locks were a shortcut you might say."
"So what about now?" Sam asked "Are they still coming after us."
"I think so." Castiel stated "I still feel them moving in closer.
Dean smirked "I'd like to see them try anything." He said "Right, Micah? You're never too young to be kicking ass and taking names."
"Dean!" Sam said, both annoyed by the language Dean was using and the fact that he was going to let Micah fight.
"Trust me, Sammy." Dean said "Nothing evil is coming near this kid."
Micah clapped his hands together happily "Dada!"
It was like a giant weight was lifted off of his shoulders. The calmness was still surrounding him and it was reassuring. Slowly, but steadily he could feel the bond being restored, although this time, all he could share with his little boy was the love he had for him. There wasn't any doubt, no fear, anger, sadness or resentment. It was only them. They were a family. Dean knew they would always have this bond, even though it might not always be magical and he knew it would be tough to overcome the challenges that came with it, but that was who they were. They were Winchesters. They'd be okay.
"Oh, and one more thing." Dean said and Sam sighed.
"What now?" He asked and Dean smiled.
"I really, really love you."
