Chapter 99.

Jules had been sleeping peacefully in his arms for some time when Castiel was distracted from his enjoyment of her gentle movements and light breathing by the awareness that someone else was not asleep. Dean was not in torment, or he would have noticed sooner, but neither was he at ease and he didn't reach out to Cas in his mind, so much as give off an air of stoical acceptance that peace was not available to him.

"Dean," said Cas directly to Dean's mind, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." came the reply, "Nothing at all."

"Meet me at Bobby's." said Cas.

"Don't you have more important things to think about?" said Dean.

"No. I find I don't." said Cas.

Very quickly, they were in Bobby's library again.

"Who brought that here?" said Dean, gesturing to his teenage self, hunched over in the corner.

"You, I think." said Cas, "I wasn't familiar with you at that age. I suspect he'll respond less well to an angel than younger you did. You should probably talk to him."

"Great! Another me!" said Dean.

"I still say we should bring them all here at once." said Cas, "Talk to them all. Let all of them talk to each other. I'm sure fifteen year old you could reassure four year old you."

"Too weird, man."

"Weird is what you do."

"Not that frickin' weird."

"Well, you should talk to this one."

Dean was already walking over to the corner, moving as if he were about to engage a werewolf in mortal combat. A few feet from the teenager, he stopped and said, "Hey, kid."

"I'm not a kid." said his younger self.

"No, sure. You can drive. You like a beer. You've been looking after Sammy for like a decade now. I didn't mean any disrespect. You act like a man, you deserve to get treated like one."

The kid looked up. Cas was intrigued at the difference in interaction. Four year old Dean had been treated coldly, even cruelly, by his adult self. This sulky teen was getting a much easier time. Cas wondered whether the difference was that Dean could respect the kid who had outgrown showing his fear or whether Sarah had helped him move to a view of himself that would have led to any version of him being shown more sympathy. He hoped it might be the latter.

Dean reached out a hand. "Come on, get up." He helped the boy to stand up and they looked at each other.

"Who's that?" said the kid, with a nod to Cas.

"That's Cas." said Dean.

"Isn't that a girl's name?" said the kid.

"No, just one S." said Dean.

"You often spell it with two." said Cas.

"Only when you're being an ass." said Dean.

"I've heard you tell Sam to spell it with two." said Cas.

"Yeah, well, you're an ass a lot." said Dean. His younger self grinned and Cas knew he was saying it just to get a friendly reaction from a kid who wasn't easy to approach.

"Why are you here?" Dean asked himself.

The kid shrugged. He sat on the couch.

Dean sat beside him. "You need to use some words, ki ... Dean. What do you need?"

"Nothing." said the kid, "Nothing at all."

Cas and Dean exchanged a glance. "I can't help it." said Dean to Cas, "It's just who I am. It goes back way beyond him. Get him a beer."

"Isn't he a little young?" said Cas.

"I'm twenty-two." said fifteen year old Dean.

"He's also a little young to fight monsters and be Mom and Dad to a kid brother." said older Dean, "Cut him some slack."

"Okay." said Cas.

When he came back from the kitchen, the kid was saying, "So are you me?"

"Yeah, a few decades on." said Dean.

Cas opened the beer and gave it to the boy.

"Thanks, Cas." said the kid. He turned to look at Dean again, taking in the clothes, the knife and gun on his belt and he smiled. "I turn out okay then, I guess?"

"More than okay." said Cas.

Dean didn't answer. He just watched the kid's face.

"Am I still a hunter? Are we still a hunter?" said the kid.

"Yeah," said Dean, "Still a hunter."

"And Sammy?"

"Sammy's leading a whole lot of hunters now." Dean said proudly.

The kid took a long drink of beer. Then he gestured to Cas. "Is he a hunter too? He kinda looks like a cop."

"Cas is one of the best hunters I know." said Dean, "And his girlfriend's a hunter too."

"Is she hot?"

"So hot!" said Dean.

"Also highly intelligent, with ten languages, eleven, counting Enochian and a degree in engineering." said Cas.

"Do you have a photo?" said the kid.

"Of the degree?" said Cas.

"Of Jules." said Dean.

"Oh. No, I don't."

"You have several, on your phone."

"Who takes a phone into a mental construct?" said Cas.

"I have mine." said Dean.

"Do you ... I ... we have a girlfriend?" said the kid.

"No-one special." said Dean.

"Still playing the field?"

"Yeah, that kind of thing. You must know this stuff. You live in my mind."

"He's a fractured part of you." said Cas, "He knows his own stuff, nothing more."

"I'm glad I stayed badass." said the kid.

"Completely." said Cas, "You've taken down gods."

"Cool!"

"I like this Dean." said Dean.

"Well, that's new." said Cas.

"He likes me." said Dean.

"You're a hunter." said the kid, "And you turned out just like Dad."

"You think so?" said Dean.

"One hundred percent Winchester." said the kid, "You did it! You're everything I want to be."

"Kid, you need to raise your ambitions." said Dean, "Now, come on. You're here for a reason. What do you need?"

Cas saw the faint smile on the adult Dean's face. He began to understand. "It's not him." said Cas, "He's here to give you what you need."

"What's that." said Dean.

"Forgiveness. Validation. Self-respect."

"How can he forgive me? He has no idea what I've done, the mistakes I've made."

"Sammy's alive. You're both still hunting." said the kid.

"I went to Hell ... " Dean began.

"What for?"

"To save Sammy, but ... "

"And you came back out? And you're still you ... me ... whatever?"

"Yeah, but ... "

"Awesome!" said the kid.

"Awesome? Some of the things I did ... "

"None of them changed you."

"Oh, they all changed me." said Dean.

"None of them changed who you are." said the kid, "Dean Winchester."

Before Dean could argue, the boy disappeared. Dean turned to Cas. "See? Weird, with a capital WEIRD."

"But oddly comforting?" said Cas.

"In a very weird way." said Dean.

Cas sat on the couch beside him. "Can we talk now?"

"We are talking."

"Have you slept at all tonight?"

"It's not about you and Jules or about you leaving the bunker or even about you not leaving the bunker." said Dean.

"It may be quicker and easier to tell me what it is about." said Cas.

"I think it would be, if I knew." said Dean, "It's just dumb stuff, selfish stuff."

"You call everything that matters dumb and selfish." said Cas.

"Why are our headmonkeys so quiet?" said Dean.

"Because neither of us is trying to conceal anything." said Cas, "So just tell me."

"Still don't know, so let's talk about something else for a while."

"Okay," said Cas, "I had an idea for testing my ability to control the link, but Jules vetoed it. Is that a thing, that a lover can veto an idea not connected to the relationship?"

"Absolutely, she can." said Dean, "That's Relationships 101. What was the idea?"

"I thought if I could cut myself with the angel blade and prevent you from experiencing that ... "

"Yeah, Jules was right to veto it. That was a dumb idea."