Cas and Eileen sat side by side as the Winchesters were arguing with the manager of the Vegas motel they had booked that they needed at least one room on the first floor because the place didn't have an elevator and one of the guests in their party (Bobby, of course) didn't much want to be carried up the stairs. Bobby sat between the two of them, yelling that he had specifically asked for a first floor room, and damnit, couldn't they just ask someone to switch.

Deanna had sent a significant glance Cas' way about five times. Cas had stopped looking at her, because she didn't want it to be too obvious that she understood that Deanna was asking Cas to smooth the situation over by "mind-whammying" the manager, just a little. She could claim it was unethical later, if Deanna asked her about it. For now, ignoring it seemed the best course of action.

Instead she turned to Eileen.

'How are you?' she signed. Eileen looked up with a smile from what she was doing on her phone, and Castiel signed the question again.

'Good,' she signed back. 'Are you nervous?'

Cas smiled shyly, risking a glance at Deanna.

'The spiritual significance of a wedding presided over by an Elvis impersonator is not something to be taken lightly,' Cas signed back. Eileen's shoulders shook with repressed laughter. 'It's important to Deanna.'

'And for you?' Eileen asked.

'I am older than the concept of marriage itself. The idea is ultimately meaningless in the scope of eternity,' said Cas. 'I do recognize the importance for beings who are… less long lived. Promises don't hold much value when time so frequently renders them meaningless to keep.'

'So you are nervous,' Eileen signed back. Castiel shrugged her shoulders elegantly, glad to be in the presence of someone who was both direct and kind. She had found it easier, somehow, to become friends with Eileen than with Sam, though her friendship with the latter had come a long way in the two years since they had met. Sometimes, she thought that Sam saw her as something close to a sister. Then again, sometimes she was still sure that Sam saw her as as a being that was a bad day away from becoming an active threat. 'If it helps, she's nervous too.'

Deanna had brought up 'getting married, but you know for real this time' after a difficult hunt. She had told Eileen and Sam in no uncertain terms not to bother her and Cas for the next few hours, which wasn't all that unusual. Castiel knew it was a very human thing to desire sex after combat, and wasn't in the least opposed to the idea. It was after the sex that things had started to deviate from what was normal.

"You ever been to Vegas, Cas?" Deanna had asked, which had seemed like an innocent enough question. Cas was somewhat aware that Deanna and Sam had used to go there to gamble and drink as a kind of bonding activity before Sam had left home for good. Deanna had fond memories of making Sam his first fake ID so he could get into the bars and casinos. Cas had, on occasion, gone on hunts separately from Deanna, so it wasn't out of the question she could have been there, though she found it odd Deanna would think she would go and not tell her about it.

"No," Cas had said. "I don't think it would be very fair to the other players."

Deanna grinned, likely dreaming up the large sums of money they could bank if Cas had been willing. She rolled her eyes at Cas' disapproval and then curled more closely against Cas, hiding her face against her neck.

"It'd be a quick way to get married," Deanna had said, almost too quietly to hear.

"Despite how often you ask them, I am fairly sure that Eileen and Sam still aren't dating, and wouldn't welcome that."

"I meant for us, dumbass," Deanna had muttered. Cas looked down at her to find Deanna still very much avoiding eye contact. "It could be fun."

"You have a criminal record, are wanted for questioning in six states, and I am not an American citizen, nor do I have any papers of any kind," Castiel had pointed out. She smiled at the way Deanna's lips turned down into what could most accurately be described as a pout. Unless Deanna was asking, in which case it was a very dignified frown.

"Do you want to marry me or not?"

"Is this the part where I say yes?" Cas had asked, partly just to wind Deanna up. She received the light punch to her shoulder with grace. "Of course, Deanna."

"Great. Awesome. Cool. I mean," Deanna had muttered quickly before snapping her mouth closed to cut off the babbling. She took a deep breath. "I love you."

"I know."

"You son of a-"

Eileen waving her hand in front of Castiel's face broke her away from her memories. She realized now that she had been staring at Deanna with a likely dreamy expression for the last minute or so. Eileen looked slightly concerned.

"Are you alright?" Eileen asked her out loud. Castiel waved away her concern.

"I'm just getting used to…" Castiel trailed off, not wanting to lie. "Deanna can be very distracting."

Eileen squinted at her, obviously suspicious. Castiel looked for a way to change the subject.

'I've heard it's a tradition for the best man and the maid of honor to become… romantically involved,' Cas signed, which made Eileen blush and narrow her eyes in a manner that could only be threatening. 'You still haven't talked to him?'

'What's there to talk about?' Eileen signed back, her eyes falling back on her own Winchester. 'I left, and then I came back. Everything went back to normal. Nothing's changed.'

'But it could,' said Cas. 'I know it can be difficult to trust people, Eileen. But closing yourself off, being alone… is that really better?'

'I don't need him.'

'You do or you don't, that isn't the point,' Cas signed back. 'Love isn't a sign of weakness. And wanting someone does not make you lesser.'

Something about the way she signed this made Eileen look at Castiel a little more fully. She frowned, her attention caught by something on one of Cas' hands. Before Cas could hide it from sight, Eileen had pulled it towards her, examining it. On the side of Cas' thumb was a small paper cut. When it didn't close up, Eileen looked up at Cas, frowning in concern.

"Cas," she said out loud. Cas pulled her hand away. "Are you alright?"

"It's a surprise," Cas said quickly. "Don't tell-"

"Exactly what is a surprise?" Eileen asked her, worry deepening. Cas shook her head quickly, trying to regain control of the conversation. She'd done so well so far, hiding the change.

'A good one,' she signed. 'Eileen, please.'

After a moment, Eileen gave a short nod. Cas felt herself slump slightly in relief. Whatever the fallout was going to be after all of this, she wanted Deanna's memories of the wedding at least to be unaffected. If she was going to get angry, it would happen after.

Cas hid the hand with the cut behind her back when Deanna walked back over, seemingly satisfied. The fact her coat had been adjusted to the point that one could see the gun tucked into her waistband, if they knew where to look, explained how the issue with the motel manager had been resolved.

"They found a place on the first floor for Bobby," said Deanna, smiling innocently at Cas. "So… I was thinking we drop our stuff and then we get headed to the chapel. Don't want all of Bobby's hard work and a little identity theft to go to waste."

Cas stood up and kissed Deanna. Her hands drifted downwards, and she wanted to smile when she felt Deanna respond by tangling her fingers into her hair. In the name of all that was good and holy, it had never felt like this before. So immediate and close and-

"Cas, could you please stop trying to cop a feel on my sister," said Sam, sounding completely unamused. Cas and Deanna jumped, moving a little farther apart than they had been before. "There's this human phrase that the two of you are going to get a lot of. It's called 'Get a room'."

Cas hid a grin as Deanna turned around slowly.

"I'm going to put Nair in your fancy conditioner," she threatened. "Just watch me."

"Public indecency is a felony," said Sam.

"Your face is a felony," Deanna shot back. "And for your information, Mr. I went to law school, public indecency is a misdemeanor."

"Not if it repeatedly happens."

Castiel rolled her eyes as the siblings bickered and buried down a pang of sadness as she thought of her own brother. She had gone back to him, as ill advised as that might have been. She had needed to, in order to ask for the favor.

Forgiveness had come slowly. And perhaps it wasn't forgiveness so much as it was a need to know just what she was and just why Gabriel had saved her and no one else. Then again, maybe it was just loneliness. For all that Deanna was to her, she didn't understand what it had meant to break the bond they'd had. Humans were made solitary creatures when it came to their minds at least. Angels, if her research and the occasional memories that came back to her were to be believed, were meant to exist as one among thousands. Castiel was a creature meant to exist in a hive mind and had been deprived of the rest of the hive.

It would be unbearable if it hadn't been for Deanna. All her life, Cas had never before seen the value in being small. In a life of moments that meant nothing when looked at from afar, and so much more when you truly lived them. In a life that was so short as to be inconsequential, spent saving people that died sooner or later anyway and singing at the top of one's lungs and fearing the end with all you had but still chasing after it as though you couldn't quite help it. Deanna was a goddamn sun, but it was the seductive nature of life itself that had made everything else bearable.

But sometimes it was still too quiet, and it was in one of these moments Castiel had called out for Gabriel.

"I thought I wasn't your brother," were the first words out of his mouth, when he had come. He was proud and angry, and would never let a slight go. Castiel had known all of that already.

"I said that because I was angry."

Gabriel snorted and sat down next to Cas. The two of them were silent for a long time.

"Did you really only save me because you thought no one would miss me?" Castiel asked when the silence became unbearable. Gabriel sighed.

"I said that because was angry," he repeated back to her, tone slightly mocking. He looked down. "No. That's not why. I did what I did because… you looked sad. And you kept trying to surrender to the humans. It drove Naomi half mad."

Gabriel smiled to himself.

"So, because I amused you."

"I don't know," said Gabriel. "It just seemed like the right thing to do. I figured if all else failed, there should be one of us left."

Cas had nodded and took a deep breath, before asking for her favor. Gabriel stared at her once she finished, stunned.

"You can't ask me to do that," he had said flatly.

"You owe me," Castiel had said. "And I thought it was your desire to teach me to be more humble. I've learned my lesson, brother. Humanity has humbled me."

"And if I say no?" Gabriel asked.

"I'll try to do it myself," Castiel had answered, and that had sealed the deal. Gabriel, oh so reluctantly had given Castiel the gift she asked for. Unhappiness shown through him to do so, and he looked at Cas with nothing short of regret on his face. He had become the last of his kind.

Cas focused back in on the bickering, only to hear that it had devolved into a circular game of arguing just who was the most stupid. Cas took Deanna's hand and squeezed it to distract her from her argument with Sam. When that didn't work, she started pressing light kisses to the back of Deanna's neck, which was infinitely more effective.

After dropping their bags and getting ready, they arrived at the chapel. Deanna tapped her toe impatiently as they waited for the couples in front of them to take their turns down the aisle.

"They'll be here," Cas said to her. Deanna shrugged and checked her watch. Sam, Eileen, and Bobby looked at each other and decided to stay out of it. Charlie and Dorothy had been invited from Oz to the wedding, and had sent back that they would do their best to attend. Cas kept her eyes peeled for the telltale flash of a door opening. Blink or you might miss it, there Charlie stood. She grinned at Deanna, who pulled her in for a hug and a kiss on either cheek. Cas was also dragged into a tight hug, as was Sam.

"Dorothy couldn't come," Charlie said apologetically. "But I did bring someone else to-"

The couples in front of them suddenly nodded off and fell asleep. Dressed in a magnificent magenta gown, Rowena approached the two of them with a smile that was a tad too wicked for her official post as a good witch in Oz.

"Marry you off," Charlie finished lamely. "She insisted."

"I take full credit for your undying love," Rowena had said next, her accent thick as the day Deanna had met her. "If it weren't for me, the both of you would be dead several times over."

Deanna didn't look extraordinarily happy that Rowena had decided to take over this position, but she seemed happy enough to let it go if it meant skipping the line.

"One condition," Deanna said. "You have to wear the Elvis suit."

And that was how Deanna and Castiel Winchester were married by a witch, with Bobby and Eileen standing with Castiel while Charlie and Sam made up Deanna's part of the wedding party. It was a whirlwind of 'I do's and dancing and drinking and celebrating until the early hours of the morning, at which point Cas and Deanna had stumbled back to their bed and promptly fallen asleep in each other's arms.

It was a miracle that Cas woke up before Deanna did. Or rather, it wasn't a miracle so much as it would have been very unlucky if this had been the one morning ever Deanna didn't aggressively commit herself to sleeping as long as she liked, so help the person who tried to wake her up. It had only been through a series of very careful incentives (such as morning sex), that Cas had managed to make Deanna's response to Cas waking her up slightly less murderous.

Coffee was the other surefire method, and when Cas woke that was the one she decided to use. The smell alone was enough to get Deanna to lift her head and sit up.

"Hope you didn't stay up all night watching me," said Deanna. "I know you want to finish your book."

Cas snorted and avoided answering Deanna's implied question. She set the coffee cup in Deanna's hands and waited the requisite five minutes before saying another word.

"It was nice seeing Charlie and Rowena again," she said, stalling. Deanna's face lit up as she remembered the previous night and started laughing.

"Please tell me someone got pictures of Rowena in the Elvis getup," she muttered to herself. "I need them."

Cas smiled back at her, but she knew that there was something off about her expression. Deanna paused in her reminiscing and crawled over to Cas' side of the bed.

"Something wrong?"

"I… I have something to give you," Cas said. Deanna was put back at ease immediately.

"Me too, actually," she said. She jumped off the bed and went rummaging through her things, cursing under her breath until she found what she was looking for. Then she hid it behind her back and made Cas engage in a short guessing game before she finally presented a set of car keys. "It's for the truck I was repairing after we got hit over the head by an archangel. I just… I gotta figure it's not everybody who can say they fell in love twice, and this is for the second time. And you need your own set of wheels anyway."

"Thank you," Cas said, closing the car keys in her fists. Deanna didn't have any concept of just how useful a gift this would be, since certain other modes of transport had become out of Cas' reach. Deanna waited for Cas, looking at her expectantly. Cas pulled out the small pouch she had been keeping on her person, and opened it. The moment she did, blue silver light shone out of it.

The object inside was a vial with a stopper in it. A cord wrapped tightly around the vial and was knotted carefully into a necklace. The substance inside glowed, reflecting prettily off of Deanna's eyes.

"Cas," Deanna said, tone flat. "What is that?"

"I want to start by saying I didn't-" said Cas. "What I mean is, I wanted to. I got to wake up with you in my arms, Deanna. And I wanted to grow old with you, and be with you and feel things the way…"

"Cas," Deanna said again, but Cas cut her off.

"And this isn't like before. We aren't… it's not tying us together for you to have this. But I can't leave it lying around, and there's no one I trust more, and if you ever needed a bit of luck and I wasn't there-"

"Cas," Deanna interrupted a third time, voice louder now. "Is this what I think it is?"

Cas looked down. "Yes."

"What does that mean?" asked Deanna, and she sounded angry and Cas knew she would be at least a little angry but she had still been hoping…

"I'm human," Cas supplied. She tried for a weak smile. "Surprise."

"Surprise?" Deanna asked back. She was up on her feet and pacing, and Cas had straightened her back and lifted her chin and prepared herself for the onslaught because she was as old as the universe itself and she would not be intimidated, damn it. "Fuck. Cas, have I ever made it seem like this is something I wanted to happen? That I didn't-?"

"Deanna, you are the light of my life but you are not the center of the universe," Cas said back, finding it harder to keep her tone serene now. Emotions were still… overwhelming in a way they hadn't been before. There was nothing left to soften them, and the massiveness she had been was gone. There was no escape, and it was what Cas had wanted. It was what she still wanted. "This is something I wanted to happen and it's my life. I get to make the choice."

That stopped Deanna's pacing at least. She sat back down at the bed and deliberately met Cas' eyes in a way that quieted something inside her. Cas waited for Deanna to speak, and didn't much mind the silence in the mean time. Deanna reached out to touch her hand, and Cas curled her fingers around Deanna's thumb.

"I… I don't know how to feel about this. But if it's what you want-"

"It is."

"Cas, there isn't much you could do I wouldn't support you in," Deanna said. "As long as this isn't to make my life easier-"

"Because the Men of Letters are still hunting me?" Cas asked.

"Among other things," Deanna hedged.

"Wasn't a contributing factor. I also doubt they will stop hunting me just because I'm a former angel, now."

"You looked for your past for a long time, Cas," said Deanna next, still carefully feeling her way around for a weakness in Cas' reasoning. "You're sure you're okay just giving it up like this?"

Cas looked at the vial of grace gripped tightly in Deanna's hand. She nodded resolutely, then pried it from Deanna's fingers and gently placed the necklace around Deanna's neck.

"Yes," she said. "I found my past. I guess I figured it was about time I started looking towards the future."

Deanna's hand touched the vial again, gently, like she thought it would break.

"Keep that safe for me?" Cas asked her. Deanna blinked.

"There's a lot of shitty things about being human," Deanna said. Cas slid closer to Deanna and hugged her, soaking in the warmth of her body heat and then pressing up for a quick kiss.

"There are a lot of very nice things, too," said Cas as evenly as she could manage with Deanna looking like she wanted to devour her. "You taught me that."

Suffice to say, it was much later in the morning before they emerged from their motel room in order to make the drive back to Bobby's and clear their stuff out of his damn house, as he put it. They expected to find Bobby, Sam, and Eileen waiting for them impatiently in the lobby, but only found a surly Bobby drinking coffee by the potted plants when they walked down to the first floor.

"Where's Eileen and Sam?" Cas asked him. He glowered and shrugged, and Deanna said she would go off to get them. When she returned, she was a little red in the face and grinning maniacally and it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

Eileen and Sam trudged down a little later, looking less than pleased at having been interrupted doing something. The hand Sam had on the small of Eileen's back as they made their way down the stairs was more than ample evidence that the nature of their relationship had changed, hopefully in a direction that suited the both of them. Cas also couldn't help noticing a hickey on Sam's neck. Even if she hadn't noticed, Deanna obnoxiously pointing it out would have drawn her attention to it. Cas raised an eyebrow at Eileen, who winked back at her when Sam wasn't looking.

"Get it, girl," Deanna said to Eileen, who signed something very rude in response that made Castiel snicker. Deanna, who was still learning to sign and didn't know anywhere near as many bad words as she would have liked, stared at Eileen a moment and then signed back: 'You too, bro.'

"Deanna, please stop," Sam said out loud, managing to sound both put upon and a little bit smug.

"What? I think it's nice that you finally got out of your comically long dry spell. I mean, not that I don't get why the ladies want to stay far away, but it was really just getting sad-"

"Are y'all finished? Because I'd like to get back to my damn house some time today," Bobby said loudly, cutting off the bickering before it had a chance to begin. "Eileen, Cas, leave these fools while you still can."

"Okay, okay," said Deanna, letting the matter rest. For now at least. Cas wasn't sure she much liked the devious glimmer in her eyes. It softened into something a little more like happiness when she turned to look at Cas and put a hand around her shoulder, tugging her to her side. Cas settled her arm around her wife's waist and tried to place the utterly right feeling of warmth that being next to Deanna provided her. Ultimately, she concluded she could try all her life and never categorize it correctly. Deanna looked at her and squeezed a moment, as if Cas would never be quite close enough. "Let's go home, then."

And so that's what they did.