Chapter 87.

They gathered around the Impala, Jules keeping her arm around Castiel's waist, Sarah hugging Jack as if she could not bear to let him go. Sam felt a little better. Every trip to the farm gave them strength and peace. Nothing ahead seemed likely to be easy and nothing behind felt good, but when he had left the bunker to search for Cas, he had expected far worse things to happen.

Bringing Cas to the farm had been the right choice. New Bobby meant well, but he had all the tact of a jackhammer and half the subtlety. Sarah's gentle approach was far better and the bees always seemed to add something useful too. The farm was a place of healing for Cas. That it had been able to help him even when he had been certain of Dean's death was impressive, because it was increasingly clear that losing Dean was not something Cas considered survivable.

Sam knew he would himself survive it, purely because he owed it to Dean, but he also knew that the loss, if real, would change him forever. He wanted Sarah's faith or Jack's, that Dean was still out there, still struggling to free himself.

"You're in the front seat." he said to Jack, who hurried to get in before he changed his mind.

"Take care, Jack!" said Sarah.

"You too!" said Jack.

"You ready to go, Cas?" said Sam.

"One moment." said Cas. Leaving Jules for a moment, he embraced Sarah. "Thankyou." he said.

"Thanks for listening." she said. She looked at Jules. "You two look after each other."

"We will." said Jules, "Things are good between us."

"Yes," said Cas, returning to her side, where she immediately encircled his waist with her arm again, "There are many kinds of kiss and we are working our way through them all."

"I know my favourite." said Jules, casting a sideways look at Cas.

He bit his lip and studied the ground. "Yes, I like that one too." he said. His smile left no doubt in Sam's mind that he was hinting at what had made the lights flicker.

"Don't be afraid to be happy." said Sarah, "Dean doesn't want you all to live in misery until he comes home."

"Until he is home, there must be limits to happiness." said Cas.

"I understand." said Sarah, "If anyone needs me, any time, you know where I am."

"Thanks for everything." said Jules, then she guided Cas into the car and got in beside him.

Sam walked over to Sarah. "I don't know what's coming, or how long it'll be before we see you again ... "

"Not too long, I hope." she said, "It can get very lonely here."

"It can get pretty lonely at the bunker." he said, "Even when it's full of people. Coming here is good for all of us, especially Castiel."

"Don't underestimate what he did today. Breaking out of a downward spiral is hard for anyone; near impossible for an angel."

"I know. When I heard he crashed the car, I honestly thought he'd disappear, go into hiding or kill himself." he said, "I think Cas is okay now. I think we all are. I mean, we're all manner of messed up, but we'll handle it, together."

"Yes, I believe you will. Just remember, when taking care of them, not to forget Sam Winchester. He needs a smidgeon of that boundless compassion of yours."

"Yeah, okay." he said, bending to kiss her head. "We're not the only ones missing Dean, so if you need anything, you just call, okay?"

"I will." she said, "And when you get that boy back, you let me know right away."

"You betcha." he said.

He got into the car and started the engine. As they drove off, Sarah stood waving and she kept waving until she was lost from sight.

"Leave me to talk to Bobby and the others." he said, few miles further on.

"Bobby will probably want me tethered." said Cas.

"I'm not interested in his kinks." said Sam, "Nobody is tethering you."

"Does Jack agree with that?" said Cas.

"Yes, he does." said Jack, looking back at him.

"Good." said Cas.

"Fantastic!" said Sam, "We're all on the same page."

"Shame it's the page with all the burns and bloodstains." said Cas.

"Only the last page matters." said Sam.

"And we'll be writing that one." said Jules.

"It could be said that we wrote them all." said Sam.

"Perhaps we could have written them a little better." said Cas.

"I don't know." said Jack, "I think you made them pretty epic."

"You had a few lines in there yourself." said Sam, "We did it together."

"Speaking as a footnote, I'm just glad to be on the page." said Jules.

"You're not a footnote." said Cas.

"We don't do footnotes." said Sam.

"You're the golden letters on the illuminated manuscript." said Cas, "Whether Dean is ... "

The stereo started into life with a strong beat.

"Darkness all around us,

We don't close our eyes.

No one's gonna ground us

We were born to fly.

Comin' at us, no stopping

Born to amplify.

Carry on, my sons forever!

Carry on, when I am gone!

Carry on, when the day is long,

Forever carry on!

For as long as we're together,

Then forever carry on!"

Then the music stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"What's that?" said Jack.

"Manowar." said Sam, "Then, because it seemed so random and yet so meaningful, he said, "Dean?"

"Clearly, you must have knocked it." said Cas.

"Well, I didn't because a) I'm nowhere near it and 2) the cassette in there is Zeppelin."

"You think it's a message?"

"I don't know what else it could be." said Sam.

"It said, 'When I am gone.'" said Cas.

"Gone doesn't always mean dead. It said carry on. That's the message. Dean is alive."

"It's beginning to look that way." said Cas.

Sam looked in the mirror and saw the smallest glimmer of hope in the angel's eyes. "You know what this means, don't you?" he said.

"What?" said Cas.

"It means it may not only have been Michael who heard you call out to Dean."

"Dean is alive." said Cas and it sounded to Sam like he believed it.

The End.

Next Story: Home Is The Hunter.