Everything seemed fresh, new, and optimistic as the black car ate up the miles.

The two men seated on her worn leather seats were still high with the outcome of their latest hunt. One which had truly saved not only their own asses but those of the entire Earth and beyond.

For a while anyway, the Winchesters could bask in the aftermath of a job well done.

At the sound of Sam's chuckle. Dean turned his eyes away from the road to glance fondly at his brother.

:

"Wow, I'm guessing kicking Chuck's ass has turned you from a broody hen into a happy-go-lucky pooch, Sammy. I don't think I've seen you smile so much since you gurgled up at me from your cot when you were a baby."

"We actually neutered God, Dean!" Sam exclaimed with a grin. "I don't know if you really understand the enormity of what we did. Everything around us was created by him, even you and me. At the time I didn't give it much thought other than we needed to take him out, but thinking back, we did something epical."

"Calm down, dude," Dean observed dryly. "It wasn't actually us who beat him. It was Jack who absorbed Chuck's powers, so we can't take all the credit."

"He couldn't have done it without us," Sam said without false modesty. "We came up with the plan, he was the weapon!"

Dean pulled the Impala into the roadside and twisted around in his seat to face his brother.

"This is a weird conversation coming from you, dude. You rarely take any credit for having taken down a fugly, Sam, yet this time you're praising our asses to high heaven."

"I'm proud of us," Sam said with a smile, echoing the words Dean had once said to him.

Dean rolled his eyes. "I'd hoped you were such a wussy, emo girl because Chuck had programmed it into your template, but I see now it's all you!"

"Ha, ha!" Sam retorted, but there was no heat to his words.

At this moment Sam Winchester was the happiest man alive.

He and Dean, okay, with the help of Jack, had defeated a being who had directed their entire lives, even from before they were born. They had been nothing more than the two main characters in Chuck's book, acting out their parts to keep him amused.

Yet, as Sam glanced over at his brother, he knew he and Dean were more than that, more than mere characters in a book. Their emotion, their feelings, their bond…their love…was theirs alone, forged by their life together.

"Now I recognize my little brother, " Dean declared. "The emo, puppy glow is back in your eyes."

"Shut up, " Sam snapped, but again there was no heat to the words.

:

Today was the first day of the rest of their lives, even if Sam understood that without Chuck to keep them alive, he and Dean were in more danger than ever before. The next time a monster got them, there would be no one to bring them back.

Sam felt like a circus acrobat who had always performed with a safety net and for the first time had decided to do his act without one. It was liberating, exhilarating, exciting but as dangerous as fuck!

Dean was still watching him, the green eyes studying the expressions flitting over Sam's mobile features.

Sam's heart swelled with emotion. God, how he loved his big brother. Sam knew he had done terrible things to try and keep Dean safe, even if many of those times he'd been unsuccessful. His biggest regret was that he hadn't been able to keep Dean from being ripped apart by hellhounds and dragged off to Hell.

Even now when he understood Chuck had been pulling the strings, it didn't make any of those memories less painful.

:

"Have you finished your journey into our past?" Dean asked. "I'd really like to get back to the bunker before dawn."

"You can't know what I'm thinking, Dean! Have you added telepathy to your curriculum now?" Sam huffed.

"That's where you're wrong, dude. I know exactly what you're thinking. I can read you like a book."

"Well stop reading then," Sam replied. "We already live out of each other's pockets, we don't need to live out of each other's minds too."

"My mind is a stockpile of profound knowledge," Dean teased. "You'd have so much to learn from my experiences, young padawan, especially with the ladies! After all, if it wasn't for me buying you a lap-dance with Cindy for Christmas, you'd never have experienced the joys of a perky ass jumping up and down on your cock."

"Yeah," Sam exclaimed with a scowl. "An experience I'm going to hold dear forever."

"That's my boy," Dean grinned, steering the car back onto the road. "Next time though, don't try to convince her to find another job."

"Ha.. friggin...Ha!"

Dean chortled happily as the Impala picked up speed. Some things never changed and baiting Sammy had to be one of them!

:

A few miles passed in silence before Sam spoke again.

"By the way, Dean. You never did explain exactly what happened with Cass."

There was a pregnant silence before the older man replied. "Sure, I did. The Empty came for his ass. Cass had promised to go when it asked."

Sam frowned. "That doesn't make sense, Dean. Why did the Empty choose that precise moment to cart him off? Something must have provoked it."

"Dude, I might be able to read your expressions but I'm kinda puzzled when it comes to the Empty's."

But just as Dean knew Sam's every nuance, so did Sam know Dean's.

"You're avoiding the question, Dean. Something went down that you don't want to tell me."

"There's no law says I have to tell your skinny ass everything," Dean declared, his eyes fixed steadfastly on the road ahead.

"That's a sure sign you're not telling me the whole truth. What are you keeping back? Are you feeling guilty or something? Was it your fault that the Empty took Cass?."

"What's with all the questions? " Dean grumbled. "And no, it wasn't my fault the Empty came for him. Cass did that all by himself. Billie was pissed out of her mind and was about to whip our asses…"

"…and Cass did something to try and save you," Sam chipped in.

:

Dean shrugged. He had no desire to talk about the Angel's unexpected declaration of love. It was just too creepy and unexpected.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened? You know I'll find out sooner or later," Sam said.

Now that Sam had the bone between his teeth, he'd poke and prod until Dean told him, so the older man capitulated with a sigh. In a way, he wanted to get it off his chest.

"The Empty had told Cass that it would come for him when he was at his happiest. Honestly, I'm still confused about the whole thing, Sam. One moment we were looking for a way to escape Billie when Cass stopped dead and began to talk about how great a guy I was, and how I shouldn't put myself down. That he was privileged to have met me."

:

Sam didn't interrupt, he could see that it was difficult for Dean to tell him this.

"To begin with, I wasn't really paying attention. I was trying to think of a way of stopping Billie but Cass just kept on talking. Then he said something about this being the happiest moment of his life…. because finally, he could tell me he loved me."

Sam's eyes grew wide, but he didn't comment.

"I could feel myself staring at him. Cass was looking at me with this weird, wussy expression on his face. I don't know if he was expecting me to reciprocate, but I was so incredulous at his words that I just stood there. That's when the Empty burst into the room, taking Cass and Billie with it while I found myself thrown against a wall.

So, there you have it, Sam."

"I, uh don't know what to say, Dean. Though I can't pretend I'm all that surprised. Castiel has always had a weakness for you. He's the one who said you shared a more profound bond. Clearly, it was more profound than he let on. What would you have replied, if there had been the time?"

Once again Dean took his eyes from the road to glance at his sibling. "That I don't swing that way, neither do I shag angels in dead dudes' bodies."

"You're angry," Sam observed. "Why?"

"I could have done without his declaration of love. I believed he was a friend to both of us but now I see things in a different light. And, I know I shouldn't say this, but I'm glad he's not around anymore. I could never trust him again. Especially around you, Sammy."

:

Sam understood the unvoiced fear in Dean's words. If Castiel felt that way towards Dean, he might take steps to get rid of the only other person who could come between the desire on the angel's part to have Dean all to himself.

"Well, Cass is gone, Dean. You don't have to worry about him any longer. We need to concentrate on ourselves, now that we're no longer Chuck's pets. Look out even more carefully for each other."

"That's what we've always done, Sammy. And that's what we'll keep on doing."

The End