Chapter 93.
Dean watched Cas go and then said, "This is better than we could have hoped, so let's not do anything to confuse him again."
"Don't get me wrong," said Sam, "I'm super-glad that he and Jules are back together, but there's still something behind this that we need to know about."
"But clearly it's not as bad as we thought it was, because if he was planning for disaster, there's no way he'd let Jules be involved."
Sam looked at Jules. Dean noticed that she immediately seemed uncomfortable. "Sam!" he said, "Come on, we know she can't tell us."
"I know, I just ... "
"It doesn't matter. She's trying to get him to tell us. Aren't you?" he said, looking at her.
"Yes, but I don't know if he ever will."
"But you two are actually together? It's not just for our benefit?"
"I promise. It's real." she said.
"Well, then let's skip the dental exam on this gift horse." said Dean.
Sam nodded. "Okay. He'll tell us if he wants to. And, meantime, I know that if there's danger, I trust Jules more than most to protect him all she can."
"With my life or death." she said.
"Okay, let's nobody die." said Dean.
"Me too." said Jack.
"Yeah, but you don't know what it is either." said Dean.
Before Jack could answer, Jules said, "I want to thank both of you. Somehow, you got through to him when I couldn't. I really thought it would be a permanent split."
"I can't help feeling a night with you had a lot more effect than a few chats with us." said Dean.
"Even when we went out to watch the sunrise, he still seemed pretty certain, she said, "But the things you said kept making him think."
"I still think you're giving us too much credit." he said, "We should probably talk about how to prevent this happening again. I don't know what the pressures are on him, but there has to be some way to reduce them. If you two need more space, I'll understand if you need to take him to the farm for a while."
"No," she said quickly, "He wouldn't consider leaving you while Michael is alive and he needs to protect Jack."
"The farm might do Jack some good too. This place is not restful."
"You mean because I'm not likely to be useful?" said Jack.
"No, I don't mean that." said Dean.
"We should stay here, at the bunker." said Jules, "But I'll stay with him, take care of him. I can go to the farm to help Sarah with the chickens every morning. Cas just needs some TLC. I can do that."
"If you're sure." said Dean.
"The last thing he needs right now is to feel cut off from the bunker." she said, "He feels bad that this whole situation has caused a rift between you ... "
"It hasn't." said Dean, "Please try to make him understand that. I know he thinks I'm angry ... "
"He thinks his reluctance to talk about it hurt you."
"Well, I'm not that delicate." said Dean. He pointedly ignored the look Sam gave him.
"Good." said Jules, who didn't look as convinced as he would like, "He drifted away from all of us for a time, but only because he thought it was best for us. If we're gonna stop it happening again, we need to make him understand that he's not a problem or a burden to us."
"That's what I've been trying to do." said Dean.
"I know." she said, "Not just trying, succeeding. You're a good friend."
"Not good enough." said Dean. He thought for a moment, remembering that Cas's hair had looked a little damp. "Did he have another shower? If his grace is back, he shouldn't need one. Why does he keep washing?"
Jules seemed to blush a little. "I was a little worried that he showered twice yesterday, but this morning's shower was more ... recreational."
"Oh?"
"He needed his mind taken off things so I took his mind off them." she said.
Dean smiled. "Son of a bitch!"
"I think it helped." she said.
"I'm sure it did."
"Hopefully, we can all get some sleep tonight." she said.
"Well, as I said ... "
"Yeah, of course. Slept like a baby. And you, Sam? Will you spin the same line?"
"We're both fine." said Sam.
"If you disabled his car, you may wanna fix it now." she said.
"Never crossed my mind." said Dean, "I had faith that he wouldn't run from the chance to spend one more night with you."
"What do you mean, recreational?" said Jack, who had clearly been giving it some thought.
"We'll explain when you're older." said Dean.
"Oh, sex." he said.
"We'll have a talk about it sometime." said Jules, "I can answer all your questions about any of that stuff."
"You'd be willing to do that?" said Dean. It felt like his job, but whenever he thought about it, his mind just lurched away from it. He remembered his dad, awkwardly trying to explain things and the relief on his face when Dean said, "It's okay. Bobby told me all that."
"Of course." she said.
"I'm so glad you're here." said Dean.
She grinned. "So am I."
"I'm so glad you're staying." said Jack, "Castiel needs you. He was crazy to ever think of letting you go."
"He doesn't understand love." said Dean, "It freaks him out that people choose to be around him and care what happens to him."
"Yeah," said Sam, "And then they get freaked out and think he doesn't trust them. He trusts them. He just feels like he's asking too much of them."
"Which means he doesn't trust them." said Dean, well aware that Sam's words were aimed at him. "He doesn't trust anyone to love him as much as he loves them."
"A common problem, in this family." said Sam.
Dean shrugged. "At least we know where he's coming from. Whatever else you can say about this family and you can say a lot, we all have a deep understanding of all the insane insecurities anyone could ever come up with."
"I know one thing I can say about this family," said Sam, "When I need them, they're always there and I think Cas is starting to see that too."
"He is." said Jules, "Even when you were angry about the whole Rowena thing, you still took care of him. He notices stuff like that. Honestly, he loves and trusts everyone in this room and he is so relieved that you never cut him adrift."
"And never will." said Dean, "Make sure he knows that."