Chapter 39.

Sam could not have been more relieved to see Cas and Dean reappear together, Cas in the lead, Dean right behind. He wanted to ask questions, but Dean didn't look enthusiastic to answer any. All that mattered was that they were back and they were on good terms.

"Are those marshmallows?" said Dean.

"You're a little late." said Jack, "We've eaten most of them."

"No we haven't." said Sam. He threw an unopened bag to Dean who caught it easily, despite too little sleep.

"You want some?" said Dean to Cas.

"No, thanks. Angels ... " A look from Dean stopped him from finishing the sentence. He nodded and said, "Why not?"

"That's the spirit!" said Dean, "Be open to new experiences!" He looked at Sam. "Sam, change places with Cas."

"Are you sure?" said Sam. That would put Cas and Dean side by side on the same side of the fire.

"Yeah, we're okay. Plus, Michael would hate it. Tonight is Screw Michael Night."

"Well, I'm down for that." said Sam.

"Sounds good to me." said Jack.

This had obviously not been discussed. Cas looked uncertainly at Dean. Dean smiled at him. "Sit, Cas. Good news, everyone, Cas is gonna be braver about his life choices from now on, especially the ones involving Jules."

"I don't remember ... " Cas began as he sat down.

"Sure you do," said Dean, "It was just after I got past my fear of angels."

Cas smiled. "Well, we'll see how we both do on defying our fears."

Dean nodded. "I have faith in you, man."

"Yes, it really seems you do." said Cas.

Sam knew a lot of the conversation was going over his head, but that they were talking and smiling was enough for him.

When they were all comfortably seated, with marshmallows roasting, Dean said, "You have nothing to be ashamed of, Cas. The only one here who never had any problems with relationships is Jack and that's only because he's purer than Purell."

"It's true." said Sam, "I've had my share of dating disasters."

"He's not kidding." said Dean, "Go on, Sam. Tell him one of yours."

Sam wondered where all this was leading, but if he had to be embarrassed to keep Dean in this good mood, it seemed a fair deal. "Okay. I met this girl when I was around eighteen. Tall, beautiful hair, amazing eyes ... "

"Quit bragging. He knows all that. He's met you." said Dean.

"I was describing her." said Sam, "Cady Chandler. She was stunning. I was ... well, I was a little lacking in polish."

"He was an awkward nerd." Dean translated.

"Who's telling this story?" said Sam.

Dean raised his hands in surrender.

"I had bad influences on my life at the time. My role models were Dad and Dean. The way I saw it, Dean never struck out with women, so I tried a Dean line. Then I tried another. And another. She got less impressed with every line, because I just couldn't deliver them like he could."

"There are few who can." said Dean, smugly.

"Do you have a list of these lines?" said Jack.

"Hey, kid, at least make double digits before you go looking for love." said Dean.

"Nothing worked on Cady." said Sam, "She just looked at me with utter contempt, then he turns up, smiles, waves his cellphone at her and says, 'This isn't my phone.' She said, 'Yes, it is.' He said, 'It can't be. It doesn't have your number in it. I wouldn't forget to get that before we left.' And she just smiled and put her number on it for him."

"Oh yeah, I remember her now." said Dean, "Why didn't you tell me you were interested in her first?"

"There wasn't much point, was there?" said Sam.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I never got anywhere with her either. Next day, we were chasing a vengeful spirit in Nebraska. I never got a chance to call her."

"That does make me feel better." said Sam.

"So, Cas, you're doing better than either of us did with Cady. You and Jules are kissing and everything."

"I thought we'd agreed to let Cas deal with his own relationship in his own time." said Sam.

"I asked for his advice." said Cas.

"Oh." said Sam, briefly hurt, but then he remembered the circumstances. Out in the woods, trying to find a way to connect with Dean without setting off the angel phobia, Cas had asked him about his favourite subject and had, apparently, managed to get him talking. "That's good." he said, "Dean has had a lot of experience."

"And I gave him good, mature, useful advice." said Dean, "I pretty much thought to myself, 'What would Sam say?'" It was a nice gesture, but Sam didn't believe it.

"What happened with the ghost hunt in Nebraska?" said Jack.

"We aced it, of course." said Dean, "Dug up three graves before we torched the right bones, but there was a very satisfying whump as it went up in flames."

"Even more satisfying to Dad, as it was trying to rip out his heart at the time." said Sam.

"We had some good times with Dad." said Dean.

"Yeah, we did." said Sam, "Do you remember the thing in Rathdrum, Idaho?"

"Oh, that thing was gnarly." said Dean.

"What was it?" said Jack.

"We actually never found out." said Dean, "Went right into Bobby's 'Things: Unknown' file. It was some kind of shifter, turning into all these weird, inhuman things and killing people for their adrenal glands. Dad took it out with a silver bullet to the heart. Beautiful shot. He never missed." His sigh reminded Sam how exhausted he was and how much he still missed their father.

"I never met anyone who could shoot like he could," said Sam, "Except you."

"I was never in the same league." said Dean, but he smiled at the compliment.

"Remember that swamp monster in Louisiana?" said Sam.

"Honey Island? Yeah, took all three of us to take that thing down."

"What was it like?" said Jack.

"Grey fur, glowing eyes, taller even than Sammy." said Dean, "Creepy as hell and always hungry. It had been eating people for years. The lair was full of bones and bits. It stank. The breath was disgusting. It had little pieces of people stuck in its teeth. It looked like a listerine commercial."

"How did you kill it?"

"Sam came up with this trap. It was genius. When the thing was hunting, it really didn't think of anything but the prey, so Sam got it to chase him and he led it through a couple of gates that only opened one way. By the time it realised there was no way out, Dad and I had a clear shot at it. Took four direct hits to kill it, but so worth it." He laughed. "We were good, Sam."

"We still are." said Sam.

"No. Now, we're the best. Tell Jack about the chupacabra in El Paso."

Sam started to tell the story and Jack listened with interest, asking a lot of questions. That story led to another and another and after a while with no interruptions or embellishments from Dean, Sam looked over to see if he looked okay and found that he was sleeping at last.

He looked at Cas and whispered, "Did you ... ?"

"No. I'm not doing anything of that kind without his consent."

"We must have been more boring than we thought." said Jack.

Sam looked at his brother's peaceful face and shook his head. "For the first time since he got back, he feels safe."

"Despite the fact I was right beside him." said Cas.

"Maybe because you were." said Sam, "I wasn't sure this would help, but Sarah said to do stuff like this and it seems she was right."

"Sarah usually is." said Cas.