Author's Note: I don't own Supernatural. Reviews are awesome-sauce.

***Ember POV***

July

It had been two months since Ember and Dean had said goodbye to Sam, and Ember was ashamed to admit that it had been two of the best months she'd had in a long time. Ember wasn't naturally violent (at least, her human side wasn't), but she had turned out to be a better hunter than she thought she would be with the help of her new powers.

It helped that she and Dean hadn't tackled anything incredibly difficult since Dean had fought War, the Horseman, back in May. They had done a lot of vampire slaying, and killed a few werewolves here and there, as well as two ghouls and a rugaru.

Ember's main role, a role which she was ashamed to admit that she liked better than she'd thought she would, was thievery. She never stole from individual people, or even private businesses, but she made a habit of opening ATM machines at 3:00 in the morning, while invisible. Still, she only took what they needed to get by, particularly after her conversation with Castiel about her increase in powers. Castiel hadn't said for sure whether her specific brand of thievery was frowned upon by Heaven, and she was too scared to ask him. Still, she and Dean had to get by somehow, and neither of them could deny that she was an excellent thief for obvious reasons.

When they weren't on a case, Ember and Dean found plenty to do. They visited Bobby a couple of times, and went to Indiana to visit friends of Ember's a couple of times as well. They got up early to see sunrises, and they even went to a beach. Ember could tell that Dean was trying to be romantic in his own way, by suggesting the beach and the sunrises. She was happy that he tried, because she knew that he loved her. He never said so, but she knew anyway. Usually, though, Ember and Dean enjoyed a bacon cheeseburger and copious amounts of sex, and that was good, too.

If she was honest with herself, Ember would've preferred hard work and therapy and a set schedule, but perhaps that was simply because it was what she had always known. This sense of freedom she had hunting with Dean was a nice change, however, and it was necessary, considering the apocalypse. She liked to think that it wouldn't last forever, like an extended vacation, and she was determined to enjoy it while she had it.

Most of all, Ember felt safe, for the first time in years. Neither of them had seen a demon since Lucifer had risen. They both had a bad feeling that it had to do with whatever Lucifer's plans for Ember happened to be, and they also knew that it wouldn't last. Between Ember's power and Dean's hunting skills, however, she was confident that they could handle whatever was thrown at them, short of Lucifer himself. And, overall, Ember was happy.

Still, she could see that, though Dean put on a good show, he missed Sam desperately. From time to time, she would catch a faraway look in his eye, and she thought he might be thinking of Sam. When he would tell stories about hunting, Sam was suspiciously absent from all of them, and Ember thought he must be going to great lengths to leave Sam out of stories where he must have played a significant part. Ember was patient, however, and she understood that Dean couldn't be rushed into healing from this, or even discussing it. She also knew he couldn't avoid it forever.

***Castiel POV***

July 24, Evening

Castiel was preparing for death. He had searched high and low for the God that had brought him back from the dead, but to no avail. In a last-ditch effort, he had asked for Dean's help to search for the archangel Raphael, who had been the one to kill him.

"Do we have any chance of surviving this?" Dean asked.

"You do," said Castiel. He was confident of that. Dean would survive it because he was Michael's vessel, and Ember would survive it because the angels would be at least somewhat hesitant to piss Dean off as much as killing Ember would require. Michael himself had given the order to leave Ember alive, and the order hadn't changed, at least not to Castiel's knowledge. No, Raphael would be sure to go after Castiel.

"So odds are you're a dead man tomorrow," said Dean.

Ember asked, "Cas, are you sure you want to do this?"

Castiel answered both questions: "Yes."

Ember and Dean gave each other a significant look.

"Well. Last night on earth. What are your plans?" Dean asked.

Castiel hadn't thought about that. "Well, I just thought I'd sit here quietly," he said honestly.

Ember and Dean exchanged another significant look. Castiel began to feel that he was missing something. "Dude, c'mon. Anything?" Dean asked. "Booze? Women?"

Castiel had considered the prospect; not on this particular night, but in general. But it was not something a respectable angel did.

Of course, he wasn't exactly a "respectable angel" anymore, either. Now, he was a rebel. Granted, with Dean staring down at him like he had grown a third ear, he didn't feel much like a rebel.

"You have been with a woman before, right?" Dean asked. "Or an angel at least?" Castiel didn't answer. "You mean to tell me you've never been up there doing a little cloud-seeding?"

"Look, I've never had occasion, okay?" Castiel said awkwardly. Such things did not become angels.

Ember laughed. "Look, I know angels are all pious, and it's different than humans, but… you've never even thought about it?"

Suddenly, a picture came into his mind, unbidden, of himself and Ember in a very, very intimate position. What the hell?

""All right," said Dean determinedly. "Let me tell you something, there are two things that I know for certain. One, Bert and Ernie are gay. Two, you are not gonna die a virgin. Not on my watch. Let's go."

Ember was laughing. "Be careful, okay?" she said, kissing Dean good-bye. "Don't sleep with any skanks."

"What about respectable women?" Dean asked teasingly.

Ember looked at Castiel and grinned. "Leave them for Castiel," she said, kissing him again.

And Dean ushered Castiel into the car.

It was an awful night. "What did you do?" asked Dean in alarm after the stripper he had chosen for Castiel ran away screaming and calling him a jerk.

"I don't know," Castiel confessed, his mind elsewhere. "I just looked at her in the eyes and told her it wasn't her fault that her father Gene ran off. It was because he hated his job at the post office."

Dean had begun to laugh. Castiel was glad Dean didn't know the real reason he seemed inattentive, however. How could he be attracted to a half-demon? How could he be attracted to Dean's girlfriend? He had never been attracted to anybody, in the thousands of years of his existence! Because that's what it was, he realized. It had hit him like a ton of bricks, in there with Chaste, or Chastity, or whatever her stupid name was, and for the life of him he didn't understand it.

How could he have feelings for Ember?

***Dean POV***

September 17, Dusk

It had been four months since Dean and Sam had parted ways. To anyone who asked, Dean would say that he'd never been happier. His Impala was in good shape, and for the first time in his life, he had a reliable woman beside him. He'd always considered himself to be a free agent, but secretly he'd also wished for a woman who could keep up with him, who would be strong-willed enough to tie him down without being overbearing enough to feel like a ball and chain. This had only intensified since he had reunited with Lisa, and even more so since his time in Hell.

Ember was that woman, he knew it. If he had thought about it, and if he believed in such things, he would have been certain that she was "the one." He didn't believe in such things, however, and he tried not to think about it, and that seemed to be fine with Ember – she never pushed him for a further commitment, for which he was thankful. Agreeing to a relationship had been easy when he'd finally come to terms with it, but at this point their lives were far too turbulent to make a more permanent commitment. He had a feeling Ember felt this way as well, because he wasn't the only one that avoided long-term-related conversations.

The few long-term conversations they did have always began with "if we survive the apocalypse." "If we survive the apocalypse," Ember said once, "I'm going back to doing therapy and hunting on the side."

"If we survive the apocalypse," Dean replied, "We're going to have a threesome."

Ember laughed. "No. No, we're not. You might. But it won't be with me."

Dean pretended to think it over. "Well, never mind then."

Truthfully, Dean had always thought that a long-term relationship would be stifling, but in actuality he found it anything but. Dean had difficulty believing that he had ever survived having sex only once every couple of months, when he got lucky while hunting. Sex with Ember was better than anything he ever could have dreamed. She could do really incredible things with her tongue (both visible and not), and she had the strength to withstand rough sex if they chose. She was also adventurous enough to do it in a number of random places – in a field, against a tree, and, of course, in the back seat of the Impala. Dean thought, often, that he was glad that Sam wasn't around, because his lifestyle currently involved an awful lot of sex. Still, he was also forced to acknowledge that even sex was slightly more fun when you had someone to brag to about it (especially someone who wasn't getting laid whose face he could rub it in).

Sometime after his experience with Castiel and Raphael, Dean finally began discussing Sam again. Dean was ashamed to admit that once he finally broached the subject, it seemed to come up all the time. They discussed their mutual distrust of Sam, their worry about him, their disappointment in him, and their concern over what he was doing now.

Dean didn't hear from Sam, however, until he called late one night in early September. Sam explained over the phone that Lucifer had come to him in a dream and attempted to convince him to be his vessel. It didn't change anything though, Dean had told Sam sadly. "We're the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. On that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere… stay away from each other for good."

"What the hell were you playing at?" Ember asked him the next morning, after he told her about his conversation.

Dean was surprised at her reaction. "What do you mean what am I playing at?" he snapped back to her. "You were the one that told me he drained a girl, and that you didn't trust him to hunt."

"Yeah, I don't trust him to hunt," Ember said, "but I trust him even less to hunt without us. I mean, it was one thing when he was lying low, staying out of the apocalypse, and only fighting whatever demon happened to wander into him at the time," Ember said. "But now he's supposed to be Lucifer's vessel? How long is he going to stay hidden, Dean? If there was ever a time he needs you, it's now. Besides," she said, rolling her eyes, "Bobby's seen him a couple of times over the summer, and he says he's stayed off the blood."

"You think?" Dean said, slightly hopeful despite himself.

Ember sighed. "Sam's headstrong, and angry, and an idiot. But he knows now what the demon blood did to him, and he's not going to make the same mistake again. Dean… the three of us are stronger together. And I'll be honest… you haven't been the same since Sam left."

Dean knew it was true, but he refused to acknowledge it.

The final straw, however, was when the angel Zachariah, apparently in an effort to convince Dean to be Michael's vessel, transported Dean five years into the future. In Zachariah's future, Dean had refused to be Michael's vessel, but Sam had agreed to be Lucifer's vessel. Dean was alone in that world, aside from a smattering of followers to which he apparently had no real loyalty. Bobby was long gone, and so was Ember, according to the few people who had ever heard of her.

Apparently the angels thought that showing him this possible future would convince him to be Michael's vessel, but clearly they didn't understand how determined Dean was on the subject. He didn't expect to survive this apocalypse. He did have some control over his life up until he was killed, however, and he was determined that he wouldn't spend his last days on Earth as a damn angel condom. Dean's glimpse of a possible future did change his mind about one thing, however: he'd be damned if he let his brother be an angel condom, either.

"We keep each other human," Dean said to Sam the next day. He looked at Ember, who was back in the Impala, on the phone with her mother. "All of us keep each other human."

"How does Ember feel about this?" Sam asked.

Dean sighed. "She was the one who first told me to bring you back, even before I wanted to," Dean admitted, "before I decided it for myself in the end."

Sam sighed. "I have a lot to apologize to her for. A lot of kissing up to do." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Thank you. Really, thank you. I won't let you down."

"Oh, I know it," Dean said. "I mean, you are the second best hunter on the planet."

"So, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"We make our own future," Dean said, with determination.