Sam eyed his brother carefully, not quite believing his words.

It had only been a few days since Jack took over the role of God, so to speak. Dean had been fairly quiet and reserved, staying in his room for most of the day and only emerging at meal times. And even then, when he ate, he barely touched his food. His gaze was far-away, looking at something Sam couldn't see. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

"He... he sacrificed himself to save me—to save us all," Dean said. "And he told me..." Dean trailed off and looked away from Sam. "He said he loved me, Sam. And I didn't say anything back because... because I was in shock, I guess. It all just happened so fast, y'know? I didn't know what to say and then I couldn't say anything because it was too late and he was..." Dean shook his head, unable to finish that sentence.

"He knew you loved him," Sam replied reassuringly. "We all did."

Dean gave his brother a look then, one that caused Sam to raise his eyebrows slightly. "Oh," Sam said. "That's... uh... wow."

"I know."

Dean took a swig of his drink and then let out a long sigh. Sam wanted to ask but didn't quite know how. He knew his brother and Cas had always been pretty close, what with their profound bond, as Cas himself had once called it, but he'd always thought of them as best friends. He'd never, at least not seriously, considered that their relationship might be something more.

"Did you... did you feel the same?" Sam dared to ask after a moment of silence.

Dean eyed his half-empty bottle of beer and took another swig. After setting it back down on the kitchen table, he leaned back in his chair and said, "I don't know, Sam. Maybe if things had been different..." he shook his head, as if trying to stop any further thoughts on the subject. "Look, it doesn't matter now anyways, does it? He's gone, so..." Dean ended his unfinished sentence with a half-hearted shrug.

Sam frowned but didn't push the topic further. He knew his brother was still struggling with the loss of Cas and Jack. The latter a newly appointed cosmic being and the former trapped eternally in The Empty. Sam was in pain too but didn't want Dean to know. Dean was strong, yes, but things always seemed to hit him harder than most. He deserved a break.

"How about we take a vacation or something?" Sam suggested a few minutes later. "I think we deserve it after everything we've been through recently."

Dean raised an eyebrow, considering. He took a couple more sips of his beer, still debating, then leaned forward in his seat to point across the table at his younger brother.

"Vegas," he said, tipping the glass beer bottle slightly toward Sam for emphasis on the word. "We haven't been to Vegas in a while."

Sam shivered, remembering their last visit to Las Vegas. He was not particularly fond of the place anymore.

"Um... could we go, like, literally anywhere else?" he said, giving an awkward chuckle. "The last time we were there, I got married to Becky. Remember that? 'Cause I do. And that experience was... something I'd rather not be reminded of ever again."

Dean rolled his eyes at Sam and finished off his beer. "You're no fun. Fine. Where do you wanna go? Disneyland? I hate to break it to ya, but I think you're a bit too tall for the kiddie rides."

"Dean," Sam said, giving his brother a dirty look. "Actually, maybe we should go to Disneyland."

"What?!" Dean exclaimed with raised eyebrows. "That was—I was joking, Sammy! Why would you wanna go to a toddler infested germ zone like Disneyland?"

"I dunno," Sam answered, shrugging. "I guess... Well, we never got to go when we were kids, y'know? And plenty of adults have fun there too, Dean. There are roller coasters and zip-lines and water rides! Doesn't that sound like fun?" Sam said hopefully.

"No," Dean deadpanned in response. "It sounds like hours to wait in line for a two minute ride and possibly dying of heat stroke from standing out in the sun for so long. It does not sound like fun, Sam."

"They have lots of food options," Sam continued, hoping to win his brother over. "All you can eat buffets of international foods... foot-long hot dogs and giant turkey legs... pizza... soft pretzels... Need I go on?"

This gave Dean some pause. He thought for a moment and finally conceded.

"Well, you know I never turn down good food. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to waste my days at the parks. I'll see if I can find some cases for us to solve while we're in the area. That way, we'll actually be accomplishing something while we're there."

Sam sighed, "Why can't we just have a normal vacation?"

"Because we're not normal people, Sammy. You and I both know we don't do 'normal'," Dean said pointedly, making air quotes around the word "normal".

"Okay, whatever. When do you wanna go? I think you have to book it in advance."

"Ah, don't worry about it. We'll stay outside of the parks somewhere and just get day passes. I'll handle it."

"Um... okay," Sam said, a little surprised that his brother even knew what day passes were. "I guess we should get packed, then."