One Last Time

A/N: Hey guys, welcome to the end! I know I swore I'd upload everyday until tonight's episode but some health issues messed up my schedule. Instead I'm going to be posting a story every hour until the actual final episode airs. It's breaking my heart to think this is our final night as a family. But don't worry, Catching Up will be continuing and the community will go on. This is an emotional fic folks. It was three separate ideas I had that sort of merged into one fic. So buckle up as we bid adieu to Supernatural, Dean, Sam, Cas, Jack, and everyone else we've met on the road so far.

Dean hated apocalypses. Not because of the fight but because of the quiet. The in-between of planning, fighting, and working. How could you expect someone to sleep, to eat, to not do anything with the end of the world hanging over their head? Now he was sat in his man cave nursing a whiskey, every emotion roiling in his chest. Was it so long ago that he'd dreamt of retirement? Him and Sam and Cas, in a beach house somewhere warm and open. Dean smiled into the bottom of his drink. He could see it; grilling a couple of steaks for him and Sammy, maybe Jack too if he came by for a visit, looking over his shoulder at Cas gardening. He would have definitely convinced the angel to ditch the suit and coat, jeans and t-shirt all the way. Sweatpants if he could swing it. And whenever they wanted, they could go take a walk in the sand, play chicken with the tide. Finally, peace.

But that wasn't going to happen. Dean knocked back the drink and swallowed heavily.

"Dean."

Cas was there. Suit and jacket. Everything he had, everything he wanted, and everything he was denied in one. "Hey," the older Winchester rasped pouring himself another. "Jack asleep?"

"Yes but I believe Sam is still awake." As if any of them ever slept.

"He praying again?" As if he did anything else.

"I don't believe he has any intention of stopping." As if either of them didn't know that already. They were simply going through the motions. Of course, the unspoken question loomed but Dean wasn't going to interfere. Every man had a right to his final days, even if they're spent desperately trying to reach sugar-addicted douchebags.

"Leave him. Hell I might be doing the same thing soon enough." Dean and Cas grimaced. The deal with the Empty wasn't an earth-shattering revelation when he'd first learned of it. Yeah he was pissed. But really it was just more of the same for them at that point. "C'mere Angel." A now ironic nickname as Dean had likened Cas's deal to Angel's curse from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Cas sat down next to him, looking around the room. "I've never told you but you did a good job with this place."

"We did."

"I had hoped-" Cas stopped himself.

"What?" Dean turned to him. "Seriously Cas what?"

"Just…" Cas sighed. "I had always thought that we do a bigger one once we moved out. Space for books and…my stuff."

Dean choked up a little but swallowed it back down. "Yeah. I was thinking of doing the back wall for you here but it's small compared to the library."

"I wouldn't have minded," Cas said quietly. He fell back against the couch and was silent for a long moment. "Tell me about it Dean."

"About what?"

"What you wanted. I know what I'd imagined, what did you see? For this place? For us?"

"You first."

"I was thinking of the mountains," Cas described. "I've always found peace surrounded by nature's raw beauty."

"That's explains the bees."

Cas smiled. "Yeah. A large cabin with space for a library and a new Dean cave. Rooms for us, and Sam, and Jack, and maybe a guest room for Claire. It'd be somewhere near lake, Sam could go on his runs and you could fish. Not remote but distant, quiet. We could just be ourselves and not worry about anything."

"I like it," Dean said.

"What about you?"

"Go on," Winchester tapped his temple. "See for yourself."

Cas regarded him, "You've always hated that."

Dean shrugged, "What difference does it make now?"

Cas leant forward and gently touched Dean's forehead, concentrating. His face warmed as he took in Dean's vision and let go. "That was beautiful. I love the garden."

"Figured you would." Dean breathed out, "You know what? Screw it." He gulped down his scotch and stood up. He used the remote on the sound system to cue up a song and pressed play. A nice slow R&B melody flowed over the room. "Dance with me."

Cas shook his head at the whiplash of events. "Now?"

"It's the V for Vendetta talking."

"What?"

Dean rolled his eyes fondly, "Just get up."

"I'm not much of-" Dean hauled the angel to his feet.

"Ditch the jacket and tie."

"Only if you get rid of that flannel."

"Deal." They shed their respective layers and Dean took Cas into his arms. My whole life is changed, since you came in…

Dean could still see Cas entering that barn all those years ago. They'd reunited there and somewhere deep down, he had thought of going back to – no he couldn't think about that now. The pain of no more tomorrows. It was impossible to know back then what that moment, what Cas would come to mean to him. If only he had, he wouldn't have wasted all this time.

Why it take so long for me finding you?

A sniff at his chest had Dean bringing up Cas's face to him. The angel's eyes gleamed with tears and the hunter's heart broke. For Cas. For himself. For them and what their future might have been. "Hey none of that," Dean thumbed the tears away. "There's always a chance."

"You don't believe that."

"I dunno, maybe, someone taught me to believe in us if nothing else." Without you right here having my back, I really don't know just where I'd be at…

"True happiness remember? Even if we make it out of this, our time together is over Dean."

"We've gotten out of worse deals."

"We won't make it out of this one." Dean knew he was right. This was the last page of their story, only waiting for that final sentence to be written. But what words could sum up their bond, through heaven, hell, purgatory, the empty and even other universes. They'd survived everything together. It couldn't end here.

"You -" Dean swallowed. "You don't have to go alone."

Cas blanched, "No. Never."

"We promised. We don't go anywhere without the other." You make my life complete…

"I'll always be here with you." Cas's fingers traced his ribs, "I'm here," up to his shoulder, "and here," finally resting on his heart, "and here." I'm so in love, so deep in love.

Dean's breathing hitching, "I know we've been tiptoeing around because we can't to afford to trip your deal too early but I can't imagine this bringing true happiness to you." He raised Cas's hand back to his forehead. "Just remember it can't happen."

Dean is dragging Cas out of the Impala. "What are we doing here Dean?" They were back at the barn.

The elder Winchester grinned, "You'll see. Got a surprise for you inside."

They went in and Cas looked around. Even now, everything stood the test of time. Dean's original symbols on the walls. The alcohol bottles from his mourning. Something cracked underfoot, glass, he looked up at the blown-out lightbulb with a smile. "I don't understand why did you -" he turned only to find Dean kneeling on the ground, ring in hand.

"I'm not really a speech guy. But Cas I love you. I need you. And I want you with me for the rest our lives. You were always family, a Winchester. I just really want to be your husband. Will you marry me?"

The dream broke, the song was over, and Cas freely sobbed. Dean held him, a few stray tears of his own tracking down his face.

A dream unfulfilled.

That was it.

The End.