They could not say how long it had been since they had fallen asleep, but at some point they were awakened by a knock.

"Dean, are you okay?" Sam asked from the other side of the door. "Dean, are you awake?"
Dean, who was cuddled up in bed with Cas, raised his head a little reluctantly. "Yes, I am. What is it?"
"It's almost afternoon and I can't find Cas. I'd like to tell him something." Cas opened his mouth to answer, but Dean put his hand over it.
"No, I don't know. Didn't show up for the last few hours, almost like he was spending time somewhere else." He winked at Cas, and the other man giggled. "Sssht!" hissed Dean. "He'll hear you."
"Okay, whatever you say." It seemed like Sam was leaving. "But if he gets in touch with you, you let him know. I'll be at the library."
"Okay", Dean answered.

He put his chin on Cas' chest and closed his eyes. His hand stroked Cas' ribs up to his upper arm.
"Dean?"
"Mmm."
"Why did you lie to Sam?"
"Why? There was nothing wrong with it. You spent the night somewhere else, you spent the night here and you're still here now. For the last few hours, you haven't shown your face because you were asleep. So..."
"Oh, Dean, you're hopeless." Cas laughed softly and Dean punched him playfully in the shoulder. Cas wrapped both arms around Dean and pulled him up to him.
"But, you are 'my' hopeless case now", he murmured, his mouth against Dean's.
"That." Kiss. "Sounds." Kiss. "Good." Dean looked at Cas. Cas looked back, pulled Dean down to him and buried his hands in Dean's hair.
"I love you," Cas whispered, putting their lips back together.

It was late afternoon, even earlier evening, when Dean and Cas finally came out of their room. They were on their way to the kitchen to make themselves something to eat. Dean received a message from Sam. 'Out shopping. I hope you two are responsive now?! See ya.'

"Uh, Cas?" Dean glanced indecisively from his phone to the angel. "Sam says he hopes we're back in touch?! Did you tell him anything?"
"How? Besides, he's your brother, and it would come out eventually anyway."
"Yeah, okay," Dean grumbled and went into the kitchen. Cas followed him.

While Dean started to collect the ingredients and cooking utensils, Cas sat down at the table. He didn't want to get in Dean's way and he also loved to watch him cook. He could see how Dean relaxed. While Dean stood at the stove, Cas thought back to the incident at the roadhouse.

Dean had looked so small and fragile, so lost and infinitely sad. He knew that the brothers had been hurt in many ways.
Many things had been forgotten, wounds had disappeared, but for some things there was no cure. So it only helped to ease the pain of whatever kind, to make it more bearable.

"Cas, I can hear you thinking", Dean said without turning around. Cas got up and came over to him. He stopped behind Dean, put his hand on his back and looked over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"That," said Dean and nudged Cas in an almost childish way against his nose, "that's going to be a tomato sauce for dinner."
Then after a short pause, the smile disappeared.
"What were you thinking about just then?"
"About you. And about how I can help you to regain confidence in yourself and your actions."
"Oh." That was all Dean could say. Then, like the day before, he turned around, wrapped both arms around Cas, put his chin on his shoulder and closed his eyes. Cas immediately returned the hug, pulled the other man towards him and slowly began to rock him like a child.

"Seriously?" shouted Sam. Dean and Cas were startled, Dean hastily backed away and turned quickly to the stove so Sam could not see that he was blushing. Cas looked at Sam and shrugged.
"Sam, what did you want earlier? I heard you ask Dean where I was." Dean had stopped stirring the pot because he wanted to hear Sam's answer. When nothing happened, he turned around. Sam looked at them.
"I knew it!" Sam's grin was so wide that it went from one ear to the other. "I knew it!"

Now it was up to Cas, not understanding why Sam was so happy to look at him questioningly.
"Sam, what did you know?"
"No, Cas, don't!" Dean interjected. But Cas did not listen to him.
"I wanted to ask you to look for Dean, but when I couldn't find you, I knew you had done it on your own. Although I meant it a little bit differently than you, I am very happy to have my brother in front of me again!" Sam seemed happy and as much as he hated to admit it, this sight made Dean happy, too.

"Okay, that's enough, Bitch!"
"Sorry, but not sorry. Jerk!"
"Alright, get your ass down here, Sammy," Dean said. Cas was already sitting at the table again. "Dinner is ready!"

*** Epilogue ***

Dean had told Sam about his breakdown at the Roadhouse, had also mentioned how Cas had taken care of him, but kept some details a secret. "For obvious reasons," as he put it.

Cas had moved his things to Dean's room. Now the second bedside table at Dean's bed finally had an owner. What they would do with Cas's empty room, they did not know yet, but Cas insisted on not using it again immediately. He still wanted a cat so much. If this wish should come true, it would have a room for itself.

They also worked on cases again. Some easy and fast, others heavier and tough. But even if a case took longer than planned, they didn't get out of temper like before. Of course they were annoyed, but the thought of the quiet time afterwards and the bunker made them bear it.
Sam was happy because he had his big brother back, his rock in the waves since he was a little kid. Dean was happy that Sam was laughing more again and walking through life more relaxed. And Cas was happy that the brothers seemed to shine from the inside out.
But what he didn't understand was that he was more or less the reason for this. Without him, Dean would not be so happy and without the happy Dean, Sam would not be as well as he was now.

Sam and Cas sat at the table while Dean put the food down. Cas watched the older of the brothers. He looked so relaxed and Cas smiled. Sam smiled as well. But he smiled because his brother and the angel seemed to understand each other without words.

And Cas understood that what he had observed over the months was true.
When they all were sitting together, Dean's one dream had come true. Him and his family at a stable home, safe and warm. And it would always be right to say that whenever they would be like this - there will be peace when dinner is done!

(A/N)
Yes I know... Dean cried a lot in this story.
But in my imagination crying is not a weakness. For me, as I mentioned in the story, it means a feeling of strength. That you stand by your feelings and in my opinion, even men don't have to be ashamed when they cry.

I hope you enjoyed the story?!
For me it was definitely a very nice experience to write under conditions. Otherwise I always choose my own topics. :D