This is the final chapter of this short story and I have loved writing it so much! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter Six: Coming Home
Years had gone by, and normally the passage of time didn't bother Castiel. But every year, every month, every moment that went by without Rory hurt him so deeply that he knew something had to be done.
He had helped Sam and Dean save the world from God himself, and after saying his last goodbyes to the brothers and giving them the best hunter's funerals he could, he threw himself into helping Jack hone his powers and come into his new role of keeping the universe in balance.
Jack had been a great distraction from his pain, but now that he was confident in himself and his abilities, Cas had more free time to let his mind wander, which was never good.
"What's up, Cas?" Jack asked as they sat in the bunker together. There might not have been any more Men of Letters in existence, but Jack had wanted to stay there. It made him feel closer to Sam and Dean.
The nephilim was working on a puzzle, the pieces slowly coming together to form a picture of an ocean scene, while Castiel had been staring blankly at the pages of the book about beekeeping he'd been trying to read for the past 20 minutes.
"I— I don't know," he answered honestly. "I don't know what to do with myself. I've had a lot of time to think about someone I lost."
Jack's head tilted to the side curiously, and Cas knew that was a sign for him to elaborate.
"A few years before you were born, I was human for a brief time. I met a woman, and I… I have never loved anyone more than I love her," he explained, a small smile on his face as he closed the book. "Shortly after I became an angel again, she— she died. Other angels killed her because they wanted to hurt me."
"You've never told me about her before… what was she like?" Jack asked, "Is she the one in the pictures you have in your room?"
Castiel thought back to the photos of them he had taken from her apartment that now resided in his bedroom and nodded, yes. That was her.
"Her name was Aurora Grace Anderson, but she went by Rory, and she was the brightest moment in my very long life," he said with a smile. "I think she cared about me and my well-being more than her own, and she loved me. She loved me with everything she had, and all I did was get her killed."
Jack frowned, his brows furrowed and it looked like he was thinking deeply, trying to remember something, before his eyes widened with excitement.
"Aurora Anderson? I know her!" The nephilim beamed, and Cas felt himself tense up, somewhere between shocked and confused.
"How is that possible? She isn't alive—"
"Remember how you told me that you used to spend time in Heaven, and that I should familiarize myself with everything?" Jack asked, not giving Cas a chance to answer as he excitedly continued, "Well, I spent a lot of time there. I explored everywhere, including people's versions of Heaven. There are so many and they're all so different, but I kept coming back to one that didn't sit right with me, because it was the first time I'd seen someone's Heaven incomplete. She was alone in her apartment, baking pie, and talking to someone as if there was another person there, but there wasn't, and she knew that, but did it anyway."
"Jack—" His tone was warning, but the nephilim continued.
"I spent a lot of time there, in that eternal rainy day in the apartment with her. Sometimes we'd talk, other times I would just watch. She baked this amazing pie that Dean would've loved, and she danced to songs on the radio. She spent a lot of time reading recipes aloud, wondering what she'd make for dinner. Sometimes she would narrate what she was doing like she was on a Food Network show. It seemed… so plain and mundane to be someone's Heaven, especially compared to others I had seen," Jack mused thoughtfully before shrugging, "I knew that she was missing someone she called Honeybee. I just didn't realize that someone was you, Cas."
Castiel heaved a sigh, nodding at Jack before he explained that Rory's Heaven was her favorite day she'd spent with him, and he knew that because he'd been there once before.
"Why aren't you there more often? I spent a lot of time there and never once saw you," Jack's tone wasn't rude or accusatory, it was genuinely confused, and Cas shook his head.
"I only went there one time, shortly after she died. I had to know if she ended up in Heaven. But I couldn't return, it would have only caused more suffering," he explained, not sure if he was trying to convince Jack or himself.
"Have you ever thought about just staying there?"
"It was all I thought about for a long time," Cas answered honestly. "But an angel has no permanent place in a human's Heaven. Who knows what repercussions it could have."
"But have you thought about going as a human?" Jack asked carefully, causing Cas to freeze up.
He wanted to say no, of course he hadn't thought of ripping out his grace and letting himself die. But he had, not long after things had started to settle after their final battle with Chuck.
"Yes, I have," he finally answered, relief flooding him as he finally admitted it aloud.
"Cas, if that's what you really want, I'm not gonna stop you," Jack told him honestly. "You've done so much, sacrificed everything, you deserve to be happy. And after the deal you made with the Empty to save me, I don't think you'll ever be able to have that happiness as an angel."
"I want to be here if you need me," Cas tried to reason, "You're still coming into your new role, what if you have questions or need guidance?"
"Then I'll know right where to find you," Jack laughed before adding, "Plus, I've been at this for a few years. I think I finally got the hang of it!"
Castiel glanced down at his hands, unsure of what to say now. He didn't want to leave Jack alone unless he was absolutely ready to be on his own.
"I can do this, Cas, I promise. You've taught me so much, and I'll always be grateful for that. But you've always put me, or Sam and Dean, or basically anyone else above yourself, and it's time you do what's right for you," Jack said before he straightened his posture and cleared his throat, this time his voice sounding a little more authoritative as he spoke, "I'm ordering you to do whatever it is you want to do so you can be happy."
A chuckle escaped the angel before he could think to contain it, and he shook his head at Jack's childlike behavior.
"If you insist, I suppose. You are the most powerful being in the universe, and whatever you say goes, doesn't it?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, it does," Jack nodded, playing along.
Since coming into his new role and expanded power, Jack had never lost his childlike wonder or his empathy or kindness. He never lost what truly made him human, and Cas admired that in him. It was a part of his mother that he'd wanted Jack to keep, so he was glad to see glimpses of it in times like this.
"I can bring her back, if that's what you want," Jack offered softly, a knowing look in his eyes, understanding that Cas was hesitant about leaving. "I— I could make her an angel, you could spend eternity together."
"That's very… thoughtful of you, Jack. But I don't think it's fair to rip Rory from her paradise. I'm… tired. If you don't need me, then I have no purpose here. I just want to be at peace."
Jack nodded, signaling that he knew that Cas meant.
"When you're ready, let me know. I'll take you to her myself. She'll be so happy to see you."
The nephilim returned to his puzzle, and Castiel watched him for a few moments before getting up from his chair. He didn't have many people to say goodbye to, so it wouldn't take him long.
Castiel walked in through the front door, a smile instantly taking over his face as he felt the familiarity wash over him. He closed the door behind him and slipped off his shoes, moving further into the apartment that felt like home.
"That you, Honeybee?" Rory's voice came from the kitchen, and he had to hold back a sob at the nickname he hadn't been called in years.
"It's me, Rory," he called back, kicking off his shoes and heading through the living room into the kitchen. He found her in his t-shirt and boxers, ratty bunny slippers on her feet, just like she'd been the last time he was here.
Her entire face lit up as she saw him enter the kitchen, "Took you long enough!"
Cas wasted no time wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close, reveling in her presence as he apologized, "I'm sorry- There were some things I had to take care of before I could return to you. But now I'm here for good."
"Don't worry, I know you had a lot going on," she told him as she pulled back and smoothed out the lapels of his trench coat. "Your friend Jack was here pretty often. He's a good kid, he just has a lot on his plate and needed someone to talk to that wasn't involved in all of your stuff."
Rory waved a hand wildly when she referred to his stuff, a smile still on her face, "He always spoke so highly about Sam, Dean, and Cas. Every once in a while he'd tell me about something you taught him or whenever you did something stupid. It was nice to hear how you were doing, even if he didn't realize I knew you too."
Cas knew that Jack shouldn't have been interacting with her, or with any human while in their personal Heaven, but he found comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone all of the time... That she had someone to talk to, for however long Jack had been there.
But instead of telling her that, he merely put it aside and gave her a kiss.
"I've missed you, more than you could imagine," he told her as he leaned against the counter, careful to avoid the baking ingredients that were laid out.
Rory followed, peppering his cheeks and neck with kisses, sighing happily, "I missed you too. Tell me about what you've been up to since you were here."
She pushed away from him, motioning for him to take a seat on one of the chairs at the counter.
"C'mon, based on what I've heard from Jack, it's been… a while. Years? Time here is basically nonexistent," Rory raised an eyebrow as she flipped through a stack of recipe cards. "What adventures have you gotten up to?"
Cas shrugged, unsure of where to start. But he wasn't surprised when Rory asked about what had happened after he left and he immediately opened up, starting from there.
As she picked a recipe and worked on the pie she'd decided on, Cas gave her an overview of everything he had faced.
He told her about how he helped stop Metatron from ruling over Heaven, how he'd let Lucifer possess him in his efforts to fight God's sister, the Darkness, and how he'd almost lost all hope and nearly given up when the world was ending, only for the Winchesters to come through and save it all. Cas told her about Jack, the son of Lucifer and a human woman named Kelly Kline, and everything they'd gone through to protect him, to help him defeat God and take over his responsibility overseeing the universe.
Rory listened intently, asking a question here and there for clarification, but for the most part, she just absorbed it as she combined ingredients and mixed them in a bowl. Cas had always appreciated the way she always listened and let him get things off his chest.
Castiel wasn't surprised when she asked how he had ended up here with her, though.
"You said you're here for good… Are you… An angel still? Did you die?" she asked, setting aside the rolling pin she had just picked up and focused her attention on him. "Do angels even go to Heaven?"
"They don't, actually. They go somewhere called the Empty, and it's just eternal nothingness. Jack woke me up while I was there and I angered the entity that oversaw it," Cas told her with a shrug, watching her eyes widen.
"You died?" Rory gasped, and he could only laugh at her reaction, nodding as she gaped at him.
"I did— I've died several times before, and I died again so I could come here and be with you."
"You did what now? Castiel," she sighed and shook her head, "I- I'm not worth that. Being here, with me, isn't worth being dead. Based on what I heard from Jack, you had so much to live for!"
"Once God was defeated, after Sam and Dean were gone… I had no one but Jack, and he doesn't need me anymore. There was nothing worth living for," Cas reached out across the counter and took her hand, staring into her green eyes he'd missed so much. "There was nothing for me there, because you're here. Jack asked if I wanted to bring you back, he offered to make you an angel. But I didn't want to steal you from your paradise-"
"It hasn't been much of a paradise without you," Rory mumbled as she pulled her hand out of his only to run it through her long hair. "Sure, it's a great day and I bake and curl up on the couch and the movie selection here is amazing, but it's not the same alone. I didn't want you to have to give your life up to be here with me."
Cas shook his head, thinking back to when Jack had asked him if he was sure about his decision, before he'd filled a vial with his grace and disconnected him from Heaven's host for the last time.
"I don't think I've ever been more sure of a decision in my entire existence," he told her the same thing he had told Jack. "You know, Dean told me more than once that I was different after I'd met you. He said I had changed."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Rory asked, annoyance clear in her voice, and he quickly shook his head.
"Quite the opposite, actually. He said it in a lot of ways over the years, but he said that the short amount of time I spent with you had made me a better man. Not an angel, but a man. After I got my grace back, I still looked at things from a human's perspective, and it affected a lot of decisions I made. I had the ability to be soft… to be gentle and thoughtful when I needed to, and it helped with Jack immensely when he needed guidance. I always wanted the chance to thank you for that, so… thank you, Aurora."
Rory beamed at him, tears in her eyes that were quickly wiped away by her fingertips as she sniffed, and he could tell that she was trying not to cry.
"You were already a good man when I met you, Cas," she laughed, her voice thick with emotion. "I just helped show you just how good you are."
"How can I ever repay you?" Castiel asked as he stood up and rounded the counter so he was standing in front of her now. "You've done so much for me. What can I do for you?"
He watched as she narrowed her gaze thoughtfully, her finger tapping on her chin a few times before she leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, one of her arms snaking behind him. When she pulled back, she was holding out a recipe box he was deeply familiar with.
"How about you pick what we make for dinner?"
Cas took the box out of her hands and opened it carefully, rifling through them as she went back to the pie, finishing up laying the dough on top for the crust.
"Make sure you pick something special— it's the first night of our eternity together," Rory said, flashing him a glance back over her shoulder.
"Breakfast for dinner it is, then," he grinned, closing the recipe box. "And I'm cooking."
Rory popped the pie into the oven and set her timer, a beat up old egg-shaped timer he'd accidentally set off one too many times, and she turned back to face him, a smile on her face as she told him, "Sounds like Heaven to me."