Content: In which Gabriel and Emma speak what is on their minds.
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Author's Note: Hello again :D This chapter is mainly an opportunity for Cas & Gabe as well as Dean & Emma to have some bonding moments (though the Destiel is not far behind, of course ;p), but I hope you'll like it anyway ^^
And once again, thank you so much!
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It's about two hours later when Gabriel recalls his brother's existence.
Before that Castiel had been more than happy to sit in the background and continue his text conversation with Dean, talking and joking easily with one another, making Castiel feel lighter than he ever imagined to be while being in a strip club, until Dean excused himself since it had gotten pretty late (a fact which Castiel totally missed, way too enraptured in their back and forth). It still took them about ten minutes to say their goodbyes, as if they both felt reluctant to end their interaction.
After that Castiel instantly found himself rereading their messages, reveling in the feeling once more, until one of the barely clothed employees approached him. Castiel already prepared some apology in his mind, but it turned out the woman merely wanted to sit with him and talk. She's obviously been in this job long enough to spot a hesitant bystander who would rather be anywhere else, and apparently she always feels drawn to those poor souls. Soon enough Castiel is engaged in a surprisingly pleasant conversation about the woman's cats – a topic she got fairly passionate about as soon as she learned Castiel's profession.
So Castiel spent a weirdly good time and when Gabriel eventually walks over to him and asks how he's been, Castiel doesn't even have to lie as he smiles at his brother.
Gabriel seems confused by Castiel's answer for a minute before he plops down beside him, lacking any kind of grace and elegance, and leans closer to him to whisper into his ear, "You're my favorite brother."
Castiel finds himself chuckling and rolling his eyes at the same time. "I'm your only brother."
Gabriel decreases the distance between them some more until he's almost nuzzling Castiel's neck. He always gets highly affectionate when having a mild buzz and Castiel grew accustomed to it over the years. He doesn't even blink anymore when Gabriel, after reaching a specific limit, crawls onto his lap and begins to recite odes of love and joy.
"You shouldn't drink too much," Castiel warns him. He watched Gabriel from afar, making sure he wouldn't cross a line, and so far he only got himself a bit tipsy, but things can change real quickly and Castiel doesn't want his brother to regret something by the end of their celebration. "Kali will have your head if you're not on your game tomorrow."
Gabriel scoffs. "Who's brilliant idea was it to have the bachelor party the night before the wedding anyway?"
"Your brilliant idea."
"Damn, I'm clearly an idiot."
Castiel can't help but agree. "We could have had a nice, traditional rehearsal dinner instead of this, you know?"
Granted, 'nice' is fairly relative since most of their family is not easy to be around with and it probably would have had ended with Castiel being forced to listen to Zachariah's dull corporate stories, but it still seems preferable to their current situation.
At least to a certain degree.
Gabriel, however, doesn't appear to share his view. "Rehearsal dinner?" He snorts like the mere thought is absolutely ridiculous. "I don't need to rehearse dinner. I know how it all works."
"It's simply the name for –"
"And besides," Gabriel cuts in, scrutinizing Castiel, "don't you enjoy all this?"
He gestures to the whole room, to the men and women dancing on little stages, grabbing their poles and ripping off their clothes one by one, to the patrons consuming their drinks, enjoying the show and getting progressively louder throughout the night.
It doesn't appeal to Castiel at all.
"You know this isn't my kind of scene," Castiel counters, though he tries to be civil about this. After all, it is Gabriel's night, his freaking bachelor party, and it's not nice to complain. So he adds a soft, "But for you I'm happy to endure all this."
Gabriel's bright smile almost seems to split his face. "Aw, I love you, too, bro."
Castiel rubs his brother's back as Gabriel leans into him until they're nearly hugging. It most likely looks a bit weird, both of them sitting in the background and snuggling calmly with each other while the rest of the establishment is celebrating the party of the century, so it seems, but Castiel doesn't really mind.
It's actually kinda nice.
"I'm gonna be married tomorrow," Gabriel mumbles after a while of silence, his voice filled with so much awe as though he can't really believe all of this is happening.
Castiel smiles softly. "Yes, you will be."
"I'm gonna be a husband!"
If Castiel is being honest with himself, he's actually a little astonished about all of this as well. Gabriel always has been loud and brash and way too open about everything and overall the last person anyone would have suspected to get married someday. He never kept a relationship for long, he never seemed to take anything seriously, so Castiel assumed for a long time that it would stay this way. Just a few years ago Castiel actually would have laughed out loud and probably fallen off his chair if someone would have told him that Gabriel planned a whole wedding and gave intense thoughts to the color of tablecloths.
When Kali eventually showed up, Castiel didn't change his view right away. Admittedly, Gabriel acted quite besotted with her, but from the outside their relationship looked like a hurricane with too many ups and downs to keep track. For a long while Castiel didn't really believe they would have a future together at all.
And it turns out he was wrong all along.
"I'm happy for you, Gabriel," Castiel mumbles. "Kali is great."
"Yes, she is," Gabriel agrees, a brightness in his tone only reserved for his fiancée. "I'm a lucky bastard."
Castiel's mouth twitches. "Among other things, yes."
"And you'll get it too someday, y'know?" Gabriel pokes into his side as if he thinks he lost his brother's attention. "Balthazar told me about your little crush."
Castiel groans as loudly as possible and curses their cousin to the depths of hell. "Whatever he said to you, it's not true."
His heartbeat picks up a few paces as he waits for Gabriel to show any indication that he knows they're talking about Dean here. Balthazar had no reason to associate Castiel's old classmate with Jo Harvelle's current boyfriend, who he never met before in the first place anyway, but Gabriel would know right away after hearing Dean's name.
However, Gabriel just seems amused. "But it's really cute, Cassie. You wanna tell me about the guy? Balthazar has been so vague, that asshole."
Castiel rolls his eyes and thanks his lucky stars that Balthazar was able to keep the name for himself. At least for now.
"I don't have a crush," Castiel insists. "We were only texting."
Gabriel snickers into his brother's shoulder. "Oh my God, you're in love!"
An almost unbearable heat crawls up Castiel's neck. "I'm not … why would you …?" He huffs, frustrated. "This is ridiculous."
"You were texting. With that guy."
Castiel lifts an eyebrow. He seriously fails to see any connection here. "So?"
Gabriel snorts. "You hate texting. The last message I've got from you is from 2014. And you only sent it because you had tried to call me multiple times and I didn't pick up my phone."
Castiel chews his bottom lip, attempting to find some counterargument and coming up empty. He's right, Castiel can't deny that. He's never been fond of technology and though he uses it as a means to an end since you obviously nowadays can't live in the Dark Ages entirely, he's always been fairly reluctant about it. He avoids to interact with phones, computers and whatnot as good as manageable.
But still, he's not a caveman.
"I do text," he says with emphasis. "I even use emoticons."
Gabriel looks at him like he's the most adorable thing he's ever seen. "Aw, that's so sweet."
Castiel pulls a face. "I just mean … me texting my friend doesn't indicate I have romantic feelings for him. We were just talking about nothing of import."
Gabriel's grin is getting even wider. "And there it is! Since when do you text when there is nothing important to discuss?" He leans closer as he drops his voice like he's sharing a secret. "You only text when you have to. Work stuff, appointments. Or when you have to communicate with people you just don't like. But you like that guy, right?"
To even imagine that there could be anyone on the planet not enjoying Dean Winchester's company seems absolutely bizarre. "Of course I do."
"So ergo –"
"Don't use Latin words you don't know the meaning of."
"I know more than you think," Gabriel counters cheerfully. "And you're liking this guy, right? Balthazar told me about your face glowing or something."
Castiel sighs deeply. Figures he would have to pay rather sooner than later for having such a nice time until now.
"Gabriel –"
"I'm just teasing, y'know," Gabriel cuts in. "I can barely do that, with you being all strict and proper and never getting crushes. Sometimes I wanna be a big brother so bad!"
Castiel seriously means to scowl at him, but his melodramatic pout is kinda endearing, as much as Castiel hates to admit that, and so he finds himself smiling instead against his will. "You're ridiculous."
"I know," Gabriel agrees, being all kinds of proud. "But I also love you and want you to be happy, so if that guy is making your face glow, that's freaking great! You should ask him out."
"Gabriel –"
"Just something casual, to test the waters," he interrupts once again, totally ignoring Castiel's pained expression. "Coffee, lunch. Something harmless. I figure you'd suck at the grand gestures and romantic stuff anyway, so you shouldn't put too much on your shoulders."
"Gabriel, I –" Castiel pauses, contemplating his next words. A part of him wants to tell the truth – that there are no deeper feelings involved, that Dean is in a relationship with someone else anyway, so there isn't any point speaking of it –, but he seriously doesn't want Gabriel to be able to put the puzzle pieces together, as tiny as the change might be. Castiel isn't sure he would survive the mortification, so in the end he goes for, "It's complicated, okay?"
That's what people always say in movies, right? And it seems to fit the situation perfectly.
Gabriel nods, his demeanor gentling as he notices the emotions in Castiel's voice. "Alright," he simply says.
And then he stays silent.
Castiel lifts a brow in confusion. "That's it? Alright?"
Gabriel merely shrugs. "Sure. It's your business anyway and I don't wanna hurt you by being an annoying big brother. But if you wanna talk about it, you can always come to me. You know that, right?"
Castiel smiles softly. "I know."
After that they keep quiet for a long while. Castiel is fairly astonished – he never expected Gabriel to sit in a dark corner in a strip club and ignore the dancers in favor of cuddling with his brother –, but it's actually a nice surprise and he finds himself pulling Gabriel closer.
Maybe he thinks Castiel needs this or perhaps he unconsciously needs this himself considering the events that are about to come – either way, Castiel won't complain. Quiet and peaceful moments with Gabriel are rare enough already.
So they just sit and enjoy each other's company.
At some point Castiel's gaze wanders to their party group. They all noticed Gabriel taking off, but neither of them seems tempted to drag the groom to his feet and let him become the center of attention again. Most of them know Gabriel for years now, know that he gets affectionate and snuggly after drinking, and they're probably just happy that Castiel is the one being groped by him and not them.
They simply smile in their direction, raising their glasses when they notice Castiel's eyes on them, and leave them be for the time being.
Even Ethan appears amused by the two brothers, but soon enough his face turns pensive again, as though he's not sure what to make of a lot of things in his life right now, and once more Castiel can't say he likes that expression very much.
So before he knows it he hears himself blurting, "What is Ethan's story?"
Gabriel twists his neck awkwardly to look into Castiel's face, certainly puzzled by the change of topic. "What do you mean?"
Castiel hesitates, not sure how to phrase his question without appearing too personally invested. He's not sure whether Gabriel's pleasant buzz will keep him from making a connection to their previous topic of Castiel's "crush" and he really doesn't want to find out. Only because Gabriel is becoming cuddlier and cuddlier by the minute doesn't mean he isn't able to use his brain cells anymore.
"I just … I guess you could say we got into some kind of argument the other day," he eventually settles on.
Gabriel straightens up immediately, his smile brimming with mirth. "Cassie, Cassie. What did you do?"
He sounds way too excited and Castiel is almost inclined to drop the issue and go back to their comfortable silence. But at the same time he can't forget Dean's protectiveness when Jo fled into his arms after encountering Ethan. He didn't pester them with questions afterwards and neither Jo nor Dean offered more information beside the fact that Jo used to date Ethan for a while and the whole thing didn't end very well.
That's all Castiel knows and though he's not prone to snooping into other peoples' lives, he finds himself more interested than he usually would be.
"I didn't do anything," Castiel defends himself. "I merely told him the truth."
"Let me guess: you blurted into his face that nobody wants him here, right?" Gabriel appears so proud all of a sudden that Castiel vaguely fears he would come closer and plaster a wet kiss onto his cheek. "Damn, that's so you, Cas! You have no filter at all."
Castiel's not sure if he should consider this a compliment or an insult and in the end decides to simply ignore it. "So, what is it about Ethan?" he repeats his question instead.
Gabriel merely shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know him that well, actually, and I'm really not keen on changing that. The few times I had to endure his company more than a few minutes – mostly at big gatherings our families hosted 'cause our moms are unfortunately so tight they have to drag their kids into it –, well, we didn't get along famously, to be honest. He's that snobby, rich type I always hated."
"And Jo dated him?" Castiel asks, surprised. He doesn't know Jo very well, but Ethan doesn't seem the kind of man she would be interested in.
"Beats me," Gabriel answers. "No idea what she saw in him, honestly. I mean, yes, he's sorta attractive, but they've been together for almost a year, so I guess there must've been more to it than that. You don't stick around that long just for a pretty face.
"I don't think it was the money either. Ethan is fucking loaded, yes, but Jo never really cared about that, according to Kali. And I can easily see that. She's getting into bar brawls, for God's sake, she's got no time for Prada or whatever."
"So what do you think it was?"
"Honestly?" Gabriel glances in Ethan's direction, assessing him. "You can't choose who you fall in love with. It happens and sometimes it seriously doesn't make any sense." He quirks his head to one side. "Though, to be perfectly honest, it's at the same time not the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Ethan's got his bad sides, that's for sure, but there are some good parts, too, y'know? And I can totally see him being all nice and charming with Jo and she falling for that. Maybe they were even good for each other for a little while, who knows?"
Castiel scrunches his nose. It's hard for him to imagine that now, after witnessing Jo reacting far from happy at seeing Ethan even in her near proximity, but at the same time it's not the oddest thing he's ever heard. Perhaps once upon a time they seriously cared about each other and believed, at least for a moment or two, that they might have a future together.
Until everything fell apart.
"What happened with them?"
"Don't know exactly," Gabriel admits. "I mean, Kali told me the other day in great detail, but I only listened to half of it. Just enough to know to not seat them at the same table." He scoffs, probably picturing that specific scenario which would have most likely ended in a disaster. "I think he cheated on her, shortly after they moved in together. A dick move, no question. Even threw her out of their apartment since he paid for most of it and all that bullshit. Overall not very gentlemanly. I'm actually surprised Jo didn't crush his nuts."
Castiel has to agree. She seems like a fierce woman who normally wouldn't take anyone's crap.
"And what about Dean?" Castiel hears himself wonder out loud. "How does he factor into this?"
Gabriel crinkles his forehead. "He didn't tell you? You seem joined on the hip since he got here."
Castiel can't help a flush, but thankfully the poor lighting is covering it up once again. "He doesn't really talk about his relationship with Jo," he says, a bit hesitatingly. "I think he's just a very private person in that matter."
At least that's the only explanation that makes some sort of sense to him. Castiel didn't expect to learn the more emotional aspects of Dean and Jo's relationship, but couples usually love to share some basics with other people, as far as he knows. How they met, how they got together, some cute little domestic stories … But Dean, weirdly enough, barely mentioned Jo at all. Granted, he told some hilarious tales with her as the main protagonist, but it's been incidents way in the past, speaking of her as a friend and nothing else.
"Yeah, well, maybe Dean isn't really the chatty type," Gabriel concedes. "Unfortunately I can't tell you that much either. I know they've been friends for a very long time and then suddenly it got more, I guess? I think they started to get feelings for each other when Jo was still dating Ethan. I know at least that they guy was ragingly jealous of Dean more often than not and it seems, after all, he had reason to, huh? Jo apparently had a crush on Dean for a while back then, but never thought she stood a chance, y'know?"
Yes, somehow Castiel knows the feeling.
"They didn't do anything when Jo was still with Ethan," Gabriel continues. "I'm not even sure if they confessed their undying love for one another before or after the breakup. I only know that neither of them would ever cheat, they're good people. And in the end Ethan proved to be the lesser one."
Castiel chews his lips, wondering what to make of this. It's not a perfect fairy tale, undoubtedly, but reality mostly isn't like that anyway. Sometimes it's messy and painful and you can see yourself as a winner when you come out of it stronger than before.
All in all, Jo is a lucky woman. Admittedly, she probably could've lived on without ever getting to know Ethan in the first place, but on the other hand Dean and her perhaps never would have discovered their feelings for each other without him. So maybe in the end it seriously was for the best.
Her friend became her love. Possibly even the love of her life, considering that they're living together and Dean's daughter adores her to the moon and back.
She's indeed lucky.
And though Castiel wants to feel happy for her, his chest tightens uncomfortably even thinking about it.
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"–addy?"
Dean grumbles when he hears the voice on the edge of his consciousness and buries his face deeper into his pillow, trying to tune it out. It took him a good damn while to finally fall asleep and it barely feels like ten minutes have even passed.
"Daddy?"
Dean's eyes immediately snap open as his brain is functioning enough to recognize the person speaking to him. He's got years of experience startling awake just by a mere whisper of his daughter's voice and he's quite sure it'll never leave him.
"Emma?" he whispers, blinking rapidly.
The room is still dark and a quick glance at the radio clock tells him it's barely 2 AM. He feels his whole being groaning at the revelation.
He turns toward the small figure lying in the middle of the bed, her eyes glinting in the spare moonlight that is falling through the big window.
"What is it, honey?" he asks in a low voice, keen on being as quiet as possible. His gaze flickers to the other body on the bed, but Jo still seems conked out nicely, not moving a single muscle. "Why are you up?"
Dean hears a shuffling noise and he needs a moment to realize it's probably been Emma shrugging her shoulders.
"Did you have a bad dream?" he wonders.
"No," she answers, as equally quiet. "I'm just up."
Dean reaches out to her, running his hand tenderly over her hair. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"
Emma keeps silent for a moment and Dean seriously wishes he could see her face. "I just can't sleep," she explains eventually.
Dean simply nods and plants a soft kiss on her forehead. "You think cuddling would help?"
She usually loves to snuggle (and Dean adores it just as much, perhaps even more) and she even seems to consider it for a second there, but eventually she shakes her head. "No. I think I'm hungry."
She doesn't appear very certain of it, even a bit puzzled like she can't believe her stomach would wake her in the middle of the night because of that, and Dean can't help an amused chuckle.
"I'm not surprised," he answers. "You were so excited to tell us all about your riding lessons at dinner that you didn't eat that much in the end."
She couldn't stop talking about Curry and her awesomeness, about Castiel and his incredible patience, about the feeling of sitting on a horse's back and being able to look down on the grown-ups for a change. Dean is still astonished that she even managed to get some of the food into her mouth at all.
Soon enough they find themselves in the kitchen. It took Dean a while to locate the place because this freaking house is confusing on a good day, but at night, with meager lights illuminating the hallways, it became a huge challenge. Dean chose the wrong turn a few times, Emma grasping his hand and following him obediently, but obviously starting to question his sense for direction not long after.
She actually heaved a sigh of relief when they reached the kitchen, as if she seriously thought they would get lost in the hallways forever.
So much for kids trusting their parents unconditionally.
While Emma settles onto one of the chairs, Dean begins to rummage through the fridge. He doesn't feel very comfortable doing so – there had always been some kitchen staff around, doing the digging and the cooking –, but at the same time he can't let his baby girl go hungry.
Still, he is careful, especially since a lot of beautifully arranged dishes and trays are already stashed in the two dozens refrigerators, most likely meant for the wedding, and Dean honestly doesn't want to disturb them in any way. He really doesn't wanna see himself confronted with the wrath of the bridal couple for destroying the appetizers by accident.
In the end he finds some cups of strawberry yogurt, being fairly certain that they're not supposed to be a part of the wedding buffet. He knows it's probably not very wise to feed Emma some sugar at this time of night, however, it looks like Gabriel (or whoever) bought a low-sugar, low-fat, as healthy as possible version, so he figures it's alright for now.
Emma seems quite happy with his choice, judging by her big smile as Dean places one of the cups and a spoon right in front of her. She doesn't hesitate to grab her food and crawl right onto Dean's lap as soon as he sat down, mumbling something about 'cuddling' while shoving the yogurt into her mouth.
Dean smiles easily and drops a kiss on her hair before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer.
For a while it's rather quiet in the kitchen, just the sound of Emma's spoon scratching the plastic cup filling the silence somehow, and so Dean finds himself flinching for a second when Emma suddenly raises his voice.
"Tomorrow is the wedding," she states, sounding as though she can't quite believe it.
"Yes, it is," Dean agrees. "You're excited?"
Emma hesitates, then nods in confirmation. But her reaction seems to be not as enthusiastic as Dean expected.
"What is wrong?" Dean wonders. "Aren't you looking forward to it?"
Emma stays silent for a few more moments, making Dean wish once again that he could see her expression, and eventually she asks, "After the wedding … will we see Cas again?"
Dean lifts a brow in surprise. He seriously didn't expect that topic of conversation.
"What do you mean?" he asks, bewildered. "Of course we're gonna see him again. We have to meet his dogs yet, remember? And he doesn't live that far from our place –"
"But we won't see him every day, right?" Emma cuts in, her tone sad.
Dean's heart clenches and he tightens his grip around her. "Honey …"
"If he was your boyfriend, we could see him whenever we wanted, right?" she asks. "He could stay with us, in your room, and the dogs could come too …"
Dean sighs deeply as some of her actions from the last few days slowly start to make sense. "You really wanna keep Cas, huh?"
She nods, but says nothing.
"Is that why you're playing matchmaker?" he wonders. "Why you're so insistent Cas and I should get married? 'Cause you wanna keep seeing him?"
"You like him, right?" she insists, ignoring his question. "You wanna kiss him, right?"
Dean finds himself blushing once again. What are you supposed to say when your five-year-old asks you questions like that? "Um … I like him, yes," he agrees. "But that doesn't mean … well, it's complicated, honey."
Emma squirms in his lap until she's turned around just enough to look her father in the eyes. Her gaze is full of confusion, yet also undisguised hope, as she studies him intently. "Why?"
Dean rubs her back soothingly as he chews his lips and considers what to respond. Usually he would've dropped the topic by distracting her with something else, but she's way too invested into this to let herself be tricked like that. So eventually he simply says, "It's a grown-up thing," because he seriously can't think of a better excuse at 2 in the freaking morning.
Emma, however, sees right through his bullshit, rolling her eyes at him in a spectacular manner. "Grown-ups always say that."
Dean scoffs. "Well, it's true, honey. Grown-ups are very complicated and very stupid."
Emma stares at him doubtfully. "What's so hard? You like him, you kiss him."
Dean closes his eyes for a minute and takes a deep breath. He's honestly not even remotely awake enough for this conversation. "Okay, first of all, that's not okay, do you hear me? Even if you like someone, you can't grab and kiss them like that, alright? We call this consent and it's very important."
Emma nods dutifully, apparently detecting her father's serious tone.
"And second of all …" Dean inhales heavily, "well, feelings are complicated, Emma. Sometimes you don't know what they mean, sometimes they overwhelm you, sometimes they drive you crazy. And me and Cas … I don't really know what I feel right now, okay? Yes, I like him, that's for sure, but the part you're talking about, the, uh, kissing and stuff? That's a huge step and you don't take it lightly. And it's been such an embarrassingly long time since your old dad even remotely felt like this, it's getting a bit much at times. I don't know what to say or how to act …"
Emma giggles at that. "Yes, you're blushing a lot with Cas."
The edges of Dean's mouth twitch upwards. "Yeah, you got me there," he admits. "But the thing is, a kid's life is easy, you know? You walk toward another kid and tell them you like them and it's all good. I actually envy you for that, we adults are making way too much fuss about this."
Sometimes Dean honestly wishes everything would be as simple as it had been in their childhood. He would just take Castiel's hand, smile at him and tell him that he likes him without all the doubts and second-guesses.
It seriously would be nice.
"And there is something I have to tell Cas first before … well, before anything might happen," Dean continues. "It's important that he knows."
He's been so tempted, during their long text conversation earlier that night, to just tell him the truth about Jo, to get it all over with, but it wouldn't have been fair like that. No, Castiel deserves to learn this in person, no matter how desperately Dean wants to spill his guts.
"I promise that we'll see Cas again after the wedding," Dean swears solemnly. "We're his friends and that won't change. He's really excited to introduce us to Mojo and Grace, so I doubt we're gonna get rid of him sometime soon."
Emma smiles at him. She still seems not fully convinced, but at least she appears calmer now.
Nonetheless, Dean makes a mental note to ask Castiel whether he could find some encouraging words for her so she wouldn't be so anxious anymore.
"I love you, honey," Dean whispers, dropping a kiss on her temple. "And the way Cas looks at you, I can tell he's already falling in love with you, too. Even after all of this he'll want to see you again. Often."
And Dean's genuine about this. Castiel isn't just humoring Emma, he honestly cares about her, there is no doubt in Dean's mind. He sees all of them together, in the not so distant future, sitting together and playing with Castiel's dogs and having a good time.
It's a fairly nice picture.
"And I think he's falling in love with you, too," Emma repeats his words, grinning now. "You're Rapunzel and he's Eugene."
Dean snorts. He's far from certain they could talk about 'love' here, especially coming from Castiel who's sometimes so frustratingly hard to read, but he's too tired to contradict her on this. "If you say so."
She snuggles into his arms and makes a content noise. "You'll see, Daddy."
