It was an hour before Jess came back and another two hours and forty five minutes until Cas reappeared. "Hello Dean," he said softly, startling Dean.
Dean slammed his hand down on the counter. "Dammit Cas," he swore, turning around. "How was it? Everything go okay?"
"It was fine," Cas said, glancing down. "Hard but fine."
Dean glanced gently took the Angels hand. "You okay?" he asked. "Want to talk about it?"
"No." Cas looked away, blue eyes sad. "No, it's fine."
"You sure?" Dean asked gently, pressing his lips to his Angels temple. When Cas nodded and leaned into him, all Dean said was, "alright, let me know if you change your mind."
Cas didn't say anything, just leaned in farther, taking comfort in Dean wrapping his arms around him, standing close together. Then, unexpectedly, Dean threaded his fingers through Cas's and pulled him along as together, they swayed gently, Cas relaxing in his arms. They half danced there, in the kitchen, a half finished sandwich on the counter, and Dean didn't think he could fall more in love until Cas pined him against the counter, kissing him like his life depended on it.
Every time they kissed Cas felt starbursts in his heart, behind his eyelids, felt his world tune out everything except Dean, and when one of them pulled away, all flushed cheeks and bright eyes, Cas would resist the urge to pin Dean down and do him right there and the because, well, he didn't know if he could love the human more than he did right now. Dean, his dirty blond hair sticking up and his stupidly gorgeous half smile and his perfect eyes, eyes that Cas loved, that he could watch the ever changing emotions in them forever.
"We might want to stop," Dean murmured as he shrugged his jacket back on, "Sam and Jess won't want to walk in on us."
"I know," Cas said softly. Instead of moving away he simply stood, lips curving into a smile. He quickly kissed Dean again and moved away, heart thumping heavily. The edge of the box pressed into his ribs from its place in the trench coat pocket.
The rest of the day passed without anything interesting happening. Out of habit, Sam surfed the Internet to see if there were any signs of a case and found nothing. Cas went out with Dean to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. And Sam and Jess sat in the library, Sam pointing out passages from lore that were inaccurate and laughing when Jess's eyes widened when she came across certain monsters that the brothers had fought, joining in the laughter when Sam dismissed several as "a piece of cake", despite what the lore said.
After awhile, looking through old books got boring and Sam found himself on the bed, kissing Jess with so much passion he thought he might explode. Mumbled 'I love you's filling the room as Jess was suddenly on top of Sam, despite being smaller, and pinning him onto the bed with a surprising strength. When they were done, she lay next to him, both now fully clothed.
"Should we start dinner?" she asked softly.
"Nah, it's Dean's turn to cook today," Sam answered, wrapping an arm around her.
"They'll be back soon." She turned to look directly at him. "Cas is going to do it."
Sam sighed. "Hell, I know. Can't believe it."
"Why?" Jess asked. "They love each other. Is it because you just couldn't picture Dean getting married?"
"I know they love each other", Sam said. "But I just can't picture Dean settling down, with anyone. He's just...that's not how he lives, and I'm worried one day he's gonna walk out and start hunting again."
"He loves Cas," Jess said again. "And don't tell me you don't miss hunting just s bit. I know you check for cases in the area everyday. You clean your guns and sharpen your knives still. There are Devil's traps under all the rugs and you sometimes put salt around the perimeter of the bunker."
Sam shook his head. "It's habit. I had to hunt, I didn't have a choice and I left when I could. For Dean, for Dean it's different. It's his life, he was raised into this since he was four, it was hammered into his brain as a child that this was the only good he could do to the world, to save people, hunt things. The family business."
"He'll be fine," Jess reassured. "They'll both be."
"I hope."
Jess was silent for a moment. "Should we have a double wedding?"
"I'd be down for that," Sam said. "But Cas hasn't even proposed."
"He will."
And an hour an a half later he did.
Cas waited until after dinner to finally do it, when everyone was pleasantly full and lazing around on chairs and the couch. "Dean," he called.
"Yeah?" Dean said, looking up from his phone.
Sam nudged Jess and gave her a tight smile, his hazel eyes were sparkling with the mixed emotions of happiness and bittersweet love.
"You wanna go outside?" Cas asked. "It's beautiful out."
"Oh! Sure!" Dean stood up, setting his phone on a nearby table. He took Cas's hand and together they walked out of the room, out to the front yard. Sam quietly followed them, phone in hand, ready to record.
The sky was beautiful like the Angel had said. Stars hung brightly in a sky that was thousands of shades of blue, light and dark blending and blurring. Dean smiled. "It's the same color as your eyes," he said softly, squeezing Cas's hand. They were sitting on Baby, gazing up at the vast wonders of the universe together.
"It's almost as beautiful as you," Cas replied, nerves tingling as he gripped the white box in his pocket.
"Shut up," Dean said, cheeks tinged a distinct red even in the darkness. His green eyes closed with the light of an entire galaxy. "I love you."
"I love you too," Cas said. This was it, his opportunity, his turn to make a move. He stepped off the impala. Cas swallowed nervously, feeling his hands get sweaty. "So, I'm going to take this opportunity to ask you something."
"Cas?" Dean asked, confused. Stupid oblivious, gorgeous, perfect moron.
"We've been through a lot together, haven't we?"
"Yes..."
"I wanted to ask you, because I love you," Cas knelt down, fumbling with the box, "Dean, around eight years ago I pulled a broken shell of a man out of Hell and I pieced him back together, and his soul blinded me with the purity of it. And despite everything that has ever happened to it, be it ripped, stained or damaged, it shines just as bright after these years, after these horrors most people couldn't comprehend. It didn't take long for me to realize I wasn't supposed to feel what I felt, being an Angel, but it didn't stop me. I gave up everything for you and I would do it again in a heartbeat- consequences be damned. So Dean Winchester, my Righteous Man, will you marry me?" Tears were running down his cheeks, silver as the starlight. A smile soft as a flower petal rested on his face.
Dean's eyes were large and shocked. "Cas..." Cas waited on one knee, he didn't move, didn't breathe, as Dean took a deep, shuddering breath. "Cas, yes. Yes, I will marry you!"
Cas felt his breath catch in a sob of happiness. He slipped the ring onto Dean's finger. Dean pulled him up, first embracing him so tightly Cas felt the air being squeezed out of his body. He returned the hug, feeling Dean shaking against him, feeling his tears on his neck. Then Dean pulled him into a rough, passionate, overjoyed kiss.
This was it, the kiss you saw in movies or read about in books. When the two characters kiss for the first time and they describe the world stopping, how it was perfect. Dean never believed that kind of kiss existed, thought it to be a thing of purely fiction construct. Well, this proved him wrong. He kissed Cas like he was suffocating Cas was his oxygen. The world was moving so fast around them but everything appeared frozen except for Cas and him, he felt the blood rushing through his veins so fast the world and feelings were blurry, everything was in intensified, he was hypersensitive, tasting every bit of Cas's lips under his own. He tasted like stardust and, well, Cas, there was no other way to explain that. It was just him. And it perfect.
Cas felt emotions working in overdrive. Everything he felt was overwhelmingly strong, his love, his lust, his joy. And he was crying, not sure when that started by there were tears running down his face and suddenly Dean was kissing them away and Cas could feel his stubble and his hands on his face and waist and Cas couldn't breathe because he was so swept away by this man, this perfect creation, his Father's best piece of art, the one he had fallen for. Cas hadn't been lost the second he had laid eyes on that soul, screaming in Hell, blinding, perfect, flawless. He had been found.
Sam stood by the window, tears running down his face and Jess at his arm, squeezing it comfortingly. The camera was recording as Dean and Cas broke apart and sat next to each other of Baby. In the bright light of the stars above, as if all of Heaven was shining down on the Angel and the man, Sam could see in the curl of Cas's lip and the softness in his eyes that the Angel really, truly, loved Dean. Sam smiled through tears. Cas looked at Dean like he was a life raft and Cas was a drowning man.
AN: I have been looking forward to this chapter FOREVER! So happy to have it written, and I hope you enjoyed! I might not be able to update for a bit so I just wanted to get this in there. I think I'll have a few more after this one, not too many though, I'm finally starting to wrap it up. Thank you for leaving reviews in previous chapters and even for just reading! Hope you enjoyed so far!
