AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is the last part of this story - I hope you've enjoyed it, as I've definitely enjoyed writing this one. =)
I hope everyone has a nice Christmas! Merry Christmas, y'all. \m/ ^x^ \m/
Sam burst into the antiques store in a flurry, closely followed by Bobby, wheels catching against the linoleum beneath them.
"Dean," Sam said, sharply, catching sight of his brother cradled in Castiel's arms, body limp, chest rising and falling in steady, reassuring breaths.
"He's fine, Sam," Castiel said, raising one slender hand to keep both Sam and Bobby from crowding the unconscious hunter. "He's just a bit worse for wear."
He turned luminous blue eyes up to first Sam, then Bobby, looking so content, so peaceful in that one instant, Bobby had to smile despite himself. Castiel looked happy, tender, one hand cupping Dean's face briefly in support as the hunter stirred in his arms, large green eyes blinking up at Castiel blearily.
"Cas?" Dean's said, his first word weary and hoarse in a dry throat.
"I'm here, Dean," Castiel said, cradling the hunter's head in the crook of his elbow, chuckling in a soothing rumble as Dean settled down in a more comfortable position.
Dean yawned, before he said - "I wanna go asleep."
Castiel laughed again, chuckles soon stopped by Dean reaching up and claiming the angel's soft mouth in a gentle kiss. Bobby started to grin, eyes lighting up and making Sam smile in turn. The older hunter shrugged his shoulders at the sight, settled down still further in his wheelchair to watch the show, heart growing warm in his chest. Sam cleared his throat, attracted Dean's attentions away from Castiel's mouth to them instead.
"Oh hey, Sam, hey, Bobby. I knew you were there," Dean said defensively, making Bobby begin to laugh.
"Ya idjit, you had no idea," he said, as he tuned away, wheeling through the dust and abandoned, smashed objects on the floor to stare at a pile of ash and molten metal at Dean's lax feet. "What the hell happened in here?"
"Quite the opposite in fact," Castiel corrected, one hand supporting Dean as the hunter struggled to sit.
Bobby looked up, smiled again at the way Dean settled into Castiel's body, as though claiming the angel as his own, acting possessively as though Bobby were about to take Castiel away from him.
"I ain't gonna take him away from ya, boy. You look like a kid with a toy," the hunter said, scowling in disapproval at Dean's actions. "All I wanna know is what happened here."
Dean stared at him, wondered if he'd heard right, that Bobby was seemingly accepting his relationship with Castiel, leaving the angel to answer the all important questions. He explained that an angel had visited them, Azrael, the Angel of Death, come to reclaim the spirit attached to the Samurai swords now laying melted at Bobby's unresponsive feet.
"Azrael claims lost spirits, shepherds them back to Heaven where they truly belong, therefore not letting them get in Lucifer's hands," Castiel explained, patiently.
"So, he's on our side, then?" Dean asked, speaking for the first time since Castiel started explaining.
"Yes, I should think so," Castiel replied, touching Dean's cheek with one gentle hand, as though he was marking his territory like Dean had earlier.
"So why didn't you recognize him yesterday? You said there was an angel, yet you didn't know which one he was," Sam pointed out, as he knelt in front of Dean, eyes transfixed by the molten metal, long fingers picking up a shining lump carefully.
To his surprise, the metal was already cool, fires long since quenched by angelic forces still surrounding them.
"Azrael is reclusive. He left Heaven years ago, way before I was there," Castiel said, voice gentle. "I'd heard tell of him, but had never met him. No one had met him, except a few of the oldest archangels. He went to Earth to study humans more closely, to do God's work within the masses, so to speak."
"So what about this samurai you saw? What does he have to do with anything?" Bobby questioned, gaze trained rigidly on Castiel's face, intent, thirst for knowledge and understanding clear in his eyes.
"The Samurai had a message," Dean chipped in, repeating the unfamiliar words as close as he could in a language he couldn't speak.
The pronunciation was off, but the message was still clear and legible to Bobby.
"Avenge me. Tonight you will die, unless you can avenge me," Bobby translated easily.
"Avenge me? What does he mean - avenge me?" Sam asked, looking up from the chunk of metal still twirling uselessly in his fingers.
"He was a victim of the swords, not the wielder. His blood stained the metal, and he wanted his murderer to be avenged. It seemed that the murders here were his way of trying to find the original samurai who'd killed him," Castiel supplied. "Azrael's part in this was to put his soul at rest, take him Home where he belongs."
"I see," Sam said, watching as Dean yawned again, settled still further against Castiel's side.
Bobby watched them, smiled when he saw Castiel kiss Dean's head gently, but had already turned away when Dean looked up and over at him.
"I think that's enough excitement for one night. I think we should go home and get some sleep," Bobby said, gruffly, sparing Dean and Castiel a quick glance. "Or, you know, whatever it is you two get up to when you're alone."
Dean gaped, watched Bobby ease himself outside onto the sidewalk, before he turned to Sam.
"He's taking this very calmly, Sam. I thought he'd beat my brains in with a sharp stick for what I'm doing," Dean said, turning to Castiel when the angel chuckled.
"And why would he do that?" Sam questioned, helping first Dean, then Castiel to their feet.
"I thought he wouldn't like the fact that I've gone gay for an angel," Dean muttered, at least having the decency to look embarrassed by his own admission, as though even he thought his logic was whacked.
"You know he thinks the world of you, Dean. Probably more than you realize. I think he's just happy you've found someone to settle down with," Sam said. "Really, Dean, you gotta give people more credit than that. I mean, I'm okay with you, aren't I?"
"Yeah," Dean said, smiling when he felt Castiel take his hand. "Thanks, Sammy."
Sam just shrugged, smiled, then followed the two lovers back to the car wordlessly. Even though Dean knew Sam's words to be true, that Bobby thought of him as a father did a son, that Bobby only wanted Dean to be happy, he still couldn't believe that the older hunter had been so readily accepting of his relationship with Castiel. He wondered if perhaps the older hunter was preparing Dean for some ribbing, that he maybe hadn't heard the last of this like he hoped.
The fire crackled loudly in front of Dean and Castiel, sending warm glowing light over the pair's faces. Dean watched Castiel, caressed his face while thinking that the firelight was kind to the angel, made him look more beautiful than ever. Castiel leant into Dean's touch, eyes closing, a slight smile touching his face, before Dean leant in to steal a kiss from his lover.
"D'you think Bobby's really alright with us, Cas?" Dean asked, when the kiss ended.
"Yes, Dean. It's like Sam said - he wants the best for you; anyone can see that, even me. I think he's happy you've found someone to love," he said, and shot Dean a hopeful glance, blue eyes catching the firelight in shimmering red-white-yellow-gold sparks and the effect was breathtaking. "Considering our current situation, I think it's necessary. Love, I mean, and I think Bobby knows that."
"I think he'd be right," Dean murmured, and Castiel smiled, knowing that it was the closest Dean was ever going to come to saying he loved him, at least yet.
"It's alright, you know. To admit you love someone," Castiel said quietly.
"Not when you're a Winchester. Or at least usually," Dean corrected himself. "I think I'll be the first Winchester who actually gets lucky. At least if we see out the Apocalypse of course."
Castiel chuckled then said - "We will, or die trying."
Dean had to laugh at that, pulled Castiel close into his body and tucked his chin against the top of the angel's head, soft hair tickling the skin of his neck. They remained in that position, unmoving, silent, contented, Castiel's fingers caressing Dean's abdomen in lazy rhythms.
"Cas," Dean said, suddenly.
"Yes, Dean," Castiel replied, turning to face him once more.
"I want you to start taking a gun or a knife with you everywhere, you hear? I don't want you getting yourself hurt or worse," Dean said. "No if's or but's or anything. That's an order. I don't want someone I - love - and care about dying on me, okay?"
Castiel's face was bright, beautiful and he nodded agreeably.
"Okay, Dean," he said, knowing that that was another way of Dean saying he loved him, indirectly.
"We're gonna get through this apocalypse together," Dean said, as though further cementing his resolve to win.
Castiel nodded, settled further still beneath Dean's outstretched arm, body snug against the hunter's side, smiled when he felt Dean press a lingering kiss against his hair line. They were still sitting like that, Dean asleep and Castiel meditating, when Sam crept into the room, on Bobby's orders, to place a pink bow on both Dean's and Castiel's heads.
The young hunter crept away, hoping that Dean would get the message that this was Bobby 's way of accepting their relationship, fully expecting that Dean would bitch about the bow being pink in the morning, hopefully laughing - eventually - while Castiel remained curious and as stoic about any given situation as usual ....
-fini-
