Dean peeled the label off the bottle of his beer and sighed. Lisa had left to pick up Ben from school, but she hadn't kicked him out, that was a good sign right? Dean just needed some comfort that wasn't Sam. Sam would blow it out of proportion and then look at him as though he (Dean) would burst into tears at any moment.
The door opened and Lisa walked in followed by Ben. He walked in and looked around, making eye contact with Dean. Ben ran over and gave Dean a hug. Dean was surprised; he knew Ben had liked having him around, but he didn't know he missed him that much. Dean smiled at Lisa over his shoulder and Lisa smiled back.
"Okay, reunion over. Ben you've got baseball in an hour and I want to see that math worksheet before we leave." Ben nodded, not taking his eyes off Dean as he walked upstairs.
"Still ruling with an iron fist, I see." Dean smiled, trying to ease the tension.
"Well, being a single mom, I have to." Lisa came over and sat back down on the couch next to Dean.
"Lisa, I'm sorry I haven't called. I've been busy."
"Too busy to send a text?" There was a subtle tone in Lisa's voice that usually told Dean a fight was coming.
"Honestly?" Dean really didn't get a hold of Lisa because of his relationship with Cas. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me ever again."
"Well, that was true." Lisa smiled, and Dean smiled back. He remembered what had drawn him to her in the first place.
"Then why did you let me in this morning?"
"Well, maybe I missed you a little bit." Dean noticed that Lisa was slightly closer than she just had been.
"Just a little bit?" Dean turned more towards her.
"Maybe a lot. Not to mention Ben's been asking about you. I think it hurt him more than me." Lisa looked down and so did Dean. He felt bad hurting Lisa, but he felt horrible for hurting Ben. Ben had nothing to do with him leaving.
"I'm sorry for that too. I never meant to hurt either of you, but Sammy needed me."
"I know, Dean. I know. Hey um, Ben's practice is only about an hour so, do you want to go get dinner? Or we could just order a pizza and hang out, the three of us?" Lisa's voice was hopeful, and nothing sounded better to Dean.
"Yeah, pizza, you and Ben? Sounds great to me." Ben came down stairs and Lisa informed them of their plans. Ben shot a huge grin over in Dean's direction and Dean remembered that he loved the life he and Lisa had built, but he still missed Cas.
"Ben, will you grab me a beer from the fridge?" Dean asked, two hours later.
"Of course! Mom, do you want anything?" Lisa shook her head and took a sip of her wine.
"So, Dean, what's going to happen after tonight?" Lisa asked as soon as Ben was out of the room.
"Well, what would you like to happen?" Dean really didn't want to leave; he didn't want to be alone again. He was hoping Lisa would ask him to stay. It was selfish and probably going to make things even worse for him and Lisa's relationship, but right now, it didn't matter. He just needed a distraction from Cas.
"This." Lisa leaned in and gave Dean a kiss on the lips. Dean was shocked, but kissed Lisa back. She pulled away when she heard Ben walk back into the house from the fridge in the garage.
"So, Dean, are you going to stay for a while?" Ben asked, handing him a bottle of beer. Dean smiled and put his hand on Lisa's knee.
"Yeah, buddy, I think so." Dean's words felt hollow; a year ago he would've given anything to just be here, but now he just really wanted to be with Cas, but Cas wasn't responding. So, he just needed sometime away from everything. Sammy could hunt by himself for a while, he had before. No hunting, no supernatural, no angels, just Dean being a person. He wanted to pretend that he was normal, if only for a short period of time.
Castiel felt hurt. There was no other way to describe it, and he wanted to cry. He had never understood the term 'broken heart' before (how could a muscle be broken?) but now he understood. He felt as though he had not been important enough to Dean for him to wait, or even contact him. Yes, Dean had prayed, but he had only prayed once. Castiel wanted to burn Lisa's eyes out like that woman that had conjured him after he had raised Dean from Perdition. Castiel felt betrayed, but fine. If Dean wanted to be in a relationship with Lisa then Castiel would not stop them, no matter how much he wanted to.