Epilogue

Castiel straightened his bowtie in a small mirror that sat propped up on a writing desk in the church's vestry.

"It's still crooked," Gabriel commented and Castiel immediately swerved back toward the glass to double check.

"No it's not." He frowned and readjusted the bowtie anyway though.

"Yeah, I know. Made you look."

"I would tell you that you have the maturity of a five year old, but I think Dean has already done that a thousand times today. And last night," he added, thinking of the rehearsal dinner.

Gabriel gave him a once over in reply and wolf whistled. "Dean's going to go crazy. In that tux, even I'd do you."

"And now I have to brush my teeth again; I might have just thrown up a little in my mouth."

In some ways, it was still hard to believe he was standing here. The past year had been—overwhelming. Castiel had had no idea life could be as good as it had turned out to be with Dean.

He had gone home to L.A. after the finale and had been woken up less than twenty-four hours later by Dean, standing on his doorstep with a single suitcase. The man had packed everything that mattered to him (which consisted mostly of some outdated ACDC and Metallic cassette tapes) in a single bag, left his father and Colorado and driven the Impala straight through the night. And thus, Castiel had graciously allowed his fiancé to live with him in his cramped and crappy studio apartment.

Coming to L.A. was like a fresh breath of air for Dean. The longer he spent apart from his father, the happier he became. He smiled frequently, was quick to laugh and, much to Sam's protested annoyance (he had followed his brother out to the city and now lived in a slightly less crappy apartment on the floor below), Castiel found himself the recipient of unexpected displays of affection. Sam insisted that they were supposed to keep certain activities in their own apartment instead of his, but Dean took special pleasure in ignoring that rule, and Castiel was usually too…busy...to remember the rule even existed.

For better or worse, all of their lives were still filled with Gabriel. His brother claimed he had his own apartment, but Castiel couldn't count the number of times he'd woken up to Dean's cursing when the man had discovered him crashed on the couch across the room. To be fair though, while Dean endlessly denied his affection for the sandy haired man, Castiel had just as frequently woken up to the two of them sharing a late night beer in front of the TV.

Sarah, to his delight, was an ever-present fixture as well. She and Sam had hit it off and it wasn't unusual to find her at Sam's apartment, curled up at his side and watching a movie together. According to Dean, his brother had adopted a permanently goofy smile in her presence and had turned into a lovesick moron.

Castiel wasn't sure about the accuracy of Dean's diagnosis, but Sam did seem to spend quite a lot of time asking him what sort of dates he should take Sarah on, as if he were an expert. While Sam nodded and took all his suggestions very seriously, Castiel did not feel like he was particularly helpful. His idea of romance mostly included ordering Chinese take-out with Dean and watching reruns of their favorite shows.

He had, however, offered one suggestion that both Sam and Sarah jumped on. Much to Dean's professed displeasure, the group made a trip to Disneyland one weekend. Dean spent the entire time ridiculing Sam for wanting to meet the Disney princesses and wearing a pair of mouse ears, but Castiel couldn't help notice the way Dean's face had lit up during the firework show and he had reached for his hand.

However, as wonderful as life was, it didn't mean that every day was a fairytale. Castiel was almost sure that the heroes of those sort of stories never woke up the neighbors with their snoring or hogged all the bed covers, and he didn't know of any Prince Charming that refused to share his Cocoa Pebbles or got into insanely stupid fights with his brother over the relative merits of various NASCAR drivers. He was also pretty certain that fairytale characters didn't have all the seasons of Dr. Sexy MD stored in a secret box under their bed.

Additionally, if life were a fairytale, the premiere of Single Ladies that fall should have exposed a lot of people for the awful human beings they really were. Instead, between John's threats to sue Balthazar over the illegal cameras, and Balthazar's threats to broadcast John's worst moments on national television, the two had arrived at a shaky compromise. In the end, a heavily edited version of the show aired, missing all the moments that might have made it great, and received just enough viewers to be renewed for a fourth season. Gabriel was tentatively asked to return as host on the condition that all his family members stay the hell away from future seasons.

Ironically, the only person who really profited from the whole fiasco was Bela. Like most truly horrible people, she had gone on to become insanely famous because of it. Or infamous, depending on the perspective. After Single Ladies, she had indeed launched her own clothing line, made a ridiculous amount of money and serial dated her way through a lot of people equal to her horrendous caliber.

Gabriel, citing something about 'just desserts', said that he should set her and John Winchester up as a match made in heaven. His comment was greeted by a contemplative frown from Sam and a face-full of soda Dean spewed his way in shock.

In the end though, none of it mattered. Castiel still felt like he had somehow impossibly won the lottery when he met Dean's green gaze across the aisle.

He wasn't ashamed to admit he missed pretty much everything that was said during the first half of the ceremony as he tried to memorize the way Dean looked at that precise moment. In fact, he was still working on his count of how many freckles the man actually had, when a jarring tune rang suddenly throughout the church. Castiel looked down in surprise to realize the rattle was coming from his own pocket.

And I was like baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

He pulled his phone out in puzzlement. Dean, with Sam peering around his shoulder looked just as confused.

"Hello?" he said into the device.

"You should try paying attention to your own wedding ceremony instead of Dean's cute dimples, little brother," a familiar voice chatted away casually. "Glad to know you still use the Biebs as your ringtone, by the way. No need to say thanks for that one."

Castiel twisted around to where Gabriel stood behind him, his own phone pressed to his ear. He wondered again what had possessed him to ask Gabe to be his best man.

Gabriel grinned right back at him. "You know, we never make time to just chat anymore. How are you?" he asked into the cell.

Castiel moved to throttle him, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"I got this one, man. It's my turn," Dean said, like an exhausted parent. He walked over to Gabriel and plucked his phone from his hand.

"Looks like you just ran out of minutes," he stated and snapped the phone in half. He placed the remains carefully back inside Gabriel's jacket pocket. For once, Gabriel didn't have a snappy comeback. He simply looked down at his pocket in complete astonishment.

Dean turned toward their audience of friends and family and clapped his hands. "Okay! Let's get this show back on the road, people. I need to marry the man of my dreams. Right. This. Instant."

It was surprisingly smooth sailing after that. Rings were exchanged and Castiel made the same vows he had made the night of season finale. The whole ceremony was really more of a legality than anything else—he had been Dean's from the moment he first met him after all.

He came back to himself when he found Dean standing less than an inch away and staring intently at him. The corner of his mouth was tilted in amusement and he scanned Castiel's expression.

"You're never going to count them all, you know," he said lowly, so that only Castiel could hear. "It's impossible."

Castiel looked back at him, stunned. "How did you know that's what I was doing?"

Dean chuckled. "You only get that expression when you're trying to figure out Gabe's obscure pop culture references or counting my freckles, man."

"Really?"

"Really, really. Now, how about we make this whole marriage thing official and you give your husband a kiss?"

There was nothing left to say; Castiel wrapped his arms around the other man and pulled him down into a fierce embrace.

Sam coughed into his hand. "PG-13. PG-13. We had an agreement, guys."

Reluctantly, they broke apart to the cheers from the audience. Castiel scanned the sea of faces. All of Castiel's brothers filled the front row and Lucifer winked at him. Sarah had her arm around a tearful Becky and Balthazar sat nearby with his own handkerchief in hand. Bobby Singer was there, along with the rest of Dean's family who had taken his side. Even John, under a strict set of terms and conditions, sat stiffly in the back of the chapel.

Castiel had been the one to invite John. Dean had dismissed the idea immediately, but Castiel wasn't so quick to let it go. Even if Dean was willing to give up a relationship with his father, Castiel could never forgive himself if he let it happen. And while John and he would never be friends, they were at least able to briefly coexist in the same room for Dean's sake. Perhaps, someday, they would even be able to stand an awkward let's-not-talk-about-our-layers-and-layers-of-issues-and-just-eat-this-damn-turky Christmas dinner together.

He could do anything after all, as long as he had Dean by his side, he thought joyfully as they exited the church into the California sunlight.

Man, it was hard to find a place to stop writing! I had all these ideas about Gabe hijacking the band at the reception and insisting on singing everything himself. I also have a document of various random moments that would take place over the next few years, like Castiel naming one of the new foals born on the ranch 'Toyota' (much to Dean's disapproval of course). But, I did have to stop writing after all-so I can start my next story! Yes, fan fiction is a disease: I now have all these ideas for new stories with our two favorite characters.

So, signing off for now and let's all cross our fingers for a good Season 7 finale!