AN: Don't own Supernatural, but I finally own the end of this fic.
The difference between the truth and a lie is sometimes as simple as which reality you choose to believe. I feel my body land within itself, the increasingly familiar sensation of angel travel, and I have no idea what I'm going to decide. The only reality I can hang on to at the moment is the feel of a living, breathing Dean beside me. Maybe that's the only truth I need.
We immediately hug each other tightly, and I'm content for a moment just to rest my head on his chest, content to feel him whole. I'm just so happy to be back in this dingy hotel room, complete with curtains, mattress and covers. The sigh I feel him release seems to indicate he feels the same. At least, until he turns his head and tenses up.
"Oh, shit," I whisper when see what changed his mood.
"Oh, well, if it isn't the ghost of Christmas screw you," he snarks at Zachariah. His voice makes it obvious that, like me, he's not terribly excited with our visitor.
"Enough. Dean, enough. You saw it, right? You saw what happens. You're the only person who can prove the devil wrong. Just say yes." He fakes empathy pretty well for a celestial psycho.
"Did all that really happen? Were we really there?" I ask. "The last time you sent us on a field trip, it was all bullshit."
"Yeah," Dean agrees, reminded of our time in apple pie, corporate lives that weren't our own. "How do I know that this whole thing isn't one of your tricks? Huh? Some angel hocus-pocus?"
Zach loses his flippancy and instead goes for quiet intensity. He also does quite an effective job of ignoring me. Dick. "The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die."
Dean truly thinks about it. I watch him consider the angel's words as he removes his arms from around me and begins to pace, but I know there is so much more running through his mind. All the fears he has for Sam come first. By extension, he worries for me. Only after he thinks of us, for the rest of his battle-worn friends, for the entirety of humanity, will he he even admit he has fears for himself. My Dean. He wants to save us all.
But not like this.
"Nah."
"'Nah'? You telling me you haven't learned your lesson?"
"Oh, I've learned a lesson, all right. Just not the one you wanted to teach." This has only made Dean stronger, and I am so proud of him. He'll never be that man we met.
Zach is not so pleased with this attitude. Or my smug look, if his burning stare in my direction shows his true feelings. "Well, I'll just have to teach it again! Because I got you now, boy, and I'm never letting you -"
Suddenly we're settling back into ourselves again, outside under the stars on the side of a road standing with the only angel I care to see. I have never, in all the time we've known him, been so damn happy to see Castiel. I can't stop myself from throwing my arms around his shoulders. Doesn't even matter how awkward it quickly becomes for us both.
"That's pretty nice timing, Cas," I mumble into his trenchcoat.
"We had an appointment."
Dean puts a hand on his shoulder, and eases me away from him. "Don't ever change."
"How did Zachariah find you?"
"Long story. Let's just stay away from Jehovah's Witnesses who have the hots for my girlfriend from now on, okay?"
"What did he show you?" asks our ever curious friend.
"Too much of the wrong things. People I never want to meet. What is real, Cas? That future?" I have to know.
He doesn't answer. Maybe he doesn't know. That's the reality I'm choosing to believe.
Dean pulls out his phone, and Cas grabs onto the distraction. "What are you doing?"
"Something I should have done in the first place."
He calls his brother. Of course, he does.
As much as the relationship is strained, he can never be long without him. I know that. I agree. We've enjoyed our time alone, but there has been a piece missing. We were never quite . . . complete. Sam is just too big a part of us both. Dean needed the break, and frankly, so did I. But after what we've just seen, we need Sammy more. Doesn't matter if they're the "fire and oil of Armageddon" as Dean said. That may be true, but Sammy's place is by Dean's side. Dean needs him.
I need him.
I don't know yet how much trust I have in him, how much I believe he's ready to jump back in, but I don't really care. The resentment that was creeping in after that phone call at the motel is gone. I'll miss the time alone with my man, but there are more important things. So much has changed. For us it's been three days, in this reality probably only a few hours, but the world looks so different to me. It will look so much better once I lay eyes on my best friend.
We leave Cas to whatever it is he does when he's not with us, and Dean drives us a little ways to a gravel road beside a bridge we know well. I spend the trip on the phone with Uncle Bobby. I promise him I'll explain later why I'm crying, but right now I just need to hear his voice.
"I'm sorry," Dean says quietly once he shuts of the engine at the bridge.
"Why?"
"I always knew I'd screw this up."
"What the hell are you talking about? That Brothers Grimm version of our life? Total bullshit Dean. Never happen."
"But still-"
"Still nothing. It will never happen. We won't let it. Besides, it was my fault, Hers. Whatever."
"Seeing you like that," he begins but can't finish. His eyes shine with the tears I won't let him shed.
"That was nothing, a lie told in desperation. Zachariah wants you to cave. But he's wrong to think this would work. You know I'll never leave you, baby. I'm here. With you until the very end."
He takes my hand and pulls me out of the car with him, leaving the conversation behind us. Too much introspection over the last few days for him. My poor guy.
Sam pulls up in a stolen beater to find us tangled in each other against the Impala. Things are almost back to normal. He walks slowly up to us as we unwind. The cautious look on his face stabs at me, and I run up to him much like I did with Cas. It's my day for hugging, I guess. I hang on the midsection of my giant friend and don't let go.
"I missed you, Sammy. You aren't supposed to leave me for so long. We agreed, dude," I tell him. "Better?"
"Better," he assures me, then turns to face his brother.
Dean pulls out Ruby's knife and holds it out to Sam. "If you're serious and you want back in...you should hang on to this. I'm sure you're rusty."
Sam takes the knife but doesn't speak. I hold my breath as Dean has more to say.
"Look, man, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm whatever I need to be. But I was, uh, wrong."
Sam and I both raise our eyebrows.
After a quick look to me, Sam asks him, "What made you change your mind?"
"Long story. The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human. You and Jane, you're the only things left that I can't handle losing.
"Thank you. Really. Thank you. I won't let you down."
"Oh, I know it. I mean, you are the second-best hunter on the planet."
Sam nods and the pieces of my life start falling back into place. Dean is in charge and a little closed off, Sam is by his side and a bit morose, I'm in the middle and just so damn glad to be here, Bobby's only a phone call away. My little family is again dysfunctionally functional, as we should be.
"So, what do we do now?" I ask.
Dean pulls me to his side and meets my eyes. "We make our own future."
Sam sort of agrees. "Guess we have no choice."
I can't resist the opening. I grab Dean's shirt and remind him, "Just don't choose a whorehouse."
AN: I truly wanted to end this right for you guys. Thank you for sticking with these two. Maybe you'll see them again. I have a Twilight fic and a Harry Potter fic to complete, then we'll see if Jane has anything left to say.
And a rec for you. Go check out Whackadoo. She's just awesome and deserves more attention than she's gotten. "Seeing Stars" is an incredible oneshot. "Road Trip" is a great adventure, and not just because I'm the inspiration for the character El!