Chapter 15: Duet
2033-2037
2033
By the river, the girls were double daring their brother to jump into the water too. Recognising that this wasn't such a good idea, since Rory couldn't swim yet, Sarah made her way over to them.
'This is the life, right?' Dean mused, to no one in particular. The other men nodded. The dying light was painting the sky orange. There was a nice warm breeze. The lawn was strewn with wet towels and striped drinking straws in every imaginable colour. The beer was cold. Amy and Rose hadn't argued once.
It was pretty much a perfect day.
'Come inside, Dean. I want to tell you something,' Castiel suggested. Blinking, Dean shaded his eyes against the summer sun and nodded. After downing the last of his beer, he followed Castiel into the house.
'I love you,' Dean said, before Castiel could say anything.
'How did you know I...?'
'Cause I love you, dude. And I always will.'
Castiel smiled like an idiot and ran up the stairs. Dean raced up the steps too, which caused his heart to flutter in a not entirely unpleasant manner. When he arrived in the bedroom, Castiel was huddled under the covers; his hair a hot mess.
'I love you too,' he whispered. He looked flushed and adorable. Dean slid in beside him and pulled him closer.
It was a perfect day.
2034
One day, after his morning jog, Castiel wandered into the kitchen. Dean was folding the laundry, but paused when he saw the dazed expression on Castiel's face.
'What's wrong?'
'One of the Jones' kids called me Mr. Winchester.'
'Missus? Those little bastards. Which one? Point her out to me.'
It was only now that Dean noticed that Castiel was looking inordinately pleased.
'Not missus; Mr Winchester.'
'Okay. That's alright. Let's just pretend I wasn't going to knife a little girl to death.'
2035
The Fourth of July.
'I'd rather not risk it. Contrary to you, I do not relish the possibility of having my hand blow off,' Castiel explained. Dean looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head.
'You don't?'
'No, I don't understand this tradition.'
'It's a guy thing.'
'I'm a guy.'
'Barely.'
2036
When Hannah used Dean and Castiel as an example of why she didn't see the point in marrying Ben, they were forced to reveal that they were, in fact, married and had been for almost nine years. When Hannah still wasn't convinced - thinking that Ben had only asked her because he thought it was what he was supposed to do - Castiel tried to explain his feelings about marriage.
'When you ask someone to marry you, what you're really saying is, 'I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.' Isn't that the single most beautiful thing one person can say to another?'
2037
After much outrage following their marriage announcement, Dean and Castiel were persuaded (threatened, sabotaged, and blackmailed) by their family and friends into renewing their vows or, as Sam liked to call it, having a proper wedding.
Dean, looking ready to kill anyone who dared to refer to him as the bride, read this.
'I can sum up reasons why I love you, but that would be bullshit. This thing that we do: the living together, the running a business together, the taking care of each other, the reading together; I like that. It's very domestic and boring at times, but it's comfortable. And I think the fact that I don't want to do those things with anyone else; that might be love. Yes, I'm pretty sure that is love. That, even when we fight or when you're being annoying as hell or when you quote Hemingway at me, whom I hate, I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with. I'm a thousand times happier with you than I would be with anyone else. So, that's... love. Which my mind tells me I could share with someone else, but my heart only wants to share with you.'
Castiel, beaming at everyone, especially at Dean, didn't need a note. He knew his speech by heart.
'I thought I was created for the job I had before we met. Until you came along. You made me feel things that I hadn't felt before and you made me doubt. At first it was horrible to not be sure anymore. However, eventually I realised that doubt was good. Because... if you don't question what you believe, if you don't think about it, then it's not really believing at all. It's a mindless following of orders. It's worthless. So, I questioned and I started to believe again. I believed in you. You didn't make it easy. Countless times I doubted whether believing in you was the right thing to do, but at the end of the day I always did. Whether I began to love you because I believed in you or whether I believed in you because I loved you; I don't know. It is difficult to determine which came first. But I love you. For over thirty years I have loved you and I realise now that I was wrong. The only thing I was created for was the task of loving you. I'm much better at it and I like it much more than my old job.'