A/N: okay, here it is. The end. Yes there is an epilogue, but I'm not sure when it will be posted. Hopefully soon. Yes, there are loose ends and yes you still have questions, but I hope they will be answered in the epilogue. Its bittersweet, posting this, but I do so with relief. I love this story, so very very much, but just like your children, eventually you have to let them go. I hope you have enjoyed this journey and will enjoy the ones to come!

Many of you had an idea of how this would go, were so very sure and I really hope you aren't disappointed if it didn't go where you thought. Thank you so much for every read and every heartfelt review, they mean the world to me.

I don't have the internet except on my phone right now, so I'm sorry for the lack of an LJ cut or weird formatting. I'll try to fix that asap. For now, read and enjoy!

**Hard Road**

Dean and Cas appeared back in their cabin. Everything looked just the way they'd left it and Dean took a minute to glance around. In the ten days they'd been here, this place had started to feel... almost homey. There were few places Dean felt truly at home at. Okay, there were really only two: Bobby's and the Impala. But this place? Dean was surprised to find he was going to miss their little cabin.

"Me, too," Cas whispered quietly from where he stood beside Dean, still holding his hand.

Dean felt a rush of emotions from the angel, too many to pick out exactly what. Cas was feeling.

"Okay, first things first. What the hell is going on?" he asked, letting go of Cas' hand and turning to fave the other man.

He could sense Cas' nervousness. Cas cleared his throat then walked over to their bed. He took a seat then motioned for Dean to join him.

Dean complied and sat down next to Cas. Cas took a deep breath and started to speak.

"I've told you before that you and I share a profound bond."

Dean snorted.

Cas leveled an annoyed look at him.

"Sorry. Go on," Dean apologized.

"As I was saying, you and I share a profounf bond, and I meant that more that figuratively. When I pulled your tattered soul from hell, there was only one way to repair it. I used bits of my Grace to knit together the worst wounds."

Dean blinked in surprise.

"So, I've been carrying around bits of you?" he asked. Cas gave him a small smile.

"In a manner of speaking."

"But... I've never felt you, not like this," Dean protested. Cas nodded.

"Yes, I know. Because it was a one sided bond. An incomplete one."

"What does that mean?" Dean asked.

"It means that while I had given something significant of myself, you had not," Cas answered.

Dean felt uncomfortably guilty at that.

"Don't, Dean. I didn't expect anything, I was merely following orders then," Cas admonished and Dean could feel the sincerity of those words.

"So, what changed?" Dean asked.

Cas blushed the slightest bit.

"This week, you did give something of yourself, freely. Everytime we..." Cas trailed of but Dean could tell what he was saying.

"So, everytime we did the nasty, I was offering bits of myself to you?" Dean asked.

Cas raised an eyebrow and Dean could feel amusement coming from the angel.

"That is one way of putting it, I suppose." Suddenly, Dean felt a wave of nervousness flow from Cas to him. "Are... are you okay with that?" Cas asked.

Dean thought about it for a minute. Really, he already thought of himself as pretty well tied to the angel, especially after this week, so...

"Yeah, Cas. I'm okay with that." Dean clumsily tried to send a rush of assurance to his angel and was rewarded with a blinding smile.

"Good." Cas leaned over and pressed his lips to Dean's. Dean was totally okay with that. The hunter returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. Dean was ready to kick it up a notch when a knock at their door brought everything to a grinding halt.

"What?" Dean snapped. He could feel frustration rolling off Cas as well.

"Hey, it's me," his brother called through the door.

"Damn," Dean muttered.

"Don't worry, there will be time later," Cas promised, but Dean could feel the uncertainty of that statement.

"Yes, there will be," Dean promised. He smiled at the flood of relief that came from Cas.

Dean reluctantly stood up from the bed and went over to let his brother in.

Sam bounded into the room.

"Okay, so, I got Jack and Alec back to their cabin and answered some of their questions. They seem to be holding up pretty well. You guys packed up and ready to go?"

"Not quite," Dean admitted.

"There's something else we should discuss before we leave," Cas spoke up, pulling the glowing vial from his pocket.

"Yeah, about that," Sam said. "How in the world did a pagan goddess end up with an angel's Grace?"

"I'm not sure, Sam," Cas admitted.

"Tell him who's Grace she's been fucking around with," Dean spoke up.

Cas glanced between the two brothers.

"I am pretty sure it is Gabriel's Grace," Cas explained.

"Gabriel?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Cas replied.

"So, what does that mean? Does it mean he's still alive?" Sam asked, glancing between Cas and Dean.

"In a manner of speaking, I suppose you could say that," Cas admitted but Dean could tell he wasn't completely sure of his answer. "If we can find a way to... recreate his physical form, then we could reunite his Grace with his body and he would live."

"And how would we do that?" Dean asked.

"I'm not sure," Cas admitted.

"Well, we'll just have to figure it out," Sam added. "We owe it to him."

Cas nodded and Dean felt a wave of guilt from the angel.

"It wasn't your fault, Cas, don't even go there," Dean ordered.

Cas just nodded.

"So, what do we do with it 'til then?" Sam asked.

Cas tilted his head.

"It needs to be kept safe. I... I don't feel comfortable taking it to Heaven," Cas told them. Dean kneq things were better upstairs but that Cas still had a long way to go before it would be peaceful again.

"We can keep it down here, then," Sam offered.

Cas seemed to think about it for a minute before nodding his head.

"Sam, come here please," Cas asked.

Sam's brow furrowed but he complied with the request. When he was standing in front of Cas, the shorter man reached up and placed the chain around Sam's neck. He muttered a few words in what Dean was pretty sure was Enochian, and then stepped back.

"Now you will be the only one able to remove it from yourself. It cannot be taken from you," Cas explained.

Sam nodded.

"We will have to research, find a way to recreate his physical form," Cas pointed out.

"Sammy's good at the research. We'll figure it out," Dean promised.

"Alright, well, I'm going to go get my stuff together. I'll meet you guys by the gate?" Sam asked, mindlessly fingering the vial that lay against his chest.

"Sounds good. Hey, remember, that's friggin' Gabriel you're fondling," Dean pointed out with a teasing grin.

Sam gave his brother a bitchface before leaving the cabin.

Dean immediately turned back to Cas.

"Now, where were we?" With that, he pulled his angel to him and kissed him, pouring everything he didn't know how to say into the kiss. He couldn't ask with words, so he asked with his body. His mind silently begged Cas not to disappear back to Heaven, not to go back to the way things were.

Cas pulled back and cradled his face in his hands.

"I promise."

Dean smiled.

"Good. You better keep that promise."

"I will."

Cas leaned back in and kissed the hunter deeply.

It had been a long time, but Dean was pretty sure this was what true happiness felt like.

And didn't that just make him a girl.

**The End**