There's a reason i didn't put a warning at the beginning of the previous chapter. I don't believe in giving anything away. So I apologize... but i don't. :) I am so thrilled that i was able to get the feeling across.

Now the epilogue came out right after the chapter before it. Because I had a few more things to take care of. I hope it's an ending fitting to this story.

Epilogue

Mark doesn't know where the impala is. If he did, he'd find her and make sure she was okay. Maybe find someone who would treasure her like Dean did. But he has no idea where Dean had locked her up. Hopefully no one else finds her for a while. But he remembers where the cabin is. And he thinks that maybe that's where he wants to stay. It's time to retire.

Things are going back to normal. Other countries are helping them get back on track. Setting up officials. Leaders. Rebuilding cities. It'll take time to get things almost back to the way it was. Years. But they're headed in the right direction now. There may be a few more leviathans out there to hunt down, but they're floundering without their leader. And there are younger people out there who can take care of the rest. It's time to retire.

Walking up the path to the cabin, he notices the way thing have grown over in the Winchesters' absence. It seems like it's been pressed down recently though. Maybe a week ago. By a car. Mark sighs. Well, maybe they left after seeing it was empty. He hopes so. It would feel wrong for someone to live here after knowing the Winchesters had made this their home.

He gets towards the end of the trail before he hears something, deciding to walk around the edge of the trees to look through and see who it is. He swears under his breath when he sees the impala parked out in the yard. Beautiful as ever. Shiny. Clean. And… with someone working under the hood. He looks at the man in confusion.

Through the branches, it takes him a second to see past the healing gash that goes down the side of the man's face. When he does, he can only stare in shock. "Dean," he breathes. He watches him work on the car, hood up and rag in his hand as he gets all of the grime off that had built up wherever he left her. It's a shock to see such a huge mark marring what had always been a too-pretty face for a hunter.

It takes him a second to notice that there's someone missing here. He's too busy looking Dean over, seeing if he's doing alright, to notice that Sam is nowhere to be seen until Dean stands and wipes his hands on a different, cleaner, rag.

"Looks like she's almost back to normal, eh Sammy?"

Mark feels tears stinging in his eyes as he watches Dean turn around and freeze. He looks to where he knows Dean is looking. The base of a tree. It's empty. Looking to Dean's back, he watches him shake his head, looking down to where he's wiping his hands clean with the rag. He falls back to sit on the edge of the fender. When his hands are cleaner, he tosses the rag to the ground and just looks out over the yard.

The unmarred side of Dean's face is visible now. Blank. Unreadable. He sits that way for just a minute before he turns back around to finish working on the car. The small sound of a sniff. But that's it. He just keeps working. Mark decides it's time to move on. Dean's out here for a reason. Never told anyone he was alive for a reason. He wants to be alone. Mark accepts that. He turns and leaves. Lets Dean have what he wants. He doesn't know how Dean got out. Wonders if Dean had tried to get Sam out too. He decides it's not for him to know anyway.

He understands why Dean is up here. Why they'd both be here. He doesn't want the rest of his life to be dictated by people recognizing him. People knowing who he is and wanting to talk to him instead of him just being able to mosey into town to get the supplies he needs. And Mark knows that's what would have happened if he had stuck around afterwards if he had been involved with the rest of the clean up. Instead, Dean gets to live out the rest of his life in peace. An end for a hunter that is rarely, if ever, possible. But Mark wishes him the best of luck. Because if anyone deserves to have a peaceful, if not happy ending, it's Dean.

Mark is already on his way down the mountain when Sam comes around the side of the cabin, two beer bottles in his hands. He doesn't see the way Dean turns before Sam even gets close enough for Dean to hear him. Doesn't see Dean smile like he was given the whole world even though it has to pull the stitches in his face. Doesn't see Sam touch Dean's stitches gently. Doesn't see Dean take his hand away before resting his own on the back of Sam's neck. But that's okay. It's not for him to see.

Dean tilts his head a little, smile still in place. "Where'd you go?"

Sam holds up the beers.

Dean raises an eyebrow. Then grins, winces, and tones it down so as not to pull the stitches. "You read my mind, Sammy." He takes one, opens it, and hands it to Sam. Then takes the other one. "Your hand okay?"

Sam nods. Flexes it. He almost has full grip back. Opening things like cans and beer bottles still give him trouble though. He lets Dean look over the healing cut on his arm, pulling his arm away when it starts itching from Dean's gentle touch to scratch at it. The muscle underneath is still healing, making the area very sensitive.

Dean chuckles, sniffing and taking the tissue Sam holds out for him a second later. A little cold left from the sickness he got from an infection in the gash on his face is really fighting to stick around. "So… I'm almost done here. What do you want to do after?"

Sam smiles softly, waiting through Dean chugging down half of his beer before stepping forward into Dean's arms. He sighs in content as he lays his head on his brother's shoulder and feels Dean rest his arms over his back.

Dean chuckles. "A nap it is. You know, you're lucky I didn't mind being forced into all of this touchy-feely stuff."

Sam snorts, pulling back and heading towards the cabin with a roll of his eyes.

"What?"

Sam only shakes his head, laughing at Dean's explanations as to why all of this 'touchy-feely crap' is all Sam's fault. He smiles smugly to himself when later, they're both laying across each other on the couch after turning off the TV (which has recently started getting cable again with the return of reruns of TV shows and people taking up the jobs of News and Weather). He turns, moving to lay where he was the night he and Dean had waited out the moon when they feared for a werewolf bite. Right up against Dean's side.

Thinking Dean is asleep, he studies the healing gash on Dean's face. Remembers the day his brother was staring at himself in the mirror. How he had gone in and turned Dean's face to him and say, "Normal is overrated anyway." Hugged him for an immeasurable amount of time when self-confident Dean had to reestablish said self-confidence with his new face. It wasn't about good looks per say. It was just… mourning the loss of the comfortably normal and reconciling with the reality that there's a mark on his face that will draw people's attention in a way he's never been used to.

Sam studies the differences. How Dean's mouth will always curve down a little more on that side now. How his almond shaped eyes will be a little less symmetrical. But… the crows feet that show up whenever Dean smiles are still there. He saw them earlier. And really… it's like Sam's dimples for Dean. They're a sign for happiness so that's all Sam cares. He can still see the most important part of how Dean's smile affects his face.

He looks over the gash. How it's healing. With the infection gone and being almost healed up, he decides that the stitches can come out tomorrow. In a split second of decision, he touches his lips to the end of it where it curves over Dean's jaw, a barely there touch of affection. Just because he can. Not a normal brother reaction… but he could care less. Then he burrows his nose into Dean's neck and lets out a sigh.

"Such a girl," Dean murmurs.

Already half asleep, Sam barely replies with a breathed, "Jerk."

Dean chuckles a little. "Bitch."

Sam falls asleep with a soft smile on his face.

:/ Once again, I apologize for nothing. Because I just couldn't kill the boys. (even though I've been so cruel to Sam in my other stories) But that's what I had originally planned. Them dieing at the end. When it came down to it though... I wanted the heartbreaking ending. But... I also wanted it to have an unexpected happy one. So I came up with a compromise for myself. :) anyone else happy with the turnaround? If not, as I said, I'm not sorry ;) But I did what our writers of our show did with Bobby. lol Killed them off in an effectively heart-wrenching manner (according to you guys, by the way, thanks) and brought them back. (which I'm glad they did with Bobby because he's an awesome character and I'm going to stop before I go into a tangent).

So anyway, I'm thinking of doing a little short story of how they escaped, yes? I'll attach it to the end of this one probably if I do. Just one last flashback to end the story.