A/N: This is coda to The Great Escapist, before the final scene.

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It was not yet dark enough for Dean to switch on his headlamps. The road was being eaten up under the wheels of the Impala, bringing the Winchesters home to the bunker.

Sam was in a fitful half-sleep slouched in his shotgun seat, in a position that his body had grown into over the years. Dean thought his brother looked marginally less unwell now that Kevin was safe and Metatron had pulled his head out of his ass.

Taking a turn to avoid having to drive the interstate, Dean wondered how (in the name of someone who would listen) do you cure a demon.

Cas had rebuilt him from a molecular level when he had saved him from perdition. Dean was not sure if he was black-eyed as Alastair's apprentice. There were no mirrors in hell. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Maybe there was lore in the Men of Letters library. He felt a modicum of relief that Sam would have to spend some time on research. Perfect after what Sam's body had been through. It would be not dangerous, book lore. Dude, couldn't walk around a rundown fake-hotel without needing an ice bath.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. The road was clear. He pulled out the cell and saw Paul's name on the screen. There had been two voicemails that Dean had listened to after his visit to the Two Rivers museum. The first was nice, a message that Paul was concerned for his safety and asking him to call when he had a chance. The second had been a garbled ramble about finding people, Dean thought Paul might have been drunk when he recorded it. He opened the text message –

Hi Dean. Kno U Wrk. U Bak by Sat? If so come for chilli 7. I Hve News. Stay safe. Paul.

Did they find the lost number two pool ball? Dean laughed at his own joke.

Sam jerked to full awareness beside him.

Dean winced that he had woken his brother, stuffed the phone back in his pocket and put on his game face. "So," he began keeping his eyes fixed on the twilit road, "that was Metatron huh?

"Yeah." Sam muttered.

"Not very impressive was he?"

"I don't know Dean. He did rescue Kevin from Crowley." Sam pointed out.

"But dude, seriously, the old-dad vessel, the crumbling books, the way he was squirreled away for millennia? Freaking coward." Dean fumed.

"Huh?" Sam muttered having trouble following Dean's logic.

"Ran away and hid. Freaking toddlers left alone in the kindergarten, the whole lot of them. Why are all angels such utter dicks? Metatron ran away. Gabriel the same." Dean said with gusto.

"Why are you so peeved about what some douche angel did with his existence?"

"Sam, there could be people who needed him, needed them. Needed their help." Dean almost growled and stared straight ahead.

Sam lifted his head a fraction and gave Dean an assessing gaze. "Is this about Metatron or about Castiel?"

Dean bit his lip, "Shut your cakehole, Sam."

His brother sighed wearily, "Dean, I am too sick for your self denial crap. Cas didn't disappear, not completely. He came looking for you."

The sound of the Impala screeching to a halt caused a flock of tiny birds to rise out their roadside bush resting place.

"Wh-what?" Dean couldn't catch his breath. He wondered if he was hyperventilating. "Wh-when Sa-sammy?"

"Geez, take a breath Dean. A few weeks ago. He showed up at the bunker. I told him you were in Concordia and he did his vanishing act for about twenty minutes." Sam sighed, "Then he face planted back in the middle of the library all whacked out and kinda emotional."

"Wh-what?" Dean couldn't believe his ears.

"It was the night you won $20 at pool and brought me back a warm Heineken. Thanks for that by the way, the stomach cramp was a bitch." Sam grinned and waited for the princess comment or a bitch/jerk exchange.

"Crap. Crap. Crap." Dean slammed his hand on the dash. "And you didn't think to tell me this?"

Sam looked ashamed, "Well, I wasn't sure when you returned and he was gone…"

"Is that why you had two cups for tea? Sonvabitch Sam."

"Look, I'm sorry. He was gone. You went straight to bed. Then there was all the research stuff and helping Charlie and not sleeping and being dizzy and then Metatron…" Sam's voice trailed off.

"OK. OK." Dean's chest sagged. His brother was sick. He couldn't stay angry with him. "Did Cas have the angel tablet? Did he say where he was or where he was going?"

"No and no." Sam said wearily and pulled his fingers through his hair, "He said he was running low on juice."

"Low on grace?" Dean's head turned to Sam's face and his eyes were like saucers.

"I think he is falling." Sam said.

"Geez, Sam. We have to find him. I can't leave him go through that alone." Dean gulped.

"We are a little busy, Dean." Sam pointed out, "I am not unconcerned but Castiel can take care of himself."

"You don't know that. He needs me." Dean's voice was raised.

Sam's brow furled and he repeated back, "He needs you?"

"I need him."

"You need him? Dean? What does that mean?"

There was a deathly silence in the car.

"Fuck Sam." Dean squeezed his eyes closed and his palms curled to almost fists, "I love him. Alright. I frigging love him. Don't you say one word. Not one Sam."

Sam looked at his brother, his own eyes wide now. He waited to the mental count of twenty seconds. Breaking the awkward silence he risked touching Dean's sleeve, "I knew you had feelings for him, that you had allowed him family status, suspected at times you found him attractive, but you love him?"

"Sam!" Dean warned his brother to shut up about it.

"Does Cas know this? Does your new guy Paul know this?"

"Paul knows." Dean admitted. "He…. Fuck it Sam. Paul has an MIA partner, the type he would have gone to Massachusetts or France to make official by now if he hadn't upped sticks. He knows about Cas."

"You go from having no gay lovelife to one worthy of a Hallmark special in one fell swoop. You don't do things by halves do you?" Sam let exaggerated disbelief show in his tone and shook his shaggy head.

"Nope," Dean let Sam get away with his effort to lighten the mood, "because I'm awesome."

He turned the key and the engine roared to life.

As the Impala rejoined the road, Sam laughed and made himself comfortable, leaning his head against the window. "I guess I'll catch forty, leave you figure out how you are going to tell Cas when we find him."

Dean left Sam have his nap. His aching worry for his brother and for Cas's safety had not lessened but something warm and embryonic wrapped itself around his heart as the night came in and the miles brought them closer to home.

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A/N: Next chapter from Castiel's POV