Neither Dean nor Castiel said anything for a long time. "That does explain why you shot Michael almost as soon as he stepped into the bar."

Dean stood back up and straightened his jacket. "Anyway that's what I wanted to say. You can go back to…doing whatever it was you were gonna do after I left." The blonde cleared his throat awkwardly before turning to leave.

"Dean." The P.I. looked back at Castiel over his shoulder. "I apologize for leading you to believe that I had died."

The blonde nodded to himself, taking in Castiel's apology. "It won't fix everything, but it's a start." Dean nodded again before actually leaving the bar.

Castiel sighed before looking to the sky for answers. "Why does this happen to me?"

"Michael's dead."

Dean dropped his jacket onto the back of a chair in his hotel room, Gabriel, Mary, and Sam all seated in various places around the room. "I wasn't expecting him to survive a shot to the head, especially one made by Cas."

"Lisa's okay at the hospital," Sam continued, taking his brother's tired state in stride. "They didn't ask many questions about what happened after Gabriel let it slip that the Novaks were involved." Dean nodded, the only sign that he was paying attention to Sam's words.

Mary placed a hand on Dean's arm, squeezing slightly. "Are you okay, baby?"

The dirty blonde shrugged. "I could be worse off. I could be Lisa." Mary nodded, not wanting to let go of Dean but letting her hand slip off for his sake. "Listen, it's been a long day and honestly I just wanna go to sleep. D'you mind if we pick this up tomorrow?"

Gabriel was oddly silent when he agreed. Sam and Mary nodded to show their agreement as well. "We'll see you tomorrow, Dean," Sam said, the three of them standing one at a time. "Just try to take it easy tonight."

When Dean woke up the next morning, an uneasy feeling had built up in the pit of his stomach as a result of his conversation with Castiel the previous day. "If you did it to protect me, why didn't you contact me when you were safe?"

Castiel looked up from where he was reading at one of the bar tables to the angry P.I. who had just stormed into his bar. "I was never safe, Dean. I had obviously been in this location for too long if Michael was able to track me here."

"You thought you were safe enough that you could let yourself make friends," Dean countered. He stared at the bartender as Castiel considered Dean's rebuttal, his book now laying facedown on the cover.

Finally Castiel looked back at Dean. "I was unsure as to whether you would want to see me again after all of this time."

Dean blinked before staring at Castiel again, trying to read the dark brunette's face. "God dammit, Cas," the P.I. said softly. "What did I do to make you do this to me?"

"Fuck off, Winchester."

Dean sighed, internally relieved that he'd found the right place. "Y'know, I wasn't sure if the address someone had left on my desk was for your place or where some crime was gonna happen and they needed a witness to get rid of later."

"It is about to be both if you do not leave at this very moment."

He rested his arm against Castiel's door. "Dammit, Cas, what did I do?" Dean leaned his forehead against his arm for a few seconds, staring at the wood in front of his face before giving up. The P.I. straightened himself out and cleared his throat. He pulled his coat jacket straight before turning away. Dean walked away from Castiel's apartment but not without looking back at the apartment several times.

He only really stopped looking after he turned the corner.

Castiel opened his door just after Dean was completely out of sight from his apartment. "You started digging," he said quietly before he closed the door.

Dean's chest was heaving as his anger returned to him, Castiel returning to the present. The bartender knew that Dean had not heard his explanation all of those years ago and he had no intention of informing him that he actually had no clear idea as to why he insisted on pushing the dirty blonde away. "You know exactly what you did."

The P.I. stared at Castiel. "No, Cas, I don't. I actually have no fucking clue what I did." Dean huffed for a moment. "As a matter of fact, I'm reasonably certain that I didn't do a single damn thing in order for this to happen. All I did was try to figure out why a person was murdered. I was trying to help someone get closure for the death of someone they loved. And then I met you and everything else happened," he finished, letting his voice drift off at the end.

Castiel frowned at Dean. "You cannot try to pin the blame for all of this down on me, Dean."

"No? Really, cause I'm pretty sure that that's what I was just doing there, Cas."

"No, you cannot because I am not the one who killed the person that brought you into my life in the first place!" Castiel took a deep breath. "Get out."

Dean stared at the bartender. "Cas…"

"Get. Out. Of. My. Bar."

Dean sighed, something he seemed to be doing an awful lot of since he met Castiel. He turned to leave, making it a few steps away from where he'd been standing before turning to look at the other man again. "Sam was right." The blonde didn't wait until Castiel had turned to look at him before he plowed on. "Gabriel was right. Balthazar was right. Anna was right. Lisa was right. Hell, Michael motherfucking Novak was right in the end." Dean stopped briefly to try to calm himself down. "I can't - fuck, Cas, I won't live like this. I'm lost, man. I'm lost without you and, despite everything I've said, I need you." He sucked in a deep breath. "I love you, Castiel Novak. I don't know how it happened or even why, all I know is that I do." Dean stopped looking at Castiel by this point. "I can't keep going like this. I can't live without you - and believe me, I damn well tried. For five years, I tried. But," he continued, looking back up at Castiel, who was dead silent. "If you want me to get the hell out of your bar and your life, I'm not gonna try to stop you. I will walk out of these doors and, I can't say I won't look back, but I can say I won't come running back in here if I walk out of here. I can say that if we meet again, I will turn the other fucking way and keep going like I never saw you." Dean set his mouth into a hard line before continuing. "So think about that."

He didn't know what he was expecting, but seeing Castiel's eyes widen surprise was probably on the list. Beneath 'pull out a gun and shoot me', but still, on the list. "It's about damn time, Dean Winchester."

That, on the other hand, was definitely not on the list.

"Wait, what?" Dean opened his mouth to reply, only to shake his head and close his mouth again. "I'm gonna need you to say that one more time."

Castiel took a deep breath. "I said, it's about damn time, Dean Winchester. It's not like I haven't been waiting to hear that for years."

Dean opened his mouth again before closing it and crossing his arms. "I think I'm missing something here."

Okay, it might've been on the list. Waaaaaay at the bottom, but still on the list.

The bartender sighed, his shoulders tight with tension. "I've gone through Hell and highwater for you, and all you can say is 'I think I'm missing something'?"

"Can I just note here," Dean began, "I thought you were dead for six years and you didn't answer me the one time I actually did find you?"

"Yes, and how many times have I found you? How many times have I left something behind just so that you would keep following me? How many times did you almost catch me watching you just to know that what I was doing was right? Do you even know how hard it is, to turn against your family for someone who doesn't give a damn about you?"

"Damn right I know what it's like to do almost anything for someone who doesn't care," Dean replied, his anger boiling over. "I kept looking for you even when I wasn't even sure you were still alive. No fucking hint required," he added.

Castiel turned on his heel to face Dean. "This is not a competition to see who has done more for the other over the years, Dean. We are both extremely hurt by the other and angry but if you think I'm going to hold back on you, you obviously haven't been paying attention for the past six goddamn years!" He took a few strides in order to put him into Dean's personal space. "Do you want to hear me say it, Dean? Well, fine then! I am in love with you!"

Dean stared at Castiel, fully aware that the bartender was fairly dangerous in his current state of anger and of their proximity to one another. "Do you regret it?" Castiel narrowed his eyes at Dean, his anger still hovering around the two of them. "This, meeting me, turning your back on your family. Do you regret it?"

"I doubt that I am able to regret my actions at this point."

The blonde laughed, his chest feeling lighter than it had in years. "I guess this is the point where you can regret them if you want, Cas." He fussed with his hands for a few seconds, looking at them before looking back at Castiel.

Castiel cocked his head to the side slightly, considering his options. "If my options are to either regret my actions or accept them for what they are, I choose the latter." Hope rose in Dean's chest at the bartender's words. "I believe, given the opportunity, I would not change any of my actions as they led to our current situation. Of course, there is the matter that Michael is dead, however, that seems highly irrelevant at the moment."

The corner of Dean's mouth quirked up before leading into a small, but bright, smile on the blonde's face. "Yeah, that sounds like you, Cas."

Castiel's smile mirrored Dean's own in its brightness, despite its matching size. "I have a question," he said after a moment, crowding into Dean's personal space. "Despite the fact that it may not be of import to you, I find it extremely comforting to have a verbal confirmation." Dean waited for Castiel to get on with it. "May I kiss you, Dean?"

Dean was really glad that Sam wasn't there at the moment. "Yes you may, Castiel."

Sam was really worried when Dean wasn't in his hotel room. Gabriel was less concerned about it, reasoning that the older Winchester was probably making up with Castiel back at the bar. Mary was more interested in the two other Novaks who had suddenly appeared overnight. (She'd already figured that Dean would've had questions for Castiel and gone straight to the bartender as soon as he'd woken up.)

"Really, Gabriel. It's not like Dean to just up and leave like this."

"Really, Samantha. I'm sure that Dean-o is just fine and doing things I'm not going to think about with my baby brother."

"Dean's finally gotten together with Cas?"

"That's what I'm guessing. So, going back to what you were both saying earlier, you broke into Dean's office?"

"I had to break in a second time after my original meeting with him. I accidentally left my book on his desk."

"Huh. Sam, honey, calm down. Dean's fine. I imagined he'd go off with Castiel as soon as he got the chance."

"Okay, Mom, if you say so. I'm still worried about Dean getting attacked by mobsters, though."

"Please, Gigantor. He'll be fine."

A/N: So, please don't kill me because I think I may have rushed this chapter a little bit and it feels like it was put together a little haphazardly but on the other hand it's only been five-ish days since I put up the last chapter. ON THE OTHER HAND, DEAN AND CAS FINALLY GOT THEIR SHIT TOGETHER. So, reviews? Critiques? Flaming words of hate? Also, another chapter is going to come. I just have no idea what it's gonna be.