Epilogue

One month after he woke up…

Dean hadn't talked about it. Castiel hadn't asked. Sam had wanted to, but didn't know how to bring it up. It's not like Sam or Castiel knew what Dean had seen one month ago when he'd met Holly in his mind. It had been the little things that had made them want to ask Dean.

Dean hadn't wanted to stop at a diner on any hunts. Finally though Sam had convinced him to stop at this particular one that seemed very familiar the second Dean pulled up to it and walked inside. It was like déjà vu. He knew every waitress and every chef behind the counter window. He saw customers laughing and milling about. This was the diner in his head. Why had Sam chosen that place? Why? Dean sighed and sat down at the exact booth that he and Holly had chosen every time they'd visited the place in his head. The cheery waitress walked over took all of their orders. Sam, a salad. Castiel ordered nothing. Dean begrudgingly settled on a cheeseburger. At least he knew they were good. He tried not to stare at Castiel across from him in the booth, where Holly had sat in his mind, because the more he looked at Castiel the more he saw Holly. The more he saw a girl he wanted so badly to meet, but wanted to run away from at the same time. Dean looked away when Castiel stared back at him, confused as to why Dean was looking in the first place, but Dean could sense a bit of shyness in Castiel's actions. Familiar shyness Dean had seen in the future.

Dean's eyes, however; caught something else. There were children's drawings on the wall. Taped up and organized in a jumbled collage-like way. They were most likely given to the waitresses as "tips" from the children. One picture though, it made it feel as though there were rocks in Dean's stomach. It was a picture of purple moon.

"Someone once told me that moon couldn't be purple, I told them to suck it."

Dean turned his head away quickly; he feared he'd explode if he looked at the picture for one more second, but when his curiosity got the better of him and he looked back again it wasn't a picture of a purple moon at all. It was a picture of goldfish.

"You ok Dean?" Sam asked, he'd been asking that a lot.

"Yeah," Dean swallowed hard, he couldn't tell Sam, not ever. "I'm fine."

Sam informed Dean that Gabriel had tipped off Castiel about another hunt. He'd been helping them for the past month. Dean was grateful. He'd seen the glassy look in Sam's eyes a few times. It had made his stomach hurt and his heart warm at the same time.

After they were done eating, Sam, Dean, and Castiel took off in the Impala towards their next hunt.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Two months after he woke up…

Dean and Sam were driving to their next motel, another hunt under their belt. Castiel had been in Heaven for the past few days with Gabriel. They were still fixing what was left of the problems Metatron had caused. The raindrops from up above rained down on Dean's windshield, but his wipers kept his view clear. The endless road to nowhere seemed twice as long and they'd yet to find a good radio station besides "hillbilly music" as Dean called it. The next song though, the one that made it through, made Dean almost jump out of his skin.

"The danger's in the anger and the hanging on to it, we are love, we are war…"

Dean quickly changed the station. Sam gave him a signature bitch face.

"You didn't even give it a chance," Sam complained. "It's the first song we've heard in miles!"

"Just trust me Sam," Dean sighed, tuning the knob. "Not that song. Now let's see if we can't find us some good old rock and roll."

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Three months after he woke up…

Hunt after hunt had passed and Dean still felt hollow inside. The future loomed over his head like a weather balloon, ready to pop. Try as he might, he couldn't picture anything without seeing Holly dying. The car crash replaying in his mind like a bad horror movie. He seemed to pass the days now in a haze. Sam hadn't noticed too much, he'd chalked it up to Dean recovering from being in an almost four week coma. Castiel and Gabriel had been joining them on hunts on and off. The two angels had duties to attend to in Heaven.

Dean had spent some time alone on Bobby's land in between a hunt. He'd needed to. Bobby was long since gone, his house reduced to ash because of Leviathans. Dean had trudged around the blackened earth. He'd looked over at the soil and saw sprigs of grass. He even saw a few sprouts indicating future flowers. He took that as a good sign, if ever he'd seen one. Dean had gone into the woods behind Bobby's land and looked at the lake. It had been silent and still. It had yet to see the future. It had yet to swallow the secrets of a little girl that Dean was to pull from it. He'd walked over to the tire swing and touched it before pushing it a little to make it fly through the air and over the water.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Dean approached Gabriel one day too. Sam was out gathering intel at the nearest library and Castiel was off in Heaven again. Gabriel sat at the table in the latest ramshackle motel. He was going over lore as well.

"Hey Gabriel," Dean said with a shaky breath. "What do you know about Angelhounds?"

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Four months after he woke up…

They were without a hunt for once. Dean sat peacefully in the motel room. He tapped his fingers lightly on the old wooden table and stared out the window. He thought about what he'd seen. Sure, all he could see was the crunch of the truck. He could only see the blood in his nightmares, but now that time had passed he could see so much more. He saw the Christmas he'd witnessed as if it were happening right in front of him. He could almost feel little Daniel in his arms and Holly dancing on his feet. He could see Sam and Gabriel happy and walking on the beach with their son and dog. Sam had wanted a dog his whole life. He heard Titan barking and the jingle of his dog tags. He could feel Castiel's face in his shoulder as they danced. Hell, he could feel the ring on his finger. Dean could feel the happiness and suddenly for the first time in months, it outweighed the sadness.

"Moving on, acceptance."

He now understood what Holly had said.

"So get this?" Sam burst through the door to their room. "A little girl—"

Sam went into the details about a haunted house about three hours from there. The ghost girl apparently was still there. She had yet to move on. Sam's excited look had Dean pumped for another hunt.

"What's the address?" Dean asked.

"2340 Maple Street." Sam said the state too. Dean froze as he reached for his duffel. He stopped and thought.

Here he was about to go on the hunt that starts it all. Castiel would get hurt. Sam would too. Gabriel would heal Sam and they'd stare at each with that look in their eyes. Castiel would kiss Dean. It was going to happen, if Dean walked out that door. It was like a rose and Dean was asking his hand to bleed by picking it. The rose being the future, but even if he bled the rose was still going to be beautiful. It wouldn't cease in its beauty. It would continue. The future would continue…Holly had taught him that.

With that in mind…Dean made his decision.

"Let's go." Dean smiled, meeting his brother's. The two brothers grabbed their duffels and shut off the lights. The keys to the car were in Sam's pocket and Dean had the motel keys ready to return to the owner. He looked at the room one last time; it was the last time he'd be sleeping in one. Dean's smile grew bigger and he shut the door. He and Sam took off in the Impala because finally there was a hunt, because finally there was THE hunt. Because, Dean thought, what was the future?

If he didn't go for it?

-The End-

I hope you all enjoyed this long journey of a story with me. Reviews are appreciated and I will see you all in my next story! Oh and guys, don't forget to go for the future, you never know what might happen? ;)