Faith

In the end, it all turned out to be pretty anti-climatic.

They pulled up to what looked like an abandoned factory with a metal door at the bottom of some stairs surrounded by concrete. If it weren't for the Impala parked nearby, Dean would have thought that Cas was pulling their leg. Then Dean looked inside, saw the mess, and realized just how far future him must be gone in order to trash his baby.

Cas told all of them to stay outside. Apparently the ritual thing should be approaching the end, so he didn't want to risk anything.

With that final word, he rushed into the Bunker, as if sensing that he was needed.

It was about 10 minutes later that he came back out.

"That last bit of blood has been administered." His voice was back to its usual deep rumble, no sign of the pain that had been lacing it since the three hunters had been dropped in this time by Gabriel. There was a hint of pain in his eyes, but Dean got the feeling that that pain had nothing to do with Cas. "Dean will most likely awake within the hour, but you may come in."

"I'll wait here." Hannah seemed reluctant to enter the Winchesters' new abode.

Cas acknowledged her decision with a nod and led the way into the stronghold.

Once they passed the entryway, the three of them stared around in shock.

Vaulting ceilings, a metal staircase that led to the main room, rows of shelves that could be seen even from up here. There was a table with a map of the world on it and there was a bunch of old looking equipment scattered about. It definitely had a 50's look to it, but it was more than the Winchesters and Bobby had ever had. It took a moment for it to sink in with Dean that this is where he and Sam lived.

"Welcome to the Men of Letters Bunker." Castiel said as he led them down a curving staircase. "This is the largest deposit of supernatural knowledge on Earth."

"Holy shit." Bobby said, making a beeline towards the library, probably trying to see what his own extensive library didn't have.

"How did we find this?" Sam looked just as stunned as Dean. No wonder. Sam had always wanted a place to settle down. And this sort of place… It was a way to stay involved in the supernatural and not be a hunter. The information here probably could have saved their butts dozens of times in the past.

"You inherited it from your grandfather, I guess you could say." Cas had a small smile on his face as he watched them take in the sight of their future home.

"Samuel? Ugh." Dean scrunched his nose, but stopped when Castiel shook his head.

"No. From Henry Winchester." Seeing Dean tense at the name of the man who had supposedly run out on his Dead as a kid, Cas quickly continued. "There were temporal circumstances that caused him to be unable to return to his time and your father." A look of sadness passed over his face. "Knowing that my siblings intended to cause the Apocalypse, even if he had been able to make it back, he probably wouldn't have been able to go home."

"Why would we have gotten this place though?" Sam asked, his brow furrowing in his confusion.

"Because this was why Dean and I were born." It was weird to hear the same voice answer Sam's question.

Dean looked over at the voice's origin and stopped in shock at the Sam who entered the room. He looked older, naturally, and his arm was in a sling. Still, for the most part, he was still the same moose as ever. Except…

"Oh my, God!" Chuckles started to pour from Dean's mouth. "Your hair!"

Both Sams gave him the bitch face, which was downright disconcerting. Still, this future Sam's hair was ridiculous. It was down to frigging shoulders! All of those times that he had called Sam a girl was justified in that single moment.

"It ain't that funny, boy." Bobby raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't look up from whatever ancient scroll he had picked up.

"Bobby." Traces of tears were in Future Sam's eyes as he looked at their surrogate father. "Been awhile."

"Yeah, from what I hear." Bobby finally looked up, and gave a slight smile. He didn't protest as Sam came over and gave him a one-armed hug. Bobby squinted at the injured arm. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh. Just a demon…" Sam shrugged it off.

"Right." Bobby drawled.

"Uh." Sam suddenly looked awkward as he glanced between the time travelers. "I guess if you guys are hungry, there's food in the kitchen." He gestured down a hall and then pushed some of his mane of hair out of his face. "I've got to check on Dean." He turned to Cas before he left. "Sorry, Cas. I thought you went on a bender or were watching the bees again."

Cas frowned at him. "What's wrong with watching bees?" He tilted his head.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Sam said quickly, before glancing once more at Bobby and leaving.

The three turned to look at Castiel. "Bees?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's quite enjoyable to watch them." A slight smile crossed Cas's face. "They're my friends."

"Okay." Dean said slowly. That sounded a bit crazy, but whatever. The way the other Sam had said it, Cas watching bees sounded like a bad thing.

Well, it wasn't his problem.

There was a telltale rumbling sound. Everyone looked at Sam, who blushed where he stood.

"Yeah, I'm just going to go eat something." He wandered in the direction of the kitchen, followed by Bobby, who still took that scroll and several books with him.

That just left Cas and Dean standing there. Cas walked over to one of the tables while glancing over in the direction that Future Sam had gone. It was obvious that he wanted to follow and check on his Dean, but something was preventing him.

Dean went over to the tables himself and settled in one of the chairs. "What's up, Cas?"

Cas gave him that soul-searching stare of his. "You intend to change things, don't you?" He said softly.

"I sure as hell do." Dean replied, the entire incident playing in his mind of what was wrong here. It wasn't like the future he had seen before, but he didn't like it.

Cas looked away with a sad smile. "I'm not quite sure you can." He sighed. "However, I know better than trying to stop you once you've made up your mind."

"Hmm." Dean said, wishing he had a beer. It would make this awkward conversation so much easier. Finally, he asked the question that had been plaguing him. "How did your deal with Crowley end?"

Castiel stared at him and sighed. He took a seat. "That night…" His voice trailed off. "You and the others trapped me in a ring of holy fire. You found out… everything." He seemed so sad. "I tried to explain several times, but," his gaze dropped, "you refused to listen. You pushed me away. I was… alone then."

His eyes had a faraway look to them, and Dean couldn't help but be captivated, even as his stomach dropped. The one who had made Cas alone had been them. Even if he was angry, he shouldn't have done that.

"I can understand why you were angry. I would have been too, and, having been human for a while, I can understand better." He paused. "I didn't understand as well at time. I didn't react well. But," his eyes turned to Dean, "if you had only 24 hours to come up with a solution or die, what would you have done?"

Dean didn't have an answer to that. He couldn't imagine it.

"I don't regret the initial decision." Cas continued. "You were out, you were happy, and that was good enough for me. I only regret what came from that decision.

"You began to hunt me just like Crowley, but we were one step ahead. I made sure of that when I," he gulped and his voice became quiet, "I broke Sam's wall."

Dean stared at him in horror. For a moment, he wanted to shake the angel, asking him how could he do that, and he wanted to kill him for hurting Sammy because he had seen what happened when Sam just scratched the damn thing. Then, he recalled the Future Sam, who obviously was alright. And sane. So at least that had somehow worked out.

"As Crowley said," Cas looked down in shame, "I wasn't exactly the picture of health."

Dean gulped down his anger. He cleared his throat. "It's alright, Cas." The angel's head snapped up and looked at him with wonder. For some reason, Dean had a sudden urge to punch himself in the face if the angel looked so grateful for him trying to comfort him.

To get rid of the sick feeling in his stomach, Dean motioned for the angel to continue.

Cas cleared his throat before continuing. "I ended up double crossing Crowley." Dean blinked. "I took all of the Purgatory souls for myself and defeated Raphael, but…" His voice trailed off once more, and Dean sat in shock at the overwhelming guilt that was just pouring off of Cas. "I had no anchor and there were so many. They took over, fed off of some of my emotions, and declared us God. That does not excuse what came after. It was all my fault and my sin." Dean hated the derision and self-hatred in Cas's voice, even more so the fact that Cas was directing it towards himself. "I slaughtered angels in Heaven, killed on Earth, and threatened you three." He paused. "And then it got worse.

"The souls weren't the only thing in Purgatory that were trying to take control. Purgatory was created to contain the Leviathans." Cas's eyes dropped again. "I couldn't control them. Even after I released the rest of the souls to Purgatory with your help, they remained. And they…"

His eyes were pained and Dean had a sudden urge to hug him. He stopped himself though. While this Cas had hugged him when they first got here, Dean could probably count on one hand the number of times he and his own Cas had touched in a friendly manner. It would just be awkward.

"I don't remember much at that point." Castiel admitted. "The souls were gone and I was alive and me again. Then I could feel them still there. We fought, and they…" His hand curled into a fist at his side, and Dean could see how white his knuckles became. "They began ripping me apart, eating and absorbing me. I tried to make you leave, but I don't know if I did it fast enough. The next thing I felt after that was that I was falling and then drowning." He paused. "Then, I was walking out of a river and I didn't know who or what I was until you found me months later. God had brought me back once more, as punishment for my sins. I still can't die properly." His eyes met Dean's and they gazed at each other like they always did. "That is how things ended with Crowley."

Dean felt sickened at what happened. Sure, opening Purgatory was obviously a bad idea, but all that Cas had gone through seemed unfair. After all, Castiel had only had 24 hours, what was he supposed to do? What could Dean have done in that amount of time? The way he described being killed by those things disgusted Dean, because Cas didn't deserve that. Then the way that Cas seemed to think that living was a punishment…

Oh, this was so wrong.

No wonder Cas seemed to have been so accepting of his incoming death. No wonder Cas thought that he didn't deserve to live. Dean had been on this road before, but he had never thought he'd see the day when Cas himself would walk it.

Even that other future Cas hadn't been so hard on himself.

Castiel seemed to take Dean's silence as disapproval of what he had done. It looked like he was about to move away, but Dean reached out and grasped his hand. Now, Cas was an angel, there was no way that that was enough to stop him with Cas not immediately dying, but he still stopped. He turned towards Dean and tilted his head as a familiar confused expression fell on his face.

"I will fix this." Dean growled, and it was a vow, a promise. "I won't let things get this bad, and I won't let you die like that."

Cas's expression softened into a gentle smile. "I'm sure you will." He put his hand on top of Dean's. "I have faith in you." His voice was completely and utterly sincere.

Dean blinked, stunned. Even after everything, both the things that Dean knew about and the things that had probably happened in between, Castiel still believed in him. He still held those convictions that Dean could do what was right and fix things like he had first said when Dean was in a hospital recovering from Alistair's attacks. The same faith that had led to Cas falling, and it seemed in a way that Cas still was, going deeper into the dark. But Cas clutched onto this belief, this hint of light, that Dean was good. Dean himself didn't even believe that.

What the hell had he ever done to deserve someone like Castiel in his life?

Castiel gently tugged his hand out of Dean's grip. "Dean will wake up soon. I want to be there." Then he turned and walked where the Future Sam had gone. He still was putting Dean first.

Dean continued to sit there.

Finally, as all of the pieces came together in his mind, Dean let go of the anger that had formed when he first realized that Cas was working for Crowley. For the first time in two years, he thought of how he could really help Cas, how he could truly fix things. He didn't know how though.

It was then the world shattered around him and he was falling.

AN: Castiel's faith in Dean always amazes me. It's also one of the things I love about him. Sorry about not letting Dean meet our current Dean, but I didn't want there to be a bloodbath.