"This is how I die. This is my end."
Cas closed his frozen eyes and thought his last, terrible thoughts.
"My egg will live with the fairy dress, but…then what? He'll hatch and then die. What a horrible death…maybe it would be best if I took the fairy dress from him and let us both die. Or, I could put it over myself and…no, then the egg would surely freeze."
The beta could feel his heart slowing. His body was dying. The cold was winning.
"Has God forsaken me?" he thought, wishing he could cry but he was too cold and weak to do even that. "Were those meteors a coincidence after all? Is Dean…could he…is he…"
"A little further…"
A voice came into Cas' head that was not his own. He instantly thought about the nomad woman who had been waving to him. It felt like years ago though it had only been moments.
"Please…have faith…"
Cas could not describe how he felt after those words resonated in his head. Though he was frozen and dying, he was able to muster up enough strength to pull himself up the mountains a few more feet. The snow was stopping but it still remained on the ground. He terribly frozen face could not even feel it as he pulled himself through.
"Wh-where am I going…"
Cas wondered, not sure if he spoke aloud or kept it in his mind. Why didn't he bring supplies with him? How could he have been so foolish?
"Dean…"
His fingers felt a ledge now. There was an open space that had no snow on it. His first thought was that the nomad woman was inviting him in and now he had made it.
"How…"
Gasping, Cas dragged himself up onto the ledge and managed to lay on the barren ground. It was, indeed, a cave, but he was too tired and dying to open his eyes and see how it looked.
Without the snow to inhibit him, he was able to move closer inside. He couldn't even judge how wide the cave was based on his own echoes, but he knew that it was some form of safety.
The deeper he went, the warmer it felt. Oh, it was incredibly warm! Was the snow melting from his body?
Then he found a wall. A dry, warm, wall. His fingers were just barely thawing and he was able to grope over the stone. Then he touched the ground. It was dirt, not rock. Had he lived, after all?
He followed the wall around until he hit something. It was warm, it was—alive?!
At first he thought he had crawled into a bear's cave. What a cruel twist of fate! To barely survive the snow, only to be killed by a warm-blooded creature!
But it was not a bear. It wore clothes. It smelled good. He knew that smell!
"D-Dean…"
He hugged that familiar person so tight, soaking him with the melting snow. It must have been Dean, the smell was spot on. Still trembling and now overcome with joy, Cas shook and shook the body. He was definitely alive as he could feel him breathing, but why didn't he stir?"
"Dean," he struggled to say. His voice was brittle. "Dean…"
At last, there was a snort and the body turned. Cas opened his eyes but the cave was too dark.
"Hnng…who…?"
He heard the voice that had haunted his dreams since he saw Dean get carried away by the river. It was Dean, his Dean! He was alive!
"DEAN!"
Cas used his last ounce of energy to cry out to his partner, digging his face deep into the warm crook of his neck. Dean sniffed.
"Cas? Is that you?!"
"Dean, oh, Dean!"
"Cas! You're freezing! What're you…shit, Cas…wait…ah…lay down."
Too tired to argue, Cas rested upon his side. Dean's hand swam all over his body, brushing off the snow and doing his best to warm him. There was a sense of pained urgency in his movements.
"Shit, Cas. Wait."
Cas closed his eyes once more and heard Dean rummaging around in the dark. There were a series of flicking, snapping sounds and then he heard the crackle of fire.
"I'll warm you up," Dean said, sounding as if he were on the brink of tears. "Hang on, Cas."
There was no more speaking for several minutes. Dean worked hard to get a fire going as Cas rested. He fell asleep instantly. Nearly dying had zapped the strength from him, and then some. Dean held him close and kept the fire going.
"Dean…"
Cas finally woke up again.
"Is it really you?"
He looked up and saw his mate staring down at him. There were tears in his beautiful green eyes. Cas smiled though his raw lips split and hurt. Dean kissed him anyway. Oh, to feel that mouth against his again!
"I knew you'd find me," Dean said.
"How did you get here?"
"I don't know."
"Then, I, too…" Cas closed his eyes again. "I don't know."
"But, Cas…your chest. Is that? Did you have our eggs?"
Cas nodded slowly.
"They can't be alive anymore," Dean sighed. It was almost as if he expected them to die at some point.
"No, they—it—is."
"It?"
Cas was too tired and grateful to be in Dean's presence to care about the single egg.
"We had one, and one only. But I have…ah…fairy magic…this is keeping our egg warm. Take it."
He couldn't move, so Dean went into the pouch and pulled the egg, and the fairy dress, out. Rest assured, the egg was pleasantly warm and very much alive. Dean looked it over.
"A beautiful egg," he said. Apparently he wasn't too bothered about the size of Cas' clutch, either. "Cas, we really did it. Can I hold our egg?"
"Please…"
Dean sat up with Cas' head in his lap and their egg in his arms. He gazed down at it and kept it nice and warm with the fairy dress.
"I knew I'd see you again," Dean said, smiling. "I knew you'd keep going. Just keep going, remember? And I'd catch up..."
"I remember," Cas whispered. He looked up at Dean and smiled, gently reached to touch his leg. His clothes were terribly torn. "Oh, Dean…what happened to you…"
As Cas came to and slowly recovered, many kisses and hugs were shared. The couple sat in front of the fire and touched their egg with tenderness, overjoyed that they were finally going to be a whole family.
"The last thing I saw was your face and your voice yelling my name," Dean explained. Cas was strong enough to take the egg back finally. "Then the water grabbed me and I totally passed out. Nothing. Black. Done. I figured I was dead, but then I woke up and I was in these damn mountains."
"Oh…"
"I was hurt real bad. I got beat up awfully. But I knew the mountains were cold, so I just climbed up and found a nice place to force myself into hibernating. I figured I could sleep until my wounds healed, then I would climb down, figure out where I am and then try to find the pack. Where are they? They aren't with you, huh?"
"No," said Cas. "I went on my own way. I didn't find the pack but I found Meg, and…Dean! My journey has been…it's been incredible! Now that I've found you and the pain is over, I can look back and smile."
"Hey, Cas, it's not over yet. We still have to get out of these mountains."
"My horse! Your horse. I left it at the bottom. We have to go. There's food and—"
Cas suddenly remembered the gold and gifts that the fairies had given him. He was invigorated.
"Dean! We're going to be all right!"
Dean chuckled. "Okay, easy. You need to be careful."
"Are you healthy enough to climb down the mountain?"
"Yeah, but you aren't. Here."
They put the egg pack into its pouch, but Dean strapped it to his chest now. He stood up and had Cas climb on his back.
"I can't risk anything happening to you or the egg, so we're gonna go down like this."
"Are you sure?" Cas asked, clinging to Dean's chest. He took in the deep musk that he missed so much and smiled. Once they were in a safe place and had a bite to eat, maybe they would mate again.
"Yeah, it's fine. Hold tight."
It was dark, so Dean took branches from the fire to make a torch. He was able to hold it and still support Cas and the egg. They left the cave and trekked down the mountain under the guise of night.
"Where is the nomad woman?" Cas asked.
"Who?"
"Did you see a woman out there? She had black hair, and…"
Cas realized it must have been a hallucination from being so close to death.
"Ah, never mind," he said. "I had gone a little crazy there."
Dean chuckled, huffing as he took big steps down the rocky summit.
"S'okay," he said. "We're together and you can be as crazy as you want."
The trip grew painful towards the end, but the snow also stopped. Once the cold air was replaced with something milder, Cas insisted that Dean let him walk. He couldn't keep hearing his lover grunt and strain from the extra weight.
They made it to the plains once more and, surprisingly, found Cas' cart and horse still waiting obediently. The horse recognized Dean at once and came over to greet him.
"Hey, missed you, Ammy."
"Is that the horse's name?" Cas asked. He was exhausted more than ever now.
"Ammylette," Dean answered. "You didn't know? You've been riding him and didn't even know?"
"I just called him my horse."
Dean gave a brief laugh. He was also tired.
"You have enough stuff to set up camp in here?"
"Yes," Cas said. He went to the cart and began to take out blankets and coverings. He got out all of the food supplies and they ate before anything else.
"Aah, haven't eaten since I was in the Valley with you," Dean said, tearing into dried fish. "Mmm…"
Cas drank some water and wiped his mouth, eying Dean. It was incredible. Dean was there. He was alive and smiling and eating just like they had never parted ways.
They built a small tent and made a nest inside, then curled up together for the night. The egg sat between them and they kissed.
"I believed in you, Cas," Dean whispered. "I knew you would come."
"I trusted in Chuck but I had my doubts," Cas admitted shyly. He let Dean kiss his face many times. "I don't know how I did this but I did, and I'm glad."
"Any idea where we go after this?"
"To the west, to find your pack."
There was still a great lot of work ahead of them, but at least for now, Dean and Cas were together and that was all that mattered.