He and Ruby sat on the curb, waiting for the police business to conclude. They had taken Dean to the hospital. He had been knocked unconscious. The gash in his head ran deep. Head wounds were a bloody mess, so he would likely get stitches. Had they not arrived when they had, Dean, likely would have been shot as well. Cas was doing his best not to panic. The ambulance had left long ago and Dean was getting the best possible care. He kept telling himself that. He looked at Ruby at his side. She was staring at her hands, which were shaking in her lap. He edged over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You okay?"
"Will be. Worried about Dean." Her voice shook too.
"Me too." He leaned his head into her shoulder. "Could I ask you something?"
"Yeah, anything to keep me from dwelling on the last hour would be welcome."
Cas sat up then and considered framing a different question, but his mind was not working at top speed, so he went with the question that had already formed. "You told him that you're Ruby Winchester?"
"No." She faced him now and added, "I said that I'm Ruby Fucking Winchester."
"Yeah, you did."
She breathed in a deep lungful of cool air and said, "Thing is that we were married. We eloped a few months before, so I was and am Ruby Winchester."
"Ruby Fucking Winchester," Cas added with a smile.
"Yeah, that's me."
"Why did you elope? Seemed like you were both very happy with the idea of a big family wedding."
Ruby looked off at the police vehicles and the movement. The lights from the tops of the patrol cars still flashed red and blue on the world. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Ruby said, "I tried to save 'em." A tear escaped and then another. Cas watched her, and processed the words in light of all that had been said, all that had happened. "There was going to be a boy and a girl, Megan and Adam. We hadn't planned for it. We were already engaged at the time. When we knew about them though, Sam said that he wanted to get married right away. I told him that it was rather old fashioned of him. He said that if he was old fashioned we'd have gotten married some time ago. We took a short trip to the county courthouse and I became Ruby Winchester."
Cas pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. He lowered it back down and said, "I'm so sorry."
"They say that it was the shock of it all. I watched the building burn, and I couldn't do a thing to fix it. I apparently couldn't even save his babies. I lost all of him that night. I fought to keep them until 3:00 am, but I still lost everything." Cas pulled her back in and rocked her in his arms. There was nothing to say. There was no way to make something like this right with mere words.
In time, when all was shared and talked into the earth, Ruby and Cas were released. There would be more that would need to be shared, more reports to be written, and more of the past to revisit. Ruby had contacted John and Mary. They had been through so much already, and Cas felt a stab of pain at the thought that they were once again being summoned to a hospital for one of their children.
Ruby drove them to the hospital as the sun was rising. Even that had taken some effort. They had been driven to the police station in a cruiser, and an officer had to drive them back to their car at the end. Dean's car was left behind, but plans were made to return for it later.
Cas took Ruby's hand as they made their way through the hospital. They figured out where Dean's room was located after some waiting at the main desk. He wasn't in the ICU, which was promising. They saw John first when they rounded the corner. "You're here." He pushed himself away from the wall that he had been leaning against and came to them immediately. He pulled them both into a hug at the same time. "Dean told me what had happened, but only up to a point. An officer came here to take a statement. He filled in some of the gaps with details from after." John released them, but he brought his hand up to Ruby's cheek. "Are you okay?" His tone carried a tenderness.
Ruby crumbled a little and he caught her up and held her. "She was amazing," Cas said as John rubbed a soothing circle into her back and held her to his chest.
She sobbed a bit into him and Cas could see her shoulders shaking. John said to Cas, "Why don't you go on in and see Dean. I'll take care of Ruby."
Cas nodded and moved past them into the room. Mary was sitting at his side, holding Dean's hand in both of hers. Dean turned to Cas. "Hey, Cas."
Cas moved immediately to Dean's other side. "God you're an idiot. Never do that again." It was not what he had planned to say, but he was a mess, and he was operating on a long night of no sleep.
"I am, and I won't." Dean looked at him steadily and then reached out a hand to him. "I'm sorry, Cas."
He took Dean's hand, pulled it up to his chest, and just held it there. Mary had been very quietly watching. "Is Ruby okay?" She asked.
Cas looked at her, not letting go of Dean's hand, and said, "She will be. John is with her. I think that she is still in shock a little. It might be best if she went home with you both for a bit."
"Of course." She got up and settled Dean's hand on the mattress as she did so. "I'm going to go out there for a moment and just check on her myself, give you both a moment too." Her smile was small as she eased around the bed and out of the room.
"You scared me. I thought that he had killed you. Thankfully the EMT felt the need to tell us that you were going to be okay. I was…" Dean squeezed his hand.
"I'm sorry." Dean pulled him closer then, and Cas sat on the bed.
"Are you okay?" Cas let his hand go to reach out and cup Dean's cheek. His thumb brushed back and forth in a slow arc as he stared down at him.
"I am. I have a thick skull." Dean smiled and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I am. There is much that we need to discuss when you get home." He leaned in close and pressed his lips to Dean's forehead. "When will you get to go home?"
"In a few hours. I've got a concussion, so they want to monitor it just a bit more. Mom's angling for me to come home with them."
"I can watch over you." Cas leaned in again and rested his head against Dean's.
"I told mom that. I told her that if I didn't go home, that you would likely follow me to their place." Cas kissed him again and then moved back just a little to look at him.
"Did you tell her about us?" Dean's face turned a little. He was looking past Cas now.
Cas turned in the same direction and saw Dean's family hovering in the doorway, looking at them. Dean said, "I hadn't, but it looks like maybe I don't need to." Cas moved back a little. Dean waved his family in and said, "So, uh, Cas and I…"
Mary came over to Cas and gave him a little side hug while she looked at Dean. "We already knew."
John hovered at the end of the bed. "Well now, speak for yourself. I was completely not buying it until Ruby got involved. Not to mention your parents may have said some things." He drummed at the end of the bed and mostly looked at Dean.
"Shoulda known that Ruby would say something." Dean nodded at her as he said it. She winked back at him. It was a temporary break from the tensions that they had all been feeling before.
"So, can I even convince you to come home with us?" Mary said. "Cas too," she added.
"No, I'll be fine. Cas said he'd watch over me. I just want to be in my own bed again." Mary came to him and kissed him on the top of his head. John reached over and squeezed his foot.
Cas looked to John and said, "So you don't mind if I am seeing your son?"
"I find you tolerable." John smiled at him though and that was enough. Ruby gave John a hug then.
"See, told you they would be fine with us." Dean looked at Cas, pleased.
"So, I still don't know what happened to you. How did you end up at the warehouse?" Cas took Dean's hand again.
"I finished the story that you gave to me, and I knew that he was at that warehouse. It was crazy. I just got really cold and it was like something in me was just certain. So, I left the apartment. I had to know if he was there. I didn't know that he had actually followed me from somewhere else."
"How do you know that he followed you?" Cas asked.
"The police said that the place had surveillance and that he followed me in. At least that's what the cameras showed." Dean squeezed his hand and asked, "Was he the guy that you saw at the apartment earlier?"
"Yes, I am nearly certain." Cas remembered the pale skin inches from his face, and the hoodie that he was still wearing as they fought at the warehouse.
"Then I guess that he followed me from the apartment. He must have thought that it was strange that I would go to the warehouse. He probably didn't shoot me outright because it was so odd. The weirdness of it is likely what saved me."
Cas thought about what Dean had said about the cold. He believed that Sam had somehow managed to communicate with him. Cas was also fairly certain that Sam was not going to be able to do this for much longer. He had felt it the last couple of times that he had written and dreamed, a type of urgency that seemed to press in on him. Time was being stripped away from Sam. Soon there would be none left. He thought that maybe there might be enough time for one more dream, one more small stolen moment for those that loved him.
The doctor came in and gave Dean the all clear. Everyone made their way out to Ruby's car. She drove Cas and Dean back to the apartment. John and Mary followed just to make sure that they got home okay. It was late now. The world was quiet as they walked up the steps to the complex.
They all wandered down the hall to Dean's place. Cas had his arm around Dean at the waist. He was starting to feel his own injuries now that the adrenaline rush from earlier had dissipated. Dean fished out his keys and opened the door to the apartment. They all went in, John settled in on one of the recliners, and Mary went into the bathroom for water and aspirin. She handed the first cup to Cas. "Here, you look like you really need this."
"Thank you. Is it that bad looking?" He hadn't peered into a mirror yet, so he didn't know just what she was seeing.
"There's just a lot of bruising. I think that you will be sore if you aren't already." She looked sad as she stepped away from him to retrieve more medicine and water for Dean. He gulped his down with a thanks and handed the cup back when he finished. Mary settled in on one of the recliners, and Ruby rummaged through the fridge.
"Make yourself at home, Ruby." She shot Dean a look and then they both laughed.
"You know that we are all gonna stay the night right?" Ruby said.
"Oh," Dean responded. "Well, no I actually wasn't thinking." Then he smirked, "Head injury ya know." He tapped the side of his head and then seemed to regret it.
"Just get us a pile of blankets, Dean. We'll figure the rest out." They were all exhausted. The toll of the evening was written in the lines and heavy lids seen in each face. Dean went into the hall closet and pulled out some blankets. He set them on the table.
"Gonna change for bed, be right back to say goodnight." Dean wandered back into his bedroom and Cas followed, pushing the door closed behind him.
"Here, let me help you," Cas said when he saw Dean struggling with the removal of his shirt.
He got Dean into comfortable clothes, and then he pulled off his own shirt. He looked down at himself, and saw that he was covered in a patchwork of purples and blues. Dean's fingers found his side and grazed over the tender skin. "Oh, Cas," Dean whispered.
"It's nothing." He walked over to Dean's drawers and pulled out fresh clothes for himself. "You don't mind do you?" He held up Dean's clothes for him to see.
"Wear whatever you want." Cas found the clothes a little large, but he thought that this might be a good thing in light of the bruising.
They went back out to the living room and saw that John was already starting to nod off. Then it happened. Cas felt the familiar cold, the chill that bit into the marrow of him. He shook and the lights in the room dimmed with an eerie hum. John woke up and sat up straighter. Mary leaned forward. "What's happening?" She asked.
Dean reached out to Cas and rested his hand on his arm. "Cas?"
Cas turned to him and said, "He says that he wants to say goodbye, but he doesn't have much time." Cas glanced over at the clock on the stove. It was 3:00 am. Cas tipped his head back and closed his eyes. "Yes."
And when he opened his eyes again, they were a deeper shade of blue, more like light that had been trapped from a storm. He looked out at each of them. The glow from his eyes extended out, so that it was not just in his eyes. It was now covering all of him. He turned to Mary and said, "Mom." And then, "Dad." They stood and moved toward him. The light around him grew more intense, the electric energy of it pulling them all closer while also tickling something in each of them that might have been fear.
Mary reached out to his face. "Sam?" There could be no explanation for how she knew that it was him, except that she was his mother, and somehow, mother's always know their own. She gulped back a sob and pulled him in. John moved in to hug him as well, and had his arms around him and Mary both.
"I love you," he said to them both. "I need you to know that. I love you, and I get to take that with me, that feeling, that bright piece of happiness that comes from loving someone and being loved by them in return. You gave me so much, and I get to keep that, forever." He turned to Dean then. "I didn't say it often enough, but you are the best brother a guy could ever ask for. I love you, Dean." He hugged Dean then, and the light glowed strong around them both.
Dean shook in his arms and held him tight to his chest. He seemed like he would never let him go. His words were muffled in his collar, but after he had said it a few times, it became clear that Dean was saying, "Stay, stay, stay." He seemed to know that it would be a losing battle. He let him go a few moments later.
He turned to Ruby then and said, "Saved you for last."
"Yeah." She stepped up to him and settled her hands on his cheeks, angling his face down to hers. "Ever and always."
"Ever and always, Ruby." He kissed her, gently smoothing his thumbs over her neck into her hair. "It's beautiful, Ruby. You know why?"
"No, Sam. Tell me."
"You're already there with me. You're already calling me there like I need to come home and you've been waiting. You lived a long life. You're still just as beautiful, and they are too." He stepped back and she curled her fingers into his shirt. "Ever and always."
"No, I'm not ready yet," she begged. "Please, Sam. Please. Don't go."
"There is never enough time. We have so many moments, but never enough time. Cherish it, every second of it. Live it as wildly and as fully as you can, because I will want to hear about all of it. I love you. I love you so much. And I'll just wait there for you, until we have time again. And we will." He pressed his head to hers again.
"We will?" It was a quiet question.
He said, "Of course we will. We have an appointment. We will have time again." His lips curled up into a grin as he stared at her one last time, and then he turned to the others. The light grew brighter and brighter. It became so bright that they each had to shield their eyes from it. His arms stretched out at his sides as the light poured from him. The cold moved from him and up high above them, slowly passing from the room. They stood there watching the spot that had swallowed the light, and they breathed together, counting the seconds that ticked by toward eternity.