Disclaimer: I don't own SPN.

Here's the follow-up to 'Date'! And I don't mean to make Dean out as a pansy or anything – he did say in canon that he liked long walks on the beach – but to me, he's a person that never goes on a proper date with someone (you know, something more than just drinks at a bar) unless he's serious about them and even then, he's paranoid that he'll mess it up with one wrong move. Of course he doesn't show this outwardly to his partner because he's Dean :D

So today is the day I finish high school forever. Then it's just my exams in October and then I'm…done. For good. Until university. I'm kinda freaking out and emotional right now. Also, happy 7th anniversary of the day that Castiel pulled Dean out of Hell! And they're still not together HOW?

Thanks to mollienaturerocks, meet-the-winchesters, masterjediratgrl31 and Bipi for your reviews :) Also, thanks to mollie for being my 300th reviewer and thank you all from the bottom of my heart for 303 reviews, 24 favourites, 38 follows and 20,428 views! I am literally SPEECHLESS! So as a present, have this huge-ass chapter that got way away from me ^_^

81. Beach

It seemed like both far too long and not long enough before the case had been solved but finally, the ghost had been salted and burned and Dean was getting ready for his 'date' with Cas. He really would have preferred to skip the date part of the relationship – he'd done it with Lisa and Cassie and it had not been his favourite part – but he was damn serious about Cas and wanted to do it right. And besides, he couldn't deny that a small part of him was excited at this prospect, even if it was overshadowed by the larger part yelling, "Abort! Abort! Relationship in jeopardy!"

Because what if he screwed this up? What if he completely messed up this date and Cas realised just how much of a screw-up he was and went to go find someone better, someone who deserved him more? Dean knew that both he and Cas had been on this roller coaster of self-doubt before and it just kept going round and round, with Dean telling Cas that there was nobody else he'd pick and vice versa, but Dean couldn't help it. No matter how much he tried, there was always that tiny bit of him that was waiting for everything to crash down around him.

Unlike most other nervous people preparing for dates, Dean didn't spend ten hours obsessing over what clothes to wear. Cas had never given a single crap about what Dean wore and besides, the dude had seen him naked and vulnerable and writhing around on their bed. Somehow, Dean didn't think that Cas would care if he wore the green shirt or the blue (though he did choose the green shirt in the end because he knew that Cas' favourite colour was green. But he wasn't trying to impress Cas! No way!).

Once he was done dressing after his shower, Dean emerged from the bathroom to see Cas waiting for him in a plaid blue button-up shirt over a T-shirt and his usual black slacks. These were his normal clothes and it wasn't anything that Dean hadn't seen before but the sight of Cas just took his breath away for a moment and he couldn't help but stare. When Cas tilted his head in that adorable puppy way of his, Dean couldn't help but grin.

"I don't understand, Dean," Cas said. "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"No reason." Still grinning, Dean slung an arm around Cas and led him towards the room door, grabbing their jackets on the way. "You just look stunningly handsome as usual."

A smile broke out on Cas' face as he opened the passenger door of the Impala and slid inside. Once in the driver's seat, Dean turned on the ignition and pulled out of his park.

"So I know it's freezing outside but I thought we could grab a coffee from that diner from yesterday and then go for a walk on the beach nearby," he rambled, more to distract himself than to tell Cas what his plans were. "Of course, if you don't wanna do that then we can go to that park back there and walk around or sit or we can even just stay at the diner if you want –"

"Dean," Cas interrupted. "I already told you that I don't mind what we do. A walk on the beach with coffee sounds wonderful."

Dean grinned, feeling a huge weight shift off his shoulders. It only took them another minute to get to the diner in question and Dean placed an order for two coffees and a large slice of pie (Cas insisted that he wasn't hungry but Dean wanted pie and he'd be damned if he let Cas go without, so Cas compromised and agreed to share the pie). While they waited, Dean drummed his fingers on the wood beneath his hand nervously until Cas took his hand and slid his fingers through Dean's.

"Calm down, Dean," Cas said. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not." Dean forced a smile onto his face but Cas didn't look convinced.

"Here you are, gentlemen," the lady behind the counter said with a smile, holding out two steaming cups and a small paper bag. "Have a – oh!

Dean jumped away with a hiss but Cas wasn't so lucky. The lady had stumbled and dropped a coffee, which had sloshed all over Cas when the lid came off. Cas let out a reflexive cry and Dean hastened to pull the jacket off and run his hands down his angel's front, checking for coffee or burns.

"You okay, Cas?" he demanded.

"Yes." Cas gently caught Dean's wrists. "I'm fine, Dean."

"My God!" the woman said, covering her mouth in horror. "I am so sorry! Let me get you another coffee on the house!"

Dean glowered at her as she hurried off, even though he knew that it wasn't really her fault. She returned a minute later with another coffee and a small pastry, which she very carefully handed to Dean, and apologised once again.

"You don't need to apologise," Cas said, giving her a small smile. "I am uninjured and it was an accident."

Relief radiated from the woman as Dean led Cas away, his insides twisting and knotting. He should've known this would be a bad idea! Why the hell would Cas stay with him when their one (and probably only) date went wrong at the very start?

"Don't worry, Dean." Cas took Dean's hand, leaving Dean to transfer the pie to the hand with his coffee. "Accidents happen. How far away is the beach?"

Things didn't get much better at the beach. Their walk was peaceful enough, taken in silence while they smiled at each other like lovesick teenagers and drank their coffee and shared their pie and complimentary pastry, and it wasn't until Dean had trudged off in search of a bin for their rubbish and returned to Cas that things really started to go downhill.

"Oh, come on!" Dean bellowed up at the grey sky as rain pattered down around them. "Seriously?"

"Maybe we should go back, Dean," Cas said, eyeing Dean cautiously. Dean gave a short, sharp nod and stalked off ahead, his insides slowly crushing and churning. Was this a sign? Was everything they'd gone through over the past year just for nothing? Cas was going to break up with him for sure. Of course they weren't meant to be together! Even the universe was telling them so!

"Dean?" Cas easily caught up with Dean and tried to take his hand but Dean just slid it into his pocket. "Dean, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Dean muttered. "Nothing's wrong, Cas. Apart from the whole frigging universe telling us we shouldn't be together by making our date completely crap."

Cas' eyebrows knitted together and he grabbed Dean's arm, forcing him to stop.

"This date was not 'completely crap'," Cas said. "A few things may have gone wrong but I have had a very enjoyable time."

His damp hair flopped into his eyes. Dean had to resist the urge to brush it away for him.

"Why are you letting one date define our relationship?" his angel continued. "We have been together for nearly a year and you are willing to disregard all of that because of one less than perfect day? We have overcome everybody who told us that we were failures and defied all who said that we could not do anything. Are you really willing to let coffee and rain ruin this?"

Cas' blue eyes were blazing. Despite being freezing and wet, Dean felt warmth begin to blossom in his stomach and surge through him. A wide grin spreading across his face, he grabbed his angel and smashed their lips together, pouring every little emotion he felt into the kiss. Cas immediately kissed back, raising his hands to cup Dean's face.

"Love you, Cas," Dean murmured when they came back up for air. He felt a shiver of shock when he realised that this was the first time he'd ever said that to Cas instead of replying and the wide smile on Cas' face said that he knew this too.

"I love you too, Dean." Cas pressed a kiss to Dean's cheek. "So very, very much. And I will never grow tired of telling you that until you finally believe me. I have loved you for years and nothing will change that."

Dean wrapped his arms around Cas and just hugged him, feeling overwhelmed by all of the emotions churning inside him. To calm himself down, he buried his face in Cas' sopping black hair and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of wet angel as he loved to do. They remained like that for a few moments before reaching an unspoken agreement and heading back the way they'd come before they got any wetter. However, this failed when Cas tripped, falling backwards and clutching at Dean but just bringing him down too. They landed with a loud splash in the freezing ocean, on their backs as the tide swirled around them.

"I'm sorry, Dean!" Cas said immediately. "Now we're all cold and wet and I – why are you laughing?"

Dean couldn't help but burst into loud, raucous laughter. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong and of course they had to end up in the frigging ocean in the middle of winter! They were just lucky that it wasn't snowing!

"J-Just love you s-so much, Cas!" Dean choked out, his teeth chattering. He rolled on top of Cas and pressed kiss after salty kiss to his angel's lips, still laughing as he did so. "L-Love you…love m-my angel…y-you're my angel, C-Cas…love you s-s-so much…"

Each exclamation was punctuated with another kiss. Dean didn't know what came over him or why he was being so sappy and lovey-dovey but a rare, hysterical happiness had welled up inside him and all he could do was laugh and laugh and kiss Cas again and again, cheesy love declarations spewing from him. It was the damn rain! That's what it was! But Dean couldn't bring himself to care.

"I l-love you t-t-too, D-Dean," Cas shivered. "C-Can we return t-to the motel? I'm s-s-so cold."

Dean noticed the chill seeping into his bones at those words, so he pushed himself to his feet and hauled Cas up as well, ignoring his numb hands. He then wrapped his arms around Cas and they set off back for the Impala, Cas encaged by Dean's arms and warm, delicious love still surging through Dean and making the freezing chill bearable.