September 2031

Dean had gotten his cancer back. For the past year, they had been planning to adopt a kid and were going to start working on the paperwork when he had started feeling worse. At first, it had not been so bad; just a few headaches here and there and he thought nothing of it. That is until he started coughing up blood which was when Cas made him go see a doctor. And there at the doctor's office, he had been told that he had cancer. Of course, it was just his luck. Just when he thought he could have something good in his life, he got shit thrown at his face. As if that wasn't bad enough, the doctor told him that because he had gotten it a second time, he had a lower chance of survival.

Ever since he had started treatment, he was constantly pissed off and Cas didn't know what to do. He wanted to take away Dean's pain and suffering but he knew that he couldn't. And every time he tried to console Dean, Dean snapped at him. Cas was tired and he felt guilty about being tired because his husband had it a lot worse. So, one day when Dean was taking a nap, Cas snuck out and went to see his sister, Anna.

When he got there and told her what had happened, Anna took him in his arms and led him into the living room while she went into the kitchen to make some tea.

"Sit wherever you want, just be careful with Teddy's toys," Anna called from the kitchen. "I don't really care and Dave's at work right now but if the little munchkin sees a mess when she gets home from school, she'll go nuts."

Cas snickered. To this day, he still found it funny that his niece was a neat freak, unlike her mother. He moved aside Teddy's toys into a neat pile before sitting down.

Right then, Anna came out holding a tray with tea and cookies. She placed it on the coffee table before sitting down next to Cas. She handed a mug to Cas and some cookies while taking one for herself.

"What am I supposed to do, Annie?" He said as he drank tea from the mug. He moved the cookies away from him. He didn't have much of an appetite lately.

He rested his forehead on his sister's shoulder and closed his eyes like he used to do when he was little and she was the only one in the world who could understand him.

"I'll tell you what you're going to do," Anna said sharply and Castiel quickly sat up at the tone of her voice.

"You're going to clean up, put on a tough face on and get back to your man. Dean needs you now more than ever, you understand?" Anna looked at him expectantly.

"I'm just so scared," His voice broke at the end.

"I get it, Cas." Castiel looked up at that. "Really, I do, but Cas, you have to be brave. Be brave like mom would have wanted you to."

"I miss her," He said quietly. "Fuck, I miss her so much." It had been years since his mother had passed away but that didn't change the fact that he still missed her to this day.

"Me too. Not a day goes by without me wishing that she hadn't taken her life and that she was still here." Anna sighed and added, "But I just remind myself that that bastard is going to be paying for the rest of his life for what he did and what he drove her to do and it helps. It helps to remember."

Neither of them needed to mention a name. They both knew whom she was talking about.

Later that night, after Cas had come back from his sister's place and Dean and Cas were eating dinner, Cas said he wanted to talk about everything that had been going on but Dean did not. Even when Cas told him that it would be a good thing for them to talk, Dean wouldn't relent.

"We are not girls, Cas," Dean said and added on, "Can we just watch this fucking movie without discussing feelings and braiding our hair?"

Even so many years later, Dean was still hiding his feelings behind jokes but Cas knew him well enough to see that Dean was just scared as he was, probably even more than Cas. So, Cas made no comment and snuggled up to Dean while they watched the movie.

"And we can go to sleep after it. Know how much you love your beauty sleep." Dean snapped Cas out of his thoughts. While his voice was teasing, his tired eyes told another story.

And maybe tomorrow we'll wake up and this will all just be a dream. His mind supplied. Cas chose to ignore it.

Dean ended up falling asleep before the movie was halfway done. Cas scooped him up into his arms and carried him to their bedroom and if Dean scooted a bit closer and tightened his grip, Cas didn't mention it.

Cas wanted to hold him until the pain was gone, kiss his body all over and tell him that everything would be okay. He wanted to press Dean into the mattress and kiss him till he remembered nothing but the precious moments shared between them in this bed. But he knew he can't do that.

Dean was sick and he wasn't going to get better. Not this time.

It had been Dean's idea to travel while he could so he and Cas drove around the nearby states for a few days and visited some tourists' attractions. Dean kept telling Cas that he was fine and despite worrying, Cas decided to give him some space.

However, one night when Dean was vomiting up blood and claiming that the whole room was spinning but still begging Cas to not go to the doctor by saying, "Please don't call the doctor, please Cas," Cas decided that he had had enough and took things into his own hands.

"I'm so sorry, Dean," Cas said right before he dialed the emergency number.

Dean tried to say something back but the darkness overtook him. The next thing he knew he was that he was lying in a bed at Saint Luke's Hospital.

"I don't want to die," He said in a hoarse voice a few hours later to Cas.

"You won't," Cas said reassuringly as he intertwined his fingers with Dean's.

Another lie, how many lies can you keep making.

As the days went by, Dean got worse. He got visitors all the time but he rarely wanted to see them. He was too tired and too fragile to want to see them. Cas could understand that but at the same time, he felt bad for their friends and for their family (especially for Sam) who wanted to see Dean.

One day, Dean seemed fine and his mind was as clear as ever. He sat up and took Cas's hand into his.

"Cas, you need to promise me something," Dean said solemnly.

"Anything."

"Promise me that you will adopt a child."

"Dean, I-" Cas swallowed past the lump in his throat and tried to blink away his tears. "I don't want to do it without you."

"With the rate this cancer's eating me," Dean cracked a smile, "I think you'll have to."

Cas glared at him while wiping at his eyes. "Don't joke about this, it's not funny."

Dean sighed. "I'm not joking. I want you to be happy and I know you've wanted a kid for quite some time now. So, I want you to promise me this. And listen, it'll be okay if you break your promise because I learned from an early age that promises do get broken. But for now, please just promise this, for me."

Cas placed his forehead against Dean's. "I promise," He whispered.

Dean smiled. "For what it's worth, I'm happy that I got to chase cars with you," He said.

Cas smiled weakly, trying to hold back tears and failing. "Me too."

Dean died quietly on a Sunday evening. He went peacefully in his sleep. He thought about his mother making pie on a rainy day. He thought about his father teaching him to drive for the first time and how surprisingly patient John was that day. He thought about the movie nights he used to have with Sam before he went off to Stanford. And he thought about Sam and Jess's wedding, the day so many things had gone wrong but was still one of the days he had always cherished. He thought about his niece and nephew and how he wished he could stay so that he'd see them grow up. He thought about his friends and how he was going to miss them. And then he thought about Cas, Cas who he had known him since birth, Cas who had been with him through the best and the worst and the ugly and the beautiful and the last thing he thought before he let go was: I'm so sorry Cas.