Chapter 58.

In the butterfly house, Anael was almost covered with the things and she was laughing as angels rarely laughed as they tickled her face. Dean felt he probably shouldn't make a big thing of it. Insects reacted strangely to angels and to Castiel, that was something to be happy about, but Anael might be a lot less happy about something that reminded her she wasn't human.

A middle-aged woman came over to him and said, "They seem to like her."

"Yes," he said, "Who knew butterflies had such great taste? Must be her perfume."

She heard him. Of course she heard him. Angelic ears heard everything. She turned to look at him. Aware of the stranger beside him, he tried to control the urge to match her smile with his own. He didn't want an audience for emotions that felt like they should remain between the two of them.

A little bit of unwanted self-awareness reminded him that he had, until very recently, managed to keep them entirely to himself. He was now entirely failing to conceal them even from outsiders. The woman said, "Have you been together long?"

"No, not long." he said, "It feels like we both spent an eternity alone first."

She smiled at each of them kindly and said, "Well, all that matters is that you've found each other now."

"That's true." he said.

The adoring butterflies rose around Anael in a cloud of colours and fragile wings, as if at a signal from her. Maybe there had been one. She came over to him and said, "You were texting someone a minute ago."

"Sammy." he said, "My brother." he explained to the stranger, "Just told him we're having a good time. He worries if I don't keep in touch."

The woman nodded, smiled and went on her way. "Are you okay?" sad Anael.

"Why? Do I seem not okay?" he said, genuinely concerned about how he seemed to her.

"She guessed we were together."

"It was blindingly obvious." he said.

"I sent that picture of us to Charlie." she said, "When you were trying to stare down that crowned crane."

"I was not trying to stare him down!" he said. Then what she had said registered and he wasn't sure how to feel. A few days before, he would have been irritated by it, even angry, but they were together, everyone knew they were together and it made no sense to feel uneasy about them seeing evidence of it.

"You're too quiet." she said, "Did I do the wrong thing?"

"You want the truth?" he said.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't." she said.

"Truth is, it feels weird, knowing she's seen it and unless you told her not to, she's shown all the others."

"Sorry, I didn't." She looked genuinely repentant. He wished she could have shown that kind of contrition over trying to kill him.

"No, it's okay," he said, "It's not like we need to keep this a secret. She knows, they know. Hell, even random strangers figure it out. It's a little difficult to hide my reaction when you're this close to me and looking like that."

"So, you're not angry?" she said. It was a painful reminder of how unkind he'd been to her at first. She expected his anger. The cloud of butterflies drew away a little, unsettled by her anxiety. Then, as she relaxed at the sight of a smile, they moved closer again, many landing on her face and body again.

"I can't be angry when you're covered with butterflies, can I?" he said, "Besides, it's a good picture, of both of us."

"I wanted Charlie to see it, because she believes in us. I wanted her to know how great today is turning out to be. I hoped she'd show Eileen."

"It's fine. Charlie's family, so is Eileen. Eileen even signed the Winchester Pact when she married Sam, so we owe her honesty. I'm just not very good at honesty, especially about this stuff." He knew he might regret later his honesty now, but watching her eyes when she realised that he was making the effort to tell her the truth, he wanted to tell her more, to be open with her about all of it. "It scares me." he said.

"I can see that," she said, "I'm just not sure why. None of them would ever use it against you. None of them would ever try to hurt you."

"No, they wouldn't." he said.

She laughed softly as a butterfly landed on her nose. "They think I'm a flower." she said.

"Easy mistake to make." he said.

"Sometimes, I think you're more afraid of admitting it to yourself than them. It's like you know you'll try to sabotage it if you know it's real."

"If I could believe this could last ... " he said, then a family came into the butterfly house and he said, "We should go." He knew she was as aware as he was that he still felt uncomfortable letting strangers see they were a couple. He knew that hurt her and he wished he could stop doing that, but she went outside without complaining, gently wafting her tiny admirers away before she stepped through the plastic curtains that kept them in.

Outside, on the other side of the path, they watched two young wallabies tussling with each other. "Must be brothers." he said.

"I'm glad they don't have angel blades, like my brothers." she said.

"Yeah!" he said with feeling. He needed to say something else. "I know I act weird around other people. It's not that I'm not proud to be seen with you. It's not that I'm ashamed of all this. Maybe it's just that I don't have any more idea of how to be an ordinary human than you do. I've never really played this game. I don't know the rules. You want sex, I'm your man, but romance, relationships ... "

"Fortunately for you, I want sex." she said, "Not that sex is on offer right now."

"No, not right now, not in a zoo full of people, but maybe tonight. We never got the hang of the platonic thing, did we? But I need to work on the rest, too, because you deserve more."

"Maybe I do, but I'm not asking for any more until you're ready. Neither of us really has a clue how to be in love. Maybe we have to be like Cas and Jules and make up new rules for ourselves."

"What if the rules we want aren't the same?"

"Then we negotiate. We compromise. Angels suck at that, but humans are good at it."

"I never have been." he said.

"Time to learn. We'll figure it out together." Anael looked back at the butterfly house. "Do you think it was because I was an angel?" she said.

"Maybe," he said, meaning yes, "But that's not the reason I'm drawn to you."

"No, you're definitely not into angels, are you?" she said.

"To be fair, neither are you."

"No, that's true. Angels are dicks."

"Yes, they are!" he said.

There were people around and usually he wouldn't have done it, but they were in agreement and she looked amazing and her eyes were locked on his face and maybe the butterflies had a point, so he covered her face with kisses. When he stopped, he smiled and said, his voice soft and quiet, "Yeah, it's definitely not the angel thing."

There was something wonderful about her answering smile.