Chapter 94.

"How worried should we be?" said Cas., looking at Sam. He knew they had both been trying to judge Dean's mood and he suspected Sam could still read it better.

To his surprise, it was Eileen who answered. "Don't be." she said, "I've been with Anael most of the day and all she wanted to talk about was Dean. Well, Dean and the baby. I think things are fine between them."

"I agree." said Sam, "I know it's troubling when Dean goes off on his own, but this time, he didn't. He didn't leave to avoid talking to us, but so he could talk freely to her. Has to be good, right?" He turned to Jules and said again, "Right?"

"I feel the same way." she said, "The way they went out, together and openly, that seemed like a good sign. It's okay, Cas. I know he still has some complicated feelings to work through, but I think we only need to worry if they're walking off in opposite directions. They want to be alone together. We can understand that."

Her eyes flirted with his and he was proud of himself for recognising that. He did understand. He knew how it felt to want those moments when it was just the two of them. He hoped that was the feeling that had taken them out of the bunker.

He remembered walking by Sarah's creek with Jules, stopping to talk and kiss and Jules showing him her tattoo. He thought of their sleepovers, until they had found something even more fun to do at night.

It made him smile that Dean, who had been strange about their sleepovers, had done the same thing himself in an attempt to take the relationship back to the platonic level. Cas could have told him that wouldn't work. Lying side by side in bed, talking to each other was no way to dial down the intimacy.

He was glad it hadn't worked, because sleepovers were great, but there was so much more to love than that and he had never known how much he had needed it until he allowed himself to partake. Sex had been good with April, even if the aftermath had not been, but nothing could compare with what he and Jules shared and Dean needed that too and Cas needed it for him.

"Dean still worries about my feelings." he said.

"He always will." she said.

"Only because I was stupid enough to express them and to do it before I fully understood them."

"Don't blame yourself." said Sam, "Dean isn't the only one with angel-related trauma."

"Sam, I am an angel."

"Point still stands." said Sam, "You've both suffered so much and finding out they were together was a shock for all of us."

"Except me," said Eileen, "I'd been expecting it for a while."

"And me." said Jules, "Charlie too, actually."

"Okay, just you and me then, Cas," said Sam, "But we didn't get time to prepare a rational response."

"You didn't screw it up." said Cas.

"We don't know that. Maybe in ten years' time, during a fight, he'll say that I did. Look, you said stuff he could use as an excuse to back off from her. This is Dean we're talking about. You think he wasn't already formulating a thousand excuses of his own? But they're together. They're gonna stay together."

"You talked to him earlier." said Jules, "He seemed okay, didn't he?"

"A little conflicted and needing my approval far more than he should, but otherwise, yes." He ran the conversation through his head and realised that he was focusing on the wrong thing. "He asked for my advice. He wanted to know how not to hurt her. He asked me about the needs and fears of angels." He searched her face for clues and finding none, said, "That's good, isn't it?"

"That's frickin' great!" said Sam.

"Except that soon, she won't be an angel." said Cas.

"Don't worry about that for now." said Jules, "Dean is nothing if not adaptable. He's been adapting to things for years. She's an angel now and he cares how she feels."

"Now we just have to get him to care how he feels." said Sam, "Always the difficult part."

"Were you able to give good advice?" said Jules.

"I told him what I could from my own experience of loving a human." he said, not sure whether that counted as good.

She nodded approval. "That's a yes. SOS 5:16."

"SOS what?" said Sam.

Cas didn't take his eyes off her as he answered, as much to tell her he understood as to enlighten Sam, "His speech is most sweet and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."

"Ah." said Sam, "That's cute."

"You never say things like that to me." said Eileen.

"I said nobody takes down a ghoul like you do." said Sam.

"Yes, you did say that." she admitted, "A little lacking in poetry."

"I'm not much of a poet." said Sam.

"I think you both are." said Jules, "I remember your wedding vows."

Eileen smiled. "Yes, you got me there. He can be poetic."

"And always deeply in love." said Sam.

"Winchesters struggle with the hearts and flowers," said Jules, "But you can't beat them for loyalty. Maybe Dean and Anael need a little more support than most couples but so did the four of us and who gave us that support? Dean did, every single time. So let's give them plenty of space, any advice they ask for and a whole lot of love. Then, I think, they'll be fine."

"Do we know if Jody and Donna know anything yet?" said Eileen.

"I doubt it." Said Sam, "But if Dean told Mom and Dad, I'm sure Jody will hear about it soon. I'm honestly impressed that he told them."

"I'm impressed he told Anael." said Cas.

"I think she probably noticed when they were in bed." said Jules.

"I mean that he loved her. He finds that pretty hard to say."

"It seems to be getting easier." said Sam.

"Maybe it's your pact."

"We all came up with the pact, Dean included."

"And you should all be proud of it." said Jules.

"I am," said Sam, "Proud of it, grateful to it and proud of Dean, that after everything, he is still willing to try. I honestly thought he'd given up for a while there."

"For a while," said Cas, "He did. I don't know what it is about Anael that changed his mind, but I'm glad she could."

"I'd say it was meant to be," said Jules, "But Chuck didn't want it and Jack doesn't play that kind of game."

"That's the best part for all of us." said Sam, "We all know for sure that it's our choice who we're with. Maybe that's why Dean is letting himself do this. For the first time in his life, he can be absolutely sure he's not anybody's puppet."

"It's a good feeling." Cas agreed, "Scary for me, but good. I know my father never wanted me to be with Jules. It may be my greatest act of rebellion."

"You earned your freedom." said Sam.

"We all did." said Eileen.