Please Respect the Bones

Dean's staring at the smoke that is slowly billowing from the ground where he clearly remembers a huge fiery gate standing. He lifts his hands to examine them; no, they're fine. No trace of the torn and bubbling mounds of flesh that were there after he, Sam, and Castiel had ended having to push the gates closed themselves.

That's when it hits him. The gates of Hell, closed. He breathes a sigh of relief that feels like it had been residing in his lungs for years and smiles. Finally.

He turns to look up the hill of the cemetery he remembers standing in all those years ago and sees Castiel by the impala. Dean shakes his head and smiles. His angel, he thinks.

Dean walks up the hill to stand by Castiel and notices Sam kissing and cradling a bloodied, but breathing, Amelia in his arms. He bumps Castiel's shoulder, says, "Well how 'bout that", and looks over to his brother. Castiel just smiles, ever so slightly.

Dean can't help but be saddened by the broken mess that is Castiel. The trenchcoat is absolutely shredded, his shirt is stained red and tinted a beautiful blue, and his face is purple and grey. But he's alive, and he fought like the badass angelic warrior he is. Dean couldn't be more proud.

"It's over", Castiel says, looking at Dean with shining blue eyes. "No more demons to fight."

Dean scoffs. "Yeah, can you believe it?"

"Will you still hunt?" Castiel is not looking at Dean now, but looking at his hands. They're shaking; they've got every right to be. Only moments ago they were smiting and pushing and pulling and killing and burning and melting. It's a miracle they're still there, somehow.

He considers it for a moment. There's always going to be monsters out there, demons or no demons. Dean knows that he wouldn't be able to rest if he didn't hunt. "Yeah, of course. And you?" Dean doesn't have the faintest idea what Castiel is going to do now. They've defeated the demons forever, from what he hears Heaven's in pretty good shape, and Castiel is an almighty angel again. Now that he thinks about it, Cas will probably just go back to Heaven and leave them. Will he ever see him again? Dean looks at him once more. Could he bear to lose this?

"I don't know, Dean", Castiel answers quietly beside him. Dean remembers back to when they first met in that barn where he thinks Fate might have been in that moment. He remembers the rushing feeling of something more, something to come, when he first laid eyes on the angel. The angel that raised him from Hell, that saved him, died for him, fucked up, fixed it. The angel that he searched all over Purgatory to find only to lose again. The pain and hurt and nightmares of those times spent without him still plagued him although he knew Castiel was safe and sound with him now. He remembers how good it felt to hug him and to have him back. Dean's never felt that way before. He doesn't know what it means, but he does know one thing: he doesn't want Castiel to leave.

"Stay with me."

Castiel smiles and grips his hand.