Please Respect the Bones

a few months later

Dean's lying on the bed, bruised and bleeding from a brutal fight with a seriously pissed off spirit, as Castiel wipes the mess from his face with a gentle hand. "I'm getting too old for this shit."

Castiel thinks that it's a reference to a movie, but he says nothing. He sees something in Dean's eyes, though, and wearily, he asks, "What is it, Dean?"

Dean sucks in a breath and launches right into as if it had been on his mind the whole day. Probably has. "Cas, I'm getting older. And I'm going to keep getting older. What's going to happen when I'm an old and wrinkly man and you're still just thirty-something?"

That's a question that has always been looming over Castiel. He can feel the age settling in around Dean's bones, can hear the ticking of the clock as the seconds roll by, knows that Dean isn't going to live forever. But he will.

"I'll love you when you're old and grey, Dean. You should know that."

Dean sighs. "I do."

Castiel doesn't look at him as he continues to wipe the blood from Dean's face. He can't think of life without Dean, without this. Before Dean, Castiel hadn't known love of any kind save for his father, but that is in no way the same as the way he loves Dean Winchester. When Castiel looks at Dean, he sees all that is right with the world, all that he rebelled for, all that he wanted to save. He sees this righteous man and he can't help but love him with everything he is, because that is what he was made for. He was created to save this man, and in the process, he fell in love. He felt that love when he watched over Dean from the moment he was born. That's when he knew, he was made to love Dean Winchester. When he held his soul in his arms, close to his grace, he felt the warmth and tenderness of him, and fell in love all over again. When he saw him in that barn, he fell even deeper. There would be no turning back. Castiel was lost to Dean, but that was the only place Castiel would ever want to go. Because with Dean he didn't feel lost, he felt found.

He couldn't imagine existing without that, so he cups Dean's cheek and gazes into his eyes. "I'm not going to live with you gone." He squeezes Dean's face. "I want to grow old with you."

The implications of what he's saying sink in and Dean is reeling, pushing Castiel's hand away and backing away to sit up straight on the bed. "I can't ruin another thing, Cas. Please." Castiel can hear the pain and fear in Dean's voice, but his decision is made.

"You will if I have to live without you", he says. Dean's face is so blank and unreadable that Castiel fears something is terribly wrong, that he said something he cannot fix. But then Dean nods slowly and looks up to him.

"I love you." Dean moves forward and wraps himself around Castiel, pulling him onto the bed. They tangle around each other and fall asleep there, not saying another word.

That night, Castiel's grace leaks from his lips and when he wakes in the morning, they don't speak of it, but they know.