Please Respect the Bones

year and a half later

Dean is so tired after work that he can hardly make it through the door without collapsing. He’s worked his ass off at the shop today and he can’t wait to get into bed and call it a night. Once he’s through the door of the house, he’s kicking off his shoes and making his way towards the bedroom.

He trudges up the steps and flings the door to the bedroom open. He looks on the bed and smiles. “Hey, Cas.” He moves forward and falls onto the bed next to Castiel, who is still in his shirt and tie with a packet of papers in his lap. “Inventory?”

Castiel nods besides him and flings the paper onto the nightstand. “But it can wait.” He leans down and captures Dean’s lip in a kiss. “ I've missed you.”

Dean smiles against Castiel’s lips. “Me, too. Had a shit day at the shop. Couldn't wait to get home.” He sits up a little straighter and turns to get a better look at Castiel. He notices that there are more wrinkles around his eyes, more pronounced lines around his smile. It makes him sad sometimes to see that Castiel is getting older just as he is. But he can’t regret it, because Castiel wanted it. Dean had to let Castiel make that decision and he had to trust him for it.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe this’ll make you feel better-I heard from Sam today.” Castiel starts to loosen his tie, blue, as always. “He says things are good and that Riot misses you.” Dean can’t help but laugh at that. That mangy dog loves him. What can he say? “Law school’s going well and he wishes we’d come visit soon because he says the weather in California’s beautiful right now.”

Dean gapes at that. “No way! He’s gotta get his ass up here. We visited last time. And besides, it’s almost that time of year again. He should be here for that.” Suddenly the mood turns somber at the mention of the fast approaching anniversary of Bobby’s death. Dean can’t help but feel wrong and empty, living in his house and sleeping in the room that Bobby once called his. They took this place and rebuilt it from the ground up with their own two hands, Cas and him, but it still felt like it belonged only to Bobby. Dean still felt like it was empty without him. He looks down at his hands and breathes in deep. He doesn't want to think about that yet.

“Maybe I can convince Amelia to get up here soon.” Castiel puts an arm around Dean. He doesn't say anything more on the subject because he knows that Dean’s not ready to talk about it. He never pushes because when Dean is ready, he’ll talk. Until then, Castiel is there for him in any way he needs.

Dean nods and looks around him, shaking away the moment. “Hey, have you heard of any cases recently? Anything worth checking out?”

Scoffing, Castiel shakes his head. “Dean we haven’t really had anything ‘worth checking out’ in months.”

“Yeah, just thought maybe something came up.”

“It’s been forever since we've been on a proper hunt, you know.”

It had been forever. He couldn't remember the last time that a hunt of theirs was anything more than the run of the mill salt and burn. He missed the adrenaline and the fight of a really good hunt, but then again, when he looked at everything his life had become, he knew that he was okay with it. Because honestly, there was nowhere he’d rather be than next to Castiel in a house they could call their own.

He smiled, because despite the loss of his old habits of hunting and moving around and greasy diner food, life was pretty good.