Chapter Text
“Ugh, I can’t move.”
“You’re fine, Dean.”
“Go get my angel, Sammy. I’m in too much pain to move.”
“Dude, you heal super quick. Even if you are hurt—which you’re not, because the Amazon was too busy wailing on me to even touch you—you’ve got automatic angel mojo that’ll take care of any papercuts you may have received during the fight.”
“Hey, I hit the wall when she punched me.”
“You always hit the wall. Now get up so we can release Cas.” Sam kicked Dean’s foot but didn’t bother to help him up. Bitch.
Dean struggled to standing, groaning as his not yet healed elbow crunched in a very not good way. “What kind of Amazon puts an angel trap in her house?”
“The kind who knew she was being tailed by a very obvious angel.”
“Yeah … he’s still not so great at the investigation part of hunts. We’re working on it.”
Sam laughed. “How is he so bad at this and so good at everything else?”
“Just lucky, I guess.” Dean extended his arm. Still a little clicky but mostly healed already. He’d live to see another day. “How far to her house?”
“Like fifteen minutes, I think?”
“Ugh. Right. This is going to be a fun drive.” He dug into his pocket. “What the fuck. Where are my–”
Sam held up his hand, which jingled with Dean’s missing keys. “Looking for these?”
“Hand ‘em over, you fucker.”
“Nuh uh. We’ll be closing in on an hour by the time we reach Cas. You’re not driving, unless you feel like crashing your precious car.”
Dean gave his brother bitchface but didn’t argue. As much as he hated Sam driving Baby, he’d hate it if he himself crashed her just because he was being a stubborn ass.
“Drive fast,” he said, sliding in the passenger door (which felt so wrong.).
He kept an eye on the time as Sam sped through town, his stomach clenching as the clocked clicked closer to an hour. He and Cas hadn’t come this close to reaching the bond’s time limit since that first time, back at the very beginning of the bond.
“You doing okay?” Sam asked, flicking a concerned glance at him.
“Fine. I’ll be better once we re– Wait!” Dean went through his mental checklist of symptoms.
Sam automatically hit the brakes. “What? You okay? Is it Cas?”
“I feel fine.”
“Yeah, you just said that, you liar. We’re almost there, though.”
“No. Sam. I feel fine. Like, really fine.”
Sam’s eyes were wide. “You’re fine.”
Dean grinned. “I’m fine.”
“Holy shit, it’s finally happened.”
By the time Dean finished double checking that he really wasn’t feeling the effects of being apart from Cas for too long, they’d reached the Amazon’s house. Despite not needing to hurry, he was out of the car and halfway up the sidewalk by the time Sam finished parking.
“Cas!” he yelled, bursting through the front door.
“Dean!”
Dean slid to a stop in front of Cas, who was standing in an angel trap in the living room.
“Cas. I’m fine.”
Cas sighed. “Yes, Dean. You’re very hot. Now can you get me out of this thing please?”
Dean laughed. “Yes, I am, thank you. But no, I mean, I feel fine. Are you fine?”
Cas furrowed his brow for half a second before Dean’s meaning hit him. Dean watched him check his internal clock. “I’m fine too.”
“Wow, Dean, it only took you a year of marriage to give Cas a big head.” Sam strolled into the room like he had all the time in the world.
Dean flipped him off as he bent to scrape some paint off the trap. Cas sighed and stepped out of it, but he didn’t touch Dean. Instead he studied him with a frown, as if trying to read his soul.
“No symptoms at all?”
“No. No nausea, no headache, no ants under my skin. Nada. You?”
Cas nodded. “I feel perfectly–”
“I swear to God, if you say ‘fine’ again, I’m leaving you both here,” Sam whined.
“–normal,” Cas finished with a smirk.
Dean laughed then held up his hands and looked at them, almost expecting to look different, but he looked the same, felt the same. “So, that’s it? Bond is finished forming?”
Cas nodded. “I suppose it is.” His hand twitched but stayed at his side.
Dean thought he understood what that meant. He was a little afraid. Now that they didn’t need that frequent physical connection, would it feel normal when they touched now? No more calm filling him during those first few seconds of connection? No more feeling like all was right with the world? He’d gotten so used to it, it would feel wrong not to have it. But that fear lasted only a few seconds. It didn’t matter. He had the real thing—the love of his life—which was better than a little frisson of feeling. He reached out for Cas’s hand—and felt the familiar calm rush through him. Okay, maybe the frisson was still nice. He winked at his husband.
“Still got it.”
Cas grinned and pulled him in for a kiss. “Of course we do.”
“I am not watching you two make moon eyes at each other for the five-hour drive back home, you know.”
“Nah. Sam, you take the car. I think we’ll fly.” Dean kissed Cas again. “I need my angel to take me home and ravish me right now.”
“Gross.”
“See you at home, Sammy. Don’t drive her too fast, and no fucking iPod. Oh, and also. Don’t think I didn’t notice your use of the word ‘home.’ About time.” Dean grinned.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Go away before you two make me hurl.”
“Cas, let’s go home.”
Cas smiled and hugged him close. “Yes, let’s go home.”