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Sleep couldn’t solve all of Sam’s problems, but it sure made it easier for him to apply his brain to them. He’d promised himself that Morning Sam could deal with various revelations from the night before, and now, he was Morning Sam. He was not going to break that promise. He could figure all of this out.
Now that he was no longer zombiefied and drained from the emotional whiplash of everything the day before, Castiel wanting to have sex with him didn’t even seem like a problem that needed solving. Castiel knew himself better than anyone, and if he said he wanted to, then Sam could trust him to say when he was ready for it. The best thing he could do to help Castiel work through the fear was exactly what he was doing: patience, trust, and lots of cuddling while he waited.
Becoming a celestial foster parent in the case of irresponsibility from an angel, that was also a problem he could put off for now. At the very least, he figured the angels had some way of knowing if a nephil was conceived, so he’d have some warning if the possibility became anything more than a nebulous “it could happen”. He’d start reading up on the lore, but unless something else happened, no need to worry about being a parent yet. Of course, being a parent might be harder than dealing with a supernatural creature. One of those he’d been doing most of his life and had plenty of people to call for advice. He’d reconciled with his dad, for now, anyway, but he was not calling the man for parenting advice.
Bobby would be better. Sam had been too worn out from dealing with John and Chuck to call Bobby the day before, which meant that when he finally decided he’d thought enough and it was time to get out of bed and Castiel’s arms that he had a clear step one. He really should have done this a year ago, but after the break with John, to hear Bobby reject him because he was John’s son would hurt a lot more than Sam was ready to deal with.
But the big thing Sam had decided was that he wanted to ask Castiel to marry him. With a literal spoken-directly-to-them blessing from God on their relationship, along with an implication that he’d specifically picked them in the hopes that they would become close, there wasn’t just a whole lot of room for doubts about their relationship. Growing up in the hunting community meant that Sam knew how fragile life was, how easy it would be for one mistake to end up with him dead. He had a pretty good shot at Heaven, he figured, but that didn’t mean Castiel could visit him there. Marriage vows were typically “until death do us part”, and if Sam died… but that was morbid. The point was, he didn’t see any sense in waiting if he was sure he wanted to spend his life with Castiel.
Calling Bobby was the plan for what to do first, but the plan didn’t survive contact with Castiel. “We need to talk, Sam.”
A lifetime of being Dean’s little brother had Sam tempted to crack a joke about being worried about breaking up, but this was Castiel. He wouldn’t do that. “All right. What’s up?”
“I did some research last night. Did you know there are scholarships specifically for married students? And, if you’re married, you don’t have to lie about your father’s activities on financial aid paperwork. Even if you marry me, with my family’s income, we would be considered independent, and as we’re both college students, that would mean qualifying for a lot of financial aid.”
Sam fought back the urge to giggle. “Cas, Inias showed me where the money for your college education and everything you’re paying for for me is coming from – and how much. I don’t think we have financial worries here.” Sam would never have thought of angels as business people, but apparently, Zachariah and a few others had decided that it would be worthwhile to create a business so that angels who had business on Earth had access to money if needed. With good people in charge, it wasn’t a surprise that the business was doing just well enough to stay under the radar while still providing whatever the angels needed.
“No, but it’s something to consider. We’re unlikely to be hassled about living together because we’re both male, but it’s not impossible. Something else to consider. And…”
Sam cut Castiel off with a kiss. “Cas, are you trying to ask me to marry you?”
“Yes. I am. I’m trying to explain why we should do it now instead of waiting until we’ve been together longer and you’re a more typical age for people of this time and place to marry…”
Sam shook his head, letting the laughter out. “You don’t need to. Do you have plans for today?”
“I was thinking you might like the day to relax. Why?”
Sam kissed Castiel’s nose. “Because after I take a shower and call Bobby, we should go look at rings, and then if there’s time we can go to the courthouse and apply for the marriage license. What happens after I die?”
“A human marriage would no longer be binding, but if you would be willing to enter an angelic marriage as well, those are eternal unless my father decides it must end. I would still have work to do in Heaven, but I would be expected to spend at least half of my time with you, and encouraged to spend more if possible and you want me there. You’ll want time where it’s just you and Dean, I’m sure.”
“My memories of Dean, you mean? How does Heaven work, anyway? Because…”
“Everyone is put in their own little pocket of Heaven, where they relive their best memories in eternity. In a few special cases, two souls would find Heaven incomplete without the other, and they share. You and Dean are such a case. When you both die, you will have each other for real and not just your memories of each other.” Castiel smirked. “I promise never to tell your brother that the angels call such cases soulmates.”
“Thank you for that.” Sam closed his eyes to shut out the images of his brother’s reaction to that. “What do we have to do for an angelic marriage?”
“It’s much the same as a human marriage, except that it has to be solemnized by one of the archangels or my father instead of a human leader. I checked in with Michael last night after you fell asleep, and he’s agreed that if you wish to do it, he’ll perform the ceremony. We don’t have to right away…”
“Screw that. Would I be expected to have family there?”
“You’d be expected to bring a witness who can vouch for your ability to consent to the marriage. I was thinking Dean, if you feel that revealing myself to him would be advisable, or perhaps Professor Visyak if you didn’t. How much of a typical human wedding do you want?”
“The only reason I’m not saying apply for the license and get the marriage done right there in the office is that Dean would kill us if he didn’t get to come act as witness. For the wedding itself, get Dean and Dad and Bobby and Pastor Jim there, and I’m good.”
“Sam, do you think Pastor Jim would like to perform the ceremony?”
“Good question.” Pastor Jim had heard a great deal about Castiel over the last year, and he was supportive when Sam told him they were boyfriends. Sam reached for his phone. One quick conversation later, he was grinning. “Yes, Pastor Jim would like to perform the ceremony, and there’s no waiting period to get a marriage license in Minnesota. I’m sure Dad and Dean won’t have a problem with getting there, and Bobby shouldn’t unless he doesn’t want to be around Dad.”
“So get rings today, human ceremony with Pastor Jim as soon as your family can get to Blue Earth, angel ceremony whenever we can fit it in between that and moving, and this time next week we’ll be a married couple with our own apartment.”
“Yeah. Then when our friends get back for the fall quarter, we get everyone over to laugh at us for getting a two-bedroom apartment when we were never gonna use separate rooms, explain once again that the second bedroom is so Dean has somewhere to crash when he visits, and wait until someone – and I’m betting on Jess – notices the new rings and announce that we got married over the summer.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Call Bobby. Let’s get this started.”