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He finds it on accident really. He's trying to get to the bathroom, but he takes a wrong turn and ends up in front of a little green door he has no memory of from before. There is no sign indicating where the door leads to. The bunker is big and he and Sammy don't have much time to go through all of it. It is also full of magical things, dangerous things, and just few weeks ago he saw Charlie open a door and casually walk down the yellow brick road, so there's that.
He still opens them, but feels tension leaving him when he realises he’s stepped out into a garden, or well, something that used to be a garden.
The ceiling is made from transparent glass plates and there's a hole in the middle of it, a round hole mirroring the shape of the room. Walls are made from raw bricks and it looks like the little paths between the plants were also paved with them, but now the vegetation has claimed the whole room and there are maybe one or two brick paths still visible.
Dean is surprised at how many plants he actually recognises – thyme, rosemary, lavender – and immediately sees the logic behind it – they are all in some way usable for making potions and cures.
Then he notices tomatoes and tries to remember if they are good for anything except for food making. Well, Dean thinks, maybe someone who cared for this garden wanted to have fresh tomatoes or something, he certainly can't blame the guy – those tomatoes from the supermarket have nothing on organic fresh ones and besides... he stops himself. It has been years since he died, but Dean can still hear his father’s voice in his head –
“Cooking is for girls, Dean. Gardening is for girls, Dean. Ballet is for girls, Dean.”
Yeah, well, what was Sammy supposed to eat when dad left them in motels for days? And Bobby never cared when Dean planted apple seeds in his back yard (they hadn't stayed long enough for Dean to see if they grew out, though). And ballet was full of well fit people doing incredible things with their bodies, so why would it be only for girls?!
He puts a hand over his face and then lowers it to look at the Mark of Cain that is there now, currently the most popular item in his extensive collection of scars, bite marks, bullet and knife wounds and what-not-things that pierced his skin and left their mark.
He thinks, with a sudden tight feeling in his chest, about Cas’ brand on his shoulder that has faded away with time. He thinks of Cas and is angry that now those thoughts lead directly to Metatron, and then to Abaddon. It isn't fair that Cas can’t be left alone, not even in his thoughts.
Thinking about Abaddon makes him think about the mark again so he takes a deep breath to stop himself from shaking.
It is the smell that brings him back to the present moment, to the overgrown garden in the middle of the underground magical bunker. The smell of tomatoes’ leaves, mint and basil. Dean turns around and goes to find some tools.
~a few weeks later
Sam gets lost on his way out of the dungeons.
“Not again.” he mutters to himself, grateful that Dean is still out getting groceries and will have no chance to mock him about this.
Even though, he realises, that’s been happening less and less lately (getting the groceries, not the mocking) – Dean would always ask Sam to do it, claiming he spends too much time on the computer anyway and will soon forget how the outside world looks like.
Sam has never wondered much about what Dean did while he was gone – there are some things you learn not to think about when you spend most of your life sleeping in the same room and sharing a bathroom with your male brother, but now he finally thinks he’s found out.
There’s a little garden behind the green doors – a round room with a glass ceiling, full of different plants divided by little brick paths. It all makes sense – Sam doesn't remember buying fresh tomatoes for a while now and still, they were on the table every time they ate in the bunker. There are also pepper, broccoli and cabbage, and Sam is truly amazed at how well they are growing.
He stays there for a bit longer, enjoys the smell and peace of the place and then carefully closes the door behind him.
When Dean asks him if he enjoyed the dinner, Sam makes sure to point out how good the tomatoes were.