Chapter Text
"My name is Dean Winchester, this is Castiel, and we're doing a...couple therapy."
"Couple therapy?"
"Couple therapy."
If you ever make it to Kansas, Lebanon, that city of only two hundred people might see that '76 Chevy Impala through the streets on your day off, right up to the edge of the city.
It's a small city, and the residents might remember the brothers.
"You said that family... I wouldn't specifically use the word 'family,' but I know it was two brothers, a man in a trench coat, and... Did they recently adopt a child?"
"I know, I know, man, their car is awesome! Sam and Dean, right?"
"Oh... I remember, especially Sam, that broad shoulder, deep eyes, and soft hair... you said Dean? Um... I am more interested in his handsome guy who always wore a trench coat. ”
"Dean's a regular here, oh ho, that guy's a real piece of work, three bottles of JACK DANIEL, what does he seem to be doing these days .... couples counseling? Maybe it's a marriage gone wrong, but I never knew that he was even married?"
*Started recording? Sam waved an 'OK' gesture behind the video camera.
"My name is Dean Winchester, this is Castiel, and we're doing a...couple therapy."
"Couple therapy?"
"Couple therapy."
The bunker originally belonged to the former North American Division of the Men of Letters, until they became extinct here and the Winchester inheritors acquired their little corner of the infinite multiverse. They no longer had to stop at one motel after another; Sam loved the Loggers' library, which contained everything they knew and didn't know; and Dean never gave up his home theater project, projector, popcorn, and a mention of beer, and there was nothing better than a great weekend night. Normally, Sam wouldn't have the luxury of watching antique movies from the last century with his older brother, so it was left to Castiel, the sky-age angel, to do the honors.
People don't usually find out that the man in the trench coat in the Team Freewill is an angel, (just as they can't find out that Jack isn't even 3 years old yet) after all, angels don't feel like angels these days. Although the name that starts with capital "A" is still striking, holy, and sacred, who doesn't like harps, celestial music, girls in white dresses, and gleaming wings? --though you don't see any of those above in Cas. Perhaps Michelangelo's Judgment Day is more authentically.
The majority of Castiel's modern film and TV stockpile comes from Metatron, and that could be considered a surge, analogous to crossing over directly from the Iron Age to Star Wars. But as we all know, angels don't need to sleep, so every Dean's movie night, Sam would proactively puff away, with a side note: I'm going to the library, I'm going to look up stuff, I'm going to look up legends related to the Tablet/the Mark/the Darkness/the God... Cas, can you go check on Dean?
--Until recently.
*48 hours ago
"Seriously? I still think it's just stupid."
Sam swore he saw Cas roll his eyes, which was bad, really bad.
"One minute." He called Dean aside and apologized to the doctor in the other chair, closing the consulting room door on the way.
"Dude, what's going on with you?"
Dean looks even more impatient, "This whole thing, counseling, marriage therapy, it's stupid! Couples Counseling? Can't believe I actually said that word!"
He should have realized from the moment he entered the room. As someone who had never believed that psychiatrist bullshit, Dean felt justified in refusing to take this ridiculous therapy. Couples counseling, him and Cas? Come on! They had nothing but ten years of... Nothing but friendship, according to his own words, 'I don't have a relationship with Cas, I mean ... No relationship of relationship, yes, he's family, but there's no relationship between him and me, not together, together!'
Even though he would get the 'fine, you're right' look from Sam, as is now his standard bitch face: 'That's not the point, Dean, the point is that you need to end this silly silent treatment .'
Well, Sam admitted that it was his idea, but he assured himself that he had good reasons for doing this.
"Oh, then how do you explain you yelling 'Cas! No-' in the middle of the night. Dude, I thought Cas was in danger, or you were in danger, you were like, like a bear growling. " Sam said.
"I'm sleeping, and I don't know what I said when I'm sleeping, no one knows what they said when they're sleeping!"
"Dean, Dean, I know you cannot forget what happened with E..."
"Don't say it."
"Well, I mean I know you want to make up with Cass, for your own good, and more importantly I don't want to see you pass by the kitchen again without saying a word, and Jack has been frightened by the freezing atmosphere once." Sam continued, "and when he gets scared, the kid will fly away and disappears, and nobody wants Jack to suddenly fly away, and you know what's worse, the kid will blame himself because he thinks that you're fighting because of him."
"So, Dean, think about it."
It's easy for humans, or people, to fall into a chronic state of self-involvement. This confusion and ambivalence may come from a loved one, a partner, or oneself. It includes irritability, anxiety, and frustration, and when chronic conflict is irreconcilable, that's why people need a therapist. Although this never applies to Castiel. First of all, he is not a human being, and secondly... Ah, that's basically all there is to it.
"Well, let’s talk, how long have you two been together?"
'Together' is a misleading term that, in general, can refer to all of the following relationships, including marriages, partners, or teammates. Doctors of mediation will try to be as friendly and amicable as possible in most cases, finding a balance between professionalism and kindness. Cas exhaled, frowned, and then replied, "Twelve years." Obviously, he interpreted the word in favor of brothers.
"That's a lot of time."
"For humans...people, yes."
"You know, for people, they don't give up on a relationship very easily, especially if you've been through twelve years, and that' why you're here, right?"
"I'm here because Sam told me that Dean is experiencing some mental disorder and he wants me to help him." He automatically deleted the sentence in his head: "I totally agree with Sam, even if I could just cure it if it was a mental problem, (maybe) but Sam insisted that he receive what he so-called 'human treatment."
"So... You're already doing him a favor by coming here, right?"
Castiel didn't understand the phrase, "Uh... I don't..."
"Hey, excuse my brother for the time delay, is everything okay?"
Sam pushed the door open, Dean sat back in his chair, and Cas unconsciously moved to the side. It was as if there existed an invisible glass, which now had the word "embarrassment" written all over it.
--And now...
"Counseling, I admit, is not our usual method, but it's worth trying."
--Sam Dude, don't look at me like that-Winchester
"Couple therapy?"
"Couple therapy, damn it, Cas, how many times do I have to repeat it?"
"Guys, guys, guys!" Sam speaks up quickly between Cas's head turning away, "Homework, don't think you already know enough about your partner, partner or lover, okay, let's go by partner, please answer the following questions objectively, with unbiased and open-minded thinking and to the best of your ability, the first question, Dean, the meaning of Cas's name. "
"Ca... What, Castiel?" Dean repeated the question incredulously, " How do I know that Chuck created it, Cassie's variation? Go ask the stars, I bet Cas doesn't know neither."
Cas looked at him, "Actually, I know."
"Oh? Really, tell me about it? "
"Sam is asking you, not me."
"That's not fair, why is the question only about me, shouldn't it be one of those two-sides questions, like the meaning of each other's names."
"Ok, ok," Sam flipped through his tablet, " So Cas, the origin of Dean's name."
Dean answered in advance, "I bet he doesn't know."
"Your name originated from your grandmother, Deanna Campbell." Cas turned his head toward him.
Sam could clearly see Dean froze, "Why would he know something that I don't even know?"
He shrugged, "You might just forget, Dean."
"Despite all your, what’s the term," Cas's head lifted a little higher, "disrespects behavior, I'm still millions of years older than you."
"Hey, don't show me that face you had ten years ago."
Some apocalyptic researchers believe that the born of the Antichrist was the switch that led to the apocalypse. The Antichrist here, specifically the son of the devil, let's go into a little more detail, Jack. But this is wrong. In fact, Jack was born a full eight years after the apocalypse, and has not been the master of the end times so far... or even prevented it in some way. Or even, in a way, prevented the end of days?
"Sam, Dean, Cass, I think I've found a case! Oh! Did I show up at the... . inopportune time?"
The human eye is powerfully mesmerizing, as when people see the family as a pair of brothers, a man in a trench coat and a teenager, but in reality, they are two men who have saved the world several times, an angel, and the son of the devil. And now the son of the devil appears at the 'inopportune time' to stop the impending conflict between the angel and the Savior (the former owner of the sword of Michael, the seal of Cain, the former demon and possibly the only person in the universe who is arguing with the angel).
That's when the Savior says, "Well done, kid, time to get to work."
The other Savior says, "What...you still have to do your assignment, Dean, we paid! Dean! Cas?"
-tbc-