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“Dean?”
“Hmm?” Dean tips his head toward Cas but doesn’t take his eyes off of the road. Cas has been getting on his care about not paying attention to the road when he’s driving, and it never hurts to avoid a crash anyway, especially when it’s cold and icy like it is right now. The impala is a beast, but she’s not exactly built for dead winter and heavy slush on the roads. Dean half wishes he hadn’t agreed to come out here at all, what with the weather, but it’s been a while since he’s seen his brothers, and a while since Cas has seen his brothers, and Cas had wanted to go…
Hell, who was he kidding? Dean wants to go, too. He hasn’t been in the same building as Sam and Adam in far too long, and Christmas time is as good a time as any to reunite.
“You passed the restaurant.”
What? Dean glances in his rear view mirror and finds that he has, in fact, missed the restaurant he had agreed to meet Sam and Adam at. The lights on it’s sign twinkle at him mockingly, and he swings a quick u-turn, then turns into the parking lot.
“Sorry,” Dean mumbles, shaking his head a little at himself as he cuts the engine. “Musta got distracted.” He opens the door, steps out, and waits for Cas to join him before they walk into the building. It’s quaint, dimly lit and warm. Cas spies their company, waves, and grabs Dean’s hand before walking over to their family.
Sam looks up from his menu as Dean approaches, trailing behind Cas like he feels a little awkward, because he does. It’s been a few months since he’s seen Sam——they’ve both been so busy getting their lives in order after Chuck was defeated that they haven’t had time to see each other——and it’s a little weird. Reunions always are for them.
“Sam.” Dean nods at his brother and the short sugar-gremlin of an archangel plastered to Sam’s side.
Then Dean stops, because words are hard, and he’s never thought of himself as being particularly good at them.
“Sit,” Cas tells Dean, tugging him towards the table.
Dean sits, and Cas falls into easy conversation with Gabriel like they’ve never been apart. Dean supposes that the conversation is so easy because Cas has spent so much time away from Gabriel over his existence. It figures that they’d want to stay close, utilize their time.
“Adam and Michael are late,” Dean says quietly, in an effort to start some dialogue with Sam.
“Relax,” Sam says, calm as anything. Like there’s no way Adam and Michael could have run into trouble. “They probably just got caught in traffic.”
Dean looks at his menu.
“So, how have things——Jesus Christ!” Sam yelps as a rush of wings hits Dean’s ears and the chair next to him rattles as it’s suddenly occupied by an archangel.
“Warn a guy,” Dean grumbles, turning his head towards his half-brother. “Where the Hell have you been?”
“Apologies,” Michael rumbles from inside Adam’s body.
Dean rolls his eyes.
“Traffic,” Adam says, dismissing Dean’s concerns with a wave. “Are we gonna eat soon?” He looks over the menu. “I’m starving.”
Dean shrugs, a non-committal eventually.
“How have you guys been?” Sam asks, looking over at Adam and Michael.
“Busy,” Adam says. “Helping rebuild Heaven has been——hell,” Michael finishes. “We’re not architects.”
Sam laughs. “Me and Gabriel are lucky we don’t have to help with that.” He bumps his shoulder against Gabriel, who glances over at Sam with a fond gleam in his eyes, but doesn’t pause in his conversation with Cas. “Trust me, trying to buy a house is enough for us.”
“How about you, Dean?” Michael asks. Dean still finds Michael’s demeanor a little… off. That’s angels, though. Or maybe that’s just Michael, or Michael and Cas. Winchesters tend to attract weird angels, Dean thinks.
“Not much,” Dean replies quickly. “Just hunting. Running the bunker.” He shrugs. “Life.”
“Do you ever think of retiring?” Sam inquires. “Leaving the life?”
“Not really.” Dean bites his lip. “Hunts have been easy.” And they have been. Their frequency hasn’t gone down, but they’ve gotten so much easier since Chuck went down. It makes one think.
Dean looks over at Cas, watches him talk with Gabriel, for a moment, and smiles.
“Are you happy?” That’s Adam. He sounds genuine in his question, too.
“Yeah,” Dean says. And he is. Pretty damn happy.
Things flow more smoothly after that. Dean relaxes a little more, laughs a little more freely, and it’s… easy. Easy to talk with his family, to his brothers and their partners. Easy to be.
Dean doesn’t mind that one bit.