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Jack’s not around a lot.
It takes up a lot of time, being God (Cas should know). Sure, sometimes they have lunch together, or take leisurely strolls through the park as they talk about whatever comes to their minds, and sometimes Mary gets the entire extended Winchester family (this includes Cas and Jack, she assures them) together for family dinners. Cas is thankful for the time he gets to share with Jack, but it’s not enough, not the same. Not how it was on Earth.
So when Cas gets a text from Jack one Tuesday afternoon, he jumps to answer it. In true Jack fashion, it’s clipped and cryptic.
JACK
2:52PM
Got you a surprise
Don’t freak out
Cas frowns down at his phone. He’s halfway through typing a reply inquiring what the surprise is, or why it requires a warning label, when there’s a burst of wind through his cabin. The windows blow open, papers go flying from his desk, and a woman’s voice comes from behind him.
“Heya, Clarence.”
Cas spins on his heels, his heart rate picking up, and he comes face-to-face with Meg.
“Meg.” Or whatever this thing is. Last time he saw Meg, she was the Empty. The real Meg, his Meg, was stabbed by Crowley years ago. She should be stuck down there, just as he was. Jack is powerful, but Cas is sure he isn’t so powerful as to be able to pull the both of them out.
“In the flesh,” Meg answers. Cas’ fists unconsciously clench at his sides. Just because he hasn’t had to fight in Heaven doesn’t mean he’s forgotten how to.
As if she can read his mind, Meg rolls his eyes. “Relax, Feathers.” She takes a step closer and he reflexively takes one back.
“Look at what’s happened to me,” Meg sings. “I can’t believe it myself. Suddenly I’m up on top of the world. It should have been someone else.”
Believe It or Not. In the hospital, when she’d watched over him, one of Cas’ favorite pastimes was watching TV, and his favorite show was The Greatest American Hero . He’s never told anyone that - not even Dean. The only person who would know, who could possibly know, would be-
“Meg?” he asks, his voice wavering as his fists unclench.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Meg says. She holds her arms out and Cas, overcome with emotion, scoops her into a tight hug. She laughs, her head against his shoulder as she gets her arms around him, and he buries his face in her hair. She smells like fire and smoke and something so profoundly human he can’t get enough of it. Something he smells on Dean’s skin when they lay in bed together and on Sam’s jackets when they hug.
No sulfur.
He pulls back from the hug just long enough to look down at her in confusion. “Your boy stripped me of my powers when he grabbed me,” she explains. There’s a twinkle in her eyes as she leans up to press a kiss under Cas’ jaw. “Out of the Empty though, finally. Pays to be almost-lovers with God’s daddy.”
It feels so good to have her in his arms, back to him, finally, but. His eyes flicker to a picture of him and Dean, twinned together over the lake, watching the sunset. “Meg,” he says, and her gaze follows Cas’ to the photo.
Meg untangles herself from his arms and walks over to pluck the photo off the wall. “Relax,” she says. “I heard all about how you and Deano do the horizontal tango now.” She examines the photo and scrunches her nose up in put-on distaste. “Gotta say, Clarence, real downgrade.”
Cas’ jaw clenches and Meg once again rolls her eyes as she puts the photo back. “I’m kidding.” She perches on the arm of his couch. “Tell me all about your unicorn.”
Cas sits beside her, shoulder-to-shoulder, and he tells her everything. About unrequited love, back on Earth. About his confession. About getting put back together. About their first kiss and their first time (“don’t need the details, Clarence”) and the way Dean smells like motor oil and cigarette smoke and the way he dances when he cooks, using the spatula as a microphone.
“You really love him, don’t you?” Meg asks.
“Very much,” Cas answers. Meg smiles, but there’s something sad behind her eyes. Cas tangles their fingers together and rests their combined hands on his knee. “I love you as well, Meg,” he says. “Just not-”
He falters. “Not like you love him,” she fills in. Cas nods as he looks down at her face, their eyes meeting. They just look at each other for a moment, and then she leans up a bit to kiss his cheek, a soft brush of her lips against his skin that has his eyes flutter closed for a heartbeat.
“You deserve this, Clarence,” she says softly. He opens his eyes and she uses her free hand to motion to the world around them. “You deserve forever.” She smiles then, teasingly. “Even if it is with a Winchester.”
Cas smiles back. He bumps her shoulder with his own as he answers, “he’s not so bad. He’s very good with his hands.”
“Ew, Cas!” Meg laughs, scandalized. “I did not need to know that.” Cas laughs along with her, and it feels so good to be here with his best friend again.
Dean walks in as they’re laughing. “Hey Cas!” he calls. Cas can hear the Impala’s keys clatter against the table in their entryway. “Who you laughing with?”
Dean rounds the corner into the living room, and Meg salutes him with two fingers against her forehead. “Hey there, Deano.”
“Meg?” Dean asks. Cas’ grip on Meg’s hand tightens. He knows Dean trusted Meg, towards the end, but they didn’t have the greatest history, and he doesn’t know how his boyfriend is going to react to the two of them sitting here like this.
Dean looks between them and then smiles. “Well son of a bitch.” He pulls Meg up and into a hug and Cas smiles as he watches. Even Meg cracks a smile as she fondly rolls her eyes. There’s nothing quite like a hug from Dean Winchester. “What are you doing up here?”
Meg pulls back from the hug and leans against the arm of the couch. “Your son thought Cas needed a Winchester reprieve,” she teases.
Dean’s gaze turns to Cas. “That true?” he asks as he steps closer. Cas spreads his legs so Dean can stand between them and he tangles their fingers together.
“A reprieve may be nice, occasionally, yes,” Cas teases, and then he leans up so they can kiss. Dean kisses like molasses, like someone who has all the time in the world, and it sends a shiver down Cas’ spine every time, no matter how often they do this.
Meg clears her throat and the two of them part, turning to her. Dean’s cheeks burn bright red. “Well, as hot as it would be to watch you two move around some furniture, I think I’m gonna head out.”
“You could stay,” Cas suggests. They have plenty of spare rooms for family, of which he considers Meg.
Meg looks between Dean and Cas and smiles sadly. “Nah,” she answers. “I couldn’t.” She holds her arms out and Cas crosses the room to wrap her up in his arms again. “I’ll be back,” she whispers against the skin of his neck. “Promise.”
When Cas pulls back, Meg and Dean hug. “Keep my angel safe,” she says to him. “I might not be a demon anymore, but I can still kick your ass, Winchester.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Dean answers. He presses a gentle kiss to her forehead and lets her go. She makes her way to the door and then, with one last glance at them, she’s gone.
Cas watches the spot where she had been. Dean comes up behind him, wraps his arms around Cas’ waist, and he kisses the back of his neck. “You okay?” Dean asks.
“Yeah,” Cas answers. He turns in Dean’s arms and presses his face into Dean’s chest as Dean wraps him up in a hug. “I love you.”
Dean presses a kiss to Cas’ forehead. “Yeah,” he answers, which is Winchester for ‘ I love you too ’.
Cas is okay. Really, he is. He’s just not used to complicated human emotions yet. Because he had felt something like love for Meg once. It’s nothing like the love he feels for Dean (incredible, explosive, awe-inducing), but he had felt it. Still does, he thinks, a bit.
Dean doesn’t ask. He doesn’t have to. They’re soulmates. Dean rocks him gently but doesn’t speak as Cas burrows himself more firmly into Dean’s chest. He thinks it's supposed to be more complicated, the promise of close friendship with an old flame when he has this incredible man, but it's not. They’re done with complicated.
Cas pulls back and looks up to Dean’s face, to his eyes, to this beautiful soul he helped rebuild and he fought so valiantly for. “Do you want to sit by the lake?” he asks instead of voicing any of this.
Dean smiles, his eyes sparkling, and Cas thinks maybe Dean understands without him having to say anything. “Yeah, I do.”
END