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The coach pulled up, and Dean waited as patiently as he could. This was going to be one of the most important moments of his life. When his father told him that his brother was coming home, Dean was shocked. For starters, while he vaguely remembered having a little brother when he was small, he’d never been told what happened to his brother after the fire. He had eventually decided that his brother died and nobody had wanted to try to explain that to a small child already dealing with losing his mother and being sent to live with an aunt and uncle instead of a stepmother.
His brother – he couldn’t even remember the name for sure; Sammy kept coming to mind but he’d also had an imaginary friend he called Sammy when he was small – should be somewhere around twenty-one. That could explain the timing; now that he was of age, he was free to do what he liked instead of what whoever ended up as his guardian told him to do. Another explanation was that he was coming home to join the family business, having finished whatever education he was provided.
There were several passengers disembarking; most of them Dean disregarded. There was a family and his half-brother, who was bringing a couple of friends home from school. Normally, he’d have at least greeted Adam; today was different because of the friends and being here to meet his brother. Adam was not excited at all about the new brother; he and Dean already barely got along.
The last passenger to step off was a young man traveling alone with several bags. He looked around, as if looking for someone to meet him. Although the man didn’t look at all like him or his father or his fuzzy memories of his mother – he was certain he’d have remembered if she had eyes that blue – there were no other passengers on this coach. “Are you looking for Winchester?”
The look on the man’s face was a delight. “I am. It’s good to meet you in person, Mr. Winchester.”
“Great!” Since finding out about his brother, Dean had spent most of his free time imagining this moment. Would he recognize his brother? There was no way his brother would remember him. Would they have things to talk about and fall into an easy friendship, or would it be awkward and stilted and worse than meeting a stranger? The one thing he’d never imagined was finding his brother attractive. All the speeches, all the questions, nothing felt right to say next. Eventually, he found his way to, “Call me Dean.”
The man shot a strange glance at him, but didn’t say anything as Dean led him to the carriage. Once everything was loaded, the silence felt even stranger. Eventually, Dean couldn’t take it anymore. “Did you have a pleasant trip?”
“Not really.” For a moment, Dean was afraid that the silence would come back, but then he spoke again. “It was made somewhat more pleasant by the thought of what might be waiting at the end of it. The employment is far better than what my uncle had planned for me, and I am very glad to be out of the city.”
“What did your uncle want you to do?” Who was this uncle Dean hadn’t heard of? If he was close enough to take in John’s son, why hadn’t he taken Dean? Aunt Ellen and Uncle Bill hadn’t taken him because John had already given him to a different relative, Ellen had explained when Dean asked her after learning about his brother. Why had John separated them? Questions for his dad, if he could ever get the notoriously closed-mouthed man to answer a damn thing for once in his life.
“I’m not certain, but I never really fit in with his family. I was the charity case who killed his mother, you know. He would have found a position that wouldn’t shame the family, but it would never have been anything like what your father is offering.”
“You shouldn’t have been treated like a charity case,” Dean said with a frown. The wording struck him as odd, but then, Aunt Ellen had always made sure that not only did Dean know who his father was, he knew the man himself. If his brother hadn’t had that, meeting John wouldn’t be any less weird than meeting Dean. “I never was.”
“I’m aware of my uncle’s deficiencies of human decency and kindness, believe me,” he said with a grim smile. “It’s why I was so grateful to receive this invitation upon finishing school. What do you do?”
“Dad put me in charge of managing the Campbell inheritance. Mom’s land,” he added as he realized that his brother might not even know their mother’s name. “Dad hasn’t told me much about you. What should I call you?”
“Castiel.” Dean stared blankly. How had he ever forgotten that name? Where had his parents even come up with it? “Yes, I know. It’s odd. My grandfather has a policy where he will pay any boarding school or university fees for any of his descendants, provided they are named for an angel.”
“I… see.” So the question of his brother’s name was back. Had their uncle changed his name so he could be covered under this grandfather’s policy? Would John encourage him to change it back now? “Did you enjoy boarding school?” Dean had enjoyed it, even though it was a struggle.
Castiel’s stories about boarding school and university lasted the rest of the drive to the estate, and Dean was glad to see it. The more he talked, the worse Dean’s attraction got. This was going to be really awkward.
John was, as usual, in his library. “Dad, I’ve got Castiel here.”
“Castiel?” John looked up, frown relaxing as he looked over Castiel. “Ah. Yes. Castiel. I’m sorry, my mind was somewhere else entirely. I hope your journey wasn’t too terrible.”
“The weather favored us, and the horses were swift. Thank you.”
“Dean, thank you for bringing him. Your Aunt Ellen and cousin Jo arrived earlier; I know you’ll want to see them as soon as possible.” Dean took the hint and left the room, trying not to be too disappointed. Shouldn’t he be included in the family reunion or discussion of the family business?
John kept Castiel busy all day, seeing to getting him settled in personally. Dean was expected to handle the business that came up, and there was enough of it that Dean didn’t get the chance to talk to Castiel again before bedtime. First thing in the morning, John was waiting for him. “Son, you need to take the carriage back into town. We’re expecting someone.”
“And when do I get to spend any time at all with Castiel?” Dean grumbled, but he was already turning to go. He saw John raise an eyebrow, but as his father didn’t say anything, he decided not to push his luck. John left without another word, and only as he was heading into town did Dean realize he didn’t know anything other than “another passenger.” For all he knew, he was supposed to be picking up Adam and his friends after they spent the night in town. He hadn’t heard Adam come in.
He got there just as the stagecoach was pulling in. His eyes were drawn immediately to the very tall young man who stepped off behind an old woman and the three young women – probably her daughters. He was quite noticeable, with his hair worn wild and somewhat longer than fashions in the area. John was going to hate it. This man was followed by two others, who immediately took off together, so this was likely the man he was looking for.
Up close, Dean could see his eyes, and his greeting died in his throat. So many colors to analyze! Plus, this one wasn’t his brother. The reminder of the brother waiting at home got Dean’s mouth working again. He cleared his throat. “Are you looking for Winchester?”
“I am.” He looked Dean over closely. “You can’t be John Winchester, so you must be his son Dean? Forgive me, but I assume you take after your mother?”
“That’s what everyone says,” Dean agreed. “Come on, let’s get to where fewer people are staring at us. We can talk on the road.”
Transferring the luggage to the carriage went quickly. As soon as they were out on the road, the stranger was back to staring at Dean. “I’m so nervous. Uncle Bobby prepared me as well as he could for this, but he neglected to tell me… but then, I suppose he wouldn’t have known, you can’t have been more than four the last time he saw you. I’m so… is Castiel here? I know we were trying to arrange our travel so we’d arrive close to the same day. I ran into some bad roads after bad weather…”
“You know Castiel?” So that’s who this guy was. A friend of his brother’s. A bit of a surprise that Castiel hadn’t mentioned bringing a friend from school with him, but then, clearly John knew about this. “He arrived yesterday. Dad promptly monopolized him.”
“Well, that’s hardly fair.” He pouted, and it was adorable. “I still haven’t met him in person. My friend Jess from school had a friend at Castiel’s school, and they encouraged us to start writing to each other. At first, it was just a way to practice penmanship and letter writing, since neither of us had much family. Well, Castiel had quite a large family, but not one that he cared to write to. I just had Uncle Bobby. Over time, we started pouring out our hearts to each other, and by the time we were ready to leave the university, he knew he would rather go with me than back to his family.”
The horrible uncle, Dean reminded himself. This was not his brother rejecting him, this was a rejection of the horrible uncle. He was also quite curious on whether he was reading too much into it or if his brother had a male lover. Did John know about this? It was also quite disappointing – two of the most beautiful men he’d ever met, and one turned out to be his brother and the other his brother’s lover. “Well, Dad is probably going to monopolize you today. No idea if he’ll include Castiel or not, but even if he does, you’ll be busy.”
“That’s okay. As long as he keeps his word, I don’t imagine we’ll have much problem, and according to Uncle Bobby, that’s one thing you can count on with John Winchester. He doesn’t give his word lightly, but when he does, he means it.”
“Yeah, that’s about right. Keeps his word about what, if you don’t mind me asking?”
His passenger chewed his lip, staring hard at Dean. He was just about to make a comment about that lip deserving much better treatment when he said, “Castiel and I are extremely close. He gave his word that we would not be forced into some respectable marriage or to live apart. If being together spoils the relationship, that’s one thing, but he gave his word that we would be allowed to try.”
So they were in love. Interesting, if somewhat disappointing. “I’m glad to hear that,” he only sort of lied easily. “So tell me about school.” As with Castiel, the topic was broad enough to last until they got to the estate.
John and Castiel were at the door to meet them, instead of Dean having to take his passenger to the library. “Welcome home,” John said. “Please, come with me to the library. Castiel, Dean, come along, please.”
Dean followed eagerly. Finally, some answers. Once they were settled, John cleared his throat. “Let me reiterate my promise, Sam. You and Castiel are welcome to be together, and while I do hope you’ll be discreet in front of strangers, how you boys conduct your affair is your business. The story around the estate is that my son brought his close friend with him from school because there was enough work here for three men and his own family was unlikely to provide nearly as good an opportunity. Dean, it’s my hope that you and your brother and his partner will grow close and continue to work together. When Adam comes of age…”
“We’ll include him, Father,” Sam said.
Dean got to his feet. “Wait. What?”
Sam stared at him. “He is our brother, Dean. Admittedly, I haven’t met him, but…”
“No, not that,” Dean said. “Of course I’m including Adam as part of the family. Go back to where you’re the one who’s my brother and not Castiel.”
Sam grinned. “Oh, that explains a lot. I assume you got here yesterday, Castiel?” After confirmation, Sam continued, “I was supposed to be here yesterday, too, but there was a huge storm on the second day of the trip, and the mud made for extremely slow going. I can see where you’d have made assumptions…” He turned back to Castiel. “Although not why you would play along with him thinking you were me.”
“He never specified that he thought I was you,” Castiel said quietly. “John kept me quite busy yesterday, planning the house he intends to build for the two of us and going over the estate accounts with me.”
“I didn’t want your brother developing an interest in your man,” John explained without Sam’s prompting. “He’s a good man, he would feel horrible when he discovered the truth.”
“Well. Dean, I’m your brother. My name is Sam. I’m guessing you forgot since you were four when we were separated?” Dean nodded wordlessly. “Father, Uncle Bobby never would give me an answer other than to ask you when the time came. He was willing to take Dean, too, so why did you separate us?”
John looked between his boys. “This doesn’t leave this room, understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Dean said immediately. Sam nodded.
“You too, Castiel. You need to hear this, but it cannot reach any other ears.”
“I will not speak or write of this to anyone who is not presently in this room,” Castiel promised.
“The night Mary died, she showed me an old family journal. A great-great-grandmother had written down her dreams, and many of them came true over the years. Mary had consulted the journal and realized that one of the dreams was coming due – the one where she died in a fire. There was only one other dream left to come true, and the dream included the names Sam and Dean. I’ll admit I was skeptical, who wouldn’t be, but…”
John’s voice choked up, and Dean couldn’t blame him. He’d never talked this much about Mary to Dean. Everything he knew about Mary came from Aunt Ellen or Uncle Bill. John cleared his throat and continued, “The night of the fire, Mary gave me the journal and made me promise that I would still love you boys and support you, no matter what. I’ve read the remaining dream. The two of you, along with a third man – I assume you, Castiel – were facing down a man threatening to expose you two as lovers.”
Sam and Dean exchanged looks. Dean could not speak. He had so many questions right now. Castiel, thankfully, recovered quickly. “I find myself questioning your wisdom, in that case. Separating them would make it more likely, not less likely, since you were planning to bring Sam home after he finished his education.”
John grimaced. “I’ll admit, at first, I had no such intention. It wasn’t personal, Sam. You wouldn’t remember me. Dean would. It was easier to think of giving you up. If Bobby had changed your name like I told him to and raised you as Sam Singer or Sam Campbell, I could have brought you home and just hope no one thought anything of Dean taking on an assistant who happened to share a name and an age with his deceased little brother. Bobby convinced me to wait a year, and by then, I’d thought better of it.”
“Okay, but… why?” Sam asked. “Why bring me back at all?”
“Because…” John shook his head. “Your mother believed that those dreams were happening for a reason. I don’t know what it was, but she told me that even her death would lead to something important and wonderful.”
“So hold on one second,” Dean said. “You know that I’m going to be involved with my brother, but you did everything you could to prevent me from developing an interest in his lover?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Castiel,” John said. “I’m not certain that he’s the third man in the dream. For all I know, he and Sam might decide that being together was much better in letters than it is in person. If he is, if he stays, then it was clear he knew about the two of you. Whatever you figure out between the three of you, that’s your decision, but I didn’t want things starting off on the wrong foot.” He cleared his throat. “And now, I’m going to go handle some business and let the three of you get to know each other.”
Once John was gone, Castiel reached out to Sam. “The dreams you’ve been recording. Do you think you may have inherited your ancestress’s powers?”
“It’s possible,” Sam said hoarsely. “In which case, I think I know who was threatening us.” He looked to Dean. “There’s a man. In my dreams, he’s called Azazel, but he seems determined to get hold of a Winchester. At first, I kept a record just because those dreams were intensely vivid, but then I had a dream come true. My friend Jess, who I mentioned is the one who got me writing to Castiel, died last November. I dreamt it the night before, and tried to convince him to be anywhere but his dorm on the night of his death, but I couldn’t. He burned in a fire. Like our mother.”
Dean shivered. “Any idea how to stop him?”
“None. I do know that we can expect to meet him in person – the three of us – at some point. That’s all I saw in that dream, but I heard our names. That’s what convinced me to copy out my journal to include in my letters to Castiel, and when we started truly getting close.” He forced a deep breath. “It’s all leading to something, but I don’t have enough puzzle pieces to know what.”
“Well, we’ll figure it out. Together. Somehow.” Dean looked between Sam and Castiel. “Along with a bunch of other things, apparently.”