Chapter Text
Dean kept his head on a swivel; always waiting for the other shoe to drop, because it always did. Winchester’s never got their happy endings or an apple pie life with picket fences crap or whatever Hallmark comes up with nowadays. It’s been over a year since the whole showdown with Chuck— God?— and just thinking about the entire thing makes him sick to his stomach in a way he’s never experienced before. Dean’s lost Cas way more than he cares to admit, but it hit him as he sat on the cold hard dungeon floor, bloody handprint the only proof he didn’t hallucinate Cas’ profession of love and subsequent sacrifice. The reality weighing on him and crushing like vice, he could’ve been down there for hours before gathering up the courage to even attempt to go and find Sam and Jack.
Dean’s not so clear on the details of how exactly Jack got Cas from the empty. Those few months without him are a booze-soaked haze of self loathing and overall mulling over Cas’ words and how he’d never get his chance to reply. That Cas died truly believing deep down in his soul or grace or whatever equivalent he had that Dean didn’t reciprocate his feelings and never would. Which is complete and utter bullshit! That’s verbatim what Dean told him as soon as they got a moment alone. With all of freaking Heaven off their backs seeing as Jack is the new God, the Winchester’s decided it was high time they started experiencing this “free will" they fought so damn hard for.
So Sam and a freshly revived Eileen decided to start up a hunter’s network for the next generation using the bunker as a base of operations and Dean dragged Cas off to California stating he wanted to be as close to the beach as possible since it’d been his biggest wildest fantasy for as long he could even remember.
Being a firefighter was also a big part of that and Cas convinced Dean it was never too late to apply to the fire academy despite his age. Cas got himself a job with the local farmer’s market selling his honey and some other produce he grows in their new garden which doesn’t exactly pay the bills but it makes him happy to be able to contribute to the Los Angeles ecosystem. Which brings Dean to today, standing outside of the 118 fire station sending up a prayer to Jack that his first day goes well despite the unfortunate weather the city is experiencing.
Dean sighed as he crossed the threshold and headed up the stairs to where the rest of the team seemed to be gathered. Steeling himself and mentally chiding himself for being nervous. He’s a grown man dammit and he’s dealt with literal hell he can get through introductions. “I’m looking for Captain Nash” he managed to get out. He felt a cold shift in the room as they all turned to him and he felt like there was some sort of inside joke he wasn’t getting. A nice looking woman in some funky glasses that reminded him a little of Charlie pointed out a man standing at the stove of the kitchenette and then they all resumed eating, but he could feel their eyes at his back as he walked over.
“You must be the new probie, Winchester right?” the man said. Dean couldn’t begin to explain what came over him when he responded, “Just call me Dean”. He heard a reaction from the peanut gallery behind but paid them no mind. Bobby, as he just introduced himself, offered to make Dean a plate when lightning flashed right outside the bay doors and then the alarm went off. It was gonna be a long shift.