Chapter Text
Something was tickling the side of Dean’s face, brushing back through his hair. Fingers smoothing over his scalp. Cas. Dean blinked away sleep and stared over into bright blue eyes. There was something different about them, but his thoughts were sluggish.
“Cas?” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyelids one handed. On the pillow between them, he was still holding onto Cas’s hand, the way he’d fallen asleep when they’d gotten to an inn. Sam had gotten them all rooms, and he’d talked about getting a healer to check on Cas, but Dean had nixed that idea: there wasn’t anyone qualified to care for a seren, and who knew what kind of damage it could do to have someone poking around him when they didn’t know what they were doing. He’d been holding out hope that Cas just needed rest again. Hope that now seemed founded. “You okay?”
Cas gave him a sad smile. “I will be.”
“What happened last night?” Dean peered intently at him. “You passed out.”
Biting at his bottom lip, Cas’s shoulders tensed, and then he relaxed his body on a sigh. “Cutting myself off from Desrix… it cut off my magic too. I… I’m…” Cas’s eyes went glassy.
“Hey.” Dean cradled his face and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips before resting their foreheads together, eyes closed, his chest aching for Cas’s loss. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I didn’t want you to worry. Or try to talk me out of doing it,” Cas quietly explained. “I didn't know I'd lose consciousness.”
“Cas…”
“It’s okay.” Cas took a shaky breath, his eyes drifting shut. “I’m just… I’m basically human now. No more shifting or magic. I wasn’t sure that’s what would happen, but I guessed it was a possibility. It hurt more than I thought it would—like the magic was ripped from my chest when I finished the incantation.”
“I wish I could fix this for you,” Dean mumbled, thumbs rubbing over Cas’s cheeks.
“Me too,” Cas whispered. He shifted back and examined Dean’s face, frowning at the stitches along his cheek. “I wish I could fix that for you.”
Dean smirked. “I’m fine. I like it. It’ll make me look badass.”
Cas smiled softly at Dean, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You don’t need a scar for that. Tell me what happened after I lost consciousness.”
“Well, once Sam made me get it together we brought you back here. Then me, Jo, Charlie, and Benny had a chat while Sam patched us up.” Dean scowled. “Think we know how the Stormridge soldiers figured out where we were. And how Kevin got slipped a note at the guard tower.”
Cas's brow furrowed. “How?”
“The only person who let someone know where they were going was Benny. He said his girlfriend, Andrea, was worried about him takin’ off. Gave him a sob story about how she couldn't handle it after all the worrying about him during the war. He's pretty broken up about it. He really loves her, but even he had to admit she had access to the tower, and she's the only one who had our location. Plus she's pretty skilled at magic; she'd know a way to keep in contact with Stormridge.”
Cas pursed his lips, brows drawing together in confusion. “Why would she do that?”
Inclining his head a little, Dean squeezed Cas's hand. “Who knows? Could be they threatened her, or offered her something. We won't know until she's interrogated. Sam sent word to Garth, he'll get the information to the right people.”
For a little while Cas was quiet, absorbing the information or organizing his thoughts. “What happens now? For you? And me? Technically you took off with a prisoner, and told them you were under my thrall.”
Dean smirked. “That's true. But the good news is the only people who saw you were Sam, Jo, Charlie, Benny, and Garth. None of them will say you were the shadowlight I captured. Oh, and Kevin, but he's likely already headed to the capital for trial.” Dean sighed, he couldn't help feeling just a little bad for Kevin even if he should've thought his actions through. “The story we decided on was that the shadowlight used me to escape the Stormridge soldiers. After contacting Sam and the others, the shadowlight escaped while we fought off the soldiers, sealing the door behind him.”
Frowning, Cas stared into Dean's eyes. “But won't it look suspicious if I return with you?”
“Yeah.” Dean smoothed a thumb over Cas's neck when his expression went tight. “I got a plan for that too.” He gave Cas a reassuring smile and leaned in to kiss him. “Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm not about to lose you now.”
*****
The sky was cloudy and grey when they met the others outside the inn. Charlie had managed to secure two additional horses for them, and the mood was forlorn. She, Benny, and Jo left first with Dean promising to catch up shortly. Sam and Baby wandered off a little bit to give Dean and Cas some space.
“It won't be for long,” Dean promised him. “A few days tops. If I could take you to Bobby and Ellen's myself without raising suspicion, you know I would. I gotta be back there with them for any of this to be believable.”
“Won't it look odd that Sam's not with you?”
“Sam's not a soldier. No one's really gonna bat an eye over the fact he needed some extra time to recuperate before heading home.”
Nodding, Cas glanced over to where Sam was waiting. “A few days.”
“Then Bobby and Ellen'll bring you down to visit. A cousin on Jo's dad's side. We'll hit it off, obviously.” Dean smirked at him, and squeezed his bicep. “Love at first sight.”
“Impulsivity. That does sound like you,” Cas teased.
Chuckling, Dean drew him closer. “It does, huh?”
Cas glanced down at Dean's mouth, then back up, eyes darkening. “Mhmm.”
Leaning in and pressing their mouths together, Dean kissed him slow and deep. He gently brushed his lips over Cas's once more before he pulled away completely, trying to make him feel how loved he was, how much he'd miss him. Then he touched his forehead to Cas's, eyes still shut as he ran his fingers through Cas's wild hair. “It does.”
*****
The smell of frying eggs greeted Dean as he stretched awake. Six months since Bobby and Ellen had first brought Cas back to him, six months of waking up to him in the morning, of going to bed with him at night. Six months of helping him adjust to life without magic.
Smirking to himself and scratching at an itchy patch of dried come on his belly he must've missed when he'd lazily wiped down last night before they'd fallen asleep, he thought, at least without that kind of magic.
Because being with Cas every day, showing him things he'd never experienced before—both in and out of the bedroom—that was magic all on its own. He knew Cas well enough by now that he wouldn't call him perfect; neither of them were, but they were perfect together. The life they were building was. And every moment Dean got to soak it up, he would.
The fallout from Dean's 'little stunt with the shadowlight’ had thankfully been minimal at best, and Dean had walked away from the meeting with his superiors feeling pretty relieved. Everyone had been ready to move on, and though tensions had risen between Laurellia and Stormridge in the time directly after the incident, things had fallen back into the same peace as before.
He hadn't known back before this whole misadventure started that something was missing from his life. He hadn't understood how empty his evenings, nights, and mornings were. Now that he had Cas to come home to—he couldn't imagine things any other way.
For the first time in way too long, Dean liked his life exactly the way it was. He liked living near his brother, he liked the guards he worked with. And most of all he loved Cas with a fierceness that blew anything he'd ever felt before clear out of the water. He was happy.
“Dean,” Cas called up the stairs, voice morning-raspy. “If you don't hurry up you'll be late.”
Heaving a sigh, Dean climbed out of bed. “Comin’, just gotta wash up!”
He rushed through cleaning and dressing himself in his armor, trying not to smirk too smugly when he noticed in his reflection the hickey Cas had left purpling his neck just below his ear. Turned out Cas was even more possessive than Dean was. He liked to leave his mark where people could see, and honestly… Dean liked it too. Even if Jo teased him about it mercilessly.
Downstairs he found Cas waiting for him at the table. As he approached, Cas tilted his face up expectantly, and Dean indulged him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Mornin'. Where's Baby?”
“Already out.” Cas nodded at the place he'd set for Dean—a plate piled high with over-easy eggs, fried potatoes, and two pieces of buttered bread. “Eat. We both need to get going.”
Since they'd settled into their life together in Shepherd's Bend, Cas had been working at Sam's store. He'd been teaching Sam the spells he knew, the two of them experimenting with what potions and incantations worked in Laurellia. Cas could only instruct Sam, since he couldn't use magic anymore. At first Dean had worried it'd be too painful for Cas, but it gave him something to do while Dean was working that made him feel useful. Plus Sam had said business was doing better than ever since Cas had started helping out. Win-win.
They ate quietly, feet bumping beneath the table, making each other smile. Dean mopped up the runny yolks Cas had made just the way he liked with a piece of bread. Eggs were one of the first things Cas had learned to cook, and he was still overly fond of them. Not that Dean was complaining.
Once they'd finished, Dean cleared away the plates and utensils, dropping them into the sink to deal with later. He pulled on his gloves and met Cas by the door, head tilting inquisitively when Cas's lips twitched with a suppressed smile.
“You have a little….” Cas reached up, his fingertips brushing against the corner of Dean's lips.
A shiver of unexpected warmth tingled where Cas was touching, and they looked at each other, wide-eyed. “Was that—?”
“I—” Cas swallowed hard, blinking a few times in rapid succession before he closed his eyes, brow furrowing in concentration. Another pulse of warmth tickled at Dean's cheek. “It's…” His eyes flew open, disbelief and joy flitting through them. “I think it's coming back.”
“Shit, Cas.” Dean grinned at him, grabbing his face and tugging him into an ecstatic kiss. Then they were both laughing. The world and everything else waiting for them outside could wait.
Right now—they needed to celebrate.