SPN Fic: Sanctuary 2/2 (Castiel/Dean/Jo, NC-17)
Fic Title: Sanctuary (2/2)
Author: thinlizzy2
Fandom/Genre: SPN/Romance
Pairing(s): Castiel/Dean/Jo
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 14489 (total)
Warnings: Spoilers up to and including 5.10. Explicit sex including a threesome, masturbation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, violence, mention of canon character deaths.
Summary: Dean ends up spending a bit longer in the future than he'd expected. When Castiel leads him to his estranged wife, Dean learns more about the life of his future self and the life he himself might lead.
Author's Notes: I had to play a bit fast and loose with some coltish details of the canon to make this work. If that's a problem... um... a wizard did it?
Thanks so much to sailorhathor for her incredible art and equally incredible feedback, as well as to durtydeefla82, for being such a positive beta reader despite my codependent relationship with typos.
Chapter 8
Dean spent the next few days drifting in and out of consciousness.
At times, he was aware of nothing; floating on a pharmaceutical cloud, he plunged in and out of happy dreams at will.
Those were the best times.
Sometimes he'd grab handfuls of feathers and go find Cas. He started by pressing the soft, downy fluff to the former angel's shoulder blades and then move outwards, heaping countless feathers on top of each other. He stroked the feathers as he worked, even rubbed his face in them. When he was finished he pulled back and admired his work - two flawless perfect wings back where they belonged.
Or he'd visit Jo back at the Roadhouse - Jo, intact again, clear-skinned and bright eyed. He wiped the scar tissue from her face, took the nicotine stains from her fingers and put her back under Ellen's loving care. When she leapt into his arms to shower him with thanks he hugged her back enthusiastically, cherishing the feel of the warm, fierce body he held.
Most often of all though, he went to see Sam. He was just Sam in the dreams, Dean's untainted, optimistic brother. Sam, who'd never even entertained the possibility of saying 'yes' to Lucifer or tasted a drop of demon blood, would sit next to Dean in the Impala, savoring the open road and the opportunity to bitch about his big brother's taste in music. He'd roll his eyes and chomp on his salad while Dean stuffed cheeseburgers into his mouth. He'd keep Dean up half the night with his snoring and then wake him up at stupid o'clock in the morning to watch the sun rise. And every once in a while, he'd smile his Sammy smile and say I just want you to be happy, okay? Just be happy, Dean.
I'm trying, Sammy, he'd promise. I think I know how. I just need to understand it.
Well, get a move on. Sam would say. I know I'm the smarter brother, but even you should be able to work this out.
And Dean would toss a pillow or a shoe or a cookie at his head and they'd wrestle like they were kids bursting with energy and possibilities again.
Other times, he was more aware of what was really happening around him. He felt the pain in his stiff muscles, his torn skin. Those times were among the most frustrating he'd ever known; he was aware but unable to doing anything to alleviate his own suffering, unable to even move. All he could do then was wait for Jo or Castiel to come and tend to him again.
"I want you to know," Cas said once, changing Dean's IV bag and swabbing the place where the needle pieced Dean's skin, "I'm staying off this stuff so you can have it all. So way to go, Fearless Leader, you've got me handling the junk and not taking it. And all you had to do was smash yourself up against pavement. Who woulda guessed it, huh?"
Jo would come in and rub something cool and soothing on his scars, her fingers gentle and light. "It's not going to matter, Dean," she'd whisper as she worked. "You can have scars, even bad ones, and still be beautiful. You told me that once. You made me believe it. So you believe it too, okay?"
Once, he awoke to the sounds of shouting followed by a rush of light. He strained against the haze of drugs, trying to get up to help, but his body wouldn't listen to him. His caregivers came in a few hours later, their clothes splatted with red. He managed to give a low moan in concern.
"It's just paint," Jo reassured him as she took his temperature. "We've been putting up some sigils."
"Our old friend Michael was back." Cas explained. "I actually don't think we'll see him again unless he gets a new vessel; that poor girl he was in was pretty much wrecked. But life is short enough and we're pretty much hellbound, so why take the chance?"
"We're really proud of you," Jo said, sponging the sweat off Dean's face. "You said 'no'. Michael told us he asked and you said 'no'. He got it into his head that we could convince you."
"Right, bro. We'll get right on it." Cas rolled his eyes. "I mean, we used to argue with... future-you about it all the time. He'd go on about how he should have said 'yes', how he would have if he knew how the world would turn out. I think that was the first thing that every made me feel literally sick. But you've seen it now, and you still said 'no'." He laughed as packed their supplies away again. "Definitely the superior Dean."
"Not now, Cas," Jo admonished him. "We don't even know if he can hear us."
"He can hear us," Cas told her, with the same unquestionable certainty with which he'd declared, five years ago, that God existed. "And Dean, I don't want you to feel weird about this just because it's coming from the folks who change your cathetar. But we know for sure. You're you." He lowered his face to Dean's level, picked up the eye contact that still felt so familiar. "You're the Dean we hated losing. And you're the Dean we want back."
Chapter 9
Dean didn't know how much time passed between Michael's visit to the farm house and the next time he woke up. But he did know he was hungry for the very first time since he'd tangled with the archangel. In fact, he was suddenly far too hungry to wait for Jo or Cas to come back.
Yanking out the various needles and tubes attached to his body hurt like a bitch, but it was a pain he could manage and that was a welcome change. It took him several minutes to get to his feet, fighting dizzyness and nausea. When he got there, he felt like he'd won a race.
The house was cold and dark. He wondered if they might have gone out hunting and left him there. He had no idea if he'd ever been alone in the house.
If he was alone now, he was fucked as far as food went. He discovered he was on the second floor, a whole staircase away from anything to eat. Making it down the stairs was going to be impossible so he turned around to go back to his sickroom when he heard a woman cry out.
Jo.
If she was in trouble Dean wasn't going to be able to do anything to help her but he couldn't just ignore her either. Aching, he shuffled down the corridor, bracing himself against the wall as he went, seeking out the source of the noise.
When he found it, he very nearly collapsed.
They'd left the door open, as if they had nothing to hide. Maybe, from their perspective, they didn't.
Jo was on top of Castiel, falling and rising as he thrust into her from below. Cas' hands stroked her breasts, her hips, her thighs. Maybe it was the drugs in his system, but Dean would have sworn that everywhere he touched her shimmered. Jo's head was thrown back; her eyes were closed tight and her face was radiant with pleasure. Cas was locked onto her, spellbound. Dean's ears filled up with the former angel's oaths, giving thanks to a God he'd professed to have abandoned in a language he'd sworn he'd forgotten.
They sighed together and Dean sighed with them, the sound escaping before he knew it was coming.
They froze for a moment, an erotic tableau that reminded Dean of statues he'd once seen on school trips. Then they gaped at him, and Dean felt his face heating up. These people took care of him while he was injured, nursing and feeding him. And he just walked in on them in bed like a curious four year old or a peeping tom. He should go back to his room, try to sleep, apologize to them in the morning.
He knew that, but that's not what he did. He couldn't. The two of them together were the only beautiful things he'd seen since he'd left 2009 and he needed a bit of beauty like oxygen.
Stumbling as he went, he moved slowly into Jo's room. He sat in her bedside chair and stared. All he could do was stare.
A long moment passed, and then they started to move again.
Dean was mesmerized. From his new proximity he could see Jo's nipples, hard and pebbled against her creamy skin. Cas' cock rammed in and out of her and Dean watched as they separated and came together again and again. They made joining look so easy. Cries and moans punctuated each withdrawal, each return, and Dean heard similar noises coming from his own throat. They sounded good together, the three of them; he couldn't help but notice that.
Jo was shimmering where Castiel touched her; Dean was certain of it now. More than shimmering, she was glowing. The former angel's skin left a pale, glittery sheen on her body and Dean longed to touch it. He reached out to stroke her shining belly then pulled his hand away at the last moment. Looking was one thing but he couldn't touch them.
They didn't seem to agree. Jo keened when he pulled his hand away, a thin hungry sound as if she were starving. She rutted against Cas as though his body was the only thing that could make her feel better. Cas rocked back, burying himself in her body so roughly that Dean was frightened they might be hurting each other. One of Castiel's arms looped around Jo's shoulders, driving himself deeper inside her. The other reached towards Dean.
Cas didn't grope; he didn't grab at Dean. Instead, he lay his hand on the bed, near Dean's knee. Open palmed and dangerous, the hand lay there - a wordless challenge.
Dean took it. He took Castiel's hand in his own and felt the other man's fingers close around his. He closed his eyes now, shutting out all sensation except for the warmth of the hand in his and the cries of the pair in the bed.
Cas' grip suddenly became painful as the former angel bellowed. Dean felt his muscles tightening through his arm. The grasp on his hand went limp and Dean opened his eyes to see Jo arch her back and scream as she came before collapsing, boneless, across her lover's chest.
They were only still for an instant.
Then, Jo's hand stroked along Castiel's arm, coming to a stop where the two men were joined. She rested her own hand on top of theirs and the light touch felt like a physical pull. Wordless, Dean climbed into the bed, arranging his injured body delicately on the damp and crumpled sheets. Jo rolled off of Cas and lay between them, one leg across Dean's hips.
No one spoke. After a few minutes, Dean heard their breathing change and he knew they'd both fallen asleep. He doubted he'd be far behind them. Pinned beneath Jo's leg, Cas' semen dripping out of her and onto Dean's body, he couldn't remember ever being more comfortable. He brushed her hair back from her cheek and saw his own hand glimmering slightly in the dark. Smiling, he reached across Jo's body and laid his hand on Castiel's arm. The feel of that skin and muscle was the last thing he registered before sleep became irresistable.
Chapter 10
Nothing was the same after that.
Cas and Jo spent their days hunting and foraging for supplies. Dean was still too weak to join them but he did what he could around the house. He wiped away the thick layer of dust that coated everything in the house, arranged Jo's books and weapons, tried to cook whatever food they found into something palatable. They teased him about it - called him the Happy Homemaker - but Dean didn't care. He owed it to them, not just for taking care of him but for what they gave him at night.
The bedroom door was always open. Dean would stretch out on the bed - he never returned to the chair - and watch them together. Sometimes he'd massage the muscles in Castiel's thighs as Jo took the former angel deep inside her mouth; sometimes he'd gently cup Jo's foot as she rode Cas. Neither of them ever asked Dean to touch them, but he knew they loved it when he did.
He started coming in earlier and earlier. He loved to watch them undress each other. They'd angle themselves towards Dean as they peeled off each other's clothes and as he got braver he began to give directions. Once, he had Cas try to remove Jo's bra with his teeth; he was so inept at it that all three of them had dissolved in laughter. Another time, he asked Cas to wear Jo's panties. They were plain white cotton, and had seen better days, but the image was still so hot that Dean had to grab hold of Castiel's ass and feel the hard muscles underneath the feminine garment.
That night was the first time he touched himself in their presence. After they had both come, he palmed his own erection under the blankets, rubbing and tugging at himself until he spurted all over his hand, some of it dripping off to add to the mess under the sheets. Cas chuckled beside him. "Can we?"
Wordless, Dean pulled his hand out from under the sheets. Cas and Jo licked it clean like hungry kittens.
Another evening, Jo appeared in the living room stark naked except for Jimmy Novak's old trench coat draped over her shoulders and his silly tie knotted loosely around her neck. "Remember this?" she asked, putting on a deep, rough voice. Cas growled low in his throat and pounced on her. Dean watched them roll around on the threadbare rug, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt where they'd stitched him up.
He found Cas with the coat the next morning.
"I really should try to fix it. It's a decent coat, and it's in a lot better shape than most of my clothes. No reason not to wear it, really?"
"Is Jimmy still in there?" Dean hadn't thought about the mild-mannered tax lawyer in months. He felt guilty about that. He couldn't help but wonder what poor Jimmy would think of what Cas did with his body.
Cas shook his head. "He died, Dean."
"What? When?" This was the first Dean had heard of it.
"The first time I did. His body exploded, remember? A human being can't survive that."
Dean shut his eyes. "He's at peace now, I guess. That's something, right?"
A shrug from Castiel. "I have no idea." He shook out the coat. "When Jo gets up, I'll see if she has a needle and some thread."
"Do you sew?" It was kind of funny to picture a former angel of the Lord darning socks. Though once he worked out that they could use cell phones nothing else should have surprised him.
"When I have to. That hasn't been too often. I should have learned, but the three of us used to raid empty shops to get stuff, and then at the camp girls were usually pretty good about bringing me what I needed. Before that..."
"What?"
"My wife was good at sewing. She used to make all her own clothes."
Dean let out a long breath, surprised at the stab of jealousy he felt when Castiel mentioned his wife. "Was she... was she a part of this? Was it the four of us?"
"Beth?" Cas laughed dryly. "No, Beth didn't know about any of this. She definitely wouldn't have approved."
Dean leaned against his friend's shoulder. "Tell me about her."
He felt Cas' muscles tense. "Dean, I'd really rather not. It's finished with."
"I want to know." He hadn't realized it before, but it was true. "You two know everything; it feels like I'm totally in the dark."
"We told you the stuff that matters." Castiel pulled away from Dean, but the hunter was insistent now.
"You were married. I don't know anything about that. I don't know why you left us; I don't know why you came back. If I'm going to be a part of this, I need to know what happened. And why did I leave Jo? I don't get it, Cas."
"Stop it!" Castiel looked more frightened than Dean had ever seen him look before. "What you're asking, it's not good, okay? It's not some little misunderstanding we can laugh about now. It was ugly and painful and it damn near killed all of us! But it's over now, so why can't you let it be? Why can't you just-"
He stopped speaking abruptly, cut off by the sound of every door in the house suddenly slamming at once. The furniture jumped as if the ground was shaking. Dean yelled as he heard a crash from outside; he ran to the window to see trees toppling down, uprooted from the ground.
"Are we under attack?" he shouted. "Cas, what's doing this?"
The former angel was curled into a ball on the floor, his knees tucked up to his chest. His eyes were clenched shut and his fingernails cut into the palms of his hands, drawing trickles of blood that he didn't seem to notice. A bookshelf fell over just inches from this feet.
"Cas?" Dean approached him carefully. "Cas, is it you?"
"I don't know." Dean could barely hear him. "It's never happened before, not this bad anyway."
"It's okay. Look, I'm sorry." He reached out to touch Cas' shoulder, but the other man jerked away from him.
"Don't!" There was another series of crashes from outside. "You shouldn't touch me!"
"Fuck that shit." Dean massaged Cas's hands, willing the fingers to relax. He wrapped his arms around Castiel's shoulders. "Just breathe through it, okay? Don't try to stop it; just calm down."
It took several minutes. Jo, woken up by all the noise, came downstairs while Dean tried to soothe Cas; wordlessly, she joined their little huddle. Little by little, the chaos lessened, and then stopped completely.
"I'm sorry." Cas stared at the damage, wide-eyed. "I don't know what happened. All this mess..."
"It's not important." Jo rubbed circles onto his back, her eyes wide and frightened. "None of it matters."
"She's right," Dean assured him, trying to believe it himself. "It's finished. It doesn't matter."
Chapter 11
There was no sex that night, no laughter. Exhausted from a day spent cleaning up the wreckage, Cas and Jo fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Dean was tired as well, but he couldn't manage to lose consciousness. He lay awake and watched them.
He hadn't meant to get angry with Cas, but the last time the former angel had kept secrets from him Sam had been tricked into kick-starting the apocalypse. Jo, lying beside him, was a similar bundle of mysteries. He wondered what would have happened if they hadn't needed to treat Castiel's wounds, if he hadn't noticed the tattoos. Would he be lying here at all, or would they have kept him in the dark about the past they all shared?
He loved these people; he'd swear he did. Was he falling in love with them? Could you fall in love with people if you didn't know what made them who they were?
He finally managed to fall asleep just as the sun was beginning to tint the sky pink, only to be awoken what felt like seconds later by the caterwauling of one of Jo's many alarms. He cursed and rubbed at his eyes, instincts already driving him to rifle under the bed for a weapon. Beside him, Cas primed what had become his favorite shotgun while Jo streaked across the room to her video monitors.
"I don't get it," she growled in frustration. "None of the traps have gone off."
"Maybe it's a technical malfunction," Cas suggested hopefully.
"Maybe, but I'm getting absolutely nothing from the front door camera. It's disabled. If that's a malfunction it's a pretty specific one."
Cas loaded the last of his cartridges. "Dean, you should wait here. I don't know if you're up for a fight yet."
Dean shook his head. "My trigger finger works fine and you're going to need all the back-up you can get." There was no way he was letting them face whatever was down there without him.
They crept down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. Cocking their weapons at the door, Jo flung it open.
And Dean found himself aiming a gun at his own head.
Chapter 12
"So you're really here," the future Dean sneered. "That's pretty damn heartwarming. Is it happy family funtime all over again?"
"Fuck you." Jo's voice was a furious snarl from Dean's right.
"Not now, honey. I've got business to discuss." He turned back to Dean. "I need to talk to you."
Dean shook his head. "You don't talk to her like that."
"Fucking hell!" The other Dean shook his head. "Whatever's going on here, I don't give a shit. This is actually important. Come with me; I've got something I need to show you." He held up his hands. "I'm unarmed, nothing in my pockets either." He smirked at Jo and Cas. "Either one of you want to pat me down?"
It was Dean who ended up doing the honors. Once he'd established that his future self really wasn't carrying a weapon, he followed him to the edge of the property to see whatever it was the man had brought that was so important. Jo and Cas trailed them, still clutching their guns.
Dean was furious when he saw the two men standing at the end of the driveway. Had they been stupid enough to walk into an ambush? He clicked the safety off his gun but Cas shook his head. "It won't do any good against these two."
"You know who we are?" The bigger of the two men seemed surprised.
"I can smell shit, yes."
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you little brother?"
"You brought angels here?" Dean was enraged. He could have killed his future self, but he had no idea what that would mean for himself in a few years time.
"Michael," Cas intoned, gesturing at the larger man. "And Lucifer."
Dean bellowed in fury, grabbing the smaller man by the front of his shirt and dragging him close. "Where's Sam?"
"Somewhere safe." Lucifer extracted himself from Dean's hold in an instant. "He'll stay safe too, if you listen to me."
"Don't listen to him Dean. He's lying."
Dean knew Jo was probably right, but it didn't matter. If there was a chance to save Sammy, he'd have to take it. "I want you to let him go, you understand? You've got these two now." He gestured at the two vessels. "So have your little pissing contest and settle this thing. But leave Sam alone."
"These?" Michael laughed. "These are trash. Burners. We can't fight in these. The apocalypse is a big deal. We need to dress up for it."
"Take him!" Dean gestured at his future self. "He's willing; you know that."
"Don't want him." Michael was as stubborn as ever. "I want you."
Lucifer laughed. "Pride is supposed to be my sin, but I think it must be catching. Sorry, Dean. Michael's being picky. Me though, I'm willing to compromise."
"Dean, nothing good can come of this." Castiel barely got the warning out before he collapsed, Jo crumpling to the ground beside him.
Dean knelt down and checked their pulses. Steady and strong, but he was still worried. "What did you do to them?"
"They're sleeping; they'll be fine." Lucifer waved his hand. "Now listen, this is important. Like I said, Michael's pretty set on getting into you. But I'm ready to be more flexible. If you're willing to indulge my brother a bit, I'll take the slightly used model over here."
It took Dean a moment to understand. "That'll work?" If he was a suitable vessel for Lucifer, why did Sam need to get caught up in the whole mess at all?
"You're not my true vessel, Dean. But genetically, you're close enough for me to get one good fight out of you. Even if we win, you won't have much of a body to come back to. But I'm sure Sammy will be happy to look after whatever's left."
Dea felt sick at what the archangel was suggesting, but the mention of Sam was too tempting to pass up. "And you'll leave him alone? Michael too? No matter who wins this thing, Sam is okay?" He couldn't believe he was on the verge of making this deal, but it was for Sam.
He couldn't give Cas his wings back and he knew Jo would never be safe in her mother's arms again, but if he could bring back the Sam from his dreams, then that would be something. Not everything, but more than likely the best he could do in this world.
"Sam lives. No matter what." Both angels nodded.
"Them too." Dean gestured at Jo and Cas. "Nothing can happen to them either."
The angels looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Anything else? Any family pets you're especially eager to save? Houseplants you're particularly attached to?"
"He's right." The future Dean spoke for the first time since they'd reached Michael and Lucifer. He was staring at the pair on the ground, hatred and disgust warring with something softer in his face. "They live too."
"Fine, fine!" Lucifer waved his hands. "The monkeys make it through. Now can we do this?"
Dean swallowed hard. "Not tonight. Come back tomorrow."
Michael groaned. "Dean, we've been waiting for this for a very long time."
"I need to explain to them." He knelt beside Jo and Cas. "I owe them that. Come back tomorrow. We'll... we'll do it then."
Chapter 13
"No. Dean, please no. You can't do this." Every word out of Jo's mouth was like a stab wound. Dean wanted to cry, but then that would be all three of them bawling their eyes out and that was no way to spend his last night on Earth.
"I've got to, Jo. It's for Sam. You knew Sam; you remember what he was like. I can't just leave him with them."
"He made his choice." Castiel's voice was rougher than Dean had ever heard it before. "Free will and all that. Why are you trying to take that away from him?"
"He's my brother." Dean wondered if there was any use in trying to explain that to someone who had killed half his siblings and had the other half wanting him dead. "He's Sammy. If he were dead, I could live with that. I'd hate it - more than anything - but I could live with it. But Sam trapped inside Lucifer? I just can't."
"Sam liked you being with us." Jo wiped her eyes. "Once he got used to the idea, he said we were the best thing for you. He wouldn't want you walking away from us again, now that we've got so close."
"I don't know that though," Dean exploded. "I mean, I believe you but I don't know it. I wasn't there." He knelt beside Jo. "Listen, if I'd been there, if I'd been through it all with you and heard him say it then maybe it would be different. But there's five years of stuff I wasn't there for, and it's just not going to matter as much as freeing my brother."
"We'll tell you," Castiel insisted. "We'll show you pictures, videos if we can find them." He grabbed Dean's hand. "My wife's name was Beth Gibbins. She was a nice girl, divinity student, a virgin when I married her. She's the first person I ever wanted to kill who wasn't actively trying to hurt me. I'll tell you all about it, and Jo-"
"I'll tell you too. Whatever it takes to..." She trailed off. "It's not going to be enough, is it?"
"I held him when he was a baby. We hid under my bed together when there were thunderstorms. I remember all that; the way he looked and sounded and smelled." Dean stopped fighting the tears and let them come. "If it's any comfort, I think Sam's the only thing I've ever had in my whole damn life that would pull me away from the two of you now."
Cas crawled to Dean, held the hunter's face in his hands and forced him to meet his eyes. "You're absolutely certain?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I am."
"Well then," Castiel reached for Jo's cigarettes and lit one, drawing deeply on the smoke. "As a wise man once said, last night on Earth. What did you have in mind?"
Dean kissed him. Cas tasted like smoke and the sour flavor of fear, but there was something else there too. Something good and pure lying under the wreckage. Dean savored it all, the sweet and the bitter, the softness of Castiel's lips and the rough burn of his stubble against his skin.
He let go of Cas to reach for Jo. Her fingers digging into the back of his neck were tight enough to bruise but didn't want to pull away. He kissed her smooth white skin and her jagged red scars, trying to capture the memory of her strong young back under his hands and her firm breasts against his chest as though he could keep it with him where he was going.
"I'd like a bit of the best thing I'm not gonna get to have."
Chapter 14
Dean never knew it was possible to feel this good and still want more.
Jo's legs were wrapped around his back. She squeezed him hard, like she was trying to close the non-existant distance between them. Dean understood completely. Despite being buried deep inside her, it was only a matter of a few inches of flesh. He'd have crawled all the way in if he could have. He'd never have left.
He tried to express all that as he touched her, his hands gliding gently over her breasts and stomach even as he pounded furiously between her legs. He couldn't see Jo's face - Castiel blocked the view - and her moans were stifled by the other man's cock in her mouth. Dean didn't mind in the least. Cas was meant to be there.
He pressed his mouth to Castiel's shoulder, kissed the former angel's mouth when he turned his head to Dean. Cas slid his tongue between Dean's lips, mirroring the thrusting of Dean's erection between Jo's legs. The hunter groaned; he knew now what was missing.
"Cas, I want you inside me. Please."
If the surprise on Castiel's face was anything to go by, Dean must have needed some persuading to do this the first time around. And yeah, he was nervous. But he didn't have time to be slowly coaxed into anything. It had to be now.
He lay flat against Jo's body, still sheathed inside of her as Cas licked and stroked his anus. Jo rubbed the back of his head, whispered to him that it would be all right, but Dean knew that. It was right, and he wanted it all.
"Cas, hurry," he hissed, as the other man stretched him with two fingers.
"Dean, you're not ready. It'll hurt."
"Just do it already!" He couldn't stand any more wasted time.
It did hurt. First there was the burning of the stretch, and then pain spiked in his belly as Cas pushed deeper inside. Dean willed himself to relax, to let himself be taken at the same time as he was taking. He wanted it more than anything.
Cas began to move, and though the pain intensified, Dean craved the sensation. He moved back against Castiel, every thrurst from behind driving him deeper into Jo.
"I love you." Dean heard the words from both of them at once. "Love you so much."
The pain vanished, evaporating as if it were never there. In the back of his mind, Dean knew that was impossible, that it was too soon. But he didn't care. Every nerve in his body was firing at once; he'd never felt anything like this before. It was as if he was flying. He would even have sworn he heard wings beating.
Wings...
The shadow of Castiel's long, powerful wings stretched out on either side of the bed. They trembled in the air as they slowly unfolded, powerful muscles being used for the first time in years. Jo sat up on her elbows, stunned, as Dean wrenched his head around to watch.
Cas was glowing, a strong white light shining through his every pore. His mouth was open in a silent scream of pleasure, and more light streamed through that like sunshine through an open window. Awestruck, Dean stretched out his hand to touch the angel who was making love to him.
His fingers grabbed hold of a handful of trenchcoat.
"I believe you said four hours." Cas frowned at him peevishly.
"What?" Dean gasped for breath, his brain and his body desperately trying to make sense of what had happened.
He was fully dressed, sitting on a bed in a vaguely familiar motel room. Castiel stood in front of him, his face quizzical and annoyed.
"It's been six hours, fifty seven minutes and eleven seconds. That means I've been looking for you for two hours, fif-"
"You did this." Dean reached for his cell phone and checked the date. "You brought me back."
"I did nothing but look. Where were you?"
He was back in 2009. Really back. He should have been relieved; he knew that, but, as the realization sank in, his head filled up with guilt and loss.
Where were Jo and Cas - the other Cas - now? They must have been frantic with worry when he disappeared. What would happen to them when Michael and Lucifer arrived in the morning? The angels were bound to be angry at losing one of their vessels. Would they take that out on Jo and Cas? Dean's eyes stung at the thought of them at the mercy of the two archangels. And Sam! He'd traded his service for Sam's safety.
"Send me back." Castiel cocked his head and stared at Dean in fascination. "Cas, you need to send me back to them."
"Dean, I don't know where you were or where you would like to return to. I came here for our appointment, but you were not in residence. I visited a few establishments of the sort which you like to frequent but was unable to find you. So I returned here shortly before you materialised." He paused, realizing what he'd just said. "Dean? How is it you were able to materialise?"
Mutely, Dean shook his head. If Castiel hadn't done this, then what had happened? Maybe Zachariah had finally decided to make good on his promise to return Dean to his own time. But why would he do that right before he was finally going to get the apocalypse that he wanted?
It had to have been Cas. Just not this Cas.
"You're an angel." He knew he sounded like an idiot but he didn't give a shit. "You've always been an angel."
"I am... aware of that." He closed the distance between himself and Dean, put a curious hand on the man's forehead. "You are not feverish. Dean, have you been drinking alcohol?"
Dean would have denied it, but he was struck by the scent of Cas' skin. It was familiar somehow, though he'd certainly never taken note of how the angel smelled before now. Fascinated, leaned in and wrapped his arms around Castiel, inhaling deeply. A sense memory niggled at the back of his mind, and without thinking about it he licked at Cas' neck.
"Dean?" Cas stiffened, though he didn't pull away. "Dean, what are you doing?"
He knew that taste. It was the same pure undernote he'd savored in Cas' kiss in 2014, uncorrupted now and powerful. It was the essence of Castiel as he was meant to be.
His Jo and Cas weren't in danger, Dean suddenly realized. They didn't exist yet. And if Dean wanted to protect them, he had five years to do it. He had time to fall in love with them properly, to share their joys and their pains and be a real part of their lives. Five years to devote himself to doing everything he could to make sure they were spared the worst of their possible pain. And if a showdown with a pair of pissy archangels was impossible to avoid, Dean would be standing right beside them, ready to fight for the people he loved.
"Are you intoxicated?" Castiel asked again. "Dean, where have you been?"
He smiled slowly. "It's not about where I've been, Cas. It's about where I'm going to."
Epilogue
"The young lady was quite helpful," Cas remarked, emerging from the dormitories. "She even gave me her telephone number, in case we have any further questions for her."
"Oh yeah?" Dean asked. "Let me see that?"
Beth was written in swirly purple ink above the digits. Dean shredded the paper into tiny pieces, and scattered the bits to the wind.
"I fail to see how that was helpful."
"You're not gonna need to talk to her again," Dean told him. "We've got bigger fish to fry. We're off to use the Devil for target practice, remember?"
Cas acknowledged this with a nod of his head and climbed into the back seat of the Impala. Dean petted the dashboard. It was nice to have his baby back again.
"Hey, bitch! Get your ass in gear; it's time to go."
"Coming, jerk." Sam slid into the passenger seat and Dean grinned at his scowling brother.
"What are you looking so happy about?" Sam asked. "We're going after Lucifer, remember? This is probably going to be the last night of our lives."
"Nope. It's just the first night of the rest of our lives." Dean ignored Sam's raised eyebrow and ruffled his brother's hair. He was keeping Sam damn close these days, just where he belonged. He'd stand between Sam and the devil if he had to, but he figured that might never need to happen so long as he remembered just to stand at Sam's side.
He checked the rearview mirror to make sure Cas hadn't poofed off to someplace else. Then he pointed the car towards South Dakota and Jo and stepped hard on the gas.
Author: thinlizzy2
Fandom/Genre: SPN/Romance
Pairing(s): Castiel/Dean/Jo
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 14489 (total)
Warnings: Spoilers up to and including 5.10. Explicit sex including a threesome, masturbation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, violence, mention of canon character deaths.
Summary: Dean ends up spending a bit longer in the future than he'd expected. When Castiel leads him to his estranged wife, Dean learns more about the life of his future self and the life he himself might lead.
Author's Notes: I had to play a bit fast and loose with some coltish details of the canon to make this work. If that's a problem... um... a wizard did it?
Thanks so much to sailorhathor for her incredible art and equally incredible feedback, as well as to durtydeefla82, for being such a positive beta reader despite my codependent relationship with typos.
Chapter 8
Dean spent the next few days drifting in and out of consciousness.
At times, he was aware of nothing; floating on a pharmaceutical cloud, he plunged in and out of happy dreams at will.
Those were the best times.
Sometimes he'd grab handfuls of feathers and go find Cas. He started by pressing the soft, downy fluff to the former angel's shoulder blades and then move outwards, heaping countless feathers on top of each other. He stroked the feathers as he worked, even rubbed his face in them. When he was finished he pulled back and admired his work - two flawless perfect wings back where they belonged.
Or he'd visit Jo back at the Roadhouse - Jo, intact again, clear-skinned and bright eyed. He wiped the scar tissue from her face, took the nicotine stains from her fingers and put her back under Ellen's loving care. When she leapt into his arms to shower him with thanks he hugged her back enthusiastically, cherishing the feel of the warm, fierce body he held.
Most often of all though, he went to see Sam. He was just Sam in the dreams, Dean's untainted, optimistic brother. Sam, who'd never even entertained the possibility of saying 'yes' to Lucifer or tasted a drop of demon blood, would sit next to Dean in the Impala, savoring the open road and the opportunity to bitch about his big brother's taste in music. He'd roll his eyes and chomp on his salad while Dean stuffed cheeseburgers into his mouth. He'd keep Dean up half the night with his snoring and then wake him up at stupid o'clock in the morning to watch the sun rise. And every once in a while, he'd smile his Sammy smile and say I just want you to be happy, okay? Just be happy, Dean.
I'm trying, Sammy, he'd promise. I think I know how. I just need to understand it.
Well, get a move on. Sam would say. I know I'm the smarter brother, but even you should be able to work this out.
And Dean would toss a pillow or a shoe or a cookie at his head and they'd wrestle like they were kids bursting with energy and possibilities again.
Other times, he was more aware of what was really happening around him. He felt the pain in his stiff muscles, his torn skin. Those times were among the most frustrating he'd ever known; he was aware but unable to doing anything to alleviate his own suffering, unable to even move. All he could do then was wait for Jo or Castiel to come and tend to him again.
"I want you to know," Cas said once, changing Dean's IV bag and swabbing the place where the needle pieced Dean's skin, "I'm staying off this stuff so you can have it all. So way to go, Fearless Leader, you've got me handling the junk and not taking it. And all you had to do was smash yourself up against pavement. Who woulda guessed it, huh?"
Jo would come in and rub something cool and soothing on his scars, her fingers gentle and light. "It's not going to matter, Dean," she'd whisper as she worked. "You can have scars, even bad ones, and still be beautiful. You told me that once. You made me believe it. So you believe it too, okay?"
Once, he awoke to the sounds of shouting followed by a rush of light. He strained against the haze of drugs, trying to get up to help, but his body wouldn't listen to him. His caregivers came in a few hours later, their clothes splatted with red. He managed to give a low moan in concern.
"It's just paint," Jo reassured him as she took his temperature. "We've been putting up some sigils."
"Our old friend Michael was back." Cas explained. "I actually don't think we'll see him again unless he gets a new vessel; that poor girl he was in was pretty much wrecked. But life is short enough and we're pretty much hellbound, so why take the chance?"
"We're really proud of you," Jo said, sponging the sweat off Dean's face. "You said 'no'. Michael told us he asked and you said 'no'. He got it into his head that we could convince you."
"Right, bro. We'll get right on it." Cas rolled his eyes. "I mean, we used to argue with... future-you about it all the time. He'd go on about how he should have said 'yes', how he would have if he knew how the world would turn out. I think that was the first thing that every made me feel literally sick. But you've seen it now, and you still said 'no'." He laughed as packed their supplies away again. "Definitely the superior Dean."
"Not now, Cas," Jo admonished him. "We don't even know if he can hear us."
"He can hear us," Cas told her, with the same unquestionable certainty with which he'd declared, five years ago, that God existed. "And Dean, I don't want you to feel weird about this just because it's coming from the folks who change your cathetar. But we know for sure. You're you." He lowered his face to Dean's level, picked up the eye contact that still felt so familiar. "You're the Dean we hated losing. And you're the Dean we want back."
Chapter 9
Dean didn't know how much time passed between Michael's visit to the farm house and the next time he woke up. But he did know he was hungry for the very first time since he'd tangled with the archangel. In fact, he was suddenly far too hungry to wait for Jo or Cas to come back.
Yanking out the various needles and tubes attached to his body hurt like a bitch, but it was a pain he could manage and that was a welcome change. It took him several minutes to get to his feet, fighting dizzyness and nausea. When he got there, he felt like he'd won a race.
The house was cold and dark. He wondered if they might have gone out hunting and left him there. He had no idea if he'd ever been alone in the house.
If he was alone now, he was fucked as far as food went. He discovered he was on the second floor, a whole staircase away from anything to eat. Making it down the stairs was going to be impossible so he turned around to go back to his sickroom when he heard a woman cry out.
Jo.
If she was in trouble Dean wasn't going to be able to do anything to help her but he couldn't just ignore her either. Aching, he shuffled down the corridor, bracing himself against the wall as he went, seeking out the source of the noise.
When he found it, he very nearly collapsed.
They'd left the door open, as if they had nothing to hide. Maybe, from their perspective, they didn't.
Jo was on top of Castiel, falling and rising as he thrust into her from below. Cas' hands stroked her breasts, her hips, her thighs. Maybe it was the drugs in his system, but Dean would have sworn that everywhere he touched her shimmered. Jo's head was thrown back; her eyes were closed tight and her face was radiant with pleasure. Cas was locked onto her, spellbound. Dean's ears filled up with the former angel's oaths, giving thanks to a God he'd professed to have abandoned in a language he'd sworn he'd forgotten.
They sighed together and Dean sighed with them, the sound escaping before he knew it was coming.
They froze for a moment, an erotic tableau that reminded Dean of statues he'd once seen on school trips. Then they gaped at him, and Dean felt his face heating up. These people took care of him while he was injured, nursing and feeding him. And he just walked in on them in bed like a curious four year old or a peeping tom. He should go back to his room, try to sleep, apologize to them in the morning.
He knew that, but that's not what he did. He couldn't. The two of them together were the only beautiful things he'd seen since he'd left 2009 and he needed a bit of beauty like oxygen.
Stumbling as he went, he moved slowly into Jo's room. He sat in her bedside chair and stared. All he could do was stare.
A long moment passed, and then they started to move again.
Dean was mesmerized. From his new proximity he could see Jo's nipples, hard and pebbled against her creamy skin. Cas' cock rammed in and out of her and Dean watched as they separated and came together again and again. They made joining look so easy. Cries and moans punctuated each withdrawal, each return, and Dean heard similar noises coming from his own throat. They sounded good together, the three of them; he couldn't help but notice that.
Jo was shimmering where Castiel touched her; Dean was certain of it now. More than shimmering, she was glowing. The former angel's skin left a pale, glittery sheen on her body and Dean longed to touch it. He reached out to stroke her shining belly then pulled his hand away at the last moment. Looking was one thing but he couldn't touch them.
They didn't seem to agree. Jo keened when he pulled his hand away, a thin hungry sound as if she were starving. She rutted against Cas as though his body was the only thing that could make her feel better. Cas rocked back, burying himself in her body so roughly that Dean was frightened they might be hurting each other. One of Castiel's arms looped around Jo's shoulders, driving himself deeper inside her. The other reached towards Dean.
Cas didn't grope; he didn't grab at Dean. Instead, he lay his hand on the bed, near Dean's knee. Open palmed and dangerous, the hand lay there - a wordless challenge.
Dean took it. He took Castiel's hand in his own and felt the other man's fingers close around his. He closed his eyes now, shutting out all sensation except for the warmth of the hand in his and the cries of the pair in the bed.
Cas' grip suddenly became painful as the former angel bellowed. Dean felt his muscles tightening through his arm. The grasp on his hand went limp and Dean opened his eyes to see Jo arch her back and scream as she came before collapsing, boneless, across her lover's chest.
They were only still for an instant.
Then, Jo's hand stroked along Castiel's arm, coming to a stop where the two men were joined. She rested her own hand on top of theirs and the light touch felt like a physical pull. Wordless, Dean climbed into the bed, arranging his injured body delicately on the damp and crumpled sheets. Jo rolled off of Cas and lay between them, one leg across Dean's hips.
No one spoke. After a few minutes, Dean heard their breathing change and he knew they'd both fallen asleep. He doubted he'd be far behind them. Pinned beneath Jo's leg, Cas' semen dripping out of her and onto Dean's body, he couldn't remember ever being more comfortable. He brushed her hair back from her cheek and saw his own hand glimmering slightly in the dark. Smiling, he reached across Jo's body and laid his hand on Castiel's arm. The feel of that skin and muscle was the last thing he registered before sleep became irresistable.
Chapter 10
Nothing was the same after that.
Cas and Jo spent their days hunting and foraging for supplies. Dean was still too weak to join them but he did what he could around the house. He wiped away the thick layer of dust that coated everything in the house, arranged Jo's books and weapons, tried to cook whatever food they found into something palatable. They teased him about it - called him the Happy Homemaker - but Dean didn't care. He owed it to them, not just for taking care of him but for what they gave him at night.
The bedroom door was always open. Dean would stretch out on the bed - he never returned to the chair - and watch them together. Sometimes he'd massage the muscles in Castiel's thighs as Jo took the former angel deep inside her mouth; sometimes he'd gently cup Jo's foot as she rode Cas. Neither of them ever asked Dean to touch them, but he knew they loved it when he did.
He started coming in earlier and earlier. He loved to watch them undress each other. They'd angle themselves towards Dean as they peeled off each other's clothes and as he got braver he began to give directions. Once, he had Cas try to remove Jo's bra with his teeth; he was so inept at it that all three of them had dissolved in laughter. Another time, he asked Cas to wear Jo's panties. They were plain white cotton, and had seen better days, but the image was still so hot that Dean had to grab hold of Castiel's ass and feel the hard muscles underneath the feminine garment.
That night was the first time he touched himself in their presence. After they had both come, he palmed his own erection under the blankets, rubbing and tugging at himself until he spurted all over his hand, some of it dripping off to add to the mess under the sheets. Cas chuckled beside him. "Can we?"
Wordless, Dean pulled his hand out from under the sheets. Cas and Jo licked it clean like hungry kittens.
Another evening, Jo appeared in the living room stark naked except for Jimmy Novak's old trench coat draped over her shoulders and his silly tie knotted loosely around her neck. "Remember this?" she asked, putting on a deep, rough voice. Cas growled low in his throat and pounced on her. Dean watched them roll around on the threadbare rug, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt where they'd stitched him up.
He found Cas with the coat the next morning.
"I really should try to fix it. It's a decent coat, and it's in a lot better shape than most of my clothes. No reason not to wear it, really?"
"Is Jimmy still in there?" Dean hadn't thought about the mild-mannered tax lawyer in months. He felt guilty about that. He couldn't help but wonder what poor Jimmy would think of what Cas did with his body.
Cas shook his head. "He died, Dean."
"What? When?" This was the first Dean had heard of it.
"The first time I did. His body exploded, remember? A human being can't survive that."
Dean shut his eyes. "He's at peace now, I guess. That's something, right?"
A shrug from Castiel. "I have no idea." He shook out the coat. "When Jo gets up, I'll see if she has a needle and some thread."
"Do you sew?" It was kind of funny to picture a former angel of the Lord darning socks. Though once he worked out that they could use cell phones nothing else should have surprised him.
"When I have to. That hasn't been too often. I should have learned, but the three of us used to raid empty shops to get stuff, and then at the camp girls were usually pretty good about bringing me what I needed. Before that..."
"What?"
"My wife was good at sewing. She used to make all her own clothes."
Dean let out a long breath, surprised at the stab of jealousy he felt when Castiel mentioned his wife. "Was she... was she a part of this? Was it the four of us?"
"Beth?" Cas laughed dryly. "No, Beth didn't know about any of this. She definitely wouldn't have approved."
Dean leaned against his friend's shoulder. "Tell me about her."
He felt Cas' muscles tense. "Dean, I'd really rather not. It's finished with."
"I want to know." He hadn't realized it before, but it was true. "You two know everything; it feels like I'm totally in the dark."
"We told you the stuff that matters." Castiel pulled away from Dean, but the hunter was insistent now.
"You were married. I don't know anything about that. I don't know why you left us; I don't know why you came back. If I'm going to be a part of this, I need to know what happened. And why did I leave Jo? I don't get it, Cas."
"Stop it!" Castiel looked more frightened than Dean had ever seen him look before. "What you're asking, it's not good, okay? It's not some little misunderstanding we can laugh about now. It was ugly and painful and it damn near killed all of us! But it's over now, so why can't you let it be? Why can't you just-"
He stopped speaking abruptly, cut off by the sound of every door in the house suddenly slamming at once. The furniture jumped as if the ground was shaking. Dean yelled as he heard a crash from outside; he ran to the window to see trees toppling down, uprooted from the ground.
"Are we under attack?" he shouted. "Cas, what's doing this?"
The former angel was curled into a ball on the floor, his knees tucked up to his chest. His eyes were clenched shut and his fingernails cut into the palms of his hands, drawing trickles of blood that he didn't seem to notice. A bookshelf fell over just inches from this feet.
"Cas?" Dean approached him carefully. "Cas, is it you?"
"I don't know." Dean could barely hear him. "It's never happened before, not this bad anyway."
"It's okay. Look, I'm sorry." He reached out to touch Cas' shoulder, but the other man jerked away from him.
"Don't!" There was another series of crashes from outside. "You shouldn't touch me!"
"Fuck that shit." Dean massaged Cas's hands, willing the fingers to relax. He wrapped his arms around Castiel's shoulders. "Just breathe through it, okay? Don't try to stop it; just calm down."
It took several minutes. Jo, woken up by all the noise, came downstairs while Dean tried to soothe Cas; wordlessly, she joined their little huddle. Little by little, the chaos lessened, and then stopped completely.
"I'm sorry." Cas stared at the damage, wide-eyed. "I don't know what happened. All this mess..."
"It's not important." Jo rubbed circles onto his back, her eyes wide and frightened. "None of it matters."
"She's right," Dean assured him, trying to believe it himself. "It's finished. It doesn't matter."
Chapter 11
There was no sex that night, no laughter. Exhausted from a day spent cleaning up the wreckage, Cas and Jo fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Dean was tired as well, but he couldn't manage to lose consciousness. He lay awake and watched them.
He hadn't meant to get angry with Cas, but the last time the former angel had kept secrets from him Sam had been tricked into kick-starting the apocalypse. Jo, lying beside him, was a similar bundle of mysteries. He wondered what would have happened if they hadn't needed to treat Castiel's wounds, if he hadn't noticed the tattoos. Would he be lying here at all, or would they have kept him in the dark about the past they all shared?
He loved these people; he'd swear he did. Was he falling in love with them? Could you fall in love with people if you didn't know what made them who they were?
He finally managed to fall asleep just as the sun was beginning to tint the sky pink, only to be awoken what felt like seconds later by the caterwauling of one of Jo's many alarms. He cursed and rubbed at his eyes, instincts already driving him to rifle under the bed for a weapon. Beside him, Cas primed what had become his favorite shotgun while Jo streaked across the room to her video monitors.
"I don't get it," she growled in frustration. "None of the traps have gone off."
"Maybe it's a technical malfunction," Cas suggested hopefully.
"Maybe, but I'm getting absolutely nothing from the front door camera. It's disabled. If that's a malfunction it's a pretty specific one."
Cas loaded the last of his cartridges. "Dean, you should wait here. I don't know if you're up for a fight yet."
Dean shook his head. "My trigger finger works fine and you're going to need all the back-up you can get." There was no way he was letting them face whatever was down there without him.
They crept down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. Cocking their weapons at the door, Jo flung it open.
And Dean found himself aiming a gun at his own head.
Chapter 12
"So you're really here," the future Dean sneered. "That's pretty damn heartwarming. Is it happy family funtime all over again?"
"Fuck you." Jo's voice was a furious snarl from Dean's right.
"Not now, honey. I've got business to discuss." He turned back to Dean. "I need to talk to you."
Dean shook his head. "You don't talk to her like that."
"Fucking hell!" The other Dean shook his head. "Whatever's going on here, I don't give a shit. This is actually important. Come with me; I've got something I need to show you." He held up his hands. "I'm unarmed, nothing in my pockets either." He smirked at Jo and Cas. "Either one of you want to pat me down?"
It was Dean who ended up doing the honors. Once he'd established that his future self really wasn't carrying a weapon, he followed him to the edge of the property to see whatever it was the man had brought that was so important. Jo and Cas trailed them, still clutching their guns.
Dean was furious when he saw the two men standing at the end of the driveway. Had they been stupid enough to walk into an ambush? He clicked the safety off his gun but Cas shook his head. "It won't do any good against these two."
"You know who we are?" The bigger of the two men seemed surprised.
"I can smell shit, yes."
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you little brother?"
"You brought angels here?" Dean was enraged. He could have killed his future self, but he had no idea what that would mean for himself in a few years time.
"Michael," Cas intoned, gesturing at the larger man. "And Lucifer."
Dean bellowed in fury, grabbing the smaller man by the front of his shirt and dragging him close. "Where's Sam?"
"Somewhere safe." Lucifer extracted himself from Dean's hold in an instant. "He'll stay safe too, if you listen to me."
"Don't listen to him Dean. He's lying."
Dean knew Jo was probably right, but it didn't matter. If there was a chance to save Sammy, he'd have to take it. "I want you to let him go, you understand? You've got these two now." He gestured at the two vessels. "So have your little pissing contest and settle this thing. But leave Sam alone."
"These?" Michael laughed. "These are trash. Burners. We can't fight in these. The apocalypse is a big deal. We need to dress up for it."
"Take him!" Dean gestured at his future self. "He's willing; you know that."
"Don't want him." Michael was as stubborn as ever. "I want you."
Lucifer laughed. "Pride is supposed to be my sin, but I think it must be catching. Sorry, Dean. Michael's being picky. Me though, I'm willing to compromise."
"Dean, nothing good can come of this." Castiel barely got the warning out before he collapsed, Jo crumpling to the ground beside him.
Dean knelt down and checked their pulses. Steady and strong, but he was still worried. "What did you do to them?"
"They're sleeping; they'll be fine." Lucifer waved his hand. "Now listen, this is important. Like I said, Michael's pretty set on getting into you. But I'm ready to be more flexible. If you're willing to indulge my brother a bit, I'll take the slightly used model over here."
It took Dean a moment to understand. "That'll work?" If he was a suitable vessel for Lucifer, why did Sam need to get caught up in the whole mess at all?
"You're not my true vessel, Dean. But genetically, you're close enough for me to get one good fight out of you. Even if we win, you won't have much of a body to come back to. But I'm sure Sammy will be happy to look after whatever's left."
Dea felt sick at what the archangel was suggesting, but the mention of Sam was too tempting to pass up. "And you'll leave him alone? Michael too? No matter who wins this thing, Sam is okay?" He couldn't believe he was on the verge of making this deal, but it was for Sam.
He couldn't give Cas his wings back and he knew Jo would never be safe in her mother's arms again, but if he could bring back the Sam from his dreams, then that would be something. Not everything, but more than likely the best he could do in this world.
"Sam lives. No matter what." Both angels nodded.
"Them too." Dean gestured at Jo and Cas. "Nothing can happen to them either."
The angels looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Anything else? Any family pets you're especially eager to save? Houseplants you're particularly attached to?"
"He's right." The future Dean spoke for the first time since they'd reached Michael and Lucifer. He was staring at the pair on the ground, hatred and disgust warring with something softer in his face. "They live too."
"Fine, fine!" Lucifer waved his hands. "The monkeys make it through. Now can we do this?"
Dean swallowed hard. "Not tonight. Come back tomorrow."
Michael groaned. "Dean, we've been waiting for this for a very long time."
"I need to explain to them." He knelt beside Jo and Cas. "I owe them that. Come back tomorrow. We'll... we'll do it then."
Chapter 13
"No. Dean, please no. You can't do this." Every word out of Jo's mouth was like a stab wound. Dean wanted to cry, but then that would be all three of them bawling their eyes out and that was no way to spend his last night on Earth.
"I've got to, Jo. It's for Sam. You knew Sam; you remember what he was like. I can't just leave him with them."
"He made his choice." Castiel's voice was rougher than Dean had ever heard it before. "Free will and all that. Why are you trying to take that away from him?"
"He's my brother." Dean wondered if there was any use in trying to explain that to someone who had killed half his siblings and had the other half wanting him dead. "He's Sammy. If he were dead, I could live with that. I'd hate it - more than anything - but I could live with it. But Sam trapped inside Lucifer? I just can't."
"Sam liked you being with us." Jo wiped her eyes. "Once he got used to the idea, he said we were the best thing for you. He wouldn't want you walking away from us again, now that we've got so close."
"I don't know that though," Dean exploded. "I mean, I believe you but I don't know it. I wasn't there." He knelt beside Jo. "Listen, if I'd been there, if I'd been through it all with you and heard him say it then maybe it would be different. But there's five years of stuff I wasn't there for, and it's just not going to matter as much as freeing my brother."
"We'll tell you," Castiel insisted. "We'll show you pictures, videos if we can find them." He grabbed Dean's hand. "My wife's name was Beth Gibbins. She was a nice girl, divinity student, a virgin when I married her. She's the first person I ever wanted to kill who wasn't actively trying to hurt me. I'll tell you all about it, and Jo-"
"I'll tell you too. Whatever it takes to..." She trailed off. "It's not going to be enough, is it?"
"I held him when he was a baby. We hid under my bed together when there were thunderstorms. I remember all that; the way he looked and sounded and smelled." Dean stopped fighting the tears and let them come. "If it's any comfort, I think Sam's the only thing I've ever had in my whole damn life that would pull me away from the two of you now."
Cas crawled to Dean, held the hunter's face in his hands and forced him to meet his eyes. "You're absolutely certain?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I am."
"Well then," Castiel reached for Jo's cigarettes and lit one, drawing deeply on the smoke. "As a wise man once said, last night on Earth. What did you have in mind?"
Dean kissed him. Cas tasted like smoke and the sour flavor of fear, but there was something else there too. Something good and pure lying under the wreckage. Dean savored it all, the sweet and the bitter, the softness of Castiel's lips and the rough burn of his stubble against his skin.
He let go of Cas to reach for Jo. Her fingers digging into the back of his neck were tight enough to bruise but didn't want to pull away. He kissed her smooth white skin and her jagged red scars, trying to capture the memory of her strong young back under his hands and her firm breasts against his chest as though he could keep it with him where he was going.
"I'd like a bit of the best thing I'm not gonna get to have."
Chapter 14
Dean never knew it was possible to feel this good and still want more.
Jo's legs were wrapped around his back. She squeezed him hard, like she was trying to close the non-existant distance between them. Dean understood completely. Despite being buried deep inside her, it was only a matter of a few inches of flesh. He'd have crawled all the way in if he could have. He'd never have left.
He tried to express all that as he touched her, his hands gliding gently over her breasts and stomach even as he pounded furiously between her legs. He couldn't see Jo's face - Castiel blocked the view - and her moans were stifled by the other man's cock in her mouth. Dean didn't mind in the least. Cas was meant to be there.
He pressed his mouth to Castiel's shoulder, kissed the former angel's mouth when he turned his head to Dean. Cas slid his tongue between Dean's lips, mirroring the thrusting of Dean's erection between Jo's legs. The hunter groaned; he knew now what was missing.
"Cas, I want you inside me. Please."
If the surprise on Castiel's face was anything to go by, Dean must have needed some persuading to do this the first time around. And yeah, he was nervous. But he didn't have time to be slowly coaxed into anything. It had to be now.
He lay flat against Jo's body, still sheathed inside of her as Cas licked and stroked his anus. Jo rubbed the back of his head, whispered to him that it would be all right, but Dean knew that. It was right, and he wanted it all.
"Cas, hurry," he hissed, as the other man stretched him with two fingers.
"Dean, you're not ready. It'll hurt."
"Just do it already!" He couldn't stand any more wasted time.
It did hurt. First there was the burning of the stretch, and then pain spiked in his belly as Cas pushed deeper inside. Dean willed himself to relax, to let himself be taken at the same time as he was taking. He wanted it more than anything.
Cas began to move, and though the pain intensified, Dean craved the sensation. He moved back against Castiel, every thrurst from behind driving him deeper into Jo.
"I love you." Dean heard the words from both of them at once. "Love you so much."
The pain vanished, evaporating as if it were never there. In the back of his mind, Dean knew that was impossible, that it was too soon. But he didn't care. Every nerve in his body was firing at once; he'd never felt anything like this before. It was as if he was flying. He would even have sworn he heard wings beating.
Wings...
The shadow of Castiel's long, powerful wings stretched out on either side of the bed. They trembled in the air as they slowly unfolded, powerful muscles being used for the first time in years. Jo sat up on her elbows, stunned, as Dean wrenched his head around to watch.
Cas was glowing, a strong white light shining through his every pore. His mouth was open in a silent scream of pleasure, and more light streamed through that like sunshine through an open window. Awestruck, Dean stretched out his hand to touch the angel who was making love to him.
His fingers grabbed hold of a handful of trenchcoat.
"I believe you said four hours." Cas frowned at him peevishly.
"What?" Dean gasped for breath, his brain and his body desperately trying to make sense of what had happened.
He was fully dressed, sitting on a bed in a vaguely familiar motel room. Castiel stood in front of him, his face quizzical and annoyed.
"It's been six hours, fifty seven minutes and eleven seconds. That means I've been looking for you for two hours, fif-"
"You did this." Dean reached for his cell phone and checked the date. "You brought me back."
"I did nothing but look. Where were you?"
He was back in 2009. Really back. He should have been relieved; he knew that, but, as the realization sank in, his head filled up with guilt and loss.
Where were Jo and Cas - the other Cas - now? They must have been frantic with worry when he disappeared. What would happen to them when Michael and Lucifer arrived in the morning? The angels were bound to be angry at losing one of their vessels. Would they take that out on Jo and Cas? Dean's eyes stung at the thought of them at the mercy of the two archangels. And Sam! He'd traded his service for Sam's safety.
"Send me back." Castiel cocked his head and stared at Dean in fascination. "Cas, you need to send me back to them."
"Dean, I don't know where you were or where you would like to return to. I came here for our appointment, but you were not in residence. I visited a few establishments of the sort which you like to frequent but was unable to find you. So I returned here shortly before you materialised." He paused, realizing what he'd just said. "Dean? How is it you were able to materialise?"
Mutely, Dean shook his head. If Castiel hadn't done this, then what had happened? Maybe Zachariah had finally decided to make good on his promise to return Dean to his own time. But why would he do that right before he was finally going to get the apocalypse that he wanted?
It had to have been Cas. Just not this Cas.
"You're an angel." He knew he sounded like an idiot but he didn't give a shit. "You've always been an angel."
"I am... aware of that." He closed the distance between himself and Dean, put a curious hand on the man's forehead. "You are not feverish. Dean, have you been drinking alcohol?"
Dean would have denied it, but he was struck by the scent of Cas' skin. It was familiar somehow, though he'd certainly never taken note of how the angel smelled before now. Fascinated, leaned in and wrapped his arms around Castiel, inhaling deeply. A sense memory niggled at the back of his mind, and without thinking about it he licked at Cas' neck.
"Dean?" Cas stiffened, though he didn't pull away. "Dean, what are you doing?"
He knew that taste. It was the same pure undernote he'd savored in Cas' kiss in 2014, uncorrupted now and powerful. It was the essence of Castiel as he was meant to be.
His Jo and Cas weren't in danger, Dean suddenly realized. They didn't exist yet. And if Dean wanted to protect them, he had five years to do it. He had time to fall in love with them properly, to share their joys and their pains and be a real part of their lives. Five years to devote himself to doing everything he could to make sure they were spared the worst of their possible pain. And if a showdown with a pair of pissy archangels was impossible to avoid, Dean would be standing right beside them, ready to fight for the people he loved.
"Are you intoxicated?" Castiel asked again. "Dean, where have you been?"
He smiled slowly. "It's not about where I've been, Cas. It's about where I'm going to."
Epilogue
"The young lady was quite helpful," Cas remarked, emerging from the dormitories. "She even gave me her telephone number, in case we have any further questions for her."
"Oh yeah?" Dean asked. "Let me see that?"
Beth was written in swirly purple ink above the digits. Dean shredded the paper into tiny pieces, and scattered the bits to the wind.
"I fail to see how that was helpful."
"You're not gonna need to talk to her again," Dean told him. "We've got bigger fish to fry. We're off to use the Devil for target practice, remember?"
Cas acknowledged this with a nod of his head and climbed into the back seat of the Impala. Dean petted the dashboard. It was nice to have his baby back again.
"Hey, bitch! Get your ass in gear; it's time to go."
"Coming, jerk." Sam slid into the passenger seat and Dean grinned at his scowling brother.
"What are you looking so happy about?" Sam asked. "We're going after Lucifer, remember? This is probably going to be the last night of our lives."
"Nope. It's just the first night of the rest of our lives." Dean ignored Sam's raised eyebrow and ruffled his brother's hair. He was keeping Sam damn close these days, just where he belonged. He'd stand between Sam and the devil if he had to, but he figured that might never need to happen so long as he remembered just to stand at Sam's side.
He checked the rearview mirror to make sure Cas hadn't poofed off to someplace else. Then he pointed the car towards South Dakota and Jo and stepped hard on the gas.