Fic: Dean Winchester, Patron Saint: Assassin's Coda
Title: Dean Winchester, Patron Saint: Assassin’s Coda
Author: alexjanna91
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Dean, Castiel
Series: Apple Pie Life
Rating: PG
Genre: AU-Canon Divergence post-Season 5
Word Count: 2,107
Warning: BAMF Dean, Powers Dean, Kids, Angst, Profound Bond, Allusions to Season 6,
Summary: Dean gets a long overdue reunion and there are some feels.
A/N: This takes place directly after Assassin’s Creed on my Patron Saint Arc.
*
Dean was awkwardly bent over into the back of the Impala. He had one knee on the seat, one boot on the garage floor, his butt sticking out the door, one hand holding his phone to his ear while the other scrubbed furiously at gunk crusted black leather. It was not the most graceful of positions, but he’d been in worse. He couldn’t care less that his faded frayed back pockets were pointed at the ceiling. He was more worried about the half dried sticky mess of blood, raw egg, and melted ice-cream smeared across Baby’s upholstery.
Apparently neglected groceries and bloody angel swords do not a pristine leather seat make.
He still ached from the angelic poison leaching, but he was determined to clean up Baby as soon as possible. His girl didn’t deserve the indignity of Cherry Garcia melted into her seats on top of the shattered windows she already had to suffer.
Dish soap and dish rag in hand Dean was getting his elbow grease going good when the ringing in his ear cut off as the call was finally picked up.
“Jeffery Hart.”
“Hey, Jeff. Just gonna say sorry right off the bat.”
“Sorry for what?” Detective Jeffery Hart asked apprehensively his gut sinking because Dean Winchester was apologizing and that was never a good sign.
“For the body you’re going to find in that abandoned parking lot on Spade St.” Dean answered half his attention on scrubbing the white stitching to get something mint-green and sticky out of the seam.
There was a loaded pause on the other end while Jeffery calmed his pounding heart and switched from beleaguered friend to cop.
“Tell me you didn’t put it there. Tell me the body isn’t yours.” He demanded wondering for the first time if he’d misjudged Dean Winchester.
Dean paused in his cleaning, winded from exerting himself while still recovering from his nth near death experience. He rubbed the back of his wrist across his forehead tiredly and sighed.
“If it helps the thing wearing him tried to kill me first.”
It didn’t really help much, but Hart was at least relieved that he wasn’t going to have to try to arrest one of the most dangerous men he’d ever met. “Am I going to have to compromise a crime scene?” He asked resolutely ignoring how every law enforcement bone in his body rebelled against the thought.
“Nah, the crime scene will be a little weird, but my friends mojoed up all my blood. Should be squeaky clean of eau de Dean.” Dean went back to scrubbing forcefully injecting lightness into his words to cover just how weary he really was.
Jeffery’s mind skipped over weird, his concern for his friend momentarily taking precedence over having another supernatural induced panic.
“Are you alright?” He asked images of Dean half dismembered and bleeding out suddenly invading his mind. “How badly are you hurt? Do you need me to get you into a hospital?” He wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty using his position as a cop to get Dean no questions asked medical care.
Dean’s mouth quirked up, bemused, but pleased. It still surprised him when anyone not Bobby or Sam seemed to care about him. “I’m okay, dude. My friends healed me up good as new.”
Releasing a breath, Jeffery took Dean’s word for it and didn’t press. He figured it was reasonable to assume that when Dean said “healed” he meant less stitch and bandage and more laying on of hands.
“Is there anything else I -”
Dean tensed when a soft flutter sounded behind him.
“Jeff, I gotta call you back.” Dean cut right across whatever Hart was going to say and snapped the phone shut before the detective could protest.
The garage was plunged into silence and Dean held himself stiff with his ass still up in the air.
“Hello Dean.” A familiar deep gravelly voice ended the tense silence.
Dean backed out of the Impala to stand up straight, but didn’t turn around. He dropped his dish rag in the bucket of sudsy water on the floor and wiped his wet soapy hands on his jeans.
Taking a deep steadying breath he said, “Long time no see, Cas.”
After a pause Castiel haltingly responded, “Yes. It’s been awhile.”
Dean snorted derisively. “Yeah, since Sam jumped into the Cage with the Devil inside him. Not a word from you since the only family I had as good as died.”
A flash of sorrow and guilt swept across Castiel’s face, but Dean didn’t see it. He still had his back turned refusing to look at the angel. “I was trying to give you a normal life.”
“Normal does not mean my best friend has to go MIA.” Dean growled.
“I assumed that ‘normal apple pie life’ didn’t include angels or anything supernatural.” Cas frowned frustrated with himself and with Dean. “I thought staying away would lessen the burden of carrying out Sam’s last request.”
That brought him up short. Heart aching with every beat, the memory of Sam’s words hovered in Dean’s mind. He had to swallow around the square lump in his throat before he could speak. Slowly turning to look at Cas for the first time, Dean asked “How did you know about that?”
Castiel held his gaze steady on Dean. “I was awake when Sam spoke with you. He asked you to give up hunting; to try living a regular life.”
He had to breathe deep and heavy to even think about how to respond. The gaping maw of grief had opened back up and Dean was having trouble shoving it back in its box.
“Yeah, well, I still could have used my friend, Cas.” He crossed his arms and scowled at the air two inches to the left of Cas’ shoulder.
Castiel nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry, Dean. I regret my choice to stay from your side.”
“Damn right.” Dean grunted grudgingly relaxing as most of his anger and hurt melted away in the face of Cas’ uncomfortably earnest apology. “It’s not nearly as fun not having your nerdy feathered behind hanging around,” he said his emotions finally under control
A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth and Castiel responded, “I missed you, too, Dean.”
Huffing, Dean rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever,” he brushed Cas’ words aside with a blush on his cheeks.
Castiel chose not to mention it.
There was a moment of comfortable quiet. For the first time since Sam, Dean didn’t have that persistent feeling of being alone. He hadn’t quite realized how much of a hole his holy tax accountant angel had left in his life until it had been filled again. It was like a puzzle piece being snapped into place. Cas was back, standing awkwardly -as only Cas could- in front of him with that birdlike head tilt, those depthless blue eyes, and his utter incomprehension appropriate amounts of eye contact.
Just as quickly as his comforting presence had reasserted itself in his life, it also blasted away his excuse for willful ignorance.
Dean looked into his friend’s eyes gravely as he finally acknowledged what he’d been refusing to for months. “What’s happening to me, Cas?”
“Dean?” Castiel shifted in place, but didn’t waver from Dean’s gaze.
“You’re incommunicado for months then suddenly you’ve got Alfie guarding me like he’s my own personal Secret Service. Angels start following me around and watching me like I’m a bug under a microscope.” He gritted his teeth with his next words, but doggedly continued. “Weird shit is happening to me, Cas. The angels actually listen when I tell them to do something. I’m seeing flashes of things I know I shouldn’t even survive seeing. I swear I can feeling you guys even when I can’t see you. Inias did this weird talking in stereo thing to me. And they all keep saying my damn name like it’s not just a name.”
He took a shaky breath looking at Cas like he was trying to read the thoughts racing through that ageless mind. “I need to know, Cas. What’s happening to me?”
Castiel looked at this man. His best friend that taught him to think for himself, that sacrificed so much for a world that had never been kind to him, that would never stop protecting people because it was an integral a part of who he was. He looked at Dean, his soul now blinding even for an angel to gaze upon, and felt his friend reach out and prod at his grace insistently without even realizing he was doing it.
“You are changing.” Castiel said gravely suppressing a shiver as Dean continued to touch and poke him unconsciously. It was a strange combination of comforting and annoying. Castiel struggled to force his mind away from the sensation.
“These things you are doing, that you are experiencing; they are a symptom of something bigger.” He said trying to think of a way to explain this without revealing his suspicions. They were too unbelievable and wondrous to voice aloud, much less to lay at Dean’s feet without absolute certainty.
Dean swallowed around the dread in his throat and raised a hand like he was trying to physically halt his roiling thoughts. “Bigger? Bigger how?” He demanded. “What, exactly, am I changing into?”
“I’m not sure, Dean.” Castiel admitted. “You are evolving and it is unlike anything that has been seen on Earth at least for thousands of years if not ever. I don’t know exactly what is happening to you, but it is awesome.”
“Shit.” Dean felt his gut tighten. Cas didn’t say awesome like Dean said awesome. He said awesome like Holy Roller bible salesmen said awesome, like when it was uttered in the same breath as terrible and mighty. He said it like something in Dean inspired the same reactions as the parting of seas and the defeat of giants.
He forced down everything; all his panic and disbelief and fear. He forced it back into its box like he did all the other emotions he didn’t want to deal with.
Castiel seemed to sense his struggles and stepped forward placing a comforting hand on Dean’s shoulder. “You will not go through this alone, Dean.” He vowed. “I will find out what is happening to you and we will deal with it together.”
He would have been embarrassed by how relieved he was at Cas’ declaration, but the knots in his muscles unraveled and his gut unclenched with relief for the first time since the angel had popped into his garage. Dean gave his best friend a small grateful grin and the tense air lightened almost unnaturally fast.
“Planning on sticking around for good, Cas?”
“You are my friend.” Castiel smiled at him. “I won’t leave you willingly again.”
Warm and squishies suddenly choking Dean with feels, he shrugged off Cas’ hand and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, alright. No chick-flick moment. I can’t take much more of this without growing lady parts anyway.”
Cas didn’t think it was possible for mere conversation to cause Dean to “grow lady parts”, but decided not to comment. He’d long since learned that not everything that came out of Dean’s mouth made any logical sense.
“I had originally come to see for myself that you are alright after Raphael’s attempt on you and, unfortunately, I now must return to Heaven.” Castiel said, reluctantly interrupting their fragile levity. “We are still on the brink of war and I can’t be away from my duties for long.”
The gravity of Cas’ words had Dean’s expression hardening once more. “Right. Your standoff with the teenage mutant ninja angel.” With utter seriousness Dean reminded him, “Whatever you need, Cas. You just gotta ask. I’ll march up to Heaven and kick that douchebag’s ass myself if I have to.”
Castiel’s lips quirked up in a small, but pleased smile. “Thank you, Dean. I am grateful that we still share such a profound bond.”
Shifting awkwardly, Dean waved a hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Don’t you have an archangel’s ass to kick? Just don’t be a stranger.”
Castiel’s smile widened and he nodded. “Good bye, Dean. I will not be ‘radio silent’ this time.” He’d used honest to God finger quotes and Dean just shook his head in amusement as Castiel spread his wings and was gone.
Staring at the spot the angel had occupied Dean let out a breath. He had his best friend back and he could honestly say this was the closest to good he’d felt in years.
*
End
Author: alexjanna91
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Dean, Castiel
Series: Apple Pie Life
Rating: PG
Genre: AU-Canon Divergence post-Season 5
Word Count: 2,107
Warning: BAMF Dean, Powers Dean, Kids, Angst, Profound Bond, Allusions to Season 6,
Summary: Dean gets a long overdue reunion and there are some feels.
A/N: This takes place directly after Assassin’s Creed on my Patron Saint Arc.
*
Dean was awkwardly bent over into the back of the Impala. He had one knee on the seat, one boot on the garage floor, his butt sticking out the door, one hand holding his phone to his ear while the other scrubbed furiously at gunk crusted black leather. It was not the most graceful of positions, but he’d been in worse. He couldn’t care less that his faded frayed back pockets were pointed at the ceiling. He was more worried about the half dried sticky mess of blood, raw egg, and melted ice-cream smeared across Baby’s upholstery.
Apparently neglected groceries and bloody angel swords do not a pristine leather seat make.
He still ached from the angelic poison leaching, but he was determined to clean up Baby as soon as possible. His girl didn’t deserve the indignity of Cherry Garcia melted into her seats on top of the shattered windows she already had to suffer.
Dish soap and dish rag in hand Dean was getting his elbow grease going good when the ringing in his ear cut off as the call was finally picked up.
“Jeffery Hart.”
“Hey, Jeff. Just gonna say sorry right off the bat.”
“Sorry for what?” Detective Jeffery Hart asked apprehensively his gut sinking because Dean Winchester was apologizing and that was never a good sign.
“For the body you’re going to find in that abandoned parking lot on Spade St.” Dean answered half his attention on scrubbing the white stitching to get something mint-green and sticky out of the seam.
There was a loaded pause on the other end while Jeffery calmed his pounding heart and switched from beleaguered friend to cop.
“Tell me you didn’t put it there. Tell me the body isn’t yours.” He demanded wondering for the first time if he’d misjudged Dean Winchester.
Dean paused in his cleaning, winded from exerting himself while still recovering from his nth near death experience. He rubbed the back of his wrist across his forehead tiredly and sighed.
“If it helps the thing wearing him tried to kill me first.”
It didn’t really help much, but Hart was at least relieved that he wasn’t going to have to try to arrest one of the most dangerous men he’d ever met. “Am I going to have to compromise a crime scene?” He asked resolutely ignoring how every law enforcement bone in his body rebelled against the thought.
“Nah, the crime scene will be a little weird, but my friends mojoed up all my blood. Should be squeaky clean of eau de Dean.” Dean went back to scrubbing forcefully injecting lightness into his words to cover just how weary he really was.
Jeffery’s mind skipped over weird, his concern for his friend momentarily taking precedence over having another supernatural induced panic.
“Are you alright?” He asked images of Dean half dismembered and bleeding out suddenly invading his mind. “How badly are you hurt? Do you need me to get you into a hospital?” He wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty using his position as a cop to get Dean no questions asked medical care.
Dean’s mouth quirked up, bemused, but pleased. It still surprised him when anyone not Bobby or Sam seemed to care about him. “I’m okay, dude. My friends healed me up good as new.”
Releasing a breath, Jeffery took Dean’s word for it and didn’t press. He figured it was reasonable to assume that when Dean said “healed” he meant less stitch and bandage and more laying on of hands.
“Is there anything else I -”
Dean tensed when a soft flutter sounded behind him.
“Jeff, I gotta call you back.” Dean cut right across whatever Hart was going to say and snapped the phone shut before the detective could protest.
The garage was plunged into silence and Dean held himself stiff with his ass still up in the air.
“Hello Dean.” A familiar deep gravelly voice ended the tense silence.
Dean backed out of the Impala to stand up straight, but didn’t turn around. He dropped his dish rag in the bucket of sudsy water on the floor and wiped his wet soapy hands on his jeans.
Taking a deep steadying breath he said, “Long time no see, Cas.”
After a pause Castiel haltingly responded, “Yes. It’s been awhile.”
Dean snorted derisively. “Yeah, since Sam jumped into the Cage with the Devil inside him. Not a word from you since the only family I had as good as died.”
A flash of sorrow and guilt swept across Castiel’s face, but Dean didn’t see it. He still had his back turned refusing to look at the angel. “I was trying to give you a normal life.”
“Normal does not mean my best friend has to go MIA.” Dean growled.
“I assumed that ‘normal apple pie life’ didn’t include angels or anything supernatural.” Cas frowned frustrated with himself and with Dean. “I thought staying away would lessen the burden of carrying out Sam’s last request.”
That brought him up short. Heart aching with every beat, the memory of Sam’s words hovered in Dean’s mind. He had to swallow around the square lump in his throat before he could speak. Slowly turning to look at Cas for the first time, Dean asked “How did you know about that?”
Castiel held his gaze steady on Dean. “I was awake when Sam spoke with you. He asked you to give up hunting; to try living a regular life.”
He had to breathe deep and heavy to even think about how to respond. The gaping maw of grief had opened back up and Dean was having trouble shoving it back in its box.
“Yeah, well, I still could have used my friend, Cas.” He crossed his arms and scowled at the air two inches to the left of Cas’ shoulder.
Castiel nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry, Dean. I regret my choice to stay from your side.”
“Damn right.” Dean grunted grudgingly relaxing as most of his anger and hurt melted away in the face of Cas’ uncomfortably earnest apology. “It’s not nearly as fun not having your nerdy feathered behind hanging around,” he said his emotions finally under control
A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth and Castiel responded, “I missed you, too, Dean.”
Huffing, Dean rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever,” he brushed Cas’ words aside with a blush on his cheeks.
Castiel chose not to mention it.
There was a moment of comfortable quiet. For the first time since Sam, Dean didn’t have that persistent feeling of being alone. He hadn’t quite realized how much of a hole his holy tax accountant angel had left in his life until it had been filled again. It was like a puzzle piece being snapped into place. Cas was back, standing awkwardly -as only Cas could- in front of him with that birdlike head tilt, those depthless blue eyes, and his utter incomprehension appropriate amounts of eye contact.
Just as quickly as his comforting presence had reasserted itself in his life, it also blasted away his excuse for willful ignorance.
Dean looked into his friend’s eyes gravely as he finally acknowledged what he’d been refusing to for months. “What’s happening to me, Cas?”
“Dean?” Castiel shifted in place, but didn’t waver from Dean’s gaze.
“You’re incommunicado for months then suddenly you’ve got Alfie guarding me like he’s my own personal Secret Service. Angels start following me around and watching me like I’m a bug under a microscope.” He gritted his teeth with his next words, but doggedly continued. “Weird shit is happening to me, Cas. The angels actually listen when I tell them to do something. I’m seeing flashes of things I know I shouldn’t even survive seeing. I swear I can feeling you guys even when I can’t see you. Inias did this weird talking in stereo thing to me. And they all keep saying my damn name like it’s not just a name.”
He took a shaky breath looking at Cas like he was trying to read the thoughts racing through that ageless mind. “I need to know, Cas. What’s happening to me?”
Castiel looked at this man. His best friend that taught him to think for himself, that sacrificed so much for a world that had never been kind to him, that would never stop protecting people because it was an integral a part of who he was. He looked at Dean, his soul now blinding even for an angel to gaze upon, and felt his friend reach out and prod at his grace insistently without even realizing he was doing it.
“You are changing.” Castiel said gravely suppressing a shiver as Dean continued to touch and poke him unconsciously. It was a strange combination of comforting and annoying. Castiel struggled to force his mind away from the sensation.
“These things you are doing, that you are experiencing; they are a symptom of something bigger.” He said trying to think of a way to explain this without revealing his suspicions. They were too unbelievable and wondrous to voice aloud, much less to lay at Dean’s feet without absolute certainty.
Dean swallowed around the dread in his throat and raised a hand like he was trying to physically halt his roiling thoughts. “Bigger? Bigger how?” He demanded. “What, exactly, am I changing into?”
“I’m not sure, Dean.” Castiel admitted. “You are evolving and it is unlike anything that has been seen on Earth at least for thousands of years if not ever. I don’t know exactly what is happening to you, but it is awesome.”
“Shit.” Dean felt his gut tighten. Cas didn’t say awesome like Dean said awesome. He said awesome like Holy Roller bible salesmen said awesome, like when it was uttered in the same breath as terrible and mighty. He said it like something in Dean inspired the same reactions as the parting of seas and the defeat of giants.
He forced down everything; all his panic and disbelief and fear. He forced it back into its box like he did all the other emotions he didn’t want to deal with.
Castiel seemed to sense his struggles and stepped forward placing a comforting hand on Dean’s shoulder. “You will not go through this alone, Dean.” He vowed. “I will find out what is happening to you and we will deal with it together.”
He would have been embarrassed by how relieved he was at Cas’ declaration, but the knots in his muscles unraveled and his gut unclenched with relief for the first time since the angel had popped into his garage. Dean gave his best friend a small grateful grin and the tense air lightened almost unnaturally fast.
“Planning on sticking around for good, Cas?”
“You are my friend.” Castiel smiled at him. “I won’t leave you willingly again.”
Warm and squishies suddenly choking Dean with feels, he shrugged off Cas’ hand and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, alright. No chick-flick moment. I can’t take much more of this without growing lady parts anyway.”
Cas didn’t think it was possible for mere conversation to cause Dean to “grow lady parts”, but decided not to comment. He’d long since learned that not everything that came out of Dean’s mouth made any logical sense.
“I had originally come to see for myself that you are alright after Raphael’s attempt on you and, unfortunately, I now must return to Heaven.” Castiel said, reluctantly interrupting their fragile levity. “We are still on the brink of war and I can’t be away from my duties for long.”
The gravity of Cas’ words had Dean’s expression hardening once more. “Right. Your standoff with the teenage mutant ninja angel.” With utter seriousness Dean reminded him, “Whatever you need, Cas. You just gotta ask. I’ll march up to Heaven and kick that douchebag’s ass myself if I have to.”
Castiel’s lips quirked up in a small, but pleased smile. “Thank you, Dean. I am grateful that we still share such a profound bond.”
Shifting awkwardly, Dean waved a hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Don’t you have an archangel’s ass to kick? Just don’t be a stranger.”
Castiel’s smile widened and he nodded. “Good bye, Dean. I will not be ‘radio silent’ this time.” He’d used honest to God finger quotes and Dean just shook his head in amusement as Castiel spread his wings and was gone.
Staring at the spot the angel had occupied Dean let out a breath. He had his best friend back and he could honestly say this was the closest to good he’d felt in years.
*
End