Felix Culpa - Epilogue (Sam/Dean, NC-17)
Epilogue
Dean sat on the park bench, watching the children play. There was some sort of complicated game going on; he hadn't worked out the rules yet, but it involved a lot of running around and screaming with laughter.
Since his return from Below, he'd been drawn to places like this. They were a reminder that some things hadn't been tainted. And no one paid any attention to him here, which was the way he liked it.
He glanced around, and nearly jumped at the sight of Castiel sitting on the other end of the bench. He'd gotten over being surprised at the angel appearing out of nowhere a while back, but this time he had good cause. There had been no sign of Castiel since Dean had broken the Seal, weeks before, and Dean had started to be afraid that it might have killed the angel. Either that, or Castiel was so angry about it that he was avoiding him.
It was a relief to find that apparently it had been the latter. Dean had no particular problem with pissing off angels. Especially when it came to saving Castiel's life.
Castiel was watching the children intently, not looking at him. Dean let the silence continue for a while, before he finally said, "So. Come here often?"
The angel looked at him at last. "Why did you break the Seal?"
Straight down to business, then, Dean thought. "I wasn't just going to leave you trapped there."
Castiel's face was as unreadable as ever, but Dean thought there was an edge of discomfort in the angel's tone as he said, "I did not want -"
"I know that," Dean said, looking away. "You told me you were content, or whatever. But I still couldn't just leave you there." He took a deep breath. "You told me a while back that you didn't know what was right or wrong any more. You didn't know whether I'd passed that test or failed. How do you know this wasn't another test?"
Castiel looked away, towards the children playing in the park. "The last time, the lives of my Father's creations were at stake."
"And this time you were," Dean said.
Castiel looked at him again. "I am not human, Dean."
"No," Dean said, holding his gaze. "But I am."
Castiel stared at him for a long moment before slowly nodding. Dean gave him a half-smile and looked away again at the kids running around.
He was expecting the angel to be gone when he glanced back, but Castiel was still there, staring down at the ground as if deep in thought.
Dean smiled.