Unexpected Destinies Chapter 172
Title: Unexpected Destinies
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,050
Summary: Bobby and Castiel discuss human marriage.
PRESENT
"Human marriage?" Castiel repeated.
"Yeah," Bobby confirmed.
"Angelic bonding encompasses all aspects of human marriage and infinitely more."
"Not all aspects and I can think of one that you might like and which Dean would definitely appreciate."
Castiel's smile instantly vanished and Bobby thought that he probably should have worded that better. He'd seen enough of Dean and Castiel's relationship to know that the angel took it extremely seriously and that even the slightest hint of him not doing something well enough was a very serious accusation.
"What have I overlooked?"
"Something typically human," Bobby explained soothingly. "You've obviously got the... uh soul side of the equation covered far more thoroughly than any human marriage could ever hope to do, but this is something physical. More a symbol of the actual marriage really, but one which I know means a lot to Dean."
"A symbol?"
"Yes, but I think it would be easier to show you than for me to just explain it. Can you take us back to my place?"
"Of course," Castiel replied, rising to his feet and waiting for him to do the same. "And relax, Bobby, an archangel is far more able to compensate for human bodily functions than I ever could before as a mere seraph. There will be no adverse side effects from this trip, nor any other fleeting unpleasantness."
"Oh, that's good, thanks."
Despite the angel's words, Bobby couldn't help but brace himself as Castiel raised two fingers and touched them to his forehead. It proved unnecessary as Dean's husband really hadn't been kidding when he said that archangels were able to ensure a smooth ride. The trip was instantaneous and if he weren't suddenly in his own living room he'd never have believed that they'd actually flown anywhere.
"Come, this way," Bobby said once he got over his surprise, leading the angel to his bedroom.
What he wanted was kept hidden in a small box buried deep in his closet. It was something which Bobby rarely took out as the pain associated with those two little objects was far too great even after all of this time for him to be able to stand looking at them more than once or twice a year. John Winchester, however, had taken a very different approach to the matter and because of that he knew this particular symbol of marriage had come to mean a great deal to Dean as the boy had grown up watching his father treat it with nothing short of reverence and respect and he was more than willing to set aside his own pain on the matter to give the boy what he knew Dean wanted and needed even if the idjit hadn't fully realize it himself just yet.
When he finally found the box, Bobby picked it up reverently and turned around to find Castiel standing but a short distance away, watching him curiously. There was a sudden lump in his throat and he found that he couldn't do this here, in the bedroom. Not only were there far too many memories of Karen in here, both the good and the bad, but it would also just be awkward and far too likely to make his mind wander to places that he really didn't want it to. He'd already learned far more than he'd ever wanted to know about Dean's sex life in general and that trend unfortunately hadn't changed with this particular relationship.
"Living room," Bobby forced out, fleeing the room and a confused angel.
It wasn't until Bobby got to the living room that he realized that there were no footsteps behind him and when he glanced back it was to find an empty hall. When he turned back though Castiel was standing before him and he jumped despite the fact that he really should have seen it coming and the fact that the angel was actually giving him a decent amount of space for once.
"Are you alright, Bobby?" Castiel asked in concern.
"Yeah, sorry, it's just a painful topic even though Karen died a long time ago," Bobby replied. "And having the wound scraped raw not too long ago didn't help matters any either."
"I'm sorry, Dean told me what Death did for Lucifer and that should never have happened."
"Thanks. Anyway, come, sit." With that Bobby took a seat on the couch and indicated that the angel should join him. "How much do you know about human marriage?"
"In its current incarnation?" Castiel asked. "Just that people declare their intentions at a ceremony in a church so that Father can be a witness to their commitment to each other."
Bobby smiled sadly. "Yes, well, that's missing one crucial step. Here, see."
With that Bobby opened the box and tilted it so that the angel could see its contents.
"Rings?" Castiel inquired, still confused.
"Wedding bands," Bobby corrected picking up his own one. "See during the ceremony humans exchange them with the husband putting the wife's ring on her finger and vice versa. Or well husbands as it would be in your case, but either way each partner puts the ring on the other's finger. And we put them on this finger," Bobby continued, slipping his own on to demonstrate.
"I have seen many people wearing these before."
"Yeah, I'm sure that you have. Almost everyone who is married wears them, and always on this hand. If you see someone with a ring on this hand then it means that they're married."
Castiel's eyes flashed and Bobby knew that the angel had gotten it.
"You mean," Castiel began. "That people without this ring are seen as available?"
"Exactly. So that girl at the bar last night? She might not have approached Dean if he'd had a wedding band on his finger."
"No, the bartender said that she wasn't deterred by a guy having a girlfriend or wife," Castiel informed him darkly. "But you're saying it would deter others?"
"Anyone who respects the sanctity of marriage, yes."
"May I?"
"Sure," Bobby replied, taking his own ring off to hand it to the angel rather than letting Castiel pick up Karen's.
"It looks so simple."
"They don't have to, Karen and I just decided to get traditional ones, but these days they make them with all kinds of decorations on them. You can even get them personalized if you want to."
"And this is important to Dean?"
"The boy has never said anything about it either way to me, but his father never took his off, not even decades after Mary's death," Bobby said. "John would also stare at it sometimes, just turning it around his finger as he thought of her and I've seen Dean watching his father do that countless times."
"So it would be an integral part of his idea of marriage, thank you for informing me of this, Bobby."
"My pleasure. That idjit deserves to be happy more than anyone else that I know."
"Dean has forgiven you."
Bobby snorted. "Doesn't mean that I've forgiven myself."
"Which is why you won't be making that same mistake again."
The underlying implication that someone else would was not missed on Bobby, nor was the insinuation as to who exactly that would be but he found that he couldn't fault the angel for that particular thought. Not when Sam had proven it only far too accurate on several occasions in the past.
"So, wedding bands?" Bobby asked to get them back on track.
"I shall look into it."
"Look into?"
"This is made mostly of gold," Castiel said, holding up the ring. "And gold is considered valuable to humans and will therefore be expensive. The only money I have available to me is what Dean gives me and he is currently obtaining it from the Vatican."
"I doubt that they'd disapprove of this particular use of their funds. Although, on second thought, they probably would. Either way I see your dilemma, but don't fear, I've got the solution for it right here," Bobby stated, pulling out the other thing which he kept in the box.
It was a checkbook for an account that Karen had started in both their names the day that they'd gotten married, wanting to ensure that they have a proper college fund set up for when they'd need it as she'd planned on having several kids. The thought still pained him as it inevitably brought back the memory of their last argument and the one that they'd never had the chance to resolve before she'd been possessed and he'd been forced to kill her.
"What is that?" Castiel asked.
"It's a checkbook. It's another method of buying things. Here, what you do is you open it to a new check, then you fill in the date here, the name of the person or company you're giving the money to here, the amount you want to spend here in numbers and here in letters, then the signature goes here and you tear it out and hand it to the person you owe the money to. They are then able to take it to their bank and have the money transferred into their account from yours."
"But I have no account."
"No, but I do."
Castiel looked at him at that and it was all that Bobby could do not to start squirming like a little child. The angel had always had an intense gaze and he'd never quite been able to figure out how Dean could stand to be at the center of it for as long as the boy always had. He'd just always thought that it seemed far too much like Castiel was gazing right past his meatsuit into his very soul for his comfort and now was no different.
"Are you sure?" Castiel finally questioned.
"Yes, otherwise I'd never have offered it. Look, Karen started this account when we got married so that we'd be able to afford to send the kids that she wanted to college and I've never had the heart to empty it out and use it for something else as I've never been that desperate."
"And you view Dean as you would a son."
"Yeah," Bobby replied, voice harsh.
If it had been anyone else, Bobby would have been furious, sure that they'd deliberately violated his privacy and read his mind. But this was Castiel and he knew for a fact that Dean had been quite adamant with all of his angels about the whole mind reading thing. Not to mention the fact that he'd witnessed Castiel being extremely intuitive when it came to anything pertaining to Dean even if the angel was still hopelessly naive or just plain clueless when it came to other aspects of humanity. One thing which he couldn't help but note with a certain sense of pride and warmth was the fact that most of the things Castiel seemed to be so good at deducing or taking to the next level were things that Dean knew at least something of which strongly indicated that the boy either knew how he viewed him or that Dean viewed him in a similar light.
"Thank you very much, Bobby."
"Just make him happy, you hear?"
/
"Hey, Mike, do you have a minute?" Dean sent, closing the book he'd just finished looking through and pushing it away from himself.
He'd been debating this particular decision for the past few days and had finally made up his mind. It might be more than a bit nuts and he really had no particular desire to return to Heaven, but he really wanted to make sure that things were set right between himself and his grandfather and that wouldn't happen without this. So he was just going to have to buck up and take the bad with the necessary and hope that it all came out alright.
"Hello, Dean," Michael said, appearing beside him.
"Hey, Mike," Dean greeted with a smile. "Can you take me to someone's particular Heaven, or whatever is going on up there now?"
"You want to go to Heaven?"
"Yes."
Michael frowned. "Who is it that you would like to see?"
"Samuel. I- with everything that happened I never did get to say goodbye to him and if I were in his shoes I'd never be able to forgive myself for what happened without hearing it expressed directly from the one I'd hurt first."
"That is possible."
His bond brother's easy consent now after hearing who he wanted to see told Dean all that he needed to know about what Michael had been thinking. The one thing that none of them- Castiel, Raphael, Michael or himself- had ever brought up with relation to Heaven was the issue of his parents. Him because of what Ash had said and what Zachariah had done. He was far too afraid of having his worst fears confirmed to even dare think about asking any of them and them... well he didn't really know why they didn't dare broach the topic but it made him fear that he was correct in thinking that the answer to his question wasn't good.
"I will need to take you as my vessel," Michael warned.
"Yeah, I know. Take me back to my room first though, okay? I really don't think that either Gwen or Sam would take very well to just finding Aunt Deirdre's meatsuit sitting vacant in the library. Oh, and the books on the table have all been checked, so we can take them back to Heaven with us."
Michael agreed and it was next to no time before Dean found himself standing at the foot of his bed, looking down at his aunt's vacant meatsuit. It was getting faster and easier to let his bond brother in every time they did it and neither of them was suffering the old side effects anymore either which meant that Michael was ready to go seconds after changing vessel. It was a definite advantage and one that would serve them very well in the future if they ever needed the archangel at full power quickly.
Their first stop in Heaven was the library so that Michael could return the books that Dean had read, but then they flew straight for the human portion of Heaven.
"Did Samuel choose the old style Heaven or did he want to be able to mingle with other souls?" Dean asked before they landed in a room that he recognized from his first trip to the past.
"Both," Michael replied.
"Both?"
"Yes. Samuel spends most of his time in the new style Heaven that Castiel created, but he does occasionally chose to come back to his memories and spend some time within them."
Dean was about to ask why when the answer passed before him, literally. It was his mother, younger than he'd seen her during either of his time travel trips by a good ten years or so. She danced past them dressed in something that he wasn't even going to begin to try and figure out, straight into her father's arms.
"Thank you, Daddy, I absolutely love it!" Mary declared, hugging Samuel tightly before pressing a big kiss to his cheek.
"No problem, honey," Samuel replied and his grandfather had opened his mouth to say more when the old man caught sight of them.
Confusion was the first thing to wash over Samuel's face, but it quickly shifted to understanding and Dean was stunned at how quickly and easily his grandfather let go of Mary and stepped away from her, leaving his mother to finish the rest of this particular scene on her own.
"Hello, Samuel," Michael said for him and Dean transmitted his thanks across their bond.
"Oh God, Dean, no!" Samuel exclaimed, dismay and disbelief warring for dominance on his face, both emotions swiftly overtaken by sheer horror. "Oh, no, no, please, no. You weren't supposed to die yet, not after what Death and the angels were able to do!"
"No, Samuel, Dean's still alive, he's not dead," Michael hastened to correct.
"Not dead?"
"No."
"Wait, you said 'Dean's not dead' as if he's not you. Michael?"
"Yes."
"But, why?"
"Only the dead can come to Heaven, just as you thought," Michael explained calmly. "An angel's vessel, however, can be brought up here with no ill effects. Dean wished to see you, so we did this. He can hear and see all that I do."
"He wanted to see me? After what I did?"
"Yes, Samuel. Dean forgives you, just like Bobby told you that he would."
"Did he really say that? You're not just making that up to appease me, are you?"
Michael snorted and Dean couldn't help but feel a sliver of pride at how human his influence had made the archangel. "Samuel, this is Mary's firstborn that we are talking about here. Do you honestly believe that he would allow me to get away with such a deception?"
"No," Samuel laughed though it still sounded strained. "He'd find a way to kick your ass, vessel or not."
"Precisely."
The pride that Dean felt from his bond brother at that made him laugh himself. He was pretty sure that it was quite uncommon for a brother, whether by blood or by marriage, to feel like that when thinking of being trounced by their sibling. It was a good thing that he'd never either desired or aspired to being normal as he knew damn well that normality was the one thing that he'd never, ever have.
"Thanks, Mike," Dean said. "Now tell him to get off his sorry ass and to stop moping about and instead go make up his absence and behavior to Deanna."
His grandfather's laughter this time was a little more genuine when Samuel heard what he'd said and Dean knew that it was the best that he could hope for at the moment. He of all people was only all too aware of the fact that things like this didn't just fade away, no matter how little control he'd had over the situation. He'd done what he could for now and the rest was up to Samuel, though he would make a point of it to visit his grandfather again whenever he ended up here himself.
A.N.: I know that I said I wouldn't say anything about the end of the last chapter, but people's comments made it quite clear that things weren't quite as clear as I'd thought that they were. Therefore, I've made a slight adjustment to the last sentence, but that's all I can do without ruining the mystery which I do want there :)
Chapter 173
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,050
Summary: Bobby and Castiel discuss human marriage.
PRESENT
"Human marriage?" Castiel repeated.
"Yeah," Bobby confirmed.
"Angelic bonding encompasses all aspects of human marriage and infinitely more."
"Not all aspects and I can think of one that you might like and which Dean would definitely appreciate."
Castiel's smile instantly vanished and Bobby thought that he probably should have worded that better. He'd seen enough of Dean and Castiel's relationship to know that the angel took it extremely seriously and that even the slightest hint of him not doing something well enough was a very serious accusation.
"What have I overlooked?"
"Something typically human," Bobby explained soothingly. "You've obviously got the... uh soul side of the equation covered far more thoroughly than any human marriage could ever hope to do, but this is something physical. More a symbol of the actual marriage really, but one which I know means a lot to Dean."
"A symbol?"
"Yes, but I think it would be easier to show you than for me to just explain it. Can you take us back to my place?"
"Of course," Castiel replied, rising to his feet and waiting for him to do the same. "And relax, Bobby, an archangel is far more able to compensate for human bodily functions than I ever could before as a mere seraph. There will be no adverse side effects from this trip, nor any other fleeting unpleasantness."
"Oh, that's good, thanks."
Despite the angel's words, Bobby couldn't help but brace himself as Castiel raised two fingers and touched them to his forehead. It proved unnecessary as Dean's husband really hadn't been kidding when he said that archangels were able to ensure a smooth ride. The trip was instantaneous and if he weren't suddenly in his own living room he'd never have believed that they'd actually flown anywhere.
"Come, this way," Bobby said once he got over his surprise, leading the angel to his bedroom.
What he wanted was kept hidden in a small box buried deep in his closet. It was something which Bobby rarely took out as the pain associated with those two little objects was far too great even after all of this time for him to be able to stand looking at them more than once or twice a year. John Winchester, however, had taken a very different approach to the matter and because of that he knew this particular symbol of marriage had come to mean a great deal to Dean as the boy had grown up watching his father treat it with nothing short of reverence and respect and he was more than willing to set aside his own pain on the matter to give the boy what he knew Dean wanted and needed even if the idjit hadn't fully realize it himself just yet.
When he finally found the box, Bobby picked it up reverently and turned around to find Castiel standing but a short distance away, watching him curiously. There was a sudden lump in his throat and he found that he couldn't do this here, in the bedroom. Not only were there far too many memories of Karen in here, both the good and the bad, but it would also just be awkward and far too likely to make his mind wander to places that he really didn't want it to. He'd already learned far more than he'd ever wanted to know about Dean's sex life in general and that trend unfortunately hadn't changed with this particular relationship.
"Living room," Bobby forced out, fleeing the room and a confused angel.
It wasn't until Bobby got to the living room that he realized that there were no footsteps behind him and when he glanced back it was to find an empty hall. When he turned back though Castiel was standing before him and he jumped despite the fact that he really should have seen it coming and the fact that the angel was actually giving him a decent amount of space for once.
"Are you alright, Bobby?" Castiel asked in concern.
"Yeah, sorry, it's just a painful topic even though Karen died a long time ago," Bobby replied. "And having the wound scraped raw not too long ago didn't help matters any either."
"I'm sorry, Dean told me what Death did for Lucifer and that should never have happened."
"Thanks. Anyway, come, sit." With that Bobby took a seat on the couch and indicated that the angel should join him. "How much do you know about human marriage?"
"In its current incarnation?" Castiel asked. "Just that people declare their intentions at a ceremony in a church so that Father can be a witness to their commitment to each other."
Bobby smiled sadly. "Yes, well, that's missing one crucial step. Here, see."
With that Bobby opened the box and tilted it so that the angel could see its contents.
"Rings?" Castiel inquired, still confused.
"Wedding bands," Bobby corrected picking up his own one. "See during the ceremony humans exchange them with the husband putting the wife's ring on her finger and vice versa. Or well husbands as it would be in your case, but either way each partner puts the ring on the other's finger. And we put them on this finger," Bobby continued, slipping his own on to demonstrate.
"I have seen many people wearing these before."
"Yeah, I'm sure that you have. Almost everyone who is married wears them, and always on this hand. If you see someone with a ring on this hand then it means that they're married."
Castiel's eyes flashed and Bobby knew that the angel had gotten it.
"You mean," Castiel began. "That people without this ring are seen as available?"
"Exactly. So that girl at the bar last night? She might not have approached Dean if he'd had a wedding band on his finger."
"No, the bartender said that she wasn't deterred by a guy having a girlfriend or wife," Castiel informed him darkly. "But you're saying it would deter others?"
"Anyone who respects the sanctity of marriage, yes."
"May I?"
"Sure," Bobby replied, taking his own ring off to hand it to the angel rather than letting Castiel pick up Karen's.
"It looks so simple."
"They don't have to, Karen and I just decided to get traditional ones, but these days they make them with all kinds of decorations on them. You can even get them personalized if you want to."
"And this is important to Dean?"
"The boy has never said anything about it either way to me, but his father never took his off, not even decades after Mary's death," Bobby said. "John would also stare at it sometimes, just turning it around his finger as he thought of her and I've seen Dean watching his father do that countless times."
"So it would be an integral part of his idea of marriage, thank you for informing me of this, Bobby."
"My pleasure. That idjit deserves to be happy more than anyone else that I know."
"Dean has forgiven you."
Bobby snorted. "Doesn't mean that I've forgiven myself."
"Which is why you won't be making that same mistake again."
The underlying implication that someone else would was not missed on Bobby, nor was the insinuation as to who exactly that would be but he found that he couldn't fault the angel for that particular thought. Not when Sam had proven it only far too accurate on several occasions in the past.
"So, wedding bands?" Bobby asked to get them back on track.
"I shall look into it."
"Look into?"
"This is made mostly of gold," Castiel said, holding up the ring. "And gold is considered valuable to humans and will therefore be expensive. The only money I have available to me is what Dean gives me and he is currently obtaining it from the Vatican."
"I doubt that they'd disapprove of this particular use of their funds. Although, on second thought, they probably would. Either way I see your dilemma, but don't fear, I've got the solution for it right here," Bobby stated, pulling out the other thing which he kept in the box.
It was a checkbook for an account that Karen had started in both their names the day that they'd gotten married, wanting to ensure that they have a proper college fund set up for when they'd need it as she'd planned on having several kids. The thought still pained him as it inevitably brought back the memory of their last argument and the one that they'd never had the chance to resolve before she'd been possessed and he'd been forced to kill her.
"What is that?" Castiel asked.
"It's a checkbook. It's another method of buying things. Here, what you do is you open it to a new check, then you fill in the date here, the name of the person or company you're giving the money to here, the amount you want to spend here in numbers and here in letters, then the signature goes here and you tear it out and hand it to the person you owe the money to. They are then able to take it to their bank and have the money transferred into their account from yours."
"But I have no account."
"No, but I do."
Castiel looked at him at that and it was all that Bobby could do not to start squirming like a little child. The angel had always had an intense gaze and he'd never quite been able to figure out how Dean could stand to be at the center of it for as long as the boy always had. He'd just always thought that it seemed far too much like Castiel was gazing right past his meatsuit into his very soul for his comfort and now was no different.
"Are you sure?" Castiel finally questioned.
"Yes, otherwise I'd never have offered it. Look, Karen started this account when we got married so that we'd be able to afford to send the kids that she wanted to college and I've never had the heart to empty it out and use it for something else as I've never been that desperate."
"And you view Dean as you would a son."
"Yeah," Bobby replied, voice harsh.
If it had been anyone else, Bobby would have been furious, sure that they'd deliberately violated his privacy and read his mind. But this was Castiel and he knew for a fact that Dean had been quite adamant with all of his angels about the whole mind reading thing. Not to mention the fact that he'd witnessed Castiel being extremely intuitive when it came to anything pertaining to Dean even if the angel was still hopelessly naive or just plain clueless when it came to other aspects of humanity. One thing which he couldn't help but note with a certain sense of pride and warmth was the fact that most of the things Castiel seemed to be so good at deducing or taking to the next level were things that Dean knew at least something of which strongly indicated that the boy either knew how he viewed him or that Dean viewed him in a similar light.
"Thank you very much, Bobby."
"Just make him happy, you hear?"
/
"Hey, Mike, do you have a minute?" Dean sent, closing the book he'd just finished looking through and pushing it away from himself.
He'd been debating this particular decision for the past few days and had finally made up his mind. It might be more than a bit nuts and he really had no particular desire to return to Heaven, but he really wanted to make sure that things were set right between himself and his grandfather and that wouldn't happen without this. So he was just going to have to buck up and take the bad with the necessary and hope that it all came out alright.
"Hello, Dean," Michael said, appearing beside him.
"Hey, Mike," Dean greeted with a smile. "Can you take me to someone's particular Heaven, or whatever is going on up there now?"
"You want to go to Heaven?"
"Yes."
Michael frowned. "Who is it that you would like to see?"
"Samuel. I- with everything that happened I never did get to say goodbye to him and if I were in his shoes I'd never be able to forgive myself for what happened without hearing it expressed directly from the one I'd hurt first."
"That is possible."
His bond brother's easy consent now after hearing who he wanted to see told Dean all that he needed to know about what Michael had been thinking. The one thing that none of them- Castiel, Raphael, Michael or himself- had ever brought up with relation to Heaven was the issue of his parents. Him because of what Ash had said and what Zachariah had done. He was far too afraid of having his worst fears confirmed to even dare think about asking any of them and them... well he didn't really know why they didn't dare broach the topic but it made him fear that he was correct in thinking that the answer to his question wasn't good.
"I will need to take you as my vessel," Michael warned.
"Yeah, I know. Take me back to my room first though, okay? I really don't think that either Gwen or Sam would take very well to just finding Aunt Deirdre's meatsuit sitting vacant in the library. Oh, and the books on the table have all been checked, so we can take them back to Heaven with us."
Michael agreed and it was next to no time before Dean found himself standing at the foot of his bed, looking down at his aunt's vacant meatsuit. It was getting faster and easier to let his bond brother in every time they did it and neither of them was suffering the old side effects anymore either which meant that Michael was ready to go seconds after changing vessel. It was a definite advantage and one that would serve them very well in the future if they ever needed the archangel at full power quickly.
Their first stop in Heaven was the library so that Michael could return the books that Dean had read, but then they flew straight for the human portion of Heaven.
"Did Samuel choose the old style Heaven or did he want to be able to mingle with other souls?" Dean asked before they landed in a room that he recognized from his first trip to the past.
"Both," Michael replied.
"Both?"
"Yes. Samuel spends most of his time in the new style Heaven that Castiel created, but he does occasionally chose to come back to his memories and spend some time within them."
Dean was about to ask why when the answer passed before him, literally. It was his mother, younger than he'd seen her during either of his time travel trips by a good ten years or so. She danced past them dressed in something that he wasn't even going to begin to try and figure out, straight into her father's arms.
"Thank you, Daddy, I absolutely love it!" Mary declared, hugging Samuel tightly before pressing a big kiss to his cheek.
"No problem, honey," Samuel replied and his grandfather had opened his mouth to say more when the old man caught sight of them.
Confusion was the first thing to wash over Samuel's face, but it quickly shifted to understanding and Dean was stunned at how quickly and easily his grandfather let go of Mary and stepped away from her, leaving his mother to finish the rest of this particular scene on her own.
"Hello, Samuel," Michael said for him and Dean transmitted his thanks across their bond.
"Oh God, Dean, no!" Samuel exclaimed, dismay and disbelief warring for dominance on his face, both emotions swiftly overtaken by sheer horror. "Oh, no, no, please, no. You weren't supposed to die yet, not after what Death and the angels were able to do!"
"No, Samuel, Dean's still alive, he's not dead," Michael hastened to correct.
"Not dead?"
"No."
"Wait, you said 'Dean's not dead' as if he's not you. Michael?"
"Yes."
"But, why?"
"Only the dead can come to Heaven, just as you thought," Michael explained calmly. "An angel's vessel, however, can be brought up here with no ill effects. Dean wished to see you, so we did this. He can hear and see all that I do."
"He wanted to see me? After what I did?"
"Yes, Samuel. Dean forgives you, just like Bobby told you that he would."
"Did he really say that? You're not just making that up to appease me, are you?"
Michael snorted and Dean couldn't help but feel a sliver of pride at how human his influence had made the archangel. "Samuel, this is Mary's firstborn that we are talking about here. Do you honestly believe that he would allow me to get away with such a deception?"
"No," Samuel laughed though it still sounded strained. "He'd find a way to kick your ass, vessel or not."
"Precisely."
The pride that Dean felt from his bond brother at that made him laugh himself. He was pretty sure that it was quite uncommon for a brother, whether by blood or by marriage, to feel like that when thinking of being trounced by their sibling. It was a good thing that he'd never either desired or aspired to being normal as he knew damn well that normality was the one thing that he'd never, ever have.
"Thanks, Mike," Dean said. "Now tell him to get off his sorry ass and to stop moping about and instead go make up his absence and behavior to Deanna."
His grandfather's laughter this time was a little more genuine when Samuel heard what he'd said and Dean knew that it was the best that he could hope for at the moment. He of all people was only all too aware of the fact that things like this didn't just fade away, no matter how little control he'd had over the situation. He'd done what he could for now and the rest was up to Samuel, though he would make a point of it to visit his grandfather again whenever he ended up here himself.
A.N.: I know that I said I wouldn't say anything about the end of the last chapter, but people's comments made it quite clear that things weren't quite as clear as I'd thought that they were. Therefore, I've made a slight adjustment to the last sentence, but that's all I can do without ruining the mystery which I do want there :)
Chapter 173