Unexpected Destinies Chapter 180
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: 3,132
Summary: Castiel collects the wedding rings he ordered and shows them to his bond mate.
PRESENT
Castiel felt a strange and mostly foreign sense of exhilaration when he entered Rajendro's Jewelers once more. Today was the day that they'd said that the wedding rings would be ready and he couldn't wait to see them. It was almost as bad as when he'd been closing in on the location of the perfect Andaluzyian crystal in order to complete the bonding. The knowledge of how much this meant to his bond mate had infected him with more nervousness and exhilaration than he'd thought possible considering these wedding bands wouldn't actually affect their bond itself. Still, they meant a lot to Dean and so therefore they meant a lot to him.
In addition to that original sentiment, Castiel had also come to find himself liking the idea more and more in his own right. He'd been paying more attention to human rings now and started spotting wedding bands on the hands of the majority of adults. He'd also seen how those without them were approached more often in bars and the knowledge that giving Dean such a ring would keep others from thinking his bond mate available thrilled him. He was well aware of how beautiful his hunter was and saw how people looked at Dean. While he would never prevent his bond mate from interacting with people, he did want them to know that his human was unavailable. The thought of visibly wearing Dean's claim had also become as much of an attraction to him as the thought of his bond mate wearing his. Though he didn't garner as much attention as his hunter, he did attract some in his own right and this would help him avoid that.
"Ah, hello Mr. Singer," Pradeep greeted when Castiel stepped into the store.
The greeting confused Castiel for a moment before he recollected that the check which he'd used to pay for the wedding bands and customization had been in Bobby's name and contained his friend's signature.
"Hello, Pradeep," Castiel replied. "Are the wedding rings ready?"
"Yes, Sir, I have them right here."
Castiel felt another flare of excitement and anticipation as he stepped forwards up to the counter. Pradeep had just pulled out a small black velvet bag with a knotted drawstring. As he reached for the bag, he found that his hands were shaking slightly. He managed to undo the knots and spilled the two rings into his palm. His first impression was that they looked as traditional as he'd wanted them to which pleased him greatly. Then he saw the writing and he felt his vessel's breath catch in his throat.
Enochian had always seemed an incredibly elegant script to Castiel and Rajendro's Jewelers specialist had done a phenomenal job of copying his writing. It was elegant and discrete, but the engraving did catch the light and so would be seen without being gaudy or detracting from the main wedding band itself. He knew that to most people it would seem to be nothing more than a series of fanciful loops and swirls, but his bond mate and siblings would know what it really was and that was precisely how he wanted it to be.
"Are they satisfactory, Mr. Singer?" Pradeep inquired.
"They're perfect," Castiel replied, tearing his gaze away. "Thank you."
"Would you like them wrapped in a box?"
"No, this bag is perfect."
Carefully, Castiel returned the two rings to the bag and tied a knot in it once more to ensure that he didn't lose them. Remembering his audience, he put the bag into the inner pocket of his coat alongside his fake FBI identification and the driver's license that Dean had made for him.
"Is there anything else that you desire, Mr. Singer?" Pradeep asked.
"No, not at this time, thank you."
With that Castiel exited the store, his wings shifting restlessly as he resisted the temptation to just take to flight then and there. The nervous excitement was foreign to him and he had a hard enough time maintaining his outer calm as far as his vessel was concerned, doing the same for his wings was simply impossible. As soon as he was out of sight of all nearby humans, he took to flight, heading straight for his bond mate.
"Damnit, Dean!" Sam exclaimed just as Castiel landed.
He had done so as close to his hunter as he could without startling Dean, so when Castiel saw something flying through the air towards them, he reacted instinctively. With a thought and a twist of his Grace, he sent it flying back towards its source where it hit a startled Sam full in the face and knocked him off his chair. Besides him his hunter blinked and looked at him before roaring with laughter. From the beautiful way that his bond mate's soul sparked and shone, he could tell that Dean was in a spectacularly good mood and he smiled, knowing that he was about to make it even better.
"Cas!" Sam complained.
"Sorry, Sam," Castiel apologized, having since realized that the object was merely a pillow. "I saw something coming at myself and Dean and reacted protectively on instinct."
"You were awesome, Cas!" Dean proclaimed, all but bouncing around him.
"If you knock one more book to the ground, ya idjit, your angel will really need to protect you from the rock salt I'll try to fill your ass with!" Bobby threatened.
"He's been a bit giddy," Gwen explained at Castiel's puzzled look. "You know, just a little."
"More like he's on a sugar high from Hell," Sam muttered. "God only knows what he ate."
"I told you, Sammy, I haven't had anything," Dean replied happily.
The use of 'Sammy' made Castiel frown as he had noticed that his bond mate had not used that nickname often (or at least not while in his presence) for his brother since their last big confrontation after the first part of the ritual. Now that he looked again, his human was in a really unusual and almost manic good mood and some of his own vanished as he wondered if something was wrong.
"I'm just in a good mood, what's wrong with that?" Dean questioned. "Besides, I'm not the only one, Cas is hyper as well."
The disbelieving looks directed his way told Castiel that he'd been mostly successful in keeping his vessel under control, but he couldn't hide his mood from his bond mate. Not only could Dean see his wings, but his hunter would also be able to feel his good mo-
Oh.
"My apologies," Castiel told the others as he pulled Dean close with his errant wings, knowing the contact with his bond mate would calm them as well as Dean. "I believe that this may be my fault."
"Eh?" Bobby inquired.
"Our bond is transmitting my own feelings of extreme elation to Dean, thereby affecting his mood."
"It can do that?" Gwen questioned, fascinated.
"The bond allows us to be aware of each other's feelings and moods, so if Dean were already in a good mood, mine would have served to enhance it."
"Giving him the equivalent of a sugar high, great," Sam concluded. "Would you mind taking the energizer bunny somewhere else before he drives us all mad?"
"You're the energizer bunny," Dean retorted. "And just for the record, this bond feedback is awesome!"
"I think anything would be awesome for you just now, Dean," Gwen laughed.
Castiel found himself unable not to laugh when his bond mate stuck his tongue out in reply. "Come on, Barney, let's go before they kill you."
"He-" Dean's protest was cut off as he took to flight. "-y! Dude, I'm not Barney. That's not even funny."
"Your definition of Barney was an overactive, supernaturally happy nuisance."
"Bite me, Cas."
His bond mate's dramatic turn and intended exit was ruined when Dean caught sight of their surroundings. Castiel had flown them out to the middle of the Sahara as his bond mate had a love for dark open skies where his hunter could see the stars. That right now, completely unimpeded by any light pollution whatsoever was effective to render Dean speechless. With a smile he stepped forwards, wrapped his arms around his bond mate's waist and rested his chin on Dean's shoulder, glancing up at the thick band of the Milky Way. The story behind its name intrigued him and made him marvel at humanity's creativity.
"Cas?"
"Yes, Beloved?"
"Do I want to know where in the world we are?"
"The Sahara."
"Ah, of course, the Sahara, now why didn't I think of that?"
"Behave," Castiel laughed, squeezing lightly.
Dean barked a laugh before turning in his grip and shoving him lightly in the chest. Castiel obliged his bond mate and released him, stepping back. When the action was repeated he did the same until he was at the base of a large sand dune and there he went down at his hunter's urging, his human following him down to straddle his thighs.
"Hey, Cas," Dean whispered before kissing him.
Castiel moaned his approval and brought his hands up to frame his bond mate's face. The energetic excitement from before was gone now, replaced instead with love and tenderness. After a few kisses, Dean pulled back and he reluctantly allowed him to do so.
"So, you were in a good mood earlier," Dean said.
"Mm, I have good reason to be," Castiel replied.
"Yeah? Well I've got something that will make your day even better."
"Really? I have something for you as well."
"For me?" Dean questioned, perking up even more.
"You first," Castiel smiled, curious as to what his bond mate had gotten him.
With a slight shift to be able to reach his back pocket, Dean pulled out a plastic card and handed it to him. Recognizing it as a driver's license, Castiel was about to ask why he was getting another one when he caught sight of the name on it.
Castiel Winchester.
"Given what the Vatican did with my FBI file, I realized that it wouldn't be an issue anymore for you to have my name," Dean explained. "So what do you say, Mr. Winchester?"
"I love it, thank you, Dean."
"Just remember to use the old one if you need one because you're in trouble for something, okay?"
"Of course," Castiel promised, kissing his hunter.
Normally Castiel would have been more than happy to continue just kissing his human like this for a while, but now was hardly a normal time. Besides, in addition to his own excitement which he now realized that his bond mate was picking up on and sharing, Dean was also worked up with anticipation for his present. He made a mental note to pick his hunter up something more often that wasn't food or drink. Though he knew that his human enjoyed those greatly, it was clear that Dean treasured other little presents as well and it was such a simple way to please his bond mate.
This time it was Castiel who pulled back, but only far enough so that they could rest their foreheads together and he didn't draw his gaze from Dean's eyes. They just sat like that for a moment, his hunter's arms settling around his shoulders and he similarly bracketed his human with his wings, cutting them off from the outside world. When he finally moved again, it was to reach into his inner coat pocket and pull out the little black velvet bag.
"Jewelry?" Dean asked, bemused though his bond mate's eyes flickered to the bracelet that his hunter constantly wore and which was the last piece of jewelry that he'd obtained for Dean.
"It was brought to my attention that I had been remiss in not considering all the rituals of human marriage and that there was something which you would desire," Castiel replied, watching his human's eyes go wide even as Dean's fingers froze in untying the knot.
"Cas?"
"Here, let me, Beloved."
With that, Castiel took the bag back and finished undoing the knot, opening the bag. He then took one of Dean's hands and spilled the two wedding bands into it. His bond mate's breath hitched as Dean caught sight of them. For a moment nothing happened and the silence of the desert surrounded them before it was broken by a shaky exhale as Dean reached up with his other hand and touched the two rings. The veritable maelstrom of emotions that suddenly swirled to life within his human and spilled out over their bond was more than he could follow, but he could grasp enough of it to know that even Bobby couldn't have realized how much this meant to his beloved.
More than enough to do the one thing which Castiel had once believed to be truly impossible; namely rending Dean utterly speechless.
Words were completely unnecessary though with their bond and his hunter then strengthened that existing connection by looking him straight in the eye. Castiel had always known that he could easily get lost in those eyes, but now it was even more true than ever before. All of Dean's normal defenses were gone and he could see everything that his bond mate felt shining in their depths. Finding that words had left him as well, he reached back across their bond with his Grace, twining himself even further with Dean's soul at the same time that he closed the physical distance between them.
This kiss conveyed all that they couldn't say and yet it paled in comparison to the touch of their true selves, Grace to soul. Castiel easily lost himself in that embrace, not caring if the boundaries between them were to blur as he could think of nothing better than to truly merge with his beloved. He had no idea how much time had passed before they finally separated but he found that he'd been supplying his hunter with enough air to survive so that they'd not needed to break their kiss. The sky was still dark, though, so he assumed that it couldn't have been more than a few hours at most.
"Thanks, Cas," Dean murmured completely unnecessarily, but Castiel knew that it made his human happy to do so, therefore he didn't comment.
Whether by fate or chance, his bond mate picked up his own ring first and Castiel watched as Dean rotated it so that he could read the words engraved on the outside of it.
Dean & Castiel. Forever. Beloved.
Separating each part was the Enochian sigil that combined love, protection and faithfulness. On the inside Castiel had gotten the date of their bonding engraved, also in Enochian, as a tribute to the human traditions that often accompanied the exchange of wedding rings. He pulled his human closer as he felt the trembling of his soul and realized just how open and vulnerable Dean was at this moment. He savored the gift of it and knew that there was no one around who could harm his hunter or take advantage of this rare occurrence, but it was the very rarity of the act itself which made him so protective of it. That and the knowledge that Dean did it only because his hunter trusted him implicitly and knew himself to be perfectly safe here and now in this moment with him.
Then his bond mate put down the first ring and picked up Castiel's own, slowly rotating it in his fingers to read the engraving.
Dean & Castiel. Forever. Cas.
"Cas?" Dean questioned softly, looking back up at him in confusion.
"It may have been a simple moniker for you in the beginning, but it was the first time that anyone called me by anything other than my real name. Well, aside from demons and they don't count," Castiel replied, relieved to see the tiny flicker of doubt vanish at his joke, he was clearly getting better at that skill. "To me it symbolizes everything that has happened to us and what you mean to me. And no matter how many other people use the nickname, it will always belong to you."
Something odd flickered across the bond which Castiel couldn't identify, but from the way his hunter's soul reacted, he knew how profound it was. How vulnerable it made his bond mate in a way. Then Dean was taking his left hand and all other thoughts fled as he focused his attention completely on his human, not wanting to miss a moment of this.
"We both know that words aren't my thing," Dean began. "So I'm not even going to try and give some big speech about this and us since the bond tells you everything you need to know anyway. Instead I just wanna say thanks, Cas, for this and everything. I love you."
Simple as they were, those words combined with the sheer depth of Dean's feelings rendered Castiel himself speechless once more as his bond mate took the little gold band and carefully slid it into its rightful place on his finger. He just looked at it for a moment, marveling at the fact that he now had a wedding band of his own and still distantly surprised at how much some sculpted precious metal could mean to him, before he remembered that it was now his turn. Gently he took the other ring from Dean and looked up at his hunter's face as he took hold of Dean's left hand.
"Like you, words have not always been my best allies- especially not down here on Earth- so I shall stick with just the ones that I chose before. Forever, Beloved. Whether together or separately, they convey everything that you are to me and always will be," Castiel declared softly. "I hope that these rings will symbolize that to you and everyone else."
As always, Castiel then did what he knew to be best and followed his bond mate's lead, pushing the wedding band onto Dean's finger. He took a moment to just savor the sight before his human reached out and took his hand, entwining their fingers and leaning close. Not wanting to relinquish the connection, he wrapped Dean in his arms and wings before leaning back onto the slope of the sand dune behind him, smiling gently at his bond mate's halfhearted protest of "Sand's gonna get everywhere." Dean wouldn't be who he was without at least some attempt at deflection of what his hunter would once have viewed as the mother of all chick flick moments.
No, there were some things which Castiel never wanted to see changed about his beloved and Dean's spitfire nature was most definitely one of them. It was simply far too adorable. Not that he'd ever tell his bond mate that.
A.N.: Yeah, I admit it, I'm bouncing on my sugar high from this scene just as surely as Dean was in the middle of the chapter. Sorry about the unusually long delay, but I got waylaid by a certain archangel in my Gabriel Big Bang fic. Two guesses who that might be and the first doesn't count :)
Chapter 181
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,132
Summary: Castiel collects the wedding rings he ordered and shows them to his bond mate.
PRESENT
Castiel felt a strange and mostly foreign sense of exhilaration when he entered Rajendro's Jewelers once more. Today was the day that they'd said that the wedding rings would be ready and he couldn't wait to see them. It was almost as bad as when he'd been closing in on the location of the perfect Andaluzyian crystal in order to complete the bonding. The knowledge of how much this meant to his bond mate had infected him with more nervousness and exhilaration than he'd thought possible considering these wedding bands wouldn't actually affect their bond itself. Still, they meant a lot to Dean and so therefore they meant a lot to him.
In addition to that original sentiment, Castiel had also come to find himself liking the idea more and more in his own right. He'd been paying more attention to human rings now and started spotting wedding bands on the hands of the majority of adults. He'd also seen how those without them were approached more often in bars and the knowledge that giving Dean such a ring would keep others from thinking his bond mate available thrilled him. He was well aware of how beautiful his hunter was and saw how people looked at Dean. While he would never prevent his bond mate from interacting with people, he did want them to know that his human was unavailable. The thought of visibly wearing Dean's claim had also become as much of an attraction to him as the thought of his bond mate wearing his. Though he didn't garner as much attention as his hunter, he did attract some in his own right and this would help him avoid that.
"Ah, hello Mr. Singer," Pradeep greeted when Castiel stepped into the store.
The greeting confused Castiel for a moment before he recollected that the check which he'd used to pay for the wedding bands and customization had been in Bobby's name and contained his friend's signature.
"Hello, Pradeep," Castiel replied. "Are the wedding rings ready?"
"Yes, Sir, I have them right here."
Castiel felt another flare of excitement and anticipation as he stepped forwards up to the counter. Pradeep had just pulled out a small black velvet bag with a knotted drawstring. As he reached for the bag, he found that his hands were shaking slightly. He managed to undo the knots and spilled the two rings into his palm. His first impression was that they looked as traditional as he'd wanted them to which pleased him greatly. Then he saw the writing and he felt his vessel's breath catch in his throat.
Enochian had always seemed an incredibly elegant script to Castiel and Rajendro's Jewelers specialist had done a phenomenal job of copying his writing. It was elegant and discrete, but the engraving did catch the light and so would be seen without being gaudy or detracting from the main wedding band itself. He knew that to most people it would seem to be nothing more than a series of fanciful loops and swirls, but his bond mate and siblings would know what it really was and that was precisely how he wanted it to be.
"Are they satisfactory, Mr. Singer?" Pradeep inquired.
"They're perfect," Castiel replied, tearing his gaze away. "Thank you."
"Would you like them wrapped in a box?"
"No, this bag is perfect."
Carefully, Castiel returned the two rings to the bag and tied a knot in it once more to ensure that he didn't lose them. Remembering his audience, he put the bag into the inner pocket of his coat alongside his fake FBI identification and the driver's license that Dean had made for him.
"Is there anything else that you desire, Mr. Singer?" Pradeep asked.
"No, not at this time, thank you."
With that Castiel exited the store, his wings shifting restlessly as he resisted the temptation to just take to flight then and there. The nervous excitement was foreign to him and he had a hard enough time maintaining his outer calm as far as his vessel was concerned, doing the same for his wings was simply impossible. As soon as he was out of sight of all nearby humans, he took to flight, heading straight for his bond mate.
"Damnit, Dean!" Sam exclaimed just as Castiel landed.
He had done so as close to his hunter as he could without startling Dean, so when Castiel saw something flying through the air towards them, he reacted instinctively. With a thought and a twist of his Grace, he sent it flying back towards its source where it hit a startled Sam full in the face and knocked him off his chair. Besides him his hunter blinked and looked at him before roaring with laughter. From the beautiful way that his bond mate's soul sparked and shone, he could tell that Dean was in a spectacularly good mood and he smiled, knowing that he was about to make it even better.
"Cas!" Sam complained.
"Sorry, Sam," Castiel apologized, having since realized that the object was merely a pillow. "I saw something coming at myself and Dean and reacted protectively on instinct."
"You were awesome, Cas!" Dean proclaimed, all but bouncing around him.
"If you knock one more book to the ground, ya idjit, your angel will really need to protect you from the rock salt I'll try to fill your ass with!" Bobby threatened.
"He's been a bit giddy," Gwen explained at Castiel's puzzled look. "You know, just a little."
"More like he's on a sugar high from Hell," Sam muttered. "God only knows what he ate."
"I told you, Sammy, I haven't had anything," Dean replied happily.
The use of 'Sammy' made Castiel frown as he had noticed that his bond mate had not used that nickname often (or at least not while in his presence) for his brother since their last big confrontation after the first part of the ritual. Now that he looked again, his human was in a really unusual and almost manic good mood and some of his own vanished as he wondered if something was wrong.
"I'm just in a good mood, what's wrong with that?" Dean questioned. "Besides, I'm not the only one, Cas is hyper as well."
The disbelieving looks directed his way told Castiel that he'd been mostly successful in keeping his vessel under control, but he couldn't hide his mood from his bond mate. Not only could Dean see his wings, but his hunter would also be able to feel his good mo-
Oh.
"My apologies," Castiel told the others as he pulled Dean close with his errant wings, knowing the contact with his bond mate would calm them as well as Dean. "I believe that this may be my fault."
"Eh?" Bobby inquired.
"Our bond is transmitting my own feelings of extreme elation to Dean, thereby affecting his mood."
"It can do that?" Gwen questioned, fascinated.
"The bond allows us to be aware of each other's feelings and moods, so if Dean were already in a good mood, mine would have served to enhance it."
"Giving him the equivalent of a sugar high, great," Sam concluded. "Would you mind taking the energizer bunny somewhere else before he drives us all mad?"
"You're the energizer bunny," Dean retorted. "And just for the record, this bond feedback is awesome!"
"I think anything would be awesome for you just now, Dean," Gwen laughed.
Castiel found himself unable not to laugh when his bond mate stuck his tongue out in reply. "Come on, Barney, let's go before they kill you."
"He-" Dean's protest was cut off as he took to flight. "-y! Dude, I'm not Barney. That's not even funny."
"Your definition of Barney was an overactive, supernaturally happy nuisance."
"Bite me, Cas."
His bond mate's dramatic turn and intended exit was ruined when Dean caught sight of their surroundings. Castiel had flown them out to the middle of the Sahara as his bond mate had a love for dark open skies where his hunter could see the stars. That right now, completely unimpeded by any light pollution whatsoever was effective to render Dean speechless. With a smile he stepped forwards, wrapped his arms around his bond mate's waist and rested his chin on Dean's shoulder, glancing up at the thick band of the Milky Way. The story behind its name intrigued him and made him marvel at humanity's creativity.
"Cas?"
"Yes, Beloved?"
"Do I want to know where in the world we are?"
"The Sahara."
"Ah, of course, the Sahara, now why didn't I think of that?"
"Behave," Castiel laughed, squeezing lightly.
Dean barked a laugh before turning in his grip and shoving him lightly in the chest. Castiel obliged his bond mate and released him, stepping back. When the action was repeated he did the same until he was at the base of a large sand dune and there he went down at his hunter's urging, his human following him down to straddle his thighs.
"Hey, Cas," Dean whispered before kissing him.
Castiel moaned his approval and brought his hands up to frame his bond mate's face. The energetic excitement from before was gone now, replaced instead with love and tenderness. After a few kisses, Dean pulled back and he reluctantly allowed him to do so.
"So, you were in a good mood earlier," Dean said.
"Mm, I have good reason to be," Castiel replied.
"Yeah? Well I've got something that will make your day even better."
"Really? I have something for you as well."
"For me?" Dean questioned, perking up even more.
"You first," Castiel smiled, curious as to what his bond mate had gotten him.
With a slight shift to be able to reach his back pocket, Dean pulled out a plastic card and handed it to him. Recognizing it as a driver's license, Castiel was about to ask why he was getting another one when he caught sight of the name on it.
Castiel Winchester.
"Given what the Vatican did with my FBI file, I realized that it wouldn't be an issue anymore for you to have my name," Dean explained. "So what do you say, Mr. Winchester?"
"I love it, thank you, Dean."
"Just remember to use the old one if you need one because you're in trouble for something, okay?"
"Of course," Castiel promised, kissing his hunter.
Normally Castiel would have been more than happy to continue just kissing his human like this for a while, but now was hardly a normal time. Besides, in addition to his own excitement which he now realized that his bond mate was picking up on and sharing, Dean was also worked up with anticipation for his present. He made a mental note to pick his hunter up something more often that wasn't food or drink. Though he knew that his human enjoyed those greatly, it was clear that Dean treasured other little presents as well and it was such a simple way to please his bond mate.
This time it was Castiel who pulled back, but only far enough so that they could rest their foreheads together and he didn't draw his gaze from Dean's eyes. They just sat like that for a moment, his hunter's arms settling around his shoulders and he similarly bracketed his human with his wings, cutting them off from the outside world. When he finally moved again, it was to reach into his inner coat pocket and pull out the little black velvet bag.
"Jewelry?" Dean asked, bemused though his bond mate's eyes flickered to the bracelet that his hunter constantly wore and which was the last piece of jewelry that he'd obtained for Dean.
"It was brought to my attention that I had been remiss in not considering all the rituals of human marriage and that there was something which you would desire," Castiel replied, watching his human's eyes go wide even as Dean's fingers froze in untying the knot.
"Cas?"
"Here, let me, Beloved."
With that, Castiel took the bag back and finished undoing the knot, opening the bag. He then took one of Dean's hands and spilled the two wedding bands into it. His bond mate's breath hitched as Dean caught sight of them. For a moment nothing happened and the silence of the desert surrounded them before it was broken by a shaky exhale as Dean reached up with his other hand and touched the two rings. The veritable maelstrom of emotions that suddenly swirled to life within his human and spilled out over their bond was more than he could follow, but he could grasp enough of it to know that even Bobby couldn't have realized how much this meant to his beloved.
More than enough to do the one thing which Castiel had once believed to be truly impossible; namely rending Dean utterly speechless.
Words were completely unnecessary though with their bond and his hunter then strengthened that existing connection by looking him straight in the eye. Castiel had always known that he could easily get lost in those eyes, but now it was even more true than ever before. All of Dean's normal defenses were gone and he could see everything that his bond mate felt shining in their depths. Finding that words had left him as well, he reached back across their bond with his Grace, twining himself even further with Dean's soul at the same time that he closed the physical distance between them.
This kiss conveyed all that they couldn't say and yet it paled in comparison to the touch of their true selves, Grace to soul. Castiel easily lost himself in that embrace, not caring if the boundaries between them were to blur as he could think of nothing better than to truly merge with his beloved. He had no idea how much time had passed before they finally separated but he found that he'd been supplying his hunter with enough air to survive so that they'd not needed to break their kiss. The sky was still dark, though, so he assumed that it couldn't have been more than a few hours at most.
"Thanks, Cas," Dean murmured completely unnecessarily, but Castiel knew that it made his human happy to do so, therefore he didn't comment.
Whether by fate or chance, his bond mate picked up his own ring first and Castiel watched as Dean rotated it so that he could read the words engraved on the outside of it.
Dean & Castiel. Forever. Beloved.
Separating each part was the Enochian sigil that combined love, protection and faithfulness. On the inside Castiel had gotten the date of their bonding engraved, also in Enochian, as a tribute to the human traditions that often accompanied the exchange of wedding rings. He pulled his human closer as he felt the trembling of his soul and realized just how open and vulnerable Dean was at this moment. He savored the gift of it and knew that there was no one around who could harm his hunter or take advantage of this rare occurrence, but it was the very rarity of the act itself which made him so protective of it. That and the knowledge that Dean did it only because his hunter trusted him implicitly and knew himself to be perfectly safe here and now in this moment with him.
Then his bond mate put down the first ring and picked up Castiel's own, slowly rotating it in his fingers to read the engraving.
Dean & Castiel. Forever. Cas.
"Cas?" Dean questioned softly, looking back up at him in confusion.
"It may have been a simple moniker for you in the beginning, but it was the first time that anyone called me by anything other than my real name. Well, aside from demons and they don't count," Castiel replied, relieved to see the tiny flicker of doubt vanish at his joke, he was clearly getting better at that skill. "To me it symbolizes everything that has happened to us and what you mean to me. And no matter how many other people use the nickname, it will always belong to you."
Something odd flickered across the bond which Castiel couldn't identify, but from the way his hunter's soul reacted, he knew how profound it was. How vulnerable it made his bond mate in a way. Then Dean was taking his left hand and all other thoughts fled as he focused his attention completely on his human, not wanting to miss a moment of this.
"We both know that words aren't my thing," Dean began. "So I'm not even going to try and give some big speech about this and us since the bond tells you everything you need to know anyway. Instead I just wanna say thanks, Cas, for this and everything. I love you."
Simple as they were, those words combined with the sheer depth of Dean's feelings rendered Castiel himself speechless once more as his bond mate took the little gold band and carefully slid it into its rightful place on his finger. He just looked at it for a moment, marveling at the fact that he now had a wedding band of his own and still distantly surprised at how much some sculpted precious metal could mean to him, before he remembered that it was now his turn. Gently he took the other ring from Dean and looked up at his hunter's face as he took hold of Dean's left hand.
"Like you, words have not always been my best allies- especially not down here on Earth- so I shall stick with just the ones that I chose before. Forever, Beloved. Whether together or separately, they convey everything that you are to me and always will be," Castiel declared softly. "I hope that these rings will symbolize that to you and everyone else."
As always, Castiel then did what he knew to be best and followed his bond mate's lead, pushing the wedding band onto Dean's finger. He took a moment to just savor the sight before his human reached out and took his hand, entwining their fingers and leaning close. Not wanting to relinquish the connection, he wrapped Dean in his arms and wings before leaning back onto the slope of the sand dune behind him, smiling gently at his bond mate's halfhearted protest of "Sand's gonna get everywhere." Dean wouldn't be who he was without at least some attempt at deflection of what his hunter would once have viewed as the mother of all chick flick moments.
No, there were some things which Castiel never wanted to see changed about his beloved and Dean's spitfire nature was most definitely one of them. It was simply far too adorable. Not that he'd ever tell his bond mate that.
A.N.: Yeah, I admit it, I'm bouncing on my sugar high from this scene just as surely as Dean was in the middle of the chapter. Sorry about the unusually long delay, but I got waylaid by a certain archangel in my Gabriel Big Bang fic. Two guesses who that might be and the first doesn't count :)
Chapter 181