Since you're gone my empty arms have nothing left to hold

This is stiiiiiill crack.

Title: That's How You Know He's Your Love 3/3
Pairings/Characters: eventual Dean/Castiel and Sam/Anna (also Sam/Castiel and Dean/Anna); Lucifer, Crowley, Gabriel (sort of), Ben, most of the characters appear.
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 10000 ca this part, around 30000 overall.
Disclaimer: Supernatural is most definitely not mine, and Enchanted is Disney's. The only thing I provide is the crack.
Warnings: sort of voluntary mocking purple prose in the fairytale-ish bits, Gabriel is the chipmunk (yes, that's a warning in itself), possible fluff overload (but you've seen the source material, right?), crack-ish stuff, hell, this is a fusion with a goddamn Disney movie. This is definitely not to be taken (too) seriously.
Summary: Enchanted fusion wherein Castiel falls from Heaven into New York City because of evil king Lucifer, Dean is the cynical single father divorce attorney whose life changes when they meet, Sam is a prince who is definitely intent on finding his beloved who was stolen from him, and Gabriel, even if he's a chipmunk, is definitely the sanest of the bunch.
A/N: last part of wandersfound's birthday present, wherein our story finally comes to an end. Still cutting out the cute animals and still reiterating the not taking too seriously advice. Also, you probably don't care but it was scary how much I was into writing this part in particular so uh, I hope you all enjoy it? ;) Also features a suprise!pairing which I put just because I could. Part I, Part II.

“Crowley. Seriously. Do you think poisoned apples grow on trees? And is killing someone that complicated?” Lucifer asked from the clear vodka in Crowley’s glass; he sounded merely annoyed, but his eyes? They told that he was royally angry.

“Your majesty…”

“I didn’t send you there to save him! Oh, whatever. Sorry, you do know that I regret doing this, but I can’t chance you blowing the last try, too. I will be coming to… New York shortly. You’re out, Crowley. And that’s definitive.”

Lucifer hissed the last word, but as he did, all the glass in the restaurant literally trembled and an entire mirror broke up in pieces. Crowley wondered what he did wrong except sauntering vaguely downwards when he applied to serve Lucifer instead of the next king in Limbo.

And then the damned chipmunk was in front of him because the bottle he was in had broken, too.

Oh well, he could at least take care of it.

--

As he got back into his office, the last thing Dean had expected to find was Jo saying that after all Isaac and Tamara weren’t divorcing anymore.

“Are you sure?” he asked when he found them holding each other in front of Dean’s desk. “Not that it’s a problem, of course, but what made you change idea?”

Isaac turned towards Tamara shooting her a glance that was pure adoration. “When she talked with that man last day… he said that her eyes shone. And that was what I thought the first time I saw her. And it got me thinking and, well, why throw away everything just for a few bumps along the road?”

She nodded vigorously and snuggled closer into his side.

“But, you had problems…”

“Well,” she answered, “everybody has, but you get on and try to face them instead of going the easy way all the time. Right?” she asked, and he gave her a peck on the lips, and Dean suddenly realized that there was a hole inside of him and that Anna wasn’t going to fill it up. Ever.

Then again. Happy endings? They didn’t exist. Not for him. Not ever. He would settle for good.

--

Meanwhile, Castiel was thinking that he should have asked Dean more about the whole dating business; because while explaining the concept to Sam hadn’t been difficult, and Sam had seemed eager to go, Castiel couldn’t come up with more than… well, a walk in Central park, a walk on a very long and nice bridge, and buying kebab.

At least, Sam had found the kebab delicious, too; but when he slowly brought his arm around Castiel’s waist asking whether they should go back… Castiel realized he didn’t really want to go back now. Which was nonsense because until ten hours ago he didn’t want anything more than being back in Heaven in order to finally marry and live his (at this point very much earned) happily ever after ending; but now, something seemed to miss, to lack, and even if Sam was still the same and Castiel still loved him with every inch of his being…

Something was missing.

And then he thought about the ball.

Surely Sam would want to go there, right? And maybe another six hours here would make the trick and make him realize which was the problem. And maybe they’d just settle everything. And… yes, he would ask Sam to go to that ball, and as he was pretty sure of, Sam was just as nice as ever and said of course, but could they go back to Heaven then? Castiel said that of course they would, and then realized that he couldn’t go to a proper ball wearing a suit made of curtains, even if it was indeed comfortable.

Which was why he gave Sam an appointment and an address after they bought tickets in that stand in Central Park with what was left of the money Dean had given him, and then ran for Broadway 116th. If he was lucky, Dean wouldn’t be home, but someone else would be. And Dean hadn’t really realized that it didn’t take much to pick his door’s lock.

Ben was in his room, messing around with some cds in a small bookshelf next to his bed; Castiel noticed another ACDC written on the cover of the one Ben was currently holding in his hand, and then Ben realized that Castiel was standing at the entrance of the room.

“Cas!” he shouted running in his direction, and he seemed fairly happy to see him.

“Hello, Ben,” he answered smiling as he got down on his knee.

“Uh, any particular reason why you’re back?” Ben asked, and why did he seem hopeful or something? Well, Castiel would have time to ask later.

“See, I… we… I will be at the ball your father and Anna will be tonight, too.”

Why did Ben suddenly look very smug?

“And, well, I really would not wish to go with a suit made of curtains, but I don’t know what I should do or wear, and I doubt that fairy godmothers…”

Ben shook his head wistfully. “Dude, you don’t need a fairy godmother. I know what you need,” he said before running towards a drawer and taking out a small piece of plastic.

“See, dad gave this to me only for emergencies. This is definitely one.”

Castiel did really like the glint in Ben’s eyes, to a degree. “Alright. So, what do you reckon we should do?”

“Oh, just let me do the work here.”

As they walked along a road, passing a lot of extremely elegant shops which Ben dismissed without even a look, he was very careful in trying to descern what Castiel needed, in his very humble opinion.

“So, you totally need to get your hair cut. Not much, just a little. Your’s a bit too long. It’s kinda chick-flick. But that’s for last. Then, you said the ball my dad’s going to, right?”

“Yes, I believe it requires certain specific clothes…”

“Ticket?”

Castiel nodded and handed Ben the ticket; he turned it on its back and read aloud. “For a more spicy evening, this year’s theme will be the supernatural, but if you wish to come fitting the usual theme it will be accepted. Really,” he said, then snorted before handing it back to Castiel. “That’s fine. So let’s see, supernatural, maybe… since, you remember how we met, don’t…”

“Oh. Yes. But… I would not wish to go as an angel. I… not really.”

“Not an angel?” Ben looked perplexed, like that was the only option, but then his eyes lit up. “Oh, I totally know it. You really ain’t like him much, but that’d look just so cool on you.”

“I don’t look like who?”

“Dude. You’re so going as John Constantine. You so are.”

Castiel did not understand much about this Constantine fellow if not that he was the protagonist of a supernatural comic book which Dean enjoyed a lot and Ben read without letting Dean know because Dean thought it wasn’t exactly suited for eight year olds, that he wore a trench coat and that he was some kind of street detective battling between good and evil, but he had to say that the wardrobe Ben had described him had a certain appeal. And so, after a good couple of hours spent between shops which were both of the pricey kind and the extremely cheap kind, Castiel was equipped with a copy of Hellblazer from which he should copy the appearance, a new suit made of a pretty soft and good material, a new silk white shirt, new shoes and a new coat; and then Ben insisted for the hair cut. So they ended up at a barber’s, along with all the bags of their purchases, and after Ben discussed the cut (Castiel was going to trust him on that), they sat waiting for Castiel’s turn on a large sofa.

“Man, that was cool.”

“Yes, I liked it.”

“I guess that’s something like it should be when your brother brings you buying stuff or something, right?”

“I… I do not know. I… I was an only child and my mother died when I was young.”

“Your dad?”

“I never knew him. I wish I did, but… I haven’t had a bad life. And I’m sure that it will get better once I get back. Now that I think about it, Sam has a brother. I have met him for just a short while, but he seemed like a nice person.”

“Well, seems like you’ll get a brother and I’ll get a stepmother.”

Castiel didn’t really like how cynical Ben sounded, even if he was just eight years old.

“Stepmothers aren’t necessarily bad people. And Anna seems a sweet lady.”

“Yeah, but… he doesn’t love her. My dad. Not really, I mean.”

“He says that… it isn’t strictly necessary.”

Ben snorted again. “Yeah, he always says that. But I remember how it was with my mom and… that wasn’t really nothin’ like Anna. I mean, she’s okay, but he, my dad I mean, I don’t think he needs okay. He just, he’s always kinda lonely and I know he keeps on doing things he doesn’t want.”

Castiel nodded because well, he could only agree with Ben. That was one of the few things he was sure, regarding Dean Winchester.

“You wish he would do something for himself, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but he just won’t. That isn’t in him, I think.”

“No, it isn’t,” Castiel agreed, and then someone called him to have his hair cut.

He couldn’t know about what was currently happening at the site of the sewer drain.

--

The cover of the sewer drain suddenly leaped into the sky with a loud bang; enough to make passer-bys stop and look at what was going on. Most people thought about someone shooting a movie, because otherwise why would slightly red smoke surface out of a sewer? Ten seconds later, a man slowly emerged from the round hole, not like he was hoisting himself up but like he was levitating; and he was a good looking young man, dressed in jeans and a flannel, with short blond hair, intense blue eyes and a downright devilish smile. He took a look around, satisfied with not having gathered much attention, and then sensed Crowley near as they had previously agreed.

Damn, doing things by yourself always ends up to be the smart method.

--

“And Mr. C. is on the line for us! Mr. C. has been having troubles with his beloved one who is acting distant; would you mind telling us what exactly?” a kind female voice said from the radio in the taxi Crowley was pretending to drive; he sighed into his mobile.

“Well, I… I always treated the person I love like a ki... queen, putting her before anything else, but lately he… she just seems so distant, it’s like I don’t even know her anymore!”

Because well, he knew that Lucifer had a tendency towards being kind of evil, but not to the point of killing someone like that.

“I think that you should set her aside and calmly try to see how she really feels about you,” the radio speaker calmly said, and Crowley nodded; exactly then, someone knocked on the window of the passenger seat before opening the door.

A second later, Lucifer was sitting next to him.

“Hello, worthless. Missed me? Come on. They’re at the Woolworth Building.”

Well. If that didn’t tell something…

Meanwhile, Gabriel squealed from the plastic ball in the backseat in which Crowley had trapped him.

He was not pleased at all.

--

Dean thought that, sincerely, that evening’s theme sucked ass, but at least it was easy to find clothes for; supernatural, seriously, but he still had an old leather jacket which belonged to his dad and a lot of the flannels he used to wear some six years ago when he still wasn’t obliged to wear suits only. Along with some leather boots of his dad’s, too, and a fake gun, he could say he was someone who hunted supernatural creatures; there was a midnight show on some lame channel where supernatural hunters went around dressed like that, so it wasn’t really hard. Anna had come as an angel and well, wasn’t that appropriate? She was all dressed in white, soft silk draping over her slender body and fitting like a glove. With her pale skin and long, red hair falling over her shoulders, along with small, fake wings on her back, she positively seemed to glow. She was so beautiful, and everything he might have needed in another life. They made a strange couple as they danced, as she was so pretty and ethereal and graceful, while he wore torn jeans, used up flannels and a battered jacket; but hey, there were people dressed as devils with horns dancing with women dressed as Death from the damned Sandman comic books. They hardly were the most noticeable.

And then as one lame-ish waltz ended, he raised his eyes and saw that two other people were at the top of the stairs leading to the ballroom; one was Sam, which hadn’t exactly dressed up, but he could pass for some weird vampire or something and anyway, for any normal person it’d have seemed a costume, not to mention that you were allowed to wear 19th century clothing anyway. And the other was Castiel, who was dressed like fucking John Constantine (aka Dean’s favorite comic book character ever, and maybe it was just a coincidence); he had a dark blue suit, a silk white shirt and a tan trench coat which he removed and passed to Sam, who gave it to whoever was in charge of the wardrobe. His eyes suddenly met Castiel’s and there was a warm look there, and a soft smile, and Dean found himself half-smiling back, and thankfully it was gone before Anna noticed them both and Dean looking at them.

“Oh. What is your friend doing here?” she asked, and Dean shook his head.

“The hell if I know,” he answered as they came closer to the stairs.

“I see that you’re here too,” Dean said when they were face to face.

“You said you couldn’t dance,” Castiel answered deadpan.

“I said I didn’t. I never said I couldn’t. Oh, anyway… we should, uh, introduce?”

“Oh. Yes.” Castiel looked at Anna, then at Sam. “He is Sam. He’s my… my… prince,” he finally settled on.

“And this is Anna. She’s my…” Dean started, realizing he didn’t know how to finish. Girlfriend? They were a bit past that stage. Fiancé? He still hadn’t proposed…

“We’re together,” Anna finished gracefully for him, turning to smile at Sam, who in turn very gallantly took her hand and brought it to his lips without kissing it.

“And this beautiful creature,” Sam said then, “is Castiel. My true love, and the only desire of my heart,” he finished with such conviction that Dean could only understand why Castiel would be with him. After all, Sam was just everything someone could wish for. Why would…

“Oh,” Anna said then, staring at Sam. “Wow. The way you said that. Just, so straightforward. Not a hint of irony. That’s… that’s very romantic,” she ended.

“Well, thank you,” Sam said then, always without a single hint of irony.

And then the moment was broken by someone who went on the stage where the small orchestra was playing.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is that time of the night! Now, I would like all you gentlemen to invite a lady which you did not accompany this evening, to dance… a sort of twist on the usual waltz. Today is a special evening, after all.”

And then Sam turned towards Anna, giving her an extremely sweet smile and holding out his hand.

“May I have the pleasure?” he asked, and Anna blushed and looked at Dean who was maybe too quick to nod. Then she took Sam’s hand and they went.

And it left Dean with Castiel.

“So. That’s… me and you, huh? Shall… shall we?” Dean asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious and not really up for this. And then Castiel smiled that tiny smile at him and took his hand.

Dean held it, feeling it warm and fitting like a glove against his, and then opted for one of the corners of the room. He felt like it was going to be… more intimate maybe. He didn’t really know.

And then he realized that the song they were playing was definitely not a waltz. It was a version for strings of Led Zeppelin’s What Is And What Should Never Be and… well, if Dean’s last three minutes with Castiel had to be set to some kind of music, then if it was his favorite group he wasn’t going to complain, even if strings positively killed the song and the singer was nothing like good old Robert Plant.

--

Castiel didn’t know why Dean suddenly seemed way more at ease as the song started, but he just figured that he knew it himself; sincerely, it wasn’t the point.

And if I say to you tomorrow, take my hand, child, come with me
It's to a castle I will take you, where what's to be, they say will be

The point was that Dean’s body was just such a perfect fit against his, the right height and everything, and his hands held him with such care, like he was scared he was going to break if he was a little bit more forceful, and as they moved slowly, he couldn’t help feeling content. Content like he had never felt his whole life. He rested his head on Dean’s shoulder, one hand still held in Dean’s and the other on the opposite shoulder. And then he felt himself being brought closer and his eyes met Dean’s for the second real time that evening.

Catch the wind, see us spin, sail away, leave today, way up high in the sky
But the wind won't blow, you really shouldn't go, it only goes to show
That you will be mine, by takin' our time

And it was all in that look. That was when Castiel understood it. Dean was looking at him like he wasn’t really deserving to be there and like the only thing he wanted to do was closing the distance between them and kiss him; and all Castiel wanted was for Dean to kiss him and tell him that of course he deserved anything good that might come his way, and in that moment they both knew that they had the next three minutes or so and then no more (they would never have that chocolate in Central Park Dean told him about, he fleetingly thought); he nodded shortly and it was like flipping a switch and light flooding a previously dark room. Dean started moving more confidently, still not moving from their corner but faster, surer, and Castiel could only follow and let himself being led and spun around once in a while.

And if you say to me tomorrow, oh what fun it all would be
Then what's to stop us, pretty baby, but what is and what should never be

And it felt just perfect. The way Dean was careful but not reluctant, how they fit against each other, how great it felt to rest his head on Dean’s shoulder for a second before taking his hand again and moving away and then being brought back to the circle of Dean’s arms. He wished he could tell Dean that he should really dance, it made no sense that he wouldn’t, but he didn’t want to speak because speaking would have meant losing time.

So if you wake up with the sunrise, and all your dreams are still as new…

“And happiness is what you need so bad, girl, the answer lies with you…” he suddenly heard Dean singing softly without probably even realizing it, and it was like a stab to his heart; and well, Dean might not sing but he didn’t have a bad voice, at all, and he wished he could say it but a lump formed in his throat and so he just gripped Dean’s waist tighter and kept on dancing. He’d have done it until his feet hurt, but then everyone swapped partners and he hoped his face didn’t betray his emotions as his hand left Dean’s and grabbed Sam’s and they headed for the stairs.

He didn’t dare looking behind as he felt his heart shatter.

Maybe Dean was right. And maybe there were no happy endings for anyone, after all.

“I’ll get your coat,” Sam said, and Castiel smiled at him as he nodded, hoping that he didn’t realize that something was wrong; and then as he looked down from the rail at Dean and Anna dancing perfectly timed but with a lot less passion than what had been between him and Dean he realized how epically wrong this all was. He didn’t wish for Sam something like this because he still was nice, great, beautiful and deserving of someone who could love him fully and without reservation, and Castiel…

Castiel just wasn’t that person anymore, he realized, and he was about to panic, he really was, when…

“Oh my, I really made a mess, didn’t I?”

He turned and right, next to him there stood Sam’s stepbrother. Or…

“You sent me here!” Castiel hissed.

“Oh, no, no! I’m really glad to see you, and really, I should have told you that you shouldn’t have looked too much over the border of the well. It was all my fault and now I see that… that things aren’t like before, are they?” Lucifer asked, with a soft and compassionate voice, and Castiel could only nod.

“Oh my, what did I do. This would hijack everything and you would disappoint pretty much everyone if Sam or your friend’s girl ever found out, unless… I might have a remedy for you.”

“You might…?”

Lucifer smiled sympathetically and brought up a hand holding a red, shiny apple.

“A bite of this, and you’ll forget everything that happened here. No more pain, no more real world, no more Dean. What about it?”

Castiel took the apple with a trembling hand; forgetting Dean seemed such a horrible thing, it meant forgetting true love, it meant forgetting the best forty eight hours of his life, but… Lucifer was right. He had duties and he couldn’t just disappoint everyone like this. He couldn’t. He raised the apple to his lips and took a bite.

Everything went black.

--

The apple rolled down the stairs as Castiel’s knees gave out and he fell to the ground, pale as a ghost dead to the world; finally, Lucifer thought. He had always known he should have gone himself. He sighed, pulling Castiel over his shoulder and heading for the elevator. He just needed for midnight to strike and for Castiel to be in a place where no one was going to find him, and then the problem would have been dealt with. The elevator’s doors were almost closed as he let Castiel fall sitting into the corner; but then a sword placed in between and the doors opened again.

“Brother?” Sam asked, sword in hand, definitely not expecting him to be there. Figures.

“Sam!”

“What are you doing here? And…” Sam’s eyes trailed to the floor of the elevator.

Oops.

“Oh, yes,” Lucifer said, “he wasn’t feeling too well, but it’s definitely nothing, I thought I could help by bringing him out for fresh air… Sam!”

Damn, he thought as Sam pushed him out of the way and gathered that danger to his throne in his arms, someone should have taught Sam some respect.

“Someone help me, please!” Sam shouted as he moved Castiel out of the way.

“Oh, you’re overreacting, really…”

“Someone help!”

And Dean definitely heard him.

--

“Anna, call 911,” Dean said as he ran up the stairs taking two at a time, handing her his cellphone; in a second, he was at Sam’s side as he laid Castiel out on a sofa, and damn, why did he look so pale? He looked almost like he was dead. He wasn’t even breathing.

“What happened?” he asked to Sam, who just shrugged, evidently without answer.

“911?” Anna said into the phone, “yes, at the Woolworth Building. We have a man, he’s unconscious, but I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

“Oh, nothing,” the blond guy whom Dean gathered was Sam’s brother from what he had heard earlier, “he just fainted! He’ll be up in…”

“No, he didn’t,” someone else said, and Dean and Sam turned in the same direction at the same time; the direction was the other elevator and a man who was a foot and something shorter than Dean, wearing a very smart black suit and dangerously similar to the German guy of the park and the Italian waiter of the restaurant came forward, and at his tone Dean felt his heart stop.

“Crowley?” Sam asked, so he obviously knew him.

“Crowley, get back to the car now or…” Lucifer stared, but Crowley shook his head.

“No, I will bloody well not go back to the car. And I can’t stand this anymore. You poisoned him,” he said, and Dean’s blood went cold.

“I did not…” Lucifer started, obviously offended, but Sam stood up and raised a hand.

“Crowley, what did you just say?”

“He’s behind this, that’s what I just said. He was the one pushing him into the well and he poisoned him with that apple which fell down the stairs… with my help, I indeed regret to say.”

“He’s lying,” Lucifer hissed, looking thoroughly annoyed. “Anyway, why would I even bother? I mean, you know…”

“Silence!” Sam shouted, and Dean realized that he was starting to find a new appreciation for Castiel’s boyfriend. “You… you lying, murderous devil! Be sure that as soon as we get back to Heaven everyone will know about your treachery. And your days reigning? They-will-be-over. You bet on that.”

“Don’t you think that taking my crown would be a bit melodramatic?”

“I don’t really know what melodramatic means, but I’ll definitely see to it, Lucifer. We’re done,” he finished before kneeling down on the other side of the sofa where Castiel was lying. Dean raised his eyes and saw that Lucifer was smirking and some smoke was starting to come out of the elevator’s doors, and dammit that was so not good, but suddenly the Crowley person grabbed Sam’s discarded sword and pointed it at Lucifer’s throat. The smoke suddenly vanished.

“No. That’s not time for tricks anymore,” Crowley hissed.

“We need to help him,” Sam said, looking at Castiel who was still on the sofa with his eyes closed and hadn’t moved an inch, or even took a breath.

“What do we do?” Dean asked in Crowley’s direction.

“Nothing. He’s done for, I’m sorry to say. Or at least, if you two don’t find a way to wake him up before midnight, then he’s gone forever.”

Lucifer looked very, very pleased and Dean would have punched the bastard; he didn’t just because he figured that Sam would want to do it later. Family matters have to be solved in the family. Sam seemed at a loss and Dean was too and they just couldn’t let…

And then he got it. How could he have not thought about it sooner?

“Hey. Sam. Dude.”

“Yes?”

“True love’s kiss.”

“What?”

“True love’s kiss. The most powerful thing in the world, or so he told me once?”

Sam’s eyes lit up in joy as he nodded and said that he just didn’t know how he didn’t think about it sooner; Dean just shook his head and moved away, letting Sam kneel on the right side of the sofa. Lucifer was looking at him with something like hatred, but if it saved Cas? Dean didn’t care. He just wanted Cas to wake up and then ride into the sunset with Sam and have his happily ever after, and if he had a small role in helping him accomplish it… then he was going to be fine.

And then Sam leaned down and kissed Castiel chastely.

And nothing happened.

Sam raised an eyebrow and kissed him again, with a bit more force this time. Nothing. And nothing. And nothing. And Dean wanted to curse and break something because then he looked at the clock and it was just a minute to midnight and obviously it was not working and it was impossible, dammit! If this really was a fucking fairytale and not the real world (and how much he regretted that it was, right then?), it should have worked, dammit, and it was obvious that Cas and Sam were made for each other and…

“It seems like you aren’t going to save him now,” Lucifer said, sounding incredibly smug. And Dean was just about to go punching him after all, but then Sam turned and looked at Dean for one second, and then at Castiel, and then at Dean again.

“Unless…” Sam said, and kept on staring.

Dean looked back. And Sam fucking smiled at him with the face of someone who really can’t be jealous or angry or any possible nasty thing that someone can be when they realize that the person they love might not like them back and stood up.

“Oh, no,” Dean started. “No, no, no, no. You aren’t saying that. It can’t be me. It absolutely can’t be me. Don’t even…”

“Oh yes,” Sam said coming towards him, taking his arm and dragging him towards the couch, “after all it just makes sense that he wouldn’t want to leave, doesn’t it? Come on, he’s obviously…”

“It’s not possible, I…”

“Dean!” Anna said then, and he turned in her direction. “Kiss him. It’s fine,” she kept on, looking fairly resigned but okay with it, and Dean felt bad for her in that moment, he really did, but…

It was just thirty seconds until midnight, and he couldn’t just not do it if there was even a slight chance that it could be true.

He really didn’t think it was; someone as wonderful and unique and great and special as Cas couldn’t really have done something so horrible to deserve getting him for a soulmate or whatever crap it was, because sure as hell Dean was everything Castiel didn’t need and anyway good things did not happen to him, but still… still…

“Cas, don’t you dare leaving me now,” he whispered so low that probably he only heard it himself before bending his head down and closing the distance between them. He kissed Cas’ cold, unresponsive lips, and didn’t it feel wrong to do it like this, as the clock stroke midnight with the entire ballroom watching them and his girlfriend watching them and Cas’ prince watching them and he didn’t give a damn. He didn’t give a damn as long as that fucking fairytale device worked and that they weren’t too late. And that he wasn’t too late, because he was never going to forgive himself if that was the case.

For a single, dreadful moment nothing changed. Dean felt like crying, Sam looked devastated, Crowley looked guilty and Anna sympathetic, and then Cas took a breath and opened his eyes and came back to life right there in Dean’s arms and those two blue eyes were staring up at him again and he was alive and Dean felt like crying for completely different reasons, manly pride be damned, and…

“I knew it was you,” Cas said then, his smile not exactly tiny anymore, and his hand reached up to cup Dean’s cheek and that was it, he couldn’t just hold back; he brought Cas forward and crushed their lips together, not giving a single fucking damn, and when Cas threw his arms behind his neck and pulled him closer Dean did the same and like hell he was going to let go now; he didn’t see Sam’s relieved if not just sightly resigned smile, Anna’s shrug, Crowley’s relief and Lucifer’s scowl; he heard the rest of the room clapping and cheering, but not the two old ladies downstairs who sniffed saying that this was so much better that last year’s show.

Clearly, it couldn’t last.

Lucifer threw Crowley off him and Dean could only stand up and put Cas behind him on instinct as he heard a sound like crackling fire; suddenly Lucifer had a whole other aura. He still was a good looking man dressed in jeans and a flannel, but red smoke raised up around him and his smile was pure evil, not to mention that he could feel energy radiate from his body.

This so didn’t look good.

“You know what?” he asked, his voice grave and threatening, “all this talk of true love’s kiss made me sick. It’s nauseating. And it does bring out the worst in me. Also, when I go back I will need a story. What if some very evil villain showed up, killed everyone and I couldn’t save them, poor and defenseless? What do you say about it? And I’d say we could begin with that person who started it all.”

A branch of smoke moved towards Cas and well, no. Dean wasn’t going to allow that.

“Over my dead body,” he hissed, and he was absolutely convinced of it; but Lucifer merely shrugged and the smoke suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“Alright. I’m flexible,” Lucifer said and shrugged, and then a second later they weren’t in there anymore but on top of the fucking building and Dean couldn’t move and the only thing holding him up was the smoke.

Lucifer’s smile was still evil. And Dean had never fucking stepped on a plane in his whole life because flying made him want to throw up.

Well, didn’t this just beat it?

--

“No,” Castiel whispered as everyone else ran out of the room; Lucifer had torn out half of the ceiling after he disappeared, probably just for making a scene or something, but that was not going to mean anything. Everyone else could run, but he wasn’t going to let Dean, his true love, die like that. And if he wasn’t the hero of the story, well, he was going to be flexible, too. His eyes were determined as he shed his coat and jacket and tie; then he ran forward and grabbed Sam’s sword from the floor, where it had been discarded when Lucifer had pushed Crowley away.

He closed his hand around the hilt and ran out of the hole in the ceiling, hoisting himself up and out on the skyscraper’s roof; and yes, Dean was up there, with Lucifer holding him up by that lousy, tiny thread of smoke. And Dean looked like he couldn’t fucking move.

He took a breath and climbed up.

“Oh, what a twist!” Lucifer laughed, and Castiel could hear him all the way down. “So now it’s not the prince anymore? I guess this makes you the damsel in distress, Dean, doesn’t it?”

“You son of a bitch, don’t…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll kill you quickly. I don’t have a grudge with you, after all.”

And that was really making Castiel see red. Anger suited him well right now.

“Lucifer, I’m not going to let you take him!” Castiel shouted as he climbed higher, trying to dodge other branches of smoke coming his way and threatening to make him fall.

He was not going to.

--

Gabriel had really to be thankful for Crowley’s idiocy, or lovesickness, or whatever. Because he had left the damned car open when he went after Lucifer, and so Gabriel, being in a sphere, had managed to roll down from the backseat; he had to get out, damn, he had seen everything and Castiel was in serious danger, except that he couldn’t fucking get out and…

He rolled right in front of Sam’s feet. Crowley was standing next to him and another girl was on Sam’s other side, covering herself with Sam’s cloak; Sam knelt down and picked the sphere up, and as it started to rain, Gabriel cursed in his head because seriously, why did it always have to rain, and tried to freaking communicate with Sam again. Blasted world in which he couldn’t speak.

And then Sam started talking as Gabriel tried to make him get it with gestures even. “You wish to be finally released and help Castiel kill Lucifer?” he asked, and Gabriel nodded eagerly. Finally!

“You could have said it before,” Sam said as he opened the sphere, and Gabriel resisted the urge to bang his head against the plastic and opted to get out and up on the roof instead.

--

Castiel managed to climb higher, but as rain started to fall down and got him drenched again, he realized that he needed a plan; if he got too close Lucifer could let Dean fall down and he was in no position to help there, and if Lucifer managed to use that smoke of his to push him down as soon as he was near enough…

Suddenly he heard a very familiar squeal next to him.

“Gabriel?” he whispered and yes, there he was! Castiel could have screamed in joy but Gabriel just stared at him and gave him a couple of telegraphic instructions because he had a plan, apparently, and it was a good one, too; Castiel nodded and instead of climbing he set on moving to his right, closer to where Dean was being held up.

“So what, Castiel, are you giving up? This is not happily ever after, you know? Well, maybe for me it wi…”

He never finished the sentence because Gabriel launched at him from his right and scratched Lucifer right over his eyes, making him momentarily unable to see.

“What, my eyes…!” he screamed, but that had been enough of a distraction; the smoke disappeared and Dean fell down with a scream, but Castiel threw the sword as soon as he was at the right distance and it went through the cuff of Dean’s flannel, effectively pinning him to the steel bar behind him. Well, Sam had a good sword which could cut steel, too.

And then Gabriel slashed over Lucifer’s eyes again before running off on the other side of the roof; Lucifer found himself without balance and temporarily blind and it took a slight wrong move from him to fall down the building, under the still pouring rain. As a thunder roared, he disappeared in a huge flame before he even hit the ground.

Castiel didn’t have time to breathe in relief though; Dean screamed again and Castiel saw at once that the fabric was going to rip soon. Damn.

“Dean, hold on!”

Dean just barely nodded before gravity did the rest and the rest of the cuff’s cloth completely ripped; he managed to grab the steel bar he had been hanging from with one hand and then the other, but it was slippery and it was still raining and even if Gabriel had run along the bar and was trying to help him to hold on (hey, he was a fucking chipmunk), he really couldn’t do much for long; after twenty seconds, he just couldn’t anymore and all Castiel could do was runrunrun and as Dean fell down he took a last leap forwards which was enough to catch him in his arms and break his fall, but not to break their fall.

The impact sent them both tumbling down the roof, downdowndown, and Castiel just threw an arm around Dean’s shoulders and held on for dear life; at least, he thought, if he had to die at least he’d die in Dean’s arms. It could have been worse. He could have died because of that apple, for instance.

As they kept on tumbling down they both let out another scream until they saw the edge (and after the edge? A good three hundred feet of free fall) but Dean put his legs forward and as his heels met it they came to an abrupt stop. Castiel let out a breath of relief he hadn’t known he had been holding and could hear Dean do the same; and then he turned his head towards Dean on his right and held up his hand, cupping a wet cheek, the rain still pouring down and drenching them both. Oddly enough he was barely feeling it.

“Is… is this a habit of yours? Falling off buildings?” he asked, realizing he was breathless and happy and warm despite the freezing water.

“Damn, no. I suffer from fucking vertigo. I do that… only… only when you’re around to catch me,” Dean answered, raising a hand to Castiel’s neck, his thumb caressing its hollow slowly, his eyes literally shining as he shook his head like he couldn’t really believe he said it.

“Jesus. Cas, this is… I mean… are you sure that you wanna be stuck with me?”

Castiel just gave him a firm nod.

“But… I mean… I’m not anything like him. Sam, I mean… he’s… he’s the goddamn prince charming you’d deserve, not some guy from a weird place where happily ever after doesn’t exist and who hasn’t been able to hold on to two good things in his life at once.”

Castiel made a mental note to spend the rest of his days trying to teach Dean the value of something called self-esteem until he got it, and then he brought his head a bit closer.

“He might be the… goddamn prince charming, actually he is, but… it definitely seems like he isn’t my true love. I will have to deal,” he finished, and then his heart lost a couple of beats when Dean’s lips curled up in a smile that was pure joy and the hand behind his neck brought him forward and another one behind his waist actually brought him over Dean’s lap and then they were kissing, without anyone watching, without anything else going on, without Castiel himself being dead, and it was so perfect that for a second Castiel thought he might die of happiness or something. Dean’s lips were soft and and warm against his and his hands were still cradling him like he was made of fine porcelain, and Dean’s tongue was hot and wet inside his mouth as it mapped every single inch; Castiel moaned helplessly as Dean’s lips moved against his still, as Dean poured everything into that single kiss, and if this wasn’t true love, then Castiel didn’t know what it was.

When it was over they were both breathless and smiling and they couldn’t just let go; and if they were still on the roof, well they’d have plenty of time to get off it later.

“Dean?” Castiel whispered against Dean’s lips.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell me that you still don’t believe that happily ever afters do exist. Or that good things do happen.”

“I… I think that now I do. And I owe you hot chocolate in six months or so,” Dean said, his voice choked with something Castiel couldn’t name, but it didn’t matter and so he kissed Dean again.

--

Figures, Anna thought; she had come back for her coat and purse and had ended up sitting on the floor a bit far from the hole in the ceiling, her white dress spread in a circle around her, her hair still wet even if since Sam had lent her his cloak before she hadn’t got too drenched. But she hadn’t brought a jacket down and so now she was shivering and sitting in the middle of an empty ballroom with a hole in the ceiling and Castiel’s coat and jacket and tie watching her mockingly from the floor. It wasn’t that she was angry, after all it was clear that Dean loved that man a thousand times more than he’d ever love her in all of their lifetimes, but still, it sort of hurt.

Anna Milton, you’re pathetic, she thought, because it was pathetic, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. She sighed, bringing a hand to her eyes, trying to stop the sting behind her eyelids, when she suddenly felt a soft rustling noise in front of her and, oh. There was Sam, still in prince charming getup and not looking nearly half as devastated as he should have been and giving her a soft smile which was all sympathy, warmth and understanding.

“Why so sad, beautiful lady?” he asked with a low, considerate tone, and she really couldn’t be angry. Not when he was talking to her like that.

“He… he forgot his clothes,” she said, nodding at the coat and jacket. “Just, it figures. And now, I mean, he and Dean, they will… well, you know, and I’m absolutely fine with it, I really am, but…”

Suddenly a gloved hand was in front of her as Sam stood up; she took it, not really thinking about it, and he pulled her up with him gently before taking Castiel’s coat from the ground and brushing the dust off. And then he went at her side holding it open.

“May I?” he asked with that gentle, warm voice again and she nodded, her breath caught in her throat. He pulled the coat around her left arm first and the right next and when she pulled it close around her waist she realized that…

“It’s a perfect fit,” Sam said, and his voice was a promise and when she raised her eyes, she realized that his stare was too; and Sam’s smile was just so sweet and sincere, and he looked at her in the way every woman would wish her prince charming to look at her, and he still had his hand held out. And well, Anna didn’t really have any family since she was an only child and her parents had died of old age a couple of years before, she didn’t particularly like her job and to be honest, she had liked Dean, a lot, but from there to being her very own prince charming? She had never asked that of him, really. Everything she could think as she looked at Sam was yes, and so she smiled and nodded at him, suddenly feeling lighter, and if they ran until the infamous drain holding hands, who was there to say anything?

(Except for Chuck, who had the night shift, and saw everything.)

The cover was still missing, since Lucifer had sent the old one in some other galaxy or something; Sam held out his hands to Anna, she took them and they both jumped down.

(Chuck saw that, too; he definitely wrote a book about it. The book became a bestseller and he got married to his, as she referred to herself as, number one fan. He always thanked Sam in his mind for the good advice back then.)

--

Sam and Anna got married the next day and Sam became the rightful heir to the throne; he had thought he would have to give up hunting monsters except for one weekend once in a while, but it ended differently. Because you see, Anna was the sweetest girl and after their wedding (when she had been the one to kiss him first, and he hadn’t minded at all) they talked and went on dates in Heaven and realized that they had a lot in common; when he mentioned his previous hobby, she said that hunting monsters seemed incredibly exciting and so, while they couldn’t do that every day because they still had to rule the country, they did it every weekend and they were perfectly happy like this.

*

After a tearful goodbye (on Castiel’s part), Gabriel stole a bag of Hershey’s hugs before going back to Heaven, because he liked to be capable of speech, thank you, even if once in a while he came back to New York to visit Castiel and grab a couple of bags of candy that his human friend kept for him. But when he was back in Heaven he realized that without Castiel their old small house was boring and so to kill the time he wrote a book which he called Silence Isn’t Golden for obvious reasons, and it was a bestseller in all of Heaven, and he organized signings and so he really couldn’t complain. Even if damn, the food in New York was still better than the food in Heaven.

*

Crowley didn’t go back to Heaven, it would bring too many bad memories and after sauntering so much downwards he decided that he wanted a fresh start. And since it seems like writing books was the next best thing, he wrote one too (he called it My Evil Pain: How To Vanish The Devil Within) and it was a smashing bestseller, too. He often was in bookshops signing copies of it and one day things changed for the better. He arrived at the last person and had opened the book without looking at them.

“To whom I should dedicate it?”

“Aziraphale, please,” the man in front of him answered, and Crowley thought it was a bizarre name and so he had a look; and this Aziraphale was more or less his height, more or less his age but with blond hair and blue eyes and glasses and looked definitely anything but menacing. And he blushed as Crowley met his stare and said something about his book really changing his life, and then Crowley couldn’t resist.

“Would you like to talk about it… at dinner, let’s say now?” he asked, and Aziraphale said yes.

*

Dean quit his job the day after the ball and as he got out of the office he threw his tie out of the window gaining a thumbs-up from Jo; Ben actually raised a fist in the air when he heard the news and Castiel tilted his head until Dean told him what he had done exactly, and that evening they all had Chinese to celebrate. Right, Dean and Castiel didn’t stop at Chinese, but we’re back into the PG13 rated zone, so… er, sorry about that, really. Complain to whoever decided that fairytales shouldn’t include hot sex described in detail.

Anyway, the day after Dean quit his job he put on his jeans and a flannel, took his CV with him and went into a studio specialized in mass actions and civil trials and they were more than happy to hire him, seeing his credentials; sometimes in the evenings he did manage to do also some work for free for a charity which had the studio among his sponsors. Castiel went with him the day he talked to the charity manager, he talked to him, too, and he ended up having his own counselling job because he was surprisingly emphatic and just understood people, and if he didn’t have exactly the right qualifications no one said anything. Also, his job left him with a lot of free time which was just peachy because they still had a kid to take care of, but doing it in two was way easier than when Dean had been single, and anyway Ben and Castiel were absolutely fond of each other and sincerely, who cares about mothers. They weren’t strictly necessary anyway. Castiel kept the house clean and if Dean had to stand opera in the morning, it was just a necessary evil; and with time he kind of even learned to like it, even if he’d have never admitted it. And things with Castiel were just easy and uncomplicated and when they were together it just felt like everything fell into place; they made each other ridiculously happy every goddamn fucking day and Dean couldn’t really start to imagine what he had done right to deserve it, but in the end, one day he realized he didn’t even care about that anymore and he just let himself have it, and that day Castiel rejoiced internally.

Ben never told the both of them that when he had swayed Castiel towards dressing as Constantine that night at the ball he had totally done it on purpose because he had been hoping for that same outcome, but it wasn’t like it mattered, right?

*

And, as you can see, they all lived happily ever after. And what the fuck, they had all earned it, hadn’t they?

(And sorry for all the swearing, but when you need it, you need it.)

The end.