Hey guys :)

This is the last instalment of this story, hope ya'll like it! :D

As you may know I have dyslexia and although I have proof read this a couple times, in all honesty there may well be mistakes still in here, so bare with me :)

I am taking part in brave the shave this year :) will be shaving my head in aid of Macmillan and it would be fantastic if you could sponsor me :) I will be doing it on the 14th of August and the link is; .uk/shavers/dionne-game/

I am looking for a beta for a new story I have been working on its Dean/Cas high school AU theres a self harm warning, please PM me if you could beta my new story! :D

Almost 3 weeks had passed and next to nothing had changed in that time. Cas was still healing, still unconscious. Dean was still by his side, he has accumulated an impressive pile of books by his side, ranging from Moby Dick to The Hobbit, even twilight made it to the pile, but that was really just for the jokes Dean told Cas along with the story. The hunter could see the eye roll and subtle smile Cas would undoubtedly respond with had he been awake. He had no idea if reading the books to him helped Cas at all but it helped Dean, it anchored him, made it so he didn't feel quite so useless. He knew the nurses by name now, as did they him, some even brought him a coffee before they left to go home knowing he would be there, others tried to get him to leave to give himself a break, he appreciated it but never took their suggestions on board. Around 4 days ago Cas' eyes moved under his lids. Dean's heart was in his mouth, eyes wide and glued to his angels face, he wanted to shout for a doctor, scream for Cas to get attention, but it was 2.30 in the morning and no one would be able to hear him. Frustration, anger and guilt rushed through him as he sat, held his hand and spoke soft encouragements to him as the hunter watched his angel grope around in the darkness of his mind, obviously fighting to wake up. When the movement stop and the ex-angel was still once more, he sat there and he cried. Since then there has need no more movement from Cas. Dean pushed away the icy deadly thought that that was Cas' last all out struggle, that it was Cas' last shot of waking up. He'll wake up Dean repeated to himself, he will, he will, he will "he must" he mumbled out loud, to himself, to Cas, to god, to anyone that could hear him, he didn't care anymore. The only small amount of solace the hunter got was the daily calls from Sam letting him know he was alive and asking for non-existent updates from Cas.

Gabriel was still leading the fight against the demons reeking chaos, destruction and death through as many towns and cities as possible. They no longer cared about secrecy or planning or even surviving. They put everything into Lucifer rising. He somehow inspired a strange believe resembling faith in the demons, they had faith in Lucifer and he died. This made them unpredictable and very dangerous. What started a small army of Gabriel, Balthazar, Sam and Bobby, has grown in size by angels and hunters alike. Never before had an army of angels and hunters fought side by side, and it was all thanks to Dean and Castiel. They paved the way, showed Gabriel the benefits of human perspective, of human skill and courage. Gabriel lost a few brothers and sisters in the battles, turns out if a hoard of demons don't care about survival, even angels could be defeated. Sophia was the first angel to fall, she was young, one of the youngest, Gabriel remembered her creation. It hurt more than he would admit to know that he was responsible for not only seeing but helping to end her creation. She shouldn't have been in this fight. None of them should be Gabriel thought bitterly as he said his good byes over her body, once he had smited every demon in that good forsaken town. Lucifer was gone, shouldn't the fighting be over he thought. Sophia was the first to die, Orifiel and Hadriel followed during further battles. Hunters too were lost, Sam and Bobby burnt many of their friends and fellow hunters over the past few weeks, when demons get reckless they are even more dangerous. David, Monica, Joan, Lawrence and Cyril died fighting. But it was looking like maybe the fighting was almost over, their battles became quicker with less demons to fight and more time passed in between them. 4 and a half weeks since Castiel's actions and Gabriel didn't want to say it was over, but it felt over. It had been 5 days since any movement in the whole country pointed to a possible demon, it was almost too quiet. He ordered his soldiers to rest, even the angels that looks drained from the fight. They felt the same as Gabriel, confusion and anger. Most of Gabriel's was directed at Michael though, who was still absent he tried not to dwell on this fact though, Michael always had been selfish.

After Dean had been living the hospital room for almost five weeks, both Gabriel and Balthazar appeared by his side. The hunter was so exhausted he didn't react to their entrance, barely even registered their presence. Both Gabriel and Balthazar became equally concerned, looking to each other before trying to get the hunters attention. Dean looked half dead, he was staring off into space, barely blinking, a shower and a shave was obviously overdue, huge bags hung beneath his bloodshot tired eyes, cheeks tear stained and face way too pale.

"Deanio." Gabriel said trying to get the hunters attention, but received nothing in response.

"Dean" Balthazar shouted, at the same time smacking him on the back, hunter instincts finally kicking in, forcing him into action, he stood, defensive as he looked for the source of his assault. Shoulders falling when his eyes fell to the two familiar angels before him, merely nodding in greeting before returning to his seat, taking Cas' hand and began starring at the slight rise and fall to Cas' chest. "It's over Dean, the demons are defeated, and Lucifer's gone. We've won."

"Won?" The hunter choked out, not believing the words coming out of the angels mouths when their brother was still lying motionless in a hospital bed. "Cas is still lying here. He's not waking up." Dean voice broke at that. The two angels just knew that it was the first time Dean had truly admitted it to himself, and that it was killing him. "This feels like losing to me." Dean mumbled into Cas' hand as he kissed the back of it, tears once again falling down his cheeks. All of a sudden the sound of not just one set of wings but dozens filling the room and assaulted Dean's ears, dragging him out of the stupor he had firmly put himself in, at least for a moment. "What is happening?" he asked, looking around to all the angels that had appeared in the room, none of which Dean recognised. All of which Dean knew were Cas' family, his brother and sisters, his comrades, fellow soldiers, however one may choose to see it they all at least knew of Cas, maybe they wanted to say goodbye too he thought darkly.

"As I told you Dean. We've won. All of us." Balthazar spoke gently and slowly as all the angels in the room crowded around the bed. The hunter looked around, he found that every angel in the room had their eyes shut, something was happening, and Dean needed to know what.

"What is going on?" Dean asked but didn't get any further before Gabriel interrupted him, from where he stood to Dean's right.

"Shut up Deanio." Dean was exhausted, dazed, sleep deprived and extremely hungry so it was no surprise when the hunter's reactions was so bad he didn't register Gabriel moving until he felt two digits pressed against his forehead. The hunter then felt a drop and a gush, he felt suddenly sick and like he had been winded, before coming back to himself, the room back in focus, checking Cas was still there he resettled into the chair by his bed. "You're welcome. You really did stink." Dean looked at his hands, they were clean, even his nails, his clothes were different and again-clean, his stubble that was edging towards beard was also gone, he even felt more refreshed, rested even. "Now sit watch and keept mum." Dean was confused, he wanted to demand what was happening to defend Cas, to make certain no harm would come to his sleeping fragile body but for some reason he didn't fear them. Somehow he knew they were not going to hurt them.

"You promised you'd be here." Balthazar told him as he squeezed the man's shoulder, Dean sat astounded, he watched as every angel had their eyes closed, concentration evident in the schooled features. He watched as what must have been their graces grew, became a visible shimmer over their skin, Cas too, despite the lack of grace began to also shimmer. The man shined, like he was caught in a storm, he looked beautiful. Dean had an idea of what was happening and what it meant but he didn't allow himself to believe it. He couldn't.

That was until the movement under Cas' eyes was back, but this time it didn't disappear, it became bigger, bolder, soon his body was moving in others parts too, toes, fingers, head. Dean watched speechless as his head began shifting from side to side. Was this this? Dean thought am I dreaming? He couldn't help but ask himself, unwilling to believe in something, which would kill him if it weren't true, until he saw it with his own eyes. The hunter waited, holding his breath as he watched.

The fluttering of closed eyes finally became eyes fluttering open. Dean was shell shocked after all this waiting, Cas was finally opening his eyes and Dean had frozen, he could barely believe it.

"Dean?" came a heart retchingly familiar voice, a voice of gravel, deep but hesitant, the strength that used to soak each word the angel spoke, was shimmered, less obvious but that same underlying strength was still present, filling Dean with hope. The voice Dean has been waiting to hear for too long, the voice of the man he loves. Finally, finally.

"Cas?!" Dean breathed out, he lunged forward and enveloped the man in his arms. Dean felt as if he couldn't breathe, all this waiting, wishing and praying and it amounted to this. To feeling Cas wrap his arms around Dean in return, to feel his face press against his neck to feel his breath against his skin. Dean refused to let go for a good long while. Cas had no problems with that and grasped onto Dean tighter than he thought he could in human form. "Thank god." Dean mumbled again and again. He had so much he wanted to say to Cas, for real, that wasn't in a dream or written down, but he couldn't get the words out, voice still shaky and not fully trusting it yet. After another ten minutes, after both men had shed their tears and were finally able to detach from each other a little so they were able to have a face to face conversation. The hunter looked Cas in the eye and spoke, no longer caring his voice was cracked, Cas was awake that was all that mattered to him. "I thought I'd lost you. I almost gave up on you." He confessed stroking Cas' arms up and down, they were no longer embracing but the hunter couldn't stop the contact, not yet. Cas felt the same who left his hands resting on Dean's chest.

Everything they could say to one another, all the confessions and the stories that need to be shared, all the secrets they will whisper at night, all the heart felt mumblings, everything that they had practised again and again in their time so far away from each other though in the same room. Every possible way of wording the thousand things they wanted to say, but in that moment only one thing seemed important.

"I love you Dean." The hunter's face almost split from the smile that appeared on his face after hearing those words. The words he had been so scarred of for so long, the words he ran away from and denied. Upon hearing those words fall from an awake Castiel was everything and more to him, he would never be able to explain the raw happiness and untainted joy he felt in that one moment.

"I love you too." He told him as he peppered the man's face with butterfly kisses. Dean planned to kiss every inch of the man, and he was starting now. They were so wrapped up in each other, in running finger tips over their skins, sharing looks filled with everything they wanted to say, words were not needed and they basked in each other's presence. Taking those silent moments, to be grateful and thankful they had finally found each other. They hadn't noticed they were alone, Gabriel and Balthazar led the other angels away from the room to give the men some much deserved privacy. The two angels thanked their comrades who then left for heaven, looking to the future for peace. Gabriel and Balthazar went back to Bobby and Sam to give them the good news they were hoping for.

The two angels returned hours later to find the boys laying into each other's arms, cramped into a small hospital bed, the doctors were amazed at his sudden recovery, they were just waiting on Cas being discharged so they can go back to America and live out their lives together. They both had easy smiles on their faces and looked over lazily upon hearing the unmistakable sound of wings.

Gabriel and Balthazar took their turns in greeting and hugging Cas, both praising his bravery scolding his stupidity and telling him how relieved they were to have him back. Dean watched the scene arm still around the smaller man but not interrupting the brothers either.

"How do you feel?" Gabriel asked after he filled Cas in on the war they fought, and won.

"Good, surprisingly good actually." The man nodded looking down at himself, inspecting his hands as if for confirmation it was real. "Thank you, all of you." Eyes going to Balthazar then nodded in response.

"You took out the devil Cassie, it was the least we could do."

"Unfortunately," Gabriel started, Dean immediately tensed and eagerly listened to what Gabriel was about to say, already expecting the worst. "Your grace is something we couldn't fix or replace. I'm sorry. You're human"

"It's okay" Cas responded, interlinked his and Dean's fingers and looked to him, soft smile playing at his lip "A human life doesn't seem so bad." Dean kissed Cas' knuckles in response before smiling back. He couldn't agree more

please review and let me know what you think :) 3