Epilogue

Dean took a deep breath and let it whoosh out. Despite the coolness of the day, it felt swelteringly hot in the Nationals press conference room. Sweat beaded on his brow beneath his hat, made an unpleasant, sodden track down the dip of his spine. Tension filled the air, dozens of reporters gathered silent in the room, staring at the podium. Their expressions ranged from eager to confused to indifferent. Milton rose from her seat beside Dean and took easy strides to the podium.

"I imagine…" she paused as it became clear that the microphones weren't on yet, waited for an all-clear from a mulleted tech guy at the back of the room. "Thank you all for coming today," she started anew, voice amplified unnecessarily loud in the quiet room. "I imagine you're wondering why we've called a press conference today. As you are no doubt aware, Dean Winchester has retired from his career as a professional baseball player, but he will be joining the Nationals staff for the 2017 season as a talent scout, catching coach, and pitching consultant." Skepticism and uncertainty became more prevalent among those assembled. Dean could practically read their collective minds – surely, they were all thinking, surely this is not why Milton had called a press conference only days after the Chicago Cubs finally, finally fucking won the World Series for the first time in over a century. It was like Jimmy had said – the Nationals do-or-die last game no-hitter was impressive as a post-season story line but it had nothing on the Cubs finally breaking the curse of the billy goat. "When Mr. Winchester first approached us about holding this press conference, we were reluctant, but after extensive discussion with the team's ownership, we've decided that this is the direction we'd like to take the Nationals, and that we hope the rest of Major League Baseball will proceed in as well. Dean?"

Hands shaking, Dean rose, his knee brace forcing him to limp as he took Milton's place before the crowd. She gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she returned to her seat; flashbulbs burst brilliant light as cameras captured the moment. The assembled journalists still appeared puzzled but some had apparently concluded that something big was coming, even if they weren't sure what it was, and they were going to get the scoop.

Gripping the podium so hard his hands went white, Dean surveyed the audience. Not for the first time, he wished that Jimmy or Cas were there, but as a threesome they'd decided that this moment was Dean's and Dean's alone. Dean would never make history as a player, never make history for catching, almost certainly never make history for coaching. He had made history by catching Cas' no-hitter, though, and he would make history for this.

"I know three things. The first is that Cas Novak is going to win the Cy Young this year. The second is that the Nationals are going all the way next year. And the last is that Bert and Ernie are gay. And so am I. I'm gay."

A cacophony of questions erupted all at once, but Dean ignored them. Smacking the podium, he nodded once to himself, managed a bemused half-smile for the media, and returned to his chair.

Jimmy and Cas were proud of him for deciding to do this. Sammy was proud of him, and so was Gabe. Bobby and Milton and Turner all thought that, whether this was a good idea or not, Dean was brave for doing it. Bass had wept openly when Dean had told him his intentions. All of that was awesome, but none of it mattered, not really.

For the first time in his entire life, Dean was proud of himself.

And he'd be going back home to his two fucking awesome boyfriends.

Best. Season. Ever.

End Note!

...and that's that.

Hope you all enjoyed. This has truly been a labor of love for me.

For my regulars, now that this is done I'll be working on the sequel to , and then I'll be tackling Abnormal, trying to finish it.

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