A few weeks after our time at the willow tree, Dean and I have been with each other constantly. Whether its at his place, or with me at Hannah's house, we were never apart for very long. News of Hannah and Jeremiah's new baby slowly began to take over Dean and I's announcement, so now we weren't in the spotlight too much. 

"Does this match?" Dean asks me, holding up two similar shirts with a pair of black dress pants. "Kaia said that it was blue and grey themed on the invitation, but I don't know color schemes very well."

"Well, you are holding both of the colors that would work well with black, Dean. You could pick one of them and it would work." I respond, grabbing my clothes out of the closet. "Honestly, any color works with black. I'm sure Kaia doesn't want specifics. Also, we might want to pick up the pace, the reservation is at 7:30."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to go put this on." He says sheepishly, walking towards the bathroom. I chuckle, setting the garment bag on the bed. After a few weeks of seeing each other, Dean and I are still working out the kinks of being together. For example, Dean still won't change in the same room with me. I forgot that he doesn't drink his coffee black like Adam did, and I over sugared it at one point. But, we have our good days, like today. We were getting ready for Claire and Kaia's Christmas party/bachelorette party, and it was winter themed, hence the blue-grey scheme.

"Can I ask you something?"

I look up to see Dean standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. I felt my heart skip a beat, seeing how good-looking he was. The blue shirt complimented his tawny brown hair, also brought out the grey flecks that were in his eyes. 

"Uh, yeah! What's up?" 

"I won't be upset if you say no. I will completely understand if you don't want to, but I only ask that you give it some thought."

"Okay." I say, chuckling a little bit. "You aren't proposing, are you?"

"No..no I'm not." He says, and I notice that his hands were slightly shaking. I walk up to him and hold his hands in mine.

"Hey, whatever it is, you don't have to be nervous." I say, and he gives a small smile.

"Okay. Well, I was wondering if...if you'd like to move in. With me. I mean, you already have a drawer at my place, and closet space." He says, and when I don't answer him immediately, he starts to back track. "I get it, it was too soon. I knew it was a bad idea-"

I silence him with a light kiss, and his hands stop shaking. For now. 

"Dean, relax. It isn't a bad idea at all. I was just surprised, that's all." I say. "And I would love to. I mean, there are things I need to take care of in New York first-"

"What do you mean?" 

"I still have my apartment in New York, remember? That reminds me, I need to come up with a plan of attack for after their wedding." I said, grabbing my phone. "

"You want to leave after the wedding?" Dean asks, and I felt him pull away a little. 

"I mean, my life is in New York. I have a degree in music technology, one that I can put to use in New York, not here."

"But what about your family here?" 

"They've done fine without me for the last five years, I'm sure they'll do fine if I go back."

"Right." Dean responds, turning away from me and heading towards the closet. "Seems like you have it all planned out."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, you tell me. I thought we were going strong, Cas."

"Where is this coming from?" I ask, and finally Dean faces me. 

"What about me? What role do I play in this, in your future?" He says, his face taut with worry. 

"Dean-"

"No, I'm serious. I lost you once, I'm not losing you again."

I'm shocked. I didn't realize that he felt this strongly about me, about his future with me. I can't find the words to say.

"You know, I wasn't ever going to tell you this, because I knew I was never going to see you again. But I guess Fate has another plan in store for us." Dean says, reaching into the closet. He pulls out a box of my closet. "After I left, I never once stopped thinking about you. My unit made fun of me, because I never once gave up. I wrote a letter to you every day."

He hands me the box, and I feel tears forming. 

"I don't care if you read them or not, but..." He trails off, his fingertips brushing the top of the box. "I guess I'll see you at the party."

He walks away, and a few minutes later I hear the door slam. All at once, I felt a slew of emotions- anger, regret, sadness. All pointed at me. Why didn't I see it before? I have it in my head that I am the victim in all this, even though part of this is my fault. I go to open the box, but something stops me. Do I really know what I want? What is my plan? I know that I'll eventually go back to New York, but do I really need to go now? I decided to open the box and see what was in it- letter after letter after letter, all crusted in sand and grit.

 I pulled one out and opened it. It was written on my birthday, last year. Another one, on the anniversary of Chuck's death. I shuffled through the box, seeing what else was in there; I stopped in my tracks when I see a small box, with the words Samuel's Jewelers written on the top. I pull it out, and I gasp when I see a sterling silver ring inside, a black band in the center. 

It was the ring I picked out before Dean and I broke up, when we entertained the idea of even getting married. 

I found a note underneath it, and it was different than the others. This was a note written on a napkin from Hannah's bakery that read "For when he comes home". Suddenly, it was clear. I don't want anyone else in my life than Dean. I want to come home to him after a long day, and relax with him in bed watching our show on Netflix. I want to have children with him, start a family. I want to grow old with him. I shoved the box in my pocket and grabbed my jacket, running out of the door to the Jeep. Flashes of the future popped into my brain as I drove to Claire and Kaia's house, and I grew nervous. What if he doesn't say yes? 

"Nope, don't do this to yourself, Cas." I mutter, and I pull onto their street. Soon, I'm at their house, and I spot Dean's Impala in the driveway. 

I sigh a breath of relief, and take a minute to prepare myself. "Just go in, take him aside, and tell him you are an epic ass, and you realized that you made a mistake." 

I park the Jeep next to the Impala and make my way into the bustling house. All at once, I'm bombarded with Jody's family, relatives I haven't seen since I was in high school.

"Uncle Cas, Uncle Cas!" I hear, and I see Keturah holding up a barbie doll. "Look what Santa's elves brought early!"

"Wow, she's beautiful, K. Do you know where Mommy and Daddy are?"

"No. Moriah, want to play dolls with me?" She sprints over to her sister, and I'm surged forward by more people coming through the doors. Eventually, after searching almost every room on the first floor, I find Hannah and Jeremiah, along with my sister, Claire. Kaia had a protective arm around her waist, as if at any moment, someone was planning to steal Claire from her. 

"Hey, there you are. Do you know where Dean is?"

Hannah smiles, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because, I have to talk to him about something, something important."

Claire's eyes widen, and she grins from ear to ear. "Are you proposing to him?!"

I don't answer, because my nerves took over my mind. He's going to say no, he isn't going to want to do this with you again. Just give up, you weren't going to work out.  I tried to quiet my mind, like Dr. Thompson showed me all those years ago, and I started to hum a small tune, calming myself. 

"Cas? Are you, you know, popping the question?" Jeremiah asks, and I swallow, hard.

"Yes. I was planning on it, but I can't do it unless I find Dean."

"You were looking for me?" I hear, and I see Dean in the doorway. My heart stops. Everything that I had planned went out of the window as I take in Dean. His strong shoulders. His clear, green apple eyes, with little specks of hazel throughout the iris. His heart. 

"Y-Yes. I was. Um, this is not how I planned it, but we'll wing it." I say, moving closer to him. I take his face in mine hands and kiss him, not caring that there were a room full of people on either side of us. 

"Oh-kay. What was that for?"

"That was just the beginning of what I'm going to tell you." I pull out the box, and I hear surprised gasps throughout the guests that were now watching us. "Dean, when you walked out of my life five years ago, I never thought I would come back here and fall in love with you. Again. I thought that I would be some hot shot music producer, working with super famous people and making lots of money. Obviously I was wrong."

The guests laugh, some awkwardly, some just to fit in. I opened the box, revealing the wedding band. He sucked in a breath, and I knew it was time to run and not look back.

"Dean Winchester. Since that day you waked into Mr. Jones 8th grade science class, I have loved you. When you stood up to the bullies in my life, I loved you. When you told me that everything was going to be alright after my father was arrested, I loved you. Simply put, I have loved you since I was 14 years old. Even during those five years that we were apart, I loved you every single day. I love the fact that you don't drink straight black coffee. I love that when you smile, you get this dimple in the left side and not the right, and that you smile more with your eyes then your mouth. I love every part of you, Dean Thomas Winchester. I will love you until the day that I die, and I will keep on loving you after that. You are my forever, my happy ending.  So, with that being said," I get on one knee and hold the box up. "Will you make me the happiest man in the universe and marry me?"

Dean stood still for a minute, and my heart was pounding so hard in ears that I felt like I was going deaf. 

"Yes. Yes, I will marry you." He says, and my world bursts. I stand up and kiss him hard, smiling through the kiss. "I love you, Castiel Novak."

"I love you too." 

He wraps his arms around me, and I sigh. For the first time in weeks, I finally felt like I was home.

............................................................................................................................

(About close to midnight)

"Dean, where are we going?"

"Hold on, we're almost there." He replies, ad I resist the urge to take off the "blindfold" (my hands) so I could see. I heard the crunch of gravel, and figured that we were in a driveway of some sort. "Okay, we're here. Open your eyes."

I listen, and I see that we are standing in front of an empty house. "What are we doing here?"

"Do you remember when I said I wanted to be something, to start over? Well, that's what I did."

"But what does this house have to do with it?"

"As part of my recovery and my therapy, I decided that I would focus my sights on improving things instead of drinking. This...was one of them." He points to the apartment, and he smiles. "I bought it a month ago, started to renovate it. As of last week, its finished."

"Again, what does this have to do with why we are here?"

"I bought it for us. I know it was a bit premature on my part-"

I silence him with a kiss, smiling from ear to ear. 

"I love you, Dean Winchester."

"I love you, too, Castiel Novak."