*One year later*
"What kind of person has hazelnut in their coffee?" Cas questioned, balancing a tray of coffees in his hand as he opened the door to the police car with his free hand causing Gabriel to chuckle from the driver's seat.
"What kind of person spills coffee on their uniform?"
Cas frowned as he looked down at his new deputy uniform to find a small coffee stain on his chest.
Great, one month into his new job and he already ruined his uniform.
"Typical." Cas muttered under his breath as he climbed into the car.
He handed Gabriel his coffee before putting his seatbelt on and taking a sip from his own cup with a sigh.
"This reminds me of our first day at school and you spilt apple juice all over yourself. Well, that one was kinda my fault because I bumped you, but still hilarious as fuck." Gabriel responded trying not to laugh as he looked over at Cas who just glared at him before his face broke out into a smile.
"You're such an asshole." Cas chuckled, shaking his head at his brother who nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I am. I am the asshole."
Cas opened his mouth to respond something sarcastic before his phone began to ring. He quickly put his coffee in the cup holder before he pulled his phone out his pocket.
"Hey, Claire. Everything okay?" Cas asked, holding the phone to his ear.
"Um, yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" His daughter asked through the phone while Gabriel started the car and drove off down the road.
They were just about to start the long drive back to their home town for a school presentation. Sheriff Mills had called their boss a week earlier, asking if anyone could come by to do a school talk.
Most schools usually got a couple Police Officers in to talk to the children about safety and drugs. Gabriel had done school visits a million times and their boss had written their names down to do it since it was their home town.
Neither of them were going to complain since they got the weekend off and only had to talk at the school for an hour.
It was always good to give back to the community, even if said community was the shit hole that they grew up in.
Cas hadn't been back to their hometown since Dean's funeral, and even then he nearly didn't go.
He couldn't bring himself to drive back there. To drive back to the town where Dean had died. Back to the town where him and Dean first met all those years ago. All those memories, all those feelings, all those moments they had spent together, both as teenagers and adults, it was too much.
He couldn't deal with reliving those memories. He didn't want to step foot in the town where Dean should be standing.
Dean didn't deserve this. He had been through so much. He had survived so much, just for his story to end like this. When Cas had finally gotten him back... it wasn't fair.
Life wasn't fucking fair.
First he lost his baby boy and then he lost the love of his life and the mere thought of going to Dean's funeral, seeing his face, seeing his grave... he just couldn't bring himself do it.
Until Jo Harvelle had called him and told him to 'get his ass back home and do it for Dean, because he'll hate himself forever if he didn't come and say goodbye' in her exact words and she was right.
He still had no idea how Jo got his number. But, after the funeral he was glad she did.
It was emotional to say the least, but he got to say his final goodbyes and between him and Jo, they gave Dean the proper send off his deserved.
Not a day went by where he didn't think about, Dean. But, he knew Dean would want him to keep living his life. Hell, Dean had kept himself in isolation during his time in prison, not letting Cas see him because he wanted Cas to move on with his life and not be waiting around for him.
It was because of Dean that Cas reapplied for the Police Academy.
Dean would have wanted him to live his dream and right now, riding in the police cruiser with Gabriel by his side, it was exactly the future Cas had always pictured and he knew Dean was smiling down on him.
He knew Dean would be proud.
"Well, this is your third phone call in two days. That's a record for you." Cas responded through the phone and he could almost hear his daughter rolling her eyes at him.
"Very funny. No, I'm actually calling because there's something that I wanted you to know. You remember that nurse Pamela? She told me that if I waited a year, I could file a request to find out who donated my heart?" Claire explained.
"Yeah. Did you decide to go ahead with it?" Cas asked.
"Well, actually, I did go ahead with it. I got the information yesterday and it said he was 39 years old when he died." Claire began to explain as Cas reached for his coffee and took another sip. "Get this, he was actually from your hometown, so I thought maybe you knew him. Dean Winchester."
Cas practically choked on his coffee as he coughed and quickly covered his mouth with his hands in pure shock.
Dean saved his daughters life. It was Deans heart... holy shit.
"Dad, you there?" Claire voice questioned through the phone, bringing Cas back to real world as he blinked back his tears.
"Yeah. I'm here." He replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"So, did you know him?"
"Yes. I knew, Dean." Cas answered causing Gabriel's head to snap in his direction at the mention of Dean.
"Great. So I'm at moms house for the first week of Spring Break, but the next week when I'm at yours... maybe you can tell me a bit about him?" Claire suggested and Cas couldn't stop the smile forming on his face as a silent tear fell down his cheek.
"I would love that." He answered.
"Cool. I gotta go. I'm meeting this girl, Kaia, for lunch. She's in my English class. I'm totally loving college. Alright, I love you, dad. Bye." Claire said and Cas didn't even have a chance to say goodbye back before she hung up.
He slowly lowered the phone from his ear and stared out the front windscreen trying to process what his daughter had just told him.
Dean had saved his little girls life.
"Everything alright?" Gabriel asked, a hint of worry etched into his tone.
Cas quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and looked over at him to find Gabriel already looking at him worriedly.
"It was Dean."
That was all he could say as Gabriel to stare at him in confusion before quickly turning his attention back to the road as he drove.
Cas had to take a minute, trying to still trying to process everything as he took in a few shaky breaths.
"It was his heart. Claire's heart donor was Dean."
"Holy shit."
Gabriel quickly pulled the car over on the side of the road and turned to face Cas to find that he was smiling happily despite the tears in his eyes.
"Dean saved my daughters life..." Cas trailed off unable to finish his sentence as a few more tears fell down his cheek.
Claire was alive because of Dean. Deans heart was inside Claire, it was Dean's heart.
"You still okay for this trip? We can call Sheriff Mills and tell her we can't make it." Gabriel suggested, but Cas shook his head.
"I'm fine. Let's keep driving. It'll be good to go there and mom has already organised to have dinner with us. If we pull out now, it'd be the end of the world. Like full on apocalypse, end of the world and we don't want that." Cas responded with a soft chuckle and Gabriel nodded in agreement.
"That's true. We can't say no to our mother."
With that, they continued driving down the highway, getting ready for the long drive back to their hometown to help Sheriff Mills with the school talk.
The two of them were going to stay at Bobby's house, that Cas now owned because he never had the heart to sell it. He hadn't even been back there since he was with Dean.
The sun was starting to set by the time they got to the house and Gabriel dropped him off, so Cas could get the house ready while Gabriel went down the street to get food and drinks for the weekend.
Nothing had really changed at all in the past year as Cas walked up towards the front door and unlocked it.
The house was still exactly the same, although Cas wasn't sure why it may have been different.
It wasn't like anyone had been there during the past year. Even the washed dishes were still sitting in the dish rack on the sink causing Cas to chuckle softly because of course neither him nor Dean could be bothered washing the dishes that day and decided to let them drip dry.
He made his way through the house, making sure the spare bedroom still had the bed made. Although, he'd probably warn Gabriel to maybe change the sheets because who knew how many bugs would've crawled under there during the past 12 months, but that was an issue for later.
Cas walked back out into the main room, pulling across the curtain to the back door and opened it. He stepped out on the back veranda and his eyes widened when he realised that the garden had been done up.
There were a few weeds here and there, but the garden bed was just full of luscious tulips and Cas immediately knew that Dean had done this before he left.
He quickly made his way back inside to grab a pair of gardening gloves so he could pull out the few weeds in the garden. But, then he spotted a letter sitting on the kitchen table causing him to frown in confusion.
That wasn't there last time he was here, he was sure of it.
He walked across the room to the table. but froze recognising the handwriting on the front that said 'Cas'.
He could recognise that scribble from anywhere.
It was Dean's.
With shaky hands, Cas picked up the envelope and made his way outside as he sat down on the porch steps.
He stared down at the letter in his hands through teary eyes as he took a shaky breath. Dean had written him a letter before he died, it had been sitting here for over a year and he didn't even know.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Cas looked up at the sky as the sun disappeared across the horizon.
One lone star had already appeared, standing out and shining brightly amongst the pink and orange clouds painting the sky. Cas smiled softly remembering all those times him and Dean had sat on that wooden log in the edge of the woods, looking over the town and watching the sunset and stars in the sky.
He glanced back over at the at the vibrant flowers in the garden bed before he focused back on the envelop in his hands and forced himself opened it.
'Dear Cas,
When I was young, I looked for a shape to things. A reason or a design. So much of what happened to me, though, felt like an accident. So, I guess I lost my faith in all that.
When I survived my fall, I began to wonder... if there wasn't some purpose to my life. Maybe I was on a destined path, even if I couldn't see it yet.
When I saw you again, I believe we'd been given a second chance. That the universe had decided to give us that. You have commitments, I understand, and you want to keep them. I can only love you more for that.
I hope to see you again someday, but if I don't... just know that these last few days have been the best of my life. I love who I am when I'm with you, Cas. You are my dearest friend, my deepest love. You are the very best of me.
Forever, Dean.'
--------------------THE END--------------------