Smoke

Sam found Dean standing out in the field behind the Bunker, glass of whiskey in hand, his head tipped back to stare at the stars. There were a lot of them.

“Hey,” Sam said. “You doing okay?”

Dean turned and for a moment the peace on his face was enough that Sam wished he’d left Dean to it. He’d caught Dean like this sometimes before, caught him when he wasn’t performing, but it was more usual to see pain or worry. Maybe Dean should have been more worked up now, what with those demons out to force him into a crown. It didn’t take a genius to understand the cause.

“Cas not out here with you?” Sam asked.

Dean smiled, warm and real.

“No. No, he’s talking with Hannah. Thought I’d give them some space.”

Dean’s body language was open, relaxed, and Sam joined him, standing shoulder to shoulder and gazing at the sky. He let the silence coat them for a while. They didn’t often get this, not when they were both in a mood to appreciate it.

“So,” Sam said at last, because he wasn’t going to make a huge deal of this, he wasn’t, but his best friend and his brother had taken a leap neither one of them had seemed able to take for years, and Sam at least needed to acknowledge it. With more than a steak and salad. “You and Cas, huh?”

“Yeah,” Dean said, ducking his head and smiling at his drink. “Yeah, me and Cas. Who’d of thought it?”

Sam didn’t point out that almost everyone with any extended contact with them thought Dean and Cas had been sharing a bed, or a back-seat, for years. Even people they ran into once, on a case or the few times they’d been out and about just because, had looked at his brother and the angel as though the two of them were a couple. Sam had been asked about it more than once.

“Yeah,” he said. “Can’t imagine.”

He glanced at Dean, seeing no sign of the kind of hesitation or bluster his brother threw up whenever something emotional happened and he wasn’t prepared for it.

“I’m pleased for you,” Sam said. “Just so you know.”

Dean smiled, one corner of his mouth crooking up.

“I’m pleased for me, too,” he said. “Just so you know.”

Sam thought about mentioning the problems they had, the demons, and Bela turning up, and Hannah returning from the dead. Not to mention that comment about Bela leading others back from wherever Hannah had been. But the sky was full of stars, and all three of them were safe and healthy, and Dean looked happier than he had in years.

He nudged Dean’s shoulder, smiled back, and enjoyed the moment.