"Cas, hand me that wrench, will you?" Dean said, his voice muffled from under the hood of the Impala.

"Yes, of course," Cas said. He looked at the tools sprawled on the ground, not recognizing any of them as a wrench.

Sam was sitting in a lawn chair reading a book. Without taking his eyes off of the page, he leaned over, grabbed the wrench, and handed it to Cas. He grinned, then sat back in his chair. Cas handed the tool to Dean.

"Thanks…and that will do it. Oil changed for my Baby!" Dean said, sliding back out from under the car.

Cas' breath hitched in his throat. Dean was wearing a pair of torn jeans and a white V-neck shirt. He looked amazing.

"Let's take her for a drive, see how she rides," Dean said.

"You two go on. I need to finish this book," Sam said.

"Your loss, Sam. Come on Cas," Dean said, grabbing his keys and jumping in the driver's seat.

Cas looked back at Sam. He raised his eyes from the book and arched an eyebrow with a knowing smile. Cas mouthed 'thank you' at him before jumping in the passenger's seat.

"Man, this is the life," Dean said, reclining back in the seat comfortably. "My Baby and the open road."

Cas' face flushed at the name until he realized Dean meant the car.

"You know, I've always wanted to drive this thing on the Autobahn," Dean said.

Cas tilted his head. Then he leaned and placed one hand on the car. In an instant, he and Dean were on a new stretch of road, apparently in the middle of the night.

"What the hell?" Dean said, managing to keep the car from swerving and flashing on the headlights. "Where are we?"

"You said you wanted to drive on the Autobahn, so I brought you here. A good portion of this road doesn't have a speed limit at all, so be careful," Cas said.

"Damn, man, I didn't mean you had to angel-poof us here right now. But thanks, this is awesome," Dean said, grinning widely. "Now, let's see what my Baby can do."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Dean and Cas had driven for hours on the beautiful road. Dean had revved the engine, sped up to see how fast his car could go, and blasted his music with the windows rolled down. Cas loved watching him enjoy himself. It was a rare sight to see the hunter truly happy and free.

"I'm getting kind of hungry. This has been great, but I don't speak enough German to order any food, so maybe we should go back home," Dean said.

Cas smiled at him.

"Do you like German food? Schnitzel and things like that?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but-," Dean began.

"Take the next exit," Cas said.

Dean did. He and Cas pulled up in front of a restaurant in a small German town. They walked in the front doors and were met by a young woman, who immediately greeted them and spoke quickly in German.

"Uh, Cas?" Dean said, but Cas was nodding at the woman. He rattled off some German, and soon he and Dean were sitting at a booth in the corner of the dark room. It was late here, but this restaurant had a bar, and must have stayed open all night. Cas ordered for the two of them, and the waitress left to tell the cooks.

"How did you learn to do that?" Dean asked.

"Speak German? I can speak nearly every language. I have been around a long time," Cas answered.

"And yet you don't know what a wrench is," Dean grinned, and Cas looked confused. "I saw Sammy show you which one it was."

"Oh, yes, Sam did give me some help. But there were only a few tools there. I would have guessed right eventually."

Dean laughed, staring down at his hands. He knew what else Sam had done, but he didn't know why. He sat quietly for a moment, wondering how best to bring the subject up with Cas.

"Listen, Cas," he began a few minutes later. "I saw Sam when we left. He wanted you to come with me alone…"

The waitress returned at that exact moment with their order. Cas thanked her and carried on what Dean assumed was small talk. Dean thanked her too as she left; he knew at least that much in German.

"This looks so good. I got used to eating when I was a human. It's not a cheeseburger, but it will do," Cas said.

"Yeah, it does look good. So about Sam," Dean said.

Cas stopped with his fork in midair. What did Dean expect was the reason Sam wanted them to go alone? His thoughts strayed to a day last week when Sam had finally confronted Cas about the stolen glances and longing looks he was giving his brother. Cas had admitted everything: his crush on Dean, the way he knew Dean was only interested in women, the way he had trouble being away from him for any length of time. Sam had understood. And Sam had said that he caught Dean looking at Cas in the same way, and Cas should just admit his feelings. But that was a lot easier to talk about when Dean wasn't looking him straight in the eyes.

"Yes? What about Sam?" Cas asked, deciding to feign stupidity.

"I know he wanted you to come alone. Why? Is he mad at me or something?" Dean asked.

"Not to my knowledge," Cas answered stiffly.

"Cas, man, what's going on? Sam doesn't want to come with me, and you poof me out here to my dream driving spot. Is something up? Am I cursed or something and you all are trying to give me one last good day?" Dean said, looking worried.

"No, you're not cursed at all. It's just…can we talk about this later? I really don't want to do this right now," Cas said.

"You promise we'll talk later?" Dean asked, wondering when he became as girly as Sam with all this feelings shit.

"I do. Now, eat your schnitzel and whatever those potato things are. They're good," Cas said.

An hour later, stuffed to the gills with delicious food, Cas and Dean hopped back into his car.

"Back to the Autobahn?" Cas suggested.

"I had another idea. There's a park down the road from here. We passed it on the way in. Let's go there," Dean said.

"A park? It's three in the morning," Cas said, but he noticed that Dean seemed to really want to go. He grinned. "Okay, the park it is."

Dean swung the Impala into a gravel lot overlooking some river whose name he couldn't pronounce. He turned to Cas.

"Alright, you said we'd talk. I'm not good with this kind of thing, but I need to know what's going on," Dean said.

Cas felt his face get hot. He rubbed the back of his neck and then stared down at his fingers, his mouth opening and closing as he stumbled over how to begin the things he wanted to say.

Dean noticed his nervousness. He looked the same way Dean had when he first told Cassie he loved her. Hell, if he didn't know any better, he'd have thought…wait a second…

"Cas?" Dean asked, and Cas raised his eyes to meet Dean's. "Does this have something to do with me? I mean, like, you and me?"

Cas nodded his head slowly, wishing nothing more than for a chance to fly out of here away from this embarrassment. But he knew he couldn't. He had to tell Dean the truth about how he felt, even though he was terrified Dean would be disgusted.

But then Dean did something that shocked him to the core. Quietly, he reached over and turned the music in the Impala down. Then he took Cas by the hand, squeezing slightly.

"It's okay, Cas. You can tell me anything, you know that," Dean said, a look of concern on his face.

Cas inhaled deeply, steeling himself for the conversation. He had better start talking now, because he didn't think he'd ever get up the nerve to do this again.

"Dean, Sam wanted me to come alone today because he knows something about me, and he wanted me to tell you," Cas began, noticing vaguely that Dean was still holding his hand. "I…I am in love with you, Dean. I've known for a long time that there is something special about you. You have the purest, brightest soul I have ever seen. You live to help people, to save people, and you do it at the risk of your own life every day. You have accepted me at my worst, when by all means, you should have just walked away and no one would have blamed you. I have never felt as safe or as happy as I do when I am near you, and I want to be with you every second of every day for all eternity. And I know how impossible that is because you love women, but I just can't help it."

Cas stopped rambling and held his breath to see what Dean's reaction would be. His heart ached when Dean suddenly pulled his hand out of Cas'. Cas felt like his heart was going to break then and there. But the next thing he knew, Dean's hand was lightly touching his cheek.

"Cas," Dean said softly, a small smile playing on his lips. "I had no idea you felt that way. That was the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to me, and I mean that."

Cas reached up and touched Dean's hand on his cheek. What was he saying?

"So you aren't…bothered by this? It doesn't offend you?" Cas asked.

"No way," Dean answered.

"But you aren't into men like that, and this vessel is a man," Cas said.

"I know, but this is different. It's you. And I would feel this way no matter what body you had chosen to take as a vessel. Well, okay, maybe I would have had some serious trouble if you looked like my dad or Bobby."

Cas gave a small laugh. Dean loved the sound of it. He leaned in to Cas, reveling in the features of his face he could see this close up. His slightly freckled nose, the lines around his mouth when he smiled, and the brilliant blue of his eyes. Dean gave a small chuckle of disbelief. This man was beautiful. He leaned down, and gently pressed his lips to Cas'. He felt Cas relax under his hand, and quickly moved his other up to cup his face. They stayed in that glorious kiss for what felt like hours. Finally, they broke apart. Dean took Cas' hands in his.

"You didn't have to worry about telling me, Cas. I am in love with you, too. I've been fighting it since you dragged me out of hell. Whatever bond that made between us, it packed one hell of a punch," Dean said.

Cas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Dean loved him too? Nothing could ever be as good as this feeling.

"So, does that mean-," Cas began, but Dean cut him off.

"Yes. I am yours forever, as long as you'll have me," Dean grinned. "Now let's get this car back to the house so I can get Sam's smartass comments over with."

"What do you mean?" Cas asked.

"I told him about my feelings for you months ago when he got me wasted. I can already hear him saying 'I told you so' with his bitch face. Let's do this," Dean said, winking at Cas, who placed one hand on the car and teleported them back to the bunker. Sammy was still sitting in his lawn chair, considerably farther into his book now.

Dean and Cas got out of the car. They walked up to Sam holding hands. Sam looked up from his book with a smile.

"I told-," he began.

"Shut it, Sam," Dean said. He squeezed Cas' hand, and the two went into the house for a beer, and, if there was time between all the kissing, a nap.