-0-0-0-

That Sunday, Dean got a text from Sam.

Funeral in one week, cemetery just out of town. Can you make it?

….

I'll be there.

Dean inhaled sharply. He could do this. This was putting her to rest… he had to do this.

The funeral was hard to make it through, but Dean was driven by two things; forcing himself not to cry, because he had cried far too much for it to be manly in the past few weeks, and also by something he had to do after the burial.

He sat down afterward, by the newly packed dirt and the headstone that had his mother's name on it. It almost seemed surreal… he just wished he had Cas to lean on through it.

"Hey, mom. I hope you can hear me now, cause I really miss coming to see you. So does Sam. So I thought, maybe you can hear me like this.

I've got some things to say. I let my grief, from losing you, affect someone that I love and care a great deal about. He won't talk to me, and… it's the worst mistake I ever made. You know who I'm talking about, don't you? Cas? I told you about him, the first date we had. He really is perfect.

We've learned more about each other, mom, and I can tell you without a doubt that I want to spend the rest of my life with him." He looked up, smiling. "You always said that one day, I'd just know… well, I'm getting that feeling, mom. He makes me feel so… well, you don't need the sappy details, but the point is… I'm in love with him. And I gotta do something before that disappears… I'm gonna use the half of the money you left for me to do something right with my life."

He got up, and pulled his phone out, dialling a number he had written on his palm.

"Hello, private jet service? I'd like to book a flight for three days from now."

-0-0-0-

Cas sat at home, listening to the audiobook version of Lord of the Rings. It was quite captivating, but it kept reminding him of Dean, which is what eventually caused him to press pause, taking his headset off.

"I wish I never went walking that day," he said aloud, and it felt weird, because he knew it was a lie.

He felt his phone vibrate again in his pocket, and he switched it to silent, exasperation evident in his movement. He was not going to take Dean back like that, not after he had said those horrible things. He wasn't that easy, not as easy as he was with the others. Cas had trusted Dean with his deepest secrets and fears, and Dean had betrayed that trust. He couldn't easily forgive that.

Just then, he heard a knock at his door. He frowned. He never got visitors. Unless…

He balled his fists, getting up. "Dean, I cannot look through the peephole to ignore your visitation, so take this as an invitation to swiftly and competently get off my porch."

"Cas? It's, uh, me." Cas frowned again, and opened the door.

"Gabriel?"

As if he needed this right now. When he heard the nervous voice of his brother's, he immediately feared the worst, and the questions came pouring out of his mouth. "What is it? Do you need money? Are you in trouble? Are you hurt, did you overdose? Have you been arrested again?"

There was some silence, before Gabriel spoke up. "None of that. I came here because," he took a deep breath, "I've done some stuff. No, that's an understatement. I've screwed up my life. After everything, I set myself on a path of self destruction, and I almost succeeded. But I realized something, in these past few months. You made it through, after enduring so much more than I have. So why can't I? I don't have to hang around empty alleyways in the middle of the night, curing my daddy issues with a needle and some pills. I've got a little brother who's braver than I am, and that's what cleaned me up."

Castiel was shocked into silence. "C-cleaned you up? You mean to tell me-" "I'm clean, Cas. Have been for said few months. And I'm hear to give apologies, and make amends."

Cas was speechless. He never thought this day would come.

"Gabriel… I'm so happy for you… l-let me give you a hug." Gabriel helped Cas out by stepping closer, closing into his brother's outstretched arms. "It's good to see you again," the younger continued, "Come in."

They went in, and Gabriel whistled, chuckling. "Definitely looks better than the, er… last time I was here. Except, well, everything looks better to me now, 'cause I'm not high as a kite and wrecked out of my mind."

He picked up a tissue, and an empty tub of ice cream. "Love what you've done with the place. Breakup?" "Not exactly," Cas sighed, "But let's not talk about that. It's irrelevant." Gabriel shrugged, and sat down. "Yeah, so I checked myself into a rehab centre, and this is one of the steps they suggested."

He looked down.

"Look, Cas- I know I've hurt you pretty bad from what I did to myself in the past. But I was hoping we could kinda… rebuild that relationship from scratch. Start over." Cas gave a bittersweet smile. "Someone else said that to me… it didn't end well." Gabriel nodded. "But people can change."

And suddenly, Cas realized something. Gabriel was here, in front of him, apologizing. He had never in a million years thought this would be happening, yet… it was. Maybe people could change. Maybe… Dean could change.

"You're right…" Cas mumbled, "Gabriel, you're right."

When his brother had left, promising to visit again, he dialled Dean's number, stomach fluttering a little as he heard his ecstatic voice after what seemed like forever. "Cas!"

"Dean," Cas said, "I'm still very, very angry at you, and what you said still hurts me to this day. But I'm not going to deny you your chance to put the pieces back together. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" "Cas, man, I'm so excited- pack a bag, and meet me at the park tomorrow at 8:00 AM."

Cas frowned. "Pardon me?!" "I know, it's crazy. But I'm willing to do a batshit crazy thing to let you know how much you mean to me." Cas was quiet, trying to think of what to do. "Please, just trust me on this. No questions, I've got it all figured out."

"O-okay," Cas said, giving up, "I'm stupidly talking to you again, so I might as well stupidly throw myself into whatever this is." "Great! See you then, Cas. Love you!" Cas didn't respond, not willing to give Dean that sentiment again just yet.

Dean hung up the phone, doing a little dance. He had tracked down where Gabriel was, which took a damn long time and lots of help from Sam, but when he found out that Gabriel had checked himself into a clinic, things got even better.

He had called Gabriel, explaining who he was, and told him to visit his brother. Not only would the visit give Cas hope, but it was setting up for the biggest surprise of Cas' life.

-0-0-0-

"Dean, what the hell is this-?" "It's a surprise, stop asking." "I demand to know why you're covering my eyes when I'm already blind." "Oh, sorry."

Suddenly, the bus pulled up. "Alright, let's go." "Where?!" "You'll see. No pun intended." Cas sighed, crossing his arms. "Dean-" "I hear one more word about where we're goin', I'll tape your mouth shut!"

The bus ride was pretty long, but they eventually came to their destination- a jet pad, where they would be flying from.

"I hear airplanes… Dean, I'm begging you- at least tell me something, I'm confused! You owe it to me, I shouldn't even be talking to you right now." "Okay… I'll tell you that you're right. We're at an airport, of sorts." "Going where?" "Shut up!" Cas growled a little, making Dean laugh. "You'll love it, trust me."

They got out with their luggage, and Dean carried Cas' for him. They boarded the small jet after going through some security, with nobody else on it, and Dean had made sure to tell the pilot not to announce their destination at any time during the flight.

"Good 'ol afternoon, y'all, I'm Garth Fitzgerald the IIII, and our flight will be 11 hours." "11 hours?!" Cas hissed to Dean, "Where are we going, Egypt?!" "No, siree, Egypt would be 13 hours," Garth grinned back, and they began take off.

Cas didn't talk to Dean much during the flight, as he was still on bad terms with him, but Dean was able to ease him back into conversation soon enough.

When they finally arrived the next day, Dean hailed a cab in some really terrible sounding French.

French?!

"Uhh, cez quelle j'ai peux prendrez unes taxi, sil vousa plaiz?" Cas giggled slightly, wanting to correct Dean with, 'sil vous plais,' and all the other pronouns he had gotten horribly wrong but he hadn't the slightest idea what was going on anyway, so he kept quiet.

They got in the cab, and Cas felt Dean's hand envelop his. Cas hesitated, then squeezed back. He could hear Dean's mumbles of, 'wow…' or 'holy crap, that's big…' Cas was still in suspense.

"Now you're just teasing me," Cas laughed softly. "We'll be there soon enough, don't worry," Dean grinned.

They arrived at an area Cas certainly didn't recognize, mapping it out with his walking stick. There was soft music being played by someone, Cas could tell it was coming from their right. "I still can't tell where we are," he said, and Dean snaked arms around him from behind.

"What would you say, if I told you you were looking up at the Eiffel Tower right now?" Cas' breath hitched, and his breathing stopped altogether for a second. "W-what?" "What would you say?" "I… I'd probably think you were joking." Dean hummed, and trailed his hands up and down Cas' torso. "I'm not joking." Cas gasped a little.

"That's right," Dean whispered in his ear, "We're in Paris, baby." Cas opened his mouth, but no words came out. "Shhh, you don't have to say anything. You just have to listen. Listen to me describe it. It's beautiful… absolutely breathtaking. If you could see it, man, you'd…" he laughed, kissing Cas' neck. "It's tall, too. It's real tall. Covered in beautiful lights… I can see some people too, I think there's a restaurant up there." "Le Jules Verne," Cas murmured, in awe. "Right…"

"Dean," Cas started, "I don't know what… I don't know how to-" "I know this doesn't make up for what I did. Nothing will. But hopefully this might sway you a little away from thinking I'm a complete and total douchebag."

There was a pause where Cas couldn't hear anything, and Dean smirked. "In case you don't know, I'm kneeling."

Cas brought a hand to his mouth, and Dean took the other one.

"Castiel Novak… I'm just gonna come right out and say it. I hurt you so bad I don't know even know if I can forgive myself. I was an idiot, and I don't know what got into me… my mom, she…" he sighed, and looked at Cas again, "She was in a coma. That's why I never talked about her- it was too hard for me. That morning, I got a call from my brother that she had um, passed away." Cas' facial features changed.

"I felt like the thing I cared most about in life had just been taken away from me… but then I realized, the thing I care most about is I love the hell out of you. And I want to keep loving you until you get sick of me." Cas bit down hard on his lip to keep from sniffling.

"I don't know what happened… one moment, I was eating breakfast… it was a damn good breakfast, but I digress- and the next, I see your stupid, perfect trench coat walk by the window. I was a goner from then on. I, um, understand if you say no," Dean went on, looking down, "I'll just wallow, and kick myself for ruining my chances with the one person I care most about. But if you say yes, I promise we can be happy forever. We'll wake up every morning wrapped in each other's arms, you'll keep getting wet dreams of me because I'll keep giving you the best nights of your life, every time like the first. Unless you want to get experimental," he grinned, and Cas giggled. "Bottom line: Cas? Will you marry me?"

"Dean… you're the only thing that keeps me sane in this crazy roller coaster I call my life. You have been since you stopped me on the sidewalk that day. So, in fear of going insane without you… I'm obligated to say… oui," Cas whispered, and Dean kissed his hand before positioning the ring. "That means yes, right?" "Dean, you take me to the French capital of the world, and you don't even know what yes sounds like here?" "Oh, excuse me if I spent most of my time worrying over what ring to buy you instead of studying Francais."

Cas laughed, and felt along the ring on his finger. "Oh, Dean… it's so beautiful… this is all beautiful- you're beautiful!" "I love you." "I love you too, Dean."

They hugged, and Dean kissed Cas, right in front of the Eiffel Tower, the place Cas had wanted to travel to for his whole life.

"Y'know," Dean said softly against Cas' lips, "When we get older, I could get really lazy and gross." "Oh yeah?" "Yeah, 'cause you wouldn't be able to see what I looked like, so it doesn't matter, right? I can eat all the Cheetos and pie I want." "Not if I control your diet." "How can you control my diet when you probably mistake molasses for olive oil? Dude- I'm doing the cooking."

Cas broke into a grin. "I can't disagree with you there… but I have to keep the house in a very particular order, you can't move anything or I won't be able to find it." "Oh, I am going to have so much fun hiding the remote when you want to watch your shows and I want to watch sports!" "You wouldn't dare." "Oh yes, I would!" "I bet you don't even watch sports. I bet you binge watch Friends reruns." There was silence, and Dean grumbled, "I like Joey's hair, okay?"

Cas burst out laughing, then calmed himself down. "It's okay… it doesn't compare to my guilty pleasure." "Why, what is it?" "The Bachelor. I can't see what they look like, so it's fun to just hear how fake they sound." "That's friggin' horrible! I'm totally hiding the remote now. But I bet you can't top what I watch when I'm bored- the Three Stooges." "Ha! No way!" "It's the stupidest shit ever, but it makes me laugh harder than anything." "Well, we'll settle the remote thing when the time comes," Cas smiled, "Until then… let's focus on getting married."

"Getting married," Dean echoed, and beamed up at the sky, "Getting married!" He turned, spinning Cas around. "Hey, everybody, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!"

A couple of people around them smiled and clapped, and Cas laughed as Dean dipped him and pulled him in for another kiss. "What's your favourite part of Paris, Cas?" he asked. "I don't know," Cas admitted, "I seem to be rather distracted. You see, I'm standing here, apparently in front of the Eiffel Tower, one of the most beautiful sights of the world in the city of love… but all I really see right now, is you, Dean."

Dean smiled, and kissed him, cherishing Cas' everything. It was so ironic… how a blind person could be the one to teach Dean how to open his eyes and truly see.