Cassie

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content: Cassie never really forgot about Dean Winchester.

tags: fluff, established relationship

author's note: Well, we're here ^^ This installment is actually the first story I had in mind before I decided to make a little series out of it. I hope you will have some fun with it :D

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Cassie never really forgot about Dean Winchester.

Seriously, how could she? It's not exactly common to get acquainted with a hunter who introduces you to the supernatural in the most unconventional way. Cassie's world view changed that day quite dramatically and she will never go back to the innocent girl she once was.

Sometimes she thinks that's quite a shame because once in a while she seriously just wants to watch the news or read an article about some weird occurrences without her mind inevitably reminding her that there are dangerous creatures in the shadows most people don't really know about. Every time she hears stories about strange deaths or suspicious animal attacks a shiver is running through her body, reminding her of the things she's been through.

But at the same time she can't help being grateful for the men and women out there who try to make this world a safer place by risking their lives.

So yeah, Cassie couldn't really forget about Dean, even if she would have wanted to.

Which she never did.

She tried to contact him from time to time, wondering whether he was okay. If he was still alive and well.

However, soon after they parted ways for the last time he obviously changed his cell phone number, so she couldn't exactly reach him anymore. Admittedly, he gave her the number of one Bobby Singer, telling her insistently that she should call the guy if she would ever need help, but at first she couldn't really bring herself to call a stranger to ask about Dean's general well-being. It took some time and some very disturbing news reports to finally take that step and she found herself eventually talking to a man with a gruff voice who assured her that, yes, Dean was fine and if he should rely a message to the hunter which Cassie instantly declined.

This conversation happened the exact same way several times after that until one day she was unable to reach Bobby's number as well and she had no freaking idea whether any one of them was still alive.

And she didn't know for many years.

Until on a bright summer morning the first rumors about a haunted house a few streets over first circulated around her neighborhood and it didn't take long for two 'experts' to show up. Hunters, big and burly and most likely witnesses of way too many horrible things, who didn't wait around to do their job, so that Cassie actually had to hurry to catch up with them before they left town again.

And thankfully, as soon as Cassie mentioned the name Winchester, their eyes lit up with recognition and after making sure that she wasn't any sort of demon or other supernatural being (a very wet experience, that's for sure), they pressed a phone number into her hands, talking about hunter networks and secrets lairs before saying goodbye.

And so she's sitting in her bedroom now, phone in one hand and the number in the other, hesitating because she hasn't got the foggiest idea what to expect.

Eventually she just thinks screw it! and goes for it.

"Yes, hello?" a deep voice greets after the third ring.

Cassie swallows. She can't exactly place the voice, but the connection isn't the best and she hadn't spoken to Dean in over a decade, so everything is possible.

"Dean?" she asks, hopefully.

"No, this is Castiel," the man contradicts. "Dean is in the kitchen right now."

Cassie takes a deep breath. Damn, it feels like there's been a massive weight lifted from her shoulders. "So he's alive?"

Castiel is silent for a moment. "Yes, he is," he agrees finally. "Did you hear otherwise?"

"No, it's just …" Cassie licks her lips. "I haven't talked to him in a really long while and … I just wasn't sure if he'd be –"

"I see," Castiel agrees, a sudden softness in his tone. "His former profession was indeed quite unhealthy. It's fair to assume the worst."

Cassie raises her brows. "His former profession? He isn't a hunter anymore?"

Castiel is quiet once again before asking, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

Cassie blinks a few times, realizing that she obviously forgot her manners somewhere along the way. "Oh damn, I'm sorry," she says. "I'm Cassie. Cassie Robinson. I don't know if Dean ever mentioned me – probably not –, but we met long ago and –"

"Of course," Castiel interrupts and now there is a clear chuckle in his voice. "I know who you are."

"You do?" Cassie asks surprised. She can't imagine Dean talking about her enough that this man would know about her. It seems kinda surreal.

"Dean will be pleased to hear from you," Castiel states, sounding cheerful. "Wait a moment, I'll get him."

And then he's gone before Cassie can say anything else, leaving her blinking quickly and sort of overwhelmed because she's honestly got no idea what to feel right now. Unconsciously she probably expected things would turn out to be like it did with Bobby Singer in the past – a quick hello, a "Dean is fine" and that's it.

But obviously this Castiel does have some other plans.

Before she's able to make up her mind and figure out what to do or say, she hears two voices from the other end of the line.

" – just ridiculous, Cas! Why aren't you telling me who's on the damned phone?"

"Answer it, Dean," Castiel responds, his voice suddenly so warm that Cassie has a hard time believing that's the same guy. "You'll see."

Dean sighs very melodramatically. "Fine. But don't forget about the meatloaf in the oven. It'll be your fucking fault if it combusts into flames because you're incapable of writing down a simple message and tell whoever there is on the phone that I'm gonna call them back!"

Cassie can almost see Castiel's following eye-roll. "Just do it! I'll watch the oven."

Cassie can't help feeling a bit surprised by all of it. The whole scene sounds so freaking domestic, like an everyday occurrence – most definitely not something she would ever have associated with Dean Winchester.

"Yes, who is this?" Dean suddenly grunts and Cassie takes a moment to realize he picked up the phone and is talking to her now. She freezes for a split second, surprised by how different his voice sounds like now.

"Um … hi, Dean," she eventually manages. Granted, not her best performance, but it's the least embarrassing she can come up with. "It's Cassie."

There is silence for a while and Cassie finds herself wondering whether Dean even remembers her, after everything he's been through, and she's about to add her surname for clarification when at last a breathy laugh interrupts the silence.

"Damn, seriously?" Dean asks, seemingly quite glad to hear her voice. "I can't believe it! How long has it been?"

Cassie's lips curl upwards. "Way over ten years."

Dean makes an confirmative noise. "Yeah, sounds about right." There is a shuffling noise. "That's just so – wow. How … what –"

He doesn't seem to know what to ask first and Cassie can't exactly blame him, she must have caught him off guard rather spectacularly. It's honestly not everyday your ex from a decade ago decides to call you out of the blue.

"I'm really glad you're okay," she say in a low tone, taking a deep breath. "After all this time – well, I wasn't sure if you're still, you know –"

"Alive?" Dean chuckles, though it sounds kind of awkward. "Yeah, it's been a close call a few times. Not exactly pretty. And other times, well …" He clears his throat. "It's hard to explain."

"But you're okay now, right?" Cassie can't help asking.

"I'm more than okay," Dean responds, his smile almost audible over the phone. "I've still got ten fingers and ten toes, that's quite a big deal for a hunter. Though I almost lost one of my fingers recently during some discount event at the grocery store I had no clue of beforehand. It was horrible."

Cassie finds herself feeling a bit alienated by this since she honestly never thought she'd hear Dean say something like this ever.

He obviously changed quite a lot.

At least he became quite talkative, so it seems. He's never been the quiet guy, of course, but about the only topics he'd been fairly passionate and enthusiastic about had been movies and cars (and sex, though he rather liked to do it than talk about it) back then. Now, however, he keeps on rambling about his adventures at the supermarket as though they're the most exciting things that ever happened to him.

It's honestly downright adorable.

And before she knows it Cassie finds herself in a passionate discussion about grocery shopping and the difficulty of finding a good parking spot.

Life can be really weird sometimes.

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It's like no time at all went by when Cassie opens her door about two weeks later and finds herself face to face with the one and only Dean Winchester.

"Damn, you look even better than before," she blurts right out because her brain-to-mouth-filter obviously stopped working somewhere along the way. She considers blushing since it would have been an appropriate response, but settles on smirking instead when she witnesses Dean's answering grin.

"Well, what can I say?" he laughs. "I'm still a handsome devil."

Before Cassie's got even time to adjust Dean wraps his strong arms around her, squeezes her so tightly she almost fears to suffocate for a second, and whispers, "It's good to see you," right into her ear.

He got bigger, bulkier, as Cassie notices instantly. And he smells differently somehow. She can't exactly pinpoint what changed (too much time has passed for that), but she just knows that it's not the same anymore.

"It's good to see you, too," she says right back, shutting her eyes for a second and just let herself feel.

She hadn't even entirely realized how anxious she had been since the time her contact with Dean (or, more precisely, Bobby) broke off and she suddenly got no way of knowing whether the guy who charmed her with his lopsided smile and some lame Star Wars jokes all those years ago was actually still alive.

Breathing.

Whole.

It seems kind of surreal to have actual assurance now.

Dean had been kinda adamant to visit her. Obviously he had some business to attend to nearby – a couple of hunters apparently found some supernatural artifacts and hadn't been comfortable with handling them on their own – and immediately suggested that he could stop by afterwards. Cassie first refused since Deans definition of 'in the neighborhood' meant one state and a twelve-hour-drive over, but Dean still seemed to be the stubborn jackass from before, not at all inclined to listen to Cassie's logic and wisdom.

And granted, seeing him now, in the flesh, his smile so bright, Cassie can't really bring herself to be mad with him.

Though she won't dare to say that out loud.

She drags him into her house and finds herself talking ten miles a minute. Their first phone call and the few that followed had been rather brief and the opposite of informative. Cassie immediately sensed that Dean's mind had been occupied with a lot of things at the same time, so she kept herself from prying too much. They shared some basic grounds – Cassie told her about her husband Mike and their six-year-old son Wesley and in return Dean talked about Sam and the fact that he instantly got himself four dogs as soon as Dean moved out into his own place (Dean actually couldn't stop complaining about those mutts in a way that makes it absolutely crystal clear that he not so secretly loves every single one of them) –, but they didn't get that deep yet.

So Cassie takes her chance, leading him through the rooms, showing him pictures of her family and tries to catch up the decade they had lost. Dean listens very patiently, nods at the right places and smiles easily at her. He looks warm and soft that way, like he's genuinely happy that Cassie found her own personal space in the world.

And at some point, when they settle in the living room, Cassie ends her stream of words, blushing a bit for taking up so much time with her tales about her boring normal life. But Dean just waves her off, reassuring her like a freaking gentleman that it was a delight listening to her stories before taking over the wheel himself.

His eyes are bright and full of pride and love when he tells her about Sam, his research work and the night classes he recently decided to pick up ("because he's a nerdy nerd who loves nothing more than sticking his nose inside a book"), about someone called Cas, most likely that guy Castiel with whom Cassie talked on the phone briefly, and the fact that he's a grumpy little shit in the morning, about some military bunker they inherited by their grandfather and that became some kind of stable home for them after living so long on the road, and eventually about a house not that far from the bunker which Dean bought some months ago.

"It's been a freaking dump," Dean explains. "Like, seriously. It took about a week to get rid of all the woodland creatures making themselves home in that place. I met animals I didn't even know."

Cassie chuckles. "Sounds like an adventure."

And definitely the good kind, not the let's-kill-some-monsters adventure.

"Well, it's gonna stay that way for a while," Dean says, shrugging nonchalantly. "I just started with fixing the kitchen. Cas insists on making it spacious and bright and big, as if he's actually the one cooking there instead of me. I think he tends to forget that he's prone for burning water."

Cassie can't help hesitating a bit. It sounds an awful lot like Castiel has some very strong opinion concerning the house.

Is he about to move in as well?

Admittedly, Cassie wouldn't have been totally surprised. Dean speaks about the guy in a voice so fond it indicates a very strong connection. Somewhere along the way Castiel obviously became a quite vital part in Dean's and also Sam's life and Cassie finds herself glad that they were able to add more people to their little family. They deserve it.

And so Cassie states, "I'd love to meet Cas someday."

Dean's face instantly lights up. "I guess that could be arranged."

He digs his phone out from the depths of his pocket, presses a few buttons and eventually shows Cassie a picture of a guy with messy hair and the most incredible blue eyes squinting into the camera.

"That's him," Dean announces and suddenly there are so many emotions in his voice, it's really hard to distinguish them somehow. "I actually tried to convince him to come with me as well, but he thought he'd be in the way of our reunion and didn't want to disturb us. Though I told him several times that you would most definitely love to meet him!"

Cassie nods along and smiles at him. However, she can't shake the feeling that she is missing something here.

Something big.

But before she's able to nudge and ask some cautious questions, Dean continues his ramble. "And that's Chester, by the way," he says, pointing at a small puppy with black fur sitting on Castiel's lap. "Right after Sam got his army of annoying dogs Cas started to hint that he'd like one, too. He read all those guidebooks about parenting and claimed that couples should attempt raising a puppy first before going for kids. Total bullshit, I could tell you right from the start – apart from the whining and the pooping human children are far more complicated –, but Cas wouldn't budge and dammit, I can't say not to those eyes! How can anyone?"

He actually sounds a bit helpless there, as if he's in serious need of an answer.

Cassie, though, is way to busy to realize that she indeed missed something very important!

Wow!

She expected a lot of things, but not this.

Her eyes flicker to Dean's hand on pure reflex and yep, there it is: A ring! An undeniable I'm-a-married-guy ring!

How did she not see this before?

Dean, however, doesn't seem to notice her inner turmoil. "Chester isn't so bad though." He's obviously trying for casual, but missing by a mile. "At least he poops less than Sammy back in the days, so that's definitely a plus. And a quick learner, too. Cas even wants to teach him how to turn on the coffee maker in the morning." Dean chuckles. "It'll probably end in disaster, but it's gonna be entertaining to watch."

He looks at the picture again and the love in his gaze is suddenly so freaking clear that Cassie wonders how she could have been that blind and deaf and dumb.

For a whole minute she simply gapes at Dean, not sure what to say.

"You're married!" she eventually blurts out because she's awkward and way too shocked to care.

But dammit, she honestly needs some credit for this. She didn't anticipate Dean to be in a happy and solid relationship with homes and dogs and future children.

And she didn't expect a husband of all things!

Admittedly, when she met Dean over a decade ago, he'd been hiding behind a fake smile and a cocky attitude, always eager to never ever appear vulnerable and emotional. Several times she tried to make him open up a little bit – and failed every time to break down or at least crack the huge wall he built around his heart.

It seemed like an impossible task.

So, sadly, in the end, she had no actual idea who the real Dean Winchester even was.

Hell, probably Dean himself hadn't had the foggiest either.

But that obviously changed a lot since then. And Cassie can't help wondering how big Castiel's impact had been on that one.

He most definitely deserves a fucking medal, that's for sure.

Dean, in the meantime, started to eye her with confusion that turns rather quickly into a sheepish expression. "Ah shit, I totally forgot to tell you I'm married, right?" He rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry. I'm so used to people knowing or at least assuming as soon as they see us together …"

Cassie can't exactly blame them. Dean even looks at a simple picture like a lost idiot so deeply in love there's no way back. She can't even imagine how it'd be with them in the same room.

It'll probably be the grossest thing she ever witnessed and she feels envious already.

"He knows about me," she finds herself stating after a moment.

Dean blinks a few times. "Uh, what?"

"Castiel," she points out. "When I talked with him on the phone briefly. He knew exactly who I was as soon as I said my name."

There had been not even a split second of hesitation. Just recognition.

Dean just shrugs. "Sure. He knows everything about me."

And he still loves me anyway, is left unsaid.

Cassie's chest clenches uncomfortably at those words. She remembers the day when he told her the truth about his life, about his job. How keen he had been to share this with Cassie, to have no secrets between them.

And she thanked him by throwing him out.

But Castiel … he knows everything, most likely even the very dark episodes. The pain and the blood and the monsters. And instead of running away he stayed. At Dean's side.

To make a home and build a family.

To love him unconditionally.

Cassie feels some traitorous tears prickling behind her eyes. If there is one person on the planet who deserves this kind of devotion more than anyone, it's Dean.

Because he gave so much and received so little in return.

"Damn, now I really want to meet him."

Dean laughs, his eyes glinting. "I'm gonna drag him over here next time, how about that?"

His smile is easy and carefree as he once again glances at the picture in his hands, perhaps already imagining how this meeting will turn out. He rubs his thumb over the display, as if he's caressing Castiel's cheek, and the deep affection in his gaze is so prominent Cassie feels almost blinded by it.

She never thought she would ever see such an expression on Dean's face.

It seriously suits him.

"Tell me everything!" Cassie demands, nudging his shoulder excitedly. "How you met, how you fell in love …"

Dean's whole posture softens even more. "That's one hell of a long story, Cassie."

She grins. "Then let's hear it."

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And so Dean does.

It's a stunning tale about Heaven and Hell, angels and demons.

Friendship and trust and sacrifice.

Heartbreak and hope.

About a profound bond so strong not even the joined forces of the most powerful supernatural beings were able to destroy it.

A tale about two people finding each other despite the odds being against them over and over again.

And Cassie feels a bit like she's listening to the greatest love story every told.