A/N: Sooooo... I'm writing this way before I'm even done with the other chapters. The idea just won't leave me alone. I know it's sort of saccharine, but I like it, and it seriously will not get out of my head. Besides, it's not a perfect world. I'm not saying their lives turn all sugar and rainbows. Just showing a peaceful moment. And I won't say any more; you can just read it. Takes place after the last one, probably a long while. While I'm sad I'm done, I hope you enjoyed the ride. And if there are any hints of Dean/Castiel, sorry. They're unintentional. Although, the bit in last night's episode, when Cas says he fell for Dean... I know it had the fangirls squealing. Anyway, carry on and thanks for reading!

A few fluffy clouds rolled across the blue skies. Golden sunlight shone down on the verdant grasses, waving ever-so-slightly in the soft breeze. Somewhere, a bird chirped, and a squirrel darted from one tree to another. In the middle of the field, three men relaxed on the hood of a vintage car, fresh wash and wax making it shimmer in the sun.

If, even a week ago, someone had told them that they would be where they were now, they'd probably have told that person to get their head out of their ass and get back to fighting. But here they were, almost amazingly.

It was over. All of it, through and done with.

Well, not all of it. There was still plenty of evil out there to hunt, but nothing like what they'd faced in the last year. No legions of demons, no Lucifer, no Hell on Earth. The whole Apocalypse, come and gone, beaten down thanks to them and hunters like them.

Anything now was just cake, be it werewolves or vampires, chupacabras or freaking Bigfoot. Nothing could stop them now, not when they'd looked into the gaping maw of Hell, skies swirling black and seas burning with fire, and still fought Lucifer himself back into the Pit.

And now, just days after the final battle between Heaven and Hell was waged on Earth, the three champions of humanity sat, sipping beer.

"Pass me another, would ya?" Dean asked, dropping his empty into the grass in front of him. Castiel passed him a fresh bottle, still cold from the cooler, and he cracked it open, enjoying the faint hiss and thin roll of smoke that came afterward. Sam took a loud gulp of his own beer, while Cas gazed out into the woods they faced, eyes lost in the astonishing shades of green and brown that almost seemed unreal.

And yet it was so undeniably real. It seemed almost like a dream, a half-assed fantasy that they were all somehow trapped in, except that they weren't–they weren't sure how or why, but each of them had the same irrepressible feeling that this was real. Humankind was safe and back to bumbling along, nearly oblivious to how close they'd come to annihilation. Only the small hunter population, which had marginally grown since the onset of Armageddon a year ago, knew the truth; most of them were probably in states similar to the three men.

None of them said anything, choosing instead to silently bask in the seeming perfection of this day. For a few days, they'd hung around bigger cities, helping with some clean up and drawing out the last demon stragglers that hadn't been thrown back to Hell.

Late last night, though, Dean had started acting antsy, and Sam had suggested they get out of town for a while. Bobby and Ellen had agreed, so the three of them roared away from town under the bright moon, glowing stoic in the sky once again. Dean had driven for hours, no real destination in mind, dictated only by his whims and those of his passengers.

They'd stopped only once in the early afternoon, at a small town grocery store, to pick up some beer and a slice of pie for Dean, who was starving, and said so every few minutes until then. Another few minutes worth of driving had guided them here, to this grassy, secluded field.

And so they'd sat, relaxed on the hood under the high afternoon sun, for an hour or two now; none of them were really keeping time. It was the ultimate relief, knowing the end of the world had been averted, and they all felt better than they had since the beginning of the whole debacle. Hell, more than they had in years. Even Castiel felt a weight lifted, one he hadn't realized he'd been carrying. It was liberating.

It was just so peaceful. Not just out here, but in the world. No plagues, no natural disasters, nothing beyond the ordinary. They could just sit, drink and not worry about what town was burning to the ground while they were resting. Things were okay now, as okay as they were going to be.

"Pass me another?" Sam said, setting his empty on the ground. Cas acquiesced, handing the man on his right a cold beer before taking a prolonged gulp of his own. No one said much of anything, except to ask for more beer. None of them wanted to be the one who ended this time of repose, even if they knew it couldn't last forever.

One question hung in the air, one that none of them had wanted to address just yet. The day was too perfect to even consider the future. The most of their worries now was when the booze would run out, and they'd have to drive back into town for more, or maybe some food. But the words rested heavily in their minds, and finally, the one with the least developed ability to suppress his thoughts voiced the silent question.

"What now?" Castiel asked, not looking to his friends seated on either side of him. He was met with only swigs of beer and distant stares into the surrounding nature; the Winchester men were either ignoring him or choosing the right words.

"I have no idea," Dean replied after a long minute. "More hunting, I guess." Castiel, for all his time among humans, for having so little grace that he practically was a human, didn't seem to comprehend his choice.

"You're going to continue, knowing that you could quit now, live a normal life and there would be ten more hunters stepping up to take your place?" the angel inquired, actually curious. Over the past few months, the guy had impressed Dean time and time again, whether with amazing hunting prowess or how human he had slowly become. Now, he could almost pass for any other guy on the street, if it wasn't for that slight celestial vibe he still gave off.

"Why wouldn't we continue hunting?" Sam questioned back. "It's what we're good at."

"Besides," Dean shrugged, "I'm pretty sure we're all legally dead. Setting up new lives would be a bitch." Cas nodded, accepting these arguments, though he already had his own formed.

"But we fought all the demons back into Hell, and the gates were sealed," the angel remarked. Sam looked to him, shrugging.

"They'll find a way through. They always do." He paused for a minute, considering what else he wanted to say; his eyebrows knitted together in a way that Dean had always found funny. "Besides, demons are the only things that are out of our way for a while."

"There's still plenty of other stuff to hunt, man. Don't think you're getting off that easily," Dean added, tipping his beer toward the angel to accent his point; a thought seemed to strike him at the same time. "And what about you? Now that the big war is over, what do you have to do? Back to Heaven, sent on another mission, what?"

The possibilities flooded the elder Winchester's mind, making him frown, and he looked off into the forest again; as weird as it was to admit it, he'd really started liking the guy in the two years they'd known each other. Not just because he'd pulled him from Hell, but because he actually liked him. Like a friend. He didn't trust many people with his life–he could probably count the living ones on one hand–but Cas ranked high among them, just under Sam and Bobby. He started imagining what life would be like if the angel left, and realized that he would actually miss the guy.

Castiel was apparently as uneasy with those ideas as Dean was, if his matching frown was any indication.

"I don't have orders of the sort," he stated matter-of-factly, "and if I did, I would ignore them." Both Dean and Sam perked up at this, though Sam was probably more interested in the idea of Cas rebelling once again, so soon after having his full grace reinstated. Dean just wanted the guy to elaborate. When he noticed their similar reactions, Castiel grinned, a look that had taken Dean some time to get used to. "I actually received revelation last night."

"And...?" Dean pushed, trying to hate the angel for leaving them in anticipation and failing spectacularly. Cas' grin broadened; he was obviously enjoying Dean's anxiousness.

"I've been offered the opportunity to stay on Earth for as long as I wish." A wave of relief flooded over Dean, and the sun seemed to grow a little brighter with this information. Seconds later, a dark new thought enveloped him, and the smile he didn't realize he'd had fell.

"That means no Heavenly interference, right? No ass-reaming back to the Pearly Gates?" he asked, words suddenly guarded. Cas simply shook his head.

"Barring another cosmic war, no. I'll only be in contact with Heaven if I want to be." A brilliant smile broke across Dean's face; there weren't many people in his life that he could consistently count on, and he was glad to count the angel as one of them.

"That's great, man," Sam replied, slapping Cas on the back in a friendly way. Even he had come to like Cas over the course of the year, when they'd had many spiritual discussions that made Dean's brain hurt. It didn't hurt that Cas had lightened up on the kid considerably after his partial Fall. "It's been great having you around."

"I'm glad you say that," Cas said, a little more hesitant now, "because I was wondering if you would be okay with me traveling with you during my time on Earth." He sounded almost like a kid now, asking his parents for a huge favor.

Dean found himself chuckling–this was just too funny. An angel asking Sam and Dean Winchester if he could travel with them? Before Lucifer was free, he'd just popped in and joined them. During the war, he'd been under their protection, a renegade angel who was only allowed to live to ensure Dean's tenuous cooperation. If that wasn't enough proof that they liked him enough to want him around, Dean didn't know what was.

"Duh, dude, you can come along with us. Like we'd turn you away," he said amusedly, mouth curving into his trademark smirk. "You're practically part of the family now." Sam nodded in agreement, drawing a welcome smile from the angel, one that had rarely donned his face during the long year. Just seeing him happy made Dean happy, and likewise for Sam.

"Thank you," Cas said, eyes glittering with gratitude. With a shrug, Dean brushed it off before it turned into a chick flick moment. He finished off his beer, breeze ruffling his collar, and dropped the empty next to his others. Without a word, Castiel handed him another, which he took with a smile.

For a while longer, they were quiet, the last big question breached. They returned to soaking up the peace, short-lived as they knew it would be. The return to the hunting life didn't loom over them; in fact, Sam and Dean almost looked forward to going back. It was the life they'd always led, the life they were always going to lead, and frankly, they were good at it. Hell, they even enjoyed it sometimes. It wasn't perfect, but nothing was, not even Heaven.

As for Cas, he'd never lived the easy side of hunting before. His time on Earth had always been preoccupied with preventing, then putting down, the rise of Lucifer. This would be all new to him–sure, he knew most of the tricks just by being around the Winchesters for two years, and he'd helped them on a lot of hunts in the past year, but there were still a lot of things he'd never faced. He'd never experienced a hunt that didn't have the pressure of the world resting on it, for one thing. The way he'd performed in hunts and battles recently, Dean had no doubt that he'd adapt to the lifestyle easily.

"So that's it?" Cas asked, breaking the silence. He looked to the sky, as if the answer lay there, and took a swig of his beer. Sam and Dean shrugged in a moment of brotherly unison.

"Yeah, I guess," Sam said, a grin breaking out on his face. "That's so weird to think about, you know? It's all over. We can just go back to saving people, hunting things -"

"The family business?" Dean interjected, a smirk adorning his face. Sam matched him with a grin, one so carefree that it was almost like this whole 'end of days' thing had never happened.

"Yeah," the kid replied, chuckling. Castiel smiled, too.

"I think that sounds great," he said, and finished his beer. Dropping the bottle into his small pile, he leaned over to get another, but sat back up with empty hands. "Guys? We're out."

"That's fine," the elder Winchester said with a shrug; he finished off his last beer, hopped off the Impala's hood and grabbed his empties. "Guess that means it's time to get some lunch."

"Sounds like a plan," Sam said with an easy smile, following his brother off the car. Cas did the same, climbing into the backseat of the Impala with practiced ease. During their year's worth travels, the angel had taken the backseat as his own, fitting so easily back there that it was like he'd been there his whole life.

Sam was close behind, dropping into the front. There was an ease in all his movements that Dean couldn't help but note. It hadn't been an easy year for the brothers–they'd dealt with a lot of issues as they forged on. They never let it get in the way of the hunt, but it always lingered in the back of their minds. Rebuilding what they'd had before didn't happen overnight. Far from it, actually, but Sam had slowly proved himself. Dean was proud to once again say Sam was his brother.

The oldest Winchester slid in last, pushing his keys in and turning the engine over. He put his baby in gear and pulled away, the open road sprawling out before them. The familiar rumble of the engine resonated in his chest; paired with the sight of Sam in the passenger seat and Castiel in the back, a fresh grin grew on his face. He slid a cassette into the tape deck, allowing the opening chords of a classic AC/DC song to blend with the rest of the idyllic noise.

For the first time in a long time, Dean Winchester was content.