A/N: This was meant to be a light story that ended up with a fair amount of heart in it, too. A friend and I took a trip to Las Vegas, and afterward she commissioned this story: a saga in six parts, following the Winchesters and Castiel on one night's trip through Las Vegas.

This story has recently been substantially edited so that it fits into the mild AU series I've been working on, the Other Guardian 'verse. In chronology it goes after One Step Closer and before Darkness Rising.

There is a more detailed note about the 'verse in my profile, but in brief: after Dean is raised from Hell by Castiel, an entire year passes before the Lilith rises and the seals start to break. During that time, Castiel is assigned to watch over the Winchesters, and finds himself growing closer and closer to Sam

Cas and Sam centric, pre-slash, with plenty of Dean thrown in as well. Some swearing. Set during an alternate Season 4.

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Looking for Love in Las Vegas

Epilogue: Midnight

Two minutes after midnight, Castiel sat next to Sam at the top of the Eiffel Tower, their legs hanging over the edge and dangling in the thin desert air. Beneath them, the Bellagio fountains were dancing again.

Castiel glanced at Sam, his serene expression and the glittering reflection of the city in his eyes, and then down at his hand, laid flat against the steel ledge. Sam's hand was pressed over his, and his own was all but invisible underneath it; only his knuckles showed through the gaps in Sam's long fingers. Castiel decided it was a feeling he liked very much, the warmth of their hands pressed together.

In the distance, where the mountains would have broken the horizon, a plane was bisecting the sky, the only mark of its presence the white trail flaring in its wake and the red and blue lights blinking on its wings. Castiel watched it until Sam's voice called him back.

"This is the last show."

Castiel turned to him, and found that Sam was still looking down at the fountains, following every glowing arc with his eyes. The warped echoes of The Star Spangled Banner drifted up to them on the breeze. Sam shrugged under his lightweight jacket.

"They end it at midnight. So we'll be going back, I guess?"

Castiel pressed his hand down into the metal ledge and wondered how long the impression would stay on his fingertips.

"Only if you wish to," he said.

Sam tore himself away from the world below to meet the angel's eyes. Castiel held his gaze evenly. A smile crossed Sam's face and lingered at the corners of his mouth; he didn't say anything, but as he turned back to the city he leaned into Castiel's shoulder, the breeze stealing a tiny laugh from his lips.

Castiel doubted he would ever understand love. But he had found something in Las Vegas, and sitting there watching the midnight fountains, with Sam's hand over his, it felt like enough. Sam breathed in and Castiel looked out into the black, out over the skyline of a city in constant motion, and without thought he counted them all—every light in the darkness.