"Because it hurts."

"Epilogue."

A/N: EEEEeee! I can't believe all the PM's (and the reviews) I got asking for an Epilogue!.. I'm so glad that so many liked this story enough to want more!

So.. Yeah.. Sam's M.S.

I never said that Gabriel took that away.. In fact I kind of left that open ended on purpose in hopes there would be requests for an Epilogue..

I would like to thank everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed this story..

Thank you.. All of you.. So very, very, VERY much..

Special thanks to Frakking Toasters.. I hope you enjoy the Epilogue as much as you did the rest of the story!

~0~

Flagstaff is truly a magical place where dry nearly barren desert can give way to a snowcapped mountain that's covered in lush and thriving pine trees.. There's even a couple of waterfalls on that mountain.. And in the shadow of the mountain there's a nicely nestled, nearly secret little valley where a narrow waterfall cascades down and into the mouth of small creek.. And next to the left of this beautiful scenery are two cottages that look like something straight out of a storybook. One cottage has a garden full of blue, pink and purple blossoms in the front yard, while the other cottage's front yard has a nicely manicured lawn as its owner wasn't very keen on the crawly things that tend to like to hide amongst flowers more than they like to hide amongst the grass.

Sam had said that the crawly things are more interested in trapping insects in their intricate webs than they are in being a nuisance. Dean had said that anything with more than six legs is a nuisance just on principle.

Dean comes to his home smelling like gasoline and motor oil and Sam comes home to his smelling like old musty paper and ink. Once they've both cleaned up from their days of working honest jobs they meet out on their adjoining deck.. All of their dinners are cooked on the grill nowadays and Sam always brings a salad out that's made from vegetables that he grew himself in the vegetable garden that grows between his and Dean's houses… The food is healthier for Sam this way and.. well.. Dean wants to see fifty so he's laid off of the grease completely..

As they eat their meals and drink their well-earned, once a day only, beers, they talk… Mostly about the little things. All in all life has been good to them these past thirty-nine months.. Sure there's a few hiccups here and there.. But all in all things have been going great.

Selling off all of the combined assets that had once belonged to generations of the Campbell Family hadn't been easy as the properties had indeed rightfully belonged to them since they were the last of the Campbell Family line, but they had, had to be careful as Sam or Dean Winchester were still names that raised red flags in some places.

Once they had gotten the money for the Campbell Family properties, they used the money to start their new lives as Sam and Dean Singer..

And when they went to get their fresh start, their friends had gotten their own fresh starts as well.

Sheriff Jody Mills had helped Garth set up a home base in Bobby's old workshop back at his scrapyard until another house could be built in place of the one that had been burnt down.. And Dean had handed the keys of Rufus Turner's old cabin over to Benny, because an out of the way cabin was perfect for a vampire that'd rather not flirt with temptation.. Last Dean had heard, Benny had gotten a job at a butcher shop where he can get all the animal blood he needs to keep himself fed.

And Cass.. Heaven was still a chaotic mess.. Dean guessed it always would be..

But Cass had chosen not to have any part of it..

His cottage is on the other side of the creek, just across a tiny wooden bridge.. Cass' front yard is overgrown with weeds that Cass thinks are pretty because they have yellow and fluffy white blooms, no matter how many times Dean tells him that they're just dandelions and real flowers would look better. Sam said that it's Cass' yard so if he likes dandelions, then he should get to have dandelions.. Dean was willing to concede on the dandelions if Cass would just please get rid of the box hives in his back yard.. Honey Bees do not count as pets! Sam had laughed and said that keeping Honey Bees is good for the environment as the bees themselves help keep the plant life in the area thriving, plus Cass can make some extra money by selling the honey.. AND.. They don't have more than six legs.. So technically they don't fit into Dean's "nuisance" category. And Dean made an amendment to his earlier definition of a "nuisance" .. "Okay Anything with more than six legs or a stinger sticking out of its ass, is a nuisance, just on principle."..

Sam had shaken his head in fond exasperation as Streaky jumped up in his lap demanding to be petted with very insistent meowing.

And of course if one animal was getting attention the others could sense it and they had come out of the woodwork.. Ace thinking he's a lapdog when in reality he's almost as tall as Sam when he stands on his hind legs and Krypto who is a bit more polite than to just jump up and stick his nose in someone's face, nudging at Sam's elbow with his nose, and then finally Huey and Webby waddling up onto the deck quacking incessantly followed by six ducklings and four chicks that think they're ducks because Huey and Webby adopted them when they were still eggs.. So maybe Sam has a soft spot for animals and maybe Cass works at a shelter and likes to bring home strays that SAM winds up taking in?..

Sometimes the animal noises and the smells get on Dean's last nerve, not to mention how he has to check under the hood of the Impala every morning to make sure that the ducks haven't tried building a nest in between the radiator and the engine overnight.. again.. The ducklings could have wound up as omelets if Dean hadn't already been used to checking under the hood every morning to make sure that Streak hadn't climbed into the engine for a warm place to sleep.. BUT.. Most of the time just seeing Sam happy is worth sometimes feeling like he's living next to Noah's Ark.

He can remember their first Christmas in their new homes.. They had celebrated on the deck. Dean opening up his first present to find a tiny, mewling ball of yellow fluff and Sam had been fast acting with handing over a box of allergy meds before Dean could start sneezing. Streaky was "supposed" to have been his cat but had ended up liking to prowl around outside more than he liked being an inside lap cat. When he went to open his second present his heart had wound up in his throat as he unfolded the newspaper.. He had known what he would find.. He just hadn't realized it would affect him so much.. He clutched at his chest.. It had been feeling like something had been missing for YEARS and as he lifted it up by the leather cord and placed it back around his neck where it belonged, he had finally realized exactly what that something missing has been.. "Thanks Sammy.. I love it." He had whispered tearfully, echoing the same words as when he was twelve and had received it the first time as he pressed the bronze Amulet against his chest to gain the reassurance that its weight was real and solid.. He had missed wearing it and he was so damn happy that Sam had still loved him enough, even after EVERYTHING, to be willing to give it back to him instead of waiting to give it to someone else who could have been more worthy of that representation of Sam's love..

Then Sam had opened his first present and in the box was not one, but TWO very rambunctious puppies, one which was a White Labrador and the other which was a Black Great Dane. Sam had looked at Dean with one raised eyebrow.

"What?!.. Cass said that they'd already been at the shelter for five days and I had to rescue both of them."

"It's not that.. I'm glad you saved them.. But "Ace" and "Krypto"?" Sam had asked as he looked at the tags on their makeshift ribbon collars.

Dean had given a sheepish smile "What? The shelter had already named them.."

"Uh huh.. And they just so happened to have conveniently named them after two of the Super-Pets."

"Yeah.. Go figure.. Other people besides just me are into comic books." Dean had replied with a shrug.

"Your kitten wasn't already named when I picked him up from the same shelter."

"Huh.. Well, that's weird. Guess I get to actually name him myself then.".. Sam had given a nod and his mouth had quirked up in a mischievous grin when Dean had continued with "I'm thinking Streaky."

"Dean.." Sam had huffed out a laugh and rolled his eyes..

"What?.. It's not like I had much of a choice with those two already being named Krypto and Ace!.. I mean how weird would it be if our pets were named Krypto, Ace and Rambo?"

"Rambo?"

"Hell yeah, Rambo… But those two were already named.. and it just wouldn't make sense to not complete the Super-Pets team.."

"So, does that mean we're gonna get a horse, a monkey and a giant octopus?"

"Don't be silly… Where would we keep a giant octopus? Actually.. Now that I think about it.."

"We are not keeping a giant octopus in the creek."

"Awe, why not?"

The two of them had spent about an hour going back and forth over the many reasons why having a giant octopus would be awesome VS. the many reasons why having a giant octopus was a very bad idea, because first off it could EAT them or their other pets, and then there was the fact that Sam was nearly ninety-five percent certain that a giant octopus would need a salt water environment to survive and the creek was fresh water.

During that hour they had exchanged more gifts. Dean getting a BluRay Player and BluRay Boxsets for Star Wars, Back To The Future and Dirty Harry.. And Sam also getting a BluRay Player along with getting the whole bookset plus BluRay giftset for The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings and all of the "A Song of Ice and Fire." Series of books that were out, along with the first four Seasons of Game of Thrones on BluRay.

Later, Cass had joined them, bearing gifts of his own. All of the John Wayne movies on DVD, along with a boxset of Clint Eastwood's timeless Westerns on BluRay for Dean.. A wicker chest full of warm fleece throw blankets for Sam, along with a wicker basket full of fleece scarves, gloves and hats, to help Sam fight of the winter chill as the cold weather sometimes wreaked havoc on Sam's M.S. as his M.S. still tended to flare up every once in a while.

Sam had told Cass that he liked his presents very much, the cold weather did sometimes make his extremities get tingly as his M.S. liked to attack mostly when it was either too cold or too hot and finding a balance that kept his M.S. at bay was difficult.. BUT… The blankets, scarves, hats and gloves weren't Cass' ONLY presents to Sam..

When Sam had gone inside his house he had found a HUMONGOUS tree with all of the trimmings and lights and underneath was a mountain of gifts and his entire living room was decked out with lights and tinsel and boughs of holly and there was even stockings hanging from his mantel.

Dean remembers how Sam had slowly turned around to see both Cass and Dean smiling like lunatics.. It had been a surprise from the both of them.. Dean had distracted Sam so Cass could put up the decorations, because they had wanted to give Sam the kind of Christmas that he had never gotten to have with Mary.

They've had two Christmases since then and another is just around the corner (okay it's not for another four months, but it seems like just yesterday it was still June, it's funny how time flies, so Dean just knows that it'll already be Christmas again before he knows it..) and each Christmas has been as awesomely grand as the first and Dean and Cass and Sam have every intention to keep every future Christmas just as good..

Yeah there's a few hiccups here and there… There's days when Sam's M.S. makes his hands all tingly, and days when Dean worries that someone with a badge might have recognized him, and days when one of them will see something in the newspaper that USED to be "Their kind of thing", and there's days when Cass is torn between being an angel, being a soldier, being JUST Cass and being the person who was Sam's and Dean's mother..

But the three of them just do what everyone else does when a hiccup comes along.. They hold their breath and ride it out, until the hiccups are gone… Then they relax and breath and go on with life and live each moment to the fullest.. Because a hiccup can happen at any moment.. But life… Life is happening all the time and the three of them intend to live life in the here and now.. The three of them intend to live life happily ever after.. and they're not gonna let a few hiccups change that..

THE END

A/N: So.. I chose NOT to have Sam's M.S. just "magically" disappear.. No it isn't as bad as it was or as it could be.. but it is still there.. it is still present in Sam's, Dean's and Castiel's everyday lives.. something that will keep Cass and Dean from forgetting that they can't take Sam or Sam's generally good health (other than the occasional M.S. attack), for granted, ever again…