If This Was A Movie, You'd Be Here By Now

Chapter 3

Dean hesitates outside the front door, his outstretched hand just inches from the doorbell. Once he presses it, there's no backing out. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen, and he'll have to deal with it in real-time.

"Dean?" Sam says cautiously, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, 'course I am," Dean says. He drops his hand and looks up at his brother with a sigh. "I just — I don't want to mess this up, you know? What if it only went so well last time because we knew it wasn't going to last? What if, now that this is permanent, it just..."

"Falls apart?" Sam finishes for him. "You're right; it could fall apart. We might walk away and never want to come back. But we could also have our first ever normal, peaceful family dinner. We're not kids anymore, Dean. We've grown. They've grown."

"But what if we haven't grown enough?" Dean asks quietly.

Sam gives a small shrug. "We won't know until we try it."

Dean hesitates, but he knows Sam is right. He can't hide from his parents because he's afraid to ruin this perfect relationship that he's not even sure they actually have. He's just wanted this for so long -- practically his whole life -- and he's terrified that it won't be everything he's ever dreamed of.

"So," Sam says, "are you ready?"

Dean chuckles dryly. "Not at all." He runs a hand down his face. "But the show must go on, right?" He looks over at his brother and forces a smile that he knows Sam isn't going to believe. "Alright, let's --"

Wait a second.

Dean gently pushes his brother out of the way, gazing out past him at the road in the distance. Is this real? Is that...?

"What?" Sam asks quickly. "What is it?"

"It's --" Dean cuts himself off. He's not going to say it. He's not going to tell Sam that he sees Cas yet again; not after the last couple of times he said it and ended up looking like an idiot when there was no one there.

But he knows Cas is there. He's standing out in the open, no trees out there to cover him this time. He's looking right at them, like he wants them to see him. Like he wants to talk to them. Dean's not sure if that includes Sam -- it probably does -- but first, Dean wants to talk to him alone. They have a conversation to finish, and it's one that Sam has no part in.

"I'll be right back," Dean says, his gaze never straying from the angel.

"What --?"

Dean doesn't wait for him to finish, instead darting away from the house and down to the street. He's careful not the make the same mistake he made twice before; he watches Cas the whole way. The closer he gets, the more certain he is that it is Cas, a reassurance that he didn't have the two times prior. He can make out Cas's face now, a blank expression but eyes that follow Dean's every step.

It's Cas.

It's really Cas.

An ugly yellow car drives by, slowly traveling down the road and going right between Dean and Cas. When the car's out of the way, Cas is gone. Just like that.

"Oh, come on!" Dean groans, slamming his foot against the ground and kicking up a tuft of grass in the process. He was right there! He was right fucking there and now he's gone!

"Dean?"

Dean looks over at the car that's pulled over to the side of the road, ready to give the driver a peace of his mind. That plan changes when he sees a little redhead peak her face out of the driver's side window.