Tattered Destiny || Strings of Fate - Part Two || Completed

Part Four

A fallen heart. Sunken wings. A lover lost.

Forgotten.

Dean Winchester had a choice to make. Tell Castiel everything and hope he would believe. Or ease him into the truth with a broken heart.

Dean Winchester had a choice.

He hated choices. Choices left room for error. Mistakes could be made. And Dean couldn't afford a mistake. An error. Not when it came to Castiel. Not his angel.

He let out a sigh. He let his hand drop from Castiel's shoulder and he took a step back.

"My name is Dean Winchester," he said, choosing his words carefully. "And I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition."

Words once familiar to the angel before him, Dean hoped would set a course for remembrance.

However memories were a fickle thing, Castiel's more so than others. And it would take more than a nudge to bring them back. But Castiel did remember a family, two girls and a son. Each grown, now long gone, and with children of their own. And a husband though his face and name he could not recall.

And Dean Winchester, angel of the lord, helped Castiel to find them again. The grandchildren welcomed him back with open arms and confused hearts. How could he not see that the one he was searching for was beside him? But quick glances told them not to say a word. Not yet.

And so they welcomed him back. And they spoke of times and family long since past. And Dean stayed beside him, a quiet comfort as Castiel mourned the children he had lost. And the life that had been stolen from him.

And it wasn't until a cold winter day spent around a fireplace with the family he had left that Castiel began to remember. A picture here and there of the angel by his side. A wedding. A kiss. A smile. All sprinkled between the pages of an old photo album one of the young ones had found hiding in the attic.

"Dean...." Castiel muttered to himself as his fingers traced over the pages. A thought. A question. "Why... why didn't you tell me?"