#yesterday while making lunch with my mom i was seized by this vision and hastily drafted this on my phone while trying not to burn anything

[ghosthorse]

Leviathan!Cas being a slow burn big bad over the course of the first half of season 7 and having the confrontation with him be the mid-season finale. Leviathan stuff still happening in the first half of the season but Cas struggling for control while refusing to admit to Dean that anything is wrong because if he admits it then he has to admit he betrayed Dean for nothing. Dean, increasingly desperate, trying to convince cosmic allies to help. He begs Death to stop Cas somehow and when that last hail mary fails he binds Death. Cas finally admitting he needs help but Dean has spent months stewing in anger and doesn't want to forgive him. Cas dies and Dean is devastated because now he will never get to tell him. Dean hearing rumors about a healer and taking off to track him down, because he's desperate to find Cas. No one else believes this is Cas, they keep saying it's probably just some rogue angel who fled heaven's civil war. Dean spends weeks on the trail, making no progress on finding Cas or finding Dick until Charlie. He tells her a bit about Cas and her parting gift to him is where to find the healer. Dean follows her directions and sees Cas, and finally, FINALLY, he can tell him. But Cas doesn't remember him, and while Dean was looking for him he found Meg. At first Dean thinks Cas is being manipulated and lied to, but no, he knows Meg is a demon and has all along. He tells Dean that he recognized her true face and THAT hurts. It's like he betrayed Dean all over again but this time he didn't even do it on purpose, he wasn't even thinking about Dean. They're all on the run from the Leviathans, but Cas doesn't get his memory back right away. They finally find the magic bone (lol) and touching it counteracts some Leviathan magic or some shit. Cas gets his memory back. It's the night before their attack on the Leviathans. Cas has been avoiding Dean but he finds him and tries to apologize. He says I saw you raking leaves and you were finally at peace. I didn't want to disrupt that but instead of keeping you safe I hurt you and I put you in harm's way. I thought I was doing the right thing ny trying to handle it on my own but I was being selfish by not asking for help. I'm not sure what we could have done differently but at least we would have been together. And Dean says I don't know what the right move there was but I shouldn't have tried to boss you around and act like I had all the answers when I did find out because I was in over my head too. Dean tells him he forgives him. That Cas leaving him and going behind his back and refusing to talk to him made him so mad he couldn't tell him before. That watching Cas die before he could tell him that was worse than any of the months that led up to that moment. And that he doesn't want to leave anything unsaid again if they might die tomorrow. Cas says well in that case I should tell you that I love you.

They kill Dick and end up in Purgatory. Dean says well we beat these fuckers once on our turf. We can do it again on theirs. He takes Cas' hand and says together this time?