What a good idea this was, inspired by your shower! Loved the tracking of Dean and the slow education of Cas...

Your trademark gems of lovely imagery as usual enrich the piece - not too many so they distract from the story but enough to give us a smile every now and then - like the washing machine analogy at the start, the stickle bricks and lines like this "his words are smacked over the head and stolen away by the noise"

Good stuff as usual!

Really liked the flashback of Bobby's memories and the idea of Dean and a dog - I've read a couple of other FF's that have explored that idea and it really is appealing.  I also enjoyed the frat boy chapter and Dean's reawakening (albeit temporary!).

Poor old Cas, trapped again.  There was me thinking you'd be wrapping this up and instead there's more to come - bargain!  Is this where we find out that Dean can fly......??


Author's Response: Cas really needs to start paying attention, doesn't he?  I thought maybe I should have just stopped at the last chapter but that wasn't what I had planned from the start so I'm trudging on.  Maybe two more chapters....possibly three.

Touching... Cas was strong in this one, especially from Sam's view point.  Your own faith is evident here.

Author's Response: Thanks AMB.  I'm glad it's evident because I've not been doing a very good job showing it elsewhere.....

Spooky - I nearly wrote one very like this with Sam asking for a Mom for Dean, then changed my mind!!

By the way - yours is much better than the one I had in mind....!!

I like the echo at the end of the waiting by the side of the road in The End ... nice.

And yes, this is our Cas alright!

Love Bobby, loved this - I can hear his voice and anger at the injustice of it all comes through...give our Bobby his legs back!

Author's Response:

Amber,

Thank you so much. Glad you liked it.

Ash

It is nice to have someone give Dean even a few brief moments of peace.  AU? Nah.  I think this could fill a gap in the middle of the story where we stand right now.

I don't know if I agree with the whole idea of destiny, but I can live with Azazel having many strings to his bow....which is different!

Like Dean, you have a sure touch when it comes to describing the boys' relationship....I loved the WISNB episode, one of my favourites and this was a great follow up on how Dean must have been feeling with all those deep seated insecurities of his... Excellent!

Author's Response:

Oh, my - thank you so very much. 

It was a great episode, wasn't it? Poor Dean came out of that looking so fragile at the end, like he was just barely holding it together. And I loved Sam's gentle handling of his brother in that scene. It really showed the love he has for his big bro, and the value he puts on Dean's place in his life. 

And that lingering angst worked really well for the story. So chuffed that you enjoyed it so much. Thank you.

Jules

I wasn't sure at the beginning about the con idea because it doesn't really fit with the current reconciled brothers, but by the end it really worked and the whole idea of the born human archangel - neat!  I am actually now wondering a bit if they might actually be thinking along similar lines - though perhaps that would negate Kripke's thing about the humanity of the boys...mmm something new to think about, thanks for that!!

Author's Response:

I'm glad it worked for you.  As for the humanity of the guys, if Dean is born human, he's human, no matter what he was before he was born.  Big debates going on over that one, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

lostatc

Very powerfully written - I especially liked describing Dean's battered face as a canvas of brutality, and the telling line at the end that says so much about Sam's desperation and about Dean's restless personality "I wish my brother would move, because I can't stand to see him so still."

Author's Response:

Thank you very much for your kind words and thoughts. I always love to hear which parts of my work resonate with readers, so I appreciate your review very much.

I so agree with you that movement is very much a part of Dean. I was pretty sure that Dean's prolonged stillness would hit Sam big time and I knew I would end his wish list with this observation. Great that you saw this too.

Your shiny stars are lovely - thanks for sprinkling them.

The first part typos were very distracting (eg it was no wonder they found their meal hard to digest when they were eating stakes instead of steaks...!) which was a shame as the idea was a good one, and the second half much better written. 

I notice you didn't address the idea of Dean as torturer as well as tortured...one for another time eh.