#angel second

When John and Mary were newlyweds and Mary was pregnant with Dean, the angel Castiel appeared to Mary in a dream and told her that over the next few years she would give birth to two very special children; children that would fight for the greater good all their lives.  And Castiel told her that God had called upon he himself to be their guardian who would love and protect them even when she and John were unable to do so.  Mary didn't actually believe in angels, but as a mother always concerned for her children she loved the idea so much that she started telling it to Dean as a bedtime story, so that he would always feel safe in a world she'd never admit out loud she knew was anything but.  And now, decades later, Dean tells the story with a sad fondness, never realizing that one angel in particular has been watching over him since before he was even born.  That a more profound bond had been written in the stars millennia before his jaded childhood and tragic adulthood.  And that in the moments of the toughest struggles, there was an unseen hand on his shoulder which finally manifested physically after the toughest trial of all. And while that handprint eventually faded, its meaning remains:  the hand of God is on the brothers Winchester, and one dedicated soldier remains ever at their sides.