"Dean, teenagers are angst-ridden, maybe the best course of action is to leave her to her own devices."

"For an angel of the lord, someone's sounding pretty terrified."

Claire rolled her eyes, while Alex snorted, shooting the door a withering look.

"Do they think we can't hear them?" Alex pondered.

"I'm one-hundred percent sure that they do." Claire slouched back, fixing her eyes on her torn jeans. "Frankly, I don't give a damn."

Alex, fairly dubious, kicked off her sneakers and sat cross-legged on the blonde's bed. Claire swore she heard a murmured "bullshit."

The door swung open, and Dean and Cas emerged from the hallway- was Dean pushing Cas forwards? The sight made Claire want to laugh, but that would get in the way of the icy exterior she was supposed to be projecting.

"Claire." Cas greeted. "It's nice to see you."

And, the funny part was that Claire knew he meant it; the new Castiel cared. Which was just off-putting. It was so much easier to hate the dick who had rudely taken her father from her, than this doof with an perpetually lovesick expression on his face.

"Yeah. Stellar."

Alex shoved her, giving Claire a pointed look. Oh, like she was any better. However, Claire repressed the urge to bring up yesterday's quarrel with Jody, over the brunette's date with Jonah Simmons.

(That prick wasn't good enough for Alex, anyways.)

Dean gave them an awkward look, and Claire could feel him mentally retreating. "I should probably leave you two-"

"No." Cas replied, firmly, and Dean clamped his mouth shut.

Alex chuckled. "Dude, you're so whipped."

Dean didn't seem to appreciate that, but Cas held up a hand- further proving Alex's point.

"So, how have you been settling in?" He asked, tilting his head in that weird way he did.

"Fine." Claire provided.

"Okay, kid, cut it with the monosyllables- we just wanna know how you're doing." Dean chimed in, irked, and oh, how satisfying it was, getting under his skin. "Alright?"

"Sure."

Dean's eyes narrowed, and Claire merely quirked her eyebrow. Alex coughed, making a move to stand up.

"Oh, no, you don't." Claire protested, not taking her eyes away from Dean. Alex sighed, dramatically, before flopping back down.

"And I'm the one who's whipped?" Dean teased, and Alex cracked a grin at that.

"What can you do?"

The tension dissolved ever-so-slightly, and Castiel carefully set himself in front of Claire. "I just wanted you to know that I am always here, for you."

"You don't have to be my father, Castiel." Claire grumbled.

"I want to be." Cas pressed. "Maybe not a father, per se, but more of a father figure. Being present in your life is important to me, Claire."

The blonde gave him an odd look- a medley of touched and completely freaked out. Nobody had cared about her, for years, and suddenly she had a handful of concerned adults and a way-too-friendly teen on her side. "So.. you didn't just drop me off here?" She said, slowly. "You wanna stay in touch?"

"If you would allow me to."

Claire chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, whatever." She finally answered, smiling softly.

"That's as close to an I love you as you're gonna get from her." Alex snarked, earning her a pillow to the face.

Castiel's face broke out into a grin, and Claire smirked, catching sight of Dean gazing at Cas like he had hung his fucking moon.

"You know, it does sound pretty nifty." Claire nodded. "My two dads and uncle moose."

"Am I not a part of your demented sitcom?" Alex gave her a faux-hurt look. "Claire, after all I've done for you."

Claire waved her off. "You don't want this. Sitcoms always end badly, it's like a rule."

"I don't know," Sam popped his head in, ridiculously long hair swooshing to the side. "Aren't those sappy rom-coms pretty solid on their endings?"

"Touché. We should come up with a working title." Claire mused.

"What does one call the love story between a stubborn dumbass and a literal angel with the social iq of a potted plant?" Alex questioned. "Would anyone even watch this?

Dean and Cas both seemed incredibly offended. "I'll have you know that the nature of our relationship was explored in act two!" Dean retorted, earning him a befuddled look from everyone except for Sam- who was practically rolling on the floor with laughter.

Claire grinned. Maybe she could get used to this.

A/N:

requested by clairebrovak on tumblr.

this is the result of me being dadstiel + claire novak + clairealex trash, and I think it came out pretty good.

tumblr: heavensclaire

ao3: silverstaineddreams