"His acuity never fails to amaze me, and at such a young age…" Castiel trailed off, staring down at the small child playing with his toys on the living room floor.

"Yeah?" Dean smiled at Cas without him noticing as he continued, "Well he takes after his dad…" Castiel's face broke out into a smile as he looked up at Dean.

"Yes well, while he might get that from me, he'll get his devilish good looks from his father's side, no doubt." Was Castiel's alacritous response.

Meanwhile the young boy tinkered with his toys; having gotten a hold of his father's duct tape, he was now adding one toy to the other, giving his toy truck an odd looking appendage.

Once he had deemed it properly enhanced, he got up onto his somewhat unstable legs, waddling towards Castiel; toy in hand. His small bare feet making soft padding sounds on their wooded floors as he held on tightly to the object in his hand careful not to drop it. When he reached his destination, he tapped Castiel on the knee making his want for attention known.

When Castiel turned to look down at the boy, he was once again caught with the same intense green eyes he'd just been staring into, and had become familiar with. Castiel had been right; their son looked just like Dean, even right down to his ridiculous, shimmering green eyes.

Castiel and Dean had been together for quite some time when Castiel turned to Dean one day and simply blurted out, "I want a child."

Dean stared for a moment; thought, then nodded in agreement, saying; "Yeah, I guess having a munchkin runnin' around would be nice." And just like that it had been decided, and pretty soon they were looking around for an agency that could supply them with a proper surrogate mother.

When it came down to it, Castiel insisted that the child be biologically Dean's because he wanted Dean's child. Dean tried to sway Castiel's decision, but failed and eventually agreed. The search for a fit surrogate mother turned out to be quite the challenge because they kept running into candidates that upon further background checks were found to be what Dean later dubbed "Psycho chicks looking for a short cut into finding guys who wanted kids."

Castiel was more concerned with using a woman who wasn't obtuse, torpid, or showed any kind of misanthropy. He was also concerned about anyone who might have any duplicitous intent. Finally they came across the perfect young woman named Anna, who was more than happy to help them out. After they'd found her it was pretty much smooth sailing from there, and the pregnancy was actually quite joyful for Dean and Castiel. They slowly watched as her belly grew, and their implicit excitement and gratitude made form in their over protection and pampering of Anna through her terms; they'd made her into a magnate.

Many times she had to forcefully tell them that she would be fine on her own and that they needed to go to their own home and get rest themselves saying that they'd be no good to the baby if they were dead tired. Eventually they agreed and abnegated their need to constantly be watching over her.

When Anna's water broke and the contractions started, the capriciousness they'd been expecting during her pregnancy finally came through. Anna did a 180, having been very calm and sweet the while time, but then when the first pains hit her she reached forward, grabbing Dean by the collar pulling him to her level on the couch, "Dean Winchester, you need to get your crap together because your baby in on his way NOW and if you don't stop freaking out, you'll be delivering your own kid." She spat out every word with a kind of loving forcefulness that gave Dean and Castiel a little scare. Anna still to this day has a sort of penitence for her behavior that early morning.

To Castiel, it all happened in a flash. When he thinks back to it, he just recalls a sense of gut-wrenching fear then total bliss. For Castiel it was months and months of work and preparation and emotional instability that led up to this one moment that would change both their lives and in his opinion it was totally worth it.

Dean had been freaking out the entire nine months in a good way, one that said 'I'm going to be a father and I want the world to know even if they couldn't care less.' It was a never ending celebration for the to-be father, but when they were sitting there in the maternity ward along with family and friends, Dean became deadly silent, with an inscrutable look upon his face.

Castiel had a moment of doubt; was this really happening? Is this what he wanted? Is this what Dean wanted? Was it too late to change their minds?

But before he could pipe up and ask Dean, the doctor came out, inviting them both into the room. The moment they saw the baby, their baby, Castiel could have slapped himself for having any kind of hint of a doubt at all. And judging by the look on Dean's face when they approached the bed, he wasn't regretting this either.

As soon as Anna handed the giant bundle of blankets that surrounded the little one wrapped in them, there was an instant affinity between the two as Dean smiled down at the baby.

Dean quietly turned to face Cas, his eyes never leaving the baby's.

In that single moment everything else melted away and everyone else in the room became unobtrusive.

"Well…" Cas paused for a moment. He wanted to pick the perfect name.

"I have a certain kind of predilection for the name Nicolae." Castiel could sense this child would have a lasting malleability on the two of them.

And just like that, Nicolae, or Nicky as Dean enjoyed calling him, took a hold of their lives in every aspect. Not a day went by when Dean couldn't wait to return home to spend time with the new addition to his family. Nicolae was also very welcomed by his uncle's Sam and Gabriel. They spent most of their time spoiling the little kid.

It's been 3 years since then, and Castiel still remembers all of it exceptionally well. And now here he was, sitting in this home he'd made with Dean and their child.

Nicolae gazed up at his father as he benevolently handed the modified toy up to his father, the smile on his young face never fading as he waited for Cas to accept it.

Nicolae glanced over to the other side over the kitchen table at Dean, almost as though he was asking if this was a good idea.

Dean winked and gave him a thumbs up as he betokened his approval of the action. Castiel gladly accepted it, smiling at it as he placed it on the table, then turned back and scooped Nicolae up into his arms giving him kiss on the check.

Castiel was so content with his life now, and he had Dean and Nicolae to impute for it.