A Place Where No One is Lost


Jack dreams.

Of a tan trench coat and eyes as blue as his own. The smile on his father's face the first time his mother placed Castiel's hand on her stomach and his father felt him kick. The smoke and fire as his father made The Bad Woman go away. The promises that his father made to his mother. ("I will do everything. I will give my life for your son. And I will raise him. And I will make him someone you will be proud of.") His father kissing her head and stroking her hair. ("Remember—paradise.")

But there are dreams and then there are dreams.

And Jack dreams of that first night in the corner of his nursery, asking for his father. Then, suddenly, Castiel is there, wrapping him up in his coat and telling him that he's here now and that he loves him and that he'll never leave him. He dreams of his father protecting him from the angry voices and the angry people. The kind hands and the patience in his father's voice as Castiel teaches him how to control his powers. The sturdiness of his father's shoulder as he leans against it while they watch cartoons together.

He dreams, not of the bunker, but of a house at the edge of a forest on the shore of a lake and a room in that house with his name painted on the wall. He dreams of his life there. He dreams of feeling safe as Castiel holds him in his arms and loved as Castiel tells him that he'd never hurt anyone and that he could never be evil.

Jack dreams of his father.

But the dream always ends.

He wakes up crying; longing for something he never got the chance to know.