The day was long and boring, same old things happening at work each day. But Dean liked it this way, he knew what to expect and what he had to do each and every day. That pattern was soothing to him, every once and a while something unexpected came up, but he didn't mind. At the end of the day, he would come home to a loving boyfriend, children and on some occasions, even pie.
It's been about four years now since Dean had met Castiel—more like almost ran over him. It was strange meeting him, like it was meant to be. Dean had been driving home from the office when there was this man just lying in the road bleeding and unconscious. In the end Dean had taken home the injured man and cared for him. At the time, all he knew was that his name was Castiel, and that he had no memory of a home, friends or family. It was a bit strange, but as time went by Castiel learned to call Dean's home his home, and soon their friendship changed into what it was now.
Dean couldn't just ignore when he had feelings for Cas, or even when Castiel had feelings for him—oh that was a funny memory, when he had told Dean that he had these strange feelings towards him, that when he looked at him his stomach would get all tight, and his thoughts would even turn dirty at times—he had to ask what this meant. Man, did Dean have a good day with that.
Oh, that memory always made Dean smile; he was so happy to have Castiel in his life.
And about two and a half years after that, a couple of orphans showed up at their door step: Arriane and Adam. They soon adopted them both; being twins how could they not take the two of them? And they were the light of their lives. Cas really learned a lot about being a parent, Dean having Bobby and Ellen as his own to look up too.
Dean hated to admit that John wasn't much of a farther. When he was, he was always there for Dean when Bobby called, and in the beginning it was just him, John and Sam, after his real mother died... In the end, Bobby talked John into letting him have Dean, taking a weight off of him. And soon after Bobby met Ellen, who had a daughter named Jo. He lived with both of them; until it was time for him to move on into adulthood. Every so often, as a kid, Dean would see Sam, but not as much as he'd like to: Sam was his family, blood family, and they shared something, even if family wasn't just blood...
But now, Dean doesn't really get to see Sam or John much either—once in a while they stop by, have a meal with them, and then leave. Bobby and Ellen check in every week as well, if they can't call. Same with Jo when she has the time to—she just loves poking fun of her gay brother and brother in-law.
"Cas, baby, I'm home!" Dean called as he stepped in, heading for the kitchen. "Did you get that pie today?" Pie must be in this household.
"Of course I did, Dean. You should try eating healthier foods though!" Castiel told him from the stove. To everyone's surprise, Castiel was one hell of a cook.
"Yeah, yeah, so you say. But you don't see me getting fat over pie—I work hard to keep my body." Dean said with an excuse, well, he did work out really oftenly.
"Arriane and Adam are at the Olsen's playing with Ann and Sarah: we're having them over for dinner tonight." Castiel informed him. Oh, great, neighbors over? Well, Nicole and Nate where good friends of them, always fun to hang around.
"Great," Dean muttered, holding the pie off till later. "What time are they coming over?"
"Soon," was all Dean was given.
"So this means that we've got some time for ourselves then," Dean purred in Castiel's ear, suddenly so close to him. Castiel felt the warmth that Dean gave off, his breath on his neck and the arm around his waist. His heart just shot straight up, heck; Cas even felt a little dizzy now. Having Dean so close to him always made him feel like he had butterflies in his stomach, as Dean once put it—but he loved the feeling because it made him so happy.
Dean pulled him even close. "Because you know, we never get time to ourselves anymore—I miss you," his voice said so calmly, yet there was a mischievous tone to it.
"I know what you mean, Dean," Cas said, throwing his arms around Dean's neck.
Dean leaned in; their lips so close to each other now. "Cas, I love you so much," he said before kissing him softly, so gentle, like if Cas would break any moment.
"Are we interrupting something here?" laughed Nicole. Dean and Castiel jumped back like cats being startled.
"Nicole!" Dean hissed, "What do you think you're doing here—without knocking!" you could tell he was embarrassed, and Castiel was as well, hiding his blushing face as he worked on the salad.
"Well, your boyfriend here invited us over for dinner, and we have your Rugrats—you know, we could take them off your hands for the night if you wanted." She teased. Nicole was such a good friend of theirs, and she didn't even care that they were gay; she treated them like any other person.
"Haha, we might have to take you up on that offer sooner or later," Dean laughed back, winking at Cas who only focused more on the food. He was always so cute when he was embarrassed.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Arriane came running towards Castiel, Adam towards Dean—you could tell who they favored more.
Arriane looked so much like his mother, Mary, like a spitting image, Dean had to wonder how she was not his child: bright long blonde hair, that at anytime looked like curls. And Adam had the same bright blonde. Of course they where twins, the only difference about them where their eyes: Adam having shinning blue eyes, and Arriane having chocolate brown eyes. They each had such a loveable face! Dean was so happy that they had found these two orphans; they were the love of his life, as well as Cas's.
"Arrie cheated! She cheated, Daddy!" Adam claimed, while Arriane claimed the same thing about Adam to Cas.
"Daddy, I should have won that game!" Arriane said to father, pulling on his pant legs, looking up to him with bright blue eyes.
"But then she cheated, Daddy! I should have won!" Adam said opposite, hugging onto Dean.
Dean's eyes glanced to Nicole and Nate questioning what happened—they just shrugged.
"Well," Dean started, kneeling down to the children, "this just means we'll have to play another game to see who really wins," he told them, but whispered to Adam, "but my money's on you, Adam," he said, chuckling.
"Don't worry, babe, I'm sure you'll beat Adam," Castiel encouraged Arriane—the children both gave their parents a bright eyed look, before glancing at each other and sticking their tongue. Dean and Castiel just laughed before the kids ran off to find Ann and Sarah.
"You two amaze me with how good you can be with kids," Nate commented, getting a beer for the fridge, handing one to Dean as well.
"Ha, you just gotta have it in you," Dean chuckled.
"And Dean here knows just what to say. I learned a lot from him," Cas piped in.
"Anyhow, I'm going to change into something more comfortable. You three have fun now," Dean said before leaving.
And the night went on. Dinner with Nicole and Nate, Ann and Sarah and Arriane and Adam being a laugh at the table, their conversations and little flights got everyone to laugh: kids were such a joy at this age, then came the teenage years... Oh, Dean was not looking forwards to those years with Arriane. She was a girl, and even though Dean had a sister when growing up, Jo was much like a tomboy; Arriane was a girly girl, that was for sure.
"Oh, Adam, my man!" Dean bumped his shoulder with a laugh. He had just watched Adam give Ann a little peck on the check before they left. "Looks like someone's got a little girlfriend! You know, back in my day—"
"Dad! Sh-shut up! It's not like that!" Adam stammered, blushing before running off. Dean just laughed, Castiel giving him a questionable look.
"What? Our kid is in love, as a dad, I've got the right to give him a hard time!" he explained.
"What makes you have the right to do that?" Cas asked, starting on the dishes.
Dean moved over to help him. "You know, parents aren't only here to care and make sure they're kids grow up right, we've got the right to embarrass them, to tease them, have a good time with them... Like, ah... Friends do," he explained.
Dean honestly loved Castiel. How he could be so clueless to so many things, and how he questioned everything still.
"And as they get older, they get more of their own mind, more free will," he continued as he dried the dishes, "so that gives us a little room to be friends with them, but we're still their parents so we've gotta set the rules for them too. You get it?"
"I kind of do... So as they grow older, more friends with them...? But still a parent..." Cas glanced down into the water, thinking.
"It's really not that hard to get—and by eighteen they'll be outta here and we'll be clueless what to do with our time." He laughed. "Well, there are a few things I could think that we could do," he nudged Case a little, giving a little wink. Castiel blushed deeper.
"Dean, by then we'll be in our late thirty—"
"That's not gonna stop me from loving you, Cas." Nothing would ever stop him from loving Castiel—he would honestly do anything for him and Cas the same. "Because," Dean stopped being serious, which was rare for him. "You mean the world to me, as well as Arrie and Adam; I would give the world just to keep you and them safe. You guys are my world."
"Dean…." Castiel was quite for the moment, deep in thought. "When I woke up here, on the road, and you took me, I didn't know what to expect being here. I didn't know who I was, or where I was, I didn't know who you were as well, and you the same. But out of the kindness in your heart, you took me in and cared for me like I was family…. And I'm glad you did, Dean, it makes me so happy to be here with you, and even the kids. I know there's nothing in the world that would stop me from being with you, and if there is I'll fight for you, as well. You are what makes me happy each and every morning, Dean."
There was a smile on Dean's face, a smile so wide that you had to question if it hurt him. "Cas…." He moved in holding him softly and kissing him passionately like there was no tomorrow.
It was later that night that Adam and Arriane had walked sleeply into their bedroom, waking the both of them up from slumber.
"Daddy…" Arriane mumbled in that tired voice. Her and Adam where standing side by side, obviously tired.
"The neighbors, they keep flashing these lights…" Adam explained, already crawling into their bed.
"And they won't turn them off…. And…it's been going on for a long time…" Arriane followed after Adam, climbing into bed next to Castiel.
Cas and Dean exchanged a questionable look: in their own bedroom there were faint flashes of blue and red lighting the room dimly.
"Dean…" Cas said, a concerned note to his voice.
"Don't worry about it, Cas—stay with them, I'll find out what's going on." Dean held a serious, stern tone to his voice as he left the room, taking one last look at Castiel who had his arms around a tired Arriane and Adam telling them nothing was going to hurt them, to sleep.
Outside a crowd was gathered around the Olsen's home. Lining the street were two police cars as well as two ambulances. The scene was nothing you'd see in neighborhood like this…something out of a movie. Body bags being carried out of the front door… Dean stood in horror, questioning what he was looking at.
"Hey… What's going on here?" he joined the crowd.
"Looks like he ended up slaughtering his family like pigs… made his dear daughter watch… Such a sick bastard he is: and I thought they were such a nice family…" the woman shook her head in disgust. "Guy must have got drunk or something, ended up going mad."
That wasn't right: Nate wasn't one to drink till he was drunk—in fact he barely ever got drunk. Eyes glanced to Nate, who was being forced into the back of a police car, crying, shouting and screaming Nicole's name: he looked to be in so much pain…. That wasn't the face of a murder, was it? Dean didn't think so—but then again it wasn't like he knew everything about Nate, there were things everyone hid from their friends, even close friends…
"Yea, mad… I can't believe we just had them over for dinner a few hours ago…." Dean muttered. He was the first to leave the crowd.
Adam and Arriane were asleep on their bed when he returned, Castiel sitting on the side of the bed, watching over them like an angel. It was weird, for some reason Cas didn't sleep: it wasn't like he didn't want to sleep, but he couldn't sleep. He'd spend the night reading, or laying there with Dean—he found comfort in that action.
"Dean, what's going on?" Cas asked him, closing the door to the bedroom.
"It's… Nate… Cas, Nicole and Ann are dead," he informed the other in disbelief. "I mean, I don't know what happened to him, but… they were carrying two body bags out… Cas, it was horrible…" Dean's eyes were staring at the floor, reliving the horror he had seen: he had just seen the people in those bags alive and well a few hours ago…
"My God," Castiel muttered. "And Sarah?"
"Someone said that… that Nate made her watch the whole thing…. But she looked, physically okay…."
"Her poor soul: it must be so torn," Castiel murmured: he couldn't believe what Dean had told him…Nate was a kind person, someone who wouldn't even hurt a fly let alone his family. He was good natured and had good intent…. "I just can't believe he would do something like that…"
"Nor can I…" Dean took a breath, getting off the topic: there was no need to mope right now, they were tired, he knew tomorrow would be difficult though, having to tell Adam and Arriane… He dread the fact they would have to do that.
The next morning, after sleeping on the couch curled up to Cas, they talked to Adam and Arriane. They'd told them that Nicole and Ann were gone, that they had passed away last night. They were confused, asking when they were coming back, that they wanted to play more with Ann and see Nicole: it hurt both of them knowing that they weren't coming back, and nor was Nate or likely Sarah.
"I'm sorry, Cas, I really am, but I've gotta go," Dean said, kissing Cas before he left: a half day at work today being a Saturday. Dean hated to leave Cas with the kids in this situation, in fact he hated to go to work having lost a friend, and know another caused that lost. But he knew to push through it, life moved on and you had to as well.
The day easily went on, Castiel doing house work, watching the kid, but there was a clear difference in the house atmosphere. Something was off, and it wasn't just what happened last night with the Olsen's, it felt like something was coming for the family….
It was later in the day when Dean arrived home from work, tired and needing his pie and Cas.
"Cas, babe, I'm home!" he called into the house, taking off his shoes. He was expecting Adam and Arriane to come running to greet him: but nothing. The house was silent.
"Castiel? Adam? Arriane?" There was not a single answer as he glanced around.
Out of the silence broke a scream: "Daddy! Help!"