Summary: AU. When a traumatised boy goes to live with the Novaks, Amelia does her best to take care of him, and her youngest son, Castiel, takes a particular shine to him. Castiel is determined to help him, but things go further than anticipated. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters. I only own the OCs in this fic.

(PLEASE READ!) A/N: Okay, Dean will seem really OOC in parts of this fic, but when you read about what he's been through, you'll really understand and a basic outline of it is at the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoy. This fic will be incredibly angsty and emotionally draining for me, since I already cried writing the first chapter. There will be deep, heartbreaking issues coming up later in the fics.

Please review! I hope you enjoy it! I've been a bit nervous about it.

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Breaking Your Silence

Chapter One

"Everyone, I need you to please listen up." Amelia said as she looked at her children who all stood there quite solemnly, "When we get there, you have to remember several things. He doesn't talk much, not at all a lot of the time, his emotions come out rather rawly sometimes, and he isn't used to socialisation. I want you all to look after him, especially in school. You have no idea what this boy has been through, so please, please try to understand."

She looked at her four youngest children and they nodded in understanding, deciding to continue the speech to her offspring. Amelia Novak was the mother of eight children, and her husband Michael, who was working that day, was so sad that he couldn't be there to meet the newest addition to their home. To their family. The children ranged from being twenty-five to seventeen, and all still lived at their large home, all willing to help pay their way in some form.

"Lucifer, Zachariah, Balthazar and Rachel, I understand that you guys aren't gonna be here all the time, so just do what you can for him when you are here." She instructed, "Anna, Gabriel, Jimmy and Castiel, you're here almost all the time, so you have priority of making him feel welcome, especially Jimmy and Castiel. I want you to look after him at school. I'm begging you to."

Her boys looked incredibly confused.

"When you meet him, you'll understand."

The family got into the minibus they'd hired and headed out to the home where they were picking up their newest family member from. He was incredibly troubled, and a lot of people had been put off by that, but not Amelia. She'd care for him no matter what his issues were, and even though she already had plenty of children, her heart had melted when she'd visited the home where her friend Karen Singer worked and saw him for the first time. She wanted to just hold him so badly, and after several visits, he was allowed to stay with her as a foster child. Despite procedure being for him to meet the other family members, Amelia knew her family would take to him instantly, and Karen had always trusted Amelia's instinct. The family's reaction to him would determine whether or not they could take him home.

Karen was waiting for them when they got to the home, and the Novaks couldn't wait to meet the new member of their family. But they were concerned slightly about remembering all the warnings. They didn't want to upset him in any way at all. They all climbed out of the minibus and headed towards Karen, who led them inside to a large room where a boy who was clearly Castiel and Jimmy's age sat. He was pale, sad looking and he was shaking in his seat. He looked up wide-eyed at everyone and smiled softly when he saw Amelia.

"Everyone, this is Dean Winchester." Karen said, going over to Dean and approaching him softly, "Dean, would you like to meet your new family?"

Dean looked at all the new faces and began to shake more, remembering what happened the last time he went to a big family. They'd all stared at him like he was something out of a sideshow and some of the kids had been pretty cruel. But a lot of this family looked really grown up. No little kids. He looked at the softness in their eyes and felt calmed by it, nodding to Karen and standing up as she led him towards the group. Amelia moved towards Dean and gently took his hand, stroking it gently as she introduced him to her family.

"This is Lucifer," She said, indicating her eldest, "He's twenty-five, and he has his own garage. You like cars, don't you, Dean?"

Dean nodded and smiled a little awkwardly, Lucifer grinning at him tenderly.

"You know how to fix them up?" He asked softly, earning a nod from the teen, "Mrs Singer, here...Her husband has a yard full of old cars that I fix up for people. He pays me a wage sometimes for doing it, so maybe you could help me out."

Dean smiled and let Karen and Amelia take him to the next member of the family. Zachariah.

"This is Zachariah. He's twenty-four and he works for a law firm in town. He's really good at his job too."

"Thanks, Mom." Zachariah chuckled, "You'll be fine with us, kid. We'll look after you."

That was probably the best he'd get out of Zachariah, Amelia realised, but he seemed grateful to get nice conversation with the family. Things were going fine so far.

"This is Balthazar." She said softly, "He's twenty-three and runs a bar called Fate in town. He has bands that play there, and I know you like rock music."

"Really?" Balthazar asked, "So do Castiel and Jimmy. I'll have to get you some VIP tickets, won't I."

Dean liked this family. They all seemed incredibly nice and he really, really wished he could say something to them but he didn't speak often. He'd been like that for thirteen years.

"This is Rachel." Amelia explained, "She's twenty-one and is in her last year of college. She's gonna be a teacher."

"Yeah, so I can help you out with your homework if you get stuck, huh?" Rachel said softly, "You'll love our family, Dean. We'll take care of you."

Dean smiled and let the ladies take him to the next four people.

"This are my first set of non-identical twins, Anna and Gabriel." Amelia said, "Both eighteen, and Gabriel is the oldest by seven minutes."

"Anna's a really good listener." Gabriel said with a grin.

"And Gabriel has the best taste in candy." Anna laughed, Dean letting out a soft breath as he met the next twins.

So many names, so many faces. This shouldn't be too difficult since his communication was mainly by tapping arms, the occasional calling of a name or sometimes he'd just stand there and wait to be spoken to.

"And my seventeen year old twins, Jimmy and Castiel." Amelia said, "To tell them apart, Castiel has a deeper voice, Jimmy wears more casual clothes whereas Castiel likes to look smart, and Castiel's nature is a little gentler than Jimmy's."

"Hey!" Jimmy cried, turning to Dean and smiling brightly at him, "If Lucifer takes you on, Dean, you'll be working with me. Cas, though...He is the ultimate baker in our house. He wants to run a bakery, don't you, buddy."

"Yeah." Castiel replied, finding himself drawn to the beauty of Dean's green eyes despite the sadness, horror, tiredness and pain that lurked within them, "I can teach you how to make pie. Mom said you liked that."

Dean nodded, staring into Castiel's eyes and feeling something warm rush through his chest. This family felt like safety, like home, and all he wanted to do was just hug each one for being so good to him already but he couldn't. Karen and Amelia shared a look that made them both smile. They were taking him home.

Dean stayed close to Amelia all day as she showed him around the big house, letting him know if certain places were ones he shouldn't go in, for instance, Michael's work office. She showed him to his room, which was on the same corridor as everyone else's and he loved it straight away. He could easily get settled in.

"Sweetheart, your room is right next to mine and Michael's." She said softly, "And you have your own bathroom. If you need me in the night, please, please, please come and wake me. Don't feel bad for it, okay?"

"O-o-o-okay." Dean replied, Amelia smiling and moving to sit on the bed beside him.

"We're all here for you. Even Zachariah, who wouldn't hug a wounded puppy even if you paid him to." She said, watching Dean smile weakly, "And if you ever need to talk about anything, then please feel free to. I'll listen and I'm here for you whenever you need me to be."

She watched Dean's eyes glaze and fill up a little, and with a soft sigh she pulled him to her body and held him. She held him like there was no tomorrow and wasn't surprised when he buried his face in her neck and held her back. She kissed him gently on his temple and stroked his hair, rocking him back and forth gently in her arms.

"Th-th-thank you..." He gasped, Amelia smiling sweetly and hushing him.

"You don't need to thank me for anything." She told him, "Take deep breaths, honey. Deep breaths."

Dean couldn't believe that he'd been given the chance to be part of such a beautiful family. His mother had died in a house fire when he was four. She'd miscarried several months before and had turned to drink and one night, she left the stove on for too long and the whole house burned to the ground with her trapped inside while Dean and his father escaped with their lives.

Then his father had become depressed, and his son's change in behaviour, his near silence and the level of his reserved state were too much. Dean had come home from school to find his father hanging at the top of the stairs. Then Dean had been taken into care, given to several homes who couldn't deal with his problems. Then Samuel Campbell had come along and Dean had believed that everything might be alright. But the man beat him with his belt, made him cook and clean and more often than not locked him in the cleaning cupboard when he hadn't done a 'good enough' job.

Now, though, he had a fresh start, and he believed his life was going to simply get better. He hoped it would, anyway.

-TBC-

Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading so far!

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