I chase after the vamp as it runs out of the house into the night. I can hear the sound of his footsteps and I focus on where he could be, I look around for any indication of where he might be. I hear a rustle come from the the trees and my grip on my machete tightens, I follow the noise. I make my way over to the sound, not bothering to wait for Sam, the image from the massacre from inside that house is still fresh in my mind. I don't care how stupid Sam is going to think I am for doing this, I've taken on vampires myself before and this time won't be any different. I wait for him to pounce on me, to try and get me when I am most vulnerable, that's when I'll cut that son of a bitch's head off. Just as I knew what would happen the vamp jumps out with it's fangs bared but I'm already ready for him. He comes at me trying to bite me, he uses his strength to try and overpower me but I won't let him, I take my blade and get it under his neck and push upwards. The head comes clean off and the body falls limp to the ground, the head rolls a few feet and I walk back to the house, we will deal with the body later. I walk into the house and see that Sam is still standing in the living room when I left him, the bodies of the murdered are laid on the ground with their blood drained from their bodies, completely slaughtered. I've seen what vampires can do before but it never gets any easier to see innocent lives be taken like this, especially not when they are so young. The woman and the man lay side by side wearing matching wedding rings, they look to be in their early 20's and the woman is blonde, she reminds me of my mom. "Vamp is dead" I tell Sam, he doesn't respond but just stands there still in shock. I know that he feels guilty, hell I do too. We came here about three days ago investigating a nest, we got the nest and killed them all, all except one. It wasn't until we found another victim yesterday that we knew there was still one more out there, we were tracking him to here but were too late.
"I feel like we should cover them up or something, so that no one has to see them like this" Sam says.
"You know we can't do that, we have to make sure it doesn't look like there was anything done to the victims, we can't be on FBI's most wanted again Sammy" I joke with him. I laugh but still feel responsible for what happened here. It looks like he wants to say something else when we hear a cry come from another room. Sam looks at me with a questioning look and I return the same look, the cry continues and we go into the other room to find a nursery. These people were parents. We walk into the sky blue painted room and find a baby who can't be more than a few months old crying in his crib.
"Oh my god" Sam breathes out. The baby keeps crying and I instinctively pick him up, I rock him back and forth and hope his crying will stop. I hold him close to me and he seems to calm down.
"We can't just leave him here" I tell Sam, it's too dangerous to just leave this baby alone while his parents are lying dead in the next room, it's too messed up.
"Dean, I don't think kidnapping a baby is a good idea"
"We're not kidnapping a baby, we are just protecting him. We really can't just leave him here like this, I mean we don't know what will happen to him" I argue.
"I'm sure that there is family that can take care of him" He argues back.
"But what if there isn't any, what will happen to him?"
"That isn't our job Dean"
"But it was our job to kill the nest and we weren't thorough enough, we let this family die and now he is an orphan" There is anger in my voice, I am not loud as to not upset the baby again but there is anger, I don't know if it's at myself that I am projecting onto Sam but I know he doesn't deserve it.
"This isn't your fault Dean" I don't look at him, instead I look around the room to see if there is any indication that there is someone else who can take care of him. I look at the walls and see that there is a name spelled out on the wall, I can't see without the light on so I turn on the little lamp and see that the name that is written on the wall is Silas. I look and see that there is only one photograph on the wall and it's of his parents, the same people who are now dead in the next room.
"There isn't any indication that there is any other family that can take him, I can't leave him here" I choose to ignore Sam's other comment, this isn't just out of guilt like he thinks it is, I am holding this baby and it just feels so right. Sam walks out of the room, either in frustration for me or investigating the rest of the house. I wish that Cas was here right now, he would agree with me, he would be able to see that I just want to do what is best for this little guy. "Castiel, I need you" I breath out and almost immediately there is a gust of wind and Cas is standing there in front of me.
"Dean" He says, then he looks down at Silas and looks confused. "Is that a baby?" He asks and I nod.
"Really Dean?" Sam says when he comes back into the room that Cas now is standing in. "You can't just call your boyfriend here whenever you need someone on your side" He adds.
"I am not always on his side" Cas says in defense. "Besides, what is even going on here?" He asks both of us.
"There was a nest of vamps and we thought that we had cleared them all out but we missed one, we tracked him here but it was too late, the baby's parents were already dead and now Dean thinks that their baby is somehow his responsibility" Sam tells Cas. I bounce the baby and notice the way Cas is looking at the two of us, I see that look in his eye, the one he always has when he is trying to make me happy.
"Who else is going to look after him? Sam thinks this is a crazy idea to take the baby" I tell Cas.
"Exactly, taking a baby, it is a terrible idea. How the hell are we even supposed to take care of a baby? It's a lot of responsibility Dean" Sam tells me, it's funny that he wants to give me a lecture about bad decisions when he has made plenty of terrible decisions himself.
"It won't be you Sam, Cas and I could raise him" I realize what I've just said, it sounds like something that I never thought would come out of my mouth and yet it just has. I never thought that I would be the type of person to want to settle down and have a family, especially not after what we do but being with Cas has made me happier than I have ever been. I never thought I would have any type of stable relationship and yet now I'm in a long term one with an angel, definitely not something that I ever thought would happen. I also never thought that I would be in a relationship with another man, and yet now I am thinking about raising a baby with him. Having feelings for Cas was something that was hard to deal with for a really long time, I had always been attracted to woman and yet I was falling deeper and deeper in love with a man, I was afraid of those feelings at first and really questioned my sexuality. I realized how happy we could be and I couldn't push down my feelings any longer, I needed him. Luckily he needed me too. Cas comes closer to me and lays his hand on top of Silas' head and I watch as both of their faces break out into a smile. "Look, he likes you" I try.
"I have been known to be quite good with babies" He responds back and I try not to laugh, I basically just proposed that we raise this baby together like he is our son and he is still being his same old self, the one who can be oblivious at times and yet I fell in love with.
"Do you think it's crazy?" I ask him.
"Not crazy at the slightest, I just never knew this is what you wanted" His voice gets quieter at the end, he sounds sad almost as if he feels like he has missed something.
"I didn't think it was something I wanted, but now that we have this chance it just feels right. His name is Silas" I try, hoping giving a name for him to think about when he looks down at this baby will make it harder for him to say no.
"Did you come up with that name already?" He asks me.
"No, it's the name that he already has, it's written on the wall" I point to the wall and Cas nods his head in understanding.
"It's a nice name"
"Yeah, it is" I agree with him and shift Silas so that I can support him with one hand so I can use the other to take Cas' hand. "I know this sounds crazy but we can do it, we could even get married if you want"
"Was that a marriage proposal?" He asks me and I try not to laugh, he looks confused. "I don't understand what is funny, is that really how human's propose to each other?" He asks.
"No, not usually. I'm sorry that I can't do a lot right now but I just thought that it would let you know that I really am serious about this, I really think that raising this baby would be a great idea"I tell him.
"Well, marriage does tend to be important to most humans and I do love you so it would make sense, especially if we are going to have this baby" I smile at him and he smiles back.
"We can do this, were going to raise him" I lean over and give Cas a quick kiss and then kiss the top of Silas' head, our son. Sam comes up to me and I let him take the baby from me and he starts bouncing him around.
"I can't say you aren't crazy, but if he is going to be my nephew then I'm not going to stop you and I'm going to support you anyway I can, both of you" He says to Cas and I. I hand the baby to Cas and then pull my brother in for a hug.
"Thank you Sammy, it looks like there will be another S. Winchester in the family" I say.
"Yeah, it looks like it. Dean I am really happy for you and Cas but we have to get out of here, it's too risky"
"Your right, but we need a car seat, just so we can get him back to the motel" I say.
"I can get one" Cas says and hands Sam the baby, with that he is gone. A minute passes and then he poofs himself back into the room. "I've already installed in the car" He looks proud of himself, it's the first thing he has done as a dad for our son. I don't even bother to ask him where he got it and how he paid for it, we need to leave. Sam hands Cas the baby back and they walk out of the room. I want to follow behind them but I wait a second and go back to take the picture out of the frame, I may have taken on the responsibility of raising their son but I don't want him growing up not knowing who they were, how they probably spent their last few moments of life trying to protect him, like I know my mother did to save us. I fold it up and put in in the pocket of my jeans and go out to the car to see Cas sitting in the back with the baby and Sam sitting in the passenger's seat, I get in the front seat and start to drive towards the motel. I stop when I see a payphone, one that is close to the house so it will seem more likely that we are just some good citizens who are reporting a crime.
"We need to report the crimes" I say and Sam nods in agreement.
"Why don't I call it in" He offers and gets out of the car, I silently thank him for volunteering to do that, knowing I wouldn't have been able to sound like I wasn't invested in this. I look back and see Cas paying close attention to the baby, he is looking in on him sitting in the car seat and I can see how fascinated with him.
"I think he is cold, we should get him a blanket" Cas announces.
"Okay, we will pick him up some stuff. We can go to the store and let Sam watch him"
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea" Sam gets back into the car and I drive off towards the store I thought that I had seen on our way into town. I pull into the parking lot and then turn off the car and get out. Cas gets out as well and we walk into the store together. I grab a cart and we make our way over to the baby isle. I grab the essentials like formula, diapers, and pacifiers. As I am doing that I can see Cas is trying to decide between two blankets that he likes. "I can't decide what one I like better" He holds them up and I feel each to see what one is softest.
"I like the one with the baby ducks on it" I find myself laughing after I say that. "I never thought that something like that would ever come out of my mouth"
"Well I'm glad it did" He ends up putting both blankets into the cart and then we find a travel crib, it isn't much but it will be easy to take with us while we are moving around. I have a sudden realization that he is going to grow up with the life of a hunter. I never wanted that for my children but there is no way to avoid it, no matter what he was dragged into this the moment his family was targeted by a supernatural being. I try and push down this guilt I feel when I think of that little baby out there, how I want to be there for him with every fiber of my being, how happy it made me to see Cas looking so happy. We pick out a few toys and then head up to the register. Cas starts to unload the items and the cashier is scanning them when she smiles.
"First time parents?" She asks us.
"Is it that obvious?" I ask her and she smiles.
"Seeing the amount of stuff you are buying it was a good indicator" She replies.
"We have a son" Cas announces proudly and I smile at him, he is absolutely adorable without even having to try.
"Well I hope he likes all his new stuff" She says as she finishes bagging our last item, I hand her one of my many credit cards to pay and then grab our stuff to leave. I carry the bags while Cas carries the crib, I open up the trunk and we put it in and then get back into the car, we drive back to the motel and then unload everything out of the car and into our room. Cas sits on the bed holding him in his arms as I set up the little crib. I lay down one of the blankets so he will be as comfortable he can be and I set down a teddy bear we got him into the crib. Sam is going through the grocery bags looking at everything we got and I take Silas into my arms and look down at him, he is looking up at me with big blue eyes, if I didn't know it was impossible myself I would swear he has the exact same shade of blue that Cas has. I lay him down in the crib and then whisper to him that angels are watching over him. That was something my mom always told me and for a really long time I didn't think it was true, then I got an angel who decided to pull me from hell and then watch me up close, I fell in love with an angel and now he is the father of our child, I know am sure that angels are always going to be watching over this little baby.
"We are going to have to get a birth certificate made and adoption forms, to have just in case" I say to Sam.
"We can do that tomorrow, were going to have to leave soon" Sam says and I nod my head.
"Let's just let him sleep for a little while" I say and Sam lays down on his bed.
"Why don't you get some sleep too Dean, you won't be getting much for the next 18 years" Sam says to me.
"Bitch" I say.
"Jerk" He hurtles back at me. I laugh at him and then lay down on the bed, Cas lays next to me and I look into his blue eyes.
"It's like I don't even want to go to sleep, I'm worried about leaving him alone" I say to Cas softly.
"You don't have to worry about that, I don't sleep"
"I know, but you tend to disappear sometimes"
"I know but I won't leave you again, not when I have a son to look after now"
"Promise?" I whisper to him.
"Promise" He responds to me. I lean in kiss him quickly and let him pull me close as I allow my eyes to close. I know that when I wake up Cas will still be there, that he will always be there for us. I remind myself that I'm going to have to pick out a ring to propose to him with and I can feel my heart beating faster just thinking about it. I let myself sink into sleep with the reassuring fact that an angel is watching over me and our son, and that he always will be.