Hey y'all. A little author's note before we begin~ The first few chapters are just to set the tone for the rest of the story. I hope to publish as least one chapter a week, but I may do more. Reviews and messages are very much encouraged~ I love hearing from y'all and getting feedback (and possibly requests for things you hope to see!), and I really hope that y'all stick with the story through the first few chapters... I will be adding songs to later chapters to try and add to the emotional aspect of it, but I will give more info on that later (all songs and artists will appear in order of appearance at the end of the last chapter). I hope you enjoy~
Of men and mice, of mice and daggers, who is it that holds the weapon high apposed to those who cower and scurry away leaving trails of blood to ferment in the hot, hot sun? When once there was a happiness that spread through our veins like pentobarbital, sewage now rots our arteries as the toxins from the world around us enter through our broken skin. Our scars serve as our armor. Our hearts beat in place of drums. Where once upon a time turns to twice, and then trice, our happily ever after is paved in the way of gold stolen from the king's table. We write our own story. We fight our own battles. We decide whom the guillotine grasps tight in its clutches and on whom the blade sinks. We have decided that from this day forward, we shall stand together, stand strong, no longer breakable. From this day on, we are the men who stand up to the mice that once made us run and hide. We will not yield to the battle-axe of our enemies. We will always keep fighting. We will restore our lives to their once former beauty. You are the angel on my shoulder and I am the righteous man whom you pulled from Hell. You are mine and I am yours. We, standing side by side, can conquer anything.
Chapter One: The Trickster
"John, have you seen my pink platter?" John Winchester rolled his eyes as he made his way into the kitchen. His wife, Mary Winchester, was scrambling around the room, bouncing off the pale yellow walls looking for the platter that she had placed on the kitchen table not five minutes before. "I know that I put it somewhere, I just can't remember for the life of me where!" He wrapped his arms around his scatter-brained wife and kissed her flushing cheek.
"It's on the table, sweetheart," he said as he pulled his lips away from her porcelain complexion. Mary blushed harder as she playfully swatted her smart-ass husband away.
"Thank you. Now make yourself useful and start stacking," she ordered, attempting to make her sweet southern voice demanding and serious. She gestured her head in the direction of various cakes and pies and cookies that were cooling on the counter next to the kitchen sink and in the open windowsill. The white curtains fluttered around the pastries, blurring the subtle pastel design as the smell of fresh baked good sifted through the house.
"Only if you sit down for a little bit." John was now standing in front of the pastries, pointing at his wife with a pie turner in between slicing pies and putting pieces of cherry, apple, and blueberry on the platter. "Don't get me wrong, I love how much you've been baking lately, but that doesn't change the fact that you're pregnant. You shouldn't be on your feet this long." Now it was Mary's turn to roll her eyes as she pulled out one of the white finished wooden chairs and sat down, fixing her bright yellow sundress as she did so.
Ten minutes later, John had the pink platter piled high with pastries and sweets, but only after sneaking a few samples for himself. As he was stuffing the last bits of a corn muffin into his mouth, being careful as to not let any crumbs fall around his sock covered feet, he felt the familiar touch of his wife's hand gently batting his own, forcing him to lower the muffin.
"You can finish after we get back. I want to make sure the new neighbors are in when we bring these over." John gave a closed mouth smile and nodded. He could never say no to his wife, nor could he ever win an argument against her. She was just too damn cute when she got flustered and angry.
He picked up the platter and balanced it like an expert on one hand as he held open the kitchen door for his wife, who rubbed her "just beginning to show" tummy as she walked. The summer sun was warm and bright, shining down on the lush green grass of the back yard. The smell of lavender and clean cotton whirled around the couple as they mad their way past the crammed clothesline and over to the house next door. The houses were fairly close together, separated by a few yards at the most, but the yards joined nicely, gardens overflowing with flowers and white picket fences standing true as a boarder. If they were ever asked to describe their quaint little life with one word, happiness would be just that.
As the Winchesters reached their side of the fence, they took notice of a small boy with golden hair playing with a plastic fire truck in the grass on the other side. John's shadow was cast over the boy, making him look up with curious golden eyes.
"Ma! Pa! There's someone here for ya!" His voice was high and squeaky, and from the sound of it, he has a slight lisp, almost a whistle with certain letters. He stood up and unlatched the fence door, stepping to the side and letting John and Mary in. As the Winchesters entered the property, a man with dark hair and a slight beard came out to greet them. Up close they could see his hair starting to salt and pepper, and how his eyes were aged but still held a sparkle. They figured he couldn't be more than ten years older than themselves. John reached out his hand with a smile.
"John Winchester. This is my wife, Mary." Mary stepped forward and shook the man's hand after John.
"We just wanted to come and welcome you to the neighborhood," she said with a warm smile.
"Well thank you," said the man with a slight southern accent. "My wife should be right out. She was just finishing something up inside. Name's Cain Shurley. Please, come and sit." John and Mary followed Cain to a small patio set and sat down. "You've already met Gabriel. Fair warning, he's a little trickster." At that moment, Gabriel came trotting over to the adults.
"Hey! You can't tell them that! Now they have one up on me!" The three adults laughed as the little one pouted, his arms crossed over his chest. "I guess this is just gonna make it more of a challenge though." Cain ruffled his son's hair. "Helloooooo, I'm Gabe. I'm four years old!" The little trickster uncrossed his arms to hold up four tiny fingers to show John and Mary. "Ma's in the kitchen with Cassie making me chocolate milk."
"You have a little sister?" Mary asked enthusiastically. She looked up from Gabriel to see a woman with bright red hair giggling as she carried a glass of milk outside.
"Not quite. I'm Anna, Cain's wife." She handed her son the glass, straw perfectly bent, and raised a brow as Gabriel blew bubbles up over the glass' rim. "And this here," she said rubbing her own pregnant tummy, "is Castiel. We're expecting him to arrive sometime around the end of September." Her smile was Photoshop white as she looked at her husband. The amount of love between them was overwhelming, making Mary wonder if they had been childhood friends or high school sweethearts. Gabriel, however, was more focused on the platter of sweets that John had placed on the table.
"Oh, how wonderful!" exclaimed Mary, drawing her attention from the radiating romance between the newly arrived couple. "We're expecting our little one at the beginning of the year."
"Two months in and Mary's already got just about everything set for the arrival." John placed his hands on his wife's shoulders, tilting his head in so that their foreheads touched ever so slightly before pulling away at the disgusted noise that come from the toddler on the grass.
"So, Gabriel," began John, only to be interrupted by the small child with chubby cheeks who insisted that he call him "Gabe." All he could do was laugh and agree. "Alright, Gabe. Are you excited to be a big brother?" Gabe shook his head dramatically.
"I'm gonna teach him how to pull all of the good pranks. He's gonna be my partner in crime."
"Gabriel!"
"What, Ma?" Anna simply shook her head.
"I'm hoping that Castiel will be better behaved than Gabriel."
"We both are," commented Cain in a joking yet loving manner. Gabriel pouted again, only to smile when John took the platter down from the table and offered it to the boy.
"Thanks, Mr. Win…Winchest…Winchesthair!"
"Winchester, Gabriel. Not Winchesthair." Gabriel blushed at his father's correction.
"Sorry, Pa. Thanks, Mr. Winchester." Gabriel took a chocolate chip muffin off of the platter and practically swallowed it whole. The next half hour consisted of Cain and Anna explaining that Gabriel had the worst sweet tooth in the world and how they moved to Lawrence due to the atmosphere. They wanted their children to grow up in a "country" setting, and although Lawrence wasn't farmland, it was better than the city. Anna asked Mary if they had a name picked out for their baby, to which she answered that they were going to go with "Dean" or "Deanna," a namesake for her mother who had recently died, but they wanted to be surprised when it came to the baby being male or female.
Time slipped away from the neighbors and before long, Gabriel was curled up on Anna's lap, sound asleep. John and Mary returned to their home after inviting Anna, Cain, and Gabriel over for dinner the next night. John, being a good ten years younger than Cain, had offered to side with Gabriel and his pranks- not very mature for a future father, but fun nonetheless. The next night, right before dinner started, they tag-teamed and tried to scare Cain with a plastic bug. Cain, being the good father he was, played along, pretending to be frightened as the wives laughed from inside the kitchen.
The summer continued to be filled with late night conversations on the patio of either couple's residence, muffin baskets being passed back and forth with various recipes, and lots of chocolate milk.
The Forth of July was made into a big celebration, everyone gathering in the Winchester's back yard and lighting sparklers, drinking sweet tea, and setting off small fireworks. In the few weeks that had passed since the Shirley's arrival, the families had become best friends. It made perfect sense to them. Both had babies on the way, both had much in common (from John and Cain's taste in music to Mary and Anna's love of cooking and baking, to Gabriel and his sudden interest in whatever one of the adults was doing), and both spent what sometimes felt like every waking hour in the other's company. On Sundays, they would have breakfast in the Shurley's light blue, two-story home (Mary would cook and John would carry everything over) and dinner in the Winchester's pale green home, which was almost a complete copy of their neighbor's home.
Castiel was born on September 16th. Mary marveled over the baby boy and his pale skin, dark hair, and bright blue eyes. Gabriel became very protective, telling anyone who went near his baby brother that he would pull the ultimate prank on them if they did anything to hurt him.
"I can't tell ya what it'll be, but I can tell ya that it'll involve whipped cream and last week's trash. I'm not afraid to go out back and get it!" Cain picked up his eldest son and carried him away from John, helping to free his pant leg from a tiny yet intimidating grip. When Gabriel had been put down for a nap, John and Cain went out to the backyard to fire up the grill for burgers, leaving Mary and Anna alone in the kitchen, which had recently been painted a very light blue.
"So what made you decide on the name 'Castiel'?" asked Mary. Anna picked up her mug and took a sip of her tea.
"My family was very religious. It was a tradition to name the boys after angels. I suppose it continued even after my parents passed. My brothers, Michael and Balthazar, they don't keep in touch. Well, Balthazar used to come around for holidays, but that stopped some time ago. The last time we…chatted…he told me that he was running off to Italy." Anna smiled down at her mug. That was the last time either of the women discussed their families.