Chapter 1
Sam sat on his bed and folded his hands. Slowly he closed his eyes and bowed his head. Normally Dean would always do this, but this time he was a little bit too busy. So Sam had no choice but to do this himself.
It already had been several months since Dean moved in together with Lisa to get away from the hunting business. At first Sam wasn't happy about it, but quickly he accepted his older brother's choice and was happy that he got someone to live with now. Dean now had a family to take care of, and he did a very good job at it. They would be protected, because no one is better at hunting than his older brother. It wasn't easy for Dean just to let go and begin another life. Four years ago he tried to get away from the hunting business, but it didn't work out. But after all what happened he wanted to take a break, at least for awhile. Sam could understand him. Dean really deserved it.
However Sam was still busy hunting. He couldn't just turn away from all this. It would just be a too big step to take. He had specific things he wanted to achieve and someone of the Winchesters needed to continue the family business.
"Castiel? Cas? I really hope you didn't forget about this… assignment Dean asked us to do. If you did-" Sam didn't even have the time to finish his sentence, because someone was standing in front of him. Sam opened his eyes again and looked up. "There you are, Cas." He said with a smile. The Angel tilt his head a little to the side. He seemed to be a little confused.
"What did Dean ask us to do?" he then asked in his deep voice. Sam stood up and sighed. "He asked us last week if we could look after Lili this weekend. You know, because he and Lisa wanted to have a weekend off." Sam explained. Castiel widened his eyes and now he seemed to remember, what his friend Dean asked of him.
"Of course I remember." he said after a pause. Sam raised an eyebrow. Obviously Castiel had forgotten about it but didn't want to admit it.
"Well yeah, now you do, because I reminded you of it." Sam replied in protest. There was no response from the Angel. Sam sighed again and crossed his arms. "Let's just get there and pick up Lily so Dean and Lisa can go." Castiel nodded but then a thought just came to his mind.
"But if we have to look after Dean's daughter, who will look after Ben?" he asked concerned and Sam looked confused for just a second. Then he understood what Cas was saying.
"He's with a friend for the weekend. Dean figured it would be enough for us to look after one of his kids. And honestly, I think he is right." Sam gestured around with his hands and looked at Cas. There was a moment of awkward silence, but then Castiel nodded.
"Then I think we should go now." The Angel just said out of the blue and took a step forward towards Sam.
"Yes, we shou-" Before he knew it, they were already standing in front of Dean's house. Sam gave Cas an annoyed look. "Next time please warn me before you zap us somewhere." He said and pressed the doorbell.
"I'm sorry, Sam." Castiel quietly said before Dean opened the door and greeted them.
"Hey Dean, sorry we are a little late." Sam apologized and stepped inside followed by Cas. The house wasn't very big, but it surely was a nice place to live.
"That's alright, we're not gone yet." Dean smiled. Lisa came out of the Kitchen and gave Sam a quick hug and looked at Castiel.
"So this is Castiel?" She looked at Dean and then to Sam. Dean now just realized that Lisa had never actually met Cas, although he told her a lot about him.
"Yes, that's Cas." Dean told her and smiled again. It was clear to Sam, as he looked over to Castiel, that he wasn't really sure what to do. Actually Castiel felt like a foreign body in this scene, something that didn't really fit into the picture. He was really happy for Dean and his new family and yet it hurt him, whenever he saw them and how happy they were. He then always had to think about his own family, which wasn't so happy as he always thought.
"So anyway, I packed a bunch of stuff for Lily, so you wouldn't have to buy everything and I explained already to Sammy what her habits are and everything you should know." Dean explained and looked to Sam. "I'm counting on you, little brother." He gave Sam a big bag with all kinds of things. "That should be everything you need for the weekend." Sam and Cas took a quick look at the bag.
"That's quite a lot of stuff in there." Sam replied. Lisa chuckled.
"Well, the little lady needs a lot for just one weekend and she's actually really looking forward to spent it with you guys." She grinned.
"Right then." Dean clapped his hands. "I'm just gonna get the little lady and then we can get out of here." He gave Lisa a quick kiss on the cheek and went outside to get Lily.
"So, I bet you are happy to get away from here for a weekend." Sam said and put the big bag down. Lisa smiled and nodded.
"I sure am, all this work is really getting to us. But a nice weekend off makes things better."
"I know what you mean. I could actually use one weekend off as well. But you know, the business is waiting." They both laughed, except Castiel, he wasn't exactly sure what to do or say.
"I have actually never met a real angel before." Lisa now turned to Cas. "Honestly I imagined you differently." Cas looked confused.
"Different how?" he asked.
"Well." Lisa paused a moment. "Taller." She finally said. Cas could hear, that Sam was really trying hard to hold back his laugh.
"This is just a vessel, my true form is much taller than this. However I cannot show it to, because your human eyes couldn't handle it. They would just… vaporize." Lisa looked a little shocked and Sam rolled his eyes.
"Wow." Lisa was still a little shocked about Castiel's comment. She looked to Sam. "Is that true? About the eyes-thing?"
"Yes, they will literally burn out of your skull. Believe me, I've seen plenty of that." Cas looked at Sam, as if he was mad or something. "But Cas is a real advantage when it comes to hunting monsters. You know, with his angel powers and all." Sam quickly added. Lisa smiled as if she was satisfied with his answer.
"Uncle Sammy!" a lovely girl's voice interrupted their conversation. A little girl with dark hair was running towards Sam and hugged his legs. Sam smiled and picked her up.
"Are you ready to go, Lily?" Sam asked the little girl, who quickly nodded. Dean came back to them and gave Lily her little backpack. "Don't forget this."
"Are we ready to go?" Lisa asked and looked at Dean.
"Yes we are." Dean turned to Sam and Cas, after Lisa already walked to the Car. "You better go back to the bunker, you never know who's coming after you." He added calmly. Sam nodded.
"You be save too, Dean." Dean just chuckled.
"Don't worry, there's still some stuff in the trunk. Those monsters out there couldn't even come close to me." Then Dean looked at Cas. "And you'll look after my little brother." he said serious. Castiel nodded.
"Dean, come on!" Lisa yelled from the car. Dean said goodbye to his daughter and made sure Sam and Cas knew what to do. "And you can always call me, when there's something wrong!" he added, because he wanted to be absolutely sure everything was clear.
"Yes, we know what to do, now go on!" Sam pushed him towards the car. Dean finally made it, got into the car and drove away. Cas and Sam were now standing on the sidewalk.
"Are we going to your house, uncle Sammy?" Lily asked excited. Sam nodded. "Yes we are, we are going to take a shortcut so get ready." He looked at Castiel, who needed a second to figure out what Sam meant.
"Uhm yes, please stay calm." Castiel said as he gently put a hand on Sam's shoulder and they were at their hideout. Lily looked confused but excited as well.
"How did you do that?" she asked with a big smile on her face and looked at Castiel, waiting for an answer. Castiel obviously didn't know how to explain this to her. Before Castiel could say anything, Sam quickly changed the topic.
"So are you hungry?" he asked Lily and put her down on the ground.
"Yeeeees!" she laughed and began to discover the place.
"Okay, I'm just going to make us something to eat. Cas, could you watch her for a couple of minutes?"
"Of course I can." He seemed confident but he wasn't really feeling confident. Sam went into the kitchen to make something to eat. Meanwhile Lily was exploring the big place and was really stunned by the place. She loved it.
Unfortunately Castiel quickly lost her out of his sight. He didn't want to tell Sam of course, so he had to search for her. This was pretty much the first time he had to look after a little human child and honestly, he had no clue what to do. Suddenly someone hugged his leg from behind and Cas looked down. Lily was hugging his right leg and looked up at him.
"How did you get us here so fast?" she asked and smiled. Castiel had no idea what to say. If he would explain his powers, would she understand that? He decided to give it a shot, maybe she would understand.
"Well, you kno-" he started but Lily interrupted his sentence, she clearly was very hyper at the moment.
"Daddy says that you are an angel, but if you are, where are your fluffy, cute wings? And you don't dress like an angel at all!" She was still hugging his leg. What was he supped to do now? Castiel had no experience with a child at all. He was a soldier, a warrior of God, not a babysitter.
"Uhm… It is actually a bit more complicated than you think." he replied and tried to get Lily to stop hugging his leg. But she wouldn't let go and she also wasn't satisfied with his answer.
"So, you are not an angel?" she said a little disappointed. Castiel sighed. How could he explain this to her. He couldn't really prove to her, that he was really an angel.
"I am an angel, they just don't look like how you would imagine them." he said eventually. Lily looked confused. "I will explain this to you later." Castiel added.
"But I wanna know now!" she protested and pulled on his trench coat. Castiel ran out of ideas. What now?
"Hey Lily, are you bothering Castiel already?" Sam said. He was holding two plates with sandwiches on them. Lily looked to Sam and let go of Cas.
"No…" she said shy and felt almost embarrassed. "Daddy said uncle Cas is an angel." she started and pointed at Castiel. "But where are his wings? And he doesn't look like an angel at all!" she explained herself. Castiel was just standing next to her and shrugged. He looked a little helpless.
"I'll explain that to you later, let's first eat some delicious sandwiches!" Sam laughed and put the plates down on the table. Lily came running towards him and sat down. She took the sandwich in her hands and started to eat and looked very happy. Sam sat down across her and started to eat his own sandwich. Lily smiled with a full mouth. Clearly she had a lot of fun here.
Castiel sat down next to her and watched both of them eat. Lily looked a little irritated. Why did uncle Cas not have a sandwich? Did Sammy forget to make another one? Or is Cas not hungry?
"Uncle Sammy?" she asked with a mouth full. "Why did you forget to make uncle Cas a sandwich?" Sam and Cas just looked at each other. That was a good question actually.
"I'm not hungry." Castiel replied quickly and it seemed to satisfy her. But then the question from earlier came to Lily's mind again.
"Can you now tell me, if uncle Cas is an angel or not? Daddy says so, but is that really true?" she then asked the two guys and continued eating her sandwich. Sam looked at Cas, who just shrugged again.
"Well." Sam started and didn't really know how to continue. "If Daddy says, he's an angel, it must be true." he added and grinned. Lily examined Cas and looked unsure. She took another bite out of her sandwich. Sam and Cas already thought she was satisfied.
"But angels are supposed to have wings!" she then said after some silence. Sam sighed. Castiel thought it would be better to tell her how this whole angel thing worked. Maybe she would understand.
"Look." he started. "I do have wings, but they are… I mean you can't really see them." he continued. Lily looked at him expectedly with big eyes.
"They are invisible wings." Sam said form the other side of the table. "We humans can't see them, but they are there. Remember how we got here, Lily?" Sam had now found a simple explanation for this debate about the wings.
"Yes I do! Uncle Cas touched you and then suddenly we were here." Lily explained proud and proved that she didn't forget about that.
"Well, Cas flew us here, that's why we got here so fast." Sam now explained to the little girl. She looked at him and was stunned. Of course! Now it all makes sense, that is why they got here so fast! Lily laughed.
"I understand!" she said with a smile and looked to Castiel. "So you really are and angel! But just in a trench coat!" She laughed. Castiel smiled and was happy that she believed him.
After a couple of minutes they finished their sandwiches and Lily convinced Sam and Cas to go outside and play for a little bit. Fortunately there was a playground nearby and so Cas zapped the three of them there. Lily walked around the playground and climbed on the Swing. She demanded for help and so Sam helped her swing.
Looking after a little girl was not just new for Castiel but also for Sam. He had never really done this before. However he had fun with it and didn't feel awkward at all. After all he was a child once too, not with the most friendly childhood, but his older brother always took care of him.
"Higher!" Lily laughed and Sam pushed a little more. Castiel stood next to Sam and made sure no unwanted monsters or anything else came near them. He promised Dean to look after Lily and Sam and he surely didn't want to screw up. He had done too many mistakes in his life. He couldn't afford to fail at something small like this. Little things like these always made him happy and forget about the past. He looked at Lily. She was so young and fragile, he couldn't imagine how he ever could forgive himself, if anything would happen to her.
"Stop! I wanna go on the slide now!" Lily said after awhile. Sam stopped the swing and Lily jumped off and ran to the slide. Sam wanted to help her, but Lily pushed him away. "I can do this by myself! I am a big girl already!" she said confidently and Sam smiled. Confident like her father, he thought.
While Lily was playing, Cas and Sam sat down on a bench where they could see her. It's been awhile since they could just sit somewhere outside and didn't have to worry about any monsters. They were lucky, then the weather way playing nice and the sun was shining. Sam and Cas just sat there for awhile in silence.
"She looks a lot like her father." Cas then said and watched Lily play.
"Yeah, she also got his confidence, she's practically him, just female." Sam smiled. The both of them watched her play. For a moment everything was well and peaceful. But that was about to change.
Suddenly a man in black appeared out of nowhere. Cas saw him and flinched. He wanted to grab the man, but everything went too fast. There were four other men behind Sam and Cas, grabbing them. One holding an angel blade under Cas' chin and two other who grabbed Sam. Meanwhile the other men in black grabbed Lily. She tried to free herself.
"Let me go!" she screamed. Sam tried to shake off the men, who were holding him. It took him a second to notice that they were demons. Cas watched as Lily was being dragged away by the demon. No. He could not let this happen!
"You won't get away with this!" he said calmly. The demons wanted to say something, but before they could say anything Cas grabbed the arm, who was holding the angel blade and crushed it. The demon scrammed in pain and let go of the angel blade. Cas quickly turned around and grabbed the head of the demon standing behind himself. With a flash of light the demon fell dead to the ground.
Meanwhile Sam had managed to free himself of the grip of the other two demons, who were holding him. He took out the magic demon knife and stabbed them without even blinking. Cas grabbed the demon, who's arm was broken, and pulled him up to his feet.
"Who sent you here?! And what are you trying to accomplish with this?!" he yelled angry at the demon, who didn't respond. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even say a word.
"Cas! Forget about him! We have to save Lily!" sam said and started rung towards the demon, who was holding Lily. Cas turned around and saw that Sam was running into a trap. "Sam! Wait!" he yelled after him but it was already to late. Two more demons appeared, grabbed Sam and then disappeared again. Everything was happening so fast that Cas couldn't even react. The demon holding Lily was also gone now.
"No…" Cas said quietly in shock to himself. In anger he grabbed the head of the, still living demon and released him from his agony. But not before the demon could slice Cas with the angel blade. Cas groaned with pain. His eyes searched for the demons, who had Lily and now also Sam. How could this have happened? He had to find them and fast, before something worse could happen. Cas felt so bad for failing yet again. If he didn't save them in time, he could never forgive himself.