Greeting fellow readers! I started this a couple of days ago, after getting inspired from a Tumblr post, and this little creation sprang to mind. And even though it came to me before a big midterm, I started writing it out anyway.
I hope you enjoy, and know nothing belongs to me.
Meet the Novaks:
"And so to find x, you need to carry over the…"
The teacher drones on, chalk scraping across the board as she demonstrates the method to complete the math problem. Some of the students listen attentively, using pencils instead of chalk to copy the lines and numbers. Others, who don't really care, look in different corners of the room and try to imagine themselves as far away as possible from school. And one student moves her pencil across her page like the first group of students, but instead of numbers weird symbols are sketched in the margins of her notebook.
Just as the teacher was about to finish the problem, she is interrupted by a knock at the door. She sighs, putting the chalk down to answer the door. On the other side is a shorter, stockier woman, much older, and with a piece of paper in her hand. She passes it to the teacher and continues on her way.
The teacher looks down at the note and reads it to herself once before addressing her students.
"Claire Novak," she calls, and the girl tracing symbols and runes into her loose leaf looks up, while the rest of the class's eyes are on her, "the principal would like to see you."
Now as this is a high school, the customary sound that follows announcements like this would be the interested and mocking 'oooohhhsss'.
Claire's classmates did not disappoint.
She packed up her stuff and headed towards the door, the class already forgetting about her and going back to what they were doing before.
It didn't take long for Claire to find the principal's office: she took her sweet time, of course, but didn't put it off either. She enters the room and is directed towards one of the chairs by the secretary: the same lady who handed her teacher the note.
She tries to find a comfortable spot on the plastic chairs, but it's like they were built more for aesthetic than comfort. Claire thinks she almost found the sweet spot, when…
"Ms. Novak," the secretary calls from her perch, gaze not moving from the screen, "Mrs. Rauch will see you now."
Claire hangs her head in disappointment as she shuffles her way into the office.
At the desk, a small mousy woman sits with short red hair chopped into a harsh bob. Her glasses seem to be too big for her head, and she had very noticeable frown lines. When Claire's boots clacked into the office, she looked up from her own computer.
"Ah, Ms. Novak," Mrs. Rauch spoke, "Would you please take a seat." She pointed to one of the two seats in front of the mahogany barrier.
She picked the one that put her furthest from the woman.
"Do you know why I asked to see you today, Ms. Novak?" she asks, hands tightly clasped in front of her.
Claire has to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes, as she knows she should at least be polite to the principal… for now.
"No ma'am, I don't," Claire responds, going for respectful in her tone but maybe being a bit curt. She tried.
"Well," the older woman starts, "it has come to my attention that neither of your parents attended last week's parent/teacher conference. I asked some of your teachers about your parents, and apparently they don't know anything about them either. It appears you never mention them at all! Now dear, is there any reason that, to this faculty at least, your parents don't exist?"
Claire's bored expression quickly shifts into a slight panic.
It wasn't her fault she couldn't legally be an emancipated minor yet, seeing as how she ran away. She's been waiting it out, but unfortunately she'll turn 18 at the end of the school year.
And she needs parents now.
"My parents," Claire repeats, "They, um… travel. A lot." She's nodding her head as if she's agreeing with herself, but stops after realizing how stupid she must have looked.
"Do they?" Rauch implores, "When will they be returning home?"
"This weekend," Claire smiles, the lie slipping between her teeth like a feather caught in the wind.
"Well then you won't mind having them stop by for a visit. Say… Saturday, at 10 o'clock in the morning?"
Too bad that feather is going to weigh like a brick.
Claire walked into a trap, and if she said anything but yes then she will probably set off some alarms in her principal's heads. She could always leave before the meeting anyway… but her apartment was really nice and cheap.
And don't get her started on the water pressure.
"Sure," she smiles forcefully, "we'll be there bright and early!"
Rauch's smile is more natural, and smug. She extends her hand to shake, "I can't wait to meet both your parents."
After the handshake she was dismissed, and she couldn't wait to hightail it out of there. Thankfully it was lunch, so if she needed to sneak away for a little private time she could do just that. She walks until she's by the bleachers, sitting on the cool metal as she takes out her phone, dialing up a familiar number. The dial tone sounds up from the device for a second or two, before being replaced by a man's deep and grumbly tone.
"Castiel?" she asks, "I need a favor."
On the other end of the line, he smiles: "Of course Claire, what do you need me to do?"
"I need you to be my dad again," she starts, then goes on to explain bits and pieces of the conversation she had with her principal.
"That does seem to have put you in a bind," Castiel agrees, "but I will be there. I can definitely make it for Saturday."
"Great!" Claire sighs, a weight being lifted off her chest she didn't know was there. "I'll text you the address of the school," she continues, "oh! And before I forget there was one small thing you also need to do…"
Castiel furrows his brow, tilting his head: "What is that?"
"Don't come alone."
Back at the Bunker, Dean and Sam were lounging around as usual in the Bunker. In Sam's lap sat his laptop, his eyes scanning the different articles, searching for any sign of any activity that may seem… not natural.
On the other side of the room was Dean, and in his hands a very high cholesterol, calorie-packed sandwich. His mouth was watering, having spent an hour perfecting the delicacy he was about to submerge his taste buds in. But just as he was bout to sink his teeth into the warm deliciousness, his phone rings to the tune of 'Stairway to Heaven'.
Usually, when Dean was interrupted from eating, he grumbles and makes sure that the person on the other line knows they picked the wrong time to call.
However, this wasn't just any person, and so Dean looks at his sandwich sadly before putting it down and picking up his phone.
"Sup Cas?" he asks, stretching languidly from his position at the chair. Sam looks up from his laptop, and Dean sends him a big wink. Sam sends bitch face #45 right back.
"Dean?" Castiel replies, "I need your help with something."
Dean's eyes squint a bit, wondering what the angel could need him for. "Sure man, you know I'll always be here to help."
The face Sam makes after he says that has him considering how much his sandwich was worth to him if it meant Sam having meat and mustard in his hair.
No… he loved his sandwich too much.
"Well, I need your help with Claire. She apparently needs two people, and so she called me and told me to not come alone. Naturally, I thought of you."
"Really?" Dean's chest warmed at that, being the first person that Castiel thought of. His face must have shown what his chest was feeling, as when he looked up he could see Sam flipping his hair and having breathy sighs escape his lips.
Dean flipped him off.
"Of course," Castiel assured, "so would you be willing to meet me in Missouri by Saturday?"
"I'll be there," Dean answers, "just text me the time and the place, Cas."
On the other end of the line, Castiel smiles, "Great. I can't wait then."
"Neither can I Cas," Dean says truthfully, "I'll see ya then."
"Goodbye Dean."
Dean hangs up and puts the phone to the side and again picks up his sandwich. And again as he is about to put the heaven on a bun in his mouth, he's interrupted.
"Whaaaatt?!" Dean groans, putting the sandwich down again, begrudgingly.
Sam is now sitting across from him, having moved from his original seat.
"What did Cas have to say?" he asks excitedly. He's restless, and honestly could do with a nice case right about now.
Dean gives him a harsh look, but Sam knows there's no heat behind it.
He sighs, "You're not gonna let me eat in peace if I don't answer, are you?"
"Got it in one."
Dean rubs at his temple, a slow ache starting to form from hunger and having to deal with annoying little brothers.
"He needs help with something 'bout Claire," Dean extrapolates, "so I'm gonna meet him in Missouri somewhere on Saturday."
"You mean we are, right?"
Dean gives Sam a look. "No," he slowly starts, "just me. He only needed one Sammy, and he asked for me."
"But why can't I go?" Sam nearly whines, slouching against the chair.
"Maybe because he likes me more than you?" Dean smiles.
Sam can only scoff, lightly grumbling to himself: "Maybe your dick…"
"I'm sorry Sammy what was that?"
Sam's straightens a bit after that. "Nothing Dean," he replies, "Nothing at all."
"Good," Dean says, grabbing his sandwich one last time before shooting Sam a look. "Now, if you let me finish this I may bring you back something."
"Whatever Dean…"
Claire sits on the school steps, lightly chewing on her nails. It's 10 to 10, and neither Castiel or whatever angel he was bringing haven't shown up yet. She really needs this to work, and hopes that the angel in her father's body picked someone who wasn't too socially incompetent.
However, she realizes that maybe she has something else she should be worrying about when the 1967 Chevy Impala pulls into the parking lot.
"A school, Cas? What could Claire need us here for?"
"She told me she needed me to be Jimmy again, and to not come alone."
She can hear their voices even from where she was sitting, and she rubs at her temples knowing this might not go as well as she hoped.
"Hello Claire."
She looks up to see the two men staring at her, and she realizes that this is her only option now. She's going to make her work. She has to make it work. Claire stands up and gives Castiel a hug in greeting, and a small smile Dean's way.
"So, Claire," Dean says, hands on his hips, "What do you need us to do? Get rid of a ghost? Gank a few demons?"
"Well…" Claire starts, "just… follow my lead."
She turns on her heal and enters the school, not even turning to see if the two men are following her, because from the sound of the linoleum hallway there are two other pair of feet right behind her.
Claire makes it to the office where she was just two days ago, and gently knocks on the door. The door opens, and Mrs. Rauch opens it, only to be startled by the two men standing behind her.
"Hello," she says, turning towards Castiel first, holding out her hand, "you must be Mr. Novak. Pleasure to meet you."
Castiel takes her hand in his and gives it a few good shakes. "The pleasure is mine."
Rauch removes her hand then turns to Dean, who also looks just as confused as to why he is here. "And you are…?"
Before Dean could answer, Claire cuts in.
"He's Dean, my other dad."
Silence.
Dean and Castiel are both staring at Claire, who is looking at them with a wide smile begging for cooperation. Mrs. Rauch on the other hand looks flustered.
"Well…" she begins, choosing her words carefully, "this is a bit of a surprise. I thought I would be greeted with Mrs. Amelia Novak?"
"She's, uh… no longer a part of this family," Claire answers, looking down, "she left my father when I was ten, and a little after that he met Dean and… here we are!"
If Mrs. Rauch could look any more uncomfortable she would be in Guantanamo Bay being tortured. Instead of addressing the matter of the missing Novak, she turned on her heel with a "Well let's get this started with then."
Claire quickly blocks Dean and Castiel before they go in: "So you're my parents, and this is a 'meet the folks' thing. Can you handle that?"
Castiel agrees, willing to do anything for Claire. Dean on the other hand, looks peeved he wasn't fully clued in.
"I will do it," he says, turning to Castiel, "you owe me so much Cas," then his head swivels to Claire, "and you, young lady, are grounded when we get home."
She drops her jaw as Dean proudly strolls into the room, taking a seat in front of the Principal. Castiel follows after with Claire, sitting in the next two chairs. Claire sits between the two, looking back and forth at her… "dads".
"So Mr. and… Mr. Novak," the principal says, "I heard from Claire that you both travel frequently for work."
"Yes, we do," Castiel answers.
"We're FBI agents," Dean explains further, "so our work takes us to different parts of America from time to time."
"Oh!" Rauch gasps, "I didn't know you were so involved with America's security!"
Dean chuckles, "Something like that."
"And we know it must have been weird that Claire here didn't have any of her parents come to parent/teacher night," Castiel cuts in, "but we will in the future try to make it to any future event that she might need us at."
"I'm very glad to hear that," Mrs. Rauch starts, "but I must warn you that some of the faculty might not be as… receptive to your current relationship…"
"What?" Dean growls, now agitated, "Don't tell me we're in one of those parts of the south that have some kind of holy war against people like us, do we?"
Rauch tries to save the situation, hands up in a calming gesture, "No, no, but some of the teachers here are set in their ways. And I am sure that some of the parents may also give both you and your daughter a hard time-"
"So?" Dean interrupts again, clearly angry, "Just because I happen to love someone who's the same gender as me? I shouldn't have to change my lifestyle to satisfy some hillbilly dicks who can't understand the meaning of a 'happy relationship.'"
Castiel tries to calm the hunter down, "Dean, I don't think Mrs. Rauch meant to offend-"
"It doesn't matter if she didn't mean it, Ca-Jimmy," Dean starts, "I'm just sick of hearing the same old shit about what is 'normal' in America. You and I both know that there is nothing normal, and there are far worse things than you and me being in love. If some jerks don't accept us, that's fine, but I don't want it to affect Claire if she has to be in a hate-filled environment because they can't accept how much I love you."
They are looking at each other, and in that moment, Castiel can tell that there is more to Dean than just an act right now. There's a fire in his eyes right now that speaks volumes, and Castiel can't tell how warm he feels because of his love. Yet he can also see the fear, how he didn't mean to show so much, getting lost in the character and is now waiting to see how Castiel will react.
Castiel reaches over and grabs Dean's hand, eyes never leaving his, "Dean, I understand you're concerns, and I know that we will get through them together. No matter what other people think or say, I love you, too."
Claire can tell that the other two are having a moment, as she is being crushed by the intensity between them. She feels awkward right now, having to witness the man she's on her way to calling 'dad' admitting his repressed feelings for the green-eyed man. At first she thought it might be funny to see how uncomfortable she could make the men, but now it seems like she is the one who feels that way.
Yet all three are broken out of their respective trances with a very surprising sniffle.
The Novaks turn to see the Principal failing to hold back tears, her mascara running and a tissue blotting her eyes.
"That, that was," she blows her nose, "beautiful."
All three have red faces, but it is Dean who answers her: "Thank you, ma'am."
"Please, please," she waves her hand, "call me Miranda. And after seeing this display I have something I need to ask of you two."
"What do you need?" Castiel asks, seeing how it will probably be best to agree with what she wants just to get out of there faster.
"Well…" Miranda blushes, as if her earlier outburst wasn't embarrassing enough, "next month I had planned a week in diversity, where each school day we have speakers brought in from the town and around the area that have personal experience in these areas. I wish to have both of you come be our 'Diversity in Sexuality' panel."
Claire is just looking between both of them now, another pleading look on her face. Yet this one is very different from the one before. Instead of wanting them to do something, she wants them to say no in any language they want.
Dean sees this, and his immediate response is simple…
"We'd love to," he smiles cruelly, "just tell us when we need to be here and we'll make a mark on our calendar."
"Fabulous!" Rauch exclaims, "it's set for the third week of next month, and the 'Diversity in Sexuality' panel is scheduled for Thursday."
She looks at the faces of the three before her and is curious as to why they seem to be holding back some laughter, but thinks nothing of it as it must be an inside joke.
"We will see you then," Castiel says while standing, ready for the hand Miranda extends towards him this time. The other two of the 'Novak Clan' say their goodbyes and leave the principal to her work. Claire leads the two back, but unlike the impatient worry the duo had in the beginning, it's a relaxed happy that has cultivated in their handholding. The minute they exit the building, Claire spins on them.
"I hope that was a joke back there," Claire crosses her arms, leveling the two with a glare only a teen her age has had the time and angst to craft.
However Dean sees her glare and raises her a smile and an eyebrow lift. "No," he says, "just consider the panel as our form of punishment for not telling your 'father' and I about your parent teacher conference."
They start to walk around her back towards the Impala as she stands there, mouth open in shock. She recovers, and turns back to plead her case.
"Come on!" she says, "If it wasn't for me, you guys wouldn't have even gotten together!"
The duo stops, and they exchange a look. Castiel quirks a brow as if to agree, and Dean rolls his eyes. He turns back and motions for Claire to come meet them. She moves forward and as she gets close enough, Dean wraps an arm around her in… fatherly affection.
"Thanks, squirt," Dean says, kissing her head, "and to show how much we mean it, we're going out. As a family."
Claire might roll her eyes, but as she glances over to see Dean do the same to Castiel's cheek, can't find it within herself to hold back her smile.
And that smile stays plastered to her face throughout the entire lunch, even if Dean and Castiel got a little to cuddly over a piece of pie.
And she may have felt a twinge of sadness as her 'parents' drove off until the next time they were needed.
But she also felt really glad she didn't stick around as the duo's gazes turned from affectionate to heated.
Sam is back where he was the last time, scrolling through the Internet when he hears the door slam from behind him. He doesn't even look up, expecting Dean to have just used too much force.
"So Dean," he yells, "what did you get me?"
"A brother-in-law and a niece!"
Good? Reviews are welcome and I was thinking of a sequel to this so if you want it tell me!