"John, look! The new neighbors are here!" Mary bustled around the kitchen, grabbing the cookies she had baked, careful with her slight baby bump. John appeared in the doorway, smiling, and grabbed the tin from his wife. "Alright sweetheart, calm down. There's no fire." She smiles at him, and gives him a chaste kiss before pulling his hand and dragging him to the house next door.
There's two identical teenage boys talking softly to each other about something. A tween boy and a maybe 9-year-old are fighting over a magazine, while a maybe 7-year-old reads War and Peace on the porch steps. A teenage girl is talking rapidly on a cell phone, while her tween sister taps her cell rapidly. A very young girl runs around the yard in circles and crashes into Mary.
"I'm sorry!" the girl cries, looking up at the pregnant woman. Mary smiles. "That's okay. I'm your neighbor, Mary Winchester. You can call me Mary if you'd like." The little girl nods and says "I'm Anna Novak and I'm three!" Mary laughs and helps the little girl to the house.
Boxes are everywhere, and a woman comes from the garage with a box. She fumbles with a key before Mary grabs it, opening the front door and helping her inside. The woman turns to Mary, a thankful look on her face.
"Thank you. I'm Naomi Novak, you must be our neighbors." Mary smiles and shakes her hand. "Mary, Mary Winchester and my husband John."
Naomi looks at her growing bump and says, "Congratulations. How far along are you?"
"I'm about to hit the five month mark. My first. You seem to have quite a few of you own." Naomi laughs.
"Yes, my husband wanted a big family. He's in Iraq now, just left last week. He'll be back in a few months. I have eight."
"I met Anna."
"Yes, Anna is very enthusiastic. She's our youngest. Her full name is Anael. My husband and I, we both come from very religious backgrounds, and decided to name our kids after angels."
Mary smiles. "That's lovely."
Naomi sticks her head out the door and whistles sharply, and all the kids enter the house and stand in a line. "Kids, these are our neighbors, John and Mary Winchester." Mary buts in. "Just call us John and Mary, really." Naomi nods, and turns back to her flock. "Everyone say your name and age, please."
The two boys go first. "I'm Michael, this is my twin Lucifer. Call him Luke. We'll be eighteen in two months." Mary nods and smiles. "Nice to meet you." Next the teen girl goes. "I'm Hester, I'm sixteen." The tween boy. "Balthazar, call me Balth. I'm twelve." The tween girl. "Rachel, eleven." "I'm Gabe and I'm nine!" shouts a small blonde boy. The boy with War and Peace goes next. "I'm Uriel. I'm seven, almost eight." Mary raises an eyebrow at the book.
Anna runs up to Mary. "You already know me!" she shouts, smiling. Mary picks her up. "You're three-year-old Anna, totally awesome girl!" Anna laughs.
John steps to Naomi. "My wife is a very talented baker, these are cookies." Naomi takes them and smiles. "Thank you." John nods. "Do you need help with the boxes?" Naomi sighs. "If you wouldn't mind. I haven't been feeling well lately, I think I might be coming down with something."
John nods and heads outside.
Mary is seven months pregnant when two things happen.
Naomi has quickly become the young to-be-mother's good friend, and during a lunch one day, Naomi leaves for the restroom and comes back pale. Mary looks concerned, and Naomi smiles.
"Now's as good a time as ever – I'm pregnant again." Mary squeals and claps. Naomi laughs at the younger woman's excitement. "I know."
It's a week later when Mary gets a desperate phone call from Naomi, the older woman sobbing and asking her to come over. Mary rushes without second thought.
When she gets into the house, Naomi is at the kitchen table with a letter in her hand. She gives it to Mary.
Mary skims the letter, murmurs an 'oh no' and begins to rub Naomi's back. "I'm so sorry."
The letter was from Naomi's husband's Sergeant, stating an unfortunate MIA status.
Naomi, nearing three months, is devastated. They hold a small service at the church, the Novaks all crying, Mary as well, while John sits stoicly.
The Winchesters take over temporarily at the Novak household, making sure everyone gets to school or, in Anna's case, day care. John works as a mechanic, so Mary does most of it. The twins are the ones to drive Anna, Uriel and Gabe to day care or school while Hester brings Rachel and Balthazar to their middle school. They are late a few days to class, but Mary goes into school for them and explains the situation and the twins and Hester get free passes.
Meanwhile, Naomi spends a lot of time locked up in her room.
January 24th, Mary gives birth to a healthy baby boy and names him Dean after her mother. He has a small tuft of blonde hair on his head and blue eyes that they suspect will turn green like Mary's in a few months.
Naomi, who has slowly been recovering, visits her in the hospital. Now at five months, Naomi is looking better. She brings Anna, who holds Dean once and says he's cute but wrinkly. The redheaded girl falls asleep shortly after, and Naomi leaves to put her to bed.
John spends a lot of time holding his newborn son. He looks like the proudest father in the world.
Naomi goes into labor early and has her baby boy on a Thursday. April 27th is his birthday.
Castiel has lots of black hair and big blue eyes and looks almost exactly like his father. Mary brings four-month-old Dean and the babies lie next to each other, asleep and peaceful.
Naomi looks sad.
Dean and Castiel grow to toddlerhood together, almost never apart. Dean is loud and outgoing; Castiel quiet and shy, and they balance each other perfectly. Everyone knows they're going to be best friends.
Castiel looks more and more like his father each passing day, his hair lightens to dark brown and his eyes still a deep blue. Dean has green eyes, dirty blonde hair, and freckles. He looks just like Mary.
Every time Naomi sees Castiel, she looks broken.
Dean's first word is "Cas".
Cas's is "Dean".
Dean is three when his parents sit him down and tell him he's going to have a new sibling. They explain it using the Novaks.
Dean can't wait for another Cas to play with.
On New Year's Day that year, with Dean soon to be four, Cas comes over to his house crying. All his siblings are out at parties or friends, and Cas had been with his mother alone.
Cas has a black eye and split lip.
Mary gets the story out of the toddler.
Naomi, drunk and mourning, saw Cas as his father and began to hit him for leaving his family. When she realized what she was doing, she locked herself in her bathroom.
Mary and John rush over to the Novak house and John kicks down the door.
They're too late. The pill bottle is empty, Naomi lies on the floor.
Michael and Luke, both at college, drop out and get jobs, Luke as a waiter and Michael working for John at his shop. Hester is told to go to college anyway. The twins raise their siblings.
Five days after Cas has his fourth birthday party, Mary goes into labor and on May 2nd, gives birth to Samuel Winchester. He has lots of brown hair and hazel eyes and looks like John.
Dean is incredibly proud. Cas holds Sam right after Dean, and is introduced to the baby as his new brother.
Mary cries a little.
Six months later, Dean goes to bed early after a temper tantrum. Cas is sent home.
Midway through the night, Mary gets up to check on Sammy. She rocks him when suddenly the window shatters and a flaming bottle enters the room and fire is everywhere.
John wakes to Mary's screams and runs into the nursery. He grabs Sam as Mary had cut her foot on the glass badly. Dean wakes up and John gives him Sam.
"Go, get Sammy out! Go on, go!"
Dean runs with his brother.
Outside, the house is burning. The Novak's front door flies open and Michael runs out, Cas right behind him. Dean runs to Cas, sobbing. Cas hugs him and Sam.
John runs out of the house without Mary.
John begins to drink a lot and occasionally hits Dean. Dean never lets him hit Sammy. They move across town, in a tiny apartment near John's friend Bobby Singer. Dean and Sam are left with Bobby often. They're left alone in the apartment more often.
In school, Dean does poorly. He's too busy trying to look after his brother to pay attention in class. If it weren't for his best friend, he would probably fail.
When Cas is twelve, he comes out to Dean. Dean smiles and hugs him.
"Man, did you think this would change anything?" Dean asks Cas, who is shaking.
Cas goes on a date with a boy names Samandriel, aka Andy, and Michael finds out. Cas is kicked out and ends up with Dean in their tiny apartment.
John doesn't come back for more than a day anymore.
"You know, I think they kind of blamed me for mom."
Dean and Cas are lying on Dean's bed, staring at the ceiling. Sammy is in the other room, doing homework. Dean is fifteen, Cas's birthday is a month.
Dean nods.
"Cause I looked just like Dad, and she was so upset his death and I was just a reminder. Every day. The older ones, they couldn't look at me without seeing him, the whole time. Even Anna was uncomfortable."
"Dad wants to blame Sammy for Mom's death, but I won't let him. I let him blame me instead."
Cas nods, and they just lie there.
Dean does lots of one night stands, Cas dates occasionally. It isn't until they're sixteen, sophomores, and Cas starts dating Andy again that Dean realizes it.
Dean's known he was bi for a while now, and only Cas knows (he found out) but one day Andy shows up at Cas's locker (which is next to Dean) and kisses Cas, Dean feels strange.
Almost, jealous.
It isn't until that night that he realizes he likes Cas.
Dean drives John's old Impala to and from school every day. He drops off Sammy first, then he and Cas park in the parking lot. Andy always meets Cas there.
Dean looks away.
"Why don't you hook up anymore?"
"Huh?" Dean turns around, looks at Cas staring at him. Shrugs, goes back to his locker. "No one caught my eye." Cas stares for a minute.
"What about Lisa? She looks like she really likes you." Dean shrugs again.
Cas looks confused.
A week later, Cas finds Andy kissing Lisa in an empty classroom.
When Dean finds out, he feels bad for being glad.
Cas eats lots of ice cream for a while.
In June, right before school ends, a girl names Cassie goes up to Dean and kisses him. Cas ignores his jealousy.
Sam figures out that his brothers like each other. He always was smart. He manages to lock them in the bedroom they all share – somehow fitting three beds in the tiny space – and tells them to talk.
"This sucks." Dean thumps against the door one more time before giving up.
Cas is sitting on the bed. Dean sits next to him.
They sit for a while.
"How's Cassie?" Cas asks, turning to Dean. Dean shrugs. "We broke up." Cas frowns. "Already?"
Dean looks at Cas. His eyes are wide and trusting. His lips are really pink. He can't staring at them. He begins to lean in without realizing it. When he's really close, he suddenly stands up.
"Sorry." Cas frowns.
"For what?" Dean paces. "I almost kissed you," he admits. Cas stands up. "Why?"
They stare at each other for a long time, and then Dean whispers "I think I'm in love with you." Cas smiles. He walks forward, puts his arms around Dean's neck, and kisses him.
"Good," he whispers.