Author's Note: Hey everyone! So this chapter has been rather difficult to write for some reason. It could be because I wrote it in a notebook first and I can't get thoughts down fast enough. Let's hope for that. Writer's Block sucks!

Also, there are several changes of point of view during this chapter and I tried to make it obvious who's it was, so just…bear with me. Kay? Kay! Here's the chapter!

~Chapter Three~

Saturdays and Sundays were typically Dean's days off and that was hardly ever a bad deal. Days off used to entitle getting to sleep in instead of getting up at the crack of dawn to go chase of a damned poltergeist with a shotgun loaded with rounds of rock salt and a bucket of holy water. Now they meant something different, something better: getting to stay in bed for hours unless Cas or Jo woke him up sooner.

And the reason Cas woke him up this particular Sunday morning? Church, naturally.

Dean groaned, "Cas, it's like three in the morning."

"No dear, it's six forty-five."

"What's the difference?"

"Slightly less than four hours. Please get up."

Dean groaned again, curling up on his side. How the hell were there such things as morning people? And was duct tape effective in shutting them up or was bribery better?

Only a moment later, Dean was acutely aware of the squeak of their mattress and his partner's presence beside his slumped form.

The green-eyed man could only turn his head towards his partner and squint through sleepy eyes, not exactly trying to familiarize himself with the brightness of the room for fear of having to get moving once he did.

"What are you doin'?"

"You often behave like a child when I try to wake you. So now I am forced to get you out of bed like one." Cas smirked slightly, his eyes sparkling with the proverbial notion.

"No." Dean growled in protest covering his head with the blanket.

"Yes."

He could suddenly feel Cas's hands at his sides, poking and tickling him until he was squirming around and stridently laughing, no longer trying to fight against his partner and the need to get going.

/

Jo tiptoed over to Daddy and Papa's closed door, trying to be as quiet as possible. Her church shoes were loud though, and the little heels that she liked so much clicked loudly against the scuffed hardwood floor with every step.

She pressed her ear against their door, trying to hear what they were doing. She could hear their grown-up bed being squeaky, Daddy's big booming laugh and Papa talking to him. It sounded like they were playing a game and Jo wondered what kinds of game they were playing.

Daddy had said before that grown-ups didn't play games like kids did, but Jo didn't believe that because they played tag and hide-and-seek with her before and they were good! Daddy was fast and always caught her when they played tag, but Papa always found Jo in her most sneaky hiding places.

One time Papa took Jo to the park after pre-school and pushed her on the swing and caught her at the bottom of the slide. Jo was supposed to use the baby swing then, the one that holds babies in the seat so they feel safe, but Papa let her use the big kid swing as long as she held on tight to the chains and didn't squirm around too much. Jo had just turned four then.

Daddy came to the park with them that day too, but he came later. He was at work before he showed up and Jo was so excited to see him! He picked her up – because Daddies and Papas are big and strong like that – and put her on his shoulders so she could see what the playground looked like from this high up. Everything looked a little bit smaller up here, but she knew how far away the ground was on top of Daddy's shoulders, so she hung on as tight as she could while they walked home.

Jo blinked a few times, coming back from her daydream. Ms. Maysie, her kindergarten teacher always told Daddy and Papa that she was off in her own world too much. But Daddy and Papa didn't seem to care about what Ms. Maysie said, and that made Jo happy. She didn't like Ms. Maysie very much.

"Jo?" It was Papa and he was ready for church already. "What are you doing there?"

"Huh?"

"Why were you hiding behind the door?"

"I bet she was spying on us…" It was Daddy, with a smile on his face as he tied his tie.

"I was not!" Jo folded her arms across her chest in defense.

Papa just laughed and ushered Jo towards the stairs, holding her hand as they went downstairs. She could hear go into the bathroom and shut the door. Maybe he was going to do that thing he told her about once…what was it? Shaving? Yeah, that was it. Shaving. Daddy said that only men had to do that.

Papa set three spoons and three bowls on the kitchen table as Jo sat down and scooted her chair in. Pretty soon, there was a new box of cheerios and a carton of milk on the table as Daddy was coming down the stairs and walking into the room. Sometimes Daddy made breakfast for them, but he was a sleepyhead this morning, Papa told her, so they didn't have as much time. It was okay though; cheerios were Jo's favorite cereal and the honey part made the milk all sweet when you drank it.

When everyone was finished, Jo helped Daddy clear the table, filling the dirty bowls with water and putting them in the sink for after church. Papa was already waiting by the door to the garage and flipped on a light so they could see their way to the car. Daddy walked around the back of the car to the drivers' side while Jo climbed into her car seat behind Daddy's seat.

"Do I have to sit in the car-seat?" Jo pouted for an added effect.

"Yes you do."

"But it's such a short ride!"

"I know, dear, but you're still not tall enough to sit in the normal seat."

"When will I be tall enough?" Jo's blue eyes met Papa's and he smiled.

"Soon. I promise." He finished buckling her up and stood.

Papa shut the car door and went around to his side. Jo could see the smile on Daddy's face in the rearview mirror and she couldn't quite understand why he was smiling. She would have to ask later.

/

Holding Jo's hand as she walked between him and Dean, Castiel glanced down at her – she wasn't really walking, more like falling behind every few steps and then jumping forward, trying not to land on any of the cracks in the sidewalk. He let his blonde-haired little girl carry on like this until they reached the doors of the church where he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she stopped, understanding.

They were standing in the Parish Hall, where people were slowly filing into the chapel through the narrow doorway. Just as they were about to enter, Castiel noticed Dean's presence being missing and he whipped his head around, trying to find where he might've gone.

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

Jo's eyes met his, her tone calmer than he was about to feel. "Daddy went to the bathroom."

"Oh."

Castiel immediately felt foolish and guilty; was he really so untrusting of his husband even after all this time? No, not really. It was just that Dean had a habit of acting on impulses, and spontaneity wasn't the best thing in all situations. But he had left in such a quiet manner, that even as he and Jo sat down in the chapel, he was simply bewildered by how he wouldn't have noticed Dean's absence sooner. Castiel was always highly aware of his partner's company, except when his partner did not want to be. Was that the case? Had Dean tried to leave the room without his notice?

"Castiel?" A woman's voice interrupted his frenzied thoughts.

"Y-yes?" He stammered, feeling a flush coming across his cheeks. It was their neighbor, whose name he was no longer remembering.

"I asked where Dean was? He's normally with you and Jo, right?"

"Oh. He went to the restroom."

She nodded and shot Castiel a concerned look before turning around to face the right way.

The priest seemed to glide out from some room in the back, standing before the churchgoers with a small smile on his face as he began the usual sermon.

Where was Dean? It had to have been at least twenty minutes since he went to the restroom, and knowing him, he probably hadn't gone there in the first place. That was what was most concerning about his absence; the man wouldn't wander off if he didn't have a good reason… But the more and more Castiel tried to think of a valid reason for his disappearance, the fewer reasons came and the harder it was to steer his train of thought from the horrible possibility that Dean suspected some sort of supernatural evil was nearby and was investigating.

That thought only led Castiel into thinking of when he first discovered Dean's old job, a fear-inducing, astonishing experience that he had merely tried to forget about but couldn't.

Castiel was living in an apartment in Bismarck, South Dakota, where he was living temporarily while he looked for a job. When he moved in, everything in the building seemed to be fine and normal, at least until extreme electrical problems started happening all over the building, as well as several deaths that the police reported as murders. Determined to make this apartment work out unlike the last few, Castiel had stayed in the building one night after speaking with the landlord. He had apologized for any inconveniences in the electrical wiring and what not, promising that some guys had come in and fixed it up. In fact, Castiel had just gotten home from another day of job interviews when he heard a knock on the door. Naturally, he had gone over to the door, expecting to see his neighbor there asking if she could borrow something or wanting to chat, but instead found the cut and bloodied body of his neighbor with black eyes and a bloody knife in her hand.

"Cas!"

Dean was kneeling beside the pew, staring at him with a confused expression on his face. Castiel scooted over, giving Dean enough room to sit down.

"Where were you?" Castiel whispered, folding his hands in his lap.

"Whaddya mean?" he whispered back, shooting him the same confused expression and folding his own hands.

"I mean, where were you?"

"The bathroom. Didn't Jo tell you?" He smirked a little.

"For forty-five minutes, Dean?" Castiel's tone was ice, sharp and prickling.

Dean was silent.

"Don't lie to me."

"I wasn't lying."

"Yes you–"

Several people had turned around and were staring, dumbstruck. Castiel gulped, his cheeks burning and lowered his gaze from their baffled faces to his shoes.

He remained silent for the rest of mass, biting his tongue every so often to prevent himself from talking again and creating a disturbance. He was able to hold this forced silence until they had gotten back home.

"Jo, why don't you go play upstairs?" Castiel spoke softly once they were inside, standing in the kitchen.

"But Papa –" He inadvertently clenched his fist, trying to restrain himself from barking at the child.

"Jo. You heard him, go on." Dean piped up, looking Jo straight in the eye.

She nodded, a brief look of shame passing over her face before she ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

Once he heard Jo's bedroom door click shut, Castiel turned to face Dean, taking a short step closer to him. "Dean Winchester, what have you gotten yourself into?"