This story has run away with me tonight! I have a lot up my sleeve for this story, but this is it for now. Season Nine spoilers are included, so if you don't want to know yet, don't read any further. And "words" is something my son and I do. He's six and growing up in a house full of adults, it's unavoidable that he'd hear cussing.

Dean was struggling. He had no problem fighting off the evil beings of the world, no issues with surviving both heaven and hell's various civil wars. No quibbling over the situation with Castiel, and he had gotten avoiding Sam down to a fine art. It wasn't even being a father that Dean found difficult. It was dealing with daycare.

After a couple of weeks, he noticed he was getting strange looks at the breakfast drop-off. He still let Siobhan pick her own outfits, which usually included a t-shirt of Dean's, or one of Sam's many, many, many flannel shirts. But he didn't think his daughter's creative choices were the reason he was getting strange looks. It wasn't the way she made Bear a part of every element of her life – to the point the daycare assistants were joking how they'd need to start charging for Bear too – because other children at the center had security blankets as well. It wasn't that sometimes Castiel or Sam came with him, because there was another kid with two Daddies, and even one with two Mommies. And yes, Dean had checked them out. Lesbians, how could he not?

No, he was struggling with the odd reports that came home, often hours before daycare was supposed to finish. He was sick of trying to come up with plausible explanations for why Siobhan had stood and very eloquently told a four-year-old boy why he shouldn't run in the naptime corner. Or how she could pick up a copy of The Gruffalo and read it so eloquently, voices and all. Why her painting was so advanced, how her sandcastle managed to stay up, what could possibly have happened to the ball she bounced that flew so high in the air that no one had seen it come down.

He knew Siobhan was doing her level best to keep her powers under wraps, but it was hard. And she was two. Maybe Sam's daycare idea was just too much, too soon. Maybe they needed to consider their other options. Maybe when he talked to the daycare manager today, he'd mention that it wasn't working out.

He had barely stepped in the building before the manager accosted him, shouting so loudly that it took Dean a moment to really process what she was saying.

' … AND DYLAN STARTED PULLING THEM! WINGS!'

Shit.

'Well, you know-'

'No, no, I'm sick of the frankly pathetic excuses you try and create for your abominable daughter! We told her to take the wings off, and she just cried. I don't know what values you're teaching her, but she cannot cry her way out of trouble. She really hurt Franklin when the wing caught him in the eye, and his mother is difficult at the best of times!'

Dean had to yell over her.

'I'm taking her home, okay? Where is she?'

'Time Out. We had to put her in there, she started flying! Deedee fainted when she saw-'

Dean walked away from the manager, into the Time Out room. He was far too familiar with this room. Siobhan was curled up in the corner of the room, trying to make herself as invisible as possible. Dean almost missed her, because she had wrapped her tiny, shimmering white wings around Bear and herself. He could hear her crying.

'Hey sweetie, it's Daddy.' He said quietly, closing the door behind him so the manager couldn't hear them talking.

'You yelled at the lady,' Siobhan sniffed, still not unfurling her wings.

'I know, that was wrong. Do you want to talk about the wings?'

Siobhan's crying grew louder.

'They hurt, Daddy! They hurt like when I got my teeth! And I was crying 'coz they hurt and they said I was bad because I hurt Franklin's eye and I didn't mean to! And when I moved them they didn't hurt so much and then I was up in the air and they cried and they screamed and they called me a bad girl. Am I?'

Dean sank down next to his tiny daughter, curling his arms around her, wings and all. He kissed the wing closest to him as softly as he could, aware they were new, and tender.

'No, you're not a bad girl. You're just different. And I've been different my whole life. It's not so bad.'

She snuggled closer to him, climbing on his lap, one of her wings folding over his arm. Dean couldn't help but wonder if Castiel's wings had ever troubled him this way, or if they had ever been so downy and soft. He'd only seen Castiel's wings as black, thinned from stress. Castiel's advice would be so good for their daughter at that moment, but there would be no way of explaining Castiel's sudden appearance.

'You don't have to come back here, ever again. Okay? Daddy Cas and me, we'll sort something out. Promise.' And Dean stuck his pinky out. Siobhan gave a watery giggle, and twirled her finger around his. He kissed the top of her hair, and then, cuddling her close, stood up and walked out of the Time Out room. The manager lingered there, and although Dean could easily fabricate some excuse about Siobhan wearing wings and accidentally sticking them with crazy glue, he decided this bitch wasn't worth his time.

'She still has her wings!' The manager shrieked. Dean held his head high, eyes blazing with unspoken fury.

'She does. Sorry Franklin got hurt, but you know, if you don't want to worry about difficult parents, maybe you should be nice to the guy whose daughter managed to fly today? Because I promise you, lady, if I ever see you again, you're dead.'

And holding Siobhan close to his chest, still sniffling, he marched out of the building. It was raining, but Siobhan, with a little groaning and clearly a lot of effort, raised her wings to cover both of them until they got into the Impala.

'Is this your rain?' Dean asked as he did the seatbelt up, and secured Bear in place.

'You told that lady you would kill her.' Siobhan's eyes were as wide as saucers. That confirmed it for Dean, she definitely could not come on cases. He didn't need that tiny, frail voice telling him not to hurt the bad man. But what options did he have? Bobby and Kevin were dead, Charlie was in Oz, Lisa couldn't remember him, Sam had killed Emma, who was an Amazon anyway and would therefore have been a Bad Influence on tiny, impressionable Siobhan.

'I told her she'd be dead.'

Dean knew he wasn't fooling her. He kissed her forehead and closed the door, the familiar creak-and-clunk making him feel a little better. Especially as he had accidentally caught her wing in the car seat strap, and that had left him feeling guilty.

'We'll talk to Daddy Cas about your wings, okay honey?' He looked at her in the rear view mirror, and she nodded her head miserably. Bear reached a paw up, and patted her face along the tear tracks.

'I don't think Daddy Dean is going to take us back there. We can play at home with Daddy Dean, and Daddy Cas, and Uncle Sam!'

Siobhan's face brightened, and the clouds began to slowly break up. Dean swallowed his reaction down, opting instead to temporarily allow his daughter the optimism. He was definitely going to have a word with Bear, maybe when Siobhan was asleep, about avoiding false hopes or something. Or maybe he would leave it to Castiel, since Cas had quite happily left Dean to deal with most of the daycare crap.

As soon as they got into the bunker, Siobhan took a couple of running steps, and then soared into the air, flying around the raised roof of the meeting room. Sam, who had been in the room, poring over various volumes – as always – barely looked up.

'So I guess I know why she's home early today.'

'Don't ride her ass, they're hurting her.'

Dean was watching as Siobhan, giggling and twirling Bear around as she flew in loops and twists as though she were in water. Dean smiled despite himself.

'Is flying such a good idea?'

'Ah, she said they don't hurt so much if she moves them. She lost control and made a rainstorm.'

'And you're going to let it slide?' Sam looked up from his book to shoot Dean his patented Bitchface. Dean ignored it.

'Yep. I figure she's had enough to get through today. Let her play.'

'Is she suspended?' Sam pushed.

'Nope, totally flying on her own.'

'Dean,' Sam's tone was almost reminiscent of their fathers.

'She's not going back, even if they wanted her. Kid's scared that she's sprouted wings and they yell at her? It wasn't her fault that kid got a feather in his eye.'

Sam sat forward, pushing his fingers through his hair. It was obvious to him, the way this conversation was going. He loved his niece, he did, and he was getting used to Bear, and Fish, but caring about the kid wasn't the issue. Keeping her safe and hidden was.

'So, maybe we could go to wherever it was that Cas hid Jimmy, when we met Cassandra in the first place?' Sam started clutching at straws.

'Nope, he said the other angels destroyed it, in that fight. I was thinking more like shift work. You know, I have her for a day, you have her the next day, Cas goes the next. You can research cases and I can gank whatever sons of bitches I can.'

'WORDS, Daddy!'

Siobhan was hanging upside down, her feet inches from the ceiling, the shirt she'd stolen from Sam defying gravity as well. Her finger was pointing imperiously at Dean, an admonition for him not watching his potty mouth around his toddler. This must have been something Cassandra had taught her.

'Sorry, so I can kill those sons of bitches.'

'Daddeeeeeee! WORDS!'

'No cussing around her, huh?' Sam smirked. Dean lifted his chin smugly, and delivered his final blow.

'You get the first shift tomorrow.'