"Are you ready Castiel?"

"Yes." No hesitation whatsoever.

"Okay. This may feel different as a human. Hold on."

Castiel sensed moving around him a blurring rush by his head. If his eyes were open surely he would have fainted. He was moving, but he was not. It was like how a human usually feels when they are sick as if he were lifting up from his sick bed though he wasn't moving at all.

No he wasn't moving. Time was.

The rushing stopped and he slowly lifted this eye lids and sat up. He was lying on a quilted bed in an unfamiliar room. There was a night stand by the bed with a smartphone resting screen down on it. He picked it up and checked the date: January 24, 2023.

Dean's birthday.

Walking out of the bedroom that he assumed was his (there was a trench coat laying on the door) and there were multiple pictures of Castiel and a young boy that was 6 or 7 years old.

Straight outside his door was a staircase that he ignored for the moment and instead heard voices around. Walking into the kitchen, he saw a slumped over Sam on a kitchen island stool and the same boy from the picture in the bedroom he just escaped. The boy was kneeling on a stool and was pouring cereal into a huge mixing bowl, then milk, but barely spilling anything.

"Here Sam this help." The boy said and he turned to Castiel. He smiled sheepishly. "I can make more, daddy, if you want it to help with your booboo."

Castiel blinked. Daddy? Booboo?

He cleared his throat, "No thank you. I don't know what this booboo is but I can assure you it doesn't need help. Nor have I ever tried cereal. Now can I ask why it is you making the cereal instead of Sam when he seems to be your superior?"

The boy tilted his head much like Castiel did when confused and glanced at Sam who had lifted his head enough to look at the bowl and stir around his Lucky Charms (it says it on the box the boy sat down) and then back at Castiel and whispers, "It's because Sammy is sad about being Uncle Dean's birthday. I's wants to cheer him up with his fav-ite cerul."

"Sam. A word?"

They walk into the living room down the hall.

"Listen Cas, I know you don't want me hungover around Mattie but he insisted on helping. And he is. Helping, I mean."

"That's not what I'm here to talk about. Listen. I'm not Cas."

Sam stiffens and takes a step away from Cas reaching for a nonexistent blade.

"NO wait I mean I am Cas. I mean Castiel. I'm from a different time."

"What do you mean?"

"It's an alternate reality. Well atleast I think. I don't know all your life but in my reality this time has already passed and I didn't have a son and you and I were not in contact until the very end before I left. I wanted to change some things so a brother of mine to bring me back in time since I'm human now and couldn't do it myself. Though I don't think he brought me far enough back."

"Um… Wow! I don't know what to say. Would you like me to catch you up on what's happened here?

"That would be nice, yes."

"Man I forgot how weird you talked before."

Castiel tilts his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you have kinda got the hang of things for being on earth so long so you usually don't talk so fancy. And you eat cereal with Mattie every morning. You confused him earlier when you refused. His name is Matthew. His mom is not in the picture. She was a one night stand 6 years ago on this day actually. I was still pretty bad back then. She left after giving birth to him and the hospital called to give me a choice to put him up for adoption or to come get him. I was gonna let him get adopted but you refused. You went picked him up pretending to be me and have been raising him since. I work, pay the bills, and babysit occasionally. He has no clue. He thinks you're his actual father and you are in every way better than I could ever have been."

"This changes things then. For being here I have made your Cas not exist anymore. Even when I leave I don't know if your Cas will come back."

"WHAT?! You killed Cas?"

"I am Castiel."

"Then you can't leave. Mattie needs his father and you can't go killing off every Cas in all the dimensions just to find your time period. I'm sorry but I can't let you do that."

"Even to save Dean?"

Sam falters at that.

"Dean doesn't need saving, Cas. He's in heaven. Why can't you just visit him there?"

This is the moment of truth should he tell this Sam what he didn't tell the other? That Sam had family and the truth would have hurt more than one person and this Sam doesn't have any family except for the Cas that he had killed and Mattie but maybe they could save Dean here.

"Actually…"

Before he can decide what to say next, there is a large thump in the kitchen followed with several smaller thumps and a grunt/ whimper.

"Mattie you okay?" Sam calls out.

"Yeah 'm fine, Sammy." The voice is small and you can tell he is trying to sound like he isn't in pain when he actually is. They both walk in the kitchen and find the bowl of cereal spilt on the floor and the stool the boy was standing on tipped over with Mattie a little ways from it where he had fallen. Mattie looks at Castiel and whimpers, ''Daddy." Sam looks at Cas with a silent 'Help him!'

Castiel hesitantly walks over to the hurt boy and kneels down. "Litte one, what did you do?"

Tears fill his eyes and Castiel quickly wipes them away. " I was trying to cwean up the mess and when I picked the bowl up and twied to get down the stol fell with me stiwl on it."

"Are you hurt?" He nods slowly and points to his elbow where it's really red. Not knowing what else to do Castiel picks him up carefully off the ground. Right away Mattie buries his head into his neck and sniffles, "I'm sorry daddy I didn't mean to make a mess."

''It's fine, Little one. I'll check your injuries while Sam cleans the mess up." Sam raises his eye brow but says nothing.

Walking down the hall away from the kitchen, he passes the door to his bedroom and walks in the door and sets Mattie on bed and pry's his hands from his shirt. "Lets see you elbow, little one."

Nothing is broken, thankfully, but there will be a nasty bruise that will form. Getting some ice from the kitchen, he sees Sam has cleaned the mess and is setting the stool upright.

"Hey. S' kiddo okay?"

"Yes it's just a bruise but hopefully the ice will make it less prominent."

"Cas?"

"It is Castiel. And yes?"

"What were you going to say earlier about Dean?"

"About seeing him in heaven?"

"Yes."

"Well, one: I am human now so I can't go anywhere except on foot and two: Dean isn't in heaven anyways, Sam."

"Where is he then?" His voice holds a darker tone to it.

"Hell."

I don't remember if I said that in the other chapters so I have no idea if that was a cliff hanger or not. I just needed to find a place to stop and why not?

Whatever.

Ciao

Tessaherondale87