A/N: I know some of you are waiting for the other shoe to drop, but we're gonna have a couple more chapters of fluff and feels first. So you can just sit back and enjoy. ^_^

Chapter 4

Sam kept flicking glances at the hallway every few minutes, to the point where he couldn't actually follow what he was trying to read, as he kept losing his place. It wasn't interesting, anyway, just some utterly droll and not at all useful book on avian care. Just because both Ryn and Cas had wings didn't mean they were going to hatch their offspring. …Sam hoped not, at least.

Dean was idly flipping through one of his Busty Beauty magazines, feet propped up on the study table and looking completely unbothered by the fact that they hadn't heard anything from Cas or Ryn since last night.

Sam frowned, and twisted around to look out through the war room to the front door.

"They're both still there," Dean spoke up.

"What?"

Dean glanced meaningfully toward the exit. "I've been out here all night; no one tried to sneak out."

Sam leaned back in his chair, furrowing his brow. "Dude, you seriously stood guard?"

Dean just shrugged, like it wasn't weird…or uncalled for. Guess it had occurred to him, too, that one of the two lovebirds might split. Not that the Winchesters were keeping either of them prisoner or anything.

Sam ran a weary hand down his face, anxious to know whether Cas and Ryn had worked things out. Because the sooner they did, the sooner they all could start talking about other changes and preparations that would need to be made. Sam may have supported the idea of them having this baby, but that didn't mean any of them knew what to expect with it.

His gaze slid toward the corridor again, this time just as Cas came striding out. Alone. Sam straightened, shooting his brother a nervous look.

Dean put his feet down and set the magazine aside. "Hey, Cas," he greeted nonchalantly.

"Dean. Sam." Cas came to stand at the end of the table.

He didn't look mad, or as stiff as he'd been the past several days. Sam was gonna take that as a good sign…

"Um, I have a favor to ask," Cas said.

Sam eyed him curiously. "Okay, what is it?"

"Ryn still needs to get some things from her cabin, and I was hoping you would take her."

Sam lifted his brows. "So, she's still gonna move in?" That had to mean the two of them had worked things out.

"Yes." Cas hesitated. "That is, if it's still alright. Taking care of a child…this child…that's more than I can ask of either of you."

"We're family, Cas," Dean said. "That's what families do. And it's not a problem. I'm…kinda looking forward to being an uncle."

Cas blinked in surprise, then his expression slowly morphed into a timid smile. "Well, I will need all the help I can get."

Dean grinned back at him.

"Um, Cas," Sam spoke up. "Why aren't you taking Ryn to get her things?"

Cas instantly sobered. "There's something I need to do first."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Which is?"

Cas rolled his shoulder awkwardly and looked away.

"Tell me you are not thinking of going back to Heaven," Dean said sharply.

Cas whipped his head back. "No, of course not." His jaw visibly clenched. "I- I need to find Claire."

Sam's brows flew upward. "Claire?"

"I need to make sure she's okay."

Sam shook his head in disbelief. The last they'd heard from Claire, she'd tried to lure Dean into a trap to get beaten up—and killed—by two idiotic douchebags. Sam was still a little sore about that, if he was honest. Not to mention the fact that the angst-ridden teenager clearly didn't want anything to do with them, for obvious reasons.

"Cas," Dean said. "Claire is not your responsibility."

"I know I'm not her father," he countered. "But if I'm going to be one…then I should take responsibility for the child whose life I irrevocably changed, and not necessarily for the better." Cas shifted his weight. "I owe Jimmy that much. Especially since, if our places were reversed…I would want someone to look after…my child." His throat bobbed as he forced the words out, still seeming unsure about using them.

Sam exchanged a look with Dean. Cas's heart was in the right place…and they had just irresponsibly let a teenage girl drop off the map.

"Wait," Sam interjected. "You're not thinking of bringing Claire back here, are you?"

"No," Cas answered quickly, then softer, "No. As I said, I'm not her father. But I can't leave her out there, not knowing if she's safe or in trouble. I want to…fix what I can, so she at least has a chance at the life she was meant to have."

"What does Ryn think of this?" Dean asked carefully.

"She understands," Cas replied. "So, will you take her to Montana?"

"Maybe you should have some help with Claire," Sam said, leaning his arms on the table. "Dean could go with you, and I'll take Ryn."

Despite being the one to murder Claire's surrogate, albeit reprehensible, father figure, Dean did seem to have developed somewhat of a connection with the girl. More so than Sam, anyway.

Cas shook his head. "No, this is something I need to do alone."

Sam sighed, but his brother looked thoughtful.

"Okay," Dean said after a minute. "We'll take Ryn up to her cabin. But hey, you stay in touch, alright? Keep us informed about what's going on."

Cas nodded, looking relieved. "I will. Thank you."

"Sure thing." Dean rose to his feet and clapped Cas on the shoulder before the angel turned to head up the stairs and out the door, just like that.

Sam furrowed his brow. "You sure this is a good idea?"

His brother snorted. "I'm not really sure about anything these days. But if Cas says he needs to do this, who are we to tell him no?"

"You don't think it's another way for him to try to hide, keep from dealing with the situation?"

Dean pursed his mouth in contemplation for a long moment. "No. No, I think he gets it now. And maybe it'd be good for him to get some closure before starting his own family. Hell, it might even be good for Claire, too."

Sam canted his head, still not thoroughly convinced, himself. He stiffened as a thought occurred to him. "Um, maybe we should tell Cas not to mention the baby to Claire. She might not react well to that."

Dean's face scrunched up in a grimace. "Hm, yeah." He pulled out his phone and started tapping out a text.

Sam got up and went to go find Ryn so they could talk about their upcoming road trip.

Dean eased the Impala to a stop in the middle of the dirt road, still about twenty yards from where the roof of a cabin was peeking up through a canopy of trees. He threw the car in park.

"Okay, we're walking from here," he declared. No way was he driving his Baby through those pokey overgrown bushes and scratching up her paint job.

Sam rolled his eyes, but knew better than to complain. He pushed his door open and climbed out.

"Watch it," Dean warned when his brother didn't prevent the door's rim from brushing against some of the foliage.

"Dude, they're leaves." Sam flicked his hand at some of them.

"Attached to branches with pointy ends," Dean retorted, shooting him an incredulous look. "You plan on buffing out all the micro scratches those can leave?"

"No, because I'm not an obsessive compulsive maniac."

"Who's the chaperone here?" Ryn broke in, coming around to the front of the Impala and arching a brow at them.

Dean rolled his eyes and shut his door, then locked it. He and Sam followed Ryn up the road to where a cabin sat, nestled inside a ring of trees. Some ivy was growing halfway up one side, and it looked like some weeds had overtaken what was supposed to be some herb planters. Other than looking a little unkempt at having been untended for a while, the place seemed…nice. Quaint.

"How far away is your nearest neighbor?" Sam asked.

"That small town we passed on the way in."

Dean pulled up short. "That's ten miles from here."

Ryn shrugged, and stepped over a line of glittering quartz-like pebbles. Dean narrowed his eyes as he visually traced the stones in an arc around the house.

"Is that rock salt?"

"Yes. There's also warding inscribed on every tree." Ryn pointed to the trunk of an aspen whose white bark was stripped in places where lines of Enochian sigils and other kinds of runes had been carved into it. "Some are traps, too."

"Uh," Sam stammered. "Are you expecting an invasion?"

"Asks the guy who lives in a warded, underground silo?"

Sam grimaced. "Fair point."

Dean nodded slowly in appreciation as he took it all in. "Missing a devil's trap, though," he commented.

Ryn's mouth quirked, and she pointed her index finger straight up. Dean craned his neck back, brows flying upward when he spotted the unmistakeable lines of a devil's trap constructed out of friggin' trees. The branches had been tied together with hemp at the intersections to hold it all in place, and if one didn't know what the symbol looked like, it would have just seemed like a tangle of dried twigs.

Okay, now he was impressed.

"This place is awesome," he said. "You're keeping it, right? I mean, I know you're moving into the bunker, but it would make a nice vacation house, lots of room for a kid to run around, set off some fireworks."

"Fireworks?" Ryn repeated.

"Oh yeah. Sam loved those as a kid." Something warm and fuzzy blossomed in Dean's chest at the thought of being able to do that again. It was one of his happiest memories, after all, so much that it'd been part of his personal Heaven. They could all come up here for the 4th of July and set off firecrackers. Away from the warding, of course. And they could come up at Christmas and cut down an actual Christmas tree, and put presents under it… Dean found himself starting to grin like an idiot.

Sam leaned down to study one of the carved wards. "Is there anything here we don't have set up at the bunker?"

Ryn's brows pinched thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. I can look around."

"Let's see inside first," Dean said. "What all do you need to pack?"

There wasn't much that Ryn would need to bring with her that the bunker didn't already have, but maybe she had some personal items she wanted to keep with her. Cas's room—or, their room, now—needed some personalization.

Ryn led the way to the front door and let herself in. It wasn't even locked, but then, with all the traps she had set up around the perimeter, she probably didn't need a lock and key. Not that something that simple would stand against the types of things she was warding against anyway.

The air inside was musty at having been closed up for so long, and Ryn immediately went to a window above the kitchen sink and pushed it open. Dean roved his gaze around the interior. The cabin had an open floor plan, with the kitchen on one side, which was really just that sink with counter space on either end and then a gas pilot stove, plus a small square table and two rickety chairs as the dining area. The 'living room' was across from it, with a rocking chair set next to another window and some bookcases along the wall. In the far back were two doors to what looked like bedrooms.

Ryn made her way to the one on the left and flicked on a light. "I'll just pack my clothes," she said.

Dean swung his arms idly, knowing better than to offer helping with that. His eyes landed on a crossbow propped up behind the door, and he picked it up to admire it. "Hey, we can bring this back with us," he said loudly.

"Dean, we're not gonna be able to have weapons lying around once the baby's born," Sam chided.

He frowned. Oh, right. Still, it was a beauty.

Ryn poked her head out of the bedroom to see what he meant, and gave him a considering look. "You can have it, if you like it that much."

"Really?" Dean waggled his brows at his brother.

"Sure," she replied. "You gave me that katana from the bunker."

Dean ran a finger down the crossbow's sleek frame. "Awesome."

Sam rolled his eyes, but then cast his gaze around the room. "So, uh, anything else you need help packing? Those books?"

There was the sound of a zipper, and then Ryn emerged with a stuffed duffel bag. She pursed her mouth. "I don't know…there are already lots of books at the bunker."

"So? You can never have too many books."

Dean snorted. "Says the nerd."

"Well, sure, then. There are some journals, too."

"Okay. Just point 'em out and we can start carrying them out to the car."

"Actually, Sam, if you wouldn't mind," Ryn interjected, eyes going above his head to where a row of dreamcatchers hung from one of the rafters.

"Oh, sure." And of course the Sasquatch could reach them easily on his tiptoes. "All of them?"

"Just the osprey feathers and opal beads," Ryn replied.

Sam gave her a blank look.

"Oh, burgundy leather and second one from center," she amended.

"Got it." Sam proceeded to get those down while Dean propped the crossbow against his shoulder and went over to take Ryn's bag.

"Seriously, you're not gonna like, sell this place, are you?" he brought up again.

Sam snorted. "Be kinda hard to explain all the occult symbols outside if you did."

Ryn smirked before she shook her head at Dean. "No, I'm not going to get rid of it. It's been a good home to me, and I do like it here."

He nodded. "Okay, good."

She canted a wry look at him. "Because of fireworks."

"Heck yeah. And throwing a football. Which, we could do outside the bunker," he allowed. "But I am gonna teach this kid everything he needs to know about sports, pro-wrestling, and how to pick up girls. Because we all know Cas isn't exactly an expert in that area. Present catch excluded," he added quickly.

Ryn's lips quirked. "And if it's a girl?"

Dean opened his mouth, only to flounder on his response. "Oh, um." A girl? Okay, that would take some…reorienting. He rolled his shoulder sheepishly. "Then I guess we'll teach her how to avoid guys like us."

Sam huffed out a small laugh, and Ryn also looked amused. Passing Dean the duffel, she then reached up to place a hand against his cheek.

"When she grows up, I'd want her to find someone like you."

Dean blinked dumbly as she stepped back and started walking away, leaving him with his hands full.

"Wait," he said, twisting around. "Does that mean it is a girl?"

A coy smile crept across Ryn's features, and she folded her hands across her still flat stomach. "I don't know, for sure. It's just…a feeling."

Dean reeled back as he processed that. Okay, so he was probably gonna have a niece. As that thought sank in, he felt a smile tug at his lips. He supposed he could get used to that.

"Really?" Sam said, moving toward her with a goofy grin on his face. "You tell Cas yet?"

Ryn shook her head. "Like I said, I'm not sure. Besides, I think I'd like to see if he can figure it out."

Dean's brows knitted together. "Uh, how is he supposed to do that? Twenty Questions? Because Cas is really not good at that game."

She gave him a good-natured scowl. "His grace is able to interact with the grace in the baby."

Sam's face scrunched up in confusion. "Interact? Like how?"

"Like, sense each other. Recognize each other. It's still too small to make out much, but I think in time Cas will be able to discern more."

Dean shook his head. So, like Cas and an unborn fetus could start having a conversation with each other? That was frankly veering way too far into weird territory for Dean's comfort.

He cleared his throat. "Anything else you wanna grab before we close up shop?"

Ryn went to the bookcase and pulled out several volumes, which she stacked in Sam's long arms up to his chin, then took a few more herself. Between the three of them, they were able to carry everything back to the Impala in one trip, though they then had to go back to close everything up and do a quick survey of the warding. Sam took pictures with his phone of anything Ryn wasn't sure the bunker already had. Then they were finally ready to hit the road.

Ryn tugged at Dean's sleeve as they reached the car. "Hey. Thank you, for everything," she said, giving them both a sincere look.

Dean decided he could bite the bullet this time, and went ahead and pulled her into a hug. "Anytime."

This wasn't what he'd thought his life would ever look like, either.

But families got bigger sometimes.