Castiel returned home late that night to find Claire sleeping on the couch. She was curled up, head resting on her arm. She looked so young and Castiel felt a pang of longing for his little girl in pigtails whose heart had never been broken. The pain he felt at Michael and Amelia's betrayal was nothing to the pain and guilt he felt for Claire's suffering.
"Claire, honey, it's late you need to go to bed," he murmured, gently shaking her awake.
She blinked up at him sleepily, then yawned and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Almost one," he answered, helping her to her feet.
"Hmm," was the only response he got as he walked her up the stairs to her bedroom. She was already wearing pajamas, so he pulled back her bedspread and helped her into bed.
"G'night Dad."
"Goodnight, Sweetheart," he said and placed a kiss on her forehead.
He left her room and headed to his own, stopping when he saw that Gabriel's light was on. He knocked softly on the door.
"Come in," his brother called and he pushed the door open.
Gabriel was sitting up in bed surrounded by baking magazines and scribbling furiously into a notebook. He finished writing something, then looked up at Castiel with a smirk and gestured toward the digital clock on his nightstand.
"So, that must have been some date," he teased, waggling his eyebrows.
Castiel blushed and looked at the floor. He didn't really want to tell Gabriel what had happened, but then he felt he needed to anyway. He hated it, but he felt the need for his brother's approval before this went any further. Claire's as well.
Gabriel frowned when Castiel remained quiet. His brother moved a stack of magazines off the bed and patted the now empty space so he could sit down.
Castiel debated another moment before kicking off his shoes and crawling onto the bed. He sat cross-legged and clasped his hands in his lap.
"Dean was teasing me earlier. He didn't think it was a date. Of course I didn't realize this until after I gave him a goodnight kiss..." he trailed off blushing even brighter and staring down at his hands.
Gabriel gave a soft gasp and bent his head to catch Castiel's gaze.
"And what happened then?"
Castiel looked up at his brother feeling more embarrassed than he thought he'd be. However, Gabriel's warm eyes held nothing but concern, the teasing completely gone.
"I-I panicked. Everything just kind of hit me then, and I … panicked."
Castiel stopped talking for a moment as he remembered the feeling of Dean's strong arms pulling him close in the most comforting hug he had ever been given.
"And? What did Dean do?" Gabriel demanded.
"He drove me to this secluded creek. And we sat and talked under the stars about everything and decided to start by being friends and slowly work up to something more... and then we kind of made out for a little while..." he confessed giving his brother a shy smile.
"That's great, Cassie! I'm very happy for you!" Gabriel laughed in delight.
"Are you, really?" he asked, earnestly.
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it," his brother responded.
Castiel nodded and turned so he could lean back against the pillows propped up by the headboard.
"So you approve of this? You don't think we're moving too fast?" The anxiety in his voice was obvious and made Gabriel sigh.
"Do you feel like you are moving too fast?" he asked, instead of answering.
Castiel thought about it for a moment.
"I think I feel like I should feel that we are moving too fast... but I don't." He admitted.
"Then it really doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks," Gabriel responded with a shrug.
Castiel looked at him sharply and said, "Of course it does. I need you and Claire to be okay with a decision like this. If you aren't then it's not worth it to me. Not right now, anyway."
Gabriel sighed again. "I'm happy that you are happy, Castiel. I like Dean. Anyone who loves my cooking as much as he does has to be good. That being said, I'm not going to tell you what to do. But whatever you do, I will support you."
"Thank you, Gabriel," Castiel said, around a lump that had formed in his throat.
Gabriel was so different than Michael, and Castiel loved him for it.
"Have you talked to Claire?" Gabriel asked.
Castiel shook his head. "She was asleep when I got home."
Gabriel yawned and nodded.
"She was trying to stay awake to talk to you. She made a friend of a waitress at Jo's who is going to take her to Summerville on Wednesday. Claire made a doctor's appointment and they are going to do some baby shopping. She didn't want to blindside you with it and cause another scene," Gabriel said, frowning when Castiel flinched at the word 'baby'.
"It's fine. I... I'm actually glad to hear that. Obviously I've not been very good at helping her through this. I'll get better, but she shouldn't have to wait on me..."
"Actually, I have an idea that might help you," Gabriel announced with a smile.
The two men discussed the idea for another hour before they both fell asleep.
Needless to say Claire, was surprised to find her Dad and Uncle sleeping in the same bed the next morning. She decided to just be glad that they were getting along and continued on her way to shower and get ready for her first day of work.
Gabriel was regretting his late night the next morning. He and Castiel had dropped Claire off at the auto-shop for her first day of work. The teen had been so excited it was cute. Then the brothers had gone to the bakery just in time to meet the first delivery truck. They would be open for business on Saturday, that left four days for deliveries, final preparations and a ton of baking.
He stifled a yawn as Castiel checked in the inventory, and glared at the elaborate coffee machine that did them no good without the coffee grounds that wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. The front door chimed and he turned to see Sam Winchester walking in. The younger man was dressed in one of his expensive suits and carrying a cardboard drink holder with three cups of coffee.
The morning light streamed through the glass walls and door at the front of the shop providing a heavenly back-light behind the handsome lawyer. Gabriel could almost hear an angelic choir as Sam walked up to him and held out the coffee.
"Marry me," Gabriel said, grabbing a cup and taking a generous sip.
Sam chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you are supposed to buy me dinner first."
"I make you dinner all the time. And, dinner is bought before sex, not marriage. Besides, I was talking to the coffee not you," Gabriel clarified with a wink.
His tone was light and teasing like normal, but his heart was beating faster. It was almost as if Castiel's date with Dean had broken a barrier between Gabriel and Sam. If it was okay for Castiel to have Dean then why couldn't Gabriel have Sam? He wondered if Sam knew about Dean and Castiel.
"So, can I buy you dinner?" the younger man asked, coyly.
Gabriel swallowed, brain stuttering to a halt.
"Um..." he said, flushing.
Sam's laughter rang out through the shop and Gabriel glared when he realized he was being teased.
Castiel poked his head out from the back to see what was going on.
"I made him blush! I actually made Gabriel Novak blush," Sam crowed, pumping a fist in the air.
Castiel laughed, lightly slapping his brother on the back as he walked over to grab a cup of coffee for himself.
"Wow, I don't know that I've ever seen anyone do that before. Good job, Sam," he said, and sighed blissfully as he inhaled the aroma of coffee.
"I hate you both," Gabriel pouted, turning away.
"Aw, come on Gabe! You can't be mad at me, I brought you coffee," Sam pleaded through a grin.
"Don't you have work today?" Gabriel huffed, but he was smiling again.
Sam nodded. "Crowley won't be home until next week so I have to meet with some people who want to open a bed and breakfast. Should be done by noon if y'all want to meet me for lunch at Jo's."
"Sounds great."
They were all late for lunch. Castiel had to leave soon after arriving to pick up Claire, and so ended up getting his meal to go along with something for his daughter and Dean after texting them for their order.
So it was just Gabriel and Sam for most of lunch. The baker was still feeling a little awkward left over from the morning's encounter, but Sam ended up carrying the conversation.
"I think Crowley was a little tipsy when he called me last night," he commented with a grin.
"Oh?" Gabriel asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Yes, he called his ex-wife all kinds of horrible names and then talked for an hour about what an ungrateful lout of a son he has. Apparently the kid got drunk and peed on a cop car... among other things. Crowley is going to be stuck over there for a few weeks trying to keep his son out of prison. Oh, and his wife is refusing to allow their son to continue living with her so he'll have to bring the boy back here!"
"Wonderful," Gabriel said, sarcastically.
Sam shrugged and took a couple of bites of his salad.
They finished their meal in companionable silence and Sam signaled for the check.
"I have another meeting this afternoon that will probably run late," he said.
"Cassie and I will probably be at the shop pretty late. There's just so much to do... He'll be taking Claire home first though. I've made up some chicken for her to cook in the crock pot for dinner tonight. There will be plenty for you and Dean," Gabriel offered.
Sam smiled, "I'll text when I'm out of my meeting."
The waitress put a check in front of each of them, but Sam batted Gabriel's hand away and grabbed them both putting down some cash.
"I have to buy to get sex, remember?" He asked, gave Gabriel a wicked smile and got up to leave.
Gabriel gaped like a fish, then hurriedly pulled himself together.
"Dinner, Winchester! You have to buy dinner for sex, not lunch," he called, hurrying after the younger man.
Sam's laughter made the scandalized looks he received from the other diners worth it.
All in all Claire's first day of work had gone well. She arrived on time and it hadn't taken long at all for Dean to show her everything. She spent her day reworking several of the old spreadsheets between answering calls. Most people just wanted to book appointments for tune-ups and oil changes. She knew she did well and could Dean was pleased with her performance. The only bad thing was when she had stood to use the restroom a few minutes before the end of her shift and got hit by a wave of dizziness. Luckily, Garth had been headed to the restrooms as well and was able to stable her before she could lose her balance.
She thanked him, saying it was just low blood sugar and she was about to eat lunch. When she got back to her desk, Dean was standing in front of it with his arms crossed.
"What?"
"You will now have a mandatory break from 10:30 to 11 everyday during which you will eat something."
She opened her mouth to protest, but he shook his head.
"Agree, and I won't mention this incident to your father."
She frowned but nodded.
Her father arrived soon after and the three of them ate lunch in the office. It was... tense. Conversation was stilted, and though Dean and her dad smiled like everything was fine it was obvious that something was going on between the two men. They kept exchanging looks like they were having a silent conversation.
Claire was relived when they finally finished and she and her dad left.
The ride home was filled with idle chatter regarding her first day of work and pending trip to Summerville.
They pulled into the drive and her dad turned off the ignition.
"Claire, I need to tell you something, and I'm not sure how you are going to react," Castiel blurted out before she could get out of the car.
Claire stared at him in surprise for a moment before slowly saying, "Okay..."
Her dad took a breath.
"So you know that I've been spending some time with Dean..," he began and stopped.
"And?" Claire prompted.
"And we've become friends."
Claire blinked in confusion. "Um, that's good right?"
Castiel stared at her, entire body tense.
"Dad, you're scaring me," she said after another long moment of silence.
Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke in a rush.
"We talked last night, and decided that we... might like to try being more than just friends."
A/N: I was going to go ahead and jump forward a few weeks, but realized these conversations needed to happen first. Next chapter time will advance and it will mainly be Claire's POV.