A/N: Here is the revised version- Let me know if it sounds better
There were some comments about remembering Dean is a new dad that I had received. I do agree with these comments to a point, but feel I need to explain my thought process, so that way everyone can understand where I am coming from. Yes, Dean is a new dad, but he also practically raised Sam, and I believe that as a result of doing that, many fatherly things would come naturally for him. Not everything, because this predicament is a little different, and he is going to have some trouble with things, but I think because of who Dean is and what he's done in his life, the caring, protective, taking care of his daughter, and "punishment" (ex. Getting angry and yelling at her for getting expelled) side of things would come naturally because he's already done that with Sam.
Okay, having said that, here is the next chapter. Again, thank you for the reviews, they get me thinking about things and they only make me better. Special thanks to tvj12, DLilith21, and to ananomis- appreciate you all taking the time to review! I wonder what friend Gracilynn will meet?
Gracilynn goes to take another bite of her sub but freezes. She looks around the room in front of her, feeling as if someone is watching her. She sets her sub down and stands up. Not seeing anything in front of her she turns around. She lets out a yelp and jumps backwards, tripping over the chair and crashing to the floor. In front of her is a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He is wearing a business suit and a tan trench coat.
"I am sorry for frightening you," he says, watching her curiously. Gracilynn stares back at him. Upon hearing his voice, she breaks out of her trance and quickly stands up, grabbing the first thing she finds; which happens to be the leg of the chair she just tripped over and broke.
"Who the hell are you? And how the hell did you get in here?" she yells, holding the leg like a baseball bat.
"I assure you, hell has nothing to do with this," he says, tilting his head at her reaction.
"What!?" Gracilynn yells, confused as to what this guy is doing here and where he came from, "Who are you!?"
"I am Castiel. An angel of the Lord," he answers. Gracilynn scoffs at this.
"An angel? There's no such thing," she says.
"I assure you there is," he replies, "Where are Dean and Sam?"
"They're on a hunt," Gracilynn answers, realizing too late she probably shouldn't be giving too much information away, "How'd you get in here?"
"I have told you. I am an angel of the…" Castiel begins.
"Lord. Yeah, I get that," Gracilynn says sarcastically, "How do you know my dad and Uncle?"
"Dad? So, you are the daughter I've been hearing about," Castiel counters.
"You heard about me?" Gracilynn answers, "From who?"
"The other angels. They have been talking about you for a few days now," Castiel answers.
"Right," Gracilynn says, not dropping the sarcasm, "The other angels."
Castiel cocks his head as if he is listening to someone. Gracilynn watches curiously. Suddenly, Castiel looks right at her.
"They are hunting an Asura," he states.
"Uh…yeah, how'd you know?" Gracilynn answers.
"We must go," Castiel replies, not answering her question but instead walking directly at her.
"Whoa there buddy," Gracilynn says, holding up a hand and stepping backwards, "What are you doing? What do you mean we have to go?"
"Dean is in trouble. We must go," Castiel says.
"He's in trouble? How…?" Gracilynn says, starting to worry now.
"I will take you to him, but we must hurry," Castiel says, taking a step forward. This time Gracilynn does not step back. For some reason she feels as if she can trust this man in front of her. Castiel takes this as permission and puts his hand on her head.
The next thing she knows, Gracilynn is in the woods on the hikers trail. She hears her dad yell her Uncles name and she takes off running in that direction. Gracilynn comes to a clearing and sees her Uncle lying on the ground unmoving. She quickly makes her way towards the cave just in time to see her father fly into the side of the cave. A twig breaks behind her and she turns around to see the female Asura. Gracilynn's eyes grow big and she tries to run but the Asura grabs her from behind and holds her. Gracilynn looks up and sees the male Asura choking her father and its obvious Dean can't fight for too much longer.
"Dad!" Gracilynn yells. She tries to wriggle out of the Asura's grasp but is unsuccessful. She kicks behind her hoping to loosen the grasp.
"Dad!" she yells again. Castiel appears behind the male Asura and touches him. A bright light appears in his eyes, his body jerks and then he collapses to the ground. The Asura behind Gracilynn screeches, letting go of her. Gracilynn runs and grabs the machete her Uncle dropped when he hit the rock and turns around to face her. She isn't paying attention so Gracilynn takes this as her cue. She sneaks up behind the Asura and swings the machete making contact with the neck. The Asura screams and drops to her knees from the impact. Gracilynn's body jerks as the machete comes to a stop in the middle of the neck.
"Seriously? They make it look so easy in the movies," Gracilynn says, kicking the Asura so she falls to the ground face first. Gracilynn shoves the machete and pushes it through the neck bone and through the other side, effectively beheading the Asura. Gracilynn looks up and sees her father slowly rolling over on his hands and knees. She goes to see if he's okay but hears a moaning to her right. She looks over and sees her Uncle coming to. Gracilynn looks from her Uncle to her dad and back again, not knowing who to go to first. She hears shuffling and looks over to see Castiel helping Dean up off the floor. Noticing her dad is pretty much okay, she quickly goes to Sam's side to see if he's okay.
"Uncle Sam?" she calls out. Sam groans.
"Give me a minute," Sam says, keeping his eyes closed and taking a few breaths. There is a noise behind her, and Gracilynn turns around to see her dad kneel down next to her.
"Sammy? You all right?" Dean asks concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah," Sam says, sitting up slowly, "Help me up."
Dean grabs Sam's outstretched arm and slowly helps him to a standing position. Dean quickly looks him over to assess the damage. Other than where Sam's head hit the rock, there didn't seem to be any other bruises on him. Satisfied, Dean turns to look at his daughter, noticing the Asura on the ground. Dean makes sure Sam is steady and then quickly turns Gracilynn around, checking her over.
"Are you all right?" he asks.
"Dad, I'm fine," Gracilynn says, trying to shrug her father off, but is unsuccessful. Dean looks at his daughters face at hearing her call him dad. He forces the lump in his throat back down.
"You sure? You have blood everywhere," Dean says, pulling Gracilynn's jacket away to get a better look.
"Yeah, I'm sure. It's not mine. There usually is a lot of blood when you behead something especially when you aren't strong enough to do it in one cut," Gracilynn explains, letting Dean check her over. Satisfied she is okay, Dean stops fidgeting over his daughter.
"Dean," Sam says. Dean looks over and sees his brother beginning to fall. Dean quickly grabs him before he face plants and gets him steady once again.
"All right, let's get you two back to the motel," Dean says leading his brother the long way back to the car. Gracilynn picks up the other machete and follows her dad back to the hikers trail.
"Maybe I can be of some help?" Cas says from behind them. The Winchesters jump a little, forgetting Cas was even there. Dean's about to object, but notices the way Sam is leaning on him, that it might take a while to get back to the car.
"If you could just get us back to the car," Dean says, no sooner than Cas touches their foreheads and they appear next to the said vehicle, "Thanks Cas."
Cas nods his head and disappears. Dean loads his brother in the front seat, grabbing the machetes from Gracilynn afterwards, putting them in the trunk while she climbs into the back seat. Dean climbs into the drivers' seat, starting up the Impala and taking off for the motel.
SNSNSNSNSNSN
Dean walks back in to the motel room carrying their bags, having patched Sam up and got him tucked into his bed. He dumps them in the corner of the room and looks over to see his daughter passed out in his bed facing her Uncle. Dean watches them for a little while. Satisfied they're okay, he grabs his clothes and gets changed in the bathroom. Dean throws his dirty clothes on top of his duffle and lies down on top of his bed next to his daughter, staring at the ceiling. He feels movement next to him and looks down to see Gracilynn turn over and curl up next to his side. Dean smiles and puts an arm around her, leaning his head back against the headboard and sighing contentedly.
"You all right dad?" Gracilynn whispers. Dean looks down at his daughter, surprised at the question, thinking she was asleep.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Dean says.
"You sure?" Gracilynn asks.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Dean says.
"Okay," Gracilynn replies, snuggling deeper into his side.
"So…" Dean hesitates, not sure how to ask the question, "Dad?"
"Yeah, well for being Government, Uncle Sam is pretty smart," Gracilynn mumbles into Deans' side.
"Yeah, he is pretty smart," Dean agrees, then realizing what he's just admitted to, "Gracilynn?"
"Yeah," she whispers, mumbling into his side again.
"You ever tell your Uncle I said that, I will deny it till the day I die," Dean says. Gracilynn laughs sleepily.
"Don't worry," Gracilynn says, "Your secrets safe with me."
With that, Gracilynn curls up and goes to sleep. Once satisfied his daughter is finally asleep, Dean closes his own eyes, willing sleep to come peacefully.
SNSNSNSNSNSN
Gracilynn comes out of the bathroom, having just woken up and finding her bladder screaming for her attention, and sees her dad and Uncle sitting at the table watching her. Dean looks like he is trying hard not to scream.
"Um…you two all right?" Gracilynn asks, not knowing what is going on. Sam gives her an apologetic smile and looks at Dean. Gracilynn raises an eyebrow and looks at her father.
"So?" Dean asks.
"So…what?" Gracilynn asks in return.
"You mind telling me why you thought it was a good idea to go off on your own after an Asura?" Dean all but yells.
"Oh…that," Gracilynn says sheepishly.
"Oh, yeah, that," Dean counters, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"But I didn't," Gracilynn says, giving Dean her innocent daughter face, "And I saved your ass."
"Gracilynn," Dean warns.
"What was I supposed to do?" Gracilynn asks, "I mean some guy appears out of nowhere…"
"What guy?" Dean and Sam asks, instantly worried.
"Some guy in a trench coat. Claiming to be an angel of the Lord or something. What was his name?" Gracilynn says, saying the last part to herself.
"Cas," Dean says.
"Kind of," Gracilynn says.
"Castiel?" Sam says, saying his full name.
"Yeah, that's it. He popped in saying all that mumbo jumbo and then said you were in trouble. Said we had to go," Gracilynn explains.
"Cas took you there?" Dean asks, getting angry again.
"I guess you could say that. He touched my head and the next thing I knew we were in the woods," Gracilynn answers.
"So, wait a minute," Sam says, "You just went with him? No questions asked?"
"No, not really. I mean, I did have a broken chair leg," Gracilynn says.
"Yeah, about that…what happened?" Dean asks.
"He scared me and I jumped back. Tripped over the chair and it broke," Gracilynn answers.
"So, why did you go with him?" Sam asks, getting them back on topic.
"He said he was a friend of yours," Gracilynn says, looking at her dad.
"Anyone could've said that," Dean says, annoyed, "You should be more careful."
"He just felt…" Gracilynn says, trying to find the right word to explain it, "Good?"
"I ain't touching that one with a ten foot pole," Dean mutters. Sam rolls his eyes.
"Dean's right. You're lucky it was Cas. It could've been something worse," Sam says.
"Yeah, not all angels are like him. In fact most of them are junkless douchebags," Dean adds.
Gracilynn gives him a confused expression at the comment.
"So is he really an angel?" Gracilynn asks.
"Yeah," Dean says.
"Really? I mean, angels aren't real," Gracilynn argues.
"What makes you say that?" Sam asks.
"I don't know," Gracilynn says, shrugging her shoulders.
"Oh, no," Sam says, challenging her, "Why do you say that?"
"Well, if angels were real, all this crap wouldn't be happening to good people," Gracilynn says.
"Can't argue with you there," Dean says, earning a look for Sam, "Look, I'm not saying angels are amazing or anything, but they are definitely real. Don't worry, it took me a while to believe it too."
"Yeah?" Gracilynn asks.
"Yeah," Dean responds.
"Well, if you two believe it," Gracilynn says.
"Just do me a favor and be more careful next time," Dean says.
"Okay," Gracilynn says, "I promise I'll be more careful."
"Like me more careful or Sammy more careful?" Dean asks his daughter.
"Does it matter?" Gracilynn asks.
"Yes," Dean and Sam say together. Gracilynn sighs.
"How about Winchester more careful," Gracilynn says.
"That's not very reassuring," Dean replies.
"Well, tough, cause that's the best I can do," Gracilynn says, "I'm not gonna sit by and do nothing if you two are in trouble."
"You see that," Dean says frustrated, "Is exactly why we are in the position we're in now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gracilynn asks, confused at the comment.
"Nothing, don't worry about it," Dean says, dismissing it and standing up, "I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat."
Dean grabs his coat and keys and walks out the door. Gracilynn watches after him and after he leaves, she looks at her Uncle who is giving her that apologizing look again.
"What the hell is going on?" she asks.
"Don't worry about it," Sam says, grabbing his own jacket.
"Really? Because something tells me I should worry about it. What with Dad waking up from nightmares all night, you skipping out in the middle of the night, Dad drinking when he thinks I'm not looking…" Gracilynn says. Sam sighs.
"Gracilynn…" he starts only to be interrupted by the honk of the Impala, "We should go before Dean decides it'll be faster if he leaves us here."
Gracilynn sighs exasperatedly and grabs her own coat following her Uncle out the door.
AN: I should also explain here that I am not one for rewriting things that have already been written. This all takes place in Season 4, as I've stated in the first chapter, but I don't feel the need to rewrite episodes to put Gracilynn in them. I don't like doing that, sorry if you guys want to see that. So basically, those episodes will be happening, just with Gracilynn in them. If there is a huge change I'll probably write it in, but mostly I'll probably just refer back to something in an episode.
I hope you all liked this chapter and seeing Gracilynn meet Cas! Please review!
Next up: Gracilynn goes to school