March – April 2034 (Castiel is 44, Dean is 46, Eden is 20, Adrian is 17, the twins are 13, Noah is 7 (almost 8), Jason is 21, Sam and Jess are 38 (almost 39), Mary is 68, John is 69, Jesse is 14 (almost 15), Aria is 10, Kaylee is 5, Balthazar is 45 years old).
The following Tuesday they got a call from Mary that John had finally woken up again after two days in coma. The family immediately went to see John in the evening after school and work, and Sam and Jessica drove there from Stanford once again to see him. They had gotten the call in the afternoon, and Sam and Jessica had immediately left work and picked up their children before driving off.
Dean, Castiel and the children were the first ones to arrive.
"Grandpa!" the children cheered when they entered John's room at the hospital, and they immediately went over to see him. Eden and Jason were there too after Dean and Castiel had picked them up from the college on the way. Jason didn't have to go with them but Eden had asked him to since she was sure that John would be glad to see him there.
"Hey kids," John grinned and hugged them when they came over to him. He was still in the hospital bed and sat up against the headboard. Mary was standing by the foot of the bed, smiling happily as everyone greeted John and hugged him.
The guy that John shared a room with wasn't present. The guy's family had arrived to visit him and they had gone outside to socialize.
"Hey dad, how are you doing?" Dean grinned and looked down at his father.
John pulled Noah up to sit on his lap on the bed, and the boy giggled happily and wrapped his arms around John's neck to hug him.
"I'm doing alright," John replied and smiled as he gently ran a hand down Noah's back and tried not to touch his feathers too much. "I think I ate too much bloody junk food and drank too many beers… I need to stop doing that otherwise I'll get another heart attack." He gave Noah a warm smile when the boy pulled away from the hug and grinned up at him.
"I've always told you to eat properly," Mary muttered.
John rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
The others laughed at that and the mood lightened up in the room.
"We're so glad you're awake again. We were so worried," Eden said and wiped away a tear of joy from the corner of her eye.
"No need to worry about me; you can't get rid of me that easily," John chuckled. "And you brought your mate with you," he added and grinned at Jason.
Eden blushed. "He's not my mate yet, just my boyfriend."
"Well, you still do the same things that mates do…" Adrian pointed out behind her. John laughed at that.
Eden gasped and turned around to slap his arm. "Shut up! And speak for yourself!" she hissed and felt her cheeks flush. Jason blushed a little too, but he still snickered when Eden slapped Adrian.
"Ew," Isaac grimaced, but Lily just snickered next to him.
"Children… behave," Castiel said and stared between them firmly.
Mary laughed softly. "Oh let them – it's siblings' way of showing love. I know that from how Sam and Dean always treated each other. And still do."
"Where are Sam and his family anyway?" John frowned and gently bounced the leg that Noah was sitting on. John was feeling a little tired after his ordeal and it was visible to everyone, but he tried his best to enjoy the company of his family and interact with them.
"They should be here soon," Mary said.
"Sam said they'd be here at about 5:30pm, which is now…" Dean spoke and looked at his wristwatch. "But Sammy's always been slow, so you can never know when they are gonna show up."
Just after he said those words, Sam, Jessica and their children finally entered the room.
"Hey, sorry we're late," Sam said as they entered. They were all panting slightly from having hurried through the hospital to reach the room.
"Wow, speak of the devil…" Dean murmured and smirked at Sam. Castiel chuckled next to him.
The children immediately went over to their cousins and greeted each other.
Sam gave Dean a weird frown, not understanding what Dean was talking about, before he finally turned his attention to John. "Dad," Sam grinned and immediately came over to hug John. John greeted him back and gave him a few hard pats on the back. Sam smiled at Noah when pulling away from the hug. "Hey Noah." He ruffled the boy's hair with affection and laughed when Noah shrieked and shied away from his hand while laughing.
"Good to see you again, son," John smiled at him.
"You too, dad," Sam grinned, and moved his tail over to touch against John's which was hanging down the side of the bed.
"Grandpa!" Aria and Kaylee both cheered and ran over to greet their grandfather too. Jesse and Jessica came over as well, and they all greeted each other.
John pulled Kaylee up to sit on his lap as well, and she and Noah giggled and began interacting with each other as they sat on John's lap together. They shifted a bit and moved to sit down on the bed on either side of John when John said his legs were starting to go numb.
"What did the doctors say about his condition?" Jessica asked Mary when John was busy interacting with everyone. She had already been over to give John a hug as well.
"Well, he has to stay here for a while and can't work or anything for several weeks since he was in a coma," Mary explained and glanced over at John and the others. "They said they don't see any major damage in him, but his hands are shaking quite a bit."
Castiel looked over at John and saw how his hands were indeed shaking as he rested his hand on Noah and Kaylee's backs. Everyone was talking back and forth and asking John how he was and if he could remember anything from being dead. John of course could not remember a thing, except that everything had suddenly turned black.
After a while Jessica looked over at Eden and Jason and smiled at them. "I see the two of you are still together."
"Of course," Jason smiled and wrapped his arm around Eden's waist, pulling her close.
Eden smiled shyly and curled her tail around her boyfriend's leg. "Why wouldn't we be?" she asked Jessica.
Jessica shrugged and continued smiling at them. "Most young couples don't stay together for more than two years, and you've been together for… three years now?"
Eden and Jason both smiled and leaned into each other. Eden glared over at Isaac when her brother was making mocking puking faces and acting like he was choking in disgust. "Stop it, you jerk!"
"I bet you don't tell Jason that in bed!" Isaac grinned. He laughed and ran over to hide behind Sam when Eden growled at him and went forward to pull his tail. Lily snickered next to them, and Adrian and Sam couldn't stop laughing. Jason just snickered although his cheeks were kind of flushed.
"Children," Dean warned and stared between them firmly. "Be nice."
Jesse chuckled and Aria giggled like mad.
"They're fun though," Jesse said.
Mary laughed warmly. "Indeed. And so full of sibling love."
"Ew," Isaac grimaced behind Sam's wings, making them laugh again.
Suddenly John looked over at Castiel and smiled widely. "Ah, Castiel, come over here for a minute."
Castiel blinked his eyes in surprise, and everyone turned to look at him. He slowly walked forward until he stood next to the bed by John's side.
The older alpha demon smiled up at him and reached out his hand to gently grab Castiel's, holding onto it. "I don't think that I ever thanked you for becoming a part of my family. You have completely changed my view on angels and on the world, even though it took me a while to adjust to that change. And you and Dean have given Mary and me such wonderful grandchildren. I just wanted to thank you for that."
Everyone smiled at that, and Castiel felt his cheeks go a little red. The angel smiled shyly and said, "You are welcome, John. I enjoy being part of your family."
Dean grinned and wrapped his tail around Castiel's leg, and the angel turned his head to smile at him.
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It was a relief to the whole family that John had finally woken from his coma and seemed to be doing alright after the circumstances. He was released from the hospital a few days later and could finally go home again, but Mary kept a close on him at all times to make sure that he was alright.
The following week Dean spent a lot of time at work trying to solve the problem with the new competitor. It meant that Castiel had to take the Tahoe and drive the children to school and also pick them up later because Dean worked overtime, and Dean took the Impala to and from work every day. Sometimes the demon was home at 6, other times first at 8-10 in the evening. It was stressing for Castiel to have to cook dinner by himself, wake the children up, do their lunch, and clean, but he knew it was important that Dean solved the problems at the garage in order to keep his job. The two of them hadn't much spoken much during that time, and had barely shared any kisses or loving touches.
It was Tuesday and it had been a week since John had woken from his coma. Castiel was alone with the children in the evening because Dean was working late again, and he was busy making dinner for everyone. Luckily Lily and Adrian had offered to help him out so now the three of them were in the kitchen together, cooking food. Molly was walking between their legs all the time, and Lily giggled every time the dog's fur tickled against her bare legs under her skirt.
Noah was watching TV and entertaining himself with a few toys when Isaac came over to him. Isaac had just finished showering and was waiting for dinner to be ready. "Hey, Noah, wanna play ball?"
Noah looked up at his brother from where he was sitting on a beanbag in front of the TV. He tilted his head and said, "But we aren't supposed to play ball in here, and it's raining outside…"
"We're just gonna play a little bit. I'm bored outta my mind," Isaac said. He showed Noah the small rubber ball he had in his hand which easily fit into his palm. It was the kind of ball that bounced and jumped around if you threw it at something. "Catch," he said, throwing the rubber ball down on the floor and making it bounce in Noah's direction.
Noah made a girly yelp since he wasn't prepared to catch it, but he managed to catch the ball with both his hands.
"Cool, you caught it," Isaac grinned. "Now throw it back." He moved back so that he was standing by the door to the entrance hall, and quickly closed it so that he ball wouldn't fly outside the room.
Noah gave him a skeptic look and glanced briefly over at the others in the kitchen. They weren't supposed to play ball inside but Noah wasn't going to throw it that hard, and no one was paying attention to him and Isaac anyway. So he got up from the beanbag and threw the ball at floor. He watched as it jumped up into the air and into Isaac's right palm, and he quickly caught it when Isaac threw it back at him.
"No, no, no – you gotta catch it with one hand. Using two hands is cheating," Isaac told him.
Noah pouted and glared at the ball. "But I can't catch it with one hand…"
"Sure you can, you just need practice. Throw it again."
They threw the ball back and forth, and after a few attempts Noah finally managed to catch it with one hand.
"Hey, what are you doing over there?" Adrian yelled at them from the kitchen, and Isaac quickly hid the ball behind his back and straightened up.
"Nothing. We're throwing a toy at each other, and I'm teaching Noah to catch it with one hand."
Castiel looked over at them and eyed Isaac skeptically. "It's not a ball, is it?"
"Nope, it's a tiny stuffed animal," Isaac lied, and gave Noah a firm glare when the boy was about to open his mouth to protest.
Castiel, Adrian and Lily turned their attention back to the cooking and talked about how their day went.
"You're aren't supposed to lie!" Noah hissed at him. "And I don't wanna play anymore… We'll get in trouble."
Isaac rolled his eyes. "You're no fun," he mumbled. The tossed the ball hard into the floor, but had for a split second forgotten how bouncy it was. He gasped in horror when the ball bounced all the way up to the ceiling, back into the floor, and straight up into the large cabinet that was just to the right of the door if you entered the living room from the entrance hall. There was a loud sound of glass shattering when the ball hit straight into one of the four the glass frames in the cabinet, and glass came crushing down onto the wooden floor.
Noah jumped away, his eyes wide in horror, and Isaac cringed at the loud noise.
"Isaac!" Castiel shouted from the kitchen, immediately knowing that it was him. He threw the oven glove he had been using on the table and stalked over to the scene, glaring between Isaac and the shattered glass on the floor.
Isaac shrunk in himself when he saw Castiel's thunderous expression. Castiel didn't get angry very often, but when he did he could be quite scary, Isaac thought. "Sorry… It was a ball. I lied."
Castiel growled and pointed up. "To your room, right now. And absolutely no dessert or candy for you for a month. Plus you are grounded."
"But—"
"Now," Castiel growled, and glared at Isaac until the young teenager was out of the room. He sighed heavily and looked over at Noah whose eyes were still wide in shock. "Did you have anything to do with this?"
Noah hesitated for a few seconds, and watched as Adrian grabbed Molly's collar to keep her away from the shattered glass. "I played ball with Isaac for a bit… Then I said I didn't wanna play anymore and then he tossed it so hard it bounced up and hit the glass. I'm sorry, papa…"
Adrian and Lily stood quietly behind Castiel, watching the shattered glass with a helpless look on their faces.
Castiel sighed. "Alright. No dessert or candy for you either for two weeks, since you know not to play ball in here or give into Isaac's ideas. Just stay over there for now and do not go near the glass." The angel went into the entrance hall through the other door to get something to clean the mess up with, and Adrian went after him to help. The two of them helped each other clean the floor as well as possible, and everyone was ordered to wear slippers inside until they had cleaned the floor a few more times to be sure there was no glass. They would have to keep Molly away from the place as well.
When dinner was ready Castiel called Isaac down again, and the boy looked rather ashamed by what had happened earlier. It wasn't the first time he had smashed something in the house and it probably wouldn't be the last time either. He was still sulking over the fact that he wouldn't get to eat candy or dessert for a month since he loved it more than anything.
Dean came home at 8:15pm when everyone was gathered in front of the TV watching funny home videos. Isaac laughed out loud at every video, and Adrian would roll his eyes at him when Isaac wasn't able to stop laughing again. Everyone looked up when Dean entered the room.
"Daddy!" Noah cheered and jumped down from Castiel's lap to run over and greet Dean.
"Hey sweetie," Dean grinned and pulled Noah up in his arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Noah giggled happily and leaned into him. Noah was rather small for his age, like all submissives were, and he was only about the size of a 6-year-old even though he was almost 8 years old now.
"Hi dad," Lily smiled and waved at him.
"You're just on time for home videos!" Isaac grinned before turning his attention back to the TV.
Adrian was sitting next to Castiel, and they both looked over at Dean as the demon entered the room.
"Hello Dean," Castiel said and gave him a smile. "There is food for you in the fridge, like always."
"Yeah, thanks, Cas," Dean said. He kissed Noah's cheek once more before putting the boy down again, and chuckled when Noah whined in protest. That was when Dean finally noticed there was a glass frame missing in the big cabinet and that everyone was wearing slippers. "What happened to the glass?" he asked, frowning at the cabinet.
"Isaac broke it when he threw a rubber ball around the room," Lily murmured and glared at her twin.
"Yeah, he's such a brat," Adrian grumbled. "I helped papa clean up the mess. Isaac should have had the honors of doing it himself, but papa was so mad he sent him straight to his room."
"I told you I was sorry," Isaac muttered and scowled over at his older brother.
Dean sighed heavily. "Jesus… When are you gonna stop breaking stuff?" he muttered and went over to the kitchen to find the food in the fridge that Castiel had put aside for him.
Castiel got up from the couch and walked over to him. "You are going to have to take measures so that we can buy a new frame for the cabinet. And the lamp over the couch table is still broken… it doesn't work either if you put a new bulb into it." The lamp over the couch table hadn't worked since Lily and Isaac accidentally made it crush down into the table two months ago. It was likely the cable that was broken somehow, or maybe it got damaged inside, but Dean hadn't had time to find a way to fix it yet.
"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to tell me that as soon as I come in the door, Cas! There is plenty of time," Dean growled and moved over to the microwave in the corner to heat up his food.
"I am just saying – you have told me several times to remind you of it," Castiel hissed back, annoyed with the tone that Dean was using. "And that lamp has not worked for two months now. It's hard to read anything by the table after dark."
"I'll fix it later, after all this crap at work is over," Dean snapped and twisted his tail in agitation. "Or you can fix it yourself. I don't care."
"You know I have no idea how to fix such things."
"That's too bad," Dean just told him, taking his food out of the microwave and grabbed a beer from the fridge. "I'm going up, maybe I can get some peace there," he muttered and pushed past Castiel.
"Fine," Castiel grit out and glared at Dean as the demon pushed past him, walking into his wing on purpose, and headed upstairs. Dean told the kids he'd be in the workroom if they needed him, and they quietly nodded before looking over at Castiel with concerned faces after Dean was gone.
"What's going on? Why are you and dad so tense with each other?" Lily asked carefully when Castiel came over to them and stood next to the couch. "Is it because of all the stuff that happened to grandpa?"
Noah whined and went over to Castiel, wrapping his arms around the angel's body and buried his face in his shirt. "Please don't argue. I don't like it."
Castiel sighed and gently stroked Noah's hair. "Yes, I guess it is partly because of what happened to your grandfather. It isn't easy for any of us. And Dean is working a lot lately to make sure that Rufus' garage doesn't have to close, so he doesn't have much time to be with us." He stared down at Noah and kept stroking the boy's hair absently.
Adrian looked over at him in sympathy. "I guess it isn't easy when dad isn't around to help with cooking and picking us all up… I can imagine it's stressing you out."
"I'll help with cooking," Lily smiled.
"And I'll help with eating," Isaac offered, making them all laugh.
Castiel chuckled at Isaac's comment. "I know you will." Noah finally moved away from him, and they all watched TV for a little longer before heading to bed.
Noah had gone upstairs at some point to show Dean a drawing he had made, but mostly he just wanted to spend a little time with his dad. Dean had praised him for the drawing and they had spent a few minutes together, and Noah had told him about how his day went and how Garth had said he was getting better at math. Lily and Isaac had crashed into the workroom too at some point to say hi to Dean, and Adrian had as well. Castiel was the only one that didn't go in to be with Dean since he was still pretty bitter about their fight earlier. He knew that Dean had a stressful time but so did Castiel since he was suddenly bombarded by a lot more responsibilities during the day. At least the twins were teenagers now and not as wild as they used to be which made it a little easier for Castiel. But the angel still didn't like how Dean was beginning to withdraw himself from him lately.
When Castiel entered the bedroom that night Dean was already asleep in the bed. Castiel was as quiet as possible as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He only turned on a bit of light to be able to orientate himself, but the light didn't seem to wake Dean up. The demon was lying as far away from Castiel's side of the bed as possible, and the angel sighed. A wrinkled towel on the floor next to the bed caught his attention. He padded over there slowly, being careful not to wake up Dean. Dean was lying on his side, and Castiel watched as he breathed evenly through his mouth and how his chest expanded with every breath.
Castiel picked up the towel and frowned when he felt something sticky in it. Then he realized the towel was covered in Dean's semen. Dean must have masturbated on his own before going to sleep. It was then that Castiel realized that they hadn't had sex since the night before Mary called them about John's heart attack. The angel tried to ignore the sting of hurt in his chest and in their bond when he realized that Dean didn't want to have sex with him at the moment and would rather satisfy his needs on his own. He clasped the towel in his hands, and took a deep breath to control his emotions again. He put the towel down on the floor again and cast one final glance at Dean's sleeping face before walking around to his side of the bed and stripped off the rest of his clothes except for his underwear and slipped into bed behind Dean. Dean didn't wake up, and Castiel fell asleep listening to the even breaths that came from his sleeping mate.
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Another week passed and things didn't go entirely well between them yet. Dean still spent a lot of time at work, and he had told Castiel that they were having trouble borrowing money from the bank to expand the garage so that they were better at competing with their new competitor. Since Dean was in charge of customer relations along with being a mechanic he had to work overtime to come up with plans on how to retain their current customers and attract new ones, so he was tired and stressed when he came home. Castiel found it pretty hard to keep the whole house clean by himself. Usually Dean helped him out, but when Dean came home at 8-10pm he was too tired to clean and Castiel didn't want Dean to overwork himself any further. Luckily Adrian helped him a bit sometimes, as did Lily, but the two of them had homework to take care of too so they didn't have much time to help.
Dean and Castiel still hadn't had sex since the night before Mary called them about John's heart attack. That was about three weeks ago now. The lack of intimacy was hard on them both since it strained their bond which usually fed off their intimate activities. There had been some good days where Dean would curl his tail around Castiel's leg after he came home and lean in to kiss him real quick, either on the mouth or his cheek, but once they were in the bedroom both of them were too tired and annoyed to have sex. Castiel hadn't gotten much sleep lately since he had trouble falling asleep at night now, and he had to get up extra early because Dean didn't have time to help him prepare the kids for school.
It was hard on the children too. They could sense that Dean was stressed and that things between their parents were strained. Noah especially was having a hard time. Whenever Dean came home Noah went over and hugged his father tightly, almost not wanting to let go again. When they argued, Noah cried and either covered his ears or ran out of the room.
The lamp over the couch table still wasn't working, and the glass frame in the cabinet was still missing. So Castiel used the stepladder to go up and take measures for a new glass frame and used his break at work to drive to a nearby store to buy a new frame. He had no idea how to fix the lamp and every time he reminded Dean of it the demon would snap at him and get angry, so Castiel decided to call Balthazar and see if he could help. Balthazar's father had been an electrician and Castiel knew that he had taught Balthazar most of the things he knew. Luckily Balthazar didn't seem to mind coming over to help, and he even sounded quite happy about it.
Castiel sat with the children on the couch after having eaten dinner and waited for Balthazar to arrive. It was already getting slightly dark in the room since it was 8:10pm already. The children had to do their homework either in their rooms or by the dining table because of the lack of light over the couch table, and they couldn't play board games properly either when it was late, so it was about time that the problem was fixed.
When the doorbell rang Castiel gently pulled away from Noah, who had been leaning against his side, and went into the entrance hall to answer the door.
"Molly," the angel scolded when the dog barked at the door. Castiel gently pushed her back and ordered her to be quiet before opening the door for his friend.
Balthazar's face lit up when the door was opened. "Cassie! How are you?" He went forward and pulled Castiel into a friendly hug, avoiding touching his wings.
"Hello Balthazar, I'm glad you could come," Castiel smiled and hugged his friend back.
"Who is it, who is it?" Isaac asked curiously and jumped into the entrance hall to see.
Castiel pulled away from his old friend and smiled at Isaac. "This is my friend Balthazar whom I told you would come to fix the light."
"Huh, really?" Isaac looked Balthazar up and down, studying him.
The others came over to the door as well, peering at Balthazar curiously, and the alpha angel looked between them with a smile.
"Hey kids," Balthazar greeted them. "Or teenagers, since most of you look older than 12." Molly went around between his legs and Balthazar peered down at her and chuckled as he tried to walk around her to get inside.
Noah went over behind Castiel, hiding under his papa's wing and peered up at Balthazar with a curious and wary face.
"You don't need to be scared of me. I don't bite," Balthazar chuckled at Noah and went over to take off his shoes when Castiel told him to come inside.
"He's always been like that," Adrian explained. He smiled down at Noah and reached out his hand towards him. Noah took it and followed his big brother back into the living room along with the twins.
Castiel closed the door after Balthazar got inside, unaware that Molly had suddenly disappeared from the room.
"I only see four children. Where is the last one?" Balthazar asked out of curiosity while shrugging out of his jacket.
"Eden is in college so she isn't home," Castiel explained.
"Ah, so it's the oldest one that's missing. You must have been rather young when you had her." Balthazar looked Castiel up and down again, making the smaller angel twitch lightly.
"I had just turned 24 years old when she was born," Castiel said and led his friend into the living room.
Balthazar looked around the room, looking slightly awed. "You sure have a big house. And the neighborhood is nice too." He looked around, obviously trying to spot Dean somewhere. "Dean isn't home?" he asked, looking at Castiel who was gently running his hand through Noah's messy hair as they stood by the couch.
Castiel sighed and averted the other angel's eyes. "No, Dean is working overtime a lot because of problems at his work. He does not really have time to fix things anymore since he comes home very late and is also working in the weekends lately. I remembered that your father was an electrician, so I was hoping you would fix the lamp for us. I will of course pay you."
Balthazar laughed and waved off the offer to get paid. "Nah, I don't need payment; I like helping out old friends. And you actually remember that my dad was an electrician?"
Castiel smiled. "I have a good memory."
"You sure you can fix the lamp?" Isaac asked and gave Balthazar a skeptic look. He and Lily were standing behind Balthazar over by the TV. "Just wanna make sure you don't get cooked alive if the electricity goes through you. I bet it's like in cartoons where you can see the bones and everything." Lily snickered next to him, and Adrian rolled his eyes and seemed mildly embarrassed by his little brother's imagination.
"Isaac," Castiel chastised, scowling at him.
Balthazar just laughed out loud. "Oh, that could be interesting. Do you mind telling me if my bones look healthy if that happens? It's always good to know."
Isaac grinned. "Sure. After I stop laughing my ass off."
Castiel glared at Isaac in a way that told the boy he better shut up now, and Noah giggled softly next to the angel.
"So… which lamp is it? That one?" Balthazar looked over at the lamp over the couch table, studying it.
"Yes. And the new glass frame in the cabinet needs to be put in as well, if you don't mind. Let me get you something to stand on and some tools… Not sure which ones you need," Castiel said and went towards the entrance hall so he could go into the garage and get the stuff.
"Just bring me whatever you have."
Castiel got all the tools that Dean kept in the garage and handed them to Balthazar. Balthazar picked the ones he needed and decided to fix the new glass frame first.
"So, since you got together with Dean I imagine you managed to shake Lucifer off your back somehow. Or is that prick still causing you trouble?" Balthazar asked while he stood on the stepladder and put the glass frame in place. The twins were watching TV again but looking in their direction every now and then, and Adrian and Noah watched as Balthazar fixed the cabinet.
"Um, well, Lucifer did find me four years after I met Dean. He caused us a lot of trouble but in the end he was arrested and given the death penalty for murdering two police officers. And for other crimes…" Castiel explained, shivering slightly at the memory of Lucifer.
Balthazar peered down at him briefly. "So the guy is dead then? Good. He was a grade A asshole anyway."
"He says bad words," Noah whispered up at Adrian who chuckled softly.
"Balthazar. Language," Castiel scolded and scowled up at him.
"Ah right, kids are present," the alpha said and turned to look at the children over his shoulder. "Sorry, guys, don't listen to me."
"Uncle Gabe is worse than you, anyway," Isaac smirked and turned his attention back to the screen.
Lily giggled. "Yeah."
"Oh, I almost forgot about Gabriel. How is he?" Balthazar asked and looked down at Castiel from the stepladder.
"He's fine, he has two children and a mate now," Castiel explained and smiled up at him.
"Hard to imagine," Balthazar chuckled.
After finishing with the cabinet Balthazar dragged the stepladder over in front of the couch table to work on the lamp. Lily gasped when the alpha angel almost fell off the ladder when it titled slightly.
"Whoa," Balthazar exclaimed and tried to keep his balance, using his wings for help. He glanced over his shoulder and down at Castiel. "Mind holding me steady, Cassie?"
"Of course not." Castiel stepped forward and moved his hands up, but hesitated when he didn't know where to put his hands. His face was level with Balthazar's lower back and he avoided looking at his friend's jeans clad ass. He felt no attraction towards Balthazar anymore now that he was mated, but he couldn't deny that he had found his friend attractive back when they were young.
Balthazar smirked at Castiel's hesitation. "Just put your hands somewhere, Cassie, I can take it. It's only friends helping friends anyway."
Castiel nodded and placed his left hand on Balthazar's hip and the other on the stepladder to hold both of them steady. He felt a little uncomfortable touching the alpha like that, and Balthazar's wings were spread out a little so that they wouldn't shove Castiel in the face. A few of the feathers touched against Castiel's bare arm every now and them, and the submissive angel did his best not to pull away at the feeling. He didn't like touching the feathers of an alpha who was not his mate, and it wasn't considered appropriate for angels or for demons to touch someone's wings who wasn't their mate. But he had to hold his friend steady, and Castiel prayed that fixing the lamp wouldn't take too long.
"Should I take a picture for dad?" Isaac teased when he saw their awkward position.
"No!" Castiel immediately snapped.
"Yeah, you better not," Adrian murmured, knowing that such a picture would only piss Dean off.
Balthazar laughed. "I don't think it's suited for any family albums anyway." He chuckled when Isaac laughed at that.
"Papa?" Noah asked and came over to gently tug on Castiel's feathers to get his attention. Balthazar watched it from the corner of his eye and smiled at the scene when Castiel turned to look down at the boy. "Have you seen Molly?"
Castiel frowned and glanced around the room, still holding Balthazar and the stepladder steady. "No. She was here a while ago, when Balthazar came. Where is she?"
"Molly!" Lily called out, but the dog didn't come running like she usually did. Isaac tried calling too but also didn't get any response from the dog.
"Weird. Maybe she went to nap upstairs in the corridor again. She does that sometimes," Adrian spoke.
"I'll go look," Noah said and went off to go look for the dog.
Balthazar continued working on the lamp, and he and Castiel chatted a little during that time. Noah was still looking for Molly, calling out for her, and Lily joined him.
Finally the lamp worked again, and everyone cheered happily.
"Hallelujah! God created light!" Balthazar grinned.
Adrian and Isaac laughed and Castiel rolled his eyes but couldn't help but chuckle at Balthazar's comment.
Noah entered the room again came over to Castiel, looking distraught. "Papa, I can't find Molly anywhere."
"Yeah, she's disappeared," Lily spoke and stared helplessly at Castiel.
Castiel was about to speak but then the front door suddenly opened and Dean stepped into the living room, holding Molly by the collar. Everyone turned to look at him, and the demon froze completely in his tracks when he saw Balthazar in his house. He looked from the alpha angel to the lamp that was glowing for the first time in two months, then to the kids who stared back at him in surprise, and then finally to where Castiel was standing right behind Balthazar with his face pretty close to the alpha's rear and with a hand on the alpha's hip. Dean's chest rumbled when he saw how Balthazar's feathers brushed against Castiel's arm when he moved his wings.
"Molly!" Noah grinned, and Dean finally released the dog who came over to Noah and Lily, wagging her tail and earning a few scratches behind her ears. Isaac came over too, briefly scolding the dog for making them worry.
Meanwhile Castiel blinked at his mate. "Dean," he said, and quickly pulled his hand away from Balthazar's hip. "It's not—"
Dean let out a loud growl before Castiel could finish his sentence, and his eyes blazed as he glared at Balthazar who was slowly getting down from the ladder. "What's he doing here?!" he growled. He shifted his gaze to Castiel and snapped, "And why the hell were you touching him?!" His feathers sharpened and his tail twisted in anger.
"I was holding him steady," Castiel explained in a controlled voice. "I asked Balthazar to come over and help me fix the cabinet and the lamp."
"Yeah? Did you decide to lock Molly out of the house and let her wander about the neighborhood alone while he was here? I found her walking around two streets away," Dean said in an angry voice.
"What?" Castiel blinked and glanced over at Molly who was currently being petted by the children. "I didn't see her go outside."
"Of course you didn't," Dean said dryly.
"Uh, I should go," Balthazar spoke, glancing between the two of them warily and suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about being in the house.
Castiel stopped glaring at Dean and instead turned to look at his friend with a more friendly expression on his face. "Of course. Thank you very much for your help, Balthazar. I owe you a lot."
"Don't worry about it. You can always buy me beer or wine," Balthazar grinned. He went over to the door to the entrance hall and stopped in front of Dean who was blocking his way. "Sorry about the trouble, Dean. None of us saw that the dog went outside, I'm glad nothing happened to it."
Dean's face softened a bit. "It's fine. Not your fault," he muttered and stepped aside to let Balthazar pass.
Balthazar quickly went into the entrance hall to put on his shoes and jacket, and he yelled goodbye at everyone before disappearing out the door and drove off in his car.
Once Balthazar was gone Dean turned to glare at Castiel again.
"You could have told me he would come over, damnit," the demon snapped angrily. "And how many times do I have to tell you to be careful that Molly doesn't go outside? You know how she is – she's out the door at any chance she gets! If she gets hit by a car it's on you."
"I know to watch out that Molly doesn't go out the door, but I was distracted," Castiel grit out. "And you did not have to be so rude towards Balthazar the minute you saw him in here!"
"You had your hand on the guy's ass! And you expect me not get mad?!"
"My hand was on his hip to hold him steady!"
Noah let out a distraught whine and covered his ears. "Please don't argue," he cried. Lily quietly pulled him against her body to comfort him, running a hand down his arm soothingly and let him cry into her shirt.
"Oh boy, here we go again…" Isaac muttered.
"C'mon, guys, let's go somewhere else," Adrian told his siblings and ushered them all out of the room and led them upstairs, leaving Dean and Castiel alone to finish their argument. He grabbed Molly by the collar and dragged her with them so that she wouldn't have to listen to Dean and Cas yell at each other either.
Dean and Castiel both glared each other down, waiting for the children to leave the room before continuing their fight.
"Holding him steady? You smell of him all over!" Dean growled once the kids were upstairs.
"You are exaggerating. I barely touched him," Castiel grit out in anger and raised his wings a little. "And why are you being such an ass around Balthazar all the time? You have no idea how embarrassing your behavior is for me, and you have absolutely no reason to be mad or jealous at him."
"You're the one inviting him into our home without letting me know about it, so how about you tell me," the demon growled and raised his sharpened, agitated wings.
Castiel recoiled a bit at that but tried not to let it show. "You're upset for no reason, Dean. You didn't have time to fix the lamp or the cabinet so I asked Balthazar to help; he has experience with it. You have not exactly been around for me to tell you about it."
"Because I'm working my ass off to keep the garage going and make sure I don't lose my job!" Dean snapped at him and growled angrily. "And yet I still spent some of my free time today going out to buy a new damn lamp since I had I had no idea how to fix the problem with the lamp." At Castiel's surprised face he added, "Yes, I actually tried to fix the lamp last night at 11:30 fucking pm before bed but I couldn't fix it, so I thought a new lamp and a new wire would be a better solution – but no, because you decided to call Balthazar to fix the lamp without telling me about it, so now I wasted a whole damn hour and a half of my day driving around and standing in line in a store to buy a new lamp to make you happy." He growled out the words angrily and his entire posture was tense, agitated and even slightly hurt.
Castiel stared back at him with wide eyes, suddenly feeling very guilty. "Dean, I…"
"And now I can spend another hour of my day tomorrow to go back to the store and return the lamp," Dean snapped and cut the angel off. "So, yeah, thanks for letting me know about Balthazar dropping by." With those words he turned around and stormed out of the room and out the house.
Castiel flinched when the front door slammed shut so hard that the house almost shook, and he felt his eyes prickle slightly with tears when he heard the roar of the Impala's engine, telling him that Dean was driving off somewhere, likely to buy dinner for himself.
He had thought about calling Dean earlier that day to let him know that Balthazar was coming, but whenever he had called Dean lately the demon was too busy to talk to him so Castiel didn't want to bother him. He knew now that he should have called anyway, or at least have sent Dean a text message about it.
Castiel wiped away the few tears that managed to escape his eyes before taking a deep breath and went upstairs. His feet felt like lead, and he quickly said goodnight to the children before going into the bedroom and threw himself into bed without bothering taking his clothes off. After a few minutes of staring into the ceiling and feeling his chest being eaten by frustration, guilt, and hurt, he finally undressed and lay down to sleep.
When Dean returned it was 11pm, and the demon didn't say a word as he slid into bed even though Castiel knew that the demon knew that he was still awake.
They lay with their backs to each other in opposite ends of the bed, and both fell asleep several minutes later.
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Author's notes: I have the feeling some of you might hate me right now, but of course Dean and Cas will make up again at some point! Things are just a little difficult between them right now.
Please leave a review, and thanks for reading! :)
