Castiel watched over the children who were running around to the oranging forest. Fall was almost here, and he was thinking about the yearly trip he took with his class to the park. It was always his favorite part of the school year. Watching the children run around. It wasn't unusual for those who had already started shifting again to run around wolves and refuse to turn back when it was time to go back. The extra change of clothes he asked parents to bring was always helpful.

He watched the children run wild inside of whatever imaginary world they had imagined for themselves, away from the troubles of the world, for the most part. Cas had noticed Sam giving him looks every now and again. The pup was too smart for his own good.

A slight breeze went through the air again as he started shivering through his light jacket. Finally, he stood up and made his way to the edge of the forest, not going into the pile of leaves that now lined the edges.

"It's time to go inside," he announced to the three children.

"Aww," came Sam's voice was heard coming from the trees.

"Just a little more, please?" Steve asked, coming up and grasping Cas's pants, pulling on them slightly.

"It's getting cold. We should go inside," Cas gently explained.

"Can we color?"

"Yes, you can color."

"Yay!" Steve yelled as he trotted back to the house.

Christie and Sam had made their way to him from further out into the woods, dragging their feet.

"Come on, you two. You'll thank me when you don't get sick."

"We won't get sick," Christie retorted.

"Well then, I don't want to get sick, and you can't be outside while I'm inside."

Christie thought on it for a minute. "I suppose..."

Cas gave a soft chuckle before making his way back to the house, hearing his unwilling prisoners following him. At this point, Steve was sitting on the steps waiting on his slow sister and friend so that he could go inside, tapping his foot in impatience. Cas had a feeling he picked that up from Amara.

"Alright, what do you three want for dinner?" Cas asked as he made it up the stairs.

"Chicken nuggies," Steve announced.

"You had chicken nuggets last night."

"But they so good," Steve pouted.

"Can we have pasta?" Christie asked.

"We can," Cas answered.

"With nuggies?" Steve interrupted.

"I'll see. For now, we need to go inside."

Castiel ushered the three children in front of him and pushed them to go inside. The three crowded their way into the living room, the headquarters of the week for the three little ones to be. Amara was out of town for whatever reason. She didn't go into depth.

Cas went inside the kitchen and started getting everything together to make dinner that night, listening out to make sure the pups stayed out of trouble. Cas was setting the table when he heard the door open. He stood tense, ready to attack if need be until he listened to the alarm get turned off. It was only Dean.

"Hey, babe," Dean said as he walked in. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing his mate with his hand over his heart.

"I was scared you were..."

"Your parents?"

"They haven't done anything in a while, but..."

"We're not going to let our guard down," Dean assured him. "By the way, we finally found out what the stuff in the yard was."

"What was it? Is it going to harm the children?"

"Just ash."

"Ash? But nothing was burnt?" Cas asked, confusion evident on his face as he tilted his head to the side.

"That's what we all said," Dean explained. "It did remind Benny of an old story. It might actually be good."

"How are my parents leaving ash in our yard a good thing?"

"According to the story, that symbol occurred when some bad guys did some terrible things to scare them away. Might not have been left by your parents, but for your parents. We don't know. Charlie is looking more into it. This might be a lot bigger."

"Why would someone want to threaten my parents?"

"Because you're an omega? They have it out specifically for your parents?" Dean guessed.

"You'll have to tell me this story... later. We have little ones to feed."

It was much later after the pups went to bed that Dean got around to telling Cas the story he heard earlier that day. The omega was contemplative about what he heard. It couldn't be possible.

"This can't be possible," he said, shaking his head.

"We're going with someone who knows something about the original story. We also don't know if they would have heard a different one than Benny's. It's probably an old story; things may have changed from version to version. Charlie thinks if we figure out the story, we'll be able to trace it back to the person or people who did it. It might give us something."

"And she wants to figure out the symbol."

"I mean, wouldn't you?"

"I don't know," Cas admitted. "Things are better, but I don't think the world's changed that much. Maybe it's for the best that no one knows."

"You think so?"

"People have died for less, omegas specifically. People were drowned just because others refused to understand them. And that's not even the most recent thing I can name," Cas ended with a pointed look.

"Well, this is the best we got for now. Maybe it can lead us somewhere whether the story is true or not," Dean shrugged, taking his shirt off while he got into bed. "By the way, the chief gave me Wednesday off."

"Really?" Cas asked excitedly.

"Yeah, it was strange. It came up at the end of the day. I was supposed to be working then."

"Then you can help with the field trip."

"What field trip?"

"Every year, all the kindergarten classes go to the park for a day before Fall really sets in, and the kids can't go outside. This year it's Wednesday."

"I guess I can come. What will I be expected to do?"

"Make sure kids don't run out into the road or run too deep into the woods. It's usually a really peaceful day."

"I could use the day off then," Dean yawned into the night as he pulled Cas closer to him.