Dean leaned against the back wall, watching the chaos that had erupted from the class full of pups. He watched as Cas struggled to get all the kids into their light jackets with little to no help from the other adults in the room. The children, if anything, were being a complete hindrance to any progress being made. Dean shook his head in amusement at the spectacle in front of him, wondering how long until Cas gave up and they decided to just leave.
Dean was interrupted from his musings by a soft sound of someone clearing their throat. He turned to his right and saw a petite woman standing next to him with a smirk and her arms crossed at her chest.
"Can I help you?" he asked with some confusion.
"Oh, it's nothing really," the woman replied. "It's just that the other moms and I haven't seen you around, and we know everyone. Or at least we thought we did. So where's your wife?"
"Don't have a wife," Dean responded, not likely where this conversation was going.
"Oh, it must be really hard being a single father, especially with kids this age. I know it is being a single mother. Maybe we can give help each other."
"We're fine. Don't need any help."
"Oh, come on," she said, softly touching his upper arm, before giving it a slight squeeze. "Which one of the kiddos is yours? I don't see any new faces here."
"I'm not one of the parents," Dean said, grabbing her hand and pushing it away.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that. Why else would you be here?"
Dean opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by another voice joining the conversation.
"Dean?" Cas's voice came through from his right.
"Yeah, babe," Dean instinctually responded, looking at his mate holding the hand of a child with her face hidden in Castiel's pant leg.
"This is Madeline. She doesn't have a buddy to walk to the park with an odd number of students. Do you mind being her buddy while we walk to the park?"
"Of course," Dean responded while moving into a crouch. "Hi, Madeline. My name's Dean. You're showing me the way to the park, I guess."
"I guess," Madeline replied, face still partially hidden.
"Now, Madeline, that's a long name. Is there something else you like to be called?"
"My mommy calls me Maddie."
"Do you mind if I call you Maddie?" Dean softly asked with a silly face once the girl got the courage to look at him. The girl nodded as a giggle came out of her and walked over to Dean's side as he stood back up. "Don't worry, Cas. We got this."
Thank you, Cas silently mouthed before looking to the mothers who had huddled back up during Dean's conversation with Maddie. "We are ready to leave now. I'll be at the front of the line, showing everyone where to go. I ask that you make sure the children stay with their buddies and make sure they don't walk into the road. There usually isn't much traffic at this time during the day, but you never know. Are we ready to go?"
The mothers have silent nods of assent while looking between Cas and Dean. Cas turned around to address the rest of the class at their nods, so he didn't see the inquiring looks being given to his back.
"All right, everyone. Please line up with your buddies," Cas called to the rest of the class.
The children instantly hopped into a line, giggling in their excitement at the adventure they were sure to go on. Dean felt himself slowly being lead to the back of the line, where several of the children looked behind them to see why an adult was getting in line with them. At the giggling, Maddie quickly hid behind Dean's leg, hoping to not be seen.
It was a short walk to the park. Well, it would have been if not for the constant stops to pick flowers. Maddie's interest was very much into looking at all the dandelions instead of keeping up with her classmates, leaving the two of them trailing far behind the herd of five-year-olds. Dean didn't mind; it beat looking at case files all day. She was very interested in telling Dean all she knew about the flowers and the importance of bees. Her mom worked with plants, and she had said so.
Dean and Maddie had arrived a bit after everyone else had arrived and had spread out over all the playground equipment. Cas was standing there close to the entrance waiting as the two of them showed up.
"Did the two of you have a nice walk?" Cas asked.
"Yes, we did, in fact," Dean answered. "We talked all about dandelions and how cool they are."
"And the bees!" Maddie inserted.
"Yes, bees are very important. So I understand the need to discuss them," Cas responded.
"That's what my mommy says."
"Why don't you go and play with the others?"
Maddie looked around at the people around her, considering the option deeply. "No, thank you."
"You don't want to play with everyone else?" Cas asked again.
The little girl shook her incessantly.
Cas looked at Dean with a lost expression on his face, not expecting the child to deny him. Instead, Dean shrugged his shoulders before collapsing into a cross-legged sitting position.
"So, you were telling me about roses before we got here..." Dean started, leading the girl into another conversation.
She readily accepted and sat where she was, ready to continue the important conversation they had earlier. Cas gave the two of them an obliging smile before checking on the other children and making sure the parents were okay with the bounds set for the children. He would come back every once and a while to make sure Dean hadn't gotten bored of the conversation. During one of the many times he came back to check up on them, Maddie stopped their discussion.
"Mr. Novak? I got to go potty."
"Alright, we can go. Hold my hand, please."
Maddie quickly followed the instructions before turning around. "Stay here," Maddie sternly ordered Dean.
Dean waved to two of them off. Lying back, he let the sounds of the playing children sound him. For a day off, this wasn't too bad. Dean started nodding off when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Pulling it out, he noticed that there was a call from an unknown number.
He quickly opened it up. "Hello?" he asked into the microphone. He didn't hear anything from the other side. "Hello?" he asked again, perking his eyes to get any clue as to who was on the other side. He heard the sound of squealing tires. Not over the phone but from the area behind him.
Dean turned around, the phone still to his ear, and saw a black van quickly pull into the parking lot. The parking lot was close to the park's bathrooms, where Cas and Maddie were walking out of hand and hand. The two had stopped checking out where the loud noise can come from and continued along, once sure they wouldn't be hit. From behind, the two didn't see the two men jumping out of the van and running toward them.
Dean was quick to jump to his feet, dropping his phone where he was, before running toward the two. Cas had looked up at him with a concerned look when his arm had been pulled back. He pulled his arm out of reach and tried to push Maddie out of the way but couldn't when another set of arms caught her in their grasp. Cas was quick to turn around and grab the child back but was hindered by hands containing his hands.
Dean willed himself faster, and without thinking about it, shifted his way out of his clothes, leaving torn clothes in his path. Too occupied with their captives, the captors didn't realize that a large alpha wolf was upon them before it was too late. The one holding Cas back suffered from a large bite to his calf, resulting in the sharp crack of bone. The captor yelled out, grasping at his broken leg and reached for the injured limb. At the sound of their partner's scream, the captor holding Maddie let her out of his weakening grasp at the surprise.
The little girl, who had turned into a small brown pup in the excitement, got a couple of scratches and bites out of them before falling on her back legs. She let out a pained yelp as she fell uncomfortably. Now out of the way, Dean was quick to turn on her captor and took a bite out of their arm. It was also satisfying hearing the crunch as their arm collapsed in on itself. From the corner of his eye, he saw the first one he attacked moving, resulting in a furious growl being released from him. Hands were shakingly held up, showing they meant no harm now, of which Dean gave an annoyed and disbelieving snort.
There was the sound of quickly approaching feet which caused Dean to promptly turn around to see who it was. It was the mother who was talking to him earlier with a phone at her ear.
"I've called the police. They said they would be here soon," she told Dean before turning back to the phone after seeing the state of the would-be captors. "You should also send an ambulance. They look badly injured."
Dean calmed when he heard the sounds of sirens coming across the bend. Soon the parking was filled with squad cars as many uniformed officers surrounded them. This first attacker was quickly handcuffed with their hands behind their back, while the second one was handcuffed to the car door.
"Is anyone else injured?" the cop who seemed to be in charge asked everyone else.
"We're fine," Cas told her. "I think we're just a bit spooked. Especially the little one."
"Can I look at them to make sure?" the woman with short brunette hair and kind smile calmly asked before coming to kneel down next to the pup. "How are you doing, sweetie?"
Maddie limped her way into Cas's arms, trying to get comfortable. Once she realized people were still looking at her, he hid her snout in Cas's arm and turned away from everyone.
"You can stay with him, sweetie," the woman continued. "I just want to check on your paw. Make sure you're alright."
At the lack of response, the woman went ahead and felt around the injured paw. Except for a slight whimpering from Maddie, there was nothing of concern.
"I would say put ice on it. It'll be fine. I was told this was a school trip. Is that right?"
"Yes. I am with my kindergarten class. Maddie and I were coming back from a trip to the bathroom when they grabbed us."
"So, you're here with a couple of that parents?"
"And my mate, Dean."
"Am I right to assume he's the wolf standing really close?" the woman asked with a knowing smile. "And he left those pretty bad injuries?"
At the resulting nod, the woman stood, giving Dean a brief assessing look before looking around the park. She scanned the park looking at the group of scared children being held back by confused mothers. There was no way that they would be getting those children back to school for the rest of the day. This experience was probably traumatic enough.
"Is there a way to call parents directly from here? I don't think you're getting the rest of them to school."
"I have the callbook," the mom from earlier spoke up. "I'm the class mom. I can call everyone to pick up their kids."
"Thank you," the officer said. "I'll secure these two idiots for transport. Feel free to go back with your class. Once we have more information, we'll be sure to talk to everyone involved."
Castiel shakily out up and walked over to where his class was huddle up watching the scene with Maddie muddled up in his arms. Once at a close distance, they all ran to him, asking questions over one another. After seeing he was okay, the ones with their mothers there went straight to their arms.
Slowly, one by one, children left as parents came to collect them, and more personal came in to investigate the van, trying to get anything they could. Lastly, Maddie's mother arrived, sobbing, thanking Cas for saving his daughter, and also went to the police asking if they knew anything before reluctantly leaving as well.
Castiel kept sitting staring into the void. Dean sat directly on his side, waiting for him to say anything. "I should call Luci. He'll want to know. Do you think he'll be willing to pick up the kids tonight?" Dean headbutted him in the arm before he continued. "I want to go home.".
Lucifer quietly made his way into his brother's house, holding a sleeping child on his shoulder in a food coma from the chicken nuggets he ate. Christie was close behind him, carrying their backpacks from a long day while Sam was had rushed out and ran into the master bedroom.
Lucifer made his way upstairs and laid Steve down on Sam's bed, and nodded Christie good night. He looked into the master bedroom and noticed the huddle of three wolves. He made his way back downstairs, took off his jacket and shoes, and made himself comfortable on the couch.