Dean took the bus to the doctor's office where he was directed to a sort of gym room at the end of the building. He hobbled around looking at the various equipment until Castiel came in. Cas had changed into scrubs and looked utterly exhausted. Dean admired the surprisingly large biceps and slim waist usually hidden by a lab coat. Cas' hair was also mussier than usual and it made him look younger.

"Hello, Dean"

"Hey doc, I see you suited down for the occasion."

Castiel eyed Dean's white t-shirt, grey sweatpants, and heavy work boots.

"I'd say the same, but I have the feeling you dress like this every day."

Dean feigned affront. "Well aren't we snarky today." He smiled so Cas would know he was joking. He didn't.

"I'm sorry, I did not get much sleep last night."

"No worries, man. So where do we start?"

"Have a seat and take your shoes off."

Dean sat on a bench and expertly pried his boots off with a crutch, glancing up to see if Cas was impressed.

"You should really invest in a pair of slip-on shoes, Dean. Maybe some crocs."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "But these are slip-on. See how loose I tied the laces?"

Castiel rolled his eyes, but was too tired to argue.

"So first we should check your mobility." He knelt down and gently lifted Dean's bad leg until the knee was straight. "Breathe, Dean."

Dean let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Cas rotated his ankle a few times.

"Good. Have you been putting any weight on this leg?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Let's give that a try."

He helped Dean to a standing position and held onto his forearms.

"Slowly shift your weight onto your left leg. Don't push yourself; stop when you need to stop."

Dean started to lean left, but had less than half his weight shifted before he all but fell into Castiel's arms.

"Ow, dammit!" He tried to right himself and made it worse.

"It's ok, alright Dean, put your weight on my arms. Back on the right foot, slow and steady."

Dean's face was hot with chagrin. He'd never felt so helpless in his life. In this moment he was happy to have such a seemingly emotionless doctor; there was no trace of pity or judgment on Cas' face, just focus. Cas looked earnestly into his eyes.

"Don't try to rush through this, Dean. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon."

"Yeah, well I hate marathons."

Cas narrowed his eyes. "Have you ever run a marathon?"

"No. Because I hate them."

"Well trust me, you'll be glad later if you take it slow now. Now try to flex your foot up as high as you can. Good."

These simple exercises went on for a while. Cas seemed endlessly patient. It was a new side of him that Dean liked. Some of the stretches were painful, but he felt better afterward. About 20 minutes into the session, Cas got a phone call.

"I'm so sorry, I have to answer this, it's Lily's daycare."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Hello? This is him. Yes. What? Why, what happened?"

Dean tried not to eavesdrop and instead focused on how nicely Castiel's scrubs clung to his rear as he paced.

"Oh, I see. Um, yes, I'll be there. Thank you."

Cas hung up the phone and stood thinking for a minute, chewing on his lip.

"Everything ok?" Dean asked.

"Lily's been suspended. They said she bit another child."

"Really? I mean, why don't they just give her a time-out?"

"Apparently they have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying."

Dean snorted. "For two-year-olds?"

Castiel rubbed his face wearily. "I have to go get her and bring her here. I'm sorry, Dean, I need to cut our session short."

Dean held up his hands. "Don't be, family comes first."

Dean expected Cas to rush out, but he took the time to help him back on with his shoes.

"You really shouldn't wear these, they're too heavy. You could get hurt."

Dean was thrown off by the genuine concern in his voice. "Yeah, ok Cas." As they both headed out of the gym, he asked, "Hey, do you need some help watching Lily? I mean, everyone must be pretty busy around here, I could hang out and help keep an eye on her."

Castiel cocked his head quizzically. "Why would you want to do that?"

Dean shrugged, which was awkward to do on crutches. "I've got nothing else going on today and it sounds like she could use some extra attention."

Cas stared into Dean's eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time, then he slowly nodded. "That would be very helpful, thank you, Dean."

**000**

When Castiel got back with Lily, Dean was gone. He frowned. Dean didn't seem like an unreliable person. Maybe something had come up. He asked Barb if he'd left a message, but he hadn't. Cas was disappointed. He shrugged it off and took Lily to the cafeteria to grab some lunch.

"Hey, there you guys are!" Dean hobbled up to them a few minutes later as they sat down with their tray. "I thought you might beat me back. Went home to grab some stuff." He turned so they could see the backpack he was wearing. "Is the food just for staff, or can I…?"

"Oh, go ahead." Cas couldn't stop smiling as Dean walked away. He'd come back. My hero.

Dean returned a few minutes later with a cheeseburger and chili fries. Castiel bit back a remark on the lack of nutrition in that meal and instead said, "I didn't know they serve chili fries here."

"They do if you get fries and then pour a cup of chili on them."

"Ah."

"Don't judge." Dean took a huge, messy bite of chili fries and made Lily giggle.

After lunch Castiel showed Dean to his office. He figured it would be a safe, quiet place for Lily to play until he got off work.

"Nice digs. Get to spend much time in here?" Dean asked.

"Not leisure time, if that's what you mean. I mostly do paperwork in here."

Dean sat his backpack down on the desk. "I didn't have much to bring by way of toddler entertainment, but I found a couple things she might like. Picked this up the other day," he took out The Hungry Caterpillar. "Thought she might be the right age for it. Also this," he pulled out a large, plastic rainbow slinky. "No idea why I have this, I just do. And last but not least," he pulled out a box of 142 crayons. "Won this baby in a White Elephant game at the station. Thought it might be up Lily's alley."

"Wow," said Castiel, "What do you think, Lil?" She reached for the slinky first and Cas set her on the floor to play with it. "This is really great, Dean, thank you. I have to get back to work now, but I'll check in when I can. Tell Barb at the front desk if you two need anything and I'll see you at five o'clock."

"Sounds good," Dean replied and sat on the floor next to Lily with The Hungry Caterpillar.

Cas smiled to himself as he left and shut the office door behind him. He had bought that book for Lily's 2nd birthday and had been meaning to replace it since she moved in with him. Maybe he was crazy, but he had a good feeling about Dean being her babysitter. If it went well today, perhaps he would be interested in watching her more often. She certainly seemed to prefer his company to those philistines at the day care center. He just hoped his physical attraction to the man wasn't clouding his judgment.

An hour later Cas peeked in on them between patients. Lily was asleep in his armchair with Dean's denim jacket draped over her. Dean was sitting in Cas' desk chair next to her and reading from a thick paperback novel. Cas waived to Dean, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Cas returned to his rounds in an uncharacteristically chipper mood.

When five o'clock came around Cas was stuck with his last patient who had a lot of questions that Cas secretly wished she would just google like a normal person. He wanted to get back to Dean and Lily asap. He'd checked in on them around three-thirty, then got too busy to stop again. They were doing fine, he just didn't want to press his luck with Dean.

Cas was finally free and walking to his office when he saw that the door was open and his father's voice came booming from inside.

"A patient?! He left my granddaughter with a patient all day? You could be a murderer or a drug addict! Give her to me at once!"

Lily started crying. Castiel ran into the room and scooped her up from where she was cowering behind Dean, who looked remarkably calm.

"Hey, Cas, I was just meeting your dad. How was work?"

"James Castiel, what is the meaning of this? How could you be so irresponsible? I came down here to have an overdue discussion about Lily's living arrangements and I find her here unsupervised with a complete stranger." Cas opened his mouth to speak, but Charles cut him off. "You know what? I don't need to hear any of your excuses or explanations. I heard quite enough of those from her father, God rest his soul. It's time I took my granddaughter's care into my own hands. James, either turn Lily over to me now or I will sue you for guardianship."

Cas' mouth dropped open. His face turned red and his right hand clenched into a fist as he gripped Lily closer to his chest. His mouth twitched as a thousand retorts flooded his mind, born of decades of repressed anger. In the end all he said was a quiet yet forceful, "No."

Charles fixed him with a withering stare, then nodded curtly. "Very well, you'll be hearing from my lawyers. In the meantime, expect a visit from child services as they will be our first call. I pray this charade is not indicative of the sort of home life she has with you." He stormed out of the office.

Castiel rubbed Lily's back soothingly as he stood silently glaring at the empty doorway.

"Cas, I'm really sorry about that." Dean said. "Guess I should have led with I'm one of the firefighters that saved her life?"

"It's okay, Dean. This was always going to happen. I'll figure something out."

Dean started gathering up the crayons and drawings scattered all over the room. "Do you want to take any of this stuff home for her?"

Castiel shot him a defiant look. "She has toys at home."

"That's not what I meant. Um, look if there's anything I can do to help, you have my number. See you, Lil."

Lily waved goodbye to him as she sucked her thumb on Castiel's chest.