The Cats Out Of The Bag.
Immediately after Dean awakens from the ritual Sam confronts Dean about the true parentage of Kayla.
Hi! I'm back. Wow, it's been a minute since I last posted. So long in fact that all my documents have dropped off the server! It's been a hell of a year for me and my family with the whole Covid thing throwing the world into turmoil, but all my chickens have landed now and I'm able to get back to writing and posting. The worst part of everything was after contracting Covid (and being locked down for my birthday, thank you very much!) my concentration was all over the place so I have about six unfinished stories in my files that I hopefully might be able to get back to and finish up. Fingers crossed. Anyway, heres one I managed to get finished, I'm starting small just to see how I go.
Thanks for your patience.
xx S
…
Sam and Caleb followed Dean up the basement stairs and into the kitchen. Dean seated Kayla in her high chair and strapped her in while Caleb headed to the refrigerator for the bacon and grabbed a bottle of water while he was there.
"I kinda feel funky so I'm gonna go clean up a bit." Sam said as he walked through.
Caleb watched Sam leave the room then moved over to Dean, who had begun making breakfast at the stove.
"Sooo…Sam knows." He said.
"Sam knows…what?" Dean asked.
"About, um, us..I mean me and Dana, that I'm Kayla's real dad." Caleb admitted.
"Right." Dean said with a sigh, not looking up from the stovetop. "That's not gonna go great. How'd he find out?"
"He heard me say 'daddy's here' the other day and figured it out. The kids not dumb."
"No he's not. How'd he take it?"
"Well he didn't shoot me. He was pretty pissed off though." Caleb said as he absentmindedly played with Kayla's hair. "He accused me of driving you away, wanted to know if I knew. I didn't, Dean, honestly, if I even had a clue…"
"I know."
"I offered to let him take a swing. I'm not 100% sure he won't take me up on it in the future though."
Dean nodded as he flipped the bacon in the pan.
"What about Bobby? Does he know?"
"No. That is, not as far as I know. He hasn't said anything, and you know Bobby, he would come in swinging!"
Dean chuckled at that. Bobby was getting on in years but Dean would still lay money down on him in a fight.
"Well, I suppose I should talk to Sammy." He said with a sigh hearing footsteps on the stairs just outside the kitchen.
Caleb slapped some bacon on a slice of bread and placed another on top.
"I'll make myself scarce." He said taking a bite and walking to the doorway just as Bobby entered followed closely by Sam.
"Coward." Dean scoffed.
"Yep,"
"Hey Dean, good to see you up and about. How're you feeling?" Bobby asked.
"He's doing great old man, but I really need you to come and check out this weird noise my trucks making." Caleb said putting a hand on Bobby's shoulder and steering him from the room.
"Who are you callin' old man. And what about breakfast!" Bobby grumbled as he left the room.
Sam watched them leave then turned back to Dean.
"Hey." Sam said from the doorway.
"Hi."
God this felt awkward but Dean just poured some eggs into the pan and stirred them around.
"How're you feeling?"
"Fine. Sit down. Breakfasts almost done." Dean said pointing the spatula at the table.
Sam instead leaned against the counter beside the stove. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a key.
"I guess I should give this back to you." He said holding it out.
Dean looked at it for a second then went back to stirring the eggs.
"Keep it. You know, for insurance reasons."
"Dean, the ritual went fine. You're back."
"I know but I'm not gonna give up hunting completely, and stuff happens, so I want you to have it just in case. Think of it as if you're the executor of my estate." Dean added when Sam opened his mouth to argue.
He put a small amount of bacon and scrambled eggs in a bowl for Kayla and placed it on the table out of Kayla's reach.
"Fine." Sam huffed seeing the dismissal for what it was.
He slid the key back in his pocket then took a glass to the fridge and poured a juice. He grabbed some strawberries and sat down next to Kayla.
"She has Caleb's eyes." He said as he handed the little girl a berry to eat while she waited for her breakfast to cool.
Dean paused his actions of transferring the eggs to plates for a second before he gathered himself.
"Yeah, I know."
"You could have told to me you know." Sam said as he smiled at his niece.
"What was I supposed to say Sammy." Dean said as he turned to look at his brother. "'So, today I bought a new bra and, oh, by the way, I'm screwing my best friend'?"
He picked up the plates and took them to the table placing one in front of Sam.
"I guess, when you put it like that, but I wouldn't have judged you, you know."
"I know. It was just…I don't know, really weird with everything that was going on up here." He said twirling the fork around near his temple. "It's not that I didn't trust you, honestly." Dean said risking a look at his brother. "But I didn't even know how I felt about it myself half the time. With Dana and Dean…There were just too many people living in there to even begin to make heads nor tail of it all."
Dean tested his daughters breakfast and then handed her a slice of bacon to chew on.
"I get it. I do." Sam tried to reassure his brother. "So there was just Caleb?"
"Yeah."
"Even when you were gone?"
"Yeah."
"And now?"
"And now what?" Dean asked confused.
"How do you feel about Caleb now? Cause, you know, I would be totally cool with whatever you want to do."
" and now…nothing. I love Caleb," Dean said with a shrug as he fed Kayla a forkful of eggs. "Like I love you or Bobby. He's my best friend, but that's all he is. Any inkling of…that…seemed to have disappeared along with Dana." Dean explained.
"Right, but you know I would be totally fine with…"
"Yeah I know." Dean said cutting his brother off quickly. "You just told me."
"So if the ritual didn't work, do you think you and Caleb might have…" Sam trailed off but looked at Dean expectantly.
"What? Got together and played happy families?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Dunno." Dean shrugged and piled bacon and eggs into his mouth. He chewed for a moment. "I cant even imagine it right now, but probably not…maybe? Dunno."
He shook his head and went back to eating his breakfast.
"Well, with table manners like that, I doubt it would have lasted long anyway!" Sam said grimacing at his brothers bad habit.
"Shows what you know. Caleb's way worse than me."
"I know. Kayla would have been doomed."
"Hey! She's perfect!" Dean said stabbing his fork at his brother.
"Yes she is."
They all ate silently for a while.
"You gonna tell Bobby?" Sam asked eventually.
"Not planning on it." Dean said.
"Why not?"
Dean shrugged.
"He's already disappointed in me, don't need him coming down on Caleb too. Plus the less people that know the better, you know?"
"He's not disappointed in you Dean."
"Whatever." Dean shrugged again. "Just keep your mouth shut okay. I'll tell him when I'm good and ready."
"Which will be never."
"Which will be never." Dean agreed. "Now can we drop this?"
"Sure."
Dean looked up at his brother.
"What?"
"I'm just glad you're back. I've missed you." Sam said with a smile.
"Missed you too little brother."
Dean reached past his daughter to ruffle Sam's hair and chuckled when Sam pushed him away with a find growl.
"It's good to be back."
…
a/n: And that is that. My first story back. How did I do? Remember, comments feed the fires!