A/N: This is written Supernatural Deserved Better Creation Challenge on tumblr by foundfamily4eva. Prompt: Found Family
There had been so many years of just Sam and Dean. It was the two of them against the world, against all the evil odds stacked up, ready to take them down, ready to hurt and kill others. Always just the two of them.
And then, they'd met Castiel. He'd entered that barn like a raging storm, and he became a part of their lives. The incorporation wasn't easy, but then he was family. He was Sam's best friend, and he seemed even closer to Dean than that.
They were a family.
By the time Jack came along, Sam had gotten used to the idea of family not just being blood. He'd known that truth with Bobby, but the years since he'd passed had made it difficult to remember that. Bobby had been his dad, not John Winchester. Family was the people who took care of you, who saw you on your worst days and decided, "Yeah, I think I'm going to stay." Family was there for you.
John had never been that. He'd loved Sam. Sam even loved him back. But the neglect, and the yelling, and the orders… it all still hurt. So when Jack called Sam father and he'd joined them in the bunker, Sam vowed to not be like John.
Jack was in his room now, possibly having a hard time after the hunt they'd been on, so Sam went to go check on him. Jack's room was right next to his own, a fact that made Sam smile. He knocked on the doorframe when he approached, and Jack turned to him. So did Castiel. Good. Sam was glad another one of his dads had come to talk to him as well.
"How you doing, Jack?" Sam asked, putting his hands in his pockets, wanting to seem relaxed and nonchalant. Hopefully that'd make it easier for Jack to talk to him. Jack did talk to him, and tell him what was wrong… most of the time. But he had secrets, and was beginning to learn how to lie. Sam could only blame himself.
Do better. No apology. Just do better.
"I'm okay… I think," he answered.
Castiel grinned at their kid, and then said to Sam, "We talked. He's alright."
"Are you?" Sam asked.
"For the first time in a long time, I actually think I am."
Sam raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? How come."
"Because I have you. Both of you."
Warmth bloomed in Sam's chest, and beat in him, rushing into his blood, filling every part of his body. Sam had them too. Dean wasn't just his family anymore. This angel who gave and gave and gave, and the nephilim who was probably the sweetest being ever, were his family too. They were Dean's family. It was the four of them now, Team Free Will 2.0.