Sam arrived home at exactly ten past seven that night. Cas looked sideways at Dean, hands stilling on the salad he was preparing as he heard a deep engine rumble coming through the bunker from the garage. Dean shot him a small, reassuring smile as he wiped his own hands on a kitchen towel.
"Sounds like Sammy's home."
Cas just nodded, his eyes showing a fearful kind of doubt.
"Hey," Dean dropped his voice, soothing as he took Castiel's hand. "It'll be fine."
Cas took a deep breath and nodded again, not trusting himself for words. The two had spent the rest of the afternoon talking, and though they had both spoken to Sam about what was going on with them, he was still a little fearful of Sam's reaction to their relationship once they were face to face.
"I can go and meet him first?" Dean offered, feeling Cas' hesitation through their linked hands.
"Thankyou, Dean." Cas sighed, relief flooding through their bond. "I will continue preparing the leaves until you return."
"Salad, Cas. It's salad." Dean grinned and pressed an un-dean-like kiss to his cheek, then let go of his hand and left the kitchen.
As soon as he left the room dean frowned, feeling the loss sharply. He and Cas had barely seperated all day, and now the distance felt almost like a physical pain. Odd.
He made it to the garage door just as Sam came barreling out, pulling the door shut behind him. Dean froze, Castiel's nervousness seeming to settle in his own chest as his brother turned to look at him.
"Dean!"
A smile cracked Sam's face and he pulled his brother in for a crushing hug. Dean patted his back, chuckling awkwardly.
"Hey, Sammy. Um. It's only been a few days, man."
"I know, I know." Sam laughed and let him go. "Just, you look happier. It's great. Really great."
"O-Kay," Dean stretched the last part out, slightly weirded out by the affectionate behaviour. "Uh, so, welcome home and all, just wanted to check with you-"
"Where's Cas?" Sam cut him off, frowning as he looked around.
"What? Oh, kitchen. Anyway-"
"Oh, okay." Sam cut him off again, irritating Dean. "Before we go meet him, I better show you, I uh, I brought someone with me, and.."
"Who did you bring?" Cas' voice cut across them both.
"Cas!" Sam yelled, knocking dean out of the way to pull the angel in for a bone-crushing hug. "Cas you look so much better-"
"SAM!" Dean cut him off, stopping the endless babble. "Who. Did. You. Bring."
"Umm... Right." Sam sighed and pushed the door to the garage open.
Dean and Cas peered into the dark garage curiously, trying to see something. A moment later a very little something came shooting out, barreling straight into Cas with enough force to push him back before Dean could stop it. He was halfway through pulling his gun when he froze, held off by the sound of a childish squeal.
"Dada!"
"Um. Sam?" Cas asked, a tremor in his voice as he opened his arms a little to reveal a small toddler clinging to his neck. A certain toddler with blonde hair and fading, golden eyes.
"Cas, Dean... Meet Jack." Sam answered quietly, his lips quirking into a smile.
The three adults were silent for a moment, staring at the little boy in Castiel's arms who seemed determined to pull Cas' hair out at the roots.
"Well damn." Dean huffed, running a hand over his face. "Wait. Jack- Jack's only six months old, Sam. That is not a six month old."
"Yes, um, well funny thing is, apparently if he wants something, he just does it. And he wanted to walk. And climb, and grab things. So he grew." Sam rubbed the back of his head with a nervous chuckle. "Actually it was the day I arrived, he decided to, um, grow. I'd guess he's just shy of a two year old?"
"He grew. Just like that, huh." Dean shook his head. "Freakin antichrist."
"Dean." Sam admonished with a frown, glancing at Cas. "Cas, man, you okay?"
Dean looked at Castiel then, annoyed at himself for not noticing that Cas hadn't spoken yet. Cas was still staring down at the child in his arms, and the boy stared back, his eyes still glowing faintly. Dean inched closer, reaching out to his angel.
"Cas? Buddy? You okay?"
He reached out and touched Cas' bare arm, then gasped softly as images flooded his mind. Memories, really, of Jody, Claire, Alex and mom, from a low vantage point as they laughed and smiled, talked and played games. It was Jack, he realised, showing Cas his life up til now. Last he saw the scene that had just happened, like an instant replay in his head. Only with it he felt such intense joy that it brought tears to his eyes. Half of it he knew was from Cas - the other half was unfamiliar but he quickly identified it as being from Jack - and there was no evil in it. Only pure, sweet innocence and love.
"We'll need one of those tall restraint chairs." Cas mused quietly, an hour later.
They were all sitting at the table eating the roast chicken, vegetables and salad that Cas and Dean had prepared. Jack was sitting on Castiel's knee, scrunching his face as Dean tried to feed him a small piece of carrot.
"A high chair." Dean corrected, though Cas' way of explaining items still amused him. "We can get one tomorrow. And a cot. Or maybe a little bed, instead."
Sam was just watching and listening with a small smile on his face. Dean was being positively domestic, and it was a beautiful - albeit unusual - thing to see.
"C'mon little dude, eat the carrot." Dean tried again, but Jack batted his hand away.
"Uckle!" Jack squealed, trying to hit the spoon. "Uckle, Uckle!"
"The hell?" Dean frowned, then rolled his eyes at a chorus of 'DEAN!'. "What's an Uckle?"
"Uh, that'd be, um, me." Sam responded, flushing with embarrassment at the name. "I tried to get him to say uncle..."
There was a moment's quiet, then Dean burst out laughing. After a few seconds Cas joined in with a soft chuckle, and even jack started little squeals and giggles.
"Alright then, Uckle. Why don't you try?"
Sam shot a glare at his brother, but his expression softened as he cut a piece of carrot and leaned across the table, offering it to Jack. The boy ate it with no troubles, but balked at a second helping and shook his head crankily.
"Dada!" He squealed, trying to squirm around to face Cas.
Dean was stunned momentarily at the look that came over Castiel's face. He'd never seen the angel light up with that kind of pure, unfiltered joy and love. Cas was practically glowing with happiness as he fed Jack a bite of his dinner, and Dean realised something. 'I want to see him look like that forever.'
But he didn't have long to ponder, because apparently they were playing musical spoons. Jack looked at him, and a puzzled expression seemed to cross his face.
"Da..." Jack tried, scrunching his nose up.
"Dean." Cas spoke softly, encouraging Jack to say his name.
But Jack just gave him a look that could have been described as exasperated, and tried again.
"Daaaa..."
Dean held up a bit of chicken on the spoon, keeping it just out of reach with a little grin.
"C'mon little dude, you can do it."
Jack scrunched up his face again, seeming frustrated, then looked at Cas, and back at Dean. Dean glanced up at Cas, feeling his heart squeeze again at the look on his face - and suddenly Jack's expression cleared, as though he hadn't been struggling with how to say the word, just what to call him. But he could feel the bond between Cas and Dean, and now he knew.
"Daddeeee!" He squealed, flapping his arms.
The whole room went quiet as Jack grabbed the spoon and bit the chicken off it, munching happily. Cas and Dean just stared at each other in a shocked silence.
"Huh." Sam grunted, grinning slightly as he looked at the three on the other side of the table. "Guess the kid's smarter than he lets on."
"Guess so." Dean whispered quietly, giving the boys hand a little squeeze.
Cas beamed at him, and he felt tears prick at his eyes again. He felt like the luckiest man alive - he had a family, a real little family, him and Cas and Sam and Jack - and nobody would take that away from them.
His heart swelled as they continued their 'musical spoons' game.
"I love you." He murmured gently to Cas.
"I love you, too." Cas answered.
And everything was perfect.
A/N - Thanks for sticking with me through this story, and thankyou for the comments! It makes me so happy, my heart is fluffy. Which is probably why this last chapter is a bit fluffy haha.
Sorry it took so long to update. My writing app crashed, I couldn't get into it, and it was only today it stayed open just long enough to grab most of what I'd written, so here it is! This is the end, I only ever planned on this being a short fix with a happy ending - but hopefully I'll be starting on another one soon.
And again, thankyou for sticking with me on this. I feel like my writing isn't as good as it used to be, but getting better.
If you liked this, please look me up on ao3/tumblr. Just google archiveofourown jikeda and you should find me! Love and fluffy hearts 3
