an:/ so I've been having a rough time with things lately. Life just gets that way sometimes. I thought that we could all use a soft, fluffy chapter.

There will be some progress in the big mama story soon I hope. The last chapter is just about finished, but I needed a break. Let the fluff surround you. Warm you. It's good for your soul.

"You know," Nick huffed as he tried to catch his breath, "I could go for a drink."

"You think you're so funny."

"I wasn't joking." Nick put a hand on the wall under the nice little number for his floor. Catching his breath again. "I need need a drink."

Castiel looked up at him from where he'd wedges himself under Nick's arm in an effort to help his big brother all the long way up to his apartment. Despite the protests that he could make it just fine on his own- that the cast didn't slow him down too badly- and no he wasn't going to use the damn crutches that the hospital seemed to think he needed- Cas was here.

They couldn't both be this stubborn, but then again…

All kinds of grim determination, Castiel's hand tightened on the back of his shirt, and the cloth wet with Nick's sweat because maybe this was harder than it should have been, but what do you expect after spending two weeks in bed? He felt frail, tired and out of breath, but his baby brother didn't mention all that. Too hyper focused on the all stairs in Nick's obviously not handicap accessible building.

"Well, then. I am pleased to report that I've already cleaned out your apartment." Castiel had the audacity to smile up at him. "No alcohol, and lots of nice, fresh foods because all you had were some take out leftovers that were long past their expiration date."

"You know I don't cook, and I hate your god damned healthy fruit and vegetable garbage."

"That's why I had our lovely sisters donate a few meals that they thought you might find tempting. They are marked and in your freezer. All you have to do is microwave them."

That was the biggest problem that Nick had really noticed in being locked up in a hospital for weeks. That his family had taken it on themselves to just step in and start deciding what was best for him again, like he was a kid and incapable of taking care of himself.

He looked down at where he could see the clean white bandages peeking around his wrists under his sleeves, and further down than that, the heavy cast that half of his leg had been encased in, like some medieval torture boot. It was heavy, and itchy, and he knew most of the pain in his leg came from the fact that it was being held together inside by bits of metal- but he was going to just blame the cast, because it's what he could see.

And he wished to god that he could blame someone else for all of this. But Nick knew that this was all his personal, glorious fuck up and that he was on his own.

Castiel gave his shirt a firm tug, urging him to come hobble along the last few feet to his apartment. An encouraging look on his upturned face.

Well, no.

Maybe Nick was not on his own. But he was certainly undeserving of a brother like this.

It was actually kind of nice and comforting that his other two siblings were doing exactly what was expected of them. Which was to say, voicing their strong disapproval and then refusing to have anything to do with their self destructive, broken brother.

Michael had sent his disapproving message via his wife, not even willing to make an appearance- which was appreciated.

And Gabriel had sent the money off to Lilith, just like he'd been asked to do, told Nick one last time exactly where he could stick this plan of his, and then left.

He hadn't seen or heard from his brother in weeks.

Just like he hadn't heard from his exwife.

Because it really had been a terrible plan from the start.

What had he really expected to happen?

Cassy was still here though. He'd come to the hospital, with a wonderfully bruised face and no desire to talk about it. And he'd visited Nick almost every day. Brought him books, and snuck him Oreos when the nurses weren't looking. Then check out time had come, and Nick had been released on his own accord after the police had come and taken away his driver's license, slapped a blood alcohol monitoring bracelet on him, and informed him that he had all kinds of classes to take and community service to serve- and Castiel was still there.

Faithful little brother that he was.

They got into the apartment, and NIck got deposited on the couch and given a glass of orange juice from the fridge.

He sat there quietly, debating if he could convince his brother that it was already time again for some more of that vicodin that the doctor's had sent him home with.

Castiel didn't look like he was in the kind of mood to go for it however, busying himself with heating up a frozen pizza in the oven.

"Now, I'm not going to stay the night or anything, because you're an adult and you don't need me here." He said with only a little hint of mocking in his tone. "But I will probably still come check on you in the morning before I go to work."

"Thanks." Was all Nick could think to say. He was a little past the point of feeling defensive and angry at being treated like an invalid. Getting up those stairs had taken too much out of him.

Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow felt like a good day to go back to being a miserable son of a bitch.

Right now it was enough to just lay on the couch with his leg up, wishing there was some vodka in his orange juice.

Not that drinking was going to improve his situation, but Nick was an addictive sort of person and he missed the familiarity of it.

"There's an old pack of cigarettes in the bottom of my dresser. What are the chances of you getting them for me?"

With a thoughtful look Castiel came over and sat beside him. "Not too good." He admitted. "I tossed them yesterday while I was cleaning."

"Bastard."

Castiel shrugged, because it might have been an insult, but it was also the truth. "I think this is a good time for you to work on cleaning yourself up."

Ah, so they were going to have this talk after all. Cassy was usually such a quiet, non aggressive guy, Nick had thought that they could avoid the whole thing all together. "Thanks for the opinion, doctor. But I didn't ask."

"I know. But you can't exactly go to the store, so you're at my mercy for the next few weeks."

Which was vaguely ominous, but still… it was just Castiel. The kid wasn't all that threatening, even when he tried his best.

"And once you realize how horrible it is cooped up here alone most of the time, I might be willing to let you come stay in my extra bedroom."

Nick blinked, because that was some kind of offer that he hadn't been expecting.

"I certainly have less stairs." Castiel pointed out.

It was too generous and non malicious of an offer. "You know I'm awful to live with."

"Yes. But you're awful at a lot of things." Cassy didn't miss a beat. "It's one of the reasons that everyone worries about you so much."

"Yeah. Everyone." He'd seen his sisters during his internment. Rekha visited fairly often, and Anna had come by a few times, bringing some 'get well' cards made by her kids, and another time to just sit there beside him and talk to him while she knitted away at a soft blue and green baby blanket (they were expecting another boy apparently). And Nick had been grateful for the non accusatory company. But the ladies paired with Castiel hardly constituted everyone. Not that Nick had wanted much more than that. Really.. just one more person. But he supposed that Sam calling to apologise, to come check on him, it was a bit too much to ask for in this kind of situation.

Castiel trailed a finger over the rough surface of Nick's cast and it made a gravely noise.

"A few days ago we took a family vote on what to do with you this time."

"Fantastic." He said without feeling.

"They all thought that you'd be best off at Gabriel and Rekha's."

Nick looked around his apartment, taking it all in. All the glorious not being banished to his brother's home that he was currently relishing in. "So…"

"So? I like Rekha enough not to let that happen to her. You and Gabriel are terrible when you get together."

"True, but I don't think we're talking right now. So Rekha would probably be safe enough."

"He worries." Castiel waved it off as a fact to simple to even embellish on, he'd always had a fairly good read on his brothers. "Which reminds me," he pulled out his phone. "I was supposed to give him a call when you got home."

And Nick actually hated that Gabriel was worried about him. Like they couldn't just have a fight like normal people. No. His brother had to use Castiel to check in on him. Like a painfully obvious spy.

Going to the kitchen, like the space made it less weird for Castiel to be talking about Nick while they were in the same room, the phone call was made.

"Hello." Castiel said after what must have been only one ring. "Yes, we're- yes… he's doing as well as can be expected. The drugs they put him on make him sleepy and agreeable." Castiel had absolutely no shame in conducting this conversation only a few feet away. Listening to whatever Gabriel was saying with a slight smile at first, but that quickly faded into a frown. "I… Both of them? I don't think that is a good plan."

Nick watched his brother trying to not look over at him, cradling the phone to his face like a shield as he started to pace.

"I know that you don't care about what I think, but- but- Gabriel-" it was rare to see Castiel getting angry. "Fine. No. I won't tell him. But if he tries to hit you later I won't stop him." And he hung up his phone without even saying goodbye.

"Why am I going to hit him?" Nick tried to approach the situation sideways. His little brother was known to be rather skilled at keeping his mouth shut when he wanted to.

The pizza got taken out of the over first, before any answers were offered, and even then, it wasn't what Nick wanted to hear.

"He's going to be over in about half an hour. You can figure it out from there."

Half an hour felt like forever to wait. Nick filled the time with pizza, and watching a documentary on Netflix with Castiel. It was mildly distracting. He was almost able to ignore the fact that it actually took Gabriel closer to an hour to get his sorry ass over there.

Lots of rapid, annoying knocking came to his front door, and Nick looked warily over at it, then at Cassy.

"Are you going to get it, or wait and watch while I gimp over there?"

"I just want you to know that if you would like me to stay, I will stay-" Castiel stood and went to the door. "And if you want me to leave, I will leave. Ok?"

Which meant that apparently everything coming from his brother was going to be ominous from here on out. "Yeah, Cassy. I get it. You're doing this under duress. I can handle Gabriel though."

Castiel looked apologetically over at him before opening the door. In came Gabriel, followed by a young girl about a head shorter than him, and a woman more than a head taller than him.

Both females were blonde, tan, and rather pleasant to look at. And Nick hadn't seen Lilith in years, but even still. He felt like he should have been able to recognize her before she spoke.

"Christ, Nick." Her voice was the same. It hadn't changed like the rest of her. Her nose was narrower, shorter, her lips fuller, cheekbones and chin sharper. The woman had bought herself a whole new face in the last decade. Almost unrecognizable. But a psychotic bitch is still a psychotic bitch. No matter how pretty the new face they're wearing. "What'd you do to yourself this time?"

He tugged on one of his sleeves, making sure that at least that part of the damage he'd done was well covered. "Cut myself shaving." Which was the best reason for a broken leg that he could come up with, because if that was Lilith, that meant that the gorgeous little thing beside her was his daughter- and a fact like that left him more than a little stunned.

She was carrying a duffle bag over her shoulder, wearing jeans and flip flops and a shapeless sweater with the word 'Graceland' spelled out in faded letters over the front. Her cheeks were a bit red from the cold outside, and she was smiling at his apartment. Not at any of the adults. Just at the apartment. Sizing up the pale walls and sparse furniture.

"Is this the same place you lived last time I came to stay with you, Papa?" She had a voice like an angel.

"Yeah." Nick, by contrast, sounded like he had something stuck in his throat.

"I remember it being bigger."

"Well… you were a lot shorter back then."

She contemplated this, her nose wrinkling just a bit, making her pale freckles shift, and when she suddenly grinned at Nick, she had slight dimples.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Nick found himself speechless. He also thought that he might be holding his breath, just waiting for her to say something else to him. It felt so unreal that after all this time she would just be here, in his living room, dumping her things by the front door and coming to sit on the arm of the couch beside him.

Even though she was practically twice the size that she'd been last time he saw her, she was still so tiny. Like a little doll. Hardly indenting the cushion with her weight.

"June," Lilith said with a pointed sigh. "Like I said, you don't have to stay. You're still more than welcome to come with me."

"Your new husband's a creep, Mom."

"Believe me, the old one was too." She folded her arms under a fairly distracting set of breasts that she certainly hadn't had a few years back. Money can buy all kinds of things apparently.

June glanced up at Nick with eyes as pale as the moon. It was a speculative look, like she was considering an expensive purchase and not sure if she liked the price.

Nick just looked back at her like a rabbit in headlights. He wanted to hug her, to hold her tight and reassure himself that she was real. That she was really here, and not some kind of fever dream brought on from the meds the doctors gave him.

How could she be so perfect?

How could two miserable, broken, sorry excuse for humans like him and Lilith make something like this?

"He looks ok to me." June announced finally.

With a feeling like the man who had just inherited Texas, Nick looked over to his brothers, wanting to make sure that they'd heard it too. June thought that he looked ok. She wanted to stay with him-

But Gabriel had somehow managed to actually get himself into a rather animated, but very quiet argument with Castiel over in the vicinity of the short hallway that lead to the rest of the apartment. And Castiel wasn't the easiest person to argue with. Most of the time he simply refused. Just too calm and reasonable to get easily riled up like his older brothers. But if anyone could get him going it seemed to be Gabriel.

Then again, Gabriel was most rational, calm people's exception. He could probably make saints start throwing punches.

And for the life of him, Nick couldn't figure out what they had to argue about. Because June was here. Really, really here. Nick had pretty much zero money at this point. No car. No boyfriend who cared enough to check in on him after two weeks of nothing-

But he had his daughter. And good god, there wasn't a single thing in that moment that he could have wanted more.

"Baby girl, you're going to change your mind real fast." Lilith told her daughter with an air of authority that she had no business having. "I'm still going to stay the night, because after a few hours your gunna be real tired of son of a bitch and it will save me an extra trip out here to come get you."

Nick looked over so fast it hurt his neck. "You're what?" He'd almost completely forgotten about the horrible woman standing there in the middle of the room.

"I already talked it over with our lawyers-" She nodded towards Gabriel. "He said that you agreed to the terms, that it's best for June to stay here stateside. Less adjusting for her to get used to you then she would have to have to get used to living overseas. But me, her loving mother, reserves the right to make sure that I'm leaving my babygirl in a safe place. That her deadbeat father is a changed man, and now suitable to be around kids." She smiled a soft, venomous kind of smile. "I just don't know if I can trust you again. Not after last time."

Maybe no one else could hear it in her words, but she was threatening him. Openly telling him that she could take June back anytime she wanted to. He'd known her too long and too well to miss what she wasn't quite saying.

And though Nick felt like himself, perhaps Castiel had been right about the medication they'd put him on making him sleepy and agreeable- because he didn't immediately tell Lilith to fuck off.

Instead he looked over at June and offered her a smile. "Hi."

She giggled. "Hi, papa."

"Are you too old for hugs?" He asked hesitantly, not sure if he was overstepping the years distance between them. "Or do we not know each other well enough for me to ask?"

Without any kind of hesitation at all she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly that for a moment he couldn't breathe.

"I know you." She assured him, all that long hair of hers tickling Nick's face. It smelled like coconuts. "Uncle Gabriel talks about you all the time."

"Yeah?" He pulled an arm around her shoulders. Hugging her significantly less tight, because he didn't want to crush her, and also because the raw skin on his arms was still trying to scar over and hurt something awful. "He only told you good things I hope?"

"All the best things." She leaned back from him enough to grin.

"Oh, I'm going to disappoint you something awful." He whispered in confidence, trying not to laugh, but he was so happy right then he didn't know how to hold it all in.

She put her hands on his cheeks, smooshing his face a bit. "No. You're good. I can tell."

He would have loved to know how she came to this decision, but he would happily settle for getting to keep her instead.