Chapter 4
The next day, Cas woke up drenched in cold sweat, sometime after 6. He doesn't remember what he was dreaming of, neither does he want to know about it.
He peered outside his closed window, the splotchy dark sky tinted with a hint of orange, signaling the start of a new day. He sighed, and sent a little prayer out of habit.
When he swung his legs off the bed, he didn't feel so much in pain. Perhaps, even as a powerless human, he healed fast. He walked with a little limp in his step, but his arms are free of a metal crutch he had so depended on the day before.
He roams the house, once again eying the pictures on the wall. Right after that picture of Starry in hospital scrubs with her newborn baby, none of the pictures had her husband in them anymore. He found himself in front of a door, decorated colorfully, which was slightly ajar.
His legs strides in before he could stop himself.
The room was pastel blue, with giant astronomical glow-in-the-dark décor splattered around it. A night light covered with holes rotated slowly, sprinkling the room with little stars that evolve around one. Shelves and wardrobe lined the wall, a small high table at the end, where Starry used for quick diaper changes.
Smack dab in the middle of the room is a cot, a shimmery canopy hung high from the ceiling. It falls over the cot, completely sheltering the small bundle of human that rested in it. Annaise Sofia slept on her side, her thin dark hair splayed out over her face haphazardly. Her quilt had been completely kicked off, bunched around her legs like a coil. Her tiny hand was fisted, her left thumb close to her tiny lips. Her eyes fluttered as she slept, and Cas couldn't help but wonder what does little humans dream of.
He was also reminded of his sister, Anna, and all the things she had done with him, for him. The red haired angel was very close to Cas, and the days where she'd send him, a little fledging, some nifty little gadgets she swiped when she was on earth. Sometimes she'd come back home and sat him down, telling him of her adventures.
He was taken aback when the small child in the cot shifted, shivering from the cold. He was hesitant, since the child just screamed "fragile" to his face that one touch will break her apart. He is known to destroy whatever he touched, and being the sole reason of every mission he goes through doesn't really convince him otherwise.
Another full body shiver wrecked through the child, and his hands swept past the canopy, untangling the quilt from Annaise's legs and draping it over her, careful not to touch the child, or wake her up.
He left the room in a hurry, passing another door which he presumed Starry's bedroom. He entered the kitchen, grabbing the mug he used last night and filled it with water.
Where was Dean, how is he, is Sam alright, thoughts over thoughts overlap and wrecked in his mind, a small tug in him telling him that he's worried. A voice in his head said that he shouldn't, that he had nothing to be afraid of, since Dean freaking survived the apocalypse and all that with nothing but cuts and bruises.
The small tug turned a little harder, and Cas was confused why he feels the way he is now. Being away from Dean, from the brothers had not affected him like this, and the little voice in his head was so frustrated it started screaming at him about starting to be practical, that it's foolish to fall-
Before the voice could finish, it was cut off completely by a beep coming from the clock on the wall. The white blaring numbers say 7:00 in bold, and he decided to read the little yellow post it note stuck on the fridge with a smiley face magnet.
It was a pancake recipe.
At 8:17 am, Starry woke up to a loud clatter of metal against metal coming from the kitchen, followed by a loud wail from the nursery. Apparently Annaise was also rudely awakened. She groaned into her pillow, and hurriedly walked out her room, trying to calm Anna down before she could go red in the face.
Castiel was standing very close to the fiery stove, perplex and fascination painted his stubbled face. He had his hand holding a soup ladle, looking like the fire was not trying to burn down the entire building. She basically dropped her baby and rushed to the angel's side, her hands fluttering everywhere in attempt to put out the fire.
Whilst dousing it with water, she didn't notice the small fireball eruption that almost cost her hands. How Cas managed to put a metal pan on fire and reward it with a hole the size of her fist, Starry has absolutely no idea. When the whole crazy fiasco was over, her stove was charred and sizzling wet. A bowl of blue and pink colored pancake batter, with morsels of deformed strawberries and blueberries sat innocently on the counter, and she knew the angel had also raided her fridge.
She turned around, and the tell tale trail of eggshells and flour originating from her wide open fridge cemented her assumptions.
She looked to the perpetrator, and he looked as if he had just realized his mistake. In a split second his calm self turned into a writhing mess of guilt, his cheeks flushing heatedly in her sunlit kitchen.
"I-I'm sorry." Was all he said.
She merely shook her head, and did a once over. "Are you hurt?" She asked, her left hand rose to connect with his shoulder, looking genuinely worried. Cas flinched at the contact, like he was expecting to be hit.
"No. You are." He noted regretfully, and Starry's eyes grew a tad bit wider. That's when the stinging pain hit her, quick jabs and heated like a brand. Her hand dropped from his shoulder and she yelped in pain, the inflamed skin quickly turning angry red.
Immediately, she was over at the sink, the cold water tap on full blast. She lets the cold water trickle over her wounded hand, the back of her palm taking the worst of the burns. It wasn't that bad, she mused. If tended thoroughly, it will heal nicely in about a week's time.
"I'm really sorry, Starry. I was just trying to show you my gratitude and I," he inhaled a shaky breath, feeling helpless as he scanned the hand under the jet of water. "I really do break everything I touch." He said softly, his face falling as he spoke.
"No you don't Cas. You're just… new at this, clumsily and blindly walking through with this, being human. I think you're doing fine, since you didn't really burn down the house." His friend said, trying to perk a smile from the angel. He closes his eyes, and sighed regrettably, his insides churning as he kept his tears at bay.
"It's really okay, Cas. You're new at this. I'll teach you how to cook soon, promise." Her free hand came up, her pinky finger fully extended. He stared at it in confusion.
"Copy me." She ordered, and soon his pinky finger was linked with hers.
"I promise you, you'll be fine. I promise you, I'll teach you everything you need to know."
"Is linking fingers a way to commemorate promises?" He asked, his eyes full of question.
"Yeah, sorta. It's better than a kiss, like what demons do, right? Ah, forget I ever said that. I'm still grouchy after knowing what Crowley did to Bobby." She retorted back, refolding her arm and drying the injury with a clean napkin. Castiel finally smiled, and handed her the burn ointment she pointed to. Annaise was in the living room curled up on the couch, head lolling back and forth sleepily.
When Starry saw that, she was busy trying to clean up the mess, so what the heck.
"Cas? Can you put Anna back to bed?"
Cas froze on his seat, unsure if he heard it right. "Um, I can't." he said, after choosing his words carefully.
"Why?" She whined, her hands already sweeping the mess off the floor.
"What if I break her?"
With two strides she dropped the broom and forcefully dragged Cas off his seat on the counter and into the living room. Starry carefully cradled her child in her arms, motioning him to do the same. Cas had looked uncomfortable and unwilling, but Starry's stern gaze made him do it anyway.
When the small bundle of human was finally transferred into his arms, he had been so nervous his arms were shaking. Starry's soft voice to relax eased the shaking away, but his insides were still churning like mad. Anna's soft breathing finally reached his ear when Starry shifted her position, where Anna had her entire body leaning against his chest, his hands supporting the cusp of her back, and her tiny nape.
He felt something change in him, his vessel thrumming with a foreign feeling. His eyes were open and his lips started to quirk up. "I feel weird." He said, his hands mimicking Starry's who were softly patting Anna's back. She grinned, and shushed soothingly when Anna started to stir.
"Sway a little, left and right." She instructed. When Anna curled her tiny fists into his shirt, he couldn't keep the smile off his face.
"How's your first official taste of parenthood taste like?" She asked after he tucked Anna in bed. Starry had finished cleaning up and was examining the content of his pancake batter. She has an inkling why he added IRON NAILS into it.
"Dude, when I say "You nailed it" I don't mean you gotta put that in for real." She said, sweatdropping comically.
"It doesn't taste like anything." He said in regards of the first question. Starry literally facepalmed.
"I mean, how does it feel to be a 3 minute daddy?"
He was quiet, his eyes set downcast shyly.
"Good."
She never told Cas she snapped a picture of him holding her baby, looking blissfully peaceful.
AN: I feel like a horrible writer. It's like, static silence over here. Am I that bad?
*cries*
Oh well. Read, review, fave, whatever. I'm just gonna stew Chapter 5 until someone put some "seasoning" into it.