A/N: Sorry for the lack of update for two days. I won't always be able to update EVERY day but I hope you guys can forgive me. ;) I offer more adorable Castiel as payment.

And once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH to all the people who have offered support and kind words for this story! I'm flattered beyond words that this has gotten such love from some of you! ^_^

Dean smiled up at the overly bright pastel sign announcing their arrival at "Babies-R-Us". Ridiculously bright cartoon animals decorated the entire outside of the building and a window cling depicting a purple hippo wearing a jacket was ushering them inside with an ear to ear grin. The hunter turned to regard his brother who was, at that moment, attempting to coax Castiel into letting him cover the wing currently hanging out of the top of his shirt. The little angel looked none to pleased by the fact that Sam had resorted to trying to gently stuff the feathers back under the shirt collar and he had put his small hands against Sam's arm as he twisted bodily away from the contact. "C'mon, Cas. Just…just let me tuck this away for a little while. I promise I'll let you bring it right back out when we get back to the car," Sam pleaded. Dean snorted in amusement and headed back to his brother's aid.

"Move, I got this." Pushing Sam to one side, Dean knelt down by the passenger door to come face to face with Castiel. He reached out and pulled up the shirt, almost entirely lifting it off the child's head until the wing slipped back through the collar and then tugging it down quickly to trap the tiny appendage beneath it. Cas turned his head to peer over his shoulder but Dean didn't give him the time to pull the collar back down again. He swept the infant up and propped him against his chest, one hand flat against the angel's back to dissuade him from tugging on the cloth but by then Castiel seemed to have given the idea up anyway in favor of craning around to look at their surroundings instead. He twisted about, wide eyes taking in everything from the pavement beneath them to the garish storefront just ahead. "There, not so bad, right?" Dean said brightly, though it was obvious Cas wasn't paying him the least bit of attention.

"How did…" Sam gaped.

"Face it, Sammy, I'm just better at this than you," Dean said with a cocky smile. "After all, I practically raised your sorry ass."

Sam shook his head incredulously and huffed a laugh. "Fine, then you can take care of him from now on and I'll drive."

"No can do, Sam," Dean said as he headed inside, "You know the rules. Only way you're driving is if I'm too messed up to do it myself. Besides, this is good for ya. Builds character or something like that." He paused just over the threshold of the door and whistled. "Holy CRAP, that is a LOT of pastel." Rows upon rows of children's clothing stretched out ahead of him, their racks filled to the brim with tiny outfits of every conceivable pattern and size. Fluffy pink tulle skirts poked out from between miniature versions of prom dresses and tiny business suits meant for parents that Dean could only assume sent their maids to do the shopping and t-shirts of every variety hung in tidy rows, each with some Saturday morning tv star grinning stupidly out from the front of them. Tiny jeans hung in long blue lines of every shade known to man and there were enough fluffy footie pajamas to smother an elephant. Large cartoon footprints led in every direction, disappearing between the racks in a dizzying array of colors, interspersed with cardboard cutouts of the same mascots that decorated the outside of the store.

The walls and the tops of the racks of clothing had all been painted in pastel shades that covered the entire range of colors from lilacs to spring greens. To the left was an entire section devoted to furniture and buggies, while the right sported an enormous array of toys and books. Dean immediately swerved toward the right and began making a beeline for the rack holding little power wheels cars, a nostalgic grin plastered on his face. His momentum was halted as Sam grabbed his arm however and began dragging him bodily toward the clothing racks. The next half hour was spent sorting through the hangars with Dean vetoing almost anything Sam held up, usually with a snide comment about Cas 'looking like a dork' or being 'the gayest thing since Ken dolls were invented'. Eventually they settled on a few sets of plain dark jeans, a small leather jacket, and a few shirts consisting of a blue one Sam thought matched Cas's eyes, a red striped one Dean got to offset the sheer wrongness of dressing to match one's eyes, and a pack of little white t-shirts with no designs which were the only shirts both brothers were willing to agree on. Dean insisted that they get Cas the tiny set of black combat boots he'd found and Sam wasn't willing to argue it based solely on how happy they seemed to make his brother, a fact which, when pointed out, earned him a punch to the arm for saying it was "cute".

Castiel sat quietly throughout the whole exchange, his expression caught between confusion and fascination with everything around him. He turned to watch other parents as they walked by holding their own infants and started back in shock when a few of them began bawling for what appeared to be no apparent reason. His little head cocked to the side more than once and he kept looking expectantly at Dean as if the hunter were going to be able to explain all of it to him and when no answers seemed to be forthcoming, he would resign himself back to people watching. At last Dean headed toward the front, Sam in tow with an armload of clothes, and approached the first register. As the disinterested looking clerk rang up their purchases, Sam's attention fell on a nearby pile of stuffed animals and a smile lit over his face. He marched away leaving a confused Dean in his wake only to return a moment later triumphantly holding aloft a floppy white bunny sporting a set of angel wings. Dean rolled his eyes. "Dude, did you just grow ovaries or something? We are NOT getting him a stuffed bunny."

Sam scoffed and gestured toward the toy section. "What? You think at this age he's going to be riding a set of hotwheels? He's too young, Dean. Just let him see if he likes it." Sam held up the bunny in front of an obviously perplexed Castiel who stared at it blankly for a few moments.

"See? He doesn't like it. Besides, if he keeps growing at this rate, he might be old enough to ride the car by the end of the week," Dean pouted.

"He might not understand what to do with it," Sam offered helpfully, "it's not like he's really ever had toys before, you know?" He brought the bunny to his chest and offered it a quick hug while making sure Cas was watching. Dean swallowed down a snort.

"I would kill for a camera right now."

"Shut up, Dean."The older Winchester narrowly avoided being smacked with the stuffed animal before Sam offered the bunny once more toward Cas. After a few seconds spent staring at the toy, the angel finally reached out one uncertain hand for it, grabbing it by an ear and tugging it toward him in a mimicry of what Sam had done only moments before. His expression changed once the toy was against his cheek though. The rabbit had been made of an incredibly soft micro-material and his face sank into the white fluff until his nose was buried in it. He pulled back a bit startled and then repeated the experience again, this time coming up with a small but definitive smile. That smile changed back into confusion as Sam turned the rabbit to show him the plush wings that had been stitched onto the back of the toy. Castiel poked at them uncertainly at first and then firmly clenched onto the toy and wouldn't let go. Dean sighed and rolled his eyes at the victorious smile his brother was giving him as he snapped the tag off the toy and tossed it onto the counter.

The brothers headed back toward the car with their bags and once there, Sam climbed into the back seat to change Castiel into his new clothes while Dean drove them toward the nearest restaurant. By the time they arrived, Cas was fully dressed and Dean was willing to let go of the fact that he was wearing the blue shirt since Sam had also pulled on the little leather jacket over it to fully hide the angel's wings. The trio were met at the door by the waitress who went from flirting with Dean to instantly cooing over Castiel the moment Sam walked in. It was hard to tell who was unhappier about this, Dean who had been forgotten in favor of the waitress pelting Sam with questions about the infant, or Castiel who was shying away from the woman as she reached to ruffle his hair. Sam rescued them both by asking to be seated. The waitress guided them over to a corner booth, snagging a booster seat along the way as she rattled on about her niece and how many times she had done babysitting duty. Sam nodded and smiled indulgently while Dean sulked behind them and when the pretty young brunette finally left to fill their drink orders, he turned sharply to Sam. "Next time, I'M carrying Cas."

"What? WHY?"

"Dude, are you serious? Did you see that? He's a babe magnet. Chicks LOVE guys with little kids." Dean gestured to another table a few feet away where a group of ladies were taking turns glancing over at the brothers and giggling. "Look at 'em. They can't STOP looking over here. I'm telling ya, I take him into a bar and I'll walk out with more phone numbers than the yellow pages," he grinned.

Sam frowned as he settled Castiel into the booster seat beside him. "You are NOT taking him into a bar, Dean."

"What? Why not?"

"One, because he's an infant. You don't TAKE infants to bars. Two, because this isn't just some kid, Dean, this is CAS. We should be working on getting him back to normal, not using him as bait," Sam said irritably.

" I know it's Cas. And Cas, unlike my own brother, wouldn't have a problem helping me out here."

Sam threw Dean a scathing look to which the older Winchester could only toss up his hands and grumble the word "prude" under his breath before their waitress came rushing back over. Dean ordered the country special breakfast, Sam a simple fruit salad and, after some debate on the subject, they decided to get Castiel some applesauce to see if he would be willing to eat anything. Predictably, when the sauce was placed in front of him, the angel simply turned away from it to stare out the window again. Sam tried bringing a spoon of it to Cas's mouth but the child pulled away and stubbornly refused to take the offered food. Dean almost choked on his own food when Sam was reduced to making airplane noises in an attempt to lure Cas into eating. This earned him little more than another bewildered look from the angel who once more pushed the food aside while Dean wiped the tears from his face and doubled over in laughter. Sam tossed the spoon back into the bowl and scooted it across the table. "Fine," the younger hunter said, "you're the one that's so good with kids. See if you can get him to eat it."

After finally catching his breath again, Dean reached out to take the baby as Sam hefted him over the table. He perched Castiel onto his knee and then took the spoon in hand, bringing it back to the angel's face but once again it was refused. Dean tried every trick he could think of that had always worked on Sam during his infancy but Castiel was proving far more stubborn than originally expected and he was quickly running out of ideas. His final attempt to simply pinch Castiel's nose shut until he had to open his mouth was stopped by an aghast Sam who apparently had issues with this tactic as being too close to child abuse. He was not in the least comforted when Dean assured him that he'd done this on countless occasions when Sam himself had been difficult.

Having finally given up on trying to make their resident angel eat anything, Dean turned back to his own breakfast while Castiel sat on his knee and watched with rapt attention as the hunter poured ketchup onto his homefries, hotsauce onto his eggs, and honey onto his biscuits. Jokingly, Dean held an empty honey packet in front of the child on his knee and shook his head when Castiel actually took it. The angel fiddled with crinkly wrapper for a minute but tugged his fingers away unhappily when they brushed over the tear at the top and the bubble of honey that had formed there. A thin sticky film coated the end of his index finger and he brought it to his mouth to remove the offending substance. Sam kicked Dean under the table to get his attention and jerked his chin toward the infant and when Dean looked down it was to find Castiel happily sucking on the wrapper. Sam snatched up a new packet of honey and tore it open before offering it across the table to Cas who set aside his empty one. He pulled the wrapper to his lips and began sucking on the contents inside, leaning back comfortably against Dean as he went back to staring out the window.

"Huh. Ok. That's freakin' weird," Dean piped up.

Sam nodded. "Yeah but at least he's eating something, ya know?" He plucked up another packet as Castiel finished his first and handed it to Dean. The brothers finished the rest of their meal in relative quiet with only the occasional need for Sam to fend off their waitress who apparently found it adorable that Castiel was perched in Dean's lap and they headed back to the car with pockets full of honey packets, intent on getting to Bobby's as soon as possible.

Elsewhere:

The small farmhouse was set back from the road, its winding drive bordered by the wrecked cars that had spilled over from the junkyard out back. Somewhere a dog barked, hidden amongst the scrap metal but it was of no concern to the silent visitor waiting across the road. Within the domicile, it could make out the faint signature of the sole human occupant who was meandering from room to room but the old hunter wasn't the one it was waiting for. The man walked out onto the front porch and glanced around, his plaid shirt whipping about in the late summer breeze, and he tugged his cap lower onto his brow as he stepped off the last stair and walked toward the garage completely unaware of the eyes on him. Bobby Singer was perfectly safe from his unannounced visitor though, so long as he stayed out of the way when the time came. For now, the man was serving his purpose as bait. The creature knew the one it was seeking would eventually come here, would seek out the hunter's aid, and that predictability would make for easy prey. Then the hunter's use would be over and he would fall as well, torn limb from limb.

For now, it would wait. Its patience was infinite. If it was pressed to leave by other matters, then it had many minions at its command to complete the task. Regardless, soon it would have the one its master craved. The last piece of the puzzle. The elusive prey that had escaped them once.

Castiel.