SkyGem: Well, after last night's episode, I felt we needed a bit of fluff to brighten our day, so here y'all go! Hope you enjoy!
Castiel couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun.
Dean was an interesting person to talk to, and Emma was even cuter than her father.
"So," said Gabriel, leaning forward, "How did you know my secret identity?"
And little Emma just giggled again and pointed at the screen.
"Your hair!" she said, "You have really pretty princess hair!"
In reply to this, Gabriel sighed dramatically and sank his head into his hands. "I knew I should have gotten it cut. Of course my hair would reveal me. But I liked it too much, you know? It took a long time to get it looking this good."
Emma nodded somberly at this.
"I promise not to tell anyone your secret," she whispered, "I really like your hair too!"
Looking up with a wide grin on his face, Gabriel replied, "Oh thank you so much, mini-burrito! You're so kind!"
"You're welcome," she replied with a giggle.
Dean, who had been watching all this with an amused smile on his face, suddenly leaned down and whispered something in his daughter's ear.
She giggled, moving away a bit so that his stubble didn't rub against her cheek, before finally turning her attention to what her father was saying, then gaining a thoughtful expression on her face.
Turning around and rising on her knees so that she could reach Dean's ear, she whispered something back to him.
Dean nodded in reply to whatever she said, and when Emma turned back to the screen, she was sporting an excited smile.
Leaning forward conspiratorially, she said, "My uncle Sammy's hair is even prettier than yours is, so he's a more important princess than you are."
Castiel took a moment to just wonder at how strange the logic of a child could be, and admire how well Gabe was able to play along.
From Dean's raised eyebrow in his direction, Castiel could tell he was thinking the same thing.
"Really now?" asked Gabriel, and Emma nodded emphatically.
"And since he's a princess that means my daddy's a prince, so I'm a princess!"
Immediately, Gabriel bowed his head deeply and said, "Well then, your highness, it is such an honour to be in your presence."
Emma giggled again and seemed as if she were about to say more, but stopped when there was the sound of a door opening, and both she and Dean looked up.
"Hey, gran!" Dean greeted. "What's up?"
"Time for Emma's bath," replied an unfamiliar yet kind voice.
"What?" asked Emma, sounding dismayed, "B-but I don't want to take a bath right now!"
"Now, Emma," said the voice, becoming strict but not unkind.
"Daddy!" cried Emma, looking up at her father at puppy eyes.
"Sorry, princess," he said, kissing her forehead, "Listen to Liz. You can talk to Gabe again another time, okay?"
"Daddyyyyyyy!" she whined, clinging to him and sniffling.
Letting out a huff of exasperation, Dean rolled his eyes skyward and mouthed something that looked suspiciously like "Lord give me strength."
"Tell you what," he said to the four-year-old, "If you take your bath now, we can have a sleepover tonight, hm? We'll watch Tarzan and you can sleep in my bed, and we'll even call up uncle Sammy and bother him."
Upon hearing this, Emma's face immediately brightened up and the sniffles and tears just poofed out of existence.
"Yay! Thanks daddy!" she squealed excitedly, leaning up to give her father's stubbly cheek a kiss before climbing out of their cocoon and disappearing off-screen, presumably to run up to her great-grandmother.
Soon after, there was the sound of a door closing, Dean looked back at the screen, saying, "WHY did she have to inherit Sammy's puppy dog eyes? I still have trouble saying no to him whenever he gives me that look, you know? There's no freaking way to survive it when Emma's the one doing it."
Castiel chuckled at this, and said, "You dealt with it rather well."
"Yeah, it comes from years of practise," replied Dean, huffing and sitting back, his comforter still wrapped around him so that only his head was popping out of the bundle of black. "In a lot of ways, she's just like Sammy at that age, but at the same time, she's completely different."
"Are you protective of her?" asked Gabriel from beside Castiel, butting into the conversation. "You seem like the protective type. I can just imagine what will happen once she becomes a teenager."
Dean snorted when he heard this. "What will happen is that I will send her to martial arts classes, and any guy who even looks at her wrong will have to deal with me, Sammy, Henry, Benny, Ash, Garth, Bobby, and possibly Victor."
"I knew it!" crowed Gabriel, collapsing into a fit of giggles. "After you guys are done, though, send him over to me. Cassie and I will also give him a piece of our minds. No one touches our little mini-burrito."
Dean snorted in amusement.
"You know, if that nickname sticks, she will hate you for it when she gets older."
Castiel was stunned when he heard this, because it sounded almost as if Dean actually expected him and Gabriel to still be in his and his daughter's lives in ten to fifteen years' time. Not that Castiel minded at all. He'd like nothing more than that.
"Nah," replied Gabriel, "She'll love me. Anyways, I'll go and leave you two lovebirds to your conversation."
"Gabe!" yelped Castiel, his face colouring, and his brother walked away still laughing. "I'm so sorry," replied Castiel, looking back at the screen.
"It's alright," replied Dean, his face also tinted a light pink. "So…umm…you planning on making anymore videos?"
Castel blinked, a bit confused by the sudden change in conversation topic, but went along with it, shaking his head.
"The only reason I started in the first place was to talk to you. Now that we can Skype, I do not see any reason to continue."
"Aww, but Caaaas!" whined Dean, and Castiel could immediately see where Emma had gotten her whine from, and it definitely wasn't her uncle. "You should continue! Everyone loves you! Have you seen all the followers you've been getting?"
"That's only because you have been replying to me," replied Castiel with a head shake. "They were merely interested in my side of the conversation. I doubt anyone would want to watch any videos I may make in the future."
"That's not true!" was his reply, leaning forward and furrowing his brows a bit. "Some of them, sure, but a lot of them are inspired by you! I mean, after all that's happened to you, you're still so strong. I feel like you probably have a lot to say, don't you?"
Castiel was quiet, thinking of everything he'd ever wanted to tell everyone, all the opinions he'd kept bottled up inside of him.
"See?" said Dean, sounding a bit smug. "So just tell everyone! Seriously, it's a good way of getting over the fear of public speaking, and your words will make people think."
"I'll…think about it," said Castiel finally, still not too sure about the idea.
Dean's mouth stretched into a wide smile at this.
"Great!"
The two of them talked for a long time after that, and for Castiel, who'd never been good at talking to others, it was a surreal feeling, finding someone he felt so comfortable talking to, someone who seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say.
When the two of them finally said goodbye after about three hours of talking, Castiel really wasn't expecting to hear from Dean until at least the next day.
But when, an hour later, he decided to check his YouTube channel, he was surprised to see that his friend had already posted another video.
The other male must have started making it almost as soon as the two of them had said their farewells.
It was titled "Questions Questions Questions" and Castiel, curious as to what it may be about, settled down to watch it.
"Hello there my beautiful viewers!" said Dean the moment he came on-screen, his smile wide. He had moved back to his desk, and his bed was made, with no signs of the nest that had been there just an hour ago.
"Winchester here! Anyways, this is going to be a super short video, sorry guys.
"So. I just wanted to say that y'all are probably pretty tired of mine and Cas's conversations this past while. I know y'all are probably wanting one of my usual videos by now, so as a sorry, I decided to have a question and answer session! Whatever questions y'all have, post them in the comments section below, and I'll answer as many of them as I can! A few of the more interesting ones with more detailed answers will go in my next video, and the rest of the answers will be posted ten at a time on my Facebook page! Personal questions are welcome, and I'll try to answer them, but you all should know by now where I draw the line.
"Anyways, have fun, live life, go crazy, and stay safe until next time! See you later, all you gorgeous people!"
SkyGem: The end! For this chapter at least. Now, y'all are probably wondering why I didn't include the comments section this time, eh? And the answer to that is that YOU ALL will be supplying the comments for me! Ask about anything you all want to know about my AU Dean's life, and I will answer for you! This is a way for me to tell my readers about his past in a way that hasn't been done a hundred times before, and it's up to you guys how successful it will be. If you don't want me using your real username, let me know what one Dean should use when answering your question! Anyways, that's all for now, and see you all next time!