August - September 2019 (Castiel is 30, Dean is 31, Eden is 6, Adrian is 2 (almost 3), Jason is 6 (almost 7), Emma is 2, Jo is 30, Tom is 32, Gabriel is 34, Sam and Jess are 24, Jesse is 5 months old).
The next day was Eden's 6th birthday.
Dean and Castiel got up early in the morning to prepare the presents and breakfast before waking up Adrian and Eden. Their daughter was super excited and couldn't wait to be seated by the table and open her presents. They all sat down – Dean was sitting on one side of the table with Eden to his right, while Castiel was seated on the opposite side with Adrian to his left.
"Are all these presents just for me?" Eden asked, awed, when she looked at the eight different presents on the table. Some were smaller than others and they were wrapped in paper with animals on it – she loved animals.
"Yep, just for you, sweetheart," Dean grinned, and gestured at her to start opening her presents.
Eden eagerly began opening the presents while the others started eating. Adrian was staring at his sister jealously as she opened them.
Eden was excited to see some of the toys she'd wished for, plus some clothing that she really liked. The new shoes she just completely fell in love with, and after opening all her presents she grinned at her parents and went around to hug them; telling them thank you, before sitting back down to eat.
"When is the cake?" she asked, excitedly, while she ate.
"Later, when we come home tonight," Castiel smiled.
"I want cake too – Eden got all da presents," Adrian pouted.
Dean laughed and Castiel chuckled fondly.
"I know, but it's Eden's birthday so she gets all the presents today. In two months it's your turn, little guy," Dean grinned.
"You'll get plenty of cake tonight, don't worry," Castiel told his son. Their children had definitely inherited their taste for cake and pie from Dean.
Adrian seemed to cheer up a little.
"So what do you guys say to going to grandma and grandpa's house next weekend for a barbecue? They invited us over," Dean asked and looked at the children.
Adrian's face lit up happily, as did Eden's.
"Yay, barbecue! Can we have cheeseburgers?" Eden asked.
"You'll have to talk to grandpa about that, but I think so," Dean grinned. "Sam and Jessica will be there with their baby as well. I'm pretty sure Jason and his parents and little sister are also joining, and I hear that they invited Gabe, too."
Eden's face lit up. "Really? I can't wait." She was always looking forward to play with Jason and see her uncles whom she rarely saw.
Jess had graduated from Stanford and had gotten a job as a nurse in Stanford city where she and Sam lived. They had rented a small apartment together while Sam finished his final years to become a lawyer. On March 26th they had their first child; a baby boy whom they named Jesse. The boy was an alpha, and he was born with demon wings and a tail so you couldn't tell him apart from a full blood demon. They had been very excited about their baby boy, and the whole family was glad that it wasn't just Dean and Castiel who brought new members into the family.
"I'm glad to hear that Sam and Jess are joining with the baby. I feel bad about only having seen Jesse twice," Castiel spoke.
"Yeah, me too, but it's not easy when they live so far away…" Dean sighed.
After having eaten they prepared to leave, and Eden was bringing candy to her class to share on her birthday. She was feeling a bit nervous about it, but she knew the other kids would be happy about her bringing sweets for them.
Eden was packing her books into her school bag while Adrian followed her around. Dean and Castiel watched their children fight a little when Adrian got in the way of his older sister, but the two never fought too loud or violently.
Dean pulled the angel in for a kiss while they waited near the kitchen for Eden to get ready for school.
"I can't believe our little girl is 6 already…"
Castiel smiled and leaned into Dean. "I know. Time passes quickly… and yet it still feels like a lifetime ago since we had her."
"Time has passed, but you still look as sexy as always, angel," Dean smiled and stroked a hand through his soft feathers.
The angel blushed heavily, and Dean laughed fondly and slapped his ass playfully – making Castiel glare and blush at him – before finding Eden and helping her get the candy ready and put it into her bag.
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In the weekend of the next week they went to Mary and John's house for the family barbecue. It was September already and the weather was warm and sunny – perfect for spending the day outside.
Sam, Jess and their baby, Jesse, were there as well, and Gabriel, Jo, Tom, Jason and Emma were joining too. Mary was happy to see them all at the house, and Eden and Adrian cheerfully greeted their grandparents. The children had had small vacations at their grandparents' house whenever Dean and Cas felt that they needed a weekend for themselves. It had only happened a few times, usually when they needed some extra sleep and rest.
Mary pulled them all in for hugs when they arrived and seemed very happy to see her guests.
"Hello, Eden, and late happy birthday," Mary smiled and handed Eden two presents from her and John.
"Are these for me?" the girl cheered and took the presents eagerly.
"Just for you," Mary chuckled.
Eden began opening her presents while Jason watched curiously. Inside were a pretty, dark red dress and some animal toys. She thanked her grandparents cheerfully and showed off her presents to Dean and Cas.
"Hey there," Sam smiled when he entered the room together with Jess and the new baby. They had been outside in the garden and came in to greet them.
"Hey, Sammy! Still enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night?" Dean grinned as he pulled his brother into a hug. He entwined his tail with Sam's who returned the gesture.
Sam had gained a lot more muscle now that he was past his teen years, and John had made fun of it because it took him so long before he had finally started looking like a real alpha.
"It's okay, Jesse is mostly calm but he's getting teeth now so he isn't that calm anymore…" Sam said when they pulled back from the hug. "He wakes us up at the craziest hours…"
"Yeah, that's a pain, isn't it," Dean grinned.
"Yeah, it is, especially since I have to get up early for class sometimes," Sam groaned. Dean laughed.
Jessica was standing next to Sam, holding the baby in her arms. Jesse was calm right now and he looked around curiously at all the people around him.
"Hello, Jessica, how are you?" Castiel smiled at her, and looked down at the 5-month old baby in her arms. He smiled at Jesse who gurgled happily when he saw the angel (probably because he found his white wings very interesting).
Adrian was clinging to Castiel's leg and hid under his wing while he stared up at all the people around him. He was a bit shy when they were many of people around, and Castiel patted his head in a loving gesture while he talked to Jess.
"I'm good, thank you, Castiel. How is it going for you? I heard Eden started in school recently," Jess replied. She smiled and rocked Jesse, while Sam was still speaking with Dean.
"It's going alright… Eden has a few problems, socially, but her math teacher has been a great help."
"Yup, Garth sure has helped her," Dean butted in, and smiled at Cas.
Garth had kept his word to look after Eden, and he cheered her up whenever she was sad. When someone bullied her, he came after the bullies and told them not to make fun of her. He had managed to make some of them realize that all people were different from each other and you shouldn't make fun of them – especially since Eden was friendly to everyone. All the kids loved how he used his sock, Mr. Fizzles, during class, and they listened to him because they respected him. Things had gotten better for Eden since then, although only a couple of weeks had passed since Garth's influence had started to work, but there would probably always be bullies around, he had told her. The children had actually been a bit kinder to Eden since the parent/teacher meeting, although some of them simply stayed away from her. It made her confused and a little sad, and Dean and Castiel didn't know how to explain to her why some of the kids avoided her.
Eden and Jason were chatting and laughing together while the adults greeted each other, and the hybrid girl showed Jason her tooth which had started jiggling and was about to fall out.
"Is it going to hurt when they fall out?" Eden asked Jason, and stared at her friend fearfully. The human boy had already lost a few of his baby teeth.
"A bit, it doesn't hurt for that long," Jason explained. "But it does bleed a little…"
Eden stared back at him with wide eyes. She was clearly frightened about her teeth falling out.
"Jason, stop scaring your friend, jeez!" Jo scolded her son while she held her daughter, Emma, in her arms. The little girl's hair was blonde and her eyes were blue, and she was sucking on her thumb while she glanced down at her brother and Eden curiously.
"But it's true!" Jason argued.
Jo sighed and rolled her eyes.
They all went out into the garden. It was noon and they had the whole day to talk and enjoy family time together. Gabriel hadn't arrived yet but he would probably show up soon.
Sam and Jessica gave a present to Eden as well – a new pencil case because her last one got broken, they heard. Eden thanked them and admired her new pencil case which was purple and had animals faces on it, before Castiel put it into their bag along with the other presents.
Adrian was still clinging to Castiel shyly, and the angel pulled him up into his lap when they all sat down by the table. The boy buried his face in the angel's chest and peered around at the others. Sam was trying to get his attention, and Adrian grinned briefly at him before acting shy again.
"He's really shy, isn't he," Jess chuckled.
"It'll go away in a few minutes," Castiel smiled, and rubbed his son's back while Adrian was glancing up at Dean who was sitting next to them. The boy was always like this when many people were around, but he would soften up soon.
"Papa, can Jason and I play in the sprinklers and in the pool, please?" Eden asked and came over to them, staring up at Cas with puppy eyes. She loved playing in the small inflatable pool that John and Mary had, and there were also water sprinklers in the garden that the children could play in.
"Why are you asking me? Shouldn't you be asking your grandma and grandpa about that? But I don't mind you playing in the water; we brought your bathing suit, after all," Castiel smiled.
Eden grinned and looked over at her grandparents. "Can we, please?"
Mary laughed. "Of course you can."
"You can, but don't let Emma play in the pool when you're alone, Jason," Jo spoke and looked at her son firmly.
"I won't," Jason promised and smiled excitedly.
John went to get the small inflatable pool and filled it with water as well as getting the sprinklers ready. Castiel handed Adrian over to Dean and went to get Eden's bathing suit. He took Eden to the bathroom where he helped her change into the bathing suit and zip it up under her wings. She still had trouble sometimes making her wings and tail go through her clothes, especially in the bathing suit.
When the children were ready, they ran towards the water and laughed happily before they started playing. Jo had brought some swimming trunks for Jason just in case. Adrian and Emma were still young, so they were only allowed to get close to the water while they were supervised by an adult. They watched over the children from the terrace, but when the little ones were playing they took turns to go down by the water and supervise them more closely.
Gabriel arrived an hour later and everyone was happy to see him. He hadn't seen most of them for a few months, since he hadn't been able to attend Castiel's birthday because his band was on a tour. He greeted them and looked at Sam and Jess' new baby for the first time.
"Wow, congratulations you two," Gabriel grinned when he saw Jesse. "I'm glad to see that my brother and Dean aren't the only ones fucking like bunnies around here."
"Gabriel!" Castiel exclaimed and blushed like mad.
Jess looked utterly surprised by the odd statement, while Sam groaned and blushed. Mary and John found it quite amusing.
"Jeez, Gabe, don't talk like that in front of the children," Dean groaned and rolled his eyes.
"What? The kids are playing in the water, and Jesse is too young to understand the phrase 'fucking like bunnies'," Gabriel protested. He glanced over at where the all children were playing in the water down in the garden, and Jo and Tom were supervising them at the moment.
"Yeah, okay, I think we get it now," Sam grimaced.
"What? I'm just pointing out what everyone else was thinking. And hey, with Dean's addiction to sex I bet it can't be long before he knocks up my brother again, anyway."
"Gabriel, will you please shut up," Castiel muttered and continued to blush, while Dean couldn't help but smirk a little.
"That is a nice conversation for a family barbecue," John deadpanned, before going inside to get something.
Gabriel laughed out loud, before smiling at everyone and walking down into the middle of the garden where the children were.
"You don't mind if I join in, do you?"
The children turned around to look at him, and Eden's face lit up. "Uncle Gabe!" She ran over to him, and he grinned and lifted her up in the air.
"Damn, you're a heavy girl, I find it much easier to lift Adrian than you," the angel groaned and put her down again. "I'll give you your present later, sweetie, but right now we should have some fun in the water, don't you think?" he grinned and looked at the children who all cheered in response.
"You wanna join them in the water?" Jo asked and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yep, why not?" Gabriel smirked, before stripping out his clothes until he was only wearing his boxers. Jo carefully pulled Emma and Adrian aside, knowing that Gabriel was likely about to do something stupid with the water.
"Water-splasher!" the angel exclaimed, before throwing himself into the inflatable pool; making water splash everywhere and the pool collapse under him.
The children screamed and laughed, and Jo shrieked and hurried away from the water. Her shirt got wet and she glared down at Gabriel, who was still lying on top of the collapsed pool and grinned up at her. The angel flapped his wet wings, causing more water drops to hit Jo who was already boiling with anger.
"You bastard, Gabriel!" Jo shouted, but the angel merely laughed at her.
The kids were laughing, and Adrian had taken cover behind Eden when the water splashed out everywhere, while Emma was crying after getting wet and ran over to Tom.
Tom couldn't stop laughing when his wife growled at Gabriel and called him a bastard, before stalking back up to the others who were also laughing at her.
"It's not funny, stop laughing!" Jo hissed at them when she reached the terrace. "Cas, I really hate your brother sometimes."
Castiel laughed. "I know, I'm sorry." He looked over at Dean in amusement when the demon kept laughing and couldn't stop again. He rested his head on Sam's shoulder while his brother tried calming him down, and Jo glared at him.
"Yeah, yeah, very funny. I'll get my revenge, Dean," Jo swore.
"Yeah, whatever, splash-girl," Dean grinned.
Jo saw red and was about to walk over and slap Dean, but Jess put a comforting hand on her arm that made her stop.
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Jo quickly calmed down again, but she continued glaring at Gabriel whenever she saw him. After a little while, the children came up to the terrace to take a break from the water playing, and Mary offered everyone watermelon pieces to eat.
After having eaten a few delicious pieces, Eden and Jason went back down to the sprinklers while Adrian and Emma were put to nap inside a spare bedroom. They had baby monitors with them so they would know if the children woke up.
The adults were sitting by the table on the terrace while Eden and Jason played in the garden. It was a large, surrounded by many trees, bushes and fences.
They were both soaked with water, and Eden felt her wings starting to itch a little. It happened sometimes when she was growing new feathers. She couldn't really reach the lower part of her wings where the itching was worse, so she started shifting her shoulders in discomfort and the action didn't go unnoticed by Jason.
The boy frowned at her. "What's wrong?"
"My wings itch, I can't reach…" Eden muttered, annoyed, and attempted once more to reach but her fingers only barely touched the place.
"I can scratch you if you like?" Jason offered and stared at her wings.
Eden hesitated and looked at him. "But… my daddy doesn't want you to touch them. I don't know why…"
"He's not gonna see," Jason shrugged, and glanced up at Dean who was currently engaged in a conversation with Sam and wasn't looking at them.
Eden followed his gaze. She bit her lip, thinking. "Okay, but don't scratch too hard."
Jason's face lit up and he nodded. Eden turned her back to him and spread her wings a little, and the human boy stared at them curiously. He had always found Eden's wings fascinating and pretty, and it only increased his curiosity that he wasn't allowed to touch them that much.
"C'mooon, it itches," Eden whined and flapped her wings impatiently when her friend hesitated.
"Yeah, okay, I'll scratch it," Jason said and moved his hands up to touch the lower part of the wing bones where the itching was worst. Eden sighed in satisfaction when he finally began scratching her wings for her, although he was being careful.
Suddenly something at the edge of Eden's bathing suit caught Jason's interest. There were tiny bumps at the base of her wings. He tilted his head and stared at them curiously. He didn't know what they were, and he was just about to touch the weird bumps when suddenly he heard Dean yell at him.
"Hey! Don't you dare touch that place, Jason, you hear me?!" Dean roared and ran towards them.
Jason flinched back in surprise and stared wide-eyed up at Dean as the alpha demon approached. His wings were spread out, and he grabbed Eden's arm and pulled her away from him.
Castiel, Jo and Tom were running towards them with worried expressions on their faces.
"Daddy!" Eden cried, confused.
"It's okay, Eden," Dean soothed her. He kneeled down and inspected her wings and oil glands carefully, and his daughter was very confused about what he was doing. Dean looked over at Jason with a serious expression on his face. "Did you touch them?" he asked, almost like a growl, while pointing at the oil glands.
Jason shook his head frantically and continued staring back at Dean with wide eyes.
"Dean, what's wrong?" Castiel asked when he finally reached him.
Dean sighed and stood up again. "I was afraid he touched that place…" he muttered, and gestured at Eden's back.
Castiel followed his gaze and finally understood what Dean was hinting at. He looked back at his mate with a small smile.
"Dean… Eden's oil glands are not fully developed yet. A mating bond cannot be formed before she is a teenager," the angel explained softly.
Dean frowned. "Really? But I thought—"
Castiel chuckled fondly. "I know what you thought; you thought Jason was about to repeat your 'mistake'. I understand. But it's not physically possible yet, so you don't have to worry."
Dean nodded and suddenly felt pretty stupid and guilty for scaring the kids like that. He was just trying to protect his daughter.
Meanwhile, Jo was trying to calm Jason down, who kept thinking he had done something terribly wrong. Tom looked between them all in slight confusion.
"Jeez, Dean, you scared him," Jo told him, accusingly.
Dean winced a little. "Sorry, I just thought he was about to do something stupid. I've told him not to touch Eden's wings, why did he do it?"
"My wings itched, so Jason offered to scratch them for me," Eden explained. She leaned against Castiel's hip and the angel rubbed her arm soothingly.
Dean sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you two. But you can't touch Eden's wings, okay, Jason?" He looked down at Jason who nodded weakly.
"Yep, you can't, 'cause it's kinda like touching someone's butt, and you don't touch people's butts, do you, Jason?" Jo said, and helped Dean get his point across.
Jason's eyes widened. "N-No, I don't touch butts!"
Everyone laughed and the tension slowly faded around them. Dean went over and patted Jason's head in apology and the boy gave him a smile, before the adults went back up to the terrace again.
"Now I feel kinda stupid," Dean admitted as he and Cas were walking back to the others.
Castiel chuckled and grabbed the demon's hand. "It's alright, I understand your concern. But you should first be worried about that when Eden is a teenager."
"Is it even possible to actually bond with a human?" Dean frowned. They had reached the terrace already, and Jess had heard his question.
"Well, as you know, my dad is a demon and my mother is a human, and they have bonded with each other. Although, my mother isn't really able to feel much through the bond because humans' brains don't really have that capability, so it's very, very faint what she can feel. My dad, however, can feel more than she can, but not as much as he would be able to with a demon or an angel. Mostly a bond between a human and a demon or angel is more about the physical sides of the bond than the mental; as in reacting to their partner's presence and that kind of stuff, rather than feeling each other's feelings," Jess explained.
"Like being extra physically attracted to each other, getting aroused by a single touch, triggering the heat cycle and so on?" Gabriel asked. His lips curled into an amused smirk when he watched Jess squirm with embarrassment.
"Yep," Jess replied and blushed hard. She looked down at Jesse instead and tried not to notice everyone's stares on her.
"Why do we always have embarrassing conversations when you're around, Gabe?" Sam grumbled. He rubbed Jess' back to calm her down from the embarrassment.
"Hey, it was Dean who asked!" the angel protested and pointed at Dean.
"Shut up, Gabriel," Dean grumbled.
Gabriel barked out a laugh, and they all seated themselves by the table again and continued talking.
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In the evening John turned on the grill and Dean and Sam helped him make burgers and steaks. Adrian and Emma were awake again, and they sat on the terrace floor behind the adults and played until dinner was ready. The children had all changed into dry clothes again after they were done playing in the water.
They ate, chatted, looked after the children, and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather together.
Gabriel had given his present to Eden by now – a gift card for her favorite toy store. She had been very happy because the amount was rather big, so now she could choose several items or a more expensive one. Castiel had been somewhat annoyed with his brother for spending so much money on his children, but Gabriel didn't mind; he loved giving them presents.
During the barbecue, Dean noticed Castiel staring at Jess and her baby a lot. He had caught his mate looking at the baby several times during the day and hadn't thought much about it, but now he was beginning to wonder why.
Castiel watched as Jessica put Jesse up against her shoulder and soothed him after he had started crying and complaining. The boy was likely getting tired, and Sam sat next to his mate and child like a protective father – which he was. The angel wasn't aware of how he was staring at them.
When the barbeque was over and it was getting late, Dean and Castiel prepared to go back home. Castiel was packing the bag with diapers, wet tissues, and Eden's wet bathing suit and her presents, and was getting ready leave. Dean approached the angel while they were alone in the living room. Everyone else was still outside on the terrace, saying goodbyes to each other.
Dean sneaked up on Castiel and wrapped his arms around him from behind.
The angel flinched in surprise. "Dean," he sighed and rolled his eyes. "You scared me."
"I know, that was the point," Dean chuckled. He leaned in and kissed his mate's neck lovingly while the angel continued packing the bag. "I saw how you looked at Jess' baby today, Cas."
The angel tensed and stopped packing.
The demon's hands roamed over his stomach and abdomen, making Castiel shudder and a small moan escape his mouth.
"Do you want another baby, Cas? Is that why you were staring?" Dean murmured against his ear, and touched the angel's flat stomach possessively while he nibbled his ear.
Castiel moaned a bit. "I… Yes, it did make me want to have another child, Dean," he confessed and leaned back into his mate.
Dean growled and tightened his arms around the angel possessively and spread his sharp wings slightly.
"But not yet… I want to wait a bit longer, until Adrian is a little older. Give me until after New Year, then I might be ready to have another," Castiel spoke, softly.
Dean's teeth teased over the sensitive skin on the angel's neck before he pulled back a little. "Alright, whenever you are ready, let me know."
Castiel smiled. "I will." He turned his head to the side and kissed Dean, who was still embracing him from behind. The demon's wings were spread in a territorial display behind them.
Sam suddenly entered the room and they broke apart fast; suddenly fearing he had heard their conversation. Sam stopped in his tracks and stared between them in confusion.
"What? I was just getting my bag, I left it in here too," Sam explained. He looked between them suspiciously. "Why, did you talk about something private or what?" He smirked and went over to grab his bag.
"Yeah, we kinda did," Dean replied.
Sam chuckled. "Don't worry, I didn't hear anything, I swear."
"Good, you better not have, bitch."
"Jerk."
Castiel rolled his eyes at them while the brothers grinned at each other.
They said goodbye to everyone, and Dean carried a sleeping Adrian back to the car while Castiel helped Eden into her seat. Both children were tired and exhausted, and Dean and Castiel couldn't wait to go home and go to sleep as well.
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Author's notes: So now Dean and Cas are soon planning on having another baby – I guess that calls for some delicious heat sex :D This chapter was rather long but I have the feeling that the next chapter will be even longer.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter :) Please review.