Cas pondered many things while a wagon, once more, carried him away from the place he might have called home. Of all the settlements that he had left, this was, thankfully, the least desirable of them. As he had told and agreed with Dean many times, it lacked in resources. That was a problem, particularly for someone has busy with materials and cooking as Cas. Now that they had their baby, he was ready to settle down permanently as a mother.
Oddly enough, what bothered him more than leaving was the idea that they would likely return. That town just wasn't where he wanted to live. And yet, the presence of Dean's remaining pack made him feel sad to walk away. Could there possibly be a compromise hiding in between?
The journey towards Arkhmoor was a mellow one, at least. The wagon, led by Ammy and Meg's horse, Clarence, easily tread over the grassy prairies and towards the woods. It would take two days according to Charlie. That was how she and Meg had come so they knew well. That being said, they stopped halfway through as night was falling to stop and set up camp. Dean picked a place that had enough fresh grass for the horses to graze to their hearts' content.
After a small yet nourishing meal of nuts and vegetables, Charlie and Meg retired to the wagon for the night, while Dean and Cas remained around the fire with their baby. It was a cool evening and pleasant to spend outside in.
Cas gave the baby a meal then set him into a bed basket to sleep. He rocked it gently with his foot and lay back into Dean's arms. His eyes closed but only momentarily, as a strong smell made him peer upwards at Dean.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Dean had a wooden pipe in his mouth. "Cain's," the alpha said, holding the pipe between his teeth and unintentionally smiling because of it, "I got it from his stash."
"Tobacco?"
"Yeah." He puffed and inhaled deeply. "Smooth stuff, too. Not bad."
"Do you miss him?"
"Kinda. He was a good guy. We could always count on him for the best advice. It sucks that the one time I really need help, he isn't around to give it."
Dean looked at the fire with a sad frown.
"It seems to be a pattern in life," Cas whispered. He reached up and touched Dean's chin. "We'll figure it out."
"Yeah, we will. You're good luck for me," Dean said with a chuckle, looking down at Cas.
"Am I? Or are you good luck for me?"
"Maybe both."
He nursed the pipe a while longer then let it burn out and put it away. Cas sat up into Dean's lap and they held each other for several peaceful moments. The baby was asleep and he stopped rocking the basket.
"I love him already," Dean whispered into Cas' ear.
"The baby?"
"Yeah, the baby. Our baby. I love him already."
"Me, too," said Cas. He smiled fondly and laced the fingers from both his hands with Dean. They squeezed together. "I love you."
"Love you, too, Cas."
Shortly thereafter they made up a nest and got some sleep. Unfortunately for Dean, this didn't go as well as he had hoped. Those yellow eyes watched him again, all night, making him jump awake from time to time—his heart racing and his head pounding. He awoke for the last time just before sunup. Without bothering his mate or his baby, he went into the supplies and drank some fresh water they had packed. His throat was so dry. His whole body ached. What were those yellow eyes?! It didn't take much thinking for the thought to occur to Dean that they might belong to Azazel.
"But why now?" Charlie asked, once everybody was up and Dean decided to divulge his issues to them. "I mean, if you're the guy he's supposed to get, why are you just being tracked by him now?"
"Because he didn't know where I was until I made myself known in Lawrence," Dean grunted.
Cas had stepped away from the group with the baby on his hip to scout the surroundings for food. He found a large patch of strawberries. After gathering a healthy bounty, he returned to the group with a proud smirk.
"Oo, sweet red ones!" Dean exclaimed upon seeing the fruit.
Meg looked at him sideways. "Really?"
"What?"
"So now you're a fruit eater?"
"I've always been a fruit eater. And so have you."
"Mm, but not this much. Back when we were all together you had, maybe, the little blue tart ones. But only when the rest of us did. I remember you turning down sweet red ones."
"Yeah, well it's different now," Dean said, taking a bite of a berry. "I don't have the time or energy to hunt. And who knows what's out here. And you gotta admit, they're pretty good!"
Meg hummed in the back of her throat and Charlie laughed. Cas squat down to put the baby in his little basket so he could join them in the meal, but he stopped and made a strange, uncomfortable face.
"Cas?" Dean asked, noticing this right away. "What's wrong?"
"I…"
Cas put the baby down, tucked him in and touched his stomach.
"Cas?!"
This got the attention of Charlie and Meg, too. They came to his side.
"What's wrong?" asked the fairy.
"Cas?!" Dean persisted, touching Cas' arm. "What is it?!"
"I think I'm with an egg again."
"WHAT?!"
"Dean!" Cas stared at Dean with his eyes wide open. He looked shocked. "The love herb! When we smoked the love herb, you bred me!"
"Y-yeah, but—" Dean wet his lips. "Aren't you getting too old to be fertile?"
Charlie made a squeak. Cas kept feeling his stomach.
"No, Dean, the spots! The fairy magic! Don't you remember? I'm fertile for several more years!"
"Shit. Okay. Okay. This is okay. It's just one more kid. The first one is great. One more is, is…easy."
"Very," said Meg.
"You think this one is gonna be an angel, too?" Dean asked, still staring at Cas.
"I dunno," said Charlie. "We'll ask King Ash. We'll ask him everything."
"Hopefully he can shine some light on this," Meg added and everyone agreed. Cas was happy.
This added extra enthusiasm to continue on their way towards Arkhmoor. They hustled together and got the campsite cleaned up and were back on the unseen path in no time, traveling at a steady rate.
Dean was temporarily distracted from his dreams and visions by Cas' announcement. As difficult as life was right now, and as unexpected and shocking the unseen pregnancy had snuck up on them, the more he thought about having a second kid, the happier he got.
"Maybe it'll be a girl," he told Meg. All of the anxiety he had shown at first had washed away entirely. "We'll have a boy and a girl. Sounds pretty perfect to me."
"Mmhmm," Meg hummed.
"Boy and a girl. Or two boys. That's good, too. What d'you think you'll get?"
"I don't know. It will be whatever it will be." Meg twisted the reins between her two hands. "I'd like two girls and a boy."
As they rode on through the day, the forest became visible over the horizon. It slowly grew closer and closer, expanding as it came into view.
"Arkhmoor!" Charlie shouting, once they neared entering it. The horses were stepping into the bumpy, mossy terrain. "I missed you!"
The wagon rattled over the constant tree roots, which the baby was not a big fan of. Cas tried distracting him with a meal but it didn't go over too well. He was fussy quiet and consistently.
"So where are the fairies?" asked Dean.
"Oh, right!" Charlie gasped. "You won't be able to see them! I mean, we aren't there yet, but when he get there you won't be able to see them."
"Why not?!"
"You need the fairy touch!"
"The fa—wh—the fairy what?!"
"The fairy touch," Meg interjected. "At least you'll get a say in it."
Charlie laughed sheepishly, remembering how she had surprised Meg with an invisible kiss. It seemed like that happened years ago. So much had happened to everyone in so little time.
They explained to Dean what the fairy touch was and what it involved. As the forest grew deeper and denser, the glowing flowers showing up, they stopped the wagon and got out.
"You don't mind, do you, Meg?" Dean asked.
"What other choice do we have?" she retorted. "And besides, I know it doesn't mean anything."
"Okay, good." Dean hesitated. He kicked at the ground and stepped closer to Charlie, then cleared his throat.
Cas noticed a couple flutters of colorful wings buzzing by here and there to check them out. "We're ready, then," he noted. Some whispers echoed through the wood.
"Soooo uh," Dean started, "How do we go about this?"
He went to put his arms around Charlie, but the fairy laughed. "It's not that big of a deal!" she said, blushing behind her blue freckles. She quickly leaned forward and put a soft kiss onto Dean's lips. They held it for a moment. Maybe a few more than they should have.
"RIGHT."
Dean stepped away, his face quite hot now. He would have been more embarrassed, but the dizziness of the fairy touch suddenly engulfed him. Cas and Meg both knew what was coming and it was quite humorous to see Dean go through with it. He startled and almost fell over.
"The Hell? Is this supposed to happen?!"
"Yes," Cas said, chuckling. "It won't last long, my dear."
Just as Cas explained, the dizziness stopped soon. He had to rub his eyes when he saw the rainbows of wings in the trees.
"Charlie has returned!" a little voice yelled.
"And—And Castiel! The honorary fairy!"
Suddenly, a flood of fairies poured down into the forest, jumping and cheering at the site of the beta.
"HONORARY FAIRY! HONORARY FAIRY!"
The forest was full of sound now. Dean was somewhat alarmed but the others laughed and went along with it.
"HONORARY FAIRY! HONORAR—hey!" A stocky, older fairy stopped shouting and pointed at Cas. He recognized him at once as the fairy who gave him the generous offering of gold. "The egg's hatched! The miracle egg has hatched!"
"Yes," Cas said, bowing. "This is my baby, and…and this is my mate!"
"Your mate?" asked the messy older fairy. "The one that you were searching for?"
"Indeed."
"He found him!"
The fairies cheered once more.
"Okay, okay!" Dean said, wincing. They were putting flower wreaths on his head now.
"We'll make him an honorary fairy now, too!" someone yelled.
"HONORARY FAIRY! HONORARY FAIRY!"
A couple went around Meg and put lilies in her hair, and also kissed her face. "Nice to see you, too," Meg muttered to some in a soft, peasant voice.
"HEY!"
A loud voice broke up the excitement. The crowd of fairies parted and there came a tall man with long hair, towering over the fairies. He smiled at Cas.
"Sam," said the beta, warmly.
"Hey, Cas," said Sam. He was holding one of his boys. "Sorry about those guys. You know how they are. It's good to see you! Glad to see your egg made it, and your mate, too." He walked up the Dean and nodded. "I'm Sam. I came from a—"
"Hunter family," Dean finished his sentence for him. "That's kind of a reason why we're here."
"What?" Sam asked, blinking. He scrunched up his forehead. "About me?"
"Is there any chance we could talk to your king?" Cas asked.
"Not my king," Sam laughed. He looked back and spotted his wife, Ruby, with the other two children tailing behind her fuchsia wings. "Babe? They want to talk with Ash."
"I'll go ask," said Ruby. She gave a soft nod and disappeared once more.
The fairies were all examining Cas and Dean and the baby.
"Why, he has wings!" and older female fairy said, pointing to the appendages folded on the baby's back. "But, those aren't fairy wings. They're like a bird." She narrowed her eyes at Cas beneath a mess of blonde curls. "You aren't a bird…are you?"
"No. We think this is the angel."
"Angel? What angel?"
"It was something King Ash talked about a long time ago," Charlie interjected, taking the older fairy aside. "I guess you never heard about that."
"Nnno," the fairy said, wondering. She looked to the others around her. "Did we all know about the angel?"
The fairies were perplexed. They whispered to each other and most of them shrugged. It would seem Charlie was the only one who picked up on that.
As chattering about the angel began to go around, Ruby returned. She waved to Cas. "Follow me," she said. "He really wants to talk to you."
"Great!" said Dean. He clapped Cas on the shoulder. "Let's go."
"Um, so, Dean," Cas began weakly as they followed Ruby, leaving Meg and Charlie with the company of the other fairies, "I know the idea that you have of kings and queens from our time in Lawrence, but the fairy king is…completely different."
"What, he's not mean or anything, is he?"
"Oh, no, no, no, he's not mean at all. In fact, he's—"
"Caaa-aaas!"
They had already walked into the glade where the throne sat when King Ash sang out to them. He was adorn with the usual flowers, fruits, seeds and furs. Of course, butterflies and bees buzzed around him in careful circles. Dean raised an eyebrow. The king extended his arms to the beta, but his arms fell to the baby and widened.
"No way!" he gasped. "I knew it! I knew the miracle egg had to angel in it! Well, man, I'm very pleased to-WOOOOOOOOOOO! The angel! Hoho!"
Ash seemed unable to contain himself. The bugs twittering around him sped up and he did a jig, flapping his wings erratically. Dean looked at Cas and grimaced.
"Wow," he whispered.
"THE ANGEL IS BAAA-AAAAAACK!" King Ash hollered.
Fairies came into the glad and started dancing with him. In no time, a band popped up and they were playing music. This was quite reminiscent of the night Cas had spent there before.
"Woah, woah," Dean said. "Hold on. Before this gets out on control, we gotta ask you about this."
"Uh, yeah?"
"The angel. What's this mean? How did you know about it? The fairies we talked to a few minutes ago had no idea about it. Why are they so excited now?"
"They just get excited when I yell," Ash snorted, grinning.
"Great," Dean sighed. "But we really need to talk. We came here just to do that."
"Ah! Yeah! Serious!"
"Huh?" Dean folded his arms and the fairy king laughed.
"You want to talk serious, man?"
"I do, actually. Thanks."
"Okay." Ash cleared his throat. "This, my friend, is a bad place to talk seriously. We fairy-folk SUCK at being serious, but I'll do my best. They're gonna party for a while. Once it dies down, come back here and eerrr…go behind that tree. See? Behind my throne? I'll meetcha there to talk serious. Don't bring other fairies!"
"Sure," said Dean.
"Aaaaaall righty!"
Ash waved his arms up into the air and walked off, disappearing into the crowd. Dean turned to Cas and they exchanged smiles. All they had to do was survive the party, and hopefully some questions would get answered.