A/N: Happy 2018 everyone! So, I initially felt bad for not writing this sequel sooner and not having it line up with the fall since there's a chapter in this with some Halloween cuteness (with Sam and Dean!), but having it finished just in time for the hiatus leading up to the Wayward pilot…it's like it was meant to be. I am SO excited for Wayward Sisters!

Anyway, these characters don't belong to me, yada yada. Thank you 29Pieces for beta reading! ^_^

Chapter 1

"Yes, I can do that," Jody said, one hand holding the phone to her ear while the other stirred the pot of chili on the stove. "It's no trouble at all."

One hundred cupcakes, was she insane?

"Sure thing. See you then." Jody hung up and took a deep breath. How did she let herself get roped into these things? She already had a full-time job as Sheriff, had recently become a mom to a six-year-old, and now she was going to jump on the PTA bandwagon?

She sighed. That was being a parent. And she didn't regret adopting the little angel that'd been dropped in her lap—both of those being literal. Despite being a reincarnated celestial being, Cas was now fully human. The nephilim magic that had brought his essence back to life and then given him a few major growth spurts was completely gone, leaving him to live out the rest of his life as normally as possible.

Which meant bake sale fundraisers to support his school's programs.

The front door creaked open, signaling Cas was home from said school. Except, Jody didn't hear his vibrant voice talking animatedly to Alex or calling out for her in greeting.

She looked up from the stove, and was stunned to find one of her other orphan strays standing in the archway to the dining room. "Claire."

"Hey," the young woman said tentatively. And Claire was a young woman now—dressed in dark blue jeans and a black leather jacket, she looked a little more composed, a little more put together than the last time Jody had seen her when she'd packed up to go on a road trip to visit colleges. Only, that had been a lie, and Claire had really been out hunting.

Jody had been upset, though not necessarily surprised, when she'd found out. She'd actually been more taken aback by the phone message Claire had left, confessing to it. A message that had ended with Claire calling Jody her mom and thanking her for everything.

Jody felt warm moisture prick at her eyes, and she finally moved forward to embrace her wayward daughter. Claire looked hesitant right up until the last moment when Jody put her arms around her, and then she squeezed back just as earnestly.

Jody pulled away, a half giddy smile breaking across her face. "How are you?" she exclaimed. "And why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

Claire shrugged one shoulder. "Good. I'm good. And I'm sorry about not calling first. I guess I just…wasn't really sure I was coming until I got here."

Jody felt a pang of disappointment at that, but she quickly shook it off. The fact that Claire had come home was the important part.

"Here, sit." She ushered her into the dining room to take a seat at the table. "What have you been up to? I mean, I know you were hunting, but…did you do anything else? You probably traveled a lot."

Claire nodded. "Yeah, I got around. I saw the Grand Canyon. It was pretty cool."

Jody smiled. "That sounds nice. Hopefully there wasn't a monster there."

Claire smirked. "No. I was just passing through."

Jody hoped Claire wasn't just 'passing through' here.

The timer in the kitchen beeped its one minute warning.

"Hang on a sec," Jody said, and got up to go turn the burners on simmer so the chili and other pot of boiling potatoes wouldn't burn.

"How are you?" Claire asked when she came back, roving her gaze around the toys in the adjoining living room. "You said you were adopting a kid, one orphaned in a supernatural event, right?"

Jody frowned. "Yeah, I did… Have you talked to Sam and Dean?"

"Not since a werewolf case we worked together a while back," Claire replied. "I take it they were involved with this kid? What's his story?"

Jody felt all the oxygen get sucked out of her lungs, replaced with dread and burgeoning anger. The Winchesters were supposed to have told Claire what happened…only apparently they hadn't. How the heck was Jody going to explain that she'd adopted the de-aged angel who'd previously inhabited the body of Claire's father? The same body he'd been reborn in, given he was the spitting image of a young Jimmy Novak from some old photographs.

Dammit, how could Sam and Dean have been so irresponsible so as to leave this to her? Granted, they'd been through a lot—losing their best friend, their mother getting sucked into an alternate universe, Satan's half-grown offspring running around. But still, this was something they should have handled themselves, instead of leaving Claire to find out like this… Jody tried to think of where to even begin, but before she could, the front door opened, and she stiffened as Cas and Alex entered the house.

"Is that Claire's car out front?" Alex called, pausing when she saw Claire for herself. "Hey."

"Hey." Claire's gaze went to Cas as he bounded over to Jody, a large piece of card-stock in his hands.

"Jody, look what I made in school today," he exclaimed, holding the poster up. It had bits of nature taped to it—a sample of dirt, sand, some pebbles, leaves of different varieties, and even pressed flowers.

"Wow," she said, taking one edge to hold it up for inspection. "This is neat. Is that an acorn?"

Cas nodded. "I wanted to add stuff from our garden, but my teacher said the project was for the plants at school." He pursed his mouth. "Can I make another one for home?"

"That sounds like fun," Jody said, casting a furtive glance at Claire, who was watching Cas curiously. "Sweetie, this is Claire. She's one of my adopted daughters like Alex."

Cas tilted his head at her. "Claire whose room I'm not supposed to go in?"

"That's right." Jody flicked a look at her. "I didn't give your room away. The munchkin's in the old guest room."

Claire's mouth quirked. "Yeah, I know. And thanks."

Cas smiled at her shyly. "Hi. I'm Cas."

Jody tensed. Crap…

Claire stared at him for a moment before her brow started to furrow. "Your name is what?"

"Cas," he repeated.

Claire appeared stunned for a second longer, and then she whipped an accusing gaze up at Jody. "What the hell is going on?"

Cas recoiled a fraction at her sharp tone.

"Hey, Squirt," Alex jumped in. "Let's go upstairs and put your poster on your wall."

Cas flicked an uncertain look between everyone before timidly taking his collage and backing away. "Okay."

Alex exchanged a sober look with Jody as she turned to take him upstairs.

Once they were gone, Claire skewered Jody with a harsh glare. "What is this?"

Jody held her hands up. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but, um…" Shit, this was definitely not in any parenting books.

"What?" Claire demanded. "Is that supposed to be Castiel? Because 'Cas' isn't exactly a common name."

Jody grimaced. "Yes and no. Uh…dammit, the boys were supposed to talk to you first."

"Yeah, well, they didn't."

Jody suppressed a sigh. She'd be having words with them over this. She took a deep breath. "Okay, back in May, Sam and Dean and Castiel went up against the Devil, and Castiel…he was killed. But there was some wild magic going on at the same time, and somehow he was resurrected as a baby."

Jody mentally cursed. She shouldn't be the one explaining this since she hadn't even been there.

"A baby," Claire said dubiously.

"Yeah. But because of the wild magic, he had some growth spurts. Which were then making him sick, so we had to find a way to remove it, and now he's completely human. Except for the small fact that he's passing as a six-year-old when really he's only five months old. But from here on out, he's gonna have a normal growth rate."

Thank goodness. Those periods of illness followed by explosive age jumps had threatened to age her twenty years at a time.

Claire stared at Jody in silence for several long moments, looking as though she were trying to process all this. It was a lot.

"He didn't know who I was," she finally said carefully.

"No," Jody replied softly. "He doesn't remember anything from his life before. The Winchesters and I agreed to let him grow up in a normal house. If his memories come back, they come back. But in case they don't, we're not going to force them."

She didn't mention she was of the opinion it would be better if Cas never remembered. It'd be too much for a child to handle, and even if he remembered as an adult, it wouldn't make it any easier to have the life he did know now get turned upside down.

Jody shook her head. "I'm sorry. Sam and Dean should have been the ones to tell you. Are you okay?"

Claire slowly nodded, but she didn't look okay; she looked shell-shocked. She cleared her throat. "I'm, uh, gonna go put my bag in my room."

"Yeah, okay."

Jody watched her head upstairs, then pulled out her phone to give the Winchesters a piece of her mind.

Claire made her way up to her room, feeling half in a daze. Part of her thought Jody must be playing some cruel joke on her.

No, not Jody. The universe. First it had taken her dad, then her mom, and now…

She heard voices coming from one of the bedrooms—the old guest room. Through the gap in the partially open door, Claire could see it now held toys, books, and a child's backpack.

She quickened her pace past it and retreated into her own room, shutting herself in. She flicked on the light switch and roved her gaze around the familiar walls and furniture. Everything was just as she'd left it.

But everything else in the house clearly wasn't.

Dropping her duffel on the floor, Claire immediately went to her desk and pulled open the top drawer. She rifled through a bunch of papers, pencils, and other assorted items until she found an old photo of her dad as a kid. It was faded and crackled, but the similarities between him and the child down the hall were unmistakeable.

Claire sank into her desk chair. So, Castiel was…gone. She hadn't talked to him in a long time, not wanting to get another lecture about hunting. He wasn't her dad.

But he was…she didn't even know what to call their complicated relationship. He was the angel who'd stolen her father. But he was also the angel who helped save the world. And he cared about her. Years later, which at first had felt like too little, too late, but then had ended up meaning more to Claire than she could have imagined, knowing there was someone out there thinking of her. Someone out there who would come if she was in trouble.

And she'd come to care about him in return. Maybe it was that distant memory of being wreathed in a blazing supernova when Castiel had briefly possessed her that helped her come to terms with the fact that he'd only been trying his best in a world that was falling apart around them. And he'd ended up as beaten down and world weary as she had, bringing them to the same level, almost, a place they could both start over from.

And now he was dead. Only, not dead, but a reincarnated child with no memories. Living with Jody and Alex. Which made Claire even more of an extraneous fixture that just didn't quite fit. Again.

She'd gone off on her own, left the home that she'd been offered, in order to find her place in the big wide world, only to realize that what she really wanted deep down was that patchwork family. And now it seemed like it was too late to come back.

Her phone rang. Claire fished it out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID—Dean. She hit 'Ignore.'

Leaning back in her chair, she gazed aimlessly around her room, unsure what to do next. Numbness creeped in, probably from the shock of the bombshell that'd been dropped on her. She didn't register how long she just sat there, but eventually a knock at the door jolted her out of her stupor.

Alex poked her head in. "Dinner's almost ready."

Claire nodded mutely in acknowledgement. A few hours ago, she'd been on the road and craving one of Jody's home cooked meals, but now her appetite had withered along with her expectations.

Alex lingered in the doorway. "Welcome back," she said, sounding sincere.

Claire couldn't think of anything to say, but she forced herself to stand and follow Alex downstairs. Disillusionment weighed heavily on her shoulders. It seemed the old saying was true—you can never go home again.