Chapter 2

Alex should start keeping a tally of the number of awkward dinners that took place at Jody's house. Not that it was Jody's fault, by any means. And she was doing her best to make it as normal as possible.

"So, Alex, how was your day?" Jody asked.

"Fine," she replied. Nursing school was a lot of work, especially memorizing all the science and medical terminology, but she had a handle on it. "Got a B on that test I was worried about."

Jody beamed at her. "That's great. How about you, Cas? What did you learn in school today?"

"We learned about the sun and plants and oxygen. It's called an ecosystem."

"Aren't you just in kindergarten?" Claire spoke up, looking at him strangely.

"I'm in first grade," he corrected her proudly.

"Cas is…gifted," Jody explained. "He's going to an advanced placement school."

It had been clear early on that Cas was a little prodigy. Maybe it was from having some kind of leftover bits from being an angel, but it hadn't gone away after he'd become fully human. Jody had wrestled with enrolling him in school. On the one hand, he was technically only five months old and therefore missing a lot of background knowledge his peers would have. On the other hand, the point was for him to grow up with a normal life, yet he was far past most kids his 'age' in learning, and it wasn't like Jody and Alex had the means to homeschool him. They also didn't have the means to send him to an advanced program, but then Cas had ended up getting a scholarship at a prestigious school for gifted youngsters, and so far he seemed very happy there.

"Bees are really important for the ecosystem," Cas added, and prattled on about them for the rest of dinner. Claire didn't interject again.

When they finished the meal, she fled rather quickly back upstairs, claiming she was tired from the road.

Alex exchanged a look with Jody, and then they got up to clear the dishes from the table.

"Is Claire my sister too?" Cas asked as he set his plate on the counter next to the sink.

Alex saw Jody wince. Yeah, that was a…complicated dynamic.

"Claire is family," Jody replied, artfully sidestepping the question.

Cas accepted the answer, though, and declared that he was going to go out back and see how much the pumpkins in their garden had grown today. Alex helped Jody with the dishes and putting the leftovers away, and then she headed upstairs to Claire's room.

Her first knock went unanswered, so she rapped a little more insistently.

"Come in," came a disgruntled response.

Alex opened the door and found Claire sitting on her bed with her headphones around her neck. "Hey."

"Hey."

Alex stood there awkwardly for a long moment. It was easy to remember how much the two of them had been at odds in the beginning, but then they'd started to grow out of it, and might have even grown closer if Claire hadn't taken off.

"So," Alex began. "You planning on staying?"

"Got used to me being gone, huh?"

Alex crossed her arms. "Don't be an ass. Jody missed you. We both did."

Claire snorted. "Yeah, well, it seems like you guys have your new lives all worked out. No need for me to come in and disrupt things."

Alex rolled her eyes. And Claire used to accuse her of being a drama queen. "Jody would like it if you stayed."

"To babysit?" she scoffed.

"No. Like you said, we've got our routines worked out." Alex glared at her pointedly. "But you're still part of this family, doofus."

Claire looked away.

Alex sighed and dropped her arms to her sides. "I can't imagine what you're going through. To have an angel take your father away, then to come back wearing his face, and now this…"

She trailed off, knowing how messed up it sounded when spoken aloud, yet at the same time, it didn't affect her the same way. Alex had never met the angel Castiel. To her, this Cas was her little brother, and the sweetest kid she'd ever known. And she knew Claire would warm up to him if she gave him a chance.

But there was also history there for her, one Alex couldn't begin to fathom the impact of. Still…

She let out a breath. "Cas isn't Castiel."

Claire looked up sharply.

"I'm sorry, but he isn't. He's just a kid, and I'm not trying to belittle or dismiss what you must be feeling, but don't take it out on him. He doesn't deserve that."

"You're right, you don't know what I'm feeling," Claire snapped.

Alex's jaw tightened, but she knew better than to take it personally. How many times had she lashed out in the midst of her own grief and mental anguish in the past?

"No, but I'm willing to listen if you want to talk. So is Jody."

Claire didn't respond to that. She just needed time to process everything.

"Anyway," Alex said after the silence continued for several more moments. "Good night."

She turned and left, hoping her family could get through this next hurdle.

Claire put her headphones back on and blared the music in an effort to drown out all her tumultuous thoughts and feelings. She was also a bit peeved at Alex for insinuating that she would be angry with a little kid. Claire wasn't even angry, just…feeling like her world had gotten turned upside down again, and she was tired of it. Tired of the universe shitting on her life.

She'd thought that…after she'd survived the werewolf bite, it was some kind of sign. That she was strong and not just putting on a front for people. That she could pick herself up and get her life together.

Not that she'd had a clear plan when she'd decided to come home. She'd just thought that this was where she'd be able to figure things out, not on the road.

But now she felt even more lost than before, and the people she might have reached out to in that moment had left her hanging, in one way or another.

Her door opened a crack and Jody stuck her head in. Claire yanked her headphones off and sat upright on the bed.

"Sorry," Jody said with an apologetic grimace. "I knocked, but…" She directed a pointed look at the headphones, the music coming through them audible even without wearing them. "You're going to damage your hearing that way, you know."

Claire didn't respond. A year ago she would have rolled her eyes and given a sulky retort. Now she just felt…numb.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Jody went on. "I really thought Sam and Dean had told you. I actually thought that was why you hadn't come back before now. That you maybe needed time…" She shifted her weight, then moved to take a seat in the desk chair, leaning forward to rest her arms on her thighs. "I didn't know Castiel, but from what I've heard, from you and the boys, he sounded like a good person."

Claire dropped her gaze. "Yeah." And as much as she was thrown by his death, she knew the Winchesters had to be affected even more. "How- how are Sam and Dean?"

Jody gave her a sad smile. "They were devastated. Castiel- he died right in front of them. And then when he was brought back as a baby, they weren't really in the best shape to handle it. Plus there was still a big threat to deal with. That's how Cas ended up here."

That made sense. Jody was kind of the Winchesters' go-to person for stuff like that.

"But they've come to terms with it now," Jody continued. "They're still grieving, of course, but they've also accepted that Cas is still their friend. They just have to…start from scratch. Not that it's hard to win over a kid if you've got chocolate chip cookies." Her lips twitched with the attempt at levity, but Claire didn't laugh.

"Why did you adopt him?" she asked after a beat of silence.

Jody shrugged. "I've become the Winchesters' official wayward house for orphans."

Again, Claire wasn't seeing the glibness in this situation.

Jody sighed, expression turning serious. "When Cas was staying here…I fell in love with that sweet little boy. And as much as I love Sam and Dean, their lives are not conducive to raising a child."

Claire snorted in agreement.

Jody shared a wry smile with her. "We all decided it was best for Cas to have as normal a life as possible. Even though he certainly didn't have a normal beginning." She gave Claire a level look. "But just because this family has grown does not mean there's no room for you anymore."

Right, so she and Alex were saying. But saying it didn't make it real or practical. And while part of Claire wanted to respond by admitting that all her time out on the road had made her realize that her home, her family, was here, saying that out loud didn't make her fit, either.

Still, she didn't have anywhere else to go, and she wasn't eager to return to that nomadic lifestyle.

"I thought I'd stick around for a while," she hedged.

Jody's mouth quirked as though she were trying to hold back a wide smile, but she couldn't keep it out of her eyes. "Any plans? I mean, I know you were hunting…"

Claire drew her shoulders back. "Yeah. I'm getting good at it, too."

Jody nodded slowly. "It doesn't pay the bills very well," she said carefully.

Claire let out an exasperated huff. "I'm not going to college. It's just not for me, okay?"

"Sure, I get it," Jody said quickly, sitting up straighter as a sign of backing off. She hesitated. "I was actually thinking something in law enforcement. Comes in pretty handy to have a real badge when you're investigating cases."

Claire blinked, taken aback. Wait, was Jody actually suggesting she become a cop?

"I could train you," Jody tried to say casually. "As a deputy, but we'd also handle hunts together when they come up."

Claire honestly didn't know what to say to that—yet her knee-jerk reaction wasn't to say no…

"I'll think about it."

Jody looked mildly surprised, but covered it up and nodded. "Okay." After another split second of hesitation, she stood up and headed for the door. "Good night."

"Night," Claire mumbled as Jody left, closing the door behind her.

She sat in stunned silence for a long while. Jody's olive branch had come from a place of wanting to help, but the proposal was just another thing to muddle up Claire's already scattered brain.

She did pull out her phone, though, and typed up a quick text message.

"You should have told me."

Not even thirty seconds after hitting 'Send,' her screen lit up with an incoming call from Dean.

Claire hit 'Ignore' and turned her phone off.

"You really put me in a hard position here," Jody said into her phone as she dropped some pop tarts in the toaster.

"I know," Dean replied, tone heavy with remorse. "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to, we just got…" He sighed. "Caught up." At least the way he said it implied he knew it was a lousy excuse. And Jody knew they hadn't meant to drop the ball.

"Anything on your mom?" she asked.

"No," he replied, and she could hear the weariness and defeat in his voice. "And Sam's hit a wall with the dimension hopping."

"I'm sorry."

"Mom's probably dead anyway," Dean said gruffly. "Lucifer would have killed her the moment they got sealed on the other side of the portal. All this searching…it's distracted us from things we should have been handling."

Jody's heart gave a pang. "I take it there's nothing on Lucifer's kid, either?" She, at least, hadn't gotten any more word of unusual happenings that might suggest a nephilim was running wild.

"No, things have gone quiet on that front, too." There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Maybe we should come out there, talk to Claire. She's not taking our calls."

Jody sighed. "She needs time to process things, just like you guys did. Plus I think it's more than just Cas being here. Claire's been struggling with stuff for a while. Besides," she added, "you're coming next week for Halloween, right?"

"Right," Dean confirmed, sounding a tad brighter at that. "Cas- he's still doing okay?"

Jody smiled. "He's doing great. He loves school and can't wait to tell you and Sam all about it."

Dean chuffed out a laugh. "Okay, then. We'll see you soon."

"Bye." Jody hung up, just as Alex and Cas came down. The toaster popped right on time, and Jody tossed the warmed pastries onto some plates to hand to them. "That was Dean on the phone," she said. "Remember they're coming to visit next week."

Cas's eyes lit up. "When will they be here? Will it be before school ends? Maybe I should stay home." He pursed his mouth. "But I don't want to miss school. Maybe they can come there!"

Jody shook her head in amusement. "I don't know what time they'll get here, but you will see them for dinner for sure." She grabbed a carton of orange juice from the fridge and poured some into a glass, which she set in front of him.

The three of them went about their morning routine of getting ready for work and school, until Claire appeared, standing in the entryway and looking uncertain.

"Hey," Jody greeted. "Coffee's fresh."

Claire rolled her shoulder, and wordlessly shuffled toward the pot.

"Come on, Squirt," Alex said to Cas. "Let's get you to school."

He drained his glass of juice and then slid out of his chair to scamper into the living room for his backpack.

"Have a good day," Jody called after them. She turned back to Claire. "I gotta get to the station. So you have the house to yourself for a while." She almost said not to have any wild parties, but caught herself at the last second. Claire still hadn't said anything.

"I'm picking Cas up after school at three, so we'll be home around 3:20. Alex's classes run late on Thursdays. There's leftovers in the fridge for lunch. Um—" Shoot, she had to make those cupcakes. Jody grabbed a notepad and hastily wrote down a reminder, underlining it twice and adding several exclamation marks. "We'll have to order pizza for dinner tonight, as I've got a ton of baking to do for Cas's school."

Claire just gazed back at her silently.

Jody wavered, but then on impulse, stepped in to give her a quick hug. She made sure to pull back a split second later and moved away, not wanting Claire to feel smothered.

"Okay, then. See you later."

She got a quiet, "Bye" in response, but she'd take it.

The ensuing silence in the house was stifling. To think Claire used to spend her days lounging around while Jody was at work and Alex at school. Well, lounging plus looking for cases. She didn't know whether she'd really expected to fall back into that same pattern after coming back, but despite the similarities of where she found herself now, things were also starkly different.

Cupping her mug of steaming coffee, Claire drifted into the living room and roved her gaze around the toys piled in a box in one corner, the coloring books on the lowest bookshelf, and the kids shoes by the front door. There was even art on the refrigerator in the kitchen.

She probably shouldn't snoop, though hadn't Jody said this was still her house, too? And so Claire found herself climbing the stairs and coming to a stop outside Ca- the kid's room. She nudged the door open. The interior was an odd amalgamation of adult size furniture and a child's belongings. More artwork adorned the walls, along with that science poster he'd brought home yesterday.

There was a stack of children's books from the library on the desk and some homemade clay figurines on the dresser, along with framed photographs of Jody, Alex, and a little boy with dark hair and dancing blue eyes. He was laughing or beaming in every photo.

Claire still didn't know how she felt about all this, about Castiel being gone. Dead. And he wasn't coming back, not as himself, anyway. That hurt, in the way she'd never see his dorky face again, or mock him for being a doofus. She no longer had an angel looking out for her, and although there had been plenty of times she hadn't wanted him to, it had still been comforting to know that Castiel was out there, and that he cared. The list of people who cared about her wasn't very long, and Claire had realized that she didn't want to go it alone anymore. She wanted to be with family.

The question was, could she find a place here?

She thought about Jody's offer from last night. Become a deputy? Claire wanted to laugh. Not with her juvie record. Although, since Jody was the sheriff…she might be able to pull some strings, make an exception. But still, Deputy Claire Novak? As if. This was probably just a sly attempt to distract her from hunting. Sure, Jody had said they could work cases together, but what Claire would probably be relegated to would be menial stuff like traffic stops and teen vandalism.

She gave herself a sharp shake. She knew Jody better than that. And hadn't Claire come back because she was tired of working alone? She'd been so intent on figuring things out for herself that she'd gotten into the mindset that anything she needed to learn she could teach herself. But deep down she knew that wasn't true, and she felt on the verge of finally admitting it.

Yet doubt still plagued her.

Frustrated, she went back downstairs to find some breakfast. Idleness was not going to do her any favors today. Her gaze landed on the note Jody had written just before leaving. Bake one hundred cupcakes? Was she insane?

Claire stared at it for several long moments, and then pivoted to go open the pantry. Flour, sugar, vanilla…and she checked the fridge for eggs. Seemed like all the ingredients were there. She wasn't a great baker, by any means, but she'd made cookies once or twice when she'd been living with Randy. And while she definitely didn't have any intentions of becoming a domestic housewife, since she didn't have anything else to do right now, she figured she could help out. Jody was a single mom now and obviously had her plate full. If Claire wanted to fit, she needed to contribute.

She pulled out her phone and googled a simple cupcake recipe, then double checked to make sure she did have all the ingredients. One hundred of these was gonna be quite the undertaking, but as soon as she put on some music in the background and got to work, she fell into a rhythm. Make one batch, put it in the oven, mix up the next. Take that tray out, get them on a plate, and repeat.

She ran out of counter space quickly, and ended up stacking the baked cupcakes out on the dining room table. She got so absorbed in the entire process that Claire didn't even realize half the day was gone, nor did she hear anyone arrive home until she turned and started at Jody standing in the entryway, mouth open in shock.

"Oh, hey," Claire said, setting the mixing bowl down and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sorry about the mess. One hundred cupcakes is a lot more than they sound like."

Actually, no, they were just as much as they sounded like.

Jody continued to gape incredulously at the cupcakes—and the mess. "I…wait, are these the cupcakes I was supposed to make for the school?"

Claire nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah. You seemed really busy and I had some time on my hands. Figured I'd pitch in. You know, as a member of the family."

Jody's mouth moved soundlessly for several moments. "I don't even know what to say. Except thank you. This is incredible."

Claire smiled back. "I've got a few more batches to make. Why don't you go upstairs and relax? Take a bubble bath or something."

Jody arched a dubious brow.

"Seriously. When's the last time you got to do that?"

Jody snorted. "Never."

Claire shrugged. "So go. I've got things down here."

"Um…" Jody glanced down at Cas, who had appeared at her side to peer curiously into the kitchen.

Claire felt a flicker of uncertainty at being left alone with the kid, but she shoved it down. "Seriously. It's fine."

Jody hesitated, but then said, "Okay." She reached down to rub Cas's head. "Be good, okay?"

He nodded and watched her leave, then turned his attention back to Claire.

"Um, don't you have something you can go play with?" she asked. Despite her assurance to Jody, she'd never really been good with young kids, and she certainly didn't know how to talk to this one.

"Can I help?" he asked instead.

Claire faltered, gazing around at the mess. "Um, I guess…"

He cautiously entered the kitchen and climbed into a chair at the table.

"Um, here, you can mix this next batch," she said, moving the bowl to set in front of him.

He grabbed the whisk and immediately started churning the batter. Claire looked around for what else she needed to do, having been momentarily thrown off her rhythm.

"Claire," Cas spoke up. "Are you staying?"

She froze. That was the question she'd been trying not to ask herself all day. And she still wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she knew she wouldn't find what she was looking for somewhere else.

"Yeah, I am."

Cas broke into a wide smile, looking pleased.