July 2020
"'Ake up, 'ake up, 'ake up!" Dean groaned, attempting to burrow further into his pillow. "Jack, you have to let Daddy and Papa sleep," Mack's voice carried into his subconscious. "They're grumpy old men." The extra weight on top of him vanished, replaced by peals of laughter. "Grumpy old men?" Dean grouched. "Shh. Go back to sleep, Dad," Mack told him. He heard retreating steps out of the bedroom accompanied by more peals of laughter and Mack talking quietly to Jack… Who the hell was Jack?
Dean opened his eyes, turning over in Cas' arms to face him. "Who's Jack?" he asked. "Hmm?" Cas asked sleepily, not entirely hearing him in his sleepy state. "Who's Jack?" Dean repeated. "Very funny, babe," Cas mumbled, pulling him closer. "Let's just get a few more minutes before we have to get out of bed and deal with everything, okay?" Instead of settling in like Cas clearly wanted him to, Dean sat up. "I'm serious. Did we get another kid?" Cas groaned, stretching sleepily and blinking up at him. "Yeah, Dean. Three years ago. You know this."
Three years ago? They'd only been living in the house a couple weeks, hadn't they? "How long have we been living here now?" Dean asked curiously. "Five years. Dean, seriously, it's too early for this. Mack's taking care of Jack and we don't have to be at the airport to pick up Sam and Eileen for a few more hours. Can we please try and get some more sleep?" Five years? Sam and who now? Dean swallowed, more confused than ever… And then all of a sudden he wasn't.
He remembered the wedding, getting nervous beforehand and then forgetting all about being nervous when he saw Cas in his suit… He remembered agreeing to adopt another kid two years later, and picking out the new born baby named Jack, whose mom had died in childbirth… He remembered Sam calling him all excited because he'd met a girl named Eileen who he thought could be the one for him- the first girl he'd ever seriously considered proposing to since Jess.
Settling back contentedly in bed with Cas, he gave into his husband's request of getting a little more rest before they had to tackle the day's responsibilities.
"Hey, man. Welcome to Malibu. Good to see you again."
"Hey, Dean," Sam grinned, hugging his brother. "Cas." Dean moved on to greet Eileen while Sam hugged Cas and then greeted his niece and nephew. "Eileen. When are you going to get my idiot brother to settle down here, huh?" Dean joked. "I'm trying," she laughed. "He doesn't want to lock up that bunker and throw away the key just yet."
"It's literally the largest treasure trove of information for the hunting community in America. We can't just abandon it," Sam defended himself, overhearing. They all laughed at him. "Alright, let's blow this candle." Dean grabbed Eileen's bag and Cas grabbed Sam's, leading the way out of the airport. Eileen spent the drive to the house teaching Mack and Jack a couple basic signs while Sam and Dean talked and caught up in the front seat. Cas was paying attention to the sign language lesson, providing his input from what he remembered back when he was an angel.
Dinner passed amicably enough. Afterwards, they were in the living room watching a movie together. Dean and Cas were sitting with Jack snuggled between them on the couch, Mack was curled up alone in one of the arm chairs which left Sam and Eileen to squish on the love seat. Dean felt no remorse for that move- he could tell Sam was crazy about this girl and he'd even shown Dean the ring he was planning on proposing with in confidence while they'd been chatting privately earlier in the evening. He was planning on taking her down to the beach the next day to pop the question.
Jack fell asleep in the middle of the movie and Cas excused himself to go put him down. Dean watched them go, then turned to ask Sam a question and froze up. For the first time in years, he saw a flash of a hospital bed, tubes connected to his brother as he lay dying, and then it was gone. Sam was just fine, seated in the loveseat with Eileen, both their eyes glued to the screen. Curious at the strange sense that something was wrong but unable to figure out what that something was, Dean looked over at Mack instead. "Hey, bug, come here," he hissed quietly.
She got up from the armchair, moving over to the couch to sit with him instead. Cas came back out again to join them for the rest of the movie, and Mack rearranged herself so she was leaning against Dean with her feet in Cas' lap. Dean found himself subconsciously playing with her hair while they watched. When he looked down at her, for a brief second she looked like she was younger- eleven years old again- and then the next second she was back to looking like she was sixteen. He planned on bringing up his concerns to Cas later, but then all of a sudden he forgot what he was concerned about.
The rest of the night passed without incident.