Dean took a long sip from his beer, eyes on the kids. He choked on it as he spotted Taylor’s swimsuit. He coughed, pulling the beverage away from his mouth, “W-what the hell is she wearing?”
“Her bathing suit.”
The blonde scoffed, pointing an accusatory finger at his little girl – who was definitely too young to be wearing a two-piece, “That is not her bathing suit!”
“Dean-”
“Where the hell did she get that?” He whistled, waving his daughter over, “That better not of been a present.”
“Relax, Dean.”
“Relax? Relax?” The blonde let out an incredulous chuckle, “My baby girl is wearing a bikini!”
“It’s not a-”
“How can you be so calm about this?” Dean shook his head just as Taylor came up to him. He cleared his throat, softening his voice, “Hey, Sweetheart. You having fun?”
“Yeah!”
“Good, good.” The blonde rubbed a hand on his chin, giving her a once over, she might as well be naked! “So, uh… w-where’d you get that?”
“Get what?”
Dean let out a nervous chuckle, gesturing to her bathing suit, “That… thing.”
“My bathing suit?” Taylor’s face lit up as the blonde nodded, “Dad got it for me!” She did a little twirl, tiny pink skirt flying up as she did so, “Isn’t it pretty, Daddy?”
Dean swallowed hard, “Y-yeah, it’s…” He turned bewildered eyes to his husband, “You bought that for her?”
Crap, the blonde swivelled around in the chair, trying not to look as guilty as he felt as Cas came down the stairs, “Cas! H-hey,” He stood, in a failed attempt to block the wall, “What, uh, what’re you doing up?”
“Still adjusting, I guess,” Cas reached the bottom of the stairs, tired eyes flicking up to the wall, “You’re hunting?” He walked a few steps closer, wrapping the blonde up in his arms, “We just got you back!”
Dean let out a nervous chuckle, “I-I know. I just…” he let his voice trail off as he tried to think of a good lie, backing out of the hug.
“Is it important?”
Dean blinked in surprise, “What?”
“What you’re hunting,” the angel took a step closer to the wall, tilting his head to one side as he studied it, “Is it-” his sentence cut off into a sigh as he got a closer look, “Crowley?” He turned, raising an eyebrow, “You’re still hunting Crowley? After you almost died?”
“Cas-”
The angel took in a huffing breath, “You’ve been back all of two weeks, and you’re already planning on jumping back into the fire?”
Dean held his hands out in mock surrender, “I can explain!” At the raised eyebrow, Dean sputtered, running a hand through his hair, “H-he’s… he’s up to something! I don’t know what yet, but he is. I know he is.” At the scoff, he pointed to the wall, “Look! I saw him at Sam’s wedding. He snuck out right before the ceremony to make some shady deal. And when I followed him-”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Cas pinched the bridge of his nose, “That was the reason you left as they started down the aisle?”
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It seemed that even just the word of him spending time with Dean was enough to start the rumour mill.
Not that he blamed them – Cas could hardly believe he was at the notorious Dean Winchester’s house himself. His reputation wasn’t based on nothing, after all. Girls would giggle about their sleepless sleepover weekend’s every Monday at their locker’s, much too loudly for them to be trying to keep it secret. Hell, even the foreign exchange student who hadn’t yet learned English knew about Dean’s reputation.
Cas shook his head, doing his best to dispel his thoughts, and focused instead on the movie. If Dean did try to make a move, he could always tell him he wasn’t comfortable with doing anything.
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Dean’s eyes swept over the guests, and he groaned as he spotted Bobby sitting with Crowley, oh, great.
“What is it?” Cas looked out in the direction he was starring at, “Oh,” he rolled his eyes, “They’re sitting on the opposite side of the church, don’t you dare start anything.”
Dean turned to his angel, offended, “I wouldn’t start anything.” He pursed his lips as his eyes slid back over to the pair, “I just… I didn’t expect him to be here, that’s all. He’s not exactly Sam and Gabriel’s biggest fan.”
Cas rolled his eyes again as the music started, and everyone stood, “He’s probably just here as Bobby’s plus one.”
“Yeah…” Dean let his voice trail off as he watched his brother and Gabriel start down the aisle. As they made their way toward the front, his eyes flicked back to the pew Bobby was in, and he instantly started scanning the church as Crowley was no longer standing beside him. Where did he…? He spotted the demon walking quickly down the side of the pews, headed toward the back of the church. Yeah, I don’t think so. Dean wiggled passed his daughter – to the end of the pew that wasn’t closest to the aisle his brother was walking down – only to be stopped by a questioning look from his angel, “Bathroom.”
Cas’ eyebrows shot up, “Now?”
He gave a half-shrug, “I’ll be back before they say ‘I do.’ Promise.”
Cas shook his head and let him pass, “You’re worse than the kids.”
Dean gave him an apologetic smile before practically running down the side of the church, eyes going back to the demon. Where is he going? He made it to the open doors at the back of the room, and ducked out, doing his best to not look suspicious as the doorman gave him a weird look. He scanned the small foyer for the demon, pit dropping into his stomach as he watched him round a corner with someone who definitely wasn’t working the wedding, that can’t be good.
“Are you, Dean Winchester seriously trying to tell me that you’re not going to be there for your brother?”
“Cas, he doesn’t-”
“And since when has that ever stopped you?” Cas took a few steps closer to his love, giving him a pointed look, “You’ve spent 99% of your life doing what was good for your brother – whether he liked it or not – but now you’re just gonna roll over and do what he wants?” He shrugged, backing off a few steps, “I never thought I’d live to see the day Dean Winchester abandoned his brother.”
“Whoa, hey,” Dean took a few steps closer, voice hard, “I’m not abandoning him. I’m doing what he wants.”
Cas rolled his eyes, “He wants you at the wedding!”
“But he said-”
“Right, yeah. Because you’ve never said something you didn’t mean when you were angry, right?” He placed his hands on the hunter’s arms, holding his gaze, “You not being there will only make things worse.”
Dean opened his mouth to reply, but closed it silently a moment later. He searched the angel’s face before sighing, “You’re right.”
Cas blinked at him in surprise, “I-I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
The corner of the blonde’s mouth turned up into a smile, “You’re right, okay? I know I should be there, and I want to be there, but I just…” he ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t know how to-”
“Listen,” Cas shook him slightly, “No one is saying you need to unlearn all your internalized hatred overnight. He’s only asking that you try. Do you think you can do that?”
Dean nodded before wrapping his angel up in his arms, “Thank-you.”
“Wow,” Cas backed out of the hug after a minute, cheeky smile on his face, “I was right and got a thank-you?” He bumped the hunter’s arm, “See? You’re getting better already.”
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Dean stepped to the side of his notebook, turning expectant eyes to his love, “Cas, focus. You know what this is.”
Cas was on the edge of the couch, head tilted, brows furrowed, “Is it… an apartment building?”
“No!” Dean stomped his foot, tapping the marker next to his drawing, “C’mon, man! You’ve gotta get at least one!”
“A… School?”
“Time!”
Dean threw the marker down on the table, running a hand through his hair in frustration, “Fuck!” He made his way back over to the couch, collapsing in a huff as he picked up his beer, “I can’t believe you didn’t get any.”
Cas let out an exasperated sigh, “Well it’s not like you helped much. You can’t just tap next to your drawing if I don’t get it – you try to draw something else!”
“Whatever.” The blonde took a long pull from his drink, “This is a stupid game.”
“You only think that because you guys are losing.” Gabriel smirked at the hunter from where he was sitting, placing the timer down, “I thought giving you an extra round would at least get you one point.”
Dean shot a look at the angel, “Well maybe the game is rigged?”
“Pfft, please,” Gabriel waved a dismissive hand, “I don’t need to rig a game to beat you.”
“Listen here you candy-loving, brother-crawling-”
“Dean!” Bobby shot the blonde a pointed look, “Maybe it’s time we switch games.”
“Maybe it’s time we switch partners.”
Cas scoffed, “You think this is my fault?” He pointed to the notebook, “Maybe if you didn’t have the artistic skills of a kindergartener we would’ve actually won a round!” Cas turned back to the notebook, eyes squinting as he starred at the drawing, “Seriously, what the hell is that?”
“Anyone else here can clearly see what it is!” Dean turned expectant eyes to his brother, “Right, Sam?”
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This is fic #1 of the new Unlearning Series. The series is based on Request #23.
“Pfft, come on!” Dean waved a dismissive hand, nearly knocking the Monopoly board over as he stood from the couch, “There’s no way I can pay that!”
Gabriel shrugged, satisfied smile on his face as he leaned back in his chair, “If you don’t pay, I win the game.”
Dean rolled his eyes, before they landed on his brother sitting in the corner of the room, head buried in a book, “Sam, your boy-toy isn’t playing fair.”
He didn’t look up, “Gabe, play fair.”
The angel sputtered a moment before turning around to face his boyfriend, “Well maybe you should tell your brother that buying all the properties that ‘soundcool’ isn’t a good game strategy.”
Sam raised an eyebrow, eyes still not lifting from the page he was on, “I thought Cas was Game Moderator?”
“He is.”
“So you’re asking me because…?”
Dean sat back down with a huff, “Because Cas left around the time Gabriel stole my last hundred.”
“I didn’t steal anything, Winchester.” Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest, “You land on my property, you have to pay.”
“That’s a dumb rule.”
“That’s how you play the game!” Gabriel shook his head before getting up from his chair. He stretched his arms above his head, before making his way over to the giant in the corner, “So, what’s got you so preoccupied that you had to miss Game Night?”
“You mean other then not wanting to get in the middle of you and Dean duking it out over fake money?” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he finally lifted his eyes from the book and he shrugged, “Just thought I should brush up on some in-”
Cas burst in the room then, eyes frantic as he spotted the men, “Demons!”
Dean stood from the couch, posture immediately switching to Hunter Mode as he took a few steps toward his angel, “What do you mean ‘demons’? Demons are coming? Here?”
“Yes,” Cas took a few steps into the middle of the room, turning so he was facing the kitchen door, angel blade at the ready, “They followed me back.”
Dean rushed to his jacket, grabbing Ruby’s knife before tossing an angel blade at his brother, “I thought this place was warded?”
“It used to be, but after-” The sound of a door banging open cut off the end of the angel’s sentence.
Gabriel rolled his eyes before plopping himself down in Sam’s chair with a huff, “You’d think with Bobby shtupping their leader they’d leave you alone.”
“What?” Dean turned to the angel, incredulous look on his face, “You’re kidding, right? Where did you get that idea?”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him, “Uhm, because I have eyes. And ears. They’re not exactly quiet about it.”
A demon burst into the room then, evil smile splitting his face as he spotted the boys, “Excellent.” He leaned slightly back into the doorway, “They’re all here!”
Two more demons joined him then, all of them smiling widely. The first one took a step forward, “Where’s Crowley?”
Dean raised an eyebrow, “What makes you think we know?”
“Cut the crap, Winchester.” The first demon took a few more steps toward them, “Whenever the King goes missing, he’s always with you.”
Dean shrugged, holding his hands out to his sides, “Well, unless you think one of us is gonna poop him out…”
“Oh, good,” First Demon’s smile widened, “I was hoping we could do this the hard way.”
He flicked Dean back against a wall with a loud thud, before turning to Cas as he rushed forward. Cas tackled the demon to the ground, while the other two started toward Sam. The giant took a few steps toward them before being flung against the wall, angel blade falling from his grip. He let out a huff as he tried to pry himself off the wall, with no luck.
Dean stood up with a groan, just in time to see Cas plunge Ruby’s knife into the lead demon’s chest. He helped his angel up off the body, before he was flung back against the wall again. He struggled for a moment as he was pinned, sending daggers at the other demons, before noticing Gabriel was still sitting, examining his nails, “You planning on helping or…?”
“Oh, relax,” Gabriel waved a dismissive hand, “They’re not here to fight.”
Dean snorted, “Oh, great.” He raised an eyebrow at the closest demon, “So this is just how you guys get your rocks off?”
“Careful, Winchester.” The demon who had him pinned took a few steps back toward him, “Just because we didn’t come here to kill you doesn’t mean it can’t end like that.”
Cas scoffed and took a step between the demon and his boyfriend, twirling the angel blade in his hand, “I’d like to see you try.”
“What the hell’s going on here?” The voice from behind them made the demon’s jump, effectively dropping the Winchesters to the ground. Crowley took a step into the room, raising an eyebrow at the demons, “Well?”
“U-uh,” One of the demons took a small step toward the Scot, “There was a problem, a-and we needed-”
“A problem?” He shot a look over his shoulder to Bobby, who was leaning against the kitchen door frame, looking just as unimpressed, “And what problem is so terrible you had to violate my Do Not Disturb order?”
The demon swallowed thickly, “W-well, Simon, y’know, the crossroads demon? H-he’s been-”
Crowley held up his hand, “Save it.” He turned to Bobby, apologetic smile on his face, “Can I get a rain check on tonight, Darling?”
Bobby raised an eyebrow at him, purposefully ignoring the questioning look Dean shot his way as the blonde struggled to his feet, “I thought tonight was the rain check?”
Crowley let out an exasperated sigh and took a half-step closer to the eldest, “It’s not my fault they’re idiots.”
Bobby’s eyes flicked up to the two demons, “Yeah, fine. Go save the underworld.” He smirked as he brought his eyes back to their leader, “Not like I needed you for the whole night, anyway.”
The coy smile on the demon’s face made Dean shoot a half-confused, half-surprised look at his brother. Sam shrugged as Crowley turned back to his cronies, letting out a sigh, “Let’s get this over with.”
With a snap of his fingers, all three of the Hell spawn disappeared. Dean immediately took a step toward his father figure, “What the hell was that?”
Bobby finally looked at the boys, expression smooth, “What was what?”
Dean took a another step, gesturing vaguely to the space the demons had just occupied, “That! A-are you-”
“Dating Crowley?”
Dean held his hand up as his brother closed the distance, “God, don’t say that out loud!”
Bobby shrugged, “So what if I was?”
Dean sputtered a moment, “I-it…it’s,” he turned to the other men in the room, searching for confirmation, “it’s sick!”
Bobby raised an eyebrow, “Sick?”
“He’s a demon, Bobby! H-how would you even…?” The blonde let his voice trail off, nose crinkling as the mental picture hit him, “No, you know what? Don’t answer that.”
Bobby’s eyes moved off the blonde, “Sam?”
Sam half-shrugged, “I don’t want to think about you like… that, but if you’ve found someone who makes you happy-”
“What?” Dean turned to his brother, “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“No, but I just-” he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, eyes darting to the two uncharacteristically silent angels, “We have to be… fair.”
“‘Fair’?” Dean let out a humourless chuckle, “What are you talking about?”
“Well,” Sam shifted his weight again, “We’re both dating angels, so it’s not exactly like we’re in a position to judge.”
“Yeah, but it’s Crowley, Sam!”
“And you’re with Cas.”
Dean rolled his eyes, “Cas was never a bad guy!”
“I did once eviscerate your brother’s mental health in a bid to distract you while I attempted to open a door to Purgatory.”
Dean huffed, turning to his angel, “Y-yeah, but that was different.”
“How?”
His brows pulled together as he thought, “T-that… that was a long time ago. And you didn’t do that because you wanted to.” He turned back to his father figure, “Crowley has screwed us every single chance he’s gotten just because he could. Me and Sam would never date someone who would purposefully-”
Gabriel cleared his throat from his seat, sly smile on his face as Dean shot daggers at him, “Wanna rephrase that?”
“You guys are killing me.” Dean ran a hand through his hair, “We’d never date someone who was actively trying to screw us over.” He turned expectant eyes to the others, “Can we all agree on that?”
Bobby raised an eyebrow at the blonde, “So… what? Are you forbidding me from seeing him?”
“What? No. Don’t turn this into some weird teeny-bopper drama. I just…” his eyes searched the floor as he tried to find the right words, “Are you sure there’s no one else you’d rather, y’know…” his faced scrunched again, “do?”
Bobby snorted as he pushed off the doorway, “That’s not all we do, Dean.”
“Not all you…?,” the blonde reached a hand out behind him as he took a stumbled step backward, “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Bobby rolled his eyes as he crossed the now angel-less room, “Quit being so melodramatic. It’s not that big a deal.”
“Not that big a deal?” Dean raised an eyebrow and followed him, stopping at the base of the stairs, “Ordering waffles and getting pancakes isn’t that big a deal. You dating the King of Hell? That’s a big deal!”
Bobby huffed, turning on the step he was on, “Well how ‘bout I make it real simple for you then, Dean?” He locked eyes with the blonde, face hard, “I never asked for your opinion, and I damn sure don’t need your permission. Got it?”
Dean swallowed thickly, but nodded, watching in silent surprise as the eldest disappeared up the stairs. He starred after him a minute – just long enough to hear a bedroom door close – before he ran a hand through his hair, making his way back to the couch, “Can you believe that?”
Sam approached cautiously, kneeling on the ground before picking up the empty game box, “That was a little rude, Dean.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“No,” Sam shook his head as he started packing up the board game, “I mean you were rude.”
“What?” The blonde looked up from the fake money he was stacking together, raising an eyebrow, “You’re kidding, right?”
Sam let out a sigh, keeping his eyes on the board he was packing, “I know you’re not that big a fan of demons, but…” he let his voice trail off, brows furrowing as he searched for the right words, “Where did all that intolerance come from?”
“Intolerance?” Dean scoffed, “I’m not intolerant. I just don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it to be respectful.” Sam flicked his eyes up to his brother, “You basically outlawed Crowley from his own house, after he saved our asses.”
“Sam-”
“No, Dean, look,” he closed the lid to the now-packed-away game box, and stood, “I don’t trust Crowley any more than you do, but don’t you think – that after everything – Bobby deserves to be happy?”
“’Course,” Dean ran a hand through his hair, before resting his arms on his knees, “But why can’t he be happy with someone else? Y’know, like a human. Any human?”
“Well we did kill Fate.” The corner of Sam’s mouth turned up into a smile, “Maybe he was destined to be with someone else.”
“Oh great,” Dean rolled his eyes as he stood, “Now you’re saying this is our fault?”
“No,” he clapped his brother on the shoulder, getting him to look him in the eye, “I’m saying don’t ask a person to choose between you and their significant other. You might not like who they choose.”
Dean opened his mouth to reply, before closing it silently, “Yeah, alright, fine.” He swatted his brother’s hand off his shoulder, making a break for the kitchen, “Can we get back to game night, now?”
Sam shrugged, “If you tell the angels it’s safe to come back.”
Dean rolled his eyes, “Cowards.” He ran a hand through his hair again, “Fine. I’ll send out the Bat Signal while I start the popcorn. You pick the next game.”
“But, Dean, I was in the middle of-”
Dean turned, “Game Night was your angel’s stupid idea.” He shot his brother a cocky smile as he leaned against the door frame, “That means you have to suffer, just like the rest of us.”
—
Dean shot up in his bed, frantic eyes looking around the dark bedroom, what the…? He blinked his eyes rapidly, willing them to adjust to the darkness as he scanned the room, jumping out of bed as he saw a silhouette standing in the doorway.
“I wouldn’t bother with that, if I were you.”
Dean stopped, crouched beside the bed, arm halfway to the machete he kept under it. He raised an eyebrow as he placed the accent, “…Crowley?”
“The one and only.”
Dean rolled his eyes before straightening back up, “What the hell are you doing in here?”
“Ssshhh,” Crowley gestured for the hunter to meet him in the doorway, “Are you trying to wake him up?”
Dean turned to the bed, and was mildly surprised to see Cas sleeping, smushed against the wall, since when does he sleep? He made his way out into the hall, pulling the bedroom door closed behind him, keeping his voice low, “Well? What do you want?”
“I always thought angels would be too… hard to cuddle with,” Crowley sighed after a moment at the lack of answer, “Fine, straight to business, then.” He leaned himself against the banister, “It seems we have a problem.”
Dean snorted, crossing his arms over his chest, “We’ve got lots of problems, Crowley. You’re gonna have to be more specific.”
“You have a problem with me and Bobby?”
Dean rolled his eyes, “Not this again. Look, I don’t-”
“Normally, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what you think about me,” he flicked his eyes toward the bedroom at the end of the hall, sighing, “But apparently your opinion of me matters to Bobby. Which means we need to fix this. So,” he rubbed his hands together, giving the hunter an expectant look, “What exactly are you concerned about, hm?”
Dean scoffed, “You’re kidding, right?” At the lack of answer, he ran a hand through his hair, “Fine. You’re a demon, which means you feed on chaos, and love torturing those around you, just because you can. All you’ve done is lie, manipulate and try to kill both me and Sam,” he took a step forward, face growing serious as he felt the anger begin to bubble up in his chest, “And, perhaps most irritatingly, you’re juuust too useful for us to kill, no matter how much we’ve wanted to. So no, I don’t trust you. And I especially don’t condone your… whatever it is you’re doing with Bobby, because I know you’re incapable of having good intentions. But,” he took in a breath as he backed off a few steps, “for some reason, you seem to be making Bobby happy, so I’m not gonna stand in the way of that.”
Crowley nodded slowly, “Y’know you give pretty good threatening speeches when you’re half-asleep?” At the eye roll, Crowley took a few steps away from the banister, raising an eyebrow, “Are you sure you’ll be able to hide all of,” he gestured vaguely to the hunter, “whatever emotion that is?”
Dean gave him a tight smile, “I did it with Ruby, I can do it with you.”
Crowley snorted, “Yeah, because that ended so well.”
Dean rushed forward again, pinning the demon against the banister, “I got to stab that Hell bitch while Sam pinned her down after she royally fucked up, so yeah, I’d say it ended well. And, just so we’re clear,” he narrowed his eyes, nodding toward Bobby’s bedroom, “If you ever hurt him, I’ll be first in line to roast your bones over a bonfire. Got it?”
“Got it.” The blonde backed off again, and Crowley took a few steps away from the banister again, straightening his suit, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a tied up hunter to attend to.”
“Ugh,” Dean held up his hand, face twisting into disgust at the mental picture, “Just because I’m not gonna stab you in your sleep doesn’t mean I want to hear about your crazy demon sex. I’ve got more than enough life scars, thanks.”
A sly smile pulled at the corner of Crowley’s mouth as he started back down the hall, “Love you too, Darling.”
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“Are you sure you can handle them?” Dean raised an eyebrow at his brother in the mirror as he flipped his collar up.
Sam rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning himself against the door frame, “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Hey, man, I’m just sayin’, if you can’t,” the blonde turned from the mirror, grabbing his tie from the bed, “We don’t have to go.”
The giant let out a chuckle, raising an eyebrow, “I just got back from a solo werewolf hunt, but you don’t think I can handle your kids?”
“Exactly, man, you’re beat!” Dean struggled with the tie for a moment, before letting out an exasperated sigh, “I’m serious, we can call this whole thing off if-”
“Dude, it’s your anniversary, you can’t cancel.” Sam pushed off the door frame, shaking his head before walking over, swatting his brothers’ hands away from the tie, “Enjoy your night out with Cas.”
“But what if-”
“If they get unruly,” He shot his brother a smirk as he tightened the tie, “Gabe’ll drop them in a worm hole.”
—
“Taylor?” Gabriel came around the corner, stopping in the doorway of the kitchen as he spotted the five-year-old, who was struggling to pull herself up onto the fridge, “What are you doing?”
“Climbing.”
“Climbing, of course.” The angel couldn’t help but smile, and he cocked an eyebrow, “Just don’t go too far, okay? Wouldn’t want you to get stuck.”
The blonde smiled triumphantly at the angel as she reached the top, before she cocked her head to one side, eyes going wide as she saw just how far up she had gotten. She raised her wide eyes back to the angel, bottom lip beginning to quiver.
Gabriel shrugged, “This is why you gotta have a plan, Kiddo.”
She sniffed loudly, reaching her arms out in front of her, taking a step dangerously close to the edge of the fridge, “Down!”
He was across the room in the next instant, “Alright, alright, come on, Tarzan.” He reached his arms up to her, cursing himself for not being a foot taller, shit. He saw the fear in her eyes as he wasn’t able to reach her and he shook his head, shooting her a wink, “Don’t worry, Kiddo, this is why we keep Uncle Sam around.”
She gave the angel a small smile, and took a step backward, thankfully, just as her tears began to fall.
“Sam?” He did his best to keep what he hoped was a reassuring smile on his face, “No-no-no, don’t cry. We’ll get you down.” He turned his head slightly to the door, “Sam!”
A moment later the giant appeared in the doorway, twin brother tucked up under his arm like a football, “What?”
“We, uh, could use your expertise.” Gabriel nodded to the kid atop the fridge, reaching his arms up again, as if to prove he couldn’t get her.
Sam looked from the angel to the blonde, unable to keep the smile off his face as he made his way into the room. He placed her brother down on the ground before walking over to the fridge, shaking his head as he plucked Taylor from the top of it, “Climbing without a plan? Hasn’t Uncle Gabe taught you anything?”
“That’s what I said!” Gabriel shook his head as Sam went to put her down, surprised when she shrieked and tightened her grip around his neck. Gabriel cocked an eyebrow, “What, now you like heights?”
She shrugged and looked at Sams’ arms, “I won’t fall.”
“Riiight,” Gabriel rolled his eyes, hand snatching the end of Tyler’s t-shirt as he turned to leave, “And where do you think you’re going?”
“I want to watch a movie.”
Gabriel shared a look with Sam, who nodded, “Well that sounds like a great idea!”
They trooped out of the kitchen and into the living room, Sam depositing Taylor down onto the couch. Gabriel settled on the arm of the couch as Sam plopped down in front of the TV, beginning to sift through the stack of movies beside it, “What’d you have in mind?”
“Jurassic Park!”
Sam barked out a laugh, and didn’t bother to turn around, “Nice try.”
“Daddy let’s us watch it.”
Sam turned around and raised an eyebrow, reading the twins’ faces, “Really?”
Why did I offer to do this? Cas felt his stomach drop into his shoes as he approached his brother, who was sitting on top of the table, surrounded by pretty much the entire football team. I should get a fucking medal for having to endure them…
As he neared, Gabriel looked up, and they locked eyes – Gabriels’ narrowing and his expression immediately turning to barely veiled disgust. At the sudden change in demeanour, the other kids all turned, and nearly all had the same reaction. Whelp, guess I’m still an outcast, Cas snorted to himself, trying to keep the smile off his face.
“What do you want?”
Cas took in a deep breath, doing his best to steel himself for the upcoming conversation, “I need the homework for Ms. Abrahms’ class.”
Gabriel eyed him suspiciously, leaning back on his arm, “You’re not in her class.”
Cas did his best to ignore the snickers that came from his crew, and forced himself to hold eye contact, “I never said it was for me.”
“Ooohhh!” One of the jocks pounded the table, letting out a whistle, “Look who grew a back bone!”
Cas rolled his eyes, “Can I have it or not?”
Gabriel shared a look with the jock before nodding, mischievous smile on his face, “Sure, yeah. Chad here can get it for you.”
As the jock got up, Cas backed away, brows knitting together in confusion, “I-it’s not in your bag?”
His brother shook his head as the jock closed the distance, “No, I left it in my locker. He’ll take you.”
“I know where-” Cas cut himself off as he felt his feet leave the ground, seriously?
As Chad picked him up, he felt his face grow red as he was carried over to the trash can, being unceremoniously dumped into it.
Cas let out a heavy sigh as he heard the laughter and applause, why do I bother?
“Hey!”
Cas felt himself pale as he heard the voice, that sounds like-
A hand slapped itself over Gabriels’ mouth, “Are you trying to get us killed?” Cas narrowed his eyes, voice barely above a whisper, “I said last we knew it was empty.”
Gabriel glared at the angel but nodded, allowing him to remove his hand, “I can’t believe you sent him here alone.”
Dean cocked an eyebrow as he checked the perimeter, “Are you forgetting he used to hunt all the time alone?”
“And look at what that got him.” Gabriel trailed behind the pair, ticking the items off on his fingers, “Addicted to demon blood, possessed by Luci, thrown into the Cage, soulless-”
“I don’t need a play-by-play,” Dean spun around to face the angel, “I was the one who was there, remember?”
“And maybe if you did a better job-”
“If I recall,” The blonde rushed the angel, pinning him against the wall, “It was your family that started the shit-storm me and my brother went through. So if anyone is to blame, it’d be you.”
“Dean.” Cas’ warning made the blonde drop him. He joined the trench-coated angel a few steps away, starring up at the stairs, “He shouldn’t have gotten too far.”
Gabriel shook his head, “If you had just listened to me-”
“Oh, here we go.” Dean rolled his eyes as they started up the stairs, “All hail the great know-it-all.”
“Well I have been around longer than your puny brain can comprehend. Think that gives me a bit of an edge, don’t you?”
“Gives you more time to make mistakes, maybe.”
“Stop it.” Cas stopped in the middle of the hall, blasting all the doors open, shoulders slumping as they were all empty, “This doesn’t make sense.”
“What?”
“We were only a few seconds behind him,” Cas frowned, eyes narrowing as he thought, “He should’ve still been standing downstairs.”
“So… what? Something took him?”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
Dean shook his head, ignoring the comment as he turned back to his boyfriend, “I thought this place was warded?”
Gabriel let out a low whistle, “How short is your memory?” At the blank stares he let out a sigh, “The demons joined the party around the time Dean got surrounded by vamps, remember?”
Cas shook his head, “I came back after and finished the warding.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow, “You expect me to believe you came back here, after it was overrun by monsters, defeated all of them – alone – and then warded the place?” He turned disbelieving eyes to the hunter, “Do you buy that?”
Dean held up his hands in mock surrender as he shrugged, “I didn’t go back with him.”
Cas huffed before pushing past the men, making his way toward the stairs, “I can prove it.”
They followed him down the staircase, toward the back door. He ripped a strip of wallpaper off the wall, revealing painted sigils, “See?” His brows furrowed as he saw the sigils, “Wait… this isn’t right.” He ripped off another few strips of wallpaper, swallowing thickly as he revealed some of the sigils had been scribbled over. He took a few steps back from the wall, head tilting as he starred at it. “I… don’t understand.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Dean held up his hand as Gabriel opened his mouth, “Aside from the obvious?”
The raven-haired angel shook his head, “This warding prevented them from getting in. But they would’ve had to come inside to disable them this way.”
“… And?”
“Not the brightest bulb, are you, Dean-O?” At the hunters’ look Gabriel let out a dramatic sigh, “A monster would’ve just created an earthquake or something to break the warding from the outside. But these were scribbled out, which means-”
“They would’ve had human help.”
“Well, give the man a cigar.” Gabriel rolled his eyes before bringing his hand up to rub his chin as he thought, “So… who does Sam know who’d be willing to work with monsters?”
“Whoa,” Dean held up his hands, brows furrowing, “What makes you think it’s someone Sam knew?”
“Well he’s not here, is he?” Gabriel gestured to the empty house, “And – assuming Bro here didn’t zap him somewhere else – since there’s no signs of a struggle, that means he went with whoever it was willingly.”
“I sent him here.” Cas finally turned from the wall, “Whoever it is must also have the necklace.”
“Okay, so…” the blonde looked between the two angels, “who would Sam trust?”
—
Sam couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blonde in the drivers’ seat. It had been so long since he’d seen her. Even longer since he’d seen her smiling, and although he wasn’t happy to learn she’d been hunting, he was just grateful to be within arms reach of her again. She was right there.
He couldn’t wrap his brain around it, he had watched her burn to death on the ceiling – and yet here she was, tapping her thumb against the steering wheel in time with the music. Just like she used to. He was doing his best to ignore the small part of him that told him something wasn’t right. He wasn’t stupid, when did these things ever not come with a price? But she’d passed every test he’d given her with flying colours, so he decided he would let himself enjoy it, at least for a little while.
“Will you quit starring?” Jess flashed him that gorgeous smile he’d forgotten all about, flicking her eyes off the road for a moment, “It’s starting to get creepy.”
Will the boys be able to find Sam? HOW is Jess back?? Find out how the fic ends here!
