Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Crowley brushed lint from his suit jacket as he stood at the edge of the crossroads, having just finished a deal. He wasn't exactly a crossroads demon any longer, having ascended to King of Hell some time ago, but some days he felt he needed the reminder of just why he had fought his way to the top.

The tedious and boring requests of pitiful humans reminded him of just that, and he understood why the lesser plethora of demons whined endlessly to him; he didn't care, he just understood.

He was about to leave when a soft noise was heard behind him; a gentle crunching of woodchips from the long forgotten and abandoned playground. The playground was old and decaying. The metal jungle gym wasn't suitable to even be touched, the bars rusted and coming apart at the welded seams. There was a small plastic style jungle gym that housed a tunnel slide, but it was covered in graffiti and old burn marks. The swing set only had a single available seat, the rest broken from their chains. The entire place had been long abandoned, the city deciding it wasn't even worth attempting to fix.

It wasn't a noise he was expecting, especially since there had seemed to be an unspoken rule among the parents that kids weren't allowed near the playground any longer.

He turned to investigate, assuming it was just a simple drunken human or even a homeless person seeking shelter in the tunnel slide, but he was met with the sight of a small child sitting on an old swing. The girl looked no more than five or six in age, and she hadn't noticed him, her eyes cast downward towards her feet.

Curiosity got the better of him as he moved towards her, examining her as he did. She had Auburn hair that stretched past her waist that was trussed and messed. She was wearing a tattered old long sleeved shirt that looked like it had once belonged to a careless boy, and as he got closer, he noticed a discernible bulge around her waist that suggested a belt tightened in such a fashion to hold up the jeans that were probably 3 sizes too large for the girl.

She was barefoot, but didn't seem to notice the woodchips lodged in between toes and even broken through layers of skin.

Crowley crouched before the girl and took further note of her features; the shirt was barely clinging to her in such a way that suggested it wasn't just sizes too large, but also that she was possibly malnourished. There were fading bruises covering the skin he could see, and even some newly forming ones. Her hair was matted and tangled in some areas at the top of her head that suggested it had been grabbed violently at some point. Crowley felt a slight anger in his chest, but he wasn't sure why.

"Hello, darling." He lilted softly, attempting to keep from frightening the girl. "What are you doing out here so late and all alone, pet?" He asked gently, noting that the time was nearly half passed midnight.

The girl leveled her gentle blue eyes on him, but she showed no sign of fear; just a look of weary sadness, a look no child should ever hold. "M'not s'pposed to talk to strangers...” She responded, though it was barely audible. Her voice did not hold any fear, either; just broken depression, as if she was not afraid of the dangers the world held outside her home.

"If I tell you my name, I'll no longer be a stranger. Is that right, pet?" He asked softly, and at her nod, he continued. "My name is Crowley. What's yours?"

She furrowed her brow for a moment before she answered him. "Adira."

She'd hesitated in answering, but he could tell she wasn't lying about her name.

"That's a very pretty name, Adira. Will you tell me why you are outside so late and all by your lonesome?" Crowley frowned as the girl responded by lowering her gaze once more and shaking her head no. He gently pressed the tip of his finger under her chin and pushed her head up until she met his gaze.

"Surely your Mummy and Daddy are worried about you?" He inquired gently and saw an immediate flicker of fear and horror in the girl's eyes, but it was gone in seconds.

Joint parental beatings were rare among humans, but it did happen; Crowley felt an anger surge in him, but he tamped it down. Abused or not, she was just a human and he couldn't nor wouldn't storm her home just simply because she was mistreated.

"Where do you live, pet?"

"Can't tell you...” She responded softly. It wasn't in a defiant way, but Crowley frowned as if it was.

"How old are you?"

"...can't tell you..." came the soft reply.

Crowley sighed and brushed the girl's hair back from her face. "Okay, pet. It's late. You should go home and get some sleep. I'll be here tomorrow, if you would like to see me again." Crowley stood and summoned a pair of slightly tattered looking shoes for the girl behind his back.

He pulled them out and crouched once more to clean the woodchips from her feet before putting the shoes on her.

He looked into her face just in time to see her eyes light up in extreme gratitude for the simple gift. It wasn't even that nice of a gift, but her reaction made his cold, dead heart swell with....some sort of emotion. He brushed it off before helping her from the swing.

"Thank you." The girl gave him a kind and thankful smile, and much to his surprise, threw her arms around his waist in a hug. He pat her head gently before pushing her away.

"You are welcome, pet. Good night." He said simply and watched as the girl left the park.

He waited until her feet hit asphalt before he turned himself invisible to human eyes and began to follow her.

She walked for a mile before she came upon a house, and much to Crowley's surprise, it was a very nice looking home. He had been expecting a trailer or a house that makes one think of a meth lab, from the signs of her abuse, but it was the kind of home out of a magazine.

Crowley frowned as he watched the small girl sneak over to a basement window and crawl through. Most children didn't understand the concept of sneaking out, let alone stealth. But it seemed she'd been conditioned to know how to be silent.

Crowley made himself appear in the basement, curiosity getting the better of him. He watched as the girl carefully crawled through a small hole in an old shelving unit before sliding a storage tote over to hide the hole as quietly as she could.

He watched as the girl then pulled off the shoes he'd given her and hid them in a hole in the wall. She stared at her hiding place a bit sadly before she got on her hands and knees, and crawled to her bed. Crowley winced as she crawled over shards of broken glass, bug carcasses, and dirt and grime to a makeshift bed of newspapers, torn and tattered rags, and old, holey blankets.

A fury ignited in his eyes as he glared at Adira's living situation. No child should ever be forced to live like this, and it only made him angrier that the girl didn't seem to mind either sleeping on the ground like an animal nor the cuts the glass had produced on her palms and knees.

Crowley shook his head and watched over her until he was positive she was sleeping before he made his way over to her. As quietly as he could, he snapped his fingers and made the glass disappear from her skin, but that was all he did. He resigned himself to understand that he couldn't fix her wounds nor steal her away; he needed her trust before he intervened. He sighed and left the decrepit basement before he changed his mind and took the girl someplace else.

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Over the course of the next few weeks, Crowley kept his word. He was at the park every single night for the girl's benefit. Some nights they sat in silence after gentle greetings, but most nights he allowed her to talk endlessly about whatever she felt like. He learned many things about little Adira, and he wasn't even bothered by it.

He learned she had a fascination with mythology; vampires, werewolves, and the like. He learned that she was incredibly intelligent, far beyond her age of five ('and a half!' she'd once adamantly barked). He learned she loved to read, her favorite stories being long-winded chapter books like Harry Potter but she could only get her hands on simple books like Junie B. Jones.

Crowley hadn't known what they were until she'd brought an old and tattered version of Junie B. First Grader, and she'd even read it to him. It wasn't that interesting a story, but he’d listened intently as she read, her voice steady and strong for the first time since he'd met her.

He learned that she had 3 older brothers, and he'd learned her father had died; though she hadn't said it, her father's absence made it alarmingly clear that it was her mother who was the perpetrator of the abuse.

And the favorite thing he had learned was that Adira had an extreme love for music. She would hum to herself or even softly sing the lyrics when she was in a good mood, something that Crowley noticed she seemed to gain the more she was around him.

She would still appear with fresh bruises or cuts, wearing the same tattered clothing for days on end, but she never cowered or feared him. He had yet to hear the girl laugh, but he had also yet to see her cry and for that he was thankful. He wasn't sure he could stomach that sight.

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On the eve of the third week since he'd met Adira, he found her leaning against a lamp post and reading a book he had brought for her; it was a classic called The Giver.

Crowley leaned against the post and crossed his legs at the ankles, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Adira, do you know what a demon is?" He asked softly. He knew she'd heard him walk up, so he hadn't worried about startling her.

"You are." she responded without missing a beat or even lifting her gaze from her book.

Crowley's eyebrows shot up in surprise at her response and turned to look down at her. "Would you elaborate?" He asked gently. It was possible she was confused as to what a demon was, but it was just as likely that she truly knew and didn't care.

Adira dog-eared a corner of the page she was on in her book and closed it, lifting her head in order to stare towards the playground. "You're a crossroads demon. My Daddy told me about demons like you. You make deals with people, stuff like unlimited wealth or love, and in return you get their souls in ten years."

She said it so simply but so knowledgeably that Crowley nearly forgot she was only 5 years old.

"I'm not just a crossroads demon, pet." He waited until she met his gaze. "I'm the King of Hell as well."

He watched as realization dawned on her face, but she still didn't seem to hold any fear. "Do you know what that means, pet?"

"It means you're the boss, right?" She responded.

"Yes, pet. But it means more than that; it means I have the power to take you away from this." He hinted. He had grown fond of the little human and he was sick of always seeing new signs of abuse covering her.

Adira seemed to contemplate this for a while, falling into a comfortable silence for a good twenty minutes, before she stood and handed her book off to him. He typically held on to the book until the next night when he returned to make deals, hiding it some place for her to find when she returned. He had learned real quickly not to let her bring anything home with her, as it would be found and she'd be beaten because of it.

"I need to go now. Good night." She gave him a gentle hug.

"Good night, Dove." He responded with her special nickname and gave her a kiss to the top of her head.

After he watched her leave, they didn't bring up the topic of demons again for over a week. Nine days, to be exact; Crowley had counted.

The ninth day had brought the first time he had seen the girl cry. Crowley had taken to showing up earlier at the crossroads to finish his deals and leave more time for him to spend with Adira.

It was barely after six in the evening when she showed herself. If that wasn't worrying enough to him, he saw a noticeable limp in the girl's step.

Biting back his anger, Crowley appeared next to Adira and what he saw made fury rise like bile in him. Her lower lip was busted in four different spots, the blood fresh as if it had just happened. There were fresh bruises blooming across her jaw, cheeks, and especially around her eyes. One eye had been hit so much, there was a cut along her eyebrow and the eye had swollen shut. Her left leg was absolutely soaked in blood and it didn’t seem to be stopping.

Crowley’s hazel eyes seemed to flash red in his anger and he moved to pick the girl up, but flinched when she hissed and yanked away. Crowley frowned; the sound wasn’t made in fear, it was a sound of extreme pain. He glanced all around him before he crouched next to Adira.

“Pet, will you show me?” He asked gently so as to not scare her off. Adira seemed to hesitate for a moment before she nodded and lifted her shirt up. Crowley sucked in his breath as he surveyed the damage. Nearly every inch of stomach and chest was full of deep purple bruises; some faint yellow coloring could be seen as well. There were even some spots, albeit small, that he could see new bruises blossoming. He scowled in anger.

“Thank you, pet.” He stood as she put her shirt back down. “Now, Dove, this may hurt just a bit but... I am going to take you to a… friend… to heal you. May I pick you up, pet?” Crowley seemed to choke out the word ‘friend,’ but Adira didn’t even notice. New tears formed in her eyes, but she wasn’t afraid of the pain. For some reason, she seemed hesitant to meet anyone Crowley deemed a friend.

Before she could voice this, however, Crowley gently assured her they were safe. “I would heal you, darling, but my powers would probably only hurt you further.”

After what seemed like forever in contemplation, Adira finally nodded her consent and collapsed into his waiting arms. Crowley caught her effortlessly and resituated his hold on her in such a way that he was putting as little pressure on her wounds as was physically possible.

Crowley quickly appeared inside the Winchesters’ bunker the moment he had a good hold on the small girl in his arms, and much to his surprise, she was still very alert. It was disheartening to him just how much pain she must be in and still she was so strong.

Crowley made sure his footsteps were heard, though he made no attempt to speak despite the Hunters following after him so noisily; they were even shouting at him to stop, though he bit his tongue so as to not shout in the girl’s ear. He stormed in to the first clean bedroom he came across and very gently laid Adira on the bed before he whirled on the boys.

“Call Feathers. Now.” His request was simple.

“Whoa, now hold up a moment! Who the Hell is that?! And why should we help you?!” Dean’s voice was simply grating to Crowley at the present moment and he was not in the mood.

“Did you not hear me? I said CALL. FEATHERS.” Crowley demanded yet again and Dean seemed to take a step back.

“This isn’t over.” Dean warned.

Sam seemed to be the one to understand just how dire the situation was and so he called out to Castiel, who responded immediately.

“What is it?” Cas asked as he appeared between the boys, but his gaze soon landed on the small form on the bed. Adira was laying on her right side and her breathing was shallow, laced with pain though she didn’t utter a sound of discontent. She was used to it, though the tears streaking down her cheeks spoke volumes of just how much pain she was.

“Heal her.” Crowley demanded, pointing at the small girl. “Please...” He added in a softer tone, and the three other men gained identical looks of shock.

Castiel simply nodded and moved towards the girl. “This might hurt a little...” He muttered gently as he placed two fingers to Adira’s forehead and pushed grace in to her body. She let out a garbled whine of pain, her body arching for a fraction of a minute before she collapsed, every wound healed from her tiny frame.

Crowley wasted no time; he pushed Castiel out of the way and sat next to Adira, petting her hair gently. “How you feelin’, pet?” He asked so soothingly, Sam and Dean glanced at each other in shock. They both seemed to be wondering the same thing; ‘Is this truly the King of Hell?’ Adira responded with a small smile in Crowley’s direction.

“Crowley, can we talk?” Sam inquired, but Crowley simply ignored him. He gathered Adira into his arms and brushed past both boys as he made his way out into the hallway. He walked further into the residential area of the Bunker, kicking open doors until he found the bathroom. He hesitated in the doorway to level a glare on both Winchesters and Big Bird when they’d followed, warning them not to continue into the bathroom with him.

Crowley stepped inside the bathroom and kicked the door shut before he set Adira on her feet. He gave her a kind smile before he set to work. He began to run bath water for her and while it was running, he made necessities appear; strawberry scented shampoo and conditioner, kiwi-watermelon scented body wash, a small tub of toys for her to play with, the softest and fluffiest towel he could think of, and a pair of baby blue fleece pajamas featuring sheep jumping over moons.

Crowley turned off the water before he walked back to Adira and crouched before her. “Are you able to do this yourself, pet?” He asked softly, rubbing her arms gently. After she nodded, he pulled her into a hug. “I’ll be right outside in the hallway. Call if you need me, Dove.” Adira gave him a small smile before he stood and exited the bathroom.

Crowley leaned against the closed bathroom door and pinned the 3 other men with a stare, lifting his eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Who the hell is that? Why do you have a child, Crowley?! And why is she HERE?!” Dean emphasized with his hands, annoyance clearly written on his face.

“Her name is Adira, and she’s 5 years old.” Crowley started.

“And a half!” Came a yell from the bathroom, which made Crowley frown.

“Feathers, I know you have impeccable hearing.” Crowley waited for Castiel to nod. “Stand here, I know you’ll be able to hear what I tell the boys. Let me know if she needs me.”

Crowley ushered Sam and Dean into the empty room across the hall from the bathroom and shut the door before he turned back to face them.

“Her name is Adira. She’s five... and a half... years old.” Crowley held up his hand to keep the boys from interrupting him. “I was out at a crossroads, trying to remind myself just why I wanted to be King, when she appeared. She was bruised, broken, battered. But still she showed no fear. She even knew what I was, and still she wasn’t afraid! She is a strong willed child.

I got to know her as the weeks progressed. I learned many things about her, and though she never actually told me, I know her mother was abusing her. When I saw her today, I decided that enough was enough. She is not returning to that situation.” Crowley all but growled the last words, his eyes flashing with a tinge of pure rage.

He continued to describe the situation she had been in, down to the details of the bed she’d been sleeping on in the basement.

Once he finished, a silence fell over the room. Sam and Dean mirrored the same look of disgust as they thought of what kind of human would do such a thing, but it was Dean that spoke first.

“She’s a human. Her mother isn’t supernatural; you can’t keep her, Crowley.”

“You expect me to condemn the small child to that?!” He roared in anger. “You go ahead and tell her, then! But trust me when I say, you will have to go through ME first!” His voice seemed to echo and he cringed just a bit at the thought of the girl hearing him. He steeled himself, forcing his voice to be lower. “I will not return her to that house, nor will I allow her to be a ward of the state. Believe it or not, Squirrel, but I do care about that child.”

Castiel opened the door before Dean could respond and peered at Crowley. “The…um... small being... is crying. She has not called for you...um... but I think she is in need of assistance.”

Crowley whirled around and exited the room, not giving Sam or Dean time to voice their thoughts before he was in the bathroom. He crouched next to the tub and frowned lightly as he saw Adira. Her head was bowed, her dry Auburn hair covering the view of her face, but Crowley could tell she was crying as soft sobs echoed throughout the bathroom and her shoulders shook from the force of them.

Crowley repositioned himself and leaned over the side of the tub to wrap his arms around the upper half of her frame, not even caring that the sleeves of his expensive suit jacket and dress shirt quickly became soaked from the effort. He gently cooed to her, shushing her comfortingly as he pet down her hair and rubbed her back simultaneously.

“M-my... my-y Mother... sh-she’s gonna see... m-my hurts healed... a-and... sh-she’ll be angry...” Adira sobbed sadly, her words coming out on hiccups.

“Shh. You aren’t going back there. I promise.” Crowley soothed softly, turning his head to level Dean with a glare that said, ‘you want to send her back?’

Dean and Sam seemed to both fidget on their feet before they left the bathroom, closing the door to give them privacy. They were at a loss for words, shocked by the tender care they seen from Crowley; it was completely uncharacteristic of the demon.

Crowley continued to soothe the girl until her tears had died down. He noticed she’d cleaned the blood from herself and so he drained the tub of the dirty, cooled water before he refilled it to finish her bath. It didn’t take long for Crowley to shampoo and condition Adira’s hair, and he helped her wash her body of the rest of the filth.

Once he was satisfied she was clean, he helped her out of the tub and dried her off carefully, using his magic to dry his sleeves as he did so. Adira didn’t protest in the slightest, giving a large yawn every so often as he dried her and proceeded to run a comb through her hair. For the first time since he’d met the girl, not a single tangle or mat existed in her hair and it was more beautiful than he’d originally thought. It hung down to roughly the middle of her thighs, with very slight ringlet curls running about 4 inches up into her hair; the rest was straight and the color made her blue eyes stand out beautifully on her face.

Crowley couldn’t imagine what would make a parent hate such a beautiful child, but he decided not to dwell on it. She was safe now, and that was what mattered.

After a moment of contemplation, some whispered words of admittance from the girl, Crowley conjured an overnight pull-up for her and helped her into it. It seemed she still had a bedwetting problem, but he didn’t make a big deal of it. Crowley wasn’t very thrilled when he noticed his deduction of her malnourishment had been correct, but he didn’t voice it; he simply made a mental note to get her back to health.

It wasn’t long before Crowley had finished helping Adira into the fleece pajamas and some warm socks for sleeping. She looked so small and frail in the clean clothes, so unlike the girl he had met, but it was a good change.

Crowley gave the girl a gentle smile before he collected her in his arms. He carried her on his hip and his cold, dead heart just utterly melted when she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. He used his free hand to rub her back comfortingly as he exited the bathroom, his magic causing the door to open for him.

Crowley made his way into an empty room in the bunker and used his powers to rid the room of all dust that had collected. Once he was satisfied by the sanitary conditions, he laid the girl on the bed and tucked her in. She was barely conscious, but he crouched next to the bed anyways. “Pet, I need to go away for the night. I know, I know, you’re worried. But you will be safe here, I promise. And I will return in the morning for you.” He pet her hair gently to ease her fears, giving her a kind smile to help her understand that he was not abandoning her. “Get some sleep, Dove. If you need me, I want you to pray really loudly for Castiel to come. Tell him to come find me.”

Crowley waited until Adira nodded her understanding before he stood and leaned over to place a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Good night, pet.” He said softly before he shucked off his suit jacket and laid it over the girl. He hoped it would help her feel safe. He waited until he was sure she was asleep before he made his way from the room, leaving the door open to let some light stream in from the hallway.

Crowley appeared in the bunker kitchen; somehow, he just knew the boys were there and he needed to speak with them.

Dean was leaning against the fridge and drinking a beer, while Sam had his head buried in his laptop. Crowley cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Hey, where’s the kid?” Dean inquired, his eyes searching for any sign of the small child but his search failed.

“Asleep. Bedroom next to Moose’s.” Crowley responded without hesitation.

“Crowley! You can’t le-“ But Sam’s protest was cut off.

“Listen here, Bullwinkle. I am leaving Adira here for the night, and I don’t think I need to detail exactly what will happen if you let a single hair on her head be harmed. Feed her in the morning.” Crowley snapped and he disappeared before they could protest any further.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean yelled, punching the fridge. “We can’t have a child here! There are dangerous weapons! What if we find a hunt?!” He ranted before he slammed back the rest of his beer.

“Dean, we’re just going to have to deal with it. From the sounds of it, Crowley will be back for her tomorrow. I think we can handle one night with the kid.” Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We don’t seem to have a choice.” He added as an afterthought.

Dean simply grunted in response before grabbing another beer and disappearing into his room. Sam stared after him before he decided to head to bed himself. It was hardly late, barely after ten at night, but neither of them had found a Hunt and so Sam decided to get a good night’s rest.

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Sam had barely been asleep for 3 hours before a shriek pierced through the veil of sleep. It took him a hazy minute of waking up for him to remember the events from earlier that night, but as soon as the fog cleared from his mind he rushed in to the room next to his. His heart broke at the sight of the small girl sitting huddled in a ball at the head of the bed, hiding beneath Crowley’s jacket and sobbing brokenheartedly.

He hurried over to the bed and sat on the edge, opening his arms in an invitation to the little girl. “Shh. It’s okay; come here.” He said softly, giving Adira a welcoming smile when she glanced up.

She sniffled sadly and used the jacket to wipe away some of her tears before she crawled over and into Sam’s lap, curling against his chest. Silence enveloped them, though it was neither awkward nor tense; it was calming, the only sounds being Adira’s quiet sniffs as she calmed herself, Sam’s gentle shushing, and the soft ‘pat pat’ of Sam’s hand against her back. It wasn’t long before Adira was asleep again, the terror from the nightmare gone.

Sam continued to hold the girl, softly rocking her back and forth as he urged her into a deeper sleep. He held her like this for a good half hour past when she fell asleep before he tucked her back in to her bed, making sure she was still wrapped in Crowley’s jacket for comfort, and exited the room. Dean was in the hallway, having been roused from his own sleep, and he gave a teasing smirk to his brother.

“You’d be a great dad.” It was a tease, but it was the truth as well.

“Shut up, Dean.” Sam grumbled as he returned to his room and attempted to go back to sleep. The rest of the night was, thankfully, uneventful. Adira slept through the rest of the night, as did Sam and Dean.

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The next morning, Sam was seated at the little island-makeshift-table in the kitchen while Dean cooked breakfast. Sam was sipping at his coffee, keeping a hushed conversation with Dean, when he heard a soft sniffle behind him. He turned around to see Adira in the doorway and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

Adira was wearing Crowley’s jacket, but it hung down to the middle of her calves and her arms barely made it to the elbows of the sleeves. She looked so tiny and sweet, though when he noticed the telltale signs of crying on her face, he frowned. Her eyes were tinged with red and were puffy, her nose was red, and there were wet streaks on her cheeks.

“What’s wrong, Adira?” He asked softly.

“Cr-Crowley..?” She hiccupped softly and Sam sighed with his understanding.

“He’ll be here in just a short while.” Sam responded as he made his way to the girl; Dean had turned around to see what was up, but went back to cooking when he saw Sam handling it. “Are you hungry? When was the last time you ate?” Sam asked as he crouched in front of the girl so as to be more eye-level with her.

“W-what’s today?” She mumbled softly, her gaze dropping to the floor at her feet.

“It’s Thursday today.” Sam answered, figuring she meant weekday and not date.

Adira seemed to think about her response for a moment. “Friday...”

Sam paled a bit at her answer. She hadn’t eaten since last Friday? Her situation must have been worse than he suspected; he’d figured Crowley had been exaggerating but it seemed that was not the case. Sam sighed and lifted the girl into his arms, making his way back to the table and settling her in to a seat. “Well, you eat as much as you want. There’s plenty of food to spare.” He gave her a gentle smile.

Adira fidgeted in her seat, but nodded to acknowledge what he said. “I-I don’t know your names...” She said softly.

“Well, I’m Sam. And that’s-“

“Dean, sweetheart. I’m Dean.” Dean cut in, putting a plate of food in front of both Sam and the kid, cutting off her response. Dean dished his own plate and took a seat across the table from his brother and the little girl, digging in without a second thought.

Sam, however, noticed that Adira hadn’t even reached for a fork. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m not allowed….without permission…” She responded softly, her gaze on the plate of eggs, hash browns, and bacon. She looked like she really wanted to eat it, but she still didn’t move to grab her fork.

“Adira, it’s okay. You’re free to eat. You won’t get in trouble, I promise.” Sam urged, and after another moment of hesitation, she finally picked up her fork.

Dean smiled around a mouthful of food and swallowed before asking, “Good, huh?” Adira nodded her agreement and dug in to her meal with fervor. Despite having been starved for nearly a week, Adira had a fairly large appetite. She had two full plates of breakfast before she was full, and she excitedly thanked Dean for her meal.

By the time Sam was standing in front of the sink and cleaning the dishes it was after ten in the morning. Crowley still hadn’t showed and Dean wasn’t happy about that, so as he led Adira from the kitchen, he gave her stern warnings not to touch anything that even looked remotely dangerous to her.

Adira was well behaved and agreed easily, and before long, she was seated at the library table with her nose in Sam’s copy of Eragon, completely engorged in the tale.

Dean was happy the girl was easily distracted and set to work of his own, searching for a Hunt. He was hoping he would find something by the time Crowley showed himself, but so far he wasn’t finding anything.

“Dean?” Adira asked softly, glancing over her book. He uttered a soft ‘hmm’ in response and she continued. “What do you think of Crowley?”

“I think he’s a douchebag.” He snapped without hesitation, but after a moment realization dawned on him about what he’d done. He looked up just in time to catch the sad look that fell over the girl’s features. “I-I just mean I’ve only ever had bad experiences with him. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy.” He scrambled to fix the damage he’d caused. “He seems to care about you.” He added honestly.

While Adira contemplated this, Dean pushed his laptop closed most of the way in order to look at her. “He’s a demon, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have human emotions inside of him.” He offered her, though it dawned on him just how true those words really were. After a minute of silence, Dean pushed himself from his seat and wandered over to an end table. He yanked open the drawer and snatched up one of the new cell phones that lay inside.

He returned to the table, to the side Adira sat at, and crouched before her. “You know how to use one of these?” He asked, holding the cell phone in her sight. After she nodded, he quickly tapped on the screen and added a couple phone numbers before he handed it to her. “Sam, Castiel, Crowley, and I are all contacts on here. This phone has service paid up for a whole year. I’m giving this phone to you. If you miss us, or something happens, or for any reason whatsoever, don’t hesitate to call or text. Got it?” His voice was soft and kind in tone.

Adira pressed the phone to her chest, her eyes brimming with tears, and she smiled at him. “Thank you, Dean.” She said softly, before quickly throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Never had she met such a kind bunch of people as Dean, Sam, Castiel, and Crowley. She was grateful for their kindness.

Dean kissed the child’s cheek softly and whispered in her ear, “You’re most welcome, sugar.”

By the time Crowley returned to the bunker, it was after one in the afternoon. Sam was in the kitchen making lunch, and that was who Crowley wanted to see before he collected Adira. Crowley kept an arm hidden behind his back as he cleared his throat to get the taller’s attention.

“Moose.” Sam’s head shot up, though he continued to butter bread for the grilled cheese sandwiches. “How did it go?”

Sam dropped his gaze back to the bread. “She had a nightmare. But otherwise, everything’s fine.” Sam grunted a bit before he threw the bread on a heated frying pan with cheese in the middle.

Crowley pondered his words for a moment before he nodded. “Good.” Crowley moved closer to Sam and tugged the taller around, shoving a book into Sam’s stomach. Sam grunted at the thrust and caught the book, but Crowley was gone before he could say anything. He frowned and glanced back down at the book.

It was the Book of the Damned, with a post it note attached. In Crowley’s familiar scrawl, the note said, ‘payment for taking care of Adira.’ Sam sighed at the note and set the book on the table, mentally telling himself to lock it up the second he finished making the sandwiches.

Adira was engrossed in her book, but she still noticed the very moment Crowley appeared next to her. “It isn’t morning anymore.” She grumbled, refusing to look up from her book. She was excited for his return, but she was also very upset about him not keeping his word and made it known.

“I know, pet. But I was very busy.” Crowley replied crouching next to the chair she was in. Dean opened his mouth to say something but clamped it shut at the glare Crowley gave him.

Adira finally peeled her eyes away from the Eragon book and gave him a frown that spoke volumes and made her seem so much older than five. She stared at him for a long while, the tense silence seeming to draw out.

“With what?” She finally asked.

“Well, Dove, I was busy with a surprise. Would you like to come see?” Crowley asked, giving her a charming smile.

Adira seemed to contemplate his words before she finally gave in. She made a mental note of the page she was on in Sam’s book and closed it, setting it on the library table. She pat the pocket of Crowley’s jacket where she’d placed the cell phone to make sure it was still there before she held her arms out to the demon. “Yes, please.” She said softly.

Crowley collected the girl in his arms and stood. “Squirrel.” He said, nodding to the Hunter, before he disappeared, Adira in tow.

Chapter Text

Crowley and Adira appeared in a hallway of the abandoned asylum Crowley had converted into his home base. Though Adira didn’t know it, they were now just outside of Fall River, Massachusetts. Needham Asylum, to be exact, which had been long abandoned.

Crowley set Adira on her feet and gently took one of her small hands in his own, giving her a grin. “Ready?” He asked.

Adira looked at the door they were standing in front of, then glanced up at Crowley and nodded eagerly. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what was held behind the door, but she was quite excited to see. ‘I bet it’s his throne room!’ She thought to herself.

Crowley waved his hand and the door opened to reveal an intricately designed bedroom; the bedroom was decorated in obvious detail for that of a child, and Crowley grinned down at Adira.

But the obviousness was lost on Adira. She tilted her head in confusion and stared at Crowley. “Is this your room?” She asked softly. She couldn’t imagine it would be, but she was extremely humble and dared not to assume it was meant for her.

Crowley had to bite back a laugh at that, as he noticed she wasn’t teasing nor had she realized it was meant for her. He moved to squat in front of her and held her shoulders gently. “Adira, this room is for you. I should have discussed it with you first, but I won’t allow you to go back to your Mother, and I don’t trust the Foster system to care for you properly. So... If you want, you can live with me.” He stared in her eyes, and frowned as tears started to brim in them.

“I-it’s beautiful. B-but won’t she come looking for me?” Adira sniffled. She was happy by his offer, but she’d been so abused, she’d been conditioned to fear her Mother and bow to her every whim; even now, she seemed to feel that she would be found, no matter what.

Crowley pulled the girl into his arms, enveloping her in a hug. “Dove, I promise, I will never allow her to hurt you again.” He began to rub her back through the material of his jacket, and continued to hold her until she’d spent herself from crying. He could understand her fear, but if given the chance, he would wholeheartedly prove to her that she was now safe; now and forever.

They remained like that for quite a while, long after her tears had dried, just reveling in the comforting silence. “You okay, pet?” Crowley asked softly as he pulled away, looking into her eyes again. Once she’d nodded, he gave her a gentle smile. “Would you like to look at your room fully now?”

Adira rubbed a small fist against her right eye momentarily before she peered up at him, dropping her hand and giving him a small smile. “Yes, please.” She responded softly.

Crowley stood and moved himself out of the way so as to allow Adira to explore the room on her own. The young girl stepped into the bedroom and her eyes widened; her blue eyes glinted in awe and excitement.

The room featured a full-size four poster bed, complete with a pale red princess canopy, in one corner of the room. The bedspread was a deep red and black in color, silk in texture, and there were four pillows with matching red and black silk pillowcases adorning them. The entire room was red and black, in fact; there was a large dresser with 6 drawers, it was black in color and held red handles.

The walls were a deep red, but the color was inviting and not intimidating as one might think; the floor was covered in a black shag carpet that featured swirls of red throughout it, in a painter’s splatter style. In one corner of the room sat a reading alcove, complete with wooden bench that had a plush red cushioning. Next to the alcove was a massive bookshelf that seemed to be built in to the wall and it was filled to the brim with books; Adira recognized some titles, but others she didn’t. The entire bottom shelf was every single Junie B. book ever written, as well as every Horrible Harry book, every Beverly Cleary book, and even the Super Fudge stories! The next 3 shelves held much more complicated books like Harry Potter, Eragon, and the Chronicles of Nick. On the very top shelf were even some books one might find in a middle school classroom; it was obvious Crowley wanted to help her learn the most basic of human knowledge.

Adira ran over to the alcove and lifted the bench seat on a whim; it worked! The cushioned seat lifted and revealed an empty storage area. She squeaked with happiness before she closed it again and turned to finish surveying the room.

In another corner of the room was a mountain of stuffed animals, ranging from realistic-ish depictions of wolves and other animals, to overly cutesy and sickeningly sweet looking stuffed bears, bunnies, and ragdolls. Every single item looked new, and looking closely, Adira could tell they were handpicked special and not just what one would casually throw in a cart to placate a child.

In the final corner of the room sat a smaller bookshelf; a DVD player on top with a TV above it mounted to the wall. The shelves held a multitude of Disney flicks, and other kid friendly movies, as well as the collection of Harry Potter movies and even Eragon. Adira could barely contain herself and so she ran to Crowley and threw her arms around his waist.

“Thank you!” She all but shrieked, but Crowley didn’t mind the loud squeal in the least. He pet her head gently and gave her a kind smile.

“You’re welcome, pet. Would you like a tour of the rest of the asylum?” He asked softly.

Adira nodded eagerly, but hesitated a moment. “Crowley, could you help me put my hair back?” She asked softly.

Crowley seemed to think about this a moment, but he easily agreed. “Yes, pet. Would you like to change into normal clothes as well?”

“Yes.” She responded as she looked around the room for a hair brush. There was a brush on the dresser, as well as a package of ponytail holders accompanying it. Adira wandered over and grabbed the hairbrush, snatching a single binder from the package, and turned back to Crowley to hold out the items.

Crowley took the brush and binder from the girl, but he seemed hesitant. He was afraid of hurting the girl; but Adira tugged on his sleeve to urge him, and made his decision for him.

Crowley nodded to himself and set to work on brushing out any tangles in her hair, though he did so slowly and ever so gently that Adira had even begun to grow impatient. “Crowley, you can be less gentle. I’ve felt worse, remember?”

Crowley felt his temper flare just a bit, but it wasn’t at the girl. He was just so angry that someone could have treated their child so harshly; he was guilty of being a horrible parent himself, but at least he could proudly say that he’d treated Gavin like a human being and not a punching bag. For the most part, at the very least.

Crowley did start brushing her hair normally, however, and soon had her hair in a tight-ish ponytail situated on the crown of her head. The long Auburn locks hung down to mid-butt on her, the curls looking so adorable, but at least it now sat off the nape of her neck. Her bangs hung down to her chin, and the curls framed her face; her blue eyes seemed to pop, sparkling so beautifully on her young face.

Crowley reached his hand out and cupped her face gently, the pad of his thumb rubbing her cheek softly before he turned and exited her room. “Let me know when you’re finished changing.” He said softly, closing her door.

The efforts Crowley had made on her room made it seem as if it wasn’t even a part of the asylum, and for that Adira was grateful; it was sanitary, clean, and very inviting. Adira wandered over to the dresser Crowley had gotten for her and opened the top drawer. It was filled to the brim with brand new undershirts and panties. Adira grabbed a pair of the panties, unsure what the undershirt tank tops would be for, and closed the drawer.

The second drawer was entirely new socks, already paired off, and tights. Adira grabbed a pair of solid black socks and moved on to the next drawer. The third drawer held long and short sleeved shirts; every single shirt held a design of some sort, and she even spotted some with just quotes from books. She grabbed a black shirt that held the quote from Harry Potter, ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,’ and shut the drawer. The fourth drawer was all pants, leggings, and skirts. She selected a sparkly black skirt and a pair of simple black leggings.

Even though she held a full outfit, Adira decided to check out the last two drawers. The fifth drawer revealed to be full of dresses, and the final drawer held all pajamas. She smiled as she closed the last drawer and began to change into her outfit. Her heart swelled with happiness as she changed, realizing that Crowley had to have chosen everything in her room himself, down to the details of her clothing. It was endearing just how much thought he had put into the choosing of the items, and it showed how well he knew her, despite them having only just met near a month and a half ago.

Satisfied that her outfit fit well, Adira collected up her dirty pajamas and glanced around for a hamper. She frowned as she realized there wasn’t one in the room and she called for Crowley.

Crowley opened the girl’s bedroom door and eyed her outfit with a smile. The shirt had been one of his personal favorites, though he didn’t know the reference himself; he just enjoyed the thought of the girl becoming comfortable enough to be a troublemaker, if she so wished.

“You ready, pet?” He asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Not yet. I don’t have any place to put my dirty clothes?” She said, though it was a questioning tone.

“Oh! I am sorry, pet.” Crowley said on a frown and snapped his fingers; a hamper appeared at the foot of the girl’s bed. Adira shucked the armful of pajamas into the hamper and set to work to find herself a pair of shoes.

For the first time since entering the room, she noticed a closet door and so she headed to it. Surely there would be shoes in there?

Opening the door, she noticed instantly she was right; there was a line of shoes on the floor of the closet. Shoes of all types; a solid black pair of converse, a pair of shiny black Mary Jane’s with just the tiniest bit of a heel that looked more for fancy attire, 4 separate pairs of colorful tennis shoes with lights around the bottoms that would flicker when the foot was stamped, and more than even that. Adira was at a loss for words; she’d never had so much stuff in her entire life, hell she didn’t even think her 3 brothers had so much stuff between all of them.

Shaking off her thoughts, Adira frowned at the fancy shoes, but before she could wonder why they were placed there her gaze landed on a row of dresses hanging in the closet. Her eyes widened as she quickly looked through the collection of dresses; they were eclectic, but every single dress looked like something straight out of a beauty pageant. They seemed extremely expensive and most certainly fancy.

She turned to Crowley with a questioning look, and he chuckled at her expression. “I plan to give you an amazing childhood, pet. You’ll want for nothing, and experience things other children could only dream of.” He stated simply, moving to her side. “This includes fancy restaurants, special parties, and the like.” He chuckled again before he gestured to the shoes.

Adira took the hint and sat on the plush carpet before she shoved her feet into the converse; the shoes fit perfectly and she quickly laced them up before she stood back up and pushed her hand into Crowley’s. “I’m ready now.”

“Let’s go, pet.” He smiled and began to lead her from the room.

“Crowley, why’d you take pity on me?” She asked softly when they made it to the hallway, and Crowley seemed to flinch at the question.

“What do you mean, pet?” He responded, attempting not to be hurt by the innocent question.

“Well... there are others like me…so why me?” She tried again, her gaze lowering to the ground.

Crowley pulled them to a stop and turned to crouch before the girl; he seemed to be doing that a lot, but he didn’t mind making himself eye-level to the girl. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her head until she met his gaze. “I did not take pity on you, pet. You needed a savior, and I just so happened to be honored enough to be such for you. I care for you, Dove. You gave me your trust, and I probably did not deserve it, but I am proud to have been honored enough to help you.” Crowley shucked himself of his current suit jacket and put it on Adira’s shoulders.

Adira blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes and shoved her arms into the sleeves of the jacket, smiling as she was enveloped in the comfort it brought, inhaling the scent that was so very Crowley; fancy cologne, with a hint of scotch and more than just a few undertones of Sulphur, not that she minded. “Thank you.” She said softly, fighting to produce a small hand from the sleeve of the oversized jacket.

Satisfied he’d helped cheer her up, Crowley took the girl’s hand and stood, continuing their tour. It took over an hour for him to show her around, but neither minded the walk. Crowley showed her every inch of the asylum, including the areas in which torture happened, but Adira didn’t seem squeamish about it; she accepted that those being tortured were bad people, and silently prayed to herself that she never ended up in such a situation. She also very easily agreed to stay away from such areas, nodding to the warning tones from Crowley to never touch any of the instruments either; “They are very dangerous, and not for kids.” He’d warned.

The end of the tour found the pair in Crowley’s throne room and he sat the girl on his throne. Crowley turned to the only demon he trusted; Berkley, his right hand ‘man,’ and barked an order of, “Call a meeting!” which wiped the surprised look right off the demon’s face.

“Yes, my King.” Berkley responded, bowing to Crowley before he disappeared.

Crowley turned back to Adira and gave her a reassuring smile before he turned back to the throne room. In just the few seconds it took him to smile at Adira, the room had filled with his lackeys. This was why he respected Berkley so much.

Crowley walked down the aisle the demons had formed, looking every single one of them in the eye before walking back up towards his throne. “You may be wondering why there is a human child sitting on my throne.” He gestured to Adira, who drew herself more inside of his jacket in slight fear. “That child will be living here from now on. I will be hand selecting demons I trust to stand guard outside of her bedroom door, and to flank her when she is NOT in that room.” Crowley leveled the entire congregation with a menacing glare. “She is not to be harmed in any sort of way. I don’t care if she trips and skins her knee; I will take it out on your asses! Got it?!” He roared and every single demon paled in fear. Crowley grimaced at the small whimper he heard from the girl and waved his hand at the demons, making every single one disappear aside from Berkley.

Crowley rushed over to his throne and squatted before it, frowning gently. “I am sorry, pet. You are just very special and they are demons; you remember I said I was the King? Well, these demons won’t hesitate to try to overthrow me if they think they can.” He pat her knee gently in reassurance.

Adira nodded and sniffed back her tears; she understood, but it didn’t stop her from being triggered. She was, after all, a survivor of abuse and she held the signs of PTSD already. Adira’s eyes traveled past Crowley and landed on Berkley, who stood as if he was a soldier awaiting orders. Crowley turned to follow her gaze, and then motioned for Berkley to come forward.

Once the demon was closer, Crowley turned back to Adira. “Pet, this is Berkley. If I am not around, you can trust him to help with anything you need.” Crowley glanced back at his right hand man. “Berkley, I would like you to meet Adira.”

The demon bowed respectfully, fisting a hand and placing it over his heart as he did. “Enchante.” He said, his accent very formatively French.

“H-hello...” Adira squeaked softly, lowering her gaze.

Berkley pulled himself back into a respective standing position as Crowley addressed Adira again. “He’s going to help me choose demons for your protection.”

Adira nodded to him and bit her lower lip tentatively. “C-can I trust them?”

“Well, pet, I would suggest you not interact too much with them. But you can trust them with your safety.”

After Adira agreed, Crowley pulled her to stand and held her hand tightly. “Let’s go interview some of these useless monkeys, shall we?” He smirked at the girl and she giggled in response. Crowley froze in surprise. Had he heard that right? He felt a swell of…happiness? Pride? Something human.

He grinned at Adira, and he was almost sure he looked like a crazed lunatic, but he didn’t care. He scooped her up and hugged her tightly to himself. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that beautiful sound from you, pet.”

Adira giggled again and wrapped her arms around his neck, though she leaned back enough to look at him. “You’re funny. It’s just a laugh.”

Crowley shook his head; he wouldn’t be able to make her understand just how important a step it was that she was giggling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                               

A few hours later found Adira playing in her bedroom, or rather, changing the decorations a tad to her liking. Between Crowley, Berkley, and herself, they’d finally come to an agreement on 5 different demons they felt they could trust. The demons would take rotating shifts and turns standing guard outside her room or following her around, two at a time. Crowley had demanded that if she left her room, then one demon would stand guard to ensure there would be no trap awaiting her when she returned, and though Adira hadn’t thought of that, she was grateful for his protectiveness.

Adira hummed to herself as she selected which stuffed friends to put on her bed, and which stuffed friends to decorate her little reading alcove. It was tedious, but she didn’t mind in the least; she couldn’t even remember a time in which she last had a singular stuffed friend, let alone the 49 (she counted) Crowley had bought for her.

An hour had slipped away by the time Adira had finished her task, and she was now bored. She didn’t know how to work the DVD player Crowley had gotten her, and she really didn’t feel like asking. And though she was definitely a bookworm, she wasn’t in the mood to read at present. Adira furrowed her brow as she thought of what to do; she couldn’t go seek out Crowley’s company, as he had warned her he would be busy until dinner time. “Mundane tasks, pet.” He’d told her before he’d left.

She sighed and moved to her door, pulling it open. She had been contemplating wandering around the asylum, but when she saw her guards, she decided otherwise. “Hi.” She said softly to get their attention; they hadn’t even acknowledged her when she’d opened the door.

One of the demons, a male, sneered down at her for a moment before he went back to standing straight-backed. The other however, a female, gave her a twitch of a smile. “Hello.” She’d responded.

Adira stuck her tongue out at the male demon and turned to the female. “I’m Adira.” She said softly, attempting to start a conversation.

“I am aware.” The female responded, a ghost of an amused smirk playing on her lips; she didn’t bite the bait.

“What’s your name?” Adira inquired softly, trying a bit harder to start a conversation of some sort.

“Meg.” The demon responded, though she still wasn’t offering to further the conversation.

Adira sighed, but tried one last time. “Why did you agree to guard me, if you don’t like me?”

The demon frowned and stared down at Adira with intense brown eyes. “I don’t not like you, child. I don’t know you. And I know better than to cross Crowley in any way.” Her voice was laced with honesty, but also something deeper... something Adira couldn’t identify.

Adira sighed again and looked at the ground. “I just wanted someone to talk to.” She pouted a little bit.

Meg gave a sigh of her own and turned to the girl. “Listen, kid. I don’t think Crowley would like you associating with the likes of me.”

Adira looked up into Meg’s deep brown eyes. “I don’t care. I want a friend.” She said a bit rudely, but the tone wasn’t directed at the demon; more at the fact that she was bored and lonely right now.

Meg simply shook her head and repositioned into her former stance, signaling the end of the conversation. Adira sniffed back her tears and took the hint, turning back into her room and shutting the door behind her sadly. She went to her bookshelf and dug out Eragon before she made herself comfy on her alcove. She sighed and flipped to the page she’d left off on in Sam’s book, deciding to read despite the want for human interaction.

Adira had lost herself in the book, not even realizing she’d read the rest of the day away until Crowley cleared his throat. She let out a startled squeak and dropped her book before she could stop herself. Her cheeks dusted pink in embarrassment as she moved to pick up her book from the floor. “Y-yes?” She asked softly as she willed her heart to stop thumping wildly in her chest.

“It’s after 9 at night, pet. Bedtime.” He said, chuckling softly at the girl’s flustered reaction.

Adira gave him a pout in response. “But that isn’t even that late.” She huffed, a small note of a whine hitting her tone. She’d clearly been awake much later than that in the past; hell, she’d met with the demon well after midnight before she came to live with him.

“Yes, Dove, but you are a growing girl and you need your sleep.” Crowley said simply before he gestured to her dresser. “Go get in your pajamas, pet.” And with that, he disappeared from the room to give her privacy. His tone suggested not to disobey, though there was no underlying threat of anything but stern words if she did.

Adira sighed and marked her book before setting it on the cushioned seat of her little reading nook. She decided to do as he said and moved to her dresser to pull open the bottom drawer. She eyed the selection available to her and after a moment, just grabbed the first pair on top on the right side.

She quickly shimmied out of her clothes, disposing of them into the hamper, and pulled on the pajamas; they turned out to be a black footed sleeper style, pictures of realistic dragons adorning them. She smiled at design and called out to let Crowley know she’d finished changing.

Crowley reappeared in the bedroom and watched as Adira yanked the ponytail holder out of her hair. “Those pajamas look darling on you, pet.” He smiled and grabbed the hairbrush from her dresser.

“Thanks...” She responded softly, still pouting from having to go to bed earlier than she typically did.

Crowley chuckled at the girl and began to brush her hair. Once he was satisfied there were no more tangles, he braided it down her back; it was a sloppy braid, but with time he was sure to get better. Adira pulled the braid over her shoulder and stared at it in confusion. She didn’t think the demon would even know what a braid was, let alone how to do one.

Crowley replaced the brush in its resting spot on the dresser and ushered Adira into bed. “Alright, pet. Time for bed.” He said, slightly amused by the dirty look he got in response; but she listened and climbed onto her bed.

“I still don’t see why I can’t just stay up and read...” She grumbled softly as she crawled underneath her blankets.

Crowley chuckled again and began tucking her into bed. “Because, pet. You’re five years old, and I intend to give you a real childhood. This includes the nasty bits like rules and things you don’t like.” He gave her a small smirk.

Adira huffed as if she was annoyed, but really she couldn’t help but smile at Crowley. “Thank you.” She said, and she completely meant it.

“Of course, Dove.” He responded softly and gave a kiss to her forehead. “Good night, pet.” After her mumbled ‘night’ in response, Crowley turned out the lights and exited her room quietly.

Adira tossed and turned for over an hour, but eventually she was able to fall asleep. But the peaceful sleep didn’t last for very long, when she was overcome with a nightmare.

*She was back in her house, but it felt like home. She was younger, back when her father was still alive. They were in his computer room, like they used to be; but the image was so vivid that Adira didn’t realize it was only a memory. She felt as if she were actually there.

She was seated on a pillow that was covering an old milk crate; her dad had commandeered it for her to use so she wasn’t relegated to the floor. She was just watching him play computer games, but neither minded the silence. It was comforting.

Before long, her dad had shut down his game and began playing music. They both sang along to multiple songs, and soon her dad had her scooped up into his arms and was dancing with her while they belted out songs. ‘Nicotine’ by Panic! At The Disco played, and they sang happily, dancing and twirling around the computer room.

And the image faded away… Adira was still in her house, but it no longer felt like home. The loving presence of her father was gone; she could tell this was after he’d already died. She was in the basement on her makeshift bed; the sun was peeking through cracks around the shelving unit that hid the window, it was barely morning.

Adira felt a chill of fear down her spine, feet stomping on the floor above her head; her mother was awake. Adira’s dream self pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight; but it would do her no good. Nothing could stop her mother from yanking open the basement door, and tears sprang to her eyes as she heard her mother stomp down the old wooden stairs. She knew what was coming, and though it had happened for years, she couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her lips.

“Making noise already, filth?” Her mother sneered, and suddenly she was in Adira’s line of sight. She wasn’t harsh on the eyes, not in the least; an older woman, though she still looked in her thirties. Adira’s mother had wavy brown hair, a curvy figure, and angelic features; but those features denied her true nature. The little girl flinched and dropped her gaze instantly; it was forbidden for her to look at her mother, but the damage was already done.

Adira’s mother snatched up the girl’s hair and wrenched her into a kneeling position in front of her. Adira cried out in pain and her hands shot up to grasp at her mother’s wrist before she could stop herself. The reaction had been pure natural instinct, but she would pay for it.

Adira cringed inwardly and dropped her hands, but her mother backhanded her regardless. Spots danced across the girl’s vision and blood sprang from her nose instantly. Tears threatened to fall, but she knew better than to let them; not this early in a beating, at the very least.

“You do not look at me, filth!” Her mother sneered and shoved Adira’s head away, releasing her hair. Adira winced as she fell to her hands and knees but her position was short-lived; the toe of her mother’s shoe collided heavily with her ribs and she wheezed out her breath. Another kick sent her entirely to the floor, and she had to force herself not to curl into the fetal position. After three more kicks to her stomach and one to her jaw, her mother finally spit on her battered body and left her alone in the basement. Adira finally let the tears fall down her face.*

Adira shot up in her bed and shrieked into the darkness of her bedroom. She tumbled from her bed and crawled to where she’d left Crowley’s jacket on the floor. The moment her hand touched the familiar fabric, she ducked under it; just in time for her door to fling open, spilling in light and Meg came with it.

The demon was to her in an instant, and Adira flinched because for just a split second, her mind made the demon look like her mother. “Noooooo!” She wailed, but the demon seemed to ignore her, and seconds later she was enveloped in Meg’s arms.

Adira flung her arms around the comforting hold and wailed into the demon’s chest, sobbing as if her world was ending; to her, it was. Just a minute later Crowley was in Adira’s doorway and he flicked on the light, but he scowled at the sight. Adira didn’t notice, but Meg could tell he wasn’t happy she was with the child.

Crowley was at their side in an instant and he brushed Meg off while simultaneously scooping Adira into his arms bridal style. He shot Meg a look that said they’d talk about it later as he moved to sit on the girl’s bed, cradling her to himself. He began to rub her back and ‘shush’ her softly, glaring after Meg as the demon left the room.

Crowley rocked Adira in his lap, comforting her until her tears died down. Once he felt she was much calmer, he tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “What happened, pet?” He asked softly.

“I-I had a b-bad dream…” She sniffled softly. “I-I dreamed about being with m-my-y Mother again...” She hiccupped sadly and hid her face in Crowley’s chest, choking back sobs.

Crowley frowned and rubbed the girl’s back gently. “That will never happen, pet. I promise you.” He leaned down to press gentle kisses to the top of Adira’s head. He vowed to continue promising her she was safe until it sunk in. It didn’t bother him in the least; if she needed it, he decided he would provide it.

Before long, Adira was asleep once more, but Crowley was in no hurry to lay her back down. He continued to hold her and rock her in his arms well into the night. He sat holding her for hours before he finally tucked her back into her bed; but now that he’d put her back to bed, he decided it was time to have a little chat with a certain female demon nuisance.

Crowley quietly exited Adira’s bedroom and was thankful he’d chosen just the right time; it was shift change for the demons, which meant he could take Meg somewhere private and not worry about leaving Adira attended by only one.

Crowley grabbed Meg’s arm and disappeared from the hallway, appearing in his private chambers. The moment they appeared, he shoved the demon into a chair and glowered at her. “Care to explain why you were in Adira’s room?” He lifted his eyebrow, just daring Meg to anger him.

“I was comforting her. She was afraid, I was available.” Meg said matter-of-factly, which just made Crowley more irritated.

“I feel as though you have ulterior motives.” Crowley stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

Meg sputtered in indignation. “You do realize a child can become traumatized if left alone to deal with their anxieties for too long, right?” Meg spat in annoyance; how dare he accuse her of doing other than her job!

Crowley seemed to contemplate her words for a moment, before he placed a hand on either side of the chair and leaned in menacingly. “If I find out you are attempting to use that sweet child to overthrow me, or anything of the like, I will end you most painfully and slowly.”

Meg’s eyes widened just a bit, fear ratcheting through her ever so slightly at his threat. “I know better, Crowley.” She responded, though her voice was nowhere near being confident any longer; her tone was laced with her fear.

“It’s Majesty, to you.” He growled.

“Yes… Majesty.” She responded, thankful that her voice stayed steady and even.

Crowley pulled away, satisfied, and waved his hand to make Meg disappear from his presence. Once he was alone in his chambers, Crowley sighed to himself. He had never really dealt with a child before, having been neglectful of his own spawn, and even when he had been a father, he had never had to soothe nightmares or anxiety before. He couldn’t remember if his son had had nightmares or not, but he was sure he was never around to soothe them if he had.

Crowley pulled out his phone and sat down in the chair Meg had just been in, pulling up the browser option on his phone. He started googling tools and tactics for juvenile night terrors. It seemed if he wanted to raise this kid, he would need to learn some tricks in order to do so.

Chapter Text

The next four days passed for Adira much the same as the first. She spent most of her time in her bedroom reading; by the end of the fourth day, she’d finished Eragon as well as 2 Junie B. Jones books, and half of the first Harry Potter book. She spent most of her time in her room; much as she wanted to explore and venture around, she didn’t feel right in doing so as her ‘guards’ would not just need to follow her, but an extra would have to be summoned to watch her room. Since there was an attached bathroom in her room, a door hiding as a wall panel, she hadn’t needed much reason to leave her room aside from meal times.

Crowley joined her in the dining hall without fail and kept her company while she ate a light breakfast and a medium-sized dinner; her body was still not quite ready to handle more than a little oatmeal at breakfast and a toddler-sized meal for dinner, let alone adding in lunch. He was there every day for her meals, and he showed up every night without fail to tuck her into bed. Her bedtime was 9pm, every night, no exceptions; she still hadn’t stopped pouting about it, but she was never in the mood to fight it.

Adira’s nightmares also continued every single night without fail. It was roughly the same dream each time, though some of the details would be different; either the beating would be more severe, or the music was different, or her father would tickle her instead of dancing with her. But it always ended with her beaten, and she would shriek as she awoke. By the second night of night terrors, Crowley seemed to build a routine. He seemed to always be there to soothe her the second she was awake, and for that she was thankful.

Adira let out a soft sigh and dog-eared her book before tossing it at the foot of her little reading alcove. She flopped against some of her stuffed animals with a little huff, bored out of her skull. She was wondering what she could do (she still hadn’t asked someone to show her how to use the DVD player and TV) when she was reminded of the phone Dean had given her.

She rolled from her alcove to her feet and moved to her small accumulating collection of Crowley’s suit jackets. He kept giving her a fresh one every so often, but he would forget about the others and so she had 5 in her possession by this point. She tugged the one from the very bottom out and checked the pockets, but came up empty.

Adira frowned and checked the rest of the jackets, but all of those were empty as well. She didn’t think she’d imagined being given the phone, but maybe she had? She sighed and dropped the last suit jacket back to the pile. She had just begun to glance around for something else to do when her gaze landed on the cell phone lying on the dresser, attached to a charging cable and a note lying on top of the phone. Adira grinned and rushed to her dresser. She KNEW she hadn’t imagined it!

She tugged the phone off the charging cable and grabbed the note. ‘I see Squirrel gave you a phone, but no charger. Why did you not tell me about it?’ the note read, a big bold C at the bottom signifying it was from Crowley. Adira frowned a little but dismissed the note and turned on the fully charged phone. She stared at the large bold numbers alerting her to the time being 3:07pm.

It took a bit until the phone was fully loaded, but once it was, it alerted her to 7 text messages and 2 missed calls. Adira tapped at the phone; it didn’t take her long to figure out how to work it, and once she had some sort of control of the functions, she looked at the missed calls. There was a missed call from a number that wasn’t pre-programmed and a missed call from a number entered in her phone, but since she had not seen the name written down before it took some time for her to figure it out. After five minutes of sounding it out, she finally figured out it was from Crowley.

‘He must have been making sure the number was in this phone.’ She thought to herself before she moved on to the text messages.

There were two messages simply confirming the service period had restarted, which left five messages from real people.

The first message read, *What up, bitchez??!?!* from an unknown number. Adira frowned and responded to it anyways. *What is a bitchez?* she asked the unknown number, and then moved on.

The next messages read as follows;

*This is Dean. Are you getting my messages, Adeera?*

*Adeera? Are you okay?*

*I hope these are going through.*

Adira frowned; he’d spelled her name wrong. ‘Oh well,’ she thought as she responded to his most recent message. *I am ok. I forgetted I had the phone.*

The very last message was from Sam, also testing to see if it was working. She responded to him as well.

*Hi, Sam. I am ok. I am board.*

As Adira crawled onto her bed, her phone chirped with 4 new text messages. She frowned, ‘well that was fast.’

The first two messages were from the unknown number. *Very funny, Dean.* and *Are you on a Hunt?* were what they read, and it only confused Adira. *I am not Dean. What is on a Hunt mean?* She responded and moved on to the next messages.

Dean: *I am glad you’re okay.*

Sam: *Why are you bored?*

‘Oh, I guess I spelled that wrong.’ She thought to herself as she responded to Sam. *There not much to do here asides read. No one to talk to.*

As she hit send, another message chirped through from the unknown number.

*Not Dean? He gave me this number and said it would be his new one. Who is this then?*

*My name is Adira.* She responded.

Sam: *I’m sure it’s not so bad.*

Adira: *No, but I am alonely. I wish I can come see you.*

*Sorry, Adira. I’ll try Dean’s old number. Peace out!*

Adira frowned at the unknown number’s last message, but before she could respond, Sam sent another message.

Sam: *You can visit us any time. If Crowley can’t bring you, you can pray for Castiel.* Adira squinted at the message; the second name wasn’t one she had seen before either, but it didn’t take her long to sound it out. ‘That’s right. The angel that healed me.’ She thought to herself. She’d read about prayers in books before, and she’d seen them depicted on TV when she watched shows like 7Th Heaven with her father before, so at least she knew how to. But what if he was busy?

Adira took a deep breath, dropped her phone on the bed, and slid to the floor on her knees, clasping her hands and bowing her head with her eyes closed the way she’d seen on TV. “C-Castiel... I-I don’t know if you can hear me… o-or if you’re busy-“

The sound of fluttering wings and, “Hello, Adira.” from a deep, gravelly voice cut through her prayer and she gasped. Her head snapped up and she turned around fast, greeted by the sight of the Angel decked out with a tan trench coat and a medium blue colored tie that was on backwards and wasn’t tied right.

Her prayer had worked! She really hadn’t expected that. Adira pushed herself off the floor and gave him a small, nervous smile. “H-hello, Castiel...” She said softly, fidgeting on her feet.

“Did you need something?” He asked as he looked about her room in curiosity.

“I-I…um... was bored… And Sam said I could pray to you... So I can visit them...” She stuttered softly, feeling even more anxious than before. What if she had interrupted something important?

Castiel nodded in understanding. “You wish to go to the Bunker?” He asked, wanting confirmation.

“Yes... please.” She said politely, and Castiel opened his arms in response. She fidgeted once more before she moved into his arms. Castiel tightly grasped her to himself and successfully hid her face in his trench coat. Adira heard a fluttering of wings, and she felt her stomach lurch, and Castiel was pulling away from her within seconds. Despite the sound of wings, and feeling her stomach lurch, Adira hadn’t even realized they’d left her bedroom, but when she looked around she only saw the Bunker.

She looked up at Castiel in awe, despite that Crowley had done the same just days earlier. “That is so awesome. I’ll never get used to it.”

Castiel simply tilted his head in confusion at her words, but before he could comment, he heard himself being summoned. “I must go.” He said simply and stepped back from the girl before disappearing.

Adira blinked at the empty space in front of her and squirmed in her stance, anxiety settling over her. She was suddenly very nervous and wondering if she’d made the right choice to come visit, but before she could speculate too much, Sam was calling out to her.

“Hey, Adira! Great to see ya!” The massive man chirped happily and scooped her up into a bear hug. Adira gasped in surprise, but soon relaxed and hugged him back. “H-hi, Sam.” She responded softly, her eyes drifting down to her bare feet once she was set down.

*~~~~~~~Castiel~~~~~~~~*

The dark-haired angel appeared in Crowley’s bedchambers inside Needham Asylum and was met with the very angry looking King of Hell.

“Yes?” He inquired, staring at the livid demon.

“One of my guards informs me that you disappeared with Adira. Is this true?” His tone was dangerously low, as if challenging the angel to tell him they were lying.

“Yes.” Castiel responded, though his tone was more questioning than anything else. He seemed confused as to why this would make Crowley angry.

“Why?” Crowley demanded, the hazel of his eyes darkening.

“She called for me.” Again, Castiel’s tone held confusion and a questioning lilt to it.

“Did it not occur to you to make sure I knew? Leave a note, tell her guards, something?!” Crowley raised his voice at the end and slammed down the glass tumbler he’d been holding, scotch sloshing over the rim from the force.

“No.” Castiel answered honestly, and he meant it. It hadn’t occurred to him to tell Crowley that the girl had wanted to go to the Bunker.

Crowley’s eyes flashed to his demonic red for a split moment before settling back to hazel as anger seemed to radiate from him. “Where did you bring her?”

Castiel frowned at the anger that surged from the demon and stopped himself from telling Crowley where she was. Something in him said it was a bad idea, and so he vowed for telling a half-truth instead. “I do not know.” And it was true; she may have been left at the Bunker, but it did not mean she was still there, nor did it mean he knew exactly where in the Bunker she could be.

Crowley’s eyes flashed again to his demonic red, but they stayed this time. “What do you mean, you don’t know?!” He roared in anger, but when he moved to get in the angel’s face, Castiel had already disappeared.

*~~~~~~~~Adira~~~~~~~~*

Sam and Dean had been doing research but they packed it away once Adira’s presence was known. They needed a break anyways and she was a welcomed distraction.

Sam sat Adira on the library table, and both men took a chair in front of her. Sam was grinning ear to ear, and Dean seemed to match his enthusiasm, though in a less obvious way. Despite only having met the girl once, both men enjoyed the thought of a kid around.

“Is Crowley treating you well?” Dean asked right away, and he ignored the dirty look Sam shot him for the question; he really needed to know.

Adira gave Dean a big smile. “Yeah!” And she proceeded to describe, in great detail, her new bedroom. Both men listened intently, but they were also quite surprised by the amount of care and love that seemed to go into the decoration of the room. It was so unlike the demon Crowley they knew, they just couldn’t get over it.

After Adira finished telling them about her room, Sam decided it was time to make lunch. Dean pulled Adira into a hug then settled her onto his hip. “I am glad Crowley is taking very good care of you. What shall we do for today, then?”

Adira seemed to relax in his arms, feeling completely at ease, as she thought of her answer. “Can we listen to music?” She asked after a little bit of thought.

“Of course!” Dean chirped happily and began to look around for whatever contraption it was that Sam used. After a fruitless search, Dean gave up with a huff and wandered into the kitchen, Adira still on his hip.

“Hey, Sammy? How is it you play music?” He griped to his little brother, his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

Sam chuckled and added some salt to a pot of water he’d set on the stove to boil. “I got it.” He responded and headed from the kitchen. Dean followed behind and watched Sam’s every movement.

Sam moved to a short bookshelf and made a show of pointing out his iPod touch that was attached to an iHome base. “I have a playlist built specifically for you on this, Dean.” He murmured and set about turning on the music. He made a mental note to later show Dean exactly how to use it.

As the first lyrical notes of ‘Renegade’ by the band Styx began playing, Sam took that as his sign to return to the kitchen.

“Thank you!” Adira called happily, and Dean made a grunt of agreement as he eyed the electronic contraption like it would bite him. However, he decided to be fine with it…..for now.

As the guitar started playing a bit more heavily, Dean finally looked back at the girl on his hip and grinned at her. “Anything else you wanted to do?”

Adira’s cheeks seemed to turn pink and she bit her lower lip in nervousness. “W-well… M-my Dad and I… we used to dance... C-could you dance with me?” She stuttered softly.

Dean could tell how hard it was for her to ask, but he tried to play it off cool so as to put her at ease. “Absolutely!” He smiled and re-positioned the girl so she was hugged to his chest before he started swaying them around slowly. The dance definitely didn’t match the tempo of the song, but he was afraid of scaring the girl.

Adira giggled and loosely held his shoulders, content in the simple swaying movement. The pair danced around the Bunker library through the duration of five other songs before Castiel made an appearance. The trench-coat clad angel tilted his head and watched as they danced, confused about the human ritual.

“Hi, Cas!” Adira chirped and giggled, lifting one hand to wiggle her fingers at his presence. Dean simply gave him a smirk and kept up his movements, thrilled to hear the small child giggling.

“Hello.” Came the gravel-toned response. Confusion seemed to radiate from the angel, but neither offered any explanation.

A few more songs came and went before Dean huffed in a show of tiredness. Adira hugged around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek as a thank you. She would have been content to just chill and listen to the music, but Dean had other ideas; moving to Castiel, Dean shifted his grasp on the girl and passed her off. Adira’s eyes widened in surprise and Castiel seemed to mimic her look, but he took her anyways. His arms were more hard, and his hold was much more stiff than Dean’s had been, and Adira was just as nervous, tensing up in the angel’s arms; it was one thing to be hugged for him to transport her here, but it was something entirely different to be held in his arms in this way.

Dean leaned over and whispered in Castiel’s ear, but Adira couldn’t hear what he said, and before she could ask, Dean was gone from the library towards the kitchen. Adira let out a small whimper and suddenly, Castiel’s hold become much more gentle and at ease. He moved her in his grasp, one arm moving under her butt and the hand on his other arm resting gently against her back. Adira’s hands gripped his shoulders slightly tighter than her hold on Dean had been, but Castiel didn’t seem to notice.

Castiel began to move slowly, his dancing seemed unsure and not quite graceful, but still soothing nonetheless. As soon as Adira settled into the rhythm, the music stopped playing. She frowned and pulled back a little to look at Castiel, who seemed a little embarrassed. “I have… been told to bond with you.” He said softly before clearing his throat in a very humanoid fashion. Before Adira could inquire, however, Castiel began to sing to her in his deep, gravelly voice.

“Just to see you smile

I’d do anything

That you wanted me to

When all is said and done

I never count the cost

It’s worth all that’s lost

Just to see you smile.”

Tears sprang to Adira’s eyes as he sang the familiar lyrics to her. It was one of the many songs her father used to sing to her, and it was one of her favorites.

Castiel sang the chorus a couple more times before he saw the tears in the girl’s eyes and frowned, stopping the dancing to ask her, “Did I offend you?”

“N-no. No, I was just…”

“Remembering your father? I am sorry. I read it in your memories.” He frowned, wondering if he had made a mistake.

Adira looked up at him in surprise. “How?” She asked in utter confusion. How would he be able to read her memories?

Castiel tilted his head and responded bluntly, “I am an angel of the Lord. I can read your mind.”

This only confused Adira further. “But how?” She asked again.

“I…am not sure.” Castiel responded honestly. “I suppose it has to do with me being a celestial being, rather than a human like you.”

Adira sighed, and prepared to push further but before she could, Dean appeared to let them know lunch was ready. It wasn’t exactly lunch, but more of an early dinner at this point as it was after 4 in the afternoon now.

Castiel carried the girl into the kitchen and sat her in a chair at the makeshift-island-turned-table, but Dean stopped him before he could leave. “Join us, Cas.” The elder brother suggested and gestured to a fourth available seat.

Castiel hesitated for a moment, but eventually gave in and settled himself into the available seat. Dean dropped into his own seat next to Castiel and Sam dealt out four equal bowls of Mac and Cheese before he settled into the seat next to Adira.

Adira grinned and licked her lips before digging in happily; the meals at Crowley’s home were nice, but the chef always made more fancy-seeming meals of steak and baked potatoes, or venison (yuck) with creamed spinach (double yuck!). Adira preferred simple meals like this, but she knew better to complain and so she forced herself to eat a little even though she didn’t actually like it.

Castiel even began to eat, and despite not needing the nutrition it provided, he enjoyed it anyways. Everyone settled into a comfortable silence, the only sounds being forks (spoon for Adira) clinking against glass bowls, murmurs of appreciation, and a stray comment every so often.

By the time everyone was on their second bowl of food, a war broke out. Dean was the instigator and flung a spoonful at Sam, who returned fire after he recovered from his shock. It wasn’t something they did often, but every adult decided to give into childish whims, especially when they heard Adira’s squeals and giggles from the fun.

*

Castiel had just loaded his fork with bits of macaroni and prepared to fling it at Sam, but he froze when he noticed movement over Sam’s shoulder. How had he not noticed sooner?

“Well, I am glad to see you all enjoying yourselves.” Came the growled sarcastic voice of Crowley as he stepped into view.

Adira spun in her seat, but her face fell when she saw how angry Crowley seemed to be. Sam twisted in order to see better himself, but he, like Cas and Dean, was apprehensive of the King of Hell’s appearance.

“Would you like to know what I have been doing this entire time?” Crowley’s eyes seemed to glow red with his fury. “I have been worried sick out of my bloody mind!” He growled, his voice seeming to echo in the now silent kitchen. Adira jumped a little in her seat and Dean narrowed his eyes.

Crowley held up his hand in irritation to stop the lot of them from saying anything; he was nowhere near finished. He narrowed his gaze on Castiel first. “Feathers. I am so very glad to know that you are still as trustworthy as when we were cracking open purgatory. I will keep that in mind.” The words seem to flow like venom.

He turned his gaze to both brothers next, both of whom seemed to line up in his sights just perfectly. “And you two.” He began, glaring more heavily as his eyes flashed to red. “You both should know better.” From there, he decided to grab Adira and leave them on that note.

Crowley was gone before any could react, but his intention did not work; neither Winchester felt repentant or ashamed, but rather they were extremely confused as to what had just happened.

Crowley appeared in his bedchambers with Adira in tow and wasted no time. His hand connected with the seat of her pants sharply, just once, and then he led her to an empty corner. “Face the corner. Do not move.” He ordered firmly and moved away to sit in one of the chairs adorning his chambers.

Adira had reacted with complete and utter shock at the unexpected swat to her ass. It was not something she had ever experienced in her life, and she wasn’t sure how to react. Why had he struck her? Was he going to start beating her, too? He’d seemed so kind; what had she done wrong?

She’d barely been in the corner for half a minute before the shock wore off and she dissolved into tears. She was sobbing hysterically within a minute, fat tears and snot dribbling down her face. Another minute of sobbing and she couldn’t even see any longer from it.

Crowley felt an ache in his chest as he listened to the hysterical sobbing, but he steeled himself; all of the reading he had done the night before suggested being firm in discipline. He had also delved into archives about being a foster parent. The articles had suggested that if one disciplined an abused child, one kept very close by said child to show that mistakes are okay to make and that one still cared, but the discipline was not abuse. Said articles claimed that an abused child could become traumatized if left to deal with the discipline on their own.

While Crowley was quite obviously known for torment and being wicked, and had botched being a parent when he was human, traumatizing Adira was the very last thing he wanted. He hadn’t the faintest clue on what he was doing, but he wanted to try his damnedest to right by the small girl that was currently in the corner.

Crowley had intended for Adira to be in a time-out for ten minutes, but by the time the seventh minute had rolled around and she was gasping for breath, he decided she’d been there long enough. He was at her side in mere seconds and pulling her tightly into his arms.

“No…NO!” Adira screamed and struggled against him. She couldn’t see through her tears, and she could barely breathe, but she had enough energy to fight against him. ‘If he hates me, why is he hugging me?!’ her mind cried out as she flailed against his grasp, but it was to no avail. Crowley kept holding her until she just simply collapsed against him.

Once he was sure the fight was gone from her, he carried her to the chair he’d been in and sat, adjusting her in his lap. He continued to hug her and allow her to sob herself out. Crowley felt agonized in waiting until the sobbing and hyperventilating had subsided, but he was unsure of what to do other than rubbing her back and shushing her quietly.

What felt like hours (but was more realistically fifteen minutes) passed before Adira had calmed down to just mere sniffles and hiccups. Crowley took this as his chance to talk to her; he adjusted her so that she was looking at him and he brushed the hair from her face. “I did not enjoy punishing you, pet, but it was warranted. You left without permission, and without letting me know where you were going or that you were leaving at all. No note, no nothing. I was worried!” Crowley frowned and decided to try a different tactic. “Adira, dear, there are very bad people out there that can and will hurt you if they get the chance. Most will do so just because they know it will hurt ME. Do you understand?”

And she did understand. His explanation made it click in her head; she HAD done something wrong, but he had only been correcting her mistake, not hurting her the way her mother had. Adira gave him a nod to confirm that she understood before she adjusted herself on his lap so as to hide her face in his chest. The hiccupping had stopped but her breathing was shaky, and she was still sniffling; she was not ready to leave his hold in any sort of way, and Crowley seemed to pick up on that. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her and rubbed her back gently.

“I am sorry I had to be so firm, pet. You really scared me.” He said gently, and it occurred to him that this was likely the first time he had ever said an apology and actually meant it. This girl was bringing out the human in him, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Crowley continued to just simply hold the girl until her body had become dead weight in his lap, a sign that she’d fallen asleep. He would be worried if not for that he understood her body was still recovering from the severe abuse situation he’d rescued her from. He carefully maneuvered her into a bridal-style hold before he stood and carried her to her own room to put her to bed.

Crowley used his powers to peel back her blankets before he laid her down; however, he hesitated before covering her up. He didn’t think sleeping in her day clothes would be overly comfortable, but he was unsure if it would be proper for him to dress her without powers; he wasn’t “attracted” to her, just the thought made him shudder, but he also felt it would be an intrusion of her privacy. After a minute of contemplation, he just simply snapped his fingers and she was changed into a soft nightgown that featured a collage of Junie B. Jones book covers on it; said nightgown would be unique, only something she now owned.

Crowley tucked the sleeping girl in and exited her room, but his night was far from over. He made sure Adira’s guards were positioned outside her door before he disappeared from the asylum. He wasn’t thrilled about leaving her there with only the trust that his lowly demon lackeys would keep her safe, but this needed to be done; it eased him a little to know Berkley was at the asylum, at any rate.

Crowley appeared in the Bunker library and was greeted instantly by a growled, “What NOW, Crowley?” from Dean.

“Nice to see you, too, Squirrel.” Crowley sarcastically quipped back. He waited until it seemed the 3 of them were paying attention. “I have no qualms about Adira coming here, but from now on, make sure I have knowledge of her visit.” It took a lot for Crowley to allow this, and the look of confusion from both Plaid 1 and Plaid 2 was beginning to make him rethink this decision.

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked, and it took everything in Crowley not to attempt to strike him.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Samantha.” Crowley quipped back.

“We aren’t playing dumb, Crowley. We honestly haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.” Dean responded, and even he seemed tense from holding back his own fist of anger; it was JUST like Crowley to show up and accuse them of things while also being vague about it.

“Big Bird here took Adira from her room without telling anyone or leaving a note. I only knew because her guards had heard her conversing with him and entered her room in time to watch them disappear. You are telling me you were not aware?” Crowley narrowed his eyes as if daring them to lie to him. He was very much not in the mood, not that he was ever in a mood to be lied to, but tonight was less lenient in his allowance of being fucked with.

“Sam and I honestly thought you knew she was coming to visit us, man. Much as we don’t like you, Sam and I both agree that you’d probably try to kill us if you thought we’d harm the kid in any way.” Dean responded, and it was clear to Crowley that he was speaking the honest truth.

Crowley turned his anger on Castiel alone after that. “From now on, you are not to take Adira anywhere without my permission. You put her in danger today, and I am not okay with that.”

Castiel frowned, but nodded in acknowledgement.

Satisfied he’d made his point, Crowley disappeared from the Bunker to his throne room to handle the tedious, annoying business he had to attend to.

Chapter Text

As Crowley had put Adira to bed before 6pm, it was logical that Adira would be awake much earlier than as was normal. However, she awoke later than was expected; Crowley had prepared for the girl to be awake around 2am, but as she hadn’t made herself known by then, he decided to retire to his chambers.

Neither demons nor angels needed sleep, but Crowley wasn’t a typical demon. He enjoyed sleeping, despite it being a human trait, as it was a great excuse to take a break from the boring bullshit that being King of Hell entailed, plus silk was a guilty pleasure and he so did enjoy his silken sleepwear.

Adira was awake by 4am and she felt incredibly lonely when she woke. So much so that she decided to seek out Crowley, something she never really did on a normal basis. She slid from her bed and shivered from the cold hitting her previously warm legs. She huffed a little and moved over to her dresser. Adira tugged open the very bottom drawer and dug through the pajamas until she found a matching fleece top and pants.

She shed herself of her nightgown and shivered from the chill that hit her now bared skin. As she went to pull on her new pajamas, a crinkling sound finally registered in her ears and she glanced down, noticing the pull-up for the first time since waking. She frowned as she noticed it was used and she sighed sadly.

Adira wet the bed at night, it was true, but she had hoped it was a product of her situation and not really a lack of bladder control. Even though she pouted, she went into her bathroom and stripped herself of the soiled pull-up before heading back into her room. She contemplated going without a new one, but decided to put one on anyways; after all, she could fall asleep again and she didn’t know how Crowley would react if she actually wet the bed without protection. The thought scared her and it was what made her decide to put on a clean pull-up.

She tugged on the matching pajamas, but she wasn’t entirely warm afterwards. She stared down at the purple pajamas covered in stars and moons, and wondered what she was missing. It didn’t take her long to realize that her feet were cold, and that was settling a chill over the rest of her body. She pulled open the drawer containing socks and dug around until she found a pair of solid purple colored fleece socks and tugged them on her feet. They seemed to do the trick and she started feeling warmer soon afterwards.

Adira headed for the door to her room but hesitated before pulling it open. A feeling washed over her, a feeling of extreme and irrational anxiety. She was soon whimpering to herself, but she wasn’t entirely sure why, and she wasn’t able to focus on the thoughts swimming around in her head. The only thing she could think to do was to collect one of Crowley’s suit jackets, and that was exactly what she did. She wandered over to the pile and grabbed one from the top before yanking it on.

It calmed her down a little bit, but not enough. By the time she made it back to the door, she was shaking. It took a moment for her to clear her mind enough in order to find the courage she needed to open the door, and once she had, she was surprised by what she found. Or rather, what she didn’t.

The hallway was empty. Where were her guards? Had Crowley told them to take the night off?

Adira didn’t dwell on it. She was on a mission, and she was determined to see it out. Closing her door behind her, Adira made her way down the left side of the hall towards where she thought she remembered Crowley showing her he’d made his bedchambers. She couldn’t remember which door he’d said was his, however, and so she began opening doors and peering inside. She continued to wrench open doors, but the more she peered in that weren’t his, the more her heart began to race. There was a roaring in her ears that was, at first, the sound of heavy rainfall on the roof and windows of the asylum but quickly became the sound of her pulse.

Adira yanked open the door to an old storage closet and her breath picked up, turning into hyperventilation. Why wasn’t she finding his chambers?! She quickly shut the door and moved on to one across the hall, but she still wasn’t having any luck and soon, the asylum seemed to start spinning. Was there an earthquake? Did those happen in….what state were they in? Crowley had never told her.

It wasn’t long before she dissolved into tears, not that it stopped her search. She was absolutely determined to find Crowley, especially more so now that she was so scared. She was scared, right? This is what this is, right?

Finally, Adira pulled open the correct door and found Crowley’s chambers; the demon was sitting at a desk, in fact. However, just as relief washed over her and she was about to move towards him, there was a tremendous crack of thunder that shook the very walls of the asylum. The thunder died away and the sound of shrieking was left filling Adira’s ears. Who was shrieking? It took a few moments of composing herself to realize it was her shrieking.

Crowley actually jumped in shock at the sound of the blood-curdling shriek and knocked his tumbler of whiskey off his desk, whipping around to see Adira in the doorway of his bedchambers; her face was bright red and stained with both tears and snot, evidence she’d been crying. But what had made her shriek?

He was on his feet in mere seconds, but before he reached the young girl, another crack of thunder sounded and with it another scream. It seemed Adira was afraid of the loud sound, but Crowley didn’t think much on it. He grabbed her in a tight hug and lifted her in his arms, hugging her tightly in his arms.

He uncharacteristically began to pet her hair and rock her in his arms. “Shh… It’s just thunder, it won’t hurt you. I’m here… it’s okay, I’m here...” He repeated. Her fear seemed to radiate off of her in the form of sobbing and shaking, and it was worrying to the demon. Fears were one thing; he could probably show her there was nothing to fear. But this seemed more than that, and not to mention that it was towards something that truly, literally, could not harm her.

It took longer to calm her than Crowley would have liked, but he finally got her quieted enough to talk to her. The rain was still pouring down and the wind was howling, but the thunder was much quieter. He rubbed Adira’s back gently and leaned her back enough in order to look her in the eyes. “Are you okay, pet?” He asked softly. It was the only thing he could think to ask, but after he’d asked it, it just seemed a stupid thing to have asked.

Despite the fact she really didn’t seem okay, and the thunder scared her, Adira nodded to Crowley’s question. There wasn’t much else she could do, but she curled into him in a contradictory way; she was slightly worried he may put her down since she’d nodded that she was okay.

Crowley began to clean her face with the sleeve of his suit jacket; an act that would never have crossed his mind before he’d ever met the girl. In fact, had someone told him he’d be doing such a thing in the future, he would have reduced them to dust for the mere utterance.

Once he was satisfied her beautiful face was cleaner, he began to rub her back and rock her once more. “Would you care to tell me what frightened you, pet?” He asked softly. A small part of him was hoping it was just that tensions were high from the earlier evening, but a nagging feeling told him it was something else.

“I-it was too loud...” She said softly and huffed out a little sigh. “I don’t like loud...” She frowned to herself, and Crowley knew right then that it was a left over trauma from her previous living situation. She didn’t have to tell him; he knew that, to her, ‘loud’ meant ‘punishment.’ It was why she’d flinched each time his voice had escalated thus far, and it was why she covered her ears if a noise was an octave above normal.

Crowley sighed as realization struck him of just how bad her PTSD seemed to be. Something had to be done, and soon, but he wasn’t sure just where to start. He pressed a gentle kiss to Adira’s forehead and decided he would figure something out later when he had more privacy to be with his thoughts. “How about we get some food in your stomach, Dove? You slept an awfully long time, and I know you ate before you were put to bed, but it’s still been quite a while since you last ate.”

“Yes, please.” She agreed fairly easily, laying her head on his shoulder. Crowley was satisfied with the agreement and made his way into the hallway, but paused when he saw it empty.

“Adira, where are your guards?” He asked, trying to mask the irritation in his tone. She sighed and murmured under her breath, but he got the gist of what she was saying. “Where they not at your door when you came here?”

Adira shook her head. “It took me a long time to find your room.” She yawned softly, unawares of how bad the implications of that were.

Crowley, on the other hand, was incredibly displeased with this information. He turned back into his chambers and sat Adira on his bed. “I have to put off breakfast for just a few minutes, pet. Stay here.” He ordered her gently. Despite her wide-eyed confusion, Adira nodded her consent.

Crowley wasted no time; he left his chambers and sealed the door behind him so that no entity aside from himself could enter. He was seething with anger as he searched the asylum for the worthless demons that were supposed to be protecting the little girl, and he was no less angry when he found each of them. Porting himself to his throne room, he made a point to port each of them as well and leveled them with a glare that would melt their skin like acid if looks could do such a thing.

“Need I describe to each of you how incredibly displeased I am to find out Adira has been unguarded all night?!” He roared in anger, causing all of them but Meg to flinch from the force. Crowley’s eyes narrowed at Meg; was she testing him? Crowley stormed over to her until they were practically nose-to-nose and all but growled at her; “Just why do you seem to be defiant in your stance, pissant?”

Meg stiffened her spine, but took care to keep any aggression from her tone. “It was not my rotation to be on watch, so I was unaware that she was unprotected, King.”

Crowley narrowed his eyes more, but did not allow his anger to overshadow her truth; she was right, it was not her rotation. “You are free to leave.” He barked and turned back to the rest of the demons, waving his hand to rid of the brunette before he changed his mind. “As for the rest of you, speak up on who was on rotation before I take it out on each of your hides!” He snarled. He was growing angrier by the moment, and was nearing deciding to just kill all of them for this.

A meek demon spoke up after far too much hesitation; “I t-think I may have been on rotation, S-Sir.” Crowley snapped his fingers and reduced the demon to dust before leveling the final three. “Anyone else? I know for a fact I assigned two per rotation. Speak up, or you all suffer!” He growled viciously.

A second demon began to raise her hand and Crowley reduced her to dust before she could say anything. He wasn’t interested in hearing what she had to say, he was far too angry to care. He glared at the final two demons in the room. “Take this as a warning. Next time, I won’t be so forgiving. I WILL endlessly torture any others who fail me. That is a promise.” He waved his hand to rid them from his throne room before he stormed back to his bedchambers; however, he forced himself to calm before he opened the door.

Crowley opened his door and greeted Adira with a very soft smile. “All taken care of, pet.” He said gently as he moved to his bed and collected the girl back into his arms. Adira gave him a slight nod and snuggled into his chest. She seemed a bit more reserved than he would have liked, but he chalked it up to her being tired. “Shall we go get food now?” She gave him another nod, and with that, he headed towards the dining hall.

He leveled a glare at the demons that followed, still incredibly displeased they hadn’t been there in the first place, but he said nothing. It didn’t take long for the chef to whip something up for the small girl, but she refused to sit in a seat of her own when Crowley attempted to sit her at the table. It seemed she was in a very clingy mood, which worried the King of Hell, but he let it slide.

He settled into a chair and helped Adira to face the table so she could eat her breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. It wasn’t a lot, but it seemed to take a very long time for the girl to eat. She picked at the miniscule meal for far too long a time than Crowley liked, but he tried not to comment about her lack of appetite. She was very silent throughout the meal, which made Crowley quiet in turn; he began to wrack his brain for options on how to help her in any way he could.

Despite how long she had taken to eat, breakfast was over far too soon for Crowley’s liking and he sighed as he realized he’d need to part ways with Adira. For now, at the very least; he had many things he needed to do, and had just added a few things to his plate as well. He carried the young girl to her bedroom at a rather slow pace, preparing himself for parting from her for the day.

Despite the seemingly snail’s pace he’d taken, they were soon at her room and he set her on her feet, much to her discontent. He crouched before her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I have things I need to attend to, pet, but I will return at dinner time for you, unless you need me beforehand. Will you be all right?”

Adira’s eyes welled up, but she nodded anyways. It always saddened her to be left alone for the day, but she understood he had a job and she wasn’t one to ask for undue attentions. Once Crowley had disappeared from her sight, Adira turned on her heel into her room and slammed the door behind her. It was unfair to her that she wasn’t allowed to go with him!

Crowley stopped in his trek to his throne room when he heard the door slam. He instantly knew it had been Adira’s door that had slammed, but he was unsure of whether to see why or continue to his throne room. A feeling nagging at him told him that the girl had grown angry with his departure, but he was unsure whether or not he should return to ask her why she was angry. Heaving a sigh, a weight settling over his chest, he resigned himself to continue on; he had a job, after all, and he couldn’t put it off, much as he’d like to.

Once the anger had left Adira, she did the first thing that came to mind; she grabbed the black stuffed bat with floppy wings she’d named Skreech and walked over to her closet, stepping inside and pulling the door shut behind her. She didn’t know why, but she felt incredibly sad and all she wanted was to be near Crowley, but she wasn’t allowed to be. So, she bunched herself up in a corner of the closet as far from the door as she could and hugged the stuffed bat to her chest, crying softly.

*

Crowley was completely at a loss with himself. He wanted so badly to return to Adira’s room and see why she was mad enough to slam her door, part of him was actually proud that she’d become comfortable enough to have such an outburst, but he had work to do. Not that he was doing said work. While he had spent the day in the throne room, he couldn’t admit to having actually gotten any work done. He had mostly been impatient for the day to progress into the evening, and the day just seemed to drag by progressively slow. He had seen snails crawl at a faster pace than the time seemed to go on this particular day.

By the time 6pm in Needham Asylum rolled around, Crowley wasted no time. He summoned Berkeley as soon as the clock struck 6. A conversation with Berkeley left Crowley confident enough to leave the demon in charge while he went to put his plan in motion.

“You know what happens if you fail me, Berkeley.” It wasn’t a question in the slightest, but the demon responded to Crowley anyways.

“Yes, mon roi.” The demon fisted his hand over his chest and bowed to Crowley, showing his utmost respect for the King of Hell.

Crowley inclined his head in the slightest of movements and ported himself away to take care of his plan.

*

Jody walked across the parking lot to her Sheriff’s cruiser, having just got off work. It wasn’t late, not as late as one might expect a Sheriff to work, but it was late enough in the evening that she was tired. It was after 5 in the evening, the little town she worked in was safe enough that she didn’t need to log in any extra hours, and she was on call if there was an emergency.

She froze as she went to unlock her door; she had been in enough bad situations that she just *knew* at this point. She let out an irritated sigh; so many things had been going so well. Alex was getting amazing grades. Claire had finally stopped fighting with Alex, and was getting better grades now that Jody had let up the slightest bit about the hunting. Alex had even promised a lovely dinner to be waiting when Jody got home. She shouldn’t have been surprised.

Stiffening her spine, Jody turned around from her vehicle and came face to face with a demon. The smell of whiskey and sulfur hit her nose, and it took everything in her not to cringe. She gave the demon a quick once-over (black suit, red tie, slight scruff, black hair) and realized this particular demon wasn’t lowly. His entire demeanor spoke volumes about his high stature, it screamed and demanded respect, and she realized instantly that he was Crowley, also known as the King of Hell.

“Hello, darling.” He drawled.

Jody folded her arms over her chest and gave him her very best ‘Mom’ look. “What do you want, Crowley?”

His eyebrows raised in surprise. “I see my reputation precedes me.” Slight amusement was evident in his voice as he stuffed his hands in his pants pockets, taking on a much more casual stance.

“It does. But that doesn’t explain what you want.” Jody was having none of his shit. It took everything in her not to attempt his life as it was; she understood he could be a worthy adversary, but she also realized how much of an important pawn he could be as well and she didn’t really want to sully that. She wasn’t sure if she could survive a fight with him, but he was a demon and her instincts were screaming at her for even attempting to converse with him.

“You have teenagers.” He stated.

Jody raised an eyebrow at his words. She was torn between giving him a ‘duh’ look and slapping her palm to her face. She was agitated that he’d interrupted her getting home, and was now avoiding giving her a straight answer. “I do.” She didn’t even try to hide the annoyance in her voice at this point.

“Orphans seem to flock to you.” He shifted his stance a little bit. A very unsettlingly human feature of unease fell over him for a split moment, but Jody noticed it anyways. “You seem…..safe.”

Despite noticing the slip in confidence from the demon, Jody grew uneasy with what he was saying. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and took on a slightly more defensive stance. “Where are you going with this, Crowley?” Despite the agitation and suspicion she felt, Jody had kept her voice calm and even.

Crowley, on the other hand, seemed to notice she was losing her patience and sighed. “I have a little girl.” He tried to ignore the shocked look that overtook the Sheriff’s features. “Long story short, she was incredibly abused and I saved her. But she’s having some problems now that I don’t think I can help her with. I have a proposition for you.”

All of the fight seemed to have fled from Jody at his revelation. It was true that she was basically a homing beacon for wayward humans, but it still didn’t exactly explain what he expected of her. “I’m not interested.” She said simply and turned back to unlock her door.

Crowley put his hand on the window of her car door and shut it before she could open it much further than a few inches. “I didn’t ask if you were interested.” He stated. He was trying to keep as civil as possible, for Adira’s sake, but it was growing incredibly difficult for him to do so. He was Crowley, the bloody King of Hell for cripes sakes!

Jody shot him an incredibly dirty look, but didn’t attempt to pry him away from her car or stab him. “Fine.” She grunted. It pissed her off to give in to him, but it seemed like her best option at this point. The demon could easily kill her with just a flick of his wrist, so for him to seek her out, it was probably important.

Crowley sighed and pulled his hand away from her car door. “My girl… Her name is Adira. She’s five years old.” He turned his head slightly so as to stare off at a tree. “I feel she needs therapy.”

Jody stared at Crowley for what seemed like an eternity while she waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. Not without prompting, that is. “And..?” She pressed impatiently.

Crowley glared at the Sheriff for a split second before he continued. “My proposition is this; I will pull my demons back so you will not have to worry about their interference in your town, as well as offer any and all protection I can. In return, I want you to house Adira for four nights out of the week, each week, and make sure she gets to all therapy AND doctor appointments. She is human. She needs therapy, and she needs to see doctors about physical ailments that I may not know about.”

Jody was shocked by Crowley’s proposition. He wanted her to take care of a child? A CHILD? She hadn’t taken care of anyone so young since she’d lost her son. The implications were near catastrophic. If she were to fuck up this child, Crowley would likely kill her AND the teenagers in her care. Not to mention that she had a job AND the aforementioned teenagers to care for on her plate. She was a Hunter, to top it all off.

“No! No way! I can’t do that!” She could laugh at the audacity, but she didn’t. “Why ask ME, of all people? Don’t you have demons you could ask? Just ask one of your lesser demons to play doctor to the kid. I’m willing to bet you have demons playing nursemaid! Psychiatrist is just the next step, isn’t it?”

A dark look fell over Crowley’s features and he stalked slightly closer to Jody, to which the Sheriff backed up. “You act as if you have a choice in this, love.” Crowley placed a hand on her car next to the side of her head, his voice menacingly low as he leaned in and almost whispered. “I will return in one hour with Adira. She will stay with you until Friday. It is up to *you* to get her enrolled with therapy and a doctor.”

He didn’t give Jody a chance to respond. He simply vanished back to the asylum to begin packing a few bags for Adira, clothes and whatnot that could reside in Jody’s house. He also needed to explain to Adira what would now become a normal routine for her. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but he knew it needed to be done, and with any luck he could probably convince Jody to enroll Adira in an elementary school once the year began.

Chapter Text

Despite the fact that Crowley had told the Sheriff he’d return in an hour, he took his time packing the bags. He was reluctant to put Adira in this situation, but it was the most viable solution he could think of. He wasn’t exactly equipped to care for the young child in the way she would need; not from the Asylum, at least. Maybe he would think of a more permanent solution in the future, but for the time being this was what needed to be done.

As he puttered around Adira’s bedroom, which seemed devoid of the girl herself, he began to think back to when he’d first began getting to know her.

*

It had been a couple weeks since Crowley had met Adira by this point, and she’d finally gotten comfortable enough around him to let her guard down in order to read books. Crowley had been bringing books for her to read; he didn’t mind the silence in the least. It gave him ample opportunity to study her subconscious mannerisms.

Crowley had even lowered his own walls enough to sit on the grass with the girl; he had made damned sure there were no witnesses to this, as well as provided himself a blanket in which to sit. His suit was expensive, after all. He didn’t wish to tarnish the suit, nor his reputation, in any sort of way.

“If you could be a animal, what would you be?”

Adira’s small voice cut through the silence that had been there for over an hour, but she didn’t look up from her book. She’d continued to read the entire time, and even flipped a page after her question came out. Crowley wondered if she’d even asked it, but there wasn’t any mistaking her voice.

“I am not sure, pet. I’d have to think about it.” Crowley tilted his head just a bit as he saw Adira lower her book a small bit. “What would you be, love?”

Adira’s nose wrinkled just the slightest bit as she thought about her answer. “I think I’d be a bird. I could fly far away from harm. I would be free, and beautiful.” She glanced over her book to give him a sad, gentle smile, and Crowley felt his rotten heart clench in response.

“I think you would be a wonderful bird, pet. A dove, actually. A sweet, beautiful mourning dove.” Crowley gave her a smile for the briefest of moments before returning to his usual resting stern face.

“A dove. I like that.” Adira turned a page in her book, and the matter seemed to be dropped. But Crowley decided that from that night on, she would be his dove. He would free her from her traumatic world one day. Never did he expect that day to come as fast as it did.

*

Crowley continued to pack bags for Adira; he was working on the third bag at this point, and he was doing so by hand because he was hoping for the young girl to return to her room so he could speak with her about the upcoming situation.

Crowley went to the closet and pulled open the door, intending to grab a couple pair of shoes for Adira to choose between while she was at Jody’s, but he froze when he heard a sniffle. He *had* heard a sniffle, right? He pushed the closet door open further and saw Adira huddled in the corner, clutching a black stuffed toy tightly. There were telltale tear tracks on her face, and her nose was drippy.

Ignoring the pang in his chest, Crowley crouched down in the doorway of the closet. “Adira?” He called softly, and felt another pang as he saw the girl flinch away as if he’d struck her with his words. “Dove, what’s wrong?”

A sob escaped from her as tremors began to rack her small farm, and she hid her face in the stuffed toy. Crowley had a sinking feeling in his stomach; he was at a loss as to what to do. She was very clearly in emotional distress, but he wasn’t sure how to help. “Dove?” He tried again, which just caused her to let out a wail into the stomach of the plush toy.

Crowley sank to his knees in the doorway of the closet and racked his brain for anything he could do. He was supposed to be acting as a parent to the girl! And here he was, packing bags to hand her off to someone she didn’t even know!

Crowley began to feel torn, wondering if he should follow through with his plan of having Jody bring her to therapy sessions. She clearly needed the therapy, but she was so hurt as it was that it seemed to him that she might not benefit from going. As Crowley was about to give up, an idea struck him. He would give this a try.

Leaning forward until his palms were on the floor, and he was at about eye-level with the girl, Crowley began to softly sing, his accent lilting gently.

“Oh no….

See you walking around like it’s a funeral…”

Adira’s head lifted the slightest bit, her eyes just barely peeking out, but neither the sobs nor tremors even slowed in their ferocity. Crowley continued to sing, hoping it might help coax the girl from her anxiety.

“Not so serious, girl; why those feet cold?

We just getting started; don’t you tiptoe, tiptoe, ahh…

Waste time with a masterpiece; don’t waste time with a masterpiece...”

A grin spread across Crowley’s face as Adira lifted her gaze to meet his. Her sobs started slowing, but were replaced by forceful hiccups; a sign she had cried much more than just two times. He decided to keep going, slowly moving forward on his hands and knees so as to be able to reach her.

“You should be rolling with me; you should be rolling with me, ahhh...

You’re a real life fantasy; you’re a real life fantasy…”

Crowley made it close enough to start gently pulling her from the corner, and was met with no resistance from her.

“But you’re moving so carefully; let’s start living dangerously…”

Crowley had made it out from the closet and swung Adira up into his arms as an emphasis on the word ‘dangerously.’ He was met with a gasp from the girl, but he didn’t relent.

“Talk to me, baby!

I’m going blind from this sweet, sweet craving, whoa-ohh!

Let’s lose our minds and go bloody crazy!

Ah ya ya ya ya I keep on hoping, we’ll eat cake by the ocean!”

Crowley had begun to dance around the room with Adira as he sang, and tickled her stomach every so often so as to put a sort of emphasis on the lyrics. He was sure he looked completely ridiculous, but he didn’t care in the least.

“Walk for me, baby!

I’ll be Daddy; you’ll be my baby, whoa-ohh!

Let’s lose our minds and go bloody crazy!

Ah ya ya ya ya I keep on hoping, we’ll eat cake by the ocean!”

Crowley kept up his onslaught of tickles, and by the time he had finished singing the chorus, he was met by the beautiful sound of giggles from the little girl in his arms, albeit congested sounding. Crowley breathed a sigh of relief and sunk onto Adira’s bed, settling her into his lap. He held her close to him with one arm, gently tilting her head up to look at him with his free hand.

“Where’d you learn that song?” She asked of him; to her, Crowley didn’t seem the type to know music like that, or any ‘modern’ music to be more specific and Crowley was, in all honesty, the last person to ever listen to that genre of music.

“The internet; I looked up some music for the intent of keeping you happy.” He gave her a gentle smile. “Now, Dove. Will you tell me what happened?” He implored softly, hazel eyes searching her blue eyes for answers, but he found none.

Adira gave a sad sniffle and hugged the bat close to her chest, lowering her gaze away from his. “You left me. You always leave me. Every day. You *never* let me come with you during the day!” Adira sucked in a shaky breath and let it out on a small hiccup before continuing. “What’s gonna stop you from leaving entirely?! I’m not special, I’m not imp-“

Crowley interrupted her, tilting her head back up to look him in the eye. “You *are* very special, Adira. I care for you very deeply; I love you as if you were my own little girl. I actually think of you as my own little girl. I will never leave you, pet. Never.”

Adira nodded but didn’t respond, not that she had to. Crowley knew he’d gotten through to her, but he wasn’t sure what else he could do. He gently rubbed Adira’s back and fell into silence. He didn’t want to bring up the topic of her staying with Jody, but he wasn’t sure what else to say.

Crowley decided to put off the Jody thing for a bit, mentally using his powers to make the bags disappear from the room.

After much mental deliberation, Crowley decided they would spend that evening together. Work be damned, the poor girl needed a special night and he was going to give her just that. Crowley lifted Adira from his lap and situated her on her feet in front of him, grasping her shoulders gently and stared into her eyes.

“Tonight, you and I are going to do something special, pet. I want you to get dressed in one of those fancy dresses, all right, Dove?” He kept his tone gentle, but he allowed her to hear the implications of excitement in his voice.

Adira was confused, but she nodded her understanding anyways. “Where are we going?” She asked of him softly.

“You’ll see, pet.” He smirked and with that, he left the room so she could get ready. Admittedly, Crowley was excited for the evening ahead of them. He knew just exactly what he’d like to do, and hoped it would make the girl as happy as he uncharacteristically felt.

Adira stared after him in confusion but did as she was told and moved to the closet to pick out a dress. There were multitudes to choose from. There were dresses with petticoats sewn into the gown, as well as dresses without underskirts. There were dresses that were singular solid colors, as well as multi-colored dresses. There was a dark blue dress that had silver stars made from glitter all over it, a golden dress with tufts of tulle woven around the waist, and multiple beauty pageant dresses made of all different colors. Adira frowned; she had never seen so many dresses, nor did she think she’d ever end up wearing all of them.

After staring at the dresses for far too long, Adira finally settled on a dress; it was black with deep red undertones. It was short sleeved, but had a soft black long sleeved shirt hanging on the hanger with it. She laid the dress on her bed before grabbing out the pair of fancy Mary Jane style dress shoes to match the dress, and then wandered to her dresser to grab out a pair of simple black tights to match. She wasn’t sure how fancy Crowley wanted her to dress, but she decided to go for something she would be comfortable in.

After a few minutes, and a lot of struggling, Adira was finally successfully dressed in her outfit and ready to go. She peered at herself in the floor length mirror and frowned a bit at the reflection. The outfit looked great, and she loved it, but she couldn’t help but wonder if she was maybe overdressed or even underdressed. Crowley hadn’t exactly been entirely clear on how special he wanted her to look.

After a bit of mental encouragement and deliberation, Adira finally took a deep breath and left her room to go find Crowley; what she didn’t expect, however, was to slam directly into the back of Meg. The deep breath she’d taken whooshed from her as she fell backwards and hit the floor fairly hard despite not having been going very fast. “Owch…” She grimaced before glancing up at the demon.

Meg frowned and turned around to look down at Adira. “Careful kid.” Was all Meg said as she hefted Adira back to her feet. Adira thought Meg might say more but the demon turned back to her stern stance.

*Crowley’s POV*

After leaving Adira’s room, the King of Hell made a trip to visit the Sheriff once again. He found himself standing outside a quaint little house slightly on the outskirts of Sioux Falls, despite his intention having been to port inside of the house. It seemed she’d warded the house from demons….and upon further inspection, Crowley noted wardings against angels as well.

“Clever.” He murmured to himself before rapping his hand against the door. Thankfully there were no wardings or sigils to make knocking have repercussions, and so he patiently waited for her to answer. Crowley quirked an eyebrow as he heard a shotgun being cocked from behind the door before the door opened just a crack for Jody to peer out from. “Hello, Dearie; brought a friend, I see.” He murmured with amusement.

Jody wasn’t amused. She opened the door slightly further and narrowed her eyes on the demon. “Well?” She asked in exasperation.

All hints of amusement fled from Crowley’s features. “Well what?” He retorted; he knew exactly what she was asking, but like a scorned woman he was testing her.

“Well, where is the kid?”

Crowley contemplated telling Jody that he’d bring Adira when he damn well felt like it, but decided against doing so. Instead, he attempted for a more human approach. “I will be bringing her on a different night, which is why I am here. I feel she needs to have a fun night of bonding with me before I bring her here. This gives you more ample opportunities to set up a good place for her stay.”

Jody’s hold on the shotgun faltered for a moment but she quickly fixed her grip and kept her narrowed gaze on Crowley. “Why should I even trust you, hm? Who’s to say the girl isn’t some kind of creature intended to kill me?”

Crowley felt his anger rise but he bit it back; the Sheriff was right to be wary. He wasn’t the most trustworthy, especially being as he was a demon, but he was actually trying and this was frustrating. “Then test her when she gets here, but she is going to be staying here.” He folded his arms over his chest to show he wouldn’t budge on the subject, but it was unneeded; Jody sighed but she caved.

“Fine. Just let me know when and I’ll have a bed set up for her, but she’ll be sharing a room with Claire.”

Crowley nodded; thankful he didn’t need to push the subject further. “Tomorrow.” And with that, he disappeared from the stoop of the sheriff’s door.

*Adira’s POV*

Adira could feel the demons following her, but she tried not to think about it; it was their job, after all. She was trying to find Crowley’s bedchambers again, but as she had only been there twice before and once had been during a thunderstorm during which she’d been extremely frightened she wasn’t having the best of luck locating it.

Adira stepped into a room she assumed was Crowley’s chambers, but it turned out to be the throne room. She sighed and went to leave the room, but she noticed Berkeley in a corner of the room with some paperwork. ‘Maybe he can help…’ she thought to herself as she made her way over to the demon.

“Berkeley?” She called softly, her Mary Jane’s tapping softly as she shuffled towards him.

“Oui, le embetement?” He replied, though he didn’t look up from his paperwork. It was clear he knew who was speaking to him.

“Berkeley, I can’t find Crowley’s room…or Crowley…” Adira shifted on her feet as if she were uncomfortable.

“Oui and you would like me to do what?” He responded, irritation clear in his tone despite the heavily thick French accent.

Adira frowned at the demon’s response; she wasn’t expecting the irritated retort. He’d been so nice up to this point that she figured he might be willing to help her. “I-I was hoping y-you could help me find him…” Her lower lip quivered a bit, on the verge of tears. She was used to disdain when it came to her, but she’d never exactly experienced a two-faced person before.

Berkeley finally glanced up from the paperwork and leveled the girl with a glare. “Just because you are Crowley’s pet, la jeune fille, does not mean I am required to help you. Shoo.” Berkeley waved his hand as if to brush her off and turned back to the paperwork.

Adira hung her head sadly and turned to walk away, a tear sliding down her cheek. She wasn’t expecting such harshness from the demon Crowley trusted the most and it hurt her.

Meg bristled at the display in front of her but before she could react, Crowley was clearing his throat from behind her. “Now Berkeley, is that any way to treat a little lady?” The King’s tone hinted at it being a trick question, one Berkeley had best not fail to answer correctly.

“Non, mon seigneur. My apologies.” Berkeley scrambled to his feet and fisted a hand over his heart before he bowed. “I was simply busy with work, you see, and did not have time to help the young girl.” The demon was practically stuttering with his lie, but Crowley just waved him off.

“Next time I will not be so lenient.” He stated as he made Berkeley disappear from the throne room before he turned to Adira. “I am so sorry, Dove. He will never speak to you that way again, that much I can promise.” Crowley scooped Adira up into his arms and tucked her into his chest, giving her the sweetest of smiles.

“S’okay…” She said softly and rubbed her cheek against the fabric of his coat, sniffing as she forced her tears to dry. She was still stung, but she felt much better now that Crowley had returned.

“Shall we go, then?” At Adira’s nod, Crowley pecked a kiss to her forehead. Before he ported them away, however, Crowley turned his gaze to Meg. “Next time, do not hesitate to stand up for the girl. It is your job.”

Crowley disappeared with Adira before he could see Meg’s reaction to his words; he didn’t care how she took it, he simply cared that she’d heard him and he knew she did.

The first place he took the girl was a restaurant. It wasn’t an overly upscale place, but it was fancier than the typical family restaurant. The demon didn’t need human food to sustain himself but he knew Adira did, and he intended to treat her well; he knew this was a good place to eat as he’d struck many deals here over decent meals. In fact, he owned the owner’s soul, whom had traded it for his restaurant becoming popular.

Crowley placed Adira on her feet and took her hand gently as he guided them into the restaurant and up to the Hostess’s pedestal. Though there was a long wait list for a table for those without reservations, Crowley and Adira weren’t made to wait very long; perks of holding the owner’s soul, after all. It took only 15 minutes before the demon and his little human charge were seated in one of the best areas of the restaurant.

Adira squirmed in her seat; she felt out of place in the restaurant. She’d been out to eat before, but she had only ever been taken to fast food places or very small scale restaurants. She peered at Crowley over the table and squirmed just a little more in the booster seat the Hostess had been kind enough to put down for her.

Crowley could sense the girl’s apprehension and smiled kindly at her. “Do not fret, darling. These people are very kind.” But it didn’t do much to ease the girl’s anxiety.

Crowley signaled the waiter over and ordered them drinks; a sierra mist for Adira, a whiskey for himself. As the waiter disappeared, a silence seemed to settle over the pair. It wasn’t a comfortable silence, however, as Adira was incredibly anxious being in such a fancy place and being so fancily dressed.

“Do you know what you’d like to eat, pet?” Crowley asked softly, despite them not having even glanced at a menu.

Adira shook her head in response.

Crowley thought for a moment before saying, “How about some ravioli?” He knew the ravioli here was one of the best dishes and figured the girl might enjoy something simple yet delicious.

“Okay.” Adira agreed just as the waiter returned with their drinks, an unopened straw accompanying Adira’s.

Crowley picked up his glass and swirled it just slightly before taking a swig, so overly grateful the place actually had Craig aged the way he liked. Adira grabbed her straw and tore off one end of it but hesitated before pulling off the rest. ‘Maybe…’ she thought to herself before she quickly blew into the opened end and sent the rest of the wrapper at Crowley’s face.

The demon twitched in shock at the straw wrapper actually flew up into one nostril and he leveled the girl with a mock look of disapproval. Adira dissolved into giggles, knowing the look on his face was faked for her amusement.

Crowley crumpled the wrapper into a ball and dropped it in the middle of the table, smiling in triumph at the girl’s laughter. He adored the sound, and he decided he didn’t wish them to fall into an uncomfortable silence again. He signaled the waiter again, giving their orders, before he folded his hands and placed them on the table.

“So, pet, tell me about the books you’ve been reading.” And with that, Adira launched into details of each book she had read while being cooped up in her room. Crowley listened intently; he typically felt people’s ramblings tedious and boring, but he greatly enjoyed listening to Adira thoroughly.

It wasn’t long before their food was brought out to them and they settled into a comfortable silence as they ate. Crowley had ordered some penne pasta to keep up appearances; it was a human instinct that one felt rude eating in front of others, even if those ‘others’ did not eat, so Crowley made sure to eat to ensure Adira ate.

Adira breezed through 3 full glasses of soda as she ate, but Crowley did not fuss about it as she ate the majority of her meal as well; he felt quite proud of her, but he couldn’t help noticing that she ate more tonight than she ever had in the dining hall back at the Asylum.

“Dove, do you not enjoy your meals back at home?” He asked curiously.

Adira seemed to freeze mid-drink as he asked the question. Crowley could tell she didn’t want to offend him, so she thought about her words before she set her glass back down. “Not really… I just like simple stuff. Like mac and cheese.”

Crowley seemed to contemplate her words before he nodded. “I see. Well, I shall let the cook know that then.” Crowley pulled out a few large bills from his coat pocket and shucked them onto the table. “Well, shall we go, pet?”

Adira climbed from her seat and joined Crowley on his side of the table, lacing her fingers through his as she took hold of his hand; it was her way of agreeing with him without saying anything. Crowley had left over double what their bill was; their waiter would be one very happy individual indeed.

Crowley had another place he wanted to take Adira but he felt they needed to work off their meal beforehand; he didn’t wish the girl to become ill, after all. So Crowley led Adira along a boardwalk where they gazed over the view of the sun setting on the water. Adira was awed by the sights of the orange and pink sky glittering on the water, her heels clunking softly on the wooden planks of the boardwalk. Never had she seen such a beautiful sight except in her imagination; it was even better in person!

Crowley could hardly believe that such a simple, mundane thing could bring so much joy to the young girl and he was pleased with himself for having thought of it. All he wanted was to make her happy, and it seemed the little things could do just that. They spent a good portion of an hour just walking along the boardwalk, Adira reveling in the sights and Crowley reveling in the girl’s satisfied gasps of awe before Crowley decided to bring them to their next destination.

Crowley crouched in front of the girl outside the building of what looked like a night club. He didn’t know what to say, so he allowed his smile to say everything for him; it worked. Adira threw her arms around Crowley’s neck in a tight hug. She didn’t know what the other side of the door held, but already she was so happy with their evening.

Crowley hugged the girl back for a very long moment before he pulled away and led them inside the building. The interior revealed to be exactly what it seemed; a night club. But not just any night club; littered around the dance floor were tons of kids with their respective adults with them. Moms and dads, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, all dancing or milling around the ‘bar’ which held no alcohol whatsoever.

Despite the interior looking like a nightclub, and the atmosphere holding an overly friendly ‘family’ feel, everyone inside was dressed slightly fancier than one might expect. Some were in suits; others were in dresses very similar to Adira’s own dress.

“Where are we?” She asked as she peered around.

“We are in a special club for families, pet.” Crowley chuckled. “Shall we dance?”

Adira agreed easily and they made their way onto the dance floor where Crowley situated Adira onto his feet so he could slow-dance with the young girl to an appropriate song; “Crimson And Clover” by Tommy James And The Shondells playing over the speakers.

Adira couldn’t help but think back to all the times she danced with her dad and tears welled in her eyes at the memories, but they were not just tears of sorrow. She smiled and leaned into Crowley’s hold as they swayed on the dance floor.

A few more slow songs played before the music changed to more upbeat tones and the room dissolved into kids dancing without cares. Crowley let go of Adira and made his way off the floor so she could release her energy, though he took care to keep an eye on his young charge.

Adira danced by herself for a small portion of the song, but soon found herself clustered in a fairly large group of kids her age and some older. Songs from different eras played over the speakers; from ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ by The Foundations to ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift and everything in between. Adira found herself giggling with wild abandon, and dancing like there was no tomorrow.

As the music slowed into another slow-dancing song, Crowley stood to make his way back onto the floor but faltered in his step as he saw a young boy in a bright purple and yellow dress snake his hand into Adira’s. The boy gently tugged Adira into an almost-professional stance and began to dance with her. Crowley frowned at the sight, an unnatural emotion taking root in him at the sight. Something in him told him to get the kid away from his girl, but he steeled himself against it; the boy was a mere human, after all. He couldn’t smite the boy, could he?

Adira’s cheeks turned bright pink as she began to sway with the cute boy in front of her, biting her lower lip gently in a gesture that said she was slightly embarrassed but not displeased with what was happening.

The boy continued dancing with her through two more songs before he finally released her; however he kept a gentle hold on her right hand. Bowing onto one knee, he kissed her hand gently before he stood once more and gave her a sideways grin. “I’m Damien. What’s your name?”

“I-I’m Adira.” She giggled and blushed again, growing a bit shy at the boy’s display of confidence.

“Seems my boy’s got a crush, eh?” A man standing next to Crowley chuckled as he unknowingly elbowed the King of Hell. Crowley bristled but once again steeled himself; if this was what parents did, he had to do it.

“Yes, it seems that way.” Crowley replied, his eyes never leaving Adira.

“That’s Damien. He’s 6; gonna be starting school soon.” The man’s tone hinted that he wanted to converse with Crowley.

Crowley sighed inwardly and glanced to the side at the man. “My girl’s name is Adira, and she’ll be six herself fairly soon. She will be starting school as well.” Crowley mentally thanked himself for choosing a place that was states away from where she would be going to school, though it wasn’t lost on him that he’d have this problem when she began school as well.

“That’s cool. We’re here on vacation before school starts.” The man responded, but Crowley tuned him out for the most part, only interjecting a few words every so often.

Damien had led Adira further onto the dance floor so as to dance with a cluster of other kids, and Crowley felt a bit better that she wasn’t alone with the boy any longer. She needed socialization and he needed to remind himself of that, though it was hard not to just take her away from the seemingly flirtatious boy.

Hours passed and the club began shutting down for the night before Crowley decided to take Adira home. The young girl was completely tuckered out from her evening of fun and hugged herself into Crowley’s arms without much fuss. After grumbling some farewells to the adults, and Adira giggling out her own farewells to the friends she’d made, Crowley took them outside to a secluded area to port them back to the Asylum.

“Did you have fun, pet?” Crowley asked as he helped Adira undress for bed.

“Yes, I had a lot of fun! I made friends! Thank you!” She pulled away in the middle of pulling out of her dress and threw her arms around Crowley’s neck in a tight hug. Crowley returned the hug before he went back to peeling her from her dress.

“You are quite welcome, pet. I am glad you had so much fun.” After a big of wrangling, Crowley was able to get the girl into some comfortable pajamas for bed. “Would you like some ice cream before you go to bed?”

“Yes, please. Could we watch a movie, too?” Adira asked gently, and Crowley could hardly say no when he glanced into her bright blue eyes.

“Of course, pet. You choose out a movie and I will go get us each a bowl of ice cream.” Crowley had never indulged himself in such a treat as it was a human food and he hadn’t exactly had the options when he’d been alive.

Adira clambered from her bed in excitement as Crowley ported himself off to retrieve the ice cream. He had heard that human children enjoyed the icy treat, so he had made sure to stock some in the large fridge he had in the Asylum, however he frowned when pulled out the tub labeled Rocky Road. The ice cream seemed a bit too frozen to scoop as it was.

After a moment of thought, he snapped his fingers and made it appear in the bowls pre-scooped. There, now he didn’t have to fight with it. When he returned to Adira’s room, he saw the small girl sitting on her bed once more and excitedly grasping a movie in her fingers; the title read ‘Pete’s Dragon.’

“I have never heard of that movie.” Crowley said gently as he traded the bowls of ice cream for the movie.

“It’s really good, one of my favorites!” She grinned happily as Crowley set up the DVD player and put in the movie. As Crowley settled himself on the bed, he leaned the remote towards her and pointed out the buttons for her to use so she could use the DVD player on her own in the future.

It didn’t take long for Adira to learn and once Crowley was satisfied she’d know how to watch movies on her own in the future, he played the movie and they settled into silence. The sounds of spoons clinking against the glass bowls and happy murmurs filled the room, along with the sounds of the movie.

Crowley could tell the movie was that of the children’s genre, but he actually enjoyed watching it with Adira. He watched the entirety of the movie and only when the credits rolled on the screen did he notice that Adira was already asleep, empty bowl loosely laying in her lap and chocolate smearing her face.

Crowley chuckled and snapped his fingers to get rid of the empty bowls and make a damp washcloth appear in his hands. As he cleaned off the girl’s sticky face, he couldn’t help but feel enamored at the sight of her peacefully sleeping. He knew she felt lucky that he’d rescued her, but as cheesy as it was, he was the lucky one. He felt renewed, as if his slate was wiped clean because of her, though he couldn’t begin to explain why he felt as such.

He tucked her into bed and brushed her bangs from her face to place a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Sleep well, Dove.” He said softly. He turned and glanced around for the girl’s stuffed bat before placing the soft object in Adira’s arms. He never understood children’s fascinations with stuffed animals, or how a toy could keep one safe, but he didn’t question it.

Crowley switched off the TV and DVD player before he made his way to her door. He flicked out the light and closed the door behind him. The last thing he did before he made his way to his own bed was ensure her guards were outside her door. He figured he’d spend the entire next day with the girl, and break the news to her about staying with Jody at some point during their fun.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Crowley woke Adira with breakfast in bed; a very small feast of chocolate chip pancakes, sausage links, banana slices, and a cup of chocolate milk. She was still incredibly sleepy, but she was happy to be woken up so kindly.

Adira sat up with a small groan, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “Morning, Crowley.” She said around a yawn. “How come you’re waking me up?”

“Well, pet, I would like to spend the day with you. Just the two of us, how’d that sound?” Crowley told her as he unfolded the legs of the serving tray and positioned it on the bed over her lap so she could eat.

Adira eyed the breakfast hungrily but refrained from eating; instead, she glanced up at Crowley. Something felt off to her. “It sounds like there’s something you’re not telling me.” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did know something was amiss.

Crowley sighed and sat on the bed next to her, as close as he could get without spilling the tray at any rate. “There is someone I’d like you to meet, but that isn’t for a few hours. We’re meeting up with her at noon.”

Adira’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “And?” She pressed.

Crowley suppressed the urge to groan, settling on sighing again. “And….she will be taking care of you for a few days out of the week, every single week, so you can get the human care you require.”

Adira picked up one of the sausage links and took a bite from it, mulling over what he said. After she swallowed the bite, she looked at Crowley again. “Do I get to help decorate her room?”

Crowley closed his eyes and concentrated on keeping himself composed; it was almost laughable, how naïve the girl was, but it was also saddening. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. He placed a hand gently on her hand and gave her the kindest smile he could muster.

“No, sweetie, what I mean is that you’ll be going to stay with her on those days. I’ll drop you off every Tuesday in the morning, and I’ll pick you up every Friday in the afternoon. She’s going to set up a bedroom for you to sleep in, pet.”

Adira yanked her hand away and stared at Crowley, appalled. “You mean you want to get rid of me?!” She nearly yelled, tears springing to her eyes.

“No, Dove, absolutely not!” Crowley’s tone nearly matched Adira’s and he took a deep breath to recompose himself; he needed to be calm for her. “Adira, I know that it is hard for you to understand, but there are things that a human needs that demons do not need. This lady is a human, and therefore she is going to help you with those needs. I’m not abandoning you, nor will I ever abandon you. This will always be your home; I am just trying to ensure that you are fully taken care of. Mind, body, and soul, pet.”

Adira didn’t understand what he was telling her, only that she wouldn’t be living here anymore. “Then why are you sending me away?” The tears began to stream down her cheeks; she felt heartbroken.

“I’m not sending you away, I promise. This isn’t permanent; I swear this will only be temporary until I can find a more permanent solution.” Crowley reached up and wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb. “I can almost guarantee that you’ll like Jody. She has two teenagers living with her as well.” He gave her a smile as he tilted her chin up until she met his gaze.

“You aren’t sending me away?” She sniffled softly, her blue eyes boring into his.

“No, Dove, I am not sending you away.” Crowley ran the backs of his fingers gently over her cheek. “Now, how’s about you give me a smile and then you eat up?”

Adira nodded and gave him a smile before she began to dig into her breakfast. Despite the upset she’d just experienced, she finished every last bite of the meal.

Crowley leaned over and pressed a kiss to Adira’s forehead before collecting up the serving tray. “I’ll go put this in the kitchen while you get dressed. We have a fun-filled day ahead of us, pet!” And with that, he left the room.

Adira pushed back her blankets and crawled from her bed. She was still a bit sleepy, but she was excited for the adventures that the day held and so she peeled herself out of her pajamas. She quickly picked herself out an outfit and pulled it on, then stood back and admired it in the floor length mirror in the bathroom. She had picked a black shirt that featured a chibi creature that had angel wings, a halo, devil horns, and a devilish tail that said, “Only good when you’re watching” underneath it; she had donned a black tutu-style skirt with glitter, a pair of black leggings with rainbow hearts, simple black ankle socks, and the rainbow light up sneakers.

After she finished admiring herself, she made her way to her dresser and grabbed her hair brush. It didn’t take her long to get rid of all the tangles in her hair and once she had, she decided to accentuate her outfit by pulling her hair into pigtails. She wasn’t coordinated enough to make her pigtails even if they were high on her head, so she just pulled them into the hair binders in such a way that they rest slightly loosely against her neck.

Satisfied she was ready for the day she put her brush back on the dresser and made her way over to her bedroom door just in time for the door to swing open.

Crowley smiled at her. “That is a lovely outfit choice for the day, pet.” He complimented. “Are you all ready to go?”

Adira nodded excitedly and pushed her hand into his. “I’m ready.”

Crowley looked down at her hand in surprise and squeezed gently. He felt the admiration and love she felt for him, and he was unsure how to feel about it, so he decided to play it off cool. “Let’s go then.”

Crowley began their day by bringing Adira to a carnival on the other side of the country; perks of being a demon and all that. It was only the first stop on their to-do list for the day, but Crowley was more than happy to bring her despite that he stuck out like a sore thumb. He had opted to skip the tie for the day, but he was still seemingly over-dressed, not that he cared in the slightest; if it gave Adira a few good memories, than he was more than happy to oblige.

“What would you like to do first, pet?” Crowley inclined his head towards the carnival as he looked at Adira.

Adira was looking around in wide-eyed wonderment; she’d never been to a carnival before, nor had she ever seen one depicted on TV before. “Where *are* we?” She asked in awe.

“This is a carnival. Have you never heard of a carnival before?”

“No, what’s a carnival?” She asked, finally returning Crowley’s gaze.

“A carnival is like a very large public party; there are games to play, crappy food that people seem to enjoy, and rides.” Crowley gently released Adira’s hand. “Let’s go take a look around, shall we?”

“Okay!” Adira squeaked in excitement and took off running towards the first game she saw, though she made sure not to get too far ahead of Crowley, whom didn’t need to say anything as he kept his attention focused very closely on the young girl.

The game was incredibly simple; a player got a fishing pole that held a magnet at the very end and to win, the player had to connect the magnet with a magnet embedded in a toy fish held in a large bowl of water. There were various sizes of fish, the smaller the fish one caught the bigger the prize they won.

Adira waited until Crowley caught up to her before she very excitedly pointed towards the prizes. “Can I play this game? I want to win that big teddy!”

Crowley chuckled and pat Adira’s head gently. “Of course, pet. You can play as many games as you like and ride as many rides as you’d like.” Crowley handed the worker the correct amount of money, who then handed Adira a fishing pole.

Adira ended up playing the fishing game 4 times, but she never won the big prize; she won a small stuffed donut, a small stuffed fish, and two small stuffed cats, but she was happy regardless because she’d had fun.

“What next, pet?” Crowley asked as he put her prizes into a reusable grocery bag; he’d thought ahead to bring a few bags so he could carry her prizes. He wanted her to have the best day possible, after all.

Adira tapped her chin as she looked around contemplating what looked more exciting than everything else. “How about that game?” She asked as she pointed towards a balloon popping game.

“Of course, pet.”

And that was how the rest of the morning continued; Adira would point out something that looked fun to her, and Crowley agreed easily. Despite his protests, and whispered words about being a demon that was a couple hundred years old, Crowley ended up riding a few of the rides with her as well. By the time noon rolled around, Adira had amassed quite the collection of stuffed prizes and there seemed to be a grin permanently plastered to the young girl’s face.

“All right, pet. It is lunchtime; what say you we drop your prizes off at home and then we go meet up with Jody, hm?”

Adira’s smile vanished almost instantly, but she didn’t argue with him; she simply nodded and lowered her gaze to the ground as she pressed her hand into his.

Crowley gave her hand a gentle squeeze to get her attention. “Hey now, none of that, Dove. This is just so you can meet her; you aren’t going with her yet, I promise.”

Adira chewed on her lower lip as her anxiety rose, but she nodded to acknowledge that she understood what he was saying.

Crowley made sure no one was looking before he brought them back to Adira’s bedroom in the asylum. He dumped the bags holding her prizes on her bed before quickly turning back towards her and crouching so he was at her level; he could almost feel her anxiety mounting.

“Adira, I promise you this will not be forever.” He gripped her shoulders gently, squeezing ever so slightly so she would look at him. “You’ll like Jody, I promise. I can even have her bring with the teenagers living with her so you can meet them as well; would you like that, pet?”

Adira was fighting back tears as she stared him in the eyes; she felt so weak. Before she’d come to live with Crowley, it was rare for her to cry and now she seemed to cry every time it felt like he was going to leave her. She thought about his question for a minute before she nodded. “Yeah, I think that might help.”

“I’ll call her right now; how about you set up your new toys while I do that, hm?” Crowley suggested as he stood back up.

“Okay.” She responded, moving to her bed to do just that.

Crowley pulled his phone from his pocket and moved into the hallway; he’d snagged Jody’s number from Sam last night, figuring he’d need it so he could call to check on Adira rather than just popping up unannounced.

He dialed the number and Jody picked up after two rings.

*Hello?*

“Sherriff; Crowley here.”

*What now?* came an annoyed response.

“My girl is anxious about this meeting, so I am calling to-“ Crowley took a deep breath so as to sound a bit less gruff or demanding. “-ask nicely that you bring with the teenagers that are residing with you. Adira would like to meet them.”

A few muffled noises came from the other end of the phone, along with a small sigh, before Jody responded. *I’ll see what I can do. Is that all you needed?*

“Yes.” Crowley paused a moment before adding quietly, “Thank you, Ms. Mills.”

There was a long pause from the other end before Jody responded. *You’re welcome. I’ll see you both in about ten minutes at the diner.*

Crowley shoved his phone back into his pocket and went back into Adira’s room, where she was just finishing placing her new stuffed toys on her bed. Crowley noticed she’d placed a couple in her reading alcove, and kept a few in one of the bags with a couple she already owned.

“Shall we go to the diner now, pet?” Crowley asked, holding his hand out for Adira.

“I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” She responded as she climbed from her bed and made her way over to him, pressing her hand into his. “You sure she isn’t mean?”

“Yes, Dove, I promise she is very nice.” And with that, they disappeared from her room and appeared outside of a nice family diner. Crowley led Adira inside the diner; as it was a place where parties seated themselves, he led them into an area devoid of other customers and pushed two tables together so as to have enough room for the rest of their party.

Satisfied there would be enough room for the lot of them, Crowley flagged down a waiter and requested a booster seat for Adira. Once one was produced, he set it up on the chair next to the wall and helped Adira into it before he sat next to her.

“Well, pet, shall we get you something to drink?”

“Can I have a soda?” Adira asked sweetly, though her attention was glued to the small menu that sat on the table which was advertising all of the diner’s desserts.

“Yes, but let’s stick to Sprite or 7 Up, all right?” Crowley noticed where the girl’s attention was, but he made no mention of it; he’d allow her dessert, so long as she ate something more nutritious to begin with.

Adira nodded her agreement, keeping her eyes on the desserts; the triple chocolate layered cake was the most enticing thing she noticed.

Crowley flagged down the waiter and let him know what Adira wanted to drink. By the time the waiter returned, Jody showed up with Alex and Claire in tow and the three of them also put in their own drink orders.

“Hello there sweetheart, you must be Adira. I’m Jody; this is Claire and Alex.” Jody gestured to each teen when she said their names; Alex gave a half-assed wave without looking up from her phone while Claire rudely eyed Crowley up and down, though she gave a grunted ‘hey’ when she was mentioned.

The three of them took their seats and an awkward silence fell over their group. Claire had opted to sit across from Adira, Jody sat across from Crowley, and Alex was on the other side of Jody, her attention still seemingly intimately glued to her phone. The silence pressed on even as the waiter returned with the extra drinks and a kids menu for Adira to color.

Adira began to color and still no one said anything; after a long pause, Crowley finally cleared his throat. “Adira here is fairly advanced for her age; she taught herself to read and write. I’d say she would likely be placed right into first or second grade, wouldn’t you agree Ms. Mills?”

Jody seemed a bit taken aback, but welcomed the subject matter; anything to end the awful silence. “Yes, it sounds like she would be placed in a higher grade pretty easily, though it might be a bit hard for her to adjust.”

“You may be right. We’ll see how well she does with therapy first.” Crowley glanced over at Adira. “Why don’t you tell them about some of your favorite books and music, pet?”

Adira contemplated pretending she hadn’t heard him, but after some thought she realized she didn’t want to be scolded; she placed down her crayon and timidly looked up from her menu. “I um… I like Eragon and Junie B. Jones…”

Claire pulled her gaze away from Crowley for the first time since they’d arrived. “I read Junie books when I was growing up. I like the Junie B., First Grader books the best.”

“Me, too! Is that what first grade is really like?” Adira excitedly asked. Before anyone could answer her, however, Adira’s gaze traveled over to Alex. For the first time since the group had arrived, Adira noticed that Alex’s attention was entirely focused on the phone in her hand. “I have one of those, too.”

Alex looked up, confusion flittering over her features for a split second before she rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.

“One of what, sweetie?” Jody asked gently.

“Oh…uh… one of those phone things like she has.” Adira said, pointing at Alex.

Jody frowned and turned her attention to Crowley. “You gave a five year old a smartphone?”

Crowley rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. “No, I did not give a child so young a phone. Dean gave her one of his new burner phones so she could keep in contact.”

“She’s met the Winchesters? When did she meet the boys?” Jody asked incredulously.

Crowley wanted to be rude, to tell her it was none of her business, but he desperately wanted to stay on Jody’s nice side for Adira’s sake so he opted for a nicer response. “How about we discuss that later, in private?”

It worked; Jody nodded and let the subject drop, instead turning her attention back to Adira.

Claire, Jody, and Adira dissolved into a full blown conversation, the topic changing every so often from books to movies to TV shows and even to music. The five of them were at the diner for nearly 3 hours, but it only felt like minutes had passed. All of them ate heartily, and Adira even got to have the dessert she’d been eyeing; Crowley footed the bill and they parted ways. Both Jody and Crowley left feeling confident that Adira would be comfortable during the nights she stayed with Jody.

“Well, shall we go to our next destination, pet?” When Adira nodded her consent, Crowley lifted her into his arms and settled her on his hip.

As soon as they were out of visible sight, Crowley ported them inside of the Bunker. Adira’s eyes lit up the moment she realized where they were, and she took off the second Crowley put her down.

“Sam! Dean!” She squealed happily despite that neither Hunter was in view; Crowley hadn’t planned anything with the Winchesters, but he was hoping that they’d be willing to ease any last fears Adira may have about staying with the Sherriff.

Adira called for the boys again before Dean appeared in the hallway looking utterly confused. “Crowley? What in God’s name are you two doing here?”

Sam wasn’t far behind him, and behind Sam was a redheaded female that neither Adira nor Crowley had met before.

“Would it have killed you to call first, Crowley?” Sam asked, though the irritation that was written on his face was hidden from his tone for Adira’s sake.

“Hello to you, too, Moose. Squirrel.” Crowley responded in amusement as he joined them.

“Ah, Adira, I’d like you to meet Charlie.” Sam said, trying his hardest to ignore Crowley.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Charlie said, crouching down to Adira’s level. “Well aren’t you a cutie? How old are you, cutie pie?” A babyish tone broke out of Charlie.

Adira seemed a tad offended and went to say so to Charlie, but was interrupted by Dean. “She’s, uh, five and a half… and you don’t need to use a kid voice with her. Believe me, she’s smart as a whip this one.”

Dean seemed to be amused, but Adira wasn’t sure whether he was amused by her or Charlie.

“Oh… Oh! I’m so sorry.” Charlie stood back up. “Smart, huh? What kinds of things do you like, Adira?”

“I like books a lot. I just started reading Harry Potter, because I finished Eragon and Crowley forgetted to get me the next books in the series.” Adira said modestly.

Charlie seemed a bit surprised by the announcement, but it didn’t stop her from launching into a rant about how the Harry Potter books are better than the movies, her favorite characters, and aspects that the movies got wrong versus the books.

While Adira was deep in discussion with Charlie, Crowley decided to pull Sam and Dean off to the side to speak with them a bit more privately.

“Adira met Jody, Claire, and Alex for the first time today. To get you up to speed, Adira will be staying with them a few days out of each week and I brought her here because I was thinking you could help ease any remaining fears she may have about the lot of them.” Crowley stated, folding his arms over his chest, though he made sure not to give off any sort of intimidating aura.

Sam ran a hand through his hair wearily. “Uh, well… I suppose we can… But Crowley, you really should have called ahead. Charlie’s here because of a Hunt; we were busy, and you interrupted us.”

Dean nodded along to what Sam was saying, though he didn’t add any input of his own.

“Well, take a short break from it. We won’t be long, and the nerd doesn’t seem put out by our appearance, at any rate.” Crowley knew he sounded like an ass, but that was his normal setting and he didn’t know how else to phrase what he said; not that it mattered, anyways. He only cared about the girl.

Anger darkened Dean’s features and he leaned menacingly closer to Crowley. “You’re fucking lucky there’s a kid here, you son of a bitch.” He kept his voice quiet enough that Adira wouldn’t hear him. Despite not having gotten a reaction from Crowley, Dean was satisfied he’d made his point and so he brushed past Crowley towards Charlie and Adira.

“In not quite so rude words, you know my brother is right, Crowley. We don’t answer to you, so you have no right showing up unannounced and expecting us to drop everything for you.” Sam left it at that and followed after Dean, leaving Crowley to ponder their words.

The two of them were correct, much as he hated to admit it. He’d think about being more courteous in the future, but for now…

“So, Crowley tells us you met Jody; is that right?” Sam was crouching in front of Adira now. Dean had given Charlie a hand signal to end the nerdy conversation between herself and the child, so Sam took the opening.

“Yeah…” Adira said, a sad look falling over her features.

“Did you not like her?” Sam inquired, worry etching into his own features when he noticed the look on Adira’s face.

“No, I liked her. She was really nice; so was Claire. I don’t know how I feel about Alex, though.” Adira fidgeted on her feet, her gaze drifting towards the floor.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” Sam made a subtle gesture with his hands and Dean nudged Charlie down the hall. Charlie seemed to understand what he was silently trying to say and headed down the hall towards a spare bedroom Sam had turned into a makeshift living room. Dean grabbed Crowley’s arm and yanked him in the same direction, hissing a small ‘shh’ under his breath to keep the King from indignantly uttering his disapproval of being manhandled; it wasn’t long until Sam and Adira were completely alone in the library.

“I-I dunno…” Adira lied; she felt instantly guilty by lying, but she felt Sam wouldn’t understand.

“Now, Adira; you and I both know that isn’t true.” Sam gently lifted her up and sat her on the library table before he took a seat in the chair; they were now eye-level to one another, and Sam felt this would make talking easier. “It’s just you and I now and you can tell me whatever you want. I am very good at keeping secrets.”

Adira fidgeted slightly in her spot on the table, tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s just… Crowley’s a demon and I know that… but I like living with him! I really do! He’s very nice to me, I swear!” She sniffed back her tears before continuing. “He wants me to go stay with Jody for a few days every week. He says it’s ‘cause I have human needs that he can’t help with and so I gotta go to human doctors.” A tear trickled down her cheek before she could stop it. “He says he isn’t abandoning me, but it feels like it. What do I do, Sam?”

Sam felt his heart clench; he hated seeing females cry, and it was worse being as Adira was such a small but strong little girl. “Oh, kiddo…” Sam pulled Adira off the table and into his lap, wrapping his large arms around her tiny frame. “I know you feel like he is abandoning you, but I promise you he isn’t.” He ran his hand up and down her back in a comforting gesture. “I’m not familiar with this version of Crowley, but I do know that when he has his mind set on something nothing can stop him. He has his mind set on taking care of you, so therefore I know that he will stop at nothing to ensure you are taken care of.”

Adira sniffed back more tears and leaned back to look Sam in the eye. “But who’s to say he won’t get tired of me?”

“Crowley… would never do that. He isn’t like that, I promise.” Sam nearly bit his tongue forcing out such a heinous lie, but he knew it was needed. If Crowley ever hurt the girl, Sam mentally vowed to hunt him down and end him; but he would deal with that if the time ever came to pass.

Adira seemed to accept the lie. “Okay… I trust you, Sam. Thank you.” She leaned into his chest as her way of giving him a hug.

“Plus, he couldn’t have chosen a better person to help care for you. Jody is an amazing person; she won’t let anything or anyone ever hurt you. I swear by it.” Sam added before he returned her hug.

Adira wiped her eyes dry and gave him a genuine smile.

“Shall we go find the others, then?” Sam asked as he hoisted her back to her feet. “I also have a present for you.”

“You do? How come?” She asked innocently, watching as Sam got to his feet. She pushed her hand into his as they began their journey out of the library and down the hallway.

Sam seemed a little surprised that she wanted to hold his hand, but he let her. “I don’t need a reason to give you a present, kiddo. I just want to give you a present, that’s all.” He smiled down at her.

“Oh… well, thank you.”

It wasn’t a very long journey; they easily found Charlie, Dean, and Crowley in the living room. There was an awkward sort of tension in the room; Dean and Charlie were having a hushed conversation in one corner as Crowley nursed a glass of whiskey on the complete opposite side of the room.

Sam nudged Adira towards Crowley gently. “I’ll be right back, kiddo. I’m going to go grab your present.”

Adira nodded to him before she made her way over to Crowley. She hadn’t really seen him so relaxed before despite the tension; it only took a couple seconds of thought before she crawled into his lap and cuddled into his chest.

A look of pure shock settled over Crowley’s features before his face softened considerably. He set his drink aside and drew his arms protectively over Adira; the embrace looked loving and fatherly, to anyone who didn’t know the King of Hell at any rate. “Hello, pet.” He said softly, planting a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

Silence fell over Charlie and Dean who regarded the scene on the other side of the room with shock. Neither of them knew what to say or even if there was anything that COULD be said.

“Sorry that took so long, but I found it!” Sam’s voice filled the room before he entered and Adira perked up, the tender moment gone. She crawled off Crowley’s lap at the same time Sam entered the room.

“What is it?” She asked sweetly as Sam handed her the wrapped package; it was decorated in ‘Hello Kitty’ Christmas wrapping paper and held a bright blue bow that was nearly larger than the package itself.

“Open it and find out, silly.” He chuckled, watching with fascination to how she would react. “I wasn’t sure when we’d see you next, so I had it wrapped up in preparation for your birthday or maybe Christmas. Sorry if you don’t like the wrapping paper design; I got that last year as a joke for Dean.”

Dean tossed Sam a bitch-faced look and Sam returned the look with a smug smirk.

“It’s pretty. Thank you, Sam.” Adira stared at the package for a long while before Crowley nudged her and urged her to open it. She tore off the wrapping paper and she was left holding a package that read ‘iPod Touch’ at the top; the package showed a bit of tearing at the top, signifying that it had already been opened.

“It’s brand new, but I did open it. I loaded a few hundred songs onto it for you; I hope you don’t mind that I already opened it, but I wanted to make sure there was some music on it for you.” Sam said, running a hand through his hair.

“I love it. Thank you, Sam.” Adira gave him a very grateful smile before throwing her arms around his legs in a tight hug; she hardly reached his waist in height, the man was so large.

Sam pat her head gently. “You’re welcome, Adira. I’m glad you like it.” He gave her a kind smile in return.

Crowley quickly picked the glass of whiskey back up and downed the rest before he stood up. “Okay, Adira; it’s time for us to go.”

Adira gave him a nod before she hugged Sam’s legs again. “Bye, Sam. It was nice seeing you again.” She smiled before she turned and ran over to Dean, throwing herself into his open arms. “Bye, Dean. It was really nice seeing you again, too.” She gave him a toothy grin then turned to Charlie. “It was nice meeting you, Charlie.” Before she could go back to Crowley, however, the redhead pulled her into a hug.

“It was nice meeting ya, Mini-Me. That’s what I’m going to start calling you now.” Charlie smirked down at Adira before letting her go.

Adira giggled before running back to Crowley, who scooped her up and took her back to her bedroom in the Asylum.

“I’m glad you had fun tonight, Adira. Are you feeling better?” He asked as he sat her on her bed. Adira nodded her affirmation. “Good, I’m glad.” Crowley stroked his stubble in what seemed to be nervousness before he finally added, “I know it’s not what you would like to hear, but we need to finish packing your bags. Jody has the room set up for you to start your stay tonight.”

Crowley was expecting sadness to overcome the girl’s features but Adira simply said, “’Kay,” before crawling from her bed. Crowley sighed in relief and snapped his fingers to bring the bags back; between the two of them, they finished packing the bags within a half an hour.

“Are you ready, pet?” Crowley asked.

“One moment.” She responded, quickly pulling on one of Crowley’s suit jackets. She pulled the iPod from its box and stuffed it in the pocket of the jacket, along with the accompanying headphones and the cell phone Dean had given her.

Crowley snatched up the charger for the cell phone upon seeing her intent on taking it with her and added it to one of her bags.

“I’m ready now.” She affirmed, joining him in the middle of the room and grabbing hold of his hand. Within seconds they were gone from her room and on the porch of what she could only assume was Jody’s house, surrounded by 6 bags of various sizes holding her stuff.

Crowley rapped his knuckles on the door and stepped back, his hand still holding Adira’s. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and he smiled down at her to help ease any fears she may have.

Claire was the one to answer the door; she gave a fleeting smile to Adira before regarding Crowley with disdain, a glare settling over her features.

Adira shifted on her feet nervously. “Hello again, Claire.” She said softly.

The glare left Claire’s features and she smiled again at Adira. “Hey, kid. You ready?”

Adira nodded, which Claire took as an invitation to grab two of the biggest suitcases. Adira grabbed the backpack Crowley had bought her for school, which was filled with all of her stuffed toys, and the smallest of the suitcases, which she still ended up struggling with, and followed Claire into the house. It wasn’t until she was shown to Claire’s room and the half of the room she’d be occupying was pointed out to her that she noticed Crowley hadn’t followed them.

Adira frowned and looked into the hallway. “Crowley?” She asked softly.

“Crowley won’t be able to come inside, I’m afraid. The house is entirely warded against demons and angels, so he isn’t allowed to enter.” Claire told her as gently as she could as she put the suitcases next to Adira’s new bed.

“Oh…” The sadness returned to Adira’s features as she dumped the backpack onto the bed.

Claire noticed the change in Adira’s mood. “Hey, it’s okay, kid. He can still visit you, he just can’t come inside.”

Adira nodded and started to unpack, pulling clothes out and adding them to the empty dresser at the foot of her bed.

*Crowley POV*

As soon as Adira had disappeared from his sights, Jody made an appearance on the porch.

“So tell me how Adira knows the boys.” She crossed her arms over her chest and regarded Crowley skeptically.

Crowley felt irritated by the demand of the human in front of him, but he gave in to her request so as to help stay on her good side; not that he wanted to admit it, he also felt she should know more about Adira so as to better help his little girl.

He launched into detail of how he met Adira, the conditions in which she had been living, and why he had rescued her; this included the details of demanding Castiel heal her, as well as the boys meeting her, and so on and so forth.

By the time the front door opened again to produce an angsty Alex collecting the final two bags, Crowley had finished telling Jody all he needed to tell her about his and Adira’s meeting.

“That’s…quite a lot to take in. No wonder you feel she needs therapy. Well… thank you… for telling me.” It was obvious Jody struggled with thanking the demon, but she was genuine in it.

Crowley nodded. “Just let Adira know I am still out here when she finishes unpacking. I’d like to properly say goodbye.”

“Sure.” Jody responded as she headed inside to check on the young girl and see how she was adjusting.

*Adira POV*

Adira was finishing unpacking the final bags Alex had brought her when Jody popped her head into the room.

“Crowley said to let you know he’s still outside waiting so you can say goodbye when you’re finished. Dinner will be ready in 45 minutes.”

“Thank you, Miss Ma’am.” Adira had just finished making her bed and pulled Skreech from the bag as the final touch, putting him on her pillow for when she was ready for bed.

Claire bit back laughter at hearing Adira call Jody ‘Miss Ma’am’; Jody had already left, so she hadn’t heard it. “Who’s that?” Claire asked instead, gesturing to the stuffed bat Adira lied on her pillow.

“Oh, him? His name is Skreech. Crowley got him for me when I first came to live with him.” She smiled and patted the toy’s head gently. “I’m gonna go say goodbye to Crowley.” And with that, she headed back out to the porch.

Adira found Crowley sitting on the porch swing and joined him; she crawled into his lap like before and cuddled into his chest, wrapping her arms around his middle the best she could. Crowley drew his arms up around her and leaned his chin gently against the top of her head.

“I’ll miss you, Crowley.” Adira said gently, a hint of tears building sounded in her throat.

“I’ll miss you as well, pet.” Crowley planted a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll be back for you Friday, at 2pm sharp. I promise.”

Adira simply nodded against his chest before the hold was broken. “I’ll see you Friday, then.” She gave him a small smile.

He kissed her forehead again, lifting her to her feet. “Friday.” He affirmed.

Adira moved to the door and when she turned around, Crowley was gone. She left out a small sigh as she entered the house. ‘Friday.’ She repeated in her head, closing the door behind her.

Chapter Text

It had been over six weeks since the first time Crowley had dropped Adira off at Jody’s and the girl had settled into a nice rhythm. On Tuesday mornings, Adira would wake up and have breakfast with Crowley. Following breakfast, they would watch a movie in her room and then Crowley would drop Adira off at Jody’s at 9am sharp.

Once at Jody’s, Adira would watch cartoons or color in some coloring books Crowley had picked up for her until it was time to go to her therapy session. She had therapy at 11am on Tuesdays, and at noon on Fridays. The rest of the time she would spend coloring, reading, or watching TV until Claire came home.

Adira got along really well with Claire, but Alex hardly ever acknowledged her existence. The only interaction she had with Alex was during dinner, where Jody refused to allow any electronic interference.

School had started a while ago, but Adira hadn’t started yet. Jody and Crowley felt the girl needed to transition into a rhythm before being enrolled. She would start school on Monday and in turn would reside at Jody’s every day of the week from now on, being pulled from class for her therapy sessions and returning back to class when therapy was over. Crowley had decided he would begin dropping her off at school Monday mornings and picking her up after school Friday afternoons; the rest of the time she would ride the bus with Claire.

Today was Adira’s birthday; it was a Friday, but her therapy session had been canceled for celebrations. They were spending the entire day at the bunker before they went out for dinner at a family restaurant where Adira would also open presents. She hadn’t expected any, but everyone got her at least something small and she was overjoyed that they cared so much.

Everyone was there for the festivities. Charlie, Jody, Claire, Crowley, Sam, Dean, and even Alex had put aside her phone for the day; Adira suspected Jody had ordered her to socialize. Crowley had even, surprisingly, brought Meg along; Castiel had promised to meet them at the restaurant for the party, as he had pressing matters to attend to.

Adira was currently sitting in the library of the Bunker, coloring with the company of Meg, Claire, and Sam. The rest of the little party of people were in the makeshift living room, no doubt talking over the plans for the evening; aside from Crowley, at any rate, who was sitting off in a corner of the library nursing a glass of whiskey and watching over Adira.

Adira didn’t recognize the pictures they were coloring, but they were pretty enough that she was interested; Sam had said they were something called a ‘Strawberry Shortcake’ but Adira hadn’t understood the reference, which Sam had laughed when she said that.

“Your picture is looking very pretty, Adira.” Sam smiled at her.

“Thank you, Sam.” She beamed toothily as she readjusted herself on her seat, moving into a kneeling position. Crowley had picked out her outfit for the day, and much as she enjoyed dresses, she didn’t enjoy wearing one currently as it didn’t provide much cushioning for her knees and it kept yanking on the bottom of her chair and choking her. He had bought her a brand new dress for the day; it was black with rainbow hearts adorning it. It was also incredibly poofy and covered with lace and tulle; she was wearing black tights to match, with black Mary Jane strap shoes, and her hair had been curled before being bunched up at the top of her head with rainbow ribbons tied in. She felt very special today indeed, as had been the intention. “Your picture looks really pretty, too!”

Claire had been the one to do up Adira’s hair, and despite her disdain towards Crowley, she’d even shown him step by step how to do it so he could use the style at a later date if he so wished. Though he hadn’t admitted it, Crowley didn’t understand a single instruction Claire had given him.

“Adira, dear, ladies don’t sit like that.” Crowley cleared his throat to get her attention. “Do you need a booster seat?”

Adira bit her lip, feigning concentration as she very pointedly ignored what Crowley said.

“Adira.” A warning tone, silently letting her know it was her first warning.

“No, I don’t need a booster seat.” Her tone didn’t have any attitude behind it; instead all of her attitude was held in her body language as she made no move to sit properly.

“Adira…” That was the second warning.

Adira mulled over her options in her head; she either did as she was told and sat properly, or she knew Crowley would scold her and put her in a time out – on her birthday, no less!

She finally sighed and flopped down in her seat until she was sitting more properly. Though she had grown more comfortable around Crowley and now dared to push her boundaries, she also knew that sometimes it was better to do as she was told.

“Thank you, Dove.”

“Yeah…” She sighed again. It was just barely coming up on lunchtime and Adira was growing a bit impatient; the ‘party’ was set for 6 that evening, and it was barely even eleven!

Adira glanced over at Claire and then over at Meg. Claire was only coloring because that was what Adira wanted to do and Adira knew Claire liked to oblige Adira because Adira would do the same for her; Meg, on the other hand, wasn’t even looking at the picture as she scribbled a crayon over the page. Adira suspected Meg was only in the coloring ‘group’ because Crowley had demanded it.

“Hey, Sam?” Adira put her crayon down as she waited for Sam to answer. Sam hummed softly, his eyes drifting up to meet hers but he didn’t lift his head. “Do you have any board games?”

Sam lifted his head up and set his marker down. “Yes, we have a collection of games in the living room where Dean and them are. Why, are you bored with coloring?”

“A little bit.” Adira admitted; she was a tad bored, but she was more worried about wanting everyone else to be having fun. Subconsciously, Adira shifted herself back into a kneeling position, coughing as her dress caught and choked her a little. “I also want everyone else to be included, too, and Meg doesn’t seem to be having fun.”

Meg looked a bit sheepish as Adira mentioned it, but before a comment could be made, Crowley cleared his throat again.

“Adira, I don’t want to have to tell you again.” His tone was a bit more short than usual.

Adira huffed as she flopped back down, irritation obvious by way of her body language, but she didn’t respond.

“Well, there are some games for larger groups of people as well as games for less people.” Sam seemed to think about it for a minute, trying not to acknowledge the exchange between Adira and the King of Hell. “We have Monopoly, Sorry!, Trouble, Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity…” He trailed off.

“What’s Cards Against Humanity?” She asked. “That one sounds interesting.”

Sam’s face paled. “Uhh… I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have mentioned that one. You’re too young to play that game, kiddo. I’m sorry.”

“How about we play Monopoly?” Claire scrambled to distract Adira.

It didn’t work. “Why can’t I play that one?” Adira asked. She didn’t like being told she was too young for something; Crowley had never said that to her before.

“Uh… It… uh…” Sam stammered, at a loss for words. “You’re just too little, kiddo…”

“But why can’t I? I’m not too little for other things, so what makes this any different?” Her tone began to take on an exasperated and upset edge to it.

“Uh… Because…” Sam was floundering and looked to Crowley for assistance, whom had already stood up.

“Because you were told no, pet.” Crowley stated, his tone having a no-nonsense warning to it.

“But WHY?! It isn’t fair! I’m never too little when we’re at home, so why is this different?!” Adira had begun to raise her voice at this point, standing up on her chair so as to seem a bit taller; she was hoping it might make them take her more seriously.

“Adira…” Crowley warned, folding his arms over his chest.

“NO!” Adira stomped her foot against the seat of the wooden chair. “It isn’t fair! I wanna know WHY!” Her voice raised another octave, tears welling in her eyes from the anger and indignation of the unfairness she felt was being wrought.

“Enough!” Though Crowley hadn’t raised his voice, the single word had the intended effect; Adira froze mid-tantrum and the rest of the group focused on Crowley. “Meg, Claire, Sam; I must ask you relocate to the living room. Adira and I shall join you in a few minutes.”

All three of them glanced at one another before leaving the room respectfully.

Crowley crossed the rest of the distance to Adira, who was fighting back tears. As she hadn’t climbed down from the chair, Crowley decided she was at the perfect advantage point; he quickly flipped up her skirt and delivered one sharp smack to the seat of her tights. Satisfied he’d driven his point across, he lifted her from the chair and carried her over to a corner of the library, where he promptly set her on her feet and turned her to face the corner; as it was a library, there were no actual “corners” in which to face her, but he was certain that the punishment would still be clear with her nose in between two shelves of books.

“10 minutes. No talking, no sitting.” And with that, he moved to sit in a chair so he could watch her.

Adira’s tears finally flowed freely, feeling sorry for herself; she’d just wanted an explanation!

Ten minutes ticked by ever so agonizingly slowly; the only sounds in the room were her soft sniffles, and the soft ‘click click’ noise of the clock on the wall ticking by the seconds.

It seemed like eternity before Crowley called her over to him, but she didn’t hesitate to make her way to him.

“Now, Dove; do you understand why you were put in timeout?” Crowley asked, tapping her thigh gently to make her look at him instead of the floor.

“Because I raised my voice?” She sniffed, asking unsurely.

“You don’t seem confident in your answer.” He pointed out.

“Is it because I got rude?” She reached up to wipe at the tears running down her cheeks.

“You were put in timeout because you raised your voice, you got rude, and you weren’t listening.” Crowley pulled Adira into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “It is okay to question why you can’t do things, but it is never okay to scream and holler and have a tantrum just because something is not going your way.” He rubbed her back gently. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, Crowley; I’m sorry I had a fit.”

“Apology accepted, pet.” He pulled out his grey embroidered pocket hankie and patted her cheeks to dry her tears. “Take a couple deep breaths and we’ll go join the rest of the party, deal?”

Adira nodded and inhaled deeply a few times, feeling much better now that all was forgiven.

Crowley lifted Adira to her feet before he stood himself, taking her hand gently in his own. “I think you should also apologize to everyone else that had been affected by your tantrum as well, pet.” He looked down at her to make sure she agreed with him.

“Okay…” She affirmed, and they made their way into the makeshift living room.

Sam and Claire were at the coffee table setting up Monopoly for the group to play, Meg had decided to hang back by herself in a corner of the room while Alex, Dean, Charlie, and Jody were deep in a conversation about the new ‘stupid’ trend of effeminate, sparkly vampires.

Adira went to Meg first, looking up at her with her pouty blue eyes. “I’m very sorry for having had a tantrum and raising my voice like I did.”

“It-“ Meg cut herself off as she noticed Crowley making a motion to not say that it was okay. She was confused but corrected herself. “Apology accepted, kid.”

Adira smiled happily and threw her arms around Meg’s waist, hugging tightly. Meg, in turn, patted the girl’s head in an awkward gesture before pushing her away. Adira didn’t seem to mind being brushed off; instead, she turned and wandered over to Sam and Claire.

“Sam, Claire, I wanted to say I am very sorry for raising my voice and being rude and having a tantrum like I did.” She shifted on her feet and peered at them through wetted, puppy-dog-pouty eyes, her lower lip poked out slightly.

“I can’t be mad at that face.” Sam’s heart melted and he yanked Adira into a hug. “Apology accepted gratefully, kiddo.” He released her from the hug and gave her a toothy grin.

Claire noticed Crowley making a gesture at her to not say it was okay, but she ignored him. “It’s okay, kid. Thanks for saying you’re sorry.” Claire also gave Adira a hug, albeit an awkward one; she wasn’t huge on the whole ‘affection’ thing.

Crowley glowered at Claire, making a mental note to mention it to her later and explain why it wasn’t okay to use that particular wording with a child as smart as Adira. Claire simply smirked back at his glower before she turned her attention elsewhere.

“Okay!” Dean clapped his hands, which drew everyone’s attention to him. “Let’s light this bitch up!”

Adira’s eyes widened at Dean’s exclamation, but she didn’t need to say anything; Crowley said it for her by clearing his throat and glaring at Dean.

“S-sorry…” Dean stammered; he seemed genuine in his half-assed apology, at least. “I meant let’s play some Monopoly.”

Adira put her hand over her mouth and snickered, which earned her a dirty look from Crowley.

“Have you ever played this game before, Adira?” Sam asked as he began to separate the beginning amount of money.

“No, but I’ve seen it played before.” As everyone began to mill towards the coffee table and find a place to sit, Adira crawled into Crowley’s lap for the game.

“Crowley, have you played before?” Sam looked towards him next.

“Do I look like a board game kind of demon, Moose?” Crowley stared at him drolly.

“No, of course not.” Sam sighed and launched into a quick rundown of how the game was played. When he was done, Crowley felt confident that he could at least play mediocrely.

Adira decided to team up with Crowley, and Sam deemed himself the banker for the entirety of the game, opting not to play the board. After much deliberation, Crowley and Adira played as the dog; Dean chose the car (obviously), Claire grabbed the airplane, Jody was the top hat, Charlie chose the shoe, Meg chose the ‘McDonalds’ fries, and Alex was the cell phone. Adira joked that it was destiny that Alex be the phone, since she’s always on hers, to which Alex responded by rolling her eyes.

With that, the game began; everyone agreed that Adira and Crowley should go first as it was Adira’s birthday and she handed Crowley the dice to roll. Crowley rolled twin 4s and so he was allowed to roll again once Adira finished moving the piece 8 spaces; the second roll landed a 5 and Adira moved the piece accordingly.

The group had collectively agreed on the house rules for the game; 3 rolls of doubles landed you in jail, you weren’t allowed to buy properties until you made it once around the board, and trading properties could only be done on either of the individuals involved in the trade’s turn.

The game last for hours, with a couple of breaks thrown in for lunch (half an hour into the game came lunch time) and bathroom breaks. Despite Crowley and Adira being newbies to the game, they lasted a fair amount of time in the game; Alex was the first one to lose all of her money, not that she was broken up about it. She simply took the time to go texting on her own cell phone.

Dean was the second one to lose, having landed on Park place; Crowley and Adira ended up owning both Boardwalk and Park place, and built hotels the first chance they’d gotten, resulting in Dean becoming bankrupt the first turn after the hotel was built.

Jody was the next to lose as she landed on Claire’s properties three times in a row; no amount of mortgaging could save her from bankruptcy on the third time, though she was a very fair loser and took it in stride.

For the last hour of the game, it was a battle between Crowley and Adira’s team, Meg, and Claire with the ones out of the game rooting for whom they wanted to win.

Despite having Park Place and Boardwalk on their side, Crowley ended up tossing snake eyes three times in a row; if they hadn’t ended up landing on 3 owned properties that bankrupted them, they would have landed in jail.

It was all down to Meg and Claire; Adira took up cheerleading for Claire, not upset in the slightest at having lost, while Crowley decided to simply watch on in silence.

In the end, after another grueling 45 minutes of battling between them, Claire came out the winner having only beaten Meg by chance. Adira gave both Meg and Claire hugs, congratulating them in a closely-matched game.

By the end of the game the clock read after 5 in the evening, so the group collectively agreed to head to the restaurant for dinner. Sam and Dean collected up the birthday presents and headed to the Bunker’s garage to fill the trunk of the Impala with the presents; as tedious as Crowley felt human transportation was, he agreed to allow Adira to ride with Sam and Dean so long as they transported Meg and himself as well. They agreed, albeit after a lot of huffing and bitchiness from Dean’s end.

Jody agreed to drive Charlie, Claire, and Alex in her jeep behind the Impala and so they set off for the agreed family restaurant. It was a good fifteen minutes of a drive, but no one minded in the least as it was for their favorite ray of sunshine’s birthday.

Castiel was already waiting for them in the parking lot of the family restaurant as they pulled up, and Adira instantly crawled over Crowley’s lap to exit the Impala and rush over to Castiel to give him a tight hug.

Castiel nearly dropped the colorful present bag he was holding as Adira literally jumped into his arms; he almost didn’t catch her, but his reflexes were faster than that of the typical human and he caught her with his free arm, hugging her tightly to his chest. “Hello to you as well.”

Crowley was next to them in an instant and scolded Adira once Castiel put her back on her feet. “Adira, you need to look both ways before crossing a parking lot or the street. There are drivers that do not pay attention to people crossing in front of them.” It was a gentle chastising, but it got the point across.

“I’m sorry, Crowley. I was just so excited to see Castiel that I didn’t think about it.”

“All is well, pet. Now you know for future occurrences.”

As soon as the rest of the group joined them, they made their way inside the establishment. A private section of the restaurant had been reserved for their fairly large party; the hostess led them to the private room and they began to set out the gifts on an empty table before taking their seats at a second empty table. A booster seat was requested and once the hostess returned with it, Crowley set Adira up in a chair at the very head of the table; she was the VIP tonight, after all.

The waiter wasted no time in appearing and once all of the drink orders were taken, conversation broke out among the party. Adira was asked about books she had been reading, if she had been enjoying her iPod, if she was excited to start school, as well as tons of other questions which she answered in stride.

The waiter returned with everyone’s drinks and quickly jotted down everyone’s dinner orders; as soon as he left again, conversation dissolved among the party again, this time ascertaining to jokes about the crapfest that seemed to be current television shows and movies.

It wasn’t long before the waiter brought back their meals, but Adira didn’t feel very hungry anymore. She stared at her plate as everyone else dug into their meals with fervor, trying to patiently wait until they were finished with their meals.

As neither Castiel nor Crowley needed to eat, they noticed Adira hadn’t touched her food.

Castiel tilted his head as he looked at Adira. “Your vessel needs nourishment, Adira. You should eat.”

“I’m not hungry.” She stated as she shook her head.

“You need to eat a little something, pet.” Crowley gently tried to coax.

“But I’m not hungry.” A pout formed on her face as she stared at Crowley.

“I know you are not hungry, but your body needs the nutrients. So I am asking nicely that you eat just one chicken strip and a few fries, pet.”

Adira sighed. “Okay, but then we can take the rest home with us instead?” She countered a negotiation as she picked up a french fry and nibbled at it.

“Deal.” Crowley laughed in his head; he was raising a future leader, it seemed.

Adira ate the agreed upon amount and pushed her plate away; since she’d done as agreed she decided she no longer needed to be discreet in staring at the table holding her presents. It wasn’t that she was staring in a greedy fashion; she didn’t seem to have a greedy bone in her body. She was just genuinely surprised at the amount there seemed to be, and she was overly curious as to what each package contained.

It seemed an eternity of a wait before the rest of the group had finished their meals, but Adira had been patient the entire time. As soon as the waiter had appeared to clear out the empty dishes and a second waiter appeared to refill drinks, Crowley quickly boxed up Adira’s meal and Jody put the first present in front of the girl.

“Don’t open it yet.” Charlie squeaked as she pulled out a small handheld video camera. After fiddling with it a bit, she got it to start recording. “Okay, now!”

Adira giggled a little and pulled off the card attached to the box. ‘Jody’ was written across the envelope and Adira gave it a confused look. “I think this present is for you, Jody. It has your name on it.”

Jody laughed softly. “No, honey; that means it’s from me. Go ahead and open it.”

“Oh.” Adira opened the envelope and read the front of the card out loud. When she opened it a ten dollar bill fluttered onto the table. She picked it up and looked at Jody slightly confused. “How come you gave me money?”

“It’s tradition in my family to give money for birthdays. You can use it to buy whatever you like, be it something you like that we hadn’t noticed you eyeing or even save up for something else.” Jody smiled at her.

“Oh. Well, thank you.” Adira beamed brightly back and finished reading the rest of the card out loud. When she was finished, she put the money back in the card and put the card back into the envelope.

Crowley took the card from her and Adira set to work on the wrapping paper. In typical child-like fashion, she ripped the paper from the package and revealed a brand new black and red remote controlled monster truck.

“Cool!” She squealed as she admired the truck through the transparent plastic on the front. “Thank you, Jody!” She grinned happily, and meant it completely.

“I’ll put batteries in it so you can play with it after school on Monday. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds fun! Thank you!” She giggled as Sam traded the monster truck for an unopened present.

This one held no card, but the tag read ‘From Dean’ on the top. Adira tore the wrapping paper off, which revealed a blank white box. Tilting her head, Adira pulled off the tape holding the box closed and opened it to see clothes sitting inside. “Ooooh.” She breathed out as she pulled out the first shirt. Holding it up she saw that it was an AC/DC ‘Back In Black’ band T-shirt, but it wasn’t the only one in the box. There were 3 more shirts; a Metallica ‘Ride The Lightening’ shirt, an Iron Maiden shirt, and Bon Jovi ‘Bed Of Roses’ shirt, all being one or two sizes too big for her so as to allow her to wear them for longer.

“Thank you, Dean! I’ll wear one on Monday for my first day of school!” She beamed brightly at him as Crowley began to refold the shirts and put them back in the box.

Castiel took the honors upon himself to trade out the present for the bag he’d been holding earlier.

Adira had to tip the bag on its side in order to pull out the tissue paper; the present turned out to be a stuffed bunny that had a shirt on which read ‘Okay, I’m perfect. Now stop staring.’ Adira giggled at it and hugged the bunny to her chest.

“I got it at the Hot Topical.” He stated.

“It’s really cute. Thank you, Castiel.” She smiled wide.

Claire laughed. “He said the same thing when he gave me a Grumpy Cat stuffed animal.”

Crowley grabbed the bag that had held the ‘Happy Bunny’ toy Adira had gotten and put the card from Jody in it so it didn’t get lost.

The next presents were opened in much the same fashion. Crowley had gotten Adira the rest of the books in the Eragon series, as well as the first Maze Runner book; Claire had handmade a special outfit for Adira’s stuffed bat, Skreech, whom she clung to every second she got; Alex had picked up a cell phone case for Adira’s cell phone, which she ended up dropping every time she actually used the phone which wasn’t very often; Sam had gotten Adira a nerf gun, which he whispered a joke to Crowley about turning her into a Hunter by accident because he hadn’t thought the purchase through to which Crowley gave him a slightly dirty look, not finding the joke funny in the slightest; Charlie had gotten Adira a large stack of a mix of comic books, remarking that she needed a nerdy buddy; Meg had gotten Adira a multitude of hair bows and accessories, which shocked everyone in the group that not only had she gotten Adira a gift but that she’d also thought ahead about things Adira would want and/or use.

Adira had also received 4 other birthday cards, each also containing different amounts of money; in total, she received $150 in cash collectively between Claire, Jody, Alex, Charlie, Sam, and Dean. Sam and Dean had pitched in for a single card to give from the both of them.

After Adira had finished opening the final gift and the wrapping paper was entirely cleared away, Dean got up to gather the cake. Crowley had given Jody money and instructions on a special cake to get for Adira; it was chocolate with black colored buttercream frosting and a large red toy dragon was situated on top in the middle of the cake. Dean adorned the cake with six little red candles and lit them before setting the cake in front of Adira. The birthday song was sung and Adira blew out her candles, tears welling in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, pet?” Crowley asked, genuinely concerned they’d upset her somehow.

“I’m just really happy.” Adira sniffed back her tears before they fell. “I wish you guys were my family.”

Dean reached out and grabbed Adira’s hand gently. “A wise man once told me family don’t end in blood, and it don’t start there either.” He squeezed gently. “What that means is that you don’t need to share DNA with someone for them to be family.”

“Is that true?” Adira looked around at everyone, who nodded to her question. “Well, then you are all my family.”

Charlie stopped recording and switched off the video camera before handing it to Crowley. “It’s her birthday, but this is a present for you. I can teach you how to use it if you need, but I think you’ll want to record moments like these to look back on.”

Crowley looked genuinely surprised, but was brought out of it as a piece of cake was placed in front of him. While he rarely if ever partook in sweets, he did so tonight for the celebration of Adira’s birth. The cake was magnificent and he silently praised Adira for her choice in confectionary.

When everyone had finished eating their pieces of cake, Crowley began to divide up the presents; some to go to Jody’s and the rest to return to the Asylum that evening when he took Adira home.

The rest of the Eragon series, the shirts from Dean minus one Adira picked out for Monday, half of the hair accessories, the monster truck, the nerf gun, the ‘Happy Bunny’ toy, and the outfit for Skreech would go back to Jody’s while the rest would go with them to the Asylum. Crowley gathered the items into the gift bag from Castiel’s present to as to more easily be transported when he ported himself and Adira home.

Adira ran around the room giving everyone hugs and saying her goodbyes as well as promises to see them in the future, some sooner than others. Crowley also bid everyone a farewell before he grabbed hold of Adira’s hand and ported them back to the Asylum.

Meg closely followed behind them carrying the to-go box containing Adira’s unfinished dinner and took up stance by Adira’s bedroom door; though she wouldn’t admit it, she was grateful Crowley had chosen her to come along for added protection. She’d enjoyed herself, but had more enjoyed seeing Adira so thoroughly pleased.

“Thank you for such a lovely birthday, Crowley.” Adira smiled widely as she began to put away her presents; the comic books were put inside the reading alcove bench, Maze Runner was left out on the bench for later reading material, the hair accessories were placed on top of her dresser, and the cell phone case was put right on the phone so she didn’t lose it.

Crowley didn’t say anything, nor did he leave her room. He waited patiently until she finished putting away her presents; once she was finished, he signaled Meg to give Adira the rest of her dinner from that evening. “Since the excitement has died down, pet, I think you should finish your dinner.”

“Okay.” Adira agreed easily and sat on her bed to do just that. It didn’t take long for her to finish her dinner and Crowley disposed of the empty container as soon as she had.

“Okay, pet. It’s nearly 8pm. I’ll let you watch a movie before bed, but when it’s over you need to go straight to bed, understood?” Crowley waited for her to nod. “Good girl. Now, since I have been gone the entire day, I have some business I need to attend to. I won’t be able to tuck you in tonight. Will you be okay, Dove?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay.” Adira gave Crowley a tight hug around his waist and he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “Night, Crowley.”

“Good night, pet.”

As Crowley left her room and shut her door, Adira set up a Disney movie to watch. She waited for it to load before pressing the button to get the movie to the menu and pressed play; the opening sequence for Brave began to play.

Adira decided she was tired, so she quickly changed herself into a comfy pair of pajamas and took her hair out of its up-do style. She grabbed her hairbrush and quickly brushed out any snarls that may have formed despite being up, and then loosely braided it to reduce snarls throughout the night.

Satisfied with her handiwork, she crawled onto her bed and watched the movie until she fell asleep; the movie hadn’t finished by the time she’d fallen asleep, so it ended up in an endless loop of the menu sequence, not that Adira noticed in the slightest.

The rest of the weekend seemed to drag by agonizingly slowly. Adira spent the majority of the time sitting on the floor next to Crowley’s throne, reading and listening to music on the iPod Sam had given her; some of the songs seemed a bit worn out by this point in time, but there wasn’t much she could do as she didn’t know how to add music to the music player so she put up with it.

Despite the snail’s pace at with which the weekend went by, Monday came soon enough and Adira woke up excited for the day. She was showered, dressed in the Bon Jovi shirt and new pants, and eating breakfast by the time Crowley found her.

“Well, someone’s up bright and early. You usually don’t wake so early unless I wake you up. Excited, pet?” Crowley asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Yeah!” Adira squeaked with a mouthful of cereal.

Crowley tsked softly. “Let us not speak with our mouths full, dear.”

Adira quickly swallowed. “Sorry, Crowley; I’m just really excited for school.”

“All is well, pet.” Crowley leaned down and kissed the top of her head before taking a seat to wait for her to finish eating.

Adira finished her cereal in record time, giving Crowley a milk-mustache grin when she was done. She brought her bowl and spoon to the kitchen and placed them in the sink then returned to Crowley’s side. “They asked me to come early, right?”

Crowley chuckled and glanced at the clock on the wall. “Yes, they need me to sign some papers and they want to introduce you to the school counselor and your teacher. We have just enough time for you to collect your backpack from your room.”

Adira grabbed Crowley’s hand and damn near dragged him the entire way to her bedroom. She snatched up her backpack from the floor by her dresser and stuffed her Maze Runner book into it before shrugging it over her shoulders. “I’m ready!” She announced loudly despite that Crowley could clearly see she was ready.

Crowley was far too amused to be annoyed by her small outburst; he took hold of her hand and ported them to the elementary school just out of sight of any prying eyes. “Before we head in, I want to get a couple pictures.” He moved her to stand in front of the school, though at the edge of the sidewalk right before the load/unloading zone. It didn’t take him long to reposition himself at an angle so he was able to capture the school in the photo behind her. He took 4 shots, which showed Adira grow more impatient with each picture.

Crowley chuckled as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket and sidled back up to the girl. “Well, let’s head in, pet.”

Crowley stuck out like a sore thumb as he led Adira to the main office inside the school, but he didn’t mind in the least; his girl needed an education.

“Hi!” Adira chirped happily as they reached the front desk.

Crowley cleared his throat gently and the secretary looked up. “I’m here to finishing signing papers so my girl may start school.”

“Adira...MacLeod?” The secretary asked as she began pulling out papers.

Adira looked up at Crowley questioningly. “Yes, MacLeod.” Crowley affirmed. Much as he had hated to do so, he had needed a last name for Adira that wasn’t her birth name so as to keep her anonymity.

The secretary laid out a few sheets of paper in front of Crowley and handed him a pen. He breezed through the signatures in seemingly record speed; while he was typically in the habit of thoroughly reading any papers he ever needed to sign, he simply skimmed these pages. They were simply agreements to things like the free breakfast and lunch program, the dress code, and so on and so forth; droll as they may be, they didn’t need further studying as this was an elementary school and he wasn’t exactly signing away his soul.

“Thank you for coming in to sign these papers.” The secretary filed away the pages before coming around from behind the desk. “You’d be surprised how many parents pitch a fit about needing to sign papers, and some don’t even come in.” She crouched in front of Adira and smiled brightly. “You can’t possibly be Adira; she’s only six years old and you look far too old to be starting school!”

Adira giggled. “I’m Adira, silly.”

“Oh, well then, would you like to meet the school counselor now?” The secretary held out her hand to Adira, who took it willingly, before addressing Crowley once more. “The counselor does an assessment of all students before they are placed in a grade. Most of the students here had theirs done in the summer, but as Adira is new she’ll be doing her assessment now. You’re free to head home now, Mr. MacLeod. We’ll take very good care of Adira here.”

Crowley nodded before he bent down to give Adira a hug. “I shall see you Friday, pet. Be a good girl for Auntie Jody, all right?” Crowley nearly struggled with saying ‘auntie’ but caught himself.

“I will.” She hugged him back and smiled brightly.

Crowley straightened himself and exited the elementary school before porting himself off, while Adira was led to the counselor’s office. Adira learned the counselor preferred to be called by his first name, which he told her was Jeremy, and she learned he was there so kids could talk to him about any problems they might have because sometimes they couldn’t afford to go to a regular therapist like she did, and sometimes parents didn’t believe in counseling.

After a long session with the counselor, Jeremy decided to place Adira in the second grade; he wrote in her chart that she was advanced intellectually, but would require extra help with her penmanship as this was her first time being in school. And with that, Adira began her educative journey.

Chapter Text

Jeremy and the secretary, whom Adira learned her name was Miss Heather, walked the young girl to her new classroom to introduce her to her new teacher. Adira, whom was usually so animated and chatted like there was no tomorrow, was completely silent and apprehensive. She’d woken entirely thrilled for the day but now she was just nervous. She knew that kids her age were rarely, if ever, placed in a higher grade, which made her stand out like a sore thumb; it was as if a target were placed on her back that said ‘I’m clearly smarter than you.’

Despite that during the entire walk Jeremy and Miss Heather had been talking to Adira, she didn’t hear a single word they’d said; she was more thinking about what her teacher would be like and what to expect from her classmates.

As they reached the door to her new classroom, Jeremy looked down at Adira with a perky smile. “Are you ready to meet your new class, kiddo?”

Adira took a shaky breath and stared at the door in contemplation. “If I said no, could I go home?”

Jeremy seemed taken aback; he’d never had a student ask him that before. “No… but we could go back to my office and talk until you felt better. Would you like that better?”

Adira mulled over what he said before she looked up at him. “No. I think I’ll be okay.” She took a deep breath before nodding her head. “I think I’m ready now.” The only thought that really brought her any comfort was that she knew she could call on Castiel if she felt in need of rescuing. She wondered if he’d rescue her from this type of situation she wanted him to.

As Jeremy reached for the door handle, Adira heard a voice that was not her own in her mind. ‘You need to do this, Adira.’ The voice told her. She was startled and glanced around, wondering if one of the adults had whispered to her, but she quickly realized that the voice didn’t sound like either of them. She frowned but brushed it off as Jeremy led her into the classroom.

Adira didn’t know what she had been expecting, but she knew she hadn’t expected what she walked in on. The teacher was sitting at a desk which had a black board mounted to the wall behind him; he seemed to be doing writing of some sort. The classroom was filled with kids roughly a year older than her and they were all doing their own thing; some kids were using paints at a table in one corner of the room, while others milled around toys of all sorts and one boy was sitting in a chair, intently watching some sort of animal in a decently sized cage in the back of the room.

Adira contemplated turning and leaving the room, but the teacher noticed her before she could.

“Ah! You must be Adira!” He chirped in a perky fashion, standing up from his desk to greet her. “Come in, come in; don’t be shy!”

Adira frowned but stepped further into the classroom; even though she hadn’t said she was comfortable with staying, Jeremy and Miss Heather decided to head back to the office, leaving her in the awkward situation on her own.

Adira glanced around the room again as the teacher made his way to her. “It seems I’ll be your teacher for the year. You can call me Mr. Rothesburg or Mr. R for short if that’s easier to remember. Shall we go meet your classmates now?”

“I-I guess…” Adira felt uncomfortable, but she tried not to think about it as the teacher ushered her more into the middle of the classroom.

“For about an hour every morning, I allow all of my students to have free time; I feel it helps open the mind up to learning, and it helps to wake everyone up a bit before we start lessons.” He quickly clapped his hands loudly then rested a hand gently on Adira’s shoulders. “Listen up, class!” As soon as he felt he had everyone’s attention, he gestured to Adira. “We have a brand new student joining us. Her name is Adira. Please help her to feel welcomed.”

Adira waved awkwardly, shuffling anxiously on her feet as the rest of the class collectively greeted her.

“There’s still about 20 minutes left of free time. How about you go find something fun to do?” Mr. Rothesburg gave her a warm smile as he helped her out of her backpack; it was still warm enough outside that Adira hadn’t worn a jacket that day. “I’ll put this over here in your cubby.” He made a show of putting her backpack in an empty cubby hole that had a sticker with her name on it over the top. She mentally tried to remember that she’d need to grab her backpack after school.

Adira sighed softly to herself as she glanced around the room, contemplating what she wanted to spend the time doing. All of the students had gone back to their respective projects, forgetting she even existed. Adira opted for the least crowded thing to do; she joined the boy in the back of the room with the furry creature. “Hi…” She said softly as she came to stand by him.

“Hello.” The boy responded before looking up. “Oh! Hi again!” He said cheerily.

Adira frowned as she looked at him before recognition set in; he was the boy from the family club! For the first time since entering the classroom, Adira smiled and meant it.

“I didn’t know you were going to school here.” She said honestly.

“Mhmm, my dad and I live here. We was just in that town on vacation.” Damien leaned away from the cage to as to better interact with Adira. “I didn’t know you lived around here, either.”

“Oh I don’t. I just stay with J…my aunt during the school week, and then I live with my… Dad on the weekends.” Adira had struggled with what she said; it was the first time she’d acknowledged Crowley as her new dad and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

Damien hadn’t seemed to notice her struggle, however. “That’s really cool. Maybe we can hang out after school sometimes.” He gave her a really big grin. “I hope you like it here.”

“I hope so, too.” Adira admitted honestly before looking back at the cage.

Damien noticed her staring. “Oh yeah; this is the class guinea pig. He’s supposed to help teach us responsibility.” He glanced back at the cage for a moment. “Mr. R said his name was Einstein, after the famous guy.”

“I’ve heard of Einstein. He was a physicist.” Adira mostly breathed this under her breath, but Damien heard her anyways and his eyes lit up.

“How did you know that?” He was intrigued.

Adira blinked and stared at Damien. “I-I read it in a book once.” She was surprised at his question; did he NOT know that? She wondered what else she may know that others wouldn’t.

“That’s really cool.” He gave her a toothy grin. “I like you. Wanna be my friend?”

“I… yeah, sure; I would like that very much.”

Just as Damien went to speak again, the teacher announced that free time was over and it was time for everyone to take their seats.

Damien made his way to his desk with the rest of the students while Adira hung back; she had no clue where she should sit.

Mr. Rothesburg waved Adira to the front of the classroom, where he then gestured to a desk. “I assign all of my students’ desks by putting stickers with their names at the top. As I noticed how well you got along with Damien, I did a bit of rearranging and assigned you the desk next to his.” He led Adira to her new desk, where she sat down. “If you look inside, you’ll notice brand new workbooks with your name on them.” Adira did just that; as she opened her desk to look, the teacher went back to the front of the room.

Mr. Rothesburg clapped his hands to get the attention of the entire class before starting a lecture on math. Adira paid as close attention as she could, but when he was finished and gave the class an assignment in the math workbook to do during class time, it occurred to Adira that neither Crowley or Jody had gotten her any school supplies like pencils, erasers, crayons, or anything.

Adira’s face paled to the point that she was white as a sheet as her anxiety set in. What if she got in trouble for not being properly prepared? Were teachers allowed to punish students? If so, what kinds of punishments were they allowed to use? What if he yelled at her? Or worse?!

Adira hadn’t even noticed she’d begun to cry until the teacher was kneeling next to her desk and asking her repeatedly if she was okay. She snapped out of her daze and looked over at him. “I-I’m so sorry… I f-forgot to bring my school supplies…”

Mr. Rothesburg moved to stand and Adira instantly flinched, fearful of being struck.

The teacher noticed this and quickly tried to remedy the situation. “Hey, shh; it’s okay. I promise you I am not mad.” He gave her the kindest smile he could, trying to soothe her fears. “I will grab you a pencil from my desk so you can do the assignment. You aren’t in any trouble, I promise.”

Adira’s lip quivered just a bit but she nodded that she understood. So he wasn’t mad… that was good.

The teacher quickly retrieved a pencil from his desk and brought it back to her, where she proceeded to do the assignment as required.

The rest of the school day went off without a hitch; she spent her recess and lunch times with Damien, who led her around the school excitedly. He showed her how to get her lunch tray and collect her food, as well as the cool things to do on the playground; she never even had to pull out her Maze Runner book like she’d been planning.

By the end of the school day, Adira felt much happier and confident that she would enjoy going to school here. The school counselor showed up as the final bell rang for the day and once she’d grabbed her backpack, he led her out to the parking lot and pointed out the school bus she was to ride back to Jody’s house. She stared at the number on the bus for a long minute, trying to make sure she could remember it so she wouldn’t get on the wrong bus in the future.

The bus ride was fairly uneventful; the previous week, when it had been mentioned that Adira would be joining the rest of the elementary kids that rode Claire’s bus, Claire had told Adira to choose a seat in the back if she wanted Claire to sit next to her. That was exactly what Adira did, putting her backpack next to her on the seat so as to save the spot for Claire.

Damien took a different bus to his house, but he promised Adira they would hang out in the future, either by him riding home with her or her with him. She agreed easily.

As soon as all of the kids were on the bus, it took off and parked at the high school. Adira stared out the window in awe at the high school; it was much bigger than her school was, and all of the kids were much bigger than even Claire and Alex were. If she were honest, she was just a tad jealous of Claire and Alex; they got to have so much freedom just because they were bigger than she was.

It wasn’t long before Claire joined her on the bus, and as Claire was the last one to get on the bus, they were soon headed back to the house. Before Claire could ask how Adira’s first day was, the small girl asked why Alex hadn’t gotten on the bus.

Claire rolled her eyes in disgust, but Adira could tell it wasn’t aimed at her. “Alex goes home with her boyfriend after school. They go make out or some crap before he brings her home. You won’t see Alex riding the bus.”

“Oh…” Adira sighed and looked out the window. It wasn’t that she wasn’t thrilled that Claire was friendly with her; quite the opposite, really. She adored Claire; she just wished that Alex liked her better.

The bus trip wasn’t a very long one, but they were some of the very last to be let off the bus. Claire still hadn’t asked about her day, but Adira was sure it would be brought up at dinner time.

As they made their way inside, Adira was surprised to see Jody at home; usually when Claire came home from school, Jody left for work and Adira assumed that she would just start working since Adira would be coming home with Claire now.

“Hey girls; do you have homework tonight?” Jody called from the living room.

“Maybe.” Was Claire’s only response as she took off for her room.

Adira stared after her for a moment before she headed into the living room. “Yeah, I do.” Adira shucked off her backpack and set it on the floor before sitting on the couch next to Jody.

“Okay, well I require everyone to do their homework before they’re allowed to watch any TV.” Jody told her as she turned off the TV.

“I can’t.” Adira murmured as she stared at the blank screen, but she didn’t offer any more than that.

“Why can’t you?” Jody pressed, but Adira simply got up from the couch and headed towards her shared bedroom. “Hey! Adira, don’t walk away when I am talking to you!”

Adira didn’t respond as she shut the bedroom door behind her and climbed onto her bed, earning her questioning looks from Claire. For some reason, despite the great day she had had, Adira suddenly felt incredibly sad.

She couldn’t help but wish Crowley was here as she crawled underneath her covers and pulled them over her head. Silent, hot tears started to streak down her cheeks as she hugged Skreech tightly to herself and huddled beneath her blankets.

Jody knocked on the bedroom door, but Adira ignored her; however, Claire answered the door anyways.

“Adira, I would appreciate…” Jody started to scold her, but trailed off as she noticed Adira was hiding beneath her blankets. She gave Claire a questioning look, to which the teenager simply shrugged and flopped back on her bed.

The rest of the week was much the same as her first day of school; Adira would have a very enjoyable day at school, but grow depressed as soon as they got off the bus. Jody had eventually wrangled enough out of Adira to take her shopping for school supplies, but other than that Adira hadn’t spoken much. She did the required homework, but picked at her food and grew incredibly sullen.

Even as Friday rolled around and Adira was met in the parking lot by Crowley as opposed to riding the bus home, she grew increasingly silent and huddled under her covers the moment he brought her home to the Asylum.

Crowley frowned and left her room in order to question Jody on this new habit, but she couldn’t offer him anything helpful; just that Adira had animatedly spoken to her therapist like usual but acted as such when she got home.

Crowley hung up and returned to Adira’s bedroom, where he sat on the edge of her bed. “What’s wrong, pet?” He asked gently, nudging her softly. The blanket moved in response akin to that of a shrug from the girl. “Do you wish to tell me what’s wrong?” More movement that Crowley could tell was a shake of her head. “If I take you to see Sam, will you tell him?” Hesitation before another movement that Crowley could tell was a nod. “Okay, let’s go see Sam.”

Adira finally poked her head out from under her blankets. “Don’t forget my backpack…”

It was the first she’d spoken since Crowley had collected her from school and he reveled in the sound of her voice. The week had been lonely and oh-so-gruelingly silent without her.

Crowley slung her backpack over one shoulder before holding his arms out for her. Adira moved to the edge of the bed, which was her way of granting him permission to pick her up and Crowley didn’t hesitate in the slightest. He very quickly scooped her into a tight hug and ported them to the Bunker; like before, he didn’t even bother warning the Winchesters ahead of time.

They appeared in the library, where the boys were diligently studying some old lore books; likely for some sort of Hunt.

“Hello, boys.” Crowley greeted as he set Adira down; a frown danced over his features as he noticed Adira didn’t greet them herself.

Sam and Dean both jumped in unison as they were startled, epic bitch-faces thrown at Crowley for the intrusion but was quickly replaced with bright smiles when they noticed Adira.

Sam was the first to notice Adira’s stature, but Crowley gave neither of them time to comment on it. He passed Adira her backpack, which she took to a chair and began doing her assigned weekend homework. Satisfied she was preoccupied for a moment he quickly waved the boys over and began speaking with them in hushed tones.

“There is something bothering Adira, but she refuses to tell Jody or myself about it. She only wants to talk you, Sam.” Crowley glanced at Adira in worry.

Sam easily took the hint, though he sighed. “I’ll talk to her.” As he turned to head back to the table, Dean and Crowley left the room completely.

Sam took a seat next to Adira. “Adira, is there something bothering you?”

She ignored him in favor of her homework; it wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer him, she just didn’t know what to say.

“I can tell something is bothering you by the way you refused to answer me.” He gently touched her shoulder and waited for her to look at him.

Adira set down her pencil and finally looked up at him, but she still didn’t know what to say.

“Did something happen at school?” Sam asked gently.

“No, everyone has been really nice to me and I like school a lot.” Tears threatened to well in her eyes, but she fought them back; she had no reason to cry.

Sam’s heart broke at the sight; he knew what it was like to fight an internal war, and he felt for the poor girl. “Is there something else that upset you?”

“I-I don’t know…” Adira’s voice cracked. “Maybe I just wish I could go home with Crowley every day, instead of just for the weekends.” Adira looked straight at Sam as her blue eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know what to tell the other kids or the teachers when they ask about my home life and my parents.”

Sam frowned as he pondered this.

“Do I tell them I live with my aunt? Is that what Jody is supposed to be to me now? And what about Crowley? Is he my dad now? Am I supposed to just pretend what happened to me never happened? Or do I tell them the truth, and how much of it?” She struggled to let it out, but once she did she breathed in relief.

“Adira, I think this is something you should bring up to Crowley.” Sam frowned for a moment. “He didn’t use your real last name when you were enrolled into school, did he?”

Adira shook her head. “He doesn’t know my real last name. No one does, because no one has asked.”

Sam nodded; he knew that meant Crowley used his own human last name for her. “Adira, would you like to know a secret?”

Adira sniffed back her tears. She felt much better now that she’d told Sam her problems. “What is it?”

Sam cracked a bit of a grin as he leaned in close and whispered softly to Adira. “Crowley’s real name isn’t Crowley; at least, it wasn’t when he was a human.” Sam cupped his hand to her ear and whispered. “Crowley’s real name is Fergus MacLeod.”

Adira was a bit taken aback by this. “You mean… he gave me his human last name to use?” She blinked as she tried to absorb just what, exactly, that meant. She decided she’d think about that later; she brushed it off a bit by laughing a teeny bit. “His name is Fergus?”

Sam grinned, but before he could respond, Crowley was clearing his throat. “Forgive me if I don’t thank you for that, Moose.” His tone was gruff, as was always the case when it came to the Winchesters.

Adira bit back her giggles before turning back to look at Crowley. “Sam made me feel much better.”

Sam nodded to confirm this and Crowley moved closer. “I am glad to hear that, pet. Shall we go home?”

Adira nodded and began collecting up her homework; once it was tucked back in her bag, she threw her arms around Sam and gave him a rather tight hug. “Thank you.”

Sam kissed her cheek softly before pulling away, giving her a gentle smile. “Any time, kiddo.”

Adira ran off to give Dean a hug, in which Crowley turned back to Sam. “Thank you, Moose…” It was easy to tell how hard it was for Crowley to say, but it was genuine.

“I didn’t do it for you.” Sam responded before he went back to poring himself over the lore books; a sign that he didn’t wish to further converse with Crowley.

Adira returned moments later and grabbed up her backpack before going back to Crowley. She was too naïve to sense the tension in the room; at the very least, she didn’t notice due to her renewed mood.

Crowley brought them back to the Asylum, but he ported them to his Throne room and not Adira’s bedroom as was usual.

Adira looked at Crowley in confusion as he moved to his Throne and sat down. “I really missed you this week, pet.” He gave her a smile as he conjured a miniature of his Throne for her to sit in. “How about you come tell me about your first week of school?”

She stared at the mini-throne in awe, moving to check it out. “For…me? Are you sure?”

“Of course, pet.” Crowley patted the top of the mini-throne, inviting her to sit.

Adira shucked off her backpack and sat in the chair, putting her bag at her feet. She beamed brightly as she turned to look up at him. “It’s really comfy. Thank you, Crowley.”

Crowley ran his hand gently through her hair. “You’re most certainly welcome, Dove.”

“You remember that cool club you took me to?”

“Yes, I do, pet. Why, would you like to go again?”

“I’d love to go again! But that isn’t why I asked.” Adira giggled a bit. “You remember that boy in the dress that danced with me?”

Crowley frowned at the mention, but nodded to acknowledge that he did, in fact, remember.

“He goes to my school! He’s in my exact class, actually!” Adira practically screeched as she announced the news; fantastic to her, not so much to Crowley.

Crowley had to force himself not to growl at the news. “Oh?” He choked out; he was trying to keep his temper at bay, but he knew something like this would happen. He knew she would meet boys, and likely make unsavory friends once she started school.

“He’s my only friend right now, but he’s really nice. He also introduced me to the class pet! He’s a guinea pig and his name is Einstein.” She beamed proudly as she proceeded to tell Crowley all about her school, classroom, and curriculum.

It wasn’t long before Adira had finished telling him about her school and she fell silent again, sadness evident on her features.

“What’s wrong, pet?” Crowley had noticed right away, and he didn’t like seeing her upset.

“Well, it’s just… What do I tell my teachers and classmates? Do I tell them you’re my dad, or not? And what if they ask about my mother? Do I tell them she died, or do I say the truth about the abuse? Or what do I say about Jody?” Adira would have continued to ramble on, but Crowley shushed her gently.

“You do not have to tell anyone anything you don’t want to. If they ask about your home life and you don’t feel like telling them about it, then you tell them you’d rather not discuss it. I can be your dad, if that is what you would like, but I will not force anything on you, pet. Everything is up to you, dear, I promise.”

Adira nodded. “Okay. Thank you, Crowley.” She stood up and gave him a tight hug before sitting back down and pulling out her homework. It wasn’t due until Monday, but she’d rather finish it sooner rather than later.

The rest of the weekend went by fairly quickly. She spent the majority of the time in her room with Crowley and by the time Sunday night rolled around, they’d binge-watched a huge selection of Disney movies. Crowley would die before admitting to anyone that he hadn’t hated as much as one would expect.

Adira admitted her favorite ‘princess’ was Merida from Brave, but her favorite movie of the weekend had been Oliver And Company. After some pressing from Adira, Crowley admitted that his favorite ‘princess’ had been Mulan, but his favorite movie from the weekend had been The Lion King. Adira made a joke that it was because he related to Scar.

As Crowley was tucking Adira into bed, he made a note to set up a stereo in her bedroom sometime during the week so she could listen to her music without headphones.

Adira fell asleep quickly, excited for the next day. She couldn’t wait to tell Claire all about the movies she’d watched over the weekend. However, she was slow to wake the next morning; Crowley had been expecting her to be awake early like before, but he ended up having to wake her at 7:45 when she still hadn’t come out of her room.

As it was a late start, she had missed breakfast and due to her acclimating back into eating it wasn’t a good thing, but thankfully it was only one missed meal. Adira was incredibly sluggish today, but Crowley helped her dress for school; part of him wanted to keep her home, but he had been shirking his duties and there was word of a revolution, which he’d make damn sure didn’t happen. It seemed a lesson needed to be taught to his lackeys.

Crowley dropped Adira off at school and sighed inwardly as he went to deal with his Kingdom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The days blurred into weeks, blurred into months, and Adira’s first Christmas was upon them. As Christmas had been created to cover up Pagan holidays, and truly had nothing to do with the ‘birth of Christ’ as the Christians claimed, Crowley had no qualms about celebrating for his dear Adira.

As it was winter break at Adira’s school, she had returned to the Asylum and Crowley couldn’t be happier about this fact. The Asylum was far from decorated, but the spirit was still palpable as Adira was the epitome of ‘Holiday cheer.’

The idea was that Crowley would bring Adira to the Bunker around lunchtime on Christmas Eve, where they would spend the night with the boys; Jody would also be bringing the girls some time on the Eve.

Adira was currently doing things around the Asylum to earn money; while Crowley didn’t care about cleaning the place, he had read that children enjoyed feeling validated by earning allowances and they enjoyed giving presents on Holidays as much as they enjoyed receiving them and Crowley didn’t want to tell the girl no.

Crowley was attending to one of the more boring parts of his job as King; a statistics meeting. Much as he tended to hate it, he was enjoying this one. His lackeys were trying their damnedest not to cringe or complain about the music blaring around the Asylum; Crowley had stuck to his mental promise and installed a sound system in Adira’s room. While the system was only set up in his room, when the first complaints about the music came to him, he used his abilities to make the music play around the entire Asylum and he was reveling in the torture it was bringing to his lackeys.

A song called ‘True To Your Heart’ from the Disney movie Mulan was currently blaring around the Asylum, and Crowley could even hear Adira belting out the lyrics as it played; it was truly the only reason he was able to stand the music playing in the first place.

“Uh…Sir?” A demon called out nervously, and Crowley looked up, realizing embarrassingly that he’d been zoning out.

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you turn down the music? It seems to be distracting you. Plus, it’s annoying.” The demon seemed less timid now.

Crowley narrowed his eyes. “Does it look like I wish to turn the music down?”

“N-no, Sir. My apologies…” The demon stuttered, realizing he’d made a mistake.

Crowley snapped his fingers and the demon exploded in a flurry of dust. “Anyone else wish me to turn down the music?”

Crowley grunted and waved for them to continue, though he zoned out again. ‘Be Prepared’ from Lion King began to play, and Crowley tapped his foot lightly as he listened to the lyrics; much as he hated to admit it, he related to the words. It was odd, but he liked it; he made a mental note to ask Adira to introduce him to whatever movie held the song, as he knew the music was all from Disney movies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, Adira had earned enough money to get a gift for every single person who would be at the party. She’d even wrapped the gifts herself, and while they were not wrapped very well, Crowley couldn’t be more proud of the young girl for her efforts.

Crowley had brought along a few gifts for Adira, as well; it was obvious he would, despite not being one for the holiday. He wanted to spoil the girl, regardless.

Crowley and Adira had shown up later than the agreed upon time, but since they were all simply celebrating just to appease the child, no one complained about the late arrival. In fact, Sam and Dean were none too happy that Crowley was even there, but they kept their mouths shut for Adira’s sake.

The Bunker was decorated with a few measly strings of lights and some strands of garland here and there. A faux tree had been bought for the occasion, but it was a 2 foot tall tree stood on a table in a corner of the makeshift living room. Adira was currently situating and resituating all of the presents underneath the table; she didn’t mind in the slightest that the tree was so small.

It would be hours before Jody and the girls joined them, but the time was ticking by ever-so-fucking-agonizingly-slowly and Crowley could only drink so much whiskey; not that he could get drunk, but he was actually trying to set some sort of example for Adira, and it seemed the Squirrel and Moose had the same ideas.

Sam cleared his throat. “So, Adira, tell us about school. Any good friends?” His eyes traveled to the clock; only 3 hours to go.

Adira finally abandoned her task and beamed brightly at Sam. “Yeah! I have a really good friend named Damien. I spent the night at his house last week!”

Crowley choked on his drink. This was the first he’d heard about it. “You what?” He managed to choke out, forcing himself not to hiss at the announcement.

Sam hid his smirk behind his beer bottle, and Dean pretended to cough in order to hide his snickers.

“Yeah, Jody let me spend the night over at Damien’s house last week the night before the last day of school, before winter break. It was lots of fun!” Crowley’s grip tightened on his glass, but Adira didn’t notice and continued on. “We played twister and monopoly and connect four and his mom made meatloaf!”

Crowley had to set his drink down before he shattered the glass, making a mental note to have some strong words with Jody.

For the next few hours until Jody showed, Adira continued to ramble on about school, recess games, cool new things she’d learned, and of course Damien. By the time Jody announced their arrival, Adira had finished telling the group all about Damien’s large collection of dresses and skirts; Adira had once asked him why he wore dresses, and he admitted to enjoying the way they felt but that he was definitely a boy.

Adira ran to help Claire carry in the presents, where she proceeded to continue her task of situating and resituating the presents underneath the table; she was in awe, really, at the sheer amount of presents. She’d never seen so many wrapped gifts in her life, and most of them were marked for her.

Claire helped Adira with her task of situating the presents, allowing the small girl to direct her in what to do, while Alex and Jody joined Sam and Dean at the couch. Crowley was content in just watching the girls play with the presents.

“Hey, Sam?” Adira called softly. Once Sam looked her way, she quietly asked of him, “Did Castiel say he was coming?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure when, kiddo.” Sam paused a moment before he held out his arms. “Hey, come here for a minute, Adira.”

“Okay, Sam.” Adira made her way to him and sat on one of his knees.

He bounced her a bit, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. “Do you know the story of Santa Claus?”

Adira frowned and shook her head. “No, who is that?”

Sam was actually a bit shocked about that; he knew she’d had a shitty start to her life, but she’d also had a great father and he’d honestly expected her father to have taught her about Santa.

“Well, there are many different beliefs when it comes to Santa Claus. In Holland, children are visited by Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten. Sinterklaas will leave good little children presents in their shoes, and the Zwatre Pieten will take bad little children to Spain for a whole year to teach them how to behave.

In Germany, children are visiting by Saint Nicholas and Krampus. Saint Nicholas will give good children presents, and Krampus will punish naughty children with spankings.

In Poland, they call Santa Mikolaj, which stands for Saint Nicholas.” Sam bounced her on his knee a little again. “Do you know what all of those places have in common?”

Adira shook her head; she was in far too much awe to actually say anything.

Sam poked her nose gently. “Magic.” He grinned. “All of those children get presents, not just because they are good, but also because they believe in the magic that is Santa Claus. You see, Santa is real but only if you believe in him.”

“You mean like the fairies? Like Tinkerbell?” Dean paled a little bit at the mention of fairies, but Adira hadn’t noticed.

Sam swallowed, but pressed himself to continue. “Exactly like Tinkerbell!” Sam gestured to the table that held the little tree. “Every year on Christmas eve, when all good little girls and boys are asleep in their beds, Santa comes and leaves special presents for them. But only if little girls and boys are sleeping like good kids.”

“But how will Santa know if I’m sleeping?” Adira thought for a moment. “And how would he know which kids live where? Or what they’d like for a present? And how would he get to all of those places?”

The questions intimidated Dean, but Sam took them in stride. “You see, Adira, Santa is magic. Just like Castiel, Santa can read your mind, but also like Castiel, he respects your privacy and only reads your mind to know what you want for a present. Plus, there are many kids that weren’t very good this year and so Santa won’t visit them. Instead, Krampus would visit those naughty kids.”

“But how would he even visit all of the good kids? Surely there were more kids who were good this year than there were bad kids!”

“Right you are, sweetheart. But there are a lot of children out there that don’t celebrate Christmas.”

“But then what do they celebrate?”

Sam grinned. “I’m glad you asked.” Dean groaned, but it didn’t deter Sam; he launched into a history lesson, teaching Adira all about the many beliefs and customs of the world. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, and many others.

When he finished with those, he taught Adira the true origins of Christmas; how it was originally the Pagan holiday of the Winter Solstice, but many years ago Christianity covered it up with the lie that Christmas was Jesus’ birthday as they wanted Christianity to be the only religion. At some point during his lesson, Castiel had appeared at the Bunker and he backed up Sam’s words with his admittance that there were many things that the Christian religion got wrong or covered up.

By the time Sam had finished, it was well after 10 at night and Adira wasn’t the only one yawning; Alex had nodded off already, entirely bored with the subject but having been grounded from electronics she’d had to suffer.

“Okay, nerd, I think it’s time for the munchkin to go to bed.” Dean said, a bit too cheerily as he was glad the lesson had been finished.

“I agree with the Squirrel, Moose. Santa won’t show up so long she’s still awake.” Crowley stood from his seat and held out his hands to Adira, who lifted her arms in return.

Crowley collected the small girl in his arms and headed from the room.

“Goodnight, Adira.” Everyone called in unison, and she responded by sleepily waving at them.

By the time Crowley made it to the room they’d be residing in, Adira was lax in his hold and sleeping deeply with her head on his shoulder. He decided to skip the formalities of waking her up and just snapped his fingers to change them into Christmas themed silk pajamas; he was now in red pajamas covered in candy canes, and Adira was in baby blue pajamas featuring snowmen.

He pulled back the blankets on the bed with one hand and gently settled them down, leaning against the headboard for support before he pulled the blankets back up to cover them. He snapped his fingers to turn off the light before using that hand to rub up and down Adira’s back, urging her further into sleep. Not that he’d admit to it, but he was actually quite excited for the morning; he’d even remembered to bring along the camera Charlie had given him so he could record this memory to remember always.

Crowley closed his eyes and thought about Adira’s birthday; she’d been so happy, her face lighting up brighter than any picture could ever convey. He hadn’t even realized he’d drifted off to sleep until he was woken up by the door being flung open by an overly excited Charlie, squeaking for Adira to ‘come look what Santa had left.’

Adira was awake in seconds and pushing her way off of Crowley’s chest. He grunted as her tiny elbow jabbed into his stomach, the slapping sound of her bared feet against the cement floors disappearing down the hallway. Crowley snapped his fingers to change himself into a more refined outfit (his signature suit, of course) before following after Adira; he’d only stopped to grab the camera, and turned it on just as he entered the living room.

It seemed Adira and him were the last ones awake, as the living room was already filled with the sleepy faces of everyone else, aside from Castiel and Crowley that is. Everyone else was dressed in Christmas themed pajamas, including Castiel; Crowley was the only one out of place, not that he cared.

Just as Charlie had mentioned, there were multiple new gifts that had joined the pile from last night; some were from Charlie and Castiel, but most were signed from Santa in a signature all-too-resembling to that of Sam’s cursive. Crowley smirked a bit from behind the camera, but he didn’t comment.

“Adira, would you like to hand out the presents?” Sam grinned.

Adira squealed with happiness and began handing out presents to everyone; she had excitedly noticed that Santa had left every single one of them a special present, even Crowley! She gave herself a present last, and sat back to watch everyone open theirs.

Crowley was shocked he’d gotten a present, but once Adira snagged the camera from Crowley to record the moment, he obliged her and opened the gift. It took everything in him not to glare at Sam or to throw the present in disgust; it had revealed to be a baby doll, the package irritatingly reading “My First Baby.”

Adira handed the camera back to Crowley and eyed the package in confusion. “I think Santa had a mix-up. Why would he give you a doll?”

Crowley smiled adoringly to Adira. “I think it means that Santa is proud of me for taking care of you, Dove.” He pointed the camera at her. “What did you get, pet?”

Adira seemed to buy his answer and started to tear into her own present, which Crowley took the distraction as a chance to give Sam a death-glare. Sam smirked back.

Adira gasped loudly. “It’s a science kit, to make crystals at home!” She squealed. “Santa really does know what I wanted!”

Sam grinned proudly, but Adira didn’t notice; she was far too happy squeaking over her new crystal kit.

The rest of the morning was very much the same. Everyone opened their gifts, but were more overjoyed in watching Adira open hers; in fact, the majority of the gifts were to Adira. It seemed the entire group enjoyed having the ray of sunshine that was Adira around.

It wasn’t long until the final gifts left to be opened were the ones Adira had bought and wrapped herself; she’d gotten every single person in attendance there a present.

Dean went first, opening a can cozy that had “AC/DC” on one side and a muscle car picture on the opposite side. “I love it, kid. Thanks.” He grinned.

Sam was next to open a gift, which revealed to be a German-to-English translation book. “Thanks, Adira. I had been meaning to pick one up.”

Alex opened a new pair of headphones; Claire received a new beanie; Jody received a DVD of Police Academy, which made her laugh; Castiel got a new tie; and Charlie got a toy replica of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, which made her smirk.

Crowley was the last one to get a gift from Adira, but she proudly set the box in his lap. “I hope you like it…” She said softly as she sat by his feet, watching him with hopeful eyes.

Crowley tore off the wrapping paper and stared down at the box. The hope in her small blue eyes tore through him and he silently begged himself to react the way she wanted him to. He gingerly opened the box and his eyes widened in surprise; inside the box was a small stuffed toy dove, with what could be identified as a hand-made (hand-sewn) black and red tie wrapped gently around the dove. He beamed proudly and set the box aside before pulling Adira into his lap.

“It’s beautiful, Dove. I love it very much. Thank you.”

The rest of the group exchanged glances, but none of them said anything; they merely began gathering up the abandoned wrapping paper and empty boxes to be burned in the fireplace.

“This was the best Christmas of my life.” Adira smiled happily, hugging Crowley tightly.

Chapter Text

Four years had passed and not much had changed; Adira was ten now, and in the sixth grade, but she still resided with Jody during the school week. She’d made progress in therapy and now only needed to go once every other week. She still went home with Crowley every weekend and school break, but now she stayed with him for the whole of summer as it was easier for him to bring her to therapy once every other week than it had been for him in previous years where she still needed to go as frequently as twice a week.

Crowley had made every birthday and holiday as special as the first times had been, and Adira was happier than ever.

Adira hadn’t seen or heard from Sam and Dean in months; in fact, no one had. Crowley had even been making it a point to keep all of his demons away from them, not that Adira was supposed to know that; she’d overheard him ordering them to keep far away from the Winchesters as possible, which only confused Adira. She’d thought they’d been friends, but it seemed she’d been mistaken.

Her calls and texts had been going ignored, though Dean had recently renewed her cell service again just a month ago.

She hadn’t even seen Sam or Dean for her birthday or any of the holidays following; this last Halloween was the first one Crowley had allowed her to participate in under the orders that her entire team of demon guards flocked her for every second of the night. Christmas and Thanksgiving had both been spent at Jody’s, and while they had been fun, she’d missed Sam and Dean dearly.

It was the middle of February now, and she’d not heard from either of them since August; she was growing worried, but Crowley kept assuring her they were fine.

On the night of the 13^th of February, Adira set out a pretty outfit to wear the next day to school; it was Valentine’s day and her school was having a special party during class hours to celebrate. She picked out her favorite red dress with white hearts; Crowley had gotten it for her first Valentine’s day when she was six, and while she loved it dearly, she also hated that she still fit in it. In fact, she still fit in all of her clothes from when she first started living with Crowley; she had only grown a mere 3 inches in the last 4 years, and it made her sad.

She added a pair of white tights that were adorned in red hearts and her special pair of red Mary Jane dress shoes to finish her outfit.

Claire had been watching her meticulously lay out her outfit for the next day and laid a small leather jacket over the dress to match. “Here, if you wear this with the dress it’ll look perfect.”

“Thanks, Claire.” Adira smoothed out the jacket gently. “Hey, Claire?” Adira continued to stare down at the jacket, but stopped smoothing it out. When Claire hummed softly in response, Adira continued. “How come I haven’t grown very much?”

“I’m… I’m not sure, kid.” Claire answered honestly. “I’m sure you’ll hit a growth spurt soon. I can almost guarantee it.”

Adira sighed softly; it was all anyone ever said, even her doctors.

“You’re probably right…” And she left it at that, crawling into bed as her way of ending the conversation.

The next day came quickly, but Adira was lagging a little behind. She dressed quick, but ate her breakfast a bit slow; she was both excited and anxious for the Valentine’s party at school. She bought candy and cards for all of the kids in her class, as well as some that weren’t in her class, but she couldn’t help wondering if she’d get anything in return. After all, valentines were supposed to be anonymous, and that typically meant you didn’t have to give any if you didn’t feel like it.

“Adira, we’re going to miss the bus! Come on!” Claire shouted from the front door, which caused Adira to choke on a mouthful of cereal.

She quickly swallowed it down and pushed from the table. “Coming!” She ran into the kitchen to give Jody a quick hug before joining Claire in the entry way; she snatched up her backpack and gave Claire a grin. “I’m ready now.”

Claire was currently repeating her senior year of high school, but she’d promised Adira that even if she wasn’t going to school anymore she’d still wait at the stop with Adira anyways.

Once Adira made it to the middle school, she stuffed the valentines in the correct lockers before making her way to her own locker; it was an unspoken rule among the school that everyone just stuck valentines in everyone’s lockers before class so there wouldn’t be an awkward conversations during class when handing them out. Adira took a deep breath and unlocked her locker. As she opened it, a small amount of valentine cards fell out.

She sighed and picked up the cards. There were only three, and all of them were from Damien. While it made her sad, she refused to let it damper her mood; she shoved her backpack in her locker and slammed it shut before heading to her homeroom.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by; the party was fun, but Adira’s mind was elsewhere. She was wondering why she hadn’t received many valentines. Was it because she was so small? Was it because she wasn’t very pretty? Or maybe it was because she excelled so much in school?

By the time the school day had ended, Adira couldn’t seem to force herself to smile. She hadn’t gotten a single other valentine the entire day and that had made her sad; she dragged her feet to her locker to collect her backpack and walked slowly out to meet the bus.

When she made it to the parking lot, her bus was gone. Adira gasped; she knew she hadn’t been THAT slow! She’d wasted much more time than this before and had never missed the bus!

Tears welled in her eyes as she hung her head sadly and began walking home; she knew she’d never make it to the high school in time to catch the bus from there, and so she resigned herself to make the miles-long trek home. It was the first time she’d had to walk, but she’d explored the town enough that she knew a shortcut back to Jody’s house.

As she walked, she sadly yanked the ponytail holders from her hair; she didn’t feel very festive anymore, but the only way to she could show it was to undo her hairstyle.

**********************************************

Adira was about a mile from the school when she came up on the familiar playground; it was a 2-mile walk still to the house, but she knew if she cut through the forest behind the playground she could make it feel like less. Adira cut through the playground, but before she could take the first step onto the forest path, a familiar voice called to her.

“Hold on, petite femme!”

Adira turned in time to see Berkley making his way over to her.

“Berkley?” Adira frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Keeping you company. Would you mind if I walked you home?” Berkley held out his hand.

Adira frowned even more, if that were possible; Berkley always seemed to avoid her at home and she wasn’t sure what made him decide to change his mind now.

“I suppose not.” Adira gently slipped her hand into his and they began to walk along the forest path.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” He asked.

“Oh. I seem to have missed the bus.” She sighed, staring down at the ground as they walked.

“Actually…” Berkley spoke up before he shoved Adira to the ground. She let out a startled gasp, grimacing as she landed sharply on a stick that cut her hand. “I told the bus driver to leave without you.”

Adira went to roll onto her back, but Berkley pressed his foot roughly into her back and stopped her. “Ow! Berkley, what the hell?!”

Adira began trying to push herself up but Berkley quickly stopped her by grabbing her arms and wrenching them harshly behind her back.

“Ow, OW!” She cried out in pain, her legs starting to kick in response; she was fighting back tears as she felt her wrists being tied together painfully below her backpack.

She felt his breath on her ear moments before he whispered menacingly, “Scream all you like, petite erreur. No one can hear you.” She could hear the amusement in his voice. “Tears only make me happier.”

Satisfied her arms were subdued, Berkley removed his foot from her back; however, she had no time to struggle for freedom as he dropped to sit on her calves. Adira’s breath hitched and caught in her throat as she felt him toss her skirt up across her backpack. ‘Is he going to spank me? But…what have I done wrong?’ She thought as she continued to fight back her tears.

Berkley ripped through her tights and panties with little effort, which caused Adira’s mind to race. Crowley had never punished her like this before, and she was beginning to think it wasn’t a punishment of any sort.

She felt his weight leave her calves as he knelt behind her and he harshly dug his fingers into her hips, causing her to whine in pain. He yanked her hips roughly, pulling her into a kneeling position. “Stay put.” He growled, and Adira didn’t dare move the slightest inch.

She heard him fumbling with his belt for a moment before she felt something press against her female part. “Wh-what are you doing, Berkley?” She whimpered softly.

“You’ll see.” He responded mere seconds before he thrust himself painfully into her.

Adira shrieked deafeningly as pain tore through her; she began to sob hysterically from the pain, and she wanted to collapse, but Berkley’s grasp on her hips held her steadily in place. Her sobs seemed to echo throughout the forest, but she didn’t hear anyone coming to her rescue.

Berkley gave her no time to adjust to the intrusion; he dug his fingernails into the small girl’s hips and began to pound into her mercilessly, her blood slicking his cock as a lubricant.

Adira cried pitifully and pathetically fought her bindings, but to no avail; it only seemed to urge Berkley on and he groaned lustfully. He pulled one hand from her hips and used it to spank at her delicate ass; she was incredibly tight, and he was enjoying this much more than he’d originally thought he would.

Adira choked on a sob, losing her breath for a moment, but her breath came rushing back on a shriek. “Daaaaadddyyyyyyyy!” She didn’t care anymore; she just wanted Crowley to come save her. She knew what Berkley was doing was something Crowley would never dare, and she knew it was because Berkley hated her that he was doing this. It hurt oh so much.

Berkley growled and leaned forward to press his hand against her head, shoving until her face was buried in the dirt. Small twigs dug into her face and dirt became embedded in her nose and throat. As soon as she began silently praying for Castiel, Berkley’s weight disappeared from atop her.

She collapsed heavily against the ground, her face twisting to the side so as to allow her to breathe.

There was a grunt and a crackling sound from behind her before a thud on the ground and then her wrists were being freed. Adira was about to curl into the fetal position, but she was none-too-gently pulled into a tight hug; she cried out in fear, but she quickly realized it was Castiel. He’d answered her prayers and saved her.

She flung her arms around his neck and cried hysterically into his chest. She felt the pain disappear from her crotch, and she felt the dirt disappear from her nose, but she clung to him for dear life.

***********************************

Castiel quickly flew them back to Jody’s house, but when he tried to lay her on the couch he was met with an ear-splitting shriek from Adira. He cringed from the noise but quickly accepted that she was not going to allow him to put her down; he tightened his grip on her and dropped down to sit on the couch with her in his lap.

Jody came rushing out of the kitchen at the sound of Adira’s shriek and nearly tripped when she saw Castiel holding her on the couch. “What happened?! Is she okay?!”

Castiel glanced up before looking back down at the girl. He was unsure of what to say to the Sherriff, but he didn’t have to say anything; Jody glanced at the torn and tattered tights and panties bunched around the girl’s legs and she paled considerably.

“I-I think we need to tell Crowley.” Her voice came out shaky; she honestly had no clue what she was going to tell Crowley.

Castiel looked up at Jody, a grimace on his face due to the excruciatingly loud sobbing emerging from the girl in his lap. “I could tell him.” He was really just asking Jody to take over caring for Adira. He was at a loss as to what to do to help aside from telling Crowley or the boys what had happened.

Jody moved to the pair and gently pulled Adira into her arms. Adira didn’t fight it in the slightest; she clung to Jody tightly enough that the Sherriff was sure she’d have a bruise in the future from the grip. She’d barely managed a decent hold on the girl before Castiel was gone and Jody sighed at the disappearance. ‘How very Winchester-like of him.’ She thought grumpily before turning to head down the hallway.

While it had been many years since she’d carried a child like this, Jody managed it easily; she gently cooed ‘shhs’ in Adira’s ear as she made her way into the jointly-owned bedroom of Claire and the girl. She gathered up a soft pair of pajamas before making her way into the bathroom.

“Okay…” Jody laid the clean clothing on the sink before sitting on the lid of the toilet. She rubbed Adira’s back gently as she held her close. “I… don’t know what happened… but I was thinking a hot bath may help you feel better.”

Jody cringed a little bit as Adira let out a sharp wail and she hugged the girl a little tighter. “Shh, shh, honey. I can stay right here the entire time, I can help you bathe, or we can skip the idea and just get you dressed in some warm pajamas.”

Adira pulled back just slightly to look up at Jody through red-tinged eyes; she was choking back sobs and hiccups as tears streaked down her cheeks. “Y-you won’t leave?”

“No, sweetheart, I promise I will stay right here.” Jody gently plucked a twig from Adira’s hair before she leaned over to turn on the tap water, engaging the bathtub plug. “I will stay here, and I will make sure no one enters the bathroom whatsoever. Okay?”

Once Adira nodded, Jody kicked the door shut and leaned forward enough to engage the lock, before setting Adira on her feet. “Let’s get you undressed, okay?”

“C-can…we cut my hair?” Adira whimpered softly.

“You…want to cut your hair?” Jody was surprised, to say the least; Adira had always prided herself over the length of her hair. She’d only gotten it trimmed over the years and now it hung to nearly her ankles in length.

“Please…” Adira begged, her eyes welling with tears once more.

Jody was at a loss, but she decided to roll with it; the girl probably felt powerless at the moment, and so needed reminding that she was in charge of everything having to do with her body. “Absolutely, sweetheart.” Jody pulled out her cell phone and quickly pulled up a Google search of different hairstyles both long and short before handing her phone to Adira. “Look through those and find one you like. I’m very good at cutting hair, so I’ll do it for you.”

Adira lowered herself to the floor and began sifting through the multitude of hairstyles before landing on one she liked very much. “This one.” She said softly, handing the phone back to Jody.

“A-are you sure, kiddo?” Jody was shocked; the hairstyle was a pixie style, maybe 3 or 4 inches in the back with the sides and bangs being no longer than passed her chin.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay, well… I shall cut your hair tomorrow, then.” Jody ran her fingers through the water to check the temperature.

“No!” Adira bit her lip gently before continuing, “Please cut it now.”

Jody flinched a bit, taken aback by the outburst from the young girl. In all the years she’d been staying with Jody, she’d never raised her voice before; not towards Jody, at any rate. She’d heard and seen the girl throw tantrums in front of Crowley, but this seemed different.

“Okay, all right, it’s okay.” Jody turned off the tap before pulling out a towel. “We’ll do your hair right now, then.” She gave Adira a gentle smile as she wrapped the towel around the girl’s shoulders, pulling her hair out to cascade down over the towel. She couldn’t help but think of how angry Crowley would likely be when he saw Adira’s hair having been cut without him being consulted, but she didn’t care at the present moment. It was clear the girl was traumatized by her ordeal and wanted some sort of control over her life.

Jody pulled her set of hair cutting scissors and a comb out from underneath the bathroom sink before crouching down to set to work. It pained her to cut the girl’s hair, but she did it for Adira’s benefit. She understood that there were times when victims would make drastic changes to their outward appearances; it was said to be a coping mechanism, a way to control things that felt out of control to themselves.

It only took a half hour for Jody to cut Adira’s hair, which made her need to run fresh bath water, but she didn’t mind in the least. Adira seemed the slightest bit happier now that she’d had her hair cut and the weight of her hair disappearing made her hair curl into much tighter ringlets; they now covered every inch of her red-brown hair.

As Jody helped Adira remove her dress and what was left of her tights and panties, Jody was struck with disgust at the small girl’s appearance. There were deep bruises colored purple and an angry shade of red in what could clearly be seen as fingerprints covering near every inch of her hips. She had scrapes and deep gashes on her legs, stomach, chest, and arms from what Jody could only assume were sticks. She had to force herself not to gasp or have an angry glower on her face.

“Okay, sweetie, let’s get you cleaned up, shall we?” Jody forced her voice to stay steady and even, regardless of how angry she felt, as she helped Adira into the bathtub. The poor child didn’t deserve this.

It took a while for Jody to get Adira cleaned up and changed, but it was worth it; after a mere hour of washing her up and changing her into a soft pair of footed pajamas, Jody held Adira tight to herself on the couch. Adira had fallen asleep and Claire, whom had returned home while Jody cleaned up Adira, joined them, silently asking Jody questions about what had happened. Jody could only hope Castiel got Crowley there soon.

*Castiel POV*

After multiple attempts, Castiel had finally tracked down the boys. They were busy, but this was dire; he didn’t care what they were doing, just that they listened to what he needed to say. Sam seemed damaged, but so long as he could help, Castiel could ignore it.

“Dammit, Cas!” Dean cussed, turning an angry glower on Castiel. “Make some noise next time!”

Castiel tilted his head the slightest bit but didn’t comment towards the remark. “Where is Sam?”

“Bathroom.” Dean narrowed his eyes the slightest bit. “What’s up?”

Before Castiel could respond, Sam made his way out of the bathroom, towel drying his hair. “Hey, Cas. What’s up?”

Being in closer proximity to Sam made his damage that much more apparent to Cas; he tilted his head as he addressed Sam. “You seem….different.”

A flicker of something passed over Sam’s features before he put on a quick poker face. “I uh… am not sure what you mean.”

Sam and Dean exchanged glances before Dean spoke up before Cas had the chance. “We’re on an important case. Is this important?”

Cas frowned at the pair of them. “Yes, it is. What is your case for?”

Dean sighed. “Look, Cas, we don’t have the time for this. Just tell us what it is so we can get back to it.”

Cas’ frown deepened. “Something is wrong with Sam. I would like to know what it is.”

Dean took a swig of his beer before setting it down a bit too roughly. “Fine. If you must know, we’re doing the trials to shut the gates of Hell. Now, can we get on with it?”

Realization dawned on Cas’ face as he realized what he must be sensing from Sam was likely from the trials; they must be taking a toll on Sam’s body. He raked his gaze over Sam before looking back at Dean; the Hunter was getting agitated and while Cas was still unaware of most human social interactions, he picked up on it fairly easily so he got on with it.

“Adira was harmed earlier today. It seems Crowley’s head demon Berkeley was interested in her in a way she didn’t seem to like. He had intercourse with her, but she didn’t seem to enjoy it.”

Sam and Dean both exploded with anger, a blinding white hot rage.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Dean roared.

At the same time, Sam exclaimed, “Is she okay?!”

Both Winchesters seemed to overlap with their expletives. Questions came out, but Cas didn’t catch them as the both of them covered one another’s voices. Cas stayed silent until the pair of them realized he couldn’t answer any of the questions. Finally, once Dean decided to silently fume, Sam spoke up.

“Is she okay?”

“I think so. She hadn’t finished crying when I left, however.”

“You LEFT her?! Cas, she’s probably horrified!” Sam paused, but before Cas could respond he spoke up again. “How did you find out?”

“I heard her pray for me and found him on top of her.” Cas frowned towards Sam. “I didn’t exactly leave her. Jody has her.”

Sam let out a weary sigh and ran a hand through his still dampened hair. “That isn’t the point, Cas. Human nature is to cling to their savior, especially when it’s a child. How long after finding her did you leave her?”

“Minutes, I suppose. I brought her to Jody’s, told the sheriff what happened and that it had been dealt with, and then came to find you both.”

“You haven’t even told Crowley?” Dean asked incredulously; the girl was the demon’s charge, obviously he needed to be told.

A flicker of something registered on Cas’s face before he steeled it and returned to his usual Angelic poker face. “Since the perpetrator was his head demon, I’m not entirely convinced this wasn’t his fault.” And once the words left Cas’s mouth, he could not take them back; not even he realized that he’d just condemned the King of Hell to a version of Dean’s wrath much more furious than had ever been previously shown.

Dean threw on his own poker face. “Thank you for letting us know, Cas. We’ll come and see Adira as soon as we can.”

There was a cold malice in Dean’s voice, but it went unnoticed by Cas, who nodded to Dean and left the boys to their devices. Sam, however, knew the tone instantly and felt an icy chill run down his spine. “What are you planning, Dean?”

Dean snatched up a piece of paper and stared at it with intent. “Kevin has already told us the final trial.” He stood up and yanked on his jacket before he wrenched open the motel room door. “I know just the demon right to play the part in the final act.” And with that, he left, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take much for Dean to collect the necessary supplies needed to summon the demon; some B&E but he was used to it, and it didn’t take long for him to invoke the correct spell needed either. Crowley came easily, for once without sass; he trusted the Winchesters a tad more these days, what with the help they’ve given in caring for Adira.
“Hello, Moose. Squirrel.” Crowley greeted, for once with no hint of malice or annoyance in his tone. “To what do I owe the pleasure? What happened to just calling me? That’s what phones are for.” Crowley brushed a stray piece of fuzz from his suit sleeve before moving towards the boys, or attempting to at least; it was as he went to step forward that he finally noticed he was ensnared in a demon trap.
Dean leaned against the table in their little motel room, staring at his hands as he used the tip of a knife to clean under his fingernails; he was acting nonchalant and uncaring as he address the King of Hell.
“Something happened to Adira today.” He wiped the knife on his jeans before moving on to his other hand, cleaning under those nails. “Your head demon attacked her, in an incredibly disgusting and demeaning manner.” He lifted his gaze to Crowley finally, steel and ice in his eyes as he glared angrily.
The color seemed to drain from Crowley’s face, horror and worry screamed in his eyes, but Dean forced himself to ignore it; the demon had to have just been acting, he was damn sure of it.
“What happened?” Crowley hardly spoke above a mere whisper, as if speaking louder would break him.
This seemed to snap something inside of Dean; he strode over to Crowley in two small strides and smacked the demon as hard as he could, splitting the King of Hell’s bottom lip. “Don’t you dare act like you didn’t know or that you care!”
Crowley’s eyes flashed his signature blood red as he glared Dean down, though he kept his mouth shut. He did care very deeply for his little Adira, but it occurred to him that with Dean’s current mood it was a very real possibility that he may not return to her if he pissed Dean off further.
“Don’t you dare try to pretend you knew nothing about the attack your demon made! He violated her in the most despicable of ways! I should have known, even with all these years of you pretending, that you had never truly changed. But a child? A CHILD, Crowley? Is there no one exempt from your heartless ways?” Dean ranted, he was fuming with anger and from his words Crowley was able to piece together roughly what had happened. He felt sick.
Sam had kept silent through Dean’s tirade but seeing Crowley’s reaction gave him pause to what they were going to do. “Dean, can I talk to you?”
Dean shook his head angrily, his glaring eyes never leaving the monster in front of them. "No, Sam, because we're doing this." Dean pulled the demon trapping handcuffs from his pocket and snapped them in place around Crowley's wrists before the demon could stop him.
Everything was a blur of activity from there; Dean took to packing Crowley into the trunk of the car, too angry to allow the monstrous demon any comfort of riding in the back seat. Plus, he didn't want to hear a word he had to say. From there, Dean decked him in the face; it didn't knock him out but it left him dazed as Dean painted sigils and warding around the trunk lid, stopping only to deck Crowley a time or two again before he finished.
Sam cleaned up the motel room in record speed and had their gear packed into the back seat of the Impala before Dean had even finished with Crowley in the trunk, but he merely climbed into the front passenger seat instead of going to see what he could do to help. There was something wrong about the way Crowley had taken to the news and Sam couldn't help but feel like they'd fucked up.
Once Dean had finished, he slammed the trunk closed, not caring if he dented it with the force; he was royally pissed off and dents could be fixed, he had enough practice in that regard. By the time he was sat in the front seat, Crowley had started to kick the trunk lid and protest his capture loudly, but Dean just started Baby and turned the music up loud. He was on a mission and nothing would stop him from getting to the end game.

8 hours later, Sam was on the tail-end of the demon curing ritual. A lot had happened once the brothers had gotten the King of Hell to the abandoned church and set up, but Sam tried not to think about that; he focused on how close he was to finishing, his arms glowing orange from the trials. Dean had had to go off to help Cas with something, leaving Sam to do the ritual on his own, but Sam figured he'd be fine - and he had been fine, for the most part. He'd even witnessed Crowley having an emotional breakdown, almost near tears as he yelled that he deserved and wanted to be loved, and it didn't get passed Sam that Crowley's tears spilled over as he claimed, again, he knew nothing about what had happened to Adira.
It broke Sam's heart, he truly believed Crowley now that he'd had nothing to do with that situation, but his resolve was that this could be beneficial; Crowley could go live a human life with little Adira, and the gates of Hell could be slammed shut. Win-win, really. But the closer they got to finishing the trial, the less 'well' Sam felt. There were fleeting moments when he could barely even stand. But, no matter, two syringes left to go.
As Sam moved to inject Crowley again, it didn't escape his notice that the demon tilted his head for it, but the bewilderment was short-lived as Sam nearly collapsed on his feet. The church blurred behind his eyes and he stumbled back to the table, but he was determined to see this through.
It felt like Sam had just blinked when his phone went off with the alarm telling him the final injection was to be made, but he shook that out of his head. It was time. He grabbed the final injection and made his way over to Crowley, slightly shell-shocked by the humanity behind the gaze staring back at him.
"Last one." Sam said, though he wasn't sure if it was more towards himself or towards Crowley, but that detail didn't matter. He was gentle this time as he stuck the needle into Crowley's neck and emptied it. From there he began the final touches, but Dean stopped him before he could cut his hand. Sam protested, but he was too weak to do much of anything as Dean moved him into the back seat of the Impala.
Dean, however, couldn't just let this one go. Sure, maybe finishing the ritual would do nothing towards closing the gates of Hell, but it would still be a good bit of revenge. So, Dean made sure Sam was bundled in the backseat before he made his way into the broken down confessional box. He confessed anything and everything he could think of just to purify his blood so he could finish the ritual.
And finish it he did. Sam's health had taken a major turn for the worse, Dean now sat by his bedside in a hospital as Sam lay in a coma fighting for his life, and a very human Crowley lay gagged and very tightly bound in the trunk of the Impala. Dean couldn't justify letting him go, not yet at least, but that went on the backburner while he focused on making sure his baby brother lived.

Crowley wasn't aware of much in his present state; he was in pain, that was for sure, and he was bound and gagged in the trunk, he remembered that much, but he wasn't sure how long he'd been in here. It was too dark, with no cracks or any source of light for him to tell if it had become daytime or not. He was hungry, his stomach grumbling loudly and painfully every minute or so telling him as much, and he was tired, the burning in his eyes telling him that, but he couldn't rest. His mind was too preoccupied on Adira.
Him becoming human just made him all that more aware of how much he loved the little girl and he couldn't help but feel like she probably hated him right now. The fact that his head demon hurt her in any regard was damning on its own, but that he was a demon himself was the tip of the iceberg. Anyone who knew anything about demons knew that, despite having once been human themselves, they had no human emotions or moralities left. Well, most of them didn't; there were some that had enough humanity left in them to make them somewhat decent. Decent enough, at any rate.
Crowley couldn't blame the boys, not in the slightest. Hell, he likely would have done the same were he in their shoes. But that didn't stop him from cursing their very existence. Not only had they not told him shit about Adira, but they were keeping hijm captive so he couldn't even go find his little girl himself. Crowley sighed and forced himself to relax; at the moment there was nothing he could do, having fought for who-even-knew-how-long to get out of his bindings to no avail. He closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep; he'd need the rest so he could get out of here.
Crowley wasn't sure of how long he'd slept, but he was woken rudely when the trunk was pounded on. He heard Dean tell him to stop pouting and he rolled his eyes before pounding back a response. It was a struggle to do so, but he managed to raise both hands, still bound, to the trunk lid and punch back a response that he was alive. But that was the last he heard of it, directly at any rate; the next he heard was sounds of fighting and then radio silence... again.
And that was how things were. Apart from Dean opening up the trunk to feed him and give him water, Crowley was left in the dark; both figuratively and literally. Dean didn't talk to him much, sometimes calling him a rude name or telling him to eat, but otherwise he was ignored. He wasn't even allowed bathroom breaks, forced to soil himself and the smell covered up with air fresheners and deodorizing sprays. It was a personal Hell, and Crowley was soon thinking it was kinder than he deserved.
Crowley varied from silently crying as his emotions got the best of him to sleeping and not much in between. The only source of evidence towards time that he got was when every day Dean brought him a bottle of water to drink, and when every 3rd day Dean brought him food to feed to him. Otherwise, Crowley had no concept of time, only the concept of being left with his thoughts. And his thoughts were horrible; night after night of being plagued by nightmares of what could happen to his beloved little Adira. Nightmares of her being killed by a stray demon just to draw Crowley out of hiding, because no one knew he wasn't really in hiding and he realized that.
It had been a month, at least that, since he'd been slammed into the trunk. Crowley only knew as much because Dean had come to feed him 11 times, and since those feedings only happened every 3 days... A month and he was finally carted into the bunker and tucked away in the dungeon a couple weeks prior. He was being kept as their bitch, as they demanded names of all his demons running amok stateside, but he didn't care about what they did to him.
Time blurred together and honestly, he was too wrapped up in his own brain to remember much of anything that happened. He knew he gave them names, and in return he demanded answers; give and take, it was only fair. They'd finally told them what happened to Adira, and he threw up after they did, sick with grief and other emotions at the thought of his little girl being traumatized. They'd also let him know she was being taken care of, but he'd rather see that with his own eyes.
A month had passed and Crowley hadn't found an out, but it stood before him now in the form of a pissed off Kevin Tran. He couldn't lie, seeing the young spitfire before him made him sad inside; he'd tortured the poor kid, in a lot of ways, and he couldn't ever take it back. The young prophet wanted revenge and he couldn't blame him. But he also couldn't act the way he use to.
"Kevin, little ball of sunshine, how can I help you?" Crowley cringed at himself, he sounded like a jackass.
"No, you don't get to talk. Not after everything." Kevin's voice rose a bit, he was righteously angry and he had every right to be. He moved towards a wall of weapons and Crowley swallowed nervously.
"Kevin, wait, I'm not the same person who tortured you. Please, just let me explain!" Crowley was starting to get nervous.
Kevin hesitated but grabbed a knife. "You're lying."
"I'm not! Kevin, let me explain, and if you still don't believe me..." Crowley let his sentence died, but the intent was clear; he talks, but if Kevin doesn't like it then kill him. Kevin gestured for him to continue, so Crowley took a deep breath.
"I'm human now. Moose and Squirrel, they did a demon curing ritual, and it worked-" Crowley saw the doubt on Kevin's face and gestured to the demon killing knife still on the wall, "-If you don't believe me, cut me with that knife. It would make me spark if I were still demon, remember?"
Kevin did exactly that; he grabbed the knife and yanked up Crowley's sleeve before dragging the knife along his arm. And Crowley was right; no sparking, just pure blood.
"Okay, so you're human now. So what?" Kevin didn't care. He was still pissed and he wanted payback.
Crowley hissed at the pain but tried to ignore it. "Look, your mother. She's still alive, I swear!" Crowley took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I have a little girl now... I love her like she's my own child. I just want to go take care of her. If you let me go, if you set me free, not only do I promise you'll never see me again, but I'll tell you where your mother is. She was a pawn, a tool to use if I needed to put you in line, and I'm sorry for all the hurt I've caused, but you should know I kept her alive because you should understand why I had kept her alive. Please... a fair trade, right?" He tried to hide the desperation in his voice, but he failed when it cracked with emotion. But maybe that's what swayed Kevin's decision.
Kevin would have ended it there, would have just beat Crowley senseless then left him to rot, but knowing there was a kid out there... Not just any kid, but a kid that relied on Crowley, that loved Crowley...
Kevin sighed as he put the knife back on the wall and turned back to Crowley. "Fine." He slammed a piece of paper and a crayon down in front of him. "Write down her location."

*Adira POV*
A month had passed since the incident and Jody hadn't forced her to go back to school. In fact, Adira barely even left the house and was certainly never alone. She wouldn't allow anyone to leave her alone even if they'd wanted to; even going to the bathroom she left the door wide open so she was truly never alone or vulnerable. The trauma and fear left behind from that horrible Valentine's day plagued her daily. She woke up in a cold sweat shrieking from nightmares every night, she shook with fear and anxiety any time Jody or Claire left her line of sight, she ate very minimal amounts of food.
A month, and she hadn't heard a word from her Daddy either, because that's exactly what Crowley was; her Daddy. She knew what kind of work he did, the logical part of her brain telling her there was a reason she hadn't heard from him, but the very real and very emotionally traumatized part of her brain told her he didn't care. Not just that he didn't care, but that he knew and condoned what happened to her. It's what caused her to start crying every day.
And cry she did; every day, lost in her thoughts, she'd start crying while she curled into the arm of Jody's couch, cartoons quietly playing on the TV. It's why Claire and Jody made her drink at least 6 cups of water every day, as her tears could easily dehydrate her. And if her eyes being perpetually puffy and red rimmed were of any indication, they already were, but she didn't much care.
Castiel had filtered in a couple of different times to check on her, but she mostly just ignored his presence. She was grateful for her help, and she always offered him a small smile, but since he'd told her he couldn't bring her Crowley she didn't much feel like talking to him. Not that she felt much like talking to anyone, either.
So. over the course of a month, they settled into a sort of routine; Adira waking from nightmares, picking at breakfast, settling into the couch, picking at lunch, begging for the sigils that kept demons out to be checked time and again, crying on the couch, picking at dinner, back to bed, rinse and repeat. Adira's nightmares gripped her with fear, but not as severely as they would were the wardings to fail.

*Crowley POV*
He wasn't sure how far from the Bunker he finally was but after Kevin set him free, Crowley hadn't looked back. He'd snagged a few credit cards and as much cash as he could find, as well as the demon killing blade which he tucked into a sheath on his hip, before taking one of the old cars parked in the Bunker garage. He had to get back to his girl and he'd do it any way he could, damn it. Currently he was at a gas station ATM about six hours time from when he'd left; he may have been a demon for a multitude of years but even he'd picked up tips that credit cards left a paper trail, so he was pulling as much cash out as was the limit. Not that it mattered much; the boys would know where he'd go when he left, being human and predictable as he was it was obvious he'd go to Adira.
He didn't care about the possibility of them following him, however. He cared about getting back to his little girl, making sure she was alive and safe. Damn what happened to him after that. Pocketing the few thousand he was able to pull from the 5 cards he'd snagged, Crowley went back outside to fuel up, grateful he'd learned to drive for those times when he'd had to pretend to be human for investigations.
Crowley was about to get back in the car to continue his drive before his stomach reminded him of his humanity and he turned back into the store to grab road snacks. Any other time he may have paid attention to what he was grabbing, but he was in a rush to get back to his girl, so he just grabbed anything that sounded remotely appetizing; beef jerky, chips, candy bars, really anything he could eat one-handed while he drove. 
Soon enough he was back on the road, munching on his road snacks as he drove, but it soon became obvious he was hopelessly lost. As a demon, he was able to just pop to wherever he wanted to be, so he'd never learned how to navigate the human way. He growled in frustration as soon as he realized he had no idea where he even was and turned off at the next exit that had the biggest town and drove to a chain store that sold electronics. 
And once again, he was soon back on the highway, a new smartphone in hand with the GPS pulled up. He may not remember Jody's address, since demons didn't need to know those kinds of things, but he at least remembered that she lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Seems he'd been driving in the complete opposite direction and had gotten fairly far before he realized his blunder, so what would have been a 6 hour drive from Lebanon where the Bunker resided was now going to be a nearly 13 hour drive from the town he got the phone in.
What frustrated him more was that he didn't even know Adira's phone number; granted, yes, he owned a human phone once upon a time and had her number stored in it, Sam and Dean had confiscated it from him, among other things. So he couldn't even ease his conscience by calling his girl to make sure she was okay, and to let her know he was alive as well. But, no matter, because as his foot pressed a bit harder down on the gas pedal he knew he'd be there soon enough.
Or, rather, he would have been, but as soon as he hit the Sioux Falls city limits he was accosted by one of his own. Or, one of his former, at any rate. The demon popped out of nowhere in the middle of the road and Crowley's innermost human instincts had him swerve to avoid hitting the, what he'd thought was human, woman and he crashed into a telephone pole; thank god he'd remembered to put a seat belt on or he may not have survived that crash.
Groaning and blinking away the blurriness in his vision, Crowley pulled his head up from where it'd smashed into the steering wheel and reached up to touch his forehead, pulling away fingers coated in blood. That couldn't be very good. The demon he swerved to avoid yanked open the door with minimal effort before grabbing Crowley and ripping him from the car; the seat belt broke from the force of him being dragged out of the car, but not before digging harshly into his shoulder and thighs, leaving behind friction burns and cut open skin around the edges.
Crowley was thrown to the ground, the force of which ripped open his left shin and palm in roadburn, and momentarily dazed but he snapped back into focus before the demon advanced again; he yanked the blade from its sheath before stabbing into the demon's lower jaw, determination in seeing Adira again driving him to survive. Crowley collapsed onto his back and let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, taking a long hard breather before he forced himself back up.
After having limped back to the very much destroyed and now useless car, he dug out the cell phone and everything else of importance before he turned to make the rest of the journey on foot. He may not have known the address, but he knew the town well enough to recognize the route to get there; glancing down at the phone for the time, just barely before midnight, he figured he'd get there before morning light.
It was about 3 AM by the time Crowley had limped into the familiar neighborhood, and from the darkness that surrounded Jody's house, it was clear everyone was asleep. But Crowley didn't give it a second thought as he limped up the familiar walkway and to the front door; he made sure to be quiet, as the Hunter inside could easily kill him without hesitation before realizing who he was, but he otherwise didn't care. Having "hunted" with Sam, Dean, and Cas before, he'd picked up the ability to pick a lock and so Crowley set to work easily, and soon made his way quietly within the house.
He'd never been inside the Sheriff's house before, as he'd been a demon up until recently, but he could tell where Adira's room was; small, soft, sad whimpers filled the quiet night air and he followed the noise. His heart broke when he saw his little girl, tear stricken, in the throes of a nightmare and he took a step forward to comfort her but that was as far as he got as the apparent adrenaline coursing through his veins finally gave out and he collapsed on the floor, his body and energy finally giving out, passing out from the pain and shock.

Chapter Text

"Well? How do I look?"
He should have seen this coming. He really should have seen it coming but he hadn't and now he was going to regret it, damn it. She was getting to that age, so why he hadn't seen this? She looked so grown up, it broke his heart but he also swelled with pride knowing he'd gotten her to this point. She looked so shy standing on the stairs, waiting for him to say something about her dress.
Crowley let a warm smile spread across his face as he took in the sight of her, nervous and confident all at once. She was 13 now, she still hadn't grown much in terms of physically but she was maturing into a young lady and Crowley couldn't be more proud of the young lady she was becoming. Tonight was a Homecoming dance at the high school she attended and she'd been asked by Damien to be his date. Much as Crowley wasn't fond of the idea of her growing up, he hadn't stopped her from accepting the invitation, and now the night was upon them.
Adira was dressed in a gown that stopped at her ankles and glittered in the pale light. It was a medium purple in color and accentuated her maturity while also still pointing out that she was very much also a child. Her hair, which had grown back over the years, was swept up on top of her head and pinned up, with a few strands down to frame her face. She was wearing a lacey black shawl around her shoulders to finish off the look and to keep the chill of the night air at bay.
Tears welled in his eyes, but they never fell. He was happy, seeing how excited she looked, as he raised his camera to snap a few pictures so the memory would last forever. He may have once felt regret at being made human, but nights like this made it obvious to him that he was happier like this than he ever would have been had he been left a demon. He may have felt love for her even back then but comparing the feelings to now, he knew it had been a muted kind of love and it was nothing compared to now.
Crowley gently took Adira's hand and helped her off the stairs before pulling her into a gentle but firm hug. "You look stunning, darling." And he meant it.
Adira smiled and returned the hug before she pulled away, gently and playfully swatting at his arm. "You're getting sappy, Daddy." She sniffed back any tears she'd been forming. "Stop it, you're going to make my makeup run."
Crowley finally noticed she was wearing make-up. It was subtle, light eyeliner to bring out her eyes and natural colors blended like it was done by a professional. It wasn't like she was getting married, thankfully they were years away from that situation, but he couldn't help but feel like he was starting to lose his little girl. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"Of course, Dove." He gave her a kiss on the forehead before pulling away to fix her with a warm smile. "I'm just sappy."
A knock at the door had them pulling apart and Crowley answered it to reveal Damien, in a suit with a tie that matched the exact shade of Adira's dress, holding a corsage. He had to steel himself against the urge to sigh; the kids really went all out, acting as if they were headed to prom and not just the Homecoming dance.
After inviting the kid inside, Crowley took pictures of the two of them together. He snapped pictures of Damien putting the corsage on Adira's wrist, the joy on her face, the two of them entwining their fingers together, and of course the two of them together side by side. He never wanted to forget how at ease Adira looked on this night, free from stress and worries that usually plagued her.
It wasn't long before the two of them had left to go to the dance and Crowley was left on his own for the next couple of hours. He moved into the living room and got comfortable on the couch with a TV show, though he didn't end up paying any attention to it, lost in thoughts of the last few years since he'd become human. After the night he'd collapsed on Adira's bedroom floor in Jody's house, things had changed drastically. Of course it had taken a lot of convincing Jody and proving to her he was human before she'd even attempted to get him help to keep him from dying, but after that things had gotten better.
He'd been a tailor when he was originally human the first time around and after forging documents to make it possible, he'd gotten a job in the same field. Things like that never truly left you and it was like riding a bicycle as he fell into the rhythm of the job again. Though, many things had changed in the 300 plus years since he'd last had this kind of job, so he'd had to learn about the different types of thread and fabric, among other things.
His new income, combined with the thousands he'd stolen from the Winchesters and his new fake social security number, he'd built up a good amount of credit and it was a few short months before he was buying a house from him and Adira to live in on the outskirts of town. He preferred being away from people, since he was a target for demons and Angels alike. The house was decked out in every warding possible, since he was human it didn't effect him in the slightest. And once they'd gotten settled in their new home, Crowley never left.
He had no reason to - the modernization of the internet allowed for groceries and necessities to be delivered to their front door, he refused to buy a car so he didn't have to drive (that accident had traumatized him, though he'd never admit it), and any time Adira wanted to leave she could call Jody or a friend to come get her. Life couldn't be better.
Even his job worked around his situation and allowed him to work from home; clients either came to him, or a coworker brought the job straight to him. And after what she'd gone through, even Adira understood his want and need to not leave the house. Adira had grown so much, Crowley couldn't help but smile about that.
She hadn't grown more than a few inches physically, but Crowley wasn't too worried in that regard. Sometimes kids just bloomed late, though the fact she was still about the size of an 8 year old made her sad. But they'd been to multiple doctors and they were told there wasn't anything they could do about that.
The boys hadn't been very happy about Crowley's escape, but Jody had backed them down and for that Crowley was eternally grateful. He didn't care to cause any more trouble. He just wanted to spend the rest of his days taking care of Adira, and after she became an adult if they still wished to get revenge on him he'd go quietly. The young girl was more important than anything they had planned.
Adira was doing much better than he'd ever thought, as well. He had been worried that the attack would set her back in any progress they'd made by miles, but soon after Crowley had started to heal she'd even agreed to go back to school - provided, of course, she was escorted by Claire. And Claire had agreed to do so. She loved Adira like a little sister and she never wanted something bad to happen to her again.
By the time the next school year rolled around, Adira had flourished in Crowley's constant presence. And he was, in fact, a constant presence; despite having a job, he'd made sure he was in her sight every single morning before school and he was home by the time she left school. He didn't even work weekends. He didn't care much about the money, and he'd let his boss know that his daughter was more important than any job. He was just lucky his boss agreed with that sentiment and told him he'd work with that as long as Crowley communicated about it.
And Crowley learned pretty quickly to communicate to his boss any time he had a reason to need a day off or to leave work earlier than usual. It was a copacetic relationship.
It had taken a long time, but Adira finally no longer had nightmares at night. Crowley had done everything he could in that time to let her know it would never happen again, but just reassuring her never would have done the trick. The only thing that had finally done the trick was getting Castiel over to Jody's house for him to replay the image of him killing Berkley but even that didn't fully work. Her nightmares lessened, but never fully went away until Crowley had started binge-watching The Walking Dead. 
Adira had walked in one day to see Crowley binging the show and grew interested; Crowley wasn't sure, but he had suspicions that it was a certain blue eyed archer in the show that finally eased Adira's mind. Crowley smirked at the memory of that, he was certain the surly character was Adira's first fictional character crush. He didn't mind, the show hinted around a background of child abuse with the character and he was sure Adira connected with that.
His knowledge of music had expanded from there, as well. Music had been a thing when he'd originally been alive, of course, but it was fleeting and only live, never recorded. Electricity hadn't even been a thing when he'd existed before, so of course recorded music wasn't either. But after he'd been formed into a demon and crawled from Hell he hadn't gotten mixed up too much with the human inventions. It wasn't until he was King of the Crossroads he'd ever bothered listening to modern day music and even then it couldn't be considered 'modern' by most standards because what he turned to was more along the lines of 60s soft rock, so it was classics more than it was modern.
But that changed with his newfound humanness, and how Adira surrounded herself with music of all varieties. It wasn't something he could avoid, not that he really wanted to. Music spoke to her on a level he wasn't sure he could even begin to comprehend and the tone of the music easily set the tone for her emotions for the day. There were even times when she'd hit a very sad point, a spiral of depression, and she'd play the most heartbreaking music Crowley had ever heard. Some of the music held themes of suicide, some of the music was just designed to make the listener cry. He would have put a stop to it, but after seeing it happen enough times he realized it helped bring her out of whatever funk she ended up in, and so he began to pay more attention to what music she'd listen to and when.
It wasn't hard to see the pattern. Most of the times she ended up in a depressed mood was after a hard day at school, though she never talked about it. She refused to tell anyone what was going on, except her therapist and even that sometimes didn't happen. But there wasn't much Crowley could do to help, except help her with the coping exercises her therapist gave or allow her to release it with music.
The sound of the door shutting a little harder than normal and footsteps running up the stairs brought Crowley out of his thoughts. He furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced at the time and realized Adira hadn't even been gone for an hour, less than 45 minutes in fact. What was she doing home so soon? He heard a door slam shut upstairs and pulled himself off the couch to follow.
As he climbed the stairs to check on Adira, Crowley's phone fell from his pocket and tumbled down the stairs before shattering on the ground below. He cursed under his breath but decided he'd deal with that later, wanting to check on his little girl instead. Something had to have brought her home early.
On the landing Crowley looked at the four doors in the hall; one was a closet so no use checking that one. He was about to check her bedroom when he heard the water start running for the tub and instead made his way to the bathroom to knock on the door gently. "Adira?"
No response came except for shuffling behind the door, so he tried again. "Dove?" He tried the handle and found it locked. His knocking became a little more frantic and he rattled the handle. "Open the door, please." But it didn't work. He felt the edges of fear creep in as he heard a sniffle and a very soft hiss of pain behind the door.
He didn't care anymore, he was getting into that bathroom and so he shoved himself against the door. When it didn't budge, he shoved harder and repeated the action until the door flung open, smashing into the wall as it did. And his heart stopped at the sight in front of him.
Adira was in the tub, still fully clothed, with blood pouring angrily from her wrists. Her skin was pale, and getting more pale by the second as she lost more and more blood, and that kicked Crowley into gear. Seconds passed, but they felt like hours, he felt like everything was going in slow motion as he rushed forward to drag her out of the bathtub. He cradled her in his arms as he clumsily dragged a towel down from the rack to hastily wrap around her wrists.
Tears fell down his cheeks as he started to beg her to hold on, he'd get her the help she needed, but it was pointless. Her life was ebbing away in front of him and there was nothing he could do. He held her tightly to himself, the tears flowing freely at this point.
"I can't imagine a world with you gone..." He began to sing softly, knowing music was her vice. It was the only thing he could think of to do. "Can you hear me saying please don't leave me.." She was almost gone at this point, he wasn't even sure she could hear him. "Hold on, I still want you... Come back, I still need you.."
And just like that, Crowley's world ended, and he didn't even know why. His heart shattered, the only meaning in his life was gone. Whatever had happened tonight, he'd never know, and the consequences would always be on him, no one else. Humans... are such fallible things.
The howl of pain that he released was an almost inhuman sound, but he never really was human to begin with. It had occurred to him that he could try to make a demon deal, but no demon would deal with him. They'd sooner kill him. But it was too late to do anything. She was gone, and nothing could really bring her back. And so he held her and wept, long after the bathtub had began to overflow. Long after the warmth of her skin faded to room temperature.