Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Castiel wakes with a start, his body soaked in sweat, his breathing erratic. He thought he was done with the nightmares. Amelia has been gone for five years now. He knows logically he will never get over the death of his wife, the woman he swore he would love for all eternity, the woman he still loves, even though he will never get to have her in his arms again. But he thought he would at least be done with the nightmares. 

He shuffles to the bathroom in the dark, not wanting to take the time to turn on any lights in the hallway, and throws some water on his face. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His hair is a mess, like he had been trying to rip it from the roots in his sleep, and the bags under his eyes tell him that his sleep has been less than restful for more than just tonight. 

When he’s back in his room, he finally registers that it’s 6am and he should be starting his day anyway, so he makes his way down to the kitchen to start the coffee pot and figure out what to make Claire for breakfast. His thoughts go back to his nightmare, which was just a repeat of the day he found out his wife died.

Castiel is sitting in the living room with Claire, watching some cartoon he’s really not paying any attention to. He keeps staring at the clock, wondering what is taking Amelia so long. She said she was running to the store to pick up a few things for dinner, but that was hours ago, and the store is only 20 minutes one way. 

There is a knock on the door, which is strange since they aren’t expecting anyone. Maybe Amelia has her hands full and needs help opening the door. He doesn’t think to look through the peephole to make sure it really is her, so he just opens it, and his heart skips a beat when he sees the uniformed officers standing on the other side. 

“Mr. Novak?” the one whose nametag reads Mills asks.

“Yes, that’s me,” he tells her with a shaky voice.

“Do you mind if we come in?” the blonde one asks.

“Yeah, of course.” He steps aside so they can enter the house and he asks Claire to go to her room for a minute, unsure of why they are here. “Please, have a seat,” he says,  motioning for them to join him as he takes a seat on the couch. They sit near him on the loveseat.

“May I inquire what this is about? I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?” he asks them.

“No, sir,” the blonde, whose name tag has Hanscum written on it, tells him. “I’m afraid there’s no easy way to say this, but there’s been an accident, a terrible accident, Mr. Novak.”

Castiel only receives bits and pieces of the information, his brain all but shutting down at the mention of the words ‘terrible accident’. He holds in his tears as he listens to the police officers tell him that Amelia’s car was involved in a catastrophic car crash, and there was an explosion, and her car caught on fire with her trapped inside. They tell him that, unfortunately, there wasn’t much left for him to be able to identify. 

His world seems to be closing in on him. This can’t be happening. She can’t be gone. They were supposed to raise Claire together and grow old together. Now she’s dead and he can’t even see her again because of the fire that took her from him. Claire runs in before they are done talking, and he comforts her as she cries in his lap, wanting to see her mother one last time.

“Daddy?” 

Castiel is pulled back to the present as Claire stumbles into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from her eyes. 

“Hey, baby, did you sleep well?” he asks as she wraps her arms around him to give him a hug. 

“It was okay. I thought I heard someone crying, but it must have been in my dream.”

Castiel doesn’t want to burden her with his problems, so he lets her think she was just having a dream. She doesn’t have any memories of Amelia or the accident. She only remembers what her mother looks like because Castiel made a photo album for her to look at whenever she wants. 

“Why don’t you have a seat at the table and I’ll make you some pancakes before school, alright?”

“Alright, Daddy.”

Castiel still isn’t used to being a single father even after five years. It’s even more taxing to be a single father when you are the cofounder of the largest manufacturer of military grade weapons in the United States. When he met Amelia, she told him about her dream to produce weapons that could keep the soldiers safe. She had lost her brother to war due to a weapons malfunction and she didn’t want that to happen to anyone else. 

The company was in its fifth year of production when she died and he wishes she could see how much it’s grown since her death. He runs a tight ship and won’t let anything leave the factory floor if it’s not up to standard. His employees rarely quit because he makes sure they are paid well and have a good workplace/personal life balance. He hopes that Amelia would be proud of him if she were still alive.

With his long work hours and responsibilities, it’s difficult for him to always be around when Claire needs him. His secretary, Charlie, watches her when he’s not available, and she seems to be able to keep him on track as well. She’s a wizard with the computer and getting information others have failed to find, and he was happy the day she accepted the position with his company.

From the outside, it doesn’t seem like he’s a multibillionaire, but he’s never been one to flaunt what he has. He’s built a life that ensures Claire will be well taken care of, but aside from that, he’s just an average Joe. He lives in a regular neighborhood in a two story, four bedroom house and drives a Lincoln Continental–an older version, not one of the new ones that could probably drive itself–and Claire attends public school. 

He was going to set her up in private school, but he learned from a few of his neighbors that private schools are full of nothing but bratty entitled kids who are focused more on social status than schooling. Even though public schools might not be the safest option, he wanted Claire to have a good education, and after doing a ton of research with the help of Charlie, he decided to send Claire to the local public school. 

He hasn’t had any complaints from her about anyone bullying her or the teachers being mean, so he thinks he made the right decision. He’s not thrilled with the assbutt, Dick Roman, who is principal of the school, but not everything can be perfect in every situation. Claire is in third grade this year, which he heard is the most difficult year of elementary school, but she seems to be holding her own. 

“Here you go, Claire Bear. When you’re done, get dressed for school, and I’ll drop you off on my way to work.”

“Okay.” 

She shovels the food into her mouth like she’s never seen a pancake before and it’s the last meal she’s going to eat for months. Castiel just shakes his head as he leaves her to it and hops into the shower, only getting the important bits. He’s wasted enough time daydreaming. He doesn’t need to waste more getting ready for work.

He goes through his closet, unsure of what he’s looking for exactly. His closet is nothing but the same suit, tie, and dress shoes cloned 50 times. He even has a couple pairs of the same tan trench coat in case one gets misplaced or lost. It’s his favorite coat, so he always purchases another one if he sees it at a store, so he has plenty of back ups.

Claire is leaving her room in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt just as Castiel is walking down the hall, wearing suit number 10 from his closet. 

“Come on, Daddy, we’re running late. I want to get there in time to talk to Kaia before class starts.”

Castiel offers her a smile. Kaia has been her best friend since kindergarten and Claire does nothing but talk about her like she hung the moon. He thinks it’s sweet that she has a best friend she can talk to anytime. Castiel hurries with grabbing his briefcase and makes sure she has her bookbag before locking up the house and getting into his car. 

He can see the excitement on Claire’s face when he arrives at the school and Kaia is standing near the drop off line, waving as soon as she notices his car come into view.

“Bye, Daddy,” Claire says as she rushes out of the car, almost forgetting to shut the door as she runs up to Kaia to give her a hug. 

He yells a goodbye and an “I love you” that he’s certain she didn’t hear since she’s now engrossed in whatever story Kaia is telling her that has her grinning from ear to ear. It takes him 30 minutes to get to work with the traffic, and when he makes it to his desk, Charlie rushes in before he even has a chance to sit down and get comfortable.

“Mr. Novak, thank god you’re okay,” she says, not quite as bubbly as she usually is.

“Of course, is there a reason I wouldn’t be?” 

“It’s just that you received a very disturbing voicemail this morning, and then you were running late. I was five seconds away from hacking your phone so that I could trace where you were.”

He squints his eyebrows at her. “That sounds highly illegal and unwarranted. Even if someone was after me, I have every weapon I could possibly need at my disposal. Who in their right mind would threaten me?”

“I don’t know, perhaps the CEO of Wesson Munitions, the guy that has been trying to buy you out for years now.”

“I’m not worried about him, Charlie. He’s all bark and no bite, and he doesn’t have close to the appropriate amount of money to buy me out.”

“I think you might want to listen to his voicemail first. I sent it to your phone so you could hear it.”

Castiel hits play on his voicemail as he sits back in his chair. 

“Castiel, I have tried reasoning with you for months now, yet you choose to ignore me. If you don’t meet my demands, I’m afraid I will have to get creative, and we both know what happens when I don’t get my way.”

The call ends and Castiel just sighs and rolls his eyes. 

“Charlie, this isn’t the least bit threatening. He doesn’t scare me, so you can stop worrying about me.”

“It sounds threatening to me, especially with how nasally he sounds.”

“That’s just his normal voice, I think. I’ve only met him a couple times, but Alistair doesn’t have the best vocals.”

Charlie leaves to return to her desk once she realizes that Castiel isn’t going to cave, and he fires up his computer to check how things are running in the warehouse. Just after his lunch break, he receives a call from the school. He answers it immediately in case it’s an emergency. 

“Hello?”

“Hello, may I speak to Casteel Novak, please?” 

Castiel should be used to this by now, but it’s frustrating how often people  pronounce his name wrong.

“Yes, this is Cas-ti-el,” he answers, making sure to enunciate the letters so she says it properly next time.

“I was just calling, sir, because we have your daughter here in the office. She’s a little shaken up and says a man she’s never seen before was waving at her while she was on the playground. Our security guard checked the perimeter and didn’t see anyone, but she still wanted us to call you since she’s now not feeling well.”

Castiel’s heart drops at hearing this. Was there truly someone there or was Claire seeing things? Would Alistair stoop so low as to try to do something to Claire just to get to him?

“Yes, I’m on my way. Can you tell her I’ll be there as soon as possible, please?”

“Of course,” the woman says.

Castiel rushes out of his office, explaining quickly to Charlie that he won’t be back until tomorrow and to cancel any appointments he might have. He makes it to the school in record time, probably breaking a few laws along the way, but he doesn’t care. He can pay any ticket they throw at him. He needs to focus on getting to his daughter. 

The desk lets him in when he rings the bell to be let into the school and he sees Claire sitting at the desk in the office with red rimmed eyes. She runs up to him and he scoops her up. 

“Daddy, you made it. I was so scared.”

“It’s okay, baby girl. I’m here now. We can go home.” 

She sniffles and looks at him. 

“You don’t have to go back to work?” 

“Nope, that’s what’s so nice about being the boss. You can come and go as you please.”

She smiles and gives him another hug. He signs her out and informs the lady at the desk that he will let them know if she won’t be attending school tomorrow. He’ll see how the rest of the night goes and make that decision in the morning. He ends up stopping at Dairy Queen on the way to grab two blizzards. He’ll let his ‘no dessert before dinner’ rule slide just this once. 

They settle in under a blanket on the couch and watch Frozen while they eat their ice cream and Castiel waits for Claire to tell him what happened, but she doesn’t. He decides to initiate the conversation once the movie is over. 

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“It was weird. I was playing on the slide with Kaia and I looked over at the fence to see some guy waving and smiling at me, but it wasn’t a nice smile. It was like a smile that the bad guys give people in the movies. I ran to my teacher right away, and then the guy was gone.”

“Are you sure someone was there? Maybe your imagination was getting to you.”

“I’m sure, Daddy. Kaia said she saw him too.”

Castiel is inclined to believe her, especially since her friend saw the man as well. If the man was Alistair or someone he knows, Castiel senses that his daughter might be in danger. Alistair might not be able to scare Castiel, but he obviously has learned that his weakness is his daughter, so he must know that he can get to Castiel through Claire.

“Why don’t you get in the shower and get ready for bed? Daddy has to make a few phone calls.”

“Okay,” she says as she kisses him on the cheek.

Once he hears the water running, he scrolls through his phone to look for the number of a man he knows he can trust, a man who owns a security company and has given Castiel a substantial amount of business over the years.

“Singer Security,” Bobby says on the other line when Castiel finally dials his number.

“Bobby, it’s Castiel. I need a favor.”

“Uh oh, I’d better sit down for this one.”

Castiel hears some noise on the other end, which must be Bobby grabbing a chair to sit in. 

“Okay, buddy, what’s up?” 

Castiel goes through the story of the threats he’s been receiving from his competitor–if you even want to call him that–and Claire seeing some stranger at school.

“Long story short, Bobby. I need your best guy to be a bodyguard for Claire. I don’t think I would be able to survive if something happened to her.”

“What about you?” Bobby asks.

“I can take care of myself. I just need someone to watch out for Claire. Do you know anyone?”

“I might have someone in mind if he’ll accept, but he’s too stubborn not to try to protect you as well. What kind of payment are we talking about?”

“It will be enough. You should know by now that money is not an issue with me.” 

“I do know, which is why I still don’t understand why you drive that piece of crap Continental when you could buy yourself a real car.”

“I’m not having this discussion with you again, Bobby. I like my car and it’s reliable. I’m not going to buy a fancy car just because I can.”

“Alright, princess, you don’t have to tell me again.” He lets out a big sigh like he doesn’t know how to continue the conversation. “I’m going to be honest with you. The man I have in mind doesn’t work with me. He’s someone who’s like a son to me and is trying to readjust to civilian life. He just served 15 years in the Army.”

“That’s an odd number. Most people would have stuck it out for at least 5 more years to get the retirement pay. Is there a reason he didn’t stay in for 20 or even 30? Was it his choice to leave?”

“That’s his story to tell. I wouldn’t send anyone your way that I didn’t trust with my own life. I can give you his name if you want to have Charlie look into him, but as far as protecting your daughter, you won’t find anyone better than him.”

“Alright, just give me his name and number and I’ll set up a meeting.”

“His name’s Dean Winchester and I’ll text you his number.”

“Okay, thank you, Bobby.”

“Anytime.”

As soon as he hangs up and receives Dean’s number, he’s on the phone with Charlie.

“Can you look someone up for me, please?” he says without bothering to say hello.

“Well, hello to you, too. Thanks for calling me to let me know everything is okay with Claire.”

He doesn’t miss the sarcasm in her voice.

“Sorry, everything’s fine. I just need you to look someone up for me to make sure he can be trusted with Claire.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best.”

He gives her Dean’s name and not even 10 minutes later he’s receiving an encrypted email from Charlie. He opens it to find a file with Dean’s information and a message from Charlie stating she wouldn’t just trust him with Claire’s life, she would trust him with the lives of the whole damn country.

He can’t be that good, can he? Castiel answers his own question when he opens the email. It takes him a minute to start looking at the file as he first stares for longer than he’d like to admit at the picture of Dean in his Army dress blues, his emerald green eyes looking back at Castiel. 

His file says he was medically discharged from the Army. He’s received two Congressional Medal of Honors, multiple Purple Hearts, and is the most decorated highest ranking officer to ever have served in Special Forces. Castiel knows that some of these records are more than likely classified, but Charlie has a way to get through the red tape. Not only is Dean decorated with every medal known to man, but he’s also an expert in shooting and has the most kills of his unit for the past 50 years.

Castiel doesn’t even second guess picking up the phone and dialing Dean’s number, hoping the man will accept his offer to take care of his little girl. 

“Hello?” a raspy voice says on the other line. Perhaps Castiel accidentally woke him up. He’s thrown off by his voice and says the only thing that pops into his head at the moment.

“Hello, Dean.”

Chapter Text

“Who is this?” Dean asks. He knew the moment he answered the unknown number it was probably a mistake.

“This is Castiel.” 

What the fuck kind of name is that?

“Look, Catsteel, I don’t know how you got my number, but you need to lose it, capishe?”

Dean doesn’t give him a chance to answer before he hangs up the phone. How the hell are randos that know his name getting his number? He’s getting ready to call Bobby when he notices that he has a few missed texts from his surrogate father. The most recent one calls him an idjit and tells him to check his damn messages.

He dials Bobby’s number, not paying attention to the time. He should still be awake. It’s only 10pm. 

“Hello?” Bobby says.

“Hey, Bobby, sorry I missed your calls. I was in the shower. What’s up?”

“You should be getting a call from Castiel Novak. He’s looking for a bodyguard for his daughter, and I gave him your info. You still looking for a job?”

“Yeah, Bobby. I think he already called, though. I didn’t know who he was so I hung up on him.”

“You did what!!” Bobby yells into the receiver. “Boy, you better call him back. Do you even know who he is? Have you ever heard of Angel Industries?”

“Yeah, they’re the biggest supplier of military grade weapons in the country.”

“And who is the CEO?”

Dean ponders that for a minute, and then it rings a bell. He remembers hearing the name Castiel Novak before.

“Oh, shit, Bobby. I better call him back.”

“You’re damn right. Keep me updated.”

Bobby hangs up and Dean has a slight panic attack. This is so not the way to make a first impression. He’s felt like a fish out of water ever since he was medically discharged from the Army. He wishes he could have stayed in another 5 years so that he could have made it 20 years at least, but his PTSD was too bad, and they deemed him not fit for duty. It was for the best, since he couldn’t handle being in that place anymore. He still has nightmares of their last mission, of Benny reaching out for him and Dean being unable to do a damn thing to save him. 

Sure, he has been given just about every medal and award the Army gives out, but it doesn’t mean anything when you have to watch your best friend, the only person who ever gave two shits about you, get ripped to shreds by an IED. He swore he would never let that happen to anyone else under his watch, so he left Special Forces behind, but rejoining civilian life hasn’t been a picnic, either.

Nobody wants to hire someone to work for them when one of the skills they possess is how to kill someone in pitch black darkness without making a sound, leaving no evidence that they were even there. He hopes that he didn’t ruin his chance of working for Castiel. This might be his way to get his foot in the door and get his name out there. He’s not getting any younger, as his 35th birthday is creeping up on him. 

Hoping it’s not too late to make things right, he looks through his phone for the number Castiel called him from. He hits the call button and keeps his fingers crossed that the man is forgiving.

“Hello,” the whiskey deep voice says when the phone stops ringing, and Dean can’t believe he hadn’t noticed how sexy his voice was earlier.

“Hello, this is Dean Winchester. I would just like to apologize for earlier. I didn’t know who you were.”

“That’s quite alright, Dean. Bobby gave me your number and I would very much like to interview you to talk about a position I’m offering to be a bodyguard for my daughter. You have excellent qualifications and I just want to make sure you would be a good match.”

“Of course, just name the time and place and I’ll be there.”

“Is tomorrow morning at 8am good? It can be here at my house, so I can send you the address.” 

“Yes, that’s perfect. I’ll be there.”

They hang up and Castiel sends Dean a text with an address, but he has to look at it a few times to make sure it’s right. This address is for a neighborhood not far from the elementary school. He thought for sure that Castiel would live in a mansion somewhere. The dude is filthy rich. Maybe he just doesn’t want to flaunt what he has. Dean can respect that. He’d probably do the same (or give all his money to Sammy).

He often wonders how Sam is doing. They lost touch when Dean enlisted and Sam doesn’t seem interested in communicating with someone who did questionable things for the sake of keeping the country safe. His loss, Dean thinks. Not that it doesn’t hurt like a son of a bitch that his baby bro doesn’t want to have anything to do with him, but no point dwelling on something that can’t be changed.

At least he has Bobby to lean on if he needs to. Bobby and his dad were war buddies, having served together in Vietnam. John drank himself into an early grave right before Dean left for the Army. He had technically been present but hadn’t been a healthy, emotionally available parent in Dean’s life ever since his mother died when Dean was four. John spent the majority of Dean’s life grieving when he should have been thankful his sons were still alive. Perhaps that’s also why Sam doesn’t want to have anything to do with Dean. Dean is more like John than he even wants to admit, and Sam didn’t have the best experience growing up.

Dean ends up sleeping like shit, so he drinks a couple cups of coffee so he will be prepared for his interview. He isn’t sure how much Castiel is going to offer to pay him, but he’ll be happy with something along the lines of $20.00 an hour. That should pay his bills and leave a little left over for rent and food.

He leaves with enough time to spare that he won’t be late if he runs into traffic. Just as he suspected, the address takes him to a nice two story house that someone who is quite possibly one of the richest men in America wouldn’t be expected to live in. Maybe he just wants to be camouflaged so that only people who know what he does actually know how much money he’s worth. Castiel is definitely living frugally. He also has shitty taste in transportation. Dean apologizes to Baby for parking her next to the monstrosity of a car Castiel drives, but he has no choice if he wants a job. Maybe if Dean gets the job, he can talk Castiel into a more decent choice of transportation.

He rings the doorbell with a few minutes to spare and he can’t help but stare at the man who opens the door. He’s seen photos of Castiel in magazines and advertisements, but none of them do him justice. His eyes are a shade of blue he has never seen before. He could get lost in them if he isn’t careful. How is he going to survive working for this man?

“Dean?” Castiel asks, an inflection in his voice telling Dean that it’s not the first time he’s said his name. He tries not to be embarrassed by that as he rubs the back of his head to try to hide his nervousness.

“Yes, that’s me. I’m Dean,” he says and then internally cringes because he’s being such a dork right now.

“Thank you for coming, please...” He steps aside and allows Dean the space to enter the house. He follows Castiel to the living room and he sits on one of the chairs while Castiel sits on the loveseat.

“First off, I would like to thank you for accepting an interview on such short notice. Something has come up recently and I am in dire need of a bodyguard for my daughter.”

“Of course.”

“I’m not sure if you are aware–I don’t know how much Bobby told you–but I own the largest supplier of military grade weaponry in the United States and I seem to have made some enemies along the way. I would need someone to be with Claire when I’m not available. I would expect you to live here in the house. Claire is old enough to take care of her own needs, so you wouldn’t be a nanny. I just need to ensure she is safe should someone enter my home and kill me.”

“That’s a little grim, Cas.” Dean says, only realizing afterwards that he nicknamed Castiel without asking him first. Thankfully, Castiel doesn’t seem to notice and continues on in his refreshingly candid way of speaking.

“It’s the reality of the situation, I’m afraid. I like to get right to the point. I don’t like to beat around the tree.”

Dean tries and fails to stifle a laugh. This guy is even more adorable and dorkier than he imagined.

“I think you mean beat around the bush, Cas.”

“Oh, yes, I sometimes get mixed up when it comes to popular phrases. I’m working on it, though.”

“I’m fine with living here, if that’s what you need. I can even cook a little if you like.”

“Only if you want, I don’t want you to think it’s expected. Now, for the matter of payment, since I will be asking you to be available while I’m at work and occasionally when I need to go out of town, I will be offering you $10,000 a week. I can either set up direct deposit or pay you by check, whichever you prefer.”

Dean is thankful he isn’t drinking anything right now, because he probably would have choked on it.

“I’m sorry, what!?” he exclaims, somewhat louder than he had anticipated.

“If that is not sufficient, I can offer more. Just name your price.”

“No, dude, that is way more than I had anticipated. I’m fine with a thousand dollars a week, if I’m being honest.”

A small smile forms on Castiel’s lips. “There isn’t a price I’m not willing to pay for my daughter, Dean, and your resume is very impressive. Somehow $10,000 doesn’t seem like enough after reading about your skills.”

“It’s plenty. Thank you. I accept, if you’re willing to offer me the job.”

“Very well.” Castiel stands up, and they shake hands to seal the deal so to speak. Dean can’t help but notice how big Castiel’s hands are compared to his own, and his fingers are long and slender. He tries not to think about where he would like those hands, considering he’s just been hired to keep his daughter safe. “I’ll get Claire so that you two can get to know one another.”

“Okay.” 

Dean hadn’t expected it to be this easy, but he’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He still isn’t entirely sure that this isn’t all a dream or that Ashton Kutcher isn’t hanging out around the corner, ready to tell him that he’s being Punk’d. 

Castiel returns with a little blonde haired, blue eyed girl that is obviously his daughter.

“Hello,” she says and holds out her hand.

“Hello,” Dean says back.

“Daddy says you’re going to be my bodyguard. I think there’s a bad man after me and he’s worried I might get hurt.”

“Well, I’m going to make sure nobody hurts you.”

She smiles and then catches him off guard by giving him a hug. No wonder she needs a bodyguard. She’s entirely too trusting.

“Alright, Claire, why don’t you finish cleaning your room while Dean and I finish talking.”

“Okay, Daddy.” 

Claire scurries off to her room, leaving Dean alone with Castiel again. Dean stands up so they are on the same ground and Castiel just stares at him.

“I would like for you to begin working tomorrow, if you’re amenable. That should give you time to pack what you need to bring from your current residence and tie up any loose ends.”

“Yes, of course.”

Dean walks towards the front door and Castiel follows.

“Also, just one more thing before you leave.” Castiel steps into Dean’s personal space and he suddenly feels very hot with how close the other man is. “The fact that I need a bodyguard for my daughter is in no way an indication that I am not skilled with a weapon. If I find out that you are accepting this job for nefarious reasons or Claire is harmed in any way under your watch and you didn’t do absolutely everything in your power to prevent it, I will end you, and there won’t be a body left to identify, understand?”

Castiel takes a step back and Dean swallows the saliva that has pooled in his mouth while listening to Castiel. He also tries to ignore the sudden erection beginning to form. Men who dominate him have always been a turn on and his biggest weakness. 

“I understand,” he says, trying not to let Castiel know just how much he’s affecting him physically. 

“Very well, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow,” he says with a genuine smile.

Dean gets into his car on autopilot, wondering how Castiel can threaten him in one sentence and then offer him a friendly smile in the next. Dean is considered to be one of the most feared and skilled operatives in the military–not to toot his own horn–but even he’s a bit scared of Castiel right now.

When he gets home, he fills a duffel bag with clothes and personal items. He doesn’t have much since he hasn’t had time to really acquire anything since leaving the Army, which is sad when you think about it. He’s almost 35 years old and all his most prized possessions fit into one bag that he didn’t even buy to begin with. It was Army issued.

He wakes up early the next morning to do his usual workout routine. He decided when he was discharged that he would still keep up with it. He doesn’t need to get all flabby now that he’s a civilian. After his shower, he makes sure everything is turned off in the house since he doesn’t know when he’ll be back, and he places his duffel bag in the back of his Baby. 

When he arrives at the house, he knocks and is surprised to see Claire open the door.

“Hello, Claire, where’s your dad?”

“He’s in the bathroom. I looked through the peephole and saw it was you, so I knew it was okay.”

Dean gets ready to scold her and tell her that she should never answer the door without her father’s permission even if she knows the person, but he stops himself since he isn’t officially her bodyguard yet and doesn’t yet know what he’s allowed to do and not do. 

Castiel is walking into the room just as Dean shuts the door, and Dean can tell just by the look on his face that he’s not pleased with Claire letting him in, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Look, Daddy, Dean is here,” Claire tells him as if Castiel’s eyes aren’t working.

“I see that. Why don’t you finish getting ready for school and I’ll show Dean to his room.”

Claire scurries off to what Dean assumes is her room and Castiel motions for Dean to follow him. They walk upstairs and down the hall to the room at the end, and Castiel motions for him to go inside.

“This will be your room while you are here. Claire is directly across the hall and I am two doors down. My office is next to this one. You can make yourself at home and decorate it however you like. If you want to drop your duffel off here, I can show you the rest of the house.”

Dean leaves his duffel bag on the bed and follows Castiel as he shows him around the house. There isn’t much to see. There is a bathroom next to Claire’s room and a washer and dryer in the basement, as well as an area in the corner with weights that Castiel says he uses as a home gym. That’s good news for Dean. This way he can still work out without worrying about being away from Claire for too long.

Castiel gives Dean Claire’s schedule as well as his own, so that he will know when to expect Castiel home every night, and where to take Claire on days she might have other activities.

“Claire no longer needs a booster seat, but she is to sit in the back seat at all times, no exceptions.”

“Of course,” Dean tells him. He wonders if he should tell him that he isn’t new to taking care of a child seeing as though he was more of a parent to Sam than his own father, but that’s a can of worms he doesn’t want to open with Castiel right now.

“I have added your name to the list of approved people to drop off and pick up Claire, but I expect you to keep her in your sights at all times. You don’t have to be too close to her as long as you can react should something happen. I don’t want to make things awkward for her.”

“I understand, Cas. You have nothing to worry about. I will take care of her as if she’s my own.”

“I’m counting on it. Thank you, Dean.”

With that, Castiel says goodbye to Claire on his way to work, and Dean begins to bond with the little girl in hopes of gaining her trust. Trust is important when you are left with the task of keeping someone else alive. Benny trusted him, too, but Dean let him down. He won’t make the same mistake again.

Chapter Text

Castiel is confident that Dean will do a great job of watching out for Claire. He got a good vibe from the other man while he was showing him around his house and explaining things to him. Plus, his record speaks volumes for the kind of man he is. Castiel still felt the need to threaten him just to let him know who he’s dealing with should he try to deceive Castiel. 

Still, Castiel couldn’t help but get lost in Dean’s green eyes, and he found himself wanting to trace the freckles splattered across Dean’s nose and cheeks. Throughout the interview, he kept having to remind himself that this man is going to be responsible for Claire’s safety. It would be inappropriate to get distracted by Dean’s charms, so he will need to lock away whatever lustful desires he has towards the other man so that Dean can focus on keeping Claire out of harm’s way.

When he gets to his desk, he doesn’t have much time to rest before Charlie is infiltrating his personal space. She plops down in the chair in front of his desk like they are besties and not employer and employee.

“So, how did it go?” she asks him.

“How did what go?” 

“Your interview with Dean, silly,” she says as if he should have known that’s what she was inquiring about. 

“I hired him, and he should be on his way to take Claire to school as we speak.”

She continues sitting across from him, shaking her leg, obviously waiting for him to say more, and while he thinks he’ll be able to hold out on telling her what she wants to know, she’s too damn persistent.

“If you must know, he was just what I expected, and I can’t imagine anyone else to care for my daughter. There, are you happy?”

“Yes, very, but that’s not the only reason I came in here. I just got the one month reminder for your trip to Japan to discuss the merger with Tokyo Techtronics. I can get started on the flight and hotel accommodations if you like. I just need to know if Claire will be accompanying you.”

Castiel thinks on it for a minute and decides that it would be best if she stayed back here with Dean. There are too many unknowns in a city as big as Tokyo for him to chance it. 

“I think it would be best if Claire stayed here where she’s comfortable and Dean can keep a close watch on her without any outside factors coming into play. It’s only for three days. I’ll just make sure he has everything he needs before I go.”

“Alright, I’ll make your arrangements,” she says as she leaves his office and sits at her own desk.

Just as Castiel prepares to read his emails from last evening and this morning, his phone rings, and his heart drops when he notices that it’s the school. Claire is supposed to be safe now with Dean there to protect her.

“Hello?” he answers, sounding more disgruntled than he had intended.

“Is this Mr. Novak?” the same voice from the other day asks him.

“Yes, it is. What is the reason for this call?”

“Well, sir. We have a Mr. Winchester here who insists on sitting outside Claire’s room and following her around for the day. When we agreed to have him placed on the approved drop off and pick up list, we were under the impression that he wouldn’t be staying.”

Castiel doesn’t hide his annoyance as he sighs heavily into the receiver.

“I will be right there.”

Castiel doesn’t run into any traffic on his way to the school and he plans on telling them just how displeased he is with having his day interrupted for no good reason. When he finally arrives, he is greeted by Dean, who they must have kicked outside when Castiel got off the phone.

“I am so sorry, Cas. I understand if you want to dock my pay for today. I tried to explain to them that I wasn’t just here to drop Claire off and that I’m supposed to be watching her.”

Castiel furrows his brow, unsure why Dean would think he is at fault in this situation. 

“Dean, this isn’t your fault. I’m not going to dock your pay. I am, however, going to go inside and give the school a piece of my mind.”

Castiel pushes the button on the wall that alerts the staff that he’s here, and when the door opens, he marches right inside to the office with Dean on his heels.

“Hello, Mr. Novak. I apologize for our little mix-up earlier.”

“May I speak with Principal Roman, please?” Castiel asks, saving the receptionist from an awkward conversation that he’s certain she doesn’t want to be having. 

“Of course, let me see if he’s available.” 

She walks into his office and comes back out a minute later with Principal Roman right behind her.

“Mr. Novak, what can I do for you?”

“I was informed that my daughter’s bodyguard was denied entrance into the school even though I gave permission.”

“My apologies, Mr. Novak, but we have our own security here, and we don’t really allow for private bodyguards.”

“Very well, I will just enroll Claire into a private school. Whenever you are able to return the $20,000 I gave to the school for upgrades, I would like it in a cashier’s check.”

Castiel can hear Dean chuckle and then disguise it as a cough as Dick Roman glares at Castiel.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Novak, but I was under the impression that it was a donation. We have already used the money for the playground and the expansion to the gym.”

“That’s quite alright. I’ll just send my construction crew over tomorrow to begin the demolition.”

“That’s absurd. You can’t do that.”

Castiel gives him a sly grin. “Perhaps you should have read the fine print, Mr. Roman. My “donation” came with the understanding that my daughter’s needs would be met at all times. She is in need of a bodyguard, and you are denying her that right, therefore you are breaching the contract you signed when she started at this school.”

Castiel can tell that Dick Roman knows he’s lost this battle, and he just stands there and waits for him to cave.

Dick smiles at him. “You drive a hard bargain, Castiel. I will make sure Mr. Winchester here is added to the all-day visitor list as long as he only goes where Claire goes.”

“I appreciate it, Dick. I’m glad we were able to come to an understanding. I would like to accompany Dean to Claire’s room so that I can ensure she is safe, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” Dick says as he has the receptionist give them both a visitor badge. 

As they are walking down the hall towards Claire’s room, Dean doesn’t make it very far before he starts laughing.

“That was awesome, Cas. You really know how to get what you want.”

“I told you, Dean, there is nothing I’m not willing to do for my daughter, and if that means threatening to send in a made up construction company to tear down a child’s playground, then I’ll do it.”

“I was wondering if you were bluffing. It’s a good thing Dick didn’t call your bluff.”

“He still would have been in breach of contract. I’m usually a good judge of character and I don’t trust Dick Roman as far as I can throw him, so my donation did indeed come with stipulations.”

“Smooth, Cas. I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Dean says with a wink and Castiel isn’t sure why his stomach feels strange suddenly. His breakfast must not have agreed with him.

They stop in front of Claire’s room and Castiel peeks inside to see her giggling with Kaia. At least she hasn’t been affected by anything.

“I’ll see you later, Dean.”

“See you, Cas.”

Dean watches Castiel walk down the hall, and he feels a pitter patter in his chest. Castiel is such a great father, and Claire isn’t that bad, either. She might end up growing on him. He’s glad he decided to take this job. The rest of the day passes without incident. Dean doesn’t notice anyone around the perimeter of the school watching Claire, and he doesn’t catch anyone following them on the way home.

Dean hopes that whomever Claire saw watching her at the school was just some random guy, which doesn’t make it any better, but at least it would mean that Castiel’s enemies won’t be taking their anger out on his daughter.

He drives her home once school is over. She doesn’t have any activities listed for today, so he checks the kitchen for what he can make for dinner.

“Do you have any requests for dinner, Claire Bear?” Dean asks.

“That’s what my daddy calls me,” she responds.

“Well, it’s a fitting nickname.”

Claire decides on spaghetti with meatballs, and since Dean doesn’t see the ingredients he needs to make his own sauce, he just uses the store bought stuff that he finds in the cupboard.

“This is really good,” Claire says as she’s eating.

“Does your dad usually let you talk with your mouth full?” Dean asks.

“No,” she says as she finishes chewing her food before answering.

As if being summoned upon hearing his name, Castiel picks that moment to walk through the door.

“Daddy,” Claire says as she runs over to her dad to give him a hug.

“Hey, Claire Bear, are you being good for Dean?”

“Of course,” she says as she sits back down at the table.

Dean tries not to watch as Castiel removes his trenchcoat and suit jacket. He rolls up his shirt sleeves to reveal tanned forearms and Dean notices how much his pants are struggling to keep his thighs contained as he walks over to join them at the table.

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel says, at least giving no indication that he noticed Dean checking him out. He cannot fall for his boss. He needs to keep his libido in check. “Thank you for making dinner. That was very kind of you.”

“My pleasure, Cas,” Dean says as Castiel takes a seat next to Claire and scoops some spaghetti onto his plate. 

All in all, Dean’s first day on the job was pretty easy for how much he’s making. He feels like he should be doing more, but he knows Castiel is loaded, and what he’s paying Dean is essentially pennies to him. 

Castiel retires to his room once Claire is in bed, and Dean uses the free time to lift weights in Castiel’s basement. He knows he should have a spotter, but he doesn’t want to bother Castiel, so he uses the 40 pound weights, which give him the most workout without endangering himself if he loses control of the bar. 

He does a few reps and ends up needing to take his shirt off due to the heat. He’ll have to ask Castiel if he can get a small air conditioner or fan to put down here to cool off while he’s working out. When his timer goes off, he uses his shirt to wipe off the excess sweat before heading back upstairs to get into the shower. He hears a door close as he’s walking down the hall, so he assumes maybe Claire or Castiel had to use the bathroom.

He peeks into Claire’s room and sees that she’s fast asleep. He sneaks inside to double check that her windows are locked. You can never be too sure. He grabs a quick shower before settling into bed, and he closes his eyes, praying he won’t have any nightmares tonight.

Nobody is listening to his prayers because, not long after he closes his eyes, he sees Benny. He replays the same scene over and over in his head. Benny stepping on the IED, him pleading with Dean to just leave him, but Dean can’t. Just as Dean gets close enough, the device activates, and he has to watch his best friend die. No matter how many times Dean tries to change what happens, the outcome is always the same. His best friend dies under his watch, Dean is medically discharged because his shrink thinks his head is too fucked to continue serving and he refuses to ride a desk, and Benny’s wife still won’t talk to him because he failed to keep her husband safe.

Dean is soaked in sweat when he sits up in bed, trying to catch his breath. There is a light knock on his door, followed by Castiel speaking softly.

“Dean, are you alright?”

Dean clears his throat and walks over to the door to crack it open. He finds Castiel on the other side, hair disheveled and eyes filled with worry.

“Yes, I’m fine, Cas. Just a bad dream. I’m sorry if I woke you.”

“It’s no bother, Dean. I sometimes have bad dreams myself. If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

“Okay, thank you.”

He shuts his door, and when he hears Castiel’s footsteps walking back towards his own room, Dean slides down the door until he’s sitting on the floor with his back leaning against it. He just needs a minute to gather the strength to go back to bed. He hopes he hasn’t ruined his chances to keep being Claire’s bodyguard. He would like to think that Castiel wouldn’t hold the occasional nightmare against him, but you just never know.

Once he’s gotten his breathing back under control, he lays back down and ends up getting a couple more hours of sleep. He doesn’t feel as well rested as he would like, so he heads to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, only to find Castiel there already.

“Good morning, Dean,” Castiel says when he notices Dean walk in. How does this man look so good this early in the morning?

“Morning, Cas. Is there enough coffee to share?”

“Of course,” Castiel says as he leans against the counter, facing Dean, sipping his coffee. “Did you get enough rest?”

Dean pours his cup of coffee and rests his hip against the counter as he answers Castiel.

“Yes, thank you. Sorry again if I woke you. Sometimes my past comes back to haunt me in my sleep.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Dean. You can’t control what you dream about.” Castiel places his cup in the sink and rests his hand against Dean’s left shoulder. “I meant it when I said if you ever need to talk, I’m here. There’s nothing wrong with needing a little help sometimes.”

Dean swallows, his body becoming hot all of a sudden. “Yeah, Cas, okay, thank you.”

Castiel lowers his hand, and Dean thinks he can feel his handprint burned into his skin. Why does this man turn him on so much? Castiel is going to be the death of him.

“I need to get to work. I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you,” Dean says. He’s so fucked. This is only the second day of being employed for Castiel, and he’s already having difficulty being in close proximity to the other man.

He gives Claire a few more minutes to sleep before waking her up so he can take her to school. The growl she gives him tells him that not all Novaks are pleasant in the morning. It doesn’t take her long to get dressed and she scarfs down the eggs and toast he made for her before they drive over to the school. 

When it’s time for recess, Dean scans the perimeter the same as he did the day before, only today he sees a man standing by the fence. He matches the creepy description Claire had given of the guy she saw before Dean was hired. He committed it to memory so he could be prepared.

He begins to walk over to the guy while also ensuring from the corner of his eye that Claire is still safe, but the guy walks quickly away before Dean has a chance to talk to him. He keeps an eye on the area he walked off to. He must have vanished for good, because he doesn’t reemerge.

Later that night when Claire is asleep, Dean tells Castiel about the man.

“I think your suspicion might be correct, Cas. Someone is definitely trying to get to you through Claire.”

“Fuck,” Castiel says as he leans forward in his chair and places his elbows on his knees.

“I saw someone watching her while on the playground today. He walked off before I could question him. He matched the description from Claire.”

Castiel just sighs and stands up, loosening his tie as he goes, Dean following the movement with his eyes. 

“I have a business trip in a month. Do you think I should postpone?”

“No, Cas. You can’t put your life on hold. You have an important job. I just wanted to keep you in the loop, but I’m very capable of making sure Claire is safe.”

“Very well. I trust that you will keep her safe. I just fear that my choice of career has endangered my daughter.”

“If I can be completely honest with you, I think what you do is honorable. As someone who has benefited from your choice of career, you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. I used your weapons during my time with special ops and they have gotten me out of some pretty sticky situations.”

“That’s good to know. I think I’m going to work out some before bed.”

“Did you want a spotter?”

“Yes, that would be great.”

They quickly change into more comfortable clothes and make their way down to the basement to work out. Dean has only seen Castiel in his suit and his pajamas. He had yet to see him in a tank top before now and his previous clothing was not doing him justice. How is it even possible to hide all that muscle under his clothes? They do their warm up, but Dean spends more time watching Castiel move than actually focusing on preparing his body for weight lifting. 

When they are finished with their warm up reps, Dean watches in awe as Castiel loads 100 pounds on each side of the barbell and then gets comfortable on the bench. Dean does everything in his power to not look at the other man’s crotch, but it’s no use. How the hell is he supposed to be normal around this man when he looks the way he does and, after a few reps, can easily bench press 245 pounds.

“Damn, Cas. You’ve been holding out on me,” Dean chokes out, trying to sound calm and collected as his mouth fills with saliva watching Castiel’s muscles strain as he performs two more reps before placing the barbell back on the rack. 

Dean, who is guarding this man’s child for a living now, can’t let Castiel be the stronger one, so he decides to show off a little. He places a 5 pound weight on each side of the barbell and watches as Castiel raises an eyebrow in a questioning glance. 

Dean gives him a toothy grin as he steadies himself on the bench and lifts the bar containing 210 pounds of weights and, after the third rep, he realizes that he may have overshot. Castiel must notice him struggling because he does his job as a spotter and comes to Dean’s rescue. Once the barbell is back in its place on the machine, Dean sits up and takes a deep breath. 

“Thanks, Cas. I guess I’m a little out of practice.”

Dean stands up and stretches and Castiel pats his shoulder. 

“It’s okay, Dean. I would have fared the same if you went first. I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that, Castiel leaves Dean to ponder what he just said. Was that a flirtation? Dean isn’t sure what to make of it. He just knows that this job is going to be the death of him. 

Chapter Text

Castiel isn’t sure what possessed him to flirt with Dean like that. He gets into the shower as soon as he leaves Dean behind in the basement and turns on the cold water. He’s only known Dean for a few days, but the man is already driving him crazy. He hired Dean to guard his daughter, but he can’t help the way the man fills his every thought. 

He’s able to get himself under control as he lets the cold water cascade over him, and his thoughts wander away from the way the sweat dripped from Dean’s forehead while he was lifting. 

Castiel is happy once the weekend arrives. He promised Claire that he would take her to a petting zoo that was going to be in the area, so he picks Sunday to go and gives Dean the day off. He makes sure he has his Glock 45 in his holster, should he need it, and they set off for the zoo. 

“Where’s Dean?” Claire asks. He was surprised at first that Dean didn’t ask Claire to call him Mr. Winchester or Mr. Dean, but he told Castiel that if he was going to be spending time with Claire that it only made sense for her to call him Dean, so Castiel never corrects her since that’s what Dean wants.

“It’s his day off, Claire Bear, so I’m not sure what he’s doing today.”

He can see her staring out the window like she has something on her mind but doesn’t want to say it. 

“Are you sad that he’s not coming with us?” Castiel asks.

“Yeah, I like Dean. He’s fun and he’s big and strong just like you, Daddy, so I feel safe with him.”

That brings a smile to Castiel’s face. He’s overjoyed knowing that Claire feels so comfortable with Dean. It means he made the right choice. When they arrive at the petting zoo, Claire squeals with delight when she sees all the different animals.

She drags him from station to station, and she spends the most time with the guinea pigs.

“Can we get one, Daddy? I promise I’ll take care of it.” When Castiel doesn’t answer right away, she looks at him with her puppy dog eyes and Castiel is unable to resist. “Pleeeeaaase?” 

Castiel would like to know who she learned that from. It certainly wasn’t him. Of course he can’t resist her, so as he takes the guinea pig from her and places it back in its cage, he finally gives her the answer she is clearly waiting for.

“Fine,” he says with a playful sigh. “We’ll go to the pet store when we’re done here.” 

She jumps up and down and wraps her arms around him as she giggles with joy. Castiel’s heart swells at knowing he’s made his little girl so happy.

“She’s got you wrapped around her little finger, doesn’t she?” the woman taking care of the guinea pigs asks.

“That’s going to be a problem when she gets older, isn’t it?” Castiel asks her. The woman just offers a smile as if she knows that her answer will not be one he wants to hear.

Claire seems to have lost interest in petting any of the other animals since she keeps going on about getting to have her own guinea pig, so Castiel decides that they should just leave and go to the pet store now.

Castiel is not happy about leaving the pet store with two guinea pigs. The sales clerk informed him that they are social and don’t thrive very well if they are by themselves. Perhaps he should have done research before making such a rash decision. At least they seem to be inexpensive as far as maintenance. 

“I am expecting you to take care of them like a big girl. Do you think you can do that?” Castiel asks her while they are on their way home.

“Of course, Daddy. I hope Dean likes them, too. I don’t know if he likes animals or not.”

“I’m sure he will like them. Have you thought of names for them?”

There is a slight pause, and Castiel glances into his rearview mirror to see Claire looking in the box that has the guinea pigs in it.

“I think I’m going to name the tan one Cocoa because she looks like hot cocoa, and the white one, I think I’ll name her Ashley.”

Castiel is waiting for an explanation as to why she wants to name a guinea pig Ashley, but it doesn’t come.

“Where did you come up with the name Ashley?” he finally asks since the suspense is killing him.

“There was a picture of a guinea pig next to the sign for the furniture store we went to when you were looking for another chair.”

Castiel is still trying to figure out what the hell she is talking about when she announces, “See” just as they drive by PetSmart, which is right next to Ashley Furniture. He giggles as he continues to drive them home.

They are barely in the door before Claire is calling out for Dean.

“Dean!! Look what we got!!” she exclaims a little too enthusiastically for Castiel’s eardrums to handle.

Dean comes rushing down the stairs from where his room is with nothing but a t-shirt and sweatpants on. As soon as Dean spies Claire holding a guinea pig that Castiel hadn’t realized she already grabbed out of its box, a soft smile forms and Dean’s eyes light up.

“You suckered your dad into getting you a guinea pig, I see.”

“No, we got two,” Claire says as she hands Cocoa to Castiel, who immediately climbs up his chest and burrows into his neck. Claire grabs Ashley from the box and holds her up for Dean to see. Dean reaches out and gently takes Ashley, bringing her to his chest.

“Okay, Claire, why don’t we get them set up in your room?” Castiel asks, wanting to put the oversized rodent down before she pees or poops on him.

It doesn’t take long for the three of them to get the cage set up and the new pets settled into their new environment. Castiel decides as a treat to take Claire out for ice cream as well, and she wants Dean to come along, which he gladly accepts. 

With Castiel’s business trip fast approaching, he’s delighted that Dean and Claire get along so well. He had gone back and forth in his mind about the pros and cons of leaving her here, and he decided that it’s the best option to leave her in Dean’s care. If someone is out to get him, they would be working under the assumption that Castiel wouldn’t go anywhere without her, so it’s in her best interest to do the opposite of what they expect and leave her here. 

Dean is completely on board with taking care of her while Castiel is gone, and Castiel assures him that it’s only for a few days. He doesn’t expect the negotiations to last very long. Both companies are in agreement with what they want. It’s more of just a formality that they meet before the contract is signed.

Castiel isn’t sure when exactly it happened, but he knows, after having Dean in his home for a month, that he can’t imagine not having Dean here. He is gentle when he needs to be and a stealthy hunter when it comes to protecting Claire. Castiel still misses Amelia with every fiber of his being, but he knows that she would want him to be happy, and Castiel has a strong suspicion that if Dean approached him tomorrow and said he couldn’t be Claire’s bodyguard, he would still want Dean in his life.

Two nights before Castiel is supposed to leave for his flight to Japan, Dean makes dinner as always, which seems a little domestic, but Castiel doesn’t want to focus on it too much for fear of heartbreak should Dean decide to leave.

“Here, Cas, come taste this. Let me know what you think. I used some different seasonings and I just want to make sure it tastes right.”

Castiel stands up from his spot at the table where he was looking over his itinerary to where Dean is holding out a spoon full of pasta sauce, his other hand underneath in case some spills. Castiel slurps the sauce from the spoon and tries not to focus too much on how dark Dean’s eyes have suddenly become.

“Yes, that is very good, Dean. Just the right amount of flavor,” Castiel says as Dean places the spoon on the counter to hopefully put in the sink instead of using again before washing it.

“You got a little something….” Dean says as he reaches his hand up and, using his thumb, wipes the corner of Castiel’s mouth where he must have left behind some sauce. Castiel isn’t quite sure what possesses him, but just having Dean’s skin touch his own skin awakens something inside him. 

Before he can talk himself out of it, he rushes forward and smashes his lips against Dean’s. It takes Dean a second to kiss him back and for a moment Castiel thinks maybe he misread the signs. He prepares himself to be punched when Dean leans his head back, but he just looks at Castiel with questioning eyes, then grips his head and pulls him closer, kissing him as if his life depends on it. 

Castiel’s hands find their way to Dean’s head and he grips him tight because now that he has him, he’s afraid to let him go. There is a voice in the back of his mind telling him to abort because he is in a communal space where his daughter can walk into at any moment, but he ignores it as soon as he finds himself being lifted and placed on top of the counter. Castiel opens his legs so that Dean can slot himself between them, and their mouths fight for dominance over the other.

“Cas,” Dean whispers in between frantic kisses. “Want you….no idea….how much.” 

Castiel presses himself closer to Dean, knowing the other man can feel his erection pressing uncomfortably against his pants. He grips Dean’s hair and pulls his head to the side so he can reach his neck better, mapping a path across his collarbone. 

It’s been 5 years since he’s had his lips pressed against someone else’s skin and he didn’t realize how much he missed it until just now. He’s been so focused on Claire’s happiness since Amelia died that he pushed aside the part of him that craved touch from a romantic partner.

“Dean,” he whispers as he continues to hold tight to the other man. Dean’s reaction to him gives him the certainty that Castiel is not the only one craving this.

“Daddy!!” Claire’s voice calls from upstairs. “Cocoa and Ashley peed on the carpet!!”

Dean and Castiel break apart and Castiel’s heart is thumping away in his chest. Dean looks wrecked, and Castiel is sure that he must look the same. 

“Coming!!” he yells. 

He walks away from Dean after ensuring his clothes aren’t wrinkled and his already unruly hair isn’t too out of place, and he walks up the stairs to Claire’s room. He finds her on the floor with Cocoa and Ashley both sitting next to her watching as she dabs at a spot on the carpet with a washcloth.

She looks up when Castiel enters the room.

“The pee won’t come out,” she tells him.

He kneels next to her to look at the big wet spot underneath the washcloth. 

“Claire Bear, how long have Cocoa and Ashley been out of their cage? This is a big spot for it to only have happened once.”

Claire just shrugs. “Dunno, couple hours, I guess.”

“Okay, new rule. If you’re going to have the guinea pigs out of their cage for longer than a few minutes, place a towel on the floor in case they pee.”

“Okay, Daddy. Do you think you’ll be able to get it out?”

“I’m sure it won’t be too hard. I bought some cleaning products just in case. Why don’t you put them back in their cage and get washed up for dinner. Dean is just about done.”

She does as she’s asked while Castiel scrubs the carpet and hopes that it’s clean when it completely dries and they both go downstairs to eat dinner. Castiel knows that he and Dean will need to talk about what happened, but he just wants to survive dinner first.

He can’t help but glance at Dean from time to time throughout dinner, and he’s elated to catch Dean staring back. He does his best to listen to what Claire is saying, but his brain is focused on the kiss. It’s not until Claire says his name that he realizes just how focused he was on reliving the kiss instead of listening to his daughter.

“Is it okay if Dean takes me to the fair, Daddy?”

“What?” he asks as Dean gives him a knowing look.

“The school fair. It’s going on while you’ll be in Japan. Can Dean take me?”

“Of course, baby. Whatever you want to do while I’m gone–within reason,” he emphasises. “You are more than welcome to do, as long as Dean is okay with it.”

Claire seems pleased with that answer and finishes her dinner before rushing upstairs to get ready for bed. Once Castiel hears the water running and knows that Claire will be in the shower for the next 30 minutes since she doesn’t understand the concept of quick showers, Castiel uses this time to talk to Dean.

Castiel stands up to approach Dean, who is loading the dishwasher. He holds his hand out and presses it lightly against Dean’s back.

“Dean, can we talk?”

Dean closes the door on the dishwasher and turns to face Castiel as he’s leaning against the counter. 

“Cas, before you say anything, I just want to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry.”

Castiel wasn’t expecting Dean to respond that way. He doesn’t want Dean to think he did something wrong.

“Dean, I kissed you. You have nothing to apologize for. I overstepped. It’s I who should be apologizing to you.”

Dean reaches for Castiel’s hand, keeping his head down as he talks. 

“I didn’t mind. I wouldn’t mind if you did it again, if that’s something you’re interested in doing.” 

Dean lifts his head, and instead of answering, Castiel leans forward and presses his lips against Dean’s. He darts his tongue forward and Dean opens his mouth to grant Castiel access. The kiss is slow and deep, and Dean’s hands pull Castiel closer, both men pressed against one another. Castiel can feel Dean’s erection pressing against his own.

Castiel begins a slow grind against Dean while his lips continue mapping Dean’s face and neck.

“Daddy!!” Claire yells from somewhere upstairs.

“Fuck,” Castiel whispers against Dean’s shoulder.

“Yes, Claire?” Castiel yells back, his forehead pressed against Dean’s.

“I can’t find my Elsa nightgown!!”

“Be right there,” Castiel tells her, knowing that it hasn’t been 30 minutes yet. Of all nights to be quick in the shower… he thinks.

“Your daughter is lucky I like her. She’s turning into a cockblock,” Dean chuckles.

Castiel gives Dean a quick peck on the lips and gazes into his eyes. 

“Meet me in my room once she’s asleep and we can finish what we keep trying to start.”

“I’ll be there.”

Castiel takes two steps at a time to get to Claire’s room. He finds her standing in her room with her body wrapped in a towel, her wet hair dripping on the carpet. There is a pile of clothes next to her feet as she is rooting around in her drawer. Castiel tries to remind himself how much he loves her when he notices the nightgown she was inquiring about is sitting on top of her dresser.

“Claire, your nightgown is right here,” he says as he grabs it off the dresser and hands it to her. She quickly snatches some underwear from her drawer as well as the nightgown he offers her.

“Oh, that’s right,” she giggles. “I put it on the dresser to see why Ashley was squealing, and forgot it when I went into the bathroom. Thanks, Daddy,” she says as she gives him a hug before skipping off to the bathroom.

Castiel has to take a deep breath to avoid yelling at her and reminds himself that she is scatterbrained because of him. He didn’t mean to pass his worst trait onto her, but here they are. He goes to his room with the door cracked open and waits for her to yell goodnight to him before opening his door all the way.

He lies on his bed, staring up at his ceiling and trying to squash any nervousness he might be feeling. Dean pokes his head into the room not long after. 

“Can I come in?” he asks.

“Of course,” Castiel answers.

Dean walks in and shuts the door. Before Castiel has a chance to second guess himself, he stands up and meets Dean by the door, pinning him against it. He searches Dean’s eyes for any sign that he is not on board with this, any sign that he might have changed his mind, but all he sees is Dean’s want as strong as his own.

“Are you sure, Dean? If we do this there is no going back,” Castiel asks.

“I’m positive, Cas. Been dreaming about this for weeks now.”

They make their way to the bed, ripping off each other’s clothing as they go until they are just left in their boxers. Castiel hasn’t slept with anyone since Amelia. It’s not that he didn’t have desires, he just never had occasion, and even before he started dating Amelia, he had only been with one other guy. He’s sure things still work the same, but he just wants Dean to know that he’s a bit out of practice.

“Dean,” Castiel says as Dean kisses a path down Castiel’s neck and is well on his way to Castiel’s treasure trail.

“Cas,” Dean says as he keeps going. 

“Dean, wait,” Castiel tells him and Dean stops, sitting up as if he has been burned. Castiel reaches out for him, realizing his mistake.

“No, I don’t want to stop. I just want you to know I’m not as experienced as you might think in this department. I was only with one guy before Amelia, and it didn’t last very long. I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“Shit, that’s nothing to be worried about, Cas. Sex is sex no matter who you do it with. I’m a little out of practice myself, but we can learn again together.”

Castiel nods, and before he knows it, they are both completely naked, and he is grabbing the lube and condoms out of his drawer. He hopes they aren’t expired and a quick peek at the date shows they are still good for another month. Looks like he’ll have to make a trip to the store to buy some more on his way back home from Japan.

Just as Castiel is getting ready to ask who’s going to do what, Dean is on his back waiting for Castiel. Castiel preps Dean gently and tenderly, and the more noises Dean makes to show his appreciation, the more Castiel’s cock aches to be inside the other man. 

When Dean tells him to “stop fucking around and just get on with it,” Castiel takes that as his cue. He rips off the condom wrapper and rolls it onto his cock, making sure he’s properly lubed. He presses against Dean’s hole and slowly slips inside, watching Dean’s face for any signs of discomfort. 

When he’s fully sheathed, he has to stop. He severely underestimated how this would affect him and he doesn’t want it to be over before it begins. Castiel buries his face in Dean’s neck while trying to gather some composure. 

“That good, huh?” Dean says, although he isn’t fooling Castiel. He knows Dean is in the same position based on the crack in his voice.

“You can say that,” Castiel answers, lifting his head and carding his fingers through Dean’s hair before he begins a slow grind inside the other man’s tight heat.

Dean wraps his legs and arms around Castiel as Castiel moves inside him. Castiel pistons his hips forward with as much control as he can muster for how good it feels. It’s made even more difficult the longer he gazes down at Dean, his emotions written all over his face.

“Cas,” he whispers as he lifts his head to press his lips against Castiel’s. Castiel has a good rhythm going until Dean moans against his lips. Any ounce of self control he thought he had over the situation goes out the window as he listens to the noises that Dean makes as he strikes the other man’s prostate. So, he fucks Dean harder and faster in order to continue hearing him moan.

“Cas, so good. Please don’t stop. Keep g-going,” Dean stutters over his words as his hand wraps around his own cock, stroking it in rhythm with Castiel’s thrusts.

“Dean, I’m so close. You feel so good.”

Castiel feels his orgasm building in his groin, and he’s powerless to hold it off when Dean tightens around his cock as Dean cums, Castiel filling the condom with his own spend right after. He doesn’t even think about the mess that is now coating Dean’s stomach when Castiel collapses on top of him. He’s only focused on the man beneath him and what this might mean for them moving forward.

Chapter Text

Dean doesn’t want to leave the bed. Castiel lying next to him is so comforting, but they don’t want to risk Claire waking up and finding them together, not before they are ready to talk about what this even means. Castiel cleaned up the spunk that had been smushed between them and he now has his fingers tracing the pattern of Dean’s tattoo.

“What does this symbol mean? I don’t know that I’ve seen it before,” Castiel asks.

It’s been awhile since he’s talked about it, but Castiel just had his dick up Dean’s ass, so he feels as though he should be able to share anything with him at this point. Before Dean stopped showing up to appointments because he doesn’t like sharing his trauma with anyone, his therapist told him that it’s part of the healing process to talk things out and get it off his chest, so he thinks about what he wants to say and just lays it all out for Castiel to decide if he wants to be with him anymore. 

Dean stares up at the ceiling as he talks, unsure he would be able to get it all out if he saw the pity that’s eventually going to be plastered on Castiel’s face. 

“It’s a protection symbol. I got it after my first mission when I had to watch one of my soldiers die. He died because I led him into a battle that I thought we could win.” Dean reaches for Castiel’s finger and traces it around the tattoo, guiding it over the initials of every man he ever lost under his command. The initials of Garth, Lee, Kevin, and Ash, along with 10 others he lost along the way, are embedded within the intricate design of his tattoo, but the one that haunts him the most is Benny’s. The letters BL are at the center of the pentagram as a constant reminder of the friend he lost, the one who haunts his dreams almost every night. 

“These are the initials of all the soldiers I’ve lost. I couldn’t save them when they needed me the most, so I have this tattoo in hopes that they’ll save me from my demons. I owe it to them to keep living even when I just want to give up.” He traces Castiel’s fingers over Benny’s initials at the center of it all. “These are the initials of my best friend, Benny Lafitte. We grew up together and joined Special Forces on the same day, and I was supposed to keep him safe. It was my job, but I let him down. We were on patrol and he stepped on a mine. Before I could get to him to take his place, the damn thing went off. I’ll never forgive myself for failing him, for failing every soldier I ever cared about.”

“Dean,” Castiel says as he sits up to look at Dean. “Their deaths are not your fault. If they were in Special Forces like you, they were skilled soldiers who knew what they were getting themselves into. It’s not your job to step on a mine to keep someone else from dying.”

“I was in charge. I gave the orders that led to all their deaths.” 

“Let me put it in words you might understand. I hired you to protect my daughter. If you die while you are following out that order, is it my fault?”

Dean can’t even believe that Castiel would ask that question. “Of course not, it’s my job to protect her. It’s not your fault if something happens to me while I’m protecting her. It’s what you’re paying me for.”

Castiel smiles. “So, what you’re telling me is you know the risk you are taking by being her bodyguard, and it isn’t the fault of the person who gave you that order, should something happen to you.”

Dean is about ready to answer him when he realizes that he’s not going to win this argument, and he essentially just put his foot in his mouth with his answer. 

“Shuddup,” is the only thing he can think to say as he sits up and pushes Castiel back down on the bed. “You’re too adorable for your own good when you’re trying to prove a point.”

Dean is thankful to Castiel for lightening the mood even if he didn’t realize that’s what he did. He kisses Castiel tenderly, and if Dean rides him like there’s no tomorrow before he heads back to his room, that’s between him, Castiel, and the four walls of Castiel’s bedroom. 

Dean and Claire meet Castiel by the door when he is set to leave for his business trip. Dean wishes he could kiss him goodbye, and just when he thinks he won’t be able to, Claire insists on grabbing Cocoa and Ashley so that Castiel can say goodbye to them, too. As soon as she runs up the stairs, Dean yanks Castiel in by his tie and smashes their lips together. The kiss is desperate, but Dean doesn’t care. He’s going to miss Castiel. 

“I’ll miss you,” Dean says as he rests his forehead against Castiel’s. 

“Me, too,” Castiel says right before they separate at the sound of Claire running down the stairs with her arms full of two guinea pigs who don’t seem happy about the change of scenery, if their squeaking is anything to go by. 

“Okay, Daddy, say goodbye to Cocoa and Ashley. You have to give them a kiss.”

Castiel looks like he would rather do anything else right now.

“Why don’t I just pet them? I’ll save the kisses for you to do.”

Claire doesn’t seem like she likes that answer, but she doesn’t protest. Castiel gives each pig a gentle pat on the head before hugging his little girl.

“You be good for Dean and listen to what he tells you, okay? He just wants to keep you safe the same as I do.”

“I know, Daddy. I’ll be good.”

Castiel gives her a kiss on her forehead and wheels his suitcase out to the car that’s waiting to take him to his private jet at the airport. Dean still can’t believe he might be dating a guy who has his own jet, not that you’ll ever catch him getting into it. The only time he ever got into a plane of any sorts was when he was headed to a mission, and then it didn’t matter because his life was already in danger. Now, he’s happy with his feet planted safely on the ground, thank you very much.

Once Castiel is out of sight, Dean looks at Claire, with her arms full of two guinea pigs.

“Why don’t we put them back in their cage and get ready for your school fair?”

She lets out a happy squeal, which causes the pigs to copy her, and Dean has to check his ears to make sure they aren’t bleeding from the noise. Dean offers to help her put them back in the cage, but she wants to do it herself, so he’s not going to interfere in her quest for independence. 

When they show up to the fair, Dean makes sure he has his knives and guns properly concealed on his person, and gives Claire the “make sure you can see me at all times” speech before they walk up to the ticket booth to pay more money than Dean would like for a children’s carnival, but he’s not one to rain on a little girl’s parade, so he bites his tongue. 

He stays a far enough distance away from Claire to give her space to have fun, but not too far away that he won’t be able to stop an attacker from grabbing her. She is in line with Kaia waiting for the Merry Go Round when someone stands next to Dean. He doesn’t take his eyes off Claire as they speak. 

“So, which one is yours?” the redheaded woman with bright red lipstick now standing next to him asks.

“That depends on who’s asking,” he responds.

Just as he expected, this woman is not here to talk about the PTA, as she flashes the gun that she has concealed inside her blazer. 

“Don’t be like that, Dean. We just want the girl. You don’t need to get hurt. Castiel has been driving a hard bargain, and it seems he needs a little motivation to see things our way.”

Dean doesn’t take his eyes off Claire as he notices the same creepy guy that he saw at the playground inching his way closer to her. Dean knows he only has one shot at getting this right without causing the wrong kind of scene. 

“You fucked with the wrong man, sweetheart.” 

Without taking his eyes off Claire, and also while making sure nobody is paying attention to him either, he quickly reaches over and snaps the woman’s neck and closes her eyes so it isn’t obvious that she’s dead. He’s starting to gather the attention of the other parents as he lifts her lifeless body into his arms and walks over to Claire. 

“Come on, sweetie. We have to go. My date passed out, so I need to get her home.”

Claire seems not only confused, but disappointed as well. Luckily, Castiel had told her to listen to Dean and not question him, so she just goes along with it. Dean knows they need to make a run for it based on the murderous look in Alistair’s eyes–Dean is certain that’s the name that Castiel told him when they were talking. Claire says goodbye to Kaia and Dean makes sure that she is in front of him as they walk away from the fair. 

“Why do we have to leave? I was having fun. Is Ms. Abby sleeping?” Claire asks him, the last question catching him off guard.

“You know this woman?” Dean inquires as he’s placing her body in the front seat of his car while Claire buckles herself into the back. Dean starts driving, keeping his eyes focused on the road ahead with the occasional glance in his rearview mirror to make sure that Alistair isn’t following.

“She lives across from the school and used to let me pet her dogs while I waited for my dad or Charlie to pick me up, but I haven’t seen her since you started watching me.”

Fuck, that’s not good. Castiel’s suspicions were right. Dean wonders how many other people in Claire’s life are waiting for the right moment to kidnap her.

“Is there anyone else that you used to see a lot, that you don’t see anymore?”

There’s a pause and Dean peeks in the rearview mirror to see Claire with the same scrunched eyebrow look Castiel has when he’s in deep thought. Then she speaks up. 

“Ms. Ruby. She was the nice lady that walked her dog by the playground every day when I was playing.”

What is it with everyone using dogs as bait? Hopefully Castiel had the talk with Claire to not get into a white van. He also questions the security at the school.

“Did you ever see Principal Roman talking to these women?”

“Yeah, he told me they were nice ladies and I could trust them, but my Daddy told me not to trust anyone unless he says so, so I didn’t go anywhere with them even when they said it was okay.”

“Your Dad is right, and you were a good girl for not going anywhere with them. To answer your question, Ms. Abby is not sleeping.”

Castiel was right to not trust Dick Roman. It seems that the whole system is corrupted. All of this just to merge with Castiel’s company. There seems to be more to the story, but Dean can’t put his finger on what it might be.

Claire seems to accept Dean’s answer about Ms. Abby not being asleep and doesn’t ask for any further clarification. He gives her the portable DVD player he keeps in his car for emergencies, and she doesn’t ask questions as she watches Frozen while Dean buries Abby’s body in the middle of the woods.

Dean makes a drive by the house a few times to make sure nothing is out of place and there isn’t anyone watching them before parking the car in the garage just to be on the safe side. He makes sure the door is locked tight before relaxing. He doesn’t think Alistair is going to give up, especially since Dean just killed one of his (wo)men.

“Are the bad people coming for me?” Claire asks out of the blue while they are watching TV. 

“You don’t have to worry, Claire Bear. I won’t let anything happen to you. But, if I tell you to hide, do you remember what to do?”

She only nods as if saying it out loud means that it will come true. Right after he moved in, Castiel allowed him to build a trap door underneath Claire’s bed for her to hide in should something happen and he can’t get to her. He hopes she won’t need to use it, but better safe than sorry is his philosophy.

He double checks all the locks on the doors and windows after Claire goes to sleep before he settles into his own bed. It’s 10pm here, which means it’s 12 noon tomorrow in Tokyo. He sends Castiel a quick message.

Dean: I miss you 😀

He sets his phone down and lays his head on the pillow when he hears his phone ping

Castiel: I miss you too 😀♥️🍆🍑🫂

Dean just smiles and places his phone back down. Castiel is such a dork, but that’s what he likes most about him. 

He’s almost at REM sleep when he hears a noise in the kitchen. He hurries to the safe in his room to grab his gun, and he creeps out into the hall. He cracks open Claire’s door to see that she’s still sound asleep and in no immediate danger. He leans against the wall as he tiptoes down the stairs with his gun cocked and ready to go. When he reaches the bottom, he peeks around the corner to see a group of people moving closer from the side door. He counts 5 people in total. 

He runs upstairs to make sure Claire hides. He doesn’t want them to find her in the off chance that he isn’t successful in eliminating them. It’s been some time since he’s had to fight off that many people alone. 

“Claire,” he whispers as he shakes her awake. “You need to wake up, sweetie. There are bad people in the house and I need you to hide.” 

She rubs the sleep from her eyes, and then his words must sink in because she’s grabbing her grumpy cat stuffed animal and crawling underneath the bed. 

“Don’t get dead,” she tells him as she disappears beneath the trap door before closing the door. 

“I’ll do my best,” he tells her even though he’s certain she can’t hear him anymore. There aren’t many places to hide up here, so he makes his way back downstairs. He keeps to the shadows as he begins to take each person out one by one. He sneaks up behind the man closest to him and snaps his neck. When he hears movement behind him, he shoulder rolls and turns to look at his would be attacker, firing one shot center mass. 

Dean didn’t use his silencer so that a nosy (or concerned, depending on how you look at it) neighbor would hear the shots and hopefully call the police. This decision unfortunately also attracts the other three that are left in the house. 

“Find the girl,” Dean hears a nasally voice say just as Dean is hit with something on the back of his head. Luckily it wasn’t hard enough to take him down. He turns to look at his attacker and throat punches him. As the guy places his hands over his throat as he struggles to breathe, Dean places his gun underneath the man’s chin and fires two shots. The man falls to the floor after his brain matter splatters onto the ceiling. 

Dean turns around to look for the attacker that isn’t going after Claire, but he isn’t quick enough, and the man knocks his gun from his hands and pushes Dean against the wall. He presses his hands against Dean’s throat, but Dean kicks him in the nuts. When the man stumbles backwards, Dean reaches for his gun but doesn’t make it in time. Alistair–as Dean can see now–punches Dean in the stomach. 

It seems as though he’s going to have to put his hand to hand combat skills to use since he no longer has his gun in his possession. He lands a right hook against Alistair’s jaw and then a left. He gets more punches in than Alistair does. Apparently, dealing with guns everyday makes you a little rusty when it comes to actual fighting. 

Just when Dean thinks that he is going to win, he hears the muffled sound of the guinea pigs squealing. He hopes it’s not because Claire decided to grab them from their cage and they are now giving away her location. He doesn’t want to risk her being found, so he kicks Alistair in the stomach, and when the other man drops to his knees, Dean punches him again before taking off up the stairs. 

Dean is almost at Claire’s door when he hears a gun shot and a sharp pain in his side. He made a rookie mistake of letting his guard down, as well as stupidly leaving his gun behind in his rush to check on Claire. He hears Claire scream as he falls to the floor. He had one job and he failed. His only saving grace is the sound of police sirens in the distance. He still has just enough strength to get up and fight off Claire’s attacker so she can at least escape, even if it will mean his death. 

He sees a woman with long brown hair emerging from Claire’s room, holding Claire’s arm as Claire is struggling to break free, screaming for help. Dean stands up and throws himself at the woman, which causes her to release her hold on Claire.

“Claire, run!!” he screams as he pins the woman against the wall.

He watches Claire run, and she is able to sneak around Alistair and down the stairs. Dean’s happiness is short lived as he feels a bullet pierce his chest from the gun he didn’t see the woman holding. He has just enough strength left to grab the gun from her and fire two shots into her heart. As he stumbles backwards, he turns the gun towards Alistair and shoots him in the leg as he is running after Claire. 

Dean falls to the floor and can feel himself growing weaker. His hope that Claire made it out fades as he hears her scream.

“Dean, help!!”

Dean tries to stand up, but it’s no use. He’s lost too much blood, and the last thing he says as he closes his eyes and waits for Death to take him is, “I’m so sorry, Cas.”

Chapter Text

Castiel smiles as he places his phone back in his pocket. He hasn’t been gone a full 24 hours yet and Dean is already sending him messages about missing him. He’s not sure yet where they are headed, but he hopes that they can have some sort of relationship. He’s only known Dean for a month, but he makes Castiel happy, and that’s what’s important. He’s also good with Claire, which is the most important thing.

He’s still feeling jet lagged from his trip. The 14 hour time difference between Kansas and Tokyo takes some getting used to, but he’s only here a few days, so there’s no point worrying about it. He’s sitting in the office waiting for the CEO of Tokyo Techtronics to arrive. The plan is for Castiel to purchase a device that can be added to his M60 machine guns, giving them an even clearer shot at their target, and in turn Tokyo Techtronics would receive a portion of any profit. The profit portion is what Castiel is here to discuss. 

His phone buzzes in his pocket again and he wonders if Dean has something more to say. Castiel would think that he would be asleep by now. He looks at the caller ID and doesn’t recognize the number, but he decides to answer anyway in case it’s something important.

“Hello?” he asks.

“Daddy!!” Claire’s voice is heard on the other line.

“Claire?” Castiel asks. He doesn’t like the fear he hears in her voice. “Where’s Dean?” 

“I don’t know, Daddy. The bad men came for me. Dean got hurt.”

Before she says anything further, Alistair begins to speak.

“Hello, Castiel.”

Castiel’s heart drops at the sound of his voice and what this might mean.

“What have you done?” Castiel asks through gritted teeth.

“I tried to warn you, Castiel. If you didn’t meet my demands, I would take something from you, something very precious.”

“What do you want, Alistair? If you hurt her…”

“Don’t worry, Castiel, Claire will be safe. The boss won’t let me hurt her.”

“Boss, what boss? I thought you were in charge.”

“I’m in charge of my company, yes, but this is bigger than your little brain can fathom.  Now, here’s the deal. If you want to see your daughter again, you will meet me at your office in two days with the documents to sign your company over to me, free of charge.”

“That wasn’t the original deal. You were wanting to purchase the company. Why would I just give it to you for free?”

“We went through a lot of trouble and lost 5 guys to secure your daughter. The price for her release just went up. I’ll see you in a couple days.”

Alistair hangs up before Castiel can say anything more. He growls and has half a mind to throw his phone across the room, but then he won’t have a way to reach out to anyone. The CEO he had been waiting to speak to walks in just as he’s packing up his briefcase.

“My apologies, sir, but an emergency just came up with my daughter and I must leave. Please reach out to my secretary if you are interested in rescheduling.”

Castiel gives him a polite bow before walking out the door and dials his pilot, Hannah, to have her meet him as soon as possible on the tarmac. She seems less than pleased due to not having much time to rest, but he isn’t in the mood to argue with her, so he offers her a $20,000 bonus for her trouble.

When the plane takes off, he starts making calls to see if anyone back home knows what’s going on. He has a 12 hour flight ahead of him, and he wants as much information he can get before he lands. He doesn’t have any messages, so he assumes that nobody knows anything yet. He calls Dean first, but the phone goes straight to voicemail. He’s not going to jump to conclusions before he has all the details, but it doesn’t change the uneasy feeling he has. 

Charlie is the next person that he calls and he thinks it’s going to go to voicemail, but she picks up after the fifth ring.

“Hello?” she says, her voice sounding groggy, like she just woke up.

“Charlie, it’s Castiel. I’m sorry if I woke you. I just received a ransom call from Alistair. He has Claire, and I don’t know–I don’t–Claire said Dean was hurt.” Castiel is trying to keep his voice calm and collected, but he is failing miserably. He can’t find the words to ask her to make sure Dean isn’t dead. “Can you check my house, please? I’m on my way back now, but it will take me half a day.”

“Oh my god, Cas. I’m on it. I’ll call as soon as I know something.”

Charlie hangs up with him, and he dials Bobby Singer’s number. He told Castiel when they spoke that Dean was like a son to him, so he figures the other man has a right to know that Dean is hurt even though he doesn’t know any other details. He assures Bobby that he will keep him updated, and Bobby extends him the same courtesy if he finds anything out before Castiel. Then they hang up and Castiel is left with his thoughts. 

He can’t control the tears that well up in his eyes as he thinks about his daughter, who must be terrified out of her mind. How can someone kidnap a child just to get what they want? Only a monster would do something like that, and that’s exactly what Alistair is. Him and whomever this supposed boss he mentioned is.

The longer he thinks about it, the more his worry and frustration turns into anger. He built his company from the ground up and put in the hours to get it to where it is, and some assbutt who probably doesn’t even know how to spell the names of the weapons his company makes thinks he’s going to use Castiel’s daughter as a bargaining chip to to take what’s his. He begins to devise a plan in his head for revenge when his phone rings.

“Charlie?” he says without even looking at the caller ID. 

“Yeah, it’s me. I have some information for you and it’s not good. I went to your house and it looked pretty bad. The police were still there. I told them I was your sister, and they told me they found four dead bodies and a lot of blood. Dean wasn’t among any of the dead bodies.

I told them that I spoke with you and you are on your way back from Japan, so they sent out an AMBER Alert to try to find Claire. The guinea pigs were just chilling and squealing under Claire’s bed, so I’m going to take them to my house until we get this all figured out, so that they don’t starve. 

I called around to the local hospitals and was finally able to find out what might have happened to Dean. I was able to convince one of the hot nurses that I could show her a good time if she could give me an update on Dean’s status.”

“And?” Castiel asks, hoping that Charlie will get to the point soon.

“Well, if you need all the details, we found an on call room and I put my tongue to good use…”

Castiel pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “I meant ‘and’ as in, what is the status of Dean?”

“Oh, shit, yeah. He’s in surgery to remove the bullets, but he’s expected to pull through. She said he’s lucky to be alive. He lost a lot of blood and the bullet to his chest narrowly missed his heart by a few centimeters.”

“Thank you, Charlie. I will head over to the hospital as soon as I land. Please make sure my car is there. And I want you to find out everything you can about Alistair and any of his associates. If he thinks this is over once I get Claire back, he’s sorely mistaken.”

“Yes, sir.”

He sends a text to Bobby about Dean since he’s not up for talking anymore, and he pictures all the things he’s going to do to Alistair in his head while he’s waiting for his plane to reach its destination.

He isn’t able to sleep much on the plane and he’s dead on his feet with exhaustion by the time he makes it to his car, but he needs to get to the hospital to make sure Dean is okay. He still has one more day before he meets Alistair for the exchange of his company for his daughter, so maybe he can get some sleep at the hospital.

Once he arrives at Lawrence Memorial where Charlie told Castiel Dean was, he asks for his room number at the front desk. He tells them that he’s Dean’s husband in hopes that they will let him see Dean, and he’s thrilled that it works out in his favor and they let him back.

When he peeks inside the door, he sees Dean lying on the bed, staring out the window. He sneaks inside, and when Dean catches sight of him, the other man has a look of fear on his face.

“Cas, I’m so fucking sorry. I understand if you never want to see me again or if you want to bury me in a shallow grave somewhere.”

“No,” Castiel says as he steps closer to see the tears pooling in Dean’s eyes. “This is not your fault, Dean. I’ll get her back.”

“I failed you. You trusted me with your daughter and she was kidnapped on my watch.” 

Castiel pulls the chair closer to Dean’s bed and sits down, grabbing his hand gently in his own. “Dean, Charlie told me what the house looked like. You did everything you could to protect Claire. I didn’t have to be there to know that. You were outnumbered, and I’m just thankful that you’re still alive.”

Dean doesn’t look like he accepts Castiel’s answer, but he leaves it be. Instead, Dean moves on to the elephant in the room. 

“Do you know–is Claire–is she…” Dean asks, stumbling over his words, as if it’s a struggle to get them out.

“I received a call from Alistair. She’s alive, and as far as I know there are no plans to harm her as long as I meet his demands. He wants me to sign my company over to him.”

“Cas, you can’t do that. You worked so hard. You poured all your blood, sweat, and tears into it. There has to be another way.”

“Don’t worry, Dean. I have no plans on allowing Alistair to live long enough to do anything with my company. Once I have Claire back, I’m going to put a bullet in his brain.”

“Damn, Cas, you’re sexy when you get all murdery.”

Castiel offers him a smile–the best one he can given the current situation. He brings Dean’s hand to his lips and places a tender kiss against his knuckles.

“Come here,” Dean says, as he pulls Castiel closer.

Castiel leans in and presses his lips against Dean’s. It’s only been a couple days, but he forgot how soft they were. Dean rests his forehead against Castiel’s when they are done kissing.

“We’ll get her back, Cas. I promise. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

Castiel nods, and he doesn’t need Dean to reassure him. He had already planned on doing whatever it takes, even if he has to burn this entire city to the ground to do it.

When it’s time for Castiel to meet up with Alistair, Dean is still in no position to tag along. He won’t be getting discharged for at least a couple days. Thankfully he didn’t have any broken bones, but he did have major surgery, and that’s not something you can just bounce back from right away.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I know Claire will be excited to see you. She’s probably worried sick thinking that you didn’t make it,” Castiel tells him as he gets ready to leave.

“Shit, I was so worried about getting her back, I hadn’t thought about that. Please let her know that I can’t wait to see her when you do get her.”

“I promise.” Castiel gives him a kiss. “We’ll have to talk more about us as well once this is all over. I don’t want to tell Claire anything yet, not until you and I establish what this is that we’re doing.”

“Of course, Cas. I totally agree. Please be careful. It sucks that I can’t go with you. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“I’ll be safe. I promise. Now, you get some rest and I’ll go get Claire.”

Castiel’s heart is hammering away in his chest as he worries about the million different ways this can go wrong, but he knows Alistair isn’t stupid enough to fall back on what he promised. As long as Castiel hands over the metaphorical keys to his company, Alistair will give Claire back to her father. 

Castiel parks in the rear of the building and heads up to his office. He’s 20 minutes early, so he gathers all the documents he needs to hand to Alistair. 

He had already given Alistair the code to get into the building when they last spoke on the phone, so he’s not sure why he’s surprised when the man walks into his office–maybe it’s just the nerves. He doesn’t like that he’s alone, though. He should have Claire with him. 

“Where’s Claire?” Castiel asks him.

“She’s in the parking garage. I’ll take you to her once I receive the documents I asked for.”

“No, that’s not how this works. I’m not giving you anything without proof that my daughter is here. I’ll give you what you need once I lay eyes on Claire.”

Alistair shuffles closer to Castiel and grips his tie, pulling him close as he grits his teeth while he speaks.

“You are not the one in charge here, Castiel. I will take you to your daughter only after you hold up your end of the bargain.”

Alistair lets him go, and, once Castiel regains his composure, he leans against his desk with his arms crossed. 

“That is where you are mistaken, Alistair. You’re on my turf. At any given time in this building I am only 20 feet away from a weapon. I didn’t get to where I am by not keeping myself heavily armed. Either you take me to Claire right now or I will blow your brains out and find Claire myself.”

Castiel hopes that Alistair can’t sense how fast his heart is beating. He’s not afraid of the other man, but he knows it will be more difficult to find Claire at all if Alistair is dead, so he hopes he doesn’t see through Castiel’s bluff. 

“You drive a hard bargain, Castiel. I’ll take you to the girl, but you need to hand over your weapons.”

He lets Alistair pat him down and he doesn’t find anything on him. Perhaps Alistair missed the part where Castiel said there are weapons everywhere, or perhaps he didn’t believe him. 

“Alright, let’s go,” Alistair says as he leads Castiel down the stairs towards the direction of the parking garage. Castiel keeps his eyes trained on the man to his side as well as the surrounding area. He knows this building like the back of his hand, and he knows every nook and cranny where someone could possibly be hiding. 

They make it to the parking garage without incident, and Alistair leads Castiel to a car with tinted windows. Something seems off about this. Castiel’s gut is telling him not to trust Alistair, which is why he moves closer to one of the beams where he knows he has a pistol already loaded and hidden in one of the loose slabs of cement. 

“Claire is in the car. Just hand me the documents and I will let her out.”

Castiel holds his hand out with the papers that will give Alistair control of his company and he waits for the car door to open to let Claire out. That time never comes, and Alistair starts laughing instead, once he has the documents in his possession.

“You really are a fool, Castiel.” Alistair places his hand around Castiel’s throat and slams him into the cement beam. His airway is being cut off by the grip the other man has on his throat. As he tries to loosen Alistair's grip on his throat with one hand, he reaches behind himself with the other to push the loose cement out of the way so he can grab hold of the pistol. 

Once he has a grip on the gun, he places it under the other man’s chin and fires it. Alistair falls to the ground as he bleeds out from the open wound, his eyes glazed over. Castiel hears the screeching of the tires as the car speeds away and he ducks behind the beam to avoid the gunfire.

“Daddy!!” Claire’s voice can be heard as the car speeds away.

“No!!” Castiel yells as he tries to run to catch up to the car. He thought for certain that this was just a trap to kill him. He didn’t think Claire was actually in the car. The car is getting further away, and he knows there is no way he’s going to be able to catch it on foot anyway. He tries to shoot the tires, but the car is too far away by now.

“Claire!!” he yells as he drops to his knees in the parking garage and buries his face in his hands. What has he done? Did he just get his daughter killed? No, he can’t think that. He has to believe that they will keep her alive until they get what they want. He holds onto that thought as he walks over to Alistair’s body and grabs the documents and his phone. 

He walks towards his car, and it’s at this moment that he wishes that he would have thought to get an upgrade so he could use bluetooth, but he’ll just have to talk on the phone, drive one handed, and hope that a cop doesn’t see him and waste time he doesn’t have by pulling him over.

“Hello?” Bobby says when he answers after the second ring.

“Bobby, it’s Castiel. Can I borrow your office for some illegal activity?”

“Shit, Cas, does this have to do with Dean getting shot and your little girl getting kidnapped?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you’re welcome to come over anytime.”

“Thank you, Bobby.”

He hangs up with Bobby and has to slam on his brakes to avoid running a red light. He dials Charlie’s number next.

“Did you get her back?” Charlie asks him as soon as she answers.

“No, and I need you to meet me at Singer’s Security in an hour with all your computer equipment.”

“All my equipment?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there.”

Castiel makes it to the hospital just as he hangs up the phone. He walks as fast as he can to Dean’s room, and he must have his emotions written all over his face, because as soon as Dean sees him without Claire, his smile fades.

“I fucked up,” Castiel says. “But I have a plan, and we’re meeting Charlie at Bobby’s in an hour. I didn’t want to go without asking if you wanted to help me, but either way, I’m going to track down everyone responsible, and I plan on killing them all.”

“Cas, keep your voice down. Anyone can hear you, and we don’t need to get arrested before we even begin. Let me get my clothes on. You know I’m not going to let these sons of bitches get away with taking Claire. I’m all in.”

Castiel tries to control his breathing and not have a panic attack while he waits for Dean to get dressed and let the nurses know he’s leaving against medical advice. Castiel feels guilty for even asking him to leave already, knowing he’s not fully healed, but he knows his chances of surviving this and getting Claire back are significantly increased with Dean by his side. He also knows that Dean will insist on going with him, so there is no use arguing with him by trying to get him to stay in the hospital.

“First off, we’re stopping by your house to pick up my Baby. We’re not going on a murder spree in this thing,” Dean tells him when he slides into the passenger side while Castiel starts the car. Castiel just rolls his eyes, but he has to agree with Dean. His car doesn’t scream ‘You’d better watch out because I’m here to kill you’ quite the same as Dean’s car does. Dean’s car commands fear and respect. He’ll never admit that out loud though.

He starts driving and tells Dean, “We have to stop there anyway. I have all the weapons we’ll need in my underground bunker.”

“You have an underground bunker?” Dean asks him.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Castiel answers, and Dean just throws his head back and laughs. 

“You truly are amazing, you know that?”

Castiel just answers him with a sly grin. There isn’t anyone around by the time they arrive at his house and he pulls his car into the garage next to Dean’s. He leads Dean to the back of the house and counts 10 steps straight back from the porch and 5 steps to the right, where he lifts the fake grass out of the way to reveal a trap door. He punches in the code to open the door, revealing stairs that take them down into a dark hallway. He turns on the light and he hears Dean gasp next to him.

“Holy shit, Cas. Did you leave any weapons for the rest of the world to use?” Dean asks as he walks up and down the aisles, which are filled with every possible weapon one could use to go on a murder spree.

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Castiel tells him.

Dean picks up various munitions and inspects them as he walks around.

“Oh, sweetheart, where have you been my whole life?” Dean asks. Castiel is about ready to answer him when he notices Dean is holding a grenade launcher and grinning from ear to ear, and Castiel realizes that Dean is not talking to him. First his car, now a grenade launcher. Is Castiel really going to have to compete with inanimate objects for Dean’s affection?

“Let’s just grab what we need so we can find my daughter.”

Castiel grabs two empty bags and begins loading one with the guns and knives he thinks he will need. Dean loads the other one, and Castiel has to listen to him pout and complain when Castiel removes the grenade launcher that he tried to stuff in the bag. They are trying to be stealthy, not blow up an entire city block. 

Castiel makes sure his bunker is locked tight and they walk towards Dean’s car. Castiel throws his duffel in the trunk and then Dean throws his in. 

“We’ve got work to do,” Dean says as he closes the trunk. 

“We need to hurry,” Castiel tells him as they both get in the car and drive towards Bobby’s company. Castiel keeps his fingers crossed that he finds Claire alive and that they can make everyone pay for taking her from him in the first place.

Chapter Text

It doesn’t take long for them to drive to Bobby’s office, and Charlie’s Gremlin is already parked out front. Castiel is thankful that they don’t have to wait for her to get there, and he hopes that she has been able to find out something, anything that will bring Castiel that much closer to getting Claire back.

Bobby greets them at the door, carefully hugging Dean so as not to hurt him more than he already is, and then locks the door once they are both inside. 

“Thank you so much, Bobby. I appreciate you letting us use your space. I don’t think either of our homes or my office space is a safe option right now,” Castiel tells him.

“You’ve been good to me over the years, Castiel. I figure I owe you one,” is Bobby’s response.

Charlie is sitting at Bobby’s desk, typing away on the computer. 

“I don’t want to keep you from what you were doing, Bobby. Did you want us to lock up when we’re done?” Castiel asks, not wanting to involve the other man–aside from using his office–with what they are doing since it is highly illegal.

“Do I look like a ditchable prom date to you, boy? I’m hanging around in case you need some back up. Can’t trust you two idjits to not screw something up just because you think you know what you’re doing.”

“I appreciate your confidence in us, Bobby. Thanks,” Dean says, giving Bobby a pat on his shoulder. Castiel hopes that Dean is being sarcastic because that sounded very much like the opposite of having confidence in them.

Castiel rounds the desk to take a peek at what Charlie is working on.

“Please tell me you found something, Charlie,” Castiel says. The longer it takes to find Claire, the lower the chances of finding her alive. He tries not to think about worse case scenarios, but he didn’t get this far in his business by not thinking the worst sometimes.

“I think I’m getting there. Do you know if she had her Grumpy Cat stuffed animal with her, Dean?” Charlie asks Dean.

“She took it into the hiding spot with her, but I didn’t notice if she was holding it when she was running away.”

“Damn,” Charlie says as she focuses on something on her screen. “It looks like it’s still at the house. She must not have had it with her.”

“How do you know that it’s still at the house, Charlie?” Castiel inquires. 

“Don’t be mad, but when you bought the Grumpy Cat for her birthday and she got excited and said she would never go anywhere without it, I installed a chip into its collar in case something ever happened to her. That way we would be able to find her.”

Castiel is both surprised and slightly terrified to hear this information. “Have I ever told you that your paranoia is very concerning?”

“You say that now, but we would be able to find her because of my paranoia if she had it with her. I’m continuing my search for Alistair’s known associates right now.”

Dean walks over to stand next to Castiel, placing his hand at the small of his back. Dean presses his lips to Castiel’s temple, giving him a tender kiss.

“We’ll find her, Cas. I know we will.”

Castiel ignores Bobby’s eyes on them, darting back and forth between them, as Castiel wraps his arm around Dean’s side. Castiel is working under the assumption that Bobby knows Dean is into men or Dean wouldn’t have come over to Castiel and kissed him. It just seems awkward because Castiel has known Bobby for years, and he admitted that Dean is like a son to him. He’s certain he’s going to receive the concerned father speech at some point when this is all over.

“Found something,” Charlie says just as Bobby makes his way over to the other side of Charlie.

“What?” Castiel asks, leaning farther over her shoulder to see what she’s looking at.

“I found a back door into Alistair’s computer, and all of his associates are listed. It was in a file labeled Operation Claire, so I’m going to take a wild guess that these are all the people you are looking for. I’m just going to print this for you so you can track them all down. It has their names and addresses, and most of them are here in the city. One of them should lead you to the boss Alistair mentioned, and you can get Claire back.”

Charlie clicks the mouse and the printer starts making noise as it begins printing the information that they need. Castiel grabs the papers off the printer when it’s done. There are two pages with names and pictures of people responsible for the abduction of his daughter. Alistair is at the top, which means his supposed boss is still unknown.

“Thank you, Charlie. You two hang out here, please, and we will call if we need any back up.”

“What did I say about providing back up?” Bobby grumbles.

“Bobby, please,” Dean says softly. “I can’t risk losing anyone else. The only reason I’m not asking Cas to stay behind is because it’s his daughter, and I’m almost certain he would hunt me down if I tried to leave without him.” Dean just grins as he looks at Castiel, and he’s not wrong. Nothing will keep Castiel from looking for his daughter.

“He’s not wrong,” Castiel says out loud after thinking it.

With the list of names in hand, both men walk out to Dean’s car and get in their respective seats. 

“Alright, where to first?” Dean asks.

“How are you feeling, Dean?” Castiel asks. “You just had major surgery, and it was selfish of me to ask you to help me with this. I just wanted to increase my odds of finding Claire.”

“Cas,” Dean begins as he reaches across the seat and interlaces his fingers with Castiel’s. “I have been on countless missions where I had injuries that I had to fight through. I’ve had worse than this, so I’ll manage. I can’t just sit by while you look for Claire. Her screaming for me still haunts me, and I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t find her.”

His voice becomes shaky and Castiel notices that he’s trying to stifle his tears. Castiel doesn’t want him to feel guilty about anything. He slides across the seat and pulls Dean into his arms.

“I know we said we would talk about us after, but I just need you to know that I want this, Cas. I want us. I’ve been alone for so long. This past month with you and Claire has been the happiest I’ve been in I can’t even remember how long. I don’t want to lose that.”

Castiel kisses him tenderly where his face is buried in the crevice of Dean’s neck. He leans back and places his hand against Dean’s cheek. 

“I want that, too. When we get my daughter back, I want you with us as more than her bodyguard.”

“Yeah?” Dean asks.

“Yeah,” Castiel answers.

They decide to put a pin in the conversation and focus on the task at hand–getting Claire back. They go back and forth about whether they should start at the top of the list or the bottom. Castiel thinks they should start at the bottom since the lackeys usually know more than people think they do, and Dean says they should start at the top since that will probably lead them to Claire faster. Not wanting to spend too much time just deciding where to start, they decide to start at the top of the list and work their way down. Dean has been on more missions than Castiel, so he should know what he’s talking about.

“The first names on the list are Ishim and Maribel. They are brother and sister, and it looks like the company would go to them in the event of Alistair’s death or resignation. Their address isn’t far from here. We should be able to make it in 10 minutes.”

Dean drives to the address Castiel directs him to. Dean cuts off the lights and idles the car a safe distance from the house to avoid making a lot of noise. Perhaps they should have taken Castiel’s car. In hindsight, Castiel was distracted by Dean’s charm when he requested they take Baby, as he likes to call her, and didn’t think about Dean’s car not being very stealthy as far as noise level. They lose the element of surprise by taking her anywhere.

It’s too late to do anything about it now. What’s done is done. When Dean is parked a safe distance from the house, he turns off the car, and both men grab what they need from the trunk. Dean made sure they had silencers for their guns. No need to alert anyone to what they are doing. The houses on this block are close together, but not so close that anyone should be paying attention to Dean and Castiel as they walk to the back to sneak into the house.

Castiel tries the door, but it’s locked.

“Do you know how to pick a lock?” Castiel whispers to Dean.

“Of course.” Dean pulls a small case out of his shirt pocket. He opens it and it appears to be a professional grade lock pick set. It doesn’t take him long to unlock the door, and since they aren’t sure where Ishim and Maribel are in the house–if they are indeed home–they quietly enter the house, closing the door softly once they enter.

They find themselves in the kitchen and keep low to the ground. Voices can be heard coming from the left of their current location, in what Castiel assumes would be the living area. 

Dean whispers next to him, “Our goal is to tie them up and torture the information out of them. If they don’t give us what we want, then we kill them.”

Castiel nods. He has no qualms about any of that. They are– in some capacity– responsible for his daughter’s kidnapping, after all. They deserve what’s coming to them. Just being in close proximity with Dean while he’s on the hunt, he understands how Dean was awarded so many medals. He’s focused on the task at hand, and his movements are as quiet as a ninja’s. If Castiel wasn’t standing here with him, he wouldn’t even know he was there. 

Once they make it to the entrance of the living area, Dean slowly peeks around the corner. He motions with his head for Castiel to follow his lead. They walk into the living room with their guns aimed high. The moment Ishim and Maribel see them, they reach for their own weapons, but Dean speaks up before they have a chance to grab them.

“Don’t even think about it,” Dean says.

“Hands in the air,” Castiel demands.

They place their hands in the air, but Castiel doesn’t trust that they won’t try something stupid anyway, so he stays alert.

“Where’s my daughter?” Castiel asks. “Who are you working for?”

Ishim just gives him a cocky grin. “Oh, you’re not going to like the answer.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Castiel asks. 

Ishim doesn’t answer him, and Mirabel just stands there like she’s trying to figure out in her head a way out of their current predicament.

“Answer him!!” Dean yells.

“The answer is closer than you think,” Mirabel says. Castiel wishes they would stop being so cryptic and just tell him where to find his daughter or who this boss is that might lead them to Claire. Just as Castiel is about to demand they give him a straight answer, they both reach for the guns that are lying on the table. Dean and Castiel are quick to react and fire their guns, a bullet each catching them both right between the eyes. When they drop to the floor, Dean walks over and checks for their pulses, as if there was any doubt they are dead, but it’s a good idea to make sure.

Dean gives a thumbs up to convey that Ishim and Mirabel are indeed dead. Castiel is equal parts happy and torn about this turn of events. He’s still no closer to finding Claire, which leaves him with an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but two bad guys are dead, so that’s a positive. 

“Let’s see if they have any information in the house that will help us find Claire. Then, depending on what we find, we can look for the next person on the list,” Dean says.

They do a quick search through the downstairs and come up with nothing. They move on to the upstairs and notice there is a room set up as an office. There’s bound to be something in there. They decide that they don’t want to hang out here longer than necessary in case someone stops by, so they rifle through everything as quickly as possible. 

The office is mainly just filled with documents and files for Alistair’s business, and Castiel nearly gives up hope of finding even a sliver of evidence that will help them locate Claire’s whereabouts, when he tries one of the drawers and finds it locked.

“Dean, I might have something. This drawer is locked. That doesn’t seem like something someone would do in their own home unless they were hiding something.”

Dean joins him next to the locked drawer and waits as Castiel uses his knife to pry it open. All thoughts of finding Claire are pushed to the side the moment he lays eyes on the photographs lying in the drawer, because it seems they have opened Pandora’s Box. He pulls the photos out and examines them one by one. 

“This can’t be,” Castiel says as he looks over each one. “This is April, Claire’s teacher, and Daphne, the babysitter I would hire when Charlie wasn’t available.” Castiel is trying to wrap his head around why these pictures would be in this house. Have all of the people he’s encountered since Claire started school just Alistair’s way of spying on him, and why go through that much trouble to just gain his company? What was his end game? 

“Son of a bitch,” Dean says as he snatches the next photo out of Castiel’s hand. It’s a picture of Ruby, the woman that often let Claire pet her dog by the school, standing next to a rather tall man in desperate need of a haircut. “This is Sam. Why is there a picture of my brother in here?”

“What!?” Castiel exclaims, as he just stares at the picture in shock. “Dean, what’s going on?” Castiel asks him as if Dean knows more than he does.

“We need to take all this back to Charlie. I think this goes deeper than just kidnapping to gain control of your company. This seems like conspiracy level shit,” Dean tells him.

“Yes, that would be a good idea. I seem to have more questions than answers, and I’m still nowhere closer to finding Claire.”

They leave the house, and make sure they aren’t being followed as they head back to Bobby’s office. 

“That was quick,” Charlie tells them as soon as she sees them.

“Charlie, I need you to dig as deep into the dark web as your skills will allow. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I’m starting to believe there is something much more complicated going on here,” Castiel tells Charlie as he gently drops the photos onto the desk where she’s sitting.

“Holy shit,” she tells him as she looks through the photos, Castiel thinking she must recognize some of the faces. “Wait,” she says, as she holds up the picture of Sam and Ruby. “I hooked up with her a couple years ago, and she ghosted me. Who is this guy with her?”

“Sam,” Bobby answers before Dean and Castiel have a chance. “What in the hell is going on here?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Bobby. If we had the answers, we wouldn’t be asking Charlie for help,” Dean says louder than Castiel is used to hearing him speak.

“Watch your tone with me, boy,” Bobby says. His voice is stern, but Castiel can tell in the short amount of time that he’s seen Dean and Bobby interact that his tone is one of respect, and he doesn’t mean any harm by it. 

“I’m sorry, Bobby. I’m just worried about Claire, and I’m not thinking clearly,” Dean answers.

“I get it. It probably doesn’t help seeing Sam’s picture after all this time, either.”

“No, but he made it pretty clear with his last message to me ten years ago that he didn’t want to have anything to do with me. Maybe it’s because he didn’t want me to find out about his involvement with a group of criminals, but blamed it on my career choice instead.”

Castiel’s phone rings, but it’s not a local number. With his daughter still missing, he’s not naive enough to believe it’s a wrong number, so he answers it.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Castiel. You’ve been busy, it seems,” the voice on the other line says. They must be using a machine to disguise their voice because he can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman and it sounds like a voice straight out of a sci-fi movie.

“Who is this?”

“You don’t need to concern yourself with that. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is meeting my demands and not killing any more of my people.”

“Where’s my daughter?” Castiel asks.

“She’s here with me, and she will remain unharmed as long as you meet me at the empty warehouse on the corner of Market and Pine in three hours, and come alone.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick? I want to hear from Claire. I need to know she’s safe before I agree.”

“Bring in the girl,” the mystery person says to someone else in the background. A few minutes later, Castiel receives his confirmation.

“Daddy!! Daddy, they wanna hurt you!!” Claire yells into the phone. 

Before Castiel can respond and tell Claire how much he loves and misses her and that he’s coming to save her, he can hear what sounds like the phone being dropped. He can make out the sound of footsteps running and Claire screaming as if she was trying to run away and was caught again. There are more footsteps,and muffled voices, and Castiel just needs to know that his daughter is okay. He can hear her yell, “Let me go!”  Before the call disconnects, there is the sound of a single gunshot and something hitting the ground. 

Castiel’s heart seems to stop beating as he drops to his knees. He can hear Dean trying to get his attention, but his voice seems muffled, as if he’s trying to talk to him while underwater. Arms wrap around him–he assumes it’s Dean–and pull him into a hug. He hears someone screaming, and it isn’t until his body starts shaking and Dean holds him tighter that he realizes he’s the one screaming. 

“She’s gone…” he says on repeat while Dean holds him close and Charlie sobs in the background.

Chapter Text

It takes some time for Castiel to gain enough composure to stand up and wipe his eyes. 

“Cas, what happened?” Dean asks. 

“That was the boss. They are demanding that I meet them in three hours for the exchange. But now that Claire is…now that she’s…” He can’t bring himself to say the words. He can’t bring himself to say that his little girl is gone. His eyes begin to fill with tears, but he shakes his head to keep them away. He doesn’t have time to cry anymore. “They all need to die,” he says as he starts to walk towards the door. 

Dean steps in front of him and places his hand gently across Castiel’s chest. 

“Cas, talk to me. What did you hear?”

“I heard Claire scream, and then a gunshot and something hitting the floor. It doesn’t take a genius to decipher what happened. Now get out of my way,” he says as he pushes Dean’s hand aside, but it’s Charlie this time that stops him. She pulls him into a hug, and he avoids hugging her back. He doesn’t need the sympathy. He needs to punish the people responsible.

“Cas, please don’t go. You’re not in the right frame of mind. You’re going to get yourself killed,” she says.

“I appreciate your concern, Charlie, but this is my daughter we’re talking about. She was my world. I will gladly die for her. I will pick you up and move you out of the way if I have to. I’m bigger than you.”

Charlie must believe him because she lets him go and steps out of the way. He keeps walking towards the door. 

“Just find out what those pictures mean,” he yells as he steps outside. He hears Bobby tell Dean to keep him safe, and Dean materializes by his side.

“You can’t think the worst, Cas. She could still be alive,” Dean says as he unlocks the car door. Castiel hopes that’s true, but the odds don’t seem to be in his favor.

“Just drive,” Castiel tells him as he gets into the car. He gives Dean the address for Claire’s teacher, April. Castiel is losing his patience while Dean follows the speed limit, but he thinks better of saying anything because they don’t need to risk being pulled over by the police for speeding with the amount of weapons in the trunk.

April lives in the industrial part of Lawrence, near an old bridge covered in graffiti. Dean parks the car a block away, on the opposite side of the bridge and out of view of anyone as they step out of the car and make sure they have their guns at the ready. Castiel begins to walk towards the house as he hears the trunk of the Impala open and close. Perhaps Dean is grabbing a bigger gun. Castiel doesn’t bother checking to make sure Dean is still behind him. He has one goal in mind: get to the people who hurt his daughter.

Just as Castiel makes it to the other side of the bridge, he sees April getting into the passenger side of a car. He notices that Dick Roman is in the driver’s seat. It turns out Castiel’s suspicion of him being evil was right.

“April,” Castiel yells, not wanting her to escape. 

“Shit,” she says as she quickly jumps into the car. “Drive, now,” she says to Roman, who just glares at Castiel with his evil sneer, seemingly unbothered by this turn of events. 

Castiel isn’t about to let them get away. He raises his gun and shoots out the tires when Roman tries to speed away. He ignores the look of fear on April’s face as he fires into the car, but he misses her head and hits her in the shoulder instead. He has his gun aimed at Roman’s head and is ready to fire when Dean yells, “Cas, duck!” from behind him. 

He turns around to see Dean holding the grenade launcher that Castiel remembers explicitly telling Dean to not put into the bag.

Castiel drops to the ground, and Dean says, “Say hello to my little friend,” in what Castiel presumes to be Dean’s attempt at a Cuban accent right before he fires a grenade towards the car. It bursts through the window, and the car catches fire after the grenade goes off, causing an explosion that smashes the windows of some of the nearby homes. So much for doing this quietly. Castiel turns back to look at Dean with his eyes squinted. They will need to have a talk about proper communication moving forward.

“Come on, we need to get out of here, Cas. I’m sure the explosion alerted the authorities, as well as everyone else who lives here.”

Dean throws the grenade launcher into the fire that is consuming the car and holds his hand out to help Castiel stand up. They interlock their fingers as they walk away from the car as it burns, the flames reaching higher and higher as the smoke pollutes the air. They can hear people screaming behind them, but they don’t look back, even when the sound of sirens can be heard in the distance.

They get into the Impala and drive towards the next house. They need to work quickly and be on high alert since they’ve now alerted the authorities because of Dean bleeding his testosterone all over the city.

“That was very stupid,” Castiel tells Dean.

“It worked, didn’t it?” 

If Dean didn’t look so hot while he grins, Castiel would be infuriated with him.

“I thought we were going to be careful while we do this. The point is to get revenge, not get arrested.”

There’s a pregnant pause before Dean answers. “Look, Cas. I don’t think you realize how unsatisfactory revenge is. Yeah, you feel good while you’re doing it, but once it’s over there’s still a hole in your heart.”

“I’m getting justice for Claire, and that makes it worth it in the end.”

Dean lets it go, and they arrive at Daphne’s house a few minutes later. Dean picks the lock, and they let themselves in, taking care to not make any noise as they look around the house, finally discovering her asleep in her bed. 

While Dean whispers that he’s going to check out the rest of the house to make sure there isn’t someone else hiding somewhere, Castiel grabs a pillow and presses it against Daphne’s face. It takes a few seconds for her body to register that it’s losing oxygen, but the moment it does she begins to thrash on the bed. 

She paws at Castiel’s hands and arms while her screams are muffled by the pillow. Castiel is surprised that she lasts as long as she does, and after what seems like an hour even though it was probably less than a minute, her body goes limp on the bed, and she releases her hold on him. 

He doesn’t take any chances by having her get a second wind, so he keeps the pillow pressed firmly against her face and doesn’t lift it until another minute has passed. He watches her chest to make sure there is no movement, and her death is confirmed when he sees the glazed over look in her eyes. He feels Dean standing next to him, and Castiel wonders if he’s been there the whole time, watching as Castiel takes the life of a woman that, up until a few hours ago, he trusted with his daughter’s life.

Dean leans over her and closes her eyes. He stands in front of Castiel and gently swipes away the tear that had begun to slide down his cheek. 

He wants to tell Dean that he can do this. He can avenge his daughter’s kidnapping and possible death. He wants to tell him for all his macho energy and the fact that he owns a company that makes weapons, he’s never taken a life before he killed Alistair. He wishes he had the energy to tell Dean that Dean probably isn’t going to want to be with him anymore once he sees the monster that Castiel will become before this is over. 

Instead, he says, “I didn’t even make sure she was involved first.” 

Dean pulls Castiel close, and Castiel breathes a sigh of relief as he holds on to Dean.

“I don’t know if she was directly involved with Claire’s kidnapping, but she was at least gathering evidence on not just her but you.”

“How do you know?” Castiel asks.

“Follow me,” Dean says as he walks down the hall into another room. He uses his phone as a flashlight, and sees that the walls are covered with photos of not just Claire, but Castiel as well. There are even some pictures that are obviously photoshopped with Daphne and Castiel in a romantic embrace, and other pictures of Castiel and Claire with Claire’s face scratched out and Daphne cropped in. 

“Oh my god,” Castiel says out loud when the reality of him letting this woman into his home with his daughter have sunk in. She’s a psychopath.

“Exactly. I’m thinking Ishim had photos of her because they were keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t snatch you or Claire before they could.”

“Let’s just get out of here. I can’t look at these anymore.”

Both men walk out of the house, making sure the door is locked when they leave, and they continue down the road to revenge. The next stop on their path is the office of one Fergus Crowley, the private investigator hired by Alistair to keep tabs on Castiel and Claire. Crowley is just sitting at his desk drinking a glass of whiskey when Dean and Castiel barge in. 

“I guess I had this coming. It was a good run while it lasted,” are the only words Crowley speaks before the bullet from Castiel’s gun enters his right eye, and his head collapses onto his desk, shattering the glass that had been sitting in front of him. Castiel finds that it’s not as satisfying to kill someone who wronged you if they just let it happen without a fight.

Castiel starts receiving texts from Charlie as she uncovers more information from the photos and documents that Castiel gave her. Just as soon as Dean and Castiel eliminate someone from the list, Charlie gives them another name. When they reach the hideout of Azazel, Ramiel, Dagon, and Asmodeus–the muscle of the organization–Castiel is aware that the only other names on the list that they haven’t been able to locate are Sam and Ruby. Dean must realize it as well.

“Cas, I don’t want to stop you from getting your revenge, but when we catch up to Sammy, can we talk to him first to find out if he’s involved?”

“Of course, Dean. He’s your family. As long as you realize that Claire is my family and I won’t let anything or anyone stand in my way of getting rid of the people responsible.”

Dean looks down at the seat between them as if he’s afraid to look at Castiel while he talks. 

“Just.. if you do decide that he needs to die, can I at least say goodbye first?”

He finally looks up with glistening eyes, and Castiel can feel his own heart breaking. 

“Of course, Dean.” 

Dean doesn’t clarify which of them he wants to say goodbye to, and Castiel doesn’t ask. A part of him suspects it would be both of them. There are just some things even the strongest of bonds can’t survive. Castiel having to kill Sam would most likely be the only thing Dean wouldn’t be able to forgive, even if it’s warranted. Castiel hopes they don’t have to cross that bridge. 

They walk up to the house and Castiel double checks that his knives are where they are supposed to be and his gun is locked and loaded with his second ammo cartridge ready to go. Dean does the same. Just the same as the other places, Dean picks the lock with ease, but unfortunately this time the occupants are waiting for them on the other side of the door. 

It’s a good thing the house they are using as a hideout is in the middle of nowhere, because the amount of noise from 6 people shooting all at once would have attracted the police by now. Dean and Castiel are able to take cover while they shoot their targets. Castiel isn’t able to make any fatal injuries, only flesh wounds, from what he can see. 

Castiel can tell that Dean is used to fighting this way. He moves swiftly as he takes out each of his attackers while Castiel focuses on the asshole in the white suit looking like Col. Sanders. He tries not to focus on Dean, but it’s difficult knowing that he’s taking on three people by himself and might end up seriously injured because Castiel took them on a hunt for revenge.

He fires his last round and it hits the man who the others call Asmodeus in the shoulder. It knocks him back some and gives Castiel just enough time to take him by surprise. He lunges at the other man with his knife drawn and stabs him in the chest. The man stumbles backwards but doesn’t fall, so Castiel stabs him again. He finally falls to the floor and Castiel straddles his lap as he strikes him multiple times with the knife, his suit turning more red than white. He loses track of how many times he stabs the other man. He just knows that he stopped moving after the fifth one.

“Cas, he’s dead. You can stop,” Dean says as he lays his hand on Castiel’s shoulder. Castiel drops the knife and looks at the man below him, almost unrecognizable from the amount of blood splattered everywhere, Castiel’s own hands are covered in blood. He looks around the room and sees the other three bodies lying dead on the floor. Dean is very good at what he does. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Dean says as he helps Castiel to his feet. Thankfully, the hideout is a fully equipped house. Charlie’s investigation found that the four of them live here to lay low, so everything they need to get cleaned up is in the bathroom on the second floor. 

Castiel sits on the toilet as Dean runs a washcloth under the water. 

“They’re all dead, and I still don’t know where Claire is,” Castiel says as Dean cleans the blood from his hands and face. He does his best to get the splatter off his trench coat and suit, but it will need to be washed in order for it to truly be clean, if the blood will even come out at all. “I’m never going to find her now.”

“We’ll find her, Cas. Charlie has already helped tremendously. We wouldn’t have found half the people we killed without her help. I’m certain she’ll be able to find Claire.”

Castiel shakes his head. “We don’t even know if she’s still alive,” he says as a tear streaks down his face. Dean reaches for his arm to help guide Castiel into a standing position so they are now face to face. 

“You can’t think like that, Cas. We have to believe she’s still alive. I’ve only known Claire for a small amount of time, but I know she’s giving them hell. Whoever has her is probably looking forward to giving her back. She’s probably talking their ear off about her guinea pigs. She’s a fighter, just like her dad.” Dean places his finger under Castiel’s chin and gives him a soft, tender kiss. “You can’t give up hope, for Claire’s sake.”

Dean kisses him again, and when he leans back to look at Castiel, Castiel chases his lips and presses him against the wall. He kisses Dean and Dean kisses him back while Castiel places his hands underneath Dean’s flannel to push it from his shoulders.

“Cas, what are you doing?” Dean asks with his hand against Castiel’s chest, gently pushing him away to look at him while he talks.

“Please, Dean, I need to feel something other than pain and grief. I have nothing left otherwise.”

Castiel just needs to get out of his own head because every time he thinks about Claire, it breaks his heart a little more, and he doesn’t want to lose himself to the grief. He’s seen what it can do to people.

“Cas, you’re not thinking clearly. Do you really want to have sex in a house where we just killed four people?”

As much as Castiel tries to fight against it, Claire’s blue eyes and blonde curls and her infectious laugh pop into his mind, and the thought of never seeing her again or kissing her goodnight or comforting her after a bad dream has him begging Dean for a moment of reprieve from the pain of that realization.

“Please, Dean, I can’t…” he says just as his tears begin to fall, the ones he’s been trying to keep away.

“Okay, Cas, I got you. I’ll take care of you.”

Dean places his hands underneath Castiel’s thighs and lifts him up. Castiel wraps his legs around Dean’s waist and his arms around Dean’s neck as they kiss, and Dean walks them to the nearest room with a bed. 

Dean places Castiel on the bed and lies on top of him, pressing their bodies together. Their movements are frantic and desperate as they try to undress each other without separating their mouths. Castiel gets flustered because he doesn’t want to stop kissing even for a second,  but they have too many layers between them, and it’s taking too long to get Dean naked. 

Castiel flips them over and straddles Dean’s lap as he does his best to remove Dean’s clothing without ripping them. He still needs his clothes in one piece so he doesn’t leave here naked once they are done. 

“Impatient much?” Dean asks with a grin when he notices Castiel fumbling with Dean’s pants before he is able to finally free Dean of his pesky clothes. Then a thought crosses his mind while he’s taking off his own suit.

“Lube,” he says. 

“I’m sure there’s some around here somewhere. There were three old guys and a hot girl living here. You can’t tell me spanking their meat wasn’t a daily task.”

Castiel searches the drawer in the bedside table and finds some Astroglide buried in the back. There’s not much left, but it will do.

“Got some!” he says triumphantly as he holds it up for Dean to see.

He pulls Dean into a sitting position and warms the lube on his finger before he coats Dean’s cock with the little amount that’s left in the bottle. He tosses the empty bottle on the bed next to Dean to dispose of later.

“Don’t you need to prep first?” Dean asks as Castiel lines himself up with Dean’s cock.

“I’m fine,” Castiel whispers against Dean’s lips, reaching behind himself to guide Dean’s cock into his hole. “I’ll go slow– I just want to feel you.” 

Dean places his hands on the globes of Castiel’s ass as he slowly sinks down. Castiel slowly breathes in and out, working himself through the burn. Dean glides his hands along Castiel’s back, sending shivers up his spine, while Castiel rocks up and down. He kisses anywhere his lips will reach as he moves, his fingers carding through Dean’s hair.

“You’re not wearing a condom,” he says because this feels too good for there to be a barrier between them, and it only just now registers that they didn’t think about trying to find a condom or at least talking about not using one beforehand. 

Dean nibbles Castiel’s earlobe and kisses his neck as he answers. “We can stop if you want, but I’m sure we’re both clean, and even if we’re not, the damage is already being done.”

Castiel pulls gently on Dean’s hair so that he can look at him. “Feels too good to stop.” 

Then he presses his lips against Dean’s and the kiss is filled with so much lust and passion that Castiel thinks he’s going to burst. They cling to each other as their bodies rock together, and Castiel knows it’s too late to walk away, no matter what happens from here.

Castiel’s movements become frantic as he chases his orgasm. Dean must be close as well. They press their lips together as they breathe each other’s air, and Castiel wonders where this man has been the past five years of his life.  

“Cas,” Dean murmurs as he buries his head in Castiel’s neck and his dick grazes Castiel’s prostate. Castiel fucks himself onto Dean’s cock as fast as his rhythm will allow and then he is spilling his release in the small space between them. He continues moving until he feels the heat of Dean’s semen filling him up, his dick throbbing inside Castiel, and when they are both done, Castiel stays in Dean’s lap, kissing him until they are both breathless and Dean’s dick goes soft.

Castiel grabs a different washcloth from the bathroom so they can can clean up, making sure to get rid of any DNA evidence. Castiel hadn’t thought about that until after the fact, and his phone rings as they finish getting dressed and are putting their shoes on. It’s Charlie, so he puts her on speaker so they can both hear her.

“Hey, Charlie.”

“Cas, I have some bad news. Are you sitting down?”

His heart plummets to his feet and he does indeed sit down, Dean right next to him, with his hand on Castiel’s thigh. 

“Oh my god, is it Claire, is she really….” Castiel begins to ask with a crack in his voice.

“Oh shit, no, I’m sorry. I realize now how that sounded. She’s alive. I found surveillance of her from an hour ago being led into a building downtown, and I think I also found the mysterious boss we have been trying to track down. That’s the bad news. The footage was a little grainy, but I was finally able to get a clear picture.” There’s a slight pause before she continues. “Cas, it’s someone you know.”

Castiel can’t imagine who it could be. Everyone he knows is already dead or helping him find Claire.

“Who is it?” he asks.

If Charlie answers him, he doesn’t hear it. Dean, who was sitting next to him, is now on the floor with a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his neck. Castiel must meet the same fate, because he feels a pinch in his neck, and everything suddenly goes dark.

Castiel isn’t sure how long he is passed out, but as he opens his eyes, it takes him a few blinks for his eyes to focus on where he is. Whoever shot him and Dean with the dart transported him somewhere else since he’s no longer in the house, and he can feel his arms bound behind him with rope as he sits in the chair.

Sitting about 50 feet in front of him is Claire, also tied to a chair. Her eyes are closed, but it looks like she’s breathing, so at least he knows she’s still alive, and must just be passed out or faking it. She’s smarter than he gives her credit for sometimes.

His entire world shatters as he looks at the person standing directly next to Claire, looking at Castiel with a sinister grin.

“Hi, honey, you’re awake,” she says.

“Amelia?” 

Chapter Text

“I don’t understand. Where have you been all these years? Did you fake your own death?” Castiel asks as he glares at his dead wife who seems alive and well.

“Obviously, and I have been trying to kill you ever since we met, but that’s easier said than done for someone as loved around town as you. It’s taken years for me to build up my team and get enough people on my side to help take you out.”

Castiel is still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his wife not only faked her own death, but has also been trying to kill him and kidnapped her own daughter to do it.

“If you wanted me dead, why did you bother marrying me? Why have Claire?”

“Castiel, you really are clueless, aren’t you? Claire was never supposed to happen. I never planned on getting pregnant. My birth control failed me. That’s the only reason she’s here. My plan was to get you to trust me and fall in love and then I could take joy out of killing you when you realized I deceived you. Then, I got pregnant with Claire, so I had to change my plan. I have to admit this way was much better. You did the dirty work for me by killing everyone I was planning on killing myself.”

“I still don’t understand, Amelia. Why do you want me dead? What did I ever do to you? I didn’t even know you before we met.”

“Does Operation Purgatory ring a bell?”

Castiel doesn’t recognize the name, so he just shakes his head.

“Operation Purgatory was a top secret mission back in 1998. A Special Forces team was tasked with rescuing an operative for the Navy Seals that was being held captive in Iran. That operation went sideways and it cost my brother his life.”

“What does this have to do with me? And if it’s top secret, how do you know about it?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. The only thing you need to know is that the person they were rescuing was a man named Samuel Campbell, and the man who gave the order that killed my brother was Lieutenant James Novak.”

Castiel’s breath hitches at the sound of a name he hasn’t heard in almost 20 years.

“You’re trying to punish me for something my father did?” 

“You men are all the same. You give orders and cost people their lives without thinking about the people they leave behind. My brother was a good man. He didn’t deserve to die just so your father and Dean’s grandfather could live.”

“Dean’s grandfather? You mean Samuel Campbell?”

Castiel is trying to stay calm, but he looks over at Claire, and he doesn’t want her to wake up and hear anything that is going on. He hopes that Amelia didn’t hurt her while she was being held captive. He can’t see any bruises from here, but he won’t know until he gets closer. He’s doing his best to try to loosen the ropes binding his wrists together without letting Amelia know that’s what he’s doing. 

“Yes, it’s ironic actually that you and Dean found each other. I was planning on taking him out when I was done with you. I got lucky that you were working together. Thank you for getting rid of my team for me. It saves me from getting my hands dirty.”

How did Castiel ever manage to fall for this woman? Was she really that good of an actress when they were together, or was he just that blinded by love?

“You’re psychotic. Punishing people for someone else’s mistake is illogical. I can’t control what my father did while he was serving, and just like everyone else, your brother knew what he was getting himself into. Any order my father gave was warranted.”

“Once you hear the story of what happened, you might change your mind.”

Castiel tries to sit as still as he can while still doing his best to be discreet about trying to remove his ropes. Amelia begins to tell the story of how she lost her brother, which somehow became Castiel’s fault. 

“My brother was the most important thing in the world to me. When he enlisted in the Army, I thought I would never see him again. But he still came home on leave a couple times a year to see me. I was only 10 when he enlisted, and he joined Special Forces when I was 15.”

She’s pacing around the room as she talks, and Castiel is trying to follow her with his eyes while also still keeping close watch on Claire and getting closer to loosening his ropes. It seems her brother Michael didn’t show her how to properly tie a knot. He should have it undone any minute now.

“When I was 17, a couple men in uniform came to our house to tell my parents that Michael was killed in action. Due to the top secret nature of his job, they couldn’t give us any more details than that. After the funeral, I became withdrawn. My parents were worried about me, and after a failed suicide attempt, they locked me up in a psych ward.

“While I was there, I met a man by the name of Cole Trenton, and do you know what he told me?” She doesn’t wait for Castiel to reply. She just continues with her story. “He told me that he had been committed for unlawfully taking another soldier’s life. He was on a mission–Operation Purgatory–to save a high ranking officer in the Navy Seals who had been captured while on an undercover mission.

“Before they left, Cole reported to his commanding officer, Lt. Novak, that he was having nightmares from a previous mission and didn’t think he would be 100% for this mission. He was hallucinating things that weren’t there, and didn’t trust himself with his weapon. Do you know what your father told him?”

Castiel isn’t sure he wants to hear the answer. Amelia steps closer to Castiel, placing her hands on the arms of his chair, and he leans his head back to give himself as much space between them as he can. 

“Jimmy told him to suck it up. They had a mission to complete. He needed to stow his shit until they got back, and then he could see a shrink if he still needed it.” She steps back again, giving Castiel more space and time to keep working on the knot of the rope. 

“So, they went on the mission, and everything was going smoothly, until they got into the room where Samuel was being held and Cole started hallucinating. He thought Michael was the enemy. He was out of his mind, and before he could stop himself, he shot my brother point blank in the heart.”

Amelia swipes at her eyes. Castiel doesn’t see any tears, so she must be fighting them off. Castiel wants to feel sympathy for her, he truly does, but at the end of the day, her eye for an eye scheme won’t bring her brother back, and she’s done one of the worst things a mother could possibly do by taking her own daughter and putting her life in danger.

“So,” she continues, “I began constructing my plan to get rid of everyone involved in my brother’s death. I did what was necessary to ensure my release, and told my therapist what I knew she wanted to hear so that I could go home. When I was released from the hospital, I kept tabs on Cole. I made him think we were friends, and when he was finally released, I picked him up and drove him to the middle of the woods and put a bullet in him just like he did to my brother. He’s probably still buried out there somewhere. A missing person report was never filed, to my knowledge. 

“Samuel was next. It wasn’t difficult to get him to trust me–he has a soft spot for a pretty face– right before I stabbed him in the heart. Your dad, though. He was much more difficult to kill, but I still made it work.”

Castiel isn’t sure he wants to hear the rest of this story. His father died after Castiel met Amelia. He found his father one morning with an insulin syringe lying on the floor next to him. Castiel just assumed he gave himself too much insulin, but now he thinks that’s not the case at all. Perhaps he had some help.

“I don’t need to hear what you did. I understand that he had no right to send Cole on the mission, but you could have just reported him. He didn’t deserve to die any more than I do.”

Amelia just snickers. “Didn’t you just kill a bunch of people for kidnapping your daughter? Why don’t you practice what you preach, Castiel?”

He doesn’t bother telling her that it’s different. He’s not sure he believes himself enough to say the words out loud. 

“Just do whatever you want with me, Amelia, but please let Claire go. She’s just a kid. She’s not a part of this.”

“Oh, she’s a big part of this, Castiel, but you can rest easy knowing that I’m not going to hurt her. I might be psychotic, as you so eloquently pointed out, but I’m not going to hurt my own daughter.” She stands next to Claire and starts petting her hair and kisses her on the top of her head, causing Castiel to grimace for her obvious fake display of nurturing. 

“Claire, sweetie, it’s time to wake up. We’re getting ready to leave,” she tells Claire.

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Castiel states, pulling on the ropes, but they still aren’t loose enough for him to be free.

“Daddy?” Claire says when she notices Castiel. “Daddy, you’re here. Are you going to take me home? I’m scared.”

“It’s okay, baby, I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll get us out of here. I just need you to be brave.”

“Okay, Daddy, I’ll be brave,” Claire says with a sniffle. 

Amelia pulls Claire to her feet and grips her arms tight so she can’t move. 

“Get your hands off her,” Castiel tells her. “Take me. Just let her go.”

Instead of answering, she yells, “Sam, Ruby, a little help, please!!”

Castiel’s eyes go wide as he sees Dean’s brother, Sam, and the woman he thought was being nice to Claire walk into the room. Castiel just glares at Sam. He promised Dean that he wouldn’t kill him without Dean saying goodbye first, but since he doesn’t know where Dean is, he might have to break that promise. 

“Take her to the car. I’m almost finished with him,” Amelia says as Sam picks up Castiel’s daughter, who kicks and punches him before he restrains her.

“Put her down,” Castiel says, as he continues to try to break free of the ropes. They’re almost loose enough, but not just yet.

“Don’t worry, Cas, I’ll take good care of her,” Sam says with a wink, and who does he think he is using his nickname that Dean gave to him? Dean. In the shock of seeing Amelia again, he didn’t think to ask where Dean even is. He hopes that he’s still alive and well.

“Where’s Dean?” he asks, and Ruby just laughs. 

“Somewhere you’ll never find him,” Ruby says. “Come on, Sam, let’s go.” 

“Daddy, help!!” Claire yells as she tries–but fails–to wiggle free of Sam’s grip on her. 

“Claire,” Castiel whispers through his tears as he watches his daughter fade from view. 

Watching Claire struggling to get free from Sam’s grip was the last bit of motivation he needed to free himself. He makes one last tug and is finally freed. He has to wait until just the right moment to attack, though.

“Poor Castiel. Now you will know what it’s like having someone you love taken from you. At first I thought I would kill you, but when I saw how much you cared for Claire, I knew the best way to get revenge is to make you suffer.” She slowly walks towards him as she talks and Castiel can’t wait for her to get closer so he can rip her throat out. “So, I’ll set you free and let you go live your life. In the meantime, I’ll keep Claire as far away from you as possible. Your lover boy will eventually meet his end where I had Sam and Ruby hide him. You will truly be alone to live a life of misery, so you will know exactly how I felt when your father’s negligence took my brother from me.” She finally reaches his chair and leans over so she can whisper in his ear, “And if I catch even a scent of you being happy, I’ll show up to drag you back into the darkness. Claire won’t be a child forever. She will eventually die somehow.”

Before she can spew any more words of nonsense, Castiel stands from his chair and pushes Amelia against the wall as he wraps his hands around her neck. One thing he has going for him is the fact that he’s much stronger than her. Her body goes into fight mode as he starts to squeeze the life out of her. She tries to claw his hands away from her neck, but it’s no use. He won’t let her win. He won’t give her the chance to steal his daughter away forever. He may have loved this woman at some point in his life, but the woman he sees in front of him now is a complete stranger to him. Their love was based on a lie. 

After a couple minutes, she stops kicking her legs, and her hands fall to her sides. Her lifeless body goes limp against the wall, but for how good of an actress she’s been since they met, he’s not taking any chances, not where Claire’s safety is concerned. He loosens his grip around her neck, but before her body drops to the floor, he snaps her neck just to be sure. He’d like to see her survive a broken neck. He feels for a pulse, and when he’s sure there isn’t one, he searches her body for a gun. The one he finds is tiny, but it will do. As long as it can fire two bullets, that’s all he needs.

He runs towards the door he saw Sam and Ruby walk through with Claire, and when he rounds the corner and follows the voices, he’s surprised by what he hears. He takes a few right turns, and peeks his head around the corner to find Claire sitting with her eyes closed and her fingers in her ears. Sam is holding a gun and pointing it at Ruby.

“Sam, have you lost your mind? What are you doing?” Ruby asks with her hands in the air. 

“You’re not the only one who can pretend. Did you really think I loved you?” He reaches in his pocket and holds up a badge to show her before putting it back into his pocket. “You should have looked into my background a little closer before bringing me on board your little scheme. I’m a special agent for the FBI, and I have been investigating Amelia and her gang of criminals for the past 10 years now.” Castiel can understand the look of shock on Ruby’s face because he’s certain he’s displaying the same one. “And you were resisting arrest,” Sam says right as he fires his gun, the bullet piercing her heart. Her body falls to the floor and her blood pools around her.

Sam turns to Claire and gently places his hand on her shoulder. 

“You can uncover your ears and open your eyes now, Claire. It’s okay. Let’s go rescue your dad.”

Castiel steps into view, and as soon as Claire sees him she runs towards him.

“Daddy!!”

He holds out his arms and she jumps into them. He holds her close, and even though it’s been less than a week since he last hugged her, it feels like it’s been an eternity.

“I missed you, Claire Bear. I’m so happy that you’re safe.” 

“Daddy, I knew you’d come for me. I knew it. I know you would never leave me. Is Dean okay? Where is he?”

She fires a million questions at him, and he wants to answer every one of them, but he has more pressing issues right now.

“Hopefully we can find him together.”

He hasn’t forgotten about Sam’s presence during his reunion with Claire. He sets her down after giving her one more kiss on her cheek to show her just how happy he is to see her again, and he keeps his stolen gun in view as he talks to Sam.

“Is what I heard true? Are you an FBI agent?” Castiel asks him.

“Yes,” Sam says as he lowers his eyes to Castiel’s gun while he slowly reaches into his jacket pocket to grab something. He hands it over to Castiel, who looks at it. It’s a picture of Sam and it has the credentials of the FBI on it. It definitely seems legit. Sam continues to talk to him as he puts his badge back. “I’ve been investigating Amelia for 10 years now. I wasn’t aware of her revenge scheme, I’m ashamed to admit. We’ve been looking into her for money laundering. This was just an unfortunate turn of events. I was undercover and gained Ruby’s trust, and then I found out that Amelia wanted revenge for what happened to her brother.

“I know Dean doesn’t want anything to do with me, but I couldn’t let him die, so I buried him in a shallow grave like I was ordered, but I placed a lighter and a pocket knife in his pockets. I’m not sure how much time we have left before he runs out of oxygen if he can’t get out, though.”

“Let’s go, then,” Castiel says as he grabs hold of Claire’s hand. “Do you have a car?”

“Sort of,” Sam says. He starts walking out of the building and Castiel follows, wondering what type of car ‘sort of’ is. “Dean isn’t going to like it, but I couldn’t just leave her there, and Ruby insisted that we take her.”

“Who are you talking about, Sam?” Castiel asks.

“Baby!!” Claire exclaims when they make it outside to see the Impala sitting on the curb. 

“Not you, too,” Castiel says, rolling his eyes, because of course Dean would have his daughter calling his car “Baby”.

“Dean’s gonna be mad at you,” Claire says as she looks at Sam. “Nobody drives his Baby but him.” 

“I’ll suffer the consequences, I suppose,” Sam says as he gets into the driver’s seat. Castiel makes sure Claire is buckled in the back and then makes himself comfortable in the passenger seat. 

As they are driving, Sam’s words echo back in Castiel’s mind.

“What did you mean when you said you know Dean doesn’t want anything to do with you?” Castiel asks him. 

Sam keeps his eyes on the road as he answers. 

“My brother was unhappy that I left Kansas. He felt like I was leaving him behind. He joined the Army and I tried to keep in touch with him, but I received a message from him one night telling me he never wanted to see me again. He said I was a traitor to our family and that our Dad would still be alive if I hadn’t been such a disappointment to him. He said Bobby didn’t even want me around. Even after that, I still love him. He’s my brother. I can’t just let him die.”

Castiel shakes his head. He can’t believe what he’s hearing. “That doesn’t sound like something Dean would say, not based on the story I got from him. He said you didn’t want anything to do with him.”

Sam doesn’t answer him, looking shocked but also a little hopeful, as if he wants to believe it’s true. They drive for another 10 minutes, and Sam pulls onto a trail leading into a wooded area. He parks the car, and Castiel notices an area of the ground that looks like it’s been disturbed recently. 

He rushes over and drops to the ground, using his bare hands to dig through the dirt. He thinks he hears the faint sound of Dean crying out for him and the echo of what sounds like something beating against wood. Castiel hears Claire and Sam run up next to him, Sam holding a shovel. Castiel uses the shovel to continue digging and prays to a God he doesn’t believe in that Dean can hang on for a few more minutes.

Chapter Text

Dean’s head is a little foggy. He opens his eyes, only to be faced with nothing but darkness. He doesn’t remember much before he passed out–or before he was drugged, judging by the pinch he felt in his neck before he fell to the floor. He remembers Charlie on the phone telling Castiel that the boss is someone he knows, and then nothing. 

He tries to move around with no luck. Wherever he is must be a tight space. He can move his arms a little, and pats himself down the best he can. He’s surprised to find a lighter in his pocket. He takes it out and breathes a sigh of relief when it ignites. His fears are confirmed when he takes a peek at his surroundings. Someone fucking buried him in a wooden coffin. 

He tries not to panic. Buried alive 101: the more you panic, the faster you lose oxygen. He finds a pocket knife in the pocket that didn’t have the lighter and tries to cut his way out, but it’s no use. The knife isn’t sharp enough to do any damage to the wood. He closes his eyes and tries to remember his training, but the only things he can think of are Castiel and Claire and how good it was to have a little family, even if it wasn’t set in stone yet, and even if it was only for a short time.

Once they eventually found Claire, Dean was going to tell Castiel that he was  falling for him. Shit, he might have already fallen, and he’s just lying to himself about it. He’s been through enough heartbreak for a couple of lifetimes. He didn’t want to add Castiel to the list. Just when he thought he was remaining calm, the panic sets in again. He can’t give up. He needs to get out of here, so he can tell Castiel how he feels. He begins to pound against the coffin and call out Castiel’s name. He’s not sure where he’s at or if anyone will be able to hear him, but he has to at least try.

His fists are sore from pounding against the coffin when he starts to feel dirt fall onto his face. He must be succeeding in breaking through the wood. He just hadn’t taken into account what to do when there was no barrier between him and who knows how many layers of dirt. He hears muffled voices above him. He wants to yell out to them, but he’s worried that he might end up with a mouthful of dirt and choke to death.

His gamble doesn’t pay off like he thought it would when he pulls on a huge chunk of the wood, and the ground begins piling in on him. He places his arms over his face, trying to create a pocket so he can breathe. He hopes that the voices he heard were that of his rescuers. He prays to a god he doesn’t believe in that they were. 

His prayer is answered by someone in the universe when the dirt begins to clear, and he feels hands on him, trying to pull him free. It happens so fast that it causes his head to spin. One minute, he thinks he’s going to die in a shallow grave, and the next he’s in Castiel’s arms, hanging on for dear life.

“It’s okay, Dean, I got you. You’re safe,” Castiel whispers as they hold tight to one another. Dean sobs as he realizes how close he came to death and never having this again. 

“I love you, Cas. Fuck, I love you so much,” Dean confesses. 

Castiel’s lips find his after he says, “I love you, too.” 

“Dean!!” Claire’s voice says and Dean lets out an ‘oomph’ when her tiny body runs into his. The three of them hug each other, and Dean senses someone is watching them. 

“I’m so happy you’re okay, Claire Bear. We were worried about you.”

Dean tests out his legs as he stands up with Claire in his arms and Castiel’s arm around his back to help steady him. When he stands up, his gigantor of a brother is standing across from him.

“Sammy?” Dean asks.

“Hey, Dean. It’s good to see you. I missed you.”

Dean just scoffs at that. “You have a funny way of showing it. You made yourself clear in your voicemail that you didn’t want to have anything to do with me. What changed?”

“What voicemail?” Sam asks.

“The voicemail you sent me right after I enlisted saying you never wanted to see me again and to not try to contact you.”

Sam seems confused. “Dean, I never sent you a voicemail like that. I’ve always needed my big brother in my life, and I missed that. Is that why you sent me a voicemail saying you never wanted to see me again?”

Dean feels like they are talking in circles and something doesn’t seem right here. 

“I’m beginning to think we were tricked, Sammy. I never sent you a voicemail. I thought you hated me, which is why I never tried to reach out. I would never want to cut you out of my life.”

Dean wants to hug his baby brother, but he hesitates. He doesn’t know if it would be welcomed even though they both seem to have been tricked into pulling away from each other. Sam takes the first step and then they both pull each other into a hug. The damn kid grew a foot since Dean last saw him, so he has to bury his face in Sam’s chest to avoid straining his neck. He never thought he would get to see his brother again, let alone hug him, so he’s going to hold on as long as he can.

When Dean reaches the point of getting ready to open the floodgates with his tears, he lets go and backs up, getting a good look at his brother again. He’s grown up so much since Dean saw him when he was at the young age of 18.

“I think we all need to talk about what happened, but we should probably do that back at Bobby’s office so we aren’t out in the open,” Castiel says.

“Good idea,” Dean and Sam agree in unison.

They begin walking away and Dean notices his Baby sitting at the end of the path. 

“What the fuck? Who drove my Baby?” Dean asks. 

“I knew he would be mad,” Dean hears Claire whisper to Castiel. 

Dean walks up to Baby and circles her to make sure she doesn’t have any scratches and nothing is out of place, even taking a moment to look under her carriage. 

“Seriously, Dean?” Sam asks, giving Dean a bitch face. Some things never change, it seems.

“Look, I know we haven’t seen each other for awhile, but you know I have two rules: don’t take a joint from a guy named Don, and nobody drives my Baby but me.”

“Okay, first off, those rules don’t even belong in the same category together, and secondly, you were unconscious and I didn’t want to leave the Impala out in the middle of nowhere. I thought you would be grateful that I didn’t just leave it,” Sam tells him.

Dean ignores the part where Sam calls his Baby an ‘it’. She deserves more respect than that, but they need to get back and figure out how to clean up the mess they made, so he doesn’t argue with his brother. Castiel gets in the back with Claire, and Sam throws Dean the keys so he can drive while Sam rides shotgun.

Dean has no clue where they are, so Sam has to give him the directions. They haven’t been driving long when he starts recognizing the scenery, and he doesn’t need directions anymore since he knows where they are now. He tries not to dwell on the fact that he was buried alive and would have essentially died had they not found him when they did, so that he can focus on driving, but he knows he’ll have to talk about this later. He’ll have to make sure Claire and Castiel are okay as well. Hopefully, he’ll get the story about what happened, because he still has no clue who the boss is. He wants to ask now, but it’s probably better that they wait until he’s not driving.

By the time they arrive at Bobby’s office, Dean is about ready to pass out. He hasn’t slept much since this whole ordeal began and he knows he needs to rest. Bobby lets them in like before, and Claire immediately runs over to Bobby’s desk where Cocoa and Ashley are sitting in their cage.

Dean has to sit down and try to gather his thoughts when the guinea pigs start squealing for no good reason other than the fact that they can, and Charlie rushes over to hug Claire and then Castiel when she realizes they are safe. Dean almost forgets that Sam is with them–since he hasn’t been a fixture in Dean’s life for almost 20 years now–until he hears Bobby talk.

“Sam?” Bobby asks. 

“Hey, Bobby,” Sam says.

“Don’t you disappear on us like that again, boy, you hear me?” Bobby says before he wraps his arms around Sam and Sam hugs him back. 

Bobby might be rough around the edges and a little surly on the outside, but inside he’s just a big sap like the rest of them. 

“So, what happened?” Charlie asks from her spot next to Claire on the floor, a guinea pig in her lap. 

They share their story with Bobby and Charlie, and Castiel fills in the parts that Dean missed while he was buried alive. He’s so damn proud of his brother for becoming an FBI agent. He always knew Sam would do great things. 

“So, what you’re telling me is your ex was bat shit crazy,” Bobby comments when Castiel tells them about Amelia’s unhealthy need for revenge. Dean wonders if she would have gone after John too if the alcohol didn’t kill him first. 

“Essentially, yes. I would apologize for bringing you all into this, but it seems it would have happened anyway, even if we had never met,” Castiel tells Bobby.

“I still don’t understand one thing,” Charlie adds. “Why did you two receive similar voicemails about never wanting to see each other again?” She aims her question at Dean and Castiel. 

“I’m realizing now that they were obviously fabricated to keep us apart. When we started investigating Amelia, I learned early on that she is very thorough with her research. I think she knew that Dean and I are stronger together, and she wanted us to hate each other so she could better control me. She just hadn’t counted on me still being loyal to my brother even when we’re estranged,” Sam explains.

Dean can feel his eyes welling up because Sam is right. No matter how much time they spend apart, they are still brothers, and they would never betray each other.

“So, what happens now? Since you’re undercover, I’m sure you’re aware that we killed a lot of people the past few days, which I’m sure is illegal as hell,” Dean tells his brother. 

“I know people who are good at cleaning up messes. There isn’t a single person that didn’t already have it coming. On the record, you should have called the police instead of taking matters into your own hands, but off the record, you made my job a little easier because that’s less people I have to bring in and question.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that you’re the Stabler to your partner’s Liv,” Dean says and Sam just laughs. Castiel, however, is about ready to go cross eyed for how confused he looks right now.

“I don’t understand that reference,” Castiel tells him. 

“Seriously? Law and Order: SVU? Detectives Stabler and Benson? The longest slow burn in tv history? At least I think it’s still going on–I haven’t watched it in awhile.”

Castiel keeps staring at him like he’s speaking Japanese.

“You’ve never watched it, have you?”

“No, can’t say that I have,” Castiel tells him.

“Well, you’ve kind of ruined the joke now, but Stabler was the rule breaker and Liv had to keep him from getting into trouble.”

“To answer your question, Dean, yes. I haven’t had a partner since I took on this case, but the partner I had before was definitely more of a Liv, and was always keeping my ass out of trouble.”

“I’m so damn proud of you, Sammy, and I’m happy that we don’t hate each other. It was rough all these years without you.”

“Same,” Sam says as he helps Dean to his feet to pull him into a hug. 

“Ewww, Ashley peed on me,” Claire says, pulling Dean and Sam out of their sappy chick flick moment. Everyone laughs. 

“Okay, Claire Bear, let’s go home,” Castiel says as he helps Claire put the pigs back in their cage. He looks at Charlie. “The house was cleaned?” 

“Yes, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it, so I’m hoping they didn’t screw me over. It was a trustworthy company, so it should be good.”

“I’m going to hang out with Bobby and catch up before I go home. I’ll give you a call once I have everything figured out,” Sam tells Dean, and Dean gives him a pat on the shoulder in response. 

It’s been a rough week, and Dean wants nothing more than to go home and spend time with his two favorite people. Once they say their goodbyes and have Claire and the guinea pigs safe in the car, Dean and Castiel get in the front seat of the Impala and drive to Castiel’s house. 

Charlie did a good job picking out a cleaning company. Dean can’t even tell that anyone died here. Everything is spotless. Dean and Castiel help Claire get the guinea pigs resettled in her room.

“Are you going to be okay in here by yourself, Claire Bear?” Castiel asks. Dean knows he’s probably worried about her well being. She’s seen and been through more than she should have at her age.

“I’ll be okay, Daddy. I have Ashley and Cocoa to keep me company.”

Dean still can’t get over how brave she is for such a young girl. He sometimes forgets that she’s only 8.

“If you need anything just come and get me or Dean, okay?” 

“Okay, Daddy. I love you,” she says as she wraps her arms around him. He gives her a kiss on top of her head. She lets go of Castiel and hugs Dean next. “I love you too, Dean.” 

Dean’s heart grows two sizes. He doesn’t even know what to say. He hugs her back and feels Castiel’s hand on his back. Castiel is smiling fondly at him when Dean looks over.

“Love you too, Claire Bear,” Dean says as he picks her up and squeezes her tight. It turns into a group hug when Castiel wraps his arms around the both of them. 

“Okay, put me down,” Claire says, trying to wiggle free from Dean’s grip. “I have to pee.”

Dean puts her down, and she runs off to her bathroom. 

“Goodnight,” both men say in unison as she responds back before closing the door. 

“I need a shower,” Dean says. He can feel dirt seeping into his pores and he needs to wash away the reminder that he almost died before being able to tell Castiel how he really feels.

“Did you want to use the one in my room?” Castiel asks timidly as he brushes his hand across the nape of Dean’s neck, and then down his back, sending a chill up his spine.

“Yes, thank you,” Dean says when he remembers what words are.

He goes into Castiel’s bathroom, and it isn’t until he’s rinsing himself clean from the dirt that seems to be caked into his skin that he realizes he didn’t bring any clothes in with him. After the shower, he dries off and wraps a towel around his waist. When he walks into Castiel’s room, he finds the other man sitting on the bed with his shoulders slumped. He perks up when he sees Dean, who is clutching his towel for dear life, hoping it doesn’t fall too soon. Castiel stands up and walks over to Dean, placing his hands on his cheeks to give him a passionate kiss. 

“I want to get a shower also. I’ll be quick,” Castiel says as he leaves Dean standing there, still chasing his lips that are no longer there, while he walks into the bathroom. Dean sits on the bed with a smile on his face, and he can feel himself blushing when he sees Castiel emerge from the bathroom, the towel around his waist doing nothing to hide the V shape of his hip bones. 

Castiel walks over to where Dean is sitting on the bed and cards his fingers through Dean’s hair. Dean wraps his arms around Castiel and pulls him close as he looks up at the man he loves.

“I thought I lost you,” Dean whispers, swallowing around the lump in his throat. 

“Never,” Castiel says as he presses his lips against Dean’s. Dean tugs on Castiel’s towel until it falls to the floor, and Dean scoots back on the bed to lie down, the towel coming off as he moves. Castiel reaches into his drawer and grabs the bottle of lube. He tosses it onto the bed next to Dean after squirting some onto his fingers. 

Castiel settles himself between Dean’s legs and Dean relaxes against the pillow as Castiel massages Dean’s rim before sliding his lubed finger inside. Dean is caught off guard when his cock is enveloped by the warmth of Castiel’s mouth. 

“Shit,” he hisses, and he has to bite his lip to keep himself from cumming too soon. Fuck, it feels good the way Castiel is working him open while he simultaneously sucks him off. 

“Okay, babe, I’m good. Don’t want it to be over too soon,” Dean says breathlessly as he tugs on Castiel’s hair to get him to stop. Castiel makes eye contact with Dean as he gives one more long suck and licks up his shaft as if he’s auditioning for a fucking porno.

Dean is hard as a rock with nipples that could cut glass for how turned on he is. He lets Castiel coax him onto his stomach, and Dean feels his breath stolen from him as Castiel finally pushes himself inside Dean. He starts a slow grind as he places his hands on top of Dean’s that are resting next to the pillow and interlocks their fingers.

“I love you,” Castiel whispers as he nibbles on Dean’s ear. Dean says it back and the outside world slips away as Castiel moves inside him slowly and tenderly. Dean’s emotions nearly get the best of him, but he fights back the tears. Dean Winchester has never cried during sex, and he’s certainly not going to start now.

Castiel’s cock hits the spot inside Dean that makes him see stars and he buries his face into the pillow to prevent himself from yelling too loud.

“Cas, please, faster,” Dean mumbles. Castiel must understand him even with his voice muffled by the pillow because he pistons his hips forward like he’s trying to split Dean open. Dean moans and he melts into the bed, paralyzed with pleasure under Castiel’s weight while the other man strikes his prostate again and again.

Castiel’s breathing intensifies as he shifts his weight so he’s no longer pressed against Dean’s back, with his hands resting on either side of Dean. The room is filled with the sound of Castiel’s skin slapping against his, and Dean grips the sheets when his orgasm is ripped from him. Castiel shouts Dean’s name as he fills him with his seed. He thrusts through his own orgasm and collapses against Dean, blowing hot air into the crevice of his neck.

Dean comes down from the high of his orgasm as Castiel gets up to grab a towel and some boxers. Thankfully Dean was lying on his shower towel, so he didn’t get his spunk all over the sheets. Dean keeps getting distracted by Castiel’s body as he tries to clean them both, and he can’t resist peppering him with kisses. 

“We should get some sleep,” Castiel tells him as they put their boxers on.

“As long as I get to wake up next to you, it will be the best sleep ever,” Dean says.

He gives Castiel a kiss before closing his eyes and falling into a deep slumber, one that should be filled with lollipops and rainbows, but Dean has never been that lucky.

Chapter Text

Dean can’t breathe. The dirt is falling in around him, slipping through the holes in the coffin and filling every crevice. He tries to call out for help, but the dirt is piling on top of him now, constricting his airway so he can’t speak. He moves his limbs to try to push away the dirt, but it’s no use. There’s too much and his limbs won’t move. He never thought he would go out this way. He expected his story to end at the barrel of a gun, not beneath a ton of dirt. 

He gives it one last go as he begins to thrash to try to free himself from his grave. He calls out Castiel’s name, hoping he can hear him, and he hears the other man calling Dean’s name in the distance. He tries to reach out for him, but he can’t move his legs or hands anymore. His body is pinned to the bottom of the coffin, and he finally gives in and lets death take him.

Dean opens his eyes and takes a deep breath. He’s covered in sweat and his heart is racing. Castiel is straddling him and has Dean’s arms pinned above his head. 

“Dean!?” Castiel’s panicked voice yells at him.

“Cas, what happened?” Dean asks, confused, wondering how he went from fighting his way out of a coffin to lying in Castiel’s bed again.

“I think you were having a bad dream. You were thrashing around in your sleep. I was calling your name, but you wouldn’t wake up.”

“Fuck,” Dean says as Castiel releases his hold on him. “I’m sorry, Cas. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Castiel cups Dean’s face with his hands. “You have nothing to apologize for, Dean. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal. It’s only natural to have nightmares about that.” He kisses Dean before sitting on the bed next to him.

Before they can finish their conversation, there comes a knock on the door. “Daddy? Dean?” Claire’s voice is heard on the other side. 

“Come in, sweetie,” Castiel tells her. 

She opens the door holding her Grumpy Cat. “I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you?”

“Of course.”

She runs over to the bed, and Dean protectively covers his crotch when her knee gets a little close for comfort as she climbs over him to lay in between the two men. They get settled under the covers as both men throw an arm over Claire to keep her safe.

“Are you guys both my dads now?” Claire asks. “Kaia has two moms, so that would be cool if I had two dads.”

Dean doesn’t know how to respond, so he looks at Castiel, hoping he will take the lead on this one. 

“Well, Claire Bear, Dean and I love each other, but it’s too early for us to think about him being your Dad. He can do fun things with you just like I do, though.”

“Yay,” Claire says as she snuggles closer to Dean. Dean glances at Castiel and he can definitely see himself accepting the title of Claire’s Dad further down the road if Castiel will let him. He closes his eyes so he can try to get some more sleep.

Dean is woken up by the sound of his phone ringing. He unpeels himself from Claire and Castiel’s limbs. Like father, like daughter, it seems. He finds his phone on the nightstand and answers it as he steps into the hall so he won’t disturb them while they still sleep. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, Dean, it’s Sam. I’m just checking in to see how you’re doing.”

“I’m good, Sammy. It’s only been a few days, but I think we’re doing alright.”

“I have some good news. I called in a favor and was able to pin all the murders on Amelia. With the evidence I already had against her, it wasn’t a difficult sell. You and Castiel are off the hook. Any evidence that would have been linked to your involvement has been destroyed. I have a couple friends on the police force that are good at making things go away. Their daughter is in the same class with Claire, so you might end up meeting them soon.”

“Shit, Sammy, I don’t even know what to say. You won’t get in trouble for any of this, will you?”

Sam chuckles. “No, this isn’t my first time. Sometimes you have to bend the rules to keep the world safe.”

“I know exactly what you mean. When you have some free time, why don’t you come over and have dinner with me and Castiel and Claire?”

“I would love to. Just text me the details and I’ll be there.”

When they hang up, Dean goes to the kitchen so he can make breakfast for Castiel and Claire before they wake up. He’s almost done frying the bacon when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs. He turns to see Castiel with Claire giggling on his back. 

“I told you I smelled bacon, Daddy,” Claire announces as she shimmies off of Castiel’s back and sits down at the kitchen table. 

“Yes, you did. It’s very nice of Dean to cook us breakfast, don’t you think?” 

She nods her head and Castiel gives Dean a smile as he sits at the table next to Claire. Dean places the plate of bacon on the table once it’s done cooking and scrambles some eggs and toasts some bread. He makes the three of them a plate, and once they all have a plate in front of them, they start eating. 

Dean smiles as he watches Claire as she shovels the food in her mouth like she’s been starving for a week, and he notices Castiel smiling at her as well. Dean reaches across the table and takes Castiel’s hand in his own, and that’s how they sit for the rest of their meal. When Claire is done eating, she excuses herself from the table and Dean stays in his spot, holding Castiel’s hand and quietly thanking whoever made this moment possible. 

When he enlisted in the Army, he never dreamed this is where he would end up. He’s sure he’ll probably screw it up somehow. His last name is Winchester, after all. But until then, he’s going to enjoy spending his life with the man and his daughter who have given him a second chance at happiness and who have proven that some things are worth bending the rules to keep.