100. Chapter 100

Castiel had never really experienced a Christmas Eve night before, but the one that he spent with the Winchesters was surprisingly enjoyable. After supper, Jody made everyone a cup of hot chocolate – she added some whiskey to hers and Bobby’s, Castiel noticed, but she abstained from putting any into Sam’s or Dean’s and he was grateful for that – and then they all sat down in front of the fireplace.

Dean fell asleep pretty quickly once he’d drank his hot chocolate. Castiel let him sleep, content to listen to Gabriel telling stories about heaven to Bobby, Jody, and Sam. He could tell that Bobby was pretty skeptical to believe in what Gabriel was saying. So was Sam. But Jody was watching Gabriel with wide, greedy eyes, drinking in everything that Gabriel said without hesitation.

“So everyone gets their own personal heaven?” she said, leaning forward slightly. “And it’s a happy one? Even children?”

Bobby looked over at Jody, but Sam was the one who turned to Gabriel with a pointed look that was clearly a warning for whatever Gabriel was going to say next.

“Of course,” Gabriel said kindly. “Any children in heaven don’t even know that they’re dead. They have very peaceful existences with idealized versions of their parents, reliving their best memories.”

Jody’s shoulders slumped slightly, and she sighed. “Okay. Okay thanks. I think I’m ready for bed now,” she added to Bobby.

“Me too.” Bobby got up and took her hand, and the two of them left. Castiel listened to the sound of their footsteps climbing the stairs and realized how hard holidays like Christmas had to be on a woman like Jody. No matter how much peace she had made with her son’s death, times like this must have always been a reminder. He tightened his arm around Dean.

“I’m going to put Dean to bed,” he told Sam and Gabriel. “Are you coming up too?”

“I’m not tried yet,” Sam said. “I’m going to stay up for a while.”

“I’ll be up in a bit,” Gabriel said.

Castiel nodded and easily scooped Dean up. Dean curled into him with a sleepy mumble, resting his head on Castiel’s shoulder. Sam was watching them, Castiel noticed, but he said nothing, so Castiel just nodded at him and took Dean upstairs. He got Dean into a fresh diaper and some pajamas and then laid down in the bed beside him, smiling when Dean immediately rolled over and latched onto one of Castiel’s feathers to nurse.

It was a little unusual, this Christmas thing, but Castiel decided that he liked it.

A knock on the door woke both him and Dean the next morning, and Bobby called through the door that Jody and Gabriel were making breakfast. Dean grumbled a little, but he was much more excited to get up this morning than he’d been yesterday. Castiel figured that it had something to do with being able to give Bobby, Jody, and especially Sam their presents today. Regardless, he was glad that he didn’t have to deal with a fussy little boy today.

“Are my gifts downstairs?” Dean asked as Castiel handed him a sweater to wear. This one was forest green with subtle gold threading and made the color of his coppery wings look even more beautiful.

“Yes. I put them under the tree yesterday,” Castiel said patiently, knowing that he had already answered that question about five times now. “But I think we’re eating today before we open gifts.”

“Right, yeah,” Dean said, pulling the sweater on. “Can I go now?”

Castiel smiled. “You might want to put on pants first.” He gave Dean the same pair of jeans that Dean had been wearing yesterday. Dean hauled them on and then made a dash for the door, not even pausing long enough to put on socks. He was in such a rush that he almost ran Gabriel over. Gabriel dodged just in time.

“Look where you’re running!” Gabriel called after Dean, shaking his head.

“Sorry!” Dean yelled back.

Gabriel just sighed. “I came to get you. Breakfast is ready,” he said to Castiel.

“How long did you and Sam stay up last night?” Castiel asked, curious.

“Not too long. Sammy fell asleep after about an hour, actually. I ended up carrying him to bed,” Gabriel replied. “It was weird… the whole time, I felt like he kept wanting to say something to me. Whenever I looked over at him, he’d look away. Got any ideas?”

Castiel contemplated that for a moment. Neither of the Winchesters were good at saying what they were really thinking. That was something that Castiel had become intimately familiar with, given how much time he had spent around them during the Apocalypse. Dean had come a long way towards being able to communicate his wants and needs, but he still struggled with it. Sam, on the other hand, had probably only gotten worse with no one to help him in being more honest.

“I’m not sure. But whatever it is, if Sam wants you to know, he’ll tell you,” Castiel said at last.

“That’s not helpful,” Gabriel said, and Castiel shrugged at him.

“You could read his mind,” he said.

Gabriel shook his head. “I’d rather not. You know how touchy humans get about that shit.”

“That’s true. Dean has gotten used to it, but he still doesn’t like it,” Castiel acknowledged. “Well… Sam will come to you in time, Gabriel.”

“Cas! Gabe! Come on!” Dean shouted, startling both angels. They looked at each other, realizing that they’d been standing here chatting for probably longer than Dean deemed acceptable when there was food around, and laughed.

“Want to guess how close the kid came to calling out for Daddy?” Gabriel asked, a twinkle in his eye.

“Probably much closer than Dean is comfortable with,” Castiel said, amused, and allowed his brother to fly them both downstairs.

Jody and Gabriel had outdone themselves. The table was groaning the weight of all the breakfast food. Castiel sat down beside Dean, which left Gabriel to take the seat beside Jody and opposite Sam. Dean was practically vibrating with impatience and shot Castiel a pout. Castiel patted Dean’s knee in silent apology. As breakfast began, he slipped some food onto Dean’s plate for him to eat.

“I just can’t believe it’s Christmas morning,” Jody said as breakfast wound down. “Seems like it was just Thanksgiving yesterday.”

“Hey Bobby, didn’t you say that Rufus might drop by?” Sam asked suddenly, and Castiel was grateful to him for steering conversation away from Thanksgiving. He didn’t think that Dean was ready for anyone to be talking about that yet.

Bobby shook his head, gesturing with his fork as he said, “He talked about it, but then last I heard he caught wind of some hunt down south. He hates winter, so I expect he won’t surface against until spring.”

“I can appreciate that. Snow is a pain in the butt,” said Jody.

“I second that motion. One of the people I work with slipped on some ice and broke her leg, so now everyone at the café is trying to make up for her absence,” Sam said, sighing.

Castiel glanced over at Gabriel, wondering if that was what Sam hadn’t wanted to mention to Gabriel. It would be extremely easy for either angel to heal that girl’s leg, but it would be pretty hard to explain how her broken bone had mysteriously healed so fast.

“I hope you’re not working yourself too hard,” Jody said, looking at Sam with a frown.

Predictably, Sam shrugged that off. “Of course not. Sometimes the extra shifts are nice. I get all the coffee I can drink.” He grinned at Jody.

“That sounds lovely,” Jody said.

“I think you get quite enough coffee,” Bobby said dryly. “Or did you forget that night two weeks ago when you had a coffee after 9pm and couldn’t sleep half the night?”

Jody lightly swatted him. “That was a fluke. Now, we’re all done so let’s go open some presents.”

“Sounds good to me,” Gabriel said, snapping his fingers. All of the breakfast dishes instantly vanished from the table and reappeared on the counter, freshly washed.

“You can visit anytime,” Jody said, eyes wide.

“Noted,” Gabriel replied, getting up.

They moved to the living room, where Jody distributed presents. Castiel was very surprised when she handed him and Gabriel each a gift as well. He set the package on his lap, realizing that neither he nor Gabriel had bothered to buy anything for Jody or Bobby. The thought honestly hadn’t occurred to him, and Dean hadn’t mentioned it. He quickly scanned Jody’s thoughts to see if she was disappointed – Gabriel could always pop out to get them something – but realized that Jody wasn’t bothered at all.

She and Bobby had bought him and Gabriel a gift as a thanks for taking such good care of Dean.

“Okay, Sammy! Open mine first!” Dean exclaimed before Castiel could decide what he wanted to do with that information.

“Sure,” Sam said, taking the gift. He ripped it open. When he saw what was inside, his jaw dropped.

Dean grinned smugly. “I bet you were expecting booze,” he said.

“Uh… yeah, kind of,” Sam said, taking out the journal and collection of Harry Potter books. “Dude, this is awesome!”

“Now you can be as much of a nerd as you want,” Dean said, gesturing to the books. He sat down on the floor at Castiel’s feet, leaning back against Castiel’s legs. His soul was practically glowing with pleasure over Sam’s reaction.

Jody and Bobby were equally pleased with Dean’s gifts for them. Well, Jody was not quite as pleased when she found out Bobby’s gift was hunting related, but she was mollified after Gabriel hastily reassured her that Bobby’s gift was designed to offer Bobby much better protection. She then opened up her earrings and actually teared up, which made Dean adorably uncomfortable.

“There are too much, Dean,” Jody said, shaking her head.

“You put up with Bobby. No gift is too much,” Dean told her seriously.

“Hey!” Bobby complained as Sam, Dean, and Jody all laughed. Castiel smiled to himself. Bobby, much like the Winchesters, was definitely in a class all his own.

“You have a point,” Jody said, smiling.

Bobby scowled. “All of you just shut up and open your gifts,” he grumbled.

Both Dean and Sam opened up their gift at the same time. Castiel was confused and curious to see that both boys had received the same gift: a key. He stared at it for a moment before glancing at Gabriel, only to see that Gabriel looked as baffled as he felt. Even Sam looked a little confused. But Dean’s eyes were wide, so clearly, he knew what it meant. And he proved it when he turned to Bobby and Jody.

“Is this a key to the house?” he asked, shocked.

“I’ve always had an open door for you boys. This just makes it official,” Bobby said awkwardly.

“Wow,” Sam said softly. “Thanks Bobby.”

“Yeah… thank you,” Dean said, curling his fingers around the key. Though he didn’t need the key anymore, given that Dean had a very happy home now, Castiel could tell how much it meant to him. He leaned forward and put a hand on Dean’s shoulder, squeezing it.

“You didn’t open yours,” Sam said, looking from Castiel to Gabriel.

“Oh… right,” Castiel said. He opened up his gift and was surprised, but pleased, to find a blue sweater inside. Gabriel’s was a collection of different candies and chocolates.

Jody shrugged at them. “Angels are hard to buy for,” she said apologetically.

“Are you kidding? This is great!” Gabriel ripped open a package of chocolate and tossed a handful in his mouth.

“I like it very much. Thank you, Jody,” Castiel told her. “And thank you, Bobby.”

Bobby just nodded, seemingly uncomfortable with the amount of emotion going on the in the room.

“Oh, here, Dean. This is for Sparks.” Jody produced a tiny package and gave it to Dean, who ripped it open to reveal some cat treats.

“Wow… thanks,” Dean said softly, clearly touched that Jody and Bobby had thought to get Sparks something.

“My turn!” Sam said. He had gotten Jody and Bobby things from the university: a scarf for Jody and a coffee cup for Bobby. Then he turned to Dean and gave Dean a package. Dean opened it and sat there for a long moment.

Castiel really hoped that it wasn’t anything from Stanford. That would be rubbing salt in an old wound.

But then Dean took out a frame, and Castiel saw that it was a picture of the Winchesters: of just Sam and Dean. Not one from when they were young, but clearly taken within the last couple of years. Both brothers were smiling at the camera. Tension could be read in their body language, but Dean was relaxed enough to throw an arm around Sam’s shoulder.

“I found it in my bag and made a copy for you since I didn’t think you had one,” Sam said quietly.

“Thanks Sammy,” Dean said, blinking hard. “It’s great.” He gently set the frame back down in the box, and Castiel knew that tonight they’d be finding a place for that frame in their nest.

They broke up then; Bobby disappeared outside with a beer and Sam went into the kitchen with Jody. Gabriel drifted off too – Castiel could hear one of their brethren asking for Gabriel’s attention. Dean got up and, after checking to make sure that he and Castiel were truly alone, sat down on Castiel’s lap. Castiel wrapped his arms and wings around him, giving Dean a cuddle.

“Did you have a good Christmas, baby?” he asked.

“The best,” Dean said, tucking his head under Castiel’s chin. He sounded awkward when he spoke again. “So… I know I’ve been a real pain in the ass during this whole process. But you kept going, even when it was hard. I just wanted to say… thank you.”

“You haven’t been a pain in the ass at all,” Castiel said, smiling in spite of himself.

“Pfft, yeah right. You don’t have to pretend I wasn’t,” Dean said with a snort.

“Dean, I love you. Every moment of this has been more than worth it because you’re worth it,” Castiel told him.

Dean mumbled something about mushy stuff and sighed before mumbling, “I love you too, Daddy.”

Castiel froze, eyes growing wide. Knowing how the Winchesters were about feelings, he had never expected to hear that from Dean. His grace tingled with pleasure and he closed his eyes, overwhelmed with how much he cared about this boy. He hugged Dean tightly, and Dean hugged him back in return.