92. Chapter 92

“What are you doing?” Dean asked, utterly baffled. He stood in the doorway of Castiel’s bedroom and stared at his daddy. Gabriel had left for this morning, though he had promised to return before they went to meet Anael and Charlie. Knowing that that time was quickly approaching, Dean had grown bored of cartoons and come to see what Castiel was doing – the promised five minutes Castiel had claimed he’d be upstairs had long since expired.

“I’ve moved your crib,” Castiel responded, as though this was perfectly normal.

Dean looked around Castiel’s bedroom. Like all the rooms inside the nest, it was far bigger on the inside than it should have been. So unlike most bedrooms, it was easily big enough to accommodate both Castiel’s furniture and Dean’s crib. Right now, the crib had been placed along the back wall so that the bed was between the crib and the door. From that place, Dean would be able to see the bed or look out the window.

What he didn’t understand was why. He stared at the new position of his crib with deepening confusion, wondering if Castiel and Gabriel were renovating or something like that. But that didn’t make any sense either. They were angels. They could do whatever they wanted with a snap of their fingers – as proven by the fact that Dean’s mobile was now hanging over the crib in the new place.

“But… why?” he asked, fighting against the sense of panic that was telling him Castiel had decided he was tired of having Dean around. That was stupid, he told himself sternly. There was no backing out of the hatchling process once it had begun. That was why Castiel had made sure that Dean was on board with this process in the first place. And even if Castiel had gotten tired of it, he wouldn’t move Dean’s crib into his room. It would be out on the lawn.

“Because you’ve gotten used to have three sides up,” Castiel said, putting a hand on the crib. “I think it’s time to put the fourth side up.”

“Oh,” Dean said slowly. He’d known, of course, that his crib came with a fourth side. But it had never really occurred to him that someday the fourth side might go up. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Would that be comforting or scary? Of course, he could always climb up over it –

“I’ll be using my grace to make sure you can’t climb out of it,” Castiel added like he was reading Dean’s thoughts, and maybe he was. It was a little annoying, but Dean had gotten used to that. The angels did it so unconsciously that it was like they didn’t even know they were doing it until Dean pointed it out.

“Why?” Dean said again, frowning.

“You’re a baby, Dean. You could hurt yourself by doing that. Besides, the whole point of a crib is so that Gabriel or I have to lift you in and out of it. I thought it might upset you to be alone in your nursery for the first few nights when you couldn’t get out of your crib, so I moved it in here. I was going to talk to you about it tonight before I put you to bed, but I guess it took longer than I thought,” Castiel explained.

Dean was quiet for a moment, considering this. It spoke volumes about how well Castiel knew him that he recognized Dean wouldn’t be comfortable being trapped in his crib right away. Most people wouldn’t have thought twice about putting up the fourth side. Actually, most people wouldn’t have had an issue with sleeping in a crib to begin with, even if it was one they couldn’t get out of.

But Dean wasn’t ‘most people’. There had been way too many times in his life when he’d been trapped somewhere and not being able to get out meant certain death. Even something as mundane as a fire could kill him that way – or at least, it could have before he became a hatchling. Actually, Dean wasn’t too sure about the particulars of that right now. Could a fire kill him? He didn’t really know.

Either way, sleeping in a place that he couldn’t escape was going to require a huge amount of trust on Dean’s part, and his instinct was to say no and that this was a step too far. The only thing that stopped him was the amount of thought that Castiel had put into this. He had been taking the crib thing so slowly that Dean hadn’t even noticed he was doing it, and now he had gone through the trouble of moving the crib in here into his own personal space just to make Dean more comfortable.

Besides that, Castiel had been right about everything else so far. Dean had never thought that he would be comfortable with diapers, pacifiers, nursing, or any of the other things that had become a regular thing. He couldn’t say he loved the diapers, but the rest of it had become strangely comforting in ways he never could have guessed. Maybe the crib could eventually become a comfort too?

“You look like you’re thinking hard,” Castiel said, watching him worriedly. “Is it too much too soon?”

“It’s okay. I’ll give it a try,” Dean decided. John Winchester had never bothered to listen to Dean when Dean said he didn’t like something, but he knew that Castiel wasn’t like that. If Dean tried the crib this way and didn’t like it, Castiel would immediately go back to keeping one side down.

Castiel’s whole face brightened and he smiled. That smile was enough to fill Dean’s stomach and chest with warmth. He loved it when Castiel looked at him like that, like Dean had done something right. He had to begun to live for those smiles, Dean realized.

“I’m proud of you. I know this might not be easy, but I believe you can do it,” Castiel said, walking over to Dean and pulling him into a hug. Dean went happily, snuggling up against Castiel’s chest. Castiel’s arms and wings wrapped securely around him, giving him that wonderful sense of security and comfort.

“Dean! Cassie! We’re going to be late for meeting Anael and Charlie!” Gabriel called.

“Oh no! I forgot!” Dean exclaimed, quickly pulling out of the hug. “That’s what I came up here to remind you of. Are you ready?”

“Yup,” Castiel said. “Are you?”

“Yup,” Dean echoed.

“Those breakfast stains on your shirt would say otherwise,” Castiel replied, grinning.

Dean opened his mouth and then paused before looking down at himself, realizing that Castiel was right. His shirt had some syrup stains on it that he didn’t remember putting there. He dashed out of the bedroom and back to the nursery. Castiel laughed and followed and helped him to pick out another blue shirt that had a picture of a black car on the front of it that looked kind of like the Impala.

“Okay, now I’m ready,” Dean said once he had new shirt on. “Let’s go! I don’t want to be late.”

“I’m sure they’ll wait for us,” said Castiel.

“Where are we going, anyway?” Dean asked, narrowing his eyes. He’d initially thought that they were just going to meet at Charlie’s and Anael’s house, but Castiel and Gabriel had both alluded to them all doing something else. But try as he might, Dean couldn’t get any further details out of either of them.

“You’ll see when we get there,” Castiel said mysteriously, hurrying Dean downstairs. Gabriel was waiting with jackets for both of them, as well as a scarf, hat, and mitts for Dean.

Once they were all dressed, Gabriel laid a hand on both of them and the cabin disappeared. The next thing Dean knew, they were standing outside. He blinked for a moment, a little confused to see that they were standing in the woods. But he didn’t get much of a chance to look around. A familiar voice shrieked his name and then suddenly he was being tackled with such force that he fell over into the snow.

“Merry Christmas, Dean!” Charlie squealed, her red hair falling across Dean’s face, and he laughed and hugged her back even though the snow was freezing cold against his back.

Anael laughed too. “Charlie, honey, get up. You’re going to be soaked before we even do anything!” She came over and helped both Charlie and Dean to get up.

“What are we doing here?” Dean asked, dusting snow off himself. This didn’t look like a very good place to exchange Christmas presents.

“That,” Gabriel said, pointing. Dean followed his gaze and gasped.

“Are you serious?” he asked, staring at the horses and sleigh in wonder. It looked like something out of a fairy tale: the sleigh was black and easily big enough to fit half a dozen people comfortably. There were four brown horses leashed up to the front of it, and their owner was already sitting at the front of the sleigh and holding the reins.

“This is so cool!” Charlie gushed, clapping her hands in excitement. “Just like Jingle Bells!”

“Except there’s more than one horse,” Dean said, but he couldn’t help feeling a little excited too. “Are we really riding on that?”

“We really are,” Gabriel said, taking their hands. He led Dean and Charlie over to the sleigh. Castiel climbed up first, and Gabriel handed first Dean and then Charlie up to him. Then he helped Anael up, before climbing up himself. In short order, Dean found himself sitting between his daddy and his uncle. Anael and Charlie sat on the other side.

“There are blankets right behind me,” the driver said, glancing back at them. “It’ll be chilly once we get moving.”

Castiel stood up and gave a couple of the blankets to Anael before spreading the rest of them over him, Dean, and Gabriel. Then he nodded at the driver. One sharp flick of the reins later and they were off. Dean grabbed at Castiel instinctively, surprised by the lurch of the sleigh moving behind the horses. Castiel wrapped an arm around his shoulders and Gabriel patted his arm.

“I love this!” Charlie said, leaning over the rail to look at the horses.

“Charlie be careful,” Anael said, pulling her back a little. “You don’t want to fall out.”

“But Mommy! The horses!” Charlie said.

“We can see the horses once we stop,” Anael told her, tucking Charlie in against her side. “Then we’re all going to go back home for hot chocolate and cookies, and we can exchange gifts.” She smiled over at Dean.

“What are you guys doing for Christmas?” Dean asked them.

“We’re going to see some old friends of mine,” said Charlie. “What about you?”

“Family Christmas,” Dean said. “Sam’ll be there too.”

“Oh good,” Charlie said. “Sam takes himself too seriously. He needs a break.”

Dean snorted at that, knowing that she had no idea how right she was, and settled more firmly between Gabriel and Castiel. The sleigh ride really was magical in a way that had nothing to do with angel mojo. The air was crisp and cool, but he was warm and cozy between his daddy and uncle under the blankets. As they entered the forest and it got a little darker, several strands of light, laced around the side rails, came on, creating just enough light for Dean to be able to see the huge smile on Charlie’s face.

It was a little corny, but honestly Dean was really happy. The only thing that could have made this better would be if Sam was here too. Next year, he told himself. Next year Sam would be done with school, and hopefully well underway in the whole nestling process. Then Sam would be able to enjoy things like this along with Dean because this was exactly the sort of thing Sam would go bonkers for.

Next year.

For now, Dean rested his head on Castiel’s shoulder and just enjoyed the sleigh gliding over snow.