57. Chapter 57

“How about we go for a walk?”

Dean lifted his head, blinking in surprise. He’d been concentrating so hard on building a castle out of blocks that he hadn’t even heard Castiel come up behind him. Not that he really enjoyed playing with something so babyish, of course. It was just that the blocks made a really satisfying sound when they were stacked high and he got the chance to knock them down. Also, he liked that they were all uniform and so, when he had them stacked, they could look as organized as he wanted.

Plus, he didn’t feel as awful as he had when his wings were coming in – but he still got tired really easily, and sometimes he still got that uncomfortable hot feeling that probably meant his temperature was climbing. Playing with blocks was pretty easy and didn’t require much effort on Dean’s part. Or at least that was the excuse he was telling himself.

Castiel smiled at him. “What are you building, baby?”

“Fort.”

“A fort?” Castiel crouched down to better examine the blocks. Dean had loads of them, but without glue or something to connect them, there was only so far he could go. So right now, the ‘fort’ was really just four walls of blocks that, on second thought, weren’t as square as they should’ve been.

“For Sparks.”

“Sparks?”

A little embarrassed, he pointed to his kitten and mumbled, “Sparks.”

It had taken him a long time to think of just the right name. Part of that time had been spent waiting for Gabriel to change his mind and decide that the kitten didn’t belong to Dean after all, or that Dean would pick a stupid name so it was better for someone else to do it. After all, as Sam had frequently pointed out, he’d nicknamed the Impala ‘Baby’ and that was about the plainest nickname you could have according to Sam.

But when that didn’t happen – all Gabriel did was ask, very kindly, if he’d made a decision yet, then given him a hug when Dean said he hadn’t – he started to think of a name. He didn’t like anything of the obvious ones: Midnight, Soot, Ebony, Sapphire, etc… It had to be something special. And what he kept noticing was that the kitten looked a lot like his daddy, with her dark fur and bright blue eyes. He figured Gabriel had chosen her for just that reason.

It made him think of back when he and Castiel first met. Well, when they first met on the surface anyway. He didn’t like thinking about Hell. Even dwelling on that place and what had happened down there for even a few seconds made his chest and throat tighten and left him on edge for the rest of the day.

No, he was thinking of when Castiel walked into the barn. At the time it had been terrifying because Dean and Bobby didn’t know what was coming and had no idea he was an angel, but now Dean just thought his daddy had looked really cool with the lights flashing and all those sparks flying around him. And that’s what made him think of the name for his kitten. Sparks.

“I think that’s a great name, Dean.”

He chanced a look up at Castiel, half-expecting to see a mocking expression. But Castiel was still smiling, so Dean relaxed. “Thanks.”

“I know you’re having lots of fun building your fort,” Castiel went on, “but you haven’t been out of the house for a while. I thought it would be fun to go for a walk. Uncle Gabe said he’d come too, and even Balthazar stopped by to join us.”

“Okay,” Dean said, setting down the block he’d been holding. It was comforting to know that there would be other angels nearby, especially angels that were loyal to Castiel. “Can Sparks come?”

“Sure. I don’t see why not. Come on. Let’s get you changed and dressed.” Castiel scooped him up. Dean wound his legs around his daddy’s waist automatically, watching over his shoulder as Sparks immediately lifted her head to watch them go. She scrambled to her feet and ran after them when Castiel walked down the hallway. Dean giggled to himself, liking that she followed him.

Sparks stayed near as Castiel changed his wet diaper and then got him dressed in a onesie with jeans overtop of it. The onesie was purple with a picture of a black cat on it, just like Sparks. Dean pointed at it and grinned up as his daddy. Castiel grinned back and pushed a purple pacifier into his mouth, then picked him up again. He carried Dean out out onto the porch, where Balthazar and Gabriel were both waiting. Dean squirmed when he saw that Gabriel was leaning against the handle of the stroller.

“I walk,” he said around his pacifier. It really was nice out. The sun was shining, but there was enough of a breeze that it wasn’t too hot. Castiel was right; he hadn’t been outside for what felt like a long time, and, the last couple of times that he could remember, he’d been confined to a stroller.

“You can walk if you want to, little one. Uncle Gabe is bringing the stroller in guess you get tired,” Castiel said, obligingly setting him down. He took Dean’s hand, though. Dean eyed the point of contact between them for a moment, debating the merits of fighting it. Somehow, it felt even more babyish than being carried did. But he decided to stay quiet for the time being, figuring it would be easier to slip free later on. If he whined too much now, Castiel would probably do what his mom used to do and hold on tighter.

“Are we ready?” Balthazar asked, sounding a little impatient.

“Yes, we are. Let’s go.” Castiel walked down the steps, Dean at his side, and set off across the grass. Dean glanced over his shoulder. He was pleased to find that not only were Gabriel and Balthazar following them, Sparks was too. The kitten was winding her way around Gabriel’s ankles, nearly causing Gabriel to fall flat on his face a couple of times. He had to bite his lip to hold in a giggle.

The low murmur of conversation behind them was comforting. After a minute or two, Castiel’s grip had slackened to the point where Dean was able to slide his hand free without Castiel really noticing. He picked up the pace a little, darting out in front so that the three angels fell behind. Sparks ran to catch up with him, nipping playfully at his fingers when he bent down to give her a pet.

She was a little hunter too, Dean realized when a butterfly flew by. Sparks immediately stopped paying attention to him and sat straight up, her ears pricked forward intently. She watched the butterfly with round eyes, slowly lowering herself to the ground so that she was less obvious. Her butt wiggled, tail lashing the air. When the butterfly made the mistake of flying too low, she pounced. For a moment Dean thought she’d been successful, but then the butterfly flew out from between her paws and into the air like nothing had happened. He couldn’t help laughing.

“Good try,” he said sympathetically, gently running a finger down her back. He knew how that felt. He couldn’t count how many times he and Sam had missed their targets while on hunts. Usually they managed to kill whatever they were hunting in the end, but there had been some close shaves.

Of course, what he and Sam were hunting was usually much more dangerous than butterflies.

There were more butterflies flying around and Sparks clearly wasn’t ready to give up yet, so Dean sat down on the ground to watch. He kept an eye out to make sure that Castiel, Gabriel and Balthazar had stopped too before turning his full attention on Sparks. She was nothing if not determined, stealthily stalking each and every butterfly that tried to come near Dean.

The best attempt was when she leapt for a butterfly that dodged her attempts. Sparks landed on the ground and did almost a full somersault, landing on her paws with a dazed expression. The butterfly alighted briefly on her nose, flapped its wings a couple of times as though in triumph, and then took off. Sparks watched it go and didn’t even try to swat at it, and if Dean hadn’t known better he would’ve said the kitten was pouting. As it was, he was laughing too hard to even notice when Sparks sat up straight again.

She didn’t go after a butterfly, though. Dean stopped laughing and followed the direction she was looking in, but he couldn’t see anything worthy of her focus. Her ears were swiveling, which meant she had to be listening to something. He listened too, but all he could hear was the sound of the wind, the buzz of mosquitoes, and the voices of his angels talking quietly.

Then he heard it. His skin prickled at the distant, but unmistakable, sound of a dog barking. It sounded like it was a long ways off, but coming closer. His breath caught in his chest when the barking turned to a howl, long and drawn out. He tried to tell himself that it didn’t sound anything like a hellhound. He told himself that there was no way a hellhound would be anywhere near here, because there were two angels and an archangel sitting five feet away and no hellhound was gonna be that suicidal.

All those thoughts ran through Dean’s head in less than two seconds, but did very little to calm him. The howling was sending chills down his spine, especially since the dog never actually came into sight. If he could see it, maybe he could convince himself that it was just a regular dog – because you couldn’t see hellhounds. You could hear them, but you couldn’t see them until they were ready to rip you to shreds.

Something touched his shoulder, coinciding with a particularly loud and close howl, and Dean flinched with a panicked cry. He slapped at whatever was behind him and scrambled away, immediately flashing back to that moment when the hellhound had come for him in Indiana. The smirk on Lilith’s face as she opened the door, the sound of Sam’s screams mixing with the hellhound’s triumphant baying, and the pain…

He banged into something and Dean looked up, terrified, half-expecting to see a hellhound looming over him. Instead, it was Gabriel – the archangel Gabriel, eyes wide and hands spread out towards Dean. He burst into tears and threw his arms around Gabriel’s legs, clinging to him, burying his face so that he wouldn’t have to look.

“It’s gonna drag me back,” Dean cried, hardly able to force the words out through the panic. “Please, I can’t. Kill me first. I don’t wanna go back!”

Hands grabbed his upper arms and pulled him up. Dean fought, convinced that there was a hellhound right behind him, until he realized that Gabriel was picking him up, not pushing him away. He got his arms and legs around Gabriel’s neck and waist and clung desperately, squeezing his eyes shut. Gabriel’s arms and wings wrapped around Dean’s body, holding him securely.

The howling of the hellhound finally died away, but all that meant was that it was preparing to strike. He was certain that, at any moment, he was going to feel the familiar claws sinking into his back, or at the very least there was going to be a battle of some kind as Gabriel fought off the hellhound (he would fight it off, wouldn’t he? They wouldn’t let him be taken?). He tensed, trembling, for several long moments.

Gradually, he realized that the only thing he could feel was Gabriel’s hands on his back. One was pressed to his lower back, holding him in place, but the other was making big, slow circles against his shoulder blades. He wasn’t holding his sword, then. His wings were still wrapped around Dean, not widespread as Dean imagined they would be in the midst of a battle. He couldn’t hear the hellhound either, but Gabriel was speaking to him.

“It’s okay, baby. You’re safe here. Daddy and I won’t let anything hurt you. It’s okay.”

It took a moment for the words to register, and longer still for the actual meaning behind them to sink in. Once they did, Dean gulped once for air – it felt like his throat was so tight, he could barely breathe – and started to cry.