Cas's Logical Sequel 08

August 9, 2012

In the weeks Dean had been on bed rest, he had gotten on everybody's last nerve.  Gabriel insisted on irritating him further, Sam begrudgingly waited on him hand and foot, Bobby avoided him like Yellow Fever, and Castiel had been suspiciously absent.  Dean loudly suggested on more than one occasion that Cas didn't want to see him because he was disgusted by his fat, pregnant belly.  Sam, who knew what Cas was up to, did his best to reassure him otherwise.

When Castiel's project was complete, he popped in to surprise Dean.  Dean was predictably ornery.  "Five minutes before I pop, and now you want to spend time with me?"

"You still have about three weeks to go."

"Three weeks?!"  He glanced down at his humungous stomach.  "I look like I'm carrying a litter!  I pee every five minutes, and she's already shown a serious preference for Metallica over Led Zeppelin!  How can she not be ready to come out?"

Cas cocked his head to scrutinize Samantha.  "She would probably be fine if she came out now-"

"So let's go already!"

"-but it's better for the child if she determines when she's ready.  If you're not having contractions, she still has more growing to do."

"Oh, come on!  Just take her out!  Between you and Gabriel, she'll be fine!  Just do it!"

"No.  She still needs three weeks."

"One week."

"Three weeks."

"One and a half."

"I can make it an even year, you know.  You'll be pregnant another two and a half months."

Dean gasped in indignation.  "How....  I can't....  You...."  He made a strangled, frustrated noise and conceded, "Fine!  I'll just suffer horribly for another month while I'm pregnant with your giant Nephal baby and you're off somewhere else!"

"Very well.  In the meantime, I have a surprise for you."

Dean crossed his arms and pouted.  "I'm not sure I feel like it."

"Dean.  You're being immature."

"Well, you're being a poopy-head."

"Giving you my surprise will require that you get out of bed and walk around a little."

That piqued Dean's interest.  He'd barely left Bobby's basement since he was put on bed rest since he could barely waddle, let alone climb stairs by himself.  Sam helped him up the stairs once every other day for about a five-minute walk in the daylight, and he spent four of those minutes in a lawn chair.  He looked curiously at Castiel.  "You promise?" he asked.

"I give you my word."

"Fine."  Dean started to get up even as Castiel's magic fingers made his way towards Dean's forehead.  "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he protested.  "What have I told you about teleportation, huh?  It completely stops me up!"

"Then there should be no change, as it's been three days since your last bowel movement."

"Man, could you maybe not be such a creeper for just a little bit?"

"What do you mean?"

"How about not memorizing my B.M. schedule?"

"I don't pay that much attention to it unless Sam brings it to my attention."

"You mean Sam's the one who told you I haven't pooped in three days?"

"According to him, it was on Monday at five thirty-seven a.m."

"You two are disturbingly obsessed with my poop schedule."  Dean craned his head to see past the panic room door.  "Where is the Sasquatch?  I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind."

"Sam, Gabriel, and Bobby are waiting for us where your surprise is."

Dean sighed.  "Fine.  Whatever.  Let's get this over with."  He closed his eyes and allowed Cas to teleport them wherever they were going.  He was instantly dizzy and disoriented upon arrival, but it wasn't long before the world stopped spinning and he was able to stand without hanging onto Castiel's trench coat.

The first things Dean noticed were the smell of clean air and the chirping of summer birds.  He opened his eyes and saw a long dirt road that extended about two blocks into the woods before it turned right and disappeared behind trees that partially obscured the pink sunrise.  He turned around to ask Castiel what was supposed to be so special about a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.  Then he saw it: a large two-story blue and tan traditional house with a red door, a four-car garage, and natural stone accents behind a white picket fence.  The landscaping around the cement path that led from the front stoop to the driveway was attractive but casual.  He could see beyond the side of the house that the ground sloped to a small blue lake.  

Sam, Bobby, and Gabriel were in the driveway.  "Surprise!" they yelled.

Dean looked confusedly.  "Where are we?"

"We're near Sioux Falls and Bobby's house.  This private road," Castiel explained, indicating the dirt road, "leads to the main road in and out of town.  We're about ten minutes from Bobby's house and fifteen from town."

"Yeah, okay, but what's this?"

Castiel glanced at the house, then back at Dean.  "The house?  I made it.  For you.  And our future family."

Dean looked at Castiel.  "You made me a house?"

Cas nodded, slinging a comforting arm around Dean's shoulders.  "We need somewhere to raise our family, so I made this.  I thought it was logical."

Dean sniffled tearfully.  "You built me a house!"

The others finally chimed in.  "I told him the fence was over the top," Bobby complained.

Dean shook his head.  "I love it.  Very 'American Dream.'"  He planted a grateful kiss on Castiel's lips.

Sam laughed in triumph and held his hand out to Bobby.  "Pay up!"

Bobby grumbled but slapped some cash in Sam's palm.

"Also," Cas added, "in light of our changing needs as a family, I've modified your car."

Dean's heart skipped a beat.  "You what?" he demanded.  Sam, Bobby, and Gabriel looked genuinely surprised as the rightmost garage door opened to reveal the Impala.  Upon closer inspection, Dean realized his beloved car had been transformed into muscle station wagon.  He immediately started to hyperventilate.

"Dean?  Dean, are you okay?"

It took a moment, but he finally regained enough sense to speak.  "Put her back.  Put her back the way she was!"

"Yes, of course."  With a wave of Castiel's hand, the Impala was good as new.

Dean's breaths slowed as his panic subsided.  He fanned himself for a minute before lunging forward and hugging the car.  "Oh, my baby, my sweet baby, my first born!"  He kissed the Impala's hood several times.  "I'm so sorry!"  He kissed it again.  "Step-parents can be so cruel!"

Sam slinked over to Castiel.  "Wow, man," he whispered, "I can't believe you fudged with the Impala."

"It's just a car," Castiel responded a little too loudly.  Everyone cringed.

"A car?" Dean repeated.  "How can you ever call her that?"

"It's not a car?"  Cas seemed confused.

"Fine, she's a car.  But she's not just a car!  My baby's been there for me my whole life.  She drove me home from the hospital when I was born, she put a roof over me and Sammy's heads while Dad was out hunting, she was even there when I went back in time and convinced my dad to buy her before I was born."  He sighed nostalgically.  "Man, my life is weird."  He shook his head and took a deep, calming breath.  "Look, Cas, I appreciate the gesture and everything, but-"

"-Don't fudge with the Impala," Cas concluded for him.

"Exactly.  Now, about the rest of the house...."

Cas led Dean up a few steps in the back of the garage and through a door to the main house.  A tiny bathroom was on the left, and the archway to the west led to the kitchen and main living area.  The dining room was on the far side of the kitchen.  Off to the south, the living room shared a fireplace with what Sam called the "sunroom" - Dean had no idea what that was.

The the the southeast corner of the living room led to a staircase, a study, and the front door.  There were stairs going both up and down; Dean hadn't realized there were so many floors.  What he did notice were the high ceilings, which, as it turned out, were Sam's idea, since their Nephilim offspring were expected to be so tall.  They skipped the basement at first with a quick explanation that it had another living area and the door to the backyard.  Instead, they went upstairs.  The seven doors off the upstairs hall were four bedrooms, the laundry room, a closet, and a bathroom.

Dean and Castiel's room was the second on the left.  The decorations were lavish, ornate, and just a little bit kinky: golden open-top canopy bed draped with elaborate tapestries and dressed with very expensive-looking bedding (Dean didn't know how right he was); highly detailed, practically Elven harp in the corner; mirror on the ceiling – and even that was fancy.  Dean looked from Castiel to Gabriel.

Castiel glared at Gabe.  "What did you do?" he demanded.

"No, it's okay," Dean said.  He looked around the room.  "I mean, it's not how I would have decorated it, but I like it.  I mean, the harp's a bit much, though – it's not like you play it."

"I play the harp."

"What?!"

"Of course I play the harp.  I'm an Angel of the Lord."

"So I guess that means Gabe plays, too?"

"Yes, but he's better with a horn.  If you don't object, I made him prepare a duet I'd like to play for you."

"Oh, you two are going to serenade me now?"

"Yes.  Please."  He gestured for Dean, Sam, and Bobby to sit on the bed, then took his seat at the harp and started the song.

It didn't take more than a few notes for Dean to ask, "Is that... Led Zeppelin?"

Castiel nodded.

Dean chuckled as Gabe joined the duet.  "Hey, Sammy, our Angel boyfriends are playing Stairway to Heaven to us on a harp and a horn.  How's that for surreal?"  He leaned heavily against Sam.  He was so worn out from everything that he was snoring on his brother's shoulder by the end of the eight-minute song.  But then, Sam and Bobby were dozing, as well.  Dean was awoken by Castiel.

"Dean."

Dean started.  "Hm?  What?"  He yawned and stretched.

"I apologize.  Our music can sometimes have a soporific effect on humans."

Dean tried to shake the sleep out of his head.  He stood up quickly, letting Sam and Bobby slump against each other on the bed.  "I'll say."

"Come," Cas invited.  "I have one last room to show you."

Dean yawned again, but waddled after Castiel.  Cas led Dean through the door at the top of the staircase: a pink-and-black nursery with the Winchester logo emblazoned on the wall above the crib.  The mobile above the crib sported classic car, eighties rock, and angel paraphernalia.  A simple silver harp sat in the corner next to the crib.  He would have bet good money that the white dressers were chock full of similarly-themed onesies.  "It's perfect," Dean whispered in awe.  He heard Cas sigh behind him in relief.

"I was worried you wouldn't like it," his Angel admitted.

Dean turned to face him.  "What's not to like?  I'm almost surprised you were able to come up with this.  I mean, who knew you had a flair for design?"

Cas frowned.  "I don't.  I let Sam and Bobby design it."

"Oh, well, them I can see doing this."  He slung his arm around Cas's shoulders.  "Look, it doesn't matter who designed the nursery or the bedroom or anything else.  Yeah, Sam's my brother, but it's like we're all a family, even Gabriel.  I've always wanted one of those."  He kissed Castiel's cheek lovingly, then yawned so hard he saw stars.  "Hey, Cas, I think I'm gonna go to sleep some more.  You wanna lay  by me a little?" he invited, heading for their new bedroom.

Castiel stopped him.  "Dean, I think we should go back to Bobby's.  Sam and Bobby still have protective spells to do on the house.  It shouldn't take more than a week."

Dean scoffed.  "What, you think someone's gonna just happen to come after me in the next seven days?  While I'm surrounded by two Angels and two renowned Hunters?  No one even knows I'm pregnant!  Being a bit paranoid, don't you think?  Come on, let's kick Sam out of our bed and cuddle."

-

Two days, later, Sarah woke up to her alarm clock blaring and leaped excitedly out of bed.  "It's time!" she declared to her roommate, Lizzy.

"Wha?" Lizzy asked, half-asleep.  Lizzy was not a morning person.

"Come on, get up!  It's time to kidnap that pregnant Hunter!"

-

Sam and Gabriel lived with Dean and Castiel in their home until shortly after Dean and Castiel's son, John, was born in 2017.  Near the end of Dean's second pregnancy, Sam had finally agreed to let Gabriel knock him up, and when Sam's belly was huge with twin Nephal fetuses in their fifth month, Gabriel surprised Sam with a home of their own.  It was right next to Dean's, of course, since Sam and Dean never would grow out of being disturbingly codependent, but it was also overdone and obnoxious, since Gabriel would never grow out of being overdone and obnoxious.

That December morning, Castiel had just gotten John back to sleep when Dean had to get up and send Samantha off to kindergarten.  He kissed his husband tenderly and allowed him to collapse on their matrimonial bed; ever since his Angel had lost his powers, he seemed to need a lot of sleep.  Maybe it was just the stress of being a dad.  Dean woke their daughter, then went down stairs to make her food.  He put her lunch bag and plate of eggs on the table in the sunny dining room, and then he finally noticed it.  Directly to the south, right up against the edge of his immodest property, was a river.  No, it was a moat – thirty feet beyond the water's edge was a massive stone castle, and as he pressed himself into the dining room's corner for a better look at the front of the castle, he could see a lowered drawbridge.  "What the Hell?" he whispered to himself.

There was a tiny gasp behind him.  "Daddy!" his four-foot-tall five-year-old daughter reprimanded him.  "That's a naughty word!"

"You're right, angel.  Daddy's sorry.  Eat your breakfast."

She looked beyond him at the castle.  "What's that?" she asked in awe.

"I think it's a castle."

"It's beautiful!"

"Oh, thank you, sweetie!"

"Uncle Gabers!" she shrieked at seeing her favorite uncle.  Dean figured it made sense he was her favorite; they were emotionally the same age.  She leapt into Gabriel's arms.

"Gabriel, Sammy's breakfast is getting cold.  And then she has to go to school."

Gabriel knew better than to question Dean's authority in front of his kids.  "Hear that, kiddo?" he pointed out to Samantha, tousling her blonde hair.  "Gotta eat your breakfast.  You wanna grow big and strong like Daddy, don't you?"

"I'm gonna be bigger and stronger than Daddy, silly.  And much bigger than you."

Dean snorted at the dig.  Once all the children were full-grown, Gabriel be the smallest.  Still grossly more powerful than any of them, but little.

Gabriel, too, smiled at the jest.  She was getting to be quite snarky, and he approved.  As she climbed into her chair to eat her food, Gabe and Dean went out front to look at Gabriel's castle.  "Ain't she grand?" the Archangel asked.

"It's a castle."

"Yep!"

"Don't you think it's a little excessive?"

"Yep!"

"It's just going to be the four of you in that whole thing."

"Yep!"

Dean squinted at part of the castle.  "Is that a tower?"

"Yep!  That one's above the study.  There's another above the master bedroom."  Gabe waggled his eyebrows.  "I call that one the Sex Tower."

"Ugh."