Home in Motion: A Supernatural Dean/Cas Fanfic Ch. 5

[nomdeplume13]

Title: Home in Motion

Story Summary: Castiel swore he was done with spur of the moment decisions that permanently changed Dean Winchester's life. A year after the angel's most disastrous, his newest may present the largest challenge of Dean's life: Fatherhood.
Pairing: Dean/Cas eventually.
Chapter: 5 Mornings with Dad
Chapter Summary: Morning comes, and introductions are made.
Warnings: Spoilers through the end of season 6 and potential spoilers for events in 7, though for the sake of the story's flow, season 7 didn't happen the way it did in the show. (I just may need to borrow beasties.) Though this story includes fatherhood, this is not an mpreg fic.
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"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress."
Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

Bobby was up earlier than Sam thanks to the fact he didn't have the bladder of a 29-year-old, so while Sam slept, he went about his morning routine. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that in the room next door, Dean was probably just getting ready to start the morning with his son.

He wondered if Dean was going to try to set down roots with a house and all, or if he'd keep the kid on the road all of the time--he hoped not. Whatever was done, Bobby wanted to make sure that Johnny was kept close to his new father. For probably the first time since Dean came back from Hell and almost certainly the first since Sam returned from the Cage, it looked as though he hadn't needed alcohol to get a peaceful-looking sleep. That fact hadn't been improved when something had gone wrong with a hunt a few months back, something Dean tried in pure Winchester fashion to pretend hadn't happened.

Cas had been crazy to take the kid, but maybe just this once the ends justified the means.

It seemed that Castiel had managed to think this all through after the fact, even if the initial decision had been a hasty one, to put it mildly. Bobby had done some checking on Sam's computer and he'd found that nearly all of the documentation he could round up online named Johnny as Dean's son. The angel had even arranged a false court order granting Dean custody. Legally, there was no denying they were in the free and clear. He just didn't think Dean was quite up to handling parenthood alone, or with an angel who was still confounded by the simplest of human behavior.

Maybe the boys would feel up to a little cleaning/baby-proofing at his place. It would be easier than Dean trying to pay for an apartment or pay rent, and it would keep the boys close enough that Bobby could help out, either with Johnny or with something supernatural. They were practically living with him anyway. It was just going to take some work--OK, a lot of work--to get his house in order for a baby.

When Bobby came back out, he saw Sam had slid down on the bed so that his feet were now sticking out from the blankets and hanging over the edge. There were some downsides to being a Sasquatch, he supposed. Especially in a hotel that only offered doubles and no queens. Sam's sleep didn't seem nearly as peaceful as Dean's; it hadn't for much of their trip. Nightmares were a hunter's constant companion, but he still worried whenever he realized either of the boys were having them. The kinds of things that haunted those boys nightmares would make the average hunter piss himself--would make Bobby piss himself.

Most of all, he didn't know if these nightmares were indications of Sam's wall crumbling down. The boy couldn't afford to have those memories return. Bobby had cornered Cas and asked him what they could expect if the wall crumbled. The angel had been incredibly reluctant, more than Bobby had ever seen, and they had just gone through the whole thing with Crowley. Cas had told him that they could expect Michael would have done a great deal of physical damage and pain, but Lucifer would have done everything in his power to break Sam mentally, and there would probably be very little that was off limits from the former archangel when it came to making Sam pay. Bobby had never been accused of having an exceptionally active imagination, but at that moment, it could have been a little lazier.

He could guess Lucifer was probably more inventive than a grizzled old hunter and he prayed Sam never remembered.

A snore from the bed thankfully interrupted his thoughts. Bobby tapped Sam's bare feet. "Up and at 'em Sammy," he said, watching as Sam quickly tucked his feet beneath the blankets and used them to push himself into a sitting position. He gave a large yawn and stretched those long limbs. It was remarkable how Bobby could simultaneously take note of how damned big the boy was and think he seemed so incredibly young. He really did look like a hugely overgrown kid when he wasn't startled awake.

Blinking blearily at Bobby, he ran a hand through his hair and muttered, "G'morning.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"I'd sleep better on a queen," Sam said as he made his way to the bathroom. "You?"

"Just peachy," Bobby said before the door shut and he heard the sounds of the shower turning on. He yelled over the sounds of the spray. "I'm going to go over and check on your brother and Cas."

"I'll be over once I finish," the reply came back.

Bobby left the key to the hotel on the table by the door, figuring Sam could lock it up once he left and headed to the next room over. He knocked and waited. This time, it was Dean who answered, looking surprisingly well rested and happy for a man who had been forced to contend with a baby. "Morning," he said as he stepped aside to let Bobby come in.

Cas was bent over the bed, apparently changing Johnny's diaper. "So not fair that you can just poof the things away," Dean muttered to the angel, who offered an odd quirk of the lips in return. A new diaper was on, and Cas looked ready to start dressing the baby, but Dean stopped him. "Wait. Gotta show Bobby these."

Dean picked Johnny up and placed the kid's backside way too close to Bobby's face for comfort. "Look at these things. Cool, right?" Bobby realized that Dean was talking about the denim-looking diapers, but he took a moment to get a look at Johnny's arm. That was going to be rough, and it was certainly going to make the elder Winchester a protective bastard if he was dead set on raising the kid.

"Jean diapers. What will they think of next?" he said dryly.

"I know, right?" Dean said, either missing or ignoring Bobby's sarcasm. The younger hunter turned Johnny around in his arms so that Bobby could meet him properly this time. "Okay, Johnny. This guy here with the fuzzy face and hat. That's your grandpa." The baby's green eyes--different from Dean's, but sure as hell making him look like he might actually have been Dean's--looked at Bobby curiously. The grizzled hunter was softened more than a bit by the mention of the word "grandpa."

It certainly wasn't a name he'd expected to ever earn in his lifetime, even when he started including the boys as his own.

"He is going to get cold if you leave him in just the diaper," Cas nagged from the bed. This was becoming disturbingly domestic. Dean brought Johnny back over to the angel, who began to dress him in a t-shirt that looked like it had the Impala emblazoned across the front. Dean was quick to help with a pair of actual jeans, followed by socks and tennis shoes. The two had made such quick work of dressing the 10-month-old that it looked like they had been doing it for a hell of a lot longer than a day and a half.

Dean took a seat on one of the beds and held Johnny under his arms so the baby could bounce between his father's knees. It should have been odd that Bobby's mind immediately supplied that Dean was the kid's dad, but it wasn't. No more than it was obvious that something about Johnny had struck a cord with Cas as well. The angel was watching Dean and the baby in a way that nearly made Bobby forget that he was a powerful creature capable of killing them all with a single use of his angel mojo.

"We've been posing as FBI agents," Dean said, "but since we're dealing with rogue animals, and one got caught in the act, maybe CDC would make more sense for you and Sam."

"I'm guessing one of you will stay here with the kid in the meantime?"

"I will be remaining with Johnny," Cas said, his eyes never leaving father and son. He took a seat on the bed beside them and wrapped his own larger hand around Johnny's when the baby reached for him. "I do not have Dean's people skills."

"You don't have people skills at all," Dean said with a grin. "You just have people who tolerate the fact that you're odd." He passed Johnny over to Cas, and the baby happily pressed his cheek against Cas's hand that was holding his.

Bobby couldn't help but feel like he was intruding on something very private. The way both Cas and Dean doted on this boy, the way Cas was looking at the hunter and the baby, the older hunter felt as though something in the world was taking a huge shift, and it was in one of the few parts of life that he felt had some consistency.

The elder Winchester and the angel had always had an unusual relationship, one that involved an abnormal amount of staring and invasions of privacy and personal space. Cas knew Dean better than perhaps even Sam, though he understood him far less. Despite having such an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Dean's head, Cas still looked clueless more often than not at the things Dean did or said.

Right now, however, the two seemed to be in near-perfect harmony, and Bobby was left feeling fairly unnecessary. Thankfully, he didn't have to feel like a third wheel for long, as there was a knock on the door.

Not wanting to interrupt the surreal parental moment between the baby and the two on the bed, Bobby stood and walked the short distance to answer the door. He knew it would be Sam on the other side, and he wondered, given the fact that he was usually the most perceptive of the bunch--excluding Bobby himself--what Sam would think of this unusual turn of events between the hunter and his angel. Sam seemed to be welcoming enough about the baby, given the affect he seemed to be having on Dean, but the change between Dean and Cas, that could be a different story.

Sam was all smiles as the door opened, and Bobby could sense that some of that happiness was forced. He was trying very hard to be supportive about Johnny, and Bobby thought he might have to tell the younger Winchester to tone it down a bit. Dean didn't seem to notice, though, as he beamed up at his brother, then looked expectantly at Johnny. Bobby's own eyes turned down as well, curious to see what Johnny's reaction to the giant would be.

The baby was cautious, even looked a bit frightened, which wasn't so surprising, given the kid's past and the fact that Sam was huge by even adult standards.

Once again, Sam's superior observational skills--at least when it came to all things emotional; Dean typically had the better observational skills only when it applied to a hunt--kicked in. The moment Bobby had the door shut, the younger brother knelt on the carpet as low as he could get so that he didn't frighten the little boy. He inched over toward the boy and wore a much more natural, if somewhat soppy, grin.

Emerald green eyes looked between the angel and Dean to see if this was safe. It was clear that already Johnny associated all things safe with Dean and Cas. His right hand was firmly gripping Cas's trench coat. His other arm was seeking reassurance from Dean. Dean took the small arm in his hand and spoke softly to Johnny. "That's your Uncle Sammy, kid. He's a gigantor, but he won't hurt you."

Bobby watched as Sam began to make a complete moron out of himself, twisting his face in numerous ways at the boy before he finally got a grin, then a belly laugh for his efforts. The proud grin that spread across Dean's face reminded Bobby so strongly of John that it was almost startling. Most people assumed Dean looked more like his mother because of his complexion and his lighter hair and eyes, but in that moment, he was all John.

His attention was turned to Cas, who wore a small but rather pleased smile of his own.

"Well, look at that. First person to make the kid laugh," Dean said.

Johnny let go of Cas's hand to reach for Sam's face. It was pretty clear he wanted to touch him, but he still looked hesitant. Thankfully, the younger Winchester solved the problem for him. One very large hand took the tiny one and laid it flat against his stubbly cheek. There was no denying how much the kid had been deprived, not when Bobby saw the look of unadulterated joy the child took in just being able to touch another human being. It was no wonder Cas had decided to kidnap him, for lack of a better or more appropriate phrase.

While the others were entertained, Bobby took note of the state of the room. It was kept far cleaner than he'd ever seen the boys' hotel rooms before. Nothing was scattered about, the weapons were stowed away atop the kitchenette counter, out of Johnny's reach. The bottle of cheap whiskey on the bedside table was still full and unopened, and Dean looked as though a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, despite the fact that many others would have viewed the addition of a child as just the opposite.

Bobby hadn't bonded to the baby yet, but he could guess that it wouldn't take him long to do it. Still, the hunter in him couldn't help but be suspicious about this entire situation. He was going to talk to Feathers about it at the first chance he got, just to be sure that everything with his boy was on the up and up.

#

"We should have listened to the young woman at Wal-Mart," Castiel said as he glared at the waitress's retreating back. "These women are behaving antagonistically toward us merely because we brought a child into the diner."

"Her name was Emma," Dean said as he opened a tiny jar of baby food. "We should call her." He gave a conspiratory look at Sam. "That girl was hot. She had on this little black T-shirt with a big pink heart right here." He gestured to his own T-shirt with his free hand to indicate where the heart had been. "She had to be, what, about 22, 23? Blonde. Gorgeous."

"Have we decided if she was flirting with you or with me?" Castiel asked as he toyed with his cup of coffee. He hadn't figured out how to drink the dark liquid with the same enjoyment that Dean always expressed with his morning "cup of joe." He had remembered to ask for sugar and cream this time and hoped that some combination of the two would ease the bitter flavor.

"I've decided she was flirting with me." Dean dipped the small spoon into the jar of food and extended it to Johnny. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking a lot like a guppy, to imitate what he wanted Johnny to do. So far, it wasn't having much effect.

"Yeah. Because that's sexy right there," Sam said.

Dean didn't bother to look at his brother as he gave him the middle finger, but he did have enough sense to do it out of Johnny's line of sight so the angel felt no need to correct him for it. Castiel thought that with the sort of luck that Dean had, if there was something that the child would learn at the table that morning, it would probably be something they didn't want him to.

"Look, watch me," Dean said, taking a bite of the food. It was fairly obvious he was preparing for it to taste terrible, but apparently, mashed bananas were not as disgusting as he expected they would be. "Mmm... it's good kid. I'll steal it if you don't try some." Dean repeated the earlier performance of trying to get Johnny to eat.

"Does anyone else feel like they've entered an alternate universe?" Sam asked.

"We've been there, done that. And this definitely isn't it. Cas is still learning how to use a basic cell phone, let alone being some Twitter addict. Or calling himself Misha," Dean chirped back as Johnny finally opened his mouth for the spoon. "Yes!" Dean said, then quickly looked defeated as he watched as it was spit out down the baby's chin.

"Twitter?" Cas asked with a tilt of his head. "Misha?"

"I'll explain it to you later," Dean said as he resumed his efforts to get the bananas in Johnny's mouth to stay there.

"So this woman ... You're really thinking of hitting on someone who's about ten years younger than you?" Sam asked. "Cradle robber."

"See, that's the difference between me and you, Sammy. I am age blind. I don't discriminate, unlike some people." Dean tried again with the food, with much the same success.

"Allow me to try," Castiel finally said. "I have only coffee, and I have no preference for it hot or cold."

Dean handed off the jar and the spoon to the angel and began eating his breakfast, which consisted of an artery-clogging six strips of bacon, fried hashbrowns, two eggs over easy and two slices of toast. Castiel made a mental note to clean out the hunter's arteries the next time he had to heal him. His attention turned to Johnny, who also needed to eat. He was no good at making faces or encouraging him to eat a substance that looked to be about the consistency of ectoplasm if a very different color, and the number of times the baby spat the food back out in a dribble seemed to prove his ineptitude in this particular situation well enough.

An elderly woman who had watched both Castiel and Dean's unsuccessful attempts to get Johnny to eat placed her hand on the angel's shoulder as she passed by the table. "Have you tried rice cereal with him yet?" Cas shook his head, as did Dean. "Start with that, dear. Mix it with the formula, and he'll have a more familiar taste with the odd texture."

Castiel thanked her, but her advice served as a reminder that he really didn't know what he was doing with this baby, and it made him question if bringing Johnny to be raised by four men--or three and an angel--who had no clue about babies was the wisest decision. It was probably something he should have considered before, but he had been acting out of instinct and indignation.

There had been only a few scenarios in his life where he acted merely on the sense that he was doing the right thing. He had almost always had orders from his father, and even without those, he had always rationalized, made decisions based upon what he thought was right, based upon the possible outcomes. He could count on one hand when he had acted rashly. One had been rebelling against heaven to stop the apocalypse and keep Dean safe. He had done the same in preventing Raphael from starting it up again--even if he now realized he should have looked at other options and contacted his friend to seek them out.

The fact that both of those other scenarios revolved around Dean Winchester didn't escape his notice. He merely tried not to dwell on it.

Bringing Johnny to Dean and giving them both the family Castiel knew his friend wanted had seemed a natural choice, but he hadn't counted on all of them knowing so little. Yet, even with this doubts, he needed only to look at the hunter's soul to know that the baby's presence had already made efforts to improve it. The darker shades were just a bit brighter and the aura of sadness and guilt was soothed, though still there.

"Cas..." Dean said, snapping in front of the angel's face. Apparently, he'd been trying to get his attention for some time. Blue eyes focused on Dean. "Usually when you go somewhere else, you poof away."

"I didn't go anywh... Oh, you mean in my thoughts. I apologize."

"No problem," Dean said as he bit off a piece of bacon. "I was just saying if you were going to have the kid today, you should probably dress more like a dad and less like an accountant." Cas looked down at the clothes he had been wearing from Jimmy since the very beginning. He had become quite comfortable in the coat and suit. "Johnny's not going to be entertained at the hotel for long, so you might want to go to the park or something."

"Right, and you have already expressed your opinion that the way I dress might make parents uncomfortable." Mainly because Dean seemed to be under the belief that Cas's clothing was the uniform of the pedophile. "But I have no other clothes." The angel offered a bottle to Johnny since he didn't seem to appreciate the bananas.

"I've got you covered," Dean assured him before he finished the rest of his breakfast. Bobby and Sam were slower to finish, and Castiel still had more than half a cup of milky coffee left behind. He just wasn't able to palate the rest of the mug.

Dean left only the bare minimum of a tip for the waitress, and much to Castiel's surprise, it was Sam who began unfastening the high chair. The tall man looked incredibly hopeful, and the angel realized that he was waiting for Johnny to reach for him.

"He is cautious with new people," the angel said, "but if you initiate contact, he will accept it. He obviously likes you already."

"Accept it?" Dean said as he ruffled the reddish blond hair. "The poor kid craves it. I am glad that I don't know where his mother lives. No one could hold me responsible for my actions." The hunter earned himself a broad grin from Johnny.

Sam took that as a signal to pick the baby up and allow Johnny a second to get accustomed to this new person and the height. It didn't take long, and just as he had for his surrogate parents, he immediately curled against Sam's chest and smiled. They didn't want to overstimulate him, having gone for far too long without any contact, but Castiel assumed that the baby would let them know when it became too much.

The five left the diner, and skills honed from years of being a warrior were telling Castiel that Bobby was going to be cornering him very soon, most likely about Johnny. The man was very protective of the Winchesters, particularly Dean. Castiel didn't doubt he would be talking to Bobby about this sudden move toward parenthood, and why Dean had adapted to fatherhood so quickly--something Castiel could really only guess at, himself. He had never shown a human a soul before, but he had his theories as to why they had bonded so swiftly.

"Time to suit up," Dean said as he headed for their hotel room, and he looked at Castiel with a cheeky grin. "And for you to suit down."

Sam handed Johnny over to the angel, so that he could get into his hotel room and into his own suit

Dean was quick to walk over to the duffel bag of his clothes and pull out a pair of track pants and a white T-shirt. "These should work." He tossed them onto the other bed and began stripping himself of his own T-shirt and jeans. Castiel set Johnny on the floor so that he could slowly follow suit.

It was very odd to remove the trench coat and suit. They had become like his armor over the years, and he found it more difficult than he had expected he would as he stripped first the coat, then the suit jacket and tie.

He was in the process of unbuttoning the white dress shirt when he noticed that Dean, who was down to just his boxers, was looking at him strangely. "What?"

With raised eyebrows and a casual frown, Dean muttered, "Nothing. I've just never seen you without the full get-up. Kind of weird."

Castiel didn't offer any sort of reply. He wasn't sure there was one. All he could do was continue the stripping of his armor and keep an eye on Johnny, who was busy trying to figure out a way to move around on the carpeted floor. The boy would probably have to improvise a way of crawling that worked for him but considering how well he handled his bottle, Castiel had little doubt the child would manage something.

After he finished with the pants and shoes, he managed to catch a glimpse of himself in the hotel mirror. He didn't like this at all. Without all of those layers, his vessel's body was thin, small. He had to admit that Jimmy's body was not necessarily weak, but it was such a startling contrast from his own true form that he found it unsettling. It was different even from Sam or Dean's bodies, which were thicker and more visually intimidating. In this form, a casual observer might only give Castiel the benefit of calling him "wiry," never anticipating that he was quicker and stronger than one might imagine.

Still, it was strange, to see the way the white tank clung to a narrow body, to know that for all his angelic power, Dean looked like the stronger of the two of them.

"You going to stare at yourself all day, or actually get dressed?" the hunter's voice chimed in from the other part of the room, where he was busy buttoning up his own white dress shirt.

Again, Castiel said nothing. He merely grabbed the white t-shirt and pulled it on. It was a size too big, and looked baggy in the mirror. The track pants were next, and the angel found he had to hold them up so that they would stay on his hips. "This is not going to work well while entertaining a child."

Dean was clad in the white dress shirt and black pants as he approached. Castiel tried not to jump back as the hunter's hand unceremoniously reached into the angel's pants without warning. He suddenly had an clear understanding of why the hunter so valued his personal space. Its violation made for an unusual heat that pooled in his stomach and cheeks and did strange things to his heart rate.

Hands pulled at a white drawstring until the pants were now snug on Castiel's narrower body. "There you go," Dean said as he knotted the drawstring. The hunter grabbed for his tie and began putting it on, but looked at Castiel the entire time that he did. "A little freaky seeing you in my clothes."

"It feels no less unusual being the one in them," he said. "I assure you."

Dean shrugged before he pulled his suit coat over his shoulders. Castiel was left wondering why he was still feeling somewhat flushed and unsettled. Perhaps this was why Dean always made such requests about his invisible bubble of personal space.

The angel turned his attention back to Johnny who was trying to push himself around on the floor with his feet, but finding that was taking him nowhere. He was in the about to pick up the baby when there was the sound of a knock at the door. He didn't have to wager much of a guess that it was Bobby, and as soon as he'd managed to convince Dean to leave, Castiel knew he would be in for a long talk.

#

"You're sure you'll be fine with her?" Emma asked her mother. "Maybe bring her by the shop later. I've only had her a few days, and I know you're supposed to take time to acclimatize a new dog to you and your house." Emma might have read a few too many books and watched a few too many animal shows in the last few weeks.

Emma watched as her mother patted the sweet Pomeranian's head. "She'll be fine. You aren't going to be able to stay with her every minute of the day, and it might be better if she learns that now rather than later. And I'll be here to make sure she doesn't get lonely or do any damage."
"Thanks, Mom," Emma said, then kissed her on the cheek before she left.

Chapter 6 Here