The Beauty of Love As It Was Made To Be 22/?
Title: The Beauty of Love As It Was Made To Be 22/?
Rating: PG
Pairing and Characters: Dean/Cas, Faith, Sam
Spoilers/Warnings: none I can think of
Word Count: ~3,400 (this chapter)
Summary: This is a sequel to "Like To Stay in Heaven..." you don't have to read that first to start this, but it would help a lot. That masterpost is here. You do need to read the prologue which is here. This starts two months after the end of my version of season 7.
This chapter: A year and a half after the previous chapter. Faith begins learning more about her powers.
Notes: This story will most likely turn into another monster. I've had this story in mind for a while and haven't had a way to write it out. It could go on for a long time to see Dean and Cas' daughter grow to an adult.
Previous
“Dean, she’s seven years old! She doesn’t need to use weapons.”
It was a discussion they had had a few times already. Dean wanted to train Faith how to use guns and other weapons, and Cas disagreed.
“I wasn’t much older than that when my dad trained me.”
“Next, you’ll be wanting to take her on hunts with you.” Faith had already gone with them once or twice, never because they wanted to. She was sneaky and fast.
“Eventually she will be, and when she does, I want her to know how to defend herself.”
“She doesn’t need guns for that. With her powers, she wouldn’t need to shoot a gun.”
Dean sighed. He knew that, but he wanted her to be ready for anything. “What if the monsters start to get smart and find ways to make her powerless? What will she do then? It’s happened to you enough times.”
Cas understood why Dean wanted to train her, but he couldn’t do it. “Then I’ll teach her to use her powers. She’s not old enough to use guns or machetes. Someday, she will and I get that, but not yet.”
Dean tightened his lips in annoyance. Every time they’d talked about this, it always ended this way. “Fine.” Dean found it easier to agree than to keep fighting when Cas was set in a thought.
There was a room in the bunker they had found last year that could have been used for fight training or some kind of dancing. Dean tended to believe it was for fighting. The room was huge with padding on three sides and a wall of mirrors on the other. Extra mats were in a closet on the side and Cas was pulling them out to cover half the floor.
Faith was standing on the un-matted side, wearing a long tank top and yellow leggings. She looked a little nervous as Cas stood just in front of the mats. He had already told Faith about some of her powers and how to control them but now he wanted her to use them on him.
“I don’t wanna hurt you, Poppa.” She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and she was pulling on the end of it.
“You won’t. That’s what the mats are for, and you can always heal me if you do. It’s okay.” He smiled encouragingly. “Now, I just want you to try and keep me from taking a single step toward you.”
He nodded to her and she nodded back. She was more willing to do this, since she couldn’t hurt him. Cas lifted his foot to step forward and before it hit the ground, he felt like he was completely locked in place. Faith’s eyes were narrowed in concentration and Cas tried to push forward. He couldn’t move at all.
“Good job, Faith.” Cas smiled and relaxed into the hold. “Now, can you move me back?” Faith looked worried. “It’s okay. Just move me away.”
She closed her eyes and imagined someone else trying to attack her. If she did that, she wouldn’t be afraid. With a lift of her hand and a gut punch of grace, she sent Cas flying back into the matted wall across the room. When she heard his pained huff, she opened her eyes and ran to him.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?” She knelt next to him as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees.
“No,” he coughed and laughed, “I’m okay. That was more than I expected.” He laughed again and patted her arm. “I might put some elbow pads on, though.”
For the next few hours, Cas taught Faith some tricks with her powers and the best and fastest ways to stop enemies. Cas was repeatedly thrown into the wall and blocked with a force field. Once, he even grabbed an illusion as she appeared behind him.
“You’re quick with this, Faith.” He had his hands on his knees as he huffed out labored breaths. “That’s good.”
Faith puffed up at Cas’s approval. “Can I learn to swordfight now?” Cas had told her that they would do that eventually, showing her the angel blade he still used on occasion. Her eyes had lit up like it was Christmas.
“Not today, honey. I’m too tired. Maybe tomorrow.”
“What if Daddy showed me?”
“He could teach you different ways to fight, not using your powers. I’m better with the blades, but don’t tell him I told you that.” He laughed and walked her out. “One more thing: it’s okay to use your powers in that room and when you don’t have another option, but otherwise your dad and I don’t want you using them, okay?”
She sagged a little, hoping this training would mean she had a little more freedom but she nodded. “Okay.”
“We only do that because we don’t want someone to pick you up on some kind of supernatural radar.”
“I know.” She was starting to understand more about why her parents were scared all the time. She had always known about the monsters but now she knew why they were really so worried.
The next day, Faith and Cas sparred again. She was getting faster at tossing Cas or holding him up in the air for a long time. Faith had asked to use the blades again but Cas wanted to get some safer versions of them first. It was the one weapon that could really hurt her and Cas didn’t want to hurt her.
They continued this for another week and Cas was really tired and sore. This didn’t help him when Dean decided to try and convince him to get Faith to train with guns too.
“Dean, she’s doing plenty right now. She’ll never have to use a gun.” Cas was already annoyed more than he should’ve been in his tired state.
“She might. I also think it might be a good idea to bring in something else for her to practice with. I mean, you are a good partner who won’t hurt her, but she needs to know what it’s like to face a real monster.”
“How do you propose to do that?”
Dean shrugged. “We have a dungeon.”
“Are you kidding?” Cas stood from the table where they had been sitting. “You want to bring a monster here and toss our daughter at it to see what she can do?”
“Well, not like that.” Dean stood to level with him. “Fighting you and fighting a demon or shapeshifter are completely different. She needs to know how to face different things.”
“How about she learns the fundamentals first? Ignoring that, what happens when one escapes, and one will, and they go tell their friends about this bunker and the nephilim kid we’re hiding?”
“They wouldn’t escape. You know how hard it even is for them to get in here.”
“Overconfidence isn’t a good thing, Dean. You should always assume they can and will escape. Soon, the word will get out about Faith and demons and monsters of all kinds will be all over us.” He was getting angrier at Dean’s calm state.
“I think we’d be safe in here.”
“Safe? Yeah, until they decide to camp out again and just wait for us to come out so they could kill us, or keep us in here until we ran out of food.”
“Faith could fly us out.”
Cas slapped the table. “That’s not the point, Dean! You’re the one that doesn’t want to cause trouble with the demons for her sake and now you want to bring one into our home and hope everything works out? You have to see how bad an idea that is.”
Dean was getting frustrated now and moved a little closer to Cas. “Then I’m taking her on a job.”
“No you’re not.” Cas met Dean’s glare. “She’s seven years old!”
“Technically, but you know she’s more advanced physically and intellectually.”
Cas let out a sharp breath. “You know, for how much you hated your father for making you a perfect soldier and weapon, you’re doing the exact same thing to Faith.”
Dean’s anger rose. “I’m trying to make sure she’ll be safe. I’m sure she could defend herself already, she already has, but I want her to know how to do everything.”
“To the point where you endanger our lives and hers?”
“What am I supposed to do?!”
“Let her be a child and teach her when she’s older!”
“You’re such a hypocrite. You’re teaching her to fight right now. How are guns that much worse?”
Neither one of them realized how loud their voices had gotten nor did they hear the subject of their conversation approaching.
“STOP IT!”
Both men felt instant regret as they turned to their daughter. She had tears in her eyes and had her hands balled up into fists.
“Why are you fighting? What did I do?” Tears fell down her cheeks.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Cas was still angry, but it was directed at himself now.
“Then why are you yelling?”
“Daddy and I just don’t agree on something.”
“Well, stop it.” She looked between them, lips quivering. “I don’t like it when you fight.”
“We don’t want to fight either, honey.” Dean wanted to hug her but couldn’t move his legs.
“Then don’t!” She screamed loud enough to make the floors vibrate.
“It’s not always that simple, Faith.” Dean was nervous about what she would do when this upset.
“Then at least don’t yell so loud where everyone can hear you.” She turned and ran back to her room. Her door slammed.
The silence that filled the room felt like a weight on both of them. Dean ran a hand through his hair and let out his frustrations with a long breath. Cas covered his eyes and turned back to Dean.
“You know what, do whatever you want. You always do.” Cas’s voice was flat and tired. He didn’t want to fight anymore and he felt horrible for upsetting Faith.
Cas walked off towards the stairs. “Where are you going?”
“I’m just gonna go rest. I think I’ve just been working with Faith too much or something.” He rubbed his eyes with his palms and continued up the stairs.
Dean flopped down on the chair beside him and covered his face with his hands. Everyone had started getting stir crazy after a few weeks of no hunting and barely leaving the bunker. Even Faith was getting grouchy and locked herself in her room more often when she was upset.
This was one of the few things he hadn’t been prepared for when raising a child. He should’ve known since he practically raised Sam, but even then he acted more like a sibling than a parent when Sam got angry.
They were still chasing nothing with the demons and the possible other tablet. No word about a new find had reached them or Garth and it just made Dean itch for something to happen. Kevin was finishing his last year of college currently, maybe, he had talked about going longer.
He knew Cas had Faith’s best interest in mind, but so did Dean. Maybe his idea hadn’t been the best, but if he wouldn’t let Faith go hunt, how was she supposed to learn to fight different monsters? His thoughts were interrupted when Cas came back down the stairs and headed to the door.
“Where are you going?” He stood to stop him if necessary.
“I’m just gonna go walk around.” His voice was still flat and worrying.
“You gonna stay close to the bunker?”
“No, I’m going into town to walk around. I might get some groceries or something, I don’t know. I just need to get out of here for a little bit.” His hand was on the knob.
“Okay, but I’m not mad at you.” He wanted Cas to know.
Cas smiled weakly. “I know. I won’t be gone long.” He left and Dean watched him walk down the gravel road to the street a couple blocks away.
Dean returned to the table and sat there a few minutes before getting up and moving around the library. He realized a few rows of books later that he wasn’t even reading the spines anymore. He went to Faith’s door and knocked, hoping to explain the fight to her more. There was nothing after the knock.
“Faith?” He knocked again. “Can I come in?” The silence that came after seemed a little too silent. “Faith, answer me, even if it’s a no.” There was nothing again.
Fear overtook then and he tried to open the door, which was locked. He knelt and quickly picked it and opened the door to find an empty room. He panicked for a moment but then thought that she probably just flew to another room to avoid seeing them.
Several fearful minutes later after running through every room and calling for Faith, Dean didn’t find her. He knew she could hear him anywhere and stopped in the center of the second floor.
“Faith! This isn’t funny. Come here right now!” His voice echoed and he waited. There was nothing, not even her fairy. He took out his phone and called Cas.
Cas had run the entire way back and busted through the door. “What happened?”
“I was going to talk to her but she didn’t answer her door and her room was empty. I looked everywhere and called for her but she didn’t answer. I think she’s gone.”
“Where would she go?”
“I don’t know.” Terror was coursing through Dean at the thought of where she could be.
“Try Kevin.” Cas knew she sometimes flew to the prophet when they specifically told her not to.
Dean took out his phone again and called him. Kevin hadn’t seen her. Dean was about to seriously flip out when his phone rang in his hand. It was Sam. “I’m sorry, it’s not a good time, Sam.”
“Dean,” he cut him off, “did you let Faith come over here?” He sounded worried.
He let out a relieved sigh. “No, but we’ve been looking for her. She’s there?” He looked at Cas and saw him relax too.
“Yeah, we heard something on the monitor in Henry’s room and we found Faith in there talking to him. She said you had let her come over. She’s really not a good liar is she?”
Dean laughed. “About as good as Cas.” Sam laughed. “If you could tell her to come back, that’d be great.”
“She seemed upset. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, Cas and I were arguing and she didn’t like it.” He felt a stab of regret as he remembered the look on her face when she ran to her room.
“Oh, I see. We’ve been trying to tell her to head home but she’s not having it, Dean. You know, she could stay here tonight if that’s okay. We don’t mind and it might make her feel better.”
“I don’t know.” He didn’t like the idea of her being upset and not where he could help her. “Do you still have angel binding on the house?”
“Yeah, she can’t do any harm.”
“How did she get in the house then?”
“I don’t know. She’s too smart.” He laughed. “Maybe I can talk to her and calm her down. She’ll be safe.”
He still didn’t like it much but Sam was better at connecting emotionally to people so maybe it would be good for her. “Okay, but if she’s not back in the morning, I’m gonna get worried.”
“No problem.”
Dean hung up and told Cas about the arrangement. Cas was okay with it as long as Faith was safe and taken care of. He took Cas’s hand and pulled him into a hug.
“I’m sorry. I won’t bring any monsters here unless we agree to it, and Faith won’t go hunting with me for a while.”
Cas relaxed into Dean’s shoulder and hugged him close. “I’m sorry too. I was tired and needed to get some air.”
They stayed there a moment, enjoying the relief and closeness before heading to bed. Cas was overly tired and Dean wanted to stay close and curled up with him as he slept.
Sam found Faith sitting near Henry on the floor of his room. He greeted her and sat next to her. Henry looked up with a smile and held out a toy for Sam.
“Dada!” He clapped when Sam took the toy and entered their game on the carpet.
He played with them for a few minutes before turning to look at Faith. “So, I talked to your dad. He said you could stay here tonight, but he’s worried about you. You really scared him and your poppa when you left like that.”
She frowned. “I know. I didn’t mean to.”
“But you left anyway. I know why you were upset, and I understand. It’s easier to get out of a situation like that than to stay and work everything out.”
“They’ve never fought like that before.” Her voice cracked a little as she remembered how loud they had been and the anger she felt pulsing off of them.
Sam laughed. “Before they had you, they fought like that all the time.” She turned shocked eyes to him.
“But, I thought they loved each other?”
“They do. Just because people fight, doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. In fact, if they never fought, they wouldn’t really love each other at all. The true families always fight and they always come back. It’s harder to stick around and make it work than it is to just leave. Believe me, I know.”
“They were so angry, though.”
“Your parents have a very passionate relationship.” He smiled, remembering how many heated fights he had witnessed and heard over the course of their relationship. “The bad has never outweighed the good, and that’s all that matters. They fight because they love each other so much, and because they love you.”
She looked down at her hands as she thought. She had heard more in that bunker than she would ever tell anyone. She heard all the laughter and whispered words and the fights and cursing. None of it had ever scared her before. Maybe it did now because she knew that one of them could leave and that thought scared her more than anything.
“Just know that nothing they say or do to each other will ever make them leave or stop loving you. Trust me, they’ve been through worse. They can survive anything.” He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.
“Thanks, Uncle Sammy.” She laughed when Henry repeated her words loudly with a slight lisp.
The next morning, Dean and Cas woke up to find Faith standing in their doorway, her hands clasped in front of her. They both jumped at the sight of her before realizing who she was.
“Faith, you scared us.” Dean sat up. “How was your visit?” He had wanted to scold her and tell her how upset she had made them, but he didn’t think that would be the best thing to do now.
“Good.” She moved closer to the bed. “Uncle Sammy helped me understand what happened. I’m sorry that I scared you. I didn’t want to, but I was mad. I just don’t like it when you fight. I want you to be happy.”
“We are happy, Faith.” Dean patted the bed. She climbed up to sit by them.
“Just because we fight, doesn’t mean…”
Faith cut Cas off. “I know. I know how much you love Daddy. I can always feel it between you.”
“That’s all we wanted to tell you yesterday.” Dean was glad she understood now. He didn’t want her to get that upset anytime they had a disagreement.
“I’m sorry. I love you.” She crawled between them and settled comfortably on the pillows.
“We love you too.” Dean smiled and hugged her. Cas hugged her from the other side and they squished her in a little sandwich until she laughed and tried to push them off.
“I can’t breathe!” She laughed and kicked.
“But we love you so much, Faith.” Cas tried not to laugh as he squeezed tighter.
“Too much to let go.” Dean couldn’t hold back the laugh and they were happy to have laughter echoing off the walls instead of shouting.
Next
Rating: PG
Pairing and Characters: Dean/Cas, Faith, Sam
Spoilers/Warnings: none I can think of
Word Count: ~3,400 (this chapter)
Summary: This is a sequel to "Like To Stay in Heaven..." you don't have to read that first to start this, but it would help a lot. That masterpost is here. You do need to read the prologue which is here. This starts two months after the end of my version of season 7.
This chapter: A year and a half after the previous chapter. Faith begins learning more about her powers.
Notes: This story will most likely turn into another monster. I've had this story in mind for a while and haven't had a way to write it out. It could go on for a long time to see Dean and Cas' daughter grow to an adult.
Previous
“Dean, she’s seven years old! She doesn’t need to use weapons.”
It was a discussion they had had a few times already. Dean wanted to train Faith how to use guns and other weapons, and Cas disagreed.
“I wasn’t much older than that when my dad trained me.”
“Next, you’ll be wanting to take her on hunts with you.” Faith had already gone with them once or twice, never because they wanted to. She was sneaky and fast.
“Eventually she will be, and when she does, I want her to know how to defend herself.”
“She doesn’t need guns for that. With her powers, she wouldn’t need to shoot a gun.”
Dean sighed. He knew that, but he wanted her to be ready for anything. “What if the monsters start to get smart and find ways to make her powerless? What will she do then? It’s happened to you enough times.”
Cas understood why Dean wanted to train her, but he couldn’t do it. “Then I’ll teach her to use her powers. She’s not old enough to use guns or machetes. Someday, she will and I get that, but not yet.”
Dean tightened his lips in annoyance. Every time they’d talked about this, it always ended this way. “Fine.” Dean found it easier to agree than to keep fighting when Cas was set in a thought.
There was a room in the bunker they had found last year that could have been used for fight training or some kind of dancing. Dean tended to believe it was for fighting. The room was huge with padding on three sides and a wall of mirrors on the other. Extra mats were in a closet on the side and Cas was pulling them out to cover half the floor.
Faith was standing on the un-matted side, wearing a long tank top and yellow leggings. She looked a little nervous as Cas stood just in front of the mats. He had already told Faith about some of her powers and how to control them but now he wanted her to use them on him.
“I don’t wanna hurt you, Poppa.” She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and she was pulling on the end of it.
“You won’t. That’s what the mats are for, and you can always heal me if you do. It’s okay.” He smiled encouragingly. “Now, I just want you to try and keep me from taking a single step toward you.”
He nodded to her and she nodded back. She was more willing to do this, since she couldn’t hurt him. Cas lifted his foot to step forward and before it hit the ground, he felt like he was completely locked in place. Faith’s eyes were narrowed in concentration and Cas tried to push forward. He couldn’t move at all.
“Good job, Faith.” Cas smiled and relaxed into the hold. “Now, can you move me back?” Faith looked worried. “It’s okay. Just move me away.”
She closed her eyes and imagined someone else trying to attack her. If she did that, she wouldn’t be afraid. With a lift of her hand and a gut punch of grace, she sent Cas flying back into the matted wall across the room. When she heard his pained huff, she opened her eyes and ran to him.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?” She knelt next to him as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees.
“No,” he coughed and laughed, “I’m okay. That was more than I expected.” He laughed again and patted her arm. “I might put some elbow pads on, though.”
For the next few hours, Cas taught Faith some tricks with her powers and the best and fastest ways to stop enemies. Cas was repeatedly thrown into the wall and blocked with a force field. Once, he even grabbed an illusion as she appeared behind him.
“You’re quick with this, Faith.” He had his hands on his knees as he huffed out labored breaths. “That’s good.”
Faith puffed up at Cas’s approval. “Can I learn to swordfight now?” Cas had told her that they would do that eventually, showing her the angel blade he still used on occasion. Her eyes had lit up like it was Christmas.
“Not today, honey. I’m too tired. Maybe tomorrow.”
“What if Daddy showed me?”
“He could teach you different ways to fight, not using your powers. I’m better with the blades, but don’t tell him I told you that.” He laughed and walked her out. “One more thing: it’s okay to use your powers in that room and when you don’t have another option, but otherwise your dad and I don’t want you using them, okay?”
She sagged a little, hoping this training would mean she had a little more freedom but she nodded. “Okay.”
“We only do that because we don’t want someone to pick you up on some kind of supernatural radar.”
“I know.” She was starting to understand more about why her parents were scared all the time. She had always known about the monsters but now she knew why they were really so worried.
The next day, Faith and Cas sparred again. She was getting faster at tossing Cas or holding him up in the air for a long time. Faith had asked to use the blades again but Cas wanted to get some safer versions of them first. It was the one weapon that could really hurt her and Cas didn’t want to hurt her.
They continued this for another week and Cas was really tired and sore. This didn’t help him when Dean decided to try and convince him to get Faith to train with guns too.
“Dean, she’s doing plenty right now. She’ll never have to use a gun.” Cas was already annoyed more than he should’ve been in his tired state.
“She might. I also think it might be a good idea to bring in something else for her to practice with. I mean, you are a good partner who won’t hurt her, but she needs to know what it’s like to face a real monster.”
“How do you propose to do that?”
Dean shrugged. “We have a dungeon.”
“Are you kidding?” Cas stood from the table where they had been sitting. “You want to bring a monster here and toss our daughter at it to see what she can do?”
“Well, not like that.” Dean stood to level with him. “Fighting you and fighting a demon or shapeshifter are completely different. She needs to know how to face different things.”
“How about she learns the fundamentals first? Ignoring that, what happens when one escapes, and one will, and they go tell their friends about this bunker and the nephilim kid we’re hiding?”
“They wouldn’t escape. You know how hard it even is for them to get in here.”
“Overconfidence isn’t a good thing, Dean. You should always assume they can and will escape. Soon, the word will get out about Faith and demons and monsters of all kinds will be all over us.” He was getting angrier at Dean’s calm state.
“I think we’d be safe in here.”
“Safe? Yeah, until they decide to camp out again and just wait for us to come out so they could kill us, or keep us in here until we ran out of food.”
“Faith could fly us out.”
Cas slapped the table. “That’s not the point, Dean! You’re the one that doesn’t want to cause trouble with the demons for her sake and now you want to bring one into our home and hope everything works out? You have to see how bad an idea that is.”
Dean was getting frustrated now and moved a little closer to Cas. “Then I’m taking her on a job.”
“No you’re not.” Cas met Dean’s glare. “She’s seven years old!”
“Technically, but you know she’s more advanced physically and intellectually.”
Cas let out a sharp breath. “You know, for how much you hated your father for making you a perfect soldier and weapon, you’re doing the exact same thing to Faith.”
Dean’s anger rose. “I’m trying to make sure she’ll be safe. I’m sure she could defend herself already, she already has, but I want her to know how to do everything.”
“To the point where you endanger our lives and hers?”
“What am I supposed to do?!”
“Let her be a child and teach her when she’s older!”
“You’re such a hypocrite. You’re teaching her to fight right now. How are guns that much worse?”
Neither one of them realized how loud their voices had gotten nor did they hear the subject of their conversation approaching.
“STOP IT!”
Both men felt instant regret as they turned to their daughter. She had tears in her eyes and had her hands balled up into fists.
“Why are you fighting? What did I do?” Tears fell down her cheeks.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Cas was still angry, but it was directed at himself now.
“Then why are you yelling?”
“Daddy and I just don’t agree on something.”
“Well, stop it.” She looked between them, lips quivering. “I don’t like it when you fight.”
“We don’t want to fight either, honey.” Dean wanted to hug her but couldn’t move his legs.
“Then don’t!” She screamed loud enough to make the floors vibrate.
“It’s not always that simple, Faith.” Dean was nervous about what she would do when this upset.
“Then at least don’t yell so loud where everyone can hear you.” She turned and ran back to her room. Her door slammed.
The silence that filled the room felt like a weight on both of them. Dean ran a hand through his hair and let out his frustrations with a long breath. Cas covered his eyes and turned back to Dean.
“You know what, do whatever you want. You always do.” Cas’s voice was flat and tired. He didn’t want to fight anymore and he felt horrible for upsetting Faith.
Cas walked off towards the stairs. “Where are you going?”
“I’m just gonna go rest. I think I’ve just been working with Faith too much or something.” He rubbed his eyes with his palms and continued up the stairs.
Dean flopped down on the chair beside him and covered his face with his hands. Everyone had started getting stir crazy after a few weeks of no hunting and barely leaving the bunker. Even Faith was getting grouchy and locked herself in her room more often when she was upset.
This was one of the few things he hadn’t been prepared for when raising a child. He should’ve known since he practically raised Sam, but even then he acted more like a sibling than a parent when Sam got angry.
They were still chasing nothing with the demons and the possible other tablet. No word about a new find had reached them or Garth and it just made Dean itch for something to happen. Kevin was finishing his last year of college currently, maybe, he had talked about going longer.
He knew Cas had Faith’s best interest in mind, but so did Dean. Maybe his idea hadn’t been the best, but if he wouldn’t let Faith go hunt, how was she supposed to learn to fight different monsters? His thoughts were interrupted when Cas came back down the stairs and headed to the door.
“Where are you going?” He stood to stop him if necessary.
“I’m just gonna go walk around.” His voice was still flat and worrying.
“You gonna stay close to the bunker?”
“No, I’m going into town to walk around. I might get some groceries or something, I don’t know. I just need to get out of here for a little bit.” His hand was on the knob.
“Okay, but I’m not mad at you.” He wanted Cas to know.
Cas smiled weakly. “I know. I won’t be gone long.” He left and Dean watched him walk down the gravel road to the street a couple blocks away.
Dean returned to the table and sat there a few minutes before getting up and moving around the library. He realized a few rows of books later that he wasn’t even reading the spines anymore. He went to Faith’s door and knocked, hoping to explain the fight to her more. There was nothing after the knock.
“Faith?” He knocked again. “Can I come in?” The silence that came after seemed a little too silent. “Faith, answer me, even if it’s a no.” There was nothing again.
Fear overtook then and he tried to open the door, which was locked. He knelt and quickly picked it and opened the door to find an empty room. He panicked for a moment but then thought that she probably just flew to another room to avoid seeing them.
Several fearful minutes later after running through every room and calling for Faith, Dean didn’t find her. He knew she could hear him anywhere and stopped in the center of the second floor.
“Faith! This isn’t funny. Come here right now!” His voice echoed and he waited. There was nothing, not even her fairy. He took out his phone and called Cas.
Cas had run the entire way back and busted through the door. “What happened?”
“I was going to talk to her but she didn’t answer her door and her room was empty. I looked everywhere and called for her but she didn’t answer. I think she’s gone.”
“Where would she go?”
“I don’t know.” Terror was coursing through Dean at the thought of where she could be.
“Try Kevin.” Cas knew she sometimes flew to the prophet when they specifically told her not to.
Dean took out his phone again and called him. Kevin hadn’t seen her. Dean was about to seriously flip out when his phone rang in his hand. It was Sam. “I’m sorry, it’s not a good time, Sam.”
“Dean,” he cut him off, “did you let Faith come over here?” He sounded worried.
He let out a relieved sigh. “No, but we’ve been looking for her. She’s there?” He looked at Cas and saw him relax too.
“Yeah, we heard something on the monitor in Henry’s room and we found Faith in there talking to him. She said you had let her come over. She’s really not a good liar is she?”
Dean laughed. “About as good as Cas.” Sam laughed. “If you could tell her to come back, that’d be great.”
“She seemed upset. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, Cas and I were arguing and she didn’t like it.” He felt a stab of regret as he remembered the look on her face when she ran to her room.
“Oh, I see. We’ve been trying to tell her to head home but she’s not having it, Dean. You know, she could stay here tonight if that’s okay. We don’t mind and it might make her feel better.”
“I don’t know.” He didn’t like the idea of her being upset and not where he could help her. “Do you still have angel binding on the house?”
“Yeah, she can’t do any harm.”
“How did she get in the house then?”
“I don’t know. She’s too smart.” He laughed. “Maybe I can talk to her and calm her down. She’ll be safe.”
He still didn’t like it much but Sam was better at connecting emotionally to people so maybe it would be good for her. “Okay, but if she’s not back in the morning, I’m gonna get worried.”
“No problem.”
Dean hung up and told Cas about the arrangement. Cas was okay with it as long as Faith was safe and taken care of. He took Cas’s hand and pulled him into a hug.
“I’m sorry. I won’t bring any monsters here unless we agree to it, and Faith won’t go hunting with me for a while.”
Cas relaxed into Dean’s shoulder and hugged him close. “I’m sorry too. I was tired and needed to get some air.”
They stayed there a moment, enjoying the relief and closeness before heading to bed. Cas was overly tired and Dean wanted to stay close and curled up with him as he slept.
Sam found Faith sitting near Henry on the floor of his room. He greeted her and sat next to her. Henry looked up with a smile and held out a toy for Sam.
“Dada!” He clapped when Sam took the toy and entered their game on the carpet.
He played with them for a few minutes before turning to look at Faith. “So, I talked to your dad. He said you could stay here tonight, but he’s worried about you. You really scared him and your poppa when you left like that.”
She frowned. “I know. I didn’t mean to.”
“But you left anyway. I know why you were upset, and I understand. It’s easier to get out of a situation like that than to stay and work everything out.”
“They’ve never fought like that before.” Her voice cracked a little as she remembered how loud they had been and the anger she felt pulsing off of them.
Sam laughed. “Before they had you, they fought like that all the time.” She turned shocked eyes to him.
“But, I thought they loved each other?”
“They do. Just because people fight, doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. In fact, if they never fought, they wouldn’t really love each other at all. The true families always fight and they always come back. It’s harder to stick around and make it work than it is to just leave. Believe me, I know.”
“They were so angry, though.”
“Your parents have a very passionate relationship.” He smiled, remembering how many heated fights he had witnessed and heard over the course of their relationship. “The bad has never outweighed the good, and that’s all that matters. They fight because they love each other so much, and because they love you.”
She looked down at her hands as she thought. She had heard more in that bunker than she would ever tell anyone. She heard all the laughter and whispered words and the fights and cursing. None of it had ever scared her before. Maybe it did now because she knew that one of them could leave and that thought scared her more than anything.
“Just know that nothing they say or do to each other will ever make them leave or stop loving you. Trust me, they’ve been through worse. They can survive anything.” He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.
“Thanks, Uncle Sammy.” She laughed when Henry repeated her words loudly with a slight lisp.
The next morning, Dean and Cas woke up to find Faith standing in their doorway, her hands clasped in front of her. They both jumped at the sight of her before realizing who she was.
“Faith, you scared us.” Dean sat up. “How was your visit?” He had wanted to scold her and tell her how upset she had made them, but he didn’t think that would be the best thing to do now.
“Good.” She moved closer to the bed. “Uncle Sammy helped me understand what happened. I’m sorry that I scared you. I didn’t want to, but I was mad. I just don’t like it when you fight. I want you to be happy.”
“We are happy, Faith.” Dean patted the bed. She climbed up to sit by them.
“Just because we fight, doesn’t mean…”
Faith cut Cas off. “I know. I know how much you love Daddy. I can always feel it between you.”
“That’s all we wanted to tell you yesterday.” Dean was glad she understood now. He didn’t want her to get that upset anytime they had a disagreement.
“I’m sorry. I love you.” She crawled between them and settled comfortably on the pillows.
“We love you too.” Dean smiled and hugged her. Cas hugged her from the other side and they squished her in a little sandwich until she laughed and tried to push them off.
“I can’t breathe!” She laughed and kicked.
“But we love you so much, Faith.” Cas tried not to laugh as he squeezed tighter.
“Too much to let go.” Dean couldn’t hold back the laugh and they were happy to have laughter echoing off the walls instead of shouting.
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