"Charlie Jo!" Castiel was frustrated from trying to round up both of the wild little things running around. "Bobby John! Come inside, now!" Still, the little ones ran around the backyard, disturbing the flowers and nearly stumbling into the pond. After stopping the apocalypse and fighting the loss of his grace, the last thing Cas had expected was to be out minded by a couple of seven year old twins. It was hard to believe they were already seven, it seemed just weeks ago that they had been adopted as newborns. Castiel still remembered walking into the adoption center that day ready to find the joy of a child. Most angels were never able to have that experience, and that was why Cas was glad that he had rebelled. But they were wild! "Children, if you do not come inside right now I swear I'll-"
Cas was cut off by a hand wrapping around his waist. This was a hand he had been familiar with since he had been sent to Earth to stop the breaking of the seals. A hand that had never failed to send warm, calming tremors throughout his body. And it didn't fail this time. Cas turned to look into the green eyes of Dean Winchester, the glimmer of them outweighing the feeling of frustration that was clinging to him. "I'm back, Baby." Dean smiled and reached out to touch Castiel's face. "I'll handle them. Why don't you go start dinner? Sam will be over tonight and I bought something for you."
"Thanks, Dean." Relief flooded through Cas. For some reason, Dean always knew what to say to the kids, even though he never had a good example to go off of. The kids respected Dean, but who couldn't? The man was perfect in everything he did, and Cas was glad that he could call him his own.
"Of course." Dean lightly kissed Cas and then turned to the children. "CHARLIE JO WINCHESTER-NOVAK! BOBBY JOHN WINCHESTER-NOVAK!" Cas smiled and headed inside.
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"Where is my favorite niece and nephew?" Sam threw the door open, almost hitting his head on the top of the frame. Castiel laughed from the kitchen and Sam followed the noise. "Hey, Cas. Where are the kids?" Sam found a seat at the table and Cas handed him a cup of coffee.
"They were being a bit out of control. I think Dean is still talking to them." The oven timer went off and Cas opened it, pulling out an apple pie and a batch of cookies. "Would you like a cookie?"
Sam shook his head and laughed a little. "You definitely have a problem with those little angels, don't you?" Sam's brown eyes lit up when he smiled, but not as much as Dean's did. No one compared to anything about Dean. Cas shook his head when he realized that he was, yet again, thinking about Dean. You would think that after a year of marriage, and even longer as friends, this feeling would have at least dulled down. That wasn't the case at all.
Cas could still remembered the day he met Dean, though it wasn't under the most pleasant of circumstances. Thinking back he could remember the storm that his grace had caused, the sound of the barn doors flapping in the wind. He remembered the look of confusion on Dean's face when Cas told him who he was.
"My name is Castiel. I am an angel of the Lord." From that point, Cas knew that there was something there. He couldn't place it right away, but as soon as he saw the way Sam had looked at Gabriel, he did know. Love was not a common feeling for angels, especially with humans. It took a long time for Cas to be able to admit his feelings to Dean, but he was thankful when he did.
Dean walked into the room, startling Cas out of his memories.
"What's for dinner, Baby?" Dean walked up behind Cas, putting his hands around Cas' waist and resting his head on Cas' shoulder. His eyes did their lighting up thing as he realized the apple pie that Cas was holding. "Is that for me?"
"Not if you don't let me finish cooking," Cas giggled and kissed Dean's cheek, before playfully shoving him away. "Go spend some time with your brother! He's only here for a week, and he knows how to stay out of my way." Sam laughed from the kitchen table.
Dean smirked and put his hands on Cas' waist again. He leaned down and kissed Cas again, this time slowly and carefully. "What if I want to be in your way?" Cas smiled lovingly at Dean.
"You can be just in the way as you want after the kids go to bed." Cas winked, and, as if on cue, the kids came into the room, hanging their heads. They found their way to the table, just as Cas finished up the last of the spaghetti. Cas served them, and glanced at the kids. Charlie was crying. "What's wrong, Charlie?" Even as he said it, he walked toward the fridge, pulling out a large salad.
"Me and Bobby are grounded!" It was adorable when the children got angry, at least for Cas, who knew true anger, and that this was nowhere near it. "We are grounded again just because you are no fun and you won't let us have fun!" Cas was suppressing laughter, which came out in little huffs of breath.
"Well, maybe if you would learn how to listen, we would have good days where we can go out and do fun stuff." Cas and Dean exchanged looks, Dean knowing EXACTLY what Cas was referring to.
Bobby looked up from his plate of spaghetti at Cas. "Like what?"
Dean looked over at Cas, who saw no point in telling the kids what he was talking about, for the fact that it wasn't going to happen if they were grounded. Dean decided to tell them anyways, to teach them about the kinds of things they could miss if they got into trouble. "Well, Cas and I have been planning for a while now to take you two to the carnival tonight, with your Uncle Sam." Dean watched at their faces fell, feeling a pang of guilt for a second. "If you guys hadn't gotten into trouble, we'd be leaving right after dinner."
"Dean, can we PLEASE go?" Charlie curled her fingers together, begging.
"PLEASE, Dean." Bobby spoke with a whine in his voice, as if whining was going to phase Dean. "Must I remind you whose fault this is?" Dean looked carefully from Charlie to Bobby and then back to Charlie. "However, I suppose there is one thing you can do, if you really want to go, and if Cas is okay with it." The kids turned to Cas
Cas looked at Dean in shock. Dean was not usually one to go back on punishments, but Cas guessed that he had been excited about the carnival, and wanted to go. So he was giving the kids a chance. After a minute Cas nodded, and the kids turned back to Dean.
"What do we have to do?" Charlie asked, a look of excitement in her eyes.
"Well, what do you usually have to do when you upset someone?" Charlie and Bobby stared at Dean with puzzled expressions. Sam laughed at their confusion. "Something you haven't done yet. I'll give you a hint. It's something you need to say to Cas."
Bobby's eyes lit up as he realized exactly what Dean was saying. Bobby was usually quiet, but he thought a lot more than Charlie did. Charlie never thought about what she was going to say before she said it, whereas Bobby thought it out carefully, and even so, he rarely spoke. He was more in the practice of acting, one of the few wise people who realized that words were, well, just words. He turned to Cas. "Cas, I'm sorry that Charlie and I were not behaving outside earlier. We should have listened to you more, and I will do better next time."
Charlie caught on and also turned to Cas. "Yeah, Cas, I'm sorry." Charlie turned back to Dean. Just like her usual self, as soon as she had done what was asked of her, she wanted the reward. "Can we go now, pleeeaaase." All of the adults laughed at the way she dragged out her please.
After a long mock-thought session, Dean smiled at Charlie and Bobby. "Hurry up and finish your dinner. Then get changed. I want jeans and closed toed shoes, Charlie." As would be expected, the kids zoomed through their meal and went to change, quickly enough that the adults' meal was rushed.
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Charlie and Bobby were squirmy for the entire ride to the carnival, which wasn't a short one. Charlie, of course, was talkative. Dean and Cas had known she would be, and took the wonderful initiative of making Sam sit in the back. This didn't really bother Sam, he was around enough for it to. Sam was back in school at Stanford, and only every now and then could he visit. When he did, he always spoiled the kids rotten. This time he had brought them scooters, which still laid in the back of Sam's car, not presented yet to the children. Sam himself was excited for the carnival, and the time he got to spend with his brother. Pulling in Sam was almost convinced that he was more excited than the kids.
"Are you two ready?" Dean asked, even though he knew the obvious answer. The kids simply replied by jumping out of the car and racing towards the ticket booth. "Hey! Hey! I know you are excited, but you have to stay with an adult!" The kids quickly obeyed, knowing that Dean was not above turning around and taking them home.
Sam glanced over at Dean. "You want me to drag them around? Give you and Cas a night alone?" Dean was hesitant. His brother didn't come all the way out here to babysit. But after seeing the honesty in Sam's eyes, Dean decided it would be okay. "Thanks, dude. But not all night. We meet back at the merry go round at eight, and we will do the rest as a family."
