Two Men and Half an Angel

Chapter 6

"Hold your glove up a little higher." Dean instructed with a baseball grasped in his hand. "Just like that. Now, when you see the ball coming aim your glove so that the ball falls into the web of it. When the ball hits your glove squeeze your hand around it."

Cas nodded with a look of fierce concentration. "Okay. Throw it."

Dean tossed the ball as lightly as he could while still managing to aim it so that it would go into Cas' open mitt. They both held their breath as Cas tracked the ball with wide eyes. A small squeal ran out across the yard as the ball was caught.

"I did it!" Castiel shrieked as his little body jumped up and down with a grin wide enough to brighten the entire week. "I caught it, Dean!"

"You sure did, buddy." Dean let the tension run out of his body as he watched the younger angel do some sort of victory dance. It was his idea to do things that a kid would enjoy, remembering back to what Gabe said about Cas never having a childhood. Dean always wished his dad had taught him to play baseball.

Castiel hugged the mitt and ball to his chest with a childish grin that Dean was growing used to on the angel. "Can we get ice cream now?"

"Sure." Dean chuckled as the two of them started toward the bunker. "You gonna tell Sam you caught the ball?"

"Yes!" Cas' face filled with pride. "And Gabe! They're gonna be so jealous cause I am so good."

Dean couldn't help but laugh from the bottom of his stomach. Just as they were heading into the door of the bunker a knowledge took his breath away. Since as long as he could remember he had always told himself he would never have a child. With his line of work and the monsters he knew were in the world he never wanted to bring a kid into any of it. Ben had been a hopeful tragedy. But having Cas like this... it was almost too much. Dean could be the father that he never wanted to be, as screwed up as the situation was.

Small feet took off through the bunker the moment the door was locked shut. Dean sighed as he picked up Cas' discarded glove and ball. He started for his room when he heard a little noise that drew his attention toward the library. What he saw made his heart clench.

Sam was seated at the table with a book in his lap, but it wasn't for research. Gabriel was perched on the other side of his lap with his head resting on Sam's shoulder. The two of them were the picture out of a catalogue for a loving home.

"I am Sam. I am Sam. Sam-I-Am.

That Sam-I-Am! That Sam-I-Am! I do not like that Sam-I-Am!

Do you like green eggs and ham?

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

Would you like them here or there?

I would not like them here or there.

I would not like them anywhere.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

Would you like them in a house?

Would you like them with a mouse?

I do not like them in a house.

I do not like them with a mouse.

I do not like them here or there.

I do not like them anywhere.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am."

Sam's voice carried through the bunker and suddenly Dean's eyes caught a dark haired head making its way toward the table. Dean stood still as his eyes watched Castiel climb up on Sam's lap so that Sam had to shuffle with the book and set it on the table. Two large arms wrapped around the two kids and pulled them together as he continued to read.

There was a world of monsters waiting outside the bunker. There were millions of horrors in the world that Dean and Sam needed to fight. But for that one moment it was all gone. Every hunter instinct in Dean and Sam slipped through their fingers like the sand of an hourglass long forgotten. Two small laughs rang out from the reading and it was the most precious things Dean or Sam could ever remember hearing.

Dean quietly came forward and took a seat across from his brother. The two met each other's eyes but Sam never stopped reading. Castiel squirmed out of Sam's reach and crawled across the table only to fall into Dean's lap. The two hunters held their angels as Dr. Seuss took their minds off of everything that didn't matter. Dean realized, with Cas' warm breath fanning over his neck, that all that ever mattered were the two helpless beings in their arms.