The Angel, The Hunter and The Nephilim (Destiel x Daughter)

5. I Break Rules, Not Promises

Cas closes the 200 page book he bought the day before, now a little more understanding of what his daughter is going through. He gets up, rubbing his sore back and walks over to the stove to heat up water for tea. He knows that it's important to stay warm, especially for his daughter who is sick. Throwing a look out the kitchen window as he's filling the kettle with water, he stops when he sees that neither his husband or his daughter is out there anymore.
He shrugs and puts the kettle on the stove, thinking that maybe Dean helped her back upstairs and they've started watching movies. Cas is not really easy to get pulled away from a book whenever he's really gotten into it. He turns on the stove and walks out into the hallway to see if anyone's there.
There's a sound of soft snoring from another room by the stairs and walks over to the doorway into the living room where he sees Dean laying on the couch, his legs up on the coffee table with Leah's head resting in his lap. Dean's hand is holding one of hers protectively and she's sleeping safely with a little smile on her face. Castiel has to wipe away a tiny tear when he sees his little family so peaceful and happy when he remembers how hard things were for them a decade ago.

Dean and Cas were frantically searching for a home while still trying to finish up the case they had started, all while balancing that with taking care of the little girl that had just come wandered into their lives. Leah was very shy and quiet because she didn't know them and she couldn't remember anything from her previous life, and it was a tough beginning with a lot of trust-work to do.
They never told Leah that Dean worked as a hunter, dealing with things of nightmares, and that Castiel was an angel, a son of God himself. They wanted her to believe her life was completely normal. And it was. Her life had been free of monsters and demons, and they were both eternally grateful for that, that they had actually managed to keep demons and other angels at bay all these years.

"Dean," Cas whispers from the doorway. It breaks his heart to wake them up when they're sleeping so beautifully, but he needs Dean to listen. His husband tilts his head a little, but he doesn't wake up. Cas sighs and walks up to him, putting an arm on his shoulder, nudging him a little.
"Dean, wake up," he says softly. Dean opens his eyes, rubbing the tiredness out of them and then looks up at Cas while yawning.
"Looks like I fell asleep during storytime," he says quietly, smiling as he looks down at his daughter. He then proceeds to look up at Cas again, who has a serious look on his face.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asks, instantly worried.
"It's five o'clock, Dean. Leah has officially not eaten anything in over 24 hours."
Dean shakes his head and his grip tightens slightly around Leah's hand.
"That's okay, she said she wasn't hungry."
"Well, she needs to eat something. Tell you what," Cas says. "I need to go run some errands and take out some pills for her from the doctor's prescription. Can you try to get some food in her while I'm gone?"
"I'll try but I don't know if she'll eat."
"Well, she lost a lot of blood and she needs some nutrients back into her body. There's some chicken soup leftovers in the fridge. You should warm some up, it should help with her cold symptoms at least."
They are interrupted by the sound of the kettle on the stove squealing, and Cas leaves the room quickly while Leah slowly opens her eyes. She rubs her eyes with one hand, not wanting to let go of her dad's.
"Seems like both of us were gone for a couple hours, kiddo," Dean says.
"Well, time sure flies when I'm listening to my favorite story," she replies with a hoarse voice, and Dean smiles down at her.
"Yeah, I guess so. Sorry you were woken up. Cas put the kettle on."
"I'm still pretty tired," she admits, closing her eyes again. Dean squeezes her hand and now he finally realizes how cold and thin it feels to hold it. He really needs to get her to eat.
Cas shows back up in the doorway right after Leah's dozed off again, and he nods to his husband.
"I'm gonna be back in probably an hour, I have to do some more errands. Just start movie night without me if she still feels up for it. And get her to eat something, I put the chicken soup on the counter for you." He nods towards their daughter, and Dean gives him a thumbs up.
"Got it."
Dean nudges in Leah again when Cas has disappeared out the door.
"Okay, honey, you've gotta wake up now," he says.
"Why?" she whispers with her eyes still closed.
"Because you haven't had anything to eat for well over 24 hours. Cas is worried. I'm worried. I'm gonna go make you some chicken soup and we'll watch some movies, okay?"
"What kind of movies?"
Dean pulls her up, getting up off the couch and putting a soft pillow under her head. "The kind of movies they recommend for broken hearts," it spills out of him, and he instantly regrets his choice of words when sees his daughter's face darken. Her eyes fills with tears again, and she turns her head away from him, closing her eyes.
He groans internally. I'll fix her afterwards, he thinks. Right now he has to make sure she eats so she doesn't die of malnutrition. He disappears into the kitchen to see a cup on the counter, and he breathes in the scent Leah's favorite chamomile tea. He sends Cas a thankful thought as he takes the container of chicken soup, removes the plastic wrap and puts it in the microwave.
Over the buzzing noise of the microwave he hears the heartbreaking sound of someone crying from the living room and he closes his eyes, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knows he just made everything unnecessarily worse for her.
"Suck it up," he whispers to himself, "it was an accident, but you made this mess, so you need to fix it."
He gives it a minute until the chicken soup is done, and he takes it out, pours it into a bowl, picks up a spoon and the tea cup and he walks out to the living room where she's turned to the other side of the couch, rolled up in a ball, having buried her face in the pillow he gave her.
He shoots her a concerned look before he gets the movies, puts in a random one and gets into the couch. He realizes that waiting to apologize to her was a mistake. She's turned pale again because of the strain.
"Leah, honey," Dean says softly. He turns to her, reaching his arms out for her.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me. Come here."
She looks up at him, her face already wet with tears and she sobs, stretching her arms out for her dad. Leaning into his chest, she cries softly into his shoulder while he holds her tightly, resting his head on hers. Dean doesn't know what to say - he's trapped in that situation again - but he rubs her back lovingly while shushing at her and that usually helps.
"You wanna go back to sleep?" he murmurs into her hair after a while, when she's finally calmed down. She looks up at him and sniffles, wiping the tears on the sleeve of her sweater.
"No, I think I wanna watch some movies, if that's okay." She smiles ever so slightly and Dean sends her a sad smile, pulling over the blanket, wrapping it around the both of them.
"Okay. But honey, you gotta eat," Dean says with a concerned wrinkle on his forehead, "Okay? But are you gonna eat like a big girl or do we have to do the whole airplane-spoon-thing?" he asks, picking up the bowl of soup from the coffee table.
"I'm not a child anymore, dad," she sighs and sniffles again.
Dean sighs. "No, but you're my kid and I'm not gonna see you refuse to eat because of a boy."
There's another moment of silence, and Dean puts the bowl and the spoon down.
"Look," he sighs, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm not good at this, alright, but what can I say? I wasn't given those instincts that fathers supposedly get when they become parents. I really am trying. I wanna try to be a good dad for you, okay? I want you to be okay. But I don't know how to make you feel better unless you tell me."
Leah is just staring down into the table, not knowing what words to utter.
"Please try to," Dean begs. "Try for Cas. Cas is an emotional wreck but he's trying his best. And I know you're not feeling alright, but the best way to get over something when you're a girl, is apparently to eat, a lot, and watch sad movies."
Dean looks at her face, and witnesses a tiny smirk playing on her lips. She looks up at him. "Who told you that?"
"A l- a lady at the store," Dean mumbles hesitantly, and Leah snickers.
"It's not the end of the world, kiddo," he adds.
"What did you get, then?" Leah asks, looking at the stack of brand new DVD's resting on the TV bench by the window across the room.
"Um, this one's called Mamma Mia The Movie," he says, pressing play. "Cas saw it at the movies once."
"Dad saw a romantic movie at the cinema?" Leah giggles, not really believing her father's words.
Dean nods. "Yeah, I know. We've been married for ten years and he still doesn't cease to amaze me."
"So you're gonna sit here and watch girl movies... with me?"
"Kid," Dean says. "I break rules, not promises."