Chapter Text
“It’s too freaking cold to walk,” Claire said, teeth chattering. “I want my car.”
Also shivering, Emma could only agree. The girls had stayed at Kaia’s house over the weekend. Her moms were amazing and her older ‘sister’ was pretty cool, too. Jody and Donna had adopted both girls and were looking into adopting another kid. Kaia had been with them just under two months.
It wasn’t a terribly long walk from Kaia’s house back to Claire’s, but the wind was biting, making the sunny day feel icy. Once in the house and taking off coats and boots, the girls began to worry about’ the dads’ as they’d taken to calling the pair.
Claire yelled from the kitchen, getting the kettle ready for tea. “Uncle Cas?”
“Dad?” Emma echoed.
Emma walked into the living room and found the dads asleep on the couch, arms around each other and legs tangled. They must have enjoyed their weekend (ew).
Claire followed Emma shortly after putting the kettle on the stove to boil.
“Aw,” she cooed. “But also ew.”
“Right?”
“Let’s wake ‘em up,” Claire said with a grin.
Emma pulled out her phone and scrolled to what she and Claire had begun to call the dads’ ‘song’. Emma skipped around a bit before she found the right part and then turned the volume all the way up.
Don’t you wanna get away from the same old part you gotta play
‘Cause I got what you need, so come along with me and take the ride
It’ll take you to the other side
Both men were startled. Castiel nearly got a knee to the groin and Dean got a headbutt.
“Ow.”
“Fuck!”
Castiel and Dean glared over at the smiling girls. Castiel rolled his eyes and rolled to the back of the couch so that Dean could sit up. Both Claire and Emma were laughing. Dean turned to Castiel and kissed his cheek.
“Weekend’s over, babe,” Dean said into the man’s ear before getting up and heading for the kitchen.
On his way past the girls, he shoulder-checked his daughter and stuck out his tongue. Emma turned and stuck her tongue out, too. Castiel sat up on the couch and shook his head as the girls continued to laugh. He watched as the man he loved walked back to his kitchen, presumably to deal with breakfast.
“Did you two have fun?” Castiel asked the girls.
“Definitely,” Emma replied, going to sit on the recliner next to Castiel.
“Yep,” Claire sat down beside her uncle. “Sooo, should I give him the talk?” She looked over to Emma and winked.
“What ‘talk’?” Castiel asked, confused. He already knew about sex; surely, Claire didn’t want to discuss that. Although, that would be a topic that needed to be discussed in the future, regardless of Claire’s sexual orientation, he--
“--intentions are,” Claire finished.
Castiel looked over at her even more confused. “Intentions?”
“Were you listening to anything I just said?” Claire huffed animatedly and repeated herself. “Do I need to talk to Dean about what his intentions are toward my uncle? Like, is he looking to stick around for a little while or does he just want a quick fuck--”
“Claire Elizabeth Novak!”
“--or does he want to stick around for the long haul?”
Castiel looked from his niece to Emma and back again. “Is this how you spent your whole New Year’s Eve?”
Emma smiled brightly. “Pretty much!”
Castiel rolled his eyes as Dean came into the room with two coffees. He handed one off to Cas, but still stood beside the couch.
“Are those my only options? Stick around or have a quick fuck?”
Castiel choked a bit on his coffee. “Dean, don’t encourage them.”
“No, no, I want to know what my options are here, Cas. I mean, you’re a Class-A fuck, don’t get me wrong, but--”
“Gross!”
“Ew, Dad!”
“-- but what if I want something else closer to the long haul.” Dean was looking at Castiel through the entire exchange, not noticing the girls rolling their eyes and making gagging faces at one another. “What if I want to know what’s on the other side?”
“The other side of what, Dean?”
“This, Cas,” Dean replied with a big smile. “What’s on the other side of all this? The lazy mornings, the stupid fights, teenage girls getting all up in our business...”
“Are y’all having, like, a stroke or something?” Claire asked, looking between the two men.
Emma jumped up to stand by her dad, who still hadn’t looked away from Castiel. She began humming and making wild eyes at Claire.
“You’re kidding, right?” Claire asked Emma, catching on to what the girl was doing. Emma shook her head no and pushed her dad forward.
Claire stood up and moved toward Emma, elbowing Dean slightly when they passed by each other. Neither Dean nor Cas had looked away, both still staring deeply into the eyes of the other. Claire joined in with Emma humming, though she rolled her eyes first and crossed her arms as if to stave off the absolute mush of the scene before her.
Dean sat his coffee cup down on the coffee table and made to grab Castiel’s as well, but the man beat him to it and then stood up beside Dean. The man reached out and took Castiel’s hand, putting his other hand on Castiel’s waist and pulling him away from the couch. Dean began to sway and hum. Before long, he was singing quietly in Castiel’s ear.
Right here, right now
I put the offer out
I wanna chase you down
I know you see it
You run, with me
And I can cut you free
Out of the drudgery and walls you’re trapped in
So trade that typical for something colorful
And if it’s crazy, live a little crazy
You can play it sensible, king of conventional
Or you can risk it all and see
Dean leaned back and put his forehead on Castiel’s. Looking into his eyes, Dean said, “Come to the other side with me, Cas. Let’s see what happens, yeah?”
Castiel began smiling when he understood what tune the girls were humming, and his smile only got wider the more Dean spoke. Yeah, they could do this together...stay in the cage or take the key and fly.