Chapter Text
Whenever possible Dean avoided restrooms at service stations like the plague. But driving around as much as he did he couldn’t ignore the call of nature and much less the empty gas tank of his car just because he was “afraid of gems” (his brother’s assessment, not Dean’s. Dean simply had a healthy apprehension towards unsanitary places). At least this place appeared decent; the service station was flanked by a small but light-flooded diner and a little kiosk. The unadorned concrete block housing the restrooms looked less inviting. After he had sufficiently groaned about his fate, he pushed against the door, surprised to be met with a soft resistance and a muffled “sorry”. Whatever or whoever had blocked the path shuffled out of the way and Dean peeked into the small, tiled room. A guy in a rumpled trench coat was bending over the free space on the counter where the sink was. It had placed him right next to the door swinging open and it must have been his backside Dean had bumped into. The guy didn’t acknowledge Dean, absorbed in his task. Upon a second glance Dean realized that the guy was trying to change the diapers of an infant while touching as little of the wet, grimy counter as he could.
“Dude, why didn’t you go change her in the ladies’ room? I bet they actually have a changing table in there,” Dean said, watching the man pull wet paper towels away from the shiny pink bottom of the little girl.
“An old lady shooed me out.” The voice of the guy was unexpectedly raspy. Dean raised his eyebrows but he wasn’t particularly surprised by the reply even though he might have ignored grumpy old ladies in a case like this.
“So the baby didn’t count as a free pass to the lady restrooms?” Dean joked but he received only a mute shrug. Instead of trying to force a conversation Dean decided to do what he came here to do. He felt oddly awkward pulling out his junk in the presence of a baby, so Dean took the stall. By the time he was done the trench coat clad man was powdering the baby. The little, pudgy thing with pale tufts of hair had her eyes on Dean as he washed his hands next to her daddy. He bumped elbows with the guy once when he tried to get to the paper towels, but there was no reaction from him, still absorbed in the task of slowly coating the baby’s butt with quite a lot of powder.
“Bye bye sweetheart,” Dean cooed to the girl and saw a slow smile pull at her pink mouth.
“Have a safe journey,” the man said before Dean left and he muttered something in reply, still feeling warmed by the cute grin he had received.
Dean filled the tank of his car and by the time he returned from paying and grabbing a bite to eat, he noticed that the guy was standing close to the parking lot, baby held to his chest and a pale pink rucksack slung over his shoulder. He was looking around, seeming kind of lost, and Dean wasn’t even thinking properly before he called out to him.
“Hey, are you okay?” The man was turning around, walking a little bit towards Dean so that they didn’t have to shout at each other. “Are you looking for your wife?”
“Wife?” he asked, squinting his blue eyes a little bit.
“The baby’s mommy,” Dean corrected but that only made the guy straighten a little bit, rising his head almost defiantly.
“I am her mommy,” he said gruffly and Dean lifted his eyebrow.
“Well, uh, what are you waiting for then?” Dean asked instead, trying not to sound too surprised. It was none of his business to figure out strangers. Night was falling and it was getting chilly. There were only 2 hours left until he was back at home. He really wanted to get there before midnight and his brother bolted the security, locking Dean out and forcing him to take a motel room for the night. He really hated that stupid curfew policy that made it nearly impossible to go out drinking and having a good time (which probably was Sam’s plan).
“I’m looking for a ride,” the man replied evenly. “I’ve been taking the bus so far, but I ran out of money.” Surprised by this confession Dean took in the guy’s appearance once again. The trench coat was rumpled, his hair unruly and he hadn’t shaved for a while, all things Dean would expect people he found at a service station to look like. He had the baby pressed to his chest, wrapped into one of those odd baby holding blankets and she seemed content, not asleep but not crying either. He had nothing but the rucksack, probably containing baby related items, and one of those car seats for infants on him.
“You’re hitch hiking with a baby in tow?” Dean asked incredulously.
“No,” the guy answered slowly. “I’ve been taking the bus”. Dean couldn’t help pinching the bridge of his nose. Whatever the guy was up to it seemed outrageous, but before he could say more a thought crossed Dean’s mind and he looked the two of them over again. The man – probably not much older than Dean himself – didn’t look hurt and the baby was calmly chewing on the collar of the guys’ trench coat. But maybe her daddy (or mommy, Dean supposed) had bruises hidden under his bulky clothes. It was always a possibility, because why else would the guy travel around with not even enough money to actually go anywhere if it wasn’t to escape? Well, of course he could have stolen the child, but she seemed comfortable around him.
“Okay, I’m heading to Lebanon, Kansas. Where do you need to be?” Dean asked, opening the passenger side door of his car.
“Are you taking me with you?” the guy asked and Dean shrugged, but then he walked around the car to the driver’s side and nodded his head towards the open door. “If you are, then Lebanon. If you’re not… Anywhere.” And if that didn’t sound either fishy or sad. Dean hadn’t decided yet but he guessed he’d find out over the next two hours.
“Lebanon then,” he decided, then he got in. Once the guy was in and had the baby carefully put in the car seat, squeezed in between him and Dean, Dean nodded at him. “I’m Dean by the way.”
“Castiel,” the guy said and the name sounded odd, but not quite foreign to Dean’s ears almost as if he should know it despite how it sounded made up. “And this is Anna.” The baby was looking up at Castiel, reaching out for him until he brushed his fingers against her rosy cheeks. Dean felt a small smile forming on his lips before he could check it. Anna was incredibly cute, there was no denying it.
“Okay, Anna and Castiel, let’s get you to Kansas.”