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Dean walked into the hotel room, tired and limping on his left side. It was just the run of the mill salt and burn, but he had done it solo and the ghost got a couple of good hits in before Dean flambeed her skeleton. He and Sam had decided to take a small break from each other after a recent disagreement, and Castiel was still helping Claire clean up after the remains of a vampire nest. Dean didn't mind some time alone; he needed to gain some perspective. His adventures traipsing through alternate universes left Dean a lot to think about what he wanted and how to move forward with his life.
He dropped his duffle bag on the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. He took his off clothes and climbed into the shower. His muscles relaxed as the hot water cascaded over his body. Midway through his shower, he started to feel dizzy. Dean slid to sit on the shower floor. He growled, "Son of a bitch! Not now. No. This is not an option."
He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again to see Castiel shaking him slightly, "Dean, you're having a nightmare." Dean stared at Castiel in confusion. Gone was the trench coat, instead Castiel was wearing a Star Wars t-shirt featuring Princess Leia and blue jeans. His hair was longer than usual and curly with lighter brown highlights. He looked around. He was sitting on the back bench of an SUV. He could tell Sam was on the middle bench, his hair cut in the shorter style he wore in his early 20s. Next to Sam sat a woman with wavy blonde hair. He realized the driver was Charlie -- her hair color was distinctive. Sitting in the shotgun position was another blonde woman.
He saw a street sign that said Universal City. "We're in Los Angeles," he said to no one in particular.
Castiel gave him a worried look. "Are you ok, Dean? I thought the Xanax that we gave you before flying would have worn off by now." Castiel interlaced his fingers with Dean's and pulled his hand up to his mouth for a quick kiss. Dean stared at his hand and noticed the silver band on his ring finger and looked quickly at Castiel's left hand. He had a matching band. Dean swallowed nervously.
"I'm fine, Cas. Just fine. Some post-flight nerves."
The blonde directly in front of him turned around. He realized it was Jessica Moore, Sam's college girlfriend who had been killed 15 years ago. She had been beautiful then, as a woman in her mid-thirties she was absolutely glowing. Jess said, "Tell me if you aren't feeling better, Dean. I do have some Dramamine and aspirins in my purse. I can take your pulse."
Sam laughed, wrapping an arm around Jess. Dean felt something choke inside him -- he hadn't heard Sam laugh like that in years. "Jess, stop being a nurse. You're on vacation, and we have to live it up because we won't have another one for quite a while. Once the baby comes, we won't get another chance to go off like this for years."
Dean sat up straighter. Baby -- his baby brother was going to have a kid. He looked at Castiel with a goofy grin.
Castiel leaned his chin onto the seat in front of him, "Your parents are going to argue over who gets to take care of the baby. They'll pay you to take vacations and go away so they can babysit. Mary and John have already set up a nursery in their own house, so you have a place to drop her off when you want a night out."
Charlie called out from the front, "Cas, you and Dean need the practice for next year. So, you should take some turns with the babysitting as well."
Dean looked at Castiel confused, "Next year?"
Castiel squinted at him and tilted his head. "She's talking about the surrogacy. Our baby?"
"Like you and me our?"
Castiel peered intently into his eyes. "Are you sure you are ok?"
Dean leaned back in the seat. His parents were apparently alive, and he and Cas were planning on having a kid. So far, this seemed like a wonderful reality. He scrunched his nose as he wondered if he might be in a djinn world. He looked around for anything that might indicate that this wasn't real. Castiel said more quietly, "I know the others are eager to do the Harry Potter thing and the Universal Studios tour, but we have two-day tickets. You and I can tap out and just ask to be dropped off at the hotel. I don't mind."
Dean was tempted at that offer; it would give him an easy out on the overwhelming amount of information he was trying to process. However, he didn't know how long he'd be here, and he didn't want to miss a moment of seeing Sam this happy with Jess and Charlie's infectious energy. "I'm fine, Cas. Really. I'm just a bit groggy from the drugs. But, I'm all for the wizarding stuff. Wands. Umm… quidditch. Sorting hats. All that nerd stuff."
Charlie called from the front, "I heard that Dean."
"I like nerd stuff too, just not as much as you and Sam." He smiled at Charlie. His jaw dropped when Jo Harvelle turned around to look at him from the shotgun to say, "Hey, I'm almost as big as a nerd as Charlie."
Dean stared at Jo and couldn't breathe for a minute. Last time he had seen her, she'd been about ten years younger with her guts torn open by a hellhound, waiting to sacrifice herself for a shot at Lucifer. His face paled, and Castiel squeezed his hand tightly, noting Dean's distress.
Dean felt relieved when Jess said, "No nerdiness here. I like romcoms and romance novels, but I love Sam, so I indulge his nerdish ways."
Dean smiled at Cas, "How do you rate yourself on the nerd scale?"
"I'm but the padawan, you are the geek master, Dean. I didn't know Star Trek from Star Wars from Dancing with the Stars until you fell down the steps and I helped you stand up. I thought Iron Man was just a Black Sabbath song. I certainly didn't know anything about Babylon 5 or Dr. Sexy."
Dean stared at his and Castiel's intertwined fingers. He could have this in his reality. Maybe? He hoped. Then he let out a deep sigh, his reality had apocalypses, werewolves, archangels, nephilims, and demons. He wondered what this Dean did for a living. He hoped it was something he really enjoyed.
Charlie pulled the SUV into the parking lot at Universal Studios. They headed for the gates -- Charlie pulling Jo behind her at a fast pace. Dean mused, "So they're together."
Castiel looked over at him, "For six years. I know that it took a while for you to believe that the little girl in pigtails that followed you around the auto shop with a crush as a kid came out of the closet. I still can't believe you even thought for a moment, it was because you came out to your parents when we got engaged. I believe at the time you said, and I quote, 'She's trying to pull one-upmanship me.' You and Jo are always so competitive."
Sam laughed and clapped Dean on the shoulder. "You were obvious with Cas since you two were about sixteen. You're the only one that thought you were still in the closet. The rest of us assumed one day you'd get your head out of your ass and realize Cas was the best thing to ever happen to you."
Charlie yelled from up front, "Come on, guys. I want to see Hogwarts. Move it, bitches."
The others rushed to catch up. They practically galloped until they got to the front of the castle. Jess took one look at the queue waiting for the attraction and said, "Sam's going to feed me lunch first and I need a bathroom. There's no way." She put her hand on her slightly rounded stomach.
Charlie rolled her eyes dramatically, "I suppose I've waited this long in my life to visit Hogwarts. I can wait an hour more. I don't know how many times you've gone pee today."
Jess snorted, "Next year, this will be you and Jo. Then, we'll see who will be complaining about bio breaks."
Dean squinted. Jo and Charlie were both getting pregnant? He looked at Castiel, who was distracted by Sam. Sam was trying to decide whether Cas was a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Castiel was rating himself as a Hufflepuff, while Sam argued he was a Gryffindor. When the group arrived at the restaurant, Castiel, Sam, and Charlie went to order food, Jess went to the bathroom, and Jo and Dean found a table for the group.
After sitting down, Jo pulled Dean's hand into her own. "Is all the baby talk freaking you out? I know you weren't entirely on board with the plan when we first had it. Cas wanted kids more than you. But, I thought you were committed to it now. We're all family anyway, so it made a lot of sense for one of you to be the sperm donor for us and one of us to be the surrogate for you and Cas. It's the best option for both of us to have kids. We'll each get one."
Dean kissed Jo's forehead. "No, I'm cool. It was the medicine making me goofy. I love family; you know that." He missed his Jo so much. Her sassiness and fearlessness knew no bounds. She had been fatally injured saving him. He felt tears well up behind his eyes for a moment but looked away.
When the others arrived with pizzas and Jess returned from the restroom, they all laughed and made small talk about which attraction they wanted to do first. Dean just sat back and absorbed it all. Sam and Castiel were his true family. He had Mary, Jack, and Claire, but they hadn't gone through Hell, Purgatory, Leviathan, the Mark of Cain, and all the other trials and tribulations that he, Sam, and Castiel had. He'd love the others, but Sam and Cas were his pillars. But this Dean and Sam were going to have the white picket fence, the spouse, kids, the works. He snorted. Sam would probably get a dog if he didn't already have one. He leaned into Castiel, squeezed his knee, and smiled.
Castiel leaned over and kissed Dean softly. Dean felt self-conscious for a moment but realized nobody really cared what they were doing. He wrapped an arm around Castiel. After they finished, they wandered to the line for Hogwarts Castle. As they entered the attraction, Dean was impressed by the details of the architecture. After another line outside and another walk through another interior, they got to the ride portion of the attraction. He grinned at Castiel as the ride started. It didn't last long, but it was fun. He wondered why he, Sam, and Castiel just didn't do days like this for the hell of it. How many times did they wait in the bunker looking for cases, when they could just be outside living their lives? Couldn't they save the world and have lives?
As the ride ended and the group disembarked from the ride, Charlie and Jo wanted to go through the ride again. Sam and Jess wanted to find a place to sit. Castiel and Dean decided to walk around the park, hand in hand. Castiel said, "There's a Walking Dead attraction. You know I don't like horror stuff, but I'll do it if you want."
"Nah, Cas. I've seen enough scary things to last a lifetime. What I haven't had is enough days like this. My brother's happy. My angel… umm... husband is with me. It's sunny, and we've got no place in particular to go."
Castiel winked at Dean in the strange way that he did. "There's the free shuttle to the hotel and the others will be here for hours."
Dean was very tempted. Every fiber of his being wanted to drag Castiel to the shuttle and go back to the hotel. However, no matter was tempting this iteration of this Castiel was, he still wasn't his. He said, "I’m very tempted, angel. So very tempted, but we traveled all this way to spend time with them."
Castiel laughed, "You can't blame a guy for trying."
Dean saw an ice cream shop and ordered him and Castiel cones. As they sat at the table, Dean looked at Castiel and said, "This really has been one of the best afternoons of my life."
"Just wait until you see what I have planned for tonight," Castiel said with a suggestive look.
Dean panicked as he felt the room tilt for a moment. He felt a sense of loss as he woke up in his reality curled up on the shower floor with cold water cascading over him. His teeth chattered as he dried off and put on sweats and a t-shirt. He crawled into bed and pulled out his cell phone to call Sam.
Sam answered, "Hey, Dean. I think it's time for us to do the whole apologize to each other thing for being a jerk thing and meet up somewhere."
"I couldn't agree more. Sam, let's go to Los Angeles."
"Is there a case there?"
Dean let out a small laugh, "Nope."
"Then why go?"
"Disneyland, Universal Studio, the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Let's do the family vacation thing. I'll round Cas up, take a road trip. Just the three of us."
Sam paused before asking, "Are you feeling ok, Dean?"
Dean smiled, thinking of his afternoon. He wanted that for real. "Never better, Sam. Never better."