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Joining the parenting forum was one of the best decisions Castiel had ever made. Before joining, he had felt completely unprepared to be a single parent after his girlfriend Kelly died giving birth, and rather hopeless. His roommate Daniel had been good about the upheaval in their lives, but while he was willing to babysit, he was not willing to coparent. His reasoning was perfectly sound: how would Jack feel when Daniel’s fiancée Adina finished her graduate program, they married, and Daniel abandoned Jack and Castiel to go be with his real family? Better if he just thought of Daniel as being an uncle like Castiel’s other friends.
Since joining, Castiel realized that no one is ever prepared. Even just knowing that much helped him a great deal. People on the forum were so helpful, and Castiel had bonded with one in particular. He didn’t know Prophetguard’s real name, nor that of her son, but he did know that she had an adopted son whose birthday was the week after Jack’s. Both of their boys were gifted, according to testing, and at two years old they were the only parents in the group who had reported their children starting to read. Prophetguard was a godsend, helping Castiel keep himself grounded against the accusations from other parents that he was exaggerating Jack’s accomplishments.
He was already on edge from her saying that she was going to be offline for two weeks over the holidays when Daniel barged into his room. “Castiel? Can I ask you something?”
“If you must badly enough to set a bad example for Jack by skipping knocking,” Castiel deadpanned.
“Oh sh…oot, sorry.” Daniel frowned. “Wait a minute, Jack’s asleep.”
“You know as well as I do how prone he is to waking up and escaping the crib. It’s best to always assume he’s around,” Castiel argued. “Anyway, what did you want to ask me?”
“So, Adina’s coming to visit for the holidays, and she’s convinced a friend of hers to come along. Hannah’s in the same graduate program, and was just going to spend the holidays in her apartment with her son. Some kind of argument with her family about her son that means she doesn’t want him around them.” Castiel flinched. He could relate. “Anyway, we’d like to include you and Jack, too. I know you’re planning on spending some time with Sam and Dean, but Hannah’s kid is two, too, and…”
“And if Jack and Hannah’s son can entertain each other, Hannah and I are more available to interact with you and Adina?” Castiel observed dryly. Daniel nodded. “You know it doesn’t exactly work that way. They’ll need constant supervision.”
“But not constant full-attention interaction. Besides, weren’t you just saying you wish you had someone for Jack to play with more? It won’t be till summer, but Adina’s going to try to get Hannah to come with her down here…”
Castiel rolled his eyes. “No matchmaking, Daniel. Jack and I will come, but don’t expect some cheesy Lifetime movie moment.”
Jack and Kevin took to each other easily, playing “together” with their toy cars. Hannah turned out to be nice enough, although rather private, something Castiel couldn’t blame her for. Then an alarm went off on Hannah’s phone. “Excuse me, please. I’m trying to keep Kevin on as close to a normal schedule as possible, and it’s time for his pre-nap story.” She collected her son and his cars, reprimanding him when he tried to grab one of Jack’s too. Castiel took a couple minutes to calm and distract Jack, getting him back focused on his cars. When he looked for Hannah, he was rather surprised to see her on the floor, Kevin in her lap, with Kevin reading the book to Hannah instead of the other way around. It was hesitant, but clear that he was reading instead of just repeating familiar words from looking at the pictures.
She came back once Kevin was sleeping securely in a playpen. “Sorry about that. We’re still working on sharing. It’s hard sometimes because I don’t have any friends with kids his age, and the one who has a four-year-old hates letting her play with Kevin because she thinks I’m pushing him too hard instead of allowing him to grow at his own pace.”
“I hear that a lot, too, with Jack. Because he’s reading and often prefers TV shows and phone apps aimed at four and five year olds. I know he understands what he’s learning, so why hold him back?” He wanted so badly to tell Prophetguard about Hannah, that there was another parent in their boat.
Wait a minute. He tilted his head, staring at Hannah, and then glanced over to Kevin. Hannah had mentioned that his birthday was in late May. He was Korean while Hannah was not, meaning that he was likely adopted. Prophetguard was going to be offline for the same two weeks that Hannah was visiting with Adina. “If I’m wrong here, this is going to be awkward, but are you a member of the parenting forum Bouncing Baby Supporters?”
Hannah didn’t answer right away, taking her turn to study Castiel and Jack. “I am. Are you ThirdWheeler?”
“Prophetguard.” Castiel held out a hand, and when Hannah took it, he wrapped his other hand around it. “It’s nice to meet you in person.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too… although it may not be safe.” Hannah got up and left the room, returning quickly with Adina and Daniel. “They’re babysitting. We need to talk.”
“Okay.” Castiel went to Jack to let him know to behave for Uncle Daniel, and then followed Hannah outside. He raised an eyebrow when she got into her car and indicated for him to join her, but obeyed. “What’s this about?”
“I know my car is safe, but I don’t trust outside with this.” Hannah looked around, Castiel following her. He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “Kevin’s adopted, I know you know that, but I haven’t mentioned the circumstances around the adoption online for very good reasons. The same reasons I never put any pictures of him online.”
“I thought that was just sensible protection of his privacy,” Castiel said. “I do the same with Jack.”
“In Kevin’s case, it’s more than that. His birth mother, Linda, was in the same undergraduate program as me and Adina. When she got pregnant, she got a visit from the archangel Gabriel.” Hannah paused, waiting for Castiel’s reaction. Castiel didn’t give one. He’d heard of people being visited by angels before, and if Sam and Dean believed in it, he’d take their word for it. After all, they were professional demon hunters. “Kevin’s a prophet of the Lord. The demons would know from the moment that he was born that he existed, and would come after him as a baby because he’s vulnerable. I adopted him to misdirect the demons. It’s worked, so far, but only because of my vigilance and the wards Gabriel set up for us.”
“You should move here next summer,” Castiel blurted out. “My best friends live in the area. Sam and Dean Winchester.” Their reputation was such that he thought that just might be enough information.
“The Winchesters live here?” Hannah pursed her lips in thought. “On the one hand, they’re good protectors. On the other hand, they’re trouble magnets.”
“Jack’s not exactly… a normal child,” Castiel admitted. “For one thing, I’m not the birth father. The archangel Lucifer is.”
“Holy shit. Jack is the child of prophecy Gabriel was telling me about?!” Hannah stared at Castiel. “Adina and Daniel will be marrying and wanting to live together, either leaving you short a roommate or crowded or homeless. When I move here next summer, could we live together? Having a prophet as practically a brother will be useful for Jack, and even now Jack is probably the best protection Kevin could have.”
“Agreed.” Castiel stared down at his hands. “Would you… this is an arrangement for the good of our unusual children, obviously, but would you want to try to make it a more traditional coparenting relationship? There’s the risk of things going badly, but…”
“I have had the biggest crush on ThirdWheeler,” Hannah admitted. “He always seemed like such a good dad, but I never thought it would be safe to bring anyone else into this family. I would love to try.”