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“Papa! Daddy! Hurry up!”
Dean watches in amusement as their daughter runs down the last of the steps onto the frozen lake.
Ever since he’d signed Emma up for figure skating classes last winter, she’d been begging to visit Ottawa to go skating on the “World’s Largest Skating Rink.” Dean had finally relented after coming under fire from multiple rounds of the “puppy dog eyes” Emma had learned from Sam, so here they were on the edge of Dows Lake.
Glancing back at his husband, Dean stifles a laugh as he catches sight of Cas’ look of trepidation; he’s staring at the wide expanse of frozen ice like it’s about to come alive and swallow him whole.
It’s no secret that after a disastrous date where Cas had fallen over and almost gotten his fingers sliced off by an overzealous skater, Cas staunchly refused to get back on the ice. It was Dean who’d been the parent to go on the ice with Emma when she’d first started her ice skating lessons, and it was still Dean 9 times out of 10 who would accompany Emma to her figure skating classes now.
“C’mon, babe. You don’t want Emma to go out there all on her own, do you?” Dean gives Cas a gentle nudge with his shoulder to get him moving, and together, they make their way to the benches packed with other people putting on their skates.
Their daughter has managed to find herself a spot and is already sticking her feet into her skates by the time they reach her.
“Let me help you with that,” Dean says as he crouches down to help her lace up her skates properly. “Not too tight?”
Emma nods her head vigorously, bouncing off the bench. Dean has to catch her before she zips off on her own.
He hangs her walkie-talkie around her neck. “Remember how to use it?”
Emma rolls her eyes. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Don’t go too far, ok? Papa here is a newbie and we have to go slow for him.”
Another nod and Dean lets her go. He watches as she zooms off before turning back to his husband who’s been standing quietly subdued behind them the whole time.
“Your turn.” Dean grins and guides Cas onto the bench.
“Dean, I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Cas finally speaks up, frowning as Dean starts pulling out the skates they’d rented for him earlier out of their bag. “I can just wait on the side and take pictures.”
Dean snorts. “What are you going to do? Run along the canal the entire way? It’s almost 14km there and back.” Looking up at Cas, he realizes that Cas is giving this idea serious consideration. “Uh-uh. No way, man. You are doing this.” He taps on his husband’s foot. “C’mon, Cinderella. Give me that foot.” He slips a skate on the reluctantly proffered foot and laces it up.
Cas squints down at the skate now strapped onto his foot with that adorable furrow between his brow that Dean loves to kiss off.
“But I’ll fall,” Cas whispers.
Dean finishes lacing up Cas’ other skate, then leans upwards to place a soft kiss on his lips. “Then I’ll catch you.”
Dean’s pretty sure he’s going to have indentations the shape of Cas’ fingers permanently embedded into his forearm with how tight his husband’s grip is.
They’re making painfully slow progress along the skateway as Cas struggles to push aside his fear of falling. He’s a thrumming line of tension at Dean’s side, flinching every time another skater passes close to them.
“You’ve gotta relax, Cas. It’ll help,” Dean instructs the other man.
The ice is rougher than that of an indoor rink, and Dean knows that each bump must be sending lurching sensations through his husband’s body as it throws off his balance.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Cas hisses through gritted teeth. “As soon as I’m off this ice I am going to kill you, Dean Winchester.”
Dean rolls his eyes. “Drama queen,” he teases.
The glare Cas sends his way is completely ruined as Cas’ left skate catches on the ice and sends him stumbling forward with an undignified yelp. Dean quickly spins around on his skates so he’s facing his husband and catches him by the upper arms to halt his fall.
“Thank you,” Cas’ voice weak as he apologizes.
“I said I’d catch you, didn’t I?” Dean pulls Cas up so that he’s standing straight again.
Cas’ face is flushed with embarrassment. “This is so humiliating,” he groans as he buries his face into Dean’s shoulder. “There are 3 year olds here that can skate better than me.”
“Hey, hey.” Dean grasps the other man’s chin and tilts his face back up so they’re staring into each other’s eyes. “You’re doing fine, ok? Everyone has to start somewhere.” Holding his husband’s gaze, Dean leans forward until their foreheads are touching. “If people are staring, it’s because they’re jealous you’ve got such a handsome husband teaching you to skate.”
Dean knows his ploy has worked as Cas snorts and pushes him away lightly.
“You are ridiculous. You know that, right?” Cas smiles at him.
“But you love me anyways,” Dean says, winking back.
Dean watches as Cas open his mouth to answer, but his expression transforms into one of horror as he catches sight of something past Dean’s shoulder. Dean turns around and sees their daughter sprawled out on the ice.
“Emma!” Without thinking, he lets go of Cas and is gliding towards Emma as fast as his skates can carry him. He dodges past the few people who have stopped in concern and kneels down next to his daughter’s prone body. “Sweetie? Can you look at me? What hurts?” Dean is about half a second away from dialing 911 if he has to.
To his amazement, Emma opens her eyes and grins up at him. “Hi, Daddy!”
“What?” Dean gapes at his daughter who is obviously uninjured.
Emma sits up and cranes her neck to look around Dean. “Look , Daddy! Papa’s skating!”
Dean twists around to glance back at his husband and is greeted with the sight of Cas determinedly making his way over to them. It seems that the belief that their daughter’s life might be in jeopardy was enough to make Cas forget his fear of skating.
Realizing his daughter’s scheme, he pokes her in the stomach. “You little rascal!”
Emma giggles, but stops as Cas draws closer.
“Emma? Are you ok?” He asks frantically as he looks their daughter over.
“I’m fine, Papa.”
“Are you sure? I can call the medics over.”
“I’m not hurt, I promise.” As if to prove her point, Emma scrambles to her feet and steps over so she can hug Cas’ leg, looking up at him. “But look, Papa! You’re skating!”
Cas looks down at himself then at their daughter, his eyes narrowing slightly. Dean can’t help the soft chuckle that escapes him. It turns into full blown laughter when Cas lips quirk upwards as he catches on to the fact that he’s been had.
“Now that you can skate, we have to go get Beaver Tails,” Emma says with as much authority as a young child can have.
“Yeah!” Dean joins in, nodding with enthusiasm. “They’re supposed to delicious and the stall is right there.” He points at a red roofed shack only a short distance away.
In unison, both he and Emma turn their “puppy dog eyes” on Cas.
Cas groans. “I suppose it would be a shame not to,” he agrees. “Only because we’ve come all this way.”
Without hesitation, Emma grasps Cas’ hand in one hand and Dean’s in the other, and as a unit, the family of 3 make their way down the rest of the skateway.