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The sun shining through the blinds wakes Castiel from the wonderful dream he was having. Dean and he were on a cruise ship, with no particular destination, and were watching the sunset. Still half in dreamland, he is slow to realize that he can hear faint grumbling from one voice and small laughter from another.
He rubs sleep from his eyes as he gets out of bed in search of pants. Walking into the living room, he cannot help the laugh that falls from his mouth at the sight he has fallen into. His wonderful husband is hopping on one foot, while grimacing at the one he has raised off of the floor. Mary, their three year old, is giggling at the sight of her daddy hopping around.
“Papa, Daddy’s silly,” she giggles as she catches sight of Castiel.
“Yes, it seems he is,” he answers her with a slight chuckle as he walks over to help Dean balance.
“Oh, sure. Very funny. Laugh at the guy with mashed bananas between his toes.” Dean sounds angry, but there is not much venom behind his words.
At these words, Castiel lets out a full belly laugh, and almost causes Dean to fall backwards. Mary’s ringlet hair bounces as she continues to laugh at the two.
“How in the world did you get banana on your foot?” he asks, shaking his head at Dean. He helps him sit on a dining room chair, and turns to get paper towels.
“Well, I thought I would get Little Miss, some breakfast while you slept in.” Dean starts to explain. “Little did I know that today was the day we have chosen to not like bananas.” He shoots a disapproving glare at Mary. She hides her face behind the back of the chair.
Dean accepts the paper towels, and proceeds to scrape the mashed fruit from his foot. “You keep this, Cas? Maybe make some banana bread from it?” He lifts the mess toward Castiel’s face.
“Eww. Throw that away Dean!” Castiel dodges the incoming arm, and playfully jabs Dean in the ribs, causing the taller man to squirm.
Castiel sets a parental glare at Mary. “Can you explain to me why you decided that your banana would be happier on the floor, instead of your tummy?”
“‘nanas taste funny.” Mary confesses, with puppy dog eyes that would put her uncle to shame.
“You ate one just yesterday morning. What changed?”
Mary only gives a small shrug of her shoulders. “don’ know Papa.”
"Alright, why don't we go upstairs and find some clothes for today." Castiel reached down and picked up his daughter.
xXx
After trying to find the shirt with Hello Kitty in the orange tutu, not the blue, and the purple ballet flats, Castiel was able to get Mary dropped off at her play date with Jo and her daughter.
Now that he is alone and on his way to his workshop, Castiel makes a quick call to Benny to make sure that his plans are still in line.
“Cafe’ Amelie,” a chipper woman’s voice answers.
“Hi, is Chef Lafitte available? Please inform him that it is Castiel calling,” he says, speaking in a clear and concise tone.
“Um, one moment. Let me check.”
There are only a few minutes before the deep southern drawl of Dean’s best friend is on the line. “Castiel, how are you brother?”
“I’m good Benny. I was just making sure that everything was set up for this Saturday.”
“Sure thing. We’ve got you a secluded table near the back, and you will have my special menu.” Benny’s smile is heard through the phone.
“Excellent. Thank you for all your help Benny.” Castiel put as much appreciation into his voice as he could, “I want to make the day special. Even if Dean hates Valentine’s Day.”
“It’s the least I can do, since you helped me out by making all the wonderful furniture for my cafe’. And Dean is always there when Bessie needs an oil change or just a checkup.” Benny lets out a soft chuckle.
Castiel blushes a bit at the praise of his workmanship. “Ok. Well, we will see you on Saturday.”
“See ya then.”
Castiel pulls into his parking spot just at the front doors of his furniture workshop. It’s just enough room for him to get his orders done. Even though he does not have a formal shop, his online and word of mouth custom orders keep the money rolling in. He only has one other employee, and that would be his tech guru/secretary Charlie. She manages his website, fields all the emails that come into the shop, and organizes his orders.
“Hey Boss.” Charlie greets Castiel the same way every morning.
“Hello Charlie.” Castiel gives her a quick nod. “What do I have on the schedule today?”
“Well, you need to finish staining the rocking chair for Ed Wheeler to give his wife for their 50th anniversary. Then there is a quick jewelry box to be finished for a pick up on Friday. And you have another order for a storm trooper chair.” Charlie rattles off in one breath.
“Charlie, are you showing me off to your friends again?”
“Hey, you play to your strengths. Those chairs are amazing, and I happen to know a lot of people that will pay good money to have one on their porch.” Charlie crosses her arms across her chest. For a short girl, she sure is full of fire.
“I do not think I will ever understand the want for such a silly chair. But I do know that Dean seemed to like his when I made the first one for him on our anniversary.” Cas is slightly shaking his head, as he walks into his studio to put the last coat of stain on the rocking chair.
xXx
Just as Castiel is sanding down the jewelry box frame so that he can put the embellishments on it the next day, his phone vibrates in his pocket. Pulling it out, he catches a glimpse of Dean on his caller id.
“Hello, Dean,” Castiel answers in the deep timber he knows Dean loves so much.
“Hey Babe.” Dean answers, but it there is something off in his voice. “Do you think you will be home soon?”
"I can be if you need. What's going on?" Castiel can feel the panic swelling in his chest. He is using all his strength to keep his voice, and breathing, calm and steady.
"Well, I was working on Baby, trying to get new spark plugs on her, when the wrench slipped and I sliced open my hand. I really didn't want to bother you, but it seems to be bleeding pretty good."
Castiel is up and out the door before Dean has even finished the sentence. He hollers a quick “Gotta go”, to Charlie, and he is on his way to assess the damage.
On his way, he calls Jo to inform her that he is going to be late picking Mary up, and the situation at hand. It goes without saying that Jo is not going to tell Mary exactly why.
Tire squeal as his car skids to a stop in the driveway. Dean, who was sitting on the porch steps with a dishtowel wrapped around his left hand, stands while his husband flies out of the car, rushing to him.
“How bad is it?!” Castiel asks, his voice laced with panic.
“Nothing a few stitches can’t fix. Relax.” Dean replies calmly. He has his fair share of scars from various projects he has worked on over the years. “Look, just drive me to the ER and everything will be fine. You’ll see.”
Castiel tries to follow all the safety laws as he drives to the hospital, and all but bursts through the doors of the ER.
He scares a triage nurse with his wild features, hair sticking in all directions from his hands repeatedly running through it on the way over, screaming that they need a doctor right away.
Dean walks up behind Castiel and puts his good hand on his shoulder. “Hon, why don’t you go sit in a chair before they bring the nice men in the white coats to take you to the padded rooms.”
Cas nods, and turns toward the waiting area.
Dean flashes his dazzling smile to the nurse. “I feel I must apologize for him. He doesn’t handle surprises well.”
“That’s ok,” she says returning the smile, “We get plenty of spouses in here that freak out about their partners being hurt. So what can I do ya for?”
Dean explains the situation, and is soon joining Cas in a waiting room chair.
“You calmed down there bucko?” He laughs at the shorter man.
Castiel takes a deep breath. “Yes Dean. I apologize about my behavior earlier. I just do not enjoy seeing you in distress.”
“Dude, if I had a dollar for every time I have injured myself working on that car, well I wouldn’t be rich, but I would have some good pocket money. Seriously, you are going to see that everything is going to be fine.”
The two only had to wait about 15 minutes before they are being called back. After being put in a room, they explained to a new nurse what had happened, so she could type it all up.
“I hate to break this to you Mr. Winchester, but I think you are going to need a bit more than just stitches. I can’t know for sure, so we will have to wait for the doctor, but this looks rather deep.” The nurse explains in a cool calm tone.
Dean can feel Castiel tense next to him. He rubs circles in to Cas’ hand to try and calm him down.
“Let me see if I can get the doctor now, so we can get this pushed through as fast as possible.” And the nurse slips out the door.
“Dean what are we going to do?” Cas is starting to sound panicky again.
“Babe, we have to stay calm. We will deal with whatever comes to us.”
A few minutes later, the nurse is slipping back through the door with the doctor hot on her heals.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Carver, you must be Dean?” the doctor extends his hand to Dean’s good one.
“Yes, and this,” Dean points to his side, “is my neurotic husband, Castiel.”
“Well, lets see what we have going on here Dean.” Dr. Carver lifts up the towel and inspects the wound, turning Dean’s hand side to side, being as gentle as he can.
“From what I can see, you have sliced through your palm along with the possibility of a tendon laceration. I’m going to order an x-ray, to make sure there is no damage to the bone, and I am going to call down the orthopedic surgeon, so that he can properly diagnose this. Alright? Another nurse will be in in just a moment.”
After the door shuts behind Dr. Carver, Dean quickly turnss to Castiel, putting his finger gently on Cas’ mouth. “Not a word.” he murmurs, and drops a soft kiss to his lips. Resting their foreheads together, he speaks quietly, “We don’t know anything for sure, but if surgery is the way it goes, then we will deal. Why don’t we just wait for the final word, and then we will work a plan from there.”
Castiel takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. He breathes in Dean’s scent, grounding himself. There are so many thoughts running through his mind. He is worried about Dean going into surgery. He is worried about how Mary is doing, and what Jo has told her about why Daddy and Papa are late. Not to mention they are going to have to tell Mary what is going on, and assure her that Daddy will be ok. On top of all of that is money. Now, while they are usually not hurting for money, with his successful woodworking and Dean’s garage, this is not going to be cheap, and insurance only pays so much. If Dean really is going to have surgery he’ll be in a cast for at least 6 weeks, and who knows how long until he is back to full functioning.
“You’re thinking too hard.” Dean teases.
“I’m just worried about the garage. If you have surgery you won’t be able to work on any cars.” Castiel says, working hard at keeping the anxiety out of his voice.
“We own the place, and I am not the only mechanic. If we need so extra help, I’ll see if Garth needs some cash. He’s a bit of a spaz, but a damn hard worker. Stop worrying.”
Just then the nurse comes in to take Dean to Radiology. Dean stands, and turns to take Castiel’s hand.
“I’ll wait here. I have to call Jo and give her an update.”
“Tell her I say hi, and to give Mary hugs for me.”
“Will do.” Cas tries to put on his best smile.
Once he is sure they are out of hearing distance, Cas quickly dials the number to Benny again. He gets the same chipper hostess, and when Benny answers he can hear the kitchen in the background. He curses himself as he looks at the time. In his haste, he didn’t check the time to see that it was close to dinner.
“Hey brother, you love me that much to call me twice in one day?” Benny’s deep rumble rolls through the phone.
“Um, I hate to do this, but I think I am going to have to cancel Saturday.” Castiel sounds defeated in his own ears.
“Whoa. Did something happen with you and Dean? Is he being an ass again? I don’t have to come and knock some sense into him do I?” Benny may be Dean’s best friend, but Benny knows that Dean can be stubborn sometimes. Plus he has grown to like Castiel, and has become protective of him.
“No, Dean has been wonderful to me. It’s just that I won’t be able to spend that money now. Dean has injured his hand, and is most likely going to have surgery. So our money is going to have to go toward that. Not to mention the fact that he will be out of commission for a while.” Castiel was on the verge of tears. This was just a bit too much for him at the moment.
Castiel heard a tsk and a deep sigh on the other end. “Ok, listen to me. You keep your head up. Dean is strong, but we both know that he puts on a face sometimes. So you be there for him. Come Saturday, you and your man come in here and have your Valentine’s night dinner. Can’t be letting a great plan like yours go to waste.”
“No, I could not impose.” Castiel interrupted.
“Hush now! This is my gift to you. You guys deserve a little pampering. You both work so hard, and you are raising that beautiful little girl. So let the dinner be on me. Also, if you need any help with someone watching that darlin’ girl, you know that Uncle Benny will step up while you guys are down.”
Cas didn’t stop the tears from rolling down his face. “Thank you so much. You are a great friend.” He replied; his voice thick.
“Shhhh, talk care of your boy, and don’t hesitate to call. I’ll see you on Saturday, unless you need help before. Talk to you later.”
Cas took a moment to collect himself, before calling Jo. He explained the situation to her, and she agreed to let Mary stay at least through dinner. But Mary was not going to go one more minute without talking to her Papa.
“Hi Papa!” Her little voice was like a balm to Castiel’s wounds, and made him feel just a bit better.
“Hi, warrior princess.” Castiel’s smile gets a bit bigger when she giggles at the nickname. “Are you having fun with Auntie Jo and Zoey?”
“Yes, we had craft time. Auntie Jo says we are going to eat mac ‘n cheese for dinner. Are you eating with us?”
“No baby. Daddy cut his hand, so Papa had to take him to the hospital. He is going to be fine, but we might have to stay here a little bit. You keep being good, and we will see you soon, ok?” Cas is not one to hide things from his daughter. He will explain it all when they know the facts, and he has no doubt she will understand.
“Ok, Papa.” She sounds a bit sad, but she trusts her Papa.
Just then Dean is walking back through the door. Castiel hands the phone over for Dean to talk to their daughter. His spirit seems to be lifting, and some of the anxiety is bleeding out of him. Benny was right, Dean seemed to be putting on a face.
The men say their goodbyes and wait for the specialist. Which ends up taking approximately thirty minutes, during which Dean succumbs to the adrenaline of the day, and is snoozing on Castiel’s shoulder until the specialist arrives.
The surgeon, Dr. Miller, states what they feared. Dean has sliced through his palmar fascia and almost completely severed two of his flexor tendons, and will have to have surgery that night. On the plus side, there is no damage to the bone.
Cas is not feeling as frantic as he once was, but still turns to Dean questioningly for what to do next.
“Call Sammy. Let him know what is going on, and see if he can get Mary from Jo’s, and if he will watch her overnight. Tell him he can stay at our place if it makes it easier for him. We’ll do something nice for him and Gabe for the inconvenience." Dean speaks in a calm tone.
“Mr. Winchester?” a nurse calls as she walks into the room.
Castiel and Dean both look up at the same time.
“Oh, um,” she sounds flustered by them both answering, and quickly checks her chart. “Dean?”
“That’d be me.” Dean stands up.
“Ok, well we are going to take you up to 3rd floor, and get you set up in your room and started with an IV. You are scheduled for an 8pm surgery. Injuries such as these have to be taken care of as soon as possible. The other Mr. Winchester-”
“Castiel.” Dean interrupts.
“Castiel,” the nurse amends, “Can stay here and fill out the necessary paperwork for admission and insurance. Then we will bring him up to you.”
Dean turns to Castiel. “Ha, you got stuck with paperwork.” Cas just rolls his eyes, and Dean steps forward a bit more serious. He drops a chaste kiss on Cas’ lips. “See you soon, and please make it soon. I don’t like being away from you for too long.” He confessed quietly.
Castiel smiled softly, and watched as Dean walked out the door with the nurse.
xXx
“Papa, wake up!” Mary’s tiny voice broke through Castiel’s sleep. He barely had time to fully wake up, before the three year old was jumping on top of him.
“Umfp,” Castiel grunted. “Hey, angel. Did you have fun with Uncle Sam and Uncle Gabe?”
“Yep. Uncle Gabe made me sprinkle pancakes with frosting for breakfast.” She stated with a huge grin on her face. Cas shot a death glare at his adoptive brother.
“Whoa! It was a powder sugar glaze, and I thought we were not going to talk about that.” Gabe piped up from the chair next to Cas.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry Uncle Gabe.” Mary sounded remorseful. She crawled off Castiel’s lap to give Gave a hug. Castiel took this time to stand up and check on Dean.
“How are you feeling Babe?” He asked softly while stroking the top of Dean’s good hand.
“Not bad. A little sore, but they are giving me good drugs, so that helps.” Dean chuckled.
Sam hit the inside of Dean’s foot. “You might want to watch the way you word things. Young ears are like sponges.” He scolded his older brother.
Just then Mary leapt off Gabe’s lap. “Daddy!” she screeched, “I have something for you.” She ran over to her backpack, that had served as an overnight bag, and pulled out a piece of red construction paper that had been folded in half, and handed it to him.
The front had a big, odd shaped heart that seemed to have an entire bottle of glitter on it from the way it was falling onto the blanket. Mary’s crude writing above and below the heart spelled out HAPY VALINTYN’S DAI. It seemed as though someone had told her the letters to write as she asked for them. Inside said TO: DADY ‘ND PAPA, LUV: MARY.
Dean looked up at his daughter with so much pride on his face. “This is beautiful honey. Did you do this with Jo, and Zoey yesterday?”
She nodded fiercely. Dean leaned forward, kissed her on the forehead, and tugged a pigtail.
“Looks like you have got a full house here Mr. Winchester.” The nurse was chipper as she walked in.
“That happens when you have a large extended family. So, what’s the word? I thought I heard a rumor that the doc said I could go home today.”
“You heard correct. All you have to do is follow up with your primary doctor, and set up some physical therapy. You will have to have that splint on for at least 6 weeks to let everything heal correctly. But they may want you to do some PT in a couple of weeks. I’m sure you want to get back to normal as soon as you can, right?”
“You are correct,” Dean flashed his winning smile at her.
“Alright, I will go get your discharge papers, and you are free to get dressed.”
Cas turned to Sam as the nurse walked out the door. “Do you think you could drive Dean home? I have some things at the shop that I need to deal with, since I ran out so fast yesterday.” He sounded a bit hesitant.
“That’s no problem for us.” Sam looked over at Gabe for confirmation, and the shorter man just nodded. “Are you cool with that Dean?” Sam questioned his older brother.
Dean took Castiel’s hand and gave it a small squeeze. “You go do what you have to Babe. I know that with me not being able to do much for the next couple of weeks, your projects are going to have to help out more. I can handle being at home for a few hours without you.” He lifted their joined hands a gently kissed his knuckles.
“I’ll make sure I take good care of Daddy for you Papa.” Mary chimed in.
Castiel reached down and picked her up, nuzzling her neck. “Thank you Angel. You are always so helpful.”
Dropping a quick kiss to the top of Mary’s head, and Dean’s lips, Cas turned and got quick hugs from Sam and Gabe. Walking to his car, he pulls his phone out of his pocket to give Charlie a quick call.
“Hey boss. How’s the wife?” Charlie sounded chipper.
“Dean is not my wife, but he seems to be doing good. He will not be able to work for a while, so I am going into the shop to finish some piece, and wondered if you would meet me.”
“Sure thing. See you in about 10 minutes.”
xXx
Cas was feeling better on the drive home from the shop. He was able to give Ed Wheeler the rocker, and the older man even gave him a little extra for the great job that Cas had done. He was able to finish the jewelry box in time for pick up, so the bank had a little bit more money than it did a few hours ago.
Pulling into the driveway, Cas was confused by the scene. Mary was playing in the front yard, while Dean sat on the steps, looking rather frazzled. Sam was at the top of a latter retrieving something from the top of the garage roof. As he got closer, he realized that Sam had Dean’s phone in his hand.
Getting out of the car, Cas gave Dean a questioning look. “Do I even WANT to know why your phone is on the roof?”
Dean shot a glare up at him. “I may have gotten a little upset at one of the mechanics at my shop. I was asking if he could work a few extra shifts in my absence, and he told me to stop being such a pansy about a scratch to hand. And I may have fired him. So know I am in an even bigger hole.”
Castiel sighs deeply and runs a hand down his face. “Have you called Garth?”
“Yeah, he has no problem with coming to help out, but I’m still down one.” Dean sounded tired and defeated. It had been an exhausting couple of days, and he looked like he could use a rest.
“Go upstairs and get some rest. I’ll see if I can think of something.” Cas said, and dropped a kiss to his husband’s lips, helping him up and into the house.
After making sure Dean was comfortable, Castiel walked downstairs to find Sam finishing up a phone call.
“Thank you very much sir. You don’t know how much this means to me. Yes, I will tell him.” Sam ended his call and turned on his heels to Castiel. “So, that was the head lawyer at my firm. I have had some vacation saved up, so I have decided to use it and help you guys out. I will go, and fill in for Dean. I know that he will not be feeling up to go to the garage for a few days, so I am taking 2 weeks off from the firm, and I will run things and fill in as mechanic for Dean.”
Cas rushed forward and gave his brother-in-law a huge hug, on the verge of tears, “Thank you so much!”
“Really it’s no problem.” Sam chuckled, “I already had tomorrow off to hang with Mary, I just extended it. I think it will do him good to get a few days off to not worry. You just go along with your plans tomorrow, and I will do what I can to help lessen the stress.”
The happiness that was swelling in Castiel’s chest was overwhelming, and he thanked the fates that he was part of such a loving family.
xXx
“Stop fidgeting with your tie,” Castiel scolded Dean, as he fixed the tie for the third time.
“Why do we have to do this again?” Dean was one octave away from sounding like a whiny teenager.
“Because it’s Valentine’s Day,” Cas reminded him.
“I hate Valentine’s Day.” came the grumbling response.
Cas chuckled and kissed Dean lovingly. Dean returned the kiss softly. “Well, I guess I could manage for one day, since it is you and all.” Dean shot Cas a smirk.
“Come on you. We should get going if we are going to make our reservation.” Castiel took Dean by his good hand and led him down the stair and out to the Impala. They said goodbye to their daughter, and Sam, and where on their way.
Pulling up to Cafe’ Amelie, Cas gave the car to the valet, and walked around to help Dean out of the car.
“One, I can get out of this car by myself.” Dean started. Cas just gave a polite nod. “and two,” Dean turned on the valet, “mark my baby up in anyway, and I will mark up your face.”
“Babe, you’re scaring the straights. Leave him alone, and let’s go have a nice night.” Castiel said, sending the young man an apologetic smile.
Walking into the restaurant, they saw that it was packed. “It’s a good thing we have reservations, but I still don’t understand why we are eating here. I love Benny, but the food he makes here is not so much on my palette.”
“Dean, will you please just trust me?” Castiel fought the urge to roll his eyes.
The hostess led them to their table. It was in the back, where they could see the room, but the room really couldn’t see them. “I will let the chef know that you are here, and your food will be out soon.”
“Um, Cas?” Dean sounded suspicious.
Castiel just gave him a sly smile, as the waiter walked up and set two beers down in front of the men. Dean picked his up and took a draw. “Wait! Benny does not serve this here.” Dean sounded dumbfounded.
“I may have asked a few favors.”
Dean just shook his head. Then, looked up quickly as he caught sight of his friend. Benny walked up with two plates, both with the same steak, baked potato, and fries on it. Dean stood up and gave Benny a hug.
“Oh, man. Thank you so much for this. Not that I don’t love your food, but this is amazing.”
“Well, brother, you’ll have to thank your man for that one. He put this together, I only agreed to let it happen here.” Benny nodded toward Castiel.
Dean spun and gave Cas a confused look. "You put this all together?"
"Um, yeah," Castiel could feel the blush heating up his face.
Dean stepped forward and took his husband face in both hands and kissed him passionately. Cas made a startled noise, but quickly melted into it. When they broke, both where a bit out of breath.
"Dean, I have something I wanted to ask you." Cas tried sounding a bit more serious. He stood up, so that he was almost nose-to-nose with Dean. "I have loved you, since I first saw you, when you burst into English class drenched from the rain. You gave the professor that cocky smile and I was sunk."
Dean breathed a laugh. Cas reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, then bent down on one knee.
"The past 10 years of marriage have been wonderful, and I want so many more. Will you renew your vows with me?" Cas was fighting the tears that were threatening to spill over.
Tears stained Dean's cheeks, and he was having trouble finding his voice. He nodded excitedly, as a wide grin split his face. Cas surged up and kissed his husband, tasting the saltiness of both their tears, as the entire restaurant erupted in cheers.