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Cas was standing at the sink, up to his elbows in hot water and soap suds, when he heard the faint fluttering of wings and a soft exhale—as if the universe itself was sighing. He turned and found himself staring into Jack’s bright, inquisitive blue eyes and beaming smile.
“Hello, Cas!” Jack lifted a hand, palm out, as he always did.
Cas shook soap suds off his hands and wiped them on a nearby hand towel. “Jack!” He reached for the boy—funny, he thought, to still consider God a boy—and enveloped him in a warm hug. “I’ve missed you.”
“I know,” Jack admitted, wrapping his arms tightly around Cas. “I’m sorry I’ve stayed away for so long. This God business is a lot more work than I thought it’d be.”
Cas stepped back and held Jack at arm’s length. “Have you had any trouble setting things up?”
Jack winced and wagged his palm in a so-so motion. “Here and there,” he said, “but Amara’s been helping. I think…” Jack trailed off and dropped his hand.
Cas was content to wait him out, but when he didn’t immediately continue, he prompted him gently. “What’s going on?”
Jack leaned back against the kitchen island and crossed his arms over his chest. Cas noted, a surge of fondness swelling in his chest, that Jack was still wearing his white denim jacket.
“I was thinking of stepping down,” he said.
Cas stared at him, shock momentarily stripping him of all his words. “From—from Heaven?” he finally stammered out.
“Yeah!” Jack grinned. “Being a hands-off deity isn’t nearly as exciting a you’d think. There’s so much paperwork, Cas. Amara’s been trying to help me with it but it’s really boring! And I just—I miss you. I miss Dean and Sam too.”
“We miss you too,” Cas said softly, reaching out and clasping a hand around Jack’s. He gave him a gentle squeeze. “I did wonder at the time…”
“About?” Jack asked.
“Maybe I should have tried to talk you out of it,” he continued. At Jack’s puzzled expression, he added, “Out of becoming God.”
“I chose that, though,” Jack protested.
“You’re still so young,” Cas said. “You should have had a chance to live a regular life, as a normal child. Or as regular a life as possible.”
Jack tilted his head in a familiar way. “I guess that’s why I’m here now,” he said.
“Yes?” Cas asked.
“Amara’s got things covered in Heaven,” said Jack. “Billie too. Oh, yeah, Billie’s back. But don’t worry, she doesn’t want to kill you. Or Dean. Anymore, at least—”
“Jack,” Cas said. “What is it you’re trying to tell me?”
“You’re right, I never did have a chance to be a regular kid,” he said. “But I could, now.”
Slowly, Jack’s words swept over Cas, bringing with them a dawning realization. Jack intended to become a child—an actual child, not a boy in a man’s body.
The thought of having Jack in his life again, raising him properly this time, with Dean and Sam flanking him, was appealing.
“But Jack, is that really what you want? To be reborn and go through the aches and pains of an ordinary human life?” Cas asked.
“If it means doing it all over with you, Dean, and Sam, then yes,” said Jack. “If they’re up for it, of course.”
Cas reached out and clasped Jack by the back of the neck, pulling him into his chest in a tight, bone-crushing hug. “You’ll have to ask them yourself,” he said, “but I think they’ll be okay with it. I think—they both miss you too, Jack. So much.”
Jack wrapped his arms back around Cas and said, muffled into his shoulder, “I can’t wait to be a family again.”
“Me either, Jack,” Cas said. “Me either.”
The three of them stood over the bassinet and peered down at the plump, rosy-cheeked baby that gurgled happily up at them. Dean reached down and gently poked one of the baby’s fat cheeks.
“He gonna remember any of what happened, uh, before?” he asked, unable to help a smile when Jack wrapped chubby fingers around his thumb.
“He wasn’t exactly clear on that,” Cas said, flipping a bottle of milk from hand to hand. “I think he chose to keep the good memories and discarded the others.”
Sam sniffed lightly. “It’s kind of weird. I miss him—the old him—but at the same time, I’m just so happy to have him back.”
“Yes, I know. It’s a bit strange,” Cas said, leaning slightly into Dean’s shoulder. “But this is what he wanted. What he chose. To be a family again.”
Dean slipped his arm around Cas’s shoulders. “Well, I’m happy he chose us.”
Cas looped his arm behind Dean’s back and rested his head on his shoulder. “I’m happy he chose us too.”