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The SUV stopped by the road, Hotch in the driver's seat. Dean was coming separately in his own vehicle they let him drive as an undercover car. It was a black Chevy Impala, like the black SUVs and was useful on the occasion. Morgan in the passenger seat looked across the road at the park.
“So the anonymous tip said they saw a man of 6 foot height and black hair hanging around the park,” JJ reminded.
“That was five minutes ago. How do we know he’s still here and not already taken a kid?” Emily asked.
“There’s one way to find out,” Morgan said, scanning the area of kids and adults, as was Hotch.
“I got one,” Hotch said. “10 o’clock in the trench coat.”
“Trench coat. Can they not be so obvious?” Morgan replied. “So how are we going to do this? We can’t just wait for him to grab a kid.”
“Well it looks like he’s already got his eyes on one, “ Emily said. “The young boy in the green and white stripped shirt. The man is only watching him.”
“We wait for Dean first. He said he’s on his way and should be here soon,” Hotch told them. “We keep an eye on him and if he leaves, we’ll follow and text Dean the address.”
“Okay, babysitting the kidnapper,” Morgan said and got comfortable.
5 minutes later Dean’s car pulled up behind them and he got out, walking to Hotch’s window.
“Was the tip right?” Dean asked. “Or were you just waiting for my vote on who it is?”
“We have a suspect. The man in the beige trench coat,” Hotch told him.
“Wow, he isn’t trying to hi-” he stopped himself and went pale when he looked back and saw the man. He swallowed and turned back. “He’s not the guy,” he said suddenly.
“What? He fits the profile and we basically caught him in the act,” Emily said, pointing to the boy. “We think that boy is his next target.
Dean chuckled nervously. “Trust me, he’s not the guy we’re looking for.”
Hotch watched him. “There’s something you’re not telling us.”
Dean went silent. Dean Winchester was never silent.
“Dean, how do you know he’s not our unsub?” Morgan questioned.
Dean hesitated, but when he opened his mouth to say something, his phone rang. He took a look at the screen ID and then held up a finger as a ‘one sec’ motion as he answered.
“Dean, what’s going on?” A man’s voice came through the other side and that’s all the other agents heard before Dean quickly walked away from the driver's door.
The team had come to understand that Dean was sort of a private man. He liked to keep personal things to himself and didn’t disclose any unnecessary information. Whenever he leaves the room when he’s on the phone, it’s often a personal call and they respect that. Dean didn’t have any photos in his office of family members or of his home. It was kept professional, besides the random knick knacks to give it some humanization. They never asked him about his life outside of work, and the team usually respected Dean’s privacy.
But this situation felt different. Morgan looked at Hotch, then at JJ, silently communicating what to do. Nodding, she slowly opened her window that was closest to Dean.
“-just wrong time, wrong place, it’ll be okay,” Dean said into the phone. The team in the van couldn’t hear the other man’s responses. “I don’t think you’ll be able to get out of there without something happening… no, you don’t need to come over yet, I can handle it. I think… no, no you don’t need to do that… Cas stop it! Not the time.”
Cas. They’d never heard that name before. JJ took a chance and peaked out the window to get a look at Dean. He was looking toward the park as if the person he was talking to was there. But then as JJ followed Dean’s gaze, she saw there was someone there. It was the man in the trench coat talking towards Dean.
“Guys, he’s talking to our unsub!” JJ whispered to them.
“Look, just don’t leave until I’ve told them… yes, yes I know, but I didn’t want to yet… okay, but stop wearing that damn coat with him, you look like a pedophile.” Then he said goodbye, but he whispered something the others didn’t hear. He sighed and then came back to the driver's side.
Hotch gave him a ‘so?’ look and Dean sighed again.
“Shit, alright, fine. I know it’s not him.” He looked back at the park where the trench coat man had walked to the boy and picked him up, the kid not resisting but smiling up at him. “Because he’s my husband, and the boy is our son.”
The car was quiet, and Dean had crossed his arms. Until-
“We didn’t know you had a family man,” Morgan said.
“Yeah, well I wanted it that way,” Dean said. “Cas didn’t care, but I wanted to keep them out of this life as much as I could.”
“I don’t know if we can do that any longer,” Hotch said. “As much as I disagree with the idea, he may be able to help with this case. He may have seen something that we could use to catch our unsub.”
Dean sighed. “Alright.” He turned around to the park and Hotch looked over there too, and the man was watching them with the boy in his arms. Dean waved them over and the man walked over, crossing the road, but Hotch watched as the boy got excited when he saw Dean.
“Daddy!” He squealed once he was close enough. He reached for him and the man handed him over.
“Hey buddy. Miss me?” Dean asked, smiling at the boy. The kid nodded. “But I was with you all this morning while Papa was at a meeting,” he said. So, that cleared up why he had been late. And why the man was dressed like that.
“So, you’re Cas?” Emily asked from the back.
“Castiel, yes,” the man answered, the team hearing how deep his voice actually was. “Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”
“That damn coat,” Dean muttered.
“We both know you like it,” Castiel grinned, Dean’s face going red. Hotch decided not to get into that and carried on.
“So, you are married to Agent Winchester?” Hotch asked.
“Yes, Dean and I have been married for three years,” Castiel said.
“What about the boy?” Morgan asked.
“We’ve had Jack since he was born, so it’s been four years.”
“Jack?” Hotch questioned. His son’s name was Jack too.
“His mom named him before he was born. Kelly died after the birth, but not before giving her parenting right to us,” Dean said.
Castiel nodded. “But from what I understand, we should be in an interrogation room instead of an open street, correct?” He asked.
“Not an interrogation room,” Hotch answered. The man was formal and straight to the point, which was very different from Dean. “We’d like your help in finding our suspect. He’s taking kids from parks and streets. You think you could come back with us and give us a few details?”
This Castiel man seemed to think about it for a moment, looking over at Dean and his son. Hotch understood that look, unsure about the safety of the situation, because it could get rough quickly. But then he turned back to the agent.
“Okay, see you there.” And then he left, walking towards where Dean was halfway between the two vehicles. Hotch watched from the rear-view mirror as Castiel went up to Dean, speaking a little before Dean nodded. Castiel took Jack back and then started to go down the street, Hotch guessing to his own car and waited.
He decided to look away then, turning the van on and putting it in drive. Hotch led the way to the office, Dean following close behind with Castiel behind him. The ride was quiet, though Hotch was sure he could hear everyone thinking. This was news after all. Even though Dean seemed like a family man, he didn’t give any indication that he already had a family.