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The soft twinkle of the first few notes of Amy's favorite song filled her ears, abruptly interrupting her playlist.
She knew by that specific sound bite that it was the front gate alert.
Considering that since there had been no phone call to follow nor had there been any texts earlier that day, it was safe to say that it was either a close family member or a delivery of some sort.
Sitting up she allowed herself time to stretch her back and get used to being upright.
Taking a hand she wiped her brow, growling at the dirt that she felt there.
Amy knew she must look a mess. She always did after working outside. She was never one to be afraid of getting dirty.
Even as a child she loved plants and growing things much to her parent’s horror.
She had always felt at home in the dirt.
Amy had known since then that when she got a house of her own all she wanted was a garden or at least a small patch of dirt to grow things in.
Her mate, Richard.
Her loving supportive Beta was more than happy to not only accept everything about her but make sure she had just that.
A garden to tend to whenever she liked.
And it was her pride and joy.
Her little garden in her husband's opinion was the prettiest patch of land on the whole property.
Amy would often amend that statement to say second best. Because the woods that border the house were number one.
That area was naturally beautiful. And Amy couldn't help but be both in awe and in love with it.
She knew that no matter what she did, nothing could compare to what mother nature had achieved.
Though most of her family didn't understand how she had turned out this way. Or where she acquired her fascination with manual labor.
To them the woods were wild and unnatural.
Something that's only purpose was to surround a vacation home.
Or be a place to host a hunt.
But more importantly they viewed it as a place that needed to be tamed.
In the eyes of her peers in a perfect world the ideal lawn was crisp, clean and maintained.
Something that Amy did not agree with at all.
This world was their second chance.
And they needed to take care of it as best they could or else they would lose it just like they had the first Earth.
Still, despite the thought that a judgmental family member could be on the way to dampen her mood, Amy reluctantly stood and made her way out of the garden.
Just because she didn't agree with those around her didn't mean she wanted to fight with them.
She was long past tired of holding the same arguments.
It was pointless and would never solve anything.
But that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy the company of her siblings, cousins or friends of the same status as her.
They just avoided certain topics.
Right now there was a sort of understanding between her and her family.
They wouldn't say anything in front of her about her “hobbies”.
But she knew as soon as they left there would be talk of Amy the Oddball of the family.
Sighing, Amy made her way towards the house.
Once she got a little closer she shifted her course to take her towards the back and right to the mudroom.
Picking up the hose she used the water to rinse her boots and rubber coveralls.
It only took a few swipes and she was good.
With the mud all gone it was easier to take off all the other protective layers.
Carefully Amy hung each item in their designated spot.
Stepping up to the little sink she washed her hands and nails thoroughly. Used the washcloth there to wipe away the dirt.
And once her face was in order she pulled her hair from its ponytail. Fluffing the blonde locks back into perfection.
From there all Amy had to do was smooth the wrinkles out of her floral sundress. Take off her boots and slip on her flats.
The result of her actions left her once more looking like the flawless lady of wealth and stature that she was born and married to be.
Even if she was unable to maintain it for long.
She supposed that the real problem was that she was a female Alpha. The two classifications never quite fit neatly into the same little box.
This sort of thing forced others like her to make due. To edit themselves into labels that were chosen for them that didn't truly encompass who they really were.
Something that had made her miserable for the majority of her life.
But there were small things that made life bearable.
Better.
Amy had always found a tremendous amount of joy in tea service.
Setting things out for others.
Making sure her guests’ needs were met.
Trying to accomplish all this before her guests mentioned wanting more.
Maybe that was the Alpha side of her.
Wanting to provide.
To be better than everyone else around her.
That competitive push that was always simmering below the surface, that was normally told to hush and be still, this was its time to shine.
With determination Amy made her way into the kitchen.
The staff were all present.
Already working hard as ever on the two remaining meals of the day.
But they were more than willing to make items for the incoming guests.
In this case some finger sandwiches and tea.
There were always tea cakes made in the morning for snacking and in case of guests.
The lateral being part of a rule that every grand house or staff of family with great wealth had.
A rule that Amy found at times like these to be Heaven sent.
The spread that the staff presented her was quite lovely.
If there truly were guests coming it was only proper to have something nice to offer them.
And if it wasn't, Amy had been peckish for a couple of hours now. She could easily eat the items that were provided all on her own.
Retreating to the sitting room, she took a seat.
Not at the head of the table.
Despite that being where she should be seated as an Alpha.
No, that seat according to the standard and etiquette of her class was for her husband.
Despite Richard being both a Beta and from a family that was of a lower financial ranking than her.
But that was fine.
The loss of a silly little chair was worth it all in the end.
She and Richard had an understanding. They made every decision together.
From buying this house.
To putting aside their dream of having biological children.
Though it had been Richard who had suggested adopting. And who had found the adoption agency.
In return he left Amy with the decision on who they would be adopting.
Taking care to arrange her dress just right while she waited. Amy couldn't help but smile at the thoughts of the twins.
How small they had been in the photograph. Or how the agency had been very reluctant to allow such an adoption to go through.
Not because they seemed like they would be unstable parents.
And for once not caring about their secondary genders.
No, they had been worried that as humans could they provide the two little angels with the proper care they needed.
All of which Amy could understand.
Which was why she had offered up a deal that the orphanage could come by at any time to check on the children's health.
That she would take mandatory classes and have assigned reading of books.
And if she or Richard were unsatisfactory the child could be removed without any fuss on their part.
Of course she passed every time.
Because not only was she determined not to lose her children. But Richard had felt the same.
He had gone to every bookstore within a fifty mile radius buying up books.
And he ordered every book he couldn't get his hands on personally online or through mailing catalogs.
They had quizzed each other.
Took turns with bottle-feedings.
Had tag team teething.
And when the time came they put an ad out and had secured a dragon and a griffin to help them teach their fledglings to fly.
They had done their best.
And in return both Anna and Balthazar had grown into wonderful adults that Amy couldn't be any prouder of.
Now she and Richard had another challenge.
Castiel.
The Alpha triplet to her babies.
And someone who had come into their lives with a whole laundry list of things wrong with him.
The thought of their youngest always made her angry at her children's birth parents and saddened her at how he was treated.
In all honesty Amy wasn't sure how she could help him.
Or if he would be willing to accept anything she had to offer.
He never called.
Never asked for anything.
And if it wasn't something for his daughter then Castiel wouldn't accept it easily.
All these things made Amy think that it was too late to form a connection with her son.
Which bothered her.
Amy wasn't even sure that if she were given all the time in the world that she could figure out a problem like Castiel.
She certainly couldn't figure it out now.
Not when she had guests arriving.
In fact.
Amy had to pause to look at the ancient grandfather clock.
Where were her guests?
It had been more than enough time for a car or delivery truck to make their way up the drive.
The doorbell should have rang ages ago.
Pulling her phone from her pocket Amy found herself starting to panic as she searched for the Surveillance App.
For all she knew this could be a robbery. That someone had stolen the code.
At this very moment they could be surrounding the house. Moving all their henchmen into place to attack.
Only once she had the App open Amy had to frown.
The car that was parked in the porte-cochere was a silver BMW.
One that Amy recognized instantly as Balthazar’s judging by the exclusive model and the red ribbon Claire had tied to the antenna.
It wasn't surprising for Balthazar to come by. He was always popping in.
His boyfriend's own family lived just down the road.
Plus he loved to chat and gossip.
It didn't matter if it was with her, Richard or both of them.
And honestly Amy didn't mind it either.
But he always let them know when he was coming in advance.
From the camera she could make out a figure in the driver's seat. But that was it.
Eventually the door opened causing her curiosity to peak even more.
Because Castiel stepped out.
In the almost six years that Castiel had been on Earth with his siblings he had always stuck to himself.
He wouldn't visit Amy or Richard unless one or both of his siblings were coming too.
At least until now.
Considering all this it had to mean something was wrong.
Amy scanned his appearance taking in all the little differences.
His tie was more crooked than normal. It may have even been backwards.
And his hair, which was always a mess, was sticking up in every direction.
There was even a cowlick on the left side.
And the suit had her frowning.
It was wrinkled.
That was a major pet peeve of Richard.
Whenever he took his break from painting today and came down for a snack he was going to be upset if he caught sight of his son in this state.
Well that was if Castiel ever came inside.
The angel kept walking the space between the car and the front door.
Talking to himself as he turned back and forth before he made it to either.
Whatever it was that he was here for must have been important.
Not wanting to push him Amy made herself a cup of tea.
Selecting a few sandwiches she sat back and watched her son as he tried to make up his mind.
It wasn't until her sixth sandwich that Castiel seemed to have finally made up his mind as to what he was going to do.
His face shifted into his normal determined steeliness.
In a few efficient steps the Alpha made it to the door and pressed the bell resolutely.
Using the time it took Gerald the butler to answer the door and led her son in, Amy put away her phone.
It took little effort to move her current book she was reading from the edge of the table to locating it in front of her.
Then all that was left was to open to the bookmarked page and look as if she had been engrossed for hours sitting there drinking her tea and reading a good book.
She even managed to look surprised when Castiel walked in.
He greeted her with his normal, “Hello Mrs Amy, sorry for intruding on your afternoon.”
Smiling, Amy directed Castiel to take a seat while sighing, “Castiel, no need to apologize. And you can call me mom.”
The last part she had been pushing for over a year now and it had yet to work.
Amy wasn't sure if it was due to how he was raised or some other reason as to why he was resisting it so badly.
She wanted to ask him but all the parenting books had suggested that she let Castiel come to her when he was ready to talk about his past.
It dawned on her then that this could be what he was here to do.
With a thrill of excitement Amy set aside her book to quickly make her son’s cup of tea before setting it in front of him.
On his plate she placed the little honey cakes that they both liked.
The honey was from the beehive situated next to her garden.
Something that the whole family had helped to build all because of a book Claire had found on the subject.
Her little granddaughter had cried in distress after realizing the cute little critters were on the verge of being endangered.
The beehive on this property had been the first but it was not the last.
Castiel seemed enchanted by the idea of beekeeping. As such he had a beehive going on the roof of the bookstore.
And according to Balthazar, the Alpha was trying to convince the partners of all his siblings to put up some on their own properties as well.
So far it was an ongoing push that Amy knew would never stop expanding.
Still, Amy had to applaud him for going after something he believed and wanted.
From what she could gleam, Castiel wasn't the type to fight except for on very rare occurrences.
He mostly did what he was told or was shown how to do.
And if Castiel was unsure about a subject, he would research it to find everything he could to see if there was a better way of doing it.
Otherwise he seemed to live by the motto of stay out of the way.
And don't rock the boat.
Both of which he was going against by being here right now.
This made Amy even more curious as to why he was here.
She didn't push though.
Just watched him over her tea. Noted how Castiel kept shifting uncomfortably in his seat while he ate.
It all helped to add to the mystique of it all.
Finally after Castiel had polished off the honey cakes the angel pushed his plate away while clearing his throat.
Setting the book down once more Amy fully regarded her son. Ready for almost anything.
Castiel let his eyes drop away from her as he took a breath and said, “I need your assistance. I need to acquire a cellular device.”
And Amy knew her face deflated for a brief moment. Because what?
Sure she as well as everyone else had over the years tried to push a cell phone at Castiel. And he had resisted like the device would kill him somehow.
Now without warning he was suddenly onboard.
It didn't make any sense.
There had to be another reason.
Schooling her face she took a moment to sip at her drink before saying calmly, “I beg your pardon.”
Castiel blinked sheepishly then tried again, “I need to get a cell phone.”
“I am sorry dear but a cell phone?” Amy just wanted to make sure she had heard right.
Castiel sighed, “It's a device that you carry on your person that allows for instant communication.”
They both stared at each other. Amy knew it was because it seemed like they were both getting nowhere in this conversation.
She sometimes forgot that this son was more literal than her other children.
But if they were going to get to the root of this she needed to be more straightforward.
Giving a soft smile Amy said carefully so as not to embarrass him, “Oh yes a phone. Of course I can help you with that.”
“Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.” Castiel said with a slight hint of emotion.
It was amazing to see the worry just melt away.
This request must have weighed heavily on him. And yet for some strange reason Castiel could ask his siblings for use of the car but not to help with this phone endeavor.
Interesting.
“Just out of curiosity,” Amy started watching carefully as Castiel's eyes went wide like he had been caught doing something wrong.
That let her know that she was on the right track.
Please with herself she continued.
“Why do you need such a device?” She asked.
She could see him calculating on what to say.
Where each response would lead him knowing that she would have her own counter responses.
Amy knew exactly when Castiel had decided on a course of action.
He got that determined look once more.
“I received a number from someone I wish to correspond to pertaining to issues and helpful suggestions on fatherhood.” Castiel explained.
And that was definitely interesting.
“A group chat?” She asked.
And the way Castiel cocked his head let her know that he didn't know what the heck that was.
“A group chat is several people conversing on an App. They cover multiple topics such as deals, suggestions, recipes and coordinating outings and such.” Amy explained as she made another cup of tea.
The furrow between Castiel's eyebrows scrunched up even more at her words.
“I am not sure. That wasn't what he said in his explanation.” Castiel said the words more to himself then to her but Amy heard it all the same.
“He?” She found herself asking.
“Yeah, Dean.” Castiel said offhandedly.
Castiel was obviously too distracted by his thoughts to realize what his mouth was replying back with.
Casually Amy asked, “Who is Dean?”
“He's an Omega that I met at the bookstore a few days ago. He gave me his number and said we should be single dad friends.” The moment the words were out his mouth Castiel's face went red with realization of what he had said.
It took a few more seconds for Castiel's words to register in Amy's mind though.
As she locked on to only one word in that whole entire sentence.
Leaving Amy going, “Single!!”
“Omega??!!” Richard's voice called out from the hallway.
She should have known that he would be ease dropping.
Waiting for the right moment to accidentally walk in.
Gerald must have ran up those stairs to go tell Richard that Castiel was here.
Alone.
The nosey behind.
Giving up all pretenses Richard swiftly entered the room muttering something that sounded like “Got to get some of this tea.”
He skipped the head seat so that he could sit right next to Amy.
Grabbing a cup he motioned for her to pour.
He didn't even add anything else to his cup. Just took a sip before turning to Castiel.
“Ok spill.” He instructed, looking more like an excited teenager than a grown father of three.
Amy had to roll her eyes at his antics.
Castiel however looked confused. “Spill? Spill what?” He asked looking first to Richard then to Amy for understanding.
Richard sighed dramatically.
But Amy quickly stepped in with, “What your father is trying to say dear is tell us about Dean. Is he young, old? You said he was a single dad, how many kids does he have? That sort of thing.”
As Castiel seemed to contemplate how to answer these questions Richard's mouth started going. “Do you know what his intentions are? Does he know you're loaded? Is his ex still giving him money? Is he hot? Better yet do you want to bang him, I mean have sexual relations with him?”
Castiel's cheeks went an even brighter shade of red at his father's words.
“I'm not sure about most of that Mr Richard. We just met. But Dean had stated that we could be single dad friends. That was before the Compatibility Charge. We didn't get to talk much after or when he returned to the store this morning. But he did give me his number so that I could communicate with him. As for if he is “hot” I suppose for a demon he is quite fetching.” Castiel rushed it all out hurriedly.
There were definite parts that needed clarification.
“Compatibility Charge!!” Richard shouted in surprise.
Amy could echo that sentiment.
She also wasn't sure which part was surprising her the most.
The fact that there was a charge.
That Castiel was attracted to males.
Or that Dean was a demon.
Charges were rare. So that was exciting on its own.
And Castiel had never shown any interest in anyone before this, male nor female.
Most likely because he never had a chance to think about it on his own. Not when from what Amy had heard Castiel's mother was in charge of picking the lovers for her children.
Then there was also the fact that Castiel's world mostly revolved around his daughter
Everyone else was mostly background noise
At least until now.
Then the fact said Omega was a demon.
That was certainly different. Not that Amy was against that. If Dean was a good man and a good father then nothing else mattered.
After all, werewolves had horrible reputations because of certain branches. But Sebastian and his family as a whole had never been like that.
Demons were known to be crafty but fearlessly protective over things they deemed their own.
So if this Dean fellow was truly interested in Castiel then it would be a valuable relationship.
Even if said relationship didn't go beyond friendship it would be supportive.
That made Amy sort of smile.
Castiel needed something like that.
Only time would tell where this would go.
But first things first, they needed to get the full story.
“Ok sweetie before we go shopping for this phone, lets start over. How did you and Dean meet?” Amy asked as she settled back into her chair.
She had a feeling that this was going to be the sort of story that would be retold more and more in the years to come.
And Richard, despite his good intentions, would no doubt be adding some flair to the story thanks to his artist's side.
So it meant it would be up to Amy to make sure that all of the details were remembered right to be ready for perhaps a wedding toast.
Or better yet to tell future children.
The End