Baby Mine 03
Summary: When Gabriel is tasked with caring for a child, he immediately knows that this isn't a good idea. So he instead sends the kid to someone he knows is mature and responsible enough - Castiel. This can only end in tears.
Warnings: Seriously screwing with ages? Nothing other than that.
Disclaimer (Which I often forget to put in): HP and SPN are not mine. More's the pity.
Dean watched as Castiel sat cross-legged on the floor. A few feet away, Teddy was standing shakily, holding on to the side of the bed, and looking like he was about to walk. It was a sweet scene, one that could happen between any father and son.
What held Dean's interest the most, though, was the fact that Castiel was showing signs of emotion. It was all over the angel's face, subtle but clear - he loved the little child. And in that moment, it clicked for Dean - something that had been bugging him for a few days now.
-BM-
Dean saw from the corner of his eye as Castiel watched his last moments with Anna. Emotions were flickering across the angel's face, too fast for him to register what they were. The one that kept coming back, though, he finally recognised. Regret. Cas didn't want to do this.
It was enough to give him hope that their insane plan might actually work.
"Okay," Anna sounded so confident as she turned to face Castiel and Uriel. "No more tricks. No more running. I'm ready."
"I'm sorry," Castiel told her, and now the regret was plain on his face.
"No. You're…" Anna suddenly trailed off, looking between her former brothers. "Wait, you are. You're not," she glanced at Uriel, before her eyes found Castiel again. "But you are. You… you're feeling." She slowly moved towards him and laid a hand on his face, eyes wide in wonder. "You're falling…"
-BM-
The demons had shown up then, and in the chaos that followed, Anna's comment had been forgotten. Dean had smacked Alistair over the head with a crowbar - which had felt really good - and Anna had stolen her Grace back from Uriel. Since then, Castiel hadn't gone back to… wherever it was that the angels went. Instead he briefly disappeared to collect Teddy, then stayed with the Winchesters.
Dean was brought back to the present by a wail from Teddy, who had fallen over. Cas hadn't quite been quick enough to catch him, and the little boy had bumped his knees. His angelic father scooped him up before his head hit the floor, and held him close for a moment.
"Hush, little one. You're all right. No need to cry." The low voice was soothing even for Dean, and quickly the toddler stopped sniffling and instead wriggled out of Castiel's grasp in an attempt to stand again. "That's my boy."
"You're falling…"
Dean remembered Anna's words then. Sam and Bobby had done a lot of research into angels in the last few months, and one of the things they'd found was that angels could fall if they started to care too much for humans. And looking at the love on Castiel's face for his son… Dean knew that their angel wasn't going to have his Grace for much longer, not if he kept being a father.
"Don't worry, Dean," Castiel spoke then, and Dean was startled out of his thoughts. "I don't mind if I fall. As long as I have Teddy." He gave a short laugh, surprising the hunter. "I always was better at following my big brother than my commander."
And with that, Teddy fell into his father's arms after taking his first successful steps.
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