[FIC] Making a Memory for quiddative
Gift type: Fanfic
Title: Making a Memory
Author: morganoconner
Recipient: quiddative
Rating: PG
Warnings: kid!fic, implied past mpreg
Spoilers: It’s basically canon-compliant through S6, but there really aren’t any spoilers beyond some vague ones for S5
Word count: 5826
Summary: Ten years is a long time to go without seeing someone you love, but luckily Dean and Cas have two devious daughters around to help them pick up where they left off.
Author notes: quiddative, this was finished super late due to RL things getting in the way, and I hope you can forgive me for that. I also took a few liberties with your Parent Trap prompt (this isn’t AU, for one, and the twins aren’t adopted, for two…), and some liberties with the plot of the movie itself (it’s been years since I’ve seen either version, and none of this is actually from the twins’ perspectives), but I really hope you enjoy it anyway. I had a surprising amount of fun writing this! :) *hugs* Happy holidays!!
“You can’t leave her here,” Bobby says, glowering at the archangel on his doorstep. “There’s… she doesn’t… what in the hell do you expect me to do with a kid for however long this is gonna take?”
Gabriel’s lips twist, and he tugs his niece gently out from where she’s trying unsuccessfully to hide behind him. Her dark hair is windblown and messy, and her green eyes are wide as she stares up at Bobby. “Look, I don’t really have a choice here. We can’t take her with us, and you’re the only person Castiel trusts here.”
“That’s not -”
Gabriel’s glare silences him. “The only person we have access to,” he amends. “Hopefully it won’t be more than a few weeks.”
“But what about -”
“Bobby.” Gabriel gives a very subtle shake of his head, and Bobby’s eyes narrow. “Please.”
Like Bobby would ever actually say no. It’s been a long time - almost a decade - since he last saw the little girl, and maybe this is the chance he’s been waiting for, anyway. But he makes a show of grumbling about it because he knows it gets the archangel’s feathers up, before he finally crosses his arms with a sigh. “Fine, fine,” he says, and now he tosses a wink at the slip of a girl clinging to Gabriel’s hand before fixing another glare on the archangel. “But you boys don’t come back in one piece, there’s gonna be hell to pay, you got it?”
“Copy that,” Gabriel says, and now his smile is a little wider, a little more genuine. He kneels down in front of the girl, pulls her into an embrace. “Be good for the cranky old guy, okay Faith? He’s not nearly as mean as he tries to be.”
She clings to him for as long as she can before pulling away with a small sniff and nodding. “Keep Papa safe,” she whispers. “Love you both, Uncle Gabriel.”
“Love you too kiddo,” he says, standing. His eyes find Bobby’s again, and he quirks a last smile at the gruff hunter. “Thanks, Bobby. Don’t have too much fun without me.” He winks, his eyes sliding almost imperceptibly up to the second-story window and then back. “And if there are any problems - any - you call me. I’ll be keeping an ear out.”
Bobby shakes his head, trying not to laugh. Gabriel’s no idiot, all prior evidence to the contrary, and hell, maybe he actually knows what he’s doing here, too. The archangel vanishes with a finger-snap, and Faith is left staring at the empty place he’d been with tears in her eyes. Bobby’s heart gives a little tug, and he opens the door, grabs up the backpack sitting in front of him, the only thing she’d brought with her. “Why don’t you come on in, kid? Got someone here you may wanna meet.”
* * *
Sam misses his niece fiercely when she’s not with them, during the rare times he and Dean go on hunts these days and are forced to leave her with Bobby. But for all that he misses her laughter and her scrunched up nose and her piercing green eyes and the way she lights up everything around her, he knows it’s nothing to how Dean feels. There are times Dean takes ‘overprotective’ to a whole new level when it comes to his daughter, but he has his reasons, and at eleven years old, Grace has never seemed bothered by it.
When she’s not with them, Dean tends to go a little bit crazy.
Right now, he’s in the driver’s seat, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, his jaw clenched and his eyes far away. He’s the very picture of nervous tension, and it’s driving Sam nuts.
“Look, Dean, we both know Grace is fine. Bobby would never let anything happen to her, and she loves getting to visit him. We’ll have this case wrapped up in no time, and then we’ll head back home and everything will be fine. Like always.”
Things are never exactly fine, never perfect the way they should be. But Sam and Dean don’t talk about that, about the pieces of the puzzle of their life that are consistently missing. Dean nods, forces his posture into something a little more relaxed. “Yeah,” he says. “I know. Who said I was worried?” He slants a look over at Sam, and Sam rolls his eyes. Dean’s mouth crooks a little. “Bitch.”
“Jerk,” is Sam’s easy reply, and like that, some of the tension breaks, and they’re just two brothers, on the road the way they’ve been for so much of their lives, hunting down evil and making sure their family stays safe.
They don’t talk about Grace again for the rest of the drive, and if Sam’s mind slip-slides more than once to his niece and the other things they never talk about, well, that’s his business.
* * *
The girls have taken to each other with an almost alarming ease that Bobby can’t help being a little suspicious of. Sure, there’d been the wide-eyed incredulity, the tears when they’d learned the truth, the two days of keeping themselves locked away in separate rooms while they tried to work out how they were feeling. But now, it’s like they’ve become best friends overnight.
Bobby doesn’t know much about things like this (and damn the Winchesters and the angels three times over for leaving him to deal with this mess on his own), but he guesses maybe it has something to do with them being twins. People are always saying that twins share a connection different from normal siblings, and given that these twins in particular have more than a smidge of angel in their blood to boot…
He’s also pretty grateful they’re getting along. Makes his job a helluva lot easier, at any rate, and there’s a part of him that’s hoping that maybe - just maybe - it will make a difference in what’s to come when their parents finally come to collect them.
And damn, but it does his heart good to see them together after so long. The last time he’d seen Faith - the last time Faith and Grace had seen each other - they’d been nothing more than chubby-cheeked infants. And when Dean had gone one way with Grace in tow, and Castiel had gone the other way with Faith, something had broken between all four of them, something that had left its mark, no matter how much Dean’s been unwilling to admit it.
The reasons, at the time, had been good ones, and Bobby would be the last person to ever say different. But now, ten years later, it just doesn’t seem worth the heartbreak he knows it’s caused.
So he watches Faith and Grace as they come back together, as they bond first as friends, and then as sisters, and then as something even greater, and he can’t help the fond smile that creeps over his face to watch it.
* * *
Gabriel will be the first to admit that he’s maybe just a little too devious for his own good. It’s never really bothered him, and when he was alone and in hiding from Heaven, it got him through more than one bad scrape. It’s a part of his nature, something he couldn’t change even if he wanted to, right up there with his fondness for chocolate and his love for his family.
This, though, probably takes the cake, and not only because Castiel can and will run him through with his sword if he finds out. But Bobby’s a good guy, and Gabriel thinks he’s probably safe. Bobby wouldn’t sell him out when Gabriel knows for a fact the hunter is just as sick of this as he is.
Once upon a time, the denizens of Hell had learned that The Angel and The Righteous Man were expecting offspring. They’d gotten it into their minds that they wanted this child.
Castiel and Dean had worked tirelessly to create protections for their daughter, spells and charms and wards that would keep her hidden from even the most powerful of those who would come looking for her.
Except that, instead of one child, they’d been blessed with two, and their two daughters together lit up like a homing beacon. There was no hiding that sort of power, and after a year of being constantly on the run, exhausted and worn down and desperate, they’d come up with The Plan…the only thing they could do to ensure the safety of their whole family.
They split the girls up.
And maybe, once upon a time, it had made sense. And hell, maybe even now it makes sense, but Gabriel doubts it at this point, and quite frankly, he’s tired of it. He’s tired of the sadness that lurks in his brother’s eyes, and the way it always feels like something’s missing from their lives, and the way Faith has grown up never even knowing she has a sister. It’s not fair, not to any of them, and in ten years, Hell’s influence has lessened to almost nothing. There’s still Heaven to worry about, but the war’s been over for a long time, and with Joshua in charge these days, Gabriel thinks it’s a risk they can take.
Except that Castiel is as stubborn as a mule, and won’t be budged. If Gabriel didn’t know any better, he’d think his brother was worried that Dean had forgotten about him.
But Gabriel does know better, and oh wait, that’s exactly the problem. Because Castiel is, apparently, as idiotic as he is stubborn.
So Gabriel’s decided he needs to fix some things.
He just needs to remember to steer clear of Castiel’s sword hand for a while.
* * *
Their personalities make it pretty easy to tell which kid is which, which Bobby’s grateful for, because they’re practically identical down to the last freckle otherwise, and Bobby has it on good authority that, because of the circumstances of their birth, they also share a damn soul, so even that wouldn’t be helpful to him.
But Grace is clearly a hunter’s child. She has a mouth on her, isn’t afraid to get dirty, and despite being eleven years old and small for her age, she knows her way around any number of weapons, including a goddamn shotgun.
Faith, on the other hand, is quiet for the most part. When she talks, she uses words that even Bobby sometimes needs a dictionary for, making her sound much older than she really is. She doesn’t slouch when she sits, and she’s more inclined to stare at the sky until she finds some sort of meaning in it than she is to play hide-and-seek in the dusty scrap yard. Despite all that, she has a definite sense of mischief Bobby can only assume she picked up from her uncle, and she catches both him and Grace off guard with it more than once.
Still, he doesn’t worry about trying to keep them straight, right up until the day he catches Grace plaiting three tiny braids into Faith’s hair, the same way she wears her own, and Faith looks at him and grins a wide, toothy grin he’s never seen from her before.
Then he starts thinking, Well, hell, this could get messy…
But he backs out of the room with a mumbled comment that their breakfast is ready, and leaves them to it.
* * *
Sam comes to collect Grace on a rainy, dreary Tuesday afternoon. He takes note of her red-rimmed eyes as she comes down the stairs clutching an unfamiliar stuffed rabbit that he assumes Bobby must have gotten her, big softie that he is.
“Hey sweetie,” he says, kneeling down and drawing her into a hug. “You okay?”
“Uncle Sam,” she murmurs, pressing close and burying her face in his chest. “’M okay. Just a little tired.” There’s a pause. “I missed you. And…Daddy.” The words are mumbled into the fabric of his shirt, and he runs a hand through her hair soothingly.
“Well, c’mon squirt. We missed you too, and if your dad doesn’t get to fuss over you soon, I think he may go a little crazy.”
She giggles, pulls away to go over to Bobby and give him a big hug. “Thank you,” she says to him, her voice still uncharacteristically soft. Sam wonders what Bobby’s kept her busy doing to have her so worn out.
Bobby eyes her for a long moment before shaking his head and patting her on the shoulder. “You take care,” he says gruffly. “And watch after your dad and your uncle, y’hear? God only knows what sorta trouble they’ll get up to otherwise.”
She giggles again, pressing a hand to her mouth as her eyes gain back some of their more familiar sparkle. “I will,” she promises.
Sam takes her hand, and leads her out to the car. Dean’s waiting at the motel, hopefully with his latest wound cleaned and bandaged by now, and he’ll be climbing the walls wanting to see his daughter, if Sam knows him at all. The sooner he and Grace get back, the sooner they can all go home.
* * *
Two days later, Gabriel appears in Bobby’s living room with a wide grin. “Bobby,” he says, nodding to the hunter. “Castiel asked me to extend his sincere gratitude to you for watching out for Faith these past few weeks.”
Bobby stands, tucks his hands into his pockets as he shrugs. “Did my heart good to see her,” is what he says in response. “And you.” The last part is said more grudgingly.
Gabriel ducks his head, hiding his too-honest smile. “She doing okay?”
“Course she is,” Bobby says with a snort, like it should be obvious. “Everything kosher up in Heaven?”
Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Yeah. Just a small disturbance, and they probably didn’t even really need our help.” His mouth quirks a little. “Still, it was good to have the chance to check in, and I know Cas was thankful for it. Sorry for how long we -”
He’s cut off by the small girl that flies down the stairs and launches herself into his arms. “Uncle Gabriel,” Faith cries happily, clinging to him. “Missed you so much.”
He’s a little bewildered by her tears, and by how fiercely she hugs him, but then, Castiel has never left her for this long, so it probably makes sense. “Missed you too, kiddo,” he tells her. “Ready to go? Probably shouldn’t keep your papa waiting, you know how he is.”
She sniffs, pulling away and smiling up at him. “Yeah. Of course.” She’s all but vibrating.
They say their farewells to Bobby, and Gabriel promises they’ll visit again, sometime. He’s not sure if the hunter believes him, but then, he’s not sure it’s a promise he can keep either.
He only knows that it’s one he hopes to. If things work out the way he wants them to.
* * *
Bobby’s no idiot. He watches the girls leave with a suspicious crease between his brows, and by the time he’s pretty sure of what’s going on, he’s got to give them credit for ingenuity. He’s not sure he’d have the balls to try and pull one over on Dean and Cas like that, and that’s before taking into account their brothers, too.
But hell if he isn’t wishing those little girls all the luck in the world with their plot.
* * *
Sam’s a little ashamed to admit how long it takes him to catch on, and when he does, it’s because Grace…no, Faith, dear God, it’s really genuinely Faith standing in front of him…slips up, a week after they’ve returned home.
She’s staring at him wide-eyed as she clutches the back-up cell phone to her chest. She’s already hung up with her sister, but not fast enough for Sam not to catch the last bit of the conversation. Her face is pale, making the freckles she inherited from Dean stand out sharply, and she’s backed up against the kitchen table like she’s hoping it will open up and swallow her rather than force her to face her uncle’s wrath.
As though Sam could do anything other than stand here in shock, longing to reach out and drag her into his arms but unable to make himself move to do so.
“Uncle Sam…” she says, her voice trembling. “We didn’t mean for -”
She squeaks in surprise when he finally moves, when he crushes her to his chest and breathes her name and remembers the first time he held her when she was born, so tiny and fragile and perfect, Dean on the bed next to him looking deliriously happy despite how hard the births had been on him. Castiel had been seated beside Dean holding the hunter’s hand, and Gabriel had been standing by Sam, Grace in his arms as he looked between the two of them in wonder.
It was a perfect moment, a cherished memory, and Sam hasn’t allowed himself to think of it in a long time.
“You’re in so much trouble,” he mumbles into Faith’s hair, but he doesn’t mean it, and he’s shaking as she just hugs him that much harder and asks him in a tremulous voice to please, please don’t tell Dean just yet, to please just give her one more day to be with him.
* * *
Gabriel’s impressed that she pulled it off at all, to be honest. But even though Castiel may not see it, may not be willing to see it, it’s too hard for Gabriel to ignore the way her eyes fill when Castiel calls her “my dearest”, or the way she follows him throughout the days, interested in anything and everything he’s doing. Gabriel can’t miss the way she takes everything in like she’s collecting memories, like she doesn’t know how long she has.
But it’s not until he catches her snooping around, digging through old photo albums, that he can really be sure. He swallows, forces his voice sharp. “Grace Mary Winchester!” he growls, and she meeps, spins around guiltily before green eyes flare wide and she stumbles back, hand pressed over her mouth.
Gabriel’s heart misses a beat, because as sure as he’d been, there was a part of him that couldn’t, wouldn’t believe it. He sags against the wall, laughing just a tiny bit hysterically.
“I’m sorry,” she says, the words muffled behind her hand before she hesitantly lowers it. “Don’t tell Papa!” She winces even as she says it, staring down at the ground. “We were gonna tell them both tomorrow, I swear. Just… We just wanted…”
“I get it,” he says, lips quirking as he slides down to the ground, holds his arms open. “C’mere, you.”
She snuggles into his arms just like she did when she was a baby, and Gabriel ignores the way his heart quakes, and the way his breath stutters. “Thanks for not being mad,” she whispers.
“Mad? I’m so damn proud of you, Gracie,” he replies, and she giggles even as she presses closer to him. “So come on then. Tell me all about yourself. What’ve I missed?”
And he settles her into his lap as she begins to talk.
* * *
Dean’s sitting at the table, balancing their finances - something that’s still a real kick in the ass when he stops to think about it - when Sam and Grace come downstairs for breakfast. He looks up with a ready smile for his daughter that falters a little when he sees her downcast expression, and the way Sam is clasping her shoulder.
“What’s up?” he asks, turning and holding an arm out for his daughter.
She looks up, clasping her hands together as she takes a hesitant step forward, and something about it, something in that movement or in the painfully familiar expression, makes his breath catch. The pen he’s still holding falls from suddenly numb fingers.
“Grace?” he says, but he already knows, knows even before the guilty flush steals over her face, and he’s out of the chair and kneeling in front of her and drawing her into his arms before she can ever say a word. “Faith,” he whispers, and it doesn’t matter why, or how. In that moment, it just matters that she’s here.
“Daddy. Daddy, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she sobs, and he shushes her as he tries to memorize the feel of her in his arms after so damn long. He closes his eyes tightly, never even notices Sam quietly leave the room.
Once upon a time, a hunter and an angel fell in love. It was against every rule in the book, and would be used against them in every way imaginable, but there was no fighting it. They loved each other deeply and without reservation and without a hint of regret. And despite every obstacle set in their path, they fought to keep that love, fought to keep each other.
When the unthinkable happened, it was just more proof that they were meant to stay together. It couldn’t have happened without the connection they shared, without the kind of deep and abiding love that fucking fairytales were made out of, and it should have meant they were free. It should have meant they could stop fighting.
Instead, it had resulted in too many close calls, in too much fear, and in the end, it had torn them apart.
And the pain has never - never - let up, not even for an instant. Dean’s happy, with his daughter and his brother and the life he’s carved for himself here, but there’s a hole inside that he’s never been able to fill, and it gapes wide open every damn day.
Cas, his soul cries out, with every beat of his heart. Faith.
He needs them in his life just as much as he’s ever needed Sammy, or Grace.
And with Faith in his arms now, he can almost believe in miracles, because he’s always figured that that’s what it would take to get them back.
As he holds onto her and rocks her and tells her how much he loves her and how much he’s missed her, he aches more than he has in years for Castiel to be there. For his family to be together again.
* * *
Gabriel’s grace brushes against Castiel’s as he sits on the front porch, contemplating the sunrise, and there’s a whisper from the archangel flitting across his thoughts. Go easy on her.
Baffled, Castiel wonders what Gabriel could possibly be talking about, but then the door to the house opens, and his daughter pads quietly out, sitting on the porch swing next to him and curling into his warmth. “Good morning, Faith,” he murmurs, placing an arm around her and smiling when she instantly presses closer.
“Papa?” Her voice is hesitant, unsure. “I…I have a confession to make.”
It sounds as though she’s choosing her words very carefully. Castiel blinks, turning to focus on her. “What is it, my dearest?”
She bites her lip, and he has to blink again, because this is not something he’s ever seen Faith do before. When she speaks, he almost needs to strain to hear her. “I’m not… When I was dropped off at Bobby’s last month, it wasn’t…” She stutters to a halt, screwing her eyes shut.
Alarmed now, Castiel holds her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Faith, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
She sniffs and takes a deep breath, opening her eyes to stare at a fixed point away in the distance. She mumbles, “Faith got to Bobby’s house two days after I did,” and Castiel stops breathing. He’s barely able to hear her past the rushing sound in his ears when she continues. “Daddy leaves me at Bobby’s whenever he goes on a hunt, so I’m pretty used to it. S’not all the time, ‘specially ‘cause we have a house now and he and Uncle Sam don’t hunt as much, but I like Bobby, he’s nice and he lets me read almost any of his books and play out in the scrap yard, long as I’m careful. But I’m almost always there by myself.” She swallows. “It was awesome this time, getting to hang out with my sister.”
“Grace?” he whispers, and when her eyes slowly meet his, he wonders how he ever could have missed it.
“We just wanted…we wanted to know our other parents. I remember you, sometimes, when I’m dreaming, and I…” Tears are falling from her eyes now, and Castiel’s hand shakes as he reaches up to wipe them away. “So we switched,” she finishes, looking scared.
They switched. They switched. This is Grace in his arms, and oh Father how he’s missed her! He clutches her tightly as she sobs into his chest, and tries to quench the flare of…something, something he refuses to call hope…that ignites when he realizes, if Grace is here, then that means Faith is…
…with Dean.
* * *
The phone rings just as Dean is crawling into bed that night. He tries and fails to steady his hand as he makes a grab for it, and shudders at the name that flashes across the screen, though it’s nothing more than the letter “A”.
For Angel. Because why make the bad guys suspicious with the name of the lover he hasn’t seen in a decade, if they ever got a hold of his phone? That’s what he tells himself, anyway, but really it’s just that he could never handle seeing Castiel’s name every time he scrolled through his address book.
It was too hard.
He flips the phone open and brings it to his ear in a daze. Can’t even bring himself to say anything, because he doesn’t think his voice will work, but Castiel has never needed prompting.
“Dean,” the angel breathes, and something that’s long since been out of whack in Dean’s life suddenly slots firmly back into place.
Cas, he thinks, but can’t say, because if he says Castiel’s name, he thinks he’ll break. “How’s Grace?” is what he says instead, his voice raw.
There’s a moment of silence. “Sleeping, now,” Castiel replies. He sounds…defeated. “Dean, she is… She’s wonderful. You’ve done an incredible job raising her.”
And, okay, Dean can admit to the spark of pride those words bring despite everything, because there was a time when no one would have considered Dean Winchester father material, and he hadn’t exactly had the world’s greatest role model. “Thanks,” he says, and means it. “That means a lot. Faith, too, she’s something else. God, I can’t believe…”
“I know.”
“I missed her,” Dean says, clutching the phone hard enough to break it. “I missed…” you, he thinks. “…everything.”
“I know.” Softer this time. “We should discuss a time to…”
Meet. Switch them back. Get on with the lives we’ve made for ourselves. Dean screws his eyes shut. “The girls, now that they know, they’ll never…”
“Perhaps…we can continue to let them… Holidays, perhaps, or…”
Not enough! Dean’s mind screams. But then, nothing will be enough, except…
So much unsaid, unthought, suppressed ruthlessly into the corners of his mind. So much he has to contain, for his own sanity, for the safety of his girls, so much he doesn’t want to leave unspoken even if he doesn’t know how to say the words.
“I love you.” A single, brutally honest truth, and one that makes the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes spill over onto his cheeks. He rushes onward, hoping to gloss it over a little. “We can…talk about it later. When we meet up. Or something.”
There’s a small sound on the other end of the line, something that tells Dean the angel is not unaffected by his ill-timed confession, and somehow, it makes him feel better, makes something in his chest loosen, just a tiny bit. “I…yes. Yes, of course,” Castiel says. “Dean…I…”
“Tomorrow,” Dean cuts in, because he can’t hear it. Maybe it’s unfair, but he just can’t. “Bobby’s, maybe?”
There’s a sigh. “That is acceptable. I suppose I’ll…”
No! Too soon, don’t go! Please! “Cas…”
A small pause. “Would you like… Perhaps I could…stay on the line? Until you fall asleep? Or would that be…”
Dean’s accepted more than one blow to his pride lately, might as well go for broke. “Please,” he says in a small voice.
He thinks he’ll never be able to fall asleep, that he’ll spend the whole night until sunrise just holding the phone to his ear, desperate for every rustle, every breath, every sign he can cling to that his angel is on the other side. But in the end, it’s only moments before he falls into a deep sleep, one of the best he’s had in years.
Just before Castiel hangs up, he whispers, “I’ve never stopped loving you, Dean Winchester,” and the words penetrate the hunter’s dreams.
* * *
Bobby Singer’s house has always been a central meeting point: for the Winchesters, for other hunters, for anyone looking for an ounce of safety. There are wards covering the perimeter, the property, and the house itself, wards from every culture and faith on the planet, and one would be hard-pressed to find anyplace more well-guarded.
Generally, Bobby himself is roaming around, gruff and muttering about one thing or another, especially with any of the Winchesters in his sights. Today though, when Castiel arrives with his brother and his daughter, the hunter is conspicuously absent.
Dean must have warned him ahead of time.
Gabriel sprawls out across the couch and tugs Grace into his lap. Ridiculously, Castiel feels a twinge of jealousy, but it’s quickly overcome, especially when Grace’s soulful green eyes meet his, and she holds a hand out for him to join them. He sits on the other side, and laughs as she flits between the two of them while they all wait for Dean and Sam and Faith.
“Papa,” she says at one point, cuddling up to him when Gabriel has gone into the kitchen to rummage…which is really just an excuse to give Castiel and Grace a moment of privacy. When she continues, her voice is softer than he’s heard it at all the past week, and it almost breaks his heart. “I don’t…I don’t wanna lose you. Again. S’not fair.”
“Oh, Grace…” He closes his eyes, overcome with so much emotion he doesn’t entirely know how to handle, and pulls her closer, burying his face in her hair.
That’s how Faith and the Winchesters find them, and he should worry that he didn’t even hear them enter the house, but there’s just no room left in him for that concern right now, because Dean is here, staring at Castiel with his heart in his eyes and his breathing gone ragged, and Castiel wants...
Castiel just wants.
Everything.
He nudges Grace, and she looks up, her eyes going wide and bright when she sees her family. “Daddy!” she cries, jumping up and racing into his arms. Faith peers up at Castiel, and then just as quickly, she’s on the couch, burrowing into him, whispering apologies he doesn’t need to hear.
Gabriel comes out of the kitchen with a wide grin at the sight of the Winchesters, and Castiel doesn’t - can’t - miss the way his brother’s eyes linger on Sam’s, or the way the younger Winchester flushes before he turns away, hiding his own smile.
One more loss, one more thing Castiel has never acknowledged was missing in their lives.
Father, how have any of them borne this?
The girls both leave their fathers’ embraces at the same time, and then they’re hugging each other, tearful and laughing and it’s just too much. How can Castiel do what he came here to do, how can he…
Gabriel’s hand lands on his shoulder, and when he meets the archangel’s warm amber eyes, he hears the words Gabriel won’t speak aloud. Then don’t.
Don’t, Castiel. Don’t let them walk out of our lives again.
Faith and Grace, more than sisters, more even than just twins, clinging to each other like puzzle pieces, souls burning brightly with connection, one incomplete without the other, and…
And…
“Oh…” Castiel blinks. “Oh, I’ve been so foolish…”
How had he missed this? After so long, after all the reasoning behind separating them in the first place, how had he missed realizing…
Everyone is staring at him quizzically, even the girls, but it’s to Dean his own gaze goes. His heart is beating too hard as he stands restlessly, his limbs trembling with so much pent-up emotion. “They’re together,” he says.
It takes them a moment, and it’s Sam who understands first, judging by the sudden sharp gasp. Dean gets it only a half-second after that, and viridian eyes go wide. “Wait, but… But they were together for weeks, and no one…”
“No one noticed. No one came after them.”
Bobby’s wards had never been enough to hide the energy signature of the twins, not from demons or angels, so it’s not because they’re here. And neither their fathers nor their uncles had been here to protect them during those weeks, so it would have been the perfect time for anyone still watching to…
Castiel trembles just to think of it, reminds himself that no one had.
No one had.
Gabriel says it, because everyone else seems too afraid to. “We’re safe now.” And there’s a beat, when they all hold their breath, waiting for the inevitable attack, because after so long, it’s just expected, when someone dares to utter those words.
But it never comes.
They’re safe now.
The twins are looking back and forth between the adults, and it’s Faith who speaks first, her voice tremulous as she grasps her sister’s hand. “Does…does that mean we can stay together?” she asks.
Dean and Castiel stare at each other. Castiel can’t seem to say a word, his throat closed tight, but Dean manages to try. “I don’t… I mean, how would we even… We all have our own…” He stops, takes a breath. Tries again. “What are we s’posed to do, just…just pick up where we left off and…”
“Yes!” Sam says, shoving at his brother as a grin stretches his face. “Oh my God, yes, you idiot, that’s exactly what you should do!”
Castiel freezes like a deer in headlights when Dean hesitantly comes closer, when he’s suddenly within reach, when his hand comes up to brush along Castiel’s cheek. “Cas, do you even want to…”
“More than anything, yes,” Castiel whispers, and he thinks maybe he hears the girls squealing in the background, maybe feels the smugness in Gabriel’s grace as it brushes his, but then Dean is kissing him, and everything is swept away under the bright reality of being home.
Title: Making a Memory
Author: morganoconner
Recipient: quiddative
Rating: PG
Warnings: kid!fic, implied past mpreg
Spoilers: It’s basically canon-compliant through S6, but there really aren’t any spoilers beyond some vague ones for S5
Word count: 5826
Summary: Ten years is a long time to go without seeing someone you love, but luckily Dean and Cas have two devious daughters around to help them pick up where they left off.
Author notes: quiddative, this was finished super late due to RL things getting in the way, and I hope you can forgive me for that. I also took a few liberties with your Parent Trap prompt (this isn’t AU, for one, and the twins aren’t adopted, for two…), and some liberties with the plot of the movie itself (it’s been years since I’ve seen either version, and none of this is actually from the twins’ perspectives), but I really hope you enjoy it anyway. I had a surprising amount of fun writing this! :) *hugs* Happy holidays!!
“You can’t leave her here,” Bobby says, glowering at the archangel on his doorstep. “There’s… she doesn’t… what in the hell do you expect me to do with a kid for however long this is gonna take?”
Gabriel’s lips twist, and he tugs his niece gently out from where she’s trying unsuccessfully to hide behind him. Her dark hair is windblown and messy, and her green eyes are wide as she stares up at Bobby. “Look, I don’t really have a choice here. We can’t take her with us, and you’re the only person Castiel trusts here.”
“That’s not -”
Gabriel’s glare silences him. “The only person we have access to,” he amends. “Hopefully it won’t be more than a few weeks.”
“But what about -”
“Bobby.” Gabriel gives a very subtle shake of his head, and Bobby’s eyes narrow. “Please.”
Like Bobby would ever actually say no. It’s been a long time - almost a decade - since he last saw the little girl, and maybe this is the chance he’s been waiting for, anyway. But he makes a show of grumbling about it because he knows it gets the archangel’s feathers up, before he finally crosses his arms with a sigh. “Fine, fine,” he says, and now he tosses a wink at the slip of a girl clinging to Gabriel’s hand before fixing another glare on the archangel. “But you boys don’t come back in one piece, there’s gonna be hell to pay, you got it?”
“Copy that,” Gabriel says, and now his smile is a little wider, a little more genuine. He kneels down in front of the girl, pulls her into an embrace. “Be good for the cranky old guy, okay Faith? He’s not nearly as mean as he tries to be.”
She clings to him for as long as she can before pulling away with a small sniff and nodding. “Keep Papa safe,” she whispers. “Love you both, Uncle Gabriel.”
“Love you too kiddo,” he says, standing. His eyes find Bobby’s again, and he quirks a last smile at the gruff hunter. “Thanks, Bobby. Don’t have too much fun without me.” He winks, his eyes sliding almost imperceptibly up to the second-story window and then back. “And if there are any problems - any - you call me. I’ll be keeping an ear out.”
Bobby shakes his head, trying not to laugh. Gabriel’s no idiot, all prior evidence to the contrary, and hell, maybe he actually knows what he’s doing here, too. The archangel vanishes with a finger-snap, and Faith is left staring at the empty place he’d been with tears in her eyes. Bobby’s heart gives a little tug, and he opens the door, grabs up the backpack sitting in front of him, the only thing she’d brought with her. “Why don’t you come on in, kid? Got someone here you may wanna meet.”
* * *
Sam misses his niece fiercely when she’s not with them, during the rare times he and Dean go on hunts these days and are forced to leave her with Bobby. But for all that he misses her laughter and her scrunched up nose and her piercing green eyes and the way she lights up everything around her, he knows it’s nothing to how Dean feels. There are times Dean takes ‘overprotective’ to a whole new level when it comes to his daughter, but he has his reasons, and at eleven years old, Grace has never seemed bothered by it.
When she’s not with them, Dean tends to go a little bit crazy.
Right now, he’s in the driver’s seat, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, his jaw clenched and his eyes far away. He’s the very picture of nervous tension, and it’s driving Sam nuts.
“Look, Dean, we both know Grace is fine. Bobby would never let anything happen to her, and she loves getting to visit him. We’ll have this case wrapped up in no time, and then we’ll head back home and everything will be fine. Like always.”
Things are never exactly fine, never perfect the way they should be. But Sam and Dean don’t talk about that, about the pieces of the puzzle of their life that are consistently missing. Dean nods, forces his posture into something a little more relaxed. “Yeah,” he says. “I know. Who said I was worried?” He slants a look over at Sam, and Sam rolls his eyes. Dean’s mouth crooks a little. “Bitch.”
“Jerk,” is Sam’s easy reply, and like that, some of the tension breaks, and they’re just two brothers, on the road the way they’ve been for so much of their lives, hunting down evil and making sure their family stays safe.
They don’t talk about Grace again for the rest of the drive, and if Sam’s mind slip-slides more than once to his niece and the other things they never talk about, well, that’s his business.
* * *
The girls have taken to each other with an almost alarming ease that Bobby can’t help being a little suspicious of. Sure, there’d been the wide-eyed incredulity, the tears when they’d learned the truth, the two days of keeping themselves locked away in separate rooms while they tried to work out how they were feeling. But now, it’s like they’ve become best friends overnight.
Bobby doesn’t know much about things like this (and damn the Winchesters and the angels three times over for leaving him to deal with this mess on his own), but he guesses maybe it has something to do with them being twins. People are always saying that twins share a connection different from normal siblings, and given that these twins in particular have more than a smidge of angel in their blood to boot…
He’s also pretty grateful they’re getting along. Makes his job a helluva lot easier, at any rate, and there’s a part of him that’s hoping that maybe - just maybe - it will make a difference in what’s to come when their parents finally come to collect them.
And damn, but it does his heart good to see them together after so long. The last time he’d seen Faith - the last time Faith and Grace had seen each other - they’d been nothing more than chubby-cheeked infants. And when Dean had gone one way with Grace in tow, and Castiel had gone the other way with Faith, something had broken between all four of them, something that had left its mark, no matter how much Dean’s been unwilling to admit it.
The reasons, at the time, had been good ones, and Bobby would be the last person to ever say different. But now, ten years later, it just doesn’t seem worth the heartbreak he knows it’s caused.
So he watches Faith and Grace as they come back together, as they bond first as friends, and then as sisters, and then as something even greater, and he can’t help the fond smile that creeps over his face to watch it.
* * *
Gabriel will be the first to admit that he’s maybe just a little too devious for his own good. It’s never really bothered him, and when he was alone and in hiding from Heaven, it got him through more than one bad scrape. It’s a part of his nature, something he couldn’t change even if he wanted to, right up there with his fondness for chocolate and his love for his family.
This, though, probably takes the cake, and not only because Castiel can and will run him through with his sword if he finds out. But Bobby’s a good guy, and Gabriel thinks he’s probably safe. Bobby wouldn’t sell him out when Gabriel knows for a fact the hunter is just as sick of this as he is.
Once upon a time, the denizens of Hell had learned that The Angel and The Righteous Man were expecting offspring. They’d gotten it into their minds that they wanted this child.
Castiel and Dean had worked tirelessly to create protections for their daughter, spells and charms and wards that would keep her hidden from even the most powerful of those who would come looking for her.
Except that, instead of one child, they’d been blessed with two, and their two daughters together lit up like a homing beacon. There was no hiding that sort of power, and after a year of being constantly on the run, exhausted and worn down and desperate, they’d come up with The Plan…the only thing they could do to ensure the safety of their whole family.
They split the girls up.
And maybe, once upon a time, it had made sense. And hell, maybe even now it makes sense, but Gabriel doubts it at this point, and quite frankly, he’s tired of it. He’s tired of the sadness that lurks in his brother’s eyes, and the way it always feels like something’s missing from their lives, and the way Faith has grown up never even knowing she has a sister. It’s not fair, not to any of them, and in ten years, Hell’s influence has lessened to almost nothing. There’s still Heaven to worry about, but the war’s been over for a long time, and with Joshua in charge these days, Gabriel thinks it’s a risk they can take.
Except that Castiel is as stubborn as a mule, and won’t be budged. If Gabriel didn’t know any better, he’d think his brother was worried that Dean had forgotten about him.
But Gabriel does know better, and oh wait, that’s exactly the problem. Because Castiel is, apparently, as idiotic as he is stubborn.
So Gabriel’s decided he needs to fix some things.
He just needs to remember to steer clear of Castiel’s sword hand for a while.
* * *
Their personalities make it pretty easy to tell which kid is which, which Bobby’s grateful for, because they’re practically identical down to the last freckle otherwise, and Bobby has it on good authority that, because of the circumstances of their birth, they also share a damn soul, so even that wouldn’t be helpful to him.
But Grace is clearly a hunter’s child. She has a mouth on her, isn’t afraid to get dirty, and despite being eleven years old and small for her age, she knows her way around any number of weapons, including a goddamn shotgun.
Faith, on the other hand, is quiet for the most part. When she talks, she uses words that even Bobby sometimes needs a dictionary for, making her sound much older than she really is. She doesn’t slouch when she sits, and she’s more inclined to stare at the sky until she finds some sort of meaning in it than she is to play hide-and-seek in the dusty scrap yard. Despite all that, she has a definite sense of mischief Bobby can only assume she picked up from her uncle, and she catches both him and Grace off guard with it more than once.
Still, he doesn’t worry about trying to keep them straight, right up until the day he catches Grace plaiting three tiny braids into Faith’s hair, the same way she wears her own, and Faith looks at him and grins a wide, toothy grin he’s never seen from her before.
Then he starts thinking, Well, hell, this could get messy…
But he backs out of the room with a mumbled comment that their breakfast is ready, and leaves them to it.
* * *
Sam comes to collect Grace on a rainy, dreary Tuesday afternoon. He takes note of her red-rimmed eyes as she comes down the stairs clutching an unfamiliar stuffed rabbit that he assumes Bobby must have gotten her, big softie that he is.
“Hey sweetie,” he says, kneeling down and drawing her into a hug. “You okay?”
“Uncle Sam,” she murmurs, pressing close and burying her face in his chest. “’M okay. Just a little tired.” There’s a pause. “I missed you. And…Daddy.” The words are mumbled into the fabric of his shirt, and he runs a hand through her hair soothingly.
“Well, c’mon squirt. We missed you too, and if your dad doesn’t get to fuss over you soon, I think he may go a little crazy.”
She giggles, pulls away to go over to Bobby and give him a big hug. “Thank you,” she says to him, her voice still uncharacteristically soft. Sam wonders what Bobby’s kept her busy doing to have her so worn out.
Bobby eyes her for a long moment before shaking his head and patting her on the shoulder. “You take care,” he says gruffly. “And watch after your dad and your uncle, y’hear? God only knows what sorta trouble they’ll get up to otherwise.”
She giggles again, pressing a hand to her mouth as her eyes gain back some of their more familiar sparkle. “I will,” she promises.
Sam takes her hand, and leads her out to the car. Dean’s waiting at the motel, hopefully with his latest wound cleaned and bandaged by now, and he’ll be climbing the walls wanting to see his daughter, if Sam knows him at all. The sooner he and Grace get back, the sooner they can all go home.
* * *
Two days later, Gabriel appears in Bobby’s living room with a wide grin. “Bobby,” he says, nodding to the hunter. “Castiel asked me to extend his sincere gratitude to you for watching out for Faith these past few weeks.”
Bobby stands, tucks his hands into his pockets as he shrugs. “Did my heart good to see her,” is what he says in response. “And you.” The last part is said more grudgingly.
Gabriel ducks his head, hiding his too-honest smile. “She doing okay?”
“Course she is,” Bobby says with a snort, like it should be obvious. “Everything kosher up in Heaven?”
Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Yeah. Just a small disturbance, and they probably didn’t even really need our help.” His mouth quirks a little. “Still, it was good to have the chance to check in, and I know Cas was thankful for it. Sorry for how long we -”
He’s cut off by the small girl that flies down the stairs and launches herself into his arms. “Uncle Gabriel,” Faith cries happily, clinging to him. “Missed you so much.”
He’s a little bewildered by her tears, and by how fiercely she hugs him, but then, Castiel has never left her for this long, so it probably makes sense. “Missed you too, kiddo,” he tells her. “Ready to go? Probably shouldn’t keep your papa waiting, you know how he is.”
She sniffs, pulling away and smiling up at him. “Yeah. Of course.” She’s all but vibrating.
They say their farewells to Bobby, and Gabriel promises they’ll visit again, sometime. He’s not sure if the hunter believes him, but then, he’s not sure it’s a promise he can keep either.
He only knows that it’s one he hopes to. If things work out the way he wants them to.
* * *
Bobby’s no idiot. He watches the girls leave with a suspicious crease between his brows, and by the time he’s pretty sure of what’s going on, he’s got to give them credit for ingenuity. He’s not sure he’d have the balls to try and pull one over on Dean and Cas like that, and that’s before taking into account their brothers, too.
But hell if he isn’t wishing those little girls all the luck in the world with their plot.
* * *
Sam’s a little ashamed to admit how long it takes him to catch on, and when he does, it’s because Grace…no, Faith, dear God, it’s really genuinely Faith standing in front of him…slips up, a week after they’ve returned home.
She’s staring at him wide-eyed as she clutches the back-up cell phone to her chest. She’s already hung up with her sister, but not fast enough for Sam not to catch the last bit of the conversation. Her face is pale, making the freckles she inherited from Dean stand out sharply, and she’s backed up against the kitchen table like she’s hoping it will open up and swallow her rather than force her to face her uncle’s wrath.
As though Sam could do anything other than stand here in shock, longing to reach out and drag her into his arms but unable to make himself move to do so.
“Uncle Sam…” she says, her voice trembling. “We didn’t mean for -”
She squeaks in surprise when he finally moves, when he crushes her to his chest and breathes her name and remembers the first time he held her when she was born, so tiny and fragile and perfect, Dean on the bed next to him looking deliriously happy despite how hard the births had been on him. Castiel had been seated beside Dean holding the hunter’s hand, and Gabriel had been standing by Sam, Grace in his arms as he looked between the two of them in wonder.
It was a perfect moment, a cherished memory, and Sam hasn’t allowed himself to think of it in a long time.
“You’re in so much trouble,” he mumbles into Faith’s hair, but he doesn’t mean it, and he’s shaking as she just hugs him that much harder and asks him in a tremulous voice to please, please don’t tell Dean just yet, to please just give her one more day to be with him.
* * *
Gabriel’s impressed that she pulled it off at all, to be honest. But even though Castiel may not see it, may not be willing to see it, it’s too hard for Gabriel to ignore the way her eyes fill when Castiel calls her “my dearest”, or the way she follows him throughout the days, interested in anything and everything he’s doing. Gabriel can’t miss the way she takes everything in like she’s collecting memories, like she doesn’t know how long she has.
But it’s not until he catches her snooping around, digging through old photo albums, that he can really be sure. He swallows, forces his voice sharp. “Grace Mary Winchester!” he growls, and she meeps, spins around guiltily before green eyes flare wide and she stumbles back, hand pressed over her mouth.
Gabriel’s heart misses a beat, because as sure as he’d been, there was a part of him that couldn’t, wouldn’t believe it. He sags against the wall, laughing just a tiny bit hysterically.
“I’m sorry,” she says, the words muffled behind her hand before she hesitantly lowers it. “Don’t tell Papa!” She winces even as she says it, staring down at the ground. “We were gonna tell them both tomorrow, I swear. Just… We just wanted…”
“I get it,” he says, lips quirking as he slides down to the ground, holds his arms open. “C’mere, you.”
She snuggles into his arms just like she did when she was a baby, and Gabriel ignores the way his heart quakes, and the way his breath stutters. “Thanks for not being mad,” she whispers.
“Mad? I’m so damn proud of you, Gracie,” he replies, and she giggles even as she presses closer to him. “So come on then. Tell me all about yourself. What’ve I missed?”
And he settles her into his lap as she begins to talk.
* * *
Dean’s sitting at the table, balancing their finances - something that’s still a real kick in the ass when he stops to think about it - when Sam and Grace come downstairs for breakfast. He looks up with a ready smile for his daughter that falters a little when he sees her downcast expression, and the way Sam is clasping her shoulder.
“What’s up?” he asks, turning and holding an arm out for his daughter.
She looks up, clasping her hands together as she takes a hesitant step forward, and something about it, something in that movement or in the painfully familiar expression, makes his breath catch. The pen he’s still holding falls from suddenly numb fingers.
“Grace?” he says, but he already knows, knows even before the guilty flush steals over her face, and he’s out of the chair and kneeling in front of her and drawing her into his arms before she can ever say a word. “Faith,” he whispers, and it doesn’t matter why, or how. In that moment, it just matters that she’s here.
“Daddy. Daddy, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she sobs, and he shushes her as he tries to memorize the feel of her in his arms after so damn long. He closes his eyes tightly, never even notices Sam quietly leave the room.
Once upon a time, a hunter and an angel fell in love. It was against every rule in the book, and would be used against them in every way imaginable, but there was no fighting it. They loved each other deeply and without reservation and without a hint of regret. And despite every obstacle set in their path, they fought to keep that love, fought to keep each other.
When the unthinkable happened, it was just more proof that they were meant to stay together. It couldn’t have happened without the connection they shared, without the kind of deep and abiding love that fucking fairytales were made out of, and it should have meant they were free. It should have meant they could stop fighting.
Instead, it had resulted in too many close calls, in too much fear, and in the end, it had torn them apart.
And the pain has never - never - let up, not even for an instant. Dean’s happy, with his daughter and his brother and the life he’s carved for himself here, but there’s a hole inside that he’s never been able to fill, and it gapes wide open every damn day.
Cas, his soul cries out, with every beat of his heart. Faith.
He needs them in his life just as much as he’s ever needed Sammy, or Grace.
And with Faith in his arms now, he can almost believe in miracles, because he’s always figured that that’s what it would take to get them back.
As he holds onto her and rocks her and tells her how much he loves her and how much he’s missed her, he aches more than he has in years for Castiel to be there. For his family to be together again.
* * *
Gabriel’s grace brushes against Castiel’s as he sits on the front porch, contemplating the sunrise, and there’s a whisper from the archangel flitting across his thoughts. Go easy on her.
Baffled, Castiel wonders what Gabriel could possibly be talking about, but then the door to the house opens, and his daughter pads quietly out, sitting on the porch swing next to him and curling into his warmth. “Good morning, Faith,” he murmurs, placing an arm around her and smiling when she instantly presses closer.
“Papa?” Her voice is hesitant, unsure. “I…I have a confession to make.”
It sounds as though she’s choosing her words very carefully. Castiel blinks, turning to focus on her. “What is it, my dearest?”
She bites her lip, and he has to blink again, because this is not something he’s ever seen Faith do before. When she speaks, he almost needs to strain to hear her. “I’m not… When I was dropped off at Bobby’s last month, it wasn’t…” She stutters to a halt, screwing her eyes shut.
Alarmed now, Castiel holds her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Faith, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
She sniffs and takes a deep breath, opening her eyes to stare at a fixed point away in the distance. She mumbles, “Faith got to Bobby’s house two days after I did,” and Castiel stops breathing. He’s barely able to hear her past the rushing sound in his ears when she continues. “Daddy leaves me at Bobby’s whenever he goes on a hunt, so I’m pretty used to it. S’not all the time, ‘specially ‘cause we have a house now and he and Uncle Sam don’t hunt as much, but I like Bobby, he’s nice and he lets me read almost any of his books and play out in the scrap yard, long as I’m careful. But I’m almost always there by myself.” She swallows. “It was awesome this time, getting to hang out with my sister.”
“Grace?” he whispers, and when her eyes slowly meet his, he wonders how he ever could have missed it.
“We just wanted…we wanted to know our other parents. I remember you, sometimes, when I’m dreaming, and I…” Tears are falling from her eyes now, and Castiel’s hand shakes as he reaches up to wipe them away. “So we switched,” she finishes, looking scared.
They switched. They switched. This is Grace in his arms, and oh Father how he’s missed her! He clutches her tightly as she sobs into his chest, and tries to quench the flare of…something, something he refuses to call hope…that ignites when he realizes, if Grace is here, then that means Faith is…
…with Dean.
* * *
The phone rings just as Dean is crawling into bed that night. He tries and fails to steady his hand as he makes a grab for it, and shudders at the name that flashes across the screen, though it’s nothing more than the letter “A”.
For Angel. Because why make the bad guys suspicious with the name of the lover he hasn’t seen in a decade, if they ever got a hold of his phone? That’s what he tells himself, anyway, but really it’s just that he could never handle seeing Castiel’s name every time he scrolled through his address book.
It was too hard.
He flips the phone open and brings it to his ear in a daze. Can’t even bring himself to say anything, because he doesn’t think his voice will work, but Castiel has never needed prompting.
“Dean,” the angel breathes, and something that’s long since been out of whack in Dean’s life suddenly slots firmly back into place.
Cas, he thinks, but can’t say, because if he says Castiel’s name, he thinks he’ll break. “How’s Grace?” is what he says instead, his voice raw.
There’s a moment of silence. “Sleeping, now,” Castiel replies. He sounds…defeated. “Dean, she is… She’s wonderful. You’ve done an incredible job raising her.”
And, okay, Dean can admit to the spark of pride those words bring despite everything, because there was a time when no one would have considered Dean Winchester father material, and he hadn’t exactly had the world’s greatest role model. “Thanks,” he says, and means it. “That means a lot. Faith, too, she’s something else. God, I can’t believe…”
“I know.”
“I missed her,” Dean says, clutching the phone hard enough to break it. “I missed…” you, he thinks. “…everything.”
“I know.” Softer this time. “We should discuss a time to…”
Meet. Switch them back. Get on with the lives we’ve made for ourselves. Dean screws his eyes shut. “The girls, now that they know, they’ll never…”
“Perhaps…we can continue to let them… Holidays, perhaps, or…”
Not enough! Dean’s mind screams. But then, nothing will be enough, except…
So much unsaid, unthought, suppressed ruthlessly into the corners of his mind. So much he has to contain, for his own sanity, for the safety of his girls, so much he doesn’t want to leave unspoken even if he doesn’t know how to say the words.
“I love you.” A single, brutally honest truth, and one that makes the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes spill over onto his cheeks. He rushes onward, hoping to gloss it over a little. “We can…talk about it later. When we meet up. Or something.”
There’s a small sound on the other end of the line, something that tells Dean the angel is not unaffected by his ill-timed confession, and somehow, it makes him feel better, makes something in his chest loosen, just a tiny bit. “I…yes. Yes, of course,” Castiel says. “Dean…I…”
“Tomorrow,” Dean cuts in, because he can’t hear it. Maybe it’s unfair, but he just can’t. “Bobby’s, maybe?”
There’s a sigh. “That is acceptable. I suppose I’ll…”
No! Too soon, don’t go! Please! “Cas…”
A small pause. “Would you like… Perhaps I could…stay on the line? Until you fall asleep? Or would that be…”
Dean’s accepted more than one blow to his pride lately, might as well go for broke. “Please,” he says in a small voice.
He thinks he’ll never be able to fall asleep, that he’ll spend the whole night until sunrise just holding the phone to his ear, desperate for every rustle, every breath, every sign he can cling to that his angel is on the other side. But in the end, it’s only moments before he falls into a deep sleep, one of the best he’s had in years.
Just before Castiel hangs up, he whispers, “I’ve never stopped loving you, Dean Winchester,” and the words penetrate the hunter’s dreams.
* * *
Bobby Singer’s house has always been a central meeting point: for the Winchesters, for other hunters, for anyone looking for an ounce of safety. There are wards covering the perimeter, the property, and the house itself, wards from every culture and faith on the planet, and one would be hard-pressed to find anyplace more well-guarded.
Generally, Bobby himself is roaming around, gruff and muttering about one thing or another, especially with any of the Winchesters in his sights. Today though, when Castiel arrives with his brother and his daughter, the hunter is conspicuously absent.
Dean must have warned him ahead of time.
Gabriel sprawls out across the couch and tugs Grace into his lap. Ridiculously, Castiel feels a twinge of jealousy, but it’s quickly overcome, especially when Grace’s soulful green eyes meet his, and she holds a hand out for him to join them. He sits on the other side, and laughs as she flits between the two of them while they all wait for Dean and Sam and Faith.
“Papa,” she says at one point, cuddling up to him when Gabriel has gone into the kitchen to rummage…which is really just an excuse to give Castiel and Grace a moment of privacy. When she continues, her voice is softer than he’s heard it at all the past week, and it almost breaks his heart. “I don’t…I don’t wanna lose you. Again. S’not fair.”
“Oh, Grace…” He closes his eyes, overcome with so much emotion he doesn’t entirely know how to handle, and pulls her closer, burying his face in her hair.
That’s how Faith and the Winchesters find them, and he should worry that he didn’t even hear them enter the house, but there’s just no room left in him for that concern right now, because Dean is here, staring at Castiel with his heart in his eyes and his breathing gone ragged, and Castiel wants...
Castiel just wants.
Everything.
He nudges Grace, and she looks up, her eyes going wide and bright when she sees her family. “Daddy!” she cries, jumping up and racing into his arms. Faith peers up at Castiel, and then just as quickly, she’s on the couch, burrowing into him, whispering apologies he doesn’t need to hear.
Gabriel comes out of the kitchen with a wide grin at the sight of the Winchesters, and Castiel doesn’t - can’t - miss the way his brother’s eyes linger on Sam’s, or the way the younger Winchester flushes before he turns away, hiding his own smile.
One more loss, one more thing Castiel has never acknowledged was missing in their lives.
Father, how have any of them borne this?
The girls both leave their fathers’ embraces at the same time, and then they’re hugging each other, tearful and laughing and it’s just too much. How can Castiel do what he came here to do, how can he…
Gabriel’s hand lands on his shoulder, and when he meets the archangel’s warm amber eyes, he hears the words Gabriel won’t speak aloud. Then don’t.
Don’t, Castiel. Don’t let them walk out of our lives again.
Faith and Grace, more than sisters, more even than just twins, clinging to each other like puzzle pieces, souls burning brightly with connection, one incomplete without the other, and…
And…
“Oh…” Castiel blinks. “Oh, I’ve been so foolish…”
How had he missed this? After so long, after all the reasoning behind separating them in the first place, how had he missed realizing…
Everyone is staring at him quizzically, even the girls, but it’s to Dean his own gaze goes. His heart is beating too hard as he stands restlessly, his limbs trembling with so much pent-up emotion. “They’re together,” he says.
It takes them a moment, and it’s Sam who understands first, judging by the sudden sharp gasp. Dean gets it only a half-second after that, and viridian eyes go wide. “Wait, but… But they were together for weeks, and no one…”
“No one noticed. No one came after them.”
Bobby’s wards had never been enough to hide the energy signature of the twins, not from demons or angels, so it’s not because they’re here. And neither their fathers nor their uncles had been here to protect them during those weeks, so it would have been the perfect time for anyone still watching to…
Castiel trembles just to think of it, reminds himself that no one had.
No one had.
Gabriel says it, because everyone else seems too afraid to. “We’re safe now.” And there’s a beat, when they all hold their breath, waiting for the inevitable attack, because after so long, it’s just expected, when someone dares to utter those words.
But it never comes.
They’re safe now.
The twins are looking back and forth between the adults, and it’s Faith who speaks first, her voice tremulous as she grasps her sister’s hand. “Does…does that mean we can stay together?” she asks.
Dean and Castiel stare at each other. Castiel can’t seem to say a word, his throat closed tight, but Dean manages to try. “I don’t… I mean, how would we even… We all have our own…” He stops, takes a breath. Tries again. “What are we s’posed to do, just…just pick up where we left off and…”
“Yes!” Sam says, shoving at his brother as a grin stretches his face. “Oh my God, yes, you idiot, that’s exactly what you should do!”
Castiel freezes like a deer in headlights when Dean hesitantly comes closer, when he’s suddenly within reach, when his hand comes up to brush along Castiel’s cheek. “Cas, do you even want to…”
“More than anything, yes,” Castiel whispers, and he thinks maybe he hears the girls squealing in the background, maybe feels the smugness in Gabriel’s grace as it brushes his, but then Dean is kissing him, and everything is swept away under the bright reality of being home.