Chapter Text
***Castiel POV***
December 6
Jack died on the evening of December 6th.
Of the few people that knew Jack the best, Castiel was expected to handle Jack’s death with the least amount of tears and sadness. Angels, though they do feel emotions, are better equipped to put them in perspective after living for centuries on end. Castiel was also unique among the group of them in that he could see Jack whenever he wanted, as they were all fairly confident that Jack would go to Heaven.
Even for Castiel, however, the loss of a son was the greatest pain he had ever felt. In Heaven, the soul is happy for the rest of time, but unable to continue to grow or learn. That was the biggest loss, and Castiel would have gladly underwent hunger, torture, thirst, or even heartbreak a million times over if it meant Jack’s life could have been saved.
Ultimately, Castiel felt that what his friends expected of him was unfair, but he kept this thought to himself because it wasn’t helpful to anyone.
Ember’s first response after Jack’s death was to demand that Castiel visit Jack in Heaven to “make sure he was okay.” Castiel immediately denied the request, reminding Ember for the fifteenth time in two days that Jack would be healthy and fine in Heaven – it was Ember he was worried about.
Dean in particular, but also Sam, Ember, and even Castiel himself were prone to self-sabotage and irrational actions at times like this. Castiel wasn’t quite as worried about Sam since he had Eileen now, but he had no plans to leave Ember or Dean alone for long enough to make a trip to Heaven in the near future, no matter how badly he wanted to see Jack again.
For the past three weeks, Castiel had felt the darkness in Ember’s mind. When their minds were connected (either during sex or to pass information) he noticed new pathways in her mind, all of which led to deep, dark pools of despair. She had never denied him access to her mind before, but these days Ember’s mind erected a barrier in front of the new paths, refusing to allow Castiel to follow her into the deepest parts of herself.
Ember had been through a lot – heartbreak, and the two demon blood bonds, and learning that her father had been Azazel. She was strong, and it was one of the reasons he loved her so much. But this… this was different, and he worried that it might finally break her, for good this time.
It took over an hour to gently pull her from Jack’s side. When he did, she demanded, “Where are my pills! They were here last night!”
“You don’t need them,” he said gently, and he could already see her gearing up for a fight.
“I’ll put you to sleep,” he added. “Like I used to do, in Asmodeus’ prison.”
Krissy asked for Castiel’s help sleeping as well. She had sobbed silently, and hadn’t let go of Ember’s hand. Within twenty minutes, both of them were asleep on Ember’s bed, still holding hands, the tears still shining on their faces. They would be asleep for the next 8 hours, at least.
Castiel spent the rest of the night with Dean, Sam, and Eileen, who had decided to get extremely drunk.
***Sam POV***
December 7, Just after midnight
Sam tossed and turned in his gigantic bed.
After the first few times he rolled over, Eileen gave a sharp sigh.
After a few more times, he felt her soft hand dance over his. “You’re not drunk enough,” she said.
He didn’t answer. “Talk to me.”
Sam sighed, turning to look at her. It was still light enough that she’d be able to see his face in the moonlight.
“I failed him,” he said.
“No,” Eileen shook her head. “You did everything you could. You showed him what it was like to have a father. You protected him, and fought for him when others wouldn’t.”
Sam resisted the urge to turn away from her praise and cut the conversation off. “It wasn’t enough,” he said, and he felt that he was crying. “Eileen, I know you want to… want to… but how can I? I can’t even… I can’t even…”
“What have I told you,” she said gently, reaching up toward his cheek. “It’s not your job to right the wrongs of the world. Not you alone. If I never have a child, I’ll still love you.”
“I know, darling,” he whispered back. She never pressured him, and he was grateful for it.
He knew that, deep down, she wanted a child. He also knew that Eileen was like him; she felt fortunate enough to have finally found a compatible partner and a soul mate, and for them, a child seemed too much to ask for. He was lucky to have found her; as much as she wanted a child, she would never blame him or resent him if he denied her, as she had never really dared to dream it in the first place. Still, to bring a child into a world so full of monsters seemed foolhardy, especially now when his failure with Jack was so fresh, when he felt it most deeply.
As he had so many nights before, he wracked his brain for something – anything that might help. It felt too late now, but Sam had learned a long time ago not to give up on what he wanted for something as simple as death.
And then, sometime just before the haze of sleep, he thought of the answer.
***Ember POV***
December 7, Early Morning
“Ember. Ember, wake up!”
Ember awoke quickly. It was like being hit by a mac truck. Jack was dead.
Ember rolled over the side of the bed and narrowly avoided vomiting.
Castiel side-stepped. “Steady,” he said, and Ember realized with surprise that his eyes were smiling. “Sam’s had an idea.”
---SPN---SPN---SPN---SPN---SPN---
Sometime in the early 1900s, Lily Sunder was a professor of apocalyptic literature who had studied angels and even learned Enochian. Eventually she had managed to summon an angel named Ishim. Ishim had fallen in love with her, but he was a monster, and Lily had ultimately sought protection through marriage with another angel named Akobel.
Ishim became angry and led Castiel’s old garrison of angels, including Castiel, to kill Akobel as well as Lily’s daughter, May. At the time, Castiel had believed that May was a Nephilim, though it wasn’t true.
Lily had evoked soul magic to get revenge on Ishim; she gained immortality, but each time she used her powers she lost a piece of her soul.
Contacting Lily and getting her help was a long-shot. Sam’s hope that she would be able to decipher some of Kevin’s scribblings about the angel tablet (and that said scribblings would be helpful) was even farther-fetched, but they had to try.
Lily surprisingly came willingly, but was unable to read the prophet’s scribble. To everyone’s shock, however, she had another idea. “You said your Nephilim boy, Jack, without his angel grace, his human body died?” she asked. “My magic draws power from the human soul. It could save him.”
“You’d give your soul up?” asked Sam.
“Not my soul. His,” she said.
“Absolutely not,” said Ember, sharing a look with Sam.
“Pass,” said Dean, and Krissy nodded from where she stood next to him.
“It’s not his entire soul, obviously,” said Lily. “As long as he’s only using it to sustain his body, it won’t cost much. He’ll never miss it.”
“What are we even talking about?” Dean asked. “It’s too late. Jack’s dead. His soul’s gone, right?”
“Maybe not,” said Castiel. “If Jack is in Heaven, I might be able to pull his soul into his body. It would only be for a few seconds.”
“That’s all the time I need,” said Lily. “If I can open the door, your boy could use my magic to stay alive.”
And so, for the first time in weeks, Ember felt hope.
***Castiel POV***
December 7, Noon
Castiel hadn’t been to Heaven since April, and it hadn’t been a pleasant visit. Noami’s return to leadership in Heaven left a bad taste in his mouth. He hated the way she’d redecorated, the starch white walls and hallways reminding him of an earthly hospital.
This was nothing compared to the news that there were only a few angels left on Earth, however. Castiel had known their numbers were few, but this… this was devastating.
Since that time, he’d dared to hope that perhaps Gabriel or Jack would have an answer. Jack in particular was strong enough to make new angels, though he would have to be carefully guided. Castiel barely trusted himself, much less Naomi. Then Gabriel had died, and they had saved the world from Michael and Lucifer, and then Lucifer had taken Jack’s grace.
Now, angel radio was playing a distress signal. He’d first heard it that morning, while the others had begun to discuss their attempt to bring Jack back. All of the gates to Heaven were now open, even the ones Metatron had closed.
Castiel hadn’t even thought this possible. It meant only one thing – an invasion, from a very powerful force. He managed to get away from the rest of the group without saying anything about his suspicions, but he had a bad feeling that he knew who had invaded Heaven.
He hated it when it he was right.
Zuriel was dead, overcome, and Naomi too was swallowed up by the blackness. Castiel could recognize its handiwork in the giant, empty feeling in the pit of his stomach the moment he had entered his old home.
“The Empty considers Jack its property,” Naomi had said.
And Castiel ran.
Jack wasn’t in the Heaven labeled with his name. He must’ve known where he was and went exploring. The angel part of Jack wouldn’t let the dream-Heaven take over, not completely.
Would he have gone to see someone else here? Bobby, maybe? Or maybe… On a hunch, Castiel flew to the Heaven of the autistic man, the garden full of flowers and kites.
A familiar calm overwhelmed him the moment he set foot in his old slice of Heaven. It had been so long since he had been here himself… he thought briefly of the times he had spent here with his old friend Domiel. If you put all of the times they had spent here together, Castiel mused, it must equal more than a century. He wondered what Domiel would think of Jack. Would his old friend be proud of him?
And there was Jack, talking to the autistic man. “Cas!” he said, his face lighting up as the two of them hugged. Even though it had only been a few hours, Castiel was flooded with relief at holding his son again.
Jack stepped backward and motioned to the garden. “You talked about it so much sometimes, and I wanted to see… I was hoping…”
Castiel smiled. “Jack… it’s time to go,” he said, clapping his son on the shoulder. He explained the situation, starting with Lily Sunder and ending with the Empty.
“Why does the Empty want me?” Jack asked, his eyes opening with fear.
“Because you’re half-angel, and we angels-- when we die, we go to another place. It's a place that's just endless nothing. And this entity-- it won't stop until it finds you, but if you're not here, if you're alive…”
“Then it'll leave Heaven,” Jack said, nodding.
“Smart,” said a voice behind them.
“Dumah,” Castiel said in surprise. The other angel had crept up behind him.
“Try again,” Dumah said, and Castiel and Jack watched in horror as black nothingness overtook the angel Dumah. It was the Cosmic Entity from the Empty.
“You’re the Empty,” Castiel said, stepping in front of Jack. He had no hope to win in an outright fight – he had learned that at their last meeting. Perhaps they could run? But for how long?
“Pretty good, huh?” the Entity said, resuming Dumah’s form. “Are you ready to go?” She held out her hand to Jack.
“You stay away from him,” Castiel threatened.
“Castiel, you know how this goes,” said the Entity. “The good souls here, the bad souls there. The angels are mine.”
“Enough,” said Castiel firmly.
“Stop interrupting!” cried the Entity. “Start paying attention. I'm taking him. And where I'm taking you is worse than Hell… because at least Hell is something.”
She paused, and Castiel stared back determinedly, poised to give a signal to run or to fight. He had to wait for the signal from Sam and Dean. Any minute now…
“Ohh. Ohh, God, they look scared!” the Entity said, sounding gleeful. “Does that hurt you? Good… because I want it to.”
He waited until it moved the tiniest bit forward, then struck with his angel blade. As expected, the Entity flung him through the sky, and he skidded backward on the grass with a groan. The Entity followed him, kicking him repeatedly until he was curled in on himself in front of a stone bench.
He heard the prayer, then, finally: “Cas, I hope you can hear me. We’ve got Jack. His shell – it’s ready to go. Here’s hoping that you’re staring at him right now. So if you are, then, uh, do your thing, okay? Amen.”
But the Entity had Jack by his button-down shirt, and it was seconds away from sending Jack to where Castiel would never see him again-
“Take me!” he yelled.
The Entity froze. “A little louder, please.”
“Take me in his stead! Take me!” Castiel said, louder, because it was the only answer now. It had always been the only answer, ever since Jack had resurrected him more than a year before.
“You?” the Entity said, turning to him, but still holding onto Jack.
“I'm the one you want. I'm the one who woke you up,” he said, firmly.
“You? But you're already mine.” But the Entity released Jack and turned toward him fully.
Castiel’s life flashed before his eyes, such that it was. He had just fallen in love, learned what it meant to be human, gotten engaged… perhaps it was right for everything to end in this garden. “Not for years… eons maybe. But if you'll agree, I will go now, and I will go willingly.”
“I want the demon girl too,” the Entity said harshly. “Your lover.”
“No,” Castiel said, moving forward in his anger. “That’s not part of the offer. She will go to Heaven, when it is time, when she has lived a full life.”
The Entity laughed, grabbing once more at Jack’s shirt. “I have been inside her head before, angel. She will never leave your side. But…” she narrowed her eyes at him. “I will make you this deal. I will take you both, when you are happy.”
Castiel could only look at her in confusion.
“You see, I want you to suffer. Go back to your normal life and forget about this, and forget about me. And then, when you finally give yourself permission to be happy, and let the sun shine on your face, that's when I'll come. That's when I'll come to drag you to nothing.”
“No,” Castiel said, and his anger seemed to shake the autistic man’s Heaven, little blue electricity rocketing up and down the man’s kite.
“I don’t think you understand,” said the Entity, moving even closer and becoming more silent in its own anger. It dragged Jack with him, frozen by its powers. “You and your wife later. Or your son now. Decide.”
To Castiel’s horror, the blackness of the Empty began to crawl up Jack’s feet.
“I accept!” yelled Castiel in desperation.
And then the Empty was gone.
---SPN---SPN---SPN---SPN---SPN---
The reunion had been the best day Castiel had had in a month. There was crying all around. Lily Sunder had given her life for the reunion of their family, the last piece of her energy for the spell it required, and she was burned in a hunter’s ceremony that night. Dean cooked cheeseburgers, and the group of them stayed up talking until late into the morning.
It was marred only by the secret that Castiel and Jack kept from the others.
It could never be kept from Ember, though, who of course knew immediately that something was wrong. She had asked him all evening if everything was okay, but it was only after they returned to their own home, to their own bed, that he dared explain to her about their new fate. With trepidation and guilt, he placed the necessary images in her mind like showing a movie.
She hugged him, and began to cry.
“I’m sorry, Ember,” he said, feeling more guilty than ever. “I’m so sorry I failed you. I--…”
“You never failed me, you silly angel,” she whispered into his shirt, squeezing him tightly. “You must know there is nothing I wouldn’t give up for Jack.”
“I couldn’t let the Empty take him,” Castiel whispered into her hair. “I couldn’t -…”
“We’ll find a way,” Ember said. “Or we won’t. But at least we’ll be together.”
“But you-…”
“Cas!” Ember said sharply, looking up at him, and he stopped.
She put her hand on his cheek, her eyes shining with tears.
“Cas, our son is alive because of you. Let’s be honest, how often are we really and truly happy?
“And…” she smiled wetly, kissing him through his tears. “If it means our son can continue his life on Earth? An eternal sleep, with you, doesn’t really sound so bad.”
She kissed him deeply, and he melted into her, mind and body. Even now, more than 10 years after they first met, his love for her increased every day. His attraction to her (both that which occurred naturally and that which occurred as a result of her powers) hadn’t waned either, still threatening to make his vessel hot at a moments’ notice.
She undressed him slowly and carefully, a welcome change as he was usually the one initiating. Today he was content simply to hold her and touch her.
Once he was naked, she moved downward and took him in her mouth, and his hands fisted the pillow. He enjoyed the soft feel of her tongue before finally reaching down and hauling her upward.
Wordlessly she smiled, lined herself up, and then sat down, fully sheathing him inside of her. “Cas,” she whispered, and began rocking on top of him as he moved to touch where she needed him most.
He had learned a lot over the last few years – where she liked to be touched, how to make it slow and torturous until she finally exploded, and how to draw out her orgasm with magic until she was a gasping mess, despite being on top. He used all of these things to his advantage but still came sooner than he’d wanted – in the wake of Jack’s death, neither of them had felt like having sex lately.
She didn’t seem to have noticed. “I still think you’re cheating with the whole grace orgasms thing,” she said breathlessly afterward.
“Maybe I am,” he said, now in a somewhat better mood.
She laughed. “I love you, Cas.”
She didn’t voice her thoughts allowed, but in her post-orgasm haze he managed to catch them anyway: “If I was any happier, the Empty would take me.”
***Sam POV***
December 7, Evening
“Do you know,” Eileen said, turning to Sam in their bedroom. “You might be a better father than you thought.”
“I – what?” Sam said distractedly. He was still wrestling off his shirt. The elation and relief of bringing Jack back to life was still charging through his veins. Only an hour ago, they had held the hunter’s funeral for Lily Sunder, and his shirt still smelled of ash from being the one to handle most of the wood and fire.
“Lily,” Eileen said. “Asking her to help was your idea. And, you helped Lily as well. She went to Heaven, despite all of the odds against her.”
Sam smiled, allowing himself to bask in the pride of his own victory just this once. “It’s a pretty big win, isn’t it?”
“Sam, you know I’m not getting any younger,” Eileen said gently.
Sam’s eyes opened wider, his wife’s earlier words finally registering.
“If we don’t have a child, you know I’ll still love you,” Eileen said. “You know that, darling. I just don’t want you to regret it later.”
Still proud of the victory with Jack, Sam allowed himself to truly consider a child for the first time. He would have to hide Eileen and the child, the way Ember and Castiel did with their home. The child would take Eileen’s name, Leahy – they’d discussed this when they’d married, though Sam had never really believed it could come true.
It would be difficult, but, perhaps, doable. He thought of a boy with Sam’s gangling height, perhaps a younger-looking Sam with Eileen’s smile, and courage, and intelligence. Or a girl, a younger-looking Eileen, perhaps a bit taller. The thought made him smile wistfully. He would raise his child right. He would teach him (or her) how to defend himself, but still allow him to be a kid.
But Dean…
“When the Michael situation is resolved,” Sam said, taking Eileen’s hand.
She looked genuinely surprised.
“Eileen, I… I want to have a child with you. And I know your time is running out, has run out already. When we figure out what to do about Michael, I promise you, we’ll try for a child.”
“Sam…” she whispered reverently.
She looked beautiful in her simple black nightshirt, her hair down around her shoulders for once and framing her face. “In the meantime,” he asked… “Could we practice?”
Eileen nodded and moved forward. She turned her face away, and he could’ve sworn that he saw a tear coming out of her eye, but she was smiling. He moved to bring her face up to his, but she began kissing his chest instead.
He changed tact, taking down the strap on her nightshirt and kissing her shoulder, and backing her up slowly onto the bed. She pulled his shorts down, and they both tumbled haphazardly onto the bed.
He kissed her then, and tasted salty tears. “Eileen?” he asked, moving back to look at her so that she could see the movement of his lips.
“I’m happy,” she whispered, pulling him back down to press against her.
“I love you, darling,” he said, murmuring the words against her cheek.
“I love you too,” she said.
He reached for her nightshirt and hoisted it off of her, then began lavishing kisses on both breasts. She let out a breathy moan. “Darling, it’s been two weeks,” she complained, pulling at his boxer-briefs. It was true; the last time they’d had sex had been more than a week ago, and that had been hurried and miserable, a way to cope with their grief.
He chuckled, but obediently shucked his boxer briefs and pulled her panties down as well. He licked at her sex until she was moaning with need, adding fingers as well. It wasn’t long before she was panting and arching her back, legs clenching around his head as she came.
Finally, he lined himself up and pushed into her heat. She cried out, but moved to pull him further in, and they moved together in earnest. It was a dance they knew well, and it wasn’t long before they were tangled in a sweaty heap, happy and sated.
***Jack POV***
December 7, Evening
Jack was whirling with emotions.
First and foremost, he was guilty. He wished that Castiel hadn’t had to offer his and Ember’s life to defend him from the Empty. Castiel said that it was his place, as his father, to do so, and he felt certain he’d have done the same if he was a father.
He hoped that Ember wasn’t mad, but the longer the evening continued without a screaming match, the more unlikely her anger seemed. Ember rarely got mad at Castiel, and when she did, it was almost always because he did things without consulting her. Usually it involved little things, ranging from going on an unplanned hunting trip involving demons to surprising her by showing up randomly right next to her. Either way, if Ember was angry, Jack would know.
Jack even worried that perhaps Castiel wouldn’t tell Ember. He’d made Jack promise not to tell Krissy, at least not yet, but he had promised that he would tell Ember, since she was directly involved.
Jack felt even more guilty for how happy he felt. He was back from the dead, by some blessed miracle. Not only that, but he was back at Ember and Castiel’s. He often preferred to stay at the bunker because it was the hub of the hunting world, but after a month of being sick at the bunker, he was glad to return “home.” Ember and Castiel’s was quieter, warmer somehow, and Krissy was more likely to be there.
He wondered if he could summon the guts to go to her room and visit her. He never had before, though she had come to his room off and on in the evenings on the few occasions where they had both happened to be home from a hunt.
Sex had been on the table at one point, before he got sick, and even after, though they had decided against it because of his sickness. Would it still be on the table? Should he ask?
Just as he had decided that he didn’t have the guts, he heard her familiar soft knock.
When he let her in, she was wearing a purple bathrobe. She sat on his bed.
“So, you’ve never… had sex before, right?” she asked.
He noted that she was nervous (though not as nervous as he was). She had always been a solid force, sharp like a firecracker, but now she was looking away from him and fidgeting.
“No. I… we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
She locked eyes with him. “Do you want to?”
“Of course! I-…”
“Good.” She stood up suddenly and let her purple bathrobe drop.
His jaw dropped along with the bathrobe. She was wearing a sheer purple negligée that looked like it had come straight out of a porn. He was relieved to note that she didn’t have high heels on as well. With the high heels, he felt she would’ve looked intimidating; this just looked sexy.
He seemed to have frozen, which made her smile softly. She put her arms around him and began kissing him softly. One arm threaded into his hair, and her lips were soft and pliant against his.
Adrenaline began charging through his veins, and it seemed that his body knew exactly what to do, or at least want it wanted to do, but he fought against it.
He cast around for things he had read on the internet, which, truthfully, had been his only real education about this part of sex. Dean had been less than willing to offer tips ever since he’d caught Jack kissing Krissy, and he’d been too scared to ask Cas or Sam. Foreplay…
Krissy took control again, rubbing herself against him and making a moaning sound when she found that he was aroused. He thrusted back against her, which made him shiver with pleasure.
Krissy helped him strip off his shirt and pants, and he pulled off her lingerie. She was beautiful, and he thought he might’ve came, except that he was too damn nervous. He mumbled, “You’re beautiful,” and she laughed against his mouth.
She broke away from him and fumbled around where she had shed her bathrobe. He recognized a condom wrapper, and allowed her to put the condom on him – better her than him, since she probably knew what the hell she was doing.
“Oh! Right,” he said, reaching around her and fumbling around in his bedside table. He opened a small bottle, squirting a drop onto his tongue.
“What’s that?” asked Krissy.
“My own birth control,” he said awkwardly. “Uh, Mom and Dad mixed it for me back when I had my angel powers, in case I wanted to ‘experiment.’ It was super awkward.”
Krissy rolled her eyes.
She reached for his hands and placed them on her breasts, effectively ending his inner monologue about birth control. She moaned again into his mouth when he touched her nipples. He felt a hand on his erection, and this time it was him groaning as she wrapped a hand around the base-
He could feel it, could feel himself getting more excited, too excited, and he moved backward from her. She gave him a confused look.
“I… don’t want… can I touch you?”
She smiled, and she seemed to understand. She guided his hand down between her legs. He felt her, inside and out, learning and cataloging what made her breathe heavier, what made her moan.
Finally, she grabbed him again, and this time he moved closer to her. How do I…
She seemed to understand the question he wanted to ask, and she guided him inside, letting out a satisfied groan.
From there, Jack acted on instinct. He loved the way she looked, somewhere on the way to pleasure, and he couldn’t not thrust. He clumsily inserted a hand to the spot he had learned she liked best, and she groaned as an orgasm washed over her.
Jack followed her over the edge, stars popping behind his eyes.
---SPN---SPN---SPN---SPN---SPN—
Two minutes later, he lay somewhere between satisfied and terrified. She had curled up against him, and he awaited her reaction. It had only been 8 minutes since she had come in. That was bad, right? It wasn’t, like, horrible, but it was bad. Should he try again? Was he allowed to touch her?
But at the same time, WOW…
“That was… a lot better than I thought it’d be,” said Krissy, turning in his arms to stare at him. She was smiling, which he took as a good sign.
“Uh… thanks?” he said.
She laughed. “I didn’t really expect to have an orgasm,” Krissy said. “The first time always sucks, y’know. My first time, I didn’t even get off.”
Jack finally relaxed, allowing himself to smile fully. “So it didn’t totally suck?”
“No,” she said, laughing into his chest. “It didn’t totally suck.”
***Ember POV***
December 8, Morning
As usual, Castiel was there when Ember awakened. She knew he never stayed with her through the night – he went either to the bunker to assist with the hunting front, or else to a variety of hospitals to perform tiny miracles that would be well received but never traced. Occasionally if she’d awaken to go to the bathroom during the night, he’d be gone.
But he was always there in the morning.
“Energy boost?” he asked, holding up a finger when he realized that her eyes were open.
“’s Saturday,” she said groggily. “I’ll wake up on my own.”
Castiel raised his eyebrow impatiently, and Ember realized he had news.
“What?” asked Ember. “Spit it out.”
“Your children are having intercourse.”
Ember sucked in a breath as her stomach rose to her throat. Then she sighed, resolutely sitting up. She was fully awake now. “I told you I’d wake up on my own.”
***Jack POV***
December 8, Morning
Jack wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel different after losing his virginity, but he didn’t. He was kind of happy it was over, to tell the truth, because he felt like moving forward things were going to be easier to navigate. He felt that he had at least put forth a moderate performance, and things could only get better from here.
He was more worried about how he was supposed to act around Krissy going forward. He was the first one up, so he got started on eggs. By the time Krissy awoke and came downstairs, the eggs were starting to get cold, and he had to reheat them.
She thanked him and gave him a knowing smile, and he smiled back.
“So, last night,” she whispered to him, smiling.
“Last night,” he said, grinning back and taking her hand.
They were eating in silence and grinning lopsidedly at each other when they heard footsteps.
“Shit,” said Jack. “They’ll know.” He dropped her hand.
“No they won’t,” Krissy hissed. “I took a shower before bed. He can’t smell it – wait, can he?”
“Yes,” Jack said, “And he can read hormone levels.”
Krissy’s face paled as Ember and Castiel came into the room holding hands. Ember wore a bathrobe, and Castiel was dressed in his usual trenchcoat attire.
Castiel sat opposite from them at the table and leveled both of them with a stare. They looked at him curiously, terrified of what this might mean. This was not, after all, unusual behavior for the angel, but it could mean trouble.
Ember gave them a small smile and went to the fridge to grab milk, using her powers to gather a bowl and cereal.
“Hey, Ember,” Krissy said, braving a wan smile, and Jack gave her a look of encouragement. “I’ve got a metric ton of homework today for my Advanced Latin project, so-…”
“Hold on,” Ember said, pouring the milk on her cereal. “Let’s talk a bit first.”
Krissy shot Jack a scared look.
Ember sat down in her normal place at the table, nursing her cereal. “So, Cas tells me you two are together now,” Ember said, smiling but breaking eye contact with her son a moment too soon.
“Yes,” said Jack factually.
Krissy groaned.
“Now we’re only going to have this conversation once,” she added, then thought a moment. “That’s not true. Honestly we’ll probably have it at least once a month as a refresher.”
Krissy groaned again, putting her head in her hands.
“Krissy.” Castiel said sharply, and her head shot up.
The tone of the room had gotten serious with the sound of his voice, and it felt as though the room had dropped several degrees.
Ember put her spoon down. “I know this conversation is awkward and uncomfortable, and, I hope, unnecessary,” Ember said. “But I can’t stress enough the importance of protection.”
Jack swallowed hard, but neither he nor Krissy dared speak.
“Just because Jack doesn’t have his powers right now does not mean he wouldn’t produce a half angel. We don’t know, and we don’t want to find out. You wouldn’t survive it, Krissy. Not if Castiel was by your bedside, not with all of the healing powers of a seraph and all of the magic Rowena could provide you. You’re human. You’re a damn good hunter, but you’re human.”
“I know,” Krissy whispered, looking at the table.
“Angel and demon anatomy isn’t like human anatomy,” Ember continued. “It’s stronger. Use magic and a barrier method.”
“We are,” Jack said. Ember had told him once that if he wasn’t responsible enough to talk about sex, he shouldn’t be having it.
“Good.” Said Ember. Her voice turned gentle again. “I can’t lose you, Kris. But I understand what it’s like to love a supernatural creature. You’ve always been more responsible than I’ve given you credit for. Don’t prove me wrong.”
“I won’t,” whispered Krissy again, finally meeting Ember’s eyes.
“And finally,” Ember added. “Logistics. Keep it upstairs, and remember, the walls aren’t soundproof. You don’t want to hear us, and we don’t want to hear you.”
“Ember!” Krissy exclaimed, burying her head in her hands again.
“Also, more importantly. I’m not gonna tell Dean, but the two of you will need to be more careful at the bunker. Dean’s busy with… other things, and he’s dense on a good day. But Sam will be a lot harder to fool, and Eileen will be almost impossible. You two are way more obvious than you think you are, even without Castiel’s powers giving you away.”
Krissy looked stunned by this news.
“If Dean finds out, you’re on your own,” Ember added with a jovial smile. “I can’t save you, and I’ll plead the fifth. Comprende?”
“I understand,” said Jack with a smile.
“Comprende,” muttered Krissy, peaking out from between her fingers.
“I’ve got work to do upstairs,” Ember said. She sent the bowl across the kitchen to rest in the sink.
Krissy and Jack looked at each other, then at Castiel, who was still staring at them awkwardly.
“Cas!” Ember shouted from the other room.
Castiel stood up, startled, but collected himself. “If you’re responsible enough to have intercourse, you’re responsible enough to talk about it,” he repeated, and disappeared.
“It’s sex, Cas,” Krissy grumbled, her head in her hands. “It’s called sex. And I’m going to go die now.”