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Cas is staying on the couch and watching Ben’s digital copies of Bones , something he’s been doing since around midnight. He never watched all of it because he was watching it with Bobby, but it’s the only thing that looked remotely interesting to watch. Cas hears something calling out to him. Not a human and not an angel, something else. While it feels somewhat angelic, he can’t put his finger on exactly what it could be. He flies to the sound and sees Jack, the blond boy from his dreams.
“Jack?” Cas asks.
Jack looks up. “Castiel!”
He gets up off the ground and runs over to Cas, throwing his arms around Cas. Cas gently wraps an arm around Jack, not one hundred percent sure what to do in this scenario, but is pretty sure that this is the best option. He notices that Jack has a grace, but considering the grace can’t be older than a few days old, that doesn’t make any sense.
“I’m glad that you’re here,” Jack says. “I’m glad that I found my father.”
He then notices something off with Jack’s grace. He puts his hand on the side of Jack’s face, trying to see exactly what Jack’s grace looks like.
The grace is…
“You’re a Nephilim. The child of an angel and a human. And your father is Lucifer.”
“What?” Jack asks.
“Your grace has a semblance of your father’s. As a Nephilim, I can tell the angel that you’re connected to through your grace.”
“Why do you sound like it’s perplexing?”
“Lucifer’s been in his cage for so long that there’s no reasonable way that he could have fathered you. Better point, if it’s true that you were put in my care, why don’t I have any memory of someone asking this of me?”
Jack shrugs.
“I’ll take you back to the house and we can figure it out there.”
“Castiel,” a voice from behind Cas says.
Cas turns to see Adam Milligan, Michael’s vessel, standing there.
“How did you get out of the cage?” Cas asks.
“Long story,” Micahel answers, “One that I don’t have time to tell. I came to investigate the power surge.”
Cas puts a protective arm in front of Jack.
Michael tilts his head when he sees Jack. “How? My brother isn’t out of the cage.”
“I don’t know,” Cas says. “I won’t let you do anything to him.”
Michael gives him a look that clearly reads that if he wanted to do something, Cas would have no chance of stopping him.
“That’s a matter to discuss in a minute,” Michael says, shaking his head a little. “I want you to assist us in fighting against the Verum Malum . You’ve already helped beat them one time, so I want your help this time.”
Cas steels himself and looks Michael directly in the eyes, “I refuse to help Heaven. After everything, they haven’t done a thing for me. I plan on beating them, but I won’t take help from Heaven. I am taking my child and leaving.”
“That isn’t your child and you know it.”
“He was left in my care, so he is my child.”
“He’s Lucifer’s child, and he can’t go with you.”
“I don’t wish to go against you, but I will. I will not let you hurt him.”
Michael glances towards Jack, then back to Cas. He makes a face that Cas can’t read, but it disappears just as soon as it appears. “Very well then. I will figure out something else. In the meantime, hide him well.”
Michael’s gone, leaving nothing but rustling grass and flowers. Cas turns to look at Jack, who besides looking a little concerned, is otherwise fine.
“I’m going to take you home,” Cas says.
“Okay,” Jack replies.
Cas gently takes Jack’s arm and flies back to Ben’s house.
(Ben POV)
Ben wakes up when he hears something fall downstairs. He looks at the clock and it’s six o’clock.
It’s probably just Cas then. I should go check on him though, to make sure he didn’t break anything.
Ben gets up and heads out of his room. He comes down the stairs to see a blond boy who looks about sixteen that he doesn’t recognize in his living room.
“Hey,” Ben says hesitantly.
“Hello,” the boy says pleasantly, with a little wave to go with it.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here with my father. He’s going to protect me.”
“Protect you? Is something after you.”
“I don’t know if it’s still after me, but I can’t feel its presence. My mother said that my father would protect me, so I’m here with him.”
“Who’s your dad, kid?”
“My father is Castiel.”
Ben short circuits for a moment, then remembers who he spent the early years of his time on Earth with.
Still doesn’t really explain it, but it’s technically possible.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. Why would I lie?”
“There are plenty of reasons, but that’s not the point. I’ll call him. You stay right there and I’ll talk to him.”
“Talk to who?” Cas asks from the top of the stairs.
Ben pulls Cas into the kitchen.
“Why are you up this early?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” Ben answers. “That kid is your child?”
“Not biologically. He’s a Nephilim, which is the child of an angel and a human. The real issue is, he’s Lucifer’s child. I’m his guardian, so I’m taking care of him.”
“So you’re positive he’s not yours? And Lucifer’s out of the cage?” Ben asks.
“I’m positive he’s not mine, and no,” Cas answers, “I don’t understand it, but I would have felt it if Lucifer had escaped the cage. He’s not out, I’ve checked, but this is his child. I checked more than once. Though when I looked at his soul, it was pure.”
“And that means?”
“That means that he isn’t evil.”
“Obviously he wouldn’t be inherently evil. That’s not how it works. We’re all born with pure souls, it’s things that cause us to choose to be evil. We’re all born with sin, but that doesn’t immediately mean that we’re going to use that to go on a murder spree. The same way that there are angels that do bad things. Most of the time, it’s life and our choices that make us who we are.”
Cas nods, “I’m aware, it’s complicated though. He’s… sweet.”
Cas hears thumping on the stairs, so he turns. Vanitas is barreling down the stairs, straight for Cas. Cas kneels down and Vanitas stops just shy of trampling him. Cas starts petting Vanitas and he starts rubbing against Cas. Once Cas stops petting Vanitas, he goes into the living room.
(Cas POV)
Cas follows Vanitas into the living room and Vanitas sits in front of Jack.
Jack starts petting Vanitas and then looks up at Cas. “Am I staying here?”
“Yes,” Cas answers.
Jack smiles at Cas and Cas gives him a small smile in return. Neal comes down holding the girls and they get excited when they see Jack.
“Who are you?” they ask in unison.
“Hello, I’m Jack.”
“Why are you staying with us?” Serenity asks.
“How long are you staying with us?” Adalynn asks before Jack has a chance to answer.
“Alright, that’s enough of the interrogation,” Cas says, stepping in to stop them from overwhelming Jack. “Let’s get you cleaned up, Jack. I have some clothes you can borrow to change into once you’ve finished your shower.”
“Okay,” Jack replies.
The two go up the stairs and Cas knocks on his bedroom door.
“Come on in!” Emily calls out from inside.
Cas opens the door. Emily’s sitting on the bed with a book, looking up at the door.
“Emmy, this is Jack.”
Jack waves with a big smile. Emily smiles and waves.
“The closet is right there. You can pick out whatever you’d like,” Cas says.
Emily gets up and walks over to Cas. “Who is he?” she whispers.
“His name is Jack Kline. I’ve… I’ve had a couple of dreams with him in them. He’s been put in my care.”
“So that kid isn’t your son?”
“Not biologically,” Cas answers.
“And you’re sure?”
“As positive as I have ever been about something.”
Jack comes out of the closet with clothes.
“Those work,” Cas says. “Do you know how a shower works?”
“I do,” Jack answers. He walks out of the room and towards the upstairs bathroom.
“I’ll take it then if you’re that sure,” Emily says. “Are you actually gonna care for him? You aren’t exactly the most endearing person.”
“I plan to. Regardless of whether I want to, he was put in my care. He has no one else to go to. I won’t leave him stranded and alone.”
Emily pats Cas’ shoulder. “Maybe you’ll heal yourself along with him.”
“Maybe. I’m going to check on the Braedens though.”
“Alright, I’ll be up here.”
Cas heads downstairs and everyone’s sitting around the living room.
“Hello,” Cas says.
“Hey. Ben just told me about your latest adventure. How did you get to the woman without a fight?” Neal asks.
“I…” Cas thinks back to his little act and that kiss. “I put on an act. I pretended to be someone else, just like I was taught to.”
Adalynn raises her hand.
“Yes?” Cas asks.
“Why did someone teach you to pretend to be someone else?” she asks.
Ben raises an eyebrow, clearly waiting for a witty response.
Cas takes a breath, “Your great-grandpa, he was my brother. His name was Dean and we had another brother named Sam. Those two, they did the same job that I do now. They taught me everything that I know about hunting. They taught me how to put on an act so that I could help people.”
“You or Daddy haven’t mentioned them before,” Serenity says.
Cas glances up and Ben looks somewhere between surprised and confused.
“No, we haven’t,” Cas says hesitantly. “They… They went to where the angels are long before you were born and it was really hard for me. I… I don’t really like talking about them since it was so painful.”
Adalynn gets up and hugs Cas. “I’m sure that they’re watching over you, just like Mommy is watching over me and Serenity.”
Cas wraps his arms around her with a sad smile. Cas feels an angelic presence coming towards them, so he lets go of Adalynn and gets up. Ben gets halfway through asking Cas what the problem is when Michael appears in the living room.
“Please go upstairs, everyone,” Cas says. “I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
Ben and Neal scoop up the girls and head upstairs, the girls quietly protesting.
“I’m not here to start a fight, Castiel,” Michael says.
“Then why are you here?” Cas asks.
“I want to speak to you about Jack.”
“What about him?”
“With him being Lucifer’s child, but Lucifer not being out, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Heaven wants to investigate the power source that Jack caused.”
“Can’t you stop them from doing that?”
“I can, but it would be difficult…”
“Who’s the hot piece of ass?” Emily asks as she walks down the stairs, interrupting Michael’s sentence.
“This is Michael,” Cas answers, through his teeth, “The archangel.”
“Oh, cool,” Emily says, shooting Michael a playful wink.
Michael turns to look at Cas, who’s trying to hide how mortified he feels.
Please don’t smite her.
Michael turns back to Emily, then gives her a smirk.
“For now, I can stall Heaven’s investigation into the power source that brought Jack. I don’t know how long that will give you, but it should give you ample time to figure out something that I can use,” Michael says after turning back towards Cas. “I need you to care for him properly, Castiel. If you don’t, the angels will want him dead.”
Cas nods, “I will care for him as best as I can.”
Michael’s turn to nod. “I have to go now, so that I can discuss this with Heaven’s forces.”
“Bye, Hot Angel Dude,” Emily says with a small wave as she walks into the kitchen.
“Is she always like this?” Michael asks.
“No, I’m sorry,” Cas answers.
A small smile appears on Michael’s face. “Don’t be. You can’t take responsibility for everyone around you. Goodbye, Castiel.”
“Goodbye, Michael.”
Michael flies out and Cas sighs. “Emily, promise me you won’t do that again. Michael could have killed you for that.”
“I promise that I will be careful of the hot guy that can kill me with a look,” Emily replies. “That would probably also be hot though.”
“You need help.”
“Yeah, a little.”
Cas goes upstairs and grabs everyone else, including Jack who was so confused after getting out of the shower to everyone freaking out.
“Was that Michael?” Jack asks.
Cas nods, “He came to speak to me about you.”
“What happened?” Ben asks.
“Michael’s going to keep the angels away for as long as he can,” Cas answers. “In the meantime, I’m going to be taking care of Jack and training him. That’s not something to worry about right now though. He’s gone.”
They all head back downstairs and settle down around the living room. Cas opts to listen to Ben and Neal talk about the basketball game that they watched at some point instead of starting a conversation. He’s still a little hesitant because of everything. After twenty minutes, alarm bells start going off in Cas’ head. He looks around to make sure that the girls, Jack, and Vanitas are all fine. They’re all sitting on the floor petting Vanitas, who looks like he’s having the time of his life.
“I’m going to take a walk for a minute,” Cas says.
“Alright,” Ben replies. “Don’t go too far.”
“I won’t.”
Cas walks out the door and tries to pinpoint a threat. When he doesn’t find one, he decides to walk around to see if anything’s the matter. Cas starts walking around the property, looking for the thing that triggered the bad feeling. He gets to the back and sees a demon in the treeline. The demon spots him and bolts further into the trees. Cas flies after it and lands in front of it, causing the demon to skid to a stop.
“Why are you here?” Cas growls.
“I won’t tell you.”
Cas grabs the demon by the shirt collar and pulls out his angel blade, “Wanna bet on that?”
“We’ve been looking for you,” it answers hesitantly.
“Who’s been looking for me?”
“I can’t tell you. He’ll kill me.”
“ I’ll kill you .”
“Crowley! Crowley! It’s Crowley that’s trying to find you! He has demons looking everywhere for you since he can’t sense you!”
Cas sends the demon back to hell, then sighs.
“Uncle Cas?” he hears Neal call out. “Where did you go?”
Cas flies to the edge of the woods and walks back towards the property. When Neal catches sight of him on the other side of the fence, he looks confused.
“What were you doing?” Neal asks.
“I thought I heard something while I was taking my walk, so I went to investigate. It turned out to be nothing, so there’s no need to worry,” Cas answers.
He flies over the fence and lands next to Neal. He keeps walking and after a moment, he can hear footsteps behind him.
“Are you sure, Uncle Cas? There’s stuff on your coat?”
Cas looks down at his coat and brushes the sulfur off. “That’s the risk you run when you go places outdoors, Neal.”
Neal stutters, seeming to try and string together a response, but ends up opting to huff at Cas instead. Cas goes back inside with a small smile and Jack’s sitting on the couch with Ben and the girls. They’re telling him about a time that Cas took them to the park and he fell down a hill while chasing a butterfly. Neal laughs when he hears what they’re talking about and Cas just quietly sighs.
“Are you alright, Castiel?” Jack asks. “You seem troubled.”
Cas looks up and makes eye contact with Jack.
“I’m alright,” Cas answers, then gives Jack a small smile and a nod to reassure him.
Cas goes over and sits in Bobby’s chair as Serenity starts telling Jack about Cas trying to cook pancakes for them one morning a little over a month ago, which went terribly.
“I could teach you how to make pancakes,” Neal offers.
“I know how to make pancakes. I was just dealing with something and that’s why it went badly. I could make them before you were even an idea.”
Neal raises his hands in surrender, “Don’t shoot, I was just offering.”
Emily comes down the stairs and sees the gathering. “Aww, you look cute in Cas’ clothes, kid,” she says.
“They’re very comfortable,” Jack replies, looking down at the shirt.
She sits on the arm of Bobby’s chair, giving Cas a quick smile before turning back towards the kids. They girls keep telling everyone somewhat embarrassing stories of Cas, Ben, or Neal until they have to get ready for dinner. Cas and Jack watch everyone else chaotically make dinner in the kitchen.
“They’re a disaster,” Cas says.
“It’s a pleasant disaster,” Jack adds.
Cas nods. Once dinner’s made, there’s loud and energetic conversation while they’re eating. Cas smiles as he watches Jack try to engage with everyone with a big smile on his face.
A good ending to a good day.