Chapter Text
CASTIEL — WEDNESDAY, 20 JUNE, 2018
Jack is chatting happily as he eats his soup, which makes Castiel smile.
Claire glares at her father and takes a sip of her own soup. Jack pauses his unintelligible five-year-old words, so Claire clears her throat. “Dad, do you know the author Dean Winchester?”
“I have heard his name in passing, yes,” Castiel responds slowly.
Claire nods. “Right. Well, he’s having a book signing about twenty minutes away tomorrow afternoon. Do you think I could go?”
He sighs. “I could always buy you a signed copy, Claire. You know how I feel about having you out in public with me.”
“I know, Dad. But, it wouldn’t be the same. It’s only twenty minutes away, and I could just get Balth or Meg to take me. Please, Dad, he’s my favourite author.” Claire looks at Castiel with those big blue eyes she got from her biological father. “...It would be a great way to start summer vacation.”
Castiel doesn’t like having his children in the spotlight. No child deserves to have all that attention on them, and he has done a great job of keeping Claire and Jack away from it. But… Castiel would love to do something fun with Claire, especially now that she’s a teenager and refuses to do anything he suggests. “I’ll think about it,” is what he ends up saying.
Despite Claire never having mentioned Dean Winchester before now, Castiel finds himself researching the man on his couch fifteen minutes later while he and Murphy– the Novak family’s three-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog– watch Jack watch a Disney movie.
He searches up the author’s name and finds his books. The newest one is set to come out in early September and is entitled The Family Business. It has yet to receive a cover design.
He then finds Mr Winchester’s eleven other books, all released around a year apart from each other, except for two, which were released in the same year.
The author’s first book, Lazarus Rising, depicts a depressed man who has lost everything, slowly finding the good in life again and essentially rising from the dead. Castiel would be lying if he said it wasn’t something he’d be interested in reading. Given that he reads anything he can get his hands on, he thinks he would enjoy Lazarus Rising.
Even though learning about the novels Claire allegedly loves so much is interesting, Castiel needs to find out more about this Dean Winchester before he lets his daughter meet him, even if she, Jack, and Castiel are surrounded by security guards the entire time.
Evidently, Castiel only finds seven personal things about Dean Winchester that don’t relate to his chosen field of work.
- He walks with a limp, but has never disclosed exactly why, despite being asked several times.
- He was born somewhere in Kansas in 1979. City and exact birthdate unknown, though his birthday is theorised to be in January.
- He is best friends with his manager, Charlie Bradbury. Apparently, they’ve been friends since college.
- Winchester’s favourite book of all time is Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
- He is very openly bisexual and supports many different charities and organisations that Castiel has donated to in the past.
- He is covered in tattoos. On the rare occurrence that the author wears a short-sleeve shirt, one can see his left arm covered with vines from wrist to shoulder, Hey Jude written on his left wrist, a chain breaking on his right bicep, an infinity symbol on his right thumb, and I’ll See You On Monday written in small lettering on his right wrist. The author has also been open about having a total of seven tattoos, meaning two of them are in more intimate places than his arms.
- Mr Winchester has mentioned a few times that the man whom he considers his dad is not biologically related to him in any way and that his biological father wasn’t that great of a person.
Castiel finds almost nothing about Dean Winchester other than these seven things. He would like to learn more, but Dean seems like a good person. It doesn’t hurt that he supports the same things Castiel supports and may or may not be very handsome. Apparently, fans were very surprised when he grew out his hair and beard two years ago since he had short hair and a clean-shaven face for eight years beforehand.
Castiel can certainly concur that the beard and longer hair work in his favour, even though short hair and a clean-shaven face work just as well.
Castiel supposes he will let Claire go to the book signing, but he’s making sure he is going with her. For safety. It’s totally for safety. So what if Castiel has four bodyguards with him and his family when he’s out in public? Well, three bodyguards on Thursday's since Thursday's are Jody’s day off.
He looks at Jack, who has fallen asleep curled up beside Murph, and smiles at his adopted son. Castiel runs his fingers through Jack’s blonde hair and closes his laptop.
Castiel groans as he pulls the five-year-old into his arms and pads over to Jack’s bedroom with Murph trailing behind. He tucks in the child, kisses him on the forehead, murmurs an I love you, and turns on the dinosaur nightlight before quietly slipping out of the room.
The forty-year-old puts his hands into his grey sweatpants pockets as he walks back to the living room. He opens up his laptop again and begins to type out an email to Jody Mills, his head of security and close friend, to set up a book signing with Dean Winchester after all of the people leave the bookstore
DEAN — THURSDAY, 21 JUNE, 2018
Dean is sipping on his second cup of coffee while he finishes some of the final edits of The Family Business at eight o’clock in the morning on Sam and Eileen’s couch with his bad leg extended on the ottoman when Sam walks in with Ethan in his arms.
“How’s the book coming along?” Sam asks as he sets Ethan down on the couch beside Dean and straightens his dark red tie.
“Good,” Dean responds. “Benny says it’s looking good and that I can probably send it to Donna for printing soon.”
“You know you’ll have to actually pick a cover design for Donna to print it, right?”
“Ha-ha, Bitch. Donna’s getting more designs from the illustrator tomorrow.”
Sam chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his neck, gearing up to say something else. “Funny story! I need you to take Ethan today. There was a lice outbreak at his daycare, and it’s closed today. Likely tomorrow, too. Y’know… since you’re already here and all, you can watch him.”
Dean narrows his eyes at his brother. “Good job changing the subject. And, just because I stay here more often than not doesn’t mean I’m your son's babysitter. Look, Sam, I totally would, but I have that book signing thing this afternoon.”
“That’s totally fine. Just take him with you. Charlie can watch him or something… Remember what his full name is…” Sam trails off.
Ugh, Sam knows exactly how to make Dean do his bidding. “Fine. As long as you know that kid is going to have a shit ton of candy when I bring him home.”
“Please don’t feed him any. He’s hyper enough without the sugar. Don’t make me make Eileen kill you.”
“She loves me.”
“She won’t love her two-year-old hopped up on sugar. Actually… I trust you not to give him candy. I don’t trust Charlie. Do. Not. Let. Her. Give. Him. Candy.”
“I’ll try my best. Don’t you have somewhere to be, Sammy?”
Sam checks his watch and rushes to get his laptop bag from the kitchen table. He rushes out the door as he calls out, “It’s Sam!”
Dean snorts. Like he’s ever gonna stop calling Sam Sammy. Dean looks at his nephew, who is watching him with wide eyes, then puts his laptop onto an end table. “Your dad’s an idiot. But, don’t quote me on that.”
Ethan just giggles and climbs on Dean now that Dean has spoken to him. “Unca Dean!”
Dean laughs and pulls him close. Unca Dean happens to be one of Ethan’s favourite phrases, and Dean can not be prouder of that. “I was here last night, little dude. And the night before that. How do you feel about going to see Auntie Charlie today?”
Ethan does the classic toddler-melt in Dean’s arms and signs yes. Dean smiles and turns on the TV to one of Ethan’s shows.
Dean parks the Impala in the back parking lot of the local bookstore and can see Charlie standing by the employee entrance with her arms crossed.
Dean pulls off his sunglasses and gets out, then unbuckles Ethan from his car seat and grabs his diaper bag that he’d packed. It’s hardly Dean’s fault that he’s five minutes late. Ethan decided not to want to get changed. At least the event doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes.
Dean hikes Ethan on his hip and slings the diaper bag over his black T-shirted shoulder and limps over to Charlie, who waves to Ethan, who waves back with his chubby toddler hand.
“Why’d you bring him?” she asks.
“Lice outbreak at daycare. Sam needed me to take him for the day and said he was fine with him coming. I figured he could hang with you,” Dean explains.
Charlie looks between Dean and the toddler in his arms. “You know how he gets when you’re within seeing distance but not reaching distance.”
“Employee breakroom? That way, he won’t be able to see me.”
“I need to be out there with you.”
“We have handlers to be with me, Char.”
“And, there’s a rule against photography and videos unless the picture is taken by one of the handlers. Also, you’re the master of getting out of questions you don’t want to answer. I need to look after you, and you need to look after him.”
“Whatever. But you’ll have to change his diaper at some point. This thing’s over at five o’clock, right?”
“Right. You ready to go inside? We already have quite the line,” Charlie says.
Dean smiles and opens the door for Charlie. “C’mon, Red. Let’s go meet the fans.”
Dean and Charlie walk through the employees’ only backroom until they make it to the main floor. Dean can see the line of fans in front of the event room. They squeal in excitement when they see Dean pass them. Dean smiles and waves as he, Charlie, and Ethan walk by into the event space. Charlie makes sure to close the black curtains behind them.
Dean sets Ethan in the chair behind the fold-up autograph table, then shakes hands with the event handlers. Dean sets Ethan’s diaper bag on one of the crouches behind the table and walks over to the event table, where Ethan is messing with one of the books. “Hey, no touching, buddy. Uncle Dean has to work.” Ethan huffs and lowers his hands. Dean grabs the book– Who We Are and props it on top of a stack of the same novel. He does the same to his newest novel that came out last year– Two Minutes To Midnight.
As Dean is setting up his table, he hears Charlie’s phone go off. He turns as Charlie is putting the phone to her ear. She goes pale almost immediately. Due to the sound of the people in the other room, Dean can’t make out what she’s saying. She nods, closing her eyes and says something else before ending the call and walking away.
Dean is left in confusion as he continues to tidy up his table.
One of the event handlers– a woman with brown hair gives Dean a thumbs up, and he returns the gesture. He picks up Ethan and sits down, then sets Ethan on his lap. Dean’s nephew is very pleased to be sitting up higher and smacks his hands on the dark blue tablecloth. Dean laughs, and Ethan looks up at him.
Then, the thick black curtain is opened, and the single-file line comes in.
Dean puts on his professional smile and greets the young lady with a first edition copy of Lazarus Rising. “Hey! What’s your name?” Dean greets.
She blushes as she sets the books on the table. “Maggie.”
Dean uncaps his pen. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Maggie.” Dean writes It doesn’t matter who you are. It only matters what you do. Dean then signs his signature and hands the book back with a smile. So what if Sam’s the one who told Dean that quote years ago when Dean was in the middle of trying to get sober?
Maggie looks down and grabs a pack of gummy bears from her bag. “I heard you liked them,” she mumbles.
“Damn right, I do. Thank you so much.” Ethan makes grabby hands for the candy, and Dean moves them out of reach. No. It’s too spicy for you, Dean signs to his nephew.
Maggie smiles as she walks away with her newly signed book, and the next person walks up. Dean greets the man and signs his book, but gets no candy in return.
After ten minutes of signing books, receiving gifts (which mostly consist of gummy bears and chocolate), and making small talk, Charlie walks back over. She leans down and whispers in his ear as Dean’s signing a young man’s copy of The Things We Left Behind. “After this is done, you have a special request coming in. It may take a while.”
Dean looks up at Charlie. “How long is a while?” he asks in an equally quiet voice.
“I don’t know. They’ll be coming in at roughly five twenty.”
“Got it.”
Charlie pats Dean on the shoulder and walks away to monitor the line. Dean suddenly remembers the man he’s with and apologises as he hands the signed book back. “It’s all good, man.” The man then holds up a white champagne bag. “For your troubles,” he says with a laugh.
“Thanks,” Dean says, hoping he doesn’t sound awkward. He’s fifteen years sober. Hasn’t had a drink since 2003. After a year and a half of heavy drinking, he was forced to get clean, and it was a fucking horrible process, but he did it, and has stuck with it ever since. His final drink was on the second of August 2003– also the last time he relapsed.
Some fans believe he’s the type to like alcohol, but he just gives the bottles he gets to Charlie or Bobby since Sam and Eileen don’t keep alcohol in their home.
After an hour and forty-five minutes of signing books (with very few questions about Ethan that Dean managed to get out of answering), Dean’s hand is starting to cramp. He finishes a signature for an older woman and hands the book back to her. “I love your tattoos, by the way,” the woman says and slides over a bag of even more gummy bears.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Dean replies, lowering his head to show his gratitude.
Dean has gotten a plethora of tattoos over the years. The ones the woman was most likely referring to (since they’re the most visible) are the leafy vines that run up and around his left arm from wrist to shoulder to symbolise healing and growth from his alcoholism, and Hey Jude on his left wrist since it was Emma’s favourite song.
The third most visible is the broken chain on his right upper arm that he got after John died when Dean was twenty-one as a symbol of breaking free from his abusive father for good, even if Dean moved in with Bobby, Ellen, and Jo at sixteen. It was also his first tattoo.
On his right thumb is a small infinity symbol that he got six months after Emma died, then the words I’ll see you on Monday on his right wrist two years after Emma died. Those were the last words his daughter ever said to him, and he wanted to make sure he would never forget them.
On Dean’s chest is an anti-possession symbol that he got with Sam when Dean was twenty-seven, and Sam was twenty-three. It’s a symbol of protection, and Dean believes it’s done its job for the most part.
And finally, there’s the small green lightsaber on the back of his right ankle where his Achilles tendon is. Charlie has a matching one that’s blue instead of green.
Dean finishes up with the last several people and can feel his exhaustion as Ethan starts to get antsy on his lap. The last person leaves five minutes before five o’clock, and Dean lets out a tired exhale. He looks at the large pile of gummy bears, fan art, pens, and alcohol on the floor beside the table. God, he has really great fans.
Ethan’s crying is what removes Dean from his thoughts. Dean thinks for a moment. Charlie had helped Ethan go to the bathroom about forty-five minutes ago, since he started potty training a few months prior.
Then Dean remembers the last time Ethan ate was a little over three hours ago. “You want some strawberries?” he asks his nephew.
Ethan perks up. “Staberry!”
Dean chuckles and picks him up and sets him down beside his diaper bag. Dean pulls out a container of cut-up strawberries and a single graham cracker.
Lo and behold, Ethan’s in a much better mood after he finishes his snack, but Dean can tell he’s tired and wants to go home to Eileen and Sam. Charlie walks over to where Dean is sitting on the couch with Ethan. “You did great, Dean! Everyone left happy, and no one died.”
Dean chuckles. “A very successful afternoon. Look, Char, I need to get Ethan home. He’s tired, and he wants to see his mom and dad.”
Charlie sighs. “I know, but you’ll probably change your mind when you see who the special request is.”
“The store closed two minutes ago, Char. What kind of special request gets in after store hours?”
Charlie rolls her eyes. “The special ones willing to pay me to keep you for a little while afterwards.”
“How much did they pay you?”
“I shall not say. However, when they come in, I will need to sign a few papers, and you’ll be alone while I do it.”
“Not sketchy at all.” Ethan then makes a fussy noise and tells Dean to put him down, which Dean does, and Ethan immediately toddles over to the pile of candy. Dean rushes over. “Hey, they’re too spicy for you. You won’t even like them.” Dean plucks one of the bags from Ethan’s hands, and Ethan isn’t very pleased. “You want Uncle Dean to throw you in the air?”
Ethan giggles and signs yes! What is Dean to do but do what his nephew wants? Dean picks up the toddler and gears up. “You ready?” Ethan nods eagerly. “Okay, three, two, one, up we go!” He throws Ethan into the air and catches him easily, and Ethan laughs loudly. Dean can feel Charlie and the event handlers looking at him, but doesn’t pay them any attention. All that matters is making his nephew happy.
Even after Dean tells Ethan he’s too tired to throw him up anymore, they continue playing at the event table while Dean waits for the mysterious ‘special request’ to come in. Dean is a little annoyed since he could be almost home by now.
Ethan gets fussy again, and Dean sets him back on the floor instead of his lap. But, as Ethan is clumsily walking around, Dean can hear a child’s voice exclaim, “He has a baby!”
Dean turns to the open black curtain and sees a five-year-old, a teenager, and a very tired-looking, suit and trench coat-wearing, internationally famous tech CEO.