Chapter Text
Dean returns to the garage on Thursday. His heat ended late Wednesday evening and he’d spent the rest of the night cuddling with his pup and spending time with Rowena and Crowley.
He spends most of his shift glancing over his shoulder, feeling like someone is watching him. The feeling fades when Jo takes her break around one so Dean realizes that it must be the beta watching him, but he doesn’t know why.
“Can I help you?” Dean asks with a raised brow when he catches Jo quickly looking away twenty minutes from the end of his shift.
“I’m good,” Jo says and Dean feels the urge to snarl. He’s been on edge having this strange beta woman watching him all day and her reply isn’t helping him at all.
“Look. You’ve been watching me all day, man. It’s kinda weird. So, tell me what’s up or knock it off.” Dean says, voice riding on the edge of frustration and anger.
“Dude,” Jo says wrinkling her nose at the scent leaking through Dean’s blockers. “I’m not trying to threaten you, Dean. I’m sorry, okay. It’s just… No one knows anything about you and the people are curious.”
“So you’re going to stare at me all day like a friggin stalker instead of asking a damn question?” Dean snaps. “That’s weird, Jo. I need you to stop.”
“Sorry, Dean.”
“Thank you,” Dean offers a small smile. “You can just ask me things, y’know. I’m not going to bite your head off.”
“How’d you know Rufus?”
“His best friend is my pseudo-uncle.”
“You know Bobby?”
“Yes,” Dean chuckles. “Bobby is the only reason Annie and I have made it this far.”
“Are you on the run?”
“No.”
“Where’s Annie’s alpha?”
“That’s a little insensitive, Jo.”
“You don’t have to answer.”
“Nah, it’s fine. She’s somewhere in Colorado. She may have provided her DNA but she has no right to be in Annie’s life.”
“Bad break-up?” Jo asks after a moment's hesitation.
“One-night stand,” Dean shrugs. Sleeping with Annie’s mom may not have been Dean’s brightest choice but it did leave him with the best thing to ever happen in his life. “I don’t regret it. I just wish I’d had the chance to have Annie with someone that I love.”
Jo regards him for a moment. “You don’t seem like the sentimental type.”
“I’m not,” Dean runs a hand down his face. “I just know what it’s like to be raised by a single father just trying to make ends meet.”
They lapse into an almost awkward silence, broken only by the alarm on Dean’s phone signaling the end of his shift. He says goodbye and leaves the garage as quickly as possible.
Annie is a lot like Dean. He watches her at dinner that night, seeing how she scarfs down her chicken but won’t touch the peas and feeling a warmth in his gut. He knows he should be trying to get her to eat more vegetables, but forcing it never worked with him. He still doesn’t like to eat vegetables.
“Sweet pea,” Dean says with a grin, pointing his fork at his pup. “You don’t have to eat all of them, but if you take a bite of your peas, we can watch a movie tonight.”
“Yay!” Annie responds and drops her chicken to grab a handful of peas and shove them into her mouth.
“Should have saved the bribe for later,” Dean shakes his head, smiling at his daughter as she stares at Dean with hope in her eyes. “Lemme finish my plate and we’ll pick something out, sweetheart.”
Annie nods enthusiastically and Dean hurries to finish his own chicken before stacking their plates. He dumps Annie’s portion in the compost and then scoops his daughter up, holding her under his arm like a football.
“Alright, munchkin. What’re we watching tonight?”
“Mulan!” Annie cheers, kicking her feet out behind them. “Pwincess Mulan.”
Dean nods his head, his daughter really does have the best taste in princesses.
The movie is just ending when there’s a knock on his door. He looks over to see that Annie is asleep on his bed so he carefully stands up. He feels a little like a teen trying to sneak out of his bedroom as he tiptoes past his sleeping daughter.
“What’s up, Rowena?” Dean asks when the door opens to reveal the other omega.
“Bess and Andrea are here,” Rowena says with a smile. Dean closes his eyes for a moment cursing his forgetfulness.
“Annie’s asleep,” Dean murmurs, thinking over his options as he lets Rowena into the room. “Do you mind staying with her? She doesn’t like waking up alone.”
“Of course, darling,” Rowena says, gently sitting on the bed next to his daughter. “She looks like an angel when she’s sleeping.”
“She is an angel,” Dean says with a smile. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Take your time, Dean,” Rowena smiles up at him. “There’s tea in the kitchen and those two are lovely company.”
“Thank you, Rowena.”
Rowena’s right, of course. Andrea and Bess are wonderful women and Dean really enjoys talking to them. It’s nice to be around omegas that are closer to him in age than Rowena is.
Bess pulls Dean into a hug when he greets them in the foyer. She smells like honey and flowers and Dean inhales the scent deeply. He chuckles when Andrea joins the hug after prompting from Bess, adding her own scent to the mix. Dean’s not surprised to find that the woman smells pregnant.
“Hello, Dean,” Bess says when she pulls away. Her hair is a light blonde color and Dean “It’s lovely to meet you.”
“You too,” Dean grins. “Annie’s asleep so you won’t get to meet her until tomorrow but there’s tea in the kitchen if you guys want to chat for a bit.”
“Tea would be lovely,” Andrea says with a smile. “We’d love to hear more about you and your girl, Dean.”
“Well,” Dean draws the word out as he pours the tea from the pot on the stove. “She’s three and she meets most of the developmental requirements of a three-year-old, except for eating. We’re gonna see a professional about it but she won’t eat unless I’m there. It’s been this way her entire life but it wasn’t really an issue until she started daycare.”
“You were a stay at home father, before?” Bess asks, taking the cup from Dean with a grateful smile.
“Not really, no,” Dean takes a sip of his tea and adds some milk to it before sitting at the table. “I would work for four hours while Annie was with a sitter, I’d come home for lunch, and then Annie and I would run errands together. I didn’t want her raised by a nanny and I could afford to work part-time considering my ex-partner’s profession.”
“What did your ex do?”
“He was a lawyer at Milton and Milton in Chicago,” Dean really doesn’t want to talk about Michael though. The alpha is out of his life for good. “But he doesn’t matter. Back to Annie.”
“Of course,” Andrea agrees right away. “She’s at Jody’s daycare, right?”
Dean nods. “It was a rough start at first if I’m being honest. There’s been a lot of change in our life recently and I think she’s still processing.”
“That’s totally fine, Dean,” Bess assures. “We’re going to go along with what you think is best, don’t worry.”
Dean lets out a breath and smiles at the women.
“Honestly, any advice y’all’ve got, I’m open to.”
Cas starts Thursday with a run. The sun is cresting over the trees as his feet pound on the cement. A mile into the run the sidewalk turns into a trail and Cas grins at the smell of pine surrounding him.
He loves running through the woods. When he was younger it had been an escape from his real-life responsibilities as well as a way to calm his alpha. He’d been less intune with himself as a teen and had many issues to work through.
Now, Cas runs to clear his mind of everything. He’s spent the last day not thinking about Dean (and by not thinking he means thinking) and he needs the respite he gets from a run.
Cas stops when he reaches the bridge that crosses the creek the town gets its name from. He carefully picks his way down a small path leading to the water and perches on a stump. The air feels pure here, empty of the scents of society, and Cas loves it.
The sound of a waterfall nearby soothes his racing heart as Cas’s body relaxes. He doesn’t fall asleep but it’s a near thing as his mind drifts back to the green-eyed omega and his bright-eyed daughter. He wants to get to know them better, he really does.
He’s not sure it’s worth the risk though.
Images of an omega with auburn hair float through Cas’ mind and he shakes his head to clear it. He doesn’t have time to think about April, not right now.
Not ever.
With a grunt of effort Cas stands and stretches his arms above his head. He’s considering running another mile up the trail when he hears familiar voices from up ahead.
Cas ducks under the bridge right as Becky and the beta Bartholomew pass overhead. He has to bite his lip to keep from screaming when he hears them come to a stop.
This is a public space, he should just leave, but then Becky starts talking and Cas realizes he can’t leave.
“Barty,” Becky purrs, making Cas gag. “What are you doing after church on Sunday?”
“I was going to help Pastor Uriel after the service with the church garden, is there something you need my help with?”
“As a matter of fact, there is,” Becky says as they start walking again, feet thumping on the bridge above Cas’ head.
Cas waits for their voices to fade before he comes out of his hiding place. He’s glad his scent had faded enough to not catch the duo’s attention, he’d rather drink moldy coffee than have to talk to both of them at the same time.
He decides to walk back to the bar, rather than continue his run and makes his way down the trail sedately. He keeps on alert for signs of Bartholomew and Becky but otherwise enjoys the hike.
After returning to Up On, Cas showers and cooks up a quick breakfast of eggs on toast. He has a few errands to run in town today, but he spends the morning going over the bar’s finances.
He doesn’t have an office in the building, instead choosing to do his work in the living room. He sits down on the couch and props his feet up on the coffee table. Meg had forced him to switch to digital bookkeeping three years ago and Cas really needs to buy her a gift for that.
In fact, he should probably stop by his friend’s house, he hasn’t seen her since the night of the audition.
Cas texts Meg that he’s dropping by after he finishes his errands and then shuts his laptop down. He’s consistent with his paperwork so it never takes long to complete.
“Cas,” Ash says from the doorway and Cas looks up to see the beta drenched from head to toe.
“What the hell happened, Ash?” Cas demands, standing to grab the man a towel. “Are you okay?”
“It’s pouring outside,” Ash pouts. “I wasn’t prepared.”
“Ash,” Cas says slowly tossing the faded blue towel in Ash’s direction. He really should get new ones. “We live in Washington. We’ve lived in Washington our whole lives. How’re you not prepared for rain?”
“Well, it was sunny this morning, man!”
Cas rolls his eyes and ushers the man from the room, leading him to the guest room where most of their bandmates and all of the bar staff have spare clothes.
“I have a few errands in town and I’m going to visit Meg before she decides to castrate me but I’ll be back for opening,” Cas tells the man, grabbing his keys from a hook on the wall. “Please don’t burn the place down. I’m fond of it.”
The trip to the hardware store is quick, all he needs to pick up are a few cabinet handles for behind the bar and a pack of screws. The stop at the bank doesn’t go nearly as fast when he runs into Missouri Moseley. It’s not a bad thing, but it does cut into his time with Meg.
“Castiel,” Missouri greets warmly. She’s a strong omega with a motherly scent and a truckload of compassion as she pulls Cas into a hug. “It’s so nice to run into you today. I’ve been thinking about you recently.”
“Why’s that?” Cas wonders, eyes narrowing at the woman.
“Nothing bad, m’boy,” Missouri chuckles. “I did hear that one of my best students is in your band now. Are you still performing on Saturday?”
“We’ll be taking this week off to adjust, ma’am,” Cas informs. “If things go well we’ll be back next Saturday.”
“Just in time for the summer bash.”
Oops.
Cas had forgotten about the summer bash, what with the excitement of finding a new bandmate, his—the omega, and going into his first natural rut in years.
“Just in time for the summer bash,” Cas agrees before excusing himself to leave.
Meg lives in an apartment building near the inn that Dean is staying at. He sees the omega’s car as he drives past and has a strong urge to stop and check on the man. He shakes his head when he sees Crowley move in the window and presses down on the gas, driving past the inn.
He parks his car and jumps out, grabbing the cupcake he’d brought over for his best friend, knowing she’d appreciate it even if she’d deny it.
“Clarence,” Meg greets, pulling the alpha into a hug. She pulls away and decks him on the arm with a smirk. “You best have a damned good excuse for not texting me.”
They sit together on the couch and the faint scent of oranges and cinnamon permeate the room, relaxing something in Cas. It really is weird to go so long without seeing his best friend.
“Dean, the band member we decided on,” Cas starts, not looking at Meg, instead, picking at a thread on the blanket next to him. “I, uh, saw him at the park the other day andwentintoarut.”
Cas says the last part so fast he’s not sure he actually said the right words.
“You what?”
“I saw Dean at the park with his daughter and he went into heat which sent me into a rut, Meg.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Meg says with a wicked grin. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“I would not kid about something like this, Meg,” Cas reminds her. He stares at her helplessly. “I don’t know what to do, Meg. I can’t go through this again.”
“First of all, Castiel Novak, Dean is not April,” Meg reminds him, gently taking the alpha’s hands into her own. “You also don’t have to do anything. Be in the band together, get to know him, and see if anything happens. There is no rush.”
“He’s my true mate.”
“So what?” Meg asks with a shrug. “Finding your true mate does not always mean a happy ending, Cas. Even true mates have shit to work through.”
“I guess,” Cas acquiesces, leaning his head on her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here, Meg.”
“Me too, Clarence. Me too.”