Judge Mosely sat and watched as the bailiff collected the note with the verdict from the jury. Het eyes slid over to Dean, and she winked at him.
Dean gasped, but no-one else had seen it.
Judge Mosley unfolded the note, read it, refolded it and looked over at the jury.
"Has the jury reached a decision?" she asked, voice soft, but no-nonsense.
The lead juror cleared her throat. "Yes we have your honour. In the charge of leading a prostitution ring, we find the defendant... guilty."
Murmurs ran through the court, until the gavel rapped.
"And in the charge of assault with the intent to cause greivous bodily harm, or kill, we find the defendant... guilty."

Dean slumped against Cas, rubbing his stinging eyes against Cas' shoulder.
Guilty...she didn't get away with it, even with her fancy, 500 dollar an hour lawyer.
The gavel rapped again.
"Allright people, settle down. I still have some sentencing to do." judge Mosely called, her voice firm.
She looked Lisa sternly in the eye.
"Ms. Braeden... if I had seen an ounce of remorse in you, in all the times we have been here, I might have lightened my verdict. But you are one coldhearted lady. You have no regard for anyone, but yourself. Therefore it is my pleassure to sentence you to life imprisonment, no parole."
The gavel came down hard, final.

Lisa started to squirm as the guards came to escort her off.
"No! You can't do this! I've been framed! It's all your fault!" she yelled at the judge, at the guards, at Cas. Then her eyes caught sight of Dean.
"Dean... Dean, baby, please... don't let them do this to me..." she plead, but Dean just stared at her, upper lip curled in disgust.
He couldn't feel sorry for her, because he felt nothing at all as he looked at her.
"Dean... come. We have an appointment." Cas said, tugging his sleeve.
Dean turned from Lisa, who shrieked an obscenity at him.
He grabbed Cas' hand and they left the room, not caring what happened behind them.

After they had decided on what flavour cake and pie they would serve on their wedding, Cas was abducted by Gabe to get a suit. Sam had to work, so he and Dean would do that another day.
Dean pushed his shoppingcart through the aisles, deciding that today would be a good day for a steak dinner, with homemade fries (recipe from oma, the dear.) and a little tossed salad.
His hand reached for a head of iceberglettuce, when a dark skinned hand covered his.
"Why Dean... Hello again." a warm, soft voice said.

Dean turned to see judge Mosely's gentle eyes twinkle at him.
"Your honour!" he gasped, making her smile broadly.
"Honey, we're done in court now. You call me Missouri. So, I really wanted to ask, although I think I already know the answer: did you really leave her for that gorgeous, blue-eyed angel?"
Dean could feel his nose scrunge up.
"No, ma'am. She cheated on me, lots of times, with lots of people. And even though I thought she was pregnant at the time I left, I couldn't stay. I lived with my Uncle Bobby for a few months, then Gabriel, mr. Novak's brother, said his brother needed a roommate. So, we ended up in one house... and, Well..."

Missouri smiled warmly, patting his arm.
"And now you're getting married. That's so sweet. And don't worry about Claire, hon. She'll lighten up soon enough."
With that enigmatic remark, Missouri turned and left, leaving Dean gaping. They hadn't even told Bobby and oma. Just their brothers... And who the Hell was Claire?

Six months later

"Cas? You home, angel?" Dean called, hanging his leather coat in the wardrobe and toeing his boots off.
"Yes... Dean... we need to talk." came the soft reply.
Dean frowned and fiddled with his whitegold wedding ring. That sounded omnious.
He made his way to the kitchen, where Cas sat at the breakfast bar, looking at the phone.
"Hey Honeybee. What's up?"
Cas didn't move, but still replied: "The ceiling, Dean. Now could you be serious?"
Dean bit his lip. He still fell for it, every time. Cas was so litteral at times.
"Sure. Cas... what's wrong?" Dean said, taking the stool next to his husband.

Cas turned his cerulean eyes on Dean.
"Dean... I... it..." he sighed, running his hand through his hair, his wedding ring in stark contrast with the dark locks.
"Dean, my best friend from college, Amelia, she... she died..."
Dean's heart shattered at the miserable tone and teary eyes.
"Oh no... Cas... I'm sorry, angel..." he said, trying to pull Cas into his arms.

Cas resisted, locking his eyes on Dean's veridian ones.
"She has a daughter... and... Well... she kind of asked me to be her guardian, if anything happened to her... Because the father, he bailed as soon as he heard Amelia was pregnant."
Dean glanced around the house. They might need a few adjustments, but it could be kidproofed.
"Of course, Cas. I'd love a kid..."
Cas chuckled through his tears. "She's fifteen, Dean."
'Ohhhh okay... so kidproofing not necessary then... Teen. Oh God!' Dean panicked a bit, but he couldn't let the kid face this all alone, now could he?
"Fine, a teen girl then. We'll make this work, angel. Don't worry. So, What's her name?"
Cas smiled and finally hugged Dean, before looking him in the eyes again.
"Claire... our daughter will be Claire."

oooOooo oooOooo oooOooo

And that was it for now... I started on Cas' story too. If you want to check that out: soon I'm going to post 'I won't let you face your life alone.' the second story in this series.

The cover art was made especially for me but the AMAZING Tumblr artist Deannamb. Go check out her fabulous art!