Howdy everyone!

Only took me a month to get this all together, lol, sorry about that!

When I finished the main story, I got a handful of questions related to the fates of various folks, and a request for a ficlet! As of today, I've finally answered all those questions and written up the ficlet, so here you go!

This isn't a true chapter. Instead, the questions are in quotation marks and in bold, and my answers follow. The "chapter" ends with the ficlet request and my response to it.

Note that I did NOT edit it, like, at all. So it's, erm, raw first draft (yum?). Hopefully, it's okay - I'll edit it in a few days if I get the chance (the whole story could use a bit of polish, when I reread it not long ago I noticed a lot of little annoying things...sorry about that).

"Do they ever have more kids?"

Not for a while! Four is a handful. But as Dean gets older and his fertility drops and the kids start kindergarten, Dean and Cas get to thinking. Nancy and her pups are truly part of the family, and now they don't really need her help, but the idea of not having her around is just weird. Dean has had a whole lot of years to forget just how sick he was during the pregnancy, and they both have gotten some years to forget how hard those first few months were and remember all the good things. Sam and Madison have recently had triplets, and damn but they are just *so damn cute* and they get to thinking...

...and Dean goes off his suppressants and birth control...

...and not long before Dean's 40th birthday they end up having another three pup litter.

"But what about John? Why was he not developing at the same rate as the other pups?"

Vision problems, as it turns out. They didn't even think to get him checked out, because his issues were related to his gross and fine motor skills and they just assumed it was muscular. The doctors say that John will either need corrective lenses for his entire life, or they can give him surgery that has about a 1 in 3 chance of leaving him blind. It's a hard choice, but they end up going for the corrective lenses. By the time they start kindergarten, he's caught up with the others.

Much, much later in life, when he's an adult, they'll have that talk and he'll say he's glad they made the choice they did, which is a relief - it's so hard to have to make a decision for a little child, knowing it will affect them for the rest of their life!

"I wonder what became of Papa Novak."

Ah, interesting question! So, Mr. Novak left the family when Castiel was a teenager, right? And as you say, often dad leaves because Mom is a hateful bitch. (in this case, Mom is Lilith, dad is Luci...I mean...Nick.) But no! Nick, an alpha, left after Castiel's brother Gabriel died. It just left him so shattered, Gabriel had been his favorite (yeah, yeah, parents shouldn't have favorites...) and he couldn't figure out how to get past that one terrible moment in his life. It didn't help that, by certain interpretations, the death could have been Nick's fault. It was a crime of neglect, rather than a crime of intent - he was supposed to pick Gabriel up, and he forgot, and Gabriel hitched a ride with a friend, who turned out to be drunk and totaled the car, killing both passengers while escaping with scarce a scrape. It was a long shot for Nick to blame himself, but he did. Where he went from there? Well, Castiel obviously doesn't know...and Lilith tried to find him but couldn't...even with a PI. However, the driver of the car died under mysterious circumstances several years later, and six months after that, the body of an unknown vagrant turned up on a beach off the Long Island Sound...

...it was a sad story, really. Castiel is happier not knowing.

"What is Michel's fate ( homeless? In prison? something else- hopefully very bad.)"

What, that he's dating Crowley isn't bad enough? :)

That *is* pretty much the extent of it. Michael's fate is...dependency. He's really not a very good accountant - Castiel was completely blind to that fact, but at the point when he and Castiel left the firm at which they'd met, Michael was already in danger of losing his job. The only way he was going to succeed was partnered with someone far more competent than himself. From his point of view, Castiel was pretty much perfect - brilliant, hard working, talented, committed, yet totally lacking in the self-esteem necessary to realize that he was all those things, thus making him ideal for Michael to take control of his life and get what he needed. Michael's not as young as he once was, though, and when he ran their business into the ground, he burned pretty much all his bridges. He's had jobs since then but no one has been willing to put up with his crap any more. He lost all the assets he'd basically swindled from Castiel when he filed for bankruptcy, even had to sell the house.

If he were willing to work hard and really devote himself, he could certainly rebuild what he lost, but he doesn't really think that way. He's a user, so he's always looking for someone to use. That's what he *thinks* is going on with Crowley - but Michael's desperation is preventing him from seeing clearly (or maybe he's intentionally wearing blinders) - Crowley is the one using him, and slowly reducing Michael to *needing* him. When all is said and done, they'll stay together, because Crowley enjoys fucking with Michael, the moreso because Michael so obviously thinks he's so *clever* and *in charge* but he's actually totally under Crowley's thumb.

Basically...Michael sold his soul to a devil for the basic comforts of life, and he doesn't even realize it.

"Will Doctors find solution to Cas's problem?"

They might have, but Castiel doesn't know about it. When he's with Dean, he doesn't feel broken. Once Dean passes child-bearing age, he goes off suppressants. His heats are much less powerful at that point, and they don't *always* trigger ruts, but the combination means that their love life gets much more regular, and also less frenzied as a result, and they're happy. Castiel know he isn't broken, he doesn't need to be fixed. He's happy with what they've got.

"I think that Lilith would find a way to meet the children (i.e. pick them up from kindergarten) and I just wanted to give you that prompt because I know she would."

Dean had developed something of a love-hate relationship with Parent-Teacher night. On the one hand, it was interesting to hear what their teachers thought of his children, especially when most of what they shared was positive – except about Gabriel, little snot, and who could blame them for that? On the other hand, it was a pain in the ass and invariably took all evening. Even in pre-school, when Mary, Raphael and Gabriel had all been in the same class, and John was at a different school and thus had meetings on a different day, it had been complicated. Now that all four were in the same school, and the school had deliberately and insistently placed the four kindergarten students with different teachers, it took all evening for he and Cas to speak with all of their instructors. Mercifully, they were almost done for the school year: the last meeting with the last teacher on the last Parent-Teacher night before summer vacation.

"All in all, it's been a pleasure teaching Mary this year," said Ms. Rosen brightly. "She's a great student, I'm selfishly hoping I'll have her in my class again next year!"

"Thanks for everything," Cas smiled, and Ms. Rosen blushed, and Dean repressed his jealousy.

"By the way, I'm a little surprised – I thought I'd see their grandmother at one of these meetings, but she hasn't come all year!" Ms. Rosen continued just as cheerfully, oblivious to the horrified look washing over Cas' features, the fury turning Dean's stomach and prompting him to clench his fists so tightly they hurt.

"Excuse me?" asked Cas faintly, laying a shaking hand over Dean's in an obvious attempt to restrain him.

"Mrs. Novak!" Ms. Rosen said. "She's come to visit them during afterschool any number of times – you know I teach the afterschool program too, right? Anyway, she's been a great help, she reads to all the kids and brings candy, such a sweet old lady! Right at the beginning of the year, she wanted to take the quadruplets out for ice cream, and I was really surprised that her name wasn't on the release form. I asked Mr. Shurley," she paused to look dreamily skyward, "to call you and ask about correcting that, but I guess he never did? I must have reminded him four or five times…well, you know how he is. She's come nearly every day, though!"

Dean didn't know a fucking thing about Mr. Fucking Shurley and didn't fucking care too. All the things he'd ever do to the fucking sweet old lady if he ever got his hands on her swirled around in his head and it was with the barest self-restraint that he reminded himself, Ms. Rosen didn't know, she followed protocol, she didn't let Mrs. Novak take the children from school premises, there was another adult with them at all times, it could have been worse, fucking CHRIST it is bad enough, what if they like her now? What if they want to see her? How have NONE of them mentioned this to us? None of the teachers, none of the kids, not a single mention of "gramma said this," or "Lily brought us candy" or anything, she must have told them not to talk about it, and even fucking worse, they listened to her. No, it couldn't have been much. God fucking damn that bitch…

"Mr. Winchester, are you crying?" Ms. Rosen said, her concern overwrought. Dean jerked his head around to see Cas, his blue eyes swimming with tears, staring speechless and stunned. As painful as it was to witness, it was just what Dean needed to pull him out of his own funk. A single thought overrode everything – Cas needs me – and he pushed everything away and wrapped his arms around his alpha.

"It's okay, Cas," he murmured.

"Mr. Winchester?"

Cas slumped against him as best he could, considering the distance between their crap chairs, and smooshed his face against Dean's shoulder, wiping of his tears on the fabric. "What if she hurt them?" he whispered.

"She didn't," Dean said as reassuringly as he could. If she did…

"Why didn't they tell us?"

"Mr. Shurley forgot," Ms. Rosen replied. "I'm sure he didn't mean to, he just—"

"I don't know, Cas," laying a hand on the back of Cas' head, Dean smoothed down Cas hair, massaged the back of his neck. "We can ask them now."

"Is there something wrong with their grandmother?" asked Ms. Rosen, her voice growing shrill. "Was that really their grandmother? We checked ID! We ran a background check! We'd never have let her volunteer if there was a problem. Did I…" She deflated, and continued helplessly, "did I let someone dangerous near our children?"

"It's not your fault," Dean whispered in Cas' ear, then repeated the words more loudly for Ms. Rosen's benefit. The young teacher was oblivious but she loved the students and her enthusiasm was genuine. She'd followed protocol for the school, she'd meant well, and if she hadn't been so dutiful the situation could have been so much worse.

Dean had mellowed out a lot since he punched Michael in the face.

He might yet punch Lilith in the face.

Ms. Rosen apologized at least twenty times as she walked out of the building with them – they were her last visit for the night. Gathering himself with difficulty, Cas explained to her in the very basic outline suitable for a near-stranger why Lilith Novak was a problem, why they didn't want her near the kids. By the time he was done, Ms. Rosen had a determined expression on her face and fire in her eyes.

"She's never coming in here again! You know, she did say a couple things…but I just thought, well, she's old-fashioned, that's how the elderly are, and it's okay as long as we understand that. I even did some afterschool lessons with the children specifically geared towards refuting the things she'd said. They made me a little uncomfortable but it was a learning opportunity. Oh, Mr. Winchester, I'm so sorry!"

"Thank you, Ms. Rosen. Next time she comes, would you call me?" asked Cas. Dean stiffened, and now it was Cas who put a soothing hand on him, cradling the small of his back, asking with a simple touch for Dean to trust him to deal with his mother. The gesture calmed him instantly. Of course, Cas could handle his mother. Maybe Cas even needed to deal with his mother.

That evening, they talked about restraining orders. They talked about asking Nancy to pick up the children instead of sending them to the afterschool program. They talked about legal action and talking to the principal and physical assault. There wasn't not enough evidence for a restraining order, Nancy had another job now though she lived in the second house on the property they'd bought, there was no legal action possible, physical assault on 73 year old women was generally frowned on and would get Dean sent to prison, but talking to the principal was a good idea. Once they'd hashed that out, they headed to bed with the hardest task yet before them: speaking to the children to try to get four kindergarteners to explain why they'd kept something a secret.

"Because she told us not to tell you – it was supposed to be a surprise," was Mary's stout answer.

"Because it was fun to keep a secret," Gabriel stuck out his tongue when finally compelled to reply.

"Because no one else was telling," said Raphael, shifting his feet uncomfortably.

"Because I don't like her, she's a meanie," John stomped his little foot to emphasize the point.

Castiel's mind instantly flooded with all the terrible things his mother might have said to his legally blind little boy. Of course, John was the one she'd been cruel to, he was the only one who, at the age of five, could already be called broken.

"Alright," sighed Dean, running a hand through his hair.

"Are we in trouble, daddy?" asked Mary nervously, catching her lip between her teeth and doing her absolute best version of the look they all knew made Dean cave every time. Not that she needed the look now, they wouldn't have been in trouble regardless of Mary's adorable pouty moue.

"Definitely not," Castiel said firmly. "None of this is your fault. However, in the future, starting today, if she comes to the school again, go straight to Ms. Rosen, and make sure you tell us afterwards. John is right, I'm sorry to say it but your grandmother is not a nice lady."

"I never liked her either," mumbled Raphael.

"Hey, I hate her," said Dean with a grin to the kids. John, Raphael and Mary immediately brightened up; Gabriel scowled, muttering something about candy. "Alright, get your things together, I'm taking you to school this morning." Four sets of beautiful eyes, different shades of blues, greens and hazel, turned towards Castiel in amazement. Castiel took the kids to school. Dean took them home. That was how it was every day. "Dad has something he's got to do. Come on, everyone, get a move on."

They scurried to grab their school bags in the usual morning flurry of "no that's mine!" and "where's my homework!" and "I lost my pencil!" and Dean gave Castiel a gentle look. Castiel was so pleased with how his husband was handling that. Sure, in those first few minutes, Dean had looked homicidal, but he'd calmed down quickly, and they'd been able to talk things through and discuss their options without the conversation devolving into Dean repeatedly asking if he could just deck her. Dean had asked that, but Castiel was mostly sure Dean had been kidding. Afterwards, Dean had held him close in bed, combing fingers through his hair and whispering that everything was okay, and Castiel had rarely felt so loved as in that moment.

It was a wonderful reminder that even his mother could not ruin what the life they had built together.

A few minutes after Dean left, Castiel got his work things together and headed out. He and Dean had traded driving duties so that Castiel would be the one to get the kids – and would get there early – so that he might see Lilith, should she come. The day passed in fits and starts, a painful knot in Castiel's stomach growing tighter and tighter, until the idea of eating seemed nauseating.

His cell phone rang at 3:23, the caller ID naming Rebecca Rosen, and Castiel answered with trembling hands.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Rosen," he said as calmly as he could.

"She's here again," Ms. Rosen whispered frantically. "I've told her she can't come in and she's being really weird about it, trying to get some of the others to agree she should be allowed. I didn't have a chance to fill them in. They're my co-workers, they trust me, but we've had a year to get to know her, everyone liked her. Even Mr. Shurley is wavering and he always takes my side. What should I do, Mr. Winchester?"

"Please, please, keep her away from my children, Ms. Rosen," implored Castiel, tossing things he'd need that evening haphazardly in his briefcase. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay," she said, quavering, and then repeated more confidently, "yeah, okay, I can do that."

When Castiel arrived at the school, it was to find a remarkable confrontation taking place in front of the main entrance. Ms. Rosen, Mr. Shurley flanking her, stood confronting Lilith. Castiel hardly spared a glance for the mother he hadn't seen in twenty years, too angry to want to look carefully at how aged she was, too impressed by Ms. Rosen, her usual cute affect completely supplanted until she resembled nothing so much as a Valkyrie with pale eyes blazing and blonde hair practically bristling, her hands on her hips making her seem large enough to block the large double doors leading inside.

"...I simply wish to see my grandchildren," implored Lilith in a sweet voice that, to Castiel's ear, saccharinely attempted to convey, 'I'm a charming little old lady, what harm could I be?'

"Except that I told you, and Dean told you, that we would never allow that to happen," Castiel cut in sharply. Ms. Rosen gave him a grin and a thumbs-up with a slightly wild look in her eyes; Mr. Shurley heaved a sigh that left his shoulders slumped in relief. Castiel's heart raced as his mother turned around, her blonde hair long ago aged to silver, her face more lined by no less shapely, her eyes still keen and bright. She'd changed a lot, more stooped, more sagging, more wrinkled, yet she'd hardly changed at all.

"Castiel!" Lilith's greeting sounded elated, but her facial expression didn't change one bit, not a trace of actual excitement lit her features, and she made no move to approach him, waiting for him to approach her.

"This morning, Dean spoke with the principal, and you have been barred from school grounds," Castiel grated out.

"So Ms. Rosen told me," Lilith sounded unphased aside from a light air of mock disappointment. "I cannot understand why. I have been such a help, everyone has told me so. You should see the cards all the children made me for Christmas!"

"While perhaps you don't understand why, when the same events were described to Mr. Henriksen, he clearly understood perfectly what kind of person you are," said Castiel. His anger and fear were fading. "This won't work again. This will never work again." There was something so pathetic about it her that it was hard to be intimidated by the specter she cast over his past. She could only get away with a trick like this once, there was only so much damage she could have done a few hours at a time over the past eight months. John was upset, but he clearly didn't blame himself, he didn't like her for the things she'd said. The genuine love and affection of everyone else around him would heal whatever injuries had been done, and Lilith would never have another chance at a ploy like this. Had she truly wished to reconcile, truly wished to be a part of their lives, there were approaches she could have taken to ingratiate herself to them. Instead, she'd chosen an approach that guaranteed that Castiel and Dean would never forgive her. She was incapable of playing it straight, incapable of behaving unselfishly. It was terrible, and alarming, and he worried about his children, but it was also very, very sad.

"If you'd come to me, shown genuine interest in rectifying the past, I would have given you a chance, you know," Castiel continued. "It's been four years, Dean and I have both had more time to accept and reflect and think maybe, maybe a grandmother would be a nice thing in their lives. Congratulations. You've ruined that forever. Every teacher in the school now knows who you are, and every teacher at every other school they attend in the future will be told as well, every dance class, every music instructor, every coach, every single extra-curricular activity they go to until they're adults and can make their own choices, everyone will be shown your picture and warned that you cannot be trusted around our children. Furthermore, we had never told the four of them anything bad about you. They knew they had a grandmother, and it made them sad that she wasn't in their lives, but we'd told them you lived far away, you cared about them but sadly couldn't be a part of their lives. We were saving the truth for later. Now, they will all have to understand why you can't be in their lives, be given a basic understanding of how much you hurt me, how you were starting to hurt John. They'll never look at you the same way. You could have reconciled with all of us, been a part of their lives and ours, could have had something real. Instead, you chose to do this – and in so doing ruined every remaining chance you had."

"I ruined?" she finally sounded angry, her eyes flashing, her face the usual near-expressionless mask. "I'm not the one saying such hurtful things. I'm not the one cutting ties. You're the one ruining any possibility of my being with my grandchildren. You and that...that...husband of yours. Twisted, Castiel, you've always been broken."

Even yesterday, hearing that word from her, said in that tone, would have been enough to upset him, to make him flinch. Before he met Dean, it would have been enough to make him doubt himself, to make him wonder if he was in the wrong, if he was being unreasonable. Now, he just sighed.

"While I appreciate that you truly believe that somehow this is not all your own doing, you're wrong, and I hope I never reach the point that your 'logic' makes sense," said Castiel calmly.

The doors of the school opened and a teacher whose name Castiel didn't know stepped out, followed by two security guards.

"Lilith, you're trespassing on school property," Castiel concluded. "If you don't leave on your own, the security guards behind you are surely here to see you out...?" He looked the question to Ms. Rosen, who nodded decisively.

"This isn't over yet, Castiel," she said threateningly.

"It is," he said. "Mr. Henriksen is gathering evidence from the teachers on your trespass here, and the security guards will write up a detailed report. From now on, every single time you show up where you haven't been invited, we'll add it to our information, and the instant you cross the line, we will bring this to the authorities as a stalking case. I don't want to drag this through the courts, but we will do so. Even if you win...do you think they'll ever want you to be part of their lives, after you've caused us all so much unhappiness and stress? If you claim to care about them at all, please leave, think about what I've said, and don't come back unless one of us contacts you."

"They're my grandchildren," she snapped, tone shrill.

"And I'm your son, and you almost let me starve to death on the streets. Leave, Lilith."

"Mrs. Novak, if you'll come with us please? We'll be filing a police report about this incident."

Before she could come up with a counter, the security guards were bullying her from the grounds. Castiel watched her go sadly.

At the time, they wondered if it was really over. At the time, they feared she'd find some new, sneakier way of accomplishing her selfish ends. At the time, they fretted about it, warned the children, warned the school, warned their teachers, warned other parents, warned adult who was a part of their lives not to allow her near. At the time, they meticulously documented her behavior of the previous year, built a dossier against the eventuality of needing it.

She didn't come back.

Three years later, Castiel received a phone call from an unfamiliar number.

"She's dead," said a long-unheard female voice, his elder sister Anna, whom he'd had no contact with since he'd moved in with Michael. She didn't sound upset, simply resigned.

"What happened?" asked Castiel, nearly as unmoved. All he felt was relieved.

"Heart attack," Anna explained. "Apparently, women's heart attacks feel very different then men's? She was complaining about the symptoms for days but none of us recognized what she meant."

There was a long, strained silence. There seemed to be nothing more to say, but Castiel didn't want to hang up yet. Apparently Anna felt the same, for minutes passed without either of them saying anything, the only sound from the other end of the line her faint breathing.

"Castiel, I'm sorry about...everything," Anna said in a rush, breaking the light tension. "I don't know why I ever thought it mattered that you were gay, I care so little now. I only found out about everything that happened after the fact, or I'd have helped, I promise I would have, and then when I did hear again it was from mother, and she sounded so determined to insinuate herself into your life when I was so sure you wouldn't want it, so I stayed away. I didn't want her to be able to use me to get to you. Maybe that was cowardly of me – I could have stood up to her, I could have gone behind her back, and instead I continued to cut you out of my life – but I'd like to change that now. I got your number from her phone. Cassie – can we start over?"

"Yes, Anna. Where do you want to begin?"

"Tell me about your family!"

"As long as you'll tell me about yours."

"It's a deal!"

And, as I said on Chapter 7 - if you have any questions about what happens to folks or specific ideas for follow up ficlets, do let me know, I'll see what I can do, but unless I get such requests I consider this story finished. :)