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Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.

Chapter 9: Thinking About Liking Castiel

"Don't tell me I hafta tell you to behave too," Bobby told John who was pacing on the porch, waiting for his sons to return home. John huffed and crossed his arms.

"I'm a grown adult, Bobby," John said.

"So are the boys," Bobby pointed out. John glared at Bobby and the man shrugged. "Just calling it like I see it. Don't do that thing you do when they get back, alright?"

"What thing?" John asked.

"Oh, you know what thing," Bobby said pointedly. "Oh, come on John! Sam's told me the horror stories of Dean bringing a girl home or him bringing a friend zone. You go all papa bear on them and then chase whoever's over away."

"I do not!" John defended. "And Dean only bought that girl home for one reason. He didn't know I was back at the motel and Sam certainly wasn't home." Bobby shook his head, thinking what it said about John that he had gotten used to calling motels "home."

"Yeah, and I heard about you pretending to be a butcher the one time Sam brought a friend home," Bobby said.

"Hey, we were leaving that town at the end of the week. Sam didn't need to get attached," John said. Bobby rolled his eyes. The image of John coming out of the kitchen with a butcher knife and an apron covered in blood and wearing an evil smile came all too easily to Bobby's mind. Bobby shook his head in exasperation. Then there was the time he had gone back to the motel where the boys were residing and had a sawed off and Dean was with a girl "watching" a horror movie and the time John has just tossed Sam's friend out the door- literally.

A car horn blaring brought the older men to attention as the Impala drove up to the house, Dean grinning and Castiel looking as he normally did.

"Guess it worked," Bobby said, walking to the car to get the duffle bag Dean had brought out of the car. "How'd it go?"

"Dean got injured," Castiel said.

"What?" Bobby demanded.

"A few stitches. Its fine, Cas sewed me up," Dean said. "Pretty good for a hunt."

"You two seem to be getting along," John commented as Dean walked by him. Dean paused for a second.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Dean grunted and then asked louder. "Where's Sam?"

"Just missed him. He called this morning, said he'll need a little bit longer," Bobby said.

"He alright?" Dean asked.

"You know Sam. If he needs a partner on the case, he'll call for one," Bobby said. "Boy's got a good head on his shoulders." Dean nodded, accepting the information as true before trekking inside. Castiel followed Dean inside like a puppy. Something was back to normal, at least. John sighed, at least Castiel took care of his boy. Perhaps the angel wasn't that bad.

Fairies- the blue fairy, to be exact. Pixies (yes there was a difference). Rumpelstiltskin? At first Sam had thought the fairytale come to life strange but brushed it off as part of the job. After all, he fought demons and werewolves and all kinds of creatures, what was a fairy or a pixy added to the mix? But when Rumpelstiltskin came up to Sam demanding his firstborn son…

"Gabriel!" Sam shouted. "Get down here!" Sam crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the angel, but Gabriel wasn't Castiel and didn't come at his favorite Winchester's beck and call. Well, there was one thing Dean always said that did the trick. Hopefully it would work with Gabriel.

"Gabriel, get your feathery ass down here!"

"Geez, don't have a cow. What do you want?" Sam turned around to find the archangel in a bathrobe and sweatpants.

"Gee, how about my firstborn child Mr. Grimm?" Sam asked sarcastically. Gabriel smirked.

"Yeah, I thought you'd get a kick out of that, bookworm," Gabriel said. "Took you long enough, Sammy-boy. I thought you'd solve it a little sooner than this. What was the giveaway?"

"He asked for my firstborn son. That had 'Gabriel' written all over it," Sam snapped. "What is going on? Why did you make up a case for me to solve?" Gabriel regarded Sam calmly.

"Think about it, Sam. You're smarter than this," Gabriel said. Sam threw his hands up in the air, running one through his hair, trying to fight the exasperation down.

"I have been at this for two weeks. I have been solving a fake case that you created when I could have been working on an actual case- one that would have saved lives!" Sam shouted. To his frustration, Gabriel never lost his calm exterior. "And there was no way you could have just made up the case so that Bobby would give it to me! He wouldn't have agreed! The clues from the newspapers don't even add up completely to your case," Gabriel inhaled and then let out his breath.

"You're right, Sam. There was a case- a different case. I came here and… accidentally took care of it," Gabriel said. Sam scoffed.

"Accidentally. Right," Sam said.

"Look, the guy owed me a favor anyways and if you hunted him, he wouldn't have gotten to pay up. This wasn't just some ploy to keep you safe, even if that's what the end result achieved. Besides, you liked this case. No one died, no one got hurt- except the mother who thought she was giving her firstborn away- she's just an awful mother, I mean, giving your firstborn child away-"

"Gabriel," Sam said.

"And you got to use that noggin of yours," Gabriel said. "You wanted a case. I got rid of it by accident so I gave you another one. What's the harm in that? You wanted a case, I gave you a case. You wanted time on your own, I gave you time on your own. I don't understand, Sam. I gave you what you wanted."

"No, you didn't," Sam said and walked away, leaving Gabriel stunned and frowning.

John sat in the armchair and instead of watching the television, he was mostly concentrating on Castiel and Dean out of the corner of his eye. He had seen Castiel and Dean interacting over the last few days… and had interacted with Castiel himself a few times over the days.

"This sink was broken yesterday…" Castiel frowned.

"Yeah, I fixed it for you," John grunted. "You know, for an angel, you don't know too much of the practical stuff," Castiel raised an eyebrow, looking rather unimpressed.

"For a father, you're not very good at the father stuff." John bristled and Castiel disappeared with a smirk. John let out a huff. At least the angel could hold his own. He'd need it, dealing with a Winchester.

After Bobby had overheard that little ordeal, he had chewed John out and then had told Sam, who also called to chew John out. Apparently, Bobby had broken the sink of purpose to give Castiel something to do while Dean moped as he waited for Sam to come home. Since then, realizing that Castiel meant something to both his sons and friend, John decided to make something of an effort…

"You're turning that screwdriver wrong," John said instead. "Righty tighie, lefty loosie." Castiel looked at his task at hand and began screwing in the screw the opposite way he had been before. When it was finally tightened, he turned to John.

"Thank you," Castiel said.

"Uh huh," John said, walking away.

But anyways, John had a hard time thinking about trying to like Castiel while Dean was leaning back leisurely on the couch, arms spread out against the length of it. Castiel was leaning forward; chin resting on his hands with his brow furrowed. If Castiel leaned backwards, Dean's arm would technically be around the angel's shoulders.

"I do not understand. Why does she love both of them?" Castiel frowned. Dean rolled his eyes and John shut his eyes tightly.

"Why are we watching this crap?" John asked.

"He turned on the television and refuses to change the channel," Dean said. "At least it's not porn again." John frowned and turned to look at Castiel and Dean but the door opened.

"Hey, you're back," Bobby said hurriedly as Sam let the door slam behind him. "How was the hunt?"

"Bogus," Sam said.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked, looking over his shoulder to see his brother obviously not in a good mood. "Something happen?"

"Yeah, Gabriel,"

"What're you talking about?" Dean asked.

"He took care of the hunt Bobby gave me by 'accident'," Sam gestured with his fingers. "So he gave me some fake hunt to make up for it."

"Seriously?" Dean snorted. "He didn't just say 'hey, there's no hunt here. Go somewhere else and find a different one'?"

"You'd think, instead of wasting my time!" Sam growled. "And he used Rumpelstiltskin- like I'm a kid!"

"Rump-a-hood-a-what?" Dean asked.

"Rumpelstiltskin- he takes your firstborn child in exchange for a favor," Sam explained. "Then I had 'Rumpelstiltskin' coming up to me and asking for my firstborn child in exchange for solving the case!" Dean snorted and got up to follow his brother who went to grab a beer out of the fridge.

"Your firstborn child? Like we're gonna have kids…"

"So… are things fixed?" John asked when his sons disappeared into the kitchen.

"Never ask that," Castiel and Bobby toned at the same time.

"They are very awful at pretending," Castiel said. Bobby and John's brows furrowed as they looked at the angel. "Did I say something odd?"

"Don't worry about it, Cas," Bobby sighed.

"So, uh…" Sam said.

"We're cool," Dean said. "Okay?"

"Yeah okay," Sam said. "Dean-"

"Aw, come on, Sam. Don't start with the emotional crap. I'm not your sister," Dean said. "We're cool, okay? Now can we drop it?"

"Yeah, sure okay," Sam said.

"Okay. We're good," Dean said and grabbed one of the beers out of Sam's hands. He paused before he exited the kitchen. "Did you actually give your firstborn kid away?"

"Where's Dean?" John asked, seeing Castiel by himself on the couch.

"He said something about going fishing," Castiel said.

"Dean doesn't fish," John frowned. "He hated fishing when he was a kid. He could never catch anything."

"He fishes in his dreams," Castiel said. John decided some things were better left unanswered.

"You ever been fishing, Castiel?" John asked.

"No," Castiel frowned.

"Wanna learn?" John asked.

"I believe I would like that," Castiel agreed.

"Catch anything?" Bobby asked.

"Nah, fish ain't biting today. Where are Cass and Dad?" Dean asked, a fishing pole in his hand as he came back through the door.

"Fishing, same as you," Sam said. "I thought they were going to the same spot you were at?"

"I didn't see them. Wait- did you say they went fishing?" Dean frowned.

"Yeah, why?" Sam asked.

"Aw, crap," Dean muttered.

"What?"

"Last time Cass went fishing, he wasted forty dollars of weights, the hook caught on his jacket and he fell into the river," Dean said, neglecting to mention that he had also pulled Dean in by accident as well. "Where's Gabriel? The stairs haven't turned into a ramp lately."

"Probably taking care of my firstborn child," Sam huffed.

"Huh. How's that working out for him?" Dean asked.

"I'm hoping the kid turns out like you if Gabriel's raising him," Sam said.

"Her," Dean said.

"What?" Sam asked.

"You ain't spitting out a boy. If you're ever gonna be a father, you're gonna have a bunch of little girls, princess ," Dean said. "Bunch of whiny little girls who talk about makeup and their feelings…"

"Yeah, and you'll love them all and spoil them to death," Sam smirked.

"Aw, shaddup," Dean grunted.

"I don't know what I did wrong," Castiel said, looking dreadfully confused as both he and John sat in the river with the fishing equipment.

"Neither do I," John huffed, lifting himself out of the water. "How did you manage to get us both in the river?"

"That's what Dean said when this happened..." Castiel tilted his head, getting out of the river.

"I can't believe I ever thought about liking an angel," John growled under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"No!"

Meanwhile, Gabriel was up on his cloud, smirking as gorgeous women he wasn't looking at fed him grapes.

"Sorry bro, gotta even the playing field with daddy-in-law somehow," Gabriel smirked.