This is an alternate ending. What happens differently in this chapter is that Maya doesn't go back to Nathaniel after he cheats on her because she doesn't decide to lie to everyone and say that it's Nathaniel's baby. I made this when I saw how many people were Team Cas, and I secretly shipped Maya and Castiel throughout half the story, so here ya go.

Maya checked the time every so often as she sat at the dinner table alone, twirling her fork in her hand. The seat across from her had a plate set but the chair was empty. She sighed, leaning back.

"Castiel," she muttered, "You're late again." The sound of a baby crying in the other room brought Maya to her feet. She fiddled with the ring on her finger as she approached the bedroom, turning a light on. Ciara was kicking in her one-piece pajamas, crying. Maya gathered the child into her arms, rocking her slowly and hushing her. "Shh," she murmured, "Get back to sleep, Cici." Ciara continued crying, but didn't fidget in her mother's arms. "Do you need a new diaper?" she sighed, "Or some milk?" Figuring she needed milk, Maya returned Ciara to her crib, returning to the kitchen. She heated up some formula and tested it on her wrist before approaching Ciara's room again, cradling her with one arm and feeding her with the other. Ciara's crying stopped as she nibbled on the rubber tip of the bottle before drinking from it. Maya sighed with relief as she continued to feed her. This crying every half hour was frustrating, especially at night. The front door opened and she listened to his footsteps approaching before he peered inside.

"Is she sleeping?" Castiel asked.

Maya shook her head. "You're late," she said.

"Sorry," he said quietly, approaching her. He touched her chin with his fingertips and leaned forward, kissing her tenderly.

"What's your excuse this time?" Maya said, sighing.

"This," he said, pulling an envelope out from behind him.

"What is that?" she asked, setting a now sleeping Ciara in her crib. Grinning, he handed her the envelope and she opened it with her fingernail. She reached her hand in to pull out three airplane tickets. "Oh my, gosh," she breathed, "We're going to Tokyo?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling, "I wanted to take you somewhere cool to vacation to for a while. See? I wasn't lying when I said I was working overtime."

Maya bounced on her toes before throwing her arms around Castiel's neck, kissing him passionately. She felt safe with his arms around her waist, especially when they were so firm. The kiss easily turned playful before Maya pulled away, smiling at him contentedly.

"I knew I made the right choice," she said happily. He kissed the tip of her nose.

"I love you more than mister president ever will or ever did," he said proudly, "You're my girl and no one else's."

Grinning, she kissed him once more before taking his hand and leading him to the dining room again. He sat at the table across from her.

"Smells good," he said.

"Thanks, but it's cold," Maya admitted, "I thought you'd be home earlier."

He shrugged as he took a bite. "It's still good," he said.

"How was work?" she asked.

He shrugged again. "Same as usual," he said, "Just a lot of work."

"If you're tired, after you take a shower we could just go to bed," she suggested.

He shook his head. "Hell no, I'm not missing movie night," he said.

She smiled. "What movie are we watching?"

"Anything you want," he said.

"You always say that," she said, "What about you? What do you want to watch?"

"I want to watch what you want to watch," he said smirking.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "No, really, what do you want to watch? At least tell me what genre you want."

"Anything but a chick flick," he said, shrugging, "I usually like the movies you pick anyways."

"Okay, fine," she said, "We can look through the list they have."

The rest of the meal was silent before they put the dishes in the sink. While Castiel bathed, she cleaned and filed away the dishes before plopping down on the couch, flipping through the channels, waiting for Castiel.

Maya's eyes fluttered open as she felt Castiel pulling the blanket up to her shoulders. She gazed at him curiously but he wasn't looking at her; his eyes were on the door.

"Aw, you guys were doing dirty things last night."

Maya held the blanket up to cover her chest as she sat up to see Celeste in the doorway, looking as gorgeous as she always did.

"Celeste!" she said, grinning.

Celeste's smile seemed to light up the whole room. "Next time," she said, "try locking the front door. By the way, Cici was crying when I first came in. I calmed her down though."

"Thank you," Maya said gratefully, "So what are you doing in town? Is Lysander with you?"

She nodded. "He was tired so he stayed back in our hotel," she said, "But we came to visit. Lysander was feeling homesick."

"Oh, I see," Maya said, "I'm glad you're here. The last time I saw you, we were at the wedding."

"Yup," Celeste said, "One of the best days of my life. Want to know why?" Maya nodded. "Of course it's because that's the day you officially weren't going back to Nathaniel."

"Whoa," Castiel said, "We don't say that word in our house; the 'N' word."

Celeste laughed. "Anyways," she said, "You guys made an adorable baby."

"Thank you," Maya said proudly, "I know."

"Hey," Celeste said, "Since you're both naked under that blanket, how about you let me go get my sketch pad?"

Maya laughed. "Oh, gosh," she said, "I missed you. How long are you staying?"

She shrugged. "Not sure," she said, "We'll leave whenever Lysander is willing to let go of his dear brother." She grinned. "It's almost cute," she said.

Maya smiled. "Okay, I want to get dressed," she said, "Wait in the living room." Celeste pouted but closed the door. Maya slipped out from under the covers, approaching the closet.

"Where are you two gonna go?" Castiel asked, still lying in bed.

Shrugging, Maya pulled out a t-shirt and jeans from her closet. "Wherever we go, I need to go grocery shopping first," she said, "We have like nothing to eat right now." She glanced back at him. "Do you want to come?"

He shook his head. "You two have fun," he said. She smiled, robing herself before combing her hair. She climbed on to the bed on top of Castiel, smiling warmly at him before kissing him tenderly.

"I love you," she said softly. He took her face in his hands and kissed her nose.

"I love you too," he said. She smiled again before climbing off of him and getting to her feet. She took her keys from the nightstand and approached the door, waving goodbye to Castiel.

"Take care of Ciara," she said before approaching Celeste, "Alright, let's go grocery shopping."

Celeste smiled. "Not the most exciting thing to do hanging out but okay," she said.

The two girls left the home and went out to Maya's car before driving towards a nearby grocery store. She filled her cart with things that she deemed necessary, browsing while Celeste admired the generic art supplies. She pulled back her cart to move it when she ran into someone.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning. When she found herself gazing at Nathaniel, she fought the urge to take back her apology; she was an adult now and being mature was important.

"No, I'm sorry," he said, "Gosh you've gotten pretty." Narrowing her eyes, Maya turned.

"Really?" she said, "My husband always thought I was pretty."

"Husband?" he questioned just as she began pushing the cart, "You're married?"

"Of course," she said, "You didn't think Castiel and I could stay friends forever while living under the same roof with our child, did you?"

"Castiel?" he said, a look of pure disgust on his face, "Out of all the people you could marry, you chose him?"

"Yeah," she said sharply as she turned to face him, her hands on her hips, "He never cheated on me, he's an amazing provider, he comes home every night and he keeps his promises. He's every girl's dream guy and he's all mine. You, on the other hand…" She only rolled her eyes before turning back to her cart and pushing it, leaving him dumbfounded. She found Celeste and bought everything before returning to the car. "Guess who I ran into while we were in there," she said.

"Nathaniel?" Celeste said, "I saw him and I waved but he just pretended he didn't know me."

"He was hitting on me," Maya chuckled, "I totally turned him down. He was trying to say that Castiel isn't a good husband." Starting the car, she grimaced. "I'm already a spoiled wife," she said, "I mean you can even see it by looking at the ring; one-hundred percent pure silver and it's a huge diamond. He treats me well too, plus he looks good and he's amazing in bed. He's the whole package."

"Nathaniel is just jealous," Celeste said, "He's cute and all but he doesn't know how to keep a girlfriend."

"I know," Maya said, rolling her eyes, "Anyways, let's get these groceries home and then we can take Cici and go out somewhere. Castiel has to leave for work soon."

"Alright," she said. They drove back to Maya's home and put the groceries away.

"Man, I'm hungry," Maya said, "Did you eat yet?"

"Of course," Celeste said, "I'm a morning person so I was up for hours before I came here."

"Wow," Maya chuckled, "How does Lysander deal with that?"

She shrugged. "He doesn't complain," she said, "I don't bother him and he knows I just like to watch the sunrise. Plus I'm with him all the time, so it's good to have some alone time for myself. Lysander does it too, except at night."

"Wow, you two like the opposite time of day," Maya said.

"I know," Celeste said, "It's a little weird, but it works in our favor. I don't want him to feel suffocated by me and I don't want to feel suffocated either, so it works."

"I'm glad then," Maya said, "I need to put together a breakfast, though, for me and Castiel."

"Okay," she said, "Then that leaves me some alone time with Cici."

As Celeste disappeared into Ciara's room, Maya quickly threw together a breakfast and set the table for two again. She approached her bedroom to find that Castiel was fast asleep again. Giggling, she shook him awake and led him to the breakfast table.

"How was grocery shopping?" Castiel asked although he seemed a bit bored with the topic as he gingerly spooned some food into his mouth.

"I saw Nathaniel," she said. His sudden change in expression brought a smile to her face.

"Did you talk to him?" he asked protectively.

"We ran into each other, so he started talking to me," she said, the smile still visible on her face, "He started hitting on me so I told him we were married."

"Did you hit him?" he said, "If not, then I'll find him and I will."

"No," she said, laughing, "He flipped out about it though so I went off on him and left."

"You should've hit him," he said, "As far as I know, girls don't really like when you cheat on them so he's in no place to be flipping out. What was he saying?"

"He made you out as a bad husband, even though he has no idea," she said, shrugging, "It doesn't matter though; I know that you're an amazing husband."

He smiled, but said no more. After breakfast, Castiel left for work, leaving Maya and Celeste with Ciara. Celeste cradled Ciara in her arms adoringly as she sat on the couch in the living room.

"She's just too cute," Celeste gushed, "I can't wait until Lysander and I have babies! I'm nowhere near ready yet, but I definitely want one or two in the future."

Maya chuckled, plopping down on the couch beside her. "I bet you guys would have a cute baby," she said, "I just can't imagine you two settling down though; you're always traveling."

"I know," she said, "But I want to find a place near here when I settle down. I want to be near you and Ciara and of course Lysander will want to be near his brother."

"That's true," Maya said, "We could give each other parenting advice."

Celeste grinned, gazing down at Ciara. "She's going to grow up to be hot, you can just tell by looking at her," she said, giggling.

Maya smiled. "Yeah," she said, "I'm kind of scared for her to grow up. I mean I love her, so I kind of just want her to be my baby girl forever."

"Aw, Maya," Celeste said, "That's cute. But you gotta let them go eventually. Every bird has it's wings; what use are they if they never get to use them?"

Maya shrugged. "I don't know," she sighed, "I just know that when she's going off to college eighteen years from now, I'll be crying pretty hard."

"Just make sure you raise her right," Celeste said, "Otherwise she won't want to come see you when she moves out. Take you and your parents for an example."

Maya grimaced. "I would never on my life treat my child the way my parents treated me," she said.

"Good," Celeste said, "Or else I'd have to kidnap her."

Maya chuckled. "If one day Castiel and I go insane and decide to treat her like that, please do kidnap her," she said.

•••

Castiel wiped the oil off of his hands, sighing as he stuffed the rag in his pocket. He wasn't dressed like the other guys because as the owner, he didn't exactly have to work. He chose to, however, but only under-the-hood work. He owned a mechanics shop. The previous owner trusted him and gave the shop to him when he passed. It was a lucky score, considering he was still in his early twenties. The guys respected him too, although most of them were older than him. The shop made a lot of money, so he was able to provide a good amount of money for his family. He ran his fingers through his black hair so that it didn't hang over his eyes as he approached an oncoming car. He gave the driver a smile which quickly fell into a scowl upon realizing who it was. Nathaniel stepped out of his car, sighing.

"Just my luck," he muttered.

"Hey," Castiel said, putting his hands up, "a guy's gotta make some money somehow, right? At least I'm not hitting on your wife."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered, "I need an oil change and a tune-up. Could you check my tires, too?"

"Alright," Castiel said, popping open the hood of the car.

"Are you and Maya really married?" Nathaniel asked slowly.

"No, we're pretending," Castiel said sarcastically, "I gave her a pretend ring and our wedding was pretend too. Our baby isn't real either, I got her at a toy store."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "I don't see how she puts up with you," he sighed.

"I don't see how not," Castiel said, "I make good money, she has everything she could want, I come home on time…" he turned his head a bit to eye Nathaniel as he said, "and I don't cheat."

"So I messed up once," Nathaniel muttered, "I don't see how that's a big deal."

"Sleeping with another girl for four months isn't just 'messing up'," Castiel said, "It's ruining the whole relationship." He turned, snatching the keys from Nathaniel and climbing into the driver's seat. "If there's no trust in a relationship, it's not stable," he said as he started the engine and drove the car to a work space. Nathaniel followed him along as Castiel climbed out and raised the car. "Another thing," Castiel said turning towards Nathaniel and crossing his arms, "Next time you get a girlfriend, make sure you don't let her fall for another guy."