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“Dad?” The little voice woke Dean up almost instantly. Claire’s voice always did, whether she was screaming as an infant, sobbing through tears after a nightmare, or perfectly sound as she was now. It woke Cas up too. Dean watched his husband reach over the side of the bed and pull Claire between them by her armpits, not speaking and barely awake. Dean, for his part, shifted up so he was crossed legged and pulled her under his arm.
“What is it, baby?” Dean managed through a yawn. The eight year old leaned into his side and looked up at him very similar to how she did when she wanted to tell either of them a secret.
“You can’t tell Daddy,” she warned before continuing.
Dean stopped her there with a tired laugh. “I have to tell Daddy everything, sweetheart. What is it?” He watched their daughter clamber onto her knees, evicting any semblance of a half-sleep from Dean’s body. She put her hands up to his ear almost comically and he couldn’t help but look over to Cas as if to say, “look at her!”. When she actually whispered though, Dean’s eyes widened with an almost real concern. Pulling Claire into his lap, he shifted his body towards Cas. He leaned down closer to her ears, and speaking in a whisper he said, “Maybe we shouldn’t tell Daddy.”
Cas rolled his eyes. Of course he’d heard anyways. “What is it we aren’t telling me?” he asked with a tired sigh. Anything to humor his ridiculous family.
Dean nudged Claire lightly. “Would you like to tell him, Claire?” She shook her head violently. Cas looked over at the clock on their bedside. It was three AM.
“Claire, please tell me. I promise I won’t be mad.” He was being somewhat honest, mostly because he was too tired to muster up any anger, let alone at his daughter, but she didn’t have to know the specifics.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Daddy, I forgot to tell you, but I’m supposed to bring brownies into class tomorrow.”
Cas kind of wanted to go back on his promise. He took a deep breath and looked over at his husband who just shrugged. He pulled back the covers and slid out of the warmth of their bed to Dean’s sudden and utter shock. If he hadn’t had a child on his legs he would have dragged him back to bed himself, but he settled on asking, “Cas, honey, it’s three in the morning, where are you going?”
Cas turned at the doorway. “I’m going to use the bathroom, then we are going to make brownies,” he said, his voice still tired. Claire gasped in Dean’s arms.
“We are?” Cas nodded. Dean looked down at Claire. “Then I guess I’ll put this one to bed.” He brought an arm under her knees and swept her off the bed. He walked down the hall to her bedroom as the bathroom light flicked on and then darkened as Cas shut the door. With tired arms, Dean set his daughter down on the bed and knelt next to it. “Claire, sweetie, next time, please tell Daddy and I a few days
before
you have to bring brownies?”
She nodded furiously and clutched the blankets closer to her. Dean reached a calm hand over to her arms. “It’s okay, we’re not mad,” he said. At that, she almost lurched forward to hug him as hard as she could between her little arms.
Then, in the softest voice he’d ever heard from their normally very excited daughter, she said, “I’m still sorry, Dad.”
“And I accept your apology, now go to sleep.” Dean slowly rose as she laid down onto the pillow. Pressing a light kiss on Claire’s forehead he started to walk out.
A small voice behind him halted his exit. “Dad?”
“Yes, sweetie?” Dean asked, turning. Claire was sitting up with wide eyes and Dean couldn’t hold back his defeated sigh. She was holding the blankets up to her chin, like she was scared of something. Dean walked over and took her hand. “What’s up?”
Claire didn’t even look up at him. “Will Daddy come say goodnight?” Dean’s heart almost melted. That’s why she was nervous. Well, she had nothing to be nervous about as far as either of her dads were concerned.
“Of course he will,” he paused, finding a way to make sure their kid went to sleep, “if you have your head on the pillow when he comes in.” He watched as she laid down again in a fast flurry of blonde hair and blankets. When it all settled, she was curled under her comforter, hands tucked under her head. With quiet footsteps and a final glance back to make sure she was still horizontal, Dean walked out of the room. He met Cas in the middle of the hallway.
“Hi,” Cas whispered, taking his hands.
Dean just let out a little whine and rested his head on his husband’s shoulder. “Why can’t we just buy brownies tomorrow morning?”
Cas leaned his head onto Dean’s. “Because I’ve never brought anything store bought into that class and I’ll be damned if I will.” He looked into Dean’s eyes as the other man moved his head up.
“You’re a dork, Cas.”
“You love me, Dean,” he reasoned before pressing a kiss to Dean’s temple and pushing past him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to say goodnight to our daughter and then we’re going to make brownies.”
Dean nodded and turned to walk towards the kitchen. He found his slippers on the way and reasoned that he should probably put them on before the linoleum shocked him far more awake than he had any desire to be. Padding into the kitchen, he just leaned up against the counter. He didn’t dare make any move in the kitchen, it was Cas’ space and if he made any noise to wake Claire up? They’d both be screwed.
It took five minutes for Cas to lean on the counter next to him. He held Dean’s bathrobe out to him and Dean took it from him with a smile as bright as he could muster for the early time.
“Now I know why I married you,” he said, bumping Cas’ hip lightly with his own.
“Because I bring you your bathrobe? That’s it?” Cas stared at him, a skeptical smile playing across his lips.
“And cause you’re pretty,” Dean paused, “and because you make brownies for our daughter at three AM,” he decided.
Cas laughed dryly. “Speaking of her, she kept asking if I was mad at her, freaking out a little more than needed.” Cas walked away from Dean and over to the coffee maker.
“Hey, what are you doing, babe? You won’t sleep.” Dean reached a useless hand towards Cas.
Cas shrugged and pushed a button on the machine. “Brownies will take an hour, I get up at six, its three thirty seven and it takes me an hour to fall asleep without melatonin. It doesn’t seem worth it for a half hour of sleep.” He picked up the finished cup, black as the night around the house, and walked back over to his spot next to Dean. “She’s work,” he said after a minute, “she’s a kid, I mean of course she will be, but I love her so much. I don’t want her to think that I don’t…” he trailed off.
“It’s okay,” Dean said, wrapping an arm around Cas’ waist, “she loves us and vice versa. She knows that, Cas. It’ll be okay.” In response to the words, Cas moved to hug Dean around his middle, whispering and pressing little kisses into the crook of his neck.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” Dean pulled away. “Now, let’s make brownies for our daughter.”