Chapter Text
Today is a good day, not because there are no hunts and no one’s dying, that’s certainly still happening, and not because everyone he loves is safe and sound here in the bunker because that is definitely not true.
Sure, they’re temporarily safe from Chucks involvement but it’s a good day because today makes 622 days that Dean Winchester has been sober.
It’s not much in the grand scheme of his long and hellish life but, changes needed to be made and he’s taken baby steps to do it. For Sam, Eileen, those lost, those living, but more importantly, for himself.
He finishes his daily reading and logs out of his AA Meeting Guide on his phone and makes a fresh pot of coffee. Usually the meetings drone on with first timers sharing their story but this time the daily reflection focused on making amends.
What would it take to make amends with every person you’ve ever wronged in the throws of your addiction? For Dean it’d take 4-5 lifetimes probably but he knows who’d he’d start with. This is the first time he’s ever had the push to share and maybe one day he might but today’s not that day.
He omits saying the Serenity Prayer because God is not a part of his healing journey, no that prick is responsible for every awful and terrifying encounter Dean’s ever had in his life.
His faith was never in an absent God who created him and his brother to bring about the apocalypse, his faith was is something else, or rather someone else, but they’re gone.
5 years gone and Dean had to contend with the emptiness booze, women and sometimes drugs couldn’t fill. So 957 days ago he made the decision to stop feeling sorry for himself and do something else for once, it’s easy to make a decision like that when your stomach is being pumped by a team of medics and a jammed gun that didn’t go off lay on the bed next to you.
So yeah, the days after hunts hurt a little more and that void is still there but it’s workable, it also helps to have sponsors (unofficially) that have your back and aren’t going to enable you.
Now today’s day 622, now time for some tunes and coffee. He puts on his headphones and puts on Mariah Carey’s My All. A daily listen for him usually at night, but today he couldn’t get the song out of his head this so here’s hoping Mariah leaves until he summons her again tonight.
I am thinking of you
In my sleepless solitude tonight
If it’s wrong to love you
Then my heart just wont let me be right
‘Cause I’ve drowned in you
And I wont pull through
Without you by my side
Flashes of smiling blue eyes fill his mind and the warmth of strong, wide palms ghost across his chest.
I’d give my all to have
Just one more night with you
I’d risk my life to feel
Your body next to mine
‘Cause I can’t go on
Living in the memory of our song
Dean’s shoulder aches, a phantom pain he hasn’t seemed to shake.
I’d give my all for your love tonight
Baby can’t you feel me?
An abrupt banging on the bunker door takes him out of his thoughts. It’s not everyday a knock comes to the bunker door, usually whenever that’s happened it’s expected, this however is not, so he grabs a gun from under the sink and heads up the stairs.
Dean answers to see a young girl no older than 16 or 17 standing there. She’s Eileen’s height if not a little taller, long light brown wavy hair and blue eyes. Eyes that match the same color and intensity as…
“Does Sam Winchester live here, my dad, he’s been off on a hunting trip and I haven’t heard from him in a few days. He said I should reach out to him if this ever happened” a voice from far behind her calls, Dean can’t make it out because something about this girl is… familiar.
No, can’t be I don’t know any kids around here except the ones he runs into in town on occasion.
Before Dean can muster an answer, Sam comes to the door behind him “Dean who is it?”
“Dean? You’re Dean?” She asks as she takes a step back face in…disgust?
A familiar face he hasn’t seen in far too long comes into view behind her. It’s Jack.
“Peach, Peach I told you to wait for me in the car that I would knock. You never know if…” he’s cut off.
“Jack? Jack?!” Sam pushes past Dean and grabs Jack in for a hug.
Dean is still stunned. How is he alive? He was in the empty last he heard but five years is a long time so who knows.
The girl who Jack referred to as “Peach” clears her throat and repeats herself, desperation in her tone.
He’s said similar words when he went looking for Sammy in college all those years ago, hell the Banes’ did too when their mom went missing. Whoever her dad is he must be a hunter Jack knows and they might be in some deep trouble to come looking for the Winchesters.
“Who are you looking for?” Dean asks.
At the same time they answer, “Castiel” Jack says. Peach replies “my father”
Jack gives Dean a pained look and Sam grabs them both and ushers them in, safe inside the warding of the bunker.
Deans stuck at the top of the stairs. What?? Cas has a kid? Cas is MIA for 5 yrs because he knocked somebody up and left us to deal with the ramifications after he goes on a hunt?? Typical. Something acidic burns in his chest that he won’t put a name to, he straightens himself up and makes his way down to the war room with the others. Making his way to the group, the girl, Peach is it? Catches his eyes, Jesus she does look like Cas especially those eyes. His heart seizes. It’s been a long time, no need to live in old memories, he thinks bitterly. Peach breaks the stare and steels herself, like the angelic soldier her dad is…was.
Before they can dive into the missing case, Sam has questions and this pisses off Peach, whoa quite a temper on her, although he remembers how testy Cas was, this, this is something different. Something familiar the way she paces and picks at her lower lip. Deans missed whatever inquisition has happened because she’s just walked off into the kitchen? The hell?
Sam follows Peach into the kitchen, quietly observing her as she rummages through the fridge getting all the fixings for what looks like a sandwich?
“So…you eat? Like Jack? You’re half human I’m guessing…Where’s your other parent? Mother. Did she pass during the birth like Kelly?? Jacks mom. Is that why you’re presenting as this older version, you grew up upon birth?” Inside Sam is having a bit of trouble not to freak the kid out but he’s gotta know. She's a nephilim, also Cas' kid? He'd never be so careless about siring a nephilim.
She chuckles at his long winded questions and smirks. That smirk is…familiar.
“Yes, I eat, I need food to sustain me more than my grace does, but no” she says, “I don’t have a mother. Castiel carried and birthed me. Angelic pregnancies can vary on length so he carried me for about a year. But I’m only 4, I didn’t have to grow up into this until about 6 months ago. You know of Chuck right? Well he’s been sending monsters after us for the better part of a year so Jack helped me channel my powers to grow up and protect myself better. Papa wasn’t too happy about it when he found out”
Sam is shocked silent by this revelation. She’s 4 and Cas was pregnant for a year? That means he was already with child when he left us? But Cas wasn’t one to go on sleeping around with just anybody. And angel pregnancies where the male is carrying don’t just randomly happen. So that means…
Sam then really looks at Peach, her demeanor, her features. He carefully observes her as she eats and talks, biting out sarcastic quips with her sharp smirk of canines Sam's head spins because it's like looking into the past…, like a past Dean? With the focus of Cas along with his big blue eyes and pout. Holy shit. Could it be?
“Peach isn’t your name is it?” Sam asks slowly
Mouth full, she stops with Cas’ deer in headlights look.
“No, it’s a nickname Claire gave me. My name…my name is Georgia. Georgia Dean Winchester.”
Fuck, Sam thinks.
He takes a step closer. “Well Georgia, welcome home, I’m your Uncle, Sam.” Then he hugs her. “Now let’s work on getting your dad back.”
Meanwhile in the war room, Dean turns his focus to Jack because oh boy are there things to make up for there and he’s had a long time to think about what’d he say if he ever got the chance, so he’s going to before he runs out of courage. Which is happening with each passing second.
“Jack” he says gently. Dean cringes when he sees him flinch. He stoops down to get to his level.
“Jack I’m so sorry. Everything I ever said or did to hurt you, I’m so sorry kid. I was so angry and messed up. I didn’t know how to stop it and after Mary I was so wracked with grief and I made myself hate you.”
Jack turns to face him, tears in his eyes. “Please forgive me for Mary. She was a mother to me and I took her from you. You have to know it was an accident. I’m so sorry to you and Sam. Please.”
Dean lunges for a hug and holds Jack close. “I forgive you Jack. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better father for you and made you feel like you couldn’t come back. You don’t have to forgive me, I was the adult and I should’ve protected you.”
Jack wipes his eyes, and nods his head. “I know it’s complicated now even more so but I’d like to be family again if you want me around, I don’t have my powers anymore but I can still be useful.”
Dean wants to protest and say that he always was but that’s not true especially where Dean was involved. “Of course kid, we can take this at your pace. You’re our kid, you never had to be useful to belong here with us.”
There goes that pained face again as Jack looks up at Dean. “Dean there’s something you should know…”
He’s interrupted however by Peach storming through the war room with a bag of guns and a stack of books she’s trying to stuff into a duffle while arguing with Sam.
“Peach let’s take a minute to cool down and think about this, we need a solid plan.” Sam comes in jogging behind her.
“Cool down? How can I cool down while my papa is missing. He could be being tortured again or dead or almost dead and I’m here stuck waiting on you. He said I could trust you but now, I’m not so sure about that.” She hisses
“Hey now” Dean interrupts “What the hell do you think you’re going with all that?” Her eyes glow and Dean instinctively makes a move to reach to the gun in his belt.
“What? You gonna pull a gun on me like you do to all your kids?” She bites out “Trust me, I want less to do with you than you want with me.”
Dean is shocked into silence because what the fuck does that mean?
Without his own permission he shouts “What the fuck does that mean? What the hell does this have to do with Cas and where is your mother she’s gotta be somewhere worried sick her kid just flew the coop.”
“Mother? I don’t…” Peach replies
“Dean, there is no…” Sam tries to get out.
Peach takes a deep breath and sighs,losing steam, “There is no mother because Castiel, my papa was the one whole carried me for a year and birthed me. Angelic pregnancy and all. My other biological parent…well that’s you.”
“Wh..what? No that can’t… I didn’t…I’m not. I’m not like that. I…” he stammers out.
Sam gives him bitchface #4 that says he knows he’s bullshitting him.
A whirlwind of emotions hit Dean all at once. Cas. A daughter. He left. He hid this. From him? Rage bubbles under all that and in true Dean Winchester fashion it’s the rage that’s the first to show.
“Son of a bitch!! How could?! And you?! You’re a nephilim?! What the actual fuck!” Raging at Cas’ betrayal, that “fucking bastard!” He shouts and throws the chair that happens to be right in front of Peach.
She doesn’t startle, she rolls her eyes and flies herself to sit on top of the map table crisscross applesauce to finish her sandwich.
Just as Deans about to continue exploding in rage, Gabriel pops in behind him, angel blade to his neck.
“Lay a finger on her or threaten her further and I swear I’ll dissolve you into dust you were created from while you're still conscious to feel it. Cassie may have a soft spot to take your abuse but I however am not swayed by your charms.”
Dean feels ice in his spine from Gabriel's words, he turns to face him, eyes briefly flaring gold from his grace.
“I…I wasn’t going to hurt her. I’m just…so…confused.” An ache in his chest and shoulder throbs further.
However, in his head he is not that confused because he does remember making love with Cas that night before he left 5 years ago, there’s no other way to describe what happened.
They were taking turns inside each other all night for hours some of it sorrowful for what they’d lost, rough for the pain they constantly put each other thru but most importantly loving, for the built up feelings they know they both carried, Dean had never felt such a passionate connection like that before.
He even had the most insane thought that if either of them were women this would be time a baby would be made because of how much love was building between them in those blissful hours and how beautiful would that be? A physical manifestation of their love and devotion. Dean’s never had a breeding kink before nor did he after but that night, if he was a lady he would’ve flushed his birth control.
But the bliss didn’t last, if it wasn't because of the echoes of Chucks taunts in his head and the booming voice of John Winchester yelling at him to put down the monster not lay with him, Cas would be here with him not missing for 5 years raising their kids alone.
Oh god he was alone? He went thru a years worth of pregnancy all alone? While possibly being hunted. What the fuck did I do? And their daughter. Their daughter.
He looks at her now, she's clearly Cas in her stoic demeanor and focus when she's reigned in, those eyes are Cas' too along with her head tilt but those freckles, that canine smile, the hair that matches mine perfectly.
Oh god, she's perfect, she's beautiful and she absolutely despises me. He wants to cry. He wants to hug her close and tuck her in safe with Jack and Claire.
He's feeling so much, he’s dizzy. He's gonna pass out. Which he does.
The last thing he sees is her squinting at him confused oh god Cas, that's our baby.
While Dean is recovering in the infirmary, Gabriel fills Sam in that Cas had been taken and they have no idea how to find him.
“He doesn’t normally take hunts, Cassie’s been a devoted father and has been working on raising Peach here and give her as normal a childhood as possible, considering she’s an angel. But monsters and aberrations have been getting closer to home so he went off to do some recon. He checks in daily but this time he hasn’t. It’s been 8 days.” He says solemnly. “Chucks been on our tail for the last few years but seems like he’s been getting closer. We had to take Peach out of school a few months ago because of an attack close to her school, victims with the message “The end is here” carved into their chests. Naomi has even gotten messages from other world’s distress signals of their destruction.”
“Wait, Naomi? She knows about Peach?” Sam asks nervously
“Listen Sammy it’s not much of a secret Cassie’s always favored the eldest Winchester, but hiding an angelic pregnancy is nearly impossible. Also, Peach’s angelic signature is pretty unique considering she’s part Seraph and has part soul of the Righteous Man. She’s like a homing beacon for the heavens. The funny thing is, Chuck can’t touch her. He’s tried and it’s like his powers go limp.”
Sam’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline. “How is that possible? Even he was able to affect Jack when he had his powers.”
Gabriel grimaces then steels his face “Well Sammy when something called a profound bond is formed and umm…consummated it creates the link between…soulmates. That right there is more powerful than Chucks power, he can’t touch it.”
“Wait..soulmates, did a Cupid hit them?” Sam asks
“No, this precedes anything cupids were ever capable of, they’re just extremely rare. This kind of bond isn’t created by a god or heaven, it’s forged much more powerfully by the power of two souls. You know from experience how much power they hold. It’s just these two jackasses got themselves intertwined over the years and when they consummated what was over 10 years of longing they made the intention to create and that’s how we got my sweet pea over here.” Gabriel says thumb pointing to Peach
Peach looks far off, in her own head just like Dean, when he’s inundated with too much info at the same time.
“Why’d you come now? If you’ve been dealing with this for a while?”
Peach speaks up “Papa always told us what to do in case of an emergency. We had a plan, a safe house and a safe word and a list of trusted hunters to reach out to in the event of anything catastrophic. In the event he went missing I was supposed to reach auntie Jodie and let her know we’re on our way here. Your name was the address we had to go to. He said Sam would know how to protect us.”
“Me? You mean me and Dean?”
Peach looks at him. “No, he didn’t know how Dean would ever react and considering the history with Jack he trusted you’d keep my best interest in mind or at least keep me warded until Auntie Jody picked me up.”
From the doorway, Dean quietly asks, “Auntie Jody? You mean Sheriff Jody Mills, she knew? About you?” Dean feels sick, his heart throbs again.
Peach doesn’t acknowledge him. She keeps her focus on Sam.
“Auntie Jody has been around my whole life.” A phone rings, “speaking of she’s calling me now. I have to take this.” And flies away. Leaving them with the familiar thwip, thwip sound of wings in her absence.
The silence in the room is deafening.
“Dean…” Sam says
Dean puts his hand up. “Just don’t. Not now.” He takes out his phone and sends a message to Cesar Cuevas.
DW: I need an ear today. When you’re free. Today’s a bad one.
CC: Got it brother. I’m free in an hour. Do you need Jesse too?
DW: Not yet but I don’t mind you telling him after.
CC: Done.
“I’m sorry Dean, Castiel made me promise.” Jack says with pleading eyes
“I ain’t mad at ya kid. It’s an impossible situation. I’ve done worse for my own father.” He grimaces
“Let’s just work on getting Cas home then we hash out the rest.” Dean says sadly and grabs a seat.