Chapter Text
Chapter One
The quiet, idle chatter started to gradually build as the room started to fill with excited would-be parents. The room wasn’t overly-large with only enough seats to sit forty. A man and a woman stood on either side of the door and greeted everyone with huge smiles and positive words while a table at the back of the room encouraged the guests to help themselves to refreshments. Situated at the front of the room was a projector, showing the first slide of a well put-together (and well used) presentation. The background of the slide was a soft yellow with cartoon pacifiers, rubber ducks and rattles outlined in a slightly darker yellow. There wasn’t a picture on this very first slide, but the title proudly read;
‘Welcome to Adoption 1-0-1!’
Castiel was excited to be here. Himself and his husband, Dean, had been waiting for months to finally be enrolled on the courses necessary for adoption. It was a long, lengthy and very invasive procedure to even get here, but they had finally done it. They were now one step closer to bringing their baby home.
But Dean was nowhere to be seen.
Castiel frowned and glanced down at his phone for the third time in two minutes. He grumpily tapped out another text message, demanding to know where his husband was and why he would dare not to turn up to such an important event for the both of them.
Not even two seconds later did Castiel’s phone ding with an incoming text. It wasn’t from his husband, but from his best friend, Meg.
‘Sorry Clarence. D is on his way,’ The text explained. ‘We had a bit of an incident here. Nothing to worry about. D will tell you everything. xx.’
Immediately, Castiel felt his worry spike. Saying there was nothing to worry about usually meant there was something to worry about. Castiel typed out a reply in record speed.
‘Don’t tell me there’s nothing to worry about. Meg, what’s happened?’
As Castiel anxiously waited for a reply, he nibbled at the skin on the edge of his fingernails. It was an annoying habit he had never quite been able to break out of. When his phone chimed again with another text, he jumped.
‘Chill Papa Bear. Baby W is safe. D will fill you in when he gets to you. xx.’
None of this calmed Castiel in the slightest. He nibbled away vigorously at his fingers, cursing when his teeth caught a hangnail and peeled it back too far. He hissed in discomfort and shook his hand to try and lessen the stinging before tucking his hand under his arm and sulking.
He watched the door now, where a few more people were trickling in, the sudden flow seeming to have died away. Castiel glanced at his phone to check the time, noting how the talk was going to start in less than five minutes.
With most people already having arrived, the man, who had stood at the door, started to mingle with the guests, creating small talk with a contagious smile on his face. The woman stayed stood at the entrance, ready to greet the last few stragglers.
And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Dean Winchester came barrelling into the room. His eyes seemed to home in on Castiel and the man made a beeline for his husband, barely stopping long enough to grunt out a rather rude, ‘hi’ to the woman who welcomed him.
“What happened?!” Castiel demanded to know when Dean was close enough to hear him. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine Cas,” Dean sighed, his shoulders sagging in relief. “He got in a bit of an accident and had to go to the ER.”
“What?!” Cas hissed in horror. His heart clenched as he thought about his poor baby possibly bleeding to death right now, alone, confused and in so much pain. “Dean; what the fuck happened?”
Dean cringed at the swear, knowing that his partner wasn’t one to use such language often.
“It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds. He was on his way back from work when he fell off his bike.”
Castiel could picture the scene. He had the man’s route to and from his place of work memorized, knowing how dangerous such a route was in a car, let alone on a push bike. The image in his head showed the babe catching his bike wheel on a rock or a pothole, sending him flying over the handlebars and into oncoming traffic.
“Dean…”
“He got lucky Cas. Just a broken wrist and a few bruises.”
Castiel put his hand to his chest in utter relief. It still wasn’t great, but it was better than imagining the boy on life support machines fighting to keep breathing, or worse.
“I pulled over, and rushed to his side…”
Dean went to carry on, but Castiel butted in, too concerned with the first information.
“You spoke to him?”
“Yes,” Dean smiled innocently. “No one else was stopping, so I played innocent bystander who was there to help. I phoned 911 and, yes, I sorted out his medical bills. Nothing but the best for our boy.”
Castiel closed his eyes and sighed at this knowledge. The man in question didn’t have medical insurance simply because he just couldn’t afford it, so there was no way he could pay what would be some crippling medical bills.
“Look,” Dean fumbled into his pocket to pull out his cell, acutely aware of the door’s closing, the man and woman setting up and the room slowly falling silent as they prepared to eagerly listen to every word of the talk. Dean pulled up a hastily snapped photo and showed it to his husband.
Castiel gripped the phone in his hand. Even though the photo was slightly blurry, he could clearly make out the boy, his right arm in a cast, his eyes closed. Castiel’s heart sobbed, wishing he could be the one to look after his boy, provide him the love and comfort that he so desperately needed.
“He’s fine babe,” Dean reassured Castiel again, putting a hand on his shoulder and guiding them both to sit down now, as they were so very nearly ready to start the talk. “Meg is watching his every move and if anything changes, she’ll contact us immediately.”
Castiel nodded, wrapping his fingers around Dean’s hand. He didn’t return his husbands phone, looking down at the picture again. He pulled up Dean’s text messages and typed out a rushed text to Meg.
‘Meg, it Cas. You text me every hour with an update. Even if nothing has changed, please tell me.’
Meg responded almost immediately, promising to do just that. When he was satisfied, Cas pulled the photo back up, clutching the phone in his hand as if it could make him feel closer to the boy.
And then, the course was starting.
“Good evening,” The woman began kindly. “I know you are all very excited to be here, and we are equally excited to have you here. It’s always great to see such friendly faces ready to take on such a wonderful journey. My name’s Becky…”
“And I’m Ed,” The guy introduced himself. “We’ll be the social workers guiding you through these training courses. Welcome to Heaven.”
A happy ripple went through the seated guests. It was starting to become real for them all now after such a long and tedious time enrolling. However, they weren’t done yet.
Castiel smiled down at the picture of the boy in the hospital bed for a moment before looking up excitedly at his husband.
“For those of you that may not be aware, Heaven is the name of our lovely little community. The reason the town is called Heaven, you may ask?” Becky’s voice was slightly high-pitched as if she was talking to a littlun. None of the guests seemed to mind, too interested in getting started. “Well, our founder, Chuck Novak, decided that the little community he built from the ground up was just that; a little slice of Heaven.”
The presentation behind Becky and Ed clicked to another slide, showing a large picture of an older man, a quote about the community beside him.
“This is so cheesy,” Dean hushed into Castiel’s ear, making the other man chuckle slightly as he nodded in agreement. Again the slides changed, this time to show a birds eye view of the community.
“Many of our parents choose to move into our lovely community once they have adopted their little bundle of joy, if they are not already living here. And while we strongly advise that you do live here, it isn’t mandatory. Here in Heaven, we are one, we are safe. The laws here are, obviously, slightly different to how things are run out there.”
Both Becky and Ed spoke with such enthusiasm in their voices, flicking through the slides of the presentation as they explained the basics that everyone sat listening probably already knew. They spoke more about their community and about the things the community could offer them. They described the different babies and children that were up for adoption, stressing that each one came willingly, even if they did sometimes have to be heavily persuaded. Those that went up for adoption were people who had previously been homeless or some small-time criminal who had accepted this life as alternative sentencing, and then there were even those that just simply volunteered themselves.
Because the thing about the babies and children in their community was the fact that they weren’t actually children. They were Little’s. Adults who consented to being a Little regressed to a simpler time of life when they didn’t have to worry about anything but which toy to play with or what show to watch on TV. And in letting themselves revert to such a state helped those that wanted to care for such a person and live such a lifestyle. Those that wanted to care for the Little’s were called Caregivers.
Becky and Ed took the time to further explain what would happen from this point forward, from the moment they stepped out of the room to the moment that they took their adopted little home for the first time. As the first, orientation meeting came to a close, the caregivers were reminded of when their next course, their first official training course, was and what it was going to cover (basic first aid). As they were dismissed, the guests were invited to stick around and ask any questions they might have and to help themselves to the refreshments that might be left.
Castiel looked down at Dean’s phone, hovering his finger just over the top of the picture still before switching over to the messages. It had only been an hour, and Meg had dutifully text.
‘The Dr’s been in to see him, Clarence. Baby W is fed and asleep. Dr says he can go home tomorrow. xx.’
Castiel typed back a quick, appreciated message with a smiley emoji before glancing over at Dean. The man was looking over his shoulder, and when he realized his husband was looking at him, he smiled.
“See, I told you,” Dean reminded. “He’s just fine.”
“I know, I know,” Castiel smiled with a soft smile. “You know how badly I worry about him. I just can’t wait to get him home, where he belongs.”
“Alright Papa Bear,” Dean chuckled, his arm lazily slung over the back of Castiel’s chair, fingers tickling the back of his neck. “Shall we go and ask our question.”
Castiel perked up a bit now, jumping from his chair. Dean loved the man’s enthusiasm and followed just as eagerly. The two men latched hands and mumbled greetings to those that recognized them, excusing themselves politely from stopping to chat for too long.
They had to wait for Becky to finish reassuring a young woman that she could still go ahead with adoption as a single mother despite having recently split with her boyfriend after having gone through the application forms and everything with him. When she seemed satisfied, the woman thanked Becky and then moved to mingle with some of the other caregivers who were still dotted around.
“Hi,” Becky greeted them. She almost jumped right in their faces, making both of them almost flinch back at how suddenly she was there. She immediately recognised Castiel. “Oh! Hi! I didn’t realize you were here tonight!”
She was so excited that she spoke so fast and Castiel could barely keep up and understand exactly what she said.
“Well,” Dean spoke up, speaking for his husband. “We’ve finally managed to get through the application process. God, it takes forever!”
“Yeah, it does!” Becky agreed. Castiel thought over just how enthusiastic Becky had been throughout the whole evening, and it made him wonder just how she managed to keep it up. “And sometimes it can be very invasive, don’t you think?” She waited barely a second for enough time for the two men in front of her to nod. “But it’s so worth it in the end!”
“Definitely,” Castiel agreed readily, squeezing Dean’s hand. Dean squeezed back.
“Anyway, how can I help you?”
Castiel and Dean shared a look before stepping closer to speak in hushed tones. This was something that not everyone in the community knew about, and not everyone agreed with.
“We already have our baby picked out,” Castiel explained. Becky said nothing, just raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise.
“You’ve already been to the adoption center and put a hold on one of the littles and you want to rush the training, perhaps?”
“No, no,” Dean shook his head. “Baby Winchester wouldn’t be as willing as the other littles.”
And suddenly, Becky got what they were trying to say.
“Ah,” She nodded in understanding. “You’re looking for some help adopting.”
The two caregivers before her nodded.
Becky held up her finger to the two men, in a silent order to wait. Then she turned her back to them and started walking over to the small table set up just at the front of the room. It only had two glasses of half-drunk water for the two social workers during the presentation, and housed underneath was a small handbag. The two men watched as she picked it up and shoved her hand inside, rummaging around for something. When she found it she made her way back over to the couple.
“Here,” She offered. It was a business card.
Castiel took it gently.
“Fergus Crowley,” Becky went on to explain, suddenly very serious. “He’s our top specialist in what you want. Give him a ring and he’ll make you an appointment to sort through everything.”
Dean and Castiel shared a soft look before nodding their understanding.
“This route of adoption isn’t widely known,” Becky hushed. “Many of our parents don’t agree with it. Personally, if the babe is a fit, and it’s what’s best for them, then I don’t see the harm in it. However, as I’m sure you’re aware, you will be attending some very different training sessions to the ones we hold.”
“Thank you so much, Becky,” Castiel spoke confidently, holding out his hand for the social worker to shake. “You’ve been a great help.”
Becky beamed under the praise from such a high standing member of their little community.
“Just all part of the job description, Mr. Novak!”
Castiel smirked when she referred to him like that, knowing how it affected his husband.
“Winchester,” Dean corrected her, voice almost cold and threatening. Becky almost squeaked in surprise at the tone but turned her attention to the taller man. “It’s Castiel Winchester.”