Chapter Text
The group of little’s were playing a pirate game on the new pirate ship jungle-gym that had been set up and secured in the back yard. There were about 6 little’s in total; all following the same story-line; they were currently sailing across the seven seas, towards the buried treasure, and they had to get there before the evil sea Witch did or they would have to kill her.
Or something like that.
Dean wasn’t 100% certain. He was trying to join in, but he was pretty much being pushed out. Even by Mikey! They kept saying that he was too little; that he’s not allowed to play because he’s a baby. And, he guessed, technically he was. Even Ruby, who was normally a little older than him was today around 3 and a half.
Dean desperately wanted to play, and he knew that if the group were going to let him join in, he would have to be as old as them. When he asked Ruby how come she was older today, she told him that she had asked her Mummy; and then she returned to the game, completely ignoring him.
Looking over to where his Daddy was stood chatting (he couldn’t see Papa, and guessed he was inside), Dean knew what he had to do.
“Daddy,” Dean asked, walking up to the man. When Daddy ignored him and continued signing and talking, Dean repeated himself and tugged on the bottom of the man’s t-shirt to try and gain his attention. “Daddy!”
“Dean,” Daddy used his unamused tone, and Dean shrunk back. “Daddy is talking. You can see that. You need to wait.”
“But,” Dean tried, but didn’t get much further when Daddy reaching into his back pocket and pulled out a paci. He slipped it between Dean’s lips and gently held in place for a moment, when the little tried to push it out again.
“Wait please. Daddy is talking; I will talk to you in a minute,” Daddy explained, leaving no room for argument before returning to his conversation, signing with Auntie Eileen.
Dean scowled from behind the pacifier, and flopped himself down onto his bottom at Daddy’s feet.
He knew the rules when it came to his paci, one of them being he was no allowed to talk much with it in. It was normally only used at bed time, or when they wanted to regress him further. And sometimes, Dean loved his paci… today was not one of those times. He needed to show the other littles that he was older, not younger!
He glanced over to the jungle-gym where the other littles were all running around and talking like pirates with their foam swords. The captain was Lucifer, the new little who they were all here to meet. He was a tall little, about the same height as him. He was around 5 or 6 and he was Michael’s new brother. He was the older little, and everyone looked up to him… he was the reason that he wasn’t allowed to play because he had convinced everyone that Dean was too little. Dean didn’t like him.
None of the little’s were paying attention to him, and so it seemed that they hadn’t noticed that Dean had a paci.
Despite knowing he shouldn’t take the paci out unless Daddy or Papa said, he spat the pacifier out of his mouth and towards the grass. He decided he needed to get rid of it before anyone did see.
He peeked up at Daddy, just to double check the man hadn’t seen, but he had already finished his conversation and was now looking down at him with his arms crossed.
“Yes Dean,” Daddy spoke, firmly. “I saw that.”
Dean reached back towards the black pacifier decorated with the batman logo. He grabbed it and went to put it back in his mouth, but the pacifier was quickly snatched out of his hand. Daddy was crouched down in front of him, holding the paci, his face a little softer.
“No Dean,” He began to explain. “It has icky germs all over it that will make you poorly. Daddy will get you a clean one from the diaper bag.”
“Don’t wanna!” Dean complained childishly. But then he remembered why he wanted to talk to Daddy in the first place. He glanced back over to the pirate ship, at the older little’s playing before looking back at Daddy and trying again, trying to sound slightly more mature. “I don’t want one Daddy.”
Daddy followed his gaze, and realised that he didn’t want to appear babyish in front of the older ones.
“Okay baby boy, no paci for now,” Daddy allowed. “But you must remember that when Daddy is talking you mustn’t interrupt, okay?”
“Okay Daddy,” Dean nodded. “Sorry Daddy.”
“That’s quite alright, my prince,” Daddy smiled. “Now, did you want to talk to me?”
Dean nodded. Daddy seemed to be in a good mood, forgiving him easily him easily and letting him not have a paci… Dean was sure the man was going to say yes.
~MORE THAN YOU KNOW~
“I want to be older like Michael.”
Sam blinked for a moment, taking the question in. The little sat in front of him had never asked such a thing, and it had taken Sam aback slightly. When he regained his posture, he looked into the baby’s eyes very seriously, but spoke calmly.
“No baby.”
Sam watched the look of horror settle on Dean’s face. He knew he was in for a fight. He did a subtle check of the surrounding area for Cas, knowing that he may need back by.
“But Daddy!” Dean protested, his eyes welling up with tears. “Everyone else is! Even Ruby!”
“I am not Ruby’s Daddy, and therefore cannot tell her what she can and can’t do,” Sam said firmly. “I am, however, your Daddy. And I telling you that you are not allowed to be older.”
“That’s not fair!” Dean exclaimed, his voice rising. “I wanna be like the big kids!”
“Dean Winchester!” Sam scolded. “Daddy has said no.”
“No!” Dean cried, slamming his hands onto the grass below him.
“Oh my!”
Sam looked up at the sound of Cas’s voice. He was glad to see his husband, even though he knew he had everything under control. But it was clear they were going to get a tantrum any second, and Sam knew he was going to need all the help he could get.
“What’s going on?”
Sam stood back up, preparing to tell Cas the absurd idea that their son had just had, but Dean beat him to it.
“I want to grow up like the big kids!”
Cas didn’t even miss a beat.
“No Dean.”
“But Ruby’s mummy…”
Sam interrupted him.
“What did I just say about Ruby?”
Dean scowled deeper at Sam. The two parents shared a look.
“I want to be like the big kids and play pirates!” Dean cried, his voice getting louder. “It’s not fair!”
“Daddy and Papa said no, Dean Winchester!” Cas scolded, his voice scary firm.
Dean’s bottom lip wobbled and tears overflowed. Cas was ‘good cop’, so it always hit Dean extra hard whenever Cas came down on him like that.
A second later, Dean screamed.
Sam and Cas expected it.
Their friends and family, not so much.
Everyone turned to see which child was screaming, but they all turned back to what they were doing before when they realised it was a toddler having a tantrum.
“It’s not fair!” Dean shrieked, throwing himself down on the grass and kicking his legs and arms about as he threw his tantrum. He kept shouting about wanting to be older, and about how unfair it was.
Sam and Castiel watched on, eyebrows raised until their boy stopped.
Once Dean had calmed down he continued to lay on the grass, scowling.
“Right,” Sam declared, reaching down and plucking the baby up.
“No!” Dean snapped, his hands waving about. His hand caught Sam’s cheek. In seconds, Sam held Dean’s wrist to stop from lashing out again, but the toddler had already frozen in place.
“I’m sorry Daddy!” He hurried. He knew he had done wrong and knew he was now in more trouble than he was before. “I’m sorry!”
“Thank you for apologising Dean,” Sam acknowledged. He took him over to a picnic bench. It was the bench where they had deposited their belongings, such as the diaper bag. He sat him on the end of the bench and held him there with one arm on his tummy so he wouldn’t fall. He reached into the diaper bag and rummaged around for a moment. “However, Daddy would like you to have a time out, please.”
“But Daddy,” Dean tried, still whining. He knew he was in trouble, but couldn’t help just adding to it.
“But nothing, Dean Winchester,” Sam scolded heavily. He pressed a clean, boring clear paci into the boy’s mouth. “I don’t want to hear another word from you. 5 minutes please.”
Dean crossed his arms over his red-stripy jumper, the paci bobbing with his pout. He looked adorable when he was cross.
“Oh, look at him,” Cas cooed quietly, so the boy couldn’t hear him. “Cutie.”
“Little shit,” Sam laughed. The slap hadn’t hurt, but that didn’t matter, it was the fact that he had done it. “Can’t believe he had the cheek to ask!”
“You can’t blame the kid Sam,” Cas pointed out. “Look at all the others. Most of the other little’s have been allowed to grow up a little for today.”
“Well Dean should know better,” Sam sighed, glancing behind him to double check their boy was still where he had left him.
When his 5 minutes were up, Sam went back over to him and crouched down in front of him.
“Daddy was very disappointed Dean,” Sam informed him. “It isn’t nice to hit people. It hurt Daddy.”
Dean burst into fresh tears, but these were tears of remorse.
“I… I… I…” He hiccupped from behind his paci. “Sorry dah-dee.”
“Oh, my prince,” Sam shushed, gathering the boy in his arms. He sat in the spot Dean had just been and cuddled the boy in his lap. “It’s okay. Daddy forgives you. You just must remember to be careful. Can you do that?”
“Uh-huh,” Dean nodded his head, and rubbed his head against Sam’s shoulder.
“Good boy.”
Cas watched on with a soft smile on his face, letting his husband deal with it. Sometimes, Dean just needed his Daddy. He went off to find his brother and ask him just when the food was going to come out; this was after all, supposed to be a BBQ.
“Daddy?” Dean asked quietly, rubbing at his eyes. Sam didn’t miss this, and made a mental note to keep an eye on his sleepy babe.
“Yes, my prince?”
“Dean go play now?”
Sam smiled and pressed a kiss to Dean’s forehead.
“You can go and play now, my prince,” Sam started to unwind his arms from around the little. “But you remember Dean Winchester, you need to be kind.”
“Uh-huh, Daddy,” Dean nodded before dashing off back towards the pirate ship.
~MORE THAN YOU KNOW~
Dean was still trying to include himself in the pirate game, but he was getting absolutely nowhere.
He clambered up the slope onto the jungle-gym, after failed attempts to get the attention of the older little’s. They all seemed to notice him now; they stopped their game for a few moments.
“No!” Lucifer cried, hopping down from the ship’s wheel, brandishing his foam sword at Dean. “You can’t play!”
“Why not?” Dean demanded to know, hitting out at the foam sword. This seemed to enrage Lucifer and he waved the sword against Dean’s chest. He then held the flat, foam tip to Dean’s chin.
“Because you are a stupid baby who can’t play big kid games!”
“I can!” Dean argued. He spotted Michael who was stood by the boats sail. “Ask Mikey! We play all the time!”
Lucifer turned his head around to face his brother, narrowed his eyes before returning his attention to the baby.
“Stop!” He cried, voice loud. All the littles had officially stopped their game and were watching the scene play out between their captain, and Dean. “You are a stupid, smelly baby! You wear diapers and suck on your paci! I saw you!”
“Stop!” Dean sniffed, eyes starting to sting with tears. “That’s mean!”
“It’s true! Stupid babies can’t play pirates and they can’t play with the big kids! Go suck your paci, baby.”
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Dean cried, pushing out at the older little. Lucifer stumbled back a bit.
“Luci,” Michael’s voice spoke up, but the voice was still quiet. “Stop!”
“See!” Lucifer told them all, but mainly directed it at Dean. “You can’t even push me over properly! Just like a baby!”
Arms pushed out at Dean, and the babe ended up landing on his bottom. The tears pooled out down his cheeks and he looked up through watery eyes at Lucifer looming over him and laughing.
“Dean!”
Dean turned to the kinder, familiar voice and relaxed slightly when Michael’s arms wound round him.
“Are you okay?”
“My bottom,” He sobbed. He could hear Lucifer repeating to the others that he was a baby.
Michael soothed his hand over Dean’s hair like he had seen the boy’s Daddies do plenty of times, before standing up and facing his brother.
“Luci! That wasn’t nice!”
“He’s a stupid baby Mikey!” Lucifer argued his case. “He can’t play with us!”
“I’ll get your Papa, Dean,” Michael told Dean, before addressing his brother again. “I’m telling Daddy on you!”
With that, Michael jumped from the pirate ship and ran towards the grownups.
“Mikey!” Lucifer shouted, jumping down and following after him. He needed to stop Michael before he got him into trouble.
Dean slowly got up, and rubbed his bottom. He still sobbed, but the tears had started to slow. He certainly didn’t want to play with the older little’s now, and only wanted his Papa and his paci.
As if by magic, the man was there and scooping him up into his arms.
“Oh, my poor baby,” Papa soothed, holding Dean close to his chest and walking away from the jungle-gym. He swayed the boy. “Michael said you fell on your bottom?”
“Uh-huh,” Dean nodded slowly, snuggling into Papa’s shoulder. Papa cooed and rubbed his hand over the boys diapered bum. He could tell that his boy needed a change. “It was Luci,” Dean ratted him out straight away, with no remorse.
“Michael said honey-bee,” Papa spoke as they continued to walk across the large garden. “He was telling Uncle Gabe about it.”
Papa took him inside the house and changed him quickly and efficiently. Once the change was finished, Papa picked him up and took him into Uncle Gabe’s kitchen. In the fridge was a readymade bottle, that Papa had clearly put there when they had arrived that morning. Dean felt like complaining when Papa started warming it in a jug of hot water, but decided it might be nice right about now. As it warmed, Papa continued to sway.
It was only them in the kitchen, and it was nice. Papa didn’t need to say anything, and Dean didn’t mind; he liked just feeling Papa against him sometimes. For a few moments, it was quite apart from Papa’s humming.
It was soon shattered when Uncle Gabe tumbled into the kitchen, holding Lucifer’s hand and not looking impressed. Over Papa’s shoulder, Dean could see the angry pout on Lucifer’s face.
“What do you say to Dean, young man?” Uncle Gabe ordered firmly. His voice, which was usually upbeat and enthusiastic, was scary and it made even Dean squirm.
“I’m sorry for pushing you Dean,” Lucifer grumbled, unhappily.
“And?” Uncle Gabe prompted.
“And for saying mean things,” Lucifer sighed.
“Thank-you, Lucifer,” Papa nodded and acknowledged the little’s apology for his baby. He knew Dean wasn’t going to say much when the boy was all but ready for a nap.
“Right,” Uncle Gabe pointed to an empty corner in the room. “That corner, now!”
Lucifer grumbled all the way to the corner, but he listened to his Daddy.
“I’m so sorry baba,” Uncle Gabe cooed at Dean, coming closer and smoothing his hands over the baby’s head. “Lucifer was very mean to you, and Uncle Gabe is very sorry.”
Dean leant into the chaste kiss Uncle Gabe pressed to his forehead.
~MORE THAN YOU KNOW~
Sam’s whole body warmed when Cas returned to the garden, with a very sleepy baby on his shoulder.
Sam smiled wide, eyes finding Cas’. They really had made a family, and Sam loved every moment of it.
Dean had been with them now for about a year and a half. It had been rocky to start with, but Dean soon settled well into their family and none of them had looked back since. They’d got lucky though; Jensen hadn’t made a reappearance since he’d regressed into Dean. Their baby had been everything they could dream of, and more. He was loving, kind and wholehearted. He always ran to the door to greet Sam when he came home from work and he clung to his Papa during the day.
Uncle Gabe had made an impression on the boy as well, and when Dean was allowed to be slightly older (although, never older than 24 months!) he spoke constantly about the man. He also adored Michael, and it was so clear to see that their baby looked up to the older little. They set up as many playdates as they could between them both.
Dean got on well with the other little’s that he had met, especially those that were in their social circle, even though he was the youngest of them all. He tried desperately to meet the older little’s expectations, but more often than not, the other littles were rather accepting of him. Apart from today, apparently.
Their poor boy had spent the whole day trying to join in their game, and there was no denying it was all to do with the newest little, Lucifer.
Gabe and Meg had decided to adopt another little in addition to Michael. They wanted Michael to have a sibling and had regressed Lucifer to roughly the same age as their other son. Everyone had known that the Gabe and Meg were adopting again, but no one knew much about it really. It was all kept hush, hush, and they kept Lucifer pretty much house bound until he was regressed properly. The Winchesters had met Lucifer the first time he had been brought home, and they were a few of the only people that had. Lucifer hadn’t seemed to fussed about Dean being quite a bit younger than him before, but apparently, he wanted to show off, or something, to these other littles. The BBQ they were currently in attendance to was Gabe and Meg’s way of introducing their friends and family to Lucifer.
Cas came and sat at the picnic bench and rearranged Dean until he was cradling him. Dean’s eyes were almost fully shut, but when a nipple was brushed against his lips, he popped them open and latched on almost desperately.
Sam chuckled, and shuffled himself closer to his husband and their baby. He placed his arm around Cas’ shoulder and rested his head on his shoulder. He smiled as he watched Dean suckle down his milk.
“I didn’t know whether we would be able to get him off for a nap today.”
“Oh, believe you me,” Cas explained, a tone of determination laced into his words. “He would have been napping today whether he wanted to or not; I do not want to be dealing with a cranky baby later, thank you very much!”
Sam laughed and nuzzled Cas’ shoulder fondly.
Half a bottle later, Dean was completely conked out. Cas reached down and pressed a kiss to the baby’s head.
“Pram?” Sam asked, sitting back up. Cas nodded, but didn’t look up from his sleeping babe; every time Dean fell asleep, Cas turned really mushy, it was sweet.
Sam brought the pram over from where they had parked it earlier upon arriving. It was a fancy pram that could be a forward-facing and parent-facing. It was currently forwards facing, but with a couple of clicks and a quick swivel, Sam had it parent-facing, so that they could lie Dean down efficiently.
Cas led their baby in the pram, carefully. They both knew that one wrong movement would wake the boy and they really didn’t want, or need, that to happen. Dean could be stubborn, and most definitely would refuse to go back to sleep after waking, no matter how long he had, had.
Sam draped the boy’s blanket over him, to keep the chill off. Dean seemed to recognise the scent of his favourite comfort item, and snuggled down under it, turning onto his side. Cas shushed him, and started pushing the pram backwards and forwards to settle the babe back down again.
~MORE THAN YOU KNOW~
Later on, that evening, once the Winchester’s had returned home and Dean was sound asleep in his crib, Sam turned to Cas with pleading eyes.
Cas didn’t look up from the book he was reading, but could feel his husband’s eyes boring into him.
“Yes Sam?” Cas asked, playfully dismissive as he turned a page of his book.
Sam placed his laptop on the bedside table, and sat up straight.
“Put the book down,” He ordered lightly. “I want to talk.”
Cas turned his head, and furrowed his eyebrows in Sam’s direction.
“Please?”
Cas quickly marked his page in his book, and placed it in his lap before giving his husband his full attention.
“Talk about what?” Cas asked. Whenever they needed to discuss something, they just did. It had to be something big if Sam had to announce that he wanted to talk. Cas found himself actually feeling a little bit nervous.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently,” Sam started with a huge sigh. (It was his ‘I’m-working-up-to-something-big-that-you’re-either-going-to-love-or-hate sigh’)
“Right…” Cas dragged the word out, already getting slightly impatient, wanting to know.
“And I haven’t said anything, because I didn’t know whether it would be right for us.”
“Sam,” Cas warned. Sam smiled shyly.
“And, I think it really could be right for us – but I obviously want, and need, your input in it as well.”
“Sam, just bloody spit it out, will you?”
“Well,” Sam smiled. He’d been dragging it out on purpose, wanting to see whether Cas would click and know what he was about to ask. “I was wondering what you thought about adopting another little…”
It was silent between them both for a moment. Cas was clearing thinking it all over in his head, and Sam watched as the cogs turned in his husband’s brain. He wanted to gage his reaction, but Cas was an expert at schooling his features; the perfect poker face.
A snuffle from the baby monitor on Cas’ bedside table seemed to bring them both back to reality.
“Really?” Cas whispered. Sam nodded, a huge smile on his face. “What about Dean?”
“I think it will be great for the baby, Cas,” Sam tried to sound positive. He had been hoping that his husband was going to just come out and agree, but he knew realistically they needed to really talk it over and work out what was best for everyone, including the sleeping babe across the hall.
“I would love to,” Cas spoke, still whispering, almost as if this was too good to be true. Sam’s heart soared at those words, but knew that Cas was going to continue with a ‘but’; and he did. “But, the baby, Sam. Would he cope?”
“He gets on great with Michael,” Sam pointed out.
“But Michael only stays for one night at a time, if that. Most time’s it’s just of an afternoon, or a morning,” Cas counteracted. “And even then, he doesn’t really have to share his daddies.”
“I know,” Sam nodded, understandably. “But baby, just think. Someone for Dean to play with all the time. Another set of feet running around and brightening up the place. Think of all the things Dean would get out of this; another family connection; a friend for life, a partner-in-crime. I really, think that this would benefit him.”
Cas heaved a huge sigh and looked on at his husband with sorrowed eyes.
“This is huge Sam,” Cas spoke truthfully. Sam couldn’t fault him there; they were talking about the future of all three of them. “I think we need to sleep on it. I mean, I would love to, and I know you would too. But we have to think about Dean; he is, after all, our main priority.”
“Absolutely,” Sam agreed. “No doubt about it.”
“And we can’t just jump in to this,” Cas went on. “We would have to make sure that Dean was going to cope.”
“I know,” Sam ran his hand through his hair. “I just really want this.”
“Me too, Sam,” Cas reached out and took his husbands hand. “I think it’s a great idea. And I also think, truth be told I’ve been subconsciously pondering the thought for over a year now, when Gabe first told us he was thinking of adopting another. But that baby, in the room opposite, he needs our love and attention first and foremost right now,” Cas paused, able to see he was getting through to Sam. “I can’t promise that we’ll definitely adopt another, but I can promise you that we can work it out with Dean over the coming months.”
“You’re right,” Sam squeezed Cas’ hand reassuringly, letting the man know he supported him. “This isn’t just a decision we can make overnight.”
“I like the idea though, and I think we should definitely keep it in the back of our minds, for now.”
Sam couldn’t help but smile at his husband. Sam was the lawyer, but god damn it, Cas would be excellent in a court room, arguing his case. (And he looked stunning in a fitted suit!)
“I love you,” Sam whispered, leaning over, using his free hand to brush over and cup Cas’ cheek.
Their lips met in a short, sensual kiss that left them both reeling. Sam looked into Cas’ eyes and smirked at the twinkle that rested there. Game on.
But, Dean (who always seemed to know when his Daddies were getting it on) successfully cockblocked them.
The crying came through the monitor just as Sam straddled Cas and started pushing his husband’s top off between feral kisses.
Both Daddies groaned as they pulled apart.
“Every damn time,” Sam complained, flopping back onto his side of the bed.
Cas laughed at his reaction, but was already throwing the cover back and clambering out of the bed.