Chapter Text
Whatever was wrong with him, it wasn’t the sort of thing that just healed. He’d been warned it would be there, likely forever. Castiel did still have bad days, but they were the exception, not the constant. He was still slower in winter, still reclusive, still quieter, still shifting less and sleeping more. But he’d found ways to cope. He took his teas, he journaled, he did his sword drills, he visited the stables.
Dean hadn’t just equipped him to fight an enemy. He’d given the Omega ways to fight the demons still lurking inside his head. He couldn’t defend him against something like that, couldn’t fight them off, something Castiel eventually realized had been maddening for his husband. So he’d done the next best thing, he’d given the leopard all the help he could so he could fight them himself. He’d done everything short of dragging the sun down from the heavens for him.
When spring came, it was still a relief. It always would be, he guessed. But he’d won more battles. It took far less time for him to return to himself.
Their second year in Lebanon was spent building it up even more. Fields were sown, more docks built to accommodate ships already coming to drop anchor in their harbor, the university built up to accommodate academics coming in from all over Huntra once they were able to reach it. Most were historians, anthropologists, mages eager to lay hands on old knowledge potentially lost, but it was the trickle before the flood. It was just the sort of thing you needed to build up a fledgling center for knowledge and study.
Castiel did discuss it with Dean. He was starting to worry, they’d been married three years now and he’d only gotten pregnant once. While he would prefer to wait another year or two, he did have a duty. When he made the mistake of pointing this out, Dean put his foot down, ensuring they both took suppressants to ride out their heat and rut, respectively.
It was probably just as well. Castiel had plenty to keep him busy. A few locals did speak Saxese, but he was the most fluent. A convoy was sent over from Lily Sunder, with orders to negotiate with Dean personally. Castiel could only imagine John’s righteous indignation when that bit of news got back to him. But he was crown prince, highest ranking in their little corner of Huntra, essentially lord of the land. It was logical. Particularly since she wanted to negotiate a new trade route with Huntra, exchanging safe harbor for all Saxese vessels in exchange for the same rights at one of their own northern ports. One Huntra hadn’t had safe harbor rights to for a good three centuries. It was very lucrative, to say the least, and in short order copies of documents with seals from Dean’s signet ring were being sent to Lawrence and the Saxese capital. After Castiel had read them over and confirmed the copy written in Saxese was identical to the one written in Huntarian, of course.
Documents still flowed in and out of Lebanon, reports, travelers, a few officials to discuss state affairs. Every single time, Dean only agreed to meetings with his mate by his side, stubbornly setting a precedent. He’d read over documents, but not sign, stamp, or approve anything until Castiel read it too. A habit the Omega had originally thought meant to get him out of his rooms, or hand off unwanted duties. By their second year, he recognized the significance for what it was.
It was working. Lebanon was working. Any loss of coin sunk into it originally was already being regenerated, and then some. Frankly Castiel was amazed it had happened so quickly. He’d expected it to take years. As their second full winter in their new home began, though, he began to wonder instead how so many rulers had been foolish enough to abandon such a lucrative outpost. They’d had to draft teachers and members of staff from Lawrence’s magical university to get their own organized, schedules, classes, supplies, everything. Dormitories were filling up as fast as they could be built, though the local townsfolk were happy to accommodate paying boarders in the meantime. Generals had already put in to use Lebanon as training grounds, they were just waiting on John to sign off so funding could be approved. The docks were nearly as expansive as the ones in Eden by now, which he considered very impressive.
That midwinter, Dean again sat up all night. Castiel felt somewhat exasperated, but chose to join him rather than fight it. It took a great deal of time and power each spring to renew the spells on his pendent, and perhaps he relied on it too much, but it worked. It kept him warm in the coldest nights, gave him a bit of warm light in the darkest days.
He did not forget Dean’s birthday this year, or the year before. Not since they’d begun living here. He vowed never to forget again.
By his own birthday, at the age of thirty-eight, he was gifted a sword by Rufus as a sort of graduation gift. He was apparently deemed competent enough to kill the other guy and not himself with it, as the Beta put it. It was a beautiful thing, much like Dean’s in that it was practical, but weighted perfectly for him, fitting neatly in his hand. The sheath was as plain as the leather wrapped hilt, its only décor a shining sun branded in the pommel. That had been when he realized Dean had commissioned it, not Rufus. Just about anything Dean gave him these days had a sun on it, in some form or fashion. Or a bee. But mostly suns.
One week later, he fainted in the middle of sparing with Sam. He stirred to find himself propped up in Dean’s lap in the middle of the training yard, Sam ashen faced as he poured water from a canteen over a rag to dump on his forehead. Castiel had been very embarrassed, which was only made worse when Dean continued to fuss. He refused to see the healer, insisting he was fine.
He insisted for an entire week, until he walked by the kitchens while they were roasting gull and promptly vomited on his own shoes. Normally he liked the scent, but right then it had been nauseating. Unwilling to give Dean the satisfaction, he slipped off to visit Kessler, hoping it was something easily fixed.
It was not easily fixed. When she’d explained what she had found, Castiel had mutely handed her his pregnancy prevention charm, which had apparently failed, and gone to find Dean. He found his husband in his office, scowling at reports from Lawrence.
Dean glanced up, still scowling. “Would you believe this? Dad’s trying to order us back. It’s not like we’re any more useful in Lawrence. Hell, he should be sending us a commendation.”
Castiel slowly closed the office door, activating the spells that would seal in any sort of sounds. To keep away eavesdroppers while state business was discussed. Dean lowered the papers, frowning as he approached the desk. “Something happen?”
“After a fashion.” He stopped before the desk, worrying his lip. “I, um….I suppose we have an ideal excuse to postpone our return, though. That is good.”
“Cas,” his Alpha said warningly, getting to his feet, eyes narrowing. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant,” he blurted. It seemed simplest. “I realize it wasn’t when we planned, but- ”
He cut off as he was wrapped in a tight hug, lifted off his feet and spun in a circle. He didn’t realize Dean was laughing until he was set down again, staring up into a broad smile. The leopard belatedly checked their bond, to find it aglow with joy.
“Pregnant? You’re sure?”
“It would explain my fainting. Kessler estimated I am only six weeks along, two months, but…yes. If all goes well, they should be born in October.” Which meant they had likely been conceived on Dean’s birthday, when he’d surprised his husband with a picnic exclusively of pies. Quiche, meat pies, then fruit pies for dessert. Or perhaps he’d been the dessert, bent over a saddle they’d taken from their horses backs to let them relax, his husband making him squirm on it so long he came twice before he was even knotted.
In hindsight Castiel had no idea why he’d been nervous to tell Dean he was pupped. Granted he hadn’t expected to be fucked over Dean’s desk then and there, but the enthusiasm was unmistakable. After he drifted down from the afterglow, Dean sat his still naked mate in his lap to help him draft up a polite refusal to send back to Lawrence. It was overcautious, certainly, but John really wanted an heir and they really didn’t want to leave.
Dean had found a place where his mate was happy, where they could both live and thrive. He was not about to leave it just because his father said so. Having a pregnant mate was reason enough not to leave Castiel behind, so they’d both have to go, but seeing as he was potentially carrying a future heir it was socially acceptable for him to be coddled. This included no travel. Better still, it would buy them more time after the pup was born, since traveling with a newborn wasn’t the safest of tasks.
They kept it quiet, as they did before, but this time Castiel was pregnant in the spring. Then the summer. He had no desire to be cooped up, he’d spent far too much time doing that, and Dean wasn’t about to lock him away. Granted there was a small window where it could just be assumed he was eating too much, but all you had to do was get close to notice his scent. An Omega’s scent changed when they were pupped, it got sweeter. Again, less of an issue in winter, when he’d been all bundled up. It was difficult to do this in summer.
By his fourth month, there was a small but unmistakable swell to his belly. By his fifth month, it was big enough he began to worry. He’d been around enough pregnant individuals in his time, he had a notion of what to expect. What’s more, one of those was his own mother, the Omega had guessed this would be the most accurate insight into what he himself would get to enjoy. But he was very sure Naomi had never been so noticeably round by this stage.
Eventually it worried him enough for Dean to notice. When he’d explained to his mate, he’d brought him to Kessler. Of course he did, he tried to bring him to a healer any time he sneezed these days. The man had become a shameless mother hen.
He was due for a checkup anyway, so Kessler had patiently worked her way through it. When she got to the part where she gently threaded her power through him, checking on his womb, her brow furrowed. Castiel did not like it when a healer’s brow furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” he blurted before he could help it.
“Nothing wrong,” she assured him, tone soothing as she retracted her power. “Everything is fine, they are developing as they should. I’d just like to confirm something.”
She’d taken out a tool more often used by healers with no magic, a sort of funnel with a broad bugle-shaped end on one side and a narrowed end on the other, to listen at. Kessler placed the bugle end on his belly, and listened. She moved it around a little, listening carefully at every point, brow still furrowed. Then they shot up, and she sat back.
“Well, everything is still fine. Very fine.” She glanced at Dean. “I know you don’t have twins in your family, but do you?” She nodded to the Omega.
Castiel blinked. “Yes, I…I am one.”
“Ah.” Kessler stood, putting away the listening device. “That explains it.” Turning back to the leopard and his hovering mate, she explained, “Congratulations, you’re having twins. There are two healthy heartbeats in there. It’s also why you’re a bit bigger than normal at this stage, there’s more than one pup.”
“Twins?” Dean echoed.
The shock in their bond matched his own. In fact Castiel was still digesting his when he felt Dean jump straight back to joy. Just like when he’d first told the wolf he was pupped.
“Twins,” Castiel murmured, staring down at his midsection, slowly wrapping his arms around it. Two. Two pups. He was carrying two kits. Just like him and Jimmy.
He would not favor one over the other. He didn’t care what they came out as, and he wouldn’t take his eye off either of them. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing one the way they’d lost Jimmy. Granted this had already been the plan, but he hadn’t thought he’d have to deal with having more than one kit so quickly. Alpha or Omega, boy or girl, Shifter or mage. As long as they came out happy and healthy, he didn’t give a damn. They were his. He would love them, whether they liked it or not.
Castiel chose not to insult Dean by having this conversation with him. He couldn’t imagine Dean favoring an Alpha pup over an Omega, a boy over a girl. He might struggle to connect with them if they were a mage, not a Shifter, but there was no doubt in his mind he’d love them any less. He’d try, he’d give them all he could. That was all that mattered. He wouldn’t have allowed it to come this far if there had been any doubts on this.
The Omega was a little annoyed he’d finally earned a sword just to be banned from practicing with it, but gave up arguing. He was perpetually hot all the time, anyway. At least it was an excuse to spend extra time in the cool university libraries.
August had just arrived when Sam pulled Dean and Castiel into an emergency meeting in Dean’s office, bringing Eileen with him and activating the secrecy charms. By this point Castiel had wondered, but seeing her sitting across from Dean’s desk, pale faced, seeing Sam hover over her, was confirmation enough. Even before Sam explained she was pregnant.
They were the first to know, aside from Kessler, who was sworn to secrecy. Sam had half a mind to take her and hop on a ship to Sax the moment the current storm season ended. John would not be happy. It was bad enough they weren’t married yet, but mage or not Eileen was a commoner by birth. Her father had been a musician, her mother a hedgewitch. Castiel had been under the impression that the plan was to be strategic about their mating when the time came, and that John had written them off as something that would last until it was time for Sam to marry someone he saw as more ‘fitting’.
As Dean talked Sam off a ledge, the younger Alpha’s protective instincts going into overdrive, Castiel caught Eileen’s eye. He scooted his chair over enough to reach over, taking her hand and squeezing it comfortingly. Then he let it go so he could begin signing to her.
“It will be alright. You will be alright. There is a priestess here, I will send for her. No one will think it odd for me to want a blessing from her, with my pregnancy. We have Dean’s seal. We can draw up the documents we need. If you wish, if you don’t mind a small wedding, we can do it quietly. It will be legitimate. John can’t break it, not without going against Dean and the priesthood. Mary has already visited once since my pregnancy became known. I can send for her, say I want her to stay until I give birth. I was going to do this anyway, at the end of the month. I can ask her to bring Charlie and Adam, say I miss them. This is also true. They can be witnesses to your wedding.” He would have offered to send for her parents too, if they were alive. They weren’t, but from what he’d been told both had loved her for as long as they’d been around, learned sign for her, scraped together to send her to a good university of magic when the time came.
Eileen was staring at him, tears welling in her eyes, lips trembling.
“Is this okay?” he asked, brows furrowed in question, a little worried.
She nodded, shoulders sagging in relief, signing, “Yes. Yes, thank you, yes.”
Castiel noticed the Alphas had gone quiet as she threw her arms around his shoulders in a hug. He hugged her back, and when she let him go Dean asked, “Did you catch all that?”
He repeated his offer aloud to the brothers. Sam hugged him too, hard enough Dean growled a warning. Even so, he could feel relief-tinged pride in their bond.
“Good idea. No way he’ll try breaking it once it’s done. He’ll even have an extra heir running around.”
Castiel smiled, getting up to seat himself behind his husband’s desk. “That’s the idea. He’s been a tyrant long enough. It’s bad enough he bullied me. I won’t have him do it to her too.”
“Funny, how you get more defensive when it’s anyone but you. Imagine if you stood up for yourself like that all the time.”
“It’s far easier when it’s not me,” Castiel countered, setting out a fresh sheet of paper, pulling the stopper from an inkwell and selecting a clean writing reed.
He looked up, meaning to ask if he should write it as being from him or Dean, to find Sam and Eileen looking at them oddly.
“Is something wrong?”
“You’re doing the mind-speak thing again, aren’t you?” Sam asked, looking amused.
As promised it had been kept quiet. He and Kevin still checked in, asked about it, but hadn’t done more than monitor it of late. Purely out of scholarly nosiness. These days it was strong enough they could still share thoughts and feelings from ten miles apart.
“How can you tell?”
“You look like you’re talking without opening your mouths,” Eileen explained, sounding amused.
Castiel and Dean exchanged a look.
“Do we do that?”
“I haven’t noticed.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“It would seem so,” Castiel noted wryly, dipping his pen.
~~~BREAK/BREAK\BREAK~~~
It was a far less grand affair, but Sam and Eileen seemed blissfully happy. Castiel found himself envying them their small, intimate ceremony. The most stately thing about it was the marriage documents they signed at the end. Both signed in blood, and made a bloody thumbprint. Judging by Eileen’s pleased surprise, he hadn’t mentioned plans to do this beforehand.
Mary was happy for them, of course, and happy to stay through to the end of their pregnancies afterward. He really had missed Charlie and Adam, too. So had Sam and Dean, regardless of how they complained once they were there. They were still growing like weeds, and very surprised to see Castiel with a swollen midsection.
Frankly Castiel was very tired of being pregnant. It was not fun. Something always seemed to hurt, often more than one thing at once, but the most common offenders were his back and any joint below the waist. His bladder seemed to have shrunk. His chest was tender and swollen and regularly leaked. On the rare occasion he found a comfortable position to sleep in the twins decided it was time to find an organ to kick. He was always hot, which was a first for him and not very pleasant. The list ran on.
He found himself counting down the days until October. He didn’t sweat through clothes quite as fast once the cooler air began to set in, but it seemed to take an age to arrive. He was also tired of waddling, and not being able to see his own cursed feet. He couldn’t even pick anything up if he dropped it, he felt helpless.
When the moment finally came, time slowed to a crawl. Contractions started, but he had to wait until he was opened enough to start pushing. He paced the birthing room set aside in the healer’s ward, panting, sweating through two shifts before Kessler announced he could start pushing. He practically collapsed in a chair that didn’t have much in the way of a seat, more to give him something to lean back against and brace his legs on so the healers had easier access to him. Dean, who had yet to leave his side since the contractions had first begun, let the Omega clutch his hand as he began to push.
Castiel didn’t know when exactly he’d heard bone break. He did feel bad about that later, but not in the moment. Divinity damn it all, he just wanted them out.
It had been evening when things started. The sun was rising on October 31st when the first squalling kit entered the world. Mere minutes later, a second set of lungs joined them. Castiel slumped, completely drained, only to be told he had to keep going. Apparently he was to either expel the placenta on his own, or Kessler was going to get it out herself. Deciding he’d been invaded enough for one day, thank you very much, the Omega scrounged up enough energy from vestiges unknown to push that out too.
The leopard couldn’t remember the last time he was so exhausted. He couldn’t even walk, his mate had to carry him to a tub so they could clean him, then to a cot to rest. He strained his ears, listening as his kits were cleaned, checked to ensure all was well, then swaddled. Dean never left him, but he didn’t take his gaze off their pups either, every instinct on high alert. Only knowing he was too weak to do anything, and that his Alpha was watching them, kept him quiet until they were returned to him.
They were beautiful. They’d already caused him no small amount of misery but they were beautiful and he loved them. Kessler handed them off to him, cradled in his arms as he lay on his side, Dean looming over him, watching her like a hawk. As she backed away, posture nonthreatening, she said, “The one on the right was born first, a girl. The left one is a boy.”
A boy and a girl. They were still fussing, hungry. He fumbled with his shift for a moment as Dean sank to his knees, helping him undo it so he could nurse. His mate nuzzled him once he got one of them to latch, quieting as they ate, a low thrum in his throat. A weary purr rose in his own chest, lids fluttering as he leaned into the tender touch.
They had discussed names, but didn’t mark the official documents until a few days after the birth. Dean had decided that the tradition of naming the firstborn son Johnathan was going to die with him, while being useful on occasion it was far more trouble than it was worth. It was a matter on which he had his Omega’s full support. So when the birth documents were filled out, their kits names were written out as Melissa Selene Winchester and Jarah Suraj Winchester.
For the most part, aside from retaining veto power, Dean had left the choosing of names to Castiel. Which he appreciated. Though he did hope Dean never asked why he chose their first names. He wasn’t sure his mate would like that he’d chosen a name that meant ‘bumblebee’ in Enochian. Which Melissa did. Jarah meant ‘honeycomb’. At least he shouldn’t be upset about Selene or Surya, they meant ‘moon’ and ‘sun’, respectively, from one of the numerous languages used in the Southern Isles.
By the time copies were sent to the capital, they’d gotten word that the entire kingdom was rejoicing. News had apparently been spread fast, despite what Castiel had hoped for. Dean wasn’t thrilled either, but there were some things you couldn’t help.
In keeping with tradition, though they could tell on their own already, a week after the birth an official had to visit to make the public announcement. Castiel was supremely irked when the man checked his son first, seemed pleased to announce he was an Alpha, nearly forgot to check his daughter, then seemed surprised to find she was also an Alpha. Dean was annoyed too, but he also picked up on Castiel’s brewing temper. He didn’t even need to mind-speak, all it took was a look and his Alpha was kicking the man out.
Despite his concern, his constant hovering, both twins were healthy and, to all appearances, happy. As he’d expected, Dean had to be told to return to his duties after that first week. Otherwise he’d spend all his time hovering and fussing over them.
On December 2nd, Eileen had her own pup. Jack Alexander Winchester entered the world kicking and screaming. The first time Castiel met his nephew, his nose itched so much he nearly sneezed on the kit. After he apologized, he explained to Jack’s parents that they’d produced a pup who was going to be a very strong mage. Eileen seemed happy with this, but Sam’s face was somewhere between pride and panic.
One week later, the unnecessary official came by to put his seal on the next announcement. Little Jack, who was already a far less fussy infant than his cousins, was an Omega. Frankly Castiel was more concerned with the injustice that his deaf sister-in-law was the one with a quiet kit.
As midwinter drew close, they were once again faced with the problem of their being recalled. Or they would, once spring arrived. Both Sam and Dean.
“Why does he care?” Dean asked, annoyed. “He either pulls apart anything I do or won’t let me touch anything. He gets into fights with Sam if you put them in the same room for more than two minutes.”
Castiel sat in a rocking chair that had been placed in his mate’s office, a cradle at his feet. He was using one foot to rock Melissa, who had been fed and burped, Jarah currently latched for his own dinner. He tilted his head back, sighing softly. “Control, Ahuv. He wants you where he can watch you. And us, especially now.”
Dean’s eyes narrowed, eyeing his mate. “He does know he’s got no right, don’t he?”
“He should,” Castiel agreed lightly. “But I believe we have established how your father feels about boundaries. In this department, anyway.”
Evergreen eyes hardened. “That ain’t happening.”
“No.” The leopard considered, then decided. “We will visit. But by fall we need to be back here. I won’t winter in Lawrence again.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Let him meet his grandchildren, let him officially name his heir. I’m not sure it matters to anyone but him and the paper-pushers at this point. But this place is our home in everything but official declaration. Come and go as you need, you do have duties, but…I will stay here. I’ll visit, but I will return here.”
Dean nodded, face softening, warm affection and assurance rolling through their bond. “’Course. You sure you wanna come?”
“I do. And I must,” he shrugged. As he moved Jarah up to his shoulder, gently patting his back and waiting for a burp, he mused, “Do you think he’ll mind?”
“Yes,” Dean snorted. Then asked, “Mind what?”
“That none of his heirs are wolves.”
“If he does, that’s his problem.”
“Indeed.”
Melissa began to fuss, but it was her boredom fuss. Without hesitation Dean stood up, coming around his desk. Castiel sighed, watching as he picked her up out of the cradle.
“You’re spoiling her, you know.”
“I spoil ‘em evenly.”
“You realize that just means we’ll have two spoiled kits.”
His husband chose to ignore him, picking up a toy to wiggle in front of her, leaning back against his desk. The Omega decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Not right now, anyway. Besides, it still made his chest all warm and fuzzy, watching his husband coo over their kits.