#fathers

sam

sam always knew he wanted kids one day, it was a dream he'd had since his days at stanford. but he’d wanted them when it was safe for them and he'd left the hunting life behind. not now. getting the call that he had a child somewhere in the world was jarring. his entire world tilted on its axis. according to the agency, you had been born a few years ago and your mother had recently passed, giving him sole custody as the father. sam had a million questions— how had this happened? he wasn't like his brother, who slept with any reasonable woman he came across. he wasn't inexperienced either, but he was careful. he always always insisted on using protection and pulled out on time, every time. but he supposed there was always that one percent chance, and that must've been you. but that didn't answer his other questions. who was your mother? how old were you? where was he when you were born? how had your mother passed? was it because of something supernatural? how did they know he was the father— how had they even found him on this random burner phone??? but he had to push that aside, because now he had to drive god knows where to take a paternity test for a child he's never met before. he tells dean and cas first, and they both go with him to take the test. when he first sees you, the need to take the test completely vanishes. you look so similar to him, your eyes, your hair, your little nose. there's no doubt about it in his mind. you're his. he takes the test anyway and it's confirmed, you're his daughter.

when you get back to the bunker, everything is a little awkward at first. he's been raised completely by men as a man, so he has no idea what to do with a little girl. he tried to ask dean for help once, seeing as dean had always been good with kids, but dean has no clue what to do either. he's only ever taken care of boys, so this is uncharted territory for him too. cas, on the other hand, is enamored with you. he's always watching over you while you sleep and lingering nearby. he doesn't have much experience with children and he's determined to learn. sam throws himself into every book and article about children he can. he sort of treats it like a hunt he needs to research. he thinks if he can find all the answers, then he'll be prepared for any situation. he is sorely mistaken. the first time you get a cut, he is utterly out of control. he treats you like you're dying, running around the bunker and looking for every piece of medical equipment they own. by the time he's sure he has everything he needs, you've already stopped bleeding and long since stopped caring. eventually, he abandons the books and comes to understand that parenting will always be confusing and difficult, no matter how much research he does. instead, he focuses on trying to raise you better than his father raised him. the first time you called him 'daddy’, you were watching a movie in his room. it was boring to you, as it was about grerk mythology, and you were falling asleep against his chest. you muttered a little ‘g’night, daddy..’ and dozed off. sam stared at you in shock for a second or two, and totally completely 100% did not cry a little.

dean

honestly, he probably should've expected this. after what happened with emma(the demon cult baby he accidentally created and who tried to kill him), he probably should have taken it as a warning to stop sleeping with random women in case they got pregnant. but of course, he didn't. you arrived on the bunker's doorstep with a note(cliche, i know). the note was from your grandmother, who explained what was going on. basically, dean had gotten a fellow hunter pregnant, and she'd died in childbirth. wanting nothing to do with the child and the man who'd indirectly killed her daughter, your grandmother tracked him down and left him to figure out the rest. you were now the second baby girl he'd unknowingly fathered, which meant he wasn't as surprised as any normal person would have been when he found out about you. but that's not to say he wasn't surprised at all, he absolutely was. at least with emma, he didn't have to stick around to take care of her, but you? you were so tiny, so unaware of the ugly parts of the world, unaware of how you’d even ended up here. not to mention, you were beautiful. dean didn't think he'd ever do the whole ‘my child is the most beautiful thing on the planet’ but he totally did. you were just so small and sweet and precious, and you were his. his daughter. he knew right then that he'd never get tired of it. so, he took you inside and told everyone the situation.

it took a little getting used to, but the others made it easier. sam read to you every night, endless stories of princesses in towers and knights on epic quests until you fell asleep. and Cas was there every time you fell. he would rock you back and forth, whispering reassurances and words of love long after he'd already healed your wounds. it was dean himself who had the hardest time adjusting. he had no experience with little girls, no idea what they liked or how they operated. luckily, you were good at communicating your needs and wants. so, he learned. he learned to play dolls, he learned to put your hair in pig tails, he learned what clothes to buy for you. slowly but surely he understood, and he would keep learning to make sure his little girl got the life she deserved. the first time you called him ‘daddy’ is a moment he has on recording and still treasures to this day. you were talking at a very early age, but you had yet to say any real words. he held the camera in front of you, trying to get you to say ‘dada’ for him.

“come on, baby girl. you can do it. say dada for me. i'll even let you play with my beard if you do.” your version of ‘playing’ with his beard was more like pulling as hard as you could and laughing at his face when he winced. dean had long since stopped caring about his facial hair, too busy chasing after a little girl with no regard for her own safety. he had sounded out the word over and over, watching your little face scrunch up in concentration(or maybe annoyance). after multiple attempts to eat his camera, you finally said it. “dada..” you cooed as you reached for him. dean broke into loud laughter, yelling for sam and cas to come. he scooped you up and spun you around. he tried to get you to say it again, but you didn't, so he resorted to showing the video to everyone he knew.

castiel

cas, or ‘steve’ at the time, found you hiding in one of the lower shelves behind some toilet paper. you’d fallen asleep there and he'd ended up closing with you still inside. he had seen you around before, and he knew you were homeless. you had come inside hours ago to try to get some AC and ended up falling asleep. his first instinct was to wake you up and take you outside, but he hesitated. he didn't technically have a home either, as he lived in the back of the Gas-N-Sip, and surely it would be better to be homeless together than to be homeless alone. he scooped you up, still not fully understanding of the fact that it was a little odd to pick up a random child he doesn't know, and carried you to his makeshift living area in the back. over time, his newfound humanity made him feel paternal toward you. he would hold you in his arms when you had nightmares, and he would gently tuck your hair behind your ear when you dozed back off. you were so peaceful, so sweet, and now that he was human, it was only worse. there were these weird instincts telling him to keep you safe from harm, and he was unable to ignore them. when he returned to the bunker, he took you with him. no matter how many times sam or dean told him the bunker was no place for a child or that it was a bad idea, he refused to get rid of you. he didn't recognize it as love, love was and is a very complicated emotion for him, but he did love you. he brought home things he knew that you would like, bought you clothes, made you dinners. he was your father in every way that mattered, and he was finding himself increasingly pleased with that fact. the boys awkwardly and somewhat reluctantly took their roles as your uncles, stumbling their way through tea parties and dolls. once, you dressed dean up in your little hats and scarves and sam laughed his ass off. he still has a picture of dean that's set as his contact photo. the first time you called Cas ‘dad’, you were brushing your teeth before bed and he passed by the door. you called out to him, saying: “g’night, dad!” your voice was muffled by the toothbrush and toothpaste in your mouth, but he caught it. he froze up halfway through the hallway, an involuntary smile wormed its way across his face. “what was that, honey bee?” he asked when you came out of the bathroom. you repeated yourself, and he grinned. after that, he picked you up and carried you to bed where he stayed and watched over you until morning came.

gabriel

he didn't mean to get her pregnant. gabriel can't help it that he's so irresistible, women just throw themselves at him, it's not his fault! when he found out that he was going to be a father, and a father to a nephilim no less, he was floored. he knew the mother wouldn't survive the birth, but at least he'd get to have a nephilim who he could have in his back pocket just in case. he wasn't particularly attached to your mother, but he kept her protected. he wanted to see you, which meant nothing could happen to her. eventually, she gave birth and you came into the world. when gabriel saw you, all thoughts of using you for protection went straight out the window. you were the most precious thing he'd ever seen. you were tiny and you had a little gummy smile and best of all, you were his daughter. he actually giggled when he first saw you, a happy, giddy little noise that he had no control over. he suddenly realized he owed your existence to a now dead woman, and his expression dimmed. he had felt bad about it sure, but now that you were here, he began to understand what she'd done for you— for him. he whispered a quiet little ‘thank you’ before he left the hospital room, you in tow. gabriel is an archangel, so he was pretty sure he could handle anything the world threw at him. he thought parenting would be a breeze. unsurprisingly, he's completely wrong. he prides himself on looking good(not that he has to try very hard), but one week in? his hair is a mess, he somehow has dark circles under his eyes despite not needing to sleep, and his clothes look suspiciously similar to the ones he wore at the beginning of the week. eventually, he adapts, and stops looking like a hot mess. but after that, he has to worry about the huge target on your back. he doesn't want to leave you at home alone but he doesn't want to take you with him into the world. he really doesn't want to leave you with a babysitter, as he doesn't know of any that are equipped to handle a creature so powerful that it could level cities with a sneeze. well.. that's not necessarily true actually. he does know of one.

“hey, cassie!! uncle-niece bonding time! kay, bye!”

that's right, he plops you into Cas's arms and leaves as quickly as he came. despite everything, he trusts Cas to take care of you for a bit. the whole reason Cas rebelled in the first place was because he cared too much about humans, so gabriel has faith that cas will at least do his best.

crowley

crowley had been incredibly lonely for many many years, but he'd never really cared until he was pumped with human blood. he's like a girl on her period, crying occasionally, emotional, and addicted to human blood. okay, maybe that last one is only applicable to him. in the worst of his depression, he does something unprecedented. he used a part of his soul to create something new, a new life. so yes, technically he gave birth? or maybe it's more like asexual reproduction? it was a weird process, okay? he doesn't fully understand it himself. the important part is, he had devised new life, a baby. something neither infernal nor divine. something that was uniquely his own creation. okay, maybe it was a little infernal, it had originated from him after all, and nothing about him wasn't. but it didn't matter that much to him anyway, it was his. it, or as he found, she was already babbling. upon closer inspection, she looked to be about 7 months old, and utterly adorable. you had a little button nose, big eyes, a gummy smile.. crowley had never liked children much, but he could make an exception for this one. when the boys got back to the bunker and found a literal baby, it was safe to say they were confused. at first they thought crowley had somehow gotten out and stolen you, but when they checked the camera footage.. you were apparently crowley's biological child. it honestly shouldn't have shocked them as much as it did, considering how hectic their lives were. once, the boys had tried to take you out of there and to an actual room in the bunker, but you cried and cried until they gave you back to crowley. speaking of, crowley himself was enamored by you. the human blood had him much more sentimental than usual and you were just so disarming. he’d never admit to it, but he has sung you lullabies before. one night, you were having trouble falling asleep and he hummed a lullaby for you. minutes later, sam came to check on you and crowley looked ready to die. to which, you giggled. he does a complete 180° when you're not alone, holding you tightly against his chest and glaring daggers at whoever came in like the person was seen to snatch you up. he always pesters the boys about giving him better conditions for your sake, telling them that you need space and shouldn't have to be without your father. he does it half because he wants to be let out and half because he genuinely wants better things for you. the only experience he has with child raising is his son from hundreds of years ago, and not to mention that you're a little girl. but he makes do. he sits you on his lap and fixes your hair all pretty, holding you up in his arms while he admires his messy attempt at pig tails. when you said ‘dada’ for the first time, he just stared at you for a solid 2 minutes. then..

“what was that, love?”

after he got you to say it again(and again and again and again), he began to cry. and he didn't stop crying until the boys came back from a hunt. he finally started to feel loved because of you, and he was now determined to do everything in his power to make sure you feel that too.

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