It was 3:45 am and Dean was trying his goddamn best to not grab the car and go looking for his daughter himself. He had told her twice that she was not going out this weekend and that had led to a nasty argument about being “old enough to go” and “my house, my rules”. Still, Dean wasn’t about to let his little girl go to a frat party. Not that Dean didn’t go to his share of frat parties himself, that’s beside the point. She was just 17 for fuck’s sake, she shouldn’t even have friends old enough to be in college.
He spent the last 15 minutes pacing back and forth, knowing he was driving Cas crazy, but it didn’t matter because he was absolutely sure that Cas wasn’t as calm as he tried to make him believe.
"Will you please stop pacing like that? It’s annoying" Castiel says.
"Where is she?" he practically growls, "I told her not to go out, dammit."
"Telling a teenager not to do something is a direct order to do something. That’s why I didn’t answer when she asked me if she could go out. I thought if we ignored her request it may have eventually gone away"
"That’s not how we’re supposed to deal with this kind of thing, Cas, we’re supposed to enforce our authority or something. Just ask Sammy to give you one of his talks again"
Castiel lets out an impatient breath as if he really doesn’t understand why that’s the wrong approach. Never mind Cas has always spoiled their daughter when Dean doesn’t want to give in. He sits in the table in front of Cas and just a few seconds later they hear a bike stopping in their front steps and Dean fucking loses it.
He stands up and walks to the door when he hears Claire fumbling with her keys. So she’s not getting in by the window, Dean ponders. She either doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of her date or she was drinking and she's afraid to break her neck.
Cas has approached the door too and is waiting with him, concern painted in his features. Dean knows his face shows the exact same emotion, at least until Claire opens the door and stumbles a little. Now he knows he looks angry as hell.
Claire attempts to close the door silently, but startles when she turns around to find her parents waiting for her. Cas turns on the light and their daughter visibly flinches.
"Dad, Papa. It’s really not what you think" states Claire.
Dean’s forehead hurts after so much heavy scowling and yet he can’t take it out of his face.
"Where the hell have you been, Claire?" he said, short of barking the question.
"I told you I had a party tonight." Her voice was barely a whisper, possibly aware that she didn’t have the upper hand here.
"And I told you you couldn’t go. Why did you disobey me?"
"Oh, come on Dad, it was just a party. And Aunt Charlie told me about all the times you sneaked out of your house to go to a party."
Dean is positively angry right now. At Claire for listening to Charlie, at Charlie for talking to Claire, at himself for befriending Charlie all the way back in high school.
"How much did you have to drink?" Dean asks.
"I didn’t drink any—"
"Bullshit!" Dean snaps. He doesn’t raise his voice, but he doesn’t need to. Claire flinches.
"Dean." Cas warns. Dean takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. Then Cas adds "Claire, I can smell the alcohol from here and you stumbled to get inside. I think it’s fair to say you’re drunk."
"I’m not that drunk, Papa” she mumbles.
Heavy silence follows that sentence.
"Phone and keys. Now" Dean demands.
"Da-ad!" his daughter protests.
"Do as your father says, Claire." Cas chimes in.
Claire rolls her eyes but pulls her phone out of her jacket and gives it to Dean along with the keys she had in her hands.
"Now you’ll go to bed and tomorrow we can discuss how long you’re grounded for." Dean remarks.
"But—"
"Go to bed, Claire," Cas says. Claire huffs but goes up the stairs, leaning on the wall only a little.
Once she enters her room and slams the door, Dean lets out a breath he’s been holding for the last two minutes. He hears little steps behind him and looks up the stairs to find the twins looking down at him, a little scared.
"What’s wrong?" asks Natalia. Alex is right behind her, not daring to face his parents as if they could get grounded too.
"Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart. Go back to sleep" Dean responds as Cas takes the stairs two steps at a time.
"Let’s go to bed, kids. Say goodnight to Daddy."
“‘Night, Dad,” Alex mumbles. When Natalia doesn’t say anything, Cas lightly nudges her shoulder and whispers “Nat.”
"Goodnight Dad." she says and follows her brother and father into the room.
Now that he’s not overwhelmed by worry, Dean realizes how tired he feels. It’s been a long, long day for him and he really wants a beer right now but he’s so tired that he just goes up the stairs and heads to the master room. He changes into his pajamas, some worn down pants and an old t-shirt, and gets into bed. Cas enters the bedroom just a few minutes later while Dean is already dozing off. He barely registers as Cas strips down and gets into a pair of Dean’s old pants and gets in the bed.
"Are the kids sleeping?" Dean asks. Cas hums a yes and then reaches to touch Dean’s face. "I was so worried," he confesses.
"I know, Dean. I was too."
"But you didn’t yell at her."
"You can apologize to her tomorrow morning, right after she explains what God’s heaven she was thinking riding a motorcycle in that state."
Dean shakes his head and closes the distance between him and Cas. Their kiss is slow and warm, the only comfort they need right now. Dean bites lightly Cas’ lower lip and then runs his tongue over it, tasting minty toothpaste and Cas. The man parts his lips and Dean deepens the kiss, drowning in the feeling of Cas right by his side, ready to ground him every time he needs to.
They kiss for a while, their kisses becoming lazier as they drift to sleep in each other’s arms.
Dean wakes up with the sound of his husband singing loudly in the shower. He covers his head with a pillow, then pays more attention and realizes that he’s singing Believe it or not by Greatest American Hero, the song he used to sing to Claire to make her sleep. He smiles and decides to join Cas in the shower.
The shower took about 20 minutes more than usual but it was worth it. He takes out a bowl of cereal, sets it on the table for Cas —he’ll eat his nasty high fiber cereal and some fruit salad claiming that was enough, yet he always finds a reason to get some of Dean’s bacon off his plate— and gets started on some real breakfast for the rest of his family. He’s frying bacon and chopping some mushrooms because why not, when Alex and Nat enter the room running.
"I won! I won!" Nat yells .
"You cheated!" replies Alex.
"No, I didn’t"
"Yes, you did. Dad, Nat cheated to get here first." He can bet that it’s true since he had let the kids stay with Ash too often when they were little and he’s been regretting it for years now.
"Kids, please don’t run in the kitchen" Cas says as he enters the kitchen setting a baby monitor on the counter. Then walks to the pantry, takes out two more cereal bowls and puts them in the table.
"I don’t want cereal, I want French toast" Nat announces.
"Nat, you ate my French toast yesterday. It’s cereal and fruit for you today" Dean replies. Nat pouts and gives him the puppy eyes, but he looks away before they get to him, because at some point they always get to him.
"Is Henry still asleep?" Dean asks, knowing what Cas already checked on him but needing reassurance anyway.
"Like a log"
Dean checks his bacon and when it’s ready puts it on a plate. Then he throws the chopped mushrooms in the same pan and goes to the refrigerator to pick up some eggs. He makes an omelet for Cas and one for him and is just about to sit down when Claire comes in holding Henry.
"That monitor is crap and you know it" she states. Dean trips as he stands up to pick up his son from his daughter’s arms. The twins laugh and Claire smirks, but he doesn’t really care.
"What happened?"
"He was making little baby noises I could hear from my room and since I couldn’t go back to sleep and I didn’t hear you guys coming to check on him I went and brought him here. You’re welcome."
Henry is not crying and doesn’t smell but he still checks him up. He notices that he’s wearing a different pajamas than last night and he assumes that Claire changed him before bringing him in as a peace offer. Well, she ain’t gonna get out of it that easily.
"Dadadadada", Henry says.
"Yes, Henry, I know" Dean lies. He doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t even know how he’s managed to survive three kids to be holding a fourth.
Cas is frowning as he checks the monitor with a question in his face. Meanwhile, Dean sits their toddler in his tall chair, gives him his cup filled with milk and sits down in his place. Cas is gonna have to take this one, because he seriously needs some fuel before the conversation they’re about to have with Claire.
"There’s aspirin in the bathroom for your hangover, Claire" Cas says as he prepares Henry’s breakfast.
"I already took two. I’m just gonna make myself some coffee and head back upstairs."
"Claire, sit down. I’ll make you something to eat" Cas remarks. Their daughter smiles brightly and sits next to Alex.
During breakfast, they make small talk about what Alex and Nat are learning at school, what they want to do for their vacations, where Claire is planning to go when summer arrives —at that Dean clenches his jaw and pretends he didn’t hear her making plans to go by herself since he’s 110% sure that she’s just provoking him.
When they’re done, Dean leaves Claire in dish duty as he cleans Henry’s face. Cas offers the kids take them to the park in the afternoon if they go get ready by themselves and do their homework early.
Claire groans as she cleans up the table and puts the dishes in the sink. “Why don’t we find someone to fix our dishwasher? We’d save a lot of time.”
"This way, we save a lot of money" Cas chimes in.
Claire takes her time doing the dishes, knowing they’re going to bring up last night’s incident. When she’s done, she sits in front of Dean who’s now holding Henry in his lap. Cas, who went to check on the twins, comes back and sits besides Dean.
"Dad, Papa. I’m sorry, I won’t escape through the window again" she says, eyes trained on the table, but Dean can see the way she’s tapping her fingers on the table, a telltale sign that she’s lying. Cas seems to notice it too as his gaze flickers towards Dean and then goes back to their daughter.
"Claire, I know you want to go out and have a good time but we already talked about this. We agreed on two parties a month and either your Dad or I go to pick you up. I thought we were clear about what would happen if those rules were broken.” Their daughter keeps her eyes on the table. "Claire, please look at me when I’m talking to you"
Claire eyes him hesitantly. "You’re 17, I understand parties are attractive to you and you want more space, but we want you to be safe and escaping through your window with us having no clue as to where you are drives us crazy with worry. We just want to protect you."
When a minute passes and their daughter doesn’t say anything, Dean intervenes.
"Look, Claire. I’m sorry for snapping at you last night. I truly am and I want you to forgive me, but you gotta understand that I don’t wanna see you getting hurt in any way. You’re not a kid anymore, your father and I can’t keep an eye on you all the time and it kills me to know something could happen to you and I won’t be there to help you. What if you’d fallen off the bike you were riding? And don’t tell me you didn’t arrive on a bike because we fucking heard it park outside" he hastily adds when Claire opens her mouth to interrupt. "I told you I don’t want you to stay at home every friday night sulking in your room, but I wanna know where you are in case something happens, okay? Damn, if you were that keen on going out last night we could have negotiated it, but you can’t just disappear on me like that.” His voice breaks at the last part, hating the thought of his daughter running away from them.
Dean watches her swallow and then she whispers. ”I’m sorry Dad. I’m sorry Papa.”
Cas moves in his chair, the offer of comfort clear in his movements. Their daughter stands up and hurries to sit on his lap and hug him. “I’m sorry” she whispers again.
Dean maneuvers Henry on his lap and reaches out to run a soothing hand over his daughter’s arm. She looks up to him. “I’m sorry” she repeats.
"Apology accepted," he mumbles. "I’m sorry about last night too. You forgive me for snapping last night?"
She nods and catches his hand between her soft, small hands, squeezing.
"Okay, we still gotta talk about your punishment though," Dean observes.
"But Dad—"
"No buts, Claire." Cas barges in. "First, you disobeyed us and escaped through your window to go to a frat party. Then you drank, which is not only illegal at your age, but forbidden when you go out with Ethan. And third, you were drunk enough to stumble when you got in, which means you put yourself in great danger riding that bike. That’s three faults in one night. What do you have to say in your defense?"
"How do you know Ethan’s name?" she asks instead, slightly horrified.
"It was an accident."
"How?" she demands, glowering at Cas.
"I ran into him at the store and he’s dropped you enough times that I recognized his face."
Claire doesn’t look satisfied with the answer but lets it go in favor of keeping some of her privileges.
"Ok, I know I fucked up." Cas flinches when he hears Claire swear but doesn’t say anything. "But I thought I was allowed to drink once in a while?"
"I never said that," Cas argues.
"But I know Dad drank when he was 17, maybe even before."
"That doesn’t mean you have to do it. Besides, it’s illegal."
"But no one was caught."
"Don’t go there, Claire," Dean mutters. Cas sends a disapproving glare in his direction.
"Claire, this is not the first time we talk about it. You can’t be drinking alcohol. It’s not healthy, it’s not ‘cool’ and it’s not legal. You’re losing your phone for two weeks. You can only take it to school where you’ll check in at least twice a day. You lose it as soon as you get in the car when I pick you up."
"What? Picking me up?"
"Two weeks without car privileges" Cas explains.
"But what if it’s an emergency?"
"There’s a high chance I’m home to deal with it" Cas replies.
"What if you can’t drive? Or tell me what to do?"
"Claire" Dean warns, wishing to all the gods they’re never in that situation.
"Fine," she concedes.
"And you’re losing partying privileges for a month," Dean adds.
"What?"
"Sorry but last night was enough for some time." Dean answers. "I don’t wanna be worrying about your whereabouts every weekend for the next month. You’ll be home at nine tops for the foreseeable future or you’ll be stuck on dish duty for a month. Now, I’m pretty sure you have homework to do, so get to it."
Claire leaves the room in a sulking mess, murmuring about emotional manipulation and unfair punishments.
After a moment of tense silence Cas ponders “Maybe we should have let her have her phone or something. She’s gonna be really mad at us now.”
"She’s keeping the laptop, I think that’s enough." Dean replies. As an afterthought he adds "we shouldn’t let Jo go telling her stories about high school. I’m pretty sure that’s where she’s getting ideas from."
Cas shakes his head and stands up. “I’m gonna go get some writing done. I really want to take the kids out for the afternoon.”
Dean purses his lips to get a goodbye kiss. Wordlessly, Cas rolls his eyes and leans down, giving him a chaste peck on the lips. Dean smiles and then turns all his attention to the toddler in his lap.