Chapter Text
Castiel wakes with a start, his body soaked in sweat, his breathing erratic. He thought he was done with the nightmares. Amelia has been gone for five years now. He knows logically he will never get over the death of his wife, the woman he swore he would love for all eternity, the woman he still loves, even though he will never get to have her in his arms again. But he thought he would at least be done with the nightmares.
He shuffles to the bathroom in the dark, not wanting to take the time to turn on any lights in the hallway, and throws some water on his face. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His hair is a mess, like he had been trying to rip it from the roots in his sleep, and the bags under his eyes tell him that his sleep has been less than restful for more than just tonight.
When he’s back in his room, he finally registers that it’s 6am and he should be starting his day anyway, so he makes his way down to the kitchen to start the coffee pot and figure out what to make Claire for breakfast. His thoughts go back to his nightmare, which was just a repeat of the day he found out his wife died.
Castiel is sitting in the living room with Claire, watching some cartoon he’s really not paying any attention to. He keeps staring at the clock, wondering what is taking Amelia so long. She said she was running to the store to pick up a few things for dinner, but that was hours ago, and the store is only 20 minutes one way.
There is a knock on the door, which is strange since they aren’t expecting anyone. Maybe Amelia has her hands full and needs help opening the door. He doesn’t think to look through the peephole to make sure it really is her, so he just opens it, and his heart skips a beat when he sees the uniformed officers standing on the other side.
“Mr. Novak?” the one whose nametag reads Mills asks.
“Yes, that’s me,” he tells her with a shaky voice.
“Do you mind if we come in?” the blonde one asks.
“Yeah, of course.” He steps aside so they can enter the house and he asks Claire to go to her room for a minute, unsure of why they are here. “Please, have a seat,” he says, motioning for them to join him as he takes a seat on the couch. They sit near him on the loveseat.
“May I inquire what this is about? I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?” he asks them.
“No, sir,” the blonde, whose name tag has Hanscum written on it, tells him. “I’m afraid there’s no easy way to say this, but there’s been an accident, a terrible accident, Mr. Novak.”
Castiel only receives bits and pieces of the information, his brain all but shutting down at the mention of the words ‘terrible accident’. He holds in his tears as he listens to the police officers tell him that Amelia’s car was involved in a catastrophic car crash, and there was an explosion, and her car caught on fire with her trapped inside. They tell him that, unfortunately, there wasn’t much left for him to be able to identify.
His world seems to be closing in on him. This can’t be happening. She can’t be gone. They were supposed to raise Claire together and grow old together. Now she’s dead and he can’t even see her again because of the fire that took her from him. Claire runs in before they are done talking, and he comforts her as she cries in his lap, wanting to see her mother one last time.
“Daddy?”
Castiel is pulled back to the present as Claire stumbles into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“Hey, baby, did you sleep well?” he asks as she wraps her arms around him to give him a hug.
“It was okay. I thought I heard someone crying, but it must have been in my dream.”
Castiel doesn’t want to burden her with his problems, so he lets her think she was just having a dream. She doesn’t have any memories of Amelia or the accident. She only remembers what her mother looks like because Castiel made a photo album for her to look at whenever she wants.
“Why don’t you have a seat at the table and I’ll make you some pancakes before school, alright?”
“Alright, Daddy.”
Castiel still isn’t used to being a single father even after five years. It’s even more taxing to be a single father when you are the cofounder of the largest manufacturer of military grade weapons in the United States. When he met Amelia, she told him about her dream to produce weapons that could keep the soldiers safe. She had lost her brother to war due to a weapons malfunction and she didn’t want that to happen to anyone else.
The company was in its fifth year of production when she died and he wishes she could see how much it’s grown since her death. He runs a tight ship and won’t let anything leave the factory floor if it’s not up to standard. His employees rarely quit because he makes sure they are paid well and have a good workplace/personal life balance. He hopes that Amelia would be proud of him if she were still alive.
With his long work hours and responsibilities, it’s difficult for him to always be around when Claire needs him. His secretary, Charlie, watches her when he’s not available, and she seems to be able to keep him on track as well. She’s a wizard with the computer and getting information others have failed to find, and he was happy the day she accepted the position with his company.
From the outside, it doesn’t seem like he’s a multibillionaire, but he’s never been one to flaunt what he has. He’s built a life that ensures Claire will be well taken care of, but aside from that, he’s just an average Joe. He lives in a regular neighborhood in a two story, four bedroom house and drives a Lincoln Continental–an older version, not one of the new ones that could probably drive itself–and Claire attends public school.
He was going to set her up in private school, but he learned from a few of his neighbors that private schools are full of nothing but bratty entitled kids who are focused more on social status than schooling. Even though public schools might not be the safest option, he wanted Claire to have a good education, and after doing a ton of research with the help of Charlie, he decided to send Claire to the local public school.
He hasn’t had any complaints from her about anyone bullying her or the teachers being mean, so he thinks he made the right decision. He’s not thrilled with the assbutt, Dick Roman, who is principal of the school, but not everything can be perfect in every situation. Claire is in third grade this year, which he heard is the most difficult year of elementary school, but she seems to be holding her own.
“Here you go, Claire Bear. When you’re done, get dressed for school, and I’ll drop you off on my way to work.”
“Okay.”
She shovels the food into her mouth like she’s never seen a pancake before and it’s the last meal she’s going to eat for months. Castiel just shakes his head as he leaves her to it and hops into the shower, only getting the important bits. He’s wasted enough time daydreaming. He doesn’t need to waste more getting ready for work.
He goes through his closet, unsure of what he’s looking for exactly. His closet is nothing but the same suit, tie, and dress shoes cloned 50 times. He even has a couple pairs of the same tan trench coat in case one gets misplaced or lost. It’s his favorite coat, so he always purchases another one if he sees it at a store, so he has plenty of back ups.
Claire is leaving her room in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt just as Castiel is walking down the hall, wearing suit number 10 from his closet.
“Come on, Daddy, we’re running late. I want to get there in time to talk to Kaia before class starts.”
Castiel offers her a smile. Kaia has been her best friend since kindergarten and Claire does nothing but talk about her like she hung the moon. He thinks it’s sweet that she has a best friend she can talk to anytime. Castiel hurries with grabbing his briefcase and makes sure she has her bookbag before locking up the house and getting into his car.
He can see the excitement on Claire’s face when he arrives at the school and Kaia is standing near the drop off line, waving as soon as she notices his car come into view.
“Bye, Daddy,” Claire says as she rushes out of the car, almost forgetting to shut the door as she runs up to Kaia to give her a hug.
He yells a goodbye and an “I love you” that he’s certain she didn’t hear since she’s now engrossed in whatever story Kaia is telling her that has her grinning from ear to ear. It takes him 30 minutes to get to work with the traffic, and when he makes it to his desk, Charlie rushes in before he even has a chance to sit down and get comfortable.
“Mr. Novak, thank god you’re okay,” she says, not quite as bubbly as she usually is.
“Of course, is there a reason I wouldn’t be?”
“It’s just that you received a very disturbing voicemail this morning, and then you were running late. I was five seconds away from hacking your phone so that I could trace where you were.”
He squints his eyebrows at her. “That sounds highly illegal and unwarranted. Even if someone was after me, I have every weapon I could possibly need at my disposal. Who in their right mind would threaten me?”
“I don’t know, perhaps the CEO of Wesson Munitions, the guy that has been trying to buy you out for years now.”
“I’m not worried about him, Charlie. He’s all bark and no bite, and he doesn’t have close to the appropriate amount of money to buy me out.”
“I think you might want to listen to his voicemail first. I sent it to your phone so you could hear it.”
Castiel hits play on his voicemail as he sits back in his chair.
“Castiel, I have tried reasoning with you for months now, yet you choose to ignore me. If you don’t meet my demands, I’m afraid I will have to get creative, and we both know what happens when I don’t get my way.”
The call ends and Castiel just sighs and rolls his eyes.
“Charlie, this isn’t the least bit threatening. He doesn’t scare me, so you can stop worrying about me.”
“It sounds threatening to me, especially with how nasally he sounds.”
“That’s just his normal voice, I think. I’ve only met him a couple times, but Alistair doesn’t have the best vocals.”
Charlie leaves to return to her desk once she realizes that Castiel isn’t going to cave, and he fires up his computer to check how things are running in the warehouse. Just after his lunch break, he receives a call from the school. He answers it immediately in case it’s an emergency.
“Hello?”
“Hello, may I speak to Casteel Novak, please?”
Castiel should be used to this by now, but it’s frustrating how often people pronounce his name wrong.
“Yes, this is Cas-ti-el,” he answers, making sure to enunciate the letters so she says it properly next time.
“I was just calling, sir, because we have your daughter here in the office. She’s a little shaken up and says a man she’s never seen before was waving at her while she was on the playground. Our security guard checked the perimeter and didn’t see anyone, but she still wanted us to call you since she’s now not feeling well.”
Castiel’s heart drops at hearing this. Was there truly someone there or was Claire seeing things? Would Alistair stoop so low as to try to do something to Claire just to get to him?
“Yes, I’m on my way. Can you tell her I’ll be there as soon as possible, please?”
“Of course,” the woman says.
Castiel rushes out of his office, explaining quickly to Charlie that he won’t be back until tomorrow and to cancel any appointments he might have. He makes it to the school in record time, probably breaking a few laws along the way, but he doesn’t care. He can pay any ticket they throw at him. He needs to focus on getting to his daughter.
The desk lets him in when he rings the bell to be let into the school and he sees Claire sitting at the desk in the office with red rimmed eyes. She runs up to him and he scoops her up.
“Daddy, you made it. I was so scared.”
“It’s okay, baby girl. I’m here now. We can go home.”
She sniffles and looks at him.
“You don’t have to go back to work?”
“Nope, that’s what’s so nice about being the boss. You can come and go as you please.”
She smiles and gives him another hug. He signs her out and informs the lady at the desk that he will let them know if she won’t be attending school tomorrow. He’ll see how the rest of the night goes and make that decision in the morning. He ends up stopping at Dairy Queen on the way to grab two blizzards. He’ll let his ‘no dessert before dinner’ rule slide just this once.
They settle in under a blanket on the couch and watch Frozen while they eat their ice cream and Castiel waits for Claire to tell him what happened, but she doesn’t. He decides to initiate the conversation once the movie is over.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“It was weird. I was playing on the slide with Kaia and I looked over at the fence to see some guy waving and smiling at me, but it wasn’t a nice smile. It was like a smile that the bad guys give people in the movies. I ran to my teacher right away, and then the guy was gone.”
“Are you sure someone was there? Maybe your imagination was getting to you.”
“I’m sure, Daddy. Kaia said she saw him too.”
Castiel is inclined to believe her, especially since her friend saw the man as well. If the man was Alistair or someone he knows, Castiel senses that his daughter might be in danger. Alistair might not be able to scare Castiel, but he obviously has learned that his weakness is his daughter, so he must know that he can get to Castiel through Claire.
“Why don’t you get in the shower and get ready for bed? Daddy has to make a few phone calls.”
“Okay,” she says as she kisses him on the cheek.
Once he hears the water running, he scrolls through his phone to look for the number of a man he knows he can trust, a man who owns a security company and has given Castiel a substantial amount of business over the years.
“Singer Security,” Bobby says on the other line when Castiel finally dials his number.
“Bobby, it’s Castiel. I need a favor.”
“Uh oh, I’d better sit down for this one.”
Castiel hears some noise on the other end, which must be Bobby grabbing a chair to sit in.
“Okay, buddy, what’s up?”
Castiel goes through the story of the threats he’s been receiving from his competitor–if you even want to call him that–and Claire seeing some stranger at school.
“Long story short, Bobby. I need your best guy to be a bodyguard for Claire. I don’t think I would be able to survive if something happened to her.”
“What about you?” Bobby asks.
“I can take care of myself. I just need someone to watch out for Claire. Do you know anyone?”
“I might have someone in mind if he’ll accept, but he’s too stubborn not to try to protect you as well. What kind of payment are we talking about?”
“It will be enough. You should know by now that money is not an issue with me.”
“I do know, which is why I still don’t understand why you drive that piece of crap Continental when you could buy yourself a real car.”
“I’m not having this discussion with you again, Bobby. I like my car and it’s reliable. I’m not going to buy a fancy car just because I can.”
“Alright, princess, you don’t have to tell me again.” He lets out a big sigh like he doesn’t know how to continue the conversation. “I’m going to be honest with you. The man I have in mind doesn’t work with me. He’s someone who’s like a son to me and is trying to readjust to civilian life. He just served 15 years in the Army.”
“That’s an odd number. Most people would have stuck it out for at least 5 more years to get the retirement pay. Is there a reason he didn’t stay in for 20 or even 30? Was it his choice to leave?”
“That’s his story to tell. I wouldn’t send anyone your way that I didn’t trust with my own life. I can give you his name if you want to have Charlie look into him, but as far as protecting your daughter, you won’t find anyone better than him.”
“Alright, just give me his name and number and I’ll set up a meeting.”
“His name’s Dean Winchester and I’ll text you his number.”
“Okay, thank you, Bobby.”
“Anytime.”
As soon as he hangs up and receives Dean’s number, he’s on the phone with Charlie.
“Can you look someone up for me, please?” he says without bothering to say hello.
“Well, hello to you, too. Thanks for calling me to let me know everything is okay with Claire.”
He doesn’t miss the sarcasm in her voice.
“Sorry, everything’s fine. I just need you to look someone up for me to make sure he can be trusted with Claire.”
“Okay, I’ll do my best.”
He gives her Dean’s name and not even 10 minutes later he’s receiving an encrypted email from Charlie. He opens it to find a file with Dean’s information and a message from Charlie stating she wouldn’t just trust him with Claire’s life, she would trust him with the lives of the whole damn country.
He can’t be that good, can he? Castiel answers his own question when he opens the email. It takes him a minute to start looking at the file as he first stares for longer than he’d like to admit at the picture of Dean in his Army dress blues, his emerald green eyes looking back at Castiel.
His file says he was medically discharged from the Army. He’s received two Congressional Medal of Honors, multiple Purple Hearts, and is the most decorated highest ranking officer to ever have served in Special Forces. Castiel knows that some of these records are more than likely classified, but Charlie has a way to get through the red tape. Not only is Dean decorated with every medal known to man, but he’s also an expert in shooting and has the most kills of his unit for the past 50 years.
Castiel doesn’t even second guess picking up the phone and dialing Dean’s number, hoping the man will accept his offer to take care of his little girl.
“Hello?” a raspy voice says on the other line. Perhaps Castiel accidentally woke him up. He’s thrown off by his voice and says the only thing that pops into his head at the moment.
“Hello, Dean.”