Trails To Happiness

Clarity

(Narrator POV)
Castiel and Dean had been married for over a year, and a lot had happened since their big day the last summer.

Charlie had graduated early and started her game company called Queen of Moons Gaming after her often-used LARPing alias, and she had also moved in with Jo down there. She was going to move back home, but then decided to wait for Jo to finish up her year.

Sam had a couple more years at Stanford and then he planned to go to a law school closer to everyone in Sioux Falls.

All the businesses owned by everyone in the family were striving and making a nice amount of money that made everyone proud.

Dean and Cas also had some animal additions to the family. They had gotten Castiel his bees and Dean his dog (a 1-year-old female Australian Shepard) named Flower, but there had been more creatures added.

Cas had gotten some chickens for the coop and had found two kittens that they kept inside. They were siblings, one all black boy named Rat and one grey girl with white paws named Mouse.

Another change at the house included a vegetable garden that had been started with other fruit plants/trees nearby, and a separate flower garden had begun as well.

They had just celebrated their anniversary over six months prior, and Dean had gotten Castiel a used blue truck that he had wanted and Dean had fixed it up for him. Cas gave Dean a high-end grill and a smoker.

It was all very domestic, but they were both pleased beyond belief.

Everything was going fairly normal for the two, until one day Castiel received a call from a hospital in Illinois that made him beyond confused.

"Dean, do we know anybody in Illinois?" Cas asked his husband while the nurse that called was trying to find the right paperwork for something pertaining to them.

He muted their end of the phone before asking though, obviously.

Castiel was sitting at the dining room table painting (a hobby of his) while Dean was next to him cleaning and reassembling his guns (one of his hobbies that was bordering obsession).

He paused in his work to think for a moment before answering. "Uh, I don't think so? I mean, Gabe could be off on one of his adventures, but I can't fathom why he'd go to Illinois. Why?"

The nurse made a noise that alerted Castiel that she had found what she was looking for, so he turned himself off mute and put her on speaker so Dean could hear too.

"Hi, sorry about that, sir. I couldn't find the exact form and I'm sure you'll have questions once I deliver the news." The nurse told them. She seemed new, if her excited/nervous tone was any indication.

"That's fine. What news?" Castiel asked. He was trying to sound polite, but he was losing some of his manners to the nerves.

"Well, I'm not really sure how to tell you this, but one of your family members came in today and gave birth. Now, you're probably wondering 'why are you calling me then?'. Well, that is an excellent question. You see, the parents didn't want the baby, and apparently had already signed away their rights to you and your husband. I'm not really sure how that's possible without your consent, but I got the idea that they had some pull at City Hall, if y'know what I mean." She gave an awkward laugh that was cut off suddenly. "Crap, you probably have pull too! I'm so sorry, I don't know what made me say-."

"Wait, wait. Did you say that there's a baby?" Cas cut her off, and looked at his stock-still husband who appeared to be in shock.

"Y-yes." The nurse stuttered out in answer.