A Little Big Surprise

Chapter 3 ~Part One~

It was late in the morning when the brothers finally woke up, Castiel of course didn't sleep. Dean stretched out his arms as he heard rustling from the kitchen. He patted Sam's arm and both quickly brought out their guns and stalked to the kitchen, Dean not even needing to look back to know Sam was with him. 

They peered into the kitchen and immediately dropped their guns at the sight of Aria and Castiel. Aria was sitting on the floor with Castiel's trench coat drapped over her head and her arms flailing in the sleeves. Cas himself was busy at the stove making what smelled like eggs and cheese with bacon.

"Smells good Cas." Dean said with a grin, walking to him and patting his back.

 Castiel looked over at the brother and then down at Aria, shocking them when they saw him give her a soft smile "Ria was hungry and said she liked eggs and bacon." Sam and Dean looked at each other before looking back down at Aria, who was grinning at Cas before lifting her arms. As Cas lifted her up effortlessly, she buried her little face in his neck and he rubbed her back while looking at the boys "She is actually quite behaved." 

Dean snorted a bit before looking at the stove and then Cas "So what? You playing as her mom?" 

"I am in no form a woman, but she clearly needs taking care of." Cas said before handing her off to Dean. 

Both parties in this exchange looked rather shocked, and Aria gave a whine before reaching for Cas again as Dean made a face "Yeah take her back I don't wanna hold her." 

Sam rolled his eyes as he took her instead "You act like she's poisonous." Aria quite enjoyed the change of hands and ran her small hand's through Sam's hair, all the while humming aimlessly to herself while they spoke. 

"I just don't get it. She's clearly not a baby so why is she acting like one?" Dean mumbled to himself while watching  the eggs cook in the pan. 

Sam shrugged before Castiel spoke up, keeping his eyes on what he was doing "Well as I said before, it is a coping mechanism for dealing with stress, fear, or anxiety." 

Dean sighed and moved his hand in a flamboyant gesture "So we are just supposed to go along with it? Why don't we try and take her out of that 'age regression' thing Cas was talking about? C'mon Sam, put her down. "

Skeptical, Sam set Aria onto the floor as she stared between the three of them in confusion, her grey eyes burying themselves into theirs. Finished with breakfast, Castiel set the plates down onto the table before standing a little ways away, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes furrowed. Sam himself looked uncomfortable, stepping away from Aria and switching his feet every so often, while Dean slipped his hands into his pockets.

"Alright Aria. That's enough of the act, you're not a kid. Snap out of it already will you?" he said, his tone harsher than perhaps necessary. Aria merely stared at him before lifting her arms up and whining, the floor being cold underneath her bare thighs. He tried again "Hey, I mean it. This isn't what we're about, we aren't about to sit here and make you feel better, we have our own problems to deal with, so just stop." Still whining, Aria began to wiggle around the floor, rubbing her left eye. As Dean saw it, she was just being stubborn and it got to him until he finally snapped and grabbed her by her upper arms, standing her up and shaking her slightly, not enough to hurt her but enough to jostle her "Aria! Snap out of it already, Dammit!"

Immediately her eyes widened to the size of plates and she clutched at her own skirt, flinching so violently that if Dean hadn't been holding her she would have fallen. Panic started to rise in her chest as her eyes darted around looking for some type of help before finding none. Slowly her eyes began to grow dimmer, and dimmer until they didn't look all that grey anymore and her face turned while with a green undertone, like she was going to be sick.

"Dean, easy." Sam finally stepped forward and put a hand on his brother's shoulder watching Aria with a calculated glance, "She looks like she-"

Suddenly a nightmarish, horrid, blood chilling screech ripped it's way through the kitchen, echoing strangely off of the walls. At first they thought they were under attack, Cas slipping out his blade while Sam rose his gun and pointed it around in alarm. Then they looked at Aria and the pure terror twisting her face up, her mouth open and letting out that awful scream. Dean shook her again in his own panic, trying to get her to stop making that sound as Sam reached for her as well, smoothing her hair back an attempting to talk over the scream to tell her that she was alright and she didn't have to be scared. It continued still, her body beginning to shake with the effort of keeping it alive as it began to scorch her throat, coming out dryer and certainly more painful than the last. Finally Castiel moved toward her and placed a single finger on her forehead, silencing the scream as Aria fell immediately to sleep. Dean held her up still, looking from Sam to Castiel in utter shock.

"I didn't...what the hell was that?" he said stiffly, lifting Aria so that she laid sideways in his arms. Sam was shaking his head slowly and staring at the small girl who could make such a terrible sound. The sheer amount of pain and fear was enough to make them all think;

What has she been through?

Castiel took Aria from Dean's arms and cradled her against his chest, looking at the brothers evenly, "We are not going to do that again."

It wasn't a question and they nodded in agreement, Dean suddenly feeling ashamed of himself for making her relieve whatever it was that put her in that state. He looked at her blank sleeping face and knew just as Cas and Sam knew. They couldn't take her out of her safe place, and they wouldn't try until she wanted to.