Two years later....

It had been a quiet night in the Novak House, almost suspiciously so. Michael and Lucifer, despite being in their first year of teenagerhood, hadn't tried to kill each other in hours. Anna and Balthazar weren't at each other's throats, Gabriel hadn't pranked anyone, and Castiel had barely spoken three words all day.

Chuck thought it might've had something to do with the room changes.

Previously, Michael, Lucifer, and Balthazar had shared a room. Castiel and Gabriel had another, and Anna and Hannha shared the third. But Lucifer and Michael fought so much that Chuck had decided to switch things around.

He cleaned out the basement and put up a couple walls and turned the space into two bedrooms. Lucifer had immediately claimed the bigger one, and no one had any objections to confining Satan to the basement. 

Chuck had wanted to put Balthazar in the other room, seeing as Michael had basically kicked his brother out of their room, demanding his own space, but it hadn't quite worked that way. Instead Anna had taken the other room, and Balthazar dumped his stuff in Hannah's room and proceeded to alternate sleeping in everyone's bedroom. He was a nomad, Balthazar declared, and it was about time he started living like one. 

Some people thought it was weird that Chuck let his 12 year old son share a room with his 8 year old daughter, but Hannah and Balthazar were best friends, unlike Anna and Hannah had been, so Chuck didn't really care what anyone else said. If it kept the peace in his house, then it worked.

And as all the kids retreated to their rooms, Chuck sat in the kitchen, thinking he might actually get a peaceful night to himself.

Never. Why would he ever get a calm night? 

But it wasn't screaming children that interrupted him this time. It was Castiel, who trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen, looking a bit disappointed and worried.

"Hey Cassie," Chuck smiled at him. Castiel attempted to smile back, but it was strained.

"Hi."

"What's wrong?" 

"Nothing."

"You're a horrible liar." Cas sighed and sat down.

"It's Charlie." Chuck sat down, now concerned. Charlie was Cas's best friend; his really only friend. If they were fighting...

"What happened?"

"She's at a sleepover party at Dorothy's tonight, and she's never been to Dorothy's house before, and she seemed really nervous about going, and my best friend sense keeps telling me she's not having a good time, so I feel bad."

"Well maybe your best friend senses are wrong, and she's having a great time," Chuck insisted.

"No. My Charlie sense is NEVER wrong."

"Well, if you were so nervous about her, why didn't you go to the party with her?"

"I wasn't invited." Chuck frowned.

"Why not?" Cas sighed.

"It's a GIRLS ONLY party. Dorothy's mom won't let boys stay over." Chuck fought the urge to roll his eyes. He never understood the concept of girls or boys only parties. The kids were barely nine. What did Dorothy's mom REALLY think was gonna happen?

That was why he let his kids have sleepovers with whoever they wanted. Charlie had slept over more times than he could count. She loved staying at their house.

"I'm sure Charlie will be fine," Chuck insisted. "She's tough."

"I guess." Cas frowned, and Chuck got the feeling that he hadn't really helped at all, but what was he supposed to do?

****

Three hours later, the kids had fallen asleep, and Chuck was just about to call it quits himself when the phone ran. Who would be calling him at 11:30 at night, he had no idea, but he picked up the phone anyways.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hello, is- is this Chuck Novak?" A female voice questioned.

"Yes, who's this?"

"I'm Susan Baum, Dorothy's mother? Gosh, I hate doing this, but I didn't know who else to call, and it's such a terrible situation that I-"

"What is it?"

"I was told that your son is friends with Charlie Bradbury? The girls said he and Charlie were really close, so I thought you might be better at this than me-"

"Better at what? Is something wrong with Charlie?"

"Well it's just- oh, it's so tragic, I just..." Susan let out a sigh. "Charlie got scared and she called her parents to pick her up, but they got into a car accident on the way over, and so I took her to the hospital to see them, but I've got the rest of the girls from Dorothy's party to look after, and someone has to pick the poor dear up and I can't-"

"Hold on a minute- are Charlie's parents okay?"

"I don't know."

"And you just LEFT HER at the hospital by HERSELF?"

"Well you know how it is! I couldn't trust my husband to look after the girls on his own, and they're already in a fuss because Charlie was crying so much, and Dorothy's just having a fit and I-" 

"I'll pick up Charlie." Chuck cut her off, and he hung up the phone, not quite believing what he had just heard.

What kind of person would abandon a scared girl whose parents had just been in an accident? That was a whole new level of evil.

Amara was NOT pleased to be dragged out of bed and forced to make the trek over to Chuck's house to make sure nothing horrible happened to his kids while he was gone, but Chuck didn't really care what his sister thought.

He was more worried about where Charlie was, and- oh god, Cas had been so worried about her earlier and she must be so scared....

In a split second decision, Chuck went up to Castiel's room and gently shook his son awake.

"Hmm?" Cas cracked open his eyes, sleepy and confused.

"Cassie," Chuck said gently. "I need you to get up, buddy."

"Why?"

"Charlie's parents were in an accident and I have to go pick her up, but I think she needs a friend right now." Cas's eyes widened.

"Are her parents okay?"

"I don't know yet, but that's what we're gonna find out, so come on, let's go."

So he and Cas drove to the hospital and, after a bit of searching, found Charlie sitting on a plastic chair while a nurse talked to her.

She burst into tears just as they reached her, and Cas immediately ran over to hug her as the nurse turned to Chuck.

"Are you here to pick her up?" The nurse asked, and Chuck nodded.

"Yeah, I'm a...family friend. What happened, exactly?" The nurse's face grew solemn. 

"I'm very sorry," She said gently. "But I'm afraid Mr. and Mrs. Bradbury didn't make it." Chuck stared at her.

And stared some more.

"Does-" He started. "Does Charlie-"

"I just told her," The nurse said. Well, that explained why the poor girl was falling apart in Cas's arms. 

"But what happens to her now?" Chuck asked, worried. To his knowledge, Charlie didn't have any other family around here, and he and Cas had been to enough parties at the Bradbury House that someone would've at least been mentioned-

The nurse shrugged.

"I don't know," She offered. "It depends on what was in her parents' will. If she has a relative or godparents or a close family friend, she'll stay with them, and if not, then likely Child Protective Services will put her into foster care or something." Chuck stared at her more.

Child Protective Services was not a fun place. He knew that much. But maybe Charlie wouldn't have to go there, maybe she had a godparent or her parents had left a plan of some sort...

Slowly he got Charlie into the car, and Cas climbed in next to her, refusing to stop hugging her as Charlie kept crying.

"What happens now?" Cas asked, looking to Chuck for any sort of answer.

"Now..." Chuck thought for a moment and then turned to look back at the kids. "Charlie, you're gonna stay at our place for now, okay?" Charlie nodded, her sobs growing softer. "Do you know if you have any relatives or family friends anywhere that might take you in or-" Charlie shook her head, more tears falling down her face.

"No one," She said hoarsely. "My parents don't have siblings, and my grandparents are dead. Their friends live all the way in Michigan but they...." She sniffled. "They're not the sort that really like kids."

Chuck stared at her, his heart breaking. So it would be CPS after all. Charlie let out another sob and Cas hugged her tighter.

"What do I do, Cassie?" She whispered. "I don't- I don't know what to do-"

"We'll figure it out," Cas insisted. "You're gonna be okay, Charlie, I promise. I'm not going anywhere, I got you."

Chuck rubbed at his eyes, thinking to himself, trying to work out what he could do. He couldn't let Charlie be thrown into foster care. Not like this. He couldn't let her and Cas be separated, not at a time when Charlie needed her friend most. She'd never recover.

When they got back to the house, Cas led Charlie upstairs, mumbling about how she could borrow a pair of pajamas, and she could sleep in his bed, he didn't mind. Amara turned to Chuck, awaiting answers.

"Are they-" She started.

"Her parents died," Chuck said, staring off into space. "Amara, she doesn't have anyone else to stay with."

"Chuck..."

"She doesn't have anyone else. Just Castiel. Just...us."

"Chuck, I don't want you to make any sort of rash decision-" Chuck locked eyes with his sister.

"I'm not rash at all," He declared. "I'm just gonna become her legal guardian."

"Chuck. You have seven children already, you can't just start adding more to the mix-"

"It's not up for discussion." Chuck said firmly. "She has no one right now, and we're going to be there for her. I don't know how I'm going to do it, I don't know if I'm even legally allowed to do it, but she's staying here." Amara sighed.

"Your heart's too big, you know that, right?"

"I don't think that's a problem."

"You know, if you get one more kid, you'll have enough for a softball team."

"Sounds good to me."