Author's note: Dean's a bit of a dick in this chapter, and I apologize in advance. But as I was writing, I got to thinking, "How would I feel if angels that tried to kill me and my baby-mama broke into my house and played with my kid?"

When Dean woke up the next morning, he had been expecting a lot of things. The sound of Sam rummaging through the kitchen. Jimmy's fussing that would soon turn to crying if no one picked him up. That annoying possum (or whatever) that had probably made a nest in the wall. The fluctuating thrum of electricity that was either the generator on the fritz or Castiel using his angel mojo.

What he had not been expecting, however, was the angel sitting next to him in bed. The angel that, once again, was not Cas. "Good morning, Dean Winchester."

"Son of a bitch!" In later retellings, Dean would omit the part where he fell off the bed in surprise, nearly sending Inias to the ground as well as he clung to the sheets. "What the hell are you doing in my bed?!" he shouted from the floor.

Inias tilted his head slightly in the almost-bird-like manner that seemed so commonplace with the angels. "Castiel has told me that humans require… sleep," he said. "And you seemed very peaceful. I did not want to disturb you."

"Thanks for that," Dean muttered as he got to his feet, sounding anything but grateful. "Where's Cas? And Jimmy?" he added with a fresh wave of panic. "Where's Jimmy?!"

"Jimmy is with Castiel and your brother downstairs," Inias said calmly. "With Rachel and Balthazar."

"Of course," Dean replied with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "So I'll ask again—what the hell are you doing in my bed?"

If Inias was at all offended by Dean's tone, he didn't let on. "Castiel informed me of your… cultural differences regarding child-rearing," he said. "And I have come to the conclusion that entering your home, rendering your brother unconscious, and visiting with Jimmy without announcing my presence may have come across to you as rude."

Dean's mouth hung open for a second, and he gave a short nod. "Rude?" he said finally. "Try 'creepy'. Or 'menacing'. Or 'if you ever touch my kid again without permission, I'll roast your wings and serve 'em up extra crispy with buffalo sauce'."

"Yes, Castiel mentioned the importance of acquiring permission with humans," Inias said, plainly ignoring the threat. "I just wanted to apologize."

"Uh…" Dean looked uncomfortable for a moment, which, considering he was clad only in his underwear and a bed sheet with a strange angel sitting cross-legged on his bed, he was well within his rights to be. "Thanks, I guess," he said, and Inias beamed.

"Pound it!" he said happily, extending his fist towards Dean.

Dean reluctantly bumped fists with the angel, then added, "You need to stop watching television." Inias stared at his fist, confused, then shrugged.

There was the sound of rushing wings, and Dean breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped back onto the bed. The alarm clock on the nightstand glowed mockingly with the time—6:14am. He desperately wanted to curl up under the blankets, but the thought of Cas and Sam being outnumbered by a group of baby-crazy angels finally pushed him back to his feet, and he fumbled with the jeans he'd kicked into the corner the night before.

As much as Sam hated to admit it, he found the constant grandmotherly attention the angels gave Jimmy to be one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. Sure, Rachel and Balthazar weren't angels Sam would ever leave his nephew alone with, even on the best of days, but watching the two argue back and forth over whose turn it was to burp the baby warmed his heart in a way that was usually reserved for cute animals and movies with happy endings.

"When do they start speaking?" Rachel asked, after several unsuccessful attempts to converse with Jimmy. "He would be much easier to care for if he could tell us what he wants."

"Uh, probably not until a year or so," Sam said with a shrug. "I'm not sure. That's how long it takes most human babies, anyways."

"I can't imagine he'd have anything interesting to say, in any case," Balthazar commented, as Jimmy gave a high-pitched shriek of laughter. "I'm hungry!" he said in a mock-whine. "I'm tired! My diaper's dirty! This formula tastes like shit!" Castiel gave him an exasperated glare as he took Jimmy from Balthazar's arms, and the latter rolled his eyes. "I'm only joking," he added. "Though I must say, I'm offended that you didn't even consider naming this little lump after your best friend."

Sam snorted into his orange juice, and Cas just shook his head. "I believe your name is a bit… out of the ordinary, by human standards," he said.

"Exactly," Balthazar countered. "Make the little tyke stand out!"

Rachel made a quick grab for Jimmy and popped a bottle into his mouth. "If the next one is a girl, you should name her Rachel," she said primly. "I understand it is a common human name as well."

"The next one?" Dean had been lucky enough to walk in the kitchen as soon as Rachel had opened her mouth. "Cas, something you wanna tell me?"

Cas looked confused for a moment. "Uh," he said with a slight frown, "We're going to need more formula soon?"

Dean rolled his eyes and cut to the chase. "Are you pregnant again?" he asked bluntly.

"What?" If Cas had looked confused before, he was now positively bewildered. "No. What gave you that idea?"

"Well, what's-her-tits over there—"

"Rachel," the aforementioned angel corrected.

"Whatever. She just said 'the next one'!"

"Dean, she was being hypothetical," Sam said, and Rachel nodded. "No one's having any more babies right now."

"Except the cat that's been living outside," Inias supplied helpfully, appearing beside Dean. "A litter of six this time!"

Dean made a face at Inias, then crossed the kitchen to the fridge. "So, Cas," he said, and Sam dropped his head into his arms. He'd lived with Dean long enough to know that tone never meant anything good. "'Bout what you said last night."

Cas didn't reply, and instead stared back warily.

"Is this," he gestured at the group gathered in the kitchen, "going to be a daily thing? I mean, is there ever gonna be a morning where I don't wake up to a house full of these assholes?"

Rachel frowned and gently handed Jimmy back to Cas. "I think I had better go," she said. "This…" she muttered something in Enochian that had Balthazar snickering, "could clearly use some time to himself."

Inias muttered some half-assed excuse as well, and disappeared seconds after Rachel. As soon as the two were gone, Cas fixed Dean with a bitchface that would've made Sam proud.

"Way to go, Dean," Sam muttered.

"What?" Dean glanced from Sam back to Cas. "You guys're acting like I'm the crazy one here! I told you I don't like these guys randomly showing up and grabbing Jimmy! And can I help you?" He directed the last part to Balthazar, who remained lounged in one of the kitchen chairs.

"No, I'm fine," he replied with a smirk. "Just enjoying the show."

"Great." Dean threw his hands up in defeat. "Just great. Cas, can I talk to yo—oh, fucking perfect," he added, as he stared at the empty space Cas had occupied seconds before.

Sam dropped his dishes into the sink with an audible crash, and glared as Dean whipped around to face him. "Don't you think that was, oh, I dunno, a little rude?" he snapped.

"Rude?" Dean let out an affronted laugh, and sank into the chair across from Balthazar. "Listen, Sam, I'm sorry if you've become all buddy-buddy with these feathered freaks, but I seem to recall quite a few of them trying to kill the three of us a few months ago, so forgive me if I'm not exactly comfortable with them being within a hundred miles of my son!"

"Might I interrupt for a moment?" Balthazar asked, raising a hand slightly. Dean's shouted "No!" was drowned out by Sam's "Yes, please!", and he continued as though neither had spoken. "I feel like a bit of a twat for pointing out something you obviously know, but I just have to ask... You do recall that Castiel is one of those 'feathered freaks' you seem so keen on insulting, don't you?"

Dean's smile didn't reach his eyes as he leaned towards Balthazar, elbows resting on the tabletop. "You know what? You're right," he said simply. "You are being a bit of a twat."

Balthazar shrugged. "I understand that you want to protect your son. But try and remember that it takes two to tango. And, well, he's not entirely yours, is he?"

"Yeah, so I've been told."

"Maybe," Balthazar said, with an air of finality, "maybe, if you pulled your head out of your paranoid arse for two seconds, you would realize that Castiel knows his brothers and sisters a little better than you do. Does he seem like the type to willingly put his own child in danger?"

The only way Dean felt the angel's words could have rang out any clearer was if Balthazar had chosen that moment to drop a microphone. He slumped slightly in his chair, and glanced back at Sam, who shrugged with a 'what-do-you-want-me-to-do-about-it' look. "Okay, so I'm a bit of an ass," Dean muttered finally.

"A bit," Sam replied bluntly.

"Like I said," Balthazar said, "I understand that you want to protect Jimmy. But we're not complete psychopaths, contrary to what you might believe." Dean rolled his eyes as the angel continued. "We don't harm our own children, in any case. That would be an unbelievably—how would you say it?—dickish move. Which, I might add, is why so many members of my highly dysfunctional family take great offence to you even suggesting it."

Dean was silent for a moment, which Sam took to be a good sign. After several tense moments of contemplating the scratched tabletop, he looked up. "Okay, fine," he said. "You wanna accept the terms of my surrender?" Balthazar raised an eyebrow, and Sam shook his head. "First things first," Dean continued. "I get that you're all uber-fucking-maternal and shit, and that's fine. That's good. Whatever. But like I told Cas, we need to discuss some boundaries."

"Done." Balthazar straightened up slightly, and nodded. "Name them."

"No more angels showing up in my bed, for one."

"Inias, I presume?"

Dean didn't need to confirm it. "Also, no appearing in the bunker without permission from me, Cas or Sam." Balthazar nodded again. "Good. Second, and most important: No one touches Jimmy without our say-so."

"I can agree to that."

Dean looked a bit surprised. "Well… okay, then," he said, holding out his hand to the other angel, only belatedly remembering that angels don't do the whole hand-shake thing. Luckily, Balthazar seemed to catch on faster than his siblings, and mirrored Dean with only a brief hesitation.

"Oh, one more thing," Dean said in a rush. "Don't let Inias watch anymore TV. Guy was telling me to 'pound it' earlier, and if he's doing fist-bumps already, he's only a hop, skip and a jump away from running around screaming 'yolo'."