Hi everyone!

So, I think I wrote everything in the warnings and obviously I don't own Supernatural (or maybe I do, but I don't want to tell you because I want to keep all that amazing boys just for me!)

So, well, leave me a review and I'll send an Angel to you :-)

Or not.

Thanks to my beta for the hard work!

Well, I hope you'll enjoy the idea! Let me know what you think about it!

From the beginning

Gabriel and Dean have been best friends for a while now. They met almost two years ago, when Gabriel transferred into his school and they caught up immediately. It's still weird to have around someone who knows Dean so well that he doesn't even have to talk to explain himself.

Gabriel has been to Dean's home plenty of times; he met Dean's parents and his brother and has even spent nights at Dean's, but he never mentioned anything about his own home. Dean has been a little curious to be honest, but he never asked. It wasn't his business, and he isn't someone who asks personal questions anyway.

So it has been a shock when less than two minutes ago Gabriel has come to him in a rush, praying for Dean to help him.

Dean was at his locker, making a joke about Meg's hair with Charlie when Gabriel arrived, panting, and shaking like a leaf barely hanging on a branch during the winter.

"Dean –"

Dean had turned with a smile still on his face, ready to give Gabriel a high five for the score he got in his last test. Barely sufficient, but it was still good, considering how bad Gabriel was in chemistry. His smile quickly disappeared as soon as he assessed the situation. Gabriel was out of breath, his hands on his knees, his face oddly pale.

"What's wrong?" He had asked, turning away from Charlie, barely hearing the girl mumbling something about not wanting to be involved in a dude's problem and walking away.

"Please, I need a lift."

Dean raised his brow, "What? I still have a class, you do, too. And you have your car by the way."

"Can't drive," Gabriel answered. It seemed like he was ready to throw up. "Please, Dean, I need to go to the hospital. I need to be there now."

"Why can't you driv – wait, hospital?"

Gabriel sighed, leaning heavily against the locker, "It's about my brother. He is in the hospital and I need to go to him right now. But I'm afraid I can't drive, I mean, I'm shaking and to be honest I think I see dark spots in front –"

And now Dean is scared, really scared, so scared that he doesn't even ask why Gabriel never mentioned having a brother before. Come on, he has talked about Sam a lot, even before Gabriel met him, his little brother came into their speeches, but Gabriel – well, never mind.

He places both his hands on Gabriel's shoulders, "It's okay, and I'm taking you there. Can you walk?"

Gabriel swallows, nodding even if they both know that there is no chance that Gabriel can walk without passing out. Dean sighs, Searching into his bag for a bottle of water and handing it to his friend waiting for him to drink it. "Okay, let's go. Easy, tiger," he says, grabbing his elbow and helping him stay upright.

They barely make it to Dean's car and Gabriel somehow ends up into the passenger seat, resting his head against the window. Dean quickly texts Sam, warning him that he might not be able to come back in time to pick him up and find another way home; Sam is particularly sensitive when it comes to Gabriel and Dean thinks he might have a crush on his best friend. A crush, which thanks to the unaware nature of Gabriel, is growing day by day. So Sam doesn't need to know, Dean doesn't tell him what's going on and when he's done, he finally starts the car.

"Gabe, please say something. You are scaring me."

"I'm sorry, Dean – I just – I need to be there. Oh, God."

"What's wrong with your brother?"

Gabriel sighs, running a hand through his sweaty hair, "I don't know... Could be anything. He's – he's asthmatic. And epileptic. Maybe he had an accident, or someone beat him up. Or –"

Dean rolls his eyes, trying to slow down his heartbeat just thinking that Gabriel is overreacting. There's no time to think 'What if he right?' So he does what a friend is supposed to and tries to calm him down. "It's probably nothing, but... How do you know he is in the hospital?"

"They called me."

"Who?"

"Social Services," Gabriel answers, glancing at Dean out of the corner of his eye, sighing when he sees his shocked face, "Look, man, I can't have this conversation right now," there is something in his eyes that looks like tears and Dean hopes he won't cry because if there is something he can't deal with, it's tears. Especially male tears.

"Doesn't matter. Why did they call you? Where are your parents?"

"They couldn't get a hold of my older brothers and my parents aren't in the picture. Happy now? And please, push on that damn speed –"

Dean grunts, "Can't go faster, okay? You don't want us to end up into a pole on the side of the road. And we are almost there. So, what did they say?"

"I'm not sure."

"How?"

"I dropped the phone halfway through the call so I might have missed something," Gabriel says, still playing with his phone into his hands. He is probably trying to call his brother or whomever else.

Dean doesn't reply at this point. It must be bad, with Social Services involved and missing parents and that damn look on his friend's face. And what's with this younger brother? The silence is so thick that they can almost cut it with a knife, but Gabriel seems so lost into his thoughts that Dean is afraid to say anything; he does his best to breathe quietly, to not disturb him and finally allows his foot to push harder on the accelerator, breaking the speed limit for a good cause.

It takes half an hour from the school to the hospital where Gabriel needs to go, which doesn't happen to be the closest; they make it in barely twenty minutes, but it still seems like hours.

"Here we are," he says, turning into the hospital parking lot. He doesn't bother to park properly, getting out and waiting for Gabriel to do the same. When he doesn't make a move, Dean leans against his side of the car, giving him a questioning look.

"I – I don't think I can stand," he whispers, shaking his head right and left.

"Okay, come on," Dean opens the door, grabbing Gabriel's arm and helping him out. He wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't stand, as he has to lean on Dean. After a couple of steps, he blinks, going still and it looks like he is snapping out of some sort of trance and Dean dumbly stares at him, confused when Gabriel pushes away from him and almost runs through the door.

Dean probably shouldn't follow him; he doesn't even know why he is there anyways. But Gabriel was on the verge of passing out less than two seconds ago, it's probably unwise to leave him alone, so he feels the need to stay with him. What if his brother is dead? Someone needs to take care of Gabriel and even if Dean isn't the best choice, looks like he is the only one.

"Fuck it," he mumbles to himself, following Gabriel to the nurse station, just when the pretty girl behind the desk tells Gabriel that his brother should still be in the ER, second room on the left.

Dean grabs Gabriel by his shoulders, leading him and stops in front of what is supposed to be the right room.

There are three beds inside, but just two of them have someone sitting on them. There is a man with gauze all over his arm, but Dean is almost sure he isn't Gabriel's brother. He should be glad, because the sight of all the blood oozing from the guy's arm through the gauze is pretty sickening.

Well, take it back, it's better than what he sees when he dares to look over the other bed. It's a kid, maybe their own age, or Sam's allegedly and he could definitely be Gabriel's brother. There's a mask covering his face. Dean doesn't know too much about hospitals, but it's a ventilator and if he has it on his face, he is having trouble breathing. He is asthmatic, right? So it's not that bad. Sam is asthmatic too and even if it's terrifying, it's nothing they can't fix.

He is about to tell Gabriel that it's not as bad as he thought, but Gabriel somehow escapes Dean's grasp, his hands were still on his shoulders and neither of them had realized that until now, and rushes to his brother.

There are three people working on him and Dean has trouble figuring out who is the doctor. He realizes it's the younger man when he yells to a nurse to take Gabriel away. One of the two other people grabs Gabriel by his arm, moving him away and Dean realizes that the kid on the bed is unconscious and Gabriel is crying almost hysterically.

"What's – please, what's wrong – please, Cas!"

"Take him away," the doctor says, adding something about shouldn't be allowed here and needing silence. Dean can't get more of the conversation between the ER operators because the nurse who takes Gabriel away asks him to follow.

"Wait here, okay? The kid is in good hands."

"Please, tell me what happened," Gabriel's voice seems unnaturally strong, determined to get the information he wants, but the nurse smiles sadly at him, "You are a minor, I can't tell you."

"It's okay, I'll take care of Gabriel here," says someone behind Dean and the voice is oddly familiar.

"Ellen?" He asks turning into her direction and the woman gives him a surprised look.

"Dean? What are you doing here? Did something happen?"

Dean awkwardly turns back to Gabriel, almost asking him if it's okay to talk, but he isn't paying attention, so Dean glances back at the woman, "I was with him."

"Oh," she seems surprised, so he adds, "Classmates."

"Ellen?" Gabriel asks; his voice impossibly faint.

The woman helps him sit down in one of the empty chairs against the wall, kneeling in front of him. "I just spoke to the nurse at the station, Gabe. He had a crisis. Did you speak to Michael?"

"He wasn't breathing."

"Gabriel, try to focus," she places a hand on Gabe's shoulder, "He was having trouble breathing, it's okay now. Did you call Michael?"

"Did he hit his head? Not again, please."

"Gabriel!" Ellen calls to him again, this time her voice is louder and Dean almost jumps, "Did you call Michael? Speak to him? Does he know?"

It takes a moment for Gabriel to focus enough to answer. He gulps air with the same avidity of someone who had been choking few seconds ago and then swallows a couple times, "Didn't answer. What do we do? What do I do?"

Ellen stands back up, stretching her sore back, "Is he at work? I can go there right now."

There is a moment of silence, after Gabriel's affirmative response and Dean wonders what's holding Ellen here, if this mysterious big brother is at work, unaware of what's going on. After a second or two, he asks, "Should I call mom?"

It seems reasonable. Ellen and Dean's mom have been friends for years, for as long as Dean could remember; to be honest. And he doesn't want to be alone with Gabriel and of course he can't leave him alone, all scared and crying. As childish as it seems, he wants his mom here, and Gabriel could use a nice motherly figure to rely on, too. His mother is awesome when it comes to take care of people and Gabe already loves her.

"Sure. Sure, I'll call her while on my way and ask if she can come and get you," Ellen says. She turns to the nurse, asking her to keep Gabriel updated, then she crouches again in front of teen, "You should go home too, in a while maybe?"

"I'm not leaving Cas alone."

Ellen sighs, deciding that she'll explain everything to Mary. If there is someone she can trust; it's her with no doubt.

"Can I see my brother now?" He asks the nurse when Ellen goes away, after placing a quick kiss on the top of Gabriel's and Dean's head.

"As soon as the doctor comes out. Just be quiet in the meanwhile," she says and leaves.

Dean paces for a while, going halfway through the hallway and back, counting how many steps he is doing, how long he can hold his breath and how far he can make it, before feeling the need to breathe out again. He also notices that the walls have been painted recently. They are pale green in the lower part and white in the upper; the ceiling is white too, but Dean doesn't look at it. Instead he focuses on the thin cracks in front of him, wandering what caused them. Humidity? Or maybe someone punched the wall. Maybe it was a crazy psycho or someone who had just lost his mate and was out of his mind. When it happened, the person who punched the wall probably broke his hand and it must've hurt. Who knows...? And especially, why does he care? He has more important things to take care of.

"Hey, Gabe, how do you feel?"

"I just want to be with my brother."

"Yeah. Right."

Silence, again. Dean doesn't understand why in every damn movie he has seen, the ER is always full of people and voices, and instead there is no one else here. Fuck.

He slowly sits next to his friend, trying to talk to him once more. "So, Ellen," he begins.

"What?"

"How do you know her?"

Gabriel finally looks at him, "Social Services, I told you."

"Gabe?"

"Not now, Dean. Please." He fights back tears, breathing deeply through his nose and when the doctor comes out to talk to him, his cheeks are still red, his eyes still puffy.

Dean patiently waits, giving Gabriel and the doctor a little privacy and when his friend comes to him, he simply says that they are finally allowed in, "They'll move him into a room in a while. It isn't visiting time, so they are keeping him here for a while and let me see him."

"Oh. Good. Is he –?"

"It's not as bad as it could have been. Wanna come in?"

Dean awkwardly sways on the ball of his feet, "I'm not sure it's appropriate," he mumbles.

"Please... I think I could use a little help," he says, adding "And Cassie is dying to meet you. I may have told him about you."

Dean finally nods, following Gabriel inside.

Cassie is small; he looks definitely younger than Dean, even younger than Sam. He is as pale as Gabriel, which is probably justified considering how shaken up he should be. The thing is that his pale skin makes his blue eyes even bigger than what they are supposed to be. They are glassy, both from tears and meds and he is still breathing hard, he has a cannula in his nose and an IV into the crook of his elbow.

"You scared me to death, Cassie," Gabriel says, trying to sound stronger. Dean gets it perfectly; he would do the same if it was Sam in that bed. Pretending to be angry at him, not to show how freaked out he is. Well, Gabriel isn't doing a good job, considering the slim smile on Cassie's white lips.

"Sorry, bro. Did 'm best."

"So, what happened?"

"Passed out in gym class. Don't remember."

Gabriel runs a hand through his brother's hair, smoothing it, "Well, Cassie, I want you to meet someone. Do you still want to meet Dean?"

Cassie nods, a faint smile appearing on his lips and Dean has to admit that he is adorable. He steps closer, waving his hand to say hi and Cassie smiles, "Sorry, can't really shake your hand," he says, motioning to the bandages covering three of his fingers.

"It's okay," Dean replies automatically. Later Gabriel will explain that a convulsing body can easily be injured. "I'm Dean, but I guess you already know."

"Castiel. And I'm sorry if my brother dragged you here."

Gabriel rolls his eyes and Dean smiles.

"How do you feel, Cassie? And I mean it, don't say you are fine, because I might start a scene if you do, okay?"

Castiel closes his eyes, then opens them again, blinking tiredness away, "Sore, but I've been worse. Don't wanna go back there."

"Cas –"

"Gabe, please. I want to come with you," he says like a petulant child, "If you tell Michael, he might agree. Please."

Gabriel turns away from his brother grunting, "Don't use the card of the poor little boy on me, Castiel. Don't you dare."

But Dean sees the puppy dog eyes on Castiel's face and they look just like the ones Sam does when Dean refuses to take him out with his friends. Must be some sort of power only younger brothers have. And Cas, his awesome at the whole puppy dog eyes thing, he looks like an angel and there is no doubt Gabriel won't be able to say no to him.

In fact Gabriel busies himself playing with the wire of Cassie's IV, "I'll think about it, okay?" He says and Dean takes a mental note to ask Gabriel about this later. He hasn't understood much of the conversation.

"You are tired, you should sleep," he adds when Castiel blinks again.

"Don't want you to leave."

"Not leaving, just sleep."

Castiel doesn't need to be told twice. As soon as Gabriel takes his hand, rubbing it with his thumb, Castiel starts to doze off.

When Gabriel rips his eyes off his brother and looks at Dean, it's clear that the entire question in his mind shows up on his face and Gabriel starts to explain, "His school is near the place where my brother works, it's easier for him to pick Cas up if he doesn't feel good."

"Why don't you go there too?"

"Private school is quite expensive. And our school is closer to the house I live in."

"Your home."

"I don't live with my brother, I'm staying with my uncle Ezekiel," Gabriel says but it's clear he is not going to elaborate.

Frankly, Dean is not going to push him right now, later he'll find a way to talk.

"I've been thinking about it too," Gabriel says at some point, "But Michael doesn't want to move him. Everybody knows he is epileptic there, they can help, he says. I think they baby him too much, but what am I supposed to do? Michael already said no."

They are still talking when a nurse comes in, trying to take Castiel away.

"No, no, no please! I said I would stay. I can't leave him! Please!"

"Gabriel, calm down." A deep voice says.

Again, he is at Dean's back and Dean starts to wonder why people always appear behind him. It's a very tall man, Michael; Dean guesses when Gabriel stands up, running into his arms and hugging him so tight that Michael probably can't breathe.

"I'm sorry if he has been bothering you," he says to the nurse, "Just tell me the room you are taking him and I'll be there as soon as possible."

"703, third floor. See you later."

The nurse moves around the barrel, wheeling Castiel away and Michael takes Gabriel out of the room, sitting him on the same chair as before and taking place next to him and rubbing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm staying with him, okay? I won't leave him and you can come back tomorrow. You can skip school if you want. But right now you need to go home."

"No, Mikey, please, no –"

"Gabe, you need to calm, you are shaking."

"But –"

"You are going home right now, okay? No arguing." Michael looks intimidating and Dean thinks it's unfair to treat Gabe like that. "There is a friend of Ellen here. She'd be so nice to take you to Ezekiel. Is that okay?"

Ellen's friend?

With the corner of his eye he sees his mom turning into their hallway and coming into their direction. Thank God.

It takes a while to persuade Gabriel but in the end he goes away with the two of them. He won't go to Ezekiel, though. Dean offered for Gabriel to stay with them and after a while both the brothers agreed on that.