"Castiel!" Gabriel cried, cupping his hands around his mouth and running frantically through Heaven as he searched for his littlest and favourite brother.

Finally he spotted a small head of black hair amidst bushes and beneath a large tree. "There you are Castiel! Why are you…" he trailed off as he finally saw his brother fully. "Oh Castiel." he sighed crouching down in front of the smallest angel.

Castiel was curled in a small ball, his knees drawn up to his chest and his hands clamped tightly over his ears. The fledgling's eyes were squeezed shut but Gabriel could see the silvery tears trailing down his cheeks. Castiel was murmuring to himself and Gabriel leaned forward to hear the mantra that his baby brother was chanting. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up."

So Castiel had heard them then. Lucifer and Michael had been fighting more and more lately, their yells and screams echoing throughout all of heaven. It was too much to hope that baby Castiel hadn't heard them. Gabriel pried Castiel's tiny hands away from his ears and held them gently in his own, larger hands. Castiel looked up at him, his large innocent blue eyes filled with tears and sniffed. "Why do they fight, Gabe? Why can't they be nice?"

Gabriel sat down beside his brother and pulled Castiel into his lap. "I don't know, Cassie. When I was a fledgling, they were the best of friends, now? I don't know."

They fell silent soaking up the comfort of the other and trying to ignore the fight they could hear raging through Heaven. "Hush baby, hush Cassie." Gabriel murmured into Castiel's silky black locks as he pulled the baby angel even closer. Castiel leaned into his chest and played with the long fingers of one of Gabriel's hands with both of his. Gabriel hummed a soft hymn to try to lull Castiel to sleep and for a moment there was peace.

It was broken however when they and all of heaven felt the explosion of Grace that was the result of an angel falling. Castiel screamed and whimpered, pushing back into Gabriel and drawing the hand clutched between his to his chest and digging his head into the space under Gabriel's arm as he sobbed violently, the pain of a brother's fall too much for the baby angel to bear. Gabriel's breath caught in his throat and tears poured from his brown eyes onto Castiel's hair as he was pulled into the archangel's embrace, the elder brother curling up on the ground as if trying to shield his baby brother from the pain and horror that every angel could feel.

Gabriel tried to calm his brother, nearly choking on his tears. "Shh Cassie, it'll be ok. Calm down baby." he eventually lulled Castiel into a grief induced stupor as Gabriel murmured soothing words and stroked his tiny face and soft hair. Laying the smallest angel he had ever seen down on a bed of leaves and flowers, Gabriel knelt beside him and pressed his lips to the warm forehead and carded a hand through the soft hair. "I'm sorry baby." he whispered and he knew he would have to move fast, have to get away before Michael came looking for him. Gabriel couldn't face him, couldn't look into the eyes of the brother who threw his favourite brother, his mentor, his best friend down to the pit.

Laying one last kiss to Castiel's head and murmuring another apology Gabriel was struck with a sudden idea. Shrugging off the trench coat he always wore he carefully draped it over his baby brother and tucked it warmly around his small body, smiling as small fingers fisted handfuls of the material and pulling it up to his face, the sweet smell of candy lulling the fledgling into a deep sleep.

Standing, Gabriel looked sadly down at the tiny figure of the fledgling that he saw as his own, rather than as his brother. "I love you Castiel. Never forget that. Never forget Cassie. Please." And with that the youngest archangel spread his six golden wings and took flight, leaving Heaven, never to return.

Gabriel missed Michael's search for him, missed seeing the eldest angel finding the youngest and smiling sadly down at the small curled figure dwarfed by the large, warm trench coat. He knelt beside the youngest and smallest fledgling and scooped him easily up into his arms, still wrapped in the coat. "Come along Castiel. I may have failed our brothers but there is always hope. You shall see Gabriel again. I am sure of it."

He was right of course but Castiel only felt his heart break and sink in disappointment and betrayal as he looked into the emotionless and pain-filled pits that were once his brother's warm and kind brown eyes. This wasn't the Gabriel he had loved and who had loved him like his own. They may still love each other but they had changed too much to return to that easy love and trust they had had before.

Their bond was too damaged...just like Heaven.