"Alright," he groaned, stretching his back as he stood from his chair, "Gotta blaze."

"And just where do ya think you're going, ya idjit?" Bobby called from the door, "Your shift's not over 'til another half hour."

Dean turned to look at him with his trademark grin, "Andy's covering for me."

The old man shook his head, failing to suppress the small chuckle that left his mouth, "I swear, that kid admires you too much." He sent him a light glare, "One of these days he'll just do all your work while you're off flirting with the girls at the Roadhouse."

The detective's grin widened, "Aw, come on, Chief. You know I'd never skip work." He swung his jacket over his shoulder, "I'd miss you too much."

Bobby rolled his eyes, "Idjit," he grumbled, "Why are you in such a hurry anyway?"

Dean walked around the room, fitting his car keys and cell phone in his pocket as he made it to the door, "Told Gabe I'd drive by today. His little brother's coming over to live with him."

The Chief of police frowned; "Brother?" he raised his eyebrows, "Never knew he had any."

"You and me both," Dean replied as they walked toward the exit, "Apparently he's kind of worried about him. Said he'd been going through a rough time or something." He looked at Bobby, "Just thought I'd go over and meet the guy, you know?" he shrugged, "The way Gabe sounded…" he frowned, "It's gotta be something serious, Bobby." He sighed, "I've known the guy for years, and I've never seen him that worried."

Bobby nodded in understanding. He wasn't surprised by Dean's behavior; the boy had this tendency of making sure everyone was all right, even if he didn't know the person that well (or at all). Moreover, the fact that this was Gabriel's younger brother made it almost something personal for Dean.

He sighed, coming to a stop as they reached the exit, "Alright. Just keep me posted." He gave him serious look, "Don't go and solve anythin' on your own, you hear me?"

"Roger that," Dean smiled, slapping the officer's shoulder before making it out the door.


Gabriel pushed the door open, dragging a suitcase behind him and waiting for his brother to follow. Castiel gave him a quiet thank you as he held the door for him, walking into the dark Café with another suitcase rolling behind.

The shorter man sighed, walking towards the door behind the counter that led to his apartment upstairs, "Come on, bro." He heard his brother's footsteps behind him.

As they reached the house, he tossed his keys on the table by the entrance, and lead Castiel to the guest room. "Home sweet home," he sung, trying to sound like his usual self; he knew his brother didn't like to see him sad. "I know it's not what you're used to, but at least it has a nice view, don't you think?" he grinned.

Castiel looked around, tired blue eyes taking in the single bed with dark covers and the large window. It looked over a park, now desert as children were still supposed to be in school. Gabriel knew how much he loved parks. A small smile tugged at his lips, and Gabriel felt his shoulders relax as Castiel gave him a grateful look, "Yes. Thank you, Gabriel."

"No need, Cassie," he laughed, feeling lighter as he saw Castiel frown at his old nickname, "What are brothers for?" he winked.

His little brother's shoulders shook with a soft chuckle, the stress lines on his face fading as he seemed to let himself relax. Gabriel felt himself smile in relief; he'd been worried he wouldn't be able to help Castiel. Luckily, his brother seemed much more open to his help this time than the last time he'd tried to help. He shuddered briefly at the memory.

Gabriel clapped his hands, bringing Castiel's eyes away from the window and towards him, "Alright! So, who's up for some pie?" he started walking down the hallway towards the front door, "Better yet," he chirped, turning around to send his brother a knowing grin, "How about some hot chocolate?"

Castiel's smile was more genuine this time, and Gabriel was brought back in time to the days when a much smaller Castiel followed him around, big blue eyes wide and face lit up in a smile as Gabriel took him to have a hot chocolate. It had become a ritual of sorts for them…before what happened shattered his little brother, and Gabriel ran away, leaving him behind, broken.

He pushed the dark memories away, forcing himself to keep his grin in place as he opened the door and led Castiel back down to the store.

Twenty minutes later, they sat at a table, each with a steaming mug of hot chocolate warming up their cold hands. They stayed like that, in a comfortable silence, for a little while before Gabriel decided to speak.

"A friend of mine might come over later to meet you," Castiel tilted his head slightly, and Gabriel smiled, "He's a nice guy, you'll like him." His brother smiled, taking a sip of his chocolate. Gabriel hesitated before adding, "He's a detective."

Castiel put the mug down, heaving a sigh, "Gabriel—" the shorter man raised his hands defensively.

"Don't worry." He assured, "I didn't tell him anything. Your past is safe with me, Cassie." Castiel's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied his older brother, "He's just curious." Castiel raised an eyebrow, "He didn't know I had a brother and he's convinced that he'll be saving you from my annoying company if he comes over." He scoffed, "Imagine that. Me. Annoying." He nodded sadly, leaning back on his chair as though Castiel disagreed with the insult as well, "I know, right? I'm not annoying. Handsome, funny, a hell of a pie maker, but annoying?"

Castiel chuckled, "Clearly the man has been misled by your witty tongue, brother." There was a smirk on the younger man's features, and Gabriel's lips stretched into a Cheshire grin.

"How right you are, my dear brother." He responded, lifting his head with a melodramatic sigh, "Ah, these mortals. No respect whatsoever." Castiel laughed at this. When he was little, Gabriel would act like he was some sort of fantastical being… a Trickster of sorts, always setting up pranks on their more serious brothers, and telling little Castiel about them later.

"My apologies, Mr. Trickster," he played along, "I shall inform the humans of this dreadful offence against your person immediately." In their games, Gabriel had decided that Castiel would be an angel. They still joked around about it from time to time…or used to.

"Alright, Feathers. No more making fun of the older brother." He chuckled, taking the last sip of his chocolate and noticing with a raised eyebrow that Castiel's mug was already cold and empty. "More chocolate?"

"Please." His brother pushed the mug towards him, a sheepish smile on his face.

A bell jingled from the entrance, and the brothers turned around to see a man walk in.


Dean paused as he reached the Café. The lights were dim inside, which meant the establishment was technically closed. Thinking that maybe he should just swing by in the morning, he started turning to his car.

The sound of muffled laughter stopped him. That was not Gabriel. So his brother had really come. If he was laughing already, that meant things weren't as bad, right? Somehow, the thought made his shoulders relax. Which was ridiculous, really.

I mean, come on. I haven't even met the guy.

Dean sighed; his brother had once warned him of how he worried himself too much over other people…sometimes to the point of forgetting about himself.

Well, I've come this far. Might as well say hi.

Pushing the door open, he stepped inside, eyes searching for the pie maker. Gabriel's face was smiling when he turned to look at Dean, two empty mugs in his hands and apparently with all purposes of getting a refill.

"Deano!" he cheered, "So, did the old man try to strangle you for leaving early?"

He chuckled, happy to see that Gabriel was behaving like his usual self, "Nah. I'll smuggle a couple bottles of good whisky for him and he'll love me again."

Gabriel's grin widened, motioning to the table where another man – his brother, Dean guessed – was already sitting. "Join us then. I was about to get my lil' bro a chocolate refill." He raised his eyebrows, "Coffee and pie?"

Dean smiled, "Sure." As Gabriel disappeared in the kitchen, he dragged another chair to the table, and was met with blue eyes. "Dean Winchester." He introduced himself with a grin, reaching a hand towards the man.

The guy eyed him with slight confusion, as though he didn't quite understand what he was supposed to do, but recovered pretty quickly, stretching Dean's hand with a confidence that – quite frankly – kind of surprised the detective. "Castiel Novak."

Wow. Talk about a voice that doesn't match the owner. Castiel's gruff voice was not quite what he'd expected, seeing how the man had sort of a…boyish face. Hiding his surprise, Dean flopped down on his chair.

"Castiel," he repeated, raising his eyebrows, "Religious family?"

Castiel's lips stretched into a small smile as he breathed out a quiet chuckle, "Almost to a scary point, yeah." He grinned, "Father has a thing for angel mythology. You might be able to guess what my brothers are called."

Dean grinned. He was starting to like Castiel already, "Lemme guess. The first one's Michael." Castiel smiled, and he pointed at the kitchen door with his thumb, "We have The Messenger of God right there," He put a hand to his chin, "and…Raphael?"

The older man gave him an appraising smile, "Nice." He chuckled, "Didn't think you'd be so knowledgeable in the names of angels." He was clearly screwing with him.

Dean snorted, "I blame my nerd brother." He took off his jacket, hanging it on the chair, "Kid practically drove me crazy with his obsession with mythology when he was little."

Castiel's smile widened slightly, "He's your younger brother, I assume."

"Yup." He nodded, "He lives around here too, he just doesn't share our appreciation for your brother's awesome pies." The man laughed, and Dean felt his mission had been accomplished. Castiel was a good guy, and whatever it was that had forced him to come live with Gabriel, he seemed to be either already over, or just very good at hiding it. "So, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, huh? No chance you'd have a Lucifer in the family, right?" He joked.

Castiel's shoulders tensed, but he managed to keep a smile on his face, even if it didn't quite reach his eyes. "No." he answered, "I'm afraid not."

Whatever it was that had suddenly affected Castiel, Dean knew better than to push, and immediately tried to move the conversation somewhere else, "So, how long are you planning on staying here?" The man relaxed slightly, leaning back on his chair.

"Well, Gabriel's pushing for me to just come live here," he shrugged, "And I'm sort of neutral on the matter." Dean nodded with a grin.

"You like drinking, Cas?" he asked. Castiel tilted his head, a gesture that Dean was already starting to recognize as confusion, "Alcohol. You're not a light weight, are you?"

"Actually, you'd be surprised." Gabriel's voice reached them from behind, and they turned to see him walking over with a tray with three steaming mugs and a plate with pie.

"Really?" Dean raised an eyebrow, glancing at Cas before turning his eyes at Gabriel, "Why's that?"

"Well, Cassie cat over here," Dean snorted, finding the glare that Cas directed his brother quite amusing, "Has a tolerance that could almost be described as non-human."

"Oh?" he grinned, "So I should definitely take him to the Roadhouse sometime, then."

Gabriel gasped, clearly intending to mock his brother, "Wow, bro. Dean's gonna take you socializing! Isn't that great?" Castiel's glare intensified, and Dean found himself laughing with Gabriel.

They talked for another hour or so, until it started getting dark outside. Dean was surprised to see just how different Castiel was from his brother. Not that he should have been that surprised, since he and Sam were not exactly two peas in a pot either. But it was just so…amusing to see how obviously well they knew each other despite their differences. From what he understood, Cas was the more serious of the two, but at the same time, he had this innocence about him, a sense of naïveté that made him seem like a child at times. Gabe, on the other hand, was all cynicism and sarcasm – although Cas did make a few sarcastic comments at times – and his extrovert personality was just radically different from Castiel's.

At times, however, Castiel's eyes would be slightly hazed, as though lost in a memory, and Gabriel's shoulders would tense, like he was waiting for Cas to break down right in front of him. It worried him, that Castiel might have had such a traumatic experience that even Gabriel would show such concern.

By the time Dean finished his pie, they had slipped into a comfortable silence, resting their mouths after hours of talking. With a sigh, Dean looked down at his watch, surprised at the late hour.

"Well, I should get going." He dragged the chair back and stood, stretching his back, "Bobby's gonna kill me if I'm late again tomorrow." He said with a grin as he scratched the back of his neck.

"You coming for breakfast then?" Gabriel teased, "Or should I give your piece of pie to someone else?"

Dean pointed a threatening finger at him, eyes narrowed dangerously as he growled, "You do that, and I'll find your ass and toss it down the sewers, Muffinman." Castiel grinned, looking down to hide his amusement.

"Oh, no, please! Not the sewers!" Gabe was anything but scared, and Dean felt a grin tug his lips upward, finally giving up on the glare and clapping Gabriel hard on the back.

"Good man." He congratulated, finding it hard not to chuckle as he slipped his jacket on. "Alright, Cas." Blue eyes looked up to meet his, and Dean was glad the haunted look was gone from his eyes, "I'll see you around."

"Goodbye, Dean." He smiled, and Dean found himself returning the smile. It was weird, but the detective felt like he'd known the man for a long time, almost like they were friends already. He patted Cas's shoulder and walked towards the door.

"Peace out, gentlemen." He called, waving a hand in a military salute as he made it out the building.


Gabriel and Castiel watched through the window as Dean drove away.

"He called you Cas." Gabriel pointed out, as though he'd just noticed. He hadn't. The first time he'd heard Dean say it, he'd actually raised his eyebrows, surprised at the familiarity with which the detective talked to his brother.

"Yes." Castiel answered, obviously lost in thought. Gabriel watched him. His brother was not used to being treated in such a friendly way. The only ones that ever talked to him like that were him and…well, Anna. Everyone else treated him with the formality that came with being a member of the family. Whether it was employees or Michael and Raphael themselves, Castiel was treated and behaved with almost old school propriety. Something that Gabriel had always hated, and that Castiel had had to live with.

"You don't mind." It wasn't a question. In fact, Gabriel had noticed the moment Dean had called him Cas…his brother hadn't even flinched. It was as though he'd always gone by that name.

Castiel looked down, a small smile on his lips. "No." Blue eyes met Gabriel's dark golden ones, "I really don't."

Gabriel smiled, shaking his head with a quiet chuckle. That Winchester was really something. Maybe he was the kind of friend that Castiel needed to get over his past.

Maybe he wouldn't have to worry so much after all.