Ladies and gentlemen, chapter two!

I'm so glad you liked the story and I hope you'll fall in love with this plot as much as I am. It doesn't happen often that I am proud of my stories, but I like this one a lot.

First of all, thanks to my beta, she did an amazing job!

And, before letting you read, I have one more thing to say. You'll notice something about Sam acting weird. Well, if someone guesses what's the reason of his behaviour, I'll give them a cybernetic cookie. I bake amazing cyber cookies, I know you want it!

Enjoy!

Something about

So Gabriel comes home with Dean and Mary.

Sam's face when he opens the door and sees the three of them is priceless. The little one blinks, looking at them and then around the garden and finally at himself, his shorts barely hanging on his boney hips and his chest bare; as always he is just wearing socks, which also means that Mary is going to scold him. His cheeks flush a deep shade of red and Dean has to do his best not to burst into laughter.

"I love your brother," Gabriel says in a playful tone. Dean can see a sparkle of sadness in his eyes, he must be thinking about his own little brother and he almost hugs him. Almost, because in the end he thinks better and replies, "Don't tell him that, he might think you're serious, you know?"

They both laugh this time. They have never talked about it, but Dean is almost sure that Gabriel suspects something. Man, you need to be dumb to not notice how Sam fusses around whatever Gabriel does and sometimes it's frustrating to see how he worships the floor where Gabriel walks.

It's four in the afternoon and Dean didn't realize time could pass this fast. It's only when his stomach makes a grumble that he realizes they haven't even eaten, but luckily Mary has already disappeared into the kitchen and the noises they hear from the hall make it clear that she is cooking something. Comfort food, if Dean knows his mom well enough, it's what she makes every time someone is unhappy. Like when Sam got a B in a test, or when Dean's favorite football team lost the cup.

Dean decides to sit on the couch, not really knowing what to do.

"You want to know, right?"

"Well, let's say I'm curious," Dean answers because, what's the point of lying? Of course he wants to know, "But I'm not going to push you. If you want to talk, I'd be glad to understand, because trust me, I'm pretty confused here."

Gabriel sighs, kicking his shoes away and curling his legs up on the couch, hugging his knees with both hands, "My mom died three years ago, giving birth to my sister, Anna. She died too, two weeks after she was born," he explains, looking somewhere in front of him, "And I don't remember my dad, I have seen him maybe four times in my life. Michael says he is a good man, he just can't stay with us. Honestly, man, don't ask. I used to think he was some kind of special agent from the FBI, right now? I think he is in jail."

Dean gives him a sympathetic smile. Absent father, the same old story, right?

"So Cas and I, we have been living with my brother, Michael for a while. He is twenty eight and he is amazing, you know? He literally raised Cas and me even when Mom was around, she was always busy and he took care of us. He has our custody now obviously, but I don't live with him anymore."

"Why?"

"It's com-" he doesn't get a chance to answer because there are footsteps in the background, allegedly Sam is coming down, dressed in more decent attire, thank God, and neither of them wants him to know too much.

"Everything okay?" Sam asks noticing the thick atmosphere and clearly not used to it, especially when Gabriel is around. Dean and Gabe together are always noisy, laughing or arguing so loud that sometimes Sam has to go out to do his homework on the porch.

Dean gives his brother a threatening look, afraid that he might upset Gabriel again, but his friend just shrugs, "It's fine, Sammy. I'm just sad because my brother doesn't feel well."

"Oh. I'm sorry for him. I didn't know you had a brother," Sam's tone is genuinely surprised, but Dean recognizes that tone, Sam seems disappointed and there seems to be no real reason.

"I have three siblings," Gabriel says, standing up and looking for something in the back of his jeans. The brothers exchange a concerned look when Gabriel pulls his wallet out, giving Sam a small picture, "Here they are."

As Sam examines the picture, Dean gives Gabriel a punch on the shoulder, "It took two years for me to know you had brothers and you let Sam see their picture?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Dean."

Dean shakes his head, "Doesn't matter. Wanna see them!"

Sam hands him the picture and Dean stares at it for a while. It's definitely not what he expected. Beginning with the fact that there isn't a little girl, so Anna isn't in the picture. But there are still four people, which means Gabriel has three brothers. Michael, Castiel and some other unknown relative. The picture must be old. Gabriel looks young. It's easy to recognize him, just by his hair, longer than normal and gelled down in a horrible way, a lot worse than now. He assumes the little one is Cas, his blue eyes sparkle even in the picture, but he won't be able to say who the other two are. One of them must be Michael, he guesses.

Dean says it all out loud, and Gabriel focuses on the most important sentence his friend has said, "What about my hair? Everyone loves my hair. Aren't they great, Sammy?"

"What?" Sam blushes, but in the end he answers with the same annoyed tone, "Sure. Yeah, great."

"Believe it, Gabriel, believe it," Dean mumbles, handing the photo back, "Cassie's eyes are wonderful, by the way." He hadn't mean to say it out loud, but that's the truth and Gabriel always compliments what little Sammy does and how adorable he is, so it shouldn't be that bad to say something about Gabriel's brother.

"Yeah, he got them from me. Dean, are you coming with me tomorrow?"

Dean shakes his head, "There is no way mom is going to let me skip classes."

"Skip? Skip school?" Sam asks, his voice high and petulant, "Why would you? And where are you going, Gabe?"

Dean can't help but roll his eyes. Really, Sam is annoying when he wants to be. "Not your business, bro. Why don't you go help Mom? Pretty sure she wants you there."

"And tell her you want to skip?" He asks with a raised brow, as Dean shuts his mouth. They weren't saying anything bad, but Dean has already been caught skipping classes more than once and Mary threatened to confiscate his video games if he did it again and Dean doesn't want to risk it.

"Now, what's going on?" Sam asks when it's clear that he has the knife from the handle.

Dean grunts, but Gabriel interjects for him, "My brother is in the hospital, Sammy. And I'm going there tomorrow, I'd like not be alone though," then he turns to Dean, "That's why I'm going to persuade your Mom."

"You can't persuade her, she won't let me skip," Dean assures and Sam nods his head solemnly, "She won't."

"Wanna bet?" Gabriel says, winking at him, "Five bucks."

Dean nods enthusiastically, "I like winning so easily. Let's see what you can do."

"Boys, lunch is ready," Mary's voice calls from the kitchen.

Gabriel quickly shakes his hand, "You know, that look Cassie did today? Well, he learned it from me. Now just look."

When they finally go into the kitchen, there are just two plates on the table, obviously Sam and Mary had already eaten but they still sit with them. Dean has already had two mouthful of his mom's best spaghetti when Sam points out that Gabriel is just picking at his food, without actually eating.

"I'm sorry, I'm not really hungry," he apologizes, absently looking somewhere between Sam's shoulder and his neck.

Mary gives him a sad smile, "Just a couple of forks, Gabriel, come on. You promised Michael you'd be okay, and I promised him I would take care of you."

Gabriel looks at her with wet eyes, "Yeah, sorry I'm so much trouble." It takes a while for Dean to realize that he is just acting. Fucking bastard. But he has to admit that he is awesome.

"Mary?" He asks after a moment of silence, "Would it be a bad thing if I'd be afraid to go see Cas tomorrow? Would it make me a bad brother?"

Sam next to him is almost crying and Dean could punch him. Come on, he knew about the bet and he is still so sad for Gabriel?! In the meanwhile Mary stands up, getting closer to him and ruffling his hair in a way that is almost funny, "Of course not, Gabriel. If you don't feel up to it, you can stay here. I'm sure your brother will understand."

Well done, mom! Dean thinks, knowing that Mary isn't the kind of woman who gets manipulated so easily.

"It's not that," Gabriel chews on his lower lip, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye, "I'm just so scared. Hospitals freak me out. And I don't want to go there alone. And Michael will be at work."

"Gabriel-"

"Would it be okay if Dean came with me? Please? Please. I know it's a lot to ask and I wouldn't ask if I wasn't- But I understand if you don't want him to come. Who wants their son in a hospital? And I get it if Dean doesn't want to come," he adds looking at his friend, while Mary nods quietly.

"If Dean wants to, he can come with you, of course," she looks at her elder son, waiting for his answer but Dean is so surprised about the whole scene that he is just staring at Gabriel with his mouth open. Mary must be thinking that he is worried to see his friend so upset, so she doesn't push Dean to say something, answering for his son, "I'll bring you two there tomorrow morning. Okay? You can call me whenever you want and I'll come get you, if you don't want to stay there. Sounds fair?"

At this point Gabriel slightly moves the chair, turning to Mary and hugging her, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Hush, it's nothing really, Gabriel. But now try and eat something, okay?"

Gabriel holds her for another moment and then lets her go, keeping that puppy face on. Fuck, he is damn good at it.

Later, when Mary has gone back to work, making the three kids promise that they'll call if anything happens, they go into Dean's bedroom.

Sam lifts a book from the shelf, sitting on the corner of the bed and reading, making evident that he is a little upset about something - Dean has no clue what could be wrong - and Gabriel lies with his legs opened on the big soft bed, his head close to Sam's legs, while Dean complains about losing five bucks.

"It was easy. Fooling Michael is a lot harder," Gabriel says, shrugging.

"Sure, just because Michael knows you like the back of his hand, while mom thought you were really worried for your brother."

Gabriel gives him a look, "Nope. It's because Michael is trained by years of Cassie's puppy face and trust me, he is a lot better than me at this. And besides, I asked for you to come before the bet, right? I was being honest, I don't want to go there alone."

"You should do theatre," Sam says at some point and for the first time Dean doesn't hear that awe in his voice. He still seems disappointed.

"I can teach you if you want, tell you every secret. Or maybe I can't, not in front of your brother, or you won't fool him."

"Is your brother okay? Why don't you call him?" Sam asks, not really replying to Gabriel's speech.

"Can't, Sammy. He is probably tired and even if he isn't, Michael doesn't want him to stress too much when he doesn't feel good."

"Oh."

Dean can see curiosity into his brother's eyes, so before he has a chance to ask the wrong thing, he throws him out of the room, telling him to do his homework somewhere else and be a good boy. Sam reluctantly agrees when he notices that Gabriel has zoned out again.

"Gabe? You were telling me your story. Would it be okay for you to continue?"

"It's complicated, Dean, and you'll think I'm a selfish bitch," he mumbles sitting up on the edge of the bed and Dean sits next to him.

"I won't judge you, Gabriel. And we both know that, but it's up to you. I won't ask anymore."

Gabriel seems to consider it for a while, before giving up, "We have another brother too. Luce, Michael's twin. He is, well he is kind of a dick, he used to put my hand into cold water during the night and make me piss the bed."

Dean almost smiles, "I do that to Sam too, it's not that bad. Just funny."

Gabriel rolls his eyes, "It's not, but at least it was normal, I guess. Then I came out to him and things changed, he became more aggressive. I mean verbally. And physically."

Dean doesn't say a word, he is not sure what he is supposed to think, he puts a hand around Gabriel's shoulders, until he leans with his head on Dean. He can't help it, Dean has always been a physical person, one who needs to touch to show his feelings, because he can't put them into words. So he just stays silent, holding him and waiting for him to continue.

"One day, shortly after Anna had died, Michael was at work and Luce was angry. I guess he got fired, but I never dared to ask, after- Well, he punched me. And I don't even know how Cas ended up between us. All I know is that one moment he was sheltering me and then he was hitting his head on the bedside table."

Gabriel is almost hysterical by now, and all Dean can think about is that Sam is probably listening to all of this, crouched on the floor, on the other side of the door.

"There was so much blood, Dean," he chokes out, "Cassie was on the floor, shaking from head to toe. It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. And after that, after Cassie had been unconscious for almost ten days and we didn't know what kind of brain trauma he could have, I decided I couldn't stay in that house any longer. And that's the end of the story."

"I'm sorry, Gabe."

"It's okay. I mean, I'm okay now. Cassie too. Sort of. We were all scared he wasn't going to make it, so when he woke up and he remembered our names and he knew how old he was, we thought everything was fine. But then his eyes rolled back into their sockets and he started to convulse again. That's how we understood he was epileptic."

"It had never happened before?"

Gabriel shakes his head, wiping his face with his sleeve, "Brain trauma, remember? That's what made him like this."

"Gabe, would you punch me if I ask something else?"

Gabriel moves away from Dean, facing him, "After what just happened? I guess if I've been able to tell you that part of my life, you can ask anything."

"Luce, your brother. Is he still around?"

Gabriel gulps at the name of his brother. "Yeah. He even apologized to me, has been in therapy for more than a year. Anger management. But we have to thank him if social services are still around."

"What do you mean? Isn't it their policy?!" Dean says, or maybe asks. Ellen never talks about the cases she is working on, but sometimes she talks about people she has to see often, Dean had always guessed it's routine.

"Not at all. They should visit us every six months or so and make sure that someone feeds us and there is a roof on our heads. They shouldn't be at home so often."

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing, Dean. Or I might punch you."

"It's just... I don't know what to say, I'm not good with these things."

Gabriel laughs, "Does it looks like I am good? Dean, if I don't tell anyone about this, it's because I don't want to see that look. I mean, we survived, we are okay right now. And telling this with Cas back in the hospital is kind of ironic, but anyways. I'm not one of those who cry on themselves and if that's what you expect from me, if you are going to pity me, I guess it's time for me to go back to Ezekiel's."

"Good." Well, Dean feels better now that they have their own agreement to pretend none of this has never happened. It can work.