AN: Here it is! The third chapter! Yay!
Once Dean was awake, he went next door to the room Sam and Cas shared – as he did every morning. He was shocked to see that Sam was still asleep. Normally by the time Dean made it to their room, Sam would be wide awake. Dean had to force himself not to wonder why Sam was still asleep. It was one thing to be okay with his brother's current relationship, but another thing entirely to think about it in a detailed manner.
"Dean," Cas said, breaking the oldest Winchester out of his thoughts, "I believe I know what you are thinking, and you should know we stayed up talking last night. Sam was trying to make plans for our wedding… I eventually convinced him it was late and he needed sleep. Although, I did not expect him to sleep this long."
"Oh, I see," Dean said. "So this means he said yes when you asked him if he wanted to get married?"
"Yes," Cas said, remembering what Sam had told him about human customs.
"So, did you decide on anything?"
"Not really," Cas said. He considered telling Dean about the ritual then, but decided Sam should be mentally present when that discussion took place.
Sam groaned and began to stir. Cas couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. Sam was precious when he woke up, if you wanted Castiel's completely unbiased opinion. "Was goin' on?" Sam mumbled.
"Nothing much," Dean said. "Except for you sleeping in, of course."
"Leave me alone," Sam grumbled, though he sat up as he said it.
"So, got a date in mind for the wedding?" Dean asked now that Sam was up.
"No. Maybe. Cas, what do you think about September 15?"
"I suppose that day would be nice. I believe we should try to make it so that all of our friends can go."
"Ugh…" Sam said. "Let's leave that planning for later. Right now I think maybe we should tell Dean about the ritual."
"The what, now?" Dean asked. He wasn't sure how much he liked the sound of that.
"The ritual. It's a mating thing. Angels do it. Basically, we do this and it strengthens the connection between me and Cas," Sam said, trying to explain it to his brother. "In other words, I'll be able to see his wings, and we'll both be able to sense each other's feelings, and we can telepathically communicate without mind-reading and stuff."
"What do you have to do?" Dean asked.
"It requires us to put dust from the lowest cave beneath Mt. Everest, as well as three of my feathers and three of Sam's hairs from his head, into a bowl with the blood of another angel and another human. We must burn the contents of the bowl while I chant in Enochian. Then the ritual will be complete."
"That doesn't sound too bad, I guess," Dean said. "Let me guess, you'll want my blood?"
"Yes," said Cas.
"When do you need it?"
"Well, it must be fresh, so we will put everything else into the bowl, and then you will cut yourself somewhere on your body and allow blood to drip into the bowl. Oh, yes. I almost forgot. A specific arrangement of sigils must be carved into a band on the outside of the bowl at the top."
"So, when do you want to do all this?" Dean asked.
"What if we did it tomorrow?" Sam suggested. "I mean, we aren't exactly in the middle of a hunt right now, and it's not like the wedding. I mean, there's only going to be four of us present, so there isn't any major planning to do, and we know we want to do it, so I just think that the sooner we do it, the better. Not to say I'm rushing it. I just think this will be a good thing for us so there's no reason to wait. And all we're really missing is a bowl , the dust, and Gabriel, unless you already have one of those with you, so why not do it tomorrow?"
"That is alright with me," Cas said. "And I do already have some of the dust – or at least, I know where I can easily get some. The bowl will take no longer than a few minutes to craft, and I can easily get in touch with Gabriel for this. It is true that he is a difficult person at times, but for this he will willingly come to me."
"Works for me," Dean said. "The question is, though, what do we do today? Like Sammy just said, we don't have a case, and there's not too much of a reason to go find one while we're making plans for tomorrow, so what's the plan for today?"
The plan turned out to consist of introducing Cas to some classic movies that happened to be in a marathon on TV. Dean insisted Cas needed to see at least half of them, and Sam wasn't going to try to argue, so they all sat down on the couch, with Sam in the middle, to watch. Sam was sleeping again before all was said and done, and Dean snapped a few pictures. Cas just relished in having Sam relaxed and so close to him.
That night, as Sam was going to bed, he noticed Cas wasn't getting ready to lay down. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"What? No, nothing is wrong," Cas said. "I believe I am going to contact Gabriel while you sleep, and then I will prepare the bowl and collect the necessary dust. Unless you would prefer me to stay with you…"
"No, you go," Sam said. "Just make sure you're in bed when I wake up in the morning."
"Of course," Cas said, before he left the room in search of Gabriel.
Cas had no trouble getting in touch with Gabriel, who, for whatever reason, was more than willing to assist in the union of Sam and Cas. Things couldn't be better, though, because according to Cas, since they were incorporating the blood of an archangel instead of just an ordinary everyday angel, the bond would be even stronger. Instead of being able to communicate and sense each other over a ten-mile radius, it was now a fifty-mile radius. Apparently, archangel blood packs quite the punch.
To be honest, Sam was unspeakably relieved that Dean didn't get skeptical about the whole thing. Sam would not have expected Dean to be extremely ok with the whole thing, but for whatever reason, Dean had no issues about the little brother he'd once thought to be straight getting emotionally tied (literally) to a male angel. Sam wasn't about to question it, though. No sense looking a gift horse in the mouth.
The ritual, surprisingly enough, could be performed at any time of day, in any location, so the Winchesters and Cas spent the day waiting for Gabriel to show up, which he did at around 4 in the afternoon. Everyone was a little annoyed, but not in the mood to pick a fight with an archangel who could throw them into an unknown dimension with a snap of his fingers (or without).
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Gabriel said once he got his ass in the room. "I have mischief to cause."
"Happily," Cas said. He turned to Sam. "The first step is for both of us to take a handful of dust and drop it into the bowl." Cas pulled out the Zip-lock bag he'd stored in his trench coat and took out a handful of the contents, holding it as he held the bag out for Sam to do the same. They let the dust fall through their fingers simultaneously. Once both of their hands were emptied, Cas spoke again.
"The next step is for you to remove three feathers from my left wing and put them into the bowl." After speaking the words, Cas turned and took a few steps away from Sam before he made his wings visible to Sam, and in turn, Dean. Sam reached out gingerly and plucked three feathers from Cas's wing. He could see the angel tense slightly with each one, but if Cas was right, it was manageable pain. Sam dropped the three feathers into the bowl, quietly marveling at how soft they were.
"Now I must take three hairs from your head," Cas said, before doing so. Sam barely felt it, and wondered if maybe Cas had gotten the short end of the stick. He had no way of knowing that Cas lessened the pain the least but for Sam's benefit. After Sam's hair was added to the bowl, Cas looked at Gabriel. "It is your turn, brother," he said.
Gabriel walked to the bowl, holding an angel blade in his right hand. "Sure thing, bro," he said, although it wasn't quite with his usual flare. It was almost reverent. Gabriel held his left hand over the bowl before slicing down his palm. He held his grace back from healing him until a sufficient amount of blood had flowed out.
"Your turn, Dean," Cas said to the oldest Winchester.
Dean copied Gabriel's movement, although he held one of his pwn silver knives. He had recently realized that most of his knives were silver. After he bled into the bowl, Dean stepped back, wishing he had some grace to heal him. As if reading his thoughts, Cas took a moment to heal Dean, who gave him a smirk and a, "Thanks."
"Now for the matches," Cas said. Sam pulled out a match box and lit one match, handing it to Cas, before he lit another one and kept it himself. Cas nodded at Sam, and they dropped the matches. They landed at the same moment, side-by-side, and Sam wondered if it was luck or grace that caused it. As the contents burned, Cas said whatever it was that needed saying. The second Cas finished, so did the flames. The fire went out, leaving an empty bowl behind.
Sam waited. He wondered if everything took effect immediately or if it took some amount of time. Cas hadn't really specified. Sam looked at him, prepared to ask him a question. The moment Sam looked at the angel, he knew. He could see his wings. They were folded back now, in a way Sam had never seen them, but he could still see them. They were beautiful. Sam decided now was as good a time as any to try out the whole telepathic communication thing, so he focused on Cas and thought, I can see your wings. They're beautiful. Can you hear me?
Cas gave a soft smile, and Sam heard, almost as if Cas was speaking aloud to him, Yes, I can hear you. It seems we were successful.
Was there a chance of failure?
It has happened before, on rare occasions, but typically because the two attempting the ritual are blatantly incompatible.
Ok. I have a question. I know for a fact Dean can't hear us, but what about Gabriel?
No, these conversations can be heard by only the two of us. The mating is sacred. If Gabriel tried to read your mind, even, he would only get static.
"Alright, why are you staring at each other?" Dean asked.
"We're talking," Sam said, having to remind himself to say it out loud.
"Well, look, unless it's some sort of secret or something, can you talk to each other? Like, out loud? I mean, it's gonna get awkward if the three of us are having a conversation and I'm only hearing a third of it."
"Right, of course," Sam said. He was still staring at Cas though. He couldn't get over those wings.
"Alright, well, it's been fun, but like I said, I have some mischief to make, so I'm gonna skedaddle. Don't die while I'm gone," Gabriel said before he was gone with a dramatic snap of his fingers.
Dean took a good long look at the other two occupants of the room and decided it might be good to make himself scarce. "Well, I'm going back to my room," he said. He was halfway out the door before he turned around and gave Sam and Cas both a stern look. "I don't want to hear anything," he said.
"You won't," Sam said. You'll need to make sure you do that noise-cancellation thing.
Of course.
AN: I hope this met with everyone's approval. Or maybe I don't. I don't know. The next chapter is coming soon. And I think I've forgotten to mention this until now, but I made up the whole ritual thing. In case you couldn't tell :)