Castiel flew back to the Winchesters' home while the family drove. He waited patiently for them in the driveway, staring up at the night sky. It wouldn't be his first Christmas away from Heaven, but each year felt as painful as the first. He could already hear the singing in his head as the other angels in Heaven sang their praises, though they sang their praises every day. He watched the stars and listened to his siblings' song until he started to sing along while he waited alone in the driveway. The streetlamps and all the Christmas lights on all the houses within a mile radius of him all simultaneously burst.
"What the hell?" John asked as they pulled onto their street, seeing a man's figure in the middle of a beam of bright light on their driveway. "Is that Castiel? What's he doing?"
As they drove closer, they started to hear the air around them humming at one beautiful note.
The note ended as they pulled into the driveway, and the bright beam of light disappeared.
"Castiel? What are you doing?" John asked confusedly as they all got out of the Impala.
"I was singing." Castiel replied honestly.
"That was what happens when you sing? I mean, really sing?" He asked in awe.
"Not quite. The real effect is much more… large. That was what happens when I sing while my voice and grace is confined to a human body."
"You looked like a police searchlight, but brighter. Like you were trying to Batsignal someone."
"I'm sorry. I did not mean to frighten you." Castiel replied, looking back up to the night sky. John followed his gaze, along with Sam, who took the angel's hand tightly.
"Are the other angels singing?" Sam asked curiously.
"Yes. They all are. They sing every day, but they sing the most around Christmas and Easter." Castiel replied.
"Do you miss your home?" Sam asked, quieter.
"Of course I do." Castiel replied honestly. "Come, let's go inside. You and Dean are small and weak and will fall ill."
Sam nodded and smiled as he walked with the angel back into the house, his brother bristling from being called 'small and weak'.
Dean followed the pair into the house, taking one last glance up at the night sky. Part of him felt rather sorry for Cas. To be away from all his brothers and sisters and home for years on Christmas would suck.
"Alright, boys. All three of you on the couch before the Christmas Eve present. I want to get a good picture." Mary hummed.
Dean groaned but did as he was told, sitting down on one end of the couch, Sam sitting down on the other.
"You want me in the picture, too?" Castiel asked.
"You're part of this family, aren't you?" Mary replied with a smile to the angel, pinching his cheek. "Go sit with them, Castiel."
Castiel nodded and moved to sit down on the couch between Sam and Dean.
"Alright, boys. Now, say 'cheese.'" John said with a small smile as he sidled over to his wife.
"Cheese!" Dean said.
"Cheese!" Sam said, too.
"Why would I say that?" Castiel asked in time with the brothers, his eyebrows knit and head cocked to one side as the camera flashed and it's shutter clicked.
John looked at the resulting photo on the screen with Mary and laughed.
"I think it's a keeper." Mary said with a smile.
"Definitely. It captures their personalities almost to a T." John agreed, kissing his wife's head. "You're a true artist, Mare."
"Okay, boys. Go get on your pajamas and come back down for the Christmas Eve present." Mary said to the trio.
Castiel followed Sam and Dean up to the bedrooms, finding a red pair of pajamas he didn't recognize on his bed. Mary had said to change into their pajamas, though, so he obediently stripped down and pulled on the red and green plaid fleece pants and the red long-sleeved shirt. Once he was changed, he padded barefoot back down to the living room, the first of the three of them to return.
"You look good in red, Castiel." Mary chirped. "Do you mind if I take your picture, sweetheart?"
"Will it hurt?" Castiel asked, eyeing the camera warily.
"No, honey, it'll be like last time. Remember when John told you boys to say 'cheese?'" She replied.
"And then there was a flash of light and the sound of a click?" Castiel finished.
"Exactly. It'll be exactly like that."
"Oh. Then, I have no problem with it."
"Great. We just don't know how long you'll be around, so I want to get pictures from the time our family had an angel living with us."
Castiel sat down on the couch where Mary told him to and sat perfectly still.
"That's great, honey. Now, can you smile for me?" She asked. "Maybe relax a bit, too? You're really tense."
Castiel tried his best to relax his muscles and lean back on the couch, obediently stretching his mouth into a smile for her. The smile was crooked and awkward, but Mary snapped the picture anyways.
"Perfect." She hummed, kissing his forehead.
"May I see?" Castiel asked curiously.
Mary nodded and sat down on the couch next to him, showing him the preview image on the screen on the back of the camera.
"That's amazing." Castiel murmured, marveling at the device and the image of his human vessel captured like a portrait on the back of it.
"I think tomorrow I'll have film developed and then put all the pictures in a photo album." Mary hummed as she took the camera back from him.
"When did humans stop painting images of their likeness on canvas?" Castiel asked curiously.
"Well, some still do, but it's a lot of money. The camera is the layman's paintbrush." She replied as Sam and Dean ran down into the living room.
Sam ran to sit on one side of the couch while Dean sat up on the other once again, leaving Castiel sandwiched between the two of them. John sidled over to Mary and helped hand out three wrapped packages, one for Sam, one for Dean, and one for Castiel.
"You are too generous." Castiel said in shock as he was handed a gift, moving to hand it back.
"It's for you, kiddo. Don't worry about it too much." John said, pushing the gift back to Castiel, who looked at it in awe.
"You have to open it, Cas." Dean sighed, reaching over to tear a bit of the wrapping paper for the confused angel.
Castiel blinked when the small corner of paper was torn away to reveal some soft red fabric. He peered into the package curiously before following Sam and Dean's lead and tearing away the paper covering the gift.
He pulled out a knit red sweater with a big green 'C' knit onto the front. He felt his chest swell at the gift and smiled softly as he felt the soft warmth of the sweater. "It's wonderful. I love it."
Sam and Dean were considerably less enthusiastic about their sweaters with their first initials on it. They thanked their parents politely, but neither of them were verging on tears quite like Castiel.
"I swear, Mare, this is gonna be our one-way ticket to Heaven after we day. Castiel looks like we gave him a puppy." John chuckled as the three boys went up to bed for the night.
Mary laughed a bit and nodded. "I just hope Dean doesn't become a bad influence on him. Hopefully it'll be that Cas is a good influence on Dean."
John nodded and stayed up a bit longer with Mary before ultimately deciding to go to bed, since they'd have to be awake early in the morning for the Christmas morning service at church.
Castiel woke up in the morning to the sound of John and Mary chatting down in the kitchen. The angels were singing once again, just like they'd been singing as he'd fallen asleep. He looked at the sweater he'd been cuddling like a blanket and smiled softly. The token from the family filled him with enough joy that made him want to sing again, though he withheld for the sake of the family's lights.
Instead, he got dressed for the day, pulling on a pair of black dress pants, a button-down shirt, and then his new sweater. With that, he pulled on his socks and went down to the kitchen.
"Good morning, Castiel. You look really good in your sweater." Mary hummed with a happy smile at him.
"It's wonderful. I like it very, very much. Thank you." Castiel replied, moving to hug both John and Mary and kiss their cheeks.
"Oh, well, you're welcome." Mary chuckled, taken aback by the affection. "Do you know if Sam and Dean are awake? Breakfast will be done in a few minutes."
"No, but I can check for you." Castiel replied.
"Could you, please?" John asked.
Castiel nodded and vanished from the room with a small breeze. He reappeared beside Dean's bed, looking down at his sleeping human. Dean looked so peaceful when he slept. Castiel leaned in closer.
Dean almost had a heart attack when he woke up to see Castiel's face only a few inches from his own. "Crap, Cas! Personal space, please?"
Castiel quietly backed away from Dean at the request.
"I'm sorry. Your parents told me to wake you because breakfast will be finished soon." He said.
"Yeah, okay. I'm awake, so get out of here." Dean sighed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Castiel nodded and left the room to go to Sam's room down the hall, and gently shake the sleeping boy awake.
"Good morning, Cas." Sam said tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he woke up.
"Good morning, Sam. It's almost time for breakfast." Castiel replied.
Sam nodded and slowly ambled out of his bedroom to go down to the kitchen for Christmas breakfast. He took hold of Castiel's hand, walking along in front of him.
"Good morning, Sammy. You sleep well?" Mary asked with a small laugh at the sight of her son's shaggy bedhead. Sam nodded to her.
"Well, go sit down at the table, kiddo. It's time to eat." John chuckled, watching Dean, Sam, and Cas all sit down at the kitchen table to eat.
"Hey, Castiel. You mind helping me shovel out the driveway while they all get dressed?" John asked at the end of the meal.
"I don't mind." Castiel replied.
"Great." John said.
Castiel pulled on his trench coat and shoes and went out with John to the driveway, letting the man hand him a shovel and show him how to clear the fresh layer of snow from the driveway. The entire process seemed tedious and unnecessary.
Deciding he knew a better way, Castiel held out a hand, pushing a stream of wind down the center of the driveway, that pushed the snow on either side off and into the yard.
"Well, I suppose that works too, Moses." John said after a beat of silence, chuckling and ruffling Castiel's messy hair.
"That isn't my name." Castiel replied. John just laughed and went back into the house with the angel.
"Hey, let's have Castiel take care of all the shoveling from now on." John said to Mary.
"Honey, we can't take advantage of him like that." Mary replied.
"Oh come on, it takes him one second to split it like the Red Sea."
"Well, we'll talk about it later."
When the family went off to Church in the Impala, Castiel flew there and arrived before them once again. He waited and walked into the building with the family once again, hanging up his coat along with them.
"Hello, there, Winchesters!" The Pastor greeted them with a wide smile. "Castiel, do you have a bit of time to talk? It won't take more than a couple minutes, I promise."
Castiel looked back at the family before nodding to the Pastor and following him back to the man's office in the church.
"What seems to be the matter, sir?" Castiel asked as he sat down facing the desk, the Pastor on the other side.
"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to check in." The Pastor replied, letting his eyes glow bright white. "Merry Christmas, baby brother."
"Gabriel?" Castiel asked in awe.
"In the flesh. Well, this flesh." Gabriel replied with a wide grin. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna embarrass you in front of your little human family. Not today, at least."
"Why are you here, then?" Castiel asked, letting Gabriel get up and hug him tightly.
"Like I said, I'm just checking in. It'll have been thirteen years next month since you left home to guard your charge. Michael sent me to check in on you and make sure everything's still going smoothly."
"Dean is becoming difficult."
"He's a human on the verge of puberty. What did you expect?"
Castiel stayed silent, just hanging onto his older brother.
"It's not too big of a job for you, is it? Technically, you're still just a fledgling. If it is, I can tell Michael…" Gabriel asked as he held his younger brother tightly.
"I can handle this job, Gabriel. I will handle it." Castiel replied.
"That's the spirit." Gabriel said, patting his cheek as he finally pulled away from the embrace.
"Do you know how long I will need to stay here?" Castiel asked after a moment of silence. "It's not that I dislike humans or the Winchesters, it's just…."
"It's not home." Gabriel finished. "I get it, Cassie. I don't know, honestly. I think the only people who know are Father, Metatron, and Michael. Michael's iffy, though. Some guardian angels only stay for the volatile years of their human's youth. Some stay all throughout their human's life. It just depends on that human's path."
"And only Father knows their paths." Castiel sighed.
"Exactly." Gabriel nodded. "Even if you must stay here all of Dean's life, humans generally live short lives. You have maybe seven or eight decades left, on average. Point is, hang in there, Cassie."
"It hurts being away from home for so long, Gabriel."
"That's the nature of Heaven. It's Paradise, no one ever wants to leave it. Those who have to are rarely happy about it."
Castiel nodded and let Gabriel kiss his forehead, hugging his brother one last time before the two of them walked out of the office so he could join back up with the Winchester's again in the sanctuary, where they'd saved a seat for him.
"What'd the Pastor want to talk about? Is he onto you? Did he rat you out to the Feds?" Dean asked curiously as Castiel sat down with them once again.
"He was my brother. He wanted to see how things were going." Castiel replied honestly.
"The Pastor's your brother?" Dean asked confusedly.
"Not the Pastor, the angel using him as a vessel. The angel is my brother, Gabriel." Castiel replied.
Dean blinked at that. "How long's the Pastor been an angel?"
"Not long. Since yesterday, I think."
"So, are there lots more of you guys around here walking and talking like normal people while guarding someone else?"
"No, I don't see anyone else."
"Well, you don't exactly have elf eyes. You didn't see your own brother last night."
"Gabriel is a master of disguise. Most others are much easier to spot. I can see their true faces within their vessels."
Dean said nothing in reply, looking around the congregation of people as everyone filed in for the service. He knew he wouldn't be able to point out an angel just by looking at them, but it didn't hurt to try.