Chapter 4 – "Love Is Merely A Madness"

Lunch was done, and there was still plenty of food, so Gail and Frank were in the kitchen, wrapping up leftovers and putting them in the fridge. The siblings had volunteered to clean up, but what they'd really wanted was a few moments alone together, and Bobby and the Winchesters knew it.

It felt good to be doing something normal together; domestic, even. Like Sam and Dean before they'd inherited the bunker, Frank and Gail had been nomads, living in motel rooms and eating a lot of takeout. She enjoyed having the run of the bunker now, and Frank was thinking about where he would go next. He wanted to go back to Hunting.

"Maybe Dean and Sam could farm me out a few cases," Frank said to his sister.

She closed the fridge and looked at him. Gail's feelings about that were mixed, to say the least. She'd just gotten him back, and now he was already talking about taking off. But she knew Frank, so she knew he wouldn't be happy any other way. And Sam and Dean did the same thing, but they always came back. So she needed to let her brother be himself, just as he needed to let her be herself. But what did that mean, exactly? Where did she and Cas go from here?

"Home, for the moment." Castiel's voice, coming from behind where Frank was standing.

Cas walked around to face Frank, smiling at Gail's brother. "I know the popping in and out is a bit unsettling at first, so I thought I'd give you a break and do it where you couldn't see me."

Frank smiled back. "Dean said it still freaks him out, and he's known you for years," he said to Cas.

Cas's smile widened. "Why do you think that is?" he asked Gail, putting his arm around her.

"It's because he's got a guilty conscience about a lot of things," she quipped, and Frank laughed, but Castiel did not. There was a lot of that going around right now. That one had hit a little too close to home.

But it was the middle of the afternoon now, already, and he had to stay on topic. "Did you have a nice lunch?" Cas asked Gail, kissing her on the cheek.

"It was great," Gail enthused. She'd had a wonderful time with the men, and she had been glad to see that Frank seemed to have been welcomed into the circle. She hoped Cas and Frank would hit it off too, when they had a chance to sit down together.

But: wait, what? What had Cas said, when he'd first come in? Then Gail realized: he must have been answering the thought she'd had been having just before he'd made his appearance.

"Home?" she asked him, puzzled.

"Yes, home," Cas repeated. "It occurred to me that we don't have a place of our own, and I thought I'd remedy that today, when I can get a lot more done, a lot quicker than usual." He smiled at Frank. "Between you and me, I'm not very handy at building construction."

Frank smirked, but good-naturedly. Well, at least Cas was kind of funny. Gail had told him at lunch that Cas was a bit quirky, and Frank had seen signs of that already. But, seeing as he'd rescued Frank from Hell, Gail's brother would give him some slack. "Do you guys want to be alone?" Frank half-teased them. They were looking at each other now as if there was no one else in the room. Cas had his arms around Gail, and her hand was touching his face. Frank felt a little weird just standing here. Yeah, this was going to take some getting used to.

They turned to look at Frank, and Cas smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Frank," he said. "We just endured a...bit of a separation, and it was hard on us." He stumbled on his words. Gail probably hadn't had the chance to tell her brother much of anything yet. He didn't think the first thing that Frank should hear was all about how Heaven had put Cas and his sister on trial, and then they had executed Cas. And it had been his Brother, who just happened to be Crowley, who had brought Castiel back from the dead. He could just imagine how Frank was going to feel about that little tidbit. Imagine a happy family dinner at his and Gail's house, with Gail inviting her brother, and Cas inviting his. They'd better hide all the knives, and serve soft foods only.

"Not that you would know anything about difficult separations," Gail deadpanned to Frank, and he grinned.

Now Cas was embarrassed. What the hell was the matter with him? "I didn't mean...I'm sorry," he said to them, but they were both grinning at him now.

"We know, Cas," Frank felt compelled to say. The poor guy looked so distressed. "We're just teasing. That's just the way we are." He smiled at Gail, and she smiled back. It was true, but they hadn't had the chance to be like this in ages. And it felt good, even if it was at Cas's expense.

Cas sighed. "I can see that you're going to get along with Sam and Dean perfectly," he told Frank.

"They're good guys," Frank said, and now he was being serious.

They were all silent for a moment, in agreement with that statement. Yes. Yes, they were.

But the clock was ticking. "Can you tell them goodbye for us?" Cas asked Frank. "I'm going to borrow your sister for the rest of the day. We'll be back tomorrow."

"Sure thing, Cas," Frank replied. "See you tomorrow, kiddo," he said to Gail.

"'Bye, Frank," Gail responded. "See you tomorrow." She still couldn't believe she was able to say that.

Cas took her hand, and they were gone once more.

Gail looked around the house in astonishment. "You put all this together in such a short time?"

Castiel smiled. "What can I say? I'm God."

He had built a small 4-bedroom house in the same town as the bunker, but on the other side of town. Close enough for Sam and Dean to visit as often as they liked, but not so close that they'd be popping by all the time, he'd joked to Gail.

"A little bit of a double standard, wouldn't you say?" she'd joked back.

"We need our privacy more than they need theirs," he'd answered, lifting an eyebrow to her. At least, he hoped that would be the case. That was another discussion they'd have to have. That is, if she was still speaking to him, after the one they would have to have, tomorrow.

Gail was going to ask him why they'd needed a 4-bedroom house, and then she realized she already knew: Plenty of room for two Winchesters and a Frank, with the master bedroom for the two of them. Castiel had given the place every protection at his disposal, and it was as safe as the bunker. No uninvited Demons, witches or even Angels could enter. Maybe especially Angels, considering recent events, and the fact that Metatron, Jason and Aurielle were still at large.

She'd been particularly pleased to notice two items he had chosen very carefully. When she'd walked into the master bedroom, there was a large TV standing on top of the dresser across from the bed. "I hooked it up myself," Castiel said proudly. She looked at him and laughed, remembering the trouble he'd had in Vancouver. Dean had had to talk Cas through the process, then.

And in the living room above the couch were three framed pictures, one of each actor who played Castiel, Dean and Sam on the Supernatural TV show. What a sweet and nutty thing to do, Gail thought, and she laughed again. "I knew you liked those," Cas said, smiling. He was happy he'd thought of it. He pretended to frown. "Though I still think I'm better-looking than he is." He pointed to the photo of the actor who played Castiel.

Gail laughed some more. There had been some horrible events at the convention in Las Vegas, but there had been a lot of wonderful things that had happened there too, and those would be what she would think of every time she looked at those pictures.

"Welcome home," Cas said to her, opening his arms. Gail nestled herself into them. This was the happiest she'd ever been in her life.

"This house is completely safe," he assured her, "with every known protection. I know there are still dangers out there, but they won't be able to come in here."

She looked at him. They would have to deal with their remaining enemies soon enough. "'We that are true lovers run into strange capers'," she quoted.

Castiel was puzzled, searching his mind for the reference.

"Didn't Metatron give you any Shakespeare?" she teased lightly. "What a cretin."

They laughed and shared a kiss. Metatron, Gail thought angrily. She may joke, but she owed him a stab wound or thirteen for executing Castiel. She owed him big time.