Alright, you guys asked for Gabriel, so you get some Gabriel. Kinda...turned out different than I thought it would. Sorry if Gabe here gets a little...not himself near the end, he's such a pain in my ass to write.
Any other suggestions you guys have for this are gladly welcomed! Let me hear it! Ideas, gimmie! *grabby hands*
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it!
They had been at Bobby's for two days, Sam had been keeping an eye out for a new hunt but nothing was really coming their way. Dean spent his time working on some of the cars in the yard to keep busy, Bobby continued with his research and Cas had disappeared the day before claiming he needed to get back to his search.
Dean was tempted to text the angel and ask where he was. Last time had done that Cas had been somewhere in Iraq or Iran or something and he'd come back with some delicious dessert food some old woman had given him. Another time he'd come back from Japan with some cool little gadgets they couldn't get in the States.
"Here," Dean turned and took the offered bottle of beer Sam handed to him and leaned back against the hood of the Impala.
"What's up?"
"Just taking a break from the books." Sam positioned himself next to Dean, took a sip from his bottle and asked, "Heard anything from Cas?"
"No, I'm sure he's fine though. He's a big boy. Angel. Whatever." Sam opened his mouth, probably to give some snappy comeback but was interrupted by the ground bucking up underneath their feet. They jolted away from the car, exchanged confused looks and Dean muttered, "What the hell?"
"Earthquake?"
"In South Dakota?" Sam shrugged and they both headed into the house, Sam calling out to Bobby, asking if he'd felt it too.
"Didn't feel like much of an earthquake, more like a jolt, like something landed."
"Landed?"
"Space junk? Meteor? Who knows." Sam frowned at Bobby then immediately sat down at his laptop, pulling it towards himself and tapping away. Dean sighed and sat down on the couch, watching the two get into research mode, not like there'd be much on the internet or in a book about something that had just happened.
"Move!" The command came out of nowhere, full of authority that Dean didn't even think on who or what, simply shot off the couch without a thought. It wasn't until he caught a familiar flash of tan and another of slicked back hair that he thought to ask again, "What the hell?"
"Gabriel?" Sam was up on his feet, grabbing for a knife, gun, something. Gabriel ignored them, setting an unconscious, bruised and bloody Castiel down on the couch where Dean had just been.
"What the fuck did you do to him this time?" Dean snapped, shouldering past the archangel and kneeling by Cas' head, the angel looked like he'd been in a fight with a tank.
"Ease up there bucko. I didn't do anything to him."
"Then what the hell happened?" Sam, ever the voice of reason, asked.
"Zachariah and some of his cronies managed to ambush him."
"And you didn't think to help him out a little?" Dean glared up from his spot on the floor, he was sick of Gabriel's shit, his meddling and trying to steer them into doing shit they didn't want or need to do.
"I wasn't there for it Dean," Gabriel snapped, he didn't look like the Trickster at the moment, there was nothing joking about his expression. Right now he looked like a pissed off, protective older brother. Dean had a moment to think Gabriel cared more about his little brother than he let on before he continued, "I was in the area, felt his little crash landing and went to check it out, this is how I found him."
"Wait, that was Cas that felt like a bomb going off?" Sam sounded shocked, looking back and forth from Gabriel to Castiel.
"From what I can tell our little angel here put up a hell of a fight, but he's pretty hurt." Dean frowned up at Gabriel then turned to look at Cas. There were bruises on his face, a cut on his temple and his arm looked broken, "I've seen Cas get up from worse."
"Oh, kiddo, you're only seeing the damage to his vessel. You can't see him. They pretty much shredded his wings, hence the crash landing. Amazed he got this far in his condition."
"Well he's a tough, sneaky little bastard, how do we help him?"
"You don't."
"There has to be something we can do to help." Sam was hovering behind Gabriel like some giant worried mother bear, glancing between Cas and Dean.
"I'll help as much as I can but he just needs some quiet and rest, not much else we can do since he can't go up to Heaven." All three of them turned to look at the archangel, Bobby broke the silence by asking, "And why are you helping? Last I heard you weren't so much for the assistance."
Gabriel sighed and looked down at Cas, then he shrugged and said, "He's my brother." Dean snorted and Sam just went about staring a hole into the back of the archangel's head.
"Plus, when he comes to he's going to be in a hell of a lot of pain, so unless you want him blowing out the windows and knocking your head off your shoulders, you need me here." Bobby grunted, Dean frowned and Sam's forehead creased with worry.
"We should make him comfortable at least." Sam finally said. Gabriel nodded, snapped his fingers and Cas was cleaned up and placed into familiar pajama bottoms and hoodie.
"Or we could do it the easy way." Dean sighed and sat down on the floor by Cas' head, hesitantly reaching up and running his fingers through the dark, silky hair. Gabriel watched him for a moment before popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth and saying, "I still don't get what he sees in you chuckleheads."
Dean chose to ignore him and asked, "Do you know when he's going to wake up?"
"About ten seconds, scoot over." Dean moved and Gabriel took his place, clamping a hand over Castiel's mouth and hauling him into a sitting position. Seconds later Cas' eyes flew open, the blue shot through with silver light, "You stay in there Castiel! You hear me? You're not allowed to fly off out of your vessel!"
Gabriel shoved his hand harder against Cas' mouth, pushing him into the back of the couch. Cas' back arched off the couch and the familiar high-pitched whine started up as the light in Cas' eyes flared. Dean clamped his hands over his ears; saw Bobby and Sam copying his movements, saw Gabriel's mouth moving, shouting at Cas over the noise.
Finally, the light bled out of Cas' eyes, returning them to their usual shade of blue, his true voice cut off and Gabriel removed his hand. Dean lowered his own hands and heard, "Gabriel? What?"
"Yeah, I know. Shocked to see me here huh?" Cas simply blinked at Gabriel, turned his attention to Dean, then to Bobby and then Sam and asked, "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Sam asked, moving to stand behind Dean who was kneeling at Gabriel's other side now.
"I remember I wasn't here. How did I get here?" Cas' attention turned to Gabriel who said, "I found you in your self-made crater a few miles away. Brought you here so you can heal up." Cas nodded and started to lean back, stopped when Gabriel grabbed his shirt and pulled him back upright, "You might want to avoid that."
Cas nodded, rested his hand on Gabriel's hand, which was still twisted up in the sweatshirt, "Who did this to you Cas? Was it Zachariah? I'll rip the pompous dick a new hole if it was." Cas shook his head, leaned forward until his forehead was resting against Gabriel's shoulder and muttered, "It was Haniel, Jophiel and Mihr. Jophiel is the only one that got away from me."
"I'll kill the little asshole, angel of enlightenment my ass. I'll enlighten something -"
"Gabriel."
"I will."
"No, brother, he didn't want to fight me. Leave him be."
"The other two?"
"I took care of them." Gabriel sighed, rested his head against Cas' for a moment before pulling away and said, "Let's get you fixed up bro."
The two angels spent the next few hours down in the panic room; Dean sat on the hard wooden stairs, listening to Cas' whimpers and Gabriel soothing him in a language that sounded ancient and musical. When they finally emerged Cas was pale and shaky, Gabriel's arm around his waist the only thing holding him up.
"You okay Cas?" Dean hopped up, instantly moving to Cas' other side, helping him up the stairs even though Gabriel could manage it on his own just fine.
"I'll be fine in a few days. I just need rest."
"Better be glad I'm as awesome as I am or little brother here probably would never be able to fly again otherwise."
"Shit, you were that bad Cas?"
"I would have been fine." Cas shot Gabriel a glare as he settled himself into the couch, pulling his legs up and covering himself with the blanket Sam had left there for him. Gabriel snorted, gave Cas a look and said, "Please bro, your wings were shredded. No way in hell you would have been able to heal all of it by yourself with the state your grace is in."
"Don't you have some trick to go and play Gabriel?" Cas snapped, glaring over the edge of the blanket that he'd pulled up to his nose. Dean chuckled at the image, and sat down next to Cas on the couch, pulling over another blanket and several pillows, settling the angel in a little nest.
"You wound me Cas, I'll ignore it due to the fact you're in pain, but I won't ignore it next time." Cas, in a very human gesture, rolled his eyes and settled into his nest of bed linens, careful to keep his back from resting against the couch. Gabriel sighed and before he fucked off to wherever he went he said, "I'll be back later to check in on you Cas."
"I don't trust him." Dean muttered as soon as the archangel disappeared.
"I know."
"Why is he suddenly giving a damn about you anyway?" Cas sighed, shifted in his spot a little and said, "Gabriel has been alone for a very long time. Being able to connect with another angel after not being able to…" Cas trailed off and shook his head. Dean stared over at Cas for a moment, knowing Cas had to be feeling the same things, Cas was also cut off from Heaven; probably saw himself as alone as well even though he had Dean and Sam around.
"Hey, we didn't return any of the zombie movies we rented, figured you'd like having them around to watch whenever you wanted. Want me to get one for you?" A slight smile curved Cas' lips and he nodded, "Night of the Living Dead please."
"Sure thing Cas." Dean hopped up off the couch and headed for his bag where the movies were stored, "Sam! Quit your research and come watch a zombie movie like a real boy!" There was a moment of silence, a sigh and then the sound of Sam heading to the couch and sitting next to Cas, quietly asking him how he was doing.
Dean returned with the movie, popped it into the DVD player he and Sam had bought after fixing up Bobby's busted out TV last time they'd been here.
"Should have told you to bring some popcorn." Dean said to Sam, settling down on the couch next to Cas again, Sam was on the other side of the angel, pointedly ignoring Dean.
An hour into the movie Cas' weight settled against Dean's side and a soft snore came from the angel. Both Sam and Dean turned their attention to Cas, who had his head resting on Dean's shoulder and presently was conked out.
"Thought angels didn't sleep." Bobby muttered from where he'd been pretending not to watch the movie.
"Maybe it's his 'restful meditation'." Sam snickered, returning his attention to the movie.
"Whatever, if he drools on my shirt though I'm kicking his ass." But Dean couldn't help but shift a little so Cas wasn't at such an awkward angle and couldn't help but lean his cheek against the top of Cas' head.
Dean finally managed to drag himself out of bed the next day around noon, he'd settled Cas into the couch around three in the morning, everyone else having already gone to bed. Dean headed downstairs and heard, "Here try this one bro."
Great, Gabriel was here.
There was silence, then a spitting sound and Gabriel saying, "Aw c'mon, you don't like that one either?"
"I find the taste and texture of the coconut displeasing."
"You're no brother of mine. Try this one then." Dean entered the room to see Cas and Gabriel sitting on the floor, facing one another and sitting cross-legged. Cas was leaning forward a little, an uncomfortable look on his face and Gabriel was surrounded by mounds of various types of candy. Sam was tucked behind Bobby's desk surrounded by his laptop and piles of books and Bobby was nowhere to be seen.
"What's going on down here?" Sam looked up from the book he was reading and said, "Gabriel is trying to find candy that Cas likes."
"Um…why?"
"Well, he's my little brother, therefore he must have a sweet tooth in there somewhere, I'm just trying to get it out of hiding." Dean seated himself on the couch, snagged a Pay Day from Gabriel's collection and watched as Cas chewed on the chocolate bar that Gabriel had shoved into his mouth.
"I like this one. Hello, Dean."
"Morning Cas." Dean looked at the wrapper in Cas' hand and shook his head, Mars Dark. Gabriel looked at it too and rolled his eyes, "Dark chocolate, of course." Cas hummed, took another from the pile in front of him and popped it into his mouth.
"If all else fails Gabriel, feed him Cocoa Pebbles."
"Can't argue Cocoa Pebbles, especially the chocolate milk left behind." Dean opened his mouth to respond that the chocolate milk left behind after Cocoa Pebbles was indeed awesome but stopped himself. He was not going to fucking bond with Gabriel. So instead he turned his attention to Cas and asked, "How are you doing today Cas?"
"Better. I will need a few more days."
"Take your time; we could all use a little break. Sam hasn't found us a hunt yet anyway and there's no new news on Lucifer." Sam made a sound of agreement from behind his laptop and Gabriel simply popped a Starburst into his mouth and studied Cas before asking, "How's the pain?"
"Manageable." Gabriel reached forward and Cas slapped his hand away, snapping, "I said it was manageable." Gabriel rolled his eyes, tossed another chocolate bar at Cas and muttered, "Well you certainly have changed in that way."
Sam's head popped up over the top of his laptop like a little jack-in-the-box and asked, "You knew Cas?"
"Of course I knew Cas; I know all of my brothers. I liked Cas best though." Gabriel winked at Cas who sighed and muttered, "He enjoyed trying to talk me out of my duties."
"Stubborn little Castiel, only one who gave me a challenge." Dean snorted, was true enough, Cas' stubbornness was enough set him up as an honorary Winchester.
"So, what do we have planned for the day?" Sam looked over at Dean, shrugged and returned to his laptop.
"Daytime television." Gabriel said, his candy pile disappearing as he stood and hauled Cas up off the floor with him, the two plopping down onto the couch, Dean having been shoved off to the side. The TV popped on and an episode of Dr. Sexy popped on, "Look Dean! Your favorite show!"
"That's not funny. You ruined this show for me." Gabriel chuckled and the channel changed, landing on an old episode of Scrubs.
"Seriously?" Gabriel shrugged, Cas' head tilted, brow furrowed and said, "I don't understand."
"It's a show Cas, just enjoy it." Gabriel patted Cas on the shoulder and they both turned their attention to the show, Cas still with his head tilted in confusion at what was being said between the actors. Dean hopped off the couch and headed into the kitchen with the intention of making Cas a root beer float like he had planned a few days ago.
Fifteen minutes later, he had three root beer floats sitting proudly on the kitchen counter, and they were damn good looking too. Dean somehow managed to get all three into where everyone else was without spilling anything, he handed one over to Sam who grinned at him in thanks. Dean sat next to Cas, handed over the glass and said, "Here you go Cas, you're really going to enjoy this." Cas frowned down at the contents of the glass, picked at the spoon stuck into the ice cream and twirled the straw around.
"Where's mine?" Gabriel asked, looking around Cas to pout at Dean.
"Can make your own asshat." Gabriel sighed and with a snap of his fingers had his own in his hand, naturally it looked fifty times better than the ones Dean had made but he didn't care, homemade root beer floats made with love and care trumped whatever Gabriel made.
Cas took a tentative sip and the look that crossed over his face was one that Dean was never ever going to forget.
"Good right?"
Cas moaned in answer and went about attacking his root beer float. Both Dean and Gabriel chuckled and shared a look before Dean remembered he was not bonding with Gabriel and snapped his attention to the TV where Finding Nemo popped on.
"Oh, come on, can at least put something good on." From the corner of his eye, he noticed Cas straighten up a little and his eyes brightened like they did when a zombie movie was in progress.
"Cas wanted to watch it." Gabriel grumbled, slouching down on the couch, looking how Dean felt about it.
"It's a good movie!" Sam objected from his place behind the desk, Cas nodded his agreement and said around a mouthful of ice cream, "It's very touching."
"Girls, I'm surrounded by girls." Dean muttered, standing up to put his glass away in the kitchen and head out into the yard to work on some cars, something that would help him not grow a vagina.
A couple hours later Dean was back in the kitchen to grab a beer when he spotted Cas sprawled out on the floor, arms tucked up underneath his body, one leg straight while the other was hitched up to where Cas' knee was nearly pressed into his chest. He was snoring softly into the floor and Gabriel was sitting by his head running his fingers through the dark hair, looking down at his brother with a look that Dean couldn't really decipher.
Dean leaned against the doorframe, cracked open his beer and asked, "So, why are you here? And don't give me 'he's my brother' crap, you didn't seem to give two shits about him when you sent him to wherever it was you sent him in TV Land."
Gabriel sighed, twirled a longer strand of hair around his finger and said, "Everyone needs someone Dean."
Dean watched for a moment then asked, "You weren't 'just in the area' were you?" Gabriel's shoulders slouched a little, his head shook and muttered, "He called for me, begged me to help him."
"And you didn't." Gabriel turned and glared at Dean, his eyes flashing gold in the dimming light, "I've helped him as much as I can. I fixed his vessel; I fixed his wings as much as I could. I want to help him but there's only so much I can do."
"You can stay and help us." Sam appeared on the stairs and sat down on them, peering down on the scene through the railing. Gabriel sighed, buried his fingers in Cas' hair whose snoring cut off, and turned into a sound that resembled purring. Dean snorted and couldn't help the smile that tugged on his lips while Gabriel continued what he was doing.
Finally, the archangel said, "Being with one of my brothers again after so long, it's overwhelming."
"You don't have to be alone Gabriel. You can help us, can help Cas." Sam said, looking so damn earnest that Dean would have agreed to damn near anything if that look had been directed at him. They all fell silent after that, the only sound being Cas and his near purring as Gabriel continued with his petting. Sam finally stood and headed down the stairs, "Just think about it." He disappeared outside, giving Dean a look before he did. Dean simply shrugged and went back to enjoying his beer.
Gabriel finally sighed, stopped his petting and stood saying, "I'll be back later, keep an eye on him." Before Dean could respond, the archangel had disappeared, leaving a Mars bar by Cas' head. Cas made an unhappy sound in his sleep and Dean settled down on the floor where Gabriel had been, slipping his fingers through the soft strands of hair.
"You'll always have me and Sam, Cas. I promise."
Cas purred in response.