Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, PercyJfan1802, kb18142, random yet loveable, Pizzapig, Fallen's child, eiahlaie, XxZessxX, baileylovesyou0400, Akira of the Twilight, Chichi-10018, Improbabile and Nicolene B for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!


3

Gabriel had actually considered waiting for the Winchesters to arrive before he entered Bobby Singer's house. The archangel had only met the older hunter once, but he was sure he hadn't left the best impression back then. First impressions weren't exactly his thing, not that Bobby could do anything to seriously hurt Gabriel, even if he tried, but it would be best to make sure that they got a good, fresh start. The archangel couldn't stop from thinking that it would help if Sam was present. Dean probably wouldn't have anything nice to say about Gabriel, but he had somesmall hopes that the younger brother would speak in his favor.

In the end, the archangel didn't have the patience to wait for the Winchesters to arrive. It didn't help that Gabriel knew that Tarot was staying with Bobby Singer and was curious – and a little anxious as well – to see how his little brother was doing after everything.

To his credit, Bobby barely flinched when the trickster suddenly appeared in front of his desk. The sandy-haired angel who had helped the hunter translate an ancient text didn't fare quite so well. Tarot jumped, his first instinct to run or hide, but there was a demi-god threatening Bobby's safety. The angel was visibly shaking, but he stood his ground and even took a protective stance.

Gabriel smiled at that display of protectiveness. It took a few moments before it hit the archangel that he looked like the trickster to his younger brother. The little one was braver than Gabriel had given him credit for. However, the moment Gabriel dropped the disguise and let his angelic self shine in its full glory, was the moment when Tarot shrieked, terrified and hid behind Bobby's wheelchair. Apparently, the archangel had misjudged what his little brother really was afraid of. It hurt a little to be one of the things that made his own brother cower in fear. It also made Gabriel wish Zachariah was still alive so that he could kill him all over again.

"Stay where you are! You're scaring the boy," Bobby demanded in a gruff tone, as soon as the archangel showed signs he was about to take a step toward them. The hunter had grown fond of his angelic roommate over the weeks. The seraph was quiet, didn't stand in the way and always tried to make himself useful. Of course, Tarot was also obsessed with making all of Bobby's clocks show the exact same time, stared into space quite frequently and jumped at just about any loud noise, but the hunter couldn't help liking him anyway.

"That 'boy' was created ages before your earliest ancestors were a thought in my father's head," Gabriel pointed out casually, taking a handful of M&Ms out of his pocket. The archangel had a massive sweet tooth, there was no use denying it, but he had also discovered early on that stuffing his face with candy was a way to appear more harmless and less aggressive. Not that it helped much when Tarot had closed his eyes and was hugging himself while cowering behind the hunter.

"You keep your distance and don't upset him any more or we'll find out how an archangel likes a shotgun blast to the face," Bobby retorted. The hunter reached behind his chair to put a calming hand on the shaking angel's shoulder. Sometimes the gesture worked like a spell, but Bobby had the nagging feeling that Tarot wasn't going to calm down that easily when the archangel was still standing there.

"I'm so scared right now, wheels," Gabriel replied, clicking his tongue, "Speaking of which, you should come over here for a moment."

Finding out that Castiel was unable to heal people since he had been cut off from heaven and thus couldn't give Bobby the use of his legs back, had hurt badly. Hearing that Tarot had been cut off from heaven when he had went missing and thus couldn't heal anybody either had been somewhat expected, but had still hurt. The thought hadn't occurred to Bobby at first, but having the archangel around was the best shot at getting out of that damn chair as he was going to get. The hunter tried not to get his hopes up when he maneuvered the wheelchair around his desk, anyway.

Gabriel studied the last two of his M&Ms for a moment, popping them into his mouth when Bobby came to a halt in front of him. The archangel had considered waiting on healing the hunter until the Winchesters had arrived, so the two could see with their own eyes that he was willing to do things for them and their allies. However, Gabriel had changed his mind. The archangel didn't want to put up a show, he wanted everyone to know that he was genuine.

The wheelchair bound hunter looked a little suspicious when Gabriel touched his shoulder. It was just a moment later that a look of utter disbelief and then pure joy crossed Bobby's face. The hunter couldn't get out of his wheelchair quickly enough for his taste.

"I'll be damned," Bobby mumbled in wonder, standing in front of the archangel. The hunter felt like his knees might give up on him any moment, but it had nothing to do with any physical injuries.

"Damnation isn't a service I offer, old man," Gabriel stated with a grin, "Consider it payment for taking care of my brother."

Tarot was peeking over Bobby's desk every now and then to see what was happening, but was keeping his distance. Still, considering the state the seraph had been in when Gabriel had last seen him, his little brother was clearly doing better.

"You took care of my boys," Bobby replied. Judging by his tone, the hunter wasn't over his amazement at being able to stand on his own two feet again yet. Still, it had to be said that both Sam and Dean had been in good hands when the archangel had taken care of their de-aged selves. Bobby appreciated that more than he could put into words he was comfortable with using around the trickster. It looked like Gabriel understood what he was trying to say, anyway.

"You don't know half of it yet."


Surprise didn't even begin to cover what both Winchesters felt when Bobby opened the door for them. The brothers had always hated seeing their father figure sitting in the wheelchair, especially with how obvious it was how much Bobby was suffering. It was easy to see that the older hunter was much more content. In fact, he looked as close to joyful as Bobby Singer was ever going to get.

"I have to admit, this wasn't what I expected when the trickster showed up in my study," the older hunter explained with a shrug, even though he suspected that the boys already knew how he had gotten the use of his legs back.

Even Dean had to admit that there was at least one upside to having Gabriel around. The older Winchester still wasn't going to let his guard down around the archangel any time soon, but there was no use denying that the trickster had done them all a favor by healing Bobby. Actually, Dean could admit that Gabriel had done them a pretty big favor by keeping them out of harm's way for a week when they been turned back into their much younger selves and standing up for them when trouble had inevitably come looking for them, but the older Winchester wasn't going to say it out loud any time soon. The one thing Dean really didn't like about all this was that Sam had been very close to Gabriel when he had been an eight year old kid for the second time. The older Winchester couldn't help fearing that Sam would be severely disappointed by someone he trusted once more and that was the best case scenario. In the worst case they had someone even shoddier than Ruby on their hands and his younger brother was already falling for it.

Luckily, Dean's attention was claimed by an ongoing conversation Gabriel and Castiel were currently engaged in as soon as they got into Bobby's study. Apparently, the two angels had been talking for a while already and it didn't sound like they were making idle small talk. That at least kept the older Winchester from painting any more dark pictures of things the future might have in store for them. Not that the talk the two angels were having was all that lighthearted from the sounds of it.

"… was damaged even before he has been cut off from heaven," Castiel said matter-of-factly. The seraph realized that he had chosen the wrong thing to say, as soon as he saw Gabriel's reaction to his words. Castiel couldn't decide if appalled or annoyed was the right word to describe the archangel's expression. It probably was a mixture of both.

"How does that make anything better?" Gabriel groaned, shooting the quiet seraph sitting in the corner of the room a look. To his shame, the archangel had taken a while to figure out what exactly had bothered him a little since he had first laid eyes on Tarot. When Gabriel had finally seen the connection between the seraph and the old hunter for what it was, he had called Castiel and demanded his immediate presence. To tell the truth, the archangel would have told his dark-haired brother to come by for the talk he was going to have with the Winchesters, anyway. The new revelations had just sped things up a little.

"You seemed concerned about Tarot being at the beck and call of a human," Castiel stated, trying to share his entire thought process with his brother, so he might get a chance to figure out where exactly he had gone wrong. "I am telling you that this is by no means putting too much power in the hands of Bobby Singer. Our brother might very well be the one seraph in existence whose power levels are lower than mine currently are."

It was only then that the seraph noticed the Winchesters had arrived and had heard every word he had said. Castiel's eyes met Dean's for a moment before the seraph quickly looked away. He hadn't meant for his charges – especially Dean – to know how far he had fallen already. The blue-eyed angel didn't want to see the look on the older Winchester's face when he realized how useless the seraph was becoming. If he hadn't turned his eyes away, Castiel would have seen the flash of concern that crossed Dean's face before the hunter schooled his features to look neutral again.

"Cassy, sometimes you're awfully dense," Gabriel sighed, acknowledging their audience with a curt nod, "Old Grumpy is about as trustworthy as they come. What I am concerned about is enslaving one of our brothers, even if you're giving him a good master."

Bobby huffed out a breath and crossed his arms in front of his chest. The older hunter wouldn't have said that the trickster was particularly trustworthy, but it was interesting to know that Gabriel thought him to be so.

"I agreed," Tarot mumbled, to the surprise of everyone. The seraph had been extremely tight-lipped the entire time he had been around Bobby's, only speaking when it couldn't be avoided and sometimes when he had been asked a direct question. It was obvious that talking in the presence of his angelic brothers made Tarot extremely nervous, but he managed to stutter, "T-the p-plan… I a-agreed to it."

"No offense bro, but I doubt you were in any condition to give consent to anything," Gabriel pointed out, keeping his tone calm and quiet. The archangel would never claim that he was the most sensitive person, but he didn't want to make his little brother uncomfortable when the seraph had only just managed to speak his first few words to him.

"It was you who told me to take care of the situation with our brother in whatever way I see fit," Castiel stated in a nearly petulant tone. The seraph had done the best he could have in the situation and he stood by his decision, especially since his sandy-haired brother had agreed to it. Granted, the alternative had been to keep Tarot entrapped in a circle of holy fire in the basement and the seraph had known it.

"W-we c-can break the s-spell after… when…" Tarot mumbled, rocking forward and back in his seat in a motion he usually managed to draw some comfort from. If they lived through the Apocalypse, they could sever the bond, or so Castiel had told his brother. Tarot didn't know and didn't care how exactly that was going to work. In fact, the sandy-haired angel was quite content with the way things were. Of course, he was broken in ways that would always hurt and inconvenience him, but everything could have been much worse.

"That's a good keyword, if I've ever heard one," Dean interrupted the ongoing conversation the angels were having. It clearly wasn't going anywhere and they had other things to discuss anyway. "You were saying something about a way to stop the Apocalypse. Why don't we talk about that instead of making a big issue out of something that's not bothering anyone right now?"

Sam didn't say, that he for one was bothered by the implications of Tarot being bound to Bobby as he was and the younger Winchester knew for a fact that the older hunter didn't like it, either. Actually, Bobby had told Sam that it was very awkward to talk to a person, always having to be careful not to say anything that could come across as a command. Gabriel was right in his opinion about Bobby. The older hunter was pretty damn trustworthy. Dean was right, though. They had other things to talk about. Besides, his older brother wouldn't take it very well, if Sam sided with the archangel in the matter. Especially, when that also entailed siding against his brother's favorite angel.

"I don't have a way to stop the Apocalypse," Gabriel replied, turning to look at the Winchesters and their mentor. The archangel had a winning expression firmly plastered on his face, as he finished his statement, "I have two."