Cas usually didn't do these kinds of things. Typically, this magic type of stuff was left to the boys. But tonight was filled with all kinds of surprises. He had seen the boys summon enough demons and had extensive knowledge on how to summon his own kind, so he was confident that he could do it. There was another surprise in store for tonight and he was sure there would be plenty more before Dean was safely back in his arms. If he woke up anywhere other than his bed in the morning, then he failed his mate in a way most epic.

Tonight, he was going to summon Gabriel. He was saving this card for an emergency and if tonight wasn't a good time to play that card, he didn't know when was. Everyone thought the archangel was dead, but he knew better. Gabriel was the trickster after all. When Cas had the time to think about it, he realized that there was a good chance Gabriel had faked his own death in his encounter with Lucifer. After dubious investigation, he had found the angel. And Gabriel had no clue he knew he was alive.

But he would in a few minutes.

Cas stood in an empty field with his arcane supplies on the ground a few feet away. The soil was moist here, fresh after a rain, so it would be easy to draw into the earth with a staff he had brought along with him. He inhaled deeply as he grabbed the staff by the end, smelling and tasting the moisture in the air. He always loved the smell that came with a rain. It was one of the things he loved about his vessel. But that breath he took wasn't to appreciate what nature had to offer. It was to steady his nerves. Gabriel wasn't going to like being found out. But he had no choice. He needed his help.

Immediately, he started to draw the Enochian symbol for Gabriel into the earth. It took him a few minutes and afterward he looked down at it to inspect his work, to make sure everything was in order. When he deemed it correct, he picked up the four candles, lighting them and setting them evenly around the symbol.

Before he finished up his summoning, he had to set up the angel trap. He didn't want to leave anything to chance. He had to make sure Gabriel would talk to him, make sure he helped him. When he was done setting up the trap, he spoke the following words in Enochian, "NISS OL VDM NONCI," which means, "Come forth, I call you." He then lit a match and picked up the goblet by his feet and threw it in, setting off a small explosion.

He readied Dean's lighter he pulled from his trench coat pocket. He frowned, thinking of what could be happening to Dean right now. He hoped he wasn't too late to save him.

It took just a split second and then there he was, standing right where Cas was expecting him to be. He looked astounded and irritated as his eyes traveled and then landed on Castiel.

Before Gabriel could say or do anything, Cas flicked the lighter and threw it near the archangel's feet, setting the unseen circle around him on fire.

Gabriel looked down at the fire that surrounded him, a frown on his face. He looked back up at Cas, his face set in disapproval. "Holy fire Cas? Tsk, tsk."

"I had no choice," Cas responded. "I'm desperate. I need your help."

"I was in the middle of watching Lost. I was just about to see how the whole thing ended when you rudely interrupted me with a damn summoning," Gabriel said. He cocked his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Excuse me if I don't feel too inclined to help. You ruined a perfectly good popcorn moment."

"I have no idea what it is you speak of, but I gather it is not all together important."

"I think I will be the judge of what is and isn't important. What is important is how did you know I was alive?"

"We all have our tricks," Cas replied.

"Indeed we do," Gabriel said. "But I can out trick you anytime Castiel. I am the trickster after all." With that said, he snapped his fingers and the scene around Cas changed.

He suddenly wasn't standing anymore. And his eyes were closed. He was on his back, lying on the warm hard ground. His eyes burst open, frustration gripping the core of his being. Gabriel was such a pain in the ass and sometimes he outright behaved like a child. He didn't have time for this madness. Looking around, he was clearly in a jungle and the air felt humid and wet. He could hear insects and other jungle life around him making noises and further in the background he could hear faint screaming and smell smoke.

Cas looked around desperately, shaking his head, as he tried to rid his mind of Gabriel's illusion. As he did so, a golden Labrador revealed itself as it came out of the trees, looking at him curiously. As Cas got to his feet, the dog took off, disappearing into the strange jungle that Cas knew wasn't really there.

"Damn it, I don't have time for your games Gabriel," Cas shouted. "Why can't you just be normal for five minutes?"

The archangel let out a sarcastic laugh. "I'm a complex guy sweetheart," Gabriel responded, throwing Cas a wink, his voice echoing throughout the jungle. "But do you think I had time to be summoned here," Gabriel retorted, the jungle distorting before Cas until the trench coat wearing angel could see the trickster standing entrapped in a circle of angel fire. He took a deep breath, appearing to calm somewhat. "But on the for real, fill me in little bro so I can be on my merry way and live life incognito style as I had planned."

Abruptly, the jungle dropped away, bringing Cas fully back into the field. The sudden change of environment was almost disorienting but he shrugged it off quickly before he could show any visible sign of discomfort. Without any further hesitation, Cas filled the archangel in, paying close attention to Gabriel's expression, looking for any sign of shock or fear, or of knowing, signs of anything really. But Gabriel gave nothing away as Cas spoke, except only to raise one eye brow and give him a knowing smirk when he mentioned Dean. When he finished, Gabriel heaved a big sigh and looked into the night's sky. "That father of ours."

"Do you know what's happened?"

Gabriel lowered his head and looked Cas intently in the eyes, a rare look of complete seriousness on his face. "I told daddy dearest I suspected one had survived nearly two eons ago and he waved off my concern as if I were nothing more than a child."

"How did you know?"

The archangel looked away from his brother and lowered his head, looking into the bright flames of the angel fire, its light reflecting blazingly in his eyes. "Because," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "I let him go."

...

With large headphones shaped like Yoda heads over her ears and her long straight red hair cascading down her back, the tunes of Ian Van Dahl are her soundtrack to laundry day as she sat on the washer that was currently on its spin cycle.

"…all the castles in the sky," she sang loudly. As she continued to sing and kick her feet against the washer in beat to the music, she decided now would be a good time to check her email. She was always the one to multitask. Touching her tablet, she exited out of her latest hacking venture and clicked on her email icon. After signing on, her eyes immediately landed on the email from Kevin, its headline sending fangirl jitters up and down her spine.

"Charlie: Guess whose fave ship just b-came a reality?"

"No freaking way," she shouted, removing her headphones and jumping off the washer. "No freaking way!" The friend part of her was happy for them. Dean and Cas should have got together so at least four books ago. It's too bad really that there weren't some good writers out there that could haven over for Chuck and made this happen much sooner. But it didn't work that way. Sadly, this was reality, and sometimes it just bit, figuratively and literally, thanks to the monsters that roved the night. "Well, it's about time you two!"

And then there was the fangirl part of her that was both astronomically thrilled and pissed off at the same time. The email was days old. She could have known about those two finally making it official freaking days ago and instead, she was off exterminating some annoying goblins and ridding a house of some bitch ass nanny's ghost of some stuck up, snobby rich family's mansion. But she couldn't dwell.

As coincidence would have it, she was only a couple of hours from the bunker. Charlie had to see this development for herself. Her heartbeat sped up at the mere thought of it.

The washer came to a stop and with zero hesitation, she started yanking her wet clothes from the washer and tossing them in her basket. She'd have to dry them at the bunker. This just couldn't wait.

Basket on hip and Yoda headphones around her neck, she left the motel's laundry room and headed to her bright purple Kia Soul while typing a quick response to Kevin: omw.

...

Cas stared at Gabriel, mouth agape. "You let him go?" The angel looked to the night sky and took a deep breath, appearing to try to calm himself. But when he lowered his head, leveling his eyes to stare straight into the archangel's, it was fury that was etched into his every facial feature. "You fucking bastard, you let that monster go? Why the fuck would you do that?" Using such colorful language was uncharacteristic of him. But strenuous and emotionally unsettling things were happening to him and his love. He was not himself.

"I don't want to get into details," Gabriel responded. "But suffice it to say, I am ashamed that I, the trickster, was tricked. I was schooled in my own game."

"Do you know how to defeat him," Cas asked.

Gabriel's eyes darkened. "I'm not certain. I have heard that he can only be defeated at a vulnerable moment or at his weakest moment." He shrugged his shoulders. "Something like that."

Cas's eyes narrowed in frustration. "You're gonna have to do better than that Gabriel."

"I don't have to do better than anything. This fire will go out eventually."

"Please Gabriel, tell me anything you might know about His First. I have to get Dean back."

"I told you," Gabriel started, but then his voice trailed off as he appeared to be thinking. "Well, I do know one thing. I know his name."

Cas sighed in annoyance. "I know his name. It's Zavid. That doesn't really help me."

Gabriel smiled. "I know his full Enochian name. You know… the name you need to summon the bastard."

Cas's eye brows rose. "Then what the hell are we waiting for?"