A/N: Goodness Gracious this is late and I'm very sorry. I got very busy for a few weeks preparing for school. School has now started and I hope I can start posting a little more regularly now that I have classes (that's where I write best, you see).

Admittedly, this chapter is a bit... domestic... but things will pick up soon. Enjoy the pseudo-living together relationship while you can...

Regardless of it's lateness, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The next day, when Dean left for work and the photograph was flattened out and framed, despite its deplorable state, Castiel found himself staring at it for a good portion of his day, his eyes always wondering back to it no matter what he was doing. He had remembered a little bit more, he remembered his mission, but things were still fuzzy. The photograph helped sharpen the image in his head. It reminded him what Dean's face looked like before it had become hard and angular with age and what John had looked like and that Sammy had been so small, even compared to Dean and himself.

When Castiel wasn't staring at the photograph or thinking, he was reading, watching movies or sneaking peaks through the windows, despite Dean's warnings. After about noon, Castiel became curious about how his own vessel had changed. He wondered into the bathroom and was met with a mirror, where he came face to face with Jimmy Novak for the first time in many years. It seemed, in all honesty, he had not changed too terribly much. His hair was still a mess, what Dean affectionately called a 'rat's nest,' and his eyes were still a bright, clear blue. Though they were missing the extra spark in addition to Castiel's presence and although he knew that Jimmy was somewhere safe and warm and happy, he still mourned for the soul. In addition to that change, Castiel's vessel, for it wasn't truly Jimmy Novak anymore, had fine, dark stubble coating his cheeks and his brow was much more defined along with his jaw. Humans truly were strange creatures.

When he returned from the bathroom, Dean had just returned home and was locking the door behind him. Castiel startled a bit.

"Good evening, Dean," he greeted kindly, if a bit stiffly. "You are home… early," he said.

"Worked through lunch," Dean replied, tossing his keys on the kitchen counter and making his way to the couch. He flopped down and sighed happily. "I'm beat," he said as Castiel settled beside him and flipped on the T.V. "I got a call from Gabriel, so I wanted to hurry home."

Castiel immediately tore his attention away from the television to regard Dean. "Gabriel?" he asked. It had been a long time since he had last seen Gabriel and with his newly recovered memories he was beginning to miss him. "Why did he call?" he asked curiously.

"He wanted to know how you were doing," Dean said. His attention was on the television, but he cast easy glances at Castiel when he spoke. "He also said he's gonna come visit tomorrow, after I get home from work."

Castiel's eyes lit up. He was going to get to see Gabriel again! Perhaps Gabriel would say it was safe for him to go with Dean to work, he hated the idea of the human being unprotected outside of the house. He voiced his thoughts to Dean and to his dismay, Dean laughed.

"Even if he says you can leave the house, I don't think you want to stay at my work all day," he warned. "It's fun for me, but it's boring to watch," he said.

"I'm sure I would find it interesting," Castiel insisted stubbornly. "I have never seen one work on automobiles before."

Dean blinked at the angel in surprise when Castiel insisted. "Alright, Cas," he acquiesced. "If Gabriel says it's okay, then you can come and watch." His tone was a bit fonder now, and he had a small smile.

"I look forward to it," Castiel said, before he settled back down to watch whatever show Dean had deemed worthy of his attention.

The night passed relatively uneventfully. Dean introduced Castiel to several other movies, all of which the angel watched with rapt attention. Dean ate dinner and offered pieces of it to Castiel, who for the most part accepted them, but still gave the human indignant looks. At a quarter past eleven, Dean retired for the night, leaving Castiel to his own devices.

Once more he was drawn to the windows, sitting just at the edge as to avoid being in the line of sight. As far as he could sense, none of his brethren were around the area anyway, so he settled down and watched as cars drove by under the window and the occasional person walked by. After a few hours, he wandered away from the window and sat on the couch, deciding to meditate again.

Dean rose with the sun, showering and dressing before coming out into the living room to greet Castiel. Castiel pulled himself out of his meditative state, greeted Dean and watched as Dean made breakfast. The angel was so involved in watching the eggs in the pan sizzle that he didn't notice Dean was handing him something until it was literally under his nose. It was a mug, filled with a dark, hot liquid that had a rich and earthy aroma to it. Curious, Castiel accepted the drink and after the first tentative sip, gulped the mug down in less than a minute. Dean winced, and Castiel supposed that was an appropriate reaction, but the heat didn't bother him.

"So you like coffee?" Dean asked, sitting down with his plate of eggs and bacon. He was smiling, ever so slightly.

"It has a very complex taste," Castiel said, by way of explanation. "I like it very much."

Dean laughed at that and sipped at his own mug before offering to get Castiel more. Between the two of them, they emptied two pots worth before it was time for Dean to go to work.

"I'll try to get home early again, so Gabriel can get here sooner," he said as he wrestled his boots on. He grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter before heading out the door, shouting "See you later, Cas!" as the door slid shut behind him.

Despite being a creature older than time itself and having experienced many hours, days, weeks and months of being idle, the day still passed unbearably slowly to Castiel. He watched pigeons fly around outside, flipped through television channels, read three more books of Dean's, but even after doing all of these things, it was only late in the morning. He sighed and settled onto the couch with another movie, wishing Dean had taught him how to brew coffee before he had left.

At one thirty in the afternoon, the phone began ringing. Castiel didn't have to ignore it long, as the device went silent after only four rings. Despite himself, Castiel walked over and examined it. He had used one of these before, he remembered, speaking on the phone to both John Winchester and Bobby Singer. It looked different now, however, instead of being curved and sitting speakers side down with a cord hooking it to the receiver, this one was square in shape, much like Dean's pocket phone, and sat right side up. He wanted to pick it up and examine it further, but resisted the urge. Dean had told him not to mess with it, so he would not.

He turned his attention to the rest of the apartment, checking the sigils, examining the cooking utensils Dean had left out, and he may have looked longingly at the coffee pot for a while before turning his attention to the cabinets. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, just curious, as he rifled through the cabinets, careful to put things back exactly where he'd found them.

At three thirty, about ten minutes after Castiel had settled onto the couch to wait for Dean, Dean came trudging in. He looked a tad shaken, but still forced a smile for the angel on his couch.

"Hey, Cas," he said, pulling his boots off and setting them near the door. "What's up?"

"What happened?" Castiel asked immediately. Dean's smile immediately slid off his face and he clenched his jaw. He looked worried.

"Bobby called," Dean said. Castiel looked at him expectantly. "It's probably nothing, Cas. Don't worry about it," he said evasively.

"Dean, I can tell you are worried," Castiel said, his tone firm. Dean made his way farther into the living room and dropped into the couch with a sigh.

"Yeah…" the human said. He fiddled with his hands nervously. "Dad… er… John hasn't called Bobby in a few days and isn't answering his phone," he told Castiel. "Like I said, it's probably nothing. He's done this kind of thing before, but…"

Castiel took over when he trailed off, catching on. "With the recent events, you are worried it may have something to do with my brothers," Castiel finished for the human.

Dean looked stricken with guilt, but relented. "Yeah, Cas," he said.

"I understand," Castiel assured. Dean looked a bit more relaxed at that and they sat in a companionable silence for a while, Dean winding down and Castiel just content to have another soul with him. Then there was a knock at the door. Dean got up, Castiel trailing behind cautiously as he checked the door and unlocked it, slowly pulling the door open to reveal Gabriel.

"Hey!" the Archangel greeted, inviting himself inside. "I see you two are getting along."

"Hey, Gabriel," Dean replied, pulling the door closed behind him and locking it again. "You took your sweet time," he said bitterly.

"This is a delicate operation," Gabriel snapped flippantly. "I had to lay low for a while." He grinned when his eyes landed on Castiel, tarrying a little behind Dean. "Cas!" he exclaimed, striding over and pulling the other angel into a hug. Castiel didn't reciprocate and let his arms hang limply at his sides while Gabriel squeezed him around his middle. He distinctly remembered Gabriel being taller than him at some point, clearly it wasn't the case anymore.

"Hello, Gabriel," he said, wisely choosing not to comment on the, now significant, height difference. "I have something I want to ask you."

Gabriel released him and huffed. "Right down to business," he muttered unhappily.

"Dean's father, John Winchester, are our brothers responsible for his lack of communication?" Castiel asked seriously, keeping his eyes on Gabriel's face.

"Cas—" Dean made to interrupt, but Gabriel beat him to it.

"I haven't heard from Balthazar, so I don't think so. He's practically Michael's right hand man, if you don't count Raphael, so he'd be the first to know," Gabriel said. "This isn't the first time John's done this. Relax," he told Castiel seriously.

"That's what I told him!" Dean said indignantly, glaring at Castiel. "He does it all the damn time." This obviously came out a bit louder and more bitter than he intended, as he suddenly tensed his shoulder and clenched his jaw. He seemed to be containing anger.

"I'm sorry, Dean," Castiel said earnestly, trying to assuage the human. "I wasn't aware."

Dean sighed. "It's fine, Cas," he said. "I'm not mad at you." He turned his attention to Gabriel, who had pulled a candy bar from seemingly nowhere and was now eating it unashamedly. "Cas had another question he wanted to ask," he prompted, diverting the subject.

"Yeah?" Gabriel asked with a full mouth. He turned to Castiel with an eyebrow quirked.

"I want to go to work with Dean," Castiel said. "Would that be… okay?" he asked, looking unsure of himself.

Gabriel grinned and swallowed. "It's Bring Your Angel to Work Day already?" he joked. Castiel merely cocked his head in confusion.

"I wasn't aware that was a holiday," Castiel said, furrowing his brow seriously. Dean moved to say something again, but Gabriel waved him off.

"Nah, Cas, it was a joke," he said, patting the other angel on the shoulder. "And yeah, you can go. I'll have to reapply the concealing sigils though," Gabriel said. "I need to that to Dean too."

Castiel nodded seriously in understanding. Once the sigils were applied, his brothers would no longer be able to track him. "Do it now," he requested. He liked Dean's apartment, but was getting restless and he didn't like the idea of Dean being alone.

"Alright, alright," Gabriel sighed, finishing his candy and stuffing the wrapper into his pocket. "That's actually the whole reason I wanted to come see you anyway," he muttered petulantly. After wiping his hands on his pants, he marched straight up to Cas and pushed a hand over his ribs as Dean watched on in confusion. After a moment he pulled away and approached Dean. "This is going to hurt," he warned.

Dean couldn't imagine it hurt that much, Cas had barely flinched, but then Gabriel's hand was pressing into his ribs and then everything burned. "Holy shit!" pushed its way out of Dean's lips along with all the air in his lungs. "Son of a bitch, that hurt!" he said when Gabriel had removed his hand, smirking. Dean pointedly ignored Castiel's disapproving glare at his use of language.

"Told you!" Gabriel sing-songed. Castiel's glare moved to Gabriel. He didn't look particularly happy that the archangel had caused Dean pain. "Don't look at me like that, I warned him!"

"You shouldn't get enjoyment out of it," Castiel scolded.

Gabriel looked regretful for all of seven seconds before he chuckled. "His reaction was a little funny, though."

"No," Castiel replied simply with a frown.

"Spoil sport," Gabriel bit, pointing a finger at the angel. "You have even more of a stick up your ass than you did when you were younger!"

Castiel looked appalled. "I do not-"

"So that's it," Dean interrupted the two. "He can come to work with me now?"

"Yup!" Gabriel said, clapping his hands. Castiel was still fuming, but perked a bit at the news. "He can go do whatever his little heart pleases, as long as it's not going back to Heaven," he assured, but looked pointedly at Castiel during the last half of his sentence.

"I do not plan to return any time soon." Castiel said determinedly.

"Good. Then my work here is done," Gabriel said. "I'll keep you updated on dear old dad, Deano," he said, patting Dean on the back on his way to the door. "Castiel , keep him from going off and doing something stupid. Dean, you do the same thing," he requested, then as soon as both his feet were over the threshold of the door, he was gone.

TBC...