AN: Finally time for some teenage angst and some shipping!
"How ya' doin' Kiddo?" Gabriel asked. I glanced around at the main room of the bunker, quickly realizing I was in a dream.
"You know, I have a name," I said.
He snorted. "Yeah. 'Sabriel.' Poor kid, I would've thought of a much better name than that if I'd had the chance."
"You called yourself Loki, right? Didn't I read that you named a child Jormungand? I think I got off easy."
"Oh, great," Gabriel, said leaning back in his chair. "The Winchester sass is rubbing off on you. Give it a few months and you'll be wearing nothing but plaid and being melodramatic about pastries. Have there been any more attacks?"
"Yes. Every four days or so someone else is found with their eyes burned out. I think they are getting closer, finding ways around our warding to track us."
"What's moose and company think?"
"They think they are starting to train the younger hybrids. But…"
"But you haven't told them about Mamuel threatening you."
"How did you know that?"
The angel snorted. "Kid, I live in your melon. You think I haven't heard that stormtrooper's voice echoing around in here? I know he keeps telling you these deaths are on you, but he's wrong. You haven't done anything wrong."
I shook my head. "If I had not escaped, all of those people would still be alive. That makes me responsible."
"That's not true. They could be right, they could just be training them. How long has it been since you escaped?"
"Shouldn't you know that if you're always in my head?"
"I didn't say always," the archangel said quietly. "Sometimes I'm here, and then I'm not. It's just darkness all around and time means nothing, and then suddenly I'm back here listening to the most boring soap opera of all time. By the way what the hell's going on with Dean-o and my brother? I'm starting to get a weird will-they won't-they vibe from them. I mean, they're no Ross and Rachel but I'll take what entertainment I can get."
"I don't understand what that means," I said truthfully.
Gabriel sighed. "If I had my powers back I'd throw them into the plot of twilight and make them live out the entire movie before I let them out."
"Yes, I read about you killing Uncle Dean repeatedly and sticking them inside of the television. I believe they were trying to spare my feelings when they described you as a hero."
He laughed at me. "They're alive, aren't they? You see how undestroyed the Earth is? I helped with that."
"We've been here in the bunker for two months now," I answered finally.
"You look older," he nodded, "and not just physically. You can't let them get to you, Sabriel. The angels -"
I woke up with a start when Destiel's hand shook my shoulder. "Sabe, wake up! We're going to the beach today."
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Castiel held the small fish out for his son to examine. The fish wriggled in the water between his cupped hands, and Destiel reached one finger in to touch its head.
"How does this make a person?"
Castiel smiled. "It took many millions of years. Over time the species adapted to live on land and stand on two feet."
"And you got to watch?" he asked with wide eyes.
"Yes."
The boy turned to Dean who was looking around apprehensively. Castiel insisted on these little outings; he worried their son would think he was a prisoner in the bunker and not want to venture out of it when he was grown. Truth be told they could all use some fresh air. Destiel was growing quickly, Castiel had estimated he appeared to be about seven years old, and the angel had been scrambling to try to teach him as much as possible. Dean had been more worried about taking the kids out in public, and seemed to be on constant edge nowadays.
"Did you get to watch too, Papa?"
Dean shook his head. The boy still had trouble grasping that Dean was human. "No, I wasn't around back then."
Destiel nodded, obviously still confused. "Sabe?" he called. "Did you get to watch the fish grow?"
"I'm not much older than you, Des," Sabriel said. He sat not far away from them on the beach, just staring out at the horizon. Sam had stayed back in the bunker today, still calling contacts around the country to warn other hunters that heaven was after them. Sabriel was surprised to find himself wishing the man had come with them.
Dean lifted Destiel onto his hip. "Should we go swimming again before we head back, Buddy? I don't want you too tired out, there's a movie on late tonight I want to watch with you."
Castiel gave him an exasperated look. "Dean, I thought we agreed bedtime was nine o'clock."
"It's Ghostbusters, Cas. It's a classic and we've got to-"
'I've found you.'
Sabriel's heart skipped a beat as Mamuel's words resonated around his skull. He had enough time to stand and take a step toward the others before the banishing spell was cast.
Castiel disappeared in a flash of light, the fish he was holding dropping into the air. Dean froze mid sentence as his son drooped against him, suddenly asleep. Sabriel dropped like a sack of bricks into the hot sand, immediately unconscious.
A young man with dark hair and a smile appeared, stalking straight for Sabriel. Dean recognized him immediately from the salvage yard. He laid Destiel carefully down in the sand and sprinted toward him, hand yanking out the knife he kept at all times from the pocket of his bathing suit. He jumped in front of his nephew, holding the knife out at the intruder. "I don't want to hurt you, Kid! Just walk away!"
"Step aside," Mamuel sneered.
"What did you do to them?"
"Angelic banishing spell, they're only unconscious. You are Dean Winchester? I've been approved to offer you a deal. You give me that one," he said, jabbing a finger toward Sabriel, "and you get to keep the spare."
"The spare?"
"The boy, Destiel. He is of no further use to us, he's barely a proper hybrid, too human, and has received no training. It's an even trade."
"Not a chance in hell," Dean spat.
"They warned me you'd be illogical and barbaric," Mamuel said, cracking his knuckles. "I think I'll take both of them, then. Let it be a lesson to you hunters about who you are dealing with."
Dean smirked. "You know what I think? I think if you could throw me across the beach like Sabriel you wouldn't be wasting your time talking to me."
The hybrid glared and his fist shot forward. Dean ducked, grabbing his arm and trying to use the leverage to bring the knife in. Mamuel dodged away, pulling an angel blade out of his sleeve and diving at the hunter. Dean kept pushing him back, knowing only one touch to Sabriel's shoulder and the both of them could disappear.
Mamuel pretended to stab forward and Dean took the bait, reaching for his hand. The man's other side barrelled into Dean's chest, knocking the wind out of him. The young man was not as strong as an angel, but he was definitely stronger than a human. Dean felt one of his ribs snap as Mamuel pinned him to the ground. He raised the angel blade over the hunter's heart.
An earpeircing static noise echoed across the shoreline, making both men flinch hard. Dean had heard it only once before, but it had made an impression - the sound of an angel's true voice. He folded in on himself, trying to see where the sound was coming from. Down the beach came Destiel, a terrified expression on his small face as he ran towards them. His mouth was open in what looked like one long scream.
"Des, get back!" Dean tried to yell, but it was lost in the cacophony screeching from the boy's mouth. Occasionally he heard what he thought might be an actual word in the mess like 'Daddy' and 'emergency'.
Mamuel did not seem immune to the screech either. He backed away from Dean, holding his hands up to his ears. Dean brought the blade to his own arm and started to carve a banishing sigil as quickly as he could. He slapped his hand over it and the screeching came to an end. Destiel collapsed onto the sand again, but this time Mamuel did as well.
Dean panted, feeling a trickle of blood come down from his ear. He picked up Destiel quickly, checking his pulse to make sure he was alright, and then did the same with his nephew. "Cas," he called into the air, "as soon as you can get here, we need you."
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Mamuel's head hurt, and he couldn't remember where he was. His eyes felt so heavy, impossible to open. He had felt this once before, the first time he had failed to retrieve Sabriel. With a sinking feeling he realized the same thing must have happened this time. Heaven must have pulled him back and when he awoke he'd be facing another severe lecture from Naomi.
"Shouldn't he be awake by now?" he heard someone ask. He frowned. He didn't recognize this voice. He was pretty sure he knew all the voices of heaven. "Sabe woke up twenty minutes ago, he shouldn't be much different, right?"
Another voice. "I think the banishing spell's effectiveness hits hybrids according to how much angel is in their genetic makeup. You said he mentioned Destiel may be more human? That could be why he woke up so quickly."
Mamuel blinked awake and then recoiled in horror. He knew everyone in here from his training on dangerous hunters. Dean Winchester stood in front of him, the boy Destiel wrapped tightly around him like he thought the man was going to disappear. Sam Winchester was not far behind, standing arms crossed and weapon at the ready. The traitor Castiel was close to his face, holding a stethoscope up to his chest. As he struggled back he felt the bindings on his wrists strapping him to a chair and whipped his head around.
"Where am I?" he barked.
"You're in our dungeon and you're gonna' stay here until we figure out how you found us," Dean growled. "Des," he coughed as the boy's arms tightened around his neck, "Papa's okay, but I need to breathe."
"Naomi will find me immediately," Mamuel said, still struggling. He tried to fly out, a skill he had picked up in the past month, but found he could not. His eyes darted down to the ennochian scratchings around him.
There were footsteps from the other side of the room, and then suddenly he came into view. Sabriel was here, apparently unharmed, fixing him with a cold stare. "If Naomi knew where we were, you would not have attacked us outside."
"Sabriel," Mamuel sat up straighter. He was glad to see the other man in spite of the situation. The other hybrid did not seem to be in chains, and he'd been sitting so openly at the beach. Did they have him so brainwashed that he would not even try to escape in public? "Are they binding you with ennochian sigils as well? Or have they convinced you they do not intend to kill you?"
The question seemed to throw him off. "I am free."
Mamuel scoffed. "You say that to me in a dungeon? Come back with me, Sabriel. We would have thought the slaughtering of innocent lives would be enough to convince you, but apparently Naomi overestimated you. What is it going to take to get you to put an end to this?" His eyes darted to Destiel.
Sabriel pulled a knife from the wall and had it against Mamuel's throat in an instant. "Don't even look at him! What do you want from me?" he shouted. "Just leave me and my family alone!"
Sam put a heavy hand on Sabriel's shoulder and pulled him back.
Sabriel shrugged the hand off, not letting go of Mamuel's collar. "Father, every moment he is allowed to live makes it more likely that they will find us. We should kill him."
"We're not killing anyone yet," the man insisted. "Besides, he might have information we can use."
Mamuel spat through the air and it landed on Sam's shirt. "I'd rather die than tell you anything."
Sabriel lifted the knife as if to give him his wish, but Sam caught his arm and knocked the knife out of his grasp. "Sabe, go cool off."
Sabriel scoffed. "He nearly killed Dean, he would have done the same to Destiel, and you just let him live?"
"Sabe, listen to me-" he tried to put his hand back on his son's shoudler.
Sabriel pushed him away. "Don't touch me, Sam!" He threw the knife and and it landed with a sharp clang on the other side of the room. Sabriel pushed past him and rushed out of the door. A moment later the loud slam of a door echoed back to them from Sabriel's room.
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It was late, honestly far past Destiel's bedtime, but Dean had insisted that Ghostbusters was a classic that was vital to his son's education. Castiel relented and Destiel had been extremely excited about getting to stay up late with his parents. They'd offered to let Sam join them of course, but he had politely declined. The three of them rarely did anything alone together, and the man wanted to give them some space after the scare they had had that day. They knocked on Sabriel's door but there was no answer, and eventually they had given up.
Before the boys had arrived at the bunker Dean had set up what he called a bat-cave, though the reference was lost on all but Sam. They'd arranged the small couch with pillows and blankets so that the boy could sit between them and popped two large bowls of popcorn to snack on. Destiel laughed excitedly at the ballroom scene while the heroes tried to wrangle Slimer, loudly explaining why that's not how ghosts work and it would be much easier for them if they got some salt and iron together.
When the EPA agent came to inspect the facility Dean perked up. "Oh, Des, this is the best part."
He glanced down and the boy was out cold with popcorn still in his hand.
"How long has he been out?" he asked the angel next to him.
"About ten minutes. He had quite a day, I don't believe he had as much energy as he thought he did."
"Oh," Dean shrugged, grabbing the remote. "We can just shut it off I guess."
"I'm enjoying the movie, Dean," Castiel assured him. "Let's finish it."
Dean nodded and settled back into the couch. Destiel fidgeted grumpily in his sleep and fell across Dean's lap, wrapping the blanket tighter around him. "Should we put him to bed?"
Castiel reached over and tried to pick the boy up. He responded by kicking his hands away and growling. "Perhaps not," he said quietly.
"He's a real bear when he's tired."
"He gets that from you."
"Hey, I'm not like that!" he whispered harshly.
"Dean, I tried to wake you up once and you stabbed me."
"You're an angel, you barely felt it."
Castiel chuckled. "I like Egon."
"You would. Really smart, doesn't understand most humans, monotone voice. All he needs is a trench coat."
"What's a twinkie?"
"Dude, you have got to be kidding me. You've never had a twinkie?"
"No. What is it made of?"
"It's made of awesome, Cas, and we're getting some tomorrow for you and Des."
"Okay," he agreed.
Dean sipped absently on a beer and soon his own eyelids started to droop. He couldn't really adjust his position on the couch because he'd wake up Destiel. He leaned back to get comfortable and found that to be stretched back he had to use Castiel's shoulder for support.
"This okay?"
"Yes," Castiel said quickly.
Dean felt himself start to drift off and was almost asleep when the angel spoke again. "Dean, do you believe Destiel is happy?"
"Hmm? Uh, yeah. Not now, I guess, if you try to wake him he'd come up swinging, but generally he seems like a happy kid."
Castiel nodded and fell into silence again.
Dean frowned. "What's on your mind, anyway? You worried about him?"
The angel sighed. "Always."
Dean sat up, narrowing his eyes. "He's developing okay, right? You said he's on track mentally and physically?"
"I think so," Castiel nodded. "I don't have any examples to go on. I just worry that he...that we…are just too unconventional. Most small children do not watch the Ghostbusters and critique their ghost hunting abilities. Then with what happened on the beach today... I want for him to be able to be normal if he wishes."
"He's got two dads and one of them is an angel. I think that ship sailed a long time ago."
"Exactly," Castiel sighed. "If he cannot be normal then it is my fault. He deserves a human father."
"He's got me, Cas," Dean protested. "I've got the human side covered."
The angel shook his head. "He also deserves a...I mean, to be clear I would not object to you dating in the near future, and if she happened to like Destiel that would be a blessing."
He scoffed. "You think he needs a mom?"
"That is the traditional arrangement."
Dean ran a hand over his face. "Don't make me say this."
"Say what?"
"Fine. I'm not really interested in dating right now. We got a good thing going here, let's not mess it up."
Castiel looked confused. "I don't see how you being in a romantic relationship would affect our raising Destiel."
"That's not what I…" Dean refused to look at the angel, but he caught sight of his face in the dim light.
"Dean, are you blushing?"
"No," he said too quickly. "I'm not. Can we just watch the stupid movie?"
Castiel squinted and Dean could practically hear the gears turning in his mind. "Are you suggesting that being in a romantic relationship with someone would ruin the current state of our bond?"
Dean fidgeted enough that Destiel grumbled. He waited until the boy was asleep again before he whispered. "Yes, okay? I don't know what we've got going here but I think it's worth a shot for Des."
"Oh. You want to be in a relationship with me for Destiel's sake."
"Is that so terrible? Kids like knowing their parents care about each other. He's going to start asking questions someday soon, I'd like to be able to answer them." He took in the angels pained expression. "Look, it's not just Des. I didn't know about him when I slaughtered my way through purgatory to find your ass this past year. You've always mattered to me in some way or another. I think this might have happened, eventually, with the right circumstances. These...are the right circumstances. But you know I can't just decide this, you have a say. Are you...interested?"
Castiel smirked. "Of course I am. I assumed it was not an option due to your romantic history being entirely female."
"Angels don't have a gender," he said, mostly to remind himself. "It's just a vessel- Oh God, Jimmy! We can't ever-"
"I firmly believe Jimmy is no longer in this vessel," he said truthfully. "He passed on at some point, this body belongs to me."
"Good, that's good," Dean nodded, suddenly awkward. "So we...we give this a try, then? For him?"
Castiel frowned. "Yes, but I don't want you to think I'm only agreeing to this because of our son. If you had brought this possibility to my attention before he arrived… I would have also said yes."
Dean smiled, turning away from him. "That's good to know. This is new territory for me, and I'm not really sure how to do this so…" he carefully took hold of Castiel's hand beneath the blanket, "bear with me, alright?"
"Whatever you need, Dean. As always."
"Now let's shut up and watch Bill Murray kick Zuul's ass."
