In honour of it being a holiday in my country, you all get this update a day early.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

...

Chapter 7 - Blackbird

Following Thanksgiving, things were good for about two weeks.

Dean and Cas continued to grow closer and, as Castiel became more involved in the business end of the roadhouse, Jo was beginning to consider going back to school the coming fall, even registering for some classes at the local Community College starting in the New Year. Sam called often from Stanford with Sarah constantly butting in to update the two men on how the wedding arrangements were coming along which Dean always pretended to be annoyed and exasperated by and which Cas always listened to with rapt attention; behaviour which Dean was never quite sure was genuine or not.

Then, one Thursday afternoon, when Dean and Cas were alone in the Roadhouse, restocking the bar before the dinner rush, the door opened, spilling light into the darkened pub and illuminating a figure in the doorway. He stepped forward. At first Dean couldn't make him out, backlit as he was against the light from outside, but as the door swung shut behind him, Dean caught a glance of honey coloured eyes and a serious, almost somber expression.

"Kitchen's not going to be open for another hour but you're welcome to have a drink." He informed the man who made his way straight over to where Dean stood behind the bar.

"Actually," the stranger said, "I'm here looking for my brother. I was wondering if you'd seen him?"

He held out a picture, which Dean took. It was one of those professional studio photos with the generic blue background and everyone posing awkwardly, all fake smiles. It featured a pretty redheaded woman, a man with striking blue eyes, and a young blond girl. The woman had her hand on the man's shoulder and the girl stood on his other side, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her secure. Dean stared at the man.

The man who was the spitting image of Castiel.

"Can't say that I have." He answered, shrugging and handing the picture back to the stranger.

The man looked at Dean for a moment, sizing him up before sighing, his shoulders slumping minutely, looking forlornly down at the picture.

"Well if you do see him around could you give me a call we're all really worried abou-"

"Dean I can't find that case. Wher-"

The man cut off as Cas came back into the bar from the kitchen carrying a box of pretzels as he pushed the door open with his shoulder. He stopped short as he caught sight of the stranger, eyes wide and mouth agape. The sound of the pretzels hitting the ground echoed through the silent, empty bar.

"Jimmy." The man breathed, moving towards were Castiel stood frozen.

"Gabriel." He finally greeted.

'Gabriel' stopped in front of Cas, eyes skimming over him before pulling him in, hugging him tightly.

Cas patted the guy awkwardly, sending an apologetic glance at Dean.

Gabriel pulled back.

"God Jimmy, where have you been? We were so worried about you, how could you just up and leave like that? After everything that happened?"

Cas sighed before pulling the man through the kitchen doors and out of sight.

Dean stood frozen in the once again empty bar, his mind reeling.

Gabriel.

I'm looking for my brother.

How could you just up and leave like that? After everything that happened?

Jimmy…

Without conscious thought, Dean found himself moving towards the kitchen door. He stopped. To do what? Eavesdrop? Finally get answers to the burning questions about who Cas was? Where he had come from? What had happened to him?

No. He would not invade Cas' privacy.

Dean clenched his fists, desperate to hear what was being said behind that door. He could feel the want, the desire pumping though him. The unanswered questions about the man he loved demanding to be sated as ferociously as his thirst had demanded to be sated in his first few attempts at getting sober.

His jaw clenched and he closed his eyes. He had made it through that and he could make it through this. Cas would tell him. Eventually Cas would tell him.

About thirty minutes later, the door to the kitchen opened again and Gabriel emerged alone. He looked up at Dean where he was wiping down the same spot at bar that he had been at for the past half an hour.

The man moved around the other side of the bar, following the line of high-legged chairs down until he was face to face with Dean.

Green eyes met golden.

"You Dean?" he asked.

"Yeah." Dean answered, standing his ground. Despite the fact that the guy was half a foot shorter than him, he exuded power in a way that told Dean, despite his life of crime fighting, this Gabriel could do him some serious harm if he wanted to.

"You've been looking after my brother?"

Dean shrugged.

"You could say that."

"He said you saved him."

"Look," Dean said, holding up his hands, "all I did was give him a job and a place to stay."

"And a life."

Gabriel stared at him for a long minute, sizing him up before nodding.

Dean wondered if he'd passed some sort of test. Or failed.

"That man in there," Gabriel gestured to the door through which he and Castiel had disappeared, "Jimmy, or Castiel, or whatever he wants to call himself, he's been through more than you can imagine. Hell. If he's managed to find some kind of peace with you, great. Fantastic. He, more than anyone else, deserves at least that. But," a dangerous gleam lit in his light coloured eyes, burning with something that Dean was intimately familiar with: brotherly protection. "If you hurt him, if you do anything that causes him harm. Well, let's just say that I'm only one of Jimmy's three older brothers and believe you me when I tell you that I am a teddy bear compared to the other two."

Dean was proud of the fact that he managed to not wet himself once that particular speech was done. He had been privy to his share of macho posturing but that, that was real.

"Understood." He said in his most passive tone.

Suddenly, Gabriel's face relaxed into an easy smile.

"Good." He said jovially, producing a lollipop of all things from his inside pocket and divested it of its clear plastic wrapper before popping it into his mouth and turning to exit the roadhouse.

He reached the door and stopped, turning back.

"And Dean, thanks for taking care of my brother."

And with that he was gone.

Dean moved to door, locking it and flipping the sign from OPEN to CLOSED before turning towards the kitchen in search of Castiel hoping that he'd get some answers once and for all.

Dean found Cas out back, sitting on an overturned crate and staring off into the distance, his hands clasped, arms draped around his knees. His expression was impassible but his eyes were sad. Dean grabbed another crate and set it down beside him, plunking himself down.

"So, one of your brothers is named Gabriel and is, despite his height, surprisingly terrifying."

"He didn't threaten you did he?" Cas asked in a concerned tone.

Dean shook his head.

"Don't worry about me I can handle myself. Look, if you don't want to talk, that's fine; my position on this hasn't changed. But if you do…I'm here."

Castiel averted his gaze, squinting out at the barren brush that surrounded the back of the Roadhouse. Gabriel showing up so suddenly had stirred up everything that he had been desperately trying to keep a bay. But it had brought him something else too, a realization that, try as he might, he could not escape the past, he could not deny what had happened to him, what he had lost, no matter how difficult or painful it may be to face. He thought about the man sitting next to him, the man who had been his rock and anchor, who had kept him afloat all these months without even knowing why. Castiel couldn't believe how lucky he had been to find this man who had been so loving and so giving and so, so patient.

He deserved to know the truth. And for the first time, Castiel felt ready to give it to him.

"My name is James Castiel Novak, Jimmy for short, and I'm from Pontiac, Illinois.