Author's Note:

Hello everyone! I would like to say thank you thank you thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers! You rock :D I have been having so much fun writing this, and I really appreciate all the feedback. This chapter is dedicated to both cheryl24 and Susangel for their amazing scene ideas! Hope the scenes are at least close to what you wanted, if not then feel free to kill me for it :-)

Lyrics are from Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton, the first set is directed at the Dean/Cas scene at the beginning, the second set directed at Gabriel's character in general.

Reviews are love!


"And as I looked up into those eyes, his vision borrows mine

And I know he's no stranger, for I feel I've held him for all of time."

Castiel's P.O.V.

When the convulsions finally stopped, I looked up at Dean, who had held me through the entire ordeal. I was laid out across his lap as he gently stroked my hair away from my face. My body felt warm from the strength of Gabriel's grace stirring within me, and that thought immediately had me raising into a sitting positon, knowing I would have a lot of explaining to do with Sam. He probably had no idea what was going on. I tried to get up but Dean put a hand on my chest, holding me back.

"Slow down. You just spontaneously came back from the dead, you should take it easy."

"I must get to Sam."

"I'll tell him you're alive, promise, but in the meantime-"

"That is not the issue, Dean," I said, cutting him off and getting to my feet and ignoring his protests. "Gabriel infused me with the remainder of his grace to bring me back. Archangels have many powers that exceed human understanding, and this is one of them."

"So he sacrificed himself to save you?" he asked, shocked.

"It appears that way, but no. He is in the angelic equivalent of a human coma."

"How do we get him out of it?" he asked as he followed me upstairs to the guest room Sam was staying in.

"We will need a human willing to be bound to him for the rest of their life."

"Well how about I put an ad in the paper. 'Single white archangel looking for eternal mate.' I bet we'll find someone."

"No, we cannot entrust this to a stranger," I replied.

"Dude, I was kidding."

"This is not a joking matter," I said as we walked into Sam's room.

Even to an angel still learning the basics of human emotions, the sight we found there was heartbreaking. Sam was holding my brother, crying and quietly begging him to wake up. I felt a pang of guilt well up at the sigh of Gabriel so lifeless. My former guardian looked dead to the human eye, but I could see the fractional remainder of his grace still within him. I had a feeling it would be Sam that resulted in saving Gabriel, he seemed very close to my much older brother.

"Sam, let him go," I said, walking over to them.

He ignored me, so I continued. "Gabriel is not dead. But he will be very soon, and I need your help."

His head shot up. "How? How can I help?"

"His grace is barely hanging on, so to speak. When our wings were nearly ripped out, we were given what humans would consider a disease. Only a very high amount of an archangel's grace can rid an angel of said disease, which is the only reason I am alive. We have no archangel to do for him what he did for me, and he cannot survive without his grace. The illness will slowly eat away at it and kill him regardless of what we do. Unless, that is, we can withdraw was little grace he has life and preserve it in a body untainted by the illness."

"And that's where Sasquatch comes in?" Dean supplied.

"Yes, that is where Sam comes in," I said, having grown used to Dean's nickname for his younger sibling.

"So you want to put part of Gabriel…in me?" Sam asked.

"Sounds kinky," Dean commented.

Ignoring Dean, I said to Sam, "It will create a very close bond between the two of you. You'll be able to feel each other's emotions, possibly even communicate telepathically."

"Whatever it takes to save him," the hunter responded.

"Then we will start," I said, very glad he had agreed with minimal hesitation.

"What should I do?" he asked eagerly.

"Lay down and relax."

He complied, laying down next to Gabriel and visibly forcing himself to relax. Closing his eyes, I watched as the tension slowly left his body. Good. He needed to be as relaxed as possible for this. Bobby, who had just come in, was quickly enlightened about the current situation by Dean. Using my newly regenerated powers to ease Sam into a deep sleep, I laid one hand on his chest and the other on Gabriel's. I could tell Dean and Bobby were watching with fascination as I began chanting in Enochian.

Before long, the ritual was in progress.

Gabriel's P.O.V.

I was not presently aware of my body. Not of what was happening to it, or where I was. This was fine with me, though. My mind was playing out many memories of the very early days, when I had still been a generally content angel. More than an angel, but an archangel. One of the most respected figures in Heaven. I would never forget the day I was summoned and told I'd been assigned as a guardian to my very own angel. I'd been as excited as a small child.

"You must be Castiel," I'd said to the tiny angel. My assignment. My adorable assignment, I might add.

He nodded. "Who are you?"

"Gabriel."

He was only five human years old when we first met, and I had taught him everything. First I told him endless stories that he listened to eagerly, always begging me for more when I finished. Then I taught him to fly, patiently allowing him to hold on to my wings until he could fly on his own. When he was older, I taught him to fight with his angel blade. He was the only opponent I was ever evenly matched with, simply because I taught him everything I knew and turned him into one of the most well trained angels in his Garrison.

"He's precious, your Castiel," one of the other archangels had commented while we watched my assigned angel fly.

Archangels were both warriors and guardians, and I had always wanted to be a guardian to an angel of my own. Castiel became my pride and joy, I loved him more then anything else in the world. I watched him grow, watched him become more than just one of Heaven's creations, but something all his own. A beautiful, remarkable angel that would stop the end of the world right in its tracks. At the time I didn't know just how important he was, but the others did.

Just as humans had a Prophet of the Lord, so did we. Heaven's current Prophet just happened to be in my Garrison. His name was Dariel. I'd lied to Dean when I'd told him I didn't know the angel personally. He foretold that Castiel and me would become something lethal. Separated, we were dangerous, but together? We were unstoppable. And everyone knew it once Dariel voiced his prophecy, that we would help stop the Apocalypse and start the greatest war of Heaven since the Great Battle of the Morningstar, the latter being the infamous battle that had led to Lucifer being trapped in Hell.

They had wanted to separate us so we could never start the foretold battle. I had been watching over Castiel, just as always, when the other archangels drug me away, warning me not to wake him. They told me I'd best never communicate with him again, or they would kill him. I did not doubt that they would. I came from a cruel Garrison. So they'd taken me away…and never let me see him again. Let him believe I'd just up and abandoned him without a second thought.

That night, after they'd taken him from me, I had cried quietly when they were not around. It was weak, but I couldn't help it. I loved him, and now for his own sake, I could never see him again. There had not been a single day when I hadn't thought of him, hadn't longed for the sweet angel I'd sworn to protect. So when my brothers and sisters started killing each other, I left. Couldn't stand it if Castiel was among them and I couldn't be there to save him.

That was why I became the Trickster and left my life as an archangel behind. I'd told Sam and Dean I couldn't take watching my family slaughter each other, but I'd left out the real reason. Castiel. My sweet, darling Castiel. I'd managed to cover up the pain and longing I'd felt when he'd shown up in the sitcom parody with a simple "Hi, Castiel!", but when he looked at me over his shoulder as he left the warehouse with so much hate in his eyes, I'd nearly come undone.

I knew why he looked at me that way. He still saw me as the angel that left him behind. But I knew Dariel was still alive, so I still couldn't go to him, couldn't explain why I did what I did. So I was forced to let him hate me without even trying to explain. But when he banished the angels for Sam and Dean and ended up mortally wounded, I went to him and healed him while he was still unconscious. That was the biggest mistake I ever made.

Dariel found out…and tried to kill us both. Tried to rip out our wings to punish me for disobedience. When I finally woke up, I found Cas barely alive. I wanted to try to help him but didn't want Dariel to return and kill him once and for all, finishing what he started. So I stayed nearby, and used my mental powers to inform Cas where I was against my better judgment. I was sick and tired to death of staying away, I wanted my brother back. Selfish, yes, but true.

Though I still didn't think it was safe to tell him the entire story about why I'd left, we'd still begun bonding again. I recalled when I'd given him the Hershey bar and he'd reluctantly tried it. That was when I'd successfully gotten my brother hooked on chocolate. He'd eaten not only that but three more afterwards, and then asked what other kinds of chocolate were good. I'd left to go get the cupcakes…and that's when it all started going downhill.

I had come back to find him still, eerily so. He hadn't been breathing. I'd tried to heal him, begged him to wake up, done everything I could before calling Sam, the first person that had come to mind. They had arrived, and tried just as hard as I did to bring Cas back, but finally dubbed it useless. I'd later come apart in Sam's arms, grieving my little Cas, who'd I failed so completely as his guardian.

Finally, I got to the most recent batch of memories. Closing my eyes and infusing Castiel with my grace until I was almost too weak to move, and then going to find Sam, simply because I wanted to see him one last time before I snuffed it. He'd been gentle and welcoming to me. A warmth and comfort had eased me into the darkness as he leaned over me, his hand large and warm around mine. Then…it had all gone dark. I was now presently aware of someone chanting in Enochian.

I knew that voice. Gruff and cracked, but no longer as awful as it had been when he'd been dying. Castiel. I'd once viewed the voice as Jimmy Novak's, but no, it was Castiel's now. I knew that vessel was as much his true form as his Heavenly one. The trench coat, the dark blue tie…they were all a part of him now. Then a second voice spoke, smoother and less hoarse...

"Gabriel?"

My eyes flew open to meet Sam's. I was awake. I shook my head to clear it of the onslaught of memories, trying to adjust to the strange pull I felt. I realized it was a pull towards my grace…which was in Sam. I could feel in within his body. Okay, weird. Like chocolate with orange weird. Chocolate is awesome, why taint it with fruit? Yuck.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

I blinked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "Like your invading my personal space. Get out of my bubble, kiddo."

"Right, sorry."

"You should not have attempted to sacrifice yourself for me, Gabriel," Castiel said from where he stood next to the bed.

"What can I say? I was feeling heroic," I joked. "So let's skip all the chick flicky moments and go celebrate, yeah?"

"Define your meaning of 'celebrate,'" he said worriedly.

"Let's go find a nightclub, have some drinks, and party because world's most awesome archangel is alive and kicking!" I grinning, hopping to my feet.

"Not exactly a reason to celebrate, but booze and women are involved, so I say hells yeah," Dean said.

"C'mon Cas, looks like we've been outnumbered," Sam smiled, following Dean out the door.

"You coming, Bobby?" I asked over my shoulder as Cas and I followed the brothers.

"Well of course, I'll just groove on down in my wheelchair," he said, heavily sarcastic. "Idjit."

"Why use your wheelchair?"

"Oh, so male blonds are as dumb as the females." Again, heavily sarcastic.

"Well if you just like sitting around in that thing when you could be walking…well, have at it," I shrugged, turning to walk out.

I heard shifting as he rose to his feet. When I looked over my shoulder, he was standing, looking shocked. Our eyes met briefly as it clicked in his human little brain what I'd done. His features softened, and he even smiled. To me, he was a guardian just like I was. He may not be an archangel, but he was as much Sam and Dean's guardian as I was Castiel's. We were one and the same, in my opinion. I figured fixing his legs was the least I could do.

"Thank you."

I gave him an uncharacteristically warm smile. "Don't mention it."

"Well come on you little idjit, we don't want the boys getting their panties in a wad if we keep em' waiting," he said, motioning to the door.

I did a little dance as I walked. "Time to par-tay!"

"I started to realize that everyday he finds just what he's looking for

Like a shooting star he shines

He said, take my hand, live while you can

Don't you see your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand?"