Okay, so life got seriously crazy for me in the past few months, like quitting my job, going back to school, and moving all at the same time kind of crazy, but now that I have time to breath...It's done! just got to do some re-reading and put some finishing touches on the epilogue but only two chapters to go after this.

Yay!

...

Castiel was holed up in his office the next day when Gabriel barged in, ignoring Alfie's greeting of "Hello Mr Novak." and striding straight to the back of the store, throwing the office door open and grabbing Castiel, pulling him to his feet and out the room.

"What?! Gabe!"

"Not now Cassie!" He shouted back, ignoring any protests Cas might have made as they left the store, "You're in charge kid!" He yelled back to Alfie as the shop door shut behind them.

He pulled them up the street and into Angel Cakes, shutting the door and flipping the OPEN sign to CLOSED while Cas struggled out of his grip.

"What the hell Gabriel?" He asked and turned to find his entire family (minus Michael and Lucifer) sitting facing him in a haphazard semicircle like some sort of intervention.

Cas frowned.

"This isn't some sort of intervention is it?"

Gabe pushed him down into a chair before taking one himself.

"It's a family meeting."

Cas shifted in his seat and looked around.

"Since when do we do those?"

"Since you decided to throw away the one thing that's made you happier than you've ever been."

Cas sighed.

"Look, Dean and I—"

"Are the perfect couple and should be together forever." Charlie piped up, munching on a croissant.

"Look, Charlie, it's more complicated than that."

"Do you love him?"

"Well…yes, but—"

"Well, he obviously loves you so…what the hell?"

"Have you forgotten how he completely overreacted when that picture went viral and left the city and didn't talk to me for two months?"

"No, but I also haven't forgotten how happy you were when you were with him and how depressed you were after he left."

Cas scoffed and looked away, folding his arms and sitting back in his chair in what he knew was a petulant, childish manner but really couldn't bring himself to care.

"Look, Castiel." Anna spoke up, "We all just want to talk to you about what happened and how you're feeling."

He looked over at his sister and around at his siblings all looking back at him with what might have been familial concern if he didn't know better.

"This couldn't have come three years ago?" He asked, his tone caustic and designed to wound.

Gabriel shifted uncomfortably and Anna looked so upset he immediately felt horrendously guilty for his words.

"I'm sorry I—"

"No Castiel." Inias spoke up in that way of his that commanded immediate silence and attention, "You have every right to be hurt. But Anna's right. We just want to talk to you about what occurred last night."

"Nothing occurred last night. We…talked. He apologized. We went our separate ways. End of story."

Silence descended as everyone exchanged significant glances and Cas busied himself with a plate of cookies Charlie had passed him.

"That's it?" Charlie finally spoke up.

Cas huffed out an annoyed breath, "Yes, that's it. That's all that happened. Our lifestyles are not compatible, it's never going to work out and he agreed with me."

Charlie rolled her eyes, "Well that's a load of crap."

"Yeah, well, despite what the Beatles might have you believe, love isn't all you need, ok!? It's more complicated than that."

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's—"

"Okay, cut it out!"

Charlie sat back at Gabriel's words, silent but still throwing Cas dirty looks.

"Look Castiel, we all understand and support the decision you made." Charlie snorted and Gabriel responded by throwing a pen at her, "We just want you to be happy. And Dean did make you really happy. And I guess we'd sort of forgotten what that was like and it made us realize how unhappy you were with Amelia and how unhappy you've been since the divorce. And we also want to show that we support you. All of us."

Castiel couldn't help but think of the siblings who were noticeably absent.

"Ok." Cas answered with a sigh, "Thank you. I appreciate that. But Dean and I…it's just not going to happen ok? So just drop it. Please."

There was another round of significant glances and Inias nodded.

"Very well Castiel. The subject will not be broached again."

"Thank you."

"Yes." Anna agreed, "Perhaps it is for the best. Like you said."

She looked over at Charlie who stared back before throwing up her hands and rolling her eyes, "Fine. No more talking about Dean." She settled back into her chair, "I suppose it was worth a shot at least."

Cas frowned.

"What was worth a shot?"

Gabriel was glaring furiously at Charlie who sat smirking smugly in her seat.

"What's going on?"

No one spoke but every single face around the circle broadcasted guilt perfectly clearly.

"Gabriel."

He focused his gaze on the person most likely to be the mastermind behind the whatever had happened and sure enough after a few moments he broke with a "Fine." and a glare at Charlie for good measure.

"Michael told me Sam Winchester was being transferred to the Chicago office and when I did a little digging and found out Dean was on the guest list for the big party, I thought, what a wonderful opportunity!"

Castiel felt his ire rise once more.

"So it was all a set up?" He asked, voice on the verge of of yelling as he glared at everyone in turn, "And you were all in on it? Even Michael?"

Gabriel nodded, "It was surprisingly easy to get him to agree to to the whole thing."

Castiel stared at his brother, reading his expression for any hint of dishonestly.

"Why?" He asked finally, not really knowing if he was even expecting a proper answer.

Gabe shrugged.

"He said family is most important. Above anything."

Castiel said nothing as he tried to reconcile this new attitude of his brother with the fact that he hadn't even shown up for this little 'intervention'.

Then the door burst open and a scruffy looking man with an even scruffier beard and baseball cap that looked as if it were glued to his head strode into the room, scanned every face with his sharp eyes and said, "Which one of ya's Castiel?"

Cas sat stunned, unable to do much more than stare, let alone process that this stranger was there looking for him.

"Umm, excuse me." Gabriel said, standing and coming to face the stranger, "I don't know if you can read but the sign on the door says we're closed."

The man sent a look toward the owner of the bakery that said without a doubt that he didn't suffer fools at all. Period.

"Door was unlocked wasn't it? What good's a sign when the door ain't even locked." He rolled his eyes Gabriel who sent a dirty look at the door as though it was at fault for not locking itself. "Now, I say again, which one of you is Castiel?"

Again, Cas could only blink, and his voice didn't seem to want to join in at all so instead he raised his hand like he was in kindergarten.

The sharp gaze fell on him and he found himself gulping under the scrutiny. After what certainly felt like a lifetime, the man grunted and said, "Yeah, I've seen your picture."

Heat rose in his cheeks and he opened his mouth to protest but was cut off (and lucky too because whatever was going to come out of his mouth was bound to be pathetic, if anything came out at all) by Gabriel.

"Excuse me." He said as he pulled himself to his full height, which admittedly was not much but Gabe could be surprisingly intimidating when he wanted to, and squared his shoulders as though for a fight. "But who exactly are you?"

They locked eyes for a hard minute, neither showing any sign of backing down, and the stranger smiled a feral grin completely lacking in any warmth.

"I might ask you the same question, but I'm going to assume you're Gabriel."

Gabe blinked but held his calm facade.

"You have me at a disadvantage."

The feral smile made a comeback.

"You know, I find that to be a perfectly comfortable place to be." He turned back to Castiel who had not risen and saw no reason to. All it was likely to do was make him look foolish. "I'm Bobby Singer."

Castiel nodded. Dean had told him about the gruff friend of his father's who had become a sort of surrogate father/uncle figure in the absence of of his own father's role in his life. Bobby was someone whose opinion mattered a great deal to Dean and Castiel could see how Dean would draw strength from the stoic manner he exuded.

"It's nice to meet you." He greeted, standing and offering his hand to shake. "Dean has spoken very highly of you."

Bobby took his hand in a firm grip, "Same goes for you. That boy's about as smitten as I've ever seen 'im."

Cas shifted uncomfortably, "Look, if you've come here to convince me-"

"I ain't come here to convince anyone son. You've got every right to do what you think's best for you. I only came to deliver something."

"What?" Castiel asked with a frown. Instead of answering, he opened the door. Sam Winchester stepped inside with a curious smile on his face and he nodded at Cas and then moved aside. He was followed by Michael of all people, but before Cas could form any sort of query as to why they were there, a young girl followed in behind them and every thought flew from his mind at the sight of her.

She had grown in the year since he had last seen her, her hair was a little longer, falling over her shoulders instead of brushing them like before. But the smile that broke over her face as she caught sight of him was just the same as he remembered from the first time he had held her in his arms.

"Daddy!"

She ran forward, barrelling into him before he had a chance to really process what was happening but his arms snaked around her of their own accord, holding her tight against him in a way he never wanted to end.

"Claire."

The name came out choked and he realized belatedly that tears were welling up in his eyes and he closed them, dipping his face to rest against her hair, kissing the crown of her head softly before pulling back and kneeling down.

Tear tracks left glistening paths down her cheeks and he brushed them aside with the pad of his thumb even as his own continued to pour.

"Daddy." She said again, hiccuping even as she smiled and he couldn't help but beam himself as he stared back at her.

"Hey baby." He said softly and let out a choking laugh as he pulled her in again, kissing her cheek as he held his daughter in his arms once more.

It seemed like a lifetime had passed once he finally pulled away and let the rest of the world fade back into existence and yet it still felt like not nearly enough time.

He looked up at Sam and Bobby and Michael who still stood quietly in the entrance, looking fondly at the father daughter reunion taking place before them.

"How did you...? What...? Why...?"

Questions swirled through his mind and yet none of them settled long enough to form into anything coherent. Beside him, Claire laughed at his in-eloquence and his heart lurched at sound.

"It was Dean." Sam began, "He told me about how your wife refused you custody so I took a look at the court decision and it isn't within her legal rights to refuse you visitation."

Castiel nodded. He'd been fighting with Amelia's lawyers for nearly a year to allow him to see Claire but between having to use cheap public attorneys and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with all the legal fees, he'd been unable to make much headway.

"When I got transferred, Michael got wind of it and, well, he was really the one who got Amelia to back down."

Castiel looked over at his eldest brother.

"Is that true Michael?"

Michael shrugged, a careless gesture so unlike his usual meticulous mannerisms. "I ought to have acted much sooner. I am only trying to make up for my past mistakes."

Castiel could feel tears pricking in the corner of his eyes and he blinked them away, mostly unsuccessfully as he squeezed Claire's shoulder.

"Thank you, Michael." He said emphatically, "Thank you."

Michael opened his mouth as though to respond, but instead, he merely nodded and looked away. It would take a lot more that a few words and a gesture of good faith to heal that particular relationship.

Castiel was too wrapped up in the happiness of finally having his daughter back to really be aware of anything else, but as the rest of his family came forward to share in the joy of the reunion, a thought struck him.

"You said Dean asked you to do this." He commented, frowning at the Winchester in the doorway.

Sam nodded, "Yes."

"But you and he hadn't spoken in years before you came to my house." Two days before the photo that had ruined everything.

Bobby sent a glare sideways at Sam who squirmed and grimaced.

"Yes, we...didn't get along for a very long time. We're... working on getting to know each other again." He cocked his head and fixed Castiel with a curious look, "why?"

Cas's frown deepened, his mind jumping to a realization that he wasn't all too sure he was ready for. "So...when did he ask you? To get Claire back for me?"

Sam's face relaxed into a smile.

"Six weeks ago. He said he knew it wasn't nearly enough to make up for what he'd done, but that at least it was something."

Castiel's heart jolted and he sank slowly into his seat at the new information sank in.

"Daddy? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Claire was looking at him with an expression of concern that seemed far too mature on her youthful face.

He smiled at the sight of her, stilled awed by the fact at she was indeed here.

"I'm fine sweetie, I'll be fine."

She smiled and turned back to the crowd that had gathered around her and Cas looked back at Sam to find he and Bobby watching him closely.

"Why didn't he just call? If he was sorry enough to do something like this, why not just talk to me?"

Bobby snorted and rolled his eyes, Sam looked like he wanted to say something but instead he just shook his head.

"'Cause that would've made too much sense." The old man scoffed, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his well worn jeans. Castiel's frown deepened and Bobby elaborated. "Look, Dean's a great guy. One of the best you'll ever meet. And he's got the biggest heart of anyone too, but he's got the self esteem of a flea and he won't ever tell anybody he's sorry, not cause he ain't or cause he's too proud but cause he don't really think anybody'd believe him."

"But that doesn't help anything, it just prolongs the pain."

Bobby nodded, "Like I said, the boy's an idjit."

Sam smiled, "Bobby's right Castiel, and it took me far too long to see it." He shifted, choosing his words carefully, "I know he hurt you. And I understand if you feel you can't forgive him, but please Castiel. Please try. Because I think you guys have something real. And I'd hate to see that fade away."

Cas regarded the earnest truth in Sam's eyes before looking down at his daughter who sat perched on his lap as though they had never been apart. As though she'd been gone no longer that a weekend trip to visit Amelia's parents in Pontiac. She was talking animatedly with Charlie and Anna and she looked up at him and smiled, burrowing into his chest and allowing his arms to fold around her. A pressure in his chest he hadn't even known was there released and he sighed, tears trickling from his eyes in a rush of relief and joy.

He looked back up at Sam.

"Which hotel is Dean staying in?"