On we go.

Family Reunions and Avoidance

Still half asleep, I fumble for the light switch as I was told. As soon as light floods the room, though, I immediately want to crawl back into my room and go back to sleep. What stands in front of me is a face unchanged by the six months I haven't seen it.

"Gabriel." I mutter with relief. Better him than an intruder, I suppose.

"What a warm welcome." He retorts sarcastically before pulling a lollipop out of his jacket pocket.

"I apologize. I was not expecting you to come by." A piece of paper on the table catches my attention but as soon as I reach for it, it's already in Gabriel's hands.

"You were expecting someone, that's for sure." He says jokingly, handing me the paper.

Cas,

Sorry for darting out before you woke up. Got called into work.

Thanks again for last night though. If you need anything just call.

-Dean

"Who's Dean?" He asks with a hint of deviancy in his voice.

"A friend from school." I reply as casually as possible, hiding the blush creeping onto my face.

"That's what all mistresses say." Before I can even try to convince him that I'm not a mistress, he changes the topic. "Where's your brother?"

"Out." I answer a little too quickly.

"Sure. Where's all your furniture?" He questions while looking around.

"Are you interrogating me or something? Why are you even here?" I shoot back at him, shocking both of us.

"Listen, I know that it's not really any of my business and I know that your father told me to stay away from you but fucking hell, Castiel. You don't have to live like this." Gabriel says almost begging for me to see his point.

"Like what? I'm almost an adult. Did it ever occur to you that he got me this place so that I could live on my own?" I'm trying to convince myself more than him and it's painfully obvious.

"Yeah. That's what a sane, loving father would do. You're right. All those bruises and scars and nightmares and panic attacks, couldn't have been caused by him." He pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts. "You don't have to live protecting someone who made your life a living hell. That's all I'm saying. I only came here to make sure you were okay."

"As you can see, I'm fine. Good-bye."

"Before you shove me out, apparently your father found out I'm here and now he's on his way here too. So since he already knows, I figure I might as well stick around for a little while to make sure you stay fine." He shoots back at me, putting quotation marks around the word 'fine'.

"That will just cause more issues, Gabriel. It's best if you just leave so I can clean the house before he gets here." I lean against the wall in order to keep my knees from buckling.

"Last time I left, you needed stitches. I can't let that happen again. I promise I'll be gone while he's here, how's that?" He almost begs. "I can help clean up. Maybe make you an actual meal?"

"You'll be gone when he gets here?" I ask, skeptically.

"Scout's honor." He holds up his hand with a smile.

"Fine. I have to finish my homework though, so please don't bother me." I turn on the heel of my foot and close myself into my room, leaving Gabriel alone to entertain himself.

The first thing I do before pulling my homework out of my backpack is turn on some music (which has became a habit of mine since hanging out with Dean more often) and slip on a pair of sweat pants because it's gotten awfully chilly in here. I still have the essay for English to finish along with some calculus and history worksheets. Not to discredit Sam's help or anything but I'm not rushing to do anything for history and calculus takes more effort than I'm willing to give right now, so I quickly settle on putting my English prompt in front of me.

However, that assignment requires more effort than I'm willing to put in, too, because after two short-lived moments of actual focus I slowly turn onto my back and start running my fingers across my scars absentmindedly.

Gabriel shouldn't be here. There's no way around that truth. If he had just kept his nose out of it, father wouldn't be on his way right now. I know this. So call me selfish or whatever, but it feels good. It feels good to know that someone in my family isn't completely devoured by my father. And, honestly, I doubt I would've even let myself admit that two months ago.

I urgently shake those thoughts out of my head. It doesn't matter what makes me happy because in less than a day, father will be back and, knowing him, he'll be angrier than ever. So instead of thinking of what pleases me to believe for the moment now, I need to start thinking of ways to protect my life here. I can't let father's anger ruin my chance here.

Feeling my thoughts take an uncomfortable turn, I decide to make a pot of tea to calm me down. When I walk into the kitchen I see that Gabriel's already making himself at home by beginning to cook a batch of what looks like chocolate chip pancakes.

"Wanna take a break for some pancakes?" He asks, sliding the now fully-cooked pancake onto a plate next to him.

"It's three in the afternoon." I state, plainly.

"So? It's like six in the morning in Beijing." He replies with a smile.

"I don't like sweets." That's mostly a lie now because Dean's sweet tooth has kind of rubbed off on me lately and I've found myself stealing more than a few pieces of his favorite pies every time he takes me to the Roadhouse (which is pretty much a weekly occurrence).

"Unsweetened chocolate chips. Have some, they're really good. Also, I picked up some really great breakfast teas for you while I was traveling so you can have a cup of it if you like." His offer for tea is enough for me to immediately agree to eating an afternoon breakfast with him and it doesn't turn out to be even close to as awkward as I imagined it would be.

If there's one thing to give the elder man credit for, it's his ability to fill the space of conversation when the other person isn't very talkative. I figure it must be a skill that producers are taught by their professors when they went off to college or whatever. My train of thought is interrupted by Gabriel asking what's different for me.

"What do you mean?" I ask quietly, taking a small bite of my pancake.

"You just seem really different." He pauses to chew. "It wouldn't have anything to do with that Dean fellow, would it?"

"I'm simply enjoying an oddly timed breakfast with my uncle. I don't understand how Dean plays a part in it."

"Tell me about him. Like what type of person is he?"

"It's hard to explain, honestly. He likes music and pie and alcohol probably more than any eighteen year old should but regardless he's a good person." I find myself smiling a little too much so I hide it by shoving the last piece of my pancake in my mouth. "His brother, Sam, helped me in history when I first got here." I change the topic off of Dean, smoothly.

"Who else do you hang out with?" He asks, casually.

"I sit with Dean and his friends at lunch but I don't consider school lunch 'hanging out', you know? They're a nice group though. They've known each other most of their lives, apparently." I take a sip of my tea, growing bored with the conversation. "Enough about me. How's your work?"

"It's good, actually. We finished filming Changing Channels last month so I've just been collecting some information while waiting for the perfect time to visit you." He answers with a mouth full of sausage.

"Information? Is that code for spying on father or something?" I question, half-jokingly, as I rinse my plate off in the sink.

"Something like that." He pauses to let out a sigh. "Can I talk to you about something?" His tone changes from light to serious in a matter of moments and my ever-familiar panic rears its ugly face inside the pit of my stomach.

"Of course."

"I just want to talk about the game plan for tomorrow. I've decided not to stay here tonight because Zachariah might get here in the middle of the night but I have a hotel room just down the street and I'm going to give you my phone number, okay? Put it in your phone under the name of one of your teachers or counselor so that if he goes through your phone you can say you have it for homework help or something. I want you to text me as soon as you get to school to let me know if he's here. And I'm sure you already have a plan of your own if he does come tonight, right?"

"Yes." I say almost mechanically. I've gone over these plans hundreds of times in my head every time father's come back after leaving me alone. Only then, I didn't have friends who texted me or made plans with me, so the plan has slightly changed. I have to focus more on covering up my new social life. Meaning I have to change and delete things on my phone and make it clear that I can't hang out with anyone for awhile. Easy enough, right?

"Well, for now, you focus on your homework and I'll do the cleaning. I'm not going to leave until you go to sleep anyway. Might as well do something constructive while I'm here, right?"

I just nod in response, not trusting my mouth to do its job, before pouring another cup of tea and retreating back into my room. I pull my phone from my backpack and start clearing everything potentially dangerous and then put my homework back in front of me on the floor. Shortly after I finish half-assing my assignments, I lay out on my side with my back to the door and slow my breathing. Dean's smell is still lingering on my blankets and I pretend for a moment that we're still watching Batman and he's still talking about how kickass the effects are until his breathing slows and his eyes slip close. It doesn't take too long for me to come back to reality, though and everything starts to feel overwhelming until I give in and take some Melatonin to help me avoid the panic that's found its way to my heart.

When I wake up it's still dark outside my window so I stay huddled under my many layers of blankets still not ready to face the day for another hour or so. It isn't until the sun starts shining through my windows that I muster up enough courage to get out of bed.

I'm in the shower for only a few minutes before the door is slammed open and a hand intrudes in the tub to turn off the water abruptly.

"Where is Gabriel?" My father's voice bellows.

"I don't know, sir." I reply weakly, wrapping a towel around my soaking body, trying not to be obvious in my lie.

"I'm not an imbecile, Castiel. He was here yesterday."

"I swear I haven't seen him, father. He's not stupid enough to violate the restraining order." I'm backed against the wall in fear, trying my best to will my knees to keep supporting me.

"Then nothing's stopping Luke and I from staying here for awhile." He says calmly with a smirk. The mere mention of his name shoves last night's pancakes back up my throat but I'm forced to shove it down again until father leaves the room which is surprisingly fast.

My head hits the toilet seat on the way down and luckily keeps my mind off of the flashbacks of forearms shoving my face into the ground and hands grabbing at my mouth frantically to cover my screams. I throw on my clothes like armor and hang the towel over my shoulder hoping—praying—that he will see what I see in the mirror. Hoping that I'm truly as repugnant as I feel so that he'll just leave me be so I can go to school without a panic attack. I go directly to my room, grab my backpack and walk straight to the door almost allowing myself to sigh in relief before an arm shoots out from behind me to keep the door closed.

"Come straight home after school. I'll be out but Luke will watch after you to make sure Gabriel doesn't come back here while I'm gone." Father says from the kitchen.

"Yes sir." I reply politely not making eye contact with Luke.

He lets go of the door but not without blowing his mouthful of smoke in my face first. I stifle a cough, close the door behind me and practically dart as far away as I can get from that house. I don't allow myself to calm down until I'm standing in front of the school and even then, it's only so that I can dial Gabriel's number.

"He's there?" Gabriel answers immediately.

"Yes. He brought Luke, too."

"Fuck. Okay. Just—uhm—just keep me updated. Call me whenever, okay?" He replies, carefully.

"Yes."

"Promise me, Castiel. Please." He begs.

"I promise. I have to go now though."

"Wait. I need you to promise me one more thing."

"What is it?"

"If Lucifer or Zachariah do anything—and I mean anything—that puts you in danger, promise me you'll call me."

"I promise. Talk to you later. Bye." I hang up without waiting for his reply.

As soon as I walk through the doors I see Dean walking towards me with Chuck and Jo but they don't seem to notice me because they make a sharp turn and go out the side doors most likely for some morning coffee.

A pang in the pit of my stomach tells me that I cannot talk to Dean. I can't lie to him and fake a smile. Not today. So when I'm one of the first people that get to first period, I choose to sit at a different table and pretend to be concentrated in something.

Avoiding is easier than lying, right now.

There we go guys. ~

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