Notes: LAST CHAPTER! BWAH! I added more fluff to this because if I had only done what was in the firefly episode…there would have only been about 700 words instead of the 1700 words it is now. Your reviews make me feel wonderfully gooey on the inside! HEARTS!

Disclaimers: This is for entertainment and fangirl/boy satisfaction only. No money here, and I own nothing.

CHAPTER 10

The Impala was drifting through the quiet of space. Her crew was safe in her frame and they were safe in the inky freedom that was the open 'verse.

Sam and Dean were down in the hold moving the silver box onto the ramp to be blasted out into space. Gabriel and Balthazar were there as well, watching the proceedings with solemn gazes.

Chuck had wired up the box earlier with explosives that would blast once the detonator button was pressed, making sure that the poison would not be used, ever.

The two Winchester brothers moved out off the ramp and Dean went to close up the air lock. Sam approached the other set of brothers in the room. He noticed the stressed look on both of their faces. Sam could relate. Whenever Sam knew that Dean was suffering in anyway, it made Sam suffer just as hard. They were handling Castiel amazingly well, but they had to be hurting, seeing how their little brother had been torn up.

For a moment Sam was taken back to a time when he had recently lost Jess, the love of his life. He had fallen into a chasm and wallowed in darkness for what seemed like forever. Looking back he noticed that Dean had been there suffering right along with him. Dean may have been overjoyed to have gotten his brother back from school after so long of an absence, but Dean always looked sucker punched when Jess was brought up or Sam would suffer a nightmare, or when Sam took on the role of a soldier after so many years of fighting it tooth and nail.

Sam could see the same joy and pain in the Novak's eyes whenever they were with Castiel. But even with the world changing a person for the worse or better, all things start and end with family. It's the only constant Sam and Dean had ever had, and Sam prayed that the Novak's knew that as well.

Brought back to the present he looked to the two brothers, "How's Castiel doing?"

Gabriel smiled bitterly, "The same. One moment he's fine. Calm. Talking about home and memories. And then….he's speaking nonsense. Rambling about flowers and bees. Confused about the littlest things. Like a-" He seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Like a child." Dean had come up from behind and spoke in a surprisingly soft voice.

Gabriel and Balthazar nodded, "It's been hard to figure out what's wrong really. I don't know what was done to him for sure," Balthazar spared a glance at Gabriel who just shook his head. He didn't know for sure what had happened either. Obviously the Host had new techniques for training their children since Gabriel's departure.

Sam made sure he caught both set of eyes when he responded, "We will help in any way possible. We know what it's like to watch someone you love suffer." Sam didn't need to see Dean to know that he felt those words as well.

They didn't say anything to that, but the hesitant yet grateful looks sent to Sam and Dean were enough to give them all hope that maybe things could be fixed yet.

Sam handed the remote detonation control to Dean and went to open up the other end of the air lock. The great rush of changing pressure sent the box flying out into the black. Dean waited until the box was nothing more than a spec in the air lock window before pressing the button and blowing that box to oblivion.

That monstrosity taken care of, the two sets of brothers moved further into the ship to settle down for the night.

Walking back to their rooms in the crew's quarters, Sam kept on glancing at Dean. He was thinking about what Dean had said about Cas being like a child.

Thinking back to when they were children, Sam could see the care and gentleness that Dean had used in taking care of Sam govern Dean when he was around Castiel. Nobody knew the frailty of humanity more than Dean, and it seemed like his brother was determined to make sure that Cas didn't fall and shatter.

Sam watches sometimes when Castiel and Dean are close to one another. Like when Dean is cleaning his guns at the table and Castiel is nearby. The blue eyed man's gaze was constantly bouncing away to stare with intense focus at some ordinary object to another. Everything in the world was fascinating to him. He was childlike in that aspect for sure.

Dean's own gaze would flicker to Castiel, checking on him, sometimes even smiling gently at the wide eyed young man. Dean was taking to it all so well. Sam wasn't even sure why he was surprised. Dean had always had a soft spot underneath all of the gruff n' stuff. Sam knew because he remembered a soothing hand rubbing his back after a childhood nightmare or a hand ruffling his hair paired with a wide smile.

Sam had seen Dean take to Castiel so quickly. Almost like Castiel belonged or that Dean had been waiting for him, maybe even both. Sam had heard Cas and Dean talking that first night on the catwalk and he had seen the bond formed there. It caused and odd twist in Sam's heart to watch his brother, so hurt and broken himself, interacting with the defenseless man who had landed in their home on the Impala. Dean was open with Castiel in a way that he couldn't be with Sam.

It was almost like they were on the same level in a way. Castiel had bits and pieces torn out of him to be made "better". Dean had bits and pieces torn out of him to be "the perfect soldier". Sam couldn't help but hope that their weird bond or whatever could be good for both of them, that it could bring light back into their dark lives. Dean had been treading such a dark path before the Impala absorbed the new members. Sam didn't want him to fall into the abyss either. But form where Sam was standing, it looked like Castiel had a firm grip on Dean as well.

Gabriel and Balthazar tiredly trudged back to the passenger's quarters. Gabriel didn't sleep there as he had his own room with the rest of the crew, but he had wanted to say goodnight to Castiel.

The silence between the two brothers was bordering on awkward. The mutual desire to take care of Castiel had been enough for them to put their differences aside for a while, but the anger and doubt was still there beneath the surface. Gabriel knew he had to clear the air at least a little, so he stopped Balthazar with a hesitant grip to his arm. They were standing in the hallway just before entering the passenger's area. Their voices wouldn't carry.

"Brother, I need you to listen to me." Gabriel lifted his eyes to meet Balthazar's. He looked just as hesitant. He probably didn't want to talk about this and was fine pretending, but Gabriel was done with pretending.

"I know that you are angry that I left you and Castiel when you were children. I know that you are angry that I never came back. I know you blame me for what happened to our little brother. And I understand. I blame me too. But please know that at the time, it seemed like the best option for all of us. I learned…" His throat caught. "I learned some things while I was at the Host. And it was enough for me to know that home was no longer safe. I would have gone to get you two and we would have all run away together, but I had the Garrison looking for me. You were both still so young! I couldn't just rip you away from the only life you knew. You wouldn't have understood…"Gabriel was stopped there by Balthazar raising his hand.

"Gabriel…I'm not blaming you for what happened to Cassy. For that I blame myself for not paying attention and letting him sneak away. I also blame our father for disappearing. We were so lost without him to direct us. Cassy just wanted to fix our family. I know that you had to leave. I know that because I'm in the same boat as you now. A fugitive with the Garrison on his tail." They both exchanged wry grins. Balthazar continued, "But what I don't know is what you learned that made you think you couldn't come home." He paused and waited for Gabriel to respond.

"Balthazar, do you know why our father left home?" Gabriel shifted and his face was hidden in the shadows of the hallway.

"No. We don't even know what happened. We all know he wasn't around much to begin with, so when we stopped hearing from him for a few weeks, we thought nothing of it. But eventually we started to get worried. We looked and looked for any sign of him, but there was nothing. Just bloody poofed away. Some said he was dead, others said he ran away, and I thought he just didn't give a damn anymore." The bitterness in Balthazar's words stung at Gabriel.

Gabriel sighed deeply from the shadows. It almost sounded like he was in pain.

"I left because I found something out about our father. And I'm betting my left testicle that he left for the same damn reason….."His golden eyes flickered out from the shadows.

In his room, Castiel sat on his bed with his arms wrapped around his legs. His face was buried in his knees and he was rocking back and forth slowly. His eyes were wide and staring down. He was mumbling something quietly.

"Three by three, they will find me. Three by three, they will find me…."

Somewhere across the 'verse there is a dark skinned man sitting at a mahogany table in a lavish green room. On the table in front of him are three papers. The faces of Gabriel, Balthazar, and Castiel Novak stare back up from their photos on each separate piece of parchment.

The large hand picks up the paper that has Castiel's face on it, studying it intently. Two shadows of other men come up behind him and fall over the sheet, darkening the light that illuminated Castiel's photo.

All three of the figures now stare at the paper intently.

Dun Dun Dun! Hope you all liked Pick Your Poison! Part III of the Impala series: The Devil In You is up! Check it out!