February 2008, Broward County, Florida, Monday before that one Tuesday.
Gabriel felt a double tremor run down his spine. "Oh crap..." He knew those tremors. He had them so often the last few years, it was getting annoying. On the other hand he felt exited. If he played his cards right, he could keep his Shamshine here for a good amount of time, and maybe teach him a lesson about priorities. And, an even bigger maybe, they could get some old stuff out of the way and start over. He snapped his fingers and disappeared from view. Sitting on a roof at the edge of town he saw a black car trundle up the road in. Oh yeah, that was them alright. That black monstrosity would always stick out like a sore thumb. He got closer and felt a stab of nostalgia when he saw the face staring out of the passenger window. Shamsiël... a glance to the driverseat confirmed Gabe's suspicions. Diniël... oh boy. He had missed those two so much, that he deliberately crossed their paths a few times. The last time, though, they had tried to kill him. It hurt Gabe that they didn't recognise him. He had done so much for them. On the other hand, their amnesia meant he had done it well. When the guys got out of the car, at the motel, Gabriel nearly swooned. Shamsiël had filled out fine! Oh how Gabe longed to wrap his arms around him...
February 2008, one Tuesday in Broward County, Florida
Sam had been certain he could find something on the disappeared professor, if he got to that Mystery Spot thing, and then they'd be out of there... good god was he wrong. Today marked the 75th day there... and each day was worse. Just when he thought he had found a way to keep his brother alive, disaster struck again. One good thing in this whole mess: he finally got to sleep without the disturbing dreams. He could barely remember them by now. "Come on, Sammy. I'm hungry. Why can't we just go to the diner?" Sam thought about it. Keeping Dean inside didn't do him much good either. The frikken taco's killed him. Sam sighed. "Fine, we'll go get you your pig 'n a poke..." Dean stuck his head out of the bathroom. "What was that?" Weary, Sam shook his head. "Fine! We'll go eat." He got a huge grin as thank you. "I'll just shave then." Sam jumped his feet. "NO! Nonono... you're fine. Let's eat." Dean raised an eyebrow. "You ok, Sam? You seem on edge somehow."
Cas circled the town again. It shimmered in the early morning sun. He had followed the men here, but as he got to the town's perimiters, he got rebounded. Some pretty heavy magic kept him out and he was worried. He landed as close as he could, reaching out with his hand. The magic sizzled and a musty taste, like dusty books, stuck to his tongue. So, a timespell. He had his suspicions as to who this could be, but he hadn't seen him for about as long as he hadn't seen Diniël and Shamsiël. He could still remember it though.
Cas was sitting in the municipal courtyard when he heard voices. Michael and Lucifer were bickering, again. They called it 'Archangel meetings' but it always ended up with them fighting, and Raphael and Gabriel trying to get hem to stop. Well, more Gabriel trying to do that and Raphael standing in a corner looking bored. As personal aid to Michael, Cas had had the misfortune to have to attend a few of these 'meetings', to be available as Messenger, or errand boy, as Gabriel depreciatingly called it. "I still say it is none of your damn business, Mike. Why are you so upset by it?" Lucifer could always cut to the chase. "I'm not upset by it, Luci. I'm just trying to uphold the rules Father gave us." Michael to a Tee. Uphold the law, don't stray from it. Cas felt his cheeks burn. His love for Diniël was wrong, according to those rules. It was putting one angel above all others. "Oh, come on guys! This is getting out of hand, again." Gabriel, stepping in, as usual. Cas smiled. He liked the Messenger of God. "Shut up, Gabriel. This doesn't concern you." Michael snapped. "Oh, really? Forgot who you shipped your little problem off to? Not that I mind. I like him, and he'll do just fine in my garrison, but that is not the issue here. The issue is that you felt you had to ship him anywhere. Why was that?" Cas could hear the fourth Archangel was starting to lose patience, which was rare. "I agree, Gabe. Come on, Mikey, what's the big deal? It's like this is a first..." The mischief in Lucifer's voice was clear and Cas hoped that Michael would be wise enough to let it slide. "It's not right. That's the issue." Michael was getting angry too. "Mikey, you know I usually don't take sides in your squabbles with Luci, but I gotta say, I do now. I'm with Luci on this. You are overreacting. This happened plenty of times before." Cas was wondering what they were talking about. "Oh, fine. So you're siding with Luci now. Great to know where your loyalties lie, Gabriel." Cas winced. That was harsh. "Really? Really, Michael? You know what.. forget it. I'm done here. Hell, I'm done with the lot of you. If you can't get your heads out of your asses long enough to see how this affects all of those around you, fine, keep fighting. We'll see how Dad will react, once he finds out. Don't bother looking for me. I'm gone! Bye bitches!" Cas sat with his knees drawn to his chest, trying to be invisible, when Gabriel stormed out into the courtyard. He slowed down at the sight of him. "Oh, Castiël. Hi. I'm so sorry you had to hear any of that. Hell, I'm sorry about everything. Give Diniël a hug from me, will you?" With that, he spread his wings and flew off. In the background Cas could hear Lucifer tell Michael. "Way to go, stick-in-the-mud. I hope he comes back."