Michael appears on a Wednesday, two days before Gabriel turns 18.
Anna is 20, and gone somewhere, and she can't afford kids, she really can't, she's sorry. That's the message she leaves on Castiel's phone. He listens to it five times, not sure why he does. She'll be happier, he thinks. Happier away from all of them.
Balthazar and Zachariah are found at home and they go with CPS and that's all Castiel really hears about them.
Michael appears on Wednesday.
It should be terrifying. But Castiel has been terrified for so long it's as if the battery for that emotion has simply run out.
It's a cloudy day and school is over and the kids have just gotten off the bus. Michael approaches from the side and Dean sees him and points. "Hey, isn't that your brother?"
The last few days have been strange. Living with the Winchesters has been strange. Not that Castiel wasn't already basically living there, it's just felt different somehow. More real, more easy, more... without being overwhelming the way it always is. He sees more of Sam and Dean because it feels like he's allowed to interact more, like he's supposed to be a part of the family dynamic.
Sam and Dean don't like the same things and Castiel has never had a real opportunity to discover much of what he likes so they rope him into doing all the things the other won't. Nerf wars with Dean and a complicated dragon board game with Sam. They're both amazing at cards. Castiel loses at almost everything but he doesn't mind, really. Gabriel does. Gabriel is a very sore loser, Castiel discovers very quickly, with a tendency to upend the board or throw his cards when his attempts at cheating don't end as well as he wants them to.
Castiel was expecting the other shoe to drop. Expecting Chuck to come and take him away, expecting Michael to show up eventually. When Dean points him out as they walk away from the bus stop, it's no real surprise. And it's no surprise when Michael approaches, yells at him, and blames him for whatever it is he's decided to blame him for.
"It's all your fault!"
Castiel was even expecting the punch. What he wasn't expecting was Sam. The boy is tall for his age; four years younger than Cas but still half a head higher.
Sam shoves in front of Castiel and takes the hit from Michael right to his jaw.
Castiel's battery-dead, should-be-terrified state flares right into fully charged rage. He's never punched back before, not really. If he doesn't react, they grow bored faster and give it up and leave him alone. He's learned not to react.
Shield of god, that's what his name means. He's never had anything to shield before.
It's not a fight, not really. Castiel doesn't know what it is. All he knows is that Dean is right there standing with him against his brother. That's different too.
Problem is, it's not a fight. Castiel only gets one punch in before Michael wraps a hand around his wrist and starts to drag him down the street toward a car.
When Dean fires up a protest, throwing something Castiel doesn't see at the side of Michael's head and drawing attention by shouting about kidnapping, Michael raises his voice and says, "He's my brother, I'm his guardian."
He goes to say something else but Castiel wrenches his arm free and snaps, "No, you're not." Cas wants to punch him but Michael grabs his arm so he kicks instead.
Michael startles just enough for Cas to break free again. He jerks backward a few steps and then his arm is being grabbed again but not by Michael.
"Come on," Sam says, and tugs on him. Dean is right next to him, looking at Cas, waiting.
Castiel has seen all of Dean's favorite action movies. He knows this is the part where the hero pulls away and says, "This is something I have to do." It feels like that, anyway. Like he's expected to deal with this right here and now; whether he wins or loses, to get it over with. Because Michael is just going to keep coming back. He holds a grudge for years and the longer it takes, the worse the confrontation is when it finally comes.
Castiel is sure he's supposed to deal with this and he's supposed to deal with it alone and he doesn't want to. He wants to go home and play games and watch movies and water Mary's plant.
"Come on," Sam says again, and Cas can see Michael coming closer, sizing up the three of them and deciding now or later.
Dean breaks forward just a little, shouldering out past Cas to glare Michael down.
He'd fight, Cas thinks, without really knowing why he's fighting. And he'd like to think that Dean would fight because he's friends with Cas, but really, he'd fight because Michael hit Sam.
That's what doesn't make sense. Sam. It must have been instinct that lured him to step forward when he saw Michael's fist reeling back. But instinct would have him pulling away, wouldn't it? He didn't do it for Cas, couldn't have. Nobody cares if Cas gets hit, except, occasionally, Gabriel. Castiel doesn't even care if he gets hit. Truthfully, the indifference feels a little bit like rebellion, like Cas is fighting anger by not becoming angry, like he won't give malignant people the satisfaction of letting it affect him. Like he's being the bigger person.
But Sam is passionate. He works hard for things, he fights for things. There, that makes sense. He moved in between and took the hit not because it was Cas but because it was the right thing to do. Would he fight if it came to it? Castiel needs to know because he needs to know if dealing with this right now affects Sam and Dean. If it puts them in the line of fire. Dean might not fight if Sam won't.
Sam doesn't want to fight, and he makes that clear by tugging again on Castiel's arm and calling to his brother. "Dean, come on, let's go."
It doesn't matter in the end. Michael sizes them up as too much trouble and slinks back toward his car alone, making sure to leave a few parting words and glares.
He'll be back, he's always back.
Castiel isn't sure why, but for some reason he was expecting Sam and Dean not to mention it. There are things you mention and things you don't and confrontations with Michael are one of the things you don't. But Sam and Dean apparently don't know that.
It's not John or Mary or anyone Castiel would have expected them to mention it to had it happened to come out. It's Gabriel. And somehow, that's so much worse.
"Your brother Michael's a real jerk, huh?" Dean says it while Gabriel is about to eat a sandwich before he leaves for his evening shift.
Gabriel had his mouth open ready to take a bite but at Dean's words his eyes thin and the sandwich finds it's way back to the plate. "When did you meet Michael?"
"Today. Don't know what he wanted, but he tried to drag Cas off and punched Sam for getting in the way."
Gabriel's eyes are on Cas, then, lips pursed. "Oh, really?"
"Of course, Cas punched him back."
Gabriel nods. "Of course." He's still looking at Cas. Reprimanding him for something or demanding an explanation.
Castiel sinks lower on his seat and drowns in the height of his shoulders.
Gabriel soaks up all the information he can and then cuts Dean off mid sentence when the conversation falls toward the last time he punched someone.
"I have to go talk with Cas for a second," Gabriel says. And then he surprises Cas by shoving his untouched plate toward Dean. "Eat that." Gabriel rounds the table and sets one finger in the middle of Cas's back to push him down the hallway.
He's talking before they've gone halfway down it. "Has Michael been coming after you?"
Castiel can't respond because he can't see Gabriel to read the response he's looking for. He tries to stop and turn but Gabriel keeps nudging him along.
"Has he?"
"No," Castiel says, and then amends. "Sort of."
"Sort of?" Something gruff is in Gabriel's voice. Something Castiel doesn't like.
They approach the master bedroom and alarm has Castiel digging his feet into the carpet to draw to a stop. "We can't go in there."
"Why not?"
"We just can't, it's not right. We're not allowed." Everybody knows that. They were never allowed in Chuck's room. To breach an adult's territory is the worst kind of violation there is, Castiel wouldn't go in there if his life depended on it.
Gabriel sighs and pokes a finger in his back—"Go on—" to nudge him through the door.
Castiel flinches and jerks away toward the wall. "We can't go in there," he repeats. It's just one of those things, one of those rules. One you don't break.
"Fine."
Doesn't sound fine.
But Gabriel tugs Castiel toward the backyard instead.
Neither of them, Castiel thinks, were expecting Michael to be there.