Gabriel picked up Castiel and his siblings at the closest bus stop to their house. Unfortunately, that still left a forty-minute drive. The house was old and hadn't been fixed up in years. The heating hadn't been paid so it was freezing. Hopefully, the snow would remind their father to pay for it. Castiel's father was a quiet man. He spent most of his time in study. Cas watched Michael lead a drunken Chuck from where he had dozed off at his desk to his bed. When Michael closed the door behind him, a cry came from the nursery. Soon joined by two others.

Naomi stood up instantly when Michael gave her a pleading look. "Anna, would you help me?" She said softly. Anna was assisting Castiel and Hester with their homework. But they had all stopped to observe the affair. She nodded and gave Cas a kiss on the head before following the elder girl.

Raphael emerged from the kitchen. "Hester. Please take what's in the kitchen to your little siblings. Castiel. This is for Father." Castiel gulped, taking the plate and the glass of water. "Go on." Raphael turned around before Castiel could respond. Hester gave Cas a sympathetic look before leaving. Chuck had never laid a hand on Castiel. The only ones who ever really had to face his wrath were Lucifer and Gadreel. And even that was a rare occasion. The second-grader opened his father's bedroom. Quietly walking to the bedside table.

"Lucifer?" Chuck asked through a fog.

Castiel shook his head rapidly. "Castiel," He gulped.

"Ah." Chuck leaned his head back onto his pillow.

"You have a similar soul," Chuck explained watching the child put the plate down.

Castiel tried not to be insulted at the comparison. Mostly, he was just curious if his father could really see souls or if he was just crazy. Lucifer said he was crazy and Lucifer was bad. So Chuck must be sane. Castiel made to leave but Chuck called him back.

"Do you think for yourself Castiel?" Chuck asked, staring at the ceiling.

Castiel didn't answer for a moment. And then decided he was brave enough, "Don't we all?" He expected Chuck to laugh, as most adults did when he said things too thoughtfully.

"Maybe. But I think it's more likely that we're all slaves to someone else's plan." Castiel didn't know what to say. So he just stood there until he heard his father's soft snores. Chuck may eat when he wakes up, but that wasn't Castiel's responsibility. So he left as quietly as he could.

The next day something strange happened. Incredible really. When Castiel arrived home, Balthazar holding one of his hands and Hannah holding the other, the dinner table was set. Chuck was sitting at the head of the table, and the rest of them all filled into the seats. Even the babies were put into high chairs.

"Castiel. Do you know how to pray?" His older siblings all turned to him in shock. He was being addressed. By name.

"No Father," Castiel replied.

Chuck nodded, "Well you should learn."

"I thought God was a jerk," Lucifer mumbled into his arms which were folded on the table.

Chuck grimaced but ignored his son, "Everyone takes each other's hands." Anna, Joshua, and Gadreel each took one of the babies on their lap and everyone's hands joined together.

And Castiel prayed for the first time in his life.

The next day Chuck was gone. He had left in the night. He didn't come back the next day or the day after that. The fourth night he was gone, Cas was woken to the sound of breaking glass.

"This behavior is useless Lucifer." He heard Gabriel's voice saying.

"We just need to wait for him to return." Michael ignored his brothers stoically.

"He's not coming back." Anna's voice made Castiel jump as she sat on the stairs next to him. He nodded in agreement.

Raphael cleared his throat, "Do not be a fool brother. He's probably long gone. More likely dead."

"You have no faith."

"Why should we have faith in Chuck? What has he done for us?" It was Lucifer's voice. Castiel felt anger threaten to push through his ongoing numbness. Anna rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You're wrong Raphael." Castiel and Anna were both surprised to hear Gabriel defending their father. "He brought us together. All of us."

Lucifer groaned, "You mean he brought the four of us together and then dumped a myriad of helpless brats on us."

"Our father cared about him. We should care about them too. They are our brothers and sisters." Michael stated calmly.

"Not by blood." Raphael pointed out.

"No, but in spirit. And that's what matters."

Gabriel nodded, "Michaels right. They're our responsibility now."

Lucifer laughed humorlessly, "Correction. They're your responsibilities."

"Where will you go?" Michael asked as Gabriel made his way to the door. By now several other children were with Castiel and Anna to listen in on the conversation.

"To find him."

"I thought you hated the man." Gabriel sighed.

"I do. I want to kill him if he's not already dead." And Lucifer was gone too. Just another parental figure in Castiel's life who abandoned him.

Gabriel slept in the little kids' rooms for the next three years. He was the nicest of the big brothers. He was fun and hopeful.

"I think father may have been evil," Castiel said one day. Anna and Gabriel had been skipping stones with him at the creek.

Anna looked up shocked, "Why would you say that Castiel?"

"The bible says it's evil to harm people. Father hurt Lucifer and Gadreel. And he left us."

Anna looked to Gabriel for help, "It's a little more complicated than that, kids. Evil? No. Bad father? Definitely."

Anna nodded in understanding. Castiel wasn't so sure.

"And anyway, don't let Michael hear you saying things like that."

"Why?" Anna asked. Gabriel just shook his head and threw in another stone.

Gabriel left a few months after that. He had applied to a local college without telling Michael or Raphael. And he left, giving Cas and Anna nothing but sad looks.

"Do you hate him?" Cas asked sitting next to his sister, ignoring Ishim, Hester, Hannah Balthazar, and Uriel as they splashed around in the stream. Anael was sitting next to her. She didn't like getting dirty.

"I could never," Anna said.

"Speak for yourself. He abandoned us with these jerks." Cas and Anna both threw her a look. "Not you." Anael clarified, "Michael and Raphael."

"And Zachariah. And Naomi." Anna added. Angel nodded in agreement.

"When we're old enough we'll leave too," Cas said. He said it too loudly. At the wrong moment. Michael had found where the group had been hiding.

"What did you just say?" A voice growled from behind them. Anna's hand protectively clenched around Cas, but couldn't stop Michael from pulling him from her.

Castiel doesn't remember all of what Michael did to him. It was a long time ago now, and a traumatic memory he avoided like the plague. He remembered being hit repeatedly. And being hungry. Praying on his knees for hours until they were bruised. Asking God for forgiveness. He would never betray his brothers. He learned that his brothers took care of him. He would be weak without them. He could never leave.

Anna was his only friend after that. She looked out for him all through school. She protected him from Raphael and Michael's bad days. She taught him how to watch his mouth around Michael, and even their other siblings who quickly learned their lessons. Michael had ears in every Shurley except Anna. Castiel didn't know how to survive without her. Unfortunately, four years later she was about to begin high school and realized just how miserable she was. Gabriel had just graduated and had a small apartment downtown. Without even telling Castiel, she went home on a different bus. There was a custody battle between Gabe and Michael. Gabe won. And Anna didn't come home.

"Don't you want me to be happy Cassy?" He supposed he did want her to be happy. But that didn't make it hurt any less. "You could come with me?" She suggested hopefully.

"I can't. I can't abandon my family."

Anna frowned, frustrated, "But it doesn't make sense. All I want is to go to college. If I went to college I could make more money for the family. But they won't let me."

"Our Father left us plenty of money. And he never intended us to go to college. We grow our food on the farm. We don't need the rest of the world."

"But why?"

"It's not our place to ask that question."

Anna regarded him sadly. "What happened to you Castiel?" and with that, she walked away from the Shurley's for good.

So Cas's only friend left him. 8th grade was the worst year of his life. Anna was at another school, at another home. They weren't allowed to see each other. And without his big sister to protect him, he was suddenly a target.

Things got bad.

Hester said it was because he refused to make any attempt to adjust to social norms. He acted as the child of a drunk, suicidal, philosopher. That didn't sit well with most of the school. He spoke formally, with large vocab words. And often was too blunt, or made comments that were uncomfortable. Hester was in the same class, but she hardly ever did anything about the extreme bullying he faced. But he didn't blame her. She had her own life to live.

Castiel shared a room with his four older brothers, Gadreel, Joshua, Zachariah, and Ishim. He shared a bathroom with them, and five of his younger siblings, Hael, Samandriel, Duma, Uriel, and Balthazar. And across the hall his sisters, Naomi, Hester, Anael, and Hannah slept. Downstairs his caregivers Michael and Raphael resided. In a house filled with so many children, he was shockingly used to being alone. Castiel was prepared for high school to be more of the same.

And that was how it was when he met Dean Winchester.

Uriel and Balthazar were playing with a little boy with shaggy hair when Castiel emerged from his last class. They were jumping around in the courtyard, throwing a ball back and forth with him.

Castiel was just about to fetch the two of them when a voice called out.

"Sam! C'mon, I'm not afraid to leave without you."

The little boy handed the ball to Balthazar and said goodbye to both of them before running off to join someone Castiel assumed to be his older brother.

The elder boy grinned at Sam, ruffling his hair and getting into the driver's seat of an extremely old but well-maintained car. Sam hopped into the passenger's side and the two drove off.

Castiel tried to swallow the knot that had formed in his stomach.

"Who was that?" Cas asked his younger brothers.

"He's a boy in my class," Uriel explained bouncing the rubber ball more. "He and his brother moved here from Lawrence this year." Castiel nodded watching the car disappear.

"How was your first day of high school?" Naomi asked as she passed around the bowl of peas and macaroni.

"Long," Hester responded with a sigh.

Cas shook his head, but smiled fondly at his sister, "I found it quite enjoyable. I think we'll have some excellent teachers this year."

"Most of them are all right." Ishim commented around a piece of toast, "But you gotta watch out for your English teacher. He's nit-picky." All of the elder siblings nodded in agreement.

Cas passed the plate of toast to Anael, she shook her head, "No thanks. I'm dieting."

Naomi frowned at her, "Why are you dieting?" She seemed worried, with a small amount of threat.

"She's trying to develop an eating disorder before she gets her first period." Hannah filled in.

Balthazar laughed, "You haven't got your period yet?"

"I don't think this is an appropriate conversation for the dinner table." Zachariah groaned.

"I agree." Michael emerged from his room, sitting down at the head of the table. Everyone fell silent, even the youngest kids who were having their own conversation at their end of the table. "Ishim, we haven't prayed yet." Even though he wasn't the one who did the wrong thing, Cas still felt his face heat up.

"I'm sorry," Ishim said, looking down at his plate.

"You're forgiven." Michael held his hand out to Raphael and Gadreel. And the fifteen siblings joined hands in prayer. Just as their father taught them. The last thing their father taught them.

Michael then ate a few bites, and everyone was quiet until he turned to Raphael and the two of them began their own conversation. Everyone else began to chat quietly about their days and minor unimportant things, always careful not to be too loud or disturb Michael and Raphael.

Castiel was about to settle in with a book when Duma Samandriel and Hael ran into his room.

"Cassie! Come read to us." Duma pulled on his arm.

"Guys not tonight I'm tired." Duma and Samandriel looked sad, but it didn't work, so they pushed Hael in front of them and she unleashed the puppy eyes.

Castiel sighed, "Fine."

Castiel didn't bother to pick out a different book. If they wanted him to read to them, they'd have to read what he was reading.

"The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter Four."

"Sammy, if you're not in the car in ten seconds I will leave your ass." Dean leaned on the hood of the Impala. Waving to his Uncle Bobby who was working on a 2004 BMW Roadster. It had nothing on Baby, but it was still a pretty cool car. Some guy going through a midlife crisis asked Bobby to fix it up a few days back. Dean wanted to do it himself, but he was told to focus on getting ready for school.

Dean honestly didn't even know why he was going to school. He was gonna be a mechanic. He was good at it and Bobby would give him a job. But Jody said that if he wanted a job at their shop, he had to at least get a high school diploma.

Sam hopped out to Dean, looking genuinely excited, "I just wanted to make sure I had everything." He said getting into the shotgun.

"No one should be this excited for fifth grade. It's… unnatural."

"This school is so much better than our old one. They actually teach us things!"

Dean rolled his eyes but smiled fondly at the little nerd.

Dean's B-day class schedule was hell. He hated this school. He missed his old friends and getting to do whatever he wanted. They were so much stricter here.

The dining hall was intimidating. Sammy's school was down the road and he wasn't allowed to go and visit him. He looked around, trying to figure out where he should sit. He met a pair of bright blue eyes. Looking at him skeptically. Everything around him got quiet as his mind focused on those eyes. It sounds stupid, but he never wanted those eyes to stop looking at him.

Blue eyes were sitting alone, so Dean walked over and sat across from him. The worst he could do was ignore him.

When blue eyes noticed Dean walking towards them, they quickly averted their glance towards their book. Effectively shutting out the world.

"Hey," Dean said cautiously. Only now processing that blue eyes was a boy. That made him halt only for a moment. Just cause he was drawn to this guy didn't mean he was attracted to him. Right?

"Hello." He responded, not looking up from his book, but his eyes weren't moving so he clearly wasn't actually reading.

"I'm Dean," Dean said, building up confidence.

"Castiel." He replied.

"That's a cool name."

Castiel nodded, "My father was a strange man."

Castiel's voice was lower than most boys their age. But it suited him well, despite being sort of scrawny.

Dean nodded, "Are you going to eat?" He asked, noticing Cas wasn't touching his food.

Castiel eyes the tray with an unreadable expression, "No." Dean didn't bother trying to continue a conversation. It was obvious Cas wasn't interested in talking to him. Which was fine. He didn't need some dude's attention. Girls were more important anyway.

Speaking of girls, a redheaded sophomore was walking towards them. She was pretty and looked serious. "Castiel." She stopped in front of their table looking and Cas with a slight frown.

"Hello, Anna." He said, meeting her eyes. The two had a short and extremely strange staring contest.

"How are you?" She finally asked, resting a hand on Cas's shoulder.

He sighed, "Well. And you?" Strange overly formal weirdos. Was this a Lebanon thing?

"I am fine. I just wanted you to know that even after everything, I am happy to see you." She gave him a soft smile. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask." Anna turned and walked away gracefully.

Cas watched with a somber look on his face before turning back to his book.

"Ex-girlfriend of yours?"

Cas looked up startled, "No, my sister."

Dean laughed slightly, "I don't know if that makes more or less sense."

"Explain."

Dean was surprised that Cas willingly continued the conversation, and was happy to explain his thought process, "You talk the same. But you act like you haven't seen each other in a while."

Castiel nodded, "She moved out last year."

Oh. That made sense. "Why?" Dean asked, internally kicking himself for being so nosy.

Cas didn't seem to mind though, "She was unhappy with the way our older brothers were raising her. So she moved in with our other older brother."

"Huh."

"You should really eat your food. It's not good to skip meals." Dean said nodding at Cas's plate.

Cas gave him a thoughtful look, "You must be a wonderful big brother."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "How'd you know I was a big brother?"

"I saw Sam playing with my little brothers at the blacktop where I picked them up after school yesterday," Cas spoke shamelessly.

Dean thought for a moment, recalling the names of the boys Sam was playing wall ball with. "Balth and Uriel?"

"Yes."

The bell rang. And Cas stood up, packing his food away. He was about to walk to his next class when Dean asked him to wait.

"What's your next class?" He asked, wringing his hands nervously.

"Algebra II," Cas said.

Dean nodded trying to ignore the disappointment. "You're smart aren't you?" A small blush rose to Castiel's cheeks and he quickly looked away.

"I have to get as much education as I can. I only have a year left." Well, that was ominous. But Dean didn't question it.

"Hey. Um." Dean looked towards the ground feeling his face heat up. "Thanks for letting me talk to you. New schools are tough y'know?"

Cas furrowed his brow, "I wouldn't know. I've lived in the same place my whole life. But you are welcome anyway Dean."