Chapter Thirty: Wishing You Would Stay ((The Tea Party))

Castiel was surprised to see Gabriel once the light settled, but none was more in shock than the demon he'd latched onto and landed atop of. Crowley stared up at him, mouth open in surprise as Gabriel just smirked at him.

"You're…"

Gabriel propped his elbows on the other's chest, resting his chin on his hands. "You should know by now that I've always got a trick or two up my sleeve."

Crowley shook his head. "I don't know whether to kiss you or punch you for that one, angel."

"Well, considering the fact that I can feel my Grace recharging pretty quick now, I'd say it's in your best interest not to piss me off too bad." He smirked, leaning in for the first option, pressing together for a kiss.

Castiel looked away, wanting to give his brother a bit of privacy. Instead he took in their surroundings. They were in a park. It was later in the evening, almost sunset. They stood in a clearing near the woods, far enough away as to not draw attention to the children playing and parents talking. Castiel recognized it as the same park he'd visited before going to Purgatory to find Gabriel, back when he and Uriel had discussed the archangel's absence.

They were also alone. There was no trace of the Winchester brothers. As soon as Castiel noticed it, he began to panic. Had something happened to them? Did they not make it back? He reached out with his returning Grace, trying to find them. He got the sense that they had arrived back on Earth safely. They just weren't here.

They would return to wherever their physical bodies were when they left. Dean had mentioned, after returning to Purgatory, that he'd woken up in a hospital.

"Gabriel," he spoke up, waiting for a moment before his brother broke away from the demon to stare at him. "I have to go. I need… to see that they're alright before I return to Heaven."

Gabriel stared up at him, humor sliding off his face for a moment. "Go see 'em. Just remember that it's okay. All that stuff Luci told you, it's not true."

Castiel nodded. He gave them both a half- smile, and then he was gone.

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The second time Dean woke up in the hospital, he wasn't surprised. He was ready for the numbness and the tubes stuck into his arm. He blinked his eyes open, looking around. He was alone, but he could hear shuffling on the other side of the room, steps that were too heavy to be a nurse.

"Dad?"

John was circling the curtain in a heartbeat. "Dean, you're awake!"

He smiled. "Yeah, sorry about that. Wasn't quite done yet. But we're good now."

His father looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

There was a groan from the other side of the room. Sam tried to sit up before realizing the amount of machines he was hooked up to. Dean just grinned.

"How you feelin', Sammy?"

His brother looked around, frowning in confusion at the new surroundings. "Did we make it?"

"Yeah, we're good."

John looked from one side to the other, relief obvious on his face. He pulled the divider curtain out of the way, shoving it to the far side of the room. He sat his chair in between the two beds, leveling them both with a tired stare.

"You're going to have to explain all this to me."

"I tried that already, and you said it was a coma dream," Dean chuckled, settling back against the bed. He hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. The pain medication probably helped a lot.

"That was before you both woke up at the same time after being unconscious all night, and then sounding like you both just came back from a job." John returned the grin.

"Cuz we kinda did," Sam stared at the IV in his arm. He moved his foot, relieved to find that his broken ankle hadn't come with him from Purgatory. "It's a long story."

"Well, the doctor said your injuries look good, and that when you woke up, it wouldn't be long before you could go home." A nurse spoke up, poking her head in through the doorway with a smile. She tucked a loose curl of blonde hair behind her ear.

Dean blinked. "Jo?"

She nodded. "Anna's off, so I'll be taking care of you two for the rest of your stay. I'll go get the doctor. I'm sure you'd like to know as soon as you can get out of here."

John thanked her as she left. Dean just grinned. And then there was another person rushing through the door, a flurry of tan trench coat.

"Dean!"

Their father was up in an instant, grabbing onto Castiel's coat. "Now just wait one second, who do you think you are—"

Castiel stared at him with wide blue eyes. Dean sat up as best as he could manage.

"Dad, hold up, it's okay. He's a friend of ours."

John stared the stranger down intensely. Castiel stared back, not sure what to make of this new human. Sam chuckled from his bed. Finally John let the other go, and the angel hurried to the older brother's bed.

"Hey Cas. Everything alright?"

Castiel nodded. "Gabriel made it back. Anna returned in time to send him through with us. He and Crowley are in a park somewhere, unless they've gone somewhere else by now."

Both brothers looked relieved to hear that. As much trouble as the archangel was, he didn't deserve to be stuck in Purgatory by himself. Although they'd probably have to keep tabs on the both of them, to keep them out of trouble.

Dean chewed at his lip. "So… I guess you're going home too then?"

Castiel looked down. He opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and closed it. After a moment's silence, he tried again. "I must. There's a lot of work left to be done, and Michael will need my help dealing with our brother."

Dean nodded, pushing back the lump in his throat. He wanted to do something, anything to make the angel stay with him. But he wasn't going to keep someone from their home. It wouldn't be right, and Dean would feel guilty for it for the rest of his life, no matter how much he wanted to keep Castiel around.

"Just… remember what I said, okay? You can come visit anytime you like. Me and Sammy'll be on jobs, but you can always come help out."

Castiel met his eyes once again. Another intense angel stare. Then he smiled, a true smile. "I will. Thank you."

The angel turned to Sam with another smile, offering his goodbyes. Sam grinned in return. And then the angel left the room, most likely to go disappear somewhere he wouldn't be seen.

John arched a brow. "Who was that? Another hunter?"

Dean grinned slowly, easy in that way that meant he was hiding something, to those that knew him well enough. "Something like that."

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They left the hospital a few days later. Their injuries had mostly healed by that point, little more than cuts and bruises that looked suspiciously like injuries they'd gotten in Purgatory. Sam's ankle hurt, but it wasn't broken on Earth, merely sprained. He had to take a few weeks off hunting to let it heal completely.

Ellen and Bobby had come to visit at one point with Jo, making the pair promise to stay out of too much trouble. Chuck had been emailing Sam since they'd left the hospital, telling him about his latest novel writing processes, and how excited Becky was about them. Sam figured a story about humans, angels and demons saving Purgatory from the devil sounded like a pretty good plot. Dean made Chuck promise on threat of death to change the characters. He didn't need people like Becky writing fanfiction about them.

The Winchesters continued hunting, business as usual. After Sam's ankle healed, and Dean fixed up the Impala from the staged accident that landed them in Purgatory— which he grumbled and cursed at everyone involved that just because they wanted them for something, they didn't have to take it out on his baby— they started taking cases again. It was easy to fall back into their routine, and for the most part, it was like the whole thing never even happened. It was just another case they'd done.

Except when it wasn't. It had been a little more than a month since Purgatory, and Dean was, in Sam's opinion, sulking like a kindergartener whose favorite toy got taken away. Sam supposed he could understand. It was hard to really connect with people in their line of work, and they didn't have many friends outside of each other. Dean took their job seriously, and that left little time for more than random hook- ups. So when he connected with someone, it was pretty damned important. And he'd never seen his brother as close to anyone that wasn't family as he had been with Castiel. But the angel was back in Heaven, and as much as Sam missed his company, he knew his brother missed him even more. Even if he wouldn't admit it. The younger Winchester liked to think he knew his brother better than pretty much anyone at this point.

And so Sam decided to start searching for the person he knew would be able to tell him about his brother's angel. It started with an email to his vision- having novelist friend.

Dean wouldn't admit to sulking. He was pissed, but he was a grown adult, and he didn't sulk. There was a reason he didn't let anyone but Sam and his father get too close to him. Because they always wound up leaving in the end, and it had been no different with Castiel. He could mostly take out his frustrations on the ghosts they salted and burned, or the one or two demons they exorcised, but the lull in between made him cagey and in such a bad mood at times that Sam had either gone out or kicked him out of whatever motel they were staying at.

Sam's process wound up taking half a week, after the first month back on the road. A lot of emailing and prodding psychics, and in one particular case, bribery. But when the Winchester brothers returned to their motel room after a particularly nasty ghost case, Sam was pleased to see they had visitors.

Gabriel sat back in one of the motel's rickety chairs, tipping it back with his feet propped up on the table. He was popping M&Ms into his mouth from the bag on his lap. Crowley was on the edge of the nearest bed, looking particularly bored.

Sam, as previously stated, was pleased to see them. Dean, not so much.

He didn't miss a beat, moving to flop onto the other bed. "Oh great. So the archangel can find the time to visit, but his younger brother's too busy."

Sam sighed, taking a seat opposite Gabriel at the table. "Ignore him. He's been like this for awhile. It's good to see you two again."

Crowley hummed something noncommitantly. Gabriel leaned forward, setting his chair on all four legs.

"We just came by to see if Sam wanted to catch some lunch with us."

Dean was immediately suspicious. "Why?"

The archangel grinned. "Because we're going to kidnap him, obviously. We've got a van parked out back and everything."

Crowley snorted at that.

"Shouldn't you stick to kidnapping kids that are actually smaller than you?"

"Good to see being an emo teenager hasn't dulled your sharp wit," he smirked back, before getting up from the chair. He rounded the table, pulling at Sam's arm. "C'mon, kiddo. We're going out. Your brother can stay here and sulk."

They were gone before Dean could protest that he was not, in fact, sulking. The archangel had teleported the three of them away, leaving Dean alone in the room. He scowled. The first time they see anyone who might be able to tell him something about Castiel, and they run off with his brother and leave him here by himself. Figures. He pushed himself off the bed, padding across the room to the mini- refrigerator, popping it open to grab a beer.

He wasn't even sure he wanted to ask about Castiel anymore. It had been two months; obviously the angel wasn't interested in keeping contact. Not that Dean had tried to reach him either, but he wasn't exactly sure of the proper way to call an angel. Castiel didn't exactly have a phone number. It was time to start coming to terms with the fact that after everything they went through, Castiel was busy being an angel again, and didn't have time to hang out with humans anymore. So if Castiel wasn't going to make an effort, neither would Dean. The hunter made the decision to not think of the angel anymore.

This resolve lasted all of thirty seconds, because he turned away from the fridge to find the angel in question standing directly in front of him.

Castiel gave one of his little half- smiles. "Dean."

He dropped his beer in surprise. The bottle fell, bouncing off the carpeted floor and rolling for a moment. "Cas?"

The angel launched himself forward, hands reaching to curl in Dean's shirt and yank him into a desperate kiss. The hunter returned it just as hard, before remembering that he was supposed to be pissed off at the other.

He pulled back, putting some distance between them. "Wait, wait… you're gone for two freaking months, then come back all of a sudden to make out with me? What gives, Cas?"

Castiel looked confused, giving one of his signature head tilts. "I was in Heaven, as I told you."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed, running a hand through his hair irritably. "But dropping a line every now and then wouldn't kill anyone. I thought you were done with me. Got your mojo back and suddenly you didn't need me teaching you how to be a human."

"That's not true at all, Dean. I loved your lessons on human interaction. I hadn't meant for it to take so long. But there were things I needed to take care of. I helped Michael deal with Lucifer's return to Heaven, and I spoke with him about a few things."

Dean leaned against the wall after picking up his beer from the floor. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

The angel smiled. "I've had something of a department change."

"What's that mean? You switched from accounting to mail room or something?"

This gave Castiel pause. "I don't understand."

"Nothin'. What's your new job?"

"Before, I was a soldier. But given the time I spent with humans in Purgatory, effectively becoming one of them for a time, Michael thought it was best that I take a position that would better suit my experiences."

He could tell the angel was trying to get somewhere with this, but he wasn't picking it up fast enough. "And that would be?"

Castiel smiled, genuine. "Think of it as a research department. It was Gabriel's idea, actually. He sort of… talked Michael into it."

"Research. Like, human research?"

"That's exactly what it is. Michael agreed that it's a species worth knowing more about, to make our interactions with them easier. And he wasn't interested in doing any of that himself, so he assigned Gabriel and me to the task."

Gabriel's idea. So the archangel had planned this. That did explain the quick kidnapping of his brother. Dean's eyes widened, the last of Castiel's explanation catching up to him. "So you're staying?"

The angel nodded.

"For how long?" He couldn't get his hopes up. He refused to. If Castiel was going to be here doing human research for a few months, then leaving all over again afterwards, it was better to just not bother with it at all.

"For something I plan to study intensely, it could take some time. A lifetime, perhaps. I suppose that depends on how long my subject plans to live." Castiel smirked, and Dean thought the look on the angel would never stop throwing him for a loop.

"Gonna be studying me then?" Dean couldn't help but return the smirk, even as relief flooded through him. Castiel was staying, pretty much for good.

"I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather study." Castiel stepped closer, right into Dean's personal space. "If you'll have me, of course."

The hunter closed the rest of the small distance between them, pressing into another kiss and grinning against the angel's mouth. "I think I can manage putting up with you. Gonna spend a fortune on Pepsi though."

"It's part of the research, after all…"

"Fair enough…" Dean couldn't wipe the smirk from his face if he tried. "Y'know… your brother and his demon kidnapped my brother for the afternoon. We've got the place to ourselves. I could get a head start on teaching you a little more about… human interaction."

Castiel laughed. It was a sound Dean could definitely get used to hearing. "I have a feeling I'll be learning a lot about this particular form of interaction."

"What can I say?" Dean shrugged, tugging the angel closer by the sides of his trench coat. "Practice makes perfect."

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An' that's it! Thanks again for all your reviews, faves, alerts an' viewing in general. This is the longest thing I've ever written ((even if I eventually decided against the epilogue I had planned. But if you're in the mood for an Epilogue song, check out Ingrid Michaelson's 'Morning Lullabies', as that was the title for the epilogue.)) an' it totally spiralled into this weird thing. For all the music involved in the titles, as well as some art to the first 9 or so chapters, you can hit up my LJ under the name h4ppy_fun_b4ll. There's a masterpost to the fic there with all the art an' FST attached!

I'm really out of things to say, so just thanks again! Hopefully I'll see you all again soon with the next story!