Because Lucifer had called an early morning meeting in town at his restaurant with his whole staff, the rest of the brothers were left with eating frozen toaster waffles and pre-shredded and frozen hash browns. And since the other three brothers didn't have a culinary bone in their body, Kali had cooked for them. After they'd eaten, in the living room, watching news, Kali and Gabriel left so Kali could pick up her car from the shop.

That meant Castiel and Michael were there alone, albeit Hannah and Ephraim skittered about the house, they were practically invisible.

Eventually, the news had talked about all current events and it began to loop. Michael then picked up the remote and switched off the TV, and the living room became silent. Castiel then began to think of something, anything to talk about to prevent an awkward silence. Thankfully, Michael beat him to it.

"So, what have you been working on in Seattle?" he asked his youngest brother, sitting in the reclining chair, his elbow on the rest, his cheek against his hand. It was then that Castiel realized that this would be their first conversation, just the two of them, since he came back home. He smiled slightly before he answered.

"Well, before I made the trip home, I got my good friend Balthazar to send in my latest work to the publishing house. Hopefully, I should be hearing back from them shortly." He told Michael.

Michael smiled, "Good. What was it about?" he asked. Though Castiel knew Michael cared, the way he spoke was a bit odd, almost lifeless. It was then that he noticed his posture didn't change, and his limbs all stayed in the same position, and the only thing that changed was his facial expression.

"Oh, well, it was a book of poems. It's something I'd been working on for some time now." Castiel looked Michael up and down. "Michael… are you okay?" he asked.

Michael fell back into the chair and letting himself go limp, "I took some sleep medication last night. Now I'm drowsy." He admitted.

"You couldn't sleep last night?" Castiel asked gently. He knew Michael was probably under a lot of stress at the current moment, and he didn't want to upset him by being insensitive.

Michael sighed, "To be honest, I haven't been able to sleep properly since I got the news of Dad's condition." He then looked over to his brother, his eyes tired, "Don't tell the others…please." He pleaded with his younger brother.

"Of course not, Michael. I know they'll only hound you about it." Michael was the type of person that thought of others before himself, making him a lot like their father, but Castiel still worried, despite knowing how Michael was. If his sleeping problems were stress related, he supposed, other than going to an actual doctor, which he knew he wouldn't, all that could be done was to wait out all the stress. Only until the events of their father's passing were over would Michael be able to sleep again.

But perhaps even then he would still have problems.

"Just…" Castiel finally spoke up, "If it gets too serious… Please see a doctor." He asked his brother, and he hoped Michael understood where he was coming from. He and his brothers couldn't afford to see Michael lose it because he was their backbone. He was what was keeping them together at the moment.

Michael gave a small, tired grin, "Okay, Castiel. I promise."

Though he was fairly certain he didn't mean it that way, he couldn't help but to feel like he was being spoken to as a child again. But this time it was more innocent, and he found himself accepting it. Michael and Lucifer had always been so close, he felt he couldn't compare the relationship he had with Michael to their's… He'd always been closest to Gabriel, but he's seen how the other three interact…

Castiel is always last, he's always the little brother, and it's always his say that counts the least.

Castiel looked to the ground, "I don't like it when you all treat me so differently, like I'm still a boy." He told his oldest brother, "It's part of the reason I moved away." He admitted, though he'd never admitted it before. He was sure his brothers had an idea, but he'd never come right out with it.

Michael made a face, "I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I meant that I truly would." Michael then leaned over, his elbows on his knees, "It's just… when you said that you reminded me a lot of when you were a child." He smiled again, this time more sadly. "You would always ask everyone if we were okay, if were felt fine…"

If Castiel had done those things as a child, he was completely unaware of it. He knew that he'd always been able to sense an underlining emotion below the ones his brothers put on display, their camera faces, but he never remembered worrying about his brothers so much.

"You were so young, you would come up to my room with blank papers and crayons and ask me to draw with you." Michael's eyes took on a wistful look, "You'd always draw the whole family, but when you got to me you'd draw me with a frowny face." He made a motion with his finger, as if drawing the face Castiel had drawn many years ago. "And then you'd look up at me and ask why I was so angry all the time." He shook his head slightly. "It was amazing so much you could tell about us at that age."

Castiel's brows furrowed, "I don't recall any of that." He admitted to his brother. If he could remember that, maybe his relationship with Michael wasn't as bad as he thought.

Then he wondered about what else he couldn't remember…

"Michael…" he began to fiddle with his fingers, now feeling a bit nervous, "There seems to be a lot about my childhood that I can't remember."

Michael sat up a bit straighter, "What do you mean?" he asked, his tone more serious.

"I… I don't know… The other day Lucifer told me some things…" he then looked up to Michael, "It was all foggy to me." He hoped Michael could help him, because he was surely scaring himself.

Michael bit at his bottom lip, contemplative, "I think… it may have something to do with that camping trip."

Castiel's brows furrowed, "What?"

Back when you were about ten, I think, we all went up into the mountains and camped out for half a week. It was cut short because of your accident." He told him, and it felt like Michael was being very delicate with the subject, like any false move and it could injure Castiel.

"What accident?" Castiel asked, though he was certain they had indeed taken a camping trip when he was around that age, he couldn't seem to remember much of it, "I remember the hike, fishing and Dad teaching us how to make a fire…" but he quickly trailed off as he realized there wasn't much else after that that he remembered.

Michael sighed, "We figured you'd forget. I'm just glad it hasn't impaired you at this age." Michael ran one hand over his face, "We were on another hike, though there was no cut out path, we had to climb along rocks." He rolled his eyes, "In hindsight, it wasn't very smart to let a ten year old climb the face of a mountain." He shook his head, "But we got to a group of rocks that were slippery with water and moss, and one second we hear you and Gabriel laughing behind us and the next… Gabriel screamed."

Michael closed his eyes for a moment, "That moment is engraved in my mind, Castiel. I turned around and watched you fall… The drop was so far down, the doctors were surprised you had survived." He opened his eyes and Castiel could see glistening tears at the corners of his eyes, "You landed on your side, but not without hitting your head on a rock." Michael then got up and came over to Castiel and gently ran his fingers through his hair and over a spot on his head that was a little uneven from the rest, "Right there." He stated, and Castiel sent his hand up and Michael helped guide his hands to feel the spot.

When he felt it Castiel gave a small gasp, "For a while, you had problems with your short term memory, but eventually you got better. The doctor said there may be complications in the future with your memory, but for many years after you seemed fine." The Michael simply pet his hand through his brother's hair, smoothing it back down, "We've never talked about it because we knew you wouldn't remember… It's not like we were trying to hide it from you, Castiel…"

Castiel shook his head, slowly, "No, Michael, I understand." He then stood too, "I'm glad you told me." So many things made sense to him now, and he was no longer confused about the dark spots in his memory. Sure, they were still dark, but now he knew why they were there. He was less afraid now.

And without being asked, and without it being forced, he hugged his brother. Michael hugged him back, and for once, Castiel felt a stronger connection with him.

It was only fifteen minutes later that Gabriel and Kali came back home, and the four of them talked about what they could do for the day. Michael had already talked to Hannah and their father had requested to be left alone for the day. Castiel wasn't going to mention the possibility of Zachariah showing up, and he hoped they could all leave the house before he did.

"We should swing by Lucifer's place and see if he's done yet or not." Gabriel suggested as he changed his coat up in his room. Michael was texting, standing beside the doorway, and Castiel leaned against the railing along the open hallway. He watched the double doors, waiting to see Zachariah, nervous and anxious to go. "What car should we take?" he asked, just to keep the conversation up.

Michael piped up, "We'll take my car, its spacious enough." Then went back to looking at his phone. Castiel glanced over at his brother for a moment, "Who are you texting?"

Michael sighed, "Uriel. He keeps wanting me to come in to work."

Kali's nose wrinkled, "He's so insensitive." She commented, leaning against the door frame as she checked her makeup in a compact.

"Yeeep. That's Uriel for you." Gabriel agreed as he stepped out of his bedroom, "So, are we ready?" he asked, looking amongst them.

"Yea, let's head out." Michael mumbled, heading for the stairs, though he was still focused on his phone. Castiel was relieved they'd been able to dodge Zachariah and he didn't have to give a dodgy explanation as to why he was here, so when they exited the house and see their father's lawyer's sports vehicle parked in the drive, Castiel almost had a heart attack.

The older gentleman climbed out of the silver car and made his way up the walk. Once he noticed the four coming his way, he smiled broadly, "Hello boys, Kali." He tipped his head to each of them in greeting. He carried a brief case with him, no doubt filled with important documents.

Gabriel and Michael shared a quick glance with one another, "Hello Zachariah." Michael spoke first, "We weren't expecting to see you today." It was true that Anna and Samandriel were supposed to be showing up later on that night, but other than their cousins…

Zachariah glanced between the brothers, "Oh, well I'm here because your father wanted to speak with me. Not sure why he wouldn't tell you boys I was coming by." He shrugged, "Are you all going out? That's a good idea, I'm going to be here for a while and it'd be best if we weren't interrupted." He told them shortly and then ducked his head and set his brief case ahead of him to split the crowd and walk through.

Gabriel suddenly pulled Michael aside, into the grass, and Castiel couldn't make out what they were saying, but Gabriel sounded heated. He hoped they wouldn't get the wrong idea about what was going on. Castiel swallowed, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. A nervous chill went up his spine, and he suddenly couldn't look in his brother's direction anymore.

A hand placed itself on Castiel's back and began to rub in soothing circles, "It's alright, Castiel." He glanced over to see a worried wrinkle to Kali's brow as she stared at her fiancé and soon to be brother-in-law. Castiel wasn't sure she believed her own words, because she understood what it meant to see Zachariah just like they did. He was the one that helped their father set up his Will all those years ago.

Soon though, Gabriel stepped away from the powwow and made his way to Michael's car. He seemed confused and a bit angry, and Kali was quick to catch up to him and whisper something in his ear. Castiel watched as his shoulders relaxed and as he turned to look Kali in the eye, he saw that Gabriel had a small grin. Castiel sighed, glad that Kali was so agile at defusing situations.

Michael was still staring at the front door, watching as Zachariah let himself in and closed it behind him. His stare was intense, and Castiel was sure something was brewing in his mind. He then quickly snapped out of it as he went back to his usual stoic self and made his way to the driver's side of his SUV. Since Kali and Gabriel sat in the back together, Castiel took the passenger seat. He stared out the window as they drove away, hoping beyond all hope that his father's trust, and expectations, would be met when he puts it all in Castiel's hands.

Shit.