Sickness of Angels
Dean sat on the couch with Balthazar and Gabriel, Nintendo controllers in hand. During their last case Sam found the old game system in an old warehouse and Dean thought it was about time he introduced the angels to Mario.
"AH! Stupid game!" Gabriel grumbled as he died again. Dean chuckled at the angel.
"Hey, that's what you get for cheating with your powers," Dean hummed as the score board on the screen showed Balthazar as the winner. The little blond angel with silver wings jumped with excitement at his beating Gabe once again.
"You told me that Mickey said to practice. I was practicing!" Gabriel tried to protest. Dean just rolled his eyes at the angel and held out his hand to take the controller.
"Alright, Gabe, it's Cas' turn now…" Dean trailed off, searching for the tiny angel that was usually by his side. "Cas?" The little angel was nowhere in sight. In fact, Dean didn't even remember seeing the angel at all today. "Where's Cas?" The angels shrugged, eyes on the game. Dean frowned, walking into the kitchen. Bobby and Sam were doing research on witch spells again as they snacked on pretzels the angels just had to have from the grocery store.
"What's up, Dean?" Sam asked, looking up from his computer, mouth full of pretzels.
"The idjits get angry at that stupid game and bust the TV or something?" asked Bobby. Dean shook his head and looked around for the missing angel.
"Haven't seen Cas have you?" he asked the two. Everyone was still for a moment as they thought. Sam pointed a finger to the bedrooms upstairs. Dean gave his brother and Bobby a curt nod before rushing towards the bedroom where the angels were meant to sleep. He rested his hand on the knob to the door, but he stopped. Cas didn't like sleeping there by himself. It was too dark and scary for the little angel. Dean pulled his hand away and thought of where else Cas could be. When the little angel was not sleeping in the room he was supposed to share sometimes he snuck into Dean's room and cuddled up next to Dean. Deciding that his room was the only place he would the angel, the older Winchester went across the hall to his own room that the angels seemed to sleep in more than their own. When he opened the door he discovered a small form bundled up in a trench coat and blue baby blanket laying in his bed. Dean smiled. The little guy must have just slept in. Slowly, he approached the angel, sitting down on the bed and pulling the blanket away from Cas' face.
"Hey, Cas, rise and sh-" Dean froze as he stared at the flushed face plastered with wet tuffs of hair. "Cas?" Dean whispered, touching the angel's forehead and instantly pulling back. "Castiel?!" The small angel opened his eyes weakly, eyes glazed from fever.
"D…Dwean, I don't feel well," Cas whimpered. Dean tried his best to hide the worry from his eyes as he gently ran his fingers through the angel's sweaty hair. Castiel sat up slightly, wings dragging on the bed behind him. The wings looked horrible. The soft baby feathers were greasy looking and some of the feathers had fallen. Was he molting? A loud cough burst from Castiel's mouth suddenly, causing Dean's attempts to hide his fear to go south. There was no way molting was Without giving Cas a chance to recover from his coughing fit, Dean scooped him up and rushed down the stairs. The sound of his frantic footsteps thumping down the hall to the living room instantly had him surrounded by every occupant of the house. Castiel was still coughing horribly and Dean rubbed circles gently into his back in hopes of soothing the sick angel.
"What the hell-"
"Bobby, listen to his cough," Dean said, voice cracking. The group listened carefully as Cas continued coughing, brows furrowing. "Please tell me that's not what I'm thinking," Dean pleaded. Bobby shook his head and gently took the little angel from Dean's arms. He inspected the angel carefully, confirming his theory.
"If you're thinking Whooping Cough don't worry because it 'aint. He didn't show any other symptoms for it other than the coughing and even that isn't right," Bobby informed the overly worried Winchester. "I think he just caught a bad case of the flu.
"Flu?! Bobby, listen to him! He's coughing up a lung!" Dean argued. Bobby rolled his eyes and glanced at the two angel's watching from where they stood under his feet.
"He's an angel. Baby or not it's got to be one hell of a virus to affect them. We just need to get some meds into him and let him sleep," Bobby reassured the hunter, handing the now worn out angel back to Dean. Cas looked up at Dean as the hunter cradled him and Dean pulled the Angel's trench coat up higher on the little guy's chest, along with the blue blanket Cas had been cuddling with before.
"Gabe, can't you just heal him with your powers or something?" Dean asked. All eyes were on the archangel now, making his wings twitch nervously.
"I…I haven't had enough practice. I c…could hurt him if I mess up," Gabe stuttered, looking slightly ashamed for not being able to help his younger brother. Sam noticed this and squeezed the angel's shoulder.
"Hey don't worry about it. We can still help him," Sammy reassured the angel. Gabe nodded, looking slightly better. His eyes trailed up to Dean's and the older Winchester smiled so not to make Gabe feel any worse. He may be a douche when older and a troublemaker at any age, but the guy still cared. Bobby turned to the bathroom, pulling out some flu medicine. He handed it to the older Winchester and Dean muttered a thank you before escaping back to his bedroom. Once inside he undressed the angel and put Cas into some whitish-tan footy pajamas that made the angel look like a cute little puppy. Dean then popped open the bottle of flue medicine and measured it out before bringing the liquid filled cap to Cas' lips. The angel frowned at the purple substance.
"What dat?" Dean rolled his eyes at the angel.
"It's flu medicine, Cas, it'll make you feel better." The angel still made no move to swallow the fowl substance.
"It stinks," Cas dead panned, wrinkling his now running nose. Dean rubbed the snot away with a Kleenex from the nightstand and stared the angel down.
"It's medicine. It's supposed to stink, now drink up!" Dean said, pressing the cap closer to the angel's lips, Castiel rolled away, burying his face into his blue blanket. "God dammit, Cas!" Dean shouted, reaching out to grab the angel, but Cas flinched. Dean pulled away, realizing that Castiel's body must ache from the coughing fit from before. He let out an irritated moan and lay down next to the baby angel curled up in his blanket. He let his fingers drift gently to the sickly looking wings on Cas' back and petted the feathers lightly. After a few seconds Cas looked up from his blanket to Dean. The angel's eyes were red and his face was a pale except for the flush on his cheeks.
"Dwean, my belly feels…icky," Cas muttered, pain building up in his eyes and his face suddenly turning a strange greenish grey. Before Dean knew it he was holding Cas' head over the trash can as the little angel gagged up whatever was in his tiny tummy. Dean ran his hand up and down his angel's back, humming softly in hope to comfort the wee angel.
"Cassie?" Dean glanced towards the door to see Balthazar peeking in and Gabriel right behind him. Dean smiled sadly at the boys.
"Hey, guys, you're going to catch the flu too hanging around," Dean told them. The angels just came further into the room.
"Bobby told us that, but we don't cares. We wants to help Cassie," Balthazar said before hopping up onto the bed. Gabriel followed. Dean had to admit. He was impressed with the baby angels. They reminded him a lot of him and his own brother.
"Dwean?" Dean glanced down at the little angel in his arms and pulled Cas back into his lap. Castiel was no longer grey, but he was still pale and his cheeks were an even brighter red. "Dwean, I tired." Dean would have laughed any other time if Cas started to head bob like that, but right now he was just worried. The little guy was completely worn out.
"First you got to drink your medicine," Dean told him, tapping Cas' cheek to keep him from falling asleep completely.
"It stinks though!" Cas whined, burrowing his sleepy face into Dean's coat. Dean rolled his eyes glancing at Gabriel and Balthazar in hope that they may have a plan on how to get Cas to drink his medicine. He watched Gabriel and Balthazar momentarily mumble to one another before crawling closer to Cas.
"Cassie?" Balthazar whispered, running his hand along Cas' wings. The little angel looked up at his brother with heavy eyes. Balthazar continued to pet the wings, fingers slowly tickling the feathers. A soft giggle left Castiel's lips and he tried to shrug away from his brother, but Balthazar continued to attack his sick brother. Dean was about to stop Balthazar. Tickling his little brother was definitely not a smart move after the guy just puked up his guts. He stopped his hand though, realizing the silence of the other angel still in the room. Dean glanced over at Gabriel standing on the other side of Cas. He was being oddly silent. The archangel was holding the cap of medicine and slowly inching closer to his brothers. Oh, so that's what they were planning.
"Balthy!" Cas squealed, rolling onto his back and mouth falling wide open as he laughed. Gabe launched into action, pouring the sticky substance down Cas' throat. The little angel let out a surprised gasp as he swallowed the horrible substance and glared at his smirking brothers. "Yucky!" Cas gagged, pouting at his brothers.
"Sorry, Cassie, but we want you to get better," Gabe said, ruffling his brother's hair. Cas crossed his arms scowling at his brothers that now just smirked at him.
"Cans I plays the Mario and Louie now?" Cas asked weakly.
"Luigi," Dean corrected softly, rubbing Castiel's back. "And no you can't. You're supposed to rest." Cas turned his head, pouting more than before.
"Just one game?" Cas pleaded. Dean tried to ignore the puppy dog eyes he was now being met with, but it was too strong. Especially now that Balthazar and Gabriel had joined in. Dean let out a dramatic sigh and glared up at the ceiling before lifting Cas and opening the door to the bedroom.
"Fine, but just one!" Dean instructed.
They all sat on the couch. Dean was against Balthazar and Cas. It had taken Cas a while to get the hang of everything, but pretty soon he was beating the rest of them. They had gone way past the just one game rule. They were like on ten or something. The only time they really stopped was when Cas had a coughing fit or when his stomach betrayed him. Those big eyes just kept their spell on the hunter though and he let the angels keep playing. Now though everything was slowing down. Cas' eyes were drooping and his shivering feverish form was beginning to weaken as sleep threatened the angel. Dean glanced over at the angel's older brothers and they all nodded, setting down their controllers and turning off the game so now Finding Nemo was playing on the screen. Dean lifted the little angel out of his lap and stretched out on the couch, setting Cas down on his chest and pulling the blue blanket and trench coat over the baby angel's shivering body.
"Time for some rest, Cas," Dean whispered, brushing the angel's black baby wings with his fingers. Cas didn't complain and buried his tiny face into Dean's shirt, purring softly as Dean stroked the angel's wings. He was like a fluffy kitten. Balthazar and Gabriel crawled onto the couch too then, laying on either side of Cas and wrapping their wings around him like a blanket.
"Thanks guys," Dean slurred as his eyes too began getting heavier. Balthazar and Gabriel each smiled at the Winchester.
"Anything for family."
Thanks TripleA13 for the request. It was fun to write. For those who have been wondering about the angels' ages. Personally I don't really have exact ages for them, but Castiel is around 3 or 4, Balthazar is 4 or 5, and Gabriel is 5 or 6. Whatever you all feel fits them best is good enough for me. Hope you all enjoy the chapter. Happy New Year!