Second Chances
"What the hell is going on?" Dean whispered watching as the figure walked away with the two baby angels. Sam shook his head, licking his lips as he started to walk in the direction the figure had just gone. Dean ran to catch up with his long-legged brother and the two of them followed muddy footprints until the land around them started to warp and change.
"Whoa," Sam gasped as they came into a field with tall grasses, saplings and flowers. It was still night time, but now there were billions of stars decorating the sky. The two glanced back at the way they came only to see that the barren waste land that had once been there was now part of the flowering field.
"Luuuci!" a voice called out of the blue. Dean and Sam looked up to see an angel with golden wings fly out of the dark sky and land in the field. He looked to be in his teens and he was dressed in a white toga with a silver robe wrapped over his shoulders. "Luci!" the angel's wings drooped and he let out an irritated sigh before plopping down on his back and staring up into the night sky. Dean and Sam watched the angel for a second before finally approaching it. They tried to remain silent, but that ended quickly after Dean's foot snapped a twig.
"Hey! Hey! Calm down!" Dean shouted when the angel shot up, fear written all over its face. Its wings were ruffled and spread wide to make it look larger than it really was. "Not going to hurt you man."
"Your humans," the angel said, eyes still wide. "How did living humans get into heaven?" Sam and Dean exchanged a look. Well, at least they knew they still weren't on Earth. Sam knelt down so he was eye level with the golden winged angel and he smiled kindly.
"Umm…I know this is going to be hard to believe, but this is actually God's doing," Sam said, ignoring the look Dean was giving him. Sam figured lying was not the best way to go about this situation.
The angel rose a brow and his wings relaxed.
"My father?" he questioned. Sam nodded. "He does realized Heaven isn't some tourist trap right? Mickey and Luci are just going to love this," the angel sighed, glancing into the distance. "Dad didn't happen to say why he sent you here, did he?"
"You seem awfully calm about this," Dean finally spoke up. Gabriel looked at him and shrugged.
"Dad's always trying to find ways for us to except humans," Gabriel stated. "I never thought he'd actually bring living humans here though." The angel let out another sigh. "Now, are you going to tell me what he sent you here for?" Sam slowly stood up from where he had been kneeling.
"He said we needed to find Gabriel, Balthazar, and Castiel," Sam said truthfully. The angel's eyes darkened slightly and his wings bristled again.
"Well you found Gabriel already, but what do my baby brothers have to do with anything?" the angel snapped. Dean and Sam stepped back, taken aback by what the angel had just said. This was Gabriel? Gabriel as a fucking teenager?! The two Winchesters took in the angel again, looking at him up and down. His eyes held the same whiskey golden color like their Gabriel back home and his wings were a perfect gold. Yes, this was Gabriel. The only difference was with this Gabriel's wings. The gold feathers slowly changed to a glistening white and then very light baby blue towards the tips. Their Gabriel must have grown out those feathers long ago since now they were pure gold. "What does this have to do with my baby brothers?" Gabriel spat again, wings shaking. Dean and Sam snapped out of their stupor and cleared their throats.
"We don't know. We figured it was kind of a bad idea to question God," Dean stated, hoping the angel would go for it.
"We're in the dark just as much as you," Sam reassured the angel. "I promise though. We don't mean any of your siblings harm." Gabriel searched Sam's eyes for a minute and then moved to Dean's before finally relaxing again. The Winchesters relaxed along with him.
"Okay, come with me," Gabriel whispered softly, turning his back on the two and leading them farther into the field. Both Sam and Dean shared a look before following the angel, keeping close to each other. No one spoke as they walked. Well, Dean and Sam didn't. Gabriel did. He would babble to himself about how sucky it was to be a messenger, things about his father, and complained about his brothers. Once and a while he would get tired of walking and would let his wings pull him up into the air so he was hovering just above Sam's head.
They had only been walking for about a half an hour when they finally heard soft giggles and voices in the distance. Gabriel motioned for the boys to follow him over a hill and they followed, mouths falling open at what they soon saw. Trees of blossoming white flowers neither of the boys had ever seen or heard before covered the meadow of bright green grass. Angels of all ages and sizes flew through the air and tumbled on the soft grass. Nests of twigs and old feathers were each carefully placed in the trees.
"Wow," Dean whispered. Gabriel smirked at him and started to lead the Winchesters farther into the forest. Sometimes angels would stop to watch them, but only for a second before going back to their business. What surprised Dean and Sam more than anything was how carefree and kid-like the angels all acted. They were nothing like the soldiers back home.
"Gabriel, what are you doing?" a low voice questioned. With a swoop of wings an angel much older than Gabriel appeared in front of them. "I told you to find Lucifer not a bunch of humans."
"Michael, I'm sorry, but I couldn't find him. Father sent these men to see us," Gabriel stated, waving a hand at the two hunters. Michael looked at the two of them, but it was clear that he didn't recognize either of them. With a sigh Michael ruffled Gabriel's hair and spread out his wings.
"Whatever, Gabe. Just hurry up and finish with them so we can find Luci. Raphael is going to blow a gasket otherwise." Gabriel nodded and Michael disappeared with a quick flap of his wings.
"I don't see why Raphael even tries. Luci'll only hit him with another prank," Gabriel muttered beneath his breath.
"Your brother didn't seem very shocked to see us," Sam commented. Dean elbowed him roughly, wishing his brother would just let some things go. Gabriel only shrugged and started walking again.
"He's busy and if you two try anything you'll both explode without him even batting an eye," the angel explained simply. Dean and Sam bothered at their lips with their teeth, suddenly feeling a bit nervous being surrounded by angels. "Now come on. My brothers are just a few trees down," Gabe informed them, dragging the hunters to a tree with slightly more flowers than the others. Gabriel snapped his fingers and the boys watched as the tree branch currently holding a small nest with white feathers worked into the twigs lowered until the nest was right in front of them. Sam and Dean looked inside, breathe catching in their lungs. An angel with fluffy silver wings sat cross-legged in the nest. In his arms was a smaller angel with black wings.
"Gabby! Cassie said my name!" the angel squealed excitedly, twirling his baby brother around so the smaller angel could now see Gabriel and the hunters. The baby babbled lifting its tiny hands up towards Gabriel. Gabe reached into the nest and fished out the baby angel, cradling him in his arms. "Say my name, Castiel," the silver winged angel both hunters guessed to be Balthazar cooed. Castiel stuck his thumb in his mouth and smiled at his brothers.
"Bally-zar!" baby Cas squealed. Gabriel smiled widely at his baby brother and tossed Castiel's tiny frame into the air only to catch him again.
"Yeah, Cassie-boy!" Gabe cheered at the giggling baby.
"How old is he?" Dean questioned, smiling at the little baby. Their Cas wasn't this little. Balthazar was sort of the right age though. Gabriel grinned and bopped Castiel on the nose once or twice to make the baby laugh.
"Oh, he just turned one hundred a few days ago," Gabriel stated. The hunters' eyes widened, but Dean kept his mouth shut.
"Who they, Gabby?" Balthazar slurred, standing up in his nest and walking closer to the edge to get a better look.
"Humans that came to meet us," Gabriel told his younger brother.
"Okay," was all the angel said before looking back to his baby brother and Dean. "You can hold 'im if you want," Balthazar said, noticing how Dean stared at the baby. Dean looked between Gabriel and Balthazar in shock, but the two only smiled. Gabriel gently adjusted Castiel in his arms and held the tiny angel out for Dean to take.
"Careful with his…" Gabe trailed off as Dean gently pressed a hand between Cas' shoulder blades to support the angel's back, wings, and head. "Wow, you're a natural at holding baby angels," Gabe stated, clearly impressed. Dean simply shrugged and started bouncing Cas, smiling like a madman as the baby angel reached out to his face and patted at the hunter's nose. Sam sort of wished he had a camera. Gabriel flapped into the nest with Balthazar, talking to the angel about something while Sam stepped closer to his brother and the angel.
"Why is God showing us this stuff?" Sam asked, holding out a finger to Cas and watching as the angel grabbed it in a tiny fist and started nibbling on the large finger. Dean shook his head.
"My best guess; show us what the angels once were," Dean stated. "Maybe he wants things to be like this again." Sam frowned at his brother.
"Yeah, but how…" the younger Winchester trailed off. Suddenly, everything made sense. Lydia's experiment, baby angels, and God's words. 'Remodeling.' 'Rebirth.' "Dean…"
"What, Sammy?" Dean questioned.
"I think…I think I know where the other angels are," Sam stuttered. Dean's eyes grew large and he waited for his brother to go on. "They've been turned into babies just like Cas, Gabe, and Balthy were," Sam whispered. The puzzle pieces clicked finally in Dean's brain and the hunter's mouth dropped open.
"Oh my g –"
"Looking for me?" Dean and Sam jumped and turned their heads to see the same cloaked figure they had seen in the deserted field. They watched as his image shifted and suddenly turned back into Chuck's form.
"God," both Sam and Dean gasped. God nodded at them and smiled.
"Like I said, Boys. I'm giving my children a second chance, but I'll be raising them different than before."
"What do you mean?" Sam questioned. God nodded at Dean and the hunter glanced down at his arms. The baby Castiel that he had been holding was now replace with a slumbering four year old toddler with dark hair, fluffy black wings, and a miniature trench coat. Both Dean and Sam looked to the nest to see that it was now filled with two slumbering angel a little older than Castiel. They had found their angels. Sam reached into the nest and pulled the two resting angels into his arms before looking back to god. "Thanks to you two these angels got a taste of free will," God informed them. "My children will be raised by humans like yourselves and see the true love humanity holds."
"Yeah, but not all humanity is good," Dean added. "Some people are real asshats."
"That is why I would like you to watch over them." Both Sam and Dean turned pale. That was a hell of a lot of angels to go looking for. God smiled at their worried faces and chuckled. "No need to worry. Gabriel, Balthazar, and Castiel will be able to feel their brethren. They will help you if you agree to the quest." Sam and Dean shared a look, still looking hesitant, but what choice did they have in the matter.
"We'll do it," they said at the same time. At that instant the world around them shattered and the two hunters and their angels were back in the garden with God, Joshua, and Lydia.
"Lydia and Joshua will be keeping an eye on you, but they have orders only to interfere if there is absolutely no other way," God informed them. Both Dean and Sam nodded. It's not like they got that much help from upstairs anyway. God smiled for the last time that night and approached the two hunters, gently pressing his hands to their heads. "Watch over them," God whispered and the Winchesters found themselves back in the living room with their angels securely in their arms. Kevin, Charlie, Bobby, and Custos dashed into the room then and the two hunters quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. They had only been gone a minute.
"Everyone alright in here?" Bobby asked. The boys nodded, glancing down at their angels before looking back up at their friends and surrogate father again. "What the hell was all of that about?!" Bobby cussed glancing to the window at the still red sky. Sam and Dean both shared a long look, hearts pounding. Before they could even answer the door flew open and everyone startled. Meg bounded into the room, eyes wide, hair matted and lip split. Her eyes landed on the little angels resting peacefully and she quickly dropped to the floor in exhaustion.
"Meg?" Sam whispered. Meg looked up at the younger Winchester, eyes red rimmed. "Meg, what's wrong?"
Shoes squeaked against old floorboards and the group of demons in the room glanced up at the sound. They watched as a dark figure in a tailored suit walked through the door. He smiled at them, dark eyes twinkling.
"See?" Crowley chuckled, walking towards the only window in the room of his hideout and peering at the red sky. "Our patience has finally paid off." The demons watched their king, confusion in their eyes.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but how has it?" one asked. Crowley turned his gaze to the demon and smiled.
"Heaven's guardians are nothing, but diaper wearing fluff balls now," Crowley mused. "I want all of you to find me every last infant-turned angel and bring them to me. I've got quite the plans for the little dearies."
"What about Castiel, Balthazar, and Gabe –" Crowley cut her off, glaring at the group of demons with blazing eyes.
"Nobody is to touch those three. They are under the care of those plaid wearing hunters and the last thing I need are those two getting involved and messing up my plans. If I find out anybody touches those angels until I say so you all will be tortured beyond torture." He paused, waiting for anyone to question him.
No one did.
Now you know what the deal was with Joshua and Lydia, but what is Crowley up to? ;)