When Spencer's call had echoed through Gabriel's grace there had been no thought for the archangel. He simply took flight straight towards that call. There had been fear in that call, a terrifying sound that Gabriel never wanted to hear from his fledgling. He'd landed at Spencer's location with his blade in hand, ready to take down whoever the hell was hurting his kid, only to find himself suddenly with an arm full of an actual kid. When he realized that it was Spencer, he'd been stunned.
Spencer looked like he was barely over a year old, though reaching out to him told him that the fledgling was physically closer to two. He was tiny, with the biggest brown eyes and a mop of curly brown hair that Gabriel wanted to reach out and ruffle. When he spoke and his voice had that little lisp to it, it was hard not to just 'aww' right in his face. He was adorable!
He was also, as Gabriel was beginning to see, less human and more fledgling. While his human mind was still very much present, his human hang-ups were not. Spencer was acting more like a fledgling than he'd ever done. Curling up against Gabriel, hiding under his wings, trembling with the negative emotions in the room and seeking out comfort without hesitation – those were all fledgling instincts. Fledglings didn't have any concept of touch being wrong. If they were upset or sacred, they'd curl in against one another or another angel. They weren't afraid to seek contact or comfort. Nor were they afraid to show any of their emotions. Especially not when they were still as young as Spencer was.
Bringing Spencer's fledgling instincts to the fore also seemed to have brought Gabriel's protective ones. He usually controlled himself around the kid because he could respect that Spencer was an adult human.
All of that went out the window right now.
Gabriel kept his wings curled over his little boy, keeping every bit of Spencer shielded from everyone's eyes – humans included. He let his wings be visible to keep Spencer as sheltered as possible. Then he shot a glare at Dean, the one who had shouted. Spencer was already on edge enough; hearing Dean shout and likely feeling his anger only made the trembling worse. Spencer's own wings came up and tried to help hide him while also clinging tighter to Gabriel.
Temper sparked in Gabriel's eyes. He shifted himself, turning his body so that the boy resting against him was further away from everyone else, and he glared right at Dean. "Watch it, bucko. The last thing he needs is your temper right now."
While everyone stared, Gabriel ignored them and turned his focus back to Spencer. He could feel Spencer's embarrassment and hear the way he was telling himself to calm down, that there was nothing going on here, he was safe and quit freaking out, yet it wasn't stilling the trembles. Gabriel focused on a sense of calm and let it fill his grace as he wrapped that around the boy as well. In Enochian, he murmured lowly, trying to keep his voice pitched for Spencer alone. "Shh, little bird. It's all right. Shh. You're safe."
"Holy shit." That sounded like Derek, the only one of them close enough to be able to peek in just a bit past Gabriel's feathers. "Is that… is that Spencer?"
That sure had everyone snapping to attention. Gabriel kept shushing the fledgling even as he felt Lucifer reach out to him. If it'd been anyone else, Gabriel would've made them wait. It was Lucifer, though. The one he had always been closest to, and who he was finding a bond with once more, and the other archangel that Gabriel knew Spencer liked. Reaching back to him, Gabriel shared with him what had happened. He heard his brother let out a soft 'Ah' as he drew back.
"What?" Dean demanded. His tone was still harsh but nowhere near as harsh as it'd been before. "What's going on?"
In contrast, Lucifer's tone had cooled dangerously, a storm just waiting to be released. "It would appear that the witch friend Spencer went to speak with decided that he needed assistance in coming to terms with the fledgling inside of him."
Spencer's trembling finally slowed, though it didn't vanish entirely. The fact that he hadn't unburied himself from Gabriel was worrisome. It was something Gabriel was going to have to try and address if it didn't change soon. For now, he turned back to the room and slowly drew his wings away, revealing the tiny little boy in his arms who was swimming in the shirt that adult-Spencer had been wearing. Gabriel met the shocked stares of everyone around him and prepared to shock them all a little more. "It's a bit more than that. I get the feeling she's done more than just change his body. His… well, his human instincts seem to be almost gone. He's reacting to things down here like a normal fledgling."
That had the angels in the room wincing. A second later, the feel of all the grace in the room shifted and changed into something softer. It was never a good idea to have volatile feelings around fledglings. They took it too much to heart and were too easily hurt. Angels were made from love – Dad's love – and that made them sensitive against the more negative emotions. They didn't really start to feel any of those until they were closer to their 'teenage years'.
"I didn't feel anything." Derek said, his eyes wide while he openly stared at Spencer. "I was right outside and I didn't feel a thing. How is that possible?"
Raphael answered that question rather quickly. "It shouldn't be. The kind of power it would take to do that to any angel, let alone to one of Spencer's natural strength, and with the strength of a soul thrown into the mix, should make it impossible. There is nothing out there that I know of that's capable of doing this. Making a vessel younger, yes, though he should've been able to fight it off. But to unlock the instincts of a fledgling?" He stopped and shook his head. The way he looked at Spencer made it clear he wanted to come over and check on him. Gabriel hated it, but he gave a small shake of his head. Right now Spencer wouldn't react well to that.
A snort drew Gabriel's attention over to the two Winchesters. Dean had put away his weapon but he was still cautiously watching around him as if he expecting more trouble to come barging in. At his side, Sam was watching Gabriel and Spencer with a worried look that made it clear he wanted to come and join them but didn't want to push his way in there while Spencer was still so upset. It was moments like this that reminded Gabriel why he adored this man so much. He stretched out one wing and let his feathers brush over Sam's arm.
"So what the hell are we gonna do?" Dean demanded.
Lucifer moved himself a little so that he was between Gabriel and Dean. Or, more accurately, between Spencer and Dean. "First, you're going to learn to watch your temper, human. Are you just not paying attention, or do you care so little for someone you call friend?"
"Lucifer." Michael called out warningly. At the same time, Castiel moved to pull Dean back, away from the temper of the archangel. His low voice could easily be heard murmuring to Dean, warning him, "You need to listen and be careful. Fledglings are tender, Dean. They are created of love and do not react well to negative emotions while in their formative years. As they stated, that part of him seems to be in control right now."
All the temper in the room really was starting to get to Spencer, too, just the same as it would with any fledgling. They were all failing pretty miserably at keeping calm. Spencer made a soft, distressed little chirrup that went straight to the center of Gabriel's grace just the same as it always did when any of his children were upset. It was beyond what he knew angels felt for fledglings. This was more. This was something only another parent could begin to understand. It brought forth every parental instinct that Gabriel had and he found himself acting as if Spencer truly were the young child that he looked like. The archangel shifted his hold on Spencer until the young boy was more cradled in his arms than against his shoulder and he began a swaying motion that never failed to calm his kids when they were younger. "Shh now, baby bird. You're all right. Everything is all right."
He could see the tears that were forming in the bottom of Spencer's eyes, but he could also see the fear there and the intelligence that told him his boy wasn't completely gone. Stronger instincts were in control, but Spencer was still in there, and his boy was more mortified by his behavior than upset about what was going on around him. For someone who Gabriel strongly suspected had never had a childhood and who had always prided himself on being strong and self-sufficient, this had to be terrifying and mortifying.
Spencer curled himself in towards Gabriel's chest as if somehow that would help him hide from all the eyes that were watching him. It took everything Gabriel had not to fly away so that he could give the kid some privacy. His little brow furrowing, Spencer tilted just enough that one eye could peek up at Gabriel, and he spoke for the first time since the start of all this. "I, I don't unde'stand." That lisp that Gabriel had noticed before was just as thick, and way too adorable. "This isn't… I don't…" Spencer couldn't seem to complete his words, yet Gabriel got the gist of it. How was this supposed to be the helping that the woman claimed it would be?
Somewhere off to the side came the sound of an 'aww' that had both Gabriel and Spencer looking up. Derek was staring at them, still stunned, so it wasn't him. But Dean… the older hunter was actually grinning now quite openly. "Dude," He drawled out, looking pleased with himself. "Your lisp is worse than Sammy's was."
It was amusing to watch Sam's hidden smile vanish. The younger brother immediately turned to throw a bitch face that had Gabriel wanting to laugh.
"Is this really the time for squabbling?" Michael asked them. He had drawn himself up to his full height and was giving both brothers a disapproving look that Gabriel had always hated when it was turned his way. Good to see time hadn't changed that face at all. Yay.
However, their squabbling had done the job of soothing Spencer a little, getting him calm enough that his wings stopped twitching in agitation, and that alone was enough to have Gabriel wanting to encourage it. He let himself give in to the urge to chuckle and shook his head at the two. If easy banter was the way to keep Spencer relaxed through this, well, Gabriel could handle that easily enough while still keeping them on topic. "We can argue later over who the cutest kid was." The trickster teased them. "Let's save the squabbling until we're done with our current problem."
"Is there anything we can do, though?" Sam asked. He seemed to be taking Gabriel's advice and was ignoring Dean. A little hesitantly, he came towards Gabriel, almost like he didn't want to startle Spencer yet couldn't quite keep himself from coming to them. Gabriel felt it as Spencer used his grace to reach out a little, a questing, searching touch, and then the next thing he knew his arms were suddenly empty.
The sound of laughter filled the room as Sam stumbled under the weight that appeared in his arms. He reacted quickly, bringing his arms up to hold on to Spencer, though it wasn't really necessary. Spencer latched on with no real help needed. He curled himself in, face going in to hide against Sam's neck in embarrassment. Gabriel could feel that Spencer had surprised himself as much as he had them. He hadn't intended to fly over to Sam. His grace was just reacting to his wants and needs without any real thought, just like it did with any fledgling.
A corner of Gabriel's mouth quirked up into an honest smile as he watched one of Sam's big hands cover Spencer's back, settling unconsciously into the space where wings met back. The fledgling's whole being relaxed at that touch. His wings went loose and lax in their most relaxed, trusting pose, saying quite a bit for how he felt about Sam.
When Sam's wide eyes met Gabriel's, showing shock and a bit of pleasure, Gabriel smirked at his mate. "Apparently, you were taking too long getting over here."
Castiel was the one to bring them back on track. "Where is the witch that performed the spell?"
"Vanished." Gabriel answered. "And I mean vanished. There was no trace of her anywhere in the house. No trace of whatever spell she used, either. If I hadn't got hit with the human rocket over there, I wouldn't have even known anything had happened there."
As cute as a little fledgling-sized Spencer looked curled up in Sam's arms, all of them knew that this was serious. They couldn't afford to have Spencer child-sized right now. Not with everything that was on their plates. They had important things to do and they needed Spencer around to do it. Having him like this, it would do them no good. They needed to figure out some way to fix it. Unfortunately, their best bet at fixing this was going to be with Raphael. He was Heaven's Healer. But, getting Spencer to trust him enough to let Raphael's grace in with him was going to be tricky. Especially when the kid looked utterly exhausted. This whole thing had taken a lot of his energy. His body was slumped against Sam and his wings were drooping.
Gabriel wasn't the only one to notice it. The other archangels did as well, their graces all pulsing in a way that made it clear how hard they were fighting reaching out to him like they would with any other fledgling. They knew how to take care of regular fledglings, and Gabriel knew how to take care of adult-Spencer, but none of them knew how to take care of a shrunken-down Spencer who was apparently feeling more like a fledgling than ever, yet still retained his adult mind.
Surprisingly, it was Dean who stepped up to the plate here and took control of the situation with a calm assurance that spoke of practice. While he might not have dealt with a child Spencer, he'd practically raised Sam, and that experience showed. "All right, all right. From the sounds of things, this stuff, it's not dangerous for Spencer, right?" He looked to Gabriel, who shook his head. Dean nodded back at him and then focused on the room at large. "Good. Then it can wait until later. Sam, Gabe, why don't you two go take Spencer and lay him down for a while? He looks like this drained the hell out of him. Maybe we'll have something figured out by the time he wakes back up."
It was a solid plan. Though Gabriel wouldn't admit it to Dean – he didn't want to encourage bad behavior, after all – it made the archangel feel better to have something to do instead of just standing here debating things. With his wings, Gabriel gathered up his little flock to him, pulling them in close until they were right up against him. "Deano's right, some sleep would be good. Let's get our boy down to bed, Princess."
He didn't give anyone a chance to protest. With a nod to Dean, who nodded back his understanding, Gabriel flew his flock down to Spencer's room. They landed right next to the bed. With a thought, Gabriel locked the door and made it impossible to pick, guaranteeing that no human would be able to enter the room, and the wards Spencer already had up here made sure that no angel except for Gabriel could simply fly in. That meant they were as safe as they possibly could be right at the moment. It also meant he was free to focus on Spencer and Sam without worries for anything else.
As soon as he did, Gabriel had to fight back an 'awww'. Spencer was still curled up against Sam, one cheek pressed against Sam's shoulder and his mouth slack. His left hand was up and fisted loosely in some of Sam's hair while his right one was pressed close to his chin. His wings still drooped, trailing down towards the ground. Bits of Spencer's True Form were showing through, signifying just how loose his control was, because generally he kept himself so tight there was no real glimpse of the True Form that he would be if he were free from his vessel. Most angels didn't bother hiding all that – only Gabriel did, really, and he'd taught Spencer back when they were still trying to hide him. Hell, he doubted Spencer even knew about that part of himself, though Gabriel made a mental note that they needed to fix that soon. But right then there were bits clearly peeking through, and it made Gabriel's grace buzz happily inside of him.
These glimpses told Gabriel that Spencer's True Form was going to be just as bright and just as beautiful as his wings were. Bringer of the Dawn, indeed. From between his wings came the flicker of what looked to be a tail that, with the little he was able to see through the feathers, Gabriel was sure resembled that of a phoenix. It started as one and then split off into three, the two on the sides thin and bright while the one in the middle fanned out into feathers that were like flames. On his shoulders were the hint of scales, flashing there and gone again, that Gabriel would bet were like that of a dragon.
Humans had been made in the image of their Father, and as such resembled him, but angels had been made only slightly like their Father. They'd also been made into something else entirely, and it was that something else that had helped spawn the animals on the earth. God had said once to Gabriel that he'd done it like that in hopes that his children would feel a connection to everything on earth, man and animal alike. It hadn't really worked.
"Gabriel?" Sam's gentle murmur broke into Gabriel's thoughts. The archangel blinked his eyes to clear them and found Sam still standing there, stroking gently at the sleeping kid's back, and he was watching Gabriel with a curious furrow in his forehead and concern in his eyes.
Seeing it made Gabriel smile. "It's fine. Let's get our kiddo laid down, hm?"
In short order Gabriel had the blankets in the bed rucked up into a perfect little nest. Getting them all in their was easy; Spencer barely even stirred. He mumbled in discontent at them when Sam kept trying to be gentle about where he laid, worried about the wings that had slowly become more visible.
Eventually they got all settled in with Spencer down between them, and Gabriel's wings stretched over top them all, and the fledgling settled in with a happy chirrup.
Sam smiled when he heard the sound. His hand was continuing its petting, moving down over one of Spencer's wings. There was worry in his eyes as he watched Spencer, though. "Are you sure he's okay from this? I mean… he barely seemed like he was coherent. He wasn't even talking."
"He's all right." Gabriel reassured him. He, too, looked down at Spencer's face, so relaxed in sleep. So sweet. There was a faint hint of baby fat, though not enough for Gabriel's liking, and an innocence that he doubted had been there when the kid had actually been this age. Sighing, Gabriel reached out and tucked a bit of Spencer's hair behind his ear, smiling when it earned him an absent nuzzle and another chirrup. "See? He's just tired. A spell this big, it's draining. He's gotta rest to replace all that energy. Once he wakes up he'll be a whole lot less scrambled. I'm sure he'll have plenty to say then."
"Yeah." Sam chuckled lowly and shook his head. "He's going to be pissed, you know that, right? This right here is pretty much everything he hates."
Yeah, well, maybe that was part of the lesson. The trickster in Gabriel could see all this and understand it in a way he wasn't sure the others could. It wasn't hard for him to see what lesson this witch was trying to teach Spencer. The fact that it was one Gabriel agreed he needed to learn, at least a little, didn't negate the fact that it was going to hurt his boy. Especially if they couldn't fix it. "We'll help him through it."
Sam reached over Spencer and caught hold of Gabriel's hand with his. They threaded their fingers together and let their joined hands rest right by Spencer's hip. Whatever was going to happen, they'd figure it out, and they'd figure it out together. For now, the two would lay here and stand guard over their youngest, keeping him safe from a world that seemed intent on hurting him.