Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, random yet lovable, alena, HH, keacdragon, Tonks7421, The weasel is MINE XP and Riceball-1989 for last chapter's reviews!
Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!
So, I have signed up for Gishwhes this year with a couple of friends and we still need a few people for our team. If anyone is interested in joining, drop me a line. :-)
4
The two Winchesters were still sleeping peacefully, when Castiel suddenly appeared in the middle of the motel room. Before the dark-haired angel knew what was happening, his older brother had already grabbed him and dragged him out through the front door.
"How were you going to explain your sudden appearance to them?" Gabriel asked in a hushed, but fierce tone. He had made plans for a quite nice day for the three of them, including ditching their awful motel room for a place more after his liking, so he wasn't going to let Castiel of all people ruin that by scaring the kids the moment one of them woke up.
How was it that the archangel had turned into the one who was responsible for monitoring that sort of thing, anyway?
"My apologies," Castiel replied, though his puzzled tone and head-tilt gave away that he wasn't exactly sure what he was even apologizing for. He had not seen the problem with simply appearing in the motel room. The seraph had been the one to get Dean and Sam into the room in the first place after all and they hadn't walked through the door then. Castiel couldn't even start to comprehend what that would have changed in just one day.
Both children had been too dazed by whatever spell had been worked on them to realize what was happening at the time. However, it had helped that at least Dean had shown some signs of recognition toward Castiel.
"Whatever," Gabriel huffed, realizing to his horror that he had just copied one of Dean's favorite adolescent responses to just about everything. They hadn't even spent a single full day together and already he was getting used to the kids. He just knew that this was going to come back and bite him in the ass sooner or later. If Castiel hadn't seemed as honestly distressed as he had when he had first asked for Gabe's help, the archangel would have had to assume that this was a ploy to get him to form attachments to the vessels, so he would change his mind about getting involved in the Apocalypse.
"I have not been able to find the culprit yet," the seraph explained the reason for his visit after a few moments of silence, "However, from what I was able to discover, it stands to reason that our brothers have caused all this."
Castiel hadn't been able to find any signs for the involvement of any demons or witches. Then there was the fact that, while they were trying to keep it under covers, he was also very certain that the angels were unusually interested in finding out about the Winchesters' whereabouts. It stood to reason that they knew that their chances to get Dean's consent to being Michael's vessel were better than they had ever been as things were.
"Wow, our brothers have really started to play just as dirty as everyone else," Gabriel snorted, "Don't know why that surprises me."
The archangel liked to believe that heaven had had higher standards, once upon a time, anyway. Sure, they had invented the first ways of cheating right around the time they had come up with the first games, but there had always been limits and rules that couldn't be broken under any circumstances. Gabriel at least had thought that having to get real consent from an intended vessel was one of those unbreakable rules. Children – even very young ones – could technically be used as vessels, but changing adults back into children so they wouldn't be able to remember that they didn't want to be vessels was cheating for sure. Not to mention that he highly doubted that anyone was going to fully explain to either boy what exactly saying 'yes' entailed. Gabriel's mind raced through all those thoughts and it enraged the archangel on a level he wouldn't have been able to put into words. It wasn't only about realizing just how far his brothers had sunk, however. It was also about seeing how much baggage these two had had even before the angels stepped in and ruined their already unstable lives. He knew somehow everything connected back to heaven's big plan. While he really didn't want to get involved, his brothers were doing nothing short of pushing his temper.
"I am sorry to inconvenience you further." Castiel's voice brought Gabriel back to the present and to the topic at hand. He might have gotten a little lost in his own thoughts for a moment there.
"Yeah, sure you are," the archangel stated dismissively, waving his hand, "Forget it, Cassy, we're actually having a blast here."
The seraph really didn't need to know that babysitting the miniature hunters wasn't all fun and games. Father forbid if the angel started to pick up on the archangel's emotional reaction to the boys. Gabriel really could do without the accusation of starting to feel sorry for and protective over the kids, thank you very much! It was bad enough that he himself knew that both those things were definitely happening. Gabe knew that even one toe past the clearly drawn line of what he was willing and unwilling to do in his assistance of the Winchesters and he'd suddenly end up in a death match with his two bigger, and admittedly stronger, brothers. Too much sympathy for the Winchester brothers was inevitably going to be bad for his health.
"I mean, c'mon. Little big Dean-o and the Sasquatch in Ewok size!" Gabriel laughed, forcing all thoughts of how he liked the boys for anything more than the amusement they provided him from his mind. "Or in the size of one of those Wookie kiddies from the Christmas special."
Honestly, the archangel simply couldn't get used to the fact that someone as tiny as eight year old Sam could grow up to become the giant of a man he had started to dub 'Samsquatch' whenever he thought of him a while ago. What was he supposed to call him as things were, anyway? Samunchkin? Sampact? Sampaloompa?
"I don't understand that reference," Castiel frowned deeply, tilting his head in confusion. He often wished that he would be given the time to build up knowledge about all these things Dean and now Gabriel were so fond of referencing, but ever since he had first come to Earth the chance had not presented itself. Given the circumstances, not having had the time to learn about pop culture and figures of speech was a minor regret of his, but it was a regret nevertheless.
"That's no shame. Hardly anyone does. What a total clusterfuck. I bet Lucas would sell his soul to make sure everyone forgot," Gabriel babbled on, knowing full well that he wasn't making things better for his brother. Some things just had to be said, however. "Then again, looking at those godawful prequels that still made money? Yeah, he probably sold his soul, anyway."
Actually, the archangel – or rather Loki – had some contacts that might be able to tell him exactly, if George Lucas had sold his soul and for what price. If the matter still seemed interesting enough once he was back to his usual life, he might just go and ask one of them.
"You continue to confuse me," Castiel admitted, though he had little hopes that his brother would take his words to heart and start to speak about things he could follow again.
"What I'm saying is," Gabriel explained, "The Weechesters are freaking adorable and as long as you don't send any trouble our way, I'll gladly watch them for another while."
He still had every intention to turn tails and flee the very first moment it looked like Michael or Lucifer discovered where the Winchesters were hiding. He wasn't going to hand the kids over exactly, but he wasn't going to keep either of his older brothers from taking them, either. Wonderful, it wasn't even 9 a.m. and he had already discovered another thing that made him uncomfortable. Couldn't a trickster have some peace of mind in the time before breakfast?
"You have a strange way of expressing yourself," Castiel pointed out in a clearly disapproving tone. They could have spared a lot of time, if his brother had simply said what he had meant from the start!
"Pot and kettle, Cassy. Pot and kettle," Gabriel laughed, patting the seraph's shoulder before he turned back toward the motel room door, "C'mon, let's tell the kiddies that they're stuck with good old me for another while. And while we're at it, you should also tell them that I'm not some creep or pedophile and that they can safely ditch this stinky motel room and come stay at my place instead."
The archangel might have been wrong, but he assumed that Sam and Dean had accepted him as easily as they had, because they had been sure that Castiel had sent him. So, having the seraph tell them that it was okay for them to be relocated sounded like a good idea. His brother would only have to watch the boys for the short time he was going to need to find a suitable place and put up all the protections and entertainment they were going to need.
Gabriel had been reaching for the door handle when Sam's frightened yell made both angels storm back into the room side by side. The archangel's head might have had every intention to dump the kids at the first sign of trouble, but apparently his instincts hadn't quite gotten the message. The picture of the two angels stumbling through the door and even getting stuck for a moment, would have been funny under different circumstances.
"Cas! You're back!" Dean exclaimed happily, quickly approaching the two adults without acknowledging that they were both looking around for a threat that didn't exist.
"You're such a jerk!" Sam yelled, in his squeaky pre-adolescent voice that could have made a normal adult's ears ring. He jumped out of the still vibrating bed he had been sleeping in until he had been rudely woken up a minute ago.
"Cas gave me the quarters to use however I see fit," the older Winchester retorted smugly, standing next to the dark-haired adult. Somehow Dean had a feeling like Castiel would side with him, if he needed the backup. Not that he was going to need backup to handle his little brother. Sam had learned every single one of his moves from his older brother, after all! It also helped that he was scrawny as hell. Sam never even got to honestly try to attack the older boy however, Gabriel's outstretched arm held him back before he could get close enough.
Once the archangel had realized that Dean had started the bed's 'magic fingers' feature while his brother had still been asleep and had scared the kid awake with it, he just had to laugh. The fact that the boy had immediately tried to put the blame on Castiel instead made the entire thing even more hilarious. Oh, the archangel would gladly help the younger Winchester to retaliate later on, but that didn't mean that he couldn't congratulate Dean on a prank well done.
Sam of course, took Gabriel's laughter as adding insult to injury and brought on the hurt puppy eyes full force, until the archangel ruffled his still sleep mussed hair and patted his shoulder amicably. It was a silent promise to team up against the older boy later on and it looked like Sam was all too willing to take him up on the offer.
"Geez, Sammy, don't get your panties in a twist! Magic fingers are meant to be relaxing!" Dean took another dig at his younger brother, never leaving Castiel's side as he did so. Hey, the shorty had his own adult by his side, so it was only fair that he kept his own close, too.
"Gabriel is no creep or pedophile and you should consider staying at his place for a while," Castiel suddenly blurted out awkwardly. His brother had told him that he needed to speak to the children about this earlier and he had seen no better way to incorporate what he had to say into the conversation.
An uncomfortable silence spread like a whirlwind through the room. Suddenly the morning birds outside were making more noise than the inhabitants of the lousy motel room. At least both Winchesters were distracted from their argument, by the need to stare at the angel like he was crazy.
"Thank you, Castiel, for making me look like a creep and a pedophile," Gabriel spoke up in an amused tone to lighten the mood and to make the scenario in which he was exactly those two things look ridiculous.
"But what I said-" Castiel tried to clarify. Sometimes he got the impression that he could do nothing right. Even if he was only repeating what his brother had told him word for word it still was wrong somehow. The most frustrating thing was that nobody ever seemed willing to explain to him what exactly he had done wrong, however.
"I say," Gabriel pointedly interrupted his brother before he could make matters worse again, "You three go and have a healthy and hearty breakfast, while I go and make sure that all the inappropriate stuff is stowed away."
First of all, he would have to make sure that there even was inappropriate stuff to stow away. It couldn't be that hard to find an empty apartment somewhere close. Snapping all the things they were going to need into existence should be even less of a problem, really. He'd still need some time to set everything up, though.
Both boys obviously were hungry enough to like at least the first part of the plan well enough. They'd have to see how they were going to feel about the second part, once the time came to cross that bridge.
Sam waved toward Gabriel for a moment before he followed Dean and Castiel out the door. The brothers' discussion about the merits of waffles versus bacon started up immediately afterward.