Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Treeni, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, random yet loveable, GreatIceDragon, XxZessxX, Kirabaros, RachelPhobia, Soulless666, kb18142, keacdragon, PercyJfan1802, Riceball-1989, Chichi-10018 and kyokomisuto for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

9

It should never be said that Gabriel didn't deliver what he promised; be it heaven, hell, or – as in this case – a pizza. It helped that a pizza place was right across the street from the arcade and that both Winchesters agreed that going there for dinner was a very good idea.

Castiel and Dean ended up sitting next to each other, facing the door as they had the previous day. Neither Sam nor Gabriel thought the matter was worth a discussion. The archangel mentally stored the fact that the older Winchester always wanted to sit next to Castiel away for future reference, however. One day the kid would be an adult again and Gabriel was pretty sure that it would be very easy to tease Dean with that piece of information then. The younger Winchester was too used to his brother watching out for any potential threats for both of them and the archangel was positive that he would sense any threat no matter if his back was turned or not.

Gabriel had more important matters than their seating arrangements to be concerned with, anyway. He had known that Sam wasn't exactly a normal child, with the demon blood, being destined to be Lucifer's vessel and all that crap. The archangel hadn't known that there were very strange side-effects to ingesting demon blood as a baby, however. There simply was no other explanation for what he had just heard!

"Broccoli? Whoever wants broccoli on a pizza?" Gabriel asked incredulously, as soon as the waitress had taken note of all their orders and was on her way back to the kitchen. He didn't want to give the impression that he wanted to publicly shame the kid for his strange taste in food, but the issue simply had to be addressed!

"I do," Sam shot back defiantly, trying to kick Dean's shin under the table, for the smug and mocking look his older brother was throwing his way. The eight year old was pretty sure that he had hit Castiel's shin instead, but the adult didn't even flinch, so it was hard to tell. He only furrowed his brow a little bit, but that might have been caused by something else. The younger Winchester might have been small for his age, but he had a lot of strength in his legs, so he believed that one of his kicks should have gotten more of a reaction.

"Good for you, kiddo," Gabriel replied with a good-natured smile, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder to distract him from trying to reduce the bones in his brother's legs to dust. A moment later the archangel gave up on trying holding back on the comment that was desperately trying to escape him, anyway. It just had to be said. "Even if it is a sin against good taste and mother nature herself."

Sam continued to pout when Gabriel laughed and pulled the kid closer, ruffling his hair. The archangel was positive that the younger Winchester would forgive him easily enough. If he wasn't completely wrong, the boy was already trying hard to stay mad and not to smile. Gabriel gave him a teasing wink to encourage the part of Sam that wanted to grin.

"You sure you don't want any?" Dean asked Castiel a couple of minutes later when their pizzas arrived. Not that the older Winchester was offering to share his ham, bacon, pepperoni and chili peppers pizza. Actually, Gabriel would probably have to give the dark-haired adult some of his extra, extra cheesy pizza. Forcing Cas to have some of Sam's veggie special with added broccoli would just be cruel, even if the adult sort of deserved it for not ordering his own meal in the first place.

"I do not require sustenance," Castiel stated matter-of-factly, eyeing the piece of pizza Dean was already munching on with interest, however. The seraph couldn't figure out why Sam's order was supposedly strange when he had gotten the same his brother had in essence. The differences were only in the details, really. If the details of a pizza order were already enough to make someone look strange, Castiel had little hope of ever seeming anything, but strange to those around him. Not that he cared too much about the way most people thought of him. He would be more than happy with simply looking normal enough to Dean and Sam.

"That's his way of saying 'No, thank you. I'm not hungry'," Gabriel commented casually, when the two Winchesters stared at the seraph dumbly. There was no use letting the kiddies start to think of Castiel as a total weirdo and – as had to be expected – his brother didn't exactly do anything to explain himself. Somehow, Gabriel had to do all the thinking and hard work around here.

"You never eat with us," Dean huffed, clearly sounding disappointed. It was like Cas was with them, but at the same time wasn't. He was just sitting there watching them eat, the older Winchester mused, picking the chili peppers off his pizza absentmindedly.

"Too spicy for you?" Sam - the little shit – chuckled, nodding toward the small pile of chilies his brother had collected at the side of his plate. Granted, not all chilies were the same, so some might very well be way spicier than anticipated when placing the order. The younger Winchester still thought it was well within his rights as younger brother to mock Dean a little, though.

"You wanna eat them?" the older Winchester asked, holding one of the chilies between his thumb and forefinger, offering it to Sam.

The two boys were nowhere near done trying to stare each other down stubbornly, when Castiel suddenly grabbed one of the remaining chili peppers and without further ado bit half of it off, chewing for a moment before he swallowed. Both Winchesters stared at the seraph slack jawed. Dean knew first hand that those things were pretty damn spicy and Sam knew without a doubt that his brother wouldn't have taken them off his pizza, if they weren't.

"Dude, that was like, crazy!" the older Winchester exclaimed. The little bit of hero worship Gabriel had seen in his eyes earlier had returned full force. It was typical preteen boy behavior, really. Saving him from a bully and doing something completely crazy deserved about the same level of respect in their books.

"You're sweating, bro," Gabriel pointed out, smirking. It looked like the little stunt he had just pulled was having an effect on Castiel or his vessel. It was damn funny to watch, either way.

"I think I feel something," Castiel admitted, frowning and tilting his head. The two boys burst into laughter at that nearly immediately and Gabriel joined them all too gladly. Sometimes Castiel was just too adorably clueless.

Gabriel might have pictured the perfect day he had wanted to give to the two Winchesters without any bullies picking on them, but other than that things had gone perfectly. Dean hadn't even thrown a fit when Castiel had taken his leave this time around. It looked like little Dean-o was learning a lesson about trust that his adult self should better remember once it reappeared.

The archangel had made himself comfortable on the couch in his living room, watching the food network. It wasn't like that many good things were on around 3 am and he simply hadn't felt like creating his own program. Alright, watching the food network was the same to him as watching Dr. Sexy was to Dean, a guilty pleasure. Besides, it also was a source of inspiration. Gabriel didn't care much for all the healthy stuff they tried to promote these days, but when it came to desserts they often managed to hit the bull's-eye with him.

The cook – a motherly type looking woman in her forties – was about halfway done with the triple chocolate and caramel cake the archangel had been interested in, when he suddenly felt the atmosphere in the room shift slightly, announcing that he wasn't alone anymore. The nervous energy rolling off the younger Winchester matched the jittery impression the boy wore once Gabriel actually looked at him.

"Is dad ever going to come back?" Sam mumbled, forcing his eyes to meet the adult's, even as he continued to step from one foot to the other nervously.

"Why wouldn't he?" Gabriel replied immediately, keeping his tone calm. The archangel knew that he had to find out where the question had come from in the first place to make sure that the boy would stop worrying already, even if this was likely going to be a conversation he didn't really want to have. Especially because telling the truth wasn't in the books here.

It didn't look like the younger Winchester wanted to answer the question, however. Instead he just stared at the carpet as if the yellow stripes could tell him about the meaning of life. The longer Sam stood there thinking things through, the less he could remember why he had initially felt like he had to go and speak to Gabriel.

"Did you have a nightmare again?" the archangel asked in a slightly worried tone, making space for the eight year old on the couch and extending his arm toward him. "C'mere."

Gabriel had been pretty sure that Sam had been dead tired and happy when he had gone to bed, so the archangel had been positive that the kid wouldn't be plagued by nightmares. It looked like he had been wrong. At least, the younger Winchester was all too willing to take Gabriel up on his offer and moved to sit next to him immediately.

"Alright, kiddo, what's going on in that big brain of yours?" the archangel spoke in a soft tone once the kid had settled down, "Promise I won't laugh or get mad or whatever it is you're afraid of."

Gabriel usually was one of the last people who'd ever encourage others to lay their problems on him, but he would make an exception in this case. A little kid, like Sam was that moment, shouldn't have to carry a load of worries so heavy that it caused nightmares every other night. And yes, a kid as young as Dean shouldn't have to be the one person to help carry that burden, at least not as long as the archangel was around.

"It's… it's 'cause you're… and Cas is…" Sam stammered, trying but failing to put his thoughts into words. There had been a couple of things over the past days that hadn't made a whole lot of sense, but then the younger Winchester's usual dream had found an unusual end when – instead of Dean leaving him as well – a figure bathed in blinding white light and with wings had shown up. Of course, he knew that it had only been a dream, but it all had seemed so logical to him only a few minutes earlier.

"I'm afraid I can't follow, Sambo," Gabriel shrugged, trying to prompt the boy to try and explain his thought process to him. The archangel wasn't quite sure what exactly he or Castiel had to do with the possibility of John Winchester never coming back to get his sons. Sure, the two of them knew that it wasn't going to happen, but it wasn't like they had given anything away to the kids.

"Dean… Dean told me that mom always said that angels were watching over us," Sam suddenly blurted out. It was easy to see that the eight year old really wished he hadn't said anything, but it was too late to have second thoughts about admitting what it was he had been thinking about.

"And Cassy and I are what you imagine those angels would be like?" Gabriel wanted to know, keeping his voice perfectly level. He knew that even the last little trace of the amusement he clearly felt, finding its way into his tone would have made the younger Winchester feel even more embarrassed.

It was crystal clear that Sam's tentative nod was the best answer the archangel was going to get to his question. It also was quite likely that the picture the younger Winchester had of angels when he had actually been eight years old, had been a completely different one. Gabriel chose to take the admission as a compliment, anyway. He had to bite back the remark that their lives wouldn't be as messed up as they were, if the angels had never taken an interest in them.

"Are you watching over us now, because dad's not coming back?" Sam asked in a small voice. The younger Winchester usually acted and sounded mature beyond his eight years, but in that moment he was just a scared little kid holding on to the hope that, if everything else failed, angels would somehow make it all better. It also was obvious that the thought of his father never coming back to them was upsetting Sam, even if he tried his best to keep back the tears that were threatening to fall. The dam broke when Gabriel instinctively wrapped his arms around the boy, hugging him tight.

"Would you still ask that question after a good night's sleep tomorrow morning?" the archangel spoke once Sam had managed to pull himself together. Somehow, telling the kid a convenient lie had felt wrong to Gabriel. Misleading Sam with a counter question was a completely different matter.

The archangel simply had to grin slightly when the thought that he would have made a good Jedi Master hit him. 'What I told you was true, from a certain point of view' came to mind. Unfortunately, the younger Winchester misunderstood the source for Gabriel's amusement.

"You think I'm stupid now," Sam sighed, looking like someone had just kicked his puppy.

"Nah, I just think you're tired and need rest, kiddo," the archangel stated seriously, wrapping an arm around the kid's shoulders once more. It really was about time Sam got back to bed and Gabriel was already making sure that no nightmares had any kind of chance to get to him for the rest of the night. "C'mon, it's back to bed for you."

The younger Winchester let the archangel steer him back toward his room without putting up any resistance. Sam was exhausted and – to be honest – he was feeling a bit better – though a little silly - after speaking to the adult. The eight year old was rather sure that he would be able to go back to sleep, anyway.

"One more thing, Sambo," Gabriel said smiling, as he tucked the kid in, "I'm still waiting for your suggestion for a fun day. Anything you want, Munchkin."

Sam blinked a few times, but then nodded seriously. He'd try to think of something, if it would make the adult happy.