Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, eiahlaie, Silver-Streaked Wings, random yet loveable, kb18142, Kirabaros, Sapphire Ookami, XxZessxX, PercyJfan1802, Chichi-10018, baileylovesyou0400, Treeni, Keefer, Pizzapig, Sophia Griffin and Improbabile for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

So, there's only the epilogue left for this story.. but as I said there will be a sequel titled "46 days later"

20

It was past midnight before Sam had fallen asleep. Knowing what the younger Winchester's first reaction to being turned back into an adult would most likely be, Gabriel wished that the kid hadn't passed out from exhaustion, still sitting on the couch next to the archangel. As things were, Sam's head was resting in Gabriel's lap and he was sleeping peacefully. As soon as the younger Winchester was 18 years older again, he wouldn't like the sleeping arrangement, that was for sure. Then again, both Winchesters would throw a fit anyway, so it wouldn't make much of a difference.

It was shortly after six in the morning when, Gabriel felt an accumulation of energy signaling the end of the spell the Winchesters were under. The archangel had known that this moment had to come, but that didn't make it any easier. The two Weechesters had been Gabriel's boys for a week and he had known that they only had that one week early on, but apparently a part of the archangel hadn't gotten the message that it was only temporary.

"Good bye, munchkin," Gabriel whispered around the lump in his throat, petting the younger Winchester's hair.

The transformation only took a second and wasn't all that spectacular. Since Sam's clothes had once more changed with him and the twenty-six year old had the same innocent and peaceful expression on his face as his eight year old self had had, the difference was mostly in the size of the man who lay curled up on Gabriel's couch.

The archangel contemplated snapping up a camera with autotimer, – how often was he going to get the chance to get a picture of Sam Winchester's head resting on his lap? – but decided against it. A fairly big part of Gabriel was trying to come to terms with the loss of his two prepubescent charges, so the archangel didn't feel like playing pranks that very moment.

Sam awoke with a start, feeling disoriented, like he had just had the longest and most confusing dream ever. When the younger Winchester's eyes darted around the room a sense of dread set in immediately. Sam sat up so quickly that he made himself dizzy in the process. Getting the first good look of the man now sitting next to him did nothing to help his head stop spinning, either.

The younger Winchester stood up to put some space between himself and the archangel a moment later. He knew that Gabriel hadn't been the one who was responsible for everything that had happened. At least, the archangel hadn't been the one who had turned them into children in the first place. Gabriel was responsible for a lot of other things they had done that week, but Sam could hardly be mad at the angel for taking care of them and giving them a good time. Not that it made any sense that Gabriel had done any of that to begin with.

"You should get your stuff before Dean-o wakes up. I have a feeling like he'll want to leave as quickly as possible," the archangel finally broke the silence between them.

Sam nodded absentmindedly, taking the first two steps toward the room that had been his for nearly a week before he stopped to once more look at the archangel. There were a lot of things the younger Winchester wanted to say or do, but a lot of his impulses were in conflict with each other. He had a hard time choosing what he had to get out.

A fairly big part of Sam wanted to thank Gabriel for everything he had done for them. There was no use denying that the younger Winchester had appreciated all the time and effort the archangel had put into entertaining them and caring for them. Hell, even knowing that they were going to leave as soon as Dean woke up and realized what had happened, actually hurt pretty badly. Unfortunately, another part of Sam wanted to yell at Gabriel and possibly punch him for making him feel like that.

"Gabriel," the younger Winchester said quietly after a few long moments of silence, "Thank you."

In the end, it wasn't the archangel's fault that he had reawakened all these old feelings of loss Sam dealt with throughout most of his childhood. It wasn't Gabriel's fault that the younger Winchester had always hated the moment when they had to give up another temporary home, that had only just started to feel right. If anything, it was the archangel's fault that he had done nothing to discourage the little crush Sam's eight year old self had developed on him, but the younger Winchester wasn't willing to touch that topic with a ten foot pole. If Sam could help it, he would never think of it again, in fact.

Gabriel looked at the younger Winchester surprised, before a grin spread over his face. "My pleasure, Sambo."

The amicable moment between the two men was over the moment Dean started yelling loud enough for everyone in the apartment to hear. "You left us with the fucking Trickster?"

Sam winced and hurried to get his duffle bag out of his room before his older brother was done ranting at Castiel. The younger Winchester wondered, if the angel already regretted his decision to stick around. Knowing Castiel, he was probably taking Dean's anger much better than anybody else would have, though.

"Sam!" the older Winchester called for his brother in a tone that was louder than strictly necessary, "We're leaving. Now!"

Dean didn't wait for Sam's reaction and only took the time to give Gabriel the stink-eye before he made his way to the exit. To tell the truth, the older Winchester's biggest fear that moment was that his brother might not follow him, like he had the previous evening. They all knew that Sam didn't always have the best grasp on who his loyalty should lie with. In this case though, Dean wouldn't have had to worry.

Sam, Dean and Castiel were all standing in front of the Impala before the older Winchester spoke again.

"You left us with Gabriel, seriously?" Dean asked with a deep sigh, sounding nowhere near as upset as he had the last time he had brought the topic up, however. Not even the older Winchester could argue that Castiel's plan had worked out for them. They were safe and back to their usual selves, only marginally more traumatized than they had been a week ago.

"It seemed like the wisest thing to do at the time," Castiel explained, his blue eyes fixing Dean's green ones as if the seraph was daring the human to object in any way. The decision to get Gabriel involved in the matter was something Castiel was willing to stand behind, no matter what the older Winchester thought about it.

"Whatever, dude," Dean replied, looking horrified as soon as he realized what he had just said. It had taken long enough to break the habit of using that petulant 'whatever' as soon as he was out of arguments, the first time around and now the older Winchester had to do it all over again!

The corners of Sam's mouth were still twitching when Castiel took his leave. The younger Winchester was trying not to show his amusement too much, because his older brother wouldn't react too positively to it. Speaking of things Dean wouldn't react too positively to…

The older Winchester got deadly quiet for a moment when he opened the Impala's door and tried to get into the driver's seat just to find that it had been readjusted for someone much shorter than Dean. The question wasn't if Dean was going to explode, it was how fast and how loudly.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Bobby," Dean called out as soon as the brothers had entered the older hunter's house, "You won't believe…"

The older Winchester didn't get to the end of his statement before his eyes fell on a sandy-haired man, sitting cross legged on the carpet in front of Bobby's desk. It wasn't the first time that Sam and Dean saw a complete stranger around the older hunter's house, but in this case the stranger was somebody they both had in fact met before.

"You!" Dean growled, glaring daggers at the angel.

Tarot had been examining a broken clock the Bobby had given to him, when the Winchesters had made their entrance. The angel flinched violently, moving to stand behind the older hunter's wheelchair as quickly as his shaking limbs would allow him and making himself as small as he possibly could.

"Bobby?" Sam asked in a confused tone, throwing side glances toward the angel, which only seemed to make him even more nervous.

"Calm down, feathers," Bobby commanded in a gruff tone, "Go to the kitchen and make yourself useful. Two pots of coffee should do."

Tarot nodded jerkily, straightening his posture a little before he more or less fled into the kitchen. Brewing coffee had been one of the first things the hunter had taught him and the angel took comfort in knowing that there was something useful he could do.

"What the hell was that?" Dean demanded to know, as soon as Tarot had left the room. The older Winchester wasn't sure if it was reassuring that Bobby didn't seem to think of the angel as a threat or if it was worrying. Dean wanted to know the story behind all of this, either way.

"While you two were having a long sleepover with the trickster, your friend Cas decided that I could use a roommate," the older hunter answered in a sarcastic tone. Judging by the Winchesters' reactions, they hadn't known anything about this beforehand, so Bobby decided to give them a little more information. "Apparently, it was this or putting him down."

"'Cause that would have been so bad," Dean snorted, throwing a side glance toward the kitchen, "He was the one who started all this! How do we even know that he won't go and sell us out to the angels again?"

There probably was nothing Michael would like better, but to get the kind of inside information on them that someone staying at Bobby's could give him. There was no chance of keeping everything that might be relevant away from Tarot, if he was going to live here. Hell, the angel probably already knew way too much and the Winchesters hadn't even been around the past few days!

"I ordered him not to do anything like that," Bobby explained, groaning when Sam and Dean looked at him like he had gone crazy. Those two were far too quick to jump to conclusions at times! "Castiel bound Tarot to me. He has to follow any order I give him, to the letter."

"He what?" Sam asked incredulously. What Bobby had just described sounded an awful lot like slavery to the younger Winchester, even if the older hunter would never abuse the power he had been given. Then again, Sam couldn't say that he had a better idea of how to handle the situation, without putting them all in danger.

"Do you think I'm happy about it?" Bobby countered, sighing deeply. The older hunter had realized very quickly that he literally could order Tarot to do anything and the seraph would at least attempt it. Hell, if Bobby told the angel to calm down, it looked like he automatically obeyed the command, even if he had absolutely no logical reason to! However, as long as the older hunter didn't take back his order to not relay any information the angel learned in the time with them to anybody else, Tarot was unable to betray them. There was at least that one upside to this entire mess. If Bobby ever decided to sell the boys out, they were screwed six ways to Sunday, anyway.

"So, you could tell the guy to jump off a cliff and he'd do it?" Dean grinned slightly morbidly, looking toward the kitchen once more. Chances were that the angel could hear them talk, but the older Winchester didn't feel like playing best buddies with this new – and from his perspective, unwanted – addition to the household, anyway.

"Dean," Sam replied in a reprimanding tone. Things like what his brother had just brought up were exactly why the younger Winchester was uncomfortable with the concept of the angel being bound to Bobby. At least, it looked like the older hunter shared that feeling.

"Hypothetical question, purely hypothetical," Dean shrugged. It wasn't like jumping off a cliff would hurt an angel all that much, anyway. At least, the older Winchester assumed that Castiel could shrug a fall like that off without much damage, if any, done.

Bobby shook his head, but didn't comment. The older hunter knew that he'd have to tell Sam and Dean the entire story – as far as Bobby knew it – sooner rather than later, but there'd be a better time for that. A time when Tarot wasn't standing next to Bobby's desk with a pot of freshly brewed coffee and three cups, for example.

The older Winchester shook his head and grabbed his duffle bag to get his stuff into the guest room. The entire scene was too weird for Dean's liking, especially after they had only just been turned back into adults and away from the trickster's apartment. The sooner all this was nothing more than a distant memory, the better.

Sam took a seat and poured himself a cup of coffee. To tell the truth, the younger Winchester was dying to ask a million questions and to tell Bobby about the past week, but that didn't feel right when there was an angel sitting on the floor, tinkering with some old clock. At least, it looked like Tarot had a hobby of sorts. Sam doubted that Bobby had ordered the angel to repair any clocks, anyway.

"That's really good coffee," the younger Winchester commented lamely after he had taken the first sip. Tarot looked up for a second and beamed at Sam like he had just paid him the best compliment ever, before the angel quickly brought his full attention back to the clock in his lap. The younger Winchester began to regret not going upstairs with Dean, even if his older brother had been moody ever since they had left Gabriel's.

In the meantime, Dean rummaged around in his duffle bag to find a clean shirt and jeans. The older Winchester had gone to sleep the previous evening still wearing parts of his Halloween costume. The black pants and shirt had grown bigger with Dean when the spell had ended, but he wasn't too keen on wearing them any longer, anyway. They were infested with memories of a week he wanted to forget.

When the older Winchester pulled one of his plaid shirts from the bag, the homerun ball he had caught in the first days they had spent with Gabriel fell out and rolled toward Dean's feet. For a moment, the older Winchester wanted to just take the damn thing and throw it out of the window, but when he bowed down to pick it up, he found that he couldn't do that. Dean smiled slightly to himself and burrowed the baseball deep in his duffle bag.

It was bad enough that Sam would always have that pink hair incident to hold against his older brother, he really didn't need to know that Dean hadn't hated everything about the time they had spent with Gabriel.