Yes, I know. Extremely short. But hey, you get fluff. Be happy for that.

Castiel opened the door, looking out to find Sam standing with Ben on the front porch.

"Sam, Ben! I'm happy to see you found us without losing your way! Please, come in!" He stepped back from the door, allowing the boy and Angel to enter.

"Thank you, Castiel. And it wasn't that hard to find." Sam smiled, keeping his wings low enough to be seen as peaceful, but not as submissive. He glanced down to his charge and nudged him, giving him a brief, sharp look.

Ben gently shoved his Angel in retaliation, but looked up to Castiel with a shy look. "Thank you for letting me come over."

Faith and Stella suddenly appeared beside Castiel, scarves tied around their heads and waists, swords 'sheathed'.

"Ben! Come on, we're about to fight some bad pirates in the family room! Help us make them regret the day they attacked the Black Beauty!" "Yeah!" Faith and Stella had gotten quite enthusiastic while Castiel was gone, it seemed, and there was really only one reason.

Castiel scrubbed his face with his hand. "Gabe, what have you done?"

Unnoticed by Castiel, Sam quickly looked behind the smaller Angel into the house, before looking back to Castiel.

He never got to do this very often, especially after the accident, but he thoroughly enjoyed it when he got to bake something. They were all in the kitchen: he, Gabriel, Castiel, and the children. Faith had asked Castiel if they could start making the cookies after they had defeated the bad pirates., and Gabriel had thought it was a brilliant idea.

Now, they had a cookie assembly line set up; Gabriel making the cookie dough (he wanted chocolate chip while everyone else was fine with sugar), Castiel and the children were forming and baking the cookies, while he was icing the cookies as they cooled.

"Sam, can you draw a stull and crossbows on the cookies?" Stella was looking up at him with a ball of dough in her hands, looking like she had the thought in the middle of making the cookie. Sam chuckled.

"I think you mean 'skull and crossbones', and no, I can't. I can't draw very well." He shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Stella smiled, not truly bothered with the disappointment.

"AH SUGAR MONKEYS IN A FRUIT TREE!"

Sam looked up to see a cloud of white around the golden Angel's head. Gabriel backed away from the cloud of flour, waving before him to try to dispel it. His face, the majority of his hair, even his eyelashes were covered in a dusting of white, as were the tops of his wings. He honestly looked ridiculous.

Sam couldn't help himself, he started laughing at him. Once the children saw how he looked, they started laughing, as well. Even Castiel gave a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Just wait for yours." Gabriel grumbled moving to the sink and turning on the water. Sam watched as Gabriel dampened a cloth and began to wipe at the flour on his face. Castiel and the children had resumed making the cookies, and Sam went back to icing the cookies, though distractedly. As Gabriel was trying to wipe the flour from his wings, he wasn't quite able to reach the backs of them.

"Here, let me get that." Sam had said it kindly, but Gabriel jumped as if he had been yelled at.

"I...uh, I'm sure Cassy can, uh, help me." His gaze flicked between Castiel and Sam, giving Castiel a pleading look.

Castiel held up his hands with an apologetic gaze, his hands covered in a sticky layer of cookie dough. "I'm sorry, brother, but I would only make it worse."

Gabriel bit his lip, and Sam held back the urge to kiss the habit away. 'What am I doing?! his is practically taboo! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

When Sam came back from his thoughts, he found Gabriel glaring at him with a flushed face, an eyebrow raised in question.

"What?" Sam blinked. He had never heard anyone speak.

Gabriel huffed. "I said, touch my feathers without my permission and I will retaliate in painful ways." He continued glaring at Sam while he held out the damp cloth to him. Sam gingerly took the cloth from Gabriel's outstretched hand.

Gabriel's glare could have killed him five times by now. His wings were twitching from the uncomfortable feeling of the flour between his feathers, and embarrassingly enough, they were puffing up from the feeling of the flour and from the proximity of a strong dominant Angel near him. And he hoped to Father that Sam wouldn't notice or that he would just ignore it.

But Sam did notice, and it took all of his self-control to keep from touching the feathers, smoothing them down and then ruffling them up again to see what kind of sounds he can get...WHOA he needs to stop that train of thought right there.

"So, uh...would it be okay if I said that you need to turn around and not mean it in any other kind of way than...yeah, just...I'm going to stop talking. Right now." Sam hung his head, blush quickly creeping over his cheeks. His usually literate and civil tongue was now tying his words into a ball that would land him in absolute hell if he didn't stop talking.

"Just wipe them off and make sure there's no trace of white left. I don't wa-" Gabriel's mouth snapped shut with a click. 'STOP TALKING!' He slowly turned his back to Sam, posture rigid.

Sam swallowed thickly, trying not to admire how the lights highlighted the golden wings in front of him, how they curved in a delicate arch from the joint. Sam sighed through his nose.

This was going to be a long night.