Chapter Two: Fifteen Hundred Days

"C'mon Cas, don't be such a stick in the mud!" Gabriel said to his younger brother, Castiel. "We're back in Lawrence, let's live a little!"

Gabriel stood shorter than the rest of the Novaks at 5'11, but he made up for it with a quick wit and sweet tooth. His hair was the color of honeyed chocolate, and his eyes were the signature Novak hazel. Currently he wore an army green t-shirt and black jeans, brown boots tucked under the ankles of his pants.

"I'd rather eat nails, Gabriel." Cas deadpanned. "Besides, my dissertation-"

"Blah, blah, blah I already know about your dissertation." Gabriel interrupted. "That's the perfect excuse to go out and get shitfaced!"

Castiel on the other hand, was exactly 6'0 and had hair so dark brown it almost looked black in some lights. His eyes were a bright, sapphire blue, the only one of the Novaks to have such light eyes. He consistently sported a scruff and wore glasses when writing or reading, so he was the picture of a graduate student.

Castiel made a face. "Don't look at me like that, Cassie. It's been too long since you got properly plastered, and that means I've failed as an older brother."

"You are relentless." Cas said with a heavy sigh.

"You love me." Gabriel grinned, sensing his apparent victory.

"The answer's still no." Cas said, and Gabriel's smile disappeared.

"Come on, are you still afraid you'll see Dean?" Cas stiffened at the name, and Gabe saw emotion flicker in his brother's eyes, so quickly he wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't been looking. "It's been, what, four years?"

"1,460 days." Cas said instantly.

Gabriel stared at him, but Cas refused to give him the satisfaction of being embarrassed.

"Damn." Gabriel whistled. "You must have really cared about him." Gabriel chose his words carefully, he knew saying "love" and "Castiel" in the same sentence was a recipe for disaster.

"I did, and still do. Which is why I'm not going to the Roadhouse no matter how much you pester me. I'm not setting myself up to get my heart broken." Cas's voice lowered. "He's probably married with kids by now." He added, more to himself than Gabriel.

"Doubtful," Gabriel muttered. "From what you told us when you showed up on our doorstep four years ago, Dean never seemed like the type for commitment."

"I simply told you that my boyfriend had broken up with me and I needed a place to get away for a while."

"Exactly! Clearly a commitment-phobe to let go of a gem like you." Gabriel winked.

Despite himself, Castiel smiled. His brother did know how to make him feel the slightest bit better.

The conversation lulled, and the door to the duplex closed below.

"Anna?" Gabriel called down.

"Gabe?" Anna called back playfully. Whenever the door closed, each member of the trio always felt the need to check that it was simply their sibling and not Michael, or Lucifer, or Raphael, come to destroy their lives like always.

Anna climbed the stairs and came into view. After Gabriel had picked her up from the garage, she'd left again to go to the local art supply store, and she was carrying the fruits of that trip with her.

A large canvas was shoved under her left armpit, with bags filled to the brim with paint and other supplies.

"Oh, Cas, good. I've been meaning to tell you that your car is going to be at Singer Auto for a few days. The car guru there was stumped."

"Most people would be by that hunk of junk." Gabriel said, and Castiel threw him a half-hearted glare. "I'm telling you - you need to upgrade."

"I'm perfectly content with my car, Gabriel." Cas said testily. "If it can be fixed, that is." He glanced toward Anna, who smiled.

"The Car Whisperer seems to believe any car can be fixed so long as it's cared for properly." Anna walked further into their apartment, set her bags on the table, and went about preparing dinner.

"You hear that Cassie? The Pimpmobile lives on!" Gabriel shouted jovially, and Castiel rolled his eyes. He'd told his brother that he hated the nickname, but Gabriel was never the best listener when it came to things he enjoyed.

One of the things he enjoyed most was tormenting his younger brother.

"Don't ever fall in love, Castiel. Ever. It will only bring pain and suffering." Michael told him before putting on the caring big brother mask and going to comfort a heartbroken Anna.

Anna was 14 at the time and had just been dumped by her first boyfriend. Castiel was only 10; Gabriel fell evenly between them at 12.

The Novak family fit right in with the Salt Lake City townspeople. With all of their children named after angels, a deceased mother, and absentee father, the two eldest sons had to take control.

Michael and Lucifer were twins, but were also complete opposites. Luke enjoyed the fact that he was seemingly named after Satan about as much as Michael detested it. Their father, Chuck, had been around for most of their lives, as they were eighteen when he disappeared.

However, since there were exactly two years between each Novak child, Castiel at the least amount of memories with his father. So, Michael had taken on that role in the interim.

This was where Raphael came in.

Always envious of his older brothers, Raph was cold and cruel, so much so that no one was surprised when he ended up in a juvenile detention center at 13. (He'd been caught shoplifting.)

When Raph was released upon his 18th birthday, he came home only to have an explosive argument with Michael and Lucifer. Despite the united front that the twins had presented to Anna, Gabriel, and Castiel, Lucifer had been distancing himself from Michael for years. He'd also always been a pyromaniac, from the time he was a small child. Raphael allied himself with Michael, and Lucifer left the house, presumably forever.

The next morning, Castiel awoke to the smell of smoke, and as soon as he did, he felt Gabriel's arms wrap around him and carry him out of the house, Anna close behind.

Their family home was quickly engulfed in flames.

Knowing Lucifer was responsible nearly sent Anna into a psychotic break – she couldn't imagine how their big brother could try to kill his entire family – but it was protecting Gabriel and Castiel that kept her sane.

They've been on the run from their brothers – who they had seen once in passing and knew they were alive – ever since.

Anna, Gabriel, and Castiel had been taken in by the Miltons, a neighboring family that Anna had always had a close relationship with. Yet, they kept their last names the same because changing them felt like a lie none of them were willing to tell.

Moving to Lawrence had been a mutual decision, especially since the Miltons were getting older and needed to retire. So Cas was accepted to the University of Kansas, and off they went for the 27-hour bus ride to Lawrence.

That was when Harry met Sally. Or, in this case, Cas met Dean.

By the time Cas was old enough to go to college, Anna had already graduated with a bachelor's degree in art education, while Gabriel had chosen not to go to college at all, satisfied with a GED and a low income job.

One thousand, four hundred and sixty-three days. Cas's mind immediately told him as he opened his eyes. 1,463 days since he had seen Dean Winchester face to face.

Anna had told him that his car would be ready in three days, so Cas figured it was as good a time as any to get it back.

He stood up, stretched, and cracked his knuckles, yawning as he went about his morning routine. He did his customary 100 pull-ups over his bedroom door and immediately showered after he was done.

"Cassie!" Gabriel bellowed from the middle level. "You awake?"

"Yes, Gabriel!" Castiel called back.

"Want some pancakes?" Gabriel asked.

"Can you make bacon?" Cas asked, and he could see his brother's small, sad smile in his mind's eye.

"You're a cheap date, Cassie." Gabriel said, not to Castiel, but to the room in general. His heart constricted – would Castiel ever trust – let alone love – anyone after what they had been through?

"Don't frown so much, you'll get wrinkles." Anna pressed her finger against Gabriel's brow, and he swiped at her hand.

"Don't touch the cook."

"Your apron says kiss."

"Um, no. I'm open to a lot, but not incest."

"You'd be lucky to have a girl like me." Anna told him, smacking his butt. He yelped and she laughed, meandering over to their small table.

Castiel came down the steps then, wearing jeans and a shortsleeve plaid shirt. His hair was wet and his face sporting his usual five o'clock shadow.

"Bacon's on its way." He said to Cas, and Anna made a face. "Oh go be a vegan or vegetarian or whatever you are somewhere else."

"They're two different things, Gabe." Anna said, with forced patience. "Vegetarians don't eat meat. Vegans don't eat anything with a face. I'm a vegan, which means I'm disgusted by the pig's side that you're about to eat."

Gabriel met Cas's stare and made a "cuckoo" motion with his finger. Cas snickered into his breakfast.

Cas found his way to Singer Auto, though, in hindsight, he should have expected his siblings to pull something like this.

He just didn't think he'd be so…affected. Still. Number of days since they'd seen each other aside.

His heart jumped to his throat and his lungs shriveled in both fear and longing. Dean didn't look like he's aged a day and the scruff on his face would feel delicious against his jaw…Cas shakes himself out of it.

"Hello, Dean." He says, despite his organs' protests. Dean's head smacked against the bottom of the car he's working on and comes up.

"H-Hey Cas." Dean said, rubbing his head and looking more adorable than Cas had ever seen him. Cas's knees are wobbling as he takes Dean in, trying to rememorize every detail. "Long time."

"Yes." Castiel says, his voice sounding strange and foreign even to him.

"Is this your car? I thought it was that redhead's…what was her name?"

"Anna. She's my sister; she brought the car in for me because I was attempting to work on my dissertation."

"Dissertation?" Dean asked, eyes gazing somewhere over Castiel's shoulder. Not that Cas is concerned, as his gaze is pinned on a toolbox in the back corner of the shop.

"I'm one extensive research paper away from my Masters in Counseling Psychology." Cas tells him.

"What's the topic?" Dean knows he's winning the award for Most Awkward Conversation, but he can't seem to stop himself.

Cas.

Cas is here.

In. Lawrence.

And…he has a sister?

"Well, my brother wanted me to call it "Super Psycho Love" after the horrendous Simon Curtis song, but I felt that "The Heart and Mind: Does True Love Exist?" made much more sense."

And a brother?

It takes a moment for that to sink in, but when it does, for the first time in four years, green eyes meet blue.

Goddamn it. Those eyes might break my sobriety if they keep looking at me like that.

Dean's heart is somewhere in his throat, his stomach in his shoes, and the rest of his organs in all the wrong places.

"So were you able to discover what was wrong with my car?" Cas asked, and Dean swallowed hard.

"Oh, uh, yeah! Turns out it was some bad gasoline. Do you remember when you last filled her up?"

Castiel thought about it – the last time he could remember filling his car had been a late night stop in Topeka.

"I believe my brother may have borrowed her in the interim, which explains the bad gasoline. Gabriel's never been particularly responsible."

So it's true then. You have two siblings that I never knew about. What else don't I know about you?

"Well, I'd make sure that you fill her up yourself before letting him borrow her again. Continentals are sturdy cars, you just have to be smart about their care."

Dean turned away from Cas and slammed the front compartment closed with a little more force than necessary. Dean reached inside the car and took out the keys to give to Castiel, who had walked up behind Dean silently.

Suddenly they were only a few feet apart.

Cas could see every single freckle on Dean's cheeks. Could see the gold flecks in his eyes, the oh so slight bend in his nose from a childhood accident.

Oh, how his heart ached for Dean.

"Here's your keys. Uh, that'll be $75 for the repair and time."

"$75? I was expecting a lot more."

Dean shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm an honest man."

"That you are." Cas said, his voice layered with something else. Dean swallowed again, his throat dry.

He couldn't remember wanting a solid glass of whiskey more than he did in this moment.

550 days. He reminded himself. Only a few months away from two years.

"Right, uh. Let's go into the office."

Dean and Cas took care of business and Cas's car rumbled to life with no trouble. He rolled out of the garage and Dean could finally breathe.

"What'd you charge 'im?" Bobby asked, coming up behind Dean.

"Half." He cast an apologetic look at the other man. "Sorry."

Bobby shrugged.

"If anyone understands how hard it is to see someone you loved once, it's me." Bobby said, referring to his former wife Karen, who had died due to a car accident.

The accident had made her lose her memory completely, and the knowledge of all she had lost led to her suicide.

Bobby had been driving.

He still blamed himself to this day.

Cas drove down the main roads of Lawrence, his fingers shaking and blood roaring in his ears. Part of him was angry, so angry, with his siblings for sending him into that reunion unprepared.

But another part of him, a larger part, was grateful.

Knowing Dean was okay, and presumably happy, after all this time; was a blessing.

At least, that was what he kept repeating to himself as he parked his car and walked up to his apartment.

Anna sat on an oak colored stool, new canvas positioned in front of her. Her paintbrush floated over the blank surface, ready to make the first mark, when she heard the front door close.

"Cas?" she called down. She knew Gabe was at work, otherwise he would have shouted "Honey, I'm home!" like usual.

"It's me, Anna," Cas said, but that was all he said as he went into his room and closed the door.

If Anna hears her brother sniffling, she pretends otherwise.

Later that night, Dean sits at his usual spot at the bar, moody and angrier than usual. His soda and Red Bull sits untouched, and he snarls at anyone that comes near him, even Jo and Jess.

Sam comes in then, and Dean sets to growl at him too, but Sam puts a bracing hand on his shoulder.

"I think you've had enough of terrorizing these people tonight. Let's go home. Mom's apple pie is cooling."

Sam doesn't notice the appreciative eyes on him from across the room.

With a mouthful of still-warm apple pie and whipped cream in his mouth, Dean says,

"Mom, you're awesome."

Mary Winchester smiled at her boys.

"I do my best." She said, and Sam offered her a strained smile.

Behind the mother and sons was a picture of John, holding a baseball bat and smiling wider than any of them had ever seen. A mass card was leaning on the picture, along with a maroon rosary.

In Loving Memory of JOHN E. WINCHESTER

1954-2015

In lieu of a prayer, we at Lawrence Funeral Services

have included the lyrics of Mr. Winchester's favorite song.

Carry on my wayward son,

There will be peace when you are done

Lay your weary head to rest…

Don't you cry no more.

-Carry On Wayward Son, Kansas

Rest in peace, John.

A/N: Longer this time! Hope I answered some of your questions. Thanks so much for the positive feedback, it really means the world to me.

Fair warning, and I'll say this at the top of the next chapter as well, Chapter 3 will be Sabriel-centric. If you don't ship Sam/Gabriel, you have my permission to skip the upcoming chapter; there will be little to no Destiel, so the story can continue beyond that.

If there's nothing else, please let me know what you think!

-Charmy