It was amazing what could happen in 24 simple hours but people's lives still carried on without a second thought. Thousands and thousands of miles away someone could be dying of starvation, or another of disease yet the world kept moving on. Blood could be split and maybe just maybe if the media caught on everyone would stop to think before carrying on into the routine of their lives.

It took less than 24 hours in a small town called Lawrence, Kansas for a Brother to figure out something was wrong. He did not need the media, or word of mouth just his gut. Gabriel paced around his house anxiously his gut sending all kind of signals and words to his brain. "Something's not right." He glanced at his watch for the hundredth time and slowly the main hand it 12am. "Shit."

Grabbing his coat he left his house taking only his keys and phone, leaving the lights switched on and door closed but open. He practically ran towards the Winchester residence his heart beating uncomfortably fast and hard in his chest as he knocked on the door several times. A very tired Dean opened unaware of Gabriel's panic. "Gabriel? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Gabriel pushed past Dean who rubbed the back of his head. "Please tell me you've heard from Cas?" Dean shook his head as Gabriel ran both hands through his hair trying to calm his panic. "Okay, if you haven't heard from him. Have you seen him?" all Dean could do was shake his to the point Gabriel sank into the nearest chair, his face pale and eyes red. "Why what's happened?" he went to his Father's drink cabinet taking out a glass and filling it with whiskey before passing it to Gabriel. "Cas, he's gone."

Silence stretched between the two men, Dean mouth slightly open and Gabriel sipped at the liquid in the hopes for comfort. "What do you mean by gone?" Gabriel stared into Dean's green eyes as if searching for something. "I mean he left yesterday morning and hasn't come back." Dean sat slowly into a chair; his stomach feeling like someone had punched him several times. "Gone? Where?"

"I don't know, Dean how much do you actually know about my Brother?" his heart dropped as it only took a brief second for him to realise. "Not as much as I should." Gabriel sighed staring up at the ceiling. "What I tell you can never leave this room, it's something I haven't spoken about to anyone other than Castiel. Do you understand?" Dean nodded leaning forward as Gabriel's voice slowly got quieter.

"Do you know why Castiel came to Lawrence?"

Dean's silence was the answer because only Gabriel knew but it was time to tell someone for the sake of Castiel. "After my Mother died, my Father spent the next 11 years of Castiel's life punishing him. I could only protect him so much but my Father being the bastard he was took advantage of my absences. I would come home to find Castiel hiding under his bed terrified because our Father had tried to exorcise apparent Demons out of his him, if that didn't work he resorted to other tactics. Soon after I left for College but don't think badly of me for doing that, I needed to get qualifications and a career so I could take Castiel away from that Hell. I realise even now that I haven't scratched the surface to what my Father did to him in my 7-year absence. You saw how beat up he was when he first started school right?" Dean nodded, remembering how he had put Cas down for the kind of kid who pissed off the wrong people. But how wrong he had been. "Castiel did one of the bravest things he escaped with little money to get to Lawrence. He hitchhiked, walked and starved himself so he had enough money to get here by Bus. For that entire trip he had to keep a careful watch over his shoulder, cover his tracks so no one could follow and retrace his steps."

Who would've known the social awkward kid with a strange name had been to Hell and back. "What about his ribs? Cas told me he fell down the stairs."

Dean was convinced Cas had been lying about how his ribs had been broken but now knowing more he needed to ask. Gabriel narrowed his eyes as Dean's eyebrows rose waiting for an answer. "That was a couple months before I left, Dad had been drinking a lot he never coped well with the Anniversary weeks of my Mother's death. He pulled Cas out of bed at 3 in the morning, smacked him about and threw him to the stairs. He was lucky to have survived although he spent a week in Hospital because of a concussion, plus the place my Father most liked to hit Castiel was his ribs. Hence why they've never really healed properly."

Gabriel checked in his watch for the first time in what seemed hours. "I can't call the Police yet because he hasn't been missing for over 48 hours, look he trusts you and so do I. Please help me find my Brother if anything happened to him I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for failing him again."

The chill of fall ran up Dean's spine and he and Gabriel started their search, he had dropped Sammy at Bobby's promising to explain why as soon as he could but Sammy being Sammy he had overheard parts of the conversation between him and Gabriel and had gone without argument. "Has Cas ever done anything like this before?" Gabriel looked up into the sky to see the sun slowly rising, closing his eyes searching for the endless possible memories, which could connect him to Castiel's train of thought. "No… wait yes! He's done this before! My God it was so long ago. My mom was very well known in Pontiac and the papers wanted to do a memorial for her, this was after my Dad graciously tried to exorcise Demons from him after her Funeral. Castiel panicked when the papers wanted photos and information. I found him hiding in the nearby woods." Gabriel grabbed Dean by the jacket.

"Trust me on this Dean, you'll find Castiel either in the nearby woods or field. He'll be there to cut himself off reality. He's going to be scared, not scared. Terrified! If you find him, comfort and stay with him until he's ready to move. You'll need a hell of a lot of patience because when he's like this… the only way I can describe it is… Fragile because every single bad memory will surface and he can't cope with all that emotion at one time."

Dean placed his hands on Gabriel's shoulder, the coat damp underneath his fingers. "So he'll probably have like a mini-mental melt down?"

"Exactly, you will see Castiel at his most vulnerable."

A/N: Probably one of the most difficult chapters to write if I'm honest
Also I was listening to one amazing soundtrack
Name: Time
Artist: Hans Zimmer
Haven't seen 'Inception' but the soundtrack I've got is AMAZING!
As usual thank you for the reviews! Would it be rude to ask if you could keep them coming? Love and Hugs everyone! ... Could someone send me a hug cos i need one after writing this!