A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait on this one. It's been a hectic few weeks with the holidays, not to mention the realization that this story wasn't going to end the way I had intended because there were too many angels to let the boys actually do anything. I suddenly appreciate why having an angel as a regular character in the show can be a problem for plot. Thanks for all the kind reviews!

Chapter 4

We Gather Together

"Family is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce papers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart." C. Joy Bell C.

Gabriel heard Dean and Sam make noises of protest as the angels all took off toward the approaching van. Unfortunately for the hunters, there were shortcomings to being a human. Within moments, Gabriel, Metatron and Balthazar were aboard the moving vehicles and shipping the shifters to the Sioux Falls jail. In one of the nearby cells, a man who looked to be drying out from too much early celebrating stared at them, or rather, attempted to.

The man's head bobbed and swayed as he gaped at the three angels and their passengers. Gabriel tried not to laugh as he began self-administering a drunk test on himself, trying to focus on his finger while reciting the alphabet backwards.

"Go back to the house," he told the other two who were still trying to keep as much distance as possible between themselves. Someone needed to talk to them and soon. "Make sure that we don't have any more visitors." He didn't need to tell them to keep the kid safe, though Johnny had certainly wormed into their hearts that there was no doubt they would do anything for him. Cas had the baby and nothing in the world was going to come near them as long as Johnny's Tad had him.

With a snap of his fingers, Gabriel was on the other side of the bars and offered a wink to the drunk, only to finally lose it when the man attempted—and failed at least three times—to snap his fingers and get free of his own cell. One of the deputies came rushing back at the sound of his laughter, gun drawn and looking deadly serious as she pointed it squarely in his face. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm one of the good guys. I brought you a few more shifters."

The deputy narrowed her eyes at him. "Prove it."

Another snap of his fingers turned her gun into a superpowered water gun, which she, in her shock, promptly used to squirt him in the face. "I'm an angel, Deputy Arbor," he said, drying himself and turning the gun back into a real weapon. "Is Sheriff Mills around?"

The deputy nodded and led him out, looking torn between being suspicious and in awe of the angel. Gabriel was still trying to grasp the concept of this many people being certain, absolutely certain, of their existence. The sheriff had her hand at her hip as they approached, but visibly relaxed in the split second it took her to realize who he was.

"Gabriel," she said, though it was very nearly a question. Given that she'd been dealing with shifters all day, he couldn't say he blamed her. "What is it?"

"We've got a few more shifter.s They're in the cooler for now, unconscious. They'll be out for a while until we decide what to do with them."

"Why didn't you just kill them right away?" the woman who had given him the warm greeting in the jail asked.

"Because it has been pointed out to us that not all shifters are evil, not any more than there are some bad humans in the bunch." He turned his attention back to the sheriff. "Plus, we may need them for info later. They'll be out for a day at least."

"Are you sure?" Jody asked. "Because they're stronger than humans."

"If they were humans, they'd be out for days," Gabriel said. "It's not an exact science, but I can guarantee you a day. Now, we need to get back to the house." He offered her a small smile. "And with any luck, we'll have this whole thing sorted out in time for everyone to make their Thanksgiving dinners."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Jody said.

"Oh ye of little faith."

#

Though the real Ash had been gungho about all this hunting business, Ash was reminded how very much he liked his nice, normal life—helping other creatures aside—when he saw the creepy lady angel headed his way. His hearing wasn't much more acute than the humans in the house, but it hadn't been needed to hear the other shifter screaming from the basement. All of that pain had been at the angel's hands. Naturally, he wasn't looking forward to being in the same room with her, even if Charlie was working toward naming her a BFF.

"I have found the location of the would-be alpha," Azrael said as she stood in front of him. She was keeping a reasonable distance, but to Ash, knowing how she had just tortured the shifter downstairs, she didn't feel all that distant.

"Do I even want to know how you know?"

"I tapped into his mind and soul, and I traced the connection to Erie, Ohio," she said, not even pausing to spare him the details.

"Okay. Then, I guess you're off to Erie."

"Yes, but to call off the troops, I will need to get a new message out, one claiming the Winchesters are dead. To do that without sending it to all creatures everywhere, which would certainly raise suspicion, I will need a willing conduit."

Ash didn't like the sound of being a "conduit." "It's going to hurt, isn't it?"

"A bit, but you will live."

"Not the most reassuring thing you could have said. Especially not with a dead shifter downstairs." He didn't know that for sure, but he was fairly certain that the other of his kind was now dead.

Azrael inclined her head slightly. It was a nod, which confirmed that suspicion. Ash could have done without being right about this, or without the knowledge that he was going to cause the death of more of his kind today.

"We should go," Azrael said, placing her hand on his shoulder. Almost instantly, they were somewhere else. And for a moment, his capitalistic mind took over from his fear. It struck him that he could save a lot of money on fuel for his jet if he hired an angel.

"So what do we do?" he asked, quietly, as he looked around the room

"We flush him out. He's hiding in this room."

"Can't you just... make him dead?" Ash asked.

"As a last resort, of course, but to get the proper tone of his messages, it will be better if he is alive," she said as she stalked the room and moved behind the sofa. "You can come out now. We aren't going anywhere." Ash watched the shifter slowly moved from behind the couch. He rose, and rose, and rose. He utterly dwarfed the angel. "You aren't much of an Alpha if you are going to spend your time cowering behind a settee," she said with a smirk in her voice though her face only offered a raise of her eyebrows.

It seemed to get the shifter's hackles up, and Ash instinctively moved to protect her from the swing of a massive fist, but he had been standing too far away and the would-be Alpha was far too fast for him to do anything. He didn't need to, anyway. All the seemingly forceful punch managed to do was make the fabric of Azrael's suitcoat sway.. "Highly amusing as it might be to watch you tired as you attempt to use me as a punching bag, I have a turkey to fry, and it is getting quite late."

Azrael raised her hand and the would-be Alpha was against the wall, held there by an invisible force, but suddenly and completely unconscious. "Ash, I will need you now."

"Are you usre you know what you're doing?" he asked. "Alphas have a very specific way of communicating."

The smile that he got in return chilled him to the core. "You mean being persuasive enough that you can draw hundreds or thousands to a single location merely because you have ordered it? Commanding enough that no one questions it? And powerful in a way that shows you have earned your title as Alpha?" she asked. "I think I can handle that." She placed her hand against the other shifter's head and motioned for Ash to step forward. At this point, he wasn't sure whether it was more of a death wish to obey or run away.

He opted to obey, hoping that her soft spot for the Winchesters would carry over to those who helped them.

"Let's get to work." Her cool palm met his forehead, and he could feel her in his mind almost instantly. Almost as though he could touch it physically, he could feel her forging a connection with the other shifter. It hurt, but was nowhere near the excruciating pain he had expected. "Think of his last message to you. Keep it in the front of your mind where I can access it easily. I need it to match his tone." He did as she instructed, and a new message quickly replaced it. "My children, I have received word from the most faithful, dutiful of your brethren. The Winchesters are dead. The angel and the baby have gone into hiding. We have them running scared, and you must all be rewarded for their good work."

Then, Ash experienced a feeling that he hadn't thought he would never feel again, with the real Alpha dead. It was a feeling of warmth and belonging and family that none of the would-be leaders had managed in the last year. It was this feeling that made following orders so enticing. Maybe it would have come with time, but Azrael had needed no time. Ash was almost certain that no one could imitate it without having experienced it for themselves, which meant only one thing. This angel was an Alpha, there was absolutely no doubt of it, but of what? He could guess, but he didn't think it would give him any peace of mind.

No sooner had that realization hit him than the pain started. He had expected, as the connection was broken, for it to begin, but he had anticipated nothing like this. He was collapsing to his knees, with Azrael following him down to keep the physical contact with his head. He could see the other shifter slumping down, dead, against the wall, and he knew the connection was long since broken. Yet the pain was not letting up. In fact, it was spreading through his body.

"I am sorry for the pain, but it is not without good reason. I put in a good word for you upstairs," she said. "We decided if there was anyone who should be an Alpha, it should be the one who has worked so hard to better conditions, for non-humans, and who tries to stop non-humans from hurting others."

"We?" Ash asked as he struggled to look at her, rather than clamp his eyes shut in pain.

"Me and Him. With the capital H."

"You can communicate with him that easily?" Ash asked as her hand left his head and he could properly collapse to the brown-carpeted floor. "I didn't know he dealt with Alphas." He gave her a look that made it clear he wasn't talking about himself.

"I can," she said. "And some Alphas are simply special." She offered her hand to him to help him to his feet. "It may be of little meaning to you at the moment, but He has decided to open heave to all worthy souls, regardless of their type. Humanity is no longer a requirement."

Trying not to show that he was genuinely pleased at the prospect of spending the afterlife in an eternal hunting ground, Ash met the angel's eyes. "And what of those who were already sent there?"

"We're sorting it out slowly. We even found a vampire there who has been willing to help us, rather than immediately move on to Heaven. He is now even jokingly calling himself the King of Purgatory, for how much the other creatures want to be in his good favor." Ash reluctantly took her hand and let her right him to his feet.

"So He's taking a more active role?" he asked as he pointed toward the ceiling with one hand and rubbed his head with the other.

"For now. He's cleaning up the mess he allowed to happen. Just like any party, when a pity party goes on too long, there's a hell of a mess to clean up afterward."

"That's what the Apocalypse was? A pity party?"

"Essentially." She prepared to wave her hand again, probably to transport them somewhere else. "Oh, you are free to discuss me with Dean or Bobby. No one else. You'll find yourself incapable of it."

"But if we're both Alphas..."

Azrael smiled. "You know I'm more than just an Alpha."

Yes. He did.

#

"This just doesn't feel right. I haven't done anything," Dean said, earning a withering look from Cas. "It isn't the same. You were guarding Johnny and keeping him safe. Your family just did everything."

"Not everything," Cas said as he bounced Johnny on his knee. "You did make a turkey."

Dean's eyes narrowed on his partner. "Bite me, smarta—smart alek."

"You are improving," Cas said over Johnny's laughter.

"Won't matter. He'll still know more swear words than a sailor by the time he starts school." Dean pulled the turkey out of the pan to rest and set the pan atop the burner to make gravy. The laptop was back out to tell him the best way to do this without making it lumpy or making it taste like shit. When had this become his life? Where he would let other people resolve his problems for him and he made a turkey dinner.

"Very likely," Cas replied as their son suddenly became fascinated with the whisk in Dean's hand. The angel gave a somewhat pensive look. "Do you mind it, being domestic like this?"

Dean shook his head. "You know I don't," he said. "But I don't like feeling like I don't have a purpose."

"Not every day will find us with a house full of angels, but having them available isn't the worst thing in the world. It means I don't have to worry about you as much, either."

The house was quickly filling up once again with humans and angels. Ash was standing outside, deep in a discussion with Azrael while she fried her turkey. Dean supposed he should be grateful she hadn't decided to fry an assortment of carnival fare along with the bird. She certainly had a love for all things greasy and bad for you. Balthazar and Metatron had returned, and they looked like they were at least talking, which was an improvement. Gabriel had returned with Jody after sorting everything out with the other shifters, and Charlie was busting to finish her work on the security system to go outside and join Azrael. Dean was beginning to wonder if she'd developed a crush, and if she did, he thought it would be the kind thing for her to be let down easy.

Carefully, he poured the surprisingly non-lumpy gravy into a bowl. They didn't have one of those gravy boat things. "I never thought this would be my life," Dean said as he looked at the finished result of his work. A full Thanksgiving dinner that looked as edible as it actually was—he'd been taste testing all day. "I didn't think I'd get that. Or that if I had a kid, he could just leave hunting behind and become a teacher."

"I don't think he's left it all behind, but I imagine he's smart enough to know his limitations." Cas gently rubbed a thumb over the end of Johnny's left arm. "But I don't think he's any less a hunter or at least helping than you are because you have a mechanic's shop."

"It's not a shop yet," Dean said. Then he called out to everyone in the livingroom, where a large table had been set up to hold them all, "Okay people, get in here and help haul this stuff out."

The small kitchen suddenly flooded with people and angels, all taking a dish to the table. Dean could hear a tiny voice calling out "Dada!" and saw small arms reaching up toward him.

"I'll get the turkey," Cas said, passing their son to Dean's waiting arms. The angel moved to the platter on the oven and carried it into the room where Dean's new family was bickering over who would sit by whom, where a dog was dutifully curled in the corner awaiting scraps, where his brother was leaning over his girlfriend with a kiss to her cheek and getting a friendly smile from her mother, where Bobby and Jody were already acting like newlyweds with their exchanges of small smiles and touching way too much. They had even added two new guests for the day, since they had both already canceled their own Thanksgiving plans. It made for a very happy setting.

Johnny grabbed Dean's nose and gave it a firm squeeze. "Dada smile!"

"Yeah, I'm smiling, kid, but I don't do that with my nose." He gently pried Johnny's fingers away.

Cas had just set the platter on the table as Dean took his seat at the head. "It's not such a bad life, though, is it?"

Johnny snuggled close, meaning he wasn't going to cooperate with being put back in the high chair so soon, and Cas was just smiling at him, looking so damned content Dean was sure his chest might burst. "No, not a bad life at all."