Cas squirmed, embarrassed and uncomfortable. He could only nod his confirmation. Dean's lips twisted into a wicked smirk, and he leaned in close, so that his mouth was mere millimetres away from the angel's ear. "Cas, who were you thinking about when you touched your own wings?" Cas moaned, arching up to rub his chest against Dean's. "All I could think about was you, Dean. I wanted your callused hands on my feathers." The Hunter buried a hand in a fistful of short, slick feathers, gripping them firmly, and massaging the hidden bones with his fingertips. "Like this, Cas?" The angel cried out, bucking his hips shallowly. When his length found Dean's, Cas gave a loud gasp, and started grinding against his lover.

Dean bit back a satisfied groan, biting his bottom lip. He clutched harder at the fragile wings where they joined Castiel's shoulders, until the angel cried out in his gravelly voice, and his hips stuttered. Cas mirrored the gesture subconsciously, desperately clinging to the backs of Dean's shoulders. "Dean, please hurry! I don't think I can hold out much longer. I want you inside me when I cum!" Dean shuddered, eager to comply, but there was something he had to be sure of first. "Is that safe, Cas? In your condition, I mean." The angel huffed, and rolled his eyes. It was a bad habit which he'd picked up from spending far too much time with the Winchester brothers.

"Dean, I'm not grievously injured, I'm only pregnant. I'm still an angel, you can't hurt me or the child just by having intercourse with me." Dean's embarrassed blush was only indeterminable because of how flushed his skin already was from pleasure. In retaliation, Dean grabbed Castiel's tie, and roughly pulled the angel closer to him for a deep, messy kiss. It was all tongue and teeth, neither could tell which of them were making the sinful sounds which were coming from their mouths. The hand holding that blue tie had slipped around to the back of Castiel's neck, to help support his head.

While the angel was distracted, Dean slipped his other hand down, gathering the oil which was all over Castiel's back now, coating his fingers in it, and slowly feeling his way to the angel's entrance. Just like their first time, Cas quickly adjusted to Dean's fingers, using a hint of Grace to help his muscles relax and ease the way. Dean didn't object to the small display of supernatural power, the last thing he wanted was to cause Cas any kind of pain. The holy oil really did make a remarkably good lubricant. Dean was soon slicking up his length, and aligning himself, lifting Castiel's thighs up and pulling them around his waist. Cas got the idea, and obediently wrapped his legs around Dean.

With one hand on the bed, and the other splayed against the angel's lower back, Dean slowly pushed in. He didn't stop until he was all the way in, as deep as he could go, but then he paused for a few seconds to get his breathing back under control, and to give Cas a chance to adjust to the sensation. After all, this was their first time going this far in almost two months. Cas only needed a few seconds though, before he was carefully rolling his hips. Dean moaned, low and long, and the angel gave him a small, mischievous smirk before repeating the action. Dean growled, and roughly pumped his hips, drawing a surprised yelp from Cas, but on his second go he found the angel's prostate.

From then on it was just a dizzying blur of movement and pleasure and a delicious heat coiling in his belly. After all of their teasing foreplay, neither was able to last long. Cas came first, with a shout which shattered the windows and blew out all of the light bulbs in the room. His wings, which had been half folded over Dean's back, had snapped out to the sides. They were stretched as far as they were capable of being, trembling subtly, the feathers puffing out and shiny with oil. There was no sign of any dust on them now, it had all been shed long ago. There were only the original dark, blue-black feathers left, and they were absolutely glorious.

Dean followed immediately after his lover, biting down where Castiel's neck joined his shoulder. The Hunter's entire body was taught with the intense pleasure scorching his veins. There was also the slight pain of being gripped too tight by his angel's body, which he'd been expecting this time. Their first time together had been so overwhelming, that Dean had passed out the second it was over. He'd woken up several hours later, alone and naked, on the cold floor of Bobby's panic room. He had only his jacket draped over him for warmth and modesty, and his shirts bundled up under his head for a pillow. All of the bruises and hickies he'd been expecting were conspicuously absent. He'd obviously been deliberately healed.

This time, despite the painful ringing in his ears, the general soreness starting to creep in at the edges of his consciousness, and the bone-deep exhaustion which was starting to settle over him, Dean was able to stay awake for a few more seconds. It wasn't much, but it was still long enough to say a few last things to Cas. "Don't go disappearing on me this time, Cas. I want you to be right here in the morning. No healing my bruises, either. I want to keep these." He could feel Castiel's smile against the skin of his neck, and then there was just a soothing, empty darkness. One thing was certain, if the lady who owned this establishment had harboured any doubts about the nature of their relationship, she wouldn't anymore.

Dean woke up first, late the next morning, with a pounding headache. He grunted quietly, his jaw clenched tight shut. He slowly curled up, pressing his hands to his temples, trying to fight back the pain. His whole body was throbbing with a dull ache, but his head hurt the most. Cas shifted next to him, lifting his head to look at Dean with a worried frown. The angel raised his hand, and reached for Dean's jaw, pausing for a second to silently ask permission. Dean nodded, and Cas gently touched his hand to the side of Dean's face. The pain was instantly gone, but Cas looked even more troubled than before. "My true voice did this. I physically damaged your ears. You were partially deafened, and the trauma caused your migraine."

Dean couldn't say he was surprised. "I know I said no healing my bruises, but maybe I should've been more realistic. From now on, healings are okay, but try to see if you can leave the hickies. I want to keep those. Otherwise, I might think that having sex with you was just a really great dream I had." Cas ducked his head with a small smile and a blush. He splayed a hand on Dean's naked abdomen, and a wave of warmth rippled through the Hunter's body as all of his painful bruises were eased away. When he went to the bathroom later, to do his morning routine, and he stepped over to the sink to shave, he found that his neck, shoulders, and torso were still littered with small, dark hickies.

They'd gotten up too late for breakfast, but they were just in time for lunch. Cas fixed all of the glass his voice had broken before either of them left the safety of the bed. He told Dean that he'd blocked the worst of the noise from leaving their room, which explained why nobody had called the police when it should've seemed like a small explosive device had gone off in their bedroom. Lunch was a quiet affair, filled with playful grins and knowing smirks, and introducing Cas to the wonderful game of 'footsie' under the table while the poor angel tried to eat his turkey sandwiches. For once, Dean didn't even scope out the place to see whether or not they were alone in the café. He was oblivious to everything except Castiel.

When they'd both eaten their full, they went back to their room to watch TV together. Dean sat on one end of the sofa, while Cas lay right across it with his head in Dean's lap, like an overgrown cat. Dean didn't mind though, he enjoyed running his hands through Castiel's hair almost as much as the angel seemed to enjoy being petted. There was a comfortable atmosphere to the whole scene, and soon Dean's mind was wandering away from the show they'd been watching. He found himself thinking about questions which he'd had in the back of his mind for a very long time now.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answers to some of those questions, but he hated the idea of just always wondering, and he knew he would. He was a curious guy by nature. "Hey, Cas? When Sam and I met Jimmy a few years ago, he said he remembered being shot and stabbed while you were wearing his body. Does that mean he's aware of the stuff we did last night?" Castiel shifted, sitting up awkwardly. "I told Jimmy, that if I possessed him again, he'd be aware for the entire time I inhabited him, just as he'd been before, possibly for thousands of years because he'd never age. That should have been true, but I was wrong. When Lucifer destroyed me, and God brought me back, Jimmy was gone."

Dean's face scrunched up in contemplation. "What do you mean by gone, exactly?" Cas just shrugged. "I'm not really sure myself. My best guess is that God decided to let his soul return to Heaven. It was quite disorienting. All I know for certain is that I'm the only one in this body now. Well, me and our baby." Dean nodded. "Cas, why does talking about Jimmy make you so uncomfortable?" Castiel squirmed in his seat. He hadn't looked Dean in the eye even once the entire time they'd been discussing Jimmy. "That time, I wanted to remain in possession of his daughter, Claire. I told Jimmy that he would never age whilst I possessed him, but I could have allowed Claire's body to age."

Dean stared at him in confusion. Cas was clearly very uncomfortable, but he continued his explanation. "In time, it would have been rather easy for you to find her attractive, as a female. That's what you've always been used to. But I could feel her soul, beneath my Grace. She was confused, and overwhelmed, and terrified. She hadn't asked to be my vessel the way Jimmy had, she'd never prayed to me. I couldn't do that to her, not while Jimmy insisted on taking her place. I owed them at least that much, even if it meant that you'd probably never accept my affections."

Dean just blinked at him, shocked speechless by the angel's admission. "Cas, if you'd kept Claire's body, I would have been seriously pissed off with you. One of the biggest reasons for why I love you is that you're not the sort of guy who'd do something like that. Have you seriously been interested in me for that long? That was years ago." Cas finally looked him in the eye, smiling wryly. "Hester was right about one thing. From the moment I first laid my hand on your soul, I was lost. I don't know how I could possibly explain it to you, English is such a limited language, but your soul is incredibly beautiful."

Dean snorted dismissively at the compliment. He didn't believe it for a second. Cas glanced at him sideways, but soldiered on. "It shines with selflessness and protectiveness. That's the reason why Famine has no effect on you. It's not because you're dead inside, it's because you've never wanted anything for yourself, Dean. You've only ever wanted good things for everybody else. Your soul has such a fierce capacity to love, that it burns even an angel's touch. There's still a small scorch mark on my Grace from touching it. There isn't even a hint of genuine resentment in your soul, or blame for anybody except yourself. There's anger of course, you are only human after all, but there's so much resilience, and courage."

Dean was glad that Cas wasn't looking at him. It allowed him to wipe the silent tear from his face unnoticed. "I've never seen a soul anything like it, not even Sam's, although his soul probably comes the closest. It was impossible for me to do anything less than fall in love with your soul, Dean, and I'm blessed to have done so. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise." Dean was completely speechless. What was anybody supposed to say to hearing something like that? He'd known that Cas loved him, but for the first time, he understood why. Even if he couldn't bring himself to really believe everything the angel had said, it still blew his socks off just to know that Cas believed those things about him.

The Hunter looked at his angel, and tried to say something, anything, but the words just wouldn't come out. Cas just smiled at him, and lay back down with his head in Dean's lap again, eyes fixed on the television. So Dean just went back to stroking his hair, and pretending to watch the show. All he could think about was how lucky he was to have Cas in his life now, like this. There were so many things which could have gone very differently, so many times when he'd almost lost him. What if some other angel had been assigned to pull him out of Hell? Would that angel have fallen in love with him instead? Somehow he couldn't picture that happening.

What if he'd never found Emanuel? Amnesia-Cas had gotten married. Would he have settled into that life, maybe even started a family with that woman? The very idea made him shudder. "Hey, Cas? That woman you married, when you were Emanuel. Did you two ever…?" He couldn't bring himself to finish the question, but he didn't need to. Cas was getting better at understanding his subtler means of communication. "No, Dean. Sometimes she wanted to, but it made me very uncomfortable, and she didn't wish to pressure me. Perhaps some small part of me remembered that you existed, somewhere in the world, and was waiting for you to find me. You were my first."

Dean let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding. It was a relief to hear that. Would that have changed though, if he hadn't shown up when he did? What if he'd only gone looking for Emanuel a year later, or two years later? Would his wife really have been willing to wait for that long? Would Emanuel have given in to her, in a bid to save his marriage? He'd almost gone through with that deal with Chastity. What if Cas hadn't said that thing about her dad, and offended her? Would Dean have been able to look at him the same way afterwards? What about all of the times Cas had been restored after being killed, by Raphael and Lucifer, and whoever else? What if he'd just stayed gone? His chest ached at the thought.

"Cas, come here." The angel looked at him quizzically, but Dean helped him sit up, and pulled him around to sit between his legs, so that Castiel's back rested against Dean's chest. Dean snaked his arms around his lover, one hand splayed over his heart, the other over his flat stomach, and he firmly hugged the angel. Cas leaned his head back to rest it against Dean's shoulder, a little smile on his face. He kissed the side of Dean's neck once, then once more, before settling down. They stayed like that for three more shows, before Dean's stomach loudly reminded them that it was time for dinner.

*~X~*

Sam sighed loudly, and got off the bed. He walked to the fridge, completely naked, and got out a beer. "What do you think those two are doing, wherever they are?" Gabriel waggled his eyebrows at him from where he lay half-covered by the blankets. "Probably what we've just been doing." Sam pulled a face at him, a pained grimace. "Gabe, I really do not need those mental images." The archangel smirked at him, but inside he was worried. Sam was really anxious about how Dean was going to take the discovery of his relationship with the Trickster God, and it was Gabriel's fault for outing them to the older Winchester.

If Dean took it badly, would Sam break up with him? They'd only been together romantically for less than half a year. It wasn't like they were mated, and neither of them was pregnant. Sure, Gabriel could change that, but he didn't want Sam staying with him strictly out of a sense of obligation. That would be even more painful than just getting dumped. He'd spilled the beans because, ironically enough, he hated sneaking around with Sammy behind his brother's back. It made him feel like the big moose's dirty little secret, and that didn't sit well with him. When he'd seen his chance, found his leverage, he'd leapt at the opportunity.

The thing was, his leverage wasn't going to last forever. Soon Dean would tell Sam about Castiel's Nephil, and then Gabriel would have nothing to hold over his head anymore. He hated how much influence Dean had over Sam, almost as much as he was glad that Sam had someone other than the archangel to look out for him. The big goof got into trouble like nobody's business, he needed all the back-up he could get. The archangel just wished that his brother and Dean would come back already, and the Hunter would tell Sam that he was okay with his relationship already. Gabe didn't really think that he would be so lucky, but a guy could dream, right?

Sam finished his beer, and came to sit back down on the bed. "Gabe, can you manifest your wings, like Cas did? How come I've never seen them before?" The archangel chuckled mirthlessly. "Trust me Moose, you're not missing anything." He desperately wanted to lie, and tell Sam that archangels couldn't manifest their wings the way an ordinary angel could, but one of the first rules they'd established in their relationship had been that neither of them was allowed to outright lie to the other. "Besides, my wings are way bigger than Castiel's ones. I'm not sure they'd even fit in this room, if I stretched them out." That was true, at least. His full wing span was at least two meters wider than Castiel's was.

Sam wasn't going to let it drop that easily though. "I was really surprised that Castiel's wings weren't white. They even changed colours, I didn't know they could do that. What colour are your wings?" Gabriel sighed, but he indulged his human. "Those colours were just from angel-dust. Our wings are coated with it when they first pop out, it takes some effort to shake it off. The colours change according to our emotions, because the dust is basically made from solid Grace. Underneath it all, Castiel's wings are actually black, with a slight tinge of blue. Mine are a boring shade of brown."

Sam nodded, assimilating the new information. "You have six wings, right? Since you're an archangel?" Gabriel shrugged. "Every archangel gets three pairs. Just don't ask Lucifer about his, God ripped them off when he was exiled to Hell. They used to be black, with a blood-red tinge. Poor Cassie used to get some pretty snide comments about the similarity. Most angels have more neutral or earthy tones." Sam eyed Gabriel's shoulders, trying to picture his lover's wings. "It must be pretty tricky, flying with six wings. How long did it take you to learn?"

Gabriel smirked at the question. This one he didn't mind answering in the slightest, although it was now a slightly bitter memory. "I was a real natural. It only took me three human months to completely master flight. Most of the other archangels took more than a year. Michael took three, he was the slowest learner. Even ordinary angels with just one pair of wings still take six to eight months on average." But it had taken him fourteen months to relearn how to fly, and he still didn't dare fly during a severe storm. His old muscle memories took over in dangerous situations, instinctively trying to fly with all three pairs of wings. It just made him stumble and panic.

When he could, he used his Trickster mojo to travel rather than flying. He knew that he couldn't avoid the subject forever, that at some point he was going to have to show Sam his wings, but the longer he was able to put it off, the better. "Is it painful, making them materialize? Does it use up a lot of energy?" Gabriel rolled his eyes, but answered the question. Really, it wasn't Sam's fault he was so clueless. The poor moose was only human, after all. "It doesn't hurt, and it actually takes more energy to keep them stuffed in our Grace. We can't just go walking around amongst the hairless apes with our wings hanging out though. That might stir up a bit of a panic."

Gabriel summoned a pair of lollipops. Hopefully the candy would distract Sam, and shut him up long enough to forget all about wings. Just to make sure it worked, he could distract Sam with his tongue while the moose ate his treat. Sam took his lollipop, but instead of sticking it in his mouth, he just held it in one of those huge hands of his, staring at it, lost in thought. "Gabe? If I get a bigger room next time, will you let me see them?" He said it so quietly, so wistfully. There was a poignant longing, like a child asking the archangel to let them meet a unicorn. The whispered words were like a punch to his gut. He couldn't hide it anymore, there was no more being evasive and telling lies by omission.

Gabriel got out of bed, he'd need more space for this. He walked around to the middle of the room, standing with his back to Sam. He was glad that he didn't have to bother removing any clothes. He was nervous enough about this as it was, the last thing he needed was the process of stripping drawing this out. He took a deep breath, and let his wings slip out of his Grace. He didn't look at the limbs to see what colours they were this time, he didn't need to. He could imagine the ugly grey-brown feathers, perhaps with some blue accents. His Grace was overflowing with shame, so it was inevitable that this would be reflected in his wings. He shook the four limbs, forcefully fluffing out the feathers to shed the dust.

His angelic ears didn't miss the quiet gasp behind him, or the change is Sam's heartbeat. The human was distressed. Gabriel couldn't blame him. The sight had to be pretty disgusting. His first pair of wings jutted from his shoulders, the same way Castiel's did. His second pair connected to his back a few inches further down. His third pair should have emerged from his lower back, about a hand's width above his butt. Where his third pair of wings should have been though, there were only two short stumps. They had a few downy golden-brown feathers on them, but otherwise they were naked.

*~X~*

AN: I'm so sorry, I'm being a little mean to Gabriel in this story. I'll give a full explanation in the next chapter. Please review, I'm dying to know what you think. *bounces with energetic anticipation*