A/n: Not as much action in this chapter but it sets the scene for things to come and I have plans for the next scenes that would have made this far too long if I'd included them. So enjoy more Castiel cuteness instead.
Also, thank you again EVER so much to all those who reviewed. It makes writing this so much fun!
The room went silent after Crowley's proclamation and the hunters all exchanged uncertain looks. The demon wasn't exactly known for being honest but what he was saying rang with at least a modicum of truth. None of the demons they had ever fought were powerful enough to have taken on an archangel and it was only Lucifer himself who had proven strong enough to have harmed Gabriel last time. But the devil was sealed tightly in his cage and as far as they knew, there wasn't any way for him to get back out again unless they re-opened all the old seals, something neither brother was willing to let happen. "So, wait," Dean piped up finally, "Are you saying someone from heaven did this?" His disbelief was fairly palpable.
"No, I said only an angel could do this," Crowley replied in a voice that indicated he was talking to a two year old, "Not all angels live in heaven. Seriously, you know better than that. Not even you two are that dense. Think about it. What was Lucifer?"
Sam closed his eyes and tilted his head back, willing down the growing unease he was feeling at the situation. "An angel," he breathed.
"But Lucy's locked in a damn box right now," Dean said emphatically, "right?" He looked over at Crowley for some sort of reassurance. "I mean, no WAY he's back out again."
Crowley quirked an eyebrow at the slight note of panic he could hear in Dean's voice though he couldn't blame them, not after what they had sacrificed to seal Lucifer away. "Do you really think I would be here if Satan wasn't back in his cage? I can handle the disgruntled few who want me dead but I'm not stupid enough to stick around if I thought the Morning Star himself was wandering about." He shot them both annoyed looks and then looked over at Bobby expectantly. "Come on, this isn't that difficult."
"Lucifer wasn't the only one cast out," the hunter said slowly and Crowley beamed at him.
"Bravo. At least one of you has some sense. Lucifer defied the will of God but he wasn't alone. There were others that rallied to his call when he rebelled and they were cast out just the same. They became known as the princes of hell and they are NOT the sort of beings you want to go poking at. There's no telling who got stirred up by what you three idiots kicked off but suffice it to say that all of the pit is currently embroiled in the mother of all power struggles and that's bound to get someone's attention," Crowley said unhappily, "With the devil back in his cage, everyone's scrabbling for position in the new management, climbing the flaming corporate ladder as it were, and it shouldn't be too surprising that some of the big boys of the underworld are making their own plays." He turned to look back at the angel with consternation. "I'm telling you now that whoever is doing this isn't interested in settling for just upper management either. One doesn't go to all the trouble of kidnapping an archangel just to put him on their mantelpiece. That, coupled with the fact that they went and found a way to get themselves an infant angel, tells me that they are planning nothing less than a full take over." He pursed his lips thoughtfully and narrowed his eyes as he watched the occasional twitch of Castiel's wings. The infant had curled himself as far as possible against Bobby's shoulder by then and was looking up imploringly at his protector. The tension in his tiny frame was painfully evident to Sam who took another unconscious step toward Crowley, ready to carve the demon into pieces if he made any kind of aggressive move.
Dean picked up on his brother's unease but placed a restraining hand on Sam's arm to calm him. The bunker was safe, even from Crowley, and he knew Castiel wasn't in any danger as long as he stayed in there. The information they were getting now was far too valuable to risk interrupting and, once satisfied that Sam wasn't going to shank their informant at any moment, he prodded for more. "So you think one of Lucifer's angel buddies in the pit is trying to take over as top dog? Ok, I'll buy that. So where does that leave us? How the hell are we supposed to turn Cas back to normal? We can't just keep him in there till he grows up," Dean said gesturing toward the bunker.
"No," Crowley said slowly, "but we have a far more pressing problem than your strange parental tendencies. Thing is, no angel can just walk out of hell either. The others aren't under as many locks as Lucifer but that doesn't mean they aren't in their own cages and, considering the lack of body count, I think it's safe to say none of them have broken out yet. So the question remains. How did one of them manage to capture your archangel AND turn our intrepid friend here into an extra on Sesame Street?" The demon sighed and raised his chin slightly. "Tell you what. I'm going to go poke around and see what I can stir up. Something this big isn't going to be flying entirely under the radar so it's just a matter of finding out who is willing to talk. If a fallen angel is indeed behind this, then he has to be getting help from someone. In the meantime, you three just keep baby wings in there under lock and key." He turned and started heading calmly for the stairs, pausing only when Dean's voice called after him.
"What? That's it? You're just gonna help us? Bullshit. What's the catch?" Dean said.
"No catch, gentlemen. Let's just say I have my own plans for the new regime going in and it's in my best interests to find out what the other players are up to." Crowley paused and offered a knowing smile, "That is, unless you're willing to sweeten the deal some. Baby angels are pretty rare." He chuckled at the murderous look that crossed Sam's face as the young man jiggled the knife eagerly in his hand. "I'd even be willing to throw in, say, a certain soul you want back." Sam took a menacing step forward and Dean cocked the hammer back on the colt. "No? Didn't think so. And if I can't have him, I'd just as soon not let anyone else get their hands on him either so stay here, do what you do best, and try not to cock it up." With that, Crowley headed up the stairway as the Winchesters exchanged frustrated glances and when they looked back the stairs were empty.
As much as it irked them to admit that Crowley was right, all three hunters agreed wholeheartedly that the best place to keep Castiel safe was to keep him in the bunker until they could figure out their next move. The sigils painted on every wall would hide the infant from both demon and angel alike and while the demons might know where he was, they wouldn't be able to get to him. Cots were dragged into the bunker and set up lining the walls since the house above wasn't necessarily safe for the evening and the three men agreed to venture forth for some provisioning in the morning. Dean scooped up Castiel once more and relaxed back onto his own narrow mattress, setting the child down on his chest where the infant immediately propped up onto his elbows and peered down at the wounded hunter. Bobby had done triage as usual to care for the worst of the injuries and the boys had cleaned off most of the blood in the small sink the bunker housed before settling in for the rest of the night. Small bruises still littered Dean's face though and he smiled fondly as Castiel reached out to brush one of them hesitantly. The pain lessened ever so slightly under the gentle brush of fingers and the hunter wondered if this was the first signs of an angel's healing powers. He had been patched back up by Castiel in the past but it had usually taken only a touch to do so and he doubted the infant could do the same now.
Dean could hear the creak of Bobby's cot as he lay down for a few well earned hours of sleep and when Sam flicked out the lights, he found himself staring up at a glow slightly brighter than a nightlight. The constant luminance of Castiel's wings had been less pronounced in the ambient light of the upstairs bedroom but within the sealed confines of the bunker, it was far more noticeable. The heavy darkness seemed to draw back from around the child and everything in the bunker was lit in shades of soft white. Dean could see Sam out of the corner of his eye as his brother rolled over on his own cot to face the source of that illumination and when he looked over it was to find his brother smiling despite the bruises they both shared. They didn't need to say it aloud but both of them were in silent agreement that the fight had been more than worth it. Dean reached up and brushed his finger down Cas's side, just below where his tiny wing had come to rest and the infant lifted the appendage automatically, it's feathers stretching out, setting the glow in the room to wavering in a way that reminded Dean of spotlights under water. Dean grinned in spite of himself and repeated the action on the other side, earning him the same reaction. Castiel lifted one arm and tucked his head to peer down at one of the hands which had disrupted his wings but he didn't seem the least bit perturbed by it and when he finally looked up at Dean again, he cocked his head to the side inquisitively. The small wings lifted high on his back and fluttered a few times in a move so bird-like that Dean half expected to hear the angel chirp. The smile that had plastered itself to his face grew even wider at the sight and suddenly, in that face of that innocence, the nightmare of all the demons outside seemed terribly far away. He tucked a protective arm around the infant to keep him from rolling off in the night and scooted down farther into his mattress, his eyes closing with the tug of sleep. As he drifted off once more, the thought only vaguely occurred to him how strange it was that he could sleep so easily after what they had just faced but it filtered away in the hushed whisper of flapping wings and soothing light.
The next morning Dean shifted awake, his body stretching out in tandem with a long yawn but as he ran a hand over his face it occurred to him that there was a conspicuous absence of weight on his chest and he flew bolt upright in his cot. His head snapped around frantically for a moment until he noticed Sam sitting in the middle of the floor with Castiel. The angel had seemingly grown once again and he was fully sitting upright now, looking for all the world like he'd easily aged another two months overnight. His tiny hands were locked onto each of Sam's index fingers as the hunter lifted them over the child's head in an attempt to get him to try standing but Cas was having none of it and was simply sitting on the floor, staring up at Sam with an unfathomable look on his face. "Come on, Cas. You can do this. Just give it a try," Sam was urging quietly, a smile on his face and more joy in his voice than Dean had heard in quite some time. It struck him as somehow funny that the ex-demonblood junkie was trying to teach the angel to stand but his smile faltered as memories of what they faced last night came washing back in. Castiel's presence in their lives again was comforting in a strange way but Dean had to remind himself that the infant sitting in the floor with his brother wasn't really a child; he was an angel of the lord and had, more recently than Dean really wanted to think about, been fighting at their side as an ally against overwhelming odds. More importantly, that angel was now in a world of trouble and on the shopping list of everything with horns and a tail.
Bobby's cot was empty when Dean glanced over and he cleared his throat to catch Sam's attention at last. "Mornin'," he said groggily, his voice rough with sleep, "Where'd Bobby get to?" Sam grinned up at him and Dean had a flashback to the days it had been him sitting in the floor trying to teach his brother to stand up. That bright smile hadn't really appeared over the years as much as Dean would have liked but when it did show up, it was just as vibrant as ever and he couldn't help returning it. It was worth all the world to him to see that joy on his little brother's face.
"He's upstairs. He wanted to see if he could put together some breakfast while you were still asleep," Sam said cheerfully before turning his attention back to Cas. "Does it look like he got bigger to you?"
Dean nodded and slid to his feet. "Yeah, same thing happened night before last too. He's sort of growing faster than a normal kid but I can't tell if that's from the spell wearing off or if it's something all baby angels do." He paused as the smell of bacon wafted down through the partially cracked door of the bunker and his stomach growled eagerly. "Oh man. Tell me he's got biscuits going up there."
Sam chuckled and pried his fingers loose to scoop Castiel up into his arms. The infant didn't seem at all fazed by the smell of the cooking food but Dean was practically drooling as he stood forlornly at the doorway and looked back at his brother. "It's fine, Dean," Sam laughed, "I'll stay here with Cas. You go check on breakfast. You know Bobby's just going to kick you out though, right?"
Dean's smile was the epitome of mischief as he backed out of the door. "Yeah, but I might be able to snag a piece of bacon before he can throw anything at me." With that, Dean disappeared back upstairs leaving Sam to look after Cas by himself. He eased down onto Bobby's vacated cot and both he and the angel looked up expectantly as they waited for the inevitable. Sure enough, a few moments later Bobby's voice rang out through the house in a plethora of colorful threats followed by the sound of something being tossed across the kitchen and the subsequent sound of someone thundering back down the stairs. Dean popped back in a moment later with a piece of bacon in his hand and another sticking triumphantly from his mouth. "Totally worth it," he crowed as he chewed happily.
Bobby appeared a few minutes afterward with a plate balanced in each hand and shot a scowl at Dean. "If you'da just waited a dang minute, I was gonna bring it down here anyway," he growled shoving the plate in Dean's direction.
The older Winchester grinned as he took the offered food. "Yeah, but pilfered bacon just tastes better."
Bobby seemed less than amused as he all but jammed the second plate toward Sam and then stormed off again upstairs, grumbling under his breath the whole way. The brothers exchanged easy smiles and sat back to enjoy their meal. Eventually Bobby returned with his own plate and the three chatted easily about everything and anything except the new trouble they were facing. It was a much needed break for all of them but sadly it had to come to an end and eventually they set to making plans for how to avoid trouble while waiting on Crowley.