Hey guys, thank you so much for your reviews, you're all so awesome and I wanted to give some replies to guest reviewers to here:

Guest reviewer Jessica: Thank you, you're so sweet and I appreciate the review ^.^ Of course I'll continue, I love writing this story so much :) As for a chapter from Cas's point of view... I've been thinking about it and I would really, really like to (I was originally going to do the start of this chapter from his POV but thought it was to soon) however I'm worried about not getting his thoughts right or ruining the image people have developed of him from Dean's perspective. But we'll see, I might end up with a chapter that really has to be from his :) I love Harry Potter too, that's one reason why I picked it, also because it would be something Dean would read and finally because the story is about courage and friendship and overcoming that which is placed before you (something that would mean a lot to Cas to hear from Dean).

Unnamed guest reviewer: *hugs* Gabriel's message is something I feel so strongly about and I'm so glad it has touched as many people as it has. Just know there are so many people who do think that same way in the world and they are so much more important than the assholes. I hope things get better for your li'l sis, it's unfair how much they cop from people who choose not to take the time to understand. All the best :)

Please note, in a part of this chapter Lucifer is teasing Gabriel over his sexuality. Everything he is saying is just that, teasing. It's not what he thinks and it's not what I think, it's just him being an older brother, ribbing his little brother for a rise. I know most of you would realise this but sometimes I get people who rant at me for things my characters have said weren't meant seriously.

Okay, here we go :)

Michael perched on the edge of his youngest sibling's bed as he went around his room, finishing up his morning tidy before school. He only watched Castiel for a moment until he spotted an unfamiliar garment on the bed. It was clearly a dark leather jacket but it was much too big to belong to the small boy in front of him.

Curious, and thus unthinking, Michael picked up the carefully folded jacket and it was only a second later he realised his mistake as he heard Castiel's cry of dismay and the jacket was snatched from his grip as his brother began to panic, crying out and shaking as he curled up, clutching the leather close and shaking his head.

"Castiel, Castiel, stop it!" Michael said, dropping down in front of him immediately. "It's okay. I'm sorry. I promise I won't touch it again. Nobody's going to touch it. Nobody's going to take it away from you, I promise. Just... just calm down. Please... please, calm down." He continued babbling, pleading until Castiel's shrieks of fright calmed down into soft whimpers and he stopped rocking, simply shaking and hugging the jacket to his chest, face buried in the leather.

"There, good boy," Michael soothed. "Now come on, stop crying. Let's fold the jacket back up and I'll tell the others that nobody is allowed to touch it, okay?"

Slowly Castiel stood and, with such care it made Michael's heart ache, folded the jacket and placed it on his pillow. Michael wondered where he had gotten it and why it was so important to him. He then went into the bathroom to wash his face as his brother requested while Michael stumbled out and almost into Anna and Gabriel.

"What happened?" they demanded in unison.

"I happened. Anna, can you go and write up a note on Castiel's board that nobody is to touch the leather jacket in his room. We do not need another episode like that," Michael sighed wearily, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples. Anna scurried off while Gabriel continued looking at Michael in concern. They sat on the top of the stairs together and Michael groaned. "I hate upsetting him. How was I supposed to know he was going to freak out if I touched it?"

"Whose jacket is it?"

Michael shrugged. "I've never seen it before... or at least, I think. I didn't really get a chance to examine it. I think he was sleeping with it."

Gabriel quirked one eyebrow. "Very attached then. I wonder where he got it."

"Find out for me, will you?" Michael requested. Gabriel nodded and then rubbed his brother's shoulder.

"Mike, you need to stop beating yourself up every time Cassie has an episode. You can't control him and if you continue like this you'll snap like Mum did."

Michael nodded. "I know. I guess... Don't worry, I'll lighten up a little. Keep an eye on him today, would you? He'll be jumpy after that."

"Always, Mikey, you know I will."

Michael smiled and hugged Gabriel tightly as Castiel came out of his room, stopping at the sight of affection. He almost appeared sheepish, as if he knew he was the cause of Michael's distress. Michael looked up at his concerned gaze with a soft smile.

"It's okay, baby bro," Gabriel assured him. "Michael's just tired. Now, let's go."

"Gabriel," Michael said suddenly as he started down the stairs ahead of his brother. Gabriel looked backed warily at his tone. "Don't think this doesn't mean we're not talking about you getting detention."

Gabriel grimaced but nodded and continued down the stairs after Castiel who was waiting at the bottom patiently.

"Are you excited for school or something?" Gabriel teased. Castiel looked away from him and Gabriel chuckled but said nothing else. Yesterday morning Dean had been waiting in the car park, leaning against his Impala and waved Gabriel and Castiel over to him. He had reached into his bag and held out a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which had actually made Castiel smile. It wasn't a huge beaming grin but it was definitely bigger than the tiny twitches of his lips he'd been giving them previously.

Today was the same. In fact Castiel didn't even wait for his brother and sister before he started making his way over to where Dean was standing by his car.

"Where is he going?" Michael wondered, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Gabriel go with him."

"I was about to. Stop being bossy." He followed his brother, Anna laughing lightly behind him as she went too.

"Anna!" Dean greeted with a charming grin. "Feeling better?"

"Don't you start trying to chat me up again, Dean Winchester, my big brothers are both in that car over there," Anna teased, nodding behind them. Michael had just started to drive away from the school but they were still within sight. Dean rolled his eyes.

"I could take them," he joked.

"Of course you could," Anna rolled her eyes.

"Luci's been arrest for assault before," Gabriel informed Dean whose eyes widened. "He punched one of Cassie's therapists in the face."

"Wow..."

Castiel was staring intently at Dean's bag and he looked at him with an amused smile. "Easy there, I brought it. Don't panic."

Castiel glanced up at him, a small smile playing at his lips.

"We'll go to the courtyard where it's quiet at lunch... I mean, if that's okay with those two..." Dean glanced at Anna and Gabriel who both nodded.

"Mind if we join?" Anna asked teasingly. This she had to see.

Dean flushed and tried to respond when Castiel shook his head adamantly. Anna looked at him surprise.

"You don't want us to come too?" She sounded hurt as Castiel shook his head again. "Well... okay..." Anna looked at Gabriel with wide, shocked eyes before the warning bell sounded and they all started to make their way inside.

They dropped Castiel off at his class and then Dean wandered in the direction of his own.

"That was weird," Anna murmured, looking at Gabriel.

"Maybe it's like their thing," Gabriel shrugged. "You know. Maybe Cassie feels like he finally has something he doesn't need us to supervise. Come on, we can trust Dean."

"No but... since when doesn't he need us around?" Anna blinked sadly and looked at the ground. Gabriel laughed and hugged her quickly.

"Of course he needs us around but... maybe we should give him some breathing room. Let's let him have this. Okay?"

Anna sighed and nodded. Gabriel squeezed her shoulders once more before sending her on her way to class, then heading to his own.

Gabriel didn't think about the leather jacket Michael had asked him to look into until just before lunch when he took his seat beside Dean, noticing something was different. Gabriel tilted his head, trying to figure it out.

"Whoa," Dean said, grinning at him.

"What?"

"You and Cas have the same deep thinking expression," Dean explained. "I'm guessing he picked the head-tilt thing up from you?"

Gabriel shook his head, smiling slightly. "Really?"

"He does it exactly the same. I wonder if that's a thing..."

"I think it might be. He has looked to us all his life to figure out how to behave and react."

Dean smiled. "Anyway, why were you looking at me like that? You aren't pissed about this morning. You can tag along if you want, I don't think Cas would throw a fit."

Gabriel bit his lip as Dean winced – they both knew that was actually a very real possibility.

"I'm not mad or hurt. I'm glad he feels safe enough to be around you without us. It's a big step for him," Gabriel smiled, hoping Dean understood how much he appreciated his very presence. Nobody had ever done for Castiel what Dean did for him. "I was just thinking that there's something different about you today. Something's missing."

Dean raised his eyebrows and shrugged, turning to his work as the class was called to order.

It was when Dean was waving goodbye from his car while Gabriel took the passenger seat of Michael and Lucifer's car that he realised.

Dean's leather jacket was missing.

In fact he wasn't wearing it the other afternoon when he walked Castiel to the car with Lucifer. Gabriel would bet anything it was Dean's jacket that had a new home in Castiel's room.

"How was school?" Lucifer asked cheerfully as his siblings buckled up. He also waved to Dean and his younger brother before following another car out of the parking lot.

"Good," Anna replied. "Jo actually missed me. It's nice to know she's not just hanging out with us because Dean is."

Gabriel shot her a smile in the rear-view mirror, pleased he wasn't the only one with a good friend.

"Though... her brother keeps making passes at me. I'm not sure how I feel about that," Anna ponders and Gabriel bursts out laughing. Ash is one of the most harmless guys he knows. He's positive that if Anna expressed true discomfort with anything he said to her, he'd stop immediately.

"Just tell him to back off," Gabriel suggested.

"Or I could," Lucifer added with an evil grin.

"Uh... no thank you," Anna teased. "I'd rather not scare off one of our few friends."

Lucifer chuckled. "If he keeps making passes, you won't be stopping me. Not one single boy at that school is good enough for you. Or you for that matter." He looked at Gabriel with a wink who rolled his eyes.

"Passes about my sexuality are not allowed, remember?"

"You mean your lack of sexuality."

"Pansexual is not sexually lacking – it's personality-driven attraction thank you, very much."

Lucifer winked at him. "I still say you're just greedy... or easy."

"Luci!" Anna said, shocked.

"Hey, I'm joking. I know my ickle Gabe isn't easy – extremely picky maybe."

"Well neither Anna, nor I, have ever really had the chance at a proper relationship since people are either douche bags or you scare them away," Gabriel commented, glittering eyes showing that he was still joking.

"Like I said, nobody's good enough for my baby brother and sister. You either Cassie, understand?" Lucifer called. "You're too precious for any of those small-town hicks, got it?"

Castiel blinked at the back of Lucifer's head, confused. He looked at Anna for an explanation but she just smothered her giggles and waved her hand in a motion that over the years had come to mean their older brother was being an idiot and that Castiel shouldn't worry. They weren't sure if he really got it but he usually relaxed when laughter and smiles showed nothing serious was happening.

When they got home Gabriel was feeling happy because it was one of the rare nights where none of them had any commitments and so they had hot chocolate and homemade cookies together before separating for Anna and Gabriel to do their homework until it was time for the four eldest to cook dinner together.

Sometimes Castiel would sit in the kitchen and watch his siblings interact but today he chose to retreat into the den and play the piano, the soft music floating into the kitchen for the others to enjoy as they started making lasagne – vegetarian since Anna was going through a phase and her brothers were more than willing to oblige, though Lucifer stoutly declared there would still be bacon at breakfast and Anna would just have to fend for herself.

"Ew, what is that Michael?" Gabriel frowned, wrinkling his nose at some of the vegetables being prepared.

"That is spinach and those are lentils, whichever you were referring to," Michael replied absently.

"Do we have to eat them?"

Michael pulled some carrots towards him as Lucifer grabbed the eggplant. Anna was busy preparing the cheese sauce while Gabriel worked on the tomato and onion sauce for the vegatables.

"Yes. They're high in iron. Since Anna is choosing to forgo meat then she has to eat them. Vegetarianism is actually a bad idea for teenage girls considering how their bodies are still developing and menstruating regularly."

"Michael!" Gabriel shouted, covering his ears. "LA LA LA! I don't want to hear about that!"

Anna giggled. "Actually, Michael, if you balance it right and take iron supplements it's fine."

"Humans are meant to eat meat, Anna darling," Lucifer teased. "Besides, you'll get over this when you miss start to miss bacon sandwiches when the weather starts to really cool down."

"I think it's why you got sick," Gabriel added. "Not enough protein."

Anna poked her tongue out at Gabriel who went to retaliate before Michael spoke, diverting the argument and starting a new topic.

"So, Gabriel, did you solve the mystery behind Castiel's jacket?" he wondered, continuing to chop vegetables even as he looked over at Gabriel. Gabriel went to answer, Michael waiting eagerly when Lucifer interrupted.

"You mean the leather one? He was wearing it when I got him from school the other day, wasn't he Gabe?" he shrugged, stirring the pasta sauce that Gabriel has basically abandoned without looking at the others.

"Do you know who gave it to him?" Michael demanded. His siblings were unsure why he was so obsessed with the jacket but they had long given up trying to understand how his mind worked when it came to his baby brother.

"Mmm... no," Lucifer murmured then looked up. "Actually, it might have been the Winchester kid. He was with Cassie when I went to get him – they were reading Harry Potter in the library, it was cute. He told me Cassie had some trouble but was okay."

"Trouble?" Anna asked as Michael's jaw dropped.

"What kind of trouble? Why didn't you mention this?" he demanded of his twin, eyes flashing as he probably swore vengeance internally on anyone who hurt Castiel.

"Because you react like this. I looked him over and asked him if he was hurt but he was fine. Seemed really... calm. If what you said about the jacket this morning is true then I understand. Dean must have taken care of him and given him the jacket. Castiel is associating it with safety." Lucifer smiled.

"Dean's your friend right?" Michael asked Gabriel who nodded. "What's he like?"

"Well, his friends are mostly a bunch of pricks and he likes to act tough but he's a big softy. All you gotta do is get his little bro to flash those big doe eyes of his and Dean's likely to do anything," Gabriel smiled. "He's a decent guy about eighty percent of the time."

Michael frowned contemplatively. "Right. Regardless, don't let him near Castiel unsupervised until I've met him properly."

"But... Michael, you should see the way Cassie gets with him. He actually gets excited to see Dean. I've never seen him react to somebody like that."

Michael looked sceptical but Anna added her own assessment.

"I think Lucifer's right, Dean makes Castiel feel safe," she said gently. "Dean talks to him like he's any other person. I think that makes him feel happy and normal."

Michael hesitated but then sighed. "Fine. But I want to meet him anyway."

Across town at the Winchester's their dinner was going pretty differently. Sam and Dean were happy to find their dad was home for dinner for a change and had brought them Thai food and rented some movies so they could catch up.

Dean was distracted, surreptitiously flicking through a pamphlet on autism that wasn't telling him anything but it was all he had. Both the school and public libraries had been very poorly stocked on the subject so a pamphlet from the health clinic was as good as it got. He'd have to go somewhere bigger for books on autism he supposed.

"So, what's been happening at school boys?" John Winchester asked. "No fighting I hope Dean?"

"Maybe a little," Dean answered absently. "But the fuckers deserved it."

John raised his eyebrows. "And just who are we talking about?"

"Gordon and Azazel, would have been Crowley and Alistair too had I gotten my hands on them," Den muttered darkly, folding the pamphlet and hiding it before his brother or dad could see what it was about. That was be so embarrassing to explain.

"And why exactly did your friends deserve it?"

"They're not my friends," Dean scowled, turning his attention to the television and praying Sam would start telling their dad all about his perfect marks and perfect classes and maybe start praising Gabriel for simply walking this very earth.

John appeared confused and as though he wasn't about to drop the subject.

"Dean has a... special friend," Sam explained and Dean glared at him.

"Really, Sam?" he asked. "Special?"

"Well... it's different from all of your other friendships," Sam shrugged.

"A special friend? You mean like a girlfriend? I thought you didn't do 'the girlfriend thing'?" John wondered.

Dean shook his head. "His name is Castiel and he has autism."

"Oh, the Novak boy. Ellen told me about him," John nodded. "She said you guys were friends. What happened?"

Dean hesitated before telling his dad about the hallway incident and then the other afternoon. John went from confused, to shocked, then to a kind of furious pride at the end of the story.

"Good," John huffed. Dean's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Like you said, they deserved it. Why didn't you tell his brother exactly what happened?"

"Lucifer's a little scary – kind of lives up to his name, right? – I was a little worried about what he might actually do to them," Dean explained. "And besides, Cas seem okay and it's not like I'm ever going to leave him alone for long enough for them to get to him."

John nodded.

"Why... uh, why aren't you-"

"Acting like you're some kind of hero instead of a good friend?" John chuckled. "I served with a man in the marines. He had an autistic daughter. She was five and he missed her first words while we were serving. Even though he'd missed them he got a video and he cried for so long. I didn't quite understand until he explained. I'd never really considered my views on mental illness but I realised then that it didn't matter – they are just like the rest of us, they still have people who love them and they still feel. You've done the right thing Dean."

Sam beamed at Dean proudly and Dean just leant back on the couch.

"Dean... by the way... have you seen my Harry Potter books?" Sam wondered.

Dean feigned falling asleep.