"So, what did Raphael mean back there?" Castiel asks later, after they all gather in the private waiting room that Raphael had secured for them. He and Chuck are practically inhaling shitty coffee from the cafeteria, but Sam's pretty sure that they're only drinking it for the caffeine, not the taste.

"You mean when he announced that he was a lone wolf?" Dean asks, not looking up from where he's watching his fingers tap against his thigh. Castiel makes a noise of confirmation, and Dean says, "It's a big deal for wolves to leave their packs willingly. A very big deal. It's the most severe form of self punishment a wolf can inflict upon him- or herself."

"Not punishment in this case," Sam says. "He left because he doesn't want to be a part of the pack anymore, which is a huge insult to them."

"Wolves are pack creatures," Dean says, finally looking up and locking eyes with Castiel. "They thrive only when surrounded by family. Raphael's wolf isn't going to be very happy about suddenly finding itself all alone, but if Raphael left, then it's because he thinks it's better to be alone, which goes against his very nature, than to remain in the pack."

"Oh," Castiel says quietly, leaning back against the chair he's sitting in. He looks exhausted. Sam had noticed it before—noticed, but barely registered it—but it's more obvious now that he doesn't have is mate in the room to distract him. Castiel's movements are slow and his eyes are slightly glazed, and there is a weariness in his voice when he talks that Sam had never heard before now. Chuck, too, is much the same, though he seems even more distraught than Castiel.

Sam is suddenly reminded that Gabriel isn't just his mate; Chuck's son and Castiel's best friend are also lying unconscious in a hospital bed. His wolf growls, upset that members of his pack are being left to grieve alone. It urges Sam to go to them, so he does, not that surprised to find out that his wolf already views Chuck and Castiel as pack.

Sam sits next to Castiel, close enough that their shoulders are touching but not as close as Sam would have sat next to another Grey; he doesn't want to freak Cas out with his species' tactile mannerisms.

"How are you guys holding up?" he asks, eyes flicking from Castiel to Chuck and back again.

"About as well as can be expected," Castiel replies, Chuck's lips thinning in agreement. Sam nods in understanding.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect him," he says sincerely.

"None of this was your fault," Chuck says, rather fiercely given how upset he so clearly is. "None of us could have stopped the blood transfusion because none of us knew what would happen to him, and it certainly wasn't your fault that he was taken by that crazy Alpha. If anything, that was my fault for killing his brother."

"You didn't know the difference between Greys and Hokkaido back then," Dean says, offended on Chuck's behalf.

"And yet the fact remains that all of this happened because of what I did," Chuck says.

"But there was nothing you could do," Sam says.

"Exactly. There was nothing any of us could do, so don't blame yourself."

John and Mary nod sagely at him, agreeing with Castiel's words, and Sam gives a small, grateful smile to Chuck.

"So now what?" Dean asks. Everyone looks to John, who shrugs.

"There's not really anything we can do," he says. "Right now, the most we could do-"

He breaks off when Castiel's phone starts ringing, raising an eyebrow at the latter.

"Sorry," Castiel says, pulling his phone out and checking who it is. He grimaces at whoever it is, but still answers. "Hi, Mom. I know, I'm sorry. Something important came up, and I just… Actually, nevermind. I'll be home soon. Yeah. Okay, bye."

"Everything alright?" Chuck asks.

"They were just worried because I never went home after school ended," Castiel says. He bites his lip and looks up at John. "Mister Winchester?"

John snorts at the title. "Just call me John, Castiel. There's no need for such formalities."

"Um, okay. I was wondering if I could tell my parents about all this."

"All what?" Mary asks, furrowing her brow. Castiel gestures with both hands to everyone in the room.

"This," he says. "The werewolf thing. It's just that, I don't like lying to them, and eventually I'm going to run out of excuses for why I'm almost never home anymore." John opens his mouth, but Castiel cuts him off. "I want to be here for Gabriel as much as possible," he says quickly. "And they'd be more likely to allow that if they knew what's going on."

John looks at Mary, who raises her eyebrows and smiles, and the Alpha sighs.

"Alright, Castiel," he says. "We'll come with you to explain to your parents what's going on, but if they don't receive the news well…"

"I'm sure they will," Castiel says. "They were almost sacrificed to a god when they were younger, so they already know about and believe in supernatural things."

John doesn't look reassured.

.

Sam already has a pretty good opinion of Castiel's parents. They were very okay with Castiel bringing home three strange men and a strange woman, and had even offered them food and something to drink, which they all politely declined.

"I'm afraid we have a rather important matter to discuss," Mary says, somewhat apologetically. Sam knows that her southern upbringing is probably scandalised for refusing someone's hospitality, but they really don't have the time for all that.

"Of course," Castiel's mother, Sarah, says. She and her husband, Henry, are sitting on the loveseat with Castiel smooshed between them. Their daughter is lurking behind the doorway, not that the humans know that. Well, Castiel probably does, given how he keeps shooting glares towards her. "But who did you say you were again?"

"Oh, pardon me," Mary says. "I'm Mary Winchester and this is my husband, John, and our sons, Sam and Dean."

"We go to school with Cas," Dean adds, and Sarah visibly relaxes a bit. Well, visibly if you're a Grey wolf.

"Is something the matter?" Henry asks, looking at Castiel, but the latter shakes his head.

"Nothing like you're thinking," he says. "But there is something really important I need to tell you."

"Of course, baby, what is it?"

Castiel takes a deep breath and gets up to sit at the foot of Dean's armchair so that he can look directly at his parents.

"Do you remember how you were sacrificed to that Pagan god when you were in college?" he asks, and both Henry and Sarah gasp.

"How do you know about that?" Sarah asks sharply, warily.

"I heard you guys talking about it one night, and at first I didn't believe you, but then something happened that changed my mind." Sarah and Henry look suspiciously at the Winchesters, who try to look as nonthreatening as possible.

"Castiel, have you gotten caught up in the wrong crowd?" Sarah asks, eyeing Sam and Dean with barely concealed wariness, and Sam smothers a slightly hysterical laugh. Castiel just looks annoyed.

"No, Mom," he says. "They're—wait, promise you won't freak out?" Castiel's parents look at each other, then nod hesitantly. "They're werewolves."

Sarah promptly faints.

.

"Really, I'm fine," Sarah insists, even as she continues to fan herself with a magazine. Henry only tightens his grip on her hand and doesn't say anything.

"We're truly sorry for springing such a shock on you like this," Mary says for the umteenth time, but Sarah just waves her off. Castiel, with help from John, has already explained the difference between traditional werewolves and Greys, and Henry and Sarah had taken it well. Much better than Sarah's initial reaction would suggest.

"It was just a bit surprising, that's all," Henry says. "It's not every day that you find out your son's best friend is a werewolf."

"Best friend?" Castiel repeats, tilting his head in confusion.

"Yeah, best friend." Henry frowns when Castiel doesn't catch on. "Dean?"

Castiel and Dean look at each other, both obviously surprised, and Sam rolls his eyes.

"My brother's obliviousness aside," he says, "there's something else we have to discuss. Kind of the main reason why we came here."

"Oh, dear," Sarah says quietly. Sam takes a deep breath and lets it out slow, and Mary puts her hand on his shoulder in silent support.

"Greys, as we've already told you, have soulmates," Sam starts. He vaguely hears a derisive snort coming from the hallway where Castiel's sister lurks, but he ignores it. "Mine is Gabriel. Gabriel Shurley."

Sarah's eyes widen and Henry makes a startled noise.

"Is that why he's been so off lately?" she asks. "At first it was the mooning around, then it was the missing all those days of school, then acting as if he'd won the Miss universe contest."

Sam chuckles a bit at the description.

"Yeah, that was all because of me," he says. "Gabriel's part werewolf. We're not sure how much, exactly, but it's enough that the Bond was formed not too long ago."

"Oh, well I'm glad for you both," Henry says. "As long as you don't hurt him, that is."

Sam winces, and both humans zero in on the motion like hawks.

"Did something happen?" Sarah asks sharply. Sam purses his lips and takes a shuddering breath, and John takes pity on him.

"Long story short," the Alpha says, "Gabriel was attacked by vampires not too long ago. The hospital gave him a transfusion of human blood, and when Gabriel phased into a wolf for the first time, that human blood began attacking his Grey cells."

Sarah's hand flies to her mouth. "So… what does that mean for him, exactly?" she asks.

"It means that unless we can figure out a way to stop this soon, he'll die," John says, and Sam isn't the only one who winces.

"What are you doing to help him?" Henry asks.

"Our… friend is a doctor, and he's been going through records, trying to find any other instances of this. It's all we can do for right now." Castiel's parents nod slowly.

"Right, well, we'll come visit him soon," Sarah says. Then something seems to come to her, and she frowns down at her son. "Castiel, is this why you wanted to be pulled out of school?"

"We offered to get him a tutor," Sam explains quickly. "That's what everyone in our pack is doing, and Gabriel, too, so we thought that Cas might like to join us."

"Oh. Well, we'll think about it, but I don't see why not."

"I wasn't expecting you guys to be so calm about this," Castiel says.

"Well, son, after you're almost sacrificed to a god, you tend to take a more relaxed approach to life," Henry says.

"Yes, that or you become a paranoid nutcase," Sarah adds.

"We were lucky enough to be the first one, not the second."

Castiel gets up and hugs his parents. "You guys are the best."

.

Sam blinks at the girl in front of him. She can't be that much younger, but the way she's pouting makes her look ten, even though she has to be somewhere around fourteen years old. Dean and his parents are already at the car, but the girl—Anna, Sam thinks—had stopped him before he could follow.

"I don't believe you," she tells him. He merely raises an eyebrow, inviting her to continue. "About Gabriel and being a werewolf. There's no way that any of that is true."

"Oh, really?" Sam says, irritated. His wolf wants him to just storm past her—she's keeping him from Gabriel, after all—but Sam refrains, and instead lets himself phase until his eyes are glowing and his teeth are elongated. "Are you sure about that?"

Anna gasps and takes an involuntary step backwards, and Sam smirks and walks past her. He makes it halfway to the car before she catches up to his longer strides.

"Wait!" she calls. He sighs but waits for her to catch up. She stops a fair distance from him, panting slightly. "Y-you're really a werewolf." Sam simply stares at her. "Tell… tell Gabriel that I hope he gets better soon. If he dies, I'll never forgive him."

Sam's eyes soften a bit and he offers her a small smile as he says, "I will. And don't worry, Anna. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Anna blushes and looks away, scowling, but she doesn't deny the claim. Dean honks the horn of the car and Sam offers a quick farewell as he turns and rejoins his family.

.

Svadilfari is not a dumb wolf. He always, always calculates the risks of every action he takes and acts in a manner which will present to him the least amount of difficulties with the highest payoff.

That being said, he's currently acting like an idiot.

He was never a part of Michael's pack, but he's related to one of the members and he kept him updated. He knows everything that's been going on, and he's decided to stay out of it.

Or at least, he was going to stay out of it. Now, though….

Now, though, there's a strong, young Alpha Grey lying practically defenseless in a hospital, and Svadilfari is entranced. He suspects that his mate is a male because while he has been attracted to females before, the real feelings were always for males. And Gabriel is capable of mating, according to Svadilfari's cousin.

He has his sights set on the part-Grey, and nothing will change his mind. All he needs now is a plan and a way to get into and out of the hospital without getting caught. Luckily, he knows just the guy to help him out.

.

Sam doesn't get very much sleep that night. He slept for almost six hours straight earlier—okay, he didn't sleep, but he wasn't exactly awake, either—and his internal clock is thrown off. But besides that, his mind, which is usually filled with the background noises of Gabriel's thoughts, is silent for once. It unnerves him.

So, no, he doesn't sleep much that night, but he does get a lot of other things done. He cleans his entire room until everything smells like bleach and vacuum fumes, and then he goes on to quieter activities when he hears every member of the house growl at him from their bedrooms. He tries to read, but he's too distracted to focus on any book. He doesn't want to leave the house so he's not going to go for a run, and there's not really much else he can do to occupy himself until morning comes and he can go back to the hospital.

Luckily, fate seems to be on his side, because he gets a phone call around three in the morning, right when he's considering tearing his own hair out just for something to do. He doesn't recognize the number, but the area code is local, so he picks it up anyway.

"Hello?"

"Sam." Sam's eyes widen a bit when he recognises Raphael's voice.

"Raphael," he acknowledges. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, actually. I'm afraid that there are more records than I first thought." Raphael sounds frustrated, even with his voice distorted over the phone. "I figured that you wouldn't be doing anything, so I was wondering if you wanted to help me go through them."

"How did you know I wouldn't be sleeping?" Sam asks, even as he grabs his shoes.

"Your mate is unconscious in the hospital and we currently have no idea how to fix him," Raphael says bluntly. "I'd be honestly surprised if you'd managed to fall asleep."

"Fair point. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"Come to the lobby of the hospital. I'll be waiting for you there." And with that, Raphael hangs up without so much as a 'goodbye'. Sam rolls his eyes and pockets his phone, then quietly creeps to the front door. He doesn't want to wake anyone else up (again), so he tries to be as quiet as he can.

"Going somewhere?"

So much for that plan.

Sam sighs and turns around, giving Dean his best intimidating glare. He knows he's not more dominant than his brother, but neither is Dean more dominant than him, so there's a chance that it could work. Dean huffs a laugh at the glare and pushes Sam aside so that he can reach down and grab his shoes from their place by the door, and Sam notices for the first time that Dean is dressed in jeans and a jacket, obviously ready to go.

"I could ask the same thing of you," Sam says. His fingers itch to reach for the doorknob, but there's no way Dean will let him just run off in the middle of the night, not when there's so much going on.

"I'm going with you," Dean says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I heard your conversation with the doc. Something about helping him go through records? I figure three people will be able to get a lot more done than two."

That's true, but Sam doesn't want Dean to come along. He already looks tired enough, and from what Sam's gathered, he hasn't really slept since the fight. He looks exhausted; there are bags under his eyes and his skin is a bit paler than usual. Sam already feels bad enough about inadvertently putting Gabriel in the hospital. He doesn't need the guilt of keeping Dean from sleeping on top of that.

"I don't need a babysitter, Dean," Sam says, blocking the door when Dean tries to go through. Dean gives him a mild glare, his eyes narrowed, and Sam glares right back. "He's my mate; you don't have to come with me. If anything, you should be sleeping."

"So should you," Dean shoots back immediately. "But he's not just your mate, Sam. He's a part of the pack, too, and he was my friend even before that. You're not the only one who cares about him and you're not the only one who wants to see him better. If it had been Cas instead of Gabriel, would you have let me stop you from going?"

Sam finds it very interesting that Dean would compare Castiel and himself with Sam and Gabriel, but he doesn't mention it. Now's not the time to start frivolous discussions.

"Fine," Sam says, moving away from the door. "You're right. Let's just go before Dad wakes up. You know how pissy he gets when his sleep is interrupted."

Dean chuckles triumphantly and grabs the keys to the Impala, and the two of them creep quietly out of the house. Sam huffs out a laugh when Dean lets the car roll silently out of the driveway before turning on the engine and driving off; they're taking so many precautions, but there's a huge chance that John heard them anyway.

The drive to the hospital is quiet but not uncomfortable, both Greys too lost in their thoughts to worry about things like meaningless conversation meant to fill a silence. Sam stares out of the window, watching trees and houses pass by, and he ponders Raphael. The doctor confuses him; he's an unknown variable, and that puts Sam on edge. Surprisingly, his wolf doesn't seem to have a problem with him, but that's probably because their Alpha told him not to. The wolf always was much more simplistic in his thoughts than Sam.

But there's really no way to tell what Raphael will do at any given time, or what his motives are, and so Sam is just a bit wary when they pull up to the hospital and walk into the lobby. The receptionist looks at them expectantly, but Raphael is already there like he said he would be.

"Sam, Dean," the doctor says, inclining his head in greeting. "Took you long enough. But I'm guessing that trying to convince Dean not to come took a bit longer than expected."

Raphael's voice sounds as expressionless as ever, but Sam thinks he hears an undercurrent of amusement in his tone that indicates Raphael's not trying to antagonize them, so Sam simply hums in affirmation. The doctor leads them to the elevator and they travel up to the second floor.

Being in the hospital at night is strange. The lights in the hallways are just as bright as they were during the day, but everything just feels more… muted and subdued. He's careful to tread as lightly as he can lest he disturb any of the patients who are no doubt sleeping in their rooms. It's so quiet that he can almost feel the silence like a blanket over his shoulders; none of the three Greys say a word until they reach Raphael's office.

"So, what did you need help with exactly?" Dean asks, his voice a bit quieter than usual.

"Going through records, like I told Sam over the phone," Raphael replies. He points to three cardboard boxes in one corner of the office. "Those files make up about half of the records for Greys that have been treated at the hospital. The other half is in the digital archive, and that's where I'll be looking."

"What are we looking for?" Sam asks, opening one of the boxes. His eyes widen when he takes in the sheer amount of files that are in the box; there have to be hundreds.

"The patient was a Grey who was here at least seven years ago, and his situation was exactly like Gabriel's," Raphael replies. He sits down at his desk and clicks his mouse a few times, bringing his computer to life. "That's all I know about him, which is why I've been having so much trouble locating the file."

Dean rolls his shoulders and looks determinedly at the boxes. "Alright, Sammy, let's get to work."

.

"What?" Zachariah snaps when he answers his phone. It's ass o'clock in the morning and he doesn't appreciate being woken up, especially since he only just got home from his night shift at the hospital.

"Zachariah," a deep voice says from the other end of the line, and Zachariah frowns.

"Who is this?" he demands.

"My name is Svadilfari. I am the cousin of one of your packmates, and I was wondering if you could help me."

"I'm an anesthetist, not a doctor, so if you're hurt you probably want to get into contact with Raphael." He prepares to end the call, but laughter from Svadilfari's end stops him.

"I'm not in need of a doctor, not in the way you assume."

"Then what do you want?" Zachariah asks irritably.

"I want the Grey who's in the ICU currently," the other wolf says, and Zachariah freezes. Every member of his pack knows about Gabriel Shurley and how Raphael left the pack to help him, and no one is happy about it, Zachariah least of all. He sometimes ponders finding some way to get rid of the boy, to make Sam feel the pain that Zachariah felt when Michael was killed, but he's never had the opportunity.

Until now.

A slow smile spreads across his face. "I'm listening."

...

Quick note: for those of you who know anything about old Norse mythology, Svadilfari might be familiar to you. One story tells of how the Aesir, or Asgardians, hired a giant to build a wall around their city or something, and if he finished in a certain time period they'd have to give him the sun, the moon, and one of their goddesses. Thanks to his enormous work horse, the giant managed to work really fast and was definitely going to finish in time.

Since the gods all blamed Loki, they made him go fix it. He decided to distract the horse, Svadilfari, by turning into a mare and leading him off into the forest. The wall isn't complete and the gods don't have to give anything up, and nine months later Loki comes back with a baby horse in his arms. It's pretty implied that Svadilfari raped Loki (unless Loki wanted to have sex with a horse, but that seems a little iffy to me) and since Gabriel's alter ego is Loki, I thought this would be a cool, obscure reference to the show.

(No, Gabriel is not raped in this story. I can barely write a make out scene without getting embarrassed, there's no way I'll be able to write rape are you kidding. Besides, I don't endorse that shit)