Disclaimer: Don't own it. Sniff…sniff. Characters do not belong to me.
Notes: This story is actually completed, but I'm still editing it, but I didn't want to leave you guys with not getting some Cas in there, so I made sure to edit this one as soon as possible. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 6
Balthazar finally got his feet underneath himself and stumbled towards the box, pushing an immobile Dean out of the way.
"Damn you! He wasn't supposed to be woken up yet! He could go into shock you maniac."
"The shock of what? Waking up? Figuring out that he is destined to become some sick son of a bitch's boy toy! Oh wait, is this one yours? Are you betrothed? Cause we have a Sheppard right here who could—", Dean was cut off as a high pitched wail filled the hold, deafening everyone present. Everyone grabbed for their ears to make sure they didn't fly off. The Impala's very walls vibrated threateningly.
The source of the sound was located when the head of the man in the cryo box appeared. It was him making that noise! Before anyone could react to this discovery, the man scrambled out and tumbled onto the ground and started backing up against the nearest crate, still making that awful shriek. Dean finally gets a decent look at him….all of him, but he is mostly drawn to the wild and wide blue eyes filled with pure terror. Their eyes met for the briefest of moment, but the moment was broken when Dean's view was cut off by Balthazar moving up to the man and grabbing his shaking shoulders.
"Cassy! Castiel! Look at me, look at me! It's all okay, I'm right here. It's okay Cassy. Shh shhh." Balthazar was finally able to get the man, Castiel, to stop screaming. His breathing started to even out a bit, even if it was still a bit sped up. He started to look around him while finally speaking to Balthazar.
"Balthazar? Where…where are we? They wanted to…to make me—"
"Shh Cassy, it's over. They're gone and we are safe now, okay? We are safe here." Balthazar pointedly looked at Dean as he said the last part.
Castiel's eyes were still frantically roaming around the hold, each crew member he laid eyes on; he seemed to stare into their souls with their intensity. But then he spotted Trickster who had been standing so still, never taking his eyes off of Castiel. The shaking man's face scrunched up in confusion.
"G…Gabriel?" stuttered out Castiel.
Balthazar turned his attention to the pilot in the back of the group, and his eyes widened before his whole face darkened.
"Gabriel. It's been a while. I hardly recognized you, brother."
Now Dean had had enough. There was some messed up shit going on and he wanted answers. "What the hell is going on!?" demanded Dean.
Balthazar looked like he was going to answer, but Trickster, Gabriel?, beat him to it.
"Well Dean-o, these are my brothers."
Everyone had moved back to the clinic and stood outside of its entrance at Dean's insistence because he didn't want to be too far from Sam. Only Meg wasn't present because she decided that the fed needed looking after. Castiel had been led to the clinic as well and put on one of the counter beds on the side of the clinic to rest. He sat there now with a blanket around his shoulders to help stop his shivering. They had also assembled some clothes that included cargo pants, a long sleeved shirt that was way too big and showed a bit of collar bone, and the most ridiculous trench coat that had been Chuck's contribution. He was looking at Sam intently, unblinkingly. It was kinda creepy, thought Dean. But he turned from the eerie tableau, and focused on the newly re-united brothers standing across from one another. Balthazar looked like he wanted nothing more than to tear out Trickster's eyes and make him eat them. Gabriel was switching his attention from Castiel to Sam and back.
Bobby was the first to shatter the silence with a gruff, "So does anyone feel like sharing whatever the hell is going on around this nuthouse?"
Balthazar broke in first this time, cutting off Trickster. "My name is Balthazar Novak. The one from the box is my little brother, Castiel Novak. And this here is Gabriel, my older brother who for the last 12 years, we thought was dead." He glared at Gabriel while saying this, never once looking away. "It's your entire fault that we are in this mess, Gabriel. You know that Cassy would look for you! How could you not tell us you were still alive! You don't even know what he has gone though for the last five years. He's different. He's broken. They tore apart our baby brother, and you are responsible."
Gabriel finally spoke up, "I know exactly what they did to him because they did the same to me! I left because I had to. I did it to protect you, both of you! I couldn't go back. No matter how much I wanted to, I could never go back!"
Dean decided it was time to mediate. This was getting nowhere. "Okay, let's catch the rest of the class up to your reading level guys. Start from the beginning. What happened 12 years ago?"
Trickser, no, Gabriel started. "It should start more than 12 years ago. Try 27, when Castiel was born; our sweet baby brother with a heart big enough to swallow the 'verse. Too much heart was always his problem though. Our mother died early on and our father was always busy with his projects, so Balthy and me raised Castiel together. We were very close. We were also very…loyal. To family. So whenever we heard from Pops, we did whatever he asked. Now I'm no angel, but I would have done anything for Dad. So when Dad tells us about this program, called The Host, I signed up right away even though it would require me to go away for a while. I was 22 and leaving behind my 19 and 15 year old brothers behind.
This program wasn't some special business boosting course that I thought it might be. It was some special experimentation compound. And we were the experiments."
The faces around the room blanched at this. Human experimentation was always bad.
He continued, "I was one of their favorites. For seven years my body was a playground for those sick minds. Until I overheard something that broke my heart and let me know that I could never go home again. After that I escaped. I had been downplaying my new skills casting an illusion for the scientists. Just so that they didn't know that they stupidly gave me the tools to get out. I'm sure security was bumped up a bit after I got out, (he glanced at Balthazar with a look of respect) but I chose to disappear after that. I used my tricks to become someone else, and get a job on a Firefly ship and…the rest is history."
He had a sarcastic smile on his face for the whole story. Balthazar seemed to deflate a little, but still wouldn't look his brother in the eye when he started up his side of the story.
"After Gabriel left we never heard from him. And not too long after we stopped hearing from our Father."
Gabriel lifted his gaze to his brother sharply.
"We assumed that both of you were dead. I admit to become a bit of a derelict after that. I gambled away most of our father's fortune and probably caused Cassy a bit more stress than someone his age should have to deal with. I was angry. I got into some shady dealings when the money was gone. I started in special item trading that was a bit less than honest. I still had Castiel with me though. I would never abandon a brother.
But I didn't watch him carefully enough. He had started to look for our father and Gabriel. He wanted the family back together. I only took notice of his activities when he left a note for me saying he had signed up for the program to try and find out what had happened to Gabriel."
A groan was heard from Gabriel at this. Dean could understand. He would punch Sam for doing something so reckless and stupid. His heart panged with this thought and he spared a glance into the clinic at the too still body of his brother.
"I guess that Castiel in there got the same treatment you did, and then some." Bobby directed his question to Gabriel. Gabriel could only shake his head in sadness and regret. Chuck spoke up, completely wrapped up in Balthazar's story, "So what did you do?"
"I didn't hear anything from Castiel after that note, so I knew that something was horribly wrong. So I used the money and connections I had gained from my dealings and I figured out how to break him out of there. It took me five years to do it though. I only got him out a week ago. And…the rest is history." He spared Gabriel a soft smirk at the familiar phrasing.
Anna was the next to speak, "Will he be okay? I mean, what did they do to him?"
Before anyone could answer, an alarm sounded from inside the clinic. One of the machines attached to Sam was going off. Dean ran to his brother's side not caring what had happened to the youngest Novak. Bobby started reading the machine, his expression grave. Dean knew what it meant. Sam was dying and there was no time left.
Each person in the vicinity looked to their feet sending out their prayers. No one noticed Castiel getting down from his bed and softy stepping towards the table that held Sam. Dean was lost in his agony. He was going to lose Sam, and Dean had failed to protect him. It was his job to protect Sam. He had failed his family again. With Dean's emotions swirling around him, he barely registered that Castiel had come up beside him. He turned to Dean and said in a rough but surprisingly gentle voice, "I can try to heal him."
He started to reach out for the bandages, but Dean grabbed his arm. Castiel sent him a confused look, pulled his arm free and reached for the bandage again. Dean was far too distraught to put the effort into stopping him again. When Castiel's hand touched Sam he sucked in a deep breath and then held it while his face became one of intense concentration.
Sweat broke out on his face and his face paled. After a few moments his held breath came out in a large burst and he started gasping like he had run a marathon. Meanwhile the alarm attached to Sam stopped it's beeping. Dean looked startled between Sam, Bobby, and Castiel. Sam started to shift on the table. A huge smile broke out on Dean's face when his brother's eyes peaked open.
"Hey there sleeping beauty. Welcome back to the world of the living." Dean's smile was threatening to split his face in two. Sam's answering smile was enough for everyone in the room to let out the breath they had been holding. Dean's gaze was drawn away by Bobby pulling back the bandages around Sam's middle where a slightly less terrifying wound was left behind. It was still bad, but the blood had stopped gushing out. Dean switched to look at Castiel just in time to see his knees buckle under him and to somewhat slow down his fall to the floor.
From his spot on the ground holding Castiel, Dean saw Gabriel stepped closer to Sam and murmured, "I'll handle the rest baby bro." And he moved his hands towards the wound for the second time that night.
Once in contact the lips of the wound seemed to pull themselves together and the blood disappeared until all that was left was a slightly pink area of new tissue. Gabriel stepped back looking tired and drawn, but he remained vertical.
Only Chuck could figure out what to say after that.
"What just happened?"
At Anna's suggestion, the group moved to the dining area. She thought it was more calming an area than the clinic where Sam almost died. Meg was still absent and Dean was thinking that maybe he should be checking on her soon.
Castiel was propped up on the couch in the corner between Gabriel and Balthazar. He seemed to be contently snoozing away. Chuck was quietly telling Sam of what had happened while he was out. Sam's eyes kept bugging out as the story went on, his sight falling on Gabriel many times with a surprised and hurt expression.
Dean's gaze was bouncing back and forth between Sam and Castiel. His heart was almost ripped from his chest only to be put back in place by the man who now looked like a kid who fell asleep in the backseat of a transcar. But now that Dean's world hadn't ended, he needed to focus on the other catastrophes at hand.
"Tricky…Gabriel, whoever you are, are we safe from the cruiser?"
"As of right now we are about as safe as condoms one month past expiration day. We might be protected we might not, but we are still screwed either way. We need to land soon so that Chuck and I can work on the engine. If we are firing on all cylinders, we stand a chance" Gabriel said with his long absent snarky attitude. Dean appreciated it simply because it was nice to have something even a little familiar.
Balthazar spoke next, "Can I trust that you are not going to turn us in? Cause now that you have a fed trussed up like a turkey and your lackey carving him up for dinner, I think you might be in a tight place as well if you were found with fugitives in your hold…as well as those stolen goods you have chilling down there ( he says with a knowing smirk)."
With a big sigh Dean shook his head, "No one is turning in anybody. We go to Whitefall as planned. Sell of said goods, and you and your brother can get off there."
"Ya can't just leave them there, boy! Do I need to talk to you all about charity?" Bobby pointed out. For such a gruff guy, it was starting to look like he was just a big softy.
"I agree. They need help Dean! And if…Gabriel is also from this Host thing then they have been looking for him for a while. If he has been able to keep off the radar screen that long, then what's two more? You owe them. They saved your brother's life!" Anna said sharply, but not without her usual grace. But Dean wasn't about to be pushed around by them.
"Sam wouldn't have been shot in the first place if it weren't for them!"
Meg chose that moment to saunter in. She saw Sam sitting there completely whole. She only raised an eyebrow.
"So it seems that he only delivered a location to his Garrison friends. He wanted the credit and reward for himself so he was trying to keep it all hush hush until he was picked up. But he has seen all of our faces. He can ID each of us. We need to get rid of him." She was piercing Dean with her gaze for the delivery of the news.
Chuck panicked, "Wait. Do you mean, kill him? We can't do that. Sheppard, there is something in the bible about that, right? We're not supposed to do that! Can we vote on that?"
"Don't be insane Meg! Dean…." Anna seemed appalled at all that was happening.
"I will not sit by here while you brats kill a man!"
"Yeah preacher. What's an old man like you going to do to stop us. You are on this boat to, Garrison won't see you as innocent, even with that fancy collar you got" Meg was starting to piss Dean off.
"There will be no gorramn vote here. One, we are not killing anyone! Two, We do not vote on my ship because my ship is not the gorramn town hall!" Dean shouted. "Everyone shut the hell up! I'm making this up as we go along. But I know that we are not killing anyone."
Gabriel breaks back in angrily, "You know as well as I do that they won't survive a day in Whitefall. You throw them out, you are finding yourself a new pilot. Good luck out running the Garrison without me." Balthazar shifted from his position to look over at his brother with bit more warmth. Like from dry ice, to…normal ice.
"Will everyone shut the fuck up!" Dean was losing control here, and everyone had started shouting again.
"Did you know that a cat's penis is sharply barbed? I know for a fact that the females were not consulted on that."
Everyone finally quieted and looked over to a groggy Castiel who was currently rubbing his eyes of sleep. But the wayward comment did the trick and everyone calmed down a bit. Castiel just looked around with wide innocent eyes.
Dean clears his throat. "Okay, emotions are running a bit high. I don't think that any big decisions should be made this second. Now, Gabriel, unclench your buns and just get us to Whitefall. I have a trade to prep for. Meg, Sam, let's get ready.