Meanwhile, Dean was causing quite a stir in the hospital ward. Unknown to him, the nurses who worked there were sending more angels to humans like Adam for care, not wanting Dean to be forced to leave. They all gossiped to each other, thinking that the two were the sweetest things ever.
Dean refused to leave Castiel's side for one moment, even when the nurses offered him things or had to work on Cas alone. It had been almost two days of him never leaving his side, he never got up once. They'd often peek over at the two of them, Castiel looking sickly and pale as Dean stayed by his side, his ankles crossed over Castiel's, as he sometimes ran a hand through his hair or would talk quietly into his ear, his eyes still shining with bright hope as he looked up at that pale face.
The nurses had taken a quick break and were clustered together, talking. One of them glanced over at Castiel and Dean.
"That's true love for you," One of the nurses said, looking at the two of them. "Did you know that the one on the left used to be human? Not too long ago, either. I heard about it from Leilias."
"I heard about that! He and his brother, they sealed hell, didn't they?"
All the nurses looked over at the two angels and smiled. "How sweet. It would be a shame if Castiel didn't wake up. A real shame." They dispersed again, circling the ward and checking up on their patients.
With each passing hour Dean felt more and more sour and afraid. At first he had tried to just sit there in silence, but now he found himself talking often to his friend, not knowing whether or not it ever got through to him. He didn't want to leave him for one second, but his back was starting to ache and he really wanted to get up and stretch and walk around, but he kept convincing himself not to.
"You want to know something kind of stupid? When I got out of purgatory, all I could find myself eating were burgers. And I think it's kind of because they reminded me of you." He told Castiel quietly, he chuckled and closed his eyes. There was obviously no response from Castiel.
"Please, Cas. You have to try to get out, please try. I might not know what I'm talking about because I had a good dream, but I know that it seems real. Godammit, it felt so real. I had these beautiful kids...and I had to abandon them. But I know that it's not real, it's only a trap."
Dean stroked his hair again and felt his forehead. It was cold and clammy. He closed his eyes and went to watch places on Earth, because it helped him feel better and was a way to occupy his time as he waited for he didn't know how long.
He liked going to crowded ice skating rinks, it was second best to the town Castiel had shown him. He'd already gone back there twice, and he figured he needed to try other places too.
He liked seeing friends holding hands and strangers helping little kids who slipped. He liked that people tried to be happy while they were on the ice, and he loved it when kids made contraband snowballs and would get caught. He liked watching as people finally took off their skates and chatted happily with those around him.
But yet again, he found himself returning to their little town afterwards. That would make it three times in the past two days.
It was raining this time, quite hard, as the town was illuminated under a bright gray-white sky and water pounded down on the roads and rushed down the edges of the sidewalks. Barely anyone was out and about today, and most window lights were on. Dean stood underneath the awning of the coffee shop, listening to the rain patter down on it.
"Why do you come here so often?" He heard a soft, aged voice pipe up from behind him. He spun around and saw an older woman, dressed in shabby clothes with frazzled hair. She looked homeless or at least extremely poor, and had taken shelter under the awning.
"Yes, I'm talking to you dear. People in this town already think I'm crazy. So why don't you sit down and we'll chat? You seem worried."
Dean came and sat down slowly. He looked into her face, which didn't seem like anything special. But for some reason she was one of the humans who could see and hear angels.
"You've got lovely wings," she smiled at him, tightening her dirty coat around her at a gust of wind.
"Thanks." Dean replied, his mind already beginning to return with worry for Cas. Maybe having a good old two-sided conversation would be good for him. He hadn't had anyone talk back to him in days.
"Is something going to happen here? Is that why you come here so often?" The woman asked softly, looking a bit fearful.
"Oh, no. Nothing's going to happen. It's just that this used to be my friend's favorite place to come. And he's very sick right now, and I guess coming here helps me feel closer to him." Dean admitted, looking out to the rain blowing down sideways and hammering the streets, scrubbing away all the filth. He was happy he could still smell that rainy scent.
"Ah. That dark haired fellow, always dressed so professionally. Is that who you're talking about?"
Dean was surprised she'd known.
"Yeah. He's not doing so well," Dean said, feeling a rush in his nose when he said it aloud. Damn, he was scared.
"I've been living here twenty years and I always saw him pop in sometimes. Then, I saw he brought a friend a few days ago. Then, I've seen more of you in the past couple of days than I've seen of him in five years. So, I had to ask."
Dean felt a little embarrassed that he'd been caught in the act.
"You seem to really care about him." The lady said softly, smiling at him.
"I do," Dean replied, wanting to say more. It was kind of hard to know where they stood, Dean didn't know if Cas was angry at him for the way he'd lashed out at him. He didn't know if they would be considered boyfriends... Dean didn't like that word at all. It made him seem like a lovesick teenage girl. No, he felt like they had something more important than that. Finally, he finished his sentence. "I'm kind of in love with him."
The lady smiled a huge smile, revealing that her teeth were peculiarly straight and beautiful. "Oh, dear. How wonderful!"
Dean found it strange that the second person he'd ever told about his new relationship was a homeless stranger. He smiled internally.
"I do hope he gets better. I'll probably be seeing you again," she said, flashing him that smile. She could have been pretty if she cleaned up a little. She seemed like she would be a pleasant little old lady. He did feel a little bit better after talking to someone. She had been so kind too.
Dean returned softly back to the ward as the little town just seemed to fade away around him. He looked into Cas's face again, not expecting it to change. The nurses actually kept time here, it was important when determining how long things would take. And it had been almost two and a half days that Cas hadn't shown any signs of waking. Dean felt regret stirring deep within his stomach. He felt like such an idiot for pushing Cas away when he'd finally remembered. He wished it could have been less hard to admit to himself so that he would have had more time with Cas before all this happened, they'd just forgiven each other, and Dean hoped that wasn't the last thing he'd ever do with Cas.
He saw his eyelids stir. Dean's whole body went rigid with shock, which hurt his spine and tailbone. He guessed that it probably hurt because he'd done nothing but lie around for the past two and a half days also.
Dean thought for a second he'd imagined the tiny crinkling on his eyelids, because nothing happened for a little bit after that. But then, it happened again. They were twitching ever so slightly, struggling to lift like they weighed a thousand pounds.
"Cas," Dean said quietly, reaching out to run his fingers gently through his hair. "Cas, wake up. I'm right here."
Dean began to see just the tiniest of openings as his eyelashes wavered like a butterfly's wings. Finally, he put out that final push, folding open his eyelids and looking right at Dean with those deep blue eyes that he hadn't seen in days.
Dean's face broke immediately into a huge smile and he felt like his chest was puffing up so quickly it might burst. He kept his hand on the side of Castiel's head, and he softly leaned in and gave him a kiss right on the lips. It took a second for Cas to get the strength to respond, but he weakly kissed back, extending his neck and pushing into Dean. Dean pulled away softly and smiled at him. He felt tears coming to his eyes as he looked at him.
"How are you feeling?" Dean asked gently, not wanting to look away from his face.
"Like hell," Cas graveled, blinking slowly and looking around. He seemed exhausted. "But that was nice."
Dean smiled again, reaching out and holding one of Cas's hands lightly. "Cas, I told Sam." He said, stretching his dark gold wings to try and stretch out his back.
"That's wonderful," He replied softly, blinking slowly again. He was silent for a moment, and it was clear that he was still very tired and it was hard for him to talk. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, coming up next to Dean and resting his head on his shoulder. He still didn't look so good; his face was extremely pale and shone with a sheen of cold sweat.
"Dean," he suddenly choked out, scared. He rushed to roll to the side of the bed and started retching. "Cas? Cas, are you okay?" Dean quickly got up and sat by the edge of the bed with him. Cas hunched his back as he gagged, and silver blood poured from his throat and splattered onto the floor.
"Cas! Holy shit! Nurse!" Dean rubbed his back gently and looked around for a nurse. "It's going to be okay, bud. Just hang on." Castiel dry heaved one more time and sat up, leaning exhaustedly onto Dean and resting his head on his shoulder. This seemed to be one of his favorite places to be.
"Am I going to get better?" He asked quietly, holding one of Dean's hands with a clammy one of his.
"Yes, I promise." Dean said, leaning his cheek on his head of hair. It was gross and moist, but Cas was comforted by it so he kept it there.
"His mind is still in shock," one of the nurses said calmly, coming up to them. "His mind will try to do functions to clear his body of toxins, because it cannot differentiate between physical or mental illness at this point." She examined Castiel, taking his limp head between her hands and looking at his bloodless skin and glazed eyes that were struggling to stay open. Castiel groaned and his head lolled, finally resting on Dean's shoulder again.
"Is he going to be okay?" Dean asked, comfortingly squeezing his hand.
The nurse was taking something out of her pocket, not meeting Dean's eyes. "I think so. Just give him some time. He needs rest." She brought out a cube of glowing white, holding it with a pair of silver tongs.
"Here. Give me his hand," She said, and Dean lifted the heavy arm to extend Castiel's clammy palm. She put the cube in it, and it started to melt like dry ice, the wisps of white swirling off it instantly absorbing into his skin.
"Condensed healing energy. It may or may not help, but we can try." Dean curled Cas's fingers so he could grip onto it. "And here, just in case." She handed him a wooden bowl. "Thank you," He said, looking straight at the nurse. She gave him a reassuring smile and was on her way.
"Ughhh. I don't feel so good," Castiel groaned, slurring his words.
"Do you want to lie down?" Dean asked, surprised at how nice he sounded. He wasn't usually Mr. Sweetheart.
"No, no. It makes it worse," Castiel said pitifully, and Dean gave him the wooden bowl, which he gripped onto weakly. "I want to listen, Dean. Tell me about your dream. Tell me about the kids."
Dean felt his chest stir. "They were the most beautiful kids I've ever seen. There was the oldest, he was five. God, he was beautiful. He had these green eyes and black hair. Would have been a lady killer, that's for sure. Robbie, that was his name. Robert John Winchester."
"What a nice name," Castiel said vacantly. He coughed and retched, a tiny viscous bit of silver fell into the bowl. Dean rubbed his back and pressed his lips together. "Sure you want me to keep talking?" Dean said quietly. "Please," Castiel said, leaning his head back again.
"You should have seen the way he treated his little brother, Cas. He was such a good boy. Leoniel Samuel, that was the little brother. He had dark blonde hair and freckles, and these huge blue eyes. He was three, but such a little baby like Sammy was. Then there was baby Mary Ellen. She looked like my mom, with gorgeous sky blue eyes and blonde hair. She was the most beautiful little girl," Dean felt tears come to his eyes. He wished he had stayed. He really really wished he had stayed, even now.
"They were mine too, weren't they?" Cas asked softly. Dean realized how strange that might sound. He nodded, feeling his tears spill out again. They weren't real. They would never be real, ever. He needed to move on. But the looks on their faces when he left, the way Robbie made sure to grab Leo's hand before coming up to him, he couldn't believe how clear the details had been.
Dean looked over, and saw that Cas was crying too. Tears slipped down his pale face quickly, as it had already been moist and tears slid easily down its surface.
"Why are you crying?" Dean asked, wiping a tear away with his thumb.
"I..I don't know." He said, looking up at Dean. "I'm no shit Sherlock." Dean got it right away; he meant he was a Sherlock with no shit, or a bad detective. In other words, another way to say 'I don't know.' But Dean couldn't help but break into a smile at the completely wrong context.
"Did you just make a joke?" He asked happily, laughing. Castiel began laughing too, and everyone around them must have thought they were crazy from switching from crying to laughing in the blink of an eye. He realized how silly it was to cry over a stupid dream.
They looked at each other and kept laughing, Castiel chuckled and buried his head into Dean's shoulder, embarrassed by his failed attempt at a joke. When he finally looked up, Dean was looking at him with a big smile.
"I feel much better now." Castiel said, assuring him.
"Let's go home, Cas. I'm getting sick of it here." Dean said, slowly making his way off the edge of the bed, stretching his legs finally. His tailbone and lower spine throbbed, but he was sure it was only temporary. It had fallen asleep or something.
Dean carefully helped Cas climb off the bed. "Can you stand?" He asked, surprising himself again at how caring he sounded. "I think so," he replied, swaying a little. "I might need a little help."
Dean took his hand and he leaned just a little on him, they both had accomplished smiles on like they'd just finished a marathon.
Suddenly, the whole ward was filled with clapping and cheering. Everywhere they looked, nurses smiled at them and cheered. All of them had been rooting for them from the sidelines, unknown to Dean. He remebered what he had said before- that he was not leaving here unless Cas was with him. Dean felt his face get a little hot from all the attention, but he couldn't stop smiling.
"Thank you for all your help," Dean told the lady at the sign in once they'd made it to the entrance, passing everyone who had been rooting for them.
She laughed. "Don't thank me. You did most of it yourself. Why else do you think they're clapping? That was really something," She flashed them a smile, before they finally disappeared. A few nurses had gotten a little misty eyed and hugged one another, taking a moment to be happy for them before they finally got back to work.
"Sam. Sam, please get up." Samandriel begged his older brother, gently pushing his shoulder. Sam had curled up on the cabin's bed and hadn't moved much, his head-splitting headache had prevented him from being able to visit the hospital. The two brothers had curled up together, trying to endure their first additions together as peacefully as possible.
"Sam." He said again, and Sam finally opened his eyes and screwed up his face.
"You okay, bud?" He asked, gripping onto his head. At least it was only painful the first time, because this really sucked.
"I...I think it's over." Samandriel said, getting a hold of Sam's huge arm with two of his, trying to pull him up with all his strength.
Sam rubbed his forehead one last time and finally got a look at his baby brother. Where nothing had been yesterday, there was a long-haired dog tail, pure white to match his wings, looking like a Samoyed's. Sam broke into a smile. It was pretty cute.
Samandriel saw that he was smiling and his tail wagged happily. Okay, it was really cute.
"Gabriel said to go to his tent, remember?" Samandriel reminded him. They both wondered what he was going to do, how this ceremony he was talking about was going to happen.
"Okay, little puppy. Let's go," Sam laughed, scooping up Samandriel who had his arms over his head, begging to be picked up.
"Hey! Now I get to make fun of yours," Samandriel piped up, frowning. "And I like it."
Sam laughed. "I like it too, bud."
They began walking over to the cabin, and Sam was squinting hard from the bright white light that was hurting his head. He picked up his long legs to try and get there as soon as possible. He set Samandriel down on the steps and went up to the entrance.
They pushed into the cabin and Gabriel stood up, smiling. "Ah. I figured it would be any day now. Me and Michael here were putting bets on what it was going to be."
Michael waved that comment away. "No, we weren't. Stop lying, Gabe."
Gabriel rolled his eyes at his older brother for giving him away.
"Let me see," Gabriel said with a smile as Samandriel peeked out from behind Sam's leg. He came forward and Gabriel grinned.
"I knew it would be something like that. Now, come here. Let me tell you how this works." Samandriel went to sit on his lap, wagging that little white tail.
"So, I, as an archangel, am going to officially welcome you into our family. Then I'll temporarily give you a ringlet to show that in the next few days, you'll be getting blessings from every angel you meet. After your ringlet fades, then it's over and you're officially inaugurated."
"But what do you mean by blessing?" Samandriel asked, and Sam was glad he did because he was extremely confused as well.
"Just like this," Gabriel said, and lightly touched the kid's forehead with two fingers.
"That's it?" Samandriel asked, looking skeptical.
"It feels different once I give you the ringlet. Now, come on, kid. Let's go get this over with, hm?"
A few hours later, a small crowd had come to watch Samandriel's First Addition ceremony as they stood outside. Sam now understood what he meant by bar mitzvah, and it wasn't the fun party afterwards that he was talking about. Gabriel spoke in low tones in perfect Enochian as he held his hand to Samandriel's forehead. It was mainly a speech, but sometimes he would ask Samandriel a yes or no question. This part didn't last too long, as the whole ceremony wasn't that long either.
Gabriel finished talking, took his hand off of the kid's forehead and smiled. Welcome to your family, Samandriel. He said, and the language was easily understood by Sam, but he could tell right away it wasn't english or Enochian. It sounded very rich and full, and if Enochian sounded like lace this sounded like richly carved baroque columns and inhumanly beautiful art. It sounded like a language God would speak, Sam thought to himself.
Gabriel pinched his thumb and pointer finger together, and swiftly drew them in a quick circle around Samandriel's head. An extremely thin, gold glowing line appeared when his fingers passed with a metally sound, like a knife sharpening or a sword being drawn. The little boy looked up with wonder in his bright gray eyes.
The angels finally cheered, and Samandriel beamed and wagged that little tail. Gabriel gently pushed him toward the crowd, where angels immediately began touching his forehead, patting him on the back and congratulating him before leaving. Sam lost him in the crowd for a few minutes before he finally spotted him again, and the little kid made straight for Sam, running into his arms and smiling extremely widely. A few angels who were about to give him blessing chuckled and changed directions, coming up and touching his head lightly as Sam held him. He noticed that Samandriel got a look of glee every time he got a new blessing.
"What does that feel like?" He asked, wondering what the whole ceremony would be like in first person. He'd probably find out in a few days, as his head was throbbing painfully.
"Like a huge hug. Or that feeling you get in your chest when something makes you really happy," the kid tried to explain. "And I feel like I want to get as many as possible, and I feel like I really meet every one who does personally."
Sam tried it himself, bringing his hand up and touching him right between the eyebrows with two fingers. Samandriel smiled and pulled himself into a hug.
"I'm glad that I was told to find you and Dean. And I'm glad that you're in my family now." Sam smiled and smoothed his hair down. He was glad too.
He closed his eyes, trying to distract himself from his throbbing head, telling himself it would be over any day now. But what about Dean? He wondered how he was holding up. He'd get pretty freaked out if he didn't get back in time.
"I think I need to go and lie down," Sam said, touching his head gingerly at a particularly harsh rush of pain. He ran his hand through his hair and felt that his skin had began to bulge slightly above his ears. He shuddered, still a tiny bit freaked out, naturally. But after what he saw today, he felt it wouldn't be too bad in the end.
"Let's go home," Samandriel agreed, and Sam stood up slowly, sliding the kid off of his lap. On the way back to their cabin, a lot of angels passed by Samandriel, pausing to smile and give him their blessing.
"I can't wait for your turn, Sam! This is so exciting. I wonder what is going to happen to you?" He said, happily squeezing Sam's hand. Sam shut his eyes and rubbed his head again, almost tripping up the steps to their cabin.
He got inside and collapsed on the bed right away, holding his head in his arms.
"Are you okay, Sam?" Samandriel said quietly, gently touching him on the arm. "I could stay and help," He said sadly, trying to shoot off his tiny amount of healing energy, which didn't help at all.
"I'll be fine, Andy. Why don't you go out and meet more brothers and sisters?" Sam said softly, trying to block out all light and closing his eyes tightly.
"Okay, I-"
Suddenly there was a crash and Sam knew without looking that it had to be Castiel and Dean. He really didn't want to get out of his position, but he unfolded his arms and went to look.
The two of them were holding hands, smiling and talking about something about cheers. Sam wanted to get up and hug them, but his head hurt so damn much. He tried to push through the pain and stumbled to get over to them. He wrapped them in a big hug and squinted to look at their faces.
"I'm so happy to see you're okay," He said, reaching up to touch his head again.
"You alright, Sam?" Dean asked, clearly worn out from so many days spent making sure Castiel was okay.
"It's a long story," Sam said, curling back up on the bed and shielding his head.
"Anything hurt on you?" He asked quietly. Dean wondered if he meant his sore back.
"I guess my back does. But that's just because I haven't stood in the past three days," He said, trying to convince himself. Sam shook his head. "No Dean, it's different. Ask Gabe. Or ask Cas." He turned over, clearly not wanting to be disturbed.
Dean looked to where Castiel was. He had pulled Samandriel into his lap, and was smiling as he touched two fingers to his forehead.
"How exciting, Samandriel." He said, and that was when Dean noticed something white and moving that weren't his wings.
"What is that?" Dean asked, pointing to the white dog tail.
Sam groaned from behind him, angry at the loud noise.
"Oh, my. It might take a while to explain to you." Cas said, looking up at Dean and understanding. "Your back hurt in the hospital but you never told me, did you?"
Dean nodded, but didn't see how this had to do with anything.
"By why does he have a tail? And what is that gold thing? And why did you touch him like that?"
Sam was irritated as Castiel sat down and told Dean everything. He found that he could not sit down straight without being in extreme pain, so he opted to lie on the couch. Sam winced at the sharp noises when Dean uttered "what?" or "are you kidding me?"
"Does every angel go through this?" Dean asked, glancing back at Sam as he was curled in pain.
"Yes," Castiel replied, bouncing Andy on his knee lightly as the kid laughed and made a game of how far he could dangle without being thrown off.
"So even you went through it?" He asked, jumping to conclusions. "So what happened to you?"
Cas smiled, thinking back. "Wow, it was such a long, long time ago. I believe for me it was ram horns." He said, smiling serenely as he thought back to the days of when he had been so little.
Dean tried to picture a two or three year old Cas with ram horns sprouting from his dark hair and throwing him off balance. He laughed aloud.
"Is there any way to tell what will happen to me or Sam?" He asked, glancing at Sam again.
"No. But you'll be finished in a few days."
Dean went over to Sam, gently touching his arm.
"How you holding up, bud?" He asked in a voice of normal volume.
"Shut up!" Sam groaned, turning away from him again.
"Sheesh. So-rry."
Dean found that it would definitely be hard to sit down now, not realizing how bad it had gotten because he'd done nothing but lie down before. He went to lie down on the couch, curling in the most comfortable way for his aching spine and throbbing tailbone. He closed his eyes and thought for a second.
Coming back here reminded him of when Cas had shown him the city, when he had tried to apologize. He spoke up, he needed to tell him what he thought.
"Cas, I just wanted to say I'm sorry again. I shouldn't have pushed you away like that. But I know now that this is who I am, even though it was hard to admit to myself at first. Thank you for being so patient with me," He said, feeling his heart give a little squeeze. Cas was so good to him, he couldn't imagine how a jerk like him could ever get a guy as sweet as him.
"Of course," Castiel said, his eyes crinkling in little lines. He walked over and gently touched Dean's shoulder, as Dean closed his eyes and felt his lower spine throb painfully.
"Take care of yourself and Sam, okay? It will be over soon." Castiel said, trying to be reassuring. Dean kept his eyes closed and nodded. He had been so occupied with caring for Cas that it had not felt as bad as it really was until now.
Castiel took Samandriel by the hand, and started to lead him to the door. Dean heard the footsteps pause at the entrance, he was probably looking back at Sam and Dean. Dean breathed as slowly in and out as he could, each push of his diaphragm lead to a dull pang in his spine.
"I love you," Castiel called to Dean, in his calm and beautifully sweet voice.
Dean's face immediately broke into a huge smile. He felt his chest puff up and his face get a little hot.
"I love you too, Cas." He replied, that feeling in his chest coming clearly through his words. God, he was so happy. He made him so fucking happy. He sighed happily, feeling like his smile wouldn't go away for a while. The footsteps went out the door, and the flaps fell back into place. Dean heard the faintest of crunching of snow, and a female voice. "Congratulations, Samandriel! Welcome to the family," she said, and Dean heard Andy pipe up a thank you in his little high-pitched voice. That fuzzy feeling still didn't leave Dean's chest.
"God, you're lovedrunk." Sam joked from the back of the room, and Dean smiled even wider.
"Shut the fuck up, Sam." He replied, but he was sounding like he was about to burst into laughter.
"Seriously, you should see the crap you're putting out into the air. It's sickening," Sam said sarcastically, and Dean couldn't help but laugh.
"He really makes you happy, doesn't he Dean?" Sam asked quietly.
"Yeah," Dean replied, turning again to try and reposition his spine.
"You deserve to be happy, Dean. I watched you drink and sleep around with women and get more sad each time in some vicious cycle. I'm glad you finally found that person." Sam said genuinely, and Dean was a little surprised that he had noticed how much he had been hurting back then.
"Thanks, Sammy. That means a lot." The two were quiet for a while. Poor Sam had spoken up even though it must have really hurt his head to do so. But he'd really wanted to tell Dean how happy he was for him. Dean smiled to himself, not minding the pain for a second. He was happier than he'd been in a long, long time. Things were finally falling into place for him.
Sam and Dean stood side by side in Gabriel's tent. Gabriel was grinning at them, drumming his fingers together. "I'm surprised you both developed yours earlier than most kids. And at the exact same time, how peculiar. It must have to do with your connection to each other."
Samandriel had come inside and was sitting on Michael's lap, smiling at his two older/younger brothers. Time and becoming angels had sort of screwed around with that concept. Michael looked almost back to a hundred percent,his six white wings looked almost completely smoothed out, and he was smiling more easily these days. Silver blood didn't leak out of his wounds anymore, and he mostly just had thick scars to show for what had happened.
"Nice headgear, Bullwinkle." Dean said under his breath, teasing Sam.
"Yeah, well, nice tail Tigger." Sam quipped back, giving Dean a sideways glance and a smirk.
"Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" Dean teased.
"Rudolph's a reindeer, smartass." Sam laughed. "But I heard he likes cereal. Something about it being grrreat?"
"Shut up, Sam!" Dean said, whipping his long, striped orange-and-black tail to hit Sam lightly on the back.
"Whatever you say, Hobbes." Sam replied, surpressing a huge laughing fit.
"Tigers have way more pop culture references than mooses, Sam! No fair!" He whipped him playfully with his tail again. It was kind of fun. "Bitch."
"Jerk," Sam replied, punching him lightly on the shoulder. They were both sort of just happy that the pain had ended and they weren't miserable anymore.
"Would you two be quiet for one damn second? I need to ask you something important." Gabriel interrupted their playful fight, looking at them with a heavy glance.
"Michael has asked to be the one to lead both of your ceremonies. He feels that he needs the opportunity to try and reconcile with both of you, and he dosen't want to loose touch with his newest brothers and sisters." Gabriel explained.
The brothers exchanged a more serious glance. Michael had obviously wronged them in the past, big time. But Sam looked into his face now and didn't see anything bad, he seemed eager to help his family again after being exiled to the cage. And Sam could tell he really loved and cared for every member of his family.
"I guess that's alright." Dean said, speaking up before Sam could say anything. Michael smiled and nodded at him. "Thank you, Dean. And I'm proud to welcome you to the family as well."
"But he better not give me a dumb name," Dean said under his breath just to Sam. Sam burst out laughing.
"Alright, let's get this over with, you two. There's still a war going on, remember?"
Sam and Dean had quite a crowd when it came down to it. It was mainly because most angels wanted to see the esteemed brothers, who had supposedly been destined to be tools for the apocalypse, and who had gone from humans to angels after being the ones to seal hell.
Many angels knew about them, it's not exactly easy to be in the shadows after a track record like that. Others just thought that this was going to turn into an event that would still be talked about a long time from now. Not many saints chose to be angels, after all. And there had certainly not been blood brothers before.
"We are here today to welcome these two angels officially into our family and hearts." Michael started, looking at them both almost proudly with his gemstone irises. He extended both of his palms to rest on the brother's foreheads, and they both solemnly closed their eyes and listened to his speech, sometimes saying yes or no in unison.
Michael went on in his pleasently low, rolling voice about angel values and what it meant to be in a community that doubled as a family. He talked about how angels had to be focused watchdogs in one moment and fierce warriors the next.
He said a few more things and finally took his hands off of their foreheads. He looked at both of them, a smile crinkling his eyes up. He pressed his fingers together and came up to Sam.
Welcome to your family, Samuel. Michael said in that rich, full language, which sent pleasant shivers down his spine. He closed his eyes and slightly dipped his head, hearing a sound like a sharpening knife move in a 360 arc aroud his head. He opened his eyes when the crowd cheered, seeing a golden thread just in the corner of his eye.
Michael moved to Dean, and put a hand on his shoulder before speaking up. Sam understood. He had been destined to be Michael's sword, but now he would be calling him a brother.
Michael moved to stand in front of Dean, who tipped his head down slowly, expecting him to draw his ringlet. Michael pinched his fingers together and smiled genuinely.
Welcome to your family, Deanaeus. He quickly circled Dean's head, leaving behind that golden thread-like ring. Dean felt a shiver down his spine from the beautiful, old language, but upon hearing his real name for the first time as well. Dee-nay-ous. He liked the way that sounded, he liked that he felt like it fit him.
The crowd cheered again, loudly for both of them this time. Castiel stood as close to the front as he could, as he cheered loudly and clapped. Samandriel had begged him to sit on his shoulders so he would be able to see. The kid was trying to make a much noise as possible as he smiled, cheered and clapped, his wings shuffling happily and his tail whipping from side to side. His ringlet was barely there anymore, and it had faded so that it was only visible under some light or in some angles, like a spider's web. Calcifer stood in the very front, he was clapping quickly and grinnning. He liked the two person ceremony, he wanted to consider it for his twins. Gabriel was just a few people away, and he was smirking and slow clapping. Winchesters. Was there anything they wouldn't do?
Dean and Sam smiled shyly and went straight into the jubilant crowd, who began happily blessing them and patting them on the backs. Sam lost sight of Dean for a while, he was lost in the sea of people. But when they locked eyes again, they instantly understood each other. Dean winked, grinning, before he was swallowed up by the crowd reaching for his forehead. Dean thought about how far Sam had come since Earth. He'd been the boy with the demon blood, and look how far he'd come. Sam was smiling so greatly with an open mouth as so many bumped into him and rushed to give him their blessing. Dean thought about how far they'd both come.
"Deanaeus," He heard a familiar voice say from behind him. He turned around to see Cas standing there with Andy on his shoulders. Cas leaned playfully over and Samandriel stretched to touch Dean's forehead with two tiny fingers.
"I like your name, Dean!" He piped up, smiling.
"As do I. Congratulations," Castiel said, touching Dean's head. Dean did a playful smile that wrinkled his nose, and slid his hand down Cas's arm to hold his hand, but was ripped away by the enthusiastic loud crowd. Cas felt himself feeling proud of Dean as he laughed and accepted praise from all the other angels. They'd all needed a celebration like this. Good times would get harder to come by as the final battle loomed on the horizon.
Hello! I hope you liked this chapter, which is actually happy for a change. It's a good break between, because the main conflict is going to start getting resolved in the next few chapters. Also, congrats to Phonebox Angel! I wrote that part even before you reviewed! I was really surprised you'd guessed right! Thanks everyone for reading and favoriting my story! Please take a second to review :)