It was a long and grueling two weeks before Dean was let out of the hospital. Since he was constantly being poked and prodded by doctors there wasn't much time allowed for Cas to heal him. So he had to wait until they were out to do anything. Since Castiel hadn't been able to heal him, Dean hadn't improved very much. The most progress made was that the bruises on his ribs had begun to heal. As for Dean himself, he didn't understand what was going on half the time. Although Cas had to give him credit for keeping it together for that long. When the day finally came for them to check out, everyone was relieved.

Dean was wheeled out in a wheelchair by Sam, who brought him to an empty part of the parking lot where Cas was waiting. He picked Dean up into his arms and waited for Sam to return before he laid a hand on his shoulder and teleported them back to the cabin. When they arrived, Gabriel was waiting inside. He had warded the place against angels but managed to make a sort of security system. The system would disarm once it touched Castiel's or Gabriel's grace. Once inside, it would automatically lock again. Once Castiel saw this, he stared at his brother incredulously. Gabriel just smirked at the look on his face.

"What? I had to do something while you were gone."

And that was the end of the subject.

Once inside, Cas felt Dean's body relax. He hadn't noticed it before but his child had been incredibly tense. Now he seemed to be relaxed for the first time in weeks.

"Home sweet home." Said Castiel as Dean snuggled up to him.

He took him to the nursery to get him changed into a diaper and some warmer clothes. Dean seemed happy to be back home. Sam, who had come into the house after them, went into the living room, plopped on the couch, and turned on the TV.

Once Dean was changed, Castiel took him into the living room and set him down in his playpen with some of his favorite toys. He figured that would hold his attention long enough for him to get lunch ready. When he turned his back to go into the kitchen, however, he heard a whimpering behind him and sighed. He should have known that it wasn't going to be that easy. He snapped his fingers and levitated the playpen until it was in the kitchen with him. Dean seemed satisfied with the solution and started to play with his toys while Castiel started trying to cook.

At first Gabriel decided to watch just for kicks. And the sight of his brother trying to make sense of human food was incredibly amusing, but then it got to the point where it was just depressing. So Gabriel took pity on his brother and took over. Having been on earth for eons longer than his brother, he had learned to cook (mostly for the ladies) and was actually quite good at it. So he pushed his brother aside and started showing him how to cook something other than pasta.

Gabriel decided to show him how to make some burgers in a skillet for lunch with a potato salad on the side. It was something simple that he could make for pretty much any meal. And this also taught Castiel how to cook meat. Now that he knew how to do that, dozens more recipes were opened to him.

When the burgers were done, they all sat down at the kitchen table and ate. Castiel almost didn't until he remembered how much his vessel Jimmy loved red meat. Even though he didn't need to eat, he decided to do so for pleasure, all the while feeding Dean bites of his burger. While they ate, Gabriel filled them all in about what Asteraoth had told him while Dean was in the hospital.

As it turned out, Asteraoth had been slowly gathering a following over the centuries. He had been telling his followers about the great Azrael, archangel of death, and how his powers could be used to improve heaven. So Asteraoth had broken him free from heaven's jail after converting the guards to followers. He had met Azrael with a small army of angels ready to do whatever he commanded. Azrael was pleased and impressed with Asteraoth's loyalty, so he had dubbed him his second in command (although even that position didn't make him privy to all of Azrael's secrets.) and had assigned him one of the greatest tasks in his Arsenal: tracking down Castiel and finding out how he had conquered heaven. He was the only one who had done so and lived, so Azrael wanted to find out everything he could about his methods. That was why he had been tortured. To find out what he had done to take over heaven. When Asteraoth had been satisfied with the answers he was given, he left Castiel, thinking Azrael would send some lesser soldiers to clean up his mess, but Azrael had demanded that he do it himself. When Asteraoth asked why he should do it, Azrael never answered him. So he had come back to finish the job, and that's when he had been caught.

"Where is Asteraoth now?" Castiel asked his brother.

"He's back in one of my hiding places. Don't worry. He won't be found for a long time."

"And why is that?"

"Because I carved sigils into his chest to keep him from being found."

"What about Angel radio?"

"The reception down there is terrible. That spot is where I go when I want to be left alone with my thoughts. He isn't tapping into anything while he's locked down there."

"Did you leave him there alone?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Do you really think I'm that stupid, Cassie? Of course not. A buddy of mine owes me a favor, so he's on watch dog duty."

For once it seemed like things were under control.

When lunch was over, Castiel carried a sleepy Dean back to the nursery and laid him into his crib for a nap.