Author's Note: Jude: Thanks for the idea! I might use it in a later chapter! I hope you enjoy this one!
Claire sat in the passengers seat while Gabriel drove up to a land development in a nearby city. Two parents had suffered accidental deaths in two days, and Claire was suspicious of why they were dying. After filling Gabriel in on what she thought was going on, their conversation turned to more neutral topics.
"So how is he anyways?"
"Who?"
Claire rolled her eyes. "Castiel."
"He's..." Gabriel was about to say fine when he remembered the circumstances in which his brother had found himself earlier that day. "He's alive."
Claire raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound good."
"It is considering he was dead earlier."
"What happened?" She asked, surprised.
"Trust me when I tell you you don't want to know."
"I think I do."
"Believe me, you don't."
"I do."
"Just because you do doesn't mean I will. Do you really think I want to relive watching my little brother die?"
Claire was quiet.
"Exactly."
"Is that why he couldn't show up?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Okay."
When they reached the development, the two of them went in and started looking into the disappearances.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Castiel sat in the living room, watching over Sam while simultaneously keeping an ear out for Dean. So far it seemed like his son might actually get some sleep tonight. That just left Sam to deal with, who was still playing in the living room.
He glanced at the clock. It was nine thirty. Half an hour past Sam's bedtime. He briefly wondered how the time has got away from him so quickly, but stood up.
"Sammy, it's bedtime."
"Uncle Cas, no! I still have people to save!" He said, gesturing to the toy city and tiny action figures.
"I'm sure they'll still be there for you to save tomorrow. Come on now, if you're late to bed your Daddy will have my head, and I'd like to keep it on my shoulders."
Sam pouted. Cas steeled himself against Sam's puppy dog eyes and grew firm.
"Do I need to carry you to bed like I do your brother?"
Sam just grumbled. Cas sighed internally. He really didn't want to have to do this, but Sam wasn't giving him much of a choice.
"Sammy, you have until the count of three before I call your Daddy and tell him that you've been a naughty boy."
Sam stiffened at the threat, but still didn't move.
"One..." Sam kept staring straight ahead, not looking him in the eye.
"Two..." He shifted his position on the floor, but didn't get up.
"Three." Sam picked up a toy car and threw it at his uncle angrily. Alright. That was it. He scooped Sam up into his arms, ignoring his kicking and thrashing as he carried him to his little boy bedroom. He set Sam down with his nose in a corner. "You stay right there while I call your Daddy." He commanded. Sam started sniffing in reply.
Gabriel was in the middle of an interview when his phone rang. He saw who it was o. The caller ID and excused himself. The Sheriff nodded in reply.
"Hello?"
"Gabriel?"
"Hey there, Cassalope. How's my favorite brother?"
"I'm fine. Sammy, on the other hand, is being a very naughty little boy."
Gabriel sighed. He had anticipated something like this might happen.
"What did he do?"
"Besides refusing to go to bed, he thought it would be fun to throw a toy car at me." Gabriel almost laughed but he knew this was a serious matter.
"Put him on."
"Daddy?" The heartbroken sound was enough to make Gabriel want to rip his heart out, but he held onto his emotionless façade. It didn't work, and he heard his voice soften at the sound of Sam's distress.
"Hey champ. You want to tell me what's going on?"
"I-I..."
"Yes?"
"I didn't wanna go to bed."
"Do you want to tell me why?"
"I was scared." He said, meekly.
"Why were you scared?"
"'Cause you're not here to make all the monsters go away." He whimpered.
So that was the root of the problem.
"It's okay to be scared, buddy. But it's not okay to throw something at your uncle. He's trying to help you. Now you need to go and say you're sorry."
"But-"
"No buts. Now go."
Sam sighed. "Sorry Uncle Cas."
Castiel smiled at him. "It's okay, Sammy. Now go get your PJ's on while I talk to your Daddy.
Sam nodded, and Castiel waited outside the door.
"How's Claire?"
"Good."
"Good."
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure. What do you need?"
"Go into my bedroom, grab one of my shirts from the drawer, and spray it with my Axe body spray."
"Okay... Can I ask why?"
"Give it to him before he goes to sleep. It will make him feel safe."
"Alright. I can do that."
The door opened, and Sam was in his Pajamas, clutching his favorite stuffed dog.
"I'll give you back to him and go do that."
"Thanks bro."
"Anytime." He handed Sam the phone and headed to Gabriel's room. The dresser was against the wall that was the furthest from him, so he walked over to it and opened up the drawers. It took him a minute to figure out which drawer had the shirts in them, but once he found it, he swiped the first one he found from the drawer, kicked it shut with his foot, and went into the en suite bathroom where he found the aforementioned body spray by the sink. He sprayed a little of it on the shirt and left the room with the shirt.
When he got back to Sam's room it was obvious that Gabriel was reading him a bedtime story from memory. He heard Sam giggling from his spot on the bed, so he quickly handed Sam the shirt and waited for the story to end. When it did, Sam yawned and snuggled under the covers.
"Night night Daddy." Sam said into the phone. Gabriel smiled.
"Night night buddy."
Sam handed Cas the phone and quickly fell asleep. Cas shut the door behind him.
"Thanks bro." Said Gabriel, smiling.
"Anytime. Good luck on your hunt, brother."
"Thank you. Call me if you need me."
"Will do. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."