"Gabriel." Castiel gasped.
"The one and only."
"What -" Castiel tried to move again, only to jerk back when agonizing pain shot from his head all the way down to his spine. "What is this?" He gasped. He wasn't familiar with the magic that had bound him, and he had been around for a long time. A really long time.
"A safety measure." Gabriel replied, stepping forward and snapping his fingers. The room lit up, but not by much. Castiel was able to see the circle that he was caught in, surrounded by symbols that he didn't recognize.
"And why would you need one?" Castiel asked, suddenly nervous. His brother's intentions were shady at the best of times, and having lived among humans for such a length of time made him unpredictable. His archangel status didn't help much, either.
"Because, Castiel, I am trying to help you. And I know how much you like to follow orders." A lollipop materialized in his hand; he walked over to the wall and leaned against it, unwrapping the lolly and sticking it in his mouth. He crumpled up the wrapper and looked up at Castiel.
"Help me with what, exactly?"
Gabriel sighed. "You really are blind, aren't you."
A giant TV popped into existence a few feet in front of Cas, with an accompanying Lay-z Boy next to him. Gabriel sauntered over and plopped himself into it, exhaling loudly and grabbing a TV remote off the arm of the chair. He pointed it at the flatscreen and it clicked on, and suddenly squabbling voices filled the air as a program started up in the middle of an episode.
"What is this?" Castiel ground out, glancing up at his brother from the corner of his eye.
"Say Yes To The Dress." Gabe replied, pulling the lollipop out of his mouth with a wet 'pop' before licking it and sticking it back in. Cas grimaced.
"Are you going to inform me of why I was brought and bound here? Or are you going to keep watching this … this … reality television?" He growled, feeling the body that he was inhabiting begin to cramp up, in a disconnected sort of way. He was still on his knees, and he was having trouble not bowing his head. The glowing golden bonds were still wrapped around his wrists and ankles, and the tiniest movement of his limbs caused pain to shoot up his spine.
"I think I'm gonna finish this episode first."
So there the two angels sat (or crouched, in Castiel's case), watching female humans bicker over white dresses that were somehow important in a ceremony that bonded two beings together, usually for a couple years. Castiel found it beautiful, in a twisted sort of way, the weight these women put on fabric that had been stitched and draped a certain way. Gabriel said it was amusing watching them scream at each other over a dress that only one of them would be wearing.
They were ten minutes in before Castiel heard a faint and familiar voice.
"Cas, c'mon. We're ready to go."
"Cas!"
The words left a faint ringing in his ears, and he forgot all about the television show in front of him as his thoughts turned directly to Dean. Dean was waiting for him. Dean needed him. What was he to do?
He was about to plead with Gabriel for his release, but another prayer ripped through him, this one directed to Castiel and Castiel only.
"Castiel, Angel of the Lord, I'm begging for your ass. Get down here already."
He flinched and then gasped, feeling the sharp stabbing pain of the restraints and Dean's disappointment begin to flood the bond. Dean may not have the physical evidence anymore, but when Castiel grabbed him by the shoulder in Hell, he had directed a pulse of grace into Dean's soul, to stop him from struggling. He had inadvertently created a bond, and by doing so, opened Castiel up to human emotions. He had been polluted by it, as Hester had said, and at times despised the thing.
Gabriel had heard Dean's first call, however faintly, and had turned around at Castiel's gasp. He was staring at him, and when Cas opened his eyes again, he cocked his head in question.
"Dean. I need to go to Dean." Castiel gasped, and Gabriel sadly shook his head and got up.
"See, little bro, I'm here to teach you a lesson. And to do that, I have to keep you from leaving." He walked towards the flatscreen, lights dimming slightly as he did so.
Cas watched him with confused eyes. He had no idea what he was supposed to be learning here, other than the fact that Gabriel was damn good at playing dead.
He muted the TV and turned back to Castiel. He grinned, and posed in a sort of - "okay, you got me"- way, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. When Castiel didn't react, he huffed and pointed to the symbols and circle surrounding the younger angel.
"That's an angel trap."
Castiel's eyes widened in disbelief. No, it couldn't possibly be - Cas had no knowledge of angel traps. They simply didn't exist.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and pointed at himself. "Helloo? Archangel? God's first children?" He sighed and let his hand drop. He approached the trap, careful not to step on the symbols.
"You see, Cas, when God first created the archangels, He knew that Lucifer was different. He knew he loved God, and only God, unconditionally. He created him that way mostly on purpose, to see if He was fit to control beings that didn't like control. And He created the angel trap, and once He realized that Lucifer was not going to be as worshipping," The angel shuddered at the word, "or as reverent to our Father's children as we were, He ordered us to try and catch him as best as we could. We all failed of course, or at least that's what He thought, and Lucifer fell into Hell. He erased the knowledge from our minds, and created you guys. You guys were the ultimate children. You worshipped Him like he had wanted, did His work for Him when he was tired.
"But, ya see, I did catch little old Luci. I never told Him, and as he was off creating Earth, it didn't seem right to interrupt. I caught Luci, but then … while I was waiting for Him to take a break from the homo sapiens and whatnot, Lucifer just talked. And talked, and talked, and talked. He was the one who first planted the little seed of free will in my mind." He tapped his temple and started to pace. "I didn't agree with him when it came to the humans, no. I actually liked the little hairless apes. But he warned me, that Father was a perfectionist, and would try and wipe out any little stain that popped up on his spotless white robe. I'll admit it, I was intrigued. I took his advice and wrote down some of the more important spells. Then, after the fall, some bitch named Naomi came and found some of them and burned them, pretty much. The only one I have left is the angel trap."
Castiel's brain was struggling to keep up with the knowledge Gabriel was handing over. It was very well plausible that Gabriel was telling the truth.
"Oh, I'm telling the truth alright." Gabe answered. He looked down at the angel trap again, this time with regret. He winced at every gasp Castiel emitted. He gestured loosely to the circle.
"The reason it … hurts so much is because it's designed for an archangel." He explained, looking vaguely sorry for the pain that Castiel was forced to endure.
"You still haven't explained why I'm here. I need to go to Dean." Cas gasped.
Gabriel sighed and shook his head. He turned on his heel, grabbed the TV remote, and started flipping through channels. "That's why you're here, cupid. You're here because of Dean."
Castiel ignored the cupid comment. "Because … of Dean?"
"Yes, you dumbass! Have you seriously never noticed that you feel human emotions a lot stronger than the rest of us?"
"I thought it was … because of our bond. The one Dean has no knowledge of."
"Yes…" Gabriel pushed, gesticulating wildly with his hands.
"Your trapping me here has something to do with the bond?" Castiel asked, clearly confused again.
" … More or less. You're getting there."
Castiel huffed, frustrated. "I don't understand what Dean, or our bond, has to do with this."
Gabriel sighed and put the remote down, some cartoon playing silently behind him.
"Do you remember Kali? And how I felt for her?"
"Yes.."
"I loved her as much as an angel could. We were created to love Him, and only Him. I could love her, but it was hollow compared to how much I was supposed to love Him. I couldn't love her enough. But you - you little anomaly, Cas. You can love like a human can. You can love someone more than you can love Him."
"And why is this important to why you trapped me here?" Castiel growled, clearly fed up with Gabriel's guessing game. But Gabe wasn't done yet.
"Do you care about Dean, Castiel?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"I …" He frowned and thought for a moment. "It is impossible to gauge how much I care for him."
"Would you die for him?" Gabriel questioned, a glint in his eye.
"I have, already." Was the reply.
"Do you, Castiel, love him?"
This stopped him.
"I - I'm not sure." He whipped his head up to Gabriel, causing him to hiss in pain. "How am I to know that?"
"Do you feel for him what you once felt for our Father?"
" … I believe I do, yes."
"Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!" Confetti began to rain down, disappearing as soon as it hit something solid.
"But I still don't understand."
The confetti stopped entirely.
"You -?!" Gabriel threw a hand to his face, groaning. After a moment, he let his hand drop.
"Okay, look. Would you want to be in a relationship with him? Like, a real, fulfilling relationship? Nothing like this pining from afar shit."
"Human and angel relations are forbidden."
Gabriel stopped mid-word, finger in the air. "Oh. Right, that."
He frowned for a moment, then grinned sheepishly.
"Well, the main reason that was created was because giving birth to nephilim was extremely dangerous, and usually killed the mother." He stopped smiling, his eyes going dark with old memories. Castiel knew what he was thinking about. Gabriel had once had many, many nephilim children.
"But seeing as Dean's a dude, and probably can't get pregnant, this shouldn't be breaking any rules."
Castiel stared at him. "Even so, Dean is only interested in women. I find it hard to believe he would ever be willing to enter a relationship with me."
Gabriel smirked. "Okay, 1) you need to brush up on your Winchester history, and 2) I would suggest you get a new vessel, but I don't think that would fly with them." He stared at his little brother. "Dean cares about you a lot more than you realize. He's just horrible at expressing it." He said softly.
Cas attempted to shake his head, but instead froze up and gasped in pain. A drop of blood slowly dripped down from his nose.
Gabriel returned to flipping through the channels, finally finding the one he wanted. He turned and flopped down onto the Lay-Z Boy, a platter of cheeses materializing in his lap. He unmuted the television, and the purr of the Impala filled the room.
"I'm starting to think the Firebird is better than the Impala." Sam commented, stepping out of the Impala with Dean. Dean looked personally offended, and pet the side of Baby lovingly.
"He didn't mean that baby, you know he didn't."
"What is this?" Castiel gasped, eyes never leaving the screen.
"Channel 153. Otherwise known as Winchester Central."
"He didn't mean that baby, you know he didn't."
Sam sighed and rolled his eyes.
"See, I told you Dean! SEXY IS BETTER THAN BABY!" Jake shouted from a few feet away. They had pulled into some lot, all deciding to go out for lunch to catch up.
"Whatever, you're just jealous!" Dean shouted back, grinning like a madman. Sam stared at him in amazement. He hadn't seen Dean like this in years. Decades, almost.
"Oh, please!" Jake yelled, catching up to them. "Everyone knows Firebirds are way more fabulous than Impalas. And mine's custom."
Dean started making his way towards the diner, and elbowed him in the side. "Whatever lets you sleep at night!"
Jake gasped and shoved him. "You dick!" They raced to the door and pushed and smacked and kicked each other, trying to get the door open and through before the other did.
"Children, children - please!" Garth shouted, and they stopped, mid-fight. Garth opened the door, and Sam walked in, feeling slightly amazed. "If you idjits are done fighting, get in here so we can eat!"
They both stared at him before untangling themselves and walking in, one by one, discreetly hitting and kicking each other.
Sam heard a whispered "Ow!" and a "You fucker!", and turned around, glaring at them. They looked like two kindergardeners caught fighting, both staring at Sam with wide eyes. He stared at them for a few seconds, before turning to greet the bored looking employee. She directed them to a table for four.
They all ordered the usual, burgers for Dean and Jake, salad for Sam, and wings for Garth.
"So where'd Cas fly off to? It seemed like he wanted to hang around." Sam asked, staring at Dean over his beer. Jake avoided his gaze, and Garth was glancing between the three. The easy atmosphere had thickened.
Dean swallowed the bit of burger he had been eating, and said, "I, uh, I don't know. He said he had to go visit Heaven or something. Said he'd be back soon." He picked up his beer and took a swig, choosing to study the label rather than meet Sam's stare.
"Um, well, did you try praying to him? I bet he'd love to join us-"
"Yeah, I prayed to him, alright? He didn't answer. He's probably busy."
This was met with silence. Dean sighed. "So. Garth. How's Bobby?"
"Just as good a he usually is. Seemed a little more grumpy, though. Said he was tracking something he was worried about."
Dean frowned at his burger, and the waitress came by and dropped off more beers. Bobby was worried? Bobby?
"Boy, it's jus' one of those feelins'."
"Do you know what he was tracking?" Dean questioned.
"Demons? Witches? Hot Ladies?" He snickered at his own joke, then sobered up. "I don't know, man. I only saw the setup a couple of times. He kept it downstairs, said it was top secret." Garth replied, twisting the top off his beer. Dean leaned over and snatched it out of his hand, taking a swig and setting it down in front of his plate.
"Hey!"
"No." Dean glared at him.
Garth pouted.
"Look man, I'm not going to be the one carrying you home to the motel tonight." Dean stated, taking another swig.
"So you've had to deal with that too?" Jake chuckled.
Dean snorted. "Drunk off one Thighslapper back when we were hunting some vengeful booze spirit or some shit."
Jake nodded, then shrugged. "At least he didn't puke in your car."
Dean winced in sympathy.
"That was one time!" Garth exclaimed.
"Yeah, and you were too hungover the next day to clean it up!"
"You said you'd skin me alive if I came anywhere near your car!"
"That's because you puked in it!"
"That's because you challenged me to a drinking contest!"
"You said you were "totally up" to going to that strip club! How was I supposed to know you were a lightweight?"
"How was I supposed to know it was a male strip club?"
Sam choked on his beer.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing, it just surprised me, but - you - you offered me the alcohol!"
"You could have just told me you couldn't hold your booze!"
Garth huffed and slumped back in his seat. Jake rolled his eyes. This was obviously a ongoing argument.
Sam cleared his throat. "So, Jake, how do you know Dean? We never got the full story." He didn't know anything about him, other than he was old friends with Dean. And liked male strip clubs.
"We're … old friends." Dean responded, sharing a glance with Jake.
"Yeah, but, Dean - you said so yourself that you didn't have friends. You haven't even mentioned this guy until today."
Dean sighed and dropped the fries he was holding.
"Old hunting partners, okay?"
Jake motioned Dean towards him and whispered something in his ear, and suddenly Dean was throwing his head back in laughter. Sam stared at him in shock. He hadn't seen him laugh like this since … well, since forever, really. His laughter subsided, but then he glanced at Jake again, who waggled his eyebrows, and he collapsed into a fit of giggles, his head in his arms.
It took him a couple of minutes, but he finally got himself under control. He noticed Sam staring at him.
"We were- we were old hunting partners for a while. While you were at Stanford."
Jake frowned at Sam. "Did you really let the Devil take control of you as a vessel?"
Dean froze with a handful of fries inches away from his mouth. Sam was wearing his poker face.
"Yeah. Yeah, it's true." He said quietly.
"What was it like?"
"What was having Satan inside my body like?" Sam asked incredulously. Jake just nodded.
"Wow. Uh - cold. Really cold. Like getting freezer burn." Jake just nodded and stole one of Dean's fries. Sam blinked a couple times and took a gulp of beer.
The tension was so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.
"And what have you been doing all these years? I already told you about me." Dean questioned Jake, ready to stab the hunter's hand with his fork if he tried to take another fry.
"Not much compared to you guys." He shrugged. "I hunted. Stopped by bars and heard stories about you. I could hardly believe they were talking about the same Winchester."
Dean snorted and pushed back his now clean plate. He was ready for pie.
Sam turned to Garth. "So where are you guys heading next?" He asked. He sort of wanted Jake to stick around, since he seemed to make Dean a hell of a lot happier. But the guy gave him the creeps. It was like he had some sort of sick fascination with him. Satan's vessel? Who asked those kinds of questions?
"I guess we'll stick around for a little while, find a new job." He replied. Jake nodded in agreement. "What about you two?"
"Probably head up to Bobby's." Sam answered.
A waitress was walking past their table when Dean flagged her down. She walked up to them, a smile plastered on her face.
"Can I get you gents anything?"
"Ah, yeah. I'll have a slice of apple pie-" He looked at Garth, who nodded. "Two slices of apple pie - Sam, you want anything?"
"Just more water."
"Okay, anything else?" She jotted down their orders, looking around the table at the empty dishes. She seemed exhausted.
Jake elbowed Dean in the ribs. "You didn't tell her what I wanted, Winchester."
"Oh right. One kiddie's meal-" Jake kicked him under the table and he cursed.
"Ow - fuck, you jackass, fine. One order of large fries."
"Don't swear in front of the lady, Dean." Garth scolded. Dean just huffed and looked up at the waitress, who was staring at them with wide eyes.
"Wait, Winchester? Dean and Sam Winchester?" She gasped, dirty plates and orders forgotten.
"Uh … yeah?" Sam replied looking alarmed.
"I'm - I'm sorry, my dad was friends with Rufus, he told me about you guys all the time -" She let out a nervous giggle and tucked a loose hair behind her ear. "It's just - you're just what I need. Oh, my goodness, thank god you guys are here."
"Rufus told you about us?"
"Oh! No, no. My dad did. It's kind of freaky seeing you guys in person. You're - You're much more handsome than I imagined." She gave a shaky smile.
"Uh, thanks. But - what do you mean by, 'we're just what you need'?" Sam asked, giving her an easy but confused smile back.
"There's - " She took a deep breath and looked behind her shoulder. She began picking up their plates, talking fast. "There's a witch coven meeting a couple of miles north outside of town. It's big- it's really big. There's almost a dozen people in it. I don't know what they're doing, but it doesn't sound good. I'm really scared."
"And you're not in the life?" Jake asked her, looking concerned.
"No - no, not at all." The bags underneath her eyes looked more pronounced. "My dad and my brother died in the life."
"Oh." They knew what it was like.
"We're sorry. Truly, we are." Garth placed a hand on her arm, and patted it. "Thanks for the information. We'll check it out for sure."
She smiled and nodded. "Thank you. Thanks so much." She turned, but then spun around. "Oh, and two pies, a water, and fries, right?"
"You got it." Dean grinned, then turned back to their group. "Witch coven?"
"It's worth looking into." Sam responded.
Dean had to agree.