Chapter Two

Third Person POV

Before Humanity

Galteya grinned as she felt something rustling her feathers. "I thought you were supposed to be at flying practice, little one." she said. There was no answer, only more rustling of her feathers. "I know you're there, Castiel. Come on out." she cooed, flexing her feathers a little bit, tickling the fledgling in the process. Castiel giggled and Galteya spun her chair around, causing Castiel to loose his cover.

"What's wrong, little one?" she asked, standing up and scooping up the ball of feathers. "I don't like flying lessons." Castiel replied, cuddling into the warmth of his progenitor. Galteya chuckled and walked over to the small, victorian couch and sat down. "Is Balthazar teasing you again?" she asked, cradling Castiel in her lap.

Castiel nodded and Galteya gave him a sympathetic smile, running a hand through his raggedy dark hair. "Did you tell Zachariah?" she asked, folding her wings around so that the fledgling was wrapped in their warm, pure black feathers. "No. The last time I did, he told me to quit bothering him and to go back to my lessons." Castiel said, a frown covering his small face.

Galteya's eyes narrowed slightly and her grip on the fledgling in her lap tightened. "Alright. I won't make you go back." she said, running her fingers through his black feathers to give them a quick grooming. "Really?" he asked, his attention perking up.

"Really. But that doesn't mean you'll be off the hook tomorrow." she said as Castiel slid off her lap. Galteya watched the fledgling run out of the study and into the room he'd chosen as his own. She waited until she was certain he was in his room before fluttering out of her study and to the flying range.

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Galteya waited till Anna, Balthazar, and Uriel left the flying range to confront Zachariah. "Can I help you, Galteya?" he asked, respect in his voice despite not agreeing with her ways. "Castiel tells me that Balthazar is teasing him again." she said, crossing her arms over her chest and her feathers flexing in agitation.

"Then you should speak with his progenitor." Zachariah said a little colder than he'd anticipated. "The thing is, Zachariah, when he came to you, you told him to go back to his lessons. You should have dealt with the issue when it arose." Galteya countered. "You and Gabriel coddle the fledglings too much. You should take advice from Raphael and Michael. They're doing a wonderful job with Uriel and Anna. Balthazar, on the other hand, is turning out like Castiel. This is because Gabriel coddles him the same as you do with Castiel."

"Are you questioning my techniques on raising the fledglings?" Galteya asked, angered that he was questioning her.

"Each of the Archangels have their own technique on how to raise their fledgling, Galteya. Some are just better than the others. When I was raised by Raphael, I was taught not to rely on my progenitor. The way you and Gabriel are raising your fledglings is going to teach them that they can't live on their own." Zachariah parried.

"I'm teaching Castiel that he'll always have someone he can go to if he's in trouble. That he'll never be alone. If you don't agree with my techniques, Zachariah, that's fine, but don't confront me on your distaste. I'm still your superior and I won't be spoken to in such a manner." Galteya rounded, ending the argument. Before Zachariah could acknowledge her, Galteya was gone with a flutter of her wings.

Zachariah scoffed under his breath before fluttering off to his pocket of Heaven.

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Galteya landed in her destination without a sound. Looking around, she rolled her eyes. Of course Michael would choose the president's oval office for his pocket of Heaven. Anna looked up from her seat on one of the two couches and smiled at the younger Archangel. "Hello, Galteya."

"Anna." Galteya greeted with a nod of her head and a small smile. "Where's Michael?"

"I'm not sure. He left a few minutes ago. He seemed like he was in a hurry, though." Anna said, closing her book and placing it on the coffee table. "What're you reading?" Galteya asked, going over to sit on the couch next to the fledgling. "Sherlock Holmes. From the nineteenth century. Michael said I should start working on my literature and got me this." she answered, her long red hair bouncing as she leaned foreword to grab the book.

Before Galteya could comment, Michael fluttered into the room. "Galteya. What do I owe the pleasure?"

"I wanted to speak with you. Alone." Galteya said, standing up from the couch to stand in front of her brother. Michael nodded. "Anna, run along to your room and continue your reading there." he ordered and Anna nodded, grabbed her book, and left the room without question. "What do you want to talk about, Galteya?" he asked, sitting down at the desk. "It's about Zachariah and his constant questioning on the way I raise my fledgling. I understand that my techniques are different than yours and Raphael's, but that doesn't mean they don't work." Galteya explained.

"When our Father assigns us a fledgling, he makes sure that we're capable of raising them. He wouldn't assign one to us if he thought our techniques were flawed." she added when Michael didn't answer. Michael sighed and sat back in his chair, folding his hands under his chin.

"I'll talk with him. But don't forget. The fledglings are nearly three hundred years old now. It might not be such a good idea to be so protective." was all he said after a moment of silence, his dark blue feathers flexing. Galteya nodded and gave a slight of the head bow before fluttering out of the pocket and back to her own.

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Present Day

"When a fledgling is 'born', they're assigned to one of the four Archangels to be raised. There are only four 'born' every eighteen hundred years, but that stopped when our Father disappeared." Galteya explained, her hands folded behind her back. "Castiel was in the last group of Angels to be 'born'." she added when everyone stared at her like she'd grown a two extra heads.

"So Cas is one of the babies?" Sam asked, humor clear in his voice. Castiel shot his a bad look and then looked back to Galteya as if pleading with her not to confirm Sam's suspicions. "Well..." Galteya drawled, grinning when Castiel sighed. Dean laughed and clapped Castiel on the shoulder. "I never would've guessed it, Cas." Dean laughed.

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not." Castiel said dryly.

A/N: I just wanna give an important piece of information that will be extremely useful. In this story, when an Angel is in Heaven, they take the form of their chosen vessel. For example, Galteya's vessel is from the seventeenth century, but because she can travel through time, she can take hold of that vessel when she needs it on Earth at any time and while she's in Heaven, she has the appearance of her vessel then as well. Michael would look like Dean, Cas would look like Jimmy Novak (as a kid and adult), Raphael would look like Donnie Finnerman, and the others would look like the vessels they had on Earth (assuming they were all in their chosen vessels in the show). Also, baby angels age at a much slower rate than humans (1 human year=100 angel years) and Lucifer is already in the cage at this point. If any of this confuses you, I apologize. If you need me to break it down even more, PM and I'll be glad to do so!