Fragments of Memories

A sharp scream echoed across the house, cut short by high-pitched laughter. Castiel squirmed on the bed as Dean's hands pinched up his sides and tickled as his legs, finding every opportunity to catch his baby off guard. Cas shrieked again and tried to swat the stronger man away but it had no effect, Dean continued the tickling onslaught without slowing down.

"DEAN!" Cas cried again, this time attempting to weasel off the mattress but his hips were caught and he was dragged back far too easily. "Oh my god! Stop!" Tears stung at his eyes as he laughed and wiggled, unable to break free.

"Not on your life, gorgeous." Dean grinned maliciously.

Ugly Duckling World: Part 2

Sam sighed lightly, lying in his bed and staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers. College was just like he'd thought it'd be, hard work and studying and classes and no social life. That didn't make it fun or easy, but it was necessary. One year was finally over, a lot of blood sweat and tears later he was worn out. And at the same time it wasn't so bad; Gabriel had gotten into the same dorm as him so there was never a dull moment.

The reason he was looking for answers in the oddly tiled ceiling of his dorm? His summer break had come up, his exams now over as of that morning, whom should he go to see first? Or should he go to see anyone and just take summer courses? Four months off sounded nice but also sounded like too much time to spend slacking.

Gabriel would want to go and do something, more than anything he'd want to get out of the school. Maybe he could call Dean up and they could stay with him and Castiel, take up their guest room and spend the summer there. Or travelling, he could definitely ask Cas for some money and he and Gabe could go to Europe or something. Hell, Cas and Dean could probably even join them; it'd be like a double date but a whole vacation. Maybe a cabin on a lake? Get away from cities and people and spend some time camping.

Sam's contemplations were cut short when a much shorter but excitable man jumped onto his bed and dropped heavily over his middle. He wheezed as the air burst out of him, shoving Gabriel off his stomach and over to the side of the bed, "What's with the star gazing face?" Gabriel smirked, popping up in Sam's vision like a mosquito that just wouldn't let you sleep.

"I'm trying to figure out what to do with our summer," Sam smirked and rolled over, shoving Gabriel down into the bed and leaning over him, "How'd your last exam go?"

"Excellent," The cocky smile was more telling than the words he used, but the funny sounding accent Gabriel attempted to spice it up with only made Sam laugh.

"You're more of a dork than I remember."

"Says Sam Winchester. Kind of like the pot calling-"

Sam interrupted his boyfriend's babbling with a kiss, holding it longer until Gabriel hopefully had forgotten his words. "Shut up," he muttered after breaking away, his hair slipping past his ear and tickling Gabriel's nose.

"You need a hair cut." The smaller male sputtered, trying to brush the long locks away.

"You too," Sam grunted a chuckle as he pulled himself up and off the bed, heading to the bathroom.

"Pfft! Says the one that looks like modern Jesus! Sam of Nazareth! Jesus Winchester, son of John and the virgin Mary-"

"Stop!" Sam laughed from the other room, turning the sink on and leaning forward to wash his face. He let the water run for a bit longer, leaning over the counter and letting the streams drip down his cheeks, following the creases of his face to drip off his nose and chin. He remained that way for a few moments when he heard Gabriel cry out in what sounded like surprise but could easily be mistaken. Sam's head snapped up and when he saw the mirror again he saw himself standing behind him. Spinning around to see if it was real he'd lost his breath when he came face to face with another him, stumbling back against the counter and catching himself was all he could do.

"Hi," the other Sam tried to smile innocently, "Didn't uh… mean to freak you out there."

"SAM! SAM THEY FELL THROUGH THE CEILING AND WALL, SAM!" Gabriel shrieked, "WITCHES! THE LOT OF THEM!"

"Calm down," Sam heard Castiel's voice in the other room and what sounded like Jet laughing. "We're here on a mission."

"Burn the witch," Jet muttered through his snickering, earning himself some kind of a smack by the sound of it.

"What the hell is going on?" The university student managed to choke out, his other self glancing toward the other room fondly. "Who… What are you?"

"We're humans, just uh… one of us has some special abilities. We travel dimensions and realities."

Sam stared at his face, really stared. He knew his own lying expressions and from what he could tell this really wasn't one of them. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, can you explain some other way why there's a second you standing right here?"

Sassy too. They couldn't be all that different. "Well… no. I guess not… But this- you're impossible. This can't be happening for real."

"Get over it, kiddo, 'cause it is." Jet emerged in the doorway, though it wasn't the same Jet he knew. This one looked different, possibly even younger though maybe that was because of a different past.

"Where's your brother?" Castiel looked in and this one Sam knew could never be the same one. His voice was rough, his eyes were hardened and his posture was less than approachable.

"At work, probably." Sam swallowed anxiously, his survival instincts telling him to give them what they wanted, these strange men who appeared out of nowhere. But the protectiveness over his family warned him not to give them anything.

"Is he with Castiel?" This Cas asked without skipping a beat?

"Yeah," Gabriel answered next and Sam wished he could give him a smack in the arm. "They're together, wedding rings and all."

The other Sam smiled and glanced at the two he was travelling with, wanting to see their reactions to it. However his smile faded the moment he spotted how dismal Castiel had become over this news.

"Where do they live?"

"Why should we tell you?" Sam blurted out before Gabriel could say anything more. "What do you want with them?"

All three strangers rolled their eyes and exchanged a three-way glance before looking back at him. "To eat them." Jet said sarcastically and once again earning a hit to the shoulder for it.

"We need to speak with him." Castiel spoke earnestly and to the point.

"Why would dimension travellers find my brother and his family so important?"

"Because it's generally a pattern." The other Sam shrugged, "I don't know why but Dean and Cas are significant people each time and we always generally end up with one or both of them." He looked at the other two and huffed out a laugh, "For some reason there's three of us here now so that means Dean's got to be with one of them."

"My money's on him being with the Cas." Jet grinned, moving away from Castiel's next swing.

"So if they're the important ones, why are you here with us?" Gabriel asked and Sam knew he was wearing that scrutinizing face where he squinted both eyes and angled his head away for dramatic flare.

"Who are you, even?" Jet looked at Gabe with the same kind of flare.

"That's my boyfriend," Sam pushed past them from the bathroom and went to the other's side.

"Name's Gabriel, now answer my question."

Castiel smirked a little at him, like he kind of knew the guy from somewhere, and the way he was looking at the couple made both Sam's uncomfortable. "We're here with the two of you because Sam is related to Dean and is a significant person in his life. We seem to wind up with people who are most likely to meet up with each other."

"What is it that you do again?"

"Dimension travel, saving the world and stuff." Jet answered this time, making it sound like no big deal.

Sam and Gabriel looked at one another for a moment before the former decided to ask further questions. "From what?"

"Monsters, generally." Castiel left it at something a little simpler. "Now where are they? We're missing someone from our group and he'd end up there."

"Monsters?"

"Yes, now where's Dean?"

Sam could have not answered, left it at 'I'm not telling you' and possibly get into some really bad trouble, but he knew Dean. Dean would be undeniably pissed with him for taking a fall like that, for trying to deal with something like this without him.

"He lives on the outskirts of Los Angeles, it's a Hollywood thing."

Cas furrowed his brow and glanced out the window, "And… where are we?"

"Stanford University, it's a five hour drive to their place."

Jet grinned at his comrades for a moment before looking over at Sam and Gabriel, "I don't suppose you guys have a vehicle?"

"We do…" Gabriel eyed Jet's expression before lighting up with his own, "I don't suppose you're interested in a… road trip?"

"Let's do it!" Jet clapped his hands and headed for the door, Gabriel right on his heels.

The remaining three rolled their eyes and followed suit, knowing there really wasn't another way around this one.

"I'm in the de-details with the devil," Cas sung softly to himself, his fingers tapping his thigh lightly as they sat together, Dean glancing over at him every now and then.

"You like to sing, huh?"

"Damn right I do," Castiel smiled and looked up, "Songs, music, it helped me through a difficult time in my life. I just kept singing through it all, the music helped energize and empower me." His smile widened as he motioned toward a few photos on the wall, "I even made a career out of it. I'm only starting to get noticed out there but it's picking up."

Dean smiled a little but couldn't help the confusion that spread across his face. "You went through hard times?"

Cas snorted at the earnestness of Dean's question. "Doesn't everybody?"

"Well, yeah, I mean of course but… well all the Castiel's I've met so far have gone through something hard as well but none of them are as happy as you."

"How many other Castiel's have you met?"

Dean shrugged, "Good question, ten or more at least."

Castiel nodded quietly and stared at the wall for a second or two, "I can't imagine meeting that many Dean's… I mean it'd drive me crazy, you know? Because they'd all kind of look like my Dean but none of them would quite act right or know the right things. I don't think there's another Dean in existence that would treat me the exact same way, but that's probably not bad. I mean there are other Castiel's for them and they're probably all different too."

"They are, none of them are the same and yet they all have some things in common." Dean grinned in remembrance of the different occasions he'd already been part of, "I remember the first time I saw a Cas smile for real… I don't even really know if it was my Cas or a different one."

The grin that spread Castiel's lips only made Dean tilt his head in confusion. "Yours?" Cas asked simply.

"My what?"

"Your Cas? You're calling him yours already, I just find it sweet." He sighed lightly and leaned back on the couch, looking at an abstract art piece hanging on the wall. Dean looked at it too and from what he could tell it looked like a broken plate glued in place. It took the shape of a swan, though it was fairly abstract Dean could make that much out. The background was beautifully washed over with a rainbow of colours, the whole thing framed and put on display. "My Dean and I had a lot of rough patches we had to get through in order to be where we are. I never used to be this happy but all of that mess, that pain, it was worth it. Just to wake up and see him there beside me."

Dean looked at the surreal expression Cas wore, watching the way his eyes drifted and thought for a moment he'd misjudged this happy-go-lucky Castiel. Assuming he was so happy and carefree, that he'd gone through absolutely no pain, not like the others. But he was wrong, this Cas had done it, he had pushed through it all and came out on the other side. The other Castiel's got stuck somewhere along the way. "You really think the hurt was worth it?"

"Every second of it." Cas looked at him then and Dean could see the sunlight streaming in through the venetian blinds behind him, haloing his form in a soft glow that only seemed fitting for an angel. "Dean, judging by what you've told me, telling your Cas how you feel isn't going to be easy for you to say. But even if you manage to get the words out I'm not so sure he'll react cleanly, nothing's black and white and your situation sounds more grey than mine ever did." He reached forward and took Dean's hand in his, "That doesn't mean you give up after the first hurdle trips you, you're not sprinting this thing, Castiel is a marathon running and you're gonna have to get him at the finish line."

Part of Dean thought the metaphor was ridiculous but the rest of him nodded his agreement. He understood the implications, it wasn't going to be easy and he shouldn't give up just because it gets tough. That made sense. But was it ever so simply cut? "What if he never says yes?"

"I don't think that'll happen," The gentle way his voice washed through the room was calming, something about it sounded certain and Dean could really appreciate certainty at that point. "You've met several Castiel's and Dean's, were they all together?"

"Yeah… how'd you guess?"

"Because I've always believed that Dean and I were meant to be, and that in any lifetime we would have found each other."

Dean was about to respond when the front door swung open, "Cas!?" Dean, the one with a ring on his finger, bellowed into the house at the top of his lungs, demanding and frightened. And it was understandable, his fear, some stranger in his house with his husband could easily end in tears.

"I'm right in the living room, Dean." Cas called over, the nonchalant way he went about it made the priest chuckle. It was amusing the way he'd just brushed off his partner's extreme amounts of concern with the simple use of tone. And what was better none of it sounded sarcastic or insulting, just calmly informing him of the location.

"Are you alright-" The other Dean froze when he spotted himself, a second pair of footsteps following him until Jet appeared as well.

The other man blinked several times before finding the words to react, "Holy shit dude you weren't kidding." Jet muttered in surprise, staring at a doppelganger of his best friend.

Dean, the priest, smiled a little and gave a wave. This was the first Jet he'd met that wasn't tagging along with him; it was interesting to see an alternate version of the hotheaded jackass he'd known for years. "Yeah, hi I'm Dean."

"We can see that, thanks." Jet replied sarcastically, that scrutinizing look on his face. It made Dean laugh more than anything, he'd seen Jet use that face so many times on people he thought had made a stupid remark or asked a stupid question. It was not at all weird to see it used on him, Dean had said more than a few stupid things around Jet. "How are you another Dean?"

"Dimension travelling, mostly." Dean did his best to keep a straight face while saying it; he'd already gotten better at explaining compared to the first time. It was odd, Cas had said not to if he didn't have to but it seemed every situation required it.

"He's insane." Jet turned and looked at Cas, "You're sitting in a room with a psychopath."

"He's really not crazy," Castiel smirked, "I believe him."

"Why?" His husband snapped protectively, "You don't know him-"

"But I do." Cas stood and looked at his Dean disapprovingly, "I really do know him and everything he's done so far makes sense to me. Dean isn't lying, I don't know what's going on exactly but I know that he's not lying about this."

The two stared at one another, a silent exchange that only had Jet side step closer to the stranger and lean over, "Kind of weird to see from the other side of things, huh?"

"Yeah," Dean snickered, "Just a bit."