Forgive me for not updating in a while. Life has been so hectic. I hope to post more soon. I am sorry for waiting so long to get this updated. Thank you to all my loyal readers who still stick by me. Now finally the latest chapter and hopefully more to come.

Chapter 15: Rebuilding a Burnt Bridge

"Gabriel is now really the time for this?" Raphael asked. "You are still recovering. I don't think that you should be up and walking around so soon. You've been through a traumatic experience. Your body needs time to heal and your Grace has to recover."

"I know." The blonde said softly.

"Then go rest and we can talk when I come back." The older archangel said, stepping forward to grab his bag.

There was another snap and the bag was gone. Gabriel swayed horribly and then sat heavily on one of the piles of books. It was clear that Gabriel was pushing himself far too much too soon. If anything the angel should be in a warm bed, curled up with his mate, with a bowl of warm food, and resting instead of chasing him around in a cold, damp basement. Raphael snapped, intent on opening the door and calling for Sam or one of their older brothers, possibly even their Dad, but the door didn't budge. He frowned and tried again, pulling a chuckle and shake of the head from Gabriel.

"Nice try Raph but I've learned quite a few new tricks since we last saw each other dear brother." Gabriel declared, making his brother squirm.

"Open the door right now Gabriel! You are far too weak to be casting anything right now. Let me get Sam or Lucifer and then you can go rest." Raphael said. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Me? Hurt myself? As opposed to what? You hurting me?" The blonde asked. "It never seemed to bother you seeing me in pain before."

Raphael flinched at that, knowing that it had been the truth at one point; he had loved the screams and pleas for mercy that had fallen from his brother's lips as he had tortured and raped him. "Please. You need rest."

"And I will. After we talk." The younger insisted. "I'm tried of chasing you around. We are both far too old be to acting like spoiled children. Don't get me wrong I still do act like a child but I also have the excuse of being the youngest."

"And we can talk once you're laying down and resting." The dark skinned angel insisted, sowly moving closer. "Once you're better."

Gabriel looked up at his older brother and glared, his pale skin and the dark circles under his eyes giving him a nearly sinister appearance. "You mean we can talk after you lay me down, cast a spell on me to make me sleep, and then you run off, never to be seen again? How can we talk then? How can we talk when you're running away from me like a dog with tail between it's legs?"

"That's not fair Gabriel." The Third Born said.

"Neither was you locking me up for years and having me tortured and raped for your amusement." The blonde bit back.

Raphael flinched and fell silent at that, knowing it was true, just like the rest of the accusations that had been said. Gabriel stood slowly only to drop back down panting. He rushed to his brother's side and summoned a soft chair and helped his brother into it, allowing it to recline to help him breath a bit better. Gabriel latched onto his wrist with a weak grip and the older didn't have it in him to shake his younger brother off; he'd never felt such a weak grip come from the blonde and it shook him to his core. Not even when Gabriel was Bound, injured, and half starved had his grip ever been that weak. After a few minutes of resting Gabriel's color began to come back and his breathing wasn't as labored sounding and it eased the Third Born's worries somewhat.

"How are you feeling now? Better?" Raphael asked. "Do you need anything? A drink? Some food? A warm blanket?"

"A cup of salted caramel tea would be nice." The blonde said softly. "And some almond cookies. They go so good together."

A small mahogany table appeared next to Gabriel's chair. On it was a silver tray with a fine china tea pot decorated with lilies, with two matching cups and saucers. There was also a matching sugar bowl and creamer and a rather large plate filled with almond cookies. Raphael was quick to pour a cup of tea for his younger brother, adding cream and, after checking with his brother, added three sugars. He passed his brother the saucer with the tea and two cookies on the side.

Gabriel let out a content sigh and took a big sip, and his brother watched as even more color began to return to his cheeks. Pleased that his little brother was taking care of himself he summoned a chair of his own and sat next to him, watching carefully as Gabriel ate and drank, ready to refill his plate and cup as needed. It wasn't until the younger had consumed several before Gabriel seemed to finally relax. Gabriel sat aside his tea and turned to look at Raphael.

"Now that I've been taken care of shall we begin?" Gabriel asked.

Raphael blinked. "Wouldn't you like to have a nap first? Maybe rest and regain your strength so that we can do this later?"

"Nice try. Even if I were to fall asleep my spell won't end. It's not cast using my Grace." Gabriel explained. "A lot happened after I left your tender care back in Egypt. Most of it being that the archangel Gabriel ceased to exist and I ending up becoming a Norse God where I birthed three wonderful sons that just recently gave their lives to ensure that I could properly protect myself and Sam."

Raphael felt confused by that whole statement. "Wait...what? I don't understand what you're talking about."

Gabriel sighed. "There's a lot that you don't know that happened after I was freed from you. My life was drastically changed."

"Will you tell me?" The Third Born asked hesitantly, unsure if his brother would be wiling to divulge such secrets to him.

The blonde was silent for the longest time, staring at his older brother before he nodded. "I answer your questions and you talk to me. Agreed?"

Raphael frowned and finally nodded, not too sure why he felt like he had just made a deal with Lucifer. "It sounds like a fair trade to me."

"Good. Then what do you want to know first?" Gabriel asked first.

"The two that rescued you. The Egyptian goddesses? They saved you and took you away. What happened after that?" The dark skinned archangel asked. "It was like you vanished off the face of the planet. I couldn't find you anywhere."

"I didn't know I was saved at first. It took a very long time before they were able to break me out of the 'slave mentality' that I had been stuck in." Gabriel admitted. "I kept trying to 'please' both of them. They finally let me, hoping that it would slowly break me from that mind set. Needless to say it started to work and after a little while my weight started coming back and my injuries finally started to heal. Three years of slow and careful coaxing and I was finally starting to show signs that I was healing. It was then that Odin was passing through. Bast and Sekhmet asked him for a meeting and explained what had happened. They were hoping that maybe his magic would help heal me better then theirs."

"What did Odin think?" Raphael asked, curious since the old god wasn't known to be the most charitable of the Norse gods even on the best of days.

Gabriel let out a chuckle. "Before or after I sucked his dick?"

The elder angel nearly choked on his tea. "What?"

"Yeah. My scrambled egg brains saw him as an older and dominant male so I submitted the only way I knew how. He walked in to see me and I crawled out of the corner and was in his pants before he could stop me. It was only then that he agreed. He used his pagan magics and turned me into a child." Gabriel said. "He was going to give me back to them to raise but he told me later that as he held me, sleeping peacefully in his arms, that he couldn't bring himself to give me back, so he took me home with him. There I was raised by him and his wife along side their firstborn son as I learned to be myself again. Took quite a while. I enjoyed myself though. I got to have a second childhood. How maybe people can say that?"

Raphael seemed eager to learn more about his little brother's life. "So that's where you learned your pagan magic? From Odin?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No. Magic was seen as a woman's skill. I learned it from Freya, the woman who became my mother. I craved having a mother and I still consider her as such. I wanted to learn all I could and finally I figured out how to use the magics they used instead of my Grace. I stayed with them until I reached my twenties, then wanderlust struck. I went out and made a name for myself as Loki. I even had a few more relationships along the way."

"Like the one with Kyran?" Raphael asked before he could stop himself. "I'm sorry. That was also uncalled for."

"Not really." The Trickster said. "The only reason you saw Kyran in my memories and not the others was because that was the only time I had someone step in on my behalf due to me being in an abusive relationship. I can only name two people who I've even been in a relationship with that haven't abused me in anyway."

"Lucifer and Sam." Raphael said without hesitation. "I know I was far too mean to you. I know Michael hit you as well. I can't help but wonder if my actions caused you to naturally seek out someone who would hurt you. The psychological effects of abuse, be they in one of the four main forms, can leave lasting damage and sometimes the victim will often fall back into that cycle of abuse."

"It took me this long to admit that you raped me." The blonde admitted. "Even then Sam had to hold me down and force the words out of my lips. I broke down afterwards. It felt good to finally admit it though. It was like a huge weight was lifted off my chest. I told Sam everything that you did to me. I kept nothing from him. Aside from you and me...he's the only one that knows."

Raphael blinked. "What about Dad?"

"What about him?" Gabriel asked, getting another cup of tea.

"Doesn't Dad know? I mean...They said that Dad was taking care of you after you came here. I thought that maybe you would have told him what I did." The Third Born said, looking down.

"I didn't tell him." Gabriel said softly. "I'm sure he knows though. I think he let me get what I needed to off my chest so that I'd be able to tell someone what happened. It wasn't the way that I planned for it to happen but it worked out just fine."

"How did it happen?" Raphael asked, fixing himself another cup as well.

"After Sam and I broke up because of Xaphanel I started taking Devil's Claw. Soon enough I was addicted. When they found me, everyone here helped me to get clean. When Michael and Lucifer started fighting Lucifer snapped at me and made some comments about me ruining my life. I was shaking and upset. I went into Sam's room where I had been staying and took some more. Sam caught me and we fought, we fucked, we slept, we woke up, fought again, talked, had sex again, then went to make breakfast at eight at night." Gabriel said casually.

Raphael broke into a fit of laughter. "Only you Gabriel."

The blonde blinked. "What did I do now?"

"Only you can make something so drastically life changing like that seem like it's no big deal." The Third Born said. "I never understood how you did it. Nothing ever seemed to bother you."

"It bothered me. I just always managed to find a way to hide it. My outlet was practical jokes and revenge. I tended to favor the karma mindset after sending a few years in India and banging Shiva." Gabriel said with a smirk. "After that I decided that's how I would get my kicks. Punish those that I found with their 'just desserts'. That's how I first found Sam and Dean. I was working as a janitor at a collage dishing out revenge. I had the old alligator in the sewer prank going, not to mention the whole room 666. I even threw in an alien abduction and anal probing bit. Worked like a charm. Then I sort of turned my attention on Sam and Dean. Flattened the tires on Dean's car, messed up Sam's laptop and had them pretty much at each other's throats. Reminded me a lot of being back home with you guys."

"You were...working as a janitor...at a collage?" Raphael asked in disbelief, not to sure what to do with all the information that he was just given. "Why does this just seem like another prank?"

The blonde laughed. "No! I'm being serious! I disguised myself as a human that way I could be closer to the action. You won't believe how rich I am. I've been saving money since I first landed here on Earth. I figured that even if I didn't really need it that it would be nice to have or could even come in handy some day. I used to use it to buy things that caught my attention. Mostly rare things like cars and even a few of the artifacts and tomes that we lost during the wars. After I started hanging out with Sam and Dean I started spending it on them since they actually needed it."

"Artifacts and tomes?" Raphael asked curiously. "Like what? I know we lost quite a bit but what did you find?"

"I may or may not have found the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, Zulfiqar, the Spear of Longinus, and a few other choice pieces that may or may not have supposedly existed." Gabriel said looking quite proud of himself. "Not to mention the Creation Tome and the Tome of Will. Can't exactly leave those lying around. I know where a few more are but they're safe. I promise."

"Maybe you should start from the beginning." Raphael said with a smile as he poured his younger brother another cup of tea and summoned more cookies. "And drop the barrier. I won't go anywhere. I swear it on my Grace."

"Okay so what happened was-"

Raphael couldn't help but smile as his little brother launched into his tale. The whole thing was made even better by the barrier dropping as Gabriel showed that he trusted him not to run off. Now he had to prove to Gabriel that he was going to be the big brother he used to be once more. Even if it took him till the end of time he was going to be there for Gabriel from now on.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Where the fuck is he?!" Lucifer snapped.

"Calm down. He's not strong enough to go anywhere." Michael said, trying to placate his mate.

"We said that last time too and he ending up nearly dying because of a fucking demon." Lucifer said. "He could be anywhere by now!"

"Instead of panicking maybe we should try looking for him." The First Born suggested.

"Or you could just ask Sam and Chuck." Dean said, coming into the kitchen with Castiel. "Those two always know where Feathers is. Especially since he's still not feeling good."

"Last I knew Sam was helping Gabriel down to the basement." Castiel supplied as he watched his mate pour himself a cup of coffee. "Then Sam came back up alone."

Lucifer let out a loud curse and rushed from the room. He didn't care if Michael was following him or not. Fear clenched at his heart; the last thing he wanted was for Raphael to be alone with their recovering younger brother. He still did't trust the Third Born with Gabriel. He made it down to the basement in record time and skidded to a halt outside the door to Raphael's room. He rushed in and looked around, seeing a table with the remains of what looked like tea and cookies but his younger brothers weren't there.

With his panic growing worse, the Devil rushed back upstairs and down the hall. He was about to head back to the kitchen when he noticed Crowley coming from one of the halls. The demon gave him a smirk and little wave before heading towards the kitchen. Frowning Lucifer went down the hall the demon had just come from. Obviously he knew something even if his second in command wouldn't tell him what it was.

Reaching the end of the hall he was surprised to see both Sam and his Dad standing outside one of the rooms. Both were talking in hushed tones and smiling as they looked in on one of the rooms. Moving closer he was greeted with a smile and Sam stepped away from the door and to Chuck's side. The deity gave him a big smile and motion his second son closer and pointed inside the room that Lucifer's mind was registering as the room the Chuck had given to Raphael after the archangel had been reborn. Bracing himself, Lucifer moved forward and peered in, not sure what to expect.

"What the?" He asked softly at the sight that greeted him.

Raphael was laying on the bed, his large bronze wings out. The Third Born seemed completely relaxed, his face covered in a big smile. The reason for the smile was curled up against the archangel's chest and sleeping peacefully. Gabriel had his face pressed into Raphael's large bronze wings and his fingers were also buried deep in those soft feathers. Raphael was apparently making sure the the youngest archangel was both safe and warm before not only were his arms wrapped around his little brother, but so were those large wings.

Lucifer turned to Sam and Chuck. "I don't understand."

"Gabe finally caught up to Raphael." Sam said with a smile. "They started talking this morning. Raphael made sure the Gabe ate and once he got tired, Raph brought him up here to rest since it was nicer then the basement."

"Dad?" Lucifer asked uncertainly.

"They managed to work things out Lucifer." Chuck promised. "When Raphael realized that Gabriel needed rest he called me and I moved them both up here and to make sure that Gabriel could be properly cared for."

"So then Gabby forgave him? Just like that?" The blonde asked in disbelief.

"No Lucifer. Not 'just like that'. They've been talking, crying and laughing all day." The hunter said. "It's not like they magically fixed everything. They just got the ball rolling today. It's a start. He's getting better. If you want Gabriel to be back to his old self then this has to happen."

"But what if-"

"Lucifer." Chuck said. "Let Gabriel make his own choices. You can't protect him. He's grown up now. You'll always be his big brother but he's also his own angel."

Lucifer looked back into the room where his younger brothers were bother curled up and sleeping peacefully. Maybe it was time for him to grow up as well. Raphael and Gabriel didn't need a protector; they needed a big brother. With a smile he snapped and the two were covered in a blanket. Turning away he began to head back to the kitchen. It was time to introduce Raphael to some human foods.