Hello all. I would like to thank QueenWoofy, White-Knight-066, Little Cinch and SummerMistedDragon for the great reviews.
So here we are, the next chapter, I hope you like it. This is a kind of a long chapter, the next one will be a lot shorter due to the fact I wrote it as one, but it was way to long like that so I decided to split it.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.
It had been two days since they returned to the bunker and Dean was close to losing it. He was getting desperate. Cas still wasn't talking, in fact he wasn't doing any of the things he had been learning to enjoy as a kid, though he had gone and got Cas' art stuff and his Legos and cars from the room he shared with Gabriel. It seemed the fledging didn't want to enter there and as such Dean had made it so he didn't have to if he didn't want to. But still, all he did was sit and stare at the wall or read heavy tombs in languages that neither Sam nor Dean could understand. Dean didn't know what to do. He tried and tried to talk to the kid but he got no response, yet still he didn't like leaving Cas alone. As such he found himself spending every waking moment with the fledgling, keeping his sleeping hours to a minimum. Sam tried ordering him to bed, saying he would keep an eye on Cas but Dean, being Dean, flatly refused. he was starting to believe it was hopeless and he had idea what to do though. Oh he thought about calling Gabriel but he knew the archangel no doubt had his hands full and he didn't want to interrupt without some solid information. As such Kevin was getting the brunt of Deans frustration, he was riding him hard to translate the tablet so he could give Gabriel something helpful. Something that would help get Cas back, hell he would take kid Cas back right now.
Castiel on the other was starting to get tired of his isolation, but he had no choice. He had analysed and re-analysed everything, and yet still nothing was clearer to him. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was an angel, and yet Gabriel did not want him around, he came to the conclusion that this was because he wasn't a good enough angel. He felt too much, it had been said before by their other brothers and sisters after all, he had heard them. And so he decided to try to make himself the best angel he could be, hence isolating himself from the humans around him.
He missed talking to Dean and Sam, drawing and playing with the Legos, but none of that was what angels were supposed to do. An angel was to learn, to fight and to protect humanity, not enjoy themselves or feel, so Castiel carried on with his reading and tried to feel nothing. But in the darkest hours of the night, once everyone else was asleep, he would sneak over to his Legos and drawing things and play, he would build great towers and draw picture after picture of the brother he missed so much. Images of Gabriel laughing and smiling, the mischievous twinkle in his eye when he decided to tease Dean, and the look of power he got when angered. Castiel drew them all. Though once done he made sure that everything was back to the way it was before he had stared so no one would be the wiser at his traitorous behaviour, he hid the pictures, not being able to bring himself to destroy them, and carried on his day trying to be a good angel with no feelings once more.
Gabriel had had his meting with Rebecca and it had gone surprisingly well, a lot better than he thought it would. She had readily agreed to bring her faction under his protection and work, with him as the commander, to return them all to heaven. Though she had requested, and he had happily granted, that the angels that she had under her who where already helping humanity, be it by working in hospitals and helping the sick, or by taking care of those less fortunate, continue their good work and any angel who was with him who wished to do the same should be allowed to. Gabriel had no problems with this, as long as they stayed off the radar, helping humanity was a good thing in his mind, after all there was more than one reason he had decided to become a trickster when he ran from heaven, yes he wanted a way to disguise his powers, but he also only punished the guilty. Not that that would be a good thing for any angel to start doing right now, he didn't want them being hunted as supernatural beings, so he made sure she knew to get them to keep a low profile.
So all in all it had been a productive couple of days. Tomorrow he had a meeting with Bartholomew, and when he said he had a meeting, he meant he was planing on walking into his headquarters and announcing himself as the new leader of the heavenly host. He wasn't sure how well that was going to work, but he knew Barty wouldn't believe he was alive without seeing it with his own eyes. He was also pretty sure that Barty would not join him willingly, so the only solution Gabriel could come up with was to make sure as many of his angels knew he was back as possible. That way they could join him of their own volition, and Bartholomew's power would be greatly reduced. He planed to do the same with Malachi's people, once they found them. Hannah of course thought it a crazy and foolhardy plan, not that she had said anything to that effect, but he could see it in her eyes when she looked at him a little to long, as if studying him. He found it quite endearing really, how she wanted to protect him from himself. It seemed that all his family had forgotten that while he had fallen with them, he was still an archangel, and as such still had more power in his pinky than they did in there whole being. Just because he didn't want to kill any of the angels, didn't mean he couldn't or wouldn't if provoked.
But now was not the time to think of that. No now he had, for the first time since he had called the angels to him, a moment of peace. As such he had asked that Hannah not disturb him and once she had left his office he pulled out his phone and hit one on his speed dial chuckling at the irony of having Dean Winchester on speed dial.
"Hello." Dean answered sounding tired making Gabriel chuckle die on his lips.
"Hey Dean-o. Hows things?" He asked causally, wondering if the hunter would try to lie to him or not. Not that he knew that the thing that was wrong was Cassie, but Dean being tired lead him to the belief that something was up with either Castiel or Sam. And it had only been two days, surely Sammy boy hadn't got himself into trouble already.
"There great." Dean replied with a forced cheerfulness that had Gabriel rolling his eyes.
"Sure. So Cassie there?" Gabriel asked, he wanted to talk to his brother. He missed him so damn much it actually surprised the archangel.
"Um, yeah." Dean replied sounding a bit off, making Gabriel go on alert.
"Can I speak to him?" he asked slowly, wondering just what was going on back in Kansas.
"Okay." Dean said cautiously. There was a muffled sound as it seemed he moved the phone from his ear and Gabriel heard him talk to his brother. "Cas, its Gabriel." This sentence was greeted by silence making Gabriel frown. Why wasn't Cas excited about him being on the phone? "You going to take the phone?" He heard Dean say in something close to exasperation. It was then he realised that Castiel didn't want to speak to him, and damn did that ever hurt. A lot more than he thought it would in truth. "I guess not." he heard Dean mumble and then suddenly he was clearer, it was obvious that Dean had returned the phone to his own ear. "Sorry Gabe, seems Cas isn't up for talking right now."
"Has he spoken at all since I left?" Gabriel asked dreading the answer, I mean surely he had right?
"No." Dean replied with a sigh as if he was at a loss.
"So what has he been doing?" Gabriel asked, hoping that Dean was going to say drawing or something, anything but the answer he got.
"Reading, lots of reading and staring at the wall. It's kinda freaking me out if I'm honest with you."
"You tried getting through to him?" Gabriel asked, though as soon as thought about it realised what a stupid question that was. He was talking to Dean, of course he had tried.
"Oh I've tried Gabriel, I've tried til I'm blue in the face. Its like he doesn't even register I'm here. I don't know what to do." Dean replied defeated making Gabriel's eyebrows raise.
"Well sleeping might help·" He said realising that Dean was at the end of his tether.
"I sleep." Dean replied gruffly.
"Really? How long for?" Gabriel asked in a challenging tone.
"A couple of hours." Dean replied defensively.
"Your body needs more than that Dean-o. You can't expect to look after Cassie if your not looking after yourself." Gabriel said in a patronising tone as if talking to a child, though underneath there was a current of caring in there.
"Damn it Gabe, you sound like Sam, or you know, a mother hen." Dean deflected.
"Takes one to know one Dean-o." Gabriel chuckled back at him before turning serious. "Get some sleep, I don't want the Winchesters falling apart just cos I ain't there. I mean I know I awesome and all that, but you are going to have to learn to live without me."
"Ha, ha Gabe. Very funny. Though I guess Cas misses you." Dean answered and Gabriel could just here the eye roll from him.
"I miss him too Dean. Man I wish he was here." He replied with a sigh. He could do with having Castiel at his side right now. Who knew leadership was such hard work?
"That bad hu?" Dean asked in sympathy.
"You try being stuck in a room filled with sycophants fawning over your every word then ask that question." Gabriel replied flippantly, he couldn't really complain, after all this had been his choice.
"Yeah, don't think that's likely to happen, like ever." Dean answered.
"No probably not. You usually just piss people off too much." Gabriel smirked back at him. He did like bantering with Dean on occasion.
"Look who's talking." Dean barked back at the archangel-come-trickster.
"So hows the tablet coming along?" Gabriel asked after a moment of silence. He really needed that translation as fast as Kevin could get it to him.
"Kevin's working on it. He reckons he should be able to translate the footnote thing in about a week. We'll call and send you the pics once he's done." at that Gabriel thought over all he had to do. A week could be good timing, it would give him time to unite as many angels as he could, but not enough for those who didn't want to join him to organise themselves to fight him.
"Sounds good. The sooner that's done, the sooner I can get Cas' grace back and have heaven open for business once again." He replied, glad that they were getting somewhere at least. At that silence descended once more and this time Gabriel could think of nothing else to say, as such he knew it was time to go back to the angels.
"Okay Dean-o, I had better get back to ruling over my minions-" He said in a half-hearted manor, he really didn't want to go back just yet.
"Oh god." Dean groaned at that. Just the idea of Gabriel calling the angels his minions was enough to make him close his eyes and dread just what Gabriel would get them to do. He didn't trust the archangel as far as he could throw him after all.
"No I'm Gabriel, Dean, not my dad." Gabriel replied with a smirk on his face that he just knew that Dean would be able to hear in his voice.
"Bastard." Came the muttered reply making him chuckle once more.
"Love you too Dean-o. Laters." with that Gabriel hung up the phone. As soon as Dean was gone a frown appeared on his face at his brothers continued isolationist behaviour. He wondered briefly if Cassie had been like this the first time he left, not that he could get an answer to that. Well he could he thought turning to look at the door, knowing that there were angels on the other side that could tell him exactly how Castiel had behaved when he left heaven, but he really didn't want to open that can of worms thank you. So instead he just hoped his brother would snap out it with the help of Dean.
Dean had left the room when Cas refused to talk to his brother and was standing in the corridor outside the library when he hung up the phone feeling a little lighter, though he had no idea why, expect the conversation he had had with Gabriel had put a small smile on his face. Hmm, in a strange way he had kinda got used to having Gabriel around. Without him in the bunker it had become surprisingly quite, and he guessed that for all he was a dick, Gabriel had become something of a friend over the last few weeks. Shaking these thoughts from his head he returned to the library area to find Cas sitting exactly where he had left him.
Castiel had refused to talk to Gabriel. He knew if he did everything would come bursting out of him and he couldn't do that. That wasn't how good angels behaved, he wasn't supposed to miss his brother. So instead he remained silent. But when Dean went out of the room with the phone he couldn't help it. The fledging got up silently and followed, listening to the conversation from the other side of the wall. The joys of having angelic hearing, he could easily hear both sides. He frowned when he realised that Dean was not getting enough sleep. He duty was to protect the righteous man. That meant he should be making sure that Dean was properly rested and nourished, though the last did not seem like a problem, Dean was forever eating. But sleep, hmm, how to make Dean sleep more? He was pondering that question when he heard Gabriel say he needed to get his grace back. What? He had his grace, didn't he? I mean he was the same as he was before the fall, correct? He was a fledging, and yes okay now he thought about it something in the back of his mind did say he was less powerful than before. But he had presumed that was due to being expelled from heaven. But what if someone had taken some of his grace? It would explain why Gabriel did not want him with the other angels. He was weaker than he should be. It also would explain what it was that Dean and Gabriel were keeping from him. He did not want to believe it, but maybe, maybe he wasn't the angel he believed himself to be. That thought sent a shiver up his spine, and scared him more that he thought possible. wrapping his arms around himself to protect him, he wondered what was going on. He didn't like this, he did not like this at all. With that thought he returned to his seat so he could bury himself in his book and forget all about the conversation he had overheard, or the thoughts and ideas it brought to his mind. He was Castiel, a fledging and that was that.