Hello again. I would like to thank Auriko, RangerHorseTug, MaddyR, Little Cinch, darkeyesgirl and Arashi - IV of VI for the reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have favoured and followed since my last update.

So as I have said before, there are a few loose ends to tie up and this is sort of the start of the major one, so I think (I could be wrong as I do have a tendency to write more than I plan to most of the time, but I think) I have about 4/5 more chapters until this story has reached its conclusion, not including this one.

So here it is, the beginning of the end. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.

Dean was lying on his bed, bottle of beer in hand. It was late, all the other residents of the bunker had long since been in bed asleep, but Dean felt wide awake. He didn't know if that was a result of coming back from the dead or if he was missing having a small warm fledgling curled up beside him, okay now that sounded weird and Dean needed to get his shit together. Enough with the moping. Cas was back as he should be, and he would visit when he could. No doubt Gabe would as well, so what did it matter that without them here the bunker seemed quieter, okay it was quieter without Gabriel around. He would get used to it just being him, Sam and Kevin again in no time. It was still his home, and still a home for his family, even if some of that family had moved out, they would still visit. At that thought he slammed his head back against the wall, cos damn it, Sam was right, he was behaving like a freakin' mother hen whose chicks had flown the freakin' nest. With that he pulled himself together. There was practical stuff he could do. For instance they still had the toys in the library, he could packet them up and maybe he could drop it off at the good will next time he was in town… or, he could keep the lego's and cars for the next time Charlie visited. She was bound to enjoy playing with them. And Dean could play with her, only cos it was polite to entertain guests of course. With this decided he got up and went to a storage room to find an empty box to put the stuff in and then made his way to the library. As he approached it he saw a light on. Had Kevin or Sam left it on when they went to bed? Rounding the corner and entering the room he discovered that no, they hadn't.

Instead sitting at the table with a colouring pencil in hand and a look of immense concentration on his face was Cas. Dean stood there for a minute just watching him. Seeing how much he still looked like the fledgling who until earlier that day had sat there doing just the same thing. Finally he decided he should probably speak. His behaviour was bordering on creepy, as was the sentimental smile on his lips.

"What ya doing Cas?" He asked as he entered the room and placed the empty box down by the toys before going over and joining Cas at the table.

"Drawing. It is a pleasurable pass time." Castiel replied looking up at him and smiling before going back to his picture.

"Yeah I can see that. Just wondering why you're here and not in heaven." Dean said shaking his head at the angel next to him.

"There are some angels who wish to stay on earth and help humanity. Gabriel has put me in charge of them, saying I have the greatest understanding of humanity, after him of course. So I will be down here rather often." Castiel replied not looking up from his drawing, in fact his tongue was starting to stick out the side of his mouth as it had done when he was a fledgling and concentrating really hard on something. It made Dean smile with nostalgia. Damn it, he needed to stop that, like now.

"That's awesome Cas." He replied genuinely pleased that he would be down here with them often. Seemed Gabriel had his head on straight with who he was putting charge of the angels on earth at least.

"Yes I think so. What are you going to do about Crowley?" Castiel asked glancing up and smiling up a Dean. It was more reserved than his fledgling one had been, but it had the same family connotation.

"No clue. Have to kill him at some point I guess. I'll talk to Sam in the morning about it." Dean replied, he so didn't want to talk about Crowley right now. No now he had his best friend back and to himself. He wanted to talk rubbish like they used to.

"Good idea." Castiel responded before he turned the picture he had been doing so that Dean could see it.

Taking it from him Dean felt a lump form in his throat and tears appear in the corner of his eyes. For there in front of him was a perfect depiction of Bobby, Ellen, Jo, and his Mom and Dad. It was… amazing. It was his family in heaven.

"They asked me to say hello to you." Castiel said when Dean didn't say anything and just looked at the picture. At that sentence Dean looked up at him with an incredulous look in his eyes. Cas had talked to his family?

"Thanks Cas." Dean managed to finally get out as the tears started to roll down his cheeks.

"It's the least I could do when you looked after me so well." Castiel replied with a smile at Dean making the man shake his head and chuckle through the tears before he responded.

"I told you Cas, you're family."

"I know, and so are you to me." Castiel replied simply. It made perfect sense to him.

With that Dean got up and collected a couple of beers, giving one to Cas, and they settled in to catch up on Gabriel's new regime in heaven, which to Dean made it sound very much like the archangel had delegated most of the jobs to Cas, Hannah and Rebecca. But it seemed all the angels were happy, back in heaven and back under the rule of an archangel, even if said archangel was Gabriel. Though as the archangel in charge of fledging's so long ago, pretty much everyone remembered him as being kind to them, and he knew each and every angel in heaven by name. Dean wasn't as surprised by hearing about this side of Gabriel as he would have been before fledgling Cas came into their life's. But now he realised it kind fit the archangel. Though he did wonder how long it would be until Gabriel got bored of his new role.

Sam woke the next morning and made his way to Dean's room only to find it empty. With a frown in his eyes he made his way into the library to find Castiel and Dean sitting talking to each other. Though when Sam appeared Dean looked up at him and smiled. It was a smile he hadn't seen on his brother for a while now, but he was glad it was back.

"Hey Sammy, we need to talk about Crowley." Dean said as soon as he saw his brother making Sam roll his eyes.

"Before breakfast?" He asked. His brother was not the sort to do anything on an empty stomach.

"Yeah okay, I get the hint. Eggs and bacon alright?" Dean asked over his shoulder as he stood and made his way to the kitchen.

"Sounds good to me." Sam replied with smile before turning to Cas to find out what was happening in heaven now the angels had returned. Castiel of course re-iterated the message from the Winchesters family and seeing the picture Sam too found tears coursing down his cheeks. He glad that they seemed to be happy up-stairs. It was good to know that.

The smell of bacon cooking apparently was a signal to wake, as just when Dean had finished the food Kevin came stumbling into the room his hair a mess and still in his pyjamas. He grunted morning to all those present and took a plate from Dean who just chuckled and cooked himself some more. Once every was feed and watered, or caffeinated, and more awake, Dean broached the subject Cas had raised the night before.

"So Crowley, what are we going to do with him?" He asked all those present.

"Do you think he has any more info for us?" Sam asked before Kevin respond.

"Not that he'll give willingly, no." Dean replied simply. They only way they would get anything from Crowley was if they started making deals, and that was something Dean wasn't prepared to do just to find out where the demons were. They could go back to the old way of doing that quite happily, plus they now had a semi-resident angel, surely Cas would be able to help with the hunting of demons.

"Okay, I vote we kill him then." Sam said in an amicable voice. It was about time that the king of hell died.

"You promised I would get to do it Dean." Kevin interjected, there was a fire in his eyes as he thought about avenging his mom.

"Sure you can kiddo." Dean nodded with understanding. At that Castiel produced his angel blade.

"You will probably need this." He said holding out to the prophet who looked at it then at Dean who nodded. With a deep breath and pushing his shoulders back Kevin took the blade from Castiel.

And so it was this strange assortment of people plus angel who made their way down to the dungeon to confront the kill the king of hell.