June 17, 1983

"Mama, how come Daddy doesn't have an angel?" Dean jumped from block to block on the sidewalk. The cracks break your mother's back, and Dean would never do that.

Beside him, Mama pushed Sammy's stroller. They'd brought him home from the hospital ages ago, and Dean liked being a big brother, except they hadn't gone to the park since then. Today Mama said they could go for a little bit so Dean could 'burn off the crazy'.

"Hand," she said. Dean automatically reached over to put one hand next to hers on the stroller. They were at a corner, so Dean had to walk, not jump or run, but he did step really big to make sure he didn't touch any cracks.

After they made it to the other side of the road, she finally answered his question. "Not everybody has an angel. And sometimes things happen. When Daddy was little, his family had an angel named Hannah, but there was an accident. Daddy's daddy and Hannah were both killed, and she was the last Winchester angel."

Dean forgot about the cracks. "But angels can fix you if you get hurt, can't they?"

"It's true, they can. But they can't heal everything, and they can be hurt, too."

He didn't like that at all. "What about Gabriel? Can he get hurt?"

Mama stopped walking. She crouched down to kiss his forehead, then looked into his eyes. "I know it's scary, love. Yes, even Gabriel can be hurt, but don't worry. He's a tricky little angel. Nothing's going to happen to him. And don't worry about Daddy, either. Even though he can't heal him, Gabriel will watch out for Daddy, too."

Dean looked up at her, making sure she really meant it. Finally he nodded. She gave him another kiss and they started off toward the park again, but he stayed close enough to her side that he could cling to the hem of her shirt as they walked.

About a hundred hours later, he could finally see the park up ahead, and Dean forgot about angels. "Mama, can we go to the pond like I did with Daddy? Please, please, can we? Last time there were polliwogs, and Daddy said they turn into frogs!"

"Maybe after we're done at the playground. How's that sound?"

"Okay!" Dean shouted. They had reached the grassy edge of the park, which meant he was allowed to run to the playground because there were no cars. He took off running and didn't stop until he got to the rocket ship, which was his favorite thing to play on because you could go inside and it didn't go up too high.

When he got to the top, he stuck his head out and looked around until he saw Mama sitting on one of the benches in the shade. He yelled until she looked up and waved to him.

He played for a long time, sometimes by himself and sometimes with other kids, even though he didn't know them. Sammy was too little to play.

"Mama?" Dean was out of breath as he ran up to her bench. "Will you help me?" He held up his shoes that he'd taken off when they got full of sand.

"Sure, baby," she said, taking the shoes and shaking them out. He sat on the bench and stuck his feet out so she could help him back into them, tying the laces up snugly. "Okay, Dean, I need to change Sam's diaper. Will you be all right playing while I go do that? I'll be in the bathroom right over there if you need me."

"Yeah, Mama!" He raced away again, aiming for the slide this time.

When he got to the top of the slide's ladder, some movement caught his eye way over in the trees by the pond. There was a kid over there. He looked really little, too.

Without a second thought, Dean slid to the bottom and ran over toward the pond. But when he got closer to the trees, he couldn't see the kid anymore. He went almost all the way to the water's edge, but the boy was gone. Maybe he'd gone back to the playground.

As Dean started to turn back, he heard a splash. He looked out over the pond and saw circles rippling in the water. Fish! Daddy said that was fish that made those. Squinting, he tried to see it, but all he saw was the sky shining in the water.

Off to his right was the wooden foot bridge that went out over the water to the island way out in the middle of the pond. He'd been over there before with Daddy, but wasn't supposed to go by himself. For a second he hesitated. He wasn't supposed to be by the water by himself at all.

But there were fish! And Mama said they could go after he was done at the playground. He'd just go onto the bridge, not to the island. He just wanted to see the fish.

So Dean ran along the water's edge and onto the bridge. He thumped across the wooden planks until he was close to where he thought the splash had been. He peered through the railing, but he couldn't see anything at all.

Another splash! He could almost see it down below. He climbed up onto the first rail and grabbed the second. Hauling himself up, he leaned as far as he could to see the ripples fading in the water below.

As the ripples died, he could see his reflection way down in the water. Suddenly he realized how high up he was and froze in fear. The water was dark and so far down, it made him dizzy. Something moved over at the water's edge, and he looked up to see the boy he'd spotted earlier. But his sudden movement made his foot slip, and he lost his grip on the railing. He hit the water almost before he knew he was falling, and it was cold! He went all the way under and stayed there. He flailed his arms and legs, all memories of learning to dog paddle erased in his panic. He'd never been in water before where he couldn't touch the bottom. Finally his face broke the surface and he gasped in a breath.

But there was something wrong with his feet. They were getting heavy, pulling him down. He struggled, but the water closed over his face again. He'd never been so scared before. He needed to breathe!

One instant, he was in the cold, dark water, with a terrible pain in his chest. The next, he was on his back in the bushes on the muddy shore, coughing up water. Someone was with him. Dean's chest hurt really bad, and he couldn't stop coughing. The boy placed a hand on his chest, and Dean took a huge gulp of air – the pain was gone.

The boy. The boy from the trees was on his knees beside him, staring down at him with huge blue eyes. Dean blinked hard to clear his vision, but the boy was still there, filthy and wild looking. And...he had a halo. The boy had a halo like Gabriel's! But he also had wings. Great big, black wings.

The boy – the angel – looked up sharply in the direction of the playground, then back down at Dean. As he stood, the black wings spread wide, and with a whoosh of air, he was gone.

"DEAN!"

"Mama?" he whimpered, turning toward the voice.

"Dean! Oh my god, Dean!" His mama was running toward him, with a wailing Sam clutched tight to her chest.

Dean sat up just as she crashed to her knees in the mud beside him. She threw her arm around him, squeezing him so hard, he couldn't breathe, just like when he was under the water. Terror came back all in a rush, and he burst into tears, grabbing fistfuls of her shirt. He cried harder than he ever remembered crying before, sobbing into her chest.

Mama grabbed his shoulder and held him out, even though he still clung to her shirt. "Oh, baby, you scared me half to death! Don't ever do that again!"

She pulled him back into a hug, but more gently this time, and held him until his shakes and howling sobs settled down to sniffles.

"Baby, what happened? You know you're not supposed to be down here. How did you get in the water?" she asked softly.

"I saw a boy," Dean sniffed. "He was by the pond, but then there was a fish, and I falled in, and then, and then...he was an angel and he brought me out."

"Gabriel? Gabriel saved you?"

Dean frowned. He'd forgotten. If he needed help, he was supposed to ask Gabriel. He shook his head. "The boy was an angel with a halo and wings and he saved me."

Mama's hand had been petting his hair, but it suddenly stopped. "Sweetheart...if there were wings, he couldn't be an angel."

"He was, too. He had a halo like Gabriel's and black wings. I saw."

Mama was quiet after that, just holding him and Sammy and rocking them both.

Since he'd forgotten about praying, Dean was glad the little angel had helped him like Gabriel would have. But even though he'd saved him, and he was even littler than Dean, when he'd stood up and spread those huge wings, the wild looking angel had been a little bit scary.