"Well, he's definitely your son."

Sam cracked a smile at Dean's comment, looking fondly at the little boy passed out on the open book Castiel had stolen from Heaven. He walked to the bed and grabbed the blanket Liam had brought in from the car—the one he usually used when he slept in the backseat—and then Sam approached the table. He carefully draped the blanket over Liam's shoulders, tucking it around him, and then he pulled out his phone and snapped a couple pictures.

"So, is it safe to talk?" Dean asked, leaning against a nearby wall.

Sam looked at Liam for a moment, watching his shoulders rise and fall, and then he nodded. "I think so." He slipped his phone back into his pocket. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You said he talked to you about the masturbation thing." Dean crossed his arms over his chest. "Do we have any kind of plan regarding that?"

Sam heaved a sigh and shook his head. "Not one that I like. I've been doing some research, and I'm gonna keep going, but there's no guarantee that what works for some people—or even most people—will work for Liam. I tried to coax him into sharing with his therapist, but he was adamantly against it. I don't think he trusts her enough yet."

"Psh. I don't blame him." Dean watched Liam with a sympathetic expression. "I wouldn't want to talk to anybody about that, let alone someone who only interacts with me because I pay them to."

Sam disagreed with Dean's idea of the therapist's motive, but he knew Liam probably saw things in the same light, so he didn't object. "There's also no guarantee that the therapist will know what to do. I mean, different therapists have different strengths, and even though the one we got is equipped to deal with traumatized children, she might not know what to do with Liam's specific trauma."

Dean pursed his lips and nodded, still watching Liam. "Has he talked anymore about his dream with the Novak family?"

"No." Sam let out a sigh. "And I've been looking for proof that bodies were found at some point, but so far, nothing."

For a few moments, there was silence, and Sam waited to see if Dean had anything else to add to the conversation. But Dean didn't, and the stillness carried on for a little while longer before Dean broke it with a change of subject.

"I know we need to head back to Indianapolis for Liam's therapy appointment, but I think we need to keep hunting as much as possible. I think it's the only way we'll know what's going on with the Apocalypse." Dean pushed off the wall and walked closer to Sam, putting his hands on his hips. "I can handle the salt n' burn for the hunt we just worked, so maybe you can look for our next job."

Sam rubbed the back of his neck and glanced to the side, where his laptop sat on the motel bed. "I want to make time to research sexual abuse and masturbation in depth, but I bet I can find us a hunt pretty quickly. Or we could call Bobby."

"Sounds good." Dean jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "I gotta do the salt n' burn, then I gotta get Baby fueled up, and then I was thinking of hitting a McDonald's."

Sam glanced at Liam. "Uh… yeah." He nodded, looking at Dean. "Yeah, get us both our usuals, and we'll try to keep it warm for him. If it looks like it's getting cold, we can just wake him up."

Dean gave a thumbs up and turned around, heading for the motel room door. "Be back soon." He tossed a quick wave over his shoulder and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Knowing how Liam felt about unlocked doors, Sam walked over and gave the deadbolt a twist. He stared at it for a moment, a faint smile pulling on the corner of his mouth.

Dean takes such good care of us.

Sam smiled a little wider and turned away from the door, returning to the bed and grabbing his laptop. He sat down and opened it, creating a new internet tab. He started typing and quickly slipped into the monotony of his usual routine, everything around him fading as he searched for something to hunt.

"Mmm…"

Sam glanced up from his work, frowning. It wasn't that unusual for Liam to make occasional noise while he slept, but it sometimes meant nightmares, so Sam tried to get a look at Liam's face. Unfortunately, it was turned away from him.

"Hhh… hnn…"

Sam set his laptop aside and stood up, walking over to the table and getting on the other side of Liam. He leaned down slightly and looked at Liam's face, which was screwed up like he was in pain.

"Hey." Sam put his hand on Liam's back and started to rub. "Hey, buddy, wake up."

Liam sucked in a breath and shifted where he sat, his eyes shut tight.

"Liam." Sam carefully maneuvered his hands onto Liam's shoulders. "Hey, Lee. Come on, bud, wake up."

Liam jolted, looking around rapidly, and he quickly found Sam. He stared for a second, swallowed hard, and then slouched in his chair. "Thanks, Sorzie."

"Of course." Sam dropped his hands from Liam's shoulders before reaching out to rub his back again. "What were you dreaming about?"

Liam shook his head. "It was…" He reached up and rubbed his face. "It was about my mom."

"Okay." Sam tried to keep his expression neutral, not wanting to pressure Liam into anything. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Liam shook his head vigorously, pressing his palms to his eyes.

Sam nodded faintly. "That's alright. You don't have to talk about it." He continued rubbing small circles on Liam's back. "Is there something I can do to make you feel better?"

"Can I… have a hug?" Liam asked, caution in his bright blue eyes.

Sam felt a pain in his chest and briefly wondered how long it would take for Liam to believe the affection Sam showed him. "Of course, you can." Sam got to his feet as Liam stood up, and then Sam pulled Liam in close, a soft smile pulling on his lips. "You're getting really tall."

Liam looked up, his chin resting on the lower portion of Sam's ribcage. "Yeah, I am." He smiled faintly. "Do you think I'll be as tall as you someday?"

"I don't know." Sam squeezed him a little tighter. "We'll have to wait and see."

Nodding, Liam held on for a moment more, and then he pulled away. "I'm okay, Sorzie. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Sam gestured toward the nearby bed with his computer still on it. "Dean's getting us some McDonald's. Do you want to help me look for a hunt while we wait?"

Liam nodded again, and the two of them walked over, sitting down side by side. Sam picked up his laptop and started reading where he left off, acutely aware of a small human leaning into him. They looked over different blog posts and news reports, trying to find something that had a clear, supernatural ring to it.

"What do you think Castiel is doing?"

Sam was a bit surprised by the question, and he briefly wondered if it had anything to do with Liam's bad dream, but he offered the best answer he could. "Well, he should be working on trying to find Gabriel. I don't know exactly what kind of stuff he's doing…"

"He gave me those books to look in, but I haven't found anything yet." Liam kicked his legs slightly, bouncing them against the mattress. "I don't have any reason to call him."

Sam frowned slightly. "Liam, wanting to see Castiel is a perfectly good reason to call him. I know he's busy right now, but he's not too busy for you. If you—"

"But he has super important things to do." Liam shook his head, putting his hands in his lap and wringing them. "He's got to find Gabriel if we're going to stop the Apocalypse. I shouldn't be bothering him just so we can hang out."

"Buddy, Castiel is your friend." Sam put an arm around Liam, rubbing his upper arm. "If he needs to say no, he'll say no. But if he has the time, I'm sure he would love to come hang out with you."

"Yeah… maybe…" Liam neither agreed nor disagreed, and Sam had no idea what that meant, but he made a mental note to reach out to Castiel later. "Let's just find a hunt for now."

Sam smiled and offered a faint nod. "Okay."

So, they put their attention back on the screen and took it from there.

"Cas. Give it up. Just collapse already."

Castiel grunted, barely able to keep himself from falling to the ground. "If Liam isn't giving up, then neither am I." He jerked his head in Dean's general direction. "Spin it."

Dean dragged his hand down his face, sighing in exasperation, but he did as Castiel said and crouched down, flicking the arrow. Seconds passed in silence, and then Dean announced, "Left foot, red."

Castiel wet his lips and slowly twisted his body, carefully sliding his left foot onto the red circle. He looked down, barely able to see Liam in a similarly contorted fashion beneath him, also trying to touch the circle. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, feeling a kind of exhaustion that was not native to angels running through his muscles.

"Maybe—" Liam grunted, his arms and legs holding his body up with his back facing the ground. "Maybe we should both give up at the same time and call it a tie."

Castiel, who was twisted around so his upper body faced the floor and his lower body faced the ceiling, gave a jerky nod. "Perhaps that is the best course of action."

"Okay…" Liam nodded his head. "On three. One…"

"Two…" Castiel ground out the word, muscles tense.

"Three!"

Castiel somehow managed to roll his body away from Liam so he didn't collapse on the young boy completely, and then he was lying on his back and panting up at the ceiling. "It should not be that difficult to put your foot on a circle."

Liam laughed, sprawled out on the Twister mat. "Maybe next time, you shouldn't suppress your angel powers."

"But that would be unfair." Castiel turned his head to look at Liam, the exhaustion slowly leaving his body as he allowed his Grace to return. "If I were at full power, you would never beat me."

"Yeah, I know." Liam smiled, out of breath. "Thanks for playing with me, Castiel."

Castiel nodded. "Of course." He stayed still for another second, and then he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. "I have been working constantly. It's nice to take a break." Even if his brain disagreed and wanted him to perpetually work until he made progress.

Liam sat up, too, looking over at Dean. "When's Sorzie gonna be back?"

Dean leaned back against the small table the motel room had. "I don't know, but he was just getting us food, so it shouldn't be too long."

Still panting, Liam got to his feet and crossed the room. "Since you're here," he started, grabbing a thick book from the nightstand between the motel beds, "I can give you this." He carried it over to Castiel and held it out. "I went through the whole thing, but it was mostly about summoning demons and witches, and they were all low-level. It didn't have anything about angels. Sorry."

Castiel took the book and stood up, shaking his head slightly. "Don't apologize. It's one more book I don't have to look through, so you're still being helpful."

Liam gave a tight-lipped smile, and Castiel wasn't very good at reading people, but Liam didn't exactly look reassured. Castiel opened his mouth to try and encourage the boy again, but he was cut off by the door to the motel room swinging inward.

"I got the food!" Sam walked in carrying paper bags from Wendy's and a tray with four cups, kicking the door shut behind him. "Who won the Twister game?"

"It was a tie," Castiel answered, approaching the young man with a tentatively hopeful look on his face. "Did you get me a chocolate Frosty?"

Sam laughed softly, setting the drink tray down and grabbing one of the cups. "Here you go." He handed it over. "I know how you like your ice cream by-products."

Castiel took the Frosty with a small smile, removing the lid and immediately trying to lick the ice cream out of the cup.

"Dude." Dean laughed, holding out a plastic-wrapped utensil. "Use a spoon."

Grabbing the spoon, Castiel buffered for a moment, trying to figure out how to open his utensil without putting his Frosty down. He quickly realized it was impossible, and with extreme reluctance, he placed the treat on the little motel room table.

Still smiling, Sam pulled out a cheeseburger and handed it to Dean before withdrawing some chicken nuggets and french fries, which went to Liam.

"Thanks, Sorzie!" Liam gave a gap-toothed smile and opened his own Frosty, dipping a chicken nugget in the ice cream.

"You're welcome, buddy." Sam grabbed a cheeseburger for himself and sat down on the bed nearby, looking at Castiel. "So, what are you doing after this?"

Castiel snuck a glance at Liam, and then he put his eyes on Sam. "I would love to accompany you on your hunt, however… I think it's best if I continue the search for Gabriel."

Liam looked down briefly, and even though he tried to hide his disappointment, Castiel still caught a glimpse. "I'll keep looking through the other book you gave me."

"You've been spending an awful lot of time alone, little man." Dean spoke around the cheeseburger in his mouth. "Maybe, after this hunt, we can go somewhere together."

Sam brightened immediately. "That's a great idea!"

Liam smiled, and Castiel may not have been the best at reading people's expressions, but he was pretty sure it was genuine. "That would be really awesome," he said softly, putting his gaze on his food.

Castiel spooned some Frosty into his mouth and frowned, thinking over the situation they were in. He didn't like that Liam was alone for such long periods of time, but there wasn't really anything they could do. Once the Apocalypse was taken care of, Sam and Dean could take large breaks in between hunts, and they would be able to dedicate much more time to Liam. Until then, they had to keep searching for any sign of the End, hoping they would run into some big players like they had in the town influenced by War.

"We should get you a familiar."

Everyone stopped at that, all of them looking at Castiel with confusion on their faces.

"What's a familiar?" Liam asked, casting worried eyes to each of his family members.

"It's a magical animal companion that normally accompanies witches." Castiel looked around the room. "I know of a few rituals that are supposed to summon a creature like that and bind said creature to a person."

Dean shook his head. "I don't know, Cas. Trying to add the supernatural to our side is what got us into this mess—" Castiel didn't miss Sam's guilty look, "—and we have no way of knowing if these rituals are the real deal. You said yourself, they're supposed to summon a creature like that and bind it to a person."

"You put me on your side, and I am extremely supernatural." Castiel blinked, not understanding Dean's hesitation. "I am not trying to summon a demon. I am talking about a small animal."

Liam looked between the two of them, and then his attention was drawn to Sam, who hadn't said anything since Castiel made the suggestion. "Sorzie?"

"Let me do some research." Sam held out his hand in a placating gesture. "It's not that I don't trust you, Cas. I just want to look into the idea for myself."

If it weren't for the fact that Castiel had kidnapped Liam, he would have been offended by the lack of trust the brothers had in him. Because it was a lack of trust, no matter what they said, and Castiel knew the only thing research would tell them was that he was right. But Castiel had done some horrible things to them, so he wasn't about to argue or complain. They could research, if it made them feel better, and it would triple ensure that the concept of a familiar was a safe one.

"I'll give you the information for the rituals I had in mind." Castiel scooped some more ice cream into his mouth. "It might help to have specifics to research."

"That would be great." Sam seemed relieved by the lack of a fight. "But in the meantime, we've got a hunt, and you've got to keep looking for Gabriel, so…" He put his eyes on Liam. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Liam waved it off. "You guys leave me alone all the time, Sorzie. It's no big deal. I'll just draw and color and research the book Castiel gave me."

Castiel was stuck on the 'you leave me alone all the time' bit, and he couldn't help but hope Sam and Dean researched quickly. It might not have been the same as human companionship, but at least a familiar would give Liam something. Castiel didn't know a lot about humans, but he knew they needed that something.

"I should return to Balthazar." Castiel lifted his half-eaten Frosty. "Thank you for this, and Liam, thank you for teaching me how to play Twister. I quite enjoyed myself."

Liam beamed. "You're welcome! Thanks for playing with me, Castiel!"

"You're very welcome."

Without further ado, Castiel left, flying halfway across the country and landing inside an old warehouse that had been filled with any number of runes and sigils and wards. Some were to keep their efforts hidden, but most were from failed attempts to summon Gabriel.

What are we doing? Castiel was a soldier, and he wasn't used to functioning without orders. No, you have orders. Your orders are to find Gabriel. But the task just seemed so impossible. They had stolen books from Heaven, the one place he thought might give them answers, and they hadn't found anything in the weeks that followed. But if we don't find him…

No. Castiel couldn't think about that.

We're going to find him. We have to.

"So, I just stand here in the middle?"

Dean stood with his arms crossed over his chest, green eyes zeroed in on the circle of spray paint Liam was standing in. He looked at all the symbols and letters of foreign alphabets, and all he could think was that it looked like a devil's trap. It looked like a devil's trap in the middle of an abandoned warehouse, and if that didn't scream 'danger,' he didn't know what did. But he didn't say anything. Sam had researched the idea of familiars for several days, and when they talked about it, Dean said he was going to follow Sam's lead.

He didn't like it. But he could accept it.

Maybe.

"I need a little bit of your blood for the spell," Sam explained, pulling out a pocketknife and reaching for Liam's hand. "You sure you're okay with this?"

Liam bit his lip and nodded, and while he seemed a little nervous, there was undeniable excitement in his eyes. He watched Sam nick his fingertip, and then he watched the blood drip into a bowl of ingredients for the spell.

I don't like this.

Sam collected the blood and then straightened up, walking back toward Castiel and holding out the bowl. "You're more fluent in these foreign languages, so I think you should be the one to cast the spell."

Castiel took the bowl with a solemn nod, and then he approached the circle. "Are you ready, Liam?"

Liam bounced on his toes slightly, eagerly nodding his head.

Castiel nodded and began speaking in that low, rumbling, extremely serious voice that always made it sound like he was reading a eulogy. Immediately, black smoke began to rise from the outer rim of the circle, and Dean took a few steps closer, panic cutting into his chest as the smoke got too thick to see through.

"Liam?" Sam called, and from the way he was hovering at the edge of the circle, he was just as on edge as Dean.

Which is exactly why we shouldn't have done this.

"I'm okay!" Liam sounded fine, but Dean was far from relaxing. "It's not even hard to breathe!"

Dean made brief eye contact with Sam, and then they put their attention back on the column of smoke rising to the warehouse ceiling. They watched, occasionally glancing over at Castiel, who continued the incantation without even a hint of concern on his face.

Castiel was a one-off. Trying to use the supernatural for good has never turned out right for us. Dean wet his lips, and if that haze of black didn't clear in the next two minutes, Dean was bursting in the circle and dragging Liam out.

Those two minutes crawled by in agonizing sluggishness, and then Castiel's intoning came to an end. They all stood there. Watching. Waiting.

"Lee, you still good?" Dean took one more step, but after that he couldn't go any further without disrupting the circle.

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

Dean opened his mouth to prod for a more descriptive answer, but he stopped short when he saw the smoke slowly start to dissipate. When it rose, there was nothing new coming from below, and in a matter of seconds, the cloud had dispersed completely.

"Lee?"

Liam was staring, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at the solid black housecat sitting in front of him. He dropped to his knees and slowly reached a hand out, going for the creature's head. "Hey, there…"

Liam made contact, and the cat rubbed its head against Liam's palm. It meowed softly and stood up, taking a few steps closer and peering up at the young redhead. It meowed again, and Liam let out a soft laugh, gently stroking the cat's fur.

"Okay." Dean put his foot on the outer rim of the circle. "So—"

Hissing, the cat started to approach Dean, back arched and tail frizzed.

"It's okay!" Liam was quick to put his hand on the cat's back. "It's okay, Dean's my uncle. He's family."

It took a second—during which Dean and the cat stared each other down suspiciously—but the cat slowly relaxed and moved back to Liam, meowing at him again.

"I have to name you," Liam said, scratching its ears. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

Flopping down on it's back, the cat exposed itself, and with a little giggle, Liam determined the gender.

"You're a girl." Liam pet her a few more times. "I think I'll name you… Calypso. Calypso Winchester."

Calypso mewed and rolled over, getting her feet under her. She looked up at Dean, and then she looked at Sam, and then she looked at Castiel. But ultimately, she went back to Liam, jumping up onto his shoulder and sitting down.

Liam laughed and stood up carefully, allowing her to keep her balance. "I don't think normal cats do that." He took a few steps to see how she would hold up with movement.

Dean watched the exchange with suspicion coiling in the pit of his stomach. She might have looked friendly, but that didn't mean she was, and she was already acting out of the ordinary for a cat. She wasn't a pet, she was a familiar, and Dean wasn't quite sure what he thought of that.

"Can I pet you, Calypso?" Sam asked, walking closer and reaching out his hand.

Calypso's big, greenish yellow eyes stared up at him, and after a second of thought, she bowed her head. Sam gently ran his hand over her, a smile pulling on his lips.

Liam looked up at Sam. "You said she'll still need food and water like a real pet, right?"

Sam nodded. "That's right. We won't be able to have a litter box for her, so you'll have to take her outside like you would with a dog." He pet Calypso a few more times, and then he turned to face Dean. "Well. Looks like we have an addition to the family."

Dean offered a nod. "Looks like we do."

I don't like this.

But what could he do? He would just have to keep a close eye on the magical companion, always prepared to cut off its head if need be. Besides, it wasn't as if he didn't trust Castiel's knowledge or Sam's intense research. As hesitant as he was to rely on the supernatural, he had some faith. It was just a conditional faith, and he didn't know how to take away the circumstances that made him doubt.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Liam had been reading for two solid hours when he saw it. It had been one hundred and twenty minutes of staring at old pages of text written in a font that really didn't agree with his eyes, and then he saw it. By that time, everything had begun to fade, the words going in one side of his brain and out the other without much thought.

But he still saw it.

"Calypso." Liam shifted on the bed, his elbows still propping him up as he stared down at the old book. "Look at this."

Mewing softly, the black cat walked across the bed, sitting down beside him and peering over his shoulder.

"I think this is a ritual for summoning an archangel." Liam pushed himself up and resituated, criss-crossing his legs and pulling the tome into his lap. "It looks like it goes on for several pages."

Calypso stretched out her neck and rubbed her head against the corner of the book. She meowed, and then she looked up at him with her big, yellow eyes.

"I wanna take a closer look at it before I call Castiel." Liam scratched her ears, and then he started leafing back through the pages, going to the beginning of the ritual. "Hmm…"

He read the general information first, the text going on about warnings and limitations for a good two pages before it finally came to the actual ingredients needed to complete the ritual. He didn't recognize a lot of the things that were mentioned, and that made him think they would be hard to find, but that fit with his expectation of this spell they had been seeking for so long. It showed several pages of symbols, most of them circular, and it looked like they were both to summon the archangel as well as contain it.

"I'm gonna call Castiel." Liam grabbed his phone from the mattress next to him and unlocked the screen. "I think I might have actually found something useful, Calypso!"

She meowed again and licked her paw before using it to groom her ear.

Liam tapped Castiel's name and lifted the device, pressing it against his head. It rang twice, and then came a familiar voice.

"Liam?"

"Castiel!" Liam wet his lips, able to hear the excitement bleeding into his own voice. "I think I found something! It says it's a ritual for summoning archangels, but there's a lot I don't understand. I think you should come take a look at it."

"I can certainly do that, Liam. Where are you?"

Liam rattled off the motel name and number, and then he waited. It took all of two seconds for Castiel to appear in the center of the room, and the angel quickly walked to where Liam sat on the bed.

"What did you find?"

Liam lifted the book from his lap and held it where Castiel could see it. "See? It says it's a ritual for summoning archangels." He scooted a little closer and started to leaf through the pages. "It goes on about the spell for a little, then there's the ingredients, and then there's a lot of symbols you have to use."

Castiel pursed his lips and took the book from Liam's hands, blue eyes squinting slightly as he examined the words. He flipped back to the first page of the ritual, scanning the contents, and then he started to go back through the pages Liam had showed him.

"Fascinating." Castiel looked at Liam then, giving an affirmative nod. "I think you've definitely found something valuable, Liam. I will take this, and I will gather the ingredients as quickly as I can."

Liam beamed, clasping his hands together under his chin. "So, I did good?"

Castiel offered a small smile. "You did very good." He glanced around the room. "You're here alone, I see." He nodded toward Calypso. "Is she helping?"

Nodding, Liam grabbed the cat and pulled her onto his lap, gently stroking her fur as she settled down onto his legs. "Yeah. It's kinda weird because I talk out loud a lot more than I used to, and she can't talk back, but… I don't know. I like it."

Castiel smiled again. "Good." He gestured to the book. "I've got to get back to work. If you need me, don't hesitate to call. Understand?"

"I got it." Liam squeezed Calypso lightly. "Be safe."

"I will."

With that, Castiel was gone, and Liam let out a heavy sigh. He released Calypso in case she wanted to go, but she simply turned around in her spot and laid down again. Smiling, Liam alternated between stroking her head and scratching her ears.

"Soon this Apocalypse stuff will be over." Liam spoke with far more conviction than he felt. "They'll be able to spend more time with me in between hunts, and before long, I'll be old enough to join them."

Calypso made a soft noise of what Liam hoped was agreement.

"You'll come help me on hunts when I'm old enough, right?" Liam leaned back slightly, bracing his arms against the bed to hold himself up. "I guess while I'm impersonating federal agents and stuff, you can't be there, but you can help the rest of the time."

Blinking up at him, Calypso made another noise.

"Yeah! It'll be fun." Liam smiled down at her. "We just have to wait a little."

Calypso meowed again, rubbing her face against his.

"Just a little bit longer."

Liam bit his lip, pushing the crate he was sitting on a little closer to the wall of the large, abandoned warehouse they were in. It had taken about a week and a half, but Castiel had managed to gather all of the necessary ingredients to perform the summoning ritual Liam had found. Now, they were gathered and preparing to actually perform the ritual, and Liam was nervous. Partly because he had been the one to find the ritual, so he wanted it to work, but also because if it did work, there would be an incredibly powerful angel in the room that he didn't trust in the slightest. He only had himself to blame, of course. He had been the one to say he wanted to be there when Castiel and Balthazar tried the ritual, so…

Shaking his head, Liam pulled himself from his thoughts just in time to see Calypso walk up to him, seemingly satisfied with the space they were in. Liam had learned rather quickly that, every time they were in a new place, Calypso felt the need to walk the perimeter. Which, Liam supposed, made sense. She wasn't a pet, she was a familiar, and that was bound to be different in some ways.

"Hey, Calypso." Liam scratched her head, a faint smile pulling on his lips as he looked toward the center of the massive room.

It was a completely open area with old, concrete floors and scattered, wooden palettes spread throughout. Most of the walls and the ceiling were all intact, though a couple windows had been broken out, and there were a few light fixtures that still worked. Still, it was a dimly lit building, and that added to the creepy aura created by the task at hand.

"Okay." Sam put his hands on his hips, looking between his brother and the two angels present. "Did we do everything we needed to?"

Castiel looked at the book in his hand, taking the time to flip through a few pages before he nodded. "Yes. We have done everything the book requires; the only thing left is the incantation and the fire."

Dean flipped open his lighter, grabbing the large bowl from the table they had set up outside the circle. "I just have to light this while you're reading the spell, right?"

"You got it, mate." Balthazar pulled out a lighter of his own. "Once you light it, jump out of the circle quick. As soon as I see him, I'm lighting the ring of holy oil, and hopefully we'll have ourselves a trapped archangel."

"Hopefully," Sam echoed dryly.

Liam felt Calypso rub her head against the underside of his chin, and he took his attention off his family long enough to see what she wanted. She made a little noise, almost like a hum, and pushed against him again. Liam laughed to himself, realizing he must have stopped scratching her when he got invested in what was going on in the middle of the warehouse.

"You just want attention, don't you?" Liam started stroking her dark fur, going from the top of her head to the tip of her tail. "What do you think? You think everything is going to be alright?"

Calypso stared up at him, and for a moment, it almost looked like she hadn't heard his question, which Liam supposed was fair. She was, after all, an animal, even if she was a magical one. But then she straightened up, putting her front paws on Liam's chest and gazing into his eyes. She didn't do anything—she didn't even blink—but Liam still felt she was answering his question.

You'll be fine. Liam leaned forward and kissed her on the nose. Everything will be fine.

"Okay, are we ready?"

"Let's do this!"

Liam pushed his crate even closer to the wall, careful not to knock Calypso off balance. He continued to run his hand over her, blue eyes glued to the ritual his family had gathered around. He saw Dean walk into the circle, Castiel's deep voice ringing out in the empty building.

I hope this works.

Biting down on his lower lip, he watched Dean rush out of the circle, and the incantation continued. Sam moved a little closer to Dean, the two of them standing off to the righthand side of the circle while Balthazar stood to the left and Castiel stood right in the middle. They all watched with bated breath, and Liam quickly realized he had stopped breathing, too. His gentle rubbing of Calypso turned into a tight hold that he maintained until she let out a little noise of protest.

"Sorry," Liam whispered, lightening his grip but not letting her go. "Please, don't leave me."

Calypso mewed and continued to sit in his lap.

Ten more seconds passed, and then Castiel fell silent. He snapped the book shut, turning slightly to place it on the table, and then everyone was facing the circle. Time ticked by, and after about a minute, Dean turned toward Castiel with a shrug.

"Looks like it didn't work."

"It's not surprising," Castiel replied, though there was a hint of disappointment in his voice. "So far, none of the rituals we have tried have worked. It was a long shot from the beginning."

"Lollipop?"

Liam nearly jumped out of his skin, stumbling off his crate and tumbling to the ground. He looked up at the man standing there, a lollipop in his outstretched hand, and he quickly pushed himself to his feet.

"Liam!" That was Sam.

Liam took a few more steps back, watching the stranger with a mix of confusion and fear. He was scared, to be sure, but it didn't make sense. Why would an enemy alert Liam of his presence before attacking? Why wouldn't he just take him out while his back was turned? Unless it was some kind of demon and it had a sick desire to see the terror in Liam's eyes.

Liam jumped again, this time because Sam had grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him back, quickly getting in between Liam and the newcomer. Calypso stood even closer to the man than Sam, her tail sticking straight up and her fur standing on edge as she growled.

"Aww, you got the tagalong a tagalong of his own."

Liam swallowed hard, not liking that he was the topic of conversation, and he tried to take comfort in the fact that Balthazar, Castiel, Dean, and Sam had all run over and were now standing between him and the threat.

"You're the Trickster," Dean said, and Liam had no idea what that meant, but Dean clearly did, and he took another step closer before continuing. "Have you been keeping tabs on us all this time?"

"What are you talking about?" Grinning, the man took the wrapper off his lollipop and stuck it in his mouth. "You called me, Beavis."

Dean turned to look at Castiel and Balthazar, but Sam kept his gaze riveted to the so-called Trickster, leaving his brother to ask, "Guys?"

"That is Gabriel." Castiel spoke solemnly, gripping an angel blade in his hand. "How did you avoid the circle?"

"Pfft." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I can create entire pocket universes where I control everything that happens, and you think you can get me in a circle of holy fire?" He spread his arms, giving them a look like they should have seen this coming.

Balthazar mimicked the movement. "Well, we're not stains on the wall yet, so what did you want to talk about?"

Gabriel pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and gestured to everyone with it. "This." He put it back in his mouth, talking around it. "You guys need to stop fighting this. It's going to end terribly, and it would be much easier on everyone if you just accepted it and moved on."

"Yeah, you would say that." Dean sneered, folding his arms over his chest. "Tell me, how is letting Michael and Lucifer turn the whole world into Ground Zero less terrible than us fighting this with everything we've got?"

"You really are that stupid, aren't you?" Gabriel shook his head. "Why do you think you two are the vessels, huh? Think about it." He started to gesture, indicating the two young men as he spoke. "Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent Father. Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan." He tore the lollipop out of his mouth and tossed it off to the side, his anger growing the longer he went on. "You were born to do this, boys. It's your destiny. It was always you! As it is in Heaven, so it must be on Earth. One brother has to kill the other."

Sam still had a hand on Liam, and even though Liam was pushed somewhat behind, he could still see the anger in Sam's eyes. "Do you know anything about us at all?" He shook his head. "We don't know how to split up. We do it for a while, we separate, we try to do something different, and we get sucked back into each other's lives, every time, without fail. I screw up, Dean forgives me; Dean screws up, I forgive him." Grip tightening on Liam's shoulder, Sam let out a derisive scoff. "All we know how to do is come back to each other, time and time again, and you think we're destined to kill each other?"

"No, all you know how to do is fight." Gabriel pointed to them in turn, fire blazing in his hazel eyes. "You might stick together, but you spend that time arguing, fighting, resisting each other. You ignore each other's advice, each other's feelings, each other's needs. You—"

"You think that makes it acceptable to subjugate the world to suffering?" Castiel took a step closer, trying to draw Gabriel's focus, still holding that angel blade at his side. "You think two brothers having differences is justification to demolish the entire planet?"

"Don't you dare assume—"

"It's the fighting, isn't it?" Liam realized as soon as the words were out of his mouth that he was probably doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous, but he couldn't just stand by.

"Liam—" Sam started.

"I used to think that about my mom and dad." Liam inched a little closer to Gabriel, staring up at the archangel with what he hoped was understanding in his eyes. "They would fight all the time, about everything, always. I loved them." He shook his head. "No matter what they did to me, I always wanted to go back to them. Always." Wetting his lips, he tugged on the hem of his dark red t-shirt. "But the fighting… it just never stopped. And sometimes, I would wish that they would just go away. Because, no matter how much I loved them, watching them tear each other apart was just…"

There was dead silence in the warehouse, and after a shaky breath, Liam decided to continue.

"But Sam and Dean are different." He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, and he did his best to blink them away. "My mom and dad, when they would fight, they would just ignore each other for a couple days and then start acting like the fight had never happened. I bet that's what Michael and Lucifer did, too. Nothing ever got resolved. No one ever talked through things." Sucking down another lungful of air, Liam shook his head. "I know how hard it is to watch that. But Sam and Dean are different. They apologize. They talk. They try to understand each other, and they try to do better. And they mess up." Liam let out a little laugh. "Of course they mess up. Because everyone does. But then they see what they did, and they try to do better again."

"You're, what, ten?" Gabriel scoffed. "What do you know?"

Liam shook his head. "Not a lot. But I know what it's like to love someone with all your heart and wonder why they don't love you enough to stop doing whatever selfish, violent, angry thing they want." Feeling a tear run down his cheek, Liam quickly dashed it away. "I know what it's like to just want it to end."

Gabriel's anger was significantly lessened, and if Liam was reading his expression right, he was somewhat caught off guard by the argument. "Yes, and did you watch it for, literally, thousands of years?"

"You're not denying it." Dean folded his arms over his chest, staring Gabriel down.

Gabriel spread his hands. "What is there to deny? He's a kid. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

Castiel squinted suspiciously. "Which is why you decided to argue with him instead of ignoring him completely." He glanced at Liam. "He made valid points, and you're choosing to fight against them. That tells me that he's right."

"Surprisingly, I don't care about your thoughts on the situation." Gabriel put his hands on his hips, surveying the room with eyes Liam couldn't quite describe.

They were almost cold, but it wasn't a detached kind of cold. It was forced. There was an undertone to it; a kind of fear that was hidden by the distance out of desperation. It was the kind of look Liam had in his eyes after Sam and Dean got into that fistfight. It was the kind of look Liam got in his eyes after Sam had suggested sending him back to the group home.

"Gabriel." Castiel took a few steps, getting in between the brothers and the archangel. "Regardless of what you think about Sam and Dean, you must realize there is another way out of this."

"Oh, yeah?" Gabriel folded his arms over his chest. "What exactly is that?"

Liam couldn't see Castiel's face, but there was no hesitation in his tone despite the words he was saying. "I don't know yet, but we're going to find it, and we could really use your help."

"Or," Gabriel started, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, "you could just follow the plan and end this ridiculous charade now."

"You know that isn't going to happen." Castiel adjusted his grip on the angel blade. "If you help us stop Michael and Lucifer, it will still be over. It will just be over in a way that spares the rest of the world from being dragged into the drama of Heaven and Hell."

Sam lightened his grip on Liam's shoulder, and he didn't seem quite as keyed up about the archangel. "You hid yourself as the Trickster. You went after people who did wrong, and you punished them with irony." He lifted his free hand in a helpless gesture. "You have a moral compass. You know that letting Michael and Lucifer fight is wrong. You know it is."

Gabriel looked from person to person, still desperately trying to hold on to his anger. He grit his teeth, grabbing the bridge of his nose again, and uttered a string of curses. "You…"

Silence settled over the group, and Liam could practically hear a clock ticking in his head as the seconds went by. He looked up at Sam, who looked hesitantly hopeful, and then he looked at Dean, who seemed much more walled off. He tried to get a look at Castiel, but the angel was still out in front of him, facing Gabriel. Liam didn't really know Balthazar that well, but he gave him a look, too, finding a mostly impassive expression on his face.

Finally, the silence was broken by a quiet meow.

"Calypso!" Liam scolded in a harsh whisper, shaking his head at her.

She looked up at him, blinked slowly, and then looked back at Gabriel. She was apparently standing by her comment.

"Shut up, you mangy ball of fur." Gabriel growled out the words, heaving a sigh immediately after. "You…" He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I can't believe I'm saying this." He pressed his lips together, and for a moment, Liam thought that whatever he couldn't believe wouldn't be coming out. "The Four Horsemen."

Dean arched a brow, a confused expression on his face. "We're aware."

"Have you figured out that their powers are fueled by their rings?" Gabriel put his hands back on his hips, and the glare on his face made it very apparent that he hadn't let go of his anger toward them. "I know two of them were stopped. War and Famine. Did you keep those rings?"

Sam squinted slightly, his mouth moving wordlessly for a moment before he uttered a quiet, "Yes, we did."

"Well." Gabriel let out a sarcastic laugh. "If you manage to get all four, you can open a door to Lucifer's Cage."

Castiel cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"If you get them, and you put them together, you will open a door—a portal, if you will—to Lucifer's Cage." Gabriel shook his head, looking down at the ground and uttering another curse before lifting his head again. "If you manage to get that, I might consider helping you figure out how to get them in it. Might."

"Does this mean you aren't going to kill us?" Castiel asked, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"Not this time." Gabriel gave another headshake, looking completely incredulous. "If you find those rings—and only then—use the same ritual to summon me again. Until then, I'm gone, and if you try to call me back, you will be stains on the wall."

Just like that, Gabriel was gone, vanished into thin air. Liam put a hand over the one Sam was using to hold onto him, and he looked around at his family to try and read their faces. They all looked stunned, and silence reigned in the room for about thirty seconds.

"Well." Dean looked at Sam. "That went well."

Sam looked at Dean. "Uh, yeah. I would agree with that."

Castiel turned where he stood. "I apologize for him appearing outside of the circle. It didn't even occur to me that, with the holy fire, he could still be a threat to you. I wouldn't have allowed you to be present if it had."

Dean ran a hand through his hair, exhaling long and loud. "We didn't think of it, either." He looked at Liam. "You okay, buddy?"

Liam looked up at Dean and nodded. "Yeah." He glanced at Sam, worry tying a knot in the pit of his stomach. "Can we, um… can we not talk about what I said?"

Sam squeezed the shoulder he had yet to let go of. "We don't have to, but you really should think about it. If you don't want to talk to us, you could always talk to your therapist." He smiled, warm and understanding. "But I know what it's like to not want to talk about something. It really is okay."

Liam swallowed hard and nodded. "So…" He looked around at the group. "Four Horsemen, huh?"

"Indeed." Castiel spoke like he was prepared to go out and hunt them that very second. "We'll have to find the remaining two and obtain their rings."

"Well, at least we have a plan." Balthazar rubbed the back of his neck. "It's better than what we were doing."

Liam smiled to himself, proud of the fact that he had been the one to find the ritual that worked, and it made him happy to realize his family had a game plan. It would help them fight the Apocalypse, and once that was over, they could dedicate more of their time and energy into being a family. Of course, as soon as Liam had that thought, his brain reacted with a bunch of thoughts about how they wouldn't want a failure like Liam to be part of their family. But, unlike usual, those thoughts didn't take root. They flickered and faded, and Liam was left with a warm sensation nestling into his chest.

I love my family.