The next day found Cas and Crowley both in bad moods, if babies have bad moods. They were grumbly and being fussy. Crowley kept pulling on Castiels 'gings', and Cas bit Crowleys tail.

Neither of them wanted any of the food either of the brothers offered them. If one wanted fish sticks, the other wanted vegetables. If one was offered pudding, he wanted yogurt and the other wanted jello. Neither Sam nor Dean could figure it out. Crowleys horns were through, neither of them were actually cutting real, in the mouth, teeth. They were feverish one minute, then running normal the next. When bed time finally rolled around Dean was more grateful than ever that it was Sam's night for night shift as he dropped into his bed.

Next morning Dean was sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee when Sam walked in, a walking version of a man with the devil on one shoulder and an Angel on the other.

"Holy crap Sam, you look even worse than you did when you did the trials. Bad night huh?" Dean said.

"Don't even get me started." Sam said as he dropped Cas in Deans lap and put Crowley on the floor. "If one of them was sleeping, the other was crying. If one of them pooped, then so did the other one! They wanted cuddles, then they didn't, I think I got all of three minutes sleep. Nothin' I did helped. I even gave them some of that kids paracetamol…nothing!"

Sam gulped down Deans coffee like his life depended on it, then dropped the mug back in front of his brother and went to pour himself a fresh cup.

"Right, well, awesome." Dean said looking into his empty mug.

"Just send me off to face Amara, because I don't think I can survive another day of this." Sam complained as he dropped down in a seat across from Dean.

"It can't be that bad."

"Its 'I wish the trials killed me' bad." Sam grumbled as he dropped his head down onto the table.

"You don't mean that Sammy." Dean said seriously.

Sam peeked up at his brother then sat back up.

"No I don't. I'm just tired." Sam agreed as he reached for his coffee.

"Okay, well, why don't you go have a shower and deal with…that," Dean said waving a hand in the direction of Sam's hair, "then go grab a couple of hours in the rack, and I'll watch these two."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked trying to keep the hope from his expression.

"Yeah sure. I can handle it, they don't seem to be too bad right now, so go."

"Thanks Dean, you're the best brother ever!" Sam said as he scrambled from his seat and raced out the door with his coffee in his hand before Dean could change his mind.

…

Dean did his best, he really did but when Sam re-emerged several hours later, his older brother looked like a refugee from a war torn nation.

"I think we need to take them outside." Dean said looking at Sam with shell shocked eyes.

"We can't do that! What if Cas flys off to heaven and Fergus…descends to hell?" Sam asked.

"Then that's heaven and hells problem, and I can try to get my sanity back! Look, they need a change of scenery, some fresh air to run around in. I'm at my wits ends, Sammy, they're crying and fighting and..and breaking stuff and you don't even want to see what they've done to your precious books!" Dean said quite seriously as he pointed to his brother.

Sam turned to look at the bookshelves and could see the bottom two shelves had been stripped clean of books. The missing books had been crammed into any available space on the higher shelves or stacked haphazardly onto the table.

"Crowley almost started a fire." Dean continued pointing at a dark burn mark that marred the leg of one of the armchairs. "And Cas, well he opened some book about…something, I don't know!" Dean said with a flailing of his arms, "and almost opened a portal to…somewhere! I was actually considering letting him finish and just jumping right in!"

Dean finished his rant and collapsed into a nearby chair.

"They're both demons Sam, both of them!"

"Alright, well let's get you a cof…whiskey, then we'll take the kids outside for a bit." Sam lay a comforting hand on his brothers shoulder then went to pour a large shot of amber liquid which Dean downed in one go.

"Okay, let's get these hell spawn out of here." Dean said standing determinedly and moved to scoop up the closest toddler. "Seriously though Sam, these two could give even Alistair a run for his money!"

…

The fresh air did wonders for Cas and Crowleys moods. They ran around in the woods above the bunker for two hours before they began to tire. By the time the worn out quartet made their way back into the bunker, the color had returned to their faces and they were all managing some degree of a smile.

Cas and Crowley went straight down for a nap after a quick lunch and Sam and Dean collapsed into a chair each and sighed.

"How much longer Sammy?" Dean asked.

"I don't know Dean, but it's gotta be soon, right?"

"Right," Dean agreed, "as long as a goddess moon's not one of those once a millennium type dealies."

"Don't say that!" Sam exclaimed as he dropped his head onto his folded arms on the table. His eyes slipped closed and in less than twenty seconds he was breathing softly and asleep.

"Yeah, that's a good plan." Dean lifted his feet onto the nearby chair, clasped his hands across his stomach and followed his brother into the land of nod, not caring that he was going to have one hell of a crick in the neck when he woke up.

…

When Cas and Crowley woke up, they were more quiet and subdued than the had been in the last few days. Cas clambered into Dean's lap and was quite content to just stay there, as long as Dean didn't grip him to hard. Crowley found a quiet space and sat down with his tail in his mouth and played with his horn.

"I don't know Sam. Do you think they're coming down with something? Maybe we should take them to a paediatrician?" Dean said softly stroking Castiels back.

"And how do we explain the wings and horns?" Sam asked gesturing to Crowley who was still sucking on his tail.

"Do we know any hunter doctors we could ask?"

"None close by." Sam replied.

"Damn." Dean cursed quietly.

"Maybe it's the curse wearing off?" Sam offered.

"Don't get my hopes up like that. We need these guys back, but I'm not going to put all my stock into wishful thinking right now."

Sam sighed and reached for his laptop.

"I'm just going to check to see if there's any more signs of Amara and do some research."

"Okay, you do that." Dean said resting his cheek on Castiels head and rocking the little Angel side to side.

…

Dean was asleep enough to be drooling but still aware enough of his surroundings to feel the blanket being laid over his body. The warmth that instantly flowed through him had less to do with the blanket itself and more to do with the fact that he had people around him that cared enough about him to make sure he was warm and comfortable. He sighed and burrowed down under the covers.

"Leave him to sleep." Dean vaguely heard a voice. "Let's go find our clothes."

Something in Dean recognised that the words should have him worrying, but his sleepy mind took far to long to connect the dots.

Just as he was about to take that final plunge into full sleep his eyes shot open.

"Oh crap!" He said as he threw the blanket off his body.

He looked and saw the mattress beside him was empty and scurried to his feet and down the hall. He skidded to a stop just inside the library door.

"Cas! Crowley! You're back!" He said with joy, and then his brain registered the sight before him. "And naked."

"Yes, Dean, it seems we have regained out true forms. Thank you for your care." Castiel said as he turned to look at Dean impassively.

Dean could see Castiels wings were gone, as were Crowleys horns and tails and he notice one other detail. He frowned a little tilted his head as he looked at Crowley.

"Hey, didn't you sell your soul for a bigger…" he began.

"This is not mine! This is my vessels!" Crowley snapped and gestured to his genitalia. "Mine was thick and long and proud!"

"Okay, sorry I asked." Dean said waving a hand in the demons general direction.

Sam chose that moment to walk through they doorway.

"Hey Dean…woah!" He put his hand up to shield his eyes and turned away. "Wow, guys you're back, and that's great, but I could kinda do without the hippy, naked, Woodstock revival."

"Yes, where are our clothes, Squirrel?" Crowley demanded. "I hope you kept them somewhere safe, because I'd rather walk naked down Main Street than wear any of your flannel." Crowley said with a shudder.

"Yeah, yeah, calm down, Giselle, they're in the laundry. I'll go get them." Dean said with an eyeroll and left the room.

"In the laundry? That's a two thousand dollar suit! You better not have ruined it!" Crowley complained as he followed Dean from the room.

"Hey Cas?" Sam asked, drawing the angels attention.

"Yes Sam?" He replied turning to face the hunter.

"You don't wanna, maybe go grab your clothes and cover that all up?"

Cas looked down at his naked body.

"Does my nakedness make you uncomfortable?" He asked.

"A little." Sam admitted.

"Dean didn't seem to have a problem with it."

"Yeah, well, Dean doesn't seem to have a problem with a lot of stuff he probably should, anyway here on earth, it's generally accepted as common curtesy to wear clothes all the time."

"Of course Sam, I forgot. I apologise, I will go and cover my vessel."

"Thank you."

Sam gave Cas a strained smile as the angel turned to follow Dean and Crowley. He shook his head and then walked through to the kitchen to make some coffee. He considered adding a dash of whiskey because after coming face to face with a naked king of hell and angel of the lord, he figured he deserved it, and also, maybe it would wash the naked image from his brain.

…

"And you didn't tell mother?" Crowley asked, placing his glass of scotch on the table.

"No." Sam said.

"Why not?"

"Because we didn't know if she would nurture you or try to drown you." Dean explained.

"Hmm, I see, good call there, Squirrel."

"So what now?" Cas asked.

"Well, we need to finish translating the parchment. You helped a bit, but there was only so much you could do in your little body."

"Yeah, besides you kept trying to eat it, so.." Dean shrugged.

"Yes, I see, well in my defence, it was quite tasty." Cas smiled at the brothers, relieved when they laughed at his joke. "So where is it?"

"It's over here." Sam got up and retrieved the parchment from the top of a cupboard. He moved a stack of books they still had to return to the shelves and placed the two halves in front of the angel. "Do you know why you and Crowley shrank down like that."

Cas scanned the writing.

"It would seem when Crowley and I were fighting over the paper and ripped it, it released some kind of curse that regressed us to a more innocent stage of life. Something less likely to cause conflict."

"So do you think this might work with Chuck and Amara? We regress them and they can grow up together and learn to love each other?" Sam asked leaning in.

Crowley scoffed.

"Well I can assure you I don't love Feathers over there." He said waving his glass around.

Cas fixed Crowley with a look that suggested he may want to smite the demon then turned back to Sam.

"No, it won't. In fact nothing on this page will help to vanquish Amara at all." Cas said waving a hand over the two pieces of parchment.

"Great so we're back to square one." Dean sat back in his chair in defeat. "Hey, you know what we should have done?" He asked, slapping Sam gently on the arm.

"What?"

"We should have sent these two to Amara while they were shrunk down, that would have taken the wind from her sails." Dean chuckled.

"Yeah, but she also might have eaten their souls." Sam said.

"I don't have a soul." Crowley snapped.

"Yeah, but you had a tail and horns." Dean snapped back then turned to point at Cas. "But you had some spectacular wings, my friend. When you wanted to be, you were one terrifying toddler."

"Get a room you two." Crowley moaned.

"Shut up Fergus!" Sam and Dean shouted in unison.

"Okay, so now what?" Sam asked.

"I'll call Rowena, let her know Fergus here is back from his important trip to hell and see how she's going recruiting witches for her 'mega-coven'. You two keep looking for anything that will help us defeat Amara." Dean said as he pushed up from his chair.

"And what about me?" Crowley asked.

"You, well, you can put all these books away. Remember Sammy likes the in alphabetical order by subject matter."

Dean chuckled as he walked away. That'll teach the smug bastard to piss on his brother.

29092022

a/n: oh my gosh! I can't believe we are at the end already. Thanks for reading along and all your support. I guess I had better go and try to and finish one of the many half started stories I have stashed away somewhere.

Also I just wanted to know if anyone else is having problems with ffdotnet ? Every time I log in I get a message saying they have disabled my notifications because an email was rejected. I followed the steps to rectify the issue but i still get the message. This is one of the reasons I'm thinking about leaving this site completely.