Last Night - Chapter 3 (of 5)
Title: Last Night (3/5)
Author: lonelyphoenix85
Rating: R, because I'm worried about offending people with a few naughty words :-)
Genre: Songfic, Pre-slash
Pairing:Sam/Gabriel pre-slash, Dean/Cas pre-slash
Spoilers: through to Changing Channels (5x08) so far, but may be for all season 5 in later parts.
Warnings: ummm....karaoke? does that need a warning? some people think it's evil so, yeah, if you're one of them, then run - here there be karaoke!
Word Count: 3010 (this chapter, 7357 total)
Disclaimer: It only belongs to me when I'm dreaming! Bon Jovi owns the song, and the rest is property of the almighty Kripke!
Summary: What would you do if it was your last night on Earth? Dean had an idea - Gabriel decided his idea was better.
Notes: Set sometime between changing channels and season 5 finale, au from changing channels.
Chapter 1 is back here!
This one's Chapter 2 folks!
Shock shot through Gabriel as something he’d only ever experienced once before pulled at his very Grace.
He only barely managed to contain the instinct that screamed at him to pull away. This was not a potential threat, this was Castiel, his baby brother, one of the youngest of them all and somehow still one of the wisest. If he could give him this then, by Father, he would!
Gabriel pushed aside the thoughts that crowded in. He didn’t have time to think about what this meant now, he needed to concentrate.
Finding the connection that had formed between his Grace and Castiel’s was the work of a micro-second. Focussing completely on it, he willed it stronger, watched as it grew from a thin thread to a strong rope and beyond.
The feeling that filled him as his Grace fed Castiel’s was unbelievable, indescribable - he briefly wondered if Cassie had realized yet what was happening, then dismissed the thought quickly and returned his concentration to the link.
The process was almost complete, he could see. Where before Castiel’s Grace had been a muted barely-there flicker, now it shone brighter than the sun. He spared a brief thought that it was lucky none of the effects bled over into the physical world - wouldn’t do to scare (or permanently scar!) the crowd, after all.
The connection faded away, and Gabriel felt Castiel pull back - his eyes a mixture of confusion and wonder. He knew something had happened, but not what or why or how. This was going to be an interesting conversation...
Gabriel snapped his fingers and silence descended on the club.
Sam and Dean jumped from their seats, eyes searching for a threat even as they grabbed their hidden weapons.
“What the fuck?! Cas...?” Dean asked, having realised that there was no obvious immediate danger.
“Relax Dean-o, I just needed some quiet a second, got some things Cassie needs explained,” Gabriel said, cutting Dean off.
“And all these people...?” Sam asked, staring at the seemingly frozen club in confusion, and not a little amusement as he saw the interesting poses some of the people had been caught in - the girl who’d been frozen halfway through dumping her drink over a guy whose hand was a little close to her backside was particularly funny.
“Don’t even know anything’s going on - we’ve just...hmmm...I suppose stepped off the timeline for a few minutes is the best I can describe it. We’ll jump back in like nothing happened just as soon as we’re done here.”
“And we’re here because...?” Dean prompted, not quite sure what to make of the look on Castiel’s face at the moment. The brotherly hug between the Angels had surprised him, certainly - who knew Gabriel actually had a heart? - but this was something else. Something more than a simple hug had happened, and Dean wanted to know what the hell was going on and he wanted to know yesterday goddammit!
“Okay, Dean-o - you and Sammy get to listen to the story, but please don’t interrupt. I need to talk to my brother.” At the look on Dean’s face Gabriel raised a hand and added, “And before you start bitching, I could have left you in the timeline, so be grateful and shut up, kay?”
With that he turned back to Castiel, barely noticing Sam grab Dean’s arm and tug him back into his chair.
*~*~*~*~*
Castiel’s head was spinning.
He’d never understood that expression before, but could think of nothing else that quite so aptly summed up how he was feeling right now.
He felt full, powerful in a way he’d never experienced before. The sense of home he felt in Gabriel’s embrace had not lessened now that he was no longer being held. The feeling of his Grace, which had been slowly disappearing for so long, was a comfort he wrapped himself up in.
It had been a while since he’d been in command of enough of his angelic abilities to require any measure of control, and he now struggled to contain them as they flared up randomly. He would have to relearn control - and quickly - lest he become a danger to Dean and Sam.
He looked up as he felt Gabriel’s hand on his arm.
*~*~*~*~*
Placing his hand lightly on his younger brother’s arm, Gabriel took a not-completely-necessary deep breath.
“Castiel.” He spoke softly, not sure how to even begin to explain this. The process he had unintentionally instigated was one of Heaven’s best kept secrets - it had only ever been performed once to Gabriel’s knowledge. The younger Angel would not know of it, of that he was certain.
Confused blue eyes met hazel, and without fully knowing what he would say, Gabriel began talking.
“Did you know that Lucifer almost killed Raphael once, before he was cast down?” His tone was almost conversational. Castiel didn’t know. Only five beings in the whole of creation knew this story (and only three knew the whole story). Soon there would be three more - when he thought about it, it tickled Gabriel that two human hunters would know something about the Host of Heaven that they themselves (for the most part) did not.
“Almost...?”
“An Archangel is much harder to kill than your average Angel. We can be hurt, our Grace can be damaged or scattered or drained, but it takes a lot to kill us dead.”
There was no pride or smugness in his voice, only remembered pain.
“Lucifer nearly managed it with Raphael though - in fact, that was what finally gave Michael the strength to throw him down. Nearly losing a brother that close...it can harden you to do things you’d never have thought yourself capable of before, as Dean and Sam know too well.”
A quick glance in their direction and Gabriel saw that they were both paying close attention. He couldn’t wait to see their faces when his explanation was complete.
“The whole Host was caught up in the battle, Michael was fighting Lucifer, and Raphael...Raphael was dying. I couldn’t help him - I didn’t know how to treat a wound so terrible.”
His voice trembled slightly at the memory - he hadn’t realised how hard this story would be to tell, but it was necessary for them to fully understand what had happened to Castiel.
“I couldn’t believe that I was going to lose one brother to the blade of another. I had nearly given up when our Father came to me. When I asked him why he wouldn’t save Raphael, he asked me if I thought he should choose one son over all the others. I remember thinking that he should - he should choose Raphael over me, over Lucifer, over Michael, over all of us; Raphael was a healer, he was the best of us, the kindest...for the first time in my existence, I questioned our Father. I was so angry with Him. I shouted at Him to do something, and he just kept looking at me with so much sympathy, and sadness, and compassion. Finally, I begged. I asked him to take it back - to take us back to before it happened and let me take Raphael’s place.”
Gabriel paused for a second, needing to steady his voice - the memory of his father’s expression on hearing those words was almost as overwhelming now as it had been then.
The pride and joy on his Father’s face had confused Gabriel at the time.
“He smiled at me - my brother was dying and He was smiling, and it was everything I could do not to start shouting and screaming again - He smiled, and said calmly that if I wanted so very badly to save my brother, then I should stop wasting time and save him. I didn’t understand, but then He left and I felt this pull to Raphael, a pull that went right down to my Grace.”
Another unnecessary breath.
“When I asked Him afterwards what had happened, he told me that my Grace and reached out to the dying flicker of Raphael’s, and had fed it until it grew strong again, fed it until it’s strength matched my own. He compared it to the way the Earth’s sun feeds her plants and flowers and trees, helping them grow strong without once diminishing itself.”
He remembered being confused by his Father’s explanation, he remembered wondering why he hadn’t known this was possible, why it had not been used to save the many already lost to the war.
“The existence of this ability is kept secret by our Father, and for good reason - so please don’t go blabbing boys!” He added in an aside to Sam and Dean. “There are three very necessary conditions required for the process to work. Love, a completely selfless desire to help, and...” Gabriel steeled himself for Castiel’s reaction to the next bit, “the knowledge and blessing of our Father.”
*~*~*~*~*
There were so many questions that came to Castiel as he listened to his brother, but he couldn’t ask them - not yet. He could feel Gabriel’s need to get through the tale, could feel his pain and anguish even now, after so many millennia.
That Lucifer had struck so serious a blow, and that it had been kept so secret...
He could understand the need for secrecy of course. Raphael had been saved, when so many had perished. That it was the love of a brother that had saved him would have caused even more division within Heaven - those who lost close brothers and sisters would have been seen as having loved them inadequately, it would have been anarchy worse than any Lucifer could have incited.
Gabriel’s description of Raphael confused him though - it was not important now, but he would have to remember to ask him about it later. A kind and gentle healer Raphael most certainly was not - Castiel still shivered when he remembered the terrible presence of the Archangel before he had been killed by him in Chuck’s living room.
Castiel found he had a new understanding of Gabriel’s unwillingness to face either Lucifer or Michael - to be asked to fight his brothers after having nearly lost one to another previously...to be told that this time he would certainly lose at least one of them...Castiel couldn’t imagine what Gabriel was feeling, and the fact that he was working with them instead of hiding away was incredible.
As Gabriel began to explain how Raphael had survived, the point of this story suddenly became crystal clear to Castiel. The pull that reached into the very heart of his Grace - Gabriel was describing what had happened to them only mere minutes ago.
Castiel felt a grin pull at the corner of his lips at Gabriel’s admonishment to the brothers to keep this tale secret - who did he think they would tell? They were fighting against the only ones likely to ever believe them, after all.
And then he wasn’t grinning at all. *So this is what shock feels like* he thought absently as everything seemed to fade into the background and all he could hear was the rushing of his vessel’s blood in his ears.
*~*~*~*~*
“Shit!” Gabriel exclaimed as Castiel’s face went slack. He could feel his brother’s Grace building uncontrolled within his vessel. If he didn’t reign it in quickly they would have a problem.
“Castiel! Cas! You need to listen to me - you have to get a hold of yourself! If you don’t your Grace is going to rip right through your vessel, and then right through Sam and Dean and every other person in this club, in or out of the timeline. Focus Castiel!”
Gabriel could vaguely hear Dean swearing at Sam to let him go, and realised that the elder hunter must have wanted to check on Castiel. He felt a rush of gratitude that Sam had understood enough to restrain him. He quickly sent a quick thought to Sam - *Keep him back Sam, everything will be fine, I promise.* - before he reached out once more with his Grace, this time to try and contain his brother’s.
He could feel a pull from inside the wild Grace, so at least Castiel was aware enough to help - he just didn’t realise how much more control he would need now. Gabriel hadn’t explained that part yet, after all.
“Cassie, you need to listen carefully. I know you’re trying to pull it back, and I’ll help as much as I can, but you need to pull harder. You’re stronger now than before, but that also means you’ll need more control. Can you feel the bubble I’ve wrapped around you?”
He saw Castiel nod faintly.
“You need to create your own - take part of the Grace you’ve already pulled back to you, and stretch it out along the inside of mine, okay? Just keep stretching and adding to it until it’s completely enclosing the rest of your Grace.”
Gabriel felt it the second Castiel had succeeded - the pressure on his own Grace receded and he pulled it back cautiously.
“Now, that should hold for now, but as you get more under control just keep reinforcing that bubble, okay?”
“Yes, thank you Gabriel,” Castiel ground out, still looking slightly strained. “I do not understand - I have never had this kind of problem before, my control has always been absolute...”
“It’ll get easier as you get used to it bro - like I said, you’re stronger now.”
“What the fuck do you mean stronger? What the hell just happened?”
Gabriel sighed at Dean’s shouts. *Let him go Sam, it’s safe for now.* He was surprised the hunter had remained silent for as long as he had.
“Do not distract Castiel, Dean. I’ll answer some of your questions now - some will have to wait - but Cassie needs to focus on maintaining his concentration and control right now, understood?”
*~*~*~*~*
Dean froze halfway around the table. He’d been planning to check on Cas, but the power and command in Gabriel’s tone said quite plainly do not fuck with me. For the first time since they’d met him, Dean had no problem seeing the Archangel hiding in the deceptively small body, and found himself responding instinctually.
“I already explained the stronger bit, if you were listening properly - although apparently you shouldn’t feel too bad if you weren’t, since even Cassie here missed that little kernel of information.”
“What the hell...”
“You said your Grace fed his until it’s strength matched your own.” Sam cut Dean off with his softly spoken realisation.
“Matched...” Dean looked at Cas in shock as Gabriel smiled approvingly at Sam. “You mean Cas is...”
“The first new Archangel since - well since our Father created me, Mikey, Luci and Rafe actually.”
*~*~*~*~*
Castiel could feel the tension leaving him as he shored up the bubble even further. He spared a second to wonder how long it would take for his Grace to return to its normal level as he checked that the bubble was in no danger of breaking, and then allowed his focus to return to the conversation.
“...mean Cas is...”
“The first new Archangel since - well since our Father created me, Mikey, Luci and Rafe actually.”
He could feel panic rising at this latest revelation, when he caught Gabriel’s frantic glance in his direction - apparently his brother had realised that stating it so bluntly when he’d so recently nearly lost control was not such a good idea after all. Seeing Gabriel’s panic effective killed his own, and Castiel felt an over-whelming urge to laugh - to laugh at Gabriel’s expression, to laugh at the ridiculousness of his sudden status change, to laugh at the situation in general, or Dean and Sam’s shock...
It was just too much, and Castiel felt his whole body shake with laughter as he folded his arms around his waist and leaned over, unable to contain it.
*~*~*~*~*
Gabriel could have slapped himself when he realised how tactless he’d been - the last thing Castiel needed right now was another panic attack. He shot a look at his brother, ready to contain his Grace again if necessary, only to freeze in shock at the sight of Castiel folding almost in half, shaking with gales of laughter.
“Well, hysteria’s certainly a step up from demolishing the whole building with an explosion of uncontrolled Grace...” he quipped with a grin, turning to see how Dean and Sam were taking the normally staid Angel’s reaction.
*~*~*~*~*
Dean watched Cas laugh, and had to agree that at first it was slightly (okay, more than slightly) hysterical, but after a minute Cas straightened up a bit, and his laughter quieted and took on an almost relieved sound.
And then Cas looked at him, and Dean couldn’t breathe.
Cas looked...he actually looked truly happy! His eyes danced, and his grin was so wide it threatened to split his face in half.
Dean found himself grinning back.
He watched as Cas turned back to Gabriel.
“Our Father...”
“Is the only one who can initiate the connection necessary for what happened. You were right, bro - all this time looking and you were right - he is still around, and apparently he does still care.”
Dean thought he’d never heard Gabriel sound so full of hope or faith.
“And considering the timing, you might have to rethink your opinion of Bon Jovi Dean-o...”
This pulled Dean up short. What the heck was the Archangel - one of two now he reminded himself - talking about now?
“What the hell are you talking about dude?”
“Well given Castiel’s performance a few moments ago, and the fact that this all happened straight after - well, I don’t think the people in this room were the only ones listening - I think Dad’s a Bon Jovi fan.”
Dean just stared in disbelief at Gabriel’s smirk as Sam burst into laughter beside him. Cas chuckled dryly, and after a moment Dean joined in.
It was nice to feel happy for a change, to have something good happen with no strings attached waiting to pull the roof in on their heads.
And here's Chapter 4!
Author: lonelyphoenix85
Rating: R, because I'm worried about offending people with a few naughty words :-)
Genre: Songfic, Pre-slash
Pairing:Sam/Gabriel pre-slash, Dean/Cas pre-slash
Spoilers: through to Changing Channels (5x08) so far, but may be for all season 5 in later parts.
Warnings: ummm....karaoke? does that need a warning? some people think it's evil so, yeah, if you're one of them, then run - here there be karaoke!
Word Count: 3010 (this chapter, 7357 total)
Disclaimer: It only belongs to me when I'm dreaming! Bon Jovi owns the song, and the rest is property of the almighty Kripke!
Summary: What would you do if it was your last night on Earth? Dean had an idea - Gabriel decided his idea was better.
Notes: Set sometime between changing channels and season 5 finale, au from changing channels.
Chapter 1 is back here!
This one's Chapter 2 folks!
Shock shot through Gabriel as something he’d only ever experienced once before pulled at his very Grace.
He only barely managed to contain the instinct that screamed at him to pull away. This was not a potential threat, this was Castiel, his baby brother, one of the youngest of them all and somehow still one of the wisest. If he could give him this then, by Father, he would!
Gabriel pushed aside the thoughts that crowded in. He didn’t have time to think about what this meant now, he needed to concentrate.
Finding the connection that had formed between his Grace and Castiel’s was the work of a micro-second. Focussing completely on it, he willed it stronger, watched as it grew from a thin thread to a strong rope and beyond.
The feeling that filled him as his Grace fed Castiel’s was unbelievable, indescribable - he briefly wondered if Cassie had realized yet what was happening, then dismissed the thought quickly and returned his concentration to the link.
The process was almost complete, he could see. Where before Castiel’s Grace had been a muted barely-there flicker, now it shone brighter than the sun. He spared a brief thought that it was lucky none of the effects bled over into the physical world - wouldn’t do to scare (or permanently scar!) the crowd, after all.
The connection faded away, and Gabriel felt Castiel pull back - his eyes a mixture of confusion and wonder. He knew something had happened, but not what or why or how. This was going to be an interesting conversation...
Gabriel snapped his fingers and silence descended on the club.
Sam and Dean jumped from their seats, eyes searching for a threat even as they grabbed their hidden weapons.
“What the fuck?! Cas...?” Dean asked, having realised that there was no obvious immediate danger.
“Relax Dean-o, I just needed some quiet a second, got some things Cassie needs explained,” Gabriel said, cutting Dean off.
“And all these people...?” Sam asked, staring at the seemingly frozen club in confusion, and not a little amusement as he saw the interesting poses some of the people had been caught in - the girl who’d been frozen halfway through dumping her drink over a guy whose hand was a little close to her backside was particularly funny.
“Don’t even know anything’s going on - we’ve just...hmmm...I suppose stepped off the timeline for a few minutes is the best I can describe it. We’ll jump back in like nothing happened just as soon as we’re done here.”
“And we’re here because...?” Dean prompted, not quite sure what to make of the look on Castiel’s face at the moment. The brotherly hug between the Angels had surprised him, certainly - who knew Gabriel actually had a heart? - but this was something else. Something more than a simple hug had happened, and Dean wanted to know what the hell was going on and he wanted to know yesterday goddammit!
“Okay, Dean-o - you and Sammy get to listen to the story, but please don’t interrupt. I need to talk to my brother.” At the look on Dean’s face Gabriel raised a hand and added, “And before you start bitching, I could have left you in the timeline, so be grateful and shut up, kay?”
With that he turned back to Castiel, barely noticing Sam grab Dean’s arm and tug him back into his chair.
*~*~*~*~*
Castiel’s head was spinning.
He’d never understood that expression before, but could think of nothing else that quite so aptly summed up how he was feeling right now.
He felt full, powerful in a way he’d never experienced before. The sense of home he felt in Gabriel’s embrace had not lessened now that he was no longer being held. The feeling of his Grace, which had been slowly disappearing for so long, was a comfort he wrapped himself up in.
It had been a while since he’d been in command of enough of his angelic abilities to require any measure of control, and he now struggled to contain them as they flared up randomly. He would have to relearn control - and quickly - lest he become a danger to Dean and Sam.
He looked up as he felt Gabriel’s hand on his arm.
*~*~*~*~*
Placing his hand lightly on his younger brother’s arm, Gabriel took a not-completely-necessary deep breath.
“Castiel.” He spoke softly, not sure how to even begin to explain this. The process he had unintentionally instigated was one of Heaven’s best kept secrets - it had only ever been performed once to Gabriel’s knowledge. The younger Angel would not know of it, of that he was certain.
Confused blue eyes met hazel, and without fully knowing what he would say, Gabriel began talking.
“Did you know that Lucifer almost killed Raphael once, before he was cast down?” His tone was almost conversational. Castiel didn’t know. Only five beings in the whole of creation knew this story (and only three knew the whole story). Soon there would be three more - when he thought about it, it tickled Gabriel that two human hunters would know something about the Host of Heaven that they themselves (for the most part) did not.
“Almost...?”
“An Archangel is much harder to kill than your average Angel. We can be hurt, our Grace can be damaged or scattered or drained, but it takes a lot to kill us dead.”
There was no pride or smugness in his voice, only remembered pain.
“Lucifer nearly managed it with Raphael though - in fact, that was what finally gave Michael the strength to throw him down. Nearly losing a brother that close...it can harden you to do things you’d never have thought yourself capable of before, as Dean and Sam know too well.”
A quick glance in their direction and Gabriel saw that they were both paying close attention. He couldn’t wait to see their faces when his explanation was complete.
“The whole Host was caught up in the battle, Michael was fighting Lucifer, and Raphael...Raphael was dying. I couldn’t help him - I didn’t know how to treat a wound so terrible.”
His voice trembled slightly at the memory - he hadn’t realised how hard this story would be to tell, but it was necessary for them to fully understand what had happened to Castiel.
“I couldn’t believe that I was going to lose one brother to the blade of another. I had nearly given up when our Father came to me. When I asked him why he wouldn’t save Raphael, he asked me if I thought he should choose one son over all the others. I remember thinking that he should - he should choose Raphael over me, over Lucifer, over Michael, over all of us; Raphael was a healer, he was the best of us, the kindest...for the first time in my existence, I questioned our Father. I was so angry with Him. I shouted at Him to do something, and he just kept looking at me with so much sympathy, and sadness, and compassion. Finally, I begged. I asked him to take it back - to take us back to before it happened and let me take Raphael’s place.”
Gabriel paused for a second, needing to steady his voice - the memory of his father’s expression on hearing those words was almost as overwhelming now as it had been then.
The pride and joy on his Father’s face had confused Gabriel at the time.
“He smiled at me - my brother was dying and He was smiling, and it was everything I could do not to start shouting and screaming again - He smiled, and said calmly that if I wanted so very badly to save my brother, then I should stop wasting time and save him. I didn’t understand, but then He left and I felt this pull to Raphael, a pull that went right down to my Grace.”
Another unnecessary breath.
“When I asked Him afterwards what had happened, he told me that my Grace and reached out to the dying flicker of Raphael’s, and had fed it until it grew strong again, fed it until it’s strength matched my own. He compared it to the way the Earth’s sun feeds her plants and flowers and trees, helping them grow strong without once diminishing itself.”
He remembered being confused by his Father’s explanation, he remembered wondering why he hadn’t known this was possible, why it had not been used to save the many already lost to the war.
“The existence of this ability is kept secret by our Father, and for good reason - so please don’t go blabbing boys!” He added in an aside to Sam and Dean. “There are three very necessary conditions required for the process to work. Love, a completely selfless desire to help, and...” Gabriel steeled himself for Castiel’s reaction to the next bit, “the knowledge and blessing of our Father.”
*~*~*~*~*
There were so many questions that came to Castiel as he listened to his brother, but he couldn’t ask them - not yet. He could feel Gabriel’s need to get through the tale, could feel his pain and anguish even now, after so many millennia.
That Lucifer had struck so serious a blow, and that it had been kept so secret...
He could understand the need for secrecy of course. Raphael had been saved, when so many had perished. That it was the love of a brother that had saved him would have caused even more division within Heaven - those who lost close brothers and sisters would have been seen as having loved them inadequately, it would have been anarchy worse than any Lucifer could have incited.
Gabriel’s description of Raphael confused him though - it was not important now, but he would have to remember to ask him about it later. A kind and gentle healer Raphael most certainly was not - Castiel still shivered when he remembered the terrible presence of the Archangel before he had been killed by him in Chuck’s living room.
Castiel found he had a new understanding of Gabriel’s unwillingness to face either Lucifer or Michael - to be asked to fight his brothers after having nearly lost one to another previously...to be told that this time he would certainly lose at least one of them...Castiel couldn’t imagine what Gabriel was feeling, and the fact that he was working with them instead of hiding away was incredible.
As Gabriel began to explain how Raphael had survived, the point of this story suddenly became crystal clear to Castiel. The pull that reached into the very heart of his Grace - Gabriel was describing what had happened to them only mere minutes ago.
Castiel felt a grin pull at the corner of his lips at Gabriel’s admonishment to the brothers to keep this tale secret - who did he think they would tell? They were fighting against the only ones likely to ever believe them, after all.
And then he wasn’t grinning at all. *So this is what shock feels like* he thought absently as everything seemed to fade into the background and all he could hear was the rushing of his vessel’s blood in his ears.
*~*~*~*~*
“Shit!” Gabriel exclaimed as Castiel’s face went slack. He could feel his brother’s Grace building uncontrolled within his vessel. If he didn’t reign it in quickly they would have a problem.
“Castiel! Cas! You need to listen to me - you have to get a hold of yourself! If you don’t your Grace is going to rip right through your vessel, and then right through Sam and Dean and every other person in this club, in or out of the timeline. Focus Castiel!”
Gabriel could vaguely hear Dean swearing at Sam to let him go, and realised that the elder hunter must have wanted to check on Castiel. He felt a rush of gratitude that Sam had understood enough to restrain him. He quickly sent a quick thought to Sam - *Keep him back Sam, everything will be fine, I promise.* - before he reached out once more with his Grace, this time to try and contain his brother’s.
He could feel a pull from inside the wild Grace, so at least Castiel was aware enough to help - he just didn’t realise how much more control he would need now. Gabriel hadn’t explained that part yet, after all.
“Cassie, you need to listen carefully. I know you’re trying to pull it back, and I’ll help as much as I can, but you need to pull harder. You’re stronger now than before, but that also means you’ll need more control. Can you feel the bubble I’ve wrapped around you?”
He saw Castiel nod faintly.
“You need to create your own - take part of the Grace you’ve already pulled back to you, and stretch it out along the inside of mine, okay? Just keep stretching and adding to it until it’s completely enclosing the rest of your Grace.”
Gabriel felt it the second Castiel had succeeded - the pressure on his own Grace receded and he pulled it back cautiously.
“Now, that should hold for now, but as you get more under control just keep reinforcing that bubble, okay?”
“Yes, thank you Gabriel,” Castiel ground out, still looking slightly strained. “I do not understand - I have never had this kind of problem before, my control has always been absolute...”
“It’ll get easier as you get used to it bro - like I said, you’re stronger now.”
“What the fuck do you mean stronger? What the hell just happened?”
Gabriel sighed at Dean’s shouts. *Let him go Sam, it’s safe for now.* He was surprised the hunter had remained silent for as long as he had.
“Do not distract Castiel, Dean. I’ll answer some of your questions now - some will have to wait - but Cassie needs to focus on maintaining his concentration and control right now, understood?”
*~*~*~*~*
Dean froze halfway around the table. He’d been planning to check on Cas, but the power and command in Gabriel’s tone said quite plainly do not fuck with me. For the first time since they’d met him, Dean had no problem seeing the Archangel hiding in the deceptively small body, and found himself responding instinctually.
“I already explained the stronger bit, if you were listening properly - although apparently you shouldn’t feel too bad if you weren’t, since even Cassie here missed that little kernel of information.”
“What the hell...”
“You said your Grace fed his until it’s strength matched your own.” Sam cut Dean off with his softly spoken realisation.
“Matched...” Dean looked at Cas in shock as Gabriel smiled approvingly at Sam. “You mean Cas is...”
“The first new Archangel since - well since our Father created me, Mikey, Luci and Rafe actually.”
*~*~*~*~*
Castiel could feel the tension leaving him as he shored up the bubble even further. He spared a second to wonder how long it would take for his Grace to return to its normal level as he checked that the bubble was in no danger of breaking, and then allowed his focus to return to the conversation.
“...mean Cas is...”
“The first new Archangel since - well since our Father created me, Mikey, Luci and Rafe actually.”
He could feel panic rising at this latest revelation, when he caught Gabriel’s frantic glance in his direction - apparently his brother had realised that stating it so bluntly when he’d so recently nearly lost control was not such a good idea after all. Seeing Gabriel’s panic effective killed his own, and Castiel felt an over-whelming urge to laugh - to laugh at Gabriel’s expression, to laugh at the ridiculousness of his sudden status change, to laugh at the situation in general, or Dean and Sam’s shock...
It was just too much, and Castiel felt his whole body shake with laughter as he folded his arms around his waist and leaned over, unable to contain it.
*~*~*~*~*
Gabriel could have slapped himself when he realised how tactless he’d been - the last thing Castiel needed right now was another panic attack. He shot a look at his brother, ready to contain his Grace again if necessary, only to freeze in shock at the sight of Castiel folding almost in half, shaking with gales of laughter.
“Well, hysteria’s certainly a step up from demolishing the whole building with an explosion of uncontrolled Grace...” he quipped with a grin, turning to see how Dean and Sam were taking the normally staid Angel’s reaction.
*~*~*~*~*
Dean watched Cas laugh, and had to agree that at first it was slightly (okay, more than slightly) hysterical, but after a minute Cas straightened up a bit, and his laughter quieted and took on an almost relieved sound.
And then Cas looked at him, and Dean couldn’t breathe.
Cas looked...he actually looked truly happy! His eyes danced, and his grin was so wide it threatened to split his face in half.
Dean found himself grinning back.
He watched as Cas turned back to Gabriel.
“Our Father...”
“Is the only one who can initiate the connection necessary for what happened. You were right, bro - all this time looking and you were right - he is still around, and apparently he does still care.”
Dean thought he’d never heard Gabriel sound so full of hope or faith.
“And considering the timing, you might have to rethink your opinion of Bon Jovi Dean-o...”
This pulled Dean up short. What the heck was the Archangel - one of two now he reminded himself - talking about now?
“What the hell are you talking about dude?”
“Well given Castiel’s performance a few moments ago, and the fact that this all happened straight after - well, I don’t think the people in this room were the only ones listening - I think Dad’s a Bon Jovi fan.”
Dean just stared in disbelief at Gabriel’s smirk as Sam burst into laughter beside him. Cas chuckled dryly, and after a moment Dean joined in.
It was nice to feel happy for a change, to have something good happen with no strings attached waiting to pull the roof in on their heads.
And here's Chapter 4!