Two Men and Half an Angel

Chapter 8

"You do understand that we need to figure out what is happening to the angels." Sam dropped his eyes even as he spoke. "They could be in trouble."

Dean wished he could dispute what his brother is saying. He wished he could pretend like the small children now playing tag in the field beside the bunker could stay like that for a very long time. Parts of Dean wanted Cas back in his adult form but other parts of him, as guilty as he may feel about it, never wanted to let go to the small innocent child who always came to him for comfort.

"I have been asking around in the community. A few hunters have mentioned that small children have been involved in a lot of demon killings. I think it's the angels." Sam swallowed his words thickly because he was having the same internal argument as Dean. "We need to help them."

"I know." Dean gritted out. "Just... a couple more days?"

Sam met his brother's eyes and saw pleading that he had never saw in Dean's eyes before. "A couple more days."

"Awesome." Dean smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. Even knowing he had a few more days there was still a dooming feeling that one day soon Cas will be himself again and able to not rely on Dean for everything.

"You're it!" Cas' voice screeched to new heights. "I tagged you! You can't cheat!"

"I'm not cheating!" Gabe hollered from somewhere hidden in the overgrown weeds. "You missed me!"

"Dean!!!" Cas shrieked as he came barreling out of the field and fixed his furious eyes on the older Winchester. "Gabey is cheating!"

"Am not!" The older angel was still nowhere in sight.

Castiel set his hands on his hips and furrowed his brow with a childish intensity. "Dean. Make him stop cheating."

Dean wanted to roll his eyes but he knew it would only make Cas angrier. The constant bickering between the two angels has been nonstop since a few days after Cas had started to develop an attitude. "Gabe!" He called out to the field. "Stop cheating!"

"Shove it where the sun don't shine, Dean-O!" Gabe howled with laughter.

Dean grunted, used to the snide comments from the pint sized archangel, and resigned himself to sit back against the hood of the impala. His smart comments stayed in the back of his throat in an attempt not to upset Cas any further.

Cas let out a low growl. "Seriously, Dean? That's all?! He cheated! This isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Cassie!" The archangel's voice was closer and suddenly his little head popped out from the weeds. He had on a dangerously mischievous smile across his face.

Cas rounded on him with metaphoric steam rising from his ears. "I'm going to kill you."

"Cas!" Sam pushed off of the side of the impala with a stern look. "Don't say things like that to your brother."

Cas' shoulder slumped as he turned his puppy dog eyes up at Sam. "I'm sorry, Sammy."

Dean smirked when he saw his brother melt under the eyes. "Cas, how about we go inside and put on some cartoons?"

Castiel nodded softly with a grin. "Ok." His small body skipped over to Dean's as he pumped his hands into the air.

Dean shook his head with a grin as he bent down and picked Cas up to settle him on his hip. The two made their way into the bunker, easily talking about how Cas' day was and how he had tagged Gabe a whole bunch. Dean allowed himself to forget that tomorrow or the next day they would have to find a way to turn Cas back.

Sam watched them until the disappeared. He turned his attention back to Gabe when he felt a small hand tug on his jeans. Their eyes met and Sam let out a low sigh. "What's up, buddy?"

Gabe glared at the nickname but then his face fell serious. "I heard you two talking earlier. About the angels."

Sam nodded with a frown, he couldn't help but feel sadness wash over him when this archangel would be grown and leave. "We will figure-"

"There isn't anything to figure out." Gabe broke eye contact to look at the ground sheepishly. "It was a defensive move. All our vessels deaged because no one would suspect an angel's wrath from a small child. The reason that I came here is because something seemed to happen to Cas. He wasn't responding over angel radio. For some reason, unknown to any of us, he seems to have lost his Grace when he became a child... at least his mind doesn't remember it. It's like he is actually a human child."

"A defensive... goddammit, Gabe, why didn't you tell us?" Sam glared down at the archangel.

Gabe shrugged then turned his big eyes up at the younger Winchester. "It was supposed to be kept on the down-low. But... but I didn't want to lie to you anymore. I want to thank you for taking care of me. More importantly I want to thank you for taking care of my brother. I thought I owed you the answers you wanted."

Sam stayed quiet a moment as he tried to let all the new information settle into his mind. "What now?"

Gabe shrugged again. "We take care of Cas."