Supernatural: Meeting the Angels

Chapter 12

Castiel watches as Gabriel and Sam sit together at the small table, which is small enough that if they were to whisper to each other, it would be heard from the other side. Anna and Lucifer start fighting, but since it's a verbal thing, Dean ignores it. Michael goes over to them and tries to break it up, but like usual, it's pretty much out of his league. That leaves Castiel alone once again. He stands by the door, waiting for the call from Chuck or Amara telling them to come home. He's sure it will take a while, but it will happen eventually. "No need to be a wallflower, Cas," Dean says suddenly, patting the couch next to him. Castiel sits next to him hesitantly, staying as far away from him as possible so he doesn't have to worry about any physical contact.
"How are you?" Dean asks.
How does one reply to that? Castiel thought it was meant for a one word answer, but this morning Dean had a long answer for it. What should be do? Should he tell Dean a quick story with his answer like Dean did this morning? Or should he just give a single, one-word answer like usual? God, this social thing is tough.
"Fine," Castiel says. Then, so he doesn't kill the conversation before it starts, adds, "How are you?"
"Well, I'm not at school, so I'm great!" Dean says.
Castiel glances around the room quickly. "And when you're not at school, this is your home?" he says it as both a statement and a question. How could this be a home to anyone?
Dean nods. "Yeah, it's just Sam and I so it's fine."
"What about when your dad gets back?" Castiel asks. This room can't hold the seven of them. There's no room to walk. Even with half the number, it would have to be hard.
Dean shrugs, but it's a guarded movement. Castiel knows there's something Dean isn't telling him, but Castiel doesn't push it. If Dean wants to keep something hidden, it's not Castiel's place to try to figure it out.
"It's not that bad," Dean says. "It's not like we spend all our time here, anyways."
"Uh... Dean?" Sam interrupts from the table, sounding nervous. What's he got to be nervous about? He's just chatting with Gabriel. Castiel is sure he's done that a lot. What's going on with this kid?

Sam and Gabriel sit down at the table excitedly. As if talking at school wasn't enough, they now get to talk at Sam's house, too! Gabriel isn't sure why it excited him, but it does. He loved spending time with Sam more than anyone else, even his family. There's just something about Sam that he likes.
"How are you?" Sam asks.
Gabriel grins. "Great! I thought I'd be stuck at home annoying my brothers, but this is way better!"
Sam laughs. "You like annoying your brothers?"
Gabriel nods. "It's so fun. Don't you like annoying Dean?"
Sam shakes his head. "No, not really," Sam admits. "Annoying someone who's, like, a foot taller than you isn't really the best idea, you know?"
Gabriel hadn't even thought about the height difference. There's almost a foot difference between him and Lucifer as well, but that doesn't stop Gabriel from annoying him. Lucifer has yet to throw him through a wall, so it's all good. Dean doesn't seem like the type to throw his brother through walls, so Gabriel doesn't think Sam has anything to worry about, but he could be wrong do he doesn't say it.
Gabriel glances at the table, and a piece of paper catches his eye. He can barely see the picture on it for a moment. Or is it writing? The words come to Gabriel instantly, though he's unsure what language it's in and where they come from.
"What's that?" Gabriel asks randomly. "Some, like, American Ninja Warrior camp?" He's talking about the show that's like wipeout, but they try not to wipeout. It's pretty cool, and Gabriel is sure he'd do great on it.
"What?" Sam asks, confused.
Gabriel moves the paper towards him. "That thing."
Sam's voice changes when he says, "Can... Can you read that?"
Gabriel nods. "Yeah, why?"
Sam looks over at Dean, leaving a very confused boy watching him. What's the big deal? Gabriel randomly reads things from other languages all the time. Why call Dean for this on?

Dean looks up immediately when he hears the urgency in his brother's voice. He tries not to go full-on parent mode. It's probably nothing major, right? All he's doing is talking to Gabriel. There's nothing to worry about. Dean tries to convince himself of that, but it doesn't work very well.
"Yeah, Sammy?"
Sam looks at Gabriel and says something quietly to him. Gabriel picks up a piece of paper and shows it to Dean. Is that the thing he copied from his Dad's email? Why did Dean leave that out?
"There's a camp for people with special abilities?" Gabriel says, clearly confused as to why he needs tell Dean that.
"You can read that?" Dean says suspiciously. "How?"
Gabriel shrugs. "I... I just read it?"
That's not possible. It's no human language, and there's no way Gabriel would know it. No human would. Unless Gabriel isn't human at all...
Dean stands up and whips out his pistol from his jacket, immediately pointing it at Gabriel. "What are you?"
Everyone gasps when they see his gun except Sam, who just stands up and gets out of the way. Gabriel quickly puts his hands up, saying "Woah," under his breath.
"Hey!" Michel breaks in, walking towards him. "There's no need for a weapons discharge!"
Dean pulls out another gun and points it at Michael, not looking at him. "If I were you, I'd back up right now," Dean says to Michael, who does obediently, but Dean can tell from the corner of his eye that he's hesitant to do so. "Sam," Dean says, not needing to specify for his brother to understand. Sam quickly brings him a small bottle of holy water, a thing of salt, and a small silver knife.
"Dean," he says quietly. "You don't-"
"We'll see," Dean interrupts. He splashes a bit of holy water on Gabriel, drops a pinch of salt and taps him with the knife before backing up. "He's clean," Dean says, partially to Sam but mostly to himself as he lowers his guns. He outs one of them away, but one stays in his hand just in case. He's never met anything immune to all three, but he wants to stay on the safe side.
"Maybe we were wrong," Sam suggests. "Maybe it isn't a demon language. Maybe we just missed something."
Dean shakes his head. "We didn't miss something," Dean replies. "We don't miss things, not for important things. You know that." Dean looks back at a very nervous Gabriel. "How did you read that paper?"
"I-I just-I just read it?" Gabriel stammers. "Why?"
"What language is it?" Dean asks.
Gabriel shrugs. "I-I don't know."
"Then how did you read it?"
Michael breaks in, seeing that Gabriel clearly can't take this. Michael doesn't seem very ready either, but he's definitely more composed than Gabriel. "Chuck and Amara taught us a whole bunch of languages when we were really young. Even if we can't identify them, we still know them."
"And Chuck and Amara are your parents?" Dean asks.
Michael nods. "Adoptive parents, but yeah. Why?"
Dean looks down at Sam. "Looks like we have a lead after all."