lt_indigo

lt_indigo

Dean was watching Castiel like a hawk as they kicked back in a bar, and he was being really damn obvious about it. More specifically, he was watching each and every one of Gabriel’s special concoctions that Cas was downing.

The bar had been Dean’s idea in the first place – a kind of celebration-commiseration kind of thing: they had beaten Famine, Sam had come out the other side of his blood withdrawal with Gabriel’s help, but Castiel was getting weaker, and his search for God wasn’t getting anywhere. Cas was getting disheartened, and Dean had decided that going out to a bar would be just the thing to loosen them all up a bit. Gabriel had been down with the plan, and made one teeny tiny little adjustment to the alcohol levels in Cas’ drinks (and his own, naturally). He was even a very responsible big brother and told Castiel exactly what he had done, so that they could all get drunk together rather than the angels having to drink the bar dry to even start to feel the effects. Gabriel felt that might have looked a bit suspicious to the other fine but very human patrons.

And Dean had been watching Castiel like a hawk ever since the first round appeared. Or like Cas, the watcher, watched him.

“Deano, come and get the next round with me. Jäeger?”

Sam groaned and glared at Gabriel. Cas nodded solemnly and turned to Dean expectantly. Dean, for his part, gave Gabriel a sharp look but got to his feet without any verbal complaint, following the archangel to the bar, where Gabriel proceeded to place a frankly staggering order and handed over a hundred dollar bill without a thought before turning to Dean.

“So, what’s bugging you about Cassie?”

Dean frowned.

“Oh, come on! You were so obvious. You’re worried about something, and you’re going to tell me what it is before I have to dig it out of that pretty head because if I don’t know, I can’t protect my brother. And I will not be put in that position ever again.”

Dean gave him an appraising look, surprised realisation dawning on his face. “You actually care.”

Gabriel shrugged, but before he could say anything, the whole story came blurting out; Zachariah kidnapping him from his hotel room and throwing him five years into the future, in a world where Sam had given in to Lucifer, where Michael and the rest of Heaven had abandoned Earth and humanity, and Castiel was mortal and had taken refuge in drugs and alcohol.

“And have you told Cas about this?” Gabriel asked with a frown.

Dean shrugged. “Didn’t want to worry him,” he admitted. “He’s already hung up on losing his mojo and I thought it would just make things worse.”

Gabriel grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. “Zach is a dickbag,” he said cheerfully. “He was trying to rattle you, and Cassie and Sam are your weaknesses. We can’t actually travel that far into the future, you know.”

Dean, already thoroughly rattled by Gabriel’s apparent ease with the whole situation, stared.

“WHAT?!”

“Pretty sure Cas would have told you that if you’d mentioned it to him,” Gabriel went on. “A little bit of near-future foresight here and there isn’t that tricky, but time travelling to the future? Especially that far? Not even us archangels can pull that shit off. You'd think that after all the crap I've pulled on you, you'd recognise a little false reality.”

“So…”

“So you’re worrying over nothing, and my little brother has a particularly sick sense of humour. Must have been modelled on me and Luci. Probably why I never liked the little shit.”

Dean gave a faint snort of laughter and grabbed the shot glass closest to him, downing it without even looking at the contents. “You got that right. What the hell was that?”

“Cinnamon Aftershock.”

“Tastes like ass. Don’t order it again. So Cas is okay?”

Gabriel looked over to where Sam and Cas were still sat. Both were deep in discussion, but Sam’s eyes were flickering their way pretty often.

“He’s probably not going to completely drown himself in booze tonight,” he assured Dean, “but I promise I’ll cut back on tweaking the drinks.”

“Thanks.” Dean gave him a smile that radiated relief and grabbed the nearest tray. Gabriel stayed a little longer, watching him return to the table and his smile change into something much more relaxed and unguarded as he sat back down opposite Castiel. Damn, but they were so obvious, and Gabriel was going to have to get them together before he shoved his blade through his own heart just to escape the sexual tension.

Sam caught his eye and gave him a look that clearly said ‘rescue me’. Gabriel plastered his best grin on and grabbed the second tray of drinks.

But was Castiel okay? No, he wasn’t: if Cas kept going the way he was, he would be mortal within a few short months. He was already trapped inside his otherwise empty vessel and stripped of his ability to hear their brothers’ song. Gabriel was quite frankly impressed that he hadn’t gone nuts from loneliness by now, and Dean probably had more to do with that than he would ever realise. That would be another great reason to get the two lovebirds together. Plus, if they were screwing, it would mean that Sam would have a motel room to himself and that would give Gabriel a chance to gently persuade Sam to maybe give him his birthday present early¹.

¹ said birthday present being a Sam to unwrap and play with (reference to 'Peace Offerings', a previous fic)