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“What the hell” Dean and Sam were looking down at a pile of clothing and three small children half buried in it. They all looked like they were 2, maybe 3 years old. Cas had found Sam and Dean a case which they had decided to take. It was supposed to be an easy quick filler-like one. And now they were looking down at 3 toddlers all of which had been century old all-powerful beings.
Figuring out what they were going to do was one thing, getting them into the backseat and strapping them in was another. There was screaming cursing and biting (Most of which was from Gabriel). But eventually they were all settles in the back with seatbelts tying them down. And now they were on their was on their way to Bobby’s house with the hopes that they’d be able to find a cure faster that way.
“Dean what is this feeling?” asked Cas tightly gripping his trench coat with he refused to leave behind. “I feel empty, my stomach hurts.”As if on cue his stomach grumbled.
“Mine hurts too.” Piped up Balthazar
“Me too” complained Gabriel Sam turned around in his seat and looked over at the three of them.
“Dean I think they’re hungry.” Dean looked into the rear view mirror and cursed slightly under his breath.
“Hungry?” Balthazar screeched in his tiny high-pitched voice. “So not only are we tiny and powerless but we’re human!”
Dean took the next exit. “Right, one quick detour, we’re getting them food and we’re going back on the road. Kapiche?” They pulled up to the nearest McDonald’s and parked the car. Sam walked in to get the food. Soon he came back out with bags in hand. Sam got into the car and closed the door behind him. “Right burger and pie for Dean” He said handing one bag to Dean “and 3 happy meals for y’all.” He distributed the 3 small boxes to the children.
Dean started the car. “No messes in the back seat. I swear to god if I find so much a wrapper there will be dire consequences.” He turned to face all three of them. “You guys got that?” All three of them nodded in agreement. He nodded back and they got back onto the road.
All of the angels were quite content with their meals. Gabriel reached into his box and pulled out a small trinket. “What’s this?” He asked showing it to his brothers.
Cas took it from Gabriel and looked at it quizzically. “It’s a toy.”
“A toy?” Balthazar said grabbing it from Cas’s hands. He ripped off the plastic to look at it more closely.
“Hey! you broke it.” Gabriel said taking it back.
“Give it back!” Balthazar yelled trying to grab it back.
“No it’s mine.” Gabriel shouted
“But I had it first!” Cas argued
“No I had it first it was in my box”
“So, what?” Balthazar said reaching for it. “It’s mine. I call dibs”
“And you broke it. It’s mine”
“I didn’t break it. It’s supposed to be like that.”
“Gabriel give it to me.” Shouted Cas “God says we’re supposed to share with our brethren.”
“Don’t pull that ‘god says crap’ on me Cas.”
Dean could feel a headache coming on, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Shut up all of you. There’s a freaking toy in every box. That’s the whole point of a happy meal.” All the angels stopped bickering. Cas and Balthazar each withdrew a toy from their boxes. “See? And the plastic wrap is supposed to come off”
“Told you so” Balthazar interjected
“Eh. You shut up.” Dean shot him down. “Now, there are at least 5 hours till we get to Bobby’s place. Talk all you want; just no fighting and no yelling.” Dean pushed the nearest cassette tape into the player. About 30 minutes in Cas raised his hand. “Dean. Dean” He called.
“Yes Cas.” “Dean my mouth feels dry.”
Sam picked up one of the small cups in the holder and began to hand it to Cas. Dean stopped him. “Dean what he’s thirsty”
“Me too” Gabriel and Balthazar piped up.
Dean groaned nearly hitting his head against the wheel out of frustration. “Dude no. They’re going to drop it, I can feel it.”
“But, Dean you can’t just not give it to them.”
“Yeah I can. Watch me.” Dean called over to them “You guys are not getting those cups”
“Dean” all the angels said looking directly at him via rear-view mirror. He looked back at them, and sighed.
“Fine” Sam began to hand them the cups once again, but once again Dean stopped him. “Just wait a second.” He took the next exit. To their luck they easily found a Wal-Mart as soon as they got off the highway.
“Dean what are you doing?” Sam asked. “They want to drink from those cups while we drive fine. But we’re doing it on my terms.” Dean handed him Sam’s wallet “Go buy a couple of those sippy-cups” Sam looked at him questionably. Dean stared back at him.
“All right I’ll go.” Sam said grudgingly leaving the car. Dean smirked while he watched Sam walk up to the store.
“Why do we have to use baby cups” Gabriel complained “Why won’t you just trust us?” Dean ignored him. He heard a click from the backseat. Gabriel nudged him in the back of the arm. “Come on Dean” Gabriel jumped over the chair and landed in the front seat next to Dean. There was another click then another. Balthazar climbed over and landed next to Gabriel, Cas jumped over after him. Cas didn’t land as gracefully as Gabriel and Balthazar did though. Gabriel grabbed one of the cups. He was small and not used to the fact that his fingers were too short and weak. He began to lose his grip.
“Hey careful” Dean said catching the cup just before it dropped. “Here sit still” He took the straw and punctured the little hole and top and handed it to Gabriel “Two hands” He warned. He did the Same for both Balthazar and Castiel.
After a few minutes of silence Balthazar pointed out “Why didn’t you just do this earlier instead of making Sam go inside?”
“Cause we were in a moving car; it’s you three; and I’m not risking anyone ruining my car cause of an ‘accident’.”
Cas stopped sucking on the straw, “So shouldn’t we call Sam so we can keep going?”
“Good point.” Dean put down his mini pie and pulled out his phone dialed up his brother. He paused as it rang. No answer. He called again. No answer again. Dean considered going in there to fetch him. An idea which he quickly diminished after looking down at the three angels next to him, they were only wearing the shirts they had on before they became toddlers. The shirts were barely clinging on to their skin; it was the only thing that kept them a bit decent though. And there was no way Dean was taking all of three of them in public like that. They were just going to have to wait.
It wasn’t until 45 minutes later that Sam finally came out. He was pushing a large cart which was full of various items. “What the hell?” Dean got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. “Dude what the hell. I said get cups not go shopping for an hour.” Dean peered over to the side and into the cart. “What did you even buy?”
“You know the necessities. Clothes, snacks….car seats…..pull ups.”
“What!?” Dean was not dealing with any of this shit. He didn’t want those kids. Why should he have to deal with them? “What. Car seats? Pull ups? I’m not changing any dippers or cleaning after them any kid. Especially those douche bags.”
“Dean, come on. We need this. They look two, do you really want child services after us because we have 3 children in the back seat not in car seats? Or do you want them to wet themselves on the way there cause I’m pretty sure they won’t know what a full bladder would feel like.”
Dean backed off; Sam did have a pretty valid point. “Just one question,” Dean added “How much did all this cost?” Sam shrugged
Sam and Dean had it settled. Sam would dress the kids and Dean will set up car seats.
“These little shits better pay us back” Dean yelled to Sam from the back seat of the car. Sam had been able to get Cas dressed easily. But Gabriel and Balthazar were going to be a lot more difficult.
Sam grabbed Balthazar from the driver’s seat with Gabriel and dragged him over to the passenger’s seat. Balthazar squirmed and slapped in a desperate attempt to escape.
“Unhand me moose” Balthazar screeched “I am an angel of the lord. I am centuries years old. And I refuse to wear a diaper as though I am a baby.”
In a swift move Sam had Balthazar restrained, held down and subdued long enough for him to pull on both the pants and a pull-up. Sam quickly reached for a shirt, but by the time he looked Balthazar all ready had his hands on the waist band of the pants. Sam grabbed his arms and looked him straight in eye, “Listen angel, I swear to god, if you even try to pull down those pants I will tie you down and you will stay tied up for the rest of this trip. Do you understand?” Balthazar slowly lowered his arms. “Good. Now here put this on.” Balthazar, surprisingly, obeyed and then went to join Cas’s side who was watching Dean’s struggle with quite some interest.
Sam sighed; he had left the worst for last. “Right, Gabriel your turn.”
“Never” He yelled slamming down the car horn.
“Hey hands off the wheel douche bag.” Dean yelled
“Fuck you” Gabriel yelled honking the horn one last time before running out the driver’s door and on to the pavement.
Almost as soon as he had touched the ground Sam was already on his heels. The shirt Gabriel was wearing at the moment was long enough to be considered a dress, and the bagginess made it a safety hazard for anyone running that was that size. “Try and get me Samsqua-“. Basically Gabriel didn’t get that far without face planting the concrete ground.
Sam finally caught up with him; Gabriel turned over slowly with a loud groan. His knees and arms were skinned cut and bleeding, his eyes were red and tearful. Sam reached down to pick him up. The second they touched Gabriel began crying. At first it was hard gasps as though he was trying to breathe but couldn’t. Then it came out all at once, a loud cry followed by many heavy tears. Sam picked Gabriel up. “It hurt’s” he wailed as they walked back to the car “I’ve been shot, stabbed and I’ve never cried. It’s not fair. I don’t want to be human.” He began to cry harder. Sam tried to shush him and comfort him. He held Gabriel, rubbing his back in circles and letting the tears and blood stain his shirt.
Dean had already gotten Cas into one of the seats and was currently working on Balthazar when Sam reached the car. All their attention was now focused on Sam and the still teary Gabriel.
“What happened to him?” Asked Dean halfheartedly
“He fell down.” Sam sat Gabriel in the front seat. Gabriel slowly began to start crying again. “Dean, get the first aid kit.”Dean nodded and went out back to the trunk of the car. “Hey it’s okay” Sam said gently as he slowly pulled off Gabriel’s shirt. Dean handed him the kit and Sam set to work. Gabriel winced and screamed a little as he was being bandaged up.
“That’s what you get dumb ass” Dean said with obvious snark. Sam shot him a dirty look.
“It’s okay Gabriel.” Cas spoke up “Once we’re angels again we’ll be able to heal ourselves.” Gabriel wiped a few tears away.
“Don’t you get it?” He yelled “We’re human, and we’re going to be stuck as humans for a while. No grace, No heaven, No flying, Nothing. We’re probably going to be like this for forever.”
“What?” Cas screeched “Forever?” Cas looked over to Dean and Sam. “Is he telling the truth?”
Dean and Sam looked at each other. “What? No Sam and I are going to make sure you guys are back to your normal selves asap.” Dean said.
“He’s lying Cas.” Gabriel said bitterly.
Cas’s eyes grew wide and began to fill up with tears. Cas began to cry. “Damn it. Really asshole?!” Dean yelled at Gabriel. Gabriel too began to cry again.
“Seriously Dean?” Sam scolded him. “He’s like a 2 year old and he’s just gotten hurt and you’re yelling at him?”
“Well it’s his damn fault.” Sam and Dean began arguing as both Cas and Gabriel cried. Balthazar couldn’t handle all this at once. He too began to cry.
Dean looked at all the angel toddlers and instantly felt guilty “Okay. Okay truce.” Sam held his hands up in agreement. What was he supposed to do? Dean took a few moments thinking they would stop. But they didn’t. “Hey. Hey it’s okay buddy” Dean said stroking Cas’s arm. “He’s just mad. He’s not serious.”
“Re-really?” Cas sniffed wiping away a few more tears.
Dean nodded. “Promise” Cas nodded back.“Balthazar why are you crying?” Dean said turning his attention to the other angel strapped in the back seat. He slowly began to calm himself down.
“I don't know? Everyone is being so loud...” Dean nodded in understanding.
“Well we’re sorry. Okay?” Balthazar nodded back. Dean handed him a bandana from his pocket. “Here, clean yourself up.” Balthazar wiped away the tears and handed it to Cas, who did as Balthazar had. “Right then, you know what usually makes people happy?” Dean reached in to the trunk “Cookies. Do you guys want some?” They both nodded excitedly. Dean handed them both two cookies. He then turned his attention to Gabriel.
“Don’t think a cookie is going to make me happy, Winchester.” Gabriel said glumly as he wiped away a few stray tears.
“I didn’t think so.” Dean reached into his pocket and pulled out pack of m&m’s “How about this instead.” Gabriel’s eyes lit up a little. And he reached out for the pack. “Sorry?” Dean said handing him the candy.
“Sorry.” Gabriel responded tearing off the top. Sam dressed him in an onsie (Because of his knees) and handed him to Dean to be buckled into the empty car seat in the back. They continued to drive, finally. Dean made it very clear there would be no more stops what so ever. He played one of his favorite mix tapes. An hour into the trek the angels had slowly began to fall silent. Sam turned around to face them. They were all slowly beginning to fall asleep. Balthazar and Gabriel were near to being actually asleep. Cas was tightly gripping his now-too-big trench coat, looking out of the widow, at all that was passing by. His eyes were also beginning to droop. Sam nudged Dean who looked at the through the rear view mirror. He half smiled, despite the circumstance; he had to admit that they did look a little cute.
They reached Bobby's house just as it was beginning to get dark. Sam and Dean both got out and began to unbuckle the angels to take them inside. Sam unstrapped Balthazar from one end and picked him up, trying not to wake him. Dean did the Same from the other side of the car. He undid the car seat on Cas’s seat and picked him up carefully and handed him over to Sam. Cas , though asleep, tightly clung on to Sam trying to get comfortable once again. Dean got to work on Gabriel, who was placed in the middle of the back seat. Once unbuckled, Dean carried him out as though he was cradling an infant.
“Hey you did call Bobby that we were coming right.?”
“Yeah Dean. He knows” Sam tried to readjust the two sleeping toddlers without waking them up “He just doesn’t know about them.” Sam added a bit more quietly.
“Oh great,” Dean closed the car doors and led the way up to the door “We are so dead.”
Dean knocked on the door. You could hear bobby walking throughout the rickety old place as he went to open the door. Dean turned to check to see how Sam was holding up. The door opened. Dean turned around. “Hey bobby” Dean said Bobby was at a loss for words. Sam and Dean were both carrying sleeping children who looked 2 maybe 3, what was he supposed to say? “What the hell” Was all that he could find to say.
“Gee, nice to see you too.” Bobby stepped aside “Put them down on the couch” Dean and Sam followed his direction “Then we’re going to have a nice long talk about this.” Dean put Balthazar down first then took Cas from Sam and placed him on the Same couch as Balthazar, while Sam took Gabriel lied him down in the recliner. They all took one extra look to make sure they were still asleep and followed each other up to the kitchen.
Dean and Sam explained the entire story from the case to their arrival to the house during a quick dinner and booze.
“Damn” Said bobby looking off towards where the angels were currently sleeping “So what do you guys plan to do?” “I don’t know” Admitted Sam “We can’t just send them away, the world is going to be a cruel place for them. They’re young and powerless.”
Dean got up to get another beer from the fridge. “Yeah I mean you should have seen them back there. Balthazar started to cry just cause we were arguing. It’s like they’ve got the smartness of their old selves but they’ve got the brains and emotional level of babies.” Dean sat back down.
“The hunter’s life isn’t good for any kid, even if they were angels.” Sam sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
Bobby thought for a second. Should he really? Was this a good idea? He’s probably going to regret this. “Well then looks like you guys are going to have to stay here until otherwise.”
“What?” Dean looked up
“Bobby we couldn’t do that to you” Sam said.
“I’m not offering. I’m saying.” Bobby answered Sam and Dean looked at each other.
“Thank you Bobby.” Dean said
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever” Bobby shrugging it off.
“No really bobby. “ Added Sam “Thank you”
“Just. Just clear this table.” He tried to hide the fact that he was actually emotionally moved by his boys. The boys immediately got up and began to clean up. He looked up at the boys he basically raised. Couldn’t help but feel some pride. He sat basking in the serenity and silence of his home, despite the clanging of the plates and pots. The house seemed brighter and alive with their presence. Maybe having a few more little boys around would be nice and bring a little more life to his home.
You could hear noises coming from the other room, one of them were awake. “I got it.” Dean said wiping his hands on his jeans. Cas was in the living room was already on his feet, stumbling towards the door way to the kitchen. He was still a little groggy seeing how he had just woken up. Cas saw Dean and ran towards him, nearly falling down in the process. Dean caught him and picked him up.
“Hey what’s wrong buddy?”
“Dean” Cas rubbed his eyes, tightly gripping on to Dean’s collar “Where’s my coat?”
Sam walked in “What’s wrong Cas?” “He wants his trench coat.” Dean handed him over to Sam.
“I’ll be right back.” Cas tightly held on to Sam lying his head on Sam’s shoulder, gripping tightly on to Sam’s shirt, burring his face into it, “Hey it’s okay” Sam tried to comfort him “Dean’s getting your coat right now.” Sam felt Cas nod. He took a seat on the couch with Cas on his lap.
Dean eventually came back. He also brought the rest of the things Sam had bought with him. The second Dean walked in Cas scrambled to get off Sam’s lap and get his beloved coat from Dean. Once he had the coat back in his arms Cas held it tightly as though it was going to escape him. He walked off with the coat trailing behind him. Bobby walked into the room.
“What’s all this?” He asked looking at the few plastic bags Dean had brought in along with his and Sam’s usual duffle bag “I thought you boys were taught that hunters traveled lightly?”
Dean slightly rolled his eyes. “Yeah this is mostly Sam’s doing,” He set the bags down in the center of the room.
“Eh. Get the door, boy.” Bobby pointed out. Dean nodded and quickly shut the door by his finger tips and turned around to walk back as the door shut behind him. Well it didn’t go that way. The door actually slammed behind him. Loudly. Dean, Sam and bobby cringed at the noise and looked towards the two other sleeping kids. They both began to stir. “Goddamn it Dean.” Bobby hissed.
“Who the hell is making all that racket.” Slurred Balthazar he tossed and turned a few times. He sat up. Balthazar looked around the room squinting at the light. “Where are we?”
“Damn” Gabriel mumbled rubbing the sleep from his eyes “I thought it was a bad dream.” He plopped back down and curled up into a little ball hoping that going back to sleep will change him back normal.
Cas, after hearing his brothers voices, came into the room running, trench coat in hand trailing behind him. “Guys look. We’re here” Cas climbed up the couch to sit next to Balthazar. There was a bit of a struggle seeing how the couch was nearly Cas’s height but Sam was able to help him up.
Gabriel unfurled a bit and rolled over to face the rest of the people. “I think I’m hungry.” He announced to no one in particular.
“You think?” Asked Bobby.
“Me too” Balthazar complained Sam looked down at Cas, half expecting him to join his brother’s side. Though he didn’t say anything you could tell he was too.
“Should we make them dinner?” He looked over to Bobby for advice.
“Hey, they’re your responsibility. I’m just letting you guys stay here.” Bobby said “If they’re hungry you go feed them, just put everything back and clean up after yourselves. You hear?” Sam and Dean both nodded in understanding.
Cas shuffled off the couch and went over to Gabriel. “Come on let’s go.” He said grabbing his hand and trying to pull him off the recliner. Gabriel reluctantly dragged himself off the seat. Balthazar followed his lead and also got off the couch he was on.They all began to follow Sam and Dean to the kitchen.“Well then” Bobby said “I’ll be in my study.” Bobby left the boys to themselves and went to his ‘office’.
He sat at his desk and began working. He answered a stray call, did a little research on current cases and some for possible ones. All things considered it seemed like any other night at his place, even though he had his boys and three other angels/children home. Maybe he will be able to get through this smoothly. They’d quickly find a cure to this minor complication and they’ll back at this and laugh, all of which with minimum damage to his house and home. Even if it took some time what the worst they could do?
*Crash*
“Seriously Balthazar, you aren’t getting to any of the booze don’t even try it. Gabriel no put the knife down. Cas get down you’re going to get hurt.”
*Clank*
“Damn it Cas, what’d I tell you?”
….you know what, scratch that last bit. This is going to be hell. Hell. And this house is going to be barely standing by the end of this.