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Sam and Dean surveyed the damage, they had gotten macaroni ‘n cheese everywhere, literally everywhere; on the floor, all over the table, and on each other.
Oddly enough it all started pretty smoothly. The kids all sat at the table and quietly waited for their plates. Dean made macaroni and cheese seeing how it was child friendly and they quickest thing he could think of. Once given to them they all began eating. It was pretty calm at first, but then they got bored; that and they made the dire mistake of leaving them alone for more than 3 minutes. Sam decided to go to the bathroom at the same time that Dean chooses to go park the car in a better place.
The 3 boys were all alone eating. Gabriel flung a small spoonful at Balthazar, it landed inches from his hand. Balthazar frowned slightly and looked up. Balthazar scooped a little more than he did into his spoon and flung it towards Gabriel’s head. Gabriel ducked and it ended up hitting Cas in the arm.
“Hey!” Cas exclaimed. He gathered the noodles on his arm all in one hand then threw it at Gabriel.
Gabriel gasped “Cas! It wasn’t me!” he shouted. Cas looked over at Balthazar, who was obviously finding this funny, and took some off his own plate and threw it at Balthazar.
Balthazar ducked; it hit the fridge and the floor behind him. “HA! You mis-” Gabriel had thrown some and hit him right on the side of the head. Balthazar wasn’t laughing any more. “Do you really want to play this game brother?” He growled. Balthazar took two small handfuls in each hand and looked at his other two brothers with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Oh no you don’t” Gabriel kicked Balthazar’s chair and he lost balance just before he was able to pelt them with the noodles. He didn’t fall out of his chair but in a desperate attempt to keep himself in the chair he had thrown the macaroni in the air, which landed both on the ceiling and at the kitchen window.
Gabriel and Cas both laughed. Balthazar turned pink in embarrassment. He grabbed another handful. “Take this” He yelled.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Sam shouted. Balthazar had already thrown the food. Hilariously enough it had hit Dean right in the face just as he was walking in through the kitchen door.
Dean was fairly pissed, it was obvious, but he tried to keep his cool. He took a deep breath “And what exactly is this?” The three boys looked a bit ashamed. Sam was trying to conceal his laughter. Balthazar opened his mouth to explain, Dean put a hand up. “I don’t want to know. Just. Just finish eating.” Dean went to the bathroom to clean himself up. Once out of the room Sam laughed a little and sat down at the table with the boys.
By the time Dean came back they were basically finished done eating. Sam and Dean both looked around. There was no sugar coating it, there was a pretty big mess and the kids were also a mess.
“So what do we do now?” Sam asked
“Have to clean up the mess. Obviously. And I think that they’ll need a bath.” Dean said. They both grimaced at the thought of trying to bathe those children.
“You boys had better get those kids and my kitchen cleaned.” Bobby called to them from his study.
Dean and Sam looked at each other. “Well you heard the man.” Dean said “I take kitchen, you take the bath time?”
Sam knew he was getting the short end of the stick in this. “Dude. No” Sam said “Rock paper scissors. Loser has bath time.”
“Geeze guy I’m really felling the love.” Balthazar said sarcastically.
“Okay fine.” Dean said putting his fist in the other hand in order to get into position.
“Rock, paper, scissors shoot”
Dean shot scissors; Sam shot rock “Dean, always with the scissors”
Dean was soaked. He was struggling to keep all the kids in the tub. There was water everywhere mainly because of all the splashing. They decided that if they were going to have to go through this hell Dean had to go through hell. Dean had grabbed the closest angel child, which happened to be Cas, and smothered him with soap.
“AHHH! Save me.” Cas screeched “Help! Dean stop it. Nooo.”
“Cas shut up so we can get this over with” Dean said as he took the shower piece and aimed it Cas to wash out the remaining soap. Cas screamed and thrashed, trying to escape him. Finally he was done, Dean took him out of the shower and dried him off. He then (Though with some reluctance from both parties) slipped Cas into a pull up and threw a onsie shirt over him and did the little snaps at the bottom of the shirt, between his legs. “Okay you’re free to go.” Cas ran out the door, just as he went both Gabriel and Balthazar jumped out of the tub and tried to run away. “Oh no you don’t” Though slippery he caught both of the kids, one in each hand and threw them back into the tub with a splash. Balthazar splashed him, as an act of rebellion. Dean grabbed his arm. “Looks like we have a volunteer” The struggle was a lot louder and harder than Cas was but Dean got through it (and may I add with minimal cussing). Dean exhaled a heavy sigh of relief once he had gotten Balthazar dressed. “Get out of here” Balthazar blew a raspberry and ran out of the bathroom. He turned to Gabriel, who gave him a smirk that read ‘this isn’t going to be easy’, Dean inhaled a sharp breath of dread. There was splashing and thrashing; biting, yelling, cursing, but surprisingly no blood had been drawn. Dean had accomplished soaping him down, brushing out his hair, and rinsing him off. But about half of the contents of the tub spilled all over the floor in the process of this. Dean dragged Gabriel out of the tub and began to dress him.
Dean first pulled the onsie over his head and forced his arms through the holes then he tried to put the pull up on. “No Dean.” Gabriel said squirming out of his grasp “I am not wearing a diaper.” He sprinted and darted around the bathroom. It was very slippery and Gabriel used this in his favor. “You can’t make me” He shouted as he ran all about slipping and sliding with ease while Dean had very nearly lost his balance more than once. Gabriel made it to the door and ran out. “Never, you’ll never make me” He shouted running down the hall.
Dean was wet, tired and fed up. He doesn’t give a shit ant more “Fine then” he yelled “But if you wet yourself in the middle of the night you better not come to me or Sam for help. You’re on your own you hear?” Gabriel ignored him and kept running.
Dean really didn’t want to have to deal with him. He went back to the bathroom and angrily began to clean and mop up all the water. He muttered curses and grumbled while cleaning but he still did clean it all up. Once he drained the tub and mopped up as much water as he could, he went to go find his clothes to change out of the current wet ones he was in.
Dean went downstairs to find all the kids sitting in front of the TV on the floor. Sam had found some of their old vhs tapes. It was one of those clique old westerns were a kid has a dog and they go adventures Dean got on to the couch behind them to lie down. Sam came in 3 sip cups and a bowl of popcorn. He put snacks down and handed them each a cup.
“Don’t you even dare try to throw this around” Sam warned them “Or else there will be no more snacks” All three of them nodded in understanding.
‘Yeah right’ Dean thought to himself rolling over to get into a more comfortable position. Within minutes Dean had fallen asleep.
Dean was awoken with a start by the screams that were coming from around him. “What” He said quickly sitting up ”What happened.”
“He died!” Sam said. He was actually bothered by this children’s movie.
“What?” Dean said he looked more closely at the movie they were watching. They were watching Old Yeller. Dean remembered this. The first time he and Sam watched it together, they were really little and Sam had fallen asleep. So he never saw Old Yeller die, but Dean did, it had really messed him up, he was 7 and boy did he cry. Ever since then he would always stop just before it got to the rabies part, just so that Sam never had to see it. Well it’s too late now, secrets out.
But it was the angels who were even more distraught. Cas was practically crying and Balthazar was pretty much in the same state, but Gabriel was trying to seem strong but Dean could see he was on the verge of tears.
“Oh come on, it’s just a movie.” Dean said, the ones in this room have all technically killed, and they’ve all seen things that only someone could only have seen in a horror movie. The three kids are century old angels and they were about to cry cause of a movie.
Cas turned to face Dean. “But the dog died” He sniveled. A few tears fell down his cheeks. “It’s not fair. Why’d they have kill him?” Cas started crying. Dean wasn’t exactly sure what to do. But he sure as hell wasn’t ever going to let them watch this again. Cas climbed up the couch and into deans lap. Balthazar started crying, Dean sighed to himself and picked him up and placed him on his lap too.
“Oh come on.” He said “It’s a happy movie look.” The two kids looked up and at the tv. “See they have another dog, the dad came back and he got the boy a horse.”
“But that’s not Old Yeller” Whimpered Balthazar.
Dean nuddged him a little in the side. “Just keep watching” They watched the movie, both tightly holding on to Dean, until the very end. “See even the boy let the dog go. He’s even going to raise the puppy to be like Old Yeller.”
Both Cas and Balthazar nodded in understanding. Maybe Dean had succeeded in calming them a bit, he felt kind of accomplished with himself. “Well Old Yeller still did die though.” Gabriel mumbled sadly. Correction, Dean did feel accomplished. Balthazar and Cas looked at each other, at Gabriel, Dean, then the TV.
“Okay bed time.” Sam quickly cut in, before they could get the chance to contemplate the movie any further. “How should we do this? We have the pull out here, the small guest room and the large guest room.” Dean shrugged. He doubted that he would sleep yet anyways. “Well, we could put them here and we figure out who gets which guest room?”
Dean thought about it and looked around. His eyes fixated on the front door, either one of them could easily get outside from here, which wasn’t a thought he wanted to entertain. “No. I’ll take the pull out, you put them in the small guest room and you take the other one.”
“Hey wait a second” Gabriel said “Who said we were going to bed?”
“We did.” Dean stared down at him. Gabriel stared back as though he was trying to challenge him.
“Come on, just one more movie.” Balthazar said “Maybe we’ll fall asleep during it.” Balthazar looked from Dean to Sam.
“Please? “We’re not even-“ Cas yawned “-tired”
“Sam, just one more?” Gabriel asked moving his gaze from Dean to Sam
Sam looked at the three of them; they were literally pulling puppy dog eyes on him. This was a situation he couldn’t have ever even imagined to have happened between him and them. It was just a movie. There is a chance that they would fall asleep. Maybe letting them wouldn’t hurt. “Just one more”
“What” Dean called out.All three of them lit up. “Then it’s bed you got that?”
Dean sighed, sitting down once more as Sam put in the next tape, it was Peter Pan. Thankfully this movie is a lot less sad that the previous one. The kids were very entertained by the movie though.
By the time it was over Cas had already fallen asleep and the other two looked like they were about to sleep too. Sam shut off the TV.
“Okay now go to bed” Dean said looking at his watch. It was well past midnight. Sam nudged two of them and got them to their feet, he then scooped up Cas to take them up to the room. Sam said his goodnight and took the kids upstairs. They went to bed with little objection and soon both Balthazar and Gabriel had also fallen asleep.
Dean flushed the toilet and washed his hands. The time was a little after three. He turned off the bathroom lights and closed the door behind himself. Dean yawned and stretched, making his way back downstairs. He was the only one awake in the house at the moment, or so he thought.
As he walked down the hall and heard a noise. Now to a normal person they would just brush it off as just the house or an animal, but being a hunter Dean wanted to inspect it to make sure it was nothing not natural, supernatural. (((Sorry I had to say it)))
He slowly walked back up the hall, listening for any other noises. He heard it again. It sounded like a repressed sigh. Dean heard the noise again. It was coming from the smaller guest room. He cracked the door open as quietly as possible. He looked inside, using the hallway lights as his primary light source. The room was a simple room; it had a full size bed and a nightstand with a lamp. That’s about it, what else would they really need in there? His eyes scanned the room he saw a few lumps under the covers that he assumed were the angels, once his eyes reached the other end of the room, he noticed something in the shadow cast by the hallway light. Dean stepped into the room.
It was Gabriel. “Why aren’t you in bed?” Dean asked in a somewhat irritated tone.
No answer.
“Hey I’m talking to you.” He grabbed his arm to try and drag him back in to the bed.
“Get off me.” Gabriel yelled, trying to get out of his grip. Dean quickly recoiled, his eyes shot to the other two sleeping ones. They did nothing more than turn over a little.
He breathed a little sigh of relief, “God damn it, shut up there are people sleeping here.” Gabriel said nothing. He just kept staring him as though to challenge him. “Just get into bed.” Dean grabbed his arm one more time. Gabriel thrashed, he looked as if he was going to yell again; but this time Dean was faster, he covered his mouth with his hand and used the other to pick him up. Once in his arms, Gabriel went ridged. Dean felt something on his arm, something wet.
“You didn’t”
Gabriel looked down at the ground in embarrassment, “Don’t say I told you so”
Dean didn’t really say anything. He just walked out of the room, with Gabriel still in his arms. Dean closed the door behind them.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked.
This time it was Dean who didn’t answer. He walked up hall into the bathroom. Dean set Gabriel down on the cold tiled ground. He then turned the shower handles to adjust the water. Dean let the tub fill as he turned to take Gabriel out of his wet clothes.
Dean looked at Gabriel, his face was burning red like tomato, and you could easily see he was embarrassed and humiliated. Dean picked him up and put him in the tub. Gabriel made no objections or even tried to resist.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Gabriel said “Why aren’t you yelling at me, no ‘I told so’, nothing?” Gabriel couldn’t even look Dean in the eye right now and he didn’t even know why.
“You think Sam didn’t wet the bed?” Dean put simply “It’s not your fault.” Dean went to turn off the faucets. Gabriel slowly sat down to let himself soak in the warm water. “Did you wet the beditself?” Gabriel shook his head. He didn’t want to talk to Dean and Dean could understand why. “Was it on the floor?” Gabriel nodded.
Dean left to go clean up the mess. Gabriel sat in the bath tub alone. He was left to his own thoughts. Why didn’t Dean punish him? Why was even helping him, he said he on his own, that neither Dean nor Sam was going help him. It was terrible, having to be taken care of by a Winchester. He regretted not listening to Dean in the first place, but he would never actually tell him this.
He came back into the bathroom. “You ready to get out?” Gabriel nodded. He stood and climbed out of the tub by himself. Dean wrapped him in a towel to dry. Dean pulled a small the onsie over his shoulder and let Gabriel put his arms through the holes himself. Dean picked up the pull-up. “Now we could do this the easy way or not, it’s up to you”. Gabriel sighed and nodded. Gabriel was completely dressed. Dean emptied the tub. “Okay now let’s get you back to bed.”
Gabriel put his arms out to be picked up. Once he realized what he was doing, he instantly pulled his arms back. “Sorry. That was kinda childish of me.”
Dean smiled to himself and picked him up anyways. “Why do you always have to act so bold and proud?”
It was meant to be a rhetorical question but it wasn’t to Gabriel. “I don’t know, I just don’t want anyone to think they can walk all over me. I have little brothers and sisters, I’m supposed to set the example, I don’t want them to think its okay to not be respected, and they need to stand up for themselves. I’m an archangel, I have to be the one every looks up to and -“
“Hey. Hey. I wasn’t actually expecting an answer.” Dean said “You’re a toddler right now it’s okay to be selfish and act immature, that’s what they do.”
Gabriel looked at Dean. Was he mocking him? He looked pretty genuine. Dean looked like he really did care, almost as if he could understand Gabriel’s position. Gabriel felt a small pain in the back of his head followed by a lump in his throat. Was he really about to cry? Again? He couldn’t help it. Gabriel buried his head into Dean’s shoulder.
Dean was fairly surprised by this. Well, actually should he be? He was basically like a little kid. Dean felt Gabriel’s shoulders shake. Was he crying? “Gabe, you okay?” Gabriel shuffled a little to move his head to breathe. Gabriel quivered, trying to suck in a few breathes. His exhales came out as sobs as tears soaked through Dean’s shirt. “Do you want to talk about it?” Dean gently whispered.
“It-It’s not fair.” He managed to choke out “It’s not fair. I don’t want to be this way. I don’t want to be a toddler, short, human or powerless. My brothers don’t deserve this. This is humiliating I just want to be an angel again. I don’t like being so emotional either. I-I hate this Dean, I hate it.” Gabriel grabbed tufts of Dean’s shirt tightly and continued to cry. What could Dean even do? He was in such a vulnerable state, who could blame him, he was once powerful and feared and now he’s been reduced to a human pint-sized toddler with now power or position.
Sometimes the best thing to do for comfort is nothing. Dean sat on the closed toilet and held Gabriel closely on his lap. Gabriel wailed, muttering a few inaudible words. Dean sat with him saying nothing until his crying reduced to small whimpers and the occasional sniffle.
Dean soon realized that Gabriel had calmed down. He stood with Gabriel still in his arms and made his way to the door Gabriel kept his head against Dean’s shoulder. “I’m getting a snack do you want something.” Dean asked. He felt Gabriel nod slightly. “Warm milk sound good?” It was something Dean used to give Sam if he was having a bad night as kids; he figured it was much better than his father’s method of alcohol or Nyquil
A small muffled voice answered “Could we make it chocolate milk.”
“I think that can be arranged”
The first night ended with a couple messes, 2 baths, a few meltdowns and basically a chick flick moment. All Dean could think after he had gotten Gabriel back to bed (with basically no protest) and his head hit the pillow was that he had better be able to sleep in tomorrow. That which of course was a hopeless dream, he was woken up bright and early by three rowdy children who had just accomplished to entertain themselves by turning the kitchen pots and pans into drums. It took almost every ounce of him to not strangle those three demons.