The next day, Dean woke in his bed. He didn't remember anything from last night except that it was his birthday and he got really drunk.

He rolled over on his pillow lazily and was startled fully awake when he noticed the small figure snuggled next to him. He almost screamed but stopped when the tiny figure opened its large blue eyes and was instantly terrified by Dean being so suddenly close.

The memories of the previous night suddenly came flooding back to Dean and he picked up Cas gently. "Sorry to startle ya buddy, you just gave me a scare." He messed up the angel's hair with his finger and smiled at him.

Castiel smiled back. "It's fine Dean. Sorry I gave you a scare too."
"Ahh it's alright." The hunter kept staring at the angel, examining all his features. Cas raised an eyebrow. "Dean?" He kept staring. "Uhhh Dean..?" The angel waved his tiny hands in front of the oldest Winchester's face.

Snapping out of it finally, Dean shook his head and blinked. "What? Did you say something Cas?"

"Oh no..I didn't say anything.." Cas pushed his fingers together and twiddled his thumbs nervously, those beautiful green eyes of Dean's etched into his mind.

"Well okay then. Let's go get some breakfast, eh?" Dean placed the angel on his shoulder and walked towards the bunker's kitchen.

Dean glanced over at Cas on the way to the kitchen and started laughing out of nowhere. "What's so funny?" Cas asked.

"Oh yaknow it's just the whole angel on the shoulder thing people believe in except for me it's real. I've got you." He once again ruffled Cas's patch of hair. "I swear you're just adorable."

Castiel rolled his eyes at the joke and shot him a glare, but couldn't help smiling at the complement Dean gave. "R-really?" He turned away sheepishly, blushing bright red. He hadn't been complimented like that before and it made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Dean was blushing now. "Yeah really. You were adorable before but now that you're tiny it somehow makes you even more adorable." Cas peeked out from his fingers covering his eyes. "Oh shush you're just saying that.." the Winchester laughed. "Haha well I'm actually not just saying that you're just so adorable and precious." The angel felt himself getting redder. The hunter was getting redder as well and neither spoke for a moment.

All of a sudden, Sam came down the hallway, startling both the angel and the hunter. "Whoa guys it's just me." Sam chuckled and hugged Dean, then gave Cas a pat on the head. "I made breakfast already."

"Already?" Dean asked with a contorted face. "It's literally just now 6 in the morning. Dude." The older brother blinked a few times. "How is it even humanly possible for you to get up fresh and ready to go before 6 A.M.?"

Sam just shrugged, his hair flipping up slightly.

Dean rubbed a hand across his stubbly chin. "Hoooo boy I just do not see how you do it Sammy." He had to smile a bit. "Well we're gonna go have your wonderful breakfast now." Giving Sam a pat on the back, he and Castiel continued their journey to the kitchen.

"Alright." Sam called after them. "I made pancakes I hope you like em'!"

Dean looked over at Cas and giggled. "Man I can't believe he actually made something not that healthy for once."

Cas's mouth turned up in a smile as he remembered all those countless tales Dean told him about Sam's salads and such. "Yes based on all those stories you've told me.. this is quite surprising."

Dean and Cas finally reached the kitchen and Dean looked around trying to spot the pancakes. "Hold on Cas." He placed the angel down on a table. "Don't go anywhere." Dean walked out of the kitchen and yelled down the hall. "Sam!! Sammy!!"

From Sam's bedroom there was a reply. "What?!"

"Where's the pancakes Sam?!"

"In the kitchen!"

"I don't see em!"

"Just keep looking!"

"Fine, bitch!!"

"Jerk!"

Dean went back into the kitchen and looked around some more. Sure enough he'd overlooked the pancakes. "Oh here they are." He turned to where he put Cas only to discover that he was gone. "Dammit Cas."

"Cas! Where the Hell did you go?!"

"Over here." He heard the small, gravelly voice and looked down. Cas was on the ground just walking about.
"Dammit Cas what did I tell you? Don't do that again!"

"I'm sorry Dean I just saw something shiny and I wanted to check it out." Only then did the hunter notice the small piece of tin foil the angel was holding.

Sighing, he picked Cas up. "It's alright. Sorry I yelled."

"It's okay Dean. I know you're just trying to keep me safe and I'm grateful for that. I can never repay you for this much care." He smiled up at Dean from the rough palm he was sitting in.

Dean smiled back. "Alright alright no chick flick moments. Let's eat these bad boys." The older Winchester smirked as he gestured to the plate of pancakes he was holding.

Cas nodded and they headed for the research table in the bunker's library. "Oh hey Kevin! Morning!" The prophet was just finishing his 5th cup of coffee. "Hey guys" he replied, still trying to wrap his head around the whole 'tiny Cas' thing Sam had told him about the previous day. Dean noticed that he seemed extremely worn out.

"Kev hey." Dean waved his hand in front of his face. "Kevin?"

He looked up. "Huh?" Dean sighed. "How long did you sleep last night?"

"Mmm like...3 hours... But it wasn't last night it was like 2 days ago..or something I dunno.."

"Kevin you need to sleep. You're almost out of juice and running on coffee ain't gonna help now c'mon." With Cas secured on his shoulder, Dean helped Kevin up and made him go to his bedroom. "Sleep child! Sleep!" Kevin nodded groggily.

Dean and Cas went back to the library and got their pancakes and damn they were good. "Damn Sammy these are some good pancakes!" Sam had already went out for his morning run though.

Dean's phone rang just as he was finishing his last pancake. He quickly picked it up and answered it, his mouth still half full. "Winchester accounting. How may I help you?" He asked, a few pancake pieces flying from his mouth.

"Dean?" Came a voice from the other end. It was Charlie.

"Hey Charlie!!"

"Happy day late birthday bitch!!" Charlie laughed on the other end. "I was originally gonna come over yesterday but uh there was a huge storm and I couldn't so I'm coming over today if that's alright!" Dean smiled. "Sure kid!! I'd love to see ya!"

Each time Dean spoke, poor Cas was trying to dodge the stray, and very slimy, pancake bits coming from his mouth. Unfortunately one hit him. "Oh god ew..." He gagged as he tried to wipe all the spit off of himself.

Dean glanced at Cas and couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" Charlie giggled.

"Oh kid you'll find out soon. We have a little surprise." Dean smirked.

"Okay you guys seeya in a bit then!"

~Time skip brought to you by Lucifer~

About an hour later, the bunker door creaked open. Dean figured it was Charlie so he quickly hid Cas. "Shhh just be quiet for a minute. She's gonna love you to death even more than when you were regular sized okay she really likes tiny stuff."

"Okay" Castiel went along with it and hid in Dean's jacket pocket. By this time, Sam was back and he had his gun ready just in case it wasn't Charlie. But it was.

Sure enough, the bunker door opened all the way to reveal the nerdy, red-headed, Woman of Letters.

"What's up bitches!!" She shouted from the top of the stairs. "Hey Charlie!" Sam exclaimed, lowering his gun. Dean carefully stood up, making sure he wasn't hurting Cas and approached her as she came down to their level.

"Awwhh c'mere kiddo." Dean's mouth curved into a smile as he pulled Charlie into a tight hug.

Sam stood and waited for them to come back over to the table before pulling Charlie into his own tight hug.

After glancing around for a moment, she asked, "So where's Cas and Kevin? Figured they'd be here."

"Oh well let's just say Kev is in a comatose state as of now. Last proper sleep he had? Bout 2 weeks ago. So yeah."

"Ahhh. But what about Cas? I'm surprised he's not here."

"Oh he's here alright. Remember that 'little surprise' I said I had to show you?"

"Yeah."

"Well." Dean slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the mini Cas.

"Hi Charlie!" The angel squeaked.

"Cas?! Woah!!" She grabbed him from Dean. "What happened? How'd you become so small?!"

"It's a long story...you sure you wanna know?"

"Hell yeah I wanna know!" She sat down in a nearby chair with the angel and listened to him intently as he told the story. She had begun to stroke his head about halfway through it which made him a bit spoiled. Every time she'd stop rubbing his head, he'd pause the story and he'd only resume if Charlie continued the gentle strokes.

By the end of the story, Charlie was just trying to process everything. "So your big brother Gabriel did this. And he's an archangel but he's the only archangel that can undo the spell? How's that possible?!"

Cas shrugged. "I like to think it's because Michael and Raphael are more focused on heaven's actual problems than all the stuff Gabe does. And Lucifer can't undo it because he lost the power to cast certain spells when he was thrown from heaven so.. that leaves Gabriel."

"Well that answer actually makes more sense than I thought it would." Charlie placed Castiel on her leg for a second as she ran her hands through her hair. "This whole thing is complicated why does hunting have to be so complicated? And it's even more amplified for us people of letters!!" She released a frustrated sigh.

Dean furrowed his brow. "Yep. I know what ya mean kid. Been there done that."

Sam glanced at the clock. It read: 11:15 P.M. They'd been talking for a while but Sam didn't realize it had been that long. "Man it's getting late. You wanna stay here tonight Charlie?"

"Sure! It seems like forever since I've seen you guys so we can bond more...and uh if you're busy with hunts this week and don't wanna bring the little one along..I'm always here if you need me." She winked at the hunters.

Dean was A-OK with that. "Sounds good to me. Sam?"

"Yeah sure whatever works."

Cas was just looking at them all. He cleared his throat. "I'm right here yaknow!"

"Yeah we know." Charlie giggled and patted his head.

The Winchesters got Charlie a proper place to sleep and everyone went to their rooms. It was already 11:47.

"Night everyone!!" Dean shouted down the hall as he and Castiel made their way to his room.

"Night!!" Sam and Charlie shouted back. He heard Kevin mumble "night.." as he passed by one of the spare rooms.

When Dean took Cas in his room he showed him something he made. "Lookie here Cas" Dean pointed to a little nest of cotton balls. "I made you your own little bed!"

Cas smiled. "Thank you Dean." He flew from the hunter's shoulder and landed in the cotton bed. "It's so soft. I love it!"

"Good." Dean leaned down and gave the small angel a kiss on the head before he laid down in his own bed. "Night Cas."

The angel blushed, quickly flying to the hunter and placing a kiss to his cheek, then flying back to his bed. "Night Dean."

-----------

Sam was still laying awake, wondering how in the world the four of them managed to talk for 16 straight hours. "That just doesn't seem right...wasn't it only like 7:00 A.M. when Charlie got here?" Sam whispered to himself.

Part of him thought it was just because they hadn't talked in such a while that 16 hours seemed like 20 minutes....and then part of him thought....

....maybe just maybe...

Gabriel felt guilty....

Maybe....

Gabriel cared about his little brother more than he was letting on.