AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I was reading "Paper Wings" by teaandtumblr over on AO3. That fic starts with the lines "If it had been Castiel, Sam was confident that Gabriel would be dead right now. But even though it was Balthazar, it was a close thing." and that got me thinking "What if it WAS Cas that got hurt instead of Balthazar?" I'm all for Cas whumpage and the way that first line was phrased made me think that Cas getting hurt would make Dean REALLY angry and I kinda wanted to see that, so... This was born!

Dean had always been protective.

From the time he was four, it was always "Watch out for Sammy", "keep Sammy safe", "don't let Sammy find out about monsters." That instinct concerning Sam had been so ingrained into him that it followed Dean into adulthood. Even if Sam was a grown man and could, logically, defend himself, nine times out of ten, Dean's decisions were based on what was best for Sam.

That protective instinct had shifted to Castiel when it became clear the angel wasn't such a dick after all and had slowly become a friend, part of Dean's family, and therefore, needed to be protected. Dean knew Castiel was an angel and could protect himself in a fight but he was so much like a child in other ways – clueless about human customs and how to act in certain situations – that Dean had found himself looking after the angel and teaching him.

And then those damn witches happened.

Now, Castiel really was a child – along with Gabriel and Balthazar – and having the angel actually be (mostly) childlike magnified that protective side in Dean. More so than when Sam was a child and his little brother often pointed out to him that he was going to smother the kid if he didn't back off a little bit.

Unfortunately, this need to keep Castiel safe led to some bouts of irrational anger when he feared the littlest angel was in danger of some kind. And, unfortunately for the older angels, this is exactly what happened one afternoon when Castiel really did get injured.

The day had gone just as most days usually went – get the angels up, breakfast, then the adults went their separate ways for a little while, usually taking an angel or two with them. Castiel usually followed Dean out to the Impala, dragging his trench coat with him, while the other two angels stayed inside with Sam and Bobby. Then they'd reconvene for lunch then nap time for the angels. Getting them to sleep for an hour or two usually took a half an hour to accomplish because they always refused to nap but they always fell asleep in their nest anyway.

It was after their nap that all Hell broke loose.

Gabriel and Balthazar were the first two to get up, full of more energy than they'd gone to sleep with. They raced through the second floor to the stairs and down to find the adults while a still sleepy Castiel shuffled along behind them, one hand gripping an edge of his coat and the other fisting at an eye. When the eldest angels realized their littlest brother wasn't right behind them, they'd ran back upstairs to get him just as he reached the top of the stairs.

Balthazar decided to walk down with him while Gabriel waited at the top, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet, impatient for them to clear the stairs so he could run back down. They'd only taken a few steps before he'd decided he wasn't waiting and ran down past them between Castiel and the railing. There wasn't enough room for all three of them to share one step so when Gabriel shoved past Castiel, the smaller angel lost his balance and tumbled down the rest of the way to the floor, landing at the foot of the stairs, something making a sickening crack.

Then he'd started screaming. Most of the sound was like any other hurt child crying in pain but some of his angelic voice bled through, cracking nearby glass and making all three hunters cover their ears as they ran from the kitchen to see what had happened.

When Dean saw the two older angels standing in the middle of the stairs and Castiel crying at the bottom, his body tensed with restrained anger and his eyes became hard as he glared at the angels on the stairs whose faces paled at the clear anger on Dean's face.

Sam, seeing the absolute fury directed at the two, stepped in between Dean and his view of them, placing his hands squarely in the center of Dean's chest.

"Dean," he snapped. "Don't do anything stupid. Cas needs you."

That last sentence seemed to cool some of Dean's anger and he shook himself to clear his head then carefully pushed past Sam to kneel beside Cas, glaring up at the two angels still frozen in fear on the stairs.

"Up. Stairs," he growled, watching them scurry and trip over themselves to obey. Turning attention to finally focus on Castiel, he missed how Sam directed Bobby to follow the other two upstairs to talk to them and see if they'd explain what happened.

As soon as Dean knelt beside Castiel, the little angel scrambled to cling to the hunter's chest, sobbing and gasping for breath, face flushed and tears creating twin rivulets down his cheeks. As he pushed himself to his feet to burrow into the soft fabric of Dean's shirt, he keened and jerked his left foot up off the floor, losing his balance and tipping forward into Dean's chest, sobs intensifying.

"Dean!" he keened, turning wide, wet blue eyes up toward the hunter in a plea to make it better.

Dean wrapped an arm around Castiel's waist to steady him while the other hand reached down to the foot Castiel wouldn't let touch the floor. Before he could actually touch him, Castiel whined and jerked his foot away to keep Dean from touching him.

"Hurts," he whimpered. "Don't touch."

"I know it hurts, buddy," Dean murmured soothingly, rubbing the hand at his waist in circles against his back. "That's why you gotta let me look at it so we can fix it."

Castiel whined in frustration but carefully lowered his foot back down to hover above the floor where it had been before Dean tried touching it. This time, he only whimpered as Dean's fingers brushed the skin there as he carefully pushed up the leg of his little sweatpants to get a good look. The usually pale flesh of Castiel's ankle now sported faint bruising that would likely darken as time passed. As Dean lightly brushed his fingertips across the swollen area to feel for any breaks, Castiel whimpered and flinched, hiding his face into Dean's shirt and sniffling.

"I know it hurts," Dean murmured into the crown of Castiel's head, pressing a kiss there without thinking. "Can you try to rotate it for me? I need to see how much you can move it."

Castiel whimpered but did as he was asked, attempting to move his foot in a circle. He could point his toes straight but couldn't move his foot very far to either side before freezing with a whine.

"Okay. Okay," Dean soothed, rubbing his hand up and down Castiel's spine more firmly in an attempt to calm him. "You did good, buddy."

"Looks like a sprain," Sam murmured from where he'd been stood watching.

Dean nodded and carefully shifted Castiel so he could hook an arm behind his knees, lifting the angel in a cradle hold. Castiel sniffled and buried his face into Dean's shirt, one hand fisting the fabric tightly. "Looks like. We got anything to wrap it with?"

Sam nodded and disappeared to find a gauze wrap while Dean took Castiel to the couch, gently laying him down. He very gently pushed Castiel's pant leg up, trying not to brush the tender ankle as he did. Castiel whined slightly when he accidentally did brush the skin there, his hand reaching up to curl into Dean's sleeve as he sniffled.

Sam returned with the med kit and a roll of wrap. Dean took the wrap and, as gently as he could, began to snugly wrap it around Castiel's ankle. The angel sniffled and his breath hitched a few times but he remained mostly calm. While Dean wrapped Castiel's ankle, Sam disappeared into the kitchen. Dean heard him opening a cabinet then heard the seal of the freezer unstick as the door was opened followed by the cracking of an ice cube tray when it's twisted to loosen the ice.

"You're doing so good, buddy," Dean praised the angel, offering Castiel a small smile. "Almost done."

Once it was wrapped, he shifted where he knelt to brush Castiel's hair back then used a thumb to brush away some of the tears on his face. Sam returned with a dishcloth filled with ice and tied off at the top with a rubber band and a second dishtowel.

"It's the best we got," he said, passing the items to Dean. "We don't have any painkillers suitable for a child and I'm not even sure any kind of painkiller would work on an angel, mostly powered down or not."

Dean nodded his understanding and thanks then covered Castiel's wrapped ankle with the towel before carefully arranging the makeshift ice pack so it would stay atop his ankle without slipping to either side. As the cool came into contact with his ankle, Castiel's breath hitched a few times but the tension that had set into his little body since the injury melted away and he sighed.

"You need to elevate it, too, Dean," Sam gently instructed, offering him a throw pillow before moving away again.

Dean didn't pay attention to whatever Sam was doing this time as he gently slipped the pillow under Castiel's foot and rearranged the ice pack. When Sam returned, Dean saw Castiel's coat in his hands. Castiel, seeing Sam returning with his coat, reached both hands up for it, making grabbing motions with both hands that Dean highly suspected were unconscious gestures. Sam chuckled and carefully draped it over the angel, arranging the bottom so it covered his uninjured foot and not the other. Castiel sighed as he burrowed down into his coat, one hand poking out the top to rub at his eyes.

"You good now, Cas?" Sam asked gently, brushing the angel's hair back before straightening.

Castiel nodded and sniffled slightly but watched the two with bright, alert eyes.

"Why don't you put a movie on for him," Dean suggested, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm going to go talk to Thing One and Thing Two."

Sam snorted as he moved to the TV to find a Disney movie that would keep Castiel's attention away from his sore ankle. "That only works if there are only two. We have three angels."

"Yeah, well, those two caused this so Cas doesn't count this time," Dean muttered, ignoring Sam's chuckling as he climbed the stairs.

At the top, he heard muffled voices coming from Bobby's room and followed the sound. The door was ajar and when he pushed it fully open, he saw the two angels sat at the head of the bed and Bobby sitting sideways at the foot. Whatever he'd been saying to the boys cut off as Dean stepped into the room and he turned to glance at the Winchester.

"How's Cas?" he asked.

Dean came to stand at the foot of the bed beside where Bobby sat and settled his feet into a wide stance, crossing his arms and aiming cold eyes on the two angels. "He's fine," he growled, watching as the two ducked their heads to avoid Dean's eyes but he kept going, watching as the two became more uncomfortable as he explained. "He sprained his ankle. Thank God it ain't broken. We got it wrapped and got an ice pack on it. Sam's got him set up watching a movie."

Bobby nodded and pushed himself to his feet. "Well, I'll let you deal with these two" –Dean didn't miss the way the angels flinched when Bobby said he was leaving – "and go see if I can finish some research." He clapped Dean on the shoulder and leaned in to speak to him in a lowered voice. "Go easy on 'em, Dean. They may not be regular kids but they are just kids right now."

Dean only nodded without taking his eyes away from the angles on the bed and waited until he heard the door click shut before clearing his throat and speaking. "You two wanna tell me what the hell happened now?"

Neither angel spoke but both fidgeted, shifting where they sat.

"Well?" Dean growled in a warning tone. When neither spoke, he dropped his arms away from his chest to lift one in a closed fist beside his face. He felt slightly bad when he saw the tiniest flinch roll through both of them and made a mental note to remind them later that he would never have hit them. "Alright, I'm going to count to five. If neither of you speaks up by the time I get to five, you'll both be sent to your nest for the rest of the evening. And I don't pull that half, three-quarters bullshit when I get to four so you better decide if you're gonna speak up. One." He lifted his index finger and watched as the angels shifted again, still staring down. "Two." He lifted his middle finger; the angels shifted closer to each other. "Three." He lifted his ring finger; the angels both wrapped their wings around themselves and curled their knees to their chests as if to make themselves smaller. "Four." He lifted his pinkie, leaving just his thumb bent against his palm; the angels tensed and he could swear he saw Gabriel trembling.

Just as he was opening his mouth to declare five and open his thumb, Gabriel broke.

"I did it!" he shouted, leaping to his feet on the bed, momentarily losing his balance as his wings fluttered to keep him steady. "I pushed Cas but it was an accident, I swear!" He aimed wide, wet eyes at Dean, wings flapping fore steadily. Dean guessed it was more in agitation than to keep balance at this point. "He and Balthazar were moving so slowly and I just wanted to go downstairs and play and I thought I could get by but we couldn't all fit and Cas lost his balance and fell and I didn't mean to, Dean, I swear, I didn't mean to make Cas fall and get hurt!" he whined, tears now falling down his cheeks. He plonked down onto his backside and sobbed a few times, wings falling limp at his back.

Dean, having been shocked by the outburst, still stood with his hand up by his head, four fingers up, and mouth open, ready to say five. As Gabriel dissolved into sobs, he blew out the breath he'd taken and dropped his hand then sat at the foot of the bed the way Bobby had been a few minutes before.

"Is that what happened?" he asked softly, looking at Balthazar.

Balthazar nodded without looking at Dean. "It really was an accident," he said quietly. "We didn't mean for Cassie to get hurt."

Dean sighed and bowed his head, counting to ten in his head, before lifting his gaze back to Gabriel and reaching an arm out. "Gabe, c'mere."

Gabriel lifted surprised eyes up toward Dean, not moving from his place beside Balthazar. When Dean gave him a tiny smile and crooked his fingers, Gabriel sobbed and crawled across the bed, plopping back onto his backside at Dean's side.

Dean wrapped his arm around the little archangel and carefully drew him into his side. "I'm not going to punish you, Gabriel," he said. "This time," he added when Gabriel's eyes widened in surprise. "I know you'd never let Cas get hurt" – Gabriel adamantly shook his head to agree with that but said nothing – "and from the sounds of it, it really was an accident when Cas fell. But you need to be more careful, understand? Or, next time, I will punish you."

Gabriel nodded eagerly and sniffled, rubbing at his wet eyes before aiming them at Dean again. "I'm sorry, Dean."

"It's not me you need to apologize to," Dean said gently, releasing Gabriel and standing. "Come on, you two."

The two angels scrambled to get off the bed and hurried out of Bobby's room toward the stairs. As they neared, Dean right behind them, they slowed and glanced at each other then at Dean. Then each of them grasped at the railing at their sides and slowly descended the stairs side-by-side. Dean watched them go then started down after them when they'd made it halfway down.

As they stepped off the last step, they froze, eyes locking onto the couch where Castiel still laid under his coat, injured ankle still poking out with an ice pack over it. He sniffled now and then and the collar of his coat had found its way into his mouth, one hand holding it there and rubbing part of it against his cheek while the other laid against the pillow by his face, occasionally twitching to his face to wipe at his eyes before resting back on the pillow.

"Go on," Dean whispered, giving them both a nudge. They stumbled forward one step then stood in place for a second to glance back at him. When he gave them an encouraging smile, they slowly crossed to the couch.

Castiel, thoroughly distracted by his movie, didn't notice their presence until they stood in front of the couch, Balthazar by his feet and Gabriel behind Balthazar, too afraid to get any closer.

"Cassie?" Balthazar quietly called.

The littlest angel's eyes flicked toward his brothers and he sniffled slightly, rubbing at his eye.

Dean moved around them to check on the ice pack, making it seem as though he wasn't paying attention to their conversation while he was really listening to every word.

"We're really sorry," Balthazar said then stepped closer to Castiel's head so Gabriel wasn't hiding behind him anymore.

"I really am sorry, Cas," Gabriel whispered, sniffling slightly but no tears fell this time. "I was in such a hurry to get downstairs to play and I didn't mean for you to fall but that's no excuse and I'm so sorry." He huffed and his wings twitched in agitation. "I wish my powers weren't locked down in this tiny body so I could fix it," he whispered, eyeing the ankle Dean was gently tucking under Castiel's coat blanket, ice pack in his other hand to go back into the freezer for later.

Castiel sniffled and released his coat's collar from where he'd been chewing on it to mumble, "I forgive you, Gabe."

"Really?" Gabriel asked, taking a cautious step closer.

Castiel nodded. "It was an accident and Dean made it better."

Gabriel nodded and finally stepped fully up to the couch, leaning down to plant a small kiss to Castiel's cheek in apology. "Don't ever tell any of the other angels I did that," he muttered then shot Balthazar a glare when the other angel snickered but all anger faded when he heard Castiel giggling.

"Okay," the dark haired angel said.

Gabriel looked back at him then shifted from foot to foot, looking around the room before his eyes flicked back to Castiel again then up to Dean and back.

Dean, sensing the uneasiness that came with inaction when a loved one was sick or injured, took pity on the small angel and held his hand out to him. "C'mon, Gabe, let's go put this ice pack away and get some juice for everybody."

Gabriel, grateful for the distraction, nodded eagerly and grasped Dean's hand, following the hunter into the kitchen.

Balthazar watched them go then turned back to Castiel who had returned his attention to his movie. The older angel glanced at the couch and where Castiel's foot was propped on a pillow then carefully climbed up on the other end. That left the floor for Gabriel but he knew their oldest brother would want to sit closer to Castiel so he'd gladly take the floor to be close without hurting him.

Castiel flicked his eyes away from the movie to watch his brother settle then glanced at Sam and Bobby at the desk going over a large tome then toward the kitchen where he could hear Dean and Gabriel getting into the fridge for juices and talking low. His attention returned back to his movie, tugging his coat back up toward his shoulders but he didn't put it back into his mouth.

The dull ache in his ankle was all but forgotten.