"I wish I was back in a TV show," Dean said, his hand on the car door.

"Yeah," said Sam. "Me too."

"You comin' with us, Cas?" Dean asked, before turning around and seeing no one there. "Where'd he go? He was right behind us."

Castiel had gone back inside the warehouse, where Gabriel, dripping wet in the shower from the sprinklers, was trying in vain to snap his fingers.

"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed. He looked up and saw Cas. "Hey, Cassie. Little help here?"

For a moment, Cas almost turned and left his brother there. It would have served him right for what he had done. But in the end, compassion prevailed, and he raised a hand. The flow of water dwindled to a trickle and then stopped.

"Thanks, bro," Gabe said.

Cas put a hand to the archangel's head and he was suddenly completely dry. "Are you going to leave now? Again?"

"Yeah, thought you might still be mad, babe."

"You left me! Without even saying goodbye! I came back and you were just gone—no note, no explanation, nothing! I thought you were dead! Everyone thought you were dead!"

"Yeah, about that . . . I wanted to say goodbye. I wanted to see you one last time, but I knew that if I did . . . if I did, I would never be able to leave you. I love you, kiddo. Always have, always will."

"Then why did you hurt my friends?"

Gabriel tried to look innocent. "I didn't know they were your friends! And by the way, they've killed me about three times."

"You let them think you were dead. They didn't know what you were."

"Took them long enough to figure it out! I thought I'd have to go the whole fluffy-wings-and-halo route to pound it into their thick heads. Between the two of them, they don't have half a brain."

Cas felt rage rising within him, and it took all he could do to keep it contained. "They're smart enough not to get involved in our private family squabble."

"They're just postponing the inevitable. It's gonna happen. You know it, I know it, they know it . . . it's a done deal. With or without them. They might as well make it easy on themselves and play along."

"They don't want to."

Gabe looked around the dingy, dreary, deserted warehouse. "Wanna get out of here?" he asked.

"And go where?"

Gabe grinned. "I know the perfect place! Take my hand, Cassie. Just like the old days."

"I am not a toddler anymore," Castiel protested, but he took his brother's hand anyway.

Gabe snapped the fingers of his free hand, and in the blink of an eye, the warehouse was gone, replaced by . . . the seaside?

"Where are we?" Cas asked.

Gabe, who was now wearing a striped jacket and straw boater, smiled. "Coney Island," he said. "Nineteen twenty . . . ish. One of my favorite places to go and just relax. Want some cotton candy? It's really good here."

"Cotton . . . candy?" Cas cocked his head to the side in that adorable way he did when he was perplexed.

"Spun sugar on a stick! The twentieth century has all the best food! C'mon!"

They made their way to a cart selling the miraculous confection, and Gabe ordered two. The man handed him two cones full of a fluffy pink substance that didn't look to Cas like food at all. In return, Gabe handed over two small silver coins.

"Just let it melt on your tongue," Gabe said, demonstrating. "Best thing ever!"

Cas wasn't so sure. He licked at the fibrous treat and didn't really like the taste of it. "I don't think so."

"Don't want it? I'll have it."

"Gabriel, why are we here?"

"I thought we could use some alone time. Don't worry, I'll bring you right back to the moment we left. Bert and Ernie won't even know you're gone."

"Who are Bert and Ernie?"

Gabe shook his head. "What a deprived childhood you had. Oh, wait—not really. You got to see the beginning of everything. Remember this?"

He snapped his fingers, and they disappeared.

It wasn't a pretty beach. There was no gleaming white sand, no seashells to collect. There was only a place where the churning sea met the volcanic land, and at the water's edge, a toddler angel with black hair and black fluffy wings splashed in the waves.

"Castiel!" his oldest brother called. "Come here!"

Cas ignored him and kept playing in the water.

"Cassie!" Gabe called him.

The grownup Gabriel watched this scene with some amazement. "I can't believe I was ever that little," he said. "I remember you being that little, but not me."

"You were a child," said Cas, "taking care of a child."

The child in question raised his head and looked up. For a moment, he seemed to be looking directly at his adult counterpart. But that was impossible. An adult angel could have sensed the presence of another, but not one who was the equivalent of a human two-year-old.

"Castiel, come here now!" Michael called again.

The child came running, taking young Gabriel's hand.

"Now watch. You don't want to miss this."

"Here it comes," adult Gabe said. "Remember this?"

"I remember."

All of a sudden, a dark shape heaved itself out of the sea onto the shore. It lay there gasping for a few seconds, and then slowly wriggled forward.

"Bam!" Gabe slammed his fist into his palm.

Little Castiel was watching with his jaw hanging open. "The fishie jumped outta the water!" he squealed. "Mikey, the fishie jumped outta the water!"

"Yes, I saw him."

Gabe was laughing. "Oh my Dad, your face! Absolutely priceless!"

The child broke free of his brother's grip and started to run towards the struggling fish, but Michael held him back. "No, no, no! Don't step on that fish, Castiel. Big plans for that fish."

"I pet the fishie?"

"No, you can't pet him. Just stay away."

Lucifer came plodding over through the wet sand. "I can't find any trilobites," he said.

"That's because there aren't any," said Michael. "They're extinct now."

"You mean you—why didn't you tell me?"

"I had to keep you busy somehow."

Luci sighed and shook his head. "Hey, what's that thing?"

"Fishie jumped outta the water!" Cas proclaimed.

"Can I poke it with a stick?"

"No!" Mike and Gabe said.

"No touch the fishie," Cas contributed.

"That fish," Michael explained, "is the most important fish that ever lived. Eons from now, we will look back on this as the moment when everything changed."

"Yeah, whatever." Lucifer picked up a rock and threw it. It landed with a splash in the sea.

The adult Cas watched this with longing, remembering the days when everything was so simple, and his brothers looked out for him instead of fighting amongst themselves. "Why did you bring me here, Gabriel?"

Gabe looked down at the fish, crawling across the wet sand for the first time. "I always admired that little guy. He took a chance. He took the leap of faith into the unknown. Just like you did."

"I did? When?"

"When you decided to throw your lot in with the Winchesters. You had to know you were taking a big risk, defying Heaven. How's it working out for you so far?"

Cas turned away and said nothing.

"Well, don't feel so bad. You have to take the risk to change the world. Where do you think we'd be right now if that little fish hadn't decided to go see what it was like on land?"

"I see your point."

"You be the fishie, Cas. Take the risk. Make that leap of faith. Because in the end, it's worth it. I have always had faith in you. I knew from the very first time I saw you that you were destined for something special. Well, this is it, bro. Go out there and make me proud."

He reached out and gave his brother a hug. Cas was surprised at first, but then returned the gesture. It felt like goodbye. Maybe it was.

"Now take me back, please," he said.

"Oh, we never left." Gabe snapped his fingers, and the warehouse reappeared around them. "Your friends are waiting for you. Do me a favor? Don't let them boss you around too much. You do what your heart tells you."

"I will."

"See you around, bro." Gabe smiled and then vanished.

Cas stared at the damp scorch mark on the floor where the circle of holy oil had burned, just moments ago. He thought about cotton candy and trilobites and promises made and broken. He wondered what Rabbi Yeshua would have thought about all this.

Then he heard Dean calling him and he stepped outside.

"There you are! Where'd you go?"

"Inside," Cas said, trying to keep his tone and his face neutral. "I had to check on something."

"You comin' with us, or what?"

There was no hesitation at all as he replied, "I am with you. Always. Until the end of the world."

He opened the back door of the Impala, and there was something on the seat. He reached over and picked it up. It was his animal blanket, a bit faded (and after billions of years, it was a miracle that it was still intact at all) but still here.

There was a square of paper sitting on top of it. He didn't have to read the signature to know who it was from.

Hey kiddo,

Thought you might need this. Always remember who you are. See you again soon.

Forever my baby.

Love,

G.

"What's that?" Sam asked, looking over his shoulder into the back seat.

"Nothing." Cas folded up the note and the blanket and stuffed them into a pocket dimension where he would always have them.

The black Impala drove on, down the road that never seemed to end.