Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, CherylB1964, kb18142, Keefer, robby1925, ImagineYourself64, XxZessxX and Alley of the Labyrinth for last chapter's reviews!

So this is the end. Thank you all for sticking with the story, for reading and for the kind words!

I have started a new story by the title of "Attack of the 46 inch Winchester" (it's not rated M, so get your minds out of the gutter ;-)) and I will start uploading chapters for it by Sunday I hope. So look out for it!

15

"I always thought that Dean was screwed in the head," Balthazar admitted, looking out of the window and completely ignoring how both Castiel and the blonde cat shot him murderous glares, "But now I see that both your cats are bonkers."

The blonde man had come by for his weekly visit just to find out that Sam apparently had made friends with a grey and golden messenger pigeon, a story his younger brother had told him with a completely straight face and with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. Apparently, Castiel thought that his new friend was good for the long-haired cat and that he seemed more content ever since the pigeon had appeared. Balthazar of course thought that all this was one more indication for something being in the air or the water around the place.

"Some might say that you are strange for speaking with a British accent, even though you come from an American family," Castiel shot back, stroking Dean's fur soothingly to keep the cat from jumping off his chair and scratching the other man. Alright, the blue-eyed man didn't honestly expect his short-haired cat to do anything alike, but petting him had a calming effect on him, as well.

"The difference is that people speaking with all kinds of accents are a thing, Cassy," Balthazar lectured, wiggling his index finger in front of his brother's nose until he had to retreat it very quickly when Dean decided to bat at it, "Cats making friends with pigeons aren't."

Besides, Balthazar hadn't simply chosen to speak in a different accent. He had spent years in England and had decided that he liked the way of speaking. It wasn't like he had sounded that much like his siblings before with Castiel and Rachel's overly formal way of talking, anyway.

"Obviously they are," the blue-eyed man shot back, looking out of the window and toward the bushes where Sam and Gabriel were resting in the shadows, "And I would have expected you of all people to be more open minded."

While Dean always liked to listen to Castiel berating the jerk he called his older brother he didn't exactly enjoy listening to his human defending Sammy's strange relationship with that damned bird. It wasn't that the blonde cat didn't like that his younger brother was making friends, it was more that particular friend he couldn't get on board with. No really, it was all about Gabriel being a pastry thieving son of a bitch – a pigeon bitch, whatever – and not about having to share Sam's attention with somebody else.

That Dean had also highly disapproved of that rat Ruby was just a coincidence and to be honest the golden pigeon might be a slight step up from her. Flying rats might be slightly better than actual rats, especially if the earthbound kind of rat tried to lure Sammy into doing her bidding with the offer of catnip! Luckily the younger cat had seen that Ruby wasn't good company and they had removed the beady-eyed disease spreader from their lives together.

Dean stretched and jumped off his chair gracefully to go and see if Benny was up already. His brother wasn't the only one who had a friend, after all.

"I am plenty open minded!" the short-haired cat heard Balthazar exclaim before he hurried up the stairs. He really didn't need to hear anything more about the stupid human's sexual escapades in this lifetime and that was where the conversation would inevitably lead from this point on. Dean already knew much more than he had ever wanted to really. The only thing about somebody else's sex life he needed to know was that neither Sam nor Cas had one, really! That at least was more reassuring than it was disturbing!

Castiel being a single and planning not to change anything about it meant that there was no danger that the human would stop paying attention to him… them. Besides, Dean had gotten used to sleeping in a bed and he didn't want to change anything about that habit!

As far as Sam was concerned, he was Dean's brother and thus a completely asexual being or so he liked to believe. At least, when the only possible partner was that despicable pigeon that made his brother happy and thus maybe wasn't completely despicable and only somewhat unbearable.

"Hey Benny, you up?" the blonde cat called as soon as he had squeezed through the opening to the attic. It was still early in the evening and the sun hadn't gone down so it was questionable, if the bat was awake already, but he could always try. Benny never took it badly, if he was woken up early, anyway.

"Broth'r, you're going to turn me diurnal in no time at this rate," the bat commented, yawning. He still got off the roof beam he had been holding on to and sat down next to the sunbeam Dean had made himself at home at.

"I don't hear you complaining," the cat smirked, getting comfortable. Cas was talking to his stupid brother, Sam was talking to his stupid pigeon, but Dean got to chat with his awesome bat-friend. Not to mention that, once Balthazar was gone, Castiel was basically all his – okay, like 70% his and 30% Sam's – again. There was no question who was the winner here!

"Biological programming be damned," Gabriel chirped, snuggling up to Sam's chest, "I'd miss you much more than I could ever miss sex!"

Of course, that he was content and happy as things were didn't mean that he'd stop thinking about ways they could bring their relationship on the next level. He might have underestimated how hard the lack of lips and external genitals on his part and the presence of a barbed penis on the cat's part would make coming up with something satisfying and completely safe for both of them. Oh well, cuddling was nice, either way. The long-haired cat was a hell of a cuddler, too.

"Thanks, birdie," Sam replied lazily, licking the side of the golden bird's head affectionately. He had gotten used to the very strange comments his partner – and yeah, at this point there was no use calling him anything else – loved to come up with every now and then. Actually, he had learned to take them for what they were. Strange compliments and even stranger random thoughts the pigeon came up with. Gabriel hardly ever aimed before he shot, so to say – unless it was about dirty cars or the cars of idjits, that was – and while he unfortunately often hit anyway, it wasn't his intention to hurt anyone. Okay, it wasn't his intention to hurt Sam, with others the long-haired cat couldn't be too sure at times.

"So, what about you?" the pigeon asked all of a sudden, looking up at the cat intently. He had decided that this was going to be a monogamous relationship, even if it might stay somewhat platonic, now he had to make sure that he and the Catsquatch were on the same page.

"Acting insecure doesn't suit you, Gabe," Sam pointed out in a joking tone before he realized how serious the bird seemed to be about his question, "Okay, but one stupid comment and I'm going to eat the next crumbs Cas gives us myself!"

Being a good host to the pigeon and a good human to the cat, Castiel often provided them with snacks of some sort and the long-haired cat was all too happy to let the pigeon have whatever he wanted, but threatening to change something about that was a very effective way to get Gabriel to consider his next steps.

"You can't miss what you don't know, right?" Sam asked after the bird had nodded his consent to the condition. Honestly, he didn't mind talking to Gabriel about all sorts of things anymore, but he didn't exactly want to be made fun of for being completely inexperienced. Dean had already covered that by mocking him mercilessly, anyway.

"Wait! Really?" the pigeon couldn't help replying. He was pretty sure that this didn't count as a stupid comment, anyway. He was simply making sure that he understood what his partner was telling him correctly. He was being an attentive significant other!

"Yeah," the cat confirmed with a sigh, "Jess and I… we were waiting for a good moment, you know?"

"Guess that didn't come," Gabriel commented in a small voice, "Sorry, Samsquatch."

One of the things the pigeon had learned and really tried to remember was that bringing up Sam's mate wasn't a good idea. It brought the cat down like nothing else. Not that that wasn't completely understandable. However, if he offered to talk voluntarily for once, Gabriel would listen attentively.

"She had plans to ease her family into getting used to not having her around. She wanted to move in with us and Cas," Sam went on quietly, "Then one evening we were talking about her staying the night just to see, but she wasn't sure and I told her to go back home 'cause she shouldn't do things for me that didn't feel completely right. I never saw her again…"

There were moments in life when finding the right things to say was just impossible, but luckily those were often the moments when saying nothing was the better option, anyway. Instead Gabriel snuggled up to Sam as much as possible and rubbed his head against the cat's neck and cheek affectionately, cuddling him for a long time in complete silence to make him feel better again.

It was hard to say which one of them was more surprised when they realized that it felt quite nice when the pigeon rubbed the back of his beak against the cat's nose just right. He had done it more by accident, not taking enough care to keep his beak away from all the soft parts of his partner, the new realization served as a good distraction from their earlier topic, however.

"That was nice," Sam whispered nearly in wonder after Gabriel had recreated the action precisely just to make sure that it really worked for both of them.

"I guess we just figured out how to kiss," the pigeon stated in a somewhat smug tone, "See? Told you we'd find a way for everything!"

Every journey had to start with the first steps and they were good at travelling together, so Gabriel had never been too worried that things wouldn't work out for them.

"You might just turn me into a believer," Sam chuckled, hugging the pigeon close to his chest with his paws. Then again, what had he expected getting involved with an archangel pigeon?

Chances were that putting a pigeon among cats usually ended tragically for the bird, but they both were positive that in their case they had scored the jackpot with a happy end.