A/N: Just wanted to say a brief but very heartfelt thank you to everyone who has followed and/or favourited this fic. It really does mean a lot; particularly now when it is being neglected in favour of the new baby (my Sabriel BB fic). I still love this lots, and will be returning to it properly as soon as the baby leaves home in early February 2016.

Things… weren't good. Even if he hadn't seen Gabriel disappear so quickly she didn't even take the time to leave Ellie behind, Dean would have known things weren't good. There was something about the air, the way it crackled as if it was full of lightning; the way it was thick and potent and ominous, just like the clouds hanging overhead. Now that it was happening again, Dean remembered this day from last time; remembered thinking of Cas that day, but he hadn't want to bother him in his important new position. What would have happened if he had? Might the whole thing have been averted?

The weather hadn't quite seemed so freaksome back then, but Dean put that down to there being more archangels involved this time; hopefully it was Raphael's ass being kicked rather than Cas' this time, but Dean suspected that it wasn't going to be that simple. He knew, deep down, that the battle lines were being drawn in Heaven for a second (third?) time, that Cas and Gabriel were going to have to fight for their lives and for free will.

Dammit, this was not supposed to happen.

Dean growled in frustration and kicked the balustrade that surrounded Bobby's porch. The elderly wood cracked and splintered, drawing another curse from him. Still, at least needing to repair Bobby's porch gave Dean something to do other than mope about whatever was going on in Heaven, because it wasn't like he could do anything about that.

Sam poked his head out while Dean was measuring up for a new piece of wood.

"Did it do something to offend you?" he asked, looking more cheerful than anyone had any right to be. But he came bearing coffee, which just about got him forgiven for his sunny mood.

Dean shrugged and took a gulp of the unfeasibly strong brew of hunters. Sam would know exactly what had happened, because he knew Dean. It also wasn't the first time this had happened: Dean still knew the dimensions of Pastor Jim's balusters by heart, he had replaced so many of them.

"Man, it feels bad out here," Sam said, stepping further out onto the porch and rubbing his arms as if to dissipate the crackling feeling that crawled across his skin. The wind was just starting to pick up, and maybe they would have been able to convince themselves that it was just a summer storm coming in, except that they both knew better.

"Yeah." Dean pencilled marks onto a decent-looking plank of wood Bobby had had lying around and tried not to think about what Sam was saying. There were better things to do than think about what Sam was trying to talk about, like repairing the damage he had done to the porch while thinking about what Sam was trying to talk about.

"Any… uh…" Sam shuffled about, then sat down on the steps and tried to make himself look as small as possible, hunched over his coffee cup. "Any insight on how this plays out?"

Dean shot him a look and turned back to the wood, making sure his measurements were perfect before he committed to cutting.

"Come on, Dean. You must know something."

Dean set everything down very deliberately. "You want to know what happened last time? It dragged on over a year. Cas got into some really shady crap just to keep one step ahead of Raphael. Really, really shady. He killed Raphael, but lost himself in the process and tried to take you with him. Happy?"

"Dean, I…"

Sam had that confused, sympathetic look and Dean couldn't stand it. "I'm going out," he announced shortly, pulling the car keys from his pocket.

.oOo.

He stopped the car only a few miles down the road, too annoyed with himself to carry on. He hated that Sam could push him into things like that, into revealing secrets he was trying so hard to keep from everyone. He hated this feeling of complete helplessness, because Cas was in danger up in Heaven, because there could very well be a battle raging up there and Cas would be right on the front lines, because that's who he was. Archangel he might be, but he would never hide behind the lines just because of his rank: he would be fighting alongside those his brothers and sisters who also believed in free will, forced into fighting the ones who didn't, who preferred the status quo.

"Hey, Cas." It helped to say the words aloud, even if he knew Cas didn't need them in order to hear a prayer. "I don't want to distract you or anything, but… stay safe, yeah? And kick his ass."

As he watched the skies, there seemed to be a break in the cloud; just enough to let a little sun through to brighten up Dean's day. For a fanciful moment, he thought it might be Cas looking down at him. But just as quickly, there was an almighty flash of lightning and the clouds turned black, the little hole closing up. Within seconds, the rain was hammering down, bouncing off the road. Dean knew he didn't want to be caught out in this for too long and, flicking on the wipers, turned the car around and headed back.

.oOo.

Sam had made a valiant start on the baluster, and had obviously cleared away the tools when the monsoon had started. Dean shook his head ruefully: Sam had gone from being an irritating pain in his behind to treasured little brother in under an hour. And Dean would never hate him for that ability; never take a gesture like that for granted again, because Dean knew how bad things could have been with Sam. RoboSam probably would have pushed Dean for the info about the civil war, but he wouldn't have thought to bring coffee out with him, and he certainly wouldn't have tried to clean up Dean's mess. And crazy Sam might have thought about doing it, but probably would have ended up having an argument with Lucifer instead.

Yeah, Sammy – sane Sammy – was awesome, even if he was annoying as all fuck sometimes.

.oOo.

The storm raged all night, and half the next day, before the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started. Bobby demanded that Sam and Dean make themselves useful and check the roof for loose shingles while he finished off the porch.

It was kind of peaceful up on the still-damp roof, checking carefully to make sure that Bobby wasn't going to get his prize collection of plaid rained on like he had about ten years back when a series of February storms had struck when they had all been away on hunts. There was a singular purpose to the task that took his mind off worrying about whether or not Cas was still okay, whether Ellie was okay. And, fine, he kind of cared whether or not Gabriel was all right too.

As it turned out, there was a whole patch of shingles that had started to lift, and would leak if the rain got in the wrong way. By the time they finished nailing them down, both Sam and Dean were tired and hungry. Bobby provided them with better food than he normally did – fairly standard for when they did some work around the house, because he might be surly but he wasn't ungrateful – and they were both asleep the instant they collapsed into their beds.

.oOo.

"Hey, Cas."

Tonight's dreamscape wasn't anything fancy; Cas just climbed into bed with him and curled into his side. The only thing that gave it away as a dream was that the room was much fresher – like it had been twenty years ago, when Dean first slept there.

"You okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

He held Cas close, because that was what Cas seemed to want. And it wasn't as if it was a hardship for him.

"I am unharmed," Cas said slowly, and Dean was sure he only spoke to stop Dean from worrying. "But too many of my brothers were injured. Or…"

Dean pressed a kiss to the top of Cas' head. Cas responded desperately, lifting his head and pulling Dean into an urgent, demanding kiss, all teeth and tongue and absolutely no finesse whatsoever. Dean held Cas firmly, reassuring him that he wasn't going anywhere, and tried to slow things down a little. Not that he wasn't an advocate of fucking away his grief, but that was him and this was Cas. If Cas truly wanted that, then Dean would be there for him, but he was pretty sure that it wasn't really about physicality for Cas: it was about the soul-touching thing.

Eventually, Cas responded to Dean's calm, the frantic edge fading. He slumped onto Dean's chest, tucking his head under Dean's chin kind of like Sam used to do as a little kid. Kind of like Lisa would do on occasion, when she wanted comforting.

"In Heaven, I had a friend," Cas said into the night. "He spoke up for me when no-one else did. He never seemed to care very much that I was odd. He died in the battle today."

Something about that seemed familiar to Dean. Where had he heard that before? In some grand house; another asshole angel, but at least he was on Cas' side.

"Balthazar?"

Cas looked up suddenly, his eyes huge. "You know of him?"

Dean chuckled and kissed the end of Cas' nose. "Yeah. And he's not dead. Or, at least, he didn't die last time: he faked it so he could skip town with a bunch of weapons."

Cas went still and very angel-like. "Dean, are you certain?" Cas' voice was very careful, like he didn't want to get his hopes up.

"Don't even get me started on what that asshat did to us. I swear he was taking tips from Gabriel."

"That certainly sounds like Balthazar," Cas said carefully. "Gabriel, Dean says that Balthazar… Wait, what weapons?"

Dean had been wondering when Cas would clue into that one. What he hadn't expected was the second archangel at the foot of their bed, sat like he belonged there.

"Um… Staff of Moses was the only one I saw," Dean admitted. "Think you said something about him having some crystal from Sodom. Whole bunch of Biblical shit."

"And Balthazar has stolen these weapons?"

Dean nodded, and Gabriel laughed gleefuly.

"That's my boy."

"Knew he was one of yours," Dean said to him. "He had you written all over him. How's Ellie?"

Gabriel glanced to his left, and suddenly Ellie was sat there too, her legs slung over the edge the opposite way from Gabriel so that they leaned against each other; as together in the dream world as they were in reality.

"Hey, Dean. It's been… different. Shitty. But I'm okay. You?"

"So, skinny on Balthazar?" Gabriel interrupted impatiently before Dean could respond. "You know where he's holed up?"

Dean thought on that for a moment. "We found him in Easter, Pennsylvania, but that was a year from now. I don't know if he's there right now."

"It seems as good a place as any to begin a search for him, once we are able," Cas said. "When we have enough of a reprieve to risk leaving Heaven."

Dean tightened his hold on Cas just a little, to get his attention. "You want me and Sam to go check it out?"

Cas wanted to say yes, Dean knew, because he desperately wanted to know if his friend was alive. But that wasn't what came out of his mouth:

"Perhaps that might not be the best idea: Balthazar does not find humanity detestable as many of our siblings do, but neither is he particularly fond of you."

Dean snorted, remembering Balthazar's penchant for the high life. "Oh, he will be. I'll hang fire for a week or so, let him get his feet under the table, stash those weapons nice and safe, let him discover the joys of champagne and caviar and group sex."

Gabriel chortled merrily, but Cas looked scandalised.

"Sounds like something I want to be in on," Gabriel announced.

"You can find a different vessel," Ellie said firmly. "You are not using me to sleep your way across the planet."

He rolled his eyes. "Prude. What the…?!"

He and Ellie blinked out of the dream as swiftly as they had appeared. Cas sighed and pressed a very quick kiss to Dean's jawline.

"Stay safe," Dean said. Cas nodded once and disappeared too, leaving Dean wide awake in a crummier version of the same room and the same bed.

"Dammit," he said softly into the darkness before closing his eyes and trying to get some actual rest. It was a bit more elusive now that he was positive that the guys upstairs were in danger once more.

He scrubbed the sleep from his eyes and slipped out of bed, down the stairs and coaxed Bobby's computer to life. If he was going to have to wait to do something useful for Cas, then he would find something else useful to do in the meantime. There had to still be monsters out there needing to be killed, didn't there? People to save; normal things to hunt. Him and Sam and the family business.