@healedserpent
The trip to Half Moon Bay was very late, but Castiel still eventually made it.
It had been interrupted by the angel tablet, Samandriel’s death and resurrection, Naomi trying to kill him, a very long convalescence and the necessity of re-learning how to fly on wings which Castiel had still not figured out how to phase off of the visible plane. But even though Julian had to return to work, leaving the angel (and his very big brother) in Darrington, Washington, and even though they could text one another, and even though their relationship was sometimes very rocky, their mutual affection remained a real thing.
So, probably not too surprisingly, Castiel’s main goal once he did start relearning how to fly -- which involved nose bleeding and ringing ears at first, but slowly got easier over time -- was to retrieve Julian’s housewarming presents.
He had gotten them before all of this and had hidden them away in one of his caches in the anticipation of actually getting to help Julian move. Of course, Naomi’s interference put a decisive end to that. But the gifts were still there.
It took Castiel four days to get them and get back to Half Moon Bay, too. Flight now was still limited, though he seemed to be getting stronger at it with practice. He slept in a barn loft, in a shelterbelt of trees, in other places. And he updated Kemuel that he was all right, so his archangelic brother wouldn’t worry over him, using the phone Julian had mailed him.
But finally -- and unannounced, wanting to make it a surprise -- he appeared in the demigod’s living room, wings and all, with gifts arrayed around his feet. Including what looked like a case for a guitar. It had been over a month now since Julian had to come back here, and Castiel had spent a worrying amount of that time pining over the demigod’s absence, even if they had made a minor mess of things. But that yearning was real. The seraph nearly ached with it.
“Julian?” he asked, glancing around the unfamiliar space; he’d timed it for the evening hours, hoping Julian would be home.










