Author's Note:

First things first: this is slash, so if that's not your cup of tea, don't read this.

Secondly, I'm not a native speaker so there might be some mistakes concerning spelling or grammar. Sorry about that, I've tried my best...

Oh and there are spoilers for Season 5, of course.

Well, I hope you'll like this story and of course it would be great if you'd review. =)

Chapter 1

„So you are just going to leave me here? For ever?" Gabriel asked disbelievingly, shifting uncomfortably in the ring of burning holy oil.

„Oh, I'm sure you will figure something out," Dean said coldly, already turning to leave.

Castiel and Sam both gave Gabriel a disappointed look, they knew that Dean had been right with what he had said. Maybe they had expected too much from an angel that had pretended to be a trickster for who knows how long.

As they stood outside the building, with the trapped archangel inside, gathered around the Impala, the mood had dropped to a new low.

„You know, I wish we still were in a TV show," Dean finally said, opening the door on the driver's side.

„Yeah, me too," Sam agreed.

The brothers were about to get into the car, as Castiel spoke for the first time since they had left the building.

„What about Gabriel?" the angel asked uncomfortably. "He won't be able to get out without a little help."

They hesitated and shut the car's doors again. Sam looked at his brother, unsure what his reaction would be, but Dean only sighed.

„Why should we care? He is not going to help us, so we can at least stop him from getting in our way," the older Winchester said.

„He brought me back, maybe we should give him something in return." Castiel suggested, like he was merely stating a fact.

„Yeah, right," the older Winchester brother snorted. "So what do you suggest? Walking back in there and extinguish the fire certainly won't end well for us." If Gabriel was angry, it was very likely that the situation would get very dangerous for the three of them. They all knew that.

„I don't think he'll hunt us," Castiel said confidently. Sam knew, though, that Dean still wasn't convinced. They could go on about this topic for hours, unless someone interfered. In this case this someone had to be Sam.

„Guys, stop, I'll take care of it, okay," Sam interrupted them, already knowing what he would do, although he wasn't sure it was that much of a good idea.

„How?" Dean asked, obviously irritated by his brother's interjection.

„I'll switch on the sprinkler system, that will give me time to get away."

Dean seemed to contemplate Sam's shortly outlined plan. „I'm not sure whether that is a good idea," he finally announced sceptically.

„Trust me, I know what I'm doing," Sam said, trying to sound more convinced than he actually was. Castiel seemed to notice that and quickly interfered. „It's not a bad idea."

Sam nodded and gave his brother a reassuring look. „It's settled then. Just go ahead, I'll catch up with you."

That one obviously caught Dean off guard. For a moment it seemed like the older brother was going to argue, but he stayed silent.

„Okay, but I'll wait just down the road and if you are not there in twenty minutes I'll return and look for you," Dean finally said. "May God help you, if you get us trapped in TV land again!"

Sam gave a tiny smile and replied: „Of course, I'll be careful."

Dean watched his brother turn towards the building again and as Sam started walking, he called after him: „Yeah, just keep in mind, that messing with the angels never worked well for us."

The older Winchester knew that he had to trust his brother more often, or at least pretend to, but it was hard, especially when the angels were concerned. All those Tuesdays Sam had to suffer and the punch in the balls, certainly were not a good basis for dealing with a trapped angel. Dean didn't worry about Gabriel, though, he was only concerned about his brother. He hoped that Sam was smart enough to not fuel the pissed off angels mood any further.

Sam found Gabriel to be still standing in the same spot, they had left him in. Well, with the circle of burning oil around him there was not much space left for him anyway, but the angel seemed to not have moved at all. His face displayed a mix of confusion, loss and sadness, which surprised Sam, because he would have expected anger instead.

The creaking of the door announced the Winchester's presence and Gabriel instantly changed his whole posture. A mocking smile and a pretentious expression grew on his face, as he straightened up.

„Sam," he said with obviously faked cheerfulness. „' didn't think you would return."

Sam shook his head slightly. He was fed up with pretending, but he decided to go for a slow approach, because he wanted to have neither a pissed off nor an angry archangel at his hands.

„We are not going to leave you here, bound for ever," the younger Winchester said.

„Why, Sammy, I didn't think you would care," Gabriel smirked sarcastically. Oh, how Sam hated this faking attitude! But if that was the only way to reach the angel, he would go along with the game by copying Dean.

„Careful there, lord of the wings, I haven't let you out yet."

Gabriel's brows furrowed, as he heard those words. „Lord of the wings? Nice one, you are getting better, must be my talent rubbing off on you."

„Yeah, sure." Sam answered flatly. "Anyway, why would you want the apocalypse? Wouldn't that ruin your little witness protection program?"

That one certainly hit a sore point. Gabriel's face darkened and he dropped the annoying smile. The proud posture vanished and was replaced by a resigning one. Silence filled the room for several moments, until Sam thought the angel wasn't going to say anything at all.

„You know, this has been going on for so long now," Gabriel finally said. "As I've said, I just want this to end. No matter what the outcome will be, at least it'll be over."

The tiredness in those words was clearly noticeable and Sam couldn't help but feel for the former trickster. He knew what it was like to be caught in a situation that seemed to be going on for ever, no matter how much you tried to get out. All things considered Sam and Gabriel were alike in that respect, they both had tried to escape and they both had failed, because their past had finally caught up with them. For Sam it had been Dean standing in his flat in the middle of the night, for Gabriel it was the apocalypse.

„Look, I know what that is like, you know. Trying to escape your own family, because you just can't stand the fighting anymore. But this is different, it isn't just about one family anymore! Would you really sacrifice earth for this little fight between your brothers?"

Sam watched the angel's reaction carefully, hoping to have achieved at least a bit of a breakthrough. Gabriel stood in the circle of fire, observing the hunter with an intense stare. It felt like the trickster's eyes were burning a hole into his head. What the other was thinking, was impossible to detect, though.

As the reply finally came, it was not what Sam had expected. „Listen, kid, I'm fed up with this! I don't care anymore!"

„That can't be true," Sam instantly argued. "Earth is your playground, you have been hiding here for who knows how long. Do you really want all that to be gone? I can imagine how fed up with all this you must be, but that's no excuse for just standing back and let your brothers trash this planet!"

Another minor pause followed, during which Gabriel once again seemed as if he wanted to say something else than what he actually said in the end.

„There is nothing I can do about it! One does not simply step up to my brothers and tells them to go and settle their childish fight somewhere else!"

„Then try, it's the least you can do," Sam urged, sensing that he was making some progress. The angel had only said that he thought it unlikely to succeed, not that he could not or didn't want to.

„What for?" Gabriel shot back. "And so you know, the least I can do is nothing and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

„If that's what you want..." It felt like arguing with a child! But Sam had been through several childish arguments with his brother already, so he had a clue how to deal with that. "...well, so be it, I don't give a damn. You just should keep in mind, that we really could have used your help, to save humanity, this whole planet even. But if you are too afraid, I can understand."

„The whole planet, or just your precious little family?" Gabriel lashed out, like a wounded animal. "Face it Sam, you can pretend to be a humanist but in reality you would send humanity to hell, if that was needed to save your brother."

Sam decided that this was enough progress for one day and he should stop, before the trickster got really pissed. After all this was about planting an idea in his head, not making him hunt Sam down.

„At least I'm not doing it to save nothing, but my own ass."

Gabriel looked like he had just been kicked in the ribs. Good, Sam thought, the angel certainly had deserved that final blow.

Sam turned and switched on the sprinkler system, mostly to keep the trickster from replying. This was the moment to leave, get away, while the angel was still bound. Still the younger Winchester couldn't resist to have one final look at the disappointing archangel, although that was not a part of his original plan.

Gabriel stood in that circle of fire, water pouring down on him, an awfully miserable look on his face. The angel looked so lonely and left behind, like a kicked puppy, it made Sam feel a pang of sympathy for him. He tried to tell himself, that the angel had brought this upon himself, but he couldn't help it, he felt bad for him, mostly because he knew what it felt like to be caught in such a messed up family.

Just as he was already halfway through the door, Sam remembered something and turned around again. Gabriel looked up again, as he noticed the other hesitation, a wee bit confused this time.

„Genital herpes, really?" the hunter could hear himself ask skeptically. He wasn't sure why he brought that topic back up again.

Gabriel grinned back at the Winchester brother. „It was very amusing. For me, that is."

„Yeah, reminds me of the prank war I once had with my brother," Sam replied, catching himself feeling relieved to see the annoying smile return to the trickster's face.

„Great, compare me to your brother, that's nice."

"There are certainly worse persons I could compare you to," Sam laughed, before adding "Just remember, that I trust you to make the right decision." and left the building. He had to leave now, before he could develop anymore sympathy for the angel. Dean was right, messing with the angels was not getting them anywhere and including another one to the angels-to-worry-about-list wasn't going to help either.

Damn it! Sam had liked the trickster, as he had first met him. He had been the only "monster" Sam had ever met, that wasn't all evil, there had been a strange kind of logic behind the things he did. It was strange, but he had considered the cheeky creature to be cute in a way, with that handsome smile and his easy attitude... That had been a long time ago, though, long before the trickster had started dragging him through one horrible Tuesday after another and just one even more terrible Wednesday.

Now it was better to consider the angel nothing more than a possible ally, Sam told himself, the only problem was, that he had yet to make himself believe it as well.

Gabriel stayed where he was, even after the fire had burned down, for several hours. He didn't know where else he should go and in fact it didn't really matter. Sam trusted him? It had been a long time since someone had actually put faith in him. What a strange feeling that was. But it had to be a trick, right? The Winchesters were trying to trick him, trying to make him one of their tools! Still, the doubts wouldn't leave him. What if it was not a trick? What if there actually was someone who hadn't given up on him, yet? It was a shame that this someone had to be his evil brother's vessel!