The Hitchhiker

Summary: Sam and Dean, the Impala, and freezing, torrential rain. Dean tells Sam to not pull over for the hitchhiker on the side of the road, but Sam being Sam, he pulls over anyway. But this hitchhiker is no stranger. "You've gotta be friggin' kidding me!" Complete.

Rating: K+, I guess.

Disclaimer: As much I wish I owned Supernatural so that the actors never got breaks and had to continuously work so we don't have to wait until September for season 11, I don't own them. I have a poster, though.

"Driver picks music, remember?" Sam sassed, slapping his older brother's hand away from the tuner on the stereo.

Dean scoffed loudly, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Oh, really?" he said scornfully. "And this is coming from the- the idiot who installed a frickin' MP3 player after I died."

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head with a scowl, focusing intently on the wet road so he wouldn't have to look at Dean. The rain pounded mercilessly down on the Impala, her windshield wipers working furiously to keep Sam's vision clear. Dean moaned loudly over the Taylor Swift's latest hit.

"How," he said loudly, "can you listen to this crap?"

Sam's lips tightened into a thin line. He didn't dignify the complaint with a response.

They drove in silence for several long minutes. Swift's song ended, and the radio show host blabbered about something they didn't particularly listen to. The static made it a bit difficult to understand. But then the stereo fritzed and the station disappeared.

"Damn storm," Dean muttered, tossing a hand up lazily and shooting Sam a smirk. Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Again.

Sam suddenly slowed, squinting up ahead. "Hey."

Dean glanced at him, then forward at what he was staring at. He saw nothing. "What?"

"There's a guy up there."

"So? Why are you slowing down?"

"It's freezing, Dean."

"Oh no, Sammy," Dean said, shaking his head. "No wet strangers in the Impala, you know that."

"You let Cass in."

"That's Cass!"

"I'm going to pull over."

"Sammy!"

"We've got a trunk full of every weapon known to hunters, Dean. I think we can handle a single hitchhiker."

Dean groaned and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes as Sam did just that. He pulled up alongside the hunched figure, then brought the precious car to a stop and beckoned him to get in. Dean jerked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate that he get in the back.

Without even a second of hesitation, the man pulled open the door and clambered inside, shivering.

"You all right there?" Sam asked. "We've got some blankets in the trunk. If you want, I could -"

"No, that's okay. But you wouldn't happen to have a candy bar, would ya?"

Dean rolled his eyes while Sam looked a little taken aback. "Uh, no," he said apologetically. "Sorry."

"Ah, that's all right," the hitchhiker said, shrugging off his soaked jacket. "I mean, it's not like I totally saved your asses back then. Well, tried to, at least."

The brothers shared a look. Dean's face read, "I told you so," while Sam's was along the lines of, "Well, it's too late now."

"Anyway," drawled the hitchhiker, "what are you two mutton-heads up to now?"

"We're driving," Dean said gruffly before Sam could answer. Sam shot him a bitchface, to which Dean responded in kind.

"Duh."

Dean bit his cheek to keep from wheeling around and punching the dick dampening his backseat. Sam pressed his lips together and started down the road again, albeit a bit sheepishly under his brother's glare.

"Aw, come on, Dean-o. Don't be mad at little Sammy."

Sam suddenly slammed on the brakes and pulled his gun from his waistband at the same instant Dean did, and they whipped around in their seats and pointed it at the hitchhiker. The man didn't move, not even to raise his hands defensively.

"We never told you our names," Sam said in a quiet, dangerous voice.

SUPERNATURAL

"We never told you our names," Sam said in a quiet dangerous voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean demanded.

The hitchhiker chuffed indignantly. The brothers tensed when the man's hands moved up to his hood, eyes narrowed as he lowered the dark material. For a long, long moment, no one moved. The not-so-strange stranger smirked, eyes twinkling.

"You've gotta be friggin' kidding me," Dean growled at last, uncocking his gun and turning away.

Sam swallowed convulsively and hastily lowered his gun as well. Not that they would do any good against the guy, anyway. "But you...!" he uttered.

"It's good to see you again, too," Gabriel said meaningfully, raising an eyebrow. Then he broke out into a grin. "You thought I was dead, didn't you?"

Dean found his words again and pointed a scowl. "Where the hell have you been, you son of a bitch?"

"My, my," the archangel said. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, Dean-o. I just recently found myself back here, thank you very much. You're pretty hard to find, you know."

Sam looked knowingly at Dean, rapping his knuckles against his brother's arm. "Dude. The bunker. It's covered in wards."

Dean shook his head stubbornly.

"Wait," Sam said, "what do you mean, recently?"

"I guess my daddy loves me," Gabriel shrugged.

"Your daddy took what, four years to bring you back?" Dean remarked churlishly.

Gabriel smiled patronizingly. "Aw. Someone's jealous."

"But," Sam started, thoroughly confused, "didn't Lucifer...?"

"Kill me?" Gabriel finished. Then he shrugged and waggled his eyebrows.

The brothers rolled their eyes.

"Aren't you two wondering why I'm here?" Gabriel whined. "Ask me!"

Sam sighed. "Okay. Why are you here?"

"I want to see your bunker."

"No!" Dean said firmly. "No. No, no! Sam, no!"

The younger Winchester gave his brother a sidelong look, but Dean vehemently shook his head.

"I know!" the archangel enthused. "Let's take a vote!"

"The answer's no, end of story, you junkless -"

"Dean."

Gabriel held up his hands in surrender. "Okay. So my vote doesn't count. But someone is going to have to break the tie, you know."

"There is no tie," Dean said stubbornly. "Sam doesn't want you there, either."

"Let's call Castiel!"

"No, no!" Dean said.

"Castiel!"

"Gabriel."

"Sonuva-!" Dean dragged a hand down his face. "Cass!"

"Dean," Castiel greeted, regarding him almost curiously. Then he turned to his brother, a small smile playing on his lips. "So you are alive."

"Of course I am." Gabriel grinned and clapped Castiel on the shoulder. "So listen, we're trying to decide whether I should get a grand tour of the bunker. What say you, brother?"

Castiel gazed at an irritated Dean, then shot a quick look at a neutral Sam. "Well," he started uncomfortably.

"It's settled, then!" Gabriel cheered. "Let's go, Sammy!"

Dean covered his eyes with a hand, then pinched the bridge of his nose. He was two thousand percent done. "Just go, Sammy. Fine. Come on, let's go."

Sam tried to hold back his smile, and only just managed to do so. Dean tried to push his migraine to the back of his skull as Gabriel chatted up Castiel, who was very glad to see his brother well again.

The rain finally let up a bit, and a few rays of golden sunshine cast rainbows overhead.

"So, uh. Can we stop and get some candy?"

END.

A/N: Just a quick oneshot I couldn't get out of my head. I can't believe there's no more SPN until freaking September. Someone please help.

Thanks for reading! I always love me a bit of Gabe. ;)