"Speaking'

'Thoughts'

Dream

Gabriel sighed, running a hand through his still too short hair, and sunk deeper into his thoughts. 3 years. It had been 3 incredibly long years since he had stared down the barrel of a gun and lost. Spectacuritly. It was actually highly embarrassing and he is glad that the Winchester duo had not heard about it because he would never be able to live it down. Not that he had to worry about them finding out, after all only one other person knew about it, and she is not here. Would never be here. There where time when he doubted himself, doubted that any of it had been real, but he had changed to much for it to have all been fake. His thoughts turned to the crazy human that had unceremonially inserted him into her life despite not knowing the slightest thing about him. They had never even told each other their names, choosing instead to use a selection of nicknames. Gabriel was whatever she happened to want to call him that day and she was usually Baby. She had taken him in during his own stint of mortality and honestly both of them had been rather proud that he had managed to stay alive for almost 8 full years as a human before he had ended up getting himself killed. 'Not for lack of trying, of course.' After a few weeks together they discovered that just about everything seemed out to get him. Gabriel had not thought it was possible to have worse luck than the Winchesters until then. 'It probably would've been hilarious if it hadn't been so continuous. I have so much first aid experience now, it's ridiculous. Still,' he mussed, 'As good as they had gotten at repairing insane injuries (Who fucking shoves someone off a 4th story fire escape anyway?!) there is a limit to be reached and apparently it was being shot in the chest.' And man did dying hurt, only for him to wake up back in Heaven as if none of it had ever happened. The first time he ran into another angel he almost suffered from a heart attack at seeing such freely displayed wings. Plus, his hair was so short! Neither of them had felt the need to cut his hair while he was human, so by the time he was killed it reached nearly his waist. Now is was cropped uncomfortably short and he was becoming increasingly twitchy not being able to distract himself with the long, black, locks. That had been a shocking change to go along with his morality. As a human, Gabriel had had thick, ink black, hair that had the terrible habit of collecting static not to mention how pale he had been. Seeing his reflection still caused several seconds of confusion. One of the things that had stayed with him after his death was the need for sleep. He only required a few hours of sleep a week, but he had quickly discovered that without those hours his Grace (And wasn't that still strange and thrilling and wonderful) started to go haywire and he had a terrible time concentrating. 'Just like right now,' he thought grumpily as loud yelling drew him out of his internal musings and back out into the meeting going on between the leading angels. Raphael is yelling again, but Gabriel felt way too exhausted to even make an attempt to understand him. These meetings had been going on for over two weeks' strait now and while that was actually fairly short to everyone else, Gabriel was about to reach his breaking point. He needed sleep desperately and besides these meetings should have already been over three days ago, but Raphael just had to keep stirring up trouble and delaying everything. He rubbed at his eyes as another voice rose up to join in with his 'brother's' as another argument started. As more voices rose up and the argument began to escalade, Gabriel felt the remaining shreds of his sanity and consequently his control over his Grace snap. Immediately his Grace exploded out of him, filling up the room like a blue tinged hurricane before dispersing slightly and settling around him in a bright gold haze. He glared figurative daggers at the standing angels who had been arguing loudly just seconds before. He stood slowly, turning his attempt to not just simply fall over into something dramatic. "That is enough," he spoke levelly, making sure to make eye contact with every angel who had been yelling. Most were unable to meet his eyes, though Raphael refused to look away, "We are not little children, so I would suggest we stop acting like we are." He moved slowly, flaring his wings out to help stay balanced. Reaching the exit, he turned back to add some extra bite to his words, "I have better things to do with my time then babysit squabbling fledglings." Leaving the building, he took a moment to back in that total burn moment, before practically sprinting to the strange piece of Heaven he had picked out to sleep in. He silently slipped into the secluded area after checking that no one was following him. He let loose a relieved sigh as he slunk down underneath the old brick bridge and practically collapsed into the pile of blankets that he uses as a bed/nest/thing. He unfurled and fluffed up his wings for the warmth and snuggle factor before succumbing to his exhaustion.

His back was pressed firmly against the brick wall, his breathing quiet, as he peaked carefully around the corner. Pulling back, he shot Baby a wide smile as he nodded to her. At his nod her eyes lit up and they both drew their blades. He looked down at his and took a moment to shift it into something more suitable for throwing. The two silently left the alleyway and separated to approach a group of shady individuals who had been searching for them from separate directions. Stepping out into the open, his eyes narrowed as the men stiffened and drew weapons of their own. He makes sure that his own blade is hidden from them as he allows himself to be partially surrounded while she crept up behind them. They struck together; easily disarming, flipping, and restraining men twice their weight. Some movement on his left had him shoving his friend hard out of the way as a gun sounded loudly. He allowed gravity and his moment to drag him down backwards, twisting sharply, and sending his blade flying with a flick of his wrist. The blade struck true, he knew without looking as he pushed himself off the ground. Standing, he saw that his partner had already knocked the would be assassin out and was tying him up. He reached out as he approached the unconscious man and pulled his blade from its current resting place in the man's shoulder. She gave him an impressed look as he wiped the blood from the blade. It had been buried up to the cross-guard. Sirens sounded in the distance and the two of them shared a 'time to go' look as they slipped back into the alleyway and took off down the twisting paths that even a map could not help you to navigate. Sending her a smirk, he used a stack of empty crates to jump up and grab a hold of a drainage pipe and haul himself up onto the ledge that ran along the bottom of the windows. He snickered at her disgruntled expression as he ran along the ledge that marked the fifth level of the building he was on. Laughing openly, he watched as she accepted his unspoken challenge and ran even faster. Upon reaching the end of the building he was on, he smiled breathlessly as he launched himself off of the one building and flipped mid-jump before landing gently on the roof of the next. When he reached the curve in their previously determined path, he slowed down and dropped onto the fire escape below him. As soon as his feet touched the rusty metal, his senses went haywire and he dug his heels into the platform. The fire escape groaned at the sudden movement and with a loud snap the panel between him and the stairs gave way. His pale face grew even paler and a metallic squeak from behind him was the only warning he had as hands shoved him hard and sent him soaring over the low railing and plummeting towards the pavement. He tried to twist and land somewhere non-life threatening, but he was falling to fast. All he could do was watch as the ground rocketed up to meet him, closing his eyes in the last seconds before impact.

Hands grabbed at him, and he jerked away in his sleepy haze. Panic really set in when the movement tangled his blankets around him. He struggled blindly against the restraints even as he started to fully wake up.

"-riel! Gabriel, calm down!" He stilled, needing a few moments to understand how this person knew his true name before remembering where he was. Right, he had died. He was in Heaven. "Gabriel?" He blinked and focused on the worried faces in front of him.

"Balthazar? Castiel?" he croaked out hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to be right or wrong. In the 3 years since he had been back in Heaven, he had never seen either one of the concerned angels still holding on to him. He had even gone looking for them, when he could. Out of all of his siblings, he had missed these two the most.

"Yes," Castiel answered in that dry, strait forwards, way of his and Gabriel nearly cried. He had missed them so much. Trembling slightly, which he would latter deign, he reached out and pulled the younger angels into a firm hug. Bringing his wings up and wrapping them around all three of them, Gabriel relished in having most of his chosen little family together again. Pulling back eventually, he took a deep breath and allowed his wings to fade back out of view.

How did you find me," he asked in a resigned tone, already trying to figure out where he was going to sleep now that this spot had been discovered.

"We asked," Balthazar told him, the little smart ass, one eyebrow arched at the archangel's rumpled and ridiculous appearance as poor Cassie nodded seriously. 'They are so adorable,' Gabriel thought, more than just a little exasperated.

"Asked who, Balthazar, because I take special care not to be followed to this place." The younger angel shifted uncomfortably and the two shared a look before Cassie answered instead,

"We asked Father." Gabriel stared uncomprehendingly back, because really? Father told them?

"Really," he asked in disbelief, not that their Father had spoken to them because it was obvious to Gabriel at least that Cassie was one of Daddy's favorites, but that Father would give away his sanctuary's location like that. Even if it was to his favorite brothers. "Why? What is so important that you asked Father to find me?" The two shared another look and it was starting to make Gabriel feel a little uncomfortable when Balthazar grimaced and gave him the bad news,

"Michael is looking for you. You have been acting differently lately, very different, and there are some who are trying to use that against you. Apparently after you walked out of the meetings, nice one by the way, Raphael convinced him that something is wrong with you. Now the whole situation has snowballed into Michael believing that you might be working against Heaven." Gabriel felt himself stiffen because, 'Oh shit!" He had thought he was doing fairly well with the whole blend in with the angels thing, but apparently he had slipped up somehow.

"How long," he asked faintly, already fearing the answer, and Cassie's flinch told him everything he needed to know.

"Almost a week now," Balthazar told him seriously and Gabriel ran his finger through his hair as he tried to figure out how on earth he was going to get himself out of this one.

"Shit," he murmured weakly as he heard voices approaching their location. Looking at the younger and much less powerful angels in front of him, Gabriel quickly came to a decision, "Right, you two get out of here and head to wherever this thing is going to go down. I'll go show myself somewhere else and then get dragged in. Don't let anyone know that you've seen me."

"We are not that stupid, Gabriel," Balthazar gave him an unimpressed look and grabbed onto Cassie's arm to drag the confused younger angel away. Gabriel waited several minutes before zapping himself into the angel version of a main square. In no time at all he was standing in a hall with Michael staring at him, a large gathering of angels hovering at the edges. Raphael was also there, standing next to Michael, and Gabriel glared at him before he realized that that was probably a bad idea. Biting on the inside of his cheek, Gabriel shifted himself out of his more human mindset the best he could and instead drew on his Trickster personality. He was going to need it if he was going to talk himself out of this mess. Smiling at his older brother, Gabriel materialized his wings and stretched them out fully before starting in on the situation,

"Hey Michael, I heard you have been looking for me, so what's up?" He made certain to completely ignore Raphael, if the little brat wanted to tattle on him like a snot nosed brat then he was going to be treated like one. Michael frowned and Gabriel steeled himself for the trouble about to rain down on him.

"It has come to my attention that you have been behaving strangely," Michael intoned and Gabriel had to suppress a snort, "I have become worried about what might be affecting you so strongly." The urge to respond by yelling and stomping off struck him so strongly that Gabriel actually flinched, his brow furrowing at the unusual feelings. With every word Michael said, he felt more and more irrational and he was starting to become really worried. If he could not keep it together then he was going to end up in a whole heap of trouble. Suddenly, a shockwave rocketed through his soul, causing him to curl inwards. His breaths came in bursts as he struggled to calm his agitated Grace.

"See! I told you he was unstable," Raphael exclaimed as Gabriel forced his Grace back into submission. Straitening back up, Gabriel gave the other archangel the dirtiest glare that he possibly could and watched with satisfaction as Raphael faltered. A second shockwave struck him, and Gabriel felt his heart stop as he realized what the feeling was. He froze, his eyes wide as his soul responded to the summons from another, equally powerful soul calling out solely for him.