Binding

by cutest-angel-in-the-garrison

Sam's starting to act suspicious again and he's using Cas as an excuse, not that it makes Dean jealous at all. But what's he really been doing? (Be warned, that's not the best summary I've ever done, it's not the most descriptive or accurate) Mainly Sabriel but also Destiel.

I've reuploaded this story but just to correct some spelling and grammar errors that were getting on my nerves

Sam was really starting to reach the end of his tether with Dean. About a week ago they'd accidentally stumbled across a gay bar when they were working a case and he'd made a few teasing remarks about how well Dean had fit in there. Every moment since then Dean seemed to have felt the need to assert his heterosexuality just to prove Sam wrong, which meant flirting with virtually every female they met and having one night stands with about half of them. So when they were in the middle of a particularly dangerous case, hunting a gang of about 8 demons, Sam didn't appreciate it when he returned to their motel room to hear the all too obvious moans of a woman coming from inside. Rolling his eyes Sam decided to come back in an hour, and when he did he was going to have a serious talk with Dean about what he did and when he did it in their room.

When Sam reached the end of the road he realised he had nowhere to go; it was well past 9pm and on a Sunday, everywhere would probably be closed by now. So instead he opted for wandering aimlessly around the village. As he walked past the houses, through some of the windows he could see families sitting together watching TV and it made him feel kind of nostalgic for the life he'd never had, they all seemed so happy and carefree. Sighing he shook his head, trying to turn his mind back to the case. Instead of making himself sad he could be doing something useful, like saving lives. It'd be more useful than what Dean was doing whether he found anything or not, Sam thought exasperatedly.

He looked for the next 10 minutes but just as he'd expected, there was nothing; no corpses, no sulphur, nothing. Well it had been a long shot anyway, he reasoned, and then returned to exploring the town and enjoying the view.

"Hey there kiddo." Sam recognised the voice from behind him and deliberately chose to ignore it. Gabriel had joined their whole "Team Free Will" movement about a month ago and he'd taken that as an invitation to randomly turn up whenever he felt like it. The first time he did that, he appeared in the Impala when they were driving down the freeway in the middle of the night and he gave Dean such a fright they almost crashed the car. To cut a long story short, Gabriel isn't allowed in the Impala anymore. Recently though he'd started showing up whenever Sam was alone and bored, usually with offerings of candy to cheer him up. Apparently this time was no different.

"Oh come on, have some popcorn." He offered, holding out the bag invitingly and reluctantly Sam turned round to take one, forcing himself to remain expressionless when he saw the pleased smile Gabriel was giving him. "So what's a moose doing out here all alone at this time of night?"

Sam glared him; the asshole knew how much he hated that nickname. "It's not that late, I'm not a child you know? But to answer your question, Dean's trying to deceive himself into believing he's straight by banging as many girls as he can in a week."

Gabriel laughed and Sam pretended not to notice how adorable he looked when he did. "Oh please, that boy's about as straight as a slinky."

"That's what I told him, but something tells me he doesn't agree." Sam answered, secretly hoping to make him laugh again.

But Gabriel didn't seem to be listening anymore; he was looking around them worriedly and Sam's hunter senses were immediately spiked. Then he saw it; all the people around them had stopped what they were doing and were looking at Sam. He quickly scanned the area but there was no way for him to escape without encountering at least two of them. There were a lot more than 8 demons after all he thought, damning Dean because he could really do with backup right now.

Desperately he turned to Gabriel to ask for his help, then he noticed that the bastard was gone, popcorn and all. "Oh you son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath as he reached for the only weapon he had; his gun, even though he knew it would have no effect on them. Why had he ever thought he could trust the Trickster?

Just as he thought this, out of the corner of his eye Sam saw a flash of light and heard a dull thump, he turned round to see a dead demon on the floor. Then he saw another flash, to his left this time and then one from just behind a tree and Sam had no idea what it was but he thanked God that he had some help now. The demons seemed to have noticed it too; all of a sudden they all jumped into action, deciding to act before whatever it was got them too, running at Sam all at once. He was really starting to panic now, there were at least 15 of them and he was completely unarmed with no way out. Then quick as a flash it happened again twice, the flash of light out of the corner of his eye before Gabriel reappeared in front of him.

"There's too many of them, I don't have time to take them one by one. Close your eyes and keep them closed." He commanded him, but Sam was too surprised to obey.

"What? You mean that was you?" He spluttered but Gabriel didn't answer as he turned around to face the demons. "Just close your eyes!" He shouted back and then all Sam could see was a blinding white light and then darkness.

/

When Sam came around again, he felt like his head was on fire and his vision was blurred, in fact he could barely see anything. With his sight impaired his other senses kicked into action as the world slowly came into view again. The first thing he noticed, other than the burning in his skull was that he was lying on a bed, judging by the feel of it a cheap motel bed. The second thing he noticed was that he was drenched and naked from the waist up. Once he started to see in colour again he realised there was a face looming over him, just a few centimetres away from his own.

Then came the all too familiar voice. "He lives!" It declared triumphantly.

"What the fuck Gabriel why am I shirtless and soaking wet?" Sam asked his voice croaky. Finally he could see clearly again, and that was when he realised the Archangel was sitting on his hips and leaning over to inspect his eyes and Sam shifted awkwardly, trying not to think about it because this was not the appropriate time to notice how the light reflected in Gabriel's hair, or how his eyes were a breath-taking shade of gold.

"You were burning up; I was trying to keep you cool. Not that I needed an excuse to get those clothes off you, why do you even bother wearing them with a body like that?"

Sam blushed, the compliment only making him more aware of the position they were in as he changed the subject. "What the hell happened?" He asked trying to keep his voice steady.

Thankfully Gabriel didn't seem to notice how flustered he was. "What do you remember? You'd better not have amnesia or anything because I'm not explaining this to a freaking doctor."

Sam thought for a second, the strain hurting his head even more as it started to come back to him. "Uh… I went out and you were there and then the demons were there, there were loads of them." He recounted weakly. "I don't know it's all a bit fuzzy to be honest, I can't remember much. Then there was a flash of light, it was so bright and it was huge. It was kind of terrifying but beautiful; I can't even think of the words..." He trailed off, trying to think of any way to describe it.

Gabriel gave him a crooked grin. "I'm flattered Sammy, really I am."

"What, you mean that was you? But…" To say Sam was more than a little confused would be an understatement. "Did I just see you in full angel form?" He realised.

"Yep and luckily for you so did Lucifer's little army. I saved your sorry ass kiddo."

That didn't really clear up Sam's confusion. "How do I still have eyes? I thought no one could look at angels without going blind?"

"There are a few special people in the world that can see us without, well, dying; it seems you're one of them. I guess because this was your first time it was a little overwhelming so you blacked out. And while we're on the subject don't do that to me again; I was scared half to death." Gabriel scolded him as if it was his fault.

"Sorry I suppose. I don't mean to complain or anything, but couldn't you have just mojo-d me back to health again?" Sam pointed out.

But Gabriel shook his head sadly. "If you were injured by my 'mojo', trying to heal you with it would've made it even worse. And I'm no doctor; I didn't know how to fix you without my powers so I started panicking."

Sam smiled at his concern. "Well I think you did a pretty good job anyway." He complimented.

"So," Gabriel flashed him a smug grin, "what did you think of my true body?"

"I already told you that."

Gabriel pouted. "I wanted to hear you say it again."

The Archangel was acting like a toddler and Sam couldn't resist laughing. "I'm not saying it again." He mocked, before remembering something important. "Where the hell are we? Because I need to get back to the motel sometime soon."

"You're already in the motel; this was the first empty room I could find. I didn't think your brother would appreciate us appearing while he's with a lady, your room is just down the hallway."

Awkwardly Sam tried to get up off the bed, which was quite a struggle with the weight of the angel still on top of him. "Well, as much as I'm enjoying this, I should really get back soon. Thanks for everything Gabe."

Gabriel raised his eyebrows at the nickname, but didn't comment on it. "Anything for you Sammy," He grinned and then he was gone, leaving Sam alone in the room trying to find where he'd put his shirt.

/

When Sam got back in thankfully Dean was alone. "Oh hey Sammy, where've you been?"

He figured it wouldn't hurt to bend the truth a little; Dean wasn't exactly Gabriel's biggest fan and he probably wouldn't like the idea of his little brother spending time alone with the guy. "I've been killing demons; our job here is done by the way. What've you been doing?" He asked, the tone of his voice showing that he knew exactly what Dean had been doing.

"You killed them all by yourself? Because you said there were a lot of them and the knife's been here the whole time." Dean answered suspiciously.

Damn, there goes his story. "Uh no, I had help." Sam answered vaguely, but his brother didn't accept that as enough explanation so he made something else up. "Cas helped."

Dean felt his heart skip a beat. Sam had been spending time alone with Cas? Since when? But just as he turned to ask his little brother both of those questions Sam said quickly, "Look Dean, I'm really tired so I'm gonna hit the hay ok?"

Reluctantly he nodded, deciding to bring it up in the morning instead, although it was obvious that he was avoiding the subject for some reason or another and that made Dean even more annoyed. He wasn't jealous though, he just didn't like being excluded. Why would he be jealous of them? If they wanted to do things without him that was fine, he wasn't going to complain, no way. That night Dean went to bed, still fuming and refusing to admit that he was even a little bit jealous.

/

It had been a few weeks since the demon incident and Dean had been unusually grumpy for most of that time, although he denied it whenever Sam asked him why and on the one occasion he mentioned Castiel, Dean went drinking for the next three hours. Fortunately for the angel they hadn't seen him since then; if they had Dean would probably have punched him in the face already.

Then one morning, everything kicked off. When Sam woke up, at first he didn't notice that anything was wrong, until he realised that he couldn't move his hands, legs or in fact most of his body. The moment he realised this he was instantly wide awake and aware of his surroundings. They were in a warehouse somewhere judging by the way the room looked, and he and Dean were both chained up in the middle of the room; apparently someone wasn't taking any risks with good old fashioned rope.

"Dean." He hissed, hoping to wake his brother. "DEAN," he said it a bit louder this time and it seemed to work.

His brother groaned. "What is it Sammy, I was sleeping."

He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Typical. "Dean wake up and look around you, I think we've been kidnapped."

At that he instantly woke up and scanned the room. "By who?"

"That would be me." Suddenly a woman appeared in front of them. "Hello boys."

"Who the hell are you?" Dean shouted, struggling against the chains as if that would help.

She thought about it for a second. "I suppose you can call me Kate, you wouldn't be able to say my real name anyway. But down to business, you boys have been causing a lot of trouble up in heaven. I'm almost impressed by how long you managed to evade me; Heaven's greatest bounty hunter. I've been searching for you for weeks now; I suppose Castiel put some charm on you to make you untraceable; someone's been throwing me off your scent at every turn. But that doesn't matter anymore; his silly tricks will be working against him now." She taunted.

"Are we supposed to be impressed?" Dean scoffed, but his mind was reeling, looking for a way out as he tried to stall her for as long as possible before she killed them. "So who's bitch are you, who are you working for?"

At the 'bitch' comment her eyes narrowed and she answered with as much venom in her voice as possible. "Oh, Dean Winchester I would kill you right now if I could. But sadly someone upstairs needs you. You might have heard of him; Zachariah? I thought he'd been exaggerating when he told me you were tricky but now I understand why he wanted a break. So that's why he needed me."

Dean just rolled his eyes, provoking a hiss from the demon. "If either of you two so much as move from the spot you're on, I will burn your eyes out of your precious little skulls, got it?"

With that she retreated to the corner of the room, keeping them just within her eyeshot but far enough away that they couldn't hear her speaking. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was calling Zachariah to come and collect his prizes.

"What the hell do we do?" Dean hissed at Sam the minute she was gone.

"I don't know did you check she took all your weapons?" Dean nodded. "Damn same here, she knows what she's doing. Have you tried praying for Cas?"

Dean nodded again. "Like you said, she's good. I don't think there's any way to call Cas unless he finds us in person."

"Crap. How long do you reckon we've got?"

"Less than 10 minutes I'd say; Zach will be eager."

They both fell into silence again, trying desperately to think of some way out. Then, out of the corner of his eye Sam spotted a familiar figure grinning at him from a shadowed part of the room. Looked like Gabriel was going to save his ass again, he'd never hear the end of that. Just seconds after Sam had spotted him, the Archangel winked and then he was gone again; along with all the chains that had been holding Sam down. In their place however was an angel blade; how handy. Instantly he set himself into action, looking over into the corner, 'Kate' seemed far too distracted by whoever she was talking to to notice what was happening, but he knew that if he made any noise she'd be back over quick as a flash.

"Dean I have a plan, close your eyes and keep them closed." Sam whispered and his brother looked gobsmacked when he saw that Sam was suddenly free and when he looked like he was about to ask how, Sam said. "Just do it."

With that, he stood up as loudly as possible and shouted, "Hey Bitch!"

As he'd predicted her head whipped around and then without a moment's hesitation she changed into a huge, bright creature and Sam ran towards her, angel blade in hand. This was certainly an improvement on last time, he didn't pass out right away, although he could feel a burning sensation beginning to grow in the back of his head. After a few seconds she reverted back to her human form, assuming he was dead and looking over triumphantly at the spot where Sam had been standing expecting to see his bloody corpse. What she hadn't been expecting was to hear his voice coming from behind her. "Guess again," before stabbing her through the chest.

All Dean heard was the thump of a body falling to the floor and he hoped to God it wasn't his brother's. The next ten seconds were the longest of his life until the surviving figure was standing in front of him again. "You can open your eyes now Dean." He silently thanked the heavens at the sound of the other hunter's voice and he felt Sam begin to cut the chains off his arms first.

"How the hell did you do that? Running at an angel with your eyes shut was pretty risky even for you. And how the hell did you get out?" Dean interrogated, because there was something really weird going on here.

By now his arms were free and Sam had set to work on the chains around his legs as he explained. "Well I wasn't that stupid; I didn't have my eyes shut. I can see them, I don't know why but I can look at angels without my eyes burning out." Sam figured that was a pretty weak explanation but it was the best he could think of, he could still feel a heat in the back of his skull.

Dean was completely free now and he stood up and dusted himself off.

"That's pretty awesome. How the hell did you find that out, please tell me you knew that before today. And you still didn't answer my question about how you got out of the chains." Dean asked all his questions at once and he knew he probably sounded either crazy or stupid but he was tired of Sam being evasive and mysterious. Sam however was trying hard to think of an acceptable lie for all of those questions, the answers to which were of course 'Gabriel'.

"Um, Cas. He let me out of the chains, I guess he followed us here or something. And that time he helped me kill a bunch of demons I forgot to close my eyes so I accidentally saw him and my face didn't burn." Sam rushed through his explanations, wanting to get back as quickly as possible because he was dying to see everyone's favourite archangel.

It had only taken them ten minutes to figure out exactly where they were and some friendly locals offered to give them a lift back to the motel- after Dean had subtly slipped them some holy water, just in case. They didn't really talk much after Sam's fake explanation because after he'd said it, Dean got suddenly very moody and sullen again and Sam knew better than to ask why.

The moment they arrived outside their room Sam had declared he was going somewhere and that he'd probably only be gone for about an hour but not to panic if he was any longer. And after that pathetic excuse he was gone, leaving a confused and pissed off Dean alone in their motel room.

/

Sam figured praying couldn't be that hard, he'd seen Dean do it once or twice for Cas and all he'd had to do was speak. He coughed once first, feeling really stupid sitting in the middle of an empty motel room talking to himself. But what the hell, he'd had more embarrassing moments.

"Hey Gabe, Gabriel are you there? Come on down here you ass you'd better not ignore me because I feel damn stupid doing this."

As Sam concluded his speech he heard a rustle of wings behind him and there stood Gabriel, leaning on the doorframe looking amused.

"You know I think that was the worst prayer I've ever heard." He mocked, before adding, "And you shouldn't be calling me an ass I've saved your life twice in the last month, you should be thanking me."

Sam rolled his eyes, "I was getting to that bit. Thanks for saving us Gabe I really appreciate it. But how did you even know where we were, that angel said we were untraceable."

Much to Sam's surprise, Gabriel's face went a little red when he answered. "You were only untraceable if I followed you with my powers, if I followed you in person it was fairly easy." Upon seeing the surprised look Sam was giving him, he elaborated, moving over to sit on the bed next to the hunter as he did so. "I've been keeping tabs on you since the demon incident." He admitted.

Sam smiled at the thought that he'd been keeping an eye on them just in case, but all the same he had to make fun. He coughed a few times and muttered "Stalker," under his breath, loud enough that the man sitting next to him could hear it.

"Oh shut up," Gabriel replied, poking him in the arm childishly. "I've grown attached ok?"

"What do you mean attached?" Sam tried to keep his tone playful but they both knew there was more to it.

Gabriel smiled and shook his head, "I'm not getting sentimental Winchester but I care what happens to you ok?" Sam didn't think this was ok as he gave Gabe the best puppy dog eyes he could. "No," Gabe repeated, "I am not getting emotional I told you I don't do emotional."

"Whatever," Sam snorted and they descended into an awkward silence. They could both feel the tension, this was the moment when it could go either way.

When Sam broke the silence, he was fighting to stop his voice from shaking. He felt like a teenager with trying to talk to his crush. "I care about you too Gabe."

/

Dean was so done with them now. He had had it up to here with Sam's behaviour recently but now he'd had enough. The last time he had been sneaking around like this the end result had been Satan's rising. Having spent the last hour brooding angrily alone in their motel room trying to keep his thoughts away from Castiel Dean had given up and decided to summon the guy instead and give it to him to his face. If he and Sam wanted to spend time together, that was fine he still wasn't jealous, he was absolutely not jealous but he just wanted them to stop sneaking around. And sure it probably didn't mean anything that Cas had let Sam out of his chains back in the warehouse but left Dean with his on. None of those things really bothered him, he just wanted to know the truth.

"Hey Cas get your ass down here I need to speak to you."

The moment Dean finished the angel was there. "You wanted to see me?" He asked.

Just seeing his face Dean half wanted to punch the guy, but he held himself back. "Yeah I want to talk to you about Sam."

The angel's brow creased immediately, wondering if there was something wrong with the younger hunter. "Where is he?"

Dean snapped, "I don't know, you tell me you've been spending so much time with him recently!" He was all but shouting.

"I'm sorry what? I haven't seen Sam for days. Have I upset you in some way Dean, you seem upset."

Now it was Dean's turn to be confused, but above the confusion even he couldn't deny the delight that welled up inside him at hearing that. "Wait you haven't seen him in days?" Cas shook his head, still wondering if he'd upset Dean in some way. "That son of a bitch lied to me."

Dean angrily walked across the room to his mobile and dialled his brother's number. Of course it went to answer phone so he left a message instead. "Cas is here, you've got some explaining to do," was all he said before hanging up.

Fifteen minutes passed of Dean fuming while Castiel sat in a chair silently before the worrying began instead. Sam had said he'd be back twenty minutes ago, what if something had happened to him? Dean voiced his concerns to Cas who reasoned that Sam hadn't been specific with his timing, he was probably just busy but he could tell that if Sam didn't come back soon nothing would stop Dean from charging out to look for him, with or without Castiel's voice of reason.

Thankfully, after just a couple of minutes of worrying the door flew open and in came the missing brother.

As angry as he was, Dean couldn't help but remark on how much of a mess he looked. "Dude have you ever heard of a hairbrush?" He asked sarcastically and a little red flooded into Sam's cheeks as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever, sorry I was late I was in the library, doing research."

"We don't even have a case." Dean pointed out, getting pissed off again by all the lies. "Cut the crap Sammy I know you've been lying."

From behind him Cas nods in agreement. "He seems to think we'd been spending time together. The thought appears to have greatly upset Dean although I'm not sure why." The angel informed him and Sam half laughed at his brother.

"Dude, were you jealous?" He asked incredulously.

Cas tilted his head curiously but Dean spoke before he could ask why. "No shut up, why would I be?" He spluttered and Sam raised his eyebrows knowingly, but Dean quickly turned the tables back. "So seriously what really happened all those times you said you were with Cas? And don't lie to me this time." He warned.

Sighing, Sam moved to sit on his bed, not knowing whether to tell them the truth and if he did how the hell to say it. But just as he opened his mouth to speak, Cas noticed something.

"Sam, what is that?" He asked pointing to his wrist where there were a line of red symbols visible around it. Sam's face went an even brighter red and he pulled his sleeve down to cover it up fully again.

Now they were getting somewhere, Dean thought. And he knew exactly what to say to get the truth out. "No Sammy, stop hiding things, what's so bad that you can't tell me, your brother, the truth about it?"

Sam took a deep breath before he rolled up his sleeve again. "Just don't freak out ok Dean?" Then he showed them his wrist fully. There was a line of red symbols going all the way around it almost like a bracelet that had been drawn onto his skin.

When they saw it, Dean and Castiel had opposite reactions. Dean looked confused and suspicious, his mind instantly leapt to 'oh that could be painful' and 'who the hell did that' but before he had chance to voice either of those thoughts he saw Cas' face. The angel's eyes were wide and he grabbed Sam's hand to have a closer look, almost like he was excited. Meanwhile the man in question was going from red to purple as he waited for his inevitable fate.

He knew it had come when Castiel suddenly looked up from his arm with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face as he turned back to an impatient looking Dean. "It seems I'm not the only angel on the side of the Winchesters." He remarked.

"What the hell is that on his wrist? And who's this other angel." Dean demanded.

The smirk had left Castiel's face as quickly as it had appeared and he was back to the usual inquiring but knowing expression. "Firstly, I think you should know the writing will fade over time and it will not do Sam any harm, it's more of a symbolic idea than having any physical purpose." He explained. "It's an Enochian Binding Mark. They appear on the wrists of an angel and their soul mate when they first, well, mate. And as for your second question of who this angel is, only Sam can answer that I'm afraid."

At the end of Castiel's little speech, Sam was sure Dean's eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

"Who the hell-" He began to ask but before he could finish he was interrupted by an all too recognisable voice behind him.

"Guilty. And less of the hell, I'll have you know I'm on your team." Gabriel stood there; cool as ice and not sounding very guilty at all.

At first Dean didn't seem to understand; just looked at Gabriel in shock at his presence, but then he saw the red marks around the archangel's wrist too and it dawned on him, leaving him completely lost for words except for weakly saying, "Well that explains a thing or two."

Cas however was grinning insanely. "Brother, this is wonderful news!" He sounded like he was congratulating them for something.

Dean was slightly less encouraging when he turned to his own brother, although he was smiling despite himself, and asked "Seriously. Gabriel?"

All Sam could do was shrug his shoulders, smiling back. "Couldn't help it," He defended, before turning the embarrassment onto Dean instead. "Were you really jealous?"

Of course the older Winchester denied it all but Sam knew him too well and a few weeks later, in the middle of summer, Dean all of a sudden started wearing long sleeved shirts again, and refusing to take his jacket off and it didn't take a genius to figure out what he was trying to hide. Unfortunately for Dean, Cas was much less secretive than he was.