"So am I," Crowley muttered as he pushed the needle into Sam's skull. Mentally he apologised as the metal burrowed its way through. Yes, he enjoyed torture but not when it was Sam, not when it was the one person that actually cared about him. Even if it was hard to be with Sam when Dean was ready to kill him should he even twitch.
His facade of uncaring struggled to stay up as Sam screamed while he poked and prodded through his brain. He wished he could show emotion like Dean and Castiel were, he wished he could run away and hide and not watch what he was doing. The screaming stopped and instead Enochian spilled out of Sam's mouth.
He listened, learned the identity of the angel that was possessing his Sam and called the brother and the angel over from where they were hiding. The two ran over to him and he gave a false smile, "Pinhead's out cold but watch this."
"Zir noco iad Gadreel. Zir noco iad Gadreel."
"What's he saying?"
Castiel answered Dean as Crowley turned back to Sam, "His name, Gadreel."
"Does that mean anything to you?"
"It's why I didn't know him. He's been in prison since the dawn of time. Gadreel was the sentry that let Lucifer into the garden."
"My, my, a celebrity," Crowley contributed to the conversation.
"Wait the garden? Like Eden? Adam and Eve? Fig-leaves garden?"
Castiel growled in response to Dean, "It's his fault, all of it. The corruption of man, demons, hell. God left because of him. The archangels, the apocalypse. If he hadn't been so weak, none of this would have happened." The angel launched himself at Gadreel, shaking him as he yelled. "You ruined the universe, you damn son of a bitch!"
Dean pulled the enraged angel away from his brother seconds before Crowley would have been forced to protect Sam from an angel's wrath. "Cas! Cas! Hey!"
"Dean, he-,"
"I get it. But you got to chill," Castiel nodded and forced himself to calm down.
"What's taking so long?" Crowley looked up from where he was prodding needles into Sa- Gadreel's, skull.
"Other than the fact that I'm trying to unravel a living, multidimensional knot of pure energy, not much," the main problem was that it was Sam. Even though he tried to separate the two entities and focus on the fact that Sam was Gadreel at the moment, he failed miserably.
Sam's head jerked up as Crowley dug a needle in a bit further, Gadreel looked at Crowley before sneering at Dean. "It won't work. You will never find your brother. Go ahead. Poke and prod. I can sit in this chair for years and watch you fail over and over again. I've endured much worse than this, Dean. So...much...worse. And I have all the time in the world."
"Shut up!" Dean yelled before calming himself down and turning to Castiel, "All right. Plan 'B' Cas, you got to possess him."
"What?"
"Do it now! Get in there, tell Sam what's going on, and help him kick that lying son of a bitch out!"
"It might work. But I can't possess a vessel without permission."
Crowley took that as his cue and cleared his throat while raising his hand, volunteering to possess Sam. Dean took one look at him and immediately said, "No. Not happening."
"Don't be daft. Demons can take what they want. I can burrow into that rat's nest of a head. I can wake Sam up. Just call me plan 'C.'" Though Crowley was rolling his eyes on the outside, inside he was silently apologising to Sam for even thinking of possessing him.
Castiel studied Dean's expression before saying, "You can't-"
"...you got a better idea?" Dean interrupted, looking at Crowley, "What about the angel?"
"I'll work fast," the King of Hell stated smirking.
"And if he finds you?"
"I'll run. I'm not dying for you lot," not quite the truth, he'd die for Sam but Dean and Castiel weren't Sam. He still wouldn't run though, because Gadreel had taken something that was his and the King didn't share well. "Of course, if I do this, you're going to have to..."
"Take off the leash. Yeah, I know."
"And it stays off. I save Sam; I leave here a free man." Not that he didn't love living with Sam, but he did have a kingdom to run, "Do we have a deal?"
Dean sighed, torn but determined, "Cas, burn off Sam's tattoo."
"Dean."
"Just do it Cas." Castiel nodded, stepped toward Gadreel and placed a hand over Sam's anti-possession tattoo. Dean addressed the demon, "If you mess with Sam, if you try anything-"
"I keep my bargains." Crowley sneered, "Besides, I don't want to be inside your brother any longer than I have to. I'm not one for sloppy seconds," what he meant was that he didn't want Sam even angrier with him for staying longer than was necessary and giving him 'sloppy seconds'.
"When you find him, say 'Poughkeepsie.' It's our go word. It means 'drop everything and run.'"
"Fine. While I'm gone, hands off the suit."
Gadreel spoke for the first time since possession had been brought up, "I will destroy you."
"Eat me'" the King of Hell replied before exiting his vessel and entering into Sam.
Crowley found where Sam was stashed in time to hear him reply to someone, he assumed Dean, that he was fine. He glanced around and commented, "Not bad."
Sam jumped up from the chair he had been sitting on and stared at Crowley in shock, no doubt wondering how he had escaped from the dungeon he was forced to stay in when Sam was busy. At least that was what Crowley assumed as Sam yelled for Dean. He sighed; obviously Sam wasn't going to trust his word alone, "Poughkeepsie."
"How do you know that word?" Sam asked him, it was the one between him and Dean, meaning Crowley shouldn't have known it.
"Because Dean's sent me, Bullwinkle, the real Dean. I'll make this quick – you've been possessed by an angel. He's got you packed away in some dusty corner of your own mind, and I'm here to break you out."
"Seriously?"
"Fine. We'll do this the fun way." Crowley grabbed Dean's gun from where it lay on the table Sam had been sitting at; pointed it at Sam and pulled the trigger. Sam flinched, expecting to die but instead found himself unharmed. "See? Not real. Like I said. I know how possession works, Sam. You've seen everything that he's seen, even if you can't remember. That's what I need you to do. I need you to remember."
Sam stared at his lover for a second longer before closing his eyes and concentrating on remembering what he had no recall of forgetting in the first place. Flashes passed through his mind, halting as he saw Kevin being smote. He gasped as his eyes opened and he looked at Crowley, tears in his eyes, asking for comfort and confirmation, "Did I kill Kevin?"
"No, you didn't. He did. You need to take control, Sam. Blow it up and cast that punk-ass holy roller out!" It was both compassion and the order to take action and Sam nodded before stopping as his eyes focused somewhere over Crowley's shoulder. "What?" Crowley frowned before realisation dawned, "Oh, bollocks."
"Hello, Sam," Gadreel greeted.
"Who are you?" Sam snapped back.
Crowley jumped in to explain, "His name is Gadreel, the original chump."
"Was a chump." Gadreel stressed before going on, "But now? I'm going to be the one that leads my kind back to heaven. I'm going to be a hero. But you, demon, for all your chatter, you will always be a coward. You should be running."
Crowley snarled at the insinuation that he would leave Sam to be beaten by an angel, no matter how loudly the self-preservation part of him yelled protests. The demon launched himself at the angel, punching him solidly in the face. Gadreel staggered before retaliating, throwing Crowley across the room, pouncing on him and kicking the demon as Crowley tried to get back up.
Sam ran into the fray and pulled Gadreel away from the demon only to find himself pinned to table and being strangled. "Give up, boy. You're not strong enough," Gadreel hissed as he added more pressure.
Crowley, still on the floor but unwilling to give up yelled at the Winchester, "Take control, Sam! Cast him out!"
"Get out of my-" Sam only managed a few words before even more pressure was added by the angel strangling him.
Gadreel sneered, "You sure you want me to go? Maybe I'm the only thing holding you together. I leave, you might die."
Sam sneered back before somehow knocking the angel on the floor and planting his foot on Gadreel's chest, "I said get...the hell...Out!"
The angel dissolved into a white light before vanishing completely. Sam exhaled heavily and moved to help Crowley up, "You okay?"
"Am I okay? Sam, you had that dick with wings possessing you since the angels fell! I should be asking you if you're okay."
"I'm fine Crowley, at least at the moment I am. By the way, how are you here if this in my own mind?"
Crowley shifted uncomfortably, "Uh, about that, I may be possessing you, just for a little bit. I figured this was an emergency and I didn't have any plans beyond getting the angel out of you that you wouldn't mind-"
Crowley was cut off as Sam pulled him into a kiss and then hugged him tightly saying, "It's okay Crowley, I'm not mad at you, it was an emergency, I get it. Thanks, I love you."
The demon relaxed into the hug before pulling back, "I'd best get going then, now that Gadreel's gone. Squirrel and Wings might get mad if I stay any longer. See you in the living world, Moose," Crowley turned into red smoke before also disappearing and Sam smiled before concentrating on waking up.
Sam came to gasping for air and found Dean next to him instantly, "Sam! Cas?"
Crowley looked on as Sam was fussed over while no one payed the slightest bit of attention to him. Indignantly he said, "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."
He was ignored as Castiel removed the various implements Crowley had been forced to use to drill into Gadreel's mind, "Sam, are you okay?"
"Cas?" Sam said, trying to figure out where he was and why he had been strapped to a chair with needles in his head. Headlights sweeping through the windows of the abandoned warehouse they were in cut the conversation short and Castiel went to see what the source of the lights was.
"It's Abaddon," the angel stated and Dean quickly finished uncuffing Sam.
Crowley sighed, how many times was he expected to save Sam in one day? Straightening his jacket he addressed the elder Winchester, "Go. The back door. I'll handle this."
"Oh, 'cause you're such a good guy?" Dean spat at him disbelievingly.
"Right now, I'm the goodest guy you got," Crowley returned.
Dean hesitated but eventually the need to get Sam to safety overruled his distrust of the demon and he said, "This doesn't make us square. I see you again-"
"I'm dead. Yes, I know," the words were accompanied by an eye roll before he addressed Sam without seeming as though he was addressing him, "I love you, too."
The angel and his Winchester steadied Sam and helped him through the door Crowley had indicated. Crowley hears the door close and resigned himself to receiving no thanks as usual, "Pleasure doing business with you boys, as always."
He glanced around the warehouse before electing to sit on the chair Sam had been occupying. He sighed softly as he fit himself into the persona of King of Hell and not the sappy demon that loved a Winchester. He heard Abaddon enter and smirked, rotating the chair in classic villain style, "Hello, darling."
Sam groaned as he collapsed on his bed in the Men of Letters bunker. It had been a long day, he had discovered he was possessed by an angel, seen himself kill Kevin, said adios to Dean and had been worrying about Crowley since they had left him behind to deal with Abaddon.
Ever since he had been dragged away from the warehouse he had been anxiously fiddling with his phone and the small metal disc the demon had given him for a more subtle form of interaction. The disc had been radiating heat steadily, signifying that Crowley was still alive and aware enough to send reassurance through the disc. If Crowley ever died or was in danger of dying, the disc would turn ice cold. Cold meant danger, room temperature meant alive and not interacting with the disc, warm meant comfort and hot meant lust.
The screen of Sam's phone lit up and Sam jumped to answer the incoming call, "Crowley?"
"Hiya Moose, how you feeling?"
"We'll I don't have an angel in me anymore, thanks to you. How'd it go with Abaddon?"
"Oh you know me, made her mad, gave a speech and then left before she decided to lop my off head herself."
"Where are you?"
"Chicago, are you at your beloved bunker?"
"Yeah, can you come over? Dean's not here and Cas is off doing angel stuff."
"Sure Sam, as long as you let me in. Is something wrong?"
"I'll tell you when you get here," Sam hung up and rushed to open the front door. Crowley stood there, phone in hand, looking expectantly at the door and in turn, at Sam.
The Winchester instantly pulled him into a hug, letting go of the iron control he had kept on his emotions and broke down in the arms of his demon. Crowley staggered a bit from the unexpected weight and tears before sighing and picking the moose of a man up. He carried Sam down to his room, closing the bunker door behind him, and settled Sam on the bed.
Sam curled up next to Crowley and cried as Crowley rubbed soothing circles on his back, "What's wrong Sam?"
"He took my choices away from me, he didn't save me for me, he saved me for him. Because he can't stand to be alone and decided that I should have another angel inside of me even though the thought of that terrifies me. And he should know that! He should know that ever since Lucifer and even Meg, that possession scares the living daylights out of me. He made me kill Kevin!"
"Sam, while I may not like your brother all that much, I do know that he loves you. He would do anything for you; he's been looking out for you his whole life. Yes, he tricked you into letting Gadreel possess you, and yes, he did it for himself because he wouldn't know what to do with himself if you were gone. When you were in the cage he looked after Lisa and Ben but he didn't have that option this time. He only did it then because you made him promise.
"The both of you are extremely co-dependent on each other and have been for your whole lives. Azazel, the low-life scum that he is, ruined your chance for a normal life. Your father dragged you around the country and it was your brother that was there for you. He always was and he always will be.
"I know that it will take some time for you to forgive him but Sam, eventually you will. He forgave you for going to Stanford and leaving him, you forgave him for selling his soul, he forgave you for Ruby, you forgave him for nearly giving into Michael, he forgave you for everything you did while you were soulless, and you forgave him for killing Miss Amy Pond. The two of you can get through anything.
"It will all work out Sam, you'll see."
Sam sniffled and curled further into his lover, letting his words wash over him and comfort him. "Thanks Crowley, I love you."
"I love you too, Sam," Crowley kissed Sam's head as Sam drifted asleep, exhausted by his break down. The demon kept rubbing comforting circles and let the hunter sleep. Silence reigned over the bedroom broken only by the steady breathing of a sleeping human.