It was stupid, really. More than stupid. It was practically textbook stupid. The boys were out at the morgue, looking at the victims and talking to the police about the attacks we'd been looking into, leaving me alone in the motel room to research and keep an eye out for anomalies. Someone—or something—had been stringing people up and torturing them, only to be found days later sliced up better than a country ham on Christmas. I'd been pretty sure it was demons. In fact, I was reasonably confident the whole thing was cut-and-dry. "Just in case" Sam had said. "We need to cover all of our bases before we jump to conclusions."

Which was why I was stuck at the motel room with Sam's laptop and a stack of old lore books I'd checked out from the local library earlier that day. I'd been looking for anything out-of-the-ordinary (which was ironic because what about my day-to-day life qualified as 'ordinary'?) for at least two hours when I decided I deserved a break. Marking my page in the current book, I closed it and flopped down on my bed. Dean had lost the rock-paper-scissors and was stuck with the pull-out couch while I got the nicer motel bed. I hadn't slept well in a few days and thought a nap was well within my rights. If the boys needed me, they would call. I was pretty sure nothing disastrous would take place in the hour I'd be away from the researching.

I was almost asleep when someone knocked on the door. I ignored it, hoping whoever it was would leave. No such luck. They knocked again. "Housekeeping" came from what sounded like a sixty-year old woman with a fifty-year old smoking habit. I ignored her again, assuming she'd eventually continue on her way. Instead, she started up a persistent stream of knocking and all I wanted was to sleep so ignoring my better judgment I got up and strode across the room. Throwing open the door I got out "Look, lady—" before her eyes flashed black and her three friends backed her up in the doorway, grinning like cats who'd caught a juicy mouse.

And that's the story of how I ended up here. My hands tied together and subsequently to the frame of the bed. My ankles likewise bound together. Taken off-guard as I was, they'd easily overpowered me and had me strung up like a broken toy. They'd had fun breaking their toy. It'd been an hour and so far I had slices all over my face and neck, a fat lip and black eye from the initial struggle, my left shoulder was dislocated, I had a couple of bruised ribs and my right ankle might be broken. They'd shoved a dirty cloth in my mouth that muffled my screams, and they hadn't even asked me for anything. It was pure pleasure for them. If there was any doubt in my mind that these were the sons of bitches we'd been looking for, it had long since evaporated.

"You're the Winchester's little bitch aren't you?" the old woman hissed at me as she drew her blade across my stomach, leaving a trail of my blood in its wake. Two of them had shrunk back for reasons unknown to me. Boredom, perhaps? One of the goons was playing lookout at the door while the old hag—obviously the ringleader—had her fun with me. "Their surrogate little sister. Imagine the looks on their faces when they come back and find you all sliced up and rotting in a pool of your own blood and excrement. It'll be delicious." She emphasized the last word by pressing the heel of her palm down on my bruised ribs, causing a few more tears to stream down my cheeks. I was long past screaming. I was slowly coming to terms that I was going to die here. It would take a miracle to get out of this alive.

Wait. A miracle. Not exactly an act of God, but it was close enough. Cas didn't have the juice to come get me out of this mess, but I knew one angel who did.

Hey, Gabe? If you could drop by and give me a hand or two, I'd be extremely grateful.

As an added incentive, I added on to my request:

Make it in the next thirty seconds and I'll take you out for ice cream. My treat.

She was drawing her blade across an empty spot on my face when I heard the sound of someone with wings teleporting into the room. The old bitch was blocking my view, so all I heard was a few choice curses and sudden demonic screaming, followed by bright blue flashes of light. He took care of the goons, and by that time the woman had turned around to face whatever was attacking her and her men. She shrieked at him when she turned, and I could see his face. I had never seen such unmasked fury on Gabriel's face. Knowing he was an archangel with the power of the Heavens made it that much more intimidating.

The old bitch didn't quite get it until she glanced at her fellows, strewn about the floor with their eyes burned out of their heads. She looked back at him and his eyes flashed in anger. She opened her mouth to smoke out.

"ah ah ah..we can't have that now," Gabriel hissed at her and before she could vomit herself up he had his hand on her head and his eyes began to glow. Knowing what was coming, I closed mine. I heard a thunk and sudden, quick movement toward me. The gag was ripped from my mouth.

"(y/n)? (y/n) I need you to open your eyes, come on. Show me those beautiful eyes." It was harder to open my eyes than I realized. Most of my body had gone numb and all I wanted was to sink into the darkness myself. I felt something pulling on my wrists and suddenly my arms were free and fell onto the mattress above my head, soon followed by the feeling of my ankles doing the same. Suddenly the strangest feeling overcame me. It felt like my entire body was glowing and weightless. There was a warmth that spread throughout me, and suddenly the numbing feeling was gone. I expected to be onslaught by pain—they had done a number on me—but there was none. Gradually, I opened my eyes to see warm hazels looking back at me with relief.

"There are those beautiful eyes," he smiled as he helped me to sit up. "I patched you up nice and proper. You'll be a little sore, but you'll be back to your normal—"

In a rash moment of misplaced confidence and gratefulness, I reached up and kissed him. I felt him stiffen slightly in shock, so I pulled away quickly. Blushing, I mumbled an apology. He blinked at me a couple of times before smirking and kissing the apology from my lips. After a brief second of shock, I kissed him back. After a couple minutes we broke apart. He leaned his forehead against mine.

"I came here expecting ice cream, but I got something even sweeter. Imagine that." I smiled and ducked my head onto his shoulder in embarrassment.

"Thank you, Gabe. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up." I sobered up quickly at the thought. I felt like a damn fool. What kind of hunter was I to make such a rookie mistake and land myself in that situation? I could have died tonight, all thanks to my stupidity.

"You're not stupid. Just human."

I must have spoken out loud and not realized it.

"Nah," Gabriel said as he tilted my chin up to look at him. "Angel, remember? I can hear whatever goes on in that pretty little noggin of yours whenever I please. Even without it being written all over your face." He winked. I smiled and he leaned in again, only to be interrupted by the door swinging open into a dead demon and the sound of Dean Winchester's "what the hell happened in here?"

"I think that's my cue to leave. Even after everything we've been through I'm still not on their top 100 list of things-not-to-try-to-kill," Gabriel whispered in my ear. The boys hadn't noticed him yet, too busy taking in the carnage. He pecked my lips again and as he disappeared I heard his voice in my head say "rain check on that ice cream, sugar plum." I smiled and turned to the boys, who were waiting in confused expectation. I sighed.

"It has been one hell of a night, gentlemen."