A/N Massive spoilers for season 13 episode 17: The Thing.

Time didn't seem very relevant anymore. Place was just- lost. Gabriel was never sure anymore where he was or what was happening. He was sitting in a room that was brighter than normal. Someone was sitting in a chair in front of him, someone very tall. Gabriel looked up at him for a moment and saw hazel eyes. That was odd. Asmodeus had brown eyes, or yellow ones if he was angry. Hazel eyes were new.

Light glinted off metal in front of Gabriel's face. What was going on? The constant pain in his lips redoubled, and he whimpered. He focused on the face above him and tried to block out the pain. Gabriel knew that face from somewhere. He just couldn't remember where or when he'd seen it before.

The pain in Gabriel's lips subsided. It was a relief. He felt strangely- freer, but he wasn't sure why.

Gabriel wasn't really paying attention to sounds, he was focusing too much on trying to place the face of the man in front of him. Then he heard his name. He struggled to focus enough to understand what was being said. He didn't catch words, but he was pretty sure someone was asking a question that they didn't expect an answer to. The hazel-eyed man's lips moved as Gabriel heard the question, so he guessed that was who was speaking.

A man in a blue coat walked into the room. He spoke to the hazel eyed man, who turned toward him. They were talking, and the hazel-eyed man motioned to Gabriel. The man in the blue jacket brushed whatever hazel-eyes had said off, and the focus shifted away from Gabriel.

Gabriel sat there patiently, hoping nobody would pay attention to him. Thankfully, he was let alone for a while. Then the man with the hazel eyes was back.

"Gabriel?" he asked. "Can you talk?"

Gabriel just stared at him.

"OK," the man said finally. "You don't have to talk. I get that being captured wasn't fun."

Gabriel blinked and studied the man's face. He was so sure he knew those hazel eyes from somewhere, but he just couldn't place them. His frustration caused him to make a noise somewhere between a squeak and a groan.

Sam still looked a bit upset from the conversation he'd been having earlier with the guy in the blue jacket. Wait, Sam? Yes! Gabriel had finally remembered this man's name. He was Sam.

Recognition must have shown in Gabriel's eyes; it made Sam smile. Gabriel ducked his head fearfully, even though it wasn't a nasty smile like he'd seen on Asmodeus. He was just used to smiles in general being mean. Sam was nice, Gabriel remembered that much. He couldn't remember much else, though.

Sam was saying something. Gabriel wasn't listening, so he didn't try to respond. Sam apparently thought Gabriel's lack of response was a response. He stood up and walked to right next to Gabriel's chair. Gabriel flinched away from him, making the only noise he remembered how to make.

"Whoa, calm down," Sam said.

Gabriel stopped squeaking and studied Sam suspiciously.

"I'm going to carry you, ok?" Sam asked.

There was a time, long since, when Gabriel would've busted out his archangelic wrath on anyone who suggested carrying him anywhere. Now, he was mostly relieved that he wouldn't have to walk. His feet hurt.

Having Sam pick him up bridal style with no effort at all was humiliating. But it was an improvement on walking, and it didn't hurt any more than just existing did. Gabriel didn't have any reason to protest, and he didn't want to risk making Sam mad.

There were a lot of hallways, and then there was a doorway. Sam carried Gabriel through it, and he gazed vacantly around at the black markings on the white wallpaper. Some of them might have been sigils, but they just blurred together and he couldn't make any sense out of them.

Sam set Gabriel down on a soft, raised, horizontal surface. Gabriel didn't dare move. He flinched and trembled when Sam put a hand on his shoulder, but he was too tired and miserable to even try to escape.

"Just rest, ok, Gabriel," Sam said.

A moment later he left. The lights were out, and the door was closed. Gabriel guessed despondently that it was locked. There was no way anybody would let him escape. At least Sam hadn't hurt him yet. He thought of his dwindling supply of Grace, and he hoped Sam didn't want it. Ketch had said something about the Winchesters needing Gabriel's Grace for a spell. Sam couldn't be a Winchester, right?

Something in Gabriel's memory clicked again. Sam Winchester. Winchester was Sam's last name! He was going to take the last bit of Grace that Gabriel was desperately trying to regrow, and use it in a spell. That would leave Gabriel as helpless as a human, permanently! It couldn't happen. He couldn't let it.

But why hadn't Sam already taken the last bit of Grace? Maybe it wasn't enough, and he was going to wait for Gabriel to grow a bit more before he took it all away. Gabriel started crying from the amount of despair that thought gave him. He didn't want to lose his Grace. It was all he had left of Heaven, his father, his brothers… everything he cared about. Everything that was gone.

Determination filled Gabriel. He was not going to let anyone take the last of his Grace. He wasn't in Hell anymore, so there should be a way to escape. He wasn't even in a dungeon. This was obviously a bedroom. An old fashioned, militaristic bedroom, but a bedroom nonetheless.

He crawled to the edge of the bed and carefully set his damaged feet on the stone floor. It took effort, but he stood and went to the door. The knob wouldn't turn. He threw his full weight at the door, but it barely even shook. The hinges weren't normal, and he couldn't find any way to mess with them. He had nothing to pick a lock with, but even if he had, his fingers were shaking too badly to handle anything like that. There was no way to get the door open.

Gabriel went looking for another way out. He chose a section of wall and started hitting it with the desk chair. Some wood shattered, but it was noisy and slow. Most of what was happening was paint chipping off. He needed to find some other way, before the sound of him trying to bash his way out registered with Sam or anyone else staying here.

The ceiling was the only other thing Gabriel could think of. If up wasn't a way out, then he'd be stuck here until somebody came along and let him out. That wasn't an option. The ceiling did look a bit fragile, so maybe this could work. He looked around the room, plotting the best way to reach the ceiling.

Gabriel ended up climbing back onto the bed. From there he stood up and got onto the desk beside the bed. The step up to the headboard was higher, and it felt more dangerous with his head spinning dizzily. He steadied himself with a hand on the wall and climbed onto a shelf built right into the wall. The ceiling was then with reach.

Unfortunately, Gabriel was in an awkward position with no real way to break through the ceiling. The angle was terrible. If the stakes had been any lower, he would've given up. But this wasn't a game. He couldn't let Sam take the rest of his Grace. With that thought, he used a bit of his Grace to blast a hole in the ceiling. He was careful, and it didn't take much. Enough was still left over for it to regrow.

An alarm went off. Red lights flashed.

Now in a hurry, Gabriel boosted himself through the hole he'd blasted in the ceiling, and into a room one story up. He didn't take the time to register what kind of room it was, just where the door was located. He scrambled to his feet and stumbled over to it. It was unlocked, and he went through it to a hallway. The lights were still flashing red.

Gabriel didn't know what way to go, but he thought anything had to be better than staying put. He picked left and stumbled along as fast as he could. The hallway ended twenty feet down with a door that led to stairs. He didn't want to go down as that would lead back towards his room, but he wasn't sure he had the strength to make it up a flight of stairs. He was so weak from his long imprisonment that even walking was a challenge.

Against his better judgment, Gabriel started down the stairs. He'd been right that it was a bad idea. An angel he knew he should recognize was coming up from below him. He turned around, and Sam was blocking the way up. He was cornered.

The distracting, painful red lights wouldn't stop flashing, and they were making it hard for him to think. Neither Sam nor the angel was moving, but it was clear that Gabriel wouldn't be able to escape. So maybe he could pick. Sam, who wanted to steal his Grace for a spell, or an angel he didn't recognize. Angels were scary. He had run away from Heaven because the fighting was so bad, and he didn't want to have to go back there.

Gabriel turned on the stairway to face Sam. Maybe he could convince Sam to leave his Grace alone for long enough that the spell would leave some to grow back. And Sam was nice, he remembered that. He couldn't remember anything about that angel yet, just that he knew him. And that was true for every angel.

Something in Sam's posture struck a memory, and Gabriel got a bit back.

Sam was holding Gabriel pinned against a fence. One of his hands was uncomfortably close to Gabriel's throat, while the other dug a bloody stake into his neck. Sam's face was dark, and his eyes were bitter and angry. His face twisted as he scowled.

"You son of a bitch," Sam practically hissed at him.

"How long will it take you to realize," Gabriel recalled saying. "You can't save your brother. No matter what."

"Oh, yeah?" Sam challenged. "I kill you, this all ends now."

He dug the stake deeper into Gabriel's neck. It burned, but it was nothing like the pain Gabriel had dealt with at Asmodeus' hands. Gabriel pulled his head back to try to ease the pressure.

"Oh, hey! Wow," Gabriel had gasped. "Ok. Ok. Look, I was just playing around. You can't take a joke, fine. You're out of it. Tomorrow, you wake up; it'll be Wednesday." His eyes darted nervously. "I swear," he added.

"You're lying," Sam retorted instantly.

"If I am, you know where to find me. Having pancakes at the diner," Gabriel bargained, an edge of desperacy to his calm words.

Sam thought for a moment, then his face hardened. "No," he said bitterly. "Easier to just kill you."

Gabriel pulled himself from the memory. He wished he hadn't remembered it, even though it was useful information. Sam had been so mad; there was no point trying to trust him now. Gabriel forgot he was on a staircase and tried to back away from Sam. He tripped and fell backwards, banging his head against the steps. The strain was too much and he fell unconscious.

A/N I'll write more if anyone's interested, so please leave a review if you liked it!