Since the angels had fallen, Sam and Dean had grown used to finding them in their bunker-cum-house; sometimes asking for help and sometimes trying to get revenge by killing one or both of them in various painful ways. But after three weeks of this, they were still shocked when one day they heard a knock on their door and opened it to find a golden-eyed, dirty, bloody Gabriel sitting on their doorstep.

"I'm not dead." He declared weakly, before passing out.

Once they got over their initial shock, the Winchesters took him inside and nursed him back to health but after they fixed him, unlike the other angels, this one stayed. And from the moment Gabriel became healthy again the pranks started and it was clear they were never going to stop. Water buckets on top of doors and Sam's personal favourite; when Dean woke up to find every piece of furniture in his room stuck to the ceiling. Another fact that became quickly clear was the bond between Sam and Gabriel. Dean always assumed it was just like himself and Cas, the whole "more profound bond" thing. And that also explained why Sam was so distraught when Gabriel went missing, right?

None of them expected it when it happened, it was a normal morning in all but one detail; it was too quiet. There were no screams as people woke up covered in honey, no frogs in the breakfast cereal and no taps spraying water all over the place. That was when they realised he was gone.

It had only taken them a few days to work out where he was because all the angels were still vaguely connected in their weird psychic way. But even with Cas' help Sam thought it took them too long, he spent most of that time pacing back and forward trying not to hyperventilate and Dean started to get worried about his brother.

"Dude, Sammy are you ok?" He asked, and then backtracked completely. "No screw that, I can see you're not. But listen, even though Gabriel's a dick, he's my friend too and the only chance we stand at getting him back is if we all calm down and think about it. We know where he is now; we just need to figure out what we're up against so we know how to kill it."

To say Sam reacted badly to his comforting would be an understatement. "No! We know where he is, why won't you just tell me? Then you can carry on figuring it out and I can go and rescue him. It doesn't matter what it is if he's already-" His voice broke and he couldn't even bring himself to consider that situation. "Look, just tell me where he is and I can go, you guys don't have to come I just want to know he's alright."

But Dean was having none of it. "You've got to be kidding me? If you go charging in there alone with no way to gank this thing it'll just kill you both and that's not happening on my watch, end of story you are not going alone. You're going to do the sensible thing and wait until we know how to save him." Dean could see the hurt in Sam's eyes as he reluctantly agreed but they couldn't risk going in this early.

Two more agonising days later and they knew what it was. It should've been obvious really, more fallen angels looking for vengeance and as soon as they knew it Sam had his gun loaded and was ready to go. It was the middle of the night, not the best time to hunt anything but everyone knew that if they didn't go straight away Sam would lose his mind. Dean still didn't understand why the other hunter was so worked up. Sure, Gabriel was his friend but Sam was falling to pieces at an unreasonable rate.

It felt like it took them hours to get there but when they did Sam was out of the car like a rocket as he ran to break the door down. Dean shouted at him to calm down or else they'd get caught, but he ignored him. When they finally got into the room Sam's heart almost stopped. Gabriel was there alright, with a hole through his chest and soaked in blood.

"Oh my god Gabe," Sam instantly forgot their surroundings, all the danger they were in and ran over to the man huddled against the wall. Honestly Sam had no idea what to do so he improvised, ripping his shirt off and holding it against the wound.

Despite everything Gabriel smiled. "That's not going to help Sammy and you know it. But if I'm going to die, at least it's a nice view." He raked his eyes over Sam's bare body and Sam rolled his eyes.

"You are not dying, I won't let you." He told him firmly as if that would make it so.

"Give it up Sam, I'm a dead man."

Sam hadn't even noticed he was crying until he saw one of his tears land on Gabriel's face. "No no no you are not dying. You're an archangel that's not even possible. Please tell me it's not possible."

"Afraid it is. I'm completely human now." Gabriel winced as he felt a jolt of pain shoot through his chest. "This is so cheesy but I just wish we'd got a bit longer, that's all. I'm gonna miss you Sammy."

That was about the point where Dean realised exactly what was happening between them. And to say he was surprised was an understatement but he couldn't bring himself to interrupt them.

Sam was full on crying now, not even caring that everyone else was watching. "I should've known this would happen, everyone I love dies, it's not fair."

Gabriel smiled, fighting to keep his eyes open. "So you love me?"

"For some reason, yeah I do."

Finally Gabriel gave up and let his eyes close. "Good. Me too."

Then Sam realised it was really over and broke down with grief. He didn't even notice when Dean came over to sit beside him, or when he put his arm around his weeping brother's shoulders. In fact he barely noticed anything for the next half an hour until he realised what he had to do.

/

When Gabriel woke up he was in Sam's bed. Not an unusual occurrence, but what was unusual was the fact he was soaked in blood. Then he remembered. Those damn angels had stabbed him, but he must've somehow survived if he was here now… No, Gabriel was sure he'd died, he remembered Sam crying as he lay in his arms and then everything went black. He'd definitely died. Then Gabriel looked up to the doorway where the man himself was leaning, looking guilty.

"Sam you didn't," Gabriel asked reproachfully, knowing full well that he had. Sam shrugged carelessly.

"Ten years is enough for me."