Disclaimer: Still not mine

A/N: And here's the second chapter! Don't forget to review...


"Do you... want some coffee?" Clara proposed.

"Yes, that would be great." Dean answered gently.

He didn't want to scare the young woman. It had been pretty hard to convince her not to run for the cops when they had reappeared in the house with Gabriel. But she had calmed after plenty apologies and a little explanation from her companion, and they were now all sitting in the kitchen, waiting for her to serve their drinks.

She then sat next to Gabriel, whose nose was still stuffed with cotton, and laid her hand upon his. He looked at it tenderly before turning back to the brothers, and asked with a bit of apprehension,

"So... Who am I?"

The Winchesters nodded at each other before Sam began to talk. Since their hosts didn't seem to know anything about the supernatural, they had decided to go for a story adapted to civilians, but close to the reality.

"Your name is Gabriel Lokster. When we first met you, you were working in a joke shop."

"And... How did the three of you meet?" Clara joined the conversation.

"We were working on a... case. We had reasons to believe that a terrorist – let's call him Luc – wanted to obtain a very dangerous weapon, and we wanted to set him up."

"And what's the relation with me?"

"You and Luc were very close at a time. You'd already given us important information about him, and we hoped you could help us to stop his plans, but you refused to get more involved. So we went for him anyway, but things ended pretty bad, and we were trapped."

"We probably would have been killed if you hadn't saved our lives at the last minute." Dean admitted reluctantly.

"What happened?"

"You... distracted him so we could escape, but you didn't go with us. When we came back, Luc was gone, and you'd disappeared. There were evidences of a fight, and we presumed you'd been... killed. Luc was arrested a few weeks later, and the case was closed." Sam finished.

There was a heavy silence following the last sentence, the Winchesters waiting to see if Gabriel and Clara were buying their story, and the couple visibly digesting all these information.

"Well," Gabriel started with a half smile, "obviously I'm not dead. Nobody tried to find me?"

"You once told us you'd broke off with your family. Probably nobody knew you were missing."

"That's... sad." Clara exhaled deeply.

"Now, your turn." Dean requested. "How did you make it through, and how did you end up in this town?"

"I don't know, it's kind of... blurred. I just remember... some kind of warm light. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the middle of a clearing, cold and drenched by rain. My chest hurt a lot, and I tried to find some help. And then I was knocked down by Clara's car."

"You knocked him down?" Dean exclaimed.

"I didn't knock him down." She corrected. "He threw himself under my car."


Clara and William Burns were driving back to New Castle after spending a day at Summit Lake.

Clara's father was fond of fishing, and he tried to come to this fantastic place once a month. This time, Clara had taken a day off to accompany him.

They had stayed until nightfall to watch the sunset on the lake, but unexpected clouds had rapidly gathered and they were forced to retreat to their car when a heavy rain started. Clara loved to drive in this weather; she felt safe in the warm car while the water pounded on the windshield, and she liked the smell of summer rain on hot asphalt.

"Baby, you should slow down a little. It's getting really dark." Her father advised.

"Dad, please. I'm not sixteen anymore, I know how to– Oh my God!"

She stood on the brake as she spotted the dark figure in the middle of the road. She could have sworn that the car stopped just in time, but her heart jumped in her chest when she heard a dull 'thump' on the hood.

Clara started when her father grabbed her arm.

"Darling, are you ok? What was that?"

"I don't know, it just... came out of nowhere!"

She quickly exited the car and went to the front, sure to find a dead body on the road. She wasn't quite prepared to what awaited her.

A man was indeed on the ground, but not sprawled on the asphalt in a disarticulated mess as she had expected. He was leaning back against the car, head bowed, arms at his side and legs spread on the floor. The rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still breathing, but it was far too rapid and Clara realised that he was panting.

"Sir, are you ok?"

He lifted his head up to look at her, his eyes pretty dazed and unfocused behind wet locks of hair. Clara winced when she saw that he was utterly drenched. He must have been out in the rain for a long time.

When he didn't respond, she crouched beside him, his gaze following her.

"Sir, can you tell me if you're okay?"

This time, he seemed to understand her question. He pondered a little before answering with a trembling voice,

"Not sure. Don't feel well... chest hurts..."

He lifted a hand to his heart to emphasize his words.

"Okay. I'm gonna take a look to see if you're injured." She explained softly.

He let her take his hand in hers carefully, and she pushed his jacket aside to reveal a bloodstained shirt.

"But you're covered in blood!"

"Darling, what are you doing?" Her father worried. "Oh God!"

He abruptly stopped when he saw the bloodied man on the ground.

"Dad, help me. We have to get him in the car." She turned back to the injured man. "What's your name, Sir?"

"Hum... Gabriel?"

She ignored the hesitation in his voice when he told his name, focusing on more important matters.

"Gabriel, we're going to move you in the car, so we can help you. This might hurt a little."

Clara and her father pulled the wounded man up and supported him to the back seat of the car. Gabriel winced and groaned a little when he stood, but otherwise seemed completely detached from the situation. Clara sat next to him and her father took her place at the wheel.

"We're going to the hospital?" William questioned urgently.

"No... no hospital." Gabriel moaned faintly as he struggled in the back seat. "No hospital... Got to find... Winchester..."

"Winchester?" Clara thought he meant the city nearby. "No, you need to see a doctor, and you'll be fine."

"No, not fine!" He began to panic and thrash in the back seat. "No hospital!"

"Okay, okay." Clara barely managed to restrain him, she didn't want his injuries to be worsened. "We won't go to the hospital if you don't want to."

"Promise?" He pleaded.

"Promise."

"Okay." He muttered, finally relaxing, and promptly collapsed onto her shoulder.

"So, what do we do?" Her father asked.

"We go back home."

At least, now that Gabriel was unconscious, it would be a lot easier to determine the gravity of his wounds. She moved aside the lapels of his jacket again, and opened his bloody shirt to examine the wound underneath. She was fairly surprised to find that there wasn't any gaping hole in his chest, but an already healing scar instead. There was just a little bit of blood oozing from a tender part of the new skin.

Clara let escape a sigh of relief.

"I think he'll be fine." She told her father reassuringly. "And maybe tomorrow we'll convince him to see a doctor."


"I watched over him the all night. The next day, Gabriel finally agreed to be taken to the hospital, but they didn't find any other injury. The doctors diagnosed a long-term amnesia, without apparent biological cause. After a while, since nobody seemed to be looking for him, my father and I decided to welcome him into our house."

"It rapidly turned out that I was a very good pastry-chef, so a few months later, Bill suggested that I work with him at the store, and I agreed." Gabriel continued. "I've never been able to remember anything. Truth is, I'd given up the hope to discover who I really was before you two came here."

The Winchesters looked at each other. They hadn't missed the mention of their real name during Clara's speech. Her story seemed perfectly coherent and could fit with the events they had gone through. But they had to verify some points.

"When did you say all of this happened?" Sam questioned the couple.

"Oh, I remember it clearly!" Clara assured quickly. "It was last year, in May. The 22th."

Sam and Dean glanced imperceptively at each other. It was exactly one month after Gabriel's presumed death, and a couple of weeks after Sam jumped with Lucifer and Michael into the Pit. That could make sense.

Dean felt a litlle awkward when he continued,

"Hum, Gabriel? Sorry to ask that, dude, but... Would you mind if we took a look at that scar?"

The question obviously surprised Gabriel, and the demand also seemed to embarrass him, but he agreed nonetheless.

"Yeah, 'f course."

He reluctantly stood and pulled his shirt up to reveal the little white scar on his chest, just under his heart. It resembled a deformed star, with very irregular branches joining at what must have been the point of impact of a knife, or a blade. Dean winced at the sight.

"Ouch, must have stung."

"Oh, just a bit." Gabriel said ironically as he sat back.

"So, that's why you were in town?" Clara intervened hesitantly. "To find Gabriel?"

"Actually, no." Sam answered. "We're here for another case. There are several people in this town who've been attacked in some unusual ways, and we were told you knew all of them."

"Who's that?" Gabriel inquired, curious.

"Mr Beckett, Mr Wilkinson, Tim and Paul Jones."

"Oh, I heard about Beckett. What happened to him seems pretty funny to me."

"Gabriel!" Clara chided.

"Well, it's true. Everyone knows this asshole yells at his students all the time. Now that his jaw's stuck, it's gonna be a lot more difficult."

"Actually, his mouth is sealed. Like in 'Matrix sealed'." Sam clarified.

"Ouch, gross." Gabriel winced.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Dean continued. "Did you notice anything special about these people?"

"No, they're just very good customers." Gabriel seemed to ponder for a moment. "I didn't see anything unusual."

"And, in this house?" Dean went on. "Anything out of the ordinary, like lights flickering, things disappearing? Nothing at all?"

The Winchesters noticed a quick glance between Clara and Gabriel, and the amnesic angel faltered just a little when he replied,

"No, nothing at all."

"Perfect, then." Sam said as he stood. "Look, I'm sure you both need some time to process all of this, and we have to get back to work. But we'll come back." He gave Clara a card of their motel with his phone number. "Don't hesitate to call us if you need or remember something."

"Yes, of course. Thank you." Clara nodded as she shook his hand.

"We stay in touch, Gabriel." Dean assured on his way to the door.

Gabriel waved at them amicably, watching them walk to their car before closing the front door.


"So, what do ya think?" Sam asked as soon as they were on the road.

"I believe their story. It fits. And I'm pretty sure he's really amnesic. But there's something they're hiding from us. You saw that look when I talked about strange things happening?"

"Yeah, unmistakable. And he did find Mr Beckett's problem kind of funny."

"But he didn't react about the others." Dean frowned. "I don't know, this all case is wrong. Maybe we should call Cas."

"I'd rather wait to have a real lead before disturbing the mighty angel of the Lord."

"Please, don't tell me you still resent him for not answering your prayers! Or is it about the hand-in-the-gut thing?"

"No. Just sayin'. Now that we know Gabriel's here, we have a new perspective to investigate this case."

"Okay, we'll watch him. But first, I need a beer. And don't make that face, bitch."

"Jerk."


"Do you think they know?" Clara asked, sounding worried.

"I'm not sure," Gabriel answered, "they dropped some hints and were pretty insistent about 'strange things'. They're probably aware of something, but I don't know what."

"Do you trust them?"

"Not really. They obviously lied about their names, and I'll be damned if they're FBI. We'll need to be careful."

Clara came in his arms and scrutinized his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb.

"How's your nose?"

"It's fine. Stopped throbbing while we talked. It'll be healed in minutes."

"And how are you? How is it to finally learn some things about your past?"

"I'm... good. It's a bit reassuring to know that I was not a total dick before. But I don't care anymore about the past." He intertwined his fingers in her black curls. "What really matters to me is the present, and you."

Gabriel's head lowered and he kissed Clara tenderly, before pulling back with a wide smile.

"And now..."

He snapped his fingers and a beautiful bouquet of red roses appeared in his hand. Clara giggled softly when he kneeled at her feet and declaimed pompously,

"Please, my Lady. Accept this modest present from your miserable admirer!"

"Gabriel, you shouldn't do this so casually. Someday, someone will see you." Clara chided gently. "You're too carefree for your own good."

"This, my love, is part of my charm."

He stood with a grin before kissing her again, the bouquet forgotten on the floor.


That night, Gabriel didn't sleep well.

He kept dreaming about a beautiful dark skinned woman with blood on her fingers – and he had the very disturbing feeling that it was his – and a scary yet familiar man with ugly oozing scars on his face. But mostly, he had flashes of the two so-called FBI agents he had just met, each time in different places, but they always seemed to stare at him with suspicion or dread.

Clara must have sensed him stir in his sleep, because she gently wrapped an arm around his chest, resting her hand on his heart. This immediatly comforted him, and he drifted into a more peaceful dream.

Gabriel was now in an unknown bedroom, watching a sleeping man. He recognized him as of one of his neighbors, Jack Simms. Gabriel thought absentmindedly that it was a little weird to dream about him, because he really didn't like the guy; he was rude to other people, and sometimes could be very violent with his kids.

But the dream went on, and Gabriel noticed Jack being brutally awakened by a strange noise coming from downstairs. The man silently slipped out of bed, and grabbed a baseball bat from under the bed before leaving the room. He then slowly moved down the stairs, careful not to make the steps creak.

There was a light on in the study. Jack approached the door very cautiously, and took a glimpse at the intruder. It was a huge man, wearing only trousers, and his skin had a strange shade and texture. It looked like an orange crust.

Jack stepped back and went to the kitchen, intending to call the cops. He grabbed the phone and started to dial 911, but then a heavy hand came down on his shoulder. He was turned around violently and came face to face with the orange colossus.

"Tss, tss, tss. Just you and me, Jack." The giant reprimanded before punching him in the jaw.

Gabriel woke up with a start, his yell startling his sleepy lover.

"What happened?" Clara worried when she realized he was sweating and panting. "What was it?"

Gabriel calmed down as he took in his surroundings; Clara whispering soft words as she was stroking his hair, the sunrise already casting a warm light through the curtains of their room. He sighed in relief.

"A dream... It was just a bad dream."

He turned to his lover and offered her a timid smile to dispel her fears.

And then he heard the siren of an ambulance.


The Winchesters had been called by the police in the late morning. They wanted to inform them that a man had been assaulted during the night and that his attack might be related to their current case.

When they made it to the hospital, an officer welcomed them and explained what had happened.

"We suppose Mr Simms heard someone break into his house and surprised the intruder. The criminal must have panicked and he beat Mr Simms up until he was unconscious."

"Do you have a witness?"

"Yes. One of Simms' boys saw the fight. But it must have traumatized him."

"Why's that?" Sam inquired.

"Because he told us the Thing did it."

"The Thing? As in the 'Fantastic Four' Thing?" Dean wondered.

"Yes, precisely."

"Thank you, Sir." Sam said. "We'd like to speak to the family if we could."

"They're in the waiting room, with some neighbors."

He showed the direction, and then left.

"Looks like another trick to me." Sam reflected as they walked.

"Yeah." Dean groaned. "I swear, when I see Gabriel again, I'm gonna beat the crap out of–"

He stopped when he noticed the subject of their conversation pacing up and down in the corridor. Regaining sense, Dean strode in his direction, followed closely by Sam, and grabbed the trickster from behind by his shoulder.

"Hey." Gabriel protested. "What the–"

But Dean didn't let him finish and shoved him in an empty room, before pinning him against a wall as Sam closed the door and the blinds behind them.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Dean roared. "Came to see a job well done?"

"Wha– What are you talking about?"

Gabriel struggled to break free from Dean's grip, but didn't manage to move him. This detail definitly didn't go unnoticed by the Winchesters.

"Jack Simms." Sam answered. "Don't play dumb, we know you did this to him."

"I– No, I didn't do anything. He was assaulted in his house by a... a giant."

"And how do you know that, Einstein?" Dean snarled. "Only the police and the family know the details of the attack."

Gabriel looked really confused for a second, and then seemed torn between fear and anger.

"I dreamt about it, okay!" He finally admitted. "I saw the whole bloody scene in a dream. And it scared the hell outta me! And when I woke up I found out it wasn't a dream at all. And now you're mugging me, implying I'm responsible for it, so excuse me if I'm a little freaked out!" He exclaimed, his hands fisted so tight the knuckles where white.

Dean, startled, released him and took a few steps back, studying the smaller man for a second.

"Geez, you really don't know what's going here, do you?" Sam came to stand next to his brother.

"Nooo. Took you long enough to figure this out."

The Winchesters exchanged glances, silently agreeing. Dean relaxed his shoulders and started to explain,

"Look, we're not FBI."

"No kiddin'!" The angel scoffed. "Knew that the moment Big boy punched me in the face."

"Just– Shut up, for a minute." Dean cut him. "We're Dean and Sam Winchester, and we're hunters. We cross the country to stop and kill evil things."

"Like what?" Gabriel inquired, sounding suddenly curious.

He had frowned slightly at the mention of their name, but the brothers couldn't tell if he really remembered it.

"Like ghosts, demons, vampires. All the monsters you can think of." Sam clarified.

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"You," Dean was losing patience, "are not really human. You're a trickster... among other things."

"A what?"

"A trickster." Sam repeated. "A pagan god with a twisted sense of humour, who punishes dicks with just deserts by manipulating reality."

"That must be a joke." The angel chuckled humourlessly. "You guys are nuts!"

"Oh, come on!" Dean exclaimed. "Don't tell me you never noticed things weren't quite right about you. We know you and your girlfriend hid something from us, yesterday."

"You leave her out of this." Gabriel warned darkly.

"So, what is it?" Sam pursued. "You can disappear at will? Read people's mind? Make things appear with a snap of your fingers?"

The trickster flinched at the last proposition, earning a victorious smile from the brothers.

"Touché!" Dean rejoiced. "And you didn't think it was worth mentioning?"

Gabriel stared at them for a second before sighing in defeat.

"Okay. I may be able to do some... interesting things, but that's it." His tone was deadly serious when he continued. "I never wanted to hurt anyone in this town."

"Maybe you didn't, but you hurt them anyway." Sam countered. "Deep inside, you thought they needed to be punished, and you unconsciously made sure they got what they deserved. There's no other explanation."

There was a heavy moment of silence, before Dean tried to solve the problem peacefully.

"You have to make this stop." He warned calmly.

"And if you can't, we'll have no other option than stopping you." Sam finished.

Dean was taken aback by his brother's comment. He still wasn't getting used to Robo-Sam's occasional coldness and lack of subtlety. Hell, he was supposed to be the less subtle of the team.

When he turned back to the angel, Dean instantly understood that threatening him wasn't exactly the best tactic to adopt. Sam's last remark had visibly pissed him off.

"Let me go." Gabriel ordered more than asked, his voice darker than he had ever heard.

"Of course." Sam stepped back to let him pass. "Just think about what I said."

Gabriel walked slowly to the door, never taking his eyes off Sam's – the younger Winchester even thought he saw a brief golden sparkle in them. Just before the archangel exited the room, he paused and declared,

"Now you two listen to me, dicks. You stay away from me, and you stay away from my family, or I'll send you the cops. The real ones. An if you ever hurt Clara and Bill, I swear I will find you, and I will end you myself."

And then he was gone.

Dean let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding, and tapped Sam's shoulder.

"Good job, Sammy. Really, good job."


TBC