When Sam still hadn't come back to their booth five minutes later, Dean sighed. Cas, ever observant of his charge's demeanor, looked at Dean in question. The hunter groaned. "Keep shortstack out here. I'm gonna go find Sam."

Gabriel rolled his eyes at the nickname but made no move to leave. When Dean was out of earshot, Castiel confronted his brother.

"Why do you not just tell Sam how you feel?" he asked sharply.

"Don't start in on me, Cassie. It's my business and I'm saying to stay out of it," Gabriel replied without looking up from his coffee.

"You frustrate me, Gabriel. I do not understand your reasoning."

"Yeah, well, you don't have to. Just keep your mouth shut about it." When Cas opened his mouth to speak again, Gabriel glared and - for added measure - snapped up some duct tape. He held the roll up and raised a challenging brow at the seraph. Castiel sighed and nodded, closing his mouth and turning his attention to his own coffee.

In the back of the diner, Sam was glaring at Dean. "I'm fine, Dean. Leave it alone."

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, bolting from the table like a hellhound was after you is the epitome of fine."

"Just drop it, Dean. I'm not kidding. I do not want to have a brotherly bonding moment over my shitty life choices."

"And I'm any better? Sam, it's not just you. We're both cursed."

"Cursed? No, I'm not cursed. I am the curse. Everything would have been so much better if I'd never been born. Mom would still be alive. Dad, too. You wouldn't have gone to Hell. The freaking apocalypse wouldn't have begun. I destroy everything I touch, Dean."

"Sammy, what the hell? You're not a curse, you're my brother! And you don't know that anything would be different. You know that the angels and the demons both have been working toward the apocalypse for hundred of years."

Sam shook his head. "I'm poison, and you know it."

"Fine. You wanna act like spoiled little bitch because that asshole out there doesn't like you back, go ahead. But don't expect any sympathy from me when you're just looking for a reason to be moody," Dean spat, beyond frustrated. With a last harsh look at Sam he turned and stalked from the bathroom. On the way to the door, he barked, "C'mon, Cas."

Gabriel snorted at how quickly Cas jumped to, following the fuming hunter out of the diner. The archangel was about to wing himself away when he realized that Dean and Cas were actually leaving. Narrowing his eyes, he watched as they climbed into the car and peeled out of the parking lot.

"What the hell, Castiel?"

"I am sorry, Gabriel. Dean is very angry at Sam and wishes to...teach him a lesson."

"Great. Thanks a lot, little bro. Keep the menace from killing himself. I've got Sam."

Gabriel broke away from his connection to Cas as Sam exited the bathroom and made his way to their seats. His steps faltered when he saw Gabriel sitting there alone. "Where's Dean and Cas?"

"I gotta give it to you, Samsquatch. You sure know how to piss off your brother. He took off," Gabriel informed him nonchalantly.

Sam groaned and plopped into the booth across from the angel. "Great," he said bitterly. Once again, he had fucked things up.

"Here we go, boys! Oh, where's the other two?" the waitress asked as she plunked their plates onto the table.

"They went to find a motel to christen," Gabriel deadpanned. Despite himself, Sam laughed at the thought of uptight Dean accepting his feelings for the angel enough to act on them.

The waitress wasn't quite as amused. When her face lost its genuine warmth and fell into a fake expression that both men recognized as disapproval masked by politeness, the hunter and the angel glanced at each other. Gabriel's face held a hint of challenge, one that Sam was quick to return.

For the sake of making this woman uncomfortable, they would both take one for the team. Almost as one, they reached across the table dividing them and clasped hands. Sam smiled and said to the waitress, "Yeah, we're actually all on a honeymoon. Big double wedding, two sets of brothers. It was all very romantic."

Gabriel smirked and made a show of rubbing his thumb across Sam's knuckles. (The hunter tried to ignore the butterflies in his belly.) The waitress made a noncommittal noise and forced another smile before walking away.

Sam's hand felt cold as Gabriel's fingers drew away. "Thanks for playing along, Sammich. I can't stand homophobes."

"Yeah, me either," the hunter agreed as he resolutely stared out the window. The brief contact with the angel had stirred up his unwanted emotions - lust at the forefront of those - and Sam was hesitant to add fuel to his stupid heart's idea of a fire.

Gabriel rolled his eyes as Sam curled in on himself - metaphorically speaking. This kid was all sorts of issues rolled into a mess of floppy hair and dimples. He decided to give Sam a break and kept his comments (which mostly consisted of lewd jokes or uncomfortable gossip about their fellow diners) to himself. As they finished their food, the angel snapped and had the missing brothers' food in to-go boxes. Without waiting for the waitress, Sam tossed enough cash to cover their bill onto the table and made his way to the door.

Before he could leave, a big burly man in leather stood and stepped into their path. "Heard you're one of those queer folk. You best be leaving town quickly. We don't need your kind around these parts."

Sam felt his lips quirk, but fought down the smile. "And if we don't?" he asked belligerently.

Big guy crossed his arms, making sure to flex his muscles as he did so. "We'll just have to make you."

This time, Sam did smile briefly before his expression turned deadly and he raised to his full height. Slightly hunched - as always; Sam knew his height could be intimidating - he had been evenly matched with the other man. Now he was notably taller. He stepped right into the other man's space and said quietly, "You won't be making us do anything. We'll leave when we're damn good and ready. Got a problem with it? Go cry to your boyfriend about it."

Gabriel couldn't contain his snickers as the beefy guy's face turned red with his fury. Sam grasped his jacket sleeve and tugged him past the unresisting asshole and out the door. The angel burst into laughter as soon as they were outside, bent over and gasping for breath. "Damn, kiddo. I thought he was gonna piss himself for a second there."

Sam's tight expression didn't fade, though he did let go of the angel's jacket. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, breathing deeply in an attempt to reign in his fury. Gabriel's laughter carried on for a few more minutes, but Sam's anger stayed hot. Finally, the celestial being noticed the human's stiff form.

"Sam? What is it?" he asked cautiously. Infinitely powerful being though he was, he didn't feel like being attacked by six feet and four inches of Winchester fury. When Sam didn't respond, Gabriel sighed. So much for their fun. One snap of pagan-angelic magic later and the two were transported to a motel room across town. Sam opened his eyes when his footing changed. Noticing the room around them, he blinked and immediately stalked to the bathroom.

Gabriel stared after him in confusion. "What the hell crawled up his ass and died?" Shrugging it off, the angel plopped down onto Sam's bed and blinked at the television. It came to life and began flipping through the available channels with barely a thought. The rest of his focus was on letting his little brother know where to meet up after Dean had calmed down from his hissy fit.

After ten minutes had passed and Sam was still hiding out in the bathroom, Gabriel sighed. "It sucks to be the responsible person in the equation," he thought as he stood up. Knocking on the door garnered no reaction, and neither did calling Sam's name. Finally, the angel transported himself into the small room, ready to verbally flay the hunter for making him actually act like an adult.

The cracked mirror and blood spattered around the room put a halt to his words. Sam was squeezed between the toilet and the tub, his bloodied hands cradling his head. Gabriel wondered how in the hell he hadn't heard the commotion even as he stepped cautiously toward the human. "Sam?" he called out softly. Sam didn't move, so Gabriel called out again a little louder. Still nothing. With slow movements, the angel reached for the hunter and gently pulled his hands away from his head and grasped his chin to tilt the man's face up.

Sam's hazel eyes were dull and listless, almost as if he were in a trance. "Or shock," the angel realized. He sighed again and snapped, moving Sam to his bed and instantly changing his bloody clothes. With careful motions, he picked up Sam's hands and inspected the damage to the knuckles. Bits of glass were stuck in the open wounds, and blood welled constantly and sluggishly.

Gabriel groaned and sent out a call to his little brother, informing the seraph of Sam's condition. Even from across town, Gabriel felt the spike of anger that could have come from none other than Dean. Within minutes, the Impala was roaring to a halt outside the room. The older Winchester burst through the door, searching for Sam and crossing to his side in seconds. Castiel followed close behind, carrying Dean's duffle.

"I removed the glass and bandaged them," Gabriel said quietly from the doorway to the bathroom. While his crossed arms and casual stance spoke of nonchalance, the expression on his face was anything but. Dean looked up and glared, even going so far as to take a menacing step toward the angel, but Gabriel was gone in a rush of feathers. Castiel moved from his spot by the front door and studied the damage in the bathroom. After a few moments, he rejoined Dean.

"Does Sam have issues controlling his anger?" he asked in his gravelly voice.

"What? Yeah, sometimes. If he gets mad enough, you can't stop him - just gotta wait till he burns it out of his system."

Castiel nodded. "I believe he was attempting to control himself. Sequestered in the bathroom, there wasn't much for him to break."

"Yeah except his hands. Dammit, Sammy," Dean said softly as he stared at the blank face of his baby brother.

For nearly two hours, Dean sat by Sam's side and waited for him to wake up. Cas had taken up residence in one of the chairs in the kitchen area, staring into oblivion. Finally, Sam groaned and twitched.

"Sammy!" Dean was instantly by his brother's side, watching as he reached up to clutch his head, only to look at his bandaged hands in confusion.

"W-what?" he asked. "Dean, what happened?"

"You got pissed at your reflection, apparently. Trashed the bathroom, ended up damn near comatose for the last two hours."

"But... Where'd Gabriel go? Wasn't he here?" Sam asked quietly.

Nodding, Dean said, "He scrammed not long after me an' Cas got here."

Sam stared down at his hands. "Oh," he said softly. "I think...I think I'm gonna go to sleep, Dean. Can you help me with my boots?"

Dean frowned at the defeated tone in Sam's voice, as well as the request itself. Sam never asked him for help anymore, but he wasn't going to deny the kid now. "Sure, Sammy. Pants?" When Sam nodded, Dean set to work getting him ready for bed like he had countless times as kids. Boots and pants came off, covers were pulled from under the taller man, and Dean perfunctorily tucked him in with nary a snark about being a princess.

He may be a dick sometimes, but even Dean knew when to keep it to himself.

With Sam squared away and breathing softly, Dean sighed and made his way to the bottle of liquor he had stashed in his duffle. He dropped into the chair across from Cas and took a swig straight from the bottle. "What the fuck is Gabriel's deal?"

Cas shook his head. "I am unable to speak of my brother's current affliction."

Dean stared at the angel for a moment before taking another, longer swig of whiskey. "He's fucking with my brother's head, Cas."

"I apologize, Dean. He will not listen to me." Cas sighed before reaching across the table to snag the bottle from Dean's hand. He took a generous swallow form the bottle before looking back to Dean. "Older brothers are...a pain in the ass."

Dean snorted. "Yeah, well. Little brothers ain't much better." He glanced at Sam's still form and sighed again. "I haven't seen him this wrecked since...damn. Since Jess died. I wonder what set him off."

"Would you like me to ask Gabriel?" Cas asked helpfully. Without waiting for Dean's reply, he sent the question to the archangel.

Gabriel was currently halfway across the world, contemplating the pros and cons of staying with the Winchesters, when he heard Cas' question. Only after he assured himself that Sam was asleep did he reappear in the motel room he had left so quickly earlier. He didn't even look at Sam as he snapped a third chair into existence and dropped into it.

"We were messing with the waitress at the diner - who turned out to be a homophobe, by the way - and we were on our way to find you guys when big, beefy, and in denial threatened us. Said we needed to get our gay selves outta town or we'd be made to. Sam went from Tigger to tiger and nearly made the guy piss himself. It was beautiful to behold," he said with a half-grin. The smile faded as he continued. "I snapped us here, he went into the bathroom, and when I went to see what the hell was taking so long, I found him squished between the john and the tub - and seriously, how did he fit there? - with broken mirror and blood everywhere. And then I fixed his hands up and called you guys."

Dean felt his teeth grind together. "Did it occur to you that something was wrong when he was so mad he couldn't talk?"

Gabriel glared. "I thought he was just mad! I didn't know he was gonna hulk out."

Dean shook his head. "How the hell he could ever see anything in you is beyond me. You're too selfish to care about anything but your own sorry hide."

Dean didn't see the momentary hurt flash in Gabriel's eyes, but Castiel did. "Gabriel, I would like to speak to you alone."

"Whatever," Gabriel said harshly as he shoved back from the table. He was gone as soon he was far enough away to spread his wings.

Castiel looked at Dean with disappointment evident in his eyes.

"What?! It's true!" Dean exclaimed. Cas was gone seconds later, but the sudden feeling of guilt in Dean's gut stayed. "It's true," he said quietly as he turned to look once more at Sam's sleeping form. With one last gulp of burning whiskey, Dean returned the bottle to his bag and fell onto the other bed with a groan of frustration.

Maybe tomorrow would be better.

########

Castiel landed gracefully beside his brother, distantly noting that they were in Spain. "Why do you continue this, Gabriel? What purpose does it serve?"

The archangel glared half-heartedly at the seraph. "You don't know anything, Castiel, so don't pretend to scold me."

"I do not pretend at anything. Sam lay nearly comatose for close to two hours. You did not have to engage the waitress in your petulant scheme, and you did not need to bring Sam into with you. Have you not seen his soul crying out in pain? Why do you add to it?"

"Don't try to pull that shit, Cas. His soul was crying out long before I came into the picture. Going to hell will do that to somebody," Gabriel said bitterly.

Cas sighed and looked contrite. "I apologize, Gabriel. It was not my intention to bring up those memories."

"Then what was your intention? Huh?"

"I simply wish to know your intentions toward Sam Winchester."

Gabriel laughed, but it was a mocking sound. "I don't have any intentions toward him, Cas. Now go away. I may infect you with my selfish ways."

Castiel sighed again as his brother vanished. "Well, that didn't go well."