"Does that thing even work anymore?"

"Of course, Sammy. Like a dream."

Sam threw a suspicious glance at the old walkie-talkie/scanner, but said nothing. He watched as Dean strode among the crop. The field was finally quieted, all the curious locals gone back home.

"Dean," he called. His brother stopped in the middle of depressed lines crossing in the grain. "Found anything?"

"Not yet, but that doesn't mean anything. Someone doesn't just accidently imprint a huge devil's trap into the field."

"It wouldn't work," Sam noted. "It's incomplete."

"Well, someone still put a hell of a lot effort to make it. If not to catch demons, then to mark something." Dean turned to continue to circle among the crop.

"It's getting dark. We can come back tomorrow." Dean looked back at him and then at the field. Sam knew all too well what he was thinking. It was two days since the angels had Fallen. And the whole map at the Bat Cave had sprung to life. When Cas hadn't answered their prayers, not even Dean's, they had started to seriously get worried. They had reluctantly left Kevin to look after the Bat Cave and chained Crowley in cause Cas would appear there and took the Impala. They had been on the road ever since, trying to find anyone who would know what the hell was going on. The crop circles had been their best lead so far. It was like flashing neon sign designed to attract hunters. Like a message.

"I don't think he's here," Sam said softly as his brother kept staring into the horizon. Dean didn't move for a moment, but turned then without a word and marched at the Impala they have parked at the edge of the forest.

The drive back to the motel was exceptionally sluggish. Neither of them said anything and Dean didn't even turn the music on. They were still quiet as Sam opened the door and switched the lights on.

"It's nice to see the Apocalypse didn't get too rough on you," a voice from other side of room said.

Reflexes kicked in, but for the stranger's luck Dean got a hold of himself before he emptied his gun to their visitor.

"You two have some serious explaining to do," the Trickster said from the armchair.

A stupefied silence fell into the room. He and Dean could only stare the annoyed looking but obviously alive archangel. Finally, Sam got his voice back. "You died. Lucifer killed you."

"Oh, yeah, he did. I was actually stone dead for several years. Until last Wednesday, when I woke up in a grabby roadside motel forty kilometers from here without a drop of Grace. So, do you two muttonheads have something to confess?"

"What, you think we have something to do with it?" Dean challenged.

"Yes, I actually do. And you know why? Because every time the shit hits the fan, you two nimrods are behind it, one way or another. And could you please lower the gun before you accidently shoot someone. That thing could kill me."

"Wait," Sam interrupted, getting caught on a detail of what Gabriel had said. "So you don't have any Grace?"

"Try to listen, Sammy Boy. As I already told, someone brought me back but didn't bother to reconstruct my Grace. So now I'm just as human as either of you," he spread his hands.

"We need to check that," Dean said moving closer his duffel on the table without lowering his gun.

"And how you're gonna do that? Throw some holy fire at me?"

"Thank your luck we don't have any at hand, so we have to resort to some more basic methods." He tossed a flask of holy water and a silver knife at the angel.

"Happy?" Gabriel asked cynically pressing the cut in his palm to cease the bleeding.

"So you don't have any idea how you were brought back?" Sam asked handing him a tissue.

"No. Last thing I remember is Lucifer killing me and the next thing I know, I wake up in a crappy motel bed in the middle of nowhere."

"When did you say it happened?"

"Last Wednesday. What about it? So you did do something," the angle looked Dean challengingly.

Sam glanced at Dean. "We didn't do anything that would result this, but last Wednesday-Thursday night something made hundreds of angels to fall."

Gabriel's attention snapped back to him.

"That night angels fell all around the world, but we don't know what caused it."

"Couldn't you ask Dean's boyfriend about it? Or did you managed to get Castiel killed too?"

Dean did his best to ignore the last comment. "We don't know where he is."

"Well, there should be some other angels willing to help you. There're thousands of us after all. And I think that if you would ask really nicely, you may be able to lure even Michael himself to answer to you."

Brothers changed looks again. "Some things have changed since Apocalypse," Sam said tentatively. He looked at Dean for support, but since his brother was busy pretending to search something from the duffel, he sighed and continued. "After you… after you died, we got the Rings as you had told and… and I said yes to Lucifer."

Gabriel raised a brow but didn't interrupt.

"The plan was that when he would be inside me, I would jump into the Cage. But, well, it took some time for me to gain control and when I did, Michael was there and tried to stop me, so I kind of ended up dragging him down there too."

Gabriel still didn't say anything, only looked him blankly.

"After that, Cas got me out of the Cage, mostly, and there was a civil war in Heaven, between Cas and Raphael, who wanted to restart the Apocalypse. Well, at far as I know, it was quite bloody and didn't end until Cas opened the door to Purgatory and took souls into his use, but that didn't end so well and he… he ended up to kill Raphael and accidently release Leviathans. And then there were the tablets containing the Word of God and we, we were closing the gates Hell and Cas had started the Trials to close the Heaven too. Before Tuesday." He stopped and waited Gabriel's reaction. Nothing he had just told could really count as happy news.

After a while, the angel drew a deep breath. "If you need me, I'll be outside." He walked past them closing the door softly after him.

For a moment, neither of the brothers said anything. "Maybe we should check on him," Sam finally suggested quietly, but Dean didn't say anything, just kept burrowing through his bags. Gabriel had poked a sore spot. "You know, he probably didn't mean it," he tried but got no answer. So, it was up to him.

He found the angel sitting at the steps leaning against a concrete wall. Quietly he sat next to him. "You OK?"

"I just heard that not one but two of my brothers are locked in the Cage. It was planned for one and only Father knows what they have managed to do to each other down there. And my third older brother is dead, as well as who knows how many of my younger siblings, and those who managed to survive are now probably all being cast down. That takes some time to handle," he laughed dryly and ran a hand through his hair.

More closely looked the angel seemed quite ragged and tired. "Do you need anything? You're free to use our shower or borrow my bed. You look like you could need it."

Gabriel pocked the flaky paint on the steps. "That's what follows when you get turned into human without money or anything. It took me a day of playing in the field make that crop circle and then all I could do was to wait some hunters to show up. For my luck, it was you two."

"How could you recognize a hunter?"

"I just chose the crappiest motel on 15 miles radius and went to ask if some official looking guys asking weird questions had booked in."

This earned a small laugh from Sam. "But seriously, you look like you could use some shut-eye."

"I hope that I could." Sam gave him a questioning look "Imagine that you have never slept in your life and then someone suddenly comes and tells you to fall asleep. It can be surprisingly difficult. And you look like you would need that bed at least as badly as I do."

"Trying to close the gates of Hell is just as hard as it sounds." Gabriel hummed agreeing.

"But is that offer for a shower still standing?"