"Gabriel!" you shout to the sky. Waiting a minute, you look around, waiting. Nothing happens. "Fine, ignore me!" you mutter, slightly annoyed. Okay, more than slightly. You were downright pissed. "Infuriating angel."

"Still nothing?" Sam asks you as you stomp back to the tables in the bunker.

"Sometimes the angels just stay away," Dean tries to help. "Cas goes MIA all the time."

Instead of responding, you pout slightly while trying to mentally will the angel to the bunker. It had been almost a week since he vanished from the bunker with Cas after you found out that you were his mate or whatever. Clearly it wasn't all that impressive since he didn't care to respond to your calls. You had thought there was something between the two of you, regardless of whatever the mate thing was about.

Sam and Dean share a look before they stand up and head towards their rooms. "We're going on a hunt," Dean announces as he rounds the table.

"What do you want researched?" you asked, resigned. Picking up the tablet, you tap it to life. Maybe you could call Charlie and have a movie marathon or go out for some drinks.

"We'll do research when we get there," Dean calls to you.

Slumping onto your hand, you can't help but feel a bit useless. If they didn't have you doing research, what were you going to do? Gabriel wasn't a distraction anymore. That phone call to Charlie was looking better and better.

"What're you sitting there for?" Dean asks, popping back around the corner. "You're going too. Get your stuff."

Surprise fills you, followed by a small slightly self-depricating smile. You must look really pitiful if they had found you a case to work within the last couple days. Oh well, it would give you something to focus on. Jumping up, excitement filling you, you rush to your room and grab a bag. You weren't going to let this whole Gabriel thing get to you. For now, you were going on a hunt!

"So what're we hunting?" you ask the boys as Dean drives down the highway.

"Not sure yet," Dean answers from the driver's seat. You were in the back and Sam was sitting shotgun.

"A few bodies were found within the last few days," Sam continues. "Allegedly, there were chunks of the bodies missing, but reports don't say which pieces."

Nodding along, you scoot closer to the middlel of the backseat to lean forward. "And what do you want me to do?"

"We'll set up at a motel, and call you with the details when we get them. You can hang around, work on that exercise regimen we gave you," Dean says, while changing lanes and pulling into the city limits. You knew Dean was right, but you still wished you were more useful. Realistically, you knew it would take time, but still...

After about twenty minutes, you were set up in your motel room, the brother's room right next to yours. Long ago, you had argued with the Winchesters for your own room. They had refused at first, one of them offering to sleep on the floor while you took one of the two beds. You couldn't help but feel bad, watching as they took turns squeezing onto chairs and sleeping on the floor. You had tried taking the floor, but they wouldn't let you. Eventually, you had enough, and demanded your own room and told them that they were being ridiculous. One room next to theirs wouldn't make any difference.

After doing the simple exercise routine, just simple things to help build muscle, you decide to go and grab something to eat. Sam and Dean would call you after they made their rounds, and until then you had some free time. "Gabriel?" you call, trying to summon the angel once again. Trying not to get your hopes up, but you still feel slightly disappointed when he does't show. Eventually, he'd have to answer or show up.

Vampires.

It had to be vampires, you mentally sigh.

After the brothers were finished doing what they do, the three of you went to a local bar to discuss what they had found. Turned out, it was definitely a vampire. Or at least a small group or nest of them. Your last run in with them hadn't gone very well, and you had no desire for a repeat. Sam and Dean tell you the details and a list of suspects before they decide to head back to the room. Once you were back in your room, you shower and jump into bed, twirling Gabriel's feather between your hands. Where the hell was he?

Sam and Dean had been wrong. They thought there were a few vampires. There had been at least a dozen. After a small steak out and some recon, the trail to the vampires had lead you to a restaurant in town, where the most recent victim worked. As you had tried to question the man on what had happened, the vampires had attacked. The few customers were knocked out, while the numerous vampires had attacked. It was an ambush, plain and simple.

The vampires had jumped Sam and Dean, effectively neutralizing them first. Even if they were experienced hunters and worked well together, there were just too many of them to fight. You were next to no help, fighting against several vampires by yourself. Although, you did stab a couple of them before they knocked you unconscious. The last thing you remember seeing was a fist flying at your face, and Sam and Dean yelling.

True to horro movie fashion, you wake up groggily with a pounding headache. Scratchy ropes kept your hands secured behind you to the chair you were placed in. A nasty piece of cloth was tied across your mouth to prevent you from talking. Or screaming.

The room you were in was surprisingly well-lit, with one row of flourescent lights in the ceiling. You seemed to be by yourself in the room, the door behind you somewhere. There were no gross smells around you, and no sounds to give you any indication on where you were.

The door behind you opens, the sound of footsteps filling the silence. Your heart begins to pound quickly, fear zinging through you. How were you going to get out of this? Were Sam and Dean still alive?

"Hello, Hunter," a woman's voice echoes around the empty room. You try to refrain from responding in any way. Dean had told you to try and exude confidence if anything bad happened, and not to panic. Panic got people killed.

There was a derisive snort. "Not much of a Hunter," a man stated.

The woman circled around you like the predatorial monster that she was. "Hunter or not, she'll make a good snack." The woman was very plain and didn't quite stand out. Average hair and average looks, she had been completely under the radar for the hunt for vampires. Apparently that worked in her favor.

After the woman was done talking, the man leaned in really close to you from behind the chair and sniffed you, before licking a stripe up your neck. A shudder of repulsion shakes you, as you try to raise your shoulder to block him.

Someone help...

You feel the man's fangs against your throat, pressing slightly but not enough to break the skin. Then the woman appeared on the other side to run her fangs over the other side of your neck. All the teaching Dean had taught you flew out the window as you breathed heavily and quickly, while tears welled up in your eyes in the growing panic. You weren't sure how Sam and Dean faced death all the time, without blinking and with an air of arrogance, because you were nearly two seconds away from peeing your pants.

Two searing pains rip through both sides of your neck as both vampires biting down viciously. Not only did they bite, but they began shredding through the soft skin. Through the nasty cloth, you scream and beg and plead. You plead for Dean or Sam, Cas, Gabriel - someone to save you.

Simultaneously, the vampires release you. Blood flowed down your neck, leaving you feeling faint and almost passed out. You could hear the muffled voices of the vampires talking, but you couldn't make sense of the words. Hands reach out towards you again, causing you to flinch back into the chair.

Please don't hurt me, you think desperately, not entirely registering that your arms had been cut loose. Eyes closed, you try to pull yourself away from the creatures in front of you.

"It's ok, Y/N, you're safe now," Gabe's voice filters through your fear filled haze. A warmth fills you, making the fear and panic recede. Maybe you had finally lost it. You had called for him so many times over the past few days... I'm here, Y/N, his voice says inside your head quietly.

Opening your eyes slowly, the first thing you see is Gabriel kneeling in front of you. As he kneeled before you, he tried to give you a reassuring smile to keep you calm, but you could see the fury in his clenched jaw and the intense look in his eyes. You reach out a shaking hand towards him, and he grabs your hand to place it on his cheek. "Where...when..." you mumble, still trying to make sense that he was just suddenly there.

"I'll explain later," he tells you, finally standing up. His body was rigid and the smile was gone now. "For now, I have a few things to take care of." With that, he turns from you to look at the wall opposite you, but still not moving more than a foot from you.

Looking beyond Gabriel, you see the vampires hanging above the floor and pressed against the wall, struggling and snarling as they fought for their freedom.

"Quiet," Gabriel demanded quietly, his voice reverberating in the small room. The room even shook, speaking volumes of his anger. "Consider yourselves lucky I'm not my brother Michael," he comments, appearing nonchalant. "He'd do more than kill you quickly, like I will, for attacking an archangel's mate." As he finished speaking, the vampires suddenly exploded into fire from the inside, leaving only tiny flecks of ash and dust behind to filter through the air and fall to the floor.

Wide eyed, you stare at the wall where the vampires were. You weren't sad to see the monsters go, but they were humans once.

"Let's get you home," he says gently, holding a hand out towards you. He was still stiff and a polar opposite to what he was usually like.

Thankful beyond words that you were going home, you pause for a moment. "Sam and Dean might be here," you tell Gabriel, grabbing his arm. "I don't know where, but we got seperated when the vampires attacked and-"

"Okay, okay," Gabe tried to smile at you. "Ill send you home and I'll go grab them." He goes to snap his fingers before you grab his hand to prevent him from sending you away. Instead, you cling to him, unwilling to let him go. You had been calling him for days, you weren't letting him go so easily.

Sighing slightly, Gabriel picks you up, carrying you bridal style as you wrap your arms around his neck. Effortlessly, he carries you through the building, which you discovered was an old business office that had been shut down. Along the way, a few more vampires try to attack you, only to explode into ashes as Gabriel paid them little to no attention.

Sam and Dean were unconscious and in chairs of their own. They hadn't been bitten, but they clearly had been roughed up a bit; cuts and bruises decorating their faces. Gabriel snaps and the four of you disappear from the building and appear back in the bunker.

"The boys are in their rooms, healed and asleep," he tells you, finally setting you back down on the ground. He made no move to put much space between you after he gently set you down.

You stare at his chest, silently trying to work through what happened. You had nearly died, or could have at least. The vampires may have kept you alive, or maybe not, but the threat of death was still nearly tangible.

"Y/N," Gabriel whispers quietly, checking over you again.

"Where were you?" you whisper, still looking at his chest.

He flinches slightly, but offers no response.

You look directly into his eyes, you repeat yourself a bit louder.

He fidgets slightly, looking back at you, but letting his eyes wander the room every few seconds. "Heaven," he finally answers, slightly reluctantly.

"But I thought you-"

"Avoided Heaven?" Gabriel finishes for you, beginning to pace in front of you. "I do. Or did, I suppose. Circumstances being what they are, I needed information I wouldn't find anywhere else."

Information? That's why he avoided you like the plague for a week? "Information about what?" you ask, feeling slightly irritated.

He stops pacing to look at you again. "You," he answers simply.

"Me?" you question, nose scrunching in confusion.

"My mate," he continues, finally stepping closer to stop directly in front of you, looking at you intensely.

You roll your eyes. "Yeah, you mentioned- or Cas mentioned- something like that before you went MIA and wouldn't answer my calls."

"You're not going easy on me, are you?" he chuckles quietly. In response, you frown and raise your eyebrows expectantly. "Alright, alright," he concedes. "The term 'mate' can be two different things, a noun and a verb if you will. Some people have mates, similar to the essence of a soulmate; and some creatures, like angels, can mate with another."

"And which am I? A mate, or someone you want to mate with?" you ask.

"Both."

The stark honesty in his face catches you off guard. This wasn't exactly the conversation you expected to have after being a vampire's snack. But you wanted answers, had been waiting for him to explain, to tell you where the two of you stand.

"The thing is," Gabe continued. "Angels having human mates are not entirely unheard of, but an archangel? Not to sound cocky, but I'm a bit more...potent than an average angel. Being my mate is harmless: I'd protect you from anything, give you everything... But actually mating you..." he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Is it dangerous?"

He seemed reluctant to answer, which was a bad sign. "There would be a good chance you'd die. To mate, I'd have to put a mark on your soul, a claim of sorts, and I have to tie our souls together. We use our grace to have vessels to visit Earth safely, and to tie your soul to me..."

"Your grace would kill me," you finished for him, watching him as your brain soaked up the information.

He lets out a harsh bark of laughter. "My very being could kill you. That's why I went to Heaven, to research. To find some way that would be safe for you, or something to help, but there is nothing that I found. Some angels mate successfully, and some mates die. They can reunite in Heaven in some cases, but there have been souls that reject the angel that killed them. If you being my mate makes you mine in a sense, then the mating process is the reciprication of that."

You go silent, the gravity of what he was telling you sinking in slowly. The 'being a mate' sounded like a great thing. Being pampered by the archangel and being with him sounded amazing. The 'mating process', however, was almost the opposite. "Can you have one without the other, or would you want to mate with me?" you ask, trying to wrap your head around this.

"I already want to mate you," he tells you, watching you intently like he was looking at your soul again. "And you're my mate, so it makes it worse in a way."

"So what do you want to do?" you ask, unsure of yourself. You wanted to be with him, but if it would end up being a burden and a risk to your life...

"Keep trying to find an answer, if you'd have me," Gabe shrugged. "Although, I doubt I'll find one that's different than what I've already found." He huffs, slightly frustrated. "You should get some rest, we can talk more tomorrow. I didn't mean to spring all of that on you like that. Seems I can't deny you much anymore."

"You ignored me for a week well enough," you pout, with a would-be stern arm crossing.

"I would never!" he declared, before looking away. "Okay, maybe once or twice. I didn't know how to tell you all of this, or if you even wanted a part of it. But I really didn't hear you in Heaven! I had my grace hidden, and my 'angel radio' as Dean put it, was turned off. Then I felt a...twinge? A pull, which I figured was my brothers or sisters getting close. Then I heard you, Y/N, begging for help. Begging for me to help, and I wasn't there..." Gabe trailed off.

The poor angel looked as lost as you did, and you had to remember that this was somewhat uncharted territory for him as well too. You supposed he had gone MIA for you, in a way, for your safety so you could cut him some slack. Stepping close into Gabriel, you wrap your arms around him to squeeze him in a hug. Instantly, he wraps his arms around you to embrace you back.

Smirking slightly, you reach up behind him subtly, then drag your hands down his back roughly where his wings should be.

A not quite human sound escaped his throat, and a high-pitch noise echoed around the living room. His true voice, you think smugly, even if it was quiet enough not to hurt you. "Y/N," he growls into your ear, squeezing you into him tighter.

Was it wrong to be sexually attracted to one of Heaven's strongest? Oh well, you mentally shrug. Maybe it was the mate thing he was talking about. Either way, you were going to enjoy it.

Suddenly, you were standing in your bedroom. "You need to rest," Gabriel tells you, taking a couple steps back to look at you. He inhales slowly, still looking at you like he'd rather pull you back.

After seeing him stand there for a few moments, you realize he was serious, and short of jumping him, he wouldn't change his mind. "Fine," you mumble. "You're coming back though, right?" you can't help but ask.

He nodded. "I'll be back when you wake up," he promised.

"Good, because we still need to talk about this," you tell him. In response, a feather appears in his hand, his own feather that you kept, and boops you on the nose. Then with a wink, he disappears, leaving you alone to try and rest.

I hope you guys enjoyed this! I would love some more feedback and comments! They make my day infinitely better! I have a few more chapters typed up (and currently on tumblr and aO3) but my laptop is barely running and nearly useless so I have to pick and choose when to use it sadly. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it! -K