When Sam woke up the next morning he immediately sat up, hoping the night before was nothing other than a bad dream, he looked around and spotted his brother and their friend embracing each other as they slept. The younger winchester fell back into his bed and covered his face as a frustrated groan escaped him and as they grew louder Dean and Castiel woke up, slowly rubbing their eyes as they did so.

"Hey, Cas." Dean rubbed his friends back as if to silently say that he needed some personal space, the angel quickly mumbling an apology as he stood up. While the two men sorted themselves out, Sam reached down to get a new set of clothes which he had neglected to change into the night before and walked into the bathroom.

While Sam changed, Dean had gotten up and started making a cup of coffee for himself and a couple of minutes his brother had returned, wearing another one of his plaid shirts.

"Mornin' Sammy."

"Morning Dean." Sam replied to his cheerful brother's greeting with a tired one, yawning mid sentence as Dean rolled his eyes and started drinking his coffee.

~Lost In Thought~

Within a few hours the trio were on the road and had already gotten something to eat at a diner they had passed early on in their journey. Looking behind him Sam saw Castiel staring through the window closest to him before turning to Dean, who was wearing a blank expression on his face, as they turned into a small town. The younger hunter didn't bother to look at the town they were turning into as he tried to think of any way Gabriel could've survived Lucifer, but another thing he was also thinking about was how Castiel knew Gabriel was alive. He could've turned to Lucifer's side, which was sadly the most likely reason considering how Lucifer could have somehow brainwashed him, and was present behind the Devil. Possibly torturing the other angel or archangel but at this point neither of the hunters knew the complete story or exactly who else was there due to their friend going into hysterics before he could finish telling them the whole story.

"Sammy. Sammy?" Dean had pulled into a motel parking lot two minutes ago and was growing impatient, so he had decided to try and get his brothers attention and after snapping his fingers in front of the younger man's face he was able bring him back to reality.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I was thinking."

"About?" Sam didn't respond to his question, worried about how Castiel would react to mentions of what happened to him.

"Dean?"

"Yes Cas?"

"Aren't you and your brother going on a hunt? If so, why are we at a motel and why didn't either of you research?"

"Cas we came here to talk." The older Winchester's voice lost all tone as he replied to the angel.

"Talk about what?" Dean didn't want to tell him while they were in the Impala, so he decided to avoid it until they were in a room and able to help the angel in a more suitable way if needed.

"I'll tell you when we get our room." As Dean left the car to pay for a room and get their keys, Castiel reached out to Sam and tapped his shoulder, hissing as the stitches were stretched, in order to get the taller man's attention.

"Yeah?"

"What does Dean mean by he'll tell me later?"

"Cas I don't entirely know what he's trying to imply from what he just said, so I guess we're going to have to wait for a bit." As the angel nodded Sam felt as if he had been stabbed, he had just lied to one of his most trusted friends and knew that the conversation they were going to have was going to end in tears, if the last time they talked about it was anything to go by.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, and Sam phasing out into thoughts of what might be revealed later, Dean returned with a new pair of keys in hand and banged on Sam's window, scaring the shit out of him and Castiel in the process

"Hey, bitch!"

"Jerk!" Roughly pushing open his door, Sam playfully punched his brother as they both looked back to see Castiel slowly getting out of Dean's car, trying his best not to cause himself further pain. Giving his friend an encouraging smile, Dean walked towards the angel and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

"So what ya say, we go inside or stand here all day?" Sam rolled his eyes before grabbing hold of the room key and checking it for the room number, once he had the information he walked up to the door, unlocked it and pushed it open.

"So? You going to stand there all day?" A smirk crept onto the younger winchester's face as his brother rolled his eyes and walked past him while Castiel simply gave him a confused look as he passed by, unable to understand what Dean was so irritated about.

~Lost In Thought~

After an half an hour of getting Castiel relaxed, the Winchesters were both sitting on one of the old beds and were facing their friend as they listened to him go back over the first half of what he had told them the other day, with a surprising lack of tears this time. Another half hour later, he was about to tell them what he saw behind Lucifer and what had freaked him out so much about the archangel blade, as he opened his mouth Sam prayed that his speculations were false and that Gabriel had saved their friend instead of turning to the dark side.

"So Lucifer's a-archangel blade was stabbed into another angel's wing, preventing it from moving or calling for the help of other angels as it was quickly losing grace, the only reason. I still don't think I know exactly who they were but if I'm guessing it was a powerful angel if Lucifer was going after them." Dean grimaced at the idea, he knew that to angels their wings were the most important thing and only ever shown to their 'mates' so the fact that he was violating another angel's privacy and harming it that way too made him sick to the stomach. Trying his best to ignore the images flashing through his head Dean raised a question.

"So you said you found the pipsqueak? How'd that happen because so far you've said nothing."

"One of the o-only reasons I came out of it alive was because I noticed Gabriel and called out to him. That was my mistake, he was obviously trying his best to stay hidden and hopefully get the angel out of there without any problem at all and just disappear. But I-" Castiel was obviously unaware of the tears streaming down his face, either that or he was trying his best to ignore the, and while Dean tried to look past them he spoke up.

"And why would that dick want to help an angel because last time we checked he was running from heaven not trying to help them." Castiel looked down at his hands and answered, tears covering them as he did so, avoiding eye contact as he remembered what it was like before he had abandoned that life.

"I honestly don't know if there were any specific reasons as to why he would help a specific angel considering most of them are trying to kill him for betraying our Father but during his time in heaven he hated seeing one of our brothers or sisters hurt and would do anything to help them. It could possibly be something from back then that caused him to act."
"And Cas you said about you calling out for help? How would that affect anything?"
"Lucifer turned around spotted him and he sort of froze…"

"What?" Sam raised an eyebrow, Gabriel was always very quick to react and he had never seen the guy scared or nervous about anything, not even when he was about to go head to head with his brother, what exactly had Lucifer done to him or had he done something to himself?

"Well he hadn't frozen for long, but it was enough to give Lucifer an advantage over him. I don't think I properly saw what happened next, it all happened so fast, I heard Gabriel screaming and then a bright light. Afterwards all that was left was the angel but they had been killed, Lucifer's blade was also taken with Gabriel." In Sam's mind the possibilities of what could have happened narrowed down so that only a few still remained as he processed the new information.

"What if he wasn't taken by Lucifer, you said he cared a lot for the other angels so maybe he was just angry at him for killing one his brothers or sisters and then just fled." Castiel lifted his head so that he was looking both of the boys in the eye once more.

"I-it is possible but the way Gabriel reacted was so much more different than himself and he still appeared to be in a daze when Lucifer approached him." Tears started to well up in Castiel's eyes as he considered the possibility he was taken away and would most likely be killed, the angel wiped away the tears from his eyes and stood up. Dean and Sam's eyes followed his every movement, concerned for their friend.

"I'll check the warehouse again and if I find anything I will let you know." And without even a chance to say goodbye, Castiel had flown off and neither of the winchesters knew when their friend was going to return or if he was even being honest about visiting the building.