With a frustrated sigh, Dean lowered the flashlight and clicked it off. He had spent the whole day searching the condemned hospital building and had found jack squat. The place was empty. The only living things were the occasional rat that scurried away from the light, almost swimming through the dust that had piled up on the old broken tiles of the floor over the unknown number of weeks the place had been empty. The room Dean was searching probably used to house one of those massive CT scanners judging by the large open space and the viewing area behind a window. The glass was gone, though shards of it still clung to its edges glinting as torchlight glided over them. This was the room that she had been keeping Sam. The remnants of what had happened were still present in the disturbed layer of dust on the floor and the dried bloodstains on the once white walls. Dean tried not to look at those too close as he had searched the room for any trace of the woman, who she was or where she had gone.

"I found nothing."

Dean physically tensed when a voice lanced through the silence. Taking a breath to relax his muscles, Dean turned to find Cas stood by the door, watching him neutrally, "Nothing? At all?"

Cas shook his head, "I'm sorry Dean. There is no sign of her. I don't understand it either."

Dust fell from Dean's hair as he ran his free hand through it, "Just freaking great," he muttered angrily, kicking his shoes against the floor.

There was a pause before Cas tilted his head as though listening to something, "I'll try again," he announced then disappeared before Dean even had chance to acknowledge his intentions.

Dean sighed, flicked the flashlight back on and began to once again scout the room. He was determined to find whoever or whatever it was who had hurt Sam and he was going to make her pay for what she had done. First he had to find her. For a moment, his thoughts drifted to Sam back at Bobby's and a pang of guilt echoed in his mind. It was the best way, he told himself yet again. Whatever Sam had forgotten had been forgotten for a reason and until he knew exactly what it was, Dean wasn't going to let his brother wade in and possibly trigger it. It was that reasoning that had brought him to the decision to leave Sam behind. It had nothing to do with the possibility of annoying an Archangel, none at all.

"They say your ears burn when something is thinking about you," someone muttered behind him, making Dean flinch more violently this time.

He whirled to find Gabriel sat on the ledge of where the sheet of glass used to be, an amused glint in his eyes as he enjoyed Dean's momentary panic.

Dean glowered at the Archangel, "I wasn't thinking about you," he snorted.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow, "Yeah right, whatever, aren't you supposed to be Sasquatch watching?"

"Sam's fine."

"You know that do you?" Gabriel retorted, a challenge in his eyes.

Dean's jaw tensed but he didn't get a chance to answer.

"Because obviously you knowledge of the deeper workings of Sam's psyche is far greater than that of one of the most powerful beings in the universe," Gabriel continued, speaking as though the concept was nothing more than a simple revelation to him, a teasing half-smile on his face, "Thank Dad, you're here. What would the world do without you?"

Tension pulled on the muscles in Dean's neck as he fought the urge to step forward and punch the Archangel in the face, "What do you want?"

"I want to talk," came the simple reply.

"About what?"

Gabriel held up a finger, "Now that depends on whether or not you're going to do that thing where you pointlessly argue against everything that is right in front of you."

"And if I am?" he didn't know where his defiance was coming from but it was Dean's only shield and he clung to it like a lifeline.

The Archangel shrugged, "Then we could discuss the finer points of poetry if you wanted. Or debate the meaning of life," he paused to level Dean with a flat gaze, "But if you were to surprise me by actually listening to a word I said, I want to talk to you about how your baby brother is at home tearing himself apart from the inside out, while you're off on a romantic weekend away with Awkward McTrenchyton."

Dean's expression darkened, "I didn't want Sam to get hurt. With his current mental state I didn't want to push anything."

Gabriel pursed his lips and nodded pensively as he hopped down off the ledge, falling at least half a foot before landing in a plume of dust, "See, the problem is, while you're nobly trying to protect your brother's mind, Sammy-boy is left in a deep dark hole with no one to give him a leg out."

"Oh yeah? And who was it dug that hole, huh?" Dean spat angrily.

The Archangel raised his chin at the comment, "Let's not go there hm? I was hoping to avoid playing the blame game."

At that, Dean's eyebrows shot up, "Not play the blame game?" he took another moment to refrain from strangling Gabriel. It would only end badly for him, "Me and Cas are here trying to clean up the mess that you left behind," he pointed and accusing finger in Gabriel's direction, who arched an eyebrow but made no other response. After a beat, Dean rubbed a frustrated hand over his face before holding his arms out to the sides, "Why do you even care? I thought you were cutting all ties," he spat out the last sentence like it was a bad taste in his mouth.

"I was trying," Gabriel replied forcefully, even before Dean had finished speaking, "But Sam is desperate. For Christ's sake, the kid is praying!" the Archangel yelled, leaning forwards with the force of his words as a burst of pent up aggravation leaked into his words. But it was quickly covered over as he straightened and looked to the wall, muscles in his cheek working as he ground his teeth.

A moment of tense silence passed between them as Dean frowned, confused, "To you? He doesn't know who you are."

The Archangel rolled his eyes then looked at Dean, "Would you like a cape, Captain Obvious? He's praying the faceless angel he saw at the hospital, which was me. He doesn't have to know my name to get the message across. I'm guessing by the dumbstruck look you're trying to hide that you were the one who told Sam what I am. Ten points from you."

Dean answered the insults with a glower, "So block them out! You guys seemed to do that pretty well most of the time."

With a deep breath, Gabriel looked to the floor, "It's not that simple..."

The glower melted into another frown before realisation washed over his expression, "Oh, I see how it is! You can't block them out because you feel guilty as hell that this whole messed up soap opera is your fault!"

Gabriel's eyes locked on Deans, dark and threatening, "I told you not to go there," he said, an unspoken warning twisted into his words.

"No! I'm going there," Dean replied, ignoring the small part of him that was reminding him just how easily and how imaginatively Gabriel could kill him, "Sam gets hurt then you roll in cavalry style, save his ass from whatever it was that had him, heal him up and then wipe all trace of your existence from his mind. Now you crawl back to me, whining that you can't cope with that fact that Sam's in pain again, because of you. So, here's an idea! Fix it. Give Sam his memories back and the two of you can skip merrily off into the sunset, or whatever it was that you two did."

The Archangel had remained silent throughout, staring fiercely at the ground, fists clenched so tight his knuckles had gone white and Dean wouldn't have been surprised to see blood when he next opened them, "I can't."

Light from the torch danced around the room as Dean threw up his hand in exasperation, "Is stubbornness like a family trait? Because you guys just shine with it."

A crack resonated around the room and the glass that still hled desperately to the wall shattered. Dean threw an arm up to protect his face from the flying shards and waited a moment to be sure it was safe before lowering it again. A long singular fracture now streaked across the wall that Gabriel was standing in front of. Dean blinked at the sight. The voice that had once been so quiet was suddenly joined by a chorus of others.

A breathy chuckle escaped Gabriel's lips at Dean's reaction, "You don't know how much effort it's taking not to rip you apart right here and now. Now, you listen to me, I can't carry out your wonderful and elaborate plan because of one thing. The queen bitch that had Sam in the first place will use them to find him. And so will every other S.O.B. who holds a grudge against me. And there is a long, long list. Which is why, as Cas has probably already told you, Sam thinks I'm dead."

Dean's original strong stance had wavered slightly, knowing full well Gabriel had done nothing but blink when he nearly a tore thick cement wall in two. The Archangel just had to twitch an eyelid and Dean would be coating the floor and walls like some kind of lumpy wall paper paste. He took a moment to calm himself before attempting to talk again. His first attempt came out a few octaves higher than intended and served only to brighten the glint of amusement in Gabriel's eyes.

"So you know who it was who got Sam?" he asked, with forced calm.

"Of course I know," Gabriel snapped, though his fists had loosened slightly, "I just don't know where she is...Oh don't look so surprised. Tricksters have a knack for it, why do you think I entered the profession in the first place?"

"A Trickster then?" Dean made a mental note of it, "And she's off the celestial radar?"

"That's one way of putting it," the Archangel conceded, then took a deep breath and flexed his fingers in an attempt to calm himself further, "I need more mundane methods."

"And by mundane you mean me?"

A smirk laced his features, "Well volunteered!" before Dean could protest, Gabriel snapped his fingers and produced a brown file in his hand, "Here, I even made it easy enough for you to do all by yourself. And I made sure to use words no longer than three syllables, I know how you don't like them," he held out the pages for Dean to take.

Dean narrowed his eyes and snatched the file out of Gabriel's hand, knowing full well he didn't have a choice. Besides, anything that would help them find the one who hurt Sam was a bonus. Clamping the flashlight between his teeth, Dean flipped open the file and began to flick through it.

"So are you going to be tagging along?"

There was silence. With a frown, Dean looked up to find himself alone once again. An annoyed grunt pushed past the flashlight as he snapped the file shut and stalked from the room, eager to get to the Impala and back to Bobby's. Cas would catch up. He was probably watching anyway, Gabriel having told him to skedaddle while he and Dean talked.

Weeee Chapter 3! *ahem* once again I sincerely hope that you thoroughly enjoyed this fic. I certainly enjoy writing it! Please, please, please let me know what you think in a little review? If only a little one?

Reviews are the trenchcoat to my Cas