When Dean woke the next morning, Sam was still asleep. Or pretending to be. Either way, Dean tried to be quiet as he gathered things for a shower. He spent a moment staring at the now-clean bathroom before realizing that Cas had probably fixed everything during the night. Once the hunter was in the shower, feeling the hot spray pelting his skin, he didn't want to leave. Things were so much simpler in this moment - Sammy was just asleep, Cas was doing angel things, and Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, though, he had to face reality. Rushing through the meat of his shower routine, Dean finally exited the bathroom, clean and dressed, twenty minutes after he had gone in. Sam was still in bed, but now there were two angels sitting at the table in the corner. Dean sighed and tossed his dirty clothes in the floor by his duffel to be washed later before heading over to join the two. Gabriel didn't look at him, instead playing with the sleeve of his jacket.

In contrast, Cas looked too hard at him. Dean knew the angel could see the lines of stress on his face, the dark circles under his eyes. With a small shake of his head, he cut off any questions about his own appearance. Instead, he turned to the angel still studiously not looking at him. "What are you doing here?"

With a barely restrained snort, Gabriel finally turned to face the hunter. "Is it so hard to believe I wanted to check on Sammich?"

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, actually, it is. Try again."

Gabriel glared. "Well tough. Believe it."

Before Dean could argue any more, Sam stirred and sat up. When he saw three sets of eyes watching him, he groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. "What?"

"Just making sure you're okay, Sammy. How you feeling?" Dean asked as he walked over to his brother. He pressed the back of his hand to Sam's forehead, checking for a temperature and smiling at the memories of doing this as kids. Taking care of Sam may have been his duty as children, but Sam had never really made it a hassle.

As an adult, however...

"Dude, stop. I'm fine," Sam protested as he pushed at Dean's hand.

"Whatever, bitch." The grin on his face took any sting from the long-used insult of endearment.

"Jerk." Sam shoved his brother gently away so he could stand up. A little wobbly but determined not to show it, Sam slowly made his way to his bag and grabbed his clothes to take a shower. As he closed the bathroom door behind him, he realized that the bathroom showed no signs of what Dean had succinctly called getting pissed at his reflection.

Sam snorted. More like pissed at the world. He cranked the water as high as it would go and tried not to think of the moments leading up to his breakdown the previous night. Which, of course, made him think of it more.

Clutching the sink in a white-knuckled grip, glaring at his reflection and trying to push away the self-loathing and hatred he always felt toward himself...

With a groan, Sam sank down the wall and let the scalding water flow over him as he felt the helplessness from last night wash over him again. He was never going to be normal, never going to get anything he wanted out of life.

He just wanted to be loved...

Dean banged on the door, breaking him out of his melancholy thoughts. "Hurry it up, Sammy!"

"I'm coming!" the taller hunter yelled back. After a moment, he smiled. He was loved. Dean had shown time and time again that he would do anything for his brother. Sam hurried through the rest of his shower and brushing his teeth and barreled into the main room of the motel. Dean straightened from where he was packing his duffel.

"Finally! Man, you take longer than a girl." Any further complaints were cut off by Sam's arm suddenly going around him. "Whoa, dude. Did you seriously turn into a girl in there?"

"Shut up, Dean. I just...thank you. For everything," Sam said softly as he held his brother tightly.

Dean smiled and brought a hand up to return the hug. "You're my brother, Sammy. It's my job." For all his jibing, he did appreciate the sentiment. But not for too long. "Okay, Sam," he said, clapping him on the back, "that's enough. Let's go get something to eat."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. But can we, uh...can we go somewhere else? Not that diner, I mean." Sam didn't chance a look at Gabriel as he spoke.

"Already done," Dean said with a grin. "There's a place a few miles outside of town; figured we could hit it on the way out."

"Sounds great," Sam said, relief taking a huge weight from his shoulders.

Within ten minutes, the four were in the Impala and heading out of town. As they passed the diner from the day before, Dean turned the radio up to blaring and stuck his hand out the window, shooting the bird to all who could see. Sam laughed so hard he couldn't breathe, clutching his aching sides. Dean grinned as he turned the radio back down and rolled his window up. Gabriel smirked and rolled his eyes while Cas simply tilted his head and stared at the older hunter.

"What?" Dean asked of the blue-eyed angel.

Cas let his lips pull into a smile. "You are unique, Dean."

Dean snorted. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know. Not literally!" he clarified as Castiel opened his mouth.

The car settled into a comfortable silence for the next twenty minutes. The classic rock that was a staple in the Impala played softly, loud enough to substitute actual conversation. Sam let his head rest on the window and listened to the music.

When they finally reached the diner, Sam slid into a booth and was careful to not let it bother him when Gabriel shoved Cas into the seat beside him. Dean scowled at the archangel at his side, but didn't say anything. And really, this was better. Sam didn't have any uncomfortable thoughts about the man beside him, about the hard line of his leg pressed against Sam's own leg.

That would just be weird. Cas was irrevocably Dean's, understood by all - even if the older hunter didn't admit it.

And Sam's attraction swung more to short and snarky as opposed to tall and quiet. Still, though, it was nice to have the comforting press of another being - human or not - beside him. One that didn't move away at the slightest brush of skin, one that wasn't using him to start the end of the world, or one that ended up being a monster he had to put down.

Sam mentally scoffed. Who was he kidding? Except for Jessica, everyone he had been with had been a monster. Even as a kid, he was drawn to it. Maybe Alistair's poisonous blood had done more than he had realized, warping his body and mind in ways he had never wanted to think about.

The arrival of their waitress pulled him from his thoughts. The four of them ordered and chatted as they waited for their food. Dean informed them that they were only about eighty miles from their next hunt, bringing Sam's thoughts back the oddity of his researching finds.

"I'll look and see if there are anymore weird vigilante killings once we get there. So far it was just the two, right?"

Dean nodded as he swallowed a mouthful of his coffee. "Right. Maybe we can get there and stop whatever it is before there are anymore."

"Yeah, you do love saving the day, huh boys?" Gabriel snarked.

"Pipe down, Shortstack. You're just mad we got the better of you. Three times, I might add," Dean sassed back.

Sam let out a short laugh, mostly at the affronted look on Gabriel's face. The humor was drained quickly with Gabriel's next shot.

"Three against, oh, two hundred? I think I win," the short angel said with fuck-you smile. Sam froze, his face losing its color as he tried to push down the immediate nausea that welled inside him. It was a losing battle. Sam quickly pushed at Cas, the angel thankfully understanding the need to move and now. Dean watched his brother make for the front door and sighed before turning to glare at Gabriel.

"You just can't leave well enough alone, can you? Always gotta make sure somebody's miserable. Move, jackass. I gotta go make sure he's okay," Dean all but growled as he made shooing motions with his hand.

As the hunter walked away, Castiel stared balefully at his brother as he stood beside the table. Gabriel refused to meet his eyes, instead staring down into his coffee cup, as if it held the answer to the universe.

(Which, of course, everyone knows is forty-two.)

"I won't bother to ask why, Gabriel, you insist on treating him so poorly. But I will remind you that Sam Winchester has been through more than any human should have to bear, most of it at the hands of angels," the seraph said quietly before he turned and exited the diner to join Dean in checking on the younger brother.

Gabriel sighed. "Yeah, Cas. I know."

######

Sam clutched his stomach and groaned miserably as he leaned against the side of the diner. He heard Dean's footsteps on the pavement and grunted, "I hate throwing up."

"Yeah, well, I hate seeing it. And hearing it. Come on, man, let's get you cleaned up," Dean said as he helped Sam stand. They turned to go back to the Impala, but Cas stood behind them. He held out a bottle of water and a washcloth.

"I thought these might help." His hopeful expression pulled a reluctant smile from Sam.

"Thanks, Cas," the taller hunter said as he reached for the bottle. A quick rinse - "Geez, Sam, watch where you're spitting!" - and a few swallows of the clear liquid had Sam feeling much closer to normal. "I think I'm okay now. You guys go on back inside."

"I'm not leaving you out here by yourself, Sam," Dean protested.

"I'm okay, Dean. And besides, I don't really think I can stomach even smelling that greasy food. I'll just go to sleep or read or something."

Dean looked like he wanted to argue more, but Castiel's hand appeared on his arm and tugged him away. "We will be back soon, Sam," the angel intoned seriously.

Sam smiled weakly and waited until they were both turned away to let the expression fall from his face. He made his way slowly to the car, unwilling to move too quickly and get sick again. Once inside the car, he folding his long legs into a somewhat-uncomfortable position that allowed him to fit on the backseat. "This was so much easier when I was a kid," he complained to himself.

Despite the awkward arrangement of his limbs, he was asleep in minutes.

His reprieve didn't last long. It seemed to Sam that he had only been dreaming peacefully for a short while before his dreamscape was split with lightning edged in fire. The field around him shattered and exploded, leaving behind flames and the smirking face of Lucifer.

"You really didn't think you could get away that easily, now did you, Sam?" Lucifer asked smugly.

"No. You're not real! You're in the cage..." Sam grasped his head as pain shot through it.

"Oh, Sam. So easy to trick, to manipulate. Your body may have been strong enough to hold me, but your poor grapefruit is just not enough. You make up these realities to pretend that you didn't get stuck down here with me." With his words, Lucifer moved closer until he could whisper into Sam's ear, "Burning - screaming - begging. You beg so pretty, Sammy."

"Stop it! You're not real! Cas - Cas got me out. Cas saved me," the hunter whispered desperately as he fell to his knees.

Lucifer looked down at him with pity. "That little feather duster doesn't have the juice to pull a mouse from a trap, let alone pull your sorry self from the cage Dad himself built to hold me. You're still here, Sam. Huddled into a little ball in the corner, hoping it'll keep you out of our sight."

Sam's breath caught. "O-our?"

A sinister smile spread across Lucifer's face as he spread his arms wide. Three forms began to take shape on either side of him. Sam choked as he recognized them. "Michael. Raphael. G-gabriel?"

The horror on his face fed Lucifer's glee. "The gang's all here," the archangel said happily. The four forms advanced on the hunter and held their blades aloft. As the cold metal pierced Sam's skin, he screamed.

######

"Sam. Sammy!" Dean cursed as he shook his brother in a vain attempt to wake him up. "Cas, what the hell is wrong with him?!"

The angel in question laid a hand on the younger hunter's head, a focused look taking over his face.

Gabriel stood a few feet away, trying and failing to look unconcerned.

Finally, Castiel removed his hand. "He is trapped within his own mind, unable - or unwilling, perhaps - to wake up."

Dean let loose another string of volatile curses as he stared down at Sam's pinched face. They had left Sam alone for maybe fifteen minutes. What could have happened in that short time that Sam wouldn't wake up now? Suddenly, Dean whirled around and fixed Gabriel with a glare. "Help him."

It was not a request.

Gabriel glared right back. "What makes you think I can help?" he asked petulantly.

"Because you're an archangel! Most powerful being on Earth? So do something!"

The archangel made a show of reluctance before moving to take Castiel's place by Sam's head. The tall hunter was still in the backseat of the Impala, so Gabriel was forced to crouch beside the open door to place his hand on Sam's head. A bit of Grace, some digging around, and a little bit of luck finally showed Gabriel what Sam was seeing.

He immediately pulled his hand back as if burnt. "You have the worst kind of imagination, kiddo," he said softly. With a deep breath to fortify himself, Gabriel dove back into Sam's mind.

Only this time, he went all the way to Sam's consciousness - the part of Sam that was being tortured by Gabriel's brothers. A version of Gabriel himself stood at Sam's head, whispering into his ear. As the real Gabriel stepped closer, he felt sick at the words spewing from "his" mouth.

"You're an abomination, Sam. You deserve this and more for everything you've done. You've killed so many people, kiddo. And you liked it, too, didn't you? Liked feeling their hearts stop beating, seeing the life drain from their eyes. Kinda like those demons you drank. That's why I won't fuck you, you know. You're a tainted man. Dirty, dirty Sammy, wanting to fuck the archangel."

Unable to stomach hearing anymore, Gabriel snapped to dispel the nightmare. He frowned when nothing happened. It took him a few tries to realize that Sam was the reason it wasn't working. The poor kid believed that this was real. Gabriel wasted no time in moving to Sam's side, opposite the bastardized version of himself, and speaking softly into his ear.

"Kiddo, it's me. The real me. You gotta listen to me. This isn't real. You're laying in the Impala, outside a crappy little diner with your brother freaking out and Cas is starting to worry and I... You aren't an abomination, Sam. You're so strong, kid. You beat my brother even when I couldn't. You're so much better than this - than me." Gabriel sighed and let his hand grasp Sam's where it was clenched at his side. "Sam, listen to me. This is all in your head. You need to wake up now. I need you to wake up." Gabriel's gaze darted from Sam's face to their clasped hands.

A smile spread across his face as he felt those long fingers curl around his own. "That's it, kiddo! Keep fighting. You're almost there. Just a little more."

Light began to shine around them. Gabriel grinned and snapped.

######

Sam groaned and blinked at the bright sunlight. A sudden weight landed on top of him, forcing the air from his lungs. He tried to focus on the words he could hear close to his head, but only made out "stupid son of a bitch" and "stop doing this to me."

Dean, then.

With a half-hearted shove, Sam pushed at his heavy brother. Dean finally moved and Sam took in a deep breath as he sat up. "What...what happened?"

Dean scowled. "We found you twitching and moaning and you wouldn't wake up. You tell me."

Sam frowned. "I don't...I don't remember."

Castiel spoke up. "Maybe that is for the best. Gabriel informed me that it was not pleasant."

"Gabriel?" Sam questioned.

"Yes. I was unable to help you, so Gabriel went into your head and pulled you from whatever delusion you were suffering."

Sam looked around and saw Gabriel sitting nonchalantly on the trunk. As if he felt Sam's gaze, he turned to face the hunter. "Thank you," Sam said softly.

Gabriel tilted his head in acknowledgement before turning back around.

Dean gripped Sam's arms and shook him gently. "Let's get outta here, yeah?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah."

Before he could attempt to move to the front seat, Gabriel huffed and snapped his fingers to transport the hunter. "You're gonna wanna take it easy for a while, kiddo."

Before Sam could say anything, Dean slid into the driver's seat and slammed the door. "Let's go, people. Burning daylight!"

Gabriel rolled his eyes and appeared in his seat behind Sam. Castiel climbed into the back beside Gabriel and stared serenely out the window.

Dean glanced at Sam and gripped the steering wheel tighter. He was pretty sure he had heard Sam whisper Lucifer's name during his nightmare-that-wouldn't-end. Hopefully, it was just a one-time thing. He wasn't sure if he could handle going through Sam hallucinating the trapped archangel all over again. Hell, he wasn't sure Sam could handle it either.

With a last look in the rear-view mirror, he gunned the engine and tore off down the road.