CHAPTER Three

The doctor returned quickly with Gabriel's chart, handing them over to Sam who instantly began to flick through them, his mind trying to sort out the medical jargon from the possible supernatural links and almost as quickly coming up with nothing.

"So he just turned up here." Sam said absently, his eyes looking at the admission date before handing it over to Dean, who gave an equally baffled look.

Two days. He'd appeared in front of the hospital two days after the showdown with Lucifer, in one piece but unconscious.

"Did you do a brain scan Doctor…?"

The doctor quickly inserted her name as Croft, nodded. "Yes, but there didn't seem to be any damage. It as if he just doesn't want to wake up."

"Huh." Sam snatched back the file from Dean, flicking pointlessly through the papers.

Finally he handed it back to Doctor Croft. "Well thank you, Doctor. – We need to go." he pulled a card out of his pocket. "If there's any change can you please call me."

"Of course." She smiled to Dean with all the subtly of a sledge hammer.

"So what do you think?" Sam said as he pulled off his suit jacket and dropped it on the back of the chair.

"I think we need to find that damn werewolf before tomorrow night."

"I meant about Gabriel."

Dean shrugged. "How am I meant to know? – He's probably not even in there, it's more than likely an empty vessel."

"Do you really believe that?"

Another shrug. "What do you want us to do?"

"I don't know, but we owe him something."

"Why?" Dean asked angrily. "For going up against Lucifer and telling us about the cage, I call that pay back for the time loop and TV land incidences."

Sam groaned. "Dean, you don't even remember the time loops."

"No but you sure the hell do. Don't you? – And just cause I don't remember them, doesn't mean I ain't pissed at him for doing it."

"He was trying to teach me a lesson Dean."

"Yeah, what?"

"That revenge only leads to more bloodshed."

"Well, nice to know that he got the point across." Dean snapped furiously.

"It wasn't his fault I didn't listen." Sam sighed.

The two brothers' looked at each other, was he seriously defending the trickster archangel?

"Well you've changed your tune. You were ready to rip him a new one after a hundred Tuesdays."

"True, but I kind of had to face that he was right after…. Well you know, the shit hitting the fan. – If I had learnt my lesson Dean, maybe none of this, any of it, would have happened."

Dean fell silent as he dropped onto his bed, his head falling into his hands. "Yeah, maybe." He murmured. "So what are you suggesting, that we ditch the werewolf hunt to try and figure out what's up with the vegetable?"

"Of course not, I'm suggesting that after we've dealt with the werewolf that we figure out what wrong with the… with Gabriel."