Agh! This took so long! All I can say is I'm sorry. A job puts a surprising limit on writing time. If any of you checked out my Livejournal recently you'll have noticed that I put up a sneak preview of this chapter as a result of my guilt. If you're curious, I'd advise that you continue to glance occasionally at my journal as I anticipate more guilt—and thus more sneak previews—in the future. At some point, perhaps even after the story ends, I might post a few deleted scenes there as well.

I can't say thank you enough to supreme dramon, keiko-uchiha, egyptian1995, Pilali, ChaosGarden, and ramen-is-my-goddess for reviewing for Chapter 3! Thank you for putting up with me! ^^;

O


Chapter 4


Dean waited all of thirty minutes before bringing their problems up again. For half an hour he had tried to force everything to the back of his mind; the danger Claire was in, their short deadline, their recent demonic attack, Sammy's super-physic powers, everything, he tried to drown it all out with the simple joy of watching the road fly by underneath his tires. But with Sam sitting sullenly in the passenger seat and Cas softly soothing Claire in the back Dean could only block it out for so long. He wanted to wait on Sam's lecture until there was less of an audience but in the meantime, something else had been especially bothering him. "So Cas, back at the diner you said that this wasn't going to be all that easy. Care to elaborate?"

Castiel looked up from where he had been tending to Claire. "By the statement you made previous to my own I believed that you thought reaching Gabriel would be easy."

"So you're saying it won't be?"

"Probably not."

Dean sighed. Was he surprised? No, not with the way their trip had been going so far. But he had been sort of hoping that fighting a small squad of demons was going to be their biggest trouble spot. After shooting Sam an exasperated look, Dean glanced back up into the rearview mirror, "How long do you think it'll take to find him?"

"I can't be certain. It depends on where Gabriel is."

"What?"

Now it was Cas's turn to sigh. "Usually archangels have their base of operations in a high income, high production area of a city, such as the penthouse office of a skyscraper in a wealthy commercial district."

That didn't seem too difficult. "So we'll start in the financial district. Every city should have one."

Sam spoke up from Dean's right, pulling his smart phone out of his jeans pocket. "I can look it up online if you want so we know roughly where to go when we get there."

Before Dean could even give him the go-ahead Cas was shaking his head. "That is where our problems begin. What I just explained to you is what a typical archangel would do. Gabriel however is…unique. I'm not sure where he will have set himself up."

Dean scowled, "Great. Well, let's just check the financial district first in case old Gabe there decided to think inside the box. Now you just said that's the beginning of our problems; what else are we going to have to worry about?"

Castiel's gaze drifted towards the front windshield, staring out as the mountains of the Grapevine began to give way to the San Fernando Valley. They'd be in Los Angeles within half an hour and Dean wanted a game plan by then. "Angels naturally tend to travel alone or with only one or two other angels from their garrison."

"Their 'garrison'?"

Cas gave a small shrug as he explained, "Yes. It's a similar concept to your classmates. Archangels on the other hand usually travel with a large retinue since they typically operate hubs of power. Among all the archangels Gabriel keeps the fewest angels around him but we will certainly encounter them before we are able to reach him."

It seemed liked there was finally a benefit for going after the "special" archangel. "And this is going to be a problem?"

Pausing a moment, Castiel seemed to seriously consider the question before answering. "It depends on which angel we encounter. I know of a few who inhabit the city who should be willing to help us."

"And the rest of them?"

"We should try to keep a low profile."

"Great." Not good. Definitely not good. "Let's worry about that second part later and just focus right now on finding this guy. Sam, go ahead and pull up a map of the area since it sounds like searching the financial district is still our best lead."

Sam pulled a concerned face as he began to type keywords into his phone's search engine, "I don't know, Dean, Los Angeles is huge. It's going to take forever to go through even a single neighborhood."

Dean scoffed but inwardly hoped that Sam was exaggerating. Dean had watched enough movies and TV shows to get a feeling for how enormous L.A. was but he had a feeling he was still going to be overwhelmed like the dumbass country bumpkin he was. Didn't mean he couldn't hide it though. "I know it's big, but what else do we have to go on? With Cas's mojo cut off it's not like we really have any other options. I doubt you can just look in the yellow pages under 'angel' and find Gabriel's name listed."

In the backseat, Castiel tilted his head to the side but seemed to catch Dean's meaning relatively quickly this time. "That is correct. Gabriel's name will not be listed in the phonebook. No one in the area will even know he's an angel, aside from the other angels of course, making our search more difficult. If I had the full use of my powers I could find him in an instant but since they are not currently at my disposal, as you pointed out, I was hoping on using an alternate method to pinpoint Gabriel's exact location once we get close enough."

Oh good. At least this wasn't going to be a total crapshoot. "Yeah? What's that?"

"Sam."

Dean blinked and looked over to see Sammy looking equally surprised. Cas was now looking at the younger Winchester, his gaze appraising as he continued to speak. "My initial plan was to walk the streets until I heard rumors or felt instinctually drawn towards his location but now having met you, Sam, I was hoping that you could assist me."

A small something stung in Dean's chest but he kept his mouth shut as Sammy floundered for an answer. "Uh, yeah, sure. I'll do whatever I can to help."

"After seeing how you reacted to me when we first met, there is little doubt that your reaction to an archangel would be even more extreme. Given the extent of their power you should be able to feel its effects from some distance and we should be able to follow it back to its source."

"Wait," Dean looked back at Sam then up at Cas in the rearview mirror, "You want to use Sammy as a human Geiger counter?"

The angel's eyes settled back onto Dean's in the mirror and it took Dean a full second to force his own back to the road before he crashed the car. "Your metaphors seem to get stranger each day, Dean, but yes. That is essentially what I am asking."

Yet another glance in the rearview mirror showed that there was absolutely no trace of sarcasm or humor on Castiel's face, his expression calm and serious. Dean wanted to say something, to say anything that would help Cas understand just how much that idea sucked, but then Sam was nodding in agreement. "If you think it'll work, I'll do it."

"Sam."

"Dean." Dean didn't have to look over to know that Sammy was giving him another bitch face. He was going to have to be careful or else his face was going to stick like that. "I understand what I'm signing up for and I'm still doing it. I can live with a little bit of a headache if it'll help us find Gabriel faster."

Scrounging for a rebuttal, it didn't take Dean too long to realize that the only person who thought this was a stupid plan was him. With Sam and Cas taking up a unified stance against him he was thoroughly outnumbered. Maybe Dean could bribe Claire to join him but until she was old enough to really understand what they were arguing about the victory would seem a little hollow. Especially since Sam and Cas would probably still get their way in the end.

Dean didn't consider himself the brightest crayon in the box but even he knew a lost cause when he saw one. Letting out a stifled growl, he turned his attention back toward the road, "I still think it's a stupid idea…"

"Noted." At least Sam had the good graces to keep any smug grins to himself as he looked back down at his phone. "Now can we please just work on getting there? According to this map we're about twenty minutes away and you're going to have to merge onto a different highway pretty soon so keep your eyes open for off-ramps."

Sam's driving directions gave them something new to bicker about as they finished making their way into the city of Los Angeles. The urban sprawl had begun miles away, along with a picturesque, thin layer of smog, confusing Dean for a few minutes. San Fernando, Burbank, Glendale, the cities blended together in a seemingly endless sea of humanity and concrete. Traffic had begun to worsen as well and Dean almost missed his exit, too distracted as an SUV nearly sideswiped the Impala.

Tense from the ride, Dean started as Claire spoke up from the backseat, the little girl's face pressed up against the side window. "Are we close?"

Sam was the first to respond, "Yeah, I think we're getting closer."

Hearing an oddly strained edge to his brother's voice, Dean looked over and saw that Sam had his head leaning back against the headrest, his hand holding his forehead as he closed his eyes. He knew this was a stupid idea.

"You okay?"

Sam furrowed his brow before nodding. "Yeah…Yeah I'm okay. It's only a little uncomfortable, sort of like a queasy feeling."

"Don't you dare vomit in my baby, Sam."

"I'm not going to throw up, Dean—"

Castiel cut Sam off with a pleased hum, "Sam is already reacting to the presence of an archangel. He's correct; we must be getting close if Sam is already sensing Gabriel."

"Let me get this straight, Cas." Satisfied that his brother wasn't going to hurl all over the Impala's interior, Dean refocused on the angel in his backseat, "Sam's already about to lose his lunch and we just got into Los Angeles's city limits. Does that mean that all demons are affected like this?" Was Gabriel really so strong that he could create a demon-free zone in one of the most populated cities in the United States simply by being there?

Castiel seemed to understand what Dean was trying to ask, "Yes. Demons dare not tread where archangels walk the Earth. Los Angeles is one of the few cities in this nation where full demons will not be found. Although they did not realize it, the humans who gave the city its name were more accurate than they could have ever imagined."

"But isn't L.A. a pretty dangerous place?" It sure seemed like it on all of those crime dramas that were set here.

"Do not make the mistake of thinking that all the world's ills originate from demons. In this case, most of the violence of this city comes solely from human beings themselves."

Sam blinked his eyes open and considered Cas's words for a long moment. "That's…actually kind of depressing."

"I suppose it is."

That uplifting thought carried them through the next twenty minutes, the quiet in the car only interrupted by Dean sliding a Led Zeppelin tape in. The music, it turned out, was a good choice because it drowned out the curses Dean muttered under his breath as he turned off of the freeway and drove them into downtown L.A.

Five minutes after that they were where they wanted to be and Dean had come to the conclusion that L.A. sucked. Fighting those demons had been easier than trying just to find a damn parking spot big enough for the Impala in downtown L.A. As Dean drove in, he literally saw fewer than three open parking spots, all of which would've cost an arm and a leg to park in and were too small anyway. Not to mention all the traffic and the other drivers. Was everyone in L.A. blind? What kind of dumbass merged into an occupied lane?

Finally Sam was able to direct them to a parking garage a few blocks away from their main search area. Irritable from driving, Dean was even willing to pay the twenty bucks it was going to cost to park there as long as it meant they could start getting shit done.

Claire and Cas both seemed to be smart enough not to bother him as all four of them tromped back down to the street level, Dean's hands shoved into his pockets as they emerged onto the sidewalk. "Okay. According to Sam's research, this is about where all the big-wigs do their business." The buildings were freaking huge and there were so many people. They were all walking around in suits and skirts, making Dean feel a bit like a homeless drifter…which, technically was actually fairly accurate now. Damn it.

Castiel reached out for Claire's hand, the angel keeping his daughter close to his side as they began to walk back to the right neighborhood. "Speaking of which, Sam, can you sense where Gabriel might be?"

Shaking his head, Sam frowned as he stared down at his phone, probably pulling up a map of the area. "It may have gotten a little stronger but not by much. I mean, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be feeling but I don't think this is it."

"You'll know for certain when we get close enough." Looking away from Sam, Cas turned his eyes up towards the skyscrapers around them. "It may take us a while to locate Gabriel even with Sam's powers though. He could be anywhere."

A sigh rushed past Dean's lips before he could stop it. He had been worried about Sam using his abilities but know he was the only lead they had. If they had to check every single building—or worse, every single floor of every single building—they were going to be here for weeks. "How about we split up. Sammy and me'll go to the right and you, Cas, and Claire can head off to the left. Let's meet back up in two hours and by then hopefully one of us will've found something."

OoOoOo

Two hours later, none of them had found anything. Four hours passed by, and still nothing. By the time the sixth hour passed by, then their seventh and eighth, Dean was more than ready to throw in the towel.

Dropping down onto a grimy bench, Dean leaned his head back with a groan as Sam took a seat beside him. "We've been looking all day and we haven't found bupkis."

His brother released a long-suffering sigh that Dean felt wasn't entirely necessary. Though he had been complaining about the same thing for about the last three hours now. "I know, Dean. Look, here comes Cas. Maybe we can come up with a new plan."

Grudgingly lifting his head back up, Dean looked down the street Sam had indicated and spotted Castiel and Claire walking towards them. The fading sunlight was casting long shadows across the city from the surrounding skyscrapers so it was a little hard to make out their expressions but even from this distance Dean could tell that Claire at least was tiring. The little girl was lagging slightly behind her father, one hand still clasped in his while she rubbed at her eyes with her other. It was definitely time to turn in for the night.

Running a hand down his face, Dean waited until the two angels had crossed the street to where he and Sam were sitting before speaking. "Listen, Cas, we've been wandering the streets of L.A. for almost half a day now. We've searched this God damned district top to bottom and we haven't found anything. I think it's time to call it a night."

Cas's shoulders sagged underneath his trench coat and Dean almost wanted to take back his words. Castiel had been so confident all day that Gabriel was here, that they were within a block of the answer to his and Claire's problems, and telling him to give up the search felt a little like kicking a puppy. But at the same time, Dean knew Cas knew he was right by the resigned look flickering across his face. "Perhaps if you and Sam were to take Claire and go find somewhere to stay for the night, I could continue."

"No, Cas, I'm not going to let you walk around here by yourself." Dean was half sure that he had already seen three drug deals going down on one of the alleyways he and Sam had peeked into and the last thing that he wanted to think about was Cas wandering into the wrong neighborhood after the sun set.

Castiel, however, looked relatively unimpressed by Dean's refusal. "If you are worried for my safety, you do not need to be concerned. I am an angel."

"You're an angel whose batteries have been drained and I don't want to take any chances."

Seeing that Cas still wasn't convinced, Dean looked back at Sam for support. When he felt Dean's eyes on him, Sammy leaned forward, his voice softened into that sympathetic tone he worked so well. "He's right, Cas. I know you're probably feeling pretty frustrated right now but if we haven't found anything around here yet, I don't know if you spending more time searching is going to help. We could all use a good night's sleep though and then in the morning we can start looking for Gabriel in a new part of the city."

Dean could tell they were getting through to him as Castiel's face pulled up into a discouraged frown. "That's just it though, I don't know where else to look."

Pushing himself to his feet, Dean stretched his arms over his head, wincing as he felt a couple joints in his back pop. "Maybe something will come to you in your sleep."

Castiel looked unconvinced but between Dean, Claire, and Sam they managed to guide him back to the parking garage, into the Impala, then down a couple of blocks where Dean had noticed a cheap chain inn advertising their rooms. By the time Dean was re-parking the Impala, Claire was about two seconds from falling asleep in the backseat. Castiel on the other hand seemed to be nearly vibrating with a nervous energy that after only a moment Dean was able to identify as fear.

Nodding for Sammy to go ahead into the lobby and get them a room, Dean pulled the angel aside while Claire tottered inside, blindly following Sam's giant footsteps. Before Castiel could even find the words to ask why they weren't going in themselves, Dean very intentionally stepped into the angel's space, ensuring both continuous eye contact and a chance to talk in private. "Cas, hey, come on. You have to keep it together."

Something inside the angel seemed to crumble a bit at Dean's words. It was clear he'd been trying to hide how much he was freaking out right now. Maybe Claire was too tired to notice or too young to know better, but he'd have to do better than that if he wanted to fool Dean. "I know. I'm trying, Dean. It's just—Gabriel is my only hope at saving my daughter. You cannot understand the amount of danger she is in, and she is growing stronger every day, making it more likely that they'll find her."

"Who, the demons? You said it yourself, no full demon can handle being here so we're safe for now."

"Demons are not what I am afraid of. It's the other angels. Dean, they will have received the order to kill Claire and in this state I will not be able to do anything to stop them. I need to find Gabriel, now."

Castiel's voice had dropped what seemed like four octaves as he was speaking, a panicked haze covering his blue eyes. He couldn't blame the guy for it; Dean was freaked out plenty himself and it wasn't even his kid who was in danger. He could tell the angel was about ready to bolt and continue the search and he would've let him go if he didn't think Castiel needed to rest as much as they did. "Listen to me, Cas. Me and Sammy will do whatever it takes to see this through, alright? But right now we all just need a couple of hours to wind down and come up with a new plan."

"But Dean—"

Dean interrupted Castiel's protest, "Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"I asked if you trust me."

Cas blinked, clearly caught off guard and stuck from the quick change of emotions. "You have never given me any reason not to trust you, so yes, I suppose I do."

"Then trust me when I say that we're going to find Gabriel in time. Just not tonight. Tonight, you, me, Sammy, and Claire, all of us need to order room service, get a minimum of four hours of sleep, then rethink this with a fresh eye tomorrow morning. Okay?"

Releasing a short breath, Cas seemed to deflate a bit but he finally nodded. That panicked look hadn't faded from his eyes though and just seeing it made Dean's stomach clench up uncomfortably. Moving a hand to the angel's shoulder, Dean gave it a short squeeze. He wasn't good at this comforting thing. That was Sammy's area of expertise. "We'll make this work, Cas. I promise."

Somehow when he said it out loud Dean could almost believe it himself. Cas seemed to be thinking along the same lines as a halfhearted smile slipped onto Castiel's lips. He obviously didn't believe Dean this time but he looked like he appreciated the effort and that was enough for Dean right now. Just fighting back a hint of the shadows lingering on Cas's face made him feel like he had just moved a mountain. "Thank you, Dean."

"Don't mention it." Realizing that his hand was still on the angel's shoulder, Dean jerked it back then awkwardly shoved it into his jacket pocket. "Anyway, let's head inside. Sam should've gotten us a room by now."

Castiel nodded again and allowed Dean to lead the way. Once inside the hotel, Dean realized what a mistake it was to leave Sammy in charge of getting a room. Staring at the room now, Dean wasn't entirely sure Sam should ever be allowed to even choose a hotel again.

"Sam, I'm not okay with this."

Sam had the gall to roll his eyes as he threw his small duffle down onto one of the two double beds. Two beds. For four people. Meaning Dean was going to have to share. "This was the only room they had left, Dean. Apparently there's some sort of music festival going on and they're booked. We're lucky I was able to talk the manager into giving us this."

This was lucky? There wasn't even a couch or an armchair in this dump and unless he wanted to sleep outside in the Impala—which was certainly a viable option that had certainly worked before—he apparently was going to share with Sam. "Oh come on. How is it fair that the two biggest people have to share a bed and the two smallest people get the other?" No way were they going to fit.

Sam lifted a brow, his lips curving up in a small, teasing smirk. "What, you want to switch it up? I don't know if Cas would be okay with Claire sleeping with me while you and he shared a bed."

Why not? Honestly Cas hadn't known Sam for long, but he and Claire would fit on a bed with plenty of room to spare. Him and Cas would have to sleep a little closer, but it'd still be better than—Suddenly realizing the implications, Dean scowled at his brother who seemed amused that it had taken so long for him to get it, "No, I don't want to switch it up. It was an observation, that's all."

"Alright. Then stop complaining."

Dean did manage to stop himself from complaining about the sleeping arrangements for the rest of the night. Out loud anyway. After Sam footed the bill for some room service and turned in for the night, Dean was cursing a blue streak in his head. Sam, as it turned out, was not only very large and took up way more than his fair share of the mattress but it looked like he still tended to roll around in his sleep. It had been kind of cute when Sam had been seven but now it was just plain aggravating. Sam was like three feet taller now and with him swinging his giant limbs around there was no way that Dean wasn't going to get caught in the crossfire no matter how close he scooted to the edge. On top of that, he kept stealing the blankets which in Dean's book was a bed sharing sin. How Sam had managed to keep a girlfriend at all was a complete mystery.

Nevertheless, Dean withstood it and tried to force himself to fall asleep. He was tired, he had driven a lot and walked a lot today, he deserved some sleep damn it. But when a glance at the digital clock sitting on the side table told him that it was already two in the morning he decided that enough was enough.

Fuck this. He wanted to get some sleep tonight, even if it meant an awkward morning.

Sliding off of the mattress, Dean padded over to the other side of the room and, after only a moment of hesitation, slipped into the other bed behind Castiel. The angel and Claire were sleeping close enough together that it still gave Dean plenty of space and he knew for a fact that Castiel never tossed and turned in his sleep. Dean wasn't sure if it was because he was tired or because he already knew Cas so well but it was much less weird than he had thought it should be, lying this close to something inhuman. Either way, the mattress was comfortable, there were no flailing limbs, and he actually had some blankets over him. All of those things combined had Dean quickly drifting off to sleep, tussled black hair and pale skin the last thing he saw as he closed his eyes.

Dean woke up to a much less pleasant sensation. It felt like only a couple of minutes had passed before he felt someone prodding his arm. If he'd given it half a second of thought he would've been able to figure out who it was, but Dean felt good about just being able to open his eyes.

Glaring blearily at his harasser, Dean found himself staring into Claire's face, the girl inches away from him. Like father, like daughter. "Mn, Claire. You okay?"

Again, if Dean had bothered to let his brain kick back on he would've noticed that her expression was anything but frightened or worried. In fact, she looked about one word away from breaking out into a massive giggle fit. "Dean, if you wanted to hug my daddy you didn't have to sneak into bed. You could've just asked."

"What are you…?" Dean's voice trailed off as he followed Claire's gaze to where one of Dean's arms was draped almost protectively over Castiel's chest. Well damn. It looked like moving around in your sleep was a Winchester family trait. And it looked like Dean was a cuddler. Castiel was still asleep but what really confused Dean was that his grabby hands must've woken the angel up. In turn, Cas easily could've pushed him off but if anything it seemed like Cas had relaxed into the embrace rather than tried to wiggle out of it. And Dean's brain didn't quite know what to make of that.

Tugging his arm away, Dean rolled over with a grunt. Claire stepped back to give him some room as he swung around. "Just forget that you saw that. And what time is it?"

It felt like five in the morning. No way could it be any later than six—"It's seven thirty."

Shit. Running his hand through his hair in lieu of a comb, Dean let out a wide yawn before he realized something very important. Sam wasn't in the other bed. It was empty, in fact. "Hey Claire, do you know where Sammy is?"

"Nope."

"I thought you might say that."

A thousand difference scenarios were flashing through Dean's mind but he forced himself to stick with the most realistic explanation for why Sammy wasn't where he was supposed to be. They had been sharing a bed early last night so Dean was sure Sam could've gotten too far. He just hoped the truth didn't involve Sam finding any trouble to get into before the rest of them even woke up. "I'd better go look for him."

"Do you need help?"

"Huh? Oh, nah." Now awake enough to appreciate the offer, Dean grinned down at Claire. "You can save all your searching for later today. How about you get Cas up by the time I get back instead?"

Claire seemed more than happy to oblige as she nodded her head. Leaving the young Nephilim to her own devices, Dean pulled himself the rest of the way out of bed and made short work of his morning routine in the bathroom. That he was mostly already dressed made the whole process a lot faster, though a quick check confirmed that if he was going to sleep in the same clothes he wore during the day they were going to have to stop off at a Laundromat pretty soon.

Dean left Claire in charge of the room before making his way back towards the lobby, figuring it would probably be the best place to start looking for his brother. When he reached the main room it was completely empty save for a single receptionist behind the main desk. He got her attention with a wave, "Hey, have you seen a guy come through here this morning? He's about eight feet tall with Herbal Essence hair?"

The woman looked taken aback at first but something Dean said must've triggered a memory, "A young man came through here about thirty minutes ago asking where the nearest coffee shop was?"

"That's probably him. Thanks." Coffee did sound like Sam and was thankfully one of the most benign scenarios Dean had come up with. If Sammy left about half an hour ago than he was probably making his way back to the hotel now but Dean was too impatient to just sit in the lobby and wait. It was a good decision; Dean only had to take three steps outside to find his brother.

Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala with a Styrofoam cup in his hands and a second waiting beside him. So either Sam was really hounding for some caffeine this morning or he knew Dean better than he thought.

Glancing around and finding the rest of the hotel's parking lot empty of any of its patrons, Dean strolled across the asphalt to where his brother was sitting. "What are you doing out here?"

Sam lifted his head and gave Dean a small smirk as he sat down next to his brother, the Impala creaking just slightly at the added weight. "I didn't want to wake anyone up. We had a late night, I figured everyone could do with a little extra sleep."

Having this talk outside was fine with Dean. He had wanted to get Sam alone for a while now in order to talk through some things he didn't necessarily want an audience for. Before he could bring up any of the serious stuff though, Sam's smirk quirked up into a full-blown grin, "You know, when I asked if you wanted to switch the sleeping arrangements up last night I was kind of joking. You and Cas looked really cute though."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Shut up. And gimme that." Snatching up the second cup of coffee, Dean downed about a third of it in one go. He was going to need some caffeine himself for what was coming next. Sam seemed to sense something was coming too as he shuffled around a bit, his arms coming in a little closer to his body as he took a hesitant sip of his own coffee. Swallowing, Dean figured he should just get this over with. "You know I want to talk to you about this whole you putting yourself on the line to find Gabriel thing."

Sam let out an exasperated little sigh, "Come on, Dean, do we have to go over this again?"

"Yes, actually, I think we do. I'm grateful for what you've done for us so far, but I don't want you risking yourself like this."

"I'm not a kid anymore. I'm old enough to make my own choices and this is what I'm choosing. Besides, you don't exactly have any right to tell me not to help out when you've already put so much on the line."

Frowning, Dean's fingers tightened a little on his cup. "What do you mean?"

"You gave up everything for Cas and Claire back when you barely even knew them! How is what I'm doing now worse or riskier than what you've already done?"

"Yeah, well, do what I say, not what I do. You can't keep putting yourself in danger, Sam. Using your powers to stop demons and find Gabriel, you're going to hurt yourself! I shouldn't've even asked you to come along." Dean knew that they were going to get into trouble. He knew that going into this but he still let Sam come. If anything happened, Dean wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive himself.

"You don't mean that. Besides, you would've had a hard time keeping me away. I needed to get out of that house." Dean looked over to find Sam staring down into his coffee cup. He could tell his brother wasn't finished so he stayed quiet for once and let Sammy work through it in his mind first.

"…I can still see her sometimes you know."

"Who?"

"Jess." Dean's frown softened as Sam continued, his own face drawing up into a pained smile, "I'm still living in the same apartment, sleeping in the same room she died in. It's been redone but sometimes I can swear I smell smoke. Other nights…other nights I lay awake at night imagining of her being burned alive above me. A few times I'll be walking around downstairs and I'll see her out of the corner of my eye, wearing the white dress she had on the last time I saw her alive."

Dean let out a breath, not knowing if Sam had been dreaming or was being metaphorical, but-"…Do you think you're actually seeing something or is it just in your head?" There were such things as ghosts after all. Dean had never dealt with one personally but it seemed like being burned to death in a maliciously set fire was a pretty good set-up for someone becoming a sprit. Especially if they had left someone behind.

Sam just shook his head, "I don't know anymore. Either way it doesn't matter. More than wanting to help you, I just wanted to get away from there."

For a long moment Dean didn't respond, Sam's words washing over him. "…I think I know how you feel." That's how it was for him too, first when their Mom died and again when the Roadhouse burned down. Sometimes you just had to get away.

Another few minutes passed as they both just finished up their coffee, stuck in their own memories. Sam was the first to shake it off, offering Dean a more lively smile as he placed his empty cup down beside him, "Anyway…At least it seems like one of us is starting to move on."

"Huh?"

Again a grin flooded onto Sam's face and as much as Dean preferred the expression to Sam's sad face it didn't bode well for him personally. "You and Cas. I knew you liked the guy but I didn't know you'd gotten this attached already."

"Whatever, Sam. You know I've only dated girls, so don't give me that crap."

Sam was persistent as usual, "You've only dated girls but—"

"—Sam, if you say one more word, I swear I'm gonna—"

Now the bastard looked like he was close to laughing"—You don't need to get so defensive, Dean! It's okay, I'm fine with it. I'm actually a little like that myself, so, don't worry about it. I'm just saying you seemed pretty cozy in there."

Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes again. He had experimented with the same sex a little as a teen, without revealing anything about it to his father, though apparently his little brother had noticed. But none of those relationships, if you could even call them that, had gone anywhere so he considered himself straight with a few bi flings in his past. But now with Cas…

Dean huffed and set his coffee down next to Sam's. "Cas…isn't really in my league." An angel and a human who stopped believing in God the day his family home burned to the ground with his mother inside it. That was never going to happen. "Besides, after today when we find Gabriel, we won't really have any reason to stick together anyway."

He could feel Sam's gaze on him but kept his own eyes set firmly on the pavement. His brother's tone had gone lower, softer, and any eye contact would just push it over the top. "You really do like the guy, huh? If you ever change your mind and realize what a great guy you actually are, just, be careful, alright? I know I'm the last person who should be saying this, especially after I just teased you, but you have to be careful, Dean. He's not, he's just not human. He doesn't work the same way you do."

Confused about Sam's sudden change in perspective, Dean could only jump to the angel's defense, "Hey, Cas is a great guy!"

"He is! I'm not arguing that. I'm just telling you the truth, Dean. I don't want to see you get hurt trying to…date cross-species. I've been there before and, it doesn't always work out."

So that's what this was about. "Not that I'm even interested," Dean really couldn't be, "but if I was, there's a huge difference between me going out with an angel and you going out with a demon. Now can you please just drop it!"

Sam put his hands up, "Fine. It was just advice, you can take it or leave it. Though just for the record, I would have no problem with you and Cas trying to make it work as long as you took it slow at first."

"Sam!"

"Alright, dropping it!"

If Sam didn't wipe that grin off of his face, Dean really was going to punch him. This morning had way too many ups and downs already and all he wanted to do was just find a freaking archangel so he could get back to his life. "You know what, Sammy? You go up and get Cas and Claire out of the room. I'm going to get the Impala started up."

"That takes like one second to do."

"And?"

Now it was Sam's turn to roll his eyes. "Fine, but by the time I get back you'd better have some idea about where we're going next."

"Sure, whatever."

Despite his blatant dismissal of the idea, after Sammy turned back into the hotel Dean actually did think about what their next move would be. It was obvious that Cas didn't have a clue where to look next but between the three of them hopefully they'd be able to figure something out before something bad happened to Claire.

Climbing into the Impala, Dean stuck in a new cassette tape and leaned back to wait for the rest of them to come out while his thoughts flew around his head. If he were an archangel where would he hole up? Cas said that Gabriel was different than the other archangels and obviously he hadn't been where he should've been so the angel's out-of-the-box choices included his living arrangements. The question was how was Gabriel different? There were a hundred different places in L.A. that Dean could think of where a being with almost limitless power would choose to hang out. There was the beach, the hills to give them that omnipresent feeling as they looked over the valley, somewhere on the outskirts of town closed off from the rest of human society.

With this huge range of possibilities in mind, Dean was happy to see Cas, Claire, and Sam emerge from the hotel. Dean barely waited for Cas to open the back door to the Impala before barraging him with questions. "So Cas, you said Gabriel was different. How is that, exactly?"

Castiel blinked up at him as he clamored into the back seat. From his tussled hair to his rumpled trench coat it looked like he had just woken up. "What do you mean?" His voice was deeper too.

"You mentioned before that he was different than the other archangels and obviously he picked somewhere different to set up shop. So what kind of person is he? Moody? Secretive? Sadistic?"

Cas tilted his head to the side, giving the comment some serious thought before responding with an absolutely straight face, "Hedonistic."

A snort of disbelief sounded from the passenger's seat and Dean glanced over at his brother. "What's with you?" No way was Dean going to admit that he didn't know what "hedonistic" meant. It was enough that he couldn't even finish high school, skipping out instead with a G.E.D. while Sammy went on to get an advanced degree from Stanford. He didn't need to remind everyone.

Sam apparently knew he didn't know anyway. "Saying Gabriel's hedonistic means that he's self-indulgent, that he's a pleasure seeker. It's just not what I was expecting from an archangel."

"Gabriel is unique." Castiel's tone was abnormally dry, making Dean think that the other angel didn't entirely approve.

"Okay, so the guy's into the finer things in life. L.A. has a lot of places for that, so where do we go?"

A spark lit in Sammy's eyes. "You're right, there are a lot of places, but what's on the top of the list? What's the most luxurious place in L.A. you can think of?"

Dean shrugged. He didn't really pay too much attention to that kind of stuff. "I dunno, Hollywood?"

"Close. The rich and famous are there but so are the not so rich and famous. No, I think our first stop should definitely be where the wealthy make up nearly the entire population: Beverly Hills."

"Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be, living in Beverly Hills." Dean shot a grin over at his brother as he put the Impala and gear and began to steer her towards the main road. "Get it? Like that one song?"

"I get it, Dean. Can you please just drive us there?"

"Alright, alright, killjoy. And remember, you're going to be the one who's gonna start to feel Gabriel's affects the strongest, so you let me know if I'm going in the right direction. Or if it gets too bad for you, you better tell me so I can get you out of there, you hear me, Sammy?"

"Sure, fine."

Dean wasn't convinced that Sam was ever going to complain but he let it slide, figuring that his brother got enough of a lecture that morning to know that Dean wasn't kidding around. Castiel leaned forward from the backseat, "How far is Beverly Hills from our current location?"

Shrugging, Dean watched as Sam pulled his smartphone back out. After a quick search, Sam's face fell into a frown, "Uh…about twenty five minutes. Or an hour and a half with traffic."

A scowl appeared on Dean's lips as well, "Is there traffic?"

"Probably. But we might be able to get into the carpool lane which should save us about…fifteen minutes."

"I freaking hate L.A."

OoOoOo

"L.A. is awesome!"

Dean turned onto Santa Monica Boulevard with a huge grin on his face. Gone was the concrete jungle of downtown L.A., the road instead lined with fancy storefronts, beautiful houses, palm trees, and gorgeous people. The drive over had been hellish but the sights pretty much made up for it. The rest of the Impala's occupants didn't seem to find it as enchanting however; Claire was looking out the window but more out of boredom than anything else, Cas seemed completely disinterested, and Sam had his head resting against the glass on the side window but had his eyes shut tight.

Noticing the was Sammy's lips were pressed tightly together and the furrow in his brow, Dean refocused on what needed to be done. "How you holding up?"

"We're definitely getting closer. That queasy feeling I described earlier just turned into a full-blown migraine."

Dean tried to stamp down his protective streak. Earlier this morning Sam had seemed dead set on seeing this through so Dean was going to try and let him. "That sucks for you but is great news for us. Looks like we finally got it right. Can you tell where we should be heading next?"

"Not exactly but…it gets a little worse when you head north so I guess you should start moving us in that direction."

"If you say so."

For the next ten minutes or so, Dean followed Sam's vague directions with a small input every now and again from Cas. Eventually Dean found that he had driven them into the hills of Beverly Hills where apparently all the super wealthy shacked up. By now he knew for sure he was having a much better time than everyone else in the car, that fact made clear when he decided to stop to buy a five dollar map of the V.I.P. of the neighborhood from a street vendor. Sam had bitched his ears off and even Cas had given him a short glare for pausing their search but Dean didn't care; now he knew where Mick Jagger lived and he was definitely finding an excuse to drive by his house on the way out of town.

After another five minutes, Sam called for Dean to stop the car, insisting that they had to be close enough to finish the search on foot. Castiel was out the door as soon as Dean pulled over to the curb, the angel's blue eyes scanning the massive mansions around them with a suspicious eye as Dean grabbed his map and followed suit.

He met Sam on the sidewalk, his brother holding one hand to his head as if to keep his brain from exploding. "You doing alright?"

Sam pursed his lips then apparently figured it would be stupid to lie when clearly he was having issues. "I've been better. But I've been worse too, I'll be fine."

Claire slid up next to her father. "Is Gabriel in one of these houses?"

The angel nodded back down to her, "It appears so. Can you sense his presence at all, Claire?"

For a moment Dean couldn't figure out why Cas was asking her instead of Sammy, then realized that although Castiel's own angel mojo had been switched off Claire's was growing. If Cas was supposed to be able to easily locate Gabriel it made sense that Claire might at least have an inkling about where he was. But it seemed that they were going to have to depend on Demon Radar rather than Angel Radio as Claire shook her head, "I haven't felt anything like that yet. I'm sorry, Daddy"

Cas almost looked relieved. "You have done nothing wrong, Claire, there is no need for you to apologize."

Stepping in now that he was their only archangel compass, Sam took a couple steps forward then turned around and began to walk. "I'm pretty sure it's this way."

Dean glanced down at his map as they passed by fancy house after fancy house. "Sound a little bit more confident in yourself, it'll make the rest of us feel better."

"My head's splitting, Dean, I can barely hear myself think."

"Then stop thinking and just keep walking."

Truth was, Dean was getting more nervous with every step they took which is why he had snatched the map out of the car. It gave him something to pay attention to in order to get his mind off of what was actually happening. Not only was Sam feeling more and more pain as the demon inside of him reacted to the holy presence of an archangel but with every inch of pavement they crossed over Dean was marching closer to said archangel. Like angels weren't dangerous enough, he was hand delivering himself and everyone he cared about to something even full-fledged demons were afraid of.

More than that though, by the looks of it they were about to find Gabriel and after that Cas wouldn't need Dean to stay. He and Claire would be safe and go live their own life, leaving Dean to do the same. The problem was that Dean had started to like having Cas and Claire in that life. He honestly enjoyed Claire's company; she was smart, adorable, and had the potential to be the kid that Dean had always wanted. And then there was Cas…Dean wanted the chance to follow Sam's advice and take it slow. Not that he knew if Castiel was even interested. Not that it mattered anyway.

A muffled shout reached Dean's ears and he lowered his stars map just in time to see Sam collapse onto the sidewalk, his head clutched in his hands. Dean let the map fall forgotten to the pavement as he raced forward, kneeling down beside where his brother had pulled himself up into the fetal position. Blood was trickling from Sam's nose and his lips were pressed so tightly together they had started to turn white. "Cas! Cas, hold up!" Leaning over Sam, Dean tried to get a better look at him as Castiel and Claire stopped and turned back to face them. "Sam? Sam, can you hear me?"

Dean saw him swallow and grit his teeth, his fingers digging into his shaggy hair. "Y-yeah. We, we must be, really close!"

"Alright, hang on."

Fuck trying to smother his protective streak; he had let this go on for too long. Looking up, Dean saw that Cas and Claire had made their way over and were watching Sam with concern. "Cas, grab Sam's other arm and help me drag him back a couple of feet."

"Of course."

Between the two of them, Dean and Castiel quickly managed to drag Sammy back far enough that he was able to breathe easier, his fingers loosening their death grip from his hair as his eyes flickered back open. Squatting down to catch his own breath, Dean watched as Sam blinked, automatically trying to get the blackness that had covered his eyes to fade back to hazel but it wasn't working this time.

"That better, Sammy?"

Nodding, Sam slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks."

Dean watched him for a moment, "Your eyes are still all demon-ish."

Sucking in a deep breath of air, Sam nodded again. "Yeah. I can't get it to stop."

Cas knelt so that he was at Sam and Dean's eyelevel, the angel's gaze boring into Sam's. "We must be within yards of an archangel now."

Sam reached up with a shaking arm and wiped the blood from his nose onto his sleeve. "It was that, that house." He nodded up towards the mansion looming in front of it. Sam had gone down as soon as they crossed in front of its yard. Most of the building was obscured by a grove of willow trees but a few corners of an imposing brick building were still visible through the foliage. "As soon as we got close to it, I just couldn't take it anymore."

Turning his eyes back on Sam as he tried to stand back up, Dean put a hand on his brother's shoulder to keep him from moving. "Easy, Sammy. Take it easy." No way was he good to go after collapsing to the ground. "After that, I think you need a little more time to rest. In fact, now that we now where old Gabe is, it's about time to get you the hell away from here."

"No, Dean. I'm not leaving you here to face an archangel."

"I do not believe that Gabriel will be a danger to your brother."

Dean was surprised to have Castiel on his side. "What he said. Besides, you almost passed out. Even if the guy doesn't smite you on sight, your eyes would probably start bleeding or break out in boils or something if you got to close."

"It has been known to happen."

Dean whipped his gaze up to Castiel. "Seriously?"

"Yes, if Gabriel wishes it. I do not think he would, unless it amused him, but I am not entirely certain of his views toward demons. Because of this, it would be wise for you to come no closer than you have, Sam." Looking over Dean's shoulder to where Claire was watching with wide eyes, Cas seemed to make up his mind. "Rather than come with me to speak with Gabriel, I'd prefer it if you could take Claire away for an hour or so during our conversation. Until I can convince Gabriel to protect her, she is in as much danger as you are. If an angel catches her and realizes what she is, it will not end well." They would kill her. Even Dean could read between the lines on that one.

Realizing that this time Castiel and Dean were both in agreement, Sam finally relented. He either knew he was right or was just really tired of being in pain. Maybe both. "…I'll need the keys to the Impala."

Willing to give up the keys to his baby if it meant Sam and Claire would be safe, Dean dug his key ring out of his pocket and threw it at Sam. "Fill up the tank while you're out."

Sam made a face before clamoring to his feet, looking about as steady as a newborn calf. Dean probably shouldn't be letting him drive in that condition but it was better than letting him stay where he was.

After making sure that he was taking Claire along with him, Dean turned back to Castiel, "I'm staying with you, by the way. And that's not negotiable."

"Fine."

Dean was glad he didn't argue because no way was he going to leave the angel alone for this. If he didn't know any better, he'd have said that Cas looked scared.

He was definitely acting a little bit frightened, standing stock still in front of the mansion even after Sammy and Claire had driven away.

"So…Are you going to go to the door?"

"Yes."

"It's been like four minutes since you last moved, Cas."

"I am aware."

Despite the angel's obvious anxiety a small smile slipped across Dean's face. This conversation seemed familiar. He was just happy to be the one on the other side of it this time. "You want me to walk with you up to the door?"

Catching Dean's smile, Cas frowned before realization sparked in his eyes. Some of the nervousness seemed to melt from him as he sent Dean a small, almost subconscious smile back, "I do not require your presence but perhaps it would be better if you did so. Just so you wouldn't be a surprise."

Dean's grin grew, glad that he had got the angel to relax a little, and fought off the unbidden urge to reach out and run his fingertips across Cas's cheek. He didn't smile a lot and the expression looked really good on him. Dean didn't know where the hell that thought had come from but he knew where it was going: deep into the back of his mind with all the other crap he never wanted to deal with.

"Come on then and let's get this over with."

Grudgingly Castiel gave into Dean's urging and stiffly made his way up the long driveway towards the mansion lying in wait. The building itself looked old, established, probably built back in the twenties or thirties and covered with brick and ivy. It screamed of old money but the cherry red Ferrari in parked sideways out front gave more of a "rock star" impression.

Both the house and the Ferrari seemed like background noise though as Dean walked behind Castiel, watching as the angel stopped at the front step, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.