The air in the warehouse seemed electrified. Spencer could feel the power around him like a tingle prickling over his skin. He ignored everyone around him and walked right up to the ring of fire. Off to the side, he could feel Dean and Sam's worry, could clearly hear Sam's mental pleas for him to get out of here. But Spencer wasn't going anywhere. He hadn't walked in here unknowingly. It'd been days since he'd heard anything from the boys, days since he'd gotten a prayer from Sam, and while he'd expected Dean to be silent towards him—and was content with that, really, because he was still pissed at the man—he hadn't expected Sam's silence. Finally, he hadn't been able to just brush it off as Sam giving him space. He'd messaged him, just a text, and then later a call, and then later he'd given in to the urge and hunted him down.

He'd expected to find them in some sort of trouble. He hadn't expected—this.

When he was only a foot away from the fire, he stopped, trying so hard to make his body relax and knowing that he was failing abysmally at it. Then again, he dared anyone to stay calm when standing in front of a very obviously pissed off archangel, even if said archangel was trapped inside a ring of holy fire. The tension was so thick in the air Spencer thought he might choke on it. He fought past it and tried to make his tone a little lighthearted, turning his head so that he could give the boys a smile that he hoped was a little reassuring, though something told him he failed at it. "Boy, I can't leave you two unsupervised, can I?"

"Spencer, get out of here." Dean said lowly, taking one step towards him. "We can handle this. Just get on out here."

For the moment the anger between them fell away. Spencer's smile was a little more honest now in the face of Dean's concern. He hadn't expected that. It was, nice. Dean was actually trying to protect him, and not just because he had to. He really did look worried for Spencer. Warmed by it, Spencer couldn't help but tease a little, knowing that Dean wouldn't appreciate any warm or heartfelt words. "Are you actually worried about me, Winchester? Careful, people might start to think that you actually like me."

There wasn't any time for Dean to respond. A low growl had Spencer's attention snapping back towards the archangel who had been silent up until now. Golden eyes glowed dangerously in the firelight, never once leaving Spencer's face. "Let me go." Gabriel snarled. "Now."

Spencer hooked his hands into his pockets and rocked back a little on his heels. "I'd much rather have this argument while you're safely in there, thank you."

The light in Gabriel's eyes flashed a little in a way that definitely wasn't from the firelight. "You have to let me out sometime and I'll be a lot more pissed off the longer you keep me in here."

Spencer tipped his head to the side in that little thoughtful gesture he and Castiel shared. Then, before either Hunter could leap forward to stop him, he waved a hand and banished away the fire. He heard Sam suck in a sharp breath and Dean start to curse lowly. None of that really mattered. All that mattered was the furious archangel that was stepping out of the charred circle and moving towards Spencer. Both Sam and Dean held their breath as they watched Gabriel come to a stop just inches in front of Spencer. Then, stunning them completely, Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest and scowled up at Spencer, demanding "What the hell are you doing here, Fox?"

"Trust me, I'm asking myself that very question." Spencer said with a sigh.

"And since when do you know the Winchesters, huh?"

"Wait a second…" Dean interrupted. He looked both annoyed and confused as he moved up to the side of them, because of course the idiot had no apparent sense of self preservation and actually thought that coming up and demanding answers from a pissed off archangel was somehow a good idea. "You two know each other?"

Whereas Dean looked confused, Sam looked like he'd just seen the proverbial light. Wide eyes went from Gabriel to Spencer and back again. "You've got to be kidding me. Him? Him?"

There wasn't even a chance for Spencer to attempt to field that. He barely started to open his mouth when Gabriel waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the Hunters. "Yes, yes, congratulations, you've figured it out. Now shut up while I talk to my son." He dropped that bombshell without a care for the reaction it got. Taking another step forward so that there was just a breath between them, he lifted a finger and jabbed it into Spencer's chest. "You are going to explain to me what is going on here and why you're in the middle of this steaming pile of apocalyptic crap and not safely at home where you should be." He didn't give Spencer a chance to answer and poked him in the chest again. "I've worked to keep your ass far away from this and what do you do? You go hook up with Winchesters! Winchesters. Have I taught you nothing about self-preservation? Are you looking to get killed? Cause that's what happens to idiots who hang around these two!"

Spencer looked down at his father for a long moment and waited. When Gabriel made an impatient sound, Spencer arched an eyebrow at him in a gesture that, in that moment, those watching wondered how the hell they hadn't managed to recognize. "Oh, am I allowed to talk now?"

"Careful there, fledgling. You're still young enough for me to put across my knee."

Instead of worrying him, that threat actually had Spencer relaxing a little. Threats like that had rarely ever been followed through in his life. They were more for show than anything else. A soft smile touched his lips and some of the tension drained out of him. "I wouldn't fit on your lap anymore."

"Don't push your luck, Penny-pot." Gabriel warned him. Despite the nickname, his tone was serious enough to let Spencer know that he meant business. Trickster though he may be to others, to Spencer he was Dad, and his Dad only tolerated so much bullshit when it came to more serious matters—namely, the safety of his children.

Recognizing that tone, Spencer nodded quickly. "Okay, okay. Sorry, Dad. I'll answer your questions, I promise I will, but do you think you could bring back Castiel, first? Please? I can feel him nearby somewhere."

A snap of his fingers and Castiel appeared right beside Dean. The marks on his face and the way he held himself had Spencer's gaze snapping back to his father. Dean immediately hurried to his friend, but Castiel ignored him, staring straight at Gabriel. "Hello, Gabriel."

"Lovely as this all is, Spencer and I need to have a little chat." Gabriel told them. "I'll send him back when I'm done." With no more warning than that, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers again.

Spencer didn't even stumble as he reappeared in the living room of one of his father's safe houses. Then a firm hand pushed against his chest and he found himself shoved down onto the couch with a very annoyed looking Gabriel towering over him. "You better start talking here, and don't you dare leave anything out. From the looks of it you've been lying to me enough lately."

"I haven't been lying!" Spencer defended immediately. A small flush hit his cheeks. "I just…haven't told you."

"Yeah, well, you're telling me now, kiddo."

So that's what Spencer did. Toeing his shoes off, he curled his legs up on the couch and tucked his feet underneath him as he told his father everything. Gabriel sat down on the cushion next to him in a position almost identical to his and he kept surprisingly quiet while he listened even though more than once Spencer could see that he wanted to speak up. About halfway through he materialized some drinks for them; cocoa for him and coffee for Spencer. Then he just kept quiet as Spencer continued talking. It took a while for the story to be told in full. Until he started explaining it, Spencer hadn't realized just how much there was to say. Little things kept having to be explained so that the rest of it would make sense. By the time he was done it had turned into quite the story and Spencer was having to fight back the guilt that ate at him. He hadn't realized until trying to explain it all just how much he'd actually been keeping from his father. It bothered him to hear it all laid out like that. For his whole life, Gabriel had been the one person that Spencer could really talk to. The one that he told pretty much everything to. It'd been easy enough when he was just a child and had thought that he was nothing more than someone in his dreams. As he'd gotten older, the trust was already there between them and he enjoyed having someone he could tell things to without judgment.

Until recently, there had been only a few things that Spencer had ever kept from him. One was the incident with the demons which led to his friendship with Bobby Singer, which was another thing that he'd kept from him. The other big thing had been his addiction to Dilaudid. For months, he'd kept that secret, up until the day that Gabriel had swung by to check on him and found him high as a kite in his bedroom. There'd been no keeping it secret then. Nor had there been any continuing it. Gabriel had taken him away, putting them into a time loop so Spencer wouldn't miss work, and he'd gone through the process of getting Spencer clean and sober. That wasn't something he ever wanted to have to go through again. Not the detox, the withdrawals, or the conversations that had happened afterwards.

This was bigger than all that, though. This was something huge to have kept to himself and he'd known from the moment he started down this road that it was going to end up in one hell of an argument when it finally came out.

Quiet had fallen around them and Spencer found himself ducking his head down, though he peeked up through his bangs to watch Gabriel's face. His expression was blank, amber eyes lowered down to his cup, but his wings showed his agitation, drawing up and rustling a little behind him.

"That's a hell of a story." Gabriel finally said.

Spencer fought back a wince at the careful tone. "I'm sorry." It was all he could think of to say. He was sorry. But, at the same time, he couldn't see himself doing it any differently. The look he got told him that his thought had most likely been heard. That didn't happen all that often; not unintentionally, not since he'd been taught to shield his thoughts when he was young. Before Gabriel could say anything, Spencer hurried to explain, the words tumbling past his lips in a rush because, dammit, he wanted him to understand, couldn't stand the idea that maybe he'd really messed things up here. "I know you're mad and you've got every right to be, really you do, but I didn't do it to upset you or because I didn't trust you. You know I do, Dad. I trust you more than I trust anyone else."

"Then why?"

"Because I didn't want to pull you into this! You told me once that you left because you wanted to get away from this kind of fighting. How could I do anything that would drag you back into it? How could I ask you to help us do anything to hurt your brother? I know I couldn't if someone asked me. It wouldn't be fair to expect you to do so. And I'm sorry if you don't like that, but I'd do it again. I've seen how bad it hurts you just to talk about your past. The last thing I was going to do was knowingly pull you back into the midst of it all and I'm not sorry for that, Dad."

He watched as Gabriel sighed, some of his tenseness fading away with it. Amber eyes lifted back up to him and one eyebrow arched up in dry amusement. "You do realize which one of us is the parent here, don't you?"

That light teasing had Spencer's body almost slumping down into the couch with relief. If Gabriel was teasing him it meant that he couldn't be too angry. Unable to speak past the sudden relief, Spencer settled for nodding.

Gabriel huffed out a breath and shook his head. With a snap, their cups vanished, and Spencer found himself getting tugged forward and tucked into a familiar and immensely comforting embrace. No matter what happened, no matter where he went or who was in his life, this right here always spelled home to him. This was safety and comfort all wrapped up in the strong arms around him, the shoulder his head was pillowed on, the golden wings that wrapped around them and kept them sheltered. He felt a cheek rest against his head and then Gabriel was sighing again. "I just want you safe, little fox."

"No one's going to be safe if we don't stop this." Spencer pointed out.

"That doesn't mean that you have to be the one to stop it."

"I can't just sit back and ignore it."

"I know. You've got too much of your Mom in you."

Smirking, Spencer leaned in a little more, letting his eyes drift to half-mast. "I take that as a compliment."

"I'm not gonna be able to talk you out of this, am I?"

Spencer shook his head. "No."

The arms around him squeezed briefly. "I could ground you and keep you here."

Huffing out a breath, the young nephilim rolled his eyes. "I'd find a way to get free."

That earned him a low laugh. Gabriel shifted them both, sitting Spencer up again. He reached up and smoothed a bit of Spencer's hair back from his face. "You always were a determined little shit when you set your mind on something."

"I had a good teacher." Spencer shot back.

That earned him a full blown laugh. When Gabriel looked at him again, his eyes were twinkling with familiar mirth and he was grinning. There was just a hint of worry hidden back in those amber depths for those that knew to see it but the rest was pure humor. "All right then, kiddo. I'm probably gonna regret this, but—all right."

"Are you…are you sure?"

"Yeah. Dad knows it's a stupid idea, but someone's gotta be around to keep you idiots from getting killed. I guess that job falls to me." He sighed noisily, like he was the most put-upon being on the planet, and Spencer had to smother a smirk at that. It didn't work to well. Gabriel saw it and shoved lightly at him, grumbling "Shut up" before he pushed up to his feet and dragged Spencer up with him. "C'mon, brat, let's get you back to the Winchesters before they send out a search party. I'm sure they'll be just thrilled to meet their newest teammate."

The realization of what he was about to do hit Spencer and wiped his smile away. He was about to go with his father to a small motel room, with the Winchesters, two people who had pretty much every reason to hate the Trickster, and Castiel, who might very well harbor resentment towards the archangel who had abandoned Heaven. And right smack dab in the center was going to be Spencer. He was going to have to not only explain himself to the other side now, he was going to have to play mediator between all parties. Groaning lowly, he shot Gabriel his most pitiful look, the one he usually reserved for when he was in the most trouble and really wanted to find a way out of it. "Can't I stay here while you go and explain it to them?"

Gabriel's grin was positively devious. "No chance, little fox. Consider this part of your punishment for keeping secrets and lying to me."

Spencer's groan echoed around them as they vanished from the safe house.

When Spencer appeared in the brothers' motel room, he found them already arguing at top volume, with Castiel standing silently off to the side watching them. His arrival drew immediate attention and three sets of eyes turned towards him. It was right then that Spencer realized that his ever-so-wonderful father had actually dropped him off here and then left. He'd actually left. Spencer found himself scowling at the place where Gabriel had been just seconds before. Dammit! Annoyed, he sent up a prayer to the archangel, knowing it would be heard. 'Thank you ever so much for leaving me to deal with the fallout of this, father of mine. These boys hold such lovefor you.' He hoped his Dad could hear the layers of sarcasm on that.

It was only a second later that he heard Gabriel's voice in his head, just talking not through prayer, and that told him that while the archangel had left them he hadn't gone far. He was still close enough for a telepathic conversation. At least for now. 'I warned you, consider this part of your punishment.' There was a short pause, followed by 'Remind Dean-o that I've already killed him, plenty of times, and I'm not afraid to do it again if he actually tries to lay a hand on you.'

Somehow, Spencer had a feeling starting this conversation out with threats wouldn't exactly get him very far.

He didn't end up having to be the one to start the conversation. In the time it took Spencer to have his mental conversation, the others recovered from his surprise landing and they'd all firmly turned their attention to him. Spencer could feel the anger in the room and he took an instinctive step back. That only prompted Dean's march forward. True to form, he didn't waste any time getting straight to the heart of the matter. "Why didn't you tell us your Dad was the damn Trickster?" He snarled out.

"I told you before why I didn't want to involve him." Spencer answered, trying to keep his voice calm in the hopes of not setting Dean off any worse than he already was. Eyes sliding over towards Sam, the one here whose opinion mattered most, Spencer tried not to wince when he saw the slightly hurt, slightly shuttered look there. Crap. "I'm sorry you guys are upset, but you have to understand, I was protecting him."

'Who said I need protecting?' Gabriel's voice drifted through his mind.

Spencer almost growled. This is going to be difficult enough without your witty commentary!

Pfft. Everything is better with my witty commentary.

Great. Two conversations at once; this was going to be a lot of fun.

"Since when does he need protection?" Dean demanded, interrupting Spencer's internal conversation and eerily echoing Gabriel. "He's a freaking archangel! You should've told us you've got an archangel on your side. I don't care if he's been hiding or not, you should've at least gone to him for help earlier!"

"I warned you before how he'd react. I'm lucky he brought me back at all. He didn't have to let me be here." Spencer warned him. For all his bravado before in telling Gabriel that he'd just find a way to break out, he knew that if his father really wanted to hold him there wouldn't be anything Spencer could do to stop him. Not without doing things he'd promised himself a long time ago that he wouldn't unless he absolutely had to.

"Last I checked, you're a grown man. You can make your own decisions." Dean said.

For the first time since Spencer had come in, Castiel spoke up, saying Dean's name in a low voice. "Dean…" He reached out and put his hand on Dean's arm, though his eyes never left Spencer. They hadn't for once second since he'd arrived. "You do not understand. While Spencer might be an adult by human standards, he is not by ours. Nephilim do not age like humans do. To use your terminology, he is still a young child."

"He's right." Spencer agreed, looking over them all, trying and failing to catch Sam's eye. His charge wasn't looking directly at him and his face had become a calm mask, one that worried Spencer, though he didn't let it show in his voice. He kept calm as he continued to explain. "Nephilim age differently. I'll reach full physical maturity at thirty. Though, I might continue to age. We're not sure."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked. It was the first question he'd had.

Though Sam's tone was still flat, Spencer couldn't help but jump to answer his question, wanting to explain himself to his friend. "I'm not typical, even for a nephilim. At least not right now. See, angels will always be angels unless they rip out their grace. That's the only way they can become human. But nephilim have grace and soul both already. We can sort of, choose, which side we lean more towards. A nephilim can suppress their grace far enough that they'll essentially be human. That's what I do. I can't make it go away completely, of course, but I've got my grace locked down tight enough that I'm mostly human. I heal a little faster than a human does and I require less sleep and sustenance but I can be killed by normal, human means."

"And if you stopped locking it down?" Dean asked.

Spencer shrugged one shoulder in a gesture far more casual than he truly felt. "I'd basically be an angel, just one with a soul. I'd heal like they do. Regular angel blades wouldn't kill me, either. It'd have to be the blade of an archangel. And my power would be a whole lot stronger."

That apparently wasn't what they were expecting. The room went quiet for a moment and Spencer could feel some of the anger fading away underneath their curiosity. That curiosity was strong enough to get past whatever odd things Sam was feeling and spark a bit of his natural curiosity in him. "So why don't you? All that power, man. I've read just how powerful the nephilim can be. Or, at least, what was suspected."

"Exactly." Spencer said lowly. He closed his eyes for a minute, pushing back thoughts he didn't want to think. "I don't want 'all that power'. I just wanted to grow up and live a normal life. Maybe later, when I'm older, I'll let go. Join my family and see what life can be like. But I wanted one human lifetime."

"Why not now, though?" Dean asked him. "I mean, with the apocalypse going you'd think you'd want all the extra juice and healing you could get."

"This isn't about me and my powers." Spencer said. He drew in a breath to steady himself and opened his eyes once more. With a steady gaze, he looked from one to the other. "I know that all of you are upset with me right now. I understand that, truly I do. But there's no changing the past. All we can do is move forward from here. If you want to know why he's stayed out, or if you want to be furious over the things he's done with you, I'd ask that you take it up with him. My father though he may be, that doesn't make me his keeper, nor does it mean that I understand even half of what he does. I can respect that you don't like him. However, I ask that you respect that he is, in fact, my father, and I don't want to have to constantly hear him badmouthed. The person he is around you isn't the one he is around me. You see the Trickster. Loki. Even Gabriel. That's who he is with you. But with me—he's just my Dad and I love him."

Spencer didn't give them any time to say anything to that. He turned to face Sam and finally managed to catch his eye. "Sam, I need to speak with you for a moment." With no more warning than that, he took a few steps forward and caught Sam's arm. The wind whipped around them and they were gone.

When they landed, he immediately let go of Sam's arm, watching as the younger Winchester looked all around him, eyes a little wide. "Where are we?"

"One of my safe houses." Spencer answered. He waved a hand dismissively, brushing past that. "That's not important. Are we okay, Sam?"

That cut off Sam's wandering gaze rather quickly. He looked back at Spencer, first with surprise, then with that same shuttered look as before. "Boy, you're to the point, aren't you?" He murmured. It wasn't really a question, though. It took him a moment before he decided to speak again. When he did, he gave Spencer the same honesty that Spencer had given him. "Your Dad's been a recurring star in quite a few of my nightmares."

"I imagine he has." Curling his hands into his pockets, Spencer tried to keep his cool. "But that was him, Sam, not me. What's between you two is just that—between you two." He could see that his words weren't quite getting through. He tipped his head a little and caught Sam's eye again. "Should I hold you accountable for the things that John Winchester's done, then?" He asked carefully.

That barb struck home. Sam flinched from it, temper splashing over his features. He opened his mouth as if to argue only to snap it shut again. Just as quickly as the temper had hit, it faded, leaving him with that same open expression that Spencer had come to see as normal for the hunter. The one that told him that they were okay. "Point taken." Opening his eyes, Sam smiled. It was a weak one, but it as there.

There was so much more Spencer wanted to say there. But he never got the chance. His cell phone rang and he couldn't just ignore that. The only person that would be calling him would be someone from work. Gesturing at Sam to give him a moment, he flipped out his phone and answered. "Dr. Reid."

"Hey, Reid. Hate to bug you, but we've got a case. Everyone is on their way in. It's a nasty one."

Spencer resisted the urge to sigh and settled for pinching the bridge of his nose. What great timing. This work juggling business was starting to become a pain the ass. He tried not to let his annoyance show in his tone. "I'm on my way, JJ, thanks." Hanging up his phone, he looked up at Sam, who was watching him curiously. "I've got to go. We've got a case—a bad one, apparently. I can drop you off at the motel or you're more than welcome to hang around here for a while and relax before going back. I can't imagine your brother is in the best of moods. It might be a good idea to give him time to cool off."

"Um, if you leave, I don't exactly have a way back home." Sam pointed out.

Oh, yeah. Duh. Spencer chuckled at himself. Idiot. He was still a little topsy-turvy and not quite thinking right. A wave of his hand brought out an old fashioned key which he handed over to Sam. "Here, take this. That key will work in any lock, even if it doesn't look like it will. All you have to do is put it in the lock, twist, and when you open the door it'll bring you here. Then when you leave again, the door will take you back to where you started. Since I brought you here, the doors not keyed to take you back to the motel, so I'll go ahead and set it up. But in the future, just use that key whenever you need to get away for a little while, or if you boys need a safe place to go. This is my smaller, more basic safe house, but it has a few bedrooms you guys can use. I've sort of tidied up and made this place human-safe. I've been meaning to give you that key for a little while now." At Sam's stunned look, he shrugged, blushing slightly. "Treat this place like it's your own. It's nothing fancy, but it's warded against everything but Grandfather himself. "

Sam's eyes were wide. "Wow."

Mind already half towards the upcoming case, Spencer waved a hand over himself, changing his clothes to his work clothes. "The kitchen is fully stocked." He said, adjusting his gun on his belt and making sure his credentials were in the messenger bag he'd brought over. "Also, there's a small library, south side of the house, third door on the right. I made sure all the books in there are safe. I just ask that you don't take them out of the house. Like I said before, make yourselves at home, bring your brother and Castiel, I don't mind. I'll get a hold of you once the case is done but if you need me before then, don't hesitate to pray or text."

The smile Sam gave him was warm and bright. "Thank you, Spencer. Really—thank you. This is fantastic."

He shrugged again and tried not to be embarrassed. With one final wave, he was gone.

So yeah, I know you all totally saw that coming, lol. It wasn't really a surprise. :)

Now, there's two chapters that I have planned for this section left. Then there will be a small break while I put together the chapters of the next story, which will take us through the end of the apocalypse. That means, though, that if you haven't voted in the poll for pairings (or commented) you should do so soon, because I'll be closing it when I finish this story. The romance starts up a bit in the next story :)

I hope you guys enjoyed this and I'm sorry if it didn't come out okay. I've never written Gabriel before :P Thank you for all your comments so far! You guys are great!