Flipside

Chapter 7 – Love Will Do The Trickster

"Oh really?" Gabriel slouched forward on the rock and rested his elbows on his knees. "And what might you want to talk about?" His eyes glistened with amusement; he was fully enjoying tormenting the tumultuous trio.

Castiel didn't move, instead keeping her eyes firmly planted on Gabriel's insolent grin. "You need to change us back," she said unwaveringly in her solemn, gravelly voice.

Gabriel laughed. "I don't have to do a damn thing, Cas. You know you can only sit back and bite your tongue because you don't have the power to go against me. Besides, I haven't actually done anything to harm you, or tweedledum or tweedledee, so what's the problem?"

The lesser angel stared blankly and stayed silent. Cas couldn't argue with that, technically Gabriel hadn't harmed any of them in any way: he had just messed with their bodies and minds. While disconcerting and uncomfortable, it was hardly a vicious attack on them. They could go about their lives, just not exactly in the same way as before. And because of that, it left Castiel at a stalemate. There wasn't a good enough reason to convince Gabriel to turn them back straight away, and the archangel wouldn't let up for mediocre excuses. It was either drop a bomb and demolish the whole thing, or walk away and wait for time to heal the wound. There couldn't be a quick fix, Gabriel just wouldn't allow for it.

"It's strange," Castiel muttered in a feeble attempt to answer Gabriel's question.

The trickster stood up and took a step towards Castiel. "Only weird if you make it that way, sis." He moved closer and closer until their noses were almost touching. "I think you're better this way." The archangel reached a hand behind Castiel and grabbed her bottom, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Cas jumped and pushed Gabriel away. "Who gave you the right to touch me?"

"Sorry." Gabriel dusted his hands. "You're just so cute I'm starting to forget you're Cas, if that makes sense."

"No, it doesn't." Castiel eyed Gabriel distrustfully. "I don't like this."

Gabriel sighed. "Tell you what, sis, I'll turn you back on one condition."

At this Castiel snapped to attention. This was an unfounded variable that she had not accounted for. Gabriel making her on offer? She didn't even think of that. "What is the condition?"

"That you get Dean to admit his little crush on you." Gabriel turned around and walked back to the rock he had been sitting on before. "It was fun to watch it at the beginning but now this little awkward dance he – or should I say she – is doing around you is just embarrassing. Get her to swallow her pride and let the cat out of the bag, and you can get your old meat suits back."

Cas was a little taken aback. "Dean? Crush? I don't understand."

Gabriel slouched forward and fixed Cas with a look that positively screamed 'you have to be joking'. "You can't be serious, you haven't noticed?"

"Dean is just a friend, we have a professional relationship. We share information and we occasionally hunt together, there's no other emotions involved." Cas tucked a piece of hair behind her ear unconsciously – the same side that Dean had been fondling the night before.

"Oh Cas," Gabriel sighed, "You can be such a dumbass sometimes. Trust me when I say she has the hots for you. Big time. Even if you don't believe me it's the only way you have out."

There was a brief pause where Cas hesitated, she really didn't want to give in to Gabriel's request, but she didn't have a choice. "Fine."

"That's my girl! Now go get her!" Gabriel grinned and suddenly he was gone, leaving Castiel alone on the side of the road. She decided she better go back to Bobby's house before a car pulled over and tried to offer her a ride under the assumption she was hitchhiking. Normal human interactions were hard enough, let alone something like that.

She felt very uncomfortable with the whole situation; she thought Gabriel would have treated her better than this considering they were siblings, but it seemed nobody got privileges in Gabriels book. There was only one thing for it – she would have to get Dean to confess.


Dean sat on Bobby's old, warn couch. Its pillows were flattened by years of use and having piles of dusty lore books being stacked on them. It wasn't the comfiest of seats, but to Dean it was perfect just the way it was. She didn't mind not living in luxury, as long as she had the bare necessities she was content. She had flicked on the small set top TV across the room, and after a few minutes of fiddling with the rabbit ears had managed to get a decent signal. There wasn't much on at the moment, given that it was smack-bang in the middle of the day, and afternoon programming by definition was complete crap, but it was nice to have background noise.

Over at the back of the room, Sam was ensconced at the desk with piles of books surrounding her. She had taken it upon herself to use this interlude at Bobby's to brush up on her lore knowledge and do a bit of reading on creatures which she hadn't had the pleasure of encountering as of yet. It was all very 'geeky' as Dean had put it earlier, but Sam thought it was an important task that needed to be undertaken. The more knowledge they had, the easier it was to hunt; at least that was what she believed.

Bobby was in the kitchen, making a few calls. He had decided that the first port of call would be to see if anybody else had any bright ideas on what to do about the situation. He had many connections and somebody might have a small idea of the type of thing that might be useful. It was a long shot but they didn't have many options. Angels were tricky, and Gabriel was even trickier. It was a matter of wit and luck really, but Bobby was hoping that there might be a loophole somewhere that they had all overseen.

Cas landed in the living room, in front of Dean who tried to crane her neck around her so she could still view the TV. "You're in the way of the TV Cas."

The angel didn't respond and moved forward until she was standing over the hunter and blocking her view entirely. Dean gave up on trying to see the television and looked up at Cas whose legs were practically touching her knees she was so close. "Remember personal space? Well that's still a thing, Cas." She didn't know what the angel was doing, but it was interfering with her entertainment.

"Did you make any progress with Gabriel?" Sam inquired when she looked up and saw Cas had come back.

Ignoring Sam, and without a word of explanation Cas bent over Dean and pressed her lips to the hunters'. It was a quick, soft peck that caused Dean to tense up in shock and Sam's jaw to drop in surprise. It was over before it really began and just as quickly as she had gone in for it, Cas pulled away and stepped back.

Dean's eyes darted around before settling back on Cas, her hands against the back of the couch bracing herself from the unknown onslaught that had been thrown at her. She blinked rapidly and frowned in confusion. "Wh-what the hell was that?"

"I'm trying to get you to admit that you have romantic feelings for me," Cas responded deftly.

Dean arched an eyebrow and looked at Cas like she had just grown three extra head. "What?"

Suddenly everything stopped, Dean froze in position, the sound of Sam echoing Dean's 'what' in the background cut off before it was finished, even the particles of dust that hung in the air that only Cas' angel eyes would have been able to pick up snapped into permanent position. The background noise of the TV had ceased and the program it was currently showing and frozen, even the faint sound of Bobby talking on the phone in the kitchen had disappeared. Cas looked around in disconcertedness.

"That's not going to work."

Cas spun back around to find Gabriel perched on the back of the couch next to Dean's still form. He looked down at the hunter and smirked, shaking his head. "You have to be more subtle, you're never going to get Miss Buttercup here to admit she has a thing for feathered friends if you just assault her."

"I don't know what else I'm supposed to do," Cas mumbled, embarrassed slightly and getting increasingly frustrated.

"Love can't be forced, little sis. On the flipside it's never easy." Gabriel hopped off the couch and stood next to Cas. "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to get your old body back."

"Why must you make this so difficult," Cas breathed exasperatedly.

Gabriel shot Cas a grin. "Because I can." And with that Gabriel disappeared again and the rest of the world came back into motion.

Dean stared up at Cas quizzically, still waiting for a reply. Not knowing what to say or do, Cas walked out of the room and upstairs to flee from Sam and Dean and avoid having to explain her actions. This whole thing was ridiculous, she felt like she was stuck up a creek without a paddle and Gabriel was sitting on the bank laughing hysterically at her.

Who was she kidding, that is exactly what was happening.


To Be Continued…

Another Chapter, finally. I'm not even going to pretend I'm going to update regularly anymore because I'm become pathetic at keeping up with my writing lately.

Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying it