"Michael visited you?" Cas asked him disbelievingly. Gabriel had woken up in an unnervingly familiar position, chained up in the stupid spare bedroom with Cas sitting in the chair in the corner of the room. Furthermore, he'd informed him of everything Michael had told him while screwing with him. It included a slight lack of sympathy when talking about the town that had been destroyed, though it was there.

"Do I need to spell it out?" Gabriel asked with annoyance.

"It's not that. Dean said that he'd left Heaven and hasn't talked to anyone since then. Why would he visit you?"

"To tell me he doesn't want to ride my ass." Gabriel responded harsher than he'd attended.

"What?" Cas asked him, confused.

"Michael won't take a 'yes' from me. Which means this," he grabbed the chain and rattled it pointedly, "is a complete and utter waste of time."

"I don't understand."

Gabriel knew what Cas meant by that. It didn't stop the instinctive response of, "How much clearer can I get?" His brother winced and he sighed, pushing that anger away. It wasn't his brother's fault. The issue was the new knowledge was that it pulled an option off the table. A bad option, but an option was gone for him. "Michael won't kill his brother and he doesn't want my consent." He told me to take Sam and run and it's becoming a more promising option by the second.

"That's it?" Cas asked carefully and it wasn't hard to imagine he was piecing it together. Him and Michael were supposed to mirror each other, which meant he knew they would've talked about why Michael ran away. Cas might've even suspected where Gabriel's head was. Which meant the chance of him getting unchained was getting smaller and smaller.

"He called us morons for killing Lilith and told me that I should take Sam to Lucifer. It's getting repetitive if I'm honest." His brother was still searching him and he grimaced, laying back and staring at the ceiling. "That's it. Cross my heart and hope to die." Maybe Cas wouldn't catch the careful word choice. He'd died once. Twice now. While he was more than willing to stretch the truth, he wouldn't outright lie to his brother. Keep things, sure, all the time. Lie, though? No. Not if he could avoid it.

"Okay." There was clear doubt in Cas' voice but he, thankfully, let it go.

"So is Balthazar letting me out now?" Gabriel asked hopefully.

"He's with Meg at the moment." Cas answered, "And we aren't done talking."

"You're just dragging out conversation until someone gets back to take you to your girlfriend." Gabriel stated accusingly as he sat up.

Sighing in exasperation, Cas ignored the remark. "We need to talk about the demon in the basement."

That was something Gabriel didn't want to talk about. The last thing he wanted to talk about, "Is that like the hunter equivalent of 'the elephant in the room'?"

"We need to do something about her." Why couldn't Cas just take the bait? There were a hundred difficult conversations coming up when Dean and Sam were back. This wasn't one he wanted to have.

"Like what? Kill her? Go and braid her hair and talk about boys, or in our cases, sexless angelic beings? I'm sure she'd just love to chat about that considering the whole reason she's demonized is because of the angels."

Cas glared at him with so much hostility that Gabriel had to look away. "We need to do something about her, Gabe. I get that you liked her, but she was human then. Now she's a demon and-"

"And she's family." Gabriel cut his brother off, knowing how stupid and ridiculous it was to bring that up. It was a solid explanation as to why they couldn't kill her. Both of them had silently agreed that killing his child, that they'd never met, wasn't worth saving six hundred and sixty five children. This wasn't any different than that. If anything, it was a more solid reason. He'd known her. Talked to her. Listened to her story.

"Then what do you suggest we do? There's only so long that Bobby's going to be okay with keeping the demon that killed Ellen's husband in the basement before he tells her."

"Did anyone ever bother asking her why she killed Will?" Gabriel retorted, grabbing for that in hopes of steering the conversation away from the problem.

"Gabriel."

Apparently he wasn't lucky today. "Fine. We'll do something. Get someone to let me out and I'll do something."

Cas searched him for a moment before rising from his seat and walking across the room, pulling a penny from his pocket and pressing against the side of the cuff, to Gabriel's relief, and slight annoyance, the seamless cuff popped off and he narrowed his eyes at his brother, rubbing his ankle. "You could've done that at any time."

"Dean told me not to unless I was completely positive you weren't going to run."

That surprised Gabriel, "You trust I won't run?" He asked as he pushed off the bed.

"I think you have more of a reason to stay than to run, for now." Cas clarified and that made a lot more sense than his brother suddenly trusting he wouldn't skip town. It translated roughly to, 'when Sam gets back I'm not leaving you alone'. Which was fine. It wouldn't be the first time he'd have to figure out how to sneak out in the middle of the night.

"Glad you have faith in me." He grinned at his brother who sighed in exasperation, obviously not amused.

.-~*~-.

Once they arrived in the basement Gabriel felt a sick twisting in his gut as he was reminded of why they were there. Of who was in there. It'd been one fuckup after the next and if he hadn't met this god forsaken woman that was apparently his sister, it all might've been avoided. It was her that manipulated them. Maybe his stupid choice of selling his soul started it but meeting this girl all but ended it.

Yet again there was a brief rush of anger. She'd led them there. She'd caused it.

"Let's do this." Carefully he pulled the latch back on the door, pulling it open. Honestly, he wasn't sure what he'd expected. Some part of him was dreading that she'd found some way to escape. What he hadn't expected, hadn't even considered, was what he found. Bound and chained in the same position they'd left her was an exhausted looking woman, face smeared in long since dried tears, face sunken in and deathly pale. There was a distinctive smell that he tried really hard not to think of what was. Gabriel's stomach sank as tired, weak, pleading eyes met his. "Cas, please tell me that someone has been checking on her." Gabriel was already moving across the room, he pulled the strap off her mouth and she moaned tiredly, eyes fluttering shut.

"'ey." The word came out of her throat, rough and broken.

"I didn't think I needed to. I figured Bobby would have done it." His brother defended as he joined his side, taking the initiative of getting under her arm and lifting her so that all of her weight wasn't on her wrists.

"Fucking hell." Gabriel ground out, kneeling down on the ground and checking the cuffs on her ankles. Just like the ones he'd had, they had no seam or lock which meant…

The girl muttered something incoherent that sounded a lot like 'water' and something occurred to him. "Cas, get her water. And give me that stupid penny."

A bit of fumbling later and Gabriel was holding all, probably not more than, ninety pounds of the girl, laying her down on the cot and checking her very weak pulse while Cas stood to the side, looking more uncomfortable than he'd seen in a long time.

"a'er." The girl muttered weakly, pale blue eyes flickering open again tiredly. Silently Gabriel took the water bottle from his brother and pressed it over the girl's mouth, being careful not to overdo it. How long had she been alive again? It had to have been at least a week since they'd chained her up.

"I'm sorry, Gabe." His brother apologized uncomfortably, kneeling next to him and checking the bruises on both her wrists and ankles carefully.

"M'r." Dalara protested raggedly when Gabriel pulled the water bottle away.

"If you chug it down you're going to end up puking it up." Gabriel chastised, ten years old again and trying to take care of a sick brother.

"'m." The girl shifted away from the prodding fingers of his brother. "'leep." She muttered before her eyes drifted shut.

Gabriel was going to murder Dean, but only because the god was the only one he could lash out at that didn't fall back on him. It was as much his fault as anyone else for not coming down and checking to make sure she wasn't human again.

Did that mean Nex was still alive or was this something else entirely?

"Gabe, are you sure that this isn't a trick."

"Yes." Gabriel answered without a doubt, he knew. He'd known the second he'd seen her that it wasn't a trick. "If you don't believe me, get some holy water." It'd be easier to give him peace of mind rather than have him ride on his words.

Cas started to say something in response but was interrupted by a fluttering of wings. Gabriel whipped around, half hoping that it was Sam. Of course, Sam had no wings. Sam would never fly again. Instead it was Balthazar standing in the doorframe to the panic room, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Cassie, you do understand that despite the fact that I am bound to be destroyed by you, I do have other interests that don't involve you. Namely, several shapely woman on the other side of the world." Even with his words, Balthazar made his way over to them, touching Dalara's forehead. Instantly the girl's wounds healed over, her clothes cleaning itself and Balthazar huffing out an annoyed breath. "Yes, she's… well she isn't currently a demon. I can't completely fix the dehydration so that's all on you."

"I thought you were with Meg." Cas spoke up from next to him, worry evident in his voice.

"I was. Then I wasn't. Your girlfriend is more than capable of protecting herself. Now, do me a favor, and don't call me again unless you're dying." A flutter of wings and the angel was gone.

Gabriel took a closer look at Dalara now that she was healed and clean and grimaced, because despite the work he'd done to her physical wounds it was clear she was still starved and thirsty. Her white hair had started growing in at the roots which looked really weird with the contrast of the black dyed hair.

"I'm going to make some soup." Cas dismissed himself uncomfortably and Gabriel sat down next to the cot, watching the girl sleep with a sickening feeling in his gut. They should've been watching her. What if she'd died down there like that? That would've been on all of them. How the hell were they supposed to stop Lucifer from destroying the planet, assuming that was still his intentions, when they couldn't even protect a single person.

"No." Dalara muttered in her sleep, breaking the hour long silence. Where was Cas? Gabriel blinked, looking at her as she started twisting and turning in her sleep. "N'ver." Who was she talking to?

"Dalara?"

"No. Can'. N'ver 'gain. 'ey tol' me. S'ffered f'r years 'cause o' it." The girl twisted violently, "I'll… okay. I'll think 'bout it." She whispered before crying out and sitting upright, eyes snapping open in the same moment. Gabriel barely dodged as she swung for him, though fairly he probably deserved it. "Fuck." She gasped out, falling back and rolling onto her side, pulling her legs to her chest and staring blankly. "Wa'er." She whispered out, not looking at him. Hesitantly, Gabriel did as told, thinking over what she'd said in her sleep. It sounded… who had she been talking to? Something told Gabriel it was nothing good, but he couldn't push for answers on that quite yet. Instead of pushing, he silently helped her drink some of the water, turning her onto her back and propping her head up. After she'd ingested half the bottle she shut her eyes, tears filling them visibly. "We're so fuckin' screwed, Gabe." She whispered hoarsely, her words completely clear for the first time since she'd started talking.

"I'm sorry." He blurted and she flicked her eyes open, smiling grimly.

"Really think I'd hold somethin' like that against ya? Y'all thought I was demonized. Which I was."

"How long?"

The girl shifted, pushing herself into a sitting position before leaning against the wall and pulling her knees to her chest. "Three days if I counted it righ'… m'ybe more." She shifted and closed her eyes. "Maybe five. I was hallucinatin' from the unhealed bloodloss and it all kinda just blurred. No offense to that Archangel o' y'all's but he really did a shitty job at healin' me."

"Fuck Dean." He responded instinctively and she smiled grimly. The words made him feel shittier though. They'd fucked up. Bad. She was alive but how bad off had she been and no one known?

"No' my type." She joked weakly and Gabriel grabbed onto that, wanting to veer the conversation and more than happy to do it at Dean's expense.

"He might be more than you think. You know he was Artemis?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I know. Prefer pretty women as women though." Dalara smiled cheekily before coughing and wincing. "Fuck." She moaned in pain, putting her head between her knees and whimpering. "I'm goin' t' kill 'im."

"Get in line." Gabriel responded and she laughed weakly.

"It's not really that it hurts. I've got the pain tolerance of a freakin' god. It's just… fuck. I guess it does which says all sorts o' things 'bout me righ' now." The girl shifted uncomfortably, "Fuckin' Hell."

"Gabe?" Gabriel turned slightly, looking at the door as Cas stepped in, holding a steaming bowl of soup. "I had to run to town to get some." Cas explained.

"Hey, it's pretty boy." The girl hummed out as he stepped across the room, sitting next to Gabriel and offering the bowl to Dalara who crossed her legs and shakily took it, balancing it between her knees, a cautious look on her face as she observed his younger brother. "I'm sorry." She told him as she struggled to pull a spoonful of what Gabriel now knew was tomato soup to her lips, her arm shaking and knocking the liquid from it.

"Was it true?" Cas asked her and Gabriel was briefly reminded of why he had taken off in the first place.

Dalara licked her lips, staring at the bowl before answering. "I almost never lie. Not as a human and not as a demon. 'specially when I know it'll hurt. Your Soul's twisted and tainted almost as much as mine, but i's not your fault. What happened to ya was done to ya, what happened to me was done to me by me. You're good."

"And you aren't?" Cas asked, shooting Gabriel a look that said they needed to talk.

"I'm a fuckin' murderous psychopath hidin' underneath the shell o' an innocent girl. 'course I'm only murderous to things that murder, might no' make me good but it makes me a bit better. Now go talk, boys. I've got food to eat." She closed her eyes before scooping up another spoonful. Cas was already moving towards the exit and after a moment of consideration Gabriel followed him.

Dean was leaning against the wall in the basement when they stepped out, Cas shut the door behind them and Gabriel looked around for Sam, not seeing him.

"Where's Sam?" Only a second later did he register the clanking of metal as Cas fascinated the door shut.

"Asleep. He'll be fine." Dean said doubtfully. Yeah. That was comforting. Gabriel narrowed his eyes, eying Dean suspiciously. "Later. Why didn't you mention she had white hair?"

Gabriel blinked, confused. What? Until… "Dalara? Why does it matter?"

Dean glared at him. "You don't think, do you?"

"I generally think more than you do, Mr. Let's Kill Lilith." The air crackled to life with energy but Gabriel made no move to stand down.

"My Vessel's eyes were the most human equivalent to my wings, your eyes reflect Michael's wings. It worked. Up until Cas. Lucifer's the basis for humanity seeing us with white wings."

Then it clicked and Gabriel was reminded of what he'd heard her saying in her sleep. That 'no' had rang wrong with him. Was it possible?

"That doesn't make sense. Cas has been sensing Lucifer since-"

"-before Lucifer was freed from the cage." Dean finished. "Lucifer was completely locked away from everything except The Host at that time." The god shot an annoyed look at Cas before looking back at Gabriel. "There's no doubt that he's a True Vessel for an Archangel. I've known since the second that you dumbasses summoned me. There's warning stamps planted on your Souls."

"So Cas isn't Lucifer's True Vessel. Whose Vessel is he?"

"Samael's." Dean answered simply, his eyes resting on Cas who shuddered slightly. Samael. He'd heard her mentioned and Sam had briefly explained her existence to him but it was as though she slipped from his mind entirely. Like they'd forgotten her. "Samael's an unpredictable mass of untouched power that was locked away by Raphael the first portion of his life. He's dangerous. And we all keep forgetting him. Just like the world forgot that he wiped out half of Israel, we all keep forgetting him."

"So Samael's the one that destroyed whatever city Cas dreamt about."

"What?" Cas shot him an irritated look which he returned at Dean's confusion. Apparently Cas hadn't told him about that.

"I'm going to leave the two of you-"

"Not yet." Dean stopped him after shooting Cas a look that clearly said they'd be talking. "I need you to talk to your sister and find out if Lucifer has been visiting her."

Gabriel shifted uncomfortably at the mention of their blood relation. "Fine." Gabriel conceded, turning towards the door.

"Lucifer is good at temptation, Gabriel. I don't know her history but if they share enough, it won't be hard to get a 'yes' out of her."

"You don't think she's strong enough to keep saying 'no'." Gabriel summarized, not willing to admit that he thought Dean was right. That she wouldn't be strong enough. He'd heard her talk in her sleep, if that had been her talking to Lucifer, she was already considering it. It also wasn't hard to guess what he would promise her.

"I think you were ready to say 'yes'. I don't know her, Gabriel. All I know is less than a week ago she was a demon. So no. I don't."

Gabriel ignored the annoyance in Dean's voice, pulling back the latch and slipping into the panic room, the door closing behind him. Dalara was still sitting there with her legs crossed, the soup sitting precariously on her knee. Her gaze settled on him, her lips pressed into a tight line.

"We goin' t' address the elephant in the room, little bro?" She asked teasingly and he narrowed his eyes at the physically younger girl.

"Did you know?"

"If I had I'd 've told ya. Nope. Didn't know. Not until demon me brought it t' light." She shifted slightly, before scooping another spoonful of soup. "I want outta here, Gabe." She said quietly as she swallowed the soup, placing the spoon in the bowl and setting it to the side.

"Were you being honest when you said you wouldn't lie?" Of course Gabriel had seen the demon version of her try to lie and tell them that she'd been screwing with them since the beginning, but since she'd met him she'd been brutally honest about everything, even when he'd doubted the truth of her words.

"Cross m' heart an' hope t' die." She swore, her expression hardening slightly into wariness. Gabriel caught the wording too. The same exact evasive phrasing he'd used with Cas before.

"Who were you talking to in your sleep earlier?"

Something akin to guilt flashed across her expression before a mask of confusion replaced it. "What do ya mean?"

"Dalara." The way he said her name was stern, the way their father had spoken to him a hundred times in their childhood when John knew he'd been lying.

The girl winced slightly, her confusion wavering. "Lucifer." She admitted meekly, turning her attention and staring at the bowl of soup with tears in her eyes. "Luci came t' me and she asked me for a 'yes'. She tried first wit' the demon but she couldn' consent. It had t' be me and I told 'er 'no'." Dalara was calling Lucifer a she too. So Lucifer was a chick now. Or at least Sam and Dalara thought he…she was.

"You told… her that you'd think about it."

She winced and clenched a fist at her side. "Gabriel, I sacrificed everythin' for Lilly. I sacrificed m' body to share her wit' an angel and she died. Then I sacrificed m' Soul for ten more years wit' her an' ya know what happened? Heaven said t' fuck off. Luci promised me eternity wit' 'er. Rest o' eternity."

Gabriel swallowed, thinking of wanting to run away with Sam again, spend the rest of his life in hiding with his angel. Damn it. "You do understand he wants to destroy the world, right?"

She gave him an icy glare. "Fuck the world." That was enough of an answer.

"You'd sacrifice the planet for a single human?" Gabriel asked her and she smiled sadly.

"I've told ya, Gabe. I like ya. I really do. But I'm not a good person. I was friends with The Hell Queen. I was in Hell for a very long time. I could've stayed down there but I didn'. Instead I came back and did 'er work. I hunted. I hunted a lot. I've never lied t' you, Gabriel Novak."

"You just haven't told me everything." Gabriel summarized, realizing that she'd been leading him on, time and time again, to trust that she was a decent person, not a good guy. She had an explanation for everything, and it was probably all true. Nothing was more deceptive than being honest.

"'m sorry, Gabe. I've liked ya since I met ya. It's why I took such an interest. 'course since you an' y'ur brother are hunters, I had t' cover my ass."

Gabriel watched her closely, "Do you know what he did to my angel?"

"Your angel?" She laughed, a slightly angry laugh as she glared at him. "Fuck the angels. Fuck 'em all. They'll ruin ya, Gabe. Get rid of 'im 'fore it ruins ya." The words were cold and slightly broken, her eyes softened and she looked down again. "I'm sorry, Gabe. Ya've got no idea. None. I suffered in Hell for nothin'. Lucifer's a choice. A choice I'll make. Keep me locked down all ya want. I'll get out sooner or later. I'm sorry, Gabe. I am. This is goin' t' happen. I'm goin' to say 'yes' again to an angel fo' the woman that I love."

Gabriel turned, knocking on the door and waiting until someone opened it. "Dal, I like you. A lot. I just can't let you destroy the planet."

"Bye-bye, Gabe. I'll see ya later." She promised from behind him and Gabriel's hair stood on end because it was a borderline threatening tone.

Stepping through the doorframe he looked at Dean. "She'll say 'yes' to Lucifer…" Gabriel shifted, trying to remind himself why it was a bad thing. Hadn't he been willing to risk the world to say 'yes' just to get it over with?

"I'm going to have to restrain her again." Dean told him bluntly and he nodded, not acknowledging the god or his brother as he made his way upstairs towards the bedroom.

It took a bit of searching, Sam wasn't in the bedroom and he wasn't in any of the rooms inside, the last place he looked was outside. That was where he found Sam, sitting on the hood of Dean's car and staring at the now setting sun in silence. Where had the day gone?

"Sam?" He asked and the angel glanced over at him, a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes, before looking back at the sky.

"I'm broken, Gabriel." Sam told his bluntly, tapping the spot next to him. Frowning, Gabriel pushed him up onto the hood next to Sam, knowing that Dean would kill him for it if he found out. "I am broken beyond repair. There's no fixing me, there's nothing that can make it right. It's a fact. I was with Lucifer for too long." The angel paused, turning slightly and looking down at Gabriel with almost pleading eyes. "I did something stupid and dangerous today, Dean's the only reason I didn't nearly destroy my Vessel." Gabriel opened his mouth to ask what the fuck had happened but Sam continued before he could, and frankly, what he said threw him completely off. "I want to do something stupid and right today, Gabe. Please."

This time when Sam leaned in and kissed him, Gabriel didn't pull away. Didn't break apart, because fuck. Restraining himself in the dream had been one thing, it hadn't been easy, but it hadn't been this. This was real and it was something he'd wanted to do since the moment he'd met the angel. Something he would've done if his soul hadn't been all but drugging the angel. Things had changed drastically since then and Sam wasn't the same exact angel he'd met, naïve to Earth, Sam knew now. Gabriel was done dancing around this because the world was ending.

At some point he'd straddled his angel's waist and, well apparently Sam wasn't completely unaware in what he was doing. He wasn't stupid and for a brief moment Gabriel wondered if Sam had ever fooled around with another angel. They'd said it was forbidden but it was clear that not all of the angels had followed the rules, had Sam?

"Gabriel." Sam leaned back, breaking them apart and Gabriel had to fight to keep his breathing regular. Damn. His angel was staring at him with pleading eyes, practically begging him to make the next move. When he leaned forward and kissed Sam again, he knew, he understood.

"Don't chicken out on me, Sambo." He muttered as he kissed his way down the angel's neck. "Do you have any clue what you're doing?"

"I do." Sam told him and in one careful movement hands were on him, holding him up as Sam pushed off the hood, holding Gabriel with no effort. "Dean's going to kill me." He muttered as he pulled Gabriel into another kiss.

"Fuck Dean."

"I'd rather not." Sam responded and where the fuck had that come from? Who was this and what had they done with his naïve little angel? But no. He could feel that this was his angel. It was a feeling soul deep. His angel had been tainted by humanity and, honestly, Gabriel couldn't find himself to give a shit. The backseat of the Impala opened and Sam laid him down, climbing on top of him. It was awkward and so fucking worth every second.

Confession, I suck at make-out scenes. I hope it was alright.