Gabriel shook his head and sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and thanked Dad his vessel couldn't get stress migraines. He let his hands fall back down to his sides with an air of giving up. The fact he wasn't being allowed to just hide his head in the sand and wait out the fighting any more was exactly what he needed. His options were being picked off one by one like teenagers in another bad Freddie Kruger remake and the ones left weren't looking all that appealing: join Heaven and be stripped of everything that made Gabriel Gabriel, join the Winchesters and have to kill his own family for the sake of humans, or join Lucifer and have the entire world and Heaven turn against him. If there was ever a time for Daddy dearest to really start giving a shit about his kids and his pet project now would be it.

The sigh that came would have been enough to snap Castiel out of his mild trance, having found himself almost waiting for the anger to spill out and overflow with fatal consequences. The problem however, was with Gabriel raising his hand, in the similar way Rapheal had done before snapping his chocolate hued fingers; the thought that Gabriel was about to remove Castiel from the picture and get the 'train back on track', as he referred to the apocalypse being, was so blinding that Castiel couldn't help but close his eyes.

"So tell me, Cas, really."

The younger sibling opened his eyes as Gabriel began talking, feeling inwardly disorientated at the fact nothing happened and the other's tone of voice had dropped.

" What's the right way here? What would Dad want me to do? 'Cause honestly…with the God Squad after me trying to drag me back home and do Lord knows what to me…I'm running out of options here, man. And I am just sick and tired of it, of all the fighting, and of freaking Dean Winchester calling me the bad guy and the coward here for just wanting it to be over." he said, all of his previous anger and conviction seemingly having gone clean out of the archangel.

Human's could be hypocritical at times, or all the time, Castiel had seen it before, and could see it at times in the Winchesters. Just because Dean said it though didn't mean he knew the truth, and all this was such an emotional rollercoaster for the human, it wasn't surprising there were certain things that just took its toll on the man.

As for what would dad want? Castiel had no idea, he was still trying to figure out if God actually brought him back for a reason, to give him another chance at helping the Winchester's or just for the fun of watching Castiel squirm for him siding with the brothers. Gabriel was asking for advice… or at least just thinking out loud and allowing Castiel to voice some sort of comment on the subject. The desire to avoid further bloodshed was obvious, the dislike of being forced back to Heaven also, so really there did seem like so few options Gabriel had left; the war was here, and someone, somewhere, insisted that Gabriel join the fight. However, it felt selfish for Castiel to want Gabriel on his side, selfish to demand that the archangel join him in what would definitely lead to their exile, even the possibility of being cut off from Heaven entirely. The idea frightened Castiel, though he'd see it through with a heavy heart, would it be fair to drag his elder sibling down with him?

"Someone up there is ordering our brothers and sisters to hunt us down, to kill us or drag us back, if anything was worth dying for, Gabriel, I would think figuring out who is giving these false orders and stopping them would be it. And it just feels as if doing that runs along the same 'track' as 'derailing' the apocalypse." The insistence in Castiel's voice had dimmed from his previous attempts of getting his message across, instead now there seemed a slightly more withdrawn though stubborn stance from before. "I don't want any more of my siblings blood on my hands, but their blind faith in Rapheal before whoever else it may be, is the real thing that is killing them. Who in their right mind sends mere soldiers to drag you back, their death would only have been spared by your complete cooperation, it was suicide." And that was the point though, wasn't it?

Here Gabriel was preaching the sins of the Winchester's sending Castiel off on fools errands, and yet were their brothers not doing exactly the same thing? "So maybe I am being treated carelessly, but who isn't? At least here I choose my suicide mission." Gabriel was powerful, he could force Castiel into silence without even a blink, toss the Angel half way through the planet with his pinky finger or drop Castiel in one of his warped realities. "Isn't there something here you are willing to fight for?" It was foolish to say Castiel held no fear in speaking his mind to his brother, yet they were taking; and so far that's all that they were doing. That had to mean something, right? The words were smoothly dragged out, forced by sheer will power to keep the brave face, and yet softly enough spoken that the stubborn angel clearly felt an air of trepidation while not being sure which way Gabriel was leaning.

Both of them had calmed now and with the veil of his own temper lifted Casitel's words actually managed to work themselves into Gabriel's head. His younger sibling made it sound so valiant, so righteous and worthy. He had to admit that even he had questioned who in their right mind would send normal soldiers after an archangel, but without Castiel's input it had been nothing more than a passing query. But he pursed his lips as he held back a frown at his brother's talk of choosing his own suicide missions—he didn't want him to have to choose any at all. That was his whole point of the side he picked—or once picked, since it seemed that side was getting smaller and smaller by the second.

He did pause a moment to give Castiel's question some thought however. What was he willing to die for? Was there anything on Earth he would want to try and save? His own sappy sentimental nature told him that Kali dying in all this was not a thought he ever wanted to entertain, and something deep and base inside of him commanded him to protect the humans he had been asked to bow to. And hadn't Dad been right all along? Wasn't that the reason Lucifer had been cast down, because he disagreed with their Father? It just seemed that now everyone had lost sight of that fact. Gabriel supposed that a human in his shoes would immediately think to their family, but the majority of Gabriel's family was the ones behind this—all besides Castiel and only a few others, so few he could count them on both hands. A tiny fraction of the multitudes of angels up in Heaven. He had always been taught as an archangel his duty was to defend and guide his younger siblings in their father's absence. Alright, then, fine. If the Winchesters side was the only one that wouldn't get him brainwashed or turn him evil then he'd do it for them, for the remaining few of his brothers and sisters with some sense in their heads.

But God did it feel like he was chickening out.

In any case he nodded to Castiel's final question, not willing to get all sappy and reveal who or what those things were, at least not now, in any other way then to look right back at Castiel. Let the socially challenged angel interpret that however he pleased, Gabriel certainly wasn't about to enlighten him further. "Fine." He said with a sigh bordering on melodramatic, "Count me in, I guess you guys are better than being a brainwashed zombie." And one other thing: "You don't have to be scared of me, you dork." Gabriel said, walking forward to give his little brother a light flick on the nose, "I'm not Michael, or Lucifer, or Raphael—I'd never blow you to smithereens over some stupid Prophet…Duct tape your mouth shut and rough you up a bit, sure, but I draw the line at explosions."

There had been a time however that only Lucifer had ever seemed dangerous enough to snap to that extreme. Now it felt as if every other angel out there was ready and willing to smite one another, and for what? Definitely not God's will, that was about as much as Castiel knew for certain.

Gabriel was smirking towards the end of his words, but he was serious. He might lose his temper or shove Castiel out of his way a bit too hard but he would never dream of hurting the little nerd angel. But there was no solid reason for the deer-in-the-headlights look Castiel had adopted when Gabriel had been losing his temper or any hesitance he had to speak his mind to Gabriel. They weren't exactly the picture perfect brothers but if the Winchester knew one thing it was that brothers should never fear each other—a few punches now and again were basically healthy. And the idea of Castiel being so afraid of Gabriel he didn't speak his mind or air any of his grievances with him just didn't sit right.

There was a nod, not a very informative nod, but a nod had to be good, right? A moment of further study and Gabriel still neglected to offer further explanation on what exactly he had agreed with. Hopefully it was a yes to having something to fight for on Earth, which was enough for Castiel, if that actually was the case.

An exaggerated statement was better thing, then a snap of ones fingers, and Castiel couldn't help but feel he had definitely gained some valuable ground here. Relief eased some of the tension, though he wasn't yet prepared to deal with how to inform Dean or Sam about Gabriel's agreement to help them out. For now, Castiel just wanted to be happy that he had a sibling on his side. Sometimes Gabriel seemed more human then the Angel Castiel remembered growing up, and while that made it a little hard at times to understand certain things, it also made Gabriel more three dimensional. Perhaps a hell of a lot more unpredictable, but the benefits the archangel seemed to gain from his taste of humanity made it seem worthwhile. Still, the flick on the nose caused Castiel to stare, a little awkward on how to reply to that, though feeling a little rather exposed at having his anxiety being so clearly obvious. Dork, what did that mean!?

"I appreciate that." Saying Castiel was still edgy over the whole ordeal would just be crying over spilt blood, for now there were more things to be worried about. "Do you have somewhere safe to go… or…" Somehow Castiel couldn't imagine Gabriel lounging around at Bobby's, which oddly enough seemed the only safe haven Castiel had at this point, there was some sort of strangely homely feel forming around that junk yard. Not everyone would feel that way, especially around a human's home, Castiel didn't want to force Gabriel onto people, the only reason to do so would be if they needed to. The idea of Gabriel being hunted was worrisome at best, the thought of him having nowhere to hide unacceptable; then again the archangel had done pretty well over the years, maybe there were a few places he could still crawl under during all this mess. Otherwise there were wards they could put up in certain locations that would hide them from Heaven's sight… Castiel just doubted that Gabriel would want to hang around with Dean and Co, assuming Castiel could find the Winchesters. "Actually, have you any idea where Dean or Sam are?" The change in subject also brought forth a change in tone, the Angel of Thursday found himself almost hoping that for Gabriel's previous focus on the boys had warranted the archangel keeping tabs. This thought brought some hope to the otherwise dreary task of searching for them, though with them being a blind spot for Angels, Gabriel would have gone out of his way, that might not have seemed worthwhile an effort. Still, it was worth asking.

Castiel's lack of reaction to Gabriel's slight teasing gesture had the archangel grinning—it seemed Castiel hadn't gotten enough hours in around humans to know how to react to such a thing yet. He didn't even wrinkle his nose up, just stood there a bit awkwardly and stared back at him. However it was good that his brother seemed to relax a little bit around him, and he hoped the notion that Gabriel would never hurt him (seriously, anyway) would eventually allow Castiel to trust him a bit more. If he were going to be joining this Team Whatever-They'd-Decided-To-Call-Themselves, Gabriel could use all the trust he could get from his team mates. He didn't need one of them deciding not to have his back in a pinch just because they thought they couldn't trust him.

Now as far as Gabriel having hiding places he could think of a few right off the top of his head—most of them right smack in the middle of a populated city where hopefully the presence of humans would be enough to cover him. There was always that apartment in LA with his dog or that little flat in the middle of London with the old landlady who still prayed at night. But then again was that really the best idea? If the angels came after him would those humans just get hurt? He would take the time to pick his hidey-hole more carefully later, at the very least he had a few places to go.

"Yeah, I've still got a few places I can lay low for a while." Gabriel replied, wondering what Castiel would have done if he'd replied that he didn't, in fact, have a place to go. That was something at least, it made addressing the new addition to the team a lot easier then having to add 'by the by, can he crash here' to what they would already be complaining about.

"Not sure if they're safe but I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself. Spread a couple hex bags around and I'll be just peachy." On the question of the Winchesters whereabouts Gabriel actually had a straight answer. He had been keeping tabs on those boys, partly looking for the perfect time to exact some revenge on them for overdoing the whole 'put out the holy fire' thing and soaking him to the bone. The sigils carved into the ribs made it much harder than it had to be to keep track of them himself, so Gabriel had resorted to word of mouth in the supernatural community—wherever the Winchesters turned up every supernatural creature within a hundred miles that values their life and had enough of a brain to do so tended to skip town. Last he checked had been a few days ago in a moment of mind numbing boredom – the brothers had been somewhere in North Dakota on the trail of what they didn't yet know was a Water Wraith. But apparently all that researching and library trips somehow kept the boys away from their cell phones if Castiel was resorting to asking him about it.

What if Gabriel was attacked again? The idea of the elder sibling being out there on his own was hardly appealing either, though Castiel couldn't be picky at this point, either he dragged his brother back to the junk yard and dealt with a possible blow out there, or he let Gabriel head off and they hope for the best. If anything happened to Gabriel… Castiel just had to make sure nothing did, besides, the archangel stood a better chance against those sent against him then Castiel did, so he was probably over thinking the situation.

"Last I checked they were somewhere in North Dakota on a hunt, didn't bother getting an exact location though." Gabriel said with a shrug, since it wasn't exactly his job to watch the brothers every little move. For the moment Gabriel was wondering how Castiel was going to exactly break the news of his change of loyalties to the brothers. Telling them straight forward probably wouldn't work and Gabriel wasn't about to explain himself to those idiots, at least not give enough of a true answer to satisfy them. And even if he had Castiel's good word and his own valid reasons the brothers probably still would take an annoyingly long time to even not watch their backs every time he walked into a room or pull their guns whenever he snapped his fingers. Gabriel could already tell the whole thing was already going to be one giant pain in the ass.

Well, the area was smaller then searching out a whole world, so it was helpful regardless when Gabriel said North Dakota. It was going to be awkward integrating everyone into a coherent team, considering the issues they had in the past, however Castiel had his own hiccups with the brothers, hopefully they would be as forgiving for Gabriel's actions as they had been for some of Castiel's. Whatever happened, no one had the luxury to be picky, they needed all the help they could get.

"I need to find them, as well as anyone else that might be able to help" It wasn't an ask for help, though any assistance wouldn't be declined, it was a manageable enough task for now that didn't need an archangel feeling forced to help out with. That would be up to Gabriel, "If you can't reach me, try Bobby's… just make sure to knock at his door first." There was a slight frown, though it was more from considering where to go from here. Bobby's could be an idea, rest up a little, give a chance for himself to heal, though there was so much to do, and Castiel felt so far behind. The priority had to be gathering information for now, things were happening, and Castiel had wasted enough time being dead, as long there were only cuts and bruises, then there was little reason to stop and rest. With a final look at Gabriel. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see that Day approaching." Castiel quoted from the bible itself, and then the younger brother vanished off, a dash of air and flurry of feathered wings the only goodbye offered.