AN: I actually don't have anything to add here today. Allons-y!

"Fine. Let's talk."

Dean was gasping fro air, feet reaching for the floor in vain. Sam rushed towards Gabriel, but was thrown against the opposite wall pinned there by an invisible force coming from Gabriel with his other hand.

"Okay! Okay!" Mel said quickly, hands up. "Look Gabriel, just let go of them..."

"Stop calling me that!" He yelled, snapping Dean's neck. Dean's body crumpled to the ground as Sam called out his brother's name.

They didn't wake up. Dean's body was still on the ground. They were still here. "I buried myself," Gabriel continued. "I made sure no being, creature, little ape like you would ever find me unless I wanted them to. And it worked for hundreds and hundreds of years, so you understand I am not going to let some bitch who thinks she knows everything and hasn't even lived a quarter of a century go around spilling her mouth."

He grabbed at seemingly nothing, and Mel bent over holding her stomach with a scream, blinded by pain.

"Right now I'm just applying some pressure to your internal organs. Nothing's even broken, yet. Hurts though, don't it?"

Mel tried to speak, but found herself curling up in a ball on the floor, mouth open so as to keep screaming, but no sound was coming out.

"Hey! HEY!" Sam yelled, more aggressive each second, moving past initial shock to anger. "Let her go you son of a bitch!"

Gabriel looked at him for moment, and put both hands up in the air, letting them both go. Sam shook out his arms and legs a bit and Mel gasped for air, finally able to let herself start crying. Sam walked over to her, looking at Dean's body, much closer to Gabriel. He sat down next to Mel, making sure she was all right.

Gabriel seemed annoyed rather than concerned. "Now, we know who holds the real cards here, so maybe we can have a real, civilized conversation. Capiche?"

Sam glared at him. "Who are you?" He asked.

"A dick with wings," Mel said quietly, pain still slowly fading.

"Very poetic," Gabriel said with what could be a small smile or a grimace. Mel wasn't sure.

"You won't be able to stay in the shadows forever you know," she said. "It's starting, and when the whole world crumbles, where do you think you'll hide?"

Gabriel looked at Mel with sadness, but his tone was angry. "I won't pick a side."

"Then join this side," Mel said. "Team Free Will," she added with a smile.

Gabriel hesitated. "I could kill you, you know."

"But you haven't. You're just a bit too curious. You'll be seeing us all again, I'm sure. But let us go this time. Let it play out as it's destined to. It's a funny thing, destiny. If you let us go, I won't tell your family. I won't tell your enemies. I won't tell anyone. I swear."

It didn't really fit the trickster to just let them go. He wouldn't do that. But Gabriel might. She just had to hope he was the one she got through to. They were the same being, but not. A trickster was the mask, and he wouldn't care about any of them. But Gabriel was underneath, and he did care, about plenty of things. He would care so much he'd die for it.

Gabriel put his hand on Dean's forehead, bones snapping in his neck back into place, and though he stayed lying on the ground, a small movement of his chest up and down showed he was breathing again. "You know he's still going to die. Why delay the inevitable?" Gabriel said to Sam.

"Better to go down fighting," Mel said before Sam could speak up. She didn't want him to say something if it would ruin this miracle of a chance they might be getting.

She looked Gabriel dead in the eye and stood up, walking towards him, forcing herself to keep her breathes steady. When they were face to face, she spoke so softly she knew only he could hear her.

"You might not understand that now. But it is. Better, I mean. And they are going to win. Not Michael or Lucifer, but these two idiots behind me. I know you just want things better, over, but these two can save humanity. And afterwards, I think heaven just might need you."

Gabriel gave her the same look she had got from Sam when she gave away how much she knew sometimes; disturbed and puzzled.

"We'll see," he said. "Melissa, I'll be seeing you again. Even if you are as creepy as a seer and twice as annoying. I still have a mystery to solve where you're involved. You start causing me trouble running that mouth though, it won't matter how interesting you are. You'll wish you could go back to lower levels of pain like today."

When he stopped talking, he went from near vicious to playful in seconds. The mask came back on. He wiggled his eyebrows, snapped his fingers, and was gone.

Mel turned around to face Sam, who had rushed to Dean's side, who was still breathing steadily now. "Dean. Dean!" Sam shook him and tapped his face. Groggily, Dean opened his eyes, then snapped up to attention.

"Trickster!"

"He's gone, Dean," Sam said. "How did you do that?" he asked Mel. "What did you tell him?"

Mel looked back to where Gabriel had been standing. She had promised she wouldn't tell. At this point, that had to include the boys. She couldn't tell.

"I knew some things about his past, some things about his future. And, for now, if you want him to keep his distance as you should, you'll leave it at that. Keeping a secret in exchange for more time with Dean is more than a fair exchange, don't you think?"

She didn't want them to pressure her for more information right now. Adrenaline was wearing off and she felt about ready to fall over. She walked out of the room and towards the impala.

It was about time they got out of this damn town.

TBC

Not sure I like how I kind of decided to resolve this. It's a weak chapter. But, I'll be moving on to new episodes now.

Let me know what you think! Bisous!