Notes:Last one for the night, and then I'm off to bed! I am sooooo behind schedule right now. I think I'm going to spend my whole spring break catching up next week.

leahelisabeth: Don't you worry! I plan on plenty of Samguish for later stories! And he's not done for this episode yet! ;)

ship. me: If supernatural can make torture super sexy, I can make it hilarious XD

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed from this morning accept that I slept for 15 hours after my convention and I wasn't really sure what day it was.

CHAPTER 10

It took only a fraction of a second for Dick to compose himself again after the abrupt choice of the younger Winchester. Perhaps this was the "Gabe" that they were speaking of before. This time when Dick looked over at the crew member, he paid a bit more attention. Casually he took in the hawiian shirt, the short stature, unassuming look, the twinkle in his eye of someone with a secret…

"Well then, seems like you already know how to do business like this. So you've made your choice. Release the tall one," he ordered the minion closest to his left. Right away Sam was cut down from the rack and immediately slumped to the floor in a bloody and bruised heap. Nobody made a move to help him up, and Sam was barely strong enough it seemed to even hold his head up, let alone walk out of there.

So cautiously Gabriel made his way over to the younger Winchester, trying his best to bring his heart back to normal pace and helping Sam to stand up.

Still lost in his blinding panic since Gabriel had arrived, Sam didn't even register what was happening until Gabriel had already guided him to the doorway, leaving the room…leaving Dean.

"No, no , no…"

"Sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry, but it has to be this way. I promised Dean," Gabriel whispered back brokenly as they stumbled by the minions and Dick. For a brief moment, he looked back to where Dean remained chained up by his wrists. The elder Winchester might have only been holding on to the edges of consciousness, but he nodded his thanks to Gabriel for taking Sam away from this. Gabriel returned the nod.

He understood Dean completely when he had made that promise only a few hours earlier. Hell, Gabriel was a big brother too. He knew exactly the feeling that came with putting your younger siblings in danger, as he had felt it many times when it came to Cas and Balthazar. It was easy for him to promise Dean to choose Sam, not just because Sam was his lover, but because he understood.

"Dean…" Sam called out weakly.

"Shh, Sammy. Just keep walking," Gabriel coaxed, but he halted as Dick's voice suddenly broke through the room and Gabriel just knew that this was going to be bad.

"Ah, a moment, please," he called after them as he made his way over to where Dean was hanging, "It's just…the money you paid. It's too much. You should have a small refund, I think," he remarked casually as he picked up a knife from the table beside Dean.

With a quick flash of light reflecting on silver, Dick held the knife up to the side of Dean's head and sliced off the shell of his ear in one swipe, before Sam or Gabriel could even start a protest.

They both stood horrified as Dean screamed in absolute agony for the first time that night, his voice echoing off the metals walls in the room, making even the minions flinch, but not Dick.

Doing his best to not hyperventilate and keep his remaining composure, Gabriel stood straight and held Sam as best as he could while it seemed like with Dean's ear being ripped off, Sam's knees had disappeared.

Pulling a pristine white hankercheif out from his suit pocket, Dick wrapped up Dean's ear and moved over to Sam, handing it to the younger brother.

"I think that Captain Winchester would have wanted you to have this," he remarked in false pity.

To Sam's credit, he pulled his eyes up to meet that of his torturer and took the ear without breaking eye contact and tucked it close to his chest.

"Now we are ended," Dick said, and Gabriel wasted no more time in getting Sam out of there.

It might have taken him using some of his mojo to pull a protesting Sam along, but perhaps Sam's weakened condition was a blessing, because no power in this 'verse would have been strong enough to pull Sam away from Dean as his brother's screams followed all the way back to the airlock.

Dick watched as the two left the room and strolled casually over to Dean and leaned on his shoulder in a conspirital manner, putting his mouth close to Dean's bleeding head in case his hearing was impaired.

"That crew member of yours…who is he?" he asked, truly curious of the man with the golden eyes that screamed of power.

With his one functioning eye, Dean glared up at him, "Go to hell," he growled.

"I swear I know him from somewhere…Tell me, did he ever have a mustache?"

Gabriel had hoped that Sam would just fall into blissful unawareness as soon as they got back to the shuttle, but the infamous Winchester stubbornness streak could never be broken, even after hours of torture. Instead of just slumping back in the second chair, Sam chose that moment to get his second wind and went to the weapons storage unit on the shuttle, loading the guns with trembling and fumbling fingers as he prepared to go back to get Dean.

Gabriel saw this and cringed, "Sam…Sam, you can't do this. We'll get him back, but first we have to get you taken care of," he said while grasping Sam's hands under his own.

Sam glared back at him with a snarl, "Then fix me so that I can go back and get my brother," he hissed.

"No."

"What do you mean, "no". Fix me so I can save Dean!" Sam yelled through his sore throat.

Gabriel shook his head sadly, "I made a promise to Dean to do what's best for you."

"What's best for me? What's best for me is getting Dean back!"

"I know that. Which is why I'm going to heal you, but then we are going back to the Impala to load up on real weapons and get the crew together. We'll save Dean, but we can't do it alone and I won't have you killed in vain attempt," Gabriel soothed, running his hands through Sam's hair, sending out his energy tendrils to heal the edges off of the pain.

In his hands, he could feel Sam melt into the touch as the pain slowly ebbed away. With half lidded eyes, Sam looked back at Gabriel with all earlier anger dissipated. They both shared a long look.

"He's insane," Sam whispered with a sad chuckle at the end.

Gabriel snorted, "We already knew this. That's why he and Cassy make such a good pair."

"But he's really crazy…I mean…he wouldn't break. He just kept it together…"

"Neither did you, Sam."

Sam shook his head sadly, "Only because he was there. He kept me together. I—I wouldn't have made it otherwise, and now…now Dick's going to kill him."

"Shh, he's going to be just fine. Dean's strong, you know this. He's going to keep it up as long as possible. Days, if he can."

Sam's eyes sparked with fire, "Bastard's not going to get days," an dhe launched up from the floor and keyed up the power on the shuttle, taking them home as fast as the shuttle would go, and then some.

The whole crew had been pacing the catwalk as they waited for the shuttle to return. It had been a bit longer than they had planned, but the thought of running away crossed to one's mind at any point. Their minds were far too occupied with thoughts of their absent crew.

They had never felt such conflicting emotion as the moment when the shuttle finally docked. They didn't know whether to be relieved at the return of their own shuttle and not a space station, or terrified at what might or might not be coming through its doors. With bated breath they all stared at the entrance, willing it to open and for their crew to return to them.

So when the doors opened to reveal Gabriel and Sam, they just weren't sure what to feel.

Bobby was the first to move forward, "Thank God, you're safe. We thought the worst when Cas started screaming an hour ago," he jerked his thumb behind him to where a pale Castiel was being helped to his feet by Balthazar.

"Poor kid threw a hissy fit that lasted about ten minutes," and that's when Bobby took note of the absent Captain, "and I'm guessing that has something to do with why Dean ain't here," he finished, an edge to his voice.

"Jeez, Sam. You look awful," Chuck said, stating the obvious.

"I'm fine, Gabe fixed me up mostly," Sam said mildly, a hard edge in his words. Really he was just trying to make his way past everyone crowded on the catwalk so that he could start gathering up some guns.

"So…where's Dean?" Meg demanded, not ignoring the bigger issue here like everyone else. Cas seemed to agree with her question and stepped up close to Sam.

Gabriel glanced hesitantly at an impatient Sam before answering, "Dick wouldn't let him go," he said shortly

"But he's alive, right?" Anna half shrieked.

The pilot nodded, sensing that Sam was about to tear his way past the crew if they didn't finish up this Q and A soon, "For now," he said shortly, "but right now we need to grab up every gun, grenade, sharp thing, and butter knife, cause we're about to storm a space station."

It was a proud moment when absolutely no one argued and instead nodded their understanding, ready to hear more orders.

Sam looked each of them over, savoring the small moment and hoping they knew how special it was to him and Dean that they had friends with this kind of loyalty. He glanced down to his left when he felt a soft tugging at his sleeve to see Cas there with wide and searching blue eyes.

"I can fix that," he stated simply, his eyes trailing down to the white folded cloth in Sam's hands. With a jolt, Sam remembered what it was and his anger rose again. Gently he put the cloth into Cas' waiting hand.

"I trust you to take care of this," Sam said quickly before turning and moving down the catwalk, purpose in each heavy footstep. Gabriel went after him,

"Wh-what is that?" Chuck asked coming up behind Cas and peering over his shoulder while the others followed suit, all letting the apprehension fill the spaces between them as they waited for Cas' answer.

Slowly and with great care, Cas unfolded the cloth to reveal a bloody slice of skin that no one recognized at first until Cas informed them grimly, his voice like garbled gravel, "It's his ear."

They all gasped, and looks of horror and disgust passed over each face.

"Huh choo-shang tza-jiao duh tzang-huo," (Animal fucking bastard) Balthazar growled and moved up behind his little brother to make sure that he was all right. But he could plainly see the tremors running through Cas. No, he wouldn't be alright until they got Dean back.

Bobby seemed to notice the despair on the other crew members faces and stepped up to Cas, lifting the youngest Novak's face with a finger under his chin, "We're getting Dean back, you hear me?"

Meg snorted, "How? We gonna clone him or something? Don't think Dick will keep him alive until we can get a decent plan together."

Cas ignored her, "I can fix this….as long as there's a head."

Damn straight, Cas can fix it. Go save your captain in distress Cassy.