Back in the motel room, the tension was high.

It had been Sam who'd sent for Gabriel. As soon as Spencer had left, so obviously hurting, Sam had sent up a prayer to Gabriel to let him know what was going on and that Spencer needed him. Then he turned his attention back to the room around him. Or, more specifically, the bastard standing in front of him. Temper spiked even higher when he saw that the idiot agent didn't even look sorry for what he'd done. "You're a son of a bitch." Sam snapped at him.

Dean reached out, putting a hand in front of his brother's chest to keep him back. Not that he was really doing any better. It was taking a lot of control not to just plant his fist in this guy's face. Maybe Dean and Spencer didn't always get along and maybe their friendship was sort of rocky, but that didn't mean that he didn't care about the scrawny little shit, and it didn't mean that he was going to stand by while someone threw a ton of bullshit at him. He had his own issues with Spencer—no one could ever say, though, that the kid didn't put his all into everything. That he didn't put the safety of pretty much everyone ahead of his own. Maybe he'd thought that once, maybe even recently, but that conversation after Famine had stuck with Dean. It'd made more of an impression than Spencer had realized. So had watching him the next few days. Seeing just how drained Spencer was, how hard of a time he had, and how he still was there every single day for Sam. And now, working this case with them though he looked like he was barely eating or sleeping. 'Selfish' and 'coward' were two words that Dean had come to realize couldn't be applied to the nephilim at all.

Green eyes hard, Dean glared at the idiot Fed. "Y'know, I've heard Spencer call you his best friend but I sure as hell can't see why. Cause if you were his friend, you'd know damn well that that kid is the furthest thing from a coward."

Derek glared right back at him, not even flinching. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"No, I think it's you that has no idea." Dean shot back. He stepped slightly in front of his brother, putting himself between Sam and Derek in a deliberate move. Better than anyone here, he knew Sam's temper and he knew just how pissed off his little brother was at the moment. He was surprised to realize that his own temper wasn't any better. It boiled out of him as he glared at the idiotic Fed. "I've been working with that kid for months now and all I've seen him do is try and help people. There's a lot I'd accuse the kid of, but that shit you threw at him? That was bullshit and you damn well know it."

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"What about to me?" The woman interrupted. Emily, Spencer had called her. She was standing beside Derek and the look on her face was anything but pleasant. "You want to explain yourself to me? Because I didn't bring you here to tear him apart like that. I brought you here so you could get some answers and understand, and because I thought you'd be on his side!"

Derek opened his mouth like he was going to speak, only to have Emily poke a finger in his chest, cutting him off.

"Have you stopped to think about all the things he's done for us instead of the things he hasn't?" She demanded sharply. "You know him, Morgan. You know him. Can you really see Reid standing back and just letting things happen if he could stop them? This is Reid we're talking about here! The same guy who beat himself up for weeks because an Unsub hit me instead of him. The guy who threw himself in the way of a bullet to protect someone. The guy who could barely breathe after the last case and yet still went with us to Canada."

"He's done a hell of a lot more than that." Another voice suddenly said.

Sam couldn't stop his wince. He knew that voice, just as he knew the dangerous temper that was threaded through it. Calling Gabriel had been the smart thing to do, he knew. Spencer had needed his father right then. But he'd also know it was going to be rather risky. Bringing in one seriously pissed off archangel was going to have consequences.

And there was no doubt that Gabriel was furious. Though he was leaning oh-so-casually against the wall, his eyes were hard and his smirk sharp. In that moment he looked more Trickster than angel.

"Ki?" Derek said in disbelief, surprising both Winchesters. Derek knew him?

Gabriel's smirk sharpened ever so slightly into something that gave Sam a chill, and it wasn't even directed at him. "I've met some real assholes in my time, Derek Morgan, but I gotta say, you could give a few of them a run for their money." The archangel said, shaking his head. "A guy gives you his deepest secret, trusting you with something that could get him killed if it's found out, and what do you do? Kick him while he's down." Lifting his hands, he slow-clapped mockingly. "Bravo. I can really see why he felt brave enough to take the risk in telling you. You're really stepping up to the plate."

The sarcasm in those words put Derek's back up and brought the man's scowl back, deeper than before. "Brave?" He scoffed. "He's not brave. He's a coward, that's what he is."

In a flash, Gabriel was across the room. He moved so fast there was no way anyone could stop him. One second he was on the far side of the room and the next he had Derek pinned up against the wall with a hand pressed firmly against his throat. "You watch your damn mouth."

"Put me do-!"

The words cut off on a strangled sound as Gabriel pushed his hand a little harder against Derek's throat; just enough to cut off his words. Derek scrabbled at his hand, trying to break the shorter man's grip, only to find it like steel, unmovable. All he could do was dangle there and stare down at the small man who shouldn't have been able to hold him up and yet somehow was. Gold eyes glowed with the force of the archangel's temper. "Don't presume to tell me what to do, you insignificant little ant. I could squash you, right here and right now, with just a thought." Any sign of his earlier mockery was gone. In its place was fury, plain and simple. "How dare you call my son a coward? He's done more for you than you realize, you ungrateful little bastard. Shielding you guys from nightmares, healing some of your injuries when he can get away with it, sucking in the dark and negative things that haunt your pathetic little minds so that you can have a little bit of peace. Do you really think Elle just healed as well as she did all on her own? Didn't you wonder how Garcia recovered from that gunshot so quickly? What about all those times you'd be down from a case and Spencer just happened to be there, right when you felt like shit. Did you ever even notice how much better you'd feel by the time he left? Did you ever stop to think about it? To thank him? He's taken care of the group of you in so many ways since the first day he joined and not a damn one of you ever even knew it. He's got scars on his wings from keeping you guys safe. And he did it all without ever even wishing for any kind of thanks. That's the kind of person he is. You, you little worm, aren't fit to shine his shoes."

The air crackled around the room worse than any of them had ever felt. The power that the others had felt from Spencer's small bursts of temper was nothing compared to this. This charged the air and carried a feeling of power and fury and so much threat that it had the humans all wanting to take a step back, to turn and run. It went against everything that Sam was feeling to make his body step forward, actually moving towards Gabriel instead of away. "Gabriel." Drawing in a careful, steadying breath, he prayed he wasn't making a mistake and lifted a hand and lightly clasped Gabriel's shoulder. Not tugging, just resting there. The fact that Gabriel didn't shrug him off was a good sign. Sam tried to bolster himself with that, using it to steady his voice just a little. "Don't do this. He's not worth it."

"Family is always worth it. Isn't that what you Winchesters preach?" Gabriel snapped at him.

"Family is worth it. But this guy isn't." In contrast to Gabriel's temper, Sam kept his voice low and steady. "I know he hurt him. He's an idiot—no one's arguing that. Spencer wouldn't want this, though, and you know that. He wouldn't want violence, especially not over him. It would only upset him more. Is that what you want?"

There was one long, tense moment, and it seemed that everyone held their breath. Dean stood close to Sam, one hand half extended like he was going to reach out and grab him if things got sticky, and right behind him was Castiel, who was standing close and looking ready to pull them out of there as well. Sam hadn't even noticed when he'd arrived. Emily stood off to the side, her back against the other wall, saying nothing as her eyes went back and forth between Derek and Gabriel. For his part, Derek had stilled, hands curled over Gabriel's wrist, eyes wide and locked on the archangel's face.

Without warning, Gabriel drew his hand back, letting Derek drop. The agent hit and slid down to the ground, his own hands going to rub at his throat. Gabriel stood over him and glared down at him, holding him in place with his glare as surely as he'd held him with his hand. "I hope you realize the only reason you're still breathing right now is because of Spencer. Because I actually give a damn about his feelings. But make no mistake, you hurt my son like that again and I won't let you off so easy." Squatting down, he rested his arms on his knees and leaned in, his smirk sharp and lethal. "There's plenty I can do without ever killing you, Agent Morgan. I've been told I'm very, very creative."

Derek's eyes had gone wide and he was looking at Gabriel with open fear. "Your son?" He repeated Gabriel's words slowly and just a little shakily. "You're…you're an angel?"

The smirk Gabriel wore grew just a little sharper. "I'm so much more than that, kiddo. I'm the archangel who ran away from home and spent his years as a pagan god. I don't answer to the home office anymore." Leaning in, he lowered his voice. "Keep that in mind the next time you want to run your mouth about things you can't even begin to understand."

Turning, Gabriel rose and looked over at the brothers. "I sent Spencer back to the house to do his translating. When he's got it done, he'll come find you. If you need him, you know how to find him." And with a loud rustle of wings, Gabriel was gone.

That left one very awkward group of people together in that hotel room. Derek was still on the floor, looking like his whole world had just been turned on its head. Which, in a sense, it had. Not only had he discovered that his best friend, someone he thought he knew, was part angel, he'd been faced with the fact that angels were real, that supernatural things were real, and then had been attacked by an archangel. Sam wanted to stay angry with him. Really, he did. But he knew just how hard it could be on a person to find out that everything that they'd thought were just stories were really real. He also knew how it felt to meet an angel and find out that they weren't exactly what you thought they were.

This Derek guy couldn't be all bad. If he was, there was no way that Spencer would've been friends with him for so long, or spoken of him as highly as he did. There had to be a good person in there. Maybe…maybe he was like Dean. How many times had Sam watched his brother react to things with anger? When he was scared or confused, Dean often channeled it into anger, saying or doing things that he later regretted. Maybe that's what Derek was doing. Sam mulled that thought over for a moment. In the end, there was only one way he could react, really. How many times already had Spencer forgiven Dean for the stupid things he'd said or done in anger? Sam could at least try to afford one of Spencer's closest friends the same courtesy.

Brushing off Dean's cautioning hand, Sam went over to where Derek was still sitting on the floor. He stopped in front of him and waited until the profiler looked up at him before holding a hand out to him. Surprise flashed over Derek's face. Then, almost hesitantly, he reached up and put his hand in Sam's. One good tug brought the other man up to his feet. Once Derek was up, Sam reached out with his other hand and clapped his shoulder. "You'll be all right, Agent Morgan."

Derek looked so shell shocked it made it a little easier to feel sorry for him. "That…he was…." Wide eyes locked on Sam. "You called him Gabriel. As in…Gabriel?"

"One and the same." Sam said as he let go. A corner of his mouth quirked up. "Not quite what you expected, is he?

"And he's Spencer's Dad?"

"Yeah," It was Dean who answered this time as he moved up to Sam's side. "An you've got no idea how lucky you are. He's not exactly the guy you wanna piss off. Especially when it comes to his kids. He tends to get a bit overprotective. Plus, he's spent the past forever playing as Loki, going around punishing dicks. Right now, you probably rank pretty high on that list."

Emily moved up to Derek's side and cut off anything he might've said to that by putting a hand on his shoulder. "We can talk about this later." She said in a voice that was both gentle and firm. "Right now, we've got a bit more immediate concerns. I know the type of things that you guys hunt. The fact that you're here in a town where we're working a case that seems both strange and ritualistic doesn't seem like a coincidence to me. I assume you're here hunting?"

There didn't seem to be any real point in hiding it. "We are." Sam said. "We're pretty sure it's a witch."

"Do you have any idea who, yet? Not that I'm trying to do your job for you." She hurried to tack that last bit on when she saw the look that Sam and Dean exchanged. "I'm not trying to step on your toes or act like I'm a Hunter here. I know I'm not. But neither is anyone on my team. None of us are prepared to go up against something like this and I need to know who or what we're up against here so I know how to keep them away from it."

Dean turned to grin at Sam, lifting a finger and pointing in Emily's direction. "I like her." Turning back, he flashed that grin at Emily. "You wouldn't believe how many civilians automatically assume they can do our job."

"Civilians?" Derek said, finally breaking his stupor enough to start to participate in the conversation. Emily spoke over top of him, though. "Yeah, well, I've seen what your job can entail and I know where my own skills lie. I'd have no idea how to take down a witch. But I can steer the team safely away from danger." A corner of her mouth quirked up and her expression softened slightly. "I get the feeling that Reid did that a lot more often than any of us realized. Without him there, I guess it falls to me now."

This Emily woman was as intelligent as Spencer had described her to be. It wasn't hard to see why he liked her so much. When he'd talked about her, he'd always had good things to say about her. Sam could see why. She seemed smart and kind and her affection for Spencer was obvious. She was asking smart questions here, too, and Sam could applaud what she was trying to do. Having someone on the inside who could keep the other Feds away would really help them. But, as smart as this all was, Sam couldn't quite bring himself to really focus on it. Most of his attention was somewhere else entirely. And he had the perfect excuse to back out of this. Reaching out, he tapped at his brother's shoulder. "Hey, Dean?" He waited until Dean turned around before continuing. "There's no telling when Spencer's gonna finish that translation, so we should be ready. I'm gonna head to the house and see about getting together the stuff for the hex bags. If I'm lucky, Gabe might get me whatever Spencer doesn't have in his stores. You think you got these two okay?"

"Yeah, Cas and I got this." Amusement sparked in Dean's eyes and he shook his head. "Go on. Go make your hex bags and check on your boyfriend. Leave me here with cleanup. Bitch."

It'd been a long time since Sam had heard that familiar insult said with such honest affection. He let it warm him, let his smile grow big enough that his dimples showed. "Jerk." He shot back. Then he was grabbing his stuff off the table and hurrying over to the bathroom door. As he unlocked it, he heard Derek's voice behind him, almost hesitantly asking "Why is he taking a bunch of books into the bathroom?"

Laughter tickled the back of Sam's throat. He was smiling as he stepped through the door and into the safe house, shutting the door behind him. That smile was still with him when he made his way into the living room. There on the couch sat Spencer wrapped up in a very old looking quilt, his dark hair pulled back once more from his face with a pencil, the book he was translating on one knee and the notebook he was writing in on the other. He looked up at the sound of Sam's entrance and almost immediately smiled. It wasn't his usual smile, lacking a certain spark to it, but it was warm enough. However, the rest of him looked much better than it had before. Better than he'd looked even before the fight. The bags under his eyes were less and the exhaustion that had sat on him wasn't there anymore. If Sam had to guess, he'd bet Gabriel had something to do with that.

He tried very hard to ignore the feeling it gave him as Spencer smiled at him and greeted him. "Hey, Sam. I, um, I didn't expect to see you here yet."

It didn't escape Sam's notice, the self-conscious way that Spencer adjusted his blanket, like he was embarrassed at being caught sitting here with it. He didn't comment on it, though, pretending as if he didn't notice. "Dean has explanations well in hand. Don't worry," He tacked on, seeing the worry that flashed briefly over Spencer's face. "I left Cas there, too. He'll keep Dean in line. I figured they could finish explanations while I come get some things ready. I thought I'd check your pantry and see what supplies we have and what we'll need to make the hex bags. I've got a shopping list, here." He held up a scrap of paper, showing it even as he set his other books and his laptop down on the coffee table.

Spencer nodded his understanding. "Smart. I'm getting a little closer with this. It looks like there might be a spell in here I can use to trace the signature of the blood magic. If I can do that, we can track it back to the witch. We'll need to be prepared when we do."

It wasn't hard for Sam to catch the silent message here. Spencer wasn't in the mood to talk about what had happened. That was fine; Sam was used to that. It was kind of the Winchester way. Ignore a problem for as long as humanly possible and pretend that it didn't exist. If that was what Spencer needed right now, he could give it to him. The worry he'd been feeling before had abated now that he had his friend in sight and could see that he was as okay as he could be considering what had happened. If Spencer wanted to ignore this for now, Sam wasn't going to stop him. He let Spencer lead their conversation. "Is there anything in there about how to gank em?"

"No." Blowing out a frustrated breath, Spencer sat back a little, tapping his pencil on his knee. "Like I said before, this book is seriously dark magic. I've come across ways to use the symbols, ways to gain more power, some truly vile things that can be done with it for the witch, but nothing about how to take them down. However, at the same time I haven't found anything in here that would suggest that it actually takes something special to take the witch down. Everything I'm seeing suggests that we'd kill this witch the same as we would any other. What our problem is going to be is getting past the witch's power to actually hurt him or her."

"Which is where the hex bags come in." Sam supplied

"Exactly. Dad and Cas can add their protection, too. Dad's already said he's more than willing to come with us. This magic, it's going to be big and it's going to be powerful. We're going to need all the power we can get on our side."

"Sounds like fun."

That teased a small smile out of Spencer. When he looked up at Sam, the gold in his eyes twinkled slightly. "Our definition of fun needs some serious help."

"No kidding, man."

Just as Sam turned away, Spencer called out to him. "Sam? Be careful when you go in there." He smiled as Sam turned to look at him again. "I imagine it's quite a mess. Dad's experimenting in there with a new recipe for some cookie or candy thing. I'm not quite sure what. Apparently it's something Mom wanted to try, so he's going to make it up for when he goes to see her this weekend. So…be prepared. He's a bit of an insane baker."

"Your Dad is…baking?"

"Oh, yes." Spencer said, nodding. "He likes making things and he loves making a mess. Why wouldn't he cook?"

The truth of that had Sam chuckling. Still, even with Spencer's warning, there wasn't anything that really could've prepared him for the sight that met him when he went into the kitchen. The sliding doors that were usually left open between the kitchen and dining room were shut, muffling the noise and music that were going on on the other side. When Sam opened them, he found himself unable to do anything more than just stand there and stare. The kitchen was an absolute disaster. A whirlwind of chaos at which Gabriel was at the center. The sight of Gabriel had Sam giving a surprised laugh. The archangel was decked out in an apron with a giant rooster on the front that loudly proclaimed to "Kiss the Cock" and a large chef's hat on his head that bounced and threatened to fall as Gabriel danced to the beat of what Sam thought was music that was from the twenties. Where it was playing from, he had no idea. He didn't see a stereo anywhere.

The sound of his laughter had Gabriel looking up. The grin that spread over his face was almost enough to have Sam backing out of the kitchen. "Sambo!" Gabriel exclaimed happily, brandishing a whisk that was covered in something slightly thick and neon pink. "What can I do for ya?"

This cheerful, slightly insane Gabriel was such a far cry from the pissed off one that had been in the motel room earlier.

Sam looked down at the list in his hand and honestly debated just how much he really needed these ingredients right now. The laugh that Gabriel let out told him that the man could either read his thoughts on his face, or he wasn't as scrupulous as Spencer and was just picking them out of his head.

"No one's as scrupulous as that kid is." Gabriel said, answering Sam's mental question. "Definitely not me."

"Stay outta my head." Sam said it by reflex, not actually expecting that it would be listened to. He held up his list so Gabriel could see it. "I need to check the pantry for these things so I can go about preparing some hex bags for us."

"Ahh, the blood magic repellant. Everything you'll need is in his cupboards. I just restocked them for him yesterday. Help yourself, Sam-a-lam. Just stay away from the counters!"

Sam very carefully made his way into the kitchen. He found all the ingredients he'd need in Spencer's pantry, just like Gabriel had said, and he gathered them up in one of the cloth bags he found in there. He spared a brief moment to be amused by the fact that this pantry was half supernatural ingredients, set up so casually next to the other half of regular cooking ingredients. Any average human that saw this would be completely terrified. Powdered werewolf bone wasn't exactly the kind of thing you expected to find near the jar of cornstarch.

He put all that'd he need into the bag and then closed the pantry doors. The whole time he'd been in there, Gabriel had continued with his baking and dancing, the music never once pausing. He had a new bowl, now, and the contents of this one looked to be purple. He paid absolutely no attention to Sam as the Hunter made his way back across the kitchen. It wasn't until Sam was just about to exit the kitchen that the archangel spoke again. "Hey, Samsquatch?"

Sam paused at the door and turned himself just enough to look back at Gabriel, who wasn't even turned around from where he was stirring something at the counter. Curiously staring at the back of the archangel's head, he said "Yeah?"

"You mean a lot to Spencer, and he's sort of fragile right now. Hurt him, and I'll throw you in a pocket dimension inhabited by nothing but homicidal clowns." Turning, he smiled broadly, giving no sign that he'd just threatened Sam with his worst nightmare. Then he turned back to his baking once more. "Let me know if you guys need help with those hex bags!"

Sam left the kitchen, making a mental note as he went to make sure he stayed on Gabriel's good side.

Sorry this took so long, m'dears! After I got back from my vacation, I got sick :/ I've still got a bit of a head cold, so I'm a little slower than normal, but I hope you like this. The next chapter shouldn't take near as long to get up. And once we wrap up this witch case, we should start to get into a bit more angel/demon/apoc action. Surprisingly, we're not that many chapters away from the end! :) Make sure to let me know what you think of this, y'all. Reviews are love lol