Gabriel would never admit it, but he found the sound of the Winchesters voices to be rather comforting. They sounded alive if not to say well, in the least. He glanced up at the woman holding the phone. Jody Mills and her girls, Claire and Alex. "Hello," he said to her with a pleasant smile. "My name is Gabriel and I'm an archangel."

Jody froze. "Archangel," she said slowly. "I'm going insane."

"Not quite," he said. "I mean if Luci or Mike were here, then you'd be insane, and most likely dead," he added as an after thought.

"Jody," came Deans voice. "Step away from him."

Jody said nothing but obliged.

"Oh come on," Gabriel snapped. "What do you think I'd do? Dad said to love and not hurt humanity and I follow his orders." He snapped his fingers and the rope vanished. "I don't hurt them."

Jody jumped as Gabriel plucked the phone from her hand. She moved protectively towards her girls.

Sam let out a sour laugh. "I guess that if the person only dies around a hundred times and always comes back to life, it doesn't count is hurting."

"Sammy," Dean said loudly. "Take us off speaker. Can you still zap?"

"I'm an archangel, of course I can!" He clicked the speaker button. "You're off."

"Great. Okay, we're in Pontiac, Illinois on 33rd by a church. Specific enough?" Sam said.

"See you a minute," Gabe replied. He ended the call and handed the phone back with a flourish. "Thank you young lady. See you around." He winked and disappeared.

The Church, it turned out, was a lovely little place. The garden was filled with wilting but colorful flowers and there was a play yard in the back. The black impala was parked on the left side of the street, voices floated out of it.

"Hey boys," Gabriel said, rapping on the window. "It's me."

Sam, who had been talking animatedly to Dean about something he had read about the crime around here, looked up startled. He opened the door and unfolded all six feet and four inches and too long hair of him. "Gabriel," he said bitterly. "You could punch you right now."

"Love ya too, sugar," Gabe said. "You're limping," he noticed.

"Run in with a poltergeist."

Dean got out of the passenger side, arm slung in a cast and eyes very, very tired. "Why you back?"

"Two of my favorite brothers are here and both are being tortured," he said. "Of course I'm back. I don't leave my family in Hell."

Dean glared at him. "How do we know this is legit?"

"Would you fool with your brothers life?"

"No," he said. "But I haven't been known for murdering the same fucking person one hundred times."

Gabriel raised his hands. "Fair point."

"Can you save Cas?" Sam asked. "Can you do it?"

"Well," Gabriel said. "I can help. Untimely, it won't be up to us. If he feels like he deserves to be saved he might cast Lucifer out but Amara's a whole different problem in general."

At the mention of Amara's name, Dean made a choked noise.

Sam turned to his brother. "Could you go up against her?"

"I don't know," Dean replied honestly. "I think I could."

"'Think' isn't good enough!" Gabriel said, raising his voice. "Unless you are absolutely certain I won't let you. This is my brothers life we're talking about! If you screwed up he might die! Or, I dunno, Amara might throw them in the cage! Cas is the angel that does the saving, it would take us maybe a year to get him out! And the last time we had someone in there that long.. Angel or not Lucifer is bound to be angry."

Sam flinched and Dean brushed his arm. "I can do it," Dean said confidentially. "One condition."

"That is...?"

"Sam doesn't go near Lucifer," Dean said. "I don't want him to even have to see him if we can avoid it. You and I do the fighting if we have to."

"Dean.." murmured Sam. "If I can't even see Lucifer, I can't fight. I'd just be a liability."

"No," Dean snapped. "I will lock you in Bobby's old panic room if I have too. This is not going to happen, I won't let it."

"I agree. I'm not going near Lucifer unless I need too. But you're going overboard. I can't fight, I can't be of service. It's stupid. Dean, I really want to help," he said, adopting the pleading tone and expression that always worked on Dean. "Cas is my friend too, he's family."

"Fine," Dean said. "Dammit Sam, don't give me that look. You're too old for puppy eyes. I said fine! Cut it out!"

Sam smirked at Dean. "Thanks big brother," he said, playing the voice and eyes a little longer just because he could. "You're the best."

"Shut it."

Gabriel piped up. "Sam, you should know, it's not as cute with the hair."

"Gabri-"

"He's right Sammy," Dean said. "The hair makes you look like a puppy hobo."

Sam glared at him.

"Now you look like a mass murdering hobo."

"Shut up Dean."

Dean chuckled. "Okay," he said, his expression turning serious. "We don't know where the hell Amara even is so we might want to, you know, figure it out."

"Don't you two have some bond?" Gabriel asked, putting emphasis on the word 'bond.'

"Amara and I? It's kinda one sided." Dean scratched the back of his head.

Gabriel sighed. "Not you and Amara. You and Cas! Don't you have a 'more profound bond' or something?"

Sam smirked, raising his eyebrows at Gabe from behind Dean's back. "They do," he said. "Believe me."

"Shut your face Sam," Dean snapped. "Yeah, we do but I don't know how to find him or anything."

Gabriel gave him a pitying look. "Pray Dean, you've done it before."

"Pray? That's it?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Do it."

"How will it work?" Dean asked.

Gabriel tapped his right arm. "When Cas pulled you out of hell, he left his mark on you. If you truly pray, with as much desperation as you can possibly muster, it should flash you an image of where he is."

Dean's hand automatically went to his upper arm. "The hand print's long gone."

"The Grace he left in your soul isn't."

Sam watched, confused. "Dean has Grace? In his soul?"

"Yep," Gabriel said brightly, then shook his head. "Damn Dean, you are one of the few humans who have achieved this: you have made an Angel fall in every single way possible for one."

"Enough," Dean growled. "I'll pray, just give me a second. Do I have to do anything fancy?"

"No, pray like you did in Purgatory. You needed him, not for his powers but because you were scared he was dead and you honest to dad missed him." Gabriel winked. "You can do it, Sam and I'll leave if it makes you feel better."

"Please do."

Sam rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "I have faith in you."

Dean let out a wane smile. "Thanks Sammy."

Gabriel took Sam's arm and led him off to chat on a bench at the end of the street. Dean looked up at the blue sky above him. He cleared his throat.

"Hey Cas," he began. "Got your ears on?"