It felt good to give the wings a bit of a stretch. After taking the time to let them heal properly, giving them a stretch now felt wonderful. Spencer sighed happily as he landed from his flight right behind his brother in one of Gabriel's many hideaways. However, flying like that had let him see a little more clearly just how messy his brother's wings were. It made sense, of course. A lot of Spencer's work had been, well, internal, for lack of a better word. Gabriel had been the one to cover them as they flew back out of the Cage and up through Hell. His wings had sheltered them on the way up. It made sense they still weren't in the best of shape. Self-grooming wasn't exactly easy. Before all this had happened to Spencer, he'd done Gabriel's grooming when he'd sneak down to earth to see him. A look now and he guessed that no one had filled in that job for him while he was gone.

No sooner had they landed than Spencer was reaching out to catch hold of Gabriel's wrist. He tugged, ignoring the curious look Gabriel was giving him, and walked him back towards the massive bed that sat in the center of this giant room. The place Gabriel had brought them to was perfect for what Spencer had in mind. This was a bedroom that looked like it was made for personal, private time. Time when Gabriel let out the angel inside. There'd be room enough for their wings in here.

"What're you doing, Feel?" Gabriel asked as he gave Spencer a curious look.

Spencer smiled and drew Gabriel up onto the bed with him. "Your wings are a mess. Get up here and let me help you with that."

Surprise crossed Gabriel's face. Then his grace flared bright in a display of emotions that left Spencer a little choked. Surprise, joy, relief, gratitude, hesitance, longing. But Spencer didn't have to pull him along anymore. Gabriel eagerly climbed up onto the bed and set himself in the middle of it. There wasn't even a snap to warn before Spencer felt grace brush against him and their clothes vanished. He didn't bat an eye at it. Angels didn't have clothes in Heaven. They didn't have the same physical shame or modesty that humans have, either. This was a moment that was very personal, very private, and only done with one you trusted implicitly. Once, back before all the drama and the fighting and the plotting, all angels would've groomed one another, back before Lucifer's fall. The lesser angels had no hesitance in helping to groom one another, and the archangels always took care of each other's grooming. Spencer had been the only archangel to ever let one of the lesser angels touch his wings. To touch the wings of an archangel was something important.

Many times since their creation Spencer had sat with Gabriel in front of him. He'd sat with many of his brothers in front of him. Even Michael. They'd all claimed that he had the most gentle, soothing touch. He and Chamuel.

In no time flat the two were both seated on the bed and Gabriel's wings were spread out wide. They were as beautiful as ever. Signs of their recent trip were evident all over, though. Spencer could see the places where more serious damage had been done. The days since then as well as their grace sharing last night had allowed for those places to heal. But there were still feathers out of place and some that looked like they needed to be removed. "You're quite the mess here, little brother."

It was a sentence Spencer had said many times before and it brought a reminiscent smile to both their lips. Gabriel stretched his wings out as far as he could manage and then drew them back in to a relaxed pose. "Flying into Hell will do that to you."

"They seem to be healing well enough. No burns or anything like that."

The first touch of Spencer's fingers had Gabriel's wings shivering briefly. Then the archangel sighed into the touch and he slumped down a little. "Those healed over first. I tried to fix the messed up feathers…"

Spencer smiled and nodded his head in understanding even though Gabriel couldn't see him. "Yeah. It's not so easy." Twisting around to reach all the places on their wings just wasn't that simple. Especially the ones in close to the base of the wings.

For a long while there wasn't really any sound in the room except for the whisper soft sounds of their grooming and the light flutter of wings. Spencer worked his way over the largest of Gabriel's wings, the two top primary ones. It was as he moved down to the second pair that Gabriel finally spoke up. He was bent over a little and it made his voice just slightly muffled. "You haven't asked me any questions about what happened. About Sam."

"I figured you'd talk when you were ready." Spencer murmured. He focused on one extremely twisted feather. That wasn't going to be able to stay in. His fingers were quick and careful as he gave the little twist that jerked it out.

Gabriel winced at the sharp tug and then sighed at the relief. He was quiet again, but this time it was different. He wasn't just sitting there silently. He was gathering his thoughts, trying to put them into words. Finally, he sighed and shifted a little under Spencer's hands. "I'm not exactly one of their favorite creatures. I, messed with them a bit, an Deano's got a long memory when it comes to someone else hurting his brother."

Spencer made a low sound in his throat that was meant to convey agreement or understanding. Just, an acknowledgement that he was listening. He could understand the 'protective older brother' feeling. It was one he'd felt many, many times in his long life. It was a feeling he felt now as he sat behind his brother and felt the emotion that rolled through Gabriel's grace. But he said nothing about any of that. He simply sat there and continued to groom his brother's wings while Gabriel slowly told him what had happened.

"When I left you at the safe house with their souls, I went to the Winchesters. I hadn't told them I was alive yet. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with that crap, y'know?" Gabriel said. That part, Spencer knew. What he didn't know was what came after. He didn't have to wait long to find out. Gabriel's wings shuffled a little when Spencer twisted another feather back into place, and then his brother continued with his story. "Took a bit to convince them. Soulless Sammy believed me first. All practical, that one." There was a slightly bitter edge to those words that showed just how bothered Gabriel had been by a soulless Sam. Then Gabriel's grace grew agitated and his wings tried to draw up in reflection of that. "Do you know what they were doing? Apparently they already knew Sam's soul wasn't there and they were working with the King of Hell to try and get it back!"

"Wow." Not exactly the smartest of moves. From what Spencer knew, the current King of Hell was a crossroads demon by the name of Crowley. Working with him…the boys must've been desperate to do something like that.

"Yeah, 'wow'." Gabriel echoed scathingly. "Don't those idiots ever learn? He was playing them! There was no way that little shit could've gotten Sam's soul for them. King of Hell or not, there's no freaking way. Luce and Mikey would've torn him apart."

"What was he having them do for him?"

"Gather Alphas."

That had Spencer's hands freezing. Crowley had been having the Winchesters gather up Alphas for him? That…wasn't good. Nothing good could come of that. Nothing.

Gabriel nodded his agreement. "Yeah. I'm gonna look into that, make sure the little sulfur-sucker isn't causing too much trouble."

"Let me know what you find." In hiding though he may be, that didn't mean he wanted to remain ignorant. He had too much that was important to him, too much he wanted to protect, to willingly remain ignorant of any serious threat.

Right now, though, his concern wasn't with the demon Crowley, or anything like that. His concern was with his brother and the painful ache he could feel inside of his grace. Something else had happened, something with Sam, and it was hurting Gabriel. That was what was important. That was what had Spencer worrying. He waited, though, and said nothing. Just kept grooming, moving on to the next wing. It took until he was halfway finished with that one before Gabriel spoke again. When he did, his voice was surprisingly soft, devoid of its usual mockery or amusement. "Neither one of them is all that willing to let me around right now. Dean was more than happy to have me fix his brother, but that's it. He keeps acting like I'm going to kill Sam or something. Like I saved him from torture just to torture him myself."

"Angels haven't really given them any reason to trust."

"I would've figured dying for them would've earned me some trust." Gabriel said scathingly. "I guess it doesn't get you as far these days. Deano's sure it's all some kind of trick."

"And Sam?"

It was both amusing and sweet, the way that Gabriel softened a little at just the mention of Sam's name. Oh, yeah, he had it bad. "Sam seems more, open. I think he'd be more willing to listen if big bro wasn't always there yelling at me over his shoulder."

"Well then," Shifting his hands, Spencer smoothed out another twisted feather, smiling as he saw Gabriel's wings shake in a sort of sigh of relief. "If I were you, I'd find a way to speak to Sam alone. Or to shut Dean up long enough to speak. You are an archangel and a trickster, Bree. It shouldn't be that hard for you to figure out how to safely keep someone quiet long enough for you to say your piece. Safely, mind you. Tormenting him or snapping him away to some alternate reality is only going to make him angrier and make your attempts to win them over even harder."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Spencer gave one of the good feathers a small tug. It was the equivalent to tugging a bit on his hair. It had the nice effect of shutting him up and the amusing bonus of the glare Gabriel sent over his shoulder. Spencer just smiled and continued to work as if he hadn't done anything. His voice was just as calm when he spoke again. "I healed as much damage as I could in the time that I could, but you and I both know that what I did was essentially the same as battle field first aid. What he needs now is more proper healing. His soul needs you, Gabriel. You need to make the brothers understand that. This isn't something he can heal from on his own. Healing isn't going to be easy for him."

"I know."

"Not just from Hell, Bree." Stroking his fingers over a twisted feather, Spencer sighed. "The human soul is both fragile and strong all at the same time. His soul, it's so strong. Strong enough to survive this. But it's also fragile enough to be easily hurt. The memories of what he did while without a soul—those are going to hurt. He's going to need help. Help that the seraph with them won't be able to provide. He's going to need healing sessions, and help with nightmares, and someone there to listen to him. Someone who loves him wholly and unconditionally. He needs someone to show him the beauty in the world again beyond the darkness that's been around him for so long."

"That sounds more like your gig than mine, bro." Gabriel pointed out. His voice was a little softer than normal, though.

Shaking his head, Spencer pressed a hand against Gabriel's back, right between all of his wings. "He needs you, Gabriel. Just you. You've got such amazing love to share. Don't be afraid to give it to him."

"Even if he never gives it back?"

Grace reached out to grace and Spencer wrapped himself around his brother, offering love the only way he knew how. "Trust in yourself and in Sam." He murmured. "Have a little faith, brother."

"I think I lost that a long time ago." Gabriel said softly.

Spencer smiled and hugged his brother tighter. "Then let Sam help you find it again."