"That's him?" asked Kashmir raising her eyebrow.
"Yeah, I am the Trickster, though you, my lovely ladies, may call me Loki," answered the angel with a bow as he kissed Kashmir's hand.
"How about Gabriel?" asked the younger girl with a smirk.
"That works too," answered the man without missing a beat.
"Gabriel," whispered Sam and the archangel turned to look at former vessel of Lucifer.
"So, surprise!" yelled Gabriel with a shrug. "I am not dead."
"Yes, we can see that," said Kashmir with a frown, but she was cut off when Dean grabbed the short angel and bushed him against the wall angrily.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!" he yelled absolutely furiously. "You killed me for hundreds of times, tried to get us say yes to your brothers, who tried to end the world, and faked your death. And as if that wasn't enough, you broke my brother's heart!"
"Dean!" was Sam shocked by his brother's words.
"So he did notice!" said Kashmir happily, completely ignoring all the drama going around her.
"Aww, Sammy, did you really miss me?" asked Gabriel not at all bothered by Dean's grip on him.
Sam chose not to answer and looked away, staring stubbornly at the wall instead. He was angry at Gabriel, for taking it all as a big joke, and at Dean, for outing him, but he was also surprised that his brother had noticed the feelings he himself hadn't been aware of when Gabriel was "alive".
"Anyways," Catherine cut in, "I think we should move now and take this conversation to somewhere more private."
"Back to the Batcave?" suggested Kashmir with an innocent smile. Gabriel smirked and zapped them at said location without another thought.
"My Baby!" howled Dean. "Where did you leave my Baby!"
"Oh, don't worry," laughed the angel and pointed to the corner behind the older Winchester, "Castiel is right there behind you."
"He meant the Impala," pointed Sam out dryly, but Gabriel just shook his head slightly and winked.
"Where is the Impala?" asked Dean, now truly enraged, and even Gabriel got the sense, that he should run NOW. He didn't let it show though and just answered simply, "In the garage."
"How did you manage that?" asked Kashmir, eyed wide with both mirth and wonder.
"Archangel," pointed Gabriel out cheekily.
Having calmed down a bit, Dean sat down at the table with Sam at his left and Castiel at his right. Gabriel sat on the other side of the table and the girls chose to continue standing.
Taking a deep breath, Dean finally asked the question they all were wondering about.
"How did you survive? We saw the wings…"
"I didn't," answered Gabriel simply, all humor gone from his voice. With a long look at Sam's face, that seemed to imply, that if he didn't continue his explanation right now, bad things would happen, Gabriel went on, "Lucy did kill me. But about a year ago, I just woke up in the middle of a field in Kansas. I have no idea how I got there, or what brought me back, or how I managed to keep my angel mojo, but here I am, completely fine, as if nothing had happened."
"Why did you bring us to you?" asked Sam quietly.
"Sasquatch, what else have I left to do? There is no point in hiding from the angels, when everybody thinks I am dead anyway. No-one will even think to look for me. I found you because I was bored."
"What? And that is it?" asked Sam incredulously.
"And I was wandering how my favorite human was doing," said Gabriel quietly, looking the younger Winchester brother straight in the eye.
"Me?" was Sam flabbergasted.
"I did join Team Free Will for you in the end, didn't I? I guess, now that I have nothing better to do, I could be bothered to help you out with the occasional hunt, should you need my help," explained the archangel.
"I, for one, am very happy to have you back," said Castiel finally and rose to embrace his brother, cutting off whatever Sam had started to say.
"We are too!" said Catherine and started to laugh, when all the men turned to look at her weirdly. "What? He makes things interesting!"
"And he is one of the men in this room, who isn't in denial," smirked Kashmir.
"What are you talking about?" wanted Dean to know and with a shrug the older girl explained, "Sam is in love with Gabriel."
Sam started to protest, but the girl just went on, "Gabriel is in love with Sam."
When the archangel didn't even bother to deny it, Sam turned to look at him and Gabriel looked back. Finally realizing that Kashmir might be right Sam felt a thrill of hope that he hadn't felt in a very long time, surge through him.
Smiling slightly, Kashmir continued, "And Castiel's feelings for you I am not touching even with a ten foot pole. However, that makes you the only one, who still hasn't come out of the closet."
Dean just started to laugh.
"Alright, I guess you might be right about my brother, and maybe even the trickster angel, but Castiel? In love with me? Please!"
With that he walked out of the room, still laughing softly to himself, though both girls could hear the slightly pained note in that laugh. Castiel cast a long look at the women, before going after Dean, to tell him that the girls were wrong, Kashmir guessed. Sam and Gabriel were just staring at each other in a thoughtful yet hopeful way. With a wink at Sam, who turned to watch Kashmir with a bit bewildered look, the witch grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her out of the room, to give the boys some much deserved privacy.
