When Castiel returned to Bobby's it was to find that Gabe was passed out drunk in the spare bedroom. Part of him was irritated, but it was more to do with the fact that they were wanted by the police for the murder of those girls and their escape from jail than that his brother had drank himself into oblivion.

He was having his own issues, issues he refused to bring to the light, issues that he would handle on his own. When he'd talked to Sam about the dreams he'd been having he had embellished the details just a bit, embellished what was happening. If he told anyone the truth… well there were bigger problems at hand than what was happening to him. He could handle the strange dreams and the anger. All he had to do was be mindful of it.

After he stepped into the living area he put Gabe's new phone on the charger and settled into the couch, trying hard not to acknowledge the destroyed coffee table.

Come on, Cas. You've got this.

In that moment Dean appeared with a red-haired woman in tow. Cas glanced at Dean, feeling that anger boiling beneath the surface. Rather than surrender to it he made himself think over the situation rationally. Despite everything, Dean had been trying to protect him and the world. It was screwed and completely selfish but what he'd done, he'd ultimately done for the good of the world.

"Hey, Cas."

"Dean." He acknowledged as his eyes wandered to the red headed angel.

"I get you're pissed at me. Which pretty much summarizes everyone in this house. I'm not in the mood to argue with-"

"I am not going to do this, Dean. What you did, it was unforgiveable. But I don't care. I really don't. You did what you thought you had to, which wasn't what you should have done. It changes nothing and I don't care."

Dean opened then shut his mouth, staring at Castiel with a bit of a dumbfounded look.

"A lot more forgiving than I am." The red headed woman settled into the other couch and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How many times are we going to have this argument, Anna?" Dean groaned and leaned against the wall. So this was Anna.

"As many as it takes to burn it into your brain that you ruined my life. I was human. I was free. I was living a human life-"

"Then you started hearing the devil and your family died. I get it. I fuck people up. Though I had nothing to do with any of that crap. How about we forget about how much shit I've done and focus on the shit I'm trying to stop from happening?"

Castiel smiled slightly, looking at the archangel. "And the selfish reasons you're doing them for?"

"Now you've got it." Dean grinned at him, snapping his fingers. A jukebox appeared in the corner and Highway to Hell came pouring out of its speakers.

"Could you possibly have-"

"Don't you start in on my music taste, Anna."

Sighing in exasperation she leaned back in her seat before, "I vote alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol."

"Well since you didn't insult me-"

"If you're going to use those God forsaken Pagan powers might as well be useful." Anna interrupted him with a smirk.

"Don't insult the Pagans, Anna." Dean told her without any real seriousness before snapping his fingers.

Cas rolled his eyes as the broken coffee table repaired itself and the wall with the TV was replaced by shelves of varying forms of liquor. Next to it was a locked cabinet with a giant warning stamp that said 'No Humans or Fallen Angels.'

"Bobby's going to kill you for sending his TV away."

"It'll be back before he knows it was gone. Now live a little, Cas." Dean strolled over to the 'No humans or Fallen Angels' cabinet and snapped his fingers before opening it and turning to face them. Anna rose to her feet and ambled over, grabbing one of the vodka bottles.

"I say we have a drinking contest." She announced as she set the bottle on the table, eyes lighting up with mischief.

"I'm in." Dean chimed in and both fallen angel and hunter shot him a look that said 'hell no'.

"Maybe if you weren't in your True Vessel."

Dean paused as he grabbed one of the glasses, turning his full attention to Anna. "Is that how you knew I was me?"

"I heard whispers that True Vessels correspond to their angels in physical aspects as well as life stories. For example, I know Gabriel upstairs is destined to play Vessel for Michael." Dean stared at her as if she'd grown a second head and she sighed in exasperation as she slumped back into the chair. "You are nearly stupid, Dean. Do you not recognize those eyes?"

Dean opened then shut his mouth before opening it again, "Michael's wings. How the hell did I miss that?"

"Wait, Gabriel is Michael's vessel?" Castiel finally spoke up, more confused than he'd been in a long time. "As in… The Michael, Heaven's greatest warrior…"

"More like lead commander of Heaven's armies. Not that he really commanded much. It was mostly a title. Debriel trained the soldiers for his ever-growing army. Of course, when there's no war to fight what's the point?" Anna explained, Dean flinching slightly at the use of his Archangel name.

"But True Vessels are supposed to correlate with their angels… Gabriel isn't… he isn't a warrior, not a commander, he doesn't take responsibility at all. The second that dad died he tried to get rid of me."

"Which fits with the confusion that you're supposed to be Lucifer's Vessel. It doesn't exactly make sense. Unless you have a certain vengeance-"

"He's supposed to be Lucifer's?" Anna interrupted, her gaze resting on Castiel and searching him, Castiel looked away from her and reached over, grabbing the bottle off the table and leaning back, taking a drink out of it and staring pointedly into the clear contents.

"His Soul is tainted and he's a True Vessel. Unless there's something we don't know about Raphael, he's gotta belong to Lucifer."

"Lucifer's wings were brightest. That's why all of Heaven looked down on me. His eyes, his hair, it's all dark. It doesn't match up."

"Lucifer Fell, Anna. His feathers would have blackened after Dad broke his wings. I won't doubt for a second that Cas isn't his."

Anna sighed audibly, "My wings didn't blacken. My feathers fell out but they didn't-"

"You aren't an Archangel, Anael." Dean bit out and Anna flinched. Dean groaned and returned his focus to pouring himself a drink. "Let's not do this. I'm done talking about Heaven. I'm done talking about my brothers."

"Fine. Cas, how about we see which of us can hold our liquor better?"

Castiel raised his gaze to Anna who was smiling though it was halfhearted. "I'm not going to drink myself into oblivion on a pointless attempt."

"Fallen Angels are basically human, Cas. She has human level alcohol tolerance."

Castiel looked between the two angels suspiciously before nodding.

Dean grinned, "Awesome." Two shot glasses appeared on the table in front of him and he shared a look with Anna before they began.

.-~*~-.

Gabriel had expected a dreamless sleep or maybe for Sam to figuratively chase the nightmares away and leave him with his own dreams. What he hadn't expected was for Sam to arrive in the dream.

Well, Gabriel hadn't known it was a dream at first. He'd been drifting along in this weird convoluted mess of nonsensical events revolving around TV Shows and him tormenting Dean when the scene had melted into something else entirely.

The sight was familiar, a leveled forest with a single wooden cross in the middle of it. When Gabriel turned around to see if there was anything else he was met with the sight of a large ball of blinding white light with shades of blues and greens mixed into it.

After blinking several times, trying to focus on what he was seeing, light distorted slowly, morphing until it took on the form of the angel. Of his angel. Sam. Sam stood there. Sam.

Had that been his true form? Had he gotten a glimpse of who Sam truly was?

Wait.

"I'm dreaming." Gabriel realized and Sam nodded once, tilting his head.

"I was talking to Dean and he suggested this… It is… strange." Sam scrunched his eyebrows, looking him over curiously.

"Being in my dreams? Yeah. That's pretty weird. Even for my life." Gabriel responded, eying the angel.

"No…" Sam cleared his throat and shifted slightly, the air behind him shimmering and Gabriel followed the path of the distortion, the area distorting seeming…

"Are those your wings?" Because apparently in dreams his filter on keeping his mouth shut was worse than when he was awake.

Sam glanced over his own shoulder then back at him. "A manifestation." He stated after a moment. "Your mind is attempting to fully comprehend my true form, which makes you see me as my Vessel. What you're seeing is… a small framework of what would be my wings, in your mind." Not that it really cleared anything up, it was still confusing.

Gabriel watched as the air behind him, shimmered and twisted. The more Gabriel focused, the more what he was seeing became clear. He still couldn't see color, just distorted air, but he could make out the shape of the wings. The way they curved out slightly from behind his back, the way they moved a bit with his angel's breathing, he watched them closely, tracing out the pattern until they rippled backwards and out of sight. Gabriel blinked and looked at Sam to see him watching him uneasily.

"Should I not have been staring?" He asked quickly and Sam smiled reassuringly.

"It is not… isn't that. I am just worried if you see too much it might destroy your senses."

Gabriel nodded hesitantly and watched as Sam's not wings shimmered back to their place behind him.

He'd interrupted him. Crap.

Sam smiled slightly and Gabriel came to the uncomfortable realization that Sam was in his head. It was likely that he was probably seeing and hearing everything that went through it. "Gabriel, I had a reason for being here."

"Oh. Yeah, right." He was listening but he was also distracted by the distortion behind the angel that he knew was wings. Jesus Christ.

The distortion moved slightly in a bit of a rapid way and Gabriel knew it had to be his wings fluttering. His mind was making them out like a bird, but it was probably a whole lot more.

"Dean told me if I came to you in your dreams I would have an equal level with you. I was unsure what it meant initially but… When I am in your dreams, I do not see your Soul."

Gabriel blinked, taking a second to understand what had just been said.

Suddenly he was very aware of the situation. Of the fact that he was standing a couple feet away from an angel. An angel that had been drugged by his very soul. An angel he'd been attracted to since the moment he arrived in that warehouse. An angel that had believed that he was in love with him until he'd broken the truth to him. Holy crap. Sam was seeing him. Something about that…

Crap. It was so exposing. It shouldn't have been. If Sam was seeing him from a base level, just his soul, it should've been more exposing out there because it was just that. His soul. Yet, the idea of Sam seeing him. Gabriel wasn't stupid, he wasn't some damned model or anything like that…

Sam was smiling slightly with amusement, "Gabriel, you are panicking. It is alright."

Gabriel groaned and slumped to the ground, pulling his fingers through his hair. "It's really not. Damnit, Sammy. None of that is alright. Just because you aren't seeing my soul…"

"It changes nothing, Gabriel. I know who you are. I have seen you at your absolute worst."

Hell. He's talking about Hell.

Sam knelt in front of him and the distortion bristled behind him. Gabriel could imagine the way a bird fluffed its feathers out in warning or irritation. "Gabriel, look at me." He did as he was told and Sam rested a hand on his knee, "What you have done does not matter. No one can blame you for that. It was Hell. You were meant to break. I was in that place. I went to Hell for you. I would do it again. I would tear apart the very fabric of Heaven if I had to. You were right, I am intoxicated by the power your Soul feeds me. It is highly unlikely that I will never get past that. However, it does not matter. I have seen what you are capable of, I know what you did. But you are trying to make up for something that you had no control over. You risked everything to protect two Seals and save an entire species from extinction. I know what you are, I know what you were, and I know who you're trying to be. You're trying to be a good man. I could never hate you for me being naïve. I could never hate you, even if you were not my Soul." That hand on his knee tightened and Gabriel found himself leaning forward out of reflex, closing the distance until he caved to something baser and reached up, grabbing the angel and pulling him forward. The angel fell with ease, landing in his lap awkwardly.

No. Gabriel did not kiss him. That was a line he wasn't ready to cross. Not with the elephant of Sam's addiction in the room. But he did hug him, he wrapped his arms around the overgrown man that was his angel and held him close. Held on for dear life because even if they could never be anything more, this was safe. This was safe territory. This was right. Because Sam was right. What he'd said the night before was right. Sam was his guardian angel, no, Guardian Angel, because that was important. It was significant.

Damnit.

"Gabriel?" He allowed Sam to pull away, searching his face carefully. Sam was chewing on his lip nervously, "This is all… new to me. From this perspective. I need to ask… what was that hug meant to be for?"

"I'm not completely sure." He admitted after a moment's consideration. "Alright. Let's try something else." Carefully he pushed at the angel's waist until he got the message, slipping out of his lap and sitting across from him criss cross, watching him expectantly.

"First, why the hell are we here?"

Sam looked around for a moment before answering, "It is the first place I ever saw your human body. Where I rebuilt you from the ground up. I thought it would be a good place to see you without your Soul for the first time."

"Symbolism." Gabriel offered, "Well can we change the scenery? I kind of woke up in a coffin with almost no air… Not exactly the most…" Gabriel trailed off and Sam nodded.

"Where would you like to go?"

Gabriel considered the option, they could go quite possibly anywhere either of them had been. "The first place on Earth you ever went?"

Sam paused, looking at the grave marker in the distance. "We are there."

Gabriel froze, staring at Sam as though he'd grown a second head.

"You'd never been on Earth?"

"No. I spent all of my life avoiding Earth. Avoiding…" Sam trailed off and shut his eyes.

"Avoiding finding me." He thought over the conversation he had heard between Anna and Dean and Sam jerked slightly, his eyes going bug eyed as he stared at Gabriel.

"Anael and Debriel…" Sam trailed off, staring at his hands and not speaking a word.

"…Though screwing around with other angels is forbidden…"

Maybe it wasn't something he should've thought about. Not with Sam literally sitting in his mind, yet it was there and well, it wasn't his fault.

"I do not expect you to control your thoughts for my sake, Gabriel. It is just…" Sam met his gaze, discomfort buried deep in the blue, "I feel like I should have seen it. I should have known."

"What would you have done if you'd known?"

Sam looked away, "I do not know." He admitted.

"It's probably better you didn't. If you did, it sounds like it would've done more harm than good."

Sam nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "It still… bothers me… knowing that even before he left he was damning himself."

"He isn't your responsibility, Sammy." Gabriel reached across the space and took the angel's hand in his own, they needed to veer off this subject before things got too painful, too emotional. "I know where we should go."

"I can do that." Sam smiled, catching his thoughts before the world melted around them to a candy shop that Gabriel hadn't visited in a long time. He hadn't been there since he was four years old. It was only because of his dad mentioning it a few times that he really remembered anything about it. The dreamscape had no other customers but it was fully stocked. Shelves upon shelves of candy of all flavors and types.

This is my Heaven.

"It very well could be." Samuel supplied from somewhere behind him as he made a beeline for the chocolate.

"I'd rather not find out anytime soon." Sam laughed quietly at Gabriel's words as he dove into one of the tubs of chocolate, grabbing a handful and moaning at the glorious taste of chocolate as he stuffed his face. It may have been a dream, but it sure as hell tasted real.

Loki definitely had one thing right.

"Why did you choose this place?"

Gabriel paused in his chewing, swallowing the mouthful of candy and turning to look at the angel, "My mom. Terra. When I was a kid she'd bring me here every Sunday and let me get whatever I wanted. I'd fill a bag and we'd go home and watch Dumbo or Fantasia or some of the other crazier Disney movies on the couch. Then when dad got home we'd watch random TV shows or go out to the park. After Cas was born things changed a bit but it stayed mostly the same. Every Sunday was always the same. Cas was there but Sundays were still always the same. No matter what." Gabriel shrugged, returning to indulging in the sweets.

"If you could have your mom back, would you?" Sam asked curiously from behind him and Gabriel shook his head.

"No. I would never do that to her. Not after all this time." Gabriel shifted slightly on his feet, grabbing a handful of gummy bears from one of the displays and turning on his heels. "Coming back from death, it isn't fun. It's disorienting and terrifying. Something that should never happen." He walked back over to Sam who hadn't moved except for standing up when they got there. "That being said. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for pulling me out of Hell."

Just as Sam opened his mouth to say something that Gabriel didn't want to hear, he reached up and pressed a couple of the gummy bears into Sam's mouth, just to shut him up.

Sam narrowed his eyes suspiciously, catching the candy between his teeth before it could fall. Absently, Gabriel had to wonder what it was like for the angel in his true form. If this was just what his mind was perceiving his angel as.

"Eat them. We're not having a heart to heart." Gabriel waited patiently as Sam frowned before chewing into the candy, looking thoughtful.

"They are not terrible." Sam decided and Gabriel's eyes lit. This was something he could work with.

"Alright, here's the deal. You're going to try all of the candy in this store and decide which is your favorite. While we do that I'm going to give you a short rundown on being human and you're going to share some stories of Heaven. The good or interesting stories. I know there's going to be some of those."

Sam opened then shut his mouth, nodding as a slight smile appeared on his face.

.-~*~-.

Despite the fact that he'd spent the entire night dream walking with Sam and exploring some of the more beautiful heavens that the angel had been in, Gabriel was more well rested than he had been in a long while when he woke. Sam and him had been exploring the memory of a heaven that belonged to a man by the name of Rahl. Sam hadn't known the exact story of the man but his heaven had been in the Amazon, fighting and battling wild animals for all of eternity.

It had been fun. Gabriel had learned a lot about Heaven and told his own stories in turn. He'd also pushed Sam on the use of words like "don't" and "can't".

Needless to say, when Gabriel woke up he was well rested and didn't really want to get out of the bed. He knew Sam was still in Mexico and suspected his brother would probably be downstairs waiting to lecture him on drinking himself to sleep.

Which wasn't accurate. He had drunk more than he should've but it was Sam that had knocked him out, sober.

Groaning, he pushed out of the bed, grimacing at the way his jeans clung to his legs from the whisky he'd spilt the night before. Great.

Sighing, he went through his morning routine, grabbing a shower and changing into some fresh clothes before making his way downstairs.

Cas was sitting on the couch watching some cop show with the volume really low and when Gabriel stepped in he glanced up at him before returning his attention to the show. His younger brother had dark circles under his eyes and looked…

Damnit, Cas.

"Morning." His brother muttered softly as Gabriel settled down next to him.

"Hey, Cas." He responded loudly and his younger brother flinched away, groaning. "Enjoy yourself last night?" He kept his voice loud and chipper.

"Screw you." He muttered, shoving against Gabriel's side. Gabriel chuckled softly.

"So I'm not the only one who broke into the whisky last night?" He lowered his voice a bit but not much, making his brother flinch.

"I didn't get into Bobby's. Blame Dean. Him and that angel, Anael... um Anna."

"Did you try to outdrink a god?" He raised an eyebrow at his younger brother who shook his head rapidly, burying his face in his hands.

"No. I'd never outdrink Dean. I'm not stupid. Anna. She's basically human. Something to do with her being fallen. They said she was as susceptible as a normal human."

"And she is." Dean appeared in the other couch, leaning back and grinning at Cas, "A normal human with a high alcohol tolerance."

"I hate you." Cas shot a look at the archangel.

"You only wish you could."

"You manipulated me." There wasn't any real hostility in the words, which meant that whatever anger Cas had felt towards Dean for the years of manipulation was gone.

"I'll wipe that hangover from your system and we can call it even."

Cas nodded once and Dean snapped his fingers. Sighing softly, Cas leaned back, "Where's Anna?"

"Hell." Dean answered plainly, casually.

"What?" Both brothers asked at the same time, jerking up into a sitting positon and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Relax. She's safe. I can't spend too much time down there. No matter what I do, my Grace glows like a freakin' homing beacon. Anna's setting the spell up then I'm going to go back."

"So is she still angry at you?" Gabriel asked curiously.

"Oh, she's pissed. Don't think she isn't for one moment. I brought her here for us to drink last night as sort of a last hurrah. We made a deal."

"What deal?" Gabriel asked suspiciously.

Dean sighed and leaned back, "I have to kill her after she helps."

"Bu-"

"I'm not going to. I won't kill my family. When her Grace is ripped from her Vessel again it will force her from that body into a new one. She'll be reborn and grow old. In the end she'll go to Hell but she'll get that normal life that this whole Apocalypse took from her."

"Assuming we stop Lucifer." Cas pointed out quietly and Dean nodded without saying anything else.

"So how long will it take for her to finish setting it up?" Gabriel asked.

"I have to wait a few hours. Give the spell a bit of time to cook."

"A few hours? That-"

"Helltime moves faster, which you know." Gabriel flinched and shoved down the Hell memories before they could surface. "I don't have the time on my hands to protect every single one of the Seals and Raphael isn't exactly pushing Heaven to protect them."

"I thou-"

"Michael isn't talking. At least, I'm pretty sure that's the case. If I tune in, they'll be able to track me and that ain't happening. From what I've picked up from demon whispers and Sammy is they aren't making a massive effort to protect the easy to destroy Seals. They've got Sam protecting the entrance to El Dorado which can't be opened by demons or angels."

"The City of Gold?" Cas asked disbelievingly. Gabriel was surprised as well though he didn't make a verbal comment.

"Yes. I wouldn't have been suspicious of it being, well, suspicious, except they have five angels on it and only a pure human Soul can open it and its warded to high hell against demons. Lucifer's angels aren't targeting single Seal locations like that. They're going after larger scale things like Jerusalem, well when there was a Jerusalem. Heaven wants Lucifer out and unfortunately I trained Dad's little soldiers too well to see past it." Dean tilted his head. "With that, I need to go. Loki is giving me a much-needed power boost." He met Cas' gaze as he pushed himself to his feet, "Cas, I know you're still a bit pissed at me but I'm offering once. Do you want me to take you to see Meg or not?"

Cas shifted uncomfortably next to him and Gabriel glanced over to his brother staring at the floor, "Our faces are all over the news."

"Of course they are." Dean said at the same time that Gabriel said, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I'd put that one on your choices, Gabe." Cas said quietly. "We could have done something less high profile than disappearing from our jail cells."

Gabriel groaned and leaned back, rubbing his hands across his face. "I didn't hear you coming up with any other good-"

"Guys." They both looked at Dean when he interrupted them, "As much as I'm loving this little argument. I need to go. I'll see if I can't get anything done to wipe you off the map, until then, lay low."

Then they were alone. Gritting his teeth, Gabriel got up and headed for the other room.

"Gabe, wait." He turned to see his brother getting to his feet and going to one of the outlets on the wall, grabbing a phone and offering it. "Also, I need to tell you something." Cas added as Gabriel walked over to him, taking the phone.

"Is it important?" Gabriel asked, trying to bury his annoyance.

"Anna told me something last night. You are Michael's vessel. His True Vessel."

Gabriel paused, a sickening sensation twisting through him. "The Michael? As in… The solider of Heaven… The Archangel."

Cas nodded slowly, watching Gabriel with unease.

Before he could even begin to try to wrap his head around the fact that Michael was supposed to jump his bones in all the not so fun ways he was beelining for the door.

He was done.

This was all bullshit.

It was complete and utter bullshit and he was done.

I struggled with this chapter because I wanted to write fluff but I'm really bad at fluff so I gave up on that. I did finally push Sam and Gabe into a situation that things could be resolved. Also, sorry it's shorter. I don't really have an excuse for it.