A/N: Okay so this was originally going to be a second story but I decided to post it all as one. This half picks up a year after the end of chapter 7; Sam is hunting on his own, helped on occasion by Garth. He's struggling with his separation from Claire and Gabriel but is respecting Gabriel's wish never to see him again.

This half of the story contains spoilers for season 8, (Seeing as it is a season 8 re-working) and will obviously contain episode dialogue, though it in some cases will have been tweaked. Hope you enjoy.

Oh, and there be Destiel ahead. (Sorry, but they are my OTP, they had to make an appearance eventually)


Chapter 8

That call never came. For over a year Sam waited for it, every time his cell rang he hoped it was Gabriel begging him to come home, but it never was. So he just kept travelling. Working. Sometimes with Garth, sometimes alone. He'd thought about just going back without an invite, then the thought would hit him that they'd probably moved on.

When that thought hit him he would call. He'd talk to Claire for a while, listen as she filled her in on what was happening, her soft voice a comfort in the chaos. He never asked about Gabriel, and she never offered anything. The agreed silently that the calls were between them.

When he hung up he'd hit the nearest bar, always going back to his shitty motel with the first girl to look his way, never enjoying a moment of what followed.

For a while he'd thought it might have been that he was no longer stimulated by woman, but after a disastrous and humiliating encounter with a young man in Philadelphia, he knew that wasn't the case. It wasn't who he was having sex with, but who he wasn't.

But frustrated, angry, worthless sex was better than no sex, wasn't that what Dean had always said. - Those encounters though, were few and far between, thankfully. Instead he got his rocks off killing monsters, hunting down what remained of the Leviathan hordes, searching for any news on Kevin and waiting, hoping Dean would find a way out of Purgatory somehow. Over the months the calls home became fewer, shorter, until he just stopped calling. It just hurt too much, taunting him with what he'd always wanted but could never have.

Then he'd returned to the cabin after a hunt, hoping for a few hours of drunken oblivion to find his big brother waiting for him.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

"We were trying." Sam snapped when Dean accused him of not caring. Of not trying to save him. "But there was no way to get into Purgatory!"

Dean's shoulders slumped as he dropped down on the couch, his head in his hands.

"Dean?"

"So what have you been doing this last year?" Dean asked; glancing up through his lashes.

What was Sam meant to say to that? He couldn't possible tell his big brother that he'd started his year of hell falling in love with an ex-archangel? Sam's breath caught in his throat. He'd never actually acknowledged that fact, never allowed himself to think on why he'd spent the last ten months, miserable, drunk and angry. How had that even happened?

"Sam?"

"Hunting."

Dean stared at him. "Alone?"

"Mostly?" Sam replied; getting to his feet and turning to fetch himself another beer. "Sometimes with Garth." he could feel his brother's eyes burning into his back but he refused to turn back and meet them.

"What about Kevin?"

"Haven't heard or seen him since Crowley skipped town with him."

"Have you even looked?" Dean snapped.

Sam spun to glare furiously at his brother, clearly Dean was pressing for a fight. Fine, he'd give him one. "Of course I was looking!" he yelled. "But how am I meant to find a kid without an angel to sniff him out! And no god damn idea where to even start looking. Crowley's keeping his head down, and the demon's I did find knew nothing!" he winched at his own harsh word when he saw Dean pale.

When Dean had told him about Cas, the blinkers had fallen from his eyes. The look on Dean's face, the broken way he'd said Cas hadn't made it, the haunted look he'd caught in his brother tired eyes moments before he turned away, it was all too familiar. He saw it in the mirror daily. Gabriel had been right. But then wasn't he always? "I…"

"Well the smarter brother is back in town." Dean brushed off, getting to his feet. "We'll find him."

"How exactly?"

Dean didn't reply, stepping into the back room. Sam watched him, taking a deep breath he retook his seat at the table, pulling out his phone and staring down at it. A small voice whispered to text Gabriel, tell him the tragic news about Cas. He went so far as to type out the text, but as he stared at the words, his heart pounding in his chest, he shook his head. Hitting cancel he dropped the phone with a quiet bang on the table top.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

Sam blamed his obsession over losing Gabriel as the reason he hadn't thought of tracking Kevin down via his girlfriend. Thankfully the kid wasn't smart enough to cover his tracks. Dean had grinned proudly, as it finding Kevin when Sam hadn't proved he truly was the smarter better brother and Sam just let him think it. He really didn't care all that much.

They tracked him eventually to an abandoned church, to be greeted with a shower of detergent and holy water. Well at least they were clean, Dean had scoffed before demanding to know how Kevin had gotten away from Crowley.

Kevin told them how the tablet had given him the means. How he'd tricked Crowley and his minions to gather the ingredients for his anti-demon bomb.

"Of course they thought they were helping me open the gates of hell. I had to throw in a few red-herrings to throw them off. Things I thought sounded realistic."

"Red-herrings?" Dean frowned intrigued.

"Yeah." Kevin smirked. "You know. An empty holy vessel, the foreskin of god." he chuckled lightly.

Dean laughed too. "Foreskin of God?"

"Yeah. There's one in the Vatican apparently."

"Holy vessel?" Sam swallowed, a pit opening up.

Kevin looked at him; shrugging. "I just needed to distract them."

Sam was on his feet in a second. "And you didn't think about who'd get caught in the crossfire!" he snapped furiously.

Kevin frowned. "What?"

"An empty holy vessel? Do know how many there are of those on earth? Do you?"

"Sam?"

"Claire's mom died because you wanted a distraction!" Sam spat.

"Claire?" Kevin looked between the two brothers, noting that Dean looked just as confused.

"Sammy?"

"Claire Novak. Remember? Cas is riding around in her dad's meat suit. She was a vessel too Dean and they went after her!"

Dean swallowed hard, looking back at Kevin.

"I need some air!" Sam grunted; turning furiously and marching out of the broken down church.

He couldn't believe Claire had lost her mom because of Kevin. That she's almost been taken. He felt sick, his heart hammering. The thought of what could have happened to her. He pressed the balls of his hands into his eyes and inhaled.

"Sammy?" Dean asked quietly behind him. "You alright?"

"Fine." Sam grunted through his hands.

Dean moved up beside him. "I don't believe that. What happened while I was gone?"

"Nothing. - I… - I saved Claire from the demons Kevin sent after her." Sam hissed coldly, lifting his gaze to glare back at the church accusingly.

Dean frowned. "Where is she?"

"Safe."

"Where?"

Sam turned to look at him. "Why'd you want to know?" he asked cautiously.

Dean shrugged, turning to lean over the rotted banister. "Just…curious I guess?"

Sam watched him for a moment. "She's in Pennsylvania."

"With?"

Sam swallowed. "A friend. - What are we going to do about Kevin?" he asked; desperate to derail the conversation before he said too much.

He didn't know why he didn't just tell Dean about Gabriel. That he'd escaped Purgatory when Dean and Cas had been sucked in, that he was living in a house in Pennsylvania with Claire Novak. Living a normal life. - He didn't have to mention the fact that they'd developed…a thing, that they'd had sex, or that he was in love with the ex-angel.

"I don't know." Dean shook his head.

The decision of what to do with Kevin however was swiftly taken out of their hands when a couple of demons showed up not three feet away, one of which being Kevin's girlfriend. His now very possessed girlfriend.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

Sam stared down at his cell. The last few weeks had left him with no time to think about Gabriel and Claire, no time to wonder if they were okay. Dealing with Kevin, Crowley and Kevin's mom, not to mention Aztec gods, werewolves, and Sam's now ex-wife, was exhausting and distracting.

But as always the ex-angel found a way to the forefront of his mind when he least expected it and now it was worse than ever. He'd thought having Dean back would knock him back into reality. That whatever he'd felt for the now human archangel would fade away; after all he'd only felt whatever because he was lonely and missing his brother, right? That's what he had told himself at the time.

Only it wasn't. Only Dean being there was just making him miss Gabriel more. The sound of his brother's breathing as he slept in the bed across from him irritated and bit at Sam's last nerve. Dean's sarcasm frustrated him in a way it hadn't before, and the more they travelled, the more Sam wanted to go home. Wanted to just throw in the towel, leave Dean to saving the world and head back to Pennsylvania. Closing the gates of hell be damned.

His thoughts were interrupted as Dean staggered out of the bathroom, pale with wide eyes, Cas a few steps behind him. Sam leapt to his feet, his phone and Gabriel forgotten in the face of their returned friend.

"Cas?" he whispered; shocked.

"Sam." the angel nodded, walking over to take a seat at the table, tired, dirty and confused.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

Sam didn't like it. Not the having Cas back part, that was fantastic, no what he didn't like was not knowing how he'd gotten back. It had taken an exploding Dick to pull Gabriel out of Purgatory, and while he'd not known how he'd gotten out, he'd never suffered blackouts. He'd never stared into space like a broken toy robot. It happened rarely, but it was enough to have Sam nervous. Cas had already gone wacko once; he didn't think neither he nor Dean could handle it happening again. - Of course Dean as ever was burying his head in the sand, refusing to talk about it, refusing to so much as acknowledge there was anything wrong. He'd just taken Cas under his wing so to speak, allowing him to join them on the hunt.

Sam wondered if this was the perfect time to call Gabriel. He had a reason right? He was concerned about Cas. This wasn't about them.

He never did though. He just followed Dean's example and buried his head in the sand, and waited for the inevitable shit to hit the fan.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

The call he'd been waiting over a year for finally came when he was preparing to hunt down Dean's good friend Benny with Martin. His phone had vibrated in his pocket and when he'd tugged it out and he saw a message from Claire just saying HELP, he hadn't even hesitated, he'd boosted a car and hit the road. He didn't even tell Dean he was going.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

The drive to Cambridge Springs was torture, all Sam could think about was what if Crowley had found them. That something had found them. His heart had never beaten so fast. - Okay that was a lie, but it had been a long time since he was this scared. - The images of the pair being pinned to ceilings on fire slammed into him three hours from Floodwood; making the air flee his lungs and a cold sweat to cover his back.

He yanked out his phone, and hit Claire's number only for the operator to say the line was unavailable. He scrolled down to Gabriel, but that line just rang out, grunting angrily he threw the cell across the seat with such force it bounded off the passenger side door and landed on the floor, then he hit the gas.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

The stolen Toyota screamed up the dirt track to the house. All the lights were out and it was eerily silent. Throwing open the car door, not bothering to close it behind him, he drew his weapon and ran up the stairs, not even think twice about kicking the door down.

A loud scream filled the room and he turned sharply, weapon raised to fire when he saw Claire staring at him breathless and shocked. Beside her a young man of about her age, his face pale with terror. Sam looked between them and reality crashed into him.

"S-Sam?" Claire gasped shocked.

Sam stood shock still before finally regaining his senses and lowering his gun, swallowing the relief. He was about to apologize and bow out when suddenly he had an arm full of teenager, Claire gripping him time, holding him close, her face buried in his chest. He could feel his shirt dampening as he stood there and he lifted his arms to snake around her, squeezing just as tightly, his nose dropping to inhale her scent.

After a long intense moment, Sam pushed Claire gently away, looking down at her big red eyes, before they flickered over her shoulder to the young man who stood…nervously a few feet away. "Who's this?"

Claire cleared her throat and turned to look at the boy. "Oh uh…this is…Isaac. - My boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" he pressed, looking at the younger man, his eyes racking over him, assessing his worth. He was tall, slim but toned with blonde curls, blue eyes and sharp cheek bones. Overall Sam would say he was kinda good looking, if you were into that kind of thing. Sadly the kid also looked terrified of him but Sam wasn't going to complain about that.

"Yes, boyfriend." Claire snapped defensively.

"Gabriel lets you date?" Sam frowned. He'd kinda pictured Gabriel being the whole stay away or I'll drop your ass kind of guardian. - Or maybe that was him.

"Dad's fine with it. - Well, he's fine with Isaac." Claire smiled warmly over at the nervous young man. "Oh…Isaac this is my…other dad, Sam."

Sam wasn't sure if the kid looked more fearful or less. Something told Sam the kid was always tense, caution and it made him feel a little guilty for scaring him, so he cleared his throat and took an uncertain step forward, his hand out stretched.

"Uh…Sir." Isaac said quietly, bowing his head respectfully as he shook Sam's large hand.

Sam looked at him for a long moment and caught the tell-tell sign of a bruise healing beneath his eyes and knew just what kind of home the kid came from. He smiled warmly and squeezed his hand in a silent signal that everything was okay. Though he really wasn't sure how he felt about being called sir. It made him feel….old. He nodded as he finally released the hand. "It's good to meet you Isaac, but…well would you mind giving us…"

"Of course." Isaac said in a rush, cutting Sam off as he snatched his jacket off the floor. "I'll see you tomorrow, Claire. Goodnight, Sir." he nodded practically running out of the house, having the forethought to pull the door closed behind him. Not that it stayed closed, seconds later it swung open on its broken hinges.

"Sir?" Sam wrinkled his nose, he really didn't like that.

Claire laughed lightly. "He gets nervous but he's really sweet and funny." she cooed; finally pulling out of Sam's embrace and stepping away. She flicked on the lamp by the couch and filled the room with a warm golden glow.

It took Sam's eyes a moment to adjust but when they did he glanced around. The place hadn't changed much, some new furniture here and there. The TV and couch were obviously new. "Where's Riot?"

Claire lifted glasses and a pizza box of the table. "With Dad." she stated matter-of-factly.

Sam felt his heart skip at the word; knowing she meant Gabriel. "He just leaves you alone in the house with your boyfriend?"

Claire smiled at him on her way to the kitchen. "He likes Isaac. He trusts him. And more importantly…" she continued from the kitchen. "He trusts me to kick Isaac in the nuts if he tries to over step my boundaries."

Sam smiled soft but sadly at that.

Claire strolled back in a moment later. "So what's with the bursting in guns blazing?" she asked with concern.

Sam finally realized he was still gripping his weapon and moved to stuff it into his waistband. "I… - Guns weren't blazing. - I…I thought you were in trouble. I got…." he clenched his jaw furiously as the pieces slotted into place. "A prank text."

Claire looked horrified. "I…who…sorry."

"Why? It's not your fault." he shuffled his feet and looked around the room again.

"He's with Harvey and the guys. They have poker night Fridays. He'll probably be home soon."

Sam sucked in a sharp breath. "Then I should…"

"Don't go." Claire said quickly; rushing forward. "Please. I haven't seen you in…" she swallowed the tears that were crawling up her throat.

"I don't know Claire, I'm pretty sure he won't want me hanging around."

"Well I do. - At least stay until he comes home."

Sam was torn, he wanted to stay, he wanted to spend time with Claire, hear all about school and this boyfriend, make up for the time they'd lost. - And he wanted to see Gabriel. He did. He'd been wanting to see him since…forever, but he didn't want a fight. He didn't want the awkward discomfort that would inevitably come from them meeting.

"He misses you too." Claire said suddenly. "He doesn't say it, but I know he does."

Sam sucked in another breath and closed his eyes, shaking his head. That was the last thing he needed to hear, even if it was the best thing he'd heard in months.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

"He's…back?" Claire whispered; staring at the floor, her eyes brimming with tears.

Sam had spent the last hour telling her all about his year, or at least what had happened since he'd stopped calling. He'd known telling her about Cas was going to be difficult and weird, he was her father yet…not.

"Is he….alright?" she asked quietly.

Sam wanted to say no, he wasn't alright. That something was off with him but he couldn't put his finger on it but that was a conversation to be had with Gabriel. "Yeah."

Claire nodded; falling silent for a few minutes. "I…he's not my dad, I know that, but…"

"I know." Sam nodded; wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing tight.

"I'm glad he's back. Dean too." she smiled sadly up at Sam and his heart skipped. "Do you want something to drink?" Claire asked suddenly; leaping to her feet.

Sam knew what she was doing. What she needed. "Yeah." he nodded.

She vanished into the kitchen and Sam sighed; tugging out his phone to stare at the message, anger bubbling up inside him. He had to be sure so he hit the call back, and waited as it rang out. When he heard his brother's voice his fingers curled into a white knuckled fist.

"Help? Nice one. Swapping Claire's phone out for a burner." he shook his head. "Sending a distress signal. - Got me good. When you do that?"

"A while ago, in case I needed it. Looks like I made the right call."

"And if I'd needed to call her. - What then?"

Dean was silent on the other end of the line for a few harsh breaths. "It was the only way to get you to lay off." he replied instead, defensively.

Sam closed his eyes and clenched his jaw tight. "So is it done?" dragging his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, it's done."

"Any causalities?"

"Martin."

Sam dropped his head into his hand, his heart pounding and his anger increasing. "Was it Benny?" he growled furiously.

"He had it coming Sam. I'll tell you what happened…"

"I know what happened, Dean!" Sam snapped furiously, leaping to his feet to pace the room.

"Okay, you want to listen to me or not?"

Not. Sam thought, cancelling the call and throwing the phone on the coffee table. Breathing heavily, he pace quickly, trying to calm despite knowing there was nothing that would calm him right then. He couldn't believe Dean was seriously trying to defend a vampire after it killed Martin. What was that? Who was he? He didn't even know his brother anymore.

"Sam?"

He turned sharply to stare at Gabriel with wide shocked eyes while Riot tackling his legs excitedly. "Huh…Hi." he whispered.

_What Doesn't Kill You_

A year to Gabriel once felt like a blink of the eye, there then gone. He never really noticed the differences, it was just the same shit, different number. Now though a year felt like eternity. Painfully long. Never ending. And it was made worse by the constant feeling of loss he'd had since throwing Sam out. Losing his grace hadn't left him feeling so empty.

He'd heard the clichés. Time heals all wounds. - There are plenty more fish in the sea. - Sam didn't deserve him anyway. And they were all true, that's why they were clichés. The problem was time didn't heal shit, at least as far as Gabriel could tell, because it had been over a year since he'd last seen Sam and he still had an ache in his chest where the pig-headed hunter had ripped his heart out. Seriously; Lucifer running him through had felt less agonizing. - And it wasn't like he'd expected to actually feel anything for the Cro-Magnon dumb-ass in the first place, it had just kinda snuck up on him and taken him over.

It was kind of humiliating too. He, Gabriel, Archangel, Trickster, had been brought to his pathetic human knees by Sam fucking Winchester.

As far as there being plenty more fish in the sea, again totally true, and Gabriel had gone fishing. Had caught a couple of pretty, less pig-headed fish over the past year, and had thrown them back into the pound the second he realized none of them were as perfect as Sam. - Didn't mean he hadn't played with them first though.

Gabriel had lost his new human V-Card in the back of a bar eight months ago on a drunken night out with Rita, Annabella and Harvey. - And had hated every second of it. Okay maybe not every second, but he hadn't walked away feeling particularly satisfied. Since then he'd basically just worked and spent his weekends playing poker with the guys or going out with Rita, never wanting or trying to hook-up.

Life wasn't perfect but at least it was a life. The only thing about his new existence as a human that gave him any glimmer of happiness was Claire. He didn't know why he'd never had kids. No, he did, it was forbidden, but then when had he cared about what was forbidden? It was forbidden to abandon heaven and become a friggin' pagan god, hadn't stopped him from doing it. Maybe he'd just never found the right woman. - Or guy. - Maybe he just wasn't suited to being a father back then, he'd liked his free-will too much.

"Gabriel?"

He shook himself out of his thoughts and stared at the tall figure in front of him, a sight for very sore eyes. His heart thundered painfully against his ribs as they watched each other cautiously. He looked good, but then Sam always looked good.

Gabriel had come to term a long time ago now with the possibility that he may have been carrying a torch for the hunter without even knowing it. What else could explain the endless attempts to save the giant shits life by keeping him from taking his destined path? Sure he'd told himself it was because he liked this little planet, because he didn't want to see all his father's hard work destroyed by his bickering brothers, but that only explained so much.

But Sam hadn't felt the same. Sure they'd shared a couple of heated kisses and one extremely intense morning of mutual gratification, but it hadn't meant anything. At least not to Sam.

So why was he back? What was he doing standing in Gabriel's home looking gorgeous and lost? "What are you doing here?" he demanded harshly.

Sam cleared his throat. "I…thought you were in danger." he answered honestly.

"We're not." Gabriel replied; glancing over his shoulder to the door. "You?" he thumbed at the busted wood.

Sam nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. I'll fix it."

"Damn straight you will." Gabriel spat.

He caught sight of movement and turned to see Claire strolling out of the kitchen, a glass of water in her hand and a bright smile on her face. She handed the glass to Sam and turned that beaming smile on Gabriel and he felt his chest tightened.

"Can you believe it? He came home." Claire said cheerfully, slipping an arm around Sam's waist and hugging him tight. "He scared the shit out of Isaac."

"I bet he did." Gabriel murmured; never taking his eyes off the hunter.

There was a tense silence before Claire let out a truly awful fake yawned and Stretching out her body so dramatically that Gabriel almost laughed. "Well I'm going to bed. Exciting evening." she threw her arms around Sam; hugging him tight and lifting herself up on tiptoes to press a kiss to the hunter's cheek, before whispering something in his ear.

Gabriel couldn't hear what she said but he could make a guess. Claire had been missing Sam almost as much as he had, if not more. After all she'd already lost one family, when Sam left she'd lost another.

She turned and walked back to Gabriel, gifting him with a kiss and a hug. "Don't make him leave." she whispered pleadingly before stepping back and heading for the stairs. "Riot. Come." she ordered, and the dog quickly rushed after her.

Gabriel sighed; pinching the bridge of his nose, Claire's plea heavy on his chest. He stepped further into the living area and just hovered, unable to think of what to do or say with Sam only a few feet away. After a moment and with his back to Sam, his eyes locked on the shelves of books like he'd never seen them before. "So…" he began uncertainly. "How have you been?"

"Terrible." Sam answered; his tone tired and cautious.

Gabriel forced himself not to turn and look at the man. "Hunting?"

"Of course."

They fell silent again for a long moment. "You can fix that door." Gabriel finally ordered. "Before you leave."

Sam sighed behind him and Gabriel heard the sound of a glass being set on wood. "The tool box still in the outhouse?"

Gabriel nodded and listened as Sam headed towards the kitchen and the back door.

The second he was alone he released the breath he'd been holding. This wasn't exactly how he'd imagined their reunion. He'd expected something a lot more…rom/com if he were honest, and he knew who to blame for that, Claire and her ridiculous family movie night choices. Those movies were so inaccurate, they never showed the intense discomfort of having the guy you loved and lost suddenly showing up in your house.

He needed a drink. Turning sharply he marched into the kitchen and yanked open the cabinet, pulling down the large bottle of tequila Rita had brought over last weekend. It hadn't been touched, they'd finished off the bottle of scotch Harvey had given Gabriel for his fake birthday instead while watching Friday the 13th. Rita bitched up a storm about the guy she'd been seeing who apparently didn't understand the term monogamous. The jerk was damn lucky Gabriel wasn't a trickster any more or the fucker would have found himself in receipt of some just deserts.

Gabriel didn't bother with the glass; he simply unscrewed the top and threw back a large burning gulp. Movement in the other room had him heading back to find Sam on his knees in front of the door, a screwdriver in his hand and his jacket draped over the arm of the couch. Gabriel stood watching the hunter with the bottle hanging from his fingers, unable to tear his gaze away from the toned muscles of his arm as he worked to mend what he'd broken. If only he was as keen to fix Gabriel.

Sighing wearily Gabriel marched over the couch and dropped down with a huff, throwing back yet more tequila. His night had started out so good, what the hell had he done to deserve this happening, now?

"I think I did more damage than I intended."

"Undoubtedly." Gabriel grunted. He heard Sam take a sharp intake of breath behind him but didn't turn to look. He locked his eyes on the blank TV screen and lost himself in drink. He liked drink. Drink helped.

"I'll have to get a new door, but I've given it a patch-up job for now." Sam continued.

Gabriel opened his mouth to make a sarcastic comment but was cut off by Sam's announcement.

"Dean's back."

Gabriel couldn't help but turn at that. "What?"

Sam didn't meet his intrigued gaze and Gabriel was very grateful for it. "He's back. He found a way out of purgatory."

Gabriel frowned. He'd tried to find a way out for years. "How?"

Sam grunted before putting the tools away and getting to his feet. Pushing the door closed till the lock caught, he retrieved the tool box then turned to finally meet the ex-angel's curious amber eyes and Gabriel hated, HATED, the way his heart skipped. "Someone helped him." he answered through gritted teeth.

"Someone?"

Sam strolled into the living room and hovered over the armchair before lowering himself into it and setting the tool box on the floor beside him. "A vampire. He found Dean in purgatory and….help him find the escape hatch."

Gabriel frowned. "I - I didn't know there was a way out."

"Apparently god left it there in case human's got trapped…or whatever." he shrugged.

"And…Cas?" he whispered cautiously.

Sam dropped his gaze. "He…didn't escape with Dean."

"Meaning?"

"He's out now but he doesn't know how he got here. He says he doesn't remember but…" Sam glanced up at Gabriel. "You remembered how you got out, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean…one minute I was there, next I was here. Not much to forget. - Is he…?"

"He's…he seems alright…"

"But?" Gabriel frowned shifting forward on the couch.

"He has these…moments, like he's blacking out or he's remembering something. There small, only last for a few seconds but… - Dean doesn't seem to notice or he's pretending not to, but I know something isn't right because that never happened with you."

Gabriel's brows furrowed deeper. "Have you asked him?"

"He says it's nothing. That he's still recovering from his escape."

"But you don't believe him?"

Sam shook his head.

"And that's why you're here, to ask me to what? Fix it? Talk to him?"

Sam glared up at him. "No! I'm here because my jackass of a brother sent me a fake message saying you guys were in trouble so I wouldn't kill his fucking friend!" Sam snapped, still livid with his brother.

"You want to kill his friend?" Gabriel frowned confused.

"The vampire that got him out of Purgatory. Benny. - He's a vampire. We're hunters."

"And this Benny guys killing people?" Gabriel pressed, brows knitted deeply. Usually it was Dean who was all gung-ho about killing the monster in their mist.

Sam huffed. "Dean says not, but…he's a vampire."

"And you don't believe him?"

"What part of he's a vampire didn't you get?"

Gabriel scoffed. "I remember a time when it would have been you saving the vampires. - In fact I remember a certain nest you helped not get wiped out."

Sam glared. "How did you…? That was different."

"Because it was your friendly vampires?" Gabriel scolded, laughing coldly.

"Because they weren't killing anyone."

"And Dean says this Benny guy isn't killing anyone. - Dean trusted you back then, why can't you trust him now?"

Sam sighed wearily; dragging his hand down his face. He had no idea why he couldn't trust his brother like he used to. "Because he's…" he shrugged. "Something's off. Between us. - It's like he doesn't even listen to me anymore. I can't…" he exhaled heavily.

Gabriel leant back on the couch. "I don't know what you want me to say, Sam. Whatever's going on between you and your brother is between you two." with a huff Gabriel pushed himself off the couch. "It was nice seeing you. Have a nice life."

Sam rushed forward to grab the ex-angel's arm, halting him. "Gabriel."

"Sam." he sighed. "Don't. I…just go, okay. I can't do this." he shrugged off the hunters hand and marched to the door, pulling it open and waiting for the man to head towards him.

He watched Sam's face fall with regret and resignation, and part of Gabriel wanted to let him stay, forever if he wanted, but he knew what would happen if he did. Eventually the giant jackass would freak-out and hit the road, and probably him too, then Gabriel would be right back to where he was a year ago. So he fixed his eyes on Sam cold as he could manage and waited for the hunter to walk out of his life.

Sam snatched his jacket off the couch arm and shrugged into it before heading for the door, pausing to look down at Gabriel with a sad kicked puppy look. "I'm sorry, Gabe." he whispered before stepping out of the door.

Gabriel watched as the hunter paused on the front porch, as if trying to regain his bearings. Inhaling sharply Gabriel moved to close the door before he didn't something he'd regret, like asking the jackass to stay. The door had barely moved a few inches before Sam was turning and marching back to him, a look of steely determination and desire in his eyes.


A/N: Apologised for this chapters, it was basically a filler. Like I said, I'd originally intended on splitting the story in two and this would have been the prologue to the second story. But I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless, and hopefully I'll have chapter 9 ready to post in the next couple of weeks.

END NOTES:

The foreskin of God think was inspired by an episode of QI, where we learnt about Jesus' foreskin and the Vatican. – The empty holy vessel, part? Well I had to answer why Claire was being targeted and it seemed like a logical reason.

And yes I totally did steal Isaac from Teen Wolf, but this is not going to be a crossover universe, I just needed someone I thought fit with my version of Claire and decided to go with a fellow countryman, so shoot me.