Chapter 2 – The family reunited

The next morning Sam woke up, with a weird sense of déjà vu. Again he was in the insanely comfortable bed and again he has no recollection of getting there. However, this morning he somewhat feels more awake. He starts again with a quick scan around the room, but now he is surprised to see someone casually leaning against the opposite wall. Someone with golden eyes and an ever present grin. And again he has difficulty believing his own eyes, and by extension, mind.

"Now, I am used to women fainting and getting overly excited in my presence, but you took it a bit too far Sammykins. What happened?" Were the first words Gabriel decided to say to the freshly awoken giant. Though his voice was carefully masked with what was meant as annoying glee at the others expense, his eyes spoke with much more seriousness.

"A lot." Sam answered him.

He still felt that he shouldn't be talking to his hallucination. It never ended well for him in the past. But something about the Gabriel in front of him, made him almost believe he was real. Of course that was ridiculous, because Gabriel had died. But he just couldn't shake the feeling that the being in front of him was genuinely the archangel. No hallucination could ever get that grin just so smug.

"Are you real?". It felt like a stupid question to ask. How would he know the being in front of him was telling the truth?

"yeah, it's really me. I told you that already yesterday, but I guess you were still out of it. Probably still under the influence of some mind drug. Dad brought me back, mainly to make sure that you and the rest of team free will were still alive and all."

Somewhere during his talking, Gabriel's expression slightly changed to one of relieve. Relieve that the man in front of him was somewhat sane again and apparently in the mood for talking.

"I can proof to you that it's really me." Gabriel said just a little bit too enthusiastic and without waiting for an answer, Gabriel was gone with a flutter of wings. Only to reappear again a few seconds later with a very pissed looking Dean Winchester and an incredibly smug look on his face.

"Son of a bitch. Who the hell do you think you are and what is going on. I swear if you don't start talking I will deep fry your wings in holy …".

Dean had started to spin around the room to see where he had been dropped and which angel he had to hunt. It was obviously an angel, because there simply weren't that many creatures that could fly. He found the culprit casually lounging against a wall. However when his eyes finally met his brother he stopped at a loss for words.

"Sammy?"

"See". Gabriel said cheerily. "One genuine angry Winchester that cannot be faked. Believe me now?".

However his words were only met with silence, because both the brother kept staring at each other trying to figure out if it was their brother staring back or some shifter. They both knew that either one was a possibility and in their line of work it was better to be too cautious.

"Great, now I have two Winchesters freaking out on me. Just call Castiel to sort it out then, since you both know that he is alive and has the ability to tell if you are 100% pure human.".

Exasperated, Gabriel threw his arms in the air and flopped down on the couch the stare at the blank TV screen while snapping his fingers for some candy. Again he was met with silence. That was just great, he thought to himself. You go out of your way to save a human and he doesn't even have the decency to thank you. Now that was something he just couldn't stand for, and the younger Winchester would know just how much if he figured out a way to at least get him to talk again. Because no matter how fun it would be to mess with the younger Winchester like this, it would be infinitely more fun if he would get angry or better yet full out snarky. However, he would first need Castiel to resolve some of the tension, and isn't that just irony for his stuck op little brother.

Eventually the calculating silence became too long for the impatient archangel. He decided to look for his long lost little brother himself. If he couldn't clear the tension, it at least would be fun to watch him try. In his mind he already saw the fledgling hanging on Dean to get him to at least acknowledge him. He stretched his wings and found himself outside the barn were he first found the younger lumberjack. Of course, Castiel didn't know that Sam wouldn't be inside that barn anymore and the little angel was probably all proud of himself of finding the potential hide-out of the Samnappers. The barn was, after all, still warded against any ordinary angel, but even with his grace as low as it is, the warding had no effect on him.

After some walking around the edge of the warding, he found Castiel with another person that was supposed to be death. Then again, almost everyone in the Winchesters life was supposed to be death which makes it only more surprising that this close family member is alive. It made no sense that she was alive, Mary Winchester, the mama bear of the family tree. He would have to find that out later. As nonchalant as was possible with his smug demeanor and with a lollypop between his teeth, he approached the two. It was interesting to see the woman first shifting her attention to the stranger and not the battle hardened angel. There may be some interesting story to this woman yet, if he ever cared enough to find out.

Since Mary couldn't decide fast enough if this change in surroundings was a threat or not, Castiel turned around too to observe the approaching figure. And he got his blue soul-searching eyes stuck on Gabriel.

"Boo"

Was all Gabriel said, however the tension that was now in the air was not lost on Mary and she tried to inconspicuously reach for the blade that Castiel had left nearby.

"Oh please, stow the angel blade and quit the staring. If I wanted to take part in another staring contest, I would have stayed with the knuckleheads back at the hotel."

Gabriel said with a lightheartedness that did nothing to lift the tension.

"Who are you"

Came the responds from Mary Winchester. People don't give her enough credit, Gabriel thought. Though this was the first time he saw her in person after her apparent resurrection, he had seen her before when he went to investigate the starting of the apocalypse. Back then he saw a broken woman that couldn't let go of her husband, but now he could see the hunter instinct and the ever present need to know what kind of creature she is talking to.

"The name is Gabriel"

Gabriel said with a bow and an extra flamboyant wave of his hand. The look of confusion that crossed Mary's face was all the more worth it.

"No, you're not."

Were all the words that could be spared to the annoying being daring to confuse the woman in their midst.

"Yes, he is."

Castel had apparently regained some of his computing power to form words again. Though he still was staring at Gabriel.

"I can see his true form. Though he is weaker now, it is unmistakably the Archangel Gabriel. But I do not understand how you can be alive."

Now they were getting somewhere. Mary still didn't look like she was going to take Castiel's word for it, but for now she was content to at least have Gabriel's identity confirmed by the angel next to her.

"Wow, let's start with the big questions first huh. Why not first something like good to see you or just plain hello. Show some respect for your superiors little bro." Gabriel said with an abundance of arm movements. "But you are right. There is no time for being nice and civil. I have the brothers I assume you're here to rescue, you're welcome. But someone has to tell them to take their heads out of their assess and except the world as it is."

This left a puzzled look on Castiel's face. He had gotten better with the quickly changing emotions of Dean, but his brother was an completely different story. However Gabriel was right. His time on earth and around the Winchesters has changed him to a point where he asked questions first and thought about ranks second. Maybe that was also due to the near constant fighting and betrayal by superiors in Heaven of late. Before he could make the decision to either apologize for his lack of respect for a higher ranking angel or really just process that said higher ranking angel was alive, Gabriel's mood had apparently already changed.

"Sigh, just come with me will you".

This got Gabriel the desired effect. His brother nodded and seemed to accept that he wouldn't get his questions answered and like a seraph that is used to listen to an Archangel he prepared to follow his brother with a bit more difficulty that Gabriel had expected, because he didn't extend his wings or anything.

"Come on, just spread your wings and take the extra passenger."

Castiel lowered his head. There was no easy way to avoid this unpleasantness.

"I do not possess wings anymore."

Were all the words Gabriel got as an explanation. This made all kind of alarm bells go off in Gabriel's head. How. Why. When. Huh. There was no time for these. Though he fully realized that these would have to be answered later. However, there was every possibility that the Winchester brother were either destroying the hotel in an attempt to destroy each other or they were dehydrating their eyes in an attempt not to lose eye contact. The later was far more likely. A quick decision had to be made, and Gabriel was just the spur of the moment kind of person to do that.

"Fine I will fly us all then."

And with a flap of his wings, he was back in the hotel room with the brother. They were predictably still staring at each other and trying to figure out how to assess the other person.

"Oh welcome back Gabriel, we missed you soooo much."

Gabriel said with a little too much childish glee. Which was met with a small annoyed snort from Dean.

"I brought presents."

Castiel went, consciously or unconsciously, to stand near Dean. It was kind of funny to see him almost gravity towards the older Winchester, while keeping an eye on Sam. He touched his arm and Dean reacted much more violently than necessary and stared at Castiel as if realizing for the first time he was in the room. He quickly refocused on Sam though.

"I can assure you Dean that that is Sam, and Sam this is Dean. I have seen both your souls, while trying to get them from perdition and therefore cannot be mistaken."

Castiel spoke with a grave voice that did nothing to lift the heavy atmosphere in the room.