Disclaimer, still don't own Supernatural
Dean found Gabriel waiting with the cart, still no sign Sam, he was probably in the impala, waiting for them. He held his anger back for now, bursting out in a store wasn't going to help anyone. "Let's check out and get out if here." He says lowly.
He watched as Gabriel shifted slightly, as if a little unsure but nods. "You found Cassie." He says smiling. The child in the hunter's arms still refused to look at anyone but Dean. "No thanks to you." Dean says coldly. It could have been his imagination but he could have sworn that Gabriel flinched.
"Checking out." Gabriel says. He pushed the cart rather quickly to the checkout line, Dean walking right by his side. Things were extremely tense when they started putting their items up on the belt. "Aw, your son is so adorable!" The lady croons. Dean scowls, "He's not my boyfriend, and this isn't my son." He says coldly.
She flinches slightly at his tone, flinching slightly as well. "My mistake." She says with a small smile, then continued doing her job in silence. "That'll be $78.96." She says, not even looking up. Dean handed her a credit card, shifting Cas closer as well.
She slides it and hands it back to Dean. "Have a nice day!" She says with fake enthusiasm. "Make yourself useful and grab a few bags." He says turning to Gabriel. He expected at least a little fight, or even some whining, but Gabriel took all the bags without a word.
They walked out of the store in silence, all the way to the car. Gabriel opened the trunk and put everything in it, only grabbing a bib and a pacifier. Dean buckled Cas in his car seat, not surprised to see Sam waiting quietly in the front seat.
Gabriel sat in the back, no complaints or arguing at all. Dean frowned but said nothing as he got in and started the impala. He was surprised when Cas broke the silence, "Treat ow De?" the child asks quietly. "Yeah Cas, we're going to get you a treat now." Dean says with a small smile.
The tense mood slowly lit up when Cas giggled, a small smile appearing on Gabriel's face. "And what does little Cassie want for a treat?" He asks teasingly. Cas's face lit up when he was the one that got to choose, "Ice team!" He squeals happily. That got a chuckle out of Sam, as well as Dean.
"Ice cream it is little Cassie." Gabriel says with a slight smile. He messed Cas's hair a bit, more giggles coming from the child. Dean started driving to the nearest ice cream place, passing a playground on the way. "Do you want to play after ice cream?" Dean asks as he glances back at his little passenger.
Cas nods eagerly. He had no idea why he was being spoiled but he loved it. He started sucking on his thumb, slightly bored with the ride now. He looked a bit confused when Gabriel put a weird thing in his mouth. "That will feel better than your thumb, trust me." Gabriel says with a slight smile.
Even if it was weird at first Cas started sucking on it, soon enjoying how the rubber felt on his tongue. "See a lot better." He says grinning. Cas just nodded in response and continued sucking on his pacifier.
The ride was pleasantly quiet to the ice cream shop. All the adults were slightly tense however as they got out. Dean taking Cas, and Sam avoiding Gabriel like the plague.
They all walked into the shop, Cas still contently sucking on his pacifier. "Alright, what do you want Cas?" Dean asks the child. Cas tilts his head as he looks at the different flavors, finally he pointed at vanilla. "Seriously? That's such a boring flavor." Gabriel complains.
"Don't listen to him, vanilla is perfectly acceptable." Dean says smiling. Cas giggles slightly and lays his head-on Dean's shoulder. "One vanilla dish." He orders. The guy nods, "It'll be right out, so wait over there." He says pointing at the end of the counter.
They all move to the end of the counter, waiting until the ice cream was served. Two minutes later they handed Dean a small dish of the treat, Cas giggling happily. "Thanks." Dean said before going off to find a booth.
He slid on to a seat, placing the ice cream on the table, Gabriel reaching over the table to hook a bib on. At Dean's strange look he explained. "Unless you want it everywhere, make him wear it." Dean didn't argue, the pancake mess was very convincing.
Sam still hadn't said anything, and he still hadn't looked Dean in the eyes, "Okay, now that we're not in front a whole lot of people we need to address why Cas was lost." Dean says lowly. Sam flinches slightly and Gabriel pales. Cas didn't seem to notice, too busy eating his treat.
"You," Dean points at the archangel before continuing, "You couldn't even wait until you guys were alone? We're humans, even if me and Sammy have seen and been through freaky stuff doesn't mean we'll walk away unaffected." He says. Then cuts off Sam, who was probably going to try and explain. "And you, tough it out. Sure, you freaked out, a dickless angel kissed you, but you had a job. You were supposed to keep Cas safe and stay by him."
Both looked down, Gabriel had the decency to look down. "When I found him, some crazy woman had tried to take him, he was terrified, and if you two had done your jobs it wouldn't have happened." Dean says.
"You're right… I should have toughed through." Sam was the one to break the silence. "It won't happen again." He promises. Gabriel nods quietly, "Damm right it won't happen again." Dean says scowling. His fierceness destroyed by Cas painting his face with vanilla.
"Really?" The hunter asks looking at the giggling mess in his lap. "Done De." Cas says showing him his empty dish, and completely messy bib. "Good call Gabriel." Dean admits as he took it off, and wrapped it up. "Let's go wash your sicky hands, and face." He teases the child.
And with that Dean stood up and went to the bathroom, leaving Gabriel and Sam alone. "So?" the archangel asks slowly. Sam looked down before looking back up at him, "No, not until this is over." He says quietly.
Gabriel raises an eyebrow, "Why? We need to learn how to work together if-" Sam cut him off, "Listen I'm not ready." He says sharply. The archangel pauses, a little curious of the hunter's tone. "You expect this to work out, like nothing happened. You've done things to me Gabriel… Killing my brother repeatedly and not even giving me a sliver of a chance to stop it." Sam says quietly. "You said there was a reason, a lesson to be learned…well that's exactly what Lucifer did. I would live different days, thinking I had gotten out, that I was free finally, only for him to end it." He had to take a breath to keep going.
"I can't walk into this, I'm not ready, so please… Just back off." After that and a brief moment of silence Sam walked off, going to wait in the impala, leaving a stunned Gabriel in the booth seat.