Mercy stared at the males in the hospital room, unblinking. They didn't take any notice, simply talking about how to kill the devil. Apparently they had got word that a demon had possession of the colt (how they got that information she did not know, nor did she want to), they managed to find the name and where it lived when topside.
The only problem was that it was Crowley.
They had met when she was in her early twenties and dealing with two hormonal teens as brothers. She wanted a night out and left Dad (who was in between hunts at the time) in charge hoping that he would spend some quality time with the boys for once.
So she borrowed a friend from work's dress, had said friend's help with applying some make-up, grabbed the money she had been saving for such an occasion, and drove to the closest half way decent restaurant for a "fancy" night out.
They had met thanks to the staff messing up with the booking and accidently ended up with the two together. Looking back on it now, Mercy realised that the demon had only gone along with the flow because he thought that a girl eating on her own would be easy pickings for a deal.
Long story short, Mercy enjoyed her night, didn't sell her soul, and never realised that the nice British man was anything other than that. They didn't see each other again after that until Gabe decided "they just had to meet".
Mercy didn't think she'd ever be more grateful for holy water than in that moment.
Now she knew Gabe didn't have the greatest past, or present really, and that it reflected in his friends. But she didn't really expect the angel to be close with the king of the crossroads; then again Gabe rarely did things by halves…
Mercy blinked herself back to the present and loudly cleared her throat, getting the attention of the arguing trio.
"I know where to find Crowley."
"Why didn't you say that before?!" Sam looked up, most likely asking for some kind of patience.
Mercy narrowed her eyes, "Maybe if you three had let me get a word in edge wise then this would have been over much sooner."
"Right then," Dean interrupted, "So where do we need to go."
It was now dark and the Winchesters had decided to wait until the next day before storming Crowley's mansion. Sure, they weren't too pleased with her knowing him being the protective little shits they were, but they were getting to the point that she could know God and they wouldn't be surprised.
"You feeling okay?" Mercy asked gently to the sulking back of her brother.
Sam lifted his head to give her a pained smile. Her heart clenched painfully and, not for the first time, she wished she hadn't distanced herself so much and didn't feel so lost when it came to her brothers' problems.
"Mercy, remember when I used to tell you everything? And no matter what was wrong, you made it completely disappear?" he said, wistfully.
She made a sound of agreement as she moved to sit next to him on the bench. Tears threatened to make an appearance when Sam didn't move to close the space between them, but she respected his wishes all the same.
"I miss those times." His voice was quiet, as if this was a secret only she could know.
The small breeze blew passed them, mussing Sam's hair. Mercy ran her hand through her hair, a habit she had picked up just after cutting her hair. She let the silence give her time to think on how to respond.
"I don't." she declared. Mercy smiled kindly at the confused face she was given. "I quite like the men my cheeky little brothers grew up into."
"But-" She cut him off swiftly.
"Don't give me crap about the demon blood. You're not the only person in the world who has gotten in with the 'Bad Crowd'. And before you say anything, I know the blood isn't the same as normal drugs, but it left you in the same state didn't it. We've all made mistakes, some worse than others. Do you really think I've got a squeaky clean record?"
"Can't be worse than me." he muttered.
She closed her eyes and shook her head, "I was addicted to sex, still am, and if you think Dean is bad then you should have seen me back in my hay day. Not even getting raped set me off the stuff, I loved it too much and any money I got from it was a bonus. I was so desperate for attention….God how fucked up is that." She put her face in her hands and rubbed fiercely, "Fuck I'm getting off topic."
This is about Sam, not you. She reminded herself.
"What I'm trying to say is that you made a stupid mistake, but it's not the end of the world." She paused for a second and Sam snorted, "Okay, bad choice of words. But you have to listen to me, we're all fucked up in different ways and Ruby just did the typical demon shtick and exploited yours."
"Is that really supposed to help me?" Sam's voice came out rough and tense. His body was shaking and his eyes were frightening. "Who cares if you are a nymphomaniac? How has that got anything to do with me? I started the goddamn apocalypse and your telling me that it's just a simple mistake?!"
He abruptly stood up, his voice had raised to a roar and shocked the woman into silence. He violently whirled to face her, subconsciously using his height to intimidate her.
"You don't understand! How could you?! I didn't just make a mistake, I did everything I shouldn't have! I thought I knew everything and wouldn't listen to anyone, I didn't have my head messed with or any of the other excuses you want to make up! I followed Ruby knowing full well of the risks, thinking that my powers would be able to defeat everything!"
The yelling was quickly replaced by Sam's panting, a white mist puffing through the cold night.
Mercy's eyes shot up when she heard a soft chuckle coming from her brother. His laugh slowly gained volume and lost all sense of sanity. The chilling cackles echoed through the dark, making the night seem so much more sinister than it was only moments before.
"And you know what?" His words were broken up by the erratic bursts of guffaws. "This is all thanks to you."
In a flash Mercy was standing in her brother's space, her body taught with furious anger, mouth set in a deep frown and her eyes colder than anything Sam had seen before.
"Don't you go blaming this on me Sam, don't shove it all on me and think it a job well done." Her voice sounded empty. There was none of the anger that her body betrayed.
But Sam paid no heed to her thinly veiled threat. He moved ever closer and shoved his face into hers, goading her and testing the limits of her restraint.
"Yet you were the one who didn't care that one of her brothers was in hell and the other one was left to mourn alone. Vulnerable to anything that might want to take advantage of him! You were the one that decided to leave me to suffer without any support!"
A sharp edge worked its way into her voice as she lost grip on her patience.
"That was not my fault Sam. I've already told you-"
"That being together would be a bad idea?" He let out a single mocking laugh towards the stars above. "No, you were being selfish. You just wanted to play happy families with some fucking pagan monster and forget that Dean and I ever existed!"
"Don't you patronise me about selfishness Sam!" Mercy shoved a hard finger into his chest, and let a shot of glee shoot through her at the sight of his wince. "I'm not the one whining about being all left alone! I'm not sure if you could tell, y'know with your head shoved so far up your ass, but I was suffering too. I'm sorry for putting myself first for once and actually grieve for my little brother."
"Did you think it was easy for me Sam? Do you think I wanted to lose either of you? Do you think I spent those months in fairy tale land?"
"And what about me?!" He bellowed, "Why did I have to be the one left alone? Why did you leave me to rot away without any support? If you had just been there for me then this whole Apocalypse wouldn't be happening right now!"
"That's enough."
The two hunters shot to face the newcomer, weapons at the ready the second the presence was noticed.
"Gabe?"
"What do you want Loki?"
The answering disapproving look told them all they needed to know. He had heard the argument and was here to protect his wife.
The youngest Winchester snorted in mirth. "Of course you'd get territorial over what's yours." He slowly began to walk back to the motel room. "Hope that freak of yours is worth it Mercy."
The couple watched in a mix of anger and sadness as the back of Sam Winchester disappeared around the corner.
Gabe's arms snaked around her middle and he rested his head on her shoulder. In response she moved her head to accommodate his and leaned back into the warm embrace.
"He shouldn't have said those things to you." The angel grumbled almost childishly into her shoulder. But she could hear the hidden rage behind the words, promising to do unspeakable things to Sam the second she showed even a hint of agreeing to it.
"That wasn't Sam." She said simply, a strain of sorrow still lingering in her voice.
Gabe growled in her ear, "Don't make excuses for him. He doesn't deserve them."
Mercy chuckled softly and placed a hand on his head, gently patting his hair in an attempt to calm the irate Archangel/god before he decided to smite her youngest brother from existence.
"I'm not making excuses Gabe, he didn't mean anything he said, he just needed to let off some steam."
"Still sounds like excuses." He sighed, his hot breath tickling her neck and making goose-bumps rise across her shoulder and arm. In retaliation she jerked on a lock of his hair.
"He's stressed and tired and feels like everything is his fault. It's only natural that he'd blow up. So he screamed at the one person who wouldn't leave him no matter what he said."
"I don't like it."
"You don't have to." She kissed the side of Gabe's forehead and placed her on his to rest. The closeness giving back her strength and energy with every breath they both took.
"You're too nice to them." He continued to grumble. A tender smile appeared on her face.
"I know. But that's one of the things you love about me."
"If you say so." He mumbled as he nuzzled closer into her neck. She pinched his arm for the cheek before kissing his forehead.
"I love you too Gabe. Now, I need a good night sleep and that bed of ours is just singing to me."
With a snap of his fingers, they were gone.