Chapter 2

"Dean, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

Sam looked at his brother as he was cleaning out what looked like an antique pistol. He couldn't recall seeing that in their collection of guns and the Colt had been stolen by Bella nearly two years ago. He knew his brother was still upset about his involvement of setting up a girl's night out for Angela for her birthday. He had been on the receiving end of a cold shoulder for that with a little bit of Dean being polite.

Augusta had called him a couple of days ago asking if there were any plans for Angela's birthday. He thought it to be out of the blue for her to be calling him and he wasn't even sure how she got his number until he asked her. She straight out told him that Jo had it and dialed it for her. It had him blink in surprise before he asked why she was calling.

To find out if Dean has something planned. Or you.

Sam admitted that there was nothing really planned but he did. Mostly it was to take her stargazing. It was one of the few things that she liked doing and lately hadn't seemed to have the time for. He considered it but hesitated to bring it up since their whole ordeal with the Trickster now known as Gabriel the Archangel. Yet he had been encouraged a little.

She admitted to remembering more than she had revealed. Normally that kind of thing would have annoyed to pissing him and Dean off but it didn't. For some odd reason, he understood where she was coming from. Scent and feelings are not something really looked at in terms of memory and maybe he and Dean should have considered that but it was all about being human, looking at her like she was all human.

All of them where there but one was dominant and it made me feel… It made me feel for the first time in my life safe.

It was an odd thing to say but Sam understood what she meant. At least he thought he did. It was enough to start being satisfied about what she really remembered and an encouragement. He wasn't conceited to assume that she meant him. She could mean that all of their scents made an impact. He had seen the look of uncertainty on her face like she was still trying to work it through. It was enough to consider his next move in terms of seeing if she felt the same as he did. It crossed his mind to do something for her birthday when Augusta called but nothing definite. He was able to admit, "Nothing definite but… maybe looking at the stars. I don't know."

From there Augusta explained what she had planned and he was on board with it. He was not one to interfere with a sort of tradition or promise that had been made between her and Angela. As far as he was concerned Angela deserved something good in her life. Before he could even consider what Dean would say, he agreed to help her out in terms of convincing Dean that he didn't need to hover around her 24/7. Bobby wouldn't be too hard to convince either.

The way how Augusta sounded over the phone when he agreed made him get the impression that if she had been there she would have given him a hug or a kiss or both. She had the easy part. His had been much harder though he did manage to insist that neither Augusta nor Jo say anything about his involvement. He couldn't say why and he was relieved when neither girl badgered him about it though he was worried that he had set Angela up for heckling. He didn't want her to be embarrassed by anything.

In the end it went off with a hitch. Sort of. It was expected that Dean would pitch a fit and he did bluntly ask if she was ditching to do a job that she thought she could do on her own. Sam rationalized the whole statement into a nicer tone in his head but he really wanted to deck his brother for being tactless yet again. He was glad that Angela didn't see it that way but in the way that Dean intended for it to be and that was concern.

Sam did what he could and said that he thought it wouldn't hurt. Dean shot him a look for that but in the end Angela took off in her car to go have a girl's night with Augusta and Jo. Though she was under the impression that it was for something else. He just hoped that Angela wouldn't get upset over being deceived since she wasn't one to like surprises overly well. Now Dean was upset with him. He knew it wouldn't take his brother long to figure out that he had a hand in it.

Looking at Dean, Sam couldn't help but ask, "And where did you get the gun?"

"Found it when we were on that spirit case a few days ago. Thought Angie might like it for her collection." Dean bent back over to finish cleaning the part he was looking over. "For her birthday."

"Yeah I figured that," Sam offered since there was no reason for Dean to mess with antique weapons since they were not the most accurate of things if they were pre-Civil War. "Is this because Gus wanted to do something nice for Angie?" He had to ask since this started after Angela had taken off for her trip.

"No," Dean retorted much like how he did when Castiel asked him for his amulet. "Was intending on giving it to her when I picked it up. Just needed to clean it. Gus' little excursion has nothing to do with it. Not my business if Angie wants to have fun."

"Dean you practically bitched about her going off and almost accused her of going behind our backs," Sam pointed out. "You're just lucky she took it to mean that you were being your overbearing self as usual."

"Oh I'm overbearing? And what about you? You helped orchestrate this."

Sam rolled his eyes slightly. He tried not to be too sensitive to the fact that it sounded close to Dean blaming him again for breaking the last seal. "Gus just asked me to run interference and reassure that it would be okay. Seems that she knows you pretty well too."

"And why you?"

"Don't know. Maybe because I think Angie is entitled to spending her free time with whoever and whenever." Sam cast a knowing look at his brother.

"Says the guy who would just as soon as strangle the guy who hits on her."

Sam paused there, knowing that if he said something in the heat of the moment, he would be opening up a can of worms that he wasn't ready to reveal. He did manage to cover saying, "Only because they were drunk douchebags."

"And the he-witch Nick?"

"He's a pain in the ass," Sam countered quickly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You're point?"

Dean put down the gun he had been cleaning and straightened up on his bed. He tossed the rag onto Sam's bed just to be ornery. They had been at that cheap motel for the last couple of days since there was nothing out of the ordinary. He looked up at his brother and said, "The point is you're the one who becomes a bigger bitch than usual with anything she does that resembles a personal life."

"That was only because she was a little girl then."

Dean shot his brother a look and picked up the gun he had been cleaning. He started assembling it together. When it was finished he looked at it with an appreciative eye before standing up and putting it away. "Keep telling yourself that," he said before heading to the door. He was on his way out when he turned towards Sam and said, "Figure it out Sam."

Sam said nothing but watched his brother leave. He didn't need to figure it out and it was annoying to have Dean point that out but he didn't want his feelings displayed out there. He still felt bad about how things went when she was small. Mostly it was guilt over what he perceived as failure to her, the failure of his promise. He didn't feel that he had any right to say anything about how he felt to her.

Running a hand through his hair, Sam thought about the last few days. He didn't regret helping Augusta out in sort of smoothing things out. He figured Dean was still mad at that. He was just using the gun cleaning and making it nice as a gift as a partial excuse. Sam wasn't above considering that Dean did have some forethought of giving her a birthday gift and he considered that maybe his brother was planning on something. It was why he suggested Augusta do what she wanted to do before her birthday and to leave him out of it.

He had an idea of something to do. He was just not sure of it since everything. True he gave her a good memory last year and then the year before Dean's idea worked… Maybe he did need Dean bugging him to figure things out. There was just a lot going on and what was important needed to be decided upon. At least he figured out what he wanted to do now.

When Dean came back from wherever he was and carrying what looked like a case for the gun, Sam laid down a suggestion, "Uh Dean… how about doing something at Bobby's?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Gus and Jo planned this so Angie would be back in time for her birthday…" Sam gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe we could do something then."

Dean looked at his younger brother. Maybe he had been nagging him a bit to figure things out but that was only because he was asserting the big brother role and pushing things along. The dance act between his brother and Angela was getting old and mostly because she was too reluctant to do anything about her feelings. They had the Apocalypse coming and while it was probably not the best of times, he'd rather they clear everything between them now rather than never and something bad happened. He knew his girl would never forgive herself for that one. "What do you have in mind?"

"No idea," Sam offered with a shrug. "Just something with us and with Bobby. He still feels bad about what he said in front of her."

Dean didn't need to be reminded about that. It had to do with that he-witch Patrick and the card game and he scolded Bobby about being an idiot trying to play the game to get out of his wheelchair. He saw that it affected Angela more than she cared to let on since he remembered that she had offered to fix it herself and the grizzled hunter categorically refused even when she proved that she could. Normally he would have made fun of her being a girl with her feelings but… :You know she gets it right?"

Sam shot Dean a look. "Yeah and she's good at downplaying it."

"You know… you're right. Let's figure out something and bring in Bobby." Dean was sincere in that even though he was well aware that his tone held the slight tinge of sarcasm. "You got anything?"

"Doesn't have to be fancy. Last year we just had cake and watched the stars." Sam knew he was setting himself up to be ridiculed but he was trying to tell Dean that it didn't have to be fancy. "That was it and it was fine."

"Stargazing? Man you are a girl."

"Shut up, jerk."

Dean chuckled since he got a rise out of his brother. Still he had to hand it to Sam for coming up with something and the more he thought about it, he figured that was why Sam suggested the girls do their thing first. So he couldn't be too mad. "Fine. I'll call Bobby but you better figure out what you're getting her cause there's no way I'm sharing with your emo ass."

Sam huffed at that but was prevented from saying anything since Dean immediately dialed Bobby and started in on their plans. It left him nothing else to do except figure out what else they could do to make it a nice birthday without making it a huge fuss. There was also a matter of a present though he wasn't sure of what to get. He huffed at Dean, "Fine. I'll just go."

"And bring me back some pie."

"So what do you two idjits have in mind?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other before looking at Bobby. They had packed up and headed back to Sioux Falls after Bobby gave the okay about doing something nice for Angela for her birthday. The grizzled hunter had agreed to doing something nice for her after grumbling about it for a few moments. But it was clear that he wasn't going to do all the heavy lifting; he was leaving that for Sam and Dean. Sam replied, "Uh…"

"Working on it," Dean replied with a smile.

"Alright but I ain't cooking."

"Wouldn't have asked." Dean continued to give a grin and earned a slight growl from Bobby as he left the room with the cat and Cerebus in tow. When he was gone he looked at Sam, "Alright Casanova, what do you have?"

Sam looked at Dean, "What? No! You're in this too."

"You brought it up."

"Oh and you wouldn't? Mister I Have to Give an Antique Pistol for her birthday?"

Dean put on his endearing grin that he knew would make Sam madder. "I was just gonna give it to her. You're the one that suggested we do something. I merely agreed that it was a good idea."

"Dean there is no way that you are getting out of this." Sam put his hands on his hips to indicate that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Even if he had to get into a fistfight with his brother to get his point across, he would. Besides they had the Eye still and it worked on most things. It patched Lilah up and she was back to joining Cerebus and the cat in their life here. "And you know she'll be able to tell."

It was a low blow but Dean knew that his brother was right. Even with things that supposedly he and Sam did together, she was able to pick out who did what. How, he had yet to figure out but then again she knew them really well and their tendencies. Dean knew he wasn't going to get away with sharing the credit with Sam. Rolling his eyes and sighing in exasperation he relented, "Fine, fine. But I've got nothing except the usual. I ain't cooking either."

"Like that was a possibility," Sam retorted. The few times they had been roped into helping her cook was more along the lines of little kids asking to help. She had always given him the easy things and Dean was more or less the taste tester since she called him a bottomless pit. He didn't forget the time that he and Angela made breakfast when she was in her mini size though he wasn't inclined to count that since Ellen took over but… "Doesn't have to be fancy."

"I ain't cooking."

"Fine. What do you suggest?" Sam crossed his arms over his chest to indicate that he was listening. There was no way he was going to attempt anything that resembled cooking and while the idea was appealing on a different level… That was something for when things were different. "I'm not cooking either."

"Go with the usual."

"Dean."

"Hey you said to give a suggestion. There it is." Dean stared at his brother for a moment before throwing his hands up in the air. "You know what, I need think. I'll be out checking on my baby."

Sam huffed a bit. His attention was drawn towards the ground when he heard a slight whine and Lilah and Cerebus were looking at him. They were giving looks of sympathy though Sam was certain they were also angling for a biscuit or two. He asked, "You two have any ideas?"

Cerebus gave a bark and Lilah yipped. It was funny to hear since he had heard her growl and snarl but her yipping made her sound like one of those lap dogs. Sam watched as Cerebus disappeared and came back with two leashes. Sam raised his brow at that. They wanted to go for a walk? "A walk? Now?"

Both dogs barked at him. Lilah then sat down and drooped her ears and whiskers. She bowed low and gazed up at Sam. Cerebus took his cue and did the same but his bow was less submissive and his look was more like a plaintive plea for more biscuits. Sam looked at the two dogs. He decided that Lilah was the more pathetic looking of the two and figured that was the point of the whole look. "It's like Mission Pathetic," he murmured more to himself. "Alright come on."

The pathetic looks were gone in an instant as they started dancing around him, eager to go. Sam shot them a look, "Little bastards."

Cerebus gave Sam a lick and Lilah kept hitting him with her tail as it wagged. Any harder and her butt would have been shaking. It wasn't too much of an effort for Sam to get their leads attached and he let Bobby know that he was taking the dogs out for a walk. He did give a puzzled look when the grizzled hunter started chuckling in reply. He got his answer the moment he opened the door and it felt like his arms were being yanked out as the two dogs took off.

Sam thought he was going to get a face plant a half a dozen times as the two dogs pulled him forward. He did try to rein them in but it only seemed to encourage them to pull harder. He tried not to scowl when they stopped tugging so hard when they came near civilization and resumed like well-behaved mutts. So this was why Bobby laughed at taking them for a walk.

The tugging and near face planting continued until they actually were in town and then they eased up, but Sam could still feel the tugging through his arms. He let them pull him along until they slowed down completely. At first he thought that they ran out of steam but he watched as Cerebus almost seemed to pose and look at one of the businesses. He gave a low rumble of a woof.

Sam looked at what the dog was looking at and then at the two mutts looking at the building. "You're serious?"

The two dogs turned to look at him and Cerebus barked. Sam knew that there was more to at least Cerebus. Cerebus was a hellhound and bred to be intelligent and he picked up and understood complex orders. Sasha had been the same and Angela explained that with regards to her heritage. Lilah, he wasn't sure about but he ventured to guess that she was a Wilder as well since she readily responded to his commands when Angela had been taken. The fact that they seemed pleased with themselves gave Sam the hint that they had been listening to the conversation.

Looking back up at the restaurant, Sam looked at the dogs and asked, "You really think so?"

Cerebus barked in affirmation. Sam didn't speak 'dog' but he understood the gist. Besides he had practice from Sasha who seemed to give him a sad look every time and scowl and growl at Ruby when he was… Sam cleared his throat. "Okay then. You better hope that Dean is on board with it."

Lilah yipped as if to say that his brother wouldn't mind at all. Besides the place did have take out and it would be kind of nice to have something that was semi related to where Angela was from. The only downside he could see was that she would be reminded of those times and get depressed about it. Then again he knew those times were some of the happiest she ever had. It wouldn't hurt to try it.

The rest of the day was spent with him looking for something to give to her. Sam knew Dean was going to be adamant about not sharing gifts. There weren't too many places he could take the dogs into and the only thing he really gave her that she held onto was that necklace. He feared that she was going to be one of those people that was hard to shop for since she saw most everything.

While walking towards the road to head back to the Singer Salvage Yard, Sam passed by an old bookstore. He didn't recall seeing it there before but he figured he would take a look. He just hoped the proprietor didn't have a thing against dogs as he opened the door and inquired if there was anyone around. He was greeted by a very petty old man who seemed a little too excited to have a customer come in his shop.

It was a bit awkward but Sam managed to make his request known and the owner showed him around saying that all of them were pretty much collectables. It had Sam inwardly cringe since those kinds of things were expensive. All he had in terms of funds were his fake credit cards and any cash he managed to hustle in. Still he could look and maybe work out something that would be beneficial to both parties.

The owner seemed to have pity on him and asked, "Anything in particular young man?"

"Um… not really sure. It's for a… um… a…"

"Lemme guess. A lady friend?"

Sam wasn't sure whether or not to go with that since that connotation would have Dean making lewd jokes. "No uh… someone special to me. She's special to me."

The owner looked at him with a knowing look and mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Ah you like her but ya don't know how she feels about you. Am I right?"

"Uh…"

"Relax sonny. You won't believe how many guys I get in here that are looking for that one special thing." The owner came from behind his counter. "You can't go wrong with a book especially if the lady loves them. You know her pleasure?"

Sam eyed the owner with a wary expression mingled with the thought that he wandered into a looney bin and didn't know it. He glanced mostly at Cerebus and noted that the dog was being normal so things were okay there. He just wasn't sure of what to make of it and he wasn't too sure about the wording of the questions posed to him. "Uh… you have anything like first edition?"

"Plenty of them. Right over there," the owner replied enthusiastically and waved Sam over to a collection of books. "First editions of all genres and eras. I'm guessing she likes the Romantic Era or Victoria Era?"

"Um… I'll just look," Sam offered. He hurried over to avoid taking to the owner some more and started looking. He sort of had an idea of what Angela read and could have read. She still had her weather beaten book containing Shakespeare and a first edition of Poe. She gave him the story of how her godly parents met. He was at a loss and it was nice to look since he couldn't afford it anyway.

The owner looked at him and watched him. There was a playful twinkle to his elderly hazel eyes as he watched the younger Winchester. Perhaps… "You know. I do have a special collection you might want to look through. Over here."

Sam found himself being brought towards a back room of sorts. He tensed a bit since it was habit to assume that it was a trick. In this case it wasn't when he saw a bunch of really old looking books. The owner said, "Now these are from a special collection. I think you know the lady's tastes."

Sam made a slight look. He only saw her reading two books and the rest of her stuff was on the occult and hunting which she kept with Bobby. Yeah he was a real connoisseur. His eyes then lighted on a book that caught his eye. There was something about that one that… He picked it up and thumbed through it, not noticing the look of relief from the owner.

A/N: Dean's pissed and letting Sam know it until Sam comes up with a brilliant idea. Keep watching for more To Hell and Back...