Any and all mistakes are my own, this is unbeta'd so any errors I apologize for.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, I'm only borrowing the characters for a bit for my own amusement, love to know what you think, and the title is only 'cause I couldn't think of one, therefore its subject to change sometime in the future.

Warnings: References to torture, M/M pairing, possible future mpreg.

Note: I'd like to thank Carmichaelcarr for reviewing the last chapter, out of over twenty people who are subscribed to this story, he is the only one to leave me a review, and not only that, but to leave me one twice. The support is truly appreciated. Reviews always let me know I'm doing the right thing, and make me happy as they show me people indeed enjoy this story. Anyway, on with the next chapter!

Chapter Eight - Mirror, mirror...

It was with the flurry of wings sounding behind him that Sam turned around to give the annoying his Archangel his best bitchface only to be met with empty space before him. Scowling to himself at the missed opportunity, Sam quickly turned back round to carry on with his chore to find Gabriel standing right before him, only just keeping to the boundaries of acceptable personal space. Sam could appreciate it a little more when Dean griped about Cas and his apparent personal space issues with him now. It seemed like an angel problem if Gabriel was anything to go by, he seemed to revel in making Sam uncomfortable with his proximity. Well Sam would show him. Staring down at the smaller man and trying to let his unhappiness bleed through into every pore of his expression, Sam couldn't believe the audacity of the angel when he just continued to grin up at him merrily and questioned,

"Oh Sasquatch, why on earth did change out of your other outfit? You just looked so… appetizing the way I left you. Truly the other outfit became you more!" The angel smirked, before moving into the middle of their shared living area.

Sam's worked up reply was almost instantaneous, "Don't call me that. And you know bloody well why I got changed! You dressed me as a belly dancer and placed me in a Turkish whore house Gabriel! With the lights low like that and all the booze that was flying around, half of the men thought I was a woman, and the other half didn't even care that I'm most certainly not female! What in that mind of yours thought that doing that to me and just leaving me there would be a good idea?" Sam exclaimed exasperatedly. He'd had to slap more than a fair share of hands away before he'd mysteriously found himself back in his current location that Gabriel was keeping him in, sans Gabriel of course, but when he'd dropped onto his bed he could have sworn he'd heard the Trickster's phantom laughter still ringing in his ears. That was one memory that wasn't going to go away soon, and it was certainly one he wasn't going to share with Dean either. Ever.

"Oh come on Sam, you looked positively delectable like that though! Deep purple is a very good color on you, and I told you, no way was I going to be Jasmine in our little game of dress up, I haven't the figure for it like you do," The angel continued, offering a lascivious look to the younger Winchester brother before continuing, "But I'll make you a deal, I'll ask you before just doing certain things in future, that doesn't mean I'll listen mind but I will take it into consideration, if that's alright with you?" He finished, shooting a winning smile Sam's way, knowing this would now all be forgotten. Or at least for now it would anyway.

This went some way to help appease Sam's mind slightly, and Gabriel was just about to suggest some more fun times together, perhaps a visit to 1930's Chicago during the prohibition years, as Gabriel knew some pretty good speakeasies from back in the day or maybe somewhere a bit more modern when he felt something.

It was like a prickling of the skin and a slight cooling of his temperature before he heard the elder Winchester calling upon him to get his feathery ass down there pronto. He sounded pretty insistent, and need he add to it pissed, but Gabriel just shrugged it off as a normal Dean freak-out-episode. He'd drop in on the hot-headed Winchester and his masochistic little brother in a little while, since after all, the reason for his summoning probably wasn't anything of great importance anyway, he'd only been with them a few short hours earlier, and they could deal without him for one afternoon, right?

While he was thinking about this and arguing with the two sides of himself – the uncaring, fun-seeking, outgoing Trickster against the dutiful, obeying, power-wielding Archangel, he was soon brought out of the two sided debate by Sam, who unknowingly managed to drag him out of his internal struggle by practically whispering out as he moved to go to his room, "Doesn't help stop me missing Dean though does it?" Before continuing to walk off to his personal bedroom and safe haven away from Gabriel, where he could be alone with just his thoughts on how to get out of here, and of how Dean would be bearing up. The last time he'd seen Dean with his own two eyes he had been broken and bloodied and by Sam's own hands no less. If he could just see him now with his own eyes… have certain knowledge that he was ok… but that wasn't possible. Gabriel had more than assured him of that.

Gabriel was standing in the middle of the living area of the luxurious castle he was currently vacating with Sam – he changed their location every couple of days, maybe after a week at the most, not quite out of necessity, but because he could, because he was an Archangel, and because it made things interesting. However right now things weren't so much interesting as awkward. Gabriel wasn't going to stand for that, little did Sam know that one of the many improvements angels had was sensitive hearing, and Sam's muttered words had gotten to him, and since he wasn't going to stand for an unhappy moose as a roommate, that's how he found himself looming over Sam Winchester who at that moment was quietly laid face down on the bed and asked him,

"What exactly do you expect me to do about that Sam? What even can I do? You know the rules, so with that in mind tell me what can I do to make you feel better about Dean? I've told you he's fine, that he's in safe hands with Castiel. You know with Castiel there to look after him he's better off than you were when he went to hell and you were the one left alone up here. So what more do you want from me?" The Archangel questioned, honestly not seeing the problem for Sam. He'd promised him that Dean was fine, and Gabriel might be many things, but first and foremost he was, and always had been, an angel. Lies like that, about family of all things, just didn't become him.

Sam's mood went from bad to worse in the space of a few seconds, "Well I can see how you wouldn't understand." He hissed prissily before quickly gaining pace, "After all, you're still the same old Trickster who killed Dean in front of me over, and over, and over, just to prove a goddamn point. And still the same scared angel who abandoned his family-" Before Sam could continue on with the scathing tirade that was building inside him, he was immediately quietened by the hold of Gabriel's hand on his throat and the dangerous glint in his furious hazel eyes.

It was a few moments before the Archangel managed to gain control of himself enough to speak.

"Don't forget that I went against my family Sam, my brothers. And what for again? For you, for Dean and for humanity that's what. And it got me killed. Don't ever forget that fact Sam. I know what it's like to miss your family, I deal with it every day, I've lost so many of my brothers in the process of Michael and Lucifer's spat, that you could almost say it's a part of me now." And with that he released the grip on Sam's throat and stepped back slightly, trying to get his angelic fury under control before he cut an even more threatening figure than he was at present.

A warning of Dean's sprang back to Sam's mind as he felt along his throat timidly with his fingertips, "don't piss off the nerd angels". Well he'd just pissed off a freaking Archangel of all things, and the fact that he actually felt bad about it too had Sam ducking his head in shame and whispering morosely, "I know that Gabriel. I remember what you did for me, for us. I'm sorry but it's just..." Sam's voice cracked for a moment, before he continued, "It's just that, if only I could actually see Dean with my own eyes, even if it was just for a minute to know that he was ok with my own two eyes then I…" Sam finished, unable to carry on with the sentence, head still hanging in front of him, almost touching his chest. He didn't see the angels look of remembrance cross his face before he exclaimed,

"Eureka! Wait here Sammy - I think I have an idea that'll fix all of our problems!" And with that and the once again familiar flurry of wings, Sam was left alone once more to his own thoughts and devices, feeling oddly annoyed by the angels lack of any type of explanation before disappearing again on him. This oddly enough reminded him of Castiel and all the times he'd done that to him and Dean. Trait must run in the family he guessed.

-SPN-

It was some time later in the day before the angel reappeared again, in the same spot as before above the gentle giant that was Sam Winchester, only this time the human was sound asleep. Gabriel frowned at that, should he wake him, or shouldn't he wake him? He continued to debate with himself for a few more minutes before leaning down over the young man, eye to eye with him, before the closed lids only a couple of inches below him sprang open, causing the two to jump back in shock.

"What the hell Gabe?" Sam panted as he tried to still his stuttering heart, which had his hand placed directly over it. Yep, it was beating a mile a minute there. Sam could finally could sympathize with Dean now when he told about Cas' lack of understanding about personal space now he had something to compare it with! This was the first and only time Gabriel had overstepped that mark though, maybe the angel wanted him for something important? Maybe he had information about Dean?

"Gabe?" The Archangel questioned slightly, inwardly pleased by the nickname flippantly called from Sam's lips but not completely sure why. Seems that the moose might be growing on him more than he'd thought.

"Gabriel." Sam corrected before continuing, "What do you want… and what the hell is that?" He said, pointing to an object that had to be one of the ugliest things he'd ever seen in the entirety of his life. And that was a difficult feat to achieve, considering all the things Sam had seen along the way on his 'extended road trip' with Dean, just thinking about that creepy painting with the murdering girl ghost inside of it made Sam's skin crawl. Yep, now it seemed it had competition.

"This, my dear moose, is magical; it's one of a kind, priceless, and most importantly, it'll show you whoever you want, whenever you want, whenever you ask it."

Sam quirked his eyebrow at this, "First you whisk me off to the middle ages to spy on Merlin, Arthur and his band of merry knights of the round table, later you get some sort of Aladdin themed fetish and dress me up like some kind of cheap consort, and now were doing Beauty and the Beast? I mean really Gabriel?" Sam mocked the angel easily, not believing his ears that such an ugly thing could do so much.

Gabriel bristled at that, he'd gone through a lot to get this mirror for Sam, greased many important wheels, did a fair amount of sneaking, all so the giant baby would stop whining about his brother every five minutes and this was all the thanks he got! "Well Sammy boy, if you don't want it…" He let the idea there linger before making motions to move from the room, mirror included in this, only to feel a large hand grip his wrist and a meek voice almost squeak out at him,

"No I do! I really do Gabriel! Thank you!" Before letting his grip fall loose from the Archangel's forearm.

Gabriel looked at Sam quizzically for a moment before speaking.

"Right," He paused slightly before continuing, handling the hand mirror like the precious, one of a kind artifact it was, "Want me to show you how to use this?" He asked, and seeing Sam nod his acquiescence he merrily called out to the mirror,

"Mirror mirror, in my hand, who is the prettiest in all the land?" After the Archangel had spoken these words in a strangely jovial manner, the mirror clouded over slightly before it clearing and showing a face that they both knew well.

Sam coughed slightly before daring to question it, "Did it really just show-"

"Yep," Gabriel quickly replied stunned, before continuing, "Hey Sam boy, let's not go there."

The awkward silence that resumed was quickly broken by the loud guffaws of the two men. Wiping the tears that had leaked from his eyes from his exuberant laughter, Sam turned to see Gabriel slapping his thighs still and quickly questioned, in all seriousness, "So all I have to do is ask it to show me Dean and I'll get to see him?" Sam asked, eyes hopeful, while his mind tried to not get too far ahead of himself in case this turned out to be just another trick of Gabriel's, another badly thought out joke of the Tricksters.

Gabriel's only answer to that was to pass the mirror over to Sam carefully.

Holding it in front of him and resting its back against the palm of his hand, Sam quickly gathered all his hopes and doubts before swallowing them down together along with his embarrassment before speaking out loud, "Show me Dean Winchester." As an afterthought, and ever the gentleman, he added a timid, "Errrm, please?" To the end of his sentence, causing a slight chuckle to leave the Archangel beside him.

The mirror began to mist over a couple of seconds after that request, like a bathroom mirror covered over due to steam from a hot shower. Slightly leaning over Sam, Gabriel ran his hand over the mirror, and then by the time it had cleared, both the human and the angels expression were matching ones of shock, before changing after a few moments and what they were watching sunk in. Gabriel's changed into a smug grin and Sam's into one of deep thought.

The first thing Sam noticed when the mirror cleared was how close his brother was to the angel standing directly in front of him, barely an inch of space between them. On a first glance it looked completely intimate. Then Sam noticed the little details. The fact that Castiel was helping Dean, bandaging around his chest with such care and gentleness, the type he'd seen in the glances he'd shoot Dean's way sometimes when he thought nobody was watching, or at least noticing. How Castiel's face had a look of concentration upon it, how Dean wouldn't even glance in the angels direction, and that Dean appeared slightly bloody and rough around the edges, kind of how he would look after a particularly tricky hunt. It was this that troubled Sam, causing him to drop the mirror on the bed with a dull thud before turning on the Archangel and advancing stealthily, only three words leaving his mouth, but three words which needed no elaboration,

"What the hell?" Sam spat, stopping directly in front of the smaller – but infinitely stronger body directly before him.

Gabriel for his part managed to keep his features impassive, but inside he was worrying a little… perhaps when Dean had called for him earlier it had been more of an emergency than he had anticipated? But on the other side of that, Gabriel mused that maybe his plan was going better than he had thought. Still, only time would tell, and he needed to seek council. There was only one place for that, so quickly placing two fingers on the giant before him and just lightly pressing down on his temple, he managed to knock him out cold. Gabriel made quick work of placing Sam down on the bed gently, and as an afterthought wrapped as much of the duvet as he could around the man before placing the mirror safely on the bedside table – after all, it wouldn't do to break a weapon of heaven now would it, before he was flying off into the garden of heaven itself and calling out to the only other angel privy to everything that was being placed in motion – as it was he definitely knew exactly if not more than Gabriel, so talking and deliberating with him could only help matters.

-SPN-

He didn't beat about the bush once his wings touched down on the holy plane; Gabriel quickly called through the gardens for the angel in question, "Joshua? Joshua are you here?" But no reply was forthcoming. That in itself was a troubling fact to Gabriel's heart and mind, as the elder angel was always here, tending away to his magnificent garden. It was his equivalent to what Dean's Impala was to him.

Gabriel was just about to do a sweep of heaven when he felt something or more to the point, someone enter not only heaven but also the gardens with him, and it certainly wasn't Joshua.

Turning around to face the new presence, he called out in as cocky a voice as he could muster in the face of such unease welling inside of him,

"Well then little brother, what brings you here?" Inwardly though he was blanching, and it was starting to show on the outside of his vessel too, he could feel it.

His brother looked terrible, his hair was mussed from what Gabriel could only assume was shaking hands running their fingers through it, tie more askew than usual, and that disturbed aura about him bled through into his voice as he replied tightly in his usual gravel tones,

"A certain brother who isn't as dead as I was led to believe."

Gabriel cocked his head at that, wondering where Castiel was going with this. Which brother could he possibly mean? Gabriel was ruler of heaven while their father was away, he would know if an angel had gone stray, wouldn't he?

"Or you either it would seem." Castiel took an unneeded breath, held it in for several seconds before breathing it out and continuing, "Is there something you wish to explain to me Gabriel? Since you certainly haven't been telling me everything."

The silence in the gardens was palpable. The game was up; it was time to tell all…

A/N's: I hope this chapter was enjoyable for you guys, I figured you could do with another dose of Gabriel/Sam, and how it ends works into part of the next chapter nicely too, which is currently underway and halfway through, standing at around 1660 words and its not even finished or edited yet!

I hope I'm writing all the characters at least half decently, and keeping them at least semi-in character too, if not I do apologise, and can only ask for you to let me know, as then I can improve for future chapters you see.

Who do you guys reckon will realise their feelings for the other first in this, Dean or Castiel, and any particular reasons why you think that? It interests me to know what all you guys are thinking! :)

The next chapter contains some strong Destiel moments. Its been quite enjoyable to write so far, therefore I hope you'll enjoy reading it just as much when the time comes next week.

Reviews would be more than appreciated, as they let me know I'm doing something right and heading in the right direction with this. Until next time then!