Chapter 12

Dean looked around at the pile of bodies and felt his lip twitch ever so slightly seeing Loretta dead along with her lackeys. It wasn't that he was for killing humans but he was for dealing serious hurt to people that tried to screw with his family and friends. What he witnessed though did give him a moment to pause and consider a few things. He considered them as he watched as Christian hovered very much like Sam would over Angela to the point where he was certain that Akira would slug him.

He had gone to check on Akira and Bobby and to bring them up to speed on what Sean brought to them and what happened when he and Sam talked to Morpheus. He also wanted to give Bobby the Eye of Horus for safe keeping. As much as the mini leopard was good at protecting the thing since it took a swipe at Sam, he was more confident with Bobby putting it in a box and even delivering it back to the Gauntlet.

It went over better than he thought when he explained that Angela made it seem the keys led to a hiding place. The end game was that it had been returned to the pantheon… at least that was how Morpheus made it sound like. Akira was thoughtful and gave a smirk while saying, "I told you so."

Dean didn't want to admit it but he was kind of glad that Angela had been able to make friends even though she must have been a handful. It was one less thing to worry about but there was still the heart… whatever the hell that was. And he wasn't confident that this was over especially since there was still the matter of Kesset.

They were busy talking and he and Bobby were having a glass of whiskey when Sasha gave a low growl. Dean wasn't a fan of dogs but Cerebus and Sasha had come through on numerous occasions and he wasn't going to start doubting them now. He reached for his gun while Bobby went to get a shotgun. The grizzled hunter wasn't going to get caught with his pants down again.

The rogues came in making noise. Dean was ready and got off a shot and ended up winging one of them. Sasha was growling as she broke the arm of another. There seemed to be more than there were the last time and Dean found himself face to face with Loretta. He glared at her and said, "I warned you not to cross me bitch."

"You have something I want."

"And you're not gonna get your hands on my brother."

"Oh I'll get Sam one way or another. He will pay for his crimes one way or another." Loretta sneered at Dean and slipped into a slight smile. "He'll suffer under my hands and I'll make his death quick."

"And I'll rip your lungs out if you try."

The fight was on and Dean had no problem hitting a girl. Maybe he had a problem with hitting Angela unless it was sparring. He did give a demon bitch a good smack around. Besides he wasn't going to let it get around that a girl was trying to kick his ass and in the beginning was doing a good job of it. And she did get him on his stomach and actually was in a position to yank his arm out of the socket only to be pushed aside by Sean.

Dean was still a bit suspicious of the… whatever he was but he had shown that he was pretty handy to have around and he did tell them that Lenya was after Angela and that she knew about her condition. And the timing was pretty good since it seemed that these guys were all over the place. Dean went to cover Bobby even though he was holding his own. The game changed when they rounded in on Akira.

Dean liked her and since she was a friend of Angela, she was a friend of his. That and the fact that she was close to his girl scored some points. He was not going to let Angela lose a friend so he tried to help her. He saw one of the bastards come up from behind and he went to intercept. He ended up getting tackled from behind and driven into the floor. He did managed to get out, "Kira, look out!"

Akira did manage to get the warning and defended herself but the way she did it… Dean wondered what the hell was wrong. They were trying to kill her and she was doing peculiar movements. Loretta had shifted her attention from Dean and onto Akira and she was going to go for the kill. And Dena was powerless to stop it especially when the bitch taunted him, "You can't even help a friend. What makes you think that you can help your brother?"

The question was never answered because Christian entered the room. The vampire came in like a hurricane from hell and one look told Dean that he was pissed. He didn't blame him really since Loretta had a blade drawn and was going to attack Akira. She didn't get a chance since she was shoved out of the way and Christian went on a blood drawing spree. Mostly he broke their necks with the exception of a few that tried to knife him. It was like watching a bad train wreck and Dean couldn't take his eyes off it except to help Sean with pushing back a few of them.

In the end, the last to die was Loretta and she left few haunting words, "You think you won? You've only lost what is valuable." She died when Christian broke her neck huffing in anger.

When it dawned on Dean what it meant, stormed out followed by Sean and Bobby bringing up a close third. He made a beeline for the shed and found Cerebus bleeding and limping, trying to reach the shed. It only made Dean more worried and he was ready to barge into the shed. He knew he had risked his own safety running into that area without taking into account the traps or whatever else was around.

He entered to find a mess within the shed. Cerebus was in first, limping and sniffing around until he came across Lilah, trying to get to her feet. Dean rubbed her head while making sure his gun was out. He didn't want to take too many chances and he inched his way forward following Cerebus as he sniffed through the shed.

Dean fought with his being to not panic when he followed blood and destruction towards his unconscious baby brother. "Sammy?"

Dean quickly assessed his brother. There was a lot of blood around but when he checked his brother, it didn't look too bad. He poked it and Sam jerked awake, "Easy Sam."

Sam was wide awake and looking around. "Angie?"

Dean found himself being pushed aside as his brother's 6'4" frame got vertical and started looking around wildly. He followed his brother to the bedroom where there was nothing but a piece of paper which Sam grabbed. He walked towards Sam trying to make sure he stayed calm, "Sam… calm down."

"He took her, Dean."

Dean walked up to his brother and slowly took the note out of Sam's hands. He gently pushed Sam to sit on the bed since his brother winced from his injury. He opened and read it and he was ready to rip it in two. For Sam's sake, he kept calm but he couldn't help but express, "Sonofabitch."

"He's taking her to Lenya, Dean," Sam said breathing a little heavily. "I tried…"

Dean turned his attention to Sam and noticed his brother starting to sag and his big brother instincts began to rise. "Hey, hey, hey, don't faint on me, princess."

"Shut up," Sam retorted as he straightened up. He clenched his side and winced. "Come on. We gotta find her."

"And how are we gonna do that and with you bleeding everywhere?" Dean hoped that Sam would realize that he was not exactly in tip top shape to start a chase and they didn't even have a decent lead on anything. "And do you have any idea where she may be?"

It effectively stopped Sam from doing anything reckless. He allowed Dean to help him out in terms of patching him up. Bobby had come in and started asking gentle questions about what happened. In short order it was put together that the attack on the house was a means of reducing the guard on the shed. The grizzled hunter mused, "So this guy, he was wearing a hood like Sean?"

Sam batted Dean's hand away only to receive a glare from his older brother. He glared back and almost defiantly allowed Dean to apply the gauze to cover his injury. "Yeah but it was black. He… Dean stop it."

"Hey, I'm making sure you're okay. There was a lot of blood around you when I found you and that looks like nothing more than a scratch."

"Dean, he stabbed Lilah and we…" Sam gestured around. He wasn't sure about his injury either. He felt the blade go in and it was deeper than that. He was sure of it. At this point though, he didn't care. Angela was gone and it was his fault and he needed to get to work to find her. "I'm fine."

Dean looked at his brother in suspicion. He was wary about his brother's injury since the amount of blood all over the place could be explained by the dog but when he found Sam, it looked like his brother hadn't moved in some time. He was in a mind to call Castiel and ask if he came by but that didn't make sense, the angel would have come… Wait a minute. "Where's Cas?"

"What are you getting at?" Bobby had been watching the boys and the sudden change in topics was a bit fast.

Dean clarified, "Cas should have been here. I mean he's shown up just about every time something major happened to Angie. She said it herself that he's her guardian angel and that means he would have been able to know if she was in trouble."

"True but there might be a reason for that." Bobby shuffled a little uncomfortable in his chair. He looked up at Dean, "Cas may have dampened his connection like he did with Kess." He paused a moment as he looked at the brothers, letting it sink in. "He wouldn't be able to tell or it ended up that he can't tell."

"You mean that Cas decided to flip the switch off?" Dean looked at the hunter with a raise brow.

"In some cases yes… but it was necessary," Castiel's gravelly voice entered. The angel stepped out of the shadows where he had appeared.

"Then what the hell Cas?" Dean looked at the angel.

Castiel looked at the situation and explained, "The child was experiencing a reaction."

"What?"

"He means that Angie was being bothered by whatever was happening to Kess," Bobby clarified.

"That is correct." Castiel was staring but inside he was quaking. He didn't like the feeling and was ready to take off on his own. It seemed that being cut off from heaven dulled his connection and he dulled it even more in an effort to protect his charge. He didn't like it at all. "Guardians can usually sense when their charge is in trouble and respond accordingly. It is rare when it goes the other way."

Dean understood what that meant having remembered what Angela said when she felt the angel had died. He noticed Sam was listening and hanging onto every word and it was disturbing that his brother wasn't going off on the angel for not even coming. He looked back at Castiel, "So you put a spell on her so she wouldn't feel what happens to you and Kess."

"At her current state she has little to no control over the effects of such a bond. You should know this from other things."

The Winchesters and Bobby couldn't deny that. They had dealt with that on many an occasion and it had proven interesting. Surprisingly it was Sam that spoke up and on a note that wasn't the explosive variety, "So you were just helping her. You didn't want her to suffer."

"Exactly."

It sounded abrupt and cold but the three hunters could tell in that instant there was a lot that went on between Angela and the angel behind the scenes. It explained a few things like why she when she was pissed with him, it was more like when she was upset with the brothers and gave a cold shoulder. Had it been that dickhead Zachariah, she would have angel reamed his ass and not give two cents about the consequences. There were also a few times she got away with certain gestures that the angel wouldn't normally allow.

Sam understood and while he was a bit upset that the angel couldn't do anything; he was more upset with himself for his failures. He was willing to give the angel some slack. He nodded in understanding while Dean looked at the angel and asked, "Okay so turn on your end. Find her."

"It's not that simple, Dean."

"Sounds like it to me."

"Dean." Sam was trying to be reasonable about everything. "He's not saying that he can't. It's difficult." He looked to the angel for clarification.

"Sam is right. Because I've been cut off, it has been… difficult," Castiel admitted. "But not impossible. The Heart may be able to help. It is an amplifier."

"News flash Feathers: we ain't got it."

Dean was inclined to agree and was trying to explain to the angel that all they had was the Eye and that they didn't have time to be looking for something. In the meantime Sam was thinking about it and it occurred to him something that Angela said before this started. He was gone with Bobby asking where the hell he was going.

He was back within ten minutes and holding the bear. Dean was looking at him and asked, "You skipped out for the damn bear."

"Not the bear, Dean. What's on it." Sam held up the teddy for all of them to see. "Will this work Cas?"

Gabriel was really to blow a crater into the moon for the sheer hell of it. He couldn't believe that one of them got through and did what they did. He was definitely going to rip something apart if he got his hand on something that would. He was pissed and he was even ready to lay a few heavy handed lessons on the numbskulls that were supposed to be watching her and boy did he have a few good ones to lay on them.

He didn't get why they went back there though he did have to hand it to Dean that where the shed was had some pretty good traps laid out even though they were part of the training course his Cat had built. It was a pretty good idea and he could give them that and they had three mutts with hell hound heritage. Still though it was Cat.

He sensed her fear and it drew him like a moth to a flame. He got there but she was gone and he found Sam on the ground and bleeding out from a stab wound. One look told him who was responsible and he was ready to charge after them but Sam was pretty much dying on the floor. The wound was meant for Sam to bleed out slowly and essentially death.

Gabriel knew that if he wasn't working behind the scenes, his Cat would have insisted he helped. And he knew if he didn't then she wouldn't forgive him. While he was upset at the turn of events, he admired Sam put up a fight given the state of the place. Plus he did like Sam and only because he pretty much made his Cat happy even though some of the actions he did want to give him a bit of an ass kicking. Dean did that and Cat did to in her way so…

He could have healed Sam completely but he didn't have much time and he was not being too generous. He was generous enough to keep Sam from dying but the bonehead was going to have to do the work to get her back. When this was over though, he was going to fix it. Gabriel figured that Sam got the point by now. It was risky since the spell wasn't complete but in all honesty, he had enough and he was certain Sam had enough. Those alpha instincts were on overdrive and probably driving him insane.

Gabriel paced around trying to think of what to do without interfering too much since he overheard the 'meeting' between the hunters and his favorite little brother Castiel. There was something in the works though he suspected that something was up. He told the kid to tell Cat where he was or at least give enough to tell her so she could tell the boys and they would do whatever it is the hell they did.

It occurred to him that more went on the conversation between Cat and Kesset than he anticipated. He completely forgot that as a guardian of the royal family, Kesset was obliged to follow any orders given to him no matter how ridiculous. Knowing his Cat, she would have suggested something and the guard would have taken it as an order. Gabriel shook his head. He was definitely making the same mistake as the Winchesters did and ran a hand through his hair. It would definitely be something his Cat would do and it wouldn't matter what size. If Kesset was as badly hurt as he saw, then she would think of something.

The only way he was going to be able to figure this out was to flip the switch so to speak and try to find them and then figure out how to get the Winchesters and their asses over there. Maybe it could work since he had a stronger connection with his Cat than Kesset. That was probably why he had a tough time. Besides his Cat was a little unusual so…

"I hope you don't intend to do anything foolish."

"You know me Ami."

Amitiel sighed as she looked at her brother pacing back and forth trying to think of something. "Yes I do. And when you're that deep in thought, I am not sure if I should worry."

Gabriel looked up at the Angel of Truth and gave his more endearing grin, "But you know me Ami." He teased her by wagging his eyebrows.

"Incorrigible."

"But you love Cassy."

"Blow it out your ass."

"No wonder you like Cat so much. She's like you." Gabriel was grinning and he realized that the levity was lessening the burden on his thoughts. An idea was starting to form and he let it fester as he talked to the only other angel that was able to get that close to him in terms of familiarity. "Aware but pretends it doesn't exist."

"And you were the one pretty much encouraging her."

"Actually I encouraged her to continue to open her heart. Now that I think about it, I should have done that reverse psychology thing." He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders like it was nothing. "Tends to do the opposite I suggest at times."

Amitiel huffed a bit as she looked at the angel smirking at her. Gabriel was right in that respect and it seemed that directing his anger into teasing was helping him with something. He was getting that twinkle in his eye when he was coming up with something good. It was hard to miss especially when he wanted you to see it. "It's only because you can't keep your nose out of things that don't concern you."

"Cassy is my concern and you know he can't hide anything from me."

"More like you scared him into telling you everything."

"No fair Ami. If you don't play fair then I won't tell you how I aim to fix this."

Amitiel gave a slow nod, "Meaning you find her and make Sam work for it."

"The only way Ami." At the look he was getting, Gabriel sighed figuring that a little explaining was in order. "It's the only way to appease Sammy boy."

"I would think that finding her safe would be enough."

"Not really." Gabriel shuffled on his feet. Sometimes he wished he wasn't the Messenger and he didn't know everything. He had been kind of forced to when he first found his Cat. He had to learn everything about her kind and a few other things that he had never bothered with before. It sucked sometimes knowing things. "Sam won't be satisfied until he does it himself. It's an… alpha thing."

Amitiel looked at Gabriel. He couldn't be serious could he? "Are you joking?"

"Sometimes I wish I could but... nope. And I don't know if it is comical or sad in that it's not even official."

Amitiel wasn't sure of what to think of that since it was unusual and she was familiar with human sensibilities. "I'm sure it is more parental given her current size."

"No I don't think so." Gabriel made a slight face while his voice took on a sing song tone. "Believe me I've seen what Sam does. I mean put a sharp object in his hand and he goes full metal jacket on principle."

"Considering what you put him through those endless Tuesdays."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Please. You've taken such an interest in them the moment the proverbial train started rolling." Amitiel had crossed her arms over her chest and looked at nothing in particular. "That and you always make the effect less severe for her."

"Hey it was a lesson Sam needed to learn."

"Don't try that with me."

"Usually works with ya."

Amitiel snorted at that. "I still think you are jumping the gun on this. I see it as more parental."

"And I will be there to prove you wrong Ami." Gabriel leaned in almost taunting her. "I would tell you how I was going to do it but I actually have to run. Maybe later we could pick it up where we left off." He lowered his eyes and wagged his brows in seductive manner.

Amitiel narrowed her eyes at the angel. She was about to say something but a flap of wings occurred and he was gone. He always was like that but she was concerned too. Gabriel may become lighthearted when put in the mood but he could carry a grudge too. She was concerned with what he was going to do but she knew that if she interfered, it would be a whole lot worse and… she didn't want Absolution or Sam to get caught in the crossfire. She looked up at the sky and muttered, "You better not do something that will have her pissed at you."

She could almost see Gabriel wagging his eyebrows in that teasing manner. She had no idea why he turned out to be a trickster. She could only sigh and hope that things worked out. That and she would go and make sure nothing was going to bother the Winchesters or Absolution. It was business as usual.

A/N: Looks like Sam is okay and Gabe is spitting mad and has a plan. What now? Stay tuned for more Memory Resolved...