They managed to get through the rest of their meal without Gabriel retaliating, but Sam had a horrible feeling that was only because he had a much worse plot in mind than firecrackers or tainting Dean's food. The archangel had just seemed a touch too happy about something, and the constant smile curling his mouth had gained a malicious, almost evil tilt. Not to mention the mischievous spark in his eyes that had practically roared into a blazing gleam, and the way he kept chuckling under his breath. It all made Sam uncomfortable and frankly a little worried for his brother's wellbeing.

Dean had well and truly poked the bear, and Sam was certain that on their list of exceptionally bad ideas, this was one of his worst. It was definitely up there with injecting himself with the phoenix ash in order to kill Eve and running out in front of Gordon and a fellow hunter to draw their guns away from Sam. Playing with fire was generally considered to be detrimental to your health, and in comparison Gabriel was the Towering Inferno. This was someone who had posed for millennia as a Trickster, and who just happened to have the powers of an archangel, after all.

So when Dean got up to pay for their meal, Sam jumped at the chance. He grabbed the archangel's arm to get his attention and spoke in an urgent whisper so that it wasn't at all possible for Dean to overhear them.

"Please don't do anything life-threatening to him, Gabe.."

"Don't worry, Sammy." Gabriel replied, grinning up at the human beside him. "I'm seventy per cent sure Cassie would be able to stick Deano back together again when I'm done with him. Once he's found all the pieces, obviously."

Sam rolled his eyes and frowned but Castiel's head snapped around to full-out glare at the archangel, his tone holding the promise of destruction and pain. "You will bring no harm to Dean."

Gabriel's grin only grew wider at this. "So you're finally learning to defend your toys? I'm impressed, Cassie." He shook his head and waved a hand in the other angel's direction when Castiel's glare only intensified, and Sam shifted uncomfortably beside him. "Don't worry, I'm kidding. I wouldn't kill him. But you'd be surprised what you can live through.." He added with a smile.

"Gabriel." Castiel said sharply, eyes icy steel.

"Joke, Cassie! Geez, chill. Stop getting your panties in a twist; I'm kidding." Catching both Castiel's serious and Sam's uncomfortable gazes, Gabriel rolled his eyes and slumped back in his seat. "I won't hurt a hair on his head, okay? You two satisfied?"

"I do not find your attempts at humour very amusing."

The archangel pouted around the spoon hanging out of his mouth. "That's 'cos you've got no measureable sense of humour. Sammy thinks I'm funny. Don't you, Samsquatch?"

Sam shrugged. "When you're not waking me up with firecrackers, yeah, you're a riot."

And there it was; that blinding smile that left Sam's insides roiling and twisting. Thankfully, that was when Dean decided to return and Gabriel turned away, not noticing the goofy grin that had unconsciously broken out on Sam's face. Unfortunately for him though, if Dean's smirk and raised eyebrows were anything to go by, he'd been spotted by his older brother. Sam had to resist the urge to groan; ever since Gabriel had come back into their lives and Dean had discovered Sam's not-so-subtle crush, he'd had to endure almost constant teasing. And it wasn't like Sam could turn the tables on him by bringing up Castiel, because Dean was still firmly fixed in the world of denial.

"So, what's the plan now?" Sam asked hurriedly, trying to change the subject.

"I say we go and talk to the families of the other victims." Dean suggested. "Find out why they were in that house in the first place. See if their motives give us any sort of connection so we can figure out why this angel's taking them."

"Sounds like a good idea. Just give me a minute to get back to the motel and change, and we can get started."

"Actually Sammy, I was thinking you should team up with Gabriel while I stick with Cas. If Lea's already seen the two of us working together, it's gonna look a little suspicious if I suddenly have a new partner. That and I don't trust him to be left alone right now." As he finished speaking, he pointed directly at the archangel, whose eyes narrowed and mouth curved into a smirk.

"You had every right to be afraid, Deano." Gabriel replied in a tone of utter calm. "But don't worry; I've been told I'm not allowed to retaliate. So I won't. Well, not while Sammy or Cassie are around, anyways."

Three hours later and Sam was slouched on his bed, leafing through the reports of the families he and Gabriel had gone to visit, including Matt's brother, Andy. The whole thing had been one big torture session in all honesty. Just when he thought seeing Gabriel picking gum off his face while lying across his legs was bad enough, that was before he'd spotted the archangel in a fucking suit.

This was the being that spent his every waking hour with his vessel encased in a shirt, jeans and a jacket. Seeing him dressed so differently suddenly made Sam appreciate why many people had a kink for suits; and now when it came to Gabriel, he was undeniably one of them. The way the snug-fitting clothes clung to the archangel's body was a particularly pleasing sight, and after seeing Gabriel from the back, Sam made a mental note to stay in front at all times if he wanted any chance of keeping his mind fixed on the case.

How he refrained himself from letting his imagination run away with him was some sort of miracle, Sam was certain. And so was the way Gabriel never seemed to notice his sneaking side-glances. Sam just couldn't tear his eyes away from the archangel half the time, and when Gabriel pulled out a fucking lollipop after interviewing Matt and Andy's mother, Sam was pretty certain he forgot just how breathing worked. And yet the archangel remained completely oblivious, which Sam was both delighted about and irritated by in equal measure.

After all, even if Gabriel denied his advances flat out, at least that was some sort of answer. Stuck in this painful limbo was horrible, and Gabriel was around Sam constantly. His reasoning for this being that he and Dean didn't get on, and that he found Sam's company to be much more pleasurable. But if it wasn't Gabriel's flirty comments, it was his smirks, or his sweets, or his Casa Erotica tape that he'd somehow found, and it was all barrelling Sam towards the brink of insanity once again. But on the other hand, if he made a move and Gabriel decided inevitably that he didn't want what Sam was offering, he could decide not to show his face again. At least this way, Sam got to spend time with the archangel.

With a groan, the hunter fell back onto his pillow, slapping the reports into his face.

"Your time of the month, Samantha?" Dean's voice filtered in from somewhere else in their motel room, mocking. He and Castiel had arrived shortly after Sam and Gabriel, and the angels had promptly vanished to take care of important business in Heaven. Not before Gabriel had practically wrenched his tie off, though, revealing a shot of his collarbone that had Sam having to physically hold himself down in order to prevent him doing something he might end up regretting.

"Shut up, Dean." He growled in reply, past the point of being patient with his brother's teasing. "You know this really sucks for me. Thanks for sticking him with me, by the way."

"He's practically glued to your side as it is." Dean said with a shrug, brandishing his own report at Sam. "Besides, what do you think he'd have done if we'd just let him go? We'd have come back here to an alligator or something."

"Don't give him ideas, for God's sake.."

"It's true and you know it, bitch."

"Just because he's with us doesn't mean he's not set something up for you anyway, jerk. Archangel, remember? Just because he has a constant audience doesn't mean he can't still do what he does."

Dean didn't seem to have an answer for that. Instead, he just gave another non-committal shrug and sat on the edge of his bed just across from Sam. "So, what'd you two find out?"

Sam sat up with a huff of air and held up Andy's report. "These two haven't had a very easy time recently. Apparently their father and uncle were in a bad car crash about a month ago. Their dad didn't make it. According to their mother, Andy was really torn up by it. I asked Matt, and he said he thought Andy blamed himself for what happened. They were driving out to pick Andy up when it happened."

Dean pulled a face while Sam nodded grimly, then set the report aside and picked up two at once. One showed a photograph of a smiling woman with flowing auburn hair and bright, brown eyes. Around her neck was a necklace of sapphire-blue gems with a golden charm dangling from the end. The other was what looked like a police photograph. It showed a man with dark, messy hair, yet his expression was alive with cockiness and charisma.

"Barbara Roberts and Larry Luddy. She's from this really well-off family in town, and they weren't exactly sold on the idea of their only daughter abandoning her morals and seeing an ex-prisoner. Not even Gabriel could find anyone related to the guy, so his backstory was a total bust. All we got is that he went to prison for theft. God knows how these two even met, but it looks like they just ran away together."

"And what have they got to do with the house and its resident angel?" Dean asked, brows furrowed.

"Nothing, you'd have thought. I mean, if I were going to run away with someone, I wouldn't hang about. But apparently they decided to take a detour to the house, and the angel chose them. Neighbours saw two people matching their descriptions breaking in and they called the police, but when they arrived, there wasn't anybody in there."

"And did the cops notice anything weird?"

"Apart from two people still inside seeming to have vanished into thin air, you mean?" Sam asked dryly, and Dean scowled at him. "Gabe managed to work something out of one of them, but it's not really anything. Nothing we don't know already, anyway. Just that the air was thick, and the room was really bright when he first walked in."

"So we've got a kid on a dare, a girl hiding from a fight and a couple on the run from her family. Not seeing much of a connection here so far, Sammy." Dean muttered, rubbing a hand over his face.

Sam grimaced. "It gets better."

He abandoned Barbara and Larry's reports, and picked up the last two of his pile, both of which showed two teenage boys. The first was slightly overweight but with a beaming, almost burningly warm smile on his face and his blue eyes alight with life, even in the picture. The second couldn't have been further from the first. He was skin and bones with a shallow face and a pinched expression, as if he had a bad smell under his nose.

"David Goodman," Sam waved the second report, "And John Spade were the last ones to go missing. David's an orphan but was adopted by someone in Barbara's family, and according to everyone at his school, he's a jackass. And at the other end of the spectrum is John. Not great family, but pretty much adored by everyone we spoke to. Couldn't fault him in any way, except he's got a temper. Apparently some kids decided David needed to be taken down a peg or two, and told him about the ghost. David said they were pathetic for believing in something so childish, so they told him to spend the night."

"So wait, the stupid kid hears its haunted and that people have actually been going missing, and he still goes in?" Dean asked incredulously.

"We deal with this kind of stupid every other week, Dean." Sam reasoned with a frown. "Anyway, John apparently hears what these guys have done and he goes after David to stop him, and next thing we know they're gone." Sam slid the reports on top of the new pile and shook his head. "Still not much of a connection. Please tell me you and Cas have something worthwhile."

But Dean's scowl only deepened as he held up a single report; the one depicting the father and young son. "Albert and Alex Root. Alex manages to get away from his dad for a few minutes, finds the house and decides to explore it. Dad finds him after a frantic search but that's when they both vanish. Thing is, this one happened in broad daylight, and a couple of neighbours swear they heard the kid scream. Sick."

Sam ran a hand through his hair. "There wasn't any blood when we went to check it out."

"No, but if it really is an angel we're dealing with, we know they're more than capable of cleaning up after themselves. Hurting kids, though. Fucking douchebags." Dean's tone clearly portrayed his disgust as he laid the report down.

"That's highly discriminatory, I hope you realise. Not all of us are douchebags."

Both hunters jumped as Gabriel spoke from behind Sam. He was laid out on the younger Winchester's bed, his feet overlapping at the ankles, hands crossed behind his head. A moment later and Castiel had also appeared directly next to Dean's bed, though the elder Winchester managed to refrain from starting a second time. He was probably too busy glaring at the archangel.

"Cas might not be, but you certainly are."

Gabriel smirked. "Oh, and if you think alligators are the worst thing I can come up with, you clearly have a lot to learn."

"I told you not to give him ideas, Dean.." Sam said, then blanched as realisation set in. If Gabriel had heard that, what else had he heard?

"Oh please, Sammy! Like I need him to give me ideas; come on."

Dean rolled his eyes but obviously caught Sam's impression of a deer in the headlights, because he hastily changed the subject. "What are you guys doing back here? I thought you were busy tonight?"

"We had to check up on a few things, but nobody upstairs seems to know what's going on. Or if they do, they're not saying. So Cassie had a rather brilliant idea."

"I merely offered the suggestion that we should accompany Dean and Sam to the house in case we are able to sense what they cannot."

Seeing as nobody had any other ideas, and Sam wanted desperately to escape from the idea that Gabriel had heard what he and Dean had been discussing just after the alligator comment, the Winchesters piled into the Impala and set off while the angels flew ahead. All too soon they were back at the cliché excuse for a house of horrors, looking as empty and unnaturally still as ever. Dean went straight to forcing his way inside, Castiel on his heels, leaving Sam and Gabriel outside to perform a perimeter check.

"I don't get why we bothered with this." Sam muttered suddenly as he poked around in the overgrown weeds at the back of the house with his handgun. "I mean, why would it be any different than when we were here the last time?" With a sigh, he stood and turned to Gabriel. "Can you feel anything?"

The archangel gave the smallest of nods. "Yes. It's definitely an angel, but I'm struggling to pinpoint just who. They've masked their Grace from me well. Almost like they knew I'd come here."

Before Sam could ask any of the questions that had exploded in his brain in a flurry at that revelation, he heard something that made his blood turn to an icy mush in his veins.

"Sam!"

It was Dean's voice, and he sounded panicked and in pain. Both he and Gabriel started, and the archangel spun on his heel to stare at the house, his expression melting into one of understanding. He reached out a hand to still Sam and to warn him to leave, immediately, but the younger Winchester wasn't beside him anymore. Without thinking, reacting on blind instinct alone, Sam had taken off across the grass, leaving the archangel frozen for a moment behind him. He then heard Gabriel's voice yelling at him to stop, to wait, but he didn't listen; he couldn't. He tore through the door to the house and was halfway across the room when the atmosphere in front of him shifted and Gabriel appeared from nowhere, looking furious.

"Think, idiot! Deano has Cassie with him! Don't you think I'd have felt it if he was hurt? Your brother is fine, but he won't be if we stay here much longer! This is a trap, and we have to go now!"

"What -" Sam began, but his voice died in his throat at the sound of approaching boots on the floorboards.

"What the fuck are you shouting about, Gabriel?!" Dean suddenly surged into the room a moment later and Sam felt a twinge of shame. It was just after everything they'd been through, hearing Dean screaming out for his help like that.. It snapped something inside Sam, and he hadn't been able to resist reacting. It was reflex, something that just came naturally to him.

"We have to go, now." Gabriel repeated, already moving towards the door. "Just keep Castiel -"

But before he could finish his sentence, the angel in question suddenly appeared in the doorway just behind Dean and Gabriel swore loudly instead. "What is going on?"

Gabriel had just opened his mouth to speak when it happened. One moment, the only source of light where the two torches Sam and Dean were carrying. The next, a bomb made entirely of blinding illumination had erupted in the very centre of the room, just in front of where the hunters and archangel were standing. With twin yells, Sam and Dean threw their arms over their eyes as they staggered backwards, multi-coloured dots bursting before their visions. Sam was only just aware of someone's hand cinching around his upper arm and Castiel's yell for Dean was almost completely drowned out by the sudden rushing of air in his ears before he blacked out.

Bobby had said it himself several times; he was a paranoid bastard.

So when several of his calls to both Sam and Dean's phones had yielded nothing but the same repeated voicemail messages, he had to set out and see what was going on for himself. If his boys were in danger he was getting involved; it was as simple as that. Luckily, Sam had told him exactly where they were staying the last time they had spoken, as well as the location for the house he had sent them out to find.

Bobby Singer also wasn't a man of many words. So when he checked all known locations of the Winchesters and their idjit angels and found nothing except the Impala, an empty house and an equally deserted motel room, there was only one thing he could say.

"Balls."

Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry about the delay with this chapter. I had three essays to finish before Christmas, plus just before Christmas Day I got an awful case of stomach flu. Ack, not nice. x_x

On a more positive note; finally, the story's beginning to move.. xP Hopefully I can get the next chapter up before I have to go back to Uni, but since they've set us work to do - over freaking Christmas, I know - I can't set anything in stone. But I'll give it my best ^^

Reviews will be greatly appreciated; I kept re-reading the ones I have while stuck in bed and they kept my spirits from hitting rock bottom! You guys absolutely rule! I hope your Christmases were spent in significantly better health than mine was, and I hope you have a great New Year! :D