Title: Under the Influence of Djinn
Chapter: Thirty-two
Summary: AU: The Djinn siblings created a terrible detailed nightmare for Dean out of revenge, nearly killing him, Lisa, and Ben. With Sam alive, Castiel missing, and Campbell cousins in tow, he tries to pull himself back together.
Rating: T
isclaimer: Supernatural was created by Eric Kripke. No disrespect in intended with this work of fan fiction.
Notes: Thank you for the comments!

It was over. The fight with Raphael was over and Gabriel felt a wave of sorrow crash over him as he looked at the wings burned into the ground. So many wings and not all her followers. The garrison had lost several as well and Gabriel mourned for them all. Was this how Michael had felt every time one of theirs was lost? The loss of all of them hurt and he didn't even know some of their names.

He sighed and cast a glance towards the sky. All that was left was to round up her followers and hand out punishments.

He turned his attention to Dean and Sam. Castiel was already healing Dean's injuries, so Gabriel stepped to Sam and checked on him. He was glad the protection he'd put on the two had held when Nia had pulled her reckless stunt. She was made to be able to circle low like that with no damage to humans, but the rest weren't. They should have known better, but he supposed in the heat of battle they'd lost their heads about that. They'd followed Nia's lead and there were consequences from that.

In seconds, Sam was well and Gabriel put him in a deep sleep and ordered Castiel to do the same to Dean. The two were placed in their room to rest in comfort. Gabriel and Castiel still had work to do while their army fought above in the skies. Chatter said they were winning. One of the voices reminded him of a sports newscaster. 'Raphael's angels are pushing Gabriel's back, but wait! The tide is turning! Gabriel's forces are stronger than Raphael anticipated and with the death of their leader, Raphael's army is descending into chaos amongst themselves.'

Gabriel set Castiel to healing those humans damaged in Nia's circling with the garrison while he put the area back together. Michael wouldn't have bothered, but Gabriel knew he should do this. Dean and Sam, mostly Dean he thought, would expect him to fix things and would pester him until he did. A flick of his finger returned the cars to their original positions. Another flick repaired the damage to them. One wave of a hand took care of the debris from the buildings. Glass was restored, brick and stone once more in place.

As he was working, Naomi arrived with a small team. She was flushed and smiling, reporting victory.

"Castiel's plan worked." She sounded surprised by that. "They weren't expecting so many different areas of attack."

"It was a good plan. Take your team and assist Castiel. There are people that need to be healed and have their memories altered. Nothing drastic, Naomi. Find out what Castiel has been having them remember and go with that."

She moved off and he sat down on the curb beside Dean's beloved Impala. Reaching out, he fixed the alignment for Dean and took care of a few tiny dents and scratches. A shadow fell across him and he looked up.

Castiel was there, hands in his pockets. "It's done."

"You look tired."

"I am tired. I expended a lot of energy today. I'll need to rest soon."

Naomi approached once more. "Congratulations, Gabriel. You won this battle."

He glanced at the body of Raphael's vessel and slowly shook his head. "Wasn't me. It was Dean Winchester who killed her."

Her smile faltered. "I don't believe you."

"What's not to believe?"

"He's human. An archangel can't be killed by -"

"Check his memories." He waved a hand towards the motel room. "You'll see it's the truth."

Castiel placed himself in front of the door. "No. I don't want her anywhere near Dean's memories and if she tries, I'll kill her."

Naomi clucked her tongue. "Such hostility, Castiel. What have I done to earn it?"

"Do you want that list alphabetized or in chronological order?"

Gabriel snorted while trying to hold back a laugh at that. He got up. "No need to be so defensive, Castiel. We'll all go. It's about time they woke up, anyway."

He was the last one into the room, taking a last look at the parking lot before closing the door behind him.

Coming to, Dean found Gabriel, Castiel, and Naomi looking him over. His jaw no longer hurt and he could hear again. Naomi kept repeating, 'I had no idea', over and over, while Castiel would snort and reply, 'I did. How could you not?'.

Dean sat up. His back didn't even hurt and he silently thanked the angel who'd healed him for remembering his back. Probably Castiel. Cas would remember a detail like that.

Gabriel pulled a chair over and sat. "You could have been killed but you showed no hesitation in stabbing Raphael anyway. Dean…I…." His smart mouth and cocky attitude seemed to have deserted him and this emotional moment from Gabriel made Dean uncomfortable. He didn't want Gabriel feeling like he owed him anything.

"All in a day's work." He'd withstood Raphael just like he'd withstood Zachariah. He didn't want to acknowledge the significance of that. "Not a big deal." But it was a big deal. He shouldn't be able to do that. It seemed to be easy for a man to withstand the death of a lower angel. It was the higher ups that everyone seemed to think were impossible to withstand.

"Not a big deal," Naomi repeated. She looked stunned and confused. "How can you be so nonchalant about this? You, a human, withstood the death of an archangel. An archangel. You were up close."

"Yeah, so? I killed her. Not like Gabriel was having any luck right then." Dean pretended an indifference he didn't really have about it. In fact, he was very afraid of what that meant because things like that, in his experience, always had a meaning and not usually a good one. Things like that meant he'd have angels on his doorstep all the time or the ruler of hell after him. Not that that didn't happen anyway, it just cemented it all.

Naomi's eyes went wide. "Remarkable."

"I could have told you that." Castiel rolled his eyes.

"But you didn't. Dean, you should have been killed. Gabriel, did you know this? Did you know that this man is a servant of Heaven? A protector of heaven and earth?"

Gabriel didn't answer. He merely watched Dean with a strangely vulnerable gaze, like he wasn't sure what to do with him now.

Castiel quirked a brow. "It was all there in the record of events, Naomi. If you'd bothered to read them, you'd know that Dean killed not only Zachariah, but also the Whore." The implication was that Naomi hadn't had enough interest in the apocalypse to follow what had happened. "It's plain in those two acts. Dean is a servant and protector."

She turned to him. "You knew?"

Now he shrugged. Going to the cooler, he got out a beer and opened it before answering. "He's Michael's true vessel. It makes sense that Dean is the protector, the one we, as angels, can turn to for human assistance with heavenly matters."

For a second, Dean wondered what that made Sam then, but dismissed that line of thought as more uncomfortable than Gabriel owing him a debt. He looked over to where Sam was sitting on the other bed. He was holding his head like he had the worst of hangovers. "Someone tell me where Jo and Daphne are. Or Nia. Whoever."

"They're safe." For a second, a smug light came into Gabriel's eyes. "I had Hezekiah remove them both from the battle and guard over them."

Castiel choked on the mouthful of beer he'd just taken. He coughed, then asked, "You forcibly removed Jo from the battle?" He shook his head and set down the bottle. "I'd better go make sure she didn't kill Hezekiah thinking he was kidnapping them to use them against us later." He winked from view.

Gabriel turned his head to study Sam, then went to him and touched his forehead. "Is that better, Sam?"

"Yeah, thanks." He glanced around the room. "I'm guessing we won?"

Dean swung his legs over the side of the bed and gripped the edge of the mattress. "Yup. And apparently I'm some sort of protector of both heaven and earth."

"Huh." Sam nodded. "Cool. Does that come with a salary?"

"No, it does not," Naomi replied in a cold voice. "It's a position of great honor. It means that -"

"Nothing." Gabriel waved a hand. "It means nothing. It's a title and not much else contrary to what Castiel said."

"But -"

"A title, Naomi. That's all."

He wondered on Gabriel's insistence and decided he didn't really care as long as it meant they wouldn't harass him. His phone began to buzz and Dean took it from his jacket pocket. It was Gwen. He excused himself and stepped outside to take it. He found what she had to say rather interesting.

After traveling for long hours, Gwen picked up a car and made the final trek to Bobby Singer's house. She would have preferred if the two buses she'd been on hadn't gotten stranded with engine trouble, delaying her, but those things did happen on occasion. Rather than continue on bus, she'd gotten a car and driven herself the rest of the way. She parked beside a car far newer than any Bobby ever drove and got out.

Gwen closed the car door and leaned against it a moment, sighing.

Halfway here she'd begun to regret her decision and had agonized over calling Castiel and apologizing for her stupidity in leaving. That stricken look on his face had stayed with her and her determination to find this demon had turned to the uncomfortable realization that she'd made a selfish decision. Dean had once told her that going after the demon was selfish and he was right.

Her call had gone to voicemail and Cas hadn't returned the call. Guess that meant he was upset with her, which he had every right to be. She'd acted stupid and thought it served her right. She'd wait another couple days before trying him again, give him time to cool off.

Going to the door, she knocked. Why she couldn't have met Bobby and Rufus there baffled her a little, but Bobby had wanted her to pick him up. He'd insisted she had to come get him. Maybe he planned to give her another talk on the demon on the way out. Right now, she'd even welcome someone telling her she was a dumbass for coming after it.

The air smelled faintly like barbecue sauce and she took a long deep breath. It smelled fresh, like it hadn't been long since whatever Bobby had cooked had come off the grill. Her stomach growled. She hadn't bothered stopping for lunch.

There was a burst of feminine laughter from inside. Cocking her head, she listened closer. She also thought she heard a masculine voice swearing. It didn't sound like the television. She knocked again.

There were footsteps and the panel jerked open. Bobby stood there. He was in a state of disarray. His hair was mussed and his shirt was buttoned up wrong. She tried not to stare because she'd never once seen him without a cap on. "Gwen?" He frowned and peered past her at the driveway. "What are you doing here?"

"You called me."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Don't recall that."

"It was a couple days ago. You said Rufus had a lead on my demon and we made plans to join him and hunt it."

He raised a finger. "First off, I ain't seen that no good, son of a bitch Rufus in weeks and if you do see his worthless, backstabbing ass, tell him that if he so much as sets a toe on my property again, I'll shoot him. Then I'll shoot him again for good measure."

"Um…." Gwen shifted her weight from one foot to the other, a little confused.

"Secondly, what did I tell you about going after that demon? Forget it. You've got better things to do than piss away your life chasing a shadow. Thought you were smarter than that, but I guess this definitely makes you Dean and Sam's cousin. Not a good family trait to have and you all got it in spades."

A woman appeared behind him and Gwen's brows rose. Jody Mills was as disheveled as Bobby was. Gwen had only met her a couple times, but she didn't remember them being this friendly. New development? "Gwen, right? I think we met in town once."

"Twice, actually. You're Sheriff Mills."

"I'm off-duty. It's Jody."

"Jody."

Bobby gave Jody an irritated glance. "Don't make small talk. She's leaving."

Jody smiled. "Looks like she just got here. Did I hear a demon mentioned?"

Gwen nodded. "I did just get here and yeah, I mentioned a demon. Let me get this straight, Bobby. You didn't call me with a lead through Rufus, nor did you answer when I called back to confirm plans to meet here, pick you up, and join Rufus."

"Not me."

"Then who the hell did?"

He shrugged.

Jody leaned against the doorframe. Gwen noticed her feet were bare. "Sounds like someone wanted you out of the way. Were you working a job? Getting close to something?"

"You could say that." Who would have wanted her out of the way? Not Dean, Sam, Jo, or even Castiel. That left one of the angels. From what she'd heard of that Naomi, it might have been her.

Gwen was strangely relieved to hear the call had been fake and there was no lead on the demon. Her own flip-flop on that confused her. She'd felt so certain going after it was the thing to do, yet now she was glad she couldn't.

"There you go. Have a nice trip back."

"Bobby." Jody looked at him. "We can at least invite her in for a drink of water or something."

"No, no I'm fine. Sorry I interrupted your evening. I'm just going to go." She got back in the car and started down the drive. Ten minutes later, she pulled over to the side of the road and called Dean. "Dean, hi. I just got to Sioux Falls to pick up Bobby and…. Damn it. Where do I even begin?" She explained what Bobby had said, then asked, "is everything okay there? I mean, is everyone still alive? Has anything happened yet?"

"We're all fine. Battle ended a little bit ago. Lost a few of the good angels, but we won. Cas is out retrieving Jo and Daphne. Don't ask." He was silent a few seconds. "Are you sure you talked to Bobby on the phone? Are you absolutely positive?"

"Yes. It sounded like him. The number was his. If it wasn't him, it was someone who did a very good impression of him and somehow hijacked his phone number, because I did call him back."

"Hmm. Why don't you sit tight for a few hours, let me check it out?"

"I'll head back towards you."

"Sit tight," he repeated. "Take a vacation day. We're switching locations. I'll call you tomorrow with details."

She hung up, drove another couple hours, found a motel, and checked in.