Direct lines are pulled from the transcript from season 11 episode 18.
.-~*~-.
It wasn't that he was exactly bothered by Sam's reaction to his offer for help, he had known it wouldn't be a simple task to earn their trust. Especially Sam's. He'd put Sam through Hell, admittedly played favorites, and he knew getting Sam to agree would be significantly more difficult than Dean. Sam had been through a lot more with him than the older of the brothers.
A fact he didn't mind too much. Sam could hate him all he wanted. He didn't owe him anything. All he'd done was try to right the younger brother's path. The fact that Sam hadn't listened wasn't his fault. It was Sam's. Him and his blind stupidity that kept screwing the world over again and again.
So, when they needed his help, they would ask.
.-~-.
He wasn't annoyed. No, not at all. Why would he be annoyed that the dumbasses had screwed around for a solid month before praying to him for help?
That was insane.
"Gabriel, we need your help." Why was it they insisted on praying verbally? A prayer was a prayer either way. Maybe they thought praying out loud made it easier to hear? Whatever.
"You two are hopeless." A snap of his fingers and he was standing in a parking lot with his arms crossed over his chest. "A month." It was dark out but they had parked under a lightpost that illuminated them more than enough. Both brothers were leaning against their car, looking anywhere but at him.
"I know." Dean responded, shifting uncomfortably. "Look-"
"I want to hear it from him." Gabriel's gaze darted to the younger Winchester whose gaze darted up to glare defiantly. "C'mon, Sam."
"Crowley called-"
"Yes, Luci's puppy. I'm aware. Again I say, I want to hear it from you. Ask, Sam."
"Why does it matter?"
"Because I enjoy tormenting you. I love the helpless look on your face and I bask in your misery." The shared looks of disdain were enough to tell him they didn't buy the bullshit response. "Fine. I need to be certain that I'm not going to be stabbed in the back." Gabriel admitted, forcing himself to relax as he leaned back against the light post. "Look, boys. I didn't come to you last month because I wanted to. I came because I needed to. It's the right thing to do, but I don't trust you any more than you trust me and I don't want to risk my life helping you if you're going to try to kill me. I know exactly what you're hiding in that bunker and I don't trust that it won't be turned on me. I'm the reason those damned Men of Letters had some of that junk. So I want to be sure that coming into this, I'm coming back out. I don't get any more redos unlike you two dimwits."
"We need your help." Sam admitted after a long, searching stare. "Whatever Crowley says, he's not exactly number one on my to trust list."
"Which is smart." Gabriel responded, "Crowley's a snake, but he did escape. Whatever he's up to, he's not under Lucifer's command."
"You're sure?" Dean asked.
"Positive. That said. I wouldn't trust him. Not with my life, and you shouldn't either."
"We don't trust him." Sam defended.
"That's why you were going to go without talking to me? Honestly, Sam. I'm not in the mood for bullshit. I've been around. I listen. And if you aren't going to be straight with me, then I'm leaving. Deal with my brother and the once King of Hell on your own. I volunteered, doesn't mean I have to stick around."
"The world's ending." It was a very unneeded reminder. He was more than aware of the situation. Dean didn't have to try to guilt trip him with it. Guilt was one of the many things he didn't do.
"Yeah. It is. Thanks for the reminder, dumbass." Gabriel scowled, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Sam. "So, Sam. Ask. I want it out of your mouth."
The younger Winchester ground his teeth in clear anger before nodding once. "Fine. Gabriel, will you help us?"
Smiling, "Say 'please'."
"Are you serious?"
"Nah, it's fine." Gabriel smirked, pushing off the post and looking between the brothers. "Of course I'll help."
"But?" Dean asked, eyes narrowing.
"But I want to make a deal. Don't worry. Not selling your souls. I already saved them. I want you both to swear on something that matters. I need a guarantee that when it comes down to it, because I know exactly where this goes, that you two muttonheads will do whatever needs to be done. No matter the cost. Because this isn't going to be some fairytale. I've told you both before. I'd kill for this to end wrapped in a bow, really. That's the dream. But you both know by now that it can't end simple. Dealing with my aunt, you both have to be ready to throw all your cards in. If you'll do that, then I'll return the favor. But if we're not all in, then this is going to blow up in all of our faces."
The brothers shared a single, unreadable look before looking back at him. "We have to fix this."
"Then I'm in. Let's see what Crowley's got for you. Who knows? He might surprise us by not being a dick."
The look on both Sam and Dean's faces said enough. They knew better. So did he.
.-~-.
"Nice digs. The Crypt Keeper out of town?" Dean remarked as they spotted Crowley standing in the middle of the warehouse. Gabriel had chosen a basic disguise, nothing major, but he had to admit he was hot as hell. If the look Dean had given him was anything to go by he shared the thoughts. For now, he was a 'human'. Hunter if asked. The choice of a female appearance was just a fun perk. Crowley eyed his female, blonde form for a moment before disregarding him completely to glower at Dean.
"I'm lucky to be alive. Lucifer had me trussed up like a dog in my own palace." Father help him. Crowley wasn't this pathetic, was he?
"'Palace'? Oh, you mean the abandoned nuthouse." Gabriel couldn't' stop from grinning at that, his smile broadening even further at Crowley's response. Oh, did he know. But God was it good to hear it from the mouth of the victim.
"He kept me in a kennel!" Sam and Dean were smiling too, and damn was that a good sign. It meant they weren't completely lost to the dreadful atmosphere that always seemed to loom around them of late. "And he turned all his demons... my demons... against me. They scour the earth, day and night, looking to kill me. He has to be dealt with."
"No shit." Gabriel remarked, immediately deciding he didn't like the pitched female voice of his current form. Why had he chosen a female? Oh, right. Because Dean had dared him to. If he could do it, why not? So now he was a 5'4 blonde woman with his Vessel's eyes because he couldn't quite let go of sharing some of the traits. The plaid was a tragedy but hunters seemed to love looking like lumberjacks, without the beards, so it was a given that to play the part, he needed to dress it.
"So is this why you brought us here? Some lousy grudge match with Lucifer?" No. There was more. Definitely more. Gabriel eyed the demon with a mixture of disdain and curiosity. He'd been near a Hand of God, recently. Though Gabriel couldn't tell where it was or which one. Best let the brothers deal with the talking.
"Yeah, where's this, uh, Hand of God you were talking about?" Gabriel shot a look at Sam, eyes narrowing. They hadn't thought to tell him about the damned Hand of God?
"I'm getting to that. Your only hope of subduing Amara is to match the level of power that she possesses." It was possible that they could power Sam up with a Hand of God, get Luci to join them… but they needed more. This wasn't enough.
"No kidding. And?"
"And I have the Horn of Joshua." So that was a Hand? Interesting. Now that he had the name, he could, theoretically, track it. But it was also worth listening to what Crowley had to say before he did.
"Joshua? As in the Joshua that won the battle of Jericho?"
"And I'm willing to entrust it to your capable hands." But? The brothers looked between eachother then back at Crowley, skepticism clear as day in their posture. "What? I just said I'd give you the thing."
"If?" Both brothers asked at the same time, narrowing their eyes as Gabriel eyed the demon with annoyance.
"Is this how you say 'thank you'? You think these things grow on bloody trees?!"
"Is he always like this?" Gabriel snorted, crossing his arms over his chest to glare at the annoyed demon.
"Cut the crap, Crowley. With you, there's always an 'if'."
"Fine. I will give you the Horn if you help me exorcise Lucifer from Castiel's vessel and then return him immediately to the Cage."
"Are you kidding me?" Gabriel bit out with a glare.
"Anne." Dean warned him using the crappy alias he'd thrown out and he snorted. "Okay. And where is this horn?"
"Safely hidden, naturally." Crowley's gaze was on him, suspicious as all hell.
"Yeah." Dean responded.
"Crowley, even if we could exorcise Lucifer out of Cas, the Cage is damn near impenetrable. It took a spell from the Book of the Damned to spring Lucifer, and Rowena hid the book." Not to mention that she was dead. Yeah, that was probably something he should've told the brothers. Where the hell was Crowley's logic?
"And we would need both the book and her to even have a shot." Not that it was a smart plan. It was stupid. Maybe he should kill Crowley and get it over with. They didn't need stupidity.
"Did I say this would be easy? No. I did not."
"Do you even know where Rowena is?"
"Rotting somewhere, I assume. Lucifer snapped her neck." Gabriel stiffened slightly when he felt a change in Heaven, a shift of environment... Damn. Lucifer was in Heaven.
'You feel that?' Lucifer asked him silently, and he did. Not just Lucifer. Amara too. Damn it. This was not going well.
"Hold on, okay? Let's just put it in reverse. We will put Lucifer back in the Cage after we put Amara back on ice. It has to happen in that order, otherwise there is no Lucifer, there's no Cage, there's no nothing."
"He's spent years marinating in hate against us! He has to go."
"Problem is, we may need him." Sensible Sam, correct Sam. This was stupid, this entire situation was stupid.
"Look, Crowley. It's this simple. Four archangels and God took on Amara last time she was out. There's no way we're doing this fight without him. There's maybe a fraction of a chance it works with him."
"Anne-"
"Shut up, Dean." Gabriel ground out, stepping past Thing One and Thing Two and meeting the gaze of the world's most unfortunate King. "Four archangels, plus God. You hearing me here? There's a whole hell of a lot more going on than your damned ego!"
"He had me cleaning the floors with my tongue! He called me 'puppy'! He made me beg!" Crowley responded, glaring at him. "Who in the bloody hell is this?" He demanded.
"A friend." Crowley clearly didn't buy it, his glare set firmly on Gabriel rather than acknowledging the complete logic of their defense. God, he wanted to smite him. "All right. Come on. Is this what this is about? Huh? Your stupid ego? The fact that he dissed you in front of a bunch of stupid demons? You're smarter than this. Come on!" Dean was clearly trying to draw Crowley's focus back to him but Gabriel was not going to sit in the back of this crap conversation.
"Dean's right. Priority is to put the Horn in Lucifer's hands and set him loose on Amara." Not the plan either.
"Not Luci's hands." Okay, he was done with this bullshit. "Fergus Roderick MacLeod. You're going to get your head outta your ass and your going to hand over that Hand."
"Do you-"
"If you don't, I'm going to smite you into oblivion. You have ten seconds."
"Gabriel!" Sam was clearly panicked, but his name was more than enough to strike shock and just a bit of fear into Crowley's expression.
"You brought-"
"Oh, stop your whining, Crowley." Gabriel scowled, snapping his fingers and transporting the hunters to the Bunker so he could chat with the demon in private. As his disguise melted away, Crowley took a disturbed step back.
"I- What in the bloody hell were they thinking!"
"They were thinking that they should rely on help from someone that knows what the hell they're talking about. So, where's the Hand at, Crowley?"
"It's in a safe place." Crowley tried again, shifting uneasily.
"As much as I hate my brother, and boy do I hate him. He literally stabbed me in the heart. I'm willing to look past my damned ego for the sake of this planet. I know you aren't a petty man, Crowley. So let's make this simple. Give us the Hand, or I'll smite you into next Tuesday. This ain't personal."
"It's absolutely personal." The demon responded with a glare. "It's all personal! You should know just as well as I do the repercussions of Lucifer remaining on-"
"Oh trust me. I know. What you don't seem to grasp is he killed me and I'm willing to get past my pride to get the job done. He's my damned brother and he stabbed me in the heart. When you sit there and whine about him treating you like a dog? There's a lot more to it than your crap. So get over it."
"He actually killed you?" Crowley finally asked, clearly perplexed and finally listening.
"Yes. I actually died. I'm not explaining the logistics because it's my business, my secret, and one no one else needs know. But I'm alive now, and you need to get off your damned high horse before I smite you. You're a King. Act like one. I know you can."
"Fine."
"Fine? Nope. Not good enough, Crowley. I want your word."
"You're serious?"
"Deadly. I've gone through this crap with the halfwits. I want your word that you're going to work with us on this, not against us."
Red pooled into the demon's eyes as anger radiated off of him in bitter waves. "If I don't?"
"I'll smite you where you stand like my brother should've done months ago."
"So, not much of a choice is there?"
"Plenty of a choice." Gabriel grinned at the demon who scowled in response. "Die, or swear loyalty to me for the time being."
"Fine. Bloody hell, fine. But when your psycho brother kills one of us don't expect me to stick around and mourn your loss."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
"I'm not kissing you." Crowley warned him unnecessarily.
"Touché." Taking the offered hand he gripped it painfully tight, tugging the man in just a bit as he exposed his wings, grace pouring into his eyes and manifesting black shadows on the warehouse walls behind him. "Do you understand our deal?"
"Yes." The demon responded, flinching back visibly. "I swear."
"Alright." A snap of his fingers and they were back in the bunker where both hunters were sitting at a war table talking quietly. Both of them shut up and snapped their heads up when Gabriel and Crowley appeared in the room.
"What-"
"Relax, boys. Crowley's pulled his head outta his ass and agreed to help."
"Really?" Dean asked, eyeing the demon.
"Unfortunately, he has some good points. For the time being… it's in our favor to work together."
"So where's the Hand?" Dean demanded and Gabriel rolled his eyes.
"I'll get it when we need it. For the time being it's safe."
"So that's-" Sam's words were lost as a loud voice ripped through Gabriel's head along with a surge of power.
"HEAR ME!" Oh did he hear her. So did all of Heaven. Cries of panic ripped across angel radio as he was for a single moment forced into that connection. The angels were screaming, running in horror, praying for help, and Lucifer was chuckling -laughing at them all, at Amara. He wasn't suicidal, so what was his deal? Why could he possibly be amused by this? In what felt like the same moment he was ripped out of the scene in Heaven to the sight of a white ceiling. Where the hell was he now?
Anytime now, Father. Gabriel thought bitterly as he turned his head on… the bed. He was on a bed. Alone. The room was empty, but he could sense the hunters and demon somewhere in the bunker though the spellwork made it impossible to tell where from. Honestly, if he hadn't been brought there he'd have never been able to access the place to begin with due to the immense amount of warding.
"Nice to know you're still slacking." Gabriel said to the air as he shoved out of the bed and made his way out of the room, looking back and forth down the hallway, listening for the sound of anything resembling voices. Left.
Without too much thought on the matter he turned and headed in that direction, trying to piece together how the hell he'd ended up in there to begin with. There was no logical way that it could've been that long. Well, it could've, but he really didn't want to think it was. If that was the case then Amara had knocked him out from halfway across the damned country.
"-crux of your dispute is your contention that Lucifer, and only Lucifer, can use the Horn to beat Amara, right?" Crowley's voice sounded from the end of the hallway. Were they really arguing over this again?
"You got it." Came Dean's exasperated voice.
"Well, that scenario only works if you actually possess said Horn, which you do not." Was Crowley seriously trying to renege on their deal already? Maybe he should've kissed him. Never trust a damned demon.
"No, we don't. But you do, so..."
"Exactly! I do! This isn't a negotiation. I have the high cards, and you have... Hold on. Give me a second. Let me have a look... no cards! My offer stands."
"Actually, Crowley. They have all the cards." Gabriel said venomously from the doorway, drawing the focus of the two hunters and the demon who spun around. "Are you reneging on our deal, Crowley? Already? Are you stupid, or just suicidal?"
"That wasn't-"
"Doesn't matter." Gabriel waved it off.
"Ah, Gabriel? My name is Rowena. Could you kindly tell my son I'm alive?" Gabriel blinked, shifting slightly and tilting his head to the side. Well that was interesting. How'd he miss that detail? Rowena was alive. Lucifer was going to be pissed… but they could use her help.
"I think I have an idea." Gabriel told them. They could try something else, with Rowena's help. Rowena was a very useful tool. The problem wasn't really her. It was difficult alliances… and where they were going.
Bright side of things, his plan would likely end with Castiel freed. Whether they wanted it to or not.
~-.-~