"After I escaped, I was pretty desperate," Gabriel explained. The dragon had finally landed some distance from the Roadhouse after flying as hard and as fast as he likely could go. Gabriel was considerably smaller than Cass. It wasn't easy for him to carry both Dean and Sam, but he'd kept it up until he'd all but literally dropped. After that, Sam had doted on Gabriel hand and foot until the dragon was steady enough to speak with them. Now, they were high up on a rocky hillside, far away from prying eyes beneath the spreading branches of a half-dead maple. Gabriel was still leaning against the tree with Sam bracing him, one arm around the dragon's shoulders for support. At least he'd gotten his breath back.
Dean had patiently kept what he was thinking to himself. However, after he'd rested, Gabriel suddenly started chuckling. "Dean, Dean, Dean," he called. "You think what you want about me, but leave my mother out of it, ok? Yeah," he said, seeing the look on Dean's face, "I heard way more of that than I wanted to. No, I was not poking around in your head," he added, seeing Dean bristle. "You were all but screaming most of that at me."
"Yeah, even I heard the bit about his mother," Sam growled, glowering at Dean. "Seriously, Dean?"
"Ok, I'm sorry," Dean groaned, not really sorry at all. "But can we talk now?"
"Sure," Gabriel said cheerfully, giving Dean a wry smirk. "Talk away."
"Ok, let's talk about you and Sam. I know about the genetic thing," Dean said. "Sam and I, and apparently our half-brother Adam Milligan, all have it pretty strong, so apparently, it comes from Dad."
Gabriel looked at him sharply before turning to stare at Sam.
"Yeah, Michael's bondmate is our half-brother," Sam confirmed with a grimace. "We had no idea he even existed because neither Dad nor Kate ever told us."
Gabriel shook his head. "That explains so much," he mused, mostly to himself. "No wonder your stepmother sold you out." His amber eyes fixed on Dean. "Until we learned about you, Dean, I was shocked as hell that people were going after your brother. I mean, we were so careful. I made damned sure that no one ever saw me. Meanwhile, we put a mark on Balthazar so anyone who saw it would think that I'd bonded with him to take any heat off of Sammy."
"That's the real reason why Balth wasn't willing to fight," Sam snapped, glaring at Dean. "There's your coward for you! You said a civvy like me shouldn't be involved in this? Well guess what, Balthazar agreed with you. He brought all the heat onto himself, right down to a fake mark, in an effort to try to protect me."
Gabriel nodded. "Anyone who was looking for my bondmate was supposed to look for Balthazar. That was the plan. We thought it was foolproof, until you came along and cocked everything up. I know," he continued, seeing Dean's face darken. "The people who went after us may not have even been looking for me. They quite likely were looking for Sammy because he's your brother and you'd just run off with Castiel. The whole family link wasn't anything I'd considered." He shook his head. "I'll take the heat for that. I knew how strong the genetic trait was in my bondmate, so it stands to reason it would have been just as strong in you. Had I realized Milligan was your brother, too, it all would have been so much clearer."
"Never mind that now," Dean said, waving his hand impatiently. "Ok, I ended up cocking up your plan, which, for the record, was a damned good plan. I misjudged Balth. I'll apologize to him later. Go back to the story. You escaped the Army with Balth's help and were out in the world. You were desperate for a guiding partner, and, what? Balth didn't have what it took, and you stumbled over Sammy?"
"It wasn't Balthazar that I ran into at the memorial, it was Gabriel," Sam admitted.
Dean stared. "There was a dragon at Stanford and no one noticed?!"
"No, because he's an illusion dragon," Sam reminded with strained patience. "He can't hide himself completely from a camera. He can burn them out, like he did at the base, but that makes a pretty clear line to where he is when he's trying to get away. The other thing he can do iso make himself look like a transparent blurry blob like he did when he was flying with us just now. It's visible, but unless you're looking for that blob, he looks like a camera glitch. That's what he was doing on Stanford. He was working very hard, hiding himself from everything and everyone on the campus when his bonding cycle started."
"At that point, I didn't have a choice," Gabriel explained. "Once my cycle started, I instinctively knew that I had twenty-four hours to find a partner or it was game over. We can't survive without one."
"So I've heard," Dean agreed. "So at that point, you were basically frantically looking all around the campus for a partner, and you stumbled over Sam, huh?"
Both nodded. "I didn't even notice him at first," Sam admitted. "It's almost impossible for a human to spot Gabriel if he doesn't want to be seen. I was aware that something big was there, but in my mind, it was just a shadow, something ordinary, nothing to pay any attention to. Then I turned around and there was this dragon's head, inches from my face, eyes glowing and staring right at me." He shrugged bashfully. "I'll admit, I didn't know if I should wet myself, scream, pass out, or start running. But before I could do anything, I heard his voice in my head, pleading with me, begging me to help him."
"Your brother is made of far stronger stuff than you give him credit for, Dean, civvy or not," Gabriel continued. "Anyone else would have just done one or a combination of the things he mentioned. Sammy didn't. He listened. He felt sorry for me, so he tried to help."
"And you bonded," Dean finished. "Everyone and his brother has been looking for Gabriel, and he was right where he started the whole time, back at Stanford, bonded with my brother. Son of a bitch."
"What choice did he have, Dean?" Sam defended. "Gabriel didn't intend to find a bondmate, that was just bad timing. He went back to Stanford because he was looking to find his way back to where his egg had been found."
"I was looking for any clues I could find about where I'd come from, and where I might be able to find any more dragons," Gabriel explained. "As far as I knew, I was the only one of my kind. You have no idea what that's like, how lonely it really is. Even though I knew damned well that the military had taken all of the eggs from my nest, I couldn't think of any other options. I was alone. I was being hunted. I had to hide from literally everyone. When my bonding cycle started, all I knew was that I needed to find a compatible bondmate and fast. I didn't even fully understand what it was I was looking for, just that I'd found it in Sam. But of course it was more than just the genetic trait. I needed someone able to see past my scaly exterior and see who I really was." He smiled fondly at Sam. "That's not easy to do, especially not with a dragon's face literally breathing down your neck."
"Yeah, I get that," Dean sighed. "I just recently was able to see who Cass really was myself. You're lucky you ran into Sammy and not me."
"Luckier than you can imagine," Gabriel declared. He reached out and squeezed Sam's shoulder. "Sammy and I don't have what you and Castiel do because neither of us bat for that team but our bond is still very strong. I love him like I've never loved anyone, not a friend, not a lover, certainly not myself." His face suddenly lost all trace of its usual humor. "The things I have done in my life, in my military career? I'm not fond of them. I've come to regret a lot of the choices I've made. But bonding with Sam Winchester is not something I can ever regret."
"You know I feel the same for you," Sam soothed, covering Gabriel's hand with his own. "I need you, especially now."
Gabriel grimaced and covered his face with his hands. "I am so, so sorry you lost Jess," he moaned. "I should have been there, should have been watching over her…"
"Why?" Sam demanded. "So you could get captured again? We had no idea these people were actually after me until they came for us in Utah. Then it was way too late to help Jess." His face twisted in pain. "Now I just need to keep you safe."
"Yeah, I still have some questions here," Dean called loudly. "So let's start with back at the bar. Gabriel, how long were you there? You were obviously close enough that you could hide our marks…"
"Actually, I wasn't," Gabriel confessed, surprising Dean. "I wasn't far, because I'm never far from Sam, but it still took me some time to get to that bar. That was my power you saw, but it wasn't me using it."
"Then…?" Dean turned, staring in amazement at Sam, who grinned back at him. "Holy shit! Cass told me he'd eventually be able to lend me some of his power. That's what that was back at the bar, wasn't it? That's why you almost passed out and ended up with a nosebleed?"
"Yeah, I'm still pretty new at it," Sam admitted. "Understand, I'll never be able to use more than a tiny fraction of Gabriel's power. Hiding our marks the way I did was pretty much the extent of my ability, and you saw what it cost me to maintain it for so long. I was actually feeling close to passing out when Gabe got there and took over."
"And then you created our doppelgängers, making the illusions real enough that those bastards honestly thought they were kidnapping us," Dean continued, looking back at Gabriel. "You've got a seriously cool power! Now tell me why you won't use it to help Castiel. You're military, Gabe. You're the oldest of the dragons, and you obviously have a lot of control over your power. What's your deal with sitting on the sidelines twiddling your pinfeathers while Cass takes all the risk?"
Sam's face darkened in anger, but Gabriel's clear gaze met Dean's. "Dean, how would you feel about me bringing your brother into that fight against Michael?"
"I feel like I'd punch you right in the face."
"That's your answer."
Dean scoffed. "It's not like Sammy has to ride you or anything. If you just flew out with Cass and…"
"You very recently almost lost your dragon," Gabriel interrupted. "How did that make you feel?"
"Honestly, I was scared to death," Dean admitted.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "That's lovely, Dean. Now tell me how it made you feel. What were you feeling when Castiel was so sick?"
Dean frowned, then brightened when he realized what Gabriel was getting at. "Cold," he reported. "Like something was just getting colder and colder inside of me."
"In a way, you're lucky that the cause of Castiel's illness was that those synthetic hormones were breaking your bond," Gabriel explained. "Otherwise, what you were feeling would have been much, much worse. I knew precisely the toll it was taking on Sam when he was using my power. It's why I was so desperate to get to him as quickly as I could. Now that your bond has been re-formed, I suspect you're able to feel much more from your dragon than you could, right? I was able to reach out to him through you and tell him to get to a safe place. Even reminded him to warn Raphael and her bondmate to do the same, because the Roadhouse was no longer safe."
Dean nodded. "Ok, with you so far."
Gabriel licked his lips. "Alright. Do you remember Donnie's reaction at the end of the fight between your dragons, when Castiel nearly killed his wife?"
"Yeah, and it was pretty understandable."
"But you don't understand," Gabriel explained patiently. "When Lanette knew she was about to be killed, so did Donnie. Because they are bonded, there's a better than average chance that Lanette's death would have also killed Donnie and vice versa. That's the collateral damage involved with forming a bond. When Castiel meets Michael, if one of them is able to kill the other, that also puts their partner at risk. So you see, even if Sam was buried in a hole underground a thousand miles away from me? He's still in danger." He shook his head. "I'm military and know how to use my powers, but I'm also maybe three-fourths their size, right? My claws and teeth are sharper, but they're also shorter. I'm faster, more agile than they are, but they're much stronger. They've got thicker scales. They've also got their breath weapons and I don't have that. Bottom line, Cass and Mikey are tough hombres built to give and take a lot of damage, while I'm, well, an illusion dragon is not built for fighting. I'm no match for Michael in a straight fight. I can make my illusions and put up a good show, but any dragon could figure out how to see through them once they realize they're illusions. When that happens, I'm pretty much a sitting duck. Michael will kill me easily, and when he does…? Well, now you understand why Balthazar played the role he did, and I hope you also understand why I've been keeping hidden all this time. I've never been afraid to fight. I'd love the chance to fly beside Castiel and face our brother, even though I'd likely be signing my own death sentence if I did. After everything I've done, it's a fate I'd welcome. But facing Michael would mean putting Sam's life on the line, too."
Dean's eyes locked on Sam. Sam looked miserable. "That's a chance I'm willing to take," he protested.
"Yeah, well I'm not," Gabriel retorted.
"I'm not either," Dean agreed. "Ok. I take back everything I said about you being a coward, Gabe. I want you to go back into hiding like you've been. Keep your head down, stay off the radar, and stay far away from any other dragons. Then you have Balth come out here, get Sammy, and get him into that hole you mentioned."
Sam shook his head, long hair flying. "No way, jerk!"
"Yes way, bitch!" Dean stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at his brother the way he'd done when they were kids and Sam was doing something stupid. "If this is no fight for Gabe, then it sure as hell isn't one for you. I need to know you're somewhere safe when this goes down."
"Don't send me away," Sam pleaded. "I told you, I want to be a part of this. You're my brother and so is Adam. Now that you understand that there's a chance I could lose one or both of you, how can you ask me to just sit back on the sidelines and watch it happen?"
"Because you're the one who has the potential," Dean argued. "You can be that hotshot lawyer you were studying to be."
"No, I can't!" Sam protested. "I've been gone from my classes for way too long to go back now. School is over for me. Whatever the future holds, I will never be a lawyer now."
"Yes, you can," Gabriel argued. "At this point, no one else knows you're my bonding partner. Let Balth keep playing his role and keep you safe. Then, when things are over with Michael and no one is looking for you anymore, you can go back to Stanford and do whatever you have to do to continue with your studies."
"Don't you get it?" Sam said, head shaking in agitation. "I don't want to go back to Stanford. There's nothing there for me now. That part of my life is over, and I'm fine with it because I have a greater purpose now. Like it or not, the civilian is on the battlefield. I'm not going back. Don't try to make me."
Dean pointed at Gabriel. "Take him and start flying. Don't stop until you can't fly anymore. Then get some rest, pick him back up, rinse and repeat until you're so far gone these fuckers will never find you again."
"You say that like he hasn't already tried it," Sam snorted. "How do you think we ended up in Utah? But you're forgetting one thing, Dean. We went to Utah only because I agreed to it. I am the guiding partner. I call the shots, and Gabriel obeys me, even when he really does not want to do it."
"I've already tried everything from shouting to threats to throwing a tantrum on the way back to Stanford, trying to get him to stay in hiding," Gabriel grumbled.
"He even managed some crocodile tears," Sam scoffed. "Didn't work. I was coming back and no one was stopping me." He shrugged. "At the time, I was worried about you, Dean. I thought someone would come after you to try to get to me if they ever found out the truth about me and Gabriel, but…"
"But I cocked it up, right, got it," Dean sighed. He scowled at his brother. "This isn't over."
"No," Sam retorted, "it's not. I don't want you or Adam to become the collateral damage of a fight between dragons any more than you want it to happen to me. But I don't want to lose the dragons, either. If Gabriel gets into that fight, he will get killed."
"I'd still do it if it was just me," Gabriel sighed.
"I get it." Dean reached out and squeezed Gabriel's arm. "You have all my respect for that, Gabe, that you're willing to do it. But no. You stay out of it."
That earned him a smile from Sam. "Thank you. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get our other brother out of this mess alive. Of course, that means that having Castiel fight Michael is absolutely the worst thing that could happen. So it seems to me, we all should start lying low for now."
"While Michael keeps on killing people?" Dean asked, uncomfortable. "I can't just sit back and let that happen. I know Cass isn't ok with it, either."
"I hear you," Gabriel agreed. "I hate the idea of Michael hurting people, too. If no one goes against him, that's going to keep happening. But while you're not ok with that, are you ok with losing Castiel?"
Dean shuddered. That was answer enough. "I don't know what to do," he admitted helplessly.
"Welcome to my world," Gabriel sighed.
"At least we have a place to start," Sam suggested. "Was that Ash guy able to help at all?"
"Not really," Dean said. "Apparently, Michael's got himself a rich, powerful blacker with an army and a plane. He's literally been seen from coast to coast."
"Not good," Gabriel mused. "That backer must have very deep pockets."
"Yeah, that's the angle Ash is going to work on," Dean explained. "You remember those missing posters that were out for Sam and Balth? Well, Ash is tracing the number on them. If he can find out who's behind them, he'll have a lead on whoever is pulling Michael's strings."
Gabriel looked impressed. "Smart move!"
"Dean is anything but stupid," Sam bragged proudly. "So do we know how long it will take him to find out?"
"No, but we can ask," Dean suggested. "Gabriel, you're good at hiding yourself. Do you think you can hide the three of us, so we could get back into the Roadhouse and talk to Ash?"
"Would be easier to just call him?" Sam suggested dryly. "It's called 'Google,' Dean. Let's look up the number for the Roadhouse and call."
Unfortunately, the hillside they'd chosen to rest wasn't in an area with cell service. It took a bit of hiking (Dean flatly refused the idea of flying) to get to a location where the service was good enough to get on the internet. However, when they called the Roadhouse, there wasn't any answer. "That's odd," Dean said, hanging up. "You think those assholes cut the lines? But I thought Jo was on the landline, calling the police when we left?"
"Like I said, there's a very good chance they came back with far greater numbers," Gabriel sighed. "It's highly likely that they know I'm somewhere nearby because of the use of illusion. That means all three dragons are in the same small geographic area. We can expect a full force, possibly even Michael himself if that was his group." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but it's just too dangerous to go back there right now. We need to find another way to contact Ash, and more importantly, to warn the people there."
"What about your friend Bobby?" Sam asked. "He'd have someone's cell, right?"
Dean immediately called Bobby. Bobby picked up on the first ring, but his voice sounded strange. "Bobby, we've got a problem," Dean began.
"Yeah, Dean, you do." Bobby's voice sounded somehow shaky. The veteran took a deep breath. "Don't you go blaming yourself for this. I'm the one who sent you all out there, so this one is on me."
"What's going on?" Dean demanded, his heart sinking.
"What's going on is that I'm looking at a live feed from the Roadhouse right now," Bobby said. "I can see that car of yours parked in front of it, and it's one of about four that looks like they escaped damage. That's pretty much the only good news I've got for you." He took a breath. "The Roadhouse is gone, just completely gutted."
"What?! How?"
"Well, that's the thing," Bobby explained. "Apparently, it started with a military convoy heading in that direction that got hit first. After that, the Roadhouse was hit. Nothing left of the convoy but some burning trucks. The Roadhouse looks like a damned bomb went off. They're theorizing it was an explosion from a gas leak, but I think we both know better what caused a fire that bad."
Dean stumbled back, nearly falling into Sam. "What happened to Ellen and Jo and Ash?" he managed.
"From all accounts, those sons of bitches burned the Roadhouse to the ground with them inside it, along with anyone else who happened to be in there at the time. They're gone, Dean. They're all gone."
"Gone?" Tough yet surprisingly sweet Ellen. Cheerful, smiling Jo. Ash with his stupid mullet, stoned eyes, and helpful personality. Their faces flashed through Dean's mind, along with the dozen or so nameless souls that had only stopped for a drink and a bite to eat on their way to wherever they were going. Dean could picture the scene in his mind, Michael swooping down, the horrible flames belching out to incinerate first the convoy and then the Roadhouse. He'd seen how easily Castiel had burned down the barn they'd hidden in. After taking out the convoy, it would have been nothing for Michael to destroy the unprotected bar. The fact that the people behind Michael were ready and willing to flat-out murder more innocent people made Dean's stomach twist. "How did they find us?" Dean managed. "Both the Army and Michael? That doesn't make sense. I thought about maybe someone putting a tracker in Cass's harness, but we got rid of it. So how the fuck did they find us?"
"I have no idea," Bobby grunted. "I guarantee I didn't tell anyone. I doubt strongly that Lanette or Donnie did, as that would only put themselves at risk. I hope they're on the run right now, and that you are, too. But either someone somewhere is still telling tales out of school, or these bastards found another way to track you, Dean."
"Wait." A terrible thought came to Dean. "You said Baby is still parked outside of the Roadhouse?"
"Yeah?"
"She's actually my dad's car," Dean said in a small voice. "I took her because she was locked away for years in one of Dad's storage sheds. But it turns out, Dad was Adam Milligan's father, too. Bobby, what if someone put a tracker on my Baby in case he took it? If they did, then the could have followed us to the lake cabin, to you, to Sammy, and then the Roadhouse. But why the hell wouldn't they have attacked before now?"
"Because they were waiting for you to find another dragon," Sam called quietly. He was obviously listening in on Dean's side of the conversation. "Chances are, she moved too fast for them to find her when you found Lanette, and your friend on the phone wasn't considered a threat. But then they caught up to us at the Roadhouse. When they did, they had clear evidence that Gabriel was with us. So they made their move, trying to take us all out at once."
"They attacked the place where they thought we all were, because my car was still parked there," Dean groaned. "Oh Bobby, I just got all those people killed!"
"No," Bobby insisted. "I already told you, this was on me for sending you all out there. I didn't think of your car being bugged, either. But right now, there's a damned good chance they think you're dead. This is an advantage, kid. You need to use it."
"Use it. Right." Dean took some deep breaths, trying to regain his control and calm his racing mind. "Alright."
"One more thing," Bobby continued. "Just before you called, I got a message from Ash, some sort of file transfer. When you called, I thought at first it was him, telling me that they'd gotten out somehow. But now, I think maybe this file is for you. I think Ash knew he wasn't getting out of there alive, so he sent this file to me to get to you."
"Send it to my brother Sam, he's the computer nerd." Dean recited Sam's number. "Bobby, I'm so sorry about the Roadhouse. I know you were close to Ellen."
"She was a remarkable woman," Bobby grunted gruffly. "If I'd been a little braver and a little less stupid, I'd have asked her out years ago. Now I missed my chance. That's another thing I'll have to live with."
"I don't know what to say," Dean admitted.
"Say you'll be safe. Don't call me again unless it's an emergency. I don't trust these fuckers not to trace things back to me, and I can't be made to give up what I don't know."
Dean stiffened. "Bobby, you need to get out of there!"
"Don't worry about me, ya idjit, you got enough to worry about. Keep your head down, check out whatever this file is, and get a new phone, fast. You take care now." With that, the veteran hung up.
A moment later, Sam's phone pinged with a file transfer. Dean nodded. "That would be Bobby's file from Ash. Look it over, would you? I think I need a minute."
"Take all the time you need," Sam soothed.
Gabriel nodded. "I'll get Balth, have him pick you up, and you can meet up with Castiel. Dean, have him ask the Finnermans if they want to come with us or if they'll feel safer on their own. That's their choice to make. Either way, we all need to get moving and fast. By the sound of your conversation, Michael is definitely in the area. If they did track your car, we'll obviously have to leave it behind."
"Sorry, Dean," Sam sighed. "I know how much you loved that car."
"Yeah, there's a few things I love more." He smiled at his brother, who smiled back. Then Gabriel took off, and he and Sam started walking.
