Chapter Six: Heaven's Call

Gabriel couldn't believe what just happened. Sam Winchester had kissed him. Like, for real, lips on lips action. It was kind of shy, but pretty cute. He knew he should probably be deeply troubled by it, but honestly, he felt kind of giddy.

Until he fucked it up, like he seemed to do with everything. Sammy freaked out for some reason and locked himself in his room. Now, no matter how much Gabriel begged him to come out and talk about it, Sam just ignored him. It wasn't like he was mad or anything. He had rather liked it, actually. He had to admit a certain curiosity about when this started though. Was it recently or was it from before? Sam was always kind of a clingy kid.

But he definitely wasn't a kid anymore. And he wasn't kidding when he told Crowley that he thought Sam grew up nice. He had been such a short scrawny kid; it was almost hard to believe that this muscled giant was the same person. Until you saw that little smile he had, the way his lips curled. That was one hundred percent Sammy.

He kept knocking at the door. If he could just get Sam talking to him, he was sure that they could get this worked out. He could always just pop himself over to the other side of the door, but that would probably be a bad idea. Well... he considered it for a second then shook his head. Yeah, bad idea.

A buzzing sound nagged at the back of Gabriel's mind, like a bee hovering by his ear. He grimaced. Really? Now? He tried to ignore it, but it just got louder, more insistent.

No! He pushed it away again and kept knocking. They could fucking wait. "Please, Sam," he pleaded. "We can talk about it! Just come out!"

He heard Sam let out a distressed noise on the other side of the door. He sounded so miserable, it hurt Gabriel's heart. If he could just talk to Sam about all this, he was sure they could move past it. Maybe they could even-

GABRIEL.

His name rang through his mind in a commanding voice that was not his own. Ugh. He gripped the sides of his head even though he knew it wouldn't do anything.

YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED. REPORT TO HEAVEN IMMEDIATELY.

Gabriel sighed and looked at Sam's bedroom door. He couldn't ignore a direct summons. Well, he could and has, actually, but it would probably a bad idea considering they know exactly where he is right now. He couldn't just run away this time. Besides, he rather wanted to stay where he was, especially since things were starting to get interesting.

He knocked one last time, but there was still no response. Gabriel knew Sam probably needed more time to calm down, but he hated leaving him like this. "I'll be back," he whispered at the door.

The voices were clamoring at him once again and the angel knew he couldn't put this off any longer. He snapped his fingers; a pointless gesture, really. He didn't need to do it, but it had long since become a habit over the years, a consequence of his showmanship.

Gabriel appeared in what seemed to be an office lobby or waiting area. The walls were white with delicate wooden molding. Lining one wall was a row of navy blue upholstered chairs, the kind that looked really plush and comfortable but started hurting your backside after a couple of minutes. The angel turned his attention to the only other occupant of the room. An angel sat quietly behind a rather modern looking glass desk. Her hands were folded neatly on the surface in front of her and a deep frown marred her otherwise pretty face.

"Hannah!" Gabriel exclaimed with an exuberant grin, despite, or perhaps because, he knew that she didn't particularly like him. "What's shaking?"

Her frown turned from one of barely disguised dislike to one of mild confusion. "I believe that there's a small earthquake scheduled for Southern California in the early morning hours, but I hardly see how that's relevant now."

Gabriel almost choked, he laughed so hard. Oh, angels could be so precious when they were totally clueless! You'd think they'd know more about the modern humans they were supposed to be watching over, but no, of course not. They might as well still be back in the middle ages.

"I'm glad you find your disobedience so amusing," she said, clearly irritated again. "Michael is quite upset with you, you know."

"Oooh, I'm so scared." Gabriel quipped sarcastically. "Besides, Michael's always mad about something."

"Only at you!" Hannah retorted. "You cause him and your brothers so much grief."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "What, innocent little me? Never."

Hannah went to reply, but thought better of it and pursed her lips. "Of course not, sir."

Gabriel was almost disappointed. Hannah was a feisty little thing. A loyal soldier, yes, but she also had such spunk. Every time they saw each other she found something to scold him about. Once she remembered that Gabriel outranked her though, that spirit of hers went away. He probably wasn't going to get any more fun out of her today. He shrugged. "Fine, fine. I'll go talk to him. Through this door, yes?" He gestured towards the door next to her desk and, without waiting for a reply, went through.

The scenery changed dramatically. While the waiting room looked fairly modern, the office he walked into looked like something from a classic noir detective movie. The walls were paneled in dark wood and lined with tall bookcases and paintings of severe looking old men. The room is well-lit, but by no means bright and somehow gave off a vague air of success. No wonder Michael choose this room, it's just the kind of place he'd like; traditional, old-fashioned and unforgiving.

"What's up, Mikey?" Gabriel asked, falling gracefully onto the leather chair across from his brother. Under normal circumstances, most other angels liked Michael. He was calm and always in control. Gabriel knew how charismatic and charming his brother could be to get his way; it was no wonder that the other angels had no problem looking to him as their new leader under the current circumstances.

"Why is it that you can never follow orders, Gabriel? Why are you always so disobedient?" Michael asked, not bothering to return or even acknowledge the greeting. "It's beyond me why Father would choose a petulant child such as you to be on the field for this mission."

"Maybe he would've chosen someone else if he had been around to see how badly I'd turned out, but I guess we'll never know, huh?" Gabriel sneered, his voice laced with bitterness.

Michael's jaw clenched and his voice came out at a low growl. "Why did you show your powers to the Winchester boy? Why did you reveal yourself to his brother?"

Gabriel almost rolled his eyes. Wasn't that just so typical of his older brothers? Why acknowledge that their Father had fallen completely off the radar- Gabriel was misbehaving again and that's clearly the real issue here. "Seriously, Mikey? That's what you're all pissy about?"

"We discussed this, Gabriel!" Michael raised his voice, as close to yelling as he was likely to get as he liked to seem like he was always in control; emotions were for humans after all. "The Winchester boy was supposed to be acting on his faith and-"

"I didn't have a choice," Gabriel interrupted before his brother could continue his boring tirade. "Crowley did it first, so I-"

"That's your excuse?" Michael scoffed. "The demon did it so I did too? I wouldn't have expected such behavior even from you."

"Sam would've trusted him more if I hadn't!" Gabriel protested. "And if he trusted Crowley more than he would've been more likely to take his advice instead of mine." He folded his arms across his chest and stared his brother down. "I made the right decision- the only decision- whether or not you want to admit it."

Gabriel stood up, pushing his chair back with a scraping noise as he did. "Now, if that's all, I'm outta here. You interrupted something important."

"No, that's not all." Michael said firmly. "We have other concerns as well."

Gabriel flopped back onto the chair dramatically. "Oh fuck. What now?"

Michael frowned but continued. "We fear that you are getting too... attached to the Winchester boy and that it might be affecting your ability to give him unbiased advice."

"What?" Gabriel did not expect that one. "That's- that's ridiculous. Sure, I like Sammy- he's a good kid- but that doesn't mean that I can't still give him good advice."

"Then what about the compromise?" His brother asked softly.

"Compromise? What are you- Oh." That deal he suggested for Sam's client. He hadn't expected that to come back on him. Honestly, he hadn't really thought much about it all. "That was... a calculated move."

"Oh really?" Michael asked and Gabriel could tell he wasn't buying it.

But if anyone could spin a story, it was Gabriel. "Of course! Like I said, it's all about him trusting me more than he trusts Crowley. So, every once in a while I throw in a little compromise on a tough decision; show that I understand it's hard sometimes. It makes me relatable, ya know? Makes me the understanding, caring one."

Michael nodded, though Gabriel wasn't sure if he was actually convinced. "Very well, but watch yourself. If we think you can't handle the job we will reassign it."

"You can't do that!" Gabriel blurted out. He was shocked. That was never a consequence that he had anticipated. His brother almost obsessively followed their Father's orders; the thought of him contradicting it had never occurred to him.

"Don't presume to tell me what to do, Gabriel," Michael responded sternly. "With Father gone, someone is needed to maintain order and I have taken that responsibility onto myself. I sent you out as Father ordered, but if you cannot get the job done I will send out someone who can." He swiveled his chair away to face the large window behind him. "That is all. You can leave now."

"But Michael-"

"I said that is all," Michael stated again coldly.

Gabriel stood up, again pushing his chair away from him but this time letting it clatter to the ground. He left it there. 'Let Michael clean up the mess,' he thought bitterly. He stormed from the room, knocking a tottering pile of books off a table on his way out. For emphasis.

He stomped his way through the waiting room, ignoring Hannah as she called out to him, and exited to the empty white hallway beyond it. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. He wanted to calm down before he went back. Crowley would never let him live it down if he knew that he had let one of his brothers get under his skin.

But fuck! He was so pissed off! What was Michael's problem? He had pulled Gabriel back to do this job. Threatened and coerced him into doing it when Gabriel was happy just living his life among the humans. And now, now when he was enjoying it, he wanted to take it away from him. He slammed an open palm back against the wall. "Fuck..." he muttered crossly.

"Gabriel?"

Gabriel turned to see one of his siblings standing at the end of the hall. "Castiel!" He forced a smiled smile onto his face. "How's it hanging, lil bro?"

Castiel's brow furrowed. "I-I do not understand the question."

Gabriel chuckled and shook his head. "Never mind, it's nothing. Where you off to?"

"Michael said that he wished to see me."

"Oh?" Gabriel wondered what Michael could want to talk to a warrior like Castiel about at a time like this. All major conflicts with the demons had been (grudgingly) put on hold for the duration of the trials and Michael wouldn't deal directly with any little scuffles that might pop up.

"Yes," he nodded slightly. "He said it was important."

"Really now?" The archangel considered holding up his little brother just to try and piss off Michael but considered better of it. Even if it was hilarious when Michael got all pissy about the little things and even if Gabriel was still really mad at him, all delaying Castiel would do is get Michael mad at their little brother. And Gabriel kind of liked Castiel; he had this cute lost puppy thing going on for him. He sighed. "Fine then, run along." He waved his hand limply at him. It was probably time for him to get back anyway.

He turned to leave but stopped when Castiel called out, almost hesitantly, to him again. "Gabriel?"

"Yes?" Gabriel turned back and leaned against the wall.

"Do you prefer the humans over us?" His voice was sad, and so were his eyes, but mostly he sounded confused.

The question caught him a little off guard. "Prefer? Well, I don't know about that. Maybe?" He shrugged lazily. "You guys just don't get how really amazing humans are."

Castiel frowned. "Humans are weak. Their minds and bodies are broken so easily."

"True, true," Gabriel agreed. "They aren't perfect. Hell, some of 'em are pretty big assholes! But have you seen what they can do? What they can create? Their raw emotion? Their passion? Castiel, I've lived more in the couple hundred years I've been on Earth than in the millennia I was in Heaven."

"But they're so imperfect," Castiel protested.

"Yeah, and most of them know it too. Not like Michael and the others here who think they can't do anything wrong. It's nice to be around for a change."

"Hmm," Castiel looked deep in thought. "I see."

"You should come down sometime," Gabriel said lightly. "It'd be good for you."

"I will consider you advice."

"You do that," Gabriel said with a small smile. "Now scoot; Michael's gonna blow a fuse if you make him wait."

"Ah," Castiel nodded. "I'll leave then."

Gabriel smiled and watched as his brother walked down the hall to the waiting room where Hannah undoubtedly was still sitting. 'Maybe my siblings aren't all so bad after all,' he thought to himself. And then, with another snap of his fingers, he was gone.

A/N: Like our favorite boys, this fanfic has risen from the grave! Sorry, it's been so long. I was dealing with a lot of stuff and then I had to move and I lost all my storylines and notes for this fic. I found them again and figured an update was long overdue- So here you are! I hope you enjoyed it. It was really fun writing a chapter from Gabe's point of view.

Let me know what you thought! Reviews are always appreciated!