A spoonful of sugar,

Just to sweeten the taste,

Just to keep you in your place.

Medicine - The Prodigy

Unfortunately for Dean, nobody knew him better than Sam. So it had not been very difficult to come up with a shortlist of places they could have stored the lapsit exillis. He had immediately checked the trunk of the Impala on the pretext of grabbing his duffel bag, although it had seemed unlikely that they would have left it in there. When Dean and Cas said they were going out for supplies, Sam had to resist the urge to immediately jump up and dash off to search Dean's room, since Gabriel was apparently watching him like a hawk. Feeling restless and edgy under the distrust and scrutiny, Sam mumbled something about taking a shower and left Gabriel watching Judge Judy.

Dean had locked his door, Sam realized with a spike of irritation, which he never normally did. But an ordinary lock was no match for Sam's picks. He rolled his eyes, did Dean really think that would keep him out? But there was no sign of the box in his brother's room. Sam sighed, it hadn't really been that likely. But Dean had locked the door for a reason. Acting on instinct, he grabbed the pair of jeans slung carelessly on a chair and checked the pockets. Inside the right pocket were three dollar bills, a handful of change and a large heavy key. Sam grinned, his brother's laziness could always be relied on. This had to be the key to wherever Dean had stashed the lapsit exillis. He cautiously exited Dean's room. If Gabriel caught him in here, he'd know what Sam was up to and Sam was determined not to be thwarted. He jogged to his room, secreted the key under the false bottom of his sock drawer that even Dean didn't know about and headed off to take that shower.

Gabriel switched off the TV, bored with the inanity of daytime offerings. Sam had been in the shower for quite a while now, maybe he should go and check on him. That plan had the added bonus of coming across him wet and naked, he thought with a grin. But he was out of luck, Sam had already dressed and was towelling his damp hair when Gabriel strolled into his room. He flashed a leer at him anyway.

"I was hoping to catch you before you got dressed," he grinned at Sam. Sam rolled his eyes and drew him in for a kiss. But his heart didn't seem in it, and Gabriel pulled back. "You OK, Sammy?" he asked, holding his gaze. Something cunning moved behind Sam's eyes and Gabriel gave a sharp intake of breath. But then Sam blinked, and Gabriel wondered if he'd imagined it.

"I'm fine," Sam said. "A little stressed maybe." Gabriel continued to watch him closely.

"And we're OK? You seemed kinda...unhappy last night," he probed.

"I'm still processing everything that's happened. Dean's accusations that I'm behaving strangely hurt, y'know. I don't know that he's ever truly forgiven me for what happened with Ruby, even all these years later. Or if he has forgiven me, then it hasn't translated into trusting me. It's frustrating when people say they love you but they don't trust you." Sam's mouth twisted into an unhappy grimace. Gabriel relented, maybe they were being too hard on the kid. Castiel's suspicions seemed justified but maybe they were all seeing something that wasn't there because of Sam's history. He gave a casual gesture he didn't quite feel.

"OK, Sam. Fair enough. I'm gonna go raid the freezer for some ice cream. You coming?" Sam gave him a warm smile.

"Sure. Give me twenty minutes to dry my hair and I'll come find you."

It wouldn't take anything like twenty minutes to dry his hair, but Gabriel couldn't know that. That gave him fifteen minutes to search the basement when hopefully the archangel wouldn't be checking up on him. There were two safes that were heavily warded down there. The key had to fit one of those.

It took a matter of seconds to figure out which safe the key fit, and Sam turned it with a smirk of triumph. He opened the door and quivered when he saw the gorgeous carved ebony box. It was strange, he had not remembered it being quite so large, in fact it shouldn't really fit inside this safe at all. He pulled it out and laid on the table beside him. He could hear something distantly, like music but not really music at all. It gave him a fluttering sensation in his chest and he began to feel excitement curling in his stomach. Whatever this thing was, it wanted to speak to him, he could feel it calling to him.

He gently lifted the lid and stared down at the stone, nestled in its shroud of white silk. It was a deeper green than anything Sam had ever seen, and in the center a dark shape twisted and coiled lazily. He could hear faint whispering and shivering with anticipation, he reached out and stroked one finger gently across the surface of the stone. It felt like fire and ice, like defeat and victory, like love and hate and the thrill of watching another's life spill across his hands. He drew in a shuddering breath and listened.

Since he would only consume the entire container of ice cream once he got started, Gabriel decided it probably wasn't a good idea to wait in the kitchen. Instead, he headed to the library and helped himself to some of Dean's bourbon. When twenty minutes had passed and Sam had still not reappeared, the archangel resisted the urge to go hunting for the kid. He'd just promised himself he was going to ignore Castiel's overblown theories and give Sam the benefit of the doubt. After all, perhaps Sam had intended to talk about the other dreams of Lucifer, but they were so disturbing he had needed some time and distance first. And Castiel throwing suspicion on him when he was tired from the long drive, of course he had reacted badly. He swallowed, if he was trying to convince himself, he wasn't doing a very good job.

One of the bunker's alarms suddenly shattered the quiet, a clanging insistent sound. Dean's voice was bellowing in the hallway. He groaned. What new crisis had descended now? He dragged himself towards the noise. Dean was a mess, he threw one look into the room before lunging forward and grabbing Gabriel by the shoulders.

"Where the Hell is Sam?" he demanded. Gabriel stared at him in consternation.

"I have no idea. What's going on?" Dean dragged him out of the library and down the hall to the kitchen. It looked like a whirlwind had blown through. Cups lay smashed on the floor, the coffee pot was overturned and a pool of coffee spread over the counter. Bags of groceries on the counter had been knocked over or spilled onto the floor and on the door of the fridge was the remains of an angel banishment sigil.

Dean shoved two cellphones at Gabriel. "That one's Cas' phone. I found it under the table. Someone banished him and now I have no way of finding him. And where the Hell is Sam? The other phone is his, I found it here on the counter. This bunker is impenetrable. We have wards against everything!"

"Except angels." Gabriel said softly. Dean glared at him. "So? You think an angel broke in, banished Cas and kidnapped Sam?" Gabriel frowned.

"Something like that. I need to go check something" He dashed out of the room, and flung himself down the stairs to the basement. The safe was open, papers and other items spilling out onto the floor. Dean appeared behind him, slightly out of breath.

"Just as I thought," Gabriel said heavily. "The lapsit exillis is gone too."

I want to thank everyone who's been reading, commenting and following and favoriting. I'm sorry to leave you all with a cliffhanger but there are reasons why I had to break this fic at this point. I hope you'll all follow the story on to Part Two of the Gracelight series, Bitter Medicine.