This fic was originally meant to be a one shot, but I was never happy with the ending so it turned into multi-chapters. The POV will change slightly and should be obvious, but this fic will stay focused on Gabriel/Sam with Castiel/Dean being in the background. This will be a slow build despite being a short fic

First part is from Gabriel's POV. Second Chapter is Sam's. Third chapter is a mix of the two

I actually had this fic done a while back and it has been posted on Ao3 for a time. I don't remember why I didn't post it on here at the same time, probably an oversight on my part at the time, but I apologize.

As Always, this has not been beta read. I know for a fact there are errors, which I will get around to fixing eventually, but today is not that day sadly. I'm throwing this on here while I'm thinking about it, but I have 2 major exams coming up in a week so editing is not my priority at the moment. Sorry :(

Part One

When Metatron used an image of Gabriel to try and get Castiel to fall in line was when Gabriel knew that he had to stop hiding again. He hadn't meant to be hidden for so long, not at first, but the longer that he hid the harder it had become to reveal himself. He hadn't exactly been pleasant to the Winchester brothers, and Castiel was very much on their side after the whole Apocalypse thing. Plus there were a number of other beings out there who didn't exactly like him. He hadn't really been out to make friends before.

He knew that they all figured he'd died, that day back at the hotel. However, he didn't just have his grace technically; he'd been playing as Loki for long enough and had enough followers as that role that it had given him a different kind of power. A power that he could use to augment his grace or visa versa as the need arose. So that day, when Lucifer had tried to kill him because he finally chose to stand up to his brothers instead of standing back and watching the fighting, he didn't actually die. His grace was low though, almost gone, and so he'd gone back into hiding. His powers as a Norse God had helped him, concealing him from the eyes of others who might want to try and find him. At first he'd told himself it was just going to be until his grace was fully restored, back to 100% and the forefront of his powers, but when that time and and went, he knew that he was only kidding himself. Running away and hiding was his nature at this point, it kept him safe emotionally and physically. It had become easy.

Metatron had no way of knowing that when he used an image of Gabriel to try and trick Castiel that it would alert Gabriel himself. It came with being Loki, he guessed. Tricking people was his bread and butter as the God of Mischief; someone using his image to try and trick someone was basically a tribute. The Scribe also had no real way of knowing that Gabriel's powers as Loki would allow him to use the image of himself that had been created. It wasn't to the extent as a duplicate body that Gabriel himself had made, but it was enough that once Castiel started to question, Gabriel was able to do what he should have done originally and let the younger angel know that he was alive.

There had been a trick to it, trying to let Castiel know that it was the truth without spelling it out in a way that Metatron would also know. He needed the rest of the angels to still believe him dead. He didn't want to take over Heaven like Rafael had and he didn't want everyone to be looking at him as some kind of leader.

When Castiel's eyes had grown wide in understanding, though, Gabriel knew that the angel of Tuesday, previously one of the chief strategists in Heaven, understood. It had been a relief, though it had also built up a nervous energy inside of the archangel as he waited to see when or if Castiel would come and find him. He wanted to run away again, to hide himself further, but instead he forced himself to stay where he was, in his newest safe house that was warded to the teeth where only beings with express permission could enter.

Gabriel wasn't sure what he'd expected, when Castiel finally found him, but it wasn't what he'd gotten. There was no word or sight of Castiel for some time, though Gabriel kept an eye on the younger angel and kept a finger on the pulse of the situation with Heaven and Earth. Metatron was taken down, a portal between Heaven and Earth located and guarded carefully to allow angels to come and go with permission. Heaven got new management, rules carefully put in place and an attempt to restore order made. Life moved on in regards to Earth and other supernatural elements. Ghosts made a mess and a hunter (sometimes the Winchesters) would salt and burn them, a demon would pop up and someone would take care of them. A few angels were left on Earth and Castiel kept an eye on them, the brothers and him taking care of them if they created any issues, but for the most part choosing to leave those who just wanted to live in peace alone.

After a while Gabriel figured that Castiel wasn't going to show up at all. Maybe Castiel hadn't realized what Gabriel was trying to tell him after all? Or maybe the seraph had decided that Gabriel had caused too much harm to the Winchester brothers, that even though the archangel had 'died' to give the brothers time to escape Lucifer, that he wasn't worth the time of day anymore? Whatever the reason, it came with great surprise when Castiel did finally show.

The young angel looked tired, dark circles under his eyes, his clothes in disarray, his skin sallow, and gaunt. Reaching out with his grace, Gabriel realized that even though Castiel had recovered his own grace at the fall of Metatron and that it had grown and repaired itself from the small sliver that had been left over after Metatron's deceit, it was now actually less than before. In fact, Gabriel was surprised that Castiel was even on his feet because his grace was definitely not enough to sustain him.

His younger brother was dying.

Catching the taller angel before he fell, Gabriel lead him into the safe house, using a bit of grace to make sure that the door closed and locked behind them. Thankful for his enhanced strength, Grabiel carefully maneuvered the sick angel towards the couch even as he let his grace flow over him to check for injuries or anything else that could have caused his grace to be so low. What he found almost made him stop, though he managed to force himself to continue until he had the tired angel laying on the couch as comfortably as possible. Castiel wasn't just sick, he really was dying, and over a broken bond. Gabriel hadn't realized that the younger angel had even created a bond, much less found a way to break it.

Casting his mind back, he tried to puzzle it out, and the answer wasn't really hard to find. The bond had been created with Dean, probably back when Castiel had pulled him up from the pit. There had been talk about it before, but no one had taken the rumors seriously because everyone assumed that a lowly seraph would never had the guts to make a bond with the vessel of an archangel. The question of how the bond was broken was harder, and one that Gabriel wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to.

A quick look over at Castiel's face, the normally curious blue eyes closed and a sheen of sweat covered all the exposed skin, made up Gabriel's mind.

Snapping his fingers, the archangel took Castiel's phone from his coat pocket, snorting slightly at the old model before finding Dean's contact and punching it into his own phone. He'd probably have had better luck if he'd used Castiel's, Dean probably not wanting to miss a call from the young angel, but he didn't want to use up Castiel's minutes if he didn't have to and he didn't want to look like he was trying to trick Dean either. He figured that if Dean didn't pick up, he would then try again by using Castiel's phone. It took a few rings, but eventually Dean answered with a curious, "Hello?"

Gabriel wasn't sure what to say at first, he needed Dean to believe him. When he realized that if he didn't say anything then Dean would probably just hang up, he forced out a quick greeting without much thought. "Hey Dean-o. Where are you?" Straight to the point, he needed to get Castiel to Dean immediately. If he was lucky Dean would answer without thinking as well.

"Gabriel? When did you come back to life? How?" Of course it was his luck that the normally thoughtless oaf would suddenly be full of good questions that would take way to long to answer if there was going to be any hope of Castiel being alive at the end of the conversation.

"Look, Dean-o, I'd love to shoot the shit with you over a slice of pie and tell you all about how Daddy-dearest brought me back to life and blah blah blah." It was the best quick answer that he could come up with, even though it wasn't true, and have Dean not question him too much further. God had brought both of the brothers back to life at one point or another and Castiel at least twice, it should be an explanation that they were willing to accept. "I have a bit of an issue here, though, and I really need to see you right now. So where are you?"

There was some rustle of fabric on the other end of the line and what sounded like a damp towel dropping. Any other time and Gabriel was sure that he'd have teased Dean about that.

"How do I know that you're really Gabriel? And what on earth could you need to talk to me face to face about so badly? You're suppose to be an archangel." Gabriel could gash his teeth together for how stubborn Dean was being, though he had to admit that he admired the man's attempt at security. He was being slow though, making it more likely that Castiel wouldn't survive the conversation. If it wasn't for the warding that was still etched into their ribs, he'd just find the hunter's soul and poof there using that as his location.

Trying to reign in his irritation, Gabriel let his head knock painfully into the wall behind him.

Making one last ditch effort to reason, Gabriel figured that maybe if he brought Castiel into the conversation then Dean would stop fighting him so much. "I really don't have time for this Dean-o. This isn't about me, it's about Cassie. He's not exactly in top condition and you are the only one who can fix it. So if you even remotely care for my little brother, then give me your address now so I can poof us to you and you can take care of the littlest angel."

Over the brief silence that followed his request, Gabriel could almost see Dean panicking, worry for the angel that the Winchesters had made no qualms about letting everyone know they considered to be basically family. Instead of just spewing his location, though, Dean seemed to force out his next words. "I need to know that you're really Gabriel." At least he wasn't saying that if he was Gabriel then he wouldn't let him in.

Letting out a long suffering sigh and trying to come up with a convincing argument quickly, Gabriel cast about in his mind for something, anything, that would maybe be enough. They were having a phone conversation, so it wasn't like he could offer physical proof.

Settling on something after a moment, Gabriel crossed his fingers that it would be enough. "Fine, fine, lets just hurry this up. Cassie isn't exactly getting any better while we chatter over this. In Broward County, I killed you a few hundred times to make a point to Sammy. The first time you were killed by a shot gun blast, the second time you were run over by a car being driven by a senile old man outside a diner, and the third time it was by a desk being dropped on you from a few stories up. The song 'Heat of the Moment' played every morning while you were stuck in the loop. Cassie also left a nice little momento on your shoulder where he pulled you out of hell, but he erased it after Sammy dropped Luci into the Cage." The last part was fishing on his end, he wasn't sure when Castiel had removed the bonding mark, only that he had eventually at some point. With the power required to remove a bond, though, that was his best guess as to when it happened.

For a long moment, Gabriel was afraid that it wasn't going to be enough. Maybe he'd gotten the last part wrong, his gamble going to hinder him instead of help, but then Dean's voice came back over the line, almost sounding pained. "Lebanon Kansas, the geographic center of the lower 48. You wont be able to poof straight in, go to the bunker door. I'll be there to let you in." The clipped sentences seemed to almost relax Gabriel as it let on that the hunter at least knew how serious the situation was.

Hanging up without a good-bye, Gabriel shoved his phone into his pocket along with Castiel's and then looked over at his younger brother. He was still awake, but was looking even worse than before. If he'd been right about when the mark had been removed, the bond severed, then he wasn't even sure how Castiel was even still alive. Bonds were hard to break and had even worse consequences, it was a testament to his strength that Castiel was even able to bring himself to Gabriel for help.

Moving as quickly as he could, he wrestled the taller angel back up off the couch, grunting at him to help instead of just being dead weight. Once they were both standing, Castiel's arm thrown over Gabriel's shoulder letting the older angel take the majority of his weight, Gabriel pulled up a mental map of the lower 48 states and pinpointed the center. Location roughly identified, he steeled himself to fly, dragging Castiel with him.

Dean hadn't been kidding about not being able to come straight in to what he'd called the bunker. The first few times that Gabriel tried to land, he came up against some fairly strong wards. The fifth time he attempted he managed to come to a stop in front of what looked like a weathered, but still strong metal door, a scowl on his face at how hard it had been to manage a landing. Of course, now that he knew where the bunker door was, he should be able to do so quicker in the future.

It seemed like only seconds later before the door was opened, showing Dean standing there with a worried look on his face. Green eyes flicked from Gabriel to Castiel a few times before the hunter stepped back and motioned with a jerky hand wave for them to come in. For a moment, Gabriel thought that Dean was going to try and take Castiel from him, but the hunter seemed to rethink it and instead shut the door and moved to lead them through what looked to be a rather crudely made, but nice hide out.

As they walked, first passing through what looked like a library, Dean fired off questions as if panicking. Every now and then he'd glance back, as if to make sure that Gabriel was still following him with Castiel.

"First Aid kit wont help, kiddo." Gabriel finally answered, grunting slightly as Castiel seemed to grow heavier against him. "You're going to have to help Cassie here hands on."

Thankfully they came upon what seemed to be Dean's room. Gabriel was sure that there were other rooms in the bunker, now that he was inside he could practically feel how large the place was. It was a good sign, in his opinion, that Dean took them to his room instead of an unoccupied one. It meant that perhaps Dean would be more willing to do what was necessary to get Castiel back up on his feet.

Carefully, Gabriel lowered his brother onto the bed, doing his best to make sure that the younger angel would be as comfortable as possible before turning towards Dean, who was standing back watching. He was honestly surprised that the hunter wasn't twitching, the man looked so worried and anxious.

When Dean didn't move to say or do anything, Gabriel realized that he was going to have to take control of the situation again.

"We're going to have to talk quick, because I don't know how long Cassie here really has." Dean seemed to pale further at this. "The handprint that he left on your shoulder when he raised you from hell, what do you know about it?"

Dean seemed to think for a few beats, a small frown tugging at his lips though he didn't move his eyes away from Castiel. "It was from him literally dragging me kicking and creaming from hell, I guess. Cas said that he'd had to grip my soul tight with his grace and it had left a mark in its place, but he was never strong enough to remove it until God had brought him back after Lucifer killed him."

Gabriel couldn't help but throw his hands up in the air, irritation shooting through him sharply. Of course Castiel hadn't explained the truth behind the mark to Dean. The angel was suppose to be one of the brightest minds in Heaven, but he somehow managed to do so many stupid things like not tell the hunter important details. Plus the angel seemed to be a self-sacrificing idiot when it came to the Winchesters.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm himself, though his vessel didn't really need it, Gabriel tried to come up with as quick of an explanation as possible that would get Dean moving with what needed to be done. "I don't know that I have enough time to explain it all. You'll have to get a full explanation after Cassie here wakes up and is coherent. Needles to say at this point, the handprint was more than just a mark left from him pulling you out of hell." He cast about some more, trying to come up with something, anything, that would be sufficient enough to get Dean to help Castiel without arguing about chick flick moments.

"The handprint was more of a bonding thing, not something that angels do lightly because it literally links two beings together in a very profound way. It's not meant to be removed, but sometimes it can happen. When it does, there are always heavy consequences that get worse with the deeper the bond is. I hadn't realized how deep your bond with Castiel went until he showed up on my doorstep looking only a little better than this. It took a lot to figure out what had happened. You'll have to talk to him about that though. This point is, Dean-o, you need to literally help hands on."

Dean just stared at him blankly, obviously not catching on.

Rolling his eyes, Gabriel tried not to sigh and only crossed his arms sternly. "Oh come on! You can't really...ugh fine. He needs direct contact with you, with your soul. Hold hands, pet his hair, snuggle him, I don't care. Just whatever you do, be in contact with him, the more skin the better. Then for Dad's sake, when he wakes up, talk to him about the damn handprint!"

If Dean didn't get it this time there was no helping him, so Gabriel turned and made his way out of the room. He trusted that Dean would do anything for the angel laying in that bed. Even before Gabriel had known about the bond, he'd known that the two of them had cared for each other more than either would admit. Now that Dean knew what to do, and he should know what to do unless he was being purposefully obtuse, Castiel would be fine in a few days. Maybe even hours, depending on how quickly Dean decided to get his head out of his ass.

Not having much else to do, Gabriel decided to go back to the front of the bunker and look to see what books there were. He was curious as to why the boys had seemed to have decided to make this place their home. Dean had looked pretty well moved into that room he'd taken them to, and Gabriel could remember a few things on the walk over that had struck him as something that only a person (or people) living somewhere would do. The random bag tossed against a closet door. The automated air freshener mounted in the corner of a walk way. The hall rugs scattered intermittently through the hallway.

Back in the library, the archangel-turned-Norse-God looked through the books, running a finger across the spines as he read. All of the texts were about the Supernatural and the like. There didn't seem to be single 'fun' read in the lot, which was interesting. This wasn't just a library, it was a research library for the Supernatural. He wouldn't be surprised if there were rare, limited edition texts in this place, just waiting to impart long forgotten knowledge on someone.

The sound of a book falling to the floor reverberated through the massive area, alerting Gabriel to the fact that he'd been so absorbed in looking at the texts that someone had been able to sneak up on him. His time in deep hiding had obviously slowed his reflexes down. Before he'd 'died' he didn't think that anyone would have been able to sneak up on him without some part of him alerting him to their presence.

Since there was no sudden attack, no knife being driven into his back or gun shot to his head, Gabriel figured that whoever it was was either as startled to see him as he was, or didn't mean him harm.

Turning slowly, Gabriel raised a brow at seeing Sam standing there, large brown eyes staring at him in surprise and jaw hung slack. Without really thinking about it, Gabriel shoved his fists into his pockets and smirked a little. "I know I'm sexy, Samsquatch, but there is no need to drool."

Gabriel could practically hear Sam's teeth click together from how sudden Sam closed his mouth, eyes narrowing slightly to.

Having apparently gotten his wits back together, Sam seemed to produce a knife out of no where, though Gabriel knew that both Winchesters kept at least one knife on them at all times. It was something that they'd learned to do from hunting, and it was probably a good habit to have even in their warded bunker. One day it might save their life, if it hadn't already.

Holding up his hands, Gabriel smiled as gently as possible and tipped his head in the direction where Dean's room was. "Cool your jets, Sammy. I called Dean, he let me in. Castiel is sick, needed Dean to fix him, so I brought your angel here as soon as I knew what was going on. You could go check for yourself if you don't believe me."

Sam's fierce gaze wavered slightly, his mind obviously working to try and piece the truth together. When the knife lowered, though the younger hunter didn't put it away, Gabriel let his hands dropped and waited. Sam was a good hunter, and he knew that the brothers had gone through enough that he wasn't about to just trust everything that Gabriel said without question. He also knew that he'd be doing his best to try and make sure that Gabriel wasn't up to no good. In his favor, though, was the fact that Gabriel really had been up to no good for quite some time.

"What's wrong with Castiel and why could you, and archangel, fix him? For that matter if you can't fix Cas, then how can Dean?" Trust the giant to hit up the first two biggest questions. The next one would be how Gabriel was still alive, but the archangel knew that to Sam there was no one more important than Dean and Castiel.

Shrugging slightly and relaxing back against the bookshelf behind him, Gabriel did his best to explain. He wasn't under such a time crunch as he was with Dean, so he figured that he might as well explain it all to Sam if he could. He didn't think that Dean would want to go into it all, and Castiel would probably follow Dean's lead.

"I'm sure you remember when Dean was raised from hell. He had that handprint on his shoulder and that was when you first met Castiel." He waited long enough for Sam to nod. "It seems that Cassie didn't exactly tell your brother, or you, the significance of what really happened that day. I don't know all the details, of course, because I wasn't there when it happened, but I know the rough outline."

Sam's eyes narrowed and his jaw worked for a moment. "I didn't ask about that, I asked you to tell me what was wrong and how Dean is suppose to be able to help him."

Neither hunter was the most patient, so Gabriel wasn't surprised by Sam's impatience, but it still rankled slightly. "I was getting there, you're just going to have to bare with me and stop interrupting. As I was saying...when Castiel raised Dean from hell, he Bonded with Dean which caused the mark. Before you ask, that's a really big deal. It's typically a forever thing for angels, it literally binds their graces together and they can barely live without the other's touch. I'm sure that you noticed that Cassie probably got closer than normal to Dean, maybe reached out to touch him occasionally. That was the Bond pulling Castiel towards Dean."

He saw realization light up in Sam's eyes, obviously connecting the dots.

"When Lucifer killed Castiel, shattering him into atoms, our Father brought him back into being and brought him back with more power than ever. That power boost gave Cassie the oomf he needed to break the Bond, why he'd do that I don't know because obviously it wasn't negatively affecting Dean and the consequences of breaking a Bond are pretty bad. Honestly, I'm surprised that he was able to hold on for so long after the Bond was broken. Maybe it was because he still hunted with you, visited often enough and touched Dean enough that it helped bring down the consequences. Maybe it was because at one point he was human then regained his Grace which gave him a small respite from the effects. I don't know, and I'm not sure that Cassie knows either."

Sam seemed to slump into the chair, his mind obviously making the connections quickly without Gabriel having to spell it out. "Dean is helping Castiel by touching him." It was a statement, the answer to the last half of his question, Sam's voice sounding a mix of amused and exasperated. Gabriel couldn't help but wonder how much dancing around Sam had been witness to between their brothers.

Nodding, Gabriel let himself relax more now that Sam was. "Correct in one. When Cassie showed up on my doorstep earlier today he was basically dead, his grace almost gone and what little was left basically attacking itself. When I found out I called up Dean-o, convinced him to tell me where you two were, and brought Cassie here to him. Now, hopefully, if everything is going right your brother is doing what he needs to do to bring Cassie back to the land of the living and then they'll talk it out. Honestly, if I were you, I'd give them some room because there is no telling what will happen once Dean gets Cassie to explain all of this to him."

Silence seemed to fill into the place, Sam obviously thinking about what Gabriel was saying and trying not to think about what might be going on in Dean's room.

Gabriel wasn't sure how much time passed before Sam spoke up again. Having lived so long and not ever sleeping meant that time didn't seem to move at the same pace for the archangel as it did normal people. Eventually, though, Sam's curiosity seemed to get the better of him and he started asking more questions.

"How are you still alive? I thought you died after Lucifer stabbed you...and tell me more about the whole Bond thing. You said that it ties two graces together, but Dean doesn't have grace."

More good questions and one of which Gabriel was surprised Sam hadn't asked earlier. Though he'd lied to Dean about it over the phone, Gabriel wasn't sure that he could bring himself to lie to Sam about it.

"I've been Loki long enough, gained enough worshipers back in the day who believed that I was him, that after all this time I have magic from that belief. It's kind of like the gates of heaven, they didn't really exist until suddenly a mass of humans believed they existed. Same with some of the monsters that you and your brother hunt. They didn't exist until someone's folk lore made people believe. So when Lucifer was about to kill me, I was able to create a copy of myself and infuse it with basically all of my grace to make him think it was my actual vessel. When he stabbed that copy he really did destroy that grace. I was able to go back into hiding using my powers as Loki until my grace recovered."

Sam looked like he was about to say something else, question more, so Gabriel quickly jumped to the next question to try and head him off. While he didn't think he could bring himself to lie to Sam, there were still things that he wasn't sure that he wanted the younger Winchester to know about. Sam was too bright, too curious to not come up with hard questions that he wouldn't want to answer, so the best course of action – in his opinion – was to just head them off from the get go.

"As for the Bond thing. It's not impossible for an angel to create a Bond with a human. It just means that instead of two graces being tied together, Cassie's grace is tied to Dean's soul. The only time that Cassie could have done that was in Hell when he was getting Dean, which I think it's interesting because Cassie barely knew the man and most angels take years of courting before they even think about Bonding, much less following through with it. An angel can't bond through a vessel either. The soul that belongs in the vessel would hinder such a thing.

"To be honest, it's probably a good thing that Cassie was atomized and brought back by Dad. It means that his vessel doesn't contain a soul as well, it just has him in it. That's the only way that he's going to be able to get the Bond back in place, assuming Dean-o agrees anyway."

If it was possible, Sam's eyebrows would have hit his hairline at that. "So, if I'm understanding the undercurrent of that statement, the only way for Cas to recover fully would be to put the Bond back in place? What does that mean for Dean? Why didn't Dean have any adverse symptoms from the bond being cut? You said he'd have to directly touch his soul to make the bond."

Deciding that if he was going to be talking to Sam for a while, which it looked like he would be, that he should be comfortable, Gabriel moved towards the table to sit. At his movement, Sam tensed slightly, fingers gripping more firmly around the hilt of the knife in his hand. He didn't move to attack, though, instead watching with hard eyes as Gabriel took a seat and settled down into it, a slice of cake appearing on the table in front of him and a fork in his hand.

Between bites of the rich chocolate cake, Gabriel tried to figure out the best way to explain that part. It was a little more complicated than the whole Bond thing, he was curious as to how Castiel was going to explain it to Dean, though he had a feeling that the young angel would gloss over some parts. Sam, though, was an intellectual and highly curious. As much as the giant of a man could fight a good fight, he preferred knowledge over brawn.

"I'm guessing that when the Bond was put in place the first time, Cassie probably didn't fully mean to and Dean probably had no helping with creating it." Gabriel felt along as he spoke, trying to figure out how to phrase it delicately. "When it's two angels, they just sort of...know, when the person they are looking at is their mate. We don't normally stay in a vessel, so when we see each other we directly see each others grace. They still typically take time to get to know each other, but angels generally will know who they are most compatible with at a glance, it's kind of like a tug. I'm only guessing here, mind you, but I figure that Castiel knew, instinctively, that Dean was his match. When he raised Dean from hell, Dean probably fought him, and so he had to basically wrap your brother up in his grace to pull him out. The Bond might have just instinctively snapped into place on his end, something an Angel would normally stop happening if they weren't distracted."

He waited for Sam to nod to show that he understood. Gabriel was also pleased to note that as he talked, giving the young man new information, that he seemed to lean forward and relax again. "This time, Dean has a choice. He knows what's going on and Castiel isn't letting the Bond just snap into place on it's own. If Dean consents, then the Bond will be even stronger than before and it was pretty damn strong to start with. The closest thing I could describe it as would be like your human marriage, but there is no divorce really – unless Dean and Castiel want to go through what Castiel just went through – and if Dean should die then he gets a one way trip to wherever Castiel is. He wont be an Angel, but he could possess a new vessel if he wanted, or if Cassie returns to Heaven then he can stay as a soul and just be with Cassie in his True Form.

"As for how the Bond would go back in place now? The place where the mark will be extremely thin, in a way. If Dean is consenting and fully willing to create the Bond, his Soul and Castiel's grace should be able to use that area of the vessel to reestablish the Bond without and pain or hand shoving in chests."

Sam relaxed more as Gabriel talked, resting against the table. For a moment Gabriel wasn't sure what to expect. He wasn't sure where Sam could go with his questions at his point. Of course, Sam always was the tricky one of the Winchesters, something that Gabriel approved of.

It seemed that the younger hunter of the duo decided that since he had an archangel in front of him, apparently willing to answer anything asked of him, that he'd get some answers. Why he didn't ask Castiel those questions was up in the air, but Gabriel had a feeling that it was because the younger angel came off as so innocent. It seemed almost impossible that Castiel was actually as old as he really was or that he might know more about things like angel mating habits than he actually did.

When Gabriel magicked up some more cake, this time going with strawberry with cream cheese icing, he was mildly surprised when Sam reached out and stole it from him. Making himself some more, Gabriel chose not to comment and just enjoy it. He knew that Sam didn't let loose often enough, and was a health nut to boot. Watching him enjoy a slice of cake and picking his brain for information about things he didn't know was amusing and amazing to watch. It was like Sam was starved for information and now that he had access to someone who was admittedly alive before humans and most monsters were even created...

For the next few hours they talked, Sam slowly relaxing and eventually even moving the knife away from the direct contact with his hands. It wasn't necessarily out of reach, but at least it wasn't an immediate threat to the archangel. Of course, the blade wouldn't have really done much except cause a pinch, really, but it wasn't like Gabriel was about to jump at being hurt even it wasn't going to be fatal.

Eventually, though, Sam's eyes start to droop, his questions coming slower and slower.

Snapping away the dirty dishes, Gabriel tapped the table gently with one finger until he was sure that he had Sam's wandering attention. "Sambo, you look like you're about to drop off on me. You probably should go get your beauty rest if you plan on bugging big bro tomorrow about the little angel who could."

Sam scoffed slightly before tipping his head slightly in agreement. "Yeah, I should probably get some sleep. Um...you going to be okay by yourself? Cas always says that angels don't sleep."

It was sweet that Sam was thinking of him, especially since only hours ago it was obvious that Sam didn't trust him. Throwing an arm over the back of his chair and propping one ankle up on his knee, Gabriel gave the young hunter his best smile. "Well I could always join you." When Sam sputtered slightly, eyes widening in surprise, Gabriel couldn't help but laugh. "I'm joking, Sammy. Go get some sleep. I'll watch Netflix or repaint the walls or something."

With a shake of his head and a small chuckle, Sam wished him good night and then walked off to his own room, leaving Gabriel alone in the library once more.