The moon was high in the sky above them as Gabriel lead Sam down the empty streets. They don't speak, allowing the natural silence of the night to fill the empty space between them. Sam spent the walk contemplating how Raphael and Michael would react to his agreement to work with the Novak's. He doubted it would be good.

This was the kind of thing that Dean would do, and the kind of thing that Sam would berate Dean for doing. So why was Sam walking along at 2 am with the very hunter that other angels warned him of? Even as he walked, Sam questioned his sanity. This wasn't supposed to be how things went.

"So tell me, big bird, are all Angel's such dicks? Or is it just the ones I keep meeting?"

Sam presses his lips together in a thin line. "You mean the ones you keep killing?"

Gabriel chuckles, "oh so now I'm not allowed to defend myself?"

"Maybe you shouldn't attack them in the first place, we're the good guys."

Gabriel's long silence was infuriating. Then he laughed, doubling over. "You. You feathery dicks are the... good guys?"

Sam narrows his eyes, wondering if it would be bad if he just fast tracked Gabriel's death to now.

Gabriel sighs, glancing back at Sam. "Oh, you were being serious." He chuckles. "Sorry to break it to you pal, but you guys are just as corrupt and terrible as us mere human folk are."

Was he comparing the beautiful, mighty host of Heaven to the... primitive apes that were humans? 
"Angel's carry out the mission that God willed us to."

"Yeah? And what is that, exactly? Cause it seems to me that a few people have gotten their wires crossed about that particular subject lately."

Sam opens his mouth to reply, but he realizes he didn't know what to say. He tracks his brain, horrified with how blank Gabriel's words had left him. "We... watch over humanity."

Gabriel just looks at him. Sam refuses to meet the hunter's eyes, what did this boy know of Heaven's mission?

"We're here," Gabriel breaks the tense silence, leading Sam up the path to a small motel. 

It wasn't anything spectacular, just another run down motel in a rundown neighborhood. The V on the 'Vacancy' sign flickered, moths gathered in fluttering crowds around each outdoor light. The small parking lot was cracked in places, small weeds poking through. As Sam followed Gabriel across the lot, he noticed how the outsides of the units were a faded yellow, the paint cracking and peeling in places. All in all, it was in need of a thorough do-over. 

Gabriel stopped outside room 10, taking a moment to search for the key in the pockets of his jeans. Finding the key, he unlocks the door and glances back at Sam. 
"Okay, no funny business," his gaze was as sharp as a knife. "Hurt my baby brother and I will kill you."

Sam raised both hands, "I promise, we're both fighting the same enemy here."

Gabriel stares at him a moment longer with his sharp, golden eyes which held a constantly harden look. Then he was pushing the creaking, wooden door open to reveal a dimly lit room. Gabriel walked in confidently, already shrugging his jacket. Sam, feeling apprehensive and all too aware that he was, in fact, walking into the lions den, followed.

A younger boy, who appeared to be in his very early 20's, sat on the ripped old couch. He was sharpening a knife, his raven black hair giving the appearance that he had just woken up. Upon their entrance, the boy looked up and immediately fixed his piercing blue eyes on Sam.

"Gabe?" His voice was rougher than Sam had expected it to be.

Gabriel, slinging his jacket over one of the twin beds, glanced over at his brother. "Oh, right, hey Cassie, I brought a..."

"Acquaintance." Sam tried to make himself look more relaxed, more natural, but he couldn't force the tension in his shoulders to leave. "I believe we both have the same goal in mind."

"Sorry Cassie, but you and I both know deep down that we need help on this one."

The raven haired boy looked increasingly more confused. "What's going on?" Sam noted he had the knife in a firm grip, ready for trouble.

"Cas, this is Samuel... he's an angel." Gabriel swept a hand towards Sam. "Sam, this is my little brother Castiel."

"Its... just Sam."

Castiel was now looking at his brother with wide eyes, and paid no attention to Sam's words. "You brought an angel here?" He stood up abruptly, sending a book flying across the floor. "What were you thinking!?"

"Hey, calm down there bucko," Gabriel spread his hands out, "he's not gonna hurt us, he's after the same thing we are."

Castiel didn't look anything were near calm. "Normally you're the one telling me off for making stupid decisions, but this... this is something beyond stupid."

Sam wanted to ask how this was more stupid than unleashing Lucifer, but decided it might be wiser to keep his mouth shut. 

"Cas, I promise you, this is just temporary, but Samuel here is after the same thing we are, stopping the demons."

Castiel looked at Sam, his eyes narrow. "Really." 

"I too want to stop the demons from destroying this town." Sam spoke carefully. "We are both facing the same enemy here, we don't need to be fighting each other." He had to admit, the blue eyed boy standing in front of him really didn't look like he had expected him to. Sure, there was a haunted look in his eyes, and a serious expression fixed to his face but he didn't look like the type to run around letting Devils out of their cages. 

"So are we trusting those feathered dicks now?" Castiel glared at his brother. "I can't believe it, you're the one that's always saying that angels are utter assholes that deserve to die."

Sam blinks. Wow.

"Cassie, its just for this one case, then we can part ways and go back to the way things used to be." Gabriel looked over at Sam. "But until then, we need his help, hell just this morning you were saying how this case was bigger than your typical demon attacks."

Castiel still didn't look convinced, but at least he lowered his knife. Sam wondered how these two mere humans had managed to jump start the apocalypse but couldn't take down a group of demons. There was no way he would be letting his guard down around them though, especially not when Castiel was constantly staring at him as if he were the demons they were hunting.

"Excellent!" Gabriel clapped his hands together, breaking the tense silence. "Lets get started then."

Sam nods, looking away from the younger, angry hunter to see Gabriel flicking a lamp on to reveal a wall covered in all sorts of clippings, documents and handwritten notes. Despite his wariness, Sam steps closer as curiosity took over. The two of them had obviously been working hard to piece together different bits of evidence, and had done an excellent job of it too, but there were still a lot of holes in their research. 

Scanning the wall, Sam saw that much to his dismay the brothers had a blurry photo of Dean on the wall. How had they gotten a photo of his brother? He frown, leaning in to look closer at it. Dean, blurry as he was in it, was very obviously sitting at a bar. When would his brother learn not to draw attention to himself?

"Yeah he's a big suspect, apparently he was spotted at one of the murder scenes, and then vanished before anyone could get a good look at him." Gabriel says, when he saw what Sam was looking at. "One of the first solid leads we got, actually."

Sam sighs heavily, running a hand through his long hair. "That's... not a demon." 

"Oh?" Castiel was standing on his other side, arms crossed as he continued to glare at him. Distrust clear in his eyes.

"Yeah that's... my brother." A brother who was going to get an earful next time he saw him. "He isn't the most cautious angel, tends to get himself in a bit of trouble every decade or so."

Gabriel was frowning, chewing on the pen in his hand thoughtfully. "Another angel in town?" He turns his eyes back onto Sam. "Is he gonna be any trouble?"

Dean? Trouble? Always. Sam loved his brother, but he knew that if there was trouble to be found, Dean would almost always hunt it out. "Dean... well Dean isn't exactly the type to go around killing you, so that's good..." Sam sighs again. "But he does like to cause a bit of chaos very now and again." He realized that Dean might actually be doing what he did out of boredom, and if he had something different to focus on... say working with hunters without permission to take out some demons, then maybe it would prevent him from a repeat of 1518. Which would really be a win for everyone. 

"So is he going to make this harder for us?"

Sam hesitates. "Well, he's the kind of person you'd want to have on your side, instead of battling him every step of the way."

"No." Castiel says before Gabriel can reply. "There is no way that we will be adding a second angel to this, no freaking way."

"Cas, maybe-"

"No." Castiel had his arms crossed, and looked furious. "I can't believe you are even considering this."

"Do you really want a loose cannon like some troublesome angel potentially screwing up this hunt for us?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Because it sounds like Dean is the type of angel I'd rather have somewhere where I can keep an eye on him."

"I promise I will make sure Dean is not any trouble." Sam would feel better if Dean were here, should the truce between himself and the hunters break. 

"I don't think this is a good idea." Castiel mutters.

"Do it, it's better than having to keep an eye on what he's doing too." Gabriel nods to Sam. "But any funny business and we will kill you both."

Funny, I was going to say the same thing. Sam nods, "I'll bring him back."

"Can't you just... angel radio him?"

"Well, I would but you seem to have some sort of warding up, I can't use angel radio here." Sam forced a smile. "Besides, I can't risk another angel overhearing me." If the others found out what he was doing, he would be considered untrustworthy and perhaps even locked up. Every angel in heaven knew that the Novak's were very anti angels. To work with them was to turn your back on heaven - a though that made Sam sick to the stomach.