Castiel was still peacefully sleeping as the three of them burst back into the motel room only minutes later. Gabriel had a hand pressed against the bleeding scratch up his ribs, doubled over and trying to catch his breath as his poor brother bolted upright in the bed, aiming the gun at them. 

"Its... just us... bucko." Gabriel slumps down on the couch, still breathing heavily.

"What the hell happened?" Castiel was at Gabriel side in seconds. "Why are you bleeding?"

"That tends to happen when you..." Gabriel winces as he shifts into a more comfortable position. "Get attacked by some loon with a knife."

"What?"

Sam sighs, he looked as though nothing happened, there wasn't even a hair out of place on his head. "We were attacked by some demons at the pub, we took care of them?"

"Why were you out doing that without me?" Castiel glared at his brother. "You could have been killed!"

"Cassie, I wasn't out doing anything other than getting a few drinks, those demons must of... I dunno, recognized me?" Gabriel had to admit, the idea of being on some demon hit list wasn't great, then again he was fairly sure that they were on everyone's hit list.

Castiel's brows are furrowed, but he moves to grab the first aid kit and some alcohol. "You're still an idiot, getting jumped like that."

"Obviously the demons know that we're on their case, and don't like that." Dean sat down at the wobbly table. "Thing is, how many of the are here?"

Gabriel grits his teeth as Castiel washes his wound with what smelled like whiskey. "I dunno man, that's what I was kinda hoping moose knew."

Sam wrinkles his nose with a disgruntled expression, "its Sam." He took the other seat at the table. "But I don't."

So much for the angel's helping them out with the case. Gabriel waits until Castiel was finishing cleaning his cut before he said anything more. "So what I'm is that we have diddly squat on those black eyed bitches?"

Castiel's blue eyes flashed. "Well maybe if  you guys had brought one of them here, we could have questioned it."

Gabriel snorts, "thanks for the tip bucko, next time I'm jumped in a bar by demons, I'll be sure to let them kill me rather than killing them."

"He has a point." Sam says, straightening the sleeves of his jacket. "If we were able to lure and capture one of the demons, they could provide important information."

 Gabriel shook his head, looking up from the glinting needle in Castiel's steady hand to see Dean nodding thoughtfully. "That's too dangerous, there's too many ways that could go wrong."

"It could also go right, and we might finally get closer to being done with this." Sam carefully removed his jacket, revealing a tidy, white shirt underneath that looked as though it should belong to a business man, not an angel. "I'm sure we'll all be happier once we can all go our separate ways after all."

Gabriel looked at Dean, wondering what the unruly angel thought of this plan. To his surprise, Dean was staring at the table, his expression revealing nothing of any thoughts that might be running through his head. It was a stupid plan, Gabriel thought, there were too many ways in which it could end with someone getting hurt or killed. 

"Here." Castiel says, holding the bottle of whiskey out to Gabe. "You might want this." This was followed by the brief heat of the needle that Castiel had held over the lighter, before he threaded it through Gabe's skin. Wincing at the stinging, pulling pain, Gabe takes a swig of the alcohol, trying to focus his thoughts back on the argument at hand.

"We could try and summon one... surely there's a crossroads in this town right?" Sam had stood up and was now pacing the length of the motel room with his long legs. "We could take some precautions, devil trap bullets and holy water... and a devils trap obviously."

Gabriel chewed the inside of his cheek, this was a reckless plan. He was all for them, usually, but not on a case like this. Especially not with Castiel nearby. Normally his reckless decisions were to save his brother, there was no way he was going to risk getting Cas killed.
"What if more demons show? They could have their guys out looking for us, especially after the bar incident."

"I thought you Novak's never backed down from a fight." Sam paused in his pacing to give Gabriel a challenging look. "After all, you didn't bat an eyelid killing those angels."

Gabriel claps slowly, finally. "I was wondering how long it would be before one of you boys brought that up." 

Castiel tugged the needle through the cut rougher than needed, his eyes bearing a warning look.

"I just find it hard to believe that the very man who helped kick start the apocalypse and kills angels would back down from a measly little demon fight." Sam stood still, arms crossed as he stared down at Gabe with a cold look. "Maybe they were wrong about you, you aren't a killer, you're just a weak little human."

Was this dick serious? "Please, I could take you down anytime, just like I did to those other winged dicks."

"Gabriel." Castiel warns in a low tone. 

"And you're right, I never back down from a fight, otherwise I would have died a long time ago." Gabriel meets Sam's cold gaze with an angry one of his own. "But there is no way in hell that I am going to put my brother at risk, if we get overrun with demons and he gets hurt..." Gabriel would never be able to live with himself if something happened to Castiel. 

"Sometimes you need to take a risk, even if you are putting everything on the line, you need to do it for the greater good."

"Don't talk to me about the greater good, all angels do is kill and threaten in the name of their 'greater mission'. Saviors of humanity?" Gabriel scoffs, "you are just as bad as the demons."

"I think everyone's getting a bit... sidetracked here-" 

"Does anyone want to hear my opinion?" Castiel interrupts Dean, having finished stitching Gabe up. "We should go ahead with this idea, its the only plan we've got."

Gabriel couldn't believe his ears, he opens his mouth, intending to argue.

"Gabe, please, you can't spend your entire life protecting me from everything, how many times have we died now? Besides this is just a simple demon trap, something we've done a hundred times before, why are you suddenly so paranoid?"

"Yes but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you charge head first into danger-"

"We're the Novak's, we always kick ass remember? You told me that."

Gabriel sighs heavily, he could see that there was no way around this. "I just... I dunno, call it crazy if you will, but there's something about this case that feels... off." He couldn't explain it, it was like a prickling on the back of his neck, a feeling that there was something more they weren't quite seeing. "I mean, why all the demons? Why here?"

"That's what we need to find out, and we have a chance at that with this plan." Sam's face was expressionless. 

There were a million ways in which this could go wrong, each one running through his head at a frantic rate. Despite this, he finds himself nodding in agreement. What the hell was wrong with him? He never backed down from a chance to do good, no matter how low the odds were because that was what he and his brother did, they tried to save people no matter the odds. He had never let paranoia stop him in the past, so why now?

"We'll work together, nothing will happen to you or your brother." Dean finally adds to the conversation. "I promise you."

~~~

They agreed to do it that morning, early so it could be over and done with before there were too many people out and about. 

Gabriel had managed to grab a total of two hours of fitful sleep before they headed out. Castiel looked just as bad as he felt, with large dark shadows under his eyes and ruffled hair that didn't seem to want to flatten out, no matter how many times his brother tried to flatten it with his hands as the two of them got ready. Gabriel caught Dean staring at his brother, and glared at the angel until he looked away. Gabe didn't like that look one bit. He made a mental note to ask Castiel later about that. 

It was freezing as they left the motel room. It wasn't long past 3 am, and the rest of the world seemed silent and still as they got into the car. He personally hated the car, but Castiel absolutely loved it so he kept it for the sake of him. An old Lincoln Continental Mark V, it wasn't his preferred mode of transport given it always seemed to draw attention. 

"So you guys have a pimpmobile?" Dean asks, screwing his nose up. 

"Its not a pimpmobile, I happen to love this car." Castiel turned around in his seat to glare at the angel in the backseat. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Tuning out the rest of the argument, Gabriel tries instead to focus on running over the plan in his head as he drove towards the crossroads. They were having to drive to the edge of town to get to one that was gravel, asphalt wasn't exactly easy to dig through. 

He didn't like this one bit, there was something more going on in this town and he knew it. He just didn't know what it was, it was more of a feeling, an instinct he supposed. 

Feeling eyes on him, he looks up into the rear-view mirror to see Sam staring at him, the angel had a passive expression, but his eyes betrayed his true thoughts. It was clear Sam hated that he had agreed to work with Gabriel. Hell, he was probably wanting nothing more than to gank Gabe there and then. Gabriel looks away, pressing his lips into a thin line. Well, when everything was done and dusted, should Sam try anything, he would be more than happy to shove an angel blade into that conceited dicks face.