SPN-- ITMCHaN Ch. 15

Chapter Fifteen:  Candy Kiss ((The Creepshow))

They put Gabriel in the backseat of the Impala. This was for two very good reasons. Sam suggested it because it was more comfortable than lying on the ground for however long the archangel was going to be out. Dean took the suggestion because they could put him there and they'd be alerted when he tried to leave by the loud noise the doors made as they opened. Dean still didn't quite trust the shorter man, after what had happened at Crowley's place.

That was another problem in and of itself. Crowley. They were supposed to kill him, not bring him along for the ride. Demons were always trouble, and this one was a pretty powerful one.

Although he didn't seem it at the moment. He'd barely spoken to them since they'd left the house, and even less since Gabriel wasn't awake. Occasionally he would mutter something sarcastic under his breath while one of them tried to come up with a plan, but no more than that. After awhile, he went to join the archangel in the Impala, curling up in the passenger seat. Dean wanted to complain about the demon being in his car without supervision, but it did give them a chance to discuss what exactly they were going to do with him.

"We could kill him," Dean offered helpfully.

"We're not killing him, Dean," Sam huffed for the fifth time.

"I don't see what the big deal is… He's a demon. We gank demons. In fact, it was pretty much the whole point of this trip."

Sam ran a hand through his hair with a groan. Usually he was all for his brother killing demons. But this time was different. "Our main concern is Lucifer."

"No, our main concern is getting the hell out of here."

"Which we're not going to get any help on until we help Chuck with his civil war problem. He needs Lucifer and Crowley dealt with."

"All the more reason to get rid of this one. The knife'll work on him. It'll be a warm up for Luci."

"I don't think Gabriel will allow it," Castiel spoke up finally, from his spot in the grass beside Dean.

"If Gabe's got such a problem with it, he can go too," Dean snapped. "He sold us out."

"Dean—"

Sam didn't get a chance to finish, because suddenly there was an angry angel in his personal space. "Gabriel might have made a bad decision, but he's my brother."

Dean leaned back. "Well maybe you should keep your brother in check a little better."

"Did you forget he just saved your life?!" Castiel growled, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. "All of ours, actually! Or did you really think you could have fought Lucifer with a set of crushed ribs?"

"Guys…"

The younger Winchester was ignored again.

"Doesn't change the fact that he was gonna give us right over to Crowley! Hell, he was about ten minutes from sticking a big red bow on my fucking head and handing me over! If Lucifer hadn't come in, I was headed for a fucking torture room!"

"Gabriel wouldn't have let that happen." There was no question in his tone.

There was a little voice in the back of Dean's mind that agreed with the angel. Gabriel had put his foot down with Crowley when it came to hurting him. But he didn't care. The archangel had betrayed them, and if there was one thing Dean Winchester did not abide by, it was betrayal.

"You're so sure? I'll bet that if Lucifer hadn't showed, I'd have been dead. Or at least kept alive and hurting. Then you two would've busted in and he'd have you and Sam too!"

They both knew that Gabriel wouldn't have let it go that far. But Dean was mad, and he wanted to make a point.

"Just face it! Your brother is bad news. We need to deal with him just as much as we need to deal with his demon boyfriend."

Castiel let out furious snarl, grabbing Dean by the collar before he knew what was happening. He yanked the other closer, until their faces were almost touching, and stared him directly in the eye.

"My brother would never do something like that." He hissed, shaking him a little for good measure. If Dean had thought the angel's voice was rough before, it didn't compare to his angry tone. "You of all people should know about duty to family, Dean. What if Sam had done the same? Would we be having this same conversation? Don't you dare sit here and be a hypocrite with me."

Dean didn't say anything. Instead he just glared at the angel, not trying to move. Sam moved to stand between them, a hand on either of their shoulders.

"C'mon guys, calm down. This isn't helping us figure anything out."

Castiel continued their epic stare- down for a few moments longer before shoving the hunter, letting him go. He turned in a flurry of trench coat, storming off.

"Where the hell are you going?" Dean demanded.

Castiel didn't turn around. "For a walk."

Sam sighed, rubbing his forehead. The angel kept walking and his brother slumped back in the grass with his arms crossed sullenly. They really had more important things to worry about. He didn't have time to fix his brother's fights with his angel.

"I'm going to go talk to Crowley, and see if Gabriel's awake."

For a moment, he thought Dean was going to argue with him as well, about talking to demons. But he just grunted a reply, sulking. Sam supposed it was a good thing at this moment. The younger Winchester made his way over to where the Impala was parked. When Gabriel had moved them all from Crowley's house, he hadn't left behind the car. Sam wondered if that was a sort of peace offering for Dean. Not that his brother had even noticed.

He slid into the driver's side, shutting the door behind him. Gabriel was stretched out along the back seat, lying on his side. He was still unconscious, or at least sleeping. It was almost surreal, seeing him that still and quiet. Sam didn't think he'd seen the archangel this calm since he'd met him.

Crowley was staring at him, he could tell. The demon hadn't said anything, but he could feel eyes on him, studying him. Sam glanced at him, confirming his suspicions. He offered what he hoped was a friendly grin.

"Um, hi. I'm Sam."

Crowley wasn't impressed. "I know who you are, moose. So what did you and your brother decide?"

Of course he knew they were talking about him. Dean wasn't exactly quiet, and even if there was a car door separating them, it wasn't soundproof.

"Dean decided to fight with Cas instead," Sam shrugged.

"Figures," the demon snorted. "Quite the short attention span on that one."

Sam hummed in response. He still didn't feel quite comfortable being this close to a demon. But he was a little more willing to try than his brother. He knew Gabriel wouldn't let anything happen to them, and Gabriel trusted Crowley. So Sam would at least give him a chance.

"You said you wanna help us."

"That had come up, yes."

"Why?"

Crowley sighed. "I told you. Lucifer needs to be dealt with. I was in the middle of a good thing, and with him around, that's coming to a spectacular end. Of train wreck proportions. I don't know whether he'll come after me or you lot first, but he'll be out to destroy me at some point. I'd like to make that not happen, but I can't do it alone. And since Chuck apparently thinks you two will be the saviors of Purgatory, I suppose it's in my best interest to get on the only other team that could possibly stand a chance."

Sam nodded. He was still curious though. "And Gabriel?"

The demon rolled his eyes. "He's… somewhat entertaining."

"And I can do this really neat trick with my tongue."

Crowley pressed his face into the palm of his hand with a groan. Sam blinked, his gaze shifting to the back seat once more. Gabriel was grinning. He hadn't moved, but his eyes were open, shining with the same mischievous spark he'd come to associate with the archangel.

"Goddammit, angel…"

Sam probably could have done without that particular piece of information, but he was glad that Gabriel was awake, at least.

"How do you feel?"

Gabriel stretched a bit, pulling a groan from his throat. "Like I ran a marathon before getting set on a roller coaster."

The hunter rested his chin on the back of the driver's seat. "What happened?"

"I did too much at once. Overused what little Grace I had stashed. Between moving us all and fixing your brother's ribs, I'm spent for a good long while until I recharge."

Sam nodded. "Thanks."

The archangel shrugged tiredly. "I did kinda lie to him for awhile."

"He's not happy."

"Big surprise there," Crowley rolled his eyes. "I've known him for all of a few hours and he's been a laugh riot."

Sam wondered if Crowley spoke entirely in sarcasm. Maybe it was a demon thing.

"He's uh… having some trouble getting used to the new team."

"Tell him to get over himself. It's business. A means to an end, nothing more."

"Dean doesn't see things like that though."

"This is because I threatened to torture him, isn't it?"

Sam grimaced. "That might have something to do with it."

"Humans." He shook his head. "Do you have to take everything so bloody personal?"

"I wasn't gonna let him do it anyway," Gabriel muttered.

"I was bluffing," the demon said as way of explanation. "Mostly."

Sam had the feeling his mediation skills were going to get a lot of practice on this trip. "Okay. Let me go talk to him, see if he's calmed down any. At the very least, now that you're up we can all start planning what the next move is."

Gabriel nodded, folding his arms behind his head comfortably. He wasn't looking forward to having the inevitable talk with the older human, but he knew he would have to at some point. Sam was so much more reasonable.

Sam slid out of the car, taking his time in wandering back to where he'd left his brother sulking. He still looked sullen, but at least he wasn't pouting like a kid that got lectured anymore. He lay on his back in the grass, legs bent at the knees and arms pillowing his head. He stared at the sky, lost in thought.

The taller Winchester took a seat beside him, folding his legs underneath himself.  They didn't speak for awhile. It was almost peaceful, and Sam wasn't looking forward to starting any of the conversations he had to.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "Gabriel's awake."

"Hm."

"He used all his Grace to get us out of there and heal you. So we've lost our trump reserve for awhile."

"Don't need it. We never needed it before. We'll manage just fine on our own, like we always do."

"You are planning on keeping them with us, right? You're not gonna dump them somewhere?"

The thought had crossed his mind. "Don't see why it's such a big deal."

"Cas too?" Sam arched a brow. "He's not gonna leave without Gabriel. And Gabriel's not gonna go without Crowley."

"Cas is free to make his own choices," Dean's tone told Sam exactly the opposite. "It'll be good for him. He needs to learn about that sort of stuff. Free will. It'll be a lesson he can take back to Heaven with him."

Yeah, he wasn't sulking at ALL.

"You don't want Cas to go back to Heaven, do you?"

"Well, where else is he gonna go?" Dean huffed. "He can't stay here. He's powerless. He won't last an hour by himself."

"Gee, Dean, let me think about this one," he tapped a finger to his chin for all of three seconds. "With us, obviously."

"With us?"

"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it. It's obvious."

Dean scowled at him. Sam arched a brow, looking almost smug.

"So what's with you and the devil?"

Sam let out a groan. Changing subjects, in typical Dean 'No Chick Flick Moments' Winchester fashion. If Sam weren't so used to it by now, he might actually be upset.

"What about him?"

Sam was just mad that he wasn't as good at avoidance as his brother.

"What he said back there, about picking up where that redhead left off."

"Dude, I didn't know what was going on. I was just at the house, and then I wasn't. I was in the middle of a street. You were gone, she was gone. He was the only one who explained anything to me!"

"Getting Cliff Notes from Satan now, Sammy?"

"Dean, c'mon!" Sam rolled his eyes, fingers carding through his hair on impulse. "I didn't even know who he was until afterward!"

Suddenly something clicked in the older Hunter's head. He snapped his fingers. "That's why you got all moody when I kept insisting that I killed him!"

Sam looked away. Dean knew the 'Dean was right for once' bitchface.

"He didn't like, mess with you or anything, did he?"

"What? No!" Sam shook his head quickly. "He just told me where we were. And that if I wanted to find you, I'd have to go see Chuck. Although in retrospect, I would've found you sooner if I'd just stayed with Balthazar at the club."

Dean had to give him that one. He studied his brother carefully. "So that's it then? He just gave you the info, told you he was the devil, and then left?"

Sam shrugged. "Yeah."

He stared at the other for a bit longer, as if waiting for him to crack and blurt something else out. After no such revelations came, he sighed. "Alright, fine. But next time something happens, tell me a little sooner maybe?"

"Yeah sure. The next time Satan tries to give me the guided tour, I'll let you know."

***

"Well, angel, this is yet another fine mess you've dragged me into."

Gabriel snickered. "You started this one. You're the one who wanted to try overthrowing Luci."

"True enough," the demon tipped his head. "But you had to go and get attached to our little trump card."

"Not me," he huffed, almost pouting at that. "Cas is the one with the stupid schoolgirl crush."

"It's adorable, really."

"That's exactly what I said!"

"I was being sarcastic."

"When are you NOT?"

Crowley grinned. The answer was, of course, nearly never. They both already knew that much.

"So what are you gonna do now?" Gabriel's voice came from closer than he was expecting. The angel was leaning in between the two front seats, his cheek pressed against the side of the driver's chair.

"Exactly as I said. That charm is the trump card, and if I can't get it from Dean, then I'll just have to make sure he goes to fight the battle."

"Okay, so say this all works out. Lucifer is taken care of," he didn't want to say killed. No matter how much of a bag of dicks his brother was, he was still his BROTHER. "What then? You just take over? You don't think Chuck's gonna let that happen, do you? He sent the goof troop after you once already."

"So what are you suggesting I do then?"

Gabriel wasted no time in grabbing him by the jacket collar, yanking him in to crush their lips together. As if that explained anything. Nevertheless, the demon allowed it, smirking into the kiss as he returned it. The archangel hummed in contentment as fingers wound into his hair, pulling just so.

He leaned back, hands still fisted in the other's jacket, all but dragging him into the backseat. After a quick bit of maneuvering, Crowley found himself pressed against one of the doors with a lap full of angel who was practically shoving his tongue down his throat. He tightened his grip in the other's hair, earning him a low groan, slightly muffled.

Gabriel pulled back, already slightly out of breath. He dragged his teeth along the demon's lip. "Come back to Earth with me after this…"

Crowley gave his hair a warning tug. This didn't really accomplish more than making Gabriel arch a bit against him, which he figured was just as well. "We've been over this, angel…"

He silenced the remainder of the argument with another kiss, just as insistent as the first. Crowley decided to let it go for now. It had been a few days since he'd seen the archangel, after all. Instead he put his focus elsewhere, fingers of his free hand dipping under the hem of the brown button- down shirt to press at skin. Gabriel growled into the kiss, squirming closer.

And suddenly the door holding them up was opened, sending them both falling out of the car onto the ground. Crowley let out a grunt, both at the sudden impact, and the extra weight of Gabriel landing on him.

"Hey, what gives?!" Gabriel glared above them, not moving from his place sprawled over the demon.

"Dude, you two are not screwing in my car!" Dean's face was scrunched up. "That's just gross!"

Behind his brother, Sam bit back a grin. "You've done it before."

"Well yeah…but it's MY car!"

Crowley looked up at Gabriel as the brothers continued to argue. There was no mistaking the grin.

"We are going to shag in this car before this suicide mission of yours is over."

Gabriel couldn't argue with that.