A/N: Just so we're clear here, I am planning temporary character death in regards to Sam. He will not stay dead (or human) but he will return...and Gabriel is going to get a rude wake up call when he comes back.

Sam was the one who opted to deal with the crossroads demon, and boy was she in for a shock.

"I want to talk to Crowley, and before you say no tell him I have an offer he needs to consider," said Sam bluntly once he summoned her.

"What, am I not your taste?" she said coyly.

"No, but he won't thank you if he has to go through a middleman for what I have planned."

"Yeah, yeah, hold your britches Sasquatch. This had better be good though. I don't want him wasting me for some crappy deal," she said rolling her eyes.

An hour later Crowley showed up.

"I hear you have an offer. Let's get to the point Moose, I don't have all day," he said with a perfect British accent.

"I know you want Lucifer to stay in that damn cage, and I want to piss heaven and hell off at the same time by keeping my brother from ever going to the pit," said Sam flatly.

He had the satisfying sight of the King of the Crossroads being rendered speechless.

"And how would a hunter know about that plan?" he asked carefully, interest clearly piqued now.

"Because I've been through that future, and I'd rather jump into the pit bare naked without a single weapon then let that overgrown feather duster ride in my body twice," said Sam vehemently. "My brother is still in the dark about the plan, but I plan to screw over heaven and hell by robbing them of Lucifer's true vessel."

"Okay, you've got my interest Moose. What's the plan? Go into the pit and become a demon? Get turned and end up in Purgatory?" asked Crowley.

"I was thinking something more permanent. Something that neither heaven or hell could reverse, at least not without divine assistance, and let's face it, if God really were paying attention or gave a shit about humans, he would have intervened years ago," said Sam snidely.

Crowley snorted in complete agreement.

"So how do you plan to keep the angels from interfering?"

"I know Azazel's tournament will eventually end in the death of a Winchester. It's the only way they could get Dean to make that deal. However if I'm the one who makes the deal that saves his life, and then shoot myself somewhere fatal with the Colt, then neither heaven or hell can resurrect me. You can't bring back what's been erased, and it was caused by free will," said Sam.

Crowley stared at him.

"You would be willing to kill yourself with that gun just to screw over heaven and hell?"

"Like I said, I'm not letting that bastard use me to fight my brother. Never again. If keeping Dean and those I care about safe means I have to die in a permanent fashion by my own hand, then so be it. Not even the angel that's traveling with us has any idea of my plans," said Sam.

Crowley was impressed with this hunter's resolve. He clearly knew how to piss off a lot of interested parties. By killing himself he would doom his soul to hell, but if he used the Colt then the demons couldn't resurrect him no matter how hard Dean tried. And since committing suicide was all about free will, the angels couldn't bring him back without falling. Crowley had the feeling if the other brother knew why Sam Winchester killed himself, then it would be a snowy day in the pit before he said yes to Micheal or any angel.

Sam Winchester would effectively stop the Apocalypse cold, and there would be nothing anyone could do about it.

"Impressive for a Moose," said Crowley appreciatively, "But why tell me?"

"Last time you had Bela steal the Colt in an attempt to get out of her contract. I don't need her on our ass being a nuisance, especially if she does succeed in stealing the Colt. Coincidentally what are your feelings towards Ruby?"

"Can't stand the bitch," said Crowley immediately.

Sam had a shark like smirk. Crowley had the feeling if Sam had a choice, he would have become one hell of a demon. Probably even an arch duke.

"Want her head on a platter?"

"What do you want in exchange?"

"A partnership to insure the Apocalypse is well and truly screwed over, with no chance of Lucifer getting free," said Sam.

Crowley laughed. Anyone else would have shivered, but not Sam. He was too far gone at this point to give a damn.

He held out his hand, and Sam shook it. There was a rumbling of thunder in the distance.

"I take it you want the contract that man had ended?" he asked.

"If only so Dean never suspects what I've done. My plan will break him one way or another, but I don't want him trying to stop me. And as for Bela...she's conniving enough to suit you. Perhaps she could make a halfway decent minion instead of leaving her on the racks?" suggested Sam.

Crowley looked intrigued at the thought. He could always use a competent lackey to do his paperwork.

Sam left, and Dean had no idea of the bargain he struck with Crowley. Because the demon hadn't actually made a deal with him, Castiel wouldn't pick up on the agreement either. Which was what Sam wanted.

Sam was having a crappy couple of months. It had nothing to do with the fact he had to deal with Dean's paranoia after he took dream root to escape a vision of his brother wasting a man he now knew to be possessed by Azazel's son and finding out he still had Lucifer's grace inside him. It had nothing to do with the fact that he narrowly avoided having to deal with that bitch Meg trying to possess him, or killing Gordon the first chance he had because the insane vampire hunter tried to kill him.

No, this had everything to do with their current hunt. He still had a grudge against that bastard Loki after the Mystery Spot, and he would never dare let this opportunity to screw him over after that mess pass him by.

Only things hadn't gone exactly as planned.

The minute he got five feet of Loki his internal angel radar went off. Big time. He had barely resisted the urge to snap and start laughing at how far back heaven had been screwing with him and his brother.

Instead he went to the first bar and started drinking. He was not dealing with a damn angel. Not now.

"Damn Sammy. Think you can stop before you drain the place dry?" asked Dean. Something was definitely up.

"Just to warn you, I'll be a little loopy later. If I find out you went fishing for answers I will shoot you in the ass without hesitation," said Sam flatly. Dean put two and two together.

"Sam, you know I don't like you taking..."

"After what I just found out, I don't give a shit Dean. I need something to take my mind off what I learned and you're not going to intervene," snarled Sam. He needed the extra buzz of mixing medication and alcohol just to deal with the realization Loki had been a damn angel the entire time.

Probably a seraph too, with how much of an asshole he was.

Loki, or Gabriel, was confused and baffled. Sam Winchester had taken one look at him, and he had known he was the Trickster. The baffling thing was that instead of trying to kill him, he immediately went to the bar and got so shit-faced drunk he was almost guaranteed a hangover. And if that weren't confusing enough, he had just spotted the Sasquatch walking around acting...high...for lack of a better term. Dean had looked pretty angry about it too.

The weird thing was he couldn't find a trace of anything to cause that. Only some anti-depressants, sleeping pills...and a dog housing an angel. Pretty low ranked and unlikely to sense what Gabriel actually was unless he slipped.

It bugged him so much he cornered the moose when whatever he had taken started to wear off and he was half-asleep from the alcohol in his system.

"Damn feather brain. Why couldn't you and those assholes leave us alone?" slurred Sam. He was looking at Gabriel when he said it.

Gabriel stared at him. Sam couldn't possibly know.

"Fucking angel..." said Sam before he blacked out.

Gabriel's jaw dropped. How in the hell did Sam know he was an angel?! He went to touch the kid and nearly reeled back. He knew that grace.

Why did the vessel of his older brother have Lucifer's grace when last he checked the arch angel was still in the pit? And why were there traces of drugs in Sam's system?

He needed to get to the bottom of this. So he snapped the unconscious hunter to the front of the hotel, making it look like he had carried the man back.

Dean did not look happy. At all.

"Dammit Sammy. Sorry about this. He knows how I feel about him taking those pills," said Dean, maneuvering his brother around his shoulder.

"Pills?" asked Gabriel.

"Anti depressants. He gets a little loopy when he mixes them with alcohol, but I wasn't expecting him to slip out of the room without Cas warning me," said Dean.

"Cas?"

The dog barked, going to his master and whining. It was obvious the angel wasn't awake at the moment, or he would have noticed Gabriel.

"Tell him to go on a diet. Wasn't easy figuring out where the guy kept his room key, or hauling him here," said Gabriel with false cheer.

He needed answers, like why in his Father's name Sam Winchester had Lucifer's grace, but not Lucifer himself. Or why an angel was guarding them when last time he checked, they were doing a hand's off approach until Dean came out of hell.

Gabriel's suspicions about Sam bore fruit when, instead of coming at him with the Colt, he had something infinitely more dangerous.

"Where'd you find the holy oil?" he had to ask.

"Internet," was Sam's flippant reply. Gabriel snorted. Trust the humans to find a way to sell holy oil and get it across borders without the angels realizing it.

"So what's the plan Sasquatch?"

"You mean aside from deep frying your ass if you come anywhere near my brother or me again?" snarled Sam.

"Sam?"

"He's a fucking angel Dean. Hiding in plain sight, and with how much of an asshole he was the first time I'm betting he's a seraph at least," said Sam. Gabriel looked mildly insulted at the accusation. He was higher than some jumped up seraph, thank you very much.

"Is this part of the whole the 'higher the choir, the bigger the asshole' theory you have going on?" asked Dean.

"Dean, last time I ran into him, he killed you over two hundred consecutive times and then forced me to live six months trying to hunt him and then tempted me to kill Bobby in an attempt to summon him. Excuse me for wanting to fry him in holy oil," said Sam flatly. Cas barked.

Realization hit Gabriel like a brick. Time travel. That had to be why Sam Winchester was off, though how he pulled it off and had Lucifer's grace was a mystery.

"Looks like we're at an impasse boys. Too bad I don't plan to stick around to see how this ends. Ta~!" said Gabriel, vanishing without warning.

However that didn't mean he wasn't going to stick around to find out what the hell was going on first. He would just have to be very, very tricky about how he found out.

Sam knew something was up when he felt a presence in his head. It wasn't Lucifer, and it definitely wasn't Castiel. Which left the mystery angel.

Sam tried to kick him out, but instead felt mostly curiosity.

He glared in the general direction he felt Loki was in.

"Get out of my head you asshole! It's bad enough your kind screwed everything up the first time!" he snarled.

He heard a chuckle.

Here's the deal Moose. I'm not with heaven anymore. I left when the getting was good before Mikey or Lucy dragged me into their argument and I want answers. You're not getting rid of me that easily until I find out what's going on, said Loki.

"You want to know what's going on? Fine!" snapped Sam. The sooner he got rid of this damn angel, the happier he would be. He sent Loki the memories of Lucifer breaking him, of the events that followed right up until he stole Lucifer's grace to return to the past in order to change everything.

Loki had no idea of Sam's plan to end this permanently. He didn't want the angel warning Castiel or Dean.

He could feel Loki's shock and the sympathy from the angel. Sam rebuffed the other feeling. He didn't want Loki's sympathy. He didn't deserve it for falling for Ruby and Lilith's tricks.

Gabriel felt a little ashamed for forcing the human to relive that. He had no idea the younger Winchester was so strong, yet at the same time weaker than his brother. Sam had done the impossible to save Dean, yet he denied himself any chance to be happy because he knew his fate and was determined to stop it at any cost. And the arch angel had a bad feeling Sam was going to do something extremely drastic to insure Lucifer stayed in the pit.