CHAPTER 4 - CONCERN

"You're gonna be okay Sammy! I got you!" Dean was carrying Sam down the stairs. One arm around his neck. Sam was obviously struggling to walk and was in a real bad condition. Quickly Dean dragged Sam into another room of the bunker and laid him on a bed. Sam pressed his eyelids together in pain. Fortunately he was doing already a little better than before at the abandoned church. Dean took care of his little brother just like in the past. He was always there for his little brother when he needed him. When he was hurt or in danger. He would never ever give him up on him.

Dean was so busy taking care of Sam that he didn't notice Gabriel standing in the doorway. He was observing them. He knew what happened to Sam and what was still going on. Gabriel could feel the pain of the unfinished trials still floating through Sam's veins. He felt the same restlessness within Sam as he felt within Castiel. They both needed time to recover from this shock.

Gabriel was still standing there. He knew he couldn't help, that's why he didn't say anything at first. It was better to let Dean take care of his brother first before showing himself to him. It was a tense situation, for both of them actually. Both of their younger brothers were badly hurt. Not necessarily physically but more emotionally. They both needed time to recover and Gabriel and Dean needed to be there for them.

Finally Dean managed to handle Sam's pain good enough to leave him alone to rest. It took quite a while and a lot of tricks, but they had the knowledge of The Man of Letters. Powerful knowledge. Sam was resting in his bed, he looked more at peace than half an hour before when Gabriel saw them entering the bunker. Dean stood up and left Sam's room. As he shut the door and turned around he saw Gabriel sitting at the table, which was standing in the middle of the room. Dean froze and stared at Gabriel for a good minute. He blinked a couple of times to be sure it wasn't some hallucination or a trick of the shock.

"Surprise, I guess." Gabriel just said with his typical grin. Dean wasn't even sure what to respond or what to feel. He needed a moment to realize who was sitting there. He gave the archangel an unsure look. Finally he caught himself and was sure this wasn't some sort of dream.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" he yelled at him. "And how the hell are you even still alive?!" he added after a short pause. Dean had so many questions to ask the angel, who was sitting in front of him as if nothing was happening. Didn't he just witness that his whole freaking family fell from the sky?! What was wrong with him?! And why wasn't he dead?! With the questions also came the anger at the angel. Why didn't he do something to stop all of this madness? And what about the stuff that happened earlier?! And then Dean was also feeling confusion. He didn't understand what was happening. How could he be here?

"I'll explain that to you later." Gabriel said in his usual voice and stood up. He acted like he was okay, but he was far from okay. But he was sure Dean wasn't feeling any better. Sam was in serious pain and who knew how long it would take for him to recover.

"Why?! Do you have anything more important to do?! I sure as hell want to know how you're still alive! I could've sworn that Lucifer iced you right in front of my own eyes!" Dean replied in an angry voice and confused at the same time, speaking so fast he almost stumbled upon his own words. Gabriel sighed.

"Because it's easier to explain myself once than three times." Gabriel repulsed. Dean looked confused for a second. What did he just hear? Three times? Couldn't he count or was there someone else? Dean managed to control his anger and calmed down a little bit. However he was still feeling uncomfortable with facing the archangel, he thought was dead.

"What? Three times? The hell are you talking about?" Dean asked confused. In his concern for his brother he forgot about everyone else or other possible visitors in this bunker. Gabriel walked around the table and stood in front of Dean. Apparently all angels had a light problem regarding personal space.

"I'm talking about MY brother. Castiel." Gabriel responded seriously and looked Dean in the face. There was something about the archangel that gave Dean the shivers. "You're not the only one with a hurt little brother you know." Gabriel's words almost didn't reach Dean. He was still trying to progress the first thing he sad. Cas! How could he have forgotten about him?!

"Cas! Damn it, what happened to him? What the hell did he do?" Dean had no idea what had happened to Castiel up in heaven, he had no idea that he was human now, what he was going through. Gabriel understood that but still he looked angry at Dean for blaming Castiel for what had happened.

"He didn't do anything!" Gabriel responded in a deep and somewhat scary voice, possibly because some of his real voice was leaking through. He was an archangel after all, Dean had almost forgotten that. "He fell, like every single one of my brothers and sisters. I was just in time to save him from an emotional breakdown! So you don't even dare to think about him like that!" Gabriel continued and Dean took a step back. He never knew the archangel could be this terrifying.

"What do you mean with emotional breakdown?" Dean asked after pulling himself together from this new image of the angel in front of him.

"Well, he fell, which means he's human now. And human means emotions. He's experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions. For someone who has never really let emotions get to him, that can really be painful and exhausting." Gabriel explained to the older Winchester. Dean understood how that must feel. He had experienced enough pain, hurt, sadness, concern, disappointment and all other kinds of emotions to imagine how it must be like to experience them all at once. Especially for someone like Cas.

"Where is he?" Dean asked after some seconds of silence. "Or the better question, how's he doing?" He was truly worried about his friend. What happened up there in heaven? How did he fall? All these questions were running through Dean's mind. But the answers would have to wait. At least he now knew why Cas couldn't answer his last call.

"He's not doing better than Sam, I can assure you that."

"Sam!" Dean looked at Gabriel and just had a thought running through his mind. "You gotta patch him up! … You still have your angel mojo right?" Dean was hoping with his everything that the angel in front of him would confirm that. He couldn't bare another disappointment or another lost of hope today.

"I'm still me, so yes, I still have my angel powers. But I'm not able to patch up your little bro." Gabriel answered and shrugged. "Sorry." The hope inside Dean turned to ash in just one second. But not all of it was gone. At least there was one angel left. Maybe they could figure out a way together to fix this mess.

"Tell me…" Dean leaned against the table. "Is he going to be okay?" Gabriel sighed and sat on the table next to him. It was a strange picture, these two sitting next to each other. At least Dean accepted the fact that Gabriel was still alive or alive again, whatever happened to him. But he would have to be patient to find that out.

"He'll recover in time." Gabriel said after awhile of silence. Dean looked at him and saw that he also was concerned.

"Yeah… What about Cas?" Dean hated it to just sit there and do nothing while his brother and best friend were trying to confront the pain they were in. But what could he do? Sitting beside them and watch them struggle would be even more painful.

"He needs some time as well to recover but eventually he'll be fine." Gabriel let out a deep sigh and looked up at the ceiling. "I hope."