"Fuck, seriously? One day, one day is all I ask!" Gabriel yells as he stares at the weeping angels in the room, but something seems different about them. "How are we meant to get out of this one?" Sam asks, "not a fucking clue," Gabriel replies. "Keep staring at them, I've got to get something," Gabriel instructs. He vanishes from the room.

"Gabriel?! Get back here you- Just calm down Sam. Stare at the stone," Sam keeps looking at the stone angels. His eyes going between the five stone angels in the room.

There's rushing wings as Gabriel wings back in, he stabs a weeping angel, but another appears to take it's place.

"You went to get your angel blade?" Sam asks, keeping his eyes locked on to as many angels as possible. "How else are we meant to kill them?" Gabriel stabs two, but three enter the room, "they're starting to over power you," Sam comments. "Thanks, I hadn't noticed," Gabriel replies.

A cold stone hand grabs the back of Gabriel's head while Sam isn't looking, another angel grabs Gabriel's throat.

"S-Sammy, a little help here," he chokes out. "I always have to save your ass don't I, Princess Peach?" Sam says. "Haha, just get my angel blade and kill these bitches," Gabriel coughs. Sam stands up, keeping an eye on the weeping angels holding Gabriel. He tells himself that if he blinks, they'll take Gabriel again and it will be another Archangel hunt. The problem is, Sam's only human, and humans have to blink.

Sam blinks and in that split moment, there's the sound of crunching bones and a scream. Sam looks around the room and there's only one angel left. And he's lying on the floor with a broken neck and an angel blade through his heart.

"G-Gabriel...? Gabriel? GABRIEL?" Sam rushes over to the Archangel's side, his wings scaring the ground. Tears form in Sam's eyes and they stream down his face, they roll off his checks and on to his and Gabriel's clothes. "No... Gabriel... Fuck, I failed. I failed..." Sam cries harder, and he sits back. He buries his head in his hands and cries.

Another person he cared about is dead, because of him.

Sam sniffles and wipes the tears away, he looks up at Gabriel's dead body. Sam traces the wings on the ground with a finger, it burns him, but he doesn't really care. Sam leans back over Gabriel and looks at his cold, lifeless face.

"I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm so, fucking, sorry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have blinked, I shouldn't have-" his words are cut off by his tears again. "I'm sorry," he chokes out. "I would ask you to forgive me but... I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself. This whole time, the reason why we're here is to... Is to save you. And you're the one who ends up dead," Sam places and hand on the angel blade in Gabriel's chest, he rips it out and throws it to the side, disgusted with it.

"You begged me to save you, then I found you, then you just ended up dead anyway."

Sam wipes his last lingering tears away, he looks down at the burnt wings on the floor, then back up at Gabriel. "I'm sorry, and you'll never know how sorry I am... I just- sorry..." Sam hangs his head in shame. "I never told you while you were alive, so I'm just going to put it in the air now. You're my friend, probably my best friend, and I understand everything you did to me in our past. I get TV Land, I get he mystery spot. I get it, and I'm sorry I didn't realise it sooner. And one last thing. Thank you."

Sam stands up and gives a sad, small smile to the dead Archangel, a single man tear slips down his face and he leaves the room, not baring the sight before him.

Sam walks out and down to the lobby, he looks at no one as he walks. The radio hums softly in the background, singing its tune which only hurts Sam more and more, he song reminding him of his failure.

'It was the heat of the moment,

Telling you what my heart meant,

It was the heat of the moment that showed in your eyes.'

Sam squeezes his eyes shut, willing away the tears. He was awfully cut up about his best friend dying.

Sam walks the emptying streets, the light posts and the car headlights being the few lights that light his way.

He finds a cheep motel and books a room, he can't stand being in that five star hotel.

"Hey, you okay there buddy? You look awfully sad," the man says. "Oh it's nothing, I just... It's fine," Sam smiles and hands over some cash, he takes the room key and finds his new room.

He opens the door and it looks, smells and tastes like what here's used to. The stale funky smelling air with the faded walls and messy carpets.

He flops on to the bed and tries to fall asleep, but all he can see is the dead Archangel only ten blocks away.

Sam doesn't sleep well that night, that would be if he was able to shut his eyes.

———-

Sam rolls over and sits up, he runs a hand through his hair and sighs. He should probably find a way to the Bunker, go back and keep going with trying to save Dean, though he'd probably fail at that too. At least this was what Sam thinks.

He gets up and makes sure that he hasn't screwed the room up too much, and that he didn't loose anything here, he then leaves and checks out.

He walks around and finds a bus station, the next bus that goes to where he needs to be doesn't depart until 4pm, it's 7:30am now. Sam groans and leaves the station, guess he'll have to find something to do until 4 o'clock.

He walks the streets, he passes the candy store and the service lady from yesterday smiles at him, but quickly frowns at how sad he looks and how Gabriel isn't there. Sam passes the ice-cream parlour, then the museum. He spots the guard that chased them standing out the front. Sam chuckles half heatedly at the memory, because that's all it was. A memory. And that's all Gabriel is too. He's just a memory.

Sam wanders the streets, willing the day away so he could get back to the Bunker. The moose spots a library and he heads inside, perhaps he could read the day away.

He scours the library, looking for something remotely interesting. He sees The Lord of the Rings and he shrugs as he picks it up. All three books, all six volumes, in one.

He walks over to a table and sits down and reads. He reads and reads and reads, after what feels like hours, he checks the time, 3:30pm. He drops the book where it is and walks back to the bus station.

"Thanks," Sam says as he receives his bus ticket, he walks off and finds the bus. He picks a seat right up the front next to the window.

"Can I sit here?" A hot, short, golden haired girl asks, "sure," Sam grunts. "Why the long face, Rapunzel?" She asks, "nothing, it's just- wait... What did you call me?" Sam looks at the woman, "Rapunzel, I called you Rapunzel because of your long hair, sorry if I offended you," she explains sweetly. "Oh no, you didn't offend me. It's just that the last person who called me that... passed," he says. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I can move away if you want," she was really sweet. "Nah, it's fine. My actual name is Sam, what about you?" The Winchester says, "oh, I'm Sarah," the girl smiles.

The bus starts up and Sam looks out the window again, his mind wanders back to Gabriel's stone cold body. He remembers how cold he was to touch, when only hours before the heat radiating from his body was intense. Sam thinks about the way the blood soaked his clothes, but how peaceful he appeared to be. He thinks about how he never should have seen Gabriel's wings scarring the ground forever.

"Whoa, hey, are you okay? You're cry a little," the girl snaps Sam from his thoughts. "Oh, what?" Sam quickly wipes the tears away, he gives a weak smile and goes back to staring out the window.

——-

After all afternoon, and evening on the bus, it stops and Sam gets off. He begins his hike out to the Bunker, and if he didn't stop, he should get there by 2am.

A car drives up alongside him on the road, it slows down a and the window rolls down.

"What the Hell are you doing out here? I've been trying to call you for weeks! Cas has tried to look for you, and he couldn't find you! What the Hell man?"

"Oh hey Dean."

"Don't 'oh hey Dean' me. Get in the friggin' car and tell me where the fuck you've been for the past few weeks. And why you're out here now. And you're going to tell me what the fuck is going on," Dean commands. Sam opens the door to the impala and gets in, Dean turns to look at Sam properly.

"Whoa man, who died? You look like shit," Dean asks. "Fuck, did someone actually die? I didn't mean it like- shit Sammy. What happened?"

"I got someone killed, Dean. They asked me to save them, and they died because I didn't do what I was meant to. I didn't save the person who was begging me to save them, and I don't know what's going to happen now. I screwed up so badly Dean, and they're dead because of me," Sam explains. "Shit Sammy, I don't what to say, but I know what you can do. Just sit down and have a few too many beers, that's what I do," Dean starts the car up and they drive off down the road to the Bunker.

——-

"Hey Cas, stop looking for Sam, he's here," Dean yells into the Bunker once they're inside. "Where'd you find him?" Castiel had appeared in front of Dean. "On the side of the road," Dean leans into Castiel's ear. "Go easy on him, he was missing because he was trying to save someone... It didn't end well," Dean whispers into Castiel's ear, he nods and Dean backs away.

"Well it's good to see you again Sam," Castiel smiles. "You too Cas, you too," Sam walks off to the kitchen to find some food, he was starving. He piles some things on a plate and disappears into his bedroom.

He sits and eats silently, neither Dean or Castiel come in to see him. Sam puts his plate on the ground and lies on his bed, he rolls over and shuts his eyes, images of a very dead Gabriel plummet his mind, his eyes snap open. Oh great, another sleepless night.

There's shuffling behind him and he rolls over.

"Hey kiddo, you didn't really think I was dead did ya?"

Sam stands and marches over to Gabriel, he punches him square in the face.

"Okay, I'm not feeling very welcomed back."

"You son of a bitch," Sam spits. "I thought you were dead."

"Good! That's exactly what I wanted you to think," Gabriel says.

"So how'd you do it, huh? Was it a fake blade?"

"No, it was a real blade. Fake me. Though I did hear your little speech, and I heard you crying. I was touched, really," Gabriel smirks.

"You fucking heard me? You knew what I was doing? You saw me? Watched me as I cried over your dead body? I take back everything I said! Everything! You aren't my friend and you don't deserve to be saved. You are the biggest dick I've ever met!"

"You don't even know why I did it. Or why it took me so long to tell you."

"I don't care, just go," Sam growls.

"I did it to protect you," Gabriel utters.

"Please, you did it as one of your tricks. You were telling me about how you hadn't been the Trickster in a while."

"The only way for those angels to leave you alone was for you and them to think I was dead. They would have killed you if they didn't kill me, so I let them think that I was dead. I took so long to show you that I'm alive is because those weeping angels were still watching you. It was only an hour ago that they left you alone, but even now I'm not one hundred percent sure. I did it to protect you because... Because you're my best friend too. My only friend for that matter..." Gabriel explains, he looks to the ground shyly, he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"I get it. I get mystery spot, TV Land and this," Sam says with a smile. Gabriel meets Sam's gaze and he smiles too. "Oh hey, here's an idea. You can keep tabs on me in whether I'm truly dead or alive," Gabriel says. "What? How?"

Gabriel steps away from Sam and wiggles his eyebrows, large golden wings unfurl from the Archangel's back. Sam's eyes go wide and his jaw drops at the sight, "they're... They're beautiful... I've never seen anything so... so perfect." Sam walks towards them, he gingerly raises a hand, "go ahead," Gabriel encourages. He moves a wing so it's pressed against Sam's hand. Sam lightly pets the feathers, admiring each one. He let's his hand slip down the feathers to his side.

Gabriel turns slightly and picks a feather from his wings, they move in and back out at the pain, he ruffle and settle back down.

"Here," Gabriel extends the feather towards Sam. "It's how you can tell if I'm alive or not. If it's like this, then I'm alive. If it turns to ash, then I'm really dead, so waste your tears then." Sam looks at the feather in Gabriel's hand, he gingerly takes it and admires it. "Thank you," Sam smiles down at the gold feather in his hands.

"So whaddaya say? Ready to go save my ass?"

"Why the Hell not?"

"So wherever I did, I've just gotta make sure I'm not there. So what do you say to jumping back to that time, but we're sipping margaritas by a pool?" Gabriel offers, "yeah, that could work," Sam agrees.

They go back to 2009, but they're at a five star hotel while sipping margaritas.

"How the Hell did I get this? Where did my clothes go?" Sam asks while looking at his swimming trunks.

"Where's at a five star hotel, you don't wear plaid to pool," Gabriel answers. "I love not dying," he says. Sam chuckles at his Trickster-

What? No. Not his Trickster. The Trickster, his friend. (AN: *Coughs* Dean and Cas *coughs*)

"Why are we here?" Sam asks, "because I don't want to die," Gabriel replies simply. "Yeah, but /here/ of all places?" Sam quizzes, "we could always go somewhere else," Gabriel smirks.

Suddenly they're on the moon.

"Okay, what he fuck?" Sam asks, he tries to move, but he's restricted due to the space suit. "What? Here is a good a place as any," Gabriel laughs. "Okay, fine. We'll go somewhere else," suddenly they're in the Bunker in Sam's time.

"I figured that I was meant to die by now," Gabriel says with a shrug. Sam stretches, it was awful being in that suit for five seconds. He much prefers his plaid.

"Let's go find out who died," Sam says. He walks out of the room, Gabriel follows.

"Hey Dean, where's Cas?" Sam asks casually, Dean bitch-faces him. "Cas has been dead for five years Sam. How could you forget that? He died because of that dick right there," he points to Gabriel. "Because he was too afraid to stand up to his family, but Cas wasn't. So he paid that dick's price," Dean spits, he leaves the room.

"So I guess we have to save Castiel. He's the mystery second," Gabriel says. "Yeah, he is." But if he died when and where you were meant to, then there really isn't a way to save you both."