Transmission from the Trickster

Chapter 22

Sam drags himself out of bed the next day, despite every ounce of his being just wanting to stay in bed and give up. He knows better than to think he's going to find Dean, Castiel, Jack, and Mary on the other side of the portal when he can't open the portal again in the first place, but he can't just accept that they're gone and go on hunting like normal. Ketch is no replacement for Dean.

He runs his fingers through his hair, fixing it up so it's at least out of his face, but he doesn't care enough to make it look neat. It's good enough.

The second he walks into the war room, he's almost hit in the face by a needle. He barely registers the "Think fast!" before his hands shoot out and catch it.

"What..." Sam trails off when he sees Gabriel just sitting on the floor, his legs stretched in from of him and just looking very casual, as if he didn't just disappear for a day as if he wasn't coming back.

"Hey, Sammy. Long time, no see."

Sam grind. "You came back. You actually came back."

"Of course I did," Gabriel replies. "I could practically hear your puppy dog eyes. Just make this quick, and go save your brother."

Sam scoffs. "Seriously? After all that yesterday, you're just gonna waltz in and let me —"

"Quickly, before I change my mind."

Sam nods and adjusts his grip on the needle, but before he does anything, he asks, "If I go find Ketch, will you promise to not change your mind?"

Gabriel waves him away dismissively. "Fine. Go. Shoo. Get your friend."

Sam jogs through the halls until he reaches Ketch's new room. He slams the door a few times and yells, "Get up and meet me in the war room. You have two minutes." He's willing to wait for more than two minutes, but he needed some incentive to get Ketch out of bed.

He returns to the war room to find Gabriel still sitting on the floor, waiting impatiently. Sam doesn't bother with greeting him again, just wanting to get this over with. Hopefully, it will get smoother than last time.

He crouched next to the archangel and says quietly, "Are you ready?"

"Just do it," Gabriel snaps.

"Okay, okay," Sam says, putting his hands up in surrender. He puts a hand on Gabriel's neck, and the angel flinches. It's nearly impossible not to notice. "Are —"

"I told you to just do it," Gabriel repeats. "Now."

Sam presses the needle into his neck without another word, and Gabriel whimpers, squeezing his eyes shut. He mutters something under his breath, so softly Sam isn't even sure it's English at first, but after a few times, he realizes Gabriel is just repeating the phrase "Not in Hell, not in Hell, not in Hell," over and over like a mantra.

Sam wants to offer him a hand to squeeze, but taking the grace involves two hands, and he doesn't have one to spare. Instead, he just speeds the process up, extracting the grace as quickly as he can and pulling the needle out.

"Alright, all done," Sam says quietly, already prepared to have to coax Gabriel out of his shell again.

Surprisingly, he almost seems okay this time. He opens his eyes, his hands relaxing, and takes a deep breath as if mentally grounding himself. "This is the last time," Gabriel reminds him. "For real. You either find them, or you stay over there, because I'm not going to keep doing this."

"We'll find them this time," Sam assures him. "And the rift will stay closed for good."

"And if we don't find them?" Ketch asks, standing in the doorway. Sam didn't even hear him show up.

"We will," Sam says firmly. "Just trust me."

So, they set up the spell and open the rift, and pretty soon, it's time to go find the boys.

"Ready?" Sam asks.

"As I ever am," Ketch replies.

Sam looks at Gabriel expectantly, earning a confused look from the angel.

"Did you think I was coming with you?" Gabriel scoffs. "Not a chance. I'm staying here. You guys can go risk your life all you want, but leave me out of it."

"But you can't stay here," Sam protests.

"If you don't trust me here, I could just leave again," Gabriel suggests. "For real, this time."

"That's not what I meant, and you know that," Sam deadpans. "Look, Gabriel, just come with us. Twenty-four hours tops. You can teleport yourself back to the rift at the last second if you're afraid of getting locked out. But you can't just not come."

Gabriel's head lolls back in exasperation. "What part of, 'This isn't my fight, it's yours,' did you not understand? You two have fun, try not to die, and I'll wait here for the next twenty-four hours and see if you come back."

"But —"

"We don't have time for this," Ketch interrupts. "Clock is ticking. Let's go."

Sam hesitates, then nods. As he's about to go through the portal, he glances back at Gabriel one more time. "Last chance." And with that, he's off to the other dimension.