When Cas awoke the next morning he couldn't help but feel guilty for everything that he had said to Dean. Dean had been right; he had taken it a step too far, although he hadn't changed his mind on wanting a family. Cas could settle for adopting a child. As long as he had Dean everything would be alright.
However, they still needed to deal with the most serious problem at hand. The nephilim child.
'My child.' Cas thought to himself glumly. He quickly brushed aside the thought and ignored the nagging feeling in his gut. Cas had to remember what was best for Dean and for their relationship.
According to the lore, Cas of only one way of getting rid of a nephilim child before it was born. Unfortunately the legends also mentioned that there was a great likely hood of causing Dean permanent harm. That was the last thing that Cas wanted to do. Maybe they could find something else that could work. He was determined to help Dean if he still wanted to get rid of the child. Cas was willing to follow Dean's lead, no matter how much disagreed with Dean's opinions.
After last night performance, Cas was pretty sure that Dean was still trying to accept the idea of living a domestic life. Cas understood. After being a hunter for so long, living a normal life must seem improbable and raising a child outside of the life seemed impossible.
He had felt the same way when he had tried to leave his angelic past behind. In order to accept his new fate on earth, Cas had to abandon most of the ties with his angelic siblings. Human life was far different than living the life of a timeless angel. Although he was still an angel, he chose to stay away from heaven and its control as best he could.
Maybe one day Dean would see that anything was possible. Maybe he could see that he wasn't cured to live in this life forever. One day, Dean would see the truth. Cas could be patient. He would wait until Dean was ready to settle down. Even if that day never came Cas was willing to stay by his side until they reach the end of this long and lonely road. They didn't need to live the apple pie life for Cas to be happy. Yes, settling down would be much more peaceful, but as long as Cas had Dean everything would be okay.
Cas sat up hurriedly, throwing back the covers as he moved. He had to go apologize to Dean for what he had done last night. Cas knew that he shouldn't have exploded the way he did. Dean didn't respond well to anger and accusations. Cas needed to reassure the hunter that he would make things right. After all, most of the blame for this situation fell on him. He had been the one to accidently break the condom. Only now did Cas see that he needed to take a step into Dean's shoes. Instead of telling Dean what he should do, he needed to try and understand where Dean was coming from. After a restless night of sleep Cas now saw all the downsides of being pregnant and it made him feel guilty as hell for ever snapping at Dean. Maybe the two of them could work something else out. Cas needed his partner back.
Slowly, Cas made his way across the room, his sleepy feet shuffling across the cool concreate floor. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he crept past Gabriel and Sam who were still sleeping soundly. Sam's lanky arm was draped over the archangel's body, holding him close as they dozed. It was like Sam was protecting the all-powerful angel even as they slept. Apparently, the hunter inside of Sam never seemed to rest even when his body did. Cas was happy to see that Sam had finally given in and let himself find happiness. Sam, much like his older brother wore a strong mask to hide the deepest parts of himself. Behind those hazel eyes and that wall of hair, Sam was just as broken as Dean. He had been the boy damned from the moment he turned six months old. Sam had been hell bound, chosen to become the vessel of the devil himself. He had fought long and hard, always trying to escape from a life he never wanted to live. Every time Sam had tried to achieve happiness and normality in his life, something supernatural ripped the rug out from under his feet. Cas could see why Sam was so defensive and distrustful when something positive was tossed his way. Even now, after they had fought through so much Sam doubted the fact that he was a good person. Cas knew that Sam still believed he was evil deep down. He still had a hard time seeing the good inside of him. Cas pitied the hunter. Sam deserved a much better life. Cas only hoped that this time when he got out of the life, it would be for good. Maybe time could heal Sam too.
Sam shifted slightly, pulling Gabriel closer as if he knew they were being observed. Cas felt the strings of his heart tug painfully as he realized how much this made him miss Dean. They hadn't been apart for very long, but Cas hated fighting with him. He needed Dean to see how sorry he was and how insensitive he had been. Human emotions were still somewhat of a mystery to. Dean had to know that. He was trying his best to be what Dean needed, but there were somethings that still needed work. Hopefully Dean could forgive him.
Cas silently moved past Sam and Gabriel before they woke up. He was sure that sooner or later they would feel Cas staring at them. Hunters seemed to have a natural instinct that told them when someone was watching. They had to in order to protect themselves from the creatures of the night who seek revenge.
He turned away slowly, head bowed in shame as he moved toward Dean's bed. Cas chewed on his lip and sunk down on the very edge of the bed. Slowly he reached out towards the spot where the blankets were covering Dean's tiny feminine body.
"Dean..." Cas whispered, hoping that he wouldn't startled the hunter too badly. He knew all too well that Dean kept a gun tucked under his pillow and slept with his hand on the weapon. If Dean fired the weapon at Cas in surprise then it would surely wake both Gabriel and Sam.
Those two needed sleep. Sam most of all. They needed time to rest and Cas needed a little time with Dean by himself.
Castiel's eyebrows furrowed when Dean remained still. 'Is Dean ignoring me?' Cas thought to himself. There was no way that he could still be sleeping. Dean was the type of guy to wake up at the drop of a feather. 'Why is he insisting on being so stubborn?'
Cas was hoping to have a nice mature conversation with Dean, but apparently things weren't going to go quite the way he planned them to go.
He let out a small sigh of irritation before drawing the blankets off of Dean. One way or another, the two of them were going to need to talk.
However, Castiel's thoughts were cut short when he found pillows stuffed under the blankets instead of the Dean's sleeping feminine form. Instantly his heart skipped a beat and his breath caught in his throat. Dean had used pillows to trick everyone and make them believe that he had slept their throughout the night. He had snuck away, probably to get a drink or wallow in his own sorry without any regards for his own personal safety and wellbeing. Dean knew that angels would be on the alert looking for him, but clearly that hadn't stopped him.
Cas let the blanket fall from his hand as he spotted a piece of paper folded up on and placed carefully on the pillow where Dean's head should have been.
With shaking fingers Cas reached out and gingerly plucked the paper from the pillow. His breathing intensified while his normally steady hands unfolded the square. From what Cas could tell, it was an old piece of motel stationary that Dean had stashed away in his pocket or something. On the paper, scrawled in Dean's bold spidery hand writing was a short note to him, Sam and Gabriel.
'I can't go on doing this the way we are. Something has to change. I need to fix this by myself.
Don't come looking for me, I'll be fine.
-Dean'
Cas didn't realized until he clamped his mouth shut that his jaw had been hanging slack. He clenched his teeth together hard and squished the paper in his hands. The sound of crumpling paper snapped him out of his trance and lit a fire inside of him.
Dean was so fucking dumb sometimes! There was no way in hell that he stood a chance out there by himself without any sort of protection. He was going to get himself killed for sure. If the angels found him Dean was a goner. There was no way they would let him live with a nephilim growing inside of him. They would want to get rid of that creature as soon as they could.
"Gabriel! Sam!" Cas called out, his voice thick from sleep, but effectively waking the other two. The three of them needed to find Dean as soon as possible. This was one of the worst things that could happen right now.
'Why didn't I just agree with Dean and see his point from the start?' Cas asked himself. His internal voice was already placing the blame for this newest issue on his head. Cas felt guilty as hell for chasing Dean away like this. He was already uncomfortable with being stuck as a girl, but now he was stuck being a pregnant girl. Then instead of trying to help out his unstable lover, he just put more stress and pressure onto his head. No one Dean had bailed on them.
While Castiel's thoughts flourished wildly, Gabriel sat up and looked at him with bleary eyes.
"What... What do you want Cas?" Gabriel grumbled moodily. The archangel had never been much of a morning person. It was just an unspoken rule that no one should wake Gabriel until he was ready, at least, if you wanted to keep your head on your own shoulders.
"It's Dean! He's gone!" Cas explained.
Sam, who had been trying to pull Gabe back down beside him in the bed, sat up rapidly. His morning sleepiness had been erased in a split second. His eyes were wide in horror as he looked quickly around the room. It was like he was hoping that Cas was just pulling his leg. Cas wished this all was just a joke.
"He left?" Sam choked, as he finally looked towards Dean's vacant bed
Cas nodded somberly. He stood unsteadily and held Dean's note out to Sam.
The youngest Winchester snatched the note hastily from Castiel's hands and let his eyes scan the page.
"When did he jump ship?" Gabriel asked, glancing over Sam's shoulder as he read. He lazily scratched his stomach and yawned, seeming completely unfazed by this.
"Sometime in the night I guess." Cas murmured. "I didn't even hear him leaving..."
"Well obviously, otherwise you would have stopped him." Gabriel snorted grumpily. "I figured this was bound to happen eventually though. I just didn't think it would happen this soon."
"Well why didn't you warn us in advance then?" Cas demanded.
If Gabriel expected this to happen then why didn't he drop a hint to anyone? They could have stopped this from happening.
"Like I said, I didn't think he would jump ship one day into this shit." Gabriel explained. "Dean seemed to be allergic to dealing with his own bullshit so he runs away instead of dealing with it."
"Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Sam asked, looking at Cas as he stood up and tried to hide his panic. He was already putting up that mask to hide himself behind his wall. Sam was fighting to protect himself from the pain of his brother leaving them like this. Cas could see through this mask though. He saw how scared Sam was and how much he was worried about his brother. Sam knew the dangers that Dean was now facing. He realized, much like Cas, that they didn't have much time to save him before it was too late.
"I'm not really sure where he might be, but my guess is that he won't get far with the nephilim growing inside of him. Heaven's ranks will be able to find him very easily. In fact they may have already found him..." Cas said in a discouraged voice. "Or worse, demons could find him."
"Way to bring some positivity to the table Cas." Gabriel mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.
Both Sam and Cas ignored Gabriel. There was no time for being Negative Nancie's this morning. They had more serious matters at hand currently.
"How did you not notice he was leaving if you can sense the nephilim?" Sam pressed.
Cas simply pursed his lips and remained silent. He honestly didn't have a good answer for that. He should have been able to sense a shift in the atmosphere around him, but he hadn't. Now Dean was out there somewhere by himself the ranks of both heaven and hell on his ass. Cas knew Dean would run into someone sooner or later. Dean was a damn good hunter and an amazing escape artist, but one day that luck was going to run out. Cas knew that when someone finally did catch up with Dean, the hunter wouldn't be able to fight all of them off.
"Can't you like locate him or something?" Sam demanded, hurriedly moving to his duffle bag to put on some fresh clothing.
"Not his exact location..." Cas mumbled, "Remember when I warded both of your ribcages? Those wards are still there, and I won't be able to locate him unless he tells us his location. The only way we can find him is by getting close enough to sense the nephilim."
"Very useful." Gabriel commented sarcastically.
"Great... another plan that has backfired." Sam complained throwing his dirty clothes harshly back in the direction of his duffle bag. "We need to go find him!"
Sam was using his anger and fear to lash out at everyone else. That was one trait that both Sam and Dean shared. Their anger was always projected onto others. It was kind of like their way of coping with problems in their screwed up lives.
"Okay, well, where do you think he'd go to? You'd know his moves better than I would." Cas huffed, his irritation and fear starting to get the best of him too.
"Well its Dean, so we first check all the local bars and strip clubs, then we go out from there. Maybe a good burger joint or too. I mean, how far away could he have gotten?" Sam said, as he pulled on his shoes.
"Well, that if he's still on earth." Gabriel said.
"Not helping Gabe!" Sam snapped.
"We will need to steal a car." Cas realized.
Sam pressed his lips together and asked, "Dean took the Impala didn't he?"
"Yes he did." Cas replied. Dean never went anywhere without that car unless he absolutely had to.
Even now as a girl he still drove it. He just had to pull up the seat a lot closer to the wheel. Sam continually bitched about it since his legs now got squished when he sat in the front, but Dean just ignored his brother's complaints. Dean was never too keen on letting Sam drive the car. Dean claimed it was because Sam didn't respect his car the way he should and Sam would somehow mess her up.
"I can just mojo us up a car." Gabriel hummed, seeming more awake now. Now that he realized that he was able to do something, he was much more interested in the case of the missing Dean. "Pick your poison, Camaro, Mustang, Porsche..."
"How about something that won't draw too much attention. That's the last thing we want right now." Sam snapped with a bitch face starting to form on his stressed face.
"A limo?" Gabriel asked, perking up a little bit. The archangel was clearly trying to push the boundaries here. Before too long Gabe would have an angry moose on his hands if he wasn't too careful. "It would be the first car that is longer than you are tall!"
"Shut up..." Sam barked, "This is serious Gabriel."
"Well good, because I'm being completely serious too." Gabriel answered.
"We don't have time for this! Just pick a damn car and make it appear outside already." Sam spit as he grabbed his hunting gear and throwing a supply bag over his shoulder.
"Yes boss." Gabriel snickered, snapping his fingers once. "Your chariot will be waiting."
"I swear to God if there is an actual chariot out there I am going to kick your little candy coated ass." Sam threatened.
"Bring it on big boy." Sam taunted just as Sam's phone began to ring.
Sam glared at Gabriel for a second before silently pulling the device from his jeans pocket and glanced at the caller ID.
He felt a strange twinge of panic and relief simultaneously when he saw Dean's name flashing across the screen.
"Dean!" Sam exclaimed, signaling for either Cas and Gabriel to try and trace the call. "Where-"
"Listen Sammy, I ain't telling you where I am okay? Just listen. I'm gonna find a way to get back to the way I was okay? I just- I just can't do it with you guys breathing down my neck the whole time. All I'm doing is endangering you guys the longer I stay there." Dean's feminine voice shook as he spoke.
Sam stopped for a second. He almost didn't recognize the voice on the other end of the line. Dean's new voice was still something that he was trying to get used to. It didn't help that the phone altered Dean's voice even more.
When Sam regained his bearings he exclaimed, "But Dean, the angels will be able to sense your location. They are gonna kick your ass man."
"Let them. I sure as hell ain't going down without a fight." Dean growled his nervousness seeming to vanish in an instant.
"Come on Dean, don't be stupid about this! You know you can't fight off angels alone! Let us help you man!" Sam pleaded into the phone. Dean could be a stubborn son of a bitch when he wanted to be. Nobody knew that better than Sam.
"No Sam. Just stop." Dean said as he started to get angry. Sam noticed that his voice jumped a few octaves higher when he got angry.
"Why are you being such an ass about this Dean?" Sam nearly screamed into the phone. "I hate it when you get into this self-righteous self-sacrifice bullshit. So what you got yourself fucking knocked up. Yeah that's an issue, but sacrificing yourself is not the answer! When has that ever been the answer Dean?"
"Jesus, don't blow out my damn ear drum!" Dean roared back. "I didn't call to talk to a PMSing girl. Forget it; you clearly don't get what we're up against here. I guess I wasn't clear enough last night Sam. A good soldier knows when the fight is over. I dunno why I tried to reason with you."
"Well, maybe if you got your big head out of your ass you would be able to see that there are other ways to fix this!" Sam saw red as he screamed at his brother. His stomach churned in anger as fury built up inside of him. No one was better at pissing Sam off than Dean was. Dean knew how to hit all the wrong nerves.
"Oh really? Then enlighten me Sam. How am I supposed to fix this shit? I've got a leach growing inside of me that is destined to destroy the world. So tell me, what is this magically plan that's destined to make me all better. Oh yeah, and don't leave out the price it costs to save me." Dean snarled sarcastically his feminine voice spiking again.
"We're still working on that, and I never said that the answer would be easy Dean." Sam said, taking a shaky breath. He needed to calm down. Maybe if he approached this differently he would be able to get Dean to come back to them. Dean needed to see that he needed protection. "No matter what happened man, I swear to you man, we will fix this."
Dean was silent, carefully considering his brothers words. It seemed as if the calmer approach was actually getting them somewhere.
As the silence continued, Cas started to approach Sam. Maybe Cas would be able to change Dean's mind. Cas had always been able to get through to Dean better than anyone else.
As Cas held out his hand for the phone Dean began to speak again. Sam held up his finger, signaling the angel to hold on for a second while Dean spoke. He would pass the phone off to Cas in a moment; Sam just needed to hear Dean out. Maybe he had changed his mind.
Cas froze, then nodded silently. He lowered his hand and stared at Sam with those piercing blue eyes as he waiting patiently to talk to Dean. Sam shifted in discomfort. It was weird to have Cas stand beside him, still as a statue with those piercing blue eyes. Sam forced himself to ignore the angel as he listened to Dean speak.
"Fine Sam. I'll let you guys help fix this." Dean breathed.
Sam's face cracked into a smile as he started to talk, "That's great Dean! Where are-"
"Hold on, I'm not done!" Dean interrupted. "Like I was saying, you guys can help, but I have terms."
"What kind of terms?" Sam asked, his guard once again being built up as he took the defense again. Dean couldn't seem to make up his mind about anything.
"I can't do this with you. I will do my own thing, and you guys do your thing. We can still try to figure this out, but I need to be by myself." Dean explained in a quiet voice. "I can't deal with you hounding me all the time and... and I can't have Cas staring at my with those sad puppy dogs eyes because I won't keep his fucking kid. I don't want it. I don't want to bring this- this thing into existence. It's a monster, and hunting is never a good place to raise a child." Dean fell silent for a split second. When he spoke again his voice cracked, "I- I don't want it."
Sam's eyes flashed towards the sad, tired looking angel. It was clear that Cas missed Dean more than anything. He would be willing to put anything on the line to get the rogue hunter back, but Sam had no idea how to translate that back to Dean. Sam wished Dean was here to see how much Cas was hurting. Cas was kind of a mess without Dean. If being apart was affecting Cas this much, Sam was sure it was affecting Dean in a similar manor.
"It's not safe out there Dean." Sam said, hoping to change his brother's mind. "Come on, just try talking to Cas. Maybe you can make some sort of agreement."
He got ready to pass the phone onto the angel, but stopped when Dean cried, "No! No, don't you dare put him on the fucking line. I will hang this son of a bitch up if you put him on. I don't want to talk to him right now. I can't talk to him now. I don't need to hear about everything I'm doing wrong."
"But Dean, you love Cas. I know you two can work something out. Just please talk to him." Sam begged. This conversation was going far from perfect.
At this point, Cas moved closer to Sam so he could listen to the conversation taking place. Sam could tell that Cas had already heard the part about Dean not wanting to talk. His face and grown cold and tired. It looked as if all the life had been simply drained out of the angel's body. Sam felt a pang of sorrow for the angel. Dean could be a major ass at times. Sam knew that Cas was just trying to help, but Dean was making it hard to accomplish anything at the moment.
As Cas moved in closer, Sam was almost tempted to moved away from the angel. He was sure that if Cas didn't like what Dean had just said, he wouldn't like anything else that he said. When Sam tried to move away, Cas followed, getting even closer. Sam bit back a growl of irritation as he realized that there was no way to get away from the angel. Cas was far to insistent. 'He's just as stubborn as Dean'. Sam thought to himself silently.
"Alright, listen Sam. Yeah I lov-" Dean paused mid word and quickly changed his wording as he said, "Cas means a lot to me, but I don't think we can do this anymore. I can't do it anymore. I mean-" Dean sighed in distress.
Sam could picture Dean now. He could see his brother leaning up against something, pinching the bridge of his nose and dragging his tiny rough hand down his face as his long blonde hair fell into his face. "I- I just can't be with him knowing that... that I've let him down and can't raise the family he wants with him. He's better off without me anyways."
Sam glanced towards Cas. His eyes were wide and horrified. He couldn't believe that Dean had even said such a thing.
"Dean... What are you saying?" Sam asked horrified.
Dean let out a huff of anger and snapped, "Me and Cas are done. I don't want to be with him anymore. This is it man, end of the line."
Cas was speechless. Sam was almost prepared to catch the angel if he fainted. Sam couldn't believe what his brother had just said. He desperately wished that this was a dream, but he knew that this was real. Dean was letting go of the one person who made him happier than anything else in the world. Sam wanted to throttle Dean. Someone needed to smack some sense into Dean's thick skull.
"Dean, don't be like that." Sam begged his brother. "Don't you fucking dare run away from this relationship like you do every time someone tries to get close to you."
Over the years Dean has made a lot of stupid decisions, but this had to be one of his dumbest. He was trying to ruining his own happiness like he always did. Dean didn't feel like he deserved love or happiness and Sam knew it.
Cas finally seemed to come back to his senses. There was a pained fire in his eyes as he stuck out his arm stiffly.
"My mind is set Sam. Me and Cas are done. I can't deal with this shit anymore. I've got everything is under control. This is for the best. Just call me if you find out how to get rid of this thing inside of-"
Suddenly Dean fell silent and a few second later a loud cracking sound rang though Sam's phone. Sam could only guess that the noise was the sound of Dean's phone smashing on the ground.
Sam heard the sounds of struggling. He heard a muffled, "Get off me, you son of a bitch!" Then there was a loud snap and a loud female scream ripped through the phone followed by utter silence as the line disconnected.
Sam's heart seemed to have turned to ice. Everything inside him seemed to freeze. There was a roaring sound in his ears as the whole world seemed to spin around him. He lost all sense of time and reality. He wasn't sure how long he was standing there, but the sound of Castiel's broken sob finally dragged him from this daze.
"D-Dean?" Sam gasped into the phone. "Dean!"
Beside him, Cas snatched the phone from Sam's hand and pressed the device to his ear. Terror filled his gravelly voice as he too began to call Dean's name. Both of them were hoping that they had just imaged the sounds that had just come from the other end of the line. It seemed like they were already too late. Someone else had gotten to Dean before they could.
Out of nowhere, Gabriel seemed to appear in front of Sam's horrified face. Sam barely registered the short archangel standing in front of him. Everything seemed to be crumbling down around him. Sam was once again falling into a state of shock. He snapped out of it only a few seconds later when he felt a sharp burning pain against his cheek as Gabriel slapped him hard. Dazed, Sam lifted his hand and rubbed and his stinging cheek.
"You alright bucco?" Gabriel asked in concern.
"No." Sam said flatly. "Nothing is alright."
"They've got Dean." Cas growled with a dead sound filtering into his voice.
The next few minutes seemed to blur together. Gabriel jumped into action and helped finish running the trace on Dean's cell.
Like Sam had predicted, Dean hadn't gotten too far away. He had only made it to the next town over.
In the blink of an eye, Gabriel had vanished and returned with a lone, cracked cell phone. "It looks like someone stepped on this before snatching captain bitchy. He had been saying in a motel room and the room was a mess."
"Gabriel shut up." Cas snapped.
The archangel's eyes widened in shock as he turned to stare at Cas. He hadn't expected such a snappy response from Cas.
"Woah there! Did I hit a nerve buddy?" Gabriel asked.
"Come on Gabe. Now's not the time. Lay off of him." Sam said in a hushed voice.
Gabriel gave Sam a sour look and snapped, "No, I'm not gonna let Mr. Stick up his ass be a douchebag just because his little pregnant girlfriend has gone missing."
"Dean doesn't want to be with me anymore!" Cas growled, glaring at Gabriel with those piercing blue eyes. "So just butt out."
Gabriel's eyebrows scrunched together as he said, "Of course he does! Why the hell would you say that?"
"Gabriel, now is not the time. We need to find Dean." Sam warned.
"Did Dean break up with my brother?" Gabriel asked wearily. There was a fire starting to bubble behind those golden angel eyes. Gabriel looked like he was ready to smite something.
"Yes. They broke up." Sam said in exasperation. "End of subject, we need to move on now and actually find him."
"Yeah well reminded me to kick his preggo ass for dumping my baby bro like that." Gabriel sneered. "The fucking coward."
"Listen, Dean can be a dick. He's stressed, but he didn't mean it. Put yourself in his place. He has a right to be terrified." Sam protested.
"That won't stop me from kicking his ass into next year." Gabriel grumbled, crossing his arms and in anger. Sam could see the barely contained anger steaming just under the surface. He felt the sheer power that Gabriel radiated from his very core. It was unlike any kind of power he had ever felt in his life.
Sam forced himself to ignore Gabriel's anger and rolled his eyes as he said, "Cas, scan angel radio and see if you can pick anything up about Dean!"
Cas gave Sam a very grumpy look, but he promptly closed his eyes to probe the angelic radio waves.
"Gabriel, while Cas does that, take me to the place where Dean was taken." Sam insisted.
"But all I found was his phone... and a destroyed room" Gabriel grumbled.
"Just do it!" Sam said in irritation. Someone needed to take charge and clearly it would have to be him.
Dean has been taken away from them far too many times in the past 48 hours. It was time that they got him back for good.
"Yes boss." Gabriel said with an annoyed groan.
Before Sam knew it, Gabriel was walking over to him and placing his fingers upon his head.
In an instant, the safe house around him vanished and was replaced with a small, single room motel. Dean's gear was nowhere to be seen. Sam figured that it was still in the impala, where ever she currently was.
Upon entering the room Sam immediately smelled a strange, frighteningly familiar smell. His stomach dropped as he looked towards Gabriel.
"Do you smell that?" Sam asked the archangel, who was now chewing lazily on a lollipop.
Gabriel paused as he began to sniff the air.
"You've gotta be shitting me." Gabriel groaned. "How did I not notice that before?"
"Dean wasn't taken by angels..." Sam breathed. "He was taken by demons..."