Shouting... Dean looked at Michael a little doubtfully but he finally nodded. It was still hard to believe that “shouting” could cause the fucking ground to shake, but he trusted Michael to tell him the truth. Though Dean sighed heavily and barely resisted rolling his eyes when the angel reminded him that Samuel could “take care of himself”. Yeah, Samuel had said much the same thing, but... god damn it, just because Sam could take care of himself didn’t mean that Dean shouldn’t worry about him or try to take care of him too.

It wasn’t because he thought that Samuel couldn’t take care of himself. Dean just wanted to, because he loved him...

Dean wasn’t really surprised when Michael asked him if he’d changed his mind about tomorrow. After all, the angel had risked a lot for him. Had risked Samuel’s wrath just so Dean could have the opportunity to voice his plan.

“No. I haven’t.” Dean said softly, glancing down at his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. Though in all honesty, he definitely wasn’t feeling as optimistic about his survival anymore, and he wasn’t all that optimistic to begin with. How could he be when he doubted whether or not the angels who were supposed to help keep him “safe” would probably rather him dead now? He’d even doubted Michael for a second...

“Samuel asked me not to do it if he wasn’t there. I promised him I wouldn’t.” Dean admitted softly. Surprised by the comforting weight of the angel’s hand on his back but accepting it at face value. Giving Michael a small smile of thanks. His smile slipped away quickly unfortunately.

“I love him. More than anything. I just... wanted you to know it wasn’t just...” The young man’s voice trailed off as he looked down at his hands again. Dean wasn’t sure if his admission would make it “better” or worse in the angel’s eyes. A sin was a sin right? Murder was murder no matter what the reasons, right? Stupid rule...

“What’s going to happen to us?” Dean finally forced himself to ask his voice barely above a breath.

Michael wasn’t surprised at Samuel’s instructions, though he knew they came from the angel’s emotional and not rational response to the situation. “Most of us would do our duty an protect you. I will,” he said, meeting Dean’s gaze. “But I understand if you want to follow his instructions. Samuel can be... both forceful and persuasive.” He smiled as memories surfaced, and he was lost for a moment.

Then he heard Dean’s proclamation of love. “Many humans love angels. They cannot help themselves.” He moved his hand to Dean’s forehead. “But I believe your love is ... real.” He took a deep breath. “I suspected as much, and even that Samuel returned your feelings. I thought he would resist....” Another deep sigh left him.

His question about what would happen to Samuel shouldn’t have taken Michael by surprise. “I don’t know,” he answered with complete honesty. There was a wide range of punishments, and even hell was an option. Michael did not thing Gabriel would be that extreme with an angel that was so well loved and respected, one that ought not be forever lost to the ranks. But he had almost no doubt that the punishment would be long, longer than this young man’s life span.

“It is up to Gabriel. Others have to approve, but he is the key. I don’t know if his...” he hesitated. “If his own love for Samuel will help or hinder Samuel’s case. I’ll do everything in my power to sway him, as will many others. Have you met your competition? Rafael?” He actually laughed. “He is a great supporter of Samuel, despite having heard him say you’re better looking.”

He tried to lighten the conversation, for the youth’s sake and for his own. “You should rest. I can put you into a sleep if you want me to,” he looked into Dean’s eyes.

It did relieve Dean a little bit to hear Michael reassure that most of the angels would still be willing to protect him from Cain. Or, at least, Michael himself would. Dean wasn’t sure he was willing to bet his life on the other angels, however. Even if he was, he would still follow Samuel’s instruction and refuse to cooperate with the plan until he at least got to see Samuel again. Right now, it was probably the only bargaining chip he had to use that would ensure he would see his lover again…

Forceful and persuasive? Michael hadn’t seen anything yet.

Dean couldn’t say he was really surprised by Michael’s reply that most humans fell in love with angels because they couldn’t help themselves. After all, it was the same line that Samuel had tried to feed him over and over to dissuade him. Back when Samuel was still trying to resist what was between them. He wasn’t surprised, but he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed by Michael’s answer.

Until Michael did surprise him by the soft touch to his forehead and the angel’s words made him look up. A part of him was relieved. That Michael believed that he really did love Samuel, and that it wasn’t just sex between them. That he didn’t believe Dean would have gotten Sam into all this trouble just because the young man wanted to get laid.

Looking into Michael’s soft warm eyes right now, feeling the comfort offered by the gentle touch, Dean thought he finally understood too when they said how most humans couldn’t help but in love with angels. But Dean knew didn’t love Michael, at least, not as anything more than a friend. He knew because what he felt for Samuel was nothing like what he felt for Michael. It could never compare. But he understood how some could mistake it.

Michel’s reply, much like Samuel’s, that he didn’t know what would happen to his lover did not comfort Dean at all. Especially when accompanied by the look of complete sadness on the angel’s face. Knowing that other angels would fight on Samuel’s behalf, and that his lover’s fate wasn’t completely in Gabriel’s hands, did comfort Dean though. Michael’s comment regarding his “competition” Raphael actually made Dean crack a smile and laugh a little.

Dean sighed softly when Michael pointed out that he should rest. It was why he had left the meetings to go back to his room after all. He’d managed to sleep a little before Samuel had returned to their rooms, but it wasn’t nearly enough. He was still exhausted in mind, body, and soul. But Dean wasn’t sure he wanted to sleep, even if he needed to. But knowing he had to be sharp tomorrow, he couldn’t afford to make mistakes because he was tired, Dean finally nodded.

However there was one more thing, the main reason why he had sought Michael out in the first place…

“When you came to our room… was it for a reason? Is there something I should know?” Dean asked softly, though he had to look away before he finished his question. “Or did you come just to catch us…”

When he said “you” he really meant Gabriel, but Michael had been there too.

When Dean nodded, Michael started to get up to walk him back to his room and to help him get that sleep he badly needed. Samuel's ward had grown on him, and he wanted to make this as easy as possible for him, though he well knew it would not end the way the youth had hoped it might.

He settled back down, eyes locking with Dean's, cooling at the accusation Dean launched at him. His expression hardened for the first time since Dean had walked up to him. "Samuel is my greatest friend. It has been so for centuries. I love him in a way you will never fathom." Although he was not one to easily be annoyed, the implication that he'd betrayed Samuel got him there fast. "If I had known what I was walking into, I would have walked the other way."

He stood up and walked to a pillar, putting one forearm on it and leaning, giving part of his back to Dean. "Gabriel said he had important details to go over. I told him I didn't need to be there, but he insisted." He looked over his shoulder at Dean. "I thought he mentally advised Sam we were on our way, it is customary. But even if he hadn't, Samuel should have felt our approach." This time, he was doing the accusing. He knew for a fact that if it hadn't been for the antics of this boy, Samuel would not have been caught so under Gabriel's own roof.

"As for Gabriel's agenda... I have reviewed everything that was said and done. I have no proof but in my gut, I believe he got what he hoped for."

Michael’s sudden anger and accusations weren’t much of a surprise to the young man, but that didn’t mean they didn’t hurt. They hurt a lot, in fact, because they came from Michael who he knew loved Samuel and he knew Samuel loved him. But he still had to ask... because Gabriel claimed to love Samuel too, and he had still done this to him.

No, not really. Gabriel hadn’t. Dean had done this to Samuel. Michael didn’t need to remind him of that fact, though the reminder certainly stung. But the truth of it was that Dean didn’t really blame anyone but himself. He would have liked to blame Gabriel, oh how he would have loved to, but Samuel had told him no. Not here. It was too dangerous. Dean had insisted anyway and now...

Seeing Michael looking at him so coldly, as he told him how Dean couldn’t possibly understand how Michael loved Samuel... so much for the angel believing his love for Samuel was real... made Dean flinch a little but he otherwise managed to keep his expression blank. He knew he deserved all of the other angel’s disdain, this was the welcoming he’d been expecting in the first place, so he didn’t really have any right to feel disappointed, did he?

Well, he’d gotten what he’d asked for, there was no reason for him to stay any longer. Dean nodded slowly in understanding and stood.

“Thank you for telling me. I can find my own way back.” Dean said softly, letting the angel off the hook for his previous offer, pretending he hadn’t made it at all. Dean turned and made his way quickly back into the building towards “his” room.

He certainly seemed to have a knack for pissing off angels...

Michael let Dean walk off, believing the human preferred to be alone for now. However a half hour later, fo Samuel's sake, he went to him, knocking lightly first. "Good night," he said with a small smile, putting his hand over Dean's forehead, and sending him into sleep.

*

The battle of wills between Samuel and Gabriel continued through the remainder of the night. The two angels circling a long table stretching the length of the conference room. Chandeliers swung with their emotions and shouts, candles flickered. Gust of wind blew out of nowhere, sweeping their robes and hair and items in the room in their wake.

It was almost dawn. Samuel’s last chance, his last card to play. Walking to the golden haired angel, he dropped suddenly onto his knees. “Please Gabriel, please... a favor to me. I have never asked for anything.”

Gabriel stiffened, his breath catching. Samuel’s actions were at odds with his rebellion, his pride, his anger, all the accusations that he’d leveled at him all night. A strange thrill ran through him upon feeling Samuel’s breath on his thigh. “I will assign Michael to watch over him.” That was as far as he was willing to go.

“No. Let me be there, one last time Gabriel. Let me see this through. Cain is my nemeses, you know that.” He thought it best to make it about Cain and not Dean, though the archangel would see the truth. “Gabriel... you do this for me, and I won’t appeal. Whatever your judgment, I will accept it. Yours to do with as you will.”

From Samuel’s point of view, he wasn’t giving up much. He was already doomed. All that an appeal might do is reduce any sentence Gabriel imposed. Either way, he would lose his boy, he would lose Dean, and all punishments paled in comparison to that one.

“I could banish you to hell.”

“Yes,” Samuel answered meekly. He could fall from grace, all the way to hell. It wasn’t an unusual price for loving a human, but it was usually reserved for a second offense if the angel’s record was otherwise as pristine as his.

Gabriel’s eyes locked with Samuels. “A thousand years on your knees, I could make that order.” The instant Samuel raised his chin, bringing himself closer to Gabriel, the archangel’s eyes started to blaze with a new heat.

“Anything. All I want is to be there, to participate. Afterwards, do what you will. Until then, I am free.”

“Get up.” When Samuel did, Gabriel kissed him, knowing full well he hadn’t received even a half hearted response from Sam, but not expecting it under the circumstances. “You will walk away from that human when I say,” he said in clipped tones.

The doors to the room flew open.

Samuel nodded, and walked out of the room.

*

His first stop was to meet with Michael. He made arrangements to make sure Dean always had a roof over his head and money, though he didn’t give it all to him at once. Michael was to watch over him and make sure he had enough but didn’t waste what was given to him, blow it all up in one go. Samuel knew Dean hadn’t grown up learning how to make funds last, and he was also volatile. What was about to happen could send him careening off the edge and he didn’t want his ward spending his money on liquor and other things that would lead him down the very path Samuel had rescued him from.

“Thank you Michael.” The two angels hugged, for a long time, giving each other comfort. No words were exchanged about what had happened, they were unnecessary.

Dressed in full warrior gear, Samuel walked into Dean’s room. Finding his ward wasn’t there, he headed straight for his bedroom, where he found Dean asleep inside his bed, his pillow clutched in his hands.

He sat down next to him, looking up and saying a prayer for his ward, his lover, before putting his hand on his shoulder and shaking him lightly. “Dean, wake up. Wake up,” he said again, this time kissing him lightly on the temple.

Dean had been lying awake in Sam’s bed, holding Samuel’s pillow to him, breathing in his lover’s scent, and trying not to cry when Michael had come. He honestly hadn’t expected the other angel to, considering everything. Dean said nothing, and neither did the angel other than to tell him ‘good night’. The young man barely gave a nod in response, but he was grateful for the oblivion that the light touch to his forehead brought. He slept so deeply that he didn’t even dream, at least until the gentle shaking roused him.

The young man surfaced slowly, blinking the heavy sleep from his eyes. His thoughts so sluggish at first he thought he might actually be dreaming. But the warm weight on his shoulder was too real, the soft voice in his ear too cherished, and light brush of gentle lips to his temple too familiar. Please, let it not be a dream…

“Sam!” The angel’s name when Dean’s eyes focused on his lover was half a gasp and half a choked sob. The young man didn’t hesitate then throwing his arms around the solid real weight of his lover rather than the flimsy pillow and burying his face against the angel’s neck. He clutched at the angel so tight it was probably uncomfortable but he couldn’t make himself let go. He wouldn’t. Though after a time he forced himself to whisper, “What happened?”

Dean dreaded the answer at the same time needing to know.

Samuel's arms closed around Dean, holding him tight against his chest, like he’d never let him go. He remembered so many times in their early days, before they’d even had a relationship, holding him, like precious cargo, soothing his fears and his nightmares. “You’ve come so far,” he whispered against Dean’s hair, mentally showing him images of himself when he’d first come out of the asylum. “So many little steps, and look at you now. Big bad hunter,” he said, almost choking on a laugh. It was ironic that Sam was glad now, that Dean had trained to protect himself.

Moving his hand to Dean’s cheek, he kissed him hard but quick, then spoke against his ear. “I’ll be there with you today. Remember your promise to me. You’re going to live to be an old man, for me.” He refused to allow tears to come into his eyes, not now.

He knew Dean was waiting for an answer. He gave him as little of it as he could. “You have to get up. Get dressed, eat. We’ll position you, and I will be there, both in body and in your mind.” He took a deep breath. “After we defeat Cain, we come back here. Gabriel will pass his judgment then. But don’t think of that now. Please, I need you to take care of yourself.

The memories Sam showed him were both painful and in a way comforting, if only because so many of his earlier memories with Samuel were both painful and joyful. It was a reminder of all he had gained since Samuel had come for him in the exact moment Dean had given up, giving him something to live for. It was also a reminder of all he had to lose…

The brief kiss was hard, and desperate, and Dean fought for it to linger. He didn’t want to let Sam go, for any reason. Yes, he had ‘promised’… But Dean wasn’t sure if he could keep that promise, even if he lived through today.

The simple fact was that he did not want to live without Samuel. Maybe he could. Maybe he could ‘survive’. Just as he had survived without Sam on the streets before… but that didn’t mean he wanted to.

Dean wasn’t about to tell Samuel that however. He wouldn’t even let the angel pick it up in his thoughts. Samuel had enough to worry about. The young man let out a harsh sounding laugh when Sam suggested he actually eat something. As though he could choke anything down that his stomach wouldn’t immediately reject.

“I’m not hungry.” Dean said softly, holding onto Sam a little tighter. Besides, he’d rather not waste time eating when he could be using it to hold his lover instead. At the mention of Gabriel passing his “judgment” Dean felt his anger flare, though he honestly wasn’t sure if he was more angry at the bastard angel or himself.

“He knew…” the young man whispered against the angel’s throat. “I talked to Michael. Gabriel knew he’d find us together, at least hoped he would, that’s why he came… I’m sorry, Samuel…”

“You’re always hungry, you just don’t know it,” Samuel laughed. He knew Dean meant it, but watching his lover eat, both his mannerisms and the quantities he could put away, had always been a great source of entertainment and joy for him. At the mention of the upcoming judgment, he felt Dean’s hold tighten, and merely closed his eyes. That was something neither of them had the power to change.

Dean’s anger and sorrow flooded across their link as he told him about Gabriel. “I had my suspicions,” Samuel nodded, trying not to think at all about the strange light he might have imagined blazing in Gabriel’s eyes. “The fault is not yours. I should never have brought you here, you tried to tell me.” The animosity between Dean and Gabriel had always been obvious, but Samuel had been blind to how far Gabriel’s hatred, or… even now he couldn’t quite believe it… the depths of his jealousy. Even now, he’d rather believe Gabriel was intolerant of his infractions of the laws that bound angels, than to believe …

He let out a sigh. “Let me help you get ready. I want you to recite a few protective chants as well, and teach you a little know offensive one.” Cain was like no demon that Dean had ever faced. He was a challenge even to angels, to multiple angels. Anything Sam could teach him would not significantly injure Cain, but it might buy time or cause Cain to hesitate. At least that’s what Samuel told himself as he fought off panic at the thought of the danger Dean would be in.

Dean sighed heavily and forced himself to nod. He knew he couldn’t stay here, just holding onto Samuel, for the rest of his life no matter how much he might wish to. Nothing outside of this room had stopped moving. Sooner or later the world would demand they return to it, and whatever fate it had in store for them. They couldn’t hide from it and they couldn’t run away from it.

“Alright.” The young man finally said softly, pulling himself together, because he was a hunter, damn it. He had a job to do, and he was going to do it. Cain had to be stopped. That was why he had “volunteered” for this. Risking his life by being hung out like a worm on a hook for the evil bastard. They were going to take Cain down and then… worry about everything else.

Though a small voice inside of him hoped that if he did this, and they were successful in trapping or killing Cain, that it might overshadow what he and Sam had done together. He might be able to ask for some kind of reward, and he didn’t give a damned if that completely negated any “redemption” he might receive from hell for doing this. Dean would ask for them to let him and Sam remain together.

Dean relaxed his hold on the angel and pulled away far enough to look into Samuel’s eyes, then he found himself cupping his lover’s face and leaning in again to kiss him hard and desperate. Pouring all his love for Samuel over their bond at the same time, everything he was into that single touch.

It took almost more willpower than he thought he possessed to finally end the kiss and finally let Sam go.

“I’m ready.”

When their mouths met again, melded together, arms holding each other, minds locking together, sharing the depths of their feelings, of the joy they found in this relationship, of their love, the rest of the world fell away. Gabriel be damned. Rules be damned. Nothing could quash their love. Nothing could have stopped it from taking hold, not once they’d met. And tearing them apart would change nothing. Nothing that was between them.

When Dean ended the kiss, Samuel could not bring himself to release Dean for another minute. His eyes burned with his love for his ward and for one crazy moment, he was tempted to take him and run. To break his promise to Gabriel. To betray everything he was, his fellow angels… and even Him. And then Dean’s proclamation of readiness, brought him back to his senses, and confirmed that his ward had indeed, grown strong. He nodded, and stood up, waited a moment, and followed Dean to the other room.