The Angelic Company 2/2
Nov. 17th, 2011 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonliteknightTitle: The Angelic Company
Rating: PG13
Pairings: Castiel/Dean, Gabriel/Sam
Characters: Castiel, Gabriel, Sam, Dean, Crowley, Chuck, Becky, Lucifer, Ruby
Word Count: 11K
Warnings: None
Summary: Sam preferred law over chocolates. Dean liked chocolate (especially chocolate pie) but was more comfortable with cars. But when John takes an impromptu vacation, they must take over the family business or risk losing it to the sleazy ice cream shop owner Lucifer.
A/N:This was written for the spn_reversebang 2011
Check out the amazing art and fanmix by![[info]](../../img/userinfo.gif?v=87.2)
lonewined that this was inspired by!
PART 1
Over the next few days. Sam learned that running a business was not at all an easy task. It was actually extremely difficult and very time consuming, especially since Dean has zero business sense and Sam was the one left to handle all the paperwork. Fortunately he had Castiel to guide him. Unfortunately, Dean still reverted into a six year old ever whenever he was in the same room as Castiel and does his best to pull the man’s figurative pigtails. The man would then snap at him and they would end up staring/glaring at each, completely forgetting that Sam was in the room.
Anytime Cas wasn’t there, Dean would continuously grumble about Cas to Sam. Any Dean wasn’t there, Cas would look annoyed if Dean’s name was brought up. But that didn’t change the fact that Sam kept catching him stealing glances at Dean whenever he thought no one was looking.
It was so freaking annoying.
Sam was pretty sure that he would have done something crazy, like lock them in the nearest closest until they dealt with their stupid unresolved sexual tension, if it hadn’t been for Gabriel. Anytime the staring got too uncomfortable to be around, Sam would sneak away and go find Gabriel.
Sam initial observation about the man had been spot on. Gabriel was weird, and proud of it. Sam usually ended up visiting Gabriel two or three times a day, and each time, the man would have a new piece of chocolate for Sam to sample. Sam had initially only taken the chocolate to be polite and would only eat it because Gabriel would demand his opinion of the chocolate the next time they saw each other. The chocolate wasn’t as bad as Sam expected it to be so he kept accepting the chocolate even after they reached the point where Sam could just tell Gabriel that he didn’t like chocolate without being rude. It seemed that for some reason, Sam didn’t mind eating chocolates when Gabriel was the one giving hem to him. He refused to look too closely at the implications of that.
But, all in all, life was good, right up until the end of the first week.
On Friday, when Sam showed up in Gabe’s kitchen for the fourth time that day, the chocolate man took one look at him and declared. “You. Me. Karaoke tonight.”
Sam blinked at him, completely lost. “What?”
“Karaoke, Charlie” Gabriel said, mixing whatever he was cooking. Gabriel knew perfectly well that Sam’s name was not Charlie at this point, but he had yet to cease calling him that. It had been a bit annoying at first, but as Gabriel grew on him, Sam found himself not minding too much. “Best way to relax after a hard week of work, which you definitely just had. Let me be frank, my dear, when I say that you look like shit.”
“Thanks,” Sam said, feeling slightly insulted. One thing he still had trouble with though was Gabe’s bluntness. “It’s a nice idea Gabe, but I can’t really sing though.”
Gabriel shrugged. “Fine, just listen to me sing them.” He grinned. “I have it on good authority that I have one hell of a voice.”
“But—”
“Wasn’t asking. Meet at the Hunter’s Lounge at nine. Now get out. This is a very delicate procedure and I don’t need your hot ass here distracting me. ”
And with that, he pushed Sam out the door and shut it in his face.
Sam didn’t really want to go to a bar. He did not want to do karaoke. What he really wanted was to go to the motel he was sharing with Dean and fall unconscious into his bed. That’s what he really wanted. So why had he asked Ruby, the recently hired secretary for directions to The Hunter’s Lounge? And why the hell was he sitting at The Hunter’s Lounge listening to bad singing, waiting for Gabriel to show up?
“I must be crazy.” He told the drink that he had ordered.
“Not necessarily,” Gabriel said, plopping into the seat next to Sam. “Loads of folk talk to their beer around here. Now if you were talking to anything, say my beer for example, then I’d have to say that you were crazy.”
“Hey Gabe,” Sam said, turning to him with a smile.
“Hiya, Charlie. Sorry I was late. One of the Oompa Loompa’s managed to misplace an entire package of angels.” He swiped Sam’s half empty glass and downed it all in one go.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you addressing your workers as Oompa Loompas.” Sam admitted, making a half hearted attempt to take back the empty glass. “Did you find it?”
“Nope. He was still looking for it when I left. It’ll turn up.”
Sam frowned. “Shouldn’t you have reported that?”
Gabriel shrugged. “The head honchos were already gone when I found out. I‘ll tell ‘em on Monday.”
“Why didn’t you just call me then?” They had traded numbers after their second meeting though either had yet to use them. However, missing inventory was certainly a good reason to call wasn’t it? s
Gabe frowned. “Why would I do that?” He jumped out of his seat before Sam could answer. “Hey, I‘m up next. Now, just sit tight and let me wondrous voice relax you, Sammy.”
“It’s Sam.” Sam called after him, though, as expected, Gabriel paid him no mind.
He was already on the miniature stage, taking the microphone from the guy who’s been bellowing out a truly horrible rendition of “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga.
After pressing a few buttons on the karaoke machine, Gabe straightened up, a smirk on his face. He looked straight at Sam as the music began and launched into the song.
“Come on baby, let me take you by the hand
Come on sugar, let me take you by the hand
You're for me, let me be, all your own
Candy, your candy, candy man.”
He was singing Candyman, by Roy Orbison. Sam started to laugh. He probably shouldn’t. It wasn’t a humorous song and Gabriel hadn’t been lying, he had a damn good singing voice. But Gabe’s expression were just so exaggerated and over the top as he sang that Sam couldn’t help it. And there was just something hilarious about a guy who made chocolate singing about being a candy man.
Yeah, Sam was probably a bit drunk by this point.
Gabriel grinned at him as he launched into the second and it occurred to Sam that this had probably been Gabe’s plan along. Sam had been feeling increasingly drained as the days passed, and it seemed Gabe had noticed. He felt pleasantly warm at the thought that Gabe cared enough about him already to waste a Friday night on cheering him up.
And that’s when Sam realized it. Somewhere in between their initial meeting and now, Sam had developed a huge ass crush on the candy maker. Oh shit.
This was not good.
Sam could think of a dozen reasons why getting involved with someone who was technically his employee was a seriously bad idea. But as he sat there, listening to Gabe singing for him, none of them seemed to matter much. Oddly enough, Sam felt no guilt about having feelings for someone other than Jessica. All he felt at the moment was warm and content. He felt more relaxed at the moment than he had all week actually.
“That was great,” Sam praised Gabe
Gabriel took a very theatrical bow before retaking his seat. “Feel relaxed yet?”
“Yup. I feel better than I have all week.”
“Great.” He ordered a beer for himself and Sam before turning to the taller man. “So what left you looking like the undead? Is working for the King of Hell really that stressful?”
Sam who had been about to a sip of his beer froze. “What?”
“What?” Gabe echoed, bemused.
“Wait, what did you say?” Sam demanded.
“The King of Hell? You know, Crowley?”
And that’s when Sam realized that Gabriel did not know who he was.
Oh shit.
“Gabe..” he said hesitantly. “I don’t work for Crowley.”
Gabriel frowned. “You don’t? Really? You look like you do, talk like it sometimes too. All lawyery and shit.”
Sam gulped down his entire glass before continuing. “Crowley kind of works for me now.”
There was a silence as Gabriel processed the information.
“Wait a minute…” Gabriel started slowly. “You’re Sam Winchester? As in John Winchester’s son? As in my new freaking boss?”
“Hi?”
Sam parted with Chuck and Becky right outside the door, leaving Chuck to pull Becky back to their office on his own.
He was heading to the kitchens.
There was no way that Gabriel was the mole. No way in hell. But Sam couldn’t help remembering the missing box of angels that Gabe had mentioned on Friday. Gabe couldn’t be involved in this, but maybe he had found the box by now. Maybe he knew who the mole was.
Or maybe, a nasty little voice in the back of his head said. Maybe he is the mole.
Sam shook his head, pushing the voice away. He hadn’t known Gabe for very long, but already knew that Gabriel was not the kind of person to sell out his own.
Sam opened the glass door, remembering when Gabriel had first invited him in, back when he was still talking to him.
Gabriel looked up from the chocolate he was molding, surprise clear on his face,
“Sam,” he breathed.
Sam froze. Shit. He hadn’t exactly thought about what he should say when he actually saw Gabriel.
“I—”
Gabriel’s face went blank. “I’m a bit busy right now.” He said, carefully. “If you excuse me.” He turned to leave.
“Lucifer’s your brother.” Sam blurted out, hoping to stop him.
It worked. Gabe froze in his tracks.
“When was the last time you spoke with him?” Sam asked, before Gabriel could shake off the shock and start to leave again.
“What’s he done now?” Gabriel sighed. “Stolen a recipe? Faked a health check?”
“He stole some recipes.” Sam told him. “And sent a mole here.”
“I haven’t talked to my brother in years, Sam” Gabriel scowled. “Luci’s pissed at me and Cas ditching him to work at AC. That’s actually one of the reason’s why he wants to own this place.”
“Because you and Cas decided to work here?”
“Because me and Cas decided to work here instead of for him.” There was a faint sense of sadness tinting his words.
“Why did you come here?” Sam asked. “Why didn’t you work for him.”
For a minute, Sam thought he wasn’t going to answer.
Then Gabriel said, softly, “I was tried of the fighting.”
“Wha—?”
“Lucifer is a very competitive person.”
And that’s when Sam heard it. A faint scuffling sound, followed by a thump and the undeniable sounds of someone moving a box. It was coming from a room near the door that lead to the hall. The store room, if Sam was remembering correctly.
Gabe seemed to hear it too. He frowned at the door. “No one else should be here yet.” he said lightly. “And no one else would be in the stores this early in the morning.”
“The mole.” Sam whispered under his breath.
Gabe shot him a look that clearly said, oh really? He carefully picked up a nearby empty saucepan and motioned for Sam to follow. Before Sam could stop him, he’d thrown the door to the store open and brought the saucepan onto the mole’s head with a loud bang.
“Oops.” he said, not sounding very apologetic at all. “That might have been a bit too hard.”
Sam stared incredulously at the prone, familiar ,blonde figure on the ground. “Ruby?”
Gabriel glanced at him. “You know her?”
“Yeah, she’s the new secretary.” Sam frowned. “I, we hired her after the first one let Lucifer walk right in…” He trailed off as a thought occurred to him.
“Let me guess.” Gabriel said, a mocking edge to his voice. “Lucifer was the one to suggest that you fire her. And then Ruby here showed up a day later with a glowing resume, and was just perfect for the job.”
Sam scowled but didn’t answer. That was exactly what had happened. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t wondered how the perfect candidate for the job had show up just hours after the position had opened.
Gabriel snorted. “Lucifer totally played you. You realize she’s the mole, right?”
“Shut up.” Sam growled. Of course he realized that, he wasn’t an idiot. “She’s probably the one behind the missing inventory too.”
“You think of that all one your own genius?”
Sam gritted his teeth but didn’t respond to the jibe.
Gabe poked Ruby lightly with his foot. “Huh, she’s really out of it. What do we do know?”
Good question. “Call Crowley?” Sam suggested. He reached into his pockets for his phone only to realize it wasn’t there. Shit, he’d left it back on his desk. “Uh, you wouldn’t happen to have Crowley’s number…”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, and pulled out his phone. “I’ll call him.”
There was an uncomfortable, almost stifling silence as Gabe dialed for Crowley and waited for the man to pick up.
Unable to take the silence any longer, Sam blurted out, “I’m sorry.”
Gabriel jumped, startled. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Sam repeated.
Gabe turned back to his phone, avoiding Sam’s eyes. “For accusing me of selling out the company? Or for lying to me?”
“I wasn’t—both,” Sam said, with a wince. Shit, he hadn‘t exactly meant to accuse Gabe of being the mole, but thinking back, it probably had sounded like he was accusing the guy.“ I didn’t, I mean, I should have corrected you immediately when you thought that I worked for Crowley.”
“You should have.” Gabe agreed. “So why didn’t you?”
“Honestly? I just kind of forgot.”
“You forgot?” Gabe sounded skeptical.
“I got distracted.” Sam said defensively, not meeting Gabriel’s gaze. “I mean, there was the chocolate, and you, and the Wily Wonka stuff. I just forgot.”
He risked a quick glance and found the man staring at him, an unreadable expression on his face.
“It’s fine.” he said. He looked like he was about to say something else, but of course, that was when Crowley picked up.
Once they handed Ruby securely over to Crowley, who had been entirely too gleeful to get his hands on the mole, Sam and Gabe headed straight the office to tell Dean and Cas the good news.
“I really am sorry.” Sam said again as they made their way down the hall.
“It’s fine, Sam.” Gabe said, with a roll of his eyes. “Seriously, forget it.”
But Sam couldn’t forget it. Gabriel was still addressing him by his name. He’d work harder to gain Gabe’s forgiveness he vowed at they neared the office.
Sam threw open the door to the office without bothering to knock.
“Hey, Dean! Gabe and I, we found the—shit!”
He slammed the door shut with so much force that window down the hall actually rattled.
“Omigod.” he squeaked, slapping a hand over his eyes. He did not need to see that. No he did not.
“Congrats, bro!” Gabe shouted at the closed door, not at all concerned by the horrors they just witnessed. “About time you lost that pesky virginity.”
There was an angry shout through the door, followed by a surprised one, and, oh god, was that a moan? Wait.
“Cas is a virgin?” Sam asked incredulously. No way. The dude had to be thirty, at least.
Gabe grinned. “Not anymore.”
Sam winced. “Shit, stop reminding me. God, I need to find some brain bleach.”
“Don’t be such a prude, Charlie.”
Sam’s head jerked towards him, mental scarring put aside for the moment. “You called me Charlie.”
Gabe’s grin faded and he looked uncertain. “I can stop if you want me to.”
Sam’s grinned, feeling lighter then he had in days. “No, no, that’s fine. Hey, you want to go get lunch, Mr. Willy Wonka?”
“Lead the way Charlie.”
Rating: PG13
Pairings: Castiel/Dean, Gabriel/Sam
Characters: Castiel, Gabriel, Sam, Dean, Crowley, Chuck, Becky, Lucifer, Ruby
Word Count: 11K
Warnings: None
Summary: Sam preferred law over chocolates. Dean liked chocolate (especially chocolate pie) but was more comfortable with cars. But when John takes an impromptu vacation, they must take over the family business or risk losing it to the sleazy ice cream shop owner Lucifer.
A/N:This was written for the spn_reversebang 2011
Check out the amazing art and fanmix by
lonewined that this was inspired by!PART 1
Over the next few days. Sam learned that running a business was not at all an easy task. It was actually extremely difficult and very time consuming, especially since Dean has zero business sense and Sam was the one left to handle all the paperwork. Fortunately he had Castiel to guide him. Unfortunately, Dean still reverted into a six year old ever whenever he was in the same room as Castiel and does his best to pull the man’s figurative pigtails. The man would then snap at him and they would end up staring/glaring at each, completely forgetting that Sam was in the room.
Anytime Cas wasn’t there, Dean would continuously grumble about Cas to Sam. Any Dean wasn’t there, Cas would look annoyed if Dean’s name was brought up. But that didn’t change the fact that Sam kept catching him stealing glances at Dean whenever he thought no one was looking.
It was so freaking annoying.
Sam was pretty sure that he would have done something crazy, like lock them in the nearest closest until they dealt with their stupid unresolved sexual tension, if it hadn’t been for Gabriel. Anytime the staring got too uncomfortable to be around, Sam would sneak away and go find Gabriel.
Sam initial observation about the man had been spot on. Gabriel was weird, and proud of it. Sam usually ended up visiting Gabriel two or three times a day, and each time, the man would have a new piece of chocolate for Sam to sample. Sam had initially only taken the chocolate to be polite and would only eat it because Gabriel would demand his opinion of the chocolate the next time they saw each other. The chocolate wasn’t as bad as Sam expected it to be so he kept accepting the chocolate even after they reached the point where Sam could just tell Gabriel that he didn’t like chocolate without being rude. It seemed that for some reason, Sam didn’t mind eating chocolates when Gabriel was the one giving hem to him. He refused to look too closely at the implications of that.
But, all in all, life was good, right up until the end of the first week.
On Friday, when Sam showed up in Gabe’s kitchen for the fourth time that day, the chocolate man took one look at him and declared. “You. Me. Karaoke tonight.”
Sam blinked at him, completely lost. “What?”
“Karaoke, Charlie” Gabriel said, mixing whatever he was cooking. Gabriel knew perfectly well that Sam’s name was not Charlie at this point, but he had yet to cease calling him that. It had been a bit annoying at first, but as Gabriel grew on him, Sam found himself not minding too much. “Best way to relax after a hard week of work, which you definitely just had. Let me be frank, my dear, when I say that you look like shit.”
“Thanks,” Sam said, feeling slightly insulted. One thing he still had trouble with though was Gabe’s bluntness. “It’s a nice idea Gabe, but I can’t really sing though.”
Gabriel shrugged. “Fine, just listen to me sing them.” He grinned. “I have it on good authority that I have one hell of a voice.”
“But—”
“Wasn’t asking. Meet at the Hunter’s Lounge at nine. Now get out. This is a very delicate procedure and I don’t need your hot ass here distracting me. ”
And with that, he pushed Sam out the door and shut it in his face.
~~~
Sam didn’t really want to go to a bar. He did not want to do karaoke. What he really wanted was to go to the motel he was sharing with Dean and fall unconscious into his bed. That’s what he really wanted. So why had he asked Ruby, the recently hired secretary for directions to The Hunter’s Lounge? And why the hell was he sitting at The Hunter’s Lounge listening to bad singing, waiting for Gabriel to show up?
“I must be crazy.” He told the drink that he had ordered.
“Not necessarily,” Gabriel said, plopping into the seat next to Sam. “Loads of folk talk to their beer around here. Now if you were talking to anything, say my beer for example, then I’d have to say that you were crazy.”
“Hey Gabe,” Sam said, turning to him with a smile.
“Hiya, Charlie. Sorry I was late. One of the Oompa Loompa’s managed to misplace an entire package of angels.” He swiped Sam’s half empty glass and downed it all in one go.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you addressing your workers as Oompa Loompas.” Sam admitted, making a half hearted attempt to take back the empty glass. “Did you find it?”
“Nope. He was still looking for it when I left. It’ll turn up.”
Sam frowned. “Shouldn’t you have reported that?”
Gabriel shrugged. “The head honchos were already gone when I found out. I‘ll tell ‘em on Monday.”
“Why didn’t you just call me then?” They had traded numbers after their second meeting though either had yet to use them. However, missing inventory was certainly a good reason to call wasn’t it? s
Gabe frowned. “Why would I do that?” He jumped out of his seat before Sam could answer. “Hey, I‘m up next. Now, just sit tight and let me wondrous voice relax you, Sammy.”
“It’s Sam.” Sam called after him, though, as expected, Gabriel paid him no mind.
He was already on the miniature stage, taking the microphone from the guy who’s been bellowing out a truly horrible rendition of “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga.
After pressing a few buttons on the karaoke machine, Gabe straightened up, a smirk on his face. He looked straight at Sam as the music began and launched into the song.
“Come on baby, let me take you by the hand
Come on sugar, let me take you by the hand
You're for me, let me be, all your own
Candy, your candy, candy man.”
He was singing Candyman, by Roy Orbison. Sam started to laugh. He probably shouldn’t. It wasn’t a humorous song and Gabriel hadn’t been lying, he had a damn good singing voice. But Gabe’s expression were just so exaggerated and over the top as he sang that Sam couldn’t help it. And there was just something hilarious about a guy who made chocolate singing about being a candy man.
Yeah, Sam was probably a bit drunk by this point.
Gabriel grinned at him as he launched into the second and it occurred to Sam that this had probably been Gabe’s plan along. Sam had been feeling increasingly drained as the days passed, and it seemed Gabe had noticed. He felt pleasantly warm at the thought that Gabe cared enough about him already to waste a Friday night on cheering him up.
And that’s when Sam realized it. Somewhere in between their initial meeting and now, Sam had developed a huge ass crush on the candy maker. Oh shit.
This was not good.
Sam could think of a dozen reasons why getting involved with someone who was technically his employee was a seriously bad idea. But as he sat there, listening to Gabe singing for him, none of them seemed to matter much. Oddly enough, Sam felt no guilt about having feelings for someone other than Jessica. All he felt at the moment was warm and content. He felt more relaxed at the moment than he had all week actually.
“That was great,” Sam praised Gabe
Gabriel took a very theatrical bow before retaking his seat. “Feel relaxed yet?”
“Yup. I feel better than I have all week.”
“Great.” He ordered a beer for himself and Sam before turning to the taller man. “So what left you looking like the undead? Is working for the King of Hell really that stressful?”
Sam who had been about to a sip of his beer froze. “What?”
“What?” Gabe echoed, bemused.
“Wait, what did you say?” Sam demanded.
“The King of Hell? You know, Crowley?”
And that’s when Sam realized that Gabriel did not know who he was.
Oh shit.
“Gabe..” he said hesitantly. “I don’t work for Crowley.”
Gabriel frowned. “You don’t? Really? You look like you do, talk like it sometimes too. All lawyery and shit.”
Sam gulped down his entire glass before continuing. “Crowley kind of works for me now.”
There was a silence as Gabriel processed the information.
“Wait a minute…” Gabriel started slowly. “You’re Sam Winchester? As in John Winchester’s son? As in my new freaking boss?”
“Hi?”
~~~
Thinking back later on, Sam was pretty sure that the whole mess was his fault. He should have made more of an effort to correct the Gabe’s initial misconception of him when they met as soon as possible. But it hadn’t occurred to him that Gabe still thought that Sam worked for Crowley and not the other way around.
To his credit, Gabriel didn’t tell him to fuck off right then. Instead he just clamed up, and made an excuse within the next five minutes to leave. Sam couldn’t really blame him. If he’d just found out that he’d been sneaking chocolates to his boss all week and calling him ‘Charlie’, then he’d be pretty pissed off too.
The weekend passed by slowly and unpleasantly. Sam spent most of it sulking around the motel debating whether or not to call Gabriel. Luckily for him, Dean spent most of the weekend out of the motel so he didn’t have to deal with the question that would inevitability have been asked had Dean been home to notice that Sam was acting like a rejected teenage girl.
Sam had to admit he was being pretty pathetic. So what if he had a bit of a crush on the guy. It didn’t give him the right to mope around. And it wasn’t like he’d known Gabriel for that long anyway. And it wasn’t like he’d actually lied to the man. He’d just forgotten to correct a misconception. Dammit. He’d be lucky if Gabe even talked to him after this.
Finally Monday arrived, bringing with it a new problem.
About a quarter to ten, the door to his and Dean’s office flew open and Chuck burst in, looking more harried than ever. The first words out of his mouth were “I didn’t do it!”
Sam looked up from the inventory list he had been reviewing in time to see Cas slip silently into the room behind Chuck. On the other side of the room, Dean looked up where he had been responding to the day’s emails on Sam’s laptop.
“Didn’t do what?” Sam asked, placing the papers in his hand on the desk.
“Dude, does nobody here know how to knock?” Dean grumbled, closing the laptop with a little more force than was probably necessary.
“I swear it wasn’t me.” Chuck continued as though he had not heard. He glanced at Sam, then Dean, and then turned back to Sam before thrusting a piece of paper at him. “Becky found it this morning. I swear she didn’t have anything to do with it either.”
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Dean demanded, getting up and heading over to them. As Sam took the paper from Chuck, he couldn’t help but notice how close Dean ended up standing next to Cas. Huh. That was interesting.
Then he turned his attention to the paper, and swore. Loudly.
“Lemme see.” Dean swiped the paper from him, scanned it quickly, and swore. “How the hell did this happen?” he demanded.
Chuck shrunk back under his furious stare. “Hey, hey, don’t shoot the messenger, man!”
“Chuck.” Sam said, calmly. “Where did you find this?”
“It wasn’t me, it was Becky.” Chuck said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “She was on her laptop, uh, working, and then she suddenly started screaming. She showed it to me, and I just printed it out and brought to Castiel,” he jerked his head toward the silent man. “Who told me to bring it to you guys. So I did. And, yeah, that’s it.”
Dean turned to Cas. “How the hell did Lucifer get his hands on our recipe for Vessel‘s chocolate?” he demanded.
“No I don’t know, Dean.” Cas said his face hard. He looked nearly as pissed off as Dean did.
“Are you sure about that Castiel?” A new voice said from the door way. Sam turned around to see Crowley lounging there, coolly bereaving the group in the room.
“Crowley.” Cas said, his expression shifting from pissed off to intense dislike. “What are you doing here?”
“Not the question of the hour here, angel.” Crowley said coming into the room. “The real question is, are you sure that you don’t know?”
Cas’s eyes narrowed. “I do not appreciate what you are implying.”
“What are you talking about?” Dean interrupted, glaring at Crowley.
Crowley raised an eyebrow, mock surprise on his face. “You don’t know? Did either of you bother to read up on your employee’s backgrounds?”
“We haven’t had the time,” Sam said defensively. “And why should it matter? Dad must have already done all the necessary background checks when he hired people, right?”
“You dear old father is an idiot.” Crowley said. “If you’d bothered to check, then you’d have found out that Castiel here, and his brother Gabriel down in the kitchens, are the younger bothers of dear old Lucifer.”
“You’re related to Lucifer?”
“Gabriel’s your brother?”
Cas turned towards Sam, startled. “You know Gabriel?”
“Not the point.” Crowley said in a sing song manner. “Miss Becky if you will.”
Becky hurried into the room, apparently having been waiting for her cue just outside the door.
“Hi Sam.” she said with a wave, beaming at him.
“Hi,” Sam gave an awkward half wave in return.
“Tell them what you told me.” Crowley told with a half smile.
“Right, I asked around,” Becky started, suddenly serious. “on the chat rooms and forums. And I found out that that MSIC, that’s short for Morning Star Ice Cream, is planning on introducing seven new chocolate flavors of ice cream. I couldn’t find out the name of all of them, but I did find out that one’s called The Vessel’s Entourage. Another is the Hell’s Revenge. That‘s the recipe that I gave to Chick to show you”
“That sounds a lot like…” Sam trailed off, horrified. “Fuck”
“A lot like the chocolate sold here?” Crowley finished for him. “It should, seeing as it’s the exact same recipe.”
Dean’s eyes widened as he caught up. “How the hell?”
“A mole. A traitor, A turncoat. Call him whatever you want. Just find him.” And with those parting words, the lawyer left the room.
Dean spun around to face Cas and got right into his personal bubble. “Did you fucking know about this?” He demanded.
Cas glared back. “I already told, I did not.”
“I don’t believe you,” Dean sneered shoving at Cas.
“I am telling the truth , Cas replied, shoving right back.
A short scuffle followed in which Cas ended up shoving Dean against the wall, their faces much closer than they probably should be. Both of them froze, eyes wide like deer caught in a headlight.
Sam decided very quickly to leave at that point. Becky on the other hand, had to be practically dragged out Her eyes were wide and her mouth open as she openly gawped at Dean and Cas who were entirely oblivious to her and the rest of the room.
To his credit, Gabriel didn’t tell him to fuck off right then. Instead he just clamed up, and made an excuse within the next five minutes to leave. Sam couldn’t really blame him. If he’d just found out that he’d been sneaking chocolates to his boss all week and calling him ‘Charlie’, then he’d be pretty pissed off too.
The weekend passed by slowly and unpleasantly. Sam spent most of it sulking around the motel debating whether or not to call Gabriel. Luckily for him, Dean spent most of the weekend out of the motel so he didn’t have to deal with the question that would inevitability have been asked had Dean been home to notice that Sam was acting like a rejected teenage girl.
Sam had to admit he was being pretty pathetic. So what if he had a bit of a crush on the guy. It didn’t give him the right to mope around. And it wasn’t like he’d known Gabriel for that long anyway. And it wasn’t like he’d actually lied to the man. He’d just forgotten to correct a misconception. Dammit. He’d be lucky if Gabe even talked to him after this.
Finally Monday arrived, bringing with it a new problem.
About a quarter to ten, the door to his and Dean’s office flew open and Chuck burst in, looking more harried than ever. The first words out of his mouth were “I didn’t do it!”
Sam looked up from the inventory list he had been reviewing in time to see Cas slip silently into the room behind Chuck. On the other side of the room, Dean looked up where he had been responding to the day’s emails on Sam’s laptop.
“Didn’t do what?” Sam asked, placing the papers in his hand on the desk.
“Dude, does nobody here know how to knock?” Dean grumbled, closing the laptop with a little more force than was probably necessary.
“I swear it wasn’t me.” Chuck continued as though he had not heard. He glanced at Sam, then Dean, and then turned back to Sam before thrusting a piece of paper at him. “Becky found it this morning. I swear she didn’t have anything to do with it either.”
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Dean demanded, getting up and heading over to them. As Sam took the paper from Chuck, he couldn’t help but notice how close Dean ended up standing next to Cas. Huh. That was interesting.
Then he turned his attention to the paper, and swore. Loudly.
“Lemme see.” Dean swiped the paper from him, scanned it quickly, and swore. “How the hell did this happen?” he demanded.
Chuck shrunk back under his furious stare. “Hey, hey, don’t shoot the messenger, man!”
“Chuck.” Sam said, calmly. “Where did you find this?”
“It wasn’t me, it was Becky.” Chuck said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “She was on her laptop, uh, working, and then she suddenly started screaming. She showed it to me, and I just printed it out and brought to Castiel,” he jerked his head toward the silent man. “Who told me to bring it to you guys. So I did. And, yeah, that’s it.”
Dean turned to Cas. “How the hell did Lucifer get his hands on our recipe for Vessel‘s chocolate?” he demanded.
“No I don’t know, Dean.” Cas said his face hard. He looked nearly as pissed off as Dean did.
“Are you sure about that Castiel?” A new voice said from the door way. Sam turned around to see Crowley lounging there, coolly bereaving the group in the room.
“Crowley.” Cas said, his expression shifting from pissed off to intense dislike. “What are you doing here?”
“Not the question of the hour here, angel.” Crowley said coming into the room. “The real question is, are you sure that you don’t know?”
Cas’s eyes narrowed. “I do not appreciate what you are implying.”
“What are you talking about?” Dean interrupted, glaring at Crowley.
Crowley raised an eyebrow, mock surprise on his face. “You don’t know? Did either of you bother to read up on your employee’s backgrounds?”
“We haven’t had the time,” Sam said defensively. “And why should it matter? Dad must have already done all the necessary background checks when he hired people, right?”
“You dear old father is an idiot.” Crowley said. “If you’d bothered to check, then you’d have found out that Castiel here, and his brother Gabriel down in the kitchens, are the younger bothers of dear old Lucifer.”
“You’re related to Lucifer?”
“Gabriel’s your brother?”
Cas turned towards Sam, startled. “You know Gabriel?”
“Not the point.” Crowley said in a sing song manner. “Miss Becky if you will.”
Becky hurried into the room, apparently having been waiting for her cue just outside the door.
“Hi Sam.” she said with a wave, beaming at him.
“Hi,” Sam gave an awkward half wave in return.
“Tell them what you told me.” Crowley told with a half smile.
“Right, I asked around,” Becky started, suddenly serious. “on the chat rooms and forums. And I found out that that MSIC, that’s short for Morning Star Ice Cream, is planning on introducing seven new chocolate flavors of ice cream. I couldn’t find out the name of all of them, but I did find out that one’s called The Vessel’s Entourage. Another is the Hell’s Revenge. That‘s the recipe that I gave to Chick to show you”
“That sounds a lot like…” Sam trailed off, horrified. “Fuck”
“A lot like the chocolate sold here?” Crowley finished for him. “It should, seeing as it’s the exact same recipe.”
Dean’s eyes widened as he caught up. “How the hell?”
“A mole. A traitor, A turncoat. Call him whatever you want. Just find him.” And with those parting words, the lawyer left the room.
Dean spun around to face Cas and got right into his personal bubble. “Did you fucking know about this?” He demanded.
Cas glared back. “I already told, I did not.”
“I don’t believe you,” Dean sneered shoving at Cas.
“I am telling the truth , Cas replied, shoving right back.
A short scuffle followed in which Cas ended up shoving Dean against the wall, their faces much closer than they probably should be. Both of them froze, eyes wide like deer caught in a headlight.
Sam decided very quickly to leave at that point. Becky on the other hand, had to be practically dragged out Her eyes were wide and her mouth open as she openly gawped at Dean and Cas who were entirely oblivious to her and the rest of the room.
~~~
Sam parted with Chuck and Becky right outside the door, leaving Chuck to pull Becky back to their office on his own.
He was heading to the kitchens.
There was no way that Gabriel was the mole. No way in hell. But Sam couldn’t help remembering the missing box of angels that Gabe had mentioned on Friday. Gabe couldn’t be involved in this, but maybe he had found the box by now. Maybe he knew who the mole was.
Or maybe, a nasty little voice in the back of his head said. Maybe he is the mole.
Sam shook his head, pushing the voice away. He hadn’t known Gabe for very long, but already knew that Gabriel was not the kind of person to sell out his own.
Sam opened the glass door, remembering when Gabriel had first invited him in, back when he was still talking to him.
Gabriel looked up from the chocolate he was molding, surprise clear on his face,
“Sam,” he breathed.
Sam froze. Shit. He hadn’t exactly thought about what he should say when he actually saw Gabriel.
“I—”
Gabriel’s face went blank. “I’m a bit busy right now.” He said, carefully. “If you excuse me.” He turned to leave.
“Lucifer’s your brother.” Sam blurted out, hoping to stop him.
It worked. Gabe froze in his tracks.
“When was the last time you spoke with him?” Sam asked, before Gabriel could shake off the shock and start to leave again.
“What’s he done now?” Gabriel sighed. “Stolen a recipe? Faked a health check?”
“He stole some recipes.” Sam told him. “And sent a mole here.”
“I haven’t talked to my brother in years, Sam” Gabriel scowled. “Luci’s pissed at me and Cas ditching him to work at AC. That’s actually one of the reason’s why he wants to own this place.”
“Because you and Cas decided to work here?”
“Because me and Cas decided to work here instead of for him.” There was a faint sense of sadness tinting his words.
“Why did you come here?” Sam asked. “Why didn’t you work for him.”
For a minute, Sam thought he wasn’t going to answer.
Then Gabriel said, softly, “I was tried of the fighting.”
“Wha—?”
“Lucifer is a very competitive person.”
And that’s when Sam heard it. A faint scuffling sound, followed by a thump and the undeniable sounds of someone moving a box. It was coming from a room near the door that lead to the hall. The store room, if Sam was remembering correctly.
Gabe seemed to hear it too. He frowned at the door. “No one else should be here yet.” he said lightly. “And no one else would be in the stores this early in the morning.”
“The mole.” Sam whispered under his breath.
Gabe shot him a look that clearly said, oh really? He carefully picked up a nearby empty saucepan and motioned for Sam to follow. Before Sam could stop him, he’d thrown the door to the store open and brought the saucepan onto the mole’s head with a loud bang.
“Oops.” he said, not sounding very apologetic at all. “That might have been a bit too hard.”
Sam stared incredulously at the prone, familiar ,blonde figure on the ground. “Ruby?”
Gabriel glanced at him. “You know her?”
“Yeah, she’s the new secretary.” Sam frowned. “I, we hired her after the first one let Lucifer walk right in…” He trailed off as a thought occurred to him.
“Let me guess.” Gabriel said, a mocking edge to his voice. “Lucifer was the one to suggest that you fire her. And then Ruby here showed up a day later with a glowing resume, and was just perfect for the job.”
Sam scowled but didn’t answer. That was exactly what had happened. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t wondered how the perfect candidate for the job had show up just hours after the position had opened.
Gabriel snorted. “Lucifer totally played you. You realize she’s the mole, right?”
“Shut up.” Sam growled. Of course he realized that, he wasn’t an idiot. “She’s probably the one behind the missing inventory too.”
“You think of that all one your own genius?”
Sam gritted his teeth but didn’t respond to the jibe.
Gabe poked Ruby lightly with his foot. “Huh, she’s really out of it. What do we do know?”
Good question. “Call Crowley?” Sam suggested. He reached into his pockets for his phone only to realize it wasn’t there. Shit, he’d left it back on his desk. “Uh, you wouldn’t happen to have Crowley’s number…”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, and pulled out his phone. “I’ll call him.”
There was an uncomfortable, almost stifling silence as Gabe dialed for Crowley and waited for the man to pick up.
Unable to take the silence any longer, Sam blurted out, “I’m sorry.”
Gabriel jumped, startled. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Sam repeated.
Gabe turned back to his phone, avoiding Sam’s eyes. “For accusing me of selling out the company? Or for lying to me?”
“I wasn’t—both,” Sam said, with a wince. Shit, he hadn‘t exactly meant to accuse Gabe of being the mole, but thinking back, it probably had sounded like he was accusing the guy.“ I didn’t, I mean, I should have corrected you immediately when you thought that I worked for Crowley.”
“You should have.” Gabe agreed. “So why didn’t you?”
“Honestly? I just kind of forgot.”
“You forgot?” Gabe sounded skeptical.
“I got distracted.” Sam said defensively, not meeting Gabriel’s gaze. “I mean, there was the chocolate, and you, and the Wily Wonka stuff. I just forgot.”
He risked a quick glance and found the man staring at him, an unreadable expression on his face.
“It’s fine.” he said. He looked like he was about to say something else, but of course, that was when Crowley picked up.
~~~
Once they handed Ruby securely over to Crowley, who had been entirely too gleeful to get his hands on the mole, Sam and Gabe headed straight the office to tell Dean and Cas the good news.
“I really am sorry.” Sam said again as they made their way down the hall.
“It’s fine, Sam.” Gabe said, with a roll of his eyes. “Seriously, forget it.”
But Sam couldn’t forget it. Gabriel was still addressing him by his name. He’d work harder to gain Gabe’s forgiveness he vowed at they neared the office.
Sam threw open the door to the office without bothering to knock.
“Hey, Dean! Gabe and I, we found the—shit!”
He slammed the door shut with so much force that window down the hall actually rattled.
“Omigod.” he squeaked, slapping a hand over his eyes. He did not need to see that. No he did not.
“Congrats, bro!” Gabe shouted at the closed door, not at all concerned by the horrors they just witnessed. “About time you lost that pesky virginity.”
There was an angry shout through the door, followed by a surprised one, and, oh god, was that a moan? Wait.
“Cas is a virgin?” Sam asked incredulously. No way. The dude had to be thirty, at least.
Gabe grinned. “Not anymore.”
Sam winced. “Shit, stop reminding me. God, I need to find some brain bleach.”
“Don’t be such a prude, Charlie.”
Sam’s head jerked towards him, mental scarring put aside for the moment. “You called me Charlie.”
Gabe’s grin faded and he looked uncertain. “I can stop if you want me to.”
Sam’s grinned, feeling lighter then he had in days. “No, no, that’s fine. Hey, you want to go get lunch, Mr. Willy Wonka?”
“Lead the way Charlie.”
END
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