Balthazar stops pushing forward now; maybe on some level he recognizes they're at a balance point, or maybe he's not sure whether another step forward will result in Gabriel retreating, or in him snapping back.

He takes a long, slow breath, meeting the archangel's eyes (and maybe it's kind of nice that he can look down a little). "You're still my favorite," he comments, and it's meant genuinely, even if there's a large helping of bitterness mixed in. "But I wonder about you archangels sometimes. You're too much bigger than the rest of us. Perhaps we'd have been better off if all of you had left."

There's another breath, and then he shakes his head and turns, backing off a few steps. The restless anger is unabated, but...he and Gabriel really have covered this ground. He'd rather scream at Michael or Raphael, even Lucifer, even if the risks there would be much, much greater.

"I can't go on like this. Someone's going to get hurt."