Fic: The Accidental Wooing of Gabriel- 2/4

[disturbinglynic]

He travelled, just like he had told Castiel he would. He never stayed in one place for long. He didn’t serve anyone their just desserts anymore. It was nowhere near as appealing as it used to be.


It wasn’t until he was sitting on the Great Wall of China, legs dangling over the edge, middle of the night, that it hit him. He was bored and he was lonely. Something he had never experienced before in his life. His first life? His lives? That was going to get confusing.


Castiel appeared silently beside him and he felt guilt. Too much time among humans had the downside of learning and experiencing emotions. He didn’t like feeling guilt.


He hadn’t spoken to Castiel since he had gotten his vessel back. It had been a couple of months now. He felt like he had been running, but he didn’t know why or from whom. And no matter where he went, he could still feel Sam. He blocked out as much as he could, but Sam was always there. He always knew when Sam was hurt, and was grateful that they were at least being careful, or maybe they were just lucky. Either way, he was happy because if there had been any close calls he had no doubt that he would have been at Sam’s side in an instant, something he couldn’t fully comprehend, and he really wasn’t ready to reveal himself to the Winchesters just yet.


“You seem troubled, brother.”


Gabriel snorted. “No kidding, little brother.”


“Would you like to talk?”


“I don’t even know what’s wrong.”


“What have you been doing since you left?”


“Nothing.”


“Nothing?”


“I’ve been travelling, sightseeing. That’s all.”


Castiel looked at him, head titled to the side, and he knew Castiel was trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Gabriel decided to try and change the subject.


“So, how are things with Dean?”


Castiel looked so sad all of a sudden that he almost regretted bringing it up.


“He believes he is unworthy of an angel’s love, of my love.”


“Give it time, Castiel. He’ll come around.”


“How can you be so sure?”


“Because he’s in love with you, and because the two of you are good for each other. He’s made you a better angel, brother, and you make him happy, when very little in his world does. And after everything the brothers have been through, they both deserve some happiness in their lives.”


Castiel was giving him a funny look, and then he grasped Gabriel’s arm and the world around him vanished.


Wherever they were, it was light out. He turned to Castiel to yell at him, but his brother held up a finger to his lips, letting Gabriel know he needed to be quiet, and then pointed. The Winchesters. Castiel had brought him to see the Winchesters.


Don’t be mad. I think it will do you some good to see them.


And how exactly is this supposed to do me some good?


But Castiel just turned and smiled at him.


You’re not going to make me reveal myself, are you?


I wouldn’t do that.


Satisfied with Castiel’s answer, he turned his attention back to the brothers.


“Would you just drop it already, Sam?”


“Face it, Dean. You miss him when he’s gone.”


“I do not.”


“You do. You know, maybe I could find a trench coat somewhere that looks exactly like his. You could cuddle with it at night. Would you like that, Dean?”


Dean’s face turned red and he ignored Sam. Gabriel turned to face Castiel and saw that Castiel’s cheeks had a slight pink tinge to them. It was far too easy, and he was excited about it.


He watched as Dean stopped mid walk, Sam running into him. In Dean’s arms, where nothing had been seconds ago, was a trench coat. An exact replica of the one Castiel wore. Dean’s jaw dropped, his eyes were wide, and when Sam saw what Dean was holding, he double over in laughter.


It took a few minutes for Sam to finally get himself under control, but when he did, what he said surprised Gabriel.


“You know Dean, that kind of reminds me of Gabriel.”


“But Gabriel is dead.”


“Yes, thanks, Dean. I do know that. I’m just saying that it reminds me of Gabriel, of his personality. If he didn’t use his powers to torture us, this seems like something he would do.”


“Do you think it could be another trickster?”


“Nah. None of them would take an interest in us the way that Gabriel did.”


“Well then how did this trench coat appear in my arms?”


“I don’t know, Dean, but at least now you have something to cuddle with at night.”


Dean aimed a kick at Sam, but Sam dodged it easily, laughing as they made their way towards the Impala.


Gabriel was surprised to find that he felt touched at what Sam had said. It was nice to know that his impact on the Winchester’s lives wasn’t entirely negative.


You were right, Castiel. This is exactly what I needed.


He looked over at Castiel, who was looking at him with a smile on his face.


You haven’t lost your touch, brother. That was funny.


Gabriel slung an arm around Castiel’s shoulders.


I told you I’d help. Don’t worry. We’ll make him see what an idiot he’s being.


Are you going to take off again?


Nah. I think I’m going to stick close the Winchesters this time.


He turned Castiel so that their bodies were facing each other and placed his hands on Castiel’s shoulders.


Thank you.


He left Castiel and conjured himself up a nice penthouse suite in the nearest hotel. Castiel had been right. Seeing the Winchesters had been exactly what he needed. He was with his brother again, which he was stupid to have not talked to him for the past couple of months, and now he had his entertainment in the form of two brothers.


Whatever had kept him on the run when he first got his vessel back, he would ignore this time. He would follow the Winchesters and he would talk to Castiel, and maybe he would figure out what he was running from, or maybe what he was running to.


Whichever it may be, he shouldn’t keep himself from Castiel the way he had. Castiel needed him and he realized now that he needed Castiel. Maybe he would even be able to convince Castiel to play some pranks on the Winchesters with him. After all, what kind of older brother would he be if he didn’t try and corrupt his little brother?


****

True to his word, Gabriel began following the Winchesters around. Anytime Castiel could get away from heaven, he was there with Dean. They were definitely forming a deeper bond than they already had.


Gabriel continued playing little tricks on them. Nothing big, nothing to really piss them off, it was mostly similar to the prank wars the brothers played themselves. He moved things around on them, replaced the sugar with salt, changed Dean’s pie to tofu, and if Dean had been a dick to Castiel then he would change Dean’s cheeseburger to a salad and his beer to water.


It wasn’t just playing tricks on them either. He helped too. Sometimes Sam would open his laptop and find that his homepage had been changed to a page that had the information he needed on it. Sometimes a book would randomly appear wherever Sam was, a book that he needed.


He usually leaned more towards helping Sam, but he wasn’t against helping Dean either. There was that one time that Dean had lost his favorite knife in a swamp and later, back in the motel, it just appeared in his hands, maybe with a little slime left on it.


One month passed into two, and then into three. Every single time he did something, even if he was helping them, they would have the same argument. Sam would bring up Gabriel and Dean would just say that he was dead, wouldn’t hear anything else of it. Each time Gabriel did something nice for them, when Dean wasn’t paying attention, Sam would thank Gabriel.


Sam was becoming increasingly angry with Dean though, and Gabriel knew he shouldn’t keep it up for much longer. Their most recent argument, after Dean found his cell phone glued to the ceiling, took a turn that Gabriel hadn’t been expecting.


“Why are you so insistent on this being Gabriel?”


“Because everything that has happened has Gabriel written all over it.”


“I don’t see it. I think we just have another trickster on our hands. I think you’re just in love with Gabriel. Is that it, Sammy? Are you in love with the dead archangel?”


Sam spluttered. “That’s absurd.”


“No, I don’t think it is. Admit it Sammy, you wish he was alive so that you could find out if he tastes like all of that chocolate he eats.”


Before Gabriel even thought about doing it, Sam was holding a chocolate bar. Sam and Dean stared at each other wide eyed.


“A chocolate bar. Do you really still think it’s not Gabriel?”


“That’s exactly what I think.”


“Why are you being so damn stubborn about this?”


“If Gabriel was back, Cas would have told us.”


“Oh right, of course. Cas obviously tells you everything. There’s no way that Cas could be keeping a secret from you.”


Gabriel sighed and tuned out the rest of the argument when Castiel appeared beside him.”


I heard what Dean just said.


Do you think it’s true?


He does seem to be very adamant about your return.


Well, he is the nicer of the two.


Castiel glared at him and Gabriel rolled his eyes.


Sorry.


I could probably find out if it is true. Would you like me to do that?


Nah, I’m not gonna worry about it right now.


If you are sure then, but let me know if you change your mind.


Will do, bro.


Castiel vanished leaving Gabriel to wonder just what he had gotten himself into.


****


After his previous “encounter” with the Winchesters, Gabriel decided to give himself a little vacation, so he headed off to Hawaii. On a beach chair under an umbrella, Gabriel dozed rather than think.


He had managed a couple of hours of peace when something jolted him awake. Sam. He was hurt. Pretty badly from the feel of it. He nearly snapped himself to Sam’s side when he felt something else. Grace. It must have been pretty bad for Castiel to be healing him.


He waited until he felt the threads of Castiel’s grace leave Sam’s body.


Castiel, is everyone okay?


We are fine, now.


Did Sam almost… Gabriel found himself unable to finish that thought, though he wasn’t sure why.


Yes, Sam was almost lost.


What’s going on now?


We are heading back to the motel.


Gabriel felt a strange urge to be nearer to Sam, to have him within arms reach and make sure he really was okay. He wondered if it had anything to do with his connection to Sam, and if so, curse his Father for bringing him back with that connection. He didn’t need this crap. It wasn’t fair to force this on him, if that had been the intent.


He forced himself to calm down. Even if there hadn’t been a connection between him and Sam, his interest in the Winchesters was too great, and he wouldn’t have stayed away for long. Would the thought of Sam dying still have bothered him the same way though? With or without his connection to Sam, would he have been this upset if it had been Dean that had almost died? These were questions he didn’t have answers for, and with his connection to Sam, he wasn’t sure how he was going to figure out those answers.


Instead of dwelling on it, he decided that the Winchesters were in need of a little vacation.


Castiel, is everyone back to the motel?


I just left them there.


You left?


Yes, I had business to attend to.


That actually works out better. I’m in Hawaii and I’ve decided I’m going to pop them in for a little vacation.


Is that wise?


No, but I’m going to do it anyway. It’ll be an opportunity for you to cheer Dean up, since he will absolutely be pissed about this.


And how will I explain it if you still don’t want him to know about you.


You could always just kiss him to get him to stop talking.


Gabriel waited for a reply, but got none. He figured Castiel was going to be pretty upset about this. To make it up to him, he was going to have to show himself to the Winchesters soon. Gabriel couldn’t really blame Castiel for being upset. He wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever was going to get thrown Castiel’s way after this. Sam was definitely the nicer one.


He made sure he looked like someone else and then Sam and Dean appeared in front of him in their own beach chairs wearing swimming trunks and sunglasses.


“What the hell?”


Sam was too busy laughing to answer.


“You think this is funny?”


“I think it’s hilarious.”


Dean glared at him.


“Come on, Dean. This has to be Gabriel.”


“You’re still on about that?”


“Who else would send us to a beach that looks suspiciously like Hawaii?”


“It has to be another trickster.”


Gabriel wanted to groan. He was growing weary of this argument.


“Do you really think that another trickster would send us to Hawaii? Why would he do that?”


“Why would Gabriel send us to Hawaii?”


“Because he’s Gabriel.”


That made Gabriel smile. He had to admit, he was growing pretty fond of Sam.


“What does that even mean?”


“Doesn’t matter. Why are you having such a hard time believing that this is Gabriel?”


“Gabriel is dead. Lucifer killed him.”


“What does that matter? Cas has died twice and he’s still hanging around.”


Finally, the argument was getting interesting. It had never gone in this direction before.


“Cas was a good son. His Father was proud of what he had done. Gabriel kept refusing to kill Lucifer for us.”


“You are such a hypocrite, Dean.”


“What the hell are you talking about?”


“You could never kill me. You could never kill your own brother, yet you expected Gabriel to just be okay with it? You didn’t think that was something he needed to process, to think about? That’s not fair, Dean.”


“It’s not the same. You weren’t going to destroy the world.”


“I could have, and you still wouldn’t have killed me. Besides, in the end, Gabriel came through for us. He fought Lucifer. He died for us. Does that count for nothing? What about telling us about Lucifer’s cage? Does that count for nothing too?”


“So because he helped us in the end, that makes everything else he did okay? You’re okay with what he did at Mystery Spot?”


“I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily okay with it, but I’ve forgiven him. It wasn’t the best approach, but I know why he did what he did.”


“You’re serious. You’ve actually forgiven him.”


“It still hurts to think about, but yes, I’ve forgiven him.”


Gabriel felt a warmth spread throughout his entire body, and his heart skipped a beat. He knew he had done some pretty heinous stuff to the Winchesters, mainly Sam. He hadn’t expected that Sam would be so forgiving, that Sam would actually stand up for him in the way he just had. He was happy beyond belief that Sam had forgiven him.


“I can’t believe you’ve actually forgiven him.”


“Just let it go, Dean.”


“Fine, Whatever. But he turned his back on who he was, on his family. You don’t do that.”


“I did that. But I came back. Just like in the end he stood up for what he believed in. He stood up for us. He was willing to kill Lucifer even though he would be killing his brother.”


“No. There’s no way he was brought back.”


“Right. Your angel is the only angel that could be brought back. Your angel is so much better than all other angels. Your angel is so fucking special. Don’t get me wrong, I like Cas, but I don’t think he’s the only decent angel out there. Speaking of Cas, why haven’t you done anything about that yet? No, you know what? I don’t even care right now. Gabriel, can you do me a favor and send Dean back? Put him in a nice room with Castiel and then get me a room here for the night. Away from Dean.”


Gabriel wanted to laugh as they both stared at the hotel key that had just appeared in Sam’s hand.


“No fucking way,” was all Dean got out before Gabriel snapped him back to where he had been, just a nicer room, and also with the addition of Castiel.


I’m sorry, Castiel.


If you had let me know, I would have come on my own.


Yeah, but this was way more fun. Remember, kiss him to shut him up.


He didn’t get a response. He could only hope that Castiel would take his advice and that he and Dean would finally get together. For two people who were obviously in love with each other, they were awfully slow.


He turned his attention back to Sam, who was still staring at the space where Dean had been. He looked so sad for someone who had just gotten what he wanted.


“Gabriel, I know it’s you. Why won’t you show yourself?” He leaned back in his beach chair. “Thanks though.”


Sam had seemed like he was sincere about wanting to see Gabriel. He wondered why Sam could possibly want to see him. More importantly, he wondered at how badly he wanted to show himself to Sam. Even without his link to Sam, he had been more focused on him anyway.


No. It didn’t matter. It was just that damn link, nothing more.


Both he and Sam stayed on the beach until sunset. After Sam had headed back to the hotel, Gabriel changed back to himself and snapped himself into his room, conveniently located next to Sam’s. He made sure Sam’s room was stocked with clothes and toiletries that Sam would need for tonight and tomorrow, and then got himself ready for a shower because a nice, hot, relaxing shower was definitely something the humans had gotten right.


He stood in the shower and let the hot water run down his body. He briefly thought of Castiel and wondered if his little brother had figured out how to use his vessel to his advantage, to touch, to taste, to feel. He filed that away as a discussion to have later with Castiel, and his thoughts turned to Sam.


He couldn’t understand Sam’s need to see him, or his stubborn insistence that it was Gabriel that was messing with them. Not that he didn’t appreciate the sentiment, he did. It felt nice, really nice actually, that Sam so firmly believed it was him. He wondered if Sam did have a link to Gabriel, faint though it may be. And if that was the case, then what he and Sam had was eerily reminiscent of bonding.


He panicked. He snapped himself dry and into some clothes before reaching out to make sure that Castiel wasn’t in the middle of having sex with Dean, and then contacting him.


Castiel, are you still with Dean?


No. He could feel the anger and frustration from Castiel and he winced with the power of it, knowing he had probably caused some of it.


I’m sorry. I don’t suppose you’d still want to talk to me?


Castiel appeared beside him and Gabriel was grateful that he had Castiel as a little brother.


“What happened with Dean?”


“I do not wish to discuss it.”


“I’m sorry. I’ll fix it. I promise, but first, I have a theory about my link to Sam.”


Castiel’s eyes widened and his anger faded, and Gabriel realized that Castiel was very aware of the advantages of his vessel. Dean was teaching him well.


“As we both know, Sam and Dean continue arguing my existence, and Sam seems very certain that it’s me who is messing with them. I wondered if maybe he’s so insistent that it’s me because on some level he knows it’s me. What if he came back with a link to me? What if he’s not even aware that he has this link? Does this remind you of anything?”


“Bonding.”


They stood there, looking at each other, the weight of what could be hanging in the silence.


“Why would He do this? Why would He force this on me?”


“The bond, if it is a bond, is weak. You don’t have to do anything.”


“But why is it there at all?”


He paced the room, his anger threatening to overwhelm him until he remembered that Sam was in the next room. He was afraid of what Sam might experience if he let his anger control him while he was in such close proximity to Sam.


“What if there was something there in the first place?” Castiel said quietly.


“What?”


“What if He saw something there to begin with? What if He realized that the two of you had feelings for each other before you did?”


“Even if that was true, He still shouldn’t have done this.”


“I know. I am sorry.”


Gabriel sat on the bed and looked up at Castiel. “Now what?” Gabriel watched as Castiel walked over and sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Dean had definitely been rubbing off on him.


“I don’t know.”


“We could focus on your problem instead,” Gabriel suggested helpfully, but Castiel just glared at him. But then he sighed, shoulders sagging.


“I take it he was really pissed at what I did.”


“Yes.”


“So what did you do?”


“I tried to calm him down. I told him that Sam wasn’t in any danger. He demanded that I tell him who did it, tried to get me to tell him if you really were alive. I told him I couldn’t tell him anything. He got even angrier and used some pretty colorful words to tell me to leave. So I left.”


He had never let himself feel badly about anything until those damn Winchesters came along. It was amazing how easily those emotions appeared since then. He felt terrible about putting Castiel through this. He would fix it though. He would reveal himself to the Winchesters.


“Don’t worry, Castiel, I’ll show myself to Dean tomorrow. Okay?”


“Yes, thank you.”


“Will you be all right?”


“Yes, I will be fine. Will you?”


Gabriel sighed. “Brother, I just don’t know.”


“Just call if you need me.” With that, Castiel vanished leaving Gabriel alone in his room with just his thoughts for company. He didn’t want that kind of company. It was late, so Sam was probably asleep. He allowed himself access to the link, and could feel that Sam was asleep, but that he was not happy. He was having a nightmare. A pretty bad one at that.


Knowing how stupid it was, he entered Sam’s dream. Sam was in the cage with Lucifer and Michael. They were tormenting him, much like they had probably done while Sam was actually in the cage. He shouldn’t have to deal with this.


A snap of his fingers and he and Sam were in Ancient Rome, togas and all. He watched as Sam took in his new surroundings. Finally, Sam turned around and faced Gabriel. He just stood there and stared. After a few minutes Gabriel was starting to get uncomfortable, when Sam finally spoke up.


“Are you alive? Like actually alive? Back from the dead?”


Gabriel nodded and then smiled at the look of relief that washed over Sam.


“Thanks for getting me out of the cage.”


“No problemo, Sammy. Do you visit it often?”


“Not as much as I used to.”


“That’s good.”


Sam pointed his finger at the crowded road. “Ancient Rome?”


Gabriel grinned and clapped a hand down on Sam’s shoulder. “I figured your little nerd heart would love it.”


Sam laughed and they headed towards the crowded road, blending in amongst the people. They walked in silence for a while, Sam taking in his surroundings.


“So,” Sam started a while later, “it really was you doing all of that stuff.”


“Yep.”


“How long have you been back for?”


“The same amount of time you’ve been back.”


“But you didn’t start pranking us for a couple of months after that.”


“Yeah, I hid out for a while.”


“Why?”


“Sammy, I’m really not sure.”


“So, you were the one who gave Dean the trench coat?”


“Yeah, that was one of my favorites.”


“That was really good. So then, the chocolate was you too.” He wasn’t looking at Gabriel now.


“Yeah kiddo. That was me too.”


“I was upset when you died. I’m always upset when someone dies after getting involved with us, but you were different. You’re an archangel, you’re Gabriel. It seemed so wrong. And Lucifer knew. It was one of the things Lucifer tortured me with in the cage.”


Gabriel pulled Sam off of the crowded road so that they could stand without being in anyone’s way. Sam continued talking.


“After everything with Lucifer, I had really hoped that it was you, and while Dean picked up on something, it’s not love. There are feelings there though. Why didn’t you show yourself sooner?”


It took Gabriel a minute to catch up on the sudden change of subject, but he needed to tell Sam something else first.


“Sam, I’m really sorry that you had to go through that. If I had been able to kill Lucifer, you wouldn’t have had to do that.”


“It’s not you fault, Gabriel. You shouldn’t blame yourself. Are you going to tell me why you didn’t show up sooner?”


“I don’t know, honestly. I just wasn’t ready for anyone to know, but I don’t know why.”


“So why now?”


“Partly because you wanted me to, and partly because Castiel is getting frustrated with keeping it a secret, and I just don’t want to do that to him anymore.”


“When will I get to actually see you in person?” Sam suddenly looked worried. “Did you hear what Dean said about you on the beach?”


“I did. Don’t worry about it though. He’ll get over it.”


“Are you sure about that?”


“He will if he wants to keep Castiel in his life.”


Sam smiled at him. “You and Cas have become close.”


“Time for you to wake up now, Sam. I’ll see you today.”


“Yeah?”


“Yeah.”


He left Sam’s dream and returned to his room. He couldn’t ignore the flutter in his stomach that had happened when Sam had said that even though he didn’t love Gabriel, there were feelings there. It seemed implied that those feelings could turn into love. Gabriel was surprised by just how much that thought not only terrified him, but also left him feeling incredibly happy.


****

“I’m telling you, Dean, I talked to Gabriel in my dream. The real Gabriel.”


Gabriel had snapped Sam back to Dean just a few minutes ago, but had yet to make an appearance himself, and now they were arguing over their favorite thing to argue about these days. Gabriel.


“Do you know how crazy you sound?”


“Why do I sound crazy when I know for a fact that you’ve talked to Cas in a dream?”


“Cas was alive.”


“Damn it, Dean. I can’t have this argument with you anymore. Gabriel is alive. Just drop it already. I can’t do this.”


“Sam, it’s not my fault that you keep insisting that Gabriel is alive when we both know that he’s dead. I’m starting to worry about you.”


“You know Deano, I think I take offense to you saying I’m dead.”


Gabriel had grown tired of their arguing and had felt bad for Sam. He was really starting to take this hard. It had been time for him to make an appearance.


Dean backed away, eyes widened, and he looked even more pissed now that Gabriel had appeared.


Castiel, I’m with Sam and Dean.


Castiel appeared in the room right next to Dean, which may not have been the best idea. Dean turned and started yelling at Castiel.


“He’s who you’ve been covering for? Why didn’t you tell me?”


“He asked me not to.”


“You still should have told me.”


Gabriel was about to speak up, but Castiel beat him to it.


“Why? I would not ask you to betray a secret of Sam’s.”


“It’s not the same.”


“How is that not the same?”


Dean opened his mouth to speak, but Gabriel snapped and nothing came out.


“Sorry, Dean. If you can’t say anything nice, then you should say anything at all.”


He smirked at Dean, who looked like he might just try to murder Gabriel.


“I told you it was Gabriel.”


Gabriel was really glad Sam had waited until after he had taken Dean’s voice before saying that. As it was, Castiel had to restrain Dean from coming after either him or Sam. He wasn’t really sure which. Probably both.


“Dean, if you don’t behave, I’ll tie you up too.”


Dean glared at him, but stopped trying to attack them.


“Now Dean, I heard what you said about me on the beach. Those are your problems though, not mine. Since I’ve been back, Castiel and I have become really close, and Sam and me, we’re gonna be good friends too. So you’re just going to have to deal with whatever issues you have with me. You should also stop being a dick to Castiel. I don’t like the way you treat my brother.”


With that, he snapped his fingers and he and Sam disappeared from the motel room.


Good luck Castiel. Tell Dean I will have Sam back to him tonight. I can give Dean his voice back now, or I can delay it. You should use this to your advantage. Kiss him while he can’t talk.


Give him back his voice in ten minutes.


Gabriel smiled. He hoped that Castiel would finally do something about Dean.


He watched as Sam walked over to the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Pacific Ocean.


“Where are we?”


“Washington.”


Sam snorted and turned around. “You didn’t bring me out here to waste some sparkly vampires, did you?”


Gabriel laughed. “I sure hope not, because if I ever come across one I’m going to kill myself because I will know the world has ended.”


That got a full body laugh out of Sam that lasted for a few minutes. Finally, he caught his breath. “So, what are we gonna do?”


Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t know. We could have pizza and watch really bad horror movies.”


Sam smiled at him, a sweet smile that made his stomach flip-flop. “Sure, sounds good.”


They sat side by side on the couch, bodies touching, eating pizza and watching movies. Though Sam didn’t eat junk food often, Gabriel snapped up a bunch of snacks and they gorged themselves. They watched the most horrible horror movies they could think of.


All in all, it was a day well spent. At least he thought so. Evening arrived way too fast.


“I guess I should get you back to Dean now.”


“Yeah, I suppose I should go.”


“Wouldn’t want to worry Dean.”



“Don’t worry. I’ll try and talk some sense into him.”


Gabriel laughed. “Yeah. Good luck with that.”


“I know, but I have to try.”


“Dean is the one that needs to try. You don’t need to do anything.”


“Gabriel, he’s my brother. I want him to be okay with you in our lives. I need him to be okay with that. I like having you around. Even though you haven’t been around for most of the time that you’ve been around.”


Gabriel rolled his eyes. “You have such a way with words, Sammy. But thanks.”


“Of course. Are you going to be around often now, or are you just going to pop in and out randomly?”


“I think I’ll be around often.”


“Will you come tomorrow?”


“Sure thing, Sammy.”


Gabriel raised his hand to snap, but Sam wrapped a hand around his wrist. He leaned in and whispered, “it’s Sam,” and then he placed a kiss on his lips. It was a short, chaste kiss, but it made Gabriel’s heart beat faster.


“See you tomorrow, Gabriel.”


“Tomorrow, Sammy.”


Sam smiled at him and released his wrist. Gabriel snapped and Sam was gone. He realized belatedly that he probably should have checked to make sure Dean and Castiel weren’t in the middle of anything.


Castiel appeared beside him almost instantly.


“I didn’t interrupt anything, did I? I forgot to check.”


“No, you were fine.”


“Well, what happened after we left?”


“I kissed him since he couldn’t talk. He kissed me back. It was wonderful, but as soon as he realized he had his voice back, he started complaining. He started saying bad things about you. I tried to convince him otherwise, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t even listening to me.”


“Dean’s gonna take some time to come around.”


“Dean infuriates me sometimes.”


Gabriel laughed. “Of course he does. You love him.”


“I don’t understand.”


“Don’t worry about it, little bro. What else happened?”


“I told him that he needed to give you a chance, but then he started going on about hating that Sam trusted you so easily, and I was so sick of listening to him talk that way about you. I threatened to take a page out of your book. I told him that if he didn’t stop complaining and didn’t give you a chance, then I would find something worse to do.”


“You didn’t!”


“I did. Then I kissed him again. He let me for a few minutes but then shoved me away and said that we shouldn’t be doing this and he walked out of the motel room.”


“Dean is an idiot, Castiel. Just keep trying. I could turn Dean into something amusing for you. Would that help?”


Castiel cracked a smile. Maybe Gabriel would try talking to Sam and see if he had any ideas.


“I’ll talk to Sam and see if he can help at all. It’s his brother after all”


“That would be fine. How was your day with Sam?”


“We spent the day eating junk food and watching terrible horror movies. It was great. Oh, and right before I snapped Sam back to the motel room, he kissed me.”


“Did he? And how do you feel about that?”


“I’m not sure. I was completely caught off guard, and it was so short. I really just don’t know. It wasn’t bad. I don’t think I would mind doing it again. I just don’t know how I feel about it.”


“I think Father knew what he was doing.”


“He always seems to, doesn’t He?”


“Are you going to go back to heaven now?”


“Yes, there is still much work to be done. Will you come with me?”


“Nah, I think I’m gonna hang around here. I did promise Sam I would show up tomorrow. Will you be there?”


“Yes. I will see you tomorrow then.” Castiel smiled at him and vanished.


Gabriel tried to remember the last time he had spent an entire day with a friend just hanging out like he had just done with Sam. Just one more thing that had changed so completely since he was brought back to life.


The thought of pranking strangers had left him long ago, but he liked keeping up the pranking on the brothers. He walked over to the windows and looked out at the Pacific Ocean, now glistening under the moonlight. He briefly thought of intruding on Sam’s dreams, but decided against it.


He wasn’t sure how to act around Sam now. Never in his life, or lives, had he ever been so nervous around someone, not known how to handle himself around someone. It had been too easy to hide under his trickster persona, but the disguise would no longer work on Sam. Sam knew who he really was, what he really was.


He was acting like a human. He hated it. Except for the part of him that didn’t hate it. This was what he had stood up for in the end, after all. Humanity. And if he was actually human, well, there were worse things he could be.

Part One | Part Three
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