Sam looked again at the piece of paper he was hoping would solve his problem.
He had managed to win a place at the college of his choice, but even with a scholarship and his part-time work-study job at the library money was tight. However, Sam was determined to make it on his own. Dean had practically raised Sam during their father's frequent absences and Sam owed him big time. There was no way he was going to screw up Dean's current attempt at a normal life. If Dean got the slightest hint Sam was in trouble he would drop everything to come to his "rescue." So Sam kept his emails and phone calls misleadingly upbeat to avoid tripping Dean's mother-hen detector. Fortunately Lisa and Ben seemed to be keeping Dean sufficiently distracted that he for once failed to sniff out Sam's deception. And Sam was going to keep it that way, even if his current living conditions were less than ideal. Sam was a big guy, and it seemed he could reach his bed, desk, and dresser all from the same spot in his tiny dorm room. Worse, he felt like he was developing a psychosomatic hunch from the feeling of the walls closing in. And don't get him started on the community bathroom…. So when Mike Stamford, a fellow student, mentioned he knew a guy looking for someone to share a house (a whole house!) at an astonishingly cheap rate Sam had leapt at the chance. Even though Mike cautioned the guy was "somewhat annoying," Sam figured after growing up with Dean Winchester "somewhat annoying" would be no problem.
As he approached the house his hopes rose. The roof and construction seemed solid if old and the lawn and paint while neglected weren't too far gone. As he went up the steps to ring the bell the sight of a lawn gnome with a paintball kill-shot dead center in its forehead gave him pause, but since Dean would have probably used live ammo it wasn't enough to dissuade him. Sam interpreted the shouted "Yo" in response to his ring as an invitation and went inside. He passed through the small hallway into a living room cluttered with books and sporting the most garish wallpaper Sam had ever seen (which considering the number of cheap motels he had stayed in during his childhood was saying something).
His prospective roommate was curled on the couch, furiously texting on his phone while sucking on a lollipop. Sam cleared his throat and the man looked up, tossed the phone, removed the lollipop, and bounded over to where Sam stood. After circling Sam (muttering what sounded suspiciously like "fresh meat") he ended up facing Sam, bouncing in place and holding out his hand stating "Gabriel Holmes." Sam returned the shake and muttered his own name, noticing for the first time the discrepancy in their heights. Somehow this Gabriel projected a much bigger than life presence. Gabriel then proceeded to inform Sam of several personal details Sam thought he had kept secret from everyone (but especially Dean). No doubt correctly interpreting Sam's dumbfounded expression, Gabriel put on what could only be described as a self-satisfied smirk. After hearing how Gabriel had reached his conclusions, Sam was impressed with Gabriel's eye for detail and the intuitive leaps in logic he employed. He told Gabriel this, and watched as his smile increased in size and smugness. Gabriel then began to stalk back and forth across the room, waving his hands while extolling the virtues of the house, the location, and his own presence while modestly downplaying his obviously minor faults as a future co-inhabitant. He paused expectantly in front of Sam, but before Sam could reply Gabriel's phone went off from the depths of the couch - chirping an annoyingly upbeat pop ditty. Gabriel turned and pounced on the couch where an excavation of the cushions yielded a quantity of candy wrappers, a somewhat squashed bunny slipper, and ultimately the phone. He crowed with delight at the message, vaulted over the back of the couch to grab a long coat and scarf, and dashed from the room with a briefly shouted "see ya." Sam was left in the wake of hurricane Gabriel feeling like the decision had been taken out of his hands. Looking at a living room that would take him several long strides to cross, and considering he would have a private bathroom and a kitchen shared with only 1 other person, Sam decided he really didn't mind. And while the roommate was still an unanswered question, he consoled himself by thinking "I've roomed with Dean, how bad can it be?"
After moving in Sam decided the answer was "not too bad." Although an incident a week later made him reconsider. While walking home from campus he was stopped by a rather intimidating black man standing beside a BMW. Sam usually had the size advantage, but this man radiated an angry aura as if he wanted to smite Sam on the spot. Sam blamed his father's militant child-rearing techniques for what happened next: As a child he would have never gotten into a stranger's car but as an adult he obeyed without question after the barked "get in."
He was driven to a gleaming steel and glass skyscraper and after an awkward elevator ride was shown into the penthouse office. The walls were mostly glass and a dark-haired man in a suit stood contemplating the spectacular view. Sam felt like he was being introduced to the godfather. The stranger turned and stared at Sam for several minutes without speaking. Sam nervously shuffled his feet and pasted on a weak smile. When the stranger asked in a gravelly voice "what are your intentions toward Gabriel?" Sam was so befuddled he blurted out "honorable, strictly honorable." Sam could have smacked himself if the driver, Uriel, didn't do it for him. After a little more intense staring the stranger nodded in dismissal. Sam wondered just when he had fallen down the rabbit hole. The situation was explained later that week when Sam arrived home to find the stranger sitting stiffly in one of their living room chairs and arguing with Gabriel, who was lounging on the couch. Uriel hovered in the background like a disapproving black cloud. During the course of the argument Sam learned that the stranger's name was Castiel and that he was in fact Gabriel's younger brother. The argument reached its climax with Gabriel making several snide comments about Cas "upsetting the status quo", "replacing the corrupt regime", and "becoming the new sheriff." Castiel rumbled back that it wouldn't have been necessary if Gabriel hadn't "run away from his responsibilities." After a final mutual glare Castiel left with his personal shadow trailing behind him. Sam was relieved to think he no longer had to worry about waking up next to a horse head (at least, not from Castiel. With Gabriel you never knew - as evidenced by the various body parts Sam had found in the kitchen).
Sam and Gabriel settled back into what was for them their "normal" routine. It seemed in their arrangement that Sam was responsible for any tidying and all the shopping (not so very different from life with Dean). This was no hardship as Gabriel graciously let Sam use his credit card even though Gabriel's diet seemed to consist almost exclusively of candy. Sam took the opportunity to fill the refrigerator with as much fresh produce as he wanted (without having to listen to the sarcastic comments he was used to from Dean on the subject). Gabriel's sole contents in the fridge seemed to be some dubious experiments in Tupperware and a can of diet orange Slice. When questioned about the soda, Gabriel smirked and made a comment about it "making a new man of him." Sam decided he didn't want to know. Gabriel also took Sam out to various restaurants where Gabriel had earned free meals. Sam appreciated the chance to eat more up-scale dinners and decided to repay Gabriel's generosity by improving his eating habits. Sam had had no luck in changing Dean's junk food addiction but he was hoping for better luck with Gabriel's candy cravings. So far though his progress had been minimal. He supposed the introduction of children's cereal (with some vitamins&minerals wedged in amongst the sugar) and its associated milk was a tiny step forward. The switch to frozen yogurt was probably a total wash, considering the amount of chocolate sauce, Oreo crumbles, gummy bears, and whipped cream piled on top of it. At least the cherry was a fruit.
Gabriel's only interest in the kitchen seemed to be as a place to conduct his various experiments, and frankly Sam found the science fascinating. But in addition to his knowledge of chemistry and forensics (he had published several small papers on the results of his experiments) Gabriel also seemed to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of criminal law. Sam and Gabriel had several lively debates about various points of law. And while Sam suspected Gabriel made up some of the rulings for his more off-the-wall claims on the spot, he hadn't yet been able to catch Gabriel in a lie. Sam enjoyed their discussions and he suspected Gabriel did as well, as Gabriel certainly never passed up an audience or a chance to show off and this gave him both. When Sam had questioned Gabriel about his own schooling Gabriel had simply waved a hand negligently and declared it "boring."
Sam had initially thought Gabriel was some sort of specialized crime scene investigator with his numerous forensic experiments and esoteric monographs. Sam had watched enough episodes of CSI (covertly while Dean was out) to get a feel for the job. Gabriel disabused Sam of his notion when he haughtily declared he was a "consulting detective." "The world's only consulting detective" he added smugly. Sam saw evidence of that when Gabriel left on various undercover missions dressed as a janitor, a doctor in lab coat and scrubs, and once in the worst fake mustache (and accent) Sam had ever come across. He even thought he had seen him once dressed as a trucker, but Sam couldn't be sure. By far the most surprising disguise was the time Gabriel posed as a businessman in a 3-piece suit. Since Sam was used to seeing his roommate in flannel Pjs and a fuzzy bathrobe (either bouncing off the walls like a 2-year-old which, considering his sugar consumption, wasn't surprising, or dramatically draped across the furniture for hours like a lazy cat) this was a bit of a shock.
Sam had grown accustomed to his roommate's comings and goings on cases. But when Gabriel announced he was off to meet a criminal contact while working on a case of adulterated illegal drugs, Sam had to put his foot down. There was no way he was letting his crazy roommate do something like that without proper backup. Gabriel's "friends" all seemed to be rather shady characters. Case in point Gabriel's ex, who was one beautiful but scary lady (and who was a pyromaniac if not worse). Gabriel seemed surprised at Sam's insistence on coming with but ultimately acquiesced with a shrug. When his contact greeted their arrival with a "who's your moose" Sam had to admit he was pleased at Gabriel's reply of "my associate, Sam Winchester." The informant's tip led them to a warehouse where the tainted narcotics were being prepared for distribution, and Sam and Gabriel were able to prevent the bad guys from leaving until the arrival of the cavalry in the form of Detective Bobby Singer and associates. Sam felt another surge of pride at the detective's gruff "ya did good, kid." That first case seemed to set a precedence, as Sam accompanied Gabriel on his next two cases under the flimsy excuse that they occurred on campus: a professor tossed through his office window and the kidnapping of a frat boy. Gabriel bemoaned the fact that they were rather unoriginal (i.e., boring) as they were ultimately simple acts of revenge; the victims had not been nice people. After that no one seemed to question Sam's presence at crime scenes and Sam found helping Gabriel, both in research and in a more hands-on role, rather exciting. Sam also found Gabriel and Bobby's frequent name-calling of "moron" and "idjit" to be rather nostalgic of his own fights with Dean.
Sam was definitely pleased with the improvement in his situation. He had spacious accommodations at low cost, healthy fresh food, a "study partner" who helped him up his game, and a chance to see justice done outside the courtroom as well as within. All that and he had also met a girl who was also doing work-study at the library. Gabriel had initially pouted when Sam told him he couldn't do research on their current case because he had a date with Jess. But Gabriel eventually came around and even offered Sam tickets to a Chinese Circus on limited engagement to use for his date. Although Sam found Gabriel's leer and wiggling eyebrows a bit disturbing when he offered the tickets, Sam was sure that the unusual outing would make quite the impression on Jess. This was definitely going to be a date to remember…