Disclaimer: I own nothing, as per usual.
Sam paused as they were running out the door.
"Sam, come on! Gabriel can't hold Lucifer back for long, and we have to get out of here!" Dean said as he opened the driver's door to the impala.
"No, something's wrong. I have to help Gabe." Sam turns and runs back inside.
"Dammit Sam…" Dean shuts the door, and follows after him.
Gabriel twirls his sword as he stares at Lucifer. "Lucifer, you're my brother. And I love you. But you are a great big bag of dicks."
"Wait, what did you just say to me?" asked Lucifer, as he wasn't used to this cheek from Gabriel (but he'd been in a cage in Hell for over a millennia what does he know anymore?)
Gabriel rolls his eyes. "Look at yourself! Boo Hoo! Daddy was mean to me, so I'm gonna smash up all his toys."
"Watch your tone."
"Play the victim all you want. But you and me? We know the truth. Dad loved you best. More than Michael, more than me. Then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it. So this is all just one big temper tantrum. Time to grow up." Gabriel shook a bit as he stood up to his older brother. He was in all the way now, no chance to back out. For Sammy, he reminded himself.
"Gabriel, if you're doing this for Michael…"
"Screw him. If he were standing here, I'd shiv his ass too." There's only one person that I'd sacrifice myself for… My only…
"You disloyal—"
Gabriel cut Lucifer off. "Oh I'm loyal. To them!"
"Who?" Lucifer scoffs. "These, so called Gods?"
"To people, Lucifer. People." To the inherent good in people like Sam and Dean, who just want to make the world a better place because of all the fucked up shit that goes on in it… To the flaws and traits, and all of the things that make humans themselves… Unique…
"So you're willing to die, for a pile of cockroaches. Why?" Lucifer couldn't understand why Gabriel was doing this. Why he wasn't joining his brother (the good brother) in his quest for what was right? (Right meaning killing everyone.)
"Because Dad was right. They are better than us." They had the power to do what I didn't for so long… How they had the power to stand up to Heaven, Hell, Fate, their destinies… (Zachariah…)
"They are broken. Flawed! Abortions."
"Damn right they're flawed. But a lot of them try. To do better, to forgive. And you should see the Spearmint Rhino! I've been riding the pine a long time. But I'm in the game now, and I'm not on your side, or Michaels. I'm on theirs." Because I found him… After a millennia of not caring, of having no hope for whatever was going to happen, I found him. He brought back my hope and my faith… Which I thought was gone for good…
"Brother, don't make me do this."
"No one makes us do anything."
"I know you think you're doing the right thing Gabriel. But I know where your heart truly lies."
Gabriel scoffs at Lucifer, as a second Gabriel sneaks up behind him. As Lucifer turns, already knowing Gabriel's trick, someone pushes Gabriel out of the way, and Lucifer stabs them instead.
"Sam!" Gabriel scurries over to Sam's body, as Lucifer looks on in disbelief.
"Sam, it's alright. It's gonna be alright, I just need you to hang in there, kiddo. I've got you; everything's going to be just fine." Gabriel pets Sam's bangs back from his face, as he cradles Sam's upper body to his chest.
"… I killed my true vessel…" Lucifer was still stuck in the disbelief stage, but everyone was ignoring him by now.
"Gabriel… You're okay…" Sam smiles weakly up at Gabriel.
"Yea Sasquatch, I'm all good. Except for your little hero act. Why did you do it, Sammy? I had accepted what was going to happen, and I knew that you were safe… Why?"
"To… save… you…" Sam's breathing was becoming more labored, and his speech was slowing down.
"Shh… It's alright kiddo. You're gonna be just fine. Who else is going to annoy me all the time if you're gone?" Gabriel tries to smile down at Sam, but Gabriel also knows the truth. Nothing, except God Himself, can heal a wound from an Archangel's blade. There was no hope for Sam.
"Sam? Sam!" Dean comes running over, and he slides to his knees by Sam's side. "What happened? Why? This is what started this whole mess… Sammy, look at me, you're gonna be fine baby boy. It'll be just like all the other times. I'll heal you up... And everything will be all good…" Dean looked over at Gabriel who shook his head.
"No, no, no… This can't be happening… Not again… Cas! I need you!" Dean shouted to the ceiling for the only help he's ever asked for.
"Dean, what seems-" Castiel appeared in a beat of wings, and he took in the situation. "Oh."
"Cas, you have to help him. There has to be something that you can do. Please." Castiel looked at Dean, and then he looked towards Gabriel.
Gabriel wouldn't take his eyes from Sam's face, and he kept muttering to Sam that everything was going to be alright.
"Dean, I am sorry, but there is nothing that I can do. There is no way to heal the wound from an Archangel's blade. I am sorry."
"Cas?... Is that …you?" Sam asked weakly as he tried to look over at Castiel.
Castiel rushed to his side, "Yes, Sam. I'm here."
"Prom… Promise me som… something?"
"Yes, anything." Castiel was solemn as he knew that Sam knew how this would end.
"Take care… of Dean… and Ga… Gabe…" Sam was fading already. Castiel could see the pain in his eyes.
He nodded. "Of course, Sam. Of course I will." Castiel moved from Sam's side, as Sam smiled at him weakly. Castiel grabbed Dean, and dragged him to a corner of the room. "I am sorry Dean. There is nothing that can be done."
"Dammit!" Dean punches the nearest wall. "Why did Sam run back in here? We were home free!"
Castiel looks over at Sam and Gabriel, and Gabriel had tears running down his face, as Sam gazed up at him in awe.
"Because he loves him."
Sam tried to speak again, but the words wouldn't come. He knew that his time was coming to an end. He didn't want to think about where he would be going, so he focused on Gabriel's face.
"Gabriel… Promise me… Promise… me that… you'll be… okay… I hav… have to… know… befor… before I-"
"Don't say it; you're going to be fine. We're both going to be fine. Everything will be alright." Gabriel could feel the tears running down his face. It had been a long time since he had cried. The night that he walked with Michael into Hell to imprison Lucifer in his cage. That was the last time he had cried.
"Gab… Gabe… I lov… love you…" Sam breathed, and he started to gasp as blood filled his lungs. He inhaled once more, and then he stopped. Gabriel held him as he rocked back and forth, muttering that everything was going to be alright. Castiel walked over, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Gabriel… He's gone."
"No! That can't be true! He was my only! My only! He's not even in heaven where he belongs…" Gabriel cried one last single tear, and he gently picked Sam up. "I'll… bury him. In his favorite place."
Gabriel was gone in a rush of wings.
Gabriel wasn't sure how it had started. One minute he had set up a trick for a college professor who liked to get fresh with his female students and the next he was staring into hazel eyes that sparkled with laughter, and a smile that could stop a thunderstorm. He was caught in that emo hair Sasquatch of a man, and he didn't know what to do with himself. So he ignored it. He didn't know at that point that they were hunters. They were just officers investing a suspicious death, nothing strange about that. Until he overheard them talking about what kind of supernatural creature would make a boy slow dance with an alien. He started to turn them on each other, nothing mean, just some harmless pranks that would definitely piss off the other brother.
Gabriel was having some fun messing with, who he knew now were, the infamous Winchester brothers. Everyone, who was anyone, knew who those two buffoons were. So, as he was setting up his last trick, he made a pit stop to see what Tweedle-Dee (Sasquatch) and Tweedle-Dum (The Other One) was up too. He poofed in (invisible to humans) on the brothers conversation with Bobby. Now, Gabriel knew that he could fool the brothers, but Bobby? Nope, this was his time to fly. He just had to make sure that the last trick went off, and then he'd be gone. He didn't expect to be cornered by the Winchesters, and then tricked by them. So they "killed" him. There went any butterflies he still had towards Sasquatch (except not really because Sasquatch wasn't the one who shanked him).
So everyone left happy. The Winchesters thought they had killed the big bad, and Gabriel got to keep tricking people who deserved it. Seems like a perfect life, right?
Then Dean, the idiot, made his deal. And he took Sam down with him. Every day it got closer to Dean's appointment, Sam would get more and more desperate. So Gabriel tried to help him out. If Sam wanted to avoid the apocalypse (which he really should), then he needed to learn to let his brother go, and to move on with his life.
But Sam was a persistent bastard, Gabriel will give him that. Even after 200 Tuesdays, and 6 months without his brother, that same desperation was still there, still present in Sam when he finally caught up (was allowed to meet) with the Trickster. Gabriel couldn't stand how desperate, depressed, and … pouty, Sam got when his brother was gone. (Seriously, how does Dean put up with all of the whining and the bitching? And the crying… (So much crying…))
So Gabriel, feeling very sympathetic, gave Sam his brother back. And guess what?
It's Apocalypse time.
So Gabriel, being the helpful person that he is, decides to give the Winchesters (both this time) a lesson that they'll hopefully obey. They both needed to play their roles. He thought that they would appreciate the effort it took to make their own reality for them, but no, it's all complain about this, complain about that, I really don't have herpes, yada yada yada. Gabriel's favorite was the stripper club he put them both into, as Dean got really into it (which was way more that Gabriel wanted to see), and Sam stood awkwardly by the bar, nursing a drink. Gabriel glamoured himself as stripper, and everyone knows that he makes a mighty fine stripper, and walked up to Sam at the bar. Gabriel flirted, and Sam got awkward, so Gabriel went to walk away, and instead lunged in for a kiss. As soon as their lips met, he knew that Sam was his only. And when he pulled back, his glamour must've flickered because Sam's eye widened in shock. Later, Sam will tell him that all he could think about later was gorgeous amber eyes, but that's a story for another time.
Then, Douchebag Dean trapped him in a circle of holy fire. He even had the nerve to demand answers from him and then lecture him, and then leave him there in the circle. Well, he did pull the fire alarm. Douchebag Dean is definitely the best name for him…
So Dean and Castiel walked out, but Sam hesitated. He looked at Gabriel with his emo eyes all full of sympathy and sorrow. Gabriel got a hint of a thought about the kiss, before Sam turned and followed his brother out the door.
When the circle of holy fire went out, Gabriel didn't leave the warehouse. He stood there for a long time, thinking and pondering. Was he doing the right thing, staying out of this mess? And what about Sam being his only? Oh yea, background information: Angels mate for life. Some angels get lucky, and they get other angels as mates. Some angels are also fortunate to get their mate right away. Gabriel is neither lucky nor fortunate, so he hadn't found a mate yet. And he was happy like that. Living the bachelor life was what he thought that he would always want… Yet, the feeling of home he got from kissing Sam…
Gabriel stayed to think in the warehouse for 6 days, until he finally came to a decision.
Gabriel flew towards where he could feel the pull of Sam, and he lounged in a chair in a corner while he waited for a good time to enter the conversation.
"Sam, he already said that he wouldn't help us, just drop it."
"You can't tell me that you don't feel for him? Would you be able to join a side in a war where you'd have to kill me? That's why you're saying no to Michael in the first place!"
"This is a completely different situation Sam! Lucifer is evil! Like honest to God, evil."
"And I'm the one who let him out of his cage, what does that make me Dean? All innocent and good?"
"Sam! You're missing the point; no one is going to be killing you. Lucifer was an anti-social nut job for millennia, and now we're going to satisfy his emo nature and kill him."
"I gotta say Deano; you sure have a way with words."
And then Gabriel got shot.
Twice.
"Did you really have to shoot me?"
"Do you really have to whine?" Sam shot back.
"… Yes."
"Then yes, we had to shoot you. What the hell are you doing here anyways?"
"Aww, Sammy, you missed me didn't you?" Sam blushed bright red, and turned his face away.
"N-No, I was just wondering why you're here? In our motel room at… 3 in the morning?" Sam stumbled at first, then regained his composure.
"3 in the morning? Huh, time flies when you're stuck in a circle of holy fire. But seriously, I thought about what you boys said, well yelled really, and I decided that you were right. Lucifer has no right to be terrorizing humanity, and Heaven has no orders from God to start the apocalypse as they would have gone through me. I want this whole thing to be over with, and the world to go back to how it was. I like this world. I like humans. I don't want to see this place destroyed by my idiotic brothers."
Dean and Sam stared at Gabriel slack-jawed.
"Wait, what?" Sam asked.
"Sammy, you're supposed to be the smart one."
"So, all of a sudden you're on our side?"
"Yup."
"Huh."
That definitely about summed it up.
They couldn't really deny him access, as their side of this war was just them and Castiel. They could use all the help they could get. They continued on hunts, though they stayed primarily focused on the Apocalypse. Castiel couldn't get loads of information, as he turned against the "right" side by joining Sam and Dean's side. Gabriel just sat around eating candy and pranking Dean all the time. Until one random Tuesday, of course it was a Tuesday, when Sam had a genius idea.
"Hey Gabriel?"
"Yea, Sammy?"
"It's Sam. What happened to Lucifer's cage when he escaped? Is it still there? Is there any way to just push him back in again?"
Gabriel looked at Sam in wonder. "Yes… I suppose that could work… When Michael and I first locked him in the cage, the only way to open or close it was to have all of the horseman's rings… Perhaps if we collected them all, we could re-open the cage. How would we get him in though?"
And then he had a not so genius one.
Sam turned away. "… I would say yes. And then jump in myself…" Sam whispered. He hated the idea as much as Gabriel did, but Gabriel was a lot more vocal about it.
"What? No, hell no. That's the stupidest thing that I've ever heard you say, and trust me you say a lot of stupid shit some times, usually when drunk, but I digress. This is the worst plan I've ever heard. What if you can't get control back? Do you want to cause all of us so much pain by see Lucifer, Lucifer!, walk around in your skin, with your face? Why would you do that it us? To me?" He whispered the last part, but Sam heard him anyways.
"Why is this such a big deal? There's no other way to get him into the cage, so I'll just suck it up and do it."
"Why are you so quick to sacrifice yourself? We haven't explored any other possibilities. The only reason this whole thing started in the first place was because Dean couldn't handle living without you. How do you think he's gonna feel about this?"
"Gabriel, I understand that you're a part of this team now, but you have to look at things rationally. There is no other way. I know what I have to do, and I'll do it. For Dean. For you." Sam whispered the last part, but Gabriel heard him.
"For me? Why for me?"
Sam blushed bright red, and stuttered, "Oh, um, so that, you know, your whole problem, thing, would be... over! Yea, over." Sam looked down so that his bangs covered his face.
Gabriel walked up to Sam, and lifted Sam's head so that they're eyes met. "What's the real reason, Sam? The real reason that you want to sacrifice yourself so badly?"
Sam tried to pull his face away, but Gabriel held on firmly. "I-I just… This whole thing is my fault. I let all of this happen. If the only way to fix the world is to sacrifice myself, then I'll do it in a heartbeat."
Gabriel looked deeply into Sam's eyes. "Yes, that's true, but that's not the only reason… What aren't you telling me?"
Sam shifted his eyes downwards, and shifted the subject to the first thing that he thought of, "So why did you kiss me?" Then he immediately blushed bright red again.
"Is that what this is all about? Sammy… I kissed you because I feel a pull to you. Always have, ever since the first time we met. I just-" wanted you to love me back… To be my mate… My only…
Gabriel had kept his distance since he joined Team Free Will, as Dean had named them. He wanted to get closer to Sam, but he didn't want to get all up in his space. He wanted it to go slowly. He wanted Sam to bring it up, and hopefully return some of the feelings that Gabriel has about him.
"Just what?"
"I just wanted to let you make the first move. I didn't want to crowd you."
Sam stood from where he was sitting, and smirked at Gabriel. "Oh, like this?" He stepped into Gabriel's space, and Gabriel, being surprised to be confronted by a giant, took a step back. This continued until Gabriel's back hit a wall, and Sam placed his hands on the wall on either side of Gabriel's head, and leaned in. He changed direction at the last second, and chuckled into Gabriel's ear. "Is this crowding you?" He nipped at Gabriel's earlobe and started to pull back, when Gabriel flipped them and slammed Sam back against the wall.
He grinned. "Nope, I meant this kind of crowding." And he leaned into Sam's space, and kissed him.
The kiss was tentative at first. Gabriel could feel Sam's guilt at his actions and how ashamed he felt of them. He could also feel Sam's inability to comprehend that Gabriel like him. Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?
Gabriel pressed his body up against Sam's, and licked Sam's lower lip. Sam gasped, and Gabriel licked into Sam's mouth slowly, but insistently. Sam tasted like chocolate and spice. Like heaven. Gabriel coaxed Sam's tongue back into his mouth, and they kissed for a while. Gabriel's hands gently cupped Sam's face, as another tangled itself into Sam's hair. He pulled away from Sam for a moment, nipping his bottom lip as he left, and looked into his eyes. Sam had a dazed look, and his lips were bright red from the kissing. He looked delicious.
Gabriel leaned in for another kiss, and completely ravished Sam's mouth.
Sam could feel the power rolling off of Gabriel, and he finally felt that Gabriel was actually the archangel he said he was. He kissed back as passionately as he could, and tried not to think of what would happen when Gabriel finally came to his senses.
Gabriel, having heard this stray thought, pulled away again and whispered, "Hey now, none of that while we're making out. Haven't you heard that making out and insecurities don't go hand in hand?" Gabriel smiled at him, and then softly kissed him one last time before pulling away. "So, I guess you like being crowded?"
Sam shot him a lopsided grin. "I guess so."
It was almost happily ever after from then on. Well, besides the apocalypse that was going to kill them all. Gabriel hadn't been able to talk Sam out of his idiotic plan, even though they were now making out on a regular basis.
As the Winchesters hunted down the Horsemen, Gabriel went around asking for favors. He wanted to see who would help him and who would not.
There were a lot in the not column. As was demonstrated by the gathering at Motel Hell.
All of the gods that he had asked for help, and who denied him almost immediately, were there.
And of course, so were the Winchesters.
Those damn muttonheads…
And then it happened.
His only… was dead. Suffering at the hands of demons in Hell for actions that were not even his fault.
Gabriel tried to run away from his feelings. He played tricks on a hundred people a day, he drowned himself in sweets and chocolate, and he conjured random women to keep him company. It wasn't working. He missed Sam's beautiful hazel eyes, his dimpled smile, and his overbearing personality. He missed the narking, especially about tricks and how he shouldn't kill people just out of the blue. He missed Sam's laugh, his worrying, and his overwhelming capacity for love and forgiveness. He missed Sam.
He was sitting on a mountain somewhere, when He came.
Gabriel was pondering how much he had lost in the last year versus the last millennia, and the last year definitely outweighed the millennia. He lost his mate. The one who would stay with him for all eternity. And he lost him to the dirty demons in Hell, and probably Lucifer too. Michael, as Adam Winchester (because that's just what the world needs, another Winchester), sent Lucy back into his cage, and sealed him up tight. At least Sam didn't say yes to Lucifer.
"Gabriel."
"Hello Father. Come here to gloat?"
God chuckled. "No, Gabriel. I have come to talk. You've been sitting on this mountain top for almost a month. Castiel is worried about you."
"I just… needed some time."
"For…?"
Gabriel shot God a dirty look. "You know exactly what happened, and probably have known since we were all created." Gabriel was feeling slightly bitter about this, as he had his mate for less than a year, then he was cruelly taken from him.
God could feel the unbalanced mess that Gabriel had become since losing Sam. He had lost all will to live, or laugh. He wasn't even tricking people anymore because Gabriel could hear Sam's voice in his head berating him, and the sound hurt as much as it helped. God knew there was only one way that he could bring Sam back to Gabriel. Only Gabriel could do it. Dean had, slowly, moved on from Sam's death. He had Castiel, who was his mate and vice versa. Castiel didn't understand the pain that Gabriel was going through and that's why Gabriel ran from him. Gabriel was hurt at the happiness that Castiel and Dean shared.
As Gabriel and God sat in silence on the mountain top, Gabriel spoke the words that he had never uttered to anyone that wasn't one of his brothers in millennia.
"I love him," and a single tear ran down Gabriel's cheek.
God smiled. It was time.
The tear drop ran down Gabriel's face until it fell and hit the ground. Then the ground began to shake. Gabriel looked around, and then to God to see God smiling softly at him.
"It is time. Go get him Gabriel. The only way an angel can walk through Hell without being tarnished is to be completely in love with that person so much that they would give up the world just to see them smile. So go on, go get him."
Gabriel sat flabbergasted for all of 3 seconds, and then he was running like he had never run before. He ran through the grisly gates of hell, and into the deepest part where they kept the tortured souls on the Racks. It had been almost a year… 120 years in hell… Would Sam even be the same person? Would he be the one being tortured or the one torturing? Which was worse?
As Gabriel approached the pull he felt in his Grace, he looked over at the Rack. Sam was standing beside a person that was strung up. He turned to Gabriel, and grinned. His eyes flashed black. Gabriel fell to his knees. He had been too late.
Gabriel. That is not your Sam.
Gabriel looked up after hearing God in his head. He looked and saw the cruelty in the demon's eyes. No that was not his Sam. His Sam would never become that inherently cruel, even after 120 years in Hell. As soon as he figured this out, the demon dropped his disguise. Definitely not Sam.
Then where was Sam?
A moan was heard from the soul being tortured, as they opened their eyes.
"… Gabriel?..." A hoarse voice whispered. "What kind of torture is this…"
Gabriel stood and approached the soul.
He brushed the bangs off of the soul's forehead, as he gently unhooked the soul from the rack.
"This is no torture. I'm real, Sam."
Sam's eyes filled with tears of relief as he stood for the first time in 120 years.
"I love you Sam."
Sam looked a bit overwhelmed, but he smiled at Gabriel and kissed him softly.
"I love you too Gabriel."
THE END