Sam's eyes followed his every move as he turned towards the door, he didn't need to walk out it to leave, he could be gone with a flap of his wings and a thought, but the symbolism was there and the hesitation was a plea. The moment that followed was filled with pain.

"I can't change what I've done." He whispered and the memory of a hundred Tuesdays hung heavy in the air.

"I can't expect that." Sam's voice whispered softly. He glanced over his shoulder at Sam, but he still couldn't meet the man's eyes.

"I can't kill my brothers."

"I can't expect you too." Sam says and he's closer than he was before, only a few steps away.

"I'm a coward." It hurts almost as much to admit that as it does to not look at the man behind him. He feels Sam's arms wrap around him from behind, urging him to relax back against the towering hunter, and he does, melting into Sam's arms as if he belongs there and oh how he wishes he does.

"Gabriel." Sam says his name softly, reverently, in his ear and he shivers in response. "My angel." Sam soothes. "You are not a coward." He says those last words with a fierce passion, a passion that burns so fiercely within Sam, a passion that looks Lucifer in the eyes and says 'no'. It's a passion that he is so proud to inspire, so afraid to inspire, and one he so very much wants to lose himself in.

He turns in Sam's arms and finally, finally, looks into those hazel depths that allow him to peer into the utterly undeniable beauty and brightness that is Samuel Winchester's soul. Not even demon blood could taint that beauty. He struggles to comprehend what he finds there.

"Why?" The word passes his lips like an awed, exhausted sigh, and it means more than it seems.

Sam knows every question that 'why' represents. "Because even if you ran before, you aren't running now, you're taking a stand for what you believe in. Because you're sweet and mischievous, and you smell like chocolate and your eyes are the most stunning shade of gold. Because you looked at me and didn't judge me by my flaws, looked at me and when all of the other angels called me 'abomination' you treated me like I wasn't." Sam leans down to press their foreheads together. "Because you see me as 'Sam' and not as 'Lucifer's vessel'. Because you understand me and I understand you. Because I love you and I forgive you."

"You're too forgiving for your own good, Sam." He whispers.

Sam brushes his lips against his own and smiles. "I'm not sure that's a flaw." Sam's breath mingles with his between their lips. His only response is to lean forward and press his lips against Sam's, to slip his tongue between them to dance with the taller hunter's.

He may not deserve Sam's forgiveness, but he isn't going to push it away.