"Open up.", is the achingly familiar voice that floats from behind the closed door of the traumatized archangel that Ketch had brought to them a little over a 12 hours ago, Sam feels his breath catch as his mind brings the face to that voice to the front of his mind and he shudders as the face stays, grinning at him, and it makes him feel sick to his stomach, "Here you go."
He feels for the door handle, curling his fingers around the cool metal, and takes a deep breath to steady his rapidly beating heart before he turns the handle, the lock clicks out of the latch, and he pushes the door open.
Their back is facing him, as he reaches another spoon full of some sort of broth to the abused angels lips, "Another bite.", and gently sets it in the others mouth when he opens it, he doesn't turn he doesn't appear to notice that the door has opened, but the other does. Gabriel whimpers, little whines of distress escaping him, and the other reaches out when he begins to scoot away at the sight of the intruder.
"Hey hey hey,", Sam watches as they rub a hand lightly over the archangels leg, like trying to calm a skittish abused animal, slowly skimming his hand up until it's between them, turned, palm up, Gabriel breaths in quick and harsh, staring at the hunter in terror, "Gabe.", and his eyes slit right back down to the other's, a shaking pale hand reaching up to take the other and he scoots closer, opening his mouth for another spoon of broth, "Good boy, very good."
Gabriel watches him over the others shoulder, opening his mouth when he wants another spoonful of broth, and he can just see the twitch of his red abused lips when he gets a soft word of praise from the other. Four more spoons and he's done, turning his head away from the spoon when it's offered again, and the other chuckles at him and nods, "Okay, that's okay, it's a little over half baby brother, very good, very good," he goes still as the other sets the bowl aside, taking up a folded cloth napkin and he leans forward to dab at the messenger's chin.
"Lucifer?", Sam finally makes his presence known, calling out to the other, the back straightens and muscles tense slightly, "How did you get in here?"
Gabriel whines at the hunter's tone and guilt knaw at him every slightly, but he shakes it off, Lucifer shouldn't be able to get in here without anyone knowing, and it's concerning that he did.
"Well I would have knocked on the front door but I don't think you'd have let me in, would you?"
Gabriel whines again, thinking that the elder is about to be told to leave, and Lucifer cooes at him soothingly giving his hand a squeeze, "Now now, calm down, I'm not going anywhere.", Gabriel bows his head, brushing his forehead to his brother's palm, and Lucifer sighs.
"I wasn't going to ask," he turns a look on the younger hunter, "But when did you or thing two think to let me know that my baby brother was here and in this condition?"
They hadn't planned on it, Lucifer was a problem that needed dealt with, but seeing him interact with Gabriel was different, he wasn't reacting like they had thought he would, this was out of his character. Lucifer didn't care for anyone save himself, no matter if the other may be family or not, heck, he'd killed Gabriel.
So, they had thought.
"Why do you even care?"
"Why wouldn't I?", Lucifer cups the others cheek, rubbing his thumb over his broken cheek, "He's my baby brother."
Sam made a face but no one turned to see it, "You killed him!"
"I thought I had," Lucifer turned to peer at him over his shoulder, "And yet here we are."
As if that answered all the unasked questions, Lucifer turned back to the younger archangel in front of him, Gabriel made a small noise and tugged on the elder's hand he clutched tightly, he made the elder smile like one would to a child and he nodded. "Of course, baby brother. All this filth can't be comfortable.", he turned back to the hunter behind him, "If you're going to watch us then make yourself useful and go get me a thing of water and some towels. Maybe some clean clothes too. And some soap. Shampoo. A medical kit."
Sam wanted to protest, tell him to leave, but he was pushed to the background again as Lucifer turned his complete attention back to the younger archangel, murmuring softly to him, humming and cooing soft words to comfort his frayed nerves. Gabriel choked and whined as he tugged on his brothers hand again, Lucifer sighed and nodded, "C'mere you.", lifting the younger archangel up to settle him on his lap. Gabriel was small, but he wasn't nearly small enough to sit in his brother's lap like a child, but Lucifer didn't seem on the edge of turning down such a request, despite his brother being a full grown man. Gabriel sighed comfortably, softly, and leaned into his older brother's shoulder, closing his eyes softly as his arms encircled him protectively, his broken bleeding hands gripped at the front of his brother's shirt
Lucifer pet his hair softly, making a face at the muck that stuck to his fingers when he pulled them away slightly, "How does that sound baby brother? Getting cleaned up?", he peered down at the younger, smiling at him softly, "Nice and clean again? Into some better clothes? Does that sound good?"
He peered up at the elder, eyes wide, terrified, and he brushed a finger down his nose teasingly.
"I'm not going anywhere kiddo. I'll make it better again.", he cupped his cheek a moment, "Big brother has got you.'
Lucifer turned an expectant look on the hunter when it was noticed he hadn't moved yet, tilting his head to the side, "Sam, I do believe I need those things I asked you for. Preferably sometime today. He needs to sleep and he's not going to sleep like this."
The hunter nods, stuck in the shock of seeing Lucifer acting like he is, and turns to gather what was needed. He loath to leave the two alone, but Gabriel is finally out of his corner he'd retreated to, and Lucifer seems pretty preoccupied with Gabriel, and he moves swiftly through his list of needed items. He finds a basket to put the towels in, along with some rags, and a first aid kit, some pants and a shirt, and balanced on top of all that is the bucket of warm water Lucifer had asked for, though he'd never specified the temperature of the water he had wanted, Sam had made the assumption he wanted it to be warm.
He opened the door with his foot, stepping into the room to set the basket on the desk, turning to peer at the two archangels again. Lucifer was whispering down to the younger archangel, promising him all sorts of things, one of them to take him back up again when he was done cleaning him up. He stood, in a show of deceiving strength, he lifted the younger up with him, holding him like a babe, and turned to lay him on his bed. Gabriel laid there like a child, his hands curled slightly on his chest, watching his brother as he moved away, and gave a soft whine when it appeared like he was going away for good. Lucifer looked at him over his shoulder as he shrugged off his jacket, "I'm not going anywhere baby brother, right here, just a moment.
The archangel emptied the basket Sam had brought, sorting it into piles by item, and reached for a clean rag and the bucket. Draping the rag over the side of the bucket he carried them both over to sit on the bedside table, and sat on the edge of the bed, "I'm going to clean up your face, alright, if you want me to stop just say so.", Gabriel nodded, watching his older brother with wide eyes as he leaned forward with the wet rag, he whined and shied away, Lucifer followed him closely, "Hey hey hey, it's okay, just some warm water, see?", he dabbed the rag to his cheek, letting the warm water drip down the abused broken skin, and Gabriel calmed, "I'm going to start okay, just little circles, and warm water with soap."
Sam stood there, watching, supervising, as Lucifer slowly washed away the crud and muck. Slowly but surely, revealing the pale skin underneath. Starting with his forehead, he worked softly, explaining every movement and motion with soft soothing tones, in a way that Sam would never assume would come from Lucifer. He cleared up his cheeks and his nose, poking his nose playfully, and made his way to his chin.
"I'm going to clean up your neck now."
Gabriel makes a small sound but allows it, tilting his head back when Lucifer pushes a finger against the bottom his chin, before turning to ring out the cloth. He only gets to his collar bones when he needs Sam to replace the water again, more dirt and blood then actual water at this point.
When Sam finally returns, a few mere moments later, he sets back to work.
"Gabe, I need to clean your belly and arms."
Lucifer helps him sit up slightly, pulling him up to balance on his leg as he reaches for the back of his brother's tunic, pulling it as gently as he can over his head. His ribs poke through his skin, the flesh stretched out over the bones like a canvas. The skin so taut that it bruises in some places, and Lucifer's lips set into a firm frown for a moment. Gabriel makes a frightened little sound as he lays back down and he's quick to reassure that he's not in any trouble.
"Okay baby brother, it's not so bad, but there's a few more things I need to do okay?"
Sam is surprised to learn that Lucifer knows how to check for broken ribs, pressing the flat of his fingers to the defined bones, watching carefully for any sort of reaction. Gabriel doesn't make any tell signs that anything is broken, a few ribs are suspected of being bruised, but thankfully nothing seems actually broken.
As he rubs the cloth over his belly, neither can help but smile at the small sound he makes, something between a single giggle and a squeak, and Lucifer washes his way down his tummy to his waist and moves back up to get to his arms. Starting from his shoulders, he works his way down again, down to each fingertip.
Lucifer whispers a quick word down to the messenger and steps away, pulling Sam with him, "I need a syringe."
"What?"
"A syringe. A shot? Whatever you want to call it. I need one."
Gabriel is clean from the waist up, his hair drying, skin pale and worn, and watches Lucifer as he moves with every step, tracking him with every move. Sam thinks it over, not sure what he would need something like that for and it's clear that Lucifer is in no mood to explain it either, so he merely goes to locate one.
He returns to see him working on Gabriel's legs, pulling his ankle up over his shoulder to get to the back of his thigh. Working his way steadily down to his feet. Sam clears his throat, making the archangel on the bed jump, and Lucifer move to calm him.
"Hush now, it's okay.", then turns to the hunter, eyes locating the item asked for quickly, "Thank you."
Sam hands it over and watches as he bends his arm, looking for a vein in the bend of his elbow, and sucks in a breath. Sam's eyebrows hit his hairline when he pulls the plunger back and bright shining grace begins to fill the barrel. Gabriel's eyes go wide when he pulls it free and turns to face him again, torn between whining at the sight of the syringe and whining at the desire of the grace.
Lucifer holds it up for him to see, "You need it baby brother," and leans towards his arm, "Just a quick pinch."
He holds his breath as his brother sticks the needle in his arm, pushes down on the plunger, and watches as the bright grace empties into his body. It makes his vein glow, as it spreads out, before fading out as it gets adsorbed in his body.
"That'll help your grace replenish again."
Lucifer sticks himself again, gritting his teeth as he takes another full syringe of shining bright grace, and goes about healing the bruises that litter the younger's body, the cuts on his face and over the bridge of his nose, his arms and hands, the bottoms of his feet.
He's not nearly strong enough to heal it completely, and that's why he asked for the kit, as he digs for disinfectant and bandages. He cleans the wounds and cuts and sticks the plasters on them, wrapping bandage wraps around his feet and hands.
"Now let's get you into some pants?", he holds up a pair of Sam's old pants so he can see them, "Does that sound like a plan Gabe?"
The younger nods and hums, "Use your words Gabe, just give it a try, one word."
Gabrel whines and looks pitiful, Lucifer caves and nods, helping him slip into his pants, and then the top.
"Now c'mere.", He holds his arms out for him and Gabriel reaches back, whimpering softly as he's picked up and Lucifer settles him back on his lap. The messenger makes a small sound of comfort and curls into the elder archangel's neck, tucking himself as close as he can, Lucifer hums softly, brushing his fingers through his wet hair, brushing it back, and he brushes his thumb over his forehead.
"What did they do to you baby brother?"
…
14 hours:
"Dean went to the apocalypse world?"
Castiel was not happy, not in the slightest, hearing that one of his charges had done something so reckless and there was little to nothing that he could do to be of any help to him. Sam bowed his head only just, rubbing at the back of his neck a moment as he led him to the room that Gabriel had been put in.
If he was this upset about Dean being gone, it was a wonder how he would react to having Lucifer here, if he still was.
"That's not all."
The seraph turned to look at the younger hunter, his eyes glistening in a dangerous light, "What else is there that you are not telling me?"
Sam took a deep breath and motioned to the door, Castiel raised an eyebrow at his sudden silence, and turned to open the door, preparing himself for the worst. The door opened, revealing the inhabitants within, and his blade slipped from his coat sleeve into his hand.
"Lucifer."
The archangel rolled his eyes at him, turning his attention to the panicking younger, Gabriel took one glimpse of the blade in the other's hands and he cried out, squirming to get back, but Lucifer pulled him closer, holding him tighter, "Would you put that away!", his tone took on a scolding edge as he shot the younger angel a glare, "I just got him to calm down," he glared at the seraph until he begrudgingly put his weapon away. Gabriel peered up at the elder and made a small noise, nudging his chin with the top his head, and he smiled down at the younger, "Now now little one, calm down again, lay back down."
He laid his head back on his older brother's shoulder and smiled slightly, his eyes drooping.
"Now sit down like mature adults while I try and get him back to sleep."
Gabriel burrowed back into his older brother's side, clutching at his top tightly, Lucifer watched the new comers carefully, petting his fingers through the messenger's hair again. Gabriel gave a small mew and pressed his nose closer.
"Why is he acting like this?", Castiel waved a hand at them, "You killed him. Or did he forget."
"No", Lucifer glared at him, "He didn't forget. But in the state, he's in, to protect himself, his mind-"
"Regressed."
He nodded at the hunter, "He's reverted to a state he remembers feeling safest.", Lucifer rubbed a hand down the back of his younger brother's head, "And that time must have been when he was a fledgling."
"That doesn't explain why he's clinging to you."
Lucifer glared at him, "I raised him.", and scratched at his ear, "Since the day he was created."
"How long will he be like this?"
He shrugged, "Until he's feels safe again? Be lucky he's satisfied with me being here."
Sam gulped, "Why is that?"
The archangel grinned at him, "Well, he was a fledgling with three grown brothers."
Our precious baby needed some love after what he's been through! I felt so bad, and I know I'm not the only one who cried when he whimpered and I CANT EVEN! HE NEEDS HUGS AND LOVE AND CUDDLES! Lucifer should be pissed at what's been done to his baby bro, and though I doubt we'll get it from the writers, we will make it happen here!