Sam staggered home with the second biggest Christmas tree he could find. It was taller than him, probably taller than the ceiling in their house and silently he considered going back and exchanging it for a smaller tree. Gabriel had wanted something big though. It reminded him of being a Pagan and frolicking though the Norwegian Forests, or so he said. Sam didn't really like thinking about pagan gods and the Christmas period, but Gabriel didn't demand blood sacrifices. He was more than happy to eat gingerbread men, not people. If Gabriel wanted a big Christmas tree to remind him of his pagan roots, then he could have a big Christmas tree. Sam wanted to make sure that Gabriel enjoyed the holidays, especially in his condition.
Sam dragged the tree into the hall, wincing as the top bent and dragged along the ceiling. Once the tree was brown and dried it was going to be hard to move without dislodging all the needles all over the place and, more importantly, all over Sam when he tried to get rid of it. He got the tree into the living room and was pleased to see that there was a tiny gap between the top of the tree and the ceiling. He supposed if they really needed it, Gabriel could make the room bigger. He just didn't like asking Gabriel to use his powers when he was so delicate.
Sam snorted to himself because describing Gabriel as delicate still felt wrong. In many ways Gabriel was still the unstoppable force of motion that he'd always been, but in one, very particular way, he was different now. Sam didn't want him overexerting himself.
"Gabriel!" he called, pulling off his gloves and hat, throwing them down on the sofa. "Gabe! I got the tree!"
There was a noise up above him, a loud thud that Sam took as Gabriel rolling out of bed. He pulled off his scarf, grinning as he went to the bottom of the stairs. Gabriel appeared at the top, looking grumpy and still half-asleep, his hair sticking up in all directions. He had on candy-cane patterned pyjamas. Sam covered his mouth, trying to hide his smile because Gabriel really did look adorable. He knew Gabriel wouldn't see it that way though.
"Do you know how hard it is for me to get to sleep?" Gabriel complained. "And it's all your fault! I didn't need to sleep before."
"I know, I know," Sam said softly, trying to plicate Gabriel. "But you said you wanted to know when I was home and not to start decorating the tree without you."
Gabriel's eyes flashed gold, suddenly wide awake. "You haven't, have you?"
"No!" Sam held up his hands, the gesture almost protective although Gabriel had long ago stopped being an occasional annoyance and instead became incredibly precious to Sam. "Gabe, I promised. I haven't even got the decorations out."
"Oh, well, that's better," Gabriel said. He held his hand up, ready to click, then seemed to reconsider and instead gripped the banister, carefully moving down the stairs. Sam watched him, still smiling. Gabriel had a figure like a pear drop and sometimes, like now, he did look as if the bump was something he had to be terribly careful of. Other times, Gabriel behaved as if being pregnant was a mild inconvenience that happened to men all the time and Sam should stop fussing. He ran up and down the stairs, clicked his fingers, showed his wings and behaved as if he was still the Trickster.
Not today though. Today the baby was restless and Gabriel was beginning to feel tired. It was true that angels didn't normally need sleep but they also weren't normally pregnant with a half-human baby. It took a lot out of Gabriel to support the pregnancy, to keep it going when science would have claimed it impossible. It was one of the reasons Sam was so certain Gabriel wanted the baby.
At first he'd complained, told Sam it was all an accident that Sam had knocked him up on purpose somehow to keep Gabriel with him and since they were having a baby they'd better get a house, hadn't they? Because Gabriel wasn't going to have his baby in whatever nasty old motel room the Winchesters happened to be staying in at the time. Sam had believed him completely until Castiel had quietly taken him aside and explained the amount of grace Gabriel was exerting to bring the pregnancy full term.
Sam was still happy to let Gabriel pretend that he could fly off at any moment, that he wasn't choosing to settle down into a domestic, almost mundane life, with Sam. They both knew that Gabriel really wanted to be here, that he really wanted their child and that he really loved Sam and that was enough for Sam. He'd had experience living with someone who found it hard to face his feelings head on.
"Can we have hot chocolate?" Gabriel asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs.
Sam bent to kiss him, light and quick. "Sure, I'll get some heated up. Do you want to get out the decorations?" he asked. Gabriel nodded and disappeared into the living room. Sam went the other way, into the kitchen. He took his coat off and hung it on a nearby peg and looked round the kitchen. It was the biggest part of the house. Sam knew from the outside the house looked like a small, single floor build in need of some serious repairs. From the inside it was a luxurious two story house with everything he or Gabriel could ever want. The house had been the only thing Sam had been able to make a down payment on. Gabriel had done the rest. Sam was still making payments every month. He had a job working as a legal secretary and he went to night school. One day he'd sit his bar exam like he planned and then he'd be able to pay off the whole mortgage. Gabriel had offered to snap in some money or snap Sam a completed degree but Sam wanted to do it himself. That way they'd both contributed to the house, to their home.
Sam dug in one of the cupboards, finding a tin of cocoa powder and a block of chocolate. In the fridge he found milk and there was a clean saucepan on the stove. He warmed the milk slowly, added two table spoons of the cocoa then grated a little of the chocolate over the top, letting that melt into the mixture to give it a proper chocolate kick. He poured out the hot chocolate in to two mugs and finally topped Gabriel's with mini-marshmallows and whipped cream. It wasn't healthy but Gabriel was an angel. Calories, heart disease and other nasty human things didn't affect them. They wouldn't affect the baby either as long as it was growing inside Gabriel so Sam let his lover indulge. Gabriel was going through such a hard time of it, with his powers decreasing, that the more Sam could do to make him feel loved and appreciated, the better.
At least Castiel had experience of being depleted. He was handling things much better than Gabriel.
Sam picked up the mugs, carrying them into the living room and found Gabriel entangled in Christmas lights, fighting to break free. Sam set the mugs down on the coffee table, his body shaking with silent laughter then went to help Gabriel get free.
"Stop laughing at me!" Gabriel said, pushing at the lights and entangling himself further. At that Sam burst out laughing, unable to stop himself. He found the end of the lights and slowly, carefully unwrapped Gabriel. He was still chuckling when he pulled the last string free.
Gabriel scowled at him. "Where's my hot chocolate?" he demanded.
Sam got to his feet, smirking and reached for Gabriel's mug. He passed it across to Gabriel who blew on it and then took a sip, nodding in approval.
"Do you want me to start with the lights then?" Sam asked.
"Yes, they're green and orange," Gabriel said, picking out a marshmallow to eat.
"That's not very traditional," Sam said, holding up the lights. "I thought you wanted a traditional Christmas."
"Are we hanging skulls on the tree? No? Then I don't care about tradition. I want a big, tacky Christmas!"
Sam sighed and shook his head. He strung the lights round the Christmas tree, accepted the novelty candy cane decorations Gabriel had picked out and dogs in Christmas hats. Sam wondered if Gabriel had snapped them into existence or if he'd been online. There was probably a website selling Christmas dog themed accessories. Most of the ones Gabriel had bought appeared to be Jack Russells. Maybe next year Gabriel would be settled enough to think about getting a dog.
Next year they'd be celebrating Christmas with their baby. Sam grinned as he hung little glittery stars along the branches. Sam could imagine it now, him, Gabriel, their little one and a new puppy. Sam had always preferred big dogs but if Gabriel had his heart set on a Jack Russell then they could have one of those.
"Oh! I got this to go on top!" Gabriel said excitedly, digging through the box of decorations and proving Sam's hypothesis that he'd been online shopping correct. He drew out a cardboard box, opening it and holding out an angel for the top of the tree. A glittery, golden angel holding a golden horn.
"It's you," Sam said, his eyes widening.
"Ta da!" Gabriel exclaimed happily, holding the angel out for Sam to take. "I found him on Ebay!"
It almost seemed sacrilegious, putting the image of the archangel Gabriel on their tree when he was there, next to Sam, real and alive and not at all like he'd been in the bible. Sacrilegious or just egotistical on Gabriel's part. Sam looked at the angel, who looked nothing like his own Gabriel, and grinned.
He balanced on his tiptoes to place the angel on the top of the tree. The ceiling, he noticed, was suddenly just high enough for the miniature Gabriel to sit on top without being crushed.
"Don't I look good up there?" Gabriel asked, admiring the tree. Sam stood back, taking a good look at the mismatching colours, the strange ornaments and the very gaudy angel on the top of the tree.
"I think you look pretty good down here too," he said, getting down on his knees and wrapping his arms around Gabriel, kissing him till all he could taste was the sweetness of Gabriel's mouth, flavored with chocolate.
The doorbell rang and Sam pulled away, evading Gabriel's attempts to drag him back.
"Don't go," Gabriel whined. "If we ignore them they'll go away."
"It's Dean and Castiel. If we ignore them, Dean will bust in a window to make sure we're okay," Sam said, laughing. Even if things were safer now, Dean was always going to be wary. Most things heard there was a Trickster about and stayed clear just because of that. Others, who weren't so easily scared, heard there was an archangel and gave the place a wide berth. And the ones who wouldn't stay away because of Trickster's or angels took a detour because they heard the Winchester's had settled down in a nice little town and were looking to keep it that way. Even though there were no Supernatural occurrences for a ten mile radius and the crime rate was suspiciously low, Dean would still worry.
Sam guessed he had reason to worry, what with Castiel and all.
Once Dean had realized that Sam was adamant about staying put this time, he'd tried travelling alone, just him and Castiel, but three months later they'd been back. Castiel had been serene. Dean had been twitchy and jumpy. They'd acquired, because that was really the word for it, Sam didn't think that money had ever exchanged hands, not in a legitimate manner, the house next door. Dean was actually fixing it up, by hand. It gave him a project and Dean was always happy when he had something to do. It was when he was restless that Sam was worried about him.
He'd noticed however that whenever Dean got too close to finishing the house something would happen – lighting would hit the roof, a gust of wind would blow a tree branch to the window, Castiel would break the dishwasher – and there would be another task for Dean. Sometimes, Sam suspected they weren't the accidents they appeared. He had an idea that Castiel had a hand in most of them. That was Gabriel's influence. Since they were living so close together now, Castiel was picking up some terrible habits, almost worse than the ones he'd picked up from Dean.
Sam ran into the entrance hall, reaching the door in time for the third ring which was longer and more demanding than the two before them. That would be Dean with his finger on the bell, growing decidedly more agitated.
Sam pulled the door open, grinning at them.
"You're alive, then," Dean said.
Castiel thrust a plate out in front of him before Dean could say anything else.
"I've been baking," he said, in case Sam couldn't tell from the plate of wonky, badly iced Christmas cookies that Castiel was showing off so proudly.
"We just finished decorating the tree," he told them, letting the two of them in. He shut the door and followed them into the living room. Dean was staring up at the tree, his expression horrified.
"Is that….?" he asked, pointing to the angel on top.
"Yeah," Sam said.
Dean nodded slowly. "That's….uh….that's quite a Christmas tree."
"I picked all the decorations," Gabriel said, sounding very pleased with himself. He was still on the floor and Castiel had joined him, the plate of Christmas cookies shared between the two of them. Gabriel picked up a slightly wobbly star with luminous yellow icing and took a bite. He smiled around his mouthful.
"Yeah, I would have guessed," Dean said, crouching down beside them to take another wobbly star.
Sam took a step back to admire it all. Not just the Christmas tree but the people at the foot of it now. The people who were the most precious people to Sam in the whole world. Dean, getting used to life off the road, growing healthier and happier with each passing day. Castiel, looking more content than Sam could ever remember seeing him, his own bump small in comparison to Gabriel's but growing rapidly each day. Next year they'd have a double reason to celebrate. His and Gabriel's child, and Dean and Castiel's.
That thought brought him back to Gabriel who was now stuffing cookies in his mouth, just, it seemed, so Dean wouldn't be able to eat any. Gabriel would always be selfish, greedy, drawn to tacky, bright displays of his power. He would also always be warm, loving, filling the house with laughter and life. Sam would never have a completely normal life with Gabriel but he'd given up on normal. If things in his life were normal, then Gabriel wouldn't even be pregnant in the first place. Sam could deal with a life that was just a little abnormal. No more apocalypses, no more hunting, just the small disturbances caused by Gabriel, which were easily dealt with. No more stakes dipped in dead man's blood at least. That whole part of their lives was passed. They'd never have to stand on opposing sides again and Sam was more than glad of that.
He'd fallen in love with Gabriel easily. Gabriel made it easy. He might be difficult and demanding, but he reminded Sam that life was supposed to be enjoyed, not just endured.
"Are you just gonna stand there staring at us?" Gabriel asked, looking up at him and spraying crumbs everywhere as he spoke.
Sam spared a glance for the crumbs as he slid down next to Gabriel, laying an arm over his shoulder and pressing a kiss to Gabriel's cheek. Gabriel grinned at him and opened his hand, the last cookie from the plate held in it.
"I saved it from Dean," he said, offering it to Sam. "I think it's cheating, him eating them when Castiel's probably made double for him at home."
Sam took the cookie, ignoring Dean who'd launched into a valiant defense of his need to eat everything that came out of Castiel's kitchen on the grounds of ensuring Castiel didn't accidentally poison anyone, and instead took a bite, smiling because as odd as they looked, the cookies actually tasted pretty good. He supposed that could almost be a metaphor for his life – from his deceptive house, bigger on the inside than the outside, to his family.
They might look a little strange on the outside, but where it mattered, they had everything they could need.