Chapter Three: The Novaks

Sam and Gabriel were walking to school on the last morning of September. Gabriel was babbling about Halloween and how he and Sam should go trick or treating.
"It'll be fun!" He said, "I could wear a sheet over my head so it looks like I'm a real kid! You can invite Barry and Jo too!"
Sam snorted, "Gabe, we're not going trick or treating."

"Well why not? It's free candy! If we go you won't have to buy me any for at least two weeks tops."
"I'm too old for trick or treating," said Sam, "The neighbors wouldn't give us candy anyways 'cause we're high schoolers."
"What do you usually do on Halloween then?"
"Watch scary movies with Dean."
"Uggghhhh," The ghost moaned, "Sa-ammm, that's so bori-ng! I have been deprived of years of trick or treating! Please, Sam, be a pal. Won't you take your ol' ghost buddy trick or treating?"

"Hmmm...let me think-no."
"UGHHH!" Gabriel threw his head back in agony. "Please!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"Pleaaaasseee."
"No."
They continued this until they reached the school grounds and Sam turned to him and said, "Gabriel, if I say I'll think about it will you shut up for once?"
"Yes!" The phantoms face lit up.

Sam was about to open his mouth to say to Gabriel that he'll think about it then, but instead he was knocked to the ground by an unexpected force. He turned to look over his shoulder to see Zachariah standing over him. "Talking to yourself again, Winchester?" He said, "as if you couldn't be even more of freak."
Sam didn't see but Gabriels eyes suddenly turned cold and his hands curled into fists. Zachariah continued talking as Sam tried to get up off the grass.
"How long has it been since you've seen your daddy, Sam? Weeks? Or months? Is it true that he left you and your brother for good?"
Something snapped in Sam at that moment. As soon as Zachariah mentioned John Winchester in front of him there was a dark flash in his green eyes. He scrambled to his feet and turned to face the bully.

"Don't you dare talk about my dad, Zachariah." Sam warned, "You don't know anything about him."
Zachariah grinned coldly, he liked that he was getting a rise out of Sam. "Makes sense that he would leave you anyway. Why would he want to be responsible for raising a drop out and a freak like you."

"Shut up, Zach."

"Aw, why? Did I hurt your feelings?" He taunted, "Too bad Dean dropped out huh? He's not here anymore to watch out for you is he? Whose gonna protect baby Sammy now?" Zachariah reached out and grabbed Sams sweatshirt and pulled him up to his face, they were practically nose to nose. Zachariah was about to either hit Sam or toss him back onto the ground to smack his head but ended up doing neither. Because in the next moment, Gabriel had surged forward, through Sam, and then used all the force he could muster to knock into Zachariah. The bully lost his grip on Sam and fell backwards onto the pavement. Sam stood back in awe as his ghost sat on top of Zachariah and brought his fist down onto the bullies face. Everyone around them was in shock also, as they couldn't see who was giving Zachariah a bloody nose.
"Gabe.." Sam said as quietly as he could, his eyes scanning the onlookers around the scene. "Gabriel..."
The ghost struck the bully one last time before turning to his friend. He seemed ignorant to the fact that he was invisible to everyone expect Sam and it was a strange sight to see Zachariah being beaten up by no one.
"Gabriel we should go now..." Sam said out of the corner of his mouth.
The ghosts brain finally clicked. He looked at all the faces around him who couldn't see him. He looked lost.
"Sam?" Castiels voice broke through the crowd.
Shit. Sam thought.

He hurriedly ran up to Gabriel and grabbed him by the collar of his green jacket and pulled him away from the school. The students made a path for Sam to run through as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Gabriel wasn't exactly helping.
Sam didn't stop running until they reached Oak Street. He was out of breath but managed to shout at his ghost, "What the hell was that for?!"
Gabriel looked confused, "Wait, you're mad at me?"
"Um, yes, dumbass! What the hell were you thinking? You're going to get me suspended!"
"I don't know why you're mad at me, kiddo, I was standing up for you. I don't think I did anything wrong." Gabriel frowned.
"Of course you don't," Sam chuckled darkly, "You don't ever think, do you! I don't need you, or anyone else fighting my battles for me, all right? I can take care of myself."
"If you can take care of yourself why don't you just kick the crap out of those dicks and they'll leave you alone! That's what I don't understand! You say you can so why don't you?"
"Because, Gabriel!" Sam threw his hands up in the air, "Because I just don't want to! Is it so hard to grasp that concept?! I don't want to fight! There are other ways to settle things other than hand to hand combat! Jesus Christ!"
Gabriels face fell slightly. "Sorry." He said in a hard voice. "I was...I was just..."
"Protecting me?" Sam spat, "You're just like Dean, aren't you. I don't need to be protected, Gabriel."
The two fell into silence. The ghost glared at the sidewalk, awkwardly kicking a pebble with his shoe as Sam dug his trembling fingers into his palms. The boy then sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulder, "I'm just going to go home." He announced. And without another word he spun on his heel and headed back to his house. Gabriel slowly followed.

Dean was working at the garage so Sam was home alone. Dean most likely won't hear about the fight unless school calls him at work or Cas tells him later. Either way Sam will have to hear Deans lecture of knowing when and where to fight. Sam was just tired. He threw his bag on the couch and collapsed next to it, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. Gabriel hovered awkwardly by himself a distance away.
The house was deathly quiet until Sam sighed heavily.
"I'm sorry for blowing up at you, Gabriel."
"I deserved it." He said softly, "I shouldn't be fighting other peoples fights.."
"No, no," Sam waved his hand and turned to look at the ghost, "Don't say you deserve being yelled at, Gabe. You don't. You were just trying to help. Really, it's okay. Just...let me handle it next time...All right?"
Gabriel smiled, "So...Friends again?"
"Friends again."
Gabriel flew over and cuddled Sams face against his chest, cooing, "I knew you couldn't stay mad at me, Sammich! I knew it!"
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Sam squirmed, "Now get off me willyah! I can't breathe!"
Gabriel just hugged him tighter.

That night when Dean came home he didn't speak to Sam until dinner. Gabriel watched the brothers eat as he sat at the table, his short legs prevented his feet from barely touching the floor. For a while all that could be heard was the sound of silverware hitting glass, but Dean soon spoke.
After taking a swig of water from his glass he looked up at Sam across the table and said, "Cas told me you were in a fight today."
"Yeah." Sam replied in a hallow voice, not meeting his brothers gaze.
"He said you gave the kid a bloody nose."
"Yeah."
"The kid didn't turn you in though."
"What?" Gabriel and Sam said at the same time. The younger Winchester finally looked up from his plate, puzzled.
Dean took another drink. "Yep. Apparently he just got up when he came to and went about his day. Cas thinks he was too embarrassed from gettin' beat up by a nerd." His brother was smiling now. "You got lucky, Sammy, I'll tell you that. Wish I could have gotten away with that when I was in school. I never could get away with anything."

"Gabriel, you must be some kind of good luck charm." Sam whispered under his breath and the ghost snickered.
"What was that, Sammy?"
"Nothing, Dean."

It was a few weeks later, and it was now October. The air was now crisp and cold and Dean was stocking up on apple pie since he claims the apples taste best around this time of year. The Winchester house smelled of cinnamon and pumpkin guts, and there was a big bowl of candy sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. In which from time to time mysterious handfuls of sweets would go disappearing right under the brothers noses. Ever since the fight Zachariah has been so scared of Sam he won't even look at him.

Gabriel and Sam were in Sams bedroom, the junior was laying on his bed, his head propped up with a pillow and his nose in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Gabriel was laying on the carpet below him, tossing a bouncy ball into the air and catching it.

It was raining outside, the drops pattered Sams window like tiny bullets. It was the weekend and Dean would be gone all day at the garage so it was just Gabriel and Sam home alone. Gabriel wasn't enjoying the time inside.

"Ugh, Sammm!" He whined, letting the bouncy ball fade through his hand. "I'm bored!"

"SHHHH!" Sam hushed him imminently, his eyes glued to the text. "I think they're going to catch Snape this time..."

Gabriel frowned and stood up, walking around Sams room mindlessly. "Sa-am, I'm touching your st-uff." Gabriel told him, trying to get his attention as he grabbed one of his Latin books and waved it around.

"mmmhmm, that's nice, Gabe..." Sam muttered, not really listening to him. Gabriel pouted, setting the book down and grabbing Sams green notebook instead. He thumbed through it, not for any particular reason, he just wanted something to look at. Latin wasn't really his cup of tea.

As Gabe flipped through Sams notebook he came across some pieces of writing scribbled down in Sams spidery handwriting. There was a lot of short stories in the notebook, they were all about urban legends; werewolves, vampires, some weird creature called a wendigo, Gabriel had never heard of them. They were all...supernatural stories about different creatures and different characters.

Gabriel smiled as his eyes scanned the paper, they were really good.

"Did you write these, Kiddo?" The ghost asked.

"Hmm-wha-what? Hey! Don't read those!" Sam lept from his bed and dashed across the room, swiping the stories away and holding them against his chest, his face growing very red.

"What?! They aren't bad, I liked them!" Gabriel looked at him, puzzled as to why Sam was embarrassed of his work.
"How many times do I have to tell-wait...you-you like them?" the boy asked softly.

"Of course I did, they're brilliant! You came up with them all by yourself?"

"Well...Yeah..I just.I just looked up myths about old monsters you know? And watched a lot of scary movies," Sam smirked, rolling his shoulder, "and I..I just wrote about them."

"You should be a writer, kiddo." Gabriel said seriously, snatching the notebook back. "I like the one about the scarecrow."

Sam grinned, his green eyes sparkled with pride. "I like that one too..."

"You should write one about me." Said Gabriel cockily, smirking.

Sam snickered, "Oh, yeah? What would I call it? Gabriel the Attention Whore?"
"Actually, I was thinking more like...The Bloody Sex God From Hell."
"Bloody...sex...God?"
"Yeah," Gabriel shrugged, "Or how about one were I'm Loki! The God of Mischief!"
"Okay, Gabriel, sure, but you already have a story." Sam rolled his eyes, taking the notebook back and setting it on the desk, turning back to his bed to finish reading his book.

Gabriel stood, puzzled. "I do?"

Sam looked over his shoulder and cocked his eyebrow. "Y-eah..Don't tell me you've never even heard your own story before."

Gabriel shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. "I have a story?"

"well, yeah, why do you think kids always dare each other to go into that old house? Did you think they were visiting?"

The ghost shrugged and sat next to Sam on the bed. "I never really thought about it I guess...What does the story say about me?"

"Well...Dean used to tell me the stories all the time, I think different families have their own way of telling it but they're all pretty much the same. It goes like...Many years ago, there lived a happy family in a big house on a normal street. They were living your average American pie life, but there was something twisted in that house," As Sam told the tale the rain pattered harder against the house, Gabriel listened attentively, his face serious and he hung onto every word.

"They lived in the house on the corner of Oak Street. It was Halloween night when it happened. The mom and dad had gone out and the kids where all doing their own thing, trick or treating, out at their own parties. But they were to be at eleven. So they were. But when they got home, something terrible happened...One of the brothers, was waiting for his brothers and sisters to come home. He was waiting for them with a knife in his hand. No one knows why he did it, some say he had been crazy all his life but his family ignored it, others say something his father used to beat him and something finally broke. What people do know is, that when the cops showed up, there was blood everywhere. The boy had chopped them up into pieces, it was hard to tell whose parts were whose. And the boy, they say he was had finally realized what he had done, and slit his own throat in the kitchen. They found him face down in a pile of candy. His spirit still haunts the house, waiting for his next victims."

When Sam finished he sat up straight and smiled. "Pretty dumb right?"

Gabriel blinked and shook his head, coming to his senses. "Oh-oh yeah..Yeah that was...something..?"

"Yeah, its pretty much just a load of horse shit. I know that didn't really happen. They're just dumb stories made up to terrorize little kids."

"heh...yeah..."

Sam looked up to see Gabriel staring down at his hands glumly, in a daze. His face paler than usual, his caramel eyes loosing their glint.

"You okay, Gabe?"

Gabriel looked up instantly. "hmmm..? Oh...Yeah I'm fine...I..Is that what people really think of me?" His eyes looked different, Sam thought. Something was off about Gabriel, his eyes were...upset. Confused even. The ghost turned back to his hands, clenching them into fists.

"Well, Gabe, they don't know you, there wasn't ever a name in that story, no one thinks its real." Sam sat on his knees and inched closer to the ghost, stretching out his hand towards his shoulder. "They don't know you...like I do."

Gabriel looked up to his friend and smiled weakly. "Thanks, Sam...you're right that story is dumb...its nothing compared to The Bloody Sex God From Hell."

"Oh, yes, definitely."

Gabriels face cracked into a real grin before he leaned over hugged Sam. The teenager was taken a back for a moment, his arms pinned to his sides as the ghost squeezed him, nuzzling his head into his shoulder.

"Um...Gabe..." Sam said, "Gaberiel...you can-uh..let go now."

Gabriel pulled away, still smiling. "Sorry." He rolled his shoulders. His heart was thumping hard in his chest. He didnt want to let Sam go, he felt warm and comforting and whole, when Gabe pulled a part he simply felt cold. Ghost-like.

"Its still raining out," Sam pointed out, looking out the window and changing the subject to get Gabriel back to his normal self. "What do you want to do?"

"Ever play strip poker?" Gabriel grinned a crooked smile, cocking his head to the side. Sam thought he looked a little like Castiel when he did that.

"We're not playing strip poker." He rolled his eyes.

"Aw, why not? You dont want me to see your Batman underwear?"

Sam blushed and snapped another glare at him. "Why do you-"

Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows up and down, winking suggestively. Sam frowned and stared at Gabriel with another one of his famous bitch faces.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop going through my stuff, asshole!"
"Hey! That's Sex God to you, punk!"
"Gabriel!"

It was still raining when Dean came home at six that night and brought Cas along with him.
Gabriel had seen Cas before but whenever the dark haired boy stepped into the house Gabriel seemed very distant. He would sometimes even stare at Cas for minutes at a time, observing him.
Once Sam saw Gabriel hovering right in front of Castiels face, inches away from touching his nose with his own. He was squinting, eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. Like he knew Cas, like he had seen him before some place but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Are you going to stare at Cas again tonight," Sam teased Gabriel as they headed downstairs when Dean called his brother for dinner. "Or have you accepted the fact you two can't be together?"

"Actually I think I'm strictly into boys who wear the dark knight on their undergarments." Gabriel smirked.
When they passed Deans room Sam shoved him into the door and Gabriel phased through.

"AH GROSS." The ghost shouted and Sam laughed when he phased out the door, his arms crossed and his eyes glaring. "When is the last time he cleaned in there?!"

"probably not since the Dark Ages." Sam commented.

"I probably caught the plague," Gabe coughed.

"Good thing you're already dead."

The two entered the kitchen and Dean looked down at Sam, frowning. "Are you talking to yourself?"

"uhh...I read somewhere that talking to yourself makes you smarter...?" Sam lied.

Dean chuckled and ruffled Sams hair. "You don't need to get any smarter, Sammy, you're great the way you are." He then turned on his heel to put dinner on the table; oven ready made pizza from Wal-Mart.

Dean and Sam sat on either side of Cas and Gabriel took the empty chair across from him, eyeing the candy jar with greed and licking his lips. Sam looked at him through the corners of his eyes, warning him not to take any in front of Dean and Castiel.

Gabriel wrinkled his nose and sat back in his chair, pouting.

"Cas, you doing anything for Halloween?" Sam turned his head to his friend. Dean snapped his head to glare at his brother, he must have known something Sam didn't.

Cas paused as he was about to take a bite of his pizza, he chuckled and set it down, shaking his head. "You know I never do, Sam."

"I know...but I just thought it'd be different this year. You can just hang out with us and watch scary movies all night, right, Dean?" He turned to his big brother. Dean tried to smile it seemed, tried to hide something. He turned back to Cas and said softly, "You can if you want, Cas...No ones forcing you to go...visit that place you know?"

Gabriel seemed interested in the conversation now, he leaned forward, his elbows on the table. He was squinting at Cas again...slowly tilting his head to the side as Cas looked up from his plate to meet Deans eyes. "No, no, I have to.." he sighed. "Its...kind of..a family tradition...besides...they say...his time is coming up.."

"Who's time?" Sam blurted ignorantly.

"Yeah, who..." Gabriel whispered under his breath.

"shhh, Sam." Dean hushed, placing a hand on his friends shoulder and squeezing it. "You Novaks have some screwed up family traditions, I mean you don't feel comfortable around him, Cas, why do you have to go?"

"He's still family, Dean..."
"Just because you're blood doesn't mean you're family. You gotta earn that. And Cas, that kid lost that a long time ago."

Sam hardly heard the conversation going on between the two, he was looking over at Gabriel who was now laying across the table, flat on his stomach. His eyes had grown wide, his face looked almost petrified in shock. He didn't move for a long time, he looked like a statue. and then, he burst out of the room. He was gone in a whir of light. He nearly toppled the chair over, the pans hanging above the stove clattered together noisily while the whole room turned ice cold.

Cas shuttered and Dean looked around the kitchen, confused. "What was that?" He said slowly, turning to Sam as though he knew he would know.

"Um...Maybe the living room window is open..?" He responded.

"Go shut it."

Sam nodded and hurriedly left the kitchen, but he ran upstairs after Gabriel. When he reached the top of the stairs he slowly walked down the hall, gliding his hand against the wall. He heard a quiet weeping echoing from his room, the door was shut.

He pressed his hand against the door and pushed it slowly open, Gabriel was sitting on Sam's bed, his palms pressed against his eyes, he was choking down sobs as tears slid down his pale face, shuttering and gasping for a breath.

"Gabriel?" Sam said softly. "Whats wrong?"

Gabriel whispered something inaudible under his breath, another sob coming over.

"wh-what?" Sam asked again, crossing the room to get closer to his friend.

"He's my brother..." He said in a louder whisper, wiping his nose with his wrist.

Sam stood, puzzled. He wracked his brain trying to remember if anyone had come up, if anyone could possibly be related to Gabriel. He couldn't remember anyone, they hadn't even really talked about anyone. "Who's your brother?" he asked.

"Castiel!" Gabriel lifted his head, shouting, aggravated. His face was blotchy and red, his eyes swollen with tears and his nose looked like a cherry. "Castiel is my brother. He's my baby brother."
Gabe slumped back down, his shoulders hitching forward with every sob escaping from his throat.

Sam stood, dumbfounded and unblinking.
Castiel? He thought. How could Castiel be..
"But I thought..." Sam furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "I thought your family was...was.."

Gabriel shot his head up, his face now contorted into anger. "Dead?" He growled through his teeth. "You thought my family was dead?"

"well-I-I just-"

"I thought you didn't believe those stories, Sam." Gabriel stood up from the bed, his fists clenched tight. His face was very serious, his caramel eyes turned hard and shot daggers through Sams skull. "I thought you said they were horseshit." Gabriel was different now. He was frightening and furious. For a moment, if Sam hadn't known Gabriel at all, he would have believed this was the man who killed his family.

"I did!" Sam took a step backwards and raised his hands. "I dont believe them Gabriel! Honest I dont!"

"Listen!" Gabriel roared, pointing a finger in Sams face and standing on his tip toes to make himself taller. "I didnt kill myself! Got it?! I did not kill myself! I dont care what the stories say I did not kill myself and I sure as hell didnt kill my family so you can just shut the hell up you don't know what you're talking about!"

Sam stared up at the ghost with round worried eyes, breathing hard. "I believe you, Gabriel." He said softly. "I believe you."

Gabriel seemed to realize what he had just said to Sam and how he had said it, he relaxed and lowered himself onto his feet, his face falling. He took a deep breath, looking at his hands and clenching them. "I'm sorry." He said under his breath. "I didnt mean to yell at you, kiddo."

"It's okay, Gabe..." Sam whispered. "Really...I..I shouldn't have said that."

Gabriel looked up at him and sighed, sitting back down on the bed heavily. "I just..I can't believe it...I..I found Castiel...Do you know how the rest of my family is? How is Anna? And Micheal? And Mom and Dad? How are they? Are they okay?"

Sam shrugged, sitting next to his friend. "Dunno...Cas never talks about his family...not to me anyway. I didn't even know Castiel has any brothers and sisters."
"Oh..." Gabriels face fell again and he looked at his lap, his head hung low and his hair fell over his forehead. "I just...I want to know if they're okay..."

"Well, Cas seems to be getting along just fine so they can't be too bad right?"

Looking at his knees, Gabriel chuckled. "Yeah, that's true. That's true, kiddo. The...the last time I saw them though...they looked so...destroyed..."

"When was that?"
"When they moved. Cas was six."
"After you...?"
"Yep," Gabriel sighed, "after I."

"Wow..." Sam breathed, "You died when Cas was only six." Gabriel only nodded, still studying his knees. His fine golden hair hid his eyes. "Gabriel..."
"What?"
"How did you die, anyway?"
Gabriel turned his head towards Sam and smirked, snorting and wiping his face again. "you really wanna know, kiddo?"

Sam nodded. The ghost sighed and sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "All right...I'll tell you. But if you ever write about me you gotta stick with the Sex God stuff, okay?"

Sam smirked and crossed his heart with his pinky finger. "Yeah, whatever I promise."

Gabe smiled and turned, sitting criss-cross on Sams bed so he would be facing him as he unfolded his tale from the back of his mind where he kept it hidden all these years, trying and trying to forget that one unfaithful dark night. But he never could. It would creep up on Gabriel in the dead of night, sometimes out of no where. It haunted his nights and sometimes his days. Sometimes a sound, or an object would trigger his memory back to the moment. He remembers those dark times in the house on Oak when he would collapse in pain, remembering the agony of the night, the terror, the screams. No matter what he did it always followed. He remembered every detail as though it had happened a mere seconds before. He could recall what it smelled like if Sam asked him. How could anyone forget the way they died?