The hospital was just down the street, and too upset to even take the time to get back in their car, they ran for it. Sam remembered in his panick-stricken state while he ran down there with Gabriel that they saw an ambulance that they had to slow down for. When they reached the waiting room, Gabriel had to speak for him since they were both almost out of breath. She just pointed down the right hallway, and they were off, covered in water and scared more than they ever were in their life.
Sam came to the end, and saw a blue figure come out of the surgery room, seemingly in a hurry.
"Doctor!" he panted, stopping her. "Jessica. How. . . Is . . . Jessica."
Her eyes flickered up from Sam to Gabriel, her expression grim."You must be Sam Winchester? I'm sorry, sir, but . . . " She didn't go on.
Sam went stone cold, and backed himself to a wall and slid down to a squat on the floor, Gabriel still standing and taking the shock, only shaking his head at the doctor. She could only repeat, over and over again, how sorry she was and how fast the impact killed her and how she didn't feel any pain. But it really didn't matter to Sam.
Jessica wasn't here.
Gabriel sat on the floor next to Sam for the next two hours because he didn't get up. A few nurses came over to ask them if they needed anything and to get any additional information about Jessica to write up a report, and Gabriel answered the questions while his hand clenched on Sam's, and they finally left when he roused him up at closing hours. The parents were already notified, but they couldn't fly down until tomorrow. Sam didn't want to see them anyways.
Gabriel couldn't say anything until an intersection came up and he turned instead of going down towards Sam's place.
"Where are we going." It didn't even sound like a question, his voice was flat.
"Sorry Sam." Gabriel's hand tightened on the wheel. "You're not staying at your house tonight."
Sam didn't raise complaint, and when he got there he only sat down and put his hands in his face, Gabriel sitting right next to him and offered a comforting arm. And they sat like that for a minute until the short breaths came and the tears started coming.
"Gabriel, I-" Sam couldn't go on, and Gabriel just hugged him and said nothing. He wasn't even crying yet, just felt a horrible pain that rendered him near speechless. Sam cried, and all he could do was hold him, knowing that this was all his fault.
"Gabriel, what am I supposed to sleep in?" Sam asked while Gabriel brushed his teeth.
His friend gurgled water and spat it out, wiping his mouth. "Just sleep in your shirt, I can give you some sweats. We'll-" He stopped, and proceeded with more caution. "I will go get your stuff tomorrow."
Gabriel pretty much forbade Sam from going back to his apartment, seeing that Jessica's things were everywhere and he didn't think he could handle it, let alone Sam. He was already dreading the drive over there after work, but Gabriel took it upon himself to do it. Sam stopped crying after a while but was still pretty unresponsive, which did nothing to ease Gabriel's nerves, so he readied the house as needed when Sam was busy staring at a wall or something.
Since there was only one bedroom in the apartment, Gabriel told Sam to suck it up and just sleep on the other side, and he was about to turn off the lights when Sam complained about the temperature.
"Jeez Gabriel, I didn't know you lived in Alaska before here."
"Hey," Gabriel dryly settled into his bed. "I am a college student living alone off his own paycheck, do you think that I have the money to turn on the heat?"
Sam turned over, and felt himself sinking back into the darkness he knew was a depression, the small shield held up until now had kept him from breaking down, but now the silence was deafening. He put a hand over his mouth to stifle the sobs, but Gabriel could easily hear him crying.
"Sam?" His friend whispered. "Are you awake?"
Gabriel scooted over and wrapped an arm around Sam's waist and settled closer. "Try to sleep, Sammy."
Otherwise this close contact would have been awkward, but Sam actually found it very comforting, and especially warm. Damn, Gabriel was like a space heater. He closed his eyes, and was surprised how tired he felt, and fell asleep almost instantly.
Today was a long day.
The alarm buzzed, and Gabriel, still half-asleep, reached over and felt around for the off button. It was a bit hard to do, since their positions changed in the middle of the night and now they were pretty entangled.
"C'mon Sammy, up and at 'em." Gabriel ruffled Sam's hair, though messing with it did nothing, it was already a mess from him moving around a lot last night. Poor kid might have had nightmares.
"God damn Gabriel it's too early for this." Sam groaned, rolling over, but Gabriel poking with him until he at least sat up.
Gabriel jumped out of bed, showered, and was dressed within 15 minutes. Sam, however, took a good five minutes trying to get out of bed and only managed to stay awake sitting at the counter with a cup of black coffee and trying to read a newspaper.
"Alright, I work in the morning today and I have an evening shift tomorrow." He threw on his coat while Sam slumped over the island. "Be good, help yourself to anything, and I'm stealing your car keys."
"What, I'm not allowed to go anywhere?"
"Nope. You are not allowed to leave the apartment, nor are you allowed to drive. There are no bus-stops within a five-mile radius of this place, so unless you wanted to backpack across a flooded wetland, you are tethered here." Gabriel came over, gave him a tight hug, and then ran out the door with a wave. Sam sighed and looked around the apartment, not seeing anything even remotely interesting at six in the morning. Screw this, he was going back to bed.