Chapter 4:
Sam slumped behind the steering wheel, tired and aching. Claire's simple case had turned out to be more complicated then he'd expected. Not that he should have been really that surprised, that was his life. What he'd thought was going to be only a few days had turned into a week. Now he was on a three hundred mile drive back home. Not that the crumbling ruin of a house was home. He couldn't even call the pair to let them know the job was going to take longer.
He glanced at the passenger seat and the plastic bag holding two cells. He wasn't being out of contact with the pair again. He'd spent the past five day worrying whether they'd gotten themselves captured or worse killed. He took a hard left out of the nearby town and felt himself relax the closer he got to the abandoned farm house. The moment he caught sight of the dirt trail he released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.
Stones and mud clung to the wheels of the Impala as he pulled to a halt. Swing open the door he looked up at the house that looked different somehow. His gaze scanned the yard and he caught sight of a pickup truck. His heart leapt into his throat with fear and grabbing his shotgun he rushed up the front steps bursting into the house.
"Gabriel! Claire!" he yelled, searching the room.
"Sam!" Claire cried rushing down the stairs with a wide grin. "Your home."
"Yeah….where's…?."
"Hey there Sasquatch." Gabriel greeted cheerfully. "Want to put the gun down before someone gets hurt?"
Sam's head snapped around to see Gabriel stood in the doorway of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dish cloth, white powder on his cheek. Sam absolutely did not feel his heart skip at the sight. "Whose truck is that outside?"
"Ours." Claire answered proudly. "Gabriel found it in the barn. It's kinda crap but it got us into town."
"You went to town?" he snapped accusingly at Gabriel.
"What were we meant to do, starve?" Gabriel shrugged, turning back to the kitchen.
Sam clenched his jaw.
"You were gone longer than you said." Claire said worriedly. "We thought…." she swallowed, looking at her feet.
"Yeah, sorry, case took longer than I planned and I couldn't call." he glanced around the large living room. "Is that a new couch?"
"Not exactly. It's second hand. We got a load of furniture from this old lady in town. She was moving into a retirement village and Gabe charmed her into giving us her unwanted furniture." Claire explained excitedly.
"Did he?" Sam frowned.
Claire nodded. "She made us cookies too. Gave Gabe the recipe."
Sam sniffed the air. "I see. - And how exactly did you pay for the food?" he suddenly felt guilty, he really hadn't thought about a lot when he took off on the hunt.
Gabriel returned minus the dish cloth. "You at least were kind enough to leave us with some cash."
"I did?" Sam frowned, thinking back.
"Well, I found cash and cards in Dean's bag." Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly.
"Right."
Sam looked around the house again, noticing that it looked a lot more homely than when he'd left. "You've been busy." the walls were still covered in Enochian and devils traps but it looked less dust ridden.
"Well, if we're stuck here for the foreseeable future, we should at least make ourselves at home. Right kid?" Gabriel grinned.
Claire smiled, brushing past Sam to drop down on the couch with a book.
"We can't stay here."
Gabriel looked at Sam with a raised golden brow. "And where do you expect us to go? Hit the road and stay in an endless stream of grotty motel rooms? I have a feeling that might draw suspicion."
"Why?" Sam frowned.
"Two guys." he waved between them. "And a teenager girl. Doesn't look good Winchester." he smirked.
Sam glared at his meaning. "Fine. But only until…."
"When? - Till the demons stop looking for her? Something tells me that's not going to happen anytime soon. - Or maybe you mean until you feel that we can look after ourselves. Well, as you can see we've done perfectly alright without you for the past week, so if you want to split, then split."
"Yeah, give me a break, alright."
Gabriel huffed. "Fine. Dinner will be ready in ten."
"You're cooking?" Sam frowned cautiously.
Gabriel didn't say anything, just turning around and marching back to the kitchen.
"He cooked?" Sam repeated, looking to Claire for confirmation.
Claire nodded. "Mrs Hammond gave him her recipe book. - He pretty good."
Sam felt like he'd slipped into another universe. He stumbled over to the couch and fell into the cushions with a sigh of relief. His head falling back and his eyes closing, and all the stress of the pass week seemed to just slip away. When Sam finally felt at ease and almost at home, he opened his eyes and sent a side glanced at Claire. The teenagers head was bowered over a book.
"What you reading?" She held up the cover and Sam frowned. "Where did you get that?"
"Gabe ordered it on-line. He said we need to be prepared."
Sam stared at the hard gold embossed cover of an Enochian tome, his eyes shifting to a bookshelf across the room where they were others. Pushing himself off the couch he walked over to scan the titles. They were all hunters' books, none of them particularly rare but useful all the same.
"He's teaching me Enochian." Claire added.
Sam's head shot around to stare at her with wide eyes. "I've been gone a week and he's turned you into a hunter?" he didn't know why he felt so angry, and going by the look on her face, neither did Claire.
"Those demons killed my mom. They're after me. What do you want me to do?"
"Mourn. - Trust me Claire, revenge is all well and good until you lose your soul."
"Took you long enough to learn that lesson Sammy. Dinners ready."
"I'm not going to be a victim Sam." Claire said firmly, getting off the couch angrily and marching off to the kitchen.
Sam stared at Gabriel. "You tried to stop me from hunting and now you're teaching her?"
"I tried to stop you going out for revenge that was going to destroy the world. I never wanted you to stop hunting!" Gabriel defended. "She needs something to focus on, something to get her through. - It's not revenge Sam, its strength and that only comes with wisdom." he turned, marching back into the kitchen.
Sam watched Gabriel leave, then turned to look around the room. It all seemed…normal. Calm. – Home.
"Sam. Dinner!" Gabriel yelled from the kitchen.
Sam's feet were moving before he even realised it.
Sam stepped into the kitchen to find Clair and Gabriel seated around the polished oak table, Gabriel dishing up the evening meal. Pulling out his chair, he cautiously took a seat. He glanced over at Clare as she lifted her fork and tucked in. Sam watched her expression intently, trying to judge if he really wanted to risk eating whatever it was the ex-angel had prepared. When she smile over at him, her jaw working to chew, he picked up his own fork and glanced down at the plate.
"What is it?" he asked, poking at the meat and sauce.
"Chilli. - Don't worry, I didn't poison it." Gabriel murmured. "I wouldn't waste perfectly good food."
"And there apple pie for desert. Right?" Claire grinned.
"Yep. Though if Sammy doesn't eat all his dinner, he ain't getting none." Gabriel huffed, starting to tuck in to his dinner.
Sam looked between the pair nervously before lifting the fork to his lips. He closed his eyes as he opened his mouth and inhaled sharply. They flew open in surprised as the Chilli hit his taste-buds. "Oh…this…it tastes good."
"Gee Sammy, don't have to sound so surprised." Gabriel huffed, rolling his eyes at Claire.
Sam lost himself in the food, listening as Claire told him what she and Gabriel had done while he was hunting. For the first time in a while he actually felt….settled. - Though he knew it wasn't going to last. It never did.
_What Doesn't Kill You_
"How's it going?" Gabriel asked, appearing beside the truck, sipping at his tall glass of ice tea.
Sam straightened up, stretching his back with a groan as he wiped the oil from his hands. "I'm surprised you were able to get to town and back with this thing." he grumbled, reaching for Gabriel's glass.
"Hey!" Gabriel complained, shooting him a glare.
"I've done all I can." he took a large couple of gulps, almost emptying the glass before handing it back. "Dean only taught me so much."
Gabriel glanced over the side of the engine. "Looks good to me."
"Yeah. It'll run, and that's all that matters right?" he sighed, reaching to close the hood. "Where's Claire?"
"Studying."
Sam took a deep breath. "Maybe we should think about getting her into the local school."
"Why?" Gabriel frowned, leaning his hip on the side of the truck, his eyes fixed on the taller man.
"You said yourself she needs something to take her mind off everything." He turned to stare down at the ex-angel. "And…." he trailed off sadly.
"And….you don't want her turning into you and your brother."
"She's not a Winchester!"
A sudden bang of the back door had the pair's heads turning around and they groaned at the same moment.
"And you say I've got a big mouth!" Gabriel snapped, rushing up the porch steps into the house, Sam swiftly following.
They found Claire in the living room on the couch, her head buried into a book. Her face flushed. The light in the room glistening of the water pooling in her eyes.
"Kiddo?"
"Claire I….what I…."
"It's fine." She choked. "It's true; I'm nothing to do with you."
"Hey, that's not true." Gabriel said quickly, dropping down next to her on the couch. His arm instantly going around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. "You're kinda like my niece right? I mean my bro's riding around in your dad so….man that sounds so wrong." he chuckled, shaking his head.
Claire looked over at him with a small sad smile, sniffling back the tears that were already making their way up her throat.
"Claire I just meant that you're not….that I don't think your family would want you doing this." he gestured wildly. "They'd want you to have a normal life."
"I don't have a normal life. My dad's….gone. My mom was killed by demons trying to protect me. I'm being hunted by said demons for some reason none of us know. How is any of that normal?"
Sam sighed; running his fingers through his hair. "It's not. But that doesn't mean you can't have normal. Believe me this life isn't what you want."
"Your right." Claire started, getting to her feet. "It's not. I want my family back. I want to go home and forget any of this stuff exists." her voice tightened with tears. "But I can't, they're gone, and all I have now is you two."
Sam's breath caught in his throat and he glanced over at Gabriel who was looking at him with a raised intrigued brow.
"She's right." the ex-archangel murmured, shrugging his shoulders dramatically.
Sam exhaled slowly. "I…." he closed his eyes, surrendering to the inevitable "Fine. But I still think you should go to school."
"And tell them what?" Gabriel asked. "You got a cover story?"
"What have you already told everyone?"
"That I'm Albert Harby's nephew."
"Who?"
"The guy that used to own this place. Don't know what happened to him, no one seems to have seen him in a while. I told them he'd moved to Florida, and I brought the house off him."
"What about Claire?" he frowned, his hands slipping into his pocket.
Claire smiled with a giggle, swiping at the tears. "I'm his daughter."
"And they brought that?" Sam frowned, looking between the pair.
"And why wouldn't they?" Gabriel demanded insulted. "I didn't say biological."
Claire laughed and Sam felt tightness in his stomach.
"What did you say?" he narrowed his gaze, already dreading the answer.
Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly. "I said nothing. – I mean…." He glanced over to Claire. "Claire kinda said I was her father before I could get a word in and well…before I knew what I was saying I…I might have said that me and my partner had adopted her."
"Your…partner?"
"My…" Gabriel looked at Sam with a smirk. "Gay life partner. – Soon to be husband as soon as the state gets its head out of its ass."
Sam glared furiously. "You told the town we're gay?"
"Hey, I was thinking on my feet. We've already said how bad it would look to have two grown men living with a sixteen year old with no real reason, so I gave us a reason."
"You could have said we were family."
"I did."
"I mean brothers and sister."
"Oh right, they won't buy us being her two dads but they'd buy us all being related?" Gabriel scoffed waving his hand between them all.
Sam groaned; he knew the ex-angel was right, but he hated it. It wasn't that he care whether people thought he was gay, that was Dean's beef. He just didn't like the idea of people thinking he was with Gabriel. "I could have all been adopted! – Or you could have been our uncle." He waved between him and Claire.
Gabriel was silent for a few seconds before shrugging nonchalantly. "Well I didn't think of that."
"Obviously." Sam grumbled.
"Hey, look if you're worried about getting lucky in town, don't be. Girls are always eager to try and turn a guy straight." Gabriel snapped.
Sam glanced embarrassingly over at Claire. "Gabriel, this is not the time or place to talk about…."
Claire didn't give him a change to finish, picking up her book and marching out of the house. "I'm gonna go read on the porch."
"See what you did?"
"Me?" Gabriel gapped.
"Yes you! You embarrassed her."
"I did no such thing. She's sixteen, Sam, I'm pretty sure she knows how the world works!"
"That is not the point."
"No, the point is you don't want people thinking you're fucking me!"
Sam cringed at the language, even though he'd heard worse.
"Why exactly? Is this down to you being a homophobic dickhole again?"
"I've told you I'm not homophobic!" Sam snapped furiously. "I don't care who people sleep with…"
"You just don't want people thinking that you're gay!"
"Yes…No. I mean, I'm not gay and I don't want people….This isn't about any of that."
"So let me ask, would you be complaining if I didn't look like this? Maybe if I was more like you, all tall and muscled and build like a brick shit house!"
Sam frowned. "What? What the hell are you on? I don't give a shit how you look. I'm not….I don't date people because of how they look!" he wasn't even sure what the hell he was saying anymore. How the hell had they gotten onto his type?
"Right, sure. I could look like the back end of a horse as long as I didn't have a dick!"
"Holy hell what are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with anything?" he shouted. Gabriel was shaking, Sam could see it. His whole body trembling. "Gabriel, I think you need to calm down. Take a breath."
"You know what, your right!" he snapped furiously as he brushed past Sam, obviously trying to shoulder him out of the way and failing due to their height difference, to stamp up the stairs like a four year old throwing a tantrum.
Sam stared after him with confusion. "What the hell?" he whispered to himself.
"I think you hurt his feelings?" Claire said gently from the doorway.
_What Doesn't Kill You_
Sam stood in the doorway of Gabriel's room, frowning at the angel.
"Are you just going to stare at me or did you want something?" Gabriel said harshly, his gaze locked on the ceiling above him, his chest lifting and falling quickly as he tried to calm down.
"Why do you keep doing it?"
Gabriel pushed himself up on his elbows. "Doing what?"
Sam clenched his jaw. "The whole….with me. - The comments, the flirting? - Telling everyone in town that we're a couple?"
Gabriel stared at him for a long moment, before dropping back against the bed. "Because it's too easy."
Sam glared. "What is?"
"You are? Getting beneath your skin. It's all too easy." he chuckled, but Sam didn't hear any real amusement. In fact he heard the complete opposite.
"So you're just doing it to wind me up? - It's not….because…?"
Gabriel lifted his head, and then his brow. "Yeeeessss?"
"I'm not gay!" Sam said firmly.
"As you keep telling me." Gabriel huffed. "Despite the fa…" shaking his head, he cut himself off and fell back against the pillow.
"But you are?" Sam frowned, purposefully ignoring what he knew the man had been about to throw back at him.
"I've been known to dabble. - Though in some instances I was in a female vessel at the time. So not technically."
Sam stared at him.
"Look, I said the first thing that came to mind, it seemed like a good plan at the time. I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but really Sammy, you don't have to worry, I won't be sneaking into your room at night to have my wicked way with you. - You've made yourself perfectly clear."
Sam gave him a sharp nod, but strangely didn't feel any more at ease with the situation. He turned to leave.
"But just for the record Sammy, if I wasn't permanently stuck with this vessel, I'd find myself a smoking hot blond and you wouldn't be able to resist." Gabriel winked and Sam glared at him, his stomach clenching tight.
_What Doesn't Kill You_
"Sam." Claire called from the lounge window seat.
The tall hunter strolled out of the kitchen with a towel pressed between his palms. He'd been fixing the damn truck again, or attempting to fix it, he didn't have Dean's skill with engines and repairs, but he was doing his best, and it had helped keep his mind off Gabriel. Ever since their semi-argument three days earlier things in the house had been weird. They'd barely been in a room five seconds without bickering. - Okay so that wasn't weird, not for them, but there was something in the air that made it feel weird.
"What is it?"
"We've got company." Claire nodded out the window and Sam rushed to look. "Do we know them?"
Claire looked up at him and shook her head. "I don't think I've….oh wait….I think that's Mrs Hammond's daughter."
"Mrs Hammond?"
"One of the old ladies Gabe charmed while you were on that case."
The pair fell silent at the sound of knocking on the front door and Sam shared a concerned uncertain look with Claire, before heading for the door, certain he had his handgun tucked safely in the back of his jean, Claire hiding the shot gun he'd been training her to use under the throw she had on her lap. Taking a breath Sam pulled open the door.
"Howdy. You must be Sam. Wow, Gabriel wasn't wrong about you, was he?" the woman, who was maybe five or so year older than Sam, grinned. "You look….Sorry, where's my manners, I'm Annabel Darby, your partner helped my mom a few days ago."
Sam sucked in a deep breathe at the word partner. He'd used it so many times over his life but never had it felt so heavy a word. Sam opened his mouth to say something when there was a weird sounding squeal behind him. He knew who it was without turning, instead bracing himself for whatever the ex-trickster had in store.
"Annabel. How nice to see you again. How is your mom?" Gabriel said cheerily, coming to a stop beside Sam, his arm slipping around the hunter's waist like it was the most causal thing in the world.
"Mom's fine, thanks Gabriel. - I just wanted to come and invite you'll to our barbeque tomorrow afternoon?"
"That's very kind of…." Sam began.
"We'd loved to. We so need to get out this house for a while." Gabriel grinned brightly.
"Wonderful. Well, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing. - We'll see you tomorrow, about one."
"Great. Can't wait, can we Sammy?"
Sam swallowed hard, forcing a smile on his face. "No. Can't wait."
They watched Annabel strolled back to her car, waving back at them until she was inside and driving away.
"What the hell do you think…?"
Gabriel huffed, pulling his arm sharply from around Sam's waist and walking off to the lounge where he dropped heavily down onto the couch and grabbed the remote to the TV, Claire moving to settle in beside him. "We're going because it would be weird not to." Gabriel stated coolly.
Sam clenched his jaw, sending the ex-archangel a bitch face before turning and marching back to the kitchen furiously. "Fine. Just keep you god-damn hands to yourself!" he spat back over his shoulder.