Sam was trying to research, trying being the operative word. He couldn't see the laptop's screen through the enormous amount of feathers that had suddenly appeared with no warning at all.
The mass of feathers moved, revealing the laptop for a moment before a hand pushed it closed. Sam's gaze tracked up the arm, landing on Gabriel's face. The Archangel smirked.
"Heya, Sam-a-lam," He paused, noticing Sam wasn't looking at him anymore. "What are you looking at?"
Sam floundered for a moment. "Uh... Um… Wings?" He looked back to Gabriel, who frowned.
"Wings? But there's-" Gabriel followed Sam's gaze, freezing when he realized exactly whose wings Sam was seeing. "You should not be able to see those. Ever. At all." He looked back at Sam, alarmed, and stared at him. He sighed. "Unless Luci did exactly what he has done, and left a tiny bit of his Grace with you. Not enough to track or anything, but enough to have a couple benefits for you."
They stared at each other for a minute, before Dean walked into the motel room.
"Sorry, Sam they didn't have any of your-" He stopped dead, then yelled. "The Hell are YOU doing here?"
A/N: I am ignoring Gabriel's death, in that the events leading up to it still occurred, but his 'death' was another trick (that fooled everyone, including Lucifer). He's shown up to Sam before, but Dean hasn't seen him since his 'death'.