"Sam! Sammy, oh come on wake up Sammy. Snap out of it and tell me I haven't permanently damaged you," Gabriel begged, pleaded, poked, and shook Sam to try and wake him. Nothing worked and the panic wracked him to the core. He cursed himself for letting his Grace get away from him like that, cursed Sam for saying those stupid words. Cursed the stupid human stress relief method of taking long deep breaths because it does not work on archangels who don't need to breathe! Rationalising helped a little: Sam was breathing. He had a pulse. He had no visible injuries, but hell he hadn't gone at him with a chainsaw. Gabriel had felt Sam's acceptance of him before he'd heard those words come out of his mouth. Sam's soul had accepted him, but that didn't mean his mind or body would. Gabriel was afraid, so afraid he'd ruined the best thing he had going for him. Sam's words had felt so pure and honest; like something Gabriel had been searching for without realising.

"Sam you idiot, what've I done," He cupped Sam's cheek and stroked his thumb over the line of his jaw. A groan almost made Gabriel jump in surprise.

"How come I'm the idiot? You did, uh, whatever the hell that was," Sam coughed and tried feebly to sit up.

"Lets not play the blame game Sammy," He moved his hand to Sam's knee to give him a bit of space to move. Sam looked up slowly, wincing slightly until he met Gabriel's eyes and smiled.

"Did you just smite me to get your powers back to normal?"

"Uh no, but ah… maybe should have asked first…"

"What did you do?" Sam sounded as if he were talking to a naughty child; therefore Gabriel found it most appropriate to reply as such.

"Uh hypothetically, if my Grace had reached out to your soul and bonded kind of like Castiel and Dean-o's would you feel a. confused but curious, b. optimistic and content, or c. Gabriel get the hell out of the country cause I'm gonna take and angel blade to your gut," He counted the options off on his fingers before shooting Sam a nervous smile.

"Why did you say your Grace and not you?"

"That wasn't an option," Gabriel protested with a pout; Sam didn't look impressed. "Okay, I thought about it. For proving my Grace was still with me, maybe with your help kind of re-learn to use it. I wasn't planning on suggesting you bonding with me and going through with it though,"

"Why not?" Sam looked hurt and Gabriel really hoped it was just a residual headache or something. He sighed and tried to figure out a coherent way to approach the tricky subject.

"Has Castiel ever thoroughly explained the 'profound bond' he has with your brother?"

"Cas pulled his soul from hell, rebuilt him from the dust up left a mark on his arm which he eventually healed. Never really went into detail."

"Well that's the vaguest you could possibly get." He considered how he could explain this in human terms. He really needed a handbook for dealing with the Winchesters. Perhaps a word of god "Sleep off the lightning bolt Sammy and I'll tell you when you don't look ready to hit the pillows,"

"Gabriel..."

"I'm not having you fall asleep in the middle of my, frankly brilliant storytelling,"

"Fine. Settle down Sammy, you're getting the big boy's version of Grace/soul bonding 101." Gabriel pulled his legs up on to the bed and sat cross-legged at Sam's feet. He ran a hand over Sam's calf and felt the muscles shift beneath the skin. His Grace was there, right under the skin, in the blood and bones. He took a deep breath,

"Castiel might not appreciate you reiterating this to your brother. As close as they may be you brother still has a few problems expressing himself, doesn't he?"

"He's…"

"Got Castiel, which is why he's improving." Sam frowned, not really understanding. "The bond; its more than family or loyalty or love or trust or faith, which is why it really shakes up an angels understanding the more it develops. Something that's greater than what you feel for the Father but something that still has human doubt. There's an Enochian word but it doesn't really translate; kind of says 'I am you and you are me, but I am not you, I am with you. I know you and my choice is my own'," Gabriel hazarded a glance up from his hands to see Sam watching attentively. "Its kind of abstract and none of this is probably making any sense, or will do until you start to feel or notice its effects. It only works if the soul and Grace are willing, another permission thing,"

"And I said…" Confusion, regret, Gabriel didn't want to read whatever was crossing Sam's face so instead pushed the heel of his hands to his eyes.

"I think your soul was rushing up to grab hold of my Grace, and I guess your mind threw away the barrier, rather than take time to make a rational decision,"

"You don't think I'd make this decision anyway,"

"Of course you would, but that doesn't mean you'd make it for the right reasons. Getting dragged along with lost causes is kind of a thing with you,"

"I don't know who that's more insulting to, but I hope you're just saying all this cause you're tired or worried or something,"

"Sam,"

"I can see you, hear you, feel you; now I'm still a little in shock and it's a bit overwhelming since a couple of hours ago I was still trying to convince myself you were actually here. But now, there's no doubt, there's no worry about if I'm going mad, and I've had other archangel hallucinations. You've already said though, with the bond; my choice is my own." He moved over to Gabriel hesitant about reaching over.

"Ugh, don't quote me," He nudged Sam's shoulder with his own. "This is just something more for you to nerd out over isn't it,"

"Probably, but it's not like I'm going to be able to ask Dean of Cas about it,"

"I could just lie to you; if it doesn't noticeably develop you won't have anything to ask about,"

"It took Dean about eight months to pick up telepathy. Now I barely hear them say a word just to each other,"

"Castiel has always been able to read Dean's mind. The bond must have happened when Castiel saved him from Hell. His soul caught hold of Castiel's Grace and held on like a lost child. My little bro must have done a hell of a lot of re-jigging to stop Dean coming out of the ground with more than just a scar on his arm."

"What do you mean?"

"I said how our Grace is like a soul mate; fits all the gaps, completes us etcetera. A bond has the potential to share everything. Since my Grace wants nothing to do with me at the moment I could teach you how to access it, Dean could do the same only I doubt Castiel wants to tell Dean he's had unconscious angel powers all these years,"

"You just said you'd lie to me and then you say that," Sam rolled his eyes.

"Fine, picture a Twix bar,"

"A Twix bar?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement

"I want one, humour me," Gabriel told him, waving off the comment

"Okay,"

"Now see yourself picking it up or it dropping into my lap. Its more than imagining it, you know its happening,"

"You always snapped your fingers,"

"That's because I'm showy. Some angels mimic the action, some wink or blink; if you're Michael you wave a derisory hand. You don't have to."

"Right,"

"Come on, you can make dinner and try again later," Gabriel jumped to his feet grabbed hold of Sam's hand and suddenly found himself staring at the kitchen counters.

"Oh God don't do that," Sam groaned hand over his forehead."

"Me don't do that!" Gabriel exclaimed. He reached out his thoughts to try and feel for his Grace and wings. The emptiness of feeling was still there

"That was me?"

"If I could feel my wings I'd be hitting you over the back of the head,"

"But I didn't think about doing that!" Sam yelled

"Perhaps you picked up a few holy vessel tricks along the way,"

"Gabriel,"

"Just no angel blades or exploding me to oblivion; 'kay?" He said, patting Sam's arm and directing him to the fridge.

"Like I know what I'm doing,"

"Just avoid thinking about those things,"

"Don't think of pink elephants," Sam grumbled as he started pulling out various things for dinner.