"Daddy! Daddy! I missed you, Daddy!" was the first noise that Sam heard as he walked through the door of his home. He and Gabriel had bought the house soon after they returned from their island getaway and installed all the various wards on it, making sure that nothing could get in without an express invitation.

"Hey, baby girl, I missed you too," Sam said wearily as he scooped the little body into his arms and gave it a fierce hug. Sam was exhausted. The hunt that he and Dean had been on was a lot more difficult than anticipated because they were severely outnumbered and they didn't really have the equipment to kill everything.

"Where did you go, Daddy?"

"Not very far, honey."

"It was too far, in my opinion," came a snarky reply from the door to the kitchen where Gabriel was holding a bowl of cookie dough, spoon in hand. Isabella squealed as she wiggled out of Sam's arms and ran to Gabriel, expecting a sweet treat.

Great, get her high on sugar and let her run wild. Good plan, Gabe, especially when I was up all night with Dean and a nest of vampires.

Well, it's not my fault that Dean is terrible at research. Anyway, I was planning on letting you sleep and taking the little tyke to Bobby's for a few hours. She misses him, and I'm assuming that's where Dean and Cas are?

Yeah, they went back to Bobby's to look into some sigils that Cas found.

"Daddy? Papa? Why aren't you talking? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, baby, everything is okay," Sam reassured her from the chair that he had collapsed into.

"Yeah, everything is great. Hey, what do you think about going to Grandpa's today, Squirt?"

"YAY!" Isabella screamed as she ran to her room, making sure that she had all the coloring books that she wanted to take with her to color for Bobby. There was now a wall in the kitchen devoted to the drawings that Isabella had made for him, and there was always room to squeeze a few more up.

This was the ritual that they had gotten into the habit of. Sam, Dean and Castiel would go on hunts that were close to home every few weeks. The days that Sam was gone, Gabriel would watch Isabella and make sure that Sam was okay via Castiel. When they got back, Sam would sleep for a few hours and Gabriel would take Isabella to Bobby's where Gabriel would get the details of the next hunt that they the boys were planning on taking on. Then Gabriel and Isabella would come home and see Sam and be a normal family. Well, as normal as you could be with an archangel turned trickster turned archangel as a husband and a nephilim as a child.

"So," Gabriel said from the kitchen, "Sounds like you had a rough night. You want to take a nap and catch a few hours while I take the squirt to her Grandpa's?" Gabriel asked as he walked back into the living room, this time without the cookie dough.

"That sounds so good right now, you have absolutely no idea," Sam said through a sigh.

"Oh, I think I know. But the other idea that I had running through my head was that I would drop the squirt off at Bobby's and then I could come home and we could spend some quality time together. We haven't had a second to ourselves between the hunts that you go on all the time and the little tyke that we have running around the house," Gabriel explained as he walked over to Sam and perched on the taller man's lap, leaning his mouth in close to Sam's.

Sam had to smile at that. No matter what the circumstances, Gabe always had a way to make him smile. "That also sounds really good, Gabe. Whatever you want to do. But if I could get just a few hours to sleep before we spend some quality time together, that would be great."

"Of course, Sam. Anything you want," Gabriel said with a smile and a sweet, chaste kiss. There were plans, of course, to make it just a touch more passionate, but the soft patter of feet came down the hall and so the kiss stayed sweet.

"Okay, all ready!" Isabella called ahead as she raced back from her room, her Tinkerbell book bag looking too big and heavy for her small body. Gabriel climbed off of Sam and grabbed the bag from her and then scooped her up and started to growl into her neck, sending the little girl into hysterical giggles.

"Say goodbye to Dad?"

"Bye Dad! See you tonight!" Isabella called happily from Gabriel's arms.

Sam gathered the last of his energy and forced himself out of the chair that he was sitting in and strode over to two of the most important people in his life. He kissed Isabella quickly on the forehead and said goodbye to his daughter.

"Let me know when you're coming home," he asked Gabriel?

"Of course, Sam." Gabriel kissed Sam on the cheek and returned his gaze to the little girl in his arms.

"Okay Izzy, away we go!" Gabriel yelled as they disappeared in a rustle of wings.

Sam smiled in spite of himself. He was sore and he was tired and all he wanted to do was sleep for a week and then get healed and then get laid. He missed Gabriel and he wanted to see his daughter, but they would be home soon. So instead of pining, Sam took a shower and climbed into the massive bed that Gabriel insisted that they have. The mattress was soft and the pillows were fluffy and it only took a moment for Sam to fall asleep, still smiling.

It wasn't the perfect apple pie life, but he wouldn't have it any other way.