I'm sageclover61 over on AO3, and if you've ever checked my account there you will have noticed that over there, Paradise is the series title. This is the first chapter of the newest arc, this arc going by the title Convergence.
Sam leaned his head forward, pressing it against Gabriel's chest, and yawned. He was so tired of being perpetually exhausted, but Gabriel never judged. At times, Sam wondered if maybe the archangel liked the change of pace.
They were cuddling on Sam's bed in the hotel. Dean had left with Cas earlier and his archangel had dropped by.
"You don't have to stay awake for me," Gabriel whispered into Sam's hair. Sam barely had the opportunity to think 'Don't leave,' before the trickster pagan archangel was continuing, "I'll stay right here as long as you want me to. But this is nice."
"Have things to do," Sam tried to argue. But it was a weak excuse these days. He suspected it might be the pillow Castiel had given him, but he'd been sleeping better than he'd ever slept before. And far too much. If his alarms were within arms reach, they didn't go off. And the distance they had to be from the bed was increasing. Dean had been pissed, but he hadn't asked about it yet.
"You can't function without sleep, Sam. I think Cas and Dean are going to be gone all day, we could do something fun when you wake up." Gabriel had been visiting Sam with a greater frequency since initiating the courting bond, and they went and did things together. They'd seen some movies in theaters, ate at fancy restaurants around the world, toured a few museums. And on one notable occasion, Gabriel even found Sam a quick hunt and went on it with him.
Sam was happy, genuinely blissful for the first time in a long time. "Thank you," he mumbled, leaning further towards Gabriel as the archangel pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. Fighting sleep was still first nature, but the relaxed state of listening to Gabriel's steady heartbeat, why do archangels have heartbeats- was as good as sleeping.
The door opened, but it wasn't Dean and it didn't bang open like it would have if it had been. The sound also didn't wake Sam, who had finally fallen asleep in Gabriel's arms.
"Hey, Gabe? Can you keep an eye on Samandriel for a few hours?"
Gabriel glanced at the doorway, where Aziraphale and Samandriel were standing. "Sure, I guess." He liked the small fledgling, and there was no reason for Sami to not stay with him and Sam on Earth for a few hours while Azi did whatever it was that required the fledgling to not be in Heaven. Which, all things considered, was probably for the best since it seemed pretty likely that Azi was looking for the opportunity to talk to his twin without any possible chance of Raphael's fledgling eavesdropping. And if Gabriel was going to try this courting thing, he would have to eventually find out if Sam could get along with Sami.
Which was how Sam woke up with a small child sleeping beside him. The child appeared to be about five or six at the most, and was wrapped in a light blue blanket. From the angle the blanket was wrapped, Sam could see wings poking out from underneath. "Hey, Gabe?" he called out. "Who is this, why is there a fledgling in my bed?"
The fledgling blinked up at him, sleepily. "I's Sami! Azi broughted me!"
Azi, short for Aziraphale, Sam assumed, filing the information into his head. He didn't remember Gabriel or Castiel mentioning any fledglings in their flock, but that might have been information left out for the protection of said fledgling. Wait. Hadn't God created all the angels long before he'd left, such that they should all have been adults?
Gabriel stepped into view, holding a kettle with one hand and whisking the contents with the other. "Sam-a-lam! I'm glad you're awake! I was just making pancakes. This is Raph's fledgling, Samandriel. Samandriel, I'd like you to meet Sam."
Sami blinked up at Sam. He squinted, and Sam wondered if the fledgling was trying to get around the similarity between the sounds in the two names. He didn't say anything, because he didn't have a nickname that would help out the fledgling.
"Tha's Samael's short name," the fledgling whined, pouting as he pulled his blanket close. "Can't be your name, 's not yours!"
Sam blinked at Samandriel, confused as to how to proceed. "Okay, what name do you think I should go by? It's the only one I have that's not an indication of family."
The fledgling squinted harder. "Then… Then… You's should be-" But the fledgling had no idea what other name this Sam should go by. There was no easy way to shorten it further and he didn't know enough about the human to give him an entirely new name.
"Samandriel, why don't we figure out what to call him later, and have a snack?" Sam looked up to see Gabriel walking towards him, carrying a tray of various foods. "Azi and Raph will get a bit mad at me if I don't have you eat something, so why not think while you eat?"
The fledgling looked deep in thought for several moments, before nodding as he scootched closer to Sam to make room for Gabriel to sit next to them. "Guess so."
"Weren't you just making pancakes?" Sam asked, confused by the spread appearing to be everything except pancakes.
Gabriel merely smirked. "Yeah, but that was before Sami here woke up. Kiddo's more used to things like finger foods, and I figured that your nice, comfy bed wasn't the place to test if he's ready to graduate to a fork and knife." There was a pause as they watched Samandriel reach for some of the small sandwiches. "Besides, I happen to know that finger food is more fun than real food."
Sam rolled his eyes, glaring at Gabriel lightly. "Gabriel….."
"What?" The archangel was grinning, entirely unrepentant for his innuendo in front of the fledgling.
Sam shook his head, deciding that it wasn't worth it to say anything else. He took a strawberry from the plate. It was tender, but not overripe. Certainly better than pancakes. As he glanced down at the fledgling who had juice dripping down his chin, he decided that Gabriel probably had a point. He didn't really want syrup all over his brand new pillow.
And if their conversation really was going over the fledgling's head, who certainly wasn't paying attention to them… He leaned forward to give Gabriel a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'd certainly be open to trying whatever you had in mind," he whispered.
Gabriel ducked his head. He had complete control over his vessel and so wasn't blushing, but it was a near thing. "Maybe we can talk about it later?"
They ate mostly in silence after that, except for Samandriel rambling on about everything in the way that fledglings do.
"You's can be Sam," the fledgling declared.
Sam dutifully hummed in agreement, but he'd barely heard the sound through his fog muddled thoughts. Gabriel and Samandriel had been talking at a reasonable level, so it was really easy to let the perpetual exhaustion take control for a little while. Gabriel would be on high alert protecting the fledgling, there was no way they were anything but safe and sometimes the thought of sleep just felt so nice.
He felt something warm and heavy against his side and shoulder. It was soft, and he didn't feel like opening his eyes when he already knew he wouldn't see anything. Gabriel was tactile, of course it was a wing.
All too soon the door banged open louder than the person likely intended. That was Dean's thing, and he was really good at it. "Hey, Sammy!"
There was an awkward pause as Dean's gaze found the archangel, the child with mint green wings fluttering with agitation, and his had been sleeping brother.
"Uh… Sam? Who's the kid?"
Sam stared blearily at Dean. "This is Sami." He placed emphasis on the second syllable in an attempt to get his brother to catch what he was implying.
Sami pouted. "I's Sammy," he agreed. "Who's you?" he asked in Dean's direction.
"That's my big brother, Dean. He called me the wrong name without knowing it was yours, but big brothers have special privileges when it comes to name calling. And I promise he won't do it again while you're here."
Sami frowned slightly, tilting his head slightly as he turned to look at Dean. "You's a big brother?"
Dean grinned. "Yep! I've been a big brother for as long as so can remember. What about you? Are you a big brother?"
"No," Sami answered, pouting. "But you hasta teach me! Imma be the bestest bigged brother!"
Both Sam and Dean blinked in confusion.
Gabriel looked at Samandriel. He was in so much trouble. "Sami, Kiddo, you're the only fledgling in our nest."
"No! Bestest brother."
Dean walked towards the bed. "Well, it couldn't hurt to teach you a few things about being an older brother. I always protect my little brother, even when I'm mad at him. And there's things I get to say to him that no one else in the world can even think ."
Dean folded himself onto the end of the bed, settling in to tell Sami the better stories he could think of about being an older brother.
And Sam watched. The fledgling crawled over to sit in front of Dean and Gabriel shifted so he was cuddling Sam. Saw was still exhausted, but Dean's storytelling had always been too enthralling to sleep during.
"I'm sorry I'm so boring," Sam whispered to the archangel sometime later, when Dean was talking about the rabbit's foot and Sam's missing shoe.
"You're not boring," Gabriel whispered back. "There's nothing wrong with a quiet day, and Samandriel seems to be really enjoying story time with your brother."
"Dean's bestest at storytime," he giggled. He yawned, closing his eyes as Gabriel brushed his forehead with a hand then kissed his cheek.
Despite his desire to continue listening to Dean's stories, Sam did end up falling asleep in Gabriel's arms.
"Okay, Buddy," Gabriel said a while later. "We should probably think about heading home."
"No!" Samandriel left Dean's side, crawling over to carefully slide himself against Sam's back. Sam didn't stir at all. "Wanna stay here."
Gabriel rolled his eyes, but relented. "Alright, but if you wake Sam, we're leaving."
They didn't end up staying until Sam woke up because Aziraphale let Gabriel know that if it wasn't too much of an inconvenience, he could bring Sami back whenever he wanted to. He hoped that maybe leaving, Sami would get the idea of 'learning how to be an older brother' out of his head. Yes it was an open secret that Mikha and Heylel thought they were ready to start having children and were trying pretty hard to have said children, but that didn't mean that Sami was supposed to know about it or that Rafa would appreciate Sami mentioning it in every other breath.
Dean woke Sam up about half an hour after Gabriel left. "Hey, Sleepyface, wake up. If you sleep all day, how are you supposed to sleep tonight ?"
Sam was pretty sure that he could sleep all day and sleep all night, but he was also pretty sure that wasn't what his brother really wanted to hear, so he didn't say it. "Did you find a hunt?" he asked instead.
"Since you've been neglecting the search, yes, I did. It's a long drive, so you can sleep in the car."
Sam slept the entire car ride. With the pillow from Cas tucked against the doorframe of the impala, he slept better than he had since he'd been a child, tucked safely against Dean, lulled by the purring engine.
"I'm not sure what's going on with you," Dean said when they were sitting at the table in the new hotel room. "But I need you to tell me if you're not okay, not feeling well enough to have my back. You know how dangerous hunting can be if your head's not in the game."
"I'm fine!" Sam insisted, gulping his coffee. He knew what could happen if he couldn't get rid of the fog in his brain that just wouldn't go away. He couldn't get Dean killed because he couldn't focus.
"Okay, well, I'm going to get some sleep. If you can keep from falling asleep for five minutes, you should do some research."
Sam did the research. And fell asleep on the couch. And the hunt was more or less a success. Even if Cas showing up ended up being a good thing for Dean because Sam well… Nobody knew.
"We have babysitting duty," Gabriel declared about half a week later at the next hotel room they were staying in. He was bouncing a giggling Sami on his hip and looked quite pleased with himself.
"Good morning, Sami," Sam said, walking towards them.
"Sam!" Sami raised his arms in the universal sign of "hold me". "Up! Up! You's tall!"
Sam took Sami from Gabriel and then put the fledgling on his shoulders. "Is that better?"
"Woah!"
Sam grinned, then walked around the room. The fledgling squealed when Sam stopped and straightened randomly as he moved.
"Pway game?" Sami asked when Sam started a second loop.
"What if we play hide and seek outside?" Gabriel suggested.
"Yes!" Sami exclaimed. "Down, Sam!"
Sam laughed and put the fledgling down. He grabbed his coat and followed Gabriel and the fledgling outside. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sam whispered to Gabriel. "I don't want to lose Sami."
"It'll be great! Sami, you and I'll hide and Sam can look for us. Sam, please cover your eyes and count, loudly to 100!"
Sam counted. He was going to never find Sami, and then he was going to either kill Gabriel or make the archangel smite him before the rest of the archangels found out he lost their child. He sniffled.
The temperature dropped and Sam worried further. Sami lived in Heaven, which was probably warm. What if the fledgling couldn't handle the cold?
It was April. Not very far into it. A little late for the temperature to drop, but not totally unheard of.
"Ready or not, here I come!" he shouted.
He'd find the fledgling first, let Gabe count the next time. If he hid with the fledgling, he wouldn't have to worry about losing him.
Ten minutes into looking, it started snowing. Sam was cold, and tired, and his nose was running, and he was going to murder his boyfriend.
In the end, Sam found neither Gabriel, nor the fledgling, but Sami found him. "Sam! I's cold!"
The fledgling was shivering, wings shaking out the snow and trembling. Sam picked him up, unzipping his jacket because he couldn't think of a better way to offer the fledgling warmth. And then he headed back towards the motel because he knew he needed to get them both warm.
Gabriel came back to the room a little while later to find Sam and the fledgling curled up on the bed, bedding piled up around them. They were both shivering.
"Hey, Sam, you still awake?" he asked quietly as he approached.
"Mmm," Sam mumbled. His arms tightened around the fledgling and he shivered harder.
"I think Sami decided he wanted it to snow, but I counteracted most of it so people will just think there was an unpredicted spring storm. You okay?"
"Cold." Sam sniffled in emphasis.
A few minutes later, two figures appeared in the doorway. Michael as the very young John Winchester and Lucifer in his normal vessel except Nick had long since ceased falling apart.
Michael was holding a folded blanket and on top of it was a pillow. They appeared to be fleece and looked very soft.
Gabriel grinned when he saw them and ran over to hug them both.
"You're here to meet my intended, right? You have to come meet Sam."
"I was a little worried about the snowstorm," Michael admitted. "Everything all right down here?"
"Sami got a little excited while we were playing hide and seek, but no harm no foul and he's just fine. If a little cold." Gabriel dragged his older brothers over to the bed. "Sam, Mikha and Heylel wanted to come say hello."
"Hello," Sam said, turning his head to look at them. He was bleary eyed and didn't see them very well, and didn't make an effort to move much because he was just so cold.
"We'll come say hi sometime when you're move awake," Michael promised. "But we brought a blanket and pillow for you in the meantime."
Gabriel got Sam to lift his head so that Michael's pillow could go next to the one Castiel had given them, and Heylel carefully draped the blanket over the human and fledgling. Sam hummed in appreciation.
"We came to pick up Sami," Heylel said quietly. "But they look so cozy, I don't want to move them."
"If someone doesn't come to get him later, I'll bring him back tonight," Gabriel replied. "See you later?"
The older archangels nodded and flew off.
Gabriel laid down on the bed next to Sam and woke up from a light doze to find Sami standing next to Raphael and the healer tucking a blanket that had already been wrapped around Sam over him. It didn't have the same feeling as the one Mikha had brought, and instead felt strongly of Raphael's grace.
"Your mate's taken a bit of a cold, but it's just from exhaustion, he'll be fine," Raphael promised. "I'm going to take my fledgling home so you two can get some more sleep, there's a bowl of soup here that'll stay warm until you're both ready to eat it. Go back to sleep, Gabby. You both deserve it."