Gabe knew he was asleep. He always knew, the feeling of floating in liquid gave it away. He was almost certain he was aware of the feeling because this whole sleeping thing wasn't meant for him in the beginning, like his alive status. Gabriel believed whole heartedly that he should be dead for not only what he did, but for the simple fact it would have been easier for everyone. It wasn't fair for Sam to have to share his home and take care of him while his brother was out there, Cas shouldn't have to stay in his bed just for Gabriel to feel safe, and Amy should certainly not be cuddling or soothing him when he had had a bad dream.
Gabe pushed the thoughts from his mind as he enjoyed the feeling of nothing for a change. The dream was nice even if it was fake; Sam leaned against Gabe as they watched the TV screen, the ex angel gave a contented sigh and pushed himself harder against the hunter.
If he let his mind wander he could almost believe this was real, where he could sit beside the hunter and not have to worry about having a panic attack. That was until...
"Little slut."
Gabe jumped up straight, a cold feeling slowly spread through his body as he realised who the voice belonged to.
"You know better then to run away, pet."
He tried desperately to move, but the owner of the voice seemed to have frozen him. He tried to make a noise to warn Sam, but the human continued to watch the screen. He didn't move even when the reason Gabe's heart thumped wildly appeared in front of them.
It smiled at Gabriel as it raised it's clawed hand, "This is why you are so happy?" it hummed as it pointed at Sam. It then trailed the claw down Sam's face and traced a line across his neck, "I told you before, pet. You don't deserve to be happy." And with that it slit Sam's throat from ear to ear.
It laughed while Gabriel watched in frozen horror at the youngest Winchester choked on his own blood and painted the floor red.
The thing leaned toward Gabe, until it almost touched him, "I will find you, I will take you back. But not before I let you watch him die, along with those two weak angels you so love." finally the spell had been broken at the last words were snarled at the ex angel. Gabriel instantly let out a scream.
Amy let out a screech when Gabe all but threw her off him, she had been curled around him as he slept. Her landing was all but graceful and Gabe felt sorry after the wave of relief washed over him, this was quickly revived when he remembered Sam.
He lept from the bed and raced down the corridor and through Sam's door before the hunter had registered a threat. Sam braced for impact, hand ready to grab his knife when the opportunity arose.
Gabe grabbed Sam's face and gently pushed his head up to look at his neck. "Gabe?"
Gabriel sagged when he saw no sliced skin or reddened clothes and wrapped his arms around the man.
Sam said nothing else, but he did hug Gabe back as if his life depended on it. Amy appeared in the doorway, looking ruffled and vaguely ill, "Is he...is he Ok?"
Sam shrugged as much as he could with his arms full of a now sobbing Gabriel. Sam rubbed circles into his back and attempted to comfort the distraught man, Sam had been sitting on the bed and almost chocked when Gabe slowly crawled to lay beside him. Gabriel was seeking comfort from Sam for the first time since Cas brought him home.
"Gabe, are you Ok?" He whispered, smaller man shook his head. Silence blanketed them for a few more minuets, "Wanna talk about it?" another head shake.
Amy slowly stepped into the darkened room and switched on the table lamp, the ex-angels shoulders seemed the relax as the soft light bathed him in a muted orange. Carefully Amy lowered herself on the other side of Gabe, she squeaked when Gabe instantly wrapped an arm around her. His arm bent at a weird angle under him as he tried to keep both Sam and Amy close to him, he let out a stuttered breath and relaxed fully. Amy had been pulled face first on to the bed, but dared not move as Gabe's breath evened out.
Neither Sam nor Amy dared to speak and tried their best to sleep too.
It was that same night Sam had had been contacted by a fellow hunter. There was a lead on Dean, apparently a demon had been bragging about watching the oldest Winchester - and knight of hell - nearly beat a guys face in. From the limited resources Sam had, he knew the fiery pits of hell were abuzz with the news or their new knight.
But a small ball of guilt settled in the man's gut when he thought of leaving the recovering Gabriel behind. He had seen how the ex-angel had dealt with his belief that Sam had up and left him, what would he do if he knew for sure the younger Winchester was not in the vicinity? Not only that but only a couple hours after his panic filled post nightmare freak out.
It could be argued that Amy was right here and she would call if he was needed. But she was just as easy to panic as Gabriel was, her fear of the door being closed as well as loud noises proved that.
But this was Dean, who gave up his childhood for him.
They were both asleep, so if he was quick he would be back before either of them knew he was gone. Again there was the problem of one of them waking before he was back, and he really didn't know how long this would take.
But it was Dean, who had made sure that every Christmas Sam would get a present.
Besides, Amy was another angel and wasn't used to torture Gabriel. Surely she would have better luck calming the jittery man than Sam could, she had done it before when Gabriel had fallen asleep on her.
Because this was Dean. The father John never was and the only reason Sam had lived this long. If not for his brother then the younger Winchester would have died a long time ago, maybe even in the fire that killed their Mom.
And it was because of Dean that Sam wrote a hasty note before scooping up the keys to a borrowed – stolen – pick-up and proceeded to continue his quest to get his brother back.
The bunker was impenetrable anyway, right?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They say when something is wrong you wake with a start. But that's not how Gabriel awoke, still wrapped in the arms of Amy. It was nice to wake up to the feeling of family, as Amy slept with her grace also encircling Gabriel. The ex-angel, despite not having his grace intact, could feel how cracked and charred her grace was. It seemed to be healing, but it was still a testament to her horror filled days with him next to his cell.
But that wasn't what woke him, and neither was it the usual nightmares that Amy seemed to have spared him from this time.
No it was more like an emptiness, like something that was there before had gone. For some reason his mind jumped to Sam, thinking the hunter was in trouble. But there was no evidence of that, he had only just woken up and it wasn't to screaming. Both from him or another person.
Despite this he decided to leave him exhausted recovering sister to sleep and investigate this strange disturbance. A disturbance in the force you might say.
Gabe gave a small smile before he ducked his head, his eyes scanned the room to make sure no one was going to punish him. He then slowly pried himself out of the grasp of his younger sister and slowly realised where he was.
Sam's room.
It all came back to him, the nightmare, seeing Sam safe, and falling asleep with both cupid and hunter by his sides.
Panic instantly set in when he registered the empty spot where a certain gigantor should be asleep. Gabe jumped from the bed, waking Amy in his terrified state, and ran to the kitchen in case Sam had wanted to get breakfast. He almost collapsed in sobs when he saw the empty room, and all other rooms he had pasted had been just as empty. Amy quickly sat her brother on a chair and pulled the yellowed note from the fridge.
"Gabe, Amy.
Gone out. Be back soon, don't leave the bunker.
-Sam"
Amy finished as she smiled at Gabe, "See he's fine, just gone out for a bit. So there's no need to worry, brother." Her cheery attitude had no affect on the look of horror growing across his face.
Again he was on his feet and this time racing for the door with a screach of, "He'll kill him!"
Though when he finally flung the door open he froze.
"Hello, Pet."
