Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, Keefer, kb18142, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, PercyJfan1802, eiahlaie, Akira of the Twilight, Improbabile, soraroxas365, random yet loveable, Chichi-10018, XxZessxX and two guests for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

16

"It'll wash out before tomorrow, right?" Sam asked worriedly, gnawing on his bottom lip.

Dean had disappeared into the bathroom the second Castiel had excused himself, to continue his fight against the pink hair dye. Sure, the younger Winchester had wanted to play a prank on his brother, but the thought that it might stick longer than anticipated bothered him. In the end, it would be Sam's fault, if Dean couldn't enjoy Halloween, because his hair was still pink-ish. Gabriel might have given the hair dye to the younger Winchester in the first place, but it had been Sam's decision to use it. Sam would have to take the blame, if anything went wrong.

"I swear to all that's holy to me, Dean-o won't have any problems being a badass monster hunter for Halloween, munchkin," Gabriel vowed seriously. Even if the dye the archangel had chosen wouldn't keep its promise to wash out again, he'd make sure that every last little trace of pink was gone from Dean's hair before the children went to bed that evening. However, chances were that the older Winchester had already gotten rid of most of the color already. If the twelve year old spent as much time in the shower today and kept washing his hair as vigorously as he had the previous evening, he'd have his natural hair color back before lunchtime.

"And while we wait for your big brother to run out of hot water, we can start with the pie!" Gabriel announced with a grin, getting two medium sized pumpkins out of the pantry. It had been Sam's wish to go trick or treating, because the eight year old thought that it was a normal thing to do at Halloween that also sounded fun. The archangel had figured that the younger Winchester would appreciate some of the other traditions, as well.

"Pumpkin pie?" Sam asked, smiling at the adult as Gabriel put one of the pumpkins and a knife in front of him on the table. To tell the truth, the younger Winchester wouldn't have complained about any activity the adult could have suggested. Gabriel had proven more than often enough that he knew very well how to make a day fun, for all of them. Besides, whatever they were doing, it usually gave Sam the opportunity to talk to the adult or to just be close to him and that was the most important thing to the younger Winchester, anyway.

"We'll have to do something with all the pumpkin stuff that's left over from the Jack O' Lanterns," Gabriel shrugged lightly, winking at the kid. The archangel hadn't expected the boy to get all excited over the prospect of baking – that probably was much more Dean-o's shtick – but carving Jack O' Lanterns was a fun activity for sure.

Sam had seen enough pumpkin lanterns in his life to know what they were supposed to look like, so he didn't hesitate to grab the knife and start to cut out a circle around the stem of the pumpkin. Gabriel smiled to himself, looking at the concentrated look on the younger Winchester's face. The tip of the kid's tongue was even peeking out of the corner of his mouth, as Sam carefully, but with a sure hand, cut a hole into the top of the pumpkin. The whole picture was just too cute. The thought that it might be better to ask the eight year old if he needed help with the knife had crossed the archangel's mind, but the boy obviously had the situation under control.

Gabriel shook his head with a fond smile and pulled the bowl now holding the pumpkin's innards to himself to start plucking the seeds from the flesh. The archangel was pretty sure that the younger Winchester would enjoy some roasted pumpkin seeds and he had to separate them from the rest anyway, before he could puree the innards for the filling of the pie.

"Woah, munchkin, I thought you'd go for a classic face," Gabriel stated astonished, when he looked up from the bowl a few minutes later. The younger Winchester was nowhere near done with the figure he was carving into the pumpkin, but the angel figure was already easily recognizable. It was nowhere near a classic Halloween symbol, but the archangel wasn't going to give a negative word about that. Of course, the eight year old took the comment Gabriel had made as criticism, it was almost like his first reaction to any comment was that he was wrong.

"Did… did you want that? I can… there's still the second…" Sam mumbled, looking at his half-finished angel like he suddenly didn't like the idea he had come up with anymore. The younger Winchester had thought that he could carve an angel into the one pumpkin and a devil into the other one. Maybe he should have started with the devil, that would have looked more appropriate for Halloween. Then Gabriel would have been able to see the logic behind what Sam had been planning, once he would have started with the second one. Then again, maybe the adult had just wanted a classical pumpkin face. The younger Winchester should have asked, dammit!

"No, no, kiddo, it's fine. That looks amazing!" Gabriel clarified, moving his chair closer to Sam's to get a better look and took the chance to bump his shoulder against the kid's amicably. Honestly, the archangel had been sure that the younger Winchester would go for a simple and classic design, because he seemed to like normal things and because – if anything – he seemed to lack a bit of imagination at times.

"Remind me never to upset you. You're damn good with that knife," Gabriel added jokingly, after inspecting the clear and surprisingly fine lines the eight year old had carved into the pumpkin. The archangel couldn't help but wonder, if the knife handling skills were something that came from adult Sam or if eight year old Sammy actually already had those skills. Both options seemed plausible.

"I'd never… I wouldn't want to…" the younger Winchester stuttered, putting the knife aside quickly, but carefully.

Gabriel frowned and put his palm against Sam's back, rubbing it soothingly. The archangel was trying to prepare himself for another conversation that would probably touch him much too deeply, but he had learned in the past days that whatever he was prepared to hear never was what the kid had to say. Unfortunately, what Sam had to say usually was more heartbreaking than Gabriel would anticipate.

"I know that, Sam," the archangel finally stated in a gentle tone, still rubbing the boy's back. When it was about eight year old Sammy, there was no doubt that the kid would never purposely hurt anybody with a knife or otherwise, while the same thing wasn't true for the adult version, Gabriel hadn't lied.

"But…" Sam sighed deeply, not quite meeting the adult's eyes.

"But?" Gabriel asked in an encouraging tone. The archangel might not have been too keen on having the conversation that was going to follow, but they were going to have it. There was something that the kid had to get off his chest. A lot of people – or rather beings – would undoubtedly have had a good laugh, if they ever learned that Loki was willing to repeatedly leave his comfort zone for a little human's sake. It wasn't that often that anything or anybody was important enough for the trickster god to put them over his own preferences.

"D-dad gave me a knife… a while back and… made me practice stuff with it… and Dean… Dean knows how to use… a gun," Sam whispered, leaning into the adult's touch a little more. The younger Winchester didn't want to say anything bad about his father, not even to another adult that he really trusted, but that moment the younger Winchester felt like he would explode, if he didn't speak his mind. "I… I think d-dad wants us to… join the military when we're older, like he did… or something like that."

"And you don't want that," Gabriel stated matter-of-factly. There really was no question about the younger Winchester's preferences in the matter. The way the boy had stammered, fighting for every word and looking like a kicked puppy toward the end of his speech, made it perfectly clear that Sam was unhappy with what he thought was the future their father was planning for them.

"No, I want to… I want to…" Sam had to stop speaking to take a deep breath, before he could put his thoughts into words he could say out loud, as well. "If I could, I'd want to stay here, but that's impossible."

Gabriel had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying that he'd keep the younger Winchester – and his brother – with him in a heartbeat. However, saying anything alike would do more bad than good, for himself especially. Sam might be wrong about the reasons why it was impossible for the two boys to stay with the archangel, but the point that they couldn't – and very soon wouldn't want to – stay still stood. It already hurt just to think about.

"We… we're family… and I don't want to leave dad, you know?" the younger Winchester hurried to add, searching the adult's face to make sure that Gabriel understood that he wasn't trying to be an ungrateful brat. The thought that Sam might have to leave Dean as well as their father, if he could go to live somewhere else, didn't even cross the boy's mind. Not having his older brother by his side was something the younger Winchester couldn't even imagine. Not having John around was something he was used to. "I just wish… I wish he didn't want all this stuff that I don't want."

"You can't change other people, kiddo, that's not in your power," Gabriel shrugged, looking at the kid nearly apologetically. "You can only change yourself."

Technically, changing other people was in the archangel's power. But there really was no way to change the things that John Winchester had done wrong while raising his boys, since both boys were – again, technically – grown up already. Not to mention that history had proven John right with most of his methods. There was a reason that the two Winchesters were still alive and rebelling against both heaven and hell. It wasn't because they had been spoiled rotten as children and had never to deal with any really bad situations before.

"Like… like, running away?" Sam whispered, looking around nervously, as if he feared that someone could overhear them talking and think that they were conspiring.

"That's one way," Gabriel admitted, inclining his head, "But believe me, I wouldn't recommend it. I'm not sure I'd do it again."

The younger Winchester stared at the adult open-mouthed. Sure, there was something a little off about the way Gabriel and Castiel acted around each other, but Sam would have never thought that was because of family issues. The eight year old immediately felt awful for the adult.

"I haven't spoken to any of them in ages. Other than Castiel, I mean. And we only reconnected recently," Gabriel confesses, trying to keep his tone light and a small, forced smile firmly plastered on his face.

"'M sorry," Sam replied sincerely, looking up at the adult from under his bangs before he wrapped his arms around Gabriel's neck for a moment and squeezed lightly. The younger Winchester didn't think that he had hugged or had been hugged by somebody as often as he had in the past few days ever since Dean had decided that he was too old for cuddling. His older brother still hugged him every time it was necessary, but he had stopped doing it for no particular reason more than a year ago.

"It's okay, munchkin," Gabriel smiled, unable to resist ruffling Sam's hair after that sweet, comforting hug he had just received. The archangel decided that it was about time to change the topic and get back to nicer things now. "That angel still needs a second wing, Sambo."

Sam nodded silently and picked the knife back up to work on the other half of his creation. The younger Winchester couldn't help watching Gabriel from the corner of his eyes, though. The thought that the adult would be basically all on his own again, as soon as their father came to pick them up, hit Sam unexpectedly. It was stupid, really. Gabriel probably had a lot of friends he usually met all the time that he just didn't see, because he was babysitting. The adult had two guest rooms in his apartment, so surely there were people who were staying over a lot. The younger Winchester still couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that the adult would be lonely without them.

"That's so girly, Sammy," Dean commented with a snort, looking at the angel his younger brother had carved into the pumpkin. The older Winchester was finally convinced that his hair was back to its natural color and thus had left the shower – that miraculously still had hot water – behind and decided to see what his little brother was up to.

Finding Sam in the process of carving a Jack O' Lantern was a surprise for sure, but it looked like his baby brother was having fun and Dean could hardly object to Sam handling sharp knives. The older Winchester was more interested in the things Gabriel was doing with the pumpkin pieces he was pureeing, anyway. Hopefully, pumpkin puree would mean pumpkin pie and not pumpkin soup! Everything was great as a pie, but that didn't apply for soup.

"Last time I saw you, you had pink hair," Sam shot back, grinning when Dean's eyes widened slightly because of the – completely accurate – accusation. It had probably only just dawned on the older Winchester, that his brother would always have a story to tell about Dean's pink hair whenever he brought up how girly Sam was.

"Whatever, bitch," the older Winchester huffed. Dean would have to find a way to make sure that Sam never brought up the pink hair again, but it wouldn't be easy.

"Jerk," Sam replied, still grinning.