Chapter 35

I want to thank those of you who added this story to your favourites and followed, as well as those who reviewed: HuntingWithAngels, Nerdette92, Gustin, sushiroll13.

WARNINGS: nothing much, just remember that Sam is still fourteen years old and I apologise if his relationship with Gabriel bothers you; let me remind you it is purely innocent and I plan to keep it that way, as well as Castiel and Dean's. All fluff, hopefully you don't explode (that goes to you, dear Nerdette92, I don't want to get sued).

…~)*(~…

Young hearts be free tonight. time is on your side,

Don't let them put you down, don't let em push you around,

Don't let em ever change your point of view.

Young hearts gotta run free, be free, live free

Time is on, time is on your side

Time, time, time, time is on your side

~Young Turks by Rod Stewart

He closed his eyes inhaling the strong scent as the liquid burned down his throat, it hit the pit of his stomach heavily yet it was pleasurable. His pupils dilated with each gulp, he could feel himself becoming energised and dizzy. He wanted to dance, he wanted to laugh and make others laugh.

"Okay, that's enough for you, Gabriel." Lucifer shook his head as he retrieved the empty glass from the boy's hands.

"Just a little more, pleeeaaase?" he held on to his brother's arm.

"No, you're going to get drunk and you shouldn't even be drinking this anyway." he pushed away the younger boy from his arm, earning a pout.

"But-!"

"Gabriel, understand what 'no' means." interrupted Michael. "Please go sit down." he grabbed the bottle of wine from the counter to place it back in the wine cabinet in the office.

"Fine." Gabriel jumped off the stool with a pout. "Come on, Sam, let's go annoy Cassie!" he cheered pulling Sam's hand.

"You're so childish, Gabe." the boy rolled his eyes as he followed.

"Well, I would be no fun if were like Michael or the others." he grinned, Sam shook his head with a smile. They left the room with their hands intertwined, Michael and Lucifer chuckled as they watched them leave.

"He seems happy." Michael commented after the boys disappeared; Lucifer turned to look at his brother with a small smile.

"They all are." he nodded. Michael was silent for a moment as he stared at the floor.

"Did you mean it?" he questioned quietly.

"What?" he furrowed his brows looking at Michael.

"Will you always be here for me? Will you help me?" he lifted his head to face his brother.

"I meant it and I keep my word." he assured.

"Will you-" Michael hesitated, he composed his position, straightening his back and his shoulders. "Will you help me with all this?"

"As long as you let me." he gave a small nod. "As I said before, you don't have to go through it alone."

"Father, he will be disappointed in me." he glanced at the light above him.

"Who cares what he thinks. Mum would have never approved of him and she would want you to be happy." he folded his arms across his chest.

"I shall explain to him-" he placed his hand on his clavicle under his shirt. "It is affecting my health."

"Hey, Michael." the older man turned to his brother, "Everything's going to be fine. If he gets angry, let him. He hasn't exactly been there for us so I don't see why he should try to tell us how to manage our lives and everything. We can do it ourselves, and better than him."

"I don't want to move the kids back." he shook his head slightly, Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows as he walked towards his brother, stopping in front of him.

"Then don't. We can keep them here, they seem happy here." he shrugged.

"They must return to school soon, they have been absent for too long and it affects their attendance record to graduate."

"Home school. We can afford it." he suggested with a half smirk, Michael sighed.

"Not all of them, the Winchesters can, Balthazar can, I do not know about Bae-Yung, we could offer to pay for his, though I doubt his parents would accept that."

"He's going to school right now."

"It is far from this house."

"So? We take him everyday, besides, the boy's eighteen, he can move out of his parent's house to this one." he folded his arms across his chest.

"We can not make decisions for him, Lucian," the younger man rolled his eyes.

"I am just suggesting."

"We are going too far with this, they should return to school soon." Michael ran a hand through his hair as he thought. "Perhaps we should discuss this later, I am exhausted and it has been a long day." Lucifer smiled placing his hand on the older man's shoulder.

"Let's go, Mikie, let's go have some fun!" he pat his brother's shoulder.

"Lucian." he smirked.

"Lucifer, Mikie, Lucifer." he teased.

"Lucian." Michael chuckled as they walked out the door and his brother gave up.

"He is threatening me! Can't you see him?!" Balthazar exclaimed pointing at Aziraphale, who sat next to Crowley with a confused expression on his face. Bae-Yung sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, he reached for Balthazar's hand pulling him onto his lap.

"Hey, look at me." he held the boy's face between his hands, Balthazar blinked twice before focusing on the older boy. "No one is trying to hurt you. It is all your imagination."

"But-!" Bae-Yung put his index on the boy's lips.

"You're just paranoid." Balthazar gave him a small frown, "Just focus on me and it'll go away." he placed his lips gently on the younger boy's; his heart jumped at the touch and the flutter in his stomach made him smile.

"Okay." he nodded claiming another chaste kiss from his boyfriend.

"Come on, you two! Get a room!" Gabriel stormed into the room being carried by Sam on a piggyback ride.

"Dude! Are you using my brother as transportation?" Dean question furrowing his brows in slight worry and amusement.

"He said he was strong enough to carry me!" he grinned.

"You're not heavy." the younger boy chuckled, Gabriel smiled as he placed a kiss on the boy's cheek, making Dean roll his eyes and Castiel smile.

"Can I get down now?" Sam nodded.

"Sure." he let Gabriel down from his back, proceeding to stretch his muscles.

"You should give me a piggyback ride up the stairs next!" Gabriel grinned as he rocked back and forth on his heels, Sam's eyes widened.

"Do you want to kill me?"

"But you said I'm not heavy!" he pouted.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna carry you up the stairs! What if I miss a step and we both fall?"

"Oh." he seemed to think for a moment, then smiled. "Then I should carry you up stairs!"

"Gabriel. No." he spoke with a serious expression.

"Fine!" he snarled discontented. He dropped down on the sofa next to Balthazar and Bae-Yung as he looked around the room; Crowley and Aziraphale sat adjacent to each other by the chimney, discussing events as they played chess. Castiel sat on the sofa by the window with a book in his hands, and Dean across the sofa with his head resting on Castiel's lap. Anna and Raphael were playing scrabble on the floor, Anna was winning by more points and she smiled proudly. Sam sat on the armrest next to Gabriel; Michael and Lucifer were entering the room as Gabriel glanced at the door.

"It's too quieeet!" Gabriel complained throwing his hands in the air. "Mikie, let us play music! I wanna dance!"

"Would you like me to play the piano? I will play it for you." he responded, raising his eyebrows.

"I meant hyperactively, upbeat, modern, crappy music, not instrumental." he rolled his eyes at the older man.

"I can play something upbeat." he shrugged, "and Lucian can sing for you." Lucifer turned to his brother between confused and glaring.

"Anna should play the cello, Cassie the violin and I'll get the guitar for Dean-o!" he jumped to his feet with a grin on his face.

"Whoa! What now?" Dean sat up rapidly, knocking the book out of Castiel's hand.

"Dean." Castiel sighed.

"Sorry." he retrieved the book from the floor to place it back on Castiel's hands.

"Play the guitar!" Gabriel beamed with excitement.

"Why?" he glanced at everyone in the room before focusing on Gabriel.

"Because," he rolled his eyes dramatically, "it'll be fun."

"Is, uh- everybody up for some music?" Michael looked around the room; Anna smiled as she nodded, Dean sighed a "sure", Castiel nodded and Lucifer shrugged.

"Go get your instruments, and Gabriel," he pointed at the boy who was already by the door, "Do not break them." Michael gave Gabriel a warning look, who in return squinted at his brother before running upstairs enthusiastically; Anna and Castiel followed him.

Michael uncovered the piano resting at the back of the room, the sheet made dust particles fly in the air. Lucifer sneezed since he was closer to the piano than Michael. "I apologise. Bless you." he gave his brother an apologetic look. He cleaned the dust away from the piano bench before he sat upon it.

He remembered. He could still see Charmeine playing Pachelbel's Canon in D as he and Lucifer sat on either side of her; her long and graceful fingers reaching for each key with agility and perfection. He was amazed and charmed by the melody reaching his ears. A small smile crept upon his lips as he played the same piece as his mother. His eyes locked with that of his brothers and he could see the reminiscence in them; it made his heart ache knowing they would never see her again. Lucifer stood on the right side of Michael still staring into his brother's eyes, the corners of his lips curled into a smile, admiring the skills his brother possessed, how beautifully he played the same melody their mother used to play for them. He missed her.

"You remember." he muttered, Michael gave him a small smile in response.

"Walk faster, Anna!" they could hear Gabriel's annoyed voice coming from upstairs.

"Stop pushing me! It's a heavy and delicate instrument, Gabriel." she responded with a glare, Gabriel sighed impatiently behind her.

So, what are we playing?" Dean turned to Michael in question, Gabriel sat in front of Anna with the cello.

"Wait! You guys should play Viva La Vida!" he beamed.

"Viva la what?" asked Anna confused, Gabriel made an exaggerated expression of shock.

"Gabriel, I don't know that song." Michael frowned, Lucifer chuckled in amusement.

"Fine! What song do you guys know?"

"Enter Sadman." Lucifer grinned, Michael made a displeased face at his brother, who simply shrugged. Dean grinned widely at the suggestion, Anna and Castiel seemed indifferent.

"What?" Lucifer shrugged at Michael again, since the man did not remove his eyes from him, rather gave him an odd look.

"You are tiresome with your music preferences." Michael shook his head, "Do any of you know the song?" he turned to the teens with the instruments, they replied with varying tones of a "yes".

He brought the bench closer to the piano at a more proper distance. He stretched his fingers as he tried to remember the melody from the many times Lucifer played it to full volume in the car or while they worked on projects together in the office; he breathed in relief once he remembered. The other teens focused on tuning their instruments while Michael remembered and Lucifer tried singing the lyrics to the same tone as James Hetfield.

Balthazar, Bae-young Aziraphale, Crowley, Sam and Raphael sat around them with enthusiasm. Gabriel's eyes twinkled with joy at the sight of Michael and Lucifer smiling, wanting to enjoy the moment; he wished everyday was as this moment: no worrying, no yelling, no fighting, no stress, nothing. Only happiness but, he was well aware it was impossible in reality. Nothing would be perfect or beautiful, they would never have eternal peace, never be together as they were now. And he feared, it frightened him to be far from the only family he'd ever known.

Perhaps Lucifer would fulfil his dreams as he always aspired, marry a beautiful woman along the way and forget about them. Michael would take over their father's company, perhaps be forced into a marriage for compromise, with a foreign company owner's daughter. Raphael would be left in charge of them; Anna would graduate and move to Italy to study fashion design as she dreamed. Castiel, his dearest twin, Castiel and Dean had their own plans in their own world; it was just the two of them already planned to last forever. And he, he only hoped Sam would come to fall in love with him… perhaps, one day start a life together or travel around the world. He did not know, no one could assure him but, if circumstances were different, he hoped to keep Sam's friendship. After all, the boy's happiness is what mattered to him. He could live with it. He could be alone.

"That sounded about right, Dean, play that note again, please." Michael's voice interrupted Gabriel's thoughts; oddly, he was thankful, or he would have caused himself unnecessary pain.

"This? I think it's an e-minor." he stated as he attempted to play the same note as the others. Lucifer walked towards the boy, proceeding to seat next to him and help find the right note.

"This is impossible to play on cello!" Anna complained, Castiel turned to her sympathetically yet helped her.

"Okay, try again." Dean turned to Lucifer.

"Say your prayers little one

Don't forget, my son, to

Include everyone."

Michael joined them as he caught up to the tones.

"Tuck you in, warm within

Keep you free from sin"

Castiel and Anna joined the others at last, contented. Lucifer continued singing, only pausing at rests. Gabriel grinned widely in admiration; he loved his brother's voice, beautiful and outstanding from every one he had ever heard, making him wonder how it was possible for a human to have such a gift, accompanied with the instruments, it made it simply ethereal.

Sam focused his eyes on the blond man singing, he was in awe at the sound of the music; how each one of them knew their instruments well, and Lucifer. A cold shiver travelled down his spine at the sound of the man's voice. It was entrancing, peacefully thrilling, as if it lured him out of the valley of shadows into a different light, calling out to him, to follow, and he'd be saved.

He turned to Gabriel, who sat next to him, noticing the exact same expression on the boy as well as the others yet, there was something different in Gabriel; not his body position, not his hair, not his clothes. His eyes? His smile? Was he smiling because of the music? Or was it something he could not comprehend? The twinkle in his eyes he'd only seen once, much different from other times; the manner in which his lips curled into that smile. It was different, it was all different.

He brought his hand to his chest, feeling a painful ache he had never experienced before. It was far more distressing than he could put into words yet, why was it overwhelmingly exciting? His heart raced almost at the speed of the music, he blinked several times as he tried not to panic, the ache did not cease; why did it cause him happiness? He was long past the fluttering in his stomach or the clumsy lack of words; it was now heartache. "You are falling deep, can you feel yourself falling, Sam?" the voice asking inside of him was his yet wasn't. He shook his head attempting to look away from Gabriel, focusing instead on his brother, Castiel or Anna.

He felt the warmth of a hand over his, long fingers intertwining his, embracing them with gentle demand, tender caress. Those amber eyes starring back at him, into his soul; it was overwhelming and he wished nothing more than throw himself over those long arms asking to be held so tears would not spill out of his eyes. He was confused yet he understood. All Sam could give was a gentle smile along a caress of his thumb across the other boy's hand.

"That was amazing!" Balthazar cheered as he clapped, "Play another one!" Michael smiled widely, the entire room was silent for a few seconds as they all admired seeing the man with a smile on his face in a long time. Anna nearly dropped her cello as she stood from her seat, her arms wrapped around his neck as she placed her lips on his forehead.

He took in the sweet scent of the girl, he closed his eyes as he fought the tears from his eyes, his smile grew wider at the feel of warm lips on his forehead, he returned the gesture.

"You're so beautiful when you smile." she whispered as she unwrapped her arms from him, she wiped the tear from her glassy eyes and laughed. "Sorry, it's just- we should play another song." she half sobbed- half laughed, everyone in the room smiled as they agreed.

"What should we play?" Michael asked without letting the smile fade from his lips.

The music kept going on and on like a record player until their fingers tired, yet their souls beamed for the first time since forever. It was replaced with shuffled songs from Balthazar's play list, which everyone found rather pleasing. The room was warm, the lights were bright, the air in the room was light; they were high, so high with nothing, it was more than what a drug could give and it hurt.

"Hey, it's my turn!" Lucifer interrupted Raphael as the boy danced with Anna, "may I have this dance, Miss?" he bowed and Anna curtsied.

"You may." she extended her hand towards her brother with a smile. He was taller, much taller than she was yet she gave it not thought. She missed them, she missed the boys she knew as they grew up, she missed their asinine behaviour, their childish quarrels and their wrestling for the TV remote control, she missed those laughs echoing through the house and the careless days. They were gone but, for today, she could live seeing the smiles on their faces, the smile on Lucifer's face; how she'd missed it. Everyone's, including Raphael and Michael's. They were a beautiful memory.

Castiel leant into the body pressing against his as their limbs moved, he could feel the vibrations of the music travel through his muscles, reaching his fingertips and the tip of his nose. The warm lips next to his cheek made him shiver, his hairs stood on end at the sensation of the gentle touch; he closed his eyes engraving in his memories today, for he knew it wouldn't last. Because nothing ever does, nor it will ever.

"Hey, are you okay?" a quiet whisper in his ear made his eyes flutter open, he looked up to the boy expecting an answer. He smiled and placed his lips over Dean's briefly.

"Yes." he responded in a murmur. "Thank you, Dean, for everything." he rested his head against the taller boy's shoulder.

"I haven't done anything." he tightened his arms slightly around the boy's waist, "But you're welcome." he closed his eyes becoming oblivious of everyone in the room; it was Castiel and Dean.

"Get back over here!" Balthazar pulled Bae-Yung's arm to the 'dance floor', the older boy laughed and accepted the dance request from his boyfriend.

"You don't get tired of dancing, do you?" he shook his head as he wrapped his arms around Balthazar's neck.

"Nope!" he grinned hyperactively.

"Great, I am so not gonna get up in the morning." he sighed as he imagined the aching of his muscles in the morning.

"Don't worry, love, I will help with that." he winked at the boy, Bae-Yung laughed, throwing his head back, Balthazar took the opportunity to place his lips on the boy's long neck. "What's with you and my neck?"

"I worship you, dear. How are you even real?" he tilted his head in admiration, Bae-Yung noted the unfeigned expression on the boy's face, the softness in his eyes and the change of tone from playful to serious. His heart beat rapidly for a moment as he looked down not knowing how to respond. Of all the people he had met, only one had truly made him feel treasured, loved, cared for; he was safe in his arms, and everyday he woke up to see his face, and everyday he fell deeper and deeper. He had silently cried one morning as he watched Balthazar sleep, he was as lonely as the other was, he was just as lost and confused, he was only a boy in love; it scared him. He prayed that it would last, he prayed he would not be loved and left.

"Hey, I love you." Balthazar whispered, he closed his eyes as his forehead gently met the other boy's. "I love you." he repeated in a whispered. Bae-Yung gently placed his lips on Balthazar's as he whispered back the words. It was okay to be scared; they all were.

"Look at them, they're happy. That's rare." Crowley remarked as he pressed his chin on Aziraphale's shoulder, his arms wrapped around the boy's neck.

"Nothing lasts, this has been a good day. Perhaps, we could have more like today in the future." he gave the boy a small smile.

"Perhaps, demons come and go ruining everything. You never know what tomorrow will bring." he took a deep breath, "Thank you for coming."

"I told you I would, did I not?" he turned his head towards Crowley, his glasses nearly falling from his face yet he caught them.

"You did, darling, you did." he chuckled as he pressed his nose against the crook of the boy's neck, he smiled contentedly feeling the boy's heart beat on his palm, he was certain the other could feel the vibration, or the loud thump of his heart inside his chest on his back since their bodies were so close.

"You smell a lot like tea." Crowley smirked as he inhaled the scent of the boy, it was delightful and blissful. "I like it." the blond's lips curled into a small smiled as he placed his hand around the other boy's.

"Did you just-" Gabriel blinked twice in surprise at Sam's boldness, the younger boy nodded with a shy smile.

"I wanted to, I'm sorry." he looked away as the blush formed on his cheeks, Gabriel took in a deep breath attempting to calm himself. "I won't do it again, I'm sorry, I just-"

"Hey! It's okay, I didn't say I didn't like it, in fact, I did. I just- I'm surprised because." he rubbed the back of his neck, wishing the flutter in his stomach disappeared. "We- I- I thought you didn't feel comfortable with that since you're still younger than me."

"Uhm, no, it's not that. I am fine with it, I was just curious- god, I- sorry." he face palmed himself feeling embarrassed.

"Curious?" Gabriel knit his eyebrows at the boy, Sam bit his lip looking away from the boy.

"Yeah, I kinda wanted to do that for a while." he stared at his hands on his laps as he sat on the stool in front of Gabriel. "I want to try it again, if you are comfortable with it." Gabriel shook his head in amusement.

"Anytime you like." he shrugged smiling.

"Really?" Gabriel nodded as he played with the spoon on his bowl of ice-cream. "O-okay" he smiled biting his lip. He could still taste the cherry on his tongue, he could still feel the cold and softness of the other boy's lips on his. He leaned closer towards Gabriel, feeling as his heart beat wild as the distance between them closed, his limbs trembled, the heat rising to his cheeks and the aching feeling again appearing in his heart; you are falling, Sam, like a raindrop from the sky. You are falling.