Gabriel sat on a bunch on the park watching Sam play with some other 'kids'. The other children were creations of Gabriel's. He didn't want Sam growing up lonely. He wanted him to have other kids to play with, even if they weren't technically real.

It had been over five years since Gabriel had deaged Sam. He had no regrets on the matter. He loved that child more than he ever thought it was possible to love someone. Gabriel had done a lot of things since he was created, but he could honestly say that none of them were more important than taking care of Sam.

Gabriel believed things were better for Sam as well. He was a happy child. He didn't need to worry about monsters coming after him, or about having to be trained to fight said monsters instead of being a normal little boy. He didn't worry about his father mistreating him. He was finally just a carefree child. That was what Gabriel had wanted for him. Protecting Sam against Lucifer had been the reason Gabriel had deaged him, but it had been obvious how little Sam thought of himself and how much weight he put on his own shoulders. Gabriel had been determined to change all of that, and he had.

Gabriel looked at his watch and then stood up. It was around four-thirty. It was time for them to be heading home. "Come on, Sammy! It's time to go home."

Sam turned and looked at his father with a kicked puppy look on his face. "No! I don't wanna go. I wanna play!"

Gabriel narrowed his eyes a little bit in a stern parent way. "Sam, it's late. We need to go home. Come now, please."

Sam whined a little, but said goodbye to his friends and ran to his father.

"Good boy," Gabriel said before taking the boy's hand and leading him out of the park. "Did you have fun."

"Uh huh. I love playing with Danny and Ryan. Can we come back and play tomorrow?"

"We'll see. Right now, we need to get home and have dinner," Gabriel said.

"Yay! I'm hungry," Sam said.

Gabriel chucked. "Yet you didn't want to leave."

"Can we have pizza, Daddy?" Sam asked.

"No, buddy. We had pizza a couple of days ago. Daddy's gonna make fish sticks, macaroni and cheese, and veggies for dinner," Gabriel said.

"Okay," Sam said with a little big of disappointment in his voice.

"Hey, I know you like fish sticks," Gabriel said.

"Uh huh," Sam said.

They soon got back to the house and went inside. "You wanna watch cartoons while I make dinner?" Gabriel asked.

"No, I wanna color," Sam said.

"Okay. Go get your coloring book and crayons and sit at the table," Gabriel told him.

Sam immediately took his shoes off and ran up the stairs.

Gabriel, meanwhile, went into the kitchen to start dinner. He took out a box of macaroni and cheese and started boiling the water. Then he went into the freezer to take out the frozen package of fish sticks and frozen vegetables. He preferred to make things from scratch, but he found that sometimes it was easier to cheat with frozen foods with a child. He'd even gone so far as to snap stuff up a few times when Sam was especially impatient to eat.

Sam came down carrying a superhero coloring book and a box of crayons. He put them on table and turned to his father. "Daddy, can I have some juice?

"You want apple or orange?" Gabriel asked before taking a plastic cup from one of the cabinets.

"Apple please," Sam said.

Gabriel took out the bottle of apple juice and filled the cup halfway for bringing it to the table and setting it next to Sam on the table.

Sam took the cup and immediately took a sip before turning to his coloring.

Gabriel went back to making dinner. He was about halfway through when he heard Sam start to cough. "Are you alright, buddy?"

Sam coughed a few more times before answering. "Yes."

"Take small sips, okay?" Gabriel asked. He could only assume that it was drinking his juice too fast that made Sam cough. There was no other reason for him to have a cough.

"I did. When's the food gonna be ready? I'm hungry," Sam said.

"Soon, kiddo. Color two pages and it should be done by then," Gabriel told him.

"Okay," Sam said.

About fifteen minutes later, Gabriel came over with two plates of food. "Okay, let's put the coloring aside. Do you want more juice?"

"Yes, please," Sam said before pushing his coloring book over and digging into his food.

Gabriel took the boy's cup and went to fill it up. He came back a second later and handed it to Sam before sitting down.

Sam ate his fish sticks, macaroni and cheese, and about half of his veggies before pushing his plate aside. "Daddy, I'm done. Can I have some ice cream now."

Gabriel looked over at Sam's plate. "You still have some vegetables left."

"But I'm full from them," Sam whined a bit.

"You know the rules. If you're too full to finish your diner, you're too full for dessert," Gabriel said sternly.

"Please, Daddy. I'm hot," Sam complained.

"Oh, really," Gabriel said with a disbelieving chuckle before going to feel the boy's head, just to prove a point. His face got serous as he felt Sam's slightly elevated temperature. Most parents wouldn't see that as a cause for concern, but Gabriel did. Sam shouldn't get sick. He was not around germs. Hell, he was not around people. He shouldn't even get sick from the cold because Gabriel kept the temperature comfortable all year round.

"Daddy," Sam suddenly interrupted.

Gabriel used a bit of his grace to bring Sam's temperature down. His forehand quickly felt as it should, but Gabriel was still unsettled.

"Daddy, can I please have ice cream?" Sam asked again.

Gabriel removed his hand from Sam's forehead and then took ahold of his spoon. He separated about half of Sam's vegetables and pointed to one half. "I will make you a deal. If you eat this much, you can have ice cream."

"Okay," Sam said before going back to his food.

Gabriel looked at his son, still highly concerned about what had just happened.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"Daddy!" Sam cried from his bed in the middle of the night. He felt really bad. He was cold, and tummy hurt a lot. He needed his daddy to make it better. "Daddy!"

Gabriel entered Sam's room and turned on the light. "Oh, Dad."

"Daddy, I don't feel good. My tummy hurts, and it's really cold," Sam said as he tried to put the blankets even further around himself.

Gabriel rushed over to his son. He was concerned before, but now he was terrified. Sam said he was cold, but Gabriel could see the sweat pouring from his face. He didn't even need to feel the kid's temperature to know he had a fever, but he did, and Sam was burning up.

Gabriel's first instinct was to heal Sam, but he decided against it. He'd healed the boy just a few hours ago and he was burning up now. What if healing him had just made it worse? Nothing like this had ever happened when he healed before, but he decided it wasn't the best idea to try, especially since he didn't know what was making Sam sick. This shouldn't be happening.

"Daddy, make it stop, please!" Sam cried.

Gabriel picked Sam up, comforter and all. "It's going to be okay, little one. We're going to go on a little trip."

"I need Imp," Sam said.

Gabriel reached for Sam's teddy bear and handed it to the boy before flying away with him.