The next morning, Gabriel was in the kitchen happily making breakfast. He found he could finally breath again. He'd checked on Sam a couple of hours ago and his fever was completely gone. It was mostly good the night before, but Gabriel kept worrying it would worsen again. He was glad to see that it hadn't. His boy was finally over it and safe.
Gabriel soon heard footsteps. Seconds later, Sam came running into the room.
"Daddy?"
Gabriel smiled at the boy. "Hey, buddy. You're up a little early. You're feeling better, huh? You think you're ready for some French toast?"
"Yeah!" Sam exclaimed as he jumped up and down. He felt a whole lot better than he did before. His tummy didn't hurt anymore, and he felt really good.
"Okay, it's gonna be a few minutes. You go sit at the table," Gabriel said.
Sam immediately went over and sat down in his usual chair.
About ten minutes later, Gabriel came over with plates of French toast and some juice.
"Can we go to the park today?" Sam asked as he ate.
"Actually, I think we're gonna go somewhere else today, after we have a talk," Gabriel said. Sam was doing better, so it was time to tell him about Dean.
Sam got a little worried at that moment. Talks usually meant he was in trouble. He didn't think he did anything though. "I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"
"No, of course not. You're not in any trouble," Gabriel assured his son.
That was enough for Sam, and he went back to his breakfast.
Once breakfast was done, Gabriel looked at Sam and patted his legs. "Come sit with me."
Sam immediately went over and climbed onto his father's lap.
"So Daddy has to tell you something. I told you something a while back that wasn't true. I thought it was, but I was wrong," Gabriel said.
Sam gasped. "But you're never wrong."
Gabriel chuckled. "Well, not often, but sometimes. Do you remember when we talked about your big brother and what happened to him?" Gabriel asked.
"Uh huh. Dean fought the bad man and went to Heaven," Sam said.
"Well, that's what I was wrong about. I thought your brother was in Heaven, but he's not," Gabriel said.
"He didn't go to Hell, did he?" Sam asked with fear in his voice. He was pretty sure that was a bad word he wasn't supposed to say, but it was also a real place, so he thought it might be okay, and he wanted to know if his brother was there.
"No, absolutely not. You don't need to worry about your brother going there. When he dies, your brother will go to Heaven," Gabriel told him.
"So does that mean Dean didn't die," Sam asked. He was confused. He thought his brother died fighting the bad man.
"Yes, that's exactly what it means. I thought your brother was hurt so badly that he had to go to Heaven, but I found out that that's not true. Dean is okay."
"If Dean didn't go to Heaven, why didn't he come to see me?" Sam asked. Did Dean not want to see him? Was he made at him for being mean before? His daddy had told him he wasn't, but why else wouldn't Dean come?
"Because he couldn't come there. No one can get here unless I'm with them. I didn't know Dean was still alive, so I couldn't help him come here," Gabriel explained.
"So he does want to see me?" Sam asked.
"Yes. I am sure he wants to see you. We can go find him, so you can see him. Do you wanna do that?" Gabriel asked.
Sam was about to say 'yes'. He wanted to see his brother very much. He had missed him a lot. But then something occurred to him, something that worried him about going to his brother.
"Sam, what's wrong? You wanna see your brother, don't you?" Gabriel asked. He'd expected his son to be bouncing off the walls at the prospect of going to see his brother. Instead, the kid was extremely quiet. Something was wrong.
"Yes," Sam said. There was a lot of hesitance in the boy's voice.
"What's wrong, little one?" Gabriel asked as he ran a hand through the boy's hair.
"If I see Dean, will you go away?" Sam asked. He went to live with his daddy because Dean couldn't take care of him anymore. Now that Dean could, did that mean he'd lose his daddy? He wanted to see Dean, but he didn't want to leave his daddy.
"What? No! Why would you think that?" Gabriel asked. He never would've even guessed that that thought would've entered his son's head.
"Because you take care of me because Dean couldn't," he said.
"No, sweetheart. Absolutely not," Gabriel said as he pulled the boy closer to him. "You're mine now, Sammy. I'm never leaving you."
"I can still live with you?" Sam asked.
"Yes, you will still stay with me," Gabriel assured him.
Just like that, Sam's fears went away and he grinned. "Then I wanna see Dean! Can we go now?"
Gabriel chuckled. This was what he had expected when he told Sam they would go to see Dean. "Well, I don't actually know where Dean is, but I think Bobby will know."
Sam smiled even more. "Uncle Bobby! We get to see Uncle Bobby too?!"
"Yeah. But first, we need to get you a bath and dressed," Gabriel said.
"Okay, let's do it now," Sam said before pushing himself off his father's lap and tugging at his hand.
Gabriel got up and picked his son up from behind. He started tickling him as he carried him out of the room.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Bobby was on the phone with Rufus, who was requesting a partner on hunt. Rufus rarely partnered up, so Bobby knew he really did need the help. "Alright, Rufus, I'll send someone out. I'll call you back when I find someone."
Soon there was a knock on the door. "Hang on! Rufus, I gotta… What? Yeah, Dean's nearby, but he's not an option, which you know."
There was another chorus of bangs from the door. "I said hold on! Yeah, Rufus, he's still on 'that kick'. Look, I gotta go. Some idjit is banging on the door like the apocalypse started back up," Bobby said before handing up.
Grumbling to himself, Bobby got up and went through the kitchen to the door. He was fully prepared to give whatever asshole this was a piece of his mind; however, he was unprepared for who was on the other side. The Trickster slash archangel was standing there with a very young Sam standing in front of him.
Gabriel grinned. "Well, it's about time, old man. You left us out here forever."
Bobby barely even heard him. His eyes were on the little boy he thought was lost to him. "Sam?"
"Uncle Bobby!" Sam exclaimed as he went to hug the man.
Bobby wasted no time in scooping Sam into his arms. He held him to himself as tight as he could without risking hurting him. He'd missed his boy so much. He thought he'd never see him again. Dean had told him that he was being taken away from Earth and would never be back.
Bobby put Sam down after a minute or so and knelt down in front of him. He just looked at him for a few minutes. He almost felt like he'd gone back in time as he looked at him. Dean had told him that Sam had been turned into a child again, but it was different actually seeing it.
"Are you okay, Uncle Bobby?" Sam asked. His uncle was just looking at him, not saying anything.
"Yeah, I'm good. Look at you, boy. You look great," Bobby said as he ruffled the boy's hair.
Sam giggled at the praise.
"You too, Singer. I see you got your legs back. Who did it?" Gabriel asked. He'd heard about Bobby's paralysis. He fully intended to heal him, but it seemed he didn't have to."
Bobby stood up. "Cas. He got all his powers back and healed me before he went back up."
"Huh. I didn't know that," Gabriel said. He was glad to hear that Michael had reinstated Castiel. He shouldn't have been banished in the first place.
Sam, meanwhile, started to wander around the house.
"I thought you weren't coming back," Bobby said.
"I wasn't planning to, but things changed," Gabriel said before looking to see where his son had gone off to. He eyed him in Bobby's makeshift office in the kitchen, reaching for a book. "Sam."
The young boy turned back to his father.
"We don't touch things that aren't ours," Gabriel scolded lightly.
"Sorry, Daddy," Sam said.
"Come here, kiddo," Gabriel said as he walked into the kitchen.
Sam ran back over to his father and uncle.
Gabriel helped Sam take off his coat and then led him over to the kitchen table. He snapped his fingers and a coloring book and crayons appeared on the table. "Will you color me a picture?"
"Okay. I have to make one for Dean and Uncle Bobby too," Sam said.
"Daddy, huh?" Bobby asked when Gabriel came back over.
"You got a problem with it?" Gabriel asked in a challenging tone.
"Haven't decided yet," Bobby retorted. Truthfully, he wasn't too surprised that Sam was calling the archangel 'Daddy'. He was all Sam had known for five years. That didn't mean Bobby trusted him though. Dean had years ago, but it wasn't like he had a ton of options.
Bobby shifted his eyes to Sam, who was happily coloring at the table. "He looks so carefree."
"He has the mind and body of a five-year-old. He shouldn't be anything but carefree," Gabriel said.
"But he wasn't when he actually was that age. He didn't even know about monsters then, but he was still a much too serious child," Bobby said. He wasn't quite as serious as Dean, and he was better able to be a child, but there was just this small part of him, always present, that seemed older than he was. Now it was the opposite. His mind was younger than his body.
"Being on the road constantly with a half absent father, who treated him more like a soldier than a son, will do that," Gabriel said with an edge to his voice. He hated John Winchester for the damage he'd done to his boy.
"Can't argue with you there," Bobby said. John had been his friend, most of the time, but he knew the damage the man had done to both Sam and Dean. They didn't grow up the way they should've. "I thought you weren't coming back."
"I wasn't planning to. I ended up having to come back to Earth briefly. In that time, I encountered Michael, who told me what happened during the apocalypse," Gabriel said.
"You mean lack thereof. It wasn't much of one, not that I'm complaining," Bobby said.
"Right. After I felt my brother's death, I assumed Dean was dead or worse. I didn't think that Michael would restore him," Gabriel said.
"Yeah, he made it, though he wished he hadn't," Bobby said.
"I figured he took losing Sam hard," Gabriel said.
"Understatement. He didn't say 'yes' to your jackass brother because he wanted to save the world. He did it for revenge. You taking Sam was the last straw. He had no more real fight in him. He didn't care about saving the world anymore. The apocalypse was his last fight," Bobby explained.
Gabriel nodded. He assumed Dean had stopped hunting. Kali had said that there was no Winchester activity since the apocalypse.
"It was almost two years before I heard from him again," Bobby said. That had been hard. Not only had he lost Sam, he felt like he'd lost Dean too. The kid had been determined to sink, and to do so all by his lonesome.
"Bobby, is Dean alright?" Gabriel asked. He was starting to wonder if this was a good idea. If Dean had completely self-destructed, he couldn't have him around Sam. He wouldn't allow his son to be hurt. "I brought Sam back because I know it's safe now for you and Dean to be a part of his life, but if Dean's not in a good place for that, I need to know."
"No, he's good now. He found a way to go on," Bobby said. Well, it was more like a way to move on had practically smacked Dean in the face, but that was Dean's business to share.
Sam suddenly ran up to the two men. "Uncle Bobby, I colored you a picture."
Bobby smiled and took the picture. "Thanks, pal. I'll put this someplace special."
"Here, Daddy. Here's yours," Sam said before handing the second page to his father.
"Thank you. This is going to go on the fridge when we get home," Gabriel said.
"Can I have plain paper? I wanna draw Dean my own picture," Sam said.
"Of course you can," Gabriel said before snapping his fingers. A few pieces of plain paper appeared on the kitchen table.
"Thank you, Daddy. When can I see Dean?" Sam asked.
Bobby knelt down in front of the boy. "Dean's far away right now, but if I call him, I know he'll come."
"Can I talk to him when you call?" Sam asked.
"Actually, kiddo, I think it would be better to surprise Dean," Gabriel said. This was something it would be better for Dean to find out in person. That way he wouldn't have to wait to see his brother.
"Yeah, a surprise!" Sam exclaimed.
"Come on let's go draw your picture," Gabriel said before taking his son's hand and leading him back to the kitchen table. He sat down and put Sam on his lap.
Bobby went over to the phones and picked up the landline. He immediately dialed Dean and listened as it rang.
"Hey, Bobby," Dean's rough voice.
"Hey. You busy?" Bobby asked. It was really a stupid question.
Laughter filled on the other end. "When am I not freaking busy, Bobby? What's up?"
"How would you feel about making a trip up here, as in now?" Bobby asked.
"Now? Kind of last minute, don't you think. It's not as easy to just pack up these days. Everything okay?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, I just got some people here who need to see you," Bobby said.
"I'm out of the game. You know that," Dean said. He clearly thought it was hunters.
"No, it's not case related. Can you just come up?" Bobby asked.
"Alright, fine. I'll leave tomorrow. I'll tell the boss I had a family emergency. It'll take me a couple of days to get there though," Dean said.
"Yeah, that's fine. Though you could take a plane," Bobby commented.
"No one's getting me on a damned plane!" Dean grumbled before hanging up.
"He'll be a couple of days," Bobby said as he hung up the phone.
"I heard. It's fine," Gabriel said before turning to Sam. "It's gonna be a little while longer, Sammy, but you'll see your brother soon."
"Okay," Sam said before going back to his picture.