fromfryingpantofire | All I need is a miracle/All I need is you

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All I need is a miracle/All I need is you

Things had been going well lately. Hunts just seemed to fall into their laps, the book Sam needed at the library had just been handed in or just been reshelved, the sheriff or local law looking the other direction when they needed to get to a cemetery for a salt and burn. It had been going really, really well.

It should have occurred to Sam that things were going a little TOO well, honestly. But he didn't even think about it until a knife that should have had his name on it simply ricocheted off his chest, as though he had some forcefield up around him.

Later that night, Sam pulled his overshirt off at the hotel, looking at the spot where the knife had definitely started to pierce the fabric. "Okay. There's definitely something weird going on here."

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"I'd almost think you were accusing me of being childish." And for good measure he sticks out his tongue at Sam before getting to his feet. "Come on. Frank said he'd close up tonight and something tells me this isn't something you wanna air out in public."

Sam snorts, pushing himself to his feet as well. "Yeah, this probably isn't something for the public ear." Considering all the stuff that they had to go over. Nobody in the bar was near drunk enough to forget it, after all. "Lead the way."

Gabriel leads him out to a bright yellow Mustang. "See? No candy, and with any luck, no car bombs."

His house wasn't far, only a few short blocks. A modest two story on the corner with a slowly blooming garden and a handful of dog toys stacked on the porch. Completely average, unless you count the warding worked into the wood around the doors and windows, the iron nails in the windowsill and protection charms at the four corners of the house.

Hey - he's human, doesn't mean he's going to stop being thorough.

"You don't have a thing against dogs do you?"

Yellow would really not have been Sam's choice, but for some reason, it fits Gabriel really well.

The house is more of a surprise, really. Sam blinks, looking up at it and noting the things done to make it safer. At least, the things he can see so far.

The question brings his attention back to Gabriel and he blinks. "Ah. No, no. I love dogs."

"Built the place before I did the deed. Worked all kinds of magic into the crossbeams, foundation, everyplace I could ninja in a little discretion. If anyone looks too hard, they're not going to see anything but the local barkeep." He unlocks the door and gives a sharp whistle.

"Good. Because they're gonna sulk like there's no tomorrow if they don't get to say hi."

Three dogs come barreling down the hallway in a scrabble of claws, jingling of collars and elated barks. A giant golden retriever, a small terrier and a round little bulldog puppy that arrows directly at Sam's feet. "Guys? Sam. Sam? Guys."

Sam nods, still looking it over. Really, it's probably one of the best jobs he's ever seen. Which makes sense, considering who did it.

He follows up to the door, then takes a step back to avoid being bowled over. Then he crouches down, rubbing his fingers over the head of the bulldog pup. And immediately getting licked by the golden retriever. "Hey, hey! Not in the face, dude!" But he's grinning, so he can't be taking it that badly.

"Thor, back off." A simple command and the dog drops down at Sam's feet, tail thwapping furiously at his shins, waiting for his turn with barely repressed doggy glee. "Always had a feeling you were a dog person."

It's nice, just seeing Sam relaxed for the moment, smiling as he delivers equal time and attention to all three of his dogs. Simple pleasures as a human. He wasn't sure he'd ever get tired of finding them.

"Okay gang, back in the house. C'mon guys lead the way, we'll head into the backyard, let them run some of the excess energy off."

"You named the big blond one Thor?" Sam grins as he straightens, not having any trouble with the dogs. He always has been a dog person, that's true.

He nods, waiting on the dogs to go first before following Gabriel into the house. "Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Though I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of throwing balls, isn't there?"

"He's big, pretty and just a tad tense. It was perfect." Another whistle and the dogs were racing through the house towards the kitchen.

"Grab a couple of beers out of the fridge and I'll get the mutts settled with water and lunch. Greedy beasts," an affectionate thump to Thor's side as he herds the dogs towards the door.

Sam snorts, though he heads into the kitchen to do as asked. Another beer shouldn't make things any worse, after all. If anything, he thought he might actually need it to get through the conversation.

He grabs two beers and heads to the door that Gabriel had gone out, taking a moment to look around the house. Not really stopping, but just seeing what there is to see in the immediate area before he reaches the back yard.

The house was small, bright and comfortable. Every room had wide windows that let sunlight spill in, books covering most of the tables in the living room and kitchen. The kitchen was just as bright and sunny, everything designed for comfort and a general sense of home. Gabriel liked his creature comforts, but he didn't go too far over the top.

Out in the yard, he was lobbing a tennis ball for Thor while the two smaller dogs romped at his feet, doing their level best to destroy his shoelaces.

"It's not much, but it's home. A heck of a lot nicer than.. yanno.. home ever had been."

"No, no, it's...it's really pretty awesome." As much as Sam loves the bunker these days, this is much closer to what he always thought of as a 'someday' home. "Given everything, I'd say this is definitely your home now. And it's a lot nicer than anything I ever saw upstairs."

Gabriel relieves Sam of one of the beers before throwing the ball again. "One of these days I'm getting a boomerang. Just to screw with them."

The dogs raced off to play and Gabriel turned his attention to Sam. "Me too. I like it here. It's quiet, no monsters, no family."

But it had also been missing a certain someone.

Sam nods slowly, watching the dogs more than Gabriel. It's easier that way, for the moment. "It seems just about perfect," he says after a moment, looking over at him. "If a bit lonely."

He could read between what Gabriel wasn't saying. Or maybe the Grace that protected, now so close to it's original owner, was feeding him information. He can't tell and he's not thinking about it too much, either.

Gabriel doesn't know if it's his grace or just Sam being perceptive. He glances over at him for a moment, nodding. "Yeah. Some days it is. I spend as much time as I can just exploring what it means to be human, but it isn't always enough."

"Can't tell you how many times I picked up the phone and almost called you, kiddo."

"I would have liked that," Sam admits, opening up the beer and taking a sip. "It...we saw the message by accident." He's pretty much admitted that Dean knew about the message beforehand. "We'd just closed the laptop after what your message about the rings without actually stopping the DVD. Kinda silly, really, but I don't think either of us could deal with the implications more that night."

There had been so much that they weren't really talking about, so much more that needed to be done. "When I opened up the laptop the next morning, the DVD was still going. It skipped a bit, though, which was why I didn't get a chance to stop it before your second message came on." Sam shakes his head slowly. "I...really wasn't sure what to do with that."

Gabriel's smile falters at that and he kneels down to ruffle at Thor's ears. "Yeah. That message. Wasn't sure anyone would ever see it, but it was something I needed to say before the big showdown." Before he stood up to his brother, knowing he was going to die, knowing that it was for Sam.

"Kind of why I was waffling on ever calling you," he admits after a long moment.

"I know it was a shit move, leaving that right before the end, Sam. I get it."

It takes a moment to find a chair and sit, watching Gabriel and his dogs. "I guess...I don't understand when it changed. When you went from...from Broward to that message."

Sam's still pretty certain that Gabriel had to have hated him around the time of Broward County, so it never has made any sort of sense to him.

"Things changed at Broward. You hung on every day, fought even when you knew you were going to lose. For no idea how tempted I was to change it up, to give you what you wanted and pull you out of the Apocalypse."

Gabriel threw the ball again. "It's why I followed you two to the hotel. A building full of pagans after your head.. you needed my help."

"Then Mercury had to be a moron and summon Lu. Asshole."

"Yeah. We'd probably have gotten out all right if it hadn't been for Mercury." The guy had gotten his in the end, but that hadn't been enough. Definitely not worth having lost Gabriel as well.

"You still hit me in the balls and gave me herpes, man. Was that your idea of pulling my ponytail or something?"

"He always had been a dick." Even if he didn't deserve what had happened in the end. None of them had.

"Hey, you just had to say you had herpes. I didn't give you anything of the sort," he defends.

"Something like that. I guess you could say I was out of practice flirting with humans."

"And I don't know how well I would have reacted if you'd just come out and said it then," Sam admits, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees. "I think I only really came to the conclusion that there could have been something when I saw your message. Or maybe it had been after the TV land stunt. I can't be too certain. I just know that...that when I saw that message, I knew that any chances we'd had had been entirely lost and that hurt more than anything else."

“It hurt just saying the words, knowing I was about to face my brother and more than likely wind up on the pointy end of a sword.” His smile grew brittle. “Wasn’t expecting it to be my own, but them’s the breaks.”

And he’s.. honestly not sure what to do about those feelings now. “Guess that’s the sixty four thousand dollar question on the table. What do we do now?” Gabriel let the ball sail off into the grass before taking a seat himself. “Rather than continue this charmingly awkward talk, I’m gonna settle for direct. Save us a lot of ducking and fucking in the long run.”

Did humans always have to deal with a heartbeat that fast? Because he’s pretty sure his is trying to simply slam right out of his chest and he hasn’t even started talking.
“I’d have given anything to change what happened, Sam. To stop the path you were on and find some way to make you smile. You deserved that. You still do. I threw down that spell because that was the only way I’d know for sure that you’d be safe. I did it because I..” deep breath, “I love you. Still. But I’m not expecting the grand chick-flick finale here either.”

Even if that was what he wanted. No, Sam had to make this decision on his own. Gabriel couldn’t do it for him. If he wanted to give this a go, it was up to him.

Sam raises his head, watching Gabriel. He snorts at the last, shaking his head. "Gabriel, I sort of figured you probably still...at least had feelings for me. You don't just go and carve out your Grace and create an impenetrable shield around somebody else for shits and giggles."

He sighs, sitting back and staring at his beer. "What do we do now?" he repeats, then shakes his head. "I don't know. But...I've got a couple of days unless a hunt comes up. I'd suggest we start with actually getting to know each other?"

He rolls a shoulder. "I did a lot of weird things for shits and giggles back in the day. But no, no I didn't do it for grins."

Getting to know one another. It's terrifying, really. The potential is there and it's enough to send his pulse skittering out of control all over again and he's not sure if it's hope or fear this time. So Gabriel offers him a smile. "Sure. We can do that."

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