“Fair point.” Gabriel spread his hands on the table, considering them for a moment. Maybe it had been easier to think that Sam simply didn’t want him because in the end, nobody really did. He was the outsider, the Trickster. Trusted by none and only tolerated by most, but never actively sought out. It was eaiser to think that way. It wasn’t fair, but if he let himself believe that Sam didn’t feel the same, it would be easier to let him go.

“I could say the same thing Sam,” he countered after a moment. “Lucifer used the situation to get at both of us. There was a time, back in the beginning, that we were so close you couldn’t tell where he ended and I began. I loved him more than anything in Heaven and Earth.” A mournful smile ghosted across his face. “We came up with the platypus as a gag. Dad.. he liked it so much he breathed life into it.”

“Lucifer’s always known how to hurt me. That’s because he loved me once. This was just a double whammy on his part.”

Gabriel picked up his coffee, distracted enough to neglect adding his usual cup of sugar to the brew. “I know this whole thing blindsided you. It’s not fair to ask you to make any decisions about any of it, so I’m not gonna. Only thing I’m going to ask is that you let me look. Let me try and find some other way to stuff him back in the Cage. Give me the time to at least try.”