low_key_angel | Epilogue

Gabriel doesn't know how he managed it - only that he had. The last thing he remembered clearly was Lucifer's frozen grip like a vice around his wrist, driving his sword up and back into his chest. Then he was laying flat on his back in the middle of a mini-mart, much to the consternation of the young clerk. A shaky reassurance later, he stumbled outside and into the night, giant slurpee in hand.

Hey, he can't think on an empty stomach.

It takes a few days for Gabriel to put it all together, where he'd been and what had happened. The memories were fuzzy but they were real. Anna, Sam, Dean, Loki, friends and family that he'd never had in this world. A family that had loved him and a family he fought and died for more than once. What he remembers best is Sam. Tangled in bed with him, laughing on the couch over something ridiculous, even charging headlong into danger with the hunter at his side.

Gabriel sends out quiet feelers, seeking out the hunter and what he learns is a fucking horrorshow that rivals any of the hazy memories of the prison they had been trapped in together. Dean, ever the self-hating moron, had gone and taken the Mark of Cain and was currently rampaging his way across the west coast with Sam hot on his heels.

So he follows, waiting for Sam to pull off at a motel for the night before he simply appears in the passenger seat with a faint flutter of wings. Will he remember him? Gabriel hopes so. He doesn't really relish starting from scratch.

"Heya Sammy."

Threaded | Flat

Over the past few years, Sam had done his best to ignore the dreams that plagued him. He was used to the ones from the Cage. He'd been having those for years, after all. They were familiar, if difficult.

Sometime after the Leviathans, though, when Dean was stuck in Purgatory, the dreams had changed. There were still the dreams of the Cage, of course, but they were joined by others, almost always centering around Gabriel. Not always, of course. There were dreams about his brother, always subtly different each time. And Anna, but not as he last remembered her. It had been good, really, seeing her that way.

But beyond all that had been Gabriel. Gabriel, who had died for them to have a chance to stop the Apocalypse. But he was there, in those dreams or memories. Not just there, but close to Sam. Always close, always there to help him out or keep him on an even keel. There were others that were tougher to deal with, but there was a lot of good in it as well.

So it probably should surprise Sam more than it does when he pulls the Impala to a stop at a hotel, only to hear the flutter of wings. Wings he shouldn't be hearing because there isn't an angel in the world that has them right now.

Then again, when has Gabriel ever followed the rules?

Which is probably why Sam doesn't bother following them, either. There's a frisson of relief that shivers down his back as Sam leans forward, taking hold of Gabriel's shirt and pulling the archangel into a kiss.

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