low_key_angel | The Angel and the Nurse

The Angel and the Nurse - Moose hunting

The Angel and the Nurse.

Sheltering in Heaven after barely escaping Lucifer was probably one of Gabriel’s more brilliant ideas. No one would think to look for him there – if anyone was even bothering to look. As far as the Host and the world at large knew, every archangel was dead or locked away and he was more than fine with that assumption. It kept him out of the line of fire which is what he preferred to begin with. So when Metatron started moving, Gabriel started acting as well. He’d never trusted the little prick, so as the magic in Heaven began to coalesce, he threw himself into action.

In desperation, Gabriel reached out to every angel he could trust, all of the old guard that had survived the civil wars and purges, bodily shoving them out of Heaven before they were ejected, before their wings were burned away into nothing. The fall would hurt, and he was rewarded with more than a few startled cries as he shoved them out of Heaven, but at least they could heal.

Faster. Faster. He has to warn them and his calls grow increasingly frantic as the power begins to build like a gigantic pressure wave. Not enough time. He won’t have enough time and there’s still one stop Gabriel has to make. One soul he has to rescue and take back to Earth with him.

They land hard, leaving a crater in their wake, but Gabriel shakes it off. The world could do without one more Starbucks. After all, there was one right around the corner anyway, right?

She’s still wearing the blue dress they’d buried her in, her blonde curls in disarray and her shoes lost somewhere in the disaster of coffee filters and overturned syrup bottles. Gabriel slides her hands into hers, helping Jessica to her feet. “I know, I know. A thousand questions, but let’s stick a pin in those for a sec, okay? You and me? We’ve got us a Moose to save.”

Sam was dying and Dean Winchester just sent up the biggest flare since Bethlehem.

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Of course she has more questions than answers, but Gabriel’s urgency is more than enough to get her on her feet without word. He’d taken hold of her so quickly that Jessica hadn’t been certain what had actually happened until the freefall. He kept her soul safe in his grace, and oh--it all made sense. The why they had all felt the unease; felt their otherworldly respite becoming disturbed. That stillness before the wave tossed everyone overboard and likewise kept souls from entering was enough to be seared to memory. And why Gabriel’s need was dire enough for him to seek her out at the very last second he could manage.

There’s nothing quite like being back in a solid form after hitting the ground with a most fantastic sound and trying to ignore the way debris hurts her feet in her attempt to walk. The Moose he spoke of was far more important than the shoes they’d put into that box with her; so much so that she’s able to mostly ignore rather impressive crowd standing around the imploded establishment as the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. It was one thing to hear discussion of, “Wow! That must’ve been one hell of a meteor!” but quite another when, hand in hand, a man in a green coat and a barefoot woman in a blue dress crawl out of the aftermath. The mood shifts from disbelief to cheers, wondering how anyone could have survived being in the building! But why were they there in the first place? And why were they running away?

The rumors and viral videos would be incredible.

“Where is he, Gabriel?” Her free hand brushes her hair out of her eyes as they flee the curious crowd. “How do we find him?”

YouTube eat your heart out. Gabriel has more important things on his mind, like shutting down the chaos and cacophony in his head as the angels who fell to Earth collectively cried out in fear and confusion, trying to find a way back in only to learn that the way in had been blocked. Locked out of Heaven, countless baby birds flung out of the nest and raising up one hell of a furor about it. He presses the heel of his free hand to his forehead as they stagger away from the wreckage.

Shut up. Just shut up.

Jessica's question drags him back to the moment and he leans heavily against a car to collect his thoughts and get his bearings. "He's in a hospital. I can't fly us there, not yet." His primary wings were all right, but the rest? The rest had been damaged and broken in his desperate flight from Heaven. "We're gonna have to drive and we're gonna have to stay under the radar." Because no angel on earth needs to know that an archangel in hiding happened to get shaken free in the chaos.

He was in pain. Maybe not entirely physically speaking (though the impact couldn’t have been great), but there is anguish written in Gabriel’s features, his eyes the most telling. “Carissime,” she whispers the old term of endearment like a prayer, reaching up to place her hands on his face. It has been a long time since she was able to do this, not that it was a necessity on the other side, not really. It was rare for angels (especially archangels—almost unheard of) and human souls to create a bond so deep – as far as she’d ever known, at least. But then, Gabriel wasn’t really like the rest. Never had been, and it was what drew her to him so very long ago.

“Breathe.” Her thumbs run over the swell of his cheeks. “I know you hear them. I know they’re hurting, and you’re hurting. But we’ll find a car, and I can drive. And once we help Sam, we can help them as best we can. Okay?” Her slender fingers reach up to gently flip a lock of his hair away from his eyes.

Her touch is like a balm and Gabriel closes his eyes, covering one of her hands with his own. His little star. He hadn't been fully healed when Metatron had begun weaving the spell, the desperate race through Heaven, throwing angels free and the near freefall to Earth had sapped a great deal of his strength on the way down. But he hadn't been hiding as a pagan for centuries without learning a few tricks along the way. He could recharge, dial back up some of his old power once they got clear of the city.

"Yeah. Just like old times, right?" A faint smile as he shifts to kiss the inside of her wrist. "We're maybe a day or so out, we'll grab a car and head north." Dean's prayer had been bright and loud and Gabriel could still pinpoint him over the din of injured and lost angels.

Less than an hour later, they're in a car headed down the highway, Gabriel flat on his back in the back seat and Jessica at the wheel. First thing's first. Find Sam. Then he'll deal with the clusterfuck Metatron set into motion. "Look for a park, or a grove of trees. Some place natural. I gotta juice up if we're going to be able to pull the boys out of whatever trouble they're in this time."

It was always a bit strange to drive barefoot, but when your option is stealing some shoes in a city that's probably now looking for you, it's barefoot you go. Clothing options could wait. Funny how much easier it was to pick up a relatively unassuming car when people keep a spare key by the license plate.

Jessica doesn't question his use of the term 'this time'. The Winchesters were often the talk of the town Upstairs. Gabriel would check in with her from time to time, but there were plenty of times she would check in on Sam. This was definitely the one time out of many she wishes she would've done so sooner.

She's figured out they'd managed to land around Shreveport, Louisiana, and luckily for Gabriel's request, "There are a lot of signs for a camping area not far from here. Just sit tight and look pretty." She turns her head to flash a smile that he could see.

The lush green is a welcome sight after driving through mostly off-season farmland. Blissfully, the place did have a visitor's center with not a lot of visitors at present (Must be a weekday, she thinks) with a bathroom, and a 'you are here!' map posted on the outside wall. It was the little things she was looking for to give her a sense of simply being again. Like driving.

She peeks into the back once she parks. "How are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Edited 2015-05-23 13:35 (UTC)

They could have made a beeline for the beach, the ocean and the rolling tide would have helped charge him up faster, but Sam was in the opposite direction and time wasn't exactly on their side. So while Jessica drove, Gabriel dozes fitfully in the back, trying to conserve what energy he had left.

Sam. They have to find Sam first. Gabriel isn't sure how they're going to mesh together - the world where he and Sam had shared everything, and the world where Sam had lost Jessica. Would he even remember?

Doesn't matter. They had to try.

"Mmh. Think I'll be better after a case of donuts and some coffee," opening one eye, Gabriel quirks a grin at her. "Give me about an hour out there, maybe two. That should be enough." Pulling himself up and out of the car, he ambles away from the building and into the trees.

There's a small grove, and lucky for them, a small brook babbling along unnoticed behind the rest area where people purchased sodas, candy and snacks to keep them awake while driving. He'll hit those in a second. Not bothering to remove his shoes, Gabriel wades into the water, crouching in the center of the water, letting it flow around him. There's old power in nature, drawing on the old energy of Creation. Not enough to bring him back up to full power, but a few doses and he'd be a lot closer.

Two hours later, Gabriel wades free of the water and approaches the car, arms laden with candy, snacks, water, and a fresh bag of clothes for Jessica. "Okay, one or two more of those on the way and we should be good to go. How you holding up, kiddo?"

Gabriel will find that she was dozing lightly in the driver’s seat, the cooler breeze in the shade a far more palatable choice in the humid and heat of Louisiana than walking around outside. At least for Jessica. She tried to listen to music for a few minutes, but their location only delivered a healthy dose of zydeco she couldn’t bring herself to tolerate in the moment. The wind dancing through the trees and the birdsong served a much greater purpose. It was strange to need rest again… and she’s glad she cannot hear the confused and scared souls stuck in the void without anywhere to turn. They’d been loud and clear when Gabriel had taken hold of her; giving her a body took them away. The wish now was to be able to provide the archangel equal relief.

Her eyes drifted open when he came bearing gifts from his trek. Including clothing. The candy makes the most sense. “I’m okay. I um…” Jess readjusts the seat back before opening the car door, eyeing him suspiciously. “Should I ask where you got clothes? And thank you.” The smile is easy as she reaches for the bag. "How are you feeling?"

It took time to attune his grace with the quiet pulse of Creation, to recharge his power and repair some of the damage that had been done in the fall. The air was cool and fresh and he felt better than he had in a long time. A sense of purpose with Jessica beside him and Sam on their radar.

Hang on Sammy. We're coming.

"Probably not," he allows with a grin, tearing into a packet of donuts as he hands over the clothes. "Places like this," Gabriel waves vaguely back towards the brook. "They're sources of natural power, echoes of Creation. I can use it to power up as we head towards Sam. I'm getting better. What about you, kiddo? You doing okay?"

"By the time we get to Sam, you should be on full charge." Unless they were driving through a canyon, and she was pretty sure there weren't any of those going east--just some mountains and lakes and the like.

"I'm okay. Just..." She steps away from the car, holding the bag of clothes tightly as can be. "It's all kind of surreal, trying to refocus. Food and not this dress will help, I think. I'll be right back." And off she goes to change.

Why the shoes fit so well, she'll never know, but life seems a whole lot better with a pair of jeans, and she's smiling when she gets back to the car. "I'm really not going to ask about why everything fits so well--gift horse, do not look. But thank you." And she reaches out to embrace him for the first time in who knows how long. He does. "This means so much."

The hug is warmly returned and he would fold his wings around her too if it wasn't so risky. So long. It's been so long since he's been able to hold her close like this. Contact is so different in Heaven. Some angels insist that it's purer - twining grace and energy instead of basic touch but not Gabriel. Nope. You can't replace something as warm and wonderful as a hug from someone you care about.

He kisses her cheek. "Guess I'm better with sizes than I thought. Glad everything fits kiddo. I think we can log a few more hours before crashing out for the night. If we get an early start, we should be there by tomorrow."

And it couldn't come soon enough. Together, maybe they could find some way to save Sam. To bring him back from whatever brink he was teetering on this time.

The hug helps melt away some of the tension in her shoulders, some of the worry in her features. That was something he’s always been able to do: Comfort her in such a way so that the most frightening things suddenly didn’t seem so bad because they were together. They would find a way to save Sam together.

Most of the drive is reasonably uneventful, until a stop here and there for gas or food (“Hey! Aren’t you…?”). Cell phone videos had popped up on various news networks and by the time they got through Ohio, it gotten to the point that a new hat and shirt were needed for Gabriel because he was still wearing the same clothes. “Just until we get there…”

By the time they reach the hospital in New York, it was dark. Visiting hours were going to be coming to a close. Jessica looks over at the archangel who had literally put her back together again for the sake of helping one man. What she would have after this was anyone’s guess. It wasn’t like she could go home. “Are you ready?” It was almost as if she were asking herself the same question.

Is anyone really ready for anything like this?

They've always been good for one another in that way, offering comfort that's more than just a simple hug - it's a promise. That whatever happens, they'll do it together. Just the two of them. Only this time they're doing it for someone else rather than each other.

..he's not giving up the jacket. It's a personal favorite, so it goes in the trunk until the heat dies down. But when you crash land into a Starbucks, it's hard not to get at least a little attention. Luckily the human collective attention span is short and in a few weeks he'll be able to break it out again. They make occasional stops for Gabriel to recharge at a spring, or a stand of trees along the way and he even takes the wheel so Jessica can rest up as they get closer to New York.

Dean's prayer had been like a beacon. Easy to find and drawing in every pissed off angel that had managed to snag a vessel so far. Nothing like a challenge, right?

Reaching over he takes her hand and squeezes it. This was going to be hard on all of them, but she would always have him. "You make for Sam, I'm gonna grab Deano and we're gonna have us a little chat, okay?"

His hand is gripped just as tightly, and she hums a quiet note of agreement. “Okay.” She smiles for him, and yes, there is some degree of concern in it because, hey… Patched Up Angel with his sidekick Mortal Again contending with a multitude of very angry angels, in addition to rescuing the dying… What could possibly go wrong?

Before she exits the vehicle, she curves her hand around the back of Gabriel’s neck, only to pull him closer so that she might kiss his temple. Maybe in comfort to him, mostly in comfort for herself to feel his warmth at her lips once more. Her fingers curl in his hair briefly before she moves away, grabbing hold of the door handle with her free hand. “Let’s go.”

The kiss gets a warm smile and a wink as they step inside the hospital.

Only it looks a little more like a war zone than a hospital at the moment. Shattered glass is everywhere, Gabriel can smell the lingering smoke from holy fire and hear voices raised in anger all around them. The other angels are also too distracted to notice two people running in while everyone else who can is running in the opposite direction.

Almost everyone. Dean Winchester, battered and bloody is pulling himself to his feet with a groan, palm still dripping with blood and at the sight before him he damn near goes down again, staring up at two very dead people in astonishment. Gabriel cuts him off before he can speak. "I know, right? Seems like only yesterday I was saving your bacon and here I am doing it again. Jess, be a dear and get into that room and start drawing over Deano's art work?"

"We've got us a Moose to save."

There is no point in trying to explain it to Dean right now… not when he’s obviously been knocked around a few times too many, angels are mad as hell, and Sam’s y’know… Dying.

The first door she opens leads to is a person on full-out life support, pretty much oblivious to the situation in the hallway. Unless Sam turned into a portly man of roughly 55 since she last saw him? Not so much. The second try gets her just where she needs to go. That noise? No, that’s not the ventilator. That would be Jessica’s heart breaking paired with a gasp.

“Oh, no…”

It takes Jess several beats to pull herself away from trying to fathom how and why Sam was in his current state and bring herself back around to do as Gabriel had asked of her: Draw over Dean’s work. Or realistically speaking, destroy the sigils. Amazing what a swipe of an extra sheet can do.

When she’s mostly satisfied with her hurried handiwork, she opens the heavy ICU door. “C’mon,” she whispers. “Should work.”

Edited 2015-06-19 02:17 (UTC)

The moment the first ward goes down, Gabriel is hauling Dean to his feet and dragging him inside. There is a badly startled angel still inside, looking at Gabriel in utter terror from the corner of Sam’s room.
Containment. Keep the room defended while he works to save Sam’s life. “You, head outside with Dean and keep our backs clear, got it?” He can only hope that Gadreel is still angel enough to follow orders without questioning and without fleeing and grips his shoulder firmly. “It’s fine. Let me take care of the Moose here and then we’ll talk. You’re not going anywhere, savvy?”

“Come on,” Dean grates at him. “We’ll hold the room. You just bring Sam back, you hear me?”

Gabriel is moving before the door even closes behind them. “Take his hand,” he directs Jessica. “We’re gonna have to talk Sam back, show him that we’re here and he’s got a reason to fight.” He’s.. just not going to make mention of the Reaper he can sense approaching.

There’s a warm flash of light and they aren’t in the hospital anymore.

When her sight readjusts to something like normal, the three of them find themselves in a thicket of oaks and tall pines; the air cool and the sun making a reasonably valiant attempt to shine through the branches above them. Jessica is kneeling next to Sam, her hand grasping his as firmly as she had been in the hospital. Her instinct is to rest his head in her lap, to bring whatever semblance of comfort she can to him.

“What now?” she asks the archangel, looking up from her position on the forest floor and suddenly feeling more insignificant than ever. “What can I do to help?”

Sam looks even more vulnerable laying on the soft grass, with his head in Jessica's lap. Small and human and fading away. "Oh no you don't. You're not going to do this," he kneels beside Sam on the opposite side, reaching to hold his other hand.

"Hold his hand, kiddo. Talk to him. I'm going to try and bring him back." Closing his eyes, Gabriel rests a hand on his forehead, slowly pouring grace into him, shoring up failing organs and breathing life onto the fading spark that was Sam's life. "Come on Sammy, come back to us. Me and Jess, we're here and it's not time for you to go."

He'd been ready to die. He'd been ready for a while, really, though Sam would probably not have said so to anybody else. Not that he wanted to leave his brother behind, but he'd felt for years that something was missing. Not just since he'd come back from Hell, but a bit before that.

Again, he couldn't have told anybody when or exactly what was missing, but he knew it wasn't there.

So, when he felt something trying to pull him back, Sam fought. He did his best to push it away, though it was insistent. And even with the amount of power behind the pull, he might have managed. Had he not heard Jess's voice.

It surprised him long enough for Gabriel to get a good hold and haul him in, Sam's body jerking as he pulled in a deep breath, eyes blinking open sluggishly. He found himself looking up at Jess, Gabriel's hand on his forehead and, for a long few moments, memories crossed that he shouldn't have remembered at all.

"Was it the bandits again?" he asked, brow furrowing. And not realizing that he'd spoken in perfect Latin.

At first, Jessica is simply enthralled that Sam is there and alive; that she and Gabriel were able to pull him back from the brink. But then what he actually says as he comes around sinks in, and while there are bits and pieces that she recalls of Latin thanks to Gabriel, this is one that throws her for a loop.

She squeezes his hand and manages a concerned smile, anyway. "No," she answers, glancing up at the archangel at the sudden line of a mostly dead language. "Welcome back, SammySam."

The familiar cadence of Latin brings back far happier memories and Gabriel smiles down at him, shifting his hand to simply rest in his hair. "No, beloved. It wasn't the bandits this time." And leave it to Sam to remember a moment from a dozen lifetimes ago. "But we're here because you needed us. Just like always."

Reaching his free hand over to Jessica, Gabriel touches her, helping to unlock memories of the lifetimes they've shared before, the countless times they've found one another and fallen in love. Rome, Brazil, Russia, she had the memories in Heaven, but it's not a surprise that they were shuttered away when he restored her form. "So you need to fight, kiddo. You need to stay with us."

Sam has always been good at Latin, even without the memories of his former lives. He had to be as a hunter and it had saved his life and Dean's life many times.

But for the moment, he isn't that hunter. He's not any of the lives he's lived before except that first one, the one where they first found each other and he fell in love with a god and a merchant woman who could have been a goddess.

He closes his eyes, turning his face into Gabriel's touch to his hair. "It's hard. I'm so very tired, Gabriel."

Amazing how the gap of the Latin fills in as Gabriel provides his assistance to her (Strange how the name she had called him for so long had lodged in her memory--perhaps the residual from being newly yanked out of the aether?). It is not secret that Jessica would do anything for the two of them--in the case of this life, give hers to advance Sam's destiny, whatever that may be.

But this? His being at the end of something so incredible and so ready to give in... It breaks her heart to see him this way. Sam Winchester deserved so much more, so much better.

Her free hand caresses his cheek. "You are loved so much, and you are needed so. This is not your fate, Sam. Not here. Not like this." Her fingers brush a stray lock of his hair away from his eyes. That was something she'd never tire of.

"Dean reached out to save you, Sam." Which was the case, but Jessica can't decide if it's a good idea to tell him that Heaven was currently closed for business. He would have been stuck.

Edited (It's amazing what I think of when I'm folding laundry. ) 2015-07-05 22:19 (UTC)

I know you’re tired, kiddo,” the weariness in Sam’s voice is enough to make his grace crack and bleed and he sweeps his thumb softly along his cheek. “But you can’t let go, not this time. Heaven has been sealed up tight and if you let go, I won’t be able to take you home. Not this time.”

Because what else could he do when he’d gone and done the unthinkable and fallen in love with a pair of mortals? Gabriel stayed with them until the end and gathered their souls up to take them home to Heaven. Tempering his grief with the joy the felt at finally being able to see his true form and to remember all the lives that they had lived together, the love that they had shared.

“Don’t leave us behind Sam. Find your rest with us. We’re here and you’re not alone anymore.”

His eyes flicker to a shadow gathering in the forest, a sharp-nosed figure holding a cane. Calmly watching. Desperation colors Gabriel’s voice as he strokes his hair. “You have to stay Sam. Please don’t go.”

"Dean?" It's the right thing to say to him because mention of his brother's name will get through Sam's fog faster than anything. He's been trained this life to respond to his brother over anything else, after all, and the past ten years or so have only reinforced that.

More than that, though, it starts to clear the fog of pain and confusion out of Sam's eyes. Though the inflection had still been Latin as he and Dean's souls had been bound together from the start. They had always been brothers, though sometimes they were closer than others.

Sam starts to struggle to sit up, only to be thwarted by his own body. He lays back down heavily, finally looking around. And pausing as he realizes that he's definitely not in the church he last remembers and definitely not with Crowley. Or Dean. "Jess?" Another moment. "Gabriel? How..."

The shadow doesn't move, no nearer but no further away. The lack of confusion doesn't mean that Sam's doing much better, after all.

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Braaaains.

Re: Braaaains.

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