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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"It's very rare that people get what they deserve, Gabriel. I would have thought you, of all your Father's creations, understood that." Death leveled his gaze at Gabriel for a moment before he shifted, leaning forward on the table.

"Lucifer's rebellion took your Father by surprise. Not that He would ever admit to it. But once that was put into motion...well. Your Father is omniscient, after all. He could see the potential pathways that were opened up and they all lead to a confrontation. One that could lead to the end of all that He had created. Or would be averted, but only if humanity was allowed to make their own choices.

"But. In order to do that, the ones that it all depended on would need support. More than any other human. They would be soulmates, but they would have other soulmates as well. Not just human, either. Each vessel's soul was connected to another human, of course, but an angel as well."

It was the Mark. The lock. Whatever it was he had used to lock away the Darkness. Gabriel had seen it eat away at his brother until all of them were fighting, at each other's throats. It shouldn't have taken Him by surprise, but it did.

Soulmates. A human bonded to another and an angel. An archangel. Slowly it dawns on Gabriel and he drops his head into his hand, swearing softly. "Dad. Damnit." That's why he'd felt the sudden connection with Sam the first time they'd met, why nothing felt complete or whole unless he was with the two humans he loved most in the world.

Why he didn't hesitate to sacrifice himself to protect Sam.

"That's why we could call Sam back from the edge."

"It is. And the reason why Azazel had Jessica killed and why Lucifer himself tried to make certain you were dead." Because, even if Gabriel hadn't figured out the soul ties between himself and his humans, Lucifer had.

But, then, Lucifer was meant to be more tied to Sam.

"It is also why Lucifer's forces made certain to take out the Harvelle women as well." He couldn't be clearer about Dean's soul ties. "The only reason he wasn't as lost to despair over losing his soulmates is because he was never given the chance to meet the angelic one until now."

Gadreel. Gabriel doesn't even have to hazard a guess in that regard. Dean never let the angel out of his sight, even after it was clear that Sam was alive and Gabriel could help keep him that way. He didn't know as much about the Harvelle women, but sneaking into an unguarded Heaven wouldn't be that difficult. "That poor bastard. Locked away all this time away from him."

"They need her back. Dean and his angel."

Death nods, sitting back again. "They do. And she needs them. Though, I dare say that it will be a difficult sell for Dean Winchester."

He pauses before settling his hands over the top of his cane again. "I don't doubt that, as terrible as his plight was -- and it was terrible. We might be looking at a very different world had Gadreel not been locked away during the near Apocalypse."

Losing both of his soulmates had made Sam near on suicidal. Near enough, at least. For both brothers to lose everything, there would likely not be a world left.

At least it's not a sell that he has to make. Gabriel can spring her from Heaven and let the three of them sort it out on their own. There had been an undeniable sense of completion, of home, the first time he and Sam had welcomed Jessica into his villa in Rome. Sooner or later, Dean would get it through his almost impossibly thick skull.

"Hindsight's twenty twenty, I get that. But it's time that he finally gets the backup he needs. I've watched Dean Winchester try and carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sometimes literally. He needs her to help him make sense of things."

Another soul to rescue from Heaven. No rest for the semi-wicked, right?

But now it's time for a question just for Gabriel. "He's still out there, isn't He?"

The sound Death made might have been agreement about hindsight. But, he'd been around this world for far too long. Though he had never agreed with the punishment meted out to the Guardian of Eden, he was never entirely certain that there hadn't been more to God's thought processes in the matter.

What was it humans said? 'The Lord works in mysterious ways', indeed.

The question, though, gets a raised eyebrow out of the sharp-faced man. "Do you worry that I would have taken Him and not tell you?"

That's really all the answer Gabriel needs. "No. I think if you had taken Him, I would have felt it on some level."

After all, he'd felt his brothers trapped in the Cage, felt the way Raphael had been blown apart by a desperately overclocked Castiel. "Dean needs Gadreel. He needs him and he needs her. There's no way he and Sam can set things right without them. Without us."

Death gives him the faintest slice of a smile. "Your Father is still out there," he says after a moment. "Too much yet relies upon free will for Him to step in. Too many choices to be made but the best choices exist when He isn't here. His great experiment coming to fruition."

And, truly, humanity was His creation but it was an experiment as well. Just as the angels were their own experiment.

"I think, perhaps, that you may see Him sooner than you would think. A generation, maybe two more." He pauses. "Assuming, of course, the American politicians don't piss Him off more."

Gabriel had always thought that He was still alive, still out there somewhere. It didn't make things easier, knowing that He had walked away but never quite understanding why. But it was all right. He had found Jessica and Sam and they were together again. For now.. that was enough.

At least until he sprung one more soul from Heaven.

"I'm pretty sure that's what they're aiming for at this point." Most of them were such tempting targets, if he took anyone on anymore it had to be subtle. One can't simply prank an entire political party and not wind up making CNN, the BBC and every other news feed on the planet.

"Mmm. But I think that they would be very surprised to find what He actually thinks." Though, given who God was running around as now, Death wouldn't put it past Him to find a way to get his point across in writing.

On the other hand, the prophet Chuck seemed to have disappeared. For the time being.

"Well. They can hardly live forever, anyway. I know that Tessa in particular is looking forward to a chance to give them a piece of her mind."

"Dad always had a sense of humor about things like that. If he wants to make a point, I think he will," he chuckles to himself.

Mention of Tessa gets another short laugh, "I have no doubt that she will." Fierce, determined Tessa. He liked her.

"And as fun as this has been," or at least enlightening, "I should get back before those meatheads find more trouble to get in since I'm leaving them unsupervised." Death keeps his own schedule, so he shouldn't exactly keep him either.

"Yes. It would likely be a wise idea not to leave them on their own for very long. Especially not Dean Winchester and Gadreel." It's not like he doesn't know what you're about to go do, Gabriel. He also doesn't disagree with it, though he probably should. "I have my own duties to be getting back to as well. I wish you all luck. And, personally, am looking forward to perhaps having my own chat with Metatron sooner or later."

Because the angel was dangerous. It was something they'd have to deal with eventually. "Safe journey, Gabriel."

Clearly he's getting sentimental in his old age if he's suddenly becoming that transparent. But now that he's back with Sam and Jessica together - Gabriel understands what Dean is missing out on and what he needs so badly.

Gadreel is free from prison and he can sneak back into Heaven to take Jo to the two that needed her so badly.

"Thank you." And he's not stupid enough to snark at Death. Gabriel does have a sense of tact, it's just selective deployment of it. "I should get back there and make sure those two nutjobs haven't killed each other yet."

"That you should. Though I can assure you that none of your charges are dead." A flash of a faint smile to go with the dry humor. "I'm certain I will see you eventually."

And, like that, Death just isn't there any more. Though, to be fair, neither are the sandwich nor the fried plantains. The pizza is something Death can get at any time. Gabriel's gifts, however, aren't as common for him.

"That will never stop being weird," Gabriel mutters to himself. The talk has already given him enough to think about and before he heads home he has a soul to spring from Heaven.

Once one Joanna Beth is safely laid in bed with Dean Gabriel can return to Jessica and Sam, curl himself around his soulmates and finally, finally rest.

Sam's exhausted and hurting and, frankly, sleep is a very nice place to be.

It's not somewhere he can stay indefinitely, though, because being human means all sorts of problems from time to time. Including having to use the bathroom. Which means that, some time after Gabriel slips into bed with him and Jess, Sam finds himself coming around to his bedroom. And the fact that he's definitely not alone in bed.

He holds his breath, taking a moment to take stock of his surroundings. While others might think that the bunker would be a strange place for his heaven, they'd be people who didn't realize that his only real home before had been mobile. And with the Impala in the bunker, it's the best of both worlds.

What he knows of Heaven, though, says that this shouldn't be possible. Because he recognizes both sets of breathing in the room. And neither Jess nor Gabriel were ever in the bunker. So for them to be in his Heaven, made up of memories of the bunker? Well, it doesn't make sense.

Sam shifts, then stifles a groan as aches and pains make themselves apparent. And, beyond that, the fact that he really needs to pee.

Which, honestly, makes even LESS sense. Why should he have to pee if he's dead?

One of Jessica's greatest (though very least attractive) talents is her ability to snore like a chainsaw attached to a lumberjack when she's utterly and completely exhausted, when she's utterly and otherwise completely schockered, and when she's sick. She had learned years ago to sleep on her stomach or her side, and this night had been no exception. Sam will find her with her face mostly buried between his shoulder and the pillow with her hand resting on his chest.

It's his attempt to move that rousts her, and her head (complete with some very exciting sleep-styled hair) pops up as she breathes in her wakefulness, worried that she'd hurt him somehow in the night.

Jess peers at him through blurry sleep-vision. "Sam? You okay?"

At least she's more coherent than he is. Following a rather enlightening chat with Death and springing another soul from Heaven, Gabriel is sacked out hard on the other side of Sam, barely aware of any movement going on around him. His grace is still piecing itself back together and for the next few days he'll have to go in search of more quiet, natural places to recharge.

Then it registers that Jessica said Sam's name. He was shifting against him which meant he was awake. Sam was awake. Gabriel forces his eyes open, thumb brushing along his cheek. "Heya kiddo. I know, I know, took long enough for the cavalry to get here but you know how much I like to make an entrance."

Sam looks from one of them to the other, trying to understand what's happening. Because the only time anything like this has happened?

He closes his eyes, clenching his fists. "I'm not going to fall for it. Not again."

Too many memories of Hell and how Lucifer would use either face to break Sam down further. He's not going to let it get the best of him again.

"...Fall for what, Sam? What do you mean?" Her brow furrows in both confusion and concern, and Jess makes a reasonable attempt to blink the sleep away. Sort of. There's still a healthy amount of squinting and blinking as she props herself up on an elbow to get a better look at both Sam and Gabriel.

To say that Sam felt tense next to her would be a little bit of an understatement. She reaches over to brush a few strands of his mop of hair away from his face. "I was hoping you might have slept better," she murmurs, the idea in mind that he'd had a nightmare or his internal healing had bothered him.

Jessica might be confused, but Gabriel can read the damage done to his soul, damage that could have only been done by another archangel. He rests his hand on Sam's clenched fist.

"It's really us, kiddo. Managed to spring Jessica before the fall, before Metatron locked everyone out of Heaven." His smile softens. "You were dying, so we had to save you."

There's no way that this could be happening. Sam knows he was dying, of course. And some part of him remembers that in between place, where Gabriel and Jess were both begging him to remain with them.

It just...doesn't make any sense, though. And as much is obvious in his face as he looks between them. "I'm...not sure I understand."

Gabriel had laid out the overview. Jess is still trying to piece things here and there, but it all boiled down to just one point.

The backs of her fingers caress Sam's scruffy cheek. It makes her smile to be able to feel that again. "Something happened that ended up closing up Heaven. Angels were booted out--nobody else can get in, but souls are mostly still there." She glances up at the archangel, their angel, mostly still in some disbelief that any of this is actually happening. "Dean sent out a prayer. To save you. The angels heard. Gabriel heard. He..." She smiles gently. "He found me before he fell from heaven.

"We, heh..." Her eyes close as she shakes her head with a small chuckle. "We landed in a Starbucks in Louisiana." Dumb way to end that, Jess, but it's something you'll not soon forget. "And drove all night to save you."

Gabriel's smile is no less fond as he smooths his hand gently through Sam's hair. "I know kiddo. It's a lot to take in. Just breathe. You remember us, you did the first time you woke up." And for a beat, silver glimmers around the base of his neck, a reminder of a life they'd shared ages ago.

"Our souls are bound together. Every lifetime we find one another, Sammy. You get into trouble and here we are, ready to pull you back from the brink, just like always."

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