Chapter Text
It was a subdued and slightly shy little boy that followed Gabriel into the diner where they were going to meet up with Dean a few hours later. Falling back into memories the way that Sam had, coupled with all the worry that had eaten at him the past few days, left him with the need to be as close to his Daddy as possible. The embarrassment he'd felt wasn't gone but he couldn't really hold on to it the way he'd been - not with the way that Gabriel was being about all of this. He wasn't upset with Sam, wasn't angry with him, and wasn’t punishing him. He was so simple and matter of fact about it and so freaking understanding. Sam hadn't ever met anyone like Gabriel before and he knew just how blessed he was to have him in his life.
Sam gave Gabriel's hand a warm squeeze as they walked up to the table and got one in return.
The sight of Dean had Sam wanting to flush a little bit. That urge only grew stronger when he saw the honest concern that still sat in Dean's eyes. His brother wouldn't ask, Sam knew. That wasn't how they worked. They didn't ask one another about these kinds of things – they didn't talk about these kinds of things. But Sam offered him a smile as he and Gabriel sat down, and when he ordered breakfast he made sure to get a little more than he had been lately as a sort of silent sign to Dean that he was feeling better as well as something to show Gabriel the exact same thing. He got smiles from both of them that had him ducking his head down to hide his own smile.
Breakfast was surprisingly easy for them. Gabriel had absolutely no qualms about carrying the whole conversation. He didn't really need all that much input when he was telling them stories. Not that they could've said anything, anyways, with how hard they were laughing. The trickster told them about a prank he'd played back in Asgard on Odin that had involved some edible gold, a goat, a vampire, and six pink scarves. Sam could barely eat his food he was laughing so hard, and even Dean was laughing.
That sort of set the tone for the rest of the day. Gabriel stayed by Sam's side the entire day and kept them all as entertained as possible. Not that they did anything all that special, really. They went back to the motel and Gabriel convinced Dean – more like suggested and Dean jumped all over it – that they take a day to rest here and just enjoy themselves. Which, in their eyes, meant a day spent eating take out and watching movie after movie on the TV. They even pulled Castiel down to join them as the morning moved to afternoon.
It was exactly what Sam needed after these past few days of so much stress. There was nothing bad out there, no hunt happening, no calls to go to Heaven. Just the four of them hanging out in one motel room watching movies, playing cards, telling stories and laughing together. At one point Sam and Missy played around on the ground, wrestling with a toy rope that Gabriel had snapped up for her. They even managed to get Dean involved in the game right up until Missy decided to his Dean’s lap as a launching pad. The older hunter stayed out of it after that.
Sam was so caught up in their good day he didn't even really notice when day turned to night, or when night started to get late. It wasn't until Gabriel was scooping him up from the couch that Sam even realized that he'd started to fall asleep against the archangel's shoulder sometime during their dinner.
“I'm gonna take him home to rest for a while.” Gabriel said softly, his voice just a low murmur above Sam's head. The younger Winchester could've protested being carried like this, especially in front of Dean, but he was tired and it felt really good to be carried in Gabriel's arms. He burrowed down against his Daddy's chest and gave a soft little sigh of content.
Somewhere nearby he heard Dean's voice, just as soft as Gabriel's. “Good. You take care of him, Gabe.”
“Always.”
There was the familiar sensation then of angelic travel and Sam knew that his Daddy was taking him home.
The feeling of being laid down on a bed was just as familiar to Sam as the rest of it. He didn’t even really bother waking up all that much as Gabriel laid him down and started to change him out of his clothes. Though the archangel could’ve just snapped and gotten Sam changed, he didn’t. He preferred the hands on approach when he could and he knew that Sam loved it, too. Sam liked the way that Gabriel’s hands felt as they stripped him efficiently out of his clothes. There was just something about them, something that felt strong and safe. Sam relaxed into the touch and drifted even closer towards sleep.
“There you go, baby.” Gabriel murmured, gently cradling Sam’s head as he pulled him up to get his shirt off. Then he gently laid him back down on the bed. Something soft was pressed into Sam’s arms and he snuggled in easily, recognizing the feel of Taffy. He barely even noticed when the arm he curled around his stuffed animal slid up enough that his thumb could go to his lips. Sam felt as his jeans were unbuttoned and unzipped. He lifted his hips up just a bit to help his Daddy out, getting a little murmur in response.
Sam didn’t even think anything of it when his boxers slid down with his jeans. It wasn’t until one of Gabriel’s hands slid under him and lifted him so that something could slide under him, not up his legs, that Sam started to stir. He made a sound low in his throat and blinked his eyes open, a little too sleepy to bother doing more than that. In response, Gabriel stroked a hand over the outside of his thigh. “It’s all right, Sammy. You’re fine. I told you I’d take care of you, didn’t I?”
He had. And Sam trusted him. He trusted his Daddy more than anyone else.
Sam relaxed down into the bed and let his eyes drift shut once more. He heard Gabriel’s soft, approving murmur and then something was being pulled up through his legs and pressed snugly against him, and Sam didn’t worry about anything else anymore. Gabriel’s hands were there, bundling him up nice and tight, and then sliding him into his really soft jammies, and Sam was perfectly content to lay there until he felt Daddy’s arms around him. He snuggled down into them and smiled happily around his thumb.
One of Gabriel’s hands brushed back Sam’s hair and then a light kiss was pressed to his forehead. “Go to sleep, Sammy. I got you.”
That was just what Sam did.
The first thing that Sam became aware of when he woke up in the morning was the very strange sensation of feeling both wet and dry all at the same time. There was a sort of heavy, wet feeling down by his legs, nowhere near as bad as it usually felt, and yet somehow the rest of him seemed to feel perfectly dry. In fact, he felt sort of swaddled up and dry and surprisingly comfortable. Gabriel and the blankets were snug around him, his clothes were dry, and the warm weight of Missy was at his feet. Sam was perfectly content to sigh down into the bed a little more and just lay there.
He felt a soft chuckle behind him and the arm around his waist tightened a little. Warm breath puffed against his ear. “Uh, uh, lazybones. It’s already almost nine o’clock. Bout time someone here woke up, don’t you think?”
“Don’ wanna.” Sam mumbled around his thumb. He was smiling, though, and he knew Gabriel could hear it. Hell, he could probably feel how Sam was feeling right then.
Sam and Gabriel both loved moments like these where they woke up together and were snuggled up with each other. Sam was in what Gabriel called his ‘happy normal’. He was himself, with the added childish gestures, and without being fully ‘aged down’. He was just Sam, pure and simple. It was what Sam once would’ve called a childish morning and something he would’ve fought to hide. With Gabriel, he didn’t have to. He was free to be just himself and not have to be self-conscious about being an adult with childish moments. The thumb sucking, the stuffed animal against his chest, the diaper… the diaper?
In a flash Sam’s body went tense. His brain finally woke up enough to connect the dots on the feelings he’d woken up to and come up with the only logical conclusion. He was wet because he’d still wet the bed, only the rest of him was dry because something had caught it all. A diaper. That was what Gabriel had put on him last night. He’d put Sam in a diaper!
That’s right, HE did it. Sam thought to himself. I didn’t pick it, I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t make him do it. He said that he’d come up with a solution and he did. He’s the one that chose this. That must mean that he’s okay with it. Gabriel… Daddy said he wouldn’t do anything with me that he didn’t want to do. He promised to tell me if he didn’t like something. I’ve got to trust that.
They’d come far enough in their relationship and been through a few hurdles already – yesterday morning being yet another large one – and Gabriel hadn’t done anything to betray Sam’s trust. He’d proved time and time again that he was worthy of being trusted. If this was the solution he came up with for when they were here, in their own home, that had to mean that it wasn’t bad or wrong. It didn’t make Sam a bad kid in his eyes. And if Sam were honest with himself, this was the only solution he’d been able to come up with in his own head anyways. He hadn’t been able to think of anything else. The big question here was – was this something Sam wanted? Something he could live with?
He focused his thoughts inward for a moment and tried to push past any leftover sleepy feelings so he could really think about this. Was this something that bothered him?
The diaper itself felt sort of – strange. Not bad. Just, different. It was tight without being too tight. Obviously it didn’t bother him while sleeping, as he hadn’t woken up from it and hadn’t really paid any serious attention to it right away. He wasn’t uncomfortable in it. If anything, he felt kind of, swaddled – and safe. Protected. Like he was wrapped up in yet another layer of protection from his Daddy. Something that kept him safe. Something that let him be free without worry. Gabriel did that in so many ways. This, it was just another way of doing that.
Plus, as Sam thought back, he could remember the warm and happy feeling he’d had while laying in bed getting changed. The way it had felt to have Gabriel move him around and change him. How it’d felt to have the diaper strapped into place – now that he knew what it was.
A soft smile touched Sam’s lips. Pulling his thumb out of his mouth, he carefully rolled himself over, feeling the weirdness of the diaper shifting with him. That was soething that might take some getting used to. Also, it was decidedly full, giving it a rather strange feeling. But he’d see about getting that taken care of in a moment. Right now he knew Gabriel probably needed some reassurance.
Sure enough, the archangel was watching him with a hint of wariness in his gaze that Sam found he didn’t really like to see. To soothe it, he tried to do the only thing he could think of that might let Gabriel know he wasn’t mad. He pushed himself up just a little as soon as they were face to face and he stole a soft little kiss. When Sam pulled back, he was still smiling, though he blushed a little bit at the feel of the diaper crinkling against his waist. “Thanks for ah, for taking care of me yesterday. And, and last night.”
Gabriel looked less worried, but not perfectly reassured. “I’m sorry if you feel I overstepped myself. We should’ve talked about it before it got close to bed…”
“No.” Sam cut him off quickly, even though he knew Gabriel wasn’t fond of that. But he didn’t want the archangel to really get going on something like that when he was wrong. Despite his embarrassment, Sm was going to have to talk about this to make sure that Gabriel understood him. “No, Gabe, you were fine. When I freaked out in the bedroom, you clamed me down and told me that you’d find a way to take care of things. I could’ve asked for more detail, but I didn’t because I trust you. I know that any solution you come up with is going to be in my best interests. Just like I know that I can always safeword out of something that I really, really don’t like, and you’ll respect it. You’ve always respected my limits.”
The way that Gabriel was looking at him in that moment left Sam feeling like the most amazing kid on the planet. He’d never had anyone look at him with so much love and adoration.
Gabriel leaned in and caught Sam up in a kiss that was warm and slow and sweet. When they pulled apart, the both of them were a little out of breath, and the light in Gabriel’s eyes had melted them down to a liquid gold that Sam loved to see. “Thank you, Sammy.” Gabriel said, his voice just slightly hoarse with emotion.
“I love you.” Sam’s response was simple and yet it was all he felt he needed to say.
“I love you too.”
For a moment more the two just sat there and watched one another. Then Gabriel’s smile grew and the little wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes. “Well, what do you say we get you dressed and go have some breakfast, kiddo. Hm?”
Sam smiled right back at him. “That sounds great.”
He’d heard Gabriel’s word choice and knew that it wasn’t accidental. The ‘we get you dressed’ meant that Gabriel was going to help him. So it was no surprise when Sam felt himself being laid on his back while Gabriel rose up next to him. There was a brief flash of embarrassment, a part of him that still wanted to protest that he didn’t need to do this, that he shouldn’t have to do this and neither should Gabriel, but it was lost completely when tickling fingers ran up his thighs and drew a surprised laugh out of him.
Gabriel’s hands easily stripped Sam out of the pajama shorts that he usually wore to bed here. He set them aside before drawing Sam towards the edge of the bed. “So, I think I figured out a way to take care of things while you’re with big brother.”
The conversation helped to distract Sam as his hips were lifted and something was slid underneath him. A changing pad. “Oh yeah?”
“Yep. We both know how awesome I am,” Gabriel paused for Sam to chuckle there, flashing a quick grin up at him. Sam grinned back before he ducked his head down a little, still a little too embarrassed to watch. The young boy pulled Taffy up onto his chest and focused on fiddling with its ears instead of looking down at his Daddy. He heard a chuckle in response as nimble fingers moved to the fastenings on the diaper. The diaper was unhooked and Sam lifted his hips for Gabriel in response to the light tap against his hipbone. Gabriel pulled it out from underneath him and Sam felt sort of exposed as he laid there. He was distracted yet again by Gabriel talking to him, continuing his answer from before. “After a little thought, I figured the answer was simple enough. I know you’ve got a pair of boxer briefs in your bag that you usually wear when its laundry day. Doesn’t take much to mojo them around a little to kind of act like a diaper without actually being one.”
That piqued Sam’s interest. “How would that work? Won’t they be, y’know… dirty, afterwards?”
“Nope. I told you, I’ll mojo them around a bit. No one will ever be able to tell there’s anything different about them. The only one who might sense some grace on them is Uncle Cassie, an he’ll probably just pass it off as the grace I put on you.” A surprisingly warm wet wipe pressed against Sam’s skin and cleaned him up quickly and efficiently.
In no time flat, Sam found himself being dressed in boxers and a comfortable pair of house pants. As he was pulled up to sit on the edge of the bed, he shifted around a little, letting the pants brush against his skin. They were soft and he liked how it felt. Sam tilted his head up and smiled up at his Daddy, who was grabbing a shirt out of the dresser. “Aren’t we going back to Dean?”
“Nope. Uncle Cassie wants to take him out for a bit, so I said I’d keep you here and out of the way.” A grin flashed over Gabriel’s face as he turned back to Sam. “Your brother’s more likely to agree to any kind of date if he knows you’re already off doing something, so Uncle Cassie’s gonna tell him we’ve got plans.”
Sam set aside Taffy so he could get his hands through the sleeves as Gabriel put his shirt on him. “Do we have plans?”
“Not yet. I’m sure we’ll come up with something, though.”
Love warmed Sam as he sat there and looked up at the man who had come to mean so damn much to him. He let his lips curve up into a smile and he knew the look on his face was completely sappy. Gabriel never minded, though. He smiled back just like he always did. “Thank you.” Sam said softly. “For, well, for all of this.”
“You are more than welcome, baby.” Gabriel murmured. He bent down and gave Sam another of those long and sweet kisses that curled his toes and melted his brain.
The kiss was interrupted by a bark that was quickly followed by paws on their legs as Missy jumped on them, trying to get their attention. The two broke apart with a laugh, each one turning to look down at the impatient pup below them. “All right, all right.” Gabriel said, laughing again. he reached down and scratched behind her ears. Then he turned back to Sam and pulled on his arm, drawing him up. “C’mon, munchkin. You go on and take the wild one outside while I go get some breakfast started. Any requests?”
“Fruit kabobs?” Sam asked eagerly. He loved when Gabriel made fruit kabobs. He always got fruit from all over, usually with ones Sam hadn’t even tried yet.
Gabriel grinned at him and tucked a bit of hair behind Sam’s ear. “Fruit kabobs it is.”
Together, the little family left the bedroom.