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Sam yelps when Gabriel flies them to the top of the extremely tall tree. “Gabriel!” Sam snaps, feeling his stomach drop when he looks down to see only the tops of trees and no ground. There’s no doubt that it’s very, very far down though.
“Yeah Sammy,” Gabriel asks absentmindedly, more focused on the chocolate bar he’s munching on than the fact that humans are not supposed to be in a tree this tall.
“I think the point is the process, not the end result,” Sam explains with slight exasperation, a feeling he’s gotten quite used to ever since he started dating Gabriel.
“Sam, Sam, Sam,” Gabriel chides. “Look around you. Don’t you know where we are?”
Sam sighs and looks. “Are we—are we in a redwood forest?” he asks in delight, sidetracked from whatever he was annoyed at Gabriel about.
“Only you would know that at first glance,” Gabriel laughs at him affectionately. Sam doesn’t mind the teasing; he’s always wanted to see a redwood tree, especially since he had gone to college in California. He leans back, ignoring the thrill of fear at falling from such a height—Gabriel would never let him fall. The forest spreads out around him in a majestic swirl of browns, greens, and grays. The scent of pure wildness fills the air. Sam breathes deeply and smiles; it reminds him of Gabriel.
“I planted this one,” Gabriel says, out of the blue. Sam turns to look at him.
“What?”
“I planted this one,” Gabriel repeats. He’s gone still in the way that means he’s focusing completely on Sam and has forgotten to loosen the muscles that hold his true form. He seems more archangel than Trickster.
“That’s cool,” Sam manages, wondering what he’s supposed to say.
But Gabriel seems pleased. “I planted it for you,” he says lightly. “Angels don’t live in time the way humans do, you know. So I peeked across and saw your face. This tree is alive because I saw you.”
Sam looks down at the ancient tree they’re sitting on and feels awed. When he looks up, Gabriel is shaking himself as if rebooting his body. And wow that’s a weird comparison. But now he seems more relaxed, more human, more him.
“Well?” Gabriel smirks. “Don’t I get a kiss for my troubles?”
Sam rolls his eyes. “Gabriel. You just took a seed and put it in the ground.” Gabriel pouts and Sam rolls his eyes again. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to kiss you though.”
Gabriel takes that as permission and leans in to give Sam a light peck on the cheek—and then shoves him off.
Sam doesn't even have time to open his mouth to scream before he's safely on the ground again. “Gabriel what the hell!” he shouts, heart racing a mile a minute.
“I got the ‘photo evidence,’” Gabriel says cheerfully, waving a photograph at him. Sam takes it. He’s flailing wildly, a look of surprise fading to terror on his face.
“This would look pretty cool as a T-shirt,” Gabriel begins, and before he finishes, they’re back in the motel room.
“Dude, what are you guys wearing?” Dean says, snickering. Cas looks faintly disapprovingly at Gabriel after taking a quick glance at their shirts. Gabriel ignores him and goes to lie on Sam’s bed, scattering M&M’s on the sheets despite Sam’s repeated protests.
Sam watches him fondly because, in spite of the fact that he had a pointless near-death experience today, Sam would take the flawed, broken Gabriel who would push him off the top of a 200-foot tall redwood tree over the archangel that would plant him one any day.