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The knock at the door had Sam on his feet, gun in hand, approaching cautiously. The Do Not Disturb sign was up, as always, so housekeeping and management should leave them alone. Police would identify themselves as such if they were here on some kind of business. Dean wouldn’t bother to knock. Castiel wouldn’t bother with the door. No one else should have any reason to know where Sam and Dean even were, let alone come bother them.
He didn’t recognize the man at the door. Golden eyes and hair, short, kind of small but Sam could recognize that if he was here for a fight it wasn’t going to be easy for him to win despite his extra… what, eight inches, it looked like? Fortunately, if the way he was shivering and hunched in on himself was anything to go by, he wasn’t looking for a fight.
Sam cracked open the door. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, I…” He paused, head tilting as he took in Sam. “Wow. Bro, you have got to stop going for the giants. People might think you’re compensating for something.” The guy pushed on the door, managing to force enough room for him to slip through. “Good to see you and I could really use your help right now.”
“Um… who… what…” Sam kept the gun out as he closed the door, shaking his head to clear it. “I don’t know who you think I am, but you’re mistaken. You’re not my brother.”
He put a hand to his chest, dramatically falling backwards onto Sam’s bed with a loud, exaggerated gasp. “How dare you. You wound me. I know I’m not exactly the brother you remember, but to just blow me off like that?” He smirked, sitting back up and waggling his eyebrows. “Bit of a difference from the days when you would just blow me instead.”
“What.” Okay, so blowing a brother wasn’t exactly unheard of around here, but with him and Dean it was only rumors and exaggeration.
There was an uncertain flicker across the guy’s face, now. “Lu? You… quit screwing with me, bro. I’m in serious trouble and I need your help.”
“I’m not Lu, I’m not screwing with you, but if you’ll tell me what’s wrong I might be able to help.” Sam sat on Dean’s bed, looking over at his guest with the gun carefully laid beside him where he could grab it easily. “What’s this about?”
“Big bro Mike set a trap for me.” He wrapped his arms back around himself with a shiver. “Lured me in with a carful of hookers and a big pile of candy, and then… he took my grace, Lu. Turned me human. I’m trapped in this body and I’m dying.”
Sam blinked a few times, trying to process that. “Your… grace? Is that a person, or… I don’t understand. Dying of what? How long do you have?”
“Dying of being mortal, and who the hell knows? This guy was about thirty, so with modern medicine maybe fifty years, but he sure as hell didn’t have modern medicine to get him through childhood and adolescence so likely shorter! Forty? Thirty?” His shaking increased, and despite Sam’s irritation, he was really starting to feel bad for the guy. “And come on. My grace. You know. That essential part of us that makes us immortal and gives us our powers? Our connection to Dad? Usually kind of a glowy white energy thing when it’s not inside us?”
“Okay, look… what’s your name?”
“You know my name, Lu.” When Sam’s sympathetic face melted into a glare, he grumbled, “Gabriel. They call me Gabriel.”
“Gabriel.” Sam reached out and put a hand on his knee. “I want to help you, but I can’t if I don’t know how. I don’t know your brother Lu, I’m not him, so even if you think I should know something obvious, assume I don’t. What are you?”
“I’m human now, weren’t you listening?” Gabriel snapped.
Sam rolled his eyes, but okay, fair enough. “Fine. What were you before you were human?”
“An archangel. One of God’s most powerful weapons. I’d show you my wings to prove it, except for how I don’t have them anymore!”
“Okay, then. And grace… that’s what makes you an archangel?” Sam guessed, brain racing. Big bro Mike must be Michael, which would make Lu… “Do you think I’m Lucifer?”
“You are Luci… wait.” Gabriel’s eyes went wide, and he slapped a hand against his forehead. “Sam. I’m sorry about that. In my defense, I’m having a really bad day, and I can still feel the traces of Lucifer that make you his True Vessel. Someday, you will be him. Just… not yet, apparently.” His brow furrowed and he got to his feet, starting to pace. “If I’m just a normal human, I shouldn’t be able to feel that. Why can I feel that.” He closed his eyes, and let out a shout as he started to glow. “Nice one, Mikey! Got me good there.”
“Huh?” Sam got to his feet, staring at the now radiant archangel. “What did Michael do?”
“Tricked me into thinking he’d taken my grace, when all he really did was lock it away behind a really boring memory of home.” Gabriel grinned and shot Sam a wink. “I’m really sorry about this, Sammy, but can’t have you running around with spoilers.” He snapped his fingers, and the next thing Sam knew, Dean was standing over him calling his name.
“Dean? Wha…”
“I got a call, said you’d slipped getting out of the shower and hit your head and I needed to get here to take care of you,” Dean whispered. “We did the concussion protocols, you were concussed, this is me waking you up to make sure you don’t go to comaland on me. How are you feeling?”
“Ugh… I don’t remember anything about it.” Sam rolled over. “My head’s throbbing. You woke me up, I’m fine, I’m going back to sleep, just let me sleep this off.”
“Okay, but one question first…” Dean pointed to a giant chocolate angel standing in the corner of the room. There was a chunk missing from one of the wings, but otherwise it was intact. “Got any idea where that came from? Best chocolate I’ve ever had, man.”