Work Text:
The last thing Dean remembered was the rebar through his stomach. It was fatal. There wasn’t avoiding that truth – and with Jack in charge, fatal meant final. He wasn’t coming back from this one. He thought he remembered telling Sam that, and begging Sam to let him say goodbye. He’d tried to tell Sam everything in his heart, spilling out how much he regretted all the times they’d fought and how most scared he’d ever been was Sam refusing to talk to him when he came to him at Stanford for help.
Now he was… somewhere. Jack must have reorganized Heaven, because this didn’t feel like the other times he’d been here. Then he was face to face with Jack. “Dean? What are you doing here?”
“I died. It sucks, I know, but it was gonna happen someday, kid. I went out doing what I do best, and my only regret is that now Sam has to live without me for the rest of his life.” A thought occurred to him, and he shuddered. “If you mean what I’m doing here instead of downstairs, well… guess the old guy personally giving me salvation still stands, and now that Billie’s not Death anymore, no one’s gonna throw me into the Empty?”
“I cleaned out the Empty. Demons returned to Hell, angels came here, and monsters went to Purgatory. Once things are a little more settled up here, I’m planning a trip to Purgatory because I know that some monsters deserve to be here as much as the humans do… like Garth and his family, they’re just as good people as any human, they deserve to be here when they die.” Jack wrapped his arms around Dean.
“Wait, all the angels are here? Thaddeus, Malachi, Raphael… Lucifer?” Dean squeezed his eyes closed. “Kid, that’s…”
“Lucifer’s not a good idea. He’s in the Empty, replacing the entity that used to be there. The one that took Castiel from us.” An ugly look crossed Jack’s face. “Lucifer has a realm of his own to rule, any angel or demon who wanted to stay with him did, and when angels or demons die they’ll go to a walled-off area of their own realm. Lucifer, Crowley and Rowena, and I are responsible for our own dead.”
Crowley and Rowena, huh? Dean wanted so badly to go to Hell and get to popcorn those two trying to rule together. “So why the shock that I’m here? I’m a hunter. Bloody and short is the normal description of our lives.”
“Because when I felt you dying, I sent Gabriel to heal you. He got there in time, I would have felt it if you died, so I’m confused. It’s good to see you, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t understand how or why. The gates are closed to the living.”
“Gabriel’s a trickster. He probably has a back door.” Dean looked down at himself. “Why he’d kill me instead of sending me here…”
“You’ll have to ask him. It’s good to see you. Tell Sam I love him and miss him.” Jack raised his hand, and everything went white.
Dean’s eyes fluttered open, and he found himself staring directly at the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. Sam was alive, healthy, and pissed off because Gabriel was supposed to heal him up and he wasn’t waking up. As much as it warmed his heart to know his brother wanted him there, he did have a bit of a headache and the shouting at Gabriel was making it worse. “Sammy.”
“Dean?” Sam plopped down beside him, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. “Oh, thank fuck. Come here.” He hauled Dean up into a hug, and Dean clung back. Getting the opportunity to do this, when he thought he never would again, made it worth the chick flick moment. “Are you okay?”
“As okay as I ever am. Jack said to tell you he misses you but not to come up too soon.” He pulled back as Sam let go, turning his attention to Gabriel. “You confused your new boss. How’d you get me up there?”
“I have a window for sneaking out, so I just popped you through it.” Gabriel smirked. “Gonna take some getting used to, having to answer to a nephew who’s hands-on in Heaven and hands-off on Earth instead of an absentee dad who just doesn’t bother with anything that doesn’t personally affect him, but he’s letting Castiel be down here as much as he wants and told me I could stay here too.”
“Okay, I get why Cas gets to stay, Jack would never separate his dads like that, but you? Why you?” Dean had to ask.
“Same reason, different Winchester. I mean, we weren’t together before and for all I know your interest in me doesn’t go beyond fantasy, but I want to be with you and Jack thought there was potential for me to get what I want, so he told me to stay down here and shoot my shot.” Gabriel sauntered over to the bed. “You want me, I’m yours. You don’t, I’m gonna hang around because I like it better down here anyway, but I’m not gonna do anything to make you uncomfortable around me. You’re not sure, figure it out and let me know what you decide.”
“Sam? Cas?” Dean turned to look at them. “It’s damn good to see you two, but could you give me and Gabe some privacy? Don’t figure either of you is all that interested in watching me answer his question.”