Chapter Text
The holiday fighting was something that Sam and Dean could’ve easily set their watches too. There was a fight for just about every holiday between Gabriel and Castiel, but they only really got bad when Castiel returned from the usual Thanksgiving visit because, much like the Christmas season, their bickering started up the day after the holiday, Castiel constantly trying to get Gabriel to go home for Christmas just once.
For Sam and Dean, it was kind a pain in the ass since Castiel didn’t really have a clue about what it meant to subtle about what he wanted. Closest he came to that was bringing up the conversation whenever Sam and Dean weren’t around, which usually meant walking in on the two brothers one good comment from using their fists instead of their words and, as Dean liked to point out, Gabriel had a mean right hook for a little guy.
Really, with comments like that, there wasn’t any wonder about how he had come to figure that one out.
Still, both Winchesters had pretty much been resigned to the usual seasonal bickering between the two brothers, so when Gabriel had actually agreed to go with Castiel back home for the holiday season, all but demanding that Dean and Sam tag along, everyone was surprised by it. Well, Sam and Dean were, Castiel just nodded as though Gabriel had agreed on what they were going to eat instead of ending an argument that had clearly been going on long before either Winchester had entered their lives.
But it was a good thing. Castiel was happy and the drive to the guys’ family home hadn’t been particularly bad. Sure, Dean had felt the need to blare Kansas for most of the trip, but it was Dean’s car and they had all given up on trying to change his ways. And really, for a group of guys who often spent any sort of vacation driving all across the country, putting up with Kansas from South Dakota to Massachusetts wasn’t so bad. It was only once they crossed state borders for the final time did things seem to take a turn for the worse.
“Trying to drink yourself to death before we even get there?” Dean called from the front, looking into the rearview mirror to catch Gabriel drinking from a bottle of Jack he had picked up the last time they stopped for gas.
“He seems to believe that alcohol will make seeing our family easier,” Castiel said, sounding confused as he gave Gabriel a disapproving look.
Turning around in his seat to face the upset blonde, Sam smiled at him saying, “It can’t be that bad. I mean, you have a family that really gets into the whole holiday thing. How could you hate that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was when deadbeat daddy dearest just kind of walked out. Or when my brothers got into a fight so bad that the cops had to be called because they were going to kill each other. Literally.” Taking another gulp from his bottle, Gabriel shook his head as he laughed bitterly about the entire thing. “See, I didn’t leave to do the school thing like Castiel here. I left those chuckleheads because I couldn’t deal with half my family feeling bad for that fuck up Lucifer while the other half bent over in a single file line for Michael.”
“No one bent over for Michael,” Castiel pointed out a bit petulantly.
Catching the look Sam gave him, Dean did his best to help out by saying, “Right. So you have family issues. Who doesn’t? I mean, our folks are dead. Do you really think you have it worse than that?”
“Yes. The only ones who know anything about our dad are Joshuah and that Metty because those are the only two dad even bothers to talk to.”
“Still know your dad’s out there alive and kicking,” Dean pointed out, not afraid to get into a contest about which of them had the worst families. He and Gabriel had a nasty habit of turning almost everything into a friendly pissing match anyways.
Moving crowd the space between the front seats, Gabriel shook his head angrily. “No. Because, you see, Joshua only gets messages from the big guy. No real two way talking going on there and Metty, well he was just the first string in a long game of telephone I never wanted to participate in.”
Taking a deep breath, Castiel shook his head. “They miss you.”
“Oh shut up,” Gabriel said, glaring over his shoulder at his brother. “You only go home because you think that maybe, just maybe, one day dad is going to show up again but he’s not. He’s never coming back and I don’t blame him.”
“Geez. How much do you hate your family exactly?” Dean asked sarcastically.
Of course, in his rather drunken state, Gabriel wasn’t exactly up to his usual standards of picking up on the more subtler points of humor as he quickly snapped back around, the neck of the bottle pressed angrily against Dean’s cheek as he said, “I love my family. I didn’t leave because I hated them. I left because I couldn’t deal with them always fighting like that. It was killing me and I couldn’t keep going through that.”
Sitting back in his seat, Gabriel rested his hands in his face. When soft shudders began to run through his body, Dean was fairly certain that the guy was crying until the lifted his head again, a twisted smile on his face as he laughed to himself.
“You see, this isn’t some nice Sunday dinner type situation you’re going into. This is going to be like the motherfucking apocalypse and when everything goes to hell and back, I’m not helping out anyone but myself.”
“What makes you think it’s really going to be that bad, Gabe? I mean, for fuck’s sake, it’s just Christmas,” Dean said, feeling the need to stress that point considering that he didn’t see the harm in spending Christmas with their family.
At least, he hadn’t until Gabriel began to become a drunken mess somewhere after the Massachusetts border.
Leaning forward against quick enough to cause Dean and Sam to jump, Gabriel smiled drunkenly at him, somehow still managing to seem like a patronizing little douche despite his lack of sobriety.
“Cassy baby didn’t tell you? Oh that is rich.”
“I didn’t see the importance of notifying them to such a fact,” Castiel said sternly.
Rolling his eyes, Gabriel let out a small laugh, causing Dean to wrinkle his nose at the odd smell of alcohol and Junior Mints on Gabriel’s breath. “See, I know it’s going to be hell because everyone is going to be there. Aunts, uncles, cousins from across the pond. Everyone.”
“And more family makes it a worse thing?” Sam questioned a bit nervously, obviously not wanting to set off Gabriel any more than they already had.
“No. But it begs the question, why would the whole of my broken little family be flying in from damn near everywhere just for another Christmas?”
Thinking it over, Sam furrowed his brows a bit before saying, “Because it’s not just another Christmas?”
Tapping his own nose, Gabriel’s eyes lit up darkly as he nodded. “Bingo, big guy.” With another swig of his liquor, Gabriel sat back, all but curling himself in his seat as he said, “Lucifer’s back from Hell and can’t wait to head home to Salem.”
“It’s been a while, Gabe. Maybe he’s changed,” Sam offered, still trying to make him believe that it might not be the awful thing he made it out to be.
“Oh no. Nuh uh, sweetcheeks. You see, my brother wasn’t just down in Georgia looking for a soul to steal. He was locked up in some nice little cage. But some massive idiots decided to let that dickweed out so now I’m going home to watch this long overdue showdown play out so that way it can just be over.”
“Wait. Cas, this guy was in jail?” Dean asked, eyes a bit wider as he stared back at him.
Castiel only stared back blankly as he nodded. “Yes. Is that relevant?”
“Is it relevant that you have us heading to spending time with your jailbird older brother?”
“That is what I asked, although I was more concise.”
Giving Sam a disbelieving look that his brother only shrugged off a bit helplessly, Dean nodded. “Yeah, it’s relevant, Cas. We’re talking about a guy who was in prison.”
“And this bothers you?”
“Just a bit,” Dean said sarcastically.
Nodding to himself, Castiel looked as though he was making a mental note of such a fact before stating, “So I should notifying you of the fact that my sister Anna has also been to jail, yes?”
“Oh for… Gabriel, don’t drink all of that. I’ve a feeling you might need to share that later,” Dean said, feeling about as excited for the holidays as Gabriel was.
Snickering, Gabriel nodded, kicking his feet up to rest on Castiel’s lap. “Told you guys, my family isn’t just some trainwreck. It’s a pile up of trains that keep hitting each other. And now we’re going to throw some dynamite on this son of a bitch and watch it explode. Should be fun.”
“I think we should’ve stayed home,” Sam muttered quietly to Dean.
Giving his brother an annoyed look, Dean scoffed. “Gee, Sam, you think?”
The only thing he was looking forward by time they reached Salem was when they inevitably left the place, hopefully before Cas and Gabriel’s family got a chance to do too much damage, not that they were holding out all that much hope to begin with.