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Sam stood in the middle of his empty room and looked at the blank walls around him. There was a tiny bit of awe in his gaze as it traveled over the decent sized room. This… this was going to be his room?
He turned those wide hazel eyes to Gabriel, who was watching him from the doorway with one shoulder against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest, and a pleased little smile twisting his lips. “This is really for me?” Sam couldn’t help but ask.
Sam’s open joy seemed to only make that smile grow. “Absolutely, kiddo. This room is all for you. I mean, I hope you’ll still share with me for the most part.” That was said with a wink. “But in those times you want your own space, or you want to nap, or when you get in trouble…” Gabriel smirked just a little when Sam ducked his head. “…I figured having your own space would be smart. Plus, it’ll be a great place to store any of the random things we pick up that you might want. I thought we could do a little shopping too, if you and your brother don’t have anything else going on. Get a bed, some supplies, things like that.”
The happy feeling in Sam’s stomach grew a little more and he couldn’t quite contain himself – indeed, part of all this was that he didn’t have to contain himself. He was across the room in two giant steps and hugging Gabriel tightly. “Thank you!”
It only made him happier when Gabriel laughed and hugged him back. “You’re more than welcome, munchkin.” He gave Sam a squeeze and then tugged him in, turning him to look once more at the room. Even as he did one of Gabriel’s arms stayed wrapped around his waist. “Now, first things first – what color do you think you want the walls? Blue?” A snap of the fingers turned one wall a sky blue. “Orange?” Another snap turned a different wall the color of pumpkins, making Sam snort. He heard a low chuckle and then another snap, before the next wall turned… “Pink?”
Sam rolled his eyes and shot Gabriel the look that he knew his brother called his ‘bitch face’. The plaintive “Daddy...” That slipped past his lips was surprising for Sam, something he’d thought before but wasn’t really used to saying. It felt weird to be able to do it and for a moment he just sort of stared, blinking a few times. Thinking about this and actually having it were two totally different things. So far Sam had slipped into this really easily, especially after their discussion of rules – and of punishments. But Sam hadn’t really called Gabriel ‘Daddy’ except for twice, and never quite accidental like that. He couldn’t help how he looked at Gabriel and worried that maybe he wasn’t going to be as okay with this as he’d said.
What he found was a smile that was quickly becoming his favorite, wide and open, with little crinkles at the corners of his eyes. That smile made his insides feel warm and the tension drain right out of him. It spoke of so much affection; more than Sam could remembering seeing so openly on someone since Jess. That wasn’t to say that Dean loved him less or anything like that. They just, showed it differently.
Another snap drew Sam out of his thoughts and he found himself watching as the walls all changed again, each one the same color now. “How about this?” Gabriel asked. The walls were green, with brown painted on like jungle trees, and animals climbing away in them. Sam laughed delightedly at the sight. A pair of eyes showed a monkey peeking out from behind a tree. Unconsciously leaning in a bit closer, he asked “Can you do another?”
“Easy-peasy.” Gabriel said. He grinned and snapped again, this time giving the room a sports feel, with what looked like a football field painted along one wall. Sam grimaced; not really his thing. Seeing it, Gabriel snapped again, and this time the walls were light blue with fish all over.
This one had Sam laughing once more. Caught up in it all enough to forget his nerves, he bounced on his heels a little. “Another!”
Another snap and suddenly, Sam found himself looking around with awe. The top two-thirds of the wall were blue. Then the blue stopped, shifting to a thin white horizontal stripe that ran like a band around the room. Under that strip of white were rows of vertical stripes, each one as wide as Sam’s hand, running around the room in a pattern of blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue, with a thin sliver of white separating each color. But that wasn’t what caught Sam’s eye. What really caught his eye was the ceiling. The whole ceiling was done up in stars. Not just cheaply done stars, though. It was like someone had captured the image of the night sky, with little wisps of clouds included, and put it right there on his ceiling.
“I thought you’d like this one.” Gabriel murmured. He tugged Sam in, resting his head against Sam’s shoulder without any sign of hesitance.
Sam stared at the stars. It was so pretty. “It’s beautiful.” The image reminded him of all the nights he and Dean would lay on the Impala’s hood and stargaze, or the nights where they’d have to sleep in the car and Sam could stare through the window at the sky. Sam wanted to stay here forever.
An idea came to him and he flicked his gaze over to Gabriel, up to the ceiling, back over to Gabriel and then to the ceiling again. It… it couldn’t hurt to ask, right? The worst Gabriel could say was no. Plus, he’d said that he wanted Sam to ask him if he wanted anything. To not be afraid. Sam drew in a deep breath and told himself to just do it. “Can I...can we sleep here tonight, Daddy? Please?” Sam didn’t even notice as his voice shifted a little, became just a bit younger sounding. He turned wide, pleading eyes towards Gabriel. It would be the absolute best thing if they could sleep in here. He didn’t care if they had to have sleeping bags or whatever.
“I don’t see why not.” Gabriel answered easily. “I’ll text your brother and let him know that you’ll be back sometime tomorrow. Or I’ll ask Cassie to pass it along.” As per the rules, Gabriel had Sam’s cell phone. While they were here it was agreed that he’d keep track of Sam’s phone and only give it to him if it was important. Sam had agreed to it with the condition that Gabriel not ever ignore it.
The smile Sam gave Gabriel in response stretched wide over his face. He’d said yes! He’d actually said yes! “Can we camp out, too, with lots of blankets and stuff? But, but not the scary ones. Dean always told the scary ones when we were camping.”
The tone of Sam’s voice was pure little brother disgust. Dean was always trying to scare him back then. The jerk.
Laughing, Gabriel rubbed a hand over Sam’s back. “Sure. Why don’t you get the blankets while I make sure your brother knows what’s up? They’re in the closet at the end of the hall, just grab as many as you want.”
Sam took off down the hall only seconds later, grinning and far more relaxed than he’d been in a long, long time. This was going to be so much fun!