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It’d been a week. A long, painful week. The shop had let him take off, but he was expected back within a few more days, and Gabriel didn’t know if he could do it.
He’d managed a bath that morning. He stunk…and he’d made the bed stink. As much as it hurt, he pulled the sheets from the bed. All he wanted right now was to be as comfortable as possible. He practically felt like he was dying.
Maybe he was. He couldn’t eat but a couple of bites a day, and that was only with Castiel coming over and practically force feeding him.
“Gabe?” a voice came. Gabriel heard the front door shut and froze in the kitchen, where he was waiting for milk to heat for hot chocolate. He heard footsteps approaching the kitchen, but he couldn’t turn. The voice, the footsteps, it was all so familiar. All so…so right.
It couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be real.
“Gabriel,” came the voice from the entrance to the kitchen, where the steps had stopped.
A broken whimper escaped Gabriel’s lips. He turned and stared. Dressed as he’d been when buried, there stood Sam. “No…” Gabe sobbed dryly, crouching down as his knees threatened to give out.
“Gabe,” Sam spoke, taking two strides to cross the kitchen and curve around the island to kneel beside the broken blonde. “Gabe, it’s me. I don’t know how, but it’s me. Please…” Sam spoke, his hands hovering just a bit away from his boyfriend.
Gabriel shook his head with a weak sort of vehemence. “Dream…nightmare…I should’ve known this was coming,” he muttered into his arms, where he’d started holding his knees.
“No, no, Gabe…this is…. I…I’m gonna call Dean and Cas, okay?” Sam said, standing and turning off the milk that was threatening to boil over.
Gabriel shook and stayed as still as he could manage, listening as footsteps crossed from the kitchen into the living room. He heard the handset for the house phone beep as a number was punched in, heard without listening as Sam’s voice spoke.
He came back after a bit and sat on the floor beside Gabriel, just watching him. Gabriel faintly became aware of noise, and that Sam had left his side. A sob wrenched from him. This dream, it was cruel. Why was his mind doing this to him?
There were voices, but Gabriel ignored them. He wanted this to be over. Hadn’t he suffered enough?
He became aware of someone in front of him, on their knees, pulling his face up. He resisted for a few seconds, until he recognized Cas’ touch. He let himself look up, his honey-colored eyes meeting deep-ocean-azure. Cas was saying something, but Gabriel didn’t hear…didn’t listen. Instead, his eyes went past him, landing on Sam and Dean.
On the other side of the island counter, Sam was smiling weakly and patting Dean’s back…but Dean was gripping onto Sam for dear life.
“…S-Sam?” Gabriel finally spoke, unable to help the feeling of hope blooming in his chest. Sam’s gaze immediately landed on him, and Dean slowly let the tall moose of a man go.
“Yeah, Gabe. It’s me,” Sam answered with a warm, hopeful smile.
Gabriel found himself up and on the other side of the kitchen, clutching onto Sam, his face buried against his chest. He was shaking, and he was trying not to openly sob, but he was doing a damned good job of soaking Sam’s shirt.
Sam held him, rubbing his back and talking to Dean quietly, almost like Gabriel was sleeping between them. Gabriel still didn’t bother to listen to what was being said. He didn’t really care. Sam was alive. Sam was here.
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Gabriel’s eyes peeled open, sticky with dried and drying tears. What had happened?
“Hey,” a voice came from behind him. Gabriel’s eyes shot open wide and he twisted as he sat up.
He and Sam were in the living room, with Sam sprawled over the couch and Gabriel all-but laying on him.
It flooded back. Sam was alive and had come home. Cas and Dean had come over. There’d been conversation, and Sam had gotten mad at Dean. Dean had snapped something back about Gabriel (he’d been shell-shocked and hadn’t really heard), and Sam had let whatever it was go. Not much longer after that, Cas and Dean had left, and Sam had just talked at Gabe, stroking his strong fingers and hands over his back and through his hair.
Gabriel hadn’t heard his words, though he knew he should’ve been cherishing them. He’d instead just enjoyed his voice and tone, his warmth, his touch. It’d lulled him to sleep.
“…How?” Gabriel finally spoke, looking up at Sam.
Sam frowned, looking down and shaking his head. “It sounds crazy. Dean said…he made some sort of deal, but it’s crazy. I was dead, I know I was,” he said, warm hazel eyes coming up to meet Gabriel’s bloodshot gaze. After a few seconds, he shook his head. “So, uh…found that, did you?” he said, changing the subject as he took Gabriel’s left hand, fingers playing with the ring on his finger.
Gabriel looked at it, then at Sam. He moved, turning and straddling Sam’s lap and kissed him, putting everything he was into that kiss.
“I wish you could’ve asked me. Dean told me about your plans. I wish that’d happened,” Gabriel whispered through pants against Sam’s lips after they broke the kiss.
“Gabe…I love you so much,” Sam whispered back, his eyes moving over his boyfriend…no, his fiancé’s face.
Gabriel whimpered, pain welling back up in him. “I love you, too, Sam. God, I love you. Don’t leave me again, I barely…I barely held on this time, I can’t, I c-can’t—“
Sam silenced Gabriel with another kiss, pressing his lips bruisingly hard against Gabriel as their mouths battled to show all the emotions they both felt. Sam clearly hated that he’d left Gabriel, even if he hadn’t really had a concept of time during his death.
Sam was just thankful to be back. Not so much for his own sake, but for Gabriel’s.
The problem now was, what the hell was a demon deal, what did it entail, and how could he get Dean out of it?