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Sam Winchester loved dogs. He’d always wanted a puppy as a child, but of course the life of those who hunted Supernatural beasties never could allow such a responsibility. And, of course, there was the fact that Dean wasn’t exactly what one could call an animal lover. All the same, Sam really craved the love, loyalty, and friendship of a canine companion.
He’d brought it up to Gabriel, once, some time ago. "Why don’t we get a dog?"
Gabriel had looked at him as though Sam had transformed into Lucifer—er, again— and scoffed. "What do you want a dog, for? You don’t need a dog."
Sam hadn’t thought of a reply that might be persuasive, other than: “I don’t know, I just thought it’d be nice to have some company. Dogs are loyal, noble animals- why not?"
Gabe chuckled, making some quip about his presence not being good enough, and the subject was dropped, and then forgotten.
Some time later, in the early grays and pinks of a Fall morning, Sam Winchester awoke to a remarkably familiar, yet unexpected sensation: a tongue eagerly swiping across his cheeks. Groggy, he pried his eyelids open to thin slits. Realizing that his body was pinned on all sides, Sam went through a motion of momentary panic— and then he heard a short, sharp bark.
His eyes flew open, and to his astonishment, found that the tongue lapping eagerly at his face belonged to a bubbly, beautiful, adult Golden Retriever. "Hey boy, where did you come from?" Sam gave the dog a good rub behind the ears, to which the Retriever rolled over and panted happily in reply. It must have been Gabriel, Sam thought, hopping out of bed to get dressed. He must have remembered, and just wanted it to be a surprise.
The dog- whom Sam discovered was male, and had taken to calling ‘Chance’- shadowed his new owner for the entire day. They played fetch, watched TV, checked out the newspaper and Internet for anything supernaturally suspicious, and shared a couple of meals.
When late evening had come, and both dog and new owner hardly had energy to keep their eyes open, they relented and went to bed snuggled together, and content.
The following morning, Sam was greeted by the dog’s tongue on his cheek. “Hey Chance," he mumbled through the haze of half-sleep.
"Enh! Guess again, lover boy." Gabe’s mischievous grin and twinkling gaze came into clear view as Sam sat upright in bed, obviously puzzled.
“I told you- you don’t need a dog. I can be anything you need and want, Sambo."
Still not comprehending, Sam pushed his dark hair from his face and stared blankly at Gabriel’s figure lying sprawled beside him. “What? Wh—how?"
Sighing, as though it shouldn’t be such a hard concept to grasp- seriously, how long had he been pulling this stuff on the Winchesters?- Gabriel smirked and pointed at himself. “Hello, Trickster."