Chapter 21

Sam opens his eyes slowly, not wanting to wake up but knowing he has to eventually, so there's no point in waiting. He feels a warm body next to his, and it only takes a moment to remember that it's Gabriel. Sam can't help but smile. He's been wishing this would happen for years; wishing he would get to see Gabriel again, wishing he could wake up next to the angel one more time. Now he gets to do it every day.

"Morning, sunshine," Gabriel says when he realizes Sam is awake.

"Morning," Sam replies tiredly.

He moves closer to the angel, resting his head on his chest with a content sigh. Gabriel wraps his arms around him, holding him close.

"I miss this," Sam murmurs.

"I never had to miss this," Gabriel replies. "Perks of being an angel, I guess."

"Lucky."

"I've got you," Gabriel reminds him. "I'm the luckiest angel alive."

"You're such a cliché," Sam teases him.

"I know," Gabriel replies, kissing him on the forehead.

"Can we just stay here forever?" Sam asks.

"I wish," Gabriel replies. "But Chuck would screw that up for us real soon."

"Do you really think he would?" Sam asks, hoping the answer is "no" and they don't have to get up.

"Definitely," Gabriel replies, a hint of sadness in his voice. "He'd probably teleport us out so we're cuddling out in the war room or whatever that's called so Dean and your dad get mad."

"Yeah, probably," Sam agrees. "So we should probably get up now, huh?"

"Unfortunately," Gabriel replies.

They go to the war room, where only Michael, Balthazar, Castiel, and Crowley are awake. It's mostly quiet, the only noise coming from Castiel and Balthazar's hushed conversation. No one pays attention to Sam and Gabriel as they enter the room, not that either boy minds. They stand together by the wall farthest from everyone, not wanting to deal with them.

"You know what's great?" Gabriel asks quietly.

"What?" Sam replies.

"No one from your family is up yet."

"Why is that great?"

"Because I can do this."

Gabriel kisses Sam, who laughs softly before kissing him back slowly. Sam remembers the first time they kissed. It was after he stopped hunting and began working at a bar. Gabriel found him, even though Sam had been trying to avoid him as well as the supernatural world. Sam hadn't wanted to tell Gabriel what he'd done — that he'd let Lucifer out of the box and started the apocalypse. Of course, he didn't know Gabriel was an angel then, and that he already knew.

At the time, the two had just been good friends. Sam had been too wrapped up in what he thought was love with Ruby to even notice how much Gabriel wanted him, how much it had hurt every time Sam said her name. Gabriel had convinced Sam to let him come home with the boy, "home" being a crappy apartment, which isn't a big change from his usual crappy motels.

That was when Sam explained everything about how Lucifer rose. Gabriel had tried to console him, but to no avail. Sam was too upset over everything, blaming himself because he knew it was his fault. So, Gabriel kissed him to take his mind off it, and it definitely worked.

The sound of Dean groaning causes Sam and Gabriel to pull apart, though the latter would not have objected to continuing their kiss. Dean rolls his eyes at the couple and sends Gabriel a death glare. Gabriel smiles with mock sweetness.

"When did you get here, Moose?" Crowley asks, just now noticing him.

"Moose?" Gabriel repeats with a laugh. "He calls you moose?"

Sam nods. "Yeah. Son of a bitch won't listen when I tell him to stop."

"I like it," Gabriel announces. "Sam the moose. Sam moose. Samoose! I'm gonna start calling you Samoose!"

Sam groans. "Oh, god no."

"I have a feeling God is laughing at this, actually," Balthazar says.

"Probably," Sam agrees.

"Of course he is," Gabriel says. "I'm hilarious!"

"It's hilarious how much you're not hilarious," Sam retorts.

"Wow. Thanks, Samoose. Really feeling the love here," Gabriel says sarcastically.

"You're actually going to call me that, aren't you?"

Gabriel nods. "Duh. It's genius."

"I've got to side with the Wings over here," Crowley says. "I can't believe I never thought of that."

"Well, you're not too bright. Doesn't surprise me," Dean replies.

"Aww, you just called me bright!" Gabriel says with exaggerated happiness, just to annoy Dean.

"No, I didn't. I..." He doesn't seem to have an answer, so Sam answers for him.

"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then," Sam says teasingly.

"But I'm neither blind nor a squirrel," Gabriel replies. But he will admit he's nuts.

"Yeah, Dean's the squirrel," Crowley says.

"Rocky and Bullwinkle?" Gabriel says in disbelief. "Really? I thought you were better than that. Well, no, I didn't, but seriously?"

"Meg calls Cas 'Clarence,'" Sam says. "It can get worse."

"Who the hell is Clarence?"

Sam facepalms.

"See? I'm not the only one!" Dean says, satisfied.

"'It's a Wonderful Life,' idiots," Meg says as she walks into the room, Charlie standing behind her wth slightly flushed cheeks.

"Never seen it," Gabriel replies.

"Where have you two been?" Crowley asks with a slight smirk.

"Not here," Meg replies.

"Okay, better question," Sam says when no one else speaks. "Where's Lucifer? He's supposed to be embarrassing people."

"Yeah, where'd he go?" Charlie asks, looking around.

"I believe he's speaking to Jo," Michael tells them.

"What?" Dean says, his anger clear as he prepares to go find her.

"He's not there to hurt her again," Michael assures him.

"How would you know?" Dean challenges.

"Because I asked him to go apologize to her," Michael tells him.

"Like he would listen to you," Dean says sarcastically. "He's made it pretty clear that he hates your guts."

"He doesn't hate me," Michael replies, though it's more wishful thinking than truth. All evidence pointed to Lucifer hating him until he went to talk to Jo, and now Michael is just plain confused. "But he would not listen to me if he didn't want to. If he's talking to Jo right now, it was because he chose to."

"Like he to hurt her?" Dean reminds him. "I don't want to take that chance."

"How sweet," Lucifer says sarcastically as he enters the room. "But she's fine."

"Sorry if I don't take your word for it," Dean replies before rushing through the halls to find Jo.

Lucifer looks around at everyone else in the room. They're all watching him wearily and waiting for his next lash out, whether it be physical like it was towards Jo or verbal like his comments throughout their time together.

"Don't mind me," Lucifer says, waving a hand dismissively. "Get back to what you were doing."

Cas and Balthazar continue talking, and Meg and Charlie continue flirting. Crowley just looks bored as hell, being the one who loves hell puns. Lucifer crosses his arms and leans against the wall, pretending to be oblivious to Michael watching him and wishing he could approach his brother without fear of another fight ensuing.

"Would you look at that?" Gabriel says, grinning up at Sam. "Dean's gone again. You know what that means?"

"Can I take a guess?" Sam asks, grinning back at the boy.

"Be my guest."

Sam presses their lips together, knowing exactly what Gabriel had in mind. Sam doesn't want to be excessively coupley, but he can't help it. After so much time spent wishing he could hold his angel again, there's no way he's passing up this opportunity.

"I love you," Sam murmurs in the angel's ear.

"I love you, too."

Lucifer groans, rolling his eyes at the couple. "Oh, give me a break," he mutters.

"Shut up," Gabriel replies, but he doesn't snap at his brother. It's more an automatic response than anything.

"Would you rather I continue bringing up things from people's pasts?"

"How about you just don't say anything, and we all win?" Gabriel suggests with a grin.

"Where's my prize?"

"The gratefulness of the rest of us."

Lucifer imitates a buzzer sound. "Nope. Not worth it."

"Ignore him," Sam whispers, purposely loud enough for Lucifer to hear. "Maybe he'll go away."

"That only works if I have somewhere to go away to," Lucifer replies. "Besides, I'm not just some schoolyard bully. I'm much, much worse than that."

"I'm gonna ignore you anyway," Gabriel announces. "Starting now." He turns to Sam. "Heya, Samoose."

The name earns a slight laugh from Crowley and a groan from Sam.

"Seriously?"

Gabriel nods. "It suits you."

Sam rolls his eyes. "Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically.

"What, I can't have cute pet names for you?"

"That's not a cute pet name," Sam replies. "That's a stupid nickname."

"Do you want a new nickname?"

"No, I want to be Sam!"

"Samwich? Samsquatch? Samster? Sa-"

"Sam," he interrupts. "Just Sam."

"You're no fun," Gabriel whines.

"Get used to it."

"No," Gabriel says stubbornly.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"This is a stupid argument."

Sam nods in agreement. "Definitely. But I'd rather a stupid argument than one of your pranks."

"My pranks are beautiful, thank you very much," Gabriel replies.

Sam scoffs. "'Beautiful'? Not a word I'd use to describe them."

"You're right," Gabriel replies with a grin. "I must be confusing my pranks with my boyfriend."

Sam chuckles. "Nicely played."

"I thought so, too."