Chapter 48

"I can't believe your brother got you a Vince Vincente album for Christmas," Jess laughs later that night.

"Yeah, it's like he doesn't know me at all," Sam jokes. He got enough crap from Dean about liking the third album, and he's not going to give Jess the same ammunition.

"Yeah, totally," she agrees. She sits down on the bed, and Sam takes a seat next to her. "So, Sam, how was your first actual Christmas?"

"It was... great," he replies honestly. "I mean, except for Kali, today was pretty much perfect."

"Yeah, who Kali, anyway?" she asks. "And I still don't get why she calls Gabriel 'Loki.'"

Sam explains basically the entirety of 'Hammer of the Gods' briefly for some background. Obviously, he keeps it to the tv perspective instead of the perspective of a Sabriel shipper overanalyzing his every move — Why did Sam want to keep driving in a biblical storm? He was obviously going to meet up with Gabriel. Why was Sam on his phone when Dean was trying to flirt with Kali? He must have been texting Gabriel that he wasn't going to make it. That's exactly what Sam did say, but the author wanted to share her wisdom with you all. Eventually, I will prove to all you nonbelievers that Sabriel had been canon for years!!! *Maniacal laughter*

"Seriously?" Jess says when he finishes.

"Which part?"

"All of it! I mean, I can get that Kali is a god. It's insane, but I get that. You seem to live an insane life. But a group of gods tried to use you as bargaining chips to stop the apocalypse? You've to be kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."

Sam shakes his head. "Nope. Welcome to the life of a hunter."

Jess just gapes at his for a moment. "Okay, so a group of gods used you as bargaining chips. Got it." It's obvious she's still rattled by that, but she's moving on. "And then Gabriel, , played god by turning the gods?"

Sam nods again. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Oh, wow. Okay. So I'm actually understanding this correctly?"

He chuckles lightly. "Yeah. I know, crazy."

"Little bit," she agrees. "I still can't believe Gabriel used to date , though. She just doesn't seem like his type."

"She's not," Sam mutters before adding, "I don't know if they ever technically dated, just that they had 'a thing.' I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a one night stand."

"Now I get," she replies. "I wouldn't put that past him."

"Yeah..." Sam says awkwardly. "I'm tired. You coming?"

"Sure."

And, because the author can't think of a nice ending to this scene, let's just throw in the squiggles and call it a day.

~~

Sam wakes up to find Jess lying next to him, still asleep with an arm thrown over his chest. Ordinarily, he'd give her a few minutes to wake up before leaving, but the box of photos Chuck gave him yesterday catch his eye and curiosity gets the better of him.

He slips out from under Jess' arm and picks up the box, sitting back on the bed. He opens it up and carefully takes the photos out.

The first one is from when he was a baby, lying in Dean's arms. The next one is the whole family together — all four of them. There are various pictures of him during his childhood, which makes up about a fifth of the stack. Next comes pictures from college. There are a lot of him with Jess, from their first meeting to their last. There's even one of Dean tackling him in their house to tell him that John was on a hunting trip, and he hadn't been home in a few days.

Next comes pictures from various hunts. Even he's surprised at how much he's changed physically. He can't help but smile to himself at the picture of the first time they met Gabriel. He still remembers that clearly, even if at the time he was just another monster.

He pauses on the picture of Dean holding him after he died the first time. Back when they only had each other, completely oblivious to fact that Winchesters and death don't go well together, that must have been devastating.

He skims through the pictures, pausing at the ones that bring along the happiest memories. Even though he and Gabriel broke up, they had a great time together while it lasted, and he has to include Gabriel in these happy memories.

Nearing the end of the stack, he pauses, putting the rest of the photos down to look at just once. It's him and Amelia from that year when Dean was in Purgatory. The two of them are sitting on the porch steps, their dog by their feet.

A part of him wished for the longest time that he had gone with her, but, as much as he loved her, he couldn't take her from Don. Things seemed to work out okay as it is, so he doesn't feel too bad about it, but he does miss her.

"Who's that?"

Sam glances behind him to see Jess is awake now, looking over his shoulder at the picture as well.

"Just... Someone I used to know," he replies vaguely.

"A girlfriend?" she guesses.

"Yeah."

She looks at the picture for another minute, then says, "You two looked happy."

"I'm happy now," he replies, avoiding her observation to hopefully make it less awkward.

"I know, I mean... What was her name?" Jess asks.

"Amelia," Sam replies.

"Oh. Is that your dog?"

Sam just nods, feeling a pang of guilt for running over him all those years ago.

"What's his name?" Jess asks, then adds, "Or is it a girl?"

"No, you're right. It's a boy," Sam tells her. "He's, uh..." He chuckles lightly. "His name is Dog."

She scoffs. "You named him Dog?" she repeats incredulously.

"To be fair, though, he a dog."

"Well, yeah, but you don't name a dog ."

"Right, I should name a Dog. My bad," Sam jokes.

Jess shakes her head in amusement. "Sam, Sam, Sam. What are we gonna do with you?"

"This?" Sam suggests, pressing their lips together.

Jess giggles and kisses him back for a few seconds before pushing him away gently. "Come on. People are gonna be wondering where we are."

"As long as I'm with you, I don't care what they think," Sam replies, but he follows her out into the war room anyway.

Immediately, Sam freezes, rubbing his eyes to make sure they're not playing tricks on him. Nope. That's actually happening.

There goes Gabriel and Kali, making out in the middle of the room.