Chapter 141

Gabriel's not entirely sure what's going on in Sam's dream when he shows up. He tries asking Sam, and he doesn't seem to know, either. Ah, the complexities of the human brain. Yet another reason Gabriel is glad he's an archangel.

They opt to spend the night — or, as it appears on the dream, the afternoon — walking through the woods. It's a nice area; Gabriel makes a mental note of all his favorite details in case he ever creates his own forest. Sam's subconscious mind did well.

The conversation flickers in and out, and neither of them feel pressured to force it. A couple weeks ago, Gabriel never would have thought they could mend their relationship enough just to . He certainly never thought they could fix it enough to share a comfortable silence with him.

"Do you wanna take a break?" Sam asks. "We've been walking for a long time and sleep is usually about, you know, resting.".

"Fair point," Gabriel says, though he has to assume Sam knows that he could run a marathon in his dreams without affecting the state of his physical body. "Want me to poof us a bench or something?"

"Nah, I'm actually thinking..." Sam looks up at a tree ahead of them. "That looks fun to climb."

Gabriel follows his gaze, but it's difficult to tell which one he's thinking of. He teleports to a random branch in that general direction. "This one?"

Sam shakes his head, and Gabriel can tell he's fighting back a laugh. "No, the one to the left."

Gabriel teleports to the tree to his left. "This one?"

"No, left," Sam says. "How could I even climb that one? There are no branches for the first, like, 15 feet!"

Gabriel shrugs. "I don't know. I've never had to climb a tree before."

Sam scoffs. "You've climbed a tree before?"

"I've got wings," Gabriel says, the only answer he really feels he needs to give. Climbing is for species that have to move on foot, and fortunately, he would be excluded from that list.

"Yeah, but climbing trees is, like, a right of passage," Sam tells him. "Come on, we're climbing this tree together."

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "I'm not cli—"

"I'm sorry, I don't remember asking you," Sam interrupts, a teasing smile on his face. "C'mon, out of the tree."

A surge of power flows through the dream, and in an attempt to cope with it, his grip on the tree branch loosens and he falls to the ground. The way he lands would have broken a human's neck far past the point of no repair, but on an archangel, it's just a minor inconvenience as he unrolls onto his back.

"Gabriel?" Sam says warily, but his voice sounds muffled and far away. "Gabriel, are you okay?"

What that? What type of power surge could Sam dream up that would be that strong?

Unless...

"I -- I have to go," Gabriel stammers, pushing himself to his feet.

"Go ?" Sam asks, and he's starting to sound worried.

Gabriel's far beyond that.

"I'll be right back," Gabriel says, then disappears out of the dream without another word.

Immediately, Gabriel is in the garage, and all the confirmation he needs to see that this power surge wasn't part of the dream is Jack sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up against his chest. Gabriel flaps his wings once more and lands by the kid's side, where he crouches down in front of him.

"Jack," Gabriel says quietly, careful to keep any trace of worry that may or may not be warranted out of his voice, "what did you do?"

"I don't -- I don't know," Jack mumbles. "I woke up and I couldn't go back to sleep so I thought I'd give the warding another shot and I --" He shakes his head. "I don't know."

" was you taking a shot at the warding?" Gabriel repeats.

Jack nods.

"Do you think you..." Gabriel pauses, trying to sense the warding's presence. It was never easy to find, and now is no different. "Do you think you destroyed it?"

"I don't know," Jack admits. "I did... . Or, I mean, something happened, at least. Maybe I did it. Maybe it was Chuck fighting back. I don't know."

"Oh, shit, I hope he's not fighting back," Gabriel mutters. "He would win, hands down."

"I know," Jack says. "That's really the only thing I know right now."

.

Gabriel pushes himself to his feet and turns around to see Michael and Lucifer both standing in the doorway. He gestures with the jerk of his head for them to come in. As much as he hates to admit it, this might be something they should be here for -- whatever "this" is.

"Jack, are you okay?" Lucifer asks.

Jack just nods.

"What happened?" Michael demands, the question focused on Gabriel this time.

"He went after the warding again," Gabriel says. He kneels down in front of the kid again. "Jack, I know that was... a lot... but can I ask you for one little favor real quick?"

Jack gives a tentative nod.

"Can you check and tell me if the warding is still there?"

Jack closes his eyes and slowly raises a hand, the same thing he always does when feeling for the warding. Gabriel glances back at his brothers warily, and he can tell they feel the same way. After a few moments, Jack opens his eyes.

"I think it's gone," he says. "I think we can leave."

"Hallelujah," Lucifer mutters.

"Should we test it?" Michael asks.

Gabriel flies out of the bunker and to a random street in Paris, scaring the hell out of a few locals. He returns to the bunker's garage within a couple seconds of leaving. "He's right."

"So, what do we do now?" Jack asks.

"I guess we just... leave?" Gabriel says uncertainly. "Get the hell out of dodge before Chuck shows up?"

"And what, pray tell, do you think that's going to help with?"

Gabriel narrows his eyes. And speak of the devil('s maker).

Chuck smiles. "Hi, boys. Did you miss me?"

"No," Gabriel and Lucifer say in unison.

"What do you want?" Michael asks, his voice full of more disrespect than Gabriel has ever seen him use towards their father. .

"To congratulate you," Chuck replies. "When I brought him down here, I hadn't even considered the fact that Jack could break you out. If I'd known, I would have strengthened the warding."

"So, what, you're just gonna put it up again?" Gabriel asks.

"Oh, no, you guys are free to go," Chuck tells him. "I may not have gotten exactly what I wanted, but it was getting boring anyway."