Where Dean and Gabriel are both patients and stuck in the hospital for a few weeks because they’re both idiots. They both seem like sassy and rude dicks to one another at first then become someone each can lean on, literally and figuratively.
This is my entry for the January 2016 Gabriel Monthly Challenge by @gabriel-monthly-challenge!
The statement prompt for January is:
When you least expect it sometimes you get saved.
and the dialogue for January is:
“One day you and I are gonna wake up and be alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day. I promise you.”
Words: 1,149
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Pre-Debriel
Premise: How S4 should have ended.
Beta: @preyforplagues016
Gabriel startled and dropped his Bahama Mama as he heard something he hadn't heard in over a millennia. It was the sound of one of his brothers praying to him! Shock froze him, but every word washed over him with a serenity he hadn't realized he missed.
Please Father, let Dean stop Sam. Help me hold Raphael off. I would gladly give my life for this world, but I need time.
He listened closely and realized it was a prayer to God, rather than one directly to him. That meant dear old Dad was forwarding the prayer, wanted him to answer the call!
Indecision gnawed at him. On the one hand, he was elated. Dad was back, or at least somewhat involved, and he was tagging Gabriel back into the game. On the other hand, if he answered the prayer, that meant goodbye witness protection, hello war.
In the end, it was a no brainer. He may not have had anything to do in a (long) while, but he was still the messenger of God. If Dad was saying go, then he was going!
Invisibly, he zapped to the source of the prayer and saw little Castiel standing between a prophet and Raphael with nothing but an angel blade and a purpose. It was a beautiful thing and he felt so proud of his rebellious baby brother.
Raphael, smug as always, sighed. "Castiel, do not make me kill you. You cannot stop this, it is foolish to try."
Castiel visibly steeled himself and replied, "It may be foolish, but I believe it is what God would want."
"God is dead!" Raphael growled. "And even if He were not, you dare presume to know what He would want? He is the one who proclaimed the Apocalypse would come to pass!"
"Father loves this world and the humans who inhabit it." Castiel explained. "Perhaps this is a test and we are failing."
Raphael laughed and it was darkly bitter. "A test? God does not test us, He commands us!"
"You're wrong." Castiel proclaimed, "He gave us free will, and we are abusing it."
"Free will is a myth." Raphael hissed.
Well, as amusing as this was, that was as good an opening as any. Gabriel allowed himself to become visible and smirked as all three inhabitants flinched.
"Oh Raphael, still trying to catch flies with vinegar, I see." He observed casually, walking around the room, being careful not to overtly choose a side.
"Gabriel!" The angels exclaimed while the prophet sat heavily in a kitchen chair. Poor guy looked more stressed than Mary had when he'd told her that she had been knocked up.
"Brother, we thought you were dead. We mourned for you." Raphael intoned.
"Did you? Or were you glad to see one more difficult brother leave the flock?" Gabriel wondered, agitatedly pulling a lollipop out of thin air and plopping it into his mouth. Family made him stress eat. It was a good thing he couldn't gain weight.
Raphael ignored his question. "All of Heaven will sing out in joy at your return. Your help will be invaluable to creating our paradise."
Castiel let out a soft noise of distress. It reminded Gabriel of caring for him as a fledgling, and suddenly, he no longer wanted to play around with Raphael. Cassie needed to know big bro was on his side.
"No can do, Raph." Gabriel intoned nonchalantly. "I can't just let you and Mikey break my favorite planet. Plus, I like Cassie here way more than you dicks."
Raphael looked furious but his voice was calm. "You cannot defeat all of Heaven brother, especially not with this abomination as your only ally."
"Cassie is better than you where it counts, and I'm better than you in a fight. I like our chances just fine."
And with that, Gabriel snapped his fingers and Raphael was banished from the house. He'd learned some pretty nifty tricks as a Pagan god, tailor made to fit his feathery needs. While Lucy and Mikey may be a challenge, Raphael had always been the weakest of the archangels.
Castiel gazed at him with wide-eyed surprise. He understood the shock. Sometimes when least expect it, you get saved.
"So, Cassie, what's new?" Gabriel smirked.
~~~~~
Dean was pounding against the door like a maniac, frantically trying to get through to his brother. His god damn idiotic little brother who was minutes away from starting the friggin apocalypse.
"It's Lilith! Lilith is the seal! Sammy, don't you kill her!" He yelled, ineffectually.
He could feel the skin on his hands breaking, but he continued on. His voice was hoarse from screaming, but he couldn't stop.
A twin fluttering sound had him spinning around, teeth bared and ready to fight to the death. Before he could make sense of the fact that Cas was alive and accompanied by the trickster, the trickster snapped and the doors Dean had been desperately trying to get through flung wide open.
The trickster sped past him into the room, a silver blade in his hand.
"Sam!" Dean couldn't help but shout as he followed.
Sam had one hand out, Force choking Lilith, but startled and turned at the sound of his brother. His eyes were black.
It froze Dean. His eyes were black.
Luckily, the trickster wasn't deterred. Without a word he stepped up to Lilith and stabbed her in the chest, fast and strong. It all happened so quickly, Lilith barely had time to gasp.
There was a moment of stunned silence before Ruby screamed.
"No! You can't do this! It was perfect! I was going to be rewarded beyond all of them!" She ranted.
The look on Sam's face (wounded, sick. Betrayed.) spurred Dean to action. It almost felt like they were back in sync as Sam held Ruby still and Dean drove the knife home. He almost felt that her death was too quick.
Sam let the body slide to the floor and took an aborted step towards Dean. "I'm so sorry. Dean, I didn't know she was with Lilith."
"I know, Sammy." Dean tried to soothe, but he knew his voice was hardened with disappointment.
He watched as Sam's face screwed up in pain and couldn't help but try to comfort him.
"C'mere, Sammy." He beckoned, pulling the bigger man into his arms and sagging to accept the weight. "One day, you and I are gonna wake up alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day. I promise you."
As he held his crying brother in his arms, Dean glanced across the room toward the angel and the trickster, who had helped stop the apocalypse. He didn't know why the trickster had helped them and he would damn sure be asking soon.
For now, he kept a hold on Sammy and allowed himself to be thankful, ignorant of the golden eyes watching him with interest.
Dean’s always been warned to not fall for mortals. They can never understand what it is to live forever, and you will always lose them. And until he met Gabriel, he’d always heeded this advice. He’s seen what loving a mortal can do to his kind, and he wanted no part of it. It seems the universe has different plans for him though. In all his years, Dean had never met someone so full of life. Gabriel finds the humor in everything - sometimes to a slightly disturbing extent - and lives each day like it’s something he can’t bare to waste.
So on a stormy night when Dean loses control of the car and they crash into a river, Gabriel seems content that the life he’s lived has been worth it. Dean, however, is less willing to accept Gabriel’s fate. He should have lived at least another few decades, but instead he is torn away from Dean before his time, and Dean can’t cope.
He’s lost people before, but never quite like this. This dark, hollow ache filling him up. That ache drives him to do something he knows could have awful consequences: he brings Gabriel back.
But toying with life and death isn’t an exact science, and something goes wrong. What he brings back isn’t Gabriel. At least not the Gabriel Dean knows. And this Gabriel, when he finds out what Dean did, what Dean turned him into, he can’t let him go unpunished.
