"Hey, kiddo."

Two words. Two words, and Sam's world was spinning. He turned around quickly to see the archangel Gabriel standing behind him.

"Gabriel?" Sam said, shocked.

"In the flesh," Gabriel said with a smirk, "You called?"

Sam grabbed the holy water flask from the bed behind him and splashed Gabriel in the face.

Gabriel spat some of the water out and wiped his face with one hand, dragging the water through his hair. Sam really wished that that motion didn't look so damn hot, or that his hair now looked a bit wet and even sexier than he remembered.

"You really think I would let a demon ride around in this sweet piece of ass?" Gabriel asked, "Sammich, I'm offended."

Sam paused and asked, "How do I know it's really you?"

Gabriel sighed. "Would a shapeshifter answer your prayers?" he asked.

"You could be an angel," Sam said.

"Would an angel be able to fly here now that all their wings have been deep fried?" Gabriel asked.

Sam took a step back. He didn't know if he wanted it to be Gabriel or not. If it was Gabriel... "If you're really Gabriel, how weren't you hurt when the angels fell?" he asked.

Gabriel said, "I was already down here when Heaven got dumped out. Already being down here made it pretty hard to get hurt. I do have a pretty killer headache from all the screaming over the angelic airwaves, but otherwise, I'm ship shape."

"Tell me something only Gabriel would know," Sam said quickly.

"Sam, really?" Gabriel said, stepping closer, "It's me. It's really me, I promise."

"Just do it," Sam said. He couldn't let himself believe that this was really Gabriel. It couldn't be. Gabriel died.

Gabriel looked Sam right in the eye, just like he used to. "Something that only I would know?" he said, "I stole your laptop and let the air out of your brother's tires when we first met."

"Anyone who's read the 'Supernatural' books could know that."

"Alright. I spent the night with you when Dean died. You didn't want me there at first, but you changed your mind. And I stayed with you nearly every night until Dean came back. You really want something only I would know? I love you. I've loved you since the Mystery Spot, and I never, ever stopped."

Sam stared at Gabriel. It had to be him. That son of a bitch. "Okay," he said, "Assuming you're really you, I have one more question. How did you survive fighting Lucifer?"

Gabriel grinned impishly. "Nobody tricks the Trickster, kiddo," he said.

"How could you do it?" Sam asked, shock quickly being replaced by anger, "How could you let me believe you were dead all this time? I begged you to tell me it was a trick. I begged you to be alive so many times. A few weeks, I could understand. A few months, sure. But years, Gabriel? Years? You let me mourn you for-"

"Wait, is that why you're pissed at me? Is that why you said that shit yesterday?" Gabriel asked.

Sam quieted. "What?" he asked.

"Yesterday, you told Cas that I'd better be dead. And I thought-"

"Yes, that's why I said that to Cas. If you were dead, not hearing from you for years makes sense, but...wait, you've been alive and watching me this whole time? Gabriel, how could you-"

Gabriel's mask crumbled. He crossed over to Sam with tears in his eyes and kissed him deeply, pushing him back on the bed gently.

Sam ran his hands up the back of Gabriel's shirt and kissed Gabriel harder.

Gabriel twisted his fingers in Sam's hair.

Sam broke off the kiss abruptly and said, "This doesn't mean that I forgive you, Gabriel."

Gabriel met Sam's eyes. "I didn't know," he said, "I only let you think I was dead so that Lucifer wouldn't find you through me. I watched you fall into Lucifer's cage, and that was the last I saw of you until yesterday, I swear. Now, why you didn't feel the need to let me know that you were alive is another mystery entirely."

Sam rolled them over, pinning Gabriel to the bed. "I almost prayed to you so many times. But I thought you were dead. I'd be praying to no one," he said, "You thought I was in Lucifer's cage this whole time?"

Gabriel nodded. "I had no idea you were out. I should've known. I should've tried to get you out. I should've-"

Sam silenced Gabriel with a kiss. When he broke away, Sam said, "I'm so sorry. I should've prayed to you. I know how hard it's been thinking that you were dead, I never wanted you to go through it, too."

Gabriel shook his head, smiling up at Sam. "I missed you, kiddo. Only you could manage to go from pissed off to blaming yourself in less than five seconds," he said.

Sam smiled, looking away from Gabriel for a moment. "I missed you, too," he said, "I missed you so much."

Gabriel stilled beneath Sam. Sam searched the archangel's golden eyes, concerned with the serious look he found there.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Gabriel said softly, "I don't want to miss you anymore."

Sam chuckled and said, "You don't have to. You're here, and I'm-"

"I can't sense you. That fucking angel warding on you made me think that you were still in the cage for years. If I could just feel you again-"

"It's not exactly safe for other angels to know where I am right now, Gabe. I can't just-"

"What did you just call me?" Gabriel asked.

Sam paused. He smiled sheepishly at Gabriel. "I called you Gabe," he said.

Gabriel beamed, a brilliant smile stretching across his features. He rolled them over again, pinning Sam to the bed. "No one's ever called me Gabe before. I like it," he said. He kissed Sam thoroughly, all teeth and tongue.

The nickname had just kinda slipped out since it just seemed to fit. The more Sam thought about it, the more Sam liked it, too. As the Trickster, he was an adversary. As Loki, he was a pagan god. As Gabriel, he was the most powerful weapon of Heaven, an archangel. But as Gabe. As Gabe, he was just Sam's.

"I have to ask you something," Gabe said, breaking the kiss with a gasp.

Sam looked up at his archangel expectantly.

"Can I connect my grace to your soul?" Gabe asked.

Sam wasn't sure how to respond to that. What did that even mean? Would it hurt? Why would Gabe even want to? It was just such a weird request.

"It would just be so I can sense you without the other angels being able to. Dad pulled it off before during the apocalypse so I could still help you guys, but He was a spoil sport and ruined all the fun after-"

"God?" Sam asked, "God let you have a lo-jack on my soul?"

Gabriel sat up on Sam's lap and said, "Yeah, it's a long story. Whatever, it's a stupid idea anyway. Nevermind. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's okay. I want you to do it," Sam said.

Gabriel glanced down at Sam in surprise. "You sure?" he asked.

Sam grinned and pulled Gabriel down against his chest. "I don't want you to think I'm dead ever again. And you'd better never let me think you're dead when you're not," he said.

Gabriel ghosted his lips over Sam's, his breath hot against Sam's face. He asked, "So, we're doing this?"

"Dating? Fucking? Loving you?" Sam said, "Oh, yeah. We're doing this."

Sam crushed their mouths together, tasting the Gabriel that he'd missed so much with each motion.

Gabriel grabbed Sam's shoulder, angelic light emanating from his hand and his eyes.

Sam felt chills for a moment. His skin erupted in goosebumps. No wonder he hadn't noticed it when the connection had been placed the first time. The reaction he had to it was really subtle.

"Son of a bitch," Gabriel muttered, removing his hand from Sam.

"What?"

"You don't have Gadreel's grace in you."

Sam sat up and scooted back from Gabe. "How did you know about that?" he asked.

"Metatron told me," Gabriel said.

"Metatron? You talked to that son of a bitch?"

Gabriel said, "It was more he summoned me and threatened me, but yeah, talking happened."

"You're not working with him, are you?" Sam asked, getting up from the bed.

Gabriel sighed, spun around, and plopped down on the bed. "No, I'm not working with him. He threatened me and forced me to help him brainwash Cas, but-"

"You what?!" Sam asked. Brainwash Cas? What the hell?

Gabriel stood up, hands raised. "Sam, let me finish. Castiel is a smart kid, he figured it out. No harm done, I swear. I was trying to look out for him just as much as I was trying to look out for you-"

"Look out for me? What?"

"Will you sit down and let me explain?" Gabriel asked.

Sam silenced himself but refused to sit down.

Gabriel gave Sam an exasperated look but said, "Metatron summoned me. He caught me up with the whole you-being-alive business, told me that he needed me to trick Castiel, and threatened me by saying that the remnant of Gadreel's grace inside you was enough for him to manipulate and kill you or something worse. It wasn't a risk I was willing to take, but Cas is fine. Everything's fine, okay?"

Sam felt his shoulders slump with relief. "Okay," he said.

"Now, can we get back to the kissing? I was really enjoying that part," Gabriel said with a smirk.

Sam grinned and hauled Gabriel onto his feet. He hoisted the archangel up, tugging Gabe's legs around his waist. He pressed Gabe against the bedroom wall and slowly kissed down Gabriel's neck.

"Yeah," Sam breathed against Gabriel's soft skin, "I like that part, too."

Gabriel kissed Sam roughly. Sam rolled his hips against Gabe's pelvis.

Gabe gasped out a moan.

Sam pulled away from Gabe slightly but only slightly. "We should really tell Dean about this," he said.

"What? Now?" Gabriel asked.

"He'll want to know that you're back," Sam said.

"We'll continue this, though, right?"

"Of course we will. And we can be as loud and rough as you want."

Gabriel sighed and said, "Alright. But he won't react well to my being alive."

"He won't react well to us being together either, but he'll have to deal with it," Sam said.

"Wait, what? You're telling him everything?" Gabe asked, eyes wide.

Sam let Gabe down and motioned for him to follow. He'd had a few years to think about it, and Sam knew if he ever got another chance with Gabriel, there was no way he was keeping it a secret. It didn't matter what Dean thought about it, he was telling him. Plus, if he and Gabe were really as loud and rough as they wanted, Dean might think Sam was in a fight and barge in. Yes, it was really for the best if Dean knew.

Sam led Gabriel into the kitchen where Dean was flipping through files while drinking a beer.

"Hey," Sam said.

Dean looked up to greet Sam but spat out his beer when he laid eyes on the archangel. He shot up and said, "Dude, do you ever just stay dead?"

"Not yet, hot shot," Gabriel said with a grin.

"I'm getting my gun," Dean said.

"Dean, sit," Sam said, "We need to talk."

Dean eyed Sam warily but sat back down. "Fine, but I don't like this, Sam."

"Gabriel's back. And he's on our side," Sam said.

"That's nice and all," Dean said, "But this asshole, and that's the nicest way I can put it, has never, ever been on our side."

"Actually, that's not quite-" Gabe started.

Sam cut him off and said, "Gabe, I've got this."

Dean's eyebrows shot up as he looked between the two of them. "Okay, what's going on," he said.

"We're together," Sam said evenly.

"Like together, together?" Dean asked.

"Yes."

"Like having sex together, together?"

"You don't need to have sex to be together, Dean, but yes."

"How long has this been going on?" Dean asked, staring angrily at Gabriel.

Sam cleared his throat and said, "Years."

Dean snapped his eyes to Sam with shock and confusion on his face. "What the hell happened to being open with each other? Years? Jesus," he said.

Sam gave Dean a look. Yeah. Whatever did happen to being open with each other? Maybe it was never a thing. But it certainly went out the window when Dean thought it was a good idea to let an angel possess Sam without his knowledge. As if Sam's autonomy hadn't been compromised enough while he was in hell. His own brother...

Gabriel gave Sam a concerned sideways glance, and Sam wondered how much the archangel had heard.

"Look," Sam said to Dean, "I explained this earlier when I said I don't want to be brothers. I don't really care what you think about this, but as your professional partner, I'm telling you that Gabriel's on our side now, and I trust him."

Dean looked like Sam had just slapped him. He quickly focused his hurt gaze on his beer. "Just because you don't care about my opinion doesn't mean I have to be okay with this," he said.

Gabriel put a hand on Sam's arm before Sam could reply.

"Allow me," Gabriel said. He stepped towards the table, capturing Dean's cautious attention. The archangel snapped his fingers, and a steaming slice of apple pie sat in front of Dean.

"You can't just win me over with pie," Dean said, looking between the delicious pie and Gabriel.

Gabe grinned, snapped his fingers again, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream appeared on the plate next to the pie.

Dean paused, considering this new development. He took a bite of the apple pie and closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying it.

It was the first time in a while that Sam felt like laughing with Dean around. Sam still had a long way to go before he could really forgive Dean for what he did, but for a moment, everything felt okay.

Dean swallowed his bite of pie and said, "Okay, having an archangel around may not be all bad, I'll concede that much. But is he gonna help us hunt, help us take down Abaddon? Metatron?"

Gabriel nodded. "Absolutely. I'll help out in any way I can," he said.

"Then, why didn't you before?" Dean asked, "If you've been alive this whole time, why didn't you help against Raphael, or the Leviathans, or when Sam was dying from what the trials did to him?"

Sam turned to face Gabriel. He didn't much appreciate the interrogating tone Dean was using, but he did want to know the answers to that question.

Gabriel looked at Sam for a second, a contemplative glance, before saying, "After everybody fell down the rabbit hole, I needed to take a vacation. So, I left. I hit some nice tropics, had some fun. I didn't know about what Raphael was up to. I didn't care. I felt it when he died, though. Pretty sure all angels did. I heard some talk about Castiel being the new head honcho, but the Heaven crowd usually needs a leader, so why not Cas? Leviathans? Well, my Dad couldn't kill them, so what the hell could I do? And I had no idea that Sam was alive, so I had no idea he was dying. Really, I was on vacation when all that shit went down, and the way I saw it, hadn't I given enough?"

"Given enough?" Dean snapped, "You've been goofing off on beaches while the world's been at stake."

Gabriel slammed the table hard and said, "I lost my brothers, my family, my friends, and Sam all in one terrible second only to lose even more family later on. I didn't get my brothers back. I didn't have a woman and her son to run to. I didn't have a life to put back together. I died when I lost them. Don't you ever say that I haven't given enough."

Sam put a hand on Gabe's chest and pulled him away from the table a few steps. "It's okay," he said.

Gabriel nodded and took Sam's hand in his, lacing their fingers together. He faced Dean. "I'll help now. I can't kill Abaddon, but I can help research how to do it. I can't hurt Metatron since he's powering up somehow, but I can help track him down. Anything I'm capable of helping with, I'll help with. Whatever you need," he said.

Dean said, "Metatron's using the angel tablet to give himself the extra juice, so unless you know where that is-"

"Sorry, bucko," Gabe said, "Got zilch on that old thing. But I can check in with a few contacts, see what info I can dig up-"

"Right now," Sam said, "I really just need you to stay."

Gabriel smiled softly at Sam. "Okay."

And he did.

He stayed through Dean's death. He healed Sam from his knock out, but it wasn't fast enough. And it broke his heart to tell Sam that the Mark of Cain prevented him from resurrecting Dean.

He stayed and saw the Mark with his own eyes. He recognized it from the Mark that had made Lucifer turn and become the villain he now was. He told Sam then, that the Mark was seriously bad news.

He stayed and helped Sam track the demon Dean had become. If those blasted angel sigils were gone, the search would've been a whole hell of a lot easier. And he stayed to pick up the pieces after the things Demon Dean said broke the fragile parts of Sam.

He stayed long enough to laugh with Sam about the high school girls calling Dean and Cas 'Destiel.' And how much it bothered Dean. For weeks, Gabriel took great joy in mentioning 'Destiel' and 'fan fiction' anytime he found himself alone with Dean.

He stayed and told Sam yet again that Mark of Cain was seriously bad. Lucifer bad. He encouraged him to use whatever he could to remove the Mark. Any consequences would be worth sparing Dean the affect of the Mark and spare Sam the pain of losing his brother the same way Gabriel had.

Gabriel stayed even when removing the Mark backfired. He assured Sam that Charlie had safely gotten to Heaven, that it was a better place for her. Dean, of course, had been in no condition to listen at the time.

He stayed when removing the Mark released the Darkness. He learned quickly that jokes about every family having a weird aunt didn't go over very well with the boys. He wanted to throttle Sam for not telling him about the visions, for going to Hell without telling him. He wanted to kill Dean again for staging a rescue mission without him, but as Sam pointed out later, it was for the best that Lucifer still thought he was dead. But he screamed when he found out that Lucifer had escaped. It was worse when he learned he was using Cas as a vessel.

But the point is, he stayed. No matter what happened, Sam and Gabriel were there for each other. After a long hunt or a horrific turn of events, Sam would return to find an archangel warming his bed. After another false lead or another dead end, Gabriel could find all the comfort he wanted in that ridiculously tall hunter of his. They were both broken in so many ways, and it seemed to always get worse and harder to keep going, but they were there for each other. They supported each other, healed each other in ways they didn't know they could. They managed to be happy despite the chaos around them because of each other.

In the end, Chuck had been right. Nothing ever really does end.