Chapter Text
Sam’s barely paying attention as he sits in yet another dingy motel room. Dean and Cas are doing whatever they usually did, talking about some case and standing too close together, while Sam looks at his phone. He covers a laugh with a cough as he reads the last message.
G: If Dean calls his car baby one more time, Cas is gonna get jealous.
SW: As jealous as when he slept with a different angel in the car?
G: HE WHAT
"It's a weapon I haven't seen in a long time. An archangel sword."
Sam looks up at that, asking Cas, "Who's sword is it?"
"Look who's actually paying attention! Welcome to the land of the living, Sammy." Dean says a little too enthusiastically.
Sam rolls his eyes but puts down his phone, "Whatever Dean. Who's sword is it?"
Cas tilts his head in that classic Castiel way and says, "Gabriel's. Why do you ask?"
Sam tries to hide his excitement under faux-neutrality. He suggests, "We could call him and ask about it."
Dean scoffs, "Like the trickster would ever help us. He hates us."
Sam shrugs as casually as he can muster, "It's worth a try."
Dean scoffs again and the brothers glare at each other, neither backing down from their position. It's Cas who acts as tie-breaker, "Sam's right. Gabriel is unlikely to answer, but he might if he believes he can get his sword back."
Dean rubs a hand over his face, huffing loudly, before he says, "Fine," He clasps his hands and prays, "Dear Trickster, who aren’t in heaven, Gabriel be thy name," Sam elbows him and he mutters under his breath before he continues the prayer a little more seriously, "Got a case we think you might be interested in."
They wait for five long minutes, but when nothing happens, Dean says, "I knew he wouldn't show!"
"I could try?" Sam’s not sure if he's more nervous Gabriel will show up acting friendly or that he might finally ignore him. He doesn't wait for the others to respond, instead clasping his hands in prayer and saying, "Gabriel, it's Sam Winchester. We have a case that I think you might enjoy, feel free to join us."
A flutter of wings signals the arrival of an angel, and Sam opens his eyes to see his angel leaning against a wall, a grin on his face and, predictably, half a chocolate bar in hand. He says brightly, "Hey Mount Winchester."
Sam can't help the smile that tugs at his lips as he says, "Hi Gabe."
"What am I, chopped liver?" Dean says incredulously, "I called like ten minutes ago! But Sam prays and you turn up right away?"
Gabriel replies, “I tuned out your annoying voice the second you started praying. Obviously,” He finishes the chocolate before he claps his hands loudly and says, "So! I heard you had something juicy for me. Don't disappoint, I was enjoying an evening in Valetta with a handsome fireman." He winks at Sam.
Castiel says, “I believe a group of demons are using your archangel sword.”
Gabriel’s smile doesn’t falter but his eyes harden, like they’re full of steel. Sam swears they even change colour for a moment, going from their usual indistinct hue of brown or honey or amber to a shimmering gold. He says something softly in what Sam assumes is Enochian, before carrying on in English, “I haven’t seen her in centuries. What makes you think it’s her?”
Castiel responds, “Epistula always leaves a very specific trace. Bright, golden fire. The flames were still burning hours after authorities attempted to put them out.”
Gabriel rebuts, “That could be anything.”
Cas adds, “Lunaria annua and lilium candidum were found at the scene.”
Gabriel waves a hand and conjures up a bunch of flowers. Sam recognises primrose, white lilies and poppies amongst the unfamiliar ones. He smells the flowers and says wistfully, “She brought out the classics,” He hands the bouquet out to Sam with a flourish, “Flowers for the gentlemen?”
Sam rolls his eyes but takes the bouquet, a green vase forming around the base. He sets it down on the dresser and says, “Be serious. How do we find the sword?”
Gabriel thinks it over for a second before he says, “Where was she last?” Castiel gives coordinates and Gabriel clicks his fingers.
Sam blinks as he’s suddenly in the morning light, looking around to get his bearings. They’re in a clearing; the barren, yellowing grass is broken up by a small circle of flowers, just like the ones Gabriel presented him with earlier.
“What are we looking for?” Sam asks, watching as Gabriel scans the scene, crouching next to the flowers. He takes one of the petals and puts it on his tongue, where it dissolves quickly, leaving golden light behind for a split second. It’s not even the weirdest thing he’s seen the angel do this week.
Gabriel says something he can’t understand before he stands up, crossing his arms and looking at Sam, “I’m looking for Epistula’s trail. You were looking at my ass.”
Sam rolls his eyes, a move he seems to pull a hundred times more often when Gabriel was around, and changes the subject, “I didn’t know you had a special sword. Thought you just had the archangel blade.”
“Uh-huh,” Gabriel nods, snapping his fingers, which causes a golden mist to settle on the ground. He sighs, “I haven’t seen her in a long time. She was here twenty-four hours ago, maybe less.”
"You miss her, don't you?"
Gabriel shrugs, "She's a part of me, like a missing limb. You get used to it, but it's just... Different."
Was Sam crazy to feel sympathy for an archangel? He seemed almost human in this moment, expression wistful, the hyper energy drained from his body for once. He says reassuringly, "We'll find her."
Gabriel takes one final look before he waves a hand, the golden mist shooting out in all directions, and snaps, taking them somewhere else. Sam lands in a leather booth unceremoniously, the people around them not seeming to notice their very sudden appearance. Gabriel is already drinking a colourful cocktail with a cherry on top. He says, "You come here often?"
Sam fights another eye roll at the familiar line, instead saying, "Depends where here is."
"Munich," Gabriel answers cheerfully, waving over a waitress and ordering in what Sam assumes is perfect German. He turns to Sam as she walks away and says, "Look at us, hanging out again without anybody bleeding."
"Why are we here Gabe?" Sam asks exasperatedly. He's itching to get on with the case, and he can already hear Dean's lecture in the back of his head. You played hooky with the damn trickster during a case?! What’s next, you gonna throw an ice cream party for the devil?
Gabriel shrugs, "Dunno. Fancied a change of scenery. Unless you wanted to get back to our annoying brothers?"
Sam does think it over for a second before he decides this is a much better offer. He says in a teasing tone, "Sure, we're hanging out. We've always been best buds."
"We’ve hung out before! Plus, I’ve saved your life like fifty times,” A major exaggeration, “Isn't that what friends do?" Gabriel says with a raised eyebrow, his lips quirking up into a smirk.
"You also killed Dean. Over a hundred times. You have a lot more making up to do, Gabe."
Gabriel huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, "You just had to bring up mystery spot, ruin our date. So rude."
"This is a date?" Sam asks, his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline.
Gabriel simply asks, "Do you want it to be?"
Sam's quiet for a while, looking down at his hands. He looks up and starts, "Gabe-"
Gabriel waves him off, "Yeah, yeah, you're straight, I'm in a male vessel, yada yada. I'm just teasing," Sam isn't quite sure what to say, not expecting his brain to be so scrambled by such a passing comment. He wonders why he hesitated when he could’ve cleared things up so easily, but instead he let the moment pass. Gabriel was just joking anyway. He laughs it off, a little too late, noticing the awkward tension hanging in the air, and looks down at the table. Well done, Sam, way to make it weird. Luckily Gabriel, as usual, navigates the silence easily and picks up the slack on the talking front, "I never told you about the time I tricked Michael into wiping out the dinosaurs, did I?"
Everything else seems unimportant beside the most bizarre thing Sam's ever heard. He says, "You what?"
Gabriel tells the story (which involves him perfectly throwing his voice to show off a hidden talent for ventriloquism) with a grin on his face, and by the time the waitress comes back, Sam's wiping tears from his eyes as Gabriel says, "He never touched his staff again!"
Setting plates and drinks down, the waitress says, "Brezeln und Currywurst."
"Danke schön!" Gabriel calls cheerfully as she walks away. He turns to Sam and asks, "Want some?"
"Sure," Sam grabs one of the pretzels and takes a bite. It's warm, soft and tasty, and in one bite Sam's over Gabriel kidnapping him yet again. He says after finishing another bite, "What happened to your sword?"
Gabriel sighs, pushing around his food with his fork, before he answers, "Lucifer. He took her and gave her to one of his creations," Gabriel grimaces as he says the last word, "I tried to track her for a while, but he severed the connection, so I just follow up on leads whenever they come up. The last place I checked was Greece. " Sam nods, thinking about the temple he helped Gabriel break into.
"You got a plan?"
"Always! Now it’s my turn to ask a question," Sam takes a sip of his beer, not acknowledging the presumption. Gabriel asks, "Why did you pray to me?"
"Thought you'd want a chance to get your sword back." Sam replies absentmindedly.
"The first time. The bloodsuckers in Idaho. Why did you pray to me?" The and not Cas is implied.
Sam scratches the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at the angel in front of him. The restaurant is buzzing with activity, people speaking in rapid German around him, and Sam gets the feeling it’s not exactly a tourist hotspot. He asks, "How'd you find this place?"
"I helped the owners set it up back in the nineties, worked a bit of my magic into the building," His eyes flash gold and Enochian sigils appear on the walls, carved into the woodwork, before they disappear again, "So no demons or angels allowed, besides yours truly," Sam nods. Of course. A safehouse with great food, "Now stop avoiding the question."
Sam thinks it over before he gives the best answer he can come up with, "Ever since mystery spot, I've had this gut feeling you do want to help, even if it’s in your own twisted way. So, I took a shot in the dark."
Gabriel huffs a laugh and counters, "I'm not some goody two shoes you know. I do whatever sounds fun at the time."
"So why have you been helping me then?"
Gabriel shrugs, taking a sip of his beer before he says, "Sometimes it's fun to kill monsters."
Sam considers asking more questions but decides against it. Instead, he says, "It must be fun when you're virtually indestructible."
Gabriel grins as he says, "Now you're getting it!" He holds out his oversized glass and asks, "You know how to cheers in Germany?"
"Please. Dean taught me everything there is to know about drinking. Prost!"
"Prost!" Gabriel clinks glasses with him, and the two maintain eye contact as they take a sip. Setting down his glass, Sam doesn't look away, and Gabriel says playfully, "You can’t afford more bad luck with how much of it already follows the two of you around."
"I was more worried about seven years of bad sex." Sam teases.
"Don't worry handsome, sex with me is never bad." Gabriel winks, and Sam chokes on air, his cheeks flushing bright pink as he coughs, whacking himself on the chest.
"You're the worst," Sam sputters out once he can, searching his mind for a safer subject. He says, "You never told me what happened in Paris."
"Paris?" He frowns, thinking, before his face lights up, "Oh yeah! Paris. Let's just say I came away with more secrets than you could use in a lifetime, and I got my favourite painting back from the old palace."
"Play any tricks?"
"Now that would be telling." The two finish their food and drinks, and the lightness Sam's been feeling since they arrived is replaced by the usual weight on his shoulders.
"Sometimes I get why you won't help us with the apocalypse, you know," Sam says quietly, the words spilling out without thought, but now they're hanging in the air, he continues, "Why would you get your hands dirty when you think it’s hopeless anyway? You spend your life exploring, eating what you want, screwing around. You're powerful enough not to worry about the little things. It just seems so..."
"Free?" Sam nods, and if asked, he would’ve sworn blind Gabriel actually looks sincere in this moment, "It is. But believe it or not, it can be boring."
"Really?" Sam asks incredulously, "Anywhere in the world, anytime, that's boring?"
"I'm older than the planet, Sam," Gabriel says with a wry smile, "You think I haven't seen everything a hundred times over already?"
Sam considers the question. He'd never really thought about it. The positives of immortality seemed endless, but there was only so much wonder out there. He looks at his companion with new eyes as he says, "Things change. People change."
"Says the man so stubborn he thinks he can defy my dad's grand plan." Gabriel chuckles.
"Shut up," Sam says, but there's no bite to it, "I just wish I had more time for the fun things, but there's always some world-ending disaster to try and put off, even if it never fucking works." Sam catches himself and goes silent before the dam breaks.
"You make a bigger difference than you think, Sam."
"You going soft on me, angel?" Sam teases, and Gabriel rolls his eyes, but the two look at each other in silence for a beat, until Sam sighs and says, "We should go."
They stand up and Gabriel slips a hand into Sam's pocket, depositing something there, before he lightly places it on Sam's arm. It’s the first time they’ve ever really touched; Sam can’t find it in himself to mind. Gabriel says, "Fasten your seatbelt, it's a long way back to Wyoming!"
Sam says, "You're," In Munich and, "Ridiculous." On American soil, the two back in the motel room with a snap and a rush of feathers.
Dean looks up from some lore book, snapping it shut as he shouts, "Where the hell have you two been?!"
Gabriel answers smartly, "Working the case, kiddo. What did you think we were doing? Day drinking and swapping stories?"
Castiel is unperturbed, as usual. He asks, "Did you make any progress?"
Gabriel nods, "It's her. I sent out a beacon. If she's nearby, it'll create a trail I can follow back to her."
“Why don’t you go back to your fireman and call us if you hear anything?” Dean says through gritted teeth. Two minutes in the same room as the archangel was apparently more than enough for the older Winchester.
Gabriel shrugs, “I got nowhere important to be.” It’s then that Sam realises Gabriel still has a hand lightly wrapped around his bicep, and he takes a small step away to break contact before anyone notices. No one seems to react.
Dean barks a laugh, “I knew you were bluffing. The only people who’ll bang you are the ones you make up.”
“Dean-“ Sam’s not sure what he’s even planning to say, but he’s cut off anyway.
“Not that it’s any of your business, Winchester, but I have a lot more luck getting tail than you do,” Gabriel seems to find the whole thing amusing, which is useful for the continued existence of Sam’s idiot brother, “If you want me to go, all you have to do is say please.”
Sam sucks in a breath through his teeth, bracing for Dean’s reaction. It doesn’t disappoint, and he gets in the trickster’s face as he shouts, “Listen here you son of a bitch-”
“Dean!” Sam puts a hand on each of their chests, shoving hard, and even Gabriel takes a step back at the unexpected display of strength. He looks at his brother, “Gabriel is helping us! Stop being a dick!”
Gabriel says smugly, “Yeah Dean-“
Sam spins and jabs a finger into the angel’s chest, “You’re not exactly innocent here, Gabe. Stop making it worse.” Gabriel looks at the finger pressed into his t-shirt like he can’t believe a human had the nerve to tell him off. His eyes rise to meet Sam’s, and they’re alight with barely contained mischief, a devilish grin on his face. Safe to say, the expression makes Sam a little nervous. He looks the trickster up and down quickly, totally thrown off, before he clears his throat and moves back.
Cas is the one to break the tense silence that follows. He suggests, “May I have a private word with you, brother?” Sam isn’t sure if he means it or he’s trying to defuse the situation, but he’s grateful either way.
“Sure!” Gabriel says cheerfully, before he clicks his fingers and with a rustle of wings, the angels disappear from the room.
Dean wastes no time. He says, “Dude, what gives? You on his side now?”
Sam says through clenched teeth, “You were both being dicks, Dean.”
“But I’m your brother!” Dean grumbles.
“I was trying to stop you getting killed! For all his jokes, you were about to punch an archangel. Idiot.” Sam feels like he’s finally getting a taste of what things were like for Dean with him and John, and he decides it’s exhausting. Dean opens his mouth to bark a reply but then closes it, muttering something that sounds like ‘stupid tiny angel’ under his breath.
Sam drops down into a seat at the table, picking up a lore book to pass the time. When it becomes apparent the angels aren’t going to rejoin them any time soon, Sam excuses himself and heads outside, where he checks his pockets.
The first thing he pulls out is a keyring in the shape of a pretzel. It’s followed by a short note on red paper.
Had fun in Munich. You can try my bratwurst anytime
G