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It’s been two months, one week and five days since Gabriel opened a portal to Limbo and disappeared. Sam had wanted to go with him, but the archangel didn’t let him. Too dangerous, he’d said. Sam’s soul might get lost, and then Limbo would claim it for all eternity. They couldn’t take that risk. Gabriel wouldn’t take that risk.
Archangels’ souls are so entwined with there grace there was no risk for Gabriel to lose his. That’s why it made sense to send him roam the vastness of Limbo in search of some angelic artifact that had accidentally fallen there and might help them getting rid of all the Alphas.
Gabriel had kissed Sam, wiggled his eyebrows, said he’d be back, and disappeared in a flash of light Sam suspected had been more for show than anything else.
Sam’s been a mess ever since then. He can’t concentrate on anything for long and is in such a bad mood all the time that Dean and Castiel took off on a hunt without him. Not that Sam blames them, he probably would have done the same in their place.
The hours trickle by slowly, and Sam can’t help worrying.
He should have told him how he really felt, taken the risk of Gabriel laughing it off. He just hopes the h comes back in one piece so that he can tell him.
***
Gabriel wraps his wings closer around him. This metaphysical wind is so powerful that moving forward is a difficult and slow process. He holds on to the lock of hair he stole from Sam’s head while the boy was sleeping.
It’s his only link to Sam, and it’s so thin, almost unsubstantial here, in this place where physical and material things matter so little. He wishes he could have had more. But wishes are useless inside Limbo, so he takes solace in what he does have, and prays to his absent father that he’ll be able to go back to Sam soon.
***
Sam is sitting in the library, going through books on angelic lore. It’s not exactly helpful research, most of the books are so far from accurate it’s almost laughable.
There’s no flash of light this time, which proves that it was all for show. One moment Sam is alone, and the next Gabriel is standing in front of him, on the other side of the table.
The archangel looks battered and exhausted, but the smile he flashes at Sam is so bright it’ almost blinding. Sam is on his feet in a matter of seconds, and before he’s entirely realized that Gabriel is here he’s got an armful of short but enthusiastic archangel.
Gabriel clings to Sam, so relieved to be back at last. He wraps his wings –invisible on this plan of existence– around the hunter, lets his grace bask in the light of Sam’s soul.
Then Sam is kissing him, whispering words like “missed you” and “love you” against his lips, and they’re like music to Gabriel’s ears. He repeats them, meaning them more than he’s ever meant anything.
Gabriel can feel Sam’s soul entwining with his grace and he doesn’t fight it, lets it happen. Because it was meant to be, it was always meant to be.
When they finally part, smiling softly at each other, there’s a piece of his grace lodged inside San’s heart, and Gabriel can feel the piece of Sam’s soul shining brightly next to his own.