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Gabriel tried to struggle out of Sam's hold, but he wasn't really any match for Sam's strength and size. He still fought him all the way out, swearing and forcing Sam to practically carry him.
Sam shut the door sharply behind them once they were outside. The cold was biting and he felt he needed it as much as Gabriel did. The other man shoved out of his grasp and this time Sam let him, feeling for the first time the murder in the other man's eyes.
"You're brother is a dick."
Sam huffed a breath.
"Sometimes, yeah, doesn't mean you can punch him for it. What the fuck was that, man?" He couldn't keep the angry exasperation out of his voice, no matter how hard he tried to keep it level. He'd never been great at de-escalation, he'd never had to be.
Gabriel floundered a little. There was no question about it, no regret. But how to explain to a stranger the way that the sentence he'd overheard held such a cutting weight? How to make a stranger understand that he'd already let Kas down before? Abandoned him? That he needed to make up for it? That he couldn't let Kas just sit there and take it ever again?
"What did Dean do?" Sam asked with a long-suffering sigh.
"He told Kas he'd never let him drive him anywhere." Gabriel put everything into keeping his voice steady, no uncertainty, no weakness that could be picked apart.
Sam's mouth dropped open a little.
"I don't care what you think, it was a fucked up thing to say. My brother is a perfectly good driver, and even if he wasn't, he doesn't deserve someone to make him feel shit about something he already feels like shit about."
He should have known better, should have come down to take care of Kas himself, should have quit his job if that's what it took to get away for long enough, should have-
"Gabriel," Sam started, face scrunched up a little, "this is all a big misunderstanding. He didn't- look, I know what you're gonna say, but he didn't mean it like that. If he said that, he didn't mean it like that."
Gabriel scoffed.
"He doesn't let anyone drive him anywhere. Ever."
"Right, so he's fine hurting my brother's feelings because he's a control freak? Good to know."
"Shut up," Sam snapped. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
He was looking down at Gabriel now, standing a little closer than before. All the old anger was simmering in his blood now. It was hard to feel bad about losing his cool when Gabriel was looking back up at him unflinchingly.
Sam only hesitated for a moment. As much as it often didn't feel like his wound, his grief, his sorrow, as much as he felt like he didn't deserve to feel it because he was the one who left Dean, left his dad, this was his story to tell as much as Dean's. Different pain, but no less real for it.
"My brother was in a car accident too."
The confidence in Gabriel's face cracked.
"My dad was driving." Sam couldn't hold Gabriel's eyes any longer, he looked off to the side, down. "It was bad." All the fight left him in a wave. He was just tired. "I get being protective," he said, more gentle, "but I swear, it had nothing to do with Kas when he said that. And I think you should let them sort that out themselves."
"Man," Gabriel said, sitting down on one of the steps outside the door. "I swear I'm not always a crazy lunatic who goes around punching people for no reason."
Sam laughed a little at that and plopped down onto the steps next to Gabriel, legs folded a comical amount.
"And I don't usually lose it like that." Sam sighed. "I know he's my older brother, but he's always taken care of me. And the-" Sam bit his lip a little, trying to just say it, because he never felt like he'd been through enough to burden anyone else with these things, but maybe Gabriel would understand- "I've always had a bit of survivor's guilt about it. Like, what if I hadn't left them the second I could?"
Gabriel shrugged.
"You left. You survived, they did too. No use dwelling on it." Even though Gabriel knew it was easier said than done, Sam thought he could hear a trace of it in the way he said it.
"My dad died."
"Shit. Sorry."
"I was never close with him," Sam said with a shrug, as if that made any of it feel any less. "He was a mean drunk."
"Wait, so who is-" Gabriel gestured behind them, back at the house.
"Bobby and Ellen are practically parents to us, but not by blood."
"Not blood." Gabriel nodded approvingly.
"Yep. Best kind of family I've known. Well, that and my brother."
"It's a good family you have."
"It is."
They sat together for a little bit. Cold crept in through the inadequate layers they wore, but it was there was a sort of peacefulness in it all, the kind that came from mutual understanding. It clung when Gabriel finally stood up.
"Sorry I punched your brother," he said only a little sheepishly. He held out a hand to help Sam up.
"Just don't make a habit of it," Sam replied, taking the outstretched hand. "And you better hope you didn't do too much damage."
"You flatter me, you think I could do much with a single punch?"
Sam just barely bit back a laugh. He gave Gabriel a playful shove as they headed back inside.