Fic: Stand a Little Rain
Title: Stand A Little Rain
Author: darth_firefly
Artist: chosenfire28
Genre/Paring: AU, Dean/Gabriel, Sam/Jess, mentions of Sam/Castiel
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:56,463
Warnings/Spoilers: Mpreg, mild language, mild violence. slight gore - spoilers - no spoilers as long as you've seen SPN up to and including Season 5.
Summary: What if everything depended on a single, simple choice? Right after Sam left for Stanford and John took off for hunts unknown, Dean met up with a man in the middle of the afternoon over lunch - and they elected to spend the rest of the day (and night) together. Should have been a simple one night stand for Dean and Gabriel - except Gabriel forgot one thing in the heat of the moment - there are times when angels can impregnate a human, regardless of their gender. When he realized the possibility - he went to find Dean. When he found him, Gabriel decided that the best thing to do for everyone is to stop the whole Apocalypse cold. Unfortunately, he didn't count on Michael having an issue with his little brother playing house with his true vessel and their half-angelic daughter, Sara.
Sara knew better than to ask why everyone was so grumpy here. Adults did weird things and acted weird too - so it must be something that happened before she got here that was making them act the way they were. Gabriel - the man who looked just like Papa and had the same name - kept asking her lots of questions, most of which she couldn't answer. Well, she could - but not to the degree he seemed to need. The Sam here had come back into the room and the mean angel had gone to talk to the guy who looked like Daddy, leaving her with the other two, and Mr. Bobby. She rubbed her nose,watching Mr. Bobby type on his computer.
“So you're saying you don't know the name of the town you live in?” Sam leaned against the desk.
“No.” She bit her lip. “I'm sorry.”
“It's okay.” Gabriel frowned. “Is there anything out of the ordinary in your town?”
“What's out of the ordinary mean?” She blew her nose.
“He means does your town have something other places don't.” Bobby offered.
“Like that city with the big arch?” She bit her lip, thinking. “Saint... Saint something....”
“St. Louis.” Gabriel finished for her. “Yeah - different like that.”
She tucked her knees under her chin, her face scrunched up in concentration. “There's a hill with a big stone on top of it - and a river, but it's not as big as the one in St. Louis.”
“That's good.” Sam glanced at Bobby who shrugged. “How long did it take you to get to your Uncle Sammy's house from where you live, Sara?”
“Four days... I remember that, cause I only went to bed three times.” She nodded solemnly. “And in my town there's a really, really big field where a bunch of men in funny outfits camped this summer.”
Bobby cleared his throat. “If you heard the name of the town, would you know it?”
She shrugged in response. “I dunno.”
Sam glanced at Gabriel before talking to Sara. “Do you live in Gettysburg?”
She shook her head. “No, that's not it.”
“Chancellorsville?” Bobby offered.
“Uh uh.” She rubbed her nose. “I... I think it does end in burg - that, that sounds right.”
“Vicksburg?” Gabriel said and then paused. “Wait, that's not a four day drive to Palo Alto...”
“If they came up here it is.” Sam frowned. “Is it Fredricksburg?”
Sara lifted her chin and blinked, thinking for a moment and then nodded. “Uh huh, that's it!”
“How exactly is knowing where Sara here lives going to help us get her back where she belongs?” Bobby interjected.
“Because I'm thinking that the reality she lives in isn't that far removed from this one.” Gabriel leaned against desk, his arms folded. “We already know that the break had to have happened around June 2001 - and figuring out where Miss Sara lives is a part of finding when exactly in June it was.”
Sam shook his head in disbelief. “It's hard to believe that one little thing could make something so - so different happen.”
“No argument there.” Bobby stood up and walked into the kitchen to refill his coffee mug.
“Whatever it was, it had to be right after you left for college.” Gabriel crossed the room and sat down next to Sara. “You're looking tired, Sara-Bug.”
“I think it's almost...” She covered a yawn. “Nap time. But we haven't had lunch yet...”
“Yeah.” He ruffled her hair. “Forgot how much little kids sleep. We'll have something to eat here in a little bit.” He turned to Sam. “Dean ever tell you what happened after you left for college?”
Sam leaned against a table as Bobby came back into the room. “He said Dad took off shortly after I did - and that he laid around in that abandoned house for around four days before leaving. He spent the summer hunting and finally met up with Dad at Pastor Jim's Labor Day weekend.”
“Do you remember what day you left for California?”
“June third.” Sam said. “Dean and Cas still outside?”
“Yeah. I think your brother is still a little shaken.” Bobby said as he set his mug down and then walked slowly to the stairs and back.
“Can you blame him?” Sam shook his head. “I'm still shaken.” He didn't say anything to the old hunter about pacing. The man had been wheelchair bound for several months - if he wanted to walk all the way in to town and back, Sam wouldn't say a thing.
Bobby came over to the couch. “Come on kid, how about you and me get some lunch?”
“Okay.” Sara stood up and followed the man into the kitchen. If this Mr. Bobby cooked as well as her Uncle Bobby - lunch should be pretty good. Even if it was just peanut-butter and jelly.
**
Dean kept his focus on the road, the traffic that seemed to be nothing but tractor trailers and the light snow that was falling. They were now in the thirty-sixth hour of their given forty-eight, and he really wished that Michael would get the memo that he and Sam were back on the hunting track and bring Gabriel and Sara back from wherever he'd stashed them. The bastard owed him a good-bye to the pair. Though he didn't know how the hell he was supposed to let go of his little girl. He knew that Gabriel would keep her safe, raise her well - fend of anything that dared hurt her and -
Dean cursed as he realized how fast he was going and slowed the Impala down before they passed a state trooper. Getting a speeding ticket wasn't going to help matters at all. He saw the 'Now Leaving Utah' sign out the front window as Jessica coughed from the backseat. Sam was asleep in the front. A moment later, the 'Welcome to Colorado' sign flashed past. He let out a sigh and after glancing in the rear-view mirror at the empty booster seat he hadn't removed, his thoughts went right back to Sara. If he eve got his hands on the angel that took her - he'd find someway to hurt the guy. He knew it was next to impossible to kill an angel - Gabriel had told him as much. Then again, Gabriel had probably already found said angel and had kicked his ass from here to the next century.
There were twelve more hours to go before Michael returned - and they'd be in the middle of Kansas, if the weather held - still in Colorado if it didn't. He wondered if all the roads led back to Kansas, the place where all this started, twenty-two years ago. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, not at all. He, Sara and Gabe were supposed to be sleeping in Palo Alto, getting ready to leave tomorrow morning for home. Instead he was heading back to Virginia with his brother and his brother's girlfriend. He guessed Gabriel was imprisoned in Heaven and who knew where Sara was.
Sam suddenly jerked awake, cursing when his foot hit the floorboard of the Impala.
“You okay, little brother?” Dean shot a look over at him.
“That was...” He took a few deep breaths and looked out the windows. “Where are we?”
“Colorado.” Dean replied. “Bad dream?”
“Weird dream.” Sam rubbed his eyes. “I mean, seriously weird.”
“Weird for us or regular weird with pink elephants?” Dean was welcome to any distraction from thinking about Sara, even if it was his little brother dreaming of marching elephants or something equally stupid.
“I don't know...” He took a few deep breaths and then picked up the bottle of water from near his feet and took a few swallows. “I - this was...”
“Talk to me, Sam.” Dean tried to keep his voice even. “What's wrong?”
“I - I've been having dreams lately... and sometimes they come true.” Sam felt like a total ass for saying it - he'd had a dream about a man in a trench-coat standing in the apartment - and he'd woken up before he saw what he was going to do.
“Do they always come true?” Dean didn't like the sound of this conversation. Gabe had told him that it was possible for his brother to develop psychic abilities due to the incident that killed their mom, but to actually hear it had happened? Freaky.
“No.” Sam looked over his shoulder at the sleeping Jessica. “I had a dream that Jess was going to die... like mom did... and then... then the dream just stopped coming. Usually they happen over and over until they do happen. Two nights ago, I didn't dream that... I dreamed something else.”
Dean took a deep breath. He had a feeling he knew what Sam had been dreamed instead. “What about just now?”
“I was standing in this room - a house with a bunch of books in it.” Sam took another swallow of water. “And it wasn't like I was a part of the room - it was like I was watching what was happening.”
“Okay....” Dean wasn't sure what had freaked his brother out.
“Well, Sara was asleep on the couch in the room and Uncle Bobby was there...”
“Bobby Singer?” He interjected.
“Yeah. He was writing something on a sheet of paper... and when I went to the door that led into the kitchen, there we were... you and me... but we didn't look right.”
“Look right how?”
“Just... just wrong.” It was becoming clearer now that he was going over the details in his mind. “Maybe we were older, but not by much.” He took another gulp of water. “They were writing something down too - and at one point, me, or I guess, Sam, raised his head, turned to you and said, should we include the hunt at Springfield State?”
“They were writing down hunts?” Dean asked. “What the hell...”
“I know, I told you it was weird.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Then I went back into the other room - and Sara was awake... this is going to sound bad, but - does she like to do puzzles?”
Dean chuckled faintly. “Sara loves puzzles - was she doing one?”
“Yeah... but uh...”
“But what?”
“Well, she couldn't do a thousand piece one, could she?”
Dean repressed a snort. “No, thirty-six is about as big as she can do.”
“Well, for some reason, there she was, doing a thousand piece puzzle on a coffee table.” Sam sighed. “Sorry.” He could see his brother's pained expression.
“It's okay.” He pulled the Impala into the passing lane so they could drive past a Fed-Ex truck. “How did you know it was a thousand pieces?”
“I saw the box.” Sam said and paused. “I didn't see the picture though... it was just a dark image.”
Dean shook his head. “Maybe this one was just a dream.”
“Maybe.” Sam took another sip of water. “I - I'll try not to bring that up again.”
“What, the dream thing?”
“No, Sara.” Sam couldn't imagine how his brother felt.
“It's okay.” Dean knew that his voice sounded pained. “I - I know she's safe.”
Sam twisted the cap back onto the bottle tightly and set it down. “You think?”
“I know.” He gave his brother a rather weak smile. “I'm thinking she and Gabe are in the same place right now. As long as she's with him, she's safe.”
“She's a smart kid.”
“Yeah.” Dean's smile strengthened. “That's what her teachers tell me all the time.”
“She goes to school?” Sam was surprised.
“Preschool, yeah. Five days a week - just in the morning.” He chuckled. “I know for a fact she's the only kid in her class that's potty trained. Gabe and I have told her to keep a lot of it to herself. It might scare her teachers a little if she showed off too much.”
“Is that the half-angel thing?”
“Uh huh. She'll get words mixed up like any kid - but she's a pretty good conversationalist.” He took a deep breath. “She's a great kid.”
“Yeah.” Sam glanced at his brother out of the corner of his eye and saw the pained expression was back. “You want to talk about something else?”
“No, this is good.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Sara can read a little - few words she sees everyday and such.”
“Wow.” Sam checked Jess in the backseat before turning back to Dean. “You think Dad's okay?”
“I don't know.” Was his honest reply. “I hope so.” He checked his watch. “It's nearly midnight. There's a truck stop about fifteen minutes up the road from here with an all night diner. You want to get something to eat?”
Sam recognized his brother's famous 'change the subject' tactic at once. Rather than argue, he nodded. “I could eat.” He glanced back at Jess again. “I'd like to let her sleep a few more minutes, if that's okay.”
“That's fine Sammy.” Dean gave his brother the best smile he could muster. At midnight - they'd have eleven hours until they saw Michael again.
**
Despite the broken wings, Gabriel laid on the floor of his prison, the marble was cool and comforting. He just needed a rest and then he could get away from here. Now that he was unchained, getting past the wards were nothing. He would have little trouble overpowering a guard - as long as there was just one of them and it wasn't Raphael. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and reached out with his Grace. He just needed to check on his family.
Dean he found quickly - he was in the Impala, heading east. He was at a truck-stop somewhere in Colorado. It was late at night and Gabriel knew that the man was eating only out of habit. Dean would never eat scrambled eggs on purpose. Dean liked his eggs sunny side up or in an omelet. Sam was most likely making him eat. Gabriel was glad that someone was taking care of him. But what were they doing in Colorado? Why had they left Palo Alto? What had Michael said to the Winchesters that would make them leave the apartment and head - wherever they were going.
Gabriel took a deep breath and reached out again. He knew that Sara had to be somewhere. He frowned when he felt the disturbance in Sam's apartment, despite the passage of time. The angel who had taken Sara hadn't just taken her to some place on Earth, the angel had taken her to another reality. It wasn't far, just another step over, but in his condition? It wasn't going to be easy.
The sound of the door opening caused him to sit back up. “It's you.”
Castiel merely blinked at him. “Gabriel.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Orders.” Castiel stood placidly just outside the wards, watching him.
Gabriel snorted, “Well, I've always said that of all the angels in Michael's Legion, you could give the rest of us lessons in being heartless douchebags.” He smoothed his hair down, studying the lesser angel. “Castiel, right?”
“Yes.” The angel stood, ramrod stiff just outside the wards, his gaze more focused on the wall behind Gabriel, rather than the archangel himself. “You won't have to stay here much longer.”
“Oh, you're letting me go then?”
“We will be releasing you in several hours. I do not know exactly when.”
Gabriel smirked. “I will be kicking your ass into the middle of the next century, you know that don't you?”
“I have followed my orders. You have defied them.” Castiel's voice sounded cold.
“Bullshit.” Gabriel rose to his feet. “You have no idea what I have done.”
“And what is that?”
“Followed Father's orders - loving humanity.”
“Dean Winchester is one man among many. You can...”
“Silence!” Gabriel put much authority into his voice as he could. “Michael wants the fighting to end. If he takes on Lucifer, millions - no, billions of humans will die.”
“Mankind is not -”
“You know nothing of mankind, Castiel. You have not been on earth in two thousand years.”
“Why must you rebel?” The lesser angel's voice was so cold, it actually scared Gabriel.
“Father said to love humanity, not crush it.”
“You misunderstand me, Gabriel. I want to help mankind.”
“You have a funny way of showing it!” Gabriel knew that talking reason to an angel who knew nothing of mankind could never hope to understand what Gabriel did of man. Flawed, yes - mankind was flawed. But they were so full of potential, it was unfathomable. He was about to issue a retort to at least get Castiel to leave him alone - he knew that the lesser angel was only there to keep him inside the wards - when a squeaking sound drew his attention. He wasn't the only one. As they both watched, a blue plastic Volkswagen Bug with white daisies on it - Gabriel recognized the toy as one Sara had - scurried across the floor and made contact with Castiel's foot.
Castiel leaned down and picked the toy up, turning it over in his hands. “How curious.”
There was a second sound - a meaty thunk as something hit the angel on the back of head and he fell to the floor, unconscious.
“I told you he'd fall for it!”
Gabriel blinked in surprise. A second him, another Gabriel, not merely a copy, was standing across the room. It was him - but not him - and as for his companion...
“Papa!” Sara shouted and closed the distance between them, throwing her arms around his neck. “I missed you Papa!”
Gabriel wrapped his arms around his daughter, pressing his face into her hair. “I missed you too, Bug.”
The other Gabriel came over to the pair and helped him stand up. “Lovely and touching as this family reunion is, I think we best get out of here before Castiel wakes up.”
Gabriel nodded, not wanting to put his daughter down. Just having her back - and with him - made the pain in his wings seem to vanish. “Agreed.”
“You know where we're going?”
“Virginia.” He found it odd to be talking to himself - an actual other Gabriel - something that had never happened in his very, very long existence. “You had a plan for getting in here, I hope you had one for getting out.”
Other-Gabriel gave him a look. “Now there's a stupid question.”
“Where's Daddy?” Sara interjected, hugging her papa tighter, looking from one to the other. “I wanna see Daddy.”
“We're going to see him soon.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “He's on his way. “Let's go home.”
**
When Dean's cellphone went off, he frowned. It was just after midnight here in Colorado, after two in Virginia. This couldn't be good news. He exchanged a glance with Sam and Jess and then flipped the phone open. “Hello?”
“Daddy?” A sweet, tired voice said. “Daddy, is that you?”
Dean nearly dropped the phone. “Sara?”
“Papa and I are home! Are you coming home?”
“Sara?” He knew his hands were shaking as he looked over at Sam and Jess, both of whom looked as stunned as he was. “What - how -” a moment later, a different voice answered him.
“Dean?”
“Gabe?” He tried to keep his voice calm, but it wasn't easy. In the past thirty seconds, he'd just heard the two voices he wanted to hear more than anything. All he could do was pray this wasn't some kind of dream. He couldn't stand it if this was a dream. “What's going on?”
“There isn't enough time to explain. I'm just going to tell you that Sara's safe. Now all three of you are together, right?”
“Yeah, what does that have to do with...”
Gabriel cut him off. “Someone is going to come by and pick up Jessica. Don't worry, he's a friend. Once she's safe here with Sara, the four of us are going to be having a little chat with my brother.”
“Uh, Dean...” Sam's voice drew him from the conversation. “There's uh...”
A moment later, a second Gabriel - wearing a khaki colored jacket was standing next to their table. “Oh now here's a happy party.”
“Gabe?”
“I'll explain everything in a few minutes. Don't worry. This will all be over soon.” He hung up.
Dean closed his phone and looked up at the Gabriel next to his table and said the first thing that came to mind. “That's funny, I thought our waitress had blond hair.”
Gabriel blinked and smiled. “Aw, if only you were that sweet where I come from.” He sat down next to Dean, glancing at each of them in turn. “I know we're on a tight schedule here, but...” He paused and looked at each of the brothers, his rather jovial look slowly fading. “Now I get it. Now I get what Sara meant.” He sighed. “Have you guys finished eating? We're going to have to get moving here in a few minutes.”
“I'm good.” Dean pushed his half-eaten eggs away. “Sammy?”
Sam glanced at his own plate, the only thing left was a slice of toast. “Yeah. I'm done.”
Jessica looked down at her own plate, which was empty - she'd been hungrier than she thought. “Me too.”
“Let's go.” Gabriel dropped a twenty and a ten on the table and slid out of the booth, the two Winchesters and Jess right behind him. They exited the restaurant and headed for the Impala.
“I don't suppose you could tell us what you're doing here.” Dean broke the silence. “You look like Gabriel but - “
“I am Gabriel.” He turned and faced the three of them. “I'm just not the Gabriel that belongs here. When the Castiel in this world kidnapped Sara, I'm the one he dumped her next to. I'm guessing those were Michael's orders. I'm from the reality that was running parallel to this one. It still is, there's just one thing that was different - it's complicated.”
“So she knew who you were and all that?” Sam quickly put in.
“Yeah. Now if it was Mike's intent to also take Sara five years into the future as well, I have no idea. I just know that he's apparently a much of a dick in this world as he is in mine.” He snorted. “Of course, he's a lot closer to his goal where I come from as well and as soon as I'm done here, I've got plans on canceling his party, but that's nothing you need to be worried about.”
“What are we going to be doing anyway?”
“First, I'll be taking Miss Moore here to Virginia - since the house is currently a no-fly without an invite zone.” He held up his hand before Sam could say anything. “This isn't about her, it's about you and your brother.”
“Sam, it's fine.” Jess swallowed hard. “I - it's going to be okay, isn't it?”
“Don't worry.” Gabriel glanced at Dean, who was looking rather pale. “You're not going to pass out on me, are you?”
“No. Lot of stuff, short amount of time...”
“I gotcha.” He looked around the parking lot and came over to Jess. “I'll be right back.”
“Wait!” Sam said, a second too late and found himself facing an empty space. “What the hell was that?”
The movement seemed to shake Dean back into awareness. “They just flew to Virginia, Sam. That's all.”
“How can you be so calm about...” A fluttering noise cut him off and they found two Gabriels standing where only one had been a moment ago. “Dean - this is seriously fucked up.”
The Gabriel in the blue jacket came over and embraced Dean, his lips lingering on the man's for a moment before speaking. “She's okay.” He turned to Sam. “They both are.”
“Let's go.” Other-Gabriel said. “Mike's bound to notice something's up pretty quick.”
All four of them got into the Impala.
“Where to?” Dean asked.
“Highway - go east to the next exit, get off, turn left and drive for eight miles.” Other-Gabriel said. “More instructions when we get there.”
“Got it.” Dean replied and turned the engine over. As much as he hated just going along with all these orders and that every part of him wanted an explanation, he knew that time wasn't exactly a luxury they had at right now. If there was a way to end all this - then it was best to just follow orders. But as Sara would say - he didn't have to like it.
**
Jess pulled the blanket more around her shoulders as she and Sara sat on the floor of the basement, the little girl leaning against her. “Are you sleepy?”
“Not sleepy.” Sara rubbed her eyes. “I want Daddy and Papa.”
She gave the girl a hug. “I know. I wouldn't mind seeing my daddy right now either.” She took deep breath. They were told to stay in the basement by Gabriel - the one whom she recognized as the one who'd visited the apartment in California. Although she had a feeling that was more for the sake of feeling safe rather than actual necessity. “Sam would be nice too.”
Sara got up from her seat on the floor and went over to a basket of blocks, pulling it closer to where Jess was sitting on the floor. She grunted under the weight a little, going back to pick up the blocks that had fallen out from the basket when she moved it. “I don't wanna sleep.”
“You don't have to.” She watched as the girl got out several arched wooden blocks and started to make a building. “May I play blocks too?” Jess didn't know why she said it, other than the fact she needed something to distract herself.
“Uh huh.” Sara held out a block. “We can build a city.”
“Do we have enough for that?” Jess took the block and got a second one from the basket.
“Not a big-big city.” She frowned, putting a triangular block on an arched one. “But a big city.”
“Well, that sounds like fun.” She set her blanket down and picked up another block. “I'm not really sleepy myself.”
Sara nodded and put some tall pillar blocks on top of her arched ones. “I took two naps while I was gone.”
“I'm glad you're back.” Jess smiled. “Was it scary where you went?”
“Not scary...” She pulled at her bottom lip - a gesture Jess recognized as the same one that Sam did whenever he was thinking hard. “Everyone there was sad.”
“I'm sorry to hear that.” She took a deep breath and went back to work.
“You have a sparkly ring!” Sara interjected brightly, all hint of sleepiness gone from her voice. “Where did you get it?”
Jess looked up, rather surprised and then told herself she shouldn't be. Sara was a girl - of course she was going to notice something like a ring - particularly one that sparkled. Dean hadn't noticed it - then again, Dean had had a lot more on his mind than what she was wearing. “Your uncle Sammy gave me this ring.” She held her hand out so the girl could get a better look at it.
“It's pretty.” She stood up and held onto her hand as she studied it. “Was it for your birthday?”
“No.” Jess pulled the girl into a sit, smiling at the ring. “Your uncle Sammy asked if I would marry him. I said yes.”
Sara looked up at him, a smile spreading across her face. “So you'll awful.. office...er... really be my aunt Jess?”
She laughed at the girl's remark and hugged her. “You bet.” She grinned. “In fact, he and I are going to need a flower girl for the wedding.”
“I've never been to a wedding.” Sara pursed her lips. “I don't think I have...”
Jess grinned and hugged her again. “Never? But you know what one is, right?”
“Uh huh.” She leaned against her, yawning suddenly. “What does a flower girl do? Do I get to wear a dress-up dress?”
“Do you like to dress up?” Jess had the feeling that Sara was a bit more girly-girl than she first thought. Being raised by two men, she assumed the girl was a bit of a tomboy.
“Sometimes.” She rubbed her nose. “Tights are awfully itchy.”
“Well, don't worry.” She hugged the girl again. “I wouldn't make you wear something itchy.” She smoothed down the girl's hair. The idea of this all working out - of things actually being normal again, or as normal as possible - and planning a wedding seemed to be a dream. Well, there was no harm in dreaming, was there? “We'll find something.” She closed her eyes “It'll be a lot of fun, you'll see.”
“Are Daddy and Papa going to dress up too?”
“Most likely.” Jess blushed at the thought of seeing Sam in a tuxedo. Oh, did she love that man - and not just because he had to be the single most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. “We'll go dress shopping together.” She smiled, picturing her mother, sister and this little girl all sitting on a couch in some bridal shop somewhere, trying on dress after dress - and then, when she found one, Sara and her sister could have a turn doing the same thing. Afterwords, they'd have lunch, or something... it would be a fun time for all four of them.
Her parents loved Sam. She just hoped they liked the rest of his family as much as she did.
**
The barn was half-hidden by trees and brush. Sam, Dean and both Gabriels got out of the Impala, with other-Gabriel leading the way to the structure. It was far enough from the road and from any town that hopefully no one would bother them. A light shone from inside the barn and when they came in, Sam and Dean were shocked to find to what had to be the Sam and Dean from other-Gabriel's world, going over something.
“Well, this just got more insane.” Dean said under his breath.
“No kidding.” Sam replied as the other Winchesters looked up at them.
“Shit, I look young.” Other-Dean shook his head. “Then again, you look like a baby, Sammy.”
“Shut up, Dean.” Other-Sam said.
Sam frowned as he looked at his twin. He wasn't sure how many years were between him and the man across the room, but if he were going to take a guess, it couldn't be more than five. “I don't think I want to know what happened.”
“Makes two of us.” Dean replied. He too, was seriously wondering what had happened to his counterpart - if he were going to judge by the eyes alone, he'd say the age difference was sixty years.
“You get everything set up?” Other-Gabriel walked over to the pair.
“Think so.” Other-Sam looked over at the trio on the other side of the barn. “Remind me again why we're doing this.”
“So someone can live happily ever after. Plus, when we get back home, I'm going on a Horseman Hunt for you so we can also have as happy of an ending as possible.” Other-Gabriel shook his head. “I've already got plans for bitch-slapping Zachariah around for a few decades.”
Other-Dean snorted. “Can we watch for a few hours?”
“Dean!” Other-Sam snapped.
“What?”
Other-Gabriel chuckled. “We'll see big boy.”
Dean ran a hand through his hair and turned to Gabriel. “What exactly are we doing here?”
“Ruining Michael's century.” The angel set a hand on Dean's shoulder and glanced over at the other trio. “And to make sure you and your brother don't end up like them.”
“How are we going to do that?” Sam put in quickly.
Gabriel was about to answer when the doors of the barn blew open and all six occupants turned to see Michael - still wearing the visage of John Winchester, step into view. “Shit, for once, he's early.”
Michael came into the barn and regarded the trio on the far side of the barn with disdain. “You don't belong here.” He snapped his fingers and, to his great surprise, while the other-Winchesters vanished, the other-Gabriel didn't. “Go home.”
Other-Gabriel snorted. “No. You have one of your lackeys drop off a three year old in my toy-box I get to be involved.”
“Gabriel.”
“What?” They both said at the same time.
“You.” Michael turned to his brother in this world. “I told you that no harm would come to you or your child. You should have stayed where you were.”
“Right, because dumping a child into the middle of an Apocalypse is a safe thing to do.” Other-Gabriel interjected. He leaned casually against the table he was standing next to. “You know, there's better ways of getting your daddy's attention.”
“You know nothing of what's happened here.” Michael spat.
“He knows enough.” Gabriel left the Winchesters to go and stand next to his match. “I also know that you've got to be insane if you think the brothers will just accept their destined roles. Of course, given the fact I changed destiny, you'll just have to wait another couple of centuries.”
“Are you defying...” Michael took a step forward and instantly regretted it. In the next second, the ring of holy oil he'd unknowingly entered ignited, trapping him in the flames. “You fool.”
Sam and Dean came over to stand with the two archangels. Dean glared at Michael, reminding himself that Dad was trapped in that body too. “Going to be kind of hard to cause a major earthquake when you're stuck in there.”
“So it won't be tomorrow.” Michael's eyes narrowed. “It can be next week - this fire can't last forever.” He looked the four of them over. “And you seem to have forgotten that Raphael is just as capable as causing chaos as I am.”
Other-Gabriel snickered. “Yeah, so sure our brother is going to take off and leave Daphne in charge of his Legion while he's gone.”
“Daphne is quite capable of following orders.” Michael said, nonplussed.
“Yes,” Gabriel stated, “but she's also a great lover of humanity. Did you drop Zachariah on his head a few times to turn him into such a dick?”
“Let me out of here, Gabriel. Now.”
“No.” He lifted his chin, glancing at the Winchesters, who seemed to be more or less struck dumb by this whole situation. Not that he could blame them. “Too much has changed for the plan to carry on as originally conceived.”
“That's your fault.” Michael's voice was accusatory and he saw the Winchesters flinch - apparently they'd heard that tone plenty of times from their father.
“Free Will is a fickle bitch.” Other-Gabriel shook his head. “But it seems to me that if things weren't supposed to be this way, wouldn't something have put the plan back on schedule already?”
Dean cleared his throat. “He's right, you know.”
“And if you weren't such a man slut, things would be as they should.” Michael snarled.
Gabriel nearly lunged across the barn at those words, finding his arms held by other-Gabriel. “Don't call him that - don't ever call him that!” Shingles flew off the roof of the barn at his words and they could hear them exploding into splinters as they did.
“It's okay.” Dean put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder, calming the angel.
“I don't get it.” Sam folded his arms, the intimidation he thought he should feel slowly fading. “You could have stopped this years ago, but you didn't.”
“I couldn't stop it because Gabriel hid your brother.” Michael glanced at Dean. “I didn't know where he was until John Winchester knew where he was.”
“You bastard.” Other-Gabriel growled. “And here I thought my brother was a dick.”
“You mean he's nicer where you live?” Dean snorted. “Forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”
“I have told you to go home.” Michael's eyes narrowed, glinting dangerously. “Now.”
“And I'm telling you to grow up.” Gabriel spat.
“Excuse me?”
“Grow up.” Gabriel took a step forward. “The Apocalypse is not happening this decade or even this century. Flawed and fucked up as mankind is, this is the world that Father gave them. There's plenty of good in them - but all you see is the blemish. It's time to grow the fuck up and step back. Or I'll make you step back.”
“You.” Michael snorted. “You couldn't fight me, even with your wings fully healed.”
“Maybe not...” Gabriel lifted his chin. “But I do know that you can't defeat two of me.”
The two Gabriels flexed their arms and two almost identical silver blades fell into their hands, both of them clutching the hilts tightly.
“If you think you can threaten me into giving up my orders...”
“And what orders would those be, Michael?” A fifth voice spoke from behind them and all of them looked to the entrance of the barn. Standing there was a young man, perhaps around Sam's age, with shaggy brown hair, dressed in a pair of jeans, flannel shirt, and combat boots. “I seem to recall there just being one order... which you don't seem to be following.”
Other-Gabriel blinked in surprise. “Well, there's another difference from where I'm from too...”
The man came over and gave other-Gabriel a pat on the cheek. “You run along home now. The Winchesters in your reality are waiting for you.” He smiled. “Have fun storming the castle.”
“I'll try.” Other-Gabriel gave one last glance at Michael before turning his gaze to the Winchesters. “I left something on the kitchen table. It should prove to be useful.” A moment later, he was gone.
The man stepped away from the Winchesters and Gabriel and came to stand on Michael's left, his hands clasped behind his back, standing at military rest. “Michael, what are you orders?”
“To obey the Will, father.”
Sam and Dean exchanged glances - they were stuck dumb with the fact that God had just entered the picture.
“And what is the Will... Gabriel?”
“To love mankind more than you, father.” Gabriel's tone reminded Dean of Sara reciting the alphabet for a stranger who just told her she was cute.
“Very good.” He looked from one angel to the other. “And what do you think of mankind, Gabriel?”
The angel thought for a moment before answering. “Perfect in their imperfections.”
Michael snorted. “They're flawed.”
“So are we.” Gabriel snapped. “It's hard to love something when you have almost no feelings.”
“Stop it.” The man said sharply, and both angels fell silent. “Michael, you are to put John Winchester back where you found him, in the condition you found him in. You are then to return home, tell the legions to stand down - and then you are going to go to your room and stay there until I return,or tell you that you can come out.”
Dean barely hid his snort and Sam slapped him on the arm.
“This is serious.”
“Dude, the archangel just got told to go to his room. I think that's funny.”
“It is kind of funny.” Gabriel said under his breath.
“As for you....” The man walked over to Gabriel and set a hand on his shoulder. “You need to get back to where you belong. I don't think I need to tell you where that is.”
“Th... thank you, father.” He was suddenly aware that his wings, though hidden, no longer hurt - they were healed.
“Off you go then.” The man gestured for the door. “You too, Dean - Sam.”
The brothers didn't need to be told twice. As soon as all three of them crossed the threshold of the barn, the doors slammed shut.
**
Sam woke up to the smell of strong coffee and something baking. He sat up in bed, rubbing the back of his neck. He was in the guest room of Dean and Gabriel's house in Virginia. He and Jess would be going back to California this afternoon. He'd be back in Palo Alto with plenty of time for his interview next week - and, he reflected - as soon as they could plan it, he and Jess were going to get married. He tossed back the covers of the bed and stood up. The clock on the dresser told him it was just after one in the afternoon. Given what had been going on, it was no wonder he'd slept so long. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers and opened the door.
Dean had neglected to mention the size of the house he was living in.
Sam passed the bathroom, keeping quiet in case anyone else was still sleeping. As he passed the second bedroom on his side of the stairs, he glanced into it through the slightly ajar door. And breath left him.
Gabriel was sitting on the floor, wings out and around his brother, who was snoring softly. All Sam could see of his brother were his sock covered feet sticking out from under the wing closest to him. He couldn't even see Sara, but given that this was the girl's room, she had to be in that embrace somewhere. He snapped back to attention when he became aware that the angel was staring at him. Rather than speaking, Sam grasped the doorknob and shut the door the rest of the way.
“Sam.” Jess's soft voice called up the stairs.
He turned and came down into the hallway, giving the woman a tight hug. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Coffee's ready.”
“Sounds good.” The two of them went into the kitchen.
**
John Winchester woke up gasping for breath. He was back in that shoddy motel room in Montana, at least, he guessed he was. He sat up, looking around the room. Papers and personal belongings were strewn everywhere as if a hurricane had blown through. He wasn't ready to stand up, not yet. The past few days were hard to recall. Being hauled around by an archangel was indescribable. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to put things together. He could remember Michael saying he would kill Azazel if he said yes. He remembered saying yes. He had a flash of two different barns and a kitchen - but nothing else.
His boys. He had to check on his boys.
John grabbed his cell and hit number four on his contacts. The phone rang twice before it was answered - and it wasn't Dean.
“John.” Gabriel's voice was quiet.
“I need to talk to Dean.” John let out a few sharp breaths. He could remember Michael saying something about his eldest and his granddaughter.
“He's asleep.” The archangel said in that same non-nonsense tone he'd used when they first met. “He and Sara are both fine, they're just sleeping.”
“Would you have him call me?” John was surprised at his own tone. He'd rarely been so - so docile when it came to getting things he wanted.
“Sure. Are you okay?”
“Confused.” Was John's honest reply.
“Take a hot shower, have a good meal since I know you haven't eaten in several days - and Dean should be awake by then. Sam's downstairs - he's fine too.”
John blinked. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome.” And the line cut off.
He set his cell down and stood up. A shower did sound like a good idea. His stomach growled a moment later, telling him that the second suggestion was an even better one.
Chapter 7
Author: darth_firefly
Artist: chosenfire28
Genre/Paring: AU, Dean/Gabriel, Sam/Jess, mentions of Sam/Castiel
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:56,463
Warnings/Spoilers: Mpreg, mild language, mild violence. slight gore - spoilers - no spoilers as long as you've seen SPN up to and including Season 5.
Summary: What if everything depended on a single, simple choice? Right after Sam left for Stanford and John took off for hunts unknown, Dean met up with a man in the middle of the afternoon over lunch - and they elected to spend the rest of the day (and night) together. Should have been a simple one night stand for Dean and Gabriel - except Gabriel forgot one thing in the heat of the moment - there are times when angels can impregnate a human, regardless of their gender. When he realized the possibility - he went to find Dean. When he found him, Gabriel decided that the best thing to do for everyone is to stop the whole Apocalypse cold. Unfortunately, he didn't count on Michael having an issue with his little brother playing house with his true vessel and their half-angelic daughter, Sara.
Sara knew better than to ask why everyone was so grumpy here. Adults did weird things and acted weird too - so it must be something that happened before she got here that was making them act the way they were. Gabriel - the man who looked just like Papa and had the same name - kept asking her lots of questions, most of which she couldn't answer. Well, she could - but not to the degree he seemed to need. The Sam here had come back into the room and the mean angel had gone to talk to the guy who looked like Daddy, leaving her with the other two, and Mr. Bobby. She rubbed her nose,watching Mr. Bobby type on his computer.
“So you're saying you don't know the name of the town you live in?” Sam leaned against the desk.
“No.” She bit her lip. “I'm sorry.”
“It's okay.” Gabriel frowned. “Is there anything out of the ordinary in your town?”
“What's out of the ordinary mean?” She blew her nose.
“He means does your town have something other places don't.” Bobby offered.
“Like that city with the big arch?” She bit her lip, thinking. “Saint... Saint something....”
“St. Louis.” Gabriel finished for her. “Yeah - different like that.”
She tucked her knees under her chin, her face scrunched up in concentration. “There's a hill with a big stone on top of it - and a river, but it's not as big as the one in St. Louis.”
“That's good.” Sam glanced at Bobby who shrugged. “How long did it take you to get to your Uncle Sammy's house from where you live, Sara?”
“Four days... I remember that, cause I only went to bed three times.” She nodded solemnly. “And in my town there's a really, really big field where a bunch of men in funny outfits camped this summer.”
Bobby cleared his throat. “If you heard the name of the town, would you know it?”
She shrugged in response. “I dunno.”
Sam glanced at Gabriel before talking to Sara. “Do you live in Gettysburg?”
She shook her head. “No, that's not it.”
“Chancellorsville?” Bobby offered.
“Uh uh.” She rubbed her nose. “I... I think it does end in burg - that, that sounds right.”
“Vicksburg?” Gabriel said and then paused. “Wait, that's not a four day drive to Palo Alto...”
“If they came up here it is.” Sam frowned. “Is it Fredricksburg?”
Sara lifted her chin and blinked, thinking for a moment and then nodded. “Uh huh, that's it!”
“How exactly is knowing where Sara here lives going to help us get her back where she belongs?” Bobby interjected.
“Because I'm thinking that the reality she lives in isn't that far removed from this one.” Gabriel leaned against desk, his arms folded. “We already know that the break had to have happened around June 2001 - and figuring out where Miss Sara lives is a part of finding when exactly in June it was.”
Sam shook his head in disbelief. “It's hard to believe that one little thing could make something so - so different happen.”
“No argument there.” Bobby stood up and walked into the kitchen to refill his coffee mug.
“Whatever it was, it had to be right after you left for college.” Gabriel crossed the room and sat down next to Sara. “You're looking tired, Sara-Bug.”
“I think it's almost...” She covered a yawn. “Nap time. But we haven't had lunch yet...”
“Yeah.” He ruffled her hair. “Forgot how much little kids sleep. We'll have something to eat here in a little bit.” He turned to Sam. “Dean ever tell you what happened after you left for college?”
Sam leaned against a table as Bobby came back into the room. “He said Dad took off shortly after I did - and that he laid around in that abandoned house for around four days before leaving. He spent the summer hunting and finally met up with Dad at Pastor Jim's Labor Day weekend.”
“Do you remember what day you left for California?”
“June third.” Sam said. “Dean and Cas still outside?”
“Yeah. I think your brother is still a little shaken.” Bobby said as he set his mug down and then walked slowly to the stairs and back.
“Can you blame him?” Sam shook his head. “I'm still shaken.” He didn't say anything to the old hunter about pacing. The man had been wheelchair bound for several months - if he wanted to walk all the way in to town and back, Sam wouldn't say a thing.
Bobby came over to the couch. “Come on kid, how about you and me get some lunch?”
“Okay.” Sara stood up and followed the man into the kitchen. If this Mr. Bobby cooked as well as her Uncle Bobby - lunch should be pretty good. Even if it was just peanut-butter and jelly.
**
Dean kept his focus on the road, the traffic that seemed to be nothing but tractor trailers and the light snow that was falling. They were now in the thirty-sixth hour of their given forty-eight, and he really wished that Michael would get the memo that he and Sam were back on the hunting track and bring Gabriel and Sara back from wherever he'd stashed them. The bastard owed him a good-bye to the pair. Though he didn't know how the hell he was supposed to let go of his little girl. He knew that Gabriel would keep her safe, raise her well - fend of anything that dared hurt her and -
Dean cursed as he realized how fast he was going and slowed the Impala down before they passed a state trooper. Getting a speeding ticket wasn't going to help matters at all. He saw the 'Now Leaving Utah' sign out the front window as Jessica coughed from the backseat. Sam was asleep in the front. A moment later, the 'Welcome to Colorado' sign flashed past. He let out a sigh and after glancing in the rear-view mirror at the empty booster seat he hadn't removed, his thoughts went right back to Sara. If he eve got his hands on the angel that took her - he'd find someway to hurt the guy. He knew it was next to impossible to kill an angel - Gabriel had told him as much. Then again, Gabriel had probably already found said angel and had kicked his ass from here to the next century.
There were twelve more hours to go before Michael returned - and they'd be in the middle of Kansas, if the weather held - still in Colorado if it didn't. He wondered if all the roads led back to Kansas, the place where all this started, twenty-two years ago. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, not at all. He, Sara and Gabe were supposed to be sleeping in Palo Alto, getting ready to leave tomorrow morning for home. Instead he was heading back to Virginia with his brother and his brother's girlfriend. He guessed Gabriel was imprisoned in Heaven and who knew where Sara was.
Sam suddenly jerked awake, cursing when his foot hit the floorboard of the Impala.
“You okay, little brother?” Dean shot a look over at him.
“That was...” He took a few deep breaths and looked out the windows. “Where are we?”
“Colorado.” Dean replied. “Bad dream?”
“Weird dream.” Sam rubbed his eyes. “I mean, seriously weird.”
“Weird for us or regular weird with pink elephants?” Dean was welcome to any distraction from thinking about Sara, even if it was his little brother dreaming of marching elephants or something equally stupid.
“I don't know...” He took a few deep breaths and then picked up the bottle of water from near his feet and took a few swallows. “I - this was...”
“Talk to me, Sam.” Dean tried to keep his voice even. “What's wrong?”
“I - I've been having dreams lately... and sometimes they come true.” Sam felt like a total ass for saying it - he'd had a dream about a man in a trench-coat standing in the apartment - and he'd woken up before he saw what he was going to do.
“Do they always come true?” Dean didn't like the sound of this conversation. Gabe had told him that it was possible for his brother to develop psychic abilities due to the incident that killed their mom, but to actually hear it had happened? Freaky.
“No.” Sam looked over his shoulder at the sleeping Jessica. “I had a dream that Jess was going to die... like mom did... and then... then the dream just stopped coming. Usually they happen over and over until they do happen. Two nights ago, I didn't dream that... I dreamed something else.”
Dean took a deep breath. He had a feeling he knew what Sam had been dreamed instead. “What about just now?”
“I was standing in this room - a house with a bunch of books in it.” Sam took another swallow of water. “And it wasn't like I was a part of the room - it was like I was watching what was happening.”
“Okay....” Dean wasn't sure what had freaked his brother out.
“Well, Sara was asleep on the couch in the room and Uncle Bobby was there...”
“Bobby Singer?” He interjected.
“Yeah. He was writing something on a sheet of paper... and when I went to the door that led into the kitchen, there we were... you and me... but we didn't look right.”
“Look right how?”
“Just... just wrong.” It was becoming clearer now that he was going over the details in his mind. “Maybe we were older, but not by much.” He took another gulp of water. “They were writing something down too - and at one point, me, or I guess, Sam, raised his head, turned to you and said, should we include the hunt at Springfield State?”
“They were writing down hunts?” Dean asked. “What the hell...”
“I know, I told you it was weird.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Then I went back into the other room - and Sara was awake... this is going to sound bad, but - does she like to do puzzles?”
Dean chuckled faintly. “Sara loves puzzles - was she doing one?”
“Yeah... but uh...”
“But what?”
“Well, she couldn't do a thousand piece one, could she?”
Dean repressed a snort. “No, thirty-six is about as big as she can do.”
“Well, for some reason, there she was, doing a thousand piece puzzle on a coffee table.” Sam sighed. “Sorry.” He could see his brother's pained expression.
“It's okay.” He pulled the Impala into the passing lane so they could drive past a Fed-Ex truck. “How did you know it was a thousand pieces?”
“I saw the box.” Sam said and paused. “I didn't see the picture though... it was just a dark image.”
Dean shook his head. “Maybe this one was just a dream.”
“Maybe.” Sam took another sip of water. “I - I'll try not to bring that up again.”
“What, the dream thing?”
“No, Sara.” Sam couldn't imagine how his brother felt.
“It's okay.” Dean knew that his voice sounded pained. “I - I know she's safe.”
Sam twisted the cap back onto the bottle tightly and set it down. “You think?”
“I know.” He gave his brother a rather weak smile. “I'm thinking she and Gabe are in the same place right now. As long as she's with him, she's safe.”
“She's a smart kid.”
“Yeah.” Dean's smile strengthened. “That's what her teachers tell me all the time.”
“She goes to school?” Sam was surprised.
“Preschool, yeah. Five days a week - just in the morning.” He chuckled. “I know for a fact she's the only kid in her class that's potty trained. Gabe and I have told her to keep a lot of it to herself. It might scare her teachers a little if she showed off too much.”
“Is that the half-angel thing?”
“Uh huh. She'll get words mixed up like any kid - but she's a pretty good conversationalist.” He took a deep breath. “She's a great kid.”
“Yeah.” Sam glanced at his brother out of the corner of his eye and saw the pained expression was back. “You want to talk about something else?”
“No, this is good.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Sara can read a little - few words she sees everyday and such.”
“Wow.” Sam checked Jess in the backseat before turning back to Dean. “You think Dad's okay?”
“I don't know.” Was his honest reply. “I hope so.” He checked his watch. “It's nearly midnight. There's a truck stop about fifteen minutes up the road from here with an all night diner. You want to get something to eat?”
Sam recognized his brother's famous 'change the subject' tactic at once. Rather than argue, he nodded. “I could eat.” He glanced back at Jess again. “I'd like to let her sleep a few more minutes, if that's okay.”
“That's fine Sammy.” Dean gave his brother the best smile he could muster. At midnight - they'd have eleven hours until they saw Michael again.
**
Despite the broken wings, Gabriel laid on the floor of his prison, the marble was cool and comforting. He just needed a rest and then he could get away from here. Now that he was unchained, getting past the wards were nothing. He would have little trouble overpowering a guard - as long as there was just one of them and it wasn't Raphael. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and reached out with his Grace. He just needed to check on his family.
Dean he found quickly - he was in the Impala, heading east. He was at a truck-stop somewhere in Colorado. It was late at night and Gabriel knew that the man was eating only out of habit. Dean would never eat scrambled eggs on purpose. Dean liked his eggs sunny side up or in an omelet. Sam was most likely making him eat. Gabriel was glad that someone was taking care of him. But what were they doing in Colorado? Why had they left Palo Alto? What had Michael said to the Winchesters that would make them leave the apartment and head - wherever they were going.
Gabriel took a deep breath and reached out again. He knew that Sara had to be somewhere. He frowned when he felt the disturbance in Sam's apartment, despite the passage of time. The angel who had taken Sara hadn't just taken her to some place on Earth, the angel had taken her to another reality. It wasn't far, just another step over, but in his condition? It wasn't going to be easy.
The sound of the door opening caused him to sit back up. “It's you.”
Castiel merely blinked at him. “Gabriel.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Orders.” Castiel stood placidly just outside the wards, watching him.
Gabriel snorted, “Well, I've always said that of all the angels in Michael's Legion, you could give the rest of us lessons in being heartless douchebags.” He smoothed his hair down, studying the lesser angel. “Castiel, right?”
“Yes.” The angel stood, ramrod stiff just outside the wards, his gaze more focused on the wall behind Gabriel, rather than the archangel himself. “You won't have to stay here much longer.”
“Oh, you're letting me go then?”
“We will be releasing you in several hours. I do not know exactly when.”
Gabriel smirked. “I will be kicking your ass into the middle of the next century, you know that don't you?”
“I have followed my orders. You have defied them.” Castiel's voice sounded cold.
“Bullshit.” Gabriel rose to his feet. “You have no idea what I have done.”
“And what is that?”
“Followed Father's orders - loving humanity.”
“Dean Winchester is one man among many. You can...”
“Silence!” Gabriel put much authority into his voice as he could. “Michael wants the fighting to end. If he takes on Lucifer, millions - no, billions of humans will die.”
“Mankind is not -”
“You know nothing of mankind, Castiel. You have not been on earth in two thousand years.”
“Why must you rebel?” The lesser angel's voice was so cold, it actually scared Gabriel.
“Father said to love humanity, not crush it.”
“You misunderstand me, Gabriel. I want to help mankind.”
“You have a funny way of showing it!” Gabriel knew that talking reason to an angel who knew nothing of mankind could never hope to understand what Gabriel did of man. Flawed, yes - mankind was flawed. But they were so full of potential, it was unfathomable. He was about to issue a retort to at least get Castiel to leave him alone - he knew that the lesser angel was only there to keep him inside the wards - when a squeaking sound drew his attention. He wasn't the only one. As they both watched, a blue plastic Volkswagen Bug with white daisies on it - Gabriel recognized the toy as one Sara had - scurried across the floor and made contact with Castiel's foot.
Castiel leaned down and picked the toy up, turning it over in his hands. “How curious.”
There was a second sound - a meaty thunk as something hit the angel on the back of head and he fell to the floor, unconscious.
“I told you he'd fall for it!”
Gabriel blinked in surprise. A second him, another Gabriel, not merely a copy, was standing across the room. It was him - but not him - and as for his companion...
“Papa!” Sara shouted and closed the distance between them, throwing her arms around his neck. “I missed you Papa!”
Gabriel wrapped his arms around his daughter, pressing his face into her hair. “I missed you too, Bug.”
The other Gabriel came over to the pair and helped him stand up. “Lovely and touching as this family reunion is, I think we best get out of here before Castiel wakes up.”
Gabriel nodded, not wanting to put his daughter down. Just having her back - and with him - made the pain in his wings seem to vanish. “Agreed.”
“You know where we're going?”
“Virginia.” He found it odd to be talking to himself - an actual other Gabriel - something that had never happened in his very, very long existence. “You had a plan for getting in here, I hope you had one for getting out.”
Other-Gabriel gave him a look. “Now there's a stupid question.”
“Where's Daddy?” Sara interjected, hugging her papa tighter, looking from one to the other. “I wanna see Daddy.”
“We're going to see him soon.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “He's on his way. “Let's go home.”
**
When Dean's cellphone went off, he frowned. It was just after midnight here in Colorado, after two in Virginia. This couldn't be good news. He exchanged a glance with Sam and Jess and then flipped the phone open. “Hello?”
“Daddy?” A sweet, tired voice said. “Daddy, is that you?”
Dean nearly dropped the phone. “Sara?”
“Papa and I are home! Are you coming home?”
“Sara?” He knew his hands were shaking as he looked over at Sam and Jess, both of whom looked as stunned as he was. “What - how -” a moment later, a different voice answered him.
“Dean?”
“Gabe?” He tried to keep his voice calm, but it wasn't easy. In the past thirty seconds, he'd just heard the two voices he wanted to hear more than anything. All he could do was pray this wasn't some kind of dream. He couldn't stand it if this was a dream. “What's going on?”
“There isn't enough time to explain. I'm just going to tell you that Sara's safe. Now all three of you are together, right?”
“Yeah, what does that have to do with...”
Gabriel cut him off. “Someone is going to come by and pick up Jessica. Don't worry, he's a friend. Once she's safe here with Sara, the four of us are going to be having a little chat with my brother.”
“Uh, Dean...” Sam's voice drew him from the conversation. “There's uh...”
A moment later, a second Gabriel - wearing a khaki colored jacket was standing next to their table. “Oh now here's a happy party.”
“Gabe?”
“I'll explain everything in a few minutes. Don't worry. This will all be over soon.” He hung up.
Dean closed his phone and looked up at the Gabriel next to his table and said the first thing that came to mind. “That's funny, I thought our waitress had blond hair.”
Gabriel blinked and smiled. “Aw, if only you were that sweet where I come from.” He sat down next to Dean, glancing at each of them in turn. “I know we're on a tight schedule here, but...” He paused and looked at each of the brothers, his rather jovial look slowly fading. “Now I get it. Now I get what Sara meant.” He sighed. “Have you guys finished eating? We're going to have to get moving here in a few minutes.”
“I'm good.” Dean pushed his half-eaten eggs away. “Sammy?”
Sam glanced at his own plate, the only thing left was a slice of toast. “Yeah. I'm done.”
Jessica looked down at her own plate, which was empty - she'd been hungrier than she thought. “Me too.”
“Let's go.” Gabriel dropped a twenty and a ten on the table and slid out of the booth, the two Winchesters and Jess right behind him. They exited the restaurant and headed for the Impala.
“I don't suppose you could tell us what you're doing here.” Dean broke the silence. “You look like Gabriel but - “
“I am Gabriel.” He turned and faced the three of them. “I'm just not the Gabriel that belongs here. When the Castiel in this world kidnapped Sara, I'm the one he dumped her next to. I'm guessing those were Michael's orders. I'm from the reality that was running parallel to this one. It still is, there's just one thing that was different - it's complicated.”
“So she knew who you were and all that?” Sam quickly put in.
“Yeah. Now if it was Mike's intent to also take Sara five years into the future as well, I have no idea. I just know that he's apparently a much of a dick in this world as he is in mine.” He snorted. “Of course, he's a lot closer to his goal where I come from as well and as soon as I'm done here, I've got plans on canceling his party, but that's nothing you need to be worried about.”
“What are we going to be doing anyway?”
“First, I'll be taking Miss Moore here to Virginia - since the house is currently a no-fly without an invite zone.” He held up his hand before Sam could say anything. “This isn't about her, it's about you and your brother.”
“Sam, it's fine.” Jess swallowed hard. “I - it's going to be okay, isn't it?”
“Don't worry.” Gabriel glanced at Dean, who was looking rather pale. “You're not going to pass out on me, are you?”
“No. Lot of stuff, short amount of time...”
“I gotcha.” He looked around the parking lot and came over to Jess. “I'll be right back.”
“Wait!” Sam said, a second too late and found himself facing an empty space. “What the hell was that?”
The movement seemed to shake Dean back into awareness. “They just flew to Virginia, Sam. That's all.”
“How can you be so calm about...” A fluttering noise cut him off and they found two Gabriels standing where only one had been a moment ago. “Dean - this is seriously fucked up.”
The Gabriel in the blue jacket came over and embraced Dean, his lips lingering on the man's for a moment before speaking. “She's okay.” He turned to Sam. “They both are.”
“Let's go.” Other-Gabriel said. “Mike's bound to notice something's up pretty quick.”
All four of them got into the Impala.
“Where to?” Dean asked.
“Highway - go east to the next exit, get off, turn left and drive for eight miles.” Other-Gabriel said. “More instructions when we get there.”
“Got it.” Dean replied and turned the engine over. As much as he hated just going along with all these orders and that every part of him wanted an explanation, he knew that time wasn't exactly a luxury they had at right now. If there was a way to end all this - then it was best to just follow orders. But as Sara would say - he didn't have to like it.
**
Jess pulled the blanket more around her shoulders as she and Sara sat on the floor of the basement, the little girl leaning against her. “Are you sleepy?”
“Not sleepy.” Sara rubbed her eyes. “I want Daddy and Papa.”
She gave the girl a hug. “I know. I wouldn't mind seeing my daddy right now either.” She took deep breath. They were told to stay in the basement by Gabriel - the one whom she recognized as the one who'd visited the apartment in California. Although she had a feeling that was more for the sake of feeling safe rather than actual necessity. “Sam would be nice too.”
Sara got up from her seat on the floor and went over to a basket of blocks, pulling it closer to where Jess was sitting on the floor. She grunted under the weight a little, going back to pick up the blocks that had fallen out from the basket when she moved it. “I don't wanna sleep.”
“You don't have to.” She watched as the girl got out several arched wooden blocks and started to make a building. “May I play blocks too?” Jess didn't know why she said it, other than the fact she needed something to distract herself.
“Uh huh.” Sara held out a block. “We can build a city.”
“Do we have enough for that?” Jess took the block and got a second one from the basket.
“Not a big-big city.” She frowned, putting a triangular block on an arched one. “But a big city.”
“Well, that sounds like fun.” She set her blanket down and picked up another block. “I'm not really sleepy myself.”
Sara nodded and put some tall pillar blocks on top of her arched ones. “I took two naps while I was gone.”
“I'm glad you're back.” Jess smiled. “Was it scary where you went?”
“Not scary...” She pulled at her bottom lip - a gesture Jess recognized as the same one that Sam did whenever he was thinking hard. “Everyone there was sad.”
“I'm sorry to hear that.” She took a deep breath and went back to work.
“You have a sparkly ring!” Sara interjected brightly, all hint of sleepiness gone from her voice. “Where did you get it?”
Jess looked up, rather surprised and then told herself she shouldn't be. Sara was a girl - of course she was going to notice something like a ring - particularly one that sparkled. Dean hadn't noticed it - then again, Dean had had a lot more on his mind than what she was wearing. “Your uncle Sammy gave me this ring.” She held her hand out so the girl could get a better look at it.
“It's pretty.” She stood up and held onto her hand as she studied it. “Was it for your birthday?”
“No.” Jess pulled the girl into a sit, smiling at the ring. “Your uncle Sammy asked if I would marry him. I said yes.”
Sara looked up at him, a smile spreading across her face. “So you'll awful.. office...er... really be my aunt Jess?”
She laughed at the girl's remark and hugged her. “You bet.” She grinned. “In fact, he and I are going to need a flower girl for the wedding.”
“I've never been to a wedding.” Sara pursed her lips. “I don't think I have...”
Jess grinned and hugged her again. “Never? But you know what one is, right?”
“Uh huh.” She leaned against her, yawning suddenly. “What does a flower girl do? Do I get to wear a dress-up dress?”
“Do you like to dress up?” Jess had the feeling that Sara was a bit more girly-girl than she first thought. Being raised by two men, she assumed the girl was a bit of a tomboy.
“Sometimes.” She rubbed her nose. “Tights are awfully itchy.”
“Well, don't worry.” She hugged the girl again. “I wouldn't make you wear something itchy.” She smoothed down the girl's hair. The idea of this all working out - of things actually being normal again, or as normal as possible - and planning a wedding seemed to be a dream. Well, there was no harm in dreaming, was there? “We'll find something.” She closed her eyes “It'll be a lot of fun, you'll see.”
“Are Daddy and Papa going to dress up too?”
“Most likely.” Jess blushed at the thought of seeing Sam in a tuxedo. Oh, did she love that man - and not just because he had to be the single most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. “We'll go dress shopping together.” She smiled, picturing her mother, sister and this little girl all sitting on a couch in some bridal shop somewhere, trying on dress after dress - and then, when she found one, Sara and her sister could have a turn doing the same thing. Afterwords, they'd have lunch, or something... it would be a fun time for all four of them.
Her parents loved Sam. She just hoped they liked the rest of his family as much as she did.
**
The barn was half-hidden by trees and brush. Sam, Dean and both Gabriels got out of the Impala, with other-Gabriel leading the way to the structure. It was far enough from the road and from any town that hopefully no one would bother them. A light shone from inside the barn and when they came in, Sam and Dean were shocked to find to what had to be the Sam and Dean from other-Gabriel's world, going over something.
“Well, this just got more insane.” Dean said under his breath.
“No kidding.” Sam replied as the other Winchesters looked up at them.
“Shit, I look young.” Other-Dean shook his head. “Then again, you look like a baby, Sammy.”
“Shut up, Dean.” Other-Sam said.
Sam frowned as he looked at his twin. He wasn't sure how many years were between him and the man across the room, but if he were going to take a guess, it couldn't be more than five. “I don't think I want to know what happened.”
“Makes two of us.” Dean replied. He too, was seriously wondering what had happened to his counterpart - if he were going to judge by the eyes alone, he'd say the age difference was sixty years.
“You get everything set up?” Other-Gabriel walked over to the pair.
“Think so.” Other-Sam looked over at the trio on the other side of the barn. “Remind me again why we're doing this.”
“So someone can live happily ever after. Plus, when we get back home, I'm going on a Horseman Hunt for you so we can also have as happy of an ending as possible.” Other-Gabriel shook his head. “I've already got plans for bitch-slapping Zachariah around for a few decades.”
Other-Dean snorted. “Can we watch for a few hours?”
“Dean!” Other-Sam snapped.
“What?”
Other-Gabriel chuckled. “We'll see big boy.”
Dean ran a hand through his hair and turned to Gabriel. “What exactly are we doing here?”
“Ruining Michael's century.” The angel set a hand on Dean's shoulder and glanced over at the other trio. “And to make sure you and your brother don't end up like them.”
“How are we going to do that?” Sam put in quickly.
Gabriel was about to answer when the doors of the barn blew open and all six occupants turned to see Michael - still wearing the visage of John Winchester, step into view. “Shit, for once, he's early.”
Michael came into the barn and regarded the trio on the far side of the barn with disdain. “You don't belong here.” He snapped his fingers and, to his great surprise, while the other-Winchesters vanished, the other-Gabriel didn't. “Go home.”
Other-Gabriel snorted. “No. You have one of your lackeys drop off a three year old in my toy-box I get to be involved.”
“Gabriel.”
“What?” They both said at the same time.
“You.” Michael turned to his brother in this world. “I told you that no harm would come to you or your child. You should have stayed where you were.”
“Right, because dumping a child into the middle of an Apocalypse is a safe thing to do.” Other-Gabriel interjected. He leaned casually against the table he was standing next to. “You know, there's better ways of getting your daddy's attention.”
“You know nothing of what's happened here.” Michael spat.
“He knows enough.” Gabriel left the Winchesters to go and stand next to his match. “I also know that you've got to be insane if you think the brothers will just accept their destined roles. Of course, given the fact I changed destiny, you'll just have to wait another couple of centuries.”
“Are you defying...” Michael took a step forward and instantly regretted it. In the next second, the ring of holy oil he'd unknowingly entered ignited, trapping him in the flames. “You fool.”
Sam and Dean came over to stand with the two archangels. Dean glared at Michael, reminding himself that Dad was trapped in that body too. “Going to be kind of hard to cause a major earthquake when you're stuck in there.”
“So it won't be tomorrow.” Michael's eyes narrowed. “It can be next week - this fire can't last forever.” He looked the four of them over. “And you seem to have forgotten that Raphael is just as capable as causing chaos as I am.”
Other-Gabriel snickered. “Yeah, so sure our brother is going to take off and leave Daphne in charge of his Legion while he's gone.”
“Daphne is quite capable of following orders.” Michael said, nonplussed.
“Yes,” Gabriel stated, “but she's also a great lover of humanity. Did you drop Zachariah on his head a few times to turn him into such a dick?”
“Let me out of here, Gabriel. Now.”
“No.” He lifted his chin, glancing at the Winchesters, who seemed to be more or less struck dumb by this whole situation. Not that he could blame them. “Too much has changed for the plan to carry on as originally conceived.”
“That's your fault.” Michael's voice was accusatory and he saw the Winchesters flinch - apparently they'd heard that tone plenty of times from their father.
“Free Will is a fickle bitch.” Other-Gabriel shook his head. “But it seems to me that if things weren't supposed to be this way, wouldn't something have put the plan back on schedule already?”
Dean cleared his throat. “He's right, you know.”
“And if you weren't such a man slut, things would be as they should.” Michael snarled.
Gabriel nearly lunged across the barn at those words, finding his arms held by other-Gabriel. “Don't call him that - don't ever call him that!” Shingles flew off the roof of the barn at his words and they could hear them exploding into splinters as they did.
“It's okay.” Dean put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder, calming the angel.
“I don't get it.” Sam folded his arms, the intimidation he thought he should feel slowly fading. “You could have stopped this years ago, but you didn't.”
“I couldn't stop it because Gabriel hid your brother.” Michael glanced at Dean. “I didn't know where he was until John Winchester knew where he was.”
“You bastard.” Other-Gabriel growled. “And here I thought my brother was a dick.”
“You mean he's nicer where you live?” Dean snorted. “Forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”
“I have told you to go home.” Michael's eyes narrowed, glinting dangerously. “Now.”
“And I'm telling you to grow up.” Gabriel spat.
“Excuse me?”
“Grow up.” Gabriel took a step forward. “The Apocalypse is not happening this decade or even this century. Flawed and fucked up as mankind is, this is the world that Father gave them. There's plenty of good in them - but all you see is the blemish. It's time to grow the fuck up and step back. Or I'll make you step back.”
“You.” Michael snorted. “You couldn't fight me, even with your wings fully healed.”
“Maybe not...” Gabriel lifted his chin. “But I do know that you can't defeat two of me.”
The two Gabriels flexed their arms and two almost identical silver blades fell into their hands, both of them clutching the hilts tightly.
“If you think you can threaten me into giving up my orders...”
“And what orders would those be, Michael?” A fifth voice spoke from behind them and all of them looked to the entrance of the barn. Standing there was a young man, perhaps around Sam's age, with shaggy brown hair, dressed in a pair of jeans, flannel shirt, and combat boots. “I seem to recall there just being one order... which you don't seem to be following.”
Other-Gabriel blinked in surprise. “Well, there's another difference from where I'm from too...”
The man came over and gave other-Gabriel a pat on the cheek. “You run along home now. The Winchesters in your reality are waiting for you.” He smiled. “Have fun storming the castle.”
“I'll try.” Other-Gabriel gave one last glance at Michael before turning his gaze to the Winchesters. “I left something on the kitchen table. It should prove to be useful.” A moment later, he was gone.
The man stepped away from the Winchesters and Gabriel and came to stand on Michael's left, his hands clasped behind his back, standing at military rest. “Michael, what are you orders?”
“To obey the Will, father.”
Sam and Dean exchanged glances - they were stuck dumb with the fact that God had just entered the picture.
“And what is the Will... Gabriel?”
“To love mankind more than you, father.” Gabriel's tone reminded Dean of Sara reciting the alphabet for a stranger who just told her she was cute.
“Very good.” He looked from one angel to the other. “And what do you think of mankind, Gabriel?”
The angel thought for a moment before answering. “Perfect in their imperfections.”
Michael snorted. “They're flawed.”
“So are we.” Gabriel snapped. “It's hard to love something when you have almost no feelings.”
“Stop it.” The man said sharply, and both angels fell silent. “Michael, you are to put John Winchester back where you found him, in the condition you found him in. You are then to return home, tell the legions to stand down - and then you are going to go to your room and stay there until I return,or tell you that you can come out.”
Dean barely hid his snort and Sam slapped him on the arm.
“This is serious.”
“Dude, the archangel just got told to go to his room. I think that's funny.”
“It is kind of funny.” Gabriel said under his breath.
“As for you....” The man walked over to Gabriel and set a hand on his shoulder. “You need to get back to where you belong. I don't think I need to tell you where that is.”
“Th... thank you, father.” He was suddenly aware that his wings, though hidden, no longer hurt - they were healed.
“Off you go then.” The man gestured for the door. “You too, Dean - Sam.”
The brothers didn't need to be told twice. As soon as all three of them crossed the threshold of the barn, the doors slammed shut.
**
Sam woke up to the smell of strong coffee and something baking. He sat up in bed, rubbing the back of his neck. He was in the guest room of Dean and Gabriel's house in Virginia. He and Jess would be going back to California this afternoon. He'd be back in Palo Alto with plenty of time for his interview next week - and, he reflected - as soon as they could plan it, he and Jess were going to get married. He tossed back the covers of the bed and stood up. The clock on the dresser told him it was just after one in the afternoon. Given what had been going on, it was no wonder he'd slept so long. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers and opened the door.
Dean had neglected to mention the size of the house he was living in.
Sam passed the bathroom, keeping quiet in case anyone else was still sleeping. As he passed the second bedroom on his side of the stairs, he glanced into it through the slightly ajar door. And breath left him.
Gabriel was sitting on the floor, wings out and around his brother, who was snoring softly. All Sam could see of his brother were his sock covered feet sticking out from under the wing closest to him. He couldn't even see Sara, but given that this was the girl's room, she had to be in that embrace somewhere. He snapped back to attention when he became aware that the angel was staring at him. Rather than speaking, Sam grasped the doorknob and shut the door the rest of the way.
“Sam.” Jess's soft voice called up the stairs.
He turned and came down into the hallway, giving the woman a tight hug. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Coffee's ready.”
“Sounds good.” The two of them went into the kitchen.
**
John Winchester woke up gasping for breath. He was back in that shoddy motel room in Montana, at least, he guessed he was. He sat up, looking around the room. Papers and personal belongings were strewn everywhere as if a hurricane had blown through. He wasn't ready to stand up, not yet. The past few days were hard to recall. Being hauled around by an archangel was indescribable. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to put things together. He could remember Michael saying he would kill Azazel if he said yes. He remembered saying yes. He had a flash of two different barns and a kitchen - but nothing else.
His boys. He had to check on his boys.
John grabbed his cell and hit number four on his contacts. The phone rang twice before it was answered - and it wasn't Dean.
“John.” Gabriel's voice was quiet.
“I need to talk to Dean.” John let out a few sharp breaths. He could remember Michael saying something about his eldest and his granddaughter.
“He's asleep.” The archangel said in that same non-nonsense tone he'd used when they first met. “He and Sara are both fine, they're just sleeping.”
“Would you have him call me?” John was surprised at his own tone. He'd rarely been so - so docile when it came to getting things he wanted.
“Sure. Are you okay?”
“Confused.” Was John's honest reply.
“Take a hot shower, have a good meal since I know you haven't eaten in several days - and Dean should be awake by then. Sam's downstairs - he's fine too.”
John blinked. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome.” And the line cut off.
He set his cell down and stood up. A shower did sound like a good idea. His stomach growled a moment later, telling him that the second suggestion was an even better one.
Chapter 7