Metallica Is Love

[confetticas]

Title: Metallica Is Love
Author: confetticas
Rating: I am terrible at this… Light, light, light PG-13?
Genre and/or Pairing: Sam/Gabriel and Dean/Castiel, kid!fic fluff
Spoilers: I don’t think this takes place in a world even remotely similar to canon. Pretty sure that I’m spoiler-free here, unless the angels and Gabriel still count?
Warnings: language, teeth-rotting fluff, mentioned mpreg
Word Count: 6,420
Summary: Five times Sam and Gabriel bond over their niece, and the one time they welcome their son into the world.
Author’s Notes: Fluffy kid!fic for bballgirl3022. It took longer than expected to write, and ended up WAY, way longer than intended, but I sort of adore it. Thanks to bellacatbee for coming up with idea of Dean/Cas’s daughter being named Metallica. And to everyone on twitter who cheered me on through the three or four different versions of this that I tried before I decided on this one.

Also, I tried, and tried, and tried, and couldn’t make Adam fit into this. He doesn’t get mentioned in the story, but I’m really not ignoring him, I promise. It’s my personal belief that the reason he isn’t around here is that he, Michael and Raphael are busy elsewhere, doing things that would make their brothers heads explode, and they’re having far too much fun to bother with contacting their brothers. *nods* They are definitely happy and making adorable Winchester-Angel babies, too. Just, y’know, not in this ficlet. BUT THEY ARE, OKAY. *guilty*



Five times Sam and Gabriel bond over their niece, and the one time they welcome their son into the world.

..1..

Sam stares at the formerly empty bed for a minute, trying to force his brain to comprehend the drunken, grinning archangel now laying on it. “Gabriel?” he asks, and figures he’s about to get the answer to why he hasn’t seen his friend - friend, that’s a good word. Sam likes this word. It works. - in over a week now. It isn’t like Gabriel, at least not like Gabriel after being resurrected, anyway. “What’s up?”

Gabriel lifts his head up long enough to give Sam a wry, helpless look and then drops his head back onto the pillow and groans. “D’you know what I had to drink to get like this? I am not talking about it. Nope.”

Yeah, right. And Sam is a saint, too. “All right,” he replies with a shrug and returns his attention back to his laptop, waiting patiently for Gabriel to break.

Sure enough, less than a full minute later, Gabriel literally flings himself off the bed towards Sam in a dramatic, huffy lunge. Sam nearly falls off his chair trying to keep them both from becoming closely acquainted with the questionable motel carpet.  “Gabriel, what the hell!” he blurts, trying to sound frustrated, but unable to stop his amusement from slipping through.

“Exactly!” Gabriel says emphatically, holding up one finger and then pausing to stare at it. He shrugs after a minute and then uses it to poke Sam on the nose. “That’s exactly what I said!” he agrees a minute later, positively brimming with drunken frustration.

Sam has no idea at all what is going on here, but he’s pretty sure it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. He’s also tempted to say he doesn’t want to know, but that wouldn’t be nice, so he refrains. Gabriel is his friend, after all. “What’s exactly what you said? About what?” he asks, with a carefully calm tone.

Gabriel frowns at him and slides down to the floor, leaning his head against Sam’s knee and looking up at Sam, seeming miserable. “My baby brother. Castiel, I mean,” he clarifies at Sam’s pointed expression. “He is pregnant. How is this happening? Why? How? You want to know how? Your brother and his, his -”

“Okay, I get the point,” Sam cuts Gabriel off with wide, horrified eyes, because what Gabriel has managed to say is traumatizing enough, he does not want details, damn it. And he really doesn’t want to know how Gabriel was planning on ending that sentence. “Can you maybe skip backwards a bit to the part where how the fuck is Cas pregnant?” If his voice is a little shrill at the end, Sam figures it’s completely justified.

“Angels, Sammy-Sam,” Gabriel reminds him impatiently, looking annoyed at Sam’s need to ask perfectly reasonable questions. “Catch up already, kid. Our brothers? They are having a baby.” Gabriel laughs hysterically. “My brother is having Dean Winchester’s baby. Oh, fuck, I don’t even… Wherever Dad is now that He blew His cover, this has got to be driving Him nuts.” Gabriel tries to slap the ground in effort to show how hysterical it all is, exactly, and ends up sprawled face first on the carpet. “This is like,” Gabriel snorts, not even bothering to pick himself back up. “Why the fuck is this happening?” he asks, seemingly more to the carpet than to Sam.

Sam opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, hoping desperately that Gabriel doesn’t actually expect him to have an answer for that. After a minute, Gabriel reverts to leaning his head on Sam’s leg and looks up at him with an honest-to-goodness pout.

Given that pretty much every other option has failed him, Sam goes with the obvious joke that pops into his head. See? Gabriel is a good teacher. Sam has a sense of humor now, he really does. Honestly.  “Well,” he begins cheerfully, and not just because he has no other answers, he’s also trying to avoid having a mental breakdown of his own, “When an angel and a righteous man love each other very -”

Gabriel snorts again, this time more amused than hysterical. “I get the how, Sammy. It’s the why that I’m having problems with. I mean, Dean. And Cas. Cas has more than his own fair share of things to worry about already. How exactly is one being supposed to restore order in Heaven, convince the Host that he is a fitting General, although really you would think Father’s Word had been enough for that bit,” Gabriel mutters this part under his breath, not bothering to disguise how bitter he is, “Keep a semi-stable relationship on the shaky side of semi-stable and raise a kid. One being. All of that. At the same time. How, exactly?”

“Bonus points for you if I don’t have to state the obvious,” Sam replies dryly, because duh.

“Do bonus points get me kinky sex?” Gabriel asks hopefully, looking considerably less miserable now that he’s had the chance to vent a bit.

Sam fights a laugh. “If you earn enough of them,” he allows after a moment of mock thought.

Gabriel sighs long-sufferingly. “With the help of his awesome big brother, of course. And, I suppose, you and Dean. All right, all right. Point received. You win. But still. Tell me your brain isn’t as broken as mine!” he challenges looking up at Sam smugly.

“…” Sam shifts under Gabriel’s ridiculously smug stare. “…well, yes,” he concedes, and isn’t ashamed because a) angels can get pregnant what now? And b) oh fuck Dean got Cas pregnant I’m gonna be an uncle. There’s also a C and a D and an E, and probably the rest of the entire damn alphabet, but Sam isn’t going to bother explaining a long-ass list of reasons why he’s justified in being shocked stupid over this revelation to Gabriel when they could be doing much more interesting things. “So, two things. Is there an angel equivalent of birth control, since you can apparently get pregnant? And if I told you I’d be willing to try that whole sex-while-flying thing after all, on the condition that we could not think about this for a few hours, would you consider it a fair trade?”

Gabriel immediately jumps up off the ground and lands on his feet in front of Sam, grinning wildly, performing the move so quickly that it makes Sam’s head spin. “Yes there is, and I am, and hells yeah that’s a fair trade,” he answers in a rushed babble and then grabs Sam’s hand.

Later, Sam will sort through his confusion and mixed emotions and come out of it elated to be an uncle, and genuinely happy for his brother and Cas. Gabriel will likely do exactly the same. But for now, a bit of distraction is exactly what they need, and there really isn’t anything wrong with that.

..2..

“You,” Sam half-yells in desperation when he sees Gabriel appear in the kitchenette of his less-crappy-than-usual motel room.

Gabriel blinks at him in confusion and then proceeds to completely ignore him for nearly five minutes whilst making faces and cooing at Allie (Sam absolutely refuses to call his niece ‘Metallica’, he still can’t believe Cas let Dean get away with that). Finally, right about the time that Sam becomes certain he’s going to go of let what little sanity he has left and burst into tears, Gabriel switches his attention from their niece to Sam. “S’up, Samsquatch?” he asks brightly, rocking back on his feet and grinning.

Sam releases a deep breath and tries to remain calm. “I need.” He stops, thinks his words over carefully. “You don’t need sleep. Allie apparently doesn’t, either. I, on the other hand, am in very desperate need of some, so would you please entertain her for just a few hours or so?” Absolutely unashamed of the tactic, Sam mentally prepares himself and then unleashes his best puppy dog eyes at the archangel. “Please?” he repeats hopefully.

“If Dean finds out that you left me alone with her, he’ll kill us both,” Gabriel remarks carefully, taking a hasty step backwards, hands shoved into his pockets.

This is so far from being a valid point that Sam doesn’t even have words for it. First of all, while there’s a chance that Dean might try, Castiel would never let him. Second of all, Cas has been working very hard on getting Dean to let go of his grudge, and to Sam’s probably eternal shock, he’s been making actual progress with it. And even aside from that, “Who the hell said Dean was going to find out?” Sam retorts angrily, frayed nerves, lack of sleep and too much coffee being a very volatile combination. “You won’t be alone. I’ll be right here. Just, on the bed. Asleep. Please.”

Metallica chooses this moment to reach up and close one tiny fist around some of Sam’s hair, yanking with all of her tiny baby might. Sam hisses through his teeth in pain and gently,  carefully pulls his hair out of her grasp. “Allie,” he says, somewhat desperately. “Sweetheart, you should’ve been asleep hours ago. Aren’t you tired?” It doesn’t occur to him that he’s talking to a ten month old who can’t really answer him with anything other than -

Shit.

Sam only barely manages to bite back a terrified whimper as Allie’s screams fill the air.

Gabriel looks a little bit amused by Sam’s trauma, but at least he reaches out for Allie. She stops crying and stares at him for a minute, looking utterly unimpressed, but then grins widely and practically dives out of Sam’s arms trying to get to him. Once he has her situated and smiling, Gabriel returns his attention to Sam, quirking an eyebrow, “Where are our brothers, anyway? And how long have you had her?”

“They’re on a date,” Sam replies, scoffing in annoyance. “Because they looked exhausted and a little tiny bit miserable and I took pity on them like an idiot. They left about… lemme see,” Sam glances around the room in search of a clock and finally just pulls out his phone and looks. His eyes widen and his jaw drops. “…six hours ago. What the fuck?”

“Language, Sammy!” Gabriel chastises, seeming scarily serious. Sam marvels at the hypocrisy. It’s honestly, genuinely impressive. “I mean sure, you and I may both be corrupted  beyond all hope already, but our little Allie has innocent ears,” he looks down at Allie and grins, “Don’t you, Allie?” he coos at her.

Allie swats lightly at his face and giggles, clearly happier than she’s been since Dean and Cas walked out the door for their spur-of-the-moment date. Sam nearly faints in relief. “I’m just gonna go -” he starts hopefully, backing up in the general direction of the beds.

“Not so fast, Sammy-Sam,” Gabriel interrupts, rolling his eyes affectionately. “You don’t get to slack off, I didn’t make you volunteer to babysit after you’d pulled an all-nighter. I’ll help, but I’m not doing all the work.”

Sam pastes a fixed smile on his face and bites back the first twenty responses that pop into his head, because hypocritical-Gabriel is probably right that he should cut down on the swearing in front of Allie. She deserves better. “All right,” he says, downright civil and very proud of himself for it. “I appreciate your help.”

Gabriel beams back at him. “That’s the spirit,” he replies cheerfully. “Now, Allie and I are going to teach you a little something about naps, aren’t we sweetie?”

Allie grins up at him and babbles happily, something that is very, very vaguely recognizable as ‘Uncle’ mixed in with the general baby talk sounds.

Gabriel seems inclined to take this as agreement, his smile not fading in the slightest as he snaps his fingers, very lightly, and soft, happy music starts playing in the room. “First lesson,” he says in a light tone of voice, grabbing Sam by the hand and pulling him towards the tiny amount of functioning floor space in the room. “When you try the dancing trick, you can’t be wound up and anxious. Allie knows when her silly Uncle Sammy is freaking out, and it freaks her out that much more. Hard as it is, you have to relax, and let it flow. Gentle, like this.”

Allie’s head is resting on Gabriel’s shoulder now, her tiny arms wrapped around his neck with a grip Sam can tell just by looking is as tight as she can make it. And her eyes are, Sam’s willing to say downright miraculously, already half-closed. Amazing.

“And,” Gabriel continues, nearly whispering now, “It helps if you sing, just a little. No matter how off-key you think you are, it’s soothing for her, because she knows your voice.”

Sam watches in unreserved awe as, over the course of the next five minutes, Gabriel’s combined singing and soft, swaying dance manage to do exactly what he’s been trying and failing to accomplish for the last three hours. Allie looks absolutely adorable snuggled up to her archangel uncle, and Gabriel is displaying the most open, peaceful expression Sam has ever seen on his face, as he continues swaying.

It’s been over a year now that Sam has spent convincing himself that he is absolutely not in love with Gabriel, that he’s just having a lot of really awesome sex with his best friend the archangel… and in that moment, watching Gabriel put their niece to sleep, more content and at peace than Sam has ever seen him, all of the denial is gone, less than dust in the wind.

“I love you,” he breathes out quietly, careful not to wake Allie up as he meets Gabriel’s eyes and states the truth he’s only now fully realizing.

Gabriel’s eyes pop open to study him intently, and after a second, go even softer. “It’s about time,” he cracks quietly, and then, “I love you, too, Sam,” he adds seriously, seeming even more content now.

And then, of course, because even in the middle of a sadly overdue epiphany, this is still Sam’s life, Dean and Castiel choose this as their moment to get back. On the bright side, they’re both grinning ear-to-ear and looking significantly less insane now. Dean catches sight of Allie sleeping in Gabriel’s arms and winces, shutting the door much more quietly than he’d opened it seconds before. “How was she, Sammy?” Dean’s voice, at least, is quieter than his door-opening skills, Sam muses wryly.

Sam meets his brother’s eyes, a grin stealing over his face as he finds himself suddenly far more energized than exhausted. “She was perfect, as always, of course,” he answers, and means it wholeheartedly, sleep-deprivation or not. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I think it’s about time Gabe and I had a date of our own.”

Gabriel carefully hands Allie over to Cas, kisses her forehead, and then grins impishly at Sam and snaps his fingers, taking them away from the motel room, their brothers and their niece, for a long overdue conversation.

..3..

“Uncle Sammy! Uncle Gabe! You’re here!” Allie yells delightedly when they appear the living room. The three year old drops the crayon she’s using and dashes over to hug them.

Sam grins and picks her up, ruffling her hair. “Sorry we’re late, princess. How’s it going?”

Allie giggles and points towards the kitchen. “Daddy can’t cook,” she tells him in a whisper, sounding very amused. “Papa’s trying to help and it’s not goin’ well.”

“Cas is trying to help with the cooking?” Sam asks, a little alarmed.

Gabriel winces. “Well, when they inevitably fail, I can always snap something up,” he offers optimistically.

Allie giggles some more. “Daddy says Thanksgivin’ dinner’s meant to be cooked, not mojo’d,” she tells them brightly. “Papa tried that, too.”

“We’re all gonna die,” Sam predicts under his breath, fighting a grin. “And what’ve you been doing while your Dad and Papa attempt to cook?” he asks, glancing down at Allie with a grin.

“I made pictures,” Allie answers proudly, wiggling out of Sam’s grasp and running back to the table to grab said pictures. “This one’s Daddy and Papa in the kitchen,” she says as she holds up the first drawing.

It’s hard to decipher, but Sam’s been getting better and better at managing to figure out what Allie’s drawings actually are, and he’s pretty sure that’s Dean, Cas and a turkey… which seems to be attacking them. “I don’t,” he snickers. “Is the turkey attacking them?” he manages to ask.

“Yup,” Allie answers. “That was earlier, though. Papa made it stop.”

Gabriel laughs. “Cas exorcised the turkey, huh?”

Allie nods, clearly not quite grasping the humor. “This one,” she continues, picking up another, “Is for you guys.” She hands it to Gabriel, looking a little shy now.

Gabriel stares at it for a second and then passes it to Sam silently, picking Allie up himself as Sam studies the picture. “House next door is for sale, huh?” Gabriel asks as Dean comes into the living room, scowling murderously.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Dean nods after a second, looking less homicidal. “She’s got the idea into her head and if you want to tell her no, that’s all on you.” He looks amused, probably because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Allie has her Uncle’s wrapped around her little finger, and they aren’t good at saying no to her.

Sam makes a soft ‘ah’ sound as he finally gets it. He glances over at Gabriel, who glances back helplessly. “I mean, it might be nice to have a home base,” Sam offers quietly. Allie squeals delightedly and reaches over for Sam. Sam indulgently picks her up and kisses her forehead. “I’ll see what I can do, kiddo. You never know.”

“Sam, we have at least twenty home bases,” Gabriel points out wryly. Allie pouts at him. “I mean, not that one more would hurt…” he adds hastily.

“I meant that it might be nice to have one that was ours instead of yours,” Sam counters quietly, though to be completely honest the thought hadn’t really occurred to him until he’d seen Allie’s drawing. It isn’t a bad thought at all, but it’s not one he’s been dwelling on for any amount of time.

Gabriel stares at him suspiciously. “…for someone so very easily manipulated, you are shockingly good at manipulating people,” he finally says, lips pulling into a grin.

Sam grins back. “C’mon. Like you wouldn’t love to be able to see Allie every single day,” he challenges, and then glances at his niece. Allie nods, and in unison, they flash their best puppy dog eyes at Gabriel.

Dean cackles quietly, seeming very satisfied by the whole thing.

“…okay, okay, we’ll get the house, just stop looking at me like that!” Gabriel breaks finally, looking a little traumatized by the experience.

Sam grins as Allie practically jumps out of his arms into Gabriel’s. “YAY you guys will be so close and I can see you every day and it’ll be awesome and I love you, Uncle Gabe!” she rambles happily, bouncing in his arms.

“I love you, too, kiddo,” Gabriel replies, kissing her forehead and meeting Sam’s eyes. Sam smiles back at his mate, even happier now than he’s been, which to be honest, he hadn’t really thought was possible. This is more than he could ever have dreamed of having. “Now, what do you say we tickle attack your Uncle Sammy?”

Allie giggles happily as Sam’s eyes widen and he takes a couple of hasty steps backwards before running up the stairs.

“Get ‘im!” Gabriel calls out loudly, and the chase is on.

Castiel grins at Dean from the doorway to the kitchen. “That went better than expected,” he comments in amusement.

“Yeah, well, I suppose we didn’t account for the fact that Sammy’s a complete sucker,” Dean replies with a chuckle. “I’ve got admit, I worry a bit at how good Allie is at doing that.”

Castiel blinks. “I don’t understand,” he says plainly. “You taught her to do that, Dean.”

Dean scowls teasingly. “I was trying to sound responsible. Didn’t work, huh?”

“Not at all,” Castiel replies with a faint grin. “Now that you’ve convinced our brothers to sort-of settle down, what are the odds I can convince you to let me handle dinner?” That is absolutely not desperation in his voice, damn it.

Dean stands up and quirks an eyebrow at his mate. “Non-existent. Get your ass in the kitchen and help me salvage that damn turkey. Can’t believe you tried to exorcise it,” he adds under his breath, shaking his head in amusement.

“I thought it was attacking you! It looked like it was eating your hand!” Castiel protests in his own defense, grinning the whole time. After all… Dean doesn’t have to know that he’s fixing the food as long as Castiel is careful enough. There’s no cause to give their daughter food poisoning just because Dean has very determined but slightly misguided ideas about the meaning of Thanksgiving.

..4..

“Uncle Gabe! Uncle Sammy! C’mon, c’mon, get up!” the loud, chipper voice of their five-year-old niece is quickly followed by little girl elbows-and-knees bouncing all over their bed.

Their bed. In their house. And sure, there’s all of Gabriel’s many houses throughout the world, but as nice as those are, especially when compared to crappy motels, Sam really, really loves their house. He loves the way it smells, the way it feels, the way it looks, and more than anything, how close it is to Dean, Cas and Allie. It just isn’t ever going to get old, Sam reflects with a fond smile as he pretends to keep sleeping while Gabriel bounces up to tickle Allie.

Allie’s giggles make the room seem even brighter than it already is, and honestly, Sam could spend the whole day like this. It probably wouldn’t be entirely smart to do it, though, so Sam forces himself to sit up. “Uncle Sammy!” Allie calls happily, crawling away from Gabriel to greet him with a hug. “You sleep too much,” she adds with a pout. “Daddy said that I should tell you to,” Allie stops suddenly and then finishes with a shrug and, “But then Papa said not to say it, ‘cause it wasn’t nice, so.”

“Uh-huh,” Sam agrees dryly, grinning and rolling his eyes affectionately.

“Cas’ll be here in about two hours,” Gabriel speaks up suddenly, tapping the side of his head in explanation for the statement. Sam’s gotten used to all the angel-telepathy by now, but it used to drive him insane. Allie, on the other hand, thinks it’s the coolest thing in the world that she can talk to her Dad’s and Uncles in her mind. “Deano is apparently having some separation anxiety issues. And also, he thinks that we’re corrupting poor Allie.”

Allie grins, clearly amused by this.

Gabriel eyes her suspiciously. “Princess Allie, what’ve you been telling your Papa while the rest of us were asleep?”

Allie just smiles back at him innocently and shakes her head.

“I’d put money on the possibility that she was telling him all about how Uncle Gabe took her flying,” Sam suggests with a small smirk.

A quick giggle escapes Allie’s lips and then she slaps both hands over her mouth, wide-eyed.

“Oh yeah?” Gabriel asks her, a grin pulling at his lips. “And what’d your Papa say when you told him about it? Should I be hiding?”

“Nooooo,” Allie answers, drawing out the word with a grin. “Papa’s happy. He tol’ me you taught him how t’ fly, too.”

Sam smiles affectionately at the way Gabriel’s expression goes all soft and he tries terribly hard not to look like he has feelings on the matter. He reaches over and tickles Allie, smile widening at her delighted laugh, “Uncle Gabe’s a softy, innit he?” he asks her, giving his mate a teasing grin.

Allie nods emphatically. “My favorite teddy bear.”

“Awww,” Gabriel grins at their niece, “You’re my favorite teddy bear, too, Miss Allie.”

Sam watches them with a fond smile and requests, “How ‘bout some breakfast, Gabe? We have a lot of things to do in only apparently two hours.”

“Breakfast!” Allie agrees happily. “Waffles?” she asks Gabe hopefully, flashing him her very best puppy dog eyes.

“With strawberries or chocolate chips?” Gabriel counters brightly.

Sam makes a disgusted face at just the thought of chocolate this early in the morning.

“You’re silly, Uncle Sammy,” Allie tells him with a small frown. “It’s always, always, always time for chocolate!”

“Very silly,” Gabriel agrees teasingly. “But that’s why we love him, isn’t it?” he asks Allie cheerfully. “You and I can have our awesome chocolate chip waffles, and we’ll let Uncle Sammy have his omelet or whatever other un-sugary garbage he wants to poison himself with this morning.”

Sam rolls his eyes, still smiling. “Sugar-fiends,” he counters fondly. “Now, as much as I love you both, no one is eating in my bed. Get movin’, guys!”

Gabriel and Allie exchange plotting grins, and promptly execute their favorite tickle attack.

Between the tickle attack and Sam’s attempted revenge, it’s a good twenty minutes before any of them make it to the kitchen for breakfast, but eventually they get there.

“So,” Sam asks once they’ve settled in at the table and he’s about halfway through his second cup of coffee and so considerably more coherent. “How are you liking kindergarten so far, kiddo?”

Allie grins excitedly and the next ten minutes are filled with happy little girl babbling about her teacher, her classmates and her general love for everything school-related. “An’ my friend, Lily, she has a baby cousin,” Allie finally starts winding down, sounding distinctly envious of said friend. “She’s got a baby brother, too. I don’t think I’d want a baby brother, but I want a baby cousin.”

Sam’s fork clatters onto his plate.

Gabriel stares at Allie with wide eyes.

Allie frowns at them. “What?” she asks, absolutely confused.

“Uh,” Sam starts, and stops, at a loss.

“What’s so cool about cousins?” Gabriel asks in a strangled voice.

Allie shrugs, “S’like a little brother, only you get to send him away when he’s annoying and you don’t have to share your parents with him. I want one,” she repeats, still confused as to why her uncles are staring at her like she’s sprouted an extra head or two. “Why? What’s wrong with that?” she adds curiously.

“Nothing!” Sam answers emphatically, a little too quickly. “It’s, um. I see your point. That would be very cool.”

Gabriel shoots him a less-than-impressed look. Smooth, Samsquatch. “How exactly do you figure you’d be getting this cousin, though?” he asks, as light-heartedly as possible.

“You and Uncle Sammy?” Allie replies, phrasing it like a question. “Are you okay?” she adds, sounding concerned. “…Daddy went all red like that, too,” she concludes, a bit sullen now.

Sam can’t help the short laugh that escapes him at that.

“I don’t think your Uncle Sammy and I are quite ready to have kids,” Gabriel says, treading carefully.

Allie looks even more confused. “Why not?” she asks plainly. “You’re married, or whatever, and you have a house and you love each other. What else d’you need?”

Gabriel and Sam look at each other, a little stunned by the reasoning.

“Um,” Sam starts, and stops, absolutely failing to come up with an adequate reply.

Allie shrugs and takes a bite of her waffles. “S’okay, I can wait,” she assures them, returning her focus to her breakfast and taking no notice of the fact that her uncles spend the next twenty minutes staring at each other in a shocked, thoughtful silence.

..5..

“…we have the most spoiled child in existence,” Dean mumbles as he eyes the towering stack of presents with anxious concern.

Castiel laughs. “What did you expect?” he replies in amusement. “Sam and Gabriel do this every year, and every year, you continue to be surprised by it.”

Dean grins ruefully. “Well, every year, I keep hoping they’ll realize that our house is not actually huge enough for the thousands of dollars they choose to spend on her. And every year, they don’t realize it, and I have to make things fit all over again.”

“Stop hoping,” Castiel advises, watching fondly as Sam and Gabriel take turns pushing a delighted Allie on the nearby swing. “They’re never going to stop, and it’s far better to accept it and move on than attempt to fight it. On that note, you can force them to do the moving of presents from here to our house. Without Gabriel using his powers.”

Dean grins. “I ever tell you that you’re the best?” he asks happily.

“Oh, you might have mentioned it a time or two,” Castiel replies flippantly. “But it never hurts to keep on saying it, as frequently as you can stomach doing so.”

“You’re the best,” Dean assures him happily. “Hey! Sammy! Gabe! Get over here!”

“Daad!” Allie complains, but she gets off the swing and reluctantly follows her uncles back over to the covered area. Every birthday except her first has been celebrated at this park, which is only a few blocks away from home and very convenient. Despite the amount of time she spends here, she never wants to leave, which can be both amusing and aggravating for the adults who have to drag her away.

Dean’s grin widens as the trio approaches. “Sam, Gabe, got some work for you. Please get the presents safely to my house without using any mojo whatsoever.”

Gabriel narrows his eyes at Castiel, who just grins innocently at his older brother.

“Relax, Gabe,” Sam says, grinning freely. “It won’t be that hard, and if it’s that frustrating just think about the drum set you insisted on getting Allie and consider it revenge.”

Dean cringes. Allie’s too busy investigating her massive pile of presents with an impossibly wide smile to pay them any attention.

Gabriel chuckles. “You’re definitely right, Sam. That makes me all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. But, uh, before we get carried away with the clean-up,” he pauses and glances at Sam, who grins even wider. “Hey, Allie, can you c’mere for a second?”

“Yup,” Allie replies cheerfully and bounces her way over to them. “I’m here.”

“Your Uncle Sammy and I wanted to tell you something before the party was officially over,” Gabriel tells her, grinning. “We have one more present for you. D’you remember telling us a few months ago that you wanted a baby cousin, Allie Bear?”

Allie’s eyes go wide and a high-pitched squeal escapes her. “I’m getting a cousin!?”

“It’ll be a few months, but yes,” Gabriel confirms, laughing affectionately when she throws himself into his arms delightedly.

“Daddy, Papa, did you hear?!” Allie turns to her parents, bouncing on her heels. “I’m gonna have a cousin!”

Dean scowls at Gabriel and then gives Allie a somewhat forced grin. “Yeah, baby girl, we heard that. Pretty awesome, right?”

“MORE THAN AWESOME!” Allie blurts loudly. “THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!”

Castiel smiles warmly at his daughter. “I think you’re the best thing ever,” he counters.

“Papa,” Allie protests with a slight whine. “I’m having a baby cousin! Do you have any idea how cool this is?!”

“If I recall your explanation correctly, it is significantly more awesome than the possibility of having a baby brother,” Castiel answers with wry amusement in his voice.

Allie nods happily and then turns around and tackle-hugs Sam, too. “This is the best birthday ever!” she declares happily, grabbing Gabriel’s sleeve and pulling him into the hug, too. “I can’t wait for the baby to be here! Is it a boy cousin or a girl cousin?” she adds curiously.

“Boy,” Gabriel answers, ruffling her hair. “You still excited, or is that a deal-breaker?”

Allie gives this maybe half a second of thought. “STILL EXCITED!” she yells, paying no attention to Sam’s wince. “How long do I gotta wait, again?” she asks suspiciously.

“About eight more months, Princess Allie,” Sam answers. “But it isn’t as long as it feels right now, I promise.”

Allie thinks about this, a little sad by how far away it is, and then goes back to bouncing happily in Sam’s arms. “I’M GONNA HAVE A BABY COUSIN!” she yells again.

“Too much sugar,” Castiel notes as he studies his daughter with a faint smile.

Dean and Gabriel snort in disbelieving disgust, almost in unison, and then give each other horrified looks. Dean shrugs it off after a second and asks Sam, “You guys run into any twisted and scary cravings yet?”

Sam’s suddenly revolted expression says it all.

Allie wiggles out of his arms and dances around the table, eyeing her presents and singing happily to herself about the fact that she’s getting a baby cousin, oblivious to the conversation her parents and uncles continue for the next twenty minutes.

..1..

“He’s beautiful,” Sam breathes happily as he stares down at their son, so completely in love that it almost hurts. “Gabriel, our son. We have a son.”

Gabriel grins back at him, more than a little exhausted. “Yeah, we do,” he agrees. “And he’s gorgeous. Of course, that’s not really surprising. I mean, just look at us. How could he be anything but?”

Sam chuckles quietly, careful not to jostle the sleeping newborn in his arms. “S’pose I should go show him off? I can’t imagine Dean and Cas are having much luck wrangling Allie right now.”

Almost as if on cue, they hear Allie’s anxious, excited voice in the hallway, “Is he borned yet?”

“Yeah, you better,” Gabriel agrees with a wry grin. “Sounds like she’s just going to tear through the wall to get in here if she doesn’t get to meet her new cousin soon.”

Sam hesitates, not wanting to leave Gabriel’s side even for a second.

Gabriel rolls his eyes affectionately. “Go, Samsquatch. Let our brothers and niece meet our son and then get your ass back in here as quickly as possible. Shoo!” he adds insistently when Sam still hesitates.

“All right, all right,” Sam agrees with a fond eye-roll of his own, taking extreme care as he navigates to the door and steps out into the hallway where Dean and Cas are attempting to convince Allie to calm down and wait patiently. “Hey, Princess Allie,” he greets his niece in a soft, quiet voice. “I have someone here who wants to meet his cousin.”

Allie practically dives out of Dean’s lap in her excited rush to get closer to Sam and her new cousin. “…he’s wrinkly,” she comments after a second. “Perfect, but wrinkly.”

Sam laughs softly. “Newborns tend to be wrinkly,” he agrees quietly. “And I think that perfect is the perfect description for him,” he adds with a wink.

“Did you ‘n Uncle Gabe decide on his name?” Allie asks in her best whisper, which absolutely fails in every possible way to being quiet at all. “’Cause he’s gotta have one, y’know. We can’t jus’ call him ‘the baby’ forever.”

Sam blinks at her and then gives Castiel a pointed look. Castiel shrugs, absolutely unbothered, “We can’t just call him the baby forever. Dean and I knew Allie’s name less than a month after we found out I was pregnant.” Castiel pauses and then adds, “Congratulations, Sam. He is absolutely wonderful.”

“Thanks,” Sam beams, successfully distracted from the name argument. “And yes, we did decide on his name. Dean, Cas, Allie, I’d like you to meet my son, Matthew.”

“Congratulations, Sammy. He’s perfect,” Dean tells Sam fondly, unable to tear his eyes away from his new nephew. “I like the name, too. It fits him.”

Sam nods. “We knew the second we saw him,” he agrees, which had honestly been a relief after months of being unable to agree on a name for their son. “Now, uh, we love you guys, but - ”

Dean grins in amusement. “We love you, too, Sammy, and Matthew. Now get back in there before Gabriel makes you get back in there.”

“One more thing,” Sam remembers, turning back to face them again. “Allie, your Uncle Gabe wanted me to tell you thank you for making us pull our heads out of our - ” Sam stops and shrugs slightly, “The sentiment being that we very much appreciate your helping us realize that our fears were a little bit silly. It’s thanks to you that we have Matthew, and all three of us are very grateful for it. We love you, Princess.”

Allie positively beams at him. “I love you too, Uncle Sammy! LOVE YOU UNCLE GABE!” she adds loudly, and Matthew startles awake with a cry. Allie’s eyes widen and she winces, giving Sam an apologetic look.

“It’s all good, kiddo,” Sam assures her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll see you tomorrow, all right? Uncle Gabe is pretty tired and I know he did the hard part, but I’m exhausted, too.”

Allie considers this. “We’ll be here at seven!” she promises happily.

Dean stifles a laugh as Castiel attempts to reason with their daughter and Sam disappears back into the bedroom.

Settling in on the bed beside Gabriel, Sam smiles at his mate. “We did good, Gabe. He’s so perfect, I don’t even… God, I love you,” he tells Gabriel honestly.

“Love you, too, Samsquatch,” Gabriel mumbles, eyes half-shut. “I’m starting to understand why Cas was such a rabid bitch for all those weeks. S’exhausting.”

Sam chuckles warmly. “Get some rest, Gabe. I’ve got Matt, and I’ve got you.”

”S’good, ‘cause I can’t even think straight, let alone feed a baby,” Gabriel mumbles, more and more incoherent with every word. “S’Allie happy?”

“Elated,” Sam assures him affectionately. “Stop trying to talk and get some sleep. We’re good, everything is fine. Better than fine. Absolutely perfect.”

“Allie did it,” Gabriel’s mumbles regain a small amount of coherency as he meets Sam’s eyes, affectionate and content and grateful. “She’s th’ smartest kid I ever saw. S’good she knocked sense into us.”

Sam rubs Gabriel’s back soothingly, smiling fondly at his mate and their son. “I don’t know what we did to get this lucky,” he murmurs back, “But I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life.”

“Think we mighta passed the test, Sammy-Sam,” Gabriel replies, and then his eyes slide shut the rest of the way and his breathing evens out, a peaceful expression on his face.

“…well, there’s a way of looking at it,” Sam tells Matthew with a fond smile. Matthew gives a small baby snore in response. Sam grins. “All right, I can take a hint,” he acknowledges fondly, closing his eyes. And just like Gabriel and their newborn son, he’s sound asleep within seconds, a contended, peaceful smile playing at his lips.

\END/