Snapshot #4: Little Prayers
Written for spn_30snapshots.
Pairing: Gabriel/Sam
Table: #1-Elemental
Prompt #4: Listen
Word Count: 516
Spoilers: After they visit the Garden.
Warnings: None
Rating: PG
Summary: Sam prays, Gabriel listens and comes to a decision.
Link to whole Table
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Sam Winchester will forever be a mystery to Gabriel. The human who has been screwed over by both Heaven and Hell more then anyone else on the planet, is still somehow a believer.
He prays. And Gabriel listens.
Every night and sometimes randomly throughout the day. He prays for big things, the apocalypse is looming ever closer, and he prays for little things, that it won't rain so they can finally torch the bones of a murderous little girl. He even prays that Castiel won't Fall any further because Dean's in love with the littlest angel and Sam doesn't want to see the pain on their faces. One thing he never prays for is his own life. He never asks for anything for himself and he never prays for salvation or forgiveness because he knows he'll never get it. He knows his life is forfeit and seems to have accepted that with the kind of peace that Gabriel's never seen in any human, in all his years as both Messenger and Trickster.
Listening to Sam's prayers make Gabriel feel things he hasn't in longer then he can rightly remember. It makes him nervous because this kind of behavior is not what he'd expected from the youngest Winchester and Lucifer's vessel. This belief that good things can still happen, that if only he works hard enough then maybe he can make things just a little bit better for the world, that Sam carries is astounding.
The fact that all of God's angels have given up on Him, even the ever faithful Castiel, when this damaged human has not...stirs shame and awe in Gabriel. Shame over his part in breaking this amazing example of what his Father created and awe just in Sam.
It comes as a shock to him, when Gabriel finds himself thinking that he might not be able to stand losing something so beautiful to his twisted and deformed brother. Lucifer will ruin Sam in a way nothing else has been able to and that realization hurts right down in the Grace he tried to forget existed.
I might have been wrong. Gabriel muses as he watches Sam stand at of the sink of another grimy motel bathroom, head bowed in prayer. The boy's words whisper across his mind and the sadness laced in the thoughts nearly makes his wings ache. He knows instinctively that Dean is out on a bar crawl and Castiel is with him, leaving Sam alone, which is the exact opposite of what he needs right now.
Sam finishes with a whispered aloud 'Amen' and sets about to brush his teeth, all the while not looking at the mirror. Gabriel lingers for a moment more then wings over to wait, in plain sight, cross-legged on the youngest one's bed.
This has gone on long enough. He thinks silently, decision final. And when Sam walks through that doorway and meets his eyes, Gabriel's Grace flairs to life stronger then ever.
"Hey, kiddo."
He has a purpose now, and this time he refuses to run away. He won't make the same mistake twice.