Chapter 132

When Gabriel went searching for his brother, he'd expected Chuck to have made an appearance and he expected Lucifer to keep it to himself. That part came true, at least. He hadn't expected to hear what Lucifer wanted with Jo, and he was right about that, too. He'd expected Lucifer to be antagonistic and that... well, he doesn't really know if that one happened. He couldn't tell what was going on in his mind.

But what he hadn't expected was for Lucifer to bring up Sam -- not like that. At most, he thought his brother would take a crack at them or make some passive-aggressive comment at their expense. He hadn't expected... .

Why would he want them to get back together? That wouldn't work out in his favor at all. He'd lose Sam, and it would make Gabriel happy, and aren't those two things Lucifer is supposed to avoid? Gabriel's decently sure Lucifer still likes Sam, at least to some capacity, even if the feeling isn't mutual in the slightest.

Wait.

He doubles back to the thought before that. It would make him happy? Did that thought really cross his mind? Was it ? Does he actually want to get back with Sam? He doesn't, right? He was the one that said it was never going to happen. It wasn't even because of Jess and Kali; they were both out of the picture by them. He told Sam they weren't getting back together, that they weren't going to play Chuck's stupid little game.

Shit.

Chuck.

Lucifer he talked to Chuck. That couldn't be it, right? There's no way Chuck would talk to Lucifer about them. There's no way he would ask of all people to get them back together. Even Chuck's not dumb enough to think that would work, because Lucifer sure as hell wouldn't say it of his own free will. Chuck would have to have something over the guy's head -- something big enough that even Gabriel couldn't comprehend it. Lucifer

No, that can't be it. Chuck was either lecturing Lucifer about being the problem child again, or he was mocking him for being a little shit. They sound similar, but one would bore Lucifer to death and one would infuriate him; it's a fine distinction. Why he wanted to talk to Jo and why he wants Sam and Gabriel to get back together, Gabriel has no idea, but it couldn't be Chuck's doing.

That doesn't make Gabriel feel too much better, though, and by the time he gets to Sam's room, his mind is still whirling from that conversation. With a flap of his wings, he's on the other side of the door, a few feet from Sam's bed. That's how he knows he was distracted. Sam is fear, and the fact that Gabriel didn't realize until he was so close... He's not proud of that.

His conversation with Lucifer forgotten, he slips into Sam's dream immediately. To say he's surprised about where he finds himself would be an understatement. He's never been here before, but he's imagined it enough that he can take an educated guess. They're in Hell, and this bad boy holding them in is the Cage.

Other than Gabriel, Sam is all alone in the Cage, but that doesn't stop him from cowering in the corner. It's weird; Gabriel had known the Cage was traumatic, but he'd always assumed it was the company he kept. Sure, it was a punishment for Lucifer, but that was more a time-out punishment than torture, and it's not like Sam's been here long. How bad must the Cage have been for just being there to hurt Sam like this?

Gabriel whooshes the Cage away and switches out their surroundings with a nice little cottage in the woods. Sam is still in the corner, but instead of metal bars jabbing into his back, it's two smooth baby-blue walls. Gabriel makes a point of walking over to him so he doesn't startle him by just appearing, and he reaches a hand down. "Need some help?"

Sam looks around frantically, but when he meets Gabriel's eye, he relaxes. "Oh, hi."

"Hey, Samwich," Gabriel says with a small smile. "Doing okay?

Sam takes his hand and lets the archangel pull him to his feet in a way no other 5-foot-eight human would be able to do. "Can we pretend that never happened?"

"'Course," Gabriel says without hesitation. He knows what it's like to want to ignore his own weaker moments; he's certainly not going to tell Sam he can't do the same. "Sorry I took so long."

"No, no, it's fine," Sam assures him. "Helping Jack takes priority. I completely agree."

Oh, right, he doing that for a few hours, wasn't he? He was thinking too hard about his conversation with Lucifer that it completely slipped his mind.

"How's it coming along?" Sam asks. "Jack getting the hang of it?"

Gabriel nods. "Yeah, he's been working on manifestation. He's got small, inanimate things down; larger things don't come out very well yet and you don't even want to know what happened when he tried to make a guinea pig, but he's doing pretty well, all things considered."

"Well, that's good," Sam says. "Do you think he's getting close to busting us out?"

Gabriel shakes his head. "Right now, could overpower him if I tried. He's got a long way to go before he can overpower God." Noticing Sam's disappointment, he adds a quick, "But he's been getting exponentially more powerful every day. I don't know when he'll be able to bust us out, but I do think he'll be able to do it." In all honesty, he's not really sure if he expects Jack to be able to do it, but it's a nice thought, and it seems to make Sam feel at least a little better.

"I hope so," he says. "The bunker's driving me up a wall. If I walk into the war room to find Dean and Cas making out --"

Gabriel snorts. "I don't see that stopping once we can leave."

"Maybe not," Sam says, "but at least I'll be able to get away from it."

"Fair point," Gabriel says. "Well, hey, until then, I can be your escape." He gestures to their new secluded cabin. "Thought I'd mix it up a little. How do we like it?"

Sam looks around. "I'm kinda interested, actually. Can I look around?"

"Of course," Gabriel says. "What's the point in doing all this handiwork if no one's gonna admire it?"

Sam shakes his head, amused. He leads the way, walks around the cottage. In all honestly, Gabriel threw this together really quickly, so he doesn't really know what it looks like or where anything is. It doesn't matter, though; Sam seems to enjoy it. It's just one floor, just a few rooms all connected to each other.

Sam finally settles on one -- the living room, it seems. He takes a seat on the couch, resting his feet on the coffee table in front of him. Gabriel stays in the doorway, leaning against the wall with a small smile. He's glad Sam took to the place so quickly. It doesn't mean much in the sense that he put no effort into it, but it's nice to see him relaxed like that.

"Are you sure you want to hang out in here?" Gabriel asks. "There's a whole world outside. I'm sure you miss the fresh air."

"Nah, we got fresh air last night," Sam says. "Unless you have something to show me out there?"

Gabriel shakes his head. "No, no tricks up my sleeve . Just a lot of trees."

Sam gives a quiet chuckle. "Well, maybe later. For now..." He pats the cushion next to him. "C'mere."

Gabriel walks over and takes a seat on the other side of the couch. He somehow feels like he's too close and too far away from the hunter at the same time, and he's not sure what to do about it, so he resolves to just sit very uncomfortably and pretend everything's okay.

"Oh, hey," Sam says, "did you manage to find Lucifer?"

Gabriel nods. He'd told Sam that he was going to look for the guy if only to figure out why he showed for a few seconds before disappearing into the abyss again, so he shouldn't be surprised that he brought it up. So why does it make him so uncomfortable? Is it just because he remembers the conversation he had with his brother just a few minutes earlier? Or is it Sam's history with Lucifer that's bothering him?

Ah, shit, this better not be jealousy. Not over something as stupid as this.

"Did you figure out what he was doing earlier?" Sam asks. "Causing drama?"

Gabriel shrugs. "I dunno. He said he wanted to talk to Jo, but he wouldn't tell me what about."

"So nothing new, then," Sam says.

Gabriel hesitates, but ultimately decides he should probably let the hunter know. "He also said he talked to Chuck."

Sam's jaw drops. "He said "

Gabriel nods. "Yeah, I mean, it shouldn't surprise you. I think Chucks pops in to see Lucifer more than anyone else here combined."

"What did Chuck say?" Sam asks.

"I got no idea," Gabriel says. "Lucifer wasn't really up for a social call." But that's not necessarily true; he actually seemed surprisingly willing to have a mostly-civil conversation, and it probably would have continued a lot longer if Gabriel hadn't gotten too uncomfortable and left. He'd feel bad if he didn't feel so suspicious. "He said it had nothing to do with me, so I didn't have to hear it."

"Well, can't argue with that logic," Sam mutters. "Okay, I think I've had enough talking about Lucifer for one night."

Gabriel snorts. At this point, he's had enough talking about Lucifer for one lifetime.