79. Chapter 79

“What’s that?”

Gabriel grinned, spinning around to face his brother and nephew. Dean’s head was resting on Castiel’s shoulder, half-lidded eyes staring curiously at the wall. Castiel was shaking his head. Gabriel’s grin widened as he glanced back, admiring the three calendars now affixed to the wall in the kitchen. There was a blue one, a green one and a yellow one, all of them having been divided into twenty-four numbered squares.

“That, Kiddo? That would be an advent calendar. One of humanity’s better inventions, if you ask me,” Gabriel said, bouncing on the tips of his toes. “Today is December 1st.”

Dean still looked confused. “An advent calendar? I don’t know what that is.”

“It’s to help you count down the days until Christmas! You open one square every day,” Gabriel told him, reaching over to lightly tap on square number one.

“Is there chocolate inside?” Seeming a little more interested now, Dean squirmed to get down. Castiel obliged, setting the baby on the floor. Dean toddled over and Gabriel reached out automatically to steady him; Dean never appeared to notice how uncertain on his feet he was when he first woke up, but Gabriel and Castiel sure did. There was a reason Castiel carried him down the stairs every morning.

“Chocolate or other treats,” Gabriel said. That was thanks to Castiel, who thought that there would probably be ample candy around during the holiday as it was. A traditional advent calendar held only chocolate so far as Gabriel knew, but he figured that Dean probably wouldn’t mind. These were special, archangel advent calendars after all.

Dean started to reach out to touch the green calendar, then paused and sent a questioning look in Gabriel’s direction. Gabriel nodded at him and watched as Dean gently took hold of the first square and pulled it open. Bright yellow light burst out of the square, causing Dean to step back with a startled squeal. He half-ducked behind Gabriel, much to Gabriel’s surprise, clutching at Gabriel’s arm. Gabriel fought hard to keep his expression neutral, wrapping a wing around Dean’s body.

It would never cease to surprise him to see just how much Dean Winchester had changed. At one time, Dean would’ve pulled a knife or a gun or both on anything that startled him that badly. He never would’ve even thought about ducking behind Gabriel or Castiel for protection. Hell, Gabriel was pretty sure that at one point it would’ve been the other way around, with Dean trying to protect them!

“It’s okay, little one,” Castiel said softly, moving closer and wrapping his own wing around Dean. He caught Gabriel’s eye, and Gabriel knew that Castiel was thinking the same thing. As surprising as it was, it was also very touching. Knowing that Dean trusted Gabriel enough to protect him was enough to make Gabriel at once proud and sad. Proud because Dean trusted him, but sad because it shouldn’t have felt as momentous as it did.

“Look,” Gabriel said, forcing levity into his voice. “Look, Dean!”

Dean peeked out and gasped, eyes widening. There, sitting on the floor in front of him, was a new toy. It was a little drum set with three drums and a cymbal, designed for Dean to sit or kneel on the ground and then have the drum set be pulled over his lap. The brightly painted colors suggested that it was for children, but Gabriel had made sure it was perfectly sized to suit Dean. There was even a couple of bright red drum sticks.

“What do you think?” Castiel asked. “You can free-style, or there are songs pre-programmed into it. The drums will light up when you’re supposed to hit them.” He grinned over at Gabriel. They both knew Dean was going to freak out when he realized they’d programmed the drum set with many of his favorite classic songs.

"It's awesome!" Dean exclaimed, reaching out to run a hand across one of the drums. He tapped it lightly with his hand and grinned at the sound it made. "This is way better than chocolate!"

"I bet he wouldn't be saying that if we'd gone with an advent calendar that had a different piece of pie for every day," Gabriel muttered.

"I told you no," Castiel muttered back. "The last thing I need is Dean crying all night because his stomach hurts. You know he can't control himself around pie."

"Did someone say pie?" Dean asked, looking back at them.

"No, I just said that your daddy should hurry up and open his," Gabriel said quickly.

Castiel moved forward and opened his square. Blue light poured out of the calendar and formed into a complete collection of the Supernatural books. The expression on Dean's face when he realized what he was looking at was priceless. Gabriel bit his lip to hold back a laugh, making a mental note to show this moment to Sam someday. Sam probably wouldn't be impressed about the books either, but he was positive that Sam would find Dean's face equally hilarious.

"What are those?!" Dean hissed, making a grab for the books. Gabriel stopped him, wrapping a wing around Dean and gently pulling him away.

"Cassie expressed an interest in reading them all once," Gabriel replied.

"You don't need to read them! You can see everything already!"

"Ah, but the books will give him insight that you can't gain just from seeing," Gabriel replied. "Besides, you don't know how long it took me to get my hands on a complete collection of those. That's actually the best thing in your calendar, Cassie. I figured we might as well go with the best thing right off."

"That is not the best thing!" Dean sqauwked. "Daddy! Get rid of them!" He pushed weakly at Gabriel's wing, but both of them knew there was no way Dean was getting free if Gabriel didn't want him to. The horrified look on his face quickly melted into a pout when Castiel shook his head.

"Sorry, Dean. Gabriel's right. I am interested in reading the series." Castiel knelt and picked up the series. There were fifty books (so far, anyway), so it was quite a sizeable stack.

"There better not be anything in there about... this," Dean said, waving a hand to indicate himself.

"There's not. They end after Luficer and Michael are dealt with. So far as your fans know, you and Sam road off into the sunset in the Impala," Gabriel said soothingly. He'd checked into that himself, knowing that Dean would not have been pleased to find out that someone had written books about his change into being a hatchling. The last page of the last book dictated literally that: Sam and Dean driving off in the Impala, and Gabriel and Castiel having returned to heaven to deal with all the chaos.

Dean frowned, eyeing the books. "I still don't like it. It's creepy."

"If you really don't want me to read them, I won't," Castiel said, tucking the books beneath his arm.

"No... I guess it's fine if it's you," Dean said reluctantly, uncrossing his arms. "It's more the thought of other people reading them that annoys me, but I guess none of those people know that Sam and I are real. They think we're just characters in a story."

"Life would be a lot easier if you were," Gabriel told him, ruffling Dean's hair. He was both pleased and proud that Dean had given his permission for Castiel to read the books, since he knew that Castiel really did want to read them. At the very least, the books would go a long way towards Castiel understanding Dean even better than he did right now.

"I doubt that," Dean said, pushing Gabriel's hand away. "So what's in your calendar, then?"

"I did Gabriel's calendar," Castiel said, smiling.

"Should I be nervous?" Gabriel asked, even as he was moving to open the first square. The light that flowed out was purple, and it formed into a bar of very expensive chocolate. Gabriel beamed, grabbing the bar off the floor and ripping into it. He took a huge bite, savoring the rich taste.

"No. I know what you love most," Castiel said, rolling his eyes. "I may not have let you put chocolate and candy into every square of Dean's calendar, but I suppose there's no problem with doing that for yours."

"Thanks, Casisie!" Gabriel said through a full mouth, so it came out pretty garbled. Dean giggled and Gabriel winked at him, breaking off a piece of the chocolate bar and handing it over. The delighted look on Dean's face when he bit into it was well worth having to share.

"Dean, why don't you bring your drums into the living room? Gabriel has a delivery to make," Castiel said.

"You do?" Dean said.

"Yup. It won't take me long, though." Gabriel popped the last piece of chocolate into his mouth and spread his wings. He flew away from the nest. Part of him regretted that he wouldn't be there to see Dean's reaction to the drum set once Dean figured out what it could really do, but Castiel hadn't been lying. Gabriel really did have a delivery to make and the earlier it was made, the better.

Sam's dorm room was pretty small. Gabriel had offered to make it bigger - it wouldn't have been hard - but Sam had refused, citing a concern that someone else might see and question why such a small room looked humongous on the inside. The chances of that happening were pretty non-existent as far as Gabriel could tell, because he was pretty sure no one but Sam had been inside Sam's room in months. But Sam was nothing if not stubborn, so Gabriel had capitulated. His influence, not that Sam would know, could be seen in the room in other ways: better quality blankets and sheets, a more comfortable chair, etc... all subtle enough that Sam wouldn't notice.

When Gabriel flew into the room, Sam was just coming back from the shower with only a towel wrapped around his waist. The room was small enough that it became cramped with both of them standing up, so Gabriel sat down. Sam frowned at him and hastily looked back into the hallway to see if anyone else had noticed the angel that just appeared in his room. No one was there, and he quickly closed the door.

"Relax, Sammy," Gabriel said. "I checked to be sure no one else was around before I flew in." He hadn't, but Sam didn't need to know that.

"That's not the point. You're supposed to knock." Sam sighed as he spoke, obviously knowing it was a lost cause, and grabbed a pair of boxers. He shimmied them on beneath the towel before he said, "What are you doing here?"

"I brought you an advent calendar." Gabriel snapped his fingers. Sam jumped as the calendar immediately appeared on his wall. His was red in color.

"An advent calendar? Dude, I'm not five," Sam said.

Gabriel shrugged. "Cassie and I have one. They're fun. Who says you have to be a kid to enjoy getting a little present each day?"

Sam looked at the calendar, then back at Gabriel. "The fastest way to get you to leave is to open it, isn't it?" He moved without waiting for an answer, gripping the first square and pulling it open. Blue light flowed out, forming a book. Sam picked it up and gasped.

"Something you like?" Gabriel asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"This is... I've been looking for this book for weeks! It's been sold out everywhere!" Sam exclaimed. "How did you -?!"

"Magic," Gabriel said, wiggling his fingers. It was the pure and simple truth. Sam's calendar was special; it would give him whatever he needed most at that moment. Gabriel had hopes that as the month went on, Sam's needs would get a little less university based.

"Gabriel, I... thank you," Sam said, clasping the book to his chest.

Gabriel smiled at him. "You're welcome. As requested, I'm out. See ya, Sammy."

"Wait!"

"What?" Gabriel said, pausing.

"You don't have to go. You can stay while I study, if you want," Sam mumbled. "You just have to be quiet."

Gabriel cocked his head, giving Sam a thoughtful look, and then smiled again. He sank down onto the bed again and put his feet up. "I can totally do that."