Chapter Text
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The minute Sam saw the case that Dean had dug up for them, he had a feeling that he knew what was going on. It took a few minutes for it to fully click though, especially once he looked up the info on the dead guy involved. Dean was thinking that it might be a haunting or something similar, but for Sam the case details really pinged his radar as Trickster. His feeling only grew stronger once they made it to Springfield and started to interview the local coeds.
“Dude. Coed ghost.” Dean was practically dancing as they headed back to the Impala so that they could toss on their fake cable company jackets. “I wonder if she’s hot.”
Shaking his head, Sam pulled out a protection charm and tossed it at his brother’s head. Long used to Sam throwing things at him, the older hunter didn’t even flinch, just caught it and rolled his eyes.
“Dude really? I swear even since you turned all witchy you keep throwing things at my head. And what’s this one for?” Dean’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Sam. “It better not keep cute coed ghosts away from me.”
Sighing, Sam pulled a second charm and waved it in Dean’s face, before pocketing it again just as they reached the car. “This one is the antighost charm, that one is for protection against Tricksters.”
“Tricksters. What the hell is a trickster?”
Turning his eyes skyward, he sent out a little prayer. ‘Gabriel I hope this is you, because Dean is being an idiot and I could really use some help messing with him.’ “They punish the wicked through tricks. They give justice to those who need it, because mortal law is failing or doesn’t cover it. Like a guy who is an abusive hothead might end up meeting their end at the hands of a movie or cartoon hothead.”
With his eyebrows drawn together, Dean stared at his brother for a moment. “So like the Hulk?”
“Yeah Dean. Like the Hulk.” Sam sighed as he shrugged the purloined jacket over his regular flannel shirt. “I don’t know if you heard about the Elizabeth Lake Monster thing a few years ago, but that was a Trickster.”
There was a thud as Dean’s head hit the frame of the car as he pulled out the pilfered tool box that they had grabbed from the cable company van earlier in the day. “Son of a bitch!”
Catching sight of what appeared to be a janitor standing at the top of the building’s stairs, Sam decided he wanted to get one more dig in before starting their act. “Yeah. You remember I told you that my girlfriend is a Trickster.”
Dean glared at him as he slammed the door of the Impala shut. “The chick with the dude’s name. I thought you just meant she liked to play pranks on people.”
Rolling his eyes, Sam turned his attention away from his gripping brother and to the now smirking janitor. There was something about the look that the brown haired janitor was giving him that rang familiar to Sam. “Avsløre sannheten din.” Whispering the spell under his breath, Sam was somehow not surprised when it did nothing other than make the janitor’s smile widen.
“Your accent’s gotten better.”
The familiar Tennessee drawl that fell from the shorter man’s lips brought a smile to Sam’s own as he finally realized who the being before him reminded him of. “I’ve had a few years of practice my dear Lokidottir.”
The Trickster’s smirk gentled into a soft wistful smile at his words. “Wish I coulda been there for that, but you know what Dad says goes.”
“Yeah.” Bounding up the stairs, he stopped just shy of the top, so that he could look Gabriel in the eye. “It’s really you isn’t it?”
“Guilty.” Nodding the archangel uncrossed his arms and practically threw himself at Sam, catching him around his neck. Burying his face in his mate’s neck, his words were muffled but clear enough that Sam could hear them. “I missed you.”
“Dude, what the hell?”
Pulling away from Gabriel just far enough to look over his shoulder, Sam gave Dean what his brother would call a bitch face. “I told you it was a Trickster.” Turning, he pulled Gabriel into his side, draping his arm carefully over the archangel’s shoulders. “Gabriel, this is my older brother, Dean.”
“Dude I thought you said Gabriel was a chick?” Dean waved his hand to indicate the whole of the archangel. “This is a dude, not a chick.”
Gabriel laughed, “Nice to meet you too Dean.”
Sighing, Sam shrugged. “Gabriel was female when I met her, but...” He looked down at his mate, “What pronouns are you using these days?”
Looking up, Gabriel winked. “As usual, all of them.” Laughing he turned to Dean. “Like Sam said, I was female bodied when we met, but my vessel isn’t always female. I kind of bounce between male and female bodied, depending on whether or not I’m here at work, or at home with the prophet. Dad kinda gave me the ability to do that after he called me away from Stanford. Not that I have a gender anyways, being what I am and all.”
The older hunter stared blankly at the shorter being, before shaking himself and raising his hands in front of himself. “Whatever dude, do you. Just gotta wrap my head around that. Back to the case… Sam said you’re a Trickster?”
“Yup.”
“And the professor was your work?”
“Yup.”
“So, case closed. I’m gonna go back to the hotel and you guys…” he grimaced and waved his hand at them both. “Just don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” Turning, he walked back to the car, shaking his head the whole time, shedding the cable company jacket as he got back into the Impala, the purloined toolbox left on the curb.
The reunited couple watched as he drove away, before either of them spoke again, neither relinquishing their grip on the other.
“I get off work in about three hours if you want to hang out until then.” Golden eyes turned up to look at the taller male. “You can come home with me if you want? Like I said, I’m staying with the prophet and there’s someone at home that I’d like you to meet.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Sam pulled the archangel tight into his side again and squeezed as hard as he dared, only to feel his mate doing the same. “I’ve missed you and I don’t want you out of my sight anytime soon.”
By the time Gabriel’s shift was over and he was ready to lock up Crawford Hall for the night, it was nearly one AM, and Sam was more than ready to properly fall asleep in the hard chair that he had settled in earlier in the janitor’s breakroom. Dozing with his eyes closed, he rested with his head on his palm with his elbow on the wobbly table in the corner. He had offered to help his mate finish up his work, but the archangel had shaken his head and pointed Sam to the breakroom, telling him to get comfortable while he waited. Several times through the three hours he waited, Gabriel had come in to check in on him, bringing him books to look at or just to chat for a few minutes before he wandered off to continue his work. Because of this, Sam didn’t so much as stir when Gabriel entered the room once more.
“My sleepy mate.” Gentle fingers ran through Sam’s hair as he sent a trickle of Grace cascading through the human to relieve the aches and pains of the day. “Time to get up babe. I’m off for the night and if you like, you can come home with me.”
Nodding sleepily, Sam opened his eyes to look up at his mate. “I’d like that. I’ve missed sleeping with you next to me.”
“I’ve missed that too.” Taking his hand, the archangel pulled the human to his feet. Gently he guided his sleepy mate out of the building to where his oddly (for him) sensible minivan waited for them in the Crawford Hall’s small lot. Guiding Sam into the passenger seat, he had to chuckle at how adorable his sleepy mate was. There was a certain innocence in his tired features that closely mirrored the ones he saw daily on their daughter’s face.
Given the early hour, it was a swift drive and soon Gabriel was shepherding Sam through the prophet’s modestly sized ranch style house to her own bedroom. Her mate not even blinking at her changed form even as she started to encourage him out of his outer layer of clothing so that he could be more comfortable sleeping. She had missed cuddling with her moose and she was not going to miss the opportunity now that it was hers again, though she was sure that their daughter was not going to let either of them rest much longer than than the sunrise that came in just under five hours.
Sure enough, just as soon as light started to pour into the room where Gabriel had Sam wrapped around her, she heard the door just across the hall open and the sound of tiny feet on the hall carpet.
“Mommy?” Ori called through the closed door.
Calling back as quietly as she could so that she wouldn’t wake up Sam, Gabriel instructed her daughter to wake up her grandfather for breakfast. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. Okay?”
“Okay mommy.”
Sighing, Gabriel let herself relax back into Sam’s arms. Breakfast was going to be interesting. It took until the smell of her father burning toast wafted through the house that her mate stirred, a good sign she was sure that he was finally getting the deep restful sleep she was sure he needed. Turning, she smiled as he sleepily opened his eyes. “Good morning sleepy moose.”
Humming softly, Sam placed a gentle kiss on the end of her nose, before pulling back to sniff the air as he sat up. “So, do I want to know who’s burning bread?”
“Dad.”
Sam let out a little laugh like he thought Gabriel was joking until he saw the perfectly serious expression on her face. “Really?”
Nodding, Gabriel let out a laugh of her own, before she got out of the very comfy bed. “Yeah. Dad is many things, but a cook is not one of them.” She shrugged, snapping herself and Sam into fresh clothing. “Being what He is, means that food is more of a triviality rather than a necessity. As great as mortal food is, it’s not exactly something sentient waves of celestial intent need, unlike mortal witches.”
“Fair enough.”
Grabbing her mate’s hand in a way that she hadn’t in several years, she dragged him out the door and down the hall to the kitchen where her father’s deep chuckles accompanied their daughter’s laughter. Chuck might not be the best at cooking, but he at least was good at interacting with his granddaughter. He seemed to adore the tiny nephilim and had gladly granted Gabriel’s wish that she be protected from both Heaven and Hell. Dad only knew what the lesser ranked angel’s would do if they found out that one of the Archangel’s had had a child with a human, let alone what the demon’s would do. It was fortunate that Raphael’s reaction when they found out was to roll their proverbial eyes and swat their younger sibling on the back of the head and loudly complain to their father about Gabriel getting away with everything. Dad had just laughed at that and had shrugged stating that the reason was that Gabriel was the one who took after Him the most and it’s not like He would stop any of the rest of them if they wanted kids.
The sight that greeted them when they entered the kitchen startled a laugh out of Gabriel and had Sam stopping in his tracks. Oriana was standing on a chair in her pale blue Care Bears PJs next to the stove quite sternly directing her grandfather on the proper way to make scrambled eggs. It took a couple of minutes, but as soon as Chuck had pulled the pan off the heat and turned off the stove, Gabriel cleared her throat to catch their attention.
“Mommy! Me and Ganpa made eggies.”
“I’m sure they are going to be fabulous. But I want you to meet someone.” Moving forward, she lifted her daughter and tucked her against her side as she turned back to Sam, her father quietly watching by her side. “Ori you remember how Grandpa told you that you would get to meet Daddy soon?”
“Yeah.”
“This is your Daddy.”
“Daddy?”
Sam looked gobsmacked as she introduced them. “Sam, this is our daughter, Oriana. And this is my dad Chuck.”
With shaking hands the mortal witch reached out and gently tucked a stray hair back behind the tiny brunette’s ear. “Hey.” Looking up at his angelic mate, Sam smiled as his eyes filled with tears. “We have a daughter.”
“Yeah we do.”
~*~*~*~
“Sam, why is God named Chuck?”
“Because he’s God Dean. He doesn’t need a reason for what he does.”
“If it makes you feel better, I haven’t told the rest of the family yet that my Name is Chuck now.”
“That does not make me feel better Chuck !”
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