Supernatural House Arrest (Supernatural Fanfic)

Chapter 141

Gabriel's not entirely sure what's going on in Sam's dream when he shows up. He tries asking Sam, and he doesn't seem to know, either. Ah, the complexities of the human brain. Yet another reason Gabriel is glad he's an archangel.

They opt to spend the night — or, as it appears on the dream, the afternoon — walking through the woods. It's a nice area; Gabriel makes a mental note of all his favorite details in case he ever creates his own forest. Sam's subconscious mind did well.

The conversation flickers in and out, and neither of them feel pressured to force it. A couple weeks ago, Gabriel never would have thought they could mend their relationship enough just to talk. He certainly never thought they could fix it enough to share a comfortable silence with him.

"Do you wanna take a break?" Sam asks. "We've been walking for a very long time and sleep is usually about, you know, resting.".

"Fair point," Gabriel says, though he has to assume Sam knows that he could run a marathon in his dreams without affecting the state of his physical body. "Want me to poof us a bench or something?"

"Nah, I'm actually thinking..." Sam looks up at a tree ahead of them. "That looks fun to climb."

Gabriel follows his gaze, but it's difficult to tell which one he's thinking of. He teleports to a random branch in that general direction. "This one?"

Sam shakes his head, and Gabriel can tell he's fighting back a laugh. "No, the one to the left."

Gabriel teleports to the tree to his left. "This one?"

"No, my left," Sam says. "How could I even climb that one? There are no branches for the first, like, 15 feet!"

Gabriel shrugs. "I don't know. I've never had to climb a tree before."

Sam scoffs. "You've never climbed a tree before?"

"I've got wings," Gabriel says, the only answer he really feels he needs to give. Climbing is for species that have to move on foot, and fortunately, he would be excluded from that list.

"Yeah, but climbing trees is, like, a right of passage," Sam tells him. "Come on, we're climbing this tree together."

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "I'm not cli—"

"I'm sorry, I don't remember asking you," Sam interrupts, a teasing smile on his face. "C'mon, out of the tree."

A surge of power flows through the dream, and in an attempt to cope with it, his grip on the tree branch loosens and he falls to the ground. The way he lands would have broken a human's neck far past the point of no repair, but on an archangel, it's just a minor inconvenience as he unrolls onto his back.

"Gabriel?" Sam says warily, but his voice sounds muffled and far away. "Gabriel, are you okay?"

What was that? What type of power surge could Sam possibly dream up that would be that strong?

Unless...

"I -- I have to go," Gabriel stammers, pushing himself to his feet.

"Go where?" Sam asks, and he's starting to sound worried.

Gabriel's far beyond that.

"I'll be right back," Gabriel says, then disappears out of the dream without another word.

Immediately, Gabriel is in the garage, and all the confirmation he needs to see that this power surge wasn't part of the dream is Jack sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up against his chest. Gabriel flaps his wings once more and lands by the kid's side, where he crouches down in front of him.