Guardian 6/?

[candylovingangel]

Title: Guardian
Author: candylovinangel
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Seen Season 1's Faith through 5.22? You're good.
Word Count: 2372
Summary: Dean has a heart attack due to his electrocution from a tazer (Season one's Faith opening). When he is told he has no more than a month or two to live, Sam gets desperate and searches for ways to save Dean, effectively ditching his brother in the hospital, forgetting to visit him more than once or longer than an hour. Dean leaves after three days to go back to the hotel room and he comes across a dog as he's taking a breather. He has no idea the dog is more than he seems..

Warmth. It was so warm and it was cozy…he could stay here forever, hiding in Dean’s soul, curled up at it’s core, fighting off the darkness that threatened to overwhelm his charge. Dean was upset and angry though when Gabriel stretched a bit, yawning he found he had poor Dean doing the same. Dean was confused alone with angry and rightfully so, it’s not every day you look like an Archangel’s vessel. Or that you unknowingly harbor one while it gets his strength back. It is only because of that vow that was now written on Dean’s back, that he could be here without hurting Dean. Gabriel had sworn that to his father upon being assigned to Dean. Many angels don’t do it…but Gabriel knew Dean’s importance and had, no matter how grudgingly at the time, wanted to keep him safe.

He’d changed Dean more as a lesson than anything. A lesson that was basically, the human had to dig deeper to find why he couldn’t think about yours truly.

It was something they’d both learn, but Gabriel already had a suspicion.

Dean cursed and sulked on his bed, rubbing at his chest as he thought. Gabriel could see, hear, feel, touch, taste and smell everything Dean could, he could hear the jumbled and confused thoughts of the Winchester and he felt sad for the man. He had been so strong before that heard attack. It had changed him. Made him realize just how vulnerable he was. That’s not something good to learn… Gabriel poked at the memories, not sure why he was dragging them up for Dean to see as well…

Yet Gabriel still looked through them, trying to figure out what Dean had felt around him for sure, even as a dog…

Every time Gabe had come to him for anything or Gabe was the one Dean had gone to…it was to see comfort and love that had been reserved just for him, Dean had trusted him…even as a dog. Dean had willingly used Gabriel as a sort of stuffed animal to hug at times, and Gabriel had willingly complied. He’d known Dean was upset and hurt, why fight him with it?

Gabriel blinked when another chord of sadness when through Dean’s soul and Gabriel stopped him from reaching out and grabbing the gun. Though he blinked when the Winchester over-rode what Gabriel had told him. He picked up the gun but only to get what was under it and he looked at the picture again and Gabriel noticed Dean smile a bit and touch his hand to the inked lines. Gabriel was pretty sure Dean’s hurting soul stuttered with the emotion which turned into something different when he looked at the picture and hugged the picture to him.

“You said you’d find a way back…” Dean whispered and Gabriel smiled. He would have hugged the human if he could. But he wasn’t strong enough to make a vessel from scratch, or even to really leave Dean… So instead he let his grace, however meager it was at the moment, wrap around Dean’s soul and Dean shivered, taking in a breath as he hand came to his chest, muttering something about it being too hot before he curled up on the bed and stared at the window…and then the dotted ceiling.

--

The next few days he confused Dean, he slipped silly little mannerisms in there that only Gabriel really did, snapping his fingers whenever Dean wanted something and he’d stare at his hand like it was something foreign on Dean’s body…which technically it was… Still. Dean was slowly going to the numb stage. Gabriel hadn’t appeared to the Winchester in any dreams, why would he? It would only upset him. He knew how much Dean dreaded going to sleep at night…Or even looking in the mirror some days. Though he noticed Dean made sure to take care of his body and was constantly shaving away stubble, claiming it was like a fucking grassland with Gabriel’s facial hair and how much it grew within like…three days. Though Dean kept a bit of a light shadow of stubble and Gabriel saw over the next few days, Dean experimenting with his look.

The best look though was the light stubble and Dean kept it up, Gabriel personally liked it anyway really as long as it was kept up. With his powers he could have his vessel any way he wanted it, when he had been inhabiting one he could use properly anyway.

Of course after a week the boys had gone stir crazy. Dean packed all of Gabriel’s clothes, yet including the red satin boxers and he could tell Dean was still embarrassed about it all, even as he snagged the coats and paused to hug one close and bury his nose in it.

Gabriel was pleased to find what he’d wanted somewhere in the mix of emotions that came up when Dean did that…Though the erection was new and Dean packed the jacket and then went into the bathroom and jerked off, Gabriel was shocked to find Dean willingly focused on Gabriel and whoa…that fire in Dean’s lower belly…that…holy crap. Gabriel was pretty sure Dean wasn’t dreaming as he did this. When Dean came at his careful ministrations, it sent a hot shock up his spine and made his eyes see spots. Dean panted as he sat there in the tub and got up after a few minutes and cleaned it all up. He then cleaned himself up and went back out to the bedroom and he was quiet as he finished the packing and went outside where the Impala had been this whole time and he got in the passenger’s seat as he hugged a jacket close to him. Gabriel could sense the worry coming from Sam and the younger brother looked to Bobby in the back who nodded firmly and they started driving.

They went through a few towns before Sam suddenly pulled over at a building.

“Come on Dean, I want you to meet someone,” Sam said as he got up and opened the door. Dean nodded and got a new jacket out of the bag a tan one, Gabriel had a lot of them… He carried it with him, slung over his arm… Sam took him into a office and told him to sit down.

“Sam…” He started to say slowly as he looked around, it was a office and fuck Dean was pretty sure what kind of office and Gabriel was shocked Sam had gone to this measure… Dean was clearly about ready to yell at Sam when Sam stopped him.

“Please, Dean…you’ve been scaring me with your behavior, even before Gabriel died, just…you won’t talk to me so just…please talk to someone…Oh and uh…Since you’re technically ‘dead’ I told them your name is Gabriel Koehler…” Sam muttered and Dean glared at Sam.

“Where the fuck did you get off doing this?!” Dean snarled, getting up and glaring at his brother, Gabriel watched sadly… Sam was only trying to help and Dean was refusing it of course. Gabriel nudged Dean’s feet into moving as his fake name was called. Dean let out a growl.

“Fuck even my body’s against me on this one…” Dean mumbled as he pushed back against Sam and pushed his hair back as he went into the office and sat on a rather comfy couch.

“So…what you want me to lay back and spill my guts huh?” Dean asked with a snort as he crossed his left leg over his right and crossed his arms and smirked at the Psychologist. She has short blonde hair and wore a casual brown dress shirt and black dress pants.

“You were forced to come here weren’t you?” She asked, she set her pad down, “Cause see, I’ve learned from experience that if you don’t want to be here, then you won’t tell me anything, though I can say just from your expression…That you’re suffering from depression and according to your Cousin you tried to kill yourself twice now,” She says as she looks at a file. Dean’s eyes narrow.

“Actually it was three times. The dog stopped me the first time,” Dean blurts out and then he grimaces, “Shit,” He mumbles. He’d fallen for the game; she must have know there’s been a few more times. Gabriel was amused by how easily Dean had fallen for the classic trick.

“Your dog stopped you from killing yourself? How?” She asked, she picked up the pad and clipboard and Dean let out a huff.

“Okay so not in a physical sense…Just…he could tell…” He trailed off and looked away.

“Yeah, animals have a way of sensing when bad things are about to happen,” She taps her pen against the paper. Dean went silent for a long few minutes, lost in what Gabriel could see was memories of Gabriel and that night…

“Gabriel?” The Psychiatrist asked and Dean flinched.

“Please don’t call me that…That was my friend’s name…” Dean mumbled, “My…Cousin gave you a fake name. At least, a fake first name…You can call me Dean,” Dean said with a sigh and he ran a hand through his hair.

“I take it things ended badly with Gabriel then,” She said calmly as she wrote something down. Gabriel then got an idea and waited…

“No. Things don’t tend to end well when the person dies saving your…cousin,” Dean looks up and the she looks at him. Dean looked to her name plate. Melissa. Heh and ordinary yet not so ordinary name…

Gabriel saw the shock across Melissa’s face before she solemnly nodded.

“Now I get it,” She says after a moment, “Your friend…Gabriel. How close were you to him?” Melissa asked and Dean blinked at her for a moment and then scoffed.

“Honestly? I don’t know. Apparently close enough he’d die for Sam out there…” Dean leaned back. Gabriel could tell Dean meant, ‘Not very well as a human…As a dog we were close…’ Gabriel then took his chance and stretched out his grace, brushing it up against’ Melissa’s soul. She looked at Dean closely now before she started writing on her pad of paper.

“So tell me Dean, how long have you been dreaming about Gabriel and uh…why do I get the feeling you don’t normally have your hair that long?” She said as she looked up to Dean from her pad of paper, a sly smile on her face.

“Say what now?” Dean asked, eyes wide as a nerve was hit.

“I said, how long have you been dreaming about Gabriel, and for how long have you been letting your hair grow out? Cause see…” She got up and opened a file cabinet and threw a file onto the table Dean was at and he blinked as he opened the file and his eyes widened.

“That goes all the way back to ah…1922, Dean, or should I say…Oh what’s the first name? Read it out loud for me,” Melissa said as she sat down in her chair. Dean looked to the first name and went through the pictures. Skip Muck. It was Warren Skip Muck who reportedly died in 1945…

He flipped through all the pictures that went well after 1945, with the same face, nearly the same hair style though it went short then long, then short and long again. Then he came to the last pictures and saw it was one of several that were taken back at the college, and one was of Gabriel helping Dean…

“I don’t see why you are showing me this,” Dean growled, avoiding answering, all these pictures had made his heart clench painfully.

Melissa just smiled faintly, “I just wanted to show you that Skip Muck was real, Dean, not some random alias Gabriel made up,” Melissa said as she sat back down and Dean stared at her in shock even as her eyes seemed to flash gold in the light for a moment before Gabriel brought his grace away and made her forget about the brief little talk there and he did the same to Dean and had Dean tuck the folder away in his jacket, he’d let Dean look at it later.

Melissa and Dean both shook their heads as Gabriel wiped their memories of the past minute or so.

“So…Dean. Did you…ah…Like Gabriel, as in like like him? Melissa asked and even Gabriel was shocked by that question as Dean gaped at her.

“I…uh…Um…” Dean felt himself going beet red with embarrassment. He looked away and he tried to get up, but Gabriel didn’t let that happen.

Dean just face palmed, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know and I’m not spilling it to some stranger,” And with that, Dean got up and left. Sam started to come and ask him something, but Dean sent him one death glare and Sam backed off.

It was one long car-ride later and the next crappy hotel room before Dean lay down on the bed. He blinked when he felt the envelope pressing against him. He pulled it out of the jacket and sat up. He frowned at the envelope and opened it and saw a lot of pictures…

Of Gabriel. No…He pulled out a bio of Skip Muck. He’d been real… He supposedly died in action in 1945… He looked at the pictures after that, of varying lengths in hair and whether or not he had a beard…but Dean knew it this point…it was all Gabriel.

Gabriel decided it was time to actually talk to Dean…but first…first he enjoyed the warmth in Dean’s lower belly and heart…which meant only one thing…and Dean seemed to be figuring it out. He’d been thinking about it ever since Melissa had asked the question. Gabriel stoked those feelings and thoughts with his grace as he made Dean fall asleep….