One month, twenty seven days

Blinking slowly into alertness, Sam stifles a groan at how alarmingly bright his room is. Golden light all but blinds him, forcing him to cover his eyes with the soft sheets to await sleep once more; only to be pulled back into reality by the realization that his clock reads 3:41. And unless it stopped some time in the night, he knows it shouldn't be this bright for this hour.

"Gabe?" he whispers, reaching out to find the other half of his bed cold and empty. Now he sits up, pushing his little mane of hair out of his bleary eyes.

"Right here, Sambo," the angel's voice smoothly replies from across the room, drawing Sam's attention to the usually empty rocking chair; now complete with an angel reading a book, and six wings pouring off the edge of it - both emanating a harsh gold light. "Sorry, I was getting antsy and had to stretch my wings."

"In here?"

"Why not?"

Sam groans, covering his eyes. "It's too early."

"Would you like me to go outside?"

"You'll wake up the neighbours."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Gabe questions, a hint of snark in his voice. "This is the biggest room in the house that currently is dog-free."

"What's wrong with Arizona?" Sam mumbles, immediately noting that the familiar click-clack of her nails on the hardwood could be heard as soon as he spoke her name.

"She's not the biggest fan of my wings." Gabriel admits, groaning when her furry head pokes through the door. She freezes in place, her hackles raising at the sight of the golden feathers curled into the angel's sides.

"Hey!" Sam claps his hands, only distracting the dog for a second, before she returns to softly growling at the multiple wings. "Are you against angels now or something?"

"I'd assume so," Gabriel shrugs, groaning when she barks loudly at his iridescent wings. "Why me, man?"

She barks once more, before sitting stubbornly on the ground.

"No, I'm not going to hurt Sam!" he whisper-shouts, "What do you even mean by that?"

She barks again, huffing a breath at him.

"I'm not bad!" Gabe mumbles, "And what do you mean I'm one of them? There's no other angels here! This isn't even real!"

"What?" Sam asks before Arizona can sass the angel any further. "I thought it was?"

"It is!" he adamantly groans, "Well, maybe."

"What do you mean, maybe?"

"To Dean or Cas, this world doesn't exist." Gabe nervously starts, noticing how dark Sam's eyes go as he nods along to the angel's theory. "So if and when I get you back to the real world, it'll no longer exist to you - maybe."

"Maybe?" Sam's voice jumps an octave to reveal his annoyance. "So everything that happened here won't exist?"

"Maybe! I don't know!" Gabriel folds his wings tightly around himself, his eyes flitting between Sam and Arizona. "If I knew exactly what this is I could tell you, but I don't, I really don't."

"So everything I've - we've done, won't matter." Sam darkly says, noticing but not caring about the hurt that flashes across Gabriel's face.

"It might." Gabe admits, before turning on his heel. "I'm just gonna go think about everything for a while, I'll be back before you're up again."

"Oh yes, fantastic. Run away," Sam mutters to the empty air where Gabriel was a second ago. His angel grace is annoyingly enough starting to restore, so in small bits he can exert it - usually on stupid things, like right now.

Arizona barks.

"Tell me about it." Sam agrees, turning over; the dog joining him seconds later.

***

Once again, the room is bathed in light when Sam wakes - but this time it's not from any angel's wings, and rather caused by the sun combined with Sam's open window.

Groaning, he buries his face further into Gabriel's - no, wait, too furry - Arizona's side. She hurphs, tail thudding against Sam's hip.

"Morning," he mumbles, noticing the faint smell of bacon and eggs wafting from the kitchen, all blown in his face from his wide open window.

Sitting ramrod straight, he comes to the realization that not only is his window wide open; someone is making - and not burning - food in his kitchen.

Rolling Arizona to her other side, Sam leaps out of bed and rushes to his door, throwing it open hard enough to smack against the adjacent wall.

"Hello?" he demands, the rational voice in his head only muttering slightly about the fact that maybe Gabriel can cook and this is his apology. There's no response, except for the quiet humming coming from the kitchen stops. "Gabe?"

Sam intakes a breath when he recognizes the person tending to a frying pan on the stove top, before his heart lurches into overdrive. Not Gabriel.

"A-aren't you...the?" Sam barely whispers before the man's looking up, bow tie askew and eyes wild.

"Was, yeah." He responds coldly, dumping the scrambled eggs on to a plate. "You hungry?"

"No." Sam calmly replies, thanking the gods that in all the years of hunting, a random man in his kitchen isn't all that horrifying. "Um, I'm sorry, how did you end up here?"

"Your window." He sniffs the eggs, before dumping them on Sam's floor, pushing them away with his toe. "You should lock that - wouldn't want any monsters getting in."

"Monsters aren't real." Sam dryly states, knowing full well that he's lying through his teeth to save the (questionable) sanity of another man.

"Aren't they?" the man -Matt, if Sam remembers correctly, - grins, gentle green eyes flashing to inky black.

"You have got to be kidding me." Sam sighs in exasperation, wishing that him and Gabriel had have covered the topic of potential death and what would happen, a tad more than what they did.

With no weapons around, Sam settles on balling his hands into fists and grinding his teeth together to try and slow his frantic heart.

"You're really not that scary." The demon remarks.

"Leave." Sam demands, steeling himself when it darts forward to snarl in his face.

"This body, or this world, or your house?" the demon laughs coldly, "Take your pick."

"All of the above."

"Can't do that, Sambo - this body is plenty cozy." Sam grinds his teeth together, fighting the urge to punch it in its (unfortunately not all that ugly) face. "He has a wife, y'know? Pretty thing she is."

Sam silently stares, praying that Arizona doesn't wake up and try to greet the stranger in their home.

"And - wanna know something really funny?" the demon doesn't wait for a response, before clapping its hands and announcing, "He had kids, too! And better yet, he was cheating with one of his co-workers - although that last part might've been my fault!"

The demon laughs loudly, sending chills straight down Sam's spine.

"Why are you here?" he demands, wondering vaguely where the hell Gabriel is.

"I thought I'd pop in, ruin some lives, kill some people - you know, the usual."  It snarks, baring perfect teeth. "You know why."

"Gabriel." Sam whispers, narrowing his eyes at the demon, who keeps inching closer with each sentence. "Why?"

"With him, we have leverage on the God Squad." It replies, before inquiring, "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Sam replies, nervously glancing up to his cracked ceiling; silently praying that Gabriel will show up. "He left last night."

"Where?" it demands, taking another step foreword. Although the demon is shorter than Sam by a few good inches, it's still intimidating to see such an expression on such a kind face.

"I don't know. Said he was going for a walk."

"And he left you?" its laugh is cold and mocking; as if it's just daring Sam to make a move.

"For a walk, yes. Forever, no." The twist in Sam's gut is inevitable when the unpleasant niggle at the back of his mind reminds him that they'll have to part ways in the real world.

"You're so sure?" he simply asks, "If I was him, I would ditch you so quickly - you're only human; a burden to his true power."

Doubt coils inside Sam, churning his stomach with each word the monster says.

"I'm not," Sam glances up at his ceiling once again, noting how the imperfections fall into an arch surrounding the light fixture, hairline cracks travelling out from the source into a five-pointed pattern. "But you're a demon, and demons lie."

And with that, the Hunter seizes himself, grabbing the monster by its lapels and yanking it under the light. It darkly chuckles at Sam's shaking hands and nervous eyes, before taking a step forward.

Or - at least trying to.

It hisses at the invisible barrier around it, snapping its gaze upwards to the ceiling, too conveniently complete with a wobbly and faint Devils Trap worked into it.

"How?" it snarls, coal-black eyes turned to the Winchester.

"Honestly?" Sam laughs to himself, "No idea. Probably Gabriel."

The demon lurches foreword, before ricocheting off the barrier and landing flat on its ass with a comical scowl.

"How?" it demands again, trimmed nails trying to scratch at the floor to no avail. Sam just lets a dark chuckle slip.

A sound outside distracts both of them, drawing their attention to Sam's front window. On the other side, Gabriel casually walks toward the house, whistling a high-pitched tune to himself.

The demon growls low in its throat, before turning to Sam. "Give him to us."

"Uh, no." Sam raises an eyebrow and rests his weight on one hip. "You're the one in a trap." He reminds it.

"There's more of us," it threatens, baring its teeth once again.

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots." Sam sighs, before correcting, "If I had any boots on."

"We'll be back." It promises, standing once again to stare up at Sam. "And this time, we'll be-"

"Okay - are you done yet?" he impatiently asks, noticing the surprise in the demon's eyes. "Boyfriend's about to get home, don't want him knowing I've had company."

It narrows its eyes, before thick black smoke clouds Sam's vision, clearing out up the chimney in the next second. The man - Matt - crashes down to the floor, groaning.

Sam remains frozen for a second, before Matt lets out a strangled noise. Immediately he rushes down to the other man's aid, placing his hands lightly on his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asks, grimacing as Matt turns away to barf on Sam's - (thank god) hardwood - floor, garbled sobs mixing in with the unattractive noise of ralphing.

Sam's front door clicks, before seconds later Gabriel steps in, looking worried - or angry - or both.