The final day

The angel nervously rubs his hands down the front of his suit for the umpteenth time, still self-conscious even though Sam spent the entire week leading up to today assuring him he looks fine.

He still can't quite believe him - Gabe can rock battle armor and questionable bathing suits, but bring it down to fancy dress and he's down the toilet. The slightly wilted rose tucked into his dress shirt also doesn't help much; it was always Lucifer's favorite flower and so they used to be scattered everywhere, their sweet aroma never changing even through all these years.

The car the two are in whines and grumbles on the unpaved road - seriously what kind of hippies get married in a freaking forest? There's washrooms and such, but still, there's spiders and other fun things in a forest that although Gabriel is the most powerful archangel left - he'd rather not deal with.

Sam grumbles as he steers the car around big potholes, letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of a large collection of people up ahead.

"Time check?" he asks, seeing that Gabriel just maybe blew out the clock in his car when he let his wings free too close to it.

"Still have an hour," Gabriel confirms, checking his watch.

Although the two were supposed to be here well over two hours to go, they were promptly distracted at home and lost track of time; mainly Arizona is to blame.

"You think they'll be angry?" Gabe questions, cringing when he catches sight of Dean storming towards them.

"I think so." Sam slides down into his seat further. "You go first."

"Me?"

"Yes you - he's not related to you, he can't punch you."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Gabe grumbles, before collecting their gift and stepping out of the car.

"Where were you?" Dean demands the second the door's closed. "We have less than an hour!"

"Sorry?" he offers, holding out the gift. "We're here now - let's get going."

"Damn right," he agrees, before setting his eyes on Sam.

"Good luck!" Gabe mouths behind Dean's back, silently laughing at Sam's horrified expression.

***

Weddings are not cool.

Gabriel groans at Cas and Dean's sappy exchanges of words, desperately wishing he could just leave. Sam looks dead on his feet, and the most interesting thing at this entire celebration are the birds flitting about at their feet, scavenging for seeds and other such fun things.

Nothing interesting happens during most of the vows, but near the end Gabriel's usually quiet angel radio peaks. He stiffens his spine, grinding his teeth as he feels the air change - no humans can feel it, but the slight shift in the magnetic field around them sends the angel into an internal frenzy.

He wants to wield his angel blade and let his wings fly, but the countless people around him would probably get in the way.

And besides, Dean and Cas are going in for the kiss now - so it can't be much longer.

And so he's right, as everyone starts to disperse back to the food table. Sam drags himself over to Gabe, falling on to his shoulder. If he wasn't an archangel, Sam's weight would have crushed him by now, but given the circumstances he's still hanging on.

"Boring?"

"Dear God you wouldn't believe."

"Don't swear." Gabriel scolds, still scanning the surroundings for any angel activity. It could've just been an accident and some poor rookie ended up here...but the chances of that.

"What's wrong?" Sam questions, immediately noticing the darkness in the angel's eyes.

"Nothing," Gabriel assures (lies), "nothing at all, kiddo."

"Right," Sam takes one last glance around. "Well I'm gonna use the bathroom - you staying here with the lovebirds or no?"

"I think I'll..." Gabe catches sight of the previously mentioned couple, making use of each other's hands - in a public place. "Go with you."

"Good plan." Sam's eyes are wide as he grabs Gabe's hand and pulls him towards the bathroom.

As they walk, another disturbance ruffles Gabriel's (metaphorical) feathers, causing him to abruptly halt mid stride.

"What?" Sam asks, hands now balled into fists. "Demons?"

"Angels...I think."

"Are they after us?"

"Me, probably." Gabriel states, "Go to the bathroom, I'll wait here - if they decide to attack, it'll be me, not you."

"I can fight angels!"

"Not bare handed you can't." He turns away from Sam, summoning his angel blade. "These are more thank likely the most powerful angels Heaven can throw at me."

"Don't you have some special archangel powers though?"

"Yeah, a freaking horn - now go." Gabriel nudges Sam's shoulder, relieved when he heads off towards the bathroom, and for once everything goes according to plan with a Winchester.

That is, until he feels another disturbance, this one so powerful he almost falls backwards - coming directly from the bathroom.

And for the first time, the angel lets a "Shit!" slip as he sprints towards the washroom, wings now on full display but far enough from people for no one to see.

When he's in there, it's dead silent except for Sam washing his hands.

"That plan lasted a total of two seconds," he points out as he dries his hands, even humming along to a tune.

"Is there no angels in here?"

"There's one." Sam replies, before waving the paper towel at him. "You."

"No - I felt-" before he can even finish his sentence he notices another set of feet under one of the stall doors. "Sam, come here, now."

"Why?" Sam asks, taking a step back to lean on the stall door.

"Sam, now."

Rolling his eyes, Sam obeys, before about four things happen at once.

one: stall door flies open - not one, but three angels inside.

two: they're practically throwing themselves at Gabriel, blades everywhere.

three: Sam, being the idiot he is, hits one of them before taking off running.

four: it follows him.

Gabriel panics, messily beheading one of the angels with a quiet apology, before turning to the other.

Its vessel is a young man, brilliant grey eyes trained on the archangel - in fact, he almost looks familiar to Gabriel, but that might just be the angel underneath. Or maybe the fact that he's always their waiter whenever they stop in to town for drinks.

"Zachariah?" he guesses, dodging a swing from the angel's blade.

"Brother." He replies, his voice higher than Gabriel would've guessed. "We need you."

"Do you?" Gabriel leans away from a punch, swatting at the other angel's hand. "Because this is a bad way to express it."

"We needed you." He corrects, "And you left us."

"I was kinda busy being dead."

"Excuses!" he spits, before taking another swing; this time, Gabriel catches his fist mid-air, pushing his opponent back through the bathroom wall.

"Oops, sorry." He mumbles to no one - maybe the bathroom itself, or maybe the angel, who's already on his feet and advancing.

"I will fight to the death," he promises, glancing about for its angel blade - which Gabriel currently has mashed under his foot.

"Looking for something?" he teases, before lunging forward with his own blade.

A quick apology, no hard feelings and a blast of white light later, Gabriel's cleaning off his weapon, the angel's last words confusing him:

"I never said it would be one of us dying."