Rejected

Epilogue: Hope and Pray

Sam stared out the window, out into the dismal Monday morning sky. The usually-blue heavens were blanketed by a mass of gray clouds, which were spitting rain.

365 miles away, Gabriel stared up into the same sky. The droplets of water slid slowly down his window, and he traced them with one of his fingers.

They both thought of the same thing: each other.

Gabriel picked up his phone and stared at the blank screen, hoping, praying, for a text or a call or something from Sam.

Sam held his phone to the sky, hoping, praying for a single bar of signal. It had only took a half hour after he arrived at Bobby's house for him to find out that Bobby's house had zero signal.

Each of the wounds in the boys' hearts were still raw with longing.

~~~~~~~

Sam's door opened. Bobby's accented voice called from the doorway.

"C'mon, kid. You gotta do something other than sulk all day."

Sam didn't say anything back.

"Look, Dean told me who you left behind in Lawrence, and I'm sorry." He sighed. "The first breakup is always the hardest-"

"We didn't break up." Sam interjected. "We were forced apart."

"Well," Bobby seemed at a loss, "um, let me know if you need anything, kid."

Sam nodded as the door closed. It wasn't just Gabriel who Sam missed. He missed Cas's idle banter. He missed Lucifer's fangirling. He missed the lollipops and he missed the blue Camino. He missed the sound of spray paint and the sight of a prank perfectly executed.

Sam sighed and rolled over on the bed. The ceiling was chipped, with suspicious red stains lining the molding. The room smelled of linens and beer and mold. Sam crinkled his nose.

Outside, the rain started to come down harder.

~~~~~~~

Gabriel's eye traced a single droplet of water as it trailed down the window. He hoped and prayed for a sleek black Impala to arrive, headlights and rock music blaring through the sheets of rain, carrying Sam back to Lawrence.

But nothing came up the street. No car would try to brave the rainstorm, especially in the half-lit dawn sky. The only light blaring through the rain was the occasional flash of lightning.

Gabriel's painted door opened. A boy in a trench coat walked in, his watery blue eyes searching the room before settling on the hunched figure on Gabriel's bed.

"Gabriel." Cas said quietly.

"Cas." Gabriel matched Cas's cautious tone.

Cas sighed and sat down on the bed next to Gabriel. "Gabriel, no one's seen you for two whole days."

"Not like you looked very hard."

"Dad told us to give you space."

"You didn't have to listen." Gabriel went back to staring at the rain.

Cas took some time to speak again. "Are you okay, Gabe?"

"Don't call me Gabe."

"Fine. Are you okay, Gabriel?"