Build Me Up

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama/Angst

Summary: Post S6 finale. In light of recent events, Kali deems it necessary for Gabriel to return to life. Gabriel/Kali, spoilers for the finales for Seasons 5 and 6.

Author's Note: The bulk of this was written prior to the Season 7 premiere. I've got so many stories like that…

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN SUPERNATURAL. Duuuuh. :D It belongs to Eric Kripke.

()()

Gabriel awoke, which meant he was either alive, or there was an afterlife for angels.

He opened his eyes, saw Kali staring down at him, and knew that he was probably alive. That, or this was either a very pleasant angel-heaven that would have Kali in a friendly mood or angel-hell in which she was still very, very angry about the whole hidden-double-life thing.

He swallowed.

"Hey babe."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. Not friendly, but not angry either; yes, he was alive.

"You're lucky that worked."

"What worked?"

Kali raised her hand for him to see (he was on his back, her leaning over him), and there was blood on her fingertips. His blood. Well- His vessel's blood. Funny story: His vessel was actually a very, very early ancestor of Sam and Dean's, falling into their bloodline that was ever-so-compatible with him and the other archangels-

But maybe he could reflect on that later.

While Kali had obviously just brought Gabriel back to life- she had probably used some aspect of blood binding to do it, and she had never revealed all of her tricks to him so he had no idea exactly how she used it to do so- she had a certain tendency towards acting one way one minute and a completely different way the next.

Kali was from the Hindu pantheon. A very large aspect of that particular faith was 'karma': The idea that there was cosmic payback in store for you when you did something wrong. Gabriel had always meshed with that concept very, very well, having been portraying a God known for giving people exactly what they deserved and in the funniest ways possible.

Gabriel was concerned now because he wasn't at all certain what his balance was in the karma-bank: He lied to Kali about being an angel; addendum, he had passed up numerous opportunities to come clean. He'd tried to warn her about Lucifer; addendum, she had completely ignored everything he'd said even though, for once, he knew better. She "killed" him; addendum times two, he hadn't really died, and she didn't look like she was doing it purely out of spite. He'd saved her; addendum, he'd been actually killed in the process. And now she'd brought him back to life.

At it was, it sounded like he was in the clear; but then, he wasn't certain what Kali's opinion on the matter was, and all things considered, that was important. There were three possible ways this could go: One, she would forgive him and they could move on and actually be friendly with one another. Two, she would still be sore over this and desire limited contact from this point on. Three, she was still pissed about his lying and wanted nothing more to do with him from this point on, having paid him back for saving her life.

Gabriel was hoping for options one or two, but was on edge and ready to take off until three was taken off the table entirely.

He started with a winning grin. "You never fail to amaze me, Kali."

"And you never fail to nauseate me with your sycophancy." She sounded bored, and that was a step in the right direction: It was the tone she usually took when he was trying to be funny and she was pretending that it had no effect.

Gabriel turned his head to the side and looked around. They were in a hotel; it took him a moment to realize that it was, in fact, the Elysian Fields in Muncie; and judging from the thin layer of dust on the nightstand nearby, it hadn't been occupied in a while. His eyes narrowed. "How long have I been doing the tango in Angel-Limbo?"

Kali thought for a moment, eyes rolling to the ceiling. "About a year and a half. It's September of 2011."

"A year and a half?" Gabriel squawked. "And now you bring me back?"

Kali crossed her arms and glared dangerously at him, but didn't say a single word. She didn't have to.

Kali was well-acquainted with Death. Gabriel had no doubt that the pair had a nice chat over brunch on occasion (He had made it his personal mission to avoid the Horseman whenever possible). But as such, and being as old and familiar with the ways of the world and universe as she was, Kali had a great deal of respect for the natural order of life and death. And having respect for it means not bringing your ex-lover back to life just because you miss him.

…Which meant that if she'd brought him back, some bad shit was going down.

"So what happened? Can I assume Luci and Mike called off the prize-fight?" He leaned back on his elbows, still not trusting his coordination to try sitting up straight; he felt overall fine, but apparently he, as a being, was still adjusting to being in a physical form once again.

"Not quite."

"'Not quite'? We're livin' in zombie-land now, post-Apocalypse, and this rat-bag hotel just happened to survive the destruction?" Kali rolled her eyes.

"Sam Winchester said yes," She clarified. "Dean Winchester said no. Their younger, illegitimate half-brother, however, was tricked into saying yes to Michael. Sam overpowered Lucifer and dragged Michael down with him into the cage." Were these kids' lives one big cosmic soap-opera? "I don't suppose you happened to play a part in telling them how to open the cage, did you?"

Gabriel smirked. "I may have." He swung himself up into a sitting position, felt himself go alarmingly light-headed, and immediately fell back, wincing as the impact jarred his elbows unpleasantly. "Geez, how much blood did you take for your little ritual?"

"About four liters."

"Whereas the average adult male has roundabout five."

"You're an angel."

"So suck it up, because I'm being a wimp?" Kali shrugged delicately.

"You said it, not me." Gabriel stared at her for a moment as she examined the blood on her fingers and knew she was debating on whether or not she wanted to get rid of it. Kali had some pretty odd quirks, as you would expect a goddess of destruction to have, but the attraction to blood was, to date, the only one that made Gabriel a touch uneasy. It probably spawned from the power she wielded when possessing it, but honestly, he had never had the balls to ask in-depth questions about that power.

"So, Kali," He began slowly, eyes flicking between the blood and her face. "You brought me back to life and haven't re-killed me: Can I assume you're not mad at me anymore?" Her eyes met his, and he saw danger in them.

"I would be lying," She said, every word deliberate, "If I said I had completely forgiven you." Gabriel swallowed.

"And that's perfectly understandable." He agreed. "It was a pretty big lie."

"For four-hundred years."

"And I missed some opportunities to tell you the truth."

"Four. Hundred. Years."

All in all, it isn't that big of a time slot in a goddess' reckoning of time, but in her defense, she would be every bit as angry at someone who'd lied to her for four minutes as she would be at someone who'd lied to her for four centuries. Especially when that person was her lover and it was presumed that a certain level of trust had been reached between them and that such details might have, at one time, prevented said relationship from going down the tubes.

In his defense, Christianity had been the main religion in England, and for about half of their relationship, Kali had- and this was putting it gently- despised England with a pretty strong passion. And when Kali despised something, you were smart to make sure you did not make it clear that you had any ties with the item in question. At all. She had been exceedingly unapproachable about that, and Gabriel wasn't crazy enough to try and own up to his true identity, even if by that point he'd been almost-willing to tell her.

But Kali didn't look like she wanted to be argued with right then, and he was happy to keep his mouth shut. For now.

He was curious, though. "Is that why you broke up with me?"

It wasn't even so much the 'why' as it was the 'when' and the 'how'. He had no idea when it was that she'd figured it out or what he had done to give himself away. Kali was a smart woman. Kali was a very smart woman. But Gabriel, who may act like an idiot on occasion, was also pretty smart as well, and you had better believe that if there was anyone he watched his angel-related P's and Q's around, it was Kali. Because if there was anyone could figure out his dirty, wingéd little secret, she could.

He combed over everything he could remember, trying to think if maybe his wings had popped out, if she'd caught him using his real sword (which he'd only used on the extremely rare occasion for obvious reasons), or if maybe she'd simply done some snooping of her own and had found some discrepancies between himself and the real Loki.

"It was." Kali confirmed. Gabriel had suspected as much; they'd been pretty damn good together up until that point. "But enough of that. I didn't bring you back to discuss the failings in our relationship."

"Mm?"

"Your brother, Castiel: He's become a problem."

"Cassie?" Gabriel's lips quirked up in a mixture of surprise and disbelief. "Are you sure you have the right angel, babe? I once trapped that kid in the cable premiere of "Squirrels: Chirping Killers of the Forest". He got his ass kicked by those squirrels. And now you're telling me he's causing trouble?"

Gabriel took it as a very positive sign that something like amusement flickered in Kali's eyes at his description of what he'd done to Cas; one of their many compatible traits were their dark senses of humor.

"I will make a relatively long and exasperating story short: Following the end of the Apocalypse, Castiel waged war against Raphael in heaven. He used souls for power." Gabriel cringed painfully at that; souls were the kind of desperate move you didn't resort to unless you really needed it: They were like nuclear-reactor strength steroids. He had a sneaking suspicion that Lucifer may have powered up a bit before he started the massacre at the hotel. And why not? He had all of the souls in Hell at his disposal.

"That's not good."

"It gets worse."

"Goodie."

"He cut a deal with the King of Hell to find purgatory and, upon doing so, absorbed all of the souls within."

Gabriel stared at Kali who, in spite of the gravity of the situation (which he knew she appreciated), looked almost totally unaffected by what she'd just told him. "And the planet is still in tact?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, it would seem he's attained the powers of a God." Her eyes narrowed darkly. "Or something to that effect." Kali was picky in her definitions of who/what qualified as a God. "My suspicion is that the souls from purgatory are to blame for his newfound powers and… Mentality."

"Mentality?" Gabriel asked flatly, though it was more from obligation than actually wanting to know. Kali didn't answer, and he groaned. "He's gone off the deep-end."
"You have no idea."

"I think I might." He couldn't seem to banish Lucifer from his mind. "So why have you made this your problem? Is he threatening you or your pantheon?"

"No, but he has more or less slaughtered most of the angels that supported Raphael's campaign. The natural progression would mean that he will eventually take issue with us as well. We're concerned."

"Apparently." She wouldn't break the 'no resurrection' rule unless she absolutely had to. "So what did you want me to do?"

"I thought it would be good to have an archangel on our side, someone who perhaps knows your race better than we do."

"You couldn't have asked Raphael? He could have swallowed his pride for something like this."

"Raphael is dead. Surely you didn't think Castiel would leave him be as he slaughtered Raphael's troops?"

No, it hadn't occurred to him. Gabriel was blown away at the idea that Castiel had amassed enough power to survive five minutes with Raphael in a serious fight, because Raphael liked to play with his food before he ate it sometimes.

"How easily did he…?" Gabriel slowly pushed himself up on his right hand, twirling his left vaguely as though that were the proper hand signal for asking how someone had met their end.

"Evidently all it took was the snap of his fingers."

Gabriel flopped back down on the bed completely this time, right hand coming up to rub over his face. "Damn." Not ten minutes alive and he was up to his neck in a river of entirely new shit. Who would have thought that Castiel would be the one to go cuckoo for Coco Puffs on them? Maybe there was some credence to that 'it's always the quiet ones' sentiment.

Kali must have appreciated the weight of the task she brought him back for, because he felt her fingers slide through his hair. He sighed and leaned into it, and after a few minutes of trying, he conceded that he wasn't going to come up with any concise answers right now, not until he got enough blood circulating back to his brain and other helpful body parts.

"I don't suppose you have a rough estimation for how long I'll be a limp noodle, eh babe?" He heard Kali hum contemplatively.

"…A few hours, at least. Rest would be beneficial."

"Rest would be fantastic. Sleep with me?"

He opened his eyes and saw Kali not-quite-glaring at him. "Gabriel."

But he grinned. "I meant it literally."

She gave him one of her famous long-suffering eye rolls. Gabriel smirked, though, because that eye-roll usually meant that she was about to give him his way but didn't want to appear happy about it. He scooted up further on the bed so he could lie against the pillow, and Kali languidly stretched out beside him, her head on his shoulder. He curled an arm around her.

"Just like old times."

"Don't get used to it," Kali warned without opening her eyes. "I'm still angry with you."

"Mm-hm." Gabriel acknowledged. But inside he knew that that probably just meant that they were going to have really angry sex later. Not exactly a downside.

It was good to be back.

-End

THIS story will actually have a prequel, which I'm writing for the Supernatural Around the World challenge community on LJ. It's all about what inspired Kali to take such drastic measures to try and combat Castiel. :D