As soon as Dean disappeared, an archangel appeared inside the bunker.

"Nice place you got yourselves here," he commented, mostly to himself. A pained groan, too quiet for human ears to detect, reminded him of why he'd come here in the first place.

Sam was an absolute wreck. These trials were really taking it out of him, especially that second one. Gabriel approached the form that had dragged itself onto the floor and just looked at him for a while, maintaining his invisibility.

"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy," he finally spoke, crouching down beside him and touching his sweaty brow. Somehow, he knew that his angelic powers wouldn't work on him. He probably wasn't even allowed to use them, anyway.

"Gabriel?" Sam asked, lifting his head just slightly to peer up at the man crouched beside him.

"Hey kiddo," Gabriel smiled at him, letting a hand come to rest on Sam's hair. He stroked the tousled, sweaty locks and was pleasantly surprised when Sam actually nuzzled him like a cat or something. He really must have been feeling off to be acting like that.

"I thought you were dead," the hunter protested, managing to raise his body enough that he could lean on his forearms. Even then, he still shook.

"I am. You know that, you watched that DVD way more times than can be healthy." Sam scoffed a laugh at that, one which turned into a cough.

"So you're, what, a hallucination?" he asked, losing the battle to hold himself upright and falling back to the ground. Gabriel considered something for a moment, then decided to go ahead with it and lifted the not-exactly-light human to lay him back on the bed.

"Yeah. S'not the first time you've hallucinated an angel," he figured, deciding to keep up the charade. It was better this way, after all. Sam couldn't be distracted by archangels returning from the dead when he had to complete these trials.

"Best hallucination I've ever had," Sam admitted. "Better than Lucifer."

"I'm way more entertaining than him," he grinned. He lay down beside the hunter but held himself up on an elbow so he could make sure he was still awake.

"True, and you aren't trying to kill me by making me stay awake. I can barely stay awake as it is and... I'm weaker, Gabriel." The hunter turned his eyes to the archangel now hovering over him, and Gabriel couldn't help but notice that there was deep worry there. It just wasn't right for such a physically-fit creature to be so weak and helpless.

"Just can't catch a break, can ya, Sammy?" Gabriel lamented. "First the whole damn apocalypse and my brothers and your brother, and now these trials. You're strong but I've seen many strong men fall before." He was suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss him and only realised that he had when he felt the firm body stiffen beneath him with shock. He pulled away with a quiet curse in a language long forgotten and got off the bed. His lips tasted of blood, but he barely registered the coppery taste what with the shocked look on Sam's face.

"Sorry, I shouldn't've done that," the archangel apologised, feeling his cheeks heat up for the first time in what must have been decades.

"No, it's okay, I actually feel a lot better now," Sam admitted, sitting up in bed and swinging his legs over the side so that he could stand. He laughed in delight at the discovery and walked over to hug a very stunned Gabriel. "It must've been your mojo or something."

"That or being kissed by a pretty angel," Gabriel commented with a laugh. He'd always wanted to know what it would feel like to be enclosed in that muscular embrace. It felt good and safe. He couldn't stop himself from hugging back and really, who could resist hugging such a huggable guy?

That first day, Gabriel only stayed for a little while. Sam didn't even try to figure out how 'angel mojo' worked in hallucinations, his mind being too fuzzy from the fever for that. When he finally laid back down to sleep, Gabriel pulled the bedsheets up and stayed for a while until Sam fell asleep.

He watched him sleep for a while, just leaning against a wall. Gabriel smiled as he remembered all the fun he'd had with that boy. He didn't know how long he could stay each time or even how often he should appear, but it would only be safe to do so when Dean wasn't around.

At last, Gabriel walked back over to the bed and bent to press a kiss to Sam's forehead.

"Bye, Sammy," he whispered, his breath ruffling the hunter's fringe. And then he was gone with a flutter of wings, leaving no sign of his presence.