#6 of the Little Children verse. Crowley wonders why him, of all demons. Why was he the one to be purified by Sam's blood? Was it because he threatened all of the people the Winchesters had saved over the years or was it something else? As he starts to build an army of purified demons to protect the people of Earth, he begins to realize his worth, something that Sam had seen a very long time ago.

As usual, I don't own Supernatural or its characters. Eric Kripke has that joy.

Over The Rainbow

Because of Sam's blood running through him, Crowley's conscience wouldn't allow him to do nothing now that Abaddon was threatening the humans trying to make his/her way to Heaven. Knowing what had happened to him when Sam purified him, Crowley decided to help out by purifying other select demons to help protect Earth's Children. To do that, he knew, he would need some blood from Sam. Since this was Sam, Crowley asked Kevin and Dean to draw a pint. They had to be careful since Sam was still very delicate and wouldn't be able to donate as much as they needed.

Dean decided help Crowley by donating some of his blood even though it meant he had to go to confession. After he overheard Sam and Kevin's conversation, he had felt dirty and mean. Dean knew that his biggest sin had been one of pride. Until he had eavesdropped on them, Dean hadn't realized that he was the one, out of all the monsters and demons, who had hurt his brother the worst, all because of his pride. He decided to do it like Sam had-nobody between him and God. Somehow, though, he felt as though he wasn't alone in the confessional, that someone was there who loved and forgave him.

Remembering Sam's friend, Dean asked, "Jay?"

"I'm here, Dean. I have been and always will be by your side," came the soft answer. "You are forgiven of your sins. Be at peace my brother." Dean felt lighter than he had before Sam died in Cold Oak, even before his father died in his place. He bowed his head and thanked God for his mercy.

Kevin also went to confession since he wanted to help. He decided to follow his older brothers and confess without the benefit of a priest. He confessed his anger at the Winchesters, Crowley for the torture, Garth for not protecting him enough, his girlfriend and mother for dying, but mostly at himself for being cowardly, or so he believed. When he was done, he too felt the peace and love that came from confessing his sins. He too heard Jay's words of love and forgiveness. Jay told him that the anger was perfectly understandable as long as he didn't let it get in his way of living and loving. Jay had gone on to say that Kevin wasn't a coward but someone who had faced a life or death situation not many people would do in their lifetimes.

Cas watched from a distance and realized that he could help by giving blood also. Since his grace had been torn out, he could feel that he was now human. Bowing his head, he confessed all his sins and asked for absolution. He felt his brother's arms around him and the ex-Angel cried. He felt that he didn't deserve such mercy but his brother kept softly whispering words of love, forgiveness and encouragement. Cas was grateful that Jay would even deign to look at such a dirty being as himself let alone touch him. It was almost too much but Jay kept him in his arms. "I have always been with you, little brother," was the whisper that healed Cas' heart.

Crowley went back to the church where he had been cleansed, taking the blood, four pints to start, and the handcuffs Dean had used on him. He set up the chair and chains then went off grounds to summon the nearest demon to him. When she got there, Crowley handcuffed her and brought her into the church. After he got her chained in the chair, Crowley went to the confessional.

Kneeling down for the first time in hundreds of years, Crowley bowed his head and prayed, "Father, I don't know if You deem me worthy of forgiveness after everything I had done. I don't know why, out of all the demons, the Winchesters believed that I should be cleansed but I am grateful for their mercy even after everything I had done to them. Was it because they thought I still had some humanity in me? Was it because I acted to save the world from Lucifer? The leviathans? Or was it because I was killing those people they had saved in the past. They were selfish acts, just trying to save my own skin but they saw something else in my actions. Sam would have died to make me human again, a very humbling and painful thought. The man who had been condemned as an abomination by many Angels, Demons and humans for something that happened to him as a mere infant, a man who was Lucifer's vessel would have laid down his life for me…for me, the King of Hell.

"I watched as he became weaker and weaker though his soul became stronger and brighter than anything I had ever seen, even the grace of an Angel. He would have sacrificed his life for me but for his brother's intervention which I thank You very much for. I don't think I could have lived with Sam's death on my soul. I was not nor am I worthy of such sacrifice. Because of the Winchesters, I come before You on my knees asking for Your forgiveness for everything I have done in my life and afterlife. I am truly sorry for everything.

"Father, please help me to cleanse my fellow lost souls so that they can serve You. Help Your servants open Heaven's Gates once more. I pray that You help us find the strength to do Your will. Amen." Unseen by Crowley but felt, Jay stood beside him and smiled. It was a joy and wonder to see the ex-King of Hell on his knees, asking for forgiveness, a testament to the influence of the forgiving heart of one Sam Winchester.

Crowley got off his knees, feeling better than he had in so very many years. Exiting out of the confessional, he went to the demon and said, "This will hurt but I can guarantee you that it will be worth it." Loading the first syringe out of the required eight, he went over and grabbed the demon's head. Baring the neck, Crowley plunged the needle into her neck and depressed the plunger. He stepped back and looked at his watch to note the time of the first injection then he started to pray.

During the eight hours it took to cleanse the she-demon, Crowley began to think about who he had been both in life and death. When he was born, his mother named him Fergus after the father he never knew. His father had died in what is now known as the War of the Three Kingdoms before he found that Crowley's mother was pregnant. She had been a natural witch, one born with powers and she had passed those powers to her son. As soon as he was able to walk and talk, she made sure to impress upon her son the importance of not telling anyone about their powers or the spells they performed. His mother was a healer and a midwife, famous among the clans. It wasn't unheard of for a woman to come to them for help in either conceiving or delivering a child.

Crowley loved it, loved being by his mother but, when he turned twelve, she had him apprentice with a tailor who made clothes for the English, not a popular move but one she had hoped would garner good will since there had been a doctor who had moved into the area. That, and the charms she had made for her and her son, kept them safe for many years. Until her son met the woman he wanted to marry, one Maureen Campbell.

The apprenticeship contract stated that Crowley had to ask permission to marry if he found someone before his term was completed. Unfortunately, Crowley's master said no to his request. The young man was so angry at his master that he threw a small spell to get the man to change his mind. It was Crowley's first selfish spell that he had thrown. As his mother could have told him, selfish spells thrown had repercussions. For him it was the fact his mother had been arrested, tried and burned as a witch. Then Maureen died giving birth to his son. Crowley was devastated. He had felt a deep guilt and knew that he was the cause of the deaths of the women he loved. His guilt turned into self-hatred but, instead of punishing himself, he started to punish his beloved child for being alive while his mother and wife were dead.

After his apprenticeship was done, Crowley moved himself and his son to a nearby village to set up shop. It was there that he met and married a woman by the name of Bridget, an Irish born lassie who moved to Scotland when her father accepted a position with the local English lord as a Master of Horses. Right off, the marriage was bad. She didn't like the way Crowley treated his son and she hated his side practice of herbal medicine, saying that she did not want to be a widow so soon after the wedding vows had been taken. But the real killer to any romance was the fact she couldn't conceive. She was barren. Bridget had become more and more upset that she didn't have any little babies of her own and she refused to believe that it was her body that failed to conceive. She started to blame her husband. Privately, she told him that it was because of his practice of witchcraft but publically, she did something even worse. Ignoring the fact that he was a proven father, she spread gossip around the village saying that his "tool" was too small to get the job done right. Crowley became the laughing stock of the village and not just his village but the surrounding ones as well.

He tried to not let it get to him, he really did but when the drunks at the pub started to sing about his stubby member, he lost it. He beat Bridget and kicked her out of his house, screaming at the top of his voice that he and his son did not need such a shrew in their lives. Crowley then packed up their stuff and moved them to the house he had grown up in with his mother. The third thing he did would eventually lead him to become the King of Hell, he made a deal with a crossroads demon. It wasn't like his son would tell the Winchesters hundreds of years in the future to give him more inches beneath his belt, it was for revenge against the ones who had killed his mother and the ones who had laughed at him, using the gossip Bridget had spread. He was given a kiss and ten years.

Since he didn't want his own son to hurt like he did when his mother died, Crowley decided to put him in an apprenticeship early. He found a shipwright who would take the boy at the tender age of eight. Then Crowley proceeded to break all familial ties with his only child. He didn't want his son to mourn his death like he had mourned the deaths of his mother and first wife. For ten years, Crowley remade himself. He dove into his witch heritage with a vengeance and learned to become a very sharp trader. The people who had belittled him and those who had a hand in his mother's death all died. Bridget herself died in a fire, the doctor who had pressed charges against his mother died in a hunting accident and so forth.

Two days before his deal came due, Crowley went to see his only son. The man his boy had grown up to be was harsh with his father, calling him an absentee father who abused the child he used to be. Crowley bowed his head and left the man with a box of trinkets that had belonged to Maureen and his grandmother.

Crowley went back to his home and waited. It didn't take long before the hellhounds came for him but they had been accompanied by Lilith's representative. This demon told Crowley that the Queen herself had taken interest in him and wanted him to work for her after he had been "trained". Then Crowley was torn apart. In hell, he was on the racks for twenty years before he broke and agreed to work for Lilith. Like Dean, he had kept the love for his son hidden deep within his soul but, unlike Dean, he wasn't rescued by Angels so Crowley became a crossroads demon.

Over the years, Crowley made many deals, some were very surprising. He hadn't been joking when he said that he had sold sin to saints for centuries since many of his deals were with people who were considered very good. There was a deal with a man who was a deacon in his church but wanted to destroy A famous man's family since the war had killed his only son and his wife. A death of a child, the death of the man himself and the man's wife going insane was the result. The man giggled with glee as the hounds tore him apart. A woman in England watched as all but two of her children died from disease. She made a deal with Crowley and spent the next ten years killing her new family members with arsenic, even the children she so dearly wanted to save. A Healer was a feather in Crowley's cap. He had been considered a saint as a child but he made a deal. He became the royal physician for the crown prince. His death was caused by drowning, so the reports went but that was because the police decided that the torn condition of the body should remain a secret since they had a suspicion that members of the royal family had something to do with it.

Two of the worst killers of the 20th Century were also part of Crowley's greatest hits. Both made sure their families were dead before the hounds came for them. There had been instructions to burn the bodies which were carried out by green-faced followers. There were many other deals with famous people. Each time, the deaths were ruled as either accidental or murder. Crowley's reputation grew and he became the King of the Crossroad Demons with Lilith herself putting the crown on his head. Especially when a very ambitious woman, one of Crowley's deals, quickly became Lilith's handmaid. She would become known to the Winchesters as the demon named Ruby.

One of his deals would end up with Hell's best torturer. This man had started out making a deal to let him practice his favorite hobby, killing prostitutes. The murderer, who would be known to the world as Jack the Ripper, enjoyed traveling all over Europe before settling in London. His last murder was his best work ever…right before the hounds came for him. Parts of his body was mingled in hers but since there was so little of him left, the police doctor could tell there was actually three people dead in the room, not just the woman and her unborn child.

When Jack went to Hell, he critiqued the techniques of his torturer. When Azazel heard about that, he decided that Jack didn't need any help to become a demon, he already was one. So he was taken off the rack almost within hours of his arrival and was given a knife. His deal was just icing on the cake that was Crowley's career. The two of them spent many hours in each other's company, joking and sharing pints of ale. He was the one who taught Crowley the fine art of torture that Crowley would use later on against Meg, Bobby and the monsters. Jack became the demon Alastair who would be Dean's torturer and teacher.

In 1973, Crowley heard that Azazel was making deals with people of a certain bloodline. Since he was the King of the Crossroads, he was a bit angry. The deals Azazel was making didn't result in souls on the racks, they resulted in the other demon going into the nurseries of babies and bleeding into their mouths thus marking them as potential vessels of Lucifer. Crowley had read everything he could get his hands on about Lucifer and what the fallout would be if the Fallen Angel ever got out of his cage. It was then that he started to plan against Lucifer.

It wasn't but a little more than thirty years later that the first seal was broken by Michael's vessel, Dean Winchester. That was when Crowley left Hell and set up residency in a meatsuit from London. It was a stroke of good luck when one of his contracts contacted him to beg for a chance to get out of her contract. Bela was a psychopath true but one that he could manipulate easily since she valued her life. He made another deal with her, she was to steal the famed Colt from the Winchesters and bring it to him. For that service, he would break her contract but she would be changed into a small child instead of the hounds coming for her. She chewed her lip as she thought about it then agreed to his deal.

It took some time, Lilith crawling out of the Pit and Bela lifting the Colt while the boys were preoccupied with another case, but finally, he had the gun that was famous for killing anything…or so they thought. He stayed off the radar of the boys but he had heard one of the Crossroads Demons had made a deal with Dean Winchester for his brother's life. Crowley knew that the time had come and the first seal was just a hop, skip and a jump away from being broken.

Then it happened. Dean, the Righteous Man, had spilled blood in Hell which broke the first seal. He was rescued by the Angel Castiel only to have his own brother break the last seal after being infected by Ruby's blood. When Lucifer rose, Crowley hid. He was glad that he had gotten the Colt before the big man got out of the cage. Using wards and sigils, Crowley kept himself hidden and safe…until the time came to actually meet with the Winchesters.

He only knew Dean from his time in Hell but he had heard about the younger Winchester. There had been whispers that Meg, the one who had been called Azazel's daughter, had actually possessed Sam for a couple of weeks. What was strange was that she said she had actually tried to get out of the younger hunter, that it burned to be within him. Some thought that was because he was to be Lucifer's vessel but others had a different idea. It was said that one of the Archdukes believed it was because she still had a tiny piece of a human soul within her. When the Winchesters stood in front of him, Crowley could feel a slight burning within his own soul as Sam's eyes lay upon him.

Everything that he had gone through to get the Winchesters in his house, all the manipulating and clues dropped, Crowley finally had the Winchesters in his home. He could feel that there was something else going on, something more about Sam that nobody knew about and he wasn't sure if he liked it. Each time after that, whenever he was in Sam's presence, Crowley found himself burning but liking it. It was like part of his soul was fighting all the evil that he was and that part was winning! It was the reason why he healed Bobby, just to make Sam happy.

When Sam threw himself in the cage, Crowley got good and drunk. He actually missed his moose-sized friend. But when Sam seemed to have come back and Crowley had heard about it, he eagerly went to where the hunter was but there was something different. Crowley couldn't feel the burning in his soul. It wasn't until Sam was back with Dean and Cas had done a thorough check that it was found Sam's soul wasn't in his vessel, it was still in the cage with Lucifer and Michael.

As much as he wished Sam was whole, Crowley knew that if the hunter got his soul put back within him, he could die or even be driven insane. Crowley warned Sam about that but Dean was stubborn and made a deal with Death. When Death put Sam's soul back into his vessel, he also put up a wall to keep all the Hell memories away from Sam. Unfortunately, Cas was the one to tear down that retaining wall just to keep Bobby and Dean away from him and Crowley in their pursuit of opening the gate to Purgatory.

Sam showed his strength and, even with the Hell memories all dancing in his head, he rose from his sickbed to back his brother and Bobby up while they tried to stop the gate from opening. When Cas had his attention on the older hunters and all the Purgatory souls within his vessel, Sam showed his strength again and stabbed his Celestial twin in the back. When he forgave Cas everything the Angel had ever did or said to him, Sam Winchester became the most frightening thing in the whole of Creation to Crowley. Not many humans could or would ever do that to someone who almost killed him.

Crowley once again turned to the Winchesters when the Leviathans became a threat not only to the humans and Angels but also to himself. Sam felt even more dangerous to him. He had his soul but he was also clinically insane, seeing his torturer everywhere. Castiel has exploded in a reservoir, letting all the Leviathans out into the world and the Winchesters, along with Bobby Singer, studied the newest threat and found that the monsters were "allergic" to borax, a cleaning substance. Even after he died, Bobby had his boys' backs. He became a vengeful ghost easily and it was Sam then Dean who talked some sense into him. If it hadn't been for Crowley paying a rogue reaper, Bobby would have gone to Heaven right away but Crowley had a feeling that he needed Bobby's soul as a hostage against the ever increasingly dangerous Winchesters, especially Sam.

When Kevin became the newest Prophet of the Lord, Crowley knew that the Winchesters had a new weapon that could be used against him but he let them keep Kevin until the threat of the Leviathans had been neutralized as well as Dean and Castiel being pulled into Purgatory along with Dick Roman, the Alpha Leviathan. The look on Sam's face when he realized that he was alone almost devastated Crowley but, keeping with his demon-hood, the King of Hell just took Kevin and Meg on his way out.

It was when he was torturing Meg that Crowley found out the extent of Sam's powers. If Sam had known about them, he would have been the Hammer Heaven needed against Hell. Without even giving her his blood, Meg had turned almost fully human. She said/screamed out that it actually started from their first meeting but really increased when she had possessed Sam. What scared Crowley was, was that Meg started to crave being in Sam's presence, doing things that would make him happy, like watching over his Celestial twin when Cas was in the mental hospital.

After that little tidbit, Crowley went back to his books and scrolls to search out if Sam's influence was because the Morning Star had used him as a vessel but the books were silent on that point. Crowley started to have the hunter tested to find out who and what Sam Winchester was. Since he couldn't touch Holy Water or even a rosary, Crowley had some of his living contracts do it. The Vet Technician at the clinic where Sam took the dog he had hit splashed Holy Water on him but there wasn't any reaction. Neither was there any reaction when Sam was cut with silver or had a cross pressed to him. So, he wasn't a Fallen Angel or a demon. Crowley started to have someone watch Sam all the time. That person was instructed to try to cut Winchester with an Angel blade but he didn't have a chance to do that because Sam left Amelia's house to go to his brother who had just escaped from Purgatory. Frustrated, Crowley fed the watcher to his hounds.

He also fed every demon that he had with him to guard Kevin. When the Prophet tricked him into getting the components for the demon bomb, he was able to make his escape and disappeared for quite a while but Crowley knew the ways of the heart so he had demons watch Kevin's mother and girlfriend. When it became clear that the Prophet had made his way to his girlfriend and was hiding close by, Crowley had her possessed. Then the Winchesters showed up and Crowley felt the familiar burn as Sam looked him straight in the eye. Now, though, the burning was worse than ever. Meg could have told him that it got worse the more he fought the change but she wasn't talking to him anymore, no matter what kind of persuasion he tried to use. The only thing he really knew was that she had information about the Angel Tablet that Lucifer had hid. When Crowley realized that the Demon Tablet could close the Gates of Hell, he trembled when he thought of the Winchesters trying it. Then his fears became founded when the hellhound he had sent to collect a soul never came back. Crowley found his beloved hound with its throat slashed and the blood of Dean was splattered about but made unusable by the dousing of Holy Water that it was given.

At first, Crowley thought that Dean was the one attempting to close the Gates until a demon who had been assigned to watch the brothers told him that it was Sam who was doing the trials. Crowley's fears and hopes increased as he fought hard against Bobby's soul being sent to Heaven. The same soul he kept for insurance against the Winchesters.

His last resort was to start to kill everyone that the Winchesters had ever saved. He didn't realize it but he should never have killed Sarah or tried to kill Jodie. The boys became pissed and chose him as their last trial. How they caught him was a stroke of genius, using his own contract against him. He thought he had them by having Sam sign the contract, he forgot about Dean and his handcuffs.

Now, all he could do was to pass on the gift to other worthy demons. Sam's gift.

SPNSPNSPNSPN

When the eight hours were over, he let the demon…er purified demon out of the chair. "You will need to find some souls in Hell and bring them to me," Crowley instructed. A list of names appeared in his hand. "Here are the names and their locations. Be careful that Abaddon or any demon loyal to it doesn't know that you are even there. They will tear you apart, my dear and I don't want that to happen." A cell phone was the next to appear. "Call me when you get them. You will need to store them here so make sure the handcuffs you use have the same sigils as the ones I used on you. Will you do that for me?"

The newly cleansed demon smiled and said, "Yes, I will. Thank you for this second chance."

"You are very welcome, my dear. By the way, what is your name?" Crowley asked.

She smiled and said, "I used to be known as Ava."

Crowley smiled back and waved before disappearing. Ava, one of Azazel's special children, now had a new lease on her unlife. As will Jake Talley, Scott Carey, Max Miller, and a twin by the name of Anson. His brother was residing in Heaven as did the soul of a lady named Lily.

Crowley appeared in the bunker only to hear an argument between his children. Wondering what was up, he listened then grinned.

"Dude, you are so Scarlett O'Hara! You moon over a married woman who would never leave her husband!" Dean exclaimed only to follow that with a loud "OUCH!"

"For your information, I was the one who walked away. Amelia gave me a choice, jerk! Besides, you are Frank Kennedy when it comes to relationships! OW!" Sam yelled.

"Am not! I'm more of the Rhett Butler love 'em and leave 'em kind, bitch!" Dean said loudly.

"No, you're not. Rhett Butler loved one woman enough to marry her and that's Scarlett O'Hara. You haven't married anyone yet!" Sam countered.

"Point taken but can we at least agree that Cas is Charles Hamilton?" Crowley could hear the grin in Dean's voice.

When he heard Castiel ask a confused "Who?" Crowley cracked up. He decided he needed to go out shopping to get the book Gone With The Wind . Maybe even get one of the sequels. He was actually partial to Scarlett . Even if it was about Ireland. He was Scottish after all.

Humming to himself, Crowley went into the kitchen. It was his turn to make the dinner and he was in the mood for a dish that came from England called Shepherd's Pie. He knew that he would have to make it the way the American's did, with beef instead of lamb, just to get Dean to eat it. A nice chicken salad would help round out the dinner. Plan in mind, the ex-King of Hell, now the newest father figure for the Winchester Family started to make his children dinner.

A/N-For Crowley's birthdate, I thought about having him born in the 17th century. Witch burnings were still going strong, unfortunately. I don't know why Naomi and Crowley knew each other in Mesopotamia like the writers had revealed in season eight when it was his son in season six who told the Winchesters where to find his "bones". He also stated that his father had made the deal so he could have a few more inches below the belt. So I fixed it!

The War of the Three Kingdoms actually happened. "It was a series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland and Scotland between 1639 and 1651" according to Wikipedia.

Except for Jack the Ripper, everyone mentioned who made deals with Crowley are all inferred. The only reason I named Jack was because nobody really knows who he was. There are a lot of speculation but nothing concrete.

Gone With The Wind was written by Margaret Mitchell while Scarlett was written by Alexandra Ripley, both wonderful authors!

I am currently working on the last of this verse called Destiny's Children. Will publish as soon as possible.