CHAPTER ONE

"Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up here. I win, so I win. – See you in five years Dean."

And here he was. Five years later and just were that evil son of a bitch had said he'd be. – Well there were differences. He wasn't there for one. The world hadn't ended in a ball of fire and blood.

But neither was he living the happy suburban life. Neither was he taking case by case jobs while speeding down the highway in his baby with Sammy at his side.

What was worse about those words haunting him was that they were a constant reminder of that future world he'd tried so hard to avoid and sure he'd saved the world but at what cost?

The Croatoan virus wasn't global but it was still out there. Lucifer wasn't running rough shot over the world, but that didn't mean Sammy safe and sound. Bobby was still around so that was a bonus.

But Dean had slowly become that heartless son of a bitched he'd told himself he wouldn't. The guy that tortured to get what he wanted. The guy who's whole philosophy was 'it's my way or the highway'.

Then there was Castiel. He really had lived up to that future Dean had seen five years ago. In fact this Cas was worse. The drugs, the sex, the drinking, he was one bad trip away from head back to heaven in a body bag and he had no-one else to blame but himself – and Dean.

At least that was how they both saw it.

It had all hit the fan three years ago, after they'd stopped the cosmic show down between Michael and Lucifer. Sammy had taken a swan dive, Castiel had gone back to heaven and Dean had set up home with Lisa and Ben. Everything seemed painfully normal. Then for the second time the shit had hit. Sam was brought back from hell without a soul. Cas had teamed up with that evil bastard Crowley and was following in Sam footsteps on a downward junkie spiral. Only difference was this time it wasn't demon blood.

When Castiel had stood in front of him and declared himself God, Dean had been lift speechless for the first time in his lift. When he'd ordered them to bow down and profess their love or die, Dean had been trapped between hysterical laughter and pure fury.

He'd met his one-time guardian angel and best friend eye to eye and told him to shove it, then waited for the finger snap that would send them into oblivion.

Instead Cas had laughed, smiled and vanished, leaving Dean with Bobby and Sam. Confused and hurt. He'd thought losing Sam and Lisa was painful, but losing Cas… there were no words to describe that agony.

He'd told the angel – ex angel – that he was family. That he thought of him as a brother. But the truth was he thought of Castiel as more than that, though he would never in his life admit it. So when Castiel had betrayed him it hadn't just hurt, it had nearly killed him. Dean had never known what a truly broken heart had been until that moment.

After Cas had vanished Dean had once again buried himself in drink and work to avoid the pain. They tried searching for Castiel but it seemed he'd vanished off the face of the earth which of course meant he was in heaven, probably getting his own back on the angels that had gone against him.

He'd left Sam a mess. The wall's he'd broken down in Sam's mind were practically tearing him apart, which of course in turn was tearing Dean apart.

Once again Dean was trapped in the swirl of events, saving Sam, fighting crazy angels, desperately needing Cass help. Of course this time the crazy angel was Cas, so the help was out of the question. It was yet another case of save him or killed him. Only this time it applied to his best friend.

Dean did want to save the new god, despite his anger with him. He told Sam it was so that he could have the pride of ripping him a new one, but the truth was he just didn't want to lose another person.

So he'd spent weeks trying to keep Sammy balanced, hunting for Crowley – cause he really wanted the pleasure of killing that son of a bitch. – And trying to find a way to save Castiel.

All of which were a complete failer. Crowley had gone to ground, Sammy was slowly but surely losing the plot and Cas hadn't made his grand entrance yet.

The he'd shown up, in this case it was her. God. Not Cas-god but god-god, the real big daddy himself.

And what he had for Dean was one hell of a smack-down.