Chapter Four – Ballad of a Prodigal Son
"Well, here we are." Cas gently nudged Sam awake when they arrived at their motel, "I can see why she ran here. Seems like a nice place…"
"Yeah, nice…" Sam grunted, rubbing his eyes – and his head after smacking it on the window again – and stretching, "Dean still not answering?"
Castiel shook his head and collected some of their bags, "No, and Crowley isn't either. Not since this afternoon…I hope they're alright."
"I'm sure they're fine, Cas. We'd probably know otherwise…what with your 'profound bond' or whatever with Dean." Sam didn't get many opportunities to tease the angel about his relationship with the older Winchester, so he wanted to take full advantage of the chances he got. He really didn't even know what to call their relationship; they were obviously more than just friends, and while he considered Cas to be his "brother" he could tell Dean felt something stronger between the two of them…but they weren't dating.
If anything, they were just frustrating to anyone trying to figure it out.
"I guess you're right…even with his warding, I'd feel if something was more off than usual." Unfortunately for Sam, Castiel wasn't as easily flustered by the jabs as Dean was; the human would get red in the face, he'd curse and storm off, he wouldn't answer any question even remotely related to "Destiel/CasDean" …the angel, however, took it all in-stride. He was not ashamed in the least of his feelings toward anyone, and he certainly wouldn't hide them. He knew his feelings wouldn't change in any humanly-measurable amount of time, so he didn't feel the need to deny or conceal them.
"Really though? It works like that?" Sam tilted his head curiously. He'd only been joking; he had no idea how their "connection" worked. He assumed that it affected their working relationship as much as it did their personal one, but he didn't realize to what degree.
"Yes. How do you think I find you two so fast if we get separated?"
"Well…I would say luck…but we don't seem to have that kind of luck." Sam threw his bags onto the floor and himself onto the mattress. He silently thanked Chuck for beds.
That was true, "Luck doesn't have much to do with it. If Dean wants me there bad enough, whether he prays directly to me or not, I can find him just from just his longing. Or you…but he's easier to lock on to because I marked him when I pulled him out of Hell." Cas reflexively touched his own shoulder where his handprint would be on Dean's. He hadn't meant to scar him like that before they even officially met, but even when Dean wasn't aware of himself he was hard to persuade and Cas had to pull a little harder than he'd expected to.
Sam sighed, both from exhaustion and to acknowledge Cas in one breath. Not many breaths after, the younger Winchester was sound asleep, on top of the covers and still in his daytime clothes. Castiel wanted to wake him and tell him to actually get ready for bed, but he didn't have the heart…he knew he would eventually rouse himself and do those things, so Cas let him be.
Instead, he got comfortable on his own bed and pulled out his cellphone to check it. He had still received no replies, and it was starting to weigh on him again, so he sent one more message in hopes of getting a response:
We're in Gatlinburg now, nothing to report. We'll continue looking for leads tomorrow. Goodnight Dean
His phone finally lit up around 3 AM and put him at ease:
Sorry. Just got your texts, bad service. Talk more tomorrow. Night Cas
"These are the right coordinates?" Mick edged out of his and Ketch's SUV, one hand hovering anxiously over a stolen angel blade, after they found the angel's supposed hiding place. It was an old church, abandoned several decades ago by an overflowing congregation. The stained-glass windows were still mostly intact, but the doors had long since rotted out of their frames, and the bell had fallen from its tower and into the foyer. Ketch nodded, his own angel blades secured in his belt, just loose enough for him to reach down and snatch out if need be. The other B.M.o.L operatives exited their vehicles in the same fashion, and they all converged silently on the chapel.
Almost silently, actually.
That one very snappable twig that always seems to pop up at the most inconvenient times appeared, sending the whole group into a muffled panic. Ketch wanted desperately to shoot the imbecile that stepped on it in the foot, until he realized he would have to shoot himself, "Bloody hell…" he snarled, waiting for the inevitable assault from inside the church. All of them stood tense and terrified at the edge of the churchyard.
But nothing happened.
The ground didn't rend itself apart. No blinding lights appeared to turn them to ash. Their ears were not filled by the dreadful sound of beating wings. No voice spoke from the clouds above.
They inched forward, crossing through the gate that separated the church from the outside world in front of it and the cemetery behind it. Still nothing. Ketch ordered four operatives around to the side doors, five to the back, three to stand guard out front, and he, Mick and two more went inside.
Mick saw the candles burning on the altar before he saw the angel, who was seated in the front pew as though he were waiting for the service to begin. The angel didn't turn around to acknowledge them face-to-face, but he'd heard them from miles away so there was really no use in sneaking about. They should've known that.
"It astounds me that some humans have so little regard for hallowed ground…" the angel spoke at last, still not turning. His would-be attackers froze, "You planned to spill blood here, in this sacred place. My blood."
"There'll be no need for bloodshed of any sort, if you tell us your business." Ketch replied boldly. He might not have been so quick to snap at his target had he known to which angel he was speaking, "Who are you and what are your intentions?"
Mick was mortified – not surprised though – by Ketch's nerve, and tried to backtrack the attitude. He didn't want to get the shaft from a seraph just because he was standing next to a lunatic, "Wh-what he means is-"
"I know what he means." The angel replied coldly. He stood and walked toward the pulpit, "As for my intentions, they are the same as yours. Rid the world of the unclean, Eve's monstrous children. And find and destroy my wicked brother and his allies." He left out the 'restart the Apocalypse' bit; that information was a strictly need-to-know basis, and right now he was the only one that needed to know it.
"Your brother?" Ketch was intrigued. He knew that most angels referred to each other this way, as siblings, but this one's tone was different. There was no comradery in his voice; he said 'brother' like it was a poisoned word.
The angel stepped behind the podium and looked down at his father's creatures, the pitiful, wretched animals that called themselves Man. How far they'd fallen from whence they came…it was almost sad enough to stir him. But not quite, "You know him as Lucifer." He said simply, as if it were any other name, "I am Michael."
"The…the archangel?" Mick sputtered. Ketch was too aghast to speak. This wasn't what he'd bargained for. He could handle your garden variety seraphim, cherubim, and what-have-you…but even his mighty ego cringed at the thought of what he'd just walked himself into.
Michael nodded, "I can sense you are righteous men. You understand my mission. I-" he stopped short, his pale green eyes glazed over. He fell still. Only he could hear the voice of the Cage, whispering its torments into his mind. Gabriel was right; that place had broken the strongest of them all in the worst way possible.
Your father doesn't understand you. He abandoned you again.
Gabriel betrayed you Michael. He chose a side.
Those men outside will betray you. They aren't strong enough for this.
Without warning, Michael's wings burst forth in a blinding display, and anyone not quick enough to shield themselves was burnt to cinders. Even the ones outside. And if they weren't singed by the blast, they were likely hit with a barrage of glass shards from the now shattered windows. Mick and Ketch were just fortunate enough to dive behind the back benches and miss the brunt of the flames and shrapnel.
Michael blinked and shook his head, hoping to come back to his senses, "If you're still alive, I'd like to propose an alliance…" he offered as if nothing had happened, as if all but five of the twenty-some Men of Letters weren't lying dead at his feet.
But honestly, who could say no to him, even then?
Grace was arguably just as exhausted as the boys that night - she hadn't meant to walk around that much, but it was easy to lose track of time and wear yourself out when you were trying to lose yourself in the process - but the following day, despite the fact that at least one of them was pursuing her, she felt like she'd slept for a month solid. It was well past sunrise, closer to lunch really, when she finally rolled out of bed…
And realized her balcony door was slightly ajar.
For a panicked second, she thought either the Winchesters or the mysterious fallen angel had broken in while she slept, and an even more alarming thought occurred to her as that one passed. Her companion was awfully quiet, if he was awake and alive; she almost hadn't gotten him to hush once they got back from town. She nearly fell asleep talking to him on the couch, but she dragged herself upstairs and went to bed, "Lucifer?" she called, but not too loudly. She didn't want her voice to crack from the nerves building inside her.
"Hmm?" his head suddenly popped in from outside, giving Grace a start, "Didn't realize you were up."
"I wasn't 'til just now. What're you doing out there?" she stepped out into the warm sunshine, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. There wasn't much of a breeze, but it wasn't hot yet, thankfully.
He shrugged, returning to his seat in the rocking chair next to the railing, "I've been out here all morning. I got restless. I'm not used to not looking over my shoulder every second and not fighting somebody every time I turn around… relaxing is…weird."
She untied her hair to redo the braid that had fallen to pieces in her sleep and laughed, "Don't slack off too much now, we are being chased y'know."
"Yeah but…it all seems so distant. I don't feel like we're close to anything up here." He seemed to enjoy the fact that the chair rocked; he kept a steady rhythm for several minutes, "Those boneheads will never find us."
She hoped he was right. Any altercations, physical or otherwise, would send Lucifer straight back to Square 1, where he was a cantankerous, smite-happy fiend and Grace wasn't having it. She wasn't putting all this "hard work" (here meaning last night's moonshine tasting circuit and retail therapy) into loosening him up and making him let go of his past for his own sake just to have it all shot out from under them because someone else couldn't let them be.
"Any plans for today, kid?"
Grace snapped out of her reverie and into another train of thought, "After lunch we can go hike some trails if it isn't too hot…I haven't done Alum Cave Bluffs yet."
Lucifer tilted his head thoughtfully, "Sounds like a winner to me. Then more donuts at that place in town?"
"Yes, then more donuts."
"Hell yeah."
But they wouldn't get those donuts…
Sam and Cas had been packed and ready for the hunt for hours by the time their target had awoken, but they had bidden their time so as not to arouse her suspicion. They wanted to catch her completely by surprise to prevent any sort of preparation on her part…allowing time for that rarely worked out in their favor.
"Alright, I'll call and remind her that we're supposed to be meeting on River Street… I just hope she buys it." Sam dug his phone out of his pants pocket and dialed Grace's number on speaker as Cas finished straightening his tie. Again, "Hi Grace, Agent Lennon again. We still on for lunch today?"
"Yessir. I'll be there waiting. Sorry for all the run-around. I guess spur-of-the-moment vacations aren't the best idea, huh?"
"Not when meteors crash-land in your backyard, no." they both laughed the same nervous way, like they were both aware of something they shouldn't be. Which, in fact, they both were, "Alright, we're on our way. See you in a few." He hung up and stuck the phone in his jacket this time.
Seconds later, a message popped up on Sam's laptop screen - her (almost) exact location- and the boys hopped into the truck to go and find her. Little did they know what else awaited them…and not just at the cabin.
"So, are you feelin' artsy or do you want to get your soul ripped out by fictional characters?" Grace was sitting in the living room floor, a paintbrush tucked behind her ear and DVD boxes spread across her lap. They already had breakfast/brunch/whatever – it was mostly her doing the eating, but somebody snuck some cinnamon buns when he thought she wasn't watching – and were trying to make up their minds about what to do until they were ready for their mountain adventure. This same sweet-stealing somebody was, of course, no help at all.
"Up to you, I don't have a preference." Lucifer answered as he inspected her bookshelf, "Or…y'know…a soul."
"Can you hear my eyes rolling?" she was debating whether she should try to paint something with her new tag-along (or if she should just paint him, though she doubted he'd sit still that long), or try to get him addicted to Game of Thrones (who was the evil one now?) when she heard it.
The engine's roar slowly creeping up the driveway.
Lucifer's alarmed call for her from upstairs, his footfalls as he entered the room.
Her heart pounding against her ribs.
Damn. They found us, "Head out the back door and follow the river to the falls…stay down there until I come for y-"
"Wait a second, hold up. What about you?" he tried to pull her along with him, but she stubbornly dug her heels into the floor.
"Never mind me, I'll be fine." She wrenched the back door open just as there was a knock on the front one, "Go. Hurry." They were both out in the yard at this point, on the little patch of grass just off the porch. He refused to let go of her arm, but she wouldn't budge any farther than he could pull her without yanking her off her feet.
"Grace." He snapped, tightening his grip just enough to get his point across, "Castiel will know I'm here. They'll know you're hiding me. Now come on."
It wasn't his hard, pleading stare that finally made her bolt into the trees…
It was the boom of the front door crashing open behind them as Sam kicked it nearly off the hinges after Castiel said something to him.
It was the scowl that the other angel wore as he and the hunter emerged onto the balcony above them.
It was the angel blade in his hand, and the gun at Sam's side.
It was the irrepressible urge that both the archangel and the witch felt. Flight.
They waited for their pursuers to go back indoors before they sprinted for the forest, but they didn't wait for each other. It was too late to turn back when they realized they'd been separated…and that at least one of them had been spotted.
Lucifer really wasn't sure why he was running from the seraph trailing a few yards behind him. He was an archangel. He could easily overpower him, if it came to that. Sure, Grace would be mad about him fighting either of their pursuers, but she'd get over it eventually. Probably.
He could also disguise himself and blend into the forest effortlessly, but that felt too much like hiding, and he wasn't one to blatantly avoid his enemies like that. Or he could easily pop himself back into the cabin and avoid all this nonsense and link back up with her, but at this point and with his luck, doing so would only put him face-to-face with Sam instead of Castiel. And for once in his life, he didn't want to run into Sam on purpose.
He did, however, nearly run into a tree when he heard a panicked squeal and a crash up the hill from him. He almost called out to Grace to make sure she was okay, but her name stuck in his throat when he realized his distractedness got him caught. He laced his fingers behind his back and turned to greet the other angel, "Hello Castiel."
"Lucifer." Castiel snarled, brandishing his angel blade. "What are you doing here?"
"Admiring the scenery…trying to avoid you and your friend, but that's obviously not working out. You won't stab me, Castiel. Put that thing down." he taunted the younger angel, his forked tongue peeking out of his malicious grin.
"Oh, I won't, huh? Pray tell why that is?" Cas leveled his blade at the Serpent's throat, fully prepared to prove him wrong if he said something else stupid.
"You don't wanna upset the kid, do you?" he asked, gesturing to the woods above them, "It takes a lot to rattle her, I'll give her that, but shanking her new bestie right in front of her just might do it." Lucifer rolled his eyes when it didn't click, "Man are you dense…? The one you're looking for. Grace?" Cas wasn't buying it, "Don't believe me? Go ask Sammy what he just found."
Despite his better judgement, Cas was about to call for his friend to confirm, but Sam beat him to it and yelled from just out of sight, "Cas! I found her!"
"Oh yeah?" he called back, "Guess what I found?" he stepped behind the archangel and marched him up the hill none too gently. He was itching for Lucifer to give him a reason to swing, and he contemplated making one up just for the hell of it. Lucifer had put both Sam and Dean through so much torment and misery, Castiel couldn't fathom why he even let him speak to begin with. Why didn't he just end him where he stood? "Because you don't have an archangel blade in your hand, genius, that's why." He chided himself mentally.
The four of them came together just below the front deck of the cabin where Sam had Grace by the shoulder. Her face was a mixture of fear and indignity, mixed with leaves in her hair where she'd tripped up and rolled across the ground, but it quickly changed into a deadly glower. He let go of her as soon as Castiel and his prisoner crested the hill, and had to stop himself from bolting in the other direction, "L-Lucif-…"
"Lucifer!" Grace finished the name for him with an irritated hiss, "Boy I tell you what…You're a hell of a runner, you know that? Why'd you stop?"
The men all tilted their heads at the girl; two because they hadn't realized the fugitives were traveling together-together, and one because he wasn't sure he'd heard his companion right, "Grace, you're not even half Castiel's size. They would've-"
"Turned me loose after asking why I took off. They didn't know you were here, smart one." She snapped, "They thought you were some other wingnut." If looks could kill, Sam wouldn't have to worry about this archangel wearing him to the prom, or anywhere else for that matter, because he'd be a wing outline in the dirt when she was done with him.
"Whoops…"
She rolled her eyes skyward, as if she were asking Chuck to grant her the patience needed to deal with His son, and shook her head in defeat when she received no answer, "Good grief… alright, fine. Now that you two know what's what, you're either gonna shoot us or take us as captives. So, which is it?" she turned to them, her hands held up in surrender. No one seriously thought she was going to go that quietly, and they knew he wouldn't even consider it.
Sam clicked a pair of warded handcuffs onto her wrists in reply, and tossed another pair to Cas, "We're gonna have a little chat with you." He glared coldly at her partner, "As for him…"
"He'll stand down." Grace was staring right into Lucifer's eyes with purpose, her gaze as unwavering as his, "Neither of us will fight. If you want to talk, we'll talk. Right?" Lucifer clearly didn't want to agree to these terms, but for reasons unknown to the new arrivals, he resisted the urge to beat them senseless and allowed himself to be cuffed and lead inside behind Sam and Grace.
However, they both had to fight the impulse to make another escape attempt when she was locked into a Witch Catcher and taken upstairs while he was dragged down into the heavily-warded basement and trapped in a ring of sigils and holy fire.
"So," Cas crossed his arms and glared down at Grace upon returning from confining the archangel down below, "what's he giving you to help him?"
"Fame, fortune, Hot Topic gift cards?" Sam added, mirroring his friend.
She shook her head, giving both an unnervingly calm smile, "No, but that last one sounds nice. I haven't asked him for anything serious yet, besides his cooperation." She wanted to add how well that was going, but decided against it. They were sitting here just like she was, after all.
"Cooperation? So, you have some sort of plan, then?"
"If I was up to something, I'd tell you. We didn't have time to plan anything before whatever it was crashed behind the house and we got the hell outta Dodge. And then this pair of sketchy Jehovah's Witnesses comes bangin' on the front door here…" She added, gesturing toward them in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Cas' eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You lied on the phone. You said you didn't hear or see anything that night."
"Wasn't lying when I said I had no clue who it was though. Thought it might be another angel, but I didn't particularly want to know. It was obviously bad enough news to spook him and for you two to show up."
"Let me get this straight…" Sam stared in a mix of confusion and disbelief, "You're helping Lucifer out of the goodnessof your heart, and he has no ulterior motives that you're aware of. And he didn't torture or kill you because you're…what, friends?"
Grace smirked, "Well I've had some close calls, but we managed to cool off before heads rolled. I'm not sure why he didn't ditch me when y'all found us like I told him to. You'll have to ask him." She seemed to admire the leatherwork on the Witch Catcher around her neck as if it were a piece of jewelry, "Of course he probably won't tell y'all anything useful. I'm sure you both know this better than me, but Lucifer's a bit of smartass." She almost laughed aloud when she earned the famous Sam Winchester Bitchface™ and the Castiel Squint™. How many fangirls could say they'd seen that in person?
Before they could press her further, Cas' phone went off and broke the tense silence, "Dean?" he answered, "We caught Lucifer but- what? N-no we're both fine." He waited for the yelling on the other end to stop before continuing, "Well if I hadn't been persuading Satan into a safely warded room I would have called sooner. Yes, Dean, I know that." He huffed. Grace couldn't help but laugh at what sounded like an old married couple bickering. She whispered something about it being "worse than in the books" and asked if they did "the staring thing" as much as it says they do.
Sam replied with, "Yeah. Try being in the same room with them."
Cas told both of them where to stick it, "He's got a friend here too. Grace Harbinger. Yes, from the- tell Crowley to shut it and come help us, alright?" he was about to hang up when another voice jumped into the conversation, "Who is-? What are you doing there?!"
"Who is it?" Sam and Grace asked in unison. The smile that crept onto Castiel's face had both of them confused.
"Took you long enough to get back. Sleeping around on the job I bet." Cas teased whoever was on the other end, leaving the others in the room in suspense, "Oh don't play innocent with me, I've known you far too long, Gabriel."
Mixed emotions flooded the room; Sam was a little worried about Gabriel being around Dean given their history (oh Chuck, him and Crowley), but he was hopeful that the other archangel was still on their side…and not pissed about dying for them the last time they met. Grace was happy that one of her favorite characters was making (another) comeback, until she remembered why he had been gone in the first place.
"Oh, well alright. We've got some catching up to do anyway. See you there then." Cas finally hung up, "Apparently, we're meeting them back at the Bunker. Gabriel has some… interesting news."
Sam groaned. 'Interesting' meant 'bad' in their line of work.
Grace decided she needed to be the one to break the news to her compatriot downstairs; the others probably wouldn't be as delicate with telling him that the little brother he'd stabbed through the heart for protecting his archenemies was alive and kicking. She couldn't exactly waltz downstairs -in her own damn house no less- and tell him, so she went for the long shot and prayed that he could hear her, "Hey, Luc, if you're listening…um…Gabriel is back. And we're leaving soon to meet him…and Dean…and Crowley."
At first, she got no response. But then a voice in her head called out to her, and she was glad to be somewhat fluent in Enochian because that's all she was getting. "Grace?" He sounded unsure, as if he didn't think he could pick up on prayers either, "Is that you?"
"Y-yeah…you heard me?"
"I did. And you hear me…huh." So she could've been his vessel, if he'd played his cards a different way that night; only people "compatible" with an angel could hear the voice he was using on her now,"So Gabriel's alive again…that kinda throws a kink into us leaving in peace any time soon. Baby brother won't be too happy to see me." He noted sullenly. She could almost see the grimace he wore.
"I know. I'm sorry we got caught…"
There was a pause, and a change in his tone, "Don't be. If he's here, then something serious is going on. They might turn us loose if we offer to help…they obviously need it." She knew he was taking a dig at her statements to him about her intentions, but there was something different about how he was doing it. He was being sarcastic, as usual, but it wasn't quite so bitter.
She turned to the hunter and angel with the proposition, "Guys, listen. Lucifer and I can help with whatever Gabriel came to tell you about, because no news from Upstairs is good news, but you have to let us go."
Castiel loomed over her, "Why should we trust you or him? Especially around Sam or Gabriel after what Lucifer did to them?"
Typical Castiel; doesn't even mention what went on between him and Lucifer. He's too worried about everyone else to consider himself. She leaned back in her seat to fully make eye contact, "Why, you say? How about the fact that at any time during the past half-hour, I could've hexed the hell out of both of you, but chose not to?" with a snap of her fingers, the Witch Catcher clattered to the floor, "A word of advice, those only work if the witch wearing it means you harm." She kicked it aside and stood up, causing them to step back out of her reach.
"What about Lucifer?" Sam asked cautiously, "Can we trust him?"
She turned to him, "You probably can't, but I can."
Lucifer tried to mask his relief with aloof disinterest when the door opened, but that was hard to do when the person that came through it looked happy to see you. He wasn't used to that. He tried to convince himself that it was a trick of the firelight, but flames couldn't manipulate her voice, "Glad to see Cas didn't knock you around too much while I was gone."
He shrugged, "Eh, he doesn't play rough enough. I got no enjoyment out of it."
"Playtime is over." Sam growled from behind her, "Can you help us or not?"
"Well I could…"
Grace stepped in to keep the conversation from going south. When he hesitated to answer her, she turned her best puppy eyes on him, "You're not gonna let me down are you, Luc? You promised if I asked…" She pleaded, hoping he would cave to her girlish charm and the nickname. Honey catches more things that fly than vinegar, after all.
"Well since you put it that way." He said at last, "But after this, if one or both of us try to leave, you two and your little buddies don't stop us. Got it?" he demanded.
Sam doused the holy fire, but not before flashing his own angel blade at Lucifer menacingly, "Deal. Let's go, we're meeting them at the Bunker."
Focusing his returning energy as they entered the hallway, the archangel easily found the other's "signal" on Angel Radio and called to him, "Hello little brother…what's-" he jumped a little when a string of Enochian curse words flew at him, "You kiss your father with that mouth kid? I know I didn't teach you that…"
Grace saw his expression change as they moved from the basement to the ground floor of the cabin, "Are you talking to Gabriel?" she trotted beside him, "What did he say?"
"Well I'm not gonna repeat the first thing he said in front of you, but…" he stopped, a look of mild concern passing over his face, "He says we're definitely dealing with another angel. He won't tell me anything else 'over the phone' though. Somebody else might hear."
"So much for that lockdown, Chuck." Sam muttered.
"Somebody could've snuck out to catch me, or help someone else." Lucifer mused, wondering which it was. Either way, things were starting to get ugly, and he was starting to wish he'd listened to Grace and hit the road when he had the opportunity. With her, of course. He made up his mind that, in spite of his abhorrence for the rest of mankind and the short amount of time he'd spent with her, he liked having her close by. She was nice enough, as far as humans go…at least his best approximation of 'nice'.
She seemed inclined to feel the same, judging by how she was hovering beside him now, like she could protect him from the other two with her bare hands. Or maybe she was the one expecting protection… He very much doubted either of their new "allies" would actually hurt her. They didn't have the stomach for it. In spite of her affiliation with him, she was too young and "innocent"-looking to draw much wrath from the younger Winchester or the seraph.
Sam holstered his pistol, but Castiel kept a firm grip on his heavenly dagger, "I'm guessing you need to pack?" they all turned to Grace expectantly.
"Well yeah, if you want me to be any help." She stopped at the end of the hall. She didn't bother going any further, knowing she would be receiving an escort to prevent any tomfoolery on her part, "I don't imagine I have the same things in stock as your Bunker since there aren't any Witches of Letters, and I'll be damned if I'm sharing with Gingersnap if she's around."
"You mean Rowena?" Cas and Sam glanced at each other with slight amusement.
"She's not a fan." Lucifer piped up, "I'd trust me around Red before I'd trust her, just FYI. Grace would probably make all her hair turn blue or her teeth fall out, or turn her into a frog or something… I'd just kill her." Although it crossed all their minds almost simultaneously, no one mentioned how his last few attempts to kill the witch had gone; it was almost painful for Cas to keep it to himself, since he was there for the original epic fail, but he managed to hold it in.
"Well, I'll be sure to keep that in mind if she decides to act up." Sam half-chuckled, half-scoffed, though he wasn't entirely joking. Maybe another witch is what they needed to keep Crowley's mother in line; if she thought they could and would replace her with someone more cooperative, maybe she'd straighten up a bit, "You'll get first swing, if Crowley doesn't get to her first."
"Aw, thanks Sam. Looks like chivalry isn't dead after all." Grace smirked, "At least it doesn't look that way right now. We'll see when I have to carry all this junk out to the car."
Cas' ears perked up, "Oh wait…how are we going to get all of us back to the Bunker? My truck only seats two…and just barely that."
"Well we're obviously going to have to take her car too. I don't have the juice to fly all the way there and through your warding, and neither does Castiel." Lucifer said, "Question is, who's riding with who else?"
They were all stumped for a moment. Grace wouldn't be much trouble to ride with, the boys supposed, but him on the other hand…both of them were tired of the rogue archangel riding shotgun with them. Even if their experiences weren't literal roadtrips from Hell, they were close enough to count.
"I'm fine with whoever wants to take my car…if you can make it up that mountain in one piece in a truck, then I say you can drive her." she turned to her cohort sharply, "Don't be a pest to whoever you ride with. If he has to tie you up in the trunk, don't come cryin' to me."
He muttered something along the lines of, "I'd like to see either of these punks try it…" but he kept it under his breath to avoid conflict. Lucifer was quite confident he'd get an earful from his driver -of what he didn't know, either dead-silence or constant complaining – during the drive to Kansas, and one of those a day was quite enough for him.
Reluctantly, Cas volunteered to chauffer Lucifer to the Bunker to keep him from further tormenting his true vessel, while Sam pocketed Grace's keys and helped her re-gather her luggage for the second leg of their voyage.
True to his word, Lucifer didn't bother Castiel for the entirety of the trip, just as Grace had requested. He sat quietly in the passenger seat of the truck, watching the scenery roll by and occasionally humming to himself or responding to any question Cas asked. Of course, his innocent behavior in the presence of the other angel was only a façade.
He was too busy constantly changing the radio station in Grace's car to cause his little brother any problems.