Chuck hadn't known how he had made it to...well, wherever he was. All he had known is that his ears had started ringing, and he had lost sight of the bedroom he had been in. Then, when he got his sight back and the ringing that went away, he was standing in some alley, probably very far from the Winchester home. At least he had his clothes on this time.

He patted his pockets, swearing under his breath when he noticed that no cell phone was in them. That had been one thing that they hadn't gotten around to yet. He looked around him, walking down the alley and frowning at the brick wall before walking back up the other way to the street. Not a soul was out on the streets, not a light was on. He frowned again, wondering how late it could be.

"It's not late at all," a voice made him jump. It shot through to him, turning his bones to ice. Chuck turned around quickly, his eyes widening at the man before him. "There's no one left that lives here, Chuck Shurley."

"Who are you?" Chuck asked, but he feared he already knew the answer.

It was the same man that Chuck had once written about, light hair, a kind face despite the angel that resided inside the man. Perhaps he had been brought back too, in the same way that Chuck, Dean and Sam had. He was dressed in a suit now though, with his hair done perfectly, his hands folded behind his back.

"You know who I am, Mr. Shurley," Lucifer titled his head. "Let's not play games of stupidity."

"Why am I here?" Chuck asked, wondering if his voice sounded a little braver than he felt. It probably didn't, his voice often shook and stammered. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No," Lucifer said with a smile. "I just want to talk to you, Chuck Shurley." he surveyed him. "It was hard trying to find a moment for me to have this talk with you since your return, but once I sent a very demanding prayer to God, he got you here by taping into your mind." he tapped his own forehead.

"What do you want to talk about?" Chuck thought that sounded stupid.

"You know, Chuck, you are even more interesting than the Winchesters are." he crossed his arms now. "The angels assumed the Winchesters were God's favorite play things, but no, it was you. When you died, the heavens cried for days."

Chuck accidentally grinned. "I don't feel very flattered."

Lucifer smiled. "You're my favorite human too, Chuck. You never tried to go against me, you minded your own buisness, wrote your books and tried to ignore everyone around you, including the Winchesters."

"Well look where that got me."

"It got you in front of me, the angel in control of this world now. An angel who is ready to make a proposition to you."

"Lucky me." Chuck half laughed, but then cursed himself inwardly. This was not the person he should be acting like a smart mouth to.

"It is no wish of mine to kill you Chuck Shurley, it never was. You've never crossed me. So you may side with the Winchesters for as long as you like, but when they die, because they will, you will have a place by my side so you choose."

"I thought you hated humans." Chuck murmured.

"But having God's favorite monkey by my side, that will burn him even more than your death." he put up his fingers, looking ready to snap them. "Nice talking with you ."

Lucifer snapped his fingers and Chuck was gone.


"Jesus Christ." Dean had his head in his hands once more, after Chuck had finished telling him about his interaction with Lucifer.

Castiel frowned. "That's a little rude." he narrowed his eyes at Dean.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Cas, not now."

Sam had his arms crossed. "He sounds pretty confident that he can kill us."

"Can't he?" Chuck asked, his familiar panic rising up, making his voice go high pitched. "He did once before."

"In a future that never happened." Sam snapped. "We can take him down."

"With what, Sammy?" Dean sighed. "We have no plan, no weapons strong enough to take him down."

"We can get one." Castiel suggested. "Or forge our own."

"And then what?" Sam sighed. "March up to Lucifer's holding area and wipe him out? We all know it is going to be a lot harder than that."

"We have an army." Castiel suggested. "We have angels willing to help us."

"We need God." Chuck said, shaking his head. "God can defeat him."

Dean snorted. "God, right. God has never done anything for us before, I don't see why he would do something good for us now."

Castiel could not hold himself back. "God gave you me," he said quietly, but everyone heard him. Dean stared around at him with wide eyes, Chuck looking awkward and Sam looking knowing. Of course Chuck knew how Cas felt about Dean Winchester, he was, after all, a prophet.

"Cas, you know I'm grateful for you." Dean said awkwardly, his voice gruff, as though he was admitting something terrible. Like showing his affections for Castiel was the worst thing that he could do. Cas was happy now that he didn't tell Dean he loved him, Dean would not return it. He had trouble saying his feelings in front of his brother just about their friendship, never mind putting Dean in the spotlight of having his closest friend being madly in love with him.

Or maybe Castiel was just being over dramatic.

"You have no idea what God has done for you." Castiel continued. "What we all have sacrificed for the Winchesters. I am willing to sacrifice it all again, to die by your sides as we take Lucifer down with us."

"I don't plan on having you die, Cas."

"Since when do any of your plans, actually go according to plan, Dean?" his breath caught at the end, because he loved saying Dean's name more than anything in the world. Even though he was a little annoyed with him, just saying his name made him want to curl up next to that stupid, blonde fool and forget the rest of the world.

Cas had it bad.

Chuck was staring in between them and then rolled his eyes. "Is this a joke?" he asked Dean, directly, holding his hand out. "Are you that blind?"

Sam was grinning now, getting up from his chair and putting a hand on Chuck's shoulder. "Relax, Chuck."

"Oh come on!" Chuck said. "After all this time, Dean is as dumb as ever!"

"Woah, rude." Dean put out his hands, as though surrendering. "Did I miss something?"

"You always do, Dean." Sam said with a smile, shaking his head. "Sorry Cas." he winked at him.

Castiel looked away. "I will go back to heaven for a while, converse with my brothers about our next line of action, I will see you all tomorrow."

Dean followed Cas. "Woah, hold on a second here." he reached out for Cas' shoulder and turned him around, staring at him hard. God, those green eyes made him want to die. "Cas, what are they talking about?"

"Nothing, Dean."

"Not nothing, it's something." he murmured stupidly. "Come on, if we're going to be going to war soon, it's best that we say everything we need to say." he squeezed Cas' shoulder. "Like you said, we could all die. If something is bothering you, say it."

"I wouldn't call it bothersome." Cas mumbled, taking Dean's hand off his shoulder softly. He held it for a moment too long before sighing and touching Dean's face. He jerked violently, his eyes widening, but didn't move away from Castiel, for which the angel was extremely grateful.

"Cas..." Dean was confused.

"You were never good at being loved, Dean." he said, before disappearing back to heaven.


Dean was staring at the ceiling of his bedroom, wishing he had the energy to walk across the room to go get his ipod and turn it on. He really wanted to listen to music, or watch something to take his mind off everything Castiel had said, but he couldn't find it in him. As much as he wanted to forget it all, he knew he had to dwell on it to understand it.

This was what he wanted, wasn't it? To have Cas care about him the same way Dean did? What the hell was the point of anything else? They were brought back to life now, and in a shitty world, and maybe if Cas could be the one good thing he could have before he died all over again, then so be it. Maybe this time when he died, he could go to heaven and Cas could stay with him there.

Dean rolled his eyes to himself. He was already making plans for his death when he wasn't even done dealing with his life. He was here now, and he could make things different for himself. He could find a way to say everything he needed to say to Cas, to take all the bad things Cas thought about Dean and turn them around. He could show Cas that he did know how to be loved, and that he was worth being loved, Cas just needed to give him time. He wasn't used to this, being with a man; he had never been with one before. He had loved Lisa and he loved his brother, he even loved Chuck in a purely platonic way, but Cas was different from everyone else. Cas was the light in the darkness. Cas would be with him until the very end. No matter what trials Sam and Dean had been through, Cas had never left Dean. Even when Dean was angry at Cas, it was Cas who stood by Dean and fought for him, for his friendship and acceptance.

"Dean?" Sam said, coming in. "You awake?"

"Unfortunately." he mumbled.

Sam grinned and leaned inside the doorway, almost as tall as it. "I figured." he crossed his arms. "Anything on your mind?"

Dean frowned at the ceiling. "We've been back a day and can't avoid the brotherly talk." he sighed. "I'm fine, Sammy."

"I'm sure you're not." Sam chuckled. "Chuck was right, you're as dumb as ever."

"Being in denial and being dumb is not the same thing." Dean muttered.

"Denial..." Dean could hear the smile in Sam's voice. "So then you know you're avoiding something."

"How could this be more important than Lucifer?" he snapped. "We have to get ready for war tomorrow and we haven't been back a day and I'm already dealing with boyfriend problems."

Suddenly Sam burst into laughter and Dean cursed himself loudly, sitting up. He frowned at Sam who was smiling like an idiot at Dean's random, weird confession. Angry, Dean took his pillow and shot it at Sam.

"Shut up!"

"Boyfriend problems!" Sam yelled.

"I said shut up!"