Author's note: I wrote this one all out of order and stuff, so… hopefully it makes sense to you guys! This chapter is a little shorter, but the next one will make up for it!

Thanks so much for all the support from those who review, follow &/or favorite, and from those who just kept reading after chapter 1. You guys are what encourage me to keep writing and I love you so much!

Update: added a little bit to Dean and Luci's chat at the end of the chapter, to try and help explain things.

Dean paced for another ten minutes, waiting nervously for some sort of heavenly retribution to rain down on his unprotected head, but nothing happened. Finally, the combination of alcohol and excitement began to take its toll, and Dean found himself nodding off on his feet. Unable to delay the inevitable any longer, he stripped to his boxers and stretched out on the bed. Before he could brace himself for disappointment once more, he fell asleep.

For the second night in a row, Dean was back in the park where he had fought with Lucifer, alone. Dean wondered if Cas was still spying on his dreams, and he flipped the bird to his surroundings just in case. As he wandered across the park, he saw the swingset, ground zero of the ice-storm. One particularly vicious spike of ice protruded at an angle from the rest, the tip still stained with phantom blood. Dean reached out a hand to touch it, wondering how it must have looked to Lucifer. Had his body just stayed there, impaled? Or had it disappeared when he woke up? Thinking about it made Dean shiver.

"Look," he muttered, not bothering to raise his voice. If Lucifer was spying like Cas, he would hear. If he wasn't, then it didn't matter how loudly Dean shouted. "I'm sorry I said what I did, it was a dick move. And I don't really mind that you stabbed me, sort of, because I don't think you did it on purpose. So if you're here can you come out and at least talk to me? I'm not sure how much time I have."

The only response was a warm breeze, one that ruffled Dean's hair and smelled faintly of apple pie. With a grimace, Dean turned away from the playground. He hadn't been expecting any sort of answer, but the rejection still stung a little. He had taken one step in the opposite direction, not really thinking about where he was going, when a sharp snap split the air. He whirled as more staccato cracks echoed across the playground, just in time to see the ice behind him explode into a million tiny fragments. Each shard glinted and flickered in the sunlight before melting away. Someone coughed behind him, and he spun back around to see Lucifer standing in the grass. Dean was about to make a comment on the unnecessarily dramatic entrance, but then he really looked at the fallen angel before him.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Dean gasped. The entire left side of Lucifer's face was raw, massive red sores gaping on his cheek and forehead. There was blood on his clothes, dark stains over his joints as though they leaked when he moved. It looked as though he might fall over at any second, and break every bone in his body when he hit the ground.

"Nothing much," Lucifer said with a small grin. The motion cracked one of the scabs on his face, and he winced as blood began to leak out again. "I just exerted myself a little more than was wise while trying to evade my brothers and sisters." He swayed dangerously, and Dean managed to lunge forward and catch his wrist as he started to topple backwards. Dean could feel bones shifting and cracking under his fingers and he cursed, lowering Lucifer into a sitting position and crouching in front of him. The fallen angel drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them, clearly exhausted.

"Why didn't you come back sooner?" Dean asked furiously. He wasn't sure why, but the sight of Lucifer in so much pain made him angry, almost as angry as when Sam got hurt. He tried to picture himself in the same situation, on the run from everyone he used to be able to trust, and a whole new wave of fury rose up in him. Nobody deserved that. Everyone needed at least one person, just one, that they knew would stand by them no matter what. Dean thought of what had happened when he and Sam had abandoned each other, and his righteous anger swelled.

"Well gee, I don't know, maybe because I was pretty sure you wouldn't want to see me ever again after I killed you in your own dream." Lucifer's voice was acidic. "Or maybe because my little brother Castiel has been hovering around the edges of your consciousness ever since, waiting for a sign of me that he could report back to Zachariah." He sighed, leaning back against a tree that Dean was pretty sure hadn't been there before. "I'm sorry, it's been a long few weeks. I had actually given up hope, but I heard you calling tonight and for some reason Castiel wasn't here." The stare that Lucifer leveled at Dean held concern, although Dean wasn't sure who it was for. "You didn't do anything… drastic... to him, did you?"

"What?" Dean was seriously pissed off now. "You think I'd hurt Cas just so he would get out of my head? I didn't even know he was in my head until about two hours ago!"

Lucifer's brow creased in confusion. "What happened then? Surely Zachariah didn't order him to leave your mind unguarded?"

Dean snorted. "I doubt it. I think Cas might be exercising his free will a little." He smiled proudly. "I knew he had it in him." When Lucifer just stared, Dean's smile faded a little. "What, why are you giving me that look?"

"I just never thought, of all my siblings, it would be Castiel who would disobey. He must really trust you Dean."

Silence fell as Dean thought about what he'd said to Cas about being family, and he felt a warm little ball of hope settle in his chest. So Cas had decided to trust him after all.

After a few moments, Lucifer broke the silence. "Look, don't mean to rush you, but I can't stay in one place too long. As soon as Zachariah finds out that Castiel has abandoned his post, a score of angels is going to come after me here. So let's get to the point, why did you have to talk to me?"

"Because I wanted to change my answer." Dean spoke slowly and deliberately, trying to settle his racing heart. "Yes."

Lucifer stared at Dean in disbelief. The silence stretched between them for so long that Dean began to fidget nervously, wondering if he'd said something wrong.

"Hello?" he asked, waving his hand in front of Lucifer's face. With a visible effort the fallen angel lifted his arm and swatted Dean away. "Don't toy with me," he growled, eyes wary.

"I'm serious," Dean protested. "Yes. I'll be your vessel. I want to help you find God." Taking a deep breath, the hunter closed his eyes and waited for a white light, or a sharp pain, or something. When nothing changed, he opened one eye and peeked out at the fallen angel, who was still regarding him in silence.

"Why?" Lucifer's question was simple and yet loaded with so many emotions that Dean couldn't tell them apart. He heard uncertainty and confusion, a lot of distrust, and underneath it all a tiny note of what might have been hope.

"Because you're the only one who asked nicely." When Lucifer raised an eyebrow at him, Dean shrugged, searching for the right words. "You can tell a lot about a person by the way they act when they need someone's help. Uriel and Zachariah, they tried to beat the shit out of me to get me to do what they wanted. All you did was ask nicely. Hell, you even left when you thought I wanted you gone. And I can tell that you honestly care about making things right. Takes one to know one and all that."

"Less than a week ago, I lost control of my emotions and stabbed you with an icicle. If we hadn't been in a dream when it happened, I could have killed you. How can you possibly trust me after that?"

"I trust you because you have emotions!" The fierceness in Dean's voice made Lucifer glance up in surprise as he continued. "Zachariah, Uriel, even Anna after she found her Grace, they're machines. I can't read them, and I sure as hell don't understand what they're thinking. But I do understand anger. I understand feeling abandoned and betrayed, and I understand needing to make things right." Dean took another steadying breath, then nodded at the fallen angel again. "So yes, I'll do it."

After examining Dean's face for another few moments, as if searching for hidden motives, Lucifer gave a small huff of disbelieving laughter. "I believe that you believe you want to do this, but I've gotta be up front with you- this is going to hurt," he told Dean frankly. "You'll be riding shotgun the whole time, so even if I keep us in one piece you're going to feel every hit, every wound your body takes. If you want-" Lucifer paused, unsure if the offer would offend Dean. "I can send you on ahead. Like I did with Nick here, so that there's nobody home but me. Of course if I do that you won't ever have even the chance of getting your body back, but it'll all be over. The pain, the confusion, the burden of wondering if what you're doing is the right thing." Lucifer's eyes were dark with the memory of how much that burden has cost him.

For a split second Dean wanted to take Lucifer up on the option, but then his eyes hardened and he shook his head firmly, a snort of unamused laughter escaping from him. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'll stick this one out. I can't just leave Sam there, when this is all over. Besides, who cares if it hurts like hell? I've been there and done that, literally. Unless you take thirty years to find God, I think I'll be okay. So let's get this over with now, yeah?" Dean was proud to hear that his voice didn't shake in the slightest.

"Alright, if you're absolutely sure," Lucifer hauled himself back upright with a groan, fresh blood staining his clothes in a few more places. "Look into my eyes. And Dean, just so you know, you are the bravest human that it has ever been my unexpected pleasure to meet."

Dean gave a lopsided grin in answer, reaching out to steady the fallen angel as he swayed uncertainly. "Brave or just stupid. And you're not so bad yourself, for the devil." Anything else he had been meaning to say was forgotten as Dean stared into Lucifer's blue eyes.

It seemed to Dean that the irises were expanding, swallowing everything else until his vision was obscured by a swath of blue sky that was full of tiny, twinkling stars. A rushing sound filled his ears, and he had the sensation of something huge and unstoppable bearing down on him, like a tidal wave. The stars shone brighter and brighter until it hurt Dean's eyes to stare at them, and still the sense of something building around him continued to grow. Just when he thought he might go blind, he heard a massive, chiming, screeching howl, the same type of noise that he had heard when Castiel used his true voice. This time though Dean clearly heard his own name being spoken, in a way that somehow summed up everything he was, and had been, and could be. It was as if the being before him had summed up his entire existence in a second, and then it was all gone. The noise, the light, all of it disappeared as though it had been sucked down a black hole, and Dean found himself falling in an endless, comforting blackness.

so, did you like this yes better that the other Yes I wrote (if you read them both)? I wanted to rehash it a little bit, let me know which you like better! :)

Next chapter will be longer and slower... mostly just everybody getting used to everybody else. And a little bit of wings because I LOVE THEM.

But not as much as I love you, thanks for the R&R!