"Mary?" John couldn't believe it. There was no way he should be able to see his wife, his beautiful Mary. She'd been perfect, sweet and patient, and he, he had done so many things wrong in his life. He had almost been content with his punishment in Hell, because he knew that she was in Heaven, and his boys were alive and well.
"Hello, John. I've missed you." She smiled warmly and reached out and grabbed his hands. "Its been so long. I am so sorry for leaving you." John pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, hints of wetness coming from the corners of his eyes.
"I thought I was never going to see you again, Mary." John choked out, and Mary nodded.
"Me either. When Chuck told me that you were in Hell because of a demon deal, I was scared. How could you have made a deal with Yellow-Eyes? He killed you, twice!" Mary exclaimed,and John looked at her.
"How did you know about him? I only learned who he was a little bit before I died." John said wearily, and she sighed.
"I should have told you while I was alive, but...I was a hunter. Before I met you, well, and a little bit after too. Then some guy came along and Yellow-Eyes killed my parents and you. I made a deal with him to bring you back, and he was allowed access to Sammy's room that night. I had completely forgotten until I walked into his nursery." Mary admitted, and John almost laughed at the irony.
"I made a deal with him to bring Dean back to life after a car crash." He smiled weakly, and Mary kissed him. "I don't regret a single thing."
"Sorry to break up this warm reunion," came a gruff voice from the corner, "but our boys need us. Those two idjits managed to end up in the middle of yet another shitstorm. I helped 'em through the first few, then that Dick shot me."
"Bobby!" John strode over to his old friend and gave him a hug, though he quickly sobered up and looked at the crowd in the Roadhouse. "Okay, what do we need to do?"
Chuck moved over to a table, making some papers and books appear. "Okay, so I went through my library and found as much information on the tablets, spells and Heaven as I could grab. Kevin, do you remember any of what you read on those tablets, right?"
Kevin looked at Chuck, "Yeah. I mean it'd be nice to have them in front of me, but I think I can remember a little bit." John looked at the books and then turned his gaze to Chuck.
"I'm sorry, but if these tablets are so important, why don't we have them? Wouldn't it be easier?" John asked, and Jo nodded in agreement.
"Gabriel gave you a quick run down of what's happened with Sam right?" Chuck questioned John, and he nodded, motioning for Chuck to continue.
"Alright, so after he killed Kevin here, and before he left the bunker, Gadreel made sure to take the tablets with him. So right now, we have no idea where they are. I can only assume Metatron has them because he recruited Gadreel to do his dirty work. I am sure that he has lied to Gadreel about his true intentions, like he did to Castiel." Chuck said, gritting his teeth.
"I see. I'm curious though why Sam let an angel anywhere near him, let alone get close enough to be possessed. I thought he would know better. " John scoffed, and Gabriel glared at him.
"Not all angels are bad. Look at me! I nearly died trying to kill my brother! Besides, Dean and Sam have had an angel on their side for a few years now. His name is Castiel and he helped them stop the apocalypse a while back. As for Sam being possessed, well, I'm going to give you the short version. Sam was dying from trying to complete the trials to close the doors of Hell. Dean made a deal with an angel who introduced himself as Ezekiel, who anyone on Castiel's side in Heaven would have vouched for. The angel claimed that he would heal Sam and himself at the same time."
"And Dean went for it." John sighed. "The things he does for his little brother. Wait, you said the angel needed to heal himself? What's that about?"
Chuck sighed, "Metatron, the angel who wrote the tablets, used Castiel's grace to banish all the angels from Heaven. Castiel is now human and living...I believe in...Idaho. The other angels fell and are not happy. We need to find a way to get them back up here before they kill each other and everyone else in the process. Any more questions?" John thought for a moment.
"Okay. So if Sam's got the tablets, that means he probably gave them to this Metatron guy, who's blocked off Heaven. So basically what we need to do is figure out a way from here to open heaven back up?" John inquired, glancing around the tables. Chuck nodded.
"Correct, or at least help open it up. I feel that most of the work is going to have to be done by your sons, but there has to a fail safe of sorts up here, that makes the process easier for them. Gabriel is going to have to be our Earth agent. I'll send him down soon, and once you do, Gabriel, it will be even harder to get you back here." Chuck explained, and Gabriel shrugged.
"Eh, I can handle being out of Heaven. I have been on Earth for a few centuries now, I think I'm pretty used to it." Gabriel smiled at his Father, and Chuck nodded back.
Bobby looked at the books and knew they had their work cut out for them. He sighed, and looked up at the growing group of hunters. Ash had gotten even more hunters to the Roadhouse since Gabriel left to get John. Mary had been the most recent addition. "Ellen, better break out the beer. John, Bill, Rufus, this feels like old times, let's hit the books."