Actually pulling up in front of the house felt strange. It was a new house, not the one Dean and Lisa and Ben had lived in together for so long, but it was still their house and Dean was here. It was unsettling. Jesus, he was starting to sound like Cas. And that is something Sam would take ample advantage of to give Dean shit. Because that's what shitty little brothers did.

Dean stared at the house for a moment, car off, Cas staring at him, before Cas gave a little cough and gestured at the house with a nod of the head. Dean set his face into a more determined line and got out of the car, Cas following suit. They had agreed that Cas being there too might help. Not that this plan was actually going to work but whatever. Dean made an effort to fix his hair before knocking on the door. It was early morning, but not early enough that anyone inside would make a fuss about being woken up. Lisa answered. Dean sucked in a breath.

She looked good, he had to admit, if only to himself. Her hair was a couple of inches shorter and had like caramel highlights. She was wearing close-fitting, light green T-shirt and jeans and she smiled in that way that was just so damn infectious.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Dean took a moment to answer, never having really figured out a plan for this situation. Yes, hello Miss. I'm a man you've never met before and I'd like to take you and your son away in my awesome black car. Perfect.

"Um, yeah," he glanced at Cas but got nothing but a mildly annoyed look in return. "I'm sorry, this is going to sound weird, but Ben called me?"

"Ben?" Lisa looked at him curiously. "Do I know you?"

"No, I doubt it," Dean said. He glanced down for a second and then back up. "It's just, Ben called me. He was worried about you and, uh…" Yeah, he should have planned this more.

"Why did Ben call you?" Lisa asked. It didn't sound rude as much as accusing.

"Miss Braeden, you are in a certain amount of danger," Cas stepped in, like a fucking angel from… Well, maybe another term would be more applicable. "Ben was right to call." Lisa's brain clicked for a moment visibly and her face changed from curiosity to something more like frustration.

"Look, I don't have any idea who the hell you people are," she said, "or how you know my son, but I think it would be best if you got off my property before I call the cops." She started to close the door and Dean shoved his foot in between the frame and the door before he could close entirely.

"I'm sorry, but you need to trust me on this," Dean begged. "You and your son are in danger and you need to come with us." Lisa's look took on a much more dangerous level.

"Get. The fuck. Off my property," she hissed. Dean removed his boot before she could make any attempt to crush it and the door slammed in their faces.

"That went well," Cas said. Fucking Christ, when had he started picking up sarcasm? It was almost more trouble than it was worth. The two went back down to the car together, getting in at the same time. Dean knew Lisa would be watching from the front window, no guarantees on whether or not she had called the police. Dean backed out and drove his car a couple of houses away where she couldn't see it, parking.

"What now?" Dean asked. Cas was prevented from answering by Dean's phone choosing that moment to ring loudly. Dean grabbed it from his pocket.

"Hello," he answered. His face relaxed instantly. "Ben. Yes, this is Dean Winchester. Yeah, I came. What are the chances of you convincing your mom to come with me? Right, that's what I thought. Give me some time, I'll figure something out." He hung up the phone and stared straight ahead for a full minute. Cas cleared his throat.

"Dean, what are we going to do?" he asked. Dean gulped loudly and swore, banging his head into the steering wheel once before leaning back into his seat and looking at a very concerned Cas.

"We're going to call your fucking brother," Dean said. "And I'm going to do my best not to kill him."

Henry walked up behind Mary slowly and carefully, trying to gauge how she might react when he spoke. She was finishing off a beer, sitting at the kitchen counter, hunched over. Her golden curls fell in her face. Charlie and Kevin were nowhere to be seen. Dean and Cas had only been gone for a couple of hours at this point. They weren't expected back for another day.

"Mary," Henry said quietly. She didn't react except to throw a hand in the air to show that she'd heard. Henry walked the rest of the way up to her and sat down on the next stool.

"Well, hey there, Henry," Mary said without humor. She took another long gulp of her beer. If Dean's habits were any reflection of his mother's, Henry had a feeling he should probably hide their whisky somewhere. "What can I do for you?" Henry took a deep breath and let it out heavily, shaking his head.

"I'm going to need you to not get mad at me when I ask this," Henry said. Mary gave him an interested look, at least. "Just wait for me to explain before you get pissed." Mary took a moment to consider.

"Alright, fine," she said. She sat up straight and faced Henry head on. "What is it?"

"I need you to call Gabriel for me," Henry said. He winced at Mary's face. "I'll explain, I swear, I just need to make a request."

Sam had left maybe five minutes ago, so he would be back pretty soon. After all, he was just driving into town to get Sarah and Bess, it wasn't that far away. Still, Henry was unfocused. Sam, Dean, and Cas were all gone and his conversation with Gabriel, while it had ended the way he wanted, was going to get him in some deep trouble. So Charlie had to shake him out of his fog a couple of times.

"Hey, Henry," she waved her hand in front of his face. "Yoo-hoo, paging Dr. Winchester? You're needed on the card table." Henry shook himself and looked down at the half-deck of cards in his hands. That's right, he was playing a game with Charlie. He had totally forgotten. Which was a little sad, considering the fact that he was the one who had asked that Charlie at least choose a simple game for them.

"Sorry," Henry apologized. He flipped his card over and laid it face-up on the table next to Charlie's.

"Nine is higher than six, that's mine," Charlie said. She raked her hand across the table. Yes, so maybe playing War was a little ridiculous, but whatever. He was distracted, right?

"How long are you staying, Charlie?" Henry asked. They flipped over another set of cards and Charlie grabbed them both again.

"Well, at least long enough to keep you company," Charlie grinned. They flipped cards and this time Henry got to pull them in. "I have read that leaving the elderly on their own for too long can lead to depression." She added in, smiling despite herself at the floor. Henry rolled his eyes. They played their cards, each laying down a seven, and began the multi-card process to find out who got to keep all the cards on the table.

"Thanks for coming when we didn't answer," Henry said.

"Well, you promised to keep my updated on the ways of the Winchesters and I was really missing out on the gossip," Charlie said. "You should keep a blog or something." Henry hummed in place of a response. Kevin walked in the door on their left, coming in from the row of bedrooms.

"When do you think Dean and Cas will be back?" he asked. Henry lifted up his arm, shifting his sleeve with a shrug back so he could see his watch.

"Not until tomorrow," Henry said. In fact, they weren't even at the house yet. Damn, Michigan was a long drive. The creak of the door made everyone's heads shoot up. Henry waved the rabid dogs back, telling Charlie and Kevin to just stay put. At least Sarah knew him. Still, it was going to be weird for her, no doubt about it.

"Anyway, this is it," Sam's voice sounded timid and unsure. The door creaked back closed again and Henry heard footsteps making their way down the stairs even has he made his way up through the alcove of the war room and into the entrance area.

Sarah looked thinner. The circles under her eyes were dark. She wore a purple sweater with heavy sleeves and some dark jeans with converse sneakers. Her dark hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail. In her arms was a little girl of about what age Sam had suggested. Her blue eyes were round with curiosity, and she had dark hair like her mothers, though much thinner. Still angel hair, like Catherine used to call it. Oh, God, he'd actually thought of her name this time. It must have been the fact that she had a child. No, Henry was not thinking about Catherine. It would cause way too much turmoil. He pushed the thought down.

"Hello, Sarah," Henry smiled thinly. "Hey, little one." He turned a bigger smile to the little girl who hid her face in her mother's shirt with a frightened little noise.

"Henry," Sarah smiled at him. She sniffed. Her face was slightly red. She had only lost her husband a week ago, really. She was probably trying to keep it together for Bess, if Henry had to guess. Sarah finished walking down the stairs and Sam followed her, carrying a couple of bags. Sarah reached Henry and nudged her nose at her daughter. "Hey, sweet-cheeks, this is Henry. Can you say 'hi'?" Bess timidly turned to face Henry and lifted a hand in a childish approximation of a wave.

"It's nice to meet you, Bess," Henry said. Bess smiled quickly and hid her face again, this time in more of a shy tease, like toddlers so often did. "Let me help you with those." Henry walked around to Sam and grabbed one of the bags, pulling up the handle and dragging it along the floor.

"It's this way, Sarah," Sam said, following after Henry. Henry walked out the entry-room door and down the main hallway of bedrooms, passing the many that were now in use until he reached the end and turned right, walking down two small stairs and turning again to the back hallway. The lights were turned on but it still felt slightly empty and alone.

"You won't be the only two back here," Henry felt the need to add. Sarah nodded but didn't say anything. Bess had turned away from her mother and was looking around in interest at her surroundings. Every now and then she would point to something and then lower her hand again, never asking a question, just noticing the details. Henry walked to the first door and opened it up with a quick twist of the knob.

The bedroom was similar to pretty much all of the others in the bunker. Small, a general shade of green with brown blankets across the bed. A little desk sat against one wall and there was an open closet on the opposite side. A couple of shelves hung off to the side of the bed, but other than that it was undecorated. It was very military, the way the bunker was set up. Although, it was called 'the bunker' so what else was there to expect?

Bess started squirming in her mother's arms and was obligingly placed down on the floor. She ran to the bed and put a careful hand on the covers and then toddled over to the closet to look around inside.

"Thank you, Sam," Sarah muttered. She turned and grabbed the Winchester, pulling him into a huge hug. Sam took a moment before he returned it, then squeezed tightly back.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer sooner," he muttered back. They released and Henry shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Um, we're all back in the main area, if you want to join us after you are settled," he said, then turned and left. He had a game of War to finish off. And, with Dean and Cas gone, he wasn't going to be getting any sleep anyway.

"I can't believe I'm praying to this d-bag," Dean muttered, glaring up at the sky for a minute.

"If you'd prefer, I could do it," Cas said. "I'm not very familiar to the praying end of this situation, but I think I can handle the complicated steps." He said the second part with his rare bit of humor and Dean looked over at him to see a self-satisfied smile on the guy's face. Dean snorted.

"We really have been terrible influences on you," he said. Cas only continued to smile. Dean sighed. "No, I should do it. They're my responsibility." He shook out his shoulders one last time. "Here goes. Gabriel, who I am still royally pissed at, would you get your lying ass down here for a sec?" Cas was glaring at him, he could tell. But hey, come on, the guy had lied to every single one of them – multiple times – and Dean just didn't have it in him to be humble or any of that other shit. He was pissed and he was going to show it. He was good at holding a grudge or two.

"Ah, it's so nice to be needed," Gabriel's voice shocked them, coming from the backseat. Dean jumped and accidentally hit his horn, the thing blaring loudly into the street. He held back the string of expletives he really, really wanted to shout at the archangel and tried to take some calming breaths.

"Gabriel," Cas greeted formally, then turned to face the windshield like the archangel didn't exist. Cas could drama queen just as much as the rest of them, Dean just forgot that sometimes.

"What do you two asshats need from me this time?" Gabriel asked. Dean could tell his heart wasn't in it, though. His regular humor was severely sapped, and he lacked his usual confident charm. He wasn't even grinning that stupid grin at anyone in the car. Still, he didn't seem apologetic as much as indifferent. Call it archangel ego, Dean supposed.

"Ben and Lisa Braeden," Dean said. "They used to know me, now they don't. They're in danger and we need to get them to the bunker without any more fuss. You screwed us all over, so you're going to help. That pretty much covers it all." Cas didn't even glare at him this time, just impassively stared forward. Gabriel groaned.

"Always with the 'protecting family for everything' line," he said. "Fine, I'll knock them out, and get them to the car. You do the driving." He disappeared before Dean had time to ask any questions and then reappeared almost instantly, with two knocked-out bodies on either side of him.

"What the hell?" Dean twisted in his seat horribly to get a better look at Lisa and Ben. They were both dead to the world, heads lolling to the side.

"Don't say I never did anything for you," Gabriel said and then he was gone again.

"Motherfucker," Dean shouted. "Cas, I just really hate your brother, ok?"

"He is rather annoying," Cas agreed mildly. He turned to look at the new passengers in the back, who even had their seatbelts buckled. "At least he made it relatively easy."

"Yeah, try giving me that line again when they wake up," Dean grumbled. He turned on the car and they set out again. Dean was feeling like he was going to fall asleep at the wheel. They had, after all, been driving for almost 13 straight hours, but there was no way they were going to a motel now. Not with two unconscious bodies in the backseat. There was some coffee in his future. A lot of coffee. Damn, he was going to crash hard when they got back. Just in time to lay siege on heaven, as Cas might have phrased it. Wasn't his life just a goddamn peach?

"Cas, I'm nodding off," Dean had to admit after about 7 hours of the trip back were behind them. He had felt half-past exhausted for a while now, but, at this point, he was endangering the lives of his passengers – both awake and unconscious. Cas had at least napped for a while when the drove through Illinois. The former angel looked more than mildly dubious.

"Dean, I don't have any experience with driving," Cas said.

"It isn't that hard, and we're alone on the road," Dean grumped. He turned on his blinker and pulled off to the side of the road, facing Cas. When Cas still looked concerned Dean gave him a hard look and opened his door. "Cas, if you don't take over, I'm going to crash the car and kill all of us." Cas watched from the passenger seat as Dean walked all the way around the car and opened the other side, gesturing for Cas to slide over. He finally did, gripping the wheel tightly. Dean just tried to focus on the fact that it would only take him five minutes to give Cas the basics and then he could crash. Five minutes. He could handle staying awake for five goddamn minutes.

"Ok, Cas," he said, buckling his seatbelt because he trusted Cas but he wasn't completely suicidal, "now turn the key in the ignition and we can get this party started."

Henry was still up, playing solitaire this time, when the phone rang. He had been alone for a while so the noise of the phone cut through a good deal of silence and scared him. He looked to see Dean's number flashing on the screen and answered quickly.

"Dean, did you get them?" he asked.

"Yes, they are here," Cas's voice came back from the other end. Henry squinted his eyes in confusion.

"Why are you using Dean's phone?" Henry asked. He heard a sigh from the other end.

"Dean left his phone on the seat and it was easier to reach than my new one," Cas said. He sounded frustrated. "In addition, he hasn't called because he is still sleeping." Henry stilled.

"Does that mean you are driving his Impala?" he asked apprehensively.

"Yes, he has forced me to so that he could sleep," Cas said. "Anyway, we will be arriving back shortly. Actually, in only a few moments. But we may require your help bringing Lisa and Ben in. They are… somewhat indisposed."

"Um, sure," Henry said. He wasn't going to bother asking. Cas had this tone he couldn't quite place, but it sounded like the former angel was angry about something. He didn't really want to push him any further.

"I will see you shortly. Goodbye, Henry," Cas said formally. The phone cut to silence as Cas hung up. Henry checked his watch. It was 3 am, so he was probably the only one up, although with the hours people ran in this place there was no guarantee. He stood up from the coffee table in the living room and walked around to the door and out around the hallway back to the entryway and stairs. He took them two at a time, throwing the door open when he got there. He was just in time to see the Impala rumbling up along the driveway, pulling to a stop in front of the bunker. The engine cut out.

Cas sat in the driver's seat. He gave Henry a small wave and then leaned over to give Dean a sharp shove, waking him instantly. Without being able to hear what the hunter was saying, Dean waking up was hilarious looking. He sat up in over-large, comical movements, his arms flailing around as he tried to orient himself. He finally turned to see Cas sitting in the driver's seat, staring at him without humor and calmed down, glaring while he was at it.

Henry came forward to Dean's window and knocked on it. Dean turned his glare to his grandfather and pushed his door open, shoving Henry back slightly.

"I heard you might need a hand," Henry said. He glanced at the backseat. A woman with brown hair that fell lightly against her shoulders and wearing a green shirt was conked out against the right side door. Next to her, also sleeping against his door, was a teenage boy who had brown hair to match his mother's. He had a sloping nose that absolutely emulated Dean's, besides the fact that their jawlines were incredibly similar. There was no doubting the fact that Ben and Dean had very similar looks.

"Why are they asleep?" Henry asked. He had not expected to find this. At all. Especially not if Gabriel had held up his deal.

"Gabriel knocked them out," Dean said.

"Ah, so he did come," Henry said. He glanced sideways at Dean apologetically. Dean gave him a confused look in response.

"Um, yeah? Why, did you talk to him about something?" Dean asked. Henry clammed up and searched for a quick excuse.

"I just mean," Henry scrambled, "he came when you called? Because I didn't know if he would. In case you had needed help. Which you apparently did." He added, gesturing to the silent bodies in the Impala. Cas gave him a suspicious look but didn't say anything.

"So, let's get them out of the car," Dean said, clapping his hands together.

The next morning, Dean made pancakes. At Cas's request. Apparently he was still tense and pissed off about being asked to drive the car when he had no former knowledge of how to perform that task. Dean was up first, with Cas sitting at the bar, as everyone filed in in the morning. Coffee was made, pancakes were flipped, barstools were set around the table to make room for the extra people present. As far as Henry knew, Lisa and Ben were still out cold. Which was probably not the best thing, but not something to worry about at this point. Sarah came in the room last, with Bess in tow, looking uncomfortable. Sam jumped up and grabbed a chair, pulling it out for Sarah. She smiled and sank into it gratefully, Bess on her lap.

"Who's ready for pancakes?" Dean asked. He flipped over another golden disk gracefully, catching it in the pan with a quick flick of his wrist.

"I got them," Mary said. She grabbed the plate from Dean that had the pile of already finished pancakes and sat them on the table. "Sarah, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Sarah said. Mary smiled at her.

"I'm Mary. You want some coffee?"

"That would be fantastic," Sarah nodded along. Mary turned her attention to Bess, who was back to hiding against her mother. Far too many strangers at once, Henry figured. Mary bent down so she would be at eyelevel, if the girl had been facing her.

"Hey, sweetheart, you want some pancakes?" she asked softly. She touched Bess's arm lightly to let the girl know she was talking to her. Bess turned around slowly and looked at Marys' face and nodded shyly. Mary smiled again and stood to get the things from the kitchen.

Breakfast was a fairly crazy affair. Charlie and Kevin were arguing about the differences between the different versions of Star Trek. At least, that's what it sounded like from the other end of the table where Henry sat. Every now and then, Dean would jump in and make a point, gesturing wildly. Cas just nodded in agreement with everything the hunter said, as if he understood a single word of the conversation. Mary spoke quietly with Sarah, who smiled a couple of times and was even coaxed into the Star Trek debate slightly later on.

Bess came out of her shell more, although she wasn't so fantastic in the formation of full sentences just yet. Mainly she would just occasionally spurt out a huge amount of nonsense with a couple of words that actually made sense here and there. Sam pulled some faces at her now and then and got her to laugh loudly, causing her to fall back against her mother as she giggled. Sarah smiled at Sam gratefully.

Henry jumped around the table, adding pieces to conversations here and there. He got Sam started the story about LARPing with Charlie.

"I mean, it is so obvious that Dean is chomping at the bit to get in these clothes," Sam said. Dean glared at him from across the table, eating his pancakes with more aggression. "And now he's finally all dressed up and walking around as the queen's handmaiden," Kevin and Mary both burst into laughter as Dean glowered at the table and Sarah tried to respectfully hide a smile.

"Hey, you got involved too," Dean said, pointing at Sam across the table. "Don't pretend you didn't get all dressed up when Charlie needed our help."

"I think it was very brave of you both to offer your help," Charlie smiled. Then glanced at Dean mischievously, "although I think more may have been in it for the Queen's handmaiden than just helping out a friend." Henry snorted and Dean glared again.

"So, what happened?" Sarah asked. Charlie turned to her.

"Well, we beat the bad guy," she said. "These two walked in on what would have been a magical evening and sent the scary-gorgeous fairy with make out skills that are truly legendary away to her own land again. Which means there was no getting lucky involved in my little portion of the adventure."

"Hey, we still helped you out," Dean said. He still looked uncomfortable. Cas was giving him an amused look that Henry took to mean he wouldn't be letting Dean forget this particular story.

"We did," Sam said, clearing his throat, obviously intending to end it there.

"You helped by getting into your own costume," Dean said, pointing accusingly again, "and marching into battle in the middle of a park! In a ponytail!"

"We've already covered the ponytail," Mary interjected with a grin.

"Oh, I haven't," Sarah said with a sly grin of her own. Dean glanced at the side of her head with a smile.

"And you still haven't seen that picture!" Charlie said. Sam and Dean both groaned.

"Charlie, so help me God, if out that picture—" When there was a loud crash in the hallway, everyone silenced instantly. Dean stood up from the table with his gun, followed shortly by Mary. Sam also removed his firearm, but remained standing by the table. Dean gave a quick chin jerk towards one wall and Mary nodded, falling against it quickly. Dean took a deep breath and jerked his chin again, both of them jumping into the hallway back to back. Dean's face fell into surprise and he lowered his gun.

"Oh, uh, I can explain," Dean said. There was another loud clatter that sounded like something long and metallic dropping to the ground. Then a voice, high and shocked.

"Dean?" the voice whispered. Dean's mouth dropped open and he stammered without words for a couple of seconds. Henry quickly got up from the table and marched purposefully towards the doorway.

"Lisa?" Dean finally got out. His tone was cautious. "You know who I am?" Henry finally got the door and leaned around to look down the hallway. Lisa looked up at him sharply in shock and then looked back at Dean.

Lisa stood there, a fireplace poker laying on the floor in front of her where she had presumably dropped it. A small table was knocked over off to the side, right next to the leg that belonged to the boy standing right next to Lisa. He was taller than Henry had assumed he would be, when he was sitting in the car. He had a couple of inches on his mom, and was probably pretty near in height to Dean, as far as Henry could observe.

"Yes, I know who you are," Lisa said as if it were obvious, then her vision clouded for a moment. "But I didn't… I forgot." She looked down in confusion.

"I did too," Ben said. Henry and Dean flipped their heads at the same time to look at him. He was looking directly at Dean, hard and angry. No one spoke for a moment until Mary cleared her throat.

"Would you two like some breakfast?" she asked. Ben and Lisa looked at her like she had just proposed they build a snowman using theoretical physics and flamethrower. "I'll take that as a no, then," she mumbled. She realized, belatedly, that she was still holding her gun and quickly flicked the safety back on before shoving it in her jeans with an apologetic look towards the Braedens.

"Why didn't we remember you?" Lisa asked. She had a bit more of her confidence back and now she sounded accusatory. "It was years ago. I was… possessed." She gulped.

"You were in the hospital and you acted like you didn't know us," Ben said. He was glaring at Dean terribly. Dean looked back and forth between the two of them, unsure what to say. Cas came up behind him two quietly that no one even noticed him until he spoke.

"I did it," Cas said. Henry winced and looked at him. Dean looked down. Henry glanced back and saw most members of the breakfast party had gotten out of their chairs and started moving into the hallway, sluggishly, like they were in slow motion.

"Dean asked me to remove your memories of him so that you would be safe," Cas said, explaining further. Lisa glared at Cas and then at Dean.

"You did this?" Lisa asked. Dean sighed and looked up.

"I did," he said, "to make sure you were never put in danger again because of me."

"Then why are we here now?" Lisa shouted.

"Because I called him," Ben said, still never removing his eyes from Dean's face.

"So, really, about that breakfast," Mary said again in a cheery tone. Yeah, people were mad now, but just wait until they found out the rest. Dean was going to skin him alive.