Thanks so much Ktoon for beta'ing for me and Themegalosaurus for doing the final edits, and thank you Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading. You're all awesome for sharing your time and talents.

Chapter Ten

Rowena was in Columbia, Missouri, a couple hours across the state from St. Louis, so Dean and Sam parted ways with Crowley at the warehouse and set off there in the Impala.

They were just out of town when Dean asked the question that had been worrying him since Sam had told him to go along with Crowley's decision to put Lucifer back in the Cage.

"How are we doing this, Sammy? We can't let them stick Lucifer in the Cage before Amara has been stopped."

"I know. So we block them when they start."

Dean glanced at him, before returning his eyes to the wet road through the rain-streaked windshield that the wipers could only combat a little. "I thought you wanted Cas back."

"I do, but I want Amara dealt with as well. So, we get Lucifer out of Cas and then stop them.

"Crowley and Rowena aren't going to be happy with me for getting in the way of their plan. Crowley said Rowena was pretty keen to dispatch him to Hell, too."

"Does that matter?" Sam asked. "I thought you and Crowley had gotten over your bromance. And Rowena's not exactly a friend."

Dean sighed. Sam's inability to understand the mess that had been Dean's time as a demon, palling up with Crowley, frustrated him. "It wasn't a bromance. And we are over it. I am, anyway. I don't think Crowley gives much of a crap about me either. I just meant that they are the King of Hell and the most powerful witch either of us have ever seen."

Sam's brows pulled together as he considered. "I think you'll be okay. They'll be pissed, sure, but they're also smart enough to know you're needed to deal with Amara. Once they realize that they've got to use Lucifer, they'll need you. Even armed with the horn, Lucifer is going to need to find Amara, and you're their best chance at that. You might even be able to distract her while Lucifer takes the shot. Besides, you're too powerful an ally for them to waste."

Dean snorted. "Powerful? You sure that's not just little brother hero-worship?"

"You were never my hero, Dean," Sam said staring at him with a look of amusement. "My hero was Batman."

Dean huffed a laugh. "And yet Batman didn't save you from getting your arm broken when you jumped off the shed roof."

"Neither did you?" Sam pointed out. "It was because of you that I thought I could do it anyway."

"That's not my point. What I'm saying is that Batman was the wrong hero for you since you got your arm broken pretending to be him."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "And you were the right hero?"

"No, probably not," Dean conceded. "I did get you up on the shed in the first place. But my point stands. Hero-worship is no good for this. Crowley and Rowena might not think I can do anything to help, which means they might kill me."

Sam looked out of the windshield for a moment, considering. "If you really think that's a risk, we can go back to the bunker now and lock the doors. Neither of them can get in."

"And Lucifer will go back to the Cage and Amara will destroy the world." Dean huffed. "No, I don't really think they'll kill me, but they're not going to be happy with me."

"What do you want to do?" Sam asked.

"Keep driving to Columbia," Dean said. "Get Cas back and wait for Lucifer to reappear in a new vessel. Help him trap Amara and take her out, and then get his evil ass back in the Cage."

"Good," Sam said and then silence fell between them for a moment. "I was lying, you know."

"About what?" Dean asked.

"When I said you weren't my hero. You were. You are. You're pretty incredible, Dean."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Quit kissing my ass. I'm going to do what you want."

"I'm serious," Sam said sincerely.

Dean forced himself not to allow the swell of emotion he felt at Sam's words show and said gruffly. "Okay, I'm putting some music on before you start singing the Barney song." He fumbled for a cassette and pushed it into the stereo. A moment later Black Sabbath blared from the speakers.

Sam was laughing raucously, and Dean chanced a glance at him. "What's funny?"

Sam calmed slightly, his laughs becoming chuckles, and said, "You know the Barney song?"

"Shut up," Dean said quickly.

Sam began to laugh again and Dean joined him in spite of himself. He was thinking how good the moment felt. He was here laughing with his brother, even after what had happened.

It took a long time for him to calm and be able to ask, "How exactly do we stop this spell? I don't think covering Rowena's mouth mid-chant is going to cut it with Crowley there to throw me against a wall."

"You need to get close and say, "Rectam uiam."

"Rectum?" Dean asked with a grin.

Sam shook his head with a small smile. "Rectam. It's Latin. It will block her spell. Do it when he's out of Cas but before he takes off. He's going to be in a hurry, so she'll be working double speed. You've got to do the same."

"Got it," Dean said. "But how are we getting him out of Cas?"

Sam looked satisfied. "I had an idea about that. You told me there was a sigil you used to try to talk to me with when Gadreel was running the switches."

"Yeah, he screwed with it so it wouldn't work."

"No one will do that this time. You all want the same thing. Get Cas listening and tell him to kick Lucifer out."

"You think that will work? He did let him in."

"Things are different now," Sam said.

"What things?"

"I'm dead. Make sure he knows that and he'll kick Lucifer out so he can come back. He will want to help you more."

"More than saving the world?"

"Yes," Sam said confidently. "Once he wouldn't have made that choice, but Cas gets what it is to be human now, what loss feels like. He's going to want to be with you."

Dean wasn't sure it would work, but it was the only idea on the table. "I'll try," he said. "And then what do we do when Lucifer is out?"

"We wait for him to show up and get him the horn. He's going to, I'm sure. Amara is the only thing that is more powerful than him in the world. He's going to want to be the one on top. Once he has the horn, I'm pretty sure he'll know what to do, though you'll need to get him close to Amara."

Dean grimaced. "Working with Lucifer. Does it make you feel like…"

"Like I've bathed in a sewer?" Sam suggested. "Yes. It does. But what choice do we have? He's our best chance against Amara."

"Yeah, I know."

It still felt wrong to Dean to be using Lucifer for anything though. It made his skin crawl. It felt like a betrayal to Sam, even though he was the one encouraging it.

"You're going to need to remind me of the rectum words when it's time though," he said, hoping the instance of humor would lighten the dour mood that had settled over them.

"Why do you do that?" Sam asked, his brows low over his sad eyes.

"Do what? Rectum jokes? Sorry, Sammy, but it was irresistible. It's not my fault you've got no sense of humor."

"I'm not talking about that," Sam corrected sadly. "I meant why do you play dumb when you're not? You remember the spell from the first time I said it."

Dean sighed heavily. "Sammy, you're the brains of this outfit, and we both know it."

"Well the brains are dead now so you've got to quit playing like you're the stupid cousin at the kids' table."

"You're not dead, dead," Dean said fiercely.

"No?" Sam asked. "Feels like it."

Dean's heart sank at his words. He thought Sam was doing okay. They'd been joking around even. Sam had seemed to handle everything so well since he came back. He was pretty sure Sam hadn't meant to slip up and tell him what he was really feeling, but now that he had Dean was worried about him.

"Sammy…" he started, unsure of what to say.

Sam shook his head curtly and then smiled. "You should speed up a little. We've still got a ways to go and the longer Crowley and Rowena are together, the more chance there is of one of them killing the other."

Dean knew the smile was false and Sam was suffering more than he let on, but he accepted his desire to change the subject—he hated to be pushed into emotional conversations, too—and said, "My money's on Rowena. That woman is fierce."

"Yeah, we really should hurry."

Dean cast a glance at Sam and saw his smile, but wasn't fooled. It was the look in Sam's eyes that showed the truth.

They were haunted.

When Dean arrived at the church Rowena was sheltering in, he climbed out of the car and walked along the puddled path to the door. The rain that had pelted the car on the way from St. Louis had fallen here, too, but it had slowed to a drizzle now and Dean was able to get inside before he was too wet.

Rowena and Crowley were standing together by the old altar, bickering about something Dean didn't bother to explore.

He was feeling morose now. Though Sam had maintained a pretense of happiness throughout the rest of the journey, Dean knew he wasn't, and that had dragged him down. He wanted to know what it really felt like for Sam, other than insubstantial, and he wanted to know what he was thinking. He didn't push though, partially because he didn't want to know the answer.

Rowena and Crowley looked at him as he walked in, making no effort to hide his depression, and Rowena's face fell into lines of false sympathy.

"Fergus told me about Samuel," she cooed. "I'm sorry."

"Are you sorry for letting Lucifer out, too?" Dean growled.

The false sympathy became annoyance and she said, "Since he snapped my neck, I'd have to say yes. If it wasn't for the charm I've secreted in myself, it would have all ended there for me. My long and varied life would have ended in ignominy."

"It worked though," Dean said. "You're alive, Sam isn't."

And he didn't feel like he was, Dean thought. He was suffering and there was nothing Dean could do to ease it for him. He couldn't even take Sam home and let him work it out in his own time as they had to be here, working to save Lucifer from the Cage so he could save the world. Dean was sick of dealing with the world's problems as it always came at the cost to one of them.

"What happened to you was your own fault," he went on accusingly. "Sam was trying to save lives when he was killed."

"Calm down," Sam said firmly. "She screwed up, but since he cost her life, I don't think she's going to make the same mistake again. She's working with us now."

"That doesn't mean what she did isn't evil," Dean said, forcing himself to meet Sam's eye.

"I know that." Sam softened his voice. "But we need her to put Lucifer back when it's all over, so play nice."

"Told ya," Crowley said smugly, with a meaningful look at Rowena.

Dean looked at them and saw Rowena looked falsely sympathetic again, and Crowley amused.

"You did," Rowena said. "The poor wee lamb has lost his marbles. That doesn't make him useless though. He can still be important. You were never playing with the full deck as a child either, but you did all right. You lived long enough to make a deal and now you're king. Dean still has potential to be useful."

"Enough!" Dean snapped and Sam said his name in a warning tone. Dean nodded and said, "Speaking about useful, unlike you two, I have a way to get Lucifer out of Cas."

Rowena raised an eyebrow. "How are you going to do that?"

"We get Cas to kick him out. There's a blood sigil that will stuff down Lucifer so we can talk to Cas. We tell him what's happened and he can do the rest."

Rowena nodded thoughtfully but Crowley looked skeptical. "Since Castiel let him in knowing what a spectacularly bad idea it is, what makes you think he's changed his mind?"

"Lucifer will," Sam said. "He's not letting Cas rest in there. He would be cruel. Maybe Cas just needs the push to get him out."

Dean flinched at the thought of what could be happening to Castiel and fixed his eyes on Crowley. "It's going to work, trust me."

Crowley laughed. "Trust you? Of course. Why didn't I think of that? You do your best to screw with my best plans most of the time, but on this I should trust you."

"I want Cas back, too," Dean said bitterly.

"But you also want Lucifer in a new vessel," Crowley said. "You did a pretty big turnaround before. One minute you're all about keeping Lucifer around. The next you want him back in the Cage. I'm not stupid, Dean. I know you're up to something."

"He's not as stupid as he looks then," Sam said musingly. "Tell him I told you to do it. I reminded you of what Lucifer did to me. He'll buy that."

"I changed my mind because Sam did," he said. "There will be another way to stop Amara, but there might not be another way to put Lucifer back in the Cage after he's stopped Amara. He deserves to stay there because of what he did to Sam."

He searched Crowley's face for a sign of residual doubt, but he looked convinced. If the situations were any different, he and Sam would be the ones fighting to put Lucifer back in the Cage without question, but this was about saving the world. They both had to stow personal feelings.

"Yeah, okay," Crowley said. "If the voices are on my side, who am I to doubt them. Sam would want Lucifer stuffed away again after all. Maybe your hallucinations are making sense at last." He rubbed his hands together. "What do we need to do?"

"We've got to lay a trap for him," Dean said. "Holy oil."

"I've got some sigils we can boost that with," Rowena said. "Get me some paint."

"I'll get it," Dean said.

He left the church with Sam at his side and went to the Impala. He popped the trunk and pulled out an urn of holy oil and a can of spray paint.

"You sold it," Sam said confidently. "They believe you now."

Dean nodded stiffly. He didn't want to answer aloud and say too much as he was sure Crowley and Rowena would be listening carefully to him. Castiel had incredible hearing as an angel, and he was pretty sure Crowley would have a similar upgrade as a demon.

He went back into the church and handed Crowley the oil and Rowena the spray paint. She walked to the middle of the room and knelt awkwardly in her tight dress to paint in the sigils. When she stepped back, Crowley added a circle of holy oil.

"It's time for you to bleed, dear," Rowena said.

Dean pulled a switchblade from his jacket pocket and held it out to her. "Why not yours?"

"Because my blood is much more valuable, and I don't want a scar. You Winchesters spent half your lives bleeding, and you can pull off a scar as something appealing." She looked Dean up and down. "Not to me, of course. But to some people you can almost be classed as attractive."

Dean cut across his palm and pumped his hand to draw blood before using it to daub the sigil on the wall. He remembered it well, even years later, as he had studied it after, wanting to know how Gadreel had managed to screw it up when he was still fermenting in his rage toward the angel. Gadreel had added a crossed line which Dean left out now.

When he was done, he pumped his hand again to keep the blood flowing and said, "It's ready. Are you?"

Rowena picked up the spell book from the altar and said, "I am. But how are we actually going to lure him here? I don't think he's much for answering prayers."

"We'll summon him," Crowley said. "And when I say we, I mean you, Squirrel." He rooted in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper that he handed to Dean. "Say all that and he'll come."

Dean unfolded the paper and read the formally worded Latin summoning. "Got it," he said.

Crowley nodded to himself and held out a lighter to Dean for a moment before pulling it back. "Can you handle this, or are you considering self-immolation as a way to join Sam in the Empty?"

"Sam's not in the empty," Dean growled.

"Of course he's not, dear," Rowena said soothingly and then dropped her voice to speak to Crowley. "Don't antagonize the insane, grieving Winchester, Fergus. They aren't stable to begin with."

"That's rich coming from her family," Sam said.

"Gavin was okay," Dean pointed out. "Though he's probably butterfly-effecting his way across America right now, causing all kinds of trouble."

"Gavin is fine," Crowley said quickly. "He's not affecting anything."

"Who's Gavin?" Rowena asked.

"Your grandson," Dean said. "He bucks the family trend by being an actual good guy."

Rowena turned her eyes on Crowley. "So you were a parent and still have no understanding of what it was like for me to be a mother and a witch?"

"I understand plenty," Crowley said. "I won't win any Father of the Year awards, but I did my son a favor letting him stick around in this time instead of letting him set sail on a doomed ship."

"And screwed the world," Sam said.

Dean nodded. "Finding him is one more thing on the to-do list."

"You're not going anywhere near him!" Crowley snarled.

"I wasn't talking to you," Dean said, unconcerned by Crowley's anger.

"No, you were talking to yourself, which is perfectly sane. Exactly what we need when we're about to face Satan." He shook his head tiredly. "You do the summoning. I'll light the oil when he shows up. And then you can do the sigil to get Castiel chatting." Crowley walked to the altar and waved a hand over the briefcase which popped open, and he took out the horn with a cloth wrapped around his hand. "Here's the bait. We just need the mouse. Are you ready, Dean?"

"Yes," Dean said forcefully, in response to both Crowley's words and Sam's concerned look.

"Excellent," Rowena said. "You boys take care of that and I'll come back when he's in the air."

"You're not staying?" Dean asked.

Rowena looked amused. "No. I'm doing what any sane person does in a situation like this. Hiding until he's out of a body that can snap my neck again."

"You're a true hero," Sam said.

Dean laughed. "She's as much of a hero as her son."

"And you're such a white knight," Crowley sneered.

"I wasn't talking to you," Dean said. "And since I actually have saved the world before, I'd say I'm more of a hero than you."

Sam nodded, his eyes intense as he stared at the demon.

"Dealing with crazy people is exhausting," Crowley said tiredly. "Let's get on with it. Hide if you're hiding, Mother, but I wouldn't bother myself. He's an archangel. He's going to sense your power as soon as he arrives. You might as well stay out here with us and pretend to have a backbone."

Dean held out the paper with the summoning to her and said, "You can do this part."

Rowena scowled. "I hate you both."

"The feeling's mutual," Dean said and Sam nodded stiffly.

She walked ahead of Dean where he stood by the wall, lifted the paper, and cleared her throat. "Here goes…" She took a breath and when she spoke, her voice was shaking. "In nomine magni dei nostri Satanas, introibo ad altare Domini Inferi I summon you to make an offer: the weapon by which its bearer can crush the Darkness forever."

There was a crash of thunder that seemed to force itself on Dean so that he felt it in his bones, even with the roof between him and the sky, and a flash of light that cleared to reveal Lucifer standing on the sigils in the circle of oil.

"Now, Crowley!" Dean shouted, but Crowley was already flicking the lighter to flame. He dropped it down and fire licked over the circle of oil and flames rose.

"Well, this isn't exactly what I was expecting." Lucifer looked around from face to face, a flicker of a smile curling his lips as his eyes fell on Rowena, and then he settled on Crowley. "What do you have there, Puppy?" He narrowed his eyes. "That's the horn. You found yourself another Hand of Dad. This is great. Douse these flames and let's get to work. Auntie Amara isn't going to destroy herself."

Dean pumped his fist and slapped his bloody palm on the sigil. It flared with sparks and Lucifer began to shake.

"Cas!" Dean shouted. "I need you!"

Lucifer laughed, and for a moment Dean thought it had failed, but then the laughter cut off and a voice that was all Castiel spoke, "Dean? What's happened?"

"You let Lucifer in," Crowley said dryly. "We'd like you to kick him out."

"Now, Cas," Dean said, his hands fisting and making the blood drip on the floor. "Get him out!"

"I can't," Castiel said. "He's the only one that can stop…" He looked around. "Where is Sam?"

"Tell him, Dean," Sam commanded.

Dean's throat closed as he tried to force himself to say the words that tormented him, but before he could say anything, Castiel started to laugh and Dean saw Lucifer in the mad eyes.

"So, that's your plan," Lucifer said, a wry smile curling his lips. "You want Castiel to cast me out? You do realize that's insanity, right? I'm the only chance this world has now that The Darkness is free. Castiel knows that. He's not going to kick me out because of it." He laughed again. "He is sacrificing himself for the good of the world. You should be grateful to us both. Sam would get it…" He looked around. "Where is Sam?"

Dean swallowed around the constriction in his throat and glanced at his brother. Sam had the look of fear Dean had seen in him when he'd been faced with Lucifer before, but his eyes were hard. He was scared but fighting it.

"Too scared to face the reunion?" Lucifer looked intently at Dean and then grinned. "Or…holding back tears, broken expression…is he dead?"

"Ignore him, Dean," Sam said.

"He is!" Lucifer said triumphantly. "This is perfect. This is why you want Castiel. You think he can bring him back. I'm sorry to disappoint, but he can't. The longer angels are away from Heaven, the less connection they have to the divine. Castiel can't bring life anymore, and I think you know it already… Were you blinded by grief or is trapping me your attempt at making a deal with me?"

"We want nothing from you," Sam growled. "We just need Cas back."

Lucifer rubbed his hands together. "Okay then. Let's deal. I'll bring Sammy back if you give up this Castiel thing. He stays with me, you don't interfere, and I'll get him back. I'll even take care of Amara for you. Call it a freebie."

"No!" Sam said, his eyes wide and his hands reaching uselessly for Dean. "Don't do it, Dean!"

Dean's chest ached as if there was an anvil on it as he realized Sam didn't know. He hadn't been there when Vanth said no one could bring life after Charun took it. He hadn't told him that damning fact.

"I don't want anything from you but Cas back," Dean lied. What he wanted even more was Sam alive, but that was impossible.

"That's not happening," Lucifer said. "So we're at a stalemate. We can wait until the fire burns out so I can strangle you with your own bloody entrails, put Puppy back in his cage, and make a proper job of killing the witch, or we can talk details. Douse the fire, give me the horn, and get this party started. Save the world together. Or die."

"We need Cas, too," Sam said. "If we don't get him back now, we never will."

Dean nodded and Lucifer crowed. "That's a yes then. Awesome. Break out the fire extinguisher and we can get to work. Or…" He looked down at the fire that was dying. "Or I can do it all. Kill you, deal with Amara, and have this vessel for myself without niggling familial bonds."

"Oh, bollocks," Crowley said, his brow pinched. "Let's do this."

Dean was about to argue, to tell him not to deal, but Crowley's head flew back and red smoke poured from his mouth into the air and then at Lucifer whose mouth opened and the smoke poured in. Crowley's meat suit dropped heavily to the floor, the horn with it, and Lucifer jerked as if being electrocuted.

"What the hell is he doing?" Rowena asked, shifting from foot to foot as if fighting the urge to flee.

"Maybe he's not as big a coward as I thought," Sam mused.

Dean shook his head slowly. "Lucifer will destroy him."

"Let's hope not."

There was a moment of nothing but the sound of Rowena's quick, nervous breaths timed against Dean's slow and careful ones, and then Lucifer's mouth flew open and a cloud of blue-white light flew out of it.

Rowena just watched for a moment and then she snapped into action, chanting a spell.

"Stop her!" Sam shouted.

Dean opened his mouth to use the words Sam had given him for the situation, but Lucifer was already acting for himself. He threw himself at the dirty window and it smashed, allowing him to fly out of it.

Castiel's mouth opened and Crowley smoked out of it and back into his meatsuit. He got to his feet, brushing off his sleeves and said, "Tell me you stuffed him back in the Cage, mother."

Rowena shook her head and pointed at the window. "He got away."

"Bollocks."

"Cas?" Dean asked, looking at the angel standing in the middle of the flames that were flickering like candles and dying. "Is that you?"

"Yes." Castiel seemed to want to say more, and teetered on the verge of speech for a moment, looking between Crowley and Dean and then said, "Crowley told me… Is it… Is Sam dead?"

Dean nodded stiffly and Castiel's face fell. "No." It wasn't an argument, but an internal refusal to accept the truth. "What happened to him?"

Dean tried to answer, but his throat was swollen shut again.

"It's okay," Sam soothed. "I'm here."

But he was unhappy, Dean thought. He was suffering to be here. He hadn't said it, but in his eyes and the sag of his shoulders as he'd said he felt dead, Dean had seen it.

He felt a prickling behind his eyes and he fought against it, not wanting to cry in front of Rowena and Crowley. He wasn't in control though, and a tear slipped down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away, but at the look of sorrow on Castiel's face as the last flame died and he stepped out of the circle, another fell.

Castiel strode toward him and dragged him into a hug. Dean let himself be held, but he didn't return the embrace. His attention was on Sam who was standing behind Castiel with a look of misery on his face.

"I'm sorry, Dean," Sam said at the moment Castiel said the same.

Dean shook his head, refuting their apologies as he fixed his eyes on Sam and said, "It was my fault."

Sam closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "It really wasn't."

Dean looked away, unable to face him. It was Charun that had taken Sam's soul and stopped his heart, it was Sam that had gone after him alone, but it was on him that Sam had died.

He was always supposed to take care of his little brother.

So… We got Castiel back but Dean is struggling. Poor guys. And now Lucifer is out there looking for a vessel.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx