Okay, I have gotten a fair amount of PM's and a couple of reviews demanding for more Sam/Issa parts. o not worry, my dear readers, you will get plenty of more Sam/Issa parts in the future, but for now, I am simply trying to set the stage for the main confict. I'm doing this for you guys and mainly for me, because I'm not really sure how I want to act this out, and before I get too heavily in the Sam/Issa and especially the Sam/Issa/Dean love triangle, I want to get all my ducks in a row, so yeah, be patient, and they'll be more, promise :)

"Hey . . ."

Issa turned around later that evening as she hung around outside the hotel room she now unofficially shared with Sam - sitting on the hood of Dean's car, actually – a joint in her first two fingers. "Didn't Sam tell you that the car's off limits?" He spoke good-naturedly, and Issa smiled a small smile and shrugged.

"No one else to sit and I didn't think you'd mind too much . . ." She replied, and Dean shrugged and eventually nodded in agreement as he gestured to her fingers.

"I didn't know you smoked . . . the illegal stuff . . ." He spoke up and Issa grinned back and laughed a little as she gazed down at the joint in her fingers.

"Yeah, it was an, uh . . . rather unsavory quirk that I picked up with Michael when we were living a mortal life in 60's Manhattan." Dean laughed as he joined her on the hood of his car.

"Groovy . . ." He spoke and she nodded and laughed.

"Studio 54 was where it was at, son!" She spoke grinning, and she took another drag and then slowly let the smoke out. She offered it to him and Dean shrugged as he took it from her and took a long drag himself. He held it in for a moment before he too let the smoke out slowly and then handed it back to her. He shook his head.

"That's some good shit. Where'd you get it?" He asked, and she shrugged.

"I told you that, I'd have to kill you . . ." She grinned, elbowing him in the ribs, and he grinned and laughed.

"That you'd would . . ." He spoke quietly as he turned his eyes down to gaze at his hands in his lap. They stayed in silence for a moment before he decided to break it. "Can I ask you a question?" Issa shrugged.

"You can . . . but you might not get an answer." She joked, and he grinned and nodded.

"That's fair enough. So I'm just wondering . . . have you . . . always been close with Michael?"

"You could say that."

"How close?"

"We were always closer to each other than we were to our other siblings, if that's what you're asking. Well . . . maybe except for Lucifer, but he's a sore subject for any Angel, much less an Archangel. Then we spent a few mortal lifetimes together, had some fun. You dig?"

Dean grinned and nodded, chuckling. "Yeah, I dig. But I um . . . the reason I asked was. . ." He trailed off.

"You wanted to know what Castiel meant, didn't you?" She asked him quietly, and he nodded and turned his eyes up onto Issa. She was gazing at him keenly, occasionally taking a drag from her joint, and he shrugged and nodded again.

"It's just . . . Sam, he deserves . . ."

"Its sweet, Dean, that you're so protective of him. I really respect that," She told him quietly, turning her eyes down to the smoking joint she was now slowly twirling around in her fingers. "But you don't have to worry. Gabriel, he's . . . you don't have to worry about Gabriel, let's just say that . . ." She spoke and he sighed.

"I wasn't talking about Gabriel . . ." He spoke slowly, turning to gaze at her, and she laughed a little.

"Oh. Listen, Dean . . . you don't have to worry about Michael either. There's no competition there." She assured him.

"Then tell me what Castiel meant." He spoke and she adopted an expressionless face, her eyes still downcast on the joint between her fingers.

"All growing up, Michael was the oldest of us. He taught us, he protected us . . . and we were always so close!"

"But . . .?" Dean gently prodded, and Issa shrugged.

"Michael was always destined to inherit the throne of Heaven whenever God . . . retired, I guess is the word, despite the common misconception that Jesus would," She stopped for a moment and shrugged. "He chose me to spent the rest of eternity with . . . by his side, as his companion, his partner, his-his . . . his wife . . ."

Dean furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion. "But . . . you two are . . ." Issa shook her head.

"Those are mere rumors, and no one truly knows if they are real except for God himself. God has never commented on them except to say that we hold a mortal bond closer than the others, and I always thought there was a grain of truth to them, but . . . sometimes, in the way he acts and looks at certain things, I know deep in my heart that he's not my blood brother. Lucifer . . . he was never what I would call, 'evil'. There was always a goodness inside him that outshone everything! He would take care of birds with broken wings, only to release them when they healed – he would soothe a child who had died, but left their parents back on earth. He was vocal with God when he was ordered to do something he did not like or he would think his conscious would have a problem doing. He was . . . he was the better one out of all of us – the one that was most pure.

"Now Michael . . . Michael was different, Dean. Michael would do everything that was commanded him – down to a 'T', even. If he was order to massacre a bus full of schoolchildren, he would have done it, with no objections raised. 'Everything we do, that is ordered by God, is for a purpose', he told me once when I raised objection to him fulfilling one of his orders."

"They fought over you?" He asked her and Issa shook her head.

"It was . . . God told me after the Revolution and after he cast Lucifer down into the depths of Tartarus, that not even he foresaw how tooth and nail, they fought each other for me. He likened them to Cain and Abel – two brothers hated each other beyond all measure and I . . . I was the instigator."

"What about Gabriel and Raphael?"

"Gabe and Rap, as the youngest of us five, had taken the vows of celibacy – whereas Michael and Lucifer, who either one was destined to inherit the throne of Heaven, did not. They were not allowed to touch a woman in any way, much less be seen in the company of one outside of meetings and gatherings."

"What changed that?"

"After Lucifer fell, I was punished. I was punished for loving him, for . . . breaking the vow I had given Michael that I would be only his, by giving myself to Lucifer. I was whipped, I was flayed . . . every medieval punishment imagined, was dealt to me. Gabriel told me later that Heaven as never seen so much blood since the Revolution and my subsequent punishment. Me and Gabe, we . . . we eventually fell in love, I suppose, and I ended up being the Angel that he broke his vows for."

Dean recoiled slightly. "Damn . . . now I know what kind of pressure you're on," He spoke and Issa scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You have no idea, Dean. After my punishment and confinement, I was finally released and . . . I quickly became lost. Lucifer had been my only friend – all the other angels envied me for my relationship with both him and Michael, and they shunned me. Lucifer was the only one who would call me a friend. When I was released, they shunned me even more, as . . . Lucifer's Whore."

"Is that when Balthazar gave you that nickname?"

Issa grinned and laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I met him and Castiel and they were the only two who didn't shun me. Balthazar, of course, was almost an outcast himself, so in his words 'we banded together to survive the idiocy of Heaven'," She spoke and they laughed a little. "Castiel was just a brother-figure. He didn't blame me for siding with Lucifer. He didn't blame me for a lot."

"So . . . what do you do now?" He asked, and Issa shrugged.

"I don't know. Really, it depends on how things upstairs go. I could be recalled back tomorrow or in a few seconds, or I could stay down here, grow old with Sam, and have kids, then die and go to Purgatory and languish there for a few thousand years, before I even get my case reviewed!" She laughed a little. "I don't know about you, Dean, but I'm kind of hoping for the latter." He grinned and laughed a little as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I think Sam wants to shoot for that one too." He spoke and she observed him keenly before she averted her eyes to the ground. The joint in Dean's fingers had long since been smoked out and now lay in a tiny pool of smoldering ash on the pavement below them.

"How long have you liked me, Dean?" She asked him quietly, and Dean's eyes shot onto her with alarm.

"How . . .?"

Issa chuckled. "I'm still a woman, Dean, and a woman knows when a man likes her. That, and Sam told me he suspected as much." She gazed at him for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What was I suppose to say, Issa?" He asked her. "You were Bonding to Sam! Anything I said or did, would have been useless! Your body would have outright refused me – welcoming only Sam! And even if your body didn't, your mind certainly would have! Sam is your life, Issa! He has been your life since we found you! I can't do anything about it anymore, especially now that you're fully Bonded and he's your Lifemate."

"You make the whole process sound Vampiric." She laughed and he shrugged.

"Isn't it similar? Vampires sometimes mate for life . . . just like Angels and their mortals. I was just the one who didn't reach you first." He spoke quietly, and Issa sighed as she stood from her place on the car and stood before him.

"If its any consolation, Dean . . . if this was completely different circumstances, and I was not a Fallen Angel, and we were in a bar . . . you'd be the first person I'd take home." She told him and he smiled weakly.

"Even over Sam?" She laughed as she put her hands on his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his temple.

"Probably . . . even over Sam."

"He's a fucking asshole, Issa!"

"Lucifer, please calm down -!"

"How can I calm down, Issa?" Lucifer roared at her as he swept the contents of the desk, to the floor in one enraged sweep of his hand. He twirled around to face her then, his face livid. "Firstly, he wants me to love a being two steps above a fucking monkey, above him, and secondly – secondly! He wants me to hand you over to Michael – claims that it's wrong for us to be together because you're technically his!" He shook his head then, gazing at her with misery in his eyes. "I might be able to force myself to love those monkeys – after all, they are kind of endearing – but never . . . could I ever give you up!" He shook his head. "Especially to him . . . especially to Michael."

"He would lord me over you . . ." She spoke and he swallowed heavily and nodded.

"Exactly . . . he would lord you over me . . . as something he has but I could never have," He brightened up and grinned then, causing Issa to grin and laugh as well as Lucifer as he circled around her, his chin eventually falling on her shoulder and his arms around her waist. "You know you want me instead, anyway . . ." He teased and she rolled her eyes and gently moved out of his grasp.

"You think everyone wants you, Lucifer!"

"But everyone does want me, Issa!" He teased, grinning, and she rolled her eyes and laughed. "Especially you . . ."

"Think again, Lucifer."

"Don't you?" He asked, laughing, and she glanced at him.

"Well, I would certainly choose you over Michael if given the chance!" She laughed as she moved out of his grasp to move onto the balcony overlooking the entirety of Heaven. She met it as a joke, but with no laughter coming from Lucifer, she knew he didn't take it that way. "Lucifer . . .?" She asked in curiosity as she turned around to face him, only to see him gazing at her with an expressionless face.

"Why don't you?" He asked her and she opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her by jumping off of the table and outreaching his hand. "Let me explain first – 'cause it just hit me! What if we . . . rebel?"

"Rebel . . .?" Issa repeated the word with an eyebrow raised in skepticism and he nodded.

"Exactly, Issa, that's what I'm saying! We could rebel against God – take over Heaven – I know a lot of Angels who are jumping at the chance! Leviathan, Beelzebub, Azazel – they all want change, Issa! Not one of them wants to bow down to these monkeys – they want things to stay the way they are – where we love God and no one else! I could inherit the throne if we win – cast down Michael - you could be mine! You could be my wife! You would still inherit everything you are supposed to inherit – but without Michael by your side! You would have me!" He laughed a little as he crossed the space between them and took her hands in his. "Isn't this what we've always dreamed about Issa? We would have a world in which we could be together – without Michael vying for your affections at every turn? We would have a world without pain, without loss, without sin . . . don't you want that?"

Issa thought for a minute about everything Lucifer had just told her. They had often lain awake at night after making love, envisioning this perfect world – a world where everything he had just said was true – a world that if Angels could have children, they would in this perfect little world of their own making. She swallowed heavily and he continued to gaze at her with an expressionless face, carefully gauging her reaction.

"We could do it now, even, if you don't want to wait. They're gathered in the square, beneath God's temple. There are hundreds and hundreds of Angels, Issa, there's no way we'd lose!" He promised her and she swallowed heavily again as she gazed into his eyes. She had heard that when Angels truly loved someone, they would Bond to them. They would feel like they couldn't live without them. Issa had yet to fully know if she loved Lucifer like she wanted . . . if she had Bonded to him like the Angels whispered they had.

But she didn't care . . . she knew she loved him.

She stood on her tiptoes and threw her arms around his neck, where she kissed him, long and deep and full of the love she could not show him at that moment. He kissed her back and when they broke apart, she gently took his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"You know I'm with you, 'Luc . . . two against the world." She told him and he smiled thankfully, his eyes shining with love as he brought up her hand and pressed the back of it to his lips.

"Yes, Issa . . . two against the world."

Issa swallowed heavily and rubbed her face with her hands as she left the memory, tears welling up behind her ears as she did so. She squeezed them shut, desperate to banish them before they could come in a torrential waterfall. She didn't know why these memories had been plaguing her lately. She had theories, but she had no way of proving them. She wished she had someone to tell her what was wrong.

She opened the door to the bathroom and stood on the threshold, framed by the bright light of the bathroom shining behind her, gazing upon the bed, where Sam slept. She smiled a small smile and leaned her head up against the nearby doorframe. She gazed upon the figure of Sam – her Lifemate.

The more she thought about it, the less and less her mind could point the subtle differences between Sam and Lucifer.

There was Sam and Lucifer . . . the only two men in the entire universe who could ever successfully say that they had held a key to Issa's heart.

Her hand found the bathroom lightswitch on the nearby wall by the door, and she cut it off before moving through the darkened room to the bed. She could hear Sam's breathing in the dark, long and smooth and fluid – the kind of sleep customary of one who was in a deep sleep. She carefully, slowly climbed in bed, not wanting to wake him, but she knew it was too good to be true. His arms snaked around her and pulled her against his front, his face moving to bury in her hair.

"Where have you been?" he asked her quietly, groggily, and she smiled.

"I was outside for air. I talked with Dean for a minute." She spoke and he nodded.

"Finally – maybe you two have settled your differences! What did you talk about?"

"Oh, this and that - nothing bit . . . nothing for you to worry."

"Nothing's ever big with Dean. But don't worry . . . I'll let you keep your secrets." He teased and she grinned as she turned over in his arms, on to her back, where she gently smoothed her fingers through his silky locks of chocolate brown hair. His hand moved to lay on her collarbone as he kissed her, and warmth spread from the place on her collarbone where his hand met her skin, and she grinned at the feeling. She would never get used to the feeling of warmth that spread throughout her body at every touch made by Sam.

They grinned and laughed as Issa pushed him on his back and climbed onto him. She mounted and rode him with a slowness that was almost excruciating with its pleasure, and she grinned at the abandonment with which Sam begged and pleaded with her to go faster. She teasingly obliged him for a moment before resuming her slow pace, and laughed at the frustrated, almost angry growl that would tear lose from his throat.

"You little tease . . ."

At first, she thought the words had come from Sam, but when she grinningly turned her eyes onto him to reply, she realized that he had said nothing. He was busy fighting with himself to allow her to remain in control, and her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"'Lucifer's Little Minx, huh? Jesus Christ, I thought that nickname would be the very first thing you would drop!"

Issa gasped and stopped her motions, her head swiveling around, her eyes vainly searching the darkened room trying to find the source of the voice. She knew that voice . . . that voice had haunted her dreams for the last two millennia.

"What is it?" Sam asked her breathlessly, and Issa shook her head as she slowed her attempts to try to find the source of the voice in the room. Maybe she had imagined it . . . maybe she hadn't. But whether or not she had imagined it or not, it seemed to be gone now.

Issa shook her head again. "I-I'm sorry, Sam, I thought . . . nothing . . ." She smiled a small smile and shook her head. "Forget about it . . ." She whispered as she started moving again, immediately causing him to let out a low moan as she leaned down and kissed him, deeply, passionately.

"He's not me, is he Issa? You want to think he can compare to me, but he can't, you know that! Issa . . . Issa, my little lynx . . ."

"You fucking bastard!" Issa hissed as she sat up and turned around at the waist, her eyes searching vainly for the source of the voice again. This time, she knew who the voice belonged to. There was no doubt in her mind that it was him.

"Issa, what is it?" Sam asked her, his voice growing stronger, more alarmed, and she shook her head and pursed her lips.

"I thought . . . I thought I had heard Lucifer . . ." She told him, shaking her head. "I thought I was free of him."