Okay, I have actually finished the story. Just have to edit and work out the kinks. Only a few more chapters. I am combining Sam and Dean this time. Dean's part was just too short to merit its own chapter.

At this rate I should have this story posted completely before Christmas. It may be sooner if people want it and let me know.

Please enjoy.

Sam watched the demons milling around the spacious yard outside a postcard perfect farmhouse. According to Ruby this was where it was going to happen now that the last seal was broken.

"Ready Sam?" Sam jumped slightly at his brothers question, he still wasn't sure what to make of Dean's sudden appearance in this angel induced nightmare.

"Uh yeah." He choked out, Dean watched him suspiciously for a moment before nodding and motioning for them to begin making their way closer to the house. Sam didn't want to do this, he wanted to go home, to the real Dean. Only problem was he didn't know how and so far everything that he'd lived through had turned bad.

The sunset would have been beautiful if Sam could have been bothered. As it was he was trying to settle the feeling of being safe with his brother beside him with the feeling of his skin being the same temperature of the concrete.

"Sam, you with me?" Dean had stopped after going two whole feet when he'd noticed Sam wasn't immediately behind him.

"Yeah, just give me a moment." Sam requested, closing his eyes and focusing on the flickering light. It was disconcerting how much the absence of the angels was bothering him. He just couldn't figure out why they would put him through something that they couldn't judge him on.

Just as he was about to open his eyes and motion to Dean that he was ready he noticed the light was blocked by a familiar trench coated figure.

"Castiel." He breathed the word so Dean wouldn't hear, though he doubted that the angel would either. However the angel knelt before him and gently placed two warm fingers against his forehead that was so cold the touch almost burned.

Your brother is getting closer Sam Winchester. Castiel murmured as a peaceful warmth infused itself ever so briefly into Sam. He found he had just enough strength to speak and did so as Castiel stood to leave.

"Will this end?" The angel paused, and turned partially back towards him.

It is not for me to decide. And then he was gone. Sam tried to call out but something interrupted his thoughts.

"Sammy, I asked if you were ready." Slowly Sam opened his eyes and turned to his brother, carefully masking his disappointment at the angel's continued crypticness. He nodded quickly, not trusting his voice and together they moved silently in the desired direction.

There was plenty of cover to stay behind all the way to the back of the building. Once there Sam noted that security was lax on this side.

"Guess they don't think anyone is crazy enough to just come walking up to the back like this eh Sammy?"

"Uh, no, guess not." Sam whispered back. The two demons out back were dispatched with no trouble and then they were creeping through the back door and into the interior, closer to whatever nightmare awaited them.

Lillith stood in the center of the living room area surrounded by the most archaic set of symbols the Winchesters had ever seen. She didn't see them, or if she did she was ignoring them. Dean glanced at Sam grinning; Sam did his best to mirror the expression but knew he failed when Dean's smile dimmed a little in concern.

Then there was no time to think, or wonder about angels and concrete rooms as they were up and moving, guns drawn and faces set.

"Yo bitch!" Dean shouted so that Sam could hopefully get around unnoticed.

"Dean Winchester." Lillith responded, turning slowly in the middle of the circle drawn on the floor. "About time." She paused and looked completely around the room, Sam had stopped moving, breathing even, as he prayed for her to overlook him.

"No Sam today. I am very disappointed."

"Yeah well, I figured with the target that must be painted on his back with everything that has to do with demons nowadays it would be best to leave him behind." Sam moved carefully along the periphery of the room while Dean did his best to keep her occupied.

"No matter Dean, your brother will fulfill his role soon enough."

"Ah no, no he won't."

"The die is cast and you are too late."

"Shit. Sammy!" Dean suddenly shouted as Lillith pulled out a knife from her belt and sliced open her arm. Sam launched himself forward and plunged Ruby's knife straight into her heart at the same time that Dean shot with the consecrated iron bullets.

None of it stopped her blood from hitting its mark.

"That wasn't nice." Lillith pouted as she pushed herself back up and away from Sam, pulling the knife from her chest. Any response that either brother would have made died away as the entire building began to shake.

"Dean." "Sam." They called as they moved to stand side by side against whatever new threat was about to arrive. As soon as Sam felt his brother next to him he dared to spare a moment to check the room with the flickering light. The light still illuminated his prison, but no angel stood watching.

Sam still wasn't sure if that was a good sign.

Lillith had fallen to her knees and bowed her head as a reddish black light began to solidify at the spot she had been standing.

The brothers watched, rooted to the spot as a figure formed, a figure with wings.

"Tell me that's not Lucifer Sam." Dean shouted over the noise. Sam could only look on, fear and…awe stirring in him as the Lord of Hell returned.

The shaking stopped, and Dean could stand without holding on to anything again. As soon as he could he fired the remaining bullets straight into the devil's heart.

Predictably nothing happened.

Well, not exactly. Lucifer turned to Dean and with barely a nod of his head stole the gun from his grasp and slammed him painfully into the wall, pinning him.

"Dean." Sam ran to his brother, surprised that he could still move.

"How may I serve my Lord?" They heard Lillith ask as Lucifer turned his attention to her. The Lord of Hell placed his hand gently upon her head, stroking her hair for a moment before grasping her hair and twisting.

The tiniest of cries escaped her as a bright flash traveled from his hand to her neck and she fell, dead forever to the floor.

"Oh hell, Sam get out of here."

"No, I'm not leaving you."

Sam. Sam startled as the voice entered his mind and without conscious thought he turned away from Dean and faced Lucifer.

Sam. The voice wasn't commanding so much as compelling. So compelling that Sam felt himself moving towards Lucifer, weaponless and meek.

"SAM!" Dean demanded his attention, desperation and fear sounding clear in his tone. Sam stuttered to a stop, torn between his instinctual obedience to his brother and the sudden need to go to Lucifer.

Sam. Then the voice was back and he was moving again, unable or unwilling to ignore the connection he felt with the fallen angel. When he was within reach, would have been able to touch if he'd had the strength to raise his arms he found himself on his knees, head bowed in the same position Lillith had been in just minutes earlier.

Sam. Lucifer's hand ran softly through Sam's hair and some part of the him that had tried to stop this trembled at the touch. Outwardly he didn't move, there was warmth in that touch, and it overrode the icy feeling of the concrete that was in the back of his mind.

Fingers traced along his face, coming to rest beneath his chin and gently lifted his head so he was looking eye to eye with Lucifer. Stiff and cold beneath a dying light Sam shivered, tears forming in his eyes.

Dean was screaming in the background but the only thing that existed for Sam was the ageless, terrifying beauty held in the shifting black and red eyes. Lucifer removed his hand and Sam made a weak sound of protest until the hand came to rest on his shoulder, a fiery warm grip that Sam shouldn't have taken comfort from.

"No." The word was breathed out into the concrete room, only no one was there to hear. As Dean watched pinned to the wall of some godforsaken farmhouse Sam spoke to the devil.

"How may I serve?"

"No." Dean cried out even as Sam did in the room where he couldn't move.

Sam. Lucifer watched as Sam stood and turned back to his brother and walked to him. Dean had stopped struggling and just stared as Sam came to a stop within arms reach.

"Sammy." Dean said, blinking against the tears that blurred his vision. "Sammy, don't." It wasn't a demand, just a plea, the only thing left to Dean. Sam blinked and Dean hoped it meant Sammy was still in there.

Then Sam blinked again and looked at his brother with red/black eyes. Sam raised his right arm and placed his hand against Dean's chest.

"Sammy." Sam.

Dean couldn't stop the scream that tore from his throat when Sam flexed his fingers.

Dean screamed Sam's name while in a picturesque farmhouse Sam killed him; inside a locked concrete room Sam screamed in unison salt tears falling unchecked on the bloodstained floor.

"What the Hell!" Punctuating his statement Dean threw the chair he'd been leaning on hard enough that it actually broke when it hit the wall. The others didn't respond and frustrated Dean sank into the other chair. Maybe if he was sitting in it he wouldn't feel the urge to smash it.

"He should have been there. We followed the damn signs and clues…"

"Dean." Bobby began and stopped, running his hand through his hair and beard. He'd had something to say until Dean had looked up and he'd seen the unshed tears just about to fall.

"He should have been there." It was a whisper now, only audible because the room was completely silent. Jo looked miserably at her mother, Ellen could only tighten her grip on her shoulders and fight back the urge to scream.

"We must have missed something." Joshua stated softly, his clenched fists the only indication of his anger.

"What? What could we have missed? Clearly the friggin angels wanted us to stay around here and as much as I don't trust them as far as I can throw them I believe Castiel stuck around cause he knew I could find him in the end." Dean was up and pacing the room and no one tried to make him sit back down.

"What if he didn't pass?" Jo whispered into the room and Dean froze, turning to look at her and then around to the others in the room. "It's just that Castiel told you that it depended…" She stopped, hand covering her mouth and vision going all fuzzy as the full meaning of her statement hit her.

For several minutes none of them moved a muscle, all of them participating in a five way staring contest. Bobby broke free first.

"Sam's a Winchester." He declared to the world in general, and when Dean turned his way he stared back unflinchingly. "And Winchesters don't know how to lose."

"Damn straight." Dean answered back, and if his voice was shaky and didn't hold nearly the cocksure confidence it normally did, well, no one was going to mention.

"Allright then, we need to see what we have and figure out which assumption we made was wrong so we can figure out the actual answer to this." Ellen spoke up, hustling everyone to stand around the table and, exhausted though they were they went over everything again.

When they were done they had all fallen silent and sat staring at the floor, the map, anything but each other.

"The warehouses" Jo suddenly piped up.

"What about the warehouses Sweetie?" Ellen questioned as she poured another cup of bad coffee.

"They aren't the only properties that are empty." Jo declared excitedly. She was pointing emphatically at one of the maps they had acquired and soon Bobby was beginning to smile too.

"What?" Joshua demanded, not yet seeing what the other two were.

"Look here, the adjacent property." The young huntress stated, pointing at one of the warehouses that they had already searched. The group looked and she paused a moment before continuing.

"Some of the houses alongside are no longer occupied. They are repossessed or abandoned."

"That means that they are an option as to where the angels may be keeping Sam." Bobby's gruff voice concluded only to have Dean slam his fist onto the table.

"We don't have the time to keep wasting searching slim leads."

"We aren't going to, look closer." Leaning down and staring intently at the various maps and notes Dean concentrated on what the other two saw. He saw Ellen raise a hand to her mouth as she must have figured out what he was looking for. A moment later and Joshua was mimicking the move.

Narrowing his eyes in aggravation Dean tried to see what seemed to be so clear to everyone else. His eyes flickered between the maps, trying to see why that one had the others so excited.

"I'll be damned." Dean breathed out when he finally saw what Jo had. The building had not been a residential house, it had been a halfway house.

It had been called Samuel's Rescue.

Dean's smile was cold, but he shared it with the others and they answered in kind.

"I don't care about cops, we leave in 20."

No one argued.