Thank you so much Jenjoremy for going above and beyond with this story xxx

Chapter Ten

With Sam asleep inside, Dean waited outside the cabin for Jack and Mary to get back—hopefully with Bobby. Castiel and Gabriel were with Lucifer, but Dean had no desire to be in the devil's company any more than strictly necessary. Instead, he watched the people moving around the camp.

He wondered who they had been before the end of the world, what their lives had been like. How many of them had lost everything to the war but their own lives? How had they survived at all? He and Sam had been through some hard times, but they'd not lost their world like this. Sam had saved it for them. It had broken him, but he done it. And now he was complete again. He'd beaten the fear.

Castiel walked over to him and Dean saw his face was solemn. He came to a stop beside where Dean was leaning against the wall of the cabin and looked around. "Are you worried about Jack and your mother?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dean said. "I know Mom is probably safer than we are right now since she's with Jack, but I'll still feel better when they're back."

"Jack is powerful," Castiel agreed.

"He's incredible. I'm counting on that."

Castiel frowned. "Do you think Gabriel will need help to defeat Michael?"

"No. I think his grace, Lucifer's, and his determination to do it will make him strong enough. It's the other angels I'm thinking about. Michael's not going to be alone, and they're going to come for us while Gabriel is distracted. We'll need Jack for them."

"Who are you planning to take for the fight when we know where he is?" Castiel asked.

"Me and you, Gabriel and Jack. Sam and Mom have to stay here."

"I agree that Sam should stay, but do you think you'll be able to persuade your mother to step down from the fight? Gabriel told me about your conversation while I was watching Lucifer. He said she obviously wanted to stay and fight."

"I'm hoping she'll want to protect Sammy more than she wants to fight, but I don't know. She's made some different choices lately."

Castiel nodded slowly. "And you're angry about them."

"I get what she wants to do," Dean said. "I would want to help these people, too, I do want to help them, but I put Sam first, just like he would me. She doesn't do that. Ever. Me and Sam have given everything for each other. She's supposed to be our mom."

"She is," Castiel said. "I don't pretend to understand her thoughts, but I know I have made mistakes myself before. I made choices that I thought were right, would save people, but they ultimately cost you and Sam as well as the world."

Dean knew what he was talking about: Leviathans and Lucifer. Castiel had made some big mistakes.

Was he expecting too much of his mother? She loved them, he knew that, but she didn't have the same bond he and Sam did. That wasn't her fault; she hadn't been there for it all. Maybe a mother's love wasn't all powerful the way he'd thought.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see what she decides," Dean said.

"Would you stay in her place?" Castiel asked.

"If I had to, yes," Dean said. "I would stay here for Sam."

Castiel smiled slightly and then started forward. "They're back."

Dean followed his gaze and saw Jack and his mom walking through the trees followed by Bobby and Charlie. He walked forward to meet them, and Bobby and Charlie smiled at him.

"Good to see you again, boy," Bobby said, holding out a hand.

Dean shook it and felt the same pleasure at the sight of the man he had before. He wasn't their Bobby, but he was as good as man as the Bobby he'd known, and Dean liked and respected him.

Charlie punched his arm. "It's my knight in shining plaid. How are you doing?"

Dean grinned at her. "Good."

"Are you here to keep our deal?" she asked.

"It's not why I came," Dean admitted. "But I figure since we're here anyway, we can deal with your archangel problem."

"Good enough for me," Charlie said.

Bobby was looking around the camp. "Not a bad place you've made here, Mary."

"It was Jack as much as me," Mary said.

"Then you both did good," Bobby said, his eyes coming to rest on Lucifer and Gabriel. "Why do you have an angel chained to a tree?" he asked.

"You'd prefer it free?" Castiel asked blankly.

"No, I'd prefer it dead."

"We need it," Dean said. "That's Lucifer from our world."

Bobby blew out an angry breath. "And you brought him here because?"

"We didn't bring him. Him coming was an accident, but since he's here, we're planning to use him," Dean said.

"Some accident," Bobby said.

"Hear us out," Mary said. "We've got a way to end all this."

"We better get it over then," Bobby said. "We left that Ketch in charge back at our place, but I'd feel safer being there myself."

"Come with us," Dean said, turning and walking towards the cabin. He held up a hand to them at the door, and they stopped while he went inside.

Sam was sleeping still, his breaths steady and only the IV and his pallor showing how weak he still was. Dean didn't want to wake him, but he knew Sam would be pissed if they had this conversation without him.

"Sammy," he said, shaking his arm.

Sam opened his eyes and looked around blearily. "What's going on?"

"Bobby is here," Dean said. "You want to talk to him?"

"Yeah," Sam said, pulling himself upright and reaching for the IV, He clamped it off and removed it from the back of his hand. He moved to stand but Dean held out a hand.

"You're probably better off staying down. We're going to talk in here and you're going to need your energy for when we take Lucifer's grace if you want to be there for that."

"I do," Sam said.

Dean checked Sam over and then went to open the door. "We're set," he said.

Mary gestured Bobby and Charlie in ahead of her, and they looked around the room, eyes falling on Sam.

Sam's mouth dropped open at the sight of Charlie and his eyes grew wet. He seemed to teeter on the verge of speech for a moment, and then he looked down at his lap.

"Uh, hey," Charlie said, her confused eyes on him.

"Hello, Charlie," Sam said without looking up.

Dean knew what a big moment this was for him as it had been a big moment for him to see her the first time, too. She was so like their Charlie, but she was a completely different person at the same time. This wasn't their chance to see the girl they had loved as a sister again, no matter how much they'd wanted it to be.

"What happened to you, Sam?" Bobby asked.

"They came through the Morehead Tunnel," Mary explained.

"That place is crawling with vamps," Bobby said,

Sam wiped at his face and looked up. "It was, yes."

"How did you make it out alive?"

"He fought," Dean said proudly.

"Must have been some fight," Bobby said wonderingly.

Sam coughed and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah."

"Where did you get the IV set up?" Bobby asked. "I've not seen gear like that in years,"

"Me and Dean went to a hospital," Jack said.

"That must have been some fight, too," Charlie said. "Hospitals are carefully guarded."

"It was," Dean said, looking proudly at Jack. "Jack kicked angel and reaper ass."

"A reaper?" Bobby asked looking interested.

"Yeah," Dean said. "We knew her from our world. Her name was Billie. A real piece of work."

Bobby nodded thoughtfully. "Reapers are mostly allied with the angels. We had one on our side, woman named Tessa, but Michael took her out himself. It was a hell of a loss for us."

Dean remembered Tessa as she had been before she'd lost her mind under the force of the crowded veil. He could imagine her as a ferocious fighter. He was pleased but surprised she had allied herself with the good guys. She'd been all about the rules when he'd met her.

"So, what's your plan?" Charlie asked, her voice businesslike.

"We have another archangel with us," Dean said. "Gabriel. And we have the archangel blade."

"Another archangel?" Bobby said, sounding amused. "That's some high-flying friends you boys have got. If your plan is to pit Gabriel against Michael, what do you need Lucifer for?"

"His grace," Sam said. "Gabriel went through some stuff on our side, and he's pretty much drained. We need him topped up if he's going to fight Michael."

"And you're using Lucifer as a juice box," Charlie said. "That's clever. And kinda perfect. Lucifer did a fair amount of damage here before Michael took him down, and I'm guessing you guys have stories to tell, too."

"We do," Sam said seriously.

"So that's why you want Michael," Bobby said.

"Yes," Dean said. "Do you know where he is?"

"Afraid not," Bobby said. "He was based in the Barrens but Mary and Jack said he's moved on. I don't know where he went. We've not had any scout stories of him in a long time. Most of my people try to stay the hell out of his way."

Dean raked a hand over his face in frustration and cursed. They needed Michael if they were going to make this work. There was no point powering Gabriel up without anything to aim him at.

"That don't mean it's over," Bobby said. "We don't know where he is yet, but we can track him down with a little help."

"Help?" Mary asked. "What are you thinking?"

Bobby and Charlie exchanged a dark look, seeming to come to some agreement. "How opposed are you to outright torture?" Bobby asked.

Dean's eyes found Sam and he sent him an apologetic look as he said, "We've had some experience with it."

"Then I say we find ourselves an angel and hope they're feeling chatty," Bobby said.

Dean felt all eyes on him as he cleared his throat and said, "I can help with that."

He didn't want to tap into that part of himself, he never did, especially not in front of his mother, but if that was what had to be done, he was pretty sure he was the most qualified person there to do it.

"You think you can keep a hold of an angel for us, Jack?" Bobby asked.

"I can," Jack said confidently.

"Or Gabriel can help," Castiel said. "Do you have more chains here, Mary?"

"I've got handcuffs," Bobby said. "But they're not going to lock an angel down."

"With some of Gabriel's additions they will," Dean said. "Cas, will you go swap out with him?"

"Of course," Castiel said and quickly walked from the room.

After a moment, Gabriel swept inside. "Bobby Singer!" he said expansively. "Good to see you again. Feels like just yesterday your other self and I were trying to kill each other."

Bobby looked startled. "I tried to kill you?"

"I was a trickster at the time," Gabriel said. "And there was provocation, but yeah,"

Bobby huffed a laugh. "A trickster, huh. I always wondered what his story was."

"You knew Gabriel here, too?" Sam asked interestedly.

"Yeah. He came in around the end and tried to help. He didn't last long."

"I was on the side of good?" Gabriel looked amused, "How did that work out? Let me guess, Michael killed me."

"Yeah," Charlie said with a grin. "He didn't take it well when you killed Raphael."

"I killed Raphael," Gabriel said, sounding stunned.

"Yeah, He was targeting the first colonies we were trying to build. You were a regular hero," Bobby said. "And from what I hear, you're going to be one again this time."

Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "I am indeed. Call me Gabriel the Great and Good."

Sam laughed and shook his head. "How about we come up with something else when it's over."

"You don't like Great and Good, Sam?" Gabriel asked, a glint in his eye.

Dean clapped him on the shoulder. "It's kinda a mouthful, Gabriel."

Gabriel tapped his chin. "True. We're going to have to come up with something though, I'm not doing all this for nothing."

"No," Sam said seriously, looking him in the eyes. "You're not." His eyes moved from Gabriel to each face in the room, his message clear. Gabriel was, they all were, doing it for each other and the world.

Dean and Sam were in the cabin while Gabriel and Jack were retrieving an angel for them to question and the others were with Lucifer. Dean understood that Charlie and Bobby were curious about Lucifer, having never met him in this world. He had been killed shortly after being freed, when the world was in the first throes of being destroyed.

Sam was thoughtful and quiet as he sipped his bottle of water, and Dean was giving him time to think in peace. He was thinking, too. He was about to tap into a side of himself that he preferred to leave neglected: the part of himself he had brought out of hell. They needed information from an angel, and he was going to get it for them, but he wished he could do it some other way. Even if Mary wasn't in the same room while he worked, she was going to know what was happening. She would know what he was capable of.

"Are you going to be okay?" Sam asked, breaking the silence eventually.

"Sure," Dean said. "I'll be fine."

"It sounded like Bobby knew about interrogation, too. Maybe it doesn't need to be you," Sam said.

Dean shook his head. "It does and you know it. I have the stripes in this. I'll be able to get what we need fast."

"What about Mom?"

"It'll be fine," Dean said.

The truth was that he had realized he was disappointed by the different side of herself Mary had shown lately. Perhaps it would hurt her to see just what the hunting life had done to him, how it had changed him from the little boy she liked to imagine, but Dean wasn't going to change himself to hide that side for her sake. Sam accepted it as a part of him as Dean did some of the things Sam had done in the past. They did that because they were family. She needed to accept them too.

There was a shout outside the cabin and Dean and Sam made for the door. Outside, Dean saw that Jack and Gabriel were back with a cuffed and hooded angel held between them. It looked like a female, though she wore the same fatigues he'd seen other angels wearing. They dragged her to the cabin and past Sam and Dean inside.

Dean went inside in time to see Jack slam the angel into the chair and Gabriel bind her hands to the back supports.

"One angel trussed and ready to go," Gabriel said with satisfaction.

"Let's take a look," Dean said, reaching for the hood and pulling it up and off the angel's face. He gasped as he recognized her. "Gabriel," he said. "Go switch out with Cas. He needs to be here for this."

"You know her?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes," Dean said darkly. "This is Naomi."

He stared down at the angel, and she looked up at him with dignified interest. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"Maybe not," Dean said. "But I know you and what you do. You primed my friend to betray us and kill me. You brainwashed him. That's not something you forgive easily."

"Oh, wow," Gabriel said. "I'll get Castiel."

Dean heard voices outside the cabin, talking quietly, and then someone touched his shoulder. He turned and saw Sam beside him.

"You okay?" he asked.

Sam nodded. "You?"

"To be honest, this just got about a hundred times easier," Dean said.

Naomi in their world might have come around to help them in the very end, warning Dean about the last trial, but she had been selfishly motivated. She'd been trying to stop Castiel working with Metatron. Everything she had done before that to Castiel had been purely her. Dean hated her, no matter how Castiel felt about it and her reappearance in Heaven. He was going to get the information from her and he was going to take his time doing it.

"What do you want from me?" Naomi asked,

"We want to ask you a few questions," Dean said, walking around her to the desk and picking up the angel blade there. He pressed it to the hollow of her throat and said, "And you're going to answer them."

"You seem to know me in some way," she said. "Which means you know what my role in Heaven was. If you think you scare me, you're wrong. I am a being far superior to you in every way."

"You're nothing," Sam said.

"Naomi!" a startled voice said.

Dean turned and watched as Castiel came into the cabin and stopped in front of her.

"Castiel," she said, sounding stunned. "What are you doing with them? I heard you were dead, that the abomination killed you."

"Jack?" Castiel said, looking from her to Jack. Jack looked devastated and he and Dean watched Castiel make the connection.

"That wasn't Cas," Dean said. "That was your world's dick version of him. And it wasn't Jack." He looked at Castiel. "It was me."

Castiel's eyes widened and for a moment he looked hurt, but he quickly schooled his expression in to a neutral mask and said. "I am not of this world. The version that died obviously deserved it."

"Do you really believe that?" Naomi asked. "Aren't you a little upset that your friend here was able to look into your eyes and kill you?"

"I'm sure Dean made the right choice," Castiel said loyally.

Dean felt like an asshole. He had done the right thing killing this world's version of Castiel, but he had made a mistake not being honest with Castiel about it, He would have understood.

Bobby came in and looked at the angel. "Nice work, kid," he said, looking at Dean. "I see you're ready. You want to start the party, or shall I?"

"I will," Dean said. "Jack, will you go keep an eye on Lucifer with Gabriel? Take my mom with you."

Jack nodded and left the cabin.

"Cas, do you want to be here for this?" Dean asked.

"I can if you need me," Castiel said, "I have no score to settle with her though. No version of Naomi has power over me now."

"Then maybe go keep an eye on the others," he said. "Sammy?"

Sam sat down on the edge of the cot. "I'm staying."

Dean understood he wanted to see some version of her to pay for what she had done to Castiel, so he just nodded and lifted the tip of the blade to Naomi's cheek.

"Where is Michael?" he asked.

Naomi glared at him. "I am telling you nothing."

With two quick flicks, Dean cut from her eyes down her cheeks, drawing lines of blood and bleeding grace.

"Let's try that again," Dean said, lowering the blade to the hollow of her throat. "Where is Michael?"

"Go to hell!"

He jabbed the blade in and drew it down her chest.

"Let's give you a clear canvas," Bobby said, stepping forward and tearing open the buttons of her jacket, revealing a white vest and expanse of skin just waiting for the blade.

"Thanks," Dean said. "Now, where were we?"

Naomi stared into his eyes with hatred and Dean stared back at her.

"Where is Michael?" he asked.

"I will never tell you," she sneered.

Dean rested the blade against her collarbone and pressed in to break the skin. "You will," he said. "The only question is how much you'll hurt before you do."

He pressed in deeper and drew the blade down. She cried out in pain, and Dean smiled grimly. He was going to get the information they needed to save this world, and in the process he was going to get some form of revenge for what the other version of this angel had done to his friend.

So… It's coming down to it now. It's almost time for the boss fight. There's one maybe two full chapters left. Thanks for sticking with me so far.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx