I keep meaning to mention this, but the "wise man" who said the quote that Lucifer lives by? Yeah, Mark Pellegrino said that shit. So there's that.

Many thanks to Keefer, Mems, Wictory, and Sexi. Lil. Emo for your lovely reviews to last chapter! YOUR WORDS SUSTAIN ME! (Also, I have now officially hit twice the daily word count, so I'm kind of excited. NaNo also says I need to write 654 words per day to finish on time and if I maintain my current pace, I'll hit 50,000 words on November 14, which is three days from now. Considering I have less than 14,000 words until I hit 50k, this excites me.)


The sliding door to Gabriel's backyard opened, and a sliver of light fell against his back before the door closed again. Outside was quiet and dark, and Gabriel was sitting on the edge of his patio with a bottle of beer next to him.

"Gabe?" Castiel asked, unsure if he was interrupting anything.

But when Gabriel turned his head to look at him, his brother was smiling. "Hey, little bro. What's up?"

"Nothing," Castiel said seriously. He wrapped his coat tighter around himself and slowly approached Gabriel. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Yeah, go ahead." As soon as Castiel sat down, Gabriel sighed. "I just keep thinking. We all used to be so close. How did it get to this point, you know? What we're doing… Michael and Lucifer will see this as a pretty serious betrayal, keeping the Winchesters away from them. They're gonna be pissed, Cas. They're not gonna take it lightly. I don't know what exactly they'll do, but… It probably won't end well for any of us."

"Gabriel," Castiel started, but the elder Milligan held up his hand.

"I'm not done. Look. I agreed to help you with this. I see your point—Michael and Lucifer definitely have the potential to tear this family apart. I don't want to see that happen, but I especially don't want to see it happen to another family. So here we are, on the eve of our venture into the great unknown. I'm sticking by you. You're the only one who can see past his own selfish desires to focus on the bigger picture. I think that when Dad comes back, he's gonna be proud of you."

"He'll be proud of you, too," Castiel said quietly.

Although Gabriel shook his head, his younger brother could tell that he was pleased. "I don't think so. He asked me to try to hold our family together, and I basically said, 'Fuck that.' Nah, I'll get a pat on the back and that's it. But that's fine, Cas. You were always the best of us. You didn't lose yourself to this utter bullshit that's going on. No, Dad's gonna be proud of you."

Castiel smiled faintly. "I received a message from Inias an hour ago. They touched down in Dubai. Michael and Lucifer's teams have a head start, but I'm confident we can still do some damage control."

Gabriel nodded thoughtfully. "I hope you warned them to be careful around those creeps." He shuddered and took a swig of his beer. "Azazel scares the fuck out of me. He's seriously unbalanced. On-par with Alastair-unbalanced."

"I warned them. I don't believe anyone will see them as a threat, however. And the likelihood of anyone recognizing them as working for me seems slim."

"I don't know," Gabriel half-joked. "All your people remind me a lot of you. Respectful, formal, but generally clueless."

Castiel bristled. "I'm not clueless, Gabriel. I know very well what's going on. That's why I came to you, remember? I acknowledged my own shortcomings, my personal inability to protect the Winchesters, which is why I came to you. I may give the impression that I'm uninformed, but I wonder if you ever realized that was for my own safety."

Gabriel looked at him intently.

"If no one sees me as a threat, no one suspects me," Castiel went on softly, a small smile playing across his features. "And then I can continue subtly working things in the background. For example, I believe that Michael and Lucifer would much sooner believe that you were behind all this, not me."

His older brother chuckled softly. "Alright, Cas. You win. You have far exceeded my expectations."

Castiel's faint smile widened and he looked up toward the sky. "I wonder if Dad's looking up at these same stars right now."

Gabriel scoffed. "Doubt it. Dubai's nine hours ahead of us."


Zachariah stood before Michael, trying to appearing neutral but mostly struggling not to panic. Michael was just sitting at his desk, looking bored. He lazily drummed his fingers against the surface of his desk.

"So," he said finally. "Let me see if I understand this correctly. You cornered Dean Winchester at his apartment. Every single one of you was armed at the time. He saw you first and escaped, and now he still eludes you. Am I understanding this?"

"S-sir," Zachariah stuttered, "we didn't exactly have him cornered. He must have been down the hall or something. That must have been how he saw me first, and—"

"But your people were all armed. They very easily could have shot out his tires. Or, even better—you could have slashed his tires as soon as you arrived. I don't know why you didn't think of that—it's a brilliant idea. Keeps him from making a getaway." Michael heaved an irritated sigh. "And then, when you finally remember that his brother goes to school uptown and decide that that would be a great place to look for him, both Sam and Dean Winchester are nowhere to be found."

"S-sir, we believe someone may be hiding them. We—"

"Then I highly recommend you go find them. If they're both gone, they're together. Do I need to remind you that Lucifer is currently hunting for Sam Winchester? If he finds them before you do, you will be in a world of shit. That Impala of theirs is pretty hard to miss, isn't it?" Michael's voice was rising and righteous fury was boiling behind his eyes. His handsome features were contorted into an expression of such rage that, for a moment, Zachariah was genuinely terrified. He practically cowered as Michael stormed out from behind his desk and rounded on him. "I don't care what you have to do to get to Dean Winchester! Tear apart whoever you like—kill Sam Winchester, for all I care! Hell, that's more than acceptable—Lucifer won't be able to use a dead man! Get everyone on the streets and go find them!" With that, he pointed at the door, and Zachariah didn't need telling twice. He got out of there in a hurry.

As soon as the door slammed behind him, Michael seemed to deflate. He let out an exhausted sigh and went back to his desk.

He had an idea that Gabriel might know where Dean Winchester had gone, but he hadn't returned a phone call in months. It wouldn't surprise him terribly to learn that Gabriel was harboring the Winchesters, but the idea that another one of his brothers was working against him deeply saddened him. However, he firmly believed what he'd said to Zachariah a minute ago—if Dean was gone, Sam was with him. If Gabriel was hiding Dean, he was hiding Sam as well, which meant that Lucifer probably couldn't find Sam. That thought was a small relief.

But he knew someone who just might have contact with Gabriel. He picked up his phone and dialed.


Castiel's phone rang in his trench coat pocket, causing Gabriel to raise his eyebrow. "You haven't ditched that thing yet?"

"Inias and Samandriel still need to contact me. I'm getting rid of it tomorrow," he explained patiently. Then he looked at the screen and his brows knitted together. "It's Michael."

"Answer him. Don't you always answer when he calls?"

Castiel shot him an exasperated look and answered. "Hello, Michael."

"Castiel, hello. I'm sorry about the late hour, but there's a matter of some pressing urgency I need to discuss with you."

Castiel raised an eyebrow and gave Gabriel a look that said, You're hearing this, right? Gabriel nodded subtly. "Go ahead," Castiel said.

"Do you have any contact with Gabriel at all? I know he won't return mine or Raphael's calls and you said he doesn't return Lucifer's calls, either, but I thought that maybe, since you were neutral…"

"No," Castiel said carefully. "No, Gabriel hasn't returned my calls, either. I believe he thinks I will attempt to make him choose a side. In fact, I'm close to giving up on the attempt. It seems fruitless, at this point." Gabriel nodded at him encouragingly, grinning and finishing off his beer.

"I see." Michael sounded disappointed. "Well, the reason I ask is because a few of my agents attempted to meet with Dean Winchester earlier today, and he fled from them. For what reason, I can't imagine, but I suspect that Gabriel may know, and may also know where he is."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because no one can locate Sam Winchester either, apparently. So wherever they are, they're together. And I don't believe Lucifer has them, because if he did, he would probably be calling me to brag about it. So they're hiding somewhere, and I have to imagine that they're hiding with Gabriel's help."

"I see," Castiel said. "Have you tried emailing him or just calling?"

Michael sighed. "I've tried everything to get through to him. I'd almost say he vanished off the face of the Earth but I know Winchester has still been running around, executing people, so I know he's getting his orders from someone."

Castiel felt his throat constrict. He'd heard Dean refer to himself as a hired gun, but it didn't have quite the same impact as his own brother telling him he executed people. And even worse, it was on Gabriel's orders.

"But we'll find them," Michael went on. "The Winchesters' car sticks out. It won't take long."

"I understand. You said Dean and Sam Winchester are most likely together, yes?"

"Yes."

"When you find Dean Winchester, what will you do with Sam?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Michael said carelessly. "But we'll keep him safe from Lucifer, of course."

"Good to know," Castiel murmured. He could tell by Michael's voice that he was lying. It shook him to his core. His brother would kill Sam without hesitation—and if Castiel knew Lucifer, he knew he would kill Dean without thinking twice, either.

"Well, I won't keep you from whatever it is you were doing."

"Sleeping."

"Right. Makes sense. Good night, Castiel."

"Good night, Michael." Castiel hung up and stared at the phone for a minute. "I believe Michael means to kill Sam if he finds them."

"Does that really surprise you?"

"Yesterday, it would have. Yesterday, the idea of any of my brothers killing anyone seemed appalling." Castiel's jaw clenched. "But right now, I think I'm realizing that maybe my brothers are meant to be killers."

"Cas—"

"How do you sleep at night, knowing you have blood on your hands?" he hissed, standing up suddenly.

"They were evil people, Cas," Gabriel explained with a trace of irritation in his voice. "I never ordered a hit that wasn't deserved. Murderers and rapists, Cas—that was all. Not a single innocent person was hurt by a bullet I ordered. Michael and Lucifer may kill people who just get in their way, but not me!"

"And that makes you better than them? You're still a killer."

Gabriel stood up, inadvertently knocking his bottle to the side. "No, it doesn't make me better than them. But at least I understand the difference between killing someone who has it coming and killing an innocent person. Yes, I'm a killer, but if I have to be, then why not take out some sick sons of bitches while I'm at it? Maybe Dad won't be proud of me and maybe I'll go to Hell for it, but I can live with myself, knowing that there are people out there right now who are alive and whole and happy because I ordered Dean Winchester to pull the trigger. It's on me, not on him. So if you want to hate me, fine. But you started this, keeping them safe. You better not abandon us now because I already told you I'm going up shit creek with you."

Castiel was breathing heavily by the time Gabriel finished speaking. He could tell that Castiel was relenting a bit, but he wasn't ready to accede just yet. "For the Winchesters," he said finally. "Not for you."


"We searched the campus," a frightened-looking man said, trying not to visibly tremble as he stood before Lucifer Milligan. "But by the time we got there, he was gone."

Lucifer sighed and closed his eyes, appearing to struggle to hold onto his patience. Of course, he expected that, by the time they got to the school, Sam would be long gone. The news wasn't particularly surprising. "What about the apartment?" he asked finally, looking back at the unfortunate sap who'd gotten stuck with leading the search. "Did you look there?"

"Y-yes, sir, we did. The Impala wasn't there but we looked anyway. There was no one at the apartment. A-and at the school, some of Sam Winchester's classmates said he left shortly before noon, before the class let out. But he left his coat and his backpack in the classroom.

Lucifer furrowed his brows. This was an interesting development. "And where are these items now?"

"Another student named Jessica Moore has them."

"And where is she?"

"We're working on locating her as well."

"I see."

"And another student, another friend of Sam Winchester, has also gone missing."

"And who would that be?"

"Her name is Anna Milton, and according to what other students have said, her girlfriend is a woman named Joanna Harvelle. And Joanna Harvelle works for Michael."

Lucifer nodded slowly as the pieces fell into place. "I see. So, Michael got to Sam and Dean Winchester first. I don't give a damn about Dean, but Michael has no use for Sam Winchester. He's somewhere separate. I don't care what it takes—you find him, you hear me?" His voice was rising from the sheer gall of it. His brother wasn't about to best him like this! "Michael cannot make a fool out of me! Find Sam Winchester!"

The other man practically dashed out of the room, and Lucifer sighed and leaned back in his chair. He wasn't entirely sure that Michael had already located the Winchesters—he assumed Michael would have called to gloat or something. But perhaps Gabriel might know where Dean Winchester was, and there was no way Dean didn't know where Sam was.

He checked his watch. It was shortly before midnight. It was too late now, but tomorrow he'd forgo the calls and emails and just drop by to see his brother face-to-face. Gabriel owed him that much. Besides, his birthday was in about twenty-four hours. He'd call it a slightly early birthday present.


Celestial City, nine hours ago.

"Why did Milligan say we had to be here?" Jo asked. She still peered out the window of Pamela Barnes's car, looking for any sign of Jessica Moore. She knew exactly where Anna was—still in class, at least for another ten minutes or so.

"He said Jess and Anna are in danger right now. He didn't say from who, but he said we need to move them."

"Alright, so where to?"

"Out of the city. I have a farm a couple hours north of here. That should be far enough away for a little while, at least."

Jo nodded once in understanding and caught sight of an irritated-looking Jessica. The cause for her irritation became readily apparent with what looked like two backpacks on her back, one strap of each over a shoulder, and a huge jacket in her arms. "Jess, what's going on?"

Jess saw her and sighed. "I don't know. Sam just bailed right at the end of Howitzer's class and told me to hang onto his stuff. That's it. I don't know where the Hell he got off to."

"Okay, let me take his backpack, then."

She gave Jo a puzzled look. "Why?"

"Um, to help you?"

"What's happening? What aren't you telling me?"

Jo looked around and sighed. "Look, just come with me, okay? I don't know the whole story yet but we need to get Anna, too. I'll tell you what I know as soon she's here, too."

Jess looked mistrustful but handed Sam's backpack over to Jo and followed her to Pamela's car.

Fifteen minutes later, Anna was bounding over to the car, following texted instructions from Jo. Once they were all piled in, Pamela looked over Anna and Jess. "Alright, ladies, here's the deal. You know all this crap that's happening with Michael and Lucifer Milligan?"

Jess and Anna nodded slowly. They'd just been talking about this the day before.

"Well, for whatever reason, Lucifer decided that he wanted to recruit Sam Winchester. You remember him, right? Well, Sam's gone. I don't know where and it's none of my business, but he's got Dean with him. Now, Dean is being hunted by Michael Milligan, because for whatever reason, Michael wants Dean on his side. Dean doesn't have any friends, but Sam has you two. This puts you in a lot of danger because Lucifer is going to stop at nothing to get Sam. Including using you two as leverage. I'm here to help keep you safe, but you have to trust me, okay?"

"Keep us safe how?" Jess asked, looking from Pamela to Jo and back.

"Well, unfortunately, I have to get you out of the city. There's a very real chance that Lucifer Milligan will get his hands on you, and if he does, you'll wish you'd come with me. I have a farm not too far from here, but it's far enough that the Milligan influence doesn't spread. So please, let me keep you safe."

Jo reached back and held Anna's hand. "Please. Both of them are vicious. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"If you agree to this, you need to give me your phones so I can destroy them. I promise I'll buy you nice, new phones after all this is over, but they can track us using them. It's better not to have them."

Anna immediately handed hers over, but Jess wasn't so easily convinced. "What happens next?"

"We get you two back to your homes for a few minutes so you can pack the essentials, and then we high-tail it out of here. I know how to keep you safe and Jo here does, too. As soon as Chuck Milligan comes back and gets this sorted out, we'll come back. I promise."

"How are you involved in all this?" Jess asked.

"If I'm going to tell you that, I need you to give me your phone."

Jess sighed and finally dug her phone out of her pocket and slapped it into Pamela's hand.

"Jo and I work for Gabriel Milligan. Gabriel's keeping the Winchesters safe. I don't know where, but I know he's working hard to do it. Jo's been undercover in Michael's camp for the last few months, but she got pulled because…"

"He thinks if they find out I'm dating you, Anna, they'll torture me. So this is my dramatic escape, too. I'm all packed. Now, are you two coming?"

Anna bit her lip and then nodded. "I'll follow you," she said. Jo grinned as Anna leaned forward and gave her a brief kiss.

"Jess?" Pamela asked. "What about you?"

Jess swallowed hard. "Alright. I'll go."

"Great." Pamela handed the phones over to Jo, who started taking out the SIM cards as Pamela put her car in drive. As Jo tossed the phones out the window, they drove off.


The last bit with the four women making their escape wasn't in my original outline but I realized Gabriel mentioned that Anna and Jess needed to be protected, so I figured, hey, why not?