Great work! I should have known better than to depend on one of those imbecilic self-righteous dicks."

The demon howled in agony as Crowley disintegrated him slowly into dust.

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Chapter Twelve


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The car sped through the night along the back roads of America, its wheels eating up the miles

towards Bushville, Iowa where it would make a stop; hopefully to re-unite its occupants

with a very important member of their family, the Impala.

The younger of the nondescript car's occupants was curled up in the passenger seat,

as much as this was humanly possible for a man of his height; his head pressed against the car window

and his legs all akimbo, one ending up practically on the accelerator that his brother was pressing to the floor

in an attempt to make the vehicle fly even faster.

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Dean enjoyed driving through the night.

There was less traffic, especially on these roads, and it gave him time to get his thoughts in order and well,... brood.

Although brooding was his brother's prerogative and Dean was the one who embodied the "action man" of the two,

he was as good at brooding as Sam was, he was just more expert at pushing it all down and hiding it.

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He was too scarred by the life he had led to be optimistic any more.

He knew that he and Sam had been witness to and survived the most incredible things; Life, Death, Heaven, Hell, Future, Past.

He'd been an old-age pensioner, been turned into a vampire, still a sore topic with Sam, who would turn

the puppy eyes of doom on him and profuse his umpteenth apology with a litany of "sorry Dean" …..!

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The list was endless.

"Enough!" he chided himself mentally.

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Beside him his brother stirred, long limbs twitching, immersed in dreams or more likely nightmares.

Dean resisted the ingrained "big brother protects Sammy" temptation to enter his brother's mind

and stand with him there too, but they had an unspoken pact not to invade one another's thoughts without consent,

unless they were in danger and, well… Sam was asleep at his side!

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He brought his mind back to yesterday and went over what had occurred.

Castiel had been eavesdropping on them, had heard Sam putting things together, remembering little details

such as it being the Angel who had pulled him out of Hell and not Crowley; he had been afraid that

Dean and Sam would put everything together and come to the correct conclusion,

that Cas was in cahoots with Crowley to get purgatory souls for his energy machine.

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If he studied the situation in a detached manner however, he could understand Castiel's tactic.

On his own he was too weak to take on Raphael and so he allied himself with the King of Hell who was powerful in his own right;

but Crowley was a demon and demons never do anything out of the goodness of their heart.

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As a friend however, he couldn't understand why Castiel had acted as he had towards him and Sam.

Why hadn't he come to him for help? Why hadn't he told him about Sam?

They could have gotten his soul out sooner and there would have been no need for a wall.

Dean knew he was a good tactician.

He could and would have helped Castiel with his war in heaven.

Castiel was ingenuous and naïve and would have benefited from his and Sam's expertise and skills.

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Imprisoning him in the same warehouse as before, had been careless, and Crowley placing

his own "red room" in proximity of his, even more incautious.

It had obviously been Castiel's idea, for Dean suspected that Crowley would have much preferred killing them

or at least banishing them to some prison on the Moon!

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His thoughts were interrupted by the signpost of "Welcome to Bushville."

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He hoped his Baby was still where she had been parked in the lot outside the University.

He didn't think that either Castiel or Crowley could be afraid of the Impala!

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He stopped just inside the City Limits and nudged his brother. "Rise and shine, princess. You've arrived at the ball."

Sam blinked in the habitual way he had, needing a few minutes to adjust to reality.

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"Dean! Where are we?" was the slurred demand.

"We're here to get my Baby,"

Sam's eyes focused and regarded him reproachfully. "Dude, we discussed this and

I said that we would have been better to have gone directly to Bobby's.

They'll have discovered that we've escaped by now and be keeping an eye on the Impala in case we show up there.

We have to get to Sioux Falls and regroup. Bobby has intensified his anti-angel sigils and wards. We'll be safe there."

"But Sam…!"

"We can't risk it Dean! Even Valerio told us to drive directly to Bobby's."

"I know, Sam but maybe..."

"No Dean. We were lucky this time but if we fall into Crowley's clutches again, he won't be so understanding

and I can tell you that all that bonhomie he exhibits when he shows up is all crap.

If he could have, he would have torn me to shreds in that room of his, and taken great pleasure in it

and I'm sure having both of us in his hands would double the dose!"

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Dean felt his hackles rise at the thought of his little brother at the mercy of Crowley;

God, hadn't the kid suffered enough in the Cage for one hundred and eighty years.

Dean had been privy to the horrors of Hell and knew he would never allow Sam to suffer through that again.

Somewhere dark and deep inside him he was aware that he would drive them both off a cliff together first.

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He thought of the Impala.

He had wanted to ignore Sam's warning but he realised that it was more than convincing.

Much as he loved his baby and ached to have her wheels under his ass, she just couldn't vie with his brother's well-being.

Heavy-hearted, he turned the car around and set out for North Dakota.

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Sam sent out a wave of understanding and sympathy through their link and Dean took comfort from his brother's love.

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A few hours later they pulled up into Bobby's yard.

Sam had stayed awake, alternating between keeping up a light–hearted bickering with his sibling

and comforting him mentally for his temporary loss of his Baby.

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He saw Bobby in the door-way, waiting to greet them as he always did when he heard the roar of the Impala.

This time there was no Impala but Bobby was still at the door.

Maybe he wasn't just attuned to the arrival of the Impala, but also to his boys!

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XXXXXXXX TBC XXXXXXXXXX

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Sorry for any of those slippery mistakes that got through.