Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree2, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, QuietCrash, Nicolene B, CherylB1964, SummerMistedDragon, Crazy as a Cheshire Cat, LeeMarieJack and LadyGrelka for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

"Mommy," Gracie whimpered as she pushed her mother's bedroom door open, "I had a nightmare."

Nadine hadn't even opened her eyes before she already lifted the covers to let Gracie crawl into bed with her. It was an automated response, coined by years of having Gracie come to her every time her daughter had a nightmare that woke her up enough that going back to sleep seemed impossible. Actually, it had been quite some time since Gracie hadn't been able to sleep through the night, something that happened much more frequently before Lucifer and Samandriel came into their lives. Thinking of the devil...

"Don't worry, Grace, even nightmares fear the devil," Lucifer muttered as he threw an arm over Nadine's waist to embrace both her and Gracie, who had crawled in with her mother in the meantime.

"Now go back to sleep, little abomination," Lucifer sighed against Nadine's neck.

Gracie nodded seriously and tucked her head under her mother's chin before she closed her eyes to get some more rest. There was nothing to fear when the objects of her nightmares would all run away in terror once they knew who her own personal angel was.

Both Lucifer's and Gracie's breathing evened out very soon after, but Nadine found herself wide awake and unable to put her mind to rest for a long time. When exactly had she started to feel so comfortable with having Lucifer in her life -as more than a house guest who happened to be a very important attachment figure for her daughter- that she completely forgot he was present? Of course, the moment Gracie walked in it was already too late to prevent the inevitable, but that begged the question when exactly had Nadine -subconsciously- decided that Gracie finding out wouldn't as bad as to ask Lucifer to leave every other night?

Morning came not nearly early enough for Nadine's taste and preparing breakfast for the family -everyone in the house, the group of people happening to live in the house, the family and acquaintances- didn't provide enough of a distraction to put Nadine's mind at ease either.

"About... what happened last night," Nadine cleared her throat after Gracie had her juice and pancakes and they were all gathered around the table. Damn Lucifer and Samandriel for watching Nadine closely and damn Lucifer doubly for showing some amusement over the situation, like it wasn't all his fault... partly.

"It's okay, mommy," Gracie replied in a definite tone, before she leaned closer to her mother and whispered in a voice not quite low enough for Lucifer and especially Samandriel to not hear every word, "Daddy knows we'll always love him and think of him. I asked Mandy to tell him that."

Samandriel was gone before Nadine could hit him with the somewhat disbelieving and a little betrayed look she wanted to shoot him. The coward could have at least warned her that Gracie was up to something!

"Gracie," Nadine sighed, but what was there to say to an announcement like that?

"Daddy said 'that's my girls' and he also said 'go get him'," Gracie went on in a serious tone, only then noticing that Samandriel wasn't around to back up her words. It didn't matter anyway, she had repeated the message exactly as it had been given to her and her mother would believe her. Her mother always knew when she was lying.

"Mandy wanted to tell you when the time was right, but I think that's now," Gracie finished with a slight shrug, before she hugged her mother tight and repeated, "It's okay, mommy."

Nadine's forehead hit the table with a noticeable bang the moment Gracie left the kitchen, apparently to leave her mother and Lucifer alone to talk things through. When had everyone decided that Nadine and Lucifer had things they needed to talk through? When had everyone decided that all this was okay? Most importantly, how had Nadine missed all of those developments?

"How did any of this happen?" Nadine muttered into the table, not really expecting an answer, least of all an intelligent one.

"After a period during which you couldn't stand me at all, there came a period when we became friends and eventually something undefined beyond friendship developed," Lucifer deadpanned nonchalantly, though he was sure Nadine didn't expect an answer, "If it helps your comfort levels any, I am perfectly fine with leaving this undefined."

Nadine lifted her head enough to see Lucifer gesturing between them. That was something at least. No spontaneous declarations of undying love, or worse questions about what term to use for their... arrangement. That would have been too much for just one morning.

"However," Lucifer added and Nadine's forehead hit the table again. Lucifer shook his head a little exasperated before he got up and walked around the table to be able to put his hand under Nadine's chin and make her look at him.

"It is possible to love more than one person equally, I know that now," Lucifer declared in a surprisingly soft tone before he leaned in to kiss Nadine's forehead. Somewhere in this universe or another God was probably fist pumping the air or whatever other triumphant gesture He felt like giving that moment.

Nadine nodded and wound her arms around Lucifer's neck. Not defining what exactly it was they had between them still sounded good, but whatever it was everyone -including Josh- seemed more than okay with it. They could work with that for now.

"Hope, you've got to see this!" Michael exclaimed the moment Hope unlocked the front door. To tell the truth, her husband's little surprise attack right at the entrance startled Hope enough that she dropped her book bag with a shriek, much to the amusement of their seven months old daughter.

Michael only took the time to give Hope a quick kiss before he more or less dragged her into the living room, Gabrielle on his other arm and watching the proceedings with curiosity. Hopefully they could recreate the moment Hope had missed due to her community college classes.

"Okay, just a moment!" Michael declared still excited as he put Gabrielle on the soft carpet and started to put a couple of things the baby always liked in a line just a couple of feet from her.

Hope smiled amusedly. She was pretty sure that she knew where this was going, but Michael was so adorably thrilled that Hope didn't have it in her to spoil the surprise her husband was most likely building up to, by asking if Gabrielle had started to crawl while Hope was gone.

Sometimes Hope was a little jealous of all the extra time Michael got to spend with their baby, but it had been her idea and her own free will to take up college classes and look into social work. It was good to finally have some direction in her life and Michael was more than supportive of the idea.

"Ready?" Michael asked both his women, before he reached for the red ball and showed it to Gabrielle, "Do you want the ball?"

Hope laughed when Gabrielle gave a loud snort and didn't move. Apparently, the ball wasn't what she wanted. The baby book and the banana got shot down the same way, so Michael was only left with some toy blocks to offer. Hopefully, Gabrielle would play along and not curb her daddy's as of now, unbroken enthusiasm.

"Do you want the toy blocks?" Michael asked, still smiling widely even after Gabrielle snorted once more, "What do you want, Gabrielle?"

Hope frowned and was about to ask if the demonstration had failed, when Gabrielle started to kick her little legs and wave around wildly while shouting, "Da-da!"

Michael immediately picked his daughter up to cuddle her, before he grinned at Hope proudly, "Did you hear that?"

What Michael didn't say was that after Gabrielle's first impromptu use of the word he had spent a good part of the afternoon getting her to say it again and figuring out how to get her to repeat the word once Hope returned home. The mission had been a full success and Gabrielle definitely earned a cookie or two!

"Little traitor," Hope commented fondly, before she kissed her daughter's forehead, then leaned in to give her husband a proper kiss, "That's so awesome."

Michael beamed at his wife and cuddled his daughter once more. There wasn't a single word that described Michael's entire existence better than "father", but somehow it had never had more meaning than when he found out he was going to be a father himself. It had never sounded better than coming from his daughter's lips.

Every now and then Castiel enjoyed finding a quiet place -a bench in a park, an unused landing stage, a clearing in the forest- to meditate, watch his surroundings, or simply have a moment for himself. He loved being with his family -Earthly or heavenly- but every now and then Castiel needed privacy. Luckily the circumstances hardly ever didn't allow for him to simply take the time he needed these days.

Castiel hadn't told anyone that he planned to spend the sunrise on top of a cliff he had seen from the window of the Impala a while ago, so it came as a surprise when he suddenly found he wasn't alone anymore. It was even more surprising to see Chuck Shurley in his trusty bathrobe walking toward him. Only it obviously wasn't Chuck at all...

"Do you have a minute, Castiel?" God asked with a nice smile, before he added, "I can come back later, if it's inconvenient right now."

"No! Don't leave!" Castiel exclaimed, immediately getting to his feet and approached his father while He was still there, "Who knows when 'later' would be?"

Castiel realized he had just taken the completely wrong tone with his father, but he couldn't have helped it if he wanted. The years spent looking for God without ever getting a sign and all the cynical comments Castiel had to hear from everyone who knew of his mission had left their marks.

"I see that Dean, Balthazar and Gabriel are doing a bang up job teaching you the great art of snark," God commented with a small smirk that looked wrong on Chuck's face.

"We could have used your help, your guidance, over those past years," Castiel retorted, before he added more pointedly, "Centuries."

Admittedly there had been times when God had given the one or another of them a push in the right direction, but all that had come in the last moment possible. They had to fight so many battles, find solutions to impossible to solve problems...

"Think back to the time when I was still in heaven, Castiel," God stated, ignoring the tone Castiel had just taken with Him again, "Think back and take off the rose tinted glasses."

Castiel frowned deeply. A part of him -the part that had been mostly hidden until the Winchesters discovered and nourished it- wanted to deny his father's request just as a matter of principle, just to show God what it was like to want something and not get it. However, the request seemed reasonable, so Castiel tried to do as his father asked.

"Things are better now than they were under my rule," God concluded, to let Castiel know what exactly He was trying to say.

Castiel looked his father directly in the eyes as he frowned again. Heaven was up and running, better than it had been in a very long time just as God said. However, there had been a very long period during which heaven had been a much worse place after God left.

"We were lost and it was a long, hard, costly road…" Castiel finally stated cautiously. He understood that his father was trying to make a point, but Castiel's own point that God had deserted them still stood. It was hard to believe that God didn't understand what Castiel was talking about, even if He acted like it.

"Nobody said becoming independent from your parents was easy," God replied with a gentle smile, "But it is a necessary part of life."

"From what I observed most parents don't simply leave their children without explanation and simply hope for the best," Castiel retorted bitterly. Most parents tried to teach their children everything they needed to know and then let them go slowly, still standing close by in case their children needed them again. At least that was what Castiel thought good parents did. Of course, there were a lot of lousy parents out there, but Castiel doubted that God wanted to say He was a bad parent.

"I made a mistake when I made you, Castiel," God admitted, looking at the oncoming sunrise for a few long moments before he added, "All of you."

Castiel startled at that announcement. Something in him immediately bristled at the thought that God might possibly think that he should have never created angels. Sure, they had their problems and some angels simply didn't understand that a life of peaceful coexistence had its merits, but all in all they were just individuals trying to find their way. A lot of them had been quite successful already. Castiel liked to think that he himself was on the right path.

"I thought I made it so you would always need my orders, I thought you would always be dependent on me," God added an explanation when it became obvious that Castiel didn't understand what He had been trying to say, "And the worst is that all of you believed it too."

Castiel deflated a little after hearing that explanation. None of what his father said was wrong. Some angels still had troubles believing that they could possibly make their own choices without falling out of grace. It had been a difficult process to get most to overcome that line of thought and it would still take some time until every last angel understood.

"How could we overcome something like that while I was still there?" God asked with a slightly sad smile.

Castiel nodded slowly. Looking at things the way his father just laid out for him, things made sense. It didn't exactly erase all the hopelessness Castiel had felt in the past and the losses they suffered, but it was something Castiel could understand. If all God was asking for was Castiel understanding He could have that.

"If you truly believe all that, then why are you here now?" Castiel asked after a few long moments of silence during which the sun finally started to appear over the horizon. A new morning, the end of another night.

"To tell you something very important," God answered easily, before he turned to look Castiel in the eyes, put a hand on his shoulder and added earnestly, "Well done, my son."