Author's Note: Fear not, emotionally-traumatized readers, for the happiness you deserve has finally arrived!

Cas was not surprised when he awoke in Heaven and found an angel looming over him. Bright, shining eyes the color of verdurous fields welcomed him into the afterlife, the sort of vivid hue that only God's most divine beings could possess.

"Cas?" The angel said in a choked voice, stirring a vague memory in Castiel's mind. Cas, he repeated inside his mind, why would an angel call me Cas...

Suddenly, memories rushed over him like a tidal wave, throwing him back into reality like a gasping fish into the sweet relief of the churning sea.

"D...Dean?" He asked, his voice so hoarse, his speech was almost unable to decipher.

It wasn't an angel. It was Dean—kind, strong, beautiful Dean. But how could he be in Heaven when—

"Oh my god, Cas," Dean breathed out in astonishment, resting their foreheads together as he closed his eyes and blinked back tears, "I—I thought I lost you. I...Fuck, Cas, I lo—"

"Cassie?" Dean froze and immediately drew back at Gabriel's exclamation, allowing Cas to see all his loved ones at the doorway. Anna, Meg, Balthazar, Crowley, Gabriel...Hell, even Missouri and Daphne were there.

"I don't..." His voice cracked, and it took several seconds for him to continue, "I don't understand. How are you all...?" He felt his brow furrow and head tilt questioningly, "Aren't I dead?"

"No, you're not." Dean said with a chuckle that sounded somewhat hysterical, leaning back to plant a messy kiss on his forehead, "I knew you could do it, Sweetheart. I knew it." Anna was the first one to break out of her reverie, running over to Cas and nearly crushing him in her ironclad embrace. Dazed and confused, Cas looked around and found everyone in tears—Hell, even Crowley was blinking rapidly to banish the water that flooded his usually emotionless eyes.

"What happened?" Cas asked before his body tensed up, terror like he'd never felt before flooding his veins, "W-Where's Naomi and M-Michael?"

"They're on their way," Gabriel told him, unsteadily stumbling into the room and joining the other side of Castiel's hospital bed, "Oh Cassie...I-I thought we lost you."

"Naomi and Michael can't be here!" Cas shouted, the raw pain in his throat inferior to the fear that pounded in his heart, "T-They're—T-They're just gonna f-finish the job!"

"Boy, what you talkin' about?" Missouri asked, staring at him intently.

"What do you mean?" Don't they know? Don't they know the horrors the two put him through, "They did this to me!"

"Cassie..." Balthazar said slowly, "You did this to yourself, didn't you? You tried to commit suicide—"

"I did not." Cas cut him off angrily, furious at the notion. Maybe once upon a time, but that was before...well, before...

Before Dean.

"I didn't try to kill myself again," He told them all softly, though his gaze was trained solely on Dean, "I was murdered..."

"You did well, Michael." Naomi told him lowly as they rode the elevator up to Castiel's floor, "I'm so proud of you."

Michael glanced over at her and smiled, looking pleased at the praise. He was so easy to manipulate. The poor boy was so starved for love, he would do anything with the right kind of motivation. Hell, the boy murdered two of his brothers just with Naomi's influence alone.

Naomi smiled and gently caressed his cheek, placing false adoration and affection in her gaze, "It'll all be over soon, Pet. Then we'll be perfect family again."

"I just wished they would stop being so insubordinate," Michael said with a sigh, naive puzzlement in his gaze as he looked at her, "Why can't they just understand you're doing this because you love us?"

Naomi sighed along with him, her honey-coated words truthful this time, "I don't know, Michael. You would think I raised them better than that." After all, they knew what happened when they fell out of line...

Nick's murder wasn't easy to pull off—Michael didn't know how to control his rage then and his once beloved brother's blood was everywhere when the deed was done…

But Naomi took care of it. She always took care of it. She managed to pay off the right kind of people to fabricate this whole elaborate story that everyone easily accepted as the truth (after all, the whole town knew Nick—or "Lucifer," as he supposedly now went by—was a problem child; they could easily believe he was capable of poisoning the family) and foolishly believed this valuable lesson would scare the other children into obedience.

In truth, Castiel's murder was just so easy. He was a nutcase, already known to have suicidal tendencies. If only Anna hadn't come home in just enough time to call an ambulance, everything would have worked out so perfect—

But anything was rarely perfect these days, Naomi was sad to admit. Oh well, she thought with a shrug as the elevator dinged open and they walked down the hallway, everything worked out anyway.

There were two things Naomi didn't expect to see when she entered that hospital room. One was Castiel awake and breathing, smirking weakly at them with victory glimmering in those ugly owl eyes. The other was two policemen, immediately reaching for their handcuffs and advancing towards her and Michael as soon as they came into sight.

"Naomi and Michael Milton," One of them stated flatly as matching metal handcuffs were slapped on their wrists, "You are under the arrest for child abuse, the murder of Nick Milton, and the attempted murder of Castiel Milton. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law..."

As she was dragged out, Naomi locked gazes with her lover, silently pleading him to save her. But Crowley only stared vacantly at her, sadness reflecting in those dark, vindictive eyes. He would not save her because she underestimated his loyalty to that animal sitting in that hospital bed.

She was afraid that because of Cas and that pest Dean Winchester, nobody could.

Author's Note: Trust me, Naomi and Michael don't get a get-out-of-jail free card ;) And dammit Gabriel, couldn't you have waited a few freaking seconds?!

I'm so overwhelmed with joy by how much people adore this fic. Seriously, everyone's love and support is what keeps me writing and bettering myself each day. Your reviews are so awe-inspiring, and I hate to be a little greedy, but...if you truly adore this story, you should review.