The day crept on as Sam and Dean rode their wagon through Arkhmoor, heading towards an uncertain future. They did not speak for most of the day as neither of them knew what to say. There was pain for them both, and they understood it greatly.

At long last, Sam perked up and turned to Dean. They were both sitting at the reigns, a horse to control for each. "This is the furthest I've ever gone out of the woods," said Sam. "The furthest I've been from Ruby."

"You've really never left? Ever?"

"No. I've always been there. I've always…been with Ruby."

Sam looked deeply sad at this point. His voice grew weak and pained.

"It's not too bad," said Dean. "You'll get used to it."

"Yeah, I suppose I will."

They had fresh food to sustain their energy through the first day without needing to stop and cook. They rode through the night, alternating drivers of the wagon for the other to sleep. It would be more efficient that way, since they wouldn't have to stop and camp as much.

Finally, as the next evening closed in, they broke out of the forest. Dean knew this path almost as well as Cas by now, but Sam was taken by a somber silence as they stepped out of Arkhmoor and into the vast plains that stretched far before them into the vague direction of the realm of Azazel. The mountains which surrounded the old Valley that Cas had come from stood proudly to the north, watching as Sam and Dean's wagon pressed on and on.

They came to a part in the terrain that grew more shrubbery and thick grasses along with some low trees that had been shaped by constant breeze across the plains. Small wildlife was running rampant at the sound of their wagon creaking and the horses pulling it. The sun was going down and casting brilliant colors across the sky.

It did not take long for Dean to spot another wagon crossing their path, heading towards the mountains. There was a single horse pulling it. As they grew closer, they say that the man at the reigns was of a stately, stoic nature. He saw Sam and Dean and called out from afar, "Hail, travelers !" then redirected his course to come straight towards them.

Dean squinted to see the man better and recognized him at once. "Gadreel!?" he called out.

"Is that you, Dean?"

"Yeah!"

A few more greetings were exchanged at a distance until they were close enough to speak at normal levels.

"By Chuck! I never thought I would see you again, Dean. Where is Castiel?"

Sensing great concern in Gadreel's voice, Dean did his best to relax the man. "Cas is fine," he said firmly. "He's in the forest back that way, with…good people." That was all Dean said to describe the fairies.

"I am glad, then," said Gadreel. "It must be true that Cas found you."

"Yeah, he did!"

Dean had to laugh at that. The event that had changed their lives in the beginning—the wicked storm that pulled him away from his lover—had been dwarfed incredibly so by everything else that followed his rescue. It didn't even matter now. He barely cared that he had almost died and how Cas and the angel baby risked everything to find it. That was nothing now! It was a small, casual tale compared to finding his brother, learning his origin, seeing the city!B ut now was not the time to explain this to Gadreel.

"I thought you were with a travelling herd now?" asked Dean.

"We were," said Gadreel, "But we heard word from others that people were returning to a settlement within the Valley."

Dean flared his nostrils. "Seriously?"

"That is a rumor that we agreed is worth investigating. So now, Gabriel, Tessa and I are returning to our home territory in the hopes of settling once more."

"So Tessa made it out all right?"

"Yes."

"They in the wagon?"

"Indeed. With the children."

"Right! Your eggs must have hatched by now."

Gadreel smiled fondly. "Indeed. Would you like to stop and have a meal with us?"

Dean looked to Sam, who nodded. "Sure."

"We have adopted many of your meat-eating habits."

"Oh, yeah?"

Gadreel got up and stepped off of the wagon. "Yes," he said. Sam and Dean got down, too. "Though we haven't attempted much hunting, when we find travelers that sell meat we always buy it…Gabriel? Would you wake up, please?"

"Urrrgh…"

A grumble within the wagon made it shake and soon came the beta Dean hadn't seen since before the storm carried him away. There was a baby in both of his arms. He paused when he saw Dean there.

"Woah. Heeey…Dean?"

"Hi, Gabe," Dean said rather casually.

"Where's Cas?"

"Back in the forest. He's fine."

"And, uh, who's the tall guy?"

"This is Sam. He's my brother."

Gadreel had busied himself with getting supplies from the wagon to set up a fire, but when he heard Sam's proper introduction, he stopped and turned to look at them. "I did not know you had a brother," he said. Dean chuckled.

"Yeah, well, neither did I."

"I beg your pardon?"

Sam gave a slight shrug. "It's a long story," he said, and Dean was thankful that he was able to stop there.

"Didn't you have four eggs?" Dean asked, putting his focus back onto Gabe.

"Yeah, the other two are in the wagon still. They're a handful. Ugh!"

Gadreel shook his head. "They aren't that bad."

"Easy for you to say!" his beta teased. "They don't suck your tits and you're always up at the front of the wagon!"

"Enough…help me with this."

Gabe and his mate worked together and got a fire going, then made a stew with dried fish. Sam and Dean offered to help but they insisted that they sit and rest instead.

"Where are you heading towards?" Gadreel asked, stirring their cauldron. Gabe was nursing the babies.

"The Realm of Azazel."

Gadreel narrowed his eyes. "That is the lands towards the west, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Why would you go there?"

"Another long story," Dean sighed. "We have some pretty serious business to get done."

"Ah. The unusual clothes was suggest such a thing. I'm sorry to hear this, but I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks."

Once the food was ready, Gabe went into the wagon to get the remaining babies and also bring out Tessa. She had only one baby now. It was held close to her chest as she came down from the wagon and took feeble steps towards a spot to sit. She refused to look at Dean.

"Hey…Tessa?" Dean tried to engage her but she wouldn't speak. "What's wrong?"

Despite being busy with four babies, Gabe was eating loud and happily. He acted as if nothing was unusual. "Hasn't said anything since she lost the other one."

Gadreel handed her a bowl of stew and she took it weakly, then immediately set it down so that she could keep holding her baby with two hands. It was sleeping peacefully. Dean watched her.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Sam. "My mate and I had troubles, too."

"You did?" asked Dean, looking surprised. He sucked broth from his thumb and shifted his weight towards his brother.

"Yeah," Sam said with a small nod. Tessa was still staring at her child. "Her clutch had four eggs, but one of them never hatched."

"Seriously? Even though, uh, she's…you know."

Sam inhaled sharply and glanced around. "Yes. It just never made it. I don't know what went wrong. They say it can happen."

"I am sorry," Gadreel said now, his smooth voice interrupting the brothers. "Gabriel and I are incredibly lucky."

"You are," said Sam.

After they finished eating, Tessa returned to the wagon silently. Sam and Dean insisted on helping with clean up and Gadreel would at least allow that. Dean was feeling bitter about Tessa's loss. He had seen the first egg die when the river carried it away, but knowing that something else happened to another made him so sad.

"What happened?" he asked Gadreel, once Tessa was far enough away that she couldn't hear. Gabe had gone back in, too, to put the babies to sleep.

"She left the Valley with two eggs, as you know, and they remained as such for a while. We had joined the group of travelers. Keeping all of the eggs safe was easy. The travelers were good to us but they neglected to teach us one thing—the egg snatchers."

"The what?"

"Egg snatchers. There are creatures that live out in the plains, similar to a beaver or a groundhog only much larger. They hide in grass and water and if you leave your eggs unattended, they'll…" Gadreel's voice faded here. Dean and Sam shared a look of horror.

"I've never heard of something like that," said Sam.

"Me neither," Dean added, grimacing.

Gadreel pressed his eyes closed tight for a moment then, seemingly to collect himself, let out a long breath and simply said, "Gabriel and I are fortunate. But, Dean, Sam—on an unrelated note, would you like to set up camp with us here tonight?"

Dean shook his head. "We gotta make better time. I'm sorry."

"Thanks for the offer," said Sam.

"The sooner we get done what he have to, the sooner we'll be home with our mates."

"I understand," said Gadreel. He smiled at Dean. "It was most pleasurable to run into you again. I am glad that you and Castiel are well."

"Same to you, Gadreel," Dean smirked. "I hope you get back to the Valley and that works out for you."

"Many thanks. Sam? It was an honor to meet you. You have a noble brother."

"I do," Sam chuckled. "Thanks. It was nice meeting you, too."

Gadreel and his people were going to spend the night there anyway, so they kept the fire roaring and were still active as night went on, but Sam and Dean were going to leave. Before Dean got back into his own wagon, he was stopped by a hand on his arm.

"Eh?"

He turned and saw that Tessa was standing there, staring at him urgently.

"Hey…what's up?"

Tessa's lower lip wiggled and her eyes begin to fill with tears. Her baby slept peacefully against her body.

"Tessa?"

"I'm sorry!"

Her voice was cracked and bitter, being strained from her throat painfully. Dean stared at her, brow wrinkled with concern. "Sorry for what?"

"Making you come back for me," she muttered quickly. "You should've kept going…"

"What? You mean back in the Valley?" Tessa nodded. "Don't worry about it. Everything worked out for me. It was worth saving your life."

"Yeah, but…"

The woman's body trembled. She repositioned her arms around her baby as if to keep them safer. Dean felt bad.

"I'm so sorry about that, Tessa," he whispered. "I'm sorry you lost the eggs…and your mate. I really am. I wish there was something I could do to make things better."

Tessa shook her head. "I-it's okay. I know. I'm just—sorry I caused so much trouble."

"You didn't."

She fixed her eyes onto Dean's again. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Would you…" Her voice faded. She bit her lower lip and leaned closer to Dean.

"Huh?"

"Would you give me another clutch?"

"What?!"

Then, upon seeing Dean's reaction, her face flushed bright red and she turned away. "I'm sorry!" she whimpered. "I just thought that—maybe! Forget it! I'm sorry!"

Dean forced himself to laugh. "G-good joke!" he said, laughing louder. "Real funny. Always good to laugh when times are hard, yeah?" He nudged her on the shoulder.

Tessa turned back around and smiled weakly. She said nothing. Dean kept smiling. "Don't worry about it," he whispered. "Sam and I are gonna go now. Take care of yourself."

Tessa did not reply but she kept looking at Dean as he returned to the wagon. Sam was going to steer while Dean got some sleep now. He settled into the nest in the back and groaned. All of the trauma in Tessa's life must have caught up to her—he wasn't going to worry about what she asked. But still…Dean had to hold onto the necklace that Cas made him to get any bad thoughts out of his head.