This is it. It's always hard for me to finish a story, mostly because it's rare that I do and secondly because I always wonder if I tied up everything or if it all came down to a satisfying finish. Then again Chuck in Supernatural tied things up pretty well:

'Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, But you never can. The fans are always gonna bitch. There's always gonna be holes. And since it's the ending, It's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass.'

Still, I have to say that I enjoyed writing this story immensely. It was truly a labor of love from start to finish. Thank you so much to everybody who read and gave their input – you guys kept it moving long. And so, I give you the last chapter – thirty-six. Good number.

Chapter 36

In which loose ends are wrapped up… somewhat

In an open field, on top of the hood of an abandoned car, Azrael lay, soda in hand, watching as the stars came out one by one in the night sky. Arguably the view from upstairs was better, but as she had told Shawn, she hadn't been home in a while. Her reason had been work, but the company that waited for her factored much heavier.

She felt a presence at her side and had to smile. "Hey Gabe."

"Hey, Azzie," Gabriel said, adjusting his position, conjuring a bottle of beer and staring up at the sky with her. "Did you burn out another vessel?"

"Luci broke it. He's still a dick. How's Cas?"

"He'll live. I left him with the Impala – you know, I always thought Dean-o drove that thing to compensate for some sort of inadequacy, but it's a pretty sweet ride, I have to admit. Cas insisted on waiting for his babysitters." Gabriel pulled out her archangel blade. "He also asked me to return this to you."

Azrael took it from him. "I nearly got him killed, didn't I?"

"Don't mistake Luci's dickishness as your fault." Gabriel grinned. "So what about Metatron? I can't imagine he's happy with the sudden one-eighty you pulled on him with Shawn."

"No, no he's not. I'm going to have to avoid home for a while. Possibly for about another two thousand years. He should be relatively over it by then."

"I'd say the only thing time would regulate is the severity in which he kicks your ass."

"Don't I know it."

They were quiet for a little bit more, and then Gabriel asked, "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

She thought about that for a minute. "Yeah, I still kind of am."

"Would it help if I told you that you were right?"

"It would greatly help, yes." She finally looked at him. "Wait, are you telling me something I said actually seeped into that hard head of yours?"

"Do you mind? I'm trying to have a heart to heart with my little sister here," he said to her. "But yeah, consider me convinced. Reformed."

"Team Free Will?"

"Team Free Will," he agreed, clinking his bottle of beer to her soda. The two archangels shared a drink under the starry night sky.

-'χαμόγελο'-

A few hundred miles away, the Impala roared down the I-70. The Winchesters had arrived in Baltimore to find Castiel and the Impala waiting for them, causing some raised eyebrows. Castiel, although still disoriented, managed to explain Gabriel's role, which of course only caused even more confusion among the brothers. Still they decided not to question the erstwhile Trickster's sudden burst of good will and instead packed their semi-mojo-less angel into the backseat and drove off.

Now, up front, Sam poked his brother in the ribs to keep Dean from falling asleep. "Bitch," Dean grumbled at him.

"Jerk," Sam said back. "So, what do you think happens to Shawn now?"

Dean thought about it. "I don't know. I want to say that he's still walking around as himself, pretending to have psychic fits and pissing people off, as weird as that sounds." He jerked his head backwards at the still slightly cloudy Castiel. "Cas told me that he would give the amulet to Shawn to see if it might react to him. Seeing as Cas' has got the thing back around his neck, I'd say Shawn gave Metatron the finger."

Sam was quiet at that. And then he murmured, "That guy's fucking crazy," but not without a little admiration in his tone.

"Tell me about it."

Castiel suddenly spoke up from the backseat. "He and his friend are the second line if we fail."

Sam and Dean traded looks. "Well then we better not fail," Dean said, making Sam grin.

-'χαμόγελο'-

And in the Psych office Shawn and Gus perched on Shawn's desk, the two of them chowing down on some warm corn cobs. Gus had dropped Henry off at his place, sensibly not asking any questions when Shawn's father suddenly didn't seem to remember any of the events that had occurred in the last two days.

"So, second line, huh?" Gus said.

"Yeah – so don't put all of that badass into retirement yet," Shawn said. And then he said in a more somber tone, "Gus…"

"Oh come on, Shawn, don't give me that," Gus cut him off, knowing what he was about to say. "I became part of this the moment I met you. It doesn't matter if it's you trying to access case files at the SBPD by feigning a psychic episode, preventing the Apocalypse, or even trying to scope out which store has the best jelly-filled donuts, I'm in it with you. We're kind of a package deal by now."

Shawn grinned. "Thanks, Gus. By the way, best jelly-filled donut, Winchell's."

"You know that's right," Gus said, and the two shared a fist bump.

Shawn craned his neck to stare at his pineapple pencil ceiling art, even as Gus went to dump their dishes in the sink. He mused that of the three challenges he had posed to himself what felt like two and a half months ago, when it was only a few days, two had been completed (he had mentally crossed out the accidental deaths when he learned Gabriel had been responsible for them), and the third wasn't the actual challenge after all. Challenge three had never been Declan Rand at all, but expressing his feelings to Juliet. And, as Azrael had pointed out to him, there was no time like the present.

He hopped off the table and grabbed his phone; Juliet, as usual, answered on the second ring. "Hey, Jules," he greeted, "Nothing much up, just wondering, are you going out with the rest of the guys to grab some beer after work tomorrow? Yeah? Great, I'll drop by too…"

As he spoke he erased his emphatic 'NO' scribble on the glass board and instead replaced it with 'TEAM FREE WILL'. Apocalypse? Bring it on.

End