Chapter 37

The atmosphere in the Singer house was tense, but silent as everyone headed to their rooms. A spare bed was made for Chuck and Castiel followed Dean into his room. Gabe was pushing Sam away under the guise he was reinforcing their wards, but could feel him wallowing in self pity. She would give him a few moments, but she wouldn't let him push her away.

She was putting on her pajamas when she heard the squeak of the door. Gabriel flopped onto the edge of the bed. She gently put her hand on his shoulder, "It wasn't your fault." He looked up at her, all but rolling his eyes at her comment. "The world is a better place without Lilith." Sam tilted his chin and made him look at her, "Substantially better."

Tears were welling in his eyes, "What's that say about Lucifer?" He cleared his throat and put his hand on her thigh. "A part of me is consoled he has been released."

The turmoil brewing in Gabriel was intense. Sam didn't have the words, so she pushed understanding of both his sentiments. It wasn't the same when Dean was rescued from hell, but Lucifer is his brother, those bonds never sever.

She pulled him into the bed with her. After tonight, Sam knew Raphael couldn't be swayed, and that Michael will do everything in his power to kill Lucifer. At least at this moment they have an advantage, Sam and Dean would never grant permission to be their vessels.

Gabriel laid his head on her breast and Sam stroked his hair. "I hope you don't think I'm naive given we are talking about the Devil here, but do you… do you think there is any hope of redemption for him?"

He uncurled himself from his wife and cupped her face in his hands. Gabriel's eyes were hopeful, "You are not naive. You are too kind. I don't know how I got so lucky to have a mate that doesn't instinctively want to slay the devil."

"There is a solution, I just know it." He kissed her softly and laid back at her side with his arm around her waist.

He inhaled her scent deeply, "One of the ideas I had was to strip Lucifer of his grace completely. However, even if he has no angelic power, he holds enough knowledge to damn the world."

"Do you think he still wants to?"

"Dunno," he mumbled. "He hasn't been topside in thousands of years. There is no way to know what being imprisoned has done to him."

They both fell silent. Sam asked quietly, "What of God?"

Gabriel nuzzled into her. "He hasn't abandoned us completely, but it's going to be us vs them. And when I say 'Us against Them', it isn't a rugby match. I mean the five of us against two powerful Archangels, Heaven, and Hell."

He began toying with the edge of her shirt, "When he bound us as one, he told me to save him. So you're right, there is a solution, we just haven't found it yet. We are running out of time though."

"Can we throw them all in the cage?"

"Interesting notion, but the cage wouldn't hold like its original design. Let alone overpowering all three of them, it would be like pissing on a beehive. We are going to have to strip Lucifer of the majority of his grace before putting him back anyway."

"Could we separate them? Put one of them in an alternate reality, while subduing another?"

"Lucifer won't be at his full strength without you, but we can't underestimate him either... I think we are on the right track." Gabriel sat up in bed and rested against the headboard. "Our best bet would be to disorient Michael while distracting Lucifer and Raphael. But we are going to need more than 5 of us and a secret weapon."

"We can have a meeting tomorrow then."

"Yes, and things are going to get messier now. Tonight I fully expect Lucifer to try to seduce you as well." Sam's heart skipped a beat, but Gabriel only pulled her towards him. "We will be okay for now. It's time we have a little chat with him." He kissed her temple, "Time to for sleep bed bug."

"Eww." Sam tried to pull away but Gabriel just laughed.

"What? You're what all the creepy crawlies are afraid of."

She sneered at him but took it as a compliment. Gabriel used his grace to put her into a restful slumber.

Sam had barely slipped into REM before Lucifer appeared in her dream. Since this was Sam's mind, Gabriel let Sam keep the reigns and stood behind her. "You." Sam accused Lucifer.

"Haaa, nice to meet you sister. I see you made an honest angel of my little brother." Lucifer spoke as he approached her. "Honestly, I didn't think my true vessel would be a woman. How is anyone supposed to take me seriously with a pussy?"

His words were intended to throw her off, and they most certainly did. She wasn't going to be belittled by the Devil though, she sent a pulse of energy so strong he flew back and landed on his ass. He stared back at her dazed. "I see you are super juiced by Gabriel."

"No, you're speaking to a Winchester." Now it was Lucifer's turn to be caught off guard. She walked over to him and helped him up with Gabriel close at her heels.

Lucifer spoke softly, "My apologies." Sam couldn't tell if they were honest words or not. He was a few inches taller than her and he looked down with a little awe in his voice, "You're never going to say yes to me are you?"

Sam merely shook her head no. "We would like to know what you want." She crossed her arms over her chest, "No bullshit."

Lucifer cocked his head, "Fine. Apart from your body? I want to experience the world our father created first hand. I want to make it a better world. It's in shambles."

Sam huffed out an annoyed breath, if Lucifer was going to put on an act, she could reciprocate. "That's vague."

Gabriel decided the peanut gallery was closed, "Brother, you know as well as I know there are only a few possibilities. Sam and I are here to tell you that we don't want to see you dead."

"Oh, I'm honored. A human and a coward are considering not killing me."

Sam closed the few steps between them and punched him square in the jaw. Gabriel was shocked and was about to grab her but she then pushed Lucifer over.

"The world has changed a HELL OF A LOT! NO THANKS to YOU! Us humans have our problems, but heaven and hell does too. Shit, so does God! We are of the few people that do care about you. Show us some respect!"

Lucifer laid on the grass rubbing his jaw, it was clear he couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. Gabriel walked a little closer to his brother and rubbed the back of his neck before speaking, "Hey look, we're going to take off. Gotta' get the little lass in REM again. Don't get into too much trouble, okay? We really do have good intentions." For the second time that evening, Lucifer found himself being picked back up onto his feet.