Chapter 52

Missouri and Charlie looked up when Bobby steered Sam into the room and to a chair to sit down. He fell into the chair and leaned forward, covering his face with his hands as everything that happened caught up with him. His body began to tremble slightly while he tried to control his unsteady breathing.

"It's in the cabinet by the stove." Missouri said before Bobby even asked.

He stepped to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

"Might better make that three Bobby." Missouri told him looking at Charlie slumped over in her chair nursing a cup of tea and the glazed look in her eyes.

"I think you're right." he agreed with her assessment.

Bobby poured three shots and took the glasses to the table, passing them out to Sam and Charlie. Sam picked up his glass and didn't hesitate with downing the amber liquid in a large gulp. He coughed lightly feeling the strong burn run down his throat and the warmth that spread from his stomach outward. Charlie looked at the glass for a moment before picking it up and tossing it back too, but she coughed harder as tears leaked from her eyes.

"You okay?" Sam asked patting her back as she cleared her throat and wiped her face.

"Good stuff." Charlie wheezed out deciding she might better stick to tea.

"After Dean's rested for a bit, we'll get out of your way Missouri." Sam told her.

"Nothing doing young man. You all look like you've been to hell and back and I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you go off like that. I've got two bedrooms upstairs and can make a bed on the couch in the living room, so I don't want to hear anything else about it." Missouri insisted giving him a stern look that he best not contradict her.

"Yes ma'am." Sam replied, a small smile playing on his lips. He had forgotten how strong minded she could be and was glad she wanted them to stay. He knew they all could use some rest after what they had been through.

"Besides, I was going to make up a nice big pot of gumbo and it will more than feed all of you. Charlie dear would you like to help?"

"Sure." she squeaked out happy to have something to do.

"I'll get you started on chopping up the vegetables then." she said getting up but looked back at Sam and Bobby before speaking again. "I felt the psychic disturbance in the air before you got here. Is there anything I need to be worried about?"

"Naw old gal, we took care of it." Bobby told her as he sipped his whiskey.

"Who you calling old, you old coot..." she fussed back at him. Missouri went to the fridge and pulled out celery, yellow bell peppers, and onions for Charlie to cut up. "Do you cook child?"

"Yes, I can do some things pretty good, but I've never made gumbo before."

"That's fine there's nothing to it. Why don't you start by chopping these up into chunks." she instructed sitting fresh tomatoes beside the other things. "Here's a bowl and knife, just be careful it's sharp."

"Yes ma'am." Charlie said stepping to the sink to wash her hands and rinse the celery, peppers and tomatoes.

"Now you two need some little snack to hold you over until dinner." Missouri decided looking back in the fridge at what she had. "I knew there was a reason I picked these up when I was at the store." she surmised pulling out a small pack of deli meat and cheese. She moved to the counter and quickly put together some sandwiches for them to eat. "Don't you be telling me you're not hungry either Sam Winchester, I've not seen a growing boy that wasn't." she said sitting the platter of sandwiches on the table along with some pickles and chips. "Charlie dear, why don't you come and eat something too? You can finish that when you're done."

Sam looked at the food and felt his stomach clench, but took half a sandwich anyway not wanting to upset Missouri. He listened to her humming as she got out ice and poured tea for everyone before joining them at the table. Sam didn't look up but could feel her warm eyes on him studying him.

Missouri had known the Winchesters since they were small and lost their mother to a demon. That was when their father had come to her for a reading and she had pulled back the curtain and showed him what was really out there in the dark. She looked at Sam and even though she hadn't touched him could tell there was something different about him, he had changed, but she couldn't tell what it was. She watched him take small bites of his sandwich and wash it down with tea.

"Thanks for feeding us." Bobby said. "I'll give ya some money later."

"Nothing doing Bobby Singer, you know I don't take money from family." Missouri chastised him. "It's good to see everyone, even if it's under these circumstances."

"It has been awhile." he sighed.

"How do you know these hooligans child?" she asked Charlie giving Sam and Bobby a playful glance.

"I went to school with Sam and he contacted me for help and here I am. I don't turn my back on a friend." she shrugged, picking up a pickle and eating it.

"It is good that Sam has true friends like you my dear" Missouri praised Charlie making her blush slightly. "If you need anything from me Sam, just let me know."

"I will Missouri. This is more than enough, what you're doing already." Sam said sincerely.

"Anytime honey, you know you and your brother are always welcome in my home."

"That means a lot to us." Sam nodded. "I think I'll go check on Dean..."

Bobby and Missouri watched Sam get up and head out of the room and heard the steps on the stairs. Missouri turned to Charlie who had gone back to chopping vegetables. "Child if you'd like to lie down after you're done, you can use the bedroom upstairs across from the bathroom. It has two twin beds in it."

"Thanks, I might do that." she replied carefully cutting the tomatoes. "If there's nothing else you need help with?"

"No child, Bobby can help if I do, you go get some rest." Missouri assured her.

"Okay." Charlie said putting the last of the chopped vegetables into the bowl. She washed her hands and dried them before going upstairs to find the bedroom.

spn

Sam looked toward the door to see Charlie peeking in from the hall. He got up to see what she wanted and not disturb Dean with their talking. "Hey, you need something?"

"How's he doing?" she asked looking back into the room at Dean and Cas.

"I think better. At least his vitals seem stronger and Cas said his energy was starting to replenish itself once I gave him what I could of mine."

"That's good. How are you doing?" she asked laying a hand on his arm and looking up into his eyes.

Sam leaned back against the wall and sighed, wiping a hand down his face. "I'm hanging in there. It's just hard to believe that it's over with..." Sam told her letting some of his pent up feelings out. "Once Dean's better..."

"I know Sam. Missouri said I could use the other bedroom to rest in."

"Yeah, sure, it's right down here. Dean and me usually use it when we stop by." Sam said walking down the hall to another door. "Bathroom's over there."

"If you need me Sam, will you come and get me?" Charlie asked earnestly.

"Only if I need to. You need to rest Charlie, you've been through a lot today and you need to process it all." Sam told her. "Try to get some sleep."

"Alright." Charlie said stepping into the bathroom and closing the door.

spn

Sam stood there a moment before returning to the other bedroom to be with his brother. Dean still hadn't woke up, but he was resting comfortably. He sat on the bed and checked him again before taking the other chair in the room across from Cas. Sam was exhausted and running on empty as he slumped down trying to stay alert to watch Dean.

"Sam, I can watch over Dean." Cas told him. "You need to rest too. All that power inside of you put more stress on your body than you are used to. I will come and get you if Dean wakes. If you don't take care of yourself you can't take care of Dean."

Sam knew he was right but he still didn't want to leave his brother.

Cas saw his hesitation and suggested, "Why don't you lie down beside Dean. I don't think he would mind." he said softly knowing them being close was the best for both of them.

"Yeah, I can do that." Sam decided reaching down to take off his boots and then carefully sat on the bed before lying down beside Dean. He got comfortable and reached a hand over to lay on his brother's arm, needing the physical contact. Sam let his eyes slip closed as he let out a slow breath and let his mind shut down as he was pulled under into the realms of sleep.

Cas watched the two brothers move toward each other in their sleep as if they sensed the other's presence and needed it. He looked up when he felt the angel in the room and turned to see Gabriel leaning against the wall eating a lollipop.

"Hello brother." Cas said quietly getting up so not to disturb the brothers.

"I see your buddies pulled it off Castiel." Gabriel commented.

"I know you helped. You gave Sam some of your grace to help him defeat our brother."

"Yeah, well, I thought he deserved a fighting chance." Gabriel shrugged. "Lucy needed to be put back in the Cage. What he had planned would have ruined this world and I kind of like it."

"Where have you been all this time?"

"Here and there...Where ever the urge took me." he said flippantly.

"Thank you for helping. Do you think you could help Dean? His sacrifice almost cost him his life."

"Since I feel generous, I guess I could try." Gabriel shrugged stepping to the bed. He started to lay a hand on Dean's chest when it was grabbed in an iron grip and Sam stared defensively at him.

"Go back to sleep Sam, Dean-o is fine." Gabriel said snapping his fingers, sending Sam back to sleep making him release his hand. "They're really co-dependent on each other aren't they?" he commented as he placed his hand on Dean's chest. A soft glow bled out around his hand as he used his grace to help restore more of Dean's soul energy. "That's all I can do for him. It didn't completely restore his life force, but it helped so he should recover faster."

"Thank you Gabriel." Cas said earnestly.

"Better go, got places to be and young hot things to please." he said arching his eyebrows before snapping his fingers and disappearing from the room.

Cas returned to his seat to watch over the brothers feeling better now that he was sure Dean was going to be alright. He was still worried about Sam and how his body was going to handle the remaining energy left in him. He could hear the others downstairs moving around and talking quietly as Bobby relayed to Missouri what had happened during the last twenty-four hours. He could tell Charlie had found sleep too and was resting down the hall.

He sighed contently now that the fight was over and there had not been any losses of life on their side since Death brought Bobby back. He remembered the vial he had picked up in the cemetery and pulled it from his pocket to look at. He turned it over in his hand and realized what it was. Sam had taken Lucifer's grace before sending him back to the Cage. He looked up and stared at Sam with admiration that he had even thought to do that. Cas returned it to his pocket for safe keeping thinking he would give it to Sam later to let him decide what to do with it. He thought it was only right that he made that decision.


A/N: Thank you all for reading my story. So Gabriel makes another visit and helps and Dean's on the mend. Two more chapters and the journey will be over. Thank you to the guests who left reviews that I can't personally thank. Reviews do make my day. NC