Sam sat at the laptop in the map room. Dean came in from the kitchen, holding two open beers. "You ready?"

Sam sat back, nodded. "Ready as I'm gonna get."

"Did you set it to music? Maybe 'Father' by Styx? That's a good one."

Sam shook his head. "Dean, this isn't MTV."

Dean shrugged, sipped his beer. "It'd be cool, though."

Sam said, "Okay, let's see if the projector works."

He pointed to a black box on the table. "Turn that on, will you?"

Dean leaned over, pushed the power button. A light came on inside the box. Before Sam could test it, a rumbling started in the walls.

Dean grinned at him. "Showtime."

Sam didn't smile back. "Oh, God. What if-"

Dean stood, guzzled what was left in the bottle and pitched it in the trash can next to the wall. It went in smoothly. "No turning back now, Sammy. Take down the warding."

Sam breathed in one big, calming breath, then nodded. He tossed some crystals in the bowl next to him, lit a match and said, "Auferam Sepem" as he tossed it in. A purple light surged, then went out. All the warding went purple, then faded to gray. "It's down."

Before Dean could say anything, Chuck stood at the top of the stairs.

"Well, you two managed to surprise me again. It's really becoming an issue for me, because, on the one hand, I'm sorta proud, you know? My best antagonists keep coming up with new ways to, well, antagonize me." He started down the steps. "But, on the other hand, it really tries my patience. Makes me want to just be DONE with this whole thing. Like, put this earth on the scrap heap and just start another one. Because, I'm kind of SICK of you two and your" – he made air quotes – "ingenuity."

He walked to the table where Sam sat, and Dean moved to stand at Sam's shoulder and smiled at God. "Hi Chuck. How ya been?"

Chuck smiled. "Well, until about an hour ago, when I discovered my dead, more-powerful-than-any-being-has-a-right-to-be grandson was, um, what's the word? ALIVE. Until then, I'd been sort of enjoying our classic hero's journey together."

Sam watched him warily. "And, who's the hero in our 'journey together?' You, I suppose?"

Chuck looked at him, "Of course! I'm the perfect protagonist! I created you all out of the goodness of my heart – you know, if I had a heart. I gave you paradise, created love and laughter and music and let you run with it! I mean, come on! Beethoven! The Beatles! The Rocky Mountains at sunset! Sunset itself! Wow! What more could I have done? And, yet. You murder each other. You pollute the awesomeness of nature to the point that species are disappearing – do you know how long it took me to think up the spotted white owl? You made Britney Spears a millionaire. That's all disappointing enough, right? But now? Now you threaten me? ME?! You think you can come up with a way to kill your creator? And, I'm supposed to what? Do nothing? Let it happen? What hero does that? No, the hero fights, the hero finds a way to triumph!"

He rubs his hands together. "I assume you've accepted my bargain, since you suddenly were visible to me again, and you used the kid to dispatch my latest monster master level? Which, by the way, amazing job on putting the kid back in play, because, really, I thought dead – by my own hand – really meant dead. You've learned a lot these past few years. More than any other of my Sam and Deans, the two of you have managed to surprise, delight and" – he lost his Chuck smile and became the scary deity – "INFURIATE me." He stared at them until even Dean looked nervous. Which actually seemed to relieve his serious face. He smiled. "So, which of you is going to do the deed and save humanity? My money's on Sam, because, Dean, you have an amazingly resilient vein of self-sacrifice which I'm guessing couldn't be dislodged by Sam's equally amazing deep well of reasoning skills? Besides which, my patience is JUST ABOUT UP!"

Sam said, "Um, actually, we want to make a counter-proposal."

Chuck lost his thunderous attitude, looked confused. "Come again?"

Dean cleared his throat, worked himself out of his momentary intimidation. "We want to offer a different deal."

Chuck pondered. "Uh huh. This feels like a classic delaying tactic. But, I'll go along. What might this counter-offer consist of, exactly?"

Sam pushed a button on his computer, and the white wall across the room became a screen for the projected images he'd compiled on his laptop. Beautiful landscapes of nature – ocean and mountain and farmland – flashed like a slide show on the wall. "We want to try and remind you about your amazing gifts. As a creator," the slides changed, became people laughing and hugging and dancing – "and as a father." They changed again to show acts of compassion, a smiling nurse with her hand on the cheek of an old woman in a hospital bed; a crying child being held by its father; a group helping a man trapped in a car. Then, it became live video: people in boats rescuing others trapped in a flood; a mother reading a book to children in a gymnasium of cots; an old man pressing his hand to the window where his wife lays in a bed, also pressing her hand to the window. Sam spoke softly as the images continued. "You made something so beautiful and amazing. And, you're right, some of it is really messed up. We are not kind to each other, or ourselves, all the time. And, we haven't been looking at the long view with the way we pollute to make things more convenient. But, Chuck. God. This world is an awesome place, full of good people who ARE doing what you created them to do. They're being what you created them to be: kind, generous, loving, self-less. You made the biggest family in the universe. And, even if we fight each other, we still fight FOR each other."

Chuck watched the images. He didn't say anything.

Dean said, "Chuck, you used to want to help us. You saved us, over and over, helped us find our way back to doing better, being better. Hell, you became a nerdy guy named Chuck just so you could spend time learning more about humanity. So you could tell our story, write about our fight against the big bads in the world who were messing things up. Don't let your disappointment that it isn't perfect make you throw all of us away. That's a dick move, man. You're the dad. You're supposed to find a way to love us, despite our being immature and stupid and not what you would have hoped. That's what a good dad does, right? Uses patience and love to bring his kids to the next level. And, you know, I'm sorry we've made it hard on you, fucked some of it up."

Sam said, "Fucked a LOT of it up."

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Fucked a lot of it up. But, we're still trying. We still fight to get it right."

Chuck didn't give anything away. They couldn't tell if they were reaching him at all. He just said, "What are you asking me to do? What is the 'different deal' you're proposing?"

Dean said, "Let us be. Let us keep figuring it out. Stop all this destruction and killing. If we've disappointed you, okay, I get it. But, give us a chance to fix it."

"Fix it? You think people on earth, this earth, are going to, what – suddenly stop killing my beautiful garden of a planet? You think they're going to stop shooting each other and letting each other live in poverty and sickness and desolation? I never figured you boys for idiots, but that seems pretty close to the definition of idiocy."

Sam said, "But, if you cut it off now, you'll never know. You'll never get to see how the story plays out. You set it all in motion, gave us an amazing place to live, created air and water and food – and families to help us celebrate the good times, and get through when things got hard. You gave us brains and bodies and trusted us to work our way through it all. Humans are the most interesting story there is. How do all of us keep going? How do we find the good, find generosity and compassion and love, when monsters and demons and darkness continually threaten us? Isn't that a story worth following? Whatever this is you're doing now, killing worlds, killing people, it doesn't end a story. It burns the book before we can learn the ending."

Chuck nodded. He paced slowly in front of the table.

Sam and Dean didn't dare to look at each other. They both watched Chuck.

After some time, the pacing stopped and Chuck turned toward them. "Let's say I'm willing to re-write my ending. Just for discussion's sake, say I'm willing to rip up the darker ending I'm working off of. What ending are you proposing?"

Sam shrugged, "Well, my ending will be different from yours, of course. But, you know, I'd probably vanquish the monsters. Make the struggle all these years pay off in the end."

Dean looked at him. "Huh. That'd be sweet."

Sam almost smiled. "Right? And, um, maybe restore heaven, let angels regenerate or whatever it is they do, let people get back in based on, you know, being a good person? Because heaven was a great idea, Chuck. A great way to reward a life well-lived."

Chuck thought about it. "Yeah, but all that's a little too sappy for today's fiction, isn't it? Like, yay, the couples stay together, and everyone lives happily ever after. That's so 1990. Today it's about realism, about pain and sadness and not being able to be happy because, humans basically suck. That's what we all have in common."

Sam said, "So, change it up. Give something to humans to show them love matters. Effort matters. Protecting the planet and helping each other through, matters. Show you're a good dad. Show you're proud."

"You're saying I haven't been a good dad?"

Sam said, "Well, um…"

Chuck lost his interested look. His face clouded with anger. "I suppose you think you could do better? You would have a better way to handle seven and a half billion people being total selfish jerks 24/7?"

Dean held up his hand. "Chuck. Can I ask you question? Without you getting all I'll-lift-my-finger-and-turn-you-to-ash?"

Chuck sighed, became Chuck again. "I don't turn people to ash-okay, I do, but not without good reason!"

Dean said, "What do you really want? Like, in your average God-day, what's your ideal scenario?"

"Huh. That's possibly the first time anyone has posed that question to me. Hmm. Well, lately, it's been a lot of thinking up new creatures, trying to find the two of you and keeping all the praying at bay. That's sort of typical lately."

Dean continued. "And, is that fun for you? Like, is there any real enjoyment in any of that?"

Tilting his head, Chuck considered. "Do I enjoy it? Well. I guess I don't. Or, I sort of do, sometimes, because, the four rows of teeth I put into that next of vamps were pretty cool, actually."

Dean nodded. "What if you could change it up, like I said. What would you want to be doing, in an ideal scenario?"

"If I weren't here, playing out my favorite story with my favorite set of Sam and Dean, you mean?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, if you weren't doing that."

"Well, I don't know. I haven't thought about it."

Sam pointed to the screen, still showing humanity at its best. "You're a brilliant creator, Chuck. A magnificent writer, painter, sculptor. This destruction? It's like a criminal waste of your time. Maybe, and I'm just throwing this out there, maybe you could go start another universe. Learn from what we've fucked up and make something better."

Chuck nodded. Started pacing again. "I could. I mean, there's vast realms of real estate out there in the cosmos. I could use lessons learned, do something creative. I'd take away the invention of the engine, for sure. And slavery? Gotta get rid of that insane human improvisation for sure."

Sam nods. "That sounds amazing."

Chuck seemed to be lost in thought.

Sam looked at Dean, who gave him just the tiniest eyebrow lift.

Chuck snapped back to them and said, "But, what about Jack?"

Dean said, "What about him?"

"I can't leave him here. Can't leave him alive. He's too powerful. He offsets my being able to do what I want. You see that, right? And yet, I can't kill him, either. I kill him, I kill myself. So, the only way to get rid of Jack is to get rid of this world. You see the bind I'm in!"

Sam said, "You could trust us to look after him. Make sure he doesn't do anything destructive or, you know, against your wishes."

Chuck shook his head. "No, no. Because you're gonna die in a few decades and Jack will live on. Who knows what the life expectancy is of a Nephilim? They weren't in my plans. I didn't think the angels would ever stoop so low as to have sex with humans, much less make children. There's another out there right now - Jesse. But, his father was a pretty low-level angel and he has no idea how powerful he is. He doesn't bother me because he's too afraid to use his powers, mostly. But, Jack. No, Jack is more powerful than I could have imagined, and he's against me."

He turned to them, and smiled. "So, I think the destruction of this earth, and the killing of one of you, is the best way to go, the best way to make sure I'm not under threat. You see that, right?"

Dean said, "Jack's only against you, because you're against us. If you leave us be, he'll stand down."

"You can't guarantee that, though. I mean, Jack's his own man. Kid. Whatever. It's weird that he's only, like, three isn't it?"

Sam said, "What if we could guarantee he won't come against you?"

"How could you possibly do that?"

Dean said, "Because I know Jack. His human side understands what a vow is. If he promised, he'd stick to it."

"Please, Dean. All it would take is someone he loves under threat and his 'promise' would evaporate like the steam on a cup of coffee."

And then Jack and Cas stood there next to Chuck.

Chuck startled, and took a step back. "Well, there you are."

Jack nodded. "Yes."

Sam and Dean looked equal parts angry and scared. Dean said, "Damn it, Cas. You had one job."

Jack stepped closer to Chuck. "Hello, Grandfather."

Chuck said, "I suppose that's technically true."

"I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to come. But…"

"You were listening."

"Yes. And, I don't want to be your enemy. I truly don't. You're the only real family I have left. And, Sam and Dean have taught me the value of family. That you do anything you can for family. If you leave them alone, I promise not to hurt you, ever."

Chuck nodded. "Family is Sam and Dean's thing."

"Yes."

Nobody spoke for long moments.

Chuck finally raised his hands and said, "You all present me with more problems than you're worth. I mean that genuinely. All I wanted was an exciting end to this story, this world. Sam kills Dean, Dean spends the rest of his life trying to find ways to kill me. It's classic! It's gripping. And, by the way, it's futile, because, hello, God here. But, then, the wrinkle, the perfect plot twist, a surprise villain with the dues ex machina coup! Here's something that can kill me! AHA! So, what's my move, hmm? Do I give up? Let the villains win? No. Can't do that. The hero's journey means I have to triumph! So, how do I do that, I ask myself? How do I keep Jack in check, get my Cain and Able classic ending, and still end up with what I wanted most – to be the one in control and the one who gets to destroy the thing that has plagued him all along, which, in this case, is earth?"

Cas said, "You could leave."

Chuck shook his head in confusion. "What? How's that a decent ending?"

"I believe it's called literary realism. The father walks out in the middle of the story. It happens in much of literature."

Chuck considers. "Hmm. Yes, but I've used that one before. I was gone for a long time, creating other worlds, but still, this one, this first one, always calls me back. I think I have to give it a more permanent ending, this time around."

Sam's voice rose with sudden temper. "You aren't just the author of some fucking story! You created us. You're our father. You owe us more than leaving, you owe us more than trying to destroy us. You should believe in us! You should fight for us! You're quitting because it got too hard for you? What the hell, Chuck?! You want to go down as the biggest cosmic quitter in the universe? The one who killed all his kids instead of trying to help them be better? Really? Is that what this whole world-building experiment was about? Work on something for who knows how many millienia and then just explode it?"

Dean said, "Nice example for your grandson, there, Chuck."

Chuck seemed nonplussed by Sam's assertions. "But, I-I'm not quitting. I'm creating an ending!"

Dean said, "You aren't creating shit. You're running away. You're the villain in this story, Chuck. Not the hero. A hero finds a way, against all odds. He fights when he's got nothing left but grit and will and heart. You set us up, you gave us great tools to get through this shit show world. Maybe, if you want to be a hero, you'll help us do that, instead of shutting it all down and running away."

Cas said, "Running away doesn't sound like a heroic ending."

They all murmured, "Nope," "Sure doesn't," "Hugely disappointing, actually."

They all waited.

Chuck said, "Fine. Fine! I'll leave this world alone, I'll let Jack live. But, there has to be a price. Nothing good comes in a great story without a terrible cost."

He looked at all of them. Then at Sam. "I'll take Sam."

Dean said, "What?!"

"I won't make you kill him, Dean. I see the error in that, anyway. You haven't done it in 40 years, you're not going to do it, now. Not even to save the world. So, okay. I'll give you that. But, I'm not going to give you everything. I'll let you keep Jack, and he will promise to never harm me. I'll give him the same promise. You can keep Castiel." He looked at Castiel, "I know about your pending trip to the Empty. I'll rescind that and you can go to heaven. See? I can be generous. I'll even take away the monsters. They don't really interest me that much anymore, anyway. I'll keep them all consigned to hell, leave a few in purgatory just to keep it interesting. I'll do all that, but there has to be a cost. And, Sam is the cost."

Dean laughed his I'm-not-scared-of-you-but-I-really-am laugh. "No. That's not even-"

Sam said, "Do you promise?"

Dean looked over. "Sam, shut up."

Sam stood. "You'll do all that? You'll leave Jack alone? You'll keep Cas out of the empty? You'll take away the monsters and Dean won't have to ever do another hunt again?"

Chuck and Sam stared at each other, while the others in the room protested. They both ignored them.

Chuck said, "I'll do all that."

Sam said, "And where will you take me?"

"Does it matter?"

"I'd like to know, yes."

Chuck held up his hand, silenced the loud protests coming from Castiel, Jack and most passionately, Dean, by freezing them where they stood. "Where would you like to go, Sam? If you had the choice?"

Sam looked off in the middle distance, thought about it. "If I could choose, I'd stay here. I'd figure out how to live without hunting, help Dean get a job, find a school for Jack, watch Cas help re-build heaven. I think I'd like to become a teacher or something. Mythology and Ancient Lore." His gaze sharpened and returned to Chuck. He even smiled slightly. "But, I'm guessing that's not what you have in mind?"

Chuck shook his head, returned the smile. "It's not what I'd been imagining, no."

"Then, I suppose I'd have to trust you choose. Because I don't really think you're the monster you've been pretending to be these past couple years. I remember Chuck. What I think of as the real Chuck. He was helpful, and compassionate. Sure, he had a hard sense of fairness and justice, but I understood that. He was frustrated, but affectionate despite that frustration. He reminded me a lot of John Winchester, actually."

Chuck said, "You guys really drove me crazy the last few years."

Sam nodded. "I know. We weren't trying to. Just, there were so many things to try and fix, you know? So many challenges, with Lucifer and Michael and all that mess."

Chuck said, "You handled most of that pretty well, actually."

Sam shrugged. "It required a lot of improvising in the moment. We could've done better, I know."

Chuck sighed. "You could have."

Sam said, "But then. The most amazing thing happened, because of you. In case I never mentioned it, thank you. For giving our mom back. That was. Well, that was pretty magical, while it lasted. I never thought I'd have that. It was the kindest thing anybody ever did for us. So, just. Thank you so much, Chuck."

Chuck seemed flustered. "Well. Yeah. It was no trouble, really."

"You've done amazing things, Chuck. Even though we've been on rough footing the last little while, you, or the idea of you, has always given me comfort. Given me hope. No matter how fucked up my life was, I kind of relied on you to be out there, looking out for me. Looking out for my dad and Dean."

Chuck nodded, lost in thought.

Sam cleared his throat. "So, anyway. I'll go wherever you decide. Because a deal's a deal, right?"

Chuck smiled. "Sam Winchester, honorable to a fault."

"Isn't that how you wanted us to be? 'Thou shalt not lie?'"

"Yeah, don't get me started on man – and woman – kinds' failure where those commandments are concerned."

"They're a good outline."

"They were meant as a thoughtful roadmap, really."

"We'd be a lot better off if more of us followed them, even after all this time." Sam nodded, smiled. "So, are we agreed?"

Chuck nodded. "We're agreed."

They shook hands and the others came out of their frozen state to the sight of Sam and God shaking hands.

Dean said, "What did you do? Sammy? What's happening?"

Sam took Dean by the shoulders. "Dean. It's going to be okay." Softer, just to Dean, he said, "Do you trust me?"

The way he asked the question made Dean pause. Sam was trying to tell him something. He said, "That's a dumb ass question."

Sam smiled. "Don't worry, okay?"

Dean said, "Saying that only makes me worry. What's going on?"

Chuck came up next to them, put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Sam and I have a deal. No take backs, no more negotiating. Him, for all of you and the world."

Dean closed his eyes. "Sam…"

Sam leaned in, wrapped Dean up in a hug. He whispered, "It'll be okay. Trust me."

Dean held on. What was Sam trying to tell him?

Jack looked at everyone. "I don't understand. Just, God takes Sam and all of this ends? That's supposed to be a good deal?"

Chuck said, "First, I'll have your word, as my grandson and as a Winchester, that you will never come against me – never try to harm me in any way."

Jack said, "And you'll give me the same promise?"

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Yes. I promise."

Jack said, "I promise, too. But, I don't want you taking Sam."

Chuck rubbed his hands together. "That, you don't get a vote on, grandson or not."

Castiel said, "Where are you taking him?"

"Sam left that up to me. So, I don't have to tell you."

Sam looked at all of them, his family, and said, "Listen. No more monsters. No more getting ripped from limb to limb, or watching anyone else get ripped. No more consoling family members because they don't understand why evil ruined their lives and took their loved ones. No more waking up wondering if we're going to get possessed or if we'll have to lose someone we love to a demon or a vampire." He looked at Chuck. "I trust Chuck to do the right thing, the just thing. He'll put me somewhere I can rest, because he understands all the things we've tried to do to help this planet be a more peaceful, beautiful place. Just like he intended from the beginning."

Dean looked, considered, lost some of his panic. "We're gonna re-set and trust Chuck to be a good dad, huh? Chuck, you're gonna take care of Sammy? You'll make sure he's got what he needs after all the shit he's been through? All the suffering he's done at the hands of Lucifer, and Michael, your kids, by the way, so, you're welcome. Not to mention Metatron, and Azazel and -"

Chuck held up his hand. "I get it, it's a long list."

Castiel said, "Plus, he protected your only grandson when, well, multitudes wanted to kill him the moment he was born."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember."

Dean gave Chuck a long look. "I'm trusting you, Chuck. With my most important person. With my family. You wouldn't do anything to hurt him, right?"

"I don't want to hurt, Sam, Dean."

Jack said, "He's was there for me, when you were nowhere and Lucifer was hunting me. I would be willing to go in his place. Please, Grandfather. Sam belongs here, with his family."

Castiel said, "I'd certainly go in your place, as well, Sam. Chuck, if you want to reconsider?"

Chuck seemed to be getting annoyed with all of them. "I get it. Everybody loves Sam. Okay! Sam, you ready?"

Sam smiled. He gave Dean a long look, seemed to be trying to reassure him.

Dean tried really hard to trust what he thought Sam was doing. "Sam. You better…okay. Okay. See you on the other side, brother."

"You damn well, will." He turned to Chuck. "I'm ready. I trust you to do the right thing, Chuck. Let's go."

To his family, Sam said, "I love you all."

He lifted his hand to wave but before he could do it properly, he and Chuck disappeared.

The room fell quiet. Already, the hollowness of Sam's absence was heavy on the air. None of them knew what to say.

Dean fought down the panic and despair that wanted to grip him. He had to do something. He couldn't think-

He turned to Jack. "Can you find us a monster?"

Jack seemed too sad to answer for a moment. His eyes were full of tears. "What?"

Dean's throat wanted to close up. He wanted to scream with rage at the loss of Sam, but he'd told Sam he'd trust him. So, he needed a distraction. "Chuck said he'd take away all the monsters. I want to get a sense of the timeline we're dealing with here. So, can you find me a monster?"

Castiel said, "Perhaps now is not the time to-"

Dean looked at him, the fear and freak out just barely staying at bay. "Cas."

Cas backed down. "Jack, let's see if we can find some monsters."

They disappeared.

Dean sat down in the chair Sam occupied just a minute before. He watched the images of the best of humanity on the wall. "You better be right about this, Sammy."

A week passed.

They couldn't find a monster or demon anywhere. Dean called the hunters he knew and none of them could understand what happened. One night, they were all on hunts, and the creatures just…vanished. Actually disintegrated right in front of them.

Jack Riley out in Oklahoma told him the same thing he heard from the rest: "They're gone, Dean. Literally disappeared. We'll keep looking, but for now, I'm going home and sleep for a week."

Jody and Donna said the same. Apocalypse World Bobby, the same. He'd landed in Sioux Falls, taken over the real Bobby's destroyed plot of land, and started to rebuild the scrap business.

Dean got tired of Jack and Cas looking at him like he was two minutes away from a break down. He sent them to check on heaven, see if they could learn anything new there. See if people were getting let back in, and if angels had a plan to re-build their numbers.

From Sam he heard nothing.

He didn't accept him being gone for good, of course. He was sure Sam had been trying to tell him something important those last couple minutes before he disappeared with Chuck. Dean thought maybe Sam's plan to appeal to the father in Chuck had something to do with it.

He cleaned the guns and sharpened the knives and washed Baby. He washed Sam's laundry and changed his sheets. He went grocery shopping and bought Sam's favorite vegetables and two thick steaks.

He expected Sam to return, god damnit.

Another week passed, and cracks began to appear in Dean's resolve to trust Sam.

He started sitting in Sam's room at night.

Went through all the beer he'd bought. Went out, bought some more.

At the start of week three, Dean went for a three day drive. He drove through some of the towns where he and Sam saved people and hunted things in the past.

Nothing settled him.

But, he didn't grieve. Because Sam said to trust him.

On a rainy Tuesday night, Dean came back from a run into town for beer and could feel the emptiness of the bunker all around him as he walked down the steps into the map room. He thought about doing this for another 40 years, and didn't think he could hold out against the looming despair much longer.

Wow, you only lasted three weeks, Winchester? That's pretty pathetic. Sam said to trust him. So, DO THAT.

He went to the kitchen and put the beer in the fridge.

He heard the door clang in the other room.

Someone entered.

He heard footsteps on the iron stairs and listened.

Fuck him, he knew that sound.

He ran to the room and standing there, big and tall and skinny as ever, was Sam.

Dean smiled.

Sam said, "Turns out, God's a softie."

Dean pulled him into his arms, just held on and let himself breathe.

Sam is here. Sam is HERE.

The End.

Fade to Black.