The trip home took four days, but they were able to take their time, stopping at hotels and diners whenever they were hungry. Sam didn't have to dig through the seats to find change to pay for gas, and Grace didn't have to keep an eye on the store clerks as Dean stuffed snacks into his pockets. Their credit cards were working, the car ran smoothly, and the worst weather they encountered as a short sun shower in Nebraska.
The bunker was quiet, save for the hum of electricity that always ran in the background. Dean dropped his bag on the table, stopping mid-sentence as Cas stepped out of the shadows, Jack close behind him. "Cas, there -"
Instinctively they all bristled at the sight of him. Grace caught Dean's eye, Sam giving the two of them a concerned look. "Hi." Jack looked between the three of them, no one quite knowing how to respond. "It's been a while."
Sam hugged him first, Dean and Grace hesitant to reach out. "I would've tried to find you guys, but I can't use my powers. Billie, the reaper, she saved me. She protected me in the Empty until I was strong enough to make it back. But she warned me not to use my powers, or Chuck would be able to sense them."
"You could've called us," Sam objected as they all sat down. "We would've found you."
Jack shook his head. "He would know. I had to wait. If I do exactly what Billie says, I'll get stronger, and I'll be able to kill God."
Her headache formed the second she laid eyes on Jack. Grace had downed a handful of painkillers, but nothing was helping. So she went to bed early, Jack watching her carefully as she left the others behind. Dean followed an hour or so later, finding her still tossing and turning in bed. "Do you trust him?" Grace asked frankly, sitting up in bed as he changed into his pajamas. Her head throbbed, the pain searing behind her eyes as she moved. Sitting up wasn't the best idea.
"No. But I trust Billie. If she trusts him, then I trust her judgment. Whatever her plan is, it's our best bet." He came to lay down beside her, turning off the light and trying his best not to trip over anything.
"If we kill Chuck, we've still got Amara to deal with. The whole cosmic balance thing, you know?" she fretted as they settled in together.
Dean ran a hand through her hair, Grace closing her eyes and trying her best to will her headache away. "There has to be more to her plan than she's letting on."
"I can hardly look at him, Dean. I know he couldn't control all of that power, but… he should've known better than to try. It's like juggling grenades. One of them's going to go off no matter how good you think you are," she sighed, speaking into the darkness. "If he's our only bet to kill Chuck, fine. But I can't think that he was the last thing Samantha and Robbie ever saw." Her voice broke as Dean embraced her. "I can't."
"Are you sure it's her?" Grace asked, pulling Dean aside as he and Sam were headed out.
"It's Jody." He looked back over his shoulder, seeing Jack and Cas in the war room. "You'll be fine. Cas is here. He'll take care of you. Sam and I won't be gone for long, and I'll keep you updated while we're on the road, okay? Just get some research done, let them be, and you won't have to talk to him at all if you don't want to. You'll be fine." He kissed the top of her head, trailing after Sam as he took to the stairs.
Grace spent most of the day in her office, only leaving to microwave something for lunch. She, Cas, and Jack all made dinner together, the tension in the room only cut by them having something to do. "How's your research going?" Cas asked, taking his time chopping an onion.
"I still haven't found anything on what to do about Amara," Grace told him, mincing garlic and keeping her eyes trained on the cutting board in front of her. "Even if we can kill Chuck, it's probably not possible to pull that off twice. It might be a better idea to get them both in one go."
"Billie has a plan," Jack reminded her as he started to set the table.
Pursing her lips, Grace listened to each dish he set down, the silverware clinking on the table. "She hasn't told you anything more than one step ahead."
"Death is supposed to come for Chuck too. Maybe this is how she does it," Cas speculated. "Am I supposed to put oil in this pan before I throw the onion in?"
Dinner was quiet, the three of them eating in near silence. No one quite knew what to say. Cas knew that Grace and Jack weren't going to talk to each other. No matter how much she tried not to blame him, Cas knew that Grace would always blame Jack for her children's deaths. And he knew that Jack had no idea how to apologize, and that it probably wouldn't be received well. So he tried to make as much small talk as he could, but their conversations inevitably fell apart, dissolving into silence.
To their credit, they all did the dishes together, but Grace eventually made a cup of tea and retreated into her office, where she stayed until she heard the others go to bed. She finished the chapter she had been reading through, logging a couple of notes before closing her laptop and heading to bed. Her phone buzzed as she walked down the hall. Dean. He hadn't called, but she'd been so focused on her research that she hadn't realized how late it was getting.
Jody's safe with us. Do you remember Kaia? Somehow her body double is here. Long story, but we should be home in the morning. I love you.
She smiled to herself, starting to answer him as she walked.
Got a bunch of reading done. No good results, but it was something. Drive safe. I love you.
Even though she was staring at her phone, Grace saw the shadow lurking down the hall before she'd fully processed that it was there. No matter how tired she was, she could always snap into fighting mode. But she had to force herself to relax. It's Jack. He's not dangerous. He's NOT dangerous. HE'S NOT DANGEROUS.
He had just gotten up to get a drink of water, but he'd stopped in his tracks when she came around the corner. "Grace?"
"Hi." She made no attempt to conceal her clipped tone, instead intent on getting to bed.
"You've been walking on eggshells and holing up in your office all day," he observed, neither of them daring to get any closer to the other. "Are you afraid of me?"
His voice sent a chill down her spine. But she bit back the adrenaline, telling him, "No. I am angry, though. You killed my children. And their grandmother. You destroyed our lives."
A door swung open somewhere else in the bunker, a group of voices interrupting them. "Gracie?" Dean called, seeing the light on in the hall. "We're home!" She turned away from Jack, leaving him behind as she went to find Dean.
"There's no way to jump worlds without archangel grace, at least not in any of the books I've been through so far." Grace yawned, sitting down on the table where the boys had been working. Jack had gone to check on Alternate Kaia, leaving the boys, Cas, and Jody behind to comb through the library. Grace had been in her office, but she joined them when she finished her most recent read. "There's nothing in the system about it either, but productivity on that really dropped off when Chuck started all of this shit."
Sam looked up from his book, an idea slowly coming together in his mind. "We might be able to work out a substitute. I'd need your help - I don't know anywhere close to enough magic to do it - but I think there's a way."
"With what? Sorry," she looked to where Cas sat in an armchair, "but regular angel grace isn't going to cut it."
"Nephilim grace is the best substitute," Sam said, "and we've got that. Jack's a nephilim descended from an archangel. It could work. It's also against Billie's rules, but it's the best idea we've got. If Chuck really is killing off all of the other worlds, this might be our only chance to save Kaia."
Dean reached for her hand as Grace thought. "We're all out of archangels, and I don't feel like bending over backwards to find archangel grace, especially if we're running out of time. Let's do it."
