A/N: Hello again all! I have another chapter completed and ready to go for you this week! I feel like things are starting to get better and I'm hoping that means I will be in the right headspace to write some more. I've missed it so much! Anyways, thank you so so so much everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, and/or follows!

A special thank you to wolfgirl2013, hectatess, and VegasGranny for your recent reviews/thoughts and of course your time, support, and interest. I always love hearing from you and I'm glad you're still enjoying this story.

Chapter 26

"When I said we were thieves and convicts I didn't mean this," Bobby said looking at his rearview mirror at the youngest Winchester.

"We don't know that he won't be on board with this when it's told to him the right way." "Hey, I just told him the truth," Dean countered.

"You could have been less of a dick about it Dean. I mean that's kinda what almost got us killed in the first place," Sam shot back.

"Yeah speaking of, how does kidnapping a prophet not qualify to be deep fried?" Dean questioned. "Maybe that would have been a good question to ask Castiel."

"It's not my fault he took off. Maybe you shouldn't have shared your grand plan to kidnap the guy that he didn't want us to talk to in the first place," the older brother snapped back. "Besides, I still don't trust that he isn't working with the angels. You know? Trying to play the good guy and be on our side and then once he has us, turn us in and make us agree to be angel condoms in a war to roast the planet."

"Why would he save us then? Or tell us that we have a tablet and a prophet? I mean honestly I don't even know that he is capable of what you're accusing him of. He doesn't really come across that way. In fact he seems too literal if I'm being honest. If he wanted us dead or captured I'm pretty sure he would just do it."

"Come on Sam you're smarter than this. It makes no sense for an angel, who apparently is a soldier of God, to turn against his kind just to help two guys he just met completely out of the blue. And then he just comes and goes as he pleases. I mean what's his end game?"

"Why is it so hard to believe that an angel could be good with good intentions?" "After all that we've learned and heard and seen, are you really asking me that?" "

Alright cut it you two," Bobby spoke up. "You boys bitch more'an an old married couple." The brothers fell silent and reminded that way until both of them fell asleep.

The next time Dean opened his eyes, he was asulted by what at first he had thought was a light being shone in his face and then realized was the sunlight bouncing off something and hitting him right in the eyes as they opened. He grunted and squeezed them shut again. "What the hell?" He half asked half groaned out loud. When no one answered he slowly opened one eye, putting his hand up to block the reflecting sun and then turned in his seat to look at the driver's side. No Bobby. Feeling a bit more awake he turned even more to look at the seat behind him. No Sam and no Prophet. Both eyes wide open now, he scrambled to get himself out of the car. Paying better attention to his surroundings, he realized the car had been parked in a patch of dead grass that looked like it was once the front lawn to a house that looked like it was on it's last leg. He shut the car door behind him and headed towards to entrance. Before he reached the front step, the front door opened and Bobby appeared. His face looked a bit worn and Dean noticed heavy bags under his eyes.

"Finally," the older man grumbled. "I was just about ta go wake you up Sleepin' Beauty. Hurry up." Dean climbed the steps and ducked into the house while Bobby scanned the yard and closed and locked up behind them. Now inside Dean was hit with the stench of rotting wood and mold causing him to cover his nose and mouth with the back of his hand.

"Boy, you know how to pick'em," he remarked to the hunter. "Skeezy motels, rotting carcasses of houses. You take us to the nicest places Bobby."

"What can I say, I'm a real gentleman," the hunter retorted. "Yer brother's downstairs with Chuck. It's my turn to get some shut eye. When you have a moment dump POS car number three somewhere down the way would ya?" Without waiting for a response the older man headed into a room down the hall and slammed the door behind him.

Dean began looking for a staircase leading down, finding one behind the first door he opened. Carefully he made his way where he saw the writer laying on a cot and his brother pacing back and forth. Upon hearing the stairs creak, the younger man looked up to see his sibling. "Hey," he greeted him in a whisper.

"The guy's still out?" Dean questioned his younger brother looking at the man asleep on the cot.

"Yeah, uh, I thought he'd be awake by now but I guess not."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know. That he passed out and we didn't want to just leave him there?"

"I mean what are you going to say to get him to join team save the world?"

"That, I really don't know," Sam sighed.

"So what do you think the 'Word of God' says?"

"Whatever it is, I hope it can help because if I'm being honest, I have no idea how to stop the devil from rising."

"That makes two of us. And between you and me, I think this is above Bobby's pay grade."

"We're talking about the devil here Dean. Pretty sure it's above everyone's pay grade."

Dean looked over at the prophet. "I should go get some ice cold water, that oughta do the trick."

"No," Sam replied quickly. "Just, leave him alone. He'll wake up on his own. Besides, this place has no running water."

"Well that's just awesome," Dean sighed. "Alright well, while you look after Wimpy here, I'm gonna go move the junker."

"Be safe," the younger Winchester said with a nod.

"It's not like I'm going far."

"Doesn't matter, most accidents happen only a few miles or so from their homes. Plus I mean, you know, angels could be anywhere. Can't be too careful, especially since we have the prophet."

"You are such a nerd," the older sibling commented as he headed back upstairs. He found the car keys on the table,which he wasn't too convinced would support anything heavier, and made his way back to the car. Dean drove it down the way a few blocks and parked it on the street by an apartment complex then turned to walk back to the house.

"Your brother wouldn't happen to be in pieces in the trunk of that hunk of junk would he?" The older Winchester turned to face the familiar voice. A man with a dark suit and even darker eyes was standing on the sidewalk next to the car Dean had just abandoned.

"Would it make your day if he was?"

"It would make my millennium."

"Then it brings me great pleasure to be the one to burst your millennium bubble."

The demon squinted at the Winchester. "And after all I've done for you."

"What do you want Crowley?" Dean asked unamused.

"King," Crowley corrected him.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna call you that."

"Well, Dean, you already know what I want. Unless of course you have the brain of a titsy fly in which case I'm impressed you remember me at all."

"You want me to kill my brother. Well, like I said the first time, that's never gonna happen." "Never say never," the demon tisked.

"If you want Sam dead so badly, then why don't you just go kill him yourself?"

"Hello? King. A king doesn't do the dirty work. He has others do it for him," Crowley explained.

"Then why don't you send a minion?"

"Because truth be told, they're all afraid of the big bad Winchester. No one wants to go near him."

Dean glared at the demon who smirked back at him. The older Winchester couldn't tell which smile was more unsettling, the one on his lips or the one in his eyes.

"Oh, so, you're already aware then? Of what your big little brother is capable of and what he's been up to whilst you've been away? Then you should also know that by allowing him to live, you're no better than he is. Which means, you're no better than a demon."

"You pompous son of a bitch," he snarled.

"Flattery will get you nowhere Darling," the demon retorted with another grin. Dean moved towards him but before he could take more than two steps, Crowley flicked his wrist and Dean went flying across the street landing hard on his back. The demon approached the older Winchester as he lay trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. "Now, consider this my final warning," he advised. "Our next date isn't going to go as smoothly as the last. If you don't put an end to your brother, I'm going to be forced to have to take things away. Or possibly, give something back. And trust me, what you've lost, you don't want returned." Before Dean had the chance to respond, the demon disappeared much like had the first time and just as quickly and abruptly as he had come.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!