Author's Note: I changed a few things, and left a few things the same. I hope you like it! Review, review, review! Thank you Dark Rose Charm and Sherrbabe for your wonderful reviews!

I don't own Supernatural.

***Ember POV***

December 19, 9:03 AM

"I'm just saying," Ember said. "The check-out guy looked at us like we were super weird."

"We don't have that many," Castiel said, surveying the diapers in the back of the truck. While Ember had been asleep, he had lifted them from the local supermarket.

Ember rolled her eyes, though it turned into a yawn. "Cas… you bought enough diapers for the next several months. You went a little overboard."

"I disagree," said the angel. "I have read 74 books on child rearing, and there is one thing that they all agree on– everybody poops."

"Well, you're not wrong," Ember admitted.

She knew the baby was coming soon. She had been so happy this past week and a half, with Castiel, that she was almost loathe to move on to the next phase of her life. Then there was the pain she was expecting, and, of course, the chance that she wouldn't survive the birth. Castiel was with her, though, and the Winchesters would be coming soon. It was far more than she could've hoped for even a month ago.

Just as she thought this, pain erupted across her stomach. She cried out, grabbing her large stomach and bracing herself on the back of the truck. Castiel immediately ran to her side.

"I'm fine… I'm... I'm fine," she said, allowing him to help her back to the bedroom.

***Dean POV***

December 19, 10:38 AM

"Hello, boys."

Eileen, Sam, Dean, and Mary had stopped at a gas station in Wyoming and gone inside to get snacks. The demon was waiting for them when they came out, leaning idly across the Impala.

Dean ran over immediately and punched his old friend in the face, holding the demon knife to his throat. His anger had risen quickly, not least of all because the demon dared to lean against Baby. Despite the demons assertions, however, he knew that something of their old friendship must still be in tact; had it been Sam, Mary, or Eileen who had confronted Crowley in this manner, they would have been thrown across the parking lot by now. "Did you do it?" Dean screamed. "Did you let Lucifer out?"

"I didn't let-…"

"Don't!" Dean said, digging the knife in.

"Moose, a little help here!" said Crowley.

"Dean, wait," said Sam.

"Seriously?" said Dean and Mary, but Dean dropped the knife.

"Look, just don't kill him," said Sam. "He worked the Cage spell with Rowena. Maybe he can help us."

"And what if he can't?" asked Mary.

"Well, then we kill him," said Sam.

"Cage spell?" Crowley asked. "I thought you had mother for that."

"Rowena's dead," Dean said icily.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," said Sam. "Lucifer?"

"Funny." Crowley said, obviously still considering his mother. "I always thought I'd be the one to kill her."

"Crowley... why did you do it?" asked Sam. "Save Lucifer– What did you want?"

"I wanted to win," the demon answered. "I perverted mother's spell, put Lucifer in a vessel of my own making because I wanted to win. Do you have any idea how many people have made a play for my throne over the years? Lucifer, Abaddon, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Too damn many. I thought if I could put the Devil on a leash... my own personal nuke, no one would ever dare challenge me again."

"Yeah. That worked out great," said Dean angrily.

"It all ended with me narrowly escaping death by hiding in a rat," said Crowley.

"Wait," said Mary. "In an...actual rat?"

"It wasn't too bad, really. It gave me time to think. You know, I've been focused for so long on keeping my job. I never realized I hate it. All those whining demons, the endless moan of damned souls, the paperwork! I mean, who wants that?"

"You," said Sam, not understanding. Dean understood, though. He had always wondered about this, to be honest. It had been the subject of several conversations during his time as a demon. Crowley had never seemed particularly happy ruling Hell, and even less so after Sam had almost cured him during the Demon Trials.

"Unh-unh," said Crowley. "Once, maybe."

"So why are you here?" Sam asked.

"Well, whenever there's a world-ending crisis at hand, I know where to place my bets," said Crowley. "It's on you, you big, beautiful, lumbering piles of flannel. So if you'll forgive my transgression, I'll make it worth your while."

"Which means?" Dean asked suspiciously. His understanding of his old friend didn't make him any less angry, but he was formulating a plan. He edged to his trunk, making the movement seem nonchalant.

"After we put Lucifer back in his cage– together– I'll seal the gates of Hell. You'll never see another demon again, apart from, of course, yours truly."

Dean was gobsmacked, and froze over the open trunk. He looked at the demon, his eyes narrowing. He knew all of Crowley's tells by now, but he was almost sure the demon was telling the truth… but why?

"You would do that?" asked Mary.

"Why not?" Crowley said. "They stab me in the back, I'll happily stab them in the front, the sides, and right up their little black-eyed asses. So... do we have a deal?"

As one, Mary, Sam, and Eileen turned to Dean. Dean thought quickly. He trusted Crowley's words as truth, though he didn't trust whatever Crowley wasn't telling him. And everyone was watching… and he was angry. "Fine," he said slowly. Quick as a flash, Dean yanked the demon handcuffs out of the trunk and snapped them on Crowley's wrists.

"Aah!" Crowley screamed at Dean in surprise.

"Did you really think we're gonna trust you out there after what you pulled? No. You're coming with us, but in these."

***Ember POV***

December 19, 2:35 PM

Ember couldn't find Castiel. The baby was coming. She knew that now, and she couldn't find Cas! But then there he was, and she sighed with relief, falling into him. "Where were you?"

"I… um… checking the warding," he said evasively.

"Cas," Ember said warningly. She knew he was lying.

"It's… it's nothing. A minor complication… with the warding."

Ember was about to question him further, but another contraction hit, causing her to double over.

"Ember?!" Castiel said in alarm.

"The baby," Ember explained, wincing. "Cas, he's coming!"

***Castiel POV***

December 19, 6:28 PM

A minor complication with the warding. Castiel couldn't believe he'd gotten by with his lie. He'd been almost sure he wouldn't get away with it. He wouldn't have, if she hadn't had that perfectly timed contraction, and the angel knew there would be hell to pay later for lying to her.

But it was too risky now for her to find out that their son's power had accidentally opened the door to a parallel world in the backyard. She had to be in peak health for his healing to work when she was giving birth. She didn't need stress. He wished she'd never even found out about Lucifer, but it was too late for that now… he would take care of everything.

The original plan, upon finding out about Lucifer, had been for the Winchesters to come join them and for the four of them (plus Mary and Eileen) to move around until after the baby was born. Normal demons wouldn't be able to find them, between the wards and their hex bags, but Lucifer was another matter altogether. Ember was giving off power in waves, and Lucifer, for one, would be drawn to it. It was too much to hope that he wouldn't come… they simply had to be ready when he did.

Castiel had been soothing Ember for the past hour, with light kisses on her face, and energizing her with his angel powers. He had been everything she could have asked for during this experience. "Jesus, when is this going to be over?" she said frustratedly, gritting her teeth.

"You're a first time mother," Castiel said. "I don't think things change just because you're birthing an angel… it could be hours."

"I know that," Ember snapped at Castiel, her teeth gritted against the pain. "It's a rhetorical question.'

Castiel sent her a pitying look. "I'm still sorry, Ember. I believe firmly that this child has to live. But I'm sorry every minute of my existence that you have to go through this."

Ember smiled gently at Castiel. "Well, Cas," she sighed. "I think at least that part is a normal father thing."

Castiel gave a wry smile. He was still having trouble thinking of himself as a father, even though it had been almost two weeks now since he had committed to this journey. He supposed that humans had much longer than two weeks to get used to being a father, despite the fact that humans were used to things happening very fast.

"Cas?" Ember said, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Yes."

"Thank you," she said, lifting her hand onto his cheek. He leaned into her touch.

"Even if this doesn't work, and I die, I know you'll be a good father. I – I love you."

"I love you too," Castiel said. "And it will work."

It had to work. And outside, the rift glowed brighter.

With a sigh of relief, Castiel recognized the sound of the Impala pulling up outside. Castiel jumped up to meet them on the stairs. "Dean?"

"OK," Dean said, "Are you guys ready to hit the road?"

But Castiel shook his head. "She can't be moved. She's having a–…"

Ember was groaning again in pain. Castiel moved quickly to check on her, but Mary stopped him, putting a hand on his chest. "I'll check on her," the older woman said, and Eileen followed her.

"There's been a problem," Castiel whispered to the brothers after the women were gone. "Come with me." And he led them both to the backyard, and through the rift to the other world.

***Ember POV***

December 19, 8:56 PM

Castiel wasn't gone long, just long enough for Ember to miss him. When he finally returned, Ember was desperate for answers.

"Cas, what's going on out there? And don't tell me it's nothing, Castiel, or that it's some damn problem with the warding, because I'm not stupid."

Dean, Sam, and Castiel looked at each other. She knew the nonverbal communication of all three of them well enough by now to understand exactly what was going on. The shake of Dean's head meant "Don't tell her." The raise of Sam's eyebrow meant, "Really, Dean?" The exasperated look on Mary Winchester's face meant, "Somebody had better start talking."

Finally, Castiel said, "The child's power has caused a sort of… a rift. Between this universe and the next. It's a sort of wormhole." When he had finished explaining, Ember was shocked and alarmed. She could see this sentiment echoed on Mary's and Eileen's faces. Everything seemed hopeless, and she was so tired, and everything hurt…

"We have a plan though," said Dean, who was glaring at Castiel. "If Lucifer comes, I mean. The rift could be a good thing."

For the next hour, the group talked about logistics for their plan. After awhile, however, it seemed all possibilities had been exhausted, and Lucifer still hadn't shown up yet. Ember had still not dialated enough yet to begin the birth, either, though it was getting closer.

"You're an angel, can't you, like, speed this up?" asked Mary after Ember underwent a particularly painful contraction.

Castiel shook his head. "I have no control over anything happening until the child begins to emerge. At that point, it will be my job to heal Ember as quickly as possible, though even this isn't foolproof."

Everyone went silent for a few seconds after this, until finally Ember said, "Wow, Cas, way to bring down the party."

After that, eventually the conversation shifted to other things – to Bobby, and to recent hunting trips, and to a long-winded story about how Dean had killed Hitler that everyone but Ember had heard about a million times. Eventually Ember found out from Dean that Crowley was prowling around the house, and Crowley joined the group for a few minutes as well. Ember had had her moments with the demon, but ultimately he had admittedly been the best (and only) demonic ally she'd ever had, on several different occasions.

Ember also wanted to call the children and tell them she loved them, in case this was the end. She still hadn't told them that the birth might cause her death, though she was fairly certain that they had guessed it. She was certain that Krissy, at least, was looking for her and Castiel, but she didn't want her to be caught up in this mess. Over the past week, Castiel and Ember had called the children at least once each day, but had hung up with them whenever the children began to press for their location.

All in all, the two hours after Sam and Dean arrived would've been wonderful had Ember not been in a severe amount of pain and on the verge of giving birth. Still, Ember felt that being surrounded by friends, especially after so many months of isolating herself, was the best thing in the world for distracting herself from the pain and the stress.

Finally, just when a particularly violent contraction was ending, Castiel froze. "He's coming," he told the others. "We need to get ready."

At first Ember thought that Castiel meant the baby, but then the angel walked over to her and kissed her swiftly on the lips. "I'll be back, I promise," he told her. "I love you."

***Dean POV***

December 19, 9:18 PM

"Well, this is a fun surprise," said Lucifer. He was walking casually up the front sidewalk. Dean's mouth was set in a thin line, and his brother, mother, Eileen, and Castiel stood next to him. They wouldn't let him get to Ember and the child.

"I gotta hand it to you guys," Lucifer said. "You never give up, even when you should. Even when it would be so stupid not to."

"Look, whatever you're planning on doing, Chuck… God will stop you, just like he did last time," said Sam.

"You're right," Lucifer mocked. "What should I do? Oh, God! Don't strike me dead! Come on, Sam. You sound like a virgin in Jesus camp. "We can't. God is watching." No. Chuck "walked." He's gone."

"So you're just gonna smash his toys?"

"Exactly," said Lucifer.' "Cause every time I look at this sad trash fire of a world, you know what I keep thinking? I could do so much better."

"So Apocalypse, take two. That's your plan?"

"When in doubt, go with the classics," Lucifer responded. "That's what I always say. Well, boys, enough with the foreplay. Let's do this."

"You know it's not even your child, right?" said Lucifer.

"Yeah," Lucifer said looking bored. "I've figured that out by now, thanks. But I can always take Mini-Cas, and the half-demon, and…" he smiled an evil smile. "Make some of my own."

Castiel charged at Lucifer with his angel blade then, but Lucifer batted him aside easily.

Dean and Sam looked at Castiel, then at each other, and then took off running. As they hoped, Lucifer chased them.

"Mature," snapped Lucifer. "Real mature. I really want to enjoy this. I really wanna savor ripping you apart, getting all up in there, and getting all gooey. But, you know, little slugger's almost here and, uh... Well, I'm on the clock."

Lucifer had reached the back yard of the small lakehouse by then, and stopped. When Dean knew he had the archangel's attention, he reached out and touched the rift, allowing himself to disappear into the other world.

A second later Lucifer appeared in front of Sam in the alternate world. "Mm," he said, looking around. "Nice."

"You wanted the Apocalypse? You got it," Sam yelled at him.

"Sammy. Hey," said Lucifer. "Where's your big bro?"

"Right here," said Dean, wielding Bobby's gigantic angel-killing gun.

"Ooh," said Lucifer. "Sweet toy."

"Yeah," said Dean. "I got it off an old– new pal of mine. See, we have this bet, to see if it works against an archangel. So... say hello to my little friend." If he was going to die – before he even got a chance to see what might've happened with Jo – if he was going to die, he would make it a memorable end. And he opened fire. "Yeah, baby!"

The bullets ripped through Lucifer, one after the other, and Dean felt the kick-back of the gun nearly bowl him over… but then the gun jammed, and Lucifer was still advancing. "You lose," said the archangel. And then Lucifer began to beat him. He knew Lucifer wasn't even beating him very hard… he was just warming up. Lucifer hadn't been lying earlier… he wanted to enjoy this. But Dean needed to survive a little bit longer, just long enough for Sam and Crowley to finish their plan…

And then Dean was on the ground helpless to respond. His body refused to move, and he could feel his ribs breaking. "I could do this all day," said Lucifer. "You make such funny noises."

Finally, mercifully, Lucifer was flung away from Dean by an invisible force. "Surprise," said Crowley.

"Crowley!" said Lucifer. Dean felt arms on him, pulling him up and back toward the rift… Sam.

"You sneaky little… So I guess I get to kill you twice, huh, Crowley?"

"I doubt it," said the demon. There was a strange look in his eyes that Dean had never seen before, and even though Dean wanted to run back through the rift and see to Ember, he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away.

"Oh, no, no," said Lucifer. "You had your chance. You could've put me back in the Cage, but... you had to make it personal, didn't you?"

"You're right," said Crowley. "It is personal. You humiliated me. I... I hate you. Deeply. Truly. I'm gonna enjoy wiping that smug, self-satisfied look off your face. Personally."

What was Crowley talking about? This wasn't in the plan.

"You mean...this one?" said Lucifer, smiling.

Crowley pulled out his angel blade.

"Come on, Crowley," the archangel taunted. "You know whatever you try, you're gonna lose."

"You're right," said the demon. And as he turned toward him, Dean knew what he was going to do. Crowley smiled at the stunned look of shock on Dean's face. "Bye, boys," he said. Then, as if in slow motion, he stabbed himself with the angel blade and fell to the ground, dead.

***Ember POV***

December 19, 10:30 PM

The baby was coming. He was coming too quickly. Castiel was here with her, though. It would be okay. Downstairs, in another universe, Sam, Dean, and Crowley were fighting for their lives. But she couldn't think about that. The baby was coming.

Suddenly Ember heard shouting, and gunfire. First Sam's voice, then Dean's. There was a fight… someone was fighting downstairs. The plan hadn't worked! Had the spell to close the rift not worked, or was it a matter of the unknown factor? Crowley hadn't known how long the rift would stay open once the spell was activated. Perhaps the rift had closed, but Lucifer had made it back through to this side? As one, the women headed downstairs, and there was more shouting.

Castiel was watching out the window. "What's – aaaaaagugggggugghh – going on?" Ember screamed at him.

"Lucifer's come back through the rift with Sam and Dean. I can't see Crowley. They're fighting downstairs, but…" He looked at Ember, and she could see it in his eyes. Someone was hurt. He wanted to join the fight, but he didn't want to leave her.

"Cas, I'm not even dialated enough yet," she said.

"But you're close… and it won't take long," he said.

"Cas, it – aaaaaaaaggggggghhhhh damn it! Just go!"

And then what little color was still in Castiel's face left it, and the angel stuttered, "He's – he's coming!" With a panicked look at Ember, Castiel ran away down the stairs.

Ember felt sick to her stomach. She wanted to throw up. She was dizzy, and she was so, so so tired, and she hurt… but she had to see what was going on. Every step to the window felt like a momumental accomplishment. She could hear screaming – Mary's voice, and Dean's, and Sam's, and even Lucifer's taunting voice over the sound of gunfire. There were only 3 steps to the window, and there was a chair in front of it. Ember fell into the chair, because by then her legs would no longer support her. She was lucky that her aim was true, and she didn't end up sprawling butt-first on the floor with the chair behind her. She ended up half-squatting on the chair, craning her neck backward to see what was happening below.

She had a horrible view, but she could see Dean, tossed backward into a tree, unconscious, blood dripping from a wound on his head. Sam was attempting to rouse him, but with no success. Mary was limping slightly, a large gash torn into her left leg. Eileen was nowhere to be found. And Castiel…

Castiel was leaping at Lucifer, and Ember knew, somehow, right before it happened. As if in slow motion, Lucifer feinted left, then spun around. Castiel had leapt too far, and recovered too slowly. Ember watched with horror as Lucifer's angel blade slid cleanly through him from back to front. She caught his eyes, and they were full of love… and sadness. And then Castiel exploded, white light pouring from his body as he crumpled to the ground, dead.

Ember screamed, "Noooo!" except the words didn't actually come out. And as she did, she felt a wrenching in her gut and it was as though the floor was falling out from under her. And she could feel herself falling, and she knew. She knew this was the end. And she would join Castiel…