This chapter is very much a team effort from me and MaggieMay19. She took the bones of what I made and turned it to art. The Dean/Sam/Nick confrontation was nowhere near as emotional before she turned her paintbrush on it, and the Jack/Castiel content in this — and the next —did not exist at all. MaggieMay added color to this world, and I can never thank her enough for it.

Also, thanks to Ncsupnatfan who pre-read this chapter and helped me shape it.

Jadey xxx

Chapter Thirty-One

Sam had expected to feel nerves when the time came, but there were none. He was perfectly ready and perfectly at peace.

The last angel had been tracked down as far as they could tell. It was possible some had shed their vessels and fled when news spread of what was happening, but they would never find another vessel. All the people in the paradise Sam and Castiel were going to create together would be protected. Gabriel could deal with the angels, and Sam and Castiel could deal with anything else that came along—at least as long as they lived.

Knowing his life was going to be mortal again was not a troubling thought to Sam at all. He had never wanted the immortality of an archangel. He'd only wanted his family, and that was just what he could not have.

Though that was not quite true; he would have Castiel, and that would have to be enough. He would have Gabriel, too, and he was close to family after all the time they'd spent together and all the things they'd done.

Sam worried Castiel might be nervous, that he might regret his choice to join Sam in mortality, but the angel that walked out of The Roadhouse with Ellen seemed perfectly calm.

"Okay, fellas, you ready?" Gabriel asked. "We'll fly there, obviously, since it's the last chance you'll have to stretch your wings, Sam, and Castiel would probably enjoy the wind in his hair one last time."

"I'm ready," Sam said, voice filled with certainty. "Cas?"

Castiel nodded once, eyes steady. "I am ready."

Gabriel clapped his hands. "Then let's go, kiddos. You want to follow me, Sam? You'll know the place as there's quite a gathering nearby of people that want to see the good times roll. But I'll make sure the… I guess fall is the wrong word… whatever… will be a private moment."

Sam didn't care who witnessed it, but he thought Castiel might. This was a much bigger sacrifice for him than for Sam. Sam couldn't wait until it was his heart and mind driving his body again and not grace. He would be human again, which seemed like a gift he could never have imagined before he'd felt grace in his veins.

Gabriel spread his vast wings and gave Sam a nod. Sam spread his own wings, feeling their weight at his back for what he hoped would be the very last time, and then he flew after Gabriel as he took flight, Castiel at his side.

There was nowhere left in this world that could be called beautiful, not yet, but the clearing they found themselves in seemed peaceful. Sam could sense the many people nearby, but they were nowhere within sight of him, which meant Castiel could not see them either.

Castiel looked around and rubbed his throat, as if imagining the wound that would be there soon, allowing his grace to seep out of him and make him human.

"Okay, one last time for the officer to hear," Gabriel said with a smirk. "Are you sure you want to do this, Sam? Because I'm still happy to do it. You and Cas can be this world's protectors and buddies forever. Nick is never coming near you again."

"I'm sure," Sam said. "It's not about Nick, or even Dean and mom. I already left them behind. This is about me. I want to be human again. I'm sure."

Gabriel nodded, obviously having expected the response, and turned to Castiel.

"What about you, Cas? You really want to give it all up?"

"I do," Castiel said. "I cannot continue as I am, and I can think of no better way to live out a short, human life than here with these people and Sam, who is a brother to me." He looked at Sam. "I'm sure."

Gabriel spread his arms and said, "Awesome. Let's get this party started." He reached into his pocket and withdrew two small glass vials, then threw one each to Sam and Castiel. "You want me to make the cut, or do you want to do it yourselves?"

Sam shrugged. "Either is fine with me."

"I would like you to do it, Sam," Castiel said. "It seems fitting."

Sam turned to him and saw the sadness in his blue eyes. This was so much harder for Castiel than for Sam, even though he said he was sure in his decision.

"Okay," he said, drawing his blade. He made the small cut at Castiel's throat and held up the vial until no more grace flowed into it. He healed Castiel, stoppered the vial, then handed it to Gabriel.

"I'll—" Sam stopped dead as a voice bellowed in his mind, a voice he thought he'd heard for the last time. 'Sammy, we're here, man. Come talk. We're… well I don't know where we are, but you can find us, right? Lock on to Jack or whatever …'

Sam staggered back a step, and his fingers loosened around the blade in his hand, so it slipped from his fingers. Dean was here. For one moment Sam's heart soared, then his emotions caught up with his ears. Dean had said we, which meant he'd brought Nick with him.

This was not supposed to happen. It was supposed to be over. Sam was done. He'd left them behind to live their happy life as a family and for him to escape the pain that came with being who he was to them and what he had lost.

"What's wrong?" Castiel asked, at the same moment that Gabriel said, "Well, plot twist. What are you going to do, Sam?"

"I don't know," Sam answered.

He could leave now. Hide until Dean and Nick went back to their world, though would they ever leave? How had they ever come here? Sam had brought the Seal of Solomon with him. They must have found another way—a dreamwalker. That meant Jack would have used Michael's grace to power up. The kid would have hated to do that. Did that mean Sam owed it to them to wait and talk to them?

"Jack?" Castiel said, eyes widening. "How…?" Castiel shook his head. Jack was now apparently able to talk telepathically to Castiel even though he no longer had even a drop of grace in him."They're here?"

Sam nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose. "They're here."

"So what are you going to do?" Gabriel repeated. "It's only a matter of time until Jack locks onto you, and they'll be here here. You can hide yourself if you want, but you better do it quickly. You know how impatient Dean is."

"I'm thinking," Sam growled.

Sam was angry. Dean should not be here. It was supposed to be over. Dean had chosen Nick over Sam, because Chuck had made him remember Nick – Lucifer! – as the brother he had fought beside for the last fourteen years, the one he had known and loved and died for. Sam was the spare, abandoned long ago. Mourned, no doubt; loved as family, certainly; but Dean's deepest bond was with Nick. Sam had made what peace he could with Chuck's story, had left, and he was going to be human again. Yes, the thought of never seeing Dean again had been a torment, but Dean would never have seen the real him, and with Nick having so comprehensively taken his place it was better to be apart. Dean shouldn't have come.

Sam was confused now. He didn't know what to do. He longed to see Dean. He couldn't bear to see Nick.

"I'm going ahead with the sacrifice," Sam said, bending and picking up his blade. Ignoring Castiel's questions and Gabriel's reassuring words, he brought the tip of his blade to his throat and pricked the skin at the same moment wings whipped the air, and a voice bellowed, "Sammy, no!"

The shout made Sam hesitate, and that was enough for Dean to grab the blade out of Sam's loosened grip and throw it away.

It never hit the ground. Dean was frozen, his arm wide from flinging the blade. Nick was frozen too, hanging back at the edge of the clearing where they had first appeared. Jack, however, was stalking across the ground, wind whipping around him.

"Castiel! What is happening?" Jack saw the glowing vial that Gabriel was still holding. "Did he hurt you?" Jack asked, his voice suddenly menacing, his eyes glowing gold with an eerie, blue-white halo around them. Jack's last few footprints left the ground smoldering in his wake.

"Jack," Castiel whispered in shock.

"Whoa, kid, I haven't hurt anyone," Gabriel said, holding his hands up. "Cas chose to do this. He found out what Dad did to Sam – to all of you – and it's not the sort of thing an angel can just get over."

Jack continued his advance until he stood before Castiel. The wind continued gusting around him like the front edge of a sudden thunderstorm. "You chose this?"

"Jack! I can't believe you're here!" Castiel said, his unalloyed joy now clear on his face. Sam could only stare in disbelief. Maybe Castiel, without his grace, couldn't see it, but Sam could. If Jack had been big and bright before, now his celestial appearance was vast and absolutely incandescent, with a disturbing acidic aftertaste that could only be the taint of Michael's grace.

"Kid! Jack! JACK!" Gabriel yelled, and the ground quaked. Jack paused, silently turning those disturbing eyes towards Gabriel. The archangel's wings were bristling at his back and he radiated authority as he commanded, "Take it somewhere else. You may have forgotten about them, but there are humans here. You shouldn't be doing anything anywhere near other living things right now. This is my world, under my protection, and I will not allow any more collateral damage on my turf. You understand?"

Silence extended for a tense moment, then Jack gave a tight nod of his head and both Jack and Castiel disappeared. The vial containing Castiel's grace vanished from Gabriel's hand too, and the wind died down.

"Gabriel, what the hell?" Sam asked weakly.

"Boy's grown like a weed since I last saw him," Gabriel's tone was light but Sam could feel the unease radiating from him.

"Will Cas be okay?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. They'll figure things out. The kid seemed protective of Cas to me, not angry." Gabriel turned to Sam "You were angry."

Sam turned back to look down at Dean, standing right in front of him.

"You froze time?" Sam asked.

"Easier to keep people safe if there's no time for them to be hurt in," Gabriel hand-waved. "And we have a lot of spectators here, even if you can't see them, not just Dean… and Nick."

Sam looked over to Nick and his ire returned. Memories washed over him: Lucifer torturing him in the cage; Castiel's love and support when the angel accidentally learned the truth; Nick's cowardice when he learned the same; Dean and Mom's undeniable love for Nick; Dean's dismissive demand that Sam heal his hated enemy; Chuck's smug grin when he forced Sam back from the dead against his will, reveling in Sam's pain. If Sam really had been close to escaping Chuck's punishment, Chuck would be loving this plot twist.

Time snapped back. Sam's blade hit the ground with a thud.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Dean shouted.

Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was feeling a burgeoning of anger which he did not want to release. He did not want to vent at Dean, but this was just one more in a series of times Dean had let him down since Chuck put his plan into action, and it enraged Sam.

"No," Sam breathed.

He knew on a logical level that it was not Dean's fault he'd thought Sam was Lucifer, and it was not his fault that he'd then accepted Chuck's second change to the story, that Sam was Dean's brother but not the one that mattered. It wasn't even Dean's fault that he had pushed Sam into saving Nick, even though it would hurt him, because Nick had taken Sam's place, and Dean would have pushed for Sam.

But Sam was angry.

"You're going to kill yourself?" Dean roared, getting into Sam's face. "What about Nick and me, huh?"

Sam opened his eyes and glared at him. "What about you?"

"Dean," Nick interjected, warily. "Jack's gone."Sam couldn't hear Jack on either angel or archangel radio, but he could feel his solid presence, maybe five hundred miles west. Jack was surely invulnerable to anything, now. The last thing that had hurt the kid was… Lucifer. The thought only stoked Sam's rage.

"You," Sam yelled, pointing at Nick, "do not get to say anything about Jack!"

"About damn time," Gabriel murmured.

Sam chanced a glance at Gabriel and saw he was smiling. Sam suspected Gabriel was listening into his thoughts and was pleased to see Sam was finally ready to let what he was feeling out, as Gabriel had encouraged him to do so many times when Sam was in his own world with Nick and Dean.

"Time for what?" Dean asked. "What the hell is going on? Where did Jack and Cas go? And what are you doing here?" he said to Gabriel. "You're supposed to be dead."

Gabriel waved a dismissive hand. "Jack and Cas have their own issues to work out. And I'm the Trickster, Dean, of course I'm not dead; but I'm not the one you should be listening to right now. Go on, Sam. Either way, you've got to say it for your own sake. You can always wipe it after."

"Wait, what?" Dean asked. "Wipe it? You're not screwing with my head, Sam."

"No," Sam said in a low and dangerous tone. "I'm not the one that does that. That's Chuck's job."

He turned away and raked a hand through his hair. He could sense Nick behind him, watching, and he felt another surge of hatred. Nick had everything Sam should have. Nick had his own peace of mind because Sam had saved him. If Sam had walked away when he'd had the chance, Nick would be trapped in his head with his twisted pain of realization. Sam would have left him there if it wasn't for knowing that it would destroy Dean and Mary's lives.

Dean's hand laid on Sam's shoulder as he said, "Look, Sammy, I know you think Chuck did this awful thing to you…"

Sam spun around and shoved him roughly away. He used too much strength, as Dean flew twelve feet before hitting the blasted dirt, but he rolled with the landing and didn't look harmed. Sam felt a pang of regret, which was quickly replaced with anger once more as Dean held up a hand and said, "I'm okay, Nicky," to his 'brother' who was rushing towards him.

"Nicky!" Sam scoffed. "That's not Nick. It's Satan. He is not your brother!" He slapped his chest. "I am your brother. Nick was never a vessel because Nick was the archangel that needed one. Nick was the one that tortured me in the Cage for nearly two centuries, me, Sam, your only real brother." He pointed a shaking finger at Nick and said, "Because he is Lucifer!"

Dean gaped at him, eyes wide and uncomprehending. "Why are you saying this?"

"Because it's true," Sam bellowed. "And if this is my last chance before I wipe your mind and shove you back through that rift, I'm going to say it. 'Nick' is my punishment and Lucifer's reward. Chuck did this to punish me for shooting him in a future that doesn't exist anymore, and he gave Lucifer a second chance as some kind of treat to make up for being the world's worst father."

He cut off panting and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to breathe through the whirlwind of emotion he was feeling.

"Look, Sammy, I get you're angry. I pushed you too hard to heal Nick when he got the Cage back, but I knew you'd be able to handle it better than Nick. I trusted you."

"No!" Sam roared. "It wasn't trust! You didn't care! You were just worried about Nick. You treated me like collateral damage when it came to your little brother's suffering. But he's not!" he fixed his eyes on Nick, who he saw looked miserable and… was it possible… scared? "Everything you did, it was always about him, because until Chuck chewed me up and spat me out, it was always about me. You sold your soul for me, you killed Death for me, Dean. You'd do anything, anything, and damn the consequences, so I know it wasn't about who you trusted, it was about who you loved."

Dean looked between Sam and Nick, eyes wide and jaw tight, and Sam felt his eyes prickling with tears he couldn't hold back. "I don't understand," Dean said roughly. "Why are you saying this?"

Hot tears streamed down Sam's cheeks, and he drew a shuddering breath, but before he could answer, Nick spoke, and what he heard made Sam's breath rush out of him again.

"Because - because it's the truth, Dean. I was –I am – Lucifer."

So… About damn time, right? Man, I've been waiting for this moment as long as the rest of you. I'd written it, but it the impact it had on me as I sat to prep the chapter to post and saw MaggieMay's additions and adjustments was huge.

I hope you like it, too.

Until next time…

Jadey xxx