Sorry it's taken so long for me to post! Work and life and all that jazz. But here I am and here's chapter 48!

Thanks so much for sticking with me! All of your reviews, favorites, and follows mean so much to me. :)

Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.

Chapter Forty Eight: Chuck

Castiel was seated in the bunker's war room, surrounded by stacks of books as he read through yet another useless tome. Dean was flipping through a book too, supposedly researching, and Sam came in from the kitchen with a bowl of cereal.

"Have either of you even moved since last night?" Sam asked, stirring his Honey Bunches of Oats with a spoon.

"I tried to tell him to go to bed hours ago," Cas answered with a sigh.

"And I told you that I'd help you find Amriel," Dean snapped, rubbing a hand over his eyes and yawning.

"We'll find her, okay?" Sam said as he took a seat and rifled through some of the papers that were on the table.

"You know, we gambled with Amriel, and now Amara has her," Dean said, noticing the way Cas bristled whenever he said her name.

"For a reason," Sam reminded him, "Which means she's still alive."

"I've been with Amara, and her beef is with the big guys like God and Lucifer. The small fries, even an angel like Amriel, doesn't even register on her radar. If it means hurting Lucifer, killing Amriel wouldn't mean a thing to her," Dean sighed.

"I don't think that's the case," Cas finally chimed in, closing the book he was reading. "Amara has some sort of interest in Amriel, but I'm not sure what. When I met her in the woods, she said that meeting her was 'a long time coming.' "

"Wait, what?" Dean asked, turning to face the angel. "You didn't think this was important for us to know?"

"It didn't seem important at the time. We should get Lucifer out of her vessel, then we can worry about Amara's interest in her."

"You guys, it's been a week and we haven't found any sign of them," Sam interrupted, sensing an argument about to happen. "We need to get back to work. We need to keep moving. We'll catch a break on Amriel. We have to."

"The two of you can go. I'll stay here," Cas told them firmly, and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Why? So you can sit in your pajamas and watch Judge Judy all day? Nope. Not gonna happen," Dean shot back, "You either go do something productive or you come with us."

"I don't appreciate being ordered around, Dean," the angel growled, sending the Winchester a glare. "Someone needs to keep looking for Amara. You two can handle a hunt on your own."

It had been weeks since Sam and Dean had left to do some hunting, and Cas had barely heard from them. He had spent every waking moment pouring over books and the Internet, looking for ways to track down Lucifer or Amara. He had even tried spells to find Amriel's grace, but came up empty every time.

He was slowly losing what was left of the small amount of hope he was clinging to. It had been ignited when Amriel had managed to break through Lucifer's control when they had trapped him, but when Crowley told them that she wasn't going to expel the archangel, he had been crushed.

It didn't help that every time Cas closed his eyes he saw her, smiling, laughing, at something he couldn't see. Every time he opened them and she wasn't there, he was devastated.

The angel had even considered going to Heaven and asking for help, but quickly ruled that idea out.

Cas wondered what she was doing, locked away in her own mind. Crowley had said that she was in the bunker, in some bedroom with a television, and he immediately knew that she was in their room.

He was sitting in their real room now, staring at the desk that was covered in post cards she had been organizing. Cas smiled down at the desk, sitting down in the chair and picking a few up, flipping them over and reading the backs. Amriel's handwriting was neat, he mused, comparing it to his own messy script.

Her favorite thing about Austin, Texas had been an art gallery they visited. His was the copious amounts of barbecue. She loved the antique stores in Portland, while he enjoyed the International Rose Garden. Sometimes their favorite things about a place were the same, but usually they differed, and he loved that. Amriel always opened his eyes to the beauty of things he saw as mundane.

As he read through more postcards, he noticed a photo of the two of them that a girl had taken at a diner in Milwaukee. Cas picked up the polaroid and smiled, hoping that he would get to share more of those moments with Amriel.

The door to the bunker opened and Castiel stood up, leaving the bedroom and frowning when he heard not two, but three sets of footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Sam, Dean?" Cas called out. "What's going on? Who's here-"

Castiel fell silent when he saw Chuck standing in the war room with the Winchesters, anger and… something he couldn't quite pinpoint filling him instantly. His hands clenched at his sides, he rushed towards his father, the one who abandoned him and all of Heaven, only to be stopped by Dean.

"Cas, come on. He's here to help with the Darkness. He wants to get Amriel back," Dean told the angel, who was still struggling to get to Chuck.

"You good for nothing, deadbeat, disappearing-" Cas growled, "Where were you! Did you hear my prayers?"

Chuck merely stared back at the angel with a sad look on his face, "I did, Castiel. There's nothing I can do."

"Nothing? Nothing!" Cas yelled, surging forward only to have Sam jump in to restrain him. "You're God! All powerful my ass!"

"Cas, you gotta chill man," Sam tried to calm him down. "Hear him out. He's got a lot to say about Amara."

When Cas finally gave up on trying to physically hurt Chuck, they all sat down and listened to him talk about what a relentless force the Darkness was.

Apparently she was the only reason Chuck even came back from wherever it was he was hiding. He wasn't thrilled to hear that they had no lead on her, especially since she had warded herself against him specifically.

"You know that she's got Lucifer, right, Chuck?" Dean asked, and Chuck nodded, motioning to Cas.

"His prayers were loud and clear," Chuck sighed. "He's taken Amriel's vessel. It's strong, considering everything Amriel put her through."

"Well, the way we heard it, uh," Sam fumbled through the words, "the last time you bottled up the Darkness, it- it took more than just you. I mean, we heard that Lucifer was involved."

"No," Chuck simply said, causing the three of them to tilt their heads in confusion.

"No?" Dean asked.

"Lucifer was possibly my greatest hope and my bitterest disappointment. Do you think if I could have trusted him for a moment, I would have put him in the cage?" Chuck asked before narrowing his gaze at the brothers, "And I wasn't gonna mention this, but thanks a bunch for springing him."

"That wasn't really the plan…" Sam stammered, and Chuck shook his head.

"Now, as bad as he was, he's probably worse after all this time in prison. He could've formed an alliance with Amara by now," Chuck said with a sigh. "I'm not walking into that trap, guys. So, no. Thus spake the Lord."

Dean was up late, sitting at his laptop searching for signs of Amara when he was hit with a vision of her. She told him that she missed him, and that she knew God had surfaced. Amara told him that if they crossed paths, to let him know that Lucifer wasn't doing so hot.

"By choosing to ignore me, my brother is allowing this to happen," Amara had said before she faded away, and in the morning Dean told Sam what he had seen.

"We can't tell Cas," Dean told him once he had recounted seeing Amriel's beaten and tortured body, but Sam shook his head.

"Dean, we have to tell him! Maybe it'll light a fire under his ass," Sam snapped. "He's been on the verge of giving up, you've seen him."

"We're not telling him, and that's final," Dean grumbled as footsteps approached and Cas walked in, Chuck not far behind.

"Hey, morning," Dean greeted the two before doing a double take when he saw Chuck. "Is that my robe?"

"I'm telling you guys, it's a mistake to get mixed up with Lucifer. As much as it pained me, I had to walk away. Too much drama, you know?" Chuck said, his eyes scanning the kitchen before he asked, "Do you have any bacon?"

"You eat bacon?" Dean lit up, a huge smile taking over his face.

"Yeah," Chuck shrugged, and Sam rolled his eyes before his gaze fell onto Cas, who looked completely disheveled.

"Hey, guys, looks like that fog, the Amara fog, hit another town. This one wasn't as lucky as the last one," Sam frowned. "Thousands died… Uh, everyone died, except for one man."

"How'd you miss that one?" Dean asked Chuck, ignoring the way Cas sluggishly moved towards the coffee and poured himself a cup.

"She's baiting me," Chuck explained simply. "I can't respond every time. I won't be manipulated."

"Yeah, but thousands of people are dead!" Dean said, and Chuck merely shrugged, telling them to find her.

Castiel was alone in the bunker with Chuck after Sam and Dean had left to find the next prophet, who was apparently named Donatello. Cas was avoiding Chuck like the plague, holing up in the library and reading through any lore he could find that even mentioned the Darkness.

Chuck was in the war room watching videos on a laptop when Cas finally appeared, in need of more coffee. He wasn't sure if it was helping him focus, but he liked the warm feeling he got when he drank it. It reminded him of cold nights at the Gas N Sip with Amriel when he was human.

Cas hadn't said anything to Chuck since their first interaction, and he was slowly growing more and more frustrated with him as time went on. They were no closer to saving Amriel or getting Lucifer and Amara under control, and Chuck hadn't done a single thing to help.

The angel retrieved a mug of coffee from the kitchen and was on his way back to the library when he passed Chuck again, and this time he couldn't stop himself from saying something.

"What are you even doing here if you're not going to help?"

Chuck looked up from the computer, his gaze softening slightly at the sight of the trench coat clad angel.

"I'm more than willing to help, Castiel, just not in the way you and the Winchesters want me to," he finally answered. "I know that you and Amriel shared your grace. I felt the moment it happened-"

"You don't get to say her name!" Cas growled, cutting Chuck off. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't disappeared!"

"If I had stuck around, the angels wouldn't have fallen and you wouldn't have found Amriel," Chuck explained in a calm voice, like he was stating the obvious. "You would've continued frolicking here on Earth with the Winchesters and she would have stayed in Heaven, watching over all of her charges. What happened wasn't ideal, but it brought you two together."

"How are you going to help me save her?" the angel asked, staring at Chuck expectantly.

"I… I don't know if I can," Chuck answered solemnly. "If Lucifer has as tight a hold as you've been saying he does, and Amara has Lucifer… It doesn't seem likely we'll be able to do anything to help Amriel."

The next sound that filled the bunker was Castiel's coffee mug shattering against the wall after he threw it with every ounce of strength he had. Chuck didn't even flinch as he watched one of his most cherished creations unravel before his very eyes, and he couldn't help but feel like it was partly his fault.

"You helped her before! You helped her when she overdosed on those pills!" Cas shouted, his voice cracking as he continued. "You told her that she would never be alone! Well guess what, Chuck, she's alone now, trapped inside her own mind as Lucifer controls her vessel!"

Chuck continued to stare up at Cas, who was shaking with anger by now, his entire being humming with rage. The lights in the bunker began to flicker, and the shadow of wings flashed in the light.

"You're pathetic," Castiel grumbled. "A coward, too afraid to face his own sister and own up to his mistakes! I'm going to get Amriel back, with or without your help!"

Sam and Dean returned to the bunker to find Cas and Chuck staring at one another in complete silence. They had the prophet with them, but the brothers were more interested in what was going on between God and the angel than introducing Donatello.

"Hey you two," Dean started casually, "What's- uh, what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on, and that's the problem," Cas answered. "Chuck refuses to help save Amriel, and I'm going to do it with or without his help."

Castiel stormed off, his trench coat billowing behind him as we walked, and Dean turned to look at Chuck, who merely shrugged.

"Seriously? You're throwing in the towel?" Dean asked, and Chuck shook his head as he sighed.

"No, I'm not. I just can't help Castiel the way he wants me to. I can't just snap my fingers and expel Lucifer from Amriel," Chuck explained, "He's acting like a child."

"Well, he's technically your child," Dean reminded him. "He's been out of sorts with this whole Lucifer possessing Amriel thing, so cut him some slack."

"Dean, you realize that Amriel might not be the same after expelling Lucifer, right?" Chuck finally said, expelling a breath he had been holding in. "If he's been possessing her vessel for this long, there might not be much left when he finally leaves it."

"That's a chance we're going to have to take. I think Cas would rather have some version of Amriel than none at all," Dean told him with finality in his voice, letting him know that this wasn't up for debate.

They were going to get her back, no matter what.