"I saw it, one of them was about to come through, and then the portal went dark." Sam had been repeating the same line for nearly a month. Nothing had happened yet, but he was convinced that Michael and Lucifer would be back in their world soon.

They'd been on high alert for a while now, but that was nothing new. As the new group of hunters settled in, some of them stayed in the bunker, others leaving to set up in the outside world. Rowena and Charlie took off for a much-needed vacation in the Southwest. A couple of others set off to rebuild the old Harvelle's in honor of Ellen and Jo, who had been killed in a confrontation with the angels. Another group stayed in the bunker, trying to get on their feet and adapt to the new world they were facing.

Grace found Dean in the library, intently reading an ancient tome about archangels. "Hi Mrs. Winchester," he smiled, gesturing for her to sit down. He'd started calling her that as soon as they were married, but Grace still wasn't sure how she felt about it. His mom was a Mrs. Winchester too, after all, but she could understand where the sentiment came from.

Instead of settling down next to him, she perched on the table, reaching for his hand. "Hey, Mr. Winchester. I've got some news for you. Good news."

"I can always do with good news. What's up, Gracie?"

"Well you know how we'd been talking about eventually having -"

She was interrupted by Cas, who seemed to materialize in front of them. "Lucifer's made it through. If he's here, Michael must not be far behind."

Dean nodded, telling him he'd be there in a second. "Can it wait a bit?" he asked Grace, closing his book. "It sounds like the world is ending again."

"Go deal with that. We can talk later. Just… be careful."

Michael's body slamming to the ground shook the entire bunker. Grace had been folding laundry, rushing out of her and Dean's room to see the boys had come back, Michael and Lucifer in tow. Both of the archangels looked severely wounded, low on grace. She stood above them as they talked, hurling hate at each other like they had for ages. "Boys." They all looked up, Cas, Jack, Sam, and Dean training their eyes on her as well. As she came downstairs, they were all transfixed, Sam and Dean most of all, watching in disbelief as she told them, "Whatever fight you're having, you're not having it here."

"Gracie," Dean warned, knowing that either of them could vaporize her in seconds.

"No, Dean." She crossed her arms, coming to stand beside him. "Whatever fight you're having, it's not going to be in my home. Not in front of my family. Now I know you two grew up with a pretty distant dad, but it's polite not to have your family fights in front of other people. We've dealt with this enough. Whatever apocalypse you're going to have today, it's not going to be in my living room."

Sam looked to his brother, wordlessly pleading for him to do something before the angels got fed up and took them all out. "I knew I liked you for a reason," Michael said, still clutching his side, nearly doubled over in pain. "I knew he liked you for a reason. No one stands up to two archangels. No one."

"I just don't need you boys fighting here," she told him matter-of-factly. "I've redecorated and repaired way too much in here. I've been running a field hospital, a command center, and shelter out of this building. I don't need you two tearing it down. Go ahead, have your fight. Get this all over with so we can go on with our lives. But it's not going to be here."

"You're right," Lucifer winced, limping closer to the group. "We shouldn't fight in front of the lady. She's been too good to us, right, Jack? She helped me find you." He reached out, starting to pull grace from his son.

Sam caught Jack before he could fall, the boy nearly crumpling as he lost his grace. "What -"

Lucifer smiled, now back to full power. "Looks like we've got to get going. See ya, bro." He winked at Michael, grabbing his son's arm and disappearing. Sam, who had still been holding Jack up, vanished along with them.

"Sammy!" Dean wheeled around to face Michael, who was still using the wall to prop himself up. "Now that he's juiced up, you've got to fight. This whole damn world is going to come crashing down, because he's hell-bent on revenge."

"He can't," Cas realized. "He can't fight, which is why he didn't smite Lucifer right away. In any universe, Michael would've taken him down on sight. He didn't because he's not powerful enough any more. He's been hurt."

Michael nodded, each breath clearly causing him pain. "We can fix it," Grace thought aloud. "There has to be a spell -"

"There isn't enough time," Michael countered. "Any spell that would help an archangel would draw on the caster's power. Even if you called on that witch demon, it wouldn't be enough. Lucifer isn't just 'juiced up', he's more powerful than normal. His grace - what was left of it - combined with the nephilim's -"

"Use me."

"Dean -"

Dean talked over her, Grace grabbing his arm. "You need your sword. The Sword of Michael, the perfect vessel, what you need to take down Lucifer. You need me. If I help you, will we win?"

"Dean!" Grace stepped between him and the wounded angel. "Can we talk about this? For just a minute?" She turned to Michael, repeating her question. "Can I please talk to my husband about this? We've been avoiding it for so long, we should at least take a second. Alone."

Michael nodded, Cas volunteering to watch him as Grace pulled Dean into a supply closet off of the war room. "Gracie, I have to do this to save Sam, if he's not dead already."

She took his hand, slowly nodding. "I want you to do it."

"What?"

"If you think this is the only way to save Sam, you should become Michael's vessel. This is what we've been running from for so long, but I don't think we can run from it any more. You've been trying to avoid it for so long, but you can't outrun the inevitable end of the story. Chuck wrote this one so long ago. This is how it has to be. But you have to promise me you'll come home. You have this fight, and then it's all over, all of the biblical prophecies are complete, and we can live real lives. I need you to come home." She paused, biting her lip. "That thing I wanted to tell you earlier…" She pulled Dean's hand to her stomach, saying, "We need you to come home."

His eyes grew wide as he realized. There was a reason she'd been eating more, a reason why she hadn't been sleeping as well as she used to. Why she'd been more worried every time he and Sam went out on a hunt. There was a reason for all of the hushed conversations she'd been having with his mother. "How, how long…?"

"They think about a month. I just found out a few days ago, but we hadn't had a quiet moment until this morning."

"Grace." His face said it all. He was beyond petrified, knowing that if he didn't make it home, it wouldn't just be her that he was leaving behind. Not much in their lives was believable, but this didn't even seem real. They'd come a long way from sneaking a few moments together in supply closets. Dean leaned against a steel set of shelves, nearly knocking over their supply of paper towels.

Grace waited, watching him carefully. "What are you thinking?"

"I have no clue how to be a dad," he mumbled, finally meeting her eye.

"Yeah you do." She pulled him up, giving him a hug. "You took care of Sam for all those years. You've bonded pretty well with Jack, despite everything. You're helping take care of some of those hunter kids who are still here. You're going to be a great dad. We just do what we always do. Lots of research."

Kissing the top of her head, Dean promised that he would be back soon. "We're going to end this, for good this time. Then I'm going to start working on that house you've always wanted. We'll have it done by the time the baby's born, and then we'll… we'll have a life."

They walked to the door together, Grace stopping him. "I love you, Dean."

"I love you too. I promise I'll come back. In whatever universe I'm in, whatever - no matter what, Gracie, I'll always come back to you. Time to go kick some archangel ass." He opened the door, the two of them walking out hand-in-hand. "Alright, here's the deal. We take down Lucifer, but I'm driving. I'm in control the whole time."

Two minutes later, they were gone. Dean - now carrying Michael around - had vanished, Michael's old vessel disappearing in a golden light along with him. That left Grace and Cas in the bunker. The other hunters that still lived with them would be in and out, but for the moment, they stood in a heavy silence, praying to anyone who was listening to bring the boys home safely.

"Did you tell him?" Cas asked, following Grace into the kitchen. He had been the first one to know, not by choice. He's known before Grace had, actually. She didn't believe him at first, but he could tell that there was another soul growing inside her. He could sense it. As soon as Grace was sure, she went to Mary, so Mary had known for a little while too.

"Yeah. He took it well, all things considered. When this is over, he wants to stop, to build an actual life for them. Do you want some tea?"

"That would be nice, thank you." Cas grimaced, raising his hands to his temples. "Something's wrong. I can hear it. The angels, they're… afraid. They should be celebrating. Lucifer's dead. No. Michael."

"Cas, what is it?" She rushed over to the angel, Cas nearly doubling over as the voices across the angel network started screaming.

"Michael's got him. We need to get you out of here."

"What? Why?"

"You're not safe here. He knows everything that Dean knows, which means he knows where you are. You and the baby are the perfect things to use against Dean. Michael could lock him away and make him watch as he kills everyone he cares about with his own hands." Cas took her by the arm, guiding her out of the kitchen and towards her room. "There aren't very many of us, but in the condition you're in, you'll be the easiest to go after. We need to get you out of here."

Grace pulled a suitcase from the closet, throwing things in as they talked. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere by car. I'm afraid he'll be able to track us if I teleport you anywhere. I'll find someone to check up on you more often than I can, someone who's only option is to drive so they don't attract much attention, but you're going to need a place to hide. Outside of the bunker, what's the safest place you can think of?"