The sun was just starting to come up and the house was still and quiet. Jamie padded through the living room wearing grey sweats and a black tank top, bare feet moving quickly over cold floor to the kitchen. She started the routine she did every Thursday morning: make Mark and Emma's lunches, make sure their bookbags are packed, get Mark's gym clothes from the laundry room, check Emma's ballet schedule, start the scrambled eggs, get Noah's cereal ready. By the time she had Noah's cereal on the table Mark and Emma would be downstairs, dressed for school, and she would set their eggs in front of them before heading back upstairs to retrieve Noah from his crib.
Today though, today was different. When she returned with Noah on her hip she gasped and nearly fell against the far wall. Gabriel stood in the middle of her living room, Mark and Emma peaked from around the corner in the kitchen. Noah started to cry. "Gabriel?" She gasped, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Hey sis-in-law." He gestured to her. "How's tricks?"
"Mark, Emma, Patience will be here in a minute to take you guys to school." Jamie reappeared around the corner, now dressed in jeans and her black canvas jacket. Her angel blade was prominently strapped to her thigh. Her still dark-dyed hair was tied back in a single braid down her back, stray strains falling in waves around her face. She set the bag she had packed for her kids on the kitchen countertop. Gabriel was sitting at the table, watching Mark and Emma manipulate spoons with Mark's telekinesis.
"He's got good aim for an eight year old." Gabriel remarked to her with a grin.
"Gets it from his mother." Jamie couldn't help but reply. The doorbell rang and Jamie picked up Noah. "I'll be right back." She grabbed the bag and headed to the door.
"I wish you could be here when I got home, Uncle Gabriel." She heard her eldest son say and turned just in time to see Mark embrace the Archangel. Gabriel hesitated and then hugged him back. Emma moved in for a hug as well and Gabriel obliged.
"Maybe I'll be able to see you again. We'll go to the park or something." He looked up and caught Jamie's eye. "Come on, keeping your mom waiting." He shooed them back over to her.
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Jamie walked back over to Gabriel after the kids were gone.
Gabriel shrugged. "Couldn't help it. He's so…innocent." He looked back at her. "Not at all what I expected from Michael's son."
"Yeah he's…he's not much like his father." She admitted. "Noah either."
"They look like him, though. Did you know their wings are both blue, like his? Mark's are kinda green too, like his eyes. Noah's have green tips. Emma though…no wings?"
"She's not Michael's. She's Dean's." Gabriel raised his eyebrows in surprise. "It's a long story. Her mother was an Amazon. And…she…Sam…" Jamie sighed. "I'm her mother, and she's human, but she's Dean biological daughter not mine." She sighed again. "If you weren't planning to use Lucifer to keep the rift open, I'd bring them with. Jack should meet his cousins, and it's been a long time since they've seen Dean and Sam. But…Lucifer has been blind to my sons for years and I intend to keep it that way as long as possible."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Jamie." Gabriel got up and went over to her. "I know you tried to get out. You're still trying. Raising Nephilim can't be easy. Even more so because these are Nephilim growing at human rates…"
"Michael did that. So I'd survive, so they'd be Winchesters and not angels."
"Is he really insane? Like Lucifer claims?"
Jamie looked up. "I…it's partly my fault…his grace protects our sons, shields their existence from the world…though with all the angels mostly dead and hell in chaos now that you killed Asmodeus, that isn't so much a concern. But to answer your question…he's pretty bad. He has moments…Noah's conception…I can sometimes bring him back, but…"
"But he's no use to us." Gabriel finished.
"Letting Michael out of the cage is our absolute last resort, yeah."
"So are you coming with us, Jamie?" Lucifer was still unconscious, bound and powerless. Rowena was busy mixing the spell that would open the rift. Around her Dean, Sam, Gabriel, and Cas were packed and ready to head into the rift for their mother and Jack. "Jamie?" Dean asked again.
She glanced at Rowena and then at the space that would open the rift. A vision played at the edge of her mind, a psychic pull that whispered a warning. "I can't." She finally answered. "I can't go. Michael will know." She turned to her brothers. "I'm sorry. It's too much of a risk. His grace is still inside me, and he knows my powers. The other angels will feel the presence of the Prophetess, we'll never make it."
Dean sighed disappointed. Sam smiled, trying to ease the tension. "Okay. She's right, Dean. She'd lead Michael right for us." He pulled her into a hug. "Help Rowena keep on eye on Lucifer."
"He's awake." Rowena glanced towards Jamie and Sam. Jamie moved slightly away from him. Identical looks of concern graced the twins faces as Jamie crossed her arms in the same pose Sam took.
"Hey Sam. Jamie!" Lucifer keened in pleasure when he saw her. "Oh look all the people I love to torture in the same room." He declared as he looked at Dean and Rowena. "What's the occasion guys?"
Rowena grabbed the bowl from the table and walked over to the Devil, setting the bowl in front of him. "Oh. Okay. I think I see what's going on here." Jamie moved to stand closer to Gabriel, just in case. "You're planning a trip to save Mother Mary and you need my grace. Is that about it?" Rowena smiled, glancing up to signal to Cas.
Cas moved forward, grabbing Lucifer by the hair and tilting his head to expose his neck. "Good guess." He muttered, slitting Lucifer's throat.
Gabriel put his hand on Jamie's shoulder, fingers curling in protection as Lucifer looked towards them, Gabriel specifically. "Okay, you could've done this back at the bar. You could've drained me, killed me, what's this really about?" His gaze shifted to Sam. "Humiliation? Revenge?"
Sam smirked. "Ah those are just bonuses." He rasped, nodding. "See, we got a lot of work to do back in Apocalypse world, but not a whole lot of time to do it. So I realized something, I realized we could use you." He nodded to Rowena.
Rowena and Jamie both stepped forward. Rowena knelt down before the bowl. "Koth Munto Nuntox!" Rowena chanted. She threw her hands out, the smoke of the bowl broke through the dimensions, opening the rift.
"Use you not just to crack the door open, but to keep it open." Sam continued. Jamie handed him his backpack. "So we're going to drain you." Sam took his backpack and clasped his twin sister on the shoulder.
"And keep on draining you." Jamie added going over to Dean.
"Like a stuck pig." Dean wrapped his arm around her neck and kissed her head.
"Grace on tap." Gabriel smirked. "Sorry bro." He shrugged.
"And then, when we get back, we'll kill you." Sam finished.
Lucifer could only let this sink in. "Cool."
Sam glared at him and then turned his attention to Jamie and Rowena. "You gonna be okay back here?"
Rowena nodded. "Aye. Someone needs to keep an eye on the devil." She gestured to Jamie. "And with Jamie here, there shouldn't be anything that gets passed us. Go, save your mum."
Gabriel turned to Sam. "You ready?"
Sam looked at the rift and stepped forward. "Ready." He stepped through. Cas growled, heading through right on Sam's heels. Gabriel followed Cas.
"Dean." Jamie grabbed her brother's arm just as he started for the rift. Dean looked at her and then they both looked at Lucifer. He nodded to his sister and then headed through the rift. Jamie sighed softly. Rowena reached over and squeezed her arm.
"So. What shall we do to pass the time?" Rowena asked.
Jamie glanced over at Lucifer. "If you take first watch," She looked back over at Rowena. "I'll go make food."
"Oh." Lucifer chuckled. "Oh this is great. Little Jamie is gonna go cook. Hey make me a sandwich!" Jamie flicked her middle finger up after her as she headed into the kitchen.
It was quiet, in the kitchen. Too quiet, but she tried not to worry as she gathered odds and ends from the pantry. Dean kept it relatively well stocked, and since Gabriel had moved in she found chocolate was much more in abundance. The clank of pots and pans, the sizzle of the grill, it helped. But she missed her kids. And she missed Michael.
Walking back down the corridor to the library she could hear Lucifer spouting off some stupid song that he had obviously been singing for awhile, if only evident by Rowena with her head in her hand, rubbing her temple. "Jamie's back!" Lucifer piped up, like a three year old waiting for a new playmate.
"Take a break." Was Jamie's reply, directed at Rowena as she handed her a plate.
"Thank you." Rowena, exacerbated grabbed her plate and hurried off into the kitchen.
"Hey Jamie." Lucifer cooed. "Been a long time." Jamie calmly ignored him, starting to eat. "You know I've been wondering how you got out…of that alternative world…and I think I've figured it out." Unwittingly she cast a glance in his direction. "You see, I always thought it was all those years locked in the cage that drove big bro Michael insane, but…it was you, wasn't it? He split his grace for you. I toyed with the idea he might have done that, but I couldn't figure out why. And then you got out and I knew he must have. And then it dawned on me." Though she tried not to show it inwardly Jamie's stomach flopped. Until now, her sons had been hidden from Lucifer's knowledge, but she already knew. "You two have a kid." Purely on instinct she grabbed for the angel blade on her thigh, though it would not kill him. "More than one, I think. I knew you had called Michael from the cage…after you found out Red did it to me. And I thought it, it had been, what? 5 years, almost 6 since you last saw each other. All that built up sexual frustration."
"Stop." Jamie hissed, turning to look at him. "You know nothing! Nothing! About Michael and me, and our family."
Lucifer smirked. "Sure. Okay." He licked his lips. "What are their names? Oh come on, Jamie. They are my nephews afterall." He grinned. "Just tell me their names. You gonna make me guess?" Jamie went back to eating, forcing herself to ignore him. "Let's see. Ahh. John and Bobby right? After your dad and your…fake!dad? No? Okay. Oh don't tell me…Dean and Sam?" He watched her carefully for any reaction. "Not that either, huh? Hmm…did Michael name them? Did he get a say? Did he want to call them like Nathaniel and Zachariah after some of his favorite humans? Or Adam and Seth? He always had a soft spot for Seth. Guess you probably vetoed Adam seeing as how that's your little half-brother you abandoned." Jamie closed her eyes, trying to keep a lid on her anger when he mentioned Adam. Her water glass cracked just a little from the force of the psychic waves that she tried to contain. "But they are biblical names, aren't they Jamie. You being a good Catholic and him being…well Michael himself. Hmm." Lucifer tilted his head. "When your dad abandoned you, what was that Church called? Oh..ohh yeah. Mark." Lucifer let out a wicked smile and Jamie opened her eyes. "That's it, isn't it? Mark. Which makes the other one…Noah? War and Peace."
In a flash Jamie had him by the throat, her blade pressed against his heart. She squeezed his throat and he gagged. "When my brothers get back…they will kill you, and I will enjoy watching them do it." She threw him away from her just as Rowena came scrambling back.
"Jamie! Are you okay?"
Jamie got up and put her blade away. "Yeah. I'll be…" She gestured to the kitchen as she walked passed.
Rowena glared at Lucifer and he shrugged.
She paced back and forth trying to calm down. "Michael!" She hissed, grabbing at where her ring should have been and then remembering. "Damnit!" Tears were threatening. In a last resort she spread her arms and tilted her head back. "Sancte Michael archangele…" Even as the Latin fell from her lips she could feel him. She gasped and the white and blue of Michael's grace was before her, taking his form. "Michael…he knows."
"I know." Michael's ghostly voice whispered. "I'm still strong enough that I can hide them from him. He won't find them, Jamie." She put her hand up to his form, and his form placed his against hers. "I wish I was here with you. I wish I was strong enough for this fight." There was a frustration in his voice that she had not heard before. "I'm afraid, Jamie."
"I'm suppose to say that." She whispered. "Michael. If I let you out…" She started.
"I don't know." He answered her unasked question. "I don't even know if I'd be me."
'JAMIE!"
Jamie gasped, hearing Rowena scream her name. "Lucifer." Michael hissed. "Go!" His form swirled around her and she rushed into the library to find Lucifer . "Throw him!" Michael commanded.
Lucifer looked over, hearing Michael's voice. In the distraction Rowena beat Jamie to the punch. "Defendatur!" She shrieked. Lucifer was thrown back, right into the rift. Jamie gasped, rushing to Rowena's side. They stared at each other and then to the rift. "Bollocks!" Rowena gasped.
"Yeah. Shit." Jamie agreed. She looked over at Michael's form.
"Rowena, you can't just leave." Jamie leaned back in her chair, watching Rowena rush around, packing quickly.
Rowena dropped the book of the damned on the table. "Fine, this isn't how you wanted things to work out. But yes, thanks to me, your brothers will be trapped in some sort of nightmare universe with the Devil himself."
Jamie shook her head. "And you're the only person who might be able to devise a way to keep the door back home open for them."
Rowena looked at her, grabbing her bag and putting it on her arm. "Sorry Jamie. Au revoir, bon voyage, not my problem." Jamie raised an eyebrow watching Rowena begin to walk away, stop and look back at her and then the rift. "Bollocks!" She shouted. She walked back over to the table and opened the books. "Bums. Bollocks." She cursed again and then looked up at Jamie. "Can we use his grace?" She pointed to Michael's form, still present and hovering behind his wife.
Jamie glanced over her shoulder. "Michael?" Michael's form flowed over to the bowl. Jamie got up and followed him. "This will drain you." She whispered. "Maybe too much."
"I can buy your brothers an extra hour at least." Michael told her. "Rowena will do the rest."
"I love you." Jamie whispered.
"I know."
"Koth Munto Nuntox!" Rowena chanted. Michael's form dissolved into grace adding to the bowl. The rift shuddered, but continued to stay open.
Jamie looked back at Rowena.