Thank you MaggieMay19 for beta'ing. Thank you all for reading. Sorry for the late update. I went away for the weekend as it was my birthday, and I forgot to prepare a chapter to post from my tablet.

Chapter Sixteen

Dean stirred, and his eyes opened blearily. His mind was clouded at first, drowsy, and then the memories of what had passed rushed through his mind, and he jerked upright, his eyes roving the room.

"Nicky!"

"He's in the shower," Castiel said calmly from the doorway. "Your mother is awake, too. She's making sandwiches with Jack. I think he sent you deeper as we couldn't wake you."

"Lucifer, you mean?"

"Yes," Castiel said, though there was something off in his tone.

"Did he heal Nick?"

Castiel nodded. "He even managed to replenish the blood loss. I couldn't have done that even if it was an ordinary injury. He's completely healed now."

Dean didn't know why Lucifer had done it, but when he probed at the question, his mind shied away from it and returned to his brother. He needed to see him, to be sure he was okay, and then he could deal with whatever they had to do next.

Lucifer didn't matter. Nick did.

He swung his legs around and got to his feet, feeling strangely energized after the enforced sleep. He walked from the room and made his way to the bathroom where he could hear movement. He pushed open the door and saw Nick rubbing his short hair dry with a towel.

He caught sight of Dean in the mirror and turned with a small smile. "About time you woke up."

Dean crossed the room in long strides and threw his arms around his brother. He clung to him for a moment and then held him at arm's length and shook him roughly.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked. "You could have been killed. You didn't learn what Lucifer was capable of last time he had you?"

Nick ducked his head. "I know. I couldn't not do it, though. I can't explain it, but I needed to be there. I had to hear what they were saying. It seemed to matter more than anything."

"It was damn stupid! You risked your life for curiosity. You would have died if Cas hadn't been able to heal your liver. It would have ended there. And then…" He leaned on Nick's shoulders to steady himself. "What am I supposed to do if you die?"

Nick's face fell, and his eyes became full of misery. "You do what you have to do to keep going. You let me go and keep fighting."

Dean snorted. "Like you would if it was me? You and I both know you wouldn't. It's not what we do, Nicky. It's not what we've ever done. We fight for each other."

"Not always," Nick said, his voice steeped in misery. "And even when we do, it doesn't always work out."

Dean closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. He knew what Nick was talking about. When he'd been in Hell after his deal, Nick had spent months fighting to get him back, and when that failed, he'd spent weeks falling into a hole of revenge and bad choices. And when Dean had been in Purgatory, he'd stopped fighting completely. Nick had hidden away in some strange half-life with a dog and a job in a Texas motel. Dean had blamed him for that at first, hating that Nick had given up on him and not tried to find him, but he'd stowed that anger a long time ago and accepted that maybe that was just one time too many for Nick to keep fighting. It had just been too hard for him.

He opened his eyes and locked his gaze on Nick. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"I'll do my best," Nick said with a small and forced smile.

"No, you've got to do better than your best. You don't put yourself in that kind of danger again. We can't rely on Lucifer going for the hurt and not the kill again."

Nick's eyes moved to the floor, and he muttered. "It wasn't Lucifer that stabbed me. It was Michael."

Dean's mind spun with incomprehension. "Michael?"

"Yes. He said he owed me."

"What the hell does he owe you for? You've never done anything to him personally."

"I don't know…" Nick shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I guess. I'm okay now." Though his words were reassuring, he looked troubled, and he stared.

"Mom's making sandwiches," Dean offered as a way to break the uncomfortable moment. "And we all need to talk."

Nick nodded and rubbed his stomach. "Yeah, I could eat."

He didn't say anything about talking, which was odd, but Dean pushed it aside as Nick was dealing with the shock of everything that had happened. He'd not only been stabbed, but he'd also been healed by the archangel he hated more than any living being, too. Even seeing him was rough on Nick, so feeling some kind of debt to him would be even worse. Dean felt the same. He hated Lucifer for what he'd done to Nick in the past, and no amount of healing was going to make a dent in that.

They did need to discuss what they'd seen and heard, though. Michael had said more than enough to Lucifer to leave them with questions that needed answering.

Nick tossed the wet towel into the laundry hamper, and they walked to the kitchen together. Mary was putting sandwiches on a platter, and Jack was setting mugs and the pot of coffee in the middle of the table while Castiel stood watching them with a furrowed brow and thoughtful eyes.

"Coffee's great, Jack, but I need a beer," Dean said.

Nick skirted the table and took a six-pack from the fridge and pulled out a bottle to hand to Dean. Dean twisted off the cap and took a seat at the table, Nick sitting beside him, as Mary set down the platter and took a beer for herself.

Jack and Castiel joined them, and Mary said, "Eat first. Talk after."

Dean grabbed a sandwich and took a bite. It was peanut butter and jelly, a staple of his childhood, and it made him smile that Mary had shunned the cold cuts and cheeses Nick insisted on stocking for his sandwiches in favor of a memory.

As they ate, Castiel stared down at his steepled fingers, seemingly lost in his own world. Dean interspersed bites of his sandwich with swigs of beer, feeling his stomach welcome the food with relief. It had been hours since breakfast, and lunch had been skipped on account of Michael's arrival.

The fear he'd felt when Michael arrived, the horror of seeing that awareness in that woman's eyes, had become panic when he'd grabbed Jack around the throat and started choking him.

Michael had made no requests at first, just seeming to be enjoying hurting Jack, but when he'd offered his deal with Dean, Jack's life for a vessel, it had been chilling.

He'd known he couldn't say yes, it would give Michael even more power than he had in that secondary vessel, but the temptation had been real. He couldn't swear that he wouldn't have broken if Lucifer hadn't arrived when he did and taken Michael's attention from Jack.

Seeing someone he cared about in pain and at risk wasn't something he'd ever get used to, and the need to protect was always so strong.

When Jack had eaten the last of the sandwiches and Mary was cupping a coffee in her hands, her beer drained, Castiel spoke up, and the tension in the room heightened.

"We need to talk about Lucifer."

Nick flinched slightly, an unexpected reaction as he wasn't usually so sensitive to the name compared to the angel himself.

"We do," Dean agreed. "Okay. Lucifer…"

"He saved me," Jack said. "And he healed Nick. Why did he do that?"

Dean glanced at Nick, expecting him to launch into a tirade about Lucifer playing a game with them, but he bit his lip and stayed silent.

"Honestly, I don't know," Dean said. "Maybe he was more interested in fighting Michael than saving you when he arrived, but why he'd come back to help Nick… I haven't a clue."

"Do you still think it's a trick, Nick?" Mary asked.

Nick stared down at the bottle clutched in his hands, and then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

"I don't," Castiel said. "I don't think it was ever a trick. I believe something far more confusing and unexpected is happening. Some of the things Michael said, added to what Lucifer did, make me wonder if he's even the same man."

"Who else would he be?" Dean asked.

"Sam," Castiel answered.

There was silence for a moment as they all absorbed what he'd said, and then Jack asked, "Sam's his vessel, right?"

"Yes. He was the man Lucifer took shortly after being freed from the Cage. He left him when Nick gave consent, but Crowley took the body and had him healed and perfected as a vessel again. I am not sure what his intent was at the time, though, as he least of almost anyone wanted Lucifer to come back and usurp his place as King."

"Perhaps he thought it would be useful for a demon," Mary suggested. "It would be a strong meatsuit if it was strong enough to hold an archangel."

"Not so much," Dean said, remembering how Lucifer had been rotting the vessel from the outside in, even with the demon blood he was chugging.

"The why doesn't matter," Nick said. "It's what's going on now that does. Cas, Sam was just a man; Lucifer is an archangel. There's no way he'd be able to do the things we've seen Lucifer doing lately."

"But Michael called him Sam," Mary said thoughtfully.

"He did," Castiel agreed.

"And if he was Sam, not Lucifer, it would explain what he's been doing," Mary went on. "He opened heaven, saved Jack, and healed Nick. He even healed Jack when he was taking his grace, leaving enough so that it could replenish on its own instead of taking it all. And after he did that…" She stared at Nick. "He told you to take it back. He was so confused, and he didn't attack when Castiel stabbed him."

Castiel caught Dean's eye and said carefully, "He didn't kill me in Heaven either."

He hadn't, Dean remembered, but he had said Bobby belonged to him. Sam had never even met Bobby. Obviously, it was impossible, but perhaps the shock of suddenly finding himself as an archangel had screwed with his thoughts and memories. Maybe believing he had some connection to them, the good guys, was what he needed to deal with the things Lucifer had done with him as a vessel. Nick remembered everything Lucifer had done when he was the vessel. Perhaps Sam remembered, too.

"Michael asked Lucifer if he had 'his' memories," Jack said. "That makes it sound like it wasn't really Lucifer anymore. And he talked about being with his family. And how the power was new." He sucked in a breath. "If it's not Lucifer, and he's trying to help…"

"We can use him," Castiel said, nodding.

Nick's gaze snapped to the angel. "Use him for what?"

Castiel looked confused by the question. "To fight Michael, of course. He has an archangel's power, at least a portion of it which will grow in time."

Nick looked almost sick. Dean guessed he was thinking of what prolonged contact with Lucifer—or Sam—would be like. He would see the man that had tortured him, beaten him down within himself, whose hallucinations had almost killed him. That would be a new kind of hell for him, and Dean didn't want him to suffer it, but he thought it might be the best plan.

They could leave Sam to hunt and find Michael alone, hope that he did manage it, or they could team with him and help him succeed. They had assets: Rowena, who had weakened Lucifer with magic, whatever tools Ketch could find them to use. They had Nick, a damn genius who could probably find a way to track the archangel. They had Castiel, who was an angel.

"What do you think, Nicky?" he asked.

Nick swallowed hard and answered quietly. "He said he'd rather die than kill you, Dean. I heard him when I was listening. He said a lot, other stuff that didn't make sense..." He bit his lip. "He also said he had a plan to send Michael back to his own world. He didn't want to kill him, but he was destined to do it if anyone could."

"Why wouldn't Sam want to kill him?" Jack asked. "He's seen what Michael is capable of in the other world if he was watching with Lucifer, and he's helped us."

"Lucifer probably wouldn't want to," Nick said. "He didn't in our world. And he made a deal with him in that other world. Sam would want to… I think that part was the trick. If this is Sam running the switches now, he's had a long time to get used to the way Lucifer works. That's why I thought Lucifer was tricking us with what he was doing. It's what he does. But Sam could be doing the same."

"Is there any way to know for sure, Castiel?" Mary asked. "Can you sense who is in control?"

"No, the grace I have seen in action is Lucifer's, and it's his true face I see, but if Sam has Lucifer's grace, that is what I would see. I don't know how we can find out for certain."

Dean stared down at the tabletop, thinking hard, and then he looked up and said, "We can ask."

"You want to summon Lucifer here?" Nick asked, his eyes wide.

"I don't want him here until we're sure," Dean said. "Not even then, really, but I think we'll have to. But we're not going to get an honest answer if it is still Lucifer in charge. We have to ask the one that did it to him. We have to ask Chuck."

"You really think he'll show up?" Nick asked. "It wouldn't be the first time we've tried."

"It's our best chance," Dean said. "If we knew for sure either way, we could work out a plan. Hell, he might decide to stick around and deal with Michael while he's here."

"Do you think he would?" Jack asked hopefully.

"No," Nick said darkly. "He won't kill his own sons, no matter how much they deserved it."

"But he'd let us kill him?"

Nick shrugged. "I figure we go with hope and leave it there. He's probably not going to show anyway."

Dean cracked his knuckles and said, "Prepare to meet your grandfather, Jack."

He bowed his head, feeling stupid but thinking the gesture might amuse Chuck enough that he'd show, and said, "Chuck, we need you. I'm not sure what you've been doing, what you've got going on, but I think you can help us out a lot by filling us in." He raised his eyes hopefully and said, "Uh… Amen?"

There was no new presence in the room, no familiar voice that had once been an alcoholic writer that chronicled their lives and then became the most powerful being they'd ever allied with, and Dean felt disheartened and helpless. Then Nick gasped, and a different but still familiar voice spoke, "Dean…"

Dean's head snapped to the right so fast he felt a jolt of pain that he disregarded at once as he saw the woman, or being, standing in the doorway. "Amara!"

He started walking towards her automatically, the draw to her as strong as ever, and then Nick grabbed his arm, and he stopped.

Amara fixed her eyes on Nick and then looked mildly amused. "Hello, Nick."

"I take it Chuck's not coming," Nick said.

"No," she replied. "He's otherwise engaged. But I didn't want to leave your prayer unanswered." She fixed her disconcertingly intense eyes on Dean and said. "What do you need?"

"Uh, information," Dean said. "Do you know what Chuck's been up to?"

"I know it all," she said, her eyes falling on Nick and then moving back to Dean. "I don't agree with it, but I won't interfere with his plan. There are only two possible outcomes, anyway."

"Will you tell us what's going on?" Nick asked.

She frowned. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes," Nick said emphatically.

She smiled but didn't speak.

"Look, we've got a theory about Lucifer that we could use confirmation on," Dean said. "We think Chuck swapped Lucifer with his vessel, Sam."

Amara looked quizzical. "You think Sam is Lucifer now?"

"He's not?" Castiel asked, obviously disappointed.

"No, he definitely is," Amara said. "I just thought you would have stronger feelings about it. Especially you, Dean."

"Why him?" Mary asked. "It's Nick that's got the biggest history with Lucifer."

Amara closed her eyes, and a smile flickered on her face. "I see. That is strong. Well, yes, I don't think he would mind me telling you this much as it doesn't change the overall plan. Sam is now Lucifer. It was done as a punishment. Sam is a truly different being now."

"Can we trust him?" Mary asked.

Amara considered the question a long time before answering. "If I were you, I would trust him. He always acted for the good of the world, at least he thought he did."

"The good of the world? He gave consent to Lucifer!" Nick said stridently.

Amara fixed her eyes on him and said, "So did you. Your reasons were the same."

"What does that mean?" Nick asked.

Amara turned away from him as if he hadn't spoken at all and looked at Dean again. "You can trust Sam, you should trust him even, but you should be wary of others." Her eyes flickered from face to face and settled on Nick. "You don't know everything."

"I know I don't," Nick snapped. "But I know enough."

Dean didn't think she'd been speaking to Nick. He had a feeling the words had been directed to him. Was she perhaps thinking of the difficulty Nick would have being around Lucifer's vessel and how it would make him react?

Dean was concerned about it. He wasn't sure if Nick would be able to face his personal demons, seeing Lucifer's face, and still keep his head in the game for the fight.

However Amara said they could trust Sam, and he was their best weapon until Jack's grace came back—maybe even after then. If Sam was destined to kill Michael, they were better off relying on him. There was Sam's other idea of sending Michael back to his own world, but that would put more people in danger: Bobby's people.

Dean didn't want that. He wanted them protected and Michael dead.

"I wish you luck," Amara said serenely and then disappeared.

"So, Lucifer is gone," Jack said thoughtfully after a long period of silence. "That's good."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "It's awesome. Now we've got to have his vessel hanging around."

Mary reached across the table and patted his hand. "He won't be here for long, and not until we need him. We'll get the rest of the preparations in place first. Call Rowena back, have her gather whatever magic she needs. We won't have him near you a moment longer than he needs to be."

Nick nodded curtly and got to his feet. "I'm going to do some reading, too. There might be lore in the books that will help."

Dean knew Nick wasn't thinking of lore at all. There was none to be found that they hadn't read before or learned from Castiel or in the years dealing with them. Nick wanted space.

Dean understood. Having Sam around was going to be tough on Nick. It was going to be tough on him, too. It was that face he imagined when he dreamed of what Nick might have gone through in the Cage. But it was what they had to do.

To stack the odds in their favor, they had to work with the devil's own vessel.

So… Things just got a little easier. They know Sam isn't Lucifer, which means we can have some more face-to-face time, and things will be a little less hostile.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx