The Future Part 1

Lebanon, Kansas

Sam was sitting at the map table, which was covered with various symbols that Sam had scrawled with a dry erase marker. Dean and Angela walked into the room, and Dean's eyebrows shot up.

"What's up, Beautiful Mind?" he scoffed.

"Guess I figured we can't exactly track Dagon," Sam started. "So I've been reading up on Nephilim, trying to figure out how much time we have before—

"Lil Lucifer pops?" Dean finished.

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "Okay, so we know Kelly got pregnant sometime in early December. According to the lore, Nephilim don't need nine months to get to full term, so I think she will be giving birth around May 18th. Which means—

"We have less than a month to find her." Angela finished.

"Yeah, and exactly no idea where to start."

"Okay, but even if we do find her, what then?" Dean question.

Sam ran a hand over his face, clearly stressed. "I don't know. I mean, I—I…"

Suddenly, the bunker door opened and Castiel walked in, shocking the three hunters.

"Cas." Sam breathed out.

"Hello," the angel greeted as he walked down the stairs.

"Hey, hon." Angela smiled. "You're all right. Um—Where have you been?"

"Let me rephrase that for Angie," Dean started, clearly angry. "Where the hell have you been? And why have you ignored our phone calls?"

"Where I was, the—the reception was, uh, poor," Castiel answered.

"No bars?" Dean asked in disbelief. "No bars. That's his excuse. Wow."

"I was in Heaven," Castiel admitted. "I was working with the angels. When I saw Dagon had captured Kelly, I-I thought they could help."

"And?" Sam asked.

"Nothing."

"Well, at least you're back. We're glad you're back." Sam replied.

"Really?" Dean scoffed. "No, I'm sorry. Okay, 'cause while you were striking out in Heaven, we had a shot at Dagon, and we lost."

"I know," Castiel replied guiltily. "I received your messages."

"Oh, you did—you did receive the messages? Okay, that's good." Dean replied sarcastically.

Castiel sighed heavily. "Dean—

"So, not only were you ditching us, but you were also ignoring us? That's great. 'Cause we really could've used the backup. But, uh, you were too busy with, um," Dean clicked his tongue. "What was it? Nothing?"

"Dean, I—

"What the hell is wrong with you, man?" Dean demanded. "You know, whatever. That's," he chuckled in disbelief. "Yeah. Welcome back." He scoffed as he walked away angrily.

Sam sighed. "Dean, y—

"Hon, we are glad that you're back," Angela assured Castiel.

~/~\~

Dean was looking at his laptop in his room where he heard a knock on the door. Castiel opened the door after a few moments of silence.

"Sorry, Dean. Um, I just wanted to return this." Castiel set a cassette tape on Dean's desk and started to walk out the door.

"It's a gift," Dean stopped the angel, holding the cassette out to him. "You keep those."

"Oh." Castiel took the cassette tape back.

Dean sat silently for a few moments. "Cas, you can't—With everything that's going on, you can't just go dark like that. We didn't know what happened to you. We were worried. That's not okay."

"Well, I didn't mean to add to your distress," Castiel replied sincerely. "I—Dean, I just keep failing. Again and again. When you were taken, I searched for months and I couldn't find you. And then Kelly escaped on my watch, and I couldn't find her. And I just wanted, I needed to come back here with a win for you. For myself."

"You think you're the only one rolling snake eyes here?" Dean asked. "Me, Angie, and Sam, we had her. We had Kelly and we lost her."

"And if you find her again?"

"Sam and Angie are working on it. Of course, they're hell-bent on finding something that doesn't mean killing her or her kid." Dean replied.

"Right," Castiel nodded. "And if they don't find something? If you run out of time, could any of you kill an innocent?"

"We will find a better way," Dean assured.

"You mean, we?" Castiel gestured to himself and Dean.

"Yes, dumbass. We." Dean replied as he stood up. "You, me, Angie, and Sam, we're just better together. So, now that you're back, let's go, Team Free Will. Let's get it done."

"I'd like that." Castiel nodded.

"Great." Dean pursed his lips. "And I'd like a beer."

~/~\~

Much later that night, Sam and Angela were still in the library researching. Dean approached them and sighed heavily.

"Hey, come on, guys. Get some sleep, all right? You're not gonna find Dagon tonight." Dean said as he sat down.

"Dean, what if we've been going about this whole thing the wrong way, you know?" Sam asked. "I-I mean, we—we can't track Dagon, right? We know that. We've tried. But—but what if we can track the Nephilim?"

Dean cleared his throat and his brows furrowed slightly. "How?"

"Well okay, the baby's half-angel, right? So, remember Gadreel?" Sam asked.

"The psycho angel who took your body for a test drive?" Dean muttered. "Yeah, what about him?"

"All right, well there was this, uh, there was this spell—Cas and I were working on it—to—to find him."

"Yeah, but it didn't work," Angela recalled.

"Yeah." Sam sighed.

"You needed Gadreel's grace, and he couldn't yank enough out of you." Dean reminded.

Sam chuckled to himself as he realized something. "Of course."

"Of course what?" Dean asked.

"Of course, I am an idiot," Sam muttered.

"Well, there's no argument there," Dean replied.

"Dean," Angela chastised.

"No, stop. Dean—the grace extraction. The tracking spell was a bust, right? But, the extraction ritual worked." Sam explained.

"So?" Dean quirked a brow.

"So, what if Cas used it on Kelly's kid? I mean, a-a Nephilim is just a human soul with angelic grace, right?" Sam shrugged. "So, you remove the grace—

"Kid's just a kid." Dean finished.

"Kid's just a kid," Sam repeated. "That way, Kelly wouldn't have to die, and—and neither would her baby."

"Hot damn." Dean smiled.

"Hot damn." Sam nodded.

"You are a genius, baby." Angela took Sam's face in her hand and kissed him.

"I mean, we still obviously have to find Kelly in the first place," Sam added once he broke away from the kiss. "And, it's just a theory, but—

"No, no, no. No. That's—This is it. This is it, Sam." Dean replied. "I'll get Cas."

~/~\~

Dean walked up and knocked on Castiel's door. "Cas? Yo, Cas?"

He frowned and opened the door, then switching on the light. He looked around, only to see that Castiel was gone.

~/~\~

Dean and Angela were packing while Sam paced anxiously, trying to call Castiel.

"This is my voicemail. Make your voice a mail." Castiel's message played.

Sam sighed heavily and shook his head.

"Let me guess—no answer," Dean commented, clearly annoyed.

"I mean, how did Cas even get the Colt out of the safe in the first place?" Sam questioned.

Dean dropped his head guiltily. Sam and Angela just raised their eyebrows.

"Dean, you—you put the Colt back in the safe, right?" Angela asked. "Dean?"

"It was under my pillow," Dean muttered.

"It…" Sam trailed off in disbelief.

"I like to keep it close." Dean sighed. "He came into my room and he played me."

"Yeah, he played all three of us." Angela scoffed.

"Well, I say we find him and we kick his feathered ass."

"Dean, Cas wouldn't have taken the Colt if he wasn't going up against something big." Sam reasoned.

"Okay, I say we find him, figure out what's going on, and then kick his feathered ass," Dean repeated.

A/N: Hey, y'all, I hope you liked this chapter! How are y'all doing in quarantine? Love y'all, xoxo :)

~Emily