And back after taking a bit of a break to write the latest chapter of Answering Prayers. Short though it is, it took a long time to write.

Episode Eighteen – The Monster at the End of This Book

Another Sunday meant another day of church. Horrible, glaring Father Maloney staring at him the entire time, while another lesser priest did the sermon under watchful eyes.

Ella wasn't too happy with that, but neither was he, especially when Maloney cornered them on the way back to his place to yell at him for corrupting one of his human flock.

"What are you even doing entering a church?! You are banned."

He grinned. "You can't ban me from entering my own dad's house, father. It doesn't work that way, and since he isn't putting up half as much of a fuss over it as you are, perhaps you should take that as a hint."

That got the priest to back off and leave them alone.

He did not flee back to his car, no matter what Ella believed.

It was going to be another night with just the two of them, as Charlotte didn't know what time the church sermon would end and she still had no interest in going regularly herself. Apparently it was one of the things she tried and it just wasn't for her.

He understood that perfectly.

Dan had told her to tell him that he was only going to do Saturdays until he had caught up. That was fine, Saturdays were his and Charlotte's night of doing things together. If they wanted to spend the first part of the night watching a television show about angels and devils and ghosts, so be it. It was a good time for him, maybe it was also a good time for them.

Dan had at least enjoyed it last night. That was oddly surprising.

Now Ella was sitting in her seat, grinning widely at the episode title. "The Monster at the End of this Book. Does that have a meaning?"

Ella nodded her head. "It's a kids book. And it is pretty aptly named. Basically the monster telling the story ended up being the monster in the book, so he no longer had to be scared about there being a monster at the end of the book, because he's a good monster."

He grinned. "Hah, sounds sweet."

"It is."

He pushed play and let it start, interested in why this had that title.

He paused it after the book title Supernatural splash screen to grin widely. "Oh, holy shit, this is amazing! How meta does this show get? There is a book series about their lives that is actually accurate right down to cases they worked. Hah, wow the title is scarily accurate then."

Ella grinned widely. "I love when this show gets meta like this. There's another thing this show does. Major spoilers. Meta shit."

He grinned. "You once said they go to a Supernatural convention, didn't you? I have to see that."

"Season 5, dude, season 5."

"Ooh, so close!"

"Yep, 4 episodes after this one."

He pushed play without saying another word. He had the feeling he may not be pausing this one a lot.

He was wrong. As soon as Dean learned what a slash fan of Wincest was, the whole thing got too hilarious for both of them. He pushed pause so they could laugh long and hard over that one. "Oh, wow, wait. Does this mean Sam and Dean read fan fiction about themselves? Is there fan fiction of them reading fan fiction of themselves? This is so insane an idea and it actually works. How does his work? This breaks the fourth wall in so many ways. How come it actually stays in sync and not fall off the rails?"

"Supernatural, Lucifer. A show that can get so ridiculous it can put its own characters as fans of the characters and get away with it with a clean bill of health and have it make sense."

He laughed and shook his head. "I think I kind of love that, a tiny bit."

Ella nodded excitedly at his side. "Oh yeah, totally. The 200th episode is a school musical, remember?"

He laughed at that one, because yeah, she had mentioned that.

He pushed play again, suddenly needing to know where this will go. Who was this Carver Edlund and... "Wait. Carver Edlund, isn't that the last names of..."

"Yep!"

He grinned widely. "Fourth wall, gone."

"And still working. Shut up now and push play."

He did as he was told and pushed play.

He stopped it again when Chuck Shurley, who was going by the pen name Carver Edlund called himself a cold, cold, capricious God. He glared. "Ugh."

Ella smacked him. He glared at her in return. "I just had to sit through Church. At least this admits dad to being cold and capricious."

"He also called himself a god. Small g. Pagans exist in this world, remember?"

He blinked. "Huh, okay, point."

He pushed pay again to see where this was going.

He snorted and chuckled at Chucks "Horror's one thing, but to live through bad writing..." But that was okay, as Ella giggled right along with him. At least most of the time they found the same kinds of things funny.

They both laughed again at Dean's "I'm sitting in a laundromat reading about myself sitting in a laundromat reading about myself."

He shook his head and pushed pause. "This... this is the most entertaining this show has been outside the Trickster. And I am stuck on how well it works. I think I am more stuck on that than Sam and Dean are. Is feeling like this normal?"

Ella shrugged her shoulders. "I just enjoyed the ride as it happened. And it is definitely a fun ride."

He grinned. "Oh, it's definitely that alright."

He pushed play again, eager to see what happens next.

He stopped it again after Sam said the guy's good after Chuck wrote that Sam thought Dean was a dick. "Okay. I think I have a new favourite episode. Goodbye Mystery Spot, hello There is a Monster at the End of this Book."

Ella pouted. "You haven't seen my favourite episode yet. It's in season 11."

He choked. "Wow, that's a long way away!"

She nodded. "Yep, my second favourite episode is in season 13."

He stared. "And that is even further away. I'll just enjoy this episode and get there when I get there."

Ella nodded wisely at him, before turning back to stare at the paused screen.

He pushed play, because this was seriously fun and he is so glad the show went back to being fun.

And once the dream sequence Chuck had played out and he wrote it and he talked about flow he closed his eyes sank into his sofa and groaned. "Oh, great. He's a prophet. That poor, poor man."

Ella hummed in agreement. "Prophets seem to really have it hard."

He nodded. "Oh yeah, they all end up total messes."

Ella giggled at that one. He glared at her, before turning back to the screen and pushing play. He wasn't actually angry with her, and he was pretty sure she knew that was in jest.

She hit his shoulder in response with a grin. He smiled back. Yeah, she knew.

He paused it at Dean telling Sam not to research and to watch porn instead before leaving to go park Baby. He frowned. "He.. he does realise that he can't stop anything, right?"

Ella giggled again. "They'll try, especially Dean. Sam's just kind of pissed he got dumped off with nothing to occupy him but the sounds of couples hooking up in the hooker hotel as Dean so nicely calls it."

"To watch porn, because he's not going to have wild passionate sex with either Dean or Lilith. Sorry, but wild, passionate demon sex with Lilith is the last thing Sam would do, so, I am guessing that is a trap to get Lilith, more than to actually have sex with her, even if actual sex does happen."

Ella blinked. "You're scary good at this sometimes. Not that it's that hard to figure out, but stop spoiling yourself, dude."

He grinned. "But I enjoy talking it though first. It helps me think and sit through it better. I'm not exactly the best at staying still for long periods of time."

Ella snorted and let out a laugh at that. "Yeah, I noticed. Now come on, turn it back on."

He pushed play and sat back, intent on not seeing some hot demon sex with Sam and Lilith.

He snorted, before laughing. Pausing it just to get it out of his system. "Hah! Oh, poor Chuck. The first angel he meets and it's Cassie. Who basically sends him into an anxiety attack. Well done brother!"

Ella grinned at him. "Hey, you said brother instead of sister."

He frowned at her. "Well, yeah, pronouns. I told you I'd get them right from the first episode."

"No no, I mean, you missed out on the fictional part of it. You usually say fictional brother or sister."

He frowned. "In this case, gender is completely different, he's not my fictional brother, because he'd have to be my fictional sister for it to work that way, or else it just gets convoluted and confusing."

Ella hummed at him and nodded her head. "Point."

He nodded once back, returned his gaze to the television and pushed play.

He paused it when Dean told Castiel that he hadn't asked for a damn thing to growl. He almost threw the remote at the screen. "That bastard! Don't you talk to my fake brother like that! You don't ask, no, you demand. Everything. Every single time he shows up! You're even demanding now. Arrrrgh, I don't like Dean. And now he's picking on my little bro."

Ella patted his shoulder. "He treats Cass bad. I get it."

He pointed. "That isn't bad, that is sacrilegious. Dean should be thankful Cassie even took on the role as the Winchester's Guardian, but no. Castiel is there just to act as another person to do his every bidding."

Ella blinked. "Okay, you're going to love Rachel in season six. She feels the exact same way. Oh, she also tells that basically to Dean's face."

He grinned. "Yep, she is my favourite. Besides Cassie, who I actually am really enjoying."

Ella nodded. And fell silent, waiting for him to start up the program again. He pushed play just to get out of the sudden awkward silence.

He didn't pause it again for the rest of the episode. Not when Sam tried to kill Lilith with the demon killing knife. Not even when Dean got all annoying and demanding of Chuck and his archangel passenger. He was tempted a couple of time, obviously but refrained so he could just watch.

It turns out that the episode landed on poor Chuck getting himself a downer ending. Figures.

"You said it several times and now I will. Poor Chuck."

He nodded. "Yup. On the other hand, Zachariah's threat about bringing him back was meaningless, but Chuck didn't know that. When one prophet dies, another takes their spot. His time would be up.. Bringing him back would do nothing but bring him back, and he'd be useless from that point on. No more visions. On the other hand, he'd at least get decent sleep."

Ella sighed. "Zachariah is such a damned dick."

Lucifer laughed at that. "I guess my fictional brother is a major dick, isn't he? Yeah, I don't like him."

Ella nodded and got up. "Well, I'm going home. I have a book with my name on it to read and a bottle of cheap wine to get through. Night."

He waved from his seat. "Night."

He didn't bother watching as she got in the lift and out of his flat. He was too busy thinking about where the show was going to go. He had the feeling he was soon to get out of his fictional box in Hell and rise up to Earth to wreak havoc.

He was really not looking forward to that happening, at all.