Hex Bags

"Cas, come back! Come back to us!"

"Help me..."

Sam shot up from his bed, tipping off the edge and spilling onto the floor in a heap of blankets and pillows. His skin burned with the painful phantom licks of demonic fire.

"It's okay," Sam consoled himself. He hugged one of the pillows tossed around him and buried his face into it.

He'd been having nightmares since moving into the new house. They were old memories, ones of the demon who had possessed Cas. The dreams were never the same. Some nights, like tonight, he dreamed of Cas struggling to break free. Other nights, Sam dreamed of waking up alone in a hospital with his family's ghosts around him.

Everyone was still suffering from that night. What was happening to Sam wasn't something new. The angels, Dean, Bobby, Kevin, and Charlie still dreamed of that night too.

The only difference between them and Sam was that they felt safe in their new home. Sam didn't. Devil traps and spells enchanted the very walls of the house but to Sam they weren't enough. Crowley's demon got past them before so who's to say he couldn't do it again?

A burnt pile of hex bags flashed through the hunter's memory.

Where the bags came from was still a mystery. Sam and the others had their theories. Crowley was responsible for the attack that night. Dean and the others were sure that he was, in no doubt, responsible for the hex bags too.

They tried to ask Crowley about the fire just to be sure. The only problem was that Crowley wouldn't talk. He'd go silent at the very mention of the fire. Sam and Dean tried to push him once into telling them and ended up getting kicked out of the bunker by a protective Kali and Benny.

"He's done shit in the past to hurt you sure," Benny hissed. "But look at him! He's just like one of your angels now. Leave him be."

Benny wasn't wrong. Sam and Dean had helped and fallen in love with plenty of angels they had once hated and almost lost their lives to. Crowley and Abaddon were the same. Sam had faith that Crowley would eventually talk about the fire in his own time.

Still, Sam feared the worst. What if they were wrong and it wasn't Crowley who planted the hex bags? What if the monster who did was still out there?

Memories of screaming and hot fires flashed from the back of Sam's mind.

Sam squeezed his pillow tighter.

There was no way in hell he was going through that again.

Slowly, Sam peeled himself off his bedroom floor. He staggered to his feet and slipped out into the hall.

The angels were sleeping soundly in their bed when Sam made it to their room. Gabriel had his wings wrapped around his baby brothers and Custos. The golden wings glinted softly in the dark, marking Sam's way as he trudged through the darkness of their bedroom.

Careful not to wake them, Sam slipped under the covers and curled close to his angels and hellhound puppy.

Balthazar's eyes popped open when the bed dipped. He glanced around himself before squinting Sam's way. The angel gave Sam a tired look.

"Sam?"

"Sorry," Sam whispered. "I couldn't sleep."

Thankfully, Balthazar didn't ask anything more. Instead, he plopped back down against his pillow and let his eyes flutter shut.

Sam followed Balthazar's example and got himself comfortable on the small bed. Custos moved in his sleep and crawled up onto Sam's chest. Sam chuckled and patted the puppy's head.

Sleep started to tug at Sam after a while. The soft snores around him were almost acting as a strange lullaby for the hunter. Still, Sam couldn't keep his thoughts off the hex bags.

"I'll call Benny tomorrow," Sam promised himself. "I'll talk to Crowley and we'll work this out."

The self-reassurance helped ease his mind at least a little and Sam felt himself slowly began to drift away. He forced himself to focus on the warm weight on his chest and the tickle of soft feathers at his side.

"They're with me," Sam whispered to himself. "I'm not alone."

He repeated the words a few more times until they slurred together and eventually became soft snores.

"No, Sam, you're not alone," a soft voice whispered through the darkness.

God sat at the end of the bed, invisible to prying eyes.

Usually, God tried to stay away and not meddle in the affairs of his children. There were times, however, where he couldn't help himself.

This was one of those times.

"It's okay, Sam," God reassured the sleeping hunter. "Times of fire are done for you and your family." A sad smile graced his lips. "I'm afraid that doesn't mean your hardships are over, though."

God eased himself from the bed and placed a hand on one of the bedroom walls. He closed his eyes and muttered a spell. Golden light flowed from his body and a protective spell flowed throughout the house.

"Demons like Crowley will never destroy your home again," God promised to his sleeping children. "Now the rest is up to you."

God clicked his fingers then. The air around him rippled and in a blink of an eye, he was in Joshua's garden.

Joshua was where God had left him. The angel was tending to a bush of roses and singing an old song under his breath. God listened to the song, letting it wash over him as he settled down in the grass of the garden.

"You realize putting a spell on the house won't make them feel any different?" Joshua commented suddenly, his song halting.

"Yes, but it makes me feel better."

Joshua smirked at his father and carried on with his song. It carried through the garden, lulling the animals living there along with the almighty god to sleep.

You all thought I forgot about this little plot hole with the hex bags, didn't you? Well, I did but I'm bringing it back now so that's what counts, right? I need to start leaving sticky notes for myself XP