Dean walked into the kitchen and found Sam sitting at the table. He went to the fridge and pulled two beers from it before walking over to the table. He put one beer in front of Sam and sat across from him. "I figured we could both use a drink after the last few days. Hell, after the last few months."

"Thanks, but I think I should go start packing," Sam said.

Dean flinched slightly as his brother's talk of leaving, but he recovered quickly. You've probably got time. Lucifer's still reeling from the crap with Chuck, and now having his kid turned into baby. It might be a few days."

Sam looked at his brother. "That's the first time you haven't mentioned forcing me to stay."

"We both know I would never be able to stop you. I was kidding myself. Dad couldn't even stop you from leaving. What hope did I have?" Dean asked before taking a sip of his beer. "Look, I still don't know if taking off with a bunch of archangels is a good idea, but I get that it's not for me to decide."

"Well, that would be a first," Sam said.

"Look, it's not easy for me, okay? I'm about to watch you go off with a bunch of angels I don't trust, most of which have given us reason not to trust him," Dean said.

"If you're gonna go after Gabriel again…"

"I'm not," Dean cut him off. "I get it, okay? I'm apparently a slow learner, but I get that I can't stop you from being with him. I don't like it, but I don't have a say in it, and truthfully, I know I shouldn't try. I finally watched the two of you, and I don't think I've ever seen as happy as when you're with him."

Sam relaxed considerably. "Thank you."

"Honestly, while I especially don't want you to go off the Devil and his siblings especially, I would've fought it no matter who you went with. I would've fought it if you went solo," Dean said. He'd told himself it was about who Sam was going with, but in truth, it was that he was going at all. And, yes, Sam had gone off on his own before, but this was different. This time, Dean knew that it wasn't just going to be for a few weeks. Sam wasn't coming back, at least not permanently.

"I can't stay here anymore, Dean," Sam said.

"I know that. I know that nothing I'm gonna say to you will make you change your mind. I could tell you how sorry I am, and I am, and I could tell you that I'll never bring up the apocalypse again, or question your decisions again, and you'd still leave. And truthfully, that last part, I can't do. And I think I can finally tell you why. The apocalypse destroyed you. It did both of us. It nearly ended the world, and it caused you years of pain. I couldn't bear for that to happen again, so I never let it leave my mind I keep it close whenever I think there's a risk of it happening again," Dean said. He'd been thinking about since his talk with his mother, and that was the answer he came up with. He couldn't' risk Sam making another bad decision, so, in the end, he ended up holding the ones had made against him.

"That's not fair, Dean. You've made horrible decisions that have affected us too!" Sam said in a raised tone.

"I know that," Dean said quickly. "I always find a way to justify my bad choices. I say I make them for you, as if that makes it different. I convince myself that it's different when I make a bad decision than when you do. A part of me still believes it is."

Sam glared at him. "You're right, it is different. When you make a mistake, there's no one there to hold it against you for the rest of your life. I might get angry, but I get over it. You never do. You hold it over my head."

Dean nodded sadly. "I feel like I have to. I feel like the best way for me to look out for you is to make sure you don't screw up, and the best way to do that is to remind you of your mistakes."

"I am not a child, Dean! And even if I was, I it wouldn't help me for you to throw my screwups in my face!" Sam yelled.

"I know. I know that I don't treat you the way you deserve. A lot of times, I still treat you like the little kid I took care of when we were kids. You told me once that I had to stop. You said I had to let you grow up. I said that I would, but I didn't. I don't think I will ever really be able to if you stay," Dean admitted. It was a hard thing for him to admit, but now that they were sitting there talking about it, he realized that this had to happen. They had to move away from each other if their relationship was going to survive.

Sam stared at his brother for a few moments, taking in what Dean was telling him. "We've been all each other really had for too long. We can't keep going on like this."

"No, we can't," Dean said before picking up his beer and drinking the rest of it in a couple of gulps. "It's only gonna get worse. If we keep going like this, one of is going to hate the other, and it's probably gonna be you hating me. If you leaving is gonna prevent that, then as much as I hate it, you gotta go. I don't want you to hate me, Sammy."

"Me either," Sam said.

Just then, Mary walked into the room. "Hey, guys. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Sam said before opening his beer and taking a sip. "It's as okay is it's gonna get."

"Good," Mary said with some relief in her voice. She'd been afraid of another fight breaking out between her two sons.

Lucifer soon entered the room holding a crying Jack. Lucifer looked more than a little stressed as tried to comfort his son.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked Lucifer.

"I don't know. He won't stop crying. I can't figure out what's wrong with him," Lucifer said. He'd been trying to console Jack for the past twenty minutes to no avail.

"I thought you've taken care of kids before," Dean said.

"I took care of Gabriel when he was a fledgling. Fledglings are different than human children. They have ways of telling us what they want," Lucifer said.

"So do babies. You just have to learn what those ways are. For now, you use the process of elimination. Maybe he's hungry," Mary suggested.

"Okay. What do I feed him? Just anything?" Lucifer asked.

Mary rolled her eyes. "No, not anything. Babies his age can handle some soft foods, baby food and, formula. For now, you should just try a bottle. That should do him until the morning. I'm guessing you don't know how to prepare a bottle though."

Lucifer shook his head.

"Give the baby to the boys and I'll show you. God, who I still can't believe I just met, said he provided everything, so it should be here," Mary said before opening a cupboard and finding a bottle and some formula.

Lucifer handed Jack to Sam and followed the woman.

Sam bounced the crying baby on his lap. "It's okay, Jack."

Jack continued to cry in response.

Dean stood up and held his arms out. "Give him here, Sammy. I'm way better at this than you."

Sam immediately handed the boy over. Dean did have much more experience with kids than he did.

"Shh. Yeah, I get it. I don't like waiting for food either," Dean said. He held the baby so that he was standing on his legs.

Jack quieted a little. He was still fussy, but he was screaming anymore.

"How'd you do that?" Lucifer asked as he looked over at them.

"He's calm. Babies can tell when you're about to lose it. That just makes them lose it even more," Mary said.

"Man, I can't believe this is the same kid that was the same height as me a few days ago. You're braver than me, kid. I never could've done this," Dean said as he looked at the boy.

It took Mary about five minutes to show Lucifer how to prepare a bottle for Jack. "From now on, you may want to prepare them ahead of time. That way he's not so cranky waiting to eat."

Lucifer held the bottle of liquid to the level of his face and stared at it disgustedly. "This does not look appetizing. I'm supposed to feed this to my child."

Mary chuckled. "It tastes fine to him."

Just then, Michael and Gabriel walked in. "Hey. What's going on?" Gabriel asked.

"Lucifer's getting a crash course in preparing a baby bottle," Sam said.

"Alright, now you'll wanna make sure it's not too hot," Mary told Lucifer.

Lucifer waved a hand over it, using his Grace. "It's fine."

"Okay, I suppose you can cheat," Mary said dryly.

Lucifer went over and took Jack from Dean. He cradled him in his lap and held the bottle to his lips. He'd seen parents feed babies before like this, so he assumed this was the procedure.

Jack immediately opened his mouth and accepted the bottle. He stopped crying immediately.

Mary smiled at the pair. There was nothing more adorable than watching a father feed his son, even when the father was the Devil. "You've got it. Within a few days, he'll probably even hold the bottle himself. Usually babies his age have it down pat by now. He probably just needs a few days, since he's not as used to this as most his age. Either that or just likes making Daddy do the heavy lifting."

"Like father, like son," Michael said with a smile as he reached out and touched the boy's arm.

Jack reached over and grabbed ahold of Michael's finger.

"Hi, little one," Michael cooed.

Lucifer stared down at his son as he fed him. "Why did you do this, child? Why would you give up your life like this?"

"It's okay, Luci," Gabriel said.

"I…I feel like I've lost him," Lucifer said sadly.

"No, you didn't lose him, little brother. He's in your arms right now. He might be a little different than he was, but he's still here," Michael assured him.

"I just don't understand," Lucifer said distressed.

"Have you read his letter?" Gabriel asked.

"No. I'm not sure I want to," Lucifer said. He felt like reading that letter would be like reading his son's last words. He couldn't bear the thought of doing that.

"You should, Lucifer. You said you don't understand. Maybe you need to hear his words to understand," Sam said.

"Perhaps," Lucifer said before looking back down at his son, as he contently continued to eat.