Chuck felt those prayers deep inside His chest, touching Him. Sam, clever, kind, selfless, brave, Sam was so deeply hurt by Cas's death that he reached out to an entity he was no longer sure there even was. He shuddered internally, knowing that despite Sam loving Cas like a brother, Dean was so much worse off, having lost his best friend and lover. What that boy must be going through, the horrible inner turmoil made Him want to grab Castiel by his shoulders and shake him until he decided, "hey! They need me, they love me. I should accept Asmodei's offer and go back!"
Meanwhile, His sons were arguing about Asmodei's choice.
"I can't take that!" Cas shouted.
"I can't let you stay here!" Asmodei snapped. "Cas, just take it! Go back to Dean!"
"Then you can't get to Esmerelda," Cas said angrily.
"Dammit Castiel," Asmodei insisted. "Stop being such a martyr! You saw what Dean was like, what Sam was like! Please, just go!"
That was it, Chuck decided to intervene. "Children," He shouted, annoyed by Cas's complete, point blank, refusal to accept help. "Castiel! Sam is praying to me, he's asking me to make Dean okay, to make him better. I can do many things but I cannot heal a broken heart. If you don't do something, it will eventually kill him. This was Asmodei's wish, it will come to pass. You will not stop that no matter what you do."
Cas fell silent. His eyes widened at Chuck saying Cas's death would kill Dean.
"Listen," Asmodei murmured, moving closer to him. "Take what I'm giving, they need you Cassie. Add what you want to the wish, what will become of you when you go down."
"But Esmerelda..." Cas whispered. "I can't let you sacrifice that."
Asmodei put a hand on each of his shoulders. "Hey," he said firmly. "I'll find my way to her just as you and Dean have found your ways to each other countless times."
"You're sure?"
"Completely."
Cas couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You really want me to go back," he said, disbelief clouding his mind.
"I do," Asmodei said softly.
Cas blinked and shook his head. "Then...I don't know how to thank you... I owe you everything."
"How about this, go back, be with your family- real family- don't mourn me, be happy with what is happening, stay with Dean. Be happy, Cas, that's how you can repay me."
"Thank you."
Chuck cleared His throat. "Cas, is there anything you want to add to that wish? Anything at all?"
"Actually," Cas said slowly, almost hesitantly. "If it's alright with You, I would like to age as a human would but maintain my powers of healing and being able to visit Heaven, to bring people with me to Heaven despite them not being dead."
"You will grow and age and eventually die," Chuck noted.
"As long as I do all those things with Dean, I could not think of anything better."
"It will be done. Say goodbye and I will send you back."
Cas felt a very human sob lodge in his throat as he embraced Asmodei. "Thank you brother," he whispered, trying very hard to keep hot tears at bay. "I can never thank you enough and I will visit you."
"I know." Asmodei returned the hug with just as much vigor. "Say hello to Luci and Gabe for me."
"I promise I will."
Cas turned away, facing God. "Before I go back I want to ask if I can see Mary and John Winchester." Chuck looked mildly surprised. "I just want to tell them that their sons will be alright," he added quickly. "Please Father."
"I will give you a bit." Chuck raised a hand and everything disappeared.
When he opened his eyes, Cas found himself outside a door. He could hear voices coming from inside. Slowly, cautiously, he pushed it open to find himself in a little room with a coffee table in the centre. Six people sat around it. He recognized them all; Bobby and John, both with beers in hand, Mary and Jess chatting animatedly and Charlie and Kevin, both on smiles their faces, pointing at graphs lying on the table. Everyone stopped and looked up when the door shit behind him.
"Cas?" Charlie asked, eyes widening.
Cas felt his throat close. "Charlie," he whispered. He had always liked the little red-head and had been sad when she died.
"Cas," Kevin said, surprised. "What-"
He was cut off by a gasp from Mary. "Castiel?" The blonde woman stood up and Cas almost flinched at the physical similarities between her and Dean, her eyes the most prominent of all her physical traits.
"Mary," he said softly. "I have wanted to meet you for so long."
She covered her mouth with her hands. "You're the Angel my boy's in love with."
Cas looked around uncomfortably. "I suppose that is me," he said. "John, Mary, your children are great men. Earth and Heaven are lucky to have them."
Charlie stood up. "How are they?" she asked fervently. "How are they doing?"
Cas hesitated for a second. "They are...alive," he settled on, running through his choices of words.
"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked, watching Cas mistrustfully.
"First off, John, I have sacrificed everything I had for your sons, do not look at me like that. Secondly, I do not know how they are," Cas explained. "I am currently dead."
"What?" Kevin said. "How? Bobby told me they had gone to bring you back!"
Cas ran a hand through his hair, a habit he had picked up from the brothers. "They did. Dean...broke through the spell Eden had me under-"
"-Eden?" Jess asked, finally speaking up. "The Garden?"
"The Garden," Cas confirmed. "And-"
"How'd he break it?" John interrupted.
Cas felt his face grow hot. "Uh..." he said, trying to think of something to say but his brain had turned to mush.
"Oh," Charlie said softly. "Oh!"
Kevin gave her a confused glance. "What?" Then his face cleared as he saw the expression of pure delight on Charlie's face. "Oh,okay."
Cas felt slightly like he was drowning in awkwardness. He cleared his throat, trying to shake off John's stunned eyes. "Anyways, we were about to leave when we realized that out only method of getting back was destroyed but we found another way." He didn't bother going into detail, didn't want to. "There were four Angels, including me. I couldn't fly, Amara had damaged my Grace and one of us had to stay and fight off the beasts while the others got out. My brother, Asmodei stayed to fight. Dean tried to stay with him to help but I...I tricked him and got both of them out. I stayed and I died." He shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal. "I'm going back as soon as I finish up here."
"How many times have you died?" Charlie burst out. "Sorry," she added quickly.
"Five or six times." Cas answered the question as if it was completely normal. "Um, Mary, John, could I talk to you?"
Mary looked startled. "Oh, of course." John said nothing but followed her nonetheless.
Outside of the room Cas sighed and leaned against a wall. "So," he said softly. "You're their parents."
"Yeah," John answered, eyes still mistrustful. "What do you care?"
"John!" Mary snapped.
Cas leaned forward, ignoring Mary to stare John straight in the face. "What do I care?" he asked. "Why did you care when Mary died? What drove you to seek revenge on Azazel? To force your children into a life they never should have had? I love Sam and Dean! I have done everything, everything, for them! I fell from Grace, I killed my brothers and sisters, I've died for them, I've chosen them over Heaven so many times and I would do it, all of it, again and again. Don't you dare even imply that I don't love them!"
AN: Spoiler Alert! We are about two chapters from a reunion! I'm already writing it so I have no excuse to not upload any pre-written chapters. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and, as we are nearing the end of this, I want to thank everyone who has left a review or even bothered to read this. I know it's not the best writing but thank you! We might have five or so chapters left, I don't know how to do endings as a fair warning. Thanks again!
