MLucifer crossed his arms. "I'm waiting."
Chuck took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he began.
"You should be." Lucifer flicked his gaze towards Gabe who was watching from the side, hanging back.
"Let me talk," Chuck said quietly. "I wronged you, it was my mistake and, in all these years, a day hasn't gone by without me thinking about it. I put you through so much, I used the Apocalypse as a self destruct button on my creation. If you failed to bear the Mark, you would fall. Take Sam and fight Michael and Dean until the world was destroyed, all of Heaven, all of Hell. Gone. Michael...he...when you and he jumped into the cage I decided the world might not be as broken a toy as I thought. Amara was the second attempt at destroying Earth. It was a flick of my wrist, the bat of an eye. Then I gave them another chance. The Winchesters haven't failed yet."
"Have You spoken to Michael?" Gabriel asked softly.
Chuck hung His head, closed His eyes. "I did..."
"And?" Lucifer prompted.
Chuck didn't breathe. "He's dead."
Gabriel's eyes widened. "What?" he asked breathlessly. His felt his heart give a pained twinge. Lucifer looked shellshocked next to him and Gabe rested a hand on his brothers shoulder.
"How?" Lucifer asked in an oddly choked voice.
"He asked me to kill him and I did." Chuck glanced around hesitantly, watching Lucifer sag against a wall, His being hurting for His son.
"Why?" Gabe asked, legs shaking.
"He felt guilty, he didn't want to live. I asked him, I gave him a wish other than death. He begged me to kill him. I did."
"The wish?"
"Adam, his vessel, gets out of the cage and is safe." Chuck paused, debating on whether He should tell His sons Michaels last message. "He told me to tell you he loves you both very much."
Gabriel let out a muffled sob-like noise. Lucifer nudged him, concerned. "You good?" he asked.
Gabe nodded. "Thank you," he told Chuck.
"My honor."
Up in Heaven the crowd around Cas had dispersed as he finished the story. The Angel felt nauseous, sick to his stomach. But he wasn't going to say anything about that, didn't want Dean to worry. The man in question was talking animatedly to Charlie and Kevin, laughing and smiling.
Sam and Jess were talking with John and Bobby. Sam's eyes to were flickering back and forth between John and Jess as if analyzing what they thought of each other. At one point he glanced at Cas with a crease between his brow. Cas forced a smile and shrugged, telling Adam not to worry.
Cas jumped as Mary suddenly knelt down in front of him. She looked nervous almost, eyes green and flickering back and forth, never making eye contact. Cas knew from years around Sam and Dean what movement meant what, and she had both what Sam did (hand rubbing, shifty eyes) and what Dean did (harder eyes, tapping his finger, gnawing bus lip).
"Hello," he said softly.
"Hi Castiel," she said. "Can we talk?"
Cas nodded, unsure as to where this was going. "Of course."
She sighed, pulled her hair to the side. "Dean really loves you, you know," she began. "Sam does too. Like a brother, I mean."
Cas nodded again. "Is there something wrong?" he asked kindly.
"I'm happy for you both. I- I just need to ask you how, how did you win his trust? Sam tells me that doesn't happen easily. What made you so special?" She said it with no accusation of rudeness behind her words, just genuine curiosity.
"I don't know," Cas said slowly, thinking. "I think... I think that it was not entirely either of our choices to trust one another. See, when I pulled him out of Hell I did leave a part of my Grace inside of him. At the time it was the marker that, yes, I saved the Righteous Man. That had been my role from the beginning, the only reason I was ever created was to pull him out of Hell. Needless to say, it didn't entirely go to plan. He was very hesitant to trust me at first but after Sam's deal with Ruby we were forced to work together."
"That's all?" she asked. "From what Bobby, Sam, and John tell me, he didn't even trust Sam for awhile."
Cas ran a hand through his hair. "After awhile stuck in each others proximity, I told him that everything I had ever done was for him. Only him. I never knew Sam as well up until a bit ago. Eventually, when we were knocked into Purgatory, as you know, I left to keep him safe. When we got out, I think...I don't know, but I think that's around the time Sam realized there was definitely something more than a 'more profound bond' between us. I don't know when Dean realized."
Mary glanced over at her son who was now talking to Bobby, giving a watery laugh. John was standing next to Bobby, a small grin on his face. "When did you know you loved him?"
Cas smiled towards the ground. "I didn't know at first, what I felt. I only figured it out when he tried to say 'yes' to Michael. I...I don't entirely regret what I did despite knowing both Sam and you would not like it. I may have punched him...several times...in an alley. I told him that I had given up everything for him."
I am hunted. I rebelled. And I did it, all of it, for you.
You and your brother destroyed the world.
To his surprise, Mary was smiling. "Thank you for keeping at least one of my sons human, at the time," she added. "I don't like that you beat him up but he didn't say yes."
"Thank Father he didn't," Cas said softly. "The death match between Michael and Lucifer has been permanently called off. We don't have to worry about that any more."
She nodded, smiling. "But you figured out you loved him early on, much early than him."
"I did."
"Were you ever scared if was unrequited?" she asked.
Cas thought for a second. Now, with everything out in the open, the thought of Dean not loving him back was like a stake to the heart. "No," he said. "Back then, it was better for me to love him in silence. Both of them are mortal. I wasn't, I was an ageless, immortal being of celestial energy. It's funny, I realized, back then I never minded my feeling never being voiced, to love without anyone else knowing. Now, the mere thought it suffocating and painful."
Mary put a hand on his, squeezing it slightly. "How long will you stay with him?"
"As long as we live," he said softly, sincerity in his voice.
"Until death do you part," she murmured.
"Until death and after." He leaned forward. "Mary, you know I love your son. I am...not for a while...but I am considering asking him to marry me."
Mary's eyes widened, a smile split her face and she teared up. She heart felt like it might burst. "You want to asked to Dean to marry you, then go for it. You have my best wishes and my permission."
Cas closed his eyes, a huge weight lifted off his chest. "Thank you."
