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Chapter Fifteen

When Cas arrived in Bobby's library, he found Bobby and Balthazar nose to nose in the middle of a heated argument. They didn't even seem to notice his arrival; their focus was on each other.

"I don't want you to stay there!" Bobby growled. "Just go and tell him we need to talk!"

"And I've told you I can't just pop back and forward whenever I feel like it, you primitive ape!" Balthazar raged. "I was given a task and I am not going to abandon it."

Cas cleared his throat and their gazes snapped to him.

Bobby glowered. "About damn time!"

"Cas, darling, please explain to your marmoset that I can't just hop through time to pass on messages," Balthazar said wearily.

"What has happened?" Cas asked Bobby.

"Hold up a minute," Bobby said. "Dean needs to be here for this." He stared pointedly at Balthazar who threw his hands up.

"Let me guess, you want me to babysit Robot Boy down there so you can have a secret conference with Cas here?"

"Balthazar, please," Cas said softly.

"Fine," Balthazar huffed. With a slight fluttering sound he was gone.

A moment later, footsteps could be heard plodding up the wooden stairs that led from the basement. Dean trudged into the room, looking pale and exhausted. As he caught sight of Cas standing beside Bobby, his eyes widened and a little color flooded his face. "Sam?" he asked hopefully.

Cas knew what he was asking; he wanted to know whether Cas had brought Sam back. He shook his head sadly. "Not yet."

Dean cursed.

Cas turned back to Bobby. "What message did you want to send with Balthazar?"

Bobby waved a hand vaguely at Dean and said, "Well, I need you to talk to him for one. He's wrecked and nothing I say is making a blind bit of difference. The other problem is in the basement."

"Balthazar?" Cas asked.

Bobby rolled his eyes. "No, Cas, Sam – or the thing that used to be Sam."

Cas looked from one to the other, and when no explanation seemed forthcoming, he said, "Please explain."

"He's up to something," Bobby said. "Sam, I mean. I've been down there a couple times to talk to Dean, and I can see it as clear as Dean can. He's plotting something, and I'd bet my life that it's some kind of escape plan. He's quit pushing for pee breaks and food the way he was before. He's not even talking that much. He just sits there, thinking."

"He is still restrained though?" Cas asked.

"Yeah," Dean said. "But that didn't make a difference last time. Me and Bobby locked him down when he was on the demon blood, but he got out easy enough."

Cas forced himself to not look away as he wanted to. Sam had gotten out of the panic room that first time only because he had let him out. He had doomed the world then because he was ordered to. He couldn't tell them that now though. It would break their trust in him, and with Sam in the past, he needed their trust more than anything. Perhaps it was cowardly, too, but he had never claimed to be brave.

"Balthazar is here now," he said instead. "It doesn't matter what Sam is planning; he will not succeed."

"Yeah, because he's so reliable," Bobby scoffed. "He spends so much time drinking, he puts me to shame."

Cas shook his head. "That is not a problem for Balthazar. He is an angel. He could drink a proverbial liquor store and still be unaffected."

"You managed to get plastered," Dean said pointedly.

"That was different. I was fallen at the time. Trust me, both of you, Balthazar is more than capable of keeping you safe and keeping Sam restrained." He turned his attention to Dean. "You need to rest, Dean. Keeping watch over Sam is a pointless exercise with Balthazar here. All you will do is damage yourself, and Sam wouldn't want that."

"Told ya," Bobby murmured.

Dean scrubbed a hand over his face and nodded. "Okay. I hear ya. It's just…"

"It gets kinda hard to keep that in mind when you're here all the time," Bobby finished for him. "We have to look at that dick downstairs and deal with your buddy flapping around like a fairy on crack and all the time we're wondering what's really happening to our Sam and knowing we can't do a damn thing to help him."

Cas could easily imagine how that felt. Even though he was confident in Anna's ability to protect Sam and Dean, he was already aching to be in the past with them where he could keep an eye on them.

"Speaking of our Sam," Bobby said. "How's he doing?"

Cas considered carefully. "He is…well."

"You don't sound too sure, Cas," Dean observed.

"He is. The fallout from his time in hell is making itself known, but he is dealing with it better than any of us could have expected. I think it helps that he has a mission to accomplish. It keeps him focused on the important things when he is awake. When he is asleep it is harder, but I do what I can to help with that."

"What's happening with that?" Dean asked. "I don't really have any changed memories past Ellen visiting and you coming by and screwing with us. The rest seems to be pretty much the same."

"That's probably because not much has changed yet," Cas said.

"I've got a question," Bobby said. "How long's Sam going to be gone? If it works, and the time comes and goes for him killing Lilith, will he come back?"

Cas looked awkward. "I am not sure. There is not an appointed time for Lilith to die other than the last of the seals being broken. Sam may have to stay there past the time of her original death." He hesitated before continuing. "It might take a long time."

Dean suddenly launched himself at Cas and gripped him around the throat. It wasn't even a little uncomfortable physically, but it was a little discomfiting for Cas to be held like this by his friend.

"Are you telling me he might never come back? That we've done all this, risked all this, and we're stuck with that dick in the basement forever? Sam gave up everything to help you, Cas!"

"Sam will not be there forever. I will be able to return him to his body when the timelines match up again."

"That's years, Cas!" Bobby said angrily. "He's going to have to live through all that before he can come back?"

"I cannot be sure," Cas said. "I would hope not."

Dean laughed harshly. "Hope? We're putting all out faith in hope? In case you didn't notice, that hasn't worked out too well for us before."

Bobby laid a hand on Dean's shoulder and Dean released Cas. Dean stepped back, hands fisted at his sides, and Cas knew he was fighting the urge to attack him.

"What's Lilith even doing?" Bobby asked. "With Sam off the blood, she's got to be going crazy."

Cas did look away this time. "I am not certain."

He couldn't see Dean's expression, eyes fixed on the wall as they were, but he could hear the anger in his tone. "You know something, though, right? You're not just flapping around playing reruns in the past with Sam."

Cas looked up, guilt sweeping through him. "It is difficult."

"Yeah, we get that," Bobby said. "But tell me you've been at least trying to find Lilith and see what she's up to."

Cas shook his head. "We haven't had the opportunity to look for her yet."

Bobby closed his eyes for a long moment, seeming to summon patience. When he spoke, his voice was harsh. "How do you plan on ever getting Sam back here if you're not even attempting to stop Lilith?"

Cas didn't know what to say. It was harder when he was in the past. Then they lived minute by minute, attempting to avert and save. He had given the past version of his self more thought as a foe than he had Lilith. Only now, when it was pointed out to him by one of his fallible human friends, did he realize just how foolish he had been, how foolish they had all been.

"Didn't think of that, huh?" Bobby said sardonically.

"I am thinking of it now," Cas said honestly. "I will make sure we are all thinking of that now." He turned to Dean, knowing he owed him the apology more than anyone. "I am sorry, Dean."

Dean shrugged. "Just get it done. Get Sam back here."

"I will do my best," he vowed. "And you must rest. Sam is safe here with Balthazar watching him. I will speak to him before I leave to reaffirm the importance of what he is doing."

"Don't worry," Bobby said. "I'll make sure he sleeps."

Cas nodded and made his way out of the room to the hall and down the stairs to the basement. Balthazar was waiting for him in the door to the panic room.

"Cas," he said in greeting. "You done reassuring the monkeys?"

"Don't call them that," Cas said firmly.

Balthazar raised his hands in front of him. It would have looked repentant had it not been for his wide smile.

Inside the panic room, there was the clinking of chains as Sam shifted on the cot. Cas looked around Balthazar and saw Sam staring at them with a piercing gaze. Cas stared back into his eyes, seeing the emptiness there.

"You need to keep close to him, Balthazar," he said quietly in Enochian. "I don't know what he is thinking or planning, but he is cunning."

"I know. Don't worry. I've got my eye on him."

Cas walked into the room and approached Sam. He stared down at him and Sam stared resolutely back. "What are you planning?" Cas asked.

Sam smiled grimly. "You mean you haven't guessed already? What's wrong with you, Cas? You used to be so smart."

Cas disregarded his words. "I know enough to know that it pertains to your desire to escape. It will not happen, Sam."

Sam yawned widely. "If you say so."

Cas glowered at him. "Do you remember Zachariah, Sam? You must. Having both legs broken and your lungs removed leaves an impression."

"Are you trying to scare me?" Sam asked. "Bit redundant, don't you think? It's not like I can even feel it."

"No, not scare. I am warning you." He turned his attention to Balthazar. "If he looks like he is even thinking of hurting Bobby or Dean, break his legs."

Sam laughed. "Like you'd dare. Can't go hurting me, not poor Sammy. Dean would never let you."

"That's where you are wrong," Cas said. "You're not Sam, and Dean is well aware of that."

"And," Balthazar said with glee, "you're laboring under the assumption that I give a fig what Dean thinks. I'd break your spine for sheer amusement if Cas would let me."

"Spine," Cas said thoughtfully. "Yes, that's much better. If he becomes a problem, do that."

Balthazar smiled beatifically. "Thank you, Cas. I really and truly appreciate it."

Cas smiled down at Sam and then spread his wings and took flight.

Cas didn't have to search hard to find Lilith when he returned to the past. Her essence, dark and twisted as it was, was like a beacon warning him away. Having some experience with the places she usually frequented when topside, he was expecting to find her terrorizing a family in the meat suit of a small child or living in the lap of luxury in some gated community. He was not expecting her to be in the very abandoned prison that Cas and Crowley were using in the future. The cells were empty and the filth not quite so plentiful as it was in Cas's time, but the stench was the same and the rats still skittered across the floor.

She wasn't alone. Cas could hear her speaking in soft sultry tones and a familiar gravel voice replying with a strong cockney accent. Keeping himself shielded and protected, Cas followed the voices to the abandoned room Crowley would use to interrogate creatures in the future.

Lilith was standing in the middle of the scat filled room. She was in the body of a young woman with long, wavy blonde hair and startling grey eyes. Crowley was walking around the room, stepping carefully around the mounds of droppings left behind by the rats.

"I don't know what to tell you, love," he said. "It's not like I've got the Winchesters' secret journals to read through to make sense of what they're doing. All I know is that Winchester Jumbo Size was locked up and dried out."

"And Ruby?" Lilith asked in that same soft voice.

Crowley smiled. "We think she's dead. Hax found her meat suit burned out in Sioux Falls with a wound that looked a lot like it had come from the Winchesters' zippy knife. Can't say I'm sorry. She was a pain in the ass, teaming up with the Winchesters the way she did." He eyed Lilith curiously. Her lips were downturned and a frown marred her perfect brow. "I thought you'd be throwing a party knowing she's out of the way."

Lilith's eyes flashed milky white and Cas felt the anger crackling around her like an aura. Crowley seemed to sense the same. "Not that you have to throw a party," he said. "It's not like I'm telling you what to do. I'm just saying you seem awful put out that the little bitch has bit it."

"Crowley, I am going to trust you now," Lilith said.

"You didn't trust me already?"

"Don't interrupt!" she snapped. "Ruby was mine, not the Winchesters', mine. She has been from the beginning. How do you think she got out of the pit so fast? She has been working for our cause from the beginning."

"Hold up!" Crowley said. "You're telling me Ruby has been on our team from the get go and I'm only just learning about it now?"

Lilith's hand snapped out and she gripped Crowley around the throat, lifting him a foot from the floor. "You know what I tell you when I decide to tell you and not before. Ruby was mine and no one else's. She hooked Sam onto the blood because we needed him on the blood! And now she is dead!"

"Sorry," Crowley said hoarsely.

"You should be sorry. We all should. With Alastair and Ruby dead and Sam Winchester off the blood, our plan is in tatters."

"What are you going to do?" Crowley rasped. Lilith released him and he staggered back as his feet met the floor again.

She drew a deep breath and pushed her long hair back from her face. "It's not over yet. I have not worked so hard for so long to lose now. I must simply work faster."

"The seals?" Crowley said, massaging his throat.

"Are breaking," Lilith said. "I admit they are not breaking at the pace that I would have liked, but that is easily remedied. No more shock and awe. I will break them myself. And then… Well, Sam Winchester is not our last great hope."

"He's not?" Crowley asked. "Then who is?"

Lilith smiled enigmatically and disappeared.

Sam knew the time was coming for him to tell Dean about Adam, and he was caught in a maelstrom of emotion about it. In this time, Dean wasn't the hardened man he had left behind. This Dean didn't yet have the same awareness of his father's failings that had come from Dean being a father to Ben for a year. This version of Dean would be wrecked by the knowledge that John had another son they never knew about, a son that he had been a father to in a way he had never been for Sam and Dean.

Sam didn't need to tell him it all. He could just say Adam was a friend they'd made that got dragged into their mess, but that felt disloyal to Adam. He had lost everything because of them. He was dragged to Hell by Sam because of his bloodline. Shouldn't Dean know it all?

A sharp pain in his shin brought his attention back to the present. He looked up and saw Dean sitting across the table of Bobby's kitchen, frowning at him. There was an untouched plate of eggs in front of him that had taken a cold and rubbery look.

They were alone. Bobby was meeting up with another hunter friend to exchange some lore books and weapons and Anna was around somewhere, keeping watch in her own way. Cas was… somewhere else, either in the future or somewhere in this time doing whatever it was he did when he wasn't with Sam and Dean.

"What?" Sam asked, leaning down to rub his leg.

"I've been talking to you for like five minutes and you haven't heard a word I've said, have you?"

"Sorry. I was just thinking."

"Which brings me to my next question," Dean said. "What were you thinking about that's got you looking like that?"

Sam leaned back in his chair and let out a big breath. Now was the time. He had to do it.

At that moment there was a fluttering sound and Cas appeared in the doorway between kitchen and library. Sam's favorite time hopping angel was back. He sighed with relief, both at the sight of his friend back with them and because Cas's arrival would delay the Adam conversation.

Cas did not look relieved, nor did he smile in greeting. He looked dour and worried.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked. "Where have you been?"

"I returned to our time to check on things and to fill them in on what we have been doing," Cas said. "And then I found Lilith."

"You found Lilith?" Dean asked. "Since when were we looking for her? I thought the idea was to keep her as far from Sam as possible."

"That was, and still is, my intent," Cas agreed. "But, as was pointed out to me, we should be aware of what she is doing. Otherwise we will have no idea when it is safe for Sam to leave and return to his own time."

Sam hadn't considered that. He had been so focused on keeping sane with Hell batting around his brain and staying off the blood and Adam that he hadn't thought of the big picture in a while. Now the possibility that he would have to stay here indefinitely occurred to him. It wasn't the worst prospect, he could and would do it for the sake of the world, but it would suck. He wanted to get back to the right time, to the correct version of his brother and Bobby. He wanted it to be over for them as much as him.

"Okay," he said slowly, "what is Lilith doing?"

"I saw her speaking with Crowley."

"Who's Crowley?" Dean asked.

"Demon," Sam said shortly. "Real dick bag. I'll tell you about him later. Go on, Cas."

"They know Ruby is dead—"

"Good," Dean said in a snarl. "I want that bitch to know her pet spy is gone."

"–and they know Sam is not drinking the blood now," Cas said, disregarding Dean's interruption.

"How did she seem?" Sam asked, then seeing Dean's incredulous look, he explained his question. "I don't mean was she pissed, of course she was. I want to know if she looked I'm totally screwed level of pissed. If I'm off the blood, I can't kill her, so her plan's up in smoke."

Cas shook his head. "I don't think it is. She said you weren't her only hope."

Sam cursed loudly and fluidly.

"She give you any clue what her backup plan is?" Dean asked.

"No. She disappeared. I tried to track her but was unable to. She can only have returned to Hell."

Sam got to his feet and walked away from them both, hands coming to tangle in his hair. It was all so wrong. He had come back, almost destroying his relationship with Dean, to fix things because he thought he was the only one who could stop it, and now he was hearing that he wasn't. Lilith had a Plan B. What the hell were they supposed to do now? They couldn't kill her, they couldn't fight her, so they were screwed.

A hand came down on his shoulder and he spun around, almost expecting Lilith to be there to gloat, but it was Dean. He looked concerned but not scared. He didn't understand because, although he had been told, he hadn't lived through what would happen if Lilith succeeded.

"It's okay, Sam," he said. "We'll work it out."

"How?" Sam asked desperately. "We don't know what she's planning now. We can't do anything to stop her. You don't know what it's like, Dean, if the apocalypse comes. And what if I can't do it again?"

"Do what?" Dean asked.

"Lucifer!" Sam almost shouted. "It was pure chance that I got him in the cage the last time; I was fighting from the minute I said yes to overpower him, and it was almost too late. I barely did it. What if I can't do it this time? They'll fight and the world will burn and it will be all my fault!"

"Whoa!" Dean grasped Sam by the shoulders and held him in place. "Calm down, Sammy. You're jumping right ahead to the end of the movie here and I'm still on the opening credits. Just take a breath."

Sam did as he was bidden, holding it for a long moment before releasing it, and his heart slowed its racing slightly. He nodded and Dean released him.

"Okay?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. It's just… Dean, it's going to get so bad."

"Only if she dies," Dean said. "Maybe you're not the last hope of the demons after all, but that doesn't mean we've lost already. We just need to find out what's happening and stop it. We've got two angels on our side now. As soon as that bitch pokes her head out of the ground, Cas and Anna will know and they'll find out what's she doing. This isn't the end yet. We've still got a shot at this, right, Cas?"

Cas walked forward and though he nodded and said, "It is not over, Sam," he looked doubtful.

"See?" Dean said. "Even angel boy thinks it'll work out."

Sam shook his head dolefully. How was it going to work out? How could he live through the apocalypse again and win this time? He didn't know if he had the strength to overpower Lucifer again.

"Sam," Cas said gently. "We do not have to stay."

"What?" Dean barked as Sam's gaze snapped to Cas.

"If Lilith succeeds, if she finds a way to break the final seal and Lucifer rises, Sam and I need not stay. As it is at the moment, things change in the future when we change something in the past. If we were to leave now and return to our time, your own Sam would be returned to you and he would take over. Events would transpire as they did last time, with Dean having more knowledge it is true, but still, much as they did last time." He looked pointedly at Sam. "The events of Stull Cemetery would progress as they did before."

Sam nodded, understanding at once. He could go back to his own time, leaving this crap-storm behind, and Lucifer would still be taken care of.

"What's he saying, Sam?" Dean asked in a harsh tone.

Sam sighed. "If we go back now, I will still beat Lucifer."

"But you beating Lucifer means you going to Hell, right?"

Cas nodded. "Yes. Sam would beat Lucifer and take him to the cage again if left to follow his path."

Dean's eyes narrowed and his mouth pressed into a thin line. "You can't seriously think I'll let that happen."

"You did before," Cas said.

"Cas…" Sam said, not knowing what else to say.

Dean's expression became murderous and he advanced on Cas. Sam stepped between then, putting a hand on Dean's chest. He could feel his harsh breaths hammering against his palm. "I don't know what happened then," Dean said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what drove me to let that happen, but you can sure as hell know now that I will never let that happen again. I won't let my brother do that."

"Don't you think that is his choice?"

"His choice?" Dean laughed harshly. "His choice whether or not to throw himself into Hell for so long he needs a damn wall in his head to keep the memories out? No it's not. No one gets to make that choice."

"You did," Cas pointed out. "You sold your soul, knowing that it would lead to you going to Hell."

Dean looked like he was going to slug Cas. He pushed against Sam, and Sam changed his grip to his shoulders instead to hold him back. "Both of you stop! Dean, we're not at that point yet, so let's just stow it for now. Cas, give it a rest."

Dean was panting but he nodded, glare still fixed on Cas.

"Okay," Sam said. "We're not talking about this anymore. Cas, we can't go back yet. If Lilith does succeed, I'll be needed here to save lives. The things I know can save a lot of people, Jo and Ellen for example. I can't leave knowing that doing that means they die." Cas opened his mouth, probably to argue, but Sam spoke over him. "I'm staying as long as I need to. Down to the wire if that's what it takes."

Cas nodded slowly. "If that is what you want."

"It is," Sam said resolutely. "Now, Cas, you need to watch for Lilith. When she comes topside again, we need to know about it. Maybe if we watch her close enough, we can stop her. Anna can stay with us so we're at least warned if she's coming. There's things me and Dean need to do in the meantime."

"What?" Cas asked, his brow furrowed. "What can possibly be more important than Lilith now?"

"Adam." Sam said simply.

"The guy you were in Hell with?" Dean asked.

"Not just that," Sam said. "Adam was…" He sucked in a breath. "Adam is our brother."

Ten minutes later, Cas was gone and Sam and Dean were sitting opposite each other at the table with mugs of coffee in their hands. Sam had added a short measure of whiskey to Dean's for the shock.

"When you say brother…" Dean said.

"I mean half-brother, really," Sam clarified. "Flesh and blood relation though."

Dean raked a hand over his face. "You're going to need to give this to me in small words. My brain only seems to be working on half power.

Sam smiled slightly. "Okay… early nineties, Dad was hunting a ghoul in Minnesota. He got banged up and went to the ER. I'm guessing the nurse took a shine to him as nine months later, Adam was born."

"Did Dad know?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. When Adam was twelve he got the contact details from his mom and called Dad up. I guess Dad came by and met up with him and they kinda built a relationship from that. Dad kept Adam in the dark about the whole supernatural world; he was just a regular dad."

Dean shook his head sadly. "Of course he was."

"None of that really matters," Sam said. "The problem is that the ghoul Dad took out had kids and they're going to go after Adam and his mom and kill them soon. We've got to take them out."

"Okay," Dean said slowly. "I'm with you on that, brother or not he needs protecting, but I've got to ask, how did he end up in the cage with you if he was dead?"

"The angels bought him back," Sam said. "They knew Michael's first choice vessel wasn't going to crack, so they used Adam as a backup plan. The poor kid was dragged out of Heaven and Michael took him over." Sam shrugged. "Crap went down and Adam got dragged in with me and Lucifer. I didn't want to do it. I had no choice."

"I get that," Dean said quickly. "It wasn't your fault, Sammy."

"Maybe not that particular part of it, but the rest, yeah, that's all on me."

Dean stared into his eyes for a long moment, and Sam was sure he was weighing up whether or not it was worth arguing with him. He seemed to decide against. His laid his palms flat on the table and asked something else. "Sam, you said Adam wasn't the first choice vessel for Michael but the other wasn't going to crack. Who was the other?"

He already knew the answer, Sam could tell. It still cost him something to meet his brother's eyes as he answered though. "You were, Dean. I was Lucifer's and you were Michael's. It was a bloodline thing. That's how Michael was able to take Adam instead."

Dean looked down at the tabletop. "Why would I do that? Say no and let the kid do it instead?"

"You didn't know he'd take Adam," Sam said. "Michael wasn't able to start the fight without a vessel. Lucifer already had one, so you couldn't say yes without screwing the world. Then I guess you lost hope. You ran from me and Cas and went to find Michael but Cas found you. We got you back here and locked you down in the panic room. Then Adam was resurrected and you thought you really had to do it." Sam shook his head dolefully, remembering the desperation of those moments. "A lot of stuff happened and you got down to the point of saying yes, but at the last minute you changed your mind. Me and you escaped, but Adam didn't make it out. There was no one there to stop him from saying yes. He had no choice."

"Sounds like I really screwed up," Dean said.

"You're talking to the man who screwed up the whole world, Dean," Sam said seriously. "You lost hope and almost made a big mistake. I was arrogant and stupid and started the apocalypse. What you did kinda pales compared to that."

"You made a mistake, too," Dean said doggedly and when Sam shook his head he went on. "You did, Sam. You couldn't have known what was going to happen."

Sam didn't want to have that conversation now. Dean could say it was a mistake and forgive him all he liked, but it didn't change a thing for Sam. Dean hadn't lived through it. He didn't know what it would be like. He couldn't understand just how much Sam's mistake had cost them because he hadn't been there yet.

In the end, it wasn't much of a challenge. Anna was able to trace the ghouls to a small town called Mountain Lake not far from Windom. Sam and Dean found them just before dawn in a mausoleum in the town's cemetery, feeding from a recently deceased elderly man. They were in the forms of a young man and woman who looked like they could have been related. Looking at them, knowing that those were the faces of a meal, was disturbing for Sam, as he could remember Adam and his mother's faces as they fed on him, as he realized it was too late to save his brother.

There was no question about whether they were the ghouls that had been targeting Adam as, the moment they saw Sam and Dean, they hissed, "Winchesters" and prepared to attack.

The male came at Sam, hands clawed and lips pulled back in a snarl. Sam raised the shotgun and aimed carefully between the eyes. As he pulled the trigger, the ghoul's head disappeared in a spray of blood and brain. At his side, Dean pulled his trigger and the female ghoul went down.

They doused the bodies in gasoline and Dean dropped a lit book of matches onto the puddle. Fire flared and the flames licked along the floor to the ghouls, igniting them with a roar.

When they stepped out of the mausoleum, Anna was waiting for them. "Where next?" she asked.

Sam spoke before Dean. "University of Wisconsin."

Anna smiled slightly, and before Dean could muster a protest, they were moving. As soon as Sam's feet touched the ground again, he looked around and saw that they were standing outside a large building with Ebling Library carved into the stone above the wide double doors. There were a couple benches on either side of the door and Sam walked over to one and sat down.

Dean hesitated for a moment before following and thumping down beside Sam. "Sam, what exactly are we doing here?" he asked.

Though Sam was sure he already knew the answer, he replied anyway. "This is Adam's college."

"So? What are we doing here?"

Sam didn't bother to answer. At the moment the doors opened and two young men stepped out. "How did you know?" Sam asked Anna.

She smiled. "Blood leads to blood. He wasn't hard to find."

"Thank you."

Sam watched as Adam strolled along the path away from them, chatting to his friend. He had a bag slung over his shoulder and books tucked under his arm. He turned a corner and Sam got a good look at his face. The last time Sam had seen Adam he had been wracked with pain as Lucifer and Michael tore at him. He had been screaming and crying, an absolute opposite to the man that Sam saw now. His eyes were a little red and there were shadows under them, the results of an all-nighter study session. Sam remembered the feeling from another life. Adam was alive and free in a way Sam had never seen before. Sam felt happier than he had in a long time seeing him living his life the way he was supposed to: a life without ghouls or angels or Hell.

The emotion must have shown in his eyes as Dean said, a little bitterly, "He's just a kid, Sam."

"Not to me," Sam said. "He's family to me."

Dean scoffed but Sam didn't mind. Adam was just another thing Dean couldn't understand.

Adam walked out of sight and Sam sighed.

"Are you ready to leave?" Anna asked.

Sam nodded. "Back to Bobby's please."

There was a feeling of weightlessness and then they came to rest in Bobby's library. Sam had all of a moment of happiness before it all went wrong.

"Anna!" a voice said, and Sam heard Anna's shocked gasp.

Castiel was standing in the kitchen. His expression was a combination of confused and angry as he looked at her. He was wearing his tie. His blade dropped into his hand and Anna's did the same.

"I don't want to fight you, Castiel," she said.

"I do," Castiel said. "And yet I will not. I have another task to complete now."

He vanished from sight for a split second and appeared again behind Dean. He clapped a hand on his shoulder and said in a dour tone. "You need to come with me."

Dean's eyes widened and perhaps he shouted Sam's name, Sam couldn't be sure. Sam spun on his heel, shouting his brother's name, but it was too late. Dean and Cas were gone.

So… That was kinda a cliffy ending, right? One more full chapter to go now, and as you should know from that ending, it's going to be a action packed one.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx