Sword and Shield

by everfaithful

Next in the No such thing as Miracles series. While looking for the sword to slay the demon, Sam and Dean are blackmailed into helping the feds with a little demon problem of their own.

5. Chapter 5

A/N sorry for the delay in posting. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story and thank you so much for the reviews!

Dean woke up, feeling like he'd drunk all night, instead of slept. Still in the same position he was in when he laid down, which did nothing for sore and battered joints. Stiffness set in more quickly since New Orleans, and the traction, the surgeries, everything else that New Orleans had been the cause of.

But like usual, Dean just denied it. He stood up and shook himself out. Cracked as many joints as he could and changed his clothes. He'd been in those clothes for far too long. Running his hands over his face to wake up, scrubbing at his eyes, he could feel the three day beard growth, but ignored it. He was good for a bit. Ran his hands over his hair to get it to lay as flat as it was going to, which wasn't very, and made sure he had a gun on him. Because one never knew. Especially with some new people around, no matter what Joshua said, Dean still wasn't sure on him.

Course he hadn't met him either, but it never hurt to be prepared. A vial of holy water in his pocket and he was good as he exited his room. Sammy was still sleeping, and Dean quietly adjusted the blankets tangled around the younger man before departing, squinting and wincing as he was assaulted by sunlight. What time was it anyway?

"Dude, was starting to think you were gonna sleep the day away." Andy said as he rounded the corner and saw Dean. "You two were looking pretty ragged when you got here though, so I left Sam alone and all."

"Thanks." Dean said with a nod. "Sam needs the rest." He said, knowing Sam hadn't slept much, if at all, when Dean had had his 'cold.' "Well, driving all day and all night will make someone all ragged." He said with a chuckle. "So how's things going here?" He asked, looking around, wishing he had had the foresight to get his sunglasses out of the car before turning in.

"Not too bad. A lot of work, a lot of adjusting. A lot of scared and traumatized people that my ability doesn't work on so I can't help them." He said with a sigh. "So... You guys are here... That mean you found it?"

"Yeah we did." He said then groaned. "And I left it on the bed. Be right back." He said, loath to keep it out of his sight for long, not after what they went through on the quest to get the damn thing. He went back into his room and grabbed it, still wrapped in the table cloth. "Found it in the weirdest place, great mock up of an angel skeleton. Sam was so blown away by it, he forgot to grab the thing."

"You sure he's doing okay?" Andy asked, that didn't sound like Sam to him at all. "You don't think there's any lasting effects from the thing in his neck do you? He didn't sound good when I talked to him last."

"He's fine. From that." Dean said. But that was all he could say. Everything else? Sam probably remembered more than he let on. And Dean couldn't do anything about that, no matter how hard he tried. Other than making sure everything else went nice and easy, including this settlement. Sam was the leader, but Dean was the bulldozer, clearing the way. "So'd you meet the new guy?"

"Yeah. He's different. Doesn't think he's one of us but my ability doesn't work on him so he probably is and is in denial. He's okay though. Not a bad guy over all, keeps to himself though except for the Josh guy... Who likes to take over. Sam is gonna have to make it plain he's the boss around here."

Dean sighed. "I'll handle Josh." He said, shaking his head. He figured as much. Part of the reason he hadn't told Josh just where they all were. Because this was Sam's gig. They weren't going to all fall in line like Marines, and trusting someone wasn't high on their to do list. "Okay, show me where the food is, and then tell me about Zoe."

Andy blushed. "We ahm.. Moved in together. I know sounds crazy, since we are all so close on top of each other but you know... made it all official and everything."

"Well, well." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, where's the swaggering Andy that had women throwing themselves into his van I knew way back when?" He teased.

"It's different, when it means something." Andy said honestly. "Very different. It's scary as hell." Andy had never been swaggering, and had never had women throwing themselves into his van, but he had never been lonely either. Never had to use his ability. He had more of a fluffy puppy draw than even Sam. Women wanted to save him from his life style. Probably why he never took any of them seriously before. Andy didn't need or want saving.

"Well, good for you." Dean said, with honest congratulations. "She's a nice girl." Seemed skittish on the surface, but she did make it through that overtaking of the lab in Washington. Willingly went too. Guess that's what they meant by still waters ran deep. "About time we had some good news around here, right?"

"I don't know, you finding that sword and one of us winding up headed to the White House... that's some pretty good news all around." Andy said as he led the way to the cafeteria.

Dean shrugged. He wasn't sure McKendrick was REALLY like Sam and Andy, or something else entirely. And he wasn't sure that was such good news right now. "I try to stay out of politics. Kinda boring." Was all he said.

"I hear ya there. Just kinda hoping he could find a way to call off the goon squad so we aren't hunted by the government as well as the others and demons." Andy said with a shrug. "If not... well... at least we have a good place to hole up."

"And since you're off the market, I'll have to handle all the interns myself. Tough job, but someone's gotta step up and fulfill their civic duty." Dean said with a laugh as he grabbed some food. Never really a picky eater, he was famished this morning. "I see Josh has taken over the food." It looked like what his dad had described in boot camp, honestly.

"Yeah. it's not as tasty as what we would have done on our own but to be honest it stretches further this way, and right now, that's an important plus. It's not bad... just... well... cafeteria food."

"Hey, it's food." Dean said with a chuckle as he loaded his plate. "I've been eating M&Ms, and chasing it down with Nyquil for the past few days, trust me, this is a feast." After filling his feast, he found a table. At least they weren't the long tables in messhalls or school cafeterias. Just a collection of smaller round tables, some of them even card tables, that had been found along the way.

"Yeah, you still look a little green. You sure that was a cold?" Andy asked.

"No." Mickey said as he approached the table. It was time, there was no more sense in delaying. No sense in putting off the inevitable. "It was pneumonia. "

Dean's eyes shot from his food to the man approaching the table. "Son of a bitch!" He said. And truly he was intending to chew the guy out, demand some answers, maybe get in a fight. One of the three, or a combination of them. Knowing Dean, all three.

Instead he collapsed to his knees, grabbing his head. Though he didn't know he was kneeling on the ground. He thought he was still standing as he spun around, the make shift cafeteria filling with red fog, or was it smoke? He couldn't see anything in front of him as he spun, grabbing the sword. He'd been in fog thick enough to cut, but this was ridiculous. And after everything, he wasn't going to be ambushed in a weird ass freaky fog. He didn't have a gun, or his knife on him, so the sword would do.

Except it wasn't the aged gray metal it had been when he wrapped it, turning into the most magnificient and glowing of swords, as its very presence, unsheathed from the common table cloth, split the fog as a figure approached, he couldn't make it out. Couldn't tell if it was male or female, just that he was awed. And Dean was not a man easily awed. The figure nodded, the red fog fading into splendorous golden light.

Next thing he knew, Andy was shaking him hard. "Dean! Dean! Oh god, someone get Sam or something!"

"Dude, I'm fine, get off me." Dean said. "Shit, my head."

"It'll pass." Mickey said as he knelt slowly beside Dean. "The sword was meant for you." He told him. "Not your brother. No one but you can wield it. "

"Who ARE you?" Dean asked as he got to his feet. And sat down in a chair. Until his head stopped throbbing that was as much as he could do right now. What the hell happened? Did he have a vision? Is this what Sam went through every single time?

"Michael." He stated simply. "But I like Mickey. That's what people that know me these days call me. When the throbbing stops, come walk with me."

Dean stared at him. "You're following me and my brother. Why should I go off with a walk with you? You could be some kind of pervert. Or FBI. Or both." He said with narrowed eyes. Oh, Joshua had some explaining to do.

"Following you?" He asked with a smirk. "You always showed up where I already was. Not sure how that counts as me following you." He had expected that part. Amused him really. But he wasn't about to out wings in front of the people there in the cafeteria.

Dean rubbed his head and reached for the coffee. "It does, somehow." Dean said. He'd figure out the hows and whys. "How do you know about the sword?" No one was supposed to know. "You knew where it was, didn't you?"

"I've always known where it was." He said. "And if you want to find out more, come talk to me outside." Mickey said and turned on his heel to head toward the exit. He knew that eventually Dean would want answers. Even if it meant speaking to him privately.

Dean watched him go, grabbed the sword and refilled his coffee. "Andy, if I'm not back in twenty minutes, get Josh, get Ash, get Sam, and come get me. Charge in the like the hero, impress the girl, whole cliche." He said as he took a deep breath and followed Mickey outside. "Fine, I'm outside." He said, wariness in every inch of his posture.

"You aren't going to believe a word I say unless I show you... so hold on to your hat... try not to pass out will ya." He said and slowly revealed his true nature. Standing before Dean Winchester was Michael the Archangel, complete with wings and flaming sword.

His wingspan was enormous. Bigger than even the 'angel' corpse they had found in that shop. And it was all Dean could focus on. For the life of him, he couldn't find the man's face. Or even tell if it was still a 'male' at all. Wings, flaming hair, flowing hair, that he could see. Face? Nope. He looked down at the sword in his hand. "Holy shit." He muttered. "No pun intended. Okay..um...wow...okay, so...I get it. I think."

Michael returned to his favorite human form. That of Mickey. "I'm here to train you to use the sword. I'm not allowed to do much more than that. Breaks the rules of engagement in a really big way, which would let the other side get away with more. So don't even ask, if I say I can't... I can't. Not won't. Can't."

Dean shook his head. "Wow. Okay." He said. "You know, this is a lot to take in, and I got a lot of stuff to sort through." Like if angels really did exist, where were they that night? Were they watching like his mother said, and just stood idly by?

"I'd have to wonder about you if it wasn't." Mickey said. "I can answer most of your questions. Some of them I am sure you won't like the answers to, so be sure you really want to know the answer before you ask."

"Okay." Dean said. "Why not Sam? This whole thing is his gig. I'm just the bulldozer. You'll never find a greater man than Sam, he should do it."

"Because Sam is tainted." Mickey said and lifted his hand. "Not anything he can control, or through any action of his own. All those like him... are tainted. It's how the Demon goes about it. He is a good man... but he isn't able to so much as lift the sword."

Dean suddenly felt so heavy. He had a lot of questions. And a lot of pressure too. "Do...angels...really just sit up there on some cloud and watch?" He asked. "Just...watch. Maybe grab some popcorn, a beer?"

"We all have different jobs. Different things we do to aid the Almighty, and humanity as He sees fit. Something we can never do... is interfere with free will, or the consequences of free will. It goes against His plan. It's not entertaining to us. Usually it's heart breaking or enraging."

And Dean was suddenly angry with it all. "So let me get this straight. You guys sat by and watched my mother get killed. Sat there and watched whatever it did to my brother. Watched as my father died...twice. Watched as Sam and I were possessed by your former best friends and beat the holy hell out of each other, and trashed a city on top of that. Watched as Sam was kidnapped and tortured by the government. And now you're going to watch while I take this fucking sword and fight a battle that I didn't fucking start? And you guys are the good guys?"

"Actually I went down into hell and pulled your father out, which by the way was not as easy as it might sound, especially considering he was there by his own free will. As for the rest, yes, we're the good guys. You humans... you kill me... you don't want to be told no don't do that. Don't break the rules, but you still want us to come swooping down with wings flapping and swords blazing to save you from yourselves and each other." He shook his head. "Good isn't defined by nice. It isn't defined by helpful or how often we save your bacon, which is a lot more than you will ever know."

Dean shook his head. "If I have my theology right, this," he said, lifting the sword up, "is for a war that humanity didn't start. So I'm finishing your battle while you hide behind rules." Everything his family had gone through, everything Sam had gone through, everything he had gone through...fine, free will whatever. But he and Sam didn't freely and willfully ask a demon to hunt them, or torture their father.

"Never said it was fair. That's not a concept that matters a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things. You can stand there and yell at me over a war that I didn't start either, or you can suck it up and prove that you are worthy to carry the thing. Humanity didn't start the war but they have gone a long way toward furthering it with your cults and your summonings, and your dabbling in things you shouldn't."

"Is my father at peace?" Dean asked instead. It was important to him. John had gone to hell for him. Literally, and willingly. And crawled out when his sons needed him. If there was anyone in the whole history of man who deserved rest, it was John Winchester.

"Yes, he and your mother both." He answered honestly. They had earned it. Mary when she had saved her sons from the spirit in that house, and John for all that he had done to further the fight against the darkness. "Hell was never supposed to be his fate. He only went out of choice. That's why I was able to bring him back...it was, in his case, a selfless act. It gave him the chance to redeem himself."

"Good." Dean said. "Okay, so you're a freaking angel. So that thing in the shop was an angel too? Still haunting the place as well?" He was still bruised from that little encounter.

"Haunting? No. But I wasn't about to let you disrespect him in his final duty. That was my friend, my brother. You wouldn't be so willing to let someone disrespect Sam's remains either, I am sure."

"That was you?" Dean asked, shaking his head. "You went over board, dude. It's impossible to knock sense into me. Okay, so why me? Cause if there's a commandment I haven't broken, I'd love to see it." Possibly Honor Thy Father and Mother, but that was about it. He lied, cheated, stole, killed, cursed and everything else. Used relics from other religions and faiths with ease.

"Because it's supposed to be you." Mickey said. "It's as simple as that. If you had crossed too far into the realm of darkness, you wouldn't be able to touch the sword and then the human race would be beyond screwed. Besides... warriors aren't sweet and innocent. Do you really think angels are cherubs? Raphael was a little nutty on the babies with wings and loose fitting diapers."

Dean blanched at that. "Excuse me? I'm responsible for the non screwing of the whole human race?" Oh, that wasn't pressure at all. And he thought his father put pressure on him. "Think you got the wrong guy."

"You're responsible for killing one demon. Yeah, if you don't kill that demon the human race is nothing but demon fodder. I think you can handle one demon. Especially that particular demon."

Dean shook his head. "Great." He said. "Which one? The one I'm hunting or the one that's hunting me? Can I take them both out? I haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time, and this will go a long way toward that."

"Azazel is the one that you are destined to destroy. Tamiel... well... no one is going to complain if you are an over achiever." Mickey said with a shrug. "The more you take out now, the fewer I have to fight in the end. "

"Is this why I managed to be possessed and not tainted or whatever word you used? And is this why I was possessed in the first place?" Dean demanded. "You ever been possessed? Ever been trapped inside your skull as your body wreaks havoc on a city, hurting or killing who knows how many innocent bystanders? And this constitutes free will?"

"At the age of 18, you could have walked away. Even if you wanted to stay and keep your brother safe for another 4 years, you could have left this life then. You chose to stay in the fight. So yes... it's the consequences of free will. You don't leap off a cliff and complain half way down because God doesn't save you. Which by the way... he sent me to do back there. When you leapt from the rooftops. He sent me to give you the weapon to finish the fight. So man up, and quit whining about how unfair it all is. War isn't about what's fair. "

"Couldn't come in a gun, or a cross bow, or even a knife, something I know how to use, right?" Dean said, shaking his head. "Fine. Teach me how to use this thing, because right now, I'm pretty much blaming everything on those demons, and I'd love to take it out on them."

"It's that whole as above so below rule. I didn't set up the universe. I just live in it. So, let's go over there. In those trees. Don't want to draw a crowd just yet. It's distracting and you don't need the distraction."

"I like crowds." He said with a grin. He could satisfy his inner ham then. But he nodded and went into the trees. "Wait, I have to tell Andy. Told him twenty minutes or he was to bring out the calvary."

Mickey nodded. "I'll meet you over there in the trees." He said, hoping that Dean was ready for what was to come. This wasn't going to be easy, a crash course in using a sword against a former archangel.

Dean went and told Andy. Well, not everything. Just that the guy wasn't going to kill him. He hoped. and went back into the patch of trees and looked at the sword. "Doesn't look like much, you know that, right?" Dean said. "It was much cooler in my little whacked out acid trip I had in the cafeteria."

"Very little is what it appears to be on the outside. Besides, if it looked like a great flaming earthly equivalent of an angelic blade, do you think it could be hidden away to wait for the right man to come and find it?" He asked as he drew his own sword seemingly from nowhere.

"Good point." Dean said. "I did send Andy out for Braveheart and 300 though. Even if it's not really good research, they're awesome films. So, what? Do I just swing at you and watch you disarm me embarassingly easily?"

"Only if you want to re-enact painful scenes from Highlander." He said with a chuckle. "You hold it like this, not this." He said, starting Dean with the basics. showing him a proper grip, a proper stance. "Never swing while up on the balls of your feet, sucks the power out of the blow and can throw you off balance."

It was hours later when they emerged from the woods. Dean was soaked with sweat, pants all grass and dirt stained, and sore as all hell. Mickey? He looked fine. Like he had taken a simple walk, really.

"This place better have hot running water." Dean muttered, rubbing out a kink in his shoulder. "So I'm the only one that can pick this thing up?" He asked about the sword, which felt a lot heavier now than it had hours before.

"That's right. Keeps it out of the the wrong hands." He said with a shrug. "Trust me, you don't want something like that in the hands of evil." Mickey said. "Get a shower and get some rest. We'll start again in the morning."

"So I don't have to carry this around all the time? That was my real question." Dean asked. He was a man who concentrated on immediate concerns. And having to carry a sword around all the time, in this compound, would be trouble waiting to happen.

"No you don't have to carry it around all the time, it can't be stolen." He said. "You'll know when it's time to carry it into battle."

"Good to know." Dean said. "See you in the morning." He said and went straight away to find Sam. He sat down across from Sam. "Remember when I said I don't believe in angels?"

"Yeah... I remember. You were right." Sam said, remembering how disillusioned he had been when the reality of the situation had come to light, just as his brother had said it would.

"No, actually I was pretty wrong." Dean said. "And angels...they're pretty fucking scary." He said as he stole some of Sam's food. "Really really scary."

"Okay... spill... cause right now... with what you have just said, I am starting to think that your fever has come back." Sam said looking at Dean worriedly.

"I feel great." Dean said. "Considering. No, I'm serious, dude. Okay, that hotel manager? Not a manager. Same guy I stood next to in Arby's, and, well, he was the one smacking me around in the curiosity shop. Cause, he's not human. I've seen him, Sam. And he ain't no baby in diapers playing a harp."

"You... got better after he came and touched you..." Sam said quietly. "He's here? There is an actual honest to God angel around here?" Sam wasn't sure how to take that. Before he had been desperately hoping for a means of redemption, a means of fighting the taint that ran through his veins. But now, he had just accepted that God had abandoned him the day the demon had claimed him and he was on his own in the world. Dean being the only living being he could truly count on.

"Oh yeah." Dean said. "Like the archangel kind of angel. In fact, Michael of all archangels. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed actually." With everything else that had been said and pointed out and laid on him. "But don't feel bad about the sword. Apparently I'm the only one that can lift the thing."

Sam actually looked relieved. It was one weight off of his shoulders. "Dude, you are so better suited to that than I am. But, are you okay with that? " He didn't even want to touch the fact that it was Michael. At least his visions weren't the psychotic ramblings of a man in too many time zones at once.

Dean shook his head and ran a hand over his face. "Dude? Better suited? I can't do this." Dean said. He didn't think he was better suited at all. If he had to pick someone to do this, what he was asked and told to do, he'd be the last person he'd pick.

"If you couldn't do it... they wouldn't have picked you. I doubt they want anyone to fail in this fight. Besides... what makes you think you can't do it?"

"Sam." Dean said, surprised that Sam didn't get it. "I'm a screw up. I've had one major job all my life, watch out for my pain in the ass little brother, and I've managed to screw that one up at every turn." Possessed, kidnapped, tortured, not to mention the times Sam would just take off! "Now I'm supposed to save humanity?"

"Dude, you rescued me more times than I can count. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be alive right now. Most of the people here would still be in that installation. You can't help that bad things happen. That isn't in your power to prevent, but when it does, you always come through. That's what makes you a hero. "

"You think so?" Dean asked, unconvinced. "I don't know, this whole thing seems right up your alley, not mine. I kinda like being the mouthy anti-hero." He teased.

"Yeah well you can be the mouthy anti-hero that wields a sword and saves the day." Sam said. "That's about as close to a compromise as you are going to get."

Dean sighed. "This sucks. It does. And this archangel guy, worse drill sergeant than Joshua could ever hope to be. He makes Josh look like Mary Poppins."

"I don't know... Mary Poppins was pretty hard core in her own way." He said with a grin. "Sounds like you are gonna be busy for a while. I wonder if Andy located a hot tub in this place or if we should just go straight for the hydrotherapy tub."

Dean gave his brother a look. "Are you suggesting I get in a hot tub with my brother?" He asked. "Think I'll pass. Maybe we should go to town or something. Find a nice dark pool hall, hot girls...bet I could find one that could work out the kinks."

"Dude, in no way was suggesting we both get in at the same time but yeah, I think we could both use a few beers." Sam agreed. "I'll let Andy know we're taking off. "

"Sounds good, I'm gonna go shower." Dean said and headed to where one of the three working bathrooms were. And someone was using it. So he went to the second one. Again, occupied. When he got to the third one, and someone was in it, he banged on the door. "C'mon!" He called in. "Other people have to shit, shower and shave too!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, hold your horses." Came the voice from within.

"I see you were spared the dorm room experience too." Andy said as he was passing by "We're working on getting more. Just gotta be patient for now." He said and continued on by.

"It's not my horses I'm worried about." Dean said. "I thought a motel room, sharing a bathroom with Sam and his hair was bad." Dean commented to Andy. "Oh, hey, Andy. Sam and I are heading out. Hopefully to have a little fun."

"Good luck with that." Andy called over his shoulder as the bathroom occupant stepped out wrapped in a towel.

"It's all yours, man."

"Thanks." Dean said. And stepped into the shower. Miraculously, there was hot water left, as he scrubbed the grime, sweat and dirt from his work out off. Letting the steam open his lungs up until he coughed and the streaming hot water massage the sore, tired and hurting muscles and bones. He couldn't wait to see what shape he was in at fifty. If he got to fifty. Right now, he was hoping to make it to thirty. He got out, and changed into clean clothes, meeting Sam. "Ran into Andy. He wishes us luck."

"Yeah. I saw him afterward. Take some ibuprophen before we go. You look like you still hurt." Sam said as they headed out to the Impala. "How's your cold doing?"

"Dude, my cold is fine. Nearly gone." Dean said, scowling. Or at least enough that he could fake through it. He didn't respond to the pain question. Most hunters were in pain after a few years of doing it. He'd been doing it for nearly twenty years! Pain was expected, right? "Why do you always comment on my pain? I thrashed you pretty good in New Orleans too you know."

"Yeah... but I wasn't the one in traction." Sam pointed out. "So apparently I kicked your ass. And you haven't been continuing physical therapy since we started running for our lives. So yeah...I worry about you being in pain."

"Dude, like I need physical therapy. What are they going to do? Make me walk from one side to the other? Maybe manipulate my joints till they crack? I get enough exercise, thanks. And if I need my body manipulated, well, that's why we're going to the bar, right?" He asked with a smirk.

"Entirely different kind of manipulation." Sam said with a chuckle. "And I don't think it's your body that needs manipulation. I think you need to go and make yourself feel unworthy or something."

"Dude, you took too many psych courses in college." Dean said with a scowl. "Make myself feel unworthy. By getting drunk off my ass, scamming some poor sucker at pool, and hopefully leaving with the hottest girl there? That makes me the cock of the walk."

"So you don't think any of those habits makes you less... I don't know...holy or something?" Sam teased. It didn't. It wasn't about being holy or wholesome boy next door. Sam knew that. It was about being a hero, about being able to see the job done. About kicking ass. It was about being everything that Dean was.

"Dude, if they're looking for someone holy and wholesome and squeaky clean, they've so got the wrong person." Dean said with a laugh. "And what are the chances of me being right and God being wrong? I mean, really?"

Sam laughed. "Now you are getting it." He said. "Let's face it.. wholesome, holy and squeaky clean isn't going to get neck deep in demon guts when the time comes."

"Not saying I won't screw this up, because I am fully capable of screwing this up royally." Dean said, in a far more good natured tone than he honestly felt. "But right now, I'll go with it. Too bad it's not a line that will get me laid. Dude, I can't even use my so called God given and appointed power thingie for good!"

"Getting laid isn't for the greater good, Dean." Sam said, laughing. "It might be in the world's best interest to keep you happy, mellow and relaxed; but it's still not for the greater good."

"Well, it's for MY greater good." Dean said with a smirk. At least Sam had honestly laughed. It had been a while since that had happened, even if was at Dean's expense, it was a good thing.

"Yeah, I'm sure it is. Between traction and looking after me, you haven't been in circulation as much as you would like, I'm sure. You do realize I'm over 21, right? It's okay to look the other direction for a while and have some fun."

Dean lifted an eyebrow, but didn't respond to that. He was still the big brother, it didn't matter how old Sammy was. It was always his job to look after him, look out for him, and when the occasion called for it, track his ass down.

"You up to playing designated driver?" He asked instead.

"But if you go home with some girl, you are gonna have to call me to come get you cause I am not gonna follow you around all night like a stalker." He said with a laugh.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Fine." He said. "And no sex in the car. I'm serious. I don't even have sex in the car." He pointed out. He didn't either. That would be letting a one night stand too close to his baby, and that just didn't sit right with him!

"Dude, I am not going to pick up some girl in a bar. Your precious is safe. I promise." He said with a laugh.

"Oh, so now she's gone from possessed to something evil out of a book. Nice." Dean said. "If she doesn't start for you, I don't want to hear it."

"If it's not possessed then how does she take offense at things I say?" Sam pointed out. "After all... if she is just a car... a classic yes," he said raising his hands in surrender at the look he recieved from his brother, "where do the personality quirks come from?"

"Just a car." Dean muttered, shaking his head. "Dude, you have no respect for awesome craftmanship." He said. "This car is older than both of us, and she runs better than both of us. Of course she's got feelings and quirks, she's from back in the day when making a car meant something." He went on to list his car's virtues, quite seriously too.

"Dude, don't you think it's a bit odd to think that an engine, surrounded by metal on 4 rubber tires has feelings and quirks? I mean she's a great car... don't get me wrong but.. Dean... she's a car."

"No, I don't." Dean said with a shrug. "With everything else we've dealt with, magical trees that demand sacrifices, houses with a will of their own, elemental spirits...it's not so odd."

"Yeah but those things are usually not on the list of good things to be around." Sam pointed out. "So... here's hoping you're just nuts and it's just a car." He teased.

"Just a car. There you go again." Dean said, shaking his head. "Don't worry, baby, he's just misguided." Dean said, running a hand over the dashboard as he pulled up to a bar.

"Dude, get a room." Sam said as he got out of the car. "That's seriously wrong." He teased and made his way to the bar entrance.

Dean laughed as he got out of the car. "Like I said, misguided." Dean said as they went into the bar and ordered a couple of beers. "Now this...this is normal." He said, referring back to Sam's idea that they never did anything normal.

"Don't say that too loud, you'll jinx it." Sam pointed out. How many times had they started out to do something normal and had it blow up into something so completely not normal that they were left wondering if it was real or drug induced delusions?

"Dude, relax, it's not like we're at Hooters." He said with a laugh and nearly spit out his beer when Mickey walked in. "See! Told you he was stalking us!"

"That's him?" Sam asked, wide eyed. "Dean, that's the hotel manager that told me you had pneumonia and did that whole laying on of hands thing."

"Dude! You let some strange guy feel me up while I was unconscious with fever?!" Dean asked, smacking Sam's shoulder. "That is so freaking wrong."

"He didn't feel you up." Sam said with a laugh. "I was watching. And you started to get better after that so don't complain too much. " He shook his head. "You know... that's not the image I had in my mind of ...well.. you know."

"I thought he'd be wearing a diaper, but that's just me." Dean said with a shrug. No matter what Father Reynolds had said, that was the image that stuck in his head, probably his way of discounting them a bit. "What did you think he'd look like?" Besides, Dean knew it was a shell anyway. He'd seen the real form, as much as he could.

"I don't know... guess I was thinking something more like a ... gentler looking Vin Diesel or something. I mean this is the guy that took on Lucifer and won. He looks like someone from a romantic comedy or something."

"I'm usually too busy to skulk around a gym to impress my fans." Mickey said with an arched eyebrow as he signaled for a beer. "Besides, I could hardly blend if I looked like a gym freak."

"There is that I suppose." Sam said. "So ahm... question... why did you give me the visions instead of Dean? I almost thought it was just another hallucination or time warp thing when I got the first one."

"Does he always question everything?" Mickey asked Dean.

"From the moment he could talk." Dean said cheerfully. Which was true.

"Because you were in the right state of mind for the vision." Mickey said with a shrug. "And Dean would have just thought he had finally drank too much."

"How am I supposed to get answers if I don't ask questions?" Sam pointed out. "And believe me, there is still a lot of missing answers." He didn't know that he wanted to get into it right then. He wanted answers but also didn't necessarily want to ask the questions with Dean sitting right there. He didn't want Dean to worry about things that couldn't be helped or changed.

"This place, Earth, is supposed to be a neutral ground. Where you all earn your passage to heaven or hell, depending on your behavior. For eons we were allowed to nudge. To guide. Whispers in the ear, opportunities presented." Mickey said as he drank his beer. "Then, a certain hot headed fallen angel got ambitious. I bet Luce isn't happy with him, but that's another discussion. He started to interfere. Direct possessions. Nephalim. Direct coercion and changing of regular humans. That meant my side could get a little more into the action. But we had to wait for the time. It seems like an eternity to you, twenty odd years, but it's nothing more than a blink to us. Now's the time. Unfortunately they're amping up their game too, therein lies the problem. Now, anymore questions?"

"Only things you may not know the answers to." Sam said. "Like why is he so focused on me... If Dean is the one meant to weild the sword I get it that the other one is focused on Dean but with all the ones like me out there... why me?"

"Because of your father." Mickey said. "I wonder how the wings are in this place."

"You eat wings?" Dean asked.

"I'm not a chicken." Mickey said. "And I like them hot. Anyway, your father trained you. Extremely well. Everything he would have to teach someone else, is second nature to you. It's like two sides in a war. If you want to kidnap and turn someone, do you go after the guy stuck on KP duty, or do you go right to a captain?"

"Great. Poor Dad, and all this time he thought he was doing this to keep us safe. Little did he know." Sam said with a sigh. "Guess the demon didn't figure on the Winchester hard head."

"He did keep you safe." Mickey said. "Because of that training. And the Winchesters definitely have hard heads, John's I think might be the hardest. But that's why he wants you. To lead an army. Made up of kids like yourself, and demons. His warriors, chaos bringers, destroyers...oh look, they do have wings."

Sam sighed. "Well he isn't going to get his leader and he isn't going to get any of my people for his army." Sam said firmly. He wouldn't let that happen. They had been through too much already at the hands of the military.

"Okay, but how does he pick these kids?" Dean asked. Know your enemy. That was one lesson their father had taught them. Know everything you can before you approach.

"Most are picked randomly." Mickey said as he ordered the wings. "With extra hot sauce." He said. "Random, whenever he gets his mind to it, mostly."

Sam placed his order, which included another beer. He was designated driver but there was a long time before he had to be the one driving. "Randomly." Sam grumbled. "Oh hey there's a baby, let's murder his mom and mess with his entire family. Cause that's the one I happen to see at the moment." The whole random thing pissed him off. It was random that his mother died. Random... Random.

"It was also random that your mother happened to walk into the room while he was there. That's why she's dead. Not all of the mothers were killed. He doesn't like to be interfered with." Mickey said with a shrug.

Dean's foot tapped. "You know what, I'm going to go hustle up a game of pool." Talking about his mother made him squirm, and dammit he was here to have fun.

Mickey watched Dean leave. "Good. He's gone. You're the one that wants answers. Why you specifically? Because of him." He said, pointing at Dean's figure, which was headed toward the billards.

Sam frowned. "Because Dean is the one chosen for the final battle with him... having me in his power would weaken Dean some how... actually would just piss him off more but I guess it doesn't seem obvious when looking at a 4 year old."

"Not quite." Mickey said as his wings came. "You were going to stand in for Azael." He said, letting that hit home.

"He was going to possess me." Sam said, thinking he understood. "And leave at the last moment." He could easily see it now. The reason the Demon had always been careful to leave him alive no matter what. "Seriously thinking I need to go get a tattoo."

Mickey shook his head as he kept an eye on Dean. "Not quite. Again. You weren't going to be possessed." He said. Humans always did need things spelled out to them. He was still amazed that it had to be written in stone (literally) that killing each other was bad.

"He was going to turn me that far?" Sam's head started to hurt at the thought of it, then he frowned. "Like Allen... not exactly possessed but not entirely human anymore either. "

"Now you're getting it." Mickey said. "The way you were raised, the bond you two share, your training, it's helped you resist it. Had you not been able to, those same reasons would have killed your brother."

Sam nodded. None of this was fair. Not one bit. "Is it really going to be over? Or is the son of a bitch going to come back again?"

"An exorcism is just a banishment. Buys you time. Most of your lower demons, they might not crawl out in your life time, but they eventually do." Mickey said. "This, this is true destruction."

"Good." He said with a frown. "Any of his brothers gonna pick up the banner and come after us next, you think? Is that one of the typical war scenarios as well? One general goes down, just toss another one at us with the same war plan."

"Possibly." Mickey said. "Hard to tell. Depends how they interpret what's to come. As a challenge or a warning. I can't believe the champion to our side would rather hang out in a bar than train." He said, shaking his head.

"Dude, you had him training for hours today already. It hasn't been that long ago that the man got out of traction. Whether it's a good time to do so or not you're gonna have to cut him some slack."

"He doesn't have that long to prepare." Mickey said, shooting Sam a look that would have made John cower. "Either he's trained, or you're all screwed. Either he can do it, or you're all screwed. Take your pick. But don't presume to tell me how to do the job I've been doing since before the Earth was even created."

Sam bristled. He felt the heat of the glare, but Sam wasn't about to wither under it. Not when it came to Dean. "He's my brother. I'll tell you what I damned well please. Free will and all. I don't know if you have trained a human being before, but you can't do it 24/7. There is either going to be enough time or there isn't. If not, then we'll come up with something else because it's what we do. It's what we've always done. " He had faced down demons. Which were nothing but politically incorrect angels with an attitude. This was an archangel, and probably the most powerful being short of the trinity, but that was his brother they were talking about.

"So you want me to take it easy on your brother, because he's your brother, and let humanity be damned for it? That's quite an outlook, don't you think?" Mickey asked, amused at being 'stood up to'.

"Honestly... do you think you can get anymore crammed into him when he can't hardly move any more? Do you really think it's going to be better to work hard for two days all day then have to wait for a day or even a week while his body repairs itself again? Or maybe that 8 hours to 10 hours a day is enough since you will get to continue longer. But hey, if you can fix his body where it doesn't hurt too much to move, be my guest. I'm not asking you to do anything but realize what it is you are doing."

"Your brother doesn't feel pain the same way you do." Mickey said. "He's fine. He's got a mouth on him. When he's had enough, he should say so. But sometimes, the heart is indeed stronger thant he body, and it can carry you through. I realize he's your brother and you want to protect him. You've seen some scary things happen to him because of this whole thing. But he's an adult. And he's a warrior."

"And if I don't look out for him while he isn't looking out for himself, who will? You?" Sam asked. "You can break a body when the heart isn't strong enough to carry you through.. and then the heart breaks right afterward. Don't break my brother." Sam said locking gazes with him. "The demons haven't managed that yet. Would be a real shame if it was an angel that finally managed."

Mickey returned the gaze, looking right through and into Sam. "It would be a shame if his brother broke him as well. Remember that wherever you tread."

"I do. Every day. Every bad thing that has happened to him has happened because of me. Because I was too damned stubborn to give in to the demon. Or maybe it was because your side was still trying to play by its rules while the other side was tearing my family apart. Thank you for pulling my father out of hell. Thank you for training Dean with the sword. But the hard cold facts of the matter... is that you wouldn't have bothered if it didn't fit your own agenda." Sam said as he got up from his seat. "After all... it wasn't you out there saving people. It was my brother. He's not just a warrior, he's a hero, and you should remember that. Dean may have regained his faith in Angels and Heaven with all this. Me... I lost it somewhere in the future and it didn't come back when I did. So right now, I don't trust you any more than I do the other side. " He started to walk away.

"You want it both ways. Your brother does too. You want the advantages of free will with none of the consequences. It doesn't work that way." Mickey said. "I have one agenda, and that's protecting my...home." He said, referring to the Kingdom of Heaven. He was in a bar after all. "That's always been my agenda. Don't push your own feelings of inadequacy and guilt onto me. Because I'm not someone who will accept it."

"You just proved my point. Everything you do here is to protect your home. To finish your war." Sam said as he looked back at Mickey. "It wasn't my choice to be chosen for this... it wasn't Dean's. Jessica didn't chose to be pinned to the ceiling and set aflame. So don't go throwing free will in my face. It's one of those things like the right to bear arms. It's subject to interpretation and only applies when it's convenient to the powers that be. "

"You could both drop out of the fight right now." Mickey said. "Nothing says you have to stay in it. Right there, free will. No, it wasn't your choice that you were chosen. But it's your choice whether or not to step up to the plate."

"Dean has a choice." Sam said. "I don't. If I don't stay where I am, doing what I am doing, I become an easy target for the demon. So tell me. Is Jessica at least at peace up there or is she in hell for living with me out of wed lock and all those other little sins we get taught about in Sunday school?"

"Oh those nice little rules made up by man?" Mickey asked, amused. "She's at peace. I held her hand at her judgement and opened the gates for her." That was another one of jobs after all.

"Rules made up by man." Sam muttered and shook his head. " I suppose I should thank you for that too. She was the one true innocent in all of this. " He said. "If my being part of this fight some how makes it alright that I've been marked by a demon since before I was eating solid food. Fine. It is what it is... but Jessica was innocent of any of it. She didn't even know that Demons existed. Didn't know that there was any reason to fear the dark. How many people have died like that... innocent of anything to do with this...Just another casualty in your war to protect your home. And free will is somehow the excuse that makes it all okay. We step up and defend OUR home and it's suddenly free will ... our own choice since we didn't go like lambs to the slaughter that makes it all okay and our own damned fault. Nice. And to think I wasted all that time on my knees when it doesn't matter anyway. Cause I have free will."

"And I don't." Mickey said, emphatically. "That's what makes us different. Free will and mortality. God listens. He doesn't always answer like you think He should, or when you think He should, but he listens."

"Since I found out what Dad knew about me... I have spent so much time praying... thinking that maybe just maybe there was something out there watching over me. I thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a way to make up for it all... make up for the evil that's been lurking inside me just waiting to pop out. Figured if I prayed hard enough, if I saved enough people, maybe I could find a little redemption. But you know... you hear no often enough... you stop asking. You can think it's cause I'm a spoiled ungrateful jerk all you like. But the fact of the matter is...I'm tired... 20 years is a blink of an eye for you... but it isn't for me. It's my whole damned life, it's every one I have ever loved or thought maybe I could love ripped away from me... it's years of chemicals and electroshock... and watching him die over and over again... years that didn't exist for anyone but me... but it was all for your war. Excuse me if I am just a little bitter about it all."

"And that didn't happen, and won't happen." Mickey said. "You're being offered redemption right now, don't you see that? Redemption isn't a big event. It's a series of small steps."

"I'm not doing it for redemption anymore. I'm doing it because it needs to be done. If God decides to grant a little peace in the after life, so be it. If not... well I guess there isn't anything I can do to change that either so.. I can't worry about it any more. I have enough to worry about." Mickey could say it didn't happen, but it did. He saw and felt every minute of it. He supposed he should be thankful for the blessing that Dean didn't. But then... it was Dean who was responsible for it not happening in this time line. Not God nor any of His angels. "Dean is all I have left. Don't destroy him in the process of winning the battle."

"There are only two beings in the whole universe that can destroy either of you utterly. And that's each other. Brothers have been a dichotomy since time began." Mickey said. "I'm just here to train him and keep him alive until the day comes."

Sam nodded, although he wasn't sure he believed it. There were days when he was sure a good strong wind could break both of them. Others he was sure they were on top of the world. "Okay... not much else to say then." Certainly nothing that would do anyone any good.

"I suppose not." Mickey said and raised his beer to Sam. "Except, of course, watch your tone with me. I'll take only so much disrespct before I'm forced to throw down."

"I think you'll find that my tone directly reflects the amount of arrogance it's directed at. Have a nice night." He said and went to play darts, he had shared and exposed enough of himself for one night. Didn't plan to do that ever again in his lifetime. Not that it did any good. Son of a bitch still pretty much said it was their own fault what ever the demons did because they were blessed with free will. Didn't exactly endear the man to him, archangel or not.

"Fool. And He loves you so." Mickey said after Sam, before returning to his food and drink.

Sam took his frustrations out on the dart board, glancing over at Dean periodically to make sure he was alright. It was hard to shake the mood that had settled over him. He wanted nothing more than to be like his brother and able to shake off the job as they called it, for a few hours in a bar, or in the arms of a strange woman. He couldn't though.

Dean had learned to compartmentalize early in his life. Probably by the time he was eight. Maybe as late as ten. But he knew how to shove the different sections of his life into different parts of his mind. Helped him stay sane. Stopped him from becoming angsty.

He wasn't sure if anymore there was a 'real Dean,' or just pieces of Dean that people got to see. The real him chopped up and shoved into little boxes labeled 'pool,' 'hunting,' 'drinking,' and 'girls.' Probably the only one that had seen all the parts was Sammy, because he'd been around for all the parts the last couple of years. And the parts that no one else saw, like the 'raising Sammy' part.

So now he was in 'pool' and 'girls' mood. Flirting with a girl, hustling some pool, and trying to forget the archangel lurking in the corner.

Mickey frowned as he watched Dean operate. There were plenty of women in the bar, why did he have to focus on the one woman in the place that was bad for him in a big way?

He picked up his wings and beer and made his way over to a table by where Dean was playing pool.

Dean frowned. The last thing he needed or wanted was a babysitter. So he caught Sam's attention. "Dude, I'm headed out." He said and tossed the keys to Sam, who was at the dart board, and grinned at the girl by his side. Missy? Penny? Dani? It was something that ended like that. Wasn't important anyway. "Come on, this place is a little crowded." He said as he went to lead her out. "Don't wait up." He said to Mickey as he passed.

"Dean... This is not a good idea right now." Mickey said. Why did they always think they knew best? They didn't even know which end was up most of the time. Humans.

"This is completely a good idea right now. You've got me all kinked up, she might be able to unknot me, if you get my drift." Dean said with a devil may care grin.

"Or tie you up like a pretzel." He pointed out. "Have a little dignity." He could understand human needs, occasionally Angels had needs too, but this was... beneath him.

"Dude? Dignity? Please." Dean said. "I'm fine, and I'll always be fine. You worry too much. Worry about Sam, he's shooting death glares at the dart board. Me? I got plans."

"I'm not responsible for Sam... and he isn't responsible for what's coming. You are."

Dean shook his head. "Sorry, I need a little fun in my life, or I get crabby and unco operative. Why? Is she a demon sent by the other side to off me before I get going?"

"No... but I wouldn't go unprotected if I were you." The woman had been around as much as Dean had and wasn't nearly as careful. "You can't afford to get sick right now." He said and stood to walk away. Free will was a bitch. So were the consequences.

Dean laughed. "I'm always protected." And squeamish. At the first sight of nasty sores or drainage, he would make up an excuse, or just flat out tell them, and leave. He wasn't stupid. And there was a reason he didn't have an STD or paternity suits chasing him.

Mickey nodded. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He said and took his seat once more. He figured he could finish his wings and beer before fading away and keeping an eye on him anyway.

Dean returned an hour later in a bad mood as he joined his brother at the dart board. "Well, that was a buzz kill." He said as he took his share of darts and started throwing them. "Girl needs a body condom."

"That bad huh?" Sam asked. "Sorry to hear that. Maybe we can try another bar tomorrow." He suggested.

"Maybe." Dean said. "So are you done angsting?" He asked his brother. "I might take a turn if you are."

"Close as I am gonna get to done." Sam said. "Go for it." He didn't want to be alone right then. Needed the reassurance of having his brother there. Didn't need Dean to fix anything. Just to be there.

"Good. My turn." Dean said with a chuckle as he signaled for a beer. "So she was hot. Get undressed, get to the good part, and god I thought I was going to puke. How does someone let something get that bad without getting it checked out? Even I'm not that bad." Dean said with a chuckle. "So I think it's just me and you tonight. Afraid next time I'll end up with Chlamydia girl or something."

"Nice." He said. "Dean, you are no where near that bad. You are very careful. You have a survival instinct whether you want to admit it or not." Sam said with a faint chuckle.

Dean chuckled as he drank his beer. "Yeah, guess I do. Your turn." He said, in reference to the darts. "What pisses me off most, is that Mickey tried to warn me. Guess he can see that sort of stuff. But he's not warning me out of the goodness of his heart. I am so freaking sick of being a chess piece on a board I don't even want to be on."

"Yeah I know how you feel but he seems to think that free will clause absolves every thing. When was the last time you felt like you had a real choice?" Sam asked. "I mean sure there is always an alternative. We could become real fugitives and run for Mexico and South America, or we could turn ourselves in or go out in a blazing gun fight. But those aren't real choices. It's ways to make things worse than they already are. This is our only choice and I swear if he says free will one more time I am going to pluck his damned tail feathers."

That image had Dean laughing. "Dude, I'll even help you hold him down." Dean promised. "Seriously, though, when Mom said we had angels watching over us...I'm sure she didn't mean the arrogant I'm right and you will do what I say because I'm a freaking archangel with really big wings kind."

"Yeah, those guys are too busy protecting their home to watch over little children and their mother. " Sam said with a scowl. "Nope we got the ones that watch over you and take notes I'm sure. Hope they got all the details right." He growled as he tossed the darts one after the other.

"Well, whatever." Dean said. "They'll do what they're told, and we'll do what we want. Or what we have to." Dean said with a shrug. "I just want this over with. Once and for all."

"I don't know that it will be." Sam said honestly. "This one goes down, another will just take his place." He said getting the darts and moving out of the way so his brother could play.

Dean took his place and started throwing. "One thing at a time, Sam." Dean said, sounding tired. And he was. He was tired of it all. How much was he expected to give? "Besides, you know what, looking back," looking back all of an hour, "she really wasn't that hot."

Sam started to laugh then. "Yeah well, I wasn't going to say anything." He said, trying to let some of the tension leave him. His brother didn't deserve to have to hear it. He had enough on his plate. "Maybe we should just go on back to ... our rooms and get some rest."

"Yeah, probably a good idea." Dean said. He was more tired than he thought he'd be. "Sam...everything's gonna be okay. All right? You're gonna get through this."

"I know." He said quietly. And he did. He just didn't know how sane he would be by the end of it. Maybe he should follow Dean's example and drink the bad memories away. He wondered if it would work, wondered why he remembered something that had never really had the chance to happen. "I'm just tired is all. Nothing to worry about. "

Dean nodded. But he worried anyway as they got into the Impala and headed back to the compound. "Dude, maybe we should just go get a whole lot of alcohol and make our own bar here." Would save the hassle.

"You know, sounds like a plan... " Sam said as he leaned back against the seat. "We can at least close our door and be left alone for a few minutes at a time."

"And no angels allowed." Dean said with a laugh. "He wants a beer, he has to go get it someplace else." He said as he drove. "But being left alone would be nice for once." At least between Andy, Ash and Bobby, the compound was all set up and running smoothly.

"No doubt." Sam said. "Unfortunately we are not at any time going to get a few days to be left alone. Your guardian angel and patron saint seems to think there isn't enough time to train you as it is. "

"There probably isn't. But I'll give it my best shot." Dean said with a shrug. "You know, next time, let's just skip the bar and go to one of those massage parlors."

"So long as we are sure it isn't going to get busted anytime soon." He said. "That would be the last thing we need."

"Ah yes, the dreaded consequences of free will and all." Dean said as they drove into the compound. "Yup, pulling out tail feathers is a nice pay back for that. Or maybe the pinion feathers."

"There is that." Sam said with a laugh. "You know, I think he has a very different idea of what free will is. Or what the consequences of it is or should be."

"That's possible. But I bet his feathers would look really nice in some of that art that Susan chick likes to do." Dean said, referring to one of the other psychics, who didn't talk much, instead she immersed herself in art.

"Yeah it would do her a world of good too. You know ... all these people... tortured to the breaking point and he doesn't do anything to help them...to fix what was broken. Maybe I'm blaming the wrong guy though... maybe Mickey is just... I don't know... like a computer. It's not going to play a video unless you tell it to, or open your email unless you tell it to. So God isn't telling Mickey to fix things, just train you and prepare you to fight ole yellow eyes."

"Might not be anything he can do anyway. Aren't angels supposed to have specific jobs and crap anyway?" Dean pointed out. "So I guess we're back to blaming God then."

"Yeah... I know." He said, grumbling, not wanting to admit it. "He just pissed me off is all. I'll get over it."

Dean chuckled as they got out of the Impala. "Sure. Cause you never hold a grudge. Not Sammy. I think you still hold a grudge against me for eating the last cookie back when you were nine." Dean said with a laugh.

"Not really... now the nair in my shampoo you are still on the hook for." Sam said, then went into a long list of practical jokes Dean had pulled that weren't so funny on the receiving end, until he actually found himself laughing.

Dean was laughing as they remininsced about the stunts they'd pulled on each other. "Ah, you enjoyed it. Bitch." Dean said with a grin.

"Not the nair." He said. "Especially when Dad sided with you over the whole thing." He added, trying not to laugh in that moment.

"Dude, of course he did. It was the only way we could get you to cut your hair." Dean said. "I might try it again too...you never know." He said with a grin and saw Mickey out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, yeah, we're in for the night."

"It's my hair, back off." Sam said jokingly, and frowned faintly at the angel.

Mickey nodded. "I'll see you first thing in the morning. Sun up." He told Dean and turned to leave the brothers in peace. He worried about Sam. So much bitterness, pain and fear wrapped up in that human. It couldn't end well.

Dean smirked at Sam. "Sun up? He has to be insane. It's the only explanation. Me? Sun up? Yeah, okay." Dean said. He liked to sleep in. Even when they had to be on the road early, he gave Sam first drive so he could sleep.

"Yeah I think so... but he ahm... seems pretty serious about it." Sam said as he entered the bedroom. "Bet he will drag you out of bed if he has to though. I'd get to sleep pretty fast."

"Dammit." Dean said as he headed to his own bed. And tried to go to sleep, really he did. But there was that whole vision thing he had. And he didn't have visions! And the training, the pressure...the nasty image of the girl he almost had...sleep came with difficulty and it never lasted long.

5:30 the following morning Mickey was rapping at their door. He was impatient, wanting to get in as much training as possible. They wouldn't be the ones to choose the time and place for the battle. The wouldn't have time to plan for alternatives. They only thought they knew the evil they were facing. Of course, he supposed human beings had as much trouble seeing true evil as they did true good.

Dean heard the rapping and rolled over, taking his pillow out from under his head and burying his head beneath it. He had gotten a glance at his watch. No way. Wasn't happening. Five thirty AM? AM? But hell no! Mickey could kiss his non angelic ass.

The angel stepped through the door, without opening it and strode over to Dean's bed, and pulled the pillows out of his hands "Wake up. It's time to get started."

Dean grunted and pulled his other pillow. "Too...early." He mumbled. He wasn't an early bird. He was a night owl. All this time of 'watching' him and he didn't know that? What kind of watcher was he? Obviously not that observant.

Then he was rolled out of bed. By the mattress being lifted off the bed and dumped. "Hey!" Dean said, barely missing getting his head knocked on the nightstand. "Dude! What gives?"

"It's time to begin training. Get dressed and ready. We don't have time for you to sleep all day."

"Wasn't planning on all day. I was hoping for at least eight though." Dean said with a frown. "Dude, are you also the patron saint of sadistic drill sergeants?"

"No, but I might consider it an option in the future, now come on. Everything is riding on your ability to fight with the sword. We don't have time to waste. You want 8 hours of sleep, go to bed before midnight. Now come on."

"This free will theory of yours, it's a freaking joke." Dean said as he pulled on his jeans and a tee shirt. Righting the mattress so he could sit on it and lace up his boots. "Sure, technically I have a choice. I could forget all about this thing, but then all those people die, so really, what kind of a choice is it?"

Mickey gave him a look. "It's a choice." He said. "You have the ability to make that choice. No one ever said they would be easy choices... but they are choices."

"Yeah well, option B is a sucky choice. So because of that, you get to stop throwing this free will bullshit in our faces. Because I certainly didn't 'choose' to be in the middle of all of this." Dean said as he finished, grabbed the sword and stalked out. "Coffee first."

"Yes you did." Mickey said as he followed him. "And those hard choices, choosing to do what needs to be done over what you want to be doing is what makes you worthy to carry that sword."

"I did NOT choose this. I don't care how you spin it. I didn't choose this." Dean said emphatically as he made his way to the kitchen. Where he had to make coffee because everyone else apparently had the luxury of sleeping in. He glared at the coffee maker as it percolated and dripped. "But you know what? I'll do it. But until I fully wake up, until I've drank my first cup of coffee, I get to bitch and complain and you get to listen. And like it."

Mickey chuckled, considered pointing out that Dean had just, yet again, made the choice, but decided against it. They just didn't understand the precious gift they had been given. The ability to choose the course of their own lives, to choose the side of the battle, to be able to choose to leave the battle. He found it ironic that they were loved above all others because they could choose not to love in return.

If Mickey had talked to Sam about how Dean was in the morning, he would have been told Dean and morning did not get along. So Dean rummaged for food as the coffee was brewing, and kept up his bitching monologue. Non stop. Even if Mickey wanted to get a word in edge wise, it wasn't happening. Dean just kept on going and going. He talked while eating. While drinking. While mixing some baking soda in water to rinse his mouth out with. He even managed to complain while gargling.

"Fine, let's do this. Then you get to leave me alone for the rest of the day, because I will CHOOSE to ignore you." He said grumpily as he made his way out of the kitchen.

Mickey figured that by the time he was done with Dean for the day, the man would crawl into bed and sleep until time to start again the following morning. It would do him good. He doubted he could convince the man that fasting and prayer would also aid him in his battles and training.

Once in the small clearing designated as their training area, Mickey began once more with stance and form exercises. "Wake up, Winchester. We're going to do this until you can get it right consistently."

"You're an asshole. Why don't you go back up to a fluffy cloud and strum a harp or something?" Dean shot back as he repeated the exercise over and over.

"You humans take that word Choir far too seriously. " He said rolling his eyes. "Again." He said and made corrections in Dean's stance, although the corrections were becoming smaller, and less frequent. "Good. Go get something to eat, meet me back here in half an hour. Retape your hands, and wear gloves."

"Why?" Dean said. "Hand to hand? Dude, I'm good at hand to hand. It's all about improvisation anyway." And lots of cheap shots. The cheaper the better. He was already sweating, and his shoulders ached. He was on the verge of wheezing, still with remnants of the pneumonia, but he'd never admit that part.

"No, because I don't want your hands to blister and bleed." He said looking Dean over. "Go on... get something to eat, and sit down to eat it." He would either have to heal him completely or take it a little easy on him until he healed on his own.

"Wow, thanks. I was going to stand on my head and eat, but now, thanks to that insightful tip, I'm less likely to choke." Dean said with a roll of his eyes, going into the kitchen and finding Sam in the meeting hall. "Well good morning princess."

"Hey." Sam said. "You look beat already." Sam said worriedly. "Everything going okay?" He asked. He knew that it was necessary for Dean to train this hard, but didn't like that it was beating him down so far.

"Dude, I've been up since 5:30 AM. That's completely not a natural state of being for me." Dean said with a laugh as he ate. "Hope none of you expect it to last. Because if Dad couldn't get me up before noon on a regular basis, that angel guy does NOT stand a chance."

"Yeah, we'll see. He is an angel after all. Wouldn't making you a morning person fall under the catagory of a miracle?" Sam asked with a grin. "So how is training going? Getting the hang of it?"

"Haven't managed to cut off my toes yet." Dean said with a laugh. "So that's something. I don't know. It's a lot like when Dad taught us how to shoot. Same thing over and over and over and over and over and over..." he stopped saying 'over' when Sam threatened to pelt a roll at his head. With a grin he continued. "It's going."

"Yeah, well I guess it beats him handing you the sword and saying 'okay, now try and hit me.' No matter how much you wanted to do just that at 5am this morning."

"Dude, next time, you're getting up with me. I cannot be the only one to suffer. Come on, that's not fair. We're in this together, remember? Through thick and thin, early mornings and all."

Sam laughed. "We each have our own crosses to bear." He said with a grin as he ate his breakfast. "Me... I have to start sorting out what's going on here and find a way to convince Josh we don't need him in charge, Andy and I can do nicely on our own. "

"Yeah good luck with that one." Dean said. "Well, could send him on a scavenger hunt. Things we need, things we want. That should delay it for a bit, you know, the big show down that ends with you doing push ups."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I know. But you know... I just don't do push ups anymore. Stopped all of that a long time ago. Dad couldn't even make me do them toward the end there."

"His favorite punishment...gone." Dean said with a laugh. "Doesn't mean Josh won't try. Or try that 'don't think I can't knock you down, boy' part. That's fun to watch."

"Yeah... except I am not so easy to knock down anymore either. Why is it so hard for Marines to realise they don't rule the world?" Sam asked as he downed the last of his coffee.

"I don't know about that. I've knocked you down plenty of times." Dean said with a grin. "Probably because they were convinced in boot camp that they were the protectos of everything good and just. So when the world keeps going to hell in a go cart, they figure they're the only ones that can fix it."

"Yeah, well as much as I would love to hand over the mantle to someone else, I doubt very seriously the others would trust him that far. You and Bobby... you earned their trust. Father Reynolds is just a name that they don't have to deal with if they dont want to. Someone coming in this late in the game is gonna have to back off and work their way in slowly."

"Joshua won't do that." Dean said with certainty. "He's like a steamroller. Who expects everyone else to just let him handle things and get out of the way. Problem is, he's in way over his head, even for a military trained Marine. I don't even think Dad would have a full grasp on this situation. I know I don't."

"I know." Sam said with a sigh. "Sure you don't want to handle Joshua and I will take over your training for a day?" Sam asked. He didn't want to wind up with the same sort of relationship he had with his father with Josh, but it had to be done.

"Sure!" Dean said, knowing Sam didn't mean it. "So, heard from your favorite politician lately? He's probably out stumping pretty hard."

"Not lately. I figure he is pretty busy right now. Out on the road campaigning according to the news. The last time we spoke he wanted me on the road with him. But I said no. It wouldn't be the same. I've gotten spoiled to bad hotels and cheap take out." He added with a grin.

"Yeah, you're spoiled all right." Dean said with a laugh. "I'll handle Joshua, all right? I mean, he sicced Mickey on me. He owes me big time."

Sam nodded "Thanks. You two are less likely to get heated about it. Me... I have this automatic dad response in those situations." He sighed. "But in the mean time I have to get back to Andy and start sorting things out with him. He has been doing a great job while we were gone but I think he wants to let go of the reigns for a while."

"Oh most likely." Dean said with a laugh. "I heard Ash scored some weed, and he's got a cute girlfriend, he probably wants to hide out for a while. I'm going to delay training and go talk to Joshua."

Sam laughed. "Glad to give you an appropriate excuse to be negligent in your studies. I'm going into town later, so don't worry if your baby isn't in the driveway this afternoon."

"Bet your ass I'm going to worry." Dean said. "And pick me up some M&Ms while you're out." He said as, coffee in hand, he went to find Joshua, get this settled right now before he started giving orders.

"Yeah I know big bag, peanut M&Ms and a six pack of beer." Sam said. "Will do. " He had a lot to do, a lot to work on. He was relieved not to have to worry about Josh. And whether Dean liked it or not, he and ANdy already had a lead on a hydrotherapy tub. He was going to need it once the training really got started.

Dean went to find Josh, and found the man doing what he did every morning. Calisthenics. "Don't you ever stop?" Dean asked with a chuckle. He certainly wasn't joining in, not now. Because once Mickey found him (or decided to remind him time was up), he'd be getting a heavier workout than push ups."

"At my age, I can't afford to stop" Josh pointed out with a grin, as he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. "So, everything going alright for you?"

"Oh fine. Except for that whole before sunrise thing. That's really not cool." Dean said. "So, how is going? You know, being here. And being normal. Take it from me, it's a trip seeing things float by and fires lit randomly."

"Hazards of working nights like you do." Josh said. "It's taking a little getting used to, but they are good people, so I am getting used to it. Some of them are shell shocked. Hard to say if they will ever be able to function normally. "

"They really just need to function in this society." Dean said. "They're like their own little community. The ones that can function get stuff from the outside. The rest get to try and heal. It's a good set up for them."

"Yes, it is. It's just a very vulnerable set up." He pointed out. "You have demons and government ops coming after them. Vulnerable is not good."

"They're doing fine." Dean said. "Let's face it, you're the last one that can come in here and announce we have to make changes because, well, you're the last one to come in here. Me and Bobby and Ash? We're accepted, though we're not one of the special kids, because we were the ones that got them out of the facility. You...Joshua, they don't trust you. No matter what Sam and I say, or what Bobby says, or what Ash says, they don't trust you."

"I don't expect them to elect me president of your little society. I expect them to learn how to defend themselves so that you don't lose anymore of them to the government than necessary."

"That's a sucky pep talk." Dean said. "Look, this isn't your gig. We're not your platoon. Trying to get these guys to handle weapons and practice battle formations at your beck and call isn't going to work. This is Sam and Andy's gig. Not ours."

"I wasn't trying to give a pep talk. I am looking at this realistically. You may be right about it being Sam and Andy's show, but that doesn't change the facts about this place being completely vulnerable."

"Also doesn't change the fact that if it doesn't come from Andy or Sam, they won't listen to a thing." Dean pointed out. "Can't strong arm control of this one, Uncle Josh. You gotta back down."

"Neither Sam nor Andy are willing to listen to reason, Dean. " Josh said. "What do you suggest? That I sit by and let them get everyone killed? They are doing a great job of pulling a community together, but the rest is being left to the way side."

"Joshua, you weren't there. You weren't in that facility. They were trying to warp those people into being weapons." Dean said. "And you want to come in and train them to be weapons and expect it to go over well?"

"I know, but what do you suggest? Living in never never land? Got news for you... there are pirates circling the island, Peter Pan."

"I dare them to try." Dean said. "I really do. I don't want to see what these guys are capable of, and neither should you." He remembered what Sam did when Dean had been stabbed. "Don't push them. How would you like it if someone came into your platoon when you were still active, a total stranger, and tried to tell you how to run things?"

Joshua growled in frustration. "I suppose I can see your point. How is training going?" He asked, figuring now would be a good time to change the subject.

Dean scowled. "He's worse than you and Dad together trying to train me." He said. "Forget surviving the final battle, I might not survive training."

"Nah, he will keep you alive through the training. Wanting to die... well that I can't help you with. Welcome to basic training, son."

Dean made a face. "Too late for me to go AWOL?" He asked.

"Oh yeah. He would just bring basic to you at this point." Josh said with a chuckle. "It will be worth it in the end. You'll see."

"Yeah, maybe." Dean said. "Where did you meet this guy any way? I swear, if I hear one more thing about free will, I'm going to pull his feathers out."

"Vietnam." Josh answered honestly. "Free will is one of his pet peeves. He has served all of his existence, done everything ever commanded of him to do because he had no choice. Literally no choice what so ever. God says move, he starts to move. There is no other option. Us...well... God gives us the most amazing gift. He loves us so much that he lets us choose for ourselves what to do with our lives, how or even if to show we love him in return... we even get to curse his name and with a simple I'm sorry, please forgive me we are back in his loving arms. And we don't even appreciate it. So of course free will is a touchy subject for an Angel. I bet he resents the hell out of it. Cut him a little slack. "

"I get that. But that doesn't mean he can imply that we've personally chosen this. Sam personally chose at six months old to become a special child. I chose from before birth to have to fight with that sword. Mom chose to die. That sort of stuff. Really pisses me off."

"I know. " He said. "Drove me batshit in Nam. But If I had been fighting since just before God got the great idea to create the universe... I'd be a little cranky about odd things too." He said with a chuckle. "You didn't choose any of these things. I know. I didn't choose a lot of my life either, but a good deal of it I did. The best parts I chose. And so did you."

"Yeah maybe." Dean said. "Would have been interesting to see how Dad would have reacted to him. Sure, he dragged Dad out of Hell, but Dad didn't remember any of that. So it doesn't count."

"I don't know. They would have either been thick as thieves or hated one another on sight. It's hard to say which. Probably depends on what your father was going through in any given moment. "

"Yeah, you're right." Dean said with a nod. "But hey, you want to make a good impression on the people here? See if you can score some luxuries. Art supplies, that sort of thing." Dean offered.

"I can see where that would be a good thing. It's great for dealing with shell shock." He had seen enough of his buddies from Nam painting pictures and weaving baskets to chase the demons away for a few minutes at a time. He hadn't thought of that one. "I'll get on it."

"Thanks." Dean said with a nod. "Guess I should get back. If he has to find me, he'll pull a Dad and make it even worse on me." And he was just starting to get feeling back in his shoulders too.

"See you later." Josh said and went back to his own work out.

Mickey had been just about to head inside looking for Dean when he arrived in the clearing. "There you are." He said.

"Tried my best to get lost, but this place is too small and my sense of direction is too good." Dean said as he picked the sword back up. It had felt light at six in the morning. Now, it was getting heavy. He had thought he was in shape before too.

Mickey started him on a completely different set of routines and exercises. He felt sorry for him really. Dean was a mortal man. Free will and the power of faith aside, he was just a mortal man, and he was about to enter into a fight to the death with a fallen angel that had been weilding a sword since time began.

For all his talk and complaining, Dean did know what was at stake. And he knew what he was going up against. So it was finally Mickey who told him they were stopping for the night, after the sun had set, even as Dean protested and said he had a little more to give. Even as he was stumbling, and holding the sword with trembling arms, fingers feeling like they were blocks of clay, and not flesh and bone.

Mickey rested a hand on Dean's shoulder. Finally he was getting it. It was sinking in and he was finally stepping up to the plate. It was good, but he was going to have to watch him to see that he didn't hurt himself along the way. He understood now why the brother had been so concerned. "Go get something to eat and get some rest. There is more time tomorrow."

"There's more time today." Dean said. "You were the one who wanted me to train. So train me."

Mickey sighed. "And if you over do it on one day you won't be able to train tomorrow. Go. Put it away, put it down. You are able to put it down...go do it."

Dean sighed. It was more of a growl crossed with a sigh though. "Fine." He said in a clipped tone. And headed back to his room, where he put it on the dresser. And found an unoccupied shower, taking a long hot one before going to scavenge for food.

Sam and Andy had spent most of the day in the basement, working on the plumbing trying to hook up the hydro therapy tub. "Let's call it a night." Sam said "I'm beat. We can work on it in the morning."

"You think?" Andy said. They were going by blue prints and plumbing books that Bobby had dug up. "I don't know, maybe we're close?"

"It's possible... Do you want to keep working on it? Or call it a night. I am good either way."

"I don't know, sounds good to stop, but who knows what's going to be waiting for us to deal with tomorrow." Andy said with a laugh

"Tomorrow we might be glad to see this damned thing again." Sam added and shook his head. "First thing in the morning. Otherwise it's going to haunt me all day."

Andy chuckled. "Think he'll even appreciate it?" He asked jokingly. "Because it's our acknowledgment that he's human, and frail and all that stuff."

"He will." Sam said with a smile. "But don't expect him to admit it. That would be his admitting that he's human, and frail and all that stuff."

"Nah, we'll just tell him we found him a nice place to entertain girls." Andy said as he finished putting the tools away. "That should convince him, right?"

"I figure in another couple of days he will forget his pride and enjoy the tub, even if it does remind him of the hospital." Hydrotherapy wasn't exactly the same as a long sit in a hot tub.

"You're probably right. So this Mickey guy. Is he really Michael the Archangel?" Andy asked. "I mean, are we sure this isn't some put on by the other side? All I really know is my abilities don't work on him at all."

"Yeah, he really is." Sam said. "I can't guarantee it , but I just... know." He told him as he started to put away the tools. "If I am wrong ... Well he will find out what it means to go up against a Winchester. No one touches my brother."

"Yeah, I remember." Andy said. He remembered having to go convince the doctor to come that day. And all that blood, not all of it Dean's. "You two both have that going on. It's honestly scary."

"This place... The order and all... It's important... The friendships are important... But Dean and I ... We're all that we have... In a strange not so healthy way I guess." he added the last with a bit of a laugh.

"I get it." Andy said. "And I'll back you up if you need me to. But you know what I saw this morning? I saw Kyle stumbling toward the kitchen." Kyle, one of the psychics. The treatment in the facility had the unfortunate side effect of paralysis.

"Wait... He was up and moving? That's great!" Sam exclaimed. "It could mean that some of the side effects are going to wear off." He hoped so... Then maybe that would mean he could forget the things that never happened.

"Yep. Said he woke up, and like always tried to move his toes. But this time they moved." Andy said with a grin. "About time we had some good news, right?"

"Oh yeah." Sam said. "We better get this up and running then. More people than Dean are going to be needing this."

S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S/S

Joshua was driving back, the day spent foraging for the supplies and luxuries Dean had mentioned. He didn't agree with it by a long shot, but right now, he couldn't do much. He shook his head, then slammed on the brakes before he slammed into a man standing in the middle of the road.

Mickey got into the passenger seat then. "So you've been busy." He said, glancing at the backseat where many of the packages were.

"You always did have a way of making an appearance." He said with a faint laugh. "Yeah some supplies for the shell shocked crowd. So how's the training going?"

"It's progressing nicely." Mickey said. "He's finally getting it. All of it. Didn't expect him to step up to it as vehemously as he did, but he's getting it."

"It will get even more intense as he starts learning more. He will obsess and work himself into the ground. He is his father's son." Josh said. "You don't have anything to worry about now that he has gotten past the resistant stage."

"Dedication is all well and good, but we obviously need him alive and well when he finally has to use the sword for real." Mickey said. "Down fall of when freewill co operates with His vision. Sometimes you work yourselves to death and over do it. Why do you think you have so many saints and martyrs?"

"Now you understand why Sam was so angry with you." Josh said with a chuckle. "He will keep Dean on track. No one else can really. " He sighed "And Dean is doing it to protect his brother..."

Mickey shook his head. "I hope Samuel can keep him on track. I also hope he doesn't derail him. If I thought I could get away with it, I would take Dean away to train him."

"You take him away to train him and you are going to wind up having to fight Sam and that's only if you can manage to keep Dean put in the first place."

"I know, which is why I haven't done it. Anyone else and I probably would have. There's too much distraction here." Mickey said. "I can teach him everything he needs to know about that sword. I can pound every defense and offense into his thick head. Do you think he has the heart to win?"

"He's John Winchester's son." Joshua said as if that said it all. But Michael knew John. He had carried the man out of hell. It should have been obvious even in the short period of time with him that John was a force of nature. His sons were no different.

"There are many things that can go wrong between here and there." Mickey said. "Many things you can't possibly imagine. The original plan, we're sure, was to pit brother against brother. But if he has to, he will call up figures from Dean's past that could hurt him just as equally."

"I know... It's not going to be easy for those boys. But you asked if he had the heart to win and he does. He will do what he has to do... And if it involves destroying his brother... Dean won't be more than a second behind him."

"You know how God feels about suicide." Mickey said, shaking his head. "Would hate to have him go through all that, just to be condemned to hell, where his soul would be ripped apart and devoured over and over again for all eternity."

"I know... But we'll lose him if anything happens to Sam, and you want to see Sam go all dark side and twisted, let something happen to Dean. Those two are something else. When they were boys... Sammy was 5, Dean was 9, Sam was taken by a shape shifter who had taken on their mother's face. Dean ran away and found his brother, does that tell you any thing about the two of them?"

"Yes, they're both psychotic." Mickey said with a chuckle. "It tells me their father kept a good deal of time making them that."

"Maybe... but it's going to be what saves the world's bacon." He pointed out. "The only opponent Dean would have trouble killing is Sam... Any one and anything else, he will keep after till the end. Sam ... Sam is a good kid with a lot of anger issues. But he would never be able to harm Dean. When your ex-buddy there chose Sam... he screwed up."

"No, where he screwed up was killing their mother. Forcing their father to have them raise themselves as he went off the deep end and started his war on the darkness." Mickey said honestly. "Those two...we'll see how it goes. I don't know, something's coming though."

"Yeah I know... " Josh was a hunter, an old hunter. He got to where he could feel the storm as it built. He was sure Bobby could too. "It's why I was trying to get them to set up defenses. They aren't interested in that though. "

"Your defenses won't help them." Mickey said. "It would be man made. Bunkers, sectors, units, formations. Wouldn't help at all, they're not fighting man, Joshua. Not really. Whatever form it comes in, where it counts, it won't be human."

"Then what the hell do I do?" He asked with a sigh. "I don't know what else to do to help, and I promised I would look after those boys."

"The only way you know to help is to take over?" Mickey asked with a laugh. "Mankind continually finds ways to amuse me. Do you know how hard that is? Considering I'm older than your entire species? What you do to help is just be supportive. When everything comes crashing down, and it will, they'll need a rock."

"This isn't any where near over, is it?" Joshua said with a sigh. "I don't know how much more they can take with out going over the edge. They need an end in sight."

"The only way this ends is when I take them for judgment." Mickey said honestly. "Until then, they're two targeted children in the middle of a war zone. What would you have me do? Lie to them?"

"No," He said seriously. "Good way to lose their trust. No... but there needs to be down time of some sort. Targeted, hounded, always on the front lines... okay... but there needs to be something ... "

"I'll buy them hookers." Mickey said. "Or at least Dean. Don't give me that look, that whole no sexual relations before marriage is one of Man's rules, not God's. Anyone recall Mary? Not the holy mother, not the one from Magdala, the actual prostitute. She wasn't repentant. I think she charged some of the apostles. But she was still holy."

"I don't think either of them has any trouble getting laid." He said with a laugh. "But go ahead if you think they'll like it." It was after all an age old process with warriors. Fight a battle then pay for the privilege of sex.

"At least I'd assure that they were clean and healthy." Mickey said with a chuckle. "I'll think of something." Even without free will, he had a very wide and quick thought process. At times, it was made smoother by the lack of free will, he never had to think of what choice to make, because he never had to make a choice.

"I'm sure you will." Joshua said as they pulled into the compound. "Life is going to be interesting for a while, that's for certain."

"Life is always interesting." Mickey said. "It's only boring in your heads. I could go on and on about the amazements I see everyday, but you'd be bored. But things will definitely be stepping up."

"I don't know... maybe we have different ideas of what is amazing." Joshua said with a chuckle. "Or maybe you just see more than we do." He pointed out. "Stepping up is scary as hell but we've known this storm was coming for more than 20 years."

"I've known this storm has been coming for a lot longer than that." Mickey said. "And I still don't think you'll be ready. But we have no other choice, do we?"

"No we don't. Ready isn't really an option. Never has been never will be. We charge in and take it as it comes. I know that isn't ideal but it's all we can do." Josh pointed out. "So grab a box of supplies and let's get these inside."

"Yes sergeant." Mickey said with a laugh as he reached in and grabbed an armful of boxes. "Why are we stocking up on acrylic paint? Thought you were going to try to convince them to become a platoon? Did you finally get over that one?"

"No but Dean suggested they might need things like art supplies... and yeah he is probably right. Art seems to be just the ticket for shell shock. Don't know why, but it's what they always prescribe."

Mickey shook his head. "You think we didn't have shell shocked warriors? We didn't exactly give them crayons. We told them to pick themselves up and get over it." Mickey said. "Yeah, yeah I know, it won't work that way on humans. But it's such a nice, clean philosophy."

"They have picked themselves up." Joshua said. "Some of those people have spent more than a year being tortured. Things like that ... We don't get over completely. Not ever. Sometimes it's impossible to ever really function right again."

Mickey shrugged. "You all have your messy little issues." He said. "I'm not even going to pretend that I know what it's like. I might have issues, but they're completely different."

"And each side has its benefits, I am sure. " He said as he hauled things in and set them in the store room. "I wish I knew a psychologist in the know. Would be something these people could use. If they would go to them. Not sure I would bring one here. "

Mickey looked at him as he set his own burden down. "You have a priest at your disposal." He said. "He's a good man, and he's a good listener. He's been listening to confessions for thirty years, and counseling his parishoners in many aspects of their lives. And he is in the know."

"There is that. Didn't think of him. Haven't met him yet, probably why. I will talk to Sam about it in the morning and see what he thinks. Apparently I have been put in my place." He said with a chuckle.

"About time." Mickey said. "Sounds like he was far more successful with you than he was with me." He said with a grin. "Samuel tried to put me in my place at the bar, all that don't break my brother stuff."

"Yeah, but you figured out what he was talking about, didn't you? I am betting the translation is don't let his brother break himself in the process."

"Easier said than done. I nearly had to tie him to his bed tonight to get him to stop." Mickey said. "If he's even asleep now." He was willing to let Dean not sleep tonight, if the man so chose. He'd regret it in the morning, and possibly be more open to sleeping in the future.

"Which is exactly why Sam worried. People like to think that Dean is the one like their father... Usually they are wrong. Sam is John all over again... The John from before this nightmare began. Dean... Well... Dean has his father's inability to stop. He can literally be on death's door and keep going like the damned energizer bunny."

Mickey cocked his head, he didn't get the energizer bunny allusion, but he got the drift of the statement as he hopped up on a counter and opened a bag of chips. He didn't need to eat, but he had gotten used to eating when he needed to socially, and he kinda liked it. "It's that inability to stop that we're all counting on, you know that. He's not going to be played with gently when it comes down to it. In fact, he's going to be bashed pretty hard."

"I know that. I do. So do they. But you gotta be careful that he doesn't hurt himself before the demon gets a chance to." He said as he started putting things away in an orderly fashion.

"I'll do my best. Even if I do have to literally tie him down to sleep." Mickey said with a shrug. "But I've got a good feeling about this you know. This is going to be one helluva fight."

Joshua nodded. "Dean would have made one hell of a marine." He said, which was to him the highest praise he could give a civilian.

Mickey laughed. "He would have chewed his drill sergeant up and spit him out." Mickey said. "The sword holder isn't chosen lightly you know."

Josh laughed. "That he would. " He said with a grin. "Yeah I know. So how many sword holders have survived to old age?" He asked, knowing that this wasn't the first Armageddon to be averted.

Mickey met Joshua's eyes seriously. "Even before this, did you see Dean Winchester living a long life?" He asked.

"No..." he said. "Is he going to die accomplishing this goal... " There was no small resentment on his part, knowing that these demons that plagued humanity were allowed to do so, that they were paying for a war that they had nothing to do with. No way of winning even if they did.

"I wish I could tell you that. But I don't know." Mickey said. "Then again, even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. Let's say he did, and I told you. Would you fight me on him spending every moment training, knowing those were his last few moments alive and all that?"

"Wouldn't matter if I did, because it wouldn't matter to Dean. Sam would be the one that would try and tear you apart. I'll warn you though... Dean's death... Could push Sam over the edge. You brought this war to us... Not you personally but angels... Fallen or otherwise. It's your war that is being fought on our soil. Some of us take that and deal with it. Others... Like Sam... It's gonna fester inside."

"Warning taken." Mickey said. "I don't worry about Sam hurting me though. If Lucifer can't, Samuel Winchester can't, no matter how much he may want to."

"It's not you he'll hurt is it... If he is driven to the opposing team." Joshua pointed out. "Sam doesn't look like the type to go all dark side. He has a big heart and a gentle nature. But there is something different about him since they had him in that facility. Very different."

"There was something different about him shortly before he went into the facility." Mickey said. "It's hard for a mortal man to live in two times at once. Hard on the head. I'm not convinced the other returned to his time that never happened."

"Time that never happened? A future time? Is that where his visions really come from then?" Joshua asked, not really understanding the theoretical quantum physics aspect of that statement.

"Or perhaps its just Sam is that powerful in the future that he can bend time to his needs." Mickey said. "I never gave it much thought. This whole linear existence is a mortal's deal. Not mine. I've been to the future, I've been to the past. I know how each action turns out. I can't stop the ones that enrage me, but I've seen it."

"That's a scary thought." Joshua said. "And that Sam is still mingled in with our Sam... I'm surprised the boy hasn't cracked yet. But if there are futures that don't happen... Who knows how the boys will turn out. "

"Or Sam is just nuts." Mickey said. "Hard to tell. He's tainted, not too m uch I can do for him. Oh if he breaks his neck, there's a possibility I can get his head literally on straight. But other than that, he's on his own. Rules of the game. Never said I liked them, but you know how rules are."

"Gotta love how the Almighty has crippled His heavy hitters in this war. Not like the otherside gives a rat's ass about rules. Especially when they can cause harm but helping people... You guys can't do. There are days when knowing these things... What's really out there... Where it really came from... Shakes my faith."

"Don't get me started on free will again." Mickey said. "Our Father looks at you as His greatest creation, made in His own image, though trust me, I have yet to meet a human as awesome as the Almighty. But anyway, free will. His greatest gift to you. And you exercise it for all the wrong things. Do you know how often He hears 'please God, just let me win the lottery?' And hidden in the back of your newspapers are the stories of incredible survival. Small boy trapped under rubble after an earthquake for a week, and he's fine. Why? Faith. And he asked for help at the right time. Free will."

"I'm sorry you don't have free will, man, and I get that you resent that we do. But where the hell does that come into this? I say demons are invading us and your war is happening on our turf, and you say free will. No it wasn't my will. It wasn't Dean's will and it wasn't Sam's. Just because we do what has to be done doesn't make it our will to be in the situation to begin with. You think asking to win the lottery makes it okay for the demons to devour us, possess us, make innocent babies into pawns ? It's taken me damned near 40 years, but the free will card you keep trying to trump us with has gotten old. Especially since you only seem to toss it out at people who are using their free will for the good fight so that you don't have to listen to the truth about whose friggin' fault it's we are fighting a good fight in the first place. "

"Again, you misunderstand me." Mickey said. "I remember I knocked you out in 'Nam just to get you to shut your mouth as you rattle on about something unrelated. Free will. You have the free will to ask for help. That's what I meant. And we do help, believe me. I've been rather busy since humans sprouted back up. The Fallen fell on earth. And some stayed. God wiped the Earth of them, you remember that little story about the ark and the drunk who built it? All was well and good. Then free will invited demons back into this realm. All those cults and rituals...most often the pagan ones. They'd try to disguise themselves as Christians and end up calling demons instead of who they might have originally meant. Free will, the freedom to worship as you choose brought the demons back. And it affects all of you, because the demons aren't picky. They're not going to stay by who summoned them. Which is why I've been spending a lot more time on this land than I had ever wanted to. You have the freedom to damn yourselves, and you have the freedom to ask for help. But most people, instead of asking for help, they'd rather blame God. Blame game gets you nowhere, really. But that same freedom to worship has saved you. This plane isn't overrun, is it? No matter how it may feel, trust me, it's not. There's enough faith and love and puppies and roses in the world to keep a full on take over from taking place. But enough hatred and bigotry and anger and just plain meanness to keep the peace from being eternal. Free will, man."

"Oh you mean like all those men in fox holes crying for help from on high. The ones that died with half their bodies on one side of me and the other splattered across the rest of the platoon? How about those people men like me and Winchester saved, risking our own hides to do it on our own? They were asking too. What about all the people like Sam that stopped asking because the answer was always sorry kid you're tainted... Through no choice of his own, by the way. Your free will reasoning doesn't apply to him and Dean because neither side gave either of them a frigging choice. You need to stop taking your blanket theories and tossing them over every one. You keep forgetting that one aspect of free will. It makes us all individuals, with individual choices. And I got news for you... I am only responsible for my own choices. I didn't choose for the demons to be here, didn't ever once beg to win the lottery, and I resent to high heaven the implication that maybe just maybe it's my free will or my wife and sons' free will that made them demon food."

"Just because God doesn't give you the answer you want, doesn't mean He isn't listening. It certainly doesn't mean that He doesn't care." Mickey said calmly. "Let's talk about those people you've saved. You really think you stumbled across them by accident? Let's talk about Sam and Dean. I am giving them the tools to fight back as best they can. But demons, they're not snails. They're not insignificant ants. We're talking creatures that had the audacity to stand up to God himself. You think they're easy to take care of? I fought a war to banish them from Heaven, long before God created you. And it wasn't a walk in the park war, I don't care how the stupid paintings make it look. The ones that were blown across the battlefield, they made the free will choice to join the military. Don't bring up the draft, it wasn't that hard to get out of. They stood for what they believed in, and what you heard crying for help was just an echo for I had already taken them to their reward, believe me. They called out for help from on high, and I took them to paradise."
"Yes, you banished them from heaven. I know better than you think how hard they are to defeat, remember, I'm one of the idiots down here banishing the sons of bitches. I don't discount the war you fought. But you have got to learn not to throw it in our faces all the time. Cause you come across like a pompass bigoted ass when you do that. That would be like me telling the poor children of the world to suck it up, it's their own choice that their parents don't have any money, so quit sniveling about being hungry already. "

"You throw a stone in a pond, and half way across the world, a butterfly drops dead." Mickey said. "It's not just annoying existential talk. It's true. You, all you humans, are so interconnected, yet you deny it. The choice that one of you makes affects the rest of you. Dean choosing to take up the sword will save humanity, there's a big example. A kid playing with things he doesn't understand, or maybe he does, is enough to damn you all. You're all so busy concerning yourself with your own petty little lives, you can't see the big picture. That everything you do affects the world."

"Petty lives? Any one ever tell you that your people skills leave something to be desired? You have managed to tell me that my life is petty, that someone else's choices are my fault because we are part of the same eco system. You probably didn't mean it to come out that way but that is what it comes across as. I realize we are nothing but hairless monkeys that got all of Daddy's love... But try and temper your contempt at least a little. We're the ones that are doing the right things as much as we are capable." Joshua was angry. He had hit a nerve earlier with his free will fixation, and he was tired of the archangel preaching about it when all he had ever done in his life was try to protect others, even after his family had been taken from him.

"I don't need people skills. People don't listen anyway. I used to have them. Get ignored often enough and they tend to disappear." Mickey said. "Yes I said petty. And I mean petty. Yes, I understand the death of your family hurt. I've lost family too. I've been betrayed, and I've been held responsible for things I had no control over. But I always have to look at the big picture, the grand scheme of things. There are days, centuries, when I wished I didn't have to. That I could take one little step back and let all this be someone else's problem. But I don't have that option, do I? No, I'm the one that has to pull your chestnuts out of the fire. And I'm the one that has to defend God to His own children when He doesn't do as they ask. Because they have the arrogance and audacity to think they can command Him. I'm the one that takes the brunt of the anger, the resentment, even disappointment. Contempt? Doesn't even cover it. Wish it did, it's such a nice word. But you all fall under my realm. And it's a pretty big realm in case you didn't notice. I have an earthquake going on in India. A tornado off Fiji. Genocide in Sudan. But right now, THIS is what I am commanded to do. I could be so much more help, according to you, somewhere else. But I have to take orders like a good little soldier, and I do. I do my best. People skills? An immortality of this and let's see how your people skills are."

"If our individual lives mean so little to you, must piss you off that they seem to mean so much to him. " Josh said. "You think my pain means nothing, that what the Winchesters went through is nothing... Just so much petty human life. But here you are, using him to fight. Using a petty meaningless individual to do something that apparently the almighty thinks you can't do... Or He would have sent you to do it. But that's what it comes down to isn't it? You're jealous and it's eating you alive."

Mickey looked at Joshua for a long moment. Then he began to laugh. Hard. "It's the body, isn't it?" He said, still laughing. "This utterly human appearing body. You've transferred human emotions to me. Joshua, I'm not human. I'm an angel. I don't get jealous. If I were human, I suppose I would be jealous. But I'm not. And there is our communication problem. We want the other to understand, but we speak different languages."

"Yeah well, your language is pretty insulting." Josh said with a scowl. He wasn't in the mood to laugh it off. "You look at me the way I look at a fruit fly, don't you? Nothing but a speck of life gone in a day and therefore inconsequential... Maybe ... Just maybe that communication problem is why people don't listen to you... You do need people skills if you are going to interact. First lesson, don't make us feel like something you would scrape off of your boots." He frowned. "You act jealous by the way... And since demons and angels are pretty much divided by politics and authority issues... I think you do have emotions very close to human emotions."

"It's not jealousy. It's dread." Mickey said. "I've seen all the outcomes, angels, we're not linear. Not the way you think. Demons are more grounded because they're outside His Grace, but we're not. And I've seen history repeating itself. Your world won't survive it."

"Yeah well... Don't take it out on the ones that are trying to do the right thing." He grumbled. "Don't minimize our lives. We get a very short period of time on this earth... It's precious time... Things that happen to us, good or bad, it's profound. You don't have to sympathize, you don't have to empathize. Just ... Tread lightly. I'm forty years removed from my pain. And it hit a nerve. These people here... It was just a few short months ago that they were living in torment. They aren't going to want to hear that it's because they chose it... Which is how we translate the words free will... Or that it's just petty pain...in a petty life. They have been through hell, and instead of crawling under a rock they are here, struggling and trying to fight the good fight. They deserve respect."

"I hope you never understand." Mickey said. "But I promise you this, old friend. If this turns out well, and Dean and Sam are triumphant, I will tell you what I've seen."

"I can only imagine... I don't say it to diminish what you have done or seen. We wouldn't survive half of what you have. But honestly... What is it going to cost you to lighten up on the free will lecture? What is it going to cost you to actually look at these people as individuals... As someone that matters in the grand scheme of things? And not just as a stone in a stream."

"Ah, the insignificant stone that kills a butterfly halfway around the world." Mickey said. "It's the stones you have to watch. The boulders never really do much. I have always recognized you as people who matter in the grand scheme of things. It's you who don't."

Joshua laughed. "We are definitely speaking in different languages. But enough of that for now. I am sure it will come up again . For now I have been set a task... And that is to find things to help those that are shell shocked. " He didn't want to debate it any more. Michael just didn't get it. Josh doubted that he ever would. Empathy wasn't his strong suit. The former Gunnery Sergeant supposed that was all right. It would have to be.

"Sounds like a scavenger hunt right up your alley." Mickey said, not to mention keep him out from under the feet of Sam and Andy. "I have work to do anyway."