A/N: Thanks for the continued support. :)

Dean held tightly to his brother, feeling him breathe deeply to avoid the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. He felt helpless. There was nothing he could do or say that would make the burden easier to bear. Castiel had raised Sam from Hell without his soul. Castiel had took down the wall that Death had supplied. Dean couldn't help but feel a new wave of anger overtake him. All of the emotional overload was taking it's own toll on him. He felt weak and drained. It was too much to bear.

Sighing, he looked over at Bobby, clearly searching for direction. "What do we do, Bobby? Where do we go from here?"

"Dunno, son," came the gruff response as the grizzled hunter took another scan of the terrain. "I guess we pick a direction and walk."

"Don't think we'd make it very far." He could feel his brother's grip tighten on his jacket. "He's had too much time to think." Keeping his brother's mind preoccupied would have been the only way to keep moving. The memories had been unhindered too long.

"Then we carry 'im if we have to. We need to find shelter. Food."

"Or you could just ask for help."

Bobby spun around, Dean looking over his shoulder as they heard the familiar, yet unexpected voice sound from behind them.

Balthazar stood only a few paces from them, the self assured smirk lighting his face, just as annoying as it had been before he'd joined their fight.

"Turns out that whole 'self preservation' thing fails when the one you're betraying ends up two steps ahead of you," he said, chuckling more to himself. "I must admit, that archangel's blade...it's quite ghastly."

"Cas...?" Dean couldn't bring himself to finish his question, feeling nauseated still at the ultimate betrayal.

"Oh, yes." Balthazar shook his head. "Dear old Castiel. He killed me, as it were."

"Then how are you here?" Bobby demanded. "How the hell are we here?"

"Both very...logical questions." The angel took a step toward them, a sudden serious demeanor clouding his face. "I must say, this is bigger than either you or I thought it ever would be. I think there's someone...or a few someones, I should say...that you should see." He placed his hands on Dean and Bobby's shoulders, taking them from the field.

In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in a garden, immediately recognized as Joshua's garden. They were in Heaven, it appeared, at least now. Joshua stood, the same serene smile that had lit his face when they'd met him before affixed to his face. He gestured for them to follow, leading them further into his garden.

In the center sat a long table flanked by several chairs, three vacant on the closest side for them. Dean eased his brother down into the nearest chair, taking the one next to him in easy range for support. Bobby sank down on his other side, watching as Balthazar took a seat opposite them.

"Do be a champ and go fetch the others, will you, Joshua?" Balthazar murmured, waiting for the angel to disappear. "Now then, this is cozy, isn't it? I must say, I was a bit shocked at first, but it is so much better this way."

"Where are we?" Bobby asked again, confused.

"Oh, now you're in Heaven. The Garden, more precisely, where all roads lead. Before, you were in an empty pasture, somewhere in rural North Carolina."

"So we're...not dead," Dean ventured, not daring to form the question.

"Oh, yes. Very much alive."

He and Bobby heaved a sigh of relief, sitting back heavily in their chairs.

"I wouldn't be too relieved there, boys. After all, there's a lot of work to be done." Balthazar crossed his legs, sitting back comfortably in his chair. "However, I do believe that things...are going to be a lot better for us now."

Sam bowed forward, holding his head in his hands, his elbows propped on his knees, immediately drawing Dean's attention. The internal struggle was evident in the tension that had knotted through the muscles in Sam's body, leaving him tense and drawing in great gulps of air.

"I don't think our dear Cas thought that all the way through," Balthazar murmured, watching the younger Winchester with mild interest.

"Can you help him?" Dean asked, grasping for any assistance at all in helping his brother deal with the onslaught of memories.

"Me?" The angel seemed taken aback. "No, that's above my pay grade. Castiel did a lot of things he wasn't supposed to do."

"Is there anyone that can help?" Bobby queried instead, noticing the crestfallen look that overtook Dean's rugged face.

Balthazar held up a finger, silencing their questions with another slight smile on his face as footsteps were heard, several sets together as they came closer to the center of the garden. "Ah."

The footsteps halted at their backs, Dean and Bobby slowly turning their heads until they could see who had joined them. The newcomers filed around the table, taking their seats beside the already seated angel. Dean blinked, a moment of shock passing through him.

"Hello, Dean."

"Gabriel." His jaw worked as he tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing. "Anna."

"The hell is goin' on?" Bobby growled.

"Oh, come on!" Gabriel exclaimed, sitting forward in his chair, a bright smile on his plain features. "You can't tell me you aren't happy to see me...what with all that 'stand up to your family' crap you fed me."

"Lucifer...fried you," Dean forced through a clenched jaw, his eyes focusing on the red-haired vessel he knew as Anna, "and Michael got you."

"There's something bigger than us at play here, Dean," she said quietly.

"Who saved us?" he spat.

"Have a little patience!" Gabriel laughed, throwing his hands behind his head as he relaxed back in his seat. "Or gratitude. Whatever."

Fuming and even more confused, Dean sat back, turning his attention back to his brother. He'd had enough of angels. He'd had enough of everything. His only intention now was to have his brother well again, whatever it took. Once that happened, he would be more than happy to be free of everything. There would be no more hunting, no more demon deals, no more end of the world. Not for them. After this was over, he would be happy to walk away from it all.

If he didn't deserve some peace after he'd been through, Sam surely did.

tbc...