Dean's hand shook as he reached for the door knob, pushing the door open, Honey was sprawled across the bed with an arm covering her eyes. "Hey," His voice came out rough and cracked, as if he had been yelling. He cleared his throat, "I want to talk to you."
Honey didn't move, "You're not going to listen, so why should I tell you? I'm probably better off just telling Sam and leaving you out of it."
"Honey," Dean started to scold.
"He saved you for last, you know." She eased herself on her elbows, the gold in her hair glowing from the sunlight sneaking its way in the window.
Dean shut the door and moved to sit on the edge of her bed.
"He had me chained to a chair, as he killed mom, it was quick so that was nice at least." She shrugged her shoulders, "And then came you, which he took great care in, did it nice and slow, made sure I didn't miss a second. He left me there, in that chair for days, that's when Cas came. And I made a deal. No matter what I have already changed, that memory has not."
Dean just stared out the window, Honey could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "I can't let him say 'yes'."
"You don't have another option." Honey retorted.
Dean sighed. "How do we get Lucifer back in the cage?"
"You need to collect all the horseman's rings."
"That's what we need Death for? His ring? I could have just killed him for that."
"No, you can't, ever. Death is a part of everything, if you killed Death the world would slip into utter chaos. He will give you the ring. All he wants is Lucifer back in the cage and him free. You trade him that for the ring and a little after assistance, then bing bang boom the world is safe again."
"We will have to go over your version of 'bing bang boom'."
"Get the ring. Then we'll talk."
"I don't hear any shouting." Ellen said from the base of the stairs. "Either she killed him, or he killed her."
"I put my bet on Honey." Sam said from the kitchen chair, his arms crossed, "I do not want to be on that girls bad side."
"Aren't you already?" Jo asked from the bottom step of the stairs.
"Yeah, I guess I am." Sam nodded sullenly returning to his former state of silence.
"Jo be nice." Ellen scolded.
"I was-"
"Where is she?" Castiel appeared in the middle of the living room.
"Whoa, where have you been?" Bobby asked from the behind the desk.
"I need to talk to Honey Winchester."
"She's upstairs with Dean." Jo answered, her brows furrowed. "What's going on Castiel?"
"I need to talk to Honey." Castiel repeated.
"And before you go upstairs and give my daughtermore of a headache then she already has you're going to have to tell me what it's about." Jo stated, her voice sounding more and more like Ellen's ever second.
"I did not send her here." Castiel pointed at his chest, his tone harsher then it should have been.
"I know that." Jo did not break eye contact as she stood, effectively blocking the stairs.
"Then you know that it was Balthazar."
"Yes, I do." Jo answered.
"I have to send her back." Castiel went for the stairs. "She does not belong here."
Jo did not move, "Your not taking her anywhere."
"She will ruin history!" Castiel shouted, to Jo's recollection, he had never raised his voice in front of her.
"She is my daughter!" Jo yelled back. "She is trying to help better history!"
"She cannot be here." Castiel enunciated every word.
"Too bad you don't get a choice, Cas." Honey said from the landing, her hand covered in her own blood as she pressed it to the symbol she drew on the wall. Castiel disappeared. "Well," Honey pulled a handkerchief from her back pocket and wrapped it around her hand. "Now that, that's taken care of."
"Balthazar sent you back here?" Dean asked dangerously from the doorway of the bedroom. He turned on Jo, "And you knew?!"
"Dean, relax," Jo tried to soothe from the bottom of the stairs, squeezing past her mother to try and make it up them. "She told me earlier. I was going to tell you."
Honey whirled on her mother, "You promised!" She accused.
Jo cocked her head at her, "Really? You seriously thought I was going to keep that one? Do I get dumber as I get older?"
Honey slumped her shoulders, "No I just thought you got smarter." She mumbled.
"Okay, enough. Everyone down stairs. And you," He grabbed Honey by the arm and pulled her down the stairs with him. "You are going to tell me everything. I'm done playing your little game." He threw her towards the arm chair in the sitting room.
"Dean, cut it out," Jo scolded.
Dean turned and put a hand up to stop her, "No, you cut it out." Jo glared at him. He grabbed one of the folding chairs and sat it in front of Honey, and took a seat. He crossed his arms on his chest and leaned back, "Go ahead, my dear, the floor is yours."
"Would you like me to start at the beginning?" Honey stalled.
"Seems like as good a place as any other." Dean gestured her to continue.
"Well, I was born in a little tent, by a river," Honey paused, the same sly smirk Dean had when he knew his stories were all crap, was painted across her face. "And just like that river I've been running ever since."
"Oh come on," Bobby groaned from the bottom of the stairs. "That's an old song lyric."
"Honey," Dean's voice was pure ice. "Please, do not make me hurt you. You cannot come in here holding important in tel over my head and not give me anything."
Honey smiled sadly, "Yes, Balthazar was the one that sent me back. Castiel was... lost, by this point." Honey repositioned herself in the chair. "Balthazar liberated me from Satan's play room, and told me what I needed to do. I mostly knew it all, hind sight being 20/20 and all."
"Okay, so we need to collect all of the horseman's rings, bargain with Death, for something to get his ring, and get him to do something for us as well. And what is he going to do for us?"
"Well first Sam is going to say yes to Lucifer, then by just sheer fucking will, he will make himself a very uncomfortable host, then gain enough power to throw Lucifer back into the pit. Then Death will pull Sam out of the cage before too much time has passed. Kind of like a Trojan horse kind of thing." Honey crossed her arms over her chest, mirroring her father's stance. "Happy now?"
"No." Dean answered. "No, that's a huge risk." He shook his head, "No, I can't do that, we, can't do that."
"That's it, that's the only option you have." Honey leaned in closer to him. "You can't kill him, the most you can do is just put him back in time out."
"No." Dean responded. "There has to be another way. No."
Honey threw her hands up, "Here we go again. When are you going to get it, there is no other option." She enunciated every word just as Cas had done to Jo.
"No." Dean repeated.
"I'll do it." Sam vetoed Dean from the back of the room.