Act Two, Scene One: The Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)
Step Two- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
"Well, come on, Carla, the problem isn't that I don't believe in a power greater than me. There's all sorts of fuckin' things greater than me. But they're not gonna restore me to sanity. You can't come back from some things."
"I don't agree with that."
Dean crossed his arms for the thousandth time since he'd started seeing Carla, and leaned back in his chair, exasperated. "Look, I been going to the stupid meetings and I've been clean for 3 months now. They gave me two fuckin' coins and everything. I don't know what you want from me."
"I want you to feel better, Dean, that's all. I want you to be able to leave here without being at high risk of relapse, and right now, I still think you are."
"Whatever. None of it matters anyway."
Carla sighed, and pushed her own chair back.
"Okay, Dean, here's the deal. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I've seen some fucked up things in my time as a counselor, and even more fucked up things when I was using, and I've been getting the impression from you that there's a lot of things you aren't telling me, not because you don't want to be honest but because you think I won't believe you. You're never going to make any progress that way. I'm gonna suspend my disbelief, because despite what you think of people, I've seen actual crazy, and sweetie, you're not it. Whatever you've been doing that got you to this point, I need to know about it."
Dean hesitated, looking suspiciously at Carla, and then finally, let out a slow, deep breath. Why the fuck not, he thought to himself, worst case scenario, she thinks I was way fuckin' drunker than I was.
"You promise that this isn't gonna end with me in the psych ward with a nifty white jacket?"
"I promise."
"Okay. This all really started when I was 4, and my mom burned to death in a fire. See, there was this demon…"
"I don't see the problem."
"What the hell? How do you not see a big fuckin' problem? What sort of God would let that shit happen?"
"From what you told me, you already get it. It's free will, Dean. If God just made everything happy and perfect, you wouldn't have free will. You'd be just like the angels, unable to do anything but be virtuous and adore God. He wants you to have the choice to be good, if he just made everyone be good, there wouldn't be choice at all."
"Well, maybe at this point, I don't like the idea of Free Will so much."
"That's fine. Your will got you here."
"Well, then what's the point? You're saying that God wants us to have Free Will but he wants us to make the choices he wants us to make?"
"Yes, exactly. He wants you to make those choices on your own, and once you are willing to do so, he can restore you to sanity."
"Oh." They were quiet for a minutes that seemed extremely long to Dean, as he worked out how he felt about the idea in his head. "Okay."
Act Two, Scene Two: Oh, Don't Ask Why
One year prior…
Sam stopped next to a cliché sparkling brook. He half expected a fawn to come moseying up to drink or a bluebird to perch on his shoulder, but instead, he felt the ghost of a person behind him, and then lost his balance as he whirled around and Gabriel pushed him into the brook.
"Awesome." Sam said disgustedly, as he clambered back to his feet. "You're so funny."
"I really am." Gabriel smiled, and prissily seated himself on a nearby tree stump. "I also have serious business to discuss."
"Yeah?"
"The cage." Gabriel's face turned from lighthearted to deadly serious.
"What about it?"
"I need you to go back into it."
"For what? Why would I do that? Michael and Lucifer-"
"And Adam... And Cas and me."
"What? That's not even possible, how could you and Cas be in there? You got stabbed with the Angel Sword, and Cas just… melted, I guess. How could you possibly be in there?"
"It's Satan's cage, Sam, it was well within his powers to send me there. And Cas was sent there by the Leviathans, the grand-daddy Leviathan is the fucking mouth of hell, you think they can't come and go from the cage as they please? What better place to hold an angel? Regardless of us, your little bro, Adam, he is trapped and he is being tortured. Tortured like you were, Sam, and I know how to get you in. I know how you can get him out. All you have to do is trust me."
"What would I have to do?"
"Don't bring your stubby legged watchdog, for starters. Dean always fucks shit up. There's a woman, down in New Orleans, named Caparia. Old timer, hoo doo, all of that stuff. Go see her."
Sam woke up. He left for New Orleans, telling Dean and Bobby that he was going back to school, less than a week later. He didn't know why, exactly, he obeyed Gabriel, he only knew that it felt right that he did.