Chapter 6- Sick Leave

Chuck got a bit macho last chapter, didn't he? I kinda liked it. Chuck is awesome. Also, I don't know if this seems obvious or not, but this is set like mid-season 10, so just fyi. Sam is the stable one this year.

"Has anyone seen Cassie recently?" Lizzie yawned. Chuck had left in his little car to go scold more angels or something, and Sam was currently trying to figure out what to do with Satan living in the bunker.

"Well, I guess he'll need a room, which we don't have a shortage of." Dean suggested as he rummaged through the fridge for a beer.

Sam nodded, a little nervously. "Nowhere near mine, though. I would like to sleep without having to constantly worry about-"

"Alright, alright, keep your panties on, Sam. He can have the room at the end of the hall near mine, okay?" He shook his head as he handed Sam one of the bottles. "Dude, I understand. I wouldn't want Michael in the room next to me either."

"Hey, can I have a beer?" Lucifer gave Dean Bambi-eyes.

"Dude, no offense, but you are the weirdest angel I have ever met. You actually eat." Dean mentioned as he handed Lucifer the beer in his hand and turned back to the fridge to get another one.

Lucifer shrugged. "Well, the other angels think they're superior, and no offense but we are, but that doesn't mean you guys don't have cool things or whatever. Of course, most of the things I find cool about you guys your little ex-angel buddy calls 'dens of inequity'." He smirked at the name.

Lizzie walked into the kitchen with a concerned frown. "No, guys, I'm serious. I have no idea where Cassie is. Do you know where he could've gone?"

Dean lowered the beer bottle from his lips. "You can't find him? Have you tried the library?"

"Yeah, it was one of the first places I looked. He couldn't have left without you noticing, could he?"

Dean shook his head. "No, his car would be parked by the door. I've tried telling him he could park it in the garage if he wants, but he keeps saying something about not wanting to be a burden or anything. The only other door I know of is the front one." He hooked his thumb in the direction of the main door, which couldn't be accessed without the notice of whoever was in the kitchen.

Sam set his beer down on the kitchen counter. "We should go look for him then."

Dean nodded, setting his down beside Sam's. "Yeah, he could be having one of his episodes again."

"Episodes?" Lizzie asked worriedly. Dean didn't seem to want to respond though, so she followed him down the hall instead.

"Woah, this place is pretty wicked. How'd you find it, Sammers?" Lucifer asked. He had followed Sam down the hall opposite the one taken by Dean and Lizzie.

Sam paused mid-stride and turned around, making the shorter man nearly run into him. "You know, I don't consider you a friend. I don't have any trust in you whatsoever, and actually your presence kind of bothers me. A lot. But in any event, because Chuck is my friend and he seems to think that somehow you have a heart in that soulless abyss in your chest, I will put up with you. Hell, I'll even give you a second chance. But I'll give you fair warning right here and now: You are not my friend. If you wish to be my friend, you have to earn that, just like everyone else. I'm not going to give you a free pass because you're an archangel, or because you're Satan, or because you hold the weight of every angel in existence on your shoulders. We all have responsibilities too, but you need to work hard to earn my faith, okay? And for your information, my name is Sam."

Lucifer cleared his throat, probably in an attempt to keep his anger under control. "Alright. Sorry." He said curtly. He managed to remain silent as he continued to follow Sam through the seemingly endless halls of the compound.

"So what's this about his 'episodes'? What's wrong with him?" Lizzie asked.

"Look, I'm not trying to be rude or anything, trust me, but it's not my story to tell. He should be the one to decide whether he wants you to know." Dean stopped, coming to an intersection of two halls. He looked down each of them, and he groaned as he inspected the one to his right. A small trail of blood dotted the otherwise spotless floor. "Shit. Cas!" He sprinted down the hall, finding the trench-coated angel collapsed on the floor, his body racked with coughs that made Dean's chest hurt just hearing them. Sitting on his haunches, he instinctively placed a hand on Cas' back. "Dude, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Cas whispered hoarsely when he finally recovered from his coughing fit.

"Yeah, I'll believe that one when you convince Crowley to show up at our door wearing a French maid's outfit." Dean chuckled. Cas managed a small grin. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Unless you could manage to somehow restore my grace, I don't think so." Cas thought on it for a second. "Although, I would be grateful for some water."

Dean shook his head. "Dude, you live here too, or you would if you'd stop being so humble or whatever. Come on, let's get you up, huh?"

After everyone had been reassembled and they got Cas sitting at the kitchen table with the glass of water he had asked for, Lucifer and Lizzie exchanged a glance.

"Wow," Lucifer whistled. "If I may be so bold, what in my hell happened to you?" He smirked at his own joke. "Cos' uh, that grace isn't looking so hot. I'd call it yours, but evidently it's not."

"No, it's not mine." Cas confirmed solemnly. "In addition, it appears to be disintegrating at a faster rate than the first one was."

"You've been stealing grace from angels?" Lucifer mock gasped. "My, my, Cassie, what a bad guy you've become! I'm so proud." Sam shot him down with a look.

"What happened to your grace?" Lizzie looked at Castiel with her big blue eyes, only a shade lighter than his own. Her strawberry-blonde curls cascaded down her shoulders, nearly touching the kitchen table as her palms pressed down on the tabletop.

Castiel sighed. "Well, that is a long story. A chain of events set into motion by my own naivety. Of course, the crux of said story is that I was a fool who trusted Metatron, which led to his theft of my grace."

Lucifer sighed. "Now you have to admit that Metatron is an even bigger bag of dicks that I am. Have you killed him yet?"

Cas shook his head. "No, we have him contained. For now."

"Great. The biggest jackass in history stole your grace. He used it to close the Gates, didn't he?" Lizzie huffed when Cas nodded. "If that's the spell he used it for, then there's going to be a minuscule amount of your grace left, if there's any left over at all. Barely enough to keep you alive, at most."

"So, if there isn't any of his grace left, what can we do?" Dean interjected. "If we yanked out the stolen stuff again, would he stop dying?"

"Why yes, he would stop dying," Lucifer replied. "Simply because in his condition, he'd keel right over if we 'yanked out' the stolen grace. It's the only thing keeping him alive, although it's also what's killing him, ironically enough."

Sam cleared his throat. "You have fully functional grace, Lucifer. In fact, you're the only one here who does. So you could improve his 'condition.'" Sam retorted.

"Apparently I'm a charity now. What, am I supposed to heal babies in my spare time? Oh well, I can make an exception for Liz' favorite pet." Lucifer slapped Cas on the back, making him choke on the water, but when Lucifer went to sit back down, Cas looked far better. "It's only temporary. It'll last a few days at most, he's still disintegrating. Written up your will yet, Cassie?"

"Lucifer, stop it. There's no point in getting pessimistic." Lizzie rolled her eyes. "The way I see it, the best way to fix Cas is for someone to straighten up and start caring."

"Because unless I care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, Dr Seuss?" Lucifer teased. At that moment three sets of eyes, respectively Lizzie, Sam, and Dean, glared at him with varying degrees of intensity. "What? Seriously, guys we're going to play the staring game?"

Dean took a step forward with a knife in his hand, obviously pissed. "We could play the stabbing game if you'd prefer that."

"Dean." Sam grabbed him by the shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "Dean, put the damn knife down." When that didn't work, Sam resorted to a take-down method, leaving Dean half-laying on the table right next to where Cas was hunched over it.

"Are you okay, Dean?" Cas asked.

Dean shook his head like he was dizzy and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay, I'm curious, what the hell was that?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow at the brothers.

Dean glared at him. "You want to know what that was about? Try this, you jackass." Sam thought he was going to try to hit Lucifer, but he stopped trying to reach for Dean when all he did was roll up his sleeve, revealing the angry red Mark of Cain.

"Is that...? Oh, shit..." Lucifer mumbled, lost in thought. "I'd almost forgotten about that."

"How do you forget you made this freaking thing?" Dean rolled his eyes. "Okay, genius, so how do I get it the hell off?"

Lucifer shrugged. "It'll take some doing, I know that. I didn't make it as a temporary tattoo, in case you haven't noticed. Because let's face it, that was a pretty sweet scene: the first humans, committing the first murders, with the first weapons, shedding the first drops of blood onto the first bits of farmland. It was like a fine wine." He smirked, then sobered unexpectedly. "Of course, now it's on you. Which kind of saddens me. Even I wouldn't intentionally cover Michael's true vessel in my handiwork. This never should have happened..."

"Is that an angelic sidestep at saying I'm an idiot or something?" Dean retorted, although he along with the rest of the group was surprised at the melancholy that had suddenly filled the archangel's eyes.

Lucifer shook his head. "No, that's not what I'm trying to say, probably for the first time. What I am trying to convey, though, is that my graffiti being on you just seems like an inexcusable screw-up on my part."

Dean opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, finally deciding on raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Well, I didn't expect Satan to feel bad that I have random uncontrollable urges to kill people, or that I kind of turn into a bloodthirsty demon when I die."

Lucifer looked up. "You turn into a demon when you die?" When Dean nodded, his eyes lit up like those of a crazed inventor. "I didn't even know it did that. I didn't have much of a chance to see what it did. That excites me and makes my stomach turn at the same time."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "And here I thought we were starting to get somewhere..."

"I think you'll just have to go all out and come up with a plan." Lizzie replied.

"Alright. Fine." Sam stood up straight from leaning against the counter, and walked over to where Lucifer was sitting. The front of the chair he was sitting on was out to the side in a messy, rebellious fashion, so Sam could stand right in front of him, intimidating the already short angel with his massive height and build. "You need to fix heaven so your brothers aren't committing atrocious slaughters all over the countryside. To do that, you need to be nice, and care about humans. Viewing my brother as a science experiment, even if he may deserve it from time to time, isn't a stride towards that goal. So will you give it up already? I'm sure you want to spend as little time with us as possible, so why don't you do it in your own best interests?"

"Sam, I'm touched." Lucifer grinned. "Even if I am a little sad that you don't want me around." Sam glared at him. "Alright, I'll try to be nice. I may be a little out of practice, I haven't done it in forever."

Sam groaned. "I give up. Dean, you can stab him. I'm going to bed."

"That's not even funny, you douche." Dean called at Sam's form retreating down the hall. "Bitch. Good work, Satan. Now Sam's gonna be a grumpy jerk all week. And mostly at me." Dean stalked off down the hall too.

Lizzie yawned. "It is getting late, isn't it? Being graceless is a little weird sometimes, isn't it, Cassie?"

"Yes, it does contain it's oddities, although it can be quite fascinating." Cas confirmed.

"What's so great about essentially being a human? They're so fragile and high-maintenance. They need to sleep all the time, and eat, and they die so easily." Lucifer complained. "I don't see any positive points in being a human."

"Well, for one, humans are rather kind and generous to each other, which is a stark contrast to that of our angelic brethren." Cas said reminiscently. "That, and although humans can be subjected to feelings of great pain and loss, they also feel these things which I find to be near indescribable."

Lucifer sighed. "Do you always have to sound like a research report? You need to tone down your vocab a notch, it's so not kitten, dude."

Lizzie laughed at Cas' trademark confused head tilt. "What I believe Cassie is trying to convey in his formal essay way of saying things, is that people are hospitable, and while at times they feel lonely and hurt, they always seem to be able to cheer themselves up with these undeniable springs of hope and compassion. Yes, they feel tired, but waking up from a good night's gives you this wonderful refreshing feeling. Hunger eats away at you from the inside out, but the feeling of being full is almost as enjoyable as taste always was. Cold threatens to make you shiver yourself to pieces, but the feeling of warm rays of sun on your face or the flickering heat of a fire is warming from the heart right to your skin."

Lucifer clapped theatrically. "Another beautiful poem from the universe's best writer. Of course, I've always wondered about this feelings coming from the heart bit. They do realize it's just a pump, right?"

"If memory serves, it partially originates from the Egyptians, who believed all thought was carried out in the heart. Also, these feelings resonate deeply in the soul, which partly eclipses and is therefore easily mistaken for the heart." Cas added.

"Hmm. Well, according to Sam, I have neither a soul nor a heart, so I suppose these feelings can have little hold on me." Lucifer quipped.

"On the contrary," Cas said. "I use to feel them when I was an angel, although not on the same magnification as when I became a human. In addition, I believe Hannah developed feelings of some sort for both me and all of the vessels angels use, which led to her willing ejection out of her vessel, after which she fled back to heaven." He sighed.

"Ooh, Hannah has the hots for our little Cassie?" Lucifer looked up at Lizzie, who was now sitting at the table with her chin held up by her hand. "They grow up so fast," He sniffled.

"Well, I think our 'little Cassie' needs to sleep, huh?" Lizzie looked at Cas, who had bags under his eyes. She stifled a yawn herself.

"Yes, that would probably be a good idea." Cas mumbled as he got up from his chair to put his glass in the sink. "You know, we forgot to ask Father why you had your grace drained instead of your wings clipped." He mentioned.

Lizzie looked surprised. "You're right. I'd totally forgotten to ask him. Then again, our Father showing up at the door with Lucifer is about as expected as Dean's mother showing up at the door with his brother Adam."

Cas shrugged as the glass clinked softly against the stainless steel basin of the sink. "I suppose that's true. It's unfortunate though, who knows when we'll get another chance to ask him." He then took Dean and Sam's empty beer bottles off the counter and placed them in the sink as well, making himself look OCD. Lucifer's was nowhere to be found. "Of course, I've found over time that there's little point to worrying about something you can't fix in the near future. We should all really get some rest."

"Yeah, we should. C'mon, Luci, we need to find you a place to crash anyway."

I'm not sure if that chapter was any good. It seemed sort of random to me... Sorry about that. I think the next chapter will have more fluffy-type stuff and character buildup in it, cos I'm not quite satisfied with that either. Also, sorry it took so long. I was being lazy again.

End Chapter 6