Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.

Author's Note: This is part twelve of the series Skies on Fire. This is the final chapter!

"Are you sure this will work?"

"I've never been more unsure of anything in my life," Mary replied. She looked out past their base, across the deserted cornfield, straining to see no-man's-land. The moonless night made it impossible to see anything beyond the edge of their one acre wide stronghold. Mary found it slightly humorous that a cosmic war thousands of years in the making had been relegated to an abandoned farm in Iowa.

On the exact opposite side of the cornfield was another fourteen acres of barren farmland which had once consisted of beans and wheat. This was territory that had not yet been claimed by any side in the campaign. Beyond the edge of the farm was an expansive demon camp. To the left of the demons was the angels. A general store specializing in ice, tackle, and live bait was to the right. The angels and the Winchesters had agreed to protect the owner and his family, as well as the small town five miles from the farm; the demons enjoyed terrorizing the townspeople whenver there was a lull in the fighting.

"Which of them is our enemy?" Jeph, a newly recruited demon, asked.

"Neither. And both. This was never our war, my family's I mean. Biology doesn't matter, it doesn't choose our sides for us, regardless of angel blood or demon blood coursing through our veins. But here we are, stuck in the middle with only John's story to lead us."

Jeph turned to Mary, ducking under the low windowsill from which they stood guard. "You don't believe God spoke to him?"

"Do you?" Mary asked. She raised an eyebrow at her companion. "Do demons even believe in God?"

Jeph nodded earnestly. "We sure as hell do. We don't like Him as much as you humans do. Hell, He scares us demons. But we do believe."

Mary sighed, propping her elbows on the writing desk they had found in the attic when they first occupied the Victorian farmhouse. "John's not one to lie. I must rely on faith and my own moral judgment. Besides, if we don't stop this," Mary swept her arm towards the battlefield, "who will?"

A patrol team strolled across the grounds, tiny dark figures three stories below. Mary recognized the shorter, curvier figure as Ursula, an angel Castiel and Anna had recruited just after John's resurrection five months ago. The man with Ursula was none other than Castiel himself. The pair paused below the attic window and Castiel glanced up. Though Mary couldn't see his face, she was sure he was smiling.

Someone was tapping Mary's shoulder. She glanced at Jeph, who, finally having caught her attention, pointed to the attic door where Sam stood waiting.

"Recon's returned," Sam said once Mary joined him. Together they headed downstairs to the kitchen, sending Mikey upstairs to join Jeph as lookout.

"Anything we didn't already know?" Mary asked, crossing to the kitchen table where a map of the farm and surrounding area had been taped down. Several sheets of battle diagrams and patrol schedules were attched to the far wall. A cache of weapons was stored in and around the stove.

Emmeline, previously a commander in the demon army, stood over the map with John and Bobby at her shoulders. "They're moving," Emmeline said.

"The demons or the angels?" Mary asked.

"Both," John replied. He grabbed a marker and traced two paths along the map. "The demons are following the irrigation ditch here," John pointed to the right side of the map by the general store, "and the angels are moving along a harvesting trail here." John pointed to another area on the map.

"In our direction?" Mary inquired as she peered over the map.

John nodded. "I think this is it. If they're both moving against us, and it appears to be the final assault from both, then this is our last stand."

"Let's make it a good one," Mary said.

A purple dawn greeted Anna when she awoke. Glancing at the clock she realized it was 6:32am and she had been asleep for nearly eight hours. Being nine months pregnant her behavior was exused by the greater Winchester army. Being her own worst critic and feeling absolutely useless stuck in bed for the past few months, Anna could not excuse herself.

"Rise and shine," Anna mumbled, slowly throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She gingerly stood on two swollen ankles and padded to the bathroom.

On her way back to the bedroom Anna noticed how silent the house was. But it was more than quiet. It was as though the house itself was anticipating, bracing for an attack.

"You shouldn't be on your feet," Dean said from the doorway.

Anna smiled at her lover as she lowered her heavy body back on the bed. Dean quickly crossed the room and propped pillows behind Anna's back.

"Pampering as you have been all these months, why are you even more sweet today?" Anna asked.

"Baby's due any day, just want to make sure you're okay," Dean said placing a kiss on Anna's forehead.

"You're overcompensating. Dean," Anna took his hand forcing him to pause beside the bed, "we've talked about this. What happens to me after Mary's birth is not your fault, and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

When Dean sank onto the bed without a smart-ass retort, Anna realized something was very wrong. She grasped his hand tighter. "What?" she asked.

"Today... today's the day. The final battle," Dean whispered. "I don't know if any of us will survive this, regardless of the outcome."

"Have faith," Anna said softly. She shifted into a more comfortable position and shut her eyes, shutting out the war and the demons and her future. Then her eyes snapped open. "Dean, what day is it?"

"Thursday," Dean answered.

"July second?" Anna asked fearfully.

"Yes, why?"

"Today is Mary's birthday. And my water broke."

Sunlight streamed through the bars on the kitchen window. Every window on the first floor was barred and Mary hated it. Bars felt like a cage and she'd had enough of those growing up. She couldn't forget the demons, the pain, the rage, or the screams. Bars symbolized the possible future and her terrible past. Today, they mocked her, taunted her, whispering in her ear, "You think you can change it? You think you can save them? Be honest, they're lost. They're all lost and you will all die."

Mary shook the negative thoughts from her mind and turned away from the window. The kitchen was empty save for Jessica whipping up pancakes. At least this time she remembered to remove the weapons before she turned on the stove. They'd lost half their sawed-offs that day.

"Jess, you need any help?" Mary offered.

Jessica nodded. "Grab those plates in the china cabinent and put them on the table in the dining room."

Mary followed her cousin's directions, piling her arms with mismatched plates. "Don't you think pancakes are a bit much?"

"If today's the day we need to start the day with a good breakfast."

Mary rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut. If Jessica was happy making pancakes for the army then Mary would do nothing to stop her. They'd had too little happiness in their lives and if they were going to lose tonight they'd need all the happiness they could get.

"Pancakes again?" Ruby asked as she entered the dining room. She laughed at her daughter. "I have no idea where she learned to cook. Not from her father, that's for damn sure."

"We learned from you and Mom," Mary said. "Dad and Uncle Sam can barely microwave a bowl of Spaghettios."

Mikey ran into the dining room, nearly slamming into Mary. "Whoah! Easy," Mary said, throwing her hands out in front of her to keep Mikey at bay by several feet.

"Sorry," Mikey grunted. "But they've reached the cornfield. Fought each other the whole way here but both armies made it to our territory."

"They're here?" Ruby paled. She wrapped an arm around her bloated belly protectively and used the other arm to brace herself against the door.

Mary called to Jessica to stop with the pancakes and go to her mother. Jessica quickly complied, leading Ruby upstairs to the room she shared with Sam. Mary motioned Mikey out of the dining room and back into the kitchen. "I need you to identify where they will enter the cornfield. I also need Elizabeth and Emmeline to run schematics on their most likely tactics and the best ways to counter. Then get Uncle Sam and John and Bobby down here, have Jeph and Ursula make sure everyone is supplied, and put Walter and Pete on patrol in their place. I'll get Dad. Be back in ten minutes."

"Breathe, in, out, in, out." Dean coached Anna through a contraction, rubbing circles on her lower back. Anna was lying on her side, curled into a ball as much as she could around her large belly.

"I think I preferred being her mother without having to go through all this," Anna joked as the contraction ended.

There was a knock at the door and then Mary entered. "Dad, we-" she stopped when she her mother. "Son of a bitch. Today's my birthday, isn't it?"

"You forgot?" Anna laughed.

"Been a little busy," Mary admitted. She bit her lip. "Sorry about, you know."

Anna shook her head. "Totally worth it. What do you need your dad for?"

"Mikey found something, we need your expertise." Mary deliberately avoided giving any details so as not to worry her mother further.

Dean kissed Anna and promised to be back soon as he followed Mary out of the room. Closing the door, Dean rounded on Mary. "What are you not saying?"

"The battle's about to begin. We need you to help us plan our defense and attack."

Mary began to head downstairs but Dean caught her arm. "Plan? You just want me to plan? Mary, I'm a soldier. I don't plan. Though I do appreciate the compliment."

"What, you think I adore my Daddy just because of his brains? I like that Daddy has brawn, too," Mary laughed. She quickly sobered. "But Mom needs you more than we do. Well, Mom and me, but that's too much for my brain to handle."

Dean laughed and they headed into the kitchen. Sam, Mikey, Bobby, and John were waiting per Mary's instructions. Mikey had labeled the two perimeter breaches on the map and was discussing with Sam the schematics Emmeline and Elizabeth were working on.

"When will the tests be finished?" Mary asked as she slid up to the table.

"In an hour, maybe less. They're very good at what they do," Bobby said.

Dean clapped his hands together. "So where does that leave us for now?"

Sam and John simultaneously ran hands through their hair. "We're locked and loaded, just waiting for the girls to give us the best possible scenarios and we'll go from there."

"Alright, call me when you need me. I'll be with Anna." Dean gripped Mary's shoulder and headed back upstairs.

"What's with Uncle Dean? He's usually gung-ho about battle plans," John said.

"It's July second," Mary muttered quickly.

John's eyes grew wide, an expression not hidden from his father. "What?" Sam asked. John glanced at Mary, who exhaled deeply. "Today's my birthday," she said. "Mom's in labor."

"Oh my God," Sam exclaimed. "Is there anything-"

Mary cut her uncle off. "Dad'll take care of her, don't worry. Let's just concentrate on what we need to do."

Anna gasped as another pain surged through her abdomen. Her contractions were now two minutes apart. The clock on her bedside table now read 11:47am, almost time for lunch. Anna wondered if anyone else would be eating lunch that day, or if they would be preoccupied with the ensuing battle.

The bedroom door opened and Dean entered, closly the door softly behind him. He crossed to Anna's bed and smoothed back her hair from her face. "I'm back," Dean said. "They might need me again later. You know Sam's never been the decision maker in the family."

"I didn't know either of you made decisions. I always figured you made it up as you go," Anna said before moaning with the next contraction. She reached out for Dean's hand while he aided with her breathing.

Anna flopped her head back onto the pillow. "Next time you see Mary ask her what time she was born. Since I wasn't there, I don't know, but I'd like to have as much warning as I can."

"Sure thing," Dean said. He moved to the end of the bed. "I'm not sure what I'm doing, hell I don't think I'm the one who should be delivering her-"

"You'll do fine. You watch television, don't you? Just go off what you see on tv," Anna said.

"This isn't usually what they show on Pay-Per-View," Dean grinned.

Anna grinned back until she was hit with yet another contraction, closer this time, approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds. She fell into the breathing exercises she and Ruby had been practicing the past couple of months. Anna had a bad feeling this would be a long night for everyone.

Forty-five minutes later, Elizabeth and Emmeline had finished running schematics and the army had selected various courses of action. During this time, the patrols radioed to base reporting on the current battle between the angels and the demons at the edge of the cornfield. They noticed several units slowly picking their way north towards the farmhouse.

"I've got seven demons in my scope heading north-east and three angels heading north-west," Pete's voice crackled over the radio on the kitchen table. "There's two units of five demons each following the angels at ninety degrees. How they circled around the angel army to get to their current positions I don't know, but I have a bad feeling that some sort of alliance was made."

"You think the battle on our front lawn between two opposing armies is a diversion?" John asked.

"No," Pete answered. "It's legit. Casualties on both sides. Neither angels or demons are good enough actors to pull that off. Besides, they hate each other. Any excuse for a dead angel is good enough for a demon and vice versa."

Sam scanned a map on the table and nodded to himself. "Thanks, Pete. I'm sending a squadron to your location. Bobby will take point."

"You want to meet them head on?" Mary asked. "We've lost the element of surprise."

"They have too, only they don't know they've lost it, which gives us the advantage." Sam drew a several small X's on the map. "Bobby, take your men south-east and take out those demons. Mary, I'm assigning you to Elizabeth's unit. I want her tracking the demons that are following the angels. Take a radio, channel two, and she'll keep you updated."

"You want me to go after the demons or the angels?" Mary asked.

"The demons. You're half angel, and I don't want you killing any of your fellow kind. I don't care about dead demons or dead dicks like Uriel, but the rest of the angels... I know we have issues with them but you're still connected and I don't want their blood on your hands. Do you understand?"

Mary nodded. "You want to keep me from committing sin. But demons can't take them down, you need an angel on this."

"I'll do it," Castiel said. "I'll take Ursula and the other angels. We have enough to make up half a unit and since they only have three I'd say the odds are in our favor."

John clapped his hands. "Sounds like this is coming together. Anyone going out there, go now. They're already too close for comfort. I'm going to get Jessica and Uncle Dean. Mom and Anna need to be moved to the basement, just to be safe."

"Good luck everyone," Sam said as the commanding officers filed out of the kitchen.

Mary was the last to leave. She turned to Sam and hugged him tight before squeezing John as well. Then she was gone, without a word.

Ruby settled into a battered recliner in the unfinished basement, propping up her feet and shutting her eyes. This wasn't how she imagined it, the last battle. She'd assumed she would be on the battlefield fighting alongside Sam and Dean, not confined to plush chair because of a pregnancy that in reality should not even had happened.

"You alright, Mom?" A thin female voice asked from above Ruby's head.

Ruby smiled. Her pregnancy may have been abnormal and unforseen, but she would never trade her children for anything. "I'm just worried about your Dad."

"He's running recon from the kitchen not fighting on the front lines. I don't think you need to worry."

"Yes I do," Ruby said quietly. "He's restless. He won't stay there watching the soldiers die, soldiers he sent to their deaths. But if he goes out there and uses his powers to kill demons and angels it'll infect him and then we will lose him."

Jessica hugged her mother. "I'll talk to him."

Ruby watched her daughter head up the stairs to gather towels and water and anything else Dean would need for Mary's birth. John and Dean were cautiously leading Anna down to the basement where they had set up a cot for the birth.

"I feel like a whale," Anna complained. She stopped suddenly halfway down the stairs, bent over and clutching at her stomach. Dean held her to keep her from falling while John timed the contraction.

"That one lasted 54 seconds," John said as he pocketed the stopwatch. "It's been about 80 seconds since the last one."

"She's close," Dean said, adjusting his grasp around Anna. "We need to get her on that cot now."

Carefully, the two men guided Anna to the cot and gingerly laid her down. John slipped away to his mother and inquired into how she was feeling.

"Better than Anna," Ruby mumbled. "Jessica went to grab some things for the birth. When she gets back I want you both to go upstairs and help your father. Keep him in the house."

"Keep him from using his powers to kill," John said, understanding what his mother meant.

Jessica hurried down the stairs, dropping a handful of supplies at her uncle's feet. She motioned for her brother and they left the basement.

Ruby struggled to stand and joined Anna and Dean on the opposite side of the room. Seeing her get up Dean asked, "What are you doing? You should be off your feet."

"Bull," Ruby said. "You can't deliver that baby on your own. There's one of you and soon there's going to be two of them. You're outnumbered. Why not make it even?"

Dean nodded and ushered Ruby to Anna's side. "Keep her calm during the contractions while I check... well, you know."

Upstairs in the kitchen, John and Jessica were not surprised to find the kitchen abandoned. The radio rested on the table, the maps remained taped in place, but the kitchen was empty. Sam had gone to the field.

"So what, now we're base?" Jessica asked. She rolled her eyes. "Dad would leave when we need him most."

John eyed his sister questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"We can't stay, John. We can't be base because we can't stay here."

"Are you suggesting we desert?" John asked unbelivably.

Jessica shook her head violently. "It's not deserting when you're not meant to be here anyway. We came back to warn Mary and we did. I figured if we stayed to make sure Mom and Dad knew to concieve us that would give us a leg up in the existence department. But this battle... John, we aren't supposed to be here. We've overstayed our welcome and it's time to go home."

Mary ducked as the demon she was battling took a swing at her head. This is what they were resorted to- mano y mano, hand-to-hand combat. Most demons were equally matched to the demons and angels of the Winchester army and the angels of the angel army. Had the numbers not been equal, had Mary been fighting one demon with John and Jessica at her side, their combined physical strength and supernatural abilities would have ended this war in no time. But, with each member of an army paired with a member of an opposing army, they were too evenly matched for powers to be of any real help. Mary was forced to rely on her martial arts and self-defense manuvers.

"Come and get me bastard," Mary muttered as she blocked his next punch with her right forearm. Twisting forward and to the side, Mary aimed for the demon's jaw. She connected, sending the man spiraling onto the ground.

"The man whose body you're in, is he still in there?" Mary asked.

The demon leered. "I killed him ages ago. He was in my way. Easier to control the body when you don't have some stupid human trying to surface."

"Good to know." Mary grinned and slammed a booted foot onto the demon's torso. "Now I don't feel so bad about what I'm gonna do next."

Quickly bending down, Mary pulled out one of the knives dipped in her blood and sliced the demon across his vessel's throat. He gurgled as blood poured from the wound, a muffled final scream before the demon was ripped from its vessel and ultimately destroyed in fire.

"Mary!" Mikey yelled across the smoking battlefield, acrid puffs of gray smoke rising from the limp bodies of former demons that had been obliterated.

"Little busy," Mary called back as she wiped the knife across her pants, careful not to smear off her own blood.

"It's your cousins," Mikey said as he joined Mary by the body. Mary glanced up with fear in her green eyes. Mikey quickly placated her. "I don't know what's wrong. They just told me to come find you."

"What's their location?"

"They're at base," Mikey said. His eyes roved across the battlefield. "Better hurry, we need you out here."

It was official- Ruby was calling a doctor as soon as the battle was over and scheduling a C-section.

"Relax, Anna," Dean said as Anna finished pushing. "I've got her."

Dean grabbed a towel and the scissors Jessica had sterilized earlier, cut the baby's umbilical cord, and swaddled her in the warm towel. He placed the crying baby on Anna's slightly less bloated stomach; with trembling hands, Anna took her newborn daughter in her arms.

"She's beautiful," Ruby breathed. The image of an eighteen-year-old Mary popped into her head. "Not that we didn't know that already."

Heavy boots stomped down the basement stairs. John stopped on the last step and grinned. "Thought I heard a baby." He crossed the room to join his mother at Anna's side while Dean quickly trashed the afterbirth and washed his hands.

"Never seen this side of Mary before," John laughed. He ran a hand down her cheek.

Anna smiled up at her nephew. "I remember when you were born. You didn't cry. Ruby nearly panicked, she thought you were stillborn. But Sam had you in his arms, feeling the rise and fall of your chest, and knew you were okay."

"Something to look forward to," Ruby muttered. She winked at John, a small sign to let him know they'd be okay.

Dean moved to the other side of Anna opposite Ruby and John. Anna was nursing the newborn Winchester, humming a lullaby while the baby suckled. Giving Anna and Dean a family moment, Ruby motioned for John to join her by the stairs. "How are Jessica and your dad?"

John squirmed. "Dad's... he's not here. He's..."

"He's fighting," Ruby finished the sentence for him. Rubbing her temples Ruby couldn't believe Sam wouldn't listen to her. He knew better but Ruby knew that regardless there was no stopping Sam from joining his troops. Ruby let out a sigh. "And you and Jessica are now base?"

"No, that's why I came to get you. You have to be base now. I don't want to ask you, but Uncle Dean and Anna are a little busy right now-"

"Why aren't you and Jessica base?" Ruby interrupted.

John stared at his shoes and fidgeted. "We have to go home now. We can't stay for the battle. That's not why we came."

Ruby swallowed. She knew this day was coming. John and Jessica couldn't stay in the past forever. And, truth be told, she rather they didn't see combat. It was better if they left now, before they were killed in action. Ruby wrapped her arms around her son and pulled him as close as her belly would allow. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too, Mom," John said into his mother's shoulder. Parting he said, "See you soon."

John crossed back to Dean and Anna. Dean stood to greet his nephew, having overheard the conversation with Ruby and knowing what was about to come. He pulled the young man into a hug. "Gonna miss you, kid."

"You'll see me soon enough, Uncle Dean. You're gonna have your hands full with us three."

"Yeah," Dean said, staring down at his newborn daughter. Anna, having finished feeding the baby, tugged on Dean's shirt. "Hm?"

"Would you like to hold your daughter?" Anna asked.

Dean nodded and Anna passed Mary into his arms. Tears formed in Dean's eyes. "Hi, Mary. God, she's perfect. Mary. Mary Samantha Winchester."

Mary stormed into the kitchen to find Jessica, and only Jessica, sitting at the table. Jessica quickly looked up, noting her cousin's smoldering eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Mary nearly roared. "We need you in the field!"

"Dad left, someone has to be base, so John went to bring Mom up here to cover," Jessica explained.

"Then once Aunt Ruby gets up here I want you two to get your asses out there!"

"Mom's on her way, wants to hold you first," John said as he came up from the basement. "And we aren't going out there."

"Why not?" Mary demanded.

Jessica piped up. "We can't do this, Mary." Her eyes remained downcast, never lifting from the table. She knew Mary would not take the news well.

"Can't do what?" Mary asked. Her voice was calmer now. She was more confused than angry.

"The battle. It's not our fight," John said as he slid into the chair beside his sister.

Mary was aghast. "Not your fight? Are you forgetting where we came from? The hell that was our lives? How is this not your fight?"

"No, of course we haven't forgotten," Jessica said. She sighed. "We don't want to go back to that anymore than you do."

"Then why won't you fight?"

"You're the one who can end this, Mary," John said, taking his cousin's hand in his. "not us. We'll only be in the way if we stay."

Mary sagged against the wall. "What are you saying? John, God spoke to you. We made this a three-sided war because of you! You can't back out now!"

"We're not backing out," John said. "I was merely the messenger. I played my part in this war. Jessica and I both have played our parts. There's nothing more we can do here."

"You'll just sit here, away from the bloodshed, watching us die?" Mary whispered.

Jessica shook her head. "No, we're going home."

A singled tear slid down Mary's cheek. She wiped it away, mumbled something about seeing her cousins later, and rushed outside the house.

Ruby slowly dragged her heavy body up the stairs and away from her little niece. It was so hard to leave Mary. It would be worse with Jessica, when she would have to leave her own child. At the moment though, she didn't want to intrude on Anna's last moments with her daughter.

When Ruby reached the kitchen it was empty and she knew instinctively that Jessica and John were gone.

Ruby sat down at the table, insured the radio was on and the volume up, and began to cry. Her head in her hands, her dark hair cascading, obscuring her face. This was how she looked when Sam entered.

"Ruby?" Sam asked.

The young woman looked up to reveal her tear-stained face. Sam quickly crossed to his lover.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked. "Has something happened? Where are John and Jessica?"

"Safe, they're safe." Ruby wiped the tears off her face and smiled. "They went home. It's better this way. Now, when we win and the future is changed, they won't remember the original timeline." Ruby took Sam's hand in her's. "Trust me, they're okay."

It took seven hours before the angel army and the demon army were forced off the Winchester's property. It took another three hours before the demons finally surrendered and the angels called a truce. It was at this time that all three armies realized two members were missing- Mary and Lilith.

They were found at the edge of the farmland, in no man's land. The demons and angels surrounded the pair; no one moved to intervene. This was the end of the final battle. Whoever won this fight would decide the fate of humanity.

Lilith, in the body of Isabel, lashed out at her eighteen-year-old nemisis with demonic rage. Mary countered with a telekinetic thrust at the demon's chest, sending her flying several yards. Where powers were unecessary earlier in the battle, they were now Mary's only resource and only chance to win.

As Lilith jumped to her feet, Mary stood, arms crossed, staring at the demon. "You won't survive this. I do hope you're ready to die," Mary said.

Lilith laughed. "Cocky little Winchester. I'm not the one who will be dying today."

"Here's a fun fact for you," Mary began as she crouched. "I was born today."

Mary lunged, her palm flared, and she tackled Lilith. The rolled a few feet and Mary smacked her hand onto the demon's forehead. "I was born today. I will not die today. This is my destiny. And this is your's."

Lilith shrieked as she was destroyed, particle by particle. Finally, Isabel's body was still.

Mary looked down at the body beneath her, her green eyes betraying no emotion. "That was anti-climatic. Pity."

As soon as she made it back to the house, Mary collapsed on a couch in the living room. Several of the subordinates remained in the field to process demonic prisoners while the angels had quickly abandoned. They would remain scattered and leaderless now that the war was over and they no longer answered to God.

"Mary," Castiel said softly. He lightly placed a hand on her arm, stroking security into her skin.

"Lilith is dead. The war is over. And I'm exhausted," Mary said. She smiled at Castiel but he did not smile back. "What?"

"Anna is gone."

Mary nodded sadly. "I figured as much. I feel like I should have some sort of emotional response right now but I've known this was coming. I've had time to accept it."

Castiel sighed. "Then I'm sorry for this." He kissed her deeply.

"Don't be sorry for that," Mary laughed.

"I'm not sorry for kissing you. I'm sorry that it's the last kiss we shall share."

Mary shook her head in confusion. "Come again?"

"They only brought me back for you, so you would keep fighting. The fight's over now and you don't need me."

"What are you saying? Of course I need you!" Mary cried.

"Your homones have no bearing in this matter," another male voice said from the middle of the room. Mary looked around Castiel to find Zachariah standing on the rug. "Castiel has done his duty, as you have done your's. It is time."

"You can't take him from me!" Mary yelled. She glanced up at the heavens, feeling that she had God's attention. "You can't take him from me! You can't take the last good thing I have!"

"I'm sorry," Zachariah said sincerely. He held out a hand to Castiel. With one last kiss to Mary, Castiel took Zachariah's hand and vanished just as Dean came into the room.

"What the hell?" Dean asked. He looked from Zachariah, who stood stoically in the center of the room, to Mary who wept at her seat on the couch. "What just happened? Where'd Cas go?"

"Home," Zachariah said simply. "It was time for him to go."

Dean instantly went to his daughter and held her. Having just lost Anna, he fully understood what Mary was going through. "I'm so sorry sweetheart."

"It doesn't matter. You won't remember him anyway," Zachariah said. He smiled sadly. "This is a gift to you for all you've done. We're wiping your slate clean. You won't remember the trials and tribulations of your former life. You will have a new life, one full of happiness and love, not his pain. I can restart your lifeline, today, with the newborn Ruby and Sam are currently cooing over. What do you say?"

Mary didn't hesitate. She looked at her father as she spoke. "Do it. If I can't have him or my mother then I don't want to remember." She slid off the couch, gripped Dean's hand, and moved to stand by Zachariah. "Do it."

In a moment, Mary vanished. Dean and Zachariah were left alone in the living room. Zach noted the despondent look on Dean's face. "It's better this way. She'll have a better life now that the war is won and she won't remember her past life."

"I know," Dean whispered, still staring at the spot where his daughter had stood only moments before. "I don't know much about her life, just what she told me and what little Sam and I saw. But I want her to be happy and if this is for the best, so be it."

Author's Note: Sorry it's so long! Had to pack so much into it! Thanks to everyone for the great reviews!