You oddballs rock!! Here it is, perhaps the last installment, perhaps not. It's up to you – read the message at the end of this chapter.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Bobby studied John's boys as he decided how to answer the question about Mike. Even without the glowing eyes, Bobby could tell there was a profound difference in each of them from the last time he saw them. All of Sam's broodiness, the one thing that seemed to define his personality from childhood, was gone. Dean seemed to exude confidence, more than just about hunting. He wondered how they would take his speculations.

"Well, I gotta tell you, Dean, I'd like a little more of a warning when you send an archangel over." Bobby shot the older boy a glare.

"I was against it," Sam interjected. "I didn't like the idea of Mike being here without us."

Dean groaned, rolling his eyes as he leaned back to look at Sam. "I told you, Mike couldn't hurt Bobby even if he wanted to. And he didn't." Dean stared at Bobby for a moment. "Want to hurt you, I mean."

Bobby gave the older boy a quick nod. "And how would you know that?"

Sam grinned. "Dean knows all kinds of things now."

"Sa-a-am," Dean growled, the warning clear. Well, at least that much hadn't changed.

Bobby scratched his beard, deciding that maybe he ought to just get right down to it. "I suspect Michael, uh – Mike, was here gathering information for a trial."

Dean exchanged a confused look with Sam. "Trial? Angels have trials?"

Bobby cleared his throat. "Maybe. There isn't much literature on it, but I've made a few calls." Dean nodded, motioning with one hand for him to get on with it. Neither boy appeared surprised that he had looked into it already. "Apparently angels can hold trials over humans who have been under demonic influence. I had the feeling that Mike was handling the defense, which made me pretty nervous."

"Why?" Sam asked, that stupid grin he showed up with still plastered across the boy's face.

"Number one, because he was only interested in you," Bobby replied as he pointed to Sam. "Number two, because if one archangel was handling the defense, I figure another archangel had to be handling the prosecution," Bobby explained. He watched comprehension dawn almost simultaneously on the boys' faces.

"Gabriel," Sam breathed out.

"I'm going to kill that bitch," Dean said with a low, ominous growl that Bobby could literally feel.

"No!" Sam spun to face his brother. "Dean, you promised!"

"He promised not to kill Gabriel?" Bobby glanced between the two Winchesters. "I'm not sure it's even possible to kill an archangel, Sam."

"Sam, she really was after you," Dean protested, his eyes taking on a deeper, more menacing glow.

"Dean! You can't challenge Gabriel!" Sam shouted, jumping to his feet. Dean did not move, but those eyes didn't tone down either. "You promised! We have no idea what would happen if you won. Or if you lost." Sam breathed out that last part.

Now that was an excellent point. Dean just glared at his brother as though none of the words were seeping past that Winchester-thick skull. Probably weren't at that.

"Sam has a point, Dean. Hell, just taking on one challenge was stupid enough. Do you really want to start another?" Bobby asked, hoping Dean would see reason.

Now Dean turned those glowing headlights on him and Bobby felt a cold chill race down his spine. Da-a-amn.

"As a matter of fact I do," Dean said quite clearly. Then he slumped back, sinking into the armchair. "But I won't. Sam's right." One hand waved lazily in the air as the glow in his eyes approached normal. "I just hope she doesn't show up again any time soon."

"Again?" Bobby looked from one boy to another. "What the he-" he broke off at a warning glare from Sam. "What the heck have you boys been up to?"

"Honestly, Bobby?" Dean flashed that lop-sided grin. "Pretty much the usual these days."

Sam chuckled. "Yep, pretty much."

"I have no idea what you two are talking about," Bobby said slowly, hoping his words were capable of sinking through those thick skulls. "But maybe you two will feel more like talking over a couple of steaks and some more beer?"

Dean's grin brightened the whole room. "Now you're talking!"

Sam thought Bobby took the whole Dean's-kind-of-an-angel-now thing really well. Man, he liked Bobby! He wondered if Bobby might let him start using 'Uncle' Bobby again. Well, to be fair, Bobby never asked him to stop. Sam did that all on his own. Why did he do that? He tried to remember, to think back to his teen years, but it was all a blur of anger and yelling. He wondered if Dean knew why. Then he wondered if he really wanted to know. There couldn't have been a really good reason for it, he decided, so maybe he didn't want to know. Besides, his steak was really good.

"Sam?" Bobby's voice broke through his reverie. "Sam, you with us here?"

"Huh?" Sam looked from Bobby's curious eyes to Dean's concerned face. "Sorry, what did I miss?"

"Something bothering you, Sammy?" Dean asked, leaning forward in his chair like something might jump out of the walls at them at any moment.

Sam shook his head quickly, employing his ability to lie. "Nope. Just thinking. Now what did I miss?" He sent a fork diving into a chunk of steak to prevent them from asking where his mind was.

"Actually, I was wondering what Dean's job is?" Bobby asked, his eyes searching Dean's face.

Sam felt his face split into a grin as he swallowed his unchewed steak. "Morale officer," he said quickly, before Dean could interrupt again. "He seems to be pretty good at it too," Sam added as a pink flush spread from Dean's cheeks to cover his entire face.

"Morale officer?" Bobby asked, a thin grin snaking across the older man's face. "No kidding? What's that involve?" Bobby looked casual as he cut off another mouthful, but Sam could tell their old friend was brimming with curiosity. Well, at least this hadn't turned out the way Dean thought it would, with shotguns and exorcisms.

Sam beamed, pride for his brother growing. Finally he had an audience for it! "Dean is drawn to people who are freaking out and he helps them." He chuckled. "One time he even had to burp…"

"It changed," Dean interrupted.

Sam's head spun so fast it took the world a moment to catch up with him. "What changed?" he demanded. He carefully set down his utensils, preparing himself for whatever Dean had to say.

Dean cleared his throat. "I don't think I'm a morale officer, or whatever you want to call it, anymore."

"They took away your job?" Sam asked, disbelief flooding him. Surely Mike wouldn't allow that! Would he?

Dean literally squirmed in his chair. "Uh, not exactly."

"What exactly?" Bobby asked, using the tone that even Sam refused to disobey.

"I'm not sure," Dean hedged, pushing some of the food around on his plate. "I'm pretty sure I still have a job, I'm just not too sure what it is."

"So you think it changed?" Bobby leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. He appeared very interested. Good old Bobby! Who knows how long it would have taken for Sam to get these answers out of his brother.

Dean nodded, shifting again in his chair and looking guilty.

"You had a job and didn't tell me about it," Sam reasoned out loud, watching his brother's reaction. Yep, that was it. "What happened?"

A scowl covered Dean's features. "Some dumb kid tried to run out in front of a car. Idiot. He'll probably grow up to be a cop too. With my luck, a Fed."

"When did that happen?" Sam demanded. "I don't remember anything like that."

Dean shrugged. "Outside the grocery store."

Sam's eyes widened. "That's what you were doing when you were supposed to be waiting in the car? Dean! Why didn't you call me to help?"

One of Dean's eyebrows arched as he reached for his beer. "For what? I didn't even know why I was there until after it happened." He took a quick swig. "Besides, I figured it was going to be something stupid again." Dean glared at his beer. "It's definitely better with the holy water in it."

"Something stupid?" Bobby prompted. "Sam, care to fill me in?"

Sam rubbed his temple, a headache threatening. "I used to have a list of this stuff, but we burned it. Some of the things Dean had to do were, well, stupid. One time he had to burp a baby." He glanced over to his brother, surprised Dean allowed him to spill that one. Bobby covered his mouth with one hand. Sam didn't blame the man, he didn't like to aggravate Dean these days either. "Another time he had to get a runaway dog for some crying kid."

Bobby cleared his throat, an obvious attempt not to laugh. "So, why did you burn the list?"

"It kept getting in the way," Dean said.

"In the way?" Bobby looked between them. "Of what?"

"Us." Dean shrugged. "Couldn't allow that."

Both of Bobby's eyebrows disappeared behind his stained ballcap. "No, I guess not," he said slowly.

Sam felt himself beaming at that. He had the best big brother ever. "Oh, man, is this euphoria ever going to wear off?"

"God, I hope so," Dean said, leaning back and taking a long swig of beer.

Sam frowned. "I said that out loud?"

Dean chuckled. "Well, at least it seems to be wearing off now."

"What's with the euphoria?" Bobby asked.

With a look, Sam asked for Dean's permission. Dean shrugged, setting his beer back on the table. Sam took that as permission. After all, this was Bobby.

"There was something really bad inside me," Sam began slowly. "It was dark. Dean made it go away with this awesome light."

Those eyebrows didn't come back down. "Sam, are you trying to say that your brother healed you? Of this darkness?"

Dean's was staring down at his plate, carefully cutting up his remaining steak. "If I'd known about the euphoria as a side-effect, I might've left some."

"Not funny, Dean," Bobby growled, sounding far more intense than Sam ever remembered. Dean's head snapped up, surprised. "Do you have any idea what you did?"

Dean shot Sam a panicked look before shrugging again.

"Now, this is just speculation mind you, but based on Michael's questions and what little you two have told me, I think Sam was infected." Bobby pushed away from the table to pace room.

"Infected?" Dean's voice took on an edge. "With what?"

"My best guess? Some type of demonic infection, like that town you two were in." Bobby's pacing sped up. "That would account for the darkness in Sam and the fact your new angelic abilities could cure him. Since Sam had been fighting it himself, probably most of his life, this euphoria thing you keep talking about may not go away."

Dean's eyes took on that 'annoyed' glow. "What exactly are you talking about, Bobby?"

Bobby sighed, pausing in his pacing to face Dean. "Michael asked me all kinds of questions about Sam as a kid. He wanted to know every good thing I could remember about him." The stained ballcap wound up in Bobby's hands, the bill twisted tight in his fist. "Judging from the questions, I'd have to say they knew Sam was infected as a kid, maybe even a baby. It could've happened the night that…"

It hit Sam as Bobby's voice trailed off. It happened the night their mother was killed by the demon. Was that the real reason the demon came to their home? Did Mom just happen to interrupt it?

"Son of a bitch." Dean's low voice vibrated through Sam's bones. "It's a good thing it's dead."

Sam motioned to Bobby's table, drawing Dean's attention. His brother's fingers had burrowed into the surface causing fingerprint indentions. Dean slowly removed them, but the deep indentions were still there. Dean growled at it.

"Don't say it," Sam warned. "Remember the mirror." Dean nodded, the muscles in his jaw jumping with the strain.

Those deep fingerprints reminded Sam of something. "Bobby? Any way you can find a new dash for the Impala?"

"Huh?" Bobby turned to look at him, clearly having to tear his eyes from the table. "What for?"

Sam motioned to the table. "That kind of happened in the car."

Bobby sunk back into his chair. "This," he motioned to both of them with his hat, "is going to take some getting used to."

"Tell me about it." Sam and Dean's voices blended as they spoke. Sam chuckled at it, amazed at how much had changed lately, but how much remained exactly the same. Dean rolled his eyes, which were completely back to normal now, but a grin tugged at his brother's face.

"See?" Sam couldn't help but point out to his big brother. "I told you it would be fine."

Okay you oddballs, time for a poll! We can either end it there, or bring some other characters into the mix and see what happens. I've had to lock the door to prevent certain characters from running rampant in this oddball AU, but locks don't work well against these people. So it's either close the door now, or let loose and see what happens! What do you say? (If you say that's enough, I swear, it won't hurt my feelings!)