Author's Note: As promised, what lead up to them going to St. Mary's and other things. No sex, just some innuendo, and chappie kinda jumps all over the place sometimes. Very short. Just explains a few plot gaps. ;)

There Can Be No Peace

Ch 6.

2 weeks ago (more or less)

Sam felt they'd spent far too long just sitting around doing nothing (or doing Cas, in Dean's case) and felt it was time they started hunting again. Bobby was out "talking" with that nice woman he'd met, Rachel something, who knew about them being hunters and even offered to help them if they started to hunt things again. Sam felt she would be more a liability than anything. He didn't need Bobby's girlfriend distracting him when he was killing demons or ghosts or whatever. Not to mention another asshole...

Loki seemed to sense exactly what Sam was thinking. He appeared behind Sam, smacking him on the back, making him choke on the cereal he'd been eating for breakfast.

"Dude, stop that. You're going to kill me one of these days. I thought it was your goal to fuck me, not kill me?" Loki stuck out his tongue at Sam and just grinned and sat at the chair across from him.

"Who says I can't do both? I'm god! I can fuck you while I'm killing you!" Sam rolled his eyes. He put up with the Trickster, but barely. In a way, he was the only friend Sam had. Bobby was out with Rachel a lot, Dean and Cas were out with each other a lot, Sam couldn't lie to himself that he wasn't lonely and that Loki didn't help get rid of some of it, just a bit. He wouldn't dare tell Loki though. The Trickster would think it meant he wanted to fuck him or something equally disgusting.

"What do you want this time, Trickster?" He said, suppressing a sigh.

"Do you have to ask? Same thing I do everytime..." Sam cut him off with a glare. Loki changed course. "Uh, you're gonna go out and hunt shit. Can I come, Sammy, pleaseeeee? I can do things the other buffoons can't! I'm a god, they're just human! I can totally help much better than they can!"

Sam was about to say absolutely not, but Loki was right. He WAS a god, and could help more than any of the others. With Cas stripped of his angel powers, he was effectively useless. Bobby, Dean, and Rachel were just normal folks. Loki would be helpful.

Sam raised his eyes to Loki's grey-green ones. "What do you get out of it, Trickster? You don't do anything unless you get something too. I know you."

Loki grinned. "You. Don't lie to me, Sammy. You're lonely. You need a friend. If I can't be your fuck, let me be your friend. Being my friend is a small price to pay to have a god kill shit with you."

They were already friends, at least in Sam's mind, somehow. It was easy to agree to that. Loki was funny, and made him laugh, even if he did piss him off more often than not.

"Okay, whatever. I don't know what gods consider friendship, but fine, you can be my friend. Just keep your dick away from me." Loki giggled.

"Sure thing, buddy, until you ask for it." Sam lobbed a spoonful of cheerios at Loki's face. He didn't bother ducking, instead licking the milk and cheerios off with an almost sinful expression on his face. Sam really wanted to punch him. But you didn't punch friends. He sighed.

At a small diner, Bobby and Rachel chatted idly, mostly about hunting and what he did. She claimed that she too was a hunter and showed him her arsenal, which included a good deal of weaponry and a strange knife that Bobby recognized as an angel killing knife. He didn't mention it to her, not wanting to bring up whatever painful memories she had had to go through to get it.

Rachel picked idly at her spaghetti, observing Bobby. He wasn't handsome. Far from it. And yet she was drawn to him. His strength, his will...when he told her all that had happened to him, it had touched her. He still remained strong to this day. Still willing to hunt and kill. He didn't give up. Nor would she. She would help them, if that was to be her penance. But this didn't feel like punishment. Bobby was a wonderful man. If only she could get him to move on from the loss of his wife. Still, she did not push him.

"Bobby...you said Sam wanted to start hunting again? Why don't I come with you? I know I've mentioned it before and you've both squashed it, but, why? I'm very knowledgeable about supernatural creatures, and my knowledge, along with my weapons, would help you. I have an angel killing knife, too, as you saw. If they give you any trouble, you have weapons against them."

Bobby shook his head, pushing away his steak, no longer hungry. "No. Just no, Rach. Hunting is dangerous. Even if you are skilled and have a great deal of weapons and knowledge. If you hunt on your own, I can't stop you, but I won't bring you into our dangerous world. Its more, and worse, than most hunters have ever had to face. You won't like it."

Rachel shook her head. He didn't know. Castiel hadn't told him, then. It was why he didn't hate her and push her away. He only did so because he was afraid for her. That...warmed her. She felt nice...she liked it. Someone cared enough for her to want to keep her from harms way. "If you hunt things, I'm coming with you. Like it or not. You can push me away, ignore me, but I'll follow you, to the ends of the earth if I have to."

She pushed her chair out, standing up. "You're the bravest, strongest man I've ever met. If I can trust my life with anyone, it is with you." She walked out of the diner, leaving Bobby confused. He liked her...a lot. A whole lot. She was elegant, skilled, and deadly. He'd seen her with a blade, a gun, and other instruments of hunting, and she was everything a hunter should be. In addition, she was also sensitive and sweet and listening to him. And stubborn as hell. She would make good on her threat to follow him if he didn't just give in. He'd made up his mind.

Dean and Castiel were making good use of Dean's old bed. Had been for a bit now. He wondered if he could break it. Even moreso, hunting...they would have to, he knew. As the son of a hunter, and a good person, Dean would not, could not, let people die out there when he could save them. Even if God was back in Heaven, it didn't mean evil was gone from the world forever. As he'd read in a book once (one without pictures, to Sam's shock at the time) good could not exist without evil. Light and Dark. Life and Death. Chicken and Egg. All that stuff. Cas snuggled against Dean's chest.

"What are you thinking about now, love? I can tell that pensive look of yours. It means you're thinking about something." Leave it to Cas to hit the mark.

Dean ruffled Cas's hair. "Nothing. Just...well, okay not nothing. Hunting. I can't do it, Cas. I can' sit here and have our happy ever after. If people are out there dying and we can save them, I want to save them."

There. He'd said it. Would Cas agree with him, or would his lover want to stay here?

"You're right, Dean. We can't let people die needlessly. I'm being...punished...so I have to do something to make up for what I did. To you. To the world. Dammit, Dean, I kissed CROWLEY! If anything, I need to make up for that!"

Dean laughed. He'd known about Cas kissing Crowley. The King of Hell sure got around, even with angels. He and Cas laughed about it now. At the time, it had been a what-the-fuck moment between them, but once he'd explained, it was all okay. His working with Crowley had taken Dean awhile to get over, but again, he did that too. He loved Cas too much to give up on him just because he'd messed around with a demon a few times. Not in the sexual way. At least Dean hoped not. If so, Cas was keeping deathly quiet about that.

So. They would start hunting things. Sam had wanted to for awhile now. Bobby would just go along with them. The Trickster would follow them, harassing Sam along the way. Bobby's girlfriend would likely come...they would make a great team. Hunting, and loving, together.