"Damn, that's a tear jerker."

Claire took a bite out of the doughnut she was eating as the girls left school the next month. Sara had just told her and Alex the tragic Crowley-Regina romance tale after no longer being able to keep it to herself, and Alex actually looked a little heartbroken.

"Can you even imagine?" she said, shaking her head. "To lose the one you love like that?"

"Nope," Claire said, sucking powdered sugar off her thumb. "Cause I've never been in love." She cut her eyes to Alex. "Why, have you?"

"W-what? No!" Alex said, blushing furiously. "No way! Who would I even like like that? I was just . . . I mean . . ."

"Chill, I'm kidding," Claire said, getting into the driver's seat as the girls got in the back. "I woulda seen him by now, right?"

"I think him telling me the story ruined any relationship I had with my father," Sara said, upset. "He usually calls every night, but it's been almost a whole month and he hasn't called or stopped by."

"Neither has Cas," Claire shrugged. "I'm sure they're fine. Probably just hunting and destroying souls."

They headed back to the house, frowning when they saw the Impala parked outside. They headed inside, finding Jody leaning against the counter, and talking to the boys. Both Sam and Dean were pretty banged up, covered in bruises and cuts.

"Damn, Thelma and Louise, did you go cliff diving?" Claire asked, crossing her arms.

"What happened?" Sara frowned.

Sam and Dean and Jody all exchanged looks.

"It's a long story," is all Dean would say.

"Girls, go upstairs," Jody said.

"But –"

"Come on," Sara muttered, grabbing Claire's arm and pulling her upstairs. "Something is obviously wrong. Do you think someone is hurt?"

"It better not be Cas!" Claire said, turning red.

"What if it's my dad," Sara wondered quietly. "I should call."

"Me, too," Claire said, pulling her phone out and dialing Castiel.

Sara waited and waited as the phone rang again and again, each time going to his voice mail. She felt something wrong in her chest. Her dad had never ignored a call from her in the few months they had known each other. Not once.

She looked at Claire, shaking her head, and Claire frowned. Sara went into her room, trying to call again, and Claire waited for Cas to answer his phone. Finally, he answered, and she felt relieved.

"Jeez, I thought something happened to you, Constantine," she teased.

"I'm fine," he said gruffly. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"I dunno," Claire shrugged. She sat on the stairs. "Sam and Dean are here and they look pretty banged up, so I was surprised you weren't with them."

"Sam and Dean are there?"

"Yeah, they were here when we got home from school," she said, picking at her nails. "What went down?"

Castiel was hesitating.

"Cas?"

"We had to go into the Cage."

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Like, the Cage?"

"Yes."

"Are you all okay? I mean, obviously you're alive, but – damn, Castiel. How'd you all get out? Isn't Lucifer like a bajillion times stronger than all three of you?"

"It was difficult, but we managed to escape," Castiel said, but Claire frowned. Something was wrong.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You sound weird."

"I'm fine, Claire. How are you?"

"Fine," she said suspiciously. She hesitated. "Hey, listen, the Cage is in Hell, right? So you've seen Crowley lately, right?"

"I have," he said slowly. "Why do you ask that?"

"Well, because he hasn't been around and Sara's freaking out a little. I mean, he promised he wouldn't just ditch her again. I think she is super scared he will, though. So . . ."

"I'll look into it," Castiel said.

"Thanks, Cas," Claire said, relieved. "Are you coming by this week?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll get back to you."

"Okay," she frowned. "Be careful."

He hung up, and Claire frowned. Something was off. She shrugged it off – fighting Lucifer couldn't be easy, maybe the guy was just tired.

Lucifer hung up the phone, leaning back against the throne. So, Claire Novak was alive. Good to know. He frowned, annoyed with Castiel. He wanted access to everything Cas had in that pretty little head of his – but he was just strong enough to keep something from Lucifer – Claire's location. Damn shame, too, because Lucifer was just dying to find out who this Sara was.

"Bring Crowley here," he commanded a few demons.

Lucifer wasn't sure about keeping up this act for the Winchesters. For one thing, the voice was hell on his throat. Why couldn't his brother talk like a damn person? Every time Lucifer had to say "Hello, Dean" it was like nails on a chalkboard.

He smiled sweetly as Crowley was brought before him, still bloody from their last 'conversation.' Lucifer kicked his feet up on a stool and looked at the former King of Hell.

"This is a great chair," Lucifer said. "Good back support, nice and cushioned. It's a masterpiece. Too bad you'll never get to sit in it again." Crowley said nothing, and Lucifer leaned forward. "So, still not talking to me? Well, that's okay. Maybe I'll just talk to Sara instead."

That got Crowley's attention. His eyes were full of hatred and anger as he looked at Lucifer. "I don't know what you're talking about," he snapped.

"No?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Because I – well, Castiel – just got off the phone with Claire Novak. Name ring a bell? Apparently you've been spending a lot of time with someone named Sara."

Crowley looked away.

Lucifer smirked. "Gotcha. So," he said, leaning back again. "Who is she?"

"A pastry chef," Crowley replied. "What can I say? Macaroons are my weakness."

Lucifer smiled again, not moving from his position. "See, you're good at lying, Crowley, I'll give you that. But the sarcasm is just rude." He gestured, and blood spluttered from the demons mouth. Crowley gasped for breath as he began to drown in the sticky substance, unable to escape his vessel.

Lucifer released him and Crowley desperately swallowed air.

"Wasn't that fun?" Lucifer asked. He kicked him, knocking the demon over. "Answer me, Crowley."

"A riot of fun," Crowley replied, spitting some blood on the floor.

"Alright, this is relaxing for me after a long day of fixing your ruins of a kingdom," Lucifer began. "But I have a really short attention span. So let's get a little serious here." He stood, sliding an angel blade from his sleeve, and Crowley looked at it with fear and anger.

"Here's the thing," Lucifer said. "I don't actually need you. I keep you around for pure amusement. So if I need to kill you, it's not really a problem. Hell, the other demons would probably throw me a thank you party. So I want you to do something for me, and imagine this Sara girl. Got the image in your head? Good. Now, imagine her bloody. Not dead, because that's just too damn easy. Let's say . . ." he looked thoughtful, tapping his chin as he came up with a decent scenario. Finally, he pointed at the wall. "Chained up by her wrists, cut up all pretty so that she's lost just enough blood to barely be holding on. Can you see it?"

Crowley ignored him, refusing to look at Lucifer or speak.

"Alright," Lucifer nodded. "I get it. She's important. Let's take it up a notch. Sara is screaming, because now she's naked and I'm letting some of the nastiest boys from downstairs have some fun before I run her through, slowly, with this." He waved the angel blade, grinning widely. "And you get to watch the whole thing."

"If anyone touches her," Crowley began, so calm it was eerie, even a bit to Lucifer. "And I mean anyone . . ." he raised his voice so that the other demons would hear. "There will be more than Hell to pay. And I'm not just talking about from myself."

That was nerve-racking. Every demon in the place knew what that meant. It was no secret that the King of Hell was well associated with two very dangerous men. Lucifer saw the demons hesitating, looking at each other, and felt a small pang of fear and annoyance at the idea of losing his demons to Crowley's threats.

"You won't find her," Crowley continued, and Lucifer returned his attention to him. The demon showed not even a small amount of fear, as though something had fueled his anger, and this was the Crowley Lucifer remembered from back in the day. Someone to be reckoned with.

"You won't find her," Crowley said again. "Because she's hidden, and protected. You have numbers. I have skill. Which one do you think is going to prevail, my king?" he taunted the last words, and Lucifer was growing angry. "You can torture me all you like. But even I can't tell you where she is, because of the spell I put on her shielding her from this exact scenario. I literally cannot tell you where she is."

"Lotta trouble to go through for someone who doesn't matter much," Lucifer retorted. "All this for a broad, Crowley?"

Lucifer looked annoyed as a buzzing noise went off. "Alright, that's like the fourth time. Who isn't answering their phone here?"

A demon cleared his throat. "Sorry, sir," he said. "But it's his." He looked at Crowley.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow, holding out his hand. "I hope it's not a Winchester," he said. "That would just be embarrassing." The demon handed him the phone, and Crowley felt a bit of panic as Lucifer's eyes flashed when he read the name on the screen.

"Well, well," he said, grinning. "Speak of the me." He hit "Answer" and waited.

At first there was no noise, then Sara speaking.

"Hello?" she called. "Hello? Dad? Dad, are you there?"

Lucifer looked thoroughly amused, hitting the "End" button and looked at Crowley, smiling and shaking his head.

"Oh, Crowley, you scoundrel," he winked. "This is so good. A Cambion! I knew I felt the presence of one, I just didn't know . . ." he hit himself in the forehead, laughing. "This is just perfect! So," he called to the demons. "Whoever brings me Baby Crowley wins a gift card. Oh, and also doesn't get vaporized!" he added as an after thought, and immediately the demons began rushing around looking for clues.

"Lucifer," Crowley said, and Lucifer raised his eyebrows at the demon.

"Please don't hurt her," Crowley pleaded, unaware of how pathetic begging felt – he'd never had to do it before.

"Aw, Crowley," Lucifer said, sitting on his throne. "I'm not gonna hurt her. I'm gonna use her, and then I'm going to hurt her." He leaned back, pressing the "call" button on his phone. He cleared his throat, and put on the voice.

"Hello, Claire," he said. "I can make it. Where would you like to meet?"