The last 'chapter' was sort like the beginning of this one. I wasn't quite done writing this one but I wanted to give you two chapters so I just cut off a chunk of it. Saying all that was sort of a prefix to telling you that this one picks up precisely where the other ends. Enjoy.

"Well…you've ruined my good mood."

"Ruined your good mood?" Dean scoffed. "When are you ever in a good mood?"

"Usually, when I'm not surrounded by prying idiots." Harry answered truthfully but he could feel the veritaserum's effects ebbing already. "So it's no surprise you don't see my good moods more often."

"I guess that means he really does think you're an idiot." Bobby supplied looking half amused half wary.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Sam laughed.

"Well at least I'm not stupid enough to have gotten everyone I know killed." Dean said heatedly obviously without thought.

The Winchester had said and done a lot of stupid things in Harry's presence, but that one sentence tipped the scale. Harry's eyes flashed as they turned to the older Winchester.

"Are you trying to imply something?" he seethed fixing Dean with a glare and rising from his seat.

Never one to back down from an obvious challenge Dean bristled. "Well you must have done something stupid if you got your whole world destroyed. The angels probably had to clean up after you."

"Clean up?" Harry's vice was low. "Genocide is 'cleaning up'? They killed women, children. Whole families, a whole civilization wiped from the map. Do you want to know why Winchester?! Not because I'd done anything noteworthy! Because I existed! Do you know what it's like to watch everything you know and love burn?" Harry slammed Dean into the wall. Sam moved to help his brother but was flung backwards by a wave of power from the angry wizard. He hit Bobby's desk with a grunt of pain. "You have no idea what I've been through. Your weak, pathetic human mind couldn't begin to imagine it."

Dean tried to glare as best he could while dangling uselessly from Harry's hand with no air supply. Needless to say it was less than impressive. Ellen made to step forward from where she had been standing back against the opposite wall but Anna stopped her with a shake of her head and a hand on her arm. Ellen was of the mind that Dean had most definitely said something terrible and deserved some roughing up for it, but she wouldn't let the guy die right in front of her while doing nothing. She made to shake Anna's hand off, but found it more difficult than she would have thought.

"Put the kid down." Bobby said leveling a shotgun at Harry. He knew the gun would do next to nothing but he wasn't just going to sit there while Dean asphyxiated.

Harry did more than just let Dean go. He half threw him in Bobby's direction. Dean hit the floor hard and began choking on air trying to refill his abused lungs. "Consider yourself lucky. If I didn't need you alive to make sure the angels didn't try a plan 'b' I'd have killed you by now."

Harry strode from the room silently leaving five pairs of eyes watching an empty doorway.

"Fuck he has a strong grip." Dean rasped from the floor massaging his throat.

"You idiot." Ellen said smacking the back of Dean's head now that Anna had released her. She turned back to see Anna watching the doorway with a conflicted gaze.

"Why am I an idiot!?" Dean objected.

"Well for starters you provoked someone you knew could kill you." Sam said with a roll of his eyes and he pulled himself from the floor with a wince. Oh yeah…that was definitely going to bruise.

"His entire world was destroyed kid!" Ellen cut in. "Don't you think he lost quite a bit because of that?"

Dean said nothing, obviously not having thought about it.

"Anna?" Sam had turned to the angel and found her glaring at his brother.

"You couldn't have said many things worse." Anna supplied heatedly.

"Were you there when it happened?" Sam asked eyes wide. They'd had another angel around them for a while and had learned hardly anything about Harry. Maybe she wouldn't be as tightlipped on the subject as Castiel was.

She shook her head. "No, only the archangels had been created back then. But being one of the few squads allowed to come to Earth I learned a lot about Harry and the purge."

"The purge?"

"He had a family. They were killed…mercilessly. Small children, no older than twelve or thirteen. It was cruel." She spoke with venom about the attack for obvious reasons, but her own personal experience with heaven gave even more weight to the words. "The archangels were supposed to wipe out all the wizards. Just the wizards, because God felt that they were becoming too strong. He thought they were over reaching their bounds, and it's best to remove a vine before it can strangle the tree."

"About damned time!" Gabriel said arms crossed as he stood near the doorway watching Harry check on the sleeping Jesse. Harry had simply appeared out of nowhere several minutes ago fuming but unwilling to speak. Gabriel did the only thing he knew how to do to diffuse the situation, talk. "I was starting to think you guys were trying to be clever and pull one over on me. Honestly, leaving me here with a kid? What were you thinking? It's surprising the universe didn't rip itself apart in protest."

"I was thinking that maybe a favor every once in a while wouldn't be a big deal." Harry said levelly. It had only been hours since he'd woken up and after his little Q and A with the Winchesters he'd come straight here. Honestly he felt Gabriel had gotten the better end of the deal. He would much rather have spent time in a quiet house relaxing.

Gabriel snorted but said nothing more about it. "So where's Anna?"

"Keeping an eye on the Winchesters I suppose." Harry replied taking a seat on the plush arm chair. "Those idiots will probably go back out to look for hunts. They want to play hero again and no advice I give them is going to change that. At least this gets them out of my hair for a while."

"Speaking of hunts…" Gabriel said with a grin.

"What?" Harry said raising an eyebrow. He didn't like Gabriel's tone.

"Well, I've got one or two that might interest you."

"I doubt it..."

"Well for one, I have reliable information that Famine is on the move."

Harry shrugged. "I already have a bargaining chip for Death's ring. I hardly need another. The rings appear to be of equal worth."

"True…"

"How did you know Famine was on the move?"

"Reports of couples eating each other and other stuff like that; his usual MO, not that you care to pay attention to it most of the time."

"If I got riled up every time there was an apocalypse I'd hardly have any energy left to carry on doing anything."

Gabriel snorted in amusement.

"What other hunt did you think would interest me? You mentioned more than one."

"Well there might have been word that your favorite demon is making moves in the world to clarify his place in hell should Lucifer take an untimely plunge."

"My favorite demon?" Harry asked raising his eyebrows.

"Crowley." Gabriel spat the name with distaste. Harry knew the two must have some history because though angels were bred to hate demons for their twisted nature Gabriel generally went out of his way to do anything that went against angel standards.

"I don't particularly care what he does, as long as he doesn't expect my help with it. The little prat likes to play high and mighty but we all know only the demon with the biggest stick gets to rule hell and he can only fake his way to the top for so long."

Gabriel snorted. He wasn't sure why Harry was being even more cynical than usual, but he found it amusing. There was truth in Harry's assessment of course. Demons like Abaddon were most definitely stronger than Crowley when it came to down to base strength. Crowley just had more brain power and better management skills on his side.

"Harry?" Jesse's voice asked tiredly. The kid had obviously just woken up.

"Good morning Jesse." Harry said with a sigh rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Morning kid." Gabriel said with a lazy half wave.

Jesse glared in Gabriel's direction for a split second before turning to Harry. Obviously the two hadn't gotten along famously in Harry's absence. "Does this mean I'll get to see my mom now?"

Harry nodded distractedly. "Soon. I just need to arrange a new place for you two to disappear to and then you should be all set to meet up with her." Harry supplied. "I take it the last few days went well?"

"They were okay." Jesse said guardedly.

"He's not dead!" Gabriel replied obviously thinking Harry was questioning his ability to keep the kid alive even if he had made a joke to the contrary earlier.

"I'd noticed."

"I know I can't see her yet…" Jesse butted in. "But can I talk to her? On a phone or something?"

Harry raised a brow. "I don't see why not. Not for very long though I'm afraid. The person who runs the shelter where I sent her is absolutely paranoid so I doubt she'll let me keep your mother on the phone for long."

Jesse nodded eagerly.

Harry dialed a number into his mobile and waited as the line rung twice. He hit the disconnect button and redialed. There was a click on the other end on the third ring. "Alpha, frog, green, scooter, radio." Harry supplied. It was a string of gibberish that was intended to be his personalized password. Harry thought it ridiculous but apparently some of his contacts disagreed with the assessment. He glanced up to see Gabriel giving him a look like he'd lost his marbles. Well apparently the angel concurred with Harry on this one.

"What do you need Potter?" an irritated woman asked from the other end of the connection.

"Two minutes on the phone with Mrs. Turner."

"Not possible."

"Why is that?"

"She's not here."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing.

"Some guy came by to get her. Said you sent him. He had the passwords."

"Five seconds Ladia. I think we're about to have this conversation in person." Harry took the phone away from his ear and sent Gabriel a serious look. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"What's going on?" Jesse asked a bit paler than usual.

"I'm not entirely sure." Harry answered truthfully. Sugar coating it wouldn't solve anything. "I'm going to find out."

In a second he was standing somewhere entirely different. Rural Idaho stretched to either side of the complex in front of him. Trees were sparse here and the sound of crickets was everywhere. He rapped three times on the door in front of him. A small section slid to the side revealing a familiar set of eyes before sliding back into place as he heard a loud groan.

The door opened to reveal a slightly heavier woman about five foot four with short cropped brown hair and a scowl that spoke miles about her displeasure upon seeing Harry's face. "What do you want?"

"Well…correct me if I'm wrong here…but I was under the impression that you ran a secure area for people to hide."

"Oh come off it Potter!" she said loudly. "They had the passwords and she wasn't exactly putting up a fight. What was I supposed to do? Lock her in a room and tell her she had to stay anyway? I run a hideout not a prison. She had the right to leave with anyone she wanted to."

"Show me the tapes." Harry said moving to go past Ladia into the control room.

"Not a chance in hell." She spat back her arm bumping his chest to keep him back.

Harry slammed the woman into the door with one arm. He heard her gasp for breath under his hold. "You let a woman who knows nothing of our world walk into possibly hostile hands and I didn't even warrant a phone call?" he hissed. "I am not in the mood to play your games today Ladia. So I suggest you let. Me. In. The. Room."

She glared back defiantly, but when he released her she opened the door and left it open behind her for him to follow. Inside was a dimly lit control center. About ten monitors were lined up in neat rows flashing different visuals. There was a computer off to the side along with a large filing cabinet absolutely packed with neatly organized flash drives. Hundreds of the things were organized by date and time. Ladia pulled a drawer open and rifled past a few folders before she pulled one and grabbed a specific jump drive from one of the small pouches. It was labeled 'camera 10' in hasty writing. She plugged it in to the computer and began to flip through the time. Harry had no doubt that Ladia remembered the precise date and time the men had shown up, especially if she'd found them suspicious. As she undoubtedly had, finding a majority of the human populace suspicious. She'd once run a background check on a mailman because he'd lingered too long near her mailbox.

"There." She said pausing the video and allowing Harry to move forward. She flicked through the video frame by frame until Harry stopped her staring at the face of the man farthest from the camera which just happened to be tilted back enough to have been caught perfectly. "You know them?"

Harry glared at the screen. "Yes…" His eyes flicked to Ladia. "Didn't you think it would be wise to at least splash a little holy water on them?"

Now she looked a bit nervous. She mumbled something but Harry was too preoccupied trying to figure out why staring back at him from the screen was Crowley.

"Man…you get mixed up in some weird stuff." Gabriel said leaning against the doorway as Harry stormed back and forth in his office waiting for Crowley to answer his rather irritated summons. They'd been in this position for nigh on two weeks now. Harry didn't even stop pacing to eat.

Harry turned long enough to shoot him a withering glare before he continuing on his path.

"Morning." Harry spun at the nonchalant tone to see Crowley in the corner seemingly without a care in the world. "You rang?"

Harry's eyes narrowed and he slammed a still shot from the video down on his desk. "You seem to have taken something that doesn't belong to you again." Harry seethed. He had a very upset cambion on his hands and if Harry didn't find Mrs. Turner soon Jesse was liable to go out looking on his own.

Crowley took two steps forward and slid the paper to a better angle for him. He didn't seem worried at all. "Ah…"

"Ah? That's it?" Gabriel snorted from the corner.

"Do you want to explain why you took her from the safe house?" Harry asked eying the demon with distaste. "Then you can rectify your mistake by returning her…now."

"I was doing you a favor." Crowley offered and both Harry and the bystander Gabriel snorted this time. Crowley raised a brow. "Lucifer knew where you'd hidden her. Leeched it right out of your head without you being any the wiser. It's a bit hard to bat off mental attacks when you're in the middle of being mind fucked though…I'll give you that. But it doesn't change the fact that you dropped the ball on this one."

"Where is she?"

"Safe…somewhere else this time. I can give the coordinates if you'd like. Maybe your pet would like to wing his way over and grab her?"

Gabriel bristled.

Harry's eyes narrowed taking in Crowley's demeanor. "No…if you were just going to give me her location you would've done it by now. You want something."

"Just a tiny favor." Crowley admitted with a shrug. "A bit of quid pro quo. Or you can call it insurance if you want."

"What do you want Crowley?" Harry snapped.

"What everyone else wants luv. A piece of the pie. You're not the only one who'd like to see Lucifer locked back in that box for eternity."

"Perhaps, but I haven't exactly seen you jumping through hoops to make it happen."

"I prefer to keep my work low key. I've already got all of hell on my back. What do you want me to do waltz down main street with anti-Lucifer campaign stickers?"

"How do we know this isn't some sort of trick?" Gabriel bit back. "You could just be trying to wheedle your way in so you can go running to Lucifer first chance you get and tell him everything."

"Come on…do I seem the subservient type?"

Harry simply raised an eyebrow. "You're the type who looks out for yourself first and foremost."

"And you're any different?" Crowley half muttered.

"What I'm trying to figure out is why you're not sucking up to Lucifer. You certainly have the influence and means to get on his good side."

Crowley scoffed. "Lucifer hates humans. So what do you think he thinks of us?"

"Demons start off as humans and then their souls are twisted and perverted into what they are. They're so far gone from the supposed purity of angels I suppose it is a bit surprising that someone like Lucifer could create you in the first place." Harry conceded. "So, what? You think he'll turn on hell once he's finished reshaping Earth into his own personal Disneyland?"

"Exactly." Crowley said with an annoyed glint in his eyes despite the smile on his face.

"Still, you're not being very clear on what you gain from helping." Harry focusing back on the real problem. "Lucifer's going to end up back in his box with or without you. You're trying to aim for something more."

Crowley held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "No fooling you is there?"

"What do you want Crowley?"

"Thing is," Crowley started, meandering around the room slowly. "Even after old Lucy's gone someone has to take over the hot box. Now, there are quite a few contenders but I'm thinking, with a bit of strong arming, I might just be able to nudge my way in there."

"You want to be king of hell?" Gabriel asked with a mocking laugh.

"Why not? I hear the company benefits are great."

"I'm sure they are. Where exactly do we come in? Last I checked I don't exactly hold much sway over the goings on in hell. Nor do they hold me in particularly high regard."

"Friends in high places can get your foot in a lot of doors. You'd be surprised."

"I'm sure I wouldn't." Harry said rubbing the bridge of his nose. "And I really doubt it's as straight forward as you're making it sound right now."

"Come on." Crowley said sounding offended. "I scratched your back, you scratch mine."

"Was that supposed to make us want to help?" Gabriel asked scathingly.

Crowley looked ready to argue with the angel on the subject, but Harry interrupted. "I haven't got time to argue this out with you." He said glaring at the demon. "Take me to her and perhaps, just perhaps, I might think about doing you a favor in the future. Keep standing around talking like you are and I might decide my chances of finding her are better on my own."

Crowley took a second to judge how serious Harry's words were before shrugging. He apparently found truth to them because a second later he was motioning for Harry to follow.

Harry and Crowley landed on the flat even ground of an empty parking lot. The rush of wings behind them was the only clue that Gabriel had decided to follow. Several paces away was an old motel, obviously long abandoned.

Harry glanced around taking in the decrepit building and utter silence with unease. "Don't you have guards?"

"Of course I have guards!" Crowley snapped back, but it lacked venom. He seemed to have caught the stillness in the air also. He led way toward the broken sidewalk in front of the building and approached the room with the number nineteen hanging from rusty nails. No one approached them.

Without a word Crowley shoved open the door. It met resistance halfway open and stopped with a thud. In the moonlight streaming in from outside they could see a crumpled body. Harry shoved past Crowley pushing the door all the way open and snapping his fingers so the room was illuminated by a ball of light of his own making. Three bodies lay in different areas of the room, obviously having put up some resistance before going out, and these didn't look like exorcised bodies either. Thankfully Jesse's mother was not among the deceased.

"Hunters." Gabriel said kneeling next to the man at the door and examining a stab wound.

"You can consider that favor gone Crowley." Harry growled kicking one of the bodies in frustration. "In fact, if she's dead you can consider a lot more than the favor gone."

Crowley was wise enough to hightail it out of there before the threat was even finished. Harry had turned back to spot the room empty where Crowley had been standing.

"Well at least it wasn't Lucifer." Gabriel muttered more to break the silence than to reassure Harry or himself. But it was true. They had a much higher chance of finding her if she was with hunters.

Harry grunted in acceptance of his words but feeling as if he might start spouting profanities if he were to speak.

"Oh you're not going to believe this." Gabriel said standing up and holding a leather cord out in front of himself. Dangling from the end was a very familiar amulet.

Harry blinked taking the piece from Gabriel. It was small and golden and looked like a strange cross between a tiki mask and a badly carved lizard. "The Winchesters." He whispered recognizing the amulet as the one Dean normally wore around his neck. He'd never witnessed the man remove it before and was honestly surprised it was there for them to find at all. He had learned at least some of the significance behind the piece when he'd read their files. If Dean had left it here it meant he'd either cut ties to his brother, or he had yet to realize its absence.

"I guess we know where to look next then." Gabriel said with a grin.

Harry made short work of finding the Winchesters. He wished he could track them down the way he had in the past, by simply feeling their energy, but now that they were back in their correct time period their energy signature no longer stuck out like they had. Still, having acquired their cell numbers from a skeptical Bobby, and knowing that Dean had used the GPS feature to track down his brother before, he simply had the people at their cell company activate the feature and apparated to the town they were stopped in. Whether they were there for a hunt or just to rest the night he was unsure.

It was a medium sized town. Not too large population, just big enough to have a sleazy motel on its outskirts. It was obvious where the brothers had chosen to stay. It was easy to track them down when they had such a noticeable pattern so he wasn't about to complain about their less than reputable accommodations. He walked alone toward the two rooms the Impala was angled at. He had sent Gabriel to check up on Jesse with directions not to lie to the kid, but to give off a sense that all would be fine.

He stopped at room number eleven and waited a moment outside of the door. It held a single occupant, sleeping from the sound of the breathing. Harry moved on with a shake of his head. The Winchesters didn't get separate rooms. It was too large a liability to be alone when you had as many enemies as they did. So when Harry stopped outside of number twelve and felt three people inside he knocked almost immediately hope and a modicum of relief seeping into him.

Instantly there was a fair amount of shuffling within. Cautious footsteps approached the door. Swear words met the air when the person realized the peephole had been painted over at some point. The door groaned slightly and Dean's face appeared in the crack. Under other circumstances Harry probably would have been amused the surprise on Dean's face. Right now he felt more like punching the man. "Winchester." Harry greeted with an annoyed glare.

"The hell are you doing here?" Dean asked opening the door only a little further. "Better yet, how did you find us this time? We ditched those little cards you put on us…and Anna." He seemed to tack Anna's name on as an afterthought.

"Not important." Harry said forcing his way past the man quite easily. Admittedly , Dean didn't put up much of a fight though. Sitting on the furthest bed clutching a gun like a life line was Sam. His grip seemed to relax slightly at the sight of their guest.

"Harry?" Sam said disbelievingly. "Why're you here?"

"I came to return something." He replied, eyes finding the third room's occupant. She was curled up on the bed sleeping and somehow none of the noise had woken her.

"Return something?" Dean asked sounding pissy as he closed the door. Probably because Harry had answered Sam's question but not his.

Harry let the balled up pendant fall from his hand and swing on the end of its cord, drawing both brothers' attention. Dean's hand immediately reached for his neck.

"How did you get that?!" Dean snarled trying, and failing, to snatch it from Harry.

"You dropped it…I assume." He replied calmly before extending his hand and letting Dean take the necklace. "I found it in an abandoned motel about sixty miles West of here…along with three dead demons."

"We found them by chance." Sam said nodding, eyes darting to the necklace then back to Harry. "We were in the area on a hunt when we saw one of them bringing food back to a car. We figured out afterward it was for her." He nodded to the sleeping figure.

"Yes, that's probably right." Harry conceded before stepping forward and nudging the woman.

"What're you doing?" Sam asked, standing to stop Harry if he needed to. "We already questioned her. She has no idea why they were keeping her there."

The woman stirred, turning over and opening bleary, bloodshot eyes. She let out a squeak at the sight of Harry and scrambled backwards nearly toppling from the bed. Clearly she recognized him from the hectic day in the warehouse.

"Good evening Mrs. Turner." Harry said taking a seat in one of the uncomfortable motel chairs and drawing it closer to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

It seemed every one of the others was caught off guard by not only the question, but the almost sincere level of concern in his tone. As it was, Harry knew it sounded just a bit forced.

"A bit off." She answered shakily. "Where is my son?"

"Somewhere safe, waiting for you." Harry said casually. "I'm going to take you to him but first I need you to go to sleep for a bit." Without waiting for her consent Harry reached forward and tapped her on the forehead. She went lax slipping further down on the mattress.

"What'd you do that for?" Dean said angrily.

"One moment." Harry raised a finger cutting off any rant Dean might have been about to have. He placed his fingers on each side of her forehead. Immediately thoughts and images flashed through his mind. He sifted through her recent memories searching for any kind of tampering. Then he searched her mind for anything else that might have been done by Lucifer or the demons who'd been guarding her. Finding no evidence of any harm he chose details and began to erase or rewrite them. He took most of her memories from the waystation leaving only a vague memory of a kidnapping gone wrong. He took anything involving magic or demons. If Jesse wanted his mother to know he'd have to explain it himself when he was older. Next were the memories of the Winchester's questioning session. He left just enough of the truth to start fabricating a lie. When she woke she would think Harry was the lead detective of her witness protection case. It would be much easier to have her assume a new identity on her own than to try to convince her she was an entirely different person.

He leaned back, releasing her head with a sigh.

"I take it you know her." Sam said watching the woman sleep with renewed interest.

"I think that's obvious." Harry said standing and brushing invisible lint from his pant. "It is a relief to have finally found her."

"Well?" Dean asked impatiently. "Who is she? Ad why was she with a bunch of demons?"

"This." Harry gestured to the woman. "Is Jesse's mother." Harry'd only just realized that the Winchesters had never seen Jesse's adoptive parents as they'd both been sleeping.

"Jesse?" Sam mimicked staring at the woman. "As in 'the kid who turned practical jokes lethal' Jesse?"

"The one and only." Harry confirmed. "She was actually in a secure facility in Idaho until Crowley decided to 'do me a favor'. It's surprising he even found demons willing to help him all things considered."

"All things considered?"

"Word got out that he's not a big fan of Lucifer. Turns out Lucifer's not jumping on the Crowley bandwagon either. Pretty much all of hell has their eye out for him right now. If he's not more careful they're going to find him too."

"You sound almost worried." Dean snorted.

Harry was starting to grow annoyed with his defensive behavior. It was obvious that Dean was trying to convince himself he'd said nothing wrong to Harry last time they'd met. "I'm hardly worried about Crowley. More about the things he could spill about under the right influence. Lucifer is strong enough without getting his hands on some of the stuff I know Crowley has ferreted away."

"Like what?"

"Like warding sigils and cursed items. He collects anything he thinks he might need down the road. Especially if he thinks he won't be able to find it again easily."

Sam and Dean shared a glance that Harry didn't like. "Like this?" Sam asked sliding a picture his way across the comforter. They'd obviously been discussing its contents before he showed up. He lifted the enlarged picture curiously.

The image detailed a pendant. At first it seemed completely average, just an overlarge piece of amethyst attached to a silver chain. Then Harry caught sight of a symbol set in the middle. It was simply a carved out section of the stone so it was difficult to see, but Harry sure it was the symbol of Ankh. "Where did you find this?"

"It popped up about three days ago when we were looking into something." Sam supplied with a frown.

"Story goes it went missing hundreds of years ago from some pharaoh's grave but it turned up a few days ago near Indiana." Dean filled in.

"And?" Harry asked blandly.

"And?" Dean repeated nonplussed.

"If that's all there is to it I doubt it would have caught your attention. You hardly seem the art collecting type."

"Well, get this, people start coming back to life two days after it gets stolen from a secure van. Police don't know who lifted it or how. It was just there one minute and gone the next."

"Define 'coming back to life'." Harry said, eyes narrowing.

"One guy gets nailed by a car, ends up in a morgue. Next day rolls around and he's on his feet walking out."

"Pretty similar to what you do honestly." Sam added.

"That sounds…problematic."

The Winchesters nodded. It wasn't the people living that was the problem. It was that whatever brought them back might have done it for more sinister purposes than just allowing them to live. "Do you recognize the piece? It's not from your storage units is it?" Sam asked curiously.

Harry shook his head. "Nope, not this one." He folded the picture and tucked it into his jacket pocket. "Give me a few hours and I'll see what I can dig up. Right now I need to return Mrs. Turner to her son before he tries to come and find her himself." He reached forward to lift the woman only for Sam to halt his progress. Harry raised an inquisitive but slightly annoyed eyebrow.

"There's um…something else you should know."

"Which is?"

"Well…Death…might have left a message."

"A message?"

Sam nodded. "We think it was a warning mostly. To Bobby…and us. But then there was this weird thing that happened…"

"How did he get a message to you in the first place? I doubt he wrote you a letter."

"He…well, he started bringing people back to life. People in Sioux Falls."

"Is that how you found this case?" Dean and Sam both nodded. "Go on."

"Well, he brought back Bobby's wife."

Harry blinked and bother brothers could have sworn he paled a bit in the dim light.

"Apparently right before she…passed on she said something odd."

"Odd how?"

"It made no sense." Sam supplied fishing out a wrinkled sheet of paper. "Bobby wrote it down. He thought it might be code of some sort, but he can't make heads or tails of it." He held out the paper to Harry who unfolded it.

'The boy who lived, savior of none. A debt must be repaid.' Was scribbled in Bobby's handwriting.

Harry blinked down at the paper. There was no doubt the message had been meant for him. No one from this world would know that title. The question was whose debt was it referring to?

"Do you understand it?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Not a word." Harry lied easily slipping the paper back over to Sam who seemed to have deflated a bit. "I'll be in touch."

He lifted Mrs. Turned from the bed and turned, disappearing from the room and leaving the brothers to the conversation they were bound to have the moment he was gone.

Sam stared at the pendant that sat on the small bedside table. Dean had placed it there shortly after Harry had left and he hadn't touched it since.

Sam had been surprised to see the trinket. Not as surprised as Dean had been of course. Dean didn't know he'd swiped the thing from the trashcan in that motel room after their trip to heaven. If he had he probably would have objected. Perhaps it hadn't been his place, but Sam had felt like his brother would regret throwing away the amulet later so he'd grabbed it. Maybe one day he'd regain his brother's trust enough that Dean would re-don the gift. He hoped that day came soon.

Sam thought he'd lost the thing for good when he hadn't found it in his pocket when they got back to the motel. It must have fallen out at some point during the fighting. He'd almost wanted to hop in the impala and drive back to look for it but he knew Dean would be far too suspicious of the actions and a suspicious Dean wasn't fun to be around. Speaking of which, Dean was throwing him glances from his place by the guns. Sam had avoided the topic of the amulet earlier by quickly asking Dean if he was hungry the moment he'd sensed the man was going to ask about it. Now he had no such diversion as Dean currently had an entire pie next to him.

Thankfully Dean was the talking type so the subject hadn't been broached for at least this long. "Why did Harry find the amulet at the demon hideout?" Dean asked bluntly.

So much for subterfuge. "Hmm?" Sam hummed hoping his brother would drop it if he pretended not to have heard the question.

"Why did Harry find the amulet at the demon hideout?" Dean asked again just as calmly. He had indeed been surprised to see the necklace. He thought he'd rid himself of it. It reminded him as much of 'God's' apathy as his brother's recent shortcomings lately.

He'd snatched the thing from Harry on instinct before he'd even thought it through. He'd even reached for his neck where the familiar weight had been missing for some time. After he'd had it in his hand he felt the urge to drop it just as quickly, but he'd fought the impulse.

He glanced up to his brother measuring the amount of hesitance in his eyes. It was secret keeping that had led to Dean's dismissal of Sam in the first place. Did Sam really think holding back information was a good idea at this point?

"I… might have been holding on to it…" Sam admitted not really meeting Dean's eyes.

"Sam…" Dean said irritation evident.

"You dropped it in a trashcan Dean. It's not like you were going to use it any more. I thought it might be useful." Sam lied.

Dean studied for a bit longer, but the conversation died there. Dean wasn't an idiot. He knew Sam had grabbed the amulet for more reasons than he was admitting to.

Instead they both focused in on the more important problem, Death's message.

The scene Harry apparated into might have been funnier if it wasn't in danger of turning more volatile. Jesse had somehow managed to pin Gabriel to the floor and was keeping a chocolate bar just out of his reach. This might have seemed like a simple game of keep away if the kid wasn't crying and seemingly about ready to explode at the angry angel.

"Gabriel?" Harry said, unable to keep the amused note from his voice. He lowered the woman in his arms to the couch.

Both heads flipped in his direction. Jesse dropped the chocolate bar and flung himself at the couch. "Mom!" he cried out clutching her close. When she didn't reply, or even stir, he turned guarded eyes to Harry. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing." Harry placated. "She's just sleeping. I'll wake her in a minute."

"What took you?" Gabriel asked sulkily. He had refused to touch the chocolate bar now laying on the floor and had, instead, conjured a new one.

Harry shrugged. "Winchesters."

Gabriel nodded knowingly.

"Now, before I wake Mrs. Turner there need to be a few understandings. Firstly, she believes your father was killed in a kidnapping gone wrong. Secondly, she's going to think I'm a cop. Third, you'll be spending a lot of time with Anna until I can find you a new safe house."

"I changed my mind." Jesse said hesitantly.

"About what?"

"No, kid!" Gabriel butted in sounding the closest to adulthood Harry had ever heard him come.

Apparently the angels protests only bolstered Jesse's determination though. "I want to help."

"Help?"

"Fight the demons." Jesse amended for Harry's sake. The more weakly he added. "They killed my dad."

Harry's heart went out to the kid. He knew what it was like to be in his shoes.

"No!" Gabriel insisted again, not helping the situation at all.

"Please!" Jesse said looking more like a child than he had at any moment before then.

"I don't think that's wise." Harry sighed.

Jesse's expression twisted from pleading to angry in an instant. "I'm not a kid! I can help!"

Harry supposed it was a good thing he'd been a father once upon a time, lest no one in the room know how to handle the situation. "No, at the moment you can't." He started, watching the hurt and indignation grow on Jesse's face. "You're not trained to fight, or even to control your powers."

As if to prove Harry's point the lights in the room had flickered warningly.

"I can help!" Jesse protested though this time Harry could sense the uncertainty of his tone.

"If you want to help you'll need to learn to control your powers first, and then you'll have to learn to fight. You want that?" Harry replied seriously.

Jesse hesitated, and for a moment Harry was sure he'd back out after having realized what helping meant. Then he nodded resolutely. Harry repressed the urge to sigh.

"You remember what I said about your mother?"

Jesse nodded, confused.

"Good. I'm going to wake her in a second and you'll need to play along. You have to realize something though. If you do this, you can't see your mom any more. She'd be at risk with no way to protect herself."

Jesse looked clearly upset now, but he wasn't backing down. "If I don't help she might not live anyway."

Harry had to admit, the kid had a point. He placed his fingers on Mrs. Turner's forehead, waking her, so they could have their reunion and say their goodbyes.

This one took a good while to write thanks to work. I started carrying a notebook with me and wrote on breaks. It was really the only option I had. :/

Still, here it is. I got it out in less time than the last update took just as promised. So rejoice in that I suppose. XD

Anyone interested in the 'hammer of the gods' writing. That'll be coming up soon. Within the next three chapters I think. Really just depends on how much my brain puts out for the next chapter. We'll see. Well, 'til next time!

~Kanathia

P.S. My internet is about to go out so I don't have time to edit the second half of the chapter right now. I apologize for any weird misspellings or missing words. I'll look it over later and fix anything I notice.