~Laura's P.O.V.~

When we showed up in hell we hadn't expected to be greeted by Crowley's welcoming committee. Actually they weren't very welcoming, all the demons there looked like they wanted to burn us alive then see us in hell and burn us again. I was almost certain the only thing keeping them from doing so was their loyalty to Crowley.

"What did you just think you'd waltz in here and expect Abaddon not to find you?" He asked sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "We haven't been seen yet have we?"

Crowley sighed, "Follow me." He turned around and with a wave of his hand his demons dispersed into clouds of dust. Most likely they were acting as guards, hiding in the shadows ready to cause a distraction if we chance to come close to detection. Mercedes seemed jumpy when she was in hell, more than a few times she was startled into transforming by something I couldn't see or wasn't there at all. Eventually Mercedes stayed as Shilo for the remainder of our time in hell. At least Shilo's soft puppy pads would keep her from making too much noise, Dean on the other hand was stomping around with his combat boots. I glared at him.

"What?"

"Step lighter. We don't want to make too much noise." Dean looked down at his feet then back up at me and shrugged.

Finally we found Aria, or at least her throne room. Aria wasn't seated in her throne but she was walking around the room, pacing it anxiously a worried hell-hound puppy following her like it was lost. I couldn't tell what she was murmuring to herself but when I tried to approach her Crowley stopped me. He put a finger to his lips and waited.

We were hidden behind a wall by the doorway of the throne room, Aria couldn't see us. I thought we were going to be detected when a boy walked by, but his only focus was Aria. Either he didn't see us or didn't care, as he strode right up to her not even bothering to bow or show signs of respect like I saw other demons do with her.

When Aria paid the boy no attention he loudly cleared his throat, Aria stopped in her tracks. She saw the boy and sighed. "What do you want, Sebastian?"

Sebastian! The name struck me as familiar and then I remembered the vampire child we rescued from the nest that one Halloween night. My how you've grown… I looked at him and it wasn't hard to see the infant he used to be. Although I sent him to hell to be raised by a vampire nanny I did visit him from time to time, but the last time I saw him he was barely older than six.

"In relation to those vampires you sent to earth-" Aria cut him off.

"I already told you! Their mission is to be completed soon! Don't get all anxious just because you haven't heard anything yet." Sebastian frowned and Aria continued, seemingly not content unless Sebastian was seething with rage. "Don't get your hopes up either. It's not like the vamp nest will accept you! Just remember the only reason you are still allowed in hell is because you were raised by her!" Based on Aria's words I thought she meant the vamp that raised Sebastian while I was away but her tone suggested it was me she was referring to, and none too lightly either. "Don't test me, abomination."

Sebastian hissed, showing his fangs in anger. He looked about to retort but Aria waved her hand. Sebastian's mouth closed instantly and he turned around. If he didn't see us before he saw us on his way out. He paused just long enough to give me a sideways glance that suggested something between mischief and anger. He didn't address anyone else and kept walking.

Crowley walked in first, followed by Shilo, who transformed back into Mercedes and then Dean and I. Aria noticed us walk in almost immediately when she saw Mercedes her eyes opened wide into an expression of shock, but when she saw Dean and I her mouth closed, her eyes squinted. I could feel immediate distrust in the air.

"Aria-" Crowley began exasperated, he opened his mouth to say something then seemed to think actions spoke louder than words.

"What's going on?" Aria seemed to have a million thoughts racing through her head while she decided to ask the obvious.

"Pumpkaboo…" Mercedes began tenderly. "We want you to come home." Aria just stared at Mercedes an unspoken message seemed to pass between them but for the life of me I couldn't decipher what is was.

"Who the hell are they?" She shouted at Crowley, demanding an answer pointing at Dean and I.

Crowley gave her a look that said 'You know who they are.' My daughters mouth closed and she stared at us disbelievingly. Then her head shook multiple times over and over.

"No…" She started out saying then got louder. "NO! I did my waiting! Twelve years of it, in hell! After all this time they can't come back here after twelve goddamn years!"

Crowley seemed surprised to see her so mad, he backed away even though the shouting was directed at him. Aria seemed to be doing everything she could not to look at us as I talked to her she wouldn't even turn her head.

"Nice film reference, darling." When I called her 'darling' she glared at me with fury like fire burning in her eyes. "We just want you to come back home so we can be a family again." I explained trying not to provoke her. At the same time I wanted nothing more than to run to her and hug her to death.

"You mean so you can take the throne again!" She shouted, then added at my surprised face. "That's right dear mother, Abaddon told me all about your power hungry craze where you took over hell. According to every demon I have under my control you ruthlessly charged into hell and declared yourself their ruler." Aria scoffed then continued. "How self-centered, To think a person as worthless as you could call yourself my mother!"

"AMARIANNA JADE WINCHESTER!" Dean shouted his voice reverberating through the throne room but if he was gonna say more Aria cut him off.

"Don't you dare use that line on me! I'm not your kid anymore! You missed your chance at being my father, now you can't expect me to act all father-daughter with you!"

"Aria please." Mercedes pleaded taking a step towards her. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you that night-" She broke off mid-sentence. Everyone knew she was referring to the night Bobby died, but the memories must have been too painful to bring up. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you but I finally have a chance to reach out to you. Please Aria come home and we can be close again."

Aria scoffed again and rolled her eyes. "I don't need a family. I'm the queen of hell bitches!"

I walked forward a bit. Aria tried to use her powers on me but failed. I kept walking towards her as she started to get a little scared. "You need to mind your language, young lady." I walked by her and sat on the throne. Once I did everything turned back to the way I had left it. The bright red-orange that had taken over the room's color scheme turned back to dark red and black, the way it was when I ruled. "See, Aria, you are not the queen of hell…. I am."

Abaddon suddenly appeared next to Aria and addressed me. "You have no right to talk to the queen this way."

"Hello to you too, mother." I replied. "What lies have you been filling my child's mind with?"

"They're not lies!" Aria said defiantly standing between Abaddon and I. "She told me the hard truth about you. She opened my eyes so I could see the parents you really were, not the parents childish notions created."

"Honestly, it hardly seems fair." Abaddon began, I clenched the throne's arm rests as my teeth grinded, I could hardly stand her. "You come back after twelve years and demand things to go back to normal. You two weren't there when Aria was growing up. Thanks to me she became a beautiful, confident and smart queen of hell. That's more than you could ever say you did for her."

"YOU BITCH!" I launched myself out of the throne aiming for Abaddon's throat. Right before I reached it Aria used her powers to slam me against the wall. I fell to the ground dazed for a moment as the stone wall crumbled a little when I sat up.

"Don't touch her!" She shouted at me, then turned to Abaddon concern clearly written on her face.

Abaddon smiled evilly. "It's okay, darling. You don't need to protect me. You see she can't hurt us, she's simply a washed up shell of her former self."

"Alright, now you're pissing me off." I heard Dean mutter as he took out the demon knife. He and Abaddon locked eyes and it was like watching sharks circle prey.

"NOW!" I shouted to Dean hoping he'd get the message as I used my demon power to hold Abaddon in place. Dean understood as he lunged with the knife pointed at Abaddon.

"NO!"

Dean's knife didn't hit the intended target, when I noticed Abaddon wasn't dying on the ground my eyes moved to Aria's bent over form in front of her. I could see her demon side flickering inside her ever so slightly.

The breath was sucked from my body and my heartbeat stopped altogether. I grew tunnel vision and everything was a blur. It was like I'd taken a blow to the head resulting in a major concussion even though I wasn't the one who'd been stabbed.

Aria fell to her knees, Dean backed away in horror. I gathered my wits just enough to see Abaddon scowl down at her, then she scoffed. "You stupid child! That wouldn't have killed me anyway! Now you've gone and got herself hurt."

There was no sympathy in Abaddon's voice but none the less she bent down by Aria and ripped the knife out despite the blood that poured from her wound and mouth. Abaddon picked Aria up, letting her drape an arm over her shoulder and putting an arm around her waist to hold her up.

Abaddon frowned at Dean, then as she looked over to me, her frown lines grew deeper. "I'd really love to kill you both right now but thanks to you I have a soul to save." Abaddon disappeared before I could say anymore. She left and took my baby girl with her, I was left with one arm extended in reach for something that had been lost for a long time.

The room was silent and only broken when Crowley spoke. "Well, that was dramatic...We should probably leave now. Wouldn't want to end up on the receiving end of a demon's killing spree."

~Jess's P.O.V.~

"Son of a bitch!" The lights exploded, glass shattered and there were angelic voices, quite loud enough to drown out my swear words.

I cannot believe I'd gotten myself involved in an deadly angelic debate of politics. Any humans in the area would have had their ears bleeding to the point of death, but civilians had rushed out in screaming terror a while ago.

According to the voices, Balthazar wanted to see heaven restored to what it once was, which is why he'd sided with Ithamar. But I knew what kind of heaven Balthazar wanted, a heaven where angels are kept under strict orders to follow all superiors strict and unjust orders. He wanted a heaven with no free will, a heaven that Cas had spent the recent decades fighting against.

No actual fighting had begun yet, just two higher angels yelling at each other. It put an image into my mind of two presidential figures offering highly educated debates before they join in the ring and box it out to see who's the next president. All angel fights started like this, at least all the ones I'd seen so far which weren't that many.

I pushed all thoughts out of my mind until the only thing I was focusing on was what I'd come here for. Heaven had proven to be vacant aside from the usual sentries to defend it. The sentries told me I could find Cas or Gabe on the battlefield. So far I hadn't seen Gabriel but I noticed Cas as I hurried across hallways of broken glass.

Why did the angels have to choose an accounting firm for a battlefield? I wondered not for the first time as I stumbled into cubicle after poorly placed cubicle. I found Cas by the lunch rooms with a map of the US on one of the lunch tables laid out for a quarry of angels to look at. They seemed to be plotting points across America that served as possible base of operations for Ithamar and his army.

I put a hand on Cas's shoulder, he reeled back instantly. "Jessica. Good, you're here we need help with-"

"Cas, I'm not here to help you fight."

Cas scowled. "Then why would you be walking around on the battlefield?"

"I want you to tell me where my son went." I told him. I was unwilling to take no for an answer and I let that show in my voice as I stared Cas down. He sighed and walked me out of the room of conversing angels.

"Jessica I'm not sure if now is the time or place to worry about Elijah."

"Of course it's not! But you're going to tell me everything you know of his whereabouts...I won't take no for an answer."

Cas paused looking everywhere and avoiding eye contact. Then his eyes met mine again and he took a deep breath. "I don't know."

I hesitated. "That's it? You don't know? I thought angels were able to find anyone in the world they wanted to find?"

"Not with Elijah, he is your kin which makes him invisible to us. If that were not the case you surely would have felt where his presence is by now."

"Cas you gotta help me out here-"

"In case you haven't noticed we are once again involved in a civil war with our brothers!" He began sternly and I knew I'd struck a nerve. "Everything else aside we could really use your help to take back heaven. That's why we claimed your body back from Ithamar so that we could restore you and your power to make peace again."

My eyes fell to the floor. I hadn't thought that after twelve years of having no ruler heaven would be so willing to find one again, especially after I only inherited the throne from the Seraph powers all four archangels bestowed upon me. "Cas...I want to help but I don't believe I can be of any use. Heaven has gone twelve years without me as it's ruler. I can't come back now, especially when I was never qualified in the first place." I trailed off unable to think of anything else but failing all of heaven.

"Why do you think the archangels gave you the powers of a Seraph?" I looked at Cas but he offered no opening to answer as he continued. "Only the strongest souls are able to survive the process of becoming one. You must realize that. The fact that you are worthy of the powers a Seraph has should be reason enough for your position as leader of heaven."

"Why me, Cas? I heard you became king of heaven once? Why not just go back to your old position?"

Cas looked at the ground sadly. "It did not end well, did you also hear that?"

I looked away sheepishly, honestly forgetting what had happened after Cas claimed the title of God. "You are still more qualified to lead then me. Whatever mistakes the past holds do not matter as long as you are willing to drive forth into tomorrow."

"Jessica…"

I sighed, "Forget it, Cas. I can understand why you think I should rule heaven but I can't. I've never been a leader. I just want to find my son."

Cas nodded his head. "Humans do have very complex feelings regarding their children don't they? Very well, then. I don't know where Elijah is, he never came back to heaven once you died. A few angels reported seeing him but he never declared anything about himself, it was like he was actively trying to escape any kind of contact with not only angels but humans as well. His last known location was somewhere among the deserts of Arizona, but even that was three months ago."

I tried to fake a smile to reassure Cas of his helpfulness. "It's not much but it's somewhere to start. Thanks, Cas." I almost turned away from him but I stopped myself, "Oh and, when I find him. I'll come back to rip Itamar's army to shreds." Cas didn't offer a smile only a confused expression, he must have taken it to mean literally. None the less he accepted the offer as something meant to be helpful with a nod of understanding.

I zapped out of heaven, as much as I desperately wanted to find Eli I had to find Sam first. We may not have had much time as a family but if I knew Sam he would be stewing in feelings of guilt and helplessness at not being able to do anything but wait for Laura and I to come back with our children. I wanted to find Eli and I wanted to find him with his father by my side.