AUTHOR'S NOTES: So there are a few little things I tweaked with this chapter. Like Adam's take on the whole situation. But some things I tried not to tinker with too much.

Chapter 25

Point of No Return

Dean put all three letters in the box along with the old leather jacket that had belonged to his father. His favorite gun—a 1911 Colt—went in next along with the keys to the Impala.

Staring down at the gun that had been his constant companion for the past 14 years, Dean realizes that he never told Sam and Fiona where it came from. He doubted his father—who gave him the gun for his 16th birthday—even knew the weapon's lineage. All John Winchester knew was that the gun was a steal at $85 at a small town gun show.

When Dean had gone back in time and met his mother before she's married John, Dean had seen the 1911 Colt set high on a bookcase in his grandparents' house.

The gun had been his mother's and Dean often felt that in some small way that it was her way of looking out for him over the years.

Pulling himself from his memories, he made sure his duffel was already crammed at the bottom, and as Dean closed the box up, he grabbed a marker and wrote Bobby's name and address on the top before taping the box up.

"Sending someone a package?" a voice said behind him.

Dean turned to see Gibbs standing there, looking expectant and ever so slightly questioning. "How'd you find me?"

"Talked to your brother," Gibbs explained. "And Abby tracked the GPS in your phone." Walking up to Dean, he studied the younger man and frowned. "Why?"

"None of your business," Dean grumbled, turning his back on his father's best friend. He turned back to Gibbs, however, when he felt the older man smack him hard on the back of the head. "What the hell was that for?"

"I can't let you do this, Dean," Gibbs said, giving Dean a long stare.

"Oh, yeah?" Dean said, in a scoffing tone. "And how are you going to stop me?" But just as the words were out of his mouth, he felt someone grab his arm and without warning, he was suddenly in Bobby's study where Sam, Fiona, Castiel, Gabriel, Bobby, Ellen, and Jo all stood, glaring at him. Looking at the person letting go of his arm, Dean groaned as he saw Anna also giving him a look. "Crap," he muttered, going to sit down on the sofa.

"I got half a mind to kick your ass right now," Fiona said, arms crossed so she wasn't tempted to start throwing punches at Dean.

"Yeah, well, go right ahead," Dean replied, standing. "I mean, come on. 8 months of turned pages and screwed pooches and tonight is when the magic happens? Get real."

"You ain't helpin'," Bobby grumbled as he went to sit down at the desk, moving some of the piles of books around to look for something.

"Well, then why don't you let me get out of your hair, then?" Dean said, knowing full well that he was now under lock and key.

Leaning against the wall, Castiel glared furiously at Dean. After all the talk about free will, and the sacrifices Cas had made for the sake of helping Dean Winchester, now the hunter was going to give in to Heaven and Michael? Cas could have abandoned the Winchesters from the start. He could have refused to aid them at any time. But instead, he gave everything and had received nothing in return, making Dean's decision feel even more like a slap in the face.

"What the hell happened to you?" Bobby asked, his brow furrowed. For months, Dean had been going on and on about finding some way to beat Lucifer without saying 'yes'. So why was Dean suddenly on board with the whole plan?

"Reality happened," Dean replied, his calm giving way to frustrated anger. "Nuclear's the only option we have left. Michael can ice the Devil and save a boatload of people."

"But not all of them," Bobby reminded Dean. Hadn't that been one of the reasons that Dean had been refusing so long? Because a Michael/Lucifer smackdown would kill almost as many people as it would save? "We have to think of something else."

"Yeah, well, that's easy for you to say," Dean said, wishing that the others would just let him to this. "But if Lucifer burns this mother down and I could have done something about it, guess what—that's on me!"

"Well, then I'll tell you what," Fiona snapped angrily. "Let's make it a full party and I'll say 'yes' to Lucifer."

"Don't say that," Dean said, quickly. "You don't understand because you're not in my shoes."

But both Dean and Fiona turned to look at Bobby when they heard him open one of the desk drawers.

Bobby pulled out the revolver and set it down on the desk before pulling the single bullet out and setting it down next to the gun. "That's the round that I'd meant to put through my skull," he said, not looking at Ellen. "When I got out of the hospital, I'd look at it every morning and think 'Maybe today's the day I flip the lights out'." Looking at Dean, he said, "But I could never do it. You know why?" Fixing a look at Fiona and Dean, he shouted, "Because I promised you two idjits that I wouldn't give up!"

Dean and Fiona looked abashed as they lowered their eyes. But they quickly turned to Anna and Castiel who suddenly seemed to be suffering unexpected migraines. "Something's happening," Anna said, looking at the others before she and Cas winged out.

Bobby put the revolver and bullet away—he hoped he'd made his point—and when he looked up, he was surprised that everyone else in the room had gone except for Ellen who was giving him a look. "Ellen…" he started before his fiancée—it was still strange using that word again—cut in.

"I'm not asking for an explanation, Bobby," Ellen said, quickly. And in all honesty, she didn't want to hear one. She still couldn't believe that Bobby had even considered killing himself. She went over to him and gave him a brief kiss before saying, "I'll keep an eye on Dean and Fiona."

Bobby let out a deep sigh, mentally smacking himself for what he'd said about sticking a gun in his mouth, especially in front of Ellen and Jo. But Dean talking about basically cashing in had just made him so damn angry…

"Little help?" Anna's voice said urgently from the living room.

When the others hurried in, they found the two angels depositing a dirt covered young man on the couch.

"Wait, that's Adam," Fiona said, looking at the unconscious figure. Looking at Bobby and Ellen, she added, "Sam and Dean's half-brother."

"Cas, what the Hell?" Dean asked, looking at the angel.

"Angels," Anna said, quickly as Castiel set two angelic blades on the desk, both of which were covered in blood. "They raised Adam. I imagine since he has John Winchester's blood."

"Wait a minute, what does his blood have to do with it?" Dean snapped, angrily.

"Damnit," Fiona said as she leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "That is freaky clever."

"What is?" Sam asked, looking at his girlfriend.

Fiona looked at Castiel who seemed to understand what she was thinking. When she got a nod in confirmation, Fi looked at Sam and Dean. "Put it this way," she said, pointing to the two. "You guys are Plan A." Gesturing to Adam, she sighed and said, "And I'd guess… Adam and I are Plan B."

"You've got to be kidding," Dean said, wondering for the umpteenth time when the world would stop throwing curveballs at him. Looking From Castiel to Anna, Dean went with the redheaded angel and said, "Okay, you and me need to talk. Cas, you need to mark the kid. If the angels are after him, let's not make it easy."

Outside and well away from the Impala—Anna didn't trust Dean not to rabbit while they were talking—Dean turned to the angel and asked, "Seriously? Adam and Fi?"

"You want it to be you and Fi?" Anna asked, calmly. "Nick isn't going to last much longer as a vessel. And trust me," she added, wryly. "You don't want to see what happens when Lucifer's vessel explodes."

Leaning against the hood of an old Ford Taurus, Dean sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. "Look, Anna… if Michael wears me to the prom, that's fine. I can deal with that. But if Lucifer takes Sam…" Straightening up, he paced as he spoke, his voice slightly choked. "I can't kill my brother. Doesn't matter what's happened or how deep Sam's in it, I can't do it."

"Not even to save the world?" Anna asked, intriguingly. There was no judgment in her voice, only curiosity.

Dean sighed again as he leaned against the Ford again, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I've had one job my whole life—look out for Sam. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't save him?"

"Maybe the only way to save Sam is to kill him," Anna offered, even though she knew it was a waste of time. "Protect him by stopping him before he does something terrible."

"Yeah," Dean admitted, quietly. But as he fixed Anna with a look, he said, "But I still couldn't live with myself if I was the one who killed him."

xx

In the house, Fiona and Adam sat down at the kitchen table, beer bottles sitting untouched before them. "So what did the angels tell you?" Fiona asked, twisting the cap off of her own bottle and taking a swig.

"That I'm the vessel for the archangel, Michael," Adam replied, opening up his own bottle. "And that I'm chosen to fight Lucifer."

"Did they tell you that I'm chosen as Lucifer's meat suit?" Fi asked, looking Adam in the eye. Setting her bottle down, she crossed her arms and leaned against the table. "I'm sure the angels have given you the full pitch. Heaven… reuniting with your mom… Do it, or the world is a goner. But let me give you the bottom line, okay?" She nodded towards Bobby and Ellen who were in the study and then said, "The people in this house are the ones who actually care about you. The angels are using you. They don't give a rat's ass about you."

Adam thought about that for a while. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was true. He'd had doubts when the angels told him about his destiny and about his brothers. He wanted to believe that warriors of Heaven wouldn't be so self-serving, but he had doubts. "So then why bring me back? Why even bother?" Standing up, he paced a moment before asking, "Why us?"

"You mean why are we the Plan B vessels?" Fiona queried. Leaning back in her chair, she shrugged before finishing off her beer before getting up and going towards the fridge. "Well, you're also John Winchester's son, so there's a more solidified blood connection. Me? I donated blood to Sam so he's got my blood in his veins. Plus on my end there's some twisted prophecy stuff, so…"

"So how can I help?" Adam asked, eagerly. Catching Fiona's astonished look, he pressed, "Look, Sam and Dean are my brothers, right? They're family. I've gotta do something."

"Perfect," Fi grumbled, skipping the beer and instead grabbing the bottle of bourbon she had stashed in the cupboard. "Just what the world needs: another Dean." But when she saw Adam's expression, she sighed. "Sorry. Look, Adam… The whole 'sacrifice everything for family' thing looks romantic on paper, but here's the reality."

Fi poured herself a shot and downed it in one go before pouring another. "My mother made a deal with a demon to get pregnant. Mary Winchester made a deal to save your father's life. Dean made a deal to save Sam and Sam worked with a demon bitch to try and help Dean. My dad was killed by demons because he tried to protect me." After giving Adam a few moments to let everything sink in, she sipped her second drink and said, "It'll never stop, Adam. Your best bet is to get out while you can still can."

The following morning, Gibbs arrived with Tony DiNozzo and both agents didn't look happy, especially when they saw Dean and Adam.

Dean stiffened when Tony led him outside and around behind the garage. "Look, if this is about Zi—" But he was cut off by a punch to the stomach. Doubling over, Dean tried to catch his breath.

"I warned you about hurting Ziva," Tony said, coldly as he watched Dean go down. "You're lucky it's me and not Abby."

Dean groaned as he managed to get to his feet, keeping his distance from the NCIS agent. "If I don't stop Lucifer, he roasts the planet—Ziva included. I was trying to save her."

If Tony wasn't looking Dean Winchester in the eye, he'd never have believed it. But there was something in the hunter's look that Tony recognized. He remembered how he'd felt about Jeanne Benoit and saw that same look with Dean. "You love her," Tony concluded.

"So what if I do?" Dean snapped. Walking around, he wished he'd said it when he last saw Ziva. But he'd been too much of a coward. Nothing good happened when Winchesters fell in love. Look at Sam's girlfriend… Or Mary…

Tony's anger ebbed and once again he was reminded of himself. "So tell her," Tony pressed. "Or doesn't it matter since you're planning on killing yourself anyway?"

Dean leaned against one of the cars and sighed. "I got nothing left, man. I'm barely holding on and if I don't do something, then we're all screwed. How am I supposed to have faith and believe when I've got nothing to believe in? Sam, Ziva, Fi… Everyone's counting on me."

Tony could recall countless times when everything was on his shoulders and he didn't have the faith in himself that he could do what he needed to do.

"DiNozzo."

Dean and Tony turned to see Gibbs walking up to them alone. Catching his boss's look, Tony headed back towards Bobby Singer's house. Dean sighed, sure he was in for another round of the 'don't give up' lecture. So he was surprised when Gibbs asked, "You're not going to do it?"

Dean gave a dry laugh. "I thought you were here to help talk me out of being Michael's Muppet."

Gibbs didn't say anything. He just watched Dean as he leaned against the rusted car.

Dean sighed and he felt tears in his eyes. "What other choice do I have, huh? It's either keep resisting and watching the world end bloody or give in and half the world still gets obliterated." A thought hit him so hard it almost literally knocked him over. But Dean wished his father was there. He needed someone to tell him the right thing to do. Someone to say something other than 'don't give up'.

"I didn't come here to talk you down, Dean," Gibbs said, calmly, giving the older Winchester the full 'Gibbs-stare'. When Dean looked at him, he added, "I came here because it's what John and James would have wanted me to do."

Dean was caught off guard by that, but he realized that Gibbs had a point. "So what do you think I should do?"

Gibbs gave the younger man a slight smile and said, "I think you need to do what you think is right. I know I've made plenty of mistakes, but I think sometimes you just have to trust your gut."

Before Dean could respond to that, he turned as he heard Sam calling his name.

"Adam and Fiona are gone," Sam said, quickly.

"What?" Dean said, panic in his voice. He hoped the two weren't about to do something stupid. "When? How?"

"Cas and Anna think the angels took them," Sam replied, looking worried. "They're doing recon and Gabriel's looking as well, but we need you, Dean."

Dean wasn't sure what to say to that. But he knew that the first priority was finding Fi and Adam. "Okay," he said, wishing he could look at this as some sort of sign.

In an elegantly decorated room, Fiona and Adam exchanged looks. One second they had been in Bobby's house and now they were… somewhere else.

"Where the hell are we?" Adam wondered, looking at the platter of burgers and iced beers. "And what are we doing here?"

"The commonly used term—" said a smug voice. "—is 'bait'." The angel who'd appeared looked at Adam and Fiona with something approaching contempt. "You see, we don't really care about you two as Michael and Lucifer's vessels. But Sam and Dean have the world's biggest blind spot when it comes to family. So they're going to drop everything and come rescue you which will put Dean right where I want him."

Adam couldn't believe that the angel was acting so callously and he was starting to be scared. This was so very much out of his league.

But Fiona fixed Zachariah with a defiant look. "You can't kill me."

"Don't tempt me," Zachariah warned. "I'm an angel. I can do whatever I want."

But Fiona refused to be intimidated. "I've almost died how many times? And some of those times my death should have been a sure thing." Narrowing her eyes at the angel, she said, "Obviously someone wants to keep me around."

"On the other hand…" Zachariah said, shrugging. With a quick gesture, both Fiona and Adam were on the ground, coughing up blood.

"They're in Van Nuys, California," Anna reported when she and Castiel returned a short while after leaving. "But there are at least half a dozen angels guarding the place, including Zachariah."

"So what's the plan?" Tony asked, looking at the others. "Go in and rescue Fiona and the kid?"

"No," Castiel replied, glaring at Tony. "Sam, Anna, and I will go."

"What about me?" Dean asked, looking from Cas to his brother.

"Hand you straight to Zachariah and Michael?" Castiel sneered, angrily. "How foolish do you take me to be?"

"Right now I don't care about that," Dean promised. "All I want is to make sure Adam and Fi are safe."

Castiel looked unconvinced, but Sam nodded. "Okay," Sam said, as he grabbed his jacket. "Then let's go."

Cas didn't have the faith in Dean that Sam did. In fact, Castiel didn't have faith in anything these days. God had let him down, Dean had let him down… As the two angels and the two hunters stood outside the abandoned muffler factory, Cas withdrew a box cutter and opened up the blade as he removed his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. There were gasps of horror as he carved the sigil to banish an angel into his own chest, but he ignored them as he redressed. "Once I've cleared the other angels," Cas ordered, "Grab the boy and Fiona." He didn't wait for any sort of reply as he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Once Cas does his thing," Dean said, looking at Anna and Sam. "I'll go find the room. You two come in after me. Hopefully, Zachariah will be more concerned with me than the two of you."

"Dean," Sam said, suddenly not liking the look in his brother's eyes. But the sudden light coming from inside the building distracted him and when it subside, Dean went in without another word.

"How can you have so much faith in him?" Anna wondered out loud, giving Sam an astonished look.

But Sam just shrugged. "He's my brother. How can I do anything else?" After another moment or two, he took the angel blade Anna proffered and opened the door, slipping inside with the other angel on his heels.

x

Just like Dean had expected, Fiona and Adam were bait for the trap. Zachariah had shown up and before Sam had a chance, the angel had thrown him across the room before using a banishment sigil to temporarily eliminate Anna. "Thought I'd take a leaf out of your book, Dean," Zachariah said with a smug smile. "I mean, you're so fond of using that little trick."

Taking a step towards Dean, he went on. "So let's be perfectly frank, shall we?" With a single gesture, both Adam and Sam were coughing up blood along with Fiona. "There's only one right choice here. Either say 'yes'… or stay here and watch your brothers and your best friend die slow, painful deaths."

Dean looked from Fiona to Adam to Sam and he felt every last shred of resolve crumble into nothing. "Fine," he said, quietly, unable to keep the choke out of his voice. "You win, you bastard. Let them go and I'll say 'yes'."

"How do I know you're not lying?" Zachariah asked, curiously.

"Do I look like I'm lying?" Dean said, not caring that he felt on the verge of tears. All the years protecting Sam, and looking at Fiona like a big sister… But he had to protect his family. He had to do this to save them, including Adam. "Call Michael down, you son of a bitch."

"Better dial out to Lucifer, too," Fiona groaned as she somehow made it to her feet, her lower jaw covered in blood. "Because I promise you, Zachariah," she said, glaring at the angel. "You do this, saying 'yes' to Lucifer is next on my list."

But Zachariah didn't feel the least bit threatened as Fiona collapsed again. Instead, he started the summoning spell to call Michael.

Looking over at Sam, Dean could have sworn that he heard his father's voice saying, "Trust your gut, Dean. Do the right thing." Looking at his little brother, Dean suddenly realized something that he'd been struggling to understand for years. He gave Sam the slightest of smiles and a wink before turning to Zachariah. "Of course, I have a few conditions."

The angel turned, and he suddenly felt a bit unnerved by the fresh look of defiance on the young hunter's face. "What?"

"There's a few people whose safety you have to guarantee before I say 'yes'," Dean went on, dropping the bravado just a bit so that he didn't tip his hand too soon.

"Sure, fine," Zachariah replied, sounding as though it was a perfectly reasonable request. "Make a list."

"But most of all," Dean said, cold fury in his voice. "Michael can't have me until he disintegrates you."

"What did you say?" Zachariah asked, again getting that unnerving sensation.

But Dean was moving towards the angel, taking note of where Sam, Fiona, and Adam were and where the angel blade was. "I said before Michael gets one piece of this sweet ass, he has to turn you into a piece of charcoal."

The angel laughed at the very idea of Michael smiting him. "You really think Michael's going to go for that?" Zachariah asked, finding the notion amusing.

But Dean kept talking as he saw Sam slowly get to his feet, grabbing the angel blade as he went. "Who's more important to him now?" Dean asked. "You? Or me?"

In the instant that Zachariah made a move for Dean, Sam plunged the blade into the angel's back, giving the sword a sharp twist for good measure.

"We gotta go!" Dean said, quickly as he helped Adam to his feet. Watching Sam and Fiona support each other, Dean quickly helped the two out of the room, but before he could go back for Adam, the door slammed shut, sealing the youngest Winchester in with Michael descending.

As Dean drove the old 4-door pick-up truck Sam had hotwired, he felt stab after stab of guilt. He'd left Adam behind… He chose Sam and Fiona over his half brother. And he knew that Adam was far from okay and who knew what had happened to Castiel.

But looking from Sam to Fiona who was sacked out in the backseat, Dean said, "I owe you an apology, Sammy." When Sam started to argue, Dean pressed on. "I don't know if it's being a big brother or what… But to me you've always been this snot-nosed kid I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that that's not you anymore. Just like Fi's not the girl that you'd pick dandelion bouquets for when you were a kid." Dean thought for a while and finally added, "Hell, if the two of you are grown up enough to find faith in me… least I can do is return the favor."

Back at Bobby's, everyone else had gone to bed for the night, but Dean sat up for a while, looking at the Star of David necklace Ziva had given him.

It was a strange thing, faith. It seemed to be something you found under the most extraordinary conditions and the strangest things could make it something real.

And maybe Dean's faith in God was shaky at best.

But maybe he shouldn't start with divine faith.

Maybe he just started putting his faith in his family.

A/N: 4 Chapters to go! And maybe a brief epilogue if y'all tell me you want one.