"You recognize this place but do you know what it is?" God asked.
Dean looked around unable to help the shiver that ran up his spine as he remembered watching Sam collapse to the ground when Jake stabbed him in the back. Sam had died here.
"Jake killed Sam here." Dean snapped.
"I didn't ask what happened here, I asked if you knew what it was." God said. "Cold Oak was a proving ground, for Sam. Azazel made a huge mistake here, he told Sam what it was. He didn't count on the Winchester ability to make the most stubborn mule seem tractable in comparison.
This is also the place where the Apocalypse was derailed. With one act of mercy, the boy with the demon blood brought everything to a halt. Sam spared Jake and then died ending it all."
"And Jake stabbed him in the back. Jake still opened the hellgate." Dean said.
"True but Jake wasn't Sam. None of Azazel's special kids were Sam. None of them could have opened the cage to release Lucifer. Only Sam could do that, it's why Azazel gave him the heads up in the first place. Sam was meant to kill the others in cold blood, Azazel wanted him to embrace his powers to prepare him for Lucifer. Sam was the important one, the others were just so much random garbage, practice targets. Sam was the only one with the proper bloodline."
"So what I was supposed to do, let him die?" Dean spat.
"He was already dead, he had earned his place in Heaven. You undid all of that by making a deal with a crossroads demon and put the train back on the tracks." God said. "Bobby tried to warn you, but as I said Winchesters could give mules a lesson in being mulish. Had you let Sam stay dead, Lucifer would not have had a vessel and the Apocalypse would not have been an issue."
"Then why didn't you do something to stop it?" Dean asked.
"I did. Did you think your meeting with the Trickster was an accident?" God asked. "I charged Gabriel with the task of watching you."
"So you had Gabriel spy on us?" Dean asked.
"If you want to put it that way." God said. "Sam had been tainted but he did not embrace his demonic powers. You showed no signs of wanting to end the world, but you still chose to bring him back to life by making that deal. And by making that deal, you allowed the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place."
God waved her hand and suddenly they were sitting in a familiar diner "Let's see Doris? We're ready to order now."
Dean watched in disbelief as a familiar waitress came over to the table. God smiled at the woman. "I'll have pancakes with strawberry syrup and orange juice. My friend will have the special with a side of bacon and coffee.
You seem uncomfortable Dean, you allow this place to cause you anger when you don't even remember anything that happened here. This was however another moment when I chose to intervene."
"I got killed about a thousand times by the Trickster." Dean hissed "I think I have good reason to be mad."
"The youngest Archangel is my messenger, my judgment and at times my wrath. What happened here was Gabriel following my orders. I told him to steer Sam away from the same stupid mistake that you had made. I also told him that he was welcome to bring a little wrath to you while he was at it.
I have to admit, my Gabriel is creative. I found myself quite amused at times watching your many methods of demise. You were quite graceful tumbling through the air when the old man ran you down."
"Wait a minute. Gabriel ran away from Heaven. He was hiding from all of you how did you tell him anything." Dean said.
"Do you honestly think that I wouldn't know where my messenger was at all times? He didn't want to be found anymore than I did. So I let him stay hidden. It was much better than the alternative."
God said smiling as Doris sat their orders in front of him. She poured a bit of cream and sugar into her coffee. "Gabriel has always been the most sensitive of the Archangels, perhaps it's because as the youngest we all spoiled him. But even before he ran away to Earth, he felt an empathy for you humans that the others did not. It's why I trusted him the the key to the apocalypse."
"Wait a minute, he had the key to the Apocalypse?" Dean stuttered. "Why didn't he stop it?"
"Because he no longer holds the key. He gave it back to me when he left. I don't think you truly understand why he left.
Gabriel was caught in the middle of the fighting because his brothers all knew he could start the whole shebang at any time. Before Lucifer was cast down He was pushing Gabriel to start the apocalypse while Michael was telling him not to. It wasn't an enviable position to be treated like a bone between two dogs determined to fight. Gabriel loved both Michael and Lucifer equally. To have them use that against him, it hurt." God said. "So he came to me gave me the key, and asked me for permission to leave. It was painful to see the effect it had on him. So I ordered Michael to cast Lucifer into the cage. I had hoped that it would put an end to it. Lucifer had more support than I knew of. I granted Gabriel's request and hid the key."
"If you hid the key then how is it that it still happened?" Dean asked.
"Humans lock their homes and still burglars will find their way in." God explained. "It is no different, they found a way to jimmy the lock. But Sam stopped it. And even while those who wanted it were pulling strings, you could have stopped it at any time."
"Yeah right. And how was I supposed to do that." Dean asked.
"All you had to do was say yes to Michael." God said. "You had plenty of time to do so before it got to the point of Sam saying yes. Michael would have killed Lucifer in Nick's vessel and Sam would have been untouched.
I was no more cut off from my general than I was from my messenger. How do you think he showed up in time to keep Anna and Uriel from killing your parents?"
"If me and Sammy weren't supposed to be born, why did you bother?" Dean asked.
"Let me see if I can explain this in a way that you can understand," God leaned back and regarded Dean for a moment. "Existence is somewhat fluid but not totally. When you add something to it, you change the whole. Zachariah and his buddies added a lot to existence to bring about the births of Sam and Dean Winchester. They made you a part of existence, it was not that easy to simply remove you. Your presence changed things."
God signaled for the waitress. "Doris could you bring me a glass of water and a bowl of lemon wedges?"
Doris quickly gathered the items and made her way over to the table to set them down.
"Now, you are familiar with lemonade? It starts with water." God picked up a lemon wedge and squeezed the juice into the glass. "So you add lemon juice to the water and once you do it can never go back to being water without distilling it which is a lot of work. These are the changes that Zachariah made." She picked up the sugar dispenser and added sugar to the water. "If you add sugar you change to whole once again, this is the birth of you and Sam. This is what Zachariah did. He changed the whole. He added two very accomplished hunters to the mix and there would have been an unacceptable loss of life in this changed existence if you didn't exist."
"So Michael saves us on your orders." Dean said.
"Yes he saved you on my orders and he used your own father as a vessel doing so. You knew that he could use you as a vessel and leave you now worse for wear. You still refused to say yes. So Gabriel tried again to convince you with his TV Land reality and you still said no, even knowing that Sam was Lucifer's true vessel. Even knowing that every time you said no brought Sam closer to the time when he would have to say yes.
You knew deep inside no matter how much you try to deny it that the day would come, you would run out of options and be left with nothing but Sam saying yes. Michael was the only one in a position to step into his vessel at that point. Lucifer talked a good game but he was still occupied with solidifying his position." God said.
"And then the day came, I was left with no choice. I told Gabriel about the keys to the cage. He stood between you and Lucifer at the Elysian. Lucifer was finally ready, he would have killed you that night and taken Sam." God turned a very unfriendly look on Dean.
"And you know what really stirs my wrath? You broke the world and then expected someone else to fix it. You wanted me to fix it. You wanted Gabriel to fix it. You even expected Gabriel to kill his own brother to fix your mistake. You refused to make a temporary sacrifice, that would have fixed things and spared your brother. Once again it fell to Sam to stop the Apocalypse at the expense of his soul and his sanity.
The truly sad part; with all Sam sacrificed, he couldn't even depend on you. You constantly harped on how you couldn't trust him. The whole fight the Apocalypse thing? It was all about you, so you could say that you never said yes. You could ride around on your high horse and claim to be the strong one when you sacrificed nothing. You pulled an angel down from heaven, destroyed every bit of trust your brother had that he could rely on you and earned the title of the creation's biggest hypocrite but you know what? In the end Dean Winchester is heaven's biggest embarrassment, the so called 'Righteous Man' is our biggest shame.
When the angels sing to honor the one who saved creation, the name they praise is Sam Winchester. In the end your high and mighty holier than thou attitude meant nothing, accomplished nothing. You were completely worthless for all the faith that others put in you."
"So where were you? Cas hunted for you, he believed in you! You didn't lift a finger!" Dean said.
"No I didn't. As I said before, your bad decisions are not my responsibility. Free will remember? I gave you help, I sent you guidance I even sent you a message through Joshua to stop looking for me because I wasn't going to interfere, you are the one who chose to ignore it in favor of your own human will. You are the one who decided that it would be your way and no other.
And your decisions didn't improve after the apocalypse either."