The idea was fine and dandy in theory. But as soon as Sam was finished suggesting it obstacles began to present themselves. It's not like the Winchesters were inexperienced when it came to walking amongst other realms. Hell, Purgatory, even Heaven for God's sake, had all been past vacationing spots for them. Still, the idea of transporting himself and Sam there and then navigating the maze all by themselves was a bit daunting. This is Cas we're talking about, Dean reminded himself. Plus they wouldn't me completely defensive, they had a few angel blades in their possession to arm themselves with.

While Sam began sewing up Dean's wound with his precise stitches, hoping to speed up the healing process, Meg made an announcement that stilled Sam's hands and made Dean's head snap up: "You clowns know I'm coming too, right?" Dean had almost forgotten she was there while he and Sam had been deciding what to do exactly.

Sam was the first to regain his composure, "Can a demon even enter heaven?" He asked seriously, the question deflecting the idea rather well in Dean's opinion.

"Angel have been to hell, so why the hell not? I don't trust you egg heads to get the flightless bird out of it's cage, let alone to be man enough to kill the cat that put him there." She flicked her hair over her shoulder, "It's my turn to kick some angel ass." Her eyes were excited by the prospect. Dean felt the anger flare up a little again with the reminder of how partial Meg was to Cas. His Cas.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Dean offered to Sam's surprise - the stitch he was working on was pulled a little tighter than was necessary. "As long as you keep a low profile and don't get us all killed."

Once Dean was vertical again, they began to plan the siege, some details admittedly fuzzy due to their limited knowledge of the landscape.

Dean spent a whole hour practicing transporting, first alone then with Sam and Meg. After he could do it a few times without missing his target (and a brief stint in which accidentally landed them in the Pacific ocean), he was itching to get the rescue mission started. He didn't really think Naomi would kill Cas. She could've done that instead of taking him and she had no real reason to - save for disobedience. But if he arrived at the pearly gates and he was wrong and too late, well, to say he'd never forgive himself would be an understatement.

…

The teleporting part turned out to be pretty simple. An arm around Sam and Meg and a few moments landed them on a road where the sun was just a little too bright in Sam's eyes to be the mortal realm. Heaven was just as he remembered it, the lights bright and the shadows too dark. They were in the middle of a county road, fields on either side, no animals within the barb-wired fences.

Dean looked overwhelmed to say the least; one hand on his scalp, his fingers burrowing into his hair while the other rested on the blade inside his jacket. His eyes were darting back and forth, Sam guessed that he was seeing something that he couldn't. "Hey, dude. Relax. What's up?" He asked him, feeling a bit uneasy himself due to Dean's restlessness.

"It's just a lot to take in, ya know?" Dean said, removing his hand from his hair.

"Um. Not really. It's just an empty road. To me, at least." He looked at Meg, who seemed to have survived the trip upstairs unscathed. She looked to share Sam's point of view of their surroundings. "Why? What do you see?" Sam raised his eyebrows, requesting an explanation.

Dean reached his hand out, his fingers tracing a diagonal line in front of him.

"Well, there's kind of these.. I don't know, energies? Like all these trails and coils of different forces crossing everywhere. They're all these different widths and… colors, but not really. It's hard to explain." His hand was carding through his hair again. "You guys really don't see them?"

Sam and Meg both shook their heads at him. Sam squinted and looked around, trying to see what his brother saw.

"What are they? Either you're having angel issues or you've finally lost your already demented mind," Meg merrily pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure they're trails angels have left behind, or they're just connected to individual somehow. I know they're not linked to souls at least, I'm familiar with those." He studied the so-called invisible coils around them, tracing another one close to his arm.

Meg laughed, "Keep an eye out for Naomi's, if you can recognize it." She winked at Dean and started off down the road. "You lugs just gonna stand there?" She threw a smirk over her shoulder at them.

Dean smiled, patting Sam on the back and following the demon, Sam close behind him.

…

The road eventually morphed into more of a city, with tall and short and wide buildings that didn't really fit together logically if you looked closely; a skyscraper protruding out of a library, a gas station jutting out of the side of an office building. The change wasn't gradual. They'd lifted a foot to take another step on the pavement of the road and put it down on the cobblestones paving the sidewalk downtown, the change in scenery leaving Sam and Meg dazed. There was a certain air of familiarity about it that Dean just kind of accepted.

Along with the concrete came an onrush and crowding of people, all racing in and out of the structures, clad in suits and skirts and in a hurry. The Enochianwhispering he'd heard on Earth were nothing compared to how loud the assaulting language was in his head now. It was amazing anyone could ignore its sheer volume and mass of voices.

In the midst of it all, Dean wanted to stop and stare, the angelic vessels doing nothing to hide the raging, massive forces underneath in their natural setting. Each had a coil of energy spanning out behind them, marking the path they'd just taken. His theory confirmed about the trails being connected to specific angels, he was hyperaware in case they happened to cross Naomi's. He was sure he'd recognize it if they crossed it. He spent a moment wondering if he looked similar to the creatures swirling around them, with all the wings, faces, and mass, or if his time in hell had an effect on Cas' form - dulling the edges or muting the colors. Judging by the pairs of eyes that stuck to their entourage, either he suspected correctly or Meg was drawing more attention than was probably helpful.

Dean panicked that they'd be attacked or stopped at the least. He quickly snatched Meg's arm in a possessive grip as he was escorting her; it earned him a death glare from the demon but she didn't question him. It seemed to work because the angels continued to pass with their disapproving glances and angry frowns.

With the angels all too preoccupied to spend any time confronting a wayward demon in heaven, it seemed finding someone who would be willing to give them the time of day for directions was somewhat unlikely.

Completely out of their element, the boys let Meg lead them through the crowded street, too lost to be ashamed of their ignorance and dependence on the demon.

They walked into the nearest building, one with a lot of shiny windows that reflected things that weren't present outside of them.

Meg marched up to a desk positioned near the door, what looked like a receptionist, and gave both the boys a meaningful look. She raised an eyebrow at Dean, urging him to speak for them.

Dean didn't skip a beat, "You wouldn't happen to know where we might find 'Naomi,' would you?" The angel behind the desk, a somewhat conservative one with only one face, lifted her head and stared back at him, little recognition showing in her features. She then looked up to take in Sam's full size and to look Meg up and down with obvious disdain.

Dean cleared his throat before continuing, "Uh, she's about yea-big," he raised his hand, "she- I mean her vessel, has brown hair, pulled back. She wears a grey pantsuit?" The three waited for an answer, any kind of answer. Silence dragged on and their plan suddenly seemed like a very bad idea.

The angel was looking at them like they were crazy, almost like she was trying to figure out if they were serious or not.

Dean wanted to backtrack, and fast. He plastered on a playful smile, "Haha. Just kidding of course. Sheesh, where is everyone's sense of humor these days?" He shook his head, faking dismay.

The angel finally cracked a semblance of a smile. "For a moment I thought you were serious. I thought, 'why would any angel ask for directions?' You have to admit, Castiel, that you've never been one for jokes." She was polite but there was still a look in her eyes that looked to Dean like suspicion. Ah, right, he looked like Castiel up here. Fucking weird. It would probably do him good to act a little more restrained and awkward if they were going to pull this off.

He continued smiling and started backing away, pulling his oh-so helpful, silent companions with him towards the door. "Just trying something new," he assured, "have a good one." The angel's smile fell and she went back to squinting after them.

They thought it best to get out of there fast.

Wham. Hold on, he recognized that one. When they'd exited the building, they'd veered to the left to get out of the angel's sightline. When Dean had walked through one of the coils, it occurred to him that he recognized the angel that left the trail. Concentrating on the familiarity of the power line, he hooked an arm around both Sam and Meg's elbows, transporting them all to the angel's current position.

He opened his eyes once they'd reached their destination, and Dean had crossed the small office and unsheathed his blade before either Sam or Meg had even taken a step.

Now face to face with the angel that had so thoughtfully stabbed him in the back not fifteen hours before, he felt a pulse of pleasure as he held the tip of his blade to the angel's neck, giving a less-than-humble wink at his surprise.

"I'm guessing you'll be able to figure out why we're here." He let the anger he'd been working to suppress spread out into his words, giving his voice a nice, calm, dangerous edge.

Dean let the sharp tip of the angel blade slice him ever-so-slightly and panic filled the angel's face, all arrogance and smugness long gone from earlier in the night.

"Speak up, please. My friends over there don't have the best hearing." He glanced back at Sam, who seemed content to let Dean handle it. Meg, on the other hand, made no effort to hide her hatred for the angel in her eyes.

The angel finally found his voice: "Next floor up. Biggest office. North Side." He looked relieved when Dean removed the blade from his neck, but he was a little too happy to disappoint him when he moved around behind him to cover his faces with one arm. The blade impaled his chest, Dean's hand insuring he stayed quiet (quite the feat considering he had two faces and mouths). But that did nothing to stop the powerful shaking and mighty force that rattled the walls.

Now they'd have to hurry, they could already hear the quick footsteps of angels outside the door as they came to investigate. Once they saw the scorched wings across the walls, Dean didn't think it would take long for them to piece together what had happened.

…

Dean thrust his blade into the angel that rounded the corner just in time to watch Sam drop one of its sisters. An uncomfortable thought wriggled into his mind: what if they weren't all bad, what if not all of them knew what Naomi was up to? Sure, part of him worried. But most of him was busy marveling at how fucking good it felt to get back in the game. The thrill of danger, the threat of an enemy; he wasn't too good to admit to himself that he's missed it for the past months as he'd been healing and they'd been busy with all the angel antics.

This ideology probably meant there was something terribly wrong with him on a very basic level but he was enjoying himself too much to really care.

They'd made their way to Naomi's floor and office fairly quickly, having no other choice with more and more angels coming to investigate the commotion. Meg's presence had been pretty helpful with all of them easily assuming she was the one responsible for their dead brethren on the floor. If Dean was completely honest, they probably wouldn't have survived if Meg hadn't come with.

They did take pause when they reached her floor. These angels hadn't been privy to the noise or fighting on the floor below. They hid their weapons, pacing themselves to a walk as they approached the north side of the level. These angels seemed to give them little attention, all too busy to give a crap about an angel, human, and demon party traipsing through their building.

Naomi's office, marked by the many trails weaving in and out of the area, was fortunately at the end of a long hallway, keeping it secluded from everyone else by at least a few dozen feed and putting them out of the other angel's sightlines.

They all had their ears pressed up to the door when they heard movement from the other end of the hallway, an angel alerting the others to the carnage he's just found on the floor below. Meg volunteered to stay in the hallway, guarding against in case they came looking for the culprits in their direction. Dean and Sam returned their ears to the door.

Sam had to put a restraining hand on Dean's shoulder when Naomi's voice seeped through the door, "I don't tolerate disobedience very well, Castiel."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I really am sorry for how long it takes me to write a chapter. Honestly, I have been pretty busy but I think most of it has to do with procrastination. Thanks so much for being patient! Let me know what ya think!