The portal crackled above them, illuminating their faces in bright blue light as they stared up through the drab trees at it.

"Can't believe we made it," Dean murmured.

It had taken them another hour after Benny's announcement to find it, but the knowledge of how close they were had been enough for him to bury his pain and exhaustion one last time. After all this searching, all this time… not only was he getting out, but he was taking Cas and his dad out with him. It was more than he could have possibly hoped for.

"Been a long road," Benny remarked, giving him a little smile.

Though he saw John's face darken and Cas's, somehow, grow more stoic, Dean ignored them both and returned the smile easily. "Sure has," he agreed. Hell, he was so glad they'd made it he couldn't even care that John was still glaring at Benny like he might bust out his fangs and drain them all any second.

John's impatience seemed to reach a tipping point. "So how's this gonna work?" he cut in, making both Dean and Benny look at him. Despite his forceful tone he was pale and unsteady on his feet, more so than even an hour before, and the bandage on his shoulder was soaked with blood. Concerned, Dean edged closer to him, ready to help if whatever was keeping him upright gave out. "You said we put his soul in your arm?"

"Yeah," Dean said a little cautiously. He'd known his dad wouldn't like this, and in light of their recent armistice he didn't want to risk stirring up John's anger again unless he had to. "Portal's for humans. It's pretty simple magic. Should let me carry him out to his bones." Benny nodded in agreement.

"Right." John still sounded fundamentally skeptical about the whole process, though whether his doubt was more about whether it would work or whether it should be done at all, Dean wasn't sure. And, mostly, figured he didn't want to know. "What about the angel?" John added.

Dean glanced at Cas, who was looking up at the portal with an unreadable expression.

"That remains uncertain," Cas said blandly. "I may be trapped here forever, or destroyed."

John nodded slightly but continued looking him over, apparently thinking hard.

"What is it, Dad?" Dean asked.

"We got two humans here," John said. "Two creatures."

Dean looked between him and Cas for a moment, letting the implications of John's statement sink in. It was something he hadn't even considered, since Benny hadn't brought up the idea and Dean had assumed it must be impossible, considering the time and effort Benny had put into getting to Cas otherwise. But then, getting Cas out had never been Benny's goal as much as it had been Dean's, and if it hadn't occurred to him either…maybe it was a possibility. Still, his dad was the last person he'd ever have expected to suggest something to not only save a creature's life, but to bring him out to the world of humans. There had to be a catch. Yet John was returning his gaze earnestly.

"Would that work?" Dean asked Cas.

Cas looked uncomfortable. "Probably not."

Dean narrowed his eyes. Cas had ignored his prayers—his promise of a way out—for months. What if he didn't want to go at all? It was something else Dean would never have considered, but Cas's actions had shaken him more than he wanted to admit. "Probably not as in you're not sure, or probably not as in you don't even want to try it?"

Cas's expression remained stony, but Dean thought he could detect a hint of sadness in his voice. "I don't know, Dean. Vampires were human once. I am not. To hold this much energy within you…it would be like when I attempted to contain the leviathans. It might not end well and there's still no assurance you could take me through the portal."

Though the memories that brought up were far from good ones, Dean couldn't help but press, "Yeah, Cas, but they were a big gooey mess of evil. You're not gonna hurt us."

"I wouldn't do so intentionally," Cas allowed, his eyes closing momentarily before he met Dean's eyes again. "It would require a different spell. There is a chance that it would kill whoever contained me."

"But it might get you through," Dean said.

Cas hesitated long enough to tell him the answer.

"I'll do it," Dean said.

"Hold up," Benny said, raising his hands when they all looked at him. "As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm about hot wings, here, I still need a ride out my own self." His glance at John told him he didn't expect to find it there.

"I'll take the angel," John offered.

Dean stared at him disbelievingly. "You're volunteering for this?" There definitely had to be a catch, he just couldn't see what it was.

"I just want to get home," John said. He sounded so weary and pained that Dean wondered if that was all this was—coupled with his hatred for Benny, offering to get Cas out actually made sense. "Arm's useless. Not like renting out space to him is going to make a whole lot of difference."

Cas squinted at him for a few moments, apparently as shocked as Dean had been. "You don't understand what you're offering," he decided. "In any case, you're too weak. It would have to be Dean."

Dean shrugged. "Like I said I'm in." He looked pleadingly between his dad and Benny. "Come on Dad. It would just be until we got to his bones."

John gritted his teeth, and Dean could practically see the gears turning over in his mind.

"Please," he tried.

Amazingly, it worked. "Fine," John said sharply, though it was clear he wasn't happy about it. "The vampire rides with me."

"This will be very dangerous," Cas warned again, but Dean ignored him.

"Great," he said. "Let's get started."

"Guess this is it for now," Benny said to Dean as John sat on a nearby stump and eased his arm out of the sling with a grimace. Dean had offered to help but he'd pushed him away, and so Dean had taken the opportunity to say his temporary goodbye to Benny. The vampire's arm was already dripping blood.

"Yeah," Dean said, feeling a strange warmth for the vampire. "You know I just wanted to say—thanks for everything." When Benny made a dismissive noise, he lowered his voice and glanced at John again, determined not to let Benny's efforts go uncelebrated. "I mean it. You put up with a lot of trouble to get us all here."

Benny's mouth quirked into a smile. "What can I say? I like you Dean." He looked at Cas, who was studiously ignoring them, then at John, who was drawing Dean's knife across his forearm. "Anyway, the angel's all right and nobody chooses their daddy. No other way it coulda gone."

At that, Dean couldn't help but clap him on the shoulder and grip it tightly, returning the smile. Of course there were other ways it could have gone, and he had never in his life been so glad for Benny's steady presence. "Nah," he laughed, then let his hand drop. "That's bullshit and you know it."

They were interrupted by John, who stood shakily and cleared his throat loudly. He held his bad arm up in his good hand, slice clearly visible and beading blood. "Ready?"

Benny rolled his eyes. "Ready as I'll ever be," he said, then nodded to Dean. "See you on the other side, brother." Then he faced John, clasping John's arm in his. John hissed and stiffened as his shoulder pulled but started chanting the Latin of the incantation, and moments later, Benny was gone.

"You okay?" Dean asked immediately, moving to John's side.

John was hugging his arm, his teeth clenched, but he nodded. "Bastard's inside me now, isn't he."

"Yeah, Dad," Dean said, not bothering to respond to the slur on Benny's character. "Cas? You ready?"

Cas stepped forward, looking concerned. "You don't have to do this, Dean."

Dean sighed. "I know that. We're doing it." Before Cas could protest further, he took his knife from John and drew it across his forearm with a wince. He handed it to Cas. "Your turn."

Cas took the knife, still hesitant. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Dean insisted. "Now come on. We don't got all day."

Cas nodded slowly, drew the knife across his arm, then gave it back to John who was waiting with his good hand out. "Repeat after me," he said, then held his arm out for Dean to grasp. Dean took it, acutely aware for some reason that this was the first time they'd touched—his foolish attempt to get between Cas and John earlier notwithstanding—since arriving in Purgatory. As their blood mingled, Cas began chanting in Latin, Dean repeating the words as best he could until with a flash of blinding blue light Cas disappeared into the cut and and pain like he hadn't remembered he could feel seared through his arm and chest and head and limbs until his vision went white.

He dropped his knees then fell forward, barely aware he had been screaming until what had to be millennia later, when the agony had receded enough that he could feel his dad's hand on his back and hear him chanting, "Dean. Dean, you with me? Dean. Come on buddy…"

"Guh." The noise he made wasn't exactly what he'd been intending, but he took a deep breath and tried again. "'Mokay." His arm burned like something incredibly cold had gone through it but the pain was thankfully still fading. The exposed skin glowed whitish-blue.

"Dean, we have to move," John said, trying to hook his good hand under Dean's arm and pull him up. "The portal. It's closing."

That was enough to grab Dean's attention and he followed John's gaze. Sure enough it was warping, starting to pull closed. "Right," he gasped, pushing himself up. His ribs complained along with his arm but he ignored them both. "We got Cas and Benny. Let's move."

He made it to his feet, leaning on John until he realized his dad less steady he was, then wrapped an arm around his waist and hoped strength of will would get them both there. The short hike up the hill to the portal felt like a climb up Mount Everest but they made it in time, the portal undulating but still open.

"You first," he yelled over the roar, shoving Dad through in case he and Cas couldn't make it out after all.

John stumbled through easily then extended his good arm to help Dean. Dean took it and with a last glance at the glowing blue skin on his forearm stepped through. As soon as he crossed the barrier the agony spiked again and he collapsed on the other side, screaming hoarsely. But as the pain started to recede he couldn't help a thrill of excitement, because they'd made it. Him and Dad and Cas and Benny—

Only Dad was still standing by the rapidly shrinking portal, his face twisted with indecision and as Dean watched, he thrust his bad arm back through the portal and sliced across the spot where he'd taken Benny in. Dean watched in horror as the orange light that the vampire had become flowed out, spilling onto the ground behind the portal until it closed with a shoop and John stumbled back, yanking his arm with him.

"It was the right thing to do," he told Dean, who could only stare up at him in disbelief and horror. "He was a monster. That's where he belongs. I'm sorry."

Dean felt his mouth open but closed it, because there were no words to express the rage welling up in him. Instead he got to his feet slowly, still working through just what had happened. Dad had lied. Dad had promised to take his friend out of Purgatory's wasteland and then left him there. Then had the gall to apologize as if this was the kind of betrayal that could be fixed with sorry.

"I'm sorry, Dean," John said again, and Dean realized just how absurd it was that he'd fallen so easily into worrying what his dad thought about him when Sam and Bobby and everyone else had been right all along.

So instead of responding to the apology he simply stood facing John, let his anger reach its boiling point, then made a fist and slammed it as hard as he could into his dad's face.

So I know I played a little fast and loose with the Purgatory canon, but I hope it was worth it for the sake of the story. As always, I would love to know what you think!