"What are you looking at, Cass?"
The stoic angel dressed in his typical grey trench coat examines the large man as he pulls a long knife out of a dead demon.
The large man cleans the knife off with the hem of his shirt and eyes the ageless being.
"What do you want?" he asks again.
Wind and rain whip and wail all around the pair as they stand outside some seedy, nameless bar – the ugly red glow from the large neon sign illuminating them both.
The angel continues to stare without speaking a word.
"Fine," the large man says and turns to leave. "I'll see you in another five years when you decide to appear and stare at me I guess."
"Tommy…" Castiel says and reaches out toward the much larger man.
"It's Lance, now. I go by Lance," the large man says with a little grimace.
"Lance," the angel corrects himself without missing a beat. "I'm sorry I haven't been here for you. I've been busy. I get busy sometimes."
Lance lifts one of several dead demons over his head and chucks the body into a large blue dumpster.
"Busy, Castiel? A couple of hours without any contact is busy. Five years is something else."
The angel looks down, a little bit ashamed. For someone walking among the humans for almost forty years, you'd think he would have caught on by now.
He watches the large man dispose of the rest of the bodies, then makes another attempt.
"You've really grown, Lance. You're much beefier now. You still look a lot like your father, but you're built more like your uncle Dean."
Lance closes the lid to the blue bin with a little clang.
"Oh yeah?" he asks. "If you say so, buddy. Or have you forgotten that I never actually got to meet any of them? Hell, I don't even have a picture."
Again, the angel hangs his head a little. It seems he can't do anything right tonight.
Lance dusts himself off a little, then starts walking toward his candy apple red 1968 Shelby GT.
"Look man, I don't mean to be rude. It's nice to see you, as always – but I've got a Shifter to chop up, so… I'll catch you on the flip side."
A look of urgency comes over the angel's face, and again he reaches toward the large man.
"Lance, wait… I've come to speak with you about Sam and Dean. They're in trouble. They need you."
Lance stops in his tracks and slowly turns toward the smaller man in the grey trench coat. Rain pours down his face accentuating the glare now pasted on it.
"You told me my old man and his brother were dead, angel boy. Just like my mother."
Castiel seems unaffected by Lance's change in demeanor.
"I know, and I wasn't lying. I'm not actually talking about your Sam and Dean."
A black 1967 Chevrolet Impala named 'Baby' glides to a stop in front of an abandoned cabin in the woods. Its two titular male occupants squint into the darkness all around them.
"Are you sure this is where Cass said to meet?" Sam asks and checks his phone.
Dean checks the rounds in his pearl handled pistols.
"Well, you know Cass. Always up for a good time at a lonely cabin in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he'll have pie. Come on."
The Winchester brothers slowly approach the small woodland shack, guns and flashlights at the ready.
"Cass?" Dean whispers as loud as he can. "Are you here? Come on man, we don't have time for—"
"Hello, Dean," Castiel says as he appears out of nowhere.
The boys are startled, but quickly recover.
"Dammit, Cass! A little warning next time?" Sam says.
The angel nods an acknowledgment.
"Alright, we're here," Dean says. "Do you have any news about Jack? We've got to find him before he sneezes and accidently sinks California."
The angel shakes his head a little.
"No, Dean, not exactly."
The shorter Winchester moves a little closer to accentuate his impatience.
"Well then, what the hell, man? Why did you drag us out to the middle of nowhere?"
"Follow me," Castiel says and begins walking behind the cabin. "There's something you need to see."
The Winchester brothers round the corner of the cabin, then stop dead in their tracks. In front of the trench coat wearing angel stands a shimmering slit in the air.
"A… a rift!" Sam stammers. "Mom?"
Castiel shakes his head without turning to look at the brothers.
"No, this rift doesn't lead to the reality where your mother and Lucifer were cast."
"Well then, what reality does it lead to?" Dean asks pointedly.
In answer to his question, two men suddenly step out of the glowing fissure.
One of them, another version of Castiel, speaks.
"It doesn't matter where it leads, Dean. All that matters is we put an end to Jack before he accidently destroys all of reality."
Our Castiel nods in agreement.
"I found this rip in space-time a few days ago. I've been conversing with this other me, and we have formulated a plan of… sorts..."
The angels are interrupted by the large man pushing past the two of them. He stares at the Winchester brothers with a look of bewilderment.
Sam gets a strange feeling inside and exchanges glances with his brother.
"And who is this supposed to be?" Dean asks.
Lance looks the older Winchester up and down a few times.
"I guess you would be uncle Dean. You're just like Castiel described you… right down to your attitude."
"Uncle… Dean?" Sam asks. His face beginning to turn a little pale.
Lance slowly approaches Sam - a feeling of couscous reverence accompanies the moment.
"You're so… young. You don't look much older than me," he says. He turns back to the Castiels. "Why are they so young? They should be old and grey by now!"
"Cass, what the hell?" Dean asks, clearly about to lose it.
"Lance, this timeline is not in sync with our own. It's still 2018 here," the other Castiel offers.
"What time do you come from… Lance, is it?" Sam asks.
"Later. It doesn't matter," he replies. "None of it matters. I just… I just can't believe I'm finally meeting you… dad."
The larger man throws his arms around Sam and squeezes him as hard as he can. Sam looks like he might pass out.
Dean looks like he's been hit with a brick.
The other Castiel places a hand on our Castiel's shoulder.
"I have to get back. You'll see to him, won't you?"
Our Castiel nods.
"Of course. I will return him here if he's able to stop Jack."
The other Castiel nods back, then disappears back into the shining rift portal.
Sam pats the sides of Lance's torso as best as he can.
"Okay… okay… I get that you feel like you know me, but, I'm sorry, but, I don't have any children in this reality. I'm sorry. I'm not married, okay?"
Lance releases our Sam and steps back. He wipes a few tears from his eyes and looks a little embarrassed.
"I know, dad… er… I mean… Sam…" He takes a few deep breathes, then continues. "Castiel… my Castiel… told me all that before we arrived. I'm sorry, I just… I don't know… I guess I didn't know how I would react when I met you… I'm sorry…"
"No," Sam says and pats the larger man on the shoulders, "I get it. I'd be really weirded out to meet an alternate version of a relative too. It's fine. Trust me."
Dean has been walking in a little circle holding the sides of his head for the last minute.
"Okay, okay, okay, so you're Sammie's… son? From a different… realm, reality, whatever!?"
He turns to the angel in the grey trench coat for answers and clarity.
"Sure. Fine. Whatever. Ever since Jack showed up, nothing surprises me anymore. But Cass, how is this kid supposed to help us with our Jack problem?"
Castiel gives another little nod. "I understand. Jack is the product of an arch angel and a human creating life together."
Dean is out of patience.
"Yeah? And? Spit it out, man!"
Castiel turns to Lance.
"Lance, tell Sam and Dean what your mother's name was."
Lance looks a little taken aback by the angel's request.
"I don't really see what that has to do with anything. I don't think it's really—"
"Spit it out, kid! Who did Sam have a kid with in your reality?" Dean shouts.
"Dean…" Sam puts out his hand to signal his brother to calm down a little, then turns back to Lance. "Its okay, Lance. You can tell us. Obviously whoever your earth's version of me married is important, or the… angels… wouldn't have brought you here."
Lance looks at his feet for a moment.
"I didn't ask for it to go down like it did. You don't get to choose who your mom is, right?"
"Please, kid…" Dean makes a slashing motion in the air to signal how desperate he is to finish this conversation. "Just… just tell us who your mother is."
Lance pauses, then looks the Winchester's in the eyes.
"Ruby. My mother was the demon, Ruby."
Baby roars down the highway. A light drizzle gently caresses her windshield as she thunders through the darkness.
Bon Jovi quietly plays in the car. It's a Bon Jovi kind of night.
None of the four passengers speak. None of them know what to say.
Finally, the socially awkward one breaks the silence.
"Dean? Where are we going?"
Dean slowly shakes his head.
"I'm just driving right now, Cass. I'm not sure what else to do."
Sam takes a couple deep breathes, then turns to his other-realm son.
"So, you're part demon then? Just as our Jack is part fallen angel… you're part demon?"
Lance slowly nods.
"So, you have… do you have any… demonic… abilities? Then? Do you have any gifts?"
"He does," Castiel offers. "Not as pronounced or as powerful as Jack's, but still, he is a powerful—"
Dean interrupts.
"Well then how the hell is he going to help us reign in Jack if he isn't as powerful? Huh? How does any of this help us?"
"Dean," Sam offers, "we need all the help we can get! Maybe Lance can't go toe to toe with Jack, but still… any advantage he can offer at all – I'm grateful for it! And maybe you should be too."
Dean shakes his head a little and looks out the side window. More silence follows.
"Okay, look," Lance finally says in a quiet voice. "It's been weird. I get that. None of this is comfortable. I'm meeting alternate versions of family I never thought I'd get to meet – and you two, well… whatever. All I know is my Castiel told me that I need to help the two of you with someone named Jack that has the power to screw up all of reality. All of the realities, however many there are. So let's just… I don't know, get past this? Somehow? I've got demons that need killing back where I'm from and I'd like to get back to that sooner than later, so…"
Another round of silence. Dean eventually gives a little nod and clears his throat.
"The kid's right. This is a mountain of weird, but we've got a job to do. So let's just focus on that. Everything else? Who knows? Let's just focus on getting to Jack.
No one else speaks as the Bon Jovi tape begins playing side two. There was still a lot of road ahead.