Sam found Castiel sitting in the atrium staring idly at a bottle of scotch Sam didn't remember buying. Heaving a great sigh, Sam collapsed into the chair beside him.

"Can I offer you a refreshment?" the angel asked casually.

"Leave the bottle, barkeep."

Smiling slightly, Cas poured a generous portion of the deep amber liquid into a glass and slid it across the table to Sam. "I take it the demon has been fighting back."

"Yep."

"I'm sorry. Siblings usually have an uncanny ability to know the other's pressure points. I imagine that what a demonic one would come out with would be quite hurtful."

"Yep."

Cas glanced around. "Would you ... like a hug?" he asked awkwardly.

Sam chuckled. "I'm good for now, Cas, thanks."

"You just want Dean."

Exhaling deeply through his nose, Sam nodded.

"It's not long now."

Nod.

A pause.

"Are you going to tell me yet what your part of the deal with Death is?"

A longer pause.

"One problem at a time, Cas."

Sam could almost feel the angel's glare burning the side of his face. Unwilling to be grilled on the subject, he distracted Cas with a question. "When I summoned you here to give you the new Grace, you were freaking out. What was happening up in Heaven?"

Cas's heavy sigh made him look round at his friend. "Heaven is ... well. It's not really Heaven anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"You remember those angel murders I told you about?"

Sam nodded that he did.

"Well. I was right. Metatron was behind it. But it was ... bigger than I had thought. He was stealing the angels' Graces."

Sam gulped. "So ... he's more powerful now?"

"Much. I don't know for sure if he got to the last of the angels still on Earth, but every angel in Heaven that hadn't pledged their loyalty to Metatron was murdered for their power."

"Except you."

"Yes. Except me. And that's really only because of your good timing. Metatron was standing over me with his angelblade raised. Another two seconds and I'd be dead."

Sam was suddenly immensely grateful he hadn't delayed in preparing the summons.

"I'm glad I didn't decide to catch a movie first, then," he joked, trying in vain to brighten Cas's expression. The corner of his mouth did twitch slightly, but not enough to be called a smile. "So ... I'm guessing Metatron is the new boss upstairs, huh?"

"Very much so. I don't know how many Graces he imbibed, or what else he might have powering him, but, Sam." Cas turned his suddenly ancient eyes on Sam. "He's more powerful than ever. More powerful than I was when I had the souls of Purgatory. He has all the souls of Heaven powering him. And if what I saw in the last days up there weren't just horrific illusions meant to flush out those who weren't loyal to Metatron, he has ripped the very fabric of the heavens apart. The souls' paradises are bleeding into one another."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that they won't be at peace anymore. Every good memory that makes up their heaven will now be punctuated with millions of other soul's heaven-memories. The confusion it'll cause, the fear ... It'll agitate the souls like molecules, generating even more energy. And Metatron is the sole receiver of it."

"So ... We're screwed."

"Yep."

"He's basically god?"

"If not more powerful. It's hard to say. Never met God."

"And I'm guessing Heaven's still closed to the Veil?"

"Probably. But," he added, frowning slightly, "now I come to think of it, it'd make sense for X to reopen it. Take all that power for himself."

"X?"

"Yeah, that's what he calls himself. Personally I still prefer Marv."

Sam snorted. "Marv the Great and Powerful."

Cas smirked. "The Eye of Marv."

"Marvie and Clyde."

"No wait, I got it," Cas said, a real smile curving his lips now. "Professor Marv and his Marv-Men!"

Sam laughed. "Fantastic Mr. Marv?"

"Captain a-Marv-ica!"

Laughter filled the room as Sam and Cas tried to outdo each other thinking up ridiculous names for one of, if not the, most powerful beings currently in existence.

Eventually, as the whiskey lay forgotten, they ran out of franchises. Well, Sam did. Cas continued with ever more obscure references to stories Sam had never heard of, but swore were real. Sam stopped him on "Marv the Just."

As their laughter trickled into silence, Sam's mood began to sink once more. "I should get back to him," he said quietly to the whiskey bottle.

"You're doing the right thing, Sam."

Sam tried to smile but it felt alien on his lips. "I know." He sighed. "But it feels ..." He couldn't think of the right word.

"I know," Cas said softly.

Sam felt Cas's hand on his shoulder and looked up, making a slightly more successful attempt at smiling. "I'm glad you're here, Cas."

The hand squeezed his shoulder gently. "Me too."

Sam's watch beeped.

"Time to give your brother his meds," Cas announced in a tone of forced cheer.

"Yep. Back to work."