The Winchesters and Bobby were searching the now-abandoned Campbell Compound for Samuel's hidden library. Sam knew it was somewhere, but thanks to the wall in his brain, couldn't remember precisely where the trap door was. So they were searching Samuel's office for the entrance. "It's here, somewhere. I know it," Sam muttered. "Help me move this." He and Bobby moved aside the desk, revealing the trap door. "I'll be damned," Bobby breathed. They climbed down the ladder, Dean helping Mack so she wouldn't fall. "Welcome to the Campbell family library," Sam announced. "So, Samuel collected all this stuff, huh?" Dean eyed the endless shelves of books. "Apparently."

"Wow. Alright, well, what are we looking for?"

"Well, anything that'll put a run in the Octomom's stockings," Bobby said. "Pick a row." They each headed down an aisle, Mack following Dean like a puppy while he searched the shelves. After a few hours of nothing, she started to complain. "Daddy, I'm tired." Dean sighed, looking up from the book he was glossing through. "I know, baby girl. We're going to get out of here as soon as we can, I promise." She groaned in frustration, laying her chin down on her arms as he went back to his book. They had all moved to the table in the middle of the room, bringing several volumes with them. "Bingo," Bobby announced, drawing everyone's attention. "Either of you jokers ever heard anything about a Phoenix?"

"River, Joaquin, or the giant flaming bird?" Dean asked. "It says here that the ashes of a Phoenix can burn the mother," Bobby continued. "The mother?" Sam echoed. "Great. Where do we get one?" Bobby shrugged, "You got me. I thought it was a myth." Sam sighed, "Alright, great. Well, let's see if we can find something about a Phoenix." Bobby and Sam both stood to go back to the shelves, but before Dean could go too, Mack grabbed his arm. "Daddy, I wanna go home."

"Soon, bug," he told her, kissing her forehead. "Stay right here." She let him go, laying back down on the table while he went to go help find something on Phoenixes. "Guys," he came back to the table excitedly twenty minutes later. "Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, check this out." He began reading aloud from the book in his hand. "'March 5, 1861. Sunrise, Wyoming. Gun killed a Phoenix today. Left a pile of smoldering ash." Sam and Bobby both looked at him in surprise. Mack had fallen asleep. "Really? Whose gun?" Sam asked. "Colt's."

"Colt? Colt like-"

"Like the Colt. From…" Dean showed them the book he was holding, "Samuel Colt's journal." Sam was grinning then. "What?! That's his?" Dean grinned down at the book. "Yeah."

"Dude, no."

"Dude, yes."

Sam stood, swiping at the journal. "Well, let me see it." Dean pulled it out of his reach, "Get your own." Bobby rolled his eyes at the boys' shenanigans. "Well, what does he say about the Phoenix?" he interrupted them. "What does it look like? Has it got feathers?" Dean shrugged, "It just says 'Phoenix'." Bobby huffed, "Did he say where he tracked it?" Dean shook his head again, "No." Sam frowned, "Alright, so I guess we got to find one of our own, whatever it is."

"I know where we can find one. March 5, 1861. Sunrise, Wyoming. We'll 'Star Trek IV' this bitch." Both Sam and Bobby stared at Dean blankly. "I only watch 'Deep Space Nine'," Bobby muttered as Sam shrugged. "It's like I don't even know you guys anymore," Dean shook his head in dismay. "'Star Trek IV'. Save the whales." They still didn't understand. "We hop back in time, we join up with Samuel Colt, we hunt the Phoenix, and then we haul the ashes back home with us."

"Time travel?"

"Yeah."

"That's a reasonable plan?"

"We got a guy who can swing it," Dean reminded them, standing up. "Castiel. The, uh, fate of the world is in the balance. So, come on down here. Come on, Cas, 'I dream of Jeannie' your ass down here pronto. Please." An angel appeared, but it wasn't Cas. The vessel was a pretty blonde woman. Dean blinked, "Jeannie?" The angel frowned, "Rachel. I understand you need some assistance? How can I help you?" Dean frowned right back at her. "Well, uh, we kind of need to talk to the Big Kahuna." Rachel bristled. "I'm here on Castiel's behalf."

"Where is he?" Sam asked. "Busy," came her clipped reply. "Busy?" Dean echoed. Cas was never too busy to come himself. He'd told Dean personally that his problems came above all else, and in this case it was more than just his problem. It was everybody's problem. "Yes," Rachel replied. "Well, we've got a line on the mother of freaking everything, so-" Dean began, hoping it would make her see why it was so important to speak to Cas directly. "I'm sure your issue's very important," she cut him off. "But Castiel is currently commanding an army, so-"

"So we get stuck with Miss Moneypenny," Dean grumbled, giving the angel a death glare. He didn't like her at all. And from the equally searing death glare she was sending back at him, the feeling was mutual. "So you need to learn your place." His place? And what exactly was that supposed to mean? "Look, I don't know who you think you are-" he growled, taking a step closer to Rachel. "I'm his friend. And as his friend, I think he's making a big mistake defiling himself with the likes of you, you petty, entitled little pie-"

"Rachel. That's enough." Dean and Rachel both turned in surprise at Cas' sudden appearance. "I told you I'd take care of this," Rachel argued. "It's alright. You can go," he told her. "You're staying?" she questioned in disbelief. "Go. I'll come when I can." Rachel looked like she wanted to protest further, but then she just disappeared with the flutter of wings. "Wow," Dean glared at the spot where she'd just been. "Friend of yours?"

"Yes. She's my lieutenant. She's… committed to the cause. Now, what do you need."

Rachel was seething. She had noticed over the course of the war how divided Castiel's loyalties had become. And she wasn't the only one. But as his second in command, she was the only one in a position to do anything about it. Every angel in Heaven had heard by now the story of how Castiel had fallen in the worst imaginable way; he'd had intercourse with a human. And not just any human. Dean Winchester. His attachment to Dean Winchester and the little girl was common knowledge. Some even speculated Castiel had started the war in their names.

Not knowing what else to do, she found Raphael's second in command and pledged herself to turn over to their side if she could only be allowed an audience with the archangel. "What is it you want, Rachel?" Raphael asked her as she knelt at his feet. "I fear Castiel has strayed further than we thought," she replied, head bowed. "I've heard he's… working with the demon Crowley in order to win the war."

"And what, pray tell, do you plan to do about it?" Raphael pressed. Rachel raised her head slowly to look up at the archangel. "With your permission, I would like to take him out myself. He trusts me as his second in command. I can get close enough for the kill." Raphael studied her for a long moment, nodding. "Go. Prove yourself."

Cas had agreed to send Sam and Dean back in time to get the phoenix ash, but they only had twenty-four hours to do so. Because of how far back in time he was sending them, any longer than that and they could get trapped in the past. Dean had gotten clothes for him and Sam to wear from Wally's Western World. He convinced Sam to wear the shirt, even though Sam refused to wear anything else. Dean had gone with the full outfit, complete with a sarape. "Dean, this is stupid," Sam complained. "I look stupid."

"You going to a hoedown?" Bobby jabbed with a smile. Sam glared at him. "Now, is it customary to wear a blanket?" Cas asked curiously, head tilted and eyes squinted as he looked at the sarape around Dean's shoulders. "It's a sarape. And, yes. It's, uh… Never mind. Let's just go." He spotted a bag on Bobby's desk full of the gold they'd taken from the dragons' lair. "What's this?"

"Where you're goin', they don't take plastic," Bobby pointed out. "I'll send you back to March fourth," Cas told them. "That should give you time to find the Colt… and this phoenix creature." Dean grinned. "Alright, well, see ya at high noon tomorrow." He clicked his tongue, tilting his hat and winking at Cas before the angel touched both him and Sam on the foreheads, sending them back in time. "I have to go," Cas announced, turning back to Bobby. "What about getting the boys back?" Bobby asked. "Pray for me in twenty-four hours, and I'll return."

"I'll pray for all of us," Bobby muttered. Cas vanished from the room. Bobby set a timer, leaving it on his desk. Then he went back to researching. They might have been getting the means to hurt Eve, but they still needed to figure out a way to track her down once they got the ashes. While he was studying, Mack came down the stairs, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Where's Daddy?" she asked. "He and Uncle Sammy went to get the Phoenix ashes we need," Bobby replied. "Cas is going to get them tomorrow."

After a pitstop in Heaven, Castiel found himself suddenly ripped away to an abandoned warehouse. When he looked around, he spotted Rachel. "We need to talk," she told him. "You summoned me here?" Cas was bewildered, unsure what was going on. Rachel had always been loyal, a trustworthy angel to call his number two. She held down the fort while he tended to things on Earth with Crowley and the Winchesters. This- summoning him- didn't sit right with him. "Castiel, I've been hearing things," she told him. "Things I don't want to believe. Just tell me if it's true."

"If what's true?"

Cas was panicking internally. What could Rachel have found out? The alternate timeline Balthazar had created after he ordered him to un-sink the Titanic? How he had been the one to raise Sam from Hell without his soul? Or, perhaps the worst secret of all, his deal with Crowley? "You know," she leveled a look at him. "Your dirty little secret." That still didn't answer what she knew. But, "I have to defeat Raphael," he insisted, knowing that much. "Not this way, Castiel," Rachel shook her head.

"Rachel," he pleaded imploringly, starting to suspect it was Crowley she knew of. "We put your faith in you, and… look what you're turning into." How had she heard of his deal with Crowley? Had word spread to Raphael and his side? What was he supposed to do now? "I don't have a choice," Cas told her, because he didn't. He was in far too deep now to back down. As soon as the Winchesters located Eve, he could take her back to Crowley and then they could finally locate the entrance to Purgatory they'd been searching for. "Then neither do I."

Before he could react, Rachel had drawn her blade, stabbing him in the side. He cried out, fighting back and grappling for control of the blade. She managed to injure him further before he finally took the blade and turned it on herself, stabbing her through the stomach. Rachel cried out as he lowered her body gently to the ground and watched her die. "I'm sorry," he murmured. Concentrating, he flew to Bobby's house. He landed in the kitchen, startling both Bobby and Mack. "Cas!" the young girl cried out. He ignored her for the moment, using his own blood to draw a sigil on the kitchen cabinet. "What the hell is going on?!" Bobby demanded. "Cas? Cas? Are we running or fighting?" Cas turned, seeing black spots in his vision. "We're…" he collapsed into the old man's arms.

"Balls," Bobby groaned. He grunted and heaved Cas over to the couch, dumping him there and breathing deeply when he'd finished. "What now?" Mack asked, looking up at him. Bobby swallowed, glancing down at her then over at the timer. They still had a little over fifteen hours before Cas needed to get the boys back from the past. "We let him rest, and hopefully he'll be okay to get your daddy and his brother back in time." Mack swallowed, looking at the bloody, passed-out angel on the couch. Bobby watched her as she stepped forward, touching his face.

"Wake up, Cas," she whispered. "Daddy needs you." There was predictably no response from the angel. Bobby headed back to his desk, praying that Cas would wake up in time to get Sam and Dean. Mack stayed by Cas' side, murmuring to him quietly as he slept. Bobby tuned out most of it, concentrating on his books. What little he did pay attention to made him realize Mack loved Cas like she loved her father. It was easy to forget how grown up she was getting sometimes. She would be eight in just a few short months. Still a child, but a lot more of an adult than most kids her age. She'd been through so much in her nearly eight years on the Earth.

The clock continued to tick down, and for most of it, Cas remained passed out on the couch. However, as they got down to the one hour mark, he suddenly shot bolt upright. "Cas!" Mack cried, gaining Bobby's attention. "Hello, bee," Cas greeted her. "Cas, you- you look like you just went twelve rounds with truckasaurus. What happened?" Bobby asked. "I was, uh…" Cas gasped, glancing at Mack and then back at Bobby. "I was betrayed. Rachel, uh… Raphael… He corrupted her. She turned on me." That was an easier explanation than the truth.

"Sorry. Girl's a real… peach," Bobby grimaced. "She's… dead. I… was wounded. I needed… safety. Thank you." Cas tried to get up from the couch, coughing and grunting, but Bobby pushed him back down. "Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey. What's with the finger painting?" he gestured to the sigil Cas had put on the cabinet. "It's a warding symbol against angels," Cas grimaced. "Mack, go upstairs," Bobby told her. "But-" she began to protest. "Just for a little bit while I talk to Cas. Go." Reluctantly, with one last look at the angel, she did as she was told.

"How bad's it hurt?" Bobby asked Cas once they heard her door shut upstairs. "I'll heal," Cas replied. "Well, good… 'cause we got less than an hour before you pick up the kids at Frontierland." Cas panted, looking up at him. "I can't." Bobby blinked. "Come again?" Cas swallowed, face scrunched up in pain. "This fight… drained me," he gasped. "Well, if you're up on blocks, then call in another halo who can get the job done." Cas shook his head, "I can't."

"Well, there's got to be something that can juice you up. A spell- something." The old man was glad he sent Mack upstairs when he did. She would not like this conversation at all. Cas' mouth drew in a thin line as he regarded Bobby. "There is one thing that might work, but… It's extremely dangerous." Bobby grimaced, "Shocker. So, lay it on me."

"It's your soul."

"What do you want me to do? Make another deal? Seal it with a kiss?" Unlike last time when it seemed like there had been no possible alternative when he sold his soul, this time he wouldn't even hesitate to do it if it meant getting Sam and Dean back home safely. What Cas said next, however, made him pause. "I need you to let me touch it."

"Touch it?"

"The human soul- it's pure… energy. If I can siphon some of that off, I- I might be able to bring Sam and Dean back." Sounded simple enough, "And the catch is…?" Cas locked eyes with Bobby grimly. "Doing this is like… putting your hand in a nuclear reactor. I have to do it very gingerly." Unbeknownst to both of them, Mack had snuck back down and was listening quietly at the bottom of the stairs. "Or….?" Bobby asked. "Or you'll explode." Mack put a hand over her mouth to stifle the soft gasp that escaped. "Well. Keep both hands on the wheel. Let's do this."

There were two minutes left on the timer. Despite Bobby's reassurances, Cas still hesitated one last time. "Are you sure?" Bobby nodded. "Well, we can't just strand those idjits in Deadwood, can we?" he indicated. "The risks…" Cas began. "Just… don't explode me." Mack watched from around the corner, a fist to her mouth so she wouldn't make as much noise. Cas reached his hand inside Bobby's stomach, his eyes glowing with grace, and Bobby began to scream. Moments later, Sam and Dean appeared, Sam standing and Dean skidding across the floor on his knees. The bottle in his hand for the ashes was empty.

"You gotta send us back!" Dean cried, leaping to his feet and rounding to face Cas. "Dean, look at him," Sam said softly. "He's fried." Indeed, as soon as Cas had broken the soul touch with Bobby, he'd fallen back against the couch, panting and exhausted. "I never want to do that again," he declared. "Bobby, you-" Dean looked over at him. "I'm still kickin', Annie Oakley. Be back good as new in… a decade or two." Dean frowned, "And we screwed the pooch. Bobby, I'm sorry." There was a knock at the door and Sam left to answer it. "Daddy?" Mack asked hesitantly, hovering in the study doorway. "Hey, bug," he greeted her, tension draining from his shoulders and expression softening. "Come here." She headed over to him, hugging him tightly and he pressed his lips to the crown of her head.

Sam came back into the room holding a package. He opened it, reading the letter he found inside. "'Dear Sam, I got this address and date off your thingamajig, and I thought the enclosed might come in handy. Regards, Samuel Colt.'" He pushed aside the paper in the package, pulling out a bottle full of ashes along with his ruined phone. "Is that what I think it is?" Bobby asked, staring at the bottle. "Ashes of a Phoenix," Dean grinned. "You know what this means?"

"Yeah, it means I didn't get a 'soulonoscopy' for nothing," Bobby quipped. "Yes. And… it means we take the fight to her."