Cas raised his brows as he listened to Dean finish rattling off their order.

"That is a lot of food." He remarked as Dean walked back over to wait against the wall.

"Yeah, well. There's a lot of us, and-" He gestures vaguely. "I don't know. Better too much than too little."

"I see."

Dean made a face, but let it drop. "So you think we'll figure this whole mess out?"

"I think it is unlikely we don't, given we are here now." Cas said.

"Yeah, but we've had problems with people trying to change history before." Dean pointed out. "What if we fuck up and change everything?"

"It is difficult to do so." Cas admitted. "But I suppose it is prudent to make sure nothing happens to either of you."

"Keep them alive, got it. Step one. Feed them."

Cas gave a nod.

"Without angels, what're you thinking?"

"Perhaps the Men of Letters had other means of travel besides the blood ritual Henry used to find you."

"Yeah, well I hope so."

"They seem quite thorough in their records, so if they do, the answer is likely to be found within the bunker itself."

"Great." Dean grumbled.

Cas hesitated. "I know it isn't something you likely wish to hear, but the Brit-"

"Stop right there." Dean said icily. "We can handle it ourselves."

Cas was quiet for a moment. "And if we can't?"

"Cas, if you recall the last time we had anything to do with them you almost died."

"Dean-"

"We all almost died. Wally did. And the time before that? Sam was tortured for weeks."

"Perhaps without secrecy, we would retain greater control over the outcome."

"We don't need them, Cas." Dean said firmly. "We stick together. Okay?"

Cas frowned. "Dean, you don't need to bring me with you to protect me."

Dean looked at him. "Well, if you don't like keeping me company-" he shrugged.

"No, I do." Cas said.

"Good." Dean said, clapping a hand on Cas' shoulder, flashing a grin before walking past him to pick up their order as it was put on the counter.

"I just mean-"

"Save it." Dean said. "Breakfast, research, and with any luck sending the kids back home before dark."

"I think it is unlikely we can return them home so soon."

"You're such a downer. It'll be fine, you'll see."

.

"Breakfast." Dean announced, coming down the steps and setting a bag on the map room table. He began pulling containers out, spreading them out to be grabbed before unloading all the extras he had bought.

Young Sam was the first to reach him, eyes widening slightly at the mountain of food. "Woah." He breathed. He accepted the styrofoam container slid in front of him, taking his seat to dig into his french toast.

Sam and Young Dean joined them, sorting through their own.

Dean caught Sam's eye, giving him a pointed look. "Want to take your food to go?"

"Sure." Grabbed a few napkins, straightening up.

Dean considered making up some sort of lie, but he knew it was pointless.

Young Dean rolled his eyes at the familiarity of what he just did to Sam when his younger brother asked about Bobby. He could guess they were about to go to the garage and do the exact same thing. And leave Cas there to babysit them so they couldn't follow. Great.

Dean grabbed his meal, following his brother in the direction of the garage, antsy to finally get to talk to Sam about this all now that he had his head on straight about it. "What did you talk about?" He didn't want to beat around the bush.

Sam pulled over a rolling stool, setting his omelet on a workbench and digging in before he spoke. "Told you about who we lost."

Dean set his down on the trunk of his car, digging in. "Dad? Bobby?"

"And Pastor Jim."

"Did you tell him about Azazel?"

"Just that we killed him."

Dean nodded. "And you?"

"Younger you is gonna tell him."

"That's good." Dean agreed.

"What'd you talk about?"

"We didn't really talk."

Sam frowned. "Cas said you two ran into each other."

"Yeah, but we talked about breakfast cereal." Dean shrugged.

Sam was quiet for a moment, taking a breath. "What do we tell them about-"

"We don't." Dean said firmly.

"Dean, it's mom."

"Sam."

"Imagine what it would have been like then knowing-"

"Knowing what?" Dean snapped. "That she made the deal that got her killed? Gift wrapped you for Azazel? Then after she comes back, she almost got us all killed running a secret mission for the Brits?"

Sam closed his eyes.

Dean softened his tone. "Look, even if things weren't complicated with mom, they'd need to see her. This is temporary, man. It's gonna kill them all."

Sam let out his breath. "Yeah." He said at last. "No, you're right."

"Thank you." Dean said, letting out his breath, and trying to let go of the tightness gripping his chest.

Sam was hesitant to bring it up. "How are you?"

Dean pulled a face. "I'm fine."

"You're not."

"Like you're handling it perfect-"

"I'm not pretending to be." Sam pointed out.

Dean rolled his eyes. "It's weirding me out, okay?" He shrugged. "It's like looking in a funhouse mirror."

Sam hesitated. "I keep being afraid I'm going to say the wrong thing and just…" He gestured vaguely.

"Yeah." Dean shoved a forkful of egg into his mouth and talked with his mouth full. "We just keep it vague. Try to avoid anything to do with…" Dean frowned. "Well with anything. Spoil the Lord of the Rings movies, but leave demons out of it."

"I don't think that's gonna work."

"Why not?"

"Put yourself in their shoes for a second. The only thing they've ever known is hunting for what happened to mom, they're not going to just leave that alone." Sam sighed. "And the other you is already trying to get someone to tell him how you met Cas."

Dean winced. "Great." Dean looked back at Sam. "What did you tell him?"

"I said that was something you needed to ask yourself." Sam said with a half grin.

"Smartass."

"Cas said the same thing."

"Awesome." Dean groaned. "Now there's a story I want to relive."

Sam hesitated. "What are you going to tell him?"

Dean closed his eyes, leaning his head back and letting out a deep breath. "Actually, I don't think it should be me."

"What?"

"I think Cas should be the one to tell him." Dean looked back at Sam. "He is about to find out that when he dies he goes to hell. He's not going to believe a thing I say about why I was there."

Sam sighed. "I didn't think of that."

"I don't know how Cas will tell it, but at least he has half a chance of that kid listening."

Sam closed the lid on his food and pushed it back from him. "You're probably right."

"I'll tell him to go for it tonight. Some time when mini-you isn't around." Dean said.

"Yeah, okay." He rubbed the back of his neck before he stood. "He's going to have a million more questions after that."

"All the more reason to gas up the DeLorean as soon as possible."

"Hopefully one of these books has some useful information about time travel."

"Yeah, but which one?"

.

Young Sam was halfway through his french toast, watching Cas carefully in silence.

Dean shoved Sam's shoulder. "Dude, blink, or your eyes are gonna get stuck like that."

The young Sam's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, and he quickly looked down at his food.

Cas looked up, catching their expressions. He thought back to his first meeting of Sam, wearing a similar look of wonder on his face. He had ruined that within seconds, and he regretted it.

"He wants to know if you're really an angel." Dean said, shoveling another heaping forkful of pancakes into his mouth.

"I am." Cas confirmed.

"But you aren't in heaven?" Sam asked before he could think better of it.

Dean cringed internally, forgetting he didn't tell Sam everything he and Cas had discussed.

"The politics in heaven are complicated." Cas failed to think of a better way to explain it. "I have not been back for many years."

"Do you miss it?" Sam asked.

Dean scowled. "Don't be rude."

"It is alright." Cas hesitated. "But it is complicated…"

"I mean from what I've gathered so far, they seem like a bunch of dicks." Dean said with a shrug, reaching for his coffee.

Cas gave a gentle smile. "Yes. That is certainly a fair assessment." He sighed, trying to find the right words. "It is hard to not miss what you have known your entire existence, even in the light of something better. But I would not return if given the chance."

Dean frowned, taking that in. "You think being here is better?"

"I know it is."

Sam pushed his french toast around with his fork. "How long have you been living here?"

"I have come and gone for years, but I have spent much more time here in the last two."

Dean finished up his food, throwing his plastic fork into the styrofoam and closing it up. "What changed?"

Cas tilted his head. "I don't know…" His mind flashed back to the spell Rowena cast on him. "I was… injured, and while I recovered, I stayed here. After that… I never have been gone for long."

Sam froze. "I thought angels… I mean… I just didn't think there would be things that could hurt them… Sam said you got hurt the other week too."

Dean coughed. "That our fault?"

Cas' brows drew together and he looked back at the young Dean. "No." He said, confused. "Neither time."

"Good… I just uh… what-" He gestured vaguely, trying to hide his fluster. "The other day I mean, what got you?"

"A demon." Cas shook his head. "Using a weapon designed specifically to kill angels."

"Yeah, that'll do it." Dean said, leaning back in his chair. If it made sense to him that if anything could kill an angel, a demon seemed pretty high on the list of suspects.

Sam thought on that for a moment, reluctantly deciding against asking for any more details. "But you're okay now?"

"We fully reversed the effects." Cas nodded. "I could easily heal myself after that."

"Good." Sam said, sounding relieved.

Dean looked up, watching himself and Sam return. He didn't bother asking what they had been talking about. "So, you two have a game plan for how we fix this whole mess?"

Sam walked out and leaned back on the table nearest the door. "Yeah, actually." He looked over at Cas. "I could use your help pulling books that look like they might have something useful. You know more about time travel than me."

"Of course."

He looked over at himself. "Then the three of us will be on book duty. Dean, can you set uh…young Dean up on my computer?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah."

Sam sighed. "Cas, do you have any idea what we might want to start looking for?"

"There is the possibility that Chronos could-"

"Oh, uh yeah-" Dean cut him off. "No, he's dead."

Cas froze. "He…" He frowned. "Did you kill him?"

Dean gave a half shrug. The case had been a bright point in the middle of a particularly dark time of his life. "Let's not talk about who did what."

Cas' expression flattened. "Well, we'll look for something else, then."

Sam pushed up off the table. "Yeah."

Young Dean looked up at his older self as the two headed towards the shelves. "Chronos?"

"God of Time."

"Oh." Young Dean hesitated before giving a brief nod and a faint smile. "Cool."

Dean beamed a grin before grabbing Sam's laptop and sliding it over to him. "Alright mini-me. Let me show you the wonders of the internet."

.

Sam jumped slightly when his phone went off. He set his book aside, taking a look at the ID. "It's Jody." He said, surprised. Dean straightened up, watching Sam pick up the phone. "Hello?"

Young Sam looked up, exchanging a glance with his Dean and at the… phone.

"Dean says Hi." Sam looked at Dean and then their younger selves before he decided to hold up the phone instead of putting it on speakerphone.

"Hey Jody!" Dean said, loud enough to be heard.

"Yeah- We're doing alright- One second." Sam pulled his laptop back from young Dean and over to him. "Yeah, I got it." He frowned, scanning through an email. "Yeah, it sounds like it." He listened for another moment. "Thanks, Jody."

Sam set the phone down. "Jody thinks she caught wind of a case."

"Oh thank god." Both Deans said, throwing their books on the table.

Sam froze, taking them both in with a mildly exasperated look. "We've only been researching for two hours."

Dean looked down at his watch, frowning before shaking it off. "Whatever, what does she have for us?"

"Werewolves, it looks like. Over in Colorado."

"Alphas or regulars?"

"Not sure. She is already backing up Claire on a case in Wyoming."

"Got it." Dean nodded, standing.

"Wait, wait wait." Sam said. "You want us to just leave? Now?"

Dean hesitated. "No, uh. You stay here and work research mode, Cas and I will go to Colorado and slice up some vamps."

"I'll back you up." Young Dean said quickly.

Dean whipped around. "The hell you will."

Young Dean glared at him. "I'm coming."

"I…" Dean turned back to Sam, shaking his head slightly for support.

Sam glanced back and forth between them, and decided it safest to stay out of the way. He gestured at young Sam. "We'll uh, talk amongst ourselves. Be safe."

Dean gaped at him before turning back to glare at his younger self.

Young Dean threw back a mock sympathetic look before he headed back towards his Sam. He frowned, taking a deep breath. "Hey, come with me. We gotta talk about something before I leave."

Dean watched them leave, knowing it was to deliver the news about everyone they love. He closed his eyes for a moment. "You okay coming with us?" Dean asked, opening his eyes and looking at Cas. "I should have asked before volunteering you."

"I am happy to accompany you." Cas looked back at the door, thinking of the younger Dean. "I think you will want the back up." He was pretty sure leaving the two of them alone was a bad idea.

"Yeah." He clapped Cas on the shoulder, encouraging him to follow. Once they were back to his room, he closed the door behind them, grabbing a duffel from his desk and tossing it on the bed. "I think you should be the one to talk to him."

"To-"

"To tell him you fished me out of hell."

Cas tilted his head. "You want me to?"

"I think he'd take it worse from me." He shook his head, grabbing a couple shirts and rolling them before throwing them in the open bag. "And for once I'm not just saying that to get out of something."

Cas frowned. "Is there anything-"

"However you want. I don't uh… I don't think it'll make much of a difference how you tell it." Just as long as he wasn't around. "We'll figure out a time tonight or something."

"Alright."

Dean relaxed. "Thanks."

"Of course."

.

When Young Dean got to the garage, he was surprised to find the front seat open for him, Cas sitting in the back. He walked to the open trunk, tossing his new bag in before closing it.

Dean watched him slide into the car. "How'd it go?"

"As expected." Young Dean shrugged. He sighed. "It feels sort of… detached." He admitted. "Like you're not us, and it's not our Bobby… our Dad…"

"Good." Dean turned on the car, starting to ease her out. Hopefully it would stay that way.

"Yeah." He leaned against the inner door frame, watching the bunker as they left it, seeing the looming disused factory facade for the first time. He watched the wooded area around it give way to long empty fields flat across the horizon in the midday light. They seemed pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Dean slowed before turning up onto the highway.

Cas saw younger Dean grimace as they hit an unavoidable pothole. "You are injured?"

Younger Dean unconsciously put his hand against his bruised ribs. "I'm fine."

Cas raised his hand. "I could-"

Dean cut him off. "He doesn't want it."

Cas lowered his hand.

Young Dean scowled. "Hey, I can make my own decisions." He said flatly. "I want to hear what Cas was offering."

Dean exchanged a glance with Cas in the rear view mirror.

Cas looked back at young Dean. "I can heal someone of their injuries."

Young Dean frowned. "Oh, uh… yeah, I don't want that."

Cas gave a small nod, returning to his relaxed seat in the back.

Younger Dean settled for a moment before he turned back to his older self. "So, who is this Jody?"

"Jody Mills. She's a long time friend. Sheriff of Sioux Falls."

"Friend of Bobby's?" younger Dean guessed. "She's a hunter?"

"Not really." Dean replied. "She's the only person I know who had the whole tragic backstory and not get sucked into hunting."

"Damn." Young Dean said.

"Yeah. She has helped us on a few cases. She can hold her own." Dean sighed. "She's taken in a few kids who found themselves on the wrong side of the supernatural crap we deal with."

"Oh?"

"Long stories. Apocalypse. Angels. Vampires."

"Bullshit." Young Dean returned immediately.

Dean gave a quick look sideways. "What?"

"There's no such thing as vampires."

"Oh, kid." Dean said, unable to help a small smile. "You got no idea."

Young Dean was silent for a moment. "Fuck." He breathed.

"Okay… Sam mentioned the apocalypse too. I gotta know."

"Lucifer."

Young Dean stopped, absorbing that. "And we really stopped it?" He looked back at Cas. "The three of you?"

"And Bobby." Dean confirmed.

"And the hiccups Sam mentioned?"

Dean sighed. "It was messy to stop. There were a lot of things we had to clean up." Not to mention their missteps.

"But you did?"

"Eventually."

Young Dean had no idea what to do with that information. "Okay."

"Jody is family." Dean turned back to the original question.

Young Dean frowned. Family. That meant something. Bobby became family. There are times he thinks that's the only reason he was still alive.

"If she hears something that sounds like our kind of thing, she sends it our way." Dean said. "Werewolves for example."

"What is this about alphas?"

"Don't need the moon to change."

"What the hell-"

"Like I said, apocalypse shook up all sorts of things."

"No kidding."

"It does make them easier to hunt." Dean pointed out.

"Silver still work?"

"Luckily."

"Good."

Dean wondered if he could avoid further talk if he turned on the radio. He didn't actually think that would stop him at that age.

"So Sam says you both died a couple times."

Dean's eyes widened slightly. "Did he?"

"All three of you?" He looked back, getting a hesitant nod from Cas.

"How many times?"

"Hard to say."

"That is absolutely the least comforting thing you could say."

Dean spared an incredulous glance at his younger self. "Is there a comforting thing you can say there?"

"Touche." Younger Dean replied sullenly.

"It depends on who you ask. Time loop." Dean half explained.

"Jesus."

"But I don't remember any of that."

"Sounds fun."

"Sam died twice. I bit it four times. Cas, you're up to what now? Four?" He didn't need to ask, he knew. He wasn't sure if he should add the 'technically dead's. He had a close enough call with his heart and the car accident. Plus the quack doctor he used to talk to Death. Best not to.

"Yes." Cas confirmed.

Young Dean took that in. "So people come back." He said slowly.

Dean closed his eyes, ignoring a strong pull about their mother. "Sometimes. We didn't really have a say in much."

"What did Cas save you from?"

"I'm not getting into that now."

"But-"

"Can it." Dean said simply. "Later."

"You're just hoping we figure out how to send me back fast enough you don't have to tell me."

Obviously. "Doesn't matter."

Young Dean glared out the front of the car, clenching his hand on his knee, feeling a frustration mount to try to mask the fear. It was bad. Whatever it was, it had been real bad. He tried to breathe through it. "Dad and Bobby? Did they die-"

"Only once." Dean said, thinking of Bobby. Mostly once.

Dean couldn't help the sinking feeling as he thought about how complicated it was just sorting out their deaths. How messy their entire life was.

"Sounds like our life kinda ended up sucking."

"It's had its rough spots." Dean muttered.

Young Dean didn't bother asking if there was good stuff. He didn't know if he could handle it if the answer was no. He decided to simply move on. "So… when did you kill the god of Time?"

"1944."

Young Dean's eyes widened. "What-"

Dean's smile only widened. "In a time travel accident. With Elliot Ness."

"Bullshit." Young Dean said sharply, settling back against his seat again. "You're screwing with me."

"Cross my heart."

"You're full of shit."

"You'll see."

Young Dean rolled his eyes. "Whatever."