There was a bird chirping somewhere.

Loudly.

Dean had an urge to shoot it, but he wasn't sure what would happen.

Shooting a bird in heaven. Seemed like a bad idea.

Maybe.

He stood up. "Cas." He gestured sharply to the chair he'd just recently vacated. The angel hesitantly sat. "Explain" came the next request as Dean stepped off the porch to pace.

"We were tidying up-" Jack started, but was cut off by Dean raising his hand.

"Jack. Buddy. I..." He paused, unsure how to word it. "I...want to hear it from Cas."

There was an unspoken he knows how to give me bad news hung in the air. Jack gave an acknowledging nod.

"You know Jack is trying to do things...differently," Castiel started.

"Yes. Of course. Looking great," Dean tossed out with a wave around him.

"It has involved a good deal of reorganizing," Cas continued as if there was no audience interjection. "Tidying. Cleaning. Et cetera."

"As any good management overhaul takes." Dean threw a look at Bobby who just gave a subtle shrug. "Just...being supportive," he mumbled into his beer bottle.

"Chuck had an office. Off in a corner. We found it by chance really. No one knew it was there." The angel paused to look up at Millie. "We found Millie...in the closet..."

"The closet?!" both former hunters exclaimed, looking incredulously between angel and new god.

"Not a normal closet" came the quiet rebuff from Millie. When she realized all heads were now focused on her, she added "it was bigger...on the inside."

"Like the tardis," Cas offered after a beat. Heads volleyed to him and then back.

"It had a TV," she said with a shrug.

"Lot of channels? Good cable package?" Dean asked, still obviously riled at the idea of a person - a sibling?! - stuck in a closet.

"Oh yeah," she laughed. "Even got all of Gabriel's shows." At his still scrunched look, she gave a wink and a smirk. Slightly less scrunched. "Just trying to relieve the tension..."

That got him. "Yeah," he laughed, "just like..." He cut himself off realizing what he was going to say. Just like Sammy... "Yeah," he finished lamely. They shared an awkward smile before looking anywhere else.

"Ok," Dean finally said to break up the awkward silence. "So you find a random woman in Chuck's closet." Pause to shake his head at that fact alone. "What makes you think she's lucky enough to be a Winchester?"

Castiel and Jack turned to Millie at this. Jack going as far as adding an encouraging pat on her shoulder when she didn't immediately jump into explanation.

"Well... It's..." It was easy to tell she was just as nervous as Cas had been, which probably didn't bode well. With a quick puff of a sigh, she started, "Mary Winchester was pregnant...when she died..."

"No" was the confident response from Dean.

"It was early days. Barely a spark," she added, giving him an understanding look. "She didn't know."

"And what?" Big swig of beer. "Chuck just used his powers and some - some primordial goo to...to..." He ended the statement with a wild gesture at her.

"I suppose something like that," Millie responded, back in that quiet tone. Back to that embarrassed, insulted gaze.

"Why?" Dean tried to modulate the tone. Knew he was throwing anger at the wrong target.

"You'd have to ask him." When Dean tossed her an incredulous look, she shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like he gave me his big villain monologue. I haven't actually seen him in...years."

"When did you last see him?" Bobby asked. Partly out of general curiosity and partly to pull her gaze away from the angry pacing Dean had resumed.

"Maybe...5...10 years ago. I honestly can't keep track of all the...time zones. Whenever he pulled me out of purgatory and tossed me in the closet."

"You were in purgatory?" Cas managed to ask the question before Dean could, he was sure, holler it.

"Yeah." Another shrug. "Where else do you put a person you don't want to deal with."

"A closet." No one beat Dean this time. "Although, I guess he could've gone with Billie's idea and just tossed you to the empty."

"That was the first 10 years or so." The comment was said so off-the-cuff, it stopped Dean in his tracks. She actually laughed. "It was quiet."

He just stood and stared. He could see it., if he looked. Really looked. He could see a bit of himself. A bit of Sam. Smidge of dad.

Of mom...

He supposed being some sort of weird - dare he say miraculous - Winchester couldn't possibly really be real without some sort of dramatic trama. Hadn't he seen that? All those alternate universes he'd seen on his drives. No happy ending in sight without some major rule breaking.

And now this. He took another swig of beer.

"We were going to take her to your parents," Jack offered to break the new bout of silence. He had obviously realized it wasn't the happy surprise he thought it would be.

"No" Dean stated. He caught Bobby's nod of approval. "Absolutely not. Not until..." He peered at Millie. "Not until we know why."

She gave him a subtle nod and he appreciated that. She got it. She knew. Hell, she probably didn't even want to tell him. But her she was, stuck in it and doing what she could.

"What about Sam?"

Dean whorled to face Cas, the 'no' at the tip of his tongue.

"We need to find Chuck," the angel continued as he stood up. "He could help. And Millie deserves to see, well...what it is to be human."

The elder Winchester brother was conflicted. Cas didn't throw out the suggestion lightly, he was sure. It made sense. But it also seemed wrong. Just as wrong as the idea of telling their parents. Right...?

"It's not like we tagged him," he tossed out rather lacklusterly. "He was harmless. We didn't care after that."

"Jack?" Bobby queried. "Heaven keeping tabs on the old god?"

"Maybe... We could check with Naomi..." He didn't seem sure. Obviously it wasn't on the top of his list either.

"I could always...stay here," Millie offered hesitantly. Dean could tell she was just as conflicted. A trip to Earth sounded fun, sure, but she didn't want the drama.

"You should go." Cas gave Dean that pained look. The one that said Dean was being ridiculous. Even though he hadn't said anything. "We can just...play it by ear. Need to know basis."

Dean wasn't completely convinced. He knew Castiel would consider all the things. But he would still think Sam deserved to know. Just like Dean did. Just like his parents did.

It just wasn't that simple.

Jack promised to ask around the angel pool and let Cas know if he got anything. Cas said the same - everyone would stay in touch.

And then it was just Dean and Bobby. And empty beer bottles.

"You could go..." Bobby quietlysuggested.

"What?"

"You could go. See Sam. Tell him what's up."

"Ah, come on Bobby," he said as he stomped over to the porch and set his empty bottle down. "I can't. I can't do that to him. I swore to myself..."

Bobby just gave his friend an accepting nod and a shrug. "Just a thought..."

"No... No. I can't do that to him."

Bobby watched as Dean turned and headed to the Impala. And as he got in, cranked the radio, and drove off, the unspoken addition floated after him.

I can't do that to myself either...