The monotonous drumbeat of rain falling on the rooftop couldn't quite drown out the snoring coming from inside the car. The black Impala was backed against a small stand of trees, the only form of shelter Dean could find in this god forsaken backwater, but it still couldn't fully block out the rain.

The snoring stopped as Dean opened one eye, groaning he closed it again, thought about trying to go back to sleep but gave up on the idea. Soft light seeping through the fogged up windshield told him it was morning, or maybe early afternoon. Definitely not later then that since he was facing east and the light was in front of him not behind. Bracing both his hands either side of his thighs, Dean began to push himself upright. Stopping suddenly when a sharp stab of pain low in his neck told him he had slept in one position too long.

'Crap,' Dean groaned again before sliding sideways to his right along the bench seat to land amongst empty beer bottles and candy wrappers. Reaching out with his left hand he began to massage his neck.

A low whine from the backseat had Dean sitting upright with a wince, his eyes flicking to the rear-view mirror. Silence filled the car for a moment, then a shuffling sound followed by another whine came from the backseat. Dean sagged in relief, left hand going back to massage at his neck as he let go of the handgun laying next to his right leg.

'Dude, you almost gave me a heart attack.'

Two shaggy legs popped up on the back of the seat beside him, and next thing he knew the half-grown stray Dean had found a few weeks ago was licking the side of his head.

'And a good morning to you too, sunshine.'

The dog whined again at him.

'Yeah, yeah, you want out?' Dean asked him, cracking the driver's side door open. 'Time to drain the lizard?'

The dog jumped over into the front seat as Dean pushed the door wider. With a short bark the dog leapt out of the car and disappeared into the rain.

'Don't go far,' Dean yelled after him as he slammed the door closed. Reaching down between his legs Dean groped about for the bottle of Jack that had been drinking from last night. Finding it he held the bottle up, giving it a couple of shakes. Maybe a mouthful or two left. He was just about to unscrew the lid when his own bladder began to demand attention.

'Yeah, hold that thought,' Dean muttered as he dropped the bottle onto the seat next to him. Reaching back with a slight wince, Dean pulled a rain slicker from the backseat and draped it over his head. Man, he was so damn tired of the rain.

Dean sat in his car, staring at the fogged up windshield. He blinked, hadn't he just -?

A shuffling sound from the backseat made him turn and look at the dog, there wasn't a drop of rain on the mutt.

'Weren't you just outside?'

Come to think of it, wasn't Dean just outside? The dog just gave Dean an open mouthed doggy grin and curled up on the backseat.

Turning back around Dean leaned forward to rub his sleeve across the fogged up windshield. The light didn't seem any darker, what little glimpse of the sun he could see through the dark clouds hadn't seemed to have moved across the sky. He was losing his damn mind. Luckily Dean had a remedy for that, reaching out he grabbed the bottle of Jack and swallowed the last two mouthfuls. Trouble was that barely seemed to touch the sides of his problems. Looking about the car Dean searched for anything else to drink, but the passenger foot well was full of empties and scrunched up candy wrappers.

'Dammit,' he muttered, time to hit another town. Glancing into the rear-view mirror Dean asked the dog. 'Hey Bobby, going for a run, you want anything?'

The dog, Bobby, just yawned.

'Big juicy steak, coming right up.'

Turning the key in the ignition Dean smiled as the big rumbling engine came to life. The feeling of contentment was quickly broken as the radio came on too. REM's 'It's the End of the World as We Know It' blared out of the speakers. Dean hurriedly switched off the radio, there was no point even thinking of trying to find another station. It was the only song playing everywhere, some demon's idea of a joke he guessed. Very occasionally someone switched it up a little and some chick would sing about only being happy when it rains, but that never lasted for more than a few hours before REM was back. Armageddon was bad enough but they had to go out with this soundtrack? He'd understand it if the damn angels ruled the airwaves he knew they had no taste in music, but weren't the demons supposed to have all the best musicians?

'Devil went down to Georgia, my ass.' Pulling away from where he was parked Dean crept towards the road. Peering through the streaks of rain he tried to decide which way to go. Left or right it didn't really matter, toss a damn coin, he knew whichever town he came across would be empty. They were all empty, the war had come and gone from this neck of the woods. Best you could hope for was that they hadn't been picked clean of the essentials - booze, gas and food.

Dean sat in the Impala, beer bottle in one hand, bag of beef jerky in the other. The steady metronome swish of the wipers revealed a street empty of life. A feeling of despair washed over Dean as he drank his beer before dropping the bottle on the floor. Reaching over he popped the passenger glove compartment and pulled out a folded map, searching further in the compartment and scrabbling about he found an almost empty Biro. Uncapping the pen Dean opened the oversized paper to reveal a map of Kansas. Eyes flicking about he came across the name of the town he was in, and with a sigh he crossed it off. The map was full of crosses, too full, each cross was another dead town, another defeat in the war of Armageddon. Didn't matter which side had overrun that particular town, it was the humans that ultimately paid the price.

There was one place on the map that wasn't crossed off, a little town called Paradise had a circle around it. All the crosses radiated out from this one place like an ever widening hurricane of destruction. A bark from the backseat drew Dean's attention away from the map.

'Sorry, Bobby, no steak,' Dean opened the bag of jerky and tossed a handful over his shoulder. 'No steak, no burgers, no nothing,' he muttered to himself.

Absently he began rubbing the stump where his left pinky finger used to be as his eyes were drawn back again to that little circle on the map. Maybe it was time, the end was coming even he could see that. Angels, demons didn't matter who won; humanity had lost and God was a monumental dick. Dean hadn't seen another human in weeks, not one that wasn't trying to kill him. All the civilians were either dead or conscripted, which was the same thing in Dean's book. So why avoid the place, maybe it was time. Time to say goodbye to Sam.

They had reinforced the barricades since Dean was last here, he noticed as he drove slowly down the highway. Car wrecks and large piles of steel were scattered along the road, slowing down any advancing army. Someone had piled up cars near the off ramp creating a choke point, more an empty gesture of defiance than tactical, when angels could just fly in and demons didn't need to walk anywhere when possession was a faster way to travel. Not that it seemed to matter since the choke point was unattended, there was no one in sight.

'Not good, not good,' Dean muttered as he drove through. Was he too late; had they already been overrun, or had they fallen back to the town centre? Only one way to know for sure as Dean continued to drive, keeping his speed down in case of any traps.

The houses on the outskirts of the town had long been abandoned, but the closer Dean drove the more signs of life he saw. Lights appearing in the houses nearest to the centre, shops converted into emergency housing, even tents popping up next to cars as humanity huddled as close as it could get to the angels controlling Paradise. Dean drove up to the High School and pulled into the parking lot.

He sat in the car watching shadowy figures running through the rain, listening to the Impala ticking quietly as it cooled. It was weird, he hadn't seen so many people all at once since the last time he was here. 'Well,' he glanced back at Bobby, 'welcome home.'

Opening the door he let the dog jump out before pulling on his slicker and exiting the car. Walking towards the main entrance he was greeted by two men carrying shotguns.

'Identify yourself,' the younger one demanded.

'Dean Winchester,' Dean said, arms held loosely at his sides to show he was not a threat.

'That supposed to mean anything to me?' the young man sneered.

'Apparently not,' Dean replied.

'Show us your tattoo,' the other older man ordered.

'My tat- oh right.' Dean opened his rain slicker slowly and pulled his shirt away from his collarbone, revealing his anti-possession tattoo. One of the last things Dean had done before leaving Paradise was pass on that little bit of information, nice to know someone had listened.

The older man relaxed at the tattoo, but he quickly tensed back up when he saw Dean's Colt tucked in his jeans.

'Relax,' Dean drawled, 'if I wanted you dead you'd be down already.

'Yar right,' the younger man tightened his grip on his own weapon.

Dean refrained from rolling his eyes at the posturing but only just, end of the world and people were still trying to see who had the bigger dick. 'I'm not sticking around, just here for a day to see someone, then I'm gone.'

'Go where?' the older man asked, dropping his gun down by his side. 'There is nowhere else to go.'

'Where ever the road takes me.' Dean said, 'now are we good?'

The younger man looked like he wanted to make a fuss but the older man just placed a hand on the younger one's shoulder. 'Just be gone by tonight and we'll be good.'

'Deal.' Dean couldn't help himself he smiled at the younger man, 'See you around, Princess.' He made a point of walking slowly away.

Dean wandered around the town for a couple of hours, if anyone had asked he would have told them he was taking the temperature of the place and not in fact avoiding the only reason he was here. Leaning up against a wall, making the most of the overhang to avoid getting any wetter than he already was, Dean looked about. The few people he saw hurried from place to place, heads down. Everyone was armed, even the few older children and he couldn't see anyone under the age of around ten. You could cut the tension with a Bowie knife, seems everyone felt the way Dean did; the end was very much nigh.

Out of the corner of his eye Dean saw someone purposely walking towards him, dammit was that punk coming back for round two? Stepping away from the wall Dean opened his slicker and rested his right hand near his hip. The figure was dressed in a large raincoat, hood up to hide their face. A rifle was slung over their shoulder, barrel pointing to the sky. The person stopped a few paces from Dean.

'You got a problem?' Dean asked. 'I still got a few hours left.'

The figure crossed their arms. 'Hey, bitch.'

Dean blinked at the voice and slowly began to smile. 'Charlie?'

Charlie flicked back her hood and grinned at Dean. 'Longtime, no see.'

Dean stepped forward and hugged Charlie hard.

'Come on,' Charlie said, returning the hug, 'let's get out of this damn rain.'

Charlie led Dean into a former florist shop and towards the back of the store.

'Hey, beat it,' she instructed a young woman who had been riffling through a couple of bags sitting on a fold out bed.

'I just need a clean top,' the young woman complained.

'Not now.'

The young woman glared at Dean before slouching away.

'Friend of yours?' Dean asked.

'Not exactly,' Charlie placed her rifle against the wall and pulled off her raincoat, dropping it on the floor before sitting down on the bed. She stared up at Dean for a moment, fists clenched on her lap. 'Where the hell have you been?'

Dean blinked at the anger in her voice. He looked around for some place to sit before gingerly taking the corner of the bed farthest away from Charlie. 'I dunno,' he shrugged, 'about.'

'About?' Charlie pushed up the sleeves of her sweater, like she was looking for a fight, 'you just up and leave without saying a word and the best you can come up with is "about"?'

Dean shrugged and had the decency to look a little shame faced, 'You know how it was, after what happened I couldn't stay. I'm just surprised you're still here.'

'Well someone had to stay and take care of things,' Charlie flung her arms wide.

Dean caught a glimpse of a new anti-possession tattoo on Charlie's arm. 'You got one too?'

Charlie looked at her left forearm. 'Everyone's got them. Adults, kids, Dean they're even tattooing babies now.' She crossed her arms, suddenly looking small. 'Never thought I'd see the day we'd be mass tattooing people again.'

Dean looked blankly at Charlie.

'Seriously, Dean, did you not pay attention to history in school?'

'Only the parts with monsters in them.'

'Well there's monsters and then there are monsters, does the word Auschwitz mean anything to you?'

Dean blinked before understanding. 'Right, sorry, kinda forgot about that.'

'Some of us can't forget.'

Dean hunched forward, hands dangling between his knees. 'Look, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you I was leaving, kiddo, and I'm sorry I didn't take you with me.'

Charlie sighed, the tension leaving her body. 'A heads up would have been nice, even a goodbye.'

'Why are you still here?' Dean asked.

'For the same reason you came back, I'm guessing. I didn't want him to be alone, not at the end.'

Dean sat up straighter. 'What have you heard?'

'Nobody tells us humans anything, but you'd have to be stupid not to know the end times are coming.'

Dean snorted in amusement. 'Think you need to be walking around with one of then sandwich boards and ringing a bell to say that.'

Charlie's lips twitched at the image. 'Left mine at the dry cleaners.'

The smile faded from Dean's face, 'You know where he is?'

Charlie nodded solemnly. 'Yeah.'

'Can you get me in?'

Charlie nodded, 'Think so.'

'Good', Dean stood up and glanced out towards the front window, it was getting dark outside. 'Guess it's time to say goodbye to Sammy.'

Charlie and Dean stood outside the Police Station, which made sense, it was the easiest place to defend. Problem was outside seemed to be as far as they were getting.

'Hey,' Charlie was arguing with an angel. 'I'm on the list, let me in.'

The angel, standing at the top of the stairs, folded her arms and scowled down at them both. 'You might be on the list,' she indicated Dean with her chin, 'but he isn't.'

'You know who he is.' Charlie objected.

'Which is why he's not coming in.'

'Look,' Dean began, 'as much as I love two women arguing over me, in my dreams it usually involves less clothes and more jelly wrestling.'

'You too?' Charlie quipped back at him.

'Obviously you're not high enough up the food chain to make a decision,' Dean continued, trying to ignore Charlie. 'Why don't you go get your boss?'

The angel drew herself up straight and glared at Dean, a silver gleaming blade suddenly appeared in her left hand.

'Yeah, that's right,' Dean mocked, 'and you say we're the violent ones.'

'That's enough.'

Dean stiffened when he heard the soft raspy voice that still haunted his nightmares, as the angel standing before him relaxed her stance with a smile.

Turning slowly Dean looked at the one angel he was hoping to avoid. Damn idiot was still wearing that stupid tan coat looking like an extra from some 60's cop show.

'Well look what the cat dragged in,' Dean sneered, as the stump on his left hand began to itch.

'Cat?' Castiel frowned at Dean's words.

'Dean,' Charlie tried to get Dean's attention but he brushed her off.

'I want to see my brother.'

Castiel took a moment to think about it before replying, 'No.'

Dean took a step towards the dark haired man, 'Look you feathered ass, what do you mean no?'

Castiel tilted his head to one side, 'It is a simple two letter word that signifies a negative.'

'You piece of -' Dean stepped forward, his hand going for his Colt.

Charlie grabbed at Dean's arm. 'Castiel, please he just wants to say goodbye and then he'll be on his way,' she looked from the angel to Dean, 'alone.'

Dean looked Castiel in the eyes for the first time as he tried to convey all the fear and longing to see Sam again in one gaze. 'Come on, man, after what you did, you owe us.'

'I owe you nothing,' Castiel looked back at Dean, then sighed. 'Fine, but only for a few minutes. We have to move him soon.'

'Commander,' the other angel protested.

Castiel waved away the protests. 'He's only a human, what can he do?'

'Thank you,' Charlie hurriedly said, before Dean could jump in and ruin his one chance to see his brother again.

'Yeah,' Dean couldn't help himself, 'bless your shriveled little heart.'

Castiel looked hard at Dean. 'That's your problem, you humans are too emotional.'

'Better that then some holy roller robot,' Dean said to Castiel's back as he and Charlie followed the angel into the station.

Standing outside a door, Dean was struck once again by a disjointed feeling. One minute he was walking along a corridor, the next he was standing here.

'Well,' Castiel said behind him, 'what are you waiting for?'

'Give me a minute,' Dean muttered.

Charlie slipped next to him, reaching out to grab his left hand and giving it a squeeze. Dean was grateful that she had remembered to leave his gun hand free.

'You're so weak,' Castiel sneered, 'I wonder why God chose to save you.'

Forcing a large grin on his face Dean turned to stare at the angel. 'What and leave the world without all this?' he gestured to himself.

'We couldn't have that,' Charlie muttered with a smile.

Looking down at Charlie, Dean's forced grin eased into a genuine smile as he reached out and kissed her on the forehead. Squeezing Charlie's hand Dean let go; reaching out he grasped the doorknob, pushing the door wide open.

The room was dark, the only lighting coming from a window. There was someone sitting in the middle of the room in a chair. The person's head was down and they were leaning slightly to one side, like they had gone to sleep sitting up. Looking around Dean could see that every spare surface of the walls were covered in symbols and arcane writing. Even the window panes were covered, looking up he could see them painted on the ceiling, too. Taking a deep breath Dean walked into the room, he could hear Charlie, Castiel and another two angels entering behind him. Someone flicked the light switch and a bright, white glare filled the room.

The figure in the middle twitched; he was gaunt, stick thin. Long stringy dark hair covered his face. Dean could see the man was sitting in a wheelchair.

'Jesus,' Dean whispered, afraid to wake him. 'Sammy?'

The man jerked at Dean's voice. Slowly he raised his head, blinking in the bright light. 'Dean?' Looking over at the four people huddled in the doorway, Sam squinted his eyes. 'Dean,' he asked again, 'is that you?'

'Yeah, Sammy.' Dean walked further into the room, 'it's me.'

'Dean!' Sam began to rock in the chair, wasted muscles bunching as he tried to raise his arms. 'Dean, you've got to help me, get me outta here!'

Dean realised that Sam was handcuffed to the arms of the chair. Turning he glared at Castiel, 'What breaking his back wasn't enough for you?'

Castiel ignored Dean's question as he and other two angels took up defensive positions in the room, blades out and on alert.
'Dean, Dean, shoot them.' Sam cried out.

Looking down at his hand Dean realised he had instinctively grabbed for his Colt. Right, like that was going to do any good here. With a bitter laugh Dean turned to Charlie and handed the Colt over. 'Here, hold this for a minute.'

Stepping away from the others, Dean looked hard at Sam. 'I came here to say goodbye to my brother.'

'What do you mean, goodbye, Dean. We're getting out of here together, right?'

'I'd love to take Sam away from here, but the last time I tried it didn't work out so well.' Dean rubbed his left hand. 'I can't separate the two of you.'

Sam frowned at his words, 'What do you mean separate, I'm the only one here.'

Dean swallowed hard, 'Cut the crap, Lucifer, is he in there or not?'

Sam's whole body went still, then he sat back in the chair. Tilting his head from side to side, Sam cracked his neck before giving Dean a wide grin. 'Maybe he is, maybe he isn't.' The voice was still Sam's but somehow it had changed; become deeper, more playful.

'There he is,' Dean said, 'the Dick of Darkness, himself.'

'Flatterer,' Lucifer smiled back at Dean, 'you always had a way with words.'

'I want to talk to my brother.'

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders, 'Missed the boat, ole chum. Got tired of his screaming and put him out of his misery months ago.' Lucifer tilted his head and smiled up at Dean. 'Nobody in here but me, now.'

'No,' Dean shook his head. 'Sam's strong, he'd resist you.'

'Your little angel buddies tell you that?' Lucifer looked away from Dean, casually, to stare at the angels in the room, 'and like a good little human you believed them.'

Dean looked back at Castiel, 'You said Sam could resist, long enough to end this war.'

'For a while,' Castiel said. 'I said he could resist for a while.'

Dean turned on Castiel 'You sonofabitch, the only reason Sam agreed to let him in was because he believed he had a way out. He believed in you.'

'Rule number one: never trust an angel. You really should have read the fine print, Dean, before you trapped me in this body!' Lucifer shouted the last words. Calming down Lucifer closed his eyes and twitched his head. 'Do you have any idea how itchy these demon trap tattoos are? Then crippling me so I can't even scratch, Castiel, and I thought I was an expert on torture.'

'I never lied to the human.' Castiel replied, not looking at the demon in Sam's body, 'and I only crippled the boy so you couldn't escape.'

'And they call me the Prince of Lies,' Lucifer snorted. 'Step on a crack, break a demon's back,' he began to croon softly before sneering up at Castiel. 'Admit it, you got your rocks off doing it.'

There was a jingling of metal at the door.

'Oh, didn't know we were having guests.'

Turning away from Sam, Dean looked towards the new arrival. Standing in the doorway was the self proclaimed King of Hell himself, Crowley.

'What are you still doing here?' Dean asked.

Crowley raised the tray of food he was holding, 'Feeding time at the zoo,' he answered, 'don't mind me.' He shuffled into the room, shackles on his feet and hands, jingling quietly. 'Family reunion is it?' he asked.

'Figured you'd be long gone by now.' Dean said, as Crowley made his slow way towards Lucifer.

'I wish,' Crowley placed the tray on Lucifer's knees and whipping out a napkin, began tucking it around the other man's chin. 'Turned out the angels have quite the mean streak in them. I've been forced to play nursemaid for my betrayal of Moosifer here.'

Lucifer glared up at Crowley, 'Moosifer?'

'Just a pet name, pet,' Crowley said, dipping a spoon into a bowl of porridge he waved it at Lucifer. 'Do you want the choo-choo noises today or shall it be a plane?'

'Why don't you scoop your eyeballs out with it?' Lucifer snarled back at the demon.

'See what I have to put up with?' Crowley turned to the others, 'No gratitude, you think this is bad,' Crowley waved the spoon around, throwing porridge onto the floor, 'you should try having to wipe his arse!'

'He's really gone,' Dean began backing away, 'I need to get out of here.'

'Bit late for that, Squirrel,' Crowley said, 'time's up.'

There was a faint sound of a siren going off in the distance.

Dean turned towards Castiel. 'What's that?'

Castiel frowned at the noise, 'The early warning system.'

'We're under attack,' Charlie explained, tossing Dean's Colt back to him, as she pulled her semi-automatic rifle around from where it had been slung across her back.

'Sounds like all the bad boys and girls are coming to the rescue,' Crowley commented.

'Is it that time already?' Lucifer asked Crowley, calmly.

'As per your orders,' Crowley answered him, with a slight bow.

'Finally,' Lucifer lifted his arms from the armrests of the chair and stretched. 'This was getting tedious.'

'How?' Charlie asked.

Crowley waved a small key. 'Abracadabra, would anyone like to see me pull a rabbit out of a hat?' he grinned at Dean.

Castiel stepped forward to glare at Crowley, 'It was your idea to trap Lucifer.'

'Now, now,' Crowley tutted at the angel 'I think my words were I could set the trap, I never said who it was for.'

Dean pointed his gun at Crowley. 'Back stabbing, bastard.'

Crowley stood up straight, 'King of Hell, mate, part of the job description.'

'Enough of this,' Lucifer pushed against the armrests and slowly stood up, with a long, lazy stretch. 'I've been wanting to do that for months.'

One of the angels rushed towards the Prince of Darkness, but with a click of Lucifer's fingers the angel exploded into dust.

Crowley turned to the other angel, who was also rushing towards Lucifer, and with a flick of his wrist revealed a demon blade. Casually he thrust it into the angel's chest, causing bright, white energy to shoot out from the dying vessel's mouth and eyes. With a satisfied smile, Crowley crouched down over the dead angel and retrieved the keys to his shackles. 'The working conditions here are deplorable, I quit,' he told Castiel.

'I broke you,' Castiel protested, ignoring the other demon. Shouting over his shoulder for backup, Castiel rushed towards Lucifer.

Lucifer shrugged, 'I may be a fallen angel but I can still heal.' Pushing his hand out towards Castiel, he knocked the angel into a wall. 'I'm tired of your prattle.'

'You let yourself be trapped?' Dean asked.

'How better to cut out the heart of your little uprising, than from right here in the middle of it?' Lucifer answered him.

'Charlie, go get help.' Dean ordered, trying to remove her from the danger.

'Uh,uh,' Lucifer gestured and the door slammed shut. 'Let's keep this in the family for now.'

Dean switched the gun from Crowley to Lucifer. 'If Sammy's really gone, then there is nothing stopping me from killing you.'

'Dean, Dean,' Lucifer stretched out his arms, making himself an easy target. 'We've been here before. You couldn't shoot Sam then and you won't do it now. After all he's your wittle baby bwovver.'

'I'm sorry, Sammy.' Dean whispered as he squeezed the trigger.

Dean opened his eyes to darkness. Chest heaving he tried to calm his breath as he looked about the room, without moving. He wasn't alone, someone was here with him. Turning his head slowly Dean could see the faint outline of someone sitting across the room. Hand slowly edging its way under his pillow, Dean felt for his Colt.

'Dean?' Cas's voice came from the shadowy figure. 'Are you awake?' reaching out Cas turned on a lamp.

Squinting in an attempt to combat his sudden night blindness, Dean sat up in bed, gun pointed straight at his friend. For the briefest of seconds, his dream still forefront in his mind, Dean wanted to pull the trigger.

'Dean, it's me, Cas.'

Dean blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. 'Yeah,' he pointed the gun up to the ceiling before placing it back under his pillow, 'I know.'

Cas stood up from his chair and walked slowly across the room. 'Are you crying?'

Dean wiped some moisture from his eyes, 'No.' Looking about the room he noticed the empty bed next to him. 'Where's Sam?' he asked, suddenly worried by his brother's absence, without realising it he began rubbing at his left hand.

'He went out for food.' Cas stopped in front of Dean and looked worriedly at him. 'Is your hand hurt, Dean, are you sure you're alright?

'Fine,' Dean waved away the angel's concerns.

There was a faint jingling noise from the front door, then the doorknob turned and Sam entered the room. 'Hey guys,' he hefted a large paper bag in his arms.

'Dean is awake,' Cas commented to the younger man.

'Good,' Sam closed the door and dropped his keys into a nearby dish. 'I got food.'

'He was crying,' Cas added.

'Narc,' Dean scowled at Castiel.

'Okay,' Sam hesitated near the door, glancing from one man to the other, 'bad dream?' he guessed.

'Are there any other kind?' Dean asked as Sam walked towards them.

'These days?' Sam shook his head, 'not really.' Reaching the table he placed the bag down and pulled it open. Pulling out several containers he asked casually. 'Wanna talk about it?'

'Yes,' Cas sat down on Sam's empty bed, 'retelling a dream in great detail is supposed to help.'

'Really, Doctor Phil,' Dean asked Cas, 'I've never heard that.'

'You haven't?' Cas leaned forward, 'I'm sure there are many articles on the internet that could explain -'

'Cas,' Sam interrupted him, 'sarcasm, that was sarcasm.'

'Oh,' The angel sat back a little disappointed.

Sam scratched his neck, 'But you know, Cas isn't wrong about talking about things.'

Dean stood up and held out his hand towards Sam, 'Dean Winchester, have we met before?'

Sam grunted in amusement, 'Of course, what was I thinking? The Winchesters never talk about their feelings.'

Dean waved away Sam's snarky comment, 'It was the end of the world, everyone I love was about to die, the end.' He looked past his brother's shoulder, 'Whatta you got to eat?'

'Uh,' Sam gestured towards the table. 'Burgers, salad, fries. I saw this Indian place I wanted to try so I got us some -'

'You got pie, Sammy?' Dean interrupted.

Sam laughed, 'Course I got pie.'

'That's all I need to know,' Dean walked over to the table and opened a random container. Grabbing a handful of fries he hooked a foot around one of the chairs, pulled it towards him and sat down.

'And we're eating, now,' Sam told Cas, as the two men moved towards Dean.

'Dean,' Cas said, sitting down at the table, 'I was told a joke today.'

Dean pushed a burger towards Cas, 'Yeah?' he asked around a mouthful of food.

'Knock, knock.'

Dean rolled his eyes at Sam.

'Who's there?' Sam asked.

'Tomato, no wait,' Cas frowned, 'was it a tomato, maybe it was another fruit. Hang on, I'll start again.'

As the three friends talked amongst themselves, sharing good food and bad jokes, there was a distant rumble of thunder outside and it quietly began to rain.