Chapter Text
Dean will never know how he gathers the strength to stumble away from his fallen... fallen angel and join Sam in the nursery.
Really, the fact that Lucifer Jr. is just in the middle of their one hundredth really-oh-you-want-to-take-over-the-world-monologue is somewhat comforting.
Surprise surprise, the span of Satan is evil.
“And then when I and Castiel – “
“You can stop right there” Dean forces out, too numb to truly feel the loss yet, “He’s dead.”
“What?”
Jack’s (seriously? Jack? What was Kelly thinking) eyes widen.
“Your father stabbed him in the back”.
“No! That can’t be!” he wails.
Not even five minutes old yet, powerful, mad as a hatter. Great.
But then, he grins in a maniacal way and snaps his fingers.
Bright light shines in from outside.
Dean runs before even comprehending what he’s running towards.
But yes, there’s Cas, standing where he fell, looking confused.
“Cas!”
“Dean?”
He hugs him.
“What happened?” the angel asks.
“What happened? You died on me. Again. I told you. Never – “
Cas hugs him back.
“I’m sorry”.
His face is squished into Dean’s shoulder.
He laughs.
“It’s alright, we’re – “
“Castiel!”
Jack has come bouncing out of the door, still naked as he was born, Sam behind him.
“Now we can create the world I showed you! No pain, no hurt, no one makes any mistakes...”
And there it is. No free will. Of course not.
Dean’s arms tighten around Cas. He doesn’t care if this kills him, he’s not going to let him get –
“No one makes any mistakes?” Cas asks, unsure.
Jack laughs.
“Of course! Perfection means you can’t give them the possibility of something going wrong! Remember, Castiel? Paradise! It will take a while, but...”
Cas gently manoeuvres Dean that he’s behind him and advances towards the nephilim.
“Cas...” he says, slowly. No. He’s walking away from him. Again.
“Paradise” Cas says.
Jack grins.
“Yep!”
Cas turns around and looks at Dean.
Then he announces, “I just felt what it’s like” and stabs Jack.
“Wait...” Dean begins but then stops when Cas comes to hug him again.
“Really?” he mumbles, “Just like that?”
“Yes” Cas confirms, “Just like that.”
Sam clears his throat.
“Guys, I’m... don’t get me wrong, I am glad that Cas is okay, but Mom...”
Oh God, he forgot all about Mom. With Cas dead in front of him, he forgot –
“What happened to Mary?” Cas asks, finally stepping away.
“She... she fell into the... parallel universe with Lucifer” Dean recalls, “and Crowley had just finished the spell by killing himself...”
The stab of pain he feels is unexpected.
But it is true.
The king is dead.
“I...” Cas swallows.
“We can get Mary back.”
Dean laughs.
“Yeah, right”.
“No, Dean, I...” Cas pauses. “Jack gave me the power of an archangel”.
“What?!”
“I don’t think he intended to. I think he just... brought me back and didn’t realize there were different types of angels.”
“So what does that mean? You’ll flatter off to be the sheriff – “
“No. My place is here. With you. If you’ll have me.”
“If I’ll – I mean we’ll – Cas, you’ve been part of the family for so long?”
Cas takes his hand and squeezes it for a moment, smiling softly. Then he lets go.
“I can reopen the portal and seal it. Whenever I want”.
That’s... actually good news.
They decide that Dean’s going to go in. He needs Sam and Cas in his world in case Satan decides to come back.
Plus, Bobby’s on the other side. He can deal.
“And the second Lucifer steps out – “
“He’s dead” Cas tells him. “I swear it”.
“Good”.
Still, Dean somewhat underestimated what the sight of Crowley’s lifeless body would do to him, once he’s through the portal.
Cain was right – well, almost.
Because this doesn’t just cause mixed feelings.
This hurts like a son of a bitch.
Not as badly as Cas, but still...
He kneels down next to the King of Hell and turns him around. He doesn’t deserve to lie here like trash.
He rolls him over and crosses his arms over his chest.
Dean doesn’t expect anyone to show up and speak to him.
But suddenly, there’s the telltale sound of angel wings and a voice.
“You’re... mourning for the demon”.
He looks up because –
Yep.
This is in fact –
Crowley.
With wings, apparently.
Crowley the angel.
It would be funny if their version wasn’t lying dead in front of him.
“He’s... he was a friend” he says simply.
Fake Crowley narrows his eyes.
“Humans do not take part in – “
“Come on, you’re supposed to be an angel. Can’t you tell we’re not from around here?”
Thankfully, this one doesn’t seem to be as found of scathing remarks. He just nods.
“There is also another, more powerful being... And someone else. Soemone like you” he eventually says.
Mom’s alive. Dean’s shoulders slump in relief.
“Thank God” he breathes. “Look, I’m just going to... grab them and get out of here, okay? No reason to make a big thing out of it.”
Only it is a big thing. He looks down at Crowley.
He’s starting to suspect this will always hurt a little. Like Bobby.
Other Crowley still doesn’t leave.
He studies Dean impassively, like the angel Cas used to be, so long ago.
“This can easily be remedied” he decides.
Dean snorts. He probably means that he’ll just set the corpse on fire, right there, or probably kill him as well. He’s not scared. He has the angel blade Crowley used to – and this is not the – the friend he just –
The angel reaches out and touches Crowley’s forehead.
Before Dean can comprehend what’s going on, his eyes blink open and he sits up.
“What the – Squirrel?”
Dean just stares at him, too dumbfounded to speak.
“I can’t and wouldn’t restore him as a demon” fake Crowley says calmly.
“What – you’re human?” Dean finally blurts out.
“It... would appear so” Crowley says, looking at his hands, his torn suit, the stomach where a bloody wound should be but isn’t.
“Alright” he finally adds slowly, “Me not dead. Angel me made me not dead. Me human”.
Dean knows the expression on his face, that feeling when you don’t know whether to get mad or have a panic attack, and who can blame him. He just heroically sacrificed himself just to wake up human once and for all.
But instead, Crowley blinks and turns into the self-controlled... man Dean knows.
He stands up and dusts down his suit.
“Much better. Thank you”.
Crowley just... thanked himself.
How fitting.
Dean fights down a completely irrational urge to hug him (the guy was the King of Hell until a few hours ago, after all).
Crowley the angel nods and disappears.
“Well” Dean says. “That was... unexpected.”
“Hopefully not unwanted”.
Crowley’s usual confidence is somewhat subdued. Small wonder, really. Turning human will do this to you.
“Of course not. Would have come back for you alone if I’d known this was possible.”
“Oh”.
Crowley sounds surprised.
Dean swallows.
“Yeah, so... wanna help me hunt down the devil and Mom?”
“Sure. What else could I possibly wish to do?”
As they’re walking through the desert, Dean thinks of something.
“We’ll have to clean a room out for you” he muses.
“You want me to stay in the bunker?”
“If you do”.
Crowley is silent for a few minutes. Then he says, “That would probably be for the best.”
“Hey, I’m sure we can find something for you to do. You can man the phones.”
They both laugh at the thought. It feels good.
After all they have been through, it’s surprisingly easy.
Well, it’s not that hard finding someone when they’re busy blasting everything Bobby’s group has at Lucifer.
Crowley hands him the angel blade.
“Any chance we can come close enough?”
The answer is he doesn’t have to, because at this point angel Crowley comes back with a whole garrison and just like his son, Lucifer dies a pathetic easy and quick death.
“You need to leave” other Crowley explains to them afterwards, Mary included.
“Don’t worry. We’re on our way.”
“Can’t you bring us directly to the portal?” Mary asks as they’re stumbling back.
“I’m sorry, Mummy Winchester. I’m human now. Better me didn’t bring me back a demon”.
“Bring you – “
“He sacrificed himself for us, Mom. If it wasn’t for that angel...”
“Oh”.
She’s silent for a few minutes before deciding, “Well, then he’s not the better you.”
He’s never seen Crowley speechless before.
Eventually, after many explanations, several tears and hugs, they are all back in the bunker.
Where they belong.
And yes, that includes Crowley. He’s already pouring himself a glass of Craig.
“Oh no” Mom suddenly exclaims in a tone Dean still associates with him having dared run away from his parents a bit too far when she was pregnant with Sam and not fast enough to grab him immediately.
This time however, it’s not him she’s hurrying towards with a resolute stare.
Before anyone of them can blink, she has snatched the glass out of Crowley’s hand.
“That’s not healthy, so soon after... You need some tomato-rice soup. And a warm bed.”
“Mom, he was dead, not sick.”
“That’s...” she stops to consider, then shakes her head.
“I know the feeling; close enough”.
She disappears into the kitchen as Dean calls out, “You can’t cook!”
“It’s soup!”
Crowley, slightly stunned, sits down at the table.
“Don’t worry about it” Dean says, putting his glass in front of him. “Safe to say we’re all a little shaken”.
“Your mother threatened to kill me the first time she saw me” he says. “Now she’s making me soup.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t like you that much either and now we’re giving you a room” Dean shrugs. “Sometimes stuff just happens”.
And sometimes, he thinks later, Cas at his side, watching his family eat tomato-rice soup together, that is enough.