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Bobby was content. Content, and if he were honest, a bit bored.
Heaven was great, seeing everyone he’d lost and those still walking through the pearly gates never got old. At the same time, Heaven didn’t mean relationships from life carried over. Sure, if the person didn’t want you part of their Heaven you could still wish up a vision of them, but that’s all it was.
A vision. A fake.
Seeing his wife again had been exhilarating at first. They’d spent what felt like hours talking about his life had gone. The ‘days’ passed and Bobby found that while he still loved his wife, he wasn’t so much in love with her. When Karen expressed she felt the same there was a distinct shift between the two from former husband and wife to close friends. He mourned the death of their previous relationship but also felt he could breathe easier when it was off his chest. Part of the reason he’d been outside The Roadhouse when Dean arrived was because he’d been touching base with Ellen.
Touching base, having sex, tomato - tah-mato.
Dean’s arrival had sped up time in Heaven briefly. In the few hours since his arrival around 30 years, if Bobby had to give a rough guess, had passed. He didn’t doubt that either Jack, he refused to call the baby faced boy God , or Castiel had done that so Dean wouldn’t be without Sam long. Things moved at a comfortable, if somewhat lethargic, pace after that.
“Can’t believe I’m sayin’ it,” Dean chuckled as he sat at Ellen’s bar. “But damn sometimes I miss Crowley’s snark.”
Bobby looked at Dean curiously as Ellen snorted pushing a beer over to him. Castiel rolled his eyes but didn’t look furious at the announcement. Sam hummed in agreement and to Bobby’s surprise raised a glass.
“May the bastard rest in peace.”
Bobby froze. Crowley was...dead? No. No fucking way. The bastard was far too slippery for that.
“Crowley’s dead?”
Sam shot him a surprised look. “We didn’t mention that?”
“No.” Bobby couldn’t keep the slight growl out of his voice. Ellen shot him a questioning look but her dark eyes shone with understanding when he gave a slight shake of his head. She tilted in her chin and pushed him a shot as Dean winced.
“It was a cluster,” Dean softly admitted. “Cas died too and Jack had to rip him out of the empty.”
Castiel squeezed Dean’s hand, clearly understanding that discussing this wasn’t easy for Dean. It eased a majority of the tension from Dean and the man sighed.
“Crowley...went out like he lived, flipping off the world.”
“What happened?” Bobby asked again, not sure why Sam looked a touch guilty at the question.
“Certain magic requires sacrifice.” Sam squeezed his glass and Eileen nodded, silently agreeing with her husband. “The magic it took to close the rift...was intense. At the time, we didn’t know enough about it to find a different solution.”
“Crowley faced off with Lucifer after Sam helped him finish setting up the spell,” Eileen picked up. Sam shut his eyes and knocked back the drink. The woman was running soothing circles over his hand and met Bobby’s questioning gaze. “He killed himself after telling Lucifer off, sealing the rift as the boys left.”
Bobby stared mutely at shot-glass. So the bastard had died, a good guy ? He was almost offended. Almost, but at the same time…
“I miss everyone who can’t be here,” Sam admitted. “Garth, Crowley, Rowena…”
“Only you could miss the literal Queen of Hell,” Dean chuckled as the tension bled away from the room. A melancholy look passed Dean’s face and he sighed.
“Benny.” He softly added. Sam hummed and once more raised his glass. Castiel looked thoughtful at Dean’s admission but Bobby didn’t dwell on that. He stood up and patted both boys on the shoulders.
“I’mma head home and do some reading. See you both later.”
“Of course,” Sam said with a nod. Dean waved and Ellen shot him a look that clearly said; don’t do anything stupid .
No faith, he chuckled silently as he started the walk back to his house. He just needed time to think. That’s all.
He should have known anything involving Crowley wouldn’t be that easy.
Line Break
The only downside to this new Heaven was that with open borders came an open spectrum of emotions. He’d been shocked when he’d still wanted to shoot John upon seeing the man again. The feeling, if anything, had increased since he’d been alive. He’d asked Castiel about that and the angel had shrugged in a noncommittal way that reminded him of Dean.
“This isn’t Michael’s Heaven. I was willing to be it’s protector if humans were allowed to remain just that, human. Complex emotions and all.”
Complex was a good way to explain how he currently felt. He wanted to see Crowley. To thank the demon for saving his boys, even if Crowley had simply done it as a final ‘fuck you’ to Lucifer.
On the other hand, he wanted to deck the demon for giving up everything he’d fought for in a fit of pettiness.
“Damnit,” he huffed. “Even dead I can’t get the bastard out of my life.”
Crowley had always been an enigma. For all his viciousness, he could be borderline kind at times. The situation with his legs came to mind. The demon didn’t have to do that, had nothing to gain for it, but did it in the name of giving Bobby a fair deal. He also wasn’t a fool. Crowley could have cooked him during that stunt with his bones. It was a 50/50 shot on whether Crowley could have gotten to the boys quick enough to stop them from burning his bones. Given how he died though, Bobby knew in his heart that had Crowley felt it worthwhile he’d have been a pile of ash.
Yet Crowley hadn’t. He’d admitted defeat and Bobby had been painfully aware of the appreciative glance the demon had shot him before calling off his hellhound.
“Well played, luv.” The demon had gently purred. “But know that our little game has just begun.”
He’d left after that subtle threat and had made good on it when Bobby had died. Well, somewhat. Bobby had ended up in Hell but no one except Crowley was allowed anywhere near him. Crowley came by on a regular basis, mostly to bitch and moan about how things were in Hell.
It was...pleasant. Bobby could almost ignore where he was.
That was until a demon moved behind Crowley’s back and tortured him. The King of Hell had hit the proverbial roof. Bodies everywhere, demons scared shitless, and Bobby’s mind more than a little frayed. When Sam had shown up, he was a mess. He went because, in his mind, he couldn’t be sure Crowley hadn’t set it up.
When he got to Heaven and his mind healed, he realized the demon had no reason to lie if he had ordered it. Instead, he was radiating fury, and Bobby had been gifted his first sight of a powerful demon in their true form.
It was impressive and terrifying at the same time.
A tiny whoosh made Bobby sigh.
“I’m not really in the mood, Castiel.”
“Do I look like that giraffe to you, luv?”
Bobby froze and then shut his eyes. “Stupid Heaven,” he muttered. He turned around and looked at the vision of Crowley. He was as impeccably dressed as always. A black wool coat over his standard attire. For some reason, the vision had a beard. Heaven had certainly shown weirder things, but a beard? He’d only ever seen the King of Hell with a clean face. The addition seemed to age the demon slightly.
“You look like an angelic hallucination,” Bobby bluntly responded. “Guess I shouldn’t have been thinking about ya so hard.”
The demon raised an eyebrow and looked around the room curiously. “A hallucination?”
Bobby snorted and watched as the vision of Crowley began moving around the room. It ran a hand over the well-worn books and paused at a tiny one tucked between two larger tomes.
“You said this was an angelic hallucination,” the vision softly said. “So this is Heaven?”
Bobby frowned. What was with this? Last time Heaven had provided something it hadn’t seemed this...unaware? There was even a gentle waft, barely-there because Crowley didn’t care for the smell, of sulfur.
“It is.”
“How am I here?” The blunt question had dark eyes turning questioningly toward him. Suddenly a sinking feeling filled Bobby’s gut but it was mixed with barely controlled excitement at the possibility.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
The demon scoffed. “Telling Lucifer to shove it up his ass and-” Crowley’s voice died and Bobby stared in shock. “Bollocks,” the demon quietly hissed.
“And sacrificing yourself for the Winchesters? I should thank you for that.”
Crowley was on him in a moment and Bobby grunted as his back connected with his desk. The demon was staring down at him, staring through him it felt. Crowley placed a hand on his chest, his face pinched in thought and eyes flashing demonic red.
Bobby stayed still, allowing the freaked out demon to do what he needed to calm down. If he panicked, an angel would likely show up and he didn’t want Castiel having to clean up whatever mess the spooked demon caused. It was not like being pinned to the desk hurt.
“You have no heartbeat,” the demon muttered.
“I’m dead, ya idjit. Did you expect one?”
Crowley frowned and his eyes went back to their normal dark color. Slowly, almost hesitantly, the demon let him up.
“How am I here? One moment I was…” Crowley’s face pinched. “Sleeping? It was dark and deathly silent. Next, this voice was telling me my presence was requested.”
“Heaven is different than when you were alive. That kid, Jack, knocked Chuck out of the running for the title of God. He ended up restructuring Heaven so everything is...open. Basically, Heaven is one large neighborhood.”
“How quaint.” Crowley’s sarcasm was heavy, and Bobby chuckled. “How long have I been dead?”
Bobby frowned and tried to do some math. “It’s hard to tell. You died in 2017, right?”
“Yes.”
“It’s,” Bobby paused and looked over at the newspaper on his desk. One upside to an open Heaven was he could ask for up-to-date news if he wanted it. “2063 on Earth currently.”
Crowley stared, his mouth hanging open slightly. “I’ve been dead for 46 bloody years?”
“It would seem so.”
“Hell must be a mess,” the demon snorted. He sat down in the desk chair and Bobby didn’t bother to move from where he was still leaning against his desk.
“Apparently your...mother…” Crowley shot him a dirty look at the amusement in his voice. “Runs a rather tight shift.”
“So mother died, and instead of just going off into the void she decided to take my place?” Crowley snorted. “Fucking typical.”
There was a tinge of appreciation to the sarcasm and a comfortable silence lapsed over them. Bobby wondered if he had the ability to keep the demon here purely because he wanted Crowley’s company. It was one hell of a loophole and he’d have to let Dean know. He already knew exactly who the man would be asking for.
“Well, do you want to stay?”
Crowley’s brows knitted together as he leaned back into the chair to look up at him. “Are you asking me to move into your Heaven, luv?”
“What can I say? I’m bored and you always were good for a distraction.”
The demon chuckled and stood up leaning in once more. This time he didn’t attempt to pin him to the desk, but Bobby could see the predatory look in the demon’s eyes.
“Get yer head out of the gutter,” Bobby reprimanded halfheartedly. Crowley scoffed and placed his hands on the desk, trapping Bobby between his arms.
“We have very different definitions of Heaven then.”
The demon was inching closer, like a prowling cat. Bobby knew he should probably pull away, put distance between the two of them, but couldn’t find it in himself to bother.
“Should I get my head out of the gutter?” The demon breathed the question against his neck. “Seems that would be rather boring .”
Bobby hummed in the back of his throat and reached out pulling the demon closer by a belt loop. It was Heaven. He was dead. No more silently telling himself he was a hunter and any spark of attraction between himself and the demon was wrong.
“Think you can keep me occupied?” Bobby challengingly asked. The demon chuckled at the verbal turn around and leaned up so their lips were a breath away.
“I’ll have you singing the praise of the old gods,” Crowley gloated.
“Oh? Considering I’ve met God, those are big words.”
“We’ll see, luv, we’ll see.”
They moved at the same time and the kiss sent fire running through his soul. Suddenly Heaven didn’t seem so boring.