10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Beware. From here, there be subplots and possibly a lot of chapters where we don't get anywhere.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 10

Dean hadn't expected to see the stars again. Okay, to be perfectly honest, he hadn't expected to see anything again, unless you counted the inside of a demigod as a place.

"Hey." Sam said as he sat down beside him on the hood of the Impala. He passed Dean a beer and opened his own, taking a sip before looking up into the night sky. Dean twisted the cap off his and drank down a quarter of it before returning to his own stargazing.

It had been over a week since they'd ganked Lilith and Cas had returned Dean to life. All of the demons in the neighbourhood had apparently vacated the bodies they were possessing shortly after queen bitch went down. Sam, Dean and Bobby had slipped away easily after that. Cas had disappeared as soon as they were out and that seemed to be that.

Everything should be good. It was done, over. So why did Dean keep feeling like he was waiting for that other shoe to drop?

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Henricksen was going to kill his new partner. Lord knows that the agent knew himself to be a pain in the ass, but this guy… Well, okay. Maybe the fact that he knew more about what was going on out there in the world was the reason he was uncomfortable with the guy taunting their professed pagan witness.

"So tell me. Do you all do that dancing naked under a full moon thing? 'Cause you might almost be worth looking at."

No, he was going to kill him.

The woman looked at SA Dawson and flexed her fingers. Henricksen got the distinct impression that she was envisioning clawing her way into the man stomach to gut him.

"Agent Dawson. Why don't I take over for a bit and you get us some coffee." Victor congratulated himself, he'd managed to say that without gritting his teeth.

"Nah, I think we're both fine, ah…"

Henricksen not so discretely latched his hand onto his 'partners' right shoulder and moved him to the door. "And don't forget the cream and sugar." He said as he shoved the man out of the room and closed the door after him. Taking a deep breath, Victor went back to the table and sat down across from the witness. "Sorry 'bout that."

Delores Douglas, aka Ravenlight did not look impressed. "So, what are you, good cop?

Victor laughed. "Can't say I've ever been accused of that. Look, Ms. Douglas…" His voice petered out as he noticed her annoyed expression. "Or do you prefer Ravenlight?"

She sighed. "Ms. Douglas is fine."

"Thank you. So, you and your group were performing a ritual in the park?"

She nodded. "We were attempting a summoning ritual."

Henricksen fought not to wince at the idea. "Who or…what were you attempting to summon and… did it work?"

Now Henricksen did wince as he watched her flex her fingers again. "Does that question really have any bearing on what happened?"

He tilted his head slightly. "You tell me."

She snorted. "Fine. We were attempting to summon a trickster god. One who is known for intervening on the behalf of a petitioner against dark forces. A member of our group needed the help and she chose this deity. I actually hadn't heard of him before now."

"He got a name?"

"Kaseva."

Victor shook his head. "Can't say I've heard of him either. So, did he show?"

Delores narrowed her eyes at him. "What the hell, yes, yes he showed. How do you think three bank robbers with AK 47s, who were trying to escape through the park, ended up unarmed, naked except for matching sets of pasties made out of the money they'd stolen and tied to a tree?"

Ms. Douglas' voice had risen considerably towards the end of her speech and Victor raised a hand in an attempt to have her calm down.

"I understand. Could you describe the man who did all of that?"

She dropped her face into her hands. "What does it matter?"

"Humour me, please."

"Fine." She thought for a moment. "He was about 5'10'', maybe 5'11". Black hair, blue eyes." She laughed. "And he was wearing a trench coat."

Victor's body seized in place for a moment. It was with some effort that he continued his questioning. "Was there anything else you noticed about him?"

She shrugged. "When he appeared, I could have sworn I heard him mumble something about killing his brother for this."

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Gabriel smiled as he watched his annoyed little brother pace back and forward, speaking in a rant.

"Praying to me. I distinctly remember you said they might pray to me. I don't remember anything about them being able to summon me."

Gabe shrugged. "I didn't think I needed to. It's usually part of the package."

Cas scowled at him.

"Oh, come on bro. Turn that frowny face upside down."

Cas' shoulders twitched. "Do I even want to know what that means?"

Gabriel shook his head. "Look, was being summoned all that bad. I mean, did they have a good reason for it?"

Cas grimaced slightly. "I am not certain. There were these men, with guns, that appeared before they could say anything."

Gabe's mouth dropped open in amazement. "The twenty dollar rose shaped pasties, that was you?"

Castiel suddenly found that the wall next to him was painted an interesting shade of blue. "I had checked up on Dean through his dreams the night before. They were… educational."

Gabriel started to chuckle. "I'm sure they were." He paused. "Speaking of Dean. You wouldn't happen to be ready to tell me when you're from, would you?"

Cas sat down on the couch that suddenly appeared across from his brother. "I really don't know if I can trust you, Gabriel."

"I'm hurt."

"I'm sure." Cas sighed. "Four years."

"What?"

"The when I'm from, it's about four years from now."

"And the apocalypse? I mean your timeline's apocalypse. You seem to have stopped this one."

"We stopped that one as well. The problem was, we… I, managed to almost create a worse one."

"Hmm. So, where was I in all of that?" Gabriel rolled his eyes at his own question. "If I was smart, and I know I am, then I was nowhere near either of them." His smile drooped when he realized that his brother wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Cas?"

Cas looked away.

"Castiel?"

Now his brother was looking at him, his expression shocked.

"How long have you known my name?"

"Oh, since about… two seconds ago." He smirked at his brother's sudden shift to a glare. "It was a lucky guess." He sighed. "So, what happened to me?"

Cas closed his eyes for a moment. "Lucifer killed you." He opened them to see that Gabriel looked like someone had punched him in the stomach.

"Wow. Didn't think it would have come to that." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Even if they manage to transfer Lilith's seal to something else, and that's a big if, they don't have a righteous man in Hell to spill blood. And there's no way that even Dean would be stupid enough to make a second deal. So they're out of luck."

Cas nodded. "Yes, there isn't…" His voice faded away and when Gabriel looked at him, he realized his brother's expression was teetering on the edge of terrified.

"Adam." In a flurry of wings Castiel disappeared, leaving Gabriel to wonder what the hell was wrong now.

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Adam Milligan ought to have been having a good day. High School had wrapped, he was starting at the University of Wisconsin in the fall, his summer job didn't start for another week and he had a date. It should have all been good. However, something kept brushing up against the edge of his senses. He'd turned around abruptly three times already, expecting to find someone behind him.

The feeling came and went for a good portion of the day and finally faded out about the time he brought his date home. He was beginning to think that she might have a jealous ex or a big brother he didn't know about. Combined with the fact that he hadn't impressed her with his nervous habit of looking behind him, he suspected a second date wasn't in the cards.

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Cas used up a lot of air, sighing in relief, when he found Adam and Kate Milligan, apparently safe. As far as he could tell, nothing had approached either of them. At first, he was a little worried by Adam's nervousness, but over the course of the day, he came to realize that the boy was enough of a Winchester to feel when something was watching him.

As a precaution, Cas searched the area as well. The ghouls that had originally killed Adam and Kate were not yet in residence and the town held nothing more supernatural than a couple of low powered psychics who didn't even realize they had the ability.

It didn't appear that the boy was being targeted, but he couldn't be sure. Before he left, he attached a very discrete alarm spell to both Adam and his mother. If anything did happen, he'd know about it.

He next found himself at Bobby's place. He needed some advice about Adam, and Bobby was a good choice as he now had some idea of what had originally happened over the next year. However, almost as soon as he got there, he saw something that made him realize there was someone else he should consult. Even if that person probably wouldn't like what he was going to hear and no doubt preferred to never see Castiel again.

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Dean was sitting at a table, at a club, in a high backed u-shaped booth. A scantily clad woman sat on each side of him. His right arm was wrapped around one of them while he was nibbling his way across the shoulder of the one on his left.

He stopped suddenly and looked around before sighing.

"I'm sorry ladies, but it looks like I have some business to conduct." He managed to get them out of the booth and send them on their way. He leaned back into the padded leather and sighed again. "So, are you going to show yourself?"

Cas stood up from the next booth and stepped in front of Dean. The hunter offered him a seat with a wave of his hand and Cas slid into the booth on his left.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I've noticed lately that some of my really good dreams have been taking on an embarrassed tinge. Given you're the only person I know who goes dream walking, it seemed likely for you to be involved and you have to admit, this was a good dream 'til you showed up."

"Sorry."

Dean shook his head. "That part doesn't matter. What does, is why you keep checking on me." He took a deep breath. "I didn't expect to see you again." He paused. "Not if the contract really is over."

Cas could see the slight edge of fear in Dean that it wasn't done. "It is. I've actually come to discuss something else with you and I am also seeking advice, if you are willing to give it."

Dean shrugged. "Sure, what the hell. Although I'm not sure what good my advice will do an ang…Mfff." Dean's eyes went wide as he found Cas' hand over his mouth. Castiel's eyes were equally as wide.

"How?" The angel tilted his head. "Bobby?"

Dean blinked, surprised, but shook his head. "Mfff."

Cas carefully removed his hand from Dean's mouth. "We need to discuss…much. In fact, it is past time we did."

"Yah think?" Dean grit his teeth. He'd promised himself he wouldn't get all pissy if he ever got to confront Cas with what he'd seen and guessed the night he'd died. He intended to hold to that promise.

"We cannot do it here. Someone could hear."

Dean looked around. "We're inside my freakin' head."

"Exactly."

Dean was sure that he'd just been insulted, but he let it go.

"Where then?"

Cas tilted his head in thought. "How would you and Sam feel about a cabin holiday?"

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Sam tossed the last duffle bag at Dean and turned back to where Bobby was standing on the veranda. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us. Dean says the cabin he's borrowed is large enough for the three of us."

Bobby shook his head. "You boys could use a little time away from hunting and everything that reminds you of it."

Sam gave the older hunter a wry look. "And you could use a little time away from us, I suspect."

Bobby shrugged. "It wouldn't be remiss."

"Sam, you ready?" Dean asked from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yep." Sam gave the older man a handshake that turned into half a hug. He clattered down the stairs and past his brother.

"Hey Bobby." Dean called up to him. "If anything comes up, give us a call, okay?"

"Will do, oh and Dean?"

"Yeah?"

Bobby watched Sam get into the car before continuing. "Try and actually get some holiday in with whatever it is you're up to."

Dean's mouth fell open for a couple of seconds, before he snapped it shut. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Besides, Bobby was one to talk. From what Cas had said Bobby knew what was up with him and hadn't said anything. This was something Dean intended to get into with the older hunter when they got back. Right now though, he just didn't have the time.

"Uh huh." Bobby said, pulling the younger man out of his thoughts. "Just remember to duck when it hits the fan."

Dean couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, okay. We'll see you later man."

"Drive safe."

Dean slid into his seat and started the car.

Sam looked up from whatever it was that he was messing with on his phone. "So, where is this cabin, anyway? And if you say Vegas, I'm out of here."

Dean laughed. "Not unless they moved the show to Colorado."

Sam shook his head. "You actually chose nature over gambling, I'm impressed."

"Yeah, well…It's been a long time since I got to go fishing and enjoy the quiet."

"Oh joy, worms on hooks."

"Don't worry, I'm sure there will be geek things for you to do. Ow." Dean glared at his brother and gave the ear that Sam had just flicked a rub.

"If not I can always spend the time tormenting you." The younger Winchester said with a smile.

Dean had to grin back. It had been a long time since he'd seen Sam smile so easily. He just hoped that seeing who else would be at the cabin wouldn't steal it away once more. He really didn't want overstressed Sam back anytime soon.

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Victor pulled out the disposable cell phone he'd purchased a while ago and turned it over in his hands. Before the Winchesters had driven off into the sunset, or rather, sunrise, they had left him some contact information. Since it was too dangerous for an FBI agent to go contacting believed to be dead serial killers, a man named Bobby was to be their go between.

He wasn't sure that he needed to contact the boys about their 'friend'. I wasn't as if anyone was going to figure out what had really happened. Theories about the bank robber's fate were falling into two camps. One very small side said that one or more martial artists with mad origami skills and a pot of glue had taken out the bad guys and redressed them in money in less than five minutes. The other side held that the women holding the ritual, all of whom had some form of self-defence training, were the ones that had done the deed. The first idea was largely ridiculous and the second was no better.

Of course, what he suspected the truth was, was even more preposterous.

In any case, no one was able to prove anything and they were only sweating the details because the bad guys' lawyers might have a chance at using the incident to let them walk.

That wasn't why Victor called though. The truth was, he simply wanted to know.

"Singer Salvage."

"Hi, would that be Bobby Singer?"

"That's the name on the business."

"Ah, you don't know me, but..." Victor winced over his wussy approach. Ever since being possessed, he'd felt like he'd lost some of his edge. "Look, my name is Victor Henricksen. I believe we have a couple of acquaintances in common."

"You want to vague that up for me a little more?"

"We both know two young men who hunt. I'm, well I guess I'm trying to get hold of them.

"Uh, huh." He heard the man on the other end of the line blow out a breath. "Is it an emergency? 'Cause they're kinda unavailable at the moment."

"No, no. It's just that I wanted to ask them a question about… someone."

"Well, maybe I can help."

Victor's face scrunched up in uncertainty. "What the Hell. You wouldn't happen to know anything about someone called Kaseva, would you?

He heard the other man sigh. "What did he do?"

Half way through explaining the situation, Victor wondered if he should stop. If he didn't, he was worried that Singer would hurt himself laughing.

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About 150 miles out from Bobby's place, Sam asked his first question.

"So, how long are we going to stay?"

Dean shrugged. "Don't know, for as long as we can stand it, I guess."

Sam nodded.

Another hundred miles later, the scenery was boring him enough to ask another question.

"I'm surprised you were ready to go back to Colorado. After the demon siege, I'd have thought you'd avoid the state a little longer.

"Not like it's the state's fault.

They ate lunch and Sam drove for a while, the two of them switching back after they had supper.

"So, who did you borrow this place from?"

Dean shrugged. "Someone Bobby knows."

Sam waited. "What, don't you have any more information than that?

Dean shook his head. "No, not really."

"Oh." Sam mulled that over for all of ten seconds.

"So what's really going on Dean?"

His brother winced. "We're only 20 miles out, I'll tell you when we get there."

"Dean." Sam said, his teeth clenched.

His brother sighed. "Cas is going to meet us out there."

"What!"

Dean should have remembered Bobby's advice and ducked.