15. Chapter 15

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.

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 15

"Cas, is everything alright?" Sam asked the angel as he and his brother walked up to him.

Still staring at the spot where Gabriel had been standing, Cas shook his head, no. "Ga… Loki and Raphael use to be close. He is very angry at the moment." He looked up at them. "I think it would be best if the two of you and Bobby weren't here when he comes back. This is something we need to deal with ourselves."

He noticed that Dean didn't look too comfortable with the suggestion. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine."

"Cas." The tone of Dean's voice told him that he didn't really believe him.

"Honestly."

Dean gave him another look, and then sighed. "Alright. Sam and I'll use the time to go and see Adam."

Cas nodded. "I hope the three of you will get along. Give him and his mother each one of these." He passed him two small bags that were identical to the ones he had given them after the demon siege. "It should hide them from both angels and demons."

"Thanks." Dean said as he took them. "So, you're just going to wait around here for Loki to come back?"

"Yes." Cas shrugged. "If I have the time I'll make some repairs to my personal wards. They were damaged in the fight with Raphael." He started walking towards the cabin and Sam and Dean fell in beside him. "I'll give you my cell phone number, so you can get hold of me if there are any problems."

Dean had to smile at that. "An Angel of the Lord, with a phone?"

"You could always just pray to me, I will hear you. However, you were never very good at it."

Sam gave a snort of laughter and easily dodged his brother's attempt to punch him in the shoulder.

"I'm sure it's just something I needed to practice."

Cas nodded. "Yes."

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Chuck and Sera stared in open mouth fascination at the smoking hole that used to be a house. Chuck's house. The homes on either side of Chuck's place were still standing, amazingly enough, but they had taken smoke and structural damage and were currently unliveable. The rest of the neighbourhood wasn't much better. Due to the force of the explosion, broken windows had become an area wide problem, and a good half of the houses on the street were covered in soot and ash.

Fire trucks were still stationed in front of Chuck's place and when they'd learned who he was, both the fire marshal and the police started questioning him. Sera held onto his hand the entire time, offering him her silent support. Once the first bout of official rigmarole was over, Sera took Chuck home with her. When they got there, she turned to him and hugged him.

"Sera?"

She pulled back. "I'm sorry. I just keep thinking about what would have happened to you today if I hadn't dragged you off to the convention."

Chuck swallowed and gave one of her shoulders a squeeze. "Yeah. Been trying not to think about it my self."

Really, really trying not to.

Sera turned away and for one brief moment, Chuck's expression became the perfect illustration of sadness. If Sera or anyone else had looked at him in that instant, they would have known such profound grief as never to be happy again.

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Gabriel plugged himself into Angel Radio. The last time he had checked in, the talk had all been about how oddly the siege of Hell was going. Apparently, instead of fighting, the majority of the demons in Hell were running away from the conflict. This lead the Host to believe that they would easily find the righteous man, but every time they neared the Pit, reality would shift and the army would find itself on the other side of Hell. Gabe didn't know who was pulling that off, but he admired their work.

Now, of course, the talk was all about Raphael's death and the attempt against the prophet. Gabriel had to admit, if Cas and the Winchesters had managed the heist without killing Raphael, he would have applauded the joke. Now though…

He hadn't been in contact with his brothers for a very long time. Over the years, the things that had come down through the grapevine about them had made him happier and happier that he had gotten out. However, that didn't mean he wanted to see them hurt. No matter how much he might want all of everything to be over, he still never really wanted it to come to the point where any of his brothers would be forced to kill the other. Sadly, given Castiel's description of the future, a lot of that was what was going to be happening.

As he listened to the Host talk about Raphael, he realized that the words he would have once used to described the Healer, like caring and serene, were missing. Some of the words that used changed when he ran them through his personal bullshit meter. Sober became humourless, solid became stiff and unbending. Raphael had always been a little single-minded, but apparently the years had twisted that until he was unyielding even when proven wrong about something.

Raphael had apparently become a dick. Despite that, Gabriel still loved him, but… He realized that he didn't want to hate Castiel for what he'd had to do. In a similar situation, Gabriel might have been forced to do the same.

After all, he doubted he was entirely innocent in whatever situation led him to his death at Lucifer's hand in the original timeline. All he would have had to do was stay out of his brother's way, but obviously, the exact opposite was what had happened.

This, this is why he'd gotten away from the rest of the family. If he had any sense, he'd just stay away from all of it this time, including Cas and the Winchesters.

Hell, especially Castiel and the Winchesters.

Apparently though, this was his millennium for doing stupid things, because honestly, the things he'd done in the pervious thousand years, didn't even come close.

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After they'd packed up and cleared out of the cabin, Bobby headed through Kansas and into Missouri. He'd come across a hunt while he'd been poking around on Sam's laptop, waiting for the boys to do the job in Ohio. He was pretty sure it was a ghost, but like all hunts, it was never one hundred percent until you were there to see it for yourself.

As an added bonus, Henricksen had called to ask him about something and it turned out he would be in the area. Apparently, there was some new information on a counterfeiting case the agent had worked a few years ago and he would be in Kansas City, Missouri to follow up on it.

Bobby set up a meet. He would be glad to get a better sense of the man, especially as he suspected that the agent would start doing a little hunting on the side. From what Sam and Dean said about the man, talking him out of it wouldn't work. Dean also said he thought the guy would be good at it. Either way, Bobby figured he'd assess him for himself, and if the boys were right, then he'd pass on some of the basic information a starting hunter would need.

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Dean and Sam drove as far as they could get before the events of the day caught up with them and they took a motel room so they could get a little sleep. Dean also used the stop to call Cas, who reported that Loki hadn't been back yet. The next day saw them make it into Adam's hometown, Windom, Minnesota.

Once they got a motel room, Sam started researching the Milligans while Dean went and physically checked on them. Dean found their house easily enough, although no one was home. The opportunity being too good to pass up, Dean let himself into the house.

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Sam looked up from his computer and frowned as Dean quietly came into the motel room and sat down on one of the beds. His brother had the look of a man who'd taken a two by four to the head and was still too dazed to realize that it hurt.

"Dean?"

His brother started slightly and looked up at him. "Hey."

Sam leaned back in his chair and looked his brother over, double-checking that he hadn't taken any physical damage. That done, he knew that what ever was going on had to be something else.

"Okay, what's up?"

His brother shook his head.

"Dean."

The older Winchester went from sitting and quiet to standing and explosive in one move. "You want to know what's up? I went and checked their house out, even went in since they weren't home. Do you know what I saw there?"

Sam shook his head.

"Pictures Sammy. Pictures of him and Adam, of him and…what's her name? Kate?" He continued at his brother's nod. "Pictures of them at a ball game, of them on a hike… Pictures of him doing things with them that he never, ever would have done with us."

"Huh."

"Huh? All you've got to say is 'Huh'?"

Sam shrugged. "What do you want me to say? Obviously even Dad wanted a little normal in his life. I wish he could have wanted it with us, but that's not what happened." He turned back his computer.

Looking disgusted with the whole thing, Dean let his body drop back down onto the bed. Idly he traced the abstract pattern on the bedspread with one finger. He sighed and gave his face a rub.

"Dad went a little too normal."

Sam looked up, his glance questioning.

"The locks and the windows are decent enough. The only reason I got in, was because the kitchen window hadn't been closed properly. The house also has an alarm system, but because the window wasn't shut, they probably couldn't set the alarm and I'm guessing they didn't have time this morning to track down the problem. That sloppiness aside, the house doesn't have any other protections."

"What?"

Dean nodded. "There's no salt, no Holy water, no devil's traps. Hell, there isn't even a horseshoe over the door. Also, there are no weapons. I mean, one rock salt loaded shotgun wouldn't be all that odd for a woman with a child living alone together to have, but there's nothing. It's no wonder something managed to kill and eat them the first time around. So what if Dad wanted normal, he still could have worked in some basic self-defence. I mean, even before he started hunting, Dad wouldn't have been this lax."

"True, but I think he really wasn't here all that often. In fact, from going through Dad's journal, it looks like he made it here for Adam's birthday most years, but that was about it."

Dean shook his head at the contradiction. Showing up for a birthday was more than they could have counted on from their father, but killing and gutting anything that threatened them would have been guaranteed. The stupid thing was, it still felt like they'd gotten the worse end of the deal.

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"So, five years ago, you and your partner at the time…"

"Agent Groves."

"Right, SA Groves… You go through a lot of partners, don't you?" Dawson asked.

Victor Henricksen rolled his eyes upward and beseeched the Heavens to add his current partner to the list of former partners. He didn't bother to answer Dawson, and as usual, the man didn't seem to notice.

"Anyway," he said. "You guys take out one counterfeiter and arrest his partner, all on the information from one of their distributors. You found all of the equipment and a good chunk of funny money, but the guy you capped manages to tell you that there's more, before he dies. You never find it and decide the confession was probably bogus. Only now, that money is showing up."

Victor nodded. "Yep. He must have parked the stuff with someone and either they didn't know what they had, or they finally had enough of sitting on it."

"Or the guy asked them to hold onto it for five years. Or whoever had it died and some relative found it and figured they were rich, or they buried it and someone just found it, same scenario, or…"

"Okay." Victor cut Dawson off, feeling a headache starting to threaten. "Either way, we're going to have to interview everyone they knew or did business with back in the day."

Dawson nodded. "You mean re-interview. Would have been nice if you'd done it right the first time."

And there was the headache. Victor was beginning to think Dawson was karma, biting him in the ass. Repayment, not so much for the long list of partners he'd gone through, because to be honest, he'd actually gotten along with most of them, but more so for everyone else.

Or maybe, just his ex wives.

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Cas had managed to patch the cracks in the third and fourth layers of his personal wards. The first two would have to wait. They had been completely destroyed and just the set up for the initial creation of them could take a couple of days or more to complete. He'd have to postpone replacing them until he had more time.

"Hey bro."

That assumed his time wasn't up.

Cas turned to his brother and nodded. "Gabriel."

"I'm still pissed." Gabriel glared him. "So I'm going to lay down a rule."

Castiel blinked. This was not what he was expecting to hear. "A rule?"

Gabe nodded. "Yep. Next time you go and try to pull off a stunt that big, I want in. We could have avoided a lot of mess if I'd been there to pull you out before it became… what it became."

"So…you want to help…us?"

"Yeah, colour me crazy, but what the hell. You are pulling off one of the biggest jokes in the history of existence. I'd kick myself forever if I wasn't a part of it."

"I… We, would very much like your help."

"Okay then. Let's see about fixing your wards. I'm sure two of us together can do it faster."

Cas was the one who was near speechless this time. "Thank you." He looked at his brother. "Gabriel."

"Yeah?"

"I have to warn you, I will do everything I have to, to protect the Winchesters. That said, please do not die this time."

The archangel smiled. "That's the plan bro. That's the plan."

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Independence, MO was a city of a little over a hundred thousand people and as part of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, was both close enough for Victor to meet with Bobby and hopefully far enough away that Dawson wouldn't stumble over them. Bobby named the meeting place. The fact that he picked somewhere public wasn't a surprise. The fact that it turned out to be an old-fashioned soda fountain was.

Victor spotted the hunter easily enough. He had checked up on the man and had seen a picture of him. Unlike the Winchesters, he didn't have much on his record. At most, there were some arrests for mail fraud and the occasional drunk and disorderly.

The hunter nodded at him as Victor came in and tilted his head towards the counter. Catching the clue Henricksen went over and bought a pastry and a coffee. Once he'd collected them, he sat down at the table with Bobby, who had ordered something similar.

Victor held out a hand. "Victor Henricksen. Bobby looked at it for a moment, and then shook it.

"Bobby Singer."

"Thanks for meeting with me."

"No problem. Actually glad to put a face to the voice." He watched the agent pick up his coffee and take a sip, relaxing once he had. He'd managed to get a dose of Holy water into the coffee pot before Henricksen arrived. "So, you wanted to ask me about something?"

"Yeah." Henricksen pulled a sheet of paper out of a pocket and passed it over to the hunter. "This is the summoning ritual that I told you about. The one that pulled in.. um, the guy in the trench coat."

"Kaseva."

Victor winced. There was a part of him that still kept trying to tell him that he was crazy for believing any of this stuff. However, since he knew that part was just being a whiny bitch, so he ignored it.

"Yeah. Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me summon him."

Bobby looked at him in surprise, and then looked at the ritual, reading it over. "Yeah, I guess. It's a fairly straight forward ritual." He looked back up at the agent. "Can I ask why?"

"The person he was being summoned to help, she had a stalker problem."

"Had?"

Victor nodded. "Yeah, seems he had a little freak accident just before my partner and I headed here. I'd like to know if Kaseva had anything to do with it. I realize I probably can't do anything about it, but I'd still need to know."

Bobby looked at the ritual again. "Now is probably not a good time to go yanking this guy around. So if it's alright with you, I'll use another method to get hold of him."

"You're the hunter. I'm more than happy to follow your lead on this."

"Good." Bobby pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through the numbers. He pressed the one he wanted and brought the phone to his ear, smiling slightly at the confused look on Henricksen's face.

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Cas was looking over the items they'd collected so far that would be used to reset his wards when his phone rang. He checked the caller id, answering it when he saw that it was Bobby.

"Hello?" From the corner of his eye, he noticed as Gabriel looked up from what he was working on and tilted his head in such a way as to let the other angel know that he was listening in on both sides of Cas' phone conversation.

"Hey, Cas. It's Bobby Singer. Um, I know you're waiting for your brother to come back, but I was wondering if you had a moment to meet up with me. I'm in Independence, Missouri on Maple, in a place called Clinton's."

Castiel felt Gabriel pull the phone out of his hand. "Did you say Clinton's?" The archangel asked.

"Uh, yeah… Loki?"

'We'll be right there."

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Bobby ended the call, looking somewhat confused. Henricksen looked at him, his expression similar to the older mans.

"Are you telling me that a pagan god…has a cell phone? And you actually have his number?"

Bobby shrugged and put his phone away. "Welcome to our world. It's just going to get weirder from here on out."

Author's note: I will be away for an undecided number of days and without computer access, so the next chapter will probably take a while longer to get out.