22. Chapter 22

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 22

He'd been helping Sam do a lot of demon hunts. And yes, he knew it wasn't the brightest thing he'd ever done. All it would take was one demon seeing him with Sam, and Hell would know that Dean had booked his summer vacation elsewhere.

As such, it had to happen sometime. Dean would have been happy with later, but this one was a special case. This demon and a couple of its friends had spent the last few weeks shadowing Bobby. The friends had ended up on the wrong end of Ruby's knife and except for disposing of the bodies were no longer a problem. True, it would be better for Dean if the third demon had gone the same way. However, the other deaths had been unavoidable, this guy they might still be able to save.

Provided they didn't kill the thing possessing him for the crime of being highly annoying first.

"Oh, Dean, Dean, Dean. You can not imagine how many of us are looking for you."

The elder Winchester snorted. "Yeah, but are any of you looking in the right place?"

The demon growled and started to fight against his bonds. The chair he was tied to creaked ominously, but held together. The body he'd possessed had a fair bit of muscle, but it was hard earned, as if he worked a physical job and for the most part, liked it. Lack of a beer gut showed that if he did kick back with a six-pack after work it was only occasionally. He was probably a basic, steady guy with a wife and kids that were worried about him, assuming the thing in him hadn't killed them when it first took control.

Dean grimaced at the thought, and then looked over to his brother and Bobby. "You guys about ready?"

"Hold your water." Bobby replied as he flipped through the book he was consulting.

Sam had been experimenting with a few different exorcisms over the summer. Technically, some were more powerful than others, but a lot of the time, it seemed to be more about matching the right ritual to the right demon than about brute force. The one he and Bobby were currently going over was geared more to interrogation than eviction. They still didn't know why the crossroads demon the guy was working for was so hot to find Sam and they hoped to pick his brain about it before kicking him out. Besides, they needed to get something in exchange for giving up the information that Dean was alive and on Earth.

They had of course asked Cas about Crowley. He'd been very reluctant to talk about him. Eventually he'd told them that the demon had sided with them during the 'apocalypse that would hopefully never happen now. ' However, he had added that Crowley managed to use that to take over Hell after Lucifer was defeated, along with the fact that, by and large, the demon was a complete and utter bastard and had done his best to kill them when they'd gotten in his way.

Both brothers got the distinct impression that Cas knew a lot more about Crowley, but they were willing to believe that it fell under the 'more of the future than they really ought to know about' thing the angel had once talked about.

The demon in the chair tried to use his powers to break his bonds, but the devil's trap painted onto the floor of Bobby's living room sucked the energy away before it could even properly form. He eyed Bobby as the older man walked the edge of the circle, double-checking that it was intact before they began.

"You know Singer, you could have just about anything you'd ever wanted if you'd just asked. Money, power…the return of your loved ones. My boss would be so happy to see both of the Winchesters that it probably wouldn't even cost you your soul."

Bobby snorted. "That's your opinion and it's a poor one." He looked over at Sam. "Let's get this over with."

Sam brought the book to the edge of the trap. He skimmed over the passage he was planning to read one more time, and then open his mouth to start.

The sound of static filled the air.

Everyone froze and the three hunters and one demon looked at each other questioningly. Following the noise, Bobby walked into the kitchen and frowned at the crappy TV he kept in there, that for some reason had suddenly decided to come on. Reaching a hand out, he hit the off button, turning the set dark and silent. He looked back at the boys and shrugged.

He had moved two steps into the room with them, when it turned itself on again. All of them, demon included, started to wince as a high-pitched whine added itself to the static.

Then the noise turned itself up to eleven.

Driven to their knees with their hands over their ears, all three hunters dropped flat to the floor and scrunched their eyes closed, seconds before the windows over the couch shattered, tossing glass everywhere.

Dean looked up and then ducked once more as the TV in the kitchen blew up. They stayed down until the sound faded away.

Glass shifting as they moved, all three of them carefully stood up. Dean glanced over to the demon still tied to the chair and backed up a step.

"Holy…"

Sam and Bobby looked in the same direction, their reactions similar to Deans as they saw what had happened to the demon. Empty eye sockets stared out of a face covered in blood. From the blood running down the sides of his face, it was obvious that his eardrums had also been blown.

"Oh, man. No offence dude, but I really hope you're dead." Dean said as he took in the damage.

Demon killing knife in hand, Sam carefully stepped into the circle and reached out a hand, searching for a pulse. He relaxed and stepped back. "Yeah, he's dead."

Bobby looked around at his house. "What the hell was that?"

Both brothers shrugged. "No clue." Dean said. "Of course, I know someone who might."

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Cas checked over the dead body as Dean told him what had happened.

"So, you got any idea what this was? Demon, monster, little green men?"

Castiel shook his head. "Angel."

Dean's brain stopped so fast it almost left skid marks. "Come again."

"Angel. Aside from a few special individuals, our true forms and voices are too much for a person to take. The only time you were able to see me and do so without harm, was when the contract was coming due and you were piercing the veil."

"And if I hadn't been?"

"You would have ended up like…him." Cas nodded towards the eyeless body."

"Okay, so what's an angel doing paying us a visit?"

"I don't know. Assuming you still have those bags I gave you, they shouldn't be able to find you at…oh."

Dean's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"

"There is one angel that would be able to find you, despite the warding."

Dean frowned. "Who, Loki?"

Cas shook his head. "No, me."

Dean looked confused.

"The me from this time."

"Oh…" The eyebrows went up again. "Oh!"

"Yes."

Dean's expression was pained. "It's not going to go well, is it?"

"No. I never expected it would." He thought for a moment. "I should check on Jimmy."

"Your vessel?" Dean asked, taking a step back as he found himself talking to thin air. Shaking his head, he went to help Sam and Bobby deal with the bodies.

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Amelia knew something was going on. For weeks now, Jimmy had been jumping at shadows and starting at every little noise. It was so bad that their daughter, Claire had noticed it and had started acting in a similar manner. Every time she tried to bring the problem up with him, he evaded. It was getting to the point where she was going to insist that he saw a doctor. If not for himself, then at least for Claire's sake.

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Castiel appeared in the Novak's home, standing over the unconscious form of Jimmy Novak and said something in Enochian that would have caused half of the Host to pass out in horror. Even Gabriel would have been taken aback by it.

"Jimmy." He crouched down and gave the man a shake. While Novak was capable of seeing and hearing Castiel in his natural form, the angel had still needed to be careful with the volume of his voice when speaking with his vessel. Something he remembered he had not been the first time he'd come to him.

Novak jerked back into consciousness. "Ow." When he realized who was crouched over him, he scrambled away from him. "What? What happened?"

Castiel stood up and offered Jimmy his hand. "I believe that the me from now tried to speak with you."

Jimmy looked at the hand for a moment and then reached out and took it, allowing Castiel to pull him to his feet. "Yeah. I…I think I said no." He looked around. "He's not still here, is he?"

Cas glanced upward and frowned slightly. "No." If he had been, it would have saved him a lot of trouble. Now that he knew about Dean, the sooner he could speak with himself, the better.

"Jimmy, we…" Amelia charged into the room blindly, her mouth falling open as she took in the sight of two Jimmy Novaks. Cas could only blame his distraction for not noticing that the woman was approaching.

"Wha…" Eyes and mouth wide, she stared at them, her brain sputtering like a cold engine that didn't want to start.

Jimmy didn't look like he was doing any better as he looked from his wife to his doppelganger.

"Ah, Amelia…" Nope, he had no idea what to say.

Castiel gave him a look and then turned to Novak's wife. "It is nice to finally meet you. My name is Cas, I am…" He paused for a moment as he realized what he needed to do in this situation.

Lie.

"I am Jimmy's twin brother."

Okay, so it wasn't a very good lie.

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Inner vessel Jimmy winced at the lie and then went back to simply looking at his wife. He knew he shouldn't torture himself this way, but it was very likely that this would be the last time he'd ever see her again and this chance was more than he'd expected to get.

Current Jimmy also winced, he wasn't very comfortable with lying to Amelia, but he didn't see an alternative. "I uh…I only found out about him a few weeks ago."

He was surprised when Amelia seemed to slump, like some great weight had been lifted from her.

"He's why you've been so…"

Jimmy pulled in a breath of air through his teeth. "Yeah." He glanced at Castiel briefly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but… I've been trying to wrap my head around this since I found out."

"Okay, we'll have words about that later. Right now, I'm going to make some coffee. We'll sit down, talk, and you're going to tell me everything." She pointed at both of them as she said that.

Man and angel nodded.

"Good." She headed into the kitchen to start the coffee maker.

Jimmy turned to Cas. "Is there any way that you can forge official documents that will show we were somehow split up at birth?"

"Actually…yes." Between his ability to manifest items and the lessons Dean had felt compelled to pass on about how to forge ID, he was confident he could pull off something that would convince Amelia Novak that Jimmy had a long lost twin brother.

"In the next five minutes?" Jimmy asked.

Actually, it wouldn't even take him five seconds. However, he simply nodded yes to the question.

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Crowley tapped the edge of the blood-filled chalice and frowned. The team he had watching Bobby Singer should have checked in by now. While he'd believe that the hunter might be able to take one of them out, all three ought to be impossible.

Unless of course, he had help. Say, Sam Winchester's help.

"Bela." His 'assistant' poked her head into his office. "Get me a three man team and have them meet me at Singer Salvage."

She raised an eyebrow at the order, but didn't say anything. Crowley disappeared out of Hell, using his own personal exit. He reappeared in South Dakota, a discrete distance away from Bobby Singer's place of business.

The sound of a backhoe drifted to him in the quiet air. Apparently, Mr. Singer was digging something up.

Or burying it.

Briefly, he considered bringing in the authorities. Given the number of demons and monsters that the hunter had dealt with over the years, there were probably enough bodies buried in the salvage yard to make Robert Singer look like one of America's most notorious serial killers.

The idea had merit, but once it was set in motion it would probably make Winchester harder to find, and that made it counter productive.

The three man, or rathe demon, team arrived. Unlike the team he'd had stationed here, these guys were more brawn than brain, but they'd do.

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It happened so fast they barely had the chance to blink, much less retaliate.

One moment Sam and Dean were raking gravel over the last grave while Bobby made plans to move some of his stock around so that the spot would be under three crushed cars by morning, the next; they were discovering how effective demon fighting was with garden tools.

Not very, as it turned out.

Head locked, Bobby and Sam were manhandled into the middle of the yard. Dean had managed to slip the initial grapple and his demon was still trying to deal with him.

"Well now, looks like she was right, you did show up eventually."

Sam stopped struggling and looked at the 'man' in front of him. "You must be Crowley."

The demon smiled. "As advertised."

"What do you want?"

"Everything you know about your brother's deal and where you buried his body." Crowley gave his third minion an idle glance as he dragged the last hunter into the line up. He turned back to Sam to continue his questioning and froze. Pivoting, he moved back to face the third man. "Dean Winchester, fancy meeting you here."

Normally Dean would have had something nice and snarky to use as a rejoinder, but right now, he was fresh out.

Crowley moved in a little closer and Dean tried to lean away from him. "So, we've got angels and demons tearing up Hell looking for you, and you've been here the whole time."

"Well, not the whole time." Of course, by that, he meant he hadn't been at Bobby's place the whole time. However, Crowley took it another way.

The crossroads demon stepped back and looked Dean over. "How did you get out of Hell, then?"

What Dean would have said next would have been snarky and a half, but he didn't get the chance. All over the yard, anything metal that was not tied down started to vibrate. Crowley backed up another step, suspecting some kind of trap.

A high-pitched whine weaved its way into the noise.

"Oh crap." Dean winced, but given the hold he was in was unable to cover his ears.

Crowley's hands went up to his own ears. Shocked at the wetness he felt he pulled one of his hands away and looked at it, surprised to find it covered in blood. "What the Hell is that?"

Dean laughed and actually went for the straight answer. "An angel." He yelled over the noise.

"What?"

"Well, you did ask why I wasn't in Hell." Technically, it was true. An angel was why he wasn't in Hell. Heck, it was even the same angel, if a younger version of the one he knew.

The demon said something rude, but Dean couldn't tell what it was over the noise. With a gesture, Crowley dismissed his henchmen and then disappeared himself. The three hunters slapped their hands over their ears and fought to stay standing. They gave up and dropped to their knees as the headlights in the cars closest to them suddenly exploded.

And then, it just stopped.

Sore, their heads ringing from the sound, all three men collapsed flat on their backs and stared up at the sky. Groaning, Dean laid his arm over his eyes as the sight of endless blue was making him dizzy.

"At this point I don't know if I want to kiss newbie Cas or kick his ass."

Bobby and Sam both groaned in agreement. It would take them several long minutes before they would be able to stand and stagger back to the house.

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Cas escaped from the Novaks two hours and many explanations later. When he arrived back at Bobby's place, all three men threw him glares that could have frozen water.

"I take it I missed something while I was gone?"

This was when Castiel learned that one should be careful about asking leading questions.

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Claire Novak woke out of a light sleep to witness the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She knew without asking that this was the angel that her father had spoken to her about.

He'd asked her to say no to him. This surprised her, because if there was anyone she thought would expect her to do God's work, it was her dad. However, he explained to her how much her absence in their lives would hurt them. He also told her that an angel of the Lord had spoken with him, telling him that everything would be alright if they did say no.

Claire was a good girl, normally she did as her parents asked. But as soon as she saw him, she knew her answer would be yes.