Chapter 12

Dean pushes through everyone to get to Jo's side. She's still crying out in pain, but no one can tell why because her bones shattered from the inside, leaving no outside traces. Castiel kneels beside Dean and places a hand on her forehead, healing her swiftly. He gets up to make way for Ellen, who takes his place.

"Hey, Jo, are you okay?" Ellen asks frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Jo replies sitting up with her back against the wall.

"What happened?" Dean asks.

"Well, I guess I can cross 'pissing off the devil' off my bucket list," Jo says jokingly.

"Joanna Beth, you should know not to piss off monsters!" Ellen scolds her.

"Yeah, noted," Jo says with a weak laugh.

"Why'd you do it?" Dean asks.

"I got mad at how he was talking to Adam," Jo tells him. "I said one wrong thing, and he exploded. And then I said a few more wrong things and... Well, I guess I should have realized way earlier not to antagonize the devil."

"Don't pin this on yourself," Dean says. "This was his fault, not yours."

"I'm not saying I forgive the guy," Jo says. "I mean, I'm as mad about it as you. But it wasn't all him."

"And that is what you have to watch out for," Gabriel says. "He will make you think it's your own fault, even when the blame is entirely on him."

Jo looks up at him, hearing his broken tone. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Tri-"

"Gabriel the archangel," Sam interrupts, standing next to him.

"Dammit, Sam! Every time!"

"You're an archangel?" Jo repeats.

"You don't look like much," Ellen adds.

"Hey!" Gabriel whines. "I happen to be the most powerful thing in the room!"

"Yeah, 'til Michael comes back," Sam adds with a laugh.

"Yeah, well, I'm still more powerful than you!" Gabriel retorts.

"Yeah, cuz I'm human. Doesn't take much to be more powerful than me."

"And Bobby said Michael and Lucifer bicker like an old married couple," Ellen laughs. "So you boys are friends with angels now? I mean, besides Cas?"

"I'm not, but Sam and Gabriel are close enough for the both of us," Dean replies, clearly a dig at their relationship.

"I don't get it," Jo says.

Sam sighs, sending Dean a glare before saying, "This is my boyfriend."

"You're dating an angel?" Ellen repeats in disbelief.

Sam nods. "Yeah."

"But I'm far from an angel in —"

"Alright, enough from the archangels," Sam says loudly, cutting Gabriel off before he can finish his remark.

"And what do you mean, you don't like angels?" Balthazar asks. "I lost my life for you guys!"

"Still don't mean I like you," Dean replies.

"Who are you?" Gabriel asks.

"Balthazar," he replies.

"Balthazar..." Gabriel repeats, trying to think of where he might have heard the name. "I'm assuming you rebelled. When?"

"Between the lack of apocalypse and the opening of Purgatory," Balthazar replies. "Took Heaven's weapons, faked my own death, and bought a few souls," he adds proudly.

Gabriel nods in approval. "Nice. What ones did you take?"

Balthazar shrugs. "Oh, I don't know. I took of them. Staff of Moses, for one. Lott's salt. Horn of Gabriel —"

"You took my horn!" Gabriel whines. "Not that I ever really got to use it. It's one of the few I never got around to messing with. But I like your style."

Balthazar grins. "Yes, I like my style, too."

"A bit modest for my taste, though," Gabriel says sarcastically.

"Modesty is for boring people with boring lives who have nothing to brag about anyway," Balthazar replies.

"I'm liking you more and more," Gabriel adds with a laugh.

"Gabriel?" A voice calls from the doorway. Gabriel looks up to see Michael looking at him.

"Sup?" Gabriel replies.

"You're needed," he replies simply.

"Um... Okay," Gabriel says, confused. He glances at everyone else as he says, "I'll be right back. Hopefully."

Michael wasn't going to follow his brother. It seemed clear the angel needed his space. When he heard his former vessel stop screaming and begging coughing, Michael realized he wasn't completely useless at the moment.

Michael walks through the halls until he reaches his former vessel and the angel whose name is apparently Alfie. Alfie is very visibly panicking as the vessel is spitting up blood. Alfie looks up at Michael, glad the angel came.

"I don't know what Lucifer did to him, but I can't undo it," Alfie says.

"But I can," Michael replies. "Only an archangel can fix it."

Michael crouches down next to Adam, who is still coughing up a lung-possibly literally. Adam looks up to see Michael and begins flailing, trying to get the archangel away.

"Relax," Michael instructs him. "I'm here to heal you."

Adam shakes his head slightly before spitting up blood again. He tries and fails to move farther away from the archangel.

"What is his problem?" Michael asks.

"You are," Alfie replies. "He wasn't healed like you were when Dad took him out of the cage. He's still scared of just about everything, especially you and Lucifer."

"He's not afraid of you," Michael observes.

"No, but he was," Alfie replies. "Look, we can talk later, but right now, Adam needs help. Is there any other archangel here? I didn't really look around. Is Raphael here?"

"No, but Gabriel is."

"Gabriel?" Alfie repeats in surprise. "But he — never mind. Go get Gabriel. Please."

Michael nods and walks away, leaving Alfie to attempt to comfort Adam.

~~

"Where's Raphael in all this?" Balthazar asks Sam, Dean, and Castiel, mostly ignoring Jo and Ellen. "He's not here yet?"

"Not yet," Sam replies. "But if Chuck is still bringing in more people, he may be next."

"Chuck?" Balthazar repeats. "Who's Chuck?"

"God," Dean clarifies. "Also known as the prophet who wrote the books."

"There are books on your lives?" Balthazar repeats with a laugh. "Oh, that's priceless."

"Do I even want to know what you're talking about?" Ellen asks.

Sam shakes his head. "Not worth it."

"Definitely not," Dean agrees.