27. Chapter 27

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: Sorry, not as much change as I suspect everyone was hoping for.

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 27

Deanna slammed on the brakes, throwing gravel from the tires as she stopped the car next to Deans. The young man gave her a lost look before turning back to watch John and Mary.

She examined the young couple herself. John appeared to be standing upright only because Mary was half propping him up. As for her daughter, she wouldn't meet the eyes of either of her parents and her expression was a mix of guilt and resolve.

Deanna had just gotten out of the car when she noticed another man, wearing a trench coat and standing slightly behind Dean. She jerked slightly, because she didn't think he'd been there a moment ago. As she watched, he put his hand on the hunter's shoulder and the young man twisted his head around to look at him, the lost expression still on his face.

Then they were gone.

"Damn it."

Deanna gave her husband a glance, both for the swearing and to make sure he wasn't going to end up flat on his face. He was standing on his own, but looked like he could use as much help as John was getting.

"Mary."

The girl swallowed. "John proposed to me tonight. I said yes."

Deanna had her hand on her husbands arm, stopping him before he said something he wouldn't be able to take back.

Besides, they had more to worry about than her daughter getting married and quitting hunting. By the young couples expressions it was obvious that John had no idea what was happening beyond a family spat.

And Mary still wouldn't look them in the eye.

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Sam nearly tripped over the threshold to their motel room as he came back in from searching the town for his brother. Dean was asleep on the bed with Cas sitting on the end of the mattress, watching him.

"Where the hell have you been?" He asked Cas, his voice a whispered hiss.

The angel gave him a look that Sam found unfathomable, although Dean would have been able to read the message it contained.

"Your question used the wrong adverb."

Sam didn't get to ask him what he meant by that, as Dean suddenly gasped and woke up. He sat up and looked at Cas.

"I couldn't stop it. She still made the deal. She still died in the nursery, didn't she?" Dean grimaced, as if he were in pain.

"Dean?" Sam asked worriedly, before Cas could answer his brother's question.

Dean dropped his head into his hands. "Crap, some of my memories have two sets."

Cas nodded. "I thought they might. You were unable to stop Azazel, but you did change things."

"Hey!"

Dean and Cas both looked at Sam.

"Explanation, now." Sam sat down on his bed and glared at the two of them.

Dean swung his legs to the edge of the bed and sat up. "Okay, but not until we're on the road. We need to go see Deanna."

Sam frowned. 'You want to go visit Grandma?"

Dean snorted and rubbed at his head. "Yeah, I want to go to Grandma's place. 'Cause we've got a lot to talk about."

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Two days later, Dean stared at his Grandmother as she stood on the porch of her home in Lawrence, Kansas.

Deanna Campbell was a formidable woman in her seventies, who, through exercise, good genes and the regular application of hair dye, could still pass for being in her late fifties to early sixties.

Dean's second set of memories informed him that when Dad had taken off with Sam and Dean, after Mary and Samuel's deaths in the nursery fire (another difference to wonder about), she had eventually tracked him down. It had taken close to a year, and she'd never explained how she'd found him, but she had.

Dean rubbed his forehead as the two sets of memories tried to fight it out. There wasn't a huge change in what he knew, but he suspected that there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that he'd never realized was there

"Sam, Dean." She nodded to each of them. "Been awhile. In fact, if it wasn't for Bobby I wouldn't know the two of you were even alive."

Dean winced at the slight edge of frost in her tone, because it was mostly for him. Every fight she and Dad had had about what he was doing to his sons had ended up alienating Dean from her, because he would always take his father's side. The thing was that Dean now knew what life had been like when there hadn't been a grandmother around.

Long stretches where Dad didn't show up for days past when he'd said he would return with food running out had still happened. However, they had happened far less with Deanna around. She'd even driven out to them a few times when one of them had gotten sick while Dad was away. Also, John was crap at celebrating birthdays, but she remembered them. While they were kids, she had never forgotten to call and wish them a Happy Birthday and had even sent them cards with money in them when they stayed in one place long enough for her to do so.

There had even been a few Christmases that were actually Christmas.

It still wasn't what one would call a great childhood, but having her around made it better than it had been.

Thankfully, her presence hadn't changed their relationship with Bobby. He didn't think he could take losing their connection to the grumpy old hunter even if it did gain them a little more family stability. That tie had been built and remained because there were times that Deanna and John were barely speaking to each other and the boys had instead been left with Bobby, Caleb and Pastor Jim.

Dean suspected that he would be sorting everything out in his head for some time to come, but what he really wanted an answer for right now was why Deanna had never admitted to being a hunter.

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Grandma Campbell handed each of her grandsons Holy water laced coffee and waited for them to take a sip before sitting down at the table with them. The eldest, Dean, set his cup down with a chuckle.

"What?" She asked as she took a sip of her own drink.

"I just realized that you and Bobby share a similar state of paranoia, only you've been pulling it off without being obvious." He studied her face for a moment. "Why didn't you ever tell us that you and grandpa and mom were hunters?"

Sam gave his brother a look, but didn't say anything. On the two-day drive over Dean had told him about his trip to the past and what had changed now because of it.

Deanna breathed out and stared into her cup. "So, it finally happened." She looked up at the boys. "You finally went back and tried to change things."

"Yeah, well…" Dean finished of his coffee in one gulp. "Wasn't exactly my idea."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "So, whose idea was it? The demon that possessed your grandfather, he apparently knew what it was."

Dean hesitated. His doubled memories told him that they had never told her about Sam dying, or Dean's deal to bring him back, or Cas and the mess they were now in and he'd have liked to have kept it that way. However, hunters not having the information they needed tended to create dead hunters. She at least needed to know the basics of what was going on.

"It was an angel."

Their grandmother snorted and turned to Sam, expecting to get the truth from him. Her expression faltered slightly as the look on his face told her that it was the truth. "Damn, so that's why Bobby was researching them a few months ago."

They looked at her, surprised.

"What? I have grandsons who are hunters and offered to help him with research now and then."

"So he doesn't know about you being a hunter?"

"No. So, angels."

"You're taking that revelation fairly well." Sam said, frowning.

She snorted again. "I'm too old and practical to be awed by the thought of a celestial being. Besides, fat lot of good they did. They sent you back and you still couldn't change anything."

The implication that he had been useless stung and Dean just barely managed to squash down on the need to lash back.

Sam didn't.

"You're here, aren't you?"

"What?" She looked from him to Dean, who was busy messing with the coffee pot and wouldn't look at her. "Dean, what did he mean by that?"

Her oldest grandson threw his brother an annoyed look, before answering her. "The first time around, you and grandpa…" He shook his head, unwilling to tell her that in one set of his memories, he'd never known her growing up.

Her gaze was fixed somewhere off in middle space. "We died."

Finally, he looked at her. "Yeah. He, the demon, he killed both of you and mom made the deal and she didn't know what for until the night she burned." He frowned in thought for a moment. "Did she this time?"

Deanna nodded as she poured herself another cup of coffee. "Even if your grandfather hadn't remembered that much from being possessed, I was there to hear what it said." She sighed. "Not that knowing made it possible to stop him."

Sam looked uncomfortable. "That's why grandpa was at the house that night, he was waiting for him."

Deanna nodded. "Yes." She took one look at his expression and gave him a swat. "It wasn't your fault, it was the demons. As for your grandfather, he was a hunter. Trying to stop it was his job."

Sam shook his head. "The family business."

She patted his hand. "Yeah."

Dean took a deep breath. "How come you never told us?"

She sighed. "Before the demon came, I always wanted to tell your father what was going on, but Mary and Samuel wouldn't hear of it." She laughed, although the sound had little of humour in it. "The man your father became, him Samuel would have told, but I couldn't. He loved your mom. I couldn't let him know how much she had been keeping from him. It was bad enough when he figured out about the deal. I was afraid that knowing Mary had been a hunter and had never told him would have destroyed him."

Both brothers had to concede, she was probably right.

"So, do I want to know how you got mixed up with angels?"

Sam and Dean attempted to smile at her question. What came out was more of a grimace.

"Ah, no?"

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Castiel stared straight ahead, as Zachariah paced back and forward in front of him. Two days Earth time had passed since the trip back in time and Cas had begun to think that his superior had somehow forgotten the incident. Now he realized that the other angel had been trying to undermine Castiel's confidence and make him fearful and defensive by having him wait this long to report.

He'd forgotten some of the petty little games the Cherubim used to play.

Zachariah stopped in front of Castiel, crowding his personal space. This was something Cas had never really noticed before, having little concept of it until after he'd met Dean.

"This is unacceptable Castiel. It's a complete mess. He was supposed to go back and learn a few simple truths, not change things."

"Technically, him being there changed things from the very beginning." Castiel replied blandly.

Zachariah frowned at him. "Those changes were small enough that time would eventually smooth them out."

Cas barely managed to keep his emotions suppressed. He harboured a great deal of doubt about what Dean may have changed by being there and his own part in it.

"The fact that the Winchester's grandparents survived the night and one of them is now still alive also seems to have changed little."

Zachariah's face twisted up in a frown and he started pacing again. He could hardly go explaining to Castiel that having another family connection in their lives had caused the Winchesters to be more emotionally balanced. While they were still completely devoted to each other, they lacked many of the psychological buttons that he'd intended to push. Manoeuvring them into their places and getting them to say yes would be more complicated now. Even getting Dean back into Hell to break the first seal was going to be a bitch and that additional problem was all because the angel in front of him had gone and screwed up a perfectly good plan.

Hmm, come to think of it, he'd also screwed up the visit to the past as well.

"I apologise for the errors, although I would like to remind you that I did argue against the time travel."

Zachariah's frown turned into a glare.

Unfazed, Castiel continued. "Given that Dean would acquire little in useful information from it; I felt that it was an unacceptable risk to undertake."

The older angel ground his teeth together, because Castiel was right, which made the situation more insufferable.

"Well, it's done, so there's little we can do about it." He gave the angel in front of him a considering look. "Perhaps you should take up your regular duties again."

Castiel blinked at the suggestion. He must have annoyed Zachariah more than he'd expected if he was already attempting to separate him from the Winchesters. Originally, it had been months before they had suspected him of having… sympathies. After that, they had kept a watch on him before eventually dragging him back to Heaven for re-education.

This time if they attempted that they would be in for a very large surprise. Not only was he far stronger than they believed him to be, but he already had spells set and hidden within him that would leave him the last man standing in any such attack.

"Castiel!"

He blinked again. "Sorry, I was just contemplating who would be best to replace me in my duties with the Winchesters."

It was Zachariah's turn to blink.

"If Uriel was not currently protecting the prophet, I would have suggested him."

Not!

"Dean has already met Rachel, and she is very capable."

And the brothers and she would be ready to kill each other in something less than an hour, if their meeting in the original time line was anything to go by.

"I believe that there are two or three younger members of the garrison that could do the job and should be allowed the experience of working on Earth."

And Dean would have them mentally twisted into pretzels in three days or less.

Cas frowned as he tried to think of who else he could suggest that would sound perfectly reasonable, and would turn out to be perfectly dreadful or unavailable to take over his duty. He stopped when Zachariah held up his hand.

"Perhaps I was being too hasty. For now, why don't you see if you can keep up with some of your usual duties while shadowing the brothers? If it becomes a problem, then we can see about getting you an assistant."

Castiel was certain that assistant really translated out to spy, but he didn't let that knowledge show. Instead, he bowed slightly. "Of course."

Zachariah turned to other work, signalling that their discussion was at an end.

With a thought, Cas took himself to where the Winchesters were, but held himself invisible. He was only intending to check that they were currently safe before going to deal with a few of those 'duties'.

When he arrived, they were cowering in front of an older, blonde woman. It took him a moment to realize that she must be their grandmother and another to wonder if the changes Dean had made had been to the good.

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Okay, so maybe finally telling grandma that one of her grandsons had died and the other had gone and sold his soul to bring him back and then had died himself but came back because of an angel (yes, in true Winchester fashion, they didn't tell her the whole truth) hadn't been the smartest thing they could have done.

"Stupid."

"Gran." Sam said, trying to derail her rant.

"Idiotic."

"Hey!" Dean made his own attempt to stop her.

"Self sacrificing."

Dean winced.

"Winchesters!"

"Should I be stopping her?"

All three of them started at the voice to the side of them and turned towards it. Sam and Dean were startled a second time as they noticed that Deanna appeared to have pulled a sawed off shotgun out of thin air and was now aiming it at the being in the trench coat

"Gran, don't!" Winchester stereo struck again.

"Who the hell are you?" She asked, ignoring her grandsons.

"I am Castiel."

She lowered the gun slightly. "You're an Angel of the Lord?" She asked, her voice disbelieving.

"Yes."

"Then wait your turn."

'My turn?"

"Yes, I'll yell at you about the time travel once I'm done with these two mindless idiots."

Perhaps he should have stayed invisible after all.

"Gran." Sam gave her his best puppy dog eyes and she snorted, fighting their power for a moment before slumping and giving in.

"I'm amazed that I made it to my seventies without the two of you giving me a heart attack."

They both shrugged.

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Castiel was thinking about discretely disappearing, when something pinged on what could probably best be described as his passive radar. He turned to Mrs. Campbell.

"How well protected is this home?"

She raised an eyebrow. "From?"

"Demons."

"Cas?" Dean made a question of his name and Castiel moved his attention to him.

"There are two demons outside." He tilted his head, appearing to look at something they couldn't see. "They are in a car across the street from the house."

Dean groaned. "Crap, they must have followed us." He gave Cas an annoyed look. "I thought those new hex bags you gave us were supposed to work as well as the old ones."

Cas nodded. "Yes. It is more likely that they found you by 'lucking out'."

Deanna shook her head. "Well, don't just stand there. You two are the active hunters, so go hunt them."

The brothers looked at each other. Sam looked a little worried. Dean smirked.

"Hey Cas?" Dean's smirk got wider.

"Yes?"

"Wanna help us with them?"

Technically, he would be expected to stay above the average hunts that the brothers would undertake. However…

Despite his outward appearance, the meeting with Zachariah still grated on his nerves. So, getting the chance to send a couple of demons screaming all the way back to Hell…

Cas' answer was a small smile that held within it an echo of Dean's smirk.