Chapter 24

Kevin and Charlie find themselves locked in an otherwise empty room together. Neither of them question it; they weren't raised in the supernatural lifestyle, so they don't know what's normal here and what isn't. They each lean against walls opposite of each other.

"Kevin, right?" Charlie asks.

Kevin nods. "Yeah. And you're Charlie?"

"Yep!"

Silence.

"When did you meet the Winchesters?" Charlie asks him.

"During the whole 'leviathan' thing," Kevin replies. "You?"

"Oh, me too," Charlie replies. "I helped Dick Roman hack into the Winchesters' friend's hard drive and then I broke into the building and stole something. How 'bout you?"

"I guess they broke something and I became a prophet," Kevin replies. "It's a much less entertaining story than yours was. I pretty much sat down and read Enochian."

"You can read Enochian?"

Kevin nods. "Yeah. It's a prophet thing."

"Cool. The only other languages I can read are computer ones."

"You're good with computers?"

"Yes I am, if I do say so myself. Are you?"

Kevin shakes his head. "No. I spent too much time preparing for the future I never got to learn computers like that."

"I can show you some stuff, if you want," Charlie offers. "I mean, we'd have to get a computer, but I'm sure that won't be too hard."

Kevin smiles at the proposal. "Sure. I'd like that."

~~

Castiel recognizes the person he's been put with immediately. It's Benny from Purgatory. Castiel hasn't seen him since the day he told Dean to leave him in that hell dimension. It baffles the angel that Chuck would put the two of them here together. They never quite formed that friendly bond that Dean shares with them both. Perhaps with their mediator here, this could work out, but without Dean, it doesn't hold much promise.

"Hey," Benny greets him after a moment of silence.

"Hello."

There's another pause before Benny asks, "Did you ever make it out of Purgatory? Or did God pull you out?"

"Perhaps both," Castiel answers. "I don't know how I got out."

"Ah," Benny replies, unsure how else to respond to that.

"And I'm assuming you returned to Purgatory?" Castiel asks.

Benny nods. "Yep. It was a hard fight alone. Would've liked to have you back, angel or not."

"And we could have used your help on earth, too," Castiel replies. And it's true; as much as the two disagreed while fighting their way through Purgatory, Benny was definitely helpful, and having him here on earth would have been a big help.

~~

John, Mary, Bobby, and Ellen all find themselves in a locked room together as well. Though they don't know it, this is one experiment that Chuck was both hesitant about and interested in pursuing. He knows the common denominator is John, but Bobby and Ellen are already close, as are the Winchesters. It's possible that they won't talk to each other as a group but rather a partnering.

"So..." Mary says after a moment of silence. "You two are hunters?"

Bobby and Ellen both confirm this.

"Not you, though, right?" Ellen asks. "Just a normal, apple pie life?"

"No, I grew up a hunter," Mary tells her. "I tried to get away from it when I married John, but obviously, that didn't work."

"So have you been hunting since you got back?" Ellen asks, trying to continue the conversation.

"Mostly, yeah."

"I'm sure the boys were glad to have you back," Bobby remarks. "Their family always seems to go and never seems to come back. This must have been a nice change."

"Uh, yeah," Mary replies awkwardly as she remembers how she completely left the boys within weeks.

"Well, I'm glad you were here, because someone needs to look after my boys," Bobby says with a fond smile as he thinks of the Winchesters.

" boys?" John repeats questioningly.

"Well, you know, we worked a lot of hunts together," Bobby clarifies. "They completely filled my schedule, and I gave 'em a place to stay. But I don't mean anything by it, if that's what you're thinking."

"I never said you did," John replies, but his voice carries a hint of mistrust.

"I'm glad you were there to look after our boys," Mary tells Bobby. "They told me about you. Sounds like you've saved their lives more times than you can count."

Bobby shrugs. "Well, you know... Just doing what I had to to keep those idjits from getting themselves killed."

"Not that it would have mattered, with all the times they've cheated death," Ellen mutters.

"Looks like we've all cheated death now," Bobby says with a glance around the room.

The other three nod in agreement. They have cheated death, and now they have a second chance, which doesn't seem to be going so bad.

~~

Samandriel, Adam, and Balthazar find themselves in, you guessed it, a locked room. Adam takes a couple nervous steps away from Balthazar, and Samandriel puts his arm around the boy's shoulders reassuringly. Balthazar raises an eyebrow but doesn't ask; instead, he leans against one of the walls casually.

"And who are you?" he asks, glancing between the two of them.

"I'm Samandriel, and this is Adam. Milligan."

Hearing the name sheds a new light on the scared little boy for Balthazar.

"Michael's vessel?"

Adam whimpers, and Samandriel holds him closer. "He doesn't like talking about that," he warns the other angel.

"I can't say I blame him," Balthazar replies. "If I was Michael's puppet like that, I wouldn't want to talk about that, either." He eyes Samandriel's close proximity to the boy. "You two seem to be getting... close."

"I like to think so," Samandriel replies.

"Don't get too close," Balthazar warns him. "You know what happens when you do."

Samandriel nods slightly. "I know."

"I figured, but with Castiel being such a celebrity now, I have a feeling a lot of our brothers and sisters just said 'screw it' and got themselves a pet human."

"Humans aren't pets," Samandriel protests. "They're just as good as we are, if not better."

"I don't know. The only thing they've ever done for me is use me and get me killed," Balthazar replies. He doesn't really hate them for it, but it definitely isn't winning his respect.

"And have the angels done better for the humans?" Samandriel challenges. "No, Heaven nearly got half the world killed. The humans haven't done any worse than that."

Balthazar doesn't have a way to counter that. He's right; perhaps humans are better than angels. But he won't admit it, of course, just as he won't argue the opposite way. He doesn't really care for humans either way.

Instead, he directs his attention to the only human in the room. "You don't seem too bad, I'll give you that."

Adam watches him wearily, not making a sound. Balthazar looks at Samandriel for help, but he doesn't do anything. That's all the confirmation Balthazar needs that this is Adam's normal behavior. It doesn't surprise the angel; after spending that long in Hell, he's surprised the boy is as sane as he is. Even so, he's definitely not the one Balthazar would most like to spend his time with. He isn't sure who that would be — Castiel, probably — but he can't wait for this to be over.

~~

Meg gives Crowley a fake smile after they are suddenly teleported away from the rest of the group. Crowley rolls his eyes and glances at the door, but it's locked.

"Crowley. Long time, no see, huh?"

"And oh, do I miss that time," Crowley replies.

That's it. That's their whole conversation. Chuck doesn't even try to get them to keep talking like he did with Jo and Lucifer. He only brought Crowley here because he needed someone to talk to Meg if they wanted, but he doesn't really care anyway.