Chapter 79

"Dean," John says, gesturing for him to come over.

Dean glances down at Castiel, giving him a look before reluctantly waking up to his biological parents, Ellen, and Bobby — so, basically all his parents except Jody, who thankfully wasn't dragged here.

"That guy that Sam just went after, that's right?" John asks.

Dean nods once. "Yes, sir."

"What's going on with them? I thought you guys hated him."

"I wish I knew," Dean replies. "Looks like Sam just has a thing for murderers." He glances at Gabriel when he says that, almost subconsciously.

"They're not together, though, right?" Mary asks. "Weren't we just hunting him before God put us in here?"

No, Sam, Dean, and Castiel were hunting him, Dean retorts mentally. Mary was too busy ignoring them to be bothered helping them out.

"Not a chance," Dean tells her. "Sam wouldn't do that. He's smarter than that, at least."

"Then what the hell is going on?" Ellen asks. "Last I saw, we were hunting him down so you could put a bullet in his brain. I take it that didn't work, but I didn't see Sam flipping sides like that."

"The colt didn't kill him, and I didn't see it coming, either," Dean replies. "Look, I don't know what's going on with Sam. All I know is that Lucifer is undoubtedly, 100 percent evil. He's bad as an enemy, and he's bad as an ally. I don't know what else you want me to say. If you want answers, wait 'til Sam gets back and ask him."

"You with him?" Bobby repeats incredulously. "You better have a damn good reason for that."

Dean scoffs. "No, I decided to hang with just because," he says sarcastically. "Of course I had a reason." This prompts a long explanation of season eleven, which results in a retelling of everything that's happened since John died saving Dean from that car crash.

It soon becomes clear that this isn't going to be a quick affair, leaving Castiel alone for what could shape up to be a very, very long time. He finds himself grateful when Meg comes up to him, calling him the familiar name of "Clarence."

"Long time, no talk, huh?" she adds.

"Well, you been dead for a long time," Castiel replies. "It would have been difficult to maintain communication."

Meg grins. "Glad to see you haven't changed a bit."

Meanwhile, Charlie walks over to Gabriel, who hasn't really spoken to anyone lately.

"Hey, Gabriel, what's new?" she asks with a grin.

"My girlfriend disappeared and my ex just ran after my brother," Gabriel summarizes. "There's a that's new."

"You think there's something going on between them, then?" Charlie asks.

"Well, I don't think they're together or anything, but there's something up with them," Gabriel replies.

"You don't think they're together?" Charlie repeats, sounding slightly disappointed.

Gabriel shakes his head. "Not after everything they've been through. I'm surprised they're friends, honestly, but they definitely are."

"Now I need to know details," Charlie announces.

Gabriel chuckles softly, but it's almost a sad laugh.

Charlie picks up on what's wrong, and swiftly shifts the subject away from Sam. "You should be hanging out with me and Meg. No reason to sit here alone all day."

"Maybe," Gabriel replies, but he really means no. He doesn't want to be the third wheel, and he knows he would be. He was glad that he wasn't the only one in that boat — Sam and Lucifer seemed to have it just as bad — but it looks like he's alone in this now, seeing their budding friendship.

Part of him is glad he's not being forced into conversations all the time, but he also wants some sort of distraction from what happened to Kali. He can't seem to get that image out of his brain. Everything comes back to finding her severed head on the floor, her guts scattered around the room. He can try to forget it all he wants, but he knows it will haunt him until his dying day. 

It's not without reason, though. He's known Kali practically since the world was created. Sure, they didn't get together then, and they frequently went through periods in which they hated each other, but the one thing he always knew for sure was that it would never be the last they saw of each other. Even after the worst of times, they would always come back together eventually, and now, he doesn't even have that to comfort him.

"Have you heard anything I've said these last five minutes?" Charlie asks, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah, totally," Gabriel lies, not even trying to make it believable. She's not going to buy it anyway, so he might as well exaggerate how bad of a liar he is. "I've been hanging on to every word."

"That sounds less than sincere," Charlie points out teasingly.

"Hmm, I wonder why," Gabriel jokes. "No, but yeah, I missed everything you just said. Was there anything life changing in that monologue of yours?"

"Nope," she replies. "I'm just kinda talking and hoping you'll either talk back or tell me to get lost."

"Well, I'll try to hold up my end of the conversation, just for you," he tells her. "Can I ask what's up with you and Meg?"

Charlie beams at that. "Okay, so, we were kinda trying to be quiet about it at first, but after, like, two days, we realized that no one was going to care because every relationship in this building is crazy anyway, so no one's judging."

She launches into this long story of her relationship with Meg, and Gabriel listens quietly, nodding along to show that he's listening. It's a kind of sweet story, really, but all it does is remind him that without Sam and Kali, he's completely alone.