Chapter 142

Trying to get all the bunker's residents together without raising suspicion is not easy. Everyone wakes up at different times, so there's about an hour where Michael shares the war room with Jo, Dean, Castiel, Mary, and John while his brothers, Jack, Ellen, Bobby, Sam, Meg, and Charlie are still in bed. There comes a point where Michael just wants to tell everyone here at the moment that they're free to go, but he promised his brothers they would tell everyone together so he can't.

It doesn't help that Jo picks up on the fact that something is off very quickly. She seems to figure out that she won't get an answer after the first couple of times she asks, but his insistence that everything is fine definitely doesn't fool her. He finds himself wondering if it would be worth telling her the news now, but he's not sure if it would be worse knowing that she's capable of leaving but not being allowed to act on it yet.

By the time people begin talking about having lunch, everyone is in the war room except Meg and Charlie. Gabriel flies to his brothers' sides and pulls them away from their conversation with Jo and Jack.

"I really think we need to do this now," Gabriel says quietly. "It's not fair to keep it from everyone this long."

"Charlie and Meg still aren't here," Michael reminds him.

"Then someone has to find them," Gabriel says. "I'm serious. We have to do this now, and if we don't, I'm telling Sam anyway."

Lucifer cocks an eyebrow. "You haven't told Sam yet?"

Gabriel scoffs. "Of course I haven't told Sam. That was the whole deal."

Lucifer rolls his eyes. "Well, I know where to find Charlie and Meg, so you guys go cuddle with your honeys or whatever and I will be right back."

"Why do you know where they are?" Gabriel asks.

Lucifer shrugs. "I like to know where everyone is at all times." Before anyone can question that, he disappears.

Michael and Gabriel stand there in silence for a moment before returning to their respective friends.

"Hey, everything okay?" Jo asks, not for the first time that day.

Michael nods. "Yeah, everything's fine. Everything's better than fine."

"Where did Lucifer go?" she asks.

"He'll be back in a minute," Michael assures her.

"You know, these answers are uncomfortably vague today," Jo tells him.

"I know," Michael says. "Just... trust me."

Jo eyes him warily. "I do, but..."

Lucifer reappears in the room, Charlie in one hand and Meg in the other. He drops them in the doorway, and when Meg starts to demand an answer for why he dragged then out here, he slaps a hand over her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Dean asks disdainfully.

"Michael has something to tell everyone," Lucifer says.

Michael blinks at him. "Oh, I'm doing this?"

"Apparently," Gabriel says with a shrug.

Lucifer flies away from Meg and leans against the wall on the other side of the room, his arms folded over his chest and a small smile on his face.

"Well..." Michael pauses. He hadn't given much thought to how he was going to phrase this. He might as well just be as blunt as possible. No use wasting time. "Jack broke down the warding. Chuck says we're free to go."

Everyone reacts at once. Though Michael can't track everyone's response, he can't help but notice Sam give Gabriel a very big, very enthusiastic hug (and he notices Lucifer roll his eyes, though he's not entirely sure it's related).

"Are you serious?" Jo asks eagerly. "We get to leave?"

Michael nods. "We do."

"And you said told you we can?" Jo adds. "So he's not going to stop us?"

Michael shakes his head. "He said we're free to go."

Jo laughs. "Oh my god!" She wraps her arms around her boyfriend, and Michael hugs her back. "We're free! We're finally free! We can go rebuild the Roadhouse and everything!"

"I can't wait," Michael says, and he means it. He's still not so sure what to expect in the human world, but he's with Jo, so he knows it will be great.

"Wait." Jo steps away and looks at Jack. "If this is all over, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be back in your dimension?"

Jack drops his gaze to the floor, and Michael puts an arm around his shoulders. He gives Jack a few seconds to answer, but when he doesn't, Michael answers for him. "Without getting into details, he can't go back. He lives in this dimension now."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jo says. "I know you were excited to go home."

"Thanks," Jack murmurs.

"You can stay with us, if you want," Jo tells him. "The Roadhouse can always use a helping hand."

Jack shakes his head. "Hunters don't tend to like me."

"He's going to hang out with Lucifer," Michael tells her.

"Oh, that'll be fun!" Jo says.

Jack just shrugs.

Dean hops up on the war room table and cups his hands around his mouth. "Hey! We're gonna go get celebratory burgers! Who wants to come?"

"Me!" Charlie yells.

"If red's going, I'll bite," Meg says.

Michael looks down at Jo. "Is that something you would be interested in?"

Jo shrugs. "Yeah, sure, why not? The Roadhouse has been gone for over a decade. It can wait another couple hours."

"All in favor of burgers, follow me!" Dean hops off the table, and walks away, and all the bunker's residents follow.

Lucifer waits against his wall until Michael, Jo, and Jack reach him, then joins up with them. "I guess this is goodbye?"

Jo frowns. "You're not coming to get burgers with us?"

Lucifer scoffs. "Hell no. It's supposed to be a celebration, and I am the person anyone here would want at their celebration."

Michael has to admit, he does have a point. He'd like for his brother to come, but he's not sure it would go well.

"Actually," Jack says, "I kinda want a burger."

Lucifer lols his head back in exasperation. "You're killing me, Smalls."

"If you don't want to..."

Lucifer rolls his eyes. "Kid, you just got stuck in a whole 'nother timeline. If you want a burger, I'm gonna let you get the damn burger."

Jack smiles.

They've barely made it outside when they notice the figures approaching, marching straight towards them like an army. It's too direct to be a coincidence; they're definitely coming to the bunker. Michael instinctively pulls out his archangel blade, and out of the corner of his eye, he notices Lucifer do the same.

"Alright," Dean says loudly from the front of the pack, "I know I haven't been outside in a while so I be hallucinating, but I there are people coming towards us."